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The 47-year-old man, who hasn’t been charged, said he had started a fire, said New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne. The man’s identity hasn’t been released.

Deloris Gillespie, 64, was ambushed in the elevator of her Brooklyn apartment building on Saturday afternoon, doused with an accelerant and set afire with a Molotov cocktail, Browne said. The suspect had been waiting for her when the elevator doors opened to the fifth floor of her apartment building in Prospect Heights, police said.

“It was apparent he knew she was on the elevator,” he said Saturday.

The attack happened shortly after 4 p.m., lasted about a minute and was recorded by two video cameras, including one inside the small elevator.

The video showed the elevator doors opening to the floor where Gillespie’s apartment was located and the assailant stepping in and spraying her, Browne said.

Gillespie, who had grocery bags in her arms, turned about 180 degrees and then crouched to protect herself, he said. But the man sprayed her directly in the face and continued to spray her “sort of methodically” over her head and parts of her body as the bags draped off her arms, Browne said. She turned and retreated to the back of the elevator.

Then, Browne said, the suspect pulled out a barbecue-style lighter, used it to ignite a rag in a bottle and then waited for a few seconds before using the flames to set her afire, causing smoke to fill the elevator.

The man backed out as she fell to the floor of the elevator, Browne said, and seemed to pause before tossing the bottle inside the elevator and onto her.

Browne wouldn’t comment on a motive in the killing but said the suspect knew Gillespie.

Police released still images of the man Saturday night, showing him in a black jacket, wearing what appear to be surgical gloves and with a white dust mask perched atop his head like a pair of sunglasses. He is holding what appears to be a canister with a nozzle and spraying as he steps into the elevator.

Neighbors reported a fire in the building, unaware that the woman was burning to death in the elevator.

Residents were evacuated and kept away from the six-story building for hours Saturday night as police investigated.

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Two boys – ages 13 and 14 – were shot, said Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino. Classes were not in session at Harwell Middle School when the shooting happened around 4:45 p.m., but the school complex was immediately placed on lockdown. Edinburg school district spokesman Gilbert Tagle said a number of after-school activities were going on besides the basketball tryouts, including a concert and a faculty meeting. He estimated as many as 200 children could have been on campus.

One of the wounded boys was in critical condition Monday night with a bullet embedded in an organ. The other was stable and awaiting X-rays, Trevino said.

At the time of the shooting, one of the boys was going for a layup. The other was waiting his turn to try out, Trevino said.

The sheriff said it was too early to say whether the students were targeted or if the shooting was accidental.

Investigators believe the shots may have come from hunters on adjacent farm property, Trevino said. The shots did not come from the campus and were not a result of a drive-by, he said.

Harwell Middle School opened just this year on the rural property northeast of Edinburg, which is about 50 miles northwest of Brownsville. Homes line the road approaching the school, but open fields stretch out behind it and to the north.

Investigators have spoken with owners of surrounding farms and the land was being leased to deer hunters, Trevino said. Authorities interviewed some hunters who were found on adjoining properties.

The outdoor court where the shooting took place was north of the school complex at an athletic facility that includes a football field, track and tennis courts, said Oziel Garcia, a 14-year-old eighth-grader.

Annette Vargas Ugalde, a 15-year-old eighth grader, said she was about to board her bus near the gym after school when school officials started rushing students indoors.

“They told us to, `Get inside, get inside,’” she said.

She said she heard no shots but saw a group of people on the outdoor court standing near one boy on the ground. A school nurse tended to him while another boy was sitting up.

Annett said she boarded her bus and it left.

Samuel Cepeda, a 15-year-old eighth-grader, said gangs have been a problem at the school, and he has worried about security. However, Trevino said investigators do not believe the shooting was gang related.

Classes will go on as scheduled Tuesday, but with increased security and counselors available to speak with students, said Tagle, the district spokesman.

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Dozens of Harlemites congregated Friday at Wright Brothers Playground, a small park that has a reputation of being unsafe for kids, to denounce the illicit activities that go on in the recreation space.

National Action Network recently announced the national Shake-Off the Violence tour and coast-to-coast cease fire coordinated by NAN’s Youth Movement and the Youth in Action group.

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Police Sgt. Jose Valle said the woman who allegedly caused minor injuries to 20 shoppers at a Los Angeles-area Walmart turned herself in Friday night.

She is currently not in custody but could face battery charges, Valle said. The woman’s identity was not released, but police said they plan to release more details Saturday morning.

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The attack took place about 10:20 p.m. Thursday shortly after doors opened for the sale. The store had brought out a crate of discounted Xbox video game players, and a crowd had formed to wait for the unwrapping. Valle says the woman began spraying people in order to get an advantage.

The incident was among those nationwide in which violence marred the traditional kickoff to the holiday shopping season.

In the most serious case, a robber shot a shopper who refused to give up his purchases outside a San Leandro, Calif., Walmart store, leaving the victim hospitalized in critical but stable condition.

Police in San Leandro, about 15 miles east of San Francisco, said the victim and his family were walking to their car around 1:45 a.m. Friday when they were confronted by a group of men who demanded their shopping items. When the family refused, a fight broke out, and one of the robbers pulled a gun and shot the man, said Sgt. Mike Sobek.

Meanwhile, police in suburban Phoenix came under fire when a video was posted online showing a 54-year-old grandfather on the floor of a Walmart store with a bloody face, after police said he was subdued Thursday night trying to shoplift during a chaotic rush for discounted video games.

The video, posted on YouTube, shows Jerald Allen Newman unconscious and bloodied as outraged customers yell expletives and say “that’s police brutality” and “he wasn’t doing anything.”

In a police report that redacted the names of officers and witnesses, Newman’s wife and other witnesses said he was just trying to help his grandson after the boy was trampled by shoppers, and only put a video game in his waistband to free his hands to help the boy.

Larry Hall, assistant chief of Buckeye police, said Newman was resisting arrest and it appeared the officer acted within reason.

Hall said the officer decided to do a leg sweep and take him to the ground but the man unfortunately hit his head.

“The store was incredibly crowded, and I was concerned about other customers’ safety,” the officer wrote in his police report.

Hall said Newman, who had a bloody nose and received four stitches on his forehead, was booked on suspicion of shoplifting and resisting arrest.

In Sacramento, Calif., a man was stabbed outside a mall Friday in an apparent gang-related incident as shoppers were hitting the stores.

The victim was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

The stabbing stemmed from a fight between two groups around 3 a.m. in front of a Macy’s department store at the Arden Fair Mall.

No arrests have been made. Police were hoping surveillance video will help identify the suspects.

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Violence erupted at Black Friday sales across the U.S. with one bargain-hunter left critically injured after being shot during a robbery and 15 other people injured when an angry shopper used pepper spray.

