Tag: SHOOTINGS
Suspect in Kroger shooting tried to enter black church before attack
The gunman who fatally shot two people at a Kentucky Kroger supermarket this week may have intended to shoot up a predominately black church instead, according to a new report.
The new development supports the theory that the shooting may have been a racially motivated hate crime, WAVE 3 News reported.
Suspect Gregory Bush was captured on surveillance video trying to enter the First Baptist Church of Jeffersontown 15 minutes before the Kroger shooting, Jeffersontown Police Chief Sam Rogers told WAVE 3 News.
Had he arrived only an hour and 15 minutes earlier, he would have found 70 people getting ready to leave the church’s mid-week services, church administrator Billy Williams told the station.
Williams first spotted a man wearing similar clothing to Bush during a routine scan of the church’s security footage — and cops confirmed the attempted intruder was in fact Bush.
The FBI is investigating, though investigators would not speculate on a motive, according to the report.
But the son of a witness to the Kroger shooting told the outlet the suspect walked past his dad and said, “Whites don’t kill whites.”
The Louisville Urban League called for a hate crime investigation in a Facebook post.
“Because of the FB posts of the alleged perpetrator and the comments he made to a man in the parking lot of the grocery store, we thought it necessary to clearly state our desire and support for a hate crime investigation,” the statement said.
“We recognize that the alleged perpetrator may have had a mental inquest warrant filed previously, however his FB posts, his comments, and his visit to First Baptist Jeffersontown lead us to express our concern.”
The First Baptist congregation had been taking safety precautions after Dylann Roof opened fire, killing nine people — including a prominent pastor — at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC.
“We have several members that are armed during our midweek service which is what we passed yesterday,” Williams told the station. “And we have people that are armed on Sunday as well.”
via: https://nypost.com/2018/10/26/suspect-in-kroger-shooting-tried-to-enter-black-church-before-attack/
Teen shoots cousin over salt and vinegar potato chips
A South Carolina teen shot his cousin in the chest – critically wounding him – after warning him not to eat his salt and vinegar potato chips.
“Do not touch my chips, or I’ll shoot you,” Ryan Dean Langdale barked at the 17-year-old victim before pulling the trigger during the bizarre episode last month, The Post and Courier newspaper reported, citing a sheriff’s incident report.
Langdale, 19, now faces charges of attempted murder, using a firearm in a violent crime and obstructing justice in the Sept. 29 shooting at Langdale’s home in rural Colleton County.
The suspect tried to cover-up the crime, by telling police that his cousin had accidentally shot himself by dropping a hunting rifle while cleaning it, according to the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office.
The victim – succumbing to pressure from his older cousin — initially confirmed the bogus account to police before being rushed into surgery, but cops weren’t buying it.
“We knew from the beginning that something wasn’t right,” sheriff’s Maj. J.W. Chapman said, according to The Post and Courier. “The more we looked into it, the more it seemed odd.”
Chapman noted that the route the bullet took through the victim’s chest was “impossible” if the teenager shot himself by mistake, the news outlet reported.
A week after the shooting incident, the victim awoke at the Trident Medical Center in North Charleston and admitted to investigators that it was indeed the chips– which he never even touched– that nearly sent him six feet under.
After Langdale warned him, Langdale went into a back room, grabbed a rifle and pointed it at the victim, according to the sheriff’s incident report.
“The next thing he knew,” the document said, “the rifle went off.”
According to the report, Langdale had switched out the firearm he used to cover up his involvement.
The rifle was found when authorities searched Langdale’s home this week.
He surrendered to the crime Wednesday and a judge set his bail at $55,000.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/10/11/teen-shoots-cousin-over-salt-and-vinegar-potato-chips-cops/
Shirtless dad, son arrested for gunning down neighbor in trash fight
A west Texas man was gunned down by his two shirtless neighbors – in a shocking confrontation recorded by the victim’s girlfriend, according to a broadcast report on Wednesday.
Aaron Howard, 37, was killed on Sept. 1 in Abilene, allegedly by father-and-son neighbors Johnnie and Michael Miller, authorities said.
They’ve both been arrested and charged with murder.
The deadly confrontation was caught on the cellphone of Howard’s fiancée, Kara Box, who shared the video with KTXS.
“People deserve to know what actually happened,” Box told the ABC affiliate.
The three men were arguing over a dumped mattress in an alley behind Howard’s house on Don Juan Street in Abilene, according to the video.
