Tag Archives: Teacher

Teacher, student injured in Indiana school shooting: police

Police is seen near Noblesville West Middle School in Noblesville, Indiana, U.S., May 25, 2018 in this still image obtained from social media video. COURTESY CHRISTOPHER REILY/via REUTERS

(Reuters) – A teacher and a teenage student were injured in a shooting at an Indiana middle school on Friday morning and another student was in custody, police said.

The male student, who is a suspect in the shooting, has been detained, Noblesville Police Chief Kevin Jowitt told a news conference.

The incident was the latest in a series of shootings at U.S. schools and colleges, some of which have claimed dozens of lives, stretching back decades.

The only people injured in Friday’s incident at Noblesville West Middle School were the teenage student and the teacher, according to Jowitt. Local TV station WTTV, citing a source at the scene, said the student victim suffered a fractured ankle.

The police chief said the school, attended by more than 1,350 students, has been cleared, but he did not provide details of the incident.

“The situation is contained,” he said.

The shooting occurred shortly after 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT) at the school about 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Indianapolis, and authorities said the school was placed on lockdown.

A student interviewed by WTTV said the shooter entered a science class and the teacher swatted a gun away from the shooter.

Danielle Sirilla, a spokeswoman for Indiana University Methodist Hospital said an adult was taken to the hospital while a teenager was taken to Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health nearby. She said no information was available on their conditions.

Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb, flying back from Europe, said in a statement that he was monitoring the situation.

“Our thoughts are with all those affected by this horrible situation,” he said, adding that about 100 State Police officers had been made available to work with local responders.

The incident occurred a week after a 17-year-old high school student in Santa Fe, Texas, near Houston shot and killed eight classmates and two teachers.

In contrast to Florida, where the killing of 17 teens and educators in February sparked a youth-led movement calling for new restrictions on gun ownership, the Texas tragedy saw elected officials and survivors alike voicing support for gun rights.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas and Ben Klayman in Detroit; editing by Tom Brown and Jonathan Oatis)

UK teacher jailed for trying to recruit ‘army of children’ for attacks

Umar Ahmed Haque is seen in an undated booking photograph handed out by the Metropolitan Police in London, Britain March 2, 2018. Metropolitan Police handout via REUTERS

LONDON (Reuters) – A British supporter of Islamic State who tried to recruit over 100 children into an “army” of jihadists to carry out a wave of attacks across London was jailed for a minimum of 25 years on Tuesday.

Umar Haque, 25, showed the children beheading videos and other violent militant propaganda, forced them to re-enact deadly attacks on the British capital and made them role-play attacking police officers.

“The children were paralyzed by fear of Haque, who they understood to have connections to terrorists and who essentially told them that a violent fate would befall them if they told anyone what he was doing,” said Dean Haydon, head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command.

“We recovered a number of exercise books from his home and it was evident from his notes that his plan was a long-term one,” he added in a statement. “He intended to execute his plan years later, by which time he anticipated he would have trained and acquired an army of soldiers, including children.”

Despite having no qualifications and being employed as an administrator, Haque used the guise of teaching Islamic studies to groom 110 children into becoming militants at the Lantern of Knowledge, a small private Islamic school, and at a madrassa connected to the Ripple Road Mosque in east London.

His intention was to use them to attack London targets such as Big Ben, soldiers from the Queen’s Guards, a large shopping center, banks, and media stations, prosecutors said at his trial.

Believed to have been self-radicalized online, Haque was inspired by an attack in March last year when Khalid Masood plowed a rented car into pedestrians on London’s Westminster Bridge, killing four, before stabbing to death a police officer in the grounds of parliament.

Haque was found guilty at London’s Old Bailey Court earlier this month of several offences including preparing terrorist acts, having previously pleaded guilty to four charges.

(Reporting by Stephen Addison, editing by Estelle Shirbon)

Pakistan court convicts 31 over campus lynching of student accused of blasphemy

Policemen keep guard near the central prison where a court convicted 31people over the campus lynching of a university student last year who was falsely accused of blasphemy, and sentenced one of them to death, in Haripur, Pakistan February 7, 2018.

By Jibran Ahmed

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – A Pakistani court on Wednesday convicted 31 people over the campus lynching of a university student who was falsely accused of blasphemy, and sentenced one of them to death, a defense lawyer said.

The killing of student Mashal Khan, 23, last year sparked an outcry and raised fresh questions about the misuse of a harsh blasphemy law, which stipulates the death sentence for insulting Islam or the Prophet Muhammad.

Barrister Ameerullah Chamkani told Reuters one of the 31 accused had been sentenced to death, five were jailed for life and the other 25 were jailed for four years.

The court acquitted 26 others out of a total of 57 people indicted by a court late last year.

Chamkani said one of the convicts, Imran Ali, had been sentenced to death because he had shot Mashal three times.

The accused were students, teachers and some officials of Abdul Wali Khan University named after a secular political leader in northwest Pakistan.

They all pleaded not guilty in the trial conducted at a high-security prison due to threats to defense lawyers and government prosecutors, Chamkani said.

Lawyers for those convicted were not available for comment.

Khan, a Muslim, was known as an intellectually curious student who liked to debate controversial social, political and religious issues.

He was attacked and killed by a mob on the campus on April 13 after a dormitory debate about religion.

Blasphemy is a highly sensitive issue in Pakistan, where insulting Islam’s prophet is punishable by death, though no executions have been carried out for blasphemy.

Even a rumor of blasphemy can spark mob violence and there have been cases of people misusing the law to settle scores.

At least 67 people have been killed over unproven blasphemy allegations since 1990, according to human rights groups.

‘CONTINUE MY STRUGGLE’

In 2011, a bodyguard assassinated the liberal governor of Punjab province, Salman Taseer, after he called for the blasphemy laws to be reformed.

His killer, Mumtaz Qadri, who was executed last year, has been hailed as a martyr by religious hardliners.

A political party founded in Qadri’s honor has made blasphemy its central issue in the run-up to a general election later this year.

The party last year forced the government to retract within a day a change in electoral laws that it deemed blasphemous.

Party supporters also blocked the main road into Islamabad for nearly three weeks last year in a protest against a law minister they accused of blasphemy.

The government eventually gave in, agreeing to an army-brokered deal that included the resignation of the minister.

Khan’s father, Iqbal Khan, expressed satisfaction about the verdicts.

“I appreciate the court decision,” he told reporters in London in remarks broadcast live by Pakistan’s Geo TV.

Asked about the acquittals, the father said: “I will continue my struggle.”

Khan is visiting London to talk at various forums about his son’s case and the blasphemy law.

Khan’s family say they have been threatened since his death and his two sisters have had to drop out of school. Police guard his grave.

(Writing by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Robert Birsel)

School Choir Surprises Cancer Stricken Teacher

The children’s chorus from P.S. 22 in Staten Island, New York has made sure a teacher stricken with cancer knows she is not alone in her fight.

The 5th grade students sang the Martina McBride song “I’m Gonna Love You Through It” to Adriana Lopez, who recently was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“For a dear friend and teacher at PS22 whose bravery and dedication to her students amidst a difficult fight with breast cancer has inspired us all… We love you, Mrs. Lopez!!” chorus director Gregg Breinberg said on Facebook.

The song is about standing beside a woman who has just received a breast cancer diagnosis.  The choir changed the lyrics to include Lopez’ age and number of children to personalize the performance.

The peformance, shown in a YouTube video, ends with the kids giving Lopez pink roses.

The choir has been around since 2000 and has performed with superstars like Jennifer Hudson and even performed for President Obama at the White House.