Several of the incidents took place at Wal-Mart stores as millions of Americans loaded up on holiday purchases.

Update 11:57 a.m. ET: An off-duty police officer used pepper spray on shoppers at a Wal-Mart in Kinston, N.C.

Kinston police Sgt. Roland Davis said an off-duty officer whom the store had hired to help with security used the chemical while trying to make an arrest during a disturbance. Unconfirmed reports said as many as 20 peopl ewer affected.

Updated 10:55 a.m. ET: A Rome, N.Y., man was charged with disorderly conduct after a fight that broke out the moment Black Friday shopping began at midnight, NBC station WSTM of Syracuse, N.Y., reported.

Several shoppers at the electronics department at a Wal-Mart store were pushed to the ground, and several fights broke out, Oneida County sheriff’s deputies said. Two shoppers were taken to a hospital for minor injuries.

Updated 10:39 a.m. ET: Police said they were investigating a possible shooting in the parking lot of Valley West Mall in West Des Moines, Iowa, NBC station WHO reported. There was no immediate report that anyone was injured.

Police got a call of shots fired shortly before 4 a.m., when the mall opened. They wouldn’t say whether they had a suspect, and they reassured shoppers that the mall is safe..

Updated 9:50 a.m. ET: A 55-year-old shopper was shot and wounded during a robbery near a Wal-Mart in Myrtle Beach, S.C., NBC station WMBF reported.

Tonia Robbins, 55, was shot in the foot after two men demanded her purse shortly after 1 a.m. ET Friday as she stood by the trunk of her car with friends.

Updated 9:45 a.m. ET: An explosive device was found at a break room at a Wal-Mart in Cave Creek, Ariz., according to reports Friday.

Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office said a suspicious package was found inside a refrigerator in the store break room on Thursday. The store was evacuated as a precaution while deputies investigated the package.

Updated at 9:40 a.m. ET: A Black Friday shopper was shot and critically injured during a robbery outisde a Wal-Mart in San Leandro, Calif., early Friday, police said.

Police patrolling the parking lot found a victim suffering a gunshot wound and a possible suspect being detained by family members of the victim.

Police said the victims were walking to their car with their purchases and were approached by multiple suspects who demanded the merchandise.

A fight ensued and one suspect pulled out a gun and shot one of the victims. Some of the victims wrestled down one suspect as the other suspect fled the scene.

The victim who was shot is in critical but stable condition at a local hospital. The suspect in custody is an adult male in his mid ’20s, but it is not known if he was the shooter.

Updated at 7.30 a.m. ET: An angry woman used pepper spray when Black Friday bargain-hunters tried to cut in line at a crowded Wal-Mart store in Los Angeles late Thursday, leaving 15 people with minor injuries. The incident occurred shortly after 10:20 p.m. PT (1:20 a.m. ET Friday) in the San Fernando Valley as shoppers looking for deals were let inside the outlet.

Shawn Lenske, a Los Angeles fire department spokesman, said the injuries were due to “rapid crowd movement.”

NBC News reported police said no more than 15 were hurt, 10 of them for the effects of inhalation of pepper spray.

Police Lt. Abel Parga said a woman used pepper spray, then left. Parga said police were looking for the woman and no arrests have been made.

“It was an unhappy customer,” he said.

A witness told Los Angeles’ NBC4 that the incident started as people waited in line for the new Xbox 360.

Read more at MSNBC

———————————————————————————————

Two incidents of Black Friday violence we’re following, the first one in Los Angeles via HuffingtonPost:

LOS ANGELES — A woman shot pepper spray to keep shoppers from merchandise she wanted during a Black Friday sale, and 20 people suffered minor injuries, authorities said.

The incident occurred shortly after 10:20 p.m. Thursday in a crowded Los Angeles-area Walmart as shoppers hungry for deals were let inside the store.

Police said the suspect shot the pepper spray when the coverings over the items she wanted were removed.

“Somehow she was trying to use it to gain an upper hand,” police Lt. Abel Parga told The Associated Press early Friday.

And the second in North Carolina via Associated Press:

Fenger High School coach Cassius Chambers, 28, turned himself into police yesterday for an incident on Oct. 1 when more than 20 of his football players jumped Darion Jones, 16, outside of his Chicago home.

One of the players had accused Jones of stealing his Nike flip-flops, Jones’ mother told Chicago’s NBC affiliate.

Chambers and one of his assistants, Roscoe Pitts, watched the mêlée, but did nothing to stop it, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Read more at the New York Daily News.

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The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported there were 3.8 million violent crimes last year, down from 4.3 million in 2009.

Experts aren’t sure why. The expectation had been that crime would increase in a weak economy with high unemployment like that seen in 2010.

The reality is that “we’re surprised to find how much it declines,” Professor Alfred Blumstein of Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz School said Friday.

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More than 80 percent of the decline in violent crime was attributed to a plunge in simple assaults, by 15 percent. Those assaults accounted for nearly two-thirds of all violent crimes in 2010.

The combined total of property crimes and violent crimes was down 6.6 percent last year, from 20 million to 18.7 million.

The numbers come from the National Crime Victimization Survey, which gathers information on nonfatal crimes against people aged 12 or older by questioning a nationally representative sample of U.S. households.

Turning to rates of crime per thousand residents, which takes into account population growth over time, it’s clear that the decline in violent crime is part of a long-term trend that began in 1993.

From 1993 through 2010, the rate of violent crime has declined by a whopping 70 percent: from 49.9 violent crimes per 1,000 persons age 12 or older to only 14.9 per 1,000 in 2010.

Half of this decline came between 1993 and 2001. Between 2001 and 2009, violent crime declined at a more modest annual average of 4 percent, but that rate decline jumped to 13 percent in 2010.

From 2001 through 2010, the rate of property crime fell by 28 percent.

The rate for violent crime is based on the number per thousand population. The rate for property crime is based on the number per thousand households.

Blumstein added that “the victimization survey is basically confirming” the FBI’s preliminary figures from last May on crimes reported to police during 2010. That early, incomplete FBI data showed reported crime fell across the board last year, extending a multi-year downward trend with a 5.5 percent drop in the number of violent crimes in 2010 and a 2.8 percent decline in the number of property crimes. The FBI’s final figures for last year will be released Monday.

The victimization survey figures are considered the government’s most reliable crime statistics, because they count crimes that are reported to the police as well as those which go unreported. Over the last decade, the government has found that only about half of all violent crimes and only 40 percent of property crimes are reported to police.

Because the survey is based on interviews with victims, it gathers no data on murder. But the FBI’s crime figures, based solely on what is reported to police, do provide murder figures, and they are considered quite reliable because murder has always been the least likely crime to go unreported. Murder is by far the least frequent major crime, only 15,241 in 2009.

