WebProNews

Tag: Crime

  • Alabama Fan Shot Dead After Crimson Tide Loss

    An Alabama woman has been charged with murder after she shot to death a fellow Alabama fan. The shooting happened at a football party shortly after the end of Iron Bowl college football match in which Crimson Tide lost to Auburn Tigers. The woman, identified as 28-year-old Adrian Briskey pulled the trigger on Michelle Shepherd after she said she didn’t care that much that Tide had lost.

    Nekesa Shepherd, the sister to the victim, was present when the shooting happened. “She (Briskey) said we weren’t real Alabama fans because it didn’t bother us that they lost. And then she started shooting.” she said.

    Adrian Laroze Briskey was charged on Monday morning with killing 36-year -old Michelle Shepherd. Briskey was released on $75,000 bond pending a hearing of the case.

    The authorities confirmed that both women were Alabama fans and had both attended the football game played between the rival college teams. The victim’s sister insists that the murder was as a result of the match outcome even though it is still unclear to investigators whether the murder was as a result of the game. Alcohol is also being investigated as a possible motivator for the murder. “That’s one of the things we are investigating,” Hoover police Captain Jim Coker said Monday.

    Shepherd was shot dead in the parking lot of an apartment building in Birmingham. Nekesa says both her and her sister were invited to the party by a third person who also invited Briskey. The two women did not know each other prior to that day.

    Source ESPN  (Image via YouTube)

  • Alabama Fan Shooting: Woman Shot to Death After Alabama Loses to Auburn

    An Iron Bowl party in Hoover turned deadly after a woman brandished a gun and shot a fellow Alabama fan to death because she wasn’t taking the loss seriously enough. Adrian Briskey, 28, was arrested on Saturday after killing Michelle Shepherd, 36. Shepherd was a single mom to three children ages 8, 6 and 4. Briskey is currently out on bail.

    Briskey and Shepherd were at an Iron Bowl party over the weekend when Briskey became enraged after hearing Shepherd joke around with her sister about Alabama’s last-second loss to Auburn. As you likely remember, Auburn’s Chris Davis caught an Alabama missed field goal and returned it for a 109-yard touchdown for the win. The loss killed then #1 Alabama’s chances to play in the SEC Championship Game as well as the BCS Championship Game.

    Police are investigating the situation and say they aren’t sure how much of a factor alcohol and the Bama game played into the shooting. Shepherd’s sister, Nekesa Shepherd, says the game and alcohol absolutely played a factor into Briskey’s actions. According to Nekesa, she witnessed Briskey taking multiple shots of liquor after the Alabama loss. After the two sisters made a joke and said that the Bama loss wasn’t as bad as the Miami Heat losing a game, Nekesa says that Briskey then flew into a rage.

    “She said we weren’t real Alabama fans because it didn’t bother us that they lost,” Nekesa said.

    Reports say that the argument between Briskey and Shepherd was eventually taken to the parking lot of the apartment complex where the Iron Bowl party was held. It was there that Briskey brandished a gun. “And then she started shooting,” Nekesa said. “It was over a football game. I’m never going to forget it because she died in my arms.”

    Briskey has since been released from jail after posting a $75,000 bond.

    This isn’t the first time a rivalry party has turned violent, although it’s usually a result of fans of opposing teams getting into it. Just earlier this month, a man was arrested after using a stun-gun on his wife following the Chicago Bears-Green Bay Packers game.

    [Image via YouTube]

  • Inglewood Shootout Suspect Apprehended

    Inglewood Shootout Suspect Apprehended

    An Inglewood, California man, who barricaded himself inside a house after taking two female hostages, surrendered to authorities after an eight-hour standoff on Wednesday. Several shots were fired as officers arrived at a residence on South 5th Avenue at 12:35 p.m., after a call concerning a domestic disturbance.

    The suspect, a 45-year-old male with a criminal record, according to a district attorney’s office, was seen dragging a minor into the house, said to be the 14-year-old daughter of his girlfriend, who was also taken hostage. The hostages were unharmed during the standoff, and were taken to the South Los Angeles Sheriff’s station for questioning.

    When police and SWAT team members arrived on the scene, the suspect claimed he was going to shoot his girlfriend, if the officers didn’t stand down. An exchange of gunfire ensued, and one of the officers was hit in his bullet-proof vest, and suffered blunt force trauma injuries. His partner was also injured during a fall while protecting him, and she suffered minor injuries. Both were taken to Centinela Hospital. The officer shot was then transferred to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, where he is listed as being in stable condition.

    After roughly eight hours of negotiations, the suspect surrendered peacefully. LASD Lt. Dave Dolson commented, “Sometimes these things just take time and I guess finally the negotiators built trust with the suspect and he felt like he would be fairly treated and safely taken into custody. He didn’t make any demands. He did what we asked him to do: exit the house unarmed with his hands in the air.”

