List of All Articles with Tag 'crime'

Prosecutors allege the murder of professional dancer O'Shae Sibley was an anti-gay hate crime.

The 17-year-old boy charged with stabbing O’Shae Sibley to death at a gas station in Brooklyn has pleaded not guilty at his arraignment. Dmitriy Popov was previously indicted by a grand jury on murder in the second degree as a hate crime, among other charges. Mr Popov’s next court date is set for October, ABC 7 reported, adding that the teen faces a minimum of 20 years in jail and a maximum of 25 years to life. The outlet reported that Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez underscored the importance of prosecuting this incident as a hate crime. “Many powerful people across this country have talked about this case and have been concerned that justice prevails,” said Mr Gonzalez. “I’m assuring the community that we are taking this case very seriously, that we’re going to make sure that justice prevails.” The 17-year-old is accused of killing Sibley, a gay 28-year-old professional dancer, who, reportedly just after 11pm on 29 July, was dancing to a Beyonce song with a friend at a Mobil gas station in Brooklyn. That’s when a separate group of young men allegedly began hurling homophobic insults saying that they didn’t like “gay dancing” in their neighbourhood, according to eyewitnesses. Sibley suffered “a stab wound to the torso. EMS responded and removed the victim to Maimonides Medical Center, where he was pronounced deceased,” a spokesperson for NYPD said. Mr Popov’s lawyer Mark Pollard previously told The Independent that his client was a “good Christian boy” who regularly attended church. “I have no idea where that came from. I just know he’s not Muslim. It’s very strange,” Mr Pollard told The Independent. The teenage suspect turned himself in to authorities after a week of trying to bring him in, although he was easily identified through video footage. “This is a city where you are free to express yourself, and that expression should never end with any form of violence,” Mayor Eric Adams said at a press conference last week. Read More 17-year-old suspect in the New York stabbing of a dancer is indicted on a hate-crime murder charge O’Shae Sibley was stabbed to death for the crime of being ‘Black, gay and dancing’ Teen accused of stabbing O’Shae Sibley in homophobic attack is a ‘good Christian boy’, lawyer says

Authorities in Maryland are hoping to speak to a group of individuals who were on the trail the same time as Rachel Morin on the night the 37-year-old was killed. The group of people who had dogs with them on the trail Saturday evening may have seen something, Harford County officials said as they urged them to come forward. Morin was last seen heading to the Ma & Pa Trail around 6pm on 5 August. Her boyfriend Richard Tobin reported her missing that night after she failed to return home. The mother-of-five’s body was found the next day, and her death is being investigated as a homicide. Detectives said they received information that between 6pm and 7.30pm, the group of potential witnesses were walking on the Ma & Pa Trail from the Rt. 24 tunnel toward the split in the trail that leads to the Williams Street trailhead. The individuals were described as either being three men, two women and two dogs or two men, three women and two dogs. It’s the most recent update in the disappearance and killing of the mother-of-five that has gripped the Bel Air community. Hundreds of tips have come in, but authorities do not yet have a “solid suspect” in the case. “We do not have a solid suspect. Not knowing whether this was a targeted event specific to Rachel, we are going to say, yes, be aware, be thinking there could be somebody out here and this is a random event,” Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said. Mr Gahler urged the public to keep sending in tips, no matter how insignificant it may be. “Together we will solve this crime and find the heinous coward who took Rachel Morin from her family and friends,” he said in a briefing on Wednesday. Anyone who believes they may be the individuals that the detectives are looking for or if anyone has information that could be helpful, contact Sgt. Maddox at maddoxc@harfordsheriff.org. Read More Rachel Morin – update: Police seek mystery group of potential witnesses on Bel Air trail near time of killing Rachel Morin’s mother breaks silence on daughter’s killing Man who described grisly state of Rachel Morin’s body never actually saw it, sheriff says