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While the exact details are not clear, various accounts are surfacing.

In one account, Simone De Moore tased a pastor at New Welcome Baptist Church in St. Elmo, Ala. after the pastor refused to pay him money he was owed.

Investigators are reporting things differently. In their account, a deacon pulled a knife first and Moore responded by firing the taser.

Read more at YourBlackWorld.

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When I was growing up, there were always stories of random acts of violence here and there, or a tragic shooting that would periodically capture the headlines. But what was once a rarity has sadly transformed into some sort of normalized disturbing behavior.

Just within the last week, a Florida teen was accused of bludgeoning his parents to death and partying afterwards; while in Brooklyn, NY, an eight-year-old boy was kidnapped, killed and cut into pieces after he asked a stranger for directions. And in between all of this madness, there were countless shootings, stabbings and other incidents across the country. The culture of violence is out of control and it is colorless, ageless and doesn’t discriminate in choosing its victims.

Last week, staffers at the National Action Network (NAN) and I sat down with New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand as we held an urgent meeting on the staggering rise in violence. Discussing everything from removing guns off of our streets to educating young people — to providing increased recreational activities and employment — we not only touched on the root causes of this dilemma, but also what decisive action we can all take. And earlier in the month, Rev. Sharpton and I held a similar meeting during the Essence Music Festival with New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu who has young folks dying daily in his city.

When we speak of violence, often times, people resort to stereotypes or dismiss the idea all together believing that it doesn’t impact them. The truth is, innocent victims sadly come in all shapes, colors, sizes, ages, income brackets and religions. The horrific incidents of the past week are validation in that alone.

In Florida, you had a seemingly normal, suburban white teenage boy who is now accused of killing his own parents; and then hosting a party while their bodies lay in an upstairs bedroom. And in the Brooklyn Hasidic Jewish community, a young boy’s dismembered body was discovered and the culprit was allegedly a member of the same faith. This is a national epidemic and it’s time we stop pretending it only takes place “over there.”

As NAN continues its push to bring this issue to the forefront, we urge everyone to do the same. Call your local elected officials, organize a rally and ask why more isn’t being done to resolve this ever-growing catastrophe. Just as labor unions organize and convene around ideas of collective bargaining, so too must we organize around the issue of our lives. We at NAN are consistently seeking new methods of combating violence, and though we may not always have the answer, we never falter in our resolve.

On August 27^th, NAN will hold our annual march on Washington, D.C. honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (whose statue will also be unveiled that weekend). We call on everyone to join us as we seek new solutions to combating our most pressing challenges. If you cannot join us in Washington, commit to doing something somewhere in your community. The time for turning a blind eye is over; we must take decisive action now.

How can we sleep at night knowing our 16-year-old babies have guns in the next apartment, in the adjacent building, or hell even upstairs?! How can you call yourself a man or woman of the cloth, an educator, a Christian, a counselor, a parent or even a good person and not do anything?

What has happened to us?

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While its 26,000 residents make up about 6 percent of the city’s population, it accounts for 20 percent of Kansas City citizens in prison for murder or voluntary manslaughter.

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Victims ranged from family members to rival drug dealers to innocent bystanders and motives have varied. Some headlines for cases in the area read: ‘Two teens beat a 15-year-old boy to death with a baseball bat to steal his tennis shoes’ and ‘A 19-year-old massacred four family members, including a 9-year-old half-sister, after fighting with his stepfather.’ Sometimes it seemed they killed for no reason at all. “He looked at me wrong,” one assailant told police after killing a man with four shots from a .357-caliber handgun.

Many who became killers said they had few examples of legitimate success to follow in their neighborhoods.  Instead they were drawn to the fast life of hustling, stealing and dealing drugs. Jewelry, stacks of cash and new cars, often displayed by older family members, lured them.

Many think things have only gotten worse.

Read More At YourBlackWorld.com

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Waters, who served as president of the West Ward Little League for 13 years, is said to be the only thing that separates his young players from the prevalent drug activity on the streets of Newark. He is seen by most community members as a strong, positive father figure for his players who affectionately call him “coach.”

Though Waters is revered by most, one former coach allegedly sought revenge after being fired by Waters for cursing in front of players. Henry Milstrey reportedly attacked Waters after a June 8 game in Valisburg Park. He was charged with aggravated assault.

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William Bell still can’t sleep at night.

“It’s not easy,” said Bell, the father of Sean Bell, the 23-year-old groom-to-be gunned down outside of a Queens night-club in 2006 on the night of his bachelor party by a team of plainclothes policemen.

This revelation came during a panel on violence and grief at the 2011 National Action Network convention.

“It’s one side of the situation that something may happen to you. It’s another side to deal with what happened to you,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who introduced the discussion.

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The Bell family, including Sean’s mother Valerie and would-be wife Nicole, made a special appearance on the panel — moderated by Terrie Williams, author of “Black Pain,” and including other victims of personal tragedies.

Valerie Bell spoke about the painful, visceral connection with her son the night he died. She had never felt labor pains with Sean, she said, having given birth by Cesarean section. But on the night of his murder, she said, “that was the night I felt my labor pains.”

William Bell discussed the difficulty of expressing emotion for some Black men, but readily admitted that he weeps openly.

“From birth, Black men are told: suck it up. Don’t show emotion,” Williams responded.

Also on the panel was Donna Hood, mother of Kevin Lamont Miller Jr., a 13-year-old bullet killed by a stray bullet in Queens.

“It’s come to a point where we expect, it’s okay to bury our children,” she said, breaking into tears.

At one point, Williams asked every mother and father in the audience who has lost a child to stand up. About six did, and she invited them all to the podium to tell their stories.

One man shared the story of his own son that was shot and killed. As he left the podium, William Bell stood up to embrace the man, revealing on his back an artist’s drawing of his son Sean.

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DAMASCUS, Syria — Violence erupted around Syria on Friday as troops opened fire on protesters in several cities and pro- and anti-government crowds clashed on the tense streets of the capital in the most widespread unrest in years, witnesses said.

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Soldiers shot at demonstrators in the restive southern city of Daraa after crowds set fire to a bronze statue of the country’s late president, Hafez Assad, a resident told The Associated Press. Heavy gunfire could be heard in the city center and witnesses reported several casualties, the resident said on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

An activist told the AP that witnesses had reported one demonstrator shot dead by security forces in the coastal city of Latakia, and another slain in the central city of Homs. He said several people had been hospitalized in Latakia.

In the capital, Damascus, people shouting in support of the Daraa protesters clashed with regime supporters outside the historic Umayyad mosque, hitting each other with leather belts.

