Month: September 2024

A police chase that started in Queens, NY ended after a fatal shooting on Long Island, and involved four crashes and left eight people, including police officers, hospitalized. Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said that five Nassau County police officers, two New York Police Department officers and a civilian were hurt during the incident.

Ryder said at a news conference Saturday that around 11 p.m. Friday, the driver was first chased by NYPD officers in Queens; he fled into Nassau County, and police first tried to stop him near Merrick Avenue and Sunrise Highway with the driver “tried to ram” two NYPD officers as he fled during the pursuit, and then slammed into two police cars, Ryder said.

Ryder said: “NYPD put the notification over the air that they were heading towards Nassau County. We engaged with that vehicle somewhere in the area of Merrick on Sunrise Highway. At that time, the officers had boxed in the individual. The individual decided he was not going to stop. He ran through, took off two of our police cars, two of our officers they attempted to run over. They dove out of the way and that vehicle took off again.”.

The police commissioner added that the driver then crashed into a third police car before driving the wrong way on Sunrise Highway and struck a fourth car, which led to the hospitalization of a civilian. The driver finally lost control of the vehicle near Hicksville Road and Sunrise Highway: “Officers got out of the car to take control and arrest the individual, that individual did not comply, there was a shooting that occurred and that individual died.”

Per ABC News, the driver’s name wasn’t immediately released, with the state attorney general’s office notified and leading the investigation. The city said that video was being collected from places along the highway, as well as from officers’ body-worn cameras.

Editorial credit: Leonard Zhukovsky / Shutterstock.com

Authorities in Birmingham, Ala., have launched a manhunt for “multiple shooters” on Sunday after four people were killed and 17 others injured in a shooting at a popular nightlife spot in Birmingham, Alabama on Saturday, which police describe as a targeted “hit” on one of the victims who were killed.

The shooting happened shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday in Five Points South (an entertainment and restaurant district with restaurants and nightlife) on the sidewalk and street outside a hookah and cigar lounge, Hush. Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond said a vehicle pulled up and “multiple shooters” got out and began firing, then fled the scene. Thurmond believes the shooting targeted one of the people who was killed, possibly in a murder-for-hire: “We believe that there was a ‘hit,’ if you will, on that particular person.”

Police said approximately 100 shell casings were recovered at the scene; Chief Thurmond said law enforcement was working to determine what weapons were used, but say that some of the gunfire was “fully automatic’ and police believe Glock switches, which are machine gun conversion devices, were used. Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin posted on social media: “Glock switches are the number one public safety issue in our city and state. Converting a semi-automatic weapon into a fully automatic weapon that discharges all bullets within seconds doesn’t belong on our domestic streets.”

Mayor Woodfin later stated at a Sunday press conference: “The priority is to find these shooters and get them off our streets .. We find ourselves in 2024, where gun violence is at an epidemic level, an epidemic crisis in our country. And the city of Birmingham, unfortunately finds itself at the tip of that spear .. Elected officials locally, statewide and nationally have a duty to solve this American crisis, this American epidemic of gun violence.” The Birmingham mayor also urged state and federal officials to give cities more tools to address gun violence.

Police identified 17 people with injuries, with the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital sharing they were treating 11 victims, a spokesperson told WVTM in a statement, with injuries ranged from non-life-threatening to at least four life-threatening.

Editorial credit: Jimmy Rooney / Shutterstock.com

CBS News reported that a man from Alaska was arrested  for allegedly threatening to assassinate six members of the Supreme Court and harm two family members.  The Justice Department said that Panos Anastasiou, 76, is accused of sending more than 465 messages to the Supreme Court through an online portal, which included violent, racist, and homophobic rhetoric.

Per Reuters, federal prosecutors say that Anastasiou sent the messages to the Supreme Court through its website beginning in March 2023, which turned increasingly violent starting in January 2024. Anastasiou began sending “concerning messages” to the Supreme Court in the spring of 2023, with the Justice Department sharing that the messages took an “even more violent turn” in January. In addition to threatening justices with “lynching,” court filings show he advocated for “mass assassinations” and called for “patriotic” Americans to kill members of the high court.

According to court filings, in the 22-count indictment Anastasiou allegedly threatened to assassinate, kidnap, torture, hang, behead and execute the justices, and encouraged other people to join him in committing acts of violence. The targeted justices are not named in the indictment and identified only as “Supreme Court justices 1-6.”  Some of the threats allegedly made by Anastasiou “were intended to intimidate the justices and retaliate against them for official actions” they had taken in their capacity as judges.

Anastasiou faces nine counts of making threats against a federal judge and 13 counts of making threats in interstate commerce; he pleaded not guilty during a court hearing in Anchorage on Wednesday. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement: “We allege that the defendant made repeated, heinous threats to murder and torture Supreme Court Justices and their families to retaliate against them for decisions he disagreed with. Our justice system depends on the ability of judges to make their decisions based on the law, and not on fear. Our democracy depends on the ability of public officials to do their jobs without fearing for their lives or the safety of their families.”

Editorial credit: Aashish Kiphayet / Shutterstock.com

Two correctional officers were stabbed by inmates at a maximum-security prison in Massachusetts, with three others suffering injuries as they responded to the incident. The five officers at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Lancaster were taken to hospitals after the confrontation.

The Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union first shared news Wednesday evening on Facebook, claiming that an officer was stabbed in the back and head with the statement: “SBCC on lockdown after Officer stabbing to the back and head. Multiple Officers taken out in ambulances! Massachusetts Department of Correction ENOUGH! It’s been 4 years since you authorized the use of the tactical units and done a thorough institution wide search! How much more do our members have to endure before you decide to keep them safe? The inmates are literally running the asylum. Do your jobs.”

A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department of Correction said in a statement that it was notified of the assault at 6:20 p.m.; subsequently, four officers have since been released, and one was being treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Scott Croteau, a spokesman for the state’s Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, in a statement via USA TODAY:  “The facility is secure at this time while an investigation is conducted to determine the facts and circumstances.”

Croteau added that the department is conducting a criminal investigation in coordination with the Worcester County District Attorney’s office, and the inmates identified as being involved with the stabbings have been transferred to other facilities.

Editorial credit: Wangkun Jia / Shutterstock.com