Chemicals used in apparent suicide at San Jose hotel force evacuations
ABC 7 News
By Anser Hassan
September 1, 2019
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- The Fairmont San Jose reopened late Saturday afternoon after four floors of the high-end hotel were evacuated that morning.
Hazmat units were sent to clear out the 19th floor due to toxic chemicals used in apparent death by suicide.
"Initial reports were saying that somebody had attempted suicide by using chemicals," explains San Jose Fire Captain Mitch Matlow.
San Jose police later confirmed the death by suicide in an email to ABC7 News.
Captain Matlow described the victim only as an adult female. He says the chemicals were found in her room.
"We determined that there were chemicals in the room, what those chemicals are or how many there were, I don't know," says Matlow, adding that, "The hazard was contained to that one room."
He says some guest may still notice an usual odor, but stresses that the air inside the hotel and the surrounding area is not toxic.
"The only issue is a bad odor, that is not dangerous, and the hotel is working very diligently to get rid of the odor by putting fresh air into the building," he says.
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update
Odessa news station evacuated mid-broadcast due to shooting
Odessa, Texas, CNN affiliate KOSA-TV was forced to evacuate their studio in the middle of a live broadcast due to their proximity to the shooting that left at least five people dead.Source: CNN
update Hero cop shot multiple times in Texas rampage
One of the three law enforcement heroes injured in Saturday’s mass shooting in Texas was identified late Saturday on GoFundMe — Midland Police Officer Zack Owens.
Shooter killed in West Texas after 5 people died, at least 21 injured, police say
CNN
By Ed Lavandera and Ralph Ellis
August 31, 2019
(CNN)A gunman in West Texas who killed five people while firing from his vehicle and then from a hijacked mail truck was fatally shot by police in a gun battle in a movie theater parking lot, authorities said Saturday.
At least 21 people were injured, including some who were wounded by the shooter, Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke said at a news conference. Gerke said three law enforcement officers were injured: one from the Department of Public Safety, one officer from the Midland Police Department and one officer from Odessa Police Department.
Gerke said the shooter was identified as a white male in his 30's. His name and a motive were not given.
Midland Mayor Jerry Morales told CNN the chain of events began when a Department of Public Safety officer pulled over a vehicle on an interstate highway Saturday.
"That's when he shot the officer and then took off and started shooting randomly," Morales said. "Everything happened after that."
At one point, the shooter ditched his vehicle and hijacked a US Postal Service truck, authorities said.
Law enforcement officers "trapped him in the parking lot of the Cinergy theater, and that's when they were able to engage him," Morales said.
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Mitch McConnell is the head of the Senate and has blocked anything that the people of this country have been begging for! When he took over the Senate, he gleefully stated that the "number one priority was to make Obama a one term president, even if that meant everything else could go to hell.
While McConnell did not achieve that goal, he saw gains with the Republican takeover of the House in 2010. Two years later, despite the Democrats’ push for gun control legislation after the December 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, McConnell voted against a 2013 bill that would have expanded background checks for gun purchases.
So who is Mitch McConnell working for?
Hundreds give wounded veteran hero's welcome in North Idaho
KREM 2 News
Author: Megan Carroll
August 30, 2019
Army Sgt. 1st Class Brian Sharp and his fellow Green Berets were ambushed during a mission in Afghanistan. Sharp was shot multiple times and almost died.
KOOTENAI COUNTY, Idaho — Dozens of community members are lined up to give a hero's welcome on Friday to a veteran who was wounded in Afghanistan this year.
Deputies with the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office provided an escort for Army Sgt. 1st Class Brian Sharp from Stateline to Highway 95, then north to Lancaster Road at 11 a.m. on Friday.
The sheriff's office has also reached out to Idaho State Police and other law enforcement agencies that may want to help.
Sharp is the cousin-in-law of KCSO Sgt. Erik Hedlund, who says Sharp is coming to visit family in North Idaho now that he has recovered enough to travel.
Sgt. Sharp and his fellow Green Berets were on a mission in Afghanistan earlier this year when they were ambushed by their own Afghan support team, Hedlund said.
Two soldiers were killed in the battle. Sharp was shot multiple times in the pelvis and abdomen, and almost died in the field. He was awarded a Purple Heart for his sacrifices.
After Sharp was stabilized, he returned to the United States and has been recovering in the hospital, just recently regaining the ability to walk, Hedlund said. At the same time, his one-year-old daughter, Audrey, was also learning to walk for the first time.
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Too many hurricanes for us in Central Florida...we won't have to worry about them after we move to New Hampshire!
Hurricane Dorian shifts toward Carolinas, with Florida forecast to avoid direct hit
NBC News
By Max Burman and Linda Givetash
Aug. 31, 2019
"There's been a notable change overnight to the forecast of Dorian after Tuesday," the National Hurricane Center said on Twitter.
Hurricane Dorian strengthened and shifted slightly early Saturday, setting it on course to potentially miss a direct hit with Florida and make landfall in the Carolinas.
"There's been a notable change overnight to the forecast of Dorian after Tuesday," the National Hurricane Center said on Twitter Saturday morning, stressing that this shift does not rule out the possibility of the storm making landfall on the Florida coast.
Dorian became a potentially devastating Category 4 storm Friday evening as it continued to churn in the Atlantic Ocean on its course to the southeastern United States early next week.
"It’s important to stress that this doesn’t paint Florida as out of the woods yet," said Kathryn Prociv, a meteorologist for NBC News.
"Florida is still very much in the red zone," she added.
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Multiple suspicious deaths at West Virginia VA raise concerns over criminal activity
Military Times
By: Leo Shane III
August 27, 2019
“These crimes shock the conscience and I’m still appalled they were not only committed but that our veterans, who have sacrificed so much for our country, were the victims,” he said. “These families and loved ones deserve answers as soon as possible and I will make sure they get them.”
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. and a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said in a statement this week that he has been briefed on at least 11 suspicious deaths at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in West Virginia. (Courtesy of VA)
Federal investigators are probing a series of suspicious deaths at a Veterans Affairs hospital in West Virginia, a situation that congressional lawmakers have labeled “incredibly disturbing.”
The potential crimes came to light after the family of one of the victims filed a wrongful death suit against VA alleging that their loved one’s death came as the result of an unneeded, fatal insulin dose while at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg.
The lawsuit alleges that VA officials did not take appropriate precautions and provide appropriate oversight to prevent harm to retired Army Sgt. Felix Kirk McDermott, 82, who died in April 2018. A copy of an Armed Forces Medical Examiner report provided by the West Virginia law firm Tiano O’Dell (which is representing McDermott’s family) ruled the death a homicide. McDermott’s health care plan did not include any insulin injections, and he was described “demonstrating clinical improvement” prior to his death.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. and a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, said in a statement this week that he has been briefed on at least 11 suspicious deaths at the facility around the same time frame.
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