Mom of slain Florida teen warned son of nightclub shootings

Mom of slain Florida teen warned son of nightclub shootings

In this frame from video, people gather near the scene of a fatal shooting at Club Blu nightclub in Fort Myers, Fla., Monday, July 25, 2016. (WBBH via AP)

FORT MYERS, Fla. — With the Orlando massacre still fresh on everyone's mind, the mother of a young man who was slain at a nightclub early Monday had warned her son about what to do if there were a shooting: "hit the floor, find a table."

But when gunfire erupted at the Club Blu parking lot, 18-year-old Stef'an Strawder didn't have anywhere to hide. He was killed along with a 14-year-old boy, and 17 other people ranging in age from 12 to 27 were wounded during a swimsuit-themed party for teens.

Shots Fired at Munich Shopping Center

Shots Fired at Munich Shopping Center, German Police Say

Shots have been fired at a shopping center in Munich, Germany, according to police, with a local newspaper reporting multiple deaths.

Munich police would not confirm any casualties, but told NBC News the situation "is over." A leading German newspaper based in Munich, Sudduetsche Zeitung, reported multiple people had been killed and injured, but NBC News could not immediately confirm that.

Images and video on social media showed frenzied activity outside the Olympia Einkaufszentrum area.

Shooting in #Munich shopping mall #OEZ!! People running away to seek shelter!! pic.twitter.com/PB189s6RQy

— Thamina Stoll (@thaminastoll) July 22, 2016

"People running away to seek shelter!" posted one Twitter user, along with a video that appeared to show streams of people filing past the building.

A major police operation was underway at the mall, Munich police tweeted, urging people to avoid the area.

The sprawling two-story Olympia Einkaufszentrum opened in 1972 during the Summer Olympics in Munich, according to the mall's website.

The shooting is the second attack in Germany's Bavaria region this week. On Monday, a 17-year-old Afghan injured four people with an ax on a German train near Wuerzburg-Heidingsfeld, before he was shot dead.





source: nbcnews

Woman in custody after standoff at Oklahoma Air National Guard base

Woman in custody after standoff at Oklahoma Air National Guard base

A woman has been taken into police custody Monday afternoon following a standoff at the Oklahoma Air National Guard base.
Tulsa Police Bomb Squad officers were called to the scene after police received a report indicating a woman was driving around the complex with an unknown device, an official said Monday.
Police Sgt. Shane Tuell said officers were dispatched to the Air National Guard, near 46th Street North and U.S. 169, a little before noon because the Guard notified them of the woman's claims.
"She hasn't gone on the base itself, but she's claiming to have some type of a device in the vehicle," he said.
Police were involved with a standoff with the woman at the base's entrance, Tulsa police spokeswoman Demita Kinard said.
"She's claiming there is a war and the war is here," Kinard said of the woman.

Kinard said police received a call from a woman — believed to be the same person involved in the standoff — about 9:30 a.m., who claimed she was being kidnapped and was singing nursery rhymes, Kinard said.
Shortly later, police got a call from the Guard base saying there was a woman at the front gate.
Officers have not been able to confirm what type of device, if any, was in the woman's vehicle.
Police have identified the woman but aren't releasing her name yet because she is a "mentally ill individual," Kinard said.

source: tulsaworld

Baton Rouge Shooting Reaction

Police tighten security after 3 officers killed in Baton Rouge

(CNN)Officers Montrell Jackson, Matthew Gerald and Brad Garafola were killed Sunday after being ambushed and shot by a lone gunman in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Their deaths have kept the spotlight on a region where the July 5 shooting death of Alton Sterling at the hands of police began what has been two weeks of national turmoil.
"We as a nation have to be loud and clear that nothing justifies violence against law enforcement," President Barack Obama said after Sunday's attack. "Attacks on police are an attack on all of us, and the rule of law that makes society possible."
Now police across the country are taking precautions.
The New York Police Department is doubling up all foot patrols and security posts, according to a memo obtained by CNN. Officers are also being instructed to take all meals and personal breaks in pairs.

In Cleveland, the police union is asking Gov. John Kasich to restrict the state's open carry laws temporarily for the Republican National Convention in light of the events in Baton Rouge.
To better protect its officers, the Boston Police Department is requiring that two officers be in every patrol unit.
Although Baton Rouge is "hundreds of miles away from Boston, the pain and suffering caused by the loss of these officers in the line of duty is felt deeply by the men and women of the BPD," Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said Sunday. "This all too common trend we are seeing of violence against law enforcement officers who are out there each day serving and protecting neighborhoods across the country is alarming and disheartening."
Obama urged a stop to the bloodshed.
"Only we can prove, through words and through deeds, that we will not be divided," the President said Sunday. "And we're going to have to keep on doing it again and again and again. That's how this country gets united."