The violence erupted after tens of thousands of Syrians took to the streets across the country, shouting calls for greater freedoms in support of a more than week-long uprising in Daraa, according to witnesses, activists and footage posted online.

The demonstrations and ensuing crackdown were a major escalation of the showdown between President Bashar Assad’s regime and the crowds in Daraa who – inspired by pro-democracy unrest elsewhere in the Arab world – began protesting conditions in the drought-stricken south last week in demonstrations that have now spread around the country.

An activist in Damascus in touch with eyewitnesses in the southern village of Sanamein said troops there opened fire on demonstrators trying to march to Daraa, a short distance away. He said there had been witness reports of fatalities, some claiming as many as 20 slain, but those could not be independently confirmed.

A video posted on Facebook by Syrian pro-democracy activists showed what it said were five dead young men lying on stretchers as men weeped around them. The voice of a woman can be heard saying “down with Bashar Assad.”

Much of Damascus was tense, with convoys of young people roaming the streets in their cars, honking incessantly and waving out pictures of Bashar Assad and Syrian flags. The convoys briefly blocked streets in some areas.

About 200 people demonstrated after the Friday prayers at the Thawra Bridge, near the central Marjeh Square, chanting “our souls, our blood we sacrifice for you Daraa!” and “freedom! freedom!” They were chased by security forces who beat them some of them with batons and detained others, an activist said on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisals.

Thousands flooded Daraa’s central Assad Square before the shooting broke out, many from nearby villages, chanting “Freedom! Freedom!” and waving Syrian flags and olive branches, a resident told The Associated Press by telephone.

Speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, he claimed that more than 50,000 people were shouting slogans decrying presidential adviser Buthaina Shaaban, who promised Thursday that the government would consider a series of reforms in response to a week of unrest in Daraa.

A human rights activist, quoting witnesses, said thousands of people gathered in the town of Douma outside the capital, Damascus, pledging support for the people of Daraa. The activists asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution.

Security forces dispersed the crowd by chasing them away, beating some with batons and detaining others, an activist said, asking that his name not be published for fear of reprisals by the government.

In the city of Aleppo, hundreds of worshippers came out of mosques shouting “with our lives, our souls, we sacrifice for you Bashar” and “Only God, Syria and Bashar!”

Residents in Homs said hundreds of people demonstrated in support of Daraa and demanded reforms.

The activist said that in Latakia, more than 1,000 people marched in the streets after Friday prayers. In the northern city of Raqqa, scores marched and several people were detained, he said.

And in the western city of Zabadani, near the border with Lebanon, several people were detained after protesting, he said.

Journalists who tried to enter Daraa’s Old City – where most of the violence took place – were escorted out of town Friday by two security vehicles.

“As you can see, everything is back to normal and it is over,” an army major, standing in front of the ruling Baath party head office in Daraa, told journalists before they were led out of the city.

Security forces appeared to be trying to reduce tension in Daraa by dismantling checkpoints and ensuring there was no visible army presence on the streets for the first time since last Friday, when the protests began.

Rattled by the unrest, the Syrian government Thursday pledged to consider lifting some of the Mideast’s most repressive laws in an attempt to stop the weeklong uprising from spreading and threatening its nearly 50-year rule.

But the promises were immediately rejected by many activists who called for demonstrations around the country on Friday in response to a crackdown that protesters say killed dozens of anti-government marchers in Daraa.

“We will not forget the martyrs of Daraa,” a resident told The Associated Press by telephone. “If they think this will silence us they are wrong.”

Assad, a close ally of Iran and its regional proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas, has promised increased freedoms for discontented citizens and increased pay and benefits for state workers – a familiar package of incentives offered by other nervous Arab regimes in recent weeks.

Shaaban, the presidential adviser, also said the Baath party would study ending a state of emergency that it put in place after taking power in 1963.

The emergency laws, which have been a feature of many Arab countries, allow people to be arrested without warrants and imprisoned without trial. Human rights groups say violations of other basic liberties are rife in Syria, with torture and abuse common in police stations, detention centers and prisons, and dissenters regularly imprisoned for years without due process.

The death toll from the weeklong crackdown was unclear and could not be independently confirmed, although activists say it was in the dozens before Friday and could have been as high as 100. Shaaban said 34 people had been killed in the conflict.

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Police also fired water cannons at one of the country’s leading pro-democracy advocates, Mohamed ElBaradei, and his supporters as they joined the latest wave of protests after noon prayers. Police used batons to beat some of ElBaradei’s supporters, who surrounded him to protect him.

A soaking wet ElBaradei was trapped inside a mosque while hundreds of riot police laid siege to it, firing tear gas in the streets around so no one could leave. The tear gas canisters set several cars ablaze outside the mosque and several people fainted and suffered burns.

Large groups of protesters, in the thousands, were gathered at at least six venues in Cairo, a city of about 18 million people, and many of them were on the move marching toward major squares and across Nile bridges.

They are demanding Mubarak’s ouster and venting their rage at years of government neglect of rampant poverty, unemployment and rising food prices.

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Netherlands— The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor named a former Kenyan Cabinet minister and five others on Wednesday as the alleged orchestrators of postelection violence in 2007 that left more than 1,000 people dead.

Luis Moreno Ocampo wants judges to charge six Kenyan leaders, including the son of the country’s founding father, with crimes against humanity including murder, rape and tortue. But it is the case against former higher education minister William Ruto that could cause the most violent backlash in Kenya.

Kenya’s police commissioner, Mathew K. Iteere warned that “criminal elements” were looking to use Moreno-Ocampo’s announcement as an opportunity break the law and vowed to crack down on any outbreaks of violence.

Moreno-Ocampo alleged that Ruto began plotting attacks on supporters of President Mwai Kibaki a year before the election and worked together with Minister for Industrialization, Henry Kosgey and radio broadcaster Joshua Sang to coordinate a campaign of killing and forced deportations in the Rift Valley.

In a separate case, Moreno-Ocampo charged Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta — son of Kenyan independence hero and founding president Jomo Kenyatta — alongside Cabinet secretary Francis Muthaura and former police commissioner Maj. Gen. Mohammed Hussein Ali with murder, deportation, persecution, rape and inhumane acts allegedly committed in retaliation against supporters of Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Deadly clashes erupted after Kenya’s disputed 2007 presidential election, including indiscriminate bow and arrow, machete and gunfire attacks that killed more than 1,000.

“These six are the persons most responsible according to our evidence,” Moreno Ocampo told reporters in The Hague. He asked judges to confirm the charges and order the six suspects to turn themselves in to the war crimes tribunal.

Judges will study the prosecutor’s evidence and likely make their decision early next year.

In Kenya, President Mwai Kibaki said the government had intensified security around the country to protect lives and property of all citizens. Kibaki also said the government is committed to establishign a local tribunal to deal with post-election violence, an idea that has resurfaced only this week as the Moreno Ocampo announcement lommed.

