The New York man who co-founded the viral “Ice Bucket Challenge” died Sunday after a long battle with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis — the disease he tirelessly raised awareness for until he succumbed himself.

Pat Quinn, a 37-year-old from Yonkers, was diagnosed with ALS in 2013 and soon after, created the social media challenge as a way to raise money to find a cure for the illness, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

“It is with great sadness that we must share the passing of Patrick early this morning. He was a blessing to us all in so many ways. We will always remember him for his inspiration and courage in his tireless fight against ALS,” a post on the Quinn for the Win Facebook page read Sunday.

The Ice Bucket Challenge, which swept social media starting in 2014, asked people to record themselves dumping a bucket of ice over their body. The stunt ended up raising over $220 million for ALS research, the Yonkers Times reported.

More than 20 million videos of the challenge were posted and included celebrities like former President George W. Bush and Bill Gates.

“I am so saddened to learn Yonkers lost its fighter, champion and warrior, Pat Quinn. While Pat was known to the world as one of the founders of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, in Yonkers, he was more than that — he was one of us, someone who fought until the very end for the betterment of others,” Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano told the local paper.

“Pat, who was an honorary Yonkers Police Officer, graciously accepted his life’s challenges and paid it forward — a lesson we will never forget. During this season of Thanksgiving, we are forever grateful for Pat’s courage, compassion and leadership.”

Even as ALS ravaged his body, Quinn kept a fighting spirit all the way to the end.

“A new way of life after tracheostomy, but its LIVING & I got shit to do! Last time I left the hospital, I was right back 1 day later with pneumonia/struggling to breathe. Round 2 today of going home! Wish me luck! I’m still here. Please be thankful for everything. Everything!” Quinn wrote in a social media post Friday, according to the outlet.

He recently visited his alma mater, Iona College, for one last Ice Bucket Challenge event — and also attended a Quinn for the Win golf outing shortly before he passed away, the outlet said.

The Greater New York ALS Community honored Quinn in a statement, calling him a “towering figure.”

“Pat Quinn, a fierce advocate and co-founder of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, helped change the course of the fight against ALS, raising hundreds of millions of dollars for research and giving renewed hope to patients and families worldwide,” the community said.

“He was an inspiration to us all. While his efforts had an impact across the world, Pat was a beloved figure in our own backyard. The Greater New York ALS Community was proud to know Pat, and it was a privilege to fight by his side.”

via: https://nypost.com/2020/11/22/pat-quinn-co-founder-of-ice-bucket-challenge-dead-at-37/

Photo Credit: facebook

WAUWATOSA, Wis. (AP) — Eight people were injured in a shooting Friday at a suburban Milwaukee mall and police said they were still seeking the suspect.

Wauwatosa Police Chief Barry Weber gave no motive for the attack at the Mayfair Mall in a brief update about three hours after the 2:50 p.m. incident near an entrance to the Macy’s store. He said the extent of injuries to the eight — seven adults and one teenager — was unknown, but all were alive. He added that the shooter was “no longer at the scene” when authorities arrived.

“Preliminary statements from witnesses indicate that the shooter is a white male in his 20s or 30s,” Weber told reporters. “Investigators are working on determining the identity of that suspect.”

The chief called the mall an active crime scene and asked people to continue to stay away. He said the mall would remain closed until further notice.

Witnesses told WISN-TV that they had heard what they believed to be eight to 12 gunshots. Some people remained in the mall while police searched for a suspect. The station interviewed several people outside the mall who said they had friends sheltering in stores inside.

Jill Wooley was inside Macy’s with her 79-year-old mother when they heard eight to 12 gun shots just outside the store entrance.

“We heard the first shot fired and knew immediately it was a gunshot,” Wooley told CBS58 in Milwaukee. “We both just dropped to the floor.”You Should Consider a Vanguard Stable Value FundThe goal of stable value funds in a portfolio is capital perservation. Discover why Vanguard stable value could be right for your plan.Ad By Vanguard See More

Wooley said she didn’t see anyone but the shots were “very close.” She added that they ran in the opposite direction to the basement of the store, where they then hid.

Trish Cox’s 19-year-old nephew works at Finish Line sporting goods store. She said she was worried because the store’s phone wasn’t being answered. She was waiting frantically while FBI agents cleared the mall.

An agent who wouldn’t give his name said the mall was being “methodically” cleared. Heavily armed FBI personnel were visible at the mall.

Mall operator Brookfield Properties said in a statement they were “disheartened and angered that our guests and tenants were subject to this violent incident today.” They declined further comment.

The Mayfair Mall was the site of a February shooting in which a city police officer, Joseph Mensah, shot and killed Alvin Cole, a Black 17-year-old. Police said Cole was fleeing from police; Mensah, who is also Black, said he shot Cole because Cole pointed a gun at him. The mall was the target of sporadic protests over several months in the wake of the shooting.

The Milwaukee County district attorney declined to file charges against Mensah, but the city this week agreed to a separation agreement in which Mensah will be paid at least $130,000 to leave the force.

via: https://www.kmov.com/news/police-8-injured-in-wisconsin-mall-shooting-suspect-sought/article_cce526a6-64b4-57ae-b3b6-07771e354a5e.html?block_id=985911

Photo Credit: WDJT via CNN Wire

A Florida woman allegedly abandoned her sick 3-month-old son on the doorstep of a stranger’s home over the weekend, authorities said.