    Police aren’t yet sure what triggered the hostage situation, and the suspect’s identity has not yet been released.

    In related California news, “revenge porn” is now officially banned in that state.

    Image via Twitter.

  • OJ Simpson Denied Request For New Trial

    OJ Simpson Denied Request For New Trial

    A Nevada judge has denied OJ Simpson’s request for a new trial after he was convicted in 2007 for armed robbery and kidnapping. Simpson wanted the new trial to tell his side of the story, about the botched armed robbery he was convicted of. He claims his lawyer was insufficient in defending him and that he deserved a chance to tell the truth. Simpson was convicted exactly 13 years to the day after he was acquitted for the murder of his ex-wife and her friend, Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ronald Goldman, in 1995.

    Simpson’s other argument was that the men who were with him got much shorter sentences for the same crime. “The difference between all of their crimes and mine is that they were trying to steal other people’s property, they were trying to steal other people’s money,” Simpson said. “My crime was trying to retrieve, for my family, my own property. I missed my two younger kids who worked hard getting through high school, I missed their college graduations. I missed my sister’s funeral. I missed all the birthdays.”

    Despite Simpson’s plea, the judge found no grounds to allow a new trial, which will leave Simpson serving the remainder of his sentence that could be 4 to 33 years. Simpson was sentenced in 2008 and will not be eligible to receive parole until he is 70-years-old. He is currently 66.

    “All grounds in the petition lack merit and, consequently, are denied,” the Clark County District Judge, Linda Marie Bell, said.

    Simpson was charged after trying to steal belongings, that he claims were already his, from two men that sold sports memorabilia. The men accompanying him were carrying fire arms that Simpson claims he did not know about. However, the judge remained firm in saying that he had not only planned the robbery, but he had also asked his co-conspirators to bring the weapons.

    “Mr. Simpson’s convictions stem from serious offenses,” Bell wrote. “Mr. Simpson specifically asked two of his co-conspirators to bring weapons … to show the sellers he meant business,” she said.

    “It was my stuff,” Simpson said. “I followed what I thought was the law. My lawyer told me I couldn’t break into a guy’s room. I didn’t break into anybody’s room. I didn’t try to muscle the guys. The guys had my stuff, even though they claimed they didn’t steal it.”

    Simpson’s current lawyer, Patricia Palm, said that she was disappointed with the decision and plans on appealing to the Nevada Supreme Court. “I’m shocked, I’m upset, I’m disappointed, I’m confident that it’s going to be overturned when we get to the right court,” Palm said of Bell’s ruling. “We’re confident that when we get to the right court we’ll get relief because he deserves relief, because he didn’t get a fair trial.”

    [Image via Wikimedia Commons]

  • Amanda Knox: Italian Prosecutor Wants Her Back In Prison

    Italian prosecutor, Alessandro Crini, has appealed an appellate court to convict Amanda Knox for the 2007 murder of her British roommate. The prosecutor urged the appeals court Monday not to repeat mistakes made by the high court that freed her.

    Amanda had been convicted in 2009 of the murder of Meredith Kercher – a British student, and sentenced to serve 26 years. She only served 4 years of the 26-year sentence before her conviction was overturned on October 3, 2011 by an appellate court. In yet another twist, her acquittal was overturned by the Supreme Court on March 26, 2013 and her case was sent back to the high court for reconsideration.

    Kercher’s body was discovered in a pool of blood in her room on Nov. 2, 2007 with her throat slit. There were also signs that she was sexually assaulted. The lower court had argued that the crime was fueled by a sexual game gone wrong, but the prosecutor departed from that line of argument saying that the crime was not so much sexually motivated; instead, it was an act of physical aggression with a sexual expression.

    Prosecutor Crini said that the Supreme Court had “razed to the ground” the appellate court’s 2011 decision to nullify the guilty conviction. The high court has ordered a fresh appeals trials saying that the earlier appeal was marred with contradictions.

    The prosecutor’s demands came after more than 10 hours of closing arguments spread over two days during which he argued that Knox and her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito (co-defendant) committed  the crime in concert of a third man (Rudy Guede ) who was convicted separately. The crime was reportedly committed as a result of disagreement between the roommates over cleanliness. Testimonies indicate that there had been tensions between Kercher and Knox about the level of cleanliness.

    Following this development, the Meredith Kercher’s 2007 murder case will be getting its third trial. Knox’s co-accused, Sollecito, has also attended two hearings so far. The third person in the case, Rudy Guede, is already serving 16 years in prison after being found guilty of Kercher’s murder.

    (main image via YouTube)

  • ‘Stoning Adulterers’ May Become Afghan Punishment

    Warning: Graphic Content in Video Below.

    Against public outcry (both inside and outside of Afghanistan) governmental representatives for the country are considering reinstating a punishment that many would like to see relegated to the history books under topics such as “cruel and unusual punishments” and “tortures of the past” in spite of the fact that other countries practice these forms of punishment. Afghanistan is now reviewing propositions to bring stoning back as a form of punishment for adulterers.