“As a nation we must also focus on the need for national healing and reconciliation. This is paramount as we move forward on the path of national peace and unity,” the Kibaki statement said. “I appeal to Kenyans to remain calm. The government will remain vigilant and ensure that the rights of its citizens and the dignity of the nation are upheld.”

Moreno Ocampo said he expects the suspects to surrender voluntarily. He also asked them to not contact each other, to not try to interfere with the investigation or trial, or commit new crimes.

The clashes erupted along tribal lines following an announcement that Kibaki — a Kikuyu — had won a vote that opponents said was rigged. A bloodbath was stopped only after former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan mediated a peace agreement that created a coalition government in which Odinga was appointed prime minister.

Kenya attempted to set up a tribunal but parliament shut it down and no major figure has ever faced justice. The ICC took over the case after the failure to prosecute suspects in Kenya.

The clashes severely damaged Kenya’s reputation. The East African country has the region’s largest economy and has long been regarded as a haven of stability in a region roiled by war.

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BOISE, Idaho – The surveillance video from the overhead cameras shows Hanni Elabed being beaten by a fellow inmate in an Idaho prison, managing to bang on a prison guard station window, pleading for help. Behind the glass, correctional officers look on, but no one intervenes when Elabed is knocked unconscious.

No one steps into the cellblock when the attacker sits down to rest, and no one stops him when he resumes the beating.

Videos of the attack obtained by The Associated Press show officers watching the beating for several minutes. The footage is a key piece of evidence for critics who claim the privately run Idaho Correctional Center uses inmate-on-inmate violence to force prisoners to snitch on their cellmates or risk being moved to extremely violent units.

Lawsuits from inmates contend the company that runs the prison, the Corrections Corporation of America, denies prisoners medical treatment as a way of covering up the assaults. They have dubbed the Idaho lockup “gladiator school” because it is so violent.

The AP initially sought a copy of the videos from state court, but Idaho 4th District Judge Patrick Owen denied that request. The AP decided to publish the videos after a person familiar with the case verified their authenticity.

The videos show at least three guards watching as Elabed was stomped on a dozen times. At no time during the recorded sequence did anyone try to pull away James Haver, a short, slight man.

About two minutes after Haver stopped the beating of his own accord, the metal cellblock door was unlocked. Haver was handcuffed and Elabed was examined for signs of life. He bled inside his skull and would spend three days in a coma.

CCA, the nation’s largest private prison company, said it was “highly disappointed and deeply concerned” over AP’s decision to release the videos.

“Public release of the video poses an unnecessary security risk to our staff, the inmates entrusted to our care, and ultimately to the public,” the prison company said in a statement.

Violence behind bars and misconduct by guards is common, regardless of whether prisons are run by the government or private companies. CCA, which oversees some 75,000 inmates in more than 60 facilities under contracts with the federal government, 19 states and the District of Columbia, is no exception.

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The incident happened Monday night in Lexington right before a debate between Paul and Democratic opponent Jack Conway.

Lauren Valle of liberal group MoveOn.org, told Louisville station WDRB she was trying to give Paul a fake award when his supporters took her to the ground.

Television footage shows Valle’s blonde wig being pulled off before she’s pinned to the ground. A man then puts his foot down on her head. Valle said the incident left her with “a bit of a headache.”

A police watch commander said early Tuesday that she didn’t know if any arrests were made.

Paul’s campaign released a statement calling the altercation “incredibly unfortunate” and expressed relief that the woman was not injured.

“Violence of any kind has no place in our civil discourse and we urge supporters on all sides to be civil to one another as tensions rise heading toward this very important election,” the statement said.

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The Baltimore Sun is reporting that a man who was recently released from prison is being accused of stabbing one man to death and injuring seven others.

A 28-year-old man who was recently released from prison was charged Saturday night in what police described as a bloody melee that left one dead and seven others wounded at a high school reunion in Cherry Hill earlier the same day.

James L. Dixon of 900 Kevin Road was charged with fatally stabbing Carrington McNutt and injuring at least seven others at a Walbrook High School reunion for classes 1995 through 2005 at the Patapsco Arena on Annapolis Road, said Agent Donny Moses, a police spokesman.

“One individual basically went on a stabbing rampage,” he said.

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On Wednesday, July 28th a 13-year-old boy died after he was repeatedly shot as he rode his bicycle near his West Pullman home. The young-man, whose name was Robert Freeman was shot 22 times.

Roland Martin appears on Rick’s List with fill-in host Don Lemon to discuss the unrelenting epidemic of violence amongst Chicago’s youth. Ronald Holt and Annette Nance-Holt, who lost their son, Blair Holt in a 2007 shooting join the conversation by phone. Chicago community activist, Victor Woods also weighs in on the topic.

WATCH: Chicago’s children under siege.

Part 1

Part 2

HOUSTON (AP) — A 14-year-old who gave birth at her friend’s Houston apartment, then helped discard the newborn’s body after he suffocated, was arrested after a child who witnessed the death told a school counselor, authorities said Tuesday.

Houston police said no adults were present — only another 14-year-old and two 11-year-olds — when the girl gave birth April 16, and the group learned about child birth from the Internet. The newborn was placed on a mattress and was “alive for some time,” but died after his head was covered with the amniotic sac, Senior Officer C.P. Abbey said.

“We were a little surprised ourselves that these kids gave birth in an apartment,” Abbey said. “Our question to them was, ‘How did you know how to do this?’ and they said they had looked it up on a computer.”

The newborn never cried, and no one called 911.

Instead, after the infant died, the group wrapped him in a plastic bag and called an adult neighbor, who told police he put the baby in a large trash bin at the apartment complex. The group also threw out the bed linens, clothing and the bed.

The garbage had been taken to a landfill by the time investigators learned about the death. They said the landfill was too big to search.

Text continues after gallery

The neighbor has not been charged, but the “possibility exists,” Abbey said.

Police began investigating after one of the 11-year-olds told an elementary school counselor she witnessed the death a week earlier. The counselor, a former Houston police officer, called police.

The 14-year-old mother was charged Monday with a felony charge of injury to a child, police said. She was is the custody of Harris County’s juvenile probation department, spokeswoman Kendall Mayfield said.

The arrest wasn’t made until this week because investigators had to not only identify the mother, but talk to other witnesses, school district officials and counselors, Houston police spokesman John Cannon.

The infant’s father is also a juvenile, but was not present at the birth and has not been charged.

The mother’s 11-year-old sister, who witnessed the birth, was the only person to know of the pregnancy, Abbey said. The children’s parents were at work during the incident.

“Everybody’s parents work, they were not aware of what was going on,” he said.

