Multiple people dead, 1 in custody in Texas shooting

EL PASO, Texas — Multiple people were killed and one person was in custody after a shooter went on a rampage Saturday at a shopping mall, police in the Texas border town of El Paso said.

Police responded in the early afternoon to an active shooter scene at the Cielo Vista Mall, which is near Interstate 10 on east side of the city, and were advising people to stay away from the area.


Shortly after, Sgt. Enrique Carrillo, a police spokesman, said a suspect was in custody and there was no longer danger to the public.

El Paso, which has about 680,000 residents, is in West Texas and sits across the border from Juarez, Mexico.

Presidential candidate and former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke appeared a bit shaken as he appeared at a candidate forum in Las Vegas on Saturday shortly after news of the shooting in his hometown was reported.

O’Rourke said he had called his wife before taking the stage and said the shooting shatters “any illusion that we have that progress is inevitable” on tackling gun violence.


The Democrat said he’d heard early reports that the shooter might have had a military-style weapon, saying we need to “keep that (expletive) on the battlefield and do not bring it into our communities.”


“We have to find some reason for optimism and hope or else we consign ourselves to a future where nearly 40,000 people are year will lose their lives to gun violence and I cannot accept that,” O’Rourke said.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Man demanding straw attacks fast food employee, gets arrested

One man from St. Petersburg, Florida in the United States was recently captured assaulting a McDonald’s employee. The reason behind his outburst? A straw.

The video was recorded by Kinie Biandudi, a witness of the incident, and was shared all over social media by her brother TJ on Dec. 31. In the video, the man, identified by reports as Daniel Taylor, can be seen putting his hands on the employee, Yasmine James, who was standing behind the counter.


“My mom and sis Kinie Biandudi recorded this today… All started because he wanted a straw,” he wrote on Facebook.

In the video, Taylor forcefully grabs James by her shirt’s collar and pulls her towards him on the counter. James retaliates and defends herself by hitting him back before being pried away by fellow employees. In the end, Taylor can be heard demanding for a refund.

Taylor apparently walked to the counter to get a straw, but started screaming at the employees when he could not find any, as per ABC Action News on Jan. 2.

“He was yelling and walking toward the counter and the young lady behind the counter told him that it’s the law now that we’re not allowed to have straws in the lobby,” Biandudi was quoted as saying.

As per the report, the law took effect just last Jan. 1 and prohibits restaurants from having straws available in the open in the hopes of completely banning them by 2020. Customers must instead ask for straws should they want one.


Meanwhile, Biandudi also took to her Facebook on Jan. 2 to share that James was not fired by McDonald’s.

“The young girl said she used to box,” she wrote. “After this fight he came back and went behind the counter and tried to fight the manager. The guy left before the cops arrived.”

It was reported that Taylor also tried to kick another employee on the stomach while on his way out of the restaurant. He was eventually arrested and charged with two counts of simple battery. Cody Cepeda/JB

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

5 injured in ax attack at German train station; 1 arrested

BERLIN — A man was arrested after injuring five people with an ax at the main train station in Duesseldorf, Germany in what appeared to be a random attack, police said Thursday (Friday, Manila time).

Officers were alerted about an attack shortly before 9 p.m. (2000 GMT), prompting a large-scale response.

“A person, probably armed with an ax, attacked people at random,” police said in a statement. “At least five people were injured, one of them very seriously.”

The suspected attacker was arrested after jumping off an overpass near the train station, the statement said. The man suffered serious injuries and was being treated in a hospital.

Police said an ax was recovered and officers were searching the area in and around the station, which was closed for the investigation. Police withdrew an earlier report that a second person had been arrested.

German authorities have heightened security measures following a series of attacks in public places over the past year.

In one attack last July, a 17-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker traveling on a train near Wuerzburg injured five people with an ax and a knife before being shot dead by police. The attack was later claimed by the Islamic State group.

Duesseldorf police said there was no clear indication yet of the motive for Thursday’s attack.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

After Colorado massacre, Obama pledges to address gun violence

NEW ORLEANS -- US President Barack Obama pledged on Wednesday to work with Democrats, Republicans and community leaders to "arrive at a consensus" on how to reduce gun violence across the United States.

 
Closing out a multi-day trip that began in Aurora, Colorado, where he met with families and victims of the movie theater massacre there, Obama told a mostly African American audience that such tragedies are replayed on a smaller scale in cities throughout the country on a daily basis.


"Every day and a half the number of young people we lose to violence is about the same as the number of people we lost in that movie theater," Obama said in remarks at the National Urban League Conference in New Orleans.

"I'm going to continue to work with members of both parties and with religious groups and with civic organizations to arrive at a consensus around violence reduction."

Discussing or even touching on the issue of gun control in the United States during an election year is risky, and Obama has been careful to avoid making sweeping proposals that could offend gun owners and rally his Republican opponents.

The president made a point of emphasizing his support for the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment, which covers the right to bear arms.

"We recognize the traditions of gun ownership that passed on from generation to generation, that hunting and shooting are part of a cherished national heritage," Obama said.

"But I also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals. That they belong on the battlefield of war, not on the streets of our cities."

article source:  interaksyon.com