    According to the Asia director for Human Rights Watch, Brad Adams, “It is absolutely shocking that 12 years after the fall of the Taliban government, the Karzai administration might bring back stoning as a punishment.”

    While many people in developed, civilized countries will admit that the inhumane option to stone another person does sound “shocking” this is only one of the possibilities. Unfortunately, other potential options sound nearly as Medieval as stoning, such as flogging.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3Za1GcHwKI&list=PLlj3QhEiHKWZqChFQ6XweDSKxABsoXsz2

    The Guardian claims that public stoning may be considered and references a globally-undisclosed draft abstracted from an Afghan legal document that proposes penal revisions, which are presently being reviewed by the ministry of justice. Article 21 of the document states, “Men and women who commit adultery shall be punished based on the circumstances to one of the following punishments: lashing, stoning [to death].”

    Many see the recent considerations as barbaric and steps of a society regressing to more primitive time periods.

    Brad Adams said, “President Karzai needs to demonstrate at least a basic commitment to human rights and reject this proposal out of hand.” However, deeper concerns have arisen about wasted resources originating from continued military efforts from outside countries (such as the United States) to instill a peaceful regime in Afghanistan since 2001. Public disgust is being vocalized in the midst of these recent penal propositions that seek to use physical tortures as methods for punishing crimes.

    [Image Via Wikimedia Commons]

  • Conrad Murray Blames Michael Jackson for Own Death

    Dr. Conrad Murray continues to claim his innocence in the death of iconic performer Michael Jackson. The 60-year-old heart surgeon was released from prison three weeks ago, but has already spoken about the legendary singer and dancer. In a recent interview with The Mail, the doctor shifted blame for the tragic death on the superstar himself. ‘I did not kill Michael Jackson. He was a drug addict. Michael Jackson accidentally killed Michael Jackson,’ Murray said.

    Murray was imprisoned for involuntary manslaughter, and served half of his four-year-sentence before being released. Though the doctor began working for the King of Pop in 2006, Murray says that he did not prescribe all the drugs located in Jackson’s system at the time of death. “That night he just couldn’t sleep. I prescribed him drugs to help, including Valium and Lorazepam, but he was begging, pleading, close to tears. I told him, ‘This is not normal. What I’ve given you would put an elephant to sleep’. In the other bedroom, the police found an open bottle of Lorazepam. They found tablets in his stomach. I didn’t give him those. Michael took extra tablets. And he injected himself,” Murray said.

    During an April interview with CNN‘s Anderson Cooper, Conrad Murray likened his personal story to a sad, Nat King Cole Christmas song. “He is a little boy that Santa Claus forgot, and goodness knows, he did not want a lot. He wrote a note to Santa for some crayons and a toy. It broke his little heart when he found Santa hadn’t come.” Murray recited before continuing, “In the streets, he envied all the lucky boys, but goodness knows, he didn’t want a lot. I’m so sorry for that laddie who hasn’t got a daddy. He’s a little boy that Santa Claus forgot. That song tells my story. That’s how I grew up. I had no toy. I had nothing. As I grew up, my heart has been whole and my heart says to help, and all I do is to give. I want to give.”

    Murray has been vilified in the hearts of many Michael Jackson supporters who continue to mourn the passing of the talented, if not somewhat troubled star. Murray summarized his own views on the dynamics of this relationship that involved a doctor and a celebrity, “I tried to protect him but instead I was brought down with him.”

    [Image Via NDN]

  • Duke Lacrosse Accuser is Found Guilty of Murder

    Remember the woman who falsely accused three members of the Duke lacrosse team of raping her back in 2006? She now faces at least 14 years in prison for second-degree murder. Crystal Mangum, who is still known as the “Duke lacrosse accuser,” was found guilty of killing her boyfriend.

    Mangum, who is no stranger to crime, was accused of killing boyfriend Reginald Daye in 2011. At the time, Mangum claimed the stabbing was in self-defense because Daye was attacking her.

    “He straddled me, hit me, and then he started choking me,” Mangum said during her testimony. “I couldn’t breathe. My head hurt real bad. I was just trying to survive and I felt like Reginald was trying to kill me.” Mangum said she then grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed Daye once in the side.

    It’s possible that Mangum could have gotten away with her crime, except for the fact that Daye didn’t immediately die. He spent 10 days in the hospital before dying because of complications relating to the stab wound, and before he died, he gave a statement to the police. He said they did fight, but that Mangum tried to stab him several times before stabbing him in the side.

    Even though Mangum played the victim card again, there were too many holes in Mangum’s story and she was eventually charged with first-degree murder. The scene of the crime was reportedly consistent with Daye’s story, but not with the chain of events Mangum provided. Even though the jury only found Mangum guilty of second-degree murder, she still faces a hefty prison sentence–Judge Paul Ridgeway ordered Mangum to serve a sentence of no less than 14 years in prison.