The dad, Johnnie Miller, 67, was holding a pistol while Michael Miller, 31, had a shotgun, KTXS reported.
“If you come closer to me, I’m gonna kill you,” the elder Miller reportedly could be heard yelling at Howard.
And amazingly, Howard didn’t back down.
“Hey, did you hear him say he’s going to kill me?” the victim told his filming fiancée.
Howard then barked at his two armed neighbors to leave the scene, according to the report.
“Put the gun up and go inside!” Howard yelled.
Box tried to intervene and told the father and son: “You’re not going to shoot my husband.”
The men kept arguing, and at least two pistol shots were fired by the dad, Box told the station.
Her video captured the sound of the pistol fire but not any images of Johnnie Miller shooting.
Box did capture Michael Miller opening fire with his shotgun.
Taylor County DA Jim Hicks said the video could be key evidence.
“Video evidence like this is always graphic and very difficult to watch,” Hicks said in an interview on the station. “But, it is consistent with the charges.”
The father and son have been charged with first-degree murder. Both are out on $25,000 bail, KTXS reported.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/09/20/shirtless-dad-son-allegedly-gun-down-neighbor-over-trash-fight/
‘Stand your ground’ shooter who shot unarmed black man has no regrets
The white Florida man who reignited the state’s “stand your ground” debate earlier this summer — when he fatally shot an unarmed black man who pushed him — says he would do it all over again if he had to.
“I’ve had plenty of time to think about it,” explained Michael Drejka in a jailhouse interview with WTSP-TV.
“As far as changing anything, as events…I don’t see, I really — no, not off the top of my head,” the 47-year-old said, after being asked whether he could think of anything he would’ve done different that day.
“I was very scared. I’ve never been confronted like that, or never been assaulted like that if you will — ever.”
Drejka, who is charged with manslaughter, is accused of fatally shooting 28-year-old Markeis McGlockton outside a convenience store in Clearwater, Fla., on July 19 after being pushed to the ground by him.
He initially went weeks without being arrested on account of the state’s controversial “stand your ground law” — which allows citizens to use deadly force when fearing “imminent death or great bodily harm.”
Asked how he felt after the cops “backed” him and “refused to arrest” him, Drejka said: “Vindicated.”
“I followed the law the way I felt the law was supposed to be followed,” he told WTSP. “I cleared every hurdle that that law had to, had to put in front of me.”
Drejka said he was “shocked” and “devastated” after learning of the State Attorney’s Office’s decision to file manslaughter charges last month.
“I didn’t hear about it until they were putting handcuffs on me,” the alleged killer explained.
He didn’t speak too much about the shooting itself, but did describe the moment he got pushed.
“Didn’t know it was a shove. It felt like I was tackled or someone hit me from behind with something,” Drejka said. “I left my feet and slid along the ground.”
Asked whether he was in fear for his life, Drejka told WTSP: “Yes sir. It was only one other person that was making a move and that move was towards me… I didn’t know what was coming for me and there’s only one way to look at that. You have to be scared for it, ’cause if you’re not, you’re wrong…And that’s that.”
Drejka claimed that he wasn’t racist, despite what others have said about him using the “N-word” in the past and getting into fights with black people at the very same gas station.
“I do not hate anybody,” he said. “I’ve worked with too many people, met too many people in my life to be that kind of person. There’s, there’s no way to survive really, by being like that. It doesn’t help anyone, you know, and to have a, that kind of feeling about an entire race of people seems foreign to me.”
Drejka told WTSP that one of his biggest “pet peeves” in life is the “abuse” of handicapped parking spots, which McGlockton was parked in on the day of the shooting. His girlfriend had been arguing with Drejka when McGlockton ran up and pushed him, surveillance footage shows.
“It’s always been a hotbed for me,” Drejka said, noting how his “high school sweetheart” was handicapped, as is his mother-in-law.
“My whole life has always been looking for a handicapped parking spot, and it’s always touched a nerve with me because of the way they’re abused and used.”
Despite having no remorse, Drejka apologized to McGlockton’s family at one point during the Friday interview — but admitted that it probably wouldn’t do any good.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “That’s all I can really say to them and uh, thinking about it, would you accept those kind of words from someone, I don’t think I would. You know, just to, uh, I think there’s too much hate already to, uh, for me to be able to say anything that would make any kind of difference.”
