Deputy gunned down while serving eviction notice — Modesto, CA
Deputy Robert “Bob” Paris volunteered to work for the sheriff’s civil division, which included serving eviction notices throughout Stanislaus County. A dangerous but necessary job.
“He loved it,” said Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson. “He put in for it. He was chosen.”
For nearly 16 years, the sheriff said Paris served the department with dedication, working several jobs from patrol deputy to the sheriff’s water enforcement team. His life ended Thursday at age 53 after he was gunned down while serving an eviction notice at a north Modesto apartment.
Authorities had not released the identity of the second person killed. The name will be released pending proper family notification.
Deputy Robert “Bob” Paris volunteered to work for the sheriff’s civil division, which included serving eviction notices throughout Stanislaus County. A dangerous but necessary job.
“He loved it,” said Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson. “He put in for it. He was chosen.”
For nearly 16 years, the sheriff said Paris served the department with dedication, working several jobs from patrol deputy to the sheriff’s water enforcement team. His life ended Thursday at age 53 after he was gunned down while serving an eviction notice at a north Modesto apartment.
Authorities had not released the identity of the second person killed. The name will be released pending proper family notification.
http://www.officer.com/news/10695392/california-deputy-killed-serving-eviction-notice
• 26 May 2012 • 78 notes
String of smash n’ grabs at AT&T stores — Susquehanna Valley, PA
Police in the Susquehanna Valley area are investigating several smash and grabs that happened at AT&T stores this week.
Apparently, the burglars used rocks to smash in glass doors and they moved quickly.
An AT&T store at the Shoppes of Susquehanna is just one of several where the burglars used rocks to break in. Police say they looked like pros, in and out in less than one minute.
Police say the burglars broke into AT&T stores in Carlisle, Camp Hill, Harrisburg, Susquehanna Township even Allentown and Bethlehem.
“We know it was four individuals wearing hoodies and we believe they also used burgundy colored van, a mini van,” stated Carlisle Police Chief Stephen Margeson.
Carlisle Police Chief Stephen Margeson says the thieves took off with demo phones and accessories. He believes that the thefts are all related.
“It’s logical to assume that they’re related,” Margeson added. “The same people or some of the same people were involved.”
He’s working with different law enforcement agencies to catch them.
“Our detective who is handling that will make sure that we reach out and talk to some other agencies,” Margeson commented.
http://www.whptv.com/news/local/story/Several-smash-and-grab-burglaries-at-AT-T-stores/X96BA4Vg90OZXMXoS3NrhQ.cspx
• 25 May 2012 • 4 notes
Wal-Mart evacuated after fire deliberately set inside — London, Ontario, Canada
Shoppers inside a Wal-Mart store in St. Thomas were forced to evacuate late Sunday morning due to a fire, which police say they believe was deliberately set.
A patrol officer noticed smoke coming from the area behind the Wal Mart on Talbot St., about 11:30 am Sunday morning and quickly alerted the fire department, police said.
The fire was started along the rear exterior wall and flames spread through the wall and into a storage area, filling the entire store with smoke.
All of the customers and staff were evacuated. One woman was taken to hospital and treated for smoke inhalation, but there were no serious injuries.
Police said the products sitting in the Wal Mart storage area suffered smoke, fire and water damage. The total cost of the damage remains unknown.
St. Thomas police and the Ontario Fire Marshals Office are investigating.
http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2012/05/20/19780796.html
• 25 May 2012 • 9 notes
Thieves steal thousands of dollars worth of copper from energy company — Wichita, KS
Thieves broke into a Westar Energy warehouse in the 4400 block of North Seneca and took thousands of dollars worth of copper.
The theft was discovered shortly before 9 a.m. Saturday when Westar employees noticed someone had cut a chain-link fence surrounding the property in several locations, according to Sgt. Bart Brunscheen, spokesman for the Wichita Police Department. Once inside the warehouse, the thieves used a skid loader to steal the copper. The loader was later found outside the property in an abandoned field.
Because the Wichita Police Department has had several metal thefts reported recently, Brunscheen said police are encouraging area residents to be on the lookout for any suspicious activity and to call 911 to report it.
http://www.kansas.com/2012/05/20/2342206/thieves-steal-copper-from-westar.html
• 24 May 2012 • 3 notes
Anonymous takes down Chicago police websites — Internet
A group associated with the hacker community Anonymous claims to have taken down Chicago’s police department website, and authorities are investigating whether the city of Chicago website was hit as well.
