Gun violence, shootings and senseless killings!!

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$5M bond kept for man in murder of 4; wounding of girl

CLEVELAND (AP) — An Ohio judge has retained the $5 million bond set earlier for a man accused of having shot and killed his father, sister and nephew as well as another man and critically wounding an 8-year-old girl in Cleveland earlier this month.

https://apnews.com/article/crime-cleveland-341c2de51867856778f333fed6a470fc

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Monterey Park shooting victims named; police seek motive

MONTEREY PARK, Calif. (AP) — The 11 people killed in a dance hall shooting ranged in age from 57 to 76, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said Tuesday in releasing the names of the dead as investigators kept probing for a motive in the worst shooting in county history.

https://apnews.com/article/california-us-news-los-angeles-shootings-09aaa62f13cbddb52ac25c521bddff0d

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Walmart shooting suspect to plead guilty to federal charges

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — The man accused of killing nearly two dozen people in a racist attack at an El Paso Walmart plans to plead guilty to federal charges in the case, according to court records filed days after the federal government said it wouldn’t seek the death penalty in the case.

https://apnews.com/article/walmart-shooting-suspect-federal-charges-plea-fc9b8306e668d6830610dd6b152f22ce

Texas man pleads guilty in racist 2019 Walmart attack

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — A Texas man pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal hate crime and weapons charges in the racist attack at an El Paso Walmart in 2019, which prosecutors say was preceded by the gunman posting an online screed that warned of a “Hispanic invasion.”

https://apnews.com/article/mexico-united-states-government-patrick-crusius-texas-el-paso-a2a924593883056af3782f33e3200fee?

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Woman who killed ill husband in hospital faces murder charge

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A woman who fatally shot her terminally ill husband inside a Florida hospital was taken into custody over the weekend after SWAT team members used a nonlethal explosive device to distract her and then tried to use a stun gun on her, authorities said Monday.

https://apnews.com/article/florida-daytona-beach-shootings-a35488c364b4837e22859fea03d34569

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Police: 2 students killed, man hurt in Des Moines shooting

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Two teenage students were killed Monday and a man was seriously injured in what police said was a targeted shooting at an alternative educational program designed to keep at-risk youth away from trouble. The injured man was identified as the program’s founder — a rapper who left a life of gangs and violence and has been dedicated to helping youth in Des Moines.

https://apnews.com/article/des-moines-school-shooting-20965fba395ba2a48b57cb37355e0ac7

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Virginia Senate panel OKs gun bills after campus shootings

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Democrat-led Virginia Senate panel voted Monday to advance a range of gun control bills, including legislation meant to address recent campus shootings at the University of Virginia and a Newport News elementary school.

https://apnews.com/article/politics-crime-newport-news-virginia-gun-56b05d0bb43ecf752e4bd50d7ec41534

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12 people injured in shooting at Louisiana nightclub

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A dozen people were injured in a Baton Rouge nightclub shooting, authorities in Louisiana said Sunday.

https://apnews.com/article/crime-baton-rouge-louisiana-shootings-f498bb84183d6aa92cba708b56ce9f97

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‘When does this stop?’ For 2023, an alarmingly bloody start

In a country with more guns than people — and one emerging from three years of isolation, stress and infighting amid the pandemic — Americans are beginning 2023 with a steady barrage of mass slaughter.

https://apnews.com/article/crime-homicide-california-shootings-d93ba0560147cbbee3cff9c45fbbc523?

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Lawyer: Warnings boy had gun ignored before he shot teacher

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — Concerned staff warned administrators at a Virginia elementary school three times that a 6-year-old boy had a gun and was threatening other students in the hours before he shot and wounded a teacher, but the administration “was paralyzed by apathy” and didn’t call police, remove the boy from class or lock down the school, the wounded teacher’s lawyer said Wednesday.

https://apnews.com/article/newport-news-school-shooting-a40dfad64388aadf1f90211177412522?

Chief: 6-year-old shot Virginia teacher during class lesson

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — In the moments before a 6-year-old Virginia boy shot his teacher, there was no fight, no physical struggle and no warning, authorities said Monday.

https://apnews.com/article/teaching-newport-news-education-25cebfde17e46abc435c205210a7073d

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Monterey Park, an Asian cultural hub, shaken by shooting

MONTEREY PARK, Calif. (AP) — For decades, Monterey Park has been a haven for Asian immigrants seeking to maintain a strong cultural identity — and a culinary heaven worth visiting for anybody near Los Angeles craving authentic Asian cuisine.

https://apnews.com/article/monterey-park-california-shooting-802a4ad2a515d814264ba6a0f36dcdd3?