Drejka is being held on $100,000 bond at the Pinellas County Jail. He is facing up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/09/03/stand-your-ground-shooter-who-shot-unarmed-black-man-has-no-regrets/
Florida man shoots up the home of person who left bad restaurant review
A bad restaurant review prompted a man in Florida to fire shots at the home of the person behind the online complaint, according to police.
Deputies said the Daybreak Diner owner’s son, Michael Johnson, was upset that a customer shared a post on Aug. 19 claiming the Orlando restaurant didn’t accommodate her disabled mother, news station WFTV reported.
The patron, Monica Walley, reportedly complained that employees were “unnecessarily rude” and she launched a social media campaign against the diner.
Johnson soon expressed his anger about the review to his roommates, Normal Auvil and Jesse Martin, while they were drinking beer Aug. 20 at their home, according to the report.
The trio found Walley’s address online, then drove to the residence “with the intent to harm someone” or cause property damage, according to an affidavit obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.
From the vehicle, Auvil fired three shots into the home, nearly hitting someone on a couch in the living room, authorities said.
Auvil, 42, was arrested Thursday and charged with shooting into a building, shooting from a vehicle and abuse of a disabled person.
“Both Martin and Johnson expressed concern for their safety and stated they had witnessed or been subjected to violent outbursts by Auvil in their residence,” according to the police report.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/09/03/man-shoots-up-home-after-bad-restaurant-review-cops/
Bystander shoots gunman who opened fire at back-to-school event
Shocking video shows pandemonium breaking out at a Florida back-to-school event as a gunman opens fire.
A bystander shot the gunman, who was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries Saturday after the incident at the “Peace in the City” event in Titusville, police said.
Facebook Live video shot by Dwight Harvey shows women and children rushing frantically into a park pavilion as rapid gunshots ring out.
People can be heard crying and shrieking and one woman in a red shirt can be seen shaking as she clutches a child’s hand and says: “It happened right where we were standing, right there.”
Police said the gunman got into a fistfight at Isaac Campbell Park and returned with a weapon several minutes later, unleashing 12 rounds, WFTV-9 reported.
The good Samaritan, an unidentified vendor, drew his licensed, concealed handgun and fired at the assailant, who was running toward the crowd, according to Florida Today.
The bystander waited for police and was cooperating with the probe, officials said. He was not expected to face any charges.
“We are extremely grateful that nobody else was injured in this incident,” said Deputy Chief Todd Hutchinson. “This suspect opened fire at a crowded public park, this could have been so much worse.”
“Peace in the City” was a backpack giveaway event organized by Harvey’s son, to honor a cousin who was found dead in a burning car in Mims in July.
In Harvey’s video, children can be seen rummaging through backpacks filled with school supplies shortly before the shots erupt.
“We were just trying to do something positive for the community,” he said.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/08/06/bystander-shoots-gunman-who-opened-fire-at-back-to-school-event/
Woman allegedly kills roommate over texts to ex-fiancé
An Oklahoma woman is accused of killing her roommate after she found text messages with her ex-fiancé, according to officials.
Kristen Elizabeth Jones, 21, allegedly shot her 23-year-old roommate, Miranda Pederson, in the head then covered up the murder by setting their house in Luther on fire, The Oklahoman reported.
Jones’ ex-fiancé, Bryson Harrington, lived at the house with both women, according to the newspaper.
The alleged shooting occurred when Jones discovered Pederson had been exchanging texts with Harrington.
In a phone call monitored by authorities, Jones told Harrington that Pederson first stabbed her in the hand.
Jones then allegedly grabbed a gun and shot Pederson in the back of the head, according to police. She also reportedly admitted to burning down the home to “cover it up because she got scared.”
Hickory Hills Fire Protection District responded to the home around 9:45 a.m. Monday after the fire chief spotted smoke, news station KFOR reported.
“While at the scene, putting out the fire, they discovered a body inside the home,” Oklahoma County Sheriff spokesman Mark Opgrande told KFOR. “They immediately called the sheriff’s office, and we called our homicide investigators to the scene.”
Authorities said they learned Jones fled the state and pulled her over Monday afternoon at a traffic stop in Gainesville, Texas.
She was booked Tuesday into the Oklahoma County jail on suspicion of murder, arson and desecration of a human corpse.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/08/01/woman-allegedly-kills-roommate-over-texts-to-ex-fiance-cops/
Man who gunned down girlfriend was ‘upset’ with her outfit
A jealous boyfriend in Arizona is accused of killing his girlfriend because he was “upset” about her outfit, authorities said.