As of about 11:10 a.m., the Chicago Police Department website, cityofchicago.org/police, was down along with Chicago’s city website, cityofcity.org. The sites were back up just before 1 p.m.
Chicago Police News Affairs said they weren’t aware the sites weren’t working as usual, but Supt. Garry McCarthy confirmed to reporters at noon the sites were indeed down.
Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management site, hosted on the city of Chicago site, also would not load and shortly after also went down.
In the video statement posted online, the group AntiS3curityOPS claimed they are “actively engaged in actions against the Chicago Police Department.”
Officials say they continue to investigate.
http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Hackers-Claim-Cyber-Attack-on-Chicago-Sites-152207725.html
• 24 May 2012 • 3 notes
City mayor gets his motorcycle stolen during the day — Vallejo, CA
Vallejo Mayor Osby Davis’ Harley Davidson was stolen Friday afternoon, police said Saturday. The motorcycle was stolen out of the Vallejo City Hall parking lot between 2:30 and 5 p.m.
It is described as a black 2001 Harley Davidson Road King, with chrome parts. Its license plate number is 15V4079.
Davis said the motorcycle was parked Friday on the north side of the building in the employee-only parking lot.
“Obviously, no one likes their property stolen, it’s frustrating and disappointing,” he said. “But, I’m not going to lose sleep over it. It’s a motorcycle.”
Davis has owned the motorcycle for 11 years, he added. It had not been recovered as of Saturday.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_20667623/vallejo-mayors-motorcycle-stolen-from-city-hall-parking
• 23 May 2012 • 3 notes
Anarchists firebomb offices of tax enforcement agency — Livorno, Italy
Molotov cocktails were hurled at the offices of an Italian tax enforcement agency yesterday, the latest in a string of attacks on one of the crisis-plunged country’s symbols of austerity.
Firefighters were called to the tax enforcement agency Equitalia in the port city of Livorno after two fire bombs were thrown at the building. Nobody was hurt in the incident.
Anger against Equitalia has been rising after a wave of highly publicised suicides by small businessmen in Italy - where the cash-strapped government of Mario Monti has increased taxes, along with the age of retirement, in a desperate bid to fight spiralling public debt.
Just days ago, a 54-year-old businessman held an Equitalia official hostage at gunpoint for several hours before finally surrendering to police.
The incident followed a gunman from an anarchist group claiming he was the one who kneecapped the chief executive of a nuclear engineering group in Genoa last Monday.
http://www.7daysindubai.com/Anarchists-firebomb-Italian-tax-office/story-16063114-detail/story.html
• 23 May 2012 • 8 notes
Man accused of assaulting an officer and leaving him in the woods — Suffolk, VA
A Suffolk police officer is in critical condition and the man accused of assaulting him is behind bars.
Police say Joseph Staton, 43, of Portsmouth is charged with malicious wounding of a police officer, aggravated malicious wounding, shoot, stab, cut or wound, grand larceny of a police radio, possession of stolen vehicle, burglary, and third offense petit larceny for taking clothing from a residence.
Police say Staton assaulted Officer James WInslow and left him unconscious in the woods in the 1000 block of Nansemond Parkway near Portsmouth Boulevard.
Winslow responded to a call around 8:26 a.m. for a stolen vehicle when he chased Staton into a wooded area. Once he was in the woods, police say Staton used a blunt object to strike Officer Winslow in the face. A spokesperson says he suffered serious head injuries, as well as injuries to his arms.
When additional police officers responded to the scene they found the assaulted officer lying unconscious. At last check, Winslow is in critical condition at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.
Police credit neighbors for helping with the search. They say Staton kept moving from one place to another, and residents spotted him and tipped off police. One neighbor told police Staton changed out of the white t-shirt he was seen wearing in dashboard camera video.
Staton was eventually taken into custody after he was spotted running behind a nearby home. Suffolk police say Staton previously had a warrant out for his arrest in Norfolk for violating probation.
http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_news/suffolk/assaulted-officer-found-unconscious
• 22 May 2012 • 4 notes
Grenade tossed into parking lot of city counsel building — Brussels, Belgium
During the night, a grenade was thrown on the parking lot of the building of the City Counsel of Anderlecht. Damage is limited, only a few vehicles on the parking lot belonging to the CPAS of Anderlecht (Social Welfare Institution) were damages.