    Mangum’s history is spotted with run-ins with the law. Aside from the false rape allegations, she has also been accused of attempted murder, child abuse, arson and trying to run over a police officer in the past, but she has never spent any significant time behind bars until now.

    Some people believe that Mangum was only found guilty as punishment for accusing members of the Duke lacrosse team of rape, but Assistant District Attorney/prosecutor Charlene Franks said the Duke lacrosse case had nothing to do with it. “It was about Reggie Daye and what happened in April 2011,” Franks said.

    As you can see from the tweets below, some people are chalking up the Duke lacrosse accuser’s prison sentence to karma:

    [Image via YouTube]

  • ‘Catch Me If U Can, Muthasuckas’: Police Arrest Man Minutes After He Taunts Them on Facebook

    If you’re wanted by the Rosenberg, Texas police department, it’s probably best to stay away from their Facebook page – especially if you’re planning on playing “catch me if you can.”

    In response to over a dozen reports of auto burglaries in the Seabourne Meadows subdivision, the Rosenberg Police Department posted a graphic (as they tend to do…a lot) identifying two suspects – brothers. One was already in custody, but the other was still at large.

    Post by Rosenberg Police Department.

    Soon after, the at-large suspect, Rolando Lozano, taunted police in a comment on the post.

    “Fuck all yall hoes, im innocent, catch me if u can muthasuckas,” it read.

    A few minutes later, Lozano was arrested.

    “Rolando Lozano…we caught you five minutes after you posted this… Thank you to the community for your help!!!” said police.

    They later shared another image of Lozano being apprehended. “Request granted,” they posted. Seriously, this police department is winning Facebook.

    Post by Rosenberg Police Department.

    According to the Rosenberg PD, Lozano was hiding out as a family member’s house. And to put a cherry on top, police found that someone else living in the house also had an outstanding warrant.

    Law enforcement in the digital age, man. The funny thing is – this has happened before. More than once.

    Image via Rosenberg PD, Facebook

  • ‘2 Drunk 2 Care’: Girl Tweets Ominous Update Hours Before Causing Fatal Car Crash

    At approximately 1:45 am this past Sunday, 20-year-old Kayla Mendoza drove onto the Sawgrass Expressway in Broward County, Florida – driving the wrong way. Soon after, she slammed head-on into another car, killing both people inside.

    This incredibly sad story has an interesting social media twist, as a tweet from Mendoza just hours before the fatal crash strongly suggests that she was drunk at the time of the accident. At 11:03 pm Saturday, Mendoza tweeted that she was “2 drunk 2 care.” In less than three hours, she would take the life of two women and land herself in critical condition.

    According to the Miami New Times, Mendoza hit a Toyota Camry carrying two women – one of which was pronounced dead at the scene and another who died of her injuries at the hospital. Mendoza herself is still fighting for her life.

    It’s clear that Mendoza had a history of publicly broadcasting her exploits via Twitter, and if she does survive, it’s likely that her ominous tweet will be a major factor in any charges she might face.

    This story should sound familiar, which is pretty depressing. Last year, a California man died in a brutal wreck moments after tweeting “Drunk af going 120 drifting corners #FuckIt YOLO.”

    Image via Twitter

  • Stay of Execution Granted for Joseph Paul Franklin

    Joseph Paul Franklin, the serial killer guilty of murdering 22 people in an effort to instigate a race war, was set to die by lethal injection at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. Though the 63-year-old has been accused of multiple murders, he has been on death row for the sniper attack that killed Gerald Gordon. Franklin has also admitted to shooting Larry Flynt, who is the publisher for Hustler magazine. Between 1977 and 1980, Franklin sought out Jews and African-Americans to murder as part of his white supremacist ideology.

    Concerns over the drug intended for administration during Franklin’s scheduled lethal injection led to the decision to ultimately grant the stay of execution. Through a series of considerations for relatively new drug choices as options for lethal injection in the state of Missouri, various selections have been proposed and then denied. First, Missouri had proposed using propofol until Governor Jay Nixon ordered against it.

    The next proposed drug, pentobarbital, has not had sufficient data released about the process of administration to warrant the drug’s usage. As a result, U.S. District Court Judge Nanette Laughrey ruled that execution protocol for Missouri must be refined before allowing a lethal injection to occur and granted the stay of execution for Franklin.

    “Throughout this litigation, the details of the execution protocol have been illusive at best. It is clear from the procedural history of this case that through no fault of his own, Franklin could not resolve his claims without a stay of his scheduled execution date. Franklin has been afforded no time to research the risk of pain associated with the Department’s new protocol, the quality of the pentobarbital provided, and the record of the source of the pentobarbital,” Laughrey wrote.

    Joseph Paul Franklin was interviewed from prison earlier where he expressed his hopes to be granted life without parole instead of being subjected to lethal injection.

