News of the Force: Monday, October 2, 2017 - Page 1

[Newsoft...@aol.com]

Monday, October 2, 2017 - Today is The International Day of Nonviolence

---

 

At least 58 dead, more than 500 injured in Las Vegas shooting

    

    A 64-year-old man armed with more than 10 rifles rained down gunfire on a country music festival in Las Vegas, Nev., yesterday, slaughtering at least 58 people before killing himself in the largest mass shooting in America's history.

    The barrage from a 32nd-floor window in the Mandalay Bay Hotel into a crowd of 22,000 people lasted several minutes. Some fleeing fans trampled each other as police scrambled to find the gunman. More than 500 people have been injured.

    Police have identified the gunman as Stephen Paddock, who lived in a retirement community in Mesquite, Nev. The police said they have no idea what prompted his attack.

    ISIS  claimed responsibility for the massacre, but U.S. officials have expressed skepticism of that claim.

    The preliminary death toll, which officials warn could rise further, eclipsed last year's massacre of 49 people at an Orlando, Fla., night club who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.

Shocked concert-goers, some with blood on their clothing, wandered the streets where the lights of the city blended with those of emergency vehicles.

    Police said they had no information about Paddock's motive, that he had no criminal record and was not believed to have a connection to any militant group. Paddock killed himself before police entered the hotel room he was firing from, Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said. The sheriff said there were more than 10 rifles in the room where Paddock killed himself. He had checked into the hotel on Thursday, the sheriff said.

    The shooting broke out on the final night of the three-day Route 91 Harvest Festival, a sold-out event featuring Eric Church, Sam Hunt and Jason Aldean.

 

Tillerson 'wasting his time,' President Trump says

    

    President Trump said in a tweet yesterday that he told Secretary of State Rex Tillerson "he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with the Little Rocket Man" - a reference to North Korea's leader.

    A North Korean ship was seized after it was caught carrying a huge supply of weapons to Egypt.

    Meanwhile, two women have pleaded not guilty to murdering Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korea's leader, as their trial in Malaysia got under way.

 

Two women killed in knife attack at Paris train station

    Police investigators were outside the main railway station in Marseille yesterday after French soldiers shot and killed a man who had stabbed two women. According to the police, the attacker shouted "Allahu akbar" in the attack claimed by ISIS.

 

Catalonia 'has won the right to statehood,' leader says

    Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont says the Spanish region "has won the right to statehood" following a contentious referendum that was marred by violence. Ninety percent of voters were in favor of independence, officials say.

 

Police officer stabbed, pedestrians run down in Canada

    

    The stabbing of a police officer and a subsequent high-speed chase where several pedestrians were run down is being investigated as an act of terrorism, Edmonton Police Chief Rod Knecht said early today.

    The car and knife attack outside a football game and a high-speed chase of a moving van that left four people injured was the work of a Somali refugee who was likely working alone and was known to police for his extremist views, the police say.

 

Austria's burqa ban comes into force

    A law that forbids any kind of full-face covering, including Islamic veils such as the niqab or burqa, has come into effect in Austria. Muslim women in Austria were forced by police to remove their facial coverings yesterday as the anti-burka law came into effect.

 

'Friendly fire' kills Afghan security forces members

    

    At least 10 Afghan security forces members were killed yesterday after the Afghan Air Force mistakenly dropped bombs on their checkpoint.

 

Sikh becomes first non-white leader of Canadian political party

    

    Jagmeet Singh was elected leader of Canada's leftist New Democratic Party (NDP) yesterday, becoming the country's first non-white leader of a major political party.

 

Bangladesh to press for Muslim refugees' return to Myanmar

    Bangladesh opened talks with neighboring Myanmar today with the aim of securing the return of more than half a million Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar, most of whom have arrived since late August.

 

Former Pakistani prime minister's indictment delayed to Oct. 9th

    

    The accountability court hearing the corruption case against former Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and his family today ordered the issuance of non-bailable arrest warrants for Nawaz Sharif's sons, Hassan and Hussain Nawaz, and his son-in-law.

 

Australia and New Zealand send help to Vanuatu

    Australia dispatched a naval vessel to Vanuatu on Saturday to help the South Pacific nation evacuate all 11,000 inhabitants from the northern island of Ambae as an erupting volcano threatens to shower down burning ash and acid rain.

 

Dozens of civilians said killed in Syria airstrikes

By Lisa Levine, News of the Force Tel Aviv

    

    At least 28 people, including four children, were killed overnight Friday in airstrikes on a rebel-held Syrian village, a monitoring group said on Saturday. Syrian opposition activists also say the airstrikes on villages and towns held by the Islamic State group in eastern Syria have killed and wounded dozens.

    Former National Religious Party chairman Effie Eitam is the leading candidate for head of the Yesha Council.

    Omri Casspi, the first Israeli to play in the U.S. National Basketball Association (NBA), missed his preseason opener with the Golden State Warriors due to Yom Kippur. 

    And a 32-year-old Israeli, ranked No. 77 in the world, was playing in his first ATP Tour quarterfinal in China since reaching the semifinals of the Chennai Open in India in the first week of January, left in mid-match to celebrate Yom Kippur.

