List of All Articles with Tag 'us crime news'

A Tennessee surgeon was shot dead in an exam room on Tuesday after a patient allegedly lay in wait for hours to ambush him, authorities say. The surgeon, identified as Dr Benjamin Mauck, was killed in front of patients and employees at Campbell Clinic Orthopedics in Collierville, a city about 30 miles east of Memphis, Police Chief Dale Lane told reporters on Tuesday night. A suspect, who has not been identified, fired a handgun before running from the clinic and was apprehended by police about five minutes later without incident, Mr Lane said. Witnesses told WREG that a patient had been threatening to harm a clinic employee for the past week. “This appears to be a one-on-one interaction,” Mr Lane said during a press conference. “It was in an exam room … It was a health care worker and he was a patient.” Mr Lane said the gunman spared the “many” patients and employees who were in the clinic at the time. Police are yet to reveal a motive for the shooting, which Mr Lane described as “horrific”. Dr Mauck was a specialist hand, wrist and elbow surgeon who was named on Memphis Magazine’s 2023 Top Doctors List last week. In a statement, Cambell Clinic Orthopedics confirmed they had “experienced a single shooter event” at their Collierville health centre. “We are shocked and heartbroken to confirm the incident resulted in the tragic loss of one of our highly respected and beloved physicians, Dr Ben Mauck. We ask that you please lift his family in prayer. “We appreciate our local law enforcement officers who responded within minutes. We will continue to work closely with authorities as this remains an active investigation.” The health centre has closed all of its clinics on 12 July. Tennessee Senate Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari called for stricter gun regulations in the wake of the shooting. “Tragedies like this underscore the urgent need for common sense — like reinstating background checks and gun licenses, and establishing new reforms like an order of protection so police can remove firearms from a person who is threatening others,” she said in a statement. Dr Mauck had previously worked as a surgeon at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis, and completed his medical school training at the University of Tennessee-Memphis. The tragic incident comes two years after a gunman opened fire at a Kroger grocery store in Collierville. Uk Thang, a disgruntled contractor, killed one employee and injured more than a dozen before taking his own life. This article was amended on 12 July to correct the location of Collierville. Read More Las Vegas SWAT team captures man who held hostage in Caesars Palace hotel room after tense standoff A soccer coach left his phone in a restaurant. Police found a trove of videos of unconscious boys being raped Trans youth and families condemn ‘heartbreaking’ Tennessee court ruling against gender-affirming care

