Volunteers clean up after violence on Milwaukee"s north side

WRAL-TV: "Action News 5" (May 17, 1979)

By GRETCHEN EHLKE, Associated Press

MILWAUKEE Volunteers swept and picked up debris Sunday in a north Milwaukee neighborhood that was rocked by hours of late night violent unrest sparked by a police officer"s shooting of a man fleeing a traffic stop.

Up to three dozen people swept up glass and filled trash bags with rocks, bricks and bottles at an intersection where a BP gas station burned to the ground, a traffic light was bent and bus shelters were shoved to the ground Saturday night. One volunteer picked up a bullet casing and handed it to police.

Darlene Rose, 31, said she understands the anger that fueled the violence, but that it doesn"t help.

"I feel like if you"re going to make a difference, it"s got to be an organized difference," Rose said. "The people that came and looted, you"re not going to see them here today."

The event that triggered the violence was the Saturday afternoon shooting by a police officer of a man authorities said was armed and who fled a traffic stop. It wasn"t clear if the man aimed the gun at officers.

Authorities have not released the names or races of the man who was killed nor the officer who shot him.

Three protesters were arrested, and one officer was injured by a thrown brick. At a late night news conference at which city leaders appealed for calm, Mayor Tom Barrett said the man was hit twice, in the chest and arm.

The protesters were largely black, and Alderman Khalif Rainey who represents the district said early Sunday that the city"s black residents are "tired of living under this oppression." Nearly 40 percent of Milwaukee"s 600,000 residents are black, and heavily concentrated on the north side.

"Now this is a warning cry. Where do we go from here? Where do we go as a community from here?" Rainey said at the news conference with Barrett.

The anger at shootings by Milwaukee police is not new, and comes as tension between black communities and law enforcement has ramped up across the nation, resulting in protests and the recent killings of officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Dallas.

Milwaukee was beset by protests and calls for police reform after an officer fatally shot Dontre Hamilton, a mentally ill black man, in 2014. In December, the Justice Department announced it would work with Milwaukee police on reforms. Chief Ed Flynn had asked for what"s known as a collaborative reform process after the federal government said it wouldn"t pursue criminal civil rights charges against the officer.

Critics said the department should have submitted to a review of its patterns and practices, as was conducted in Ferguson, Missouri, after the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was black, by a white police officer in 2014.

The state is investigating the latest shooting in Milwaukee. Barrett said the officer was wearing a body camera.

Barrett said police stopped the 23-year-old man who died for "suspicious activity." Police said he was carrying a gun that had been stolen in a March burglary in suburban Waukesha.

"This stop took place because two officers ... saw suspicious activity," the mayor said. "There were 23 rounds in that gun that that officer was staring at. I want to make sure we don"t lose any police officers in this community, either."

Around 100 protesters massed at 44th Street and Auer Avenue between 8 and 9 p.m., surging against a line of 20 to 30 officers. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that officers got in their cars to leave at one point and some in the crowd started smashing a squad car"s windows. Another police car was set on fire. The newspaper reported that one of its reporters was shoved to the ground and punched.

Around 11 p.m., police with shields and helmets moved slowly into the intersection, telling a crowd of about 50 people to disperse. Some threw rocks and debris at police, who held up their shields. People in the crowd also threw objects at a business a half-block from the intersection. A nearby traffic light was bent over and bus shelters overturned.

A bank, a gas station, an auto parts store and a beauty supplies shop were burned in the violence. Firefighters held back from the gas station blaze because of gunshots.

Police said the man who was shot had an arrest record. The 24-year-old officer who shot the man has been placed on administrative duty. The officer has been with the Milwaukee department six years, three as an officer.

Just blocks away from the riots, two people were shot and killed Friday and Saturday, bringing to five the number of people who died in shootings in the city during a nine-hour stretch.

"As everyone knows, this was a very, very violent 24 hours in the city of Milwaukee," Assistant Chief Bill Jessup told the Journal Sentinel. "Our officers are out here taking risks on behalf of the community and making split-second decisions."