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3 teens arrested, 2 hurt, 1 critical in Carson City shooting

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Three juveniles have been taken into custody as suspects in a shooting in Carson City that injured two teens, including one who remained hospitalized Wednesday in critical condition.

https://apnews.com/article/crime-nevada-carson-city-teens-shootings-cd0730c7f8e5993fe3d2c1d419a3b9b3

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Tyre Nichols case revives calls for change in police culture

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — An unarmed Black man dies after a videotaped beating by police. The officers involved are fired. After a thorough review of the evidence, criminal charges are swiftly filed against the offending officers.

https://apnews.com/article/law-enforcement-los-angeles-george-floyd-memphis-religion-21d9b66a447798e66e4f84a6b7bc3146?

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‘Don’t be numb to this’: Battling despair over gun deaths

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Increasingly it feels like America is at war with itself.

https://apnews.com/article/united-states-gun-violence-97475ef645314bf3762fdc82f64dae2c?

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Police Shoot and Kill Man Who Fired AR-15 Rifle Inside a Nebraska Target

Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said the man had “plenty of ammunition” and that evidence suggests he fired multiple rounds, but it wasn’t immediately known if he fired at anyone.

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/police-shoot-and-kill-man-who-fired-an-ar-15-rifle-inside-a-target-in-nebraska/4078393/

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Not a cult: Entire family of Trump supporters dies in apparent suicide pact

An entire Pennsylvania family of Trump supporters, including James Daub, 62, Deborah Daub, 59, and their daughter Morgan, 26, were found dead in their backyard. An investigation found several notes inside the house that indicated the family made a “joint decision” to end their lives.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/4/2151147/-Not-a-cult-Entire-family-of-Trump-supporters-commit-suicide?

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Teen pleads guilty, another sentenced for Buffalo violence

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A teenager pleaded guilty Friday to shooting a security guard outside a Buffalo high school last year, while another teen was sentenced to one to three years behind bars for stabbing a fellow student several times during the same series of events. Both victims survived.

https://apnews.com/article/legal-proceedings-crime-buffalo-education-assault-debd4bad6efd2ec31928049051aa760e

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Boy, 16, charged in fatal shootings near Chicago school

CHICAGO (AP) — A 16-year-old boy was arrested Thursday in a December shooting near a Chicago high school that left two students dead and two other teens wounded.

https://apnews.com/article/crime-chicago-0d6ec89e3bbcc97e6dc3f07b203aeac3

[Jack Chaffin Jr]

These are all terrible events.  
One thing to remember:  between 500,000 and 3 million defensive gun usage events in the US per year, according to the FBI and the CDC.  A firearm is a tool that can be used for good or ill.  

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HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. Shooting!!!!!

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (AP) — A gunman on a rooftop opened fire on an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago on Monday, killing at least six people, wounding at least 30 and sending hundreds of marchers, parents with strollers and children on bicycles fleeing in terror, police said.

https://apnews.com/article/chicago-july-4-parade-shooting-92b50feb80c19afe7842b9caf08545cb?

Parade shooting suspect bought 5 weapons despite threats

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (AP) — A man charged Tuesday with seven counts of murder after firing off more than 70 rounds at an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago legally bought five weapons, including the high-powered rifle used in the shooting, despite authorities being called to his home twice in 2019 for threats of violence and suicide, police said.

https://apnews.com/article/highland-park-chicago-shooting-updates-4e9e0cf0aaa9954ae4fee30c5dd28bc8?

EXPLAINER: Should red-flag law have stopped parade shooting?

CHICAGO (AP) — Days after a rooftop gunman killed seven people at a parade, attention has turned to how the assailant obtained multiple guns and whether the laws on Illinois books could have prevented the Independence Day massacre.

https://apnews.com/article/gun-violence-shootings-chicago-politics-illinois-dc153a29e2f45bcb66b6f53611b09e3b?

Highland Park shooting: No bail for accused shooter, who authorities say also considered 2nd attack in Wisconsin

A Lake County judge on Wednesday ordered Robert E. “Bobby” Crimo III, accused of carrying out the rooftop massacre at Highland Park’s Independence Day parade, held without bail on seven counts of first-degree murder.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-highland-park-parade-shooting-day-three-20220706-m4jhf3zosbhjpgpq3xtgykiqvi-story.html

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Chief: 3 dead in Indiana mall shooting; witness kills gunman

Another senseless shooting! Thank God for this person actually doing something!!

GREENWOOD, Ind. (AP) — Three people were fatally shot and two were injured Sunday evening at an Indiana mall after a man with a rifle opened fire in a food court and an armed civilian shot and killed him, police said.

https://apnews.com/article/indiana-mall-shooting-345348912b288dce656083b2422c2fde?

ps:This is old, just being moved to this thread and deleted from where it was!!