 

---

    Couzin Gym's Thought for the Day: Too many couples marry for better or for worse, but not for good.

---

 

U.S. Air Force

    

    As its critical shortage continues, the Air Force is increasing pay for its pilots.

    Engility has secured a contract to continue providing advanced research and development (R&D) services to the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory.

    The U.S. Air Force released a final Request for Proposal for an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) Launch Service supporting the Air Force.

    The Air Force Academy's men's tennis team entered the third day of action at the Lobo Invitational and the Rice Fall Invitational, yesterday. 

    U.S. Air Force and FEMA-contracted aircraft continue to arrive at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga., to pick up medical equipment and relief supplies.

    Oklahoma-based Air Force Reserve airmen have returned home after a six-month long overseas deployment.

    The Illinois Air National Guard unit stationed in Peoria is sending aircraft and service members to help with hurricane relief in Puerto Rico.

    The air traffic flow at the San Juan Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in Puerto Rico is back to normal, thanks to the Air National Guard.

    The Virginia Air National Guard is contributing to hurricane relief missions in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

    The Kansas Air National Guard's 190th Air Refueling Wing is helping with relief efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

    "Everything is devastated," says CAP Lt. Col. Harvey Yarborough, the director of operations and a mission pilot for the Civil Air Patrol's Alabama Wing and a mission pilot on duty in Puerto Rico.    

    Airman from the Florida Air National Guard are currently on the ground in San Juan, Puerto Rico, directing the Joint Air Coordination Element (JACE).

    Members of the Civil Air Patrol were at the Elkhart (Indiana) Municipal Airport on Saturday supporting the EAA's "Young Eagles" flights.

    And in a statement from the Civil Air Patrol's National Headquarters at Maxwell AFB, Ala., today, "Civil Air Patrol members across America join the nation in grieving the shocking, horrible and senseless loss of lives in Las Vegas. Our hearts go out to the families affected by this massacre and to the law enforcement, medical professionals, and fellow emergency service providers responding to this tragedy."

 

Pence to visit U.S. Virgin Islands

    

    Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to visit the hurricane-ravaged U.S. Virgin Islands this Friday.

 

U.S. Coast Guard

    

    A U.S. Coast Guard report published yesterday blamed "the captain's errors" for the sinking of the cargo ship SS El Faro off the coast of the Bahamas during a hurricane in October 2015. The captain underestimated the severity of the hurricane, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

    The U.S. Coast Guard has rescued a sea turtle off the coast of Cuttyhunk Island, Mass.

    Brian Burns, the acting chief information officer of the U.S. Coast Guard, has said the service branch is on track to meet the Defense Department's March deadline for migrating its systems to Windows 10.

    The U.S. Coast Guard has made a near 360 mile trip one-way to rescue an injured sailor in the Pacific Ocean from aboard a Gearbulk vessel.

    Firefighters have put out a fire on a vessel in San Diego Bay after two days. However, the owner in the U.S. Coast Guard's records apparently sold the vessel, and the agency does not have the current owner in its database.

    Patrick Brown is the new Coast Guard Station Merrimack, Mass.' officer-in-charge.

 

Crime stories

    

    A 65-year-old Baxter Springs, Kansas, woman, who along with two police officers was doused with gasoline early Saturday at her home and set on fire, died five hours later at a hospital burn unit. The two officers and another who was burned while trying to extinguish the flames, and the man who authorities say threw the gasoline and lit it, burning himself accidentally, will survive, according to Cherokee County Sheriff David Groves. Sharon Horn died of her injuries at a Springfield, Mo., hospital. One of the officers was in critical condition, but is expected to recover, Groves said. The other officer, as well as third officer who tried to put out the flames, were released after being treated at a Joplin, Mo., hospital. Baxter Springs is in southeast Kansas, near the Missouri border. Officers Jimmy Hamilton and Justin Butler responded to what was reported to police as a domestic disturbance about 1:30 a.m. on Saturday less than a mile away from the police station. When they arrived, they saw that a man, whose name was being withheld pending the filing of charges, had entered the home and assaulted Horn, according to Groves. The man allegedly threw gasoline on Horn and the two officers and set them afire, Groves said, and accidentally set himself on fire as well. Officer Darryl Nadeau, also with the Baxter Springs Police, soon arrived and extinguished the flames, injuring himself in the process. "The fire was extinguished relatively quickly and then the Baxter Springs Fire Department was on the scene," Groves said. Horn's house is blocked off by crime scene tape and most of the damage was inside, he said.

    David Creato Jr., the New Jersey man whose relationship with a teenage girl reportedly led him to kill his own 3-year-old son, will face a decade behind bars for the 2015 crime. On Oct. 13, 2015, Creato called police to report his son, Brendan, missing. About three hours later, the boy’s dead body was found in a park a few blocks from his home. A jury heard that the boy was wearing the pajamas he had last been seen in, but he only had a pair of clean socks on his feet. Prosecutors said that fact ruled out the possibility he had walked to the wooded location on his own. During the trial, attention focused on the defendant’s ex-girlfriend, Julia Stensky, who was 17 at the time of the murder. As a witness, she acknowledged that while dating Creato, his son "was an aspect of his life that she was not very happy with."