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Associated Press writer Kyle Potter contributed to this report from Minneapolis.

Source: http://www.wral.com/milwaukee-officials-call-for-calm-after-unrest-over-shooting/15928422/

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Husband and wife charged in Apex bank robbery

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Apex, N.C. A husband and wife were arrested Wednesday after an attempted bank robbery in Apex.

Apex police said officers responded to a report of a bank robbery at a Wells Fargo bank at 1100 Beaver Creek Commons Drive at 4:25 p.m. Wednesday.

Aaron Russell Wagoner, 36, of 2628 Arbor View Drive in Cary was arrested inside the bank and his wife, Hannah Wagoner, 22, of the same address, was arrested Wednesday evening.

Both were charged with common law robbery and were being held at the Wake County Jail.

Police said no weapons were involved in the robbery and no injuries were reported.

Source: http://www.wral.com/police-one-in-custody-after-attempted-apex-bank-robbery/15420573/

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Pope issues tough-love message to Mexico"s political elite

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press

MEXICO CITY Pope Francis told Mexico"s political leaders on Saturday that they have a duty to provide their people with security, "true justice" and basic services as he plunged head-on into the drug-inspired violence, corruption and social ills that are tormenting the country.

Francis began his first full day in the country with a winding 9-mile (14-kilometer) popemobile ride into the capital"s historic center to the delight of tens of thousands of Mexicans greeting history"s first Latin American pope. Despite an exhausting Friday that involved a historic embrace with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Francis obliged their demands and stopped to hand out rosaries to the elderly, sick and disabled who gathered in front of his residence.

Francis met with President Enrique Pena Nieto at the presidential palace and delivered a tough-love speech to authorities aimed at shaking up the privilege that has long characterized Mexican politics. Later, he was to issue a similarly pointed speech to bishops about their duties as pastors before ending the day with a Mass at the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the largest shrine dedicated to the Madonna.

In his speech, Francis said public officials responsible for the common good must be honest and upright and not be seduced by privilege or corruption.

"Experience teaches us that each time we seek the path of privileges or benefits for a few to the detriment of the good of all, sooner or later the life of society becomes a fertile soil for corruption, drug trade, exclusion of different cultures, violence and also human trafficking, kidnapping and death, bringing suffering and slowing down development," he said.

Corruption permeates many aspects of Mexican society, from traffic cops and restaurant inspectors who routinely shake down citizens for bribes, to politicians and police commanders who are sometimes on the payroll of drug cartels. Pena Nieto"s administration has been tainted by what critics call fishy real estate dealings by people close to him, including the first lady, with companies that were awarded lucrative state contracts.

Francis said political leaders have a "particular duty" to ensure their people have "indispensable" material and spiritual goods: "adequate housing, dignified employment, food, true justice, effective security, a healthy and peaceful environment."

Francis" entire five-day trip is shining an uncomfortable spotlight on the government"s failure to solve entrenched social ills that plague many parts of Mexico poverty, rampant gangland killings, extortion, disappearances of women, crooked cops and failed public services. Over the coming days, Francis will travel to the crime-ridden Mexico City suburb of Ecatepec, preach to Indians in poverty-stricken Chiapas, offer solidarity to victims of drug violence in Morelia and, finally, pay respects to migrants who have died trying to reach the United States with a cross-border Mass in Ciudad Juarez.

Pena Nieto, who has sought to make economic reform, modernization and bolstering the middle class hallmarks of his administration, is suffering the lowest approval ratings of any Mexican president in a quarter century.

Francis" visit has been cheered by Mexicans who have been treated to six previous papal trips five by St. John Paul II and one by Benedict XVI and are known for their enthusiastic welcomes.

Tens of thousands of people lined Francis" motorcade route, some watching from balconies, and thousands more gathered in Mexico"s main square, known as the Zocalo, to catch a glimpse as he arrived for his meeting with Pena Nieto. Authorities set up huge TV screens that transmitted the scene inside the National Palace.