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From The Root

”Despite overall crime numbers falling in recent years, black-on-black [emphasis added] violence remains a prevalent issue,” the newspaper reported.

You can expect to hear these key phrases on a local television news report near you as temperatures–and tempers–rise this summer. Black clergy like Al Sharpton, prominent black thinkers like Kevin Powell, and writers at black journals like the Urban Politico will shake their heads at this ”black” scourge, self-flagellating that ”we gotta do better.”

Of course, any loss of life is cause to scream from the mountaintops. But explaining the tragedies by using loaded phrases like ”black-on-black” violence is dangerously wrong. First, in a country that is essentially still segregated (and not necessarily by black people’s choice) what race do you expect for both victim and perpetrators to be? Language like ”black-on-black violence” effectively smacks a racial label on problems that are socioeconomic and thus the collective, moral responsibility of every American.

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From The New York Daily News

Reputed Jamaican druglord Christopher (Dudus) Coke, the subject of an islandwide manhunt, has reportedly volunteered to surrender himself to officials in New York.

After attempts to arrest him in Kingston turned into urban warfare that left dozens dead, Coke began negotiating with U.S. authorities, federal sources said.

The 41-year-old alleged head of the notorious Shower Posse could be in custody in Manhattan by the end of the weekend. He is wanted in New York on multiple counts of drug-running and gun-running.

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VIDEO: Jamaican Violence Is Due To U.S. War On Drugs

Who’s To Blame For The Violence In Jamaica?

Who is to blame for the violence in Jamaica? Is it the police? Is it the infamous drug lord Dudus (also known as Christopher Coke)? Is it Prime Minister Bruce Golding for harboring Dudus for so long? Is it the Jamaican Labour Party for supporting Dudus? Is it the opposition People’s National Party for supporting drug Dons of  their own? Is it the people of Tivoli Gardens who pledged to sacrifice their lives for Dudus? Is it the U.S.A. for producing and selling the guns that are being used in the gun fights and buying the drugs that are made Dudus so rich and powerful?

The answer is all of the above. The culture of Dons and Garrisons and their connections to politicians and political parties have allowed Dudus to become as powerful as he is. The global economic structure has left Jamaica an impoverished country with little ways of earning money besides tourism, music and drugs. This allows drug dealers like Dudus to replace the government as the leading force that provides for poor communities.

The Jamaican police bare a lot of responsibility for the violence. Police in Jamaica have a reputation for killing civilians and brutality. This is one of the reasons for the tense relationship between the police in Jamaica and people in the Garrisons.

The Jamaican Labour Party has protected and empowered Dudus for years, as they did his father Lester Coke, also know as Jim Brown. Still the opposition party, the People’s National Party has its connections to gangsters and garrisons too.

America has its own role in the violence going on in Jamaica. It was the U.S.  who indicted Dudus on criminal charges and demanded that Jamaica arrest him. The USA supported, trained and armed the Shower Posse (which Dudus now heads) to help the JLP fight the PNP in the seventies and eighties, when Jamaica was developing a relationship with Cuba. In many ways the U.S.A. is responsible for Tivoli Gardens becoming the stronghold it is today and Dons like Dudis being as powerful as they are. The guns that are being used by the criminals are being shipped from the US and the US is supplying the Jamaican police with weapons as well. Dudus is rich because of Americans buying drugs not Jamaicans.

Still rather than blaming people for the violence, everybody in Jamaica and the USA should work together to solve the problems. Jamaica must end political corruption and police brutality and, both political parties must abandon the use of Dons and Garrisons to get political support in return for favors.

The USA needs to change its guns laws so drug lords aren’t able to stockpile weaponry to rival policemen in their countries. It also needs to stop its drug intake so these druglords don’t become the biggest support of income to their countries.

The international community must come together to find for countries like Jamaica have economies and ways to generate income other than drugs. All over the third world we see that drugs, guns and poverty always equal violence and killing. Jamaica is a small country and is as much affected by laws in the U.S. as Americans are.

If the U.S. can change its laws on drugs and guns to prohibit men like Dudus from becoming rich drug lords, with small armies that have arsenals of weapons, we can prevent future incidents like the one in Tivol Gardens. If the international community and rich first world nations can change the system of neo-colonialism that leaves third world countries poor and dependent on rich ones, drug dealers could no longer rival governments for power and the cycle of guns, drugs, poverty and violence can finally end.

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NEWARK, N.J. — The first defendant to be tried for a triple schoolyard killing that jolted New Jersey’s largest city into addressing its crime problem nearly three years ago was convicted on all counts Monday.

Rodolfo Godinez, a Nicaraguan who was one of six men and boys charged with the brutal slayings, was convicted on all 17 counts. A jury returned the verdict in state Superior Court after nearly four hours of deliberations.

The killings of Dashon Harvey, Iofemi Hightower and Terrance Aeriel spurred a wave of anti-crime measures in Newark, from jump-starting a surveillance camera project to expanding access to gun-trace data.

A fourth victim survived and testified against Godinez. She is not being identified by The Associated Press because of sexual assault charges against two other defendants. All four victims were enrolled or about to be enrolled at Delaware State University.

Family members of the victims wept and rubbed one another’s backs quietly as the verdict was read. Earlier, when it was announced the jury had reached a verdict, several of them gasped and started clapping. The judge warned the gallery to stay calm once the verdict was read.

“When I first found out my son was attacked and killed in a schoolyard playground, I blamed it on the parents” who don’t teach children right from wrong, said Dashon Harvey’s father, James Harvey. “When you let them run astray, these are the types of things that can happen to any child.”

The three victims were found slumped against a wall of the playground, each having suffered a gunshot wound to the back of the head. Hightower and the survivor also were slashed with a machete.

The six defendants in the case are being tried separately.

Attorney General Paula Dow called the Godinez’ verdict; “just one of six pieces of a cold-blooded puzzle, that shocked this city, this state, this nation three years ago.”

Without a wealth of physical evidence tying Godinez to the scene – he left DNA on a beer bottle at the playground but wasn’t tied to the gun or knife used in the attacks – prosecutors used statements Godinez made to police and to a jailhouse acquaintance that appeared to implicate him.

Before deliberations, state Superior Court Judge Michael Ravin instructed jurors that, under New Jersey’s accomplice liability statute, they could find Godinez guilty of the murders even though there was no evidence presented that he pulled the trigger.

Godinez’s attorney, Roy Greenman, had argued his client was at the scene but didn’t take part in the attacks.

Godinez will be sentenced July 8 and could spend the rest of his life in prison.

The publicity surrounding the killings jump-started an effort to buy and install surveillance cameras and a gunshot-detection system in the city’s most dangerous neighborhoods.