    Laughrey went on to detail her decision, “Given the irreversible nature of the death penalty and plaintiffs’ medical evidence and allegations, a stay is necessary to ensure that the defendants’ last act against Franklin is not permanent, irremediable cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.”

    The heinous nature of the crimes committed by Franklin in spite of his protestations to be given a second chance as well as his belief at becoming a changed man while in prison are at the center of a debate that rages considering the rights of those on death row. Should these individuals be given second chances, and should the process of administering death be restricted to more stringent guidelines whereby potential pain is decreased? Is the level of humanity offered to these criminals contingent on the lack of humanity initially shown by their actions?

    [Image Via YouTube]

  • This Anarchist Wants To Use Bitcoin to Crowdfund Assassins

    This Anarchist Wants To Use Bitcoin to Crowdfund Assassins

    Forbes author Andy Greenberg wrote today about an encrypted email he received from a person who called themselves Kuwabatake Sanjuro. Sanjuro claimed to have designed a Deepweb site called the Assassination Market, which apparently has the capability to “crowdfund” political assassinations in a similar manner as Kickstarter.

    For the technically unfamiliar, “the Deepweb” or “DarkNet” (depending on who you’re talking to) is the part of the internet that remains inaccessible and uncatalogued by most websites due to anonymizing protocols like Tor. Sites that exist in this unexplored frontier operate on a scale from legal ‘gray markets’ that appear as an eBay for criminals to terrorist groups attempting to solicit donations for their violent agenda.

    In an email to Greenberg, Sanjuro said the site went up four months ago, and six targets have been submitted. Those six targets (and their bounties) include: 10 bitcoins for the death of Gen. Keith Alexander; 40 bitcoins for the assassination of President Obama; and the site’s largest bounty, 124.14 bitcoin, for the head of Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve and one of the biggest opponents of bitcoin banking.

    The aspirations that Sanjuro has for his site are terrifying. As Greenberg put it, Sanjuro hopes to greenlight enough political murder to scare politicians into returning their power to the masses. “[The Assassination Market will] destroy all governments, everywhere,” he said.

    “Thanks to this system, a world without wars, dragnet panopticon-style surveillance, nuclear weapons, armies, repression, money manipulation, and limits to trade is firmly within our grasp for but a few bitcoins per person,” he added. “I also believe that as soon as a few politicians gets offed and they realize they’ve lost the war on privacy, the killings can stop and we can transition to a phase of peace, privacy and laissez-faire.”

    Greenberg went as far to contact the FBI and the Secret Service, who declined to comment on the Assassination Market.

    One thing is for certain, though: the idea of cryptographically-concealed currencies being used to fund assassinations has been discussed by numerous computer science experts since the 1990’s. Sanjuro’s efforts were spurred by the PRISM leak from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

    The idea for an online “assassin’s market” originated in 1992 from a former Intel engineer who wrote that uncrackable cypher messages combined with encrypted, anonymous donations would give rise to online assassination markets. A second former Intel engineer named Jim Bell described how such a system might be implemented in an essay called “Assassination Politics.”

    Like the earlier generation of “cypherpunk” enthusiasts, Sajuro places his faith in cryptography. He claims that “with cryptography, the state, or any protection firm, is largely obsolete…all activity that can be reduced to information transfer will be completely out of the government’s, or anyone’s, hands, other than the parties involved.”

    But even the world-famous Deepweb drug hub SilkRoad (and its engineer) were busted by the feds in spite of all the anonymity. Unlike Dread Pirate Roberts, Sanjuro claims he has put “measures in place to prevent the effectiveness of such an arrest. Naturally these will have to be kept secret.”

    In conclusion, Sanjuro said simply, “I am a crypto-anarchist… [and] We have a bright future ahead of us.”

    If you want to read more on the burgeoning world of crowdfunded assassins, do yourself a favor and check out Greenberg’s piece in Forbes.

    If you want to learn about how Bitcoins came about and how they’re used, this Lionel commentary represents an eloquent explanation.

    [Image via Thinkstock]

  • Fake Cop Waves Real Gun in a Dunkin Donuts for 10% Off

    Fox13-Tampa Bay, along with the Orlando Sentinel, report that a Pasco County man has been arrested for waving a fake badge and a real gun at a Dunkin’ Donuts in order to get discounts.

    Surveillance footage clearly shows Charles Barry and his minivan pulling up to the drive-thru window. As the Barry transacts with the cashier, he waves a Sheriff’s badge and is allegedly demanding a 10 percent discount based on the claim that he’s a U.S. Air Marshal.

    What the footage doesn’t clearly show: he has a concealed revolver, and he displays it to the cashier, saying “See? I’m a cop!”

    Captain James Mallo of Pasco County said “He mentioned to an employee that he was a U.S. Marshal at one point. He also mentioned that he was an Air Marshal, which also raised a flag to the employees. Sheriff Chris Nocco felt something needed to be done before Barry’s cop fantasy became a little too real. “He brandished a gun. What’s the following step after that? Where is he going to take his fantasy?” he wondered.

