Tag Archives: explosive devices

Factbox: Targets of suspicious packages, explosive devices in the United States

(Top L-R) U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Democratic Party donor George Soros, former U.S. President Barack Obama, former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden are pictured along with (Bottom L-R) former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Congresswoman Maxine Waters, former CIA director John Brennan and actor Robert De Niro in a combination photograph made from Reuters file photos. REUTERS/Files

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Police were investigating a suspected explosive device found in New York City on Thursday after a series of other package bombs were sent this week to current and former Democratic U.S. politicians, CNN and a prominent Democratic Party donor.

The New York Police Department said it was handling a suspicious package in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood. A police source said the package was addressed to actor Robert De Niro, who has been critical of Republican U.S. President Donald Trump.

Following are the figures targeted:

FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY CLINTON:

A suspicious package sent to Clinton, Trump’s Democratic rival in the 2016 presidential election, was found late Tuesday during an off-site mail screening, according to the Secret Service. Clinton said later her family was fine.

FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:

The Secret Service uncovered a suspected explosive device sent to Obama’s residence in the Kalorama district of Washington, D.C., early on Wednesday during a screening. Officials said Obama was not at risk.

CNN, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR JOHN BRENNAN:

New York City Police evacuated the Time Warner Building Wednesday after a suspicious package was found in the CNN mail room. The package was addressed to Brennan, who is an outspoken Trump critic and a periodic contributor to the network.

BILLIONAIRE FINANCIER GEORGE SOROS

A small bomb was found on Monday in a mailbox outside a New York home of billionaire financier George Soros, one of the world’s biggest donors to liberal groups and causes. Soros, who was not at the property, is a hated figure among some right-wing activists in the United States and Eastern Europe.

U.S. CONGRESSWOMAN FROM FLORIDA DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ AND FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER:

The building housing the Florida office of Wasserman Schultz, former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, was evacuated after a suspicious package was found, according to media reports. The package was addressed to Holder but Wasserman Schultz was named on the return address.

U.S. CONGRESSWOMAN FROM CALIFORNIA MAXINE WATERS:

The FBI said on Wednesday it was investigating two packages addressed to Waters, who had also said Capitol Police told her that her Washington office was a target.

ACTOR ROBERT DE NIRO

A suspicious package similar to those sent to Clinton, Obama and others had been addressed to Robert De Niro at property he owns in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood, according to a New York Police Department source. De Niro has been critical of Trump, who in turn has criticized the actor.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Frances Kerry)

Teen gunman who killed 10 at Texas school planned suicide: governor

Police keep a roadblock on a main road to Santa Fe High School where police found explosives after an early morning shool shooting that left several people dead in Santa Fe, Texas, U.S., May 18, 2018. REUTERS/Trish Badger

By Liz Hampton and Erwin Seba

SANTA FE, Texas (Reuters) – Texas officials charged a 17-year-old student with murder in the shooting of 10 people, including fellow pupils, at his high school on Friday in an attack similar to the massacre at a Florida high school earlier this year.

Dimitrios Pagourtzis, the suspect in the Santa Fe High School shooting is shown in this booking photo at the Galveston County Jail, released by the Galveston County Sheriff’s Office in Texas, U.S., May 18, 2018. Courtesy Galveston County Sheriff’s Office/Handout via REUTERS

Students said a gunman, identified by law enforcement as Dimitrios Pagourtzis, opened fire in a classroom at Santa Fe High School shortly before 8 a.m. CT (1300 GMT) on Friday, and that they fled in panic after seeing classmates wounded and a fire alarm triggered a full evacuation. Ten people were hurt in the attack, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said.

It was the latest in a long series of deadly shootings at U.S. schools. Seventeen teens and educators were shot dead at a Parkland, Florida, high school in February, a massacre that stirred the nation’s long-running debate over gun ownership.

The Galveston County Sheriff’s Office identified Pagourtzis and said he had been charged with capital murder in a post on its Facebook page. More charges could follow.

Speaking to reporters before the teen was identified, Abbott told reporters that the suspect had used a shotgun and a .38 revolver taken from his father in the fourth-deadliest mass shooting at a U.S. public school.

“Not only did he want to commit the shooting, but he wanted to commit suicide after the shooting,” Abbott said, citing a police review of the suspect’s journals. “He didn’t have the courage to commit suicide.”

Two other people are in custody, Abbott said.

Investigators are talking to the suspect, Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said.

Abbott said that investigators had seen a T-shirt on the suspect’s Facebook page that read “Born to Kill.”

Explosive devices had also been found at the school, located about 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Houston, and off campus, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez tweeted.

Police were searching two homes and a vehicle linked to the suspect, where they have found multiple homemade explosive devices, Abbott said.

First responders following a shooting at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, May 18, 2018. Courtesy Harris County Sheriff's Office/via REUTERS

First responders following a shooting at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, May 18, 2018. Courtesy Harris County Sheriff’s Office/via REUTERS

‘THE GUY BEHIND ME WAS DEAD’

Courtney Marshall, a 15-year-old freshman at the school, said the gunman came into her art class shooting.

“I wanted to take care of my friends, but I knew I had to get out of there,” Marshall said, saying that she saw at least one person hit. “I knew the guy behind me was dead.”

Orlando Gonzalez said that his 16-year-old son Keaton, fled the attack, but one of his friends was shot and wounded.

“I was really worried, I didn’t know what was going on … I almost couldn’t drive,” Gonzalez said. “I just imagine what he’s going through … He’s still scared.”

The school has some 1,462 students, according to federal education data.

U.S. President Donald Trump called the latest school massacre “absolutely horrific.”

“My administration is determined to do everything in our power to protect our students, secure our schools and to keep weapons out of the hands of those who pose a threat to themselves and to others,” Trump said at the White House.

Days after the Parkland shooting, Trump said that elected officials should be ready to “fight” the powerful National Rifle Association lobby group. Early this month he embraced that group, telling its annual meeting in Dallas “your Second Amendment rights are under siege.”

The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects the right to bear arms.

No major federal gun controls have been imposed since Parkland, though the administration is pursuing a proposed regulatory ban on “bump stocks,” which enable a semi-automatic rifle to fire a steady stream of bullets. The devices were used in an October 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas that killed 59 people but have not played a role in other major U.S. mass shootings.

(Additional reporting by Ernest Scheyder and Liz Hampton in Houston, Gina Cherelus and Peter Szekely in New York and Mark Hosenball and Ian Simpson in Washington; Writing by Daniel Wallis and Scott Malone; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Susan Thomas)