State officials also gave police the authority to refer violent crime suspects’ names to immigration authorities if they were suspected of being in the country illegally, a response to the fact that one of the six suspects was free on bail for other crimes despite being an illegal immigrant.

Other changes followed, including the instituting of penalties for gun owners who fail to report lost or stolen weapons and a first-of-its-kind agreement to allow all New Jersey municipalities access to a federal gun-tracing database.

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From The Atlanta-Journal Constitution

Jerode Paige — aka Yung Hott — died at the scene of the quadruple shooting in which at least 20 rounds were fired. Four others, including a 5-year-old girl, suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

The girl was playing in a toy car in her yard when she was wounded in her left foot. She was treated at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston and released Sunday.

Paige, 27, was filming his first video. His uncle, Kenny Paige, was among some 150 people who were working on the video or watching when the gunfire erupted.

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CHICAGO — Police in Chicago say two people were shot to death in an apparent murder-suicide at the Old Navy clothing store in the heart of the city’s Loop retail corridor.

Chicago Police Officer spokesman John Mirabelli says details are sketchy about Friday’s shootings but that it appears the deaths were part of a domestic dispute.

After the shooting, crowds of pedestrians gathered on the sidewalk outside the shuttered store, which is just blocks from Chicago’s City Hall. The store’s metal security gates had been lowered and yellow police tape blocked off the scene.

Louise Callagy, a spokeswoman for Old Navy’s owner Gap Inc., says the 3-story location has been shut while the retailer works with investigators.

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NAIROBI, Kenya – More people die from polluted water every year than from all forms of violence, including war, the U.N. said in a report Monday that highlights the need for clean drinking water.

The report, launched Monday to coincide with World Water Day, said an estimated 2 billion tons of waste water — including fertilizer run-off, sewage and industrial waste — is being discharged daily. That waste fuels the spread of disease and damages ecosystems.

“Sick Water” — the report from the U.N. Environment Program — said that 3.7 percent of all deaths are attributed to water-related diseases, translating into millions of deaths. More than half of the world’s hospital beds are filled by people suffering from water-related illnesses, it said.

“If we are not able to manage our waste, then that means more people dying from waterborne diseases,” said Achim Steiner, the U.N. Undersecretary General and executive director of UNEP.

The report says that it takes 3 liters of water to produce one liter of bottled water, and that bottled water in the U.S. requires the consumption of some 17 million barrels of oil yearly.

Improved wastewater management in Europe has resulted in significant environmental improvements there, the UNEP said, but that dead zones in oceans are still spreading worldwide. Dead zones are oxygen-deprived areas caused by pollution.

“If the world is to thrive, let alone to survive on a planet of 6 billion people heading to over 9 billion by 2050, we need to get collectively smarter and more intelligent about how we manage waste, including wastewaters,” Steiner said.

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From NYTimes.com:

POLOKWANE, South Africa — Men in Westenburg Township went hunting Zimbabweans. They prowled its dirt roads by the truckload as night fell recently, brandishing clubs and throwing stones.

At dawn that day, the body of Steven Hamilton, a 24-year-old local man, had been found near a tavern. In a flash, word spread that drunken Zimbabweans had stabbed him in the chest. By the time people returned home from work, the township had erupted. Men shouted for the Zimbabweans to be killed, or for them to go back where they came from.

Mike Mpofu, 34, a former high school art teacher from Zimbabwe who sells vegetables from a shed, saw the mob coming. Charneal Carelse, a South African teenager whose family had befriended Mr. Mpofu, happened to be walking by. “I told her, ‘There is war coming,’ ” he said.

Charneal said she told him to hide in her house, and he took off running.

In May 2008, South Africa’s image as a home to people of all races and nationalities took a hard knock as xenophobic violence leapt from city to city, victimizing poor Africans who had sought asylum and opportunity in the region’s richest country.

In the year and a half since, such attacks have flared periodically, but recent ones against Zimbabweans here, near South Africa’s northern border, and at its southern tip have brought the problem to the fore again.

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WASHINGTON – A 29-year-old homeless woman has given birth to a baby girl after, police said, she was befriended by a Maryland woman who held her captive for several days and tried to cut the baby from her womb.

Officer Michelle Reedy, a spokeswoman for Prince George’s County police, said 40-year-old Veronica Deramous of Suitland, Md., has been charged with attempted first-degree murder, false imprisonment and other related charges. Police said Deramous befriended Teka Adams at a southeast Washington homeless shelter and persuaded her to come to her apartment on Dec. 1 with a promise of baby clothes and other items for the unborn child.

Once there, Reedy said, Deramous bound the woman, who was in her third trimester. Days later, the woman escaped after Deramous tried to cut the unborn baby from her body, Reedy said.

“She bound the victim’s hands and proceeded to try to cut the victim’s abdomen to try to get the baby out,” she said. “They believe she wanted the victim’s baby.”

Police said Deramous told some people she was pregnant even though she was not.

Police said Adams is expected to recover. Her daughter — named Miracle Sky — was delivered by emergency Cesarean section.
When police found Adams her “abdomen was cut and her intestines, stomach and placenta were exposed,” according a police report. In the apartment, officers found bloody towels and a bowl with water and washcloths on a bedroom floor. They also found a box cutter and some razor blades, which they believe Deramous used to cut Adams, Reedy said.

According to the police report, Deramous had her 17-year-old son hold Adams’ hands behind her back as she bound her with duct tape and then held her in a bedroom for several days. Her son has not been charged.

On Saturday, Deramous told Adams: “You’re strong, you can handle what I’m going to do to you,” the report said. She then turned up the volume of the TV in the bedroom, gagged Adams and began to cut her abdomen open. Adams moaned in pain and Deramous stopped, police said.

While Deramous slept early Sunday, Adams freed herself and fled the apartment. She went upstairs and knocked on doors before a neighbor called police. Deramous’ son told police after his mother saw Adams outside, the two women began fighting and neighbors came out, the report said. Deramous and her son then left before police arrived.

Deramous was later arrested in Virginia’s Arlington County. She remained in Virginia on Tuesday while she awaits being transported to Maryland to face the charges. There was no attorney listed for Deramous on online court records and prosecutors did not know of one.

A nun who answered the phone at the Queen of Peace, Missionaries of Charity shelter for pregnant women in southeast Washington told The Associated Press that the victim had stayed there for at least one month and left the shelter last week, but did not know Deramous.

The county Department of Social Services said it is accepting donations on behalf of the family, including clothing and money, after receiving several calls on Tuesday from those wanting to help.

Deramous was expected to appear in court on Wednesday.

Watch The Video

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Senior Sgt. Mark Todd confirmed he shot Maj. Nadil Malik Hasan, the alleged Fort Hood gunman, after eyewitness accounts surfaced that contradicted reports of Sgt. Kimberly Munley taking down shooter.