    Barry is no law enforcer; he works at a print shop, but plays “police” for fun. Police have indicated Barry got the badge from his father, a former New Jersey police officer, and repeatedly solicited the Dunkin Donuts discount.

    The manager of the Dunkin Donuts said Barry came through every day, often with his family to get his discount donut fix. Fellow customers of the establishment, like Steve Hepworth, expressed their disgust: It’s just not right. It’s like claiming you’re in the military when you’re not in the military… To me, that’s just as cheap as you can get.”

    Captain Mallo said they arrested Barry this past Tuesday when he returned for his regular donut fix. “He was very sorry he did what he did. I believe he was even crying on scene,” Mallo added.

    [Image via Wikimedia Commons]

  • JPMorgan Scraps Twitter Q&A Over Fiscal Furor

    JPMorgan Scraps Twitter Q&A Over Fiscal Furor

    It was a brief idea that lasted all of nine glorious hours: the vice-chairman of US corporate banking giant JPMorgan, Jimmy Lee, announced he would be taking over the @jpmorgan Twitter feed at 1pm today. By last night, however, major news outlets around the world were reporting the idea as completely scrapped because of the thousands of angry, abusive tweets the company received at the hashtag #AskJPM.

    It all began with this tweet:

    It didn’t take long for the tweets to pile in, and a vast majority were far from friendly:

    By the time the company had had enough…

    … it was far too late. Not even Jamie Dimon could undo what had been done:

    Even Hacktivist group Anonymous weighed in on one of their many Twitter outlets:

    The wisest tweet, ironically, came from a fellow banker, who said:

    [Image via Twitter]

  • Jameis Winston is Investigated for Sexual Assault

    It has been announced that America’s favorite squinting college quarterback is being investigated for sexual assault stemming from a report that was filed nearly a year ago. Winston denies the allegations and so far, no charges have been filed against him. Winston is expected to continue playing for the time being.

    According to a police report that was filed with the Tallahassee Police Department, someone was sexually assaulted on December 7 of last year. Per the description of the assailant, the suspect is a black male between 5’9″ and 5’11” and weighs around 240 pounds. While the Tallahassee police haven’t said why they never pursued the case against Winston, the description of the suspect probably has something to do with that. Jameis Winston is 6’4″ and 235 pounds, which is considerably taller than the 5’9″ to 5’11” mentioned. Not to mention, someone of that height weighing around 240 pounds would have a very different body type than Winston.

    Winston has retained attorney Tim Jansen, who says he is confused why the case reopened. “This case has been going on for over a year. The case was basically closed and we’re not sure why it’s opened up,” Jansen said. “We’ve been cooperating with the law enforcement agencies and we’re hoping to get a quick resolution in favor of Mr. Winston.”

    Florida State issued a statement regarding Jameis Winston and the sexual battery charges:

    “We are aware of a matter that was investigated by the Tallahassee Police Department almost a year ago. Because the investigation has not been closed by TPD, we cannot comment further at this time. We look forward to a speedy resolution of the issue. There is no change in Jameis Winston’s status. Coach Fisher and Jameis will be answering questions about football only until there is a resolution.”

    Now many people are wondering what will become of Florida State’s season if Winston is eventually charged and found guilty. Right now, FSU is in an excellent position to go to and possibly win the BCS Championship Game, plus Winston is leading ESPN’s Heisman Watch Poll. If the issue isn’t wrapped up until after the season is over, many are wondering whether FSU will be forced to vacate wins if Winston is found guilty.

    Fans of Jameis Winston–and there are many–are outraged that the police investigation has been brought up.

    [Image via YouTube]

  • Pittsburgh Shooting Left Three Students Injured

    A shooting close to the Pittsburgh area has left three Brashear High School students injured. One student was shot in the shoulder and neck region, another student in the arm as well as the foot, and the third in the head. The incident did not occur directly inside the school, but rather was brought to the attention of school officials when an injured student was questioned by administration of the Beechview campus. The shooter retreated into a wooded area near the vicinity of Brashear where police have since searched.

    Finding the culprit (or culprits) behind this tragedy has shown to be a difficult process since the injured students have not been forthcoming with details. However, the police department has still been able to determine some potential leads. According to Diane Richard, who is the spokeswoman for the Pittsburgh police, “We do have some leads on the actor or actors.”

    SWAT team members are still looking for those responsible for the shooting. At this time it has not been reported whether there was one party responsible or multiple individuals. A SWAT team vehicle was seen in a nearby neighborhood shortly after the shooting, where two handcuffed people were escorted into the armored vehicle.

    Reports are not claiming the type of involvement the two handcuffed individuals may have had with the shooting at this time. Diane Richard said that the two may only be linked to the incident and not necessarily directly involved. According to WTAE, police are in the process of questioning multiple people who may be connected to the crime.