    The Facebook post featured a candid photo of two uniformed St. Louis police officers keeping watch from behind the hood of an SUV. "They love us. They hate us. Depends on their particular situation at the time. But they know where the line is when we're allowed to draw it.” The Aug. 14th post seemed to talk directly to protesters by including the hashtag #protestseason and another hashtag calling out a protester-given nickname for one of the officers - #riotking. And it conveyed a complaint that policymakers do not always let the police be as aggressive as they want to be. It wasn’t a post by the St. Louis Police Department. It was from 0311 Tactical Solutions, LLC, a private tactical training and security firm managed by one of the officers in the picture, St. Louis Police Sgt. Brian Rossomanno. He’s a 20-year veteran of the department and a supervisor in its civil disobedience unit. In his private role,  Rossomanno represents the epitome of warrior-style policing. His company is named for the U.S. Marines' MOS code for rifleman. His online bio says he had been a Marine security guard at the presidential retreat at Camp David and the Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C. Rossomanno’s tactical company employs several SWAT officers from across the area, for an array of services. His firm provides military tactical training to law enforcement, military, private security, institutions and individuals. Its clients are nationwide. Since early 2016, according to its Facebook posts, the company has provided a "quick reaction force" of SWAT officers for St. Louis Cardinals games. Earlier this year, after a terrorist attack at a concert in England, the firm was hired to conduct a safety assessment of The Muny. Rossomanno has been highly visible recently across the region since the Sept. 15th acquittal on murder charges of ex-St. Louis Police Officer Jason Stockley - even showing up to keep his eye on protests outside the city. At least twice last week during protests downtown, St. Louis Post-Dispatch journalists observed him ordering protesters to disperse from streets because their assembly had become unlawful. In an email, the police department called Rossomanno its most qualified team coordinator, "who plays an integral role in civil disobedience training." Rossomanno declined to be interviewed for this story. In an email on Friday, he said that 0311 Tactical did not bid on contracts from the St. Louis police because it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Later that day, his company’s website was edited to delete the St. Louis Police Department and its SWAT team as clients. Protesters tend to single out Rossomanno over social media and on the street for his connection to 0311 Tactical and the very thing they decry - an unflinching and combat-ready policing style. One example of this was on Tuesday on Clark Avenue outside the Cardinals-Cubs game, as protesters lingered between the north side of the stadium and Ballpark Village. Over his loudspeaker, Rossomanno ordered the protesters off the street four times because it was "private property." Many protesters were incredulous that he could kick them off a public street where even fans without tickets could feel free to mill around. (A review of city ordinances shows the city permits the Cardinals to close that stretch of Clark on game days.) The police department said Rossomanno was working for the police department - not the Cardinals - that night. The Cardinals did not respond. On Thursday, as a crowd blocked Tucker Boulevard and Washington Avenue, Rossomanno drove his SUV up to the crowd. Protesters surrounded his vehicle and started yelling at him. He ordered them to disperse, but they didn’t move until a line of police moved in with riot gear. Heather DeMian, a well-known live streamer, said she thought Rossomanno "threatens chemical munitions a little too fast. He’s a little too quick with mace sometimes. But I’ve seen him be friendly with protesters. I think it depends on the situation. I’ve also seen him go off." Rossomanno’s group has described itself as hoping to "instill in our first line of defense a combat/warrior mindset complete with the skills necessary to provide our citizenry with a level of security they can trust." And it has written that every police department in the country needs to recognize that riot control training is in its future.

    The U.S. Marshals Service, which transports prisoners to and from the D.C. Superior and U.S. District courts in the District, is investigating the handling of the case of a D.C. man who was held in jail for 77 days after his case was dropped.

    The U.S. Marshals Service stopped a vehicle on the eastbound Interstate 94 exit ramp at Chalmers Street in Detroit, Mich., and found a stash deadly opioids in the car.

    Armed U.S. Marshals patrolled around the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Court House in Montana today where Benghazi suspect Ahmed Abu Khatallah is to be arraigned.

    A 32-year-old Chinese citizen who allegedly gave two men more than 100 suspected fraudulent credit cards to shop on Guam has backed out of a plea deal with federal prosecutors.

    And five people are dead after a car being chased by a North Carolina sheriff's deputy slammed into a passing car, killing everyone in both vehicles. Officials said yesterday that the deadly collision happened when a 2003 Acura shot through a red light in Greensboro and hit a Kia Optima with two females inside. The Guilford County Sheriff's Office says two males and one female were killed in the Acura shortly before midnight on Saturday. The Greensboro police say several nearby cars were damaged by flying debris. Officials haven't said whether the crash investigation will include whether the pursuit was lawful.

 

Homeland insecurity

    

    In contrast to dire reports from Puerto Rico, White House Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert has sent West Wing colleagues an unusually upbeat report.

    And the U.S. Department of Homeland Security says there are no "specific credible threats" to other public venues in the U.S. following the Las Vegas shooting.

 

 

Page 1