Tag: crime

Woke Illinois gov. posed with ‘violence disruptor’ who days later ‘killed young dad-to-be while fleeing Louis Vuitton robbery’

Democratic Illinois Governor JB Pritzker was seen posing with a man who worked as a ‘Peacekeeper’ in the state, less than a week before he was arrested for allegedly killing a father while fleeing a robbery at a Louis Vuitton store. 

Keller McMillan, 35, was one of seven men charged with murder, burglary, and retail theft after they robbed a luxury retail store and allegedly killed a father who was driving to work. 

It has now been revealed that McMillan was working as a ‘Peacekeeper,’ a trained community member who is sent to violent hotspots to de-escalate conflicts. 

Pritzker met with the Peacekeepers at the start of the month, sharing photos in a press release from the event, including one with McMillan. 

The photo was removed after McMillian’s arrest, but had already been circulated on multiple media websites. 

Pritzker shared a video on his social media from the event, where he sat at a roundtable and listened to the Peacekeepers describe their experience in the program. 

The governor noted that the Peacekeepers create a safer community and wrote in the caption, ‘It’s folks like these that we need more of doing the hard work of community violence prevention, not troops on the ground to undermine efforts fighting crime’.

‘The Governor meets hundreds of people in communities every week and is often asked to take photos,’ Pritzker’s office said in a statement.

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Detective reveals reason behind chilling new trend among ‘next generation of killers’ after Charlie Kirk’s murder

Karan Kirkham rushed to check her business records last week when hearing that messages etched into bullet casings had been found in the gun used to kill Charlie Kirk.

‘I wanted to make sure we didn’t have anything to do with it,’ said the Louisiana-based Etsy.com merchant who engraves custom messages on to bullets.

Yet it wasn’t Kirkham’s Bullet Designs Inc., nor any other company that inscribed cryptic messages on the four rounds found in the rifle used to assassinate the popular conservative activist, author and media personality.

Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old alleged shooter, engraved them himself, a charging document filed Tuesday alleges.

Inscribing messages on bullets is nothing new.

In waves of so-called ‘Trench Art’ during both world wars, soldiers engraved ammunition in their downtime as keepsakes to commemorate fallen comrades. 

Some gangs have been known to inscribe casings with names and messages as a form of intimidation. 

And a quick search on Etsy turns up at least 34 businesses, including Kirkham’s, that etch names, motivational messages, inside jokes and expressions of affection on bullet casings, mainly for custom novelty gifts.

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Lawmakers Debate Whether Marijuana Legalization Helps Or Hurts Organized Crime At Hearing On Chinese-Linked Illicit Grows

A GOP-led House committee held a hearing on Thursday focused on Chinese criminal organizations behind large-scale illicit marijuana grows, taking testimony from a group of law enforcement officials and a researcher who each attempted to link the issue to state-level legalization.

But one Democratic lawmaker took the opportunity to make the case for cannabis rescheduling and broader federal reform to mitigate the issue.

The House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, & Accountability hearing was titled “Invasion of the Homeland: How China is Using Illegal Marijuana to Build a Criminal Network Across America.”

While there was some talk among experts and lawmakers about differentiating state-sanctioned cannabis cultivation from the illicit market, the conversation largely skewed prohibitionist. Witnesses included a former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent, top Oklahoma law enforcement official and a researcher with the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank.

The subcommittee chairman, Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-OK) said in his opening remarks that “we’ve enabled these foreign organizations with potential links to the [Chinese Community Party, or CCP] to build up a sophisticated network throughout the United States, which facilitates a wide range of other criminal activity and presents a national security threat.”

“This is a convergence of organized crime, human drug trafficking, public health risks—all operating at scale and sophistication crossing the state national lines beyond the normal capabilities of state and local law enforcement to combat,” he said. “These agencies need the help of federal law enforcement to unravel these criminal networks.”

Rep. Troy Carter (D-LA), however, spoke about the collateral consequences of prohibition, saying the “federal government’s decision to criminalize marijuana has been nothing short of disastrous for our communities, for our economy and for justice in America.”

“The failed war against cannabis has especially devastated Black and brown communities. Arrest and incarceration rates for marijuana offenses have been wildly disproportionate,” he said. “Today, with most Americans supporting legalization, it is past time that we acknowledge the truth: Marijuana prohibition has failed.”

“If we want to dismantle foreign criminal networks and protect American communities, then we need to strengthen, not weaken, regulated markets,” Carter said.

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Man With Rifle Looking For Louisiana’s Republican Attorney General Taken Into Custody

A man with a rifle was taken into custody after he showed up to the Livingston Building looking for Louisiana’s Republican Attorney General on Wednesday.