'No talking, just shooting'

The shooting Sunday took place around 8:40 a.m. (9:40 a.m. ET) in the city of about 230,000 people, already tense after the high-profile police shooting of Sterling, an African-American man.
On Sunday, police received a call of a "suspicious person walking down Airline Highway with an assault rifle," a source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN.
Killer Gavin Long "ambushed" the officers, said Col. Michael D. Edmonson, superintendent of the Louisiana State Police.
Long's "prey was those police officers," Edmonson said Monday morning on CNN. "He drew them to the scene."
After the first set of officers were attacked, more responded to the scene and killed Long, authorities said. He had been carrying an AR-15-style, semi-automatic rifle, law enforcement sources told CNN.
At a Sunday afternoon news conference, local and state authorities, including Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, said Long was thought to be the lone gunman. Earlier reports had said authorities believed there might have been more than one attacker. Edwards described the shooting as an "absolutely unspeakable heinous attack."
The Louisiana State Police said they questioned and released two people in relation to the attack, and no charges were filed.
Authorities are interviewing people that Long was speaking to while he was in Baton Rouge, Edmonson said. "We want to know what brought him here, what kept him here" and why he killed police, the superintendent said.
Edwards, also appearing Monday on CNN, reflected on the pain that officers' relatives and co-workers endured at the hospital until late Sunday. "Emotions are raw," the governor said. "There's a lot of hurting people."

The victims

Officers Jackson, 32, and Gerald, 41, both worked for the Baton Rouge Police Department.
Gerald had been serving for less than a year and, like Jackson, was assigned to the uniform patrol bureau, according to the department.
Jackson had posted on Facebook on July 8 how physically and emotionally drained he had been since protests had erupted in Baton Rouge after the killing of Sterling by police.
"I swear to God I love this city, but I wonder if this city loves me. In uniform I get nasty, hateful looks and out of uniform some consider me a threat. ... These are trying times. Please don't let hate infect your heart."
Garafola, 45, worked for the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office for 24 years, according to Casey Rayborn Hicks, a spokesman for the sheriff's office.
The gunman also critically wounded a deputy who is "fighting for his life," said East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Sid Gautreaux. Another wounded deputy and police officer have wounds not considered life-threatening, law officers said.

Authorities later identified 41-year-old Nicholas Tullier as an officer in critical condition.
Bruce Simmons, a 51-year-old with 23 years of service, sustained non-life threatening injuries, authorities said.

The shooter

Long, a black man from Kansas City, Missouri, was a Marine who was discharged as a sergeant in 2010.
CNN has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the military to obtain records about Long's service. Under Defense Department rules, health records that might include any information on Long's mental health are considered protected even though he is dead. The records are part of the criminal investigation.
CNN has filed a similar request for the records of Micah Johnson, also formerly a military member. He killed five police officers in Dallas, and a criminal investigation is ongoing about his military record.
Long served from August 22, 2005, to August 1, 2010, according to the little information the military has released. He was a data network specialist who received the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, Navy Unit Commendation Medal and others. He signed up for the service in Kansas City and deployed to Iraq from June 2008 to January 2009.
The releasable record on Long doesn't indicate where he worked in Iraq.
He left a long trail of information online about his beliefs under the pseudonym Cosmo Setepenra.



source: CNN

US Declassifies Secret 9/11

US Declassifies Secret 9/11 Documents Known as the '28 Pages'

A New York Firefighter amid the rubble of the World Trade Centre following the 9/11 attacks.

The U.S. intelligence community has officially lifted the veil on 28 classified pages from the first congressional investigation into the 9/11 terror attacks that some believe, once exposed, could demonstrate a support network inside the United States for two of those al-Qaeda hijackers.

Today, the Obama administration declassified those documents -- closely held secrets for over 13 years -- and Congress is expected to make them the public this afternoon. The FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies had kept the information secret until now, citing reasons of national security.

According to sources familiar with the documents, the information in the pages lays out a number of circumstances that suggest it's possible two of the 9/11 hijackers living in California in the months leading up to the attack were receiving operational support from individuals loyal to Saudi Arabia.

But intelligence officials say the information was preliminary, fragmented and unfinished data that was subsequently investigated along with more complete information in subsequent 9/11 investigations.

Saudi Arabia, an ally to the U.S. in the Middle East, has strongly denied any involvement in the attacks and these accusations, and believes the 2004 9/11 Commission Report, Congress's final investigation into the attacks, serves to completely exonerate Saudi Arabia.

"It does not appear that any government other than the Taliban financially supported al Qaeda before 9/11, although some governments may have contained al Qaeda sympathizers who turned a blind eye to al Qaeda's fundraising activities," the 9/11 Commission report reads. "Saudi Arabia has long been considered the primary source of al Qaeda funding, but we have found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded the organization. (This conclusion does not exclude the likelihood that charities with significant Saudi government sponsorship diverted funds to al Qaeda.)"

