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Charlotte’s ‘unprecedented’ demand for guns and ammo is fueled by more than politics
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Tamara Schaeffer never bought a firearm before stepping inside Hyatt Gun Shop on Wilkinson Boulevard on last week. Three homicides in her Revolution Park neighborhood finally changed her mind about keeping a gun in her house and carrying it with her. Schaeffer, a 45-year-old single Hispanic mom and a deli worker, said she won’t even let her 16-year-old son walk to the nearby Family Dollar. She holds a can of Mace wherever she goes, including as she pumps gas at the local Quik Trip. “Every night we hear gunshots,” she said. “That’s normal.” “It’s awful out here on the streets,...
The Charlotte Observer
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Lawyers say Aryan Brotherhood client is in danger in Sacramento prison — from guards
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Lawyers for one of the Aryan Brotherhood inmates charged in a huge murder and conspiracy case filed documents late Friday claiming guards at California State Prison, Sacramento, have conspired to get inmates to kill other prisoners and engaged in other serious misconduct. Lawyers for Brant Daniel are asking a federal judge to move the inmate to another prison from New Folsom for his own safety, claiming guards have threatened to kill him as he awaits trial. “Based on investigation and court documents, the defense believes that several CSP Sacramento prison guards are invol...
The Sacramento Bee
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Michigan toddler kills 5-year-old cousin with father's gun they found in house
DETROIT — Police in Detroit said an 18-month-old boy “got hold of a firearm ... and while playing with it, accidentally fired it, striking a 5-year-old male inside the house.” The 5-year-old was pronounced dead at a local hospital shortly after the shooting at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Detroit police said. The 27-year-old father of the victim, thought to be the owner of the handgun involved, has been arrested, Detroit police said. The incident occurred in the 2400 block of Sturtevant, south of Davison and west of the Lodge Freeway. "It's a sad day in the city today," Detroit police 10th Precinct Co...
Detroit Free Press
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Trudy Rubin: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny risks it all for democracy. Will GOP senators do the same?
Alexei Navalny, Russia’s leading fighter for democracy, returned home this week, after recuperating in Germany from a Kremlin attempt to murder him by poison as he campaigned in Siberia. It is almost impossible to comprehend the bravery it took for Navalny to take that risk. He faced a phalanx of Russian police at the airport, and a swift mock trial in a police station, after which he was jailed, at the total mercy of would-be Kremlin killers. Yet there is something painfully appropriate about Navalny taking that gamble the very same week Donald Trump leaves office. Trump will be recalled by h...
The Philadelphia Inquirer
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Denzel Washington, Rami Malek and Jared Leto discuss playing troubled cops and ‘lovable’ suspect in serial killer drama ‘The Little Things’
Even though Denzel Washington, Rami Malek and Jared Leto are big stars, they never stop worrying about the little things. The three teamed up in a new psychological thriller that poses serious acting challenges — even for a trio of titans who have all won Oscars. In “The Little Things,” they portray complex characters with cryptic back stories or mysterious motivations in the film about detectives working to track down a serial killer in Los Angeles during the early 1990s. Director John Lee Hancock aimed to flip the crime genre on its head, and introduced flawed characters such as Washington’s...
New York Daily News
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Karla Peterson: Netflix's 'Night Stalker' series is grisly and terrifying. Did it go too far?
True crime has paid big dividends for Netflix. From "Making a Murderer" to "The Keepers," "The Staircase" and "Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness," the streaming service has been a steady provider of white-knuckle programming for viewers who can't get enough of grisly crime scene photos, dogged detective work and real-life cliffhangers that seem tailor made for TV binge-watching. Murder has been very, very good for Netflix. But its latest bloody offering, "Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer," is problematic TV. The story of Richard Ramirez and the sadistic killing spree that kept...
The San Diego Union-Tribune
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My worst moment: People assume Lou Diamon Phillips is fluent in Spanish thanks to ‘La Bamba.’ He’s not and it led to a chaotic few hours on the set of ‘Che.’
The Fox drama “Prodigal Son,” back for a second season, puts a different spin on the police procedural, with a young criminal psychologist teaming up with his father, a convicted serial killer, to unravel the latest case. Lou Diamond Phillips costars as Gil Arroyo, the police lieutenant who was wounded at the end of last season, which complicates things as he “tries to maintain his position as head of the team, and not only that but take care of everyone; his paternal instincts really kick in this season,” Phillips said. The show is “more twisted and dark than ever,” he added, “and funnier. I ...
Chicago Tribune
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Man accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says God gave him permission to kill
DETROIT — An accused bombmaker identified as a ringleader of a plot to kidnap and harm Gov. Gretchen Whitmer claimed he had permission from God to commit murder and was the national leader of a militia group that rioted at the U.S. Capitol last week, an FBI agent said Wednesday. The new details emerged as the accused ringleader, Barry Croft, 45, of Bear, Delaware, pleaded not guilty and was denied bond during a hearing in federal court in Grand Rapids. The hearing marked Croft’s first appearance in a Michigan courtroom since being charged alongside five others in October in a case that has foc...
The Detroit News
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Accused Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse wore ‘Free As F---’ T-shirt at bar last week: report
Kyle Rittenhouse, the 18-year-old Illinois man who faces a number of charges after allegedly killing multiple people during a racial justice protest in Wisconsin last summer, reportedly wore a t-shirt reading “Free As F---” while drinking at a Badger State bar last week. According to the Journal Times, Rittenhouse was photographed multiple times wearing the shirt shortly after he officially pleaded not guilty during a virtually arraignment last Tuesday. He was at the bar, Pudgy’s Pub in Mount Pleasant, just north of Kenosha, the site of the deadly shooting Rittenhouse is accused of perpetuatin...
New York Daily News
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Concerned over DNA evidence, judge recommends new trial for Texas man on death row
AUSTIN, Texas — A Travis County state district judge has recommended that an Austin man on death row get a new trial, after his attorneys raised concerns that a former Austin crime lab technician incorrectly analyzed DNA evidence collected in the case. The recommendation comes as local attorneys review Travis County convictions that involved DNA evidence after a state audit highlighted problems at the lab. Control over Austin's crime lab was transferred from the Austin Police Department to the Texas Department of Public Safety when the audit revealed that lab techs were improperly analyzing DN...
Austin American-Statesman
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