In 1969, Charles Manson dispatched a group of disaffected young followers on a two-night killing rampage that terrorized Los Angeles. The killings remain etched in the American consciousness. On Tuesday, Leslie Van Houten was released after spending more than 50 years in prison for two of those murders. She's the only one of Manson's followers who participated in the infamous Tate-LaBianca murders to go free. Members of the Manson “family” arrived at the Hollywood Hills home of Sharon Tate on 8 August 1969, where they stabbed, beat and shot to death the young actress and her friends – celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, and aspiring screenwriter Wojciech Frykowski. As they made their way to the house, they encountered a teenager, Steven Parent, who had been visiting an acquaintance at the estate’s guesthouse, and shot him to death. The next night, Manson led a handful of followers, including Van Houten, to the home of wealthy grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary. Manson tied up the couple and left the others to kill them. Manson and his followers also killed two others – musician Gary Hinman and Hollywood stuntman Donald “Shorty” Shea – in separate, unrelated attacks. In the decades since, some of Manson's followers have died while others remain behind bars. The killers: Charles Manson Charles Manson was a petty criminal who had been in and out of jail since childhood when he reinvented himself in the late 1960s as a guru-philosopher. He targeted teenage runaways and other lost souls, particularly attractive young women he used and bartered to others for sex. He sent them out to butcher LA's rich and famous in what prosecutors said was a bid to trigger a race war – an idea they say he got from a twisted reading of the Beatles’ song “Helter Skelter”. Decades after his conviction, Manson would continue to taunt prosecutors, parole agents and others, sometimes denying any role in the killings and other times boasting of them. He told a 2012 parole hearing: “I have put five people in the grave. I am a very dangerous man.” He died in 2017 after spending nearly 50 years in prison. He was 83. Susan Atkins Susan Atkins, convicted of the Tate, LaBianca and Hinman murders, was a teenage runaway working as a topless dancer in a San Francisco bar when she met Manson in 1967. The Tate-LaBianca murders went unsolved for months until Atkins, who was in jail on unrelated charges, boasted to a cellmate about her involvement. At trial, she testified she was “stoned on acid” and didn’t know how many times she stabbed Tate as the actress begged for her life. Atkins, who became a born-again Christian in prison and denounced Manson, tearfully recounted that confrontation during a parole hearing years later. She died in prison of cancer in 2009. She was 61. Leslie Van Houten Leslie Van Houten, a former high school cheerleader and homecoming princess, saw her life spiral out of control at 14 following her parents’ divorce. She turned to drugs and became pregnant but said her mother forced her to abort the fetus and bury it in the family’s backyard. Van Houten met Manson at an old movie ranch on the outskirts of Los Angeles where he had established his so-called “family” of followers. She didn’t take part in the Tate killings but accompanied Manson and others to the LaBianca home the next night. She has described holding down Rosemary LaBianca with a pillowcase over her head as others stabbed LaBianca dozens of times. Then, ordered by Manson follower Charles “Tex” Watson to “do something” she said she picked up a knife and stabbed the woman more than a dozen times. Van Houten, 71, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in counseling while in prison and led several prison programmes to help rehabilitate fellow inmates. She was repeatedly recommended for parole, but two governors – first Jerry Brown and then Gavin Newsom – blocked her release. However, she was finally freed after Newsom announced last week that he wouldn't pursue efforts to keep her behind bars. Patricia Krenwinkel Patricia Krenwinkel was a 19-year-old secretary when she met Manson at a party. She left everything behind three days later to follow him, believing they had a budding romantic relationship. After he became abusive and bartered her for sex, she said she twice tried to leave him but followers brought her back, kept a close watch on her and kept her high on drugs. She testified at a 2016 parole hearing that she repeatedly stabbed Folger, then stabbed Leno LaBianca in the abdomen the following night and wrote “Helter Skelter,” ’’Rise” and “Death to Pigs” on the walls with his blood. Krenwinkel, 75, remains in prison. Krenwinkel contends she is a changed person but was denied parole more than a dozen times. She was finally recommended for parole last year but Newsom reversed the decision. Charles ‘Tex’ Watson Charles “Tex” Watson was a college dropout from Texas when he arrived in California in 1967 seeking “satisfaction through drugs, sex and rock ‘n’ roll,” as he explains on his website. He recalled meeting Manson at the house of Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson after seeing Wilson hitchhiking and giving him a ride home. Watson, 