    Brashear High School was placed on lockdown, and the three students were all taken to a hospital for treatment. Though the circumstances surrounding the shooting have not been released, Pittsburgh school district spokesperson Ebony Pugh, has shared some details. According to Pugh, the three students included two juniors and one freshman, who were in the midst of walking to a vehicle in which they all three had commuted earlier in the day when the shooting occurred.

    [Image Via WTAE]

  • John “Junior” Gotti Gets Stabbed In Fight

    John “Junior” Gotti Gets Stabbed In Fight

    Nassau County police and prosecutors are investigating the alleged stabbing of John Gotti Jr, but the Washington Post reports that Gotti is not cooperating with the police.  The authorities say that Gotti has refused to divulge information to the police regarding what happened on Sunday night when he was stabbed in the parking lot of CVS store in Syosset. All he says is that he was stabbed while trying to break up a fight between two strangers in the parking lot.

    “He’s being very uncooperative,” a source told ABC News. “He says these guys were fighting and he jumps in as this big savior and he gets stabbed in the stomach.”

    His narrative of trying to separate two fighting strangers is not being bought by the police either as one police source said, “It’s hard to believe he would break up a fight between two strangers.”

    Gotti arrived in Syosset Hospital on Sunday at around 10 p.m. seeking medical attention for the stab wound. Due to hospital protocol, the authorities were informed and Nassau police responded and attempted to interrogate him without much success. The wound was reportedly serious and he was transported to North Shore University Hospital where he was treated and later discharged.

    When Gotti’s lawyer, Charles Carnesi, was contacted, he said that he had been told that his client was ok, although he had not spoken to him personally.

    Gotti is the son of the late John Joseph Gotti Jr, the reputed former boss of the infamous Gambino Crime syndicate in New York. Junior’s father died of cancer in 2002 while in prison. He has since maintained that he had put his crime days behind him. The last time Gotti was sentenced for a crime was in 1999 when he pleaded guilty to racketeering and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment.

    (image via youtube.com)

  • John Gotti Jr. Was Stabbed in CVS Parking Lot

    Police in Long Island are investigating John “Junior” Gotti, Jr. after he says he was stabbed while trying to break up a fight. Gotti, who officials say was at one time the acting boss of the Gambino crime family, was stabbed on Sunday. After Gotti went to the hospital, police were brought in because of the type of injury Gotti had.

    After being treated for his injury, which was a stab wound in the abdominal region, Gotti was released from the hospital and should be just fine. The injury did, however, bring up yet another police investigation for the retired mobster.

    In a move that probably shouldn’t be very surpriising, Gotti is refusing to cooperate with the police. Even though Gotti claims he was just trying to help out by stopping two strangers from fighting, he won’t provide any further details about the incident. “He wasn’t very cooperative,” one investigator told the NY Daily News, speaking under a condition of anonymity.

    The investigator also said that the police aren’t buying the story, and who can blame them? It’s not every day that someone who was stabbed refuses to give any details that could help bring the person in the wrong to justice. “It’s hard to believe he would break up a fight between two strangers,” the investigator said. Considering Gotti’s rather checkered past, police are continuing with the investigation to make sure he wasn’t involved in any wrongdoing in the CVS parking lot.

    “We are investigating, along with the Nassau Police Department, a stabbing that occurred in Syosset, New York on Sunday evening involving John ‘Junior’ Gotti,” said Shams Tarek, communications director for the Nassau County district attorney’s office.

    Despite Gotti’s involvement in organized crime, authorities haven’t been able to pin anything on him over the past several years, but not for lack of trying. He has had four trials involving racketeering and kidnapping charges, but none of the juries ever convicted him.

    [Image via YouTube]

  • North Korea Executes 80 for Bad TV, Having a Bible

    In the past year, North Korea came under international criticism when details of gulag-like prisons leaked out from defectors. Although the world reacted in horror as those details included the familiar stories of loved ones disappearing mysteriously in true Stalinist fashion, little international momentum was gained.

    The latest human rights violations from North Korea might change that. Fox News and the AFP cite a South Korean conservative paper, the JoongAng Ilbo, as reporting on Nov. 3 that 80 people were executed for offenses that ranged from owning the Holy Bible to watching Desperate Housewives.

    The JoongAng Ilbo’s source remains a single anonymous North Korean official, said to be familiar with the country’s internal affairs and recently returned to the South; the source claimed that executions were carried out simultaneously across seven cities. The families and relatives of those executed were sent to prison camps.

    According to the source, in the port city of Wonsan, 10,000 people were gathered by the police in Shinpoong Stadium to watch eight people be shot by a firing squad. Fox News reports their crimes as: viewing and/or trafficking South Korean dramatic television; prostitution; and possession of the Bible.