“There is not an active shooter in or around the Livingston Building. The situation is under control. An individual in custody. There are no other details at this time,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said on X.

The suspect has not been identified at this time.

Per WBRZ:

Officials from the AG’s office said the Louisiana Department of Justice received information that a subject possibly suffering from emotional distress was coming to the Attorney General’s Office and was believed to be in possession of a rifle. Security protocols were initiated and the subject was located near the State Capitol.

The person was “very cooperative and just wanted to speak to agents about a situation and to file a complaint.” They were then interviewed by the AG’s office. He lawfully possessed a firearm in his vehicle and he committed no criminal acts, so he was later released.

There was no police presence at the Attorney General‘s office shortly after Murrill’s social media post.

There is not an active shooter in or around the Livingston Building. The situation is under control. An individual in custody. There are no other details at this time.

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America’s wokest DA launches shocking new soft-on-crime policy set to make Minneapolis even more dangerous

A District Attorney dubbed the ‘wokest’ in the country has launched a new ‘soft-on-crime’ policy that is set to make her city even more dangerous.

The controversial change introduced by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty takes effect October 15.

Under the new policy, if police pull someone over for a minor issue like a broken taillight and then find illegal drugs or a gun, the county attorney’s office will no longer press charges. 

Moriarty is unapologetic, claiming the stops disproportionately target black and brown drivers, rarely result in serious convictions and are ineffective at recovering contraband or improving safety.

‘Non-public-safety traffic stops do not protect public safety, and they actively harm our community,’ Moriarty said on Wednesday. ‘This policy is grounded in research and best practices.

‘This policy is grounded in research and best practices that clearly demonstrate these stops deeply undermine community trust, which has a significant negative impact on law enforcement’s ability to investigate crime and our ability to prosecute cases.’

Under the new policy, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office will decline to prosecute felony charges, including weapons or narcotics possession, if they result from stops based solely on infractions like a broken headlight, missing side mirror, or cracked windshield. 

Exceptions will be made only in cases involving clear public safety threats.

Other infractions that will now be overlooked include, expired plates, a broken tail light, items dangling from the rearview mirror, excessively tinted windows, failure to signal a turn and a dim license plate light.

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Woman charged in shooting at Illinois state senator’s home; attack not politically motivated, police say

A woman has been charged with firing shots that damaged two homes Tuesday morning in Chicago’s southwest suburbs, including the home of Illinois state Sen. Meg Loughran Cappel

Dana Thompson, 32, of Hammond, Indiana, has been charged with two counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm, two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, and one count of aggravated possession of a firearm in a vehicle.

Police said the shootings were not politically motivated, and no one was injured.

Shortly before 5 a.m. Tuesday, officers responded to a report of gunfire in the area of Ca Crest Drive and Highland Drive, but were not able to locate anyone who had been shot, or any evidence of damage.

About two hours later, police received a call from the 500 block of Bethany Drive, a short distance away from the first call, where a house had been damaged by gunshots. Police found three bullet holes from a small caliber firearm. No one in the home was injured.

Police then received a call that Cappel’s home, about a half mile away, had been damaged by a single gunshot.

Based on surveillance video footage from several homes and license plate reader technology, detectives were able to identify the vehicle used in the shooting, and Thompson was taken into custody within 30 minutes in south suburban Lansing, near the Indiana state line.

During questioning, Thompson confessed to the shootings, and said her intended target was an estranged relative who lives in the area. Police said the shooting was not politically motivated, and Thompson was not at the home she intended to target.

Cappel said she’s relieved the accused shooter is in custody.

“I’m able to speak about this because I’m an elected official, and I really wanted to talk about it first and foremost because the rumor mill is going,” she said. “The first thing we think about now is that it could be a politically motivated thing. So, to know that it’s not is a total relief. And actually what’s more of a relief for our family is that they caught the person.”

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Man who killed 3 officers in York County was camouflaged, shooting from cornfield: report

New developments surrounding the shooter who killed three police officers reveal he allegedly ambushed officers from a nearby cornfield, according to a report from CNN.

Officials state three police officers were shot and killed while serving a warrant at a residence on the 1800 block of Haar Road Wednesday afternoon. Another two law enforcement officers were injured.

The shooter was reportedly the ex-boyfriend of a woman who lived in the farmhouse on the 1800 block of Haar Road, according to multiple law enforcement officials in communication with CNN.

The ex-girlfriend had previously alerted police about the shooter on Tuesday, saying that he was in a nearby cornfield stalking the residence, according to CNN. Northern York Police then got a search warrant and restraining order for him, but were unable to serve him on Tuesday night.