77, led the killers to the Tate estate, shot to death Parent as he was attempting to leave and took part in the killings that night and the next at the LaBianca home. He became a born-again Christian in prison and formed a prison ministry in 1980 that he continues to lead. Watson, who has authored or co-authored several books while in prison, maintains he has changed and is no longer a danger to anyone. He has repeatedly been denied parole. The victims: Sharon Tate Sharon Tate, 26, was a model and rising film star after her breakout role in the 1966 film “Valley of the Dolls”. She was eight-and-a-half months pregnant when she was attacked, and she pleaded with her killers to spare her unborn son. Tate’s mother, Doris, became an advocate for victims’ rights in California and was instrumental in a 1982 law that allows family members to testify about their losses at trials and parole hearings. Her younger sister, Debra, also dedicated her life to victims’ rights and testified at countless parole hearings for the killers, demanding they never be released. Tate’s husband, director Roman Polanski, was out of the country the night of the killings and has said it took him years to recover from the grief of losing his wife and baby. Jay Sebring Jay Sebring, a hairdresser to Hollywood’s stars, was Tate’s former boyfriend and also begged the killers to spare her unborn child. He was shot, kicked in the face and stabbed multiple times. Sebring had transformed the male haircare industry after graduating from beauty school in Los Angeles, and his clients included Warren Beatty, Steve McQueen, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. He founded Sebring International in 1967 to market hair products and to franchise his salons internationally. Wojciech Frykowski and Abigail Folger Wojciech Frykowski and Abigail Folger had dined with Tate and Sebring earlier that night. The 32-year-old Frykowski was a friend of Polanski’s from Poland and an aspiring screenwriter. An autopsy found he was stabbed more than 50 times and shot twice. His 25-year-old girlfriend was the heir to the Folger coffee fortune. She managed to escape the house but was tackled on the front lawn and stabbed 28 times. Steven Parent Steven Parent, a recent high school graduate planning to attend college in the fall, had dropped by a guest house on the property to visit the estate’s 19-year-old caretaker, a casual acquaintance named William Garretson. He was leaving the property when Watson confronted him at the front gate and shot him to death. Garretson, who was briefly taken into custody, returned to his native Ohio soon after the killings. Except for his testimony during the murder trial, he rarely spoke publicly about that night. He died of cancer in 2016. Leno and Rosemary LaBianca Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, who owned a chain of Los Angeles grocery stores, had no connection to Sharon Tate or her glamorous friends. Their home was chosen at random by Manson, who tied them up and then, before leaving, ordered his followers to kill them. Among the weapons used was a chrome-plated bayonet. Other prominent players: Lynette ‘Squeaky’ Fromme Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, 74, a Manson “family” member who was not implicated in the Tate-LaBianca murders, was sentenced to prison for pointing a handgun at president Gerald Ford in 1975. Since her release in 2009, she has lived quietly in upstate New York. Linda Kasabian Linda Kasabian, the trial’s key witness, was granted immunity from prosecution. She had accompanied the killers to the Tate house but was posted outside as a lookout. In that position she said she saw some of the killings. The next night she remained in a car outside the LaBianca house as Manson tied up the victims, then left with him as the others stayed to kill them. The 20-year-old moved in with the “family” a few weeks before the killings and fled immediately after. She turned herself in to authorities after the others were arrested. Kasabian later changed her name and lived out of sight for decades. She died in Tacoma, Washington. She was 73. Bruce Davis Bruce Davis, 80, was convicted of taking part in the Hinman and Shea murders but was not involved in the Tate-LaBianca killings. He testified at his 2014 parole hearing that he attacked Shea with a knife and held a gun on Hinman while Manson cut Hinman’s face with a sword. “I wanted to be Charlie’s favorite guy,” he said. Parole panels have repeatedly recommended his release, but governors have blocked it. Steve ’Clem’ Grogan Steve “Clem” Grogan, 71, once a ranch hand at the old movie ranch where Manson had located his followers, was sentenced to life in prison for taking part in Shea’s murder. In 1977 he told authorities where Shea’s body was buried. Grogan was paroled in 1985 and moved to northern California. (John Rogers retired from The Associated Press in 2021) Read More Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten released on parole AP Was There: Cult leader Charles Manson and followers convicted for brutal California killings The creepy ‘million-dollar’ court battle deciding the fate of Charles Manson’s last possessions Linda Kasabian: Manson family member dies at 73