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were citizens of Saudi Arabia.

Former Sen. Bob Graham, one of the authors of the report produced by the Joint Congressional Inquiry in December of 2002, had been pushing for the classified pages to be released since the day they were made secret. He said he still harbors suspicion that these men were being helped by senior Saudi connections and told CBS News in April it is "implausible" to believe these two hijackers "could've carried out such a complicated task without some support from within the United States."

The declassified documents are also of great interest to the lawyers representing family members of 9/11 victims who have brought a lawsuit against the Saudi government, alleging it provided financial support to al-Qaeda. They feel unseen evidence in these documents pointing to Saudi involvement could bolster their case.

In turn, Congress has introduced legislation called the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) that would limit the sovereign immunity of other countries, including Saudi Arabia, that if passed would allow the victims' families to sue Saudi Arabia -- something they currently can't do.

The Saudis have threatened to sell off billions of dollars in U.S. assets if such a law is enacted. And although it has passed the Senate and is pending in the House, the White House doesn't favor it and worries that it could set a dangerous precedent that would open up the U.S. government to similar liabilities and litigation.



source: abcnews

US Drone Kills Mastermind

US Drone Kills Mastermind of 2014 Pakistan School Attack

FILE - A mother mourns her son Mohammed Ali Khan, 15, a student who was killed during an attack by Taliban gunmen on the army-administered Public School, at her house in Peshawar, December 16, 2014.

ISLAMABAD—
The United States has confirmed that a drone strike in Afghanistan has killed a top Pakistani Taliban leader who was responsible for planning the 2014 attack on a Pakistani school, one of the country's worst terror attacks.

A Pakistan military spokesman said Wednesday that the U.S. commander of international forces in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, telephoned his Pakistani counterpart, General Raheel Sharif and “confirmed death of terrorist Umar Narai through drone strike” in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar.

Narai was wanted in Pakistan for masterminding the Taliban attack on an army-administered school in Peshawar in December 2014. Nearly 150 people, mostly young students, were massacred in what was condemned as one of the worst militant attacks in the country’s history.

The slain Taliban commander was also blamed for plotting the September 2015 deadly raid an Air Force base near Peshawar and the attack on a university not far from the city in January this year. Around 50 people were killed in the two attacks

A Pakistani security official requesting anonymity told VOA Islamabad welcomes Narai’s elimination, saying it shows that Pakistani militants fleeing security operations have taken refuge in Afghanistan.

On May 21, the U.S. military reported that a drone strike killed chief of the Afghan Taliban Mullah Mansoor in the southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan. Both Afghan and Pakistani officials accuse each other of sheltering militants involved in terrorist activities on their respective territory.

Authorities cite the long porous border dividing their countries for being unable to completely stop illegal movement on both sides.

On Wednesday, General Sharif chaired a meeting of his top commanders to discuss security along the Afghan border.

“To scrutinize cross border movement and ensure strict check on terrorist’s movement, the forum reviewed progress of measures being taken for effective border management,” an army statement said after the meeting.

Afghan and U.S. officials have lately increased pressure on Pakistan to stop Taliban and their allies, including the lethal Haqqani network, from using Pakistani soil for plotting insurgent attacks in Afghanistan.




source: voanews

David Cameron to resign

David Cameron to resign Wednesday as Theresa May to become British PM

London (CNN)British Prime Minister David Cameron is to resign Wednesday, paving the way for Home Secretary Theresa May to take the reins.

May was officially named Conservative Party leader and successor to Cameron "with immediate effect" Monday, said Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee, a collection of Conservative members of Parliament key to electing the party leader. She will replace Cameron on Wednesday evening.

In remarks shortly after her leadership was affirmed, May said her priorities will be to administer Britain's exit from the European Union, a move approved by voters last month, to unite the country and to create a "strong, new, positive vision for the future," not just for the privileged few, but for everyone.

Cameron had already announced he would step down by October after failing to convince the country to remain in the EU in the divisive June 23 referendum that sent shockwaves through Britain's political establishment.

But Monday, May's only remaining rival to replace Cameron -- Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom -- pulled out of the race following controversy over comments she made about motherhood and leadership.

"Obviously, with these changes, we now don't need to have a prolonged period of transition. And so tomorrow I will chair my last Cabinet meeting. On Wednesday I will attend the House of Commons for Prime Minister's questions," Cameron told reporters Monday outside 10 Downing Street.

"And then after that I expect to go to the palace and offer my resignation. So we will have a new prime minister in that building behind me by Wednesday evening."

The vote between May and Leadsom was supposed to go to the wider Conservative Party of 150,000 people, but being the sole candidate, May sidestepped the party rule.

Cameron welcomed Leadsom's decision to drop out of the race and said he was confident May would steer the country in the right direction, calling her strong and competent, and offering her his full support.


source: CNN