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Fugitive Vaccine Researcher Behind Infamous ‘No Autism Link’ Study ARRESTED for Stealing $1 Million from CDC

Breitbart News has reported that Poul Thorsen, the Danish researcher whose work has been used for two decades to dismiss any link between vaccines and autism, has finally been arrested in Germany after more than a decade as a fugitive.

Thorsen, 64, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Atlanta in 2011 on 22 counts of wire fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors allege that from 2004 to 2010, he stole more than $1 million in CDC research funds—money intended to study autism, infant disabilities, genetic disorders, and fetal alcohol syndrome. According to the indictment, Thorsen funneled funds into his own accounts using fraudulent invoices on CDC letterhead.

He has been on the HHS “Most Wanted” list for over a decade. Acting on an INTERPOL red notice, German authorities finally took him into custody in June. The Department of Justice is now working with Germany to extradite him for trial in the United States.

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If Mental Health Experts Can’t Identify Murderers, What’s The Backup Plan?

A profound mental health crisis lies at the heart of violence in America. Decarlos Brown Jr., the man who brutally stabbed to death the Ukrainian woman in Charlotte, North Carolina, was in a mental hospital earlier this year, and diagnosed with schizophrenia. But doctors wouldn’t have released him if they had viewed him as a danger to himself or others.

Similarly, the killers at Minneapolis’ Annunciation Catholic School and Nashville’s Covenant School both struggled with mental illness. Nearly all mass shooters also battled suicidal thoughts.

“We will never arrest our way out of issues such as homelessness and mental health,” Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles warned after the stabbing death. “Mental health disease is just that – a disease. It needs to be treated with the same compassion.” After the Minneapolis attack, House Speaker Mike Johnson underscored the issue: “The problem is the human heart. It’s mental health. There are things that we can do.”

Yet, despite the fact that more than half of mass public shooters over the past 25 years were already under the care of mental health professionals, not a single one was identified as a danger to themselves or others. An entire body of academic research now explores why mental health experts so often fail to predict these attacks.

When professionals cannot identify threats before tragedy strikes, society must ask: What is the backup plan?

The Minneapolis school murderer admitted: “I am severely depressed and have been suicidal for years.” After the Nashville school shooting, police concluded the killer was “highly depressed and highly suicidal throughout her life.” Yet even with regular psychiatric care, experts found no signs of homicidal or suicidal intent.

The 2022 Buffalo supermarket killer showed the same pattern. In June 2021, when asked about his future plans, he answered that he wanted to attend summer school, murder people there, and then commit suicide. Alarmed, his teacher sent him for evaluation by two mental health professionals. He told them it was a joke, and they let him go. Later he admitted: “I got out of it because I stuck with the story that I was getting out of class and I just stupidly wrote that down. It was not a joke, I wrote that down because that’s what I was planning to do.”

Many well-known mass killers saw psychiatrists before their attacks. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who murdered 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009, was himself an Army psychiatrist. Elliot Rodger (Santa Barbara) had received years of high-level counseling, but like the Buffalo killer, Rodger simply knew not to reveal his true intentions. The Army psychiatrist who last saw Ivan Lopez (the second Fort Hood shooter) concluded there was no “sign of likely violence, either to himself or to others.”

Aurora movie theater shooter James Holmes’ psychiatrist did warn University of Colorado officials about Holmes’ violent fantasies shortly before his attack, but even she dismissed the threat as insufficient for custody. And both a court-appointed psychologist and a hospital psychiatrist found Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho posed no danger to himself or others.

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Review of domestic terrorism after Kirk’s murder shows Biden politicized issue, intel, fudged data

Auseful picture of the domestic terrorism threat in America in the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk has not yet come into focus, as the actual threat-scape has been muddled by the politicization of intelligence and by an overbroad use of the phrase “domestic terrorism.”

A review of the Biden administration’s application of the phrase shows that the phrase was used as a justification for targeting January 6 rioters, parents concerned about what their children were being taught in schools, and a wildly uneven treatment of those groups when compared to the widespread violence and destruction caused by Antifa and other progressive groups. 

The issue came to light as authorities announced last week that they had arrested 22-year-old Tyler Robinson in connection to the killing of Kirk, a popular conservative influencer and ally of President Donald Trump. Robinson allegedly gunned down Kirk last Wednesday at Utah Valley University. Kirk’s murder comes after two attempted assassinations of Trump and years of the Biden administration pointing to the January 6 riots and claiming “rightwing” extremism or “domestic terrorism” as the main domestic threat facing the U.S. 

Nonetheless, it took the FBI years to acknowledge that the mass shooting at a Republican congressional group practicing baseball —  by self-professed “Bernie Bro” James T. Hodgkinson — was an act of domestic terror.

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