Black Friday brought a wave of violence across the United States.
In Romeoville, Illinois, a driver believed to be part of a shoplifting scheme was shot by police after he dragged a police officer with his car while trying to escape in the parking lot of a Kohl’s department store. The suspected shoplifter and two accomplices were arrested. The officer’s injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
A witness at the store told the Chicago Tribute the sight of a shirtless officer being bandaged by emergency personnel and a car with the window shot out did nothing to slow down shoppers heading into the store.
A police officer in Rialto, California was wounded when he tried to break up a fight after a store manager decided to open early. The fight that wounded the officer was one of three at the store. All the people involved in the fighting were taken into custody.
A man who had purchased a big screen TV at a Target store in Las Vegas was shot as he walked home. The man was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
At least two people at a Utah Wal-Mart were injured after being thrown to the ground in a stampede of people attempting to get $49 tablet computers.
The Mayor of Philadelphia has stepped up to say that the “knockout game” spreading across the country in major cities will not be tolerated in his town.
“This is not a game. You can seriously injure or possibly kill someone,” Mayor Michael Nutter said at a press conference. “Your child’s life will be dramatically changed, and probably yours as well as a parent. So let’s cut out the nonsense. There are many other things that people can do to enjoy themselves. This is not one of them.”
The “knockout game” is where a victim is randomly assaulted by striking them in the head with the intention of knocking them out with one punch while the incident is recorded on a cell phone or other device.
The Mayor said anyone caught committing a crime connected to the “knockout game” would face charges ranging from aggravated assault to third degree murder. He has instructed the city’s district attorney to use the most serious charges available for any attack and prosecute to the fullest extent.
Nutter and Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey encouraged parents to be involved with their children, ask them if they know anyone engaging in the game and pay attention to who their children associate with during the day.
On November 13th, we reported in a story called Knock Out The Jew about Jewish residents in New York City being attacked over the previous months by gangs who attempted to knock out their victims with a single punch. A local rabbi said they were playing a “knockout game.”
Now, police in other northeastern cities are reporting that the “game” has made its way to their communities.
At least three knockout attacks have taken place in the Philadelphia area. Police in Lower Merion Township say two attacks took place in their jurisdiction. Philadelphia police detectives confirmed one attack taking place within the city.
Victim Mark Cumberland told CBS he is still suffering from blurred vision and having trouble breathing from the attack on November 11th. He was walking out of a pizza shop when he was attacked.
Two teens were arrested for attacking an elderly man on October 29th. Lower Marion police say the teens walked up to a 63-year-old man and just punched him in the mouth.
Police in Washington, D.C. confirm at least two attacks they believe to be “knockout game” incidents. In one attack, a woman riding a bike was punched in the nose and knocked to the ground.
An al-Qaeda linked rebel group in Syria was in such a rush to post a violent video, they accidentally beheaded a commander of a fellow rebel group.
The members of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham asked fellow rebel groups for “understanding and forgiveness” for the killing of their ally and putting his head on display.
A spokesman for the Islamic State of Iraq said that Mohammed Fares had believed he had been captured by pro-Assad fighters and asked them to kill him.
Meanwhile, the Syrian government announced they were working with Russia to bring all sides to the table in Geneva for a second major peace conference. The U.S. and Russia have been trying to broker a peace conference since May.
The NYPD is investigating a series of attacks on Jews in Brooklyn which they speculate is part of a sick game called “Knock Out The Jew.”
Police have not officially connected the series of assaults but have released a video showing a group attacking a Jewish man. The video shows different angles of the man being beaten.
A witness told CBS New York that a gang beat his 12-year-old son while he was wearing traditional Jewish attire on a street. The gang then began to cheer, “we got him” as he fell to the ground after being repeatedly struck in the face.
Rabbi Yaacov Behrman said that the game is being played by gangs of African-American teens.
In addition to the assaults, several synagogues have been vandalized.
The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the attacks.
Christian leaders in the city of Detroit are banding together in hopes of stemming the tide of violence that has broken out the last few weeks including a gun battle at a barbershop that left three people dead.
The leaders are plastering the city with “Thou shalt not kill” posters and billboards along with crafting messages for their congregations about combating violence with love.
“We all have to do what we can do, and right now we don’t have a respect in our communities for life; we don’t have a respect for many things,” Ovella Andreas, a Detroit area minister, told WWJ-TV. “But we still have to create a standard to hopefully have a consciousness about God …. because even our people have become apathetic.”
The group has worked with the city to have the 22nd day of each month declared “Stop the Violence Day” in Detroit.
“This is an emergency; this is a crisis, and we have to come together now to do what we can,” Andreas said. “I truly know if we do what we can, God will do what we cannot; but we’re not doing all that we can.”
Terrorist group al-Qaeda is seeing a resurgence in Iraq.
The terror group and its affiliates detonated nine separate car bombs on Sunday at various markets and police checkpoints in Baghdad killing dozens.
The campaign of violence by the terrorists has resulted in more than 5,300 Iraqis being killed in 2013. Local officials worry of worsening security conditions, as the government appears unable to stop the terrorist network in the two years since American troops withdrew from the country.
An interior ministry official told the Washington Post that 40 people died in attacks on neighborhoods in Baghdad while 14 soldiers were killed in Mosul when a homicide bomber drove a car into a group of troops.
The violence from terrorists was on the wane after a US troop surge in the 2000s helped Sunni fighters turn the tide against al-Qaeda but over the last year violence has escalated as sectarian groups choose sides.
The terrorist groups have been strengthened by the release of hundreds of captured members through various prison raids.
At least 24 Egyptian police are dead after a terrorist attack in the Sinai peninsula.
The BBC reports a police convoy near Rafah when the terrorists attacked it. The assault is one of the deadliest attacks on police in years. Officials says the officers were off-duty and riding in busses when the terrorists forced them off the bus and shot them point blank in the back of the head. Continue reading →
The UN Security Council is meeting in a closed session over the violence in Egypt.
Argentina’s UN ambassador told Reuters after the meeting that all the parties were in agreement that the violence needs to immediately end. Continue reading →
The UN released casualty figures that shows over 1,000 people were killed in July.
The UN report states that the death toll was the highest monthly total in 5 years. Continue reading →