The captain of the Harriott II riverboat revealed that he has had “trouble” in the past with the group who were arrested and charged with assault for their actions in the Montgomery waterfront brawl. A fight broke out over the weekend along the dock after a deckhand asked the owners of a pontoon boat to move it a few feet, so that the Harriott II—which was carrying 227 passengers—could safely dock. The pontoon boat was partially blocking the riverboat’s designated space, the Montgomery Police chief previously said. The exchange, which was captured on video, quickly got out of hand when one of the men on the pontoon boat allegedly started getting physical with the deckhand. Three men and one woman have so far been arrested in connection with the incident: Richard Roberts, 48, Allen Todd, 23, Zachary Shipman, 25, and Mary Todd, 21. Capt Jim Kittrell told Alabama’s 93.1 radio station that this wasn’t the first time he had encountered the group. “This is the same group that comes every year. They’re from Selma. And, we’ve had trouble with them in the past, but just like jokey things,” he stated. He went into further detail about the group, citing one example from a few years ago while talking on CNN on Thursday. When the group came to Montgomery, the captain recalled, after a cruise, the riverboat crew tried to retrive “our golf cart that we used to get people up the hills that are handicapped or elderly.” But it was nowhere to be found. Mr Kittrell said he received a call from the Embassy Suites Hotel, saying the golf cart is in the hotel lobby. After being shown video footage of the cart entering the lobby, he said they “find out who it is,” and he called his boss, who “wanted me to press charges” because the property belonged to the city. However, police talked him out of it. Mr Kittrell recounted the police telling him at the time that it was “juust a little prank. Just let it slide.” So they did. But this time, the police didn’t let it slide. Mr Roberts had already been in custody with the Selma Police Department, while Mr Todd and Mr Shipman turned themselves in on Wednesday evening. Mary Todd handed herself in on Thursday and has been charged with assault in the third degree. However, they are still trying to get in touch with Reggie Gray, whom the police chief has described as “wielding that folding chair” in videos, with footage showing him allegedly hitting multiple people over the head. The police chief announced they were looking for him on Tuesday; on Thursday, a spokesperson for the Montgomery Police told The Independent that investigators will “certainly” find Mr Gray. On Wednesday, Mr Kittrell said he believed the attack was driven by race. “The white guys that attacked my deckhand—and he was a senior deckhand first mate—I can’t think of any other reason they attacked him other than it being racially motivated,” he said. However, the captain said, after the initial attack on the deckhand, the rest of the brawl did not fall along racial lines. On CNN on Thursday, Mr Kittrell expanded on that claim, saying, “I saw it like everybody else saw it. It looks like White people attacking a Black man. But, he added, “I don’t know the hearts of those men...Now, I do know the hearts of my crew. And my crew was frustrated because they couldn’t get to the dock” and protect the deckhand, Damien Pickett. The captain said he took Mr Pickett to the hospital after the attack, and although “he’s still having some headaches and stuff,” he said the deckhand is “doing well.” Police said they did not find enough evidence to support hate crime charges. Read More Alabama riverfront brawl suspects finally turn themselves in Alabama dockside brawl was racially motivated, riverboat captain says Riverfront brawl brings unwelcome attention to historic civil rights city in Alabama

The mother of Rachel Morin has broken her silence with a plea for compassion as the family takes time to grieve the “sudden and tragic” loss of the 37-year-old whose body was found after she vanished while going for a jog on the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air. “We are grieving. We need the time and space to grieve as a family. We have not forgotten our community,” the post read. “We just need time. . . I need time. It has only been 4 days since we received the horrific news. I ask that as mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters, that you would please have compassion on us and allow us this.” Morin was last seen heading to the Ma & Pa Trail at around 6pm Saturday. Her boyfriend Richard Tobin reported her missing that night after she failed to return home. Morin’s body was found the following day, and her death is being investigated as a homicide. The heartfelt letter, which was shared on Thursday in a post on the Facebook page of Rachel Morin’s sister Rebekah, thanked the community for its support and announced that a Celebration of Life service and a 5K run would be held in Morin’s honour thanks to the money raised. “Because of the tremendous outpouring of prayers, love and concern, our family is in the process of making arrangements for a Celebration of Life service to which friends and the community will be invited (more details to come),” the family wrote. “And because Rachel was an avid runner, we are in the early stages of planning a 5K walk/run in her honor with the hope of having a trail of flowers.” The GoFundMe goal amount was raised to $65,000 to help pay for the arrangements and it has raised $41,612 as of Thursday. “If you have experienced the loss of a dear loved one, then you know how hard it can be to express the pain that you feel in your heart. When it’s sudden and tragic, your mind looks for ways to cope,” the letter continued. “As a mom, I appreciate the outpouring of love and support from family, friends, and the worldwide community that grieves with me for my young daughter. Thank you for caring. Truly.” Morin’s family shared the letter with the update just a day after the Hartford County Sheriff Jeffery Gahler vowed to bring the “heinous coward” who killed Morin to justice. He also confirmed police had yet to identify a “solid suspect” but said detectives have been working around the clock and that some of the “more than 100 tips” that have been submitted by the public “have been promising”. Read More Man who described grisly state of Rachel Morin’s body never actually saw it, sheriff says Rachel Morin’s chilling Facebook post before mother-of-five found dead on Maryland hiking trail Maryland sheriff calls out ‘heinous coward’ who killed mother-of-five Rachel Morin

A 17-year-old has been indicted on a charge of second-degree murder as a hate crime over the killing of O'Shae Sibley, a 28-year-old professional dancer who was stabbed to death at a Brooklyn gas station after dancing to a Beyoncé song.