Las Vegas police have arrested a man who was barricaded inside a Caesars Palace hotel room with a female hostage, ending a standoff that spanned most of the day. “SWAT made entry into the hotel room and has taken the subject into custody,” the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said on Tuesday in a statement on Twitter. “The female who was also in the room is safe and with officers.” Earlier in the day, the man, who claimed he was armed, “forcibly” dragged the woman into his room, according to the LVMPD. The assailant was seen throwing large pieces of room furniture out of a broken window in his 21st-floor room. Police have not announced the identity of those involved in the standoff, or said whether any guns were found at the scene. This is a breaking news story and will be updated with new information.

A man who says he is armed has barricaded himself in a room at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, police say, where the individual is holding a female hostage. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said they received a complaint of a domestic disturbance at around 9.15am on Tuesday. When they arrived at the hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip, the man refused to come out and told officers he was armed, police said. Vegas police said the man pulled a woman into his room “by force” and that she remains inside. “She is still in the room at this time,” a police spokesman said on Tuesday morning during a press update. “The female has been heard from and is still OK.” The officer added that no shots have been fired and no weapons have been seen. SWAT teams and crisis negotiators have been sent to the hotel on the 3500 block of South Las Vegas Boulevard. Police asked residents to avoid the area and watch out for emergency personnel. “We are actively trying to resolve this situation,” the LVPD said in a tweet. North Carolina real estate broker Alyssa Hellman told The Independent she was at the Caesars Palace pool with her wife when she heard a loud bang at about 1.30pm. She said she looked up to see that a window had been broken on about the 10th floor, and a man inside started throwing furniture out onto the concourse. “We heard a bang and then one of the windows was broken open, and the guy was throwing things out. Lamps, a TV and a minibar. He’s drawn the curtains now,” Ms Hellman said. Ms Hellman said guests were evacuated from the pool area, but staff did not explain what was going on. The couple had retreated to a safe distance and said everyone around them seemed “pretty calm and content”. “We’re tucked back hidden away, closer to the Bellagio,” she said. A video posted to Twitter showed security guards duck for cover as a television fell to the ground behind them. One guest told 8NewsNow that she had been swimming in the pool when a security guard ordered everybody out. The witness said she saw chairs being thrown from a window, which appeared to be completely smashed out. Caesars Entertainment said in a statement: “We are aware of the security incident at Caesars Palace. Our team is cooperating fully with law enforcement officers on scene who are handling the investigation.” Read More Caesars Palace standoff news - live: SWAT teams respond to ‘armed’ man barricaded in Las Vegas hotel room Las Vegas police officer set to go on trial over $165k stolen in 3 casino heists Oklahoma county sheriff and three other officials allegedly caught on tape talking about killing journalists Ex-student sentenced to 16-plus years in prison for 2022 attack on Las Vegas high school teacher

A man has barricaded himself inside the famous Caesars Palace hotel and casino in Las Vegas on Tuesday morning, claiming he is armed. Vegas police said the man pulled a woman into his room “by force” and that she remains inside. “She is still in the room at this time,” a police spokesman said on Tuesday during a press update. “The female has been heard from and is still OK.” The officer added that no shots have been fired and no weapons have been seen. SWAT teams and crisis negotiators are on site. A bystander told The Independent a broken window could be seen on the outside of the building, and someone inside was throwing objects out. Read More Armed man barricades himself in room at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas as SWAT teams descend

Susan Lorincz, the white woman accused of fatally shooting her Black neighbour, Ajike “AJ” Owens through the front door of her house, pled not guilty to a manslaughter charge on Tuesday. Last month Ms Lorincz, 58, was charged with manslaughter and assault in Marion County, Florida after shooting Ms Owens, 35, through her front door when Ms Owens knocked on Ms Lorincz’s door. Ms Owens, a mother to four, was trying to confront Ms Lorincz for allegedly calling her children racial slurs, taking their iPad and then throwing skates at her son when Ms Lorincz fired her gun. Authorities said Ms Lorincz and Ms Owens had a longstanding feud regarding Ms Owen’s children playing in an area next to Ms Lorincz’s home. On 2 June, Ms Owens went over to Ms Lorincz’s home to speak with her about the incident involving skate-throwing. Ms Lorincz then fired a bullet from within her home which went through the locked door and struck Ms Owens. The shooting occurred in front of her nine-year-old child. First responders’ attempted to keep Ms Owens alive and rushed her to a nearby hospital, but she did not survive her injuries. More follows Read More A Black mother confronted a neighbour for scolding her son. Then she was shot dead Body camera footage sheds new light on ‘racist’ who shot Black mother of four White woman charged after shooting through her door and killing Black mother in front of her son