Police refuses to comment the explosion. The neighbourhood investigation didn’t help the police, witnesses heard the explosion, but didn’t see nothing.
http://suieetcendres.blogspot.com/2012/05/brussels-grenade-against-city-counsel.html
• 22 May 2012 • 6 notes
Protesters clash with police, one officer stabbed during NATO summit — Chicago, IL
A Chicago police officer suffered a stab wound to the leg, Sunday, and three others were injured during a day of protests around the NATO summit.
Chicago police Supt. Garry McCarthy did not know what was used to stab the officer and became emotional when discussing the crowd with which his officers dealt.
“If you think it’s easy to ask people to do what they did, it’s not,” he said, pausing to gain his composure. “Asking people to put themselves in harm’s way, knowing that they’re going to get assaulted, and to be able to stand there and take it, those guys were amazing.”
Overall, officers arrested more than 45 individuals during a day of marches and protests that turned violent in the evening hours.
McCarthy commended his officers for showing “dramatic restraint” in the face of taunts and violence.
“I’m proud to be in charge of this department,” he said.
The superintendent said his department was mostly prepared for the melee that erupted at 22nd and Michigan Avenue.
Officers knew that a group of Black Bloc anarchists planned to storm McCormick place after a group of war veterans finished its demonstration there.
McCarthy said officers used batons on the aggressive protesters because they were assaulted.
“They don’t have to stand there and take an assault,” he said. “Just because we’ve been telling you exactly what you were going to see for the last six months, it doesn’t mean that you excuse it. The fingers should be pointed at the people who assaulted the cops.”
The Twitter feed of Occupy Chicago was filled with differing sentiment. Many of the protesters and their supporters decried the brutality of the police officers and pointed to a lop-sided ratio of police to protesters.
Police stood by their use of force.
McCarthy said his department was tipped off that someone had assembled an improvised explosive device (IED) that was stored in a back pack near the demonstration at McCormick Place. Officers found a pack that contained an unknown liquid. The liquid was sent to a lab for testing.
http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Four-Cops-Injured-One-Stabbed-in-Melee-152231125.html
• 21 May 2012 • 6 notes
One prison guard killed, five injured in riot — Brandon, MS
A prison guard was killed Sunday during a riot that also injured five other correctional officers and hurt three inmates at a privately run facility in Mississippi that holds illegal immigrants, authorities said.
The riot began about 2:40 p.m. CDT and involved dozens of inmates before it was brought under control late Sunday night. Adams County Coroner James Lee confirmed that a guard died, but said he could not provide any other details until the correctional officer’s family was notified.
Emilee Beach, a spokeswoman at the Adams County Correctional Center in southwest Mississippi, said the uprising involved multiple inmates but she wasn’t sure exactly how many because the investigation was still ongoing.
She said that after the disturbance was brought under control Sunday night, inmates were being searched and sent back to their cells.
Beach said the prison, owned and operated by Corrections Corp. of America, holds illegal immigrants, most for charges of re-entering the United States after being deported.
The five injured guards were taken to a hospital and treated for injuries that weren’t considered life-threatening.
The 2,567-bed prison in Natchez houses adult male illegal immigrants for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
CCA spokesman Steve Owen confirmed in an email “there has been one employee death” but he said he could not provide more details immediately.
He said in an email early Monday “it is my understanding that all staff are accounted for.” He said the company was investigating what prompted the uprising.
Adams County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Emily Ham said no inmates had escaped the facility.
After the uprising began, CCA’s Special Response Team and the Mississippi Highway Patrol’s SWAT team sought to quell activities within the prison while state and local law-enforcement officers secured the perimeter of the complex, Adams County Sheriff Chuck Mayfield said in a statement.
Mayfield told the Natchez Democrat that 15 employees were freed at one time during the uprising by opening a fence and protecting the route with guns.
The sheriff said in a statement early Monday that there were at least two dozen hostages being held at one time.
Mayfield added that prison personnel had “gained total control” of the complex.
“Right now, we have three inmate injuries that were probably sustained from other inmates - one being a stab wound, concussion and rib injuries,” Mayfield added. “There were no escapes.”
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g6xiYdE6uh3Z2Wp4nBBULe8AtDDA?docId=3e8e2a5be16142c2bcbaae2e9e689130
• 21 May 2012 • 10 notes
Antifascists attack white supremacist meeting and hospitalize several fascists — Chicago, IL
According to internet sources, antifascists, numbering near 30, entered the Ashford House restaurant around noon on May 19th where the “5th annual white nationalist economic summit” meeting was being held. The antifascists were allegedly throwing bats, hammers and chairs, leaving multiple white supremacists hospitalized and successfully bringing the meeting to a brutal end.