"We arrived here at 2 a.m. to get a good spot, and we were able to see him up-close. It was very exciting," said Natalia Zuniga, a 26-year-old Costa Rican who traveled to Mexico along with six others. "It has all been worthwhile to see him and feel his presence."

On a broad avenue leading to the Zocalo, hundreds of people waited for hours for the pope to arrive.

"It"s very cold, but it"s worth it to see his holiness," said Maria Hernandez, 69, who had been there since 6 a.m. "This will be the third pope I"ve seen. Hopefully his visit will help us to be better Mexicans."

On his first full day in Mexico, Francis didn"t shy from some of the bleakest ills afflicting Mexico: According to government statistics, about 46 percent of Mexicans live in poverty, including 10 percent in extreme poverty. In the rural, heavily indigenous state of Chiapas, where Francis travels on Monday, some 76 percent live in poverty, and 32 percent in extreme poverty.

Mexico"s homicide rate rose precipitously after then-President Felipe Calderon launched a war on drug cartels shortly after taking office in 2006, with the bloodshed peaking around 2011. Murders declined somewhat for the next three years after that, before ticking up again in 2015.

Federal data released in January counted 17,013 homicides nationwide last year. Women have been particularly targeted: At least 1,554 women have disappeared in Mexico state since 2005, according to the National Observatory on Femicide, and last year the government issued an alert over the killings of women in Ecatepec and 10 other parts of Mexico state.

While some parts of the country remain relatively removed from drug cartel violence including the capital and the tourist destination of Cancun, notably in other areas large portions of the population live with killings, kidnappings and extortion as a daily reality.

In his speech, Francis urged Mexicans to rely on their tremendous resources human and natural and draw on the experience of their indigenous, mestizo and criollo cultures to confront the problems of today.

"An ancestral culture together with encouraging human resources such as yours should be a stimulus to find new forms of dialogue, negotiation and bridges that can lead us on the way of committed solidarity," he said.

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Associated Press writers Peter Orsi, Carlos Rodriguez, Juan Zamorano and Jacobo Garcia in Mexico City contributed to this report.

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Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Source: http://www.wral.com/pope-opens-mexico-visit-after-historic-stop-with-patriarch/15359897/

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2 students killed in shooting at Phoenix-area high school

WRAL: The Elusive Peacock

By JACQUES BILLEAD and PAUL DAVENPORT, Associated Press

GLENDALE, Ariz. Two students were shot and killed Friday at a high school in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale but the danger at the campus was over, police said, as worried parents crowded stores nearby to await word on their children.

Glendale Officer Tracey Breeden told reporters that both were 15-year-old girls and were shot once at Independence High School. Authorities were not searching for any suspects, and a weapon was found near the bodies, she said.

She did not say who fired the shots and had no information on the relationship between the girls, who died at the scene. They were found near an administration building.

She told parents awaiting word on their kids that "your children are safe."

No one can leave or enter the campus of more than 2,000 students until police ensure the school"s safety and lift the lockdown, Glendale Union High School District said in a statement on its website.

Worried parents packed a nearby Walmart parking lot, and dozens of others gathered at a convenience store.

Cheryl Rice said she went to the store after a friend called about the shooting and asked after Rice"s 15-year-old daughter.

"Oh my G*d, it could be my daughter," Rice recalled thinking.

But the girl called as Rice arrived at the store.

"She said, "I"m OK," so I of course started crying," Rice said.

She said it was horrible waiting for word about her child.

"You don"t know if it"s your daughter or not. You don"t know who"s being bullied. You don"t know who is being picked on. You don"t know anything. It could be anybody," Rice said.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey tweeted his sympathies, saying, "Our prayers are with the students, educators & families at Independence High School & all the first responders on the scene."

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Davenport contributed from Phoenix.

Source: http://www.wral.com/authorities-at-phoenix-area-high-school-amid-shooting-report/15356769/

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