A 10-year-old girl from Illinois was found dead after being abducted while playing with her six-year-old sister. A woman told Rockford police that her daughter came home and said a man had kidnapped her sister just after noon on Saturday, a report details. At around 12.40pm, Rockford Police officers were flagged down by a man who said he found an unresponsive girl on the 1200 block of 9th Avenue. When the officers arrived at the scene, they performed CPR on the girl, before the fire department transported her to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Antonio Monroe, 44, is alleged to have abducted the girl. He is a convicted sex offender, previously convicted of criminal sexual assault. He has been charged with first degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery, and kidnapping, according to the police report. Mr Monroe was taken into custody and will be transported to the Winnebago County Jail after being released from the hospital for an unrelated issue, the report states. “From the time my phone rang yesterday in regards with this incident, my stomach has been in a knot,” Rockford Police Chief Carla Redd told reporters. “No one ever wants to get a knock on the door and hear from the police that your child has been murdered, especially an innocent child.” Chief Redd added both girls were strangled, but the younger girl escaped and was treated at a hospital. She has since been released. At a press conference, Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara described Monroe as a “real life monster.” The mayor added, “This is truly a real life nightmare and honestly probably worse than any nightmare or situation I can think of on my own.” Read More Friends and colleagues ‘appalled’ by lies about Princeton doctoral student kidnapped in Iraq Rudy Farias: A timeline of the bizarre case of the Texas man ‘missing’ for eight years Murder suspect arrested in multi-state manhunt is now on the run again after escape from Pennsylvania jail

A Nebraska mother pleaded guilty on Friday to giving her 17-year-old daughter medications to perform an abortion in 2022 and helping the teen burn and bury the fetus in a field. Jessica Burgess, 42, of Norfolk, was charged with breaking what was then the state’s ban on abortions after 20 weeks of gestation, as well as accused of falsely reporting and tampering with human skeletal remains, according to the Associated Press. Previous charges of concealing a death and performing an abortion without a medical license were missed as part of the plea deal. Burgess’s daughter, Celeste, now 18, has been charged as an adult and pleaded guilty in May to removing, concealing, or abandoning a dead body. The abortion took place before the Supreme Court overturn Roe v Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion in the summer of 2022. Police began investigating the case in late April of that year, according to the Lincoln Journal Star. The woman later told police Celeste had given birth to a stillborn baby in the shower, and that they put the body in a bag in their van then bured it with the help of a 22-year-old on a property the man’s parents owned, according to the paper. Celeste was 23 weeks or nearly six months pregnant at the time, according to medical records obtained by police, well past the state’s then 20-week abortion ban. Prosecutors obtained Facebook messages between the family members as part of their case. “(Celeste Burgess) talks about how she can’t wait to get the ‘thing’ out of her body and reaffirms with (Jessica Burgess) that they will burn the evidence afterwards,” a police detective wrote in court documents, describing the content of the messages. In May of 2023, Nebraska joined the many Republican-controlled states restricting abortion after Roe, and outlawed the procedure after 12 weeks. This is a breaking news story and will be updated with new information.