Taken From antiracistaction.org:
In response to Mob Attacked Specific Group of People Inside Tinley Park Restaurant
On Saturday, May 19th a group of 30 anti-fascists descended upon Ashford House restaurant in the Chicago suburb of Tinley Park where the 5th annual White Nationalist Economic Summit and Illinois White Nationalist Meet-and-Greet was taking place. The White Nationalists were targeted inside the restaurant and physically attacked, causing several injuries and completely shutting down their meeting. The anti-fascist group was privy to anonymous inside information. This fascist event had been in secret planning for six months. The attendees have attempted to cover up the true intent of the event with mainstream media reports initially reporting the white nationalist conference as a wedding party and then as an Irish heritage meeting. The event was advertised on www.stormfront.org, an established white nationalist fascist internet forum.
Anti-fascists oppose any organizing by racists and fascist in their communities. Fascist and white nationalist organizing has resulted in a number of horrifying incidents, from the recent J.T. Ready shootings in Arizona to the Benjamin Nathaniel Smith shooting in the West Rogers Park neighborhood in Chicago, as just two examples.
These anti-fascists are committed to shutting down and attacking any racist, nationalist, or fascist organizers or individuals that they encounter.
http://onepeoplesproject.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=993%3Achicago-white-nationalist-economic-summit-smashed-several-of-them-hospitalized&catid=29%3Aantifa-news&Itemid=14
• 21 May 2012 • 1,104 notes
Protesters set fire to barricades and fight police — Montreal, Canada
A plan to restore order in Montreal appeared to erupt in smoke late Saturday, with fiery blockades blazing on a busy downtown street corner in a dispute gaining international attention.
Groups of protesters built pyres from plastic traffic cones and construction materials, setting them ablaze in the middle of an intersection in a popular night club district.
Meanwhile, the protest has spread beyond borders.
In New York, members of the Montreal-based rock band “Arcade Fire” wore the movement’s iconic red squares during an appearance with The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger on Saturday Night Live. Mr. Jagger wore a red shirt, but no red square.
A day earlier, players in Quebec’s film industry were sporting them at the Cannes Film Festival.
The scenes in Montreal unfolded during a tense late night march that, on several occasions, saw riot police use tear gas and protesters throw bottles and rocks.
Student protesters were joined by others spilling out of bars and clubs.
Together, they built the fires and cheered as the flames lit up the streets and sent plumes of black smoke billowing into the night sky.
A young woman, kneeling and handcuffed with some others who had been arrested and penned on a sidewalk patio, summed up the bizarre scene.
“I’m drunk! I’ve been on a patio all evening!” she told police, in an exchange caught on the live broadcast of Concordia University Television.
Some bystanders accused police of using excessive force on a crowd whose members were mostly peaceful. Riot police charged protesters and repeatedly warned that they would be incarcerated throughout the weekend unless they dispersed.
The night ended with more than 50 arrests.
Just one day earlier the Quebec government passed emergency legislation designed to end the months of unrest.
Montreal police said they were trying to figure out how to use Bill 78 without heightening tensions.
“We don’t want to cause a commotion, we want to prevent one,” spokesman Ian Lafreniere said Saturday afternoon.
But the new law appeared only to embolden protesters.
The chants from marchers were mostly directed at Premier Jean Charest and the police rather than the tuition hikes that first prompted the nightly marches.
At the same time, protesters were already finding creative ways around the controversial legislation.
In an attempt to avoid hefty fines, one prominent student group took down its web page Saturday that listed all upcoming protests. Another anonymous web page with listings quickly popped up in its place — with a note discouraging people from attending.
The disclaimer is meant to evade new rules applying to protest organizers, who must provide an itinerary for demonstrations and could be held responsible for any violence.
The website also accepts submissions for future protests and suggests using a software that blocks a sender’s digital trail.
In another online manoeuvre, the website for the Quebec Liberal Party and the province’s Education Ministry were down for most of Saturday in an apparent cyber attack.
While no one claimed responsibility, the hacker group Anonymous has taken an interest. The group wrote on Twitter that Bill 78 “must die” and later issued a video denouncing the law.
Bill 78 lays out strict regulations governing demonstrations of over 50 people, including having to give eight hours’ notice for details such as the protest route, the duration and the time at which they’re being held.
Failure to comply could bring stiff fines for the organizers, but the law could be difficult to enforce.
Protests like Saturday’s have begun in the same downtown square at 8:30 p.m. every night for nearly a month. There’s no clear organizer, and the protest routes have been determined by the marchers on a street by street basis.