Melissa Kelley, 33, is accused of dropping off her baby in his car seat on Patricia Tillman’s porch Sunday night saying she couldn’t care for the infant any longer, the Dayton Beach News-Journal reported.

Kelley, of Astor, warned Tillman the baby had scabies — an infestation of the skin caused by a tiny burrowing mite — and that he had a dirty diaper, the outlet reported citing a police report.

She added that the child’s father would pick him up before she ran off.

Tillman eventually learned that the baby’s father was her daughter’s boyfriend, Clayton Zinck.

When investigators reached Zinck’s parents they said they wouldn’t take the baby, the outlet reported.

The police report states that Kelley threatened to harm her baby boy, texting relatives, “please don’t make me throw this baby in the trash,” and that she was going to kill herself because she wasn’t in a relationship with Zinck.

Kelley has been charged with unlawful desertion of a child and child neglect. The boy was taken by child services and treated at a local hospital.

via: https://nypost.com/2020/11/20/florida-woman-charged-with-abandoning-sick-baby-on-doorstep/

Photo Credit: Lake County Sheriff’s Office

Police and activists clashed in South Africa Friday during a protest against a graduation party allegedly organized for “whites only.”

Nearly 2,000 members of the Economic Freedom Fighters, a radical left political party, rallied around Brackenfell High School in Cape Town as police fired tear gas and water cannons at the crowd, Al Jazeera reported.

Police later told protest organizers that only 100 people were allowed to demonstrate, but the group accused the cops of being heavy-handed.

The confrontation stemmed from outrage over an off-site graduation party organized by parents. A flyer for the bash was disseminated to a WhatsApp group that included several teachers but not shared with regular class groups, one student told local news site IOL, adding that it was clear black students were not invited.

“We have class WhatsApp groups where information is usually shared, but it was not the case on the event which clearly shows we were meant to be excluded,” the student told IOL.

The event, called the Masquerade Ball MX’20, was held at a winery in Stellenbosch on Oct. 17.

School officials said the party was a “private event” and not organized by the school.

EFF protesters and white parents scuffled over the party on Nov. 9, with videos showing them punching each other on the streets, Al Jazeera said.

South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa called for an investigation, calling the dispute “deeply regrettable,” saying it brings back “hurtful memories of a past we should never seek to return to.”

“The spectacle of parents and protesters coming to blows at the school gate is deeply unfortunate,” he said.

Apartheid in South Africa ended three decades ago, though the country remains divided by racism.

via: https://nypost.com/2020/11/20/whites-only-graduation-party-in-south-africa-sparks-mass-protests/

Photo Credit: EPA

A marijuana trafficker convicted of kidnapping and raping a teen – and then burying her alive – was executed this week at an Indiana prison, becoming the eighth federal inmate to die this year.

Orlando Cordia Hall, 49, was put to death via lethal injection late Thursday at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, where he was pronounced dead at 11:47 p.m., the Department of Justice announced.

Court documents show Hall, who ran a marijuana trafficking operation in Arkansas with several accomplices, drove to Arlington, Texas, in September 1994 after a botched drug deal worth $4,700.

Prosecutors said Hall and his accomplices went to the man’s home because they thought he stole their money and instead kidnapped his 16-year-old sister, Lisa Rene, after she refused to let them inside.

Hall then raped the teen — an honors student and aspiring doctor — in a car and later drove her to a hotel in Arkansas, where he and his accomplices bound and repeatedly raped her, prosecutors said.

The following morning, Hall said the teen had known “too much” and took her to a park where he and another man dug a grave earlier that afternoon, but were unable to find the site.

One day later, on Sept. 26, 1994, Hall and two other men took the teen to Byrd Natural Lake Area in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where Hall placed a sheet over her head and whacked her with a shovel, prosecutors said.

“Rene screamed and tried to run away, but the men tackled her and took turns beating her with the shovel,” the Justice Department said in a statement. “After soaking her with gasoline, they dragged her into the grave and buried her alive.”

A federal jury convicted Hall in 1995 of kidnapping resulting in death and unanimously sentenced him to die by lethal injection.

In his final statements, Hall encouraged others to become followers of Islam, the Tribune-Star reported.

“Thank you for giving me this opportunity for forgiveness,” Hall said. “Thank everyone who’s here – my family and my loved ones. I love you.”

Hall also had one final message for his children.

“I’m OK,” he said. “Take care of yourself. Tell my kids I love them.”

One of Hall’s co-conspirators, Bruce Webster, was also sentenced to death, but a court vacated the punishment last year due to his intellectual disability. Three others, including Hall’s brother, cooperated at his trial and received lesser sentences.

Rene’s sister, meanwhile, said the execution capped a “very long and painful chapter” in the family’s lives, the Tribune-Star reported.

“We have been dealing with this for 26 years and now we’re having to relive the tragic nightmare that our beloved Lisa went through,” Pearl Rene said in a statement. “Ending this painful process will be a major goal for our family. This is only the end of the legal aftermath. The execution of Orlando Hall will never stop the suffering we continue to endure. Please pray for our family as well as his.”

via: https://nypost.com/2020/11/20/drug-trafficker-executed-for-raping-teen-burying-her-alive/

Photo Credit: Attorneys for Orlando Hall