Deputies in North Carolina have arrested a Florida man on suspicion of child abduction after finding a missing 16-year-old girl in his car during a routine traffic stop. Alejandro Hernandez Vazquez, 40, was pulled over for a traffic violation on the I-95 in Nash County at about midnight on 4 July, authorities say. Deputies became suspicious and asked to search his white 2016 Audi Q5, and learned that a teenage passenger had been reported missing hours earlier by the Coral Springs Police Department in Florida. According to Nash County Sheriff’s Office, Mr Vazquez was not known to the girl’s family and did not have permission to cross state lines. Deputies also found cannibas vape pens and drug paraphernalia in the car, they said. Mr Vazquez, from Miami, was booked into the Nash County Detention Center on charges of child abduction, felony possession of synthetic cannabinoid, possession of marijuana paraphernalia and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was initially jailed without bond. At a court appearance on Friday 7 July, his bond was set at $505,000. The missing girl was transported to the Wake County Juvenile Detention Center before being picked by family. “The 16-year-old willfully went with him is what we’re seeing at first glance of this investigation,” Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone told ABC11. “It was not like she was bound in the car and things of that nature, but you know, it’s a young 16-year-old and a grown man, and he’s manipulated her and carried her across this country. This is a true case of child trafficking,” he added. Read More Murder suspect arrested in multi-state manhunt is now on the run again after escape from Pennsylvania jail Missing two-year-old Wynter Smith found dead in Michigan days after Amber alert issued Disgraced former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar almost killed after being stabbed in prison

The sole suspect in the Tylenol poisoning murders that claimed seven lives and led to changes to how over-the-counter prescription drugs were manufactured and sold has died. James Lewis, 76, was found unresponsive at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Sunday, and pronounced dead soon after, authorities said. His death has frustrated law enforcement who had continued to pursue Lewis over the indiscriminate 1982 killing spree in the Chicago area that left six adults and a 12-year-old girl dead. Lewis was convicted of attempting to extort manufacturer Johnson & Johnson after sending a letter claiming responsibility for the deaths and demanding $1m to stop. He was questioned as recently as September over the poisonings, in which a suspect laced bottles of Tylenol with potassium cyanide. But no-one has ever been charged over the deaths, which led to widespread panic and sweeping changes to the way prescription drugs were bought and sold. Read More Utah mom accused of poisoning husband before writing grief book is sued for $13m by his family Thousands of unauthorized vapes are pouring into the US despite the FDA crackdown on fruity flavors Drugmaker lobbying group sues over plan to negotiate Medicare drug prices

The white gunman who shot and killed 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas in a racist attack on Hispanic customers has been sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences for the 2019 massacre. More follows...

A Princeton doctoral student has been kidnapped in Iraq while doing field work in the country, according to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday. “Elizabeth Tsurkov is still alive and we hold Iraq responsible for her safety and well-being,” Mr Netanyahu wrote in a statement. Ms Tsurkov is an Israeli-Russian dual citizen, the Israeli prime minister wrote. She is also a fellow at the Washington DC-based think tank, New Lines Institute, and is a contributor to New Lines magazine. They wrote they hadn’t heard from her since 19 March, when she said she wanted to leave the Middle East and return to Princeton to write her dissertation. They added that just over a week after hearing from her, they “learned from our sources that a pro-Iranian militia had kidnapped her in Baghdad.” The writers underscored that Ms Tsurkov’s work “poses no threat to anyone.” The magazine also wrote that Ms Tsurkov “is an outspoken critic of all three of the major likely players involved in negotiating her release: Israel, Iran and Russia.” The group said that they reached out to US and foreign officials and will continue to do so. They urged the United States to get involved in her release, because despite the fact she is not a US citizen, she “is very much a part of America,” they wrote. “She works with a Washington think tank, writes for an American magazine and studies at Princeton University. She deserves America’s every effort to bring her to safety,” New Lines magazine writers said. Ms Tsurkov’s family also confirmed details of her disappearance in a statement. “She was kidnapped in the middle of Baghdad, and we see the Iraqi government as directly responsible for her safety,” the family’s statement said. “We ask for her immediate release from this unlawful detention.” Read More Missing two-year-old’s grandmother shares ‘mental torture’ after alleged kidnapper arrested Kremlin open to talks over potential prisoner swap involving detained WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich Death of student, 20, outside club ‘senseless and avoidable’, court told