Still, the law says student associations that don’t encourage their members to comply with the law could face punishment. Fines range between $7,000 and $35,000 for student leaders and between $25,000 and $125,000 for student unions or student federations.
The City of Montreal also adopted a new bylaw Friday that threatens protesters who wear masks with heavy fines. Mr. Lafreniere said it gives police “another tool” to deal with the demonstrations. But it failed to deter dozens of protesters from wearing masks Saturday night.
After facing heavy criticism from legal experts and civil liberties groups, the Quebec government took steps Saturday to defend Bill 78 by taking out full page ads in the local newspapers.
The headline read, “For the sake of democracy and citizenship.”
An opinion poll released Saturday suggested the majority of Quebecers support the new measures. The survey, however, was taken before the specifics of the legislation were known.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/protesters-set-blockades-ablaze-in-busy-montreal-streets/article2438267/
• 20 May 2012 • 3 notes
News reporter & photographer robbed in broad daylight — Oakland, CA
A local television news reporter and photographer had their video camera and tripod stolen in a brazen daylight theft as they were doing a story on San Pablo Avenue on Monday afternoon, but their story still led the 5 p.m. broadcast.
“We’re OK, we’re just rattled,” said NBC Bay Area reporter Jodi Hernandez.
They called 911 to report the 3 p.m. theft and police are investigating.
Hernandez and cameraman Rich Goudeau were in front of the Alameda County Social Services building at 2000 San Pablo Ave. in Oakland preparing to conduct interviews and gathering footage for a story on state budget cuts when a man ran up to the photographer from behind and swiped equipment before jumping into a car.
Hernandez was sitting in the news van parked on the street and the two wrote down a partial license plate number of the black getaway car.
“I could see someone run from behind and grab the whole tripod,” said Hernandez, who estimated that the equipment weighs 45 pounds. “He ran to a waiting car and dove in. He couldn’t get the camera off the tripod so the videocamera was sticking out the window when they drove away.”
No one was injured.
All of the crew’s interviews and footage from the day’s work was on the memory card inside the stolen camera. They had less than two hours to rebuild the story from scratch.
A replacement photographer, Mykie Vang, rushed to the scene, shot new footage and interviews, and the crew made their
deadline. The story aired at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.
“It was so bold because (the suspect) literally ran up right next to (the photographer),” Hernandez said. “It could have gotten ugly. You never know how you are going to react in those types of situations.”
This is the second time in recent weeks that NBC has had equipment stolen. In mid-April, police arrested three people suspected of a least a dozen vehicle burglaries between Interstate 880 and Doolittle Drive in early April. During that spree, an NBC van, parked in an Oakport Street commercial building parking lot, was broken into and a computer and other equipment were taken, police said. Police said they recovered property from some of the break-ins.
Earlier this month, an ABC television news reporter working on a fire story in San Francisco had a laptop computer stolen from the news van while a photographer was inside.
The computer was not recovered and no arrests have been made.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oakland/ci_20623419/oakland-tv-news-reporter-photographer-have-camera-and
• 16 May 2012 • 5 notes
Homeless man attempts to rob convenience store with water pistol — New Orleans, LA
A homeless man who cleaned a Slidell convenience store wanted more than his regular pay Monday: Authorities said he stuck a purple water pistol into the clerk’s back and demanded the money in the register.
The clerk pushed him out of the store and yelled to a customer pumping gas that the man had tried to rob her, Slidell police said. The customer followed the man while the clerk dialed 911. Police caught up with the homeless man as he walked behind the nearby Southside Cafe and after a brief struggle took him into custody.
Lazaro Gonzalez, 64, was booked with armed robbery, simple battery and resisting an officer. He remained in custody Tuesday and was to be transported to the St. Tammany Parish jail where bond will be set, the Slidell Police Department said in a news release.
The clerk at the Shell Gas Station at 3296 Pontchartrain Drive notified police of the incident around 10:20 a.m. Monday. The woman told officers that Gonzalez often does cleaning at the store, for which he is paid.
But while she retrieved his money on Monday, the clerk told officers that she felt Gonzalez stick something in her back. Thinking he was kidding, the clerk turned and saw what she described to officers as a purple water pistol in his hand, police said. At that point she pushed him out of the store without giving him any money.
Officers found the water pistol in a nearby dumpster, the release said.
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/05/homeless_man_tries_to_rob_slid.html#incart_river
• 15 May 2012 • 3 notes
