Tag Archives: Shootings

Exclusive: White House plans community-based prevention of violent ideologies

White House

By Julia Edwards

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A new White House plan aims to train teachers and mental health professionals to intervene and prevent Americans from turning to violence ideologies, work now mostly done by law enforcement, a draft of the policy seen by Reuters to be announced on Wednesday shows.

The 18-page plan marks the first time in five years the Obama administration has updated its policy for preventing the spread of violent groups, such as those that motivated the perpetrators of attacks in the last year in Charleston, South Carolina, San Bernardino, California, Orlando, Florida, New York and New Jersey.

A self-styled white supremacist shot dead nine black people inside a historic African-American church in Charleston and the other shootings and bombs were inspired by Islamist militants, who have carried out attacks on civilians in several countries.

Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress have questioned Department of Homeland Security officials over the delay in updating its approach to countering recruitment strategies by Islamic State, which controls parts of Iraq and Syria, and other groups.

Congress does not have the authority to reject the plan, but they could withhold funding to see that it is not fully implemented.

Civil liberties groups, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, have criticized the current model as one that creates distrust in Muslim communities in the United States. Federal prosecutors, who are charged with conducting terrorism investigations, also lead prevention efforts.

Prosecutors would still have a role in prevention efforts under the new policy, including arranging after-school programs, but they would not be allowed to use those settings for intelligence gathering.

In Minneapolis, U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger prosecuted 10 Somali-American men earlier this year for plotting to fight with the Islamic State overseas while simultaneously leading community outreach efforts with the same Somali community.

Studies have shown family members and friends are most likely to notice a loved one may be considering violence, the policy explains. But some may be reluctant to report the behavior to law enforcement.

“Successful efforts to counter violent extremism are, in large part, predicated on trust,” the policy states.

Under the new guidelines, “local intervention teams” made up of mental health professionals, faith-based groups, educators and community leaders will assess the needs of individuals who may be showing signs of converting to a violent ideology.

Local law enforcement officers may also be part of the team, but not federal prosecutors.

“We determined that efforts to build intervention teams are less likely to succeed if they are driven by the federal government,” said Brette Steele, acting deputy director of the U.S. government’s Countering Violent Extremism Task Force, suggesting instead the teams should be community-led.

Only when a person is believed to “pose a threat or be immediately capable of committing a crime,” should law enforcement actions be taken, the policy states.

The policy also calls on the Justice Department to implement rehabilitation strategies that could include using former violent converts as counselors for those convicted of terrorism.

(Reporting by Julia Edwards, Editing by Tim Ahmann and Grant McCool)

Two Indianapolis shootings targeting law enforcement possibly linked

By Timothy Mclaughlin

(Reuters) – Two shootings this month targeting police in Indianapolis may be related, police said on Friday, a day after shots again struck law enforcement offices in the Indiana capital.

In both Thursday’s shooting and a similar incident on Oct. 4, officers were in the buildings that were hit but none were injured, police said.

According to a police statement, “initial investigative information points to the same suspect (or suspects)” involved in the earlier shooting, which targeted the department’s Northwest District Police Headquarters.

The shootings come at a time of intense debate over policing in the United States and use of excessive force against minorities, with numerous cities grappling with how to improve strained relations between law enforcement and citizens.

On Thursday around 11 p.m. local time, officers inside the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department’s North District Headquarters heard shots and took cover, the statement said.

They did not find a suspect but witnesses heard a vehicle speeding away. Walls and windows sustained damage and a vehicle in the parking lot was also hit, it said.

Sergeant Kendale Adams, spokesman for the department, said on Friday police did not know how many shots were fired or how many hit the building. Adams said police do not have a motive for believe the shooting is linked to the earlier incident.

Police Chief Troy Riggs said multiple rounds hit the building in the first incident and asked the public for help in identifying the shooter.

“An armed attack on police headquarter is an attack on our community. Make no mistake, it is an attack on Indianapolis itself,” Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said at a news conference after the first incident.

(Reporting by Timothy McLaughlin in Chicago; Editing by James Dalgleish)

Judge frees President Reagan’s would-be killer Hinckley

John Hinckley Jr. arrives at the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. District Court in Washington November 19, 2003.

By Joseph Ax

(Reuters) – John Hinckley Jr., who wounded U.S. President Ronald Reagan and three other people in a 1981 assassination attempt prompted by his mental illness, should be freed after 35 years and released to live with his mother, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman said Hinckley, 61, no longer posed a danger to himself or others and could be released from St. Elizabeth’s, a government psychiatric hospital in Washington, as soon as Aug. 5.

Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 1982 for the attack on Reagan, which also badly wounded presidential press secretary James Brady, a policeman and a Secret Service agent. Hinckley acted to impress actress Jodie Foster, with whom he was obsessed.

“Since 1983, when he last attempted suicide, he has displayed no symptoms of active mental illness, exhibited no violent behavior, shown no interest in weapons, and demonstrated no suicidal ideation,” Friedman said of Hinckley in a 104-page opinion.

The assassination attempt helped launch the modern gun control movement, as Brady and his wife, Sarah, founded what is now known as the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence after he was left permanently disabled.

The Bradys’ support helped the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act become law in 1993, imposing federal background checks on gun purchases and a five-day waiting period.

The Hinckley verdict also led several states to rewrite their laws making it more difficult to use the insanity defense.

Friedman said Hinckley will be required to spend at least a year living with his mother, Jo Ann, 90, in Williamsburg, Virginia, about 130 miles (210 km) south of Washington, where he has been making furlough visits for several years.

COULD EVENTUALLY LIVE ON HIS OWN

If his treatment team approves, he may then move into his own residence by himself or with roommates, Friedman said. He also said that if Hinckley’s mother becomes unable to monitor him in her home, either his brother or sister will be required to live there with him until the hospital determines an alternate plan.

In a May story about Hinckley’s life, Washingtonian magazine cited neighbors in her gated community who liked Mrs. Hinckley but did not want him living there.

Hinckley had unsuccessfully sought jobs in Williamsburg at places such as Starbucks and a Subway sandwich shop and tried to become involved in volunteer programs in the town, Washingtonian said. He eventually took a volunteer job in the library of a psychiatric facility in Williamsburg.

Hinckley’s behavior during his furlough visits has been unimpeachable aside from a handful of occasions, the judge wrote. On two visits in 2011, Hinckley skipped a movie he was supposed to see and instead went to a bookstore and a fast-food restaurant, lying afterward to hospital staff about where he had been.

Friedman’s order imposes nearly three dozen conditions, including a requirement that Hinckley meet with his psychiatrist in Washington at least once a month and notify the Secret Service when he travels for the appointment. He is also barred from making contact with Foster or her family, Reagan’s family and relatives of the other victims.

Speaking to reporters in Florida, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said, “John Hinckley should not have been released.”

Hinckley was a 25-year-old college dropout with vague aspirations of a musical career at the time of the attack on Reagan. He had become obsessed with Foster and the Martin Scorsese film “Taxi Driver” in which she played a teenage prostitute.

Hinckley began to identify with the film’s main character, Travis Bickle, who planned to assassinate a presidential candidate, and spent several years trying to make contact with Foster, who was a student at Yale University in Connecticut.

On March 30, 1981, Hinckley wrote Foster a letter detailing his plans to kill Reagan in an effort to win her over. Later that day, Hinckley approached Reagan and his aides outside the Washington Hilton Hotel and opened fire.

Reagan suffered a punctured lung but recovered relatively quickly. Brady died as a result of his wounds in 2014 and federal prosecutors said the following year they would not charge Hinckley with his murder.

Foster has refused to comment publicly on Hinckley since addressing it in 1981, and a publicist for the Academy Award-winning actress did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

The Brady Campaign also did not immediately comment.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax and Ian Simpson; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey and Laila Kearney; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Bill Trott)

Serial Shooter Terrorizing Phoenix Area

Drivers on Interstate 10 in the Phoenix area are in a heightened state of fear because of a serial shooter that has struck at least 11 times.

Local authorities confirmed that 11 vehicles have been hit with everything from BBs to bullets.

A 13-year-old girl was injured by flying glass after the windshield of the car she was riding was struck by a bullet.

The latest incident has the passenger side window of a truck shattered by a bullet.

One Arizona official says the incidents are domestic terrorism.

“Anytime that you have multiple shootings against American citizens on a highway, that’s terrorism,” Department of Public Safety Director Frank Milstead said. “They’re trying to frighten or kill somebody.”

A spokesman for Arizona’s state troopers says that someone needs to come forward to authorities with information on the shooter.

“What we have is a very dangerous situation and somebody knows something,” Raul Garcia said. “You need to let law enforcement know.”

Authorities told the public they have increased amounts of officers on the streets looking for the shooter or shooters.

“We have a number of officers … both uniformed, non-uniformed, plainclothes, undercover vehicles, marked vehicles on the road patrolling, looking for the suspect, looking for leads,” said Bart Graves, another Department of Public Safety spokesman.