    The AFP noted that Wonsan and Pyongsong (where executions also took place) are designated as special economic zones that specifically attract foreign money to boost the lackluster economy. Otherwise, the executions could be a North Korean government effort to dampen capitalistic enthusiasm and increase repression efforts.

    Some experts, and some North Korean locals, have perpetuated rumors that the executions are part of a terror campaign from Kim Jong-un directly. They believe November’s killings are connected with the earlier executions of the Unhasu Orchestra, to which Kim’s wife, First Lady Ri Sol-ju, formerly belonged.

    The fact that no executions took place in North Korea’s capital city, Pyongyang, lends support to these rumors. Instead of perpetuating violence in a city where he needs the support of the elite, Kim seems content to build luxurious facilities and a water park.

    The following video was posted earlier this year, but was likely recorded any time in the last 10 years; it features a North Korean public execution (with subtitles), and it is not for the faint of heart:

    [Image via YouTube]

  • Man Posts Craigslist Ad Seeking Rape of 11-Year-Old Relative

    People use Craigslist for some pretty strange stuff – and a lot of it, while odd and at times off-putting, usually winds up being pretty funny. This isn’t. This is probably one of the worst things I’ve ever heard – especially involving Craigslist. Prepare yourself.

    A 32-year-old Cuba, Missouri man has been arrested and held on $100,000 bond after police captured him attempting to enlist the help of someone he met on Craigslist in the commission of a rape.

    Anthony Brinkman allegedly posted a Craigslist ad looking for someone to assist him in sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl. The person who eventually responded to his ad was actually an undercover officer at Missouri’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

    According to reports, the Craigslist ad stated that he wanted someone to assault the girl with sex toys, and that he was also looking for someone to be her “boyfriend.”

    There are conflicting reports as to exact identity of the 11-year-old girl. St. Louis’ KMOV and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch simply called the girl a “relative,” while Rawstory says that the little girl is the man’s daughter. The story is just as sick either way.

    Police first caught wind of the odd Craigslist ad when one user clicked to report the ad as abusive. After than, an officer posed as a 27-year-old woman and responded to Brinkman’s request. Brinkman allegedly sent photos of the girl to the officer before suggesting that they meet at a local Cracker Barrel for a sort of “test” run. The deal was that if the officer (still posing as an interested party) liked the girl, they could then go back and complete the acts.

    Brinkman was arrested when he showed up to the restaurant with the girl. Police were shocked that he took it that far. He’s now facing counts of attempted statutory sodomy and sex trafficking of a minor.

    And the girl? According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

    Investigators do not believe the girl had been sexually assaulted by Brinkman in the past, [Detective] Slaughter said, but authorities plan to talk more to the girl. Police have seized Brinkman’s computers and are awaiting the results of a forensic analysis.

    Slaughter said state caseworkers have been notified. Female police officers initially took the girl back to police headquarters until relatives arrived to take her home, Slaughter said.

    Some stories leave you feeling weird for a while – this is most definitely one of those stories. Ick.

    Image via police mugshot, StlToday

  • CCSU Suspect Apprehended, No Guns Found

    CCSU Suspect Apprehended, No Guns Found

    You know those Halloween costume stories that just won’t go away? Well, here’s another one. A university in Connecticut went on lockdown yesterday after someone reported seeing a man in military gear carrying a gun. As it turns out, there was no gunman–just a 21-year-old college student in a ninja Halloween costume with plastic weapons, including a sword.

    Central Connecticut State University issued an alert on Monday telling students to seek shelter and lock their doors. The following image captured by a surveillance camera was provided:

    (image)

    The news of a man with a gun on campus gave everyone quite a scare, which prompted a flurry of tweets from CCSU’s Twitter page warning students to stay put:

    After a three-hour lockdown, police apprehended a suspect, David Kyem, a senior at CCSU. Even though a search of the man’s room yielded no guns, Kyem was arrested and charged with breach of peace. The young man was released after posting a $1,000 bond.

    (image)

    The suspect’s father, CCSU geography professor Peter Kyem, tried to clear up the matter. He says that David spent the weekend with a friend and was wearing a costume from a party he attended the night before.

    “I think people saw him and mistook him for a gunman,” Peter Kyem said. “He was wearing the Halloween costume, and when he got there, he ran to James Hall. They are all costume material plastic, the mask and everything was.” Even though everything was fake, Professor Kyem doesn’t excuse his son’s actions in wearing such a getup on campus and said “It was a stupid thing he did.”

    CCSU President Jack Miller released a statement on Tuesday about the lockdown:

    “First, you can never be too vigilant nor react too strongly to the threat of violence. All potential threats must be taken very seriously, and the response must be a reaction to worst-case scenarios. Second, as an educational institution we must continue to educate our students and ourselves about the perception of threat. Behavior that causes widespread fear among our students and staff cannot and will not be tolerated.”

    Everything is back to normal at CCSU now. CCSU is offering its students the opportunity to reach out to a counselor to talk about the scary incident.

    [Images via NBC Connecticut]