The father of a missing Wisconsin 13-year-old said he believes his son was possibly coerced to leave his family home by another individual. James Yoblonski, 13, reportedly took his family's van and left his home in Reedsburg on 12 June, according to Sauk County deputies. The teen may have also taken his father's handgun with him. "It's not like him to do anything like this," William Yoblonski, the boy's father, told Fox News Digital. "I mean, he's never driven my vehicle on the streets or anything. He's moved my van around my shop a couple times. That was it." Security footage caught the teen leaving his home around midnight and walking across the street to where the family's van was parked, and sat inside for an hour before leaving, his father explained. Police eventually found the van by tracking his father's cellphone — which the teen also took — at the western edge of Devil's Lake State Park later that day. They found a makeshift campsite at the park they believed the boy built. Later probes into the teen's search history found he had looked up information about teens crossing state lines and boarding airplanes. Mr Yoblonski doubts that his son spent an evening at the makeshift campsite because police dogs did not pick up his scent in the area. He believes he left the area with another individual. "I think he left with somebody. I think he sat there and waited for a horn to honk and came out and got in the car with somebody," the father said. He theorises that his son met someone online or in person who may have coerced or influenced his son to leave home. James reportedly posted a video to Snapchat from his father's home shortly before his disappearance. "'I'm sorry. I don't think I'll be back for school. I don't want to hurt anybody, but I might,'" Mr Yoblonski said, paraphrasing his son's comments in the video. He believes someone else was holding the phone and recording his son in the video. Though Mr Williams has not been named as an official suspect in his son's disappearance, he knows that some members of the public are likely eyeing him as a possible culprit. He recently took and passed a polygraph test administered by the Sauk County sheriff's office, which he said he hoped would return the focus of the case to his missing son. Mr Williams has offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to his son. "I just want my son back. That's why I put up a $10,000 reward. If I could afford to go more than that … but I just don't have that kind of money. Like I said, I'm a single father," he said. Mr Williams has expressed some frustration with the lack of answers coming from the sheriff's office. Since then, the FBI has joined the search for the missing teen. Read More Father of teen missing for nearly two months speaks out after polygraph test Body pulled from river after 10-day search for missing man as three arrested for ‘murder’ Maryland sheriff calls out ‘heinous coward’ who killed mother-of-five Rachel Morin

Ecuador was reeling on Thursday from the slaying of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio the night before, less than

Two suspects who were involved in the Montgomery riverboat brawl have finally turned themselves in. Allen Todd, 23, and Zachary Shipman, 25, surrendered to the Montgomery Police Department, a spokesperson said late Wednesday, days after they were allegedly involved in a massive fight on a dock last weekend. Mr Todd and Mr Shipman are among three men facing one count of assault in the third degree, which is a misdemeanour, in connection with the incident. The fight began on Saturday when a deckhand on the Harriott II riverboat, Damian Pickett, confronted the owners of a pontoon boat so that the ship could dock. Viral video captured the owners, who are white, punching Mr Pickett, who is Black, before an all-out brawl ensued - largely along racial lines. On Tuesday, Police Chief Darryl Allen identified the three suspects, adding that one of them had already turned themselves in—that person appears to be Richard Roberts, 48. Police said they are seeking yet another man for further interviews: Reggie Gray. The police chief described him as “wielding that folding chair” in videos, as he picked up a chair and hit people over the head with it. A spokesperson for the Montgomery Police told The Independent on Thursday that Mr Gray has not yet been in contact with the police, but assured that the authorities will “certainly” find him. All three of the men are white, and all three were members of the pontoon boat, which was reportedly blocking the Harriott II—which was carrying 227 passengers—from docking. So the captain’s deckhand, Mr Pickett, was taken from the riverboat to the dock to try to reason with the members of the pontoon boat, asking them to move. They did not take it well. The next part went viral - as the owner of the pontoon boat started attacking Mr Pickett. On Wednesday, the captain of the Harriott II, Capt Jim Kittrell, said he believed the attack was driven by race. “The white guys that attacked my deckhand—and he was a senior deckhand first mate—I can’t think of any other reason they attacked him other than it being racially motivated,” he said. The brawl grew from there. However, he conceded that after the initial exchange, the fight did not appear to be “Black and white.” “It was just shipmates trying to help a shipmate,” the captain said. “They could’ve been little green men, for all they cared. When they attacked Damien, my crew was gonna jump out and do the best they could to help him out. It was my crew against the people who attacked their shipmate, that’s all it was.” Chief Albert explicitly said that the people aboard the pontoon boat were not local to Montgomery. “This is not indicative of who we are as a city. We are much better than that,” he said. Read More Alabama dockside brawl was racially motivated, riverboat captain says Riverfront brawl brings unwelcome attention to historic civil rights city in Alabama