During an appearance on CBS’ “The Early Show” Thursday, Todd said that after Munley was shot, he “drew [the gunman's] attention towards me and then he opened fire and then I neutralized him and secured him.”

The statement appears to confirm an eyewitness account in the New York Times that credits Todd with bringing down Hasan, but Todd was careful to use the term “we” in other references to the incident during his interview with “Early Show” co-host Harry Smith.

On Wednesday, Munley appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” alongside Todd and described the scene as “confusing and chaotic” but she remembers getting shot.

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From ABC Action News

TAMPA, FL — One person was arrested after a brawl erupted at a wedding reception Sunday night in Tampa, injuring the groom’s father and grandmother, Tampa Police said.

Markeith Brown and Tasha Johnson got married Sunday. They held their reception at the Rusty Pelican in Tampa.

According to Tampa Police, sometime during the reception, someone took offense when Brown tossed dollar bills on the dance floor for children to grab. Brown and his brother confronted the person who took offense and that led to an altercation.

The fight spilled outside into the parking lot with 30-40 people taking up sides. Tampa Police came out and quickly stopped the fight, separating both sides.

“It started out as a celebration of wedding nuptials and then basically turned into a wedding gone wild,” said Laura McElroy, Tampa Police spokeswoman.

The wildness did not stop. Tampa Police said a second fight broke out later that night at the Residence Inn in Tampa where many guests were staying.

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WALTERBORO, S.C. — A South Carolina mother fruitlessly tried to shield her 20-month-old toddler from a barrage of bullets in a drive-by shooting that killed the baby and two adults and injured at least five others, relatives said Tuesday.

Relatives said the victims were playing cards Monday night in the front yard of the small beige bungalow in the small town of Walterboro when a car pulled up and opened fire.

“Everybody was sitting outside. Instead of shooting at one guy, they shot at everybody,” said Dominique Adams, 21, a cousin who lives nearby. “The mother, she tried to shield the baby, but the bullet went through the baby’s head and through the mother’s arm.”

Colleton County Coroner Richard Harvey said Charles Kittrell, 45, died at the scene. The baby, Shaniyah Burden, and Christopher Powell, 21, died at hospitals.

Adams identified the mother as Aleshia Kittrell, 24, saying she had been taken to Colleton Medical Center, but the hospital did not confirm she was a patient.

The motive for the shootings was unknown, but some relatives and neighbors suspected it was gang-related. No arrests have been reported.

Officers were looking for a black car with one headlight, Police Capt. Ken Dasen said. He referred other questions to the State Law Enforcement Division. A SLED spokeswoman said she couldn’t immediately provide details.

Bessie Kittrell, 69, said she lost her son, Charles, a grandson, Christopher, and a great-granddaughter in the shooting. She said she almost lost a second great-grandchild: Powell had put his 8-month-old son inside the house a short time before the shooting.

“It’s a good thing he put his baby in the house earlier or they would have killed that one, too,” Bessie Kittrell said.
A friend of the family, Pamela Overton, 49, said the shooting was gang-related and that Powell had been shot at before.

“These people here are low-key people, they are common people, they don’t bother anybody. The lady in this house raised me. She was like a mother to me,” Overton said of Powell’s mother.

“The vendetta is probably something stupid, over a girl or something, but this is the second time this young man has been targeted.” Overton said. “He was like my littler brother, I loved him. I just saw him the other day. They are very good people, just common folk, hardworking people.”

She said the younger man did not live at the house.

Ella Adams, who said she was Powell’s aunt, said she did not believe her nephew was being targeted.

“It was a gang, but the people they shot were not in the gang,” Adams said. “You’re not safe in your own yard. That’s what they are saying.”

Adams said people often stopped by Kittrell’s house to ask to play cards. “Perhaps one of the gang members was in there,” she said.

Ginni Keeling, 22, who identified herself as a cousin of the family who lived nearby, said they often played cards and watched television in the front yard of the house.

“I’ve been over here since I was 13 years old. I ain’t never seen anything like this,” she said.

Keeling said she’d left the scene about 15 minutes before the shooting with her two young children and she got a call from another relative at the scene of the shooting.

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From The Atlanta-Journal Costituition

Police are still trying to get a description of the suspects who shot three teenage girls in Clayton County.
The girls were rushed to the hospital Tuesday afternoon after being shot in a drive-by on Plover Road in an unincorporated section of  Clayton near Jonesboro, said Clayton police spokesman Officer Kevin Hughes.

On Wednesday, Hughes said detectives are following several leads, but still do not have a concrete description of the vehicle or the gunman.

Four teenage girls were standing on the side of the road talking to a group of boys when a car pulled up,  Hughes said.

Several men were inside the car. As the car slowly drove by, one of the men opened fire.
The gunman fired at least 11 shots before the car sped off, Hughes said. Three of the girls were struck.

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WASHINGTON — The White House says cell phone video showing the fatal beating of a 16-year-old honors student in Chicago is “chilling.” It came up at President Barack Obama’s morning meeting in the Oval Office.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs on Wednesday said the video of teens viciously kicking and striking another teen with splintered railroad ties is among the most shocking anyone can see. He told reporters they should expect an announcement on an administration response to the “heinous crime” soon.

Gibbs says, though, that government cannot regulate what’s in people’s hearts. He says the White House believes such crimes call for community involvement.

Prosecutors in Chicago have charged four teenagers with fatally beating Derrion Albert, a sophomore honor roll student. Officials say Albert was walking to a bus stop when he got caught up in the mob’s street fighting.

From the NY Daily News:

A federal judge sentenced four racist goons to prison Thursday for their Election Night attacks in Staten Island against African-Americans who they believed had voted for Barack Obama.

“The victims were selected for no other reason than what the defendants believed was the color of their skin,” said Brooklyn Federal Judge Carol Amon. “The victims had done nothing to these four young men other than exist.”

From Al Jazeera:

Nigeria’s largest militant group has said it is to end its ceasefire and resume attacks against Africa’s biggest oil and gas industry.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) said the move to end the truce on on September 15 was in response to the government’s 60-day amnesty programme.

The government has invited fighter groups to hand in their weapons in return for cash, jobs and pardons under the scheme.

Mend, a loose coalition of militant groups in the Niger Delta, denounced the hundreds of rebels that have participated in the amnesty, which began two weeks ago.

“The ongoing amnesty programme by the government of Nigeria seems to have achieved separating those who still have the zeal to fight for our freedom from those who were in it for the money,” the group said in a statement.

Mend declared a two-month ceasefire in July to allow for peace talks, but said it was now suspending negotiations with the government.

Hundreds of militant group members surrendered their weapons, mortar bombs and gunboats on Saturday.

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