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Parkland school shooter spared from execution for killing 17

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A divided jury spared Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz the death penalty Thursday for killing 17 people at a Parkland high school in 2018, sending him to prison for the rest of his life in a decision that left many families of the victims angered, baffled and in tears.

https://apnews.com/article/parkland-shooter-jury-recommendation-live-updates-15c5121be1b8b7a73b85607d602e6ba2?

Parkland shooter’s life sentence could bring changes to law

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — It wasn’t long ago that Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz would have been looking at a near-certain death sentence for murdering 17 people in Parkland, even if his jury could not unanimously agree on his fate.

https://apnews.com/article/education-florida-fort-lauderdale-parkland-school-shooting-nikolas-cruz-00236189b15be05809300d543e32ee63?

5 years after Parkland, families cope through good works

https://apnews.com/article/parkland-florida-school-shooting-2f9a3c21243fcf909c0933437ceec03e?

Parkland school killer formally sentenced to life in prison

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz formally received a sentence of life without parole Wednesday after families of his 17 slain victims spent two days berating him as evil, a coward, a monster and a subhuman who deserves a painful death.

https://apnews.com/article/shootings-education-florida-fort-lauderdale-parkland-school-shooting-343ad047ce2904328a3310a0714e6274

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5 years after Parkland, is Florida going backward on gun rules?

'Constitutional carry' push shifts momentum

Stephany Matat

Palm Beach Post USA TODAY NETWORK

A 2018 South Florida school massacre seemed to have changed national attitudes on gun safety legislation. But as the fifth anniversary of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas approaches Tuesday, gun-safety advocates fear the state is sliding backward.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is vowing to make Florida the 26th state that allows gun owners to carry their weapons without a permit or training, dubbed “constitutional carry” by supporters.

“Basically, this was something that I've always supported,” DeSantis said in a Lee County appearance Dec. 16. “The last two years, it was not necessarily a priority for the legislative leadership. But we've been talking about it, and he's (Florida House Speaker Paul Renner) pledged publicly that's moving forward, and it'll be something that will be done in the regular session.”

That's a marked departure from the bipartisan success, in the wake of the shocking Feb. 14, 2018, rampage at the northern Broward County high school, when Florida legislators responded by implementing so-called red flag laws, allowing courts to remove weaponry from people deemed to be a risk, and raising the age to buy a gun to 21.

See PARKLAND, Page 5A

Continued from Page 1A

In a tweet late last month, after Renner announced support for the removal of the gun-permit requirement in the state, gun-safety advocate Fred Guttenberg tweeted that the socalled constitutional carry provision is really “political carry.”

Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime, then 14, was killed at Parkland, wrote the proposed legislation “will add more guns in more places to solve a problem that doesn't exist.”

Tallahassee Democrats agree, saying the measure reverts progress on gun control, said state Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, who filed a legislative measure Jan. 10 to require background checks on the sales of ammunition, also known as Jaime's Law, named after Guttenberg's daughter.

“More guns doesn't make us safer, and we live in a dangerous state and we should be pushing laws that change behavior and are in line for what gun owners are looking for,” Polsky said. “Gun owners want to do the right thing, but politicians seem to be pushing more guns with less regulation.”

The problem is that Florida legislative Democrats are in the minority in the state Capitol, making it virtually impossible for them to derail any initiatives, on guns and other matters, proposed by the Republican supermajority.

Jaime's Law has been filed three times previously in the legislative docket. When asked if the bill would be pushed through the Republican supermajority in the Legislature this year, Polsky responded: “It's not.”

Robert Schentrup of Brady United, a national gun-reform group, lost his 16-year-old sister, Carmen, in the 2018 mass shooting that killed 17 people on Valentine's Day. He said the goals for gun-safety reform have been changing, because the initial goal after Parkland was to reduce gun violence 25% by 2025. Since 2018, gun violence has only gone up nationwide.

“There is less national progress than there was hoping to be five years ago,” Schentrup said.

Schentrup is “not surprised” by the permitless carry measure, but said it was “disheartening.”

He said that movements such as the youthrun group within his organization are “necessary” to bring Florida gun safety reform “across the finish line.”

Gun safety reforms are also being pursued in Congress, but the outlook there, too, is clouded.

Last summer, in the wake of another tragic mass shooting in a school, this time in Texas, a bipartisan coalition approved and President Joe Biden signed into law the first major gun-safety legislation passed by Congress in three decades. The law includes incentives for states to pass red flag laws like the one implemented in Florida after Parkland.

In his State of the Union address Tuesday, Biden called for a ban on assault weapons.

“I led the fight to do that in 1994. And in 10 years that ban was law, mass shootings went down,” Biden said. “After we let it expire in a Republican administration, mass shootings tripled. Let's finish the job and ban these assault weapons.”

But in November's midterm election, Republicans won a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, albeit a slim four-seat one, and with an emboldened and empowered far-right caucus, meaningful gun legislation seems doubtful.