Maryland detectives investigating the homicide of missing mother-of-five Rachel Morin have said they do not have a solid suspect yet in the case and warned members of the community to be vigilant. "Not knowing whether this was a targeted event specific to Rachel, we are going to say, ‘yes, be aware, be thinking there could be somebody out here and this is a random event’," Harford County Sheriff Jeffery Gahler told WBALTV. Morin, 37, was last seen heading to the Ma & Pa Trail in Bel Air at around 6pm on Saturday evening, according to the Harford County Sheriff’s Office. After she failed to return home that night, her boyfriend reported her missing. Then on Sunday afternoon, a Maryland father discovered a woman’s body in a tunnel off the trail which was later confirmed to be Morin. Mr Gahler announced that Morin’s case is now a homicide investigation at a press conference that evening. Rebekah Morin, the deceased’s sister, started a GoFundMe to pay for funeral expenses. As of Thursday morning, it has raised almost $41,000. Read More Rachel Morin was found dead on a popular Maryland hiking trail. Her sister says she ‘did not go willingly’ Rachel Morin’s boyfriend says he ‘would never do anything to her’ as homicide probe launched Rachel Morin’s chilling Facebook post before mother-of-five found dead on Maryland hiking trail

The death of a three-month-old is under investigation after the baby was left inside a car in Houston during an unrelenting heat wave as temperatures soared into the triple digits. Houston police responded to the Harris Center for Mental Health and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) around 3.25pm on Tuesday. The mother, whose name has not been released, was visiting the outpatient mental health facility with her four-year-old child. She found her baby boy unresponsive inside the hot car when she was leaving, Assistant Chief Yasar Bashir said during a news conference. Mr Bashir did not say how long the baby had been in the vehicle on the sweltering Houston day or if the windows had been rolled down, but gave a stern warning that a child should never be left in a car unattended. “Houston gets very hot,” Mr Bashir said. “Under no circumstances you should leave a child in the car, not even for a moment. Don’t think the AC is going to work out fine or if you roll down the window that’s going to be fine.” The high temperature in Houston on Tuesday reached a staggering 101 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. “From time to time, we have incidents like this, which should never happen. Especially during the summertime," Mr Bashir added. “You should never leave a child unattended, and there should be zero child infant deaths in the city. In my opinion, that’s avoidable.” The baby’s cause of death is still being determined by the medical examiner’s office. No charges have been filed and the baby’s parents are cooperating with the investigation. “I give my condolences to the parents, the mom and dad, and I also want to thank the staff here and the nurses, HFD who provided CPR and did everything they could to save this child," Mr Bashir said. This is the 16th child reported to die this year in a hot vehicle, according to the National Safety Council. On average, 38 children under the age of 15 die each year from heat stroke after being left in a vehicle, according to the website. Nearly every state has had at least one death since 1998. In both 2018 and 2019 a record number of 53 children died after being left in a hot vehicle. Read More Texas mother exonerated 20 years after death of child who ate paper towels

A man was shot and killed in Utah on Wednesday as the FBI attempted to serve a search warrant in the city of Provo. Law enforcement sources told CBS News the individual who was killed allegedly posted threats online against President Biden, his family, and Barack Obama. "The FBI takes all shooting incidents involving our agents or task force members seriously. In accordance with FBI policy, the shooting incident is under review by the FBI’s inspection division," the agency said in a statement. The deceased has been identified as Craig Robertson, according to a federal complaint obtained by ABC News. President Biden lands in Utah on Wednesday afternoon as part of a tour of southwestern states. This is a breaking news story and will be updated with new information.