Martin Larney, of Mesa, was arrested Monday in the shooting death of his 22-year-old girlfriend, Alina Duwyenie, AZCentral reported.
Police said Larney, 22, changed his story twice before confessing to shooting Duwyenie on Sunday morning at his apartment over her clothing choice.
Officers responded to the scene around 8:30 a.m. on reports of an accidental shooting. They rushed Duwyenie to a local hospital, where she died.
Larney’s brother was home at the time of the incident and told investigators that he heard a “loud noise.”
“[The brother] ran into the room and found the defendant sitting next to the victim holding her head where she was injured,” the police report stated.
Larney admitted to authorities that he owned the gun, which he said he purchased a month earlier for protection. The loaded weapon accidentally fired, he claimed, when he threw the firearm across the couch.
The boyfriend, however, then changed his story and claimed that he was attempting to load the gun when a shot fired.
Ultimately, he confessed to gunning down his girlfriend because he was “jealous and upset at [her] for what she was wearing,” according to police.
Larney was arrested and booked at Maricopa County Jail, where his bond is set at $750,000.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/05/15/man-who-gunned-down-girlfriend-was-upset-over-her-outfit-cops/
Black Lives Matter leader shot dead
The Black Lives Matter leader known for diving over a barrier to snatch a Confederate flag from a protester on live TV last year was shot dead in New Orleans, police said.
Muhiyidin Elamin Moye, who went by Muhiyidin d’Baha, was found dead Tuesday morning after being shot in the thigh while riding his bicycle, the Advocate reported.
New Orleans police spokesman Beau Tidwell said no information about a potential motive or suspects was immediately available.
D’Baha, 32, moved to South Carolina from Poughkeepsie, NY, when he was 13 and was in the Big Easy on a personal trip, his niece Camille Weaver told the Post and Courier.
“He loved Charleston and loved fighting for what’s right,” she said. “I’ve never met anyone more committed and hardworking than him. He was an asset to the Charleston community and will be greatly missed.”
The activist drew national attention last February when he was arrested for jumping over a barricade in an attempt to grab a Confederate flag away from a demonstrator at the College of Charleston.
Members of the South Carolina Secessionist Party had gathered to protest a lecture by activist Bree Newsome, who famously climbed the South Carolina capitol flagpole to remove its Confederate flag in 2015.
D’Baha was slapped with disorderly conduct charges as a result of the incident, which was caught on air.
“Not another generation of people are going to be intimidated by this flag,” he told the Washington Post after the incident, adding he’d tried to wrestle the flag away to “help them understand what it is to meet a real resistance, to meet people that aren’t scared.”
In the hopes of bringing d’Baha’s body back to Charleston for a funeral, his niece started a GoFundMe drive that had raised almost double its $7,500 goal by Wednesday.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/02/07/black-lives-matter-leader-shot-dead/
Man gets 41 years for killing babysitter with submachine gun
A Brooklyn judge laid into a man convicted of fatally shooting a 16-year-old babysitter with a submachine gun, saying she saw no reason to show him mercy before sentencing him to 41 years behind bars Tuesday.
Convicted killer Taariq Stephens — who was named as the shooter by his victim, Shemel Mercurius, with her dying breath — had just finished whining that he didn’t kill the teen when Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Deborah Dowling cut him off.
“All the evidence indicated that it is you,” Dowling snapped. “When you take a life, what do you give in exchange for life? There is nothing to give in return for a life.”
“I am not showing any mercy,” the judge said, adding that Stephens had shown none when he pushed his way into the East Flatbush apartment where Mercurius was babysitting her 3-year-old cousin Josiah and racked the gun three times before firing a single shot through her arm and into her abdomen.
The 16-year-old’s aunt and Josiah’s mother, LaToya Mercurius-Price, said Stephens, 26, had crippled their entire family with the May 2016 shooting.
“The echoes of ‘Mommy, mommy, Shemel has been shot and Josiah is covered in blood’ pierced me with the anguish, pain, hurt, panic, confusion, grief and left me emotionally paralyzed and hyperventilating,” she told the court. “The loss of our precious gem is beyond words.”
The motive for the heinous crime was never clear.
“This defendant will now spend many years behind bars for the callous killing of an innocent teenage girl who was taken from her loved ones far too early, and for undoubtedly traumatizing the toddler she was babysitting,” Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez said in a statement. “Nothing can bring Shemel back to her devastated family.”
via: https://nypost.com/2018/01/16/man-gets-25-years-for-killing-babysitter-with-submachine-gun/