Still, freshman U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, DParkland, a Marjory Stoneman Douglas alum who was named vice chair of a Gun Violence Prevention Task Force in Congress, said the first step is to begin finding common ground. This task force is made of a bipartisan group of lawmakers “working to find common-sense solutions to reduce gun violence in the United States,” according to a Jan. 9 press statement from Moskowitz's team.

Moskowitz said in an interview that with Republicans dominating the U.S. House, and with Florida's Republican supermajority in Tallahassee, the only thing that can be done legislatively right now is having “conversations with the other side and figure out where there's going to be some agreement.”

He noted that threat assessment legislation for gun violence could have bipartisan support as well.

“We're going to have these massive events until we do something about it substantially,” Moskowitz said. “We won't prevent them all, but we can do a lot to mitigate them.”

The Parkland shooting claimed 17 lives that Valentine's Day. Confessed shooter Nikolas Cruz was sentenced to life in prison in October. Gun violence has only increased since Parkland, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit group that produces gun violence data.

Moskowitz, who was in the Legislature at the time of the high school shooting and helped obtain passage of the 2018 reforms, said Florida has used its red flag law 9,000 times since it was passed.

“The fact that that bill still exists five years later, the fact that there's no effort to repeal that bill, proves that gun violence prevention works,” Moskowitz said.

“Gun owners want to do the right thing, but politicians seem to be pushing more guns with less regulation.”

Sen. Tina Polsky

D-Boca Raton

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Police seek motive of gunman who killed 3 at Michigan State

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The 43-year-old gunman who killed three students and wounded five others at Michigan State University had no apparent connection to the campus, police said Tuesday as they searched for a motive for shootings that terrified the community for hours.

https://apnews.com/article/colleges-and-universities-michigan-education-shootings-153ab68bc4f108c2019bb138de2dc8fb?

Timeline of events in Michigan State University shooting

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Investigators are still sorting out why a man opened fire on the Michigan State University campus, killing three students and wounding five. The gunman fatally shot himself after a roughly three-hour manhunt. Here’s a timeline of events during and after Monday’s shooting (all times Eastern).

https://apnews.com/article/mlb-michigan-education-0a4950f9c435ab7135e37f9d6d2c05eb?

Michigan State urges: ‘Run, Hide, Fight’ as gunfire erupts

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — They broke out windows to escape, barricaded doors and hid under blankets. They silenced their phones — afraid to make even the slightest sound for hours as police searched for a gunman who had already killed three students and critically wounded five others on the Michigan State University campus.

https://apnews.com/article/michigan-state-shooting-cb91b1f2a03bde7ea240b4e1be124d1f?

Fraternity president, science student among shooting victims

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — One student was a fraternity chapter president. Another was a science student with fond memories of her days as a high-school athlete — and the third was a frequent volunteer who wanted to become a pediatrician.

https://apnews.com/article/michigan-state-shooting-victims-16a9581cbb2f37a66fb6ed66191b615e?

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DOJ gives states $231M

Money will go toward gun violence prevention

Lindsay Whitehurst

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department is sending out more than $200million to help states and the District of Columbia administer “red-flag laws” and other crisis-intervention programs as part of the landmark bipartisan gun legislation passed by Congress over the summer, officials said Tuesday.

Red-flag laws, also known as extreme risk protection orders, are intended to temporarily remove guns from people with potentially violent behavior and prevent them from hurting themselves or others. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have red-flag laws.

Some of the $231 million in funding announced Tuesday, the fifth anniversary of the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, will also go to crisisintervention court proceedings and other gun-violence reduction programs.

Red-flag laws have been touted by President Joe Biden and others as a powerful tool to stop gun violence before it happens. But an Associated Press analysis found they are often underused even as shootings and gun deaths soar around the U.S. That can be due to a lack of awareness or reluctance to enforce the laws.

The laws differ by state, but they generally allow people like family members or law enforcement to petition a court for an order removing weapons, for up to a year. Some critics fear they could be used to wrongly curtail Second Amendment rights. The Justice Department said the program has checks in place to ensure due process.

The funding is part of the $1.4 billion from the legislation provided to the Justice Department over five years for gun violence prevention measures. The legislation passed in June was the widestranging gun violence bill in decades. It toughened requirements for young people who seek to buy guns, denied firearms for more domestic abusers, and bolstered funding for mental health programs and schools.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the funding will “help protect children, families, and communities across the country from senseless acts of gun violence.”

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Buffalo shooter rushed from court after man charges at him

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The white supremacist who killed 10 Black people in a Buffalo supermarket was hustled out of a courtroom Wednesday after someone in the audience rushed at him and was restrained by a court officer.

https://apnews.com/article/legal-proceedings-new-york-buffalo-crime-terrorism-a13cf95d1fbecfa64571de87d2ccfa8a?