4 charged with attempted murder of Chicago cop
August 30, 2009 8:59 PM
4 charged with attempted murder of Chicago cop
August 30, 2009 8:59 PM 102 Comments UPDATED STORY
Four men were charged today with allegedly trying to kill an off-duty Chicago police officer in a Southwest Side shooting that one police source said erupted when they mistook the gang-enforcement officer for a gang rival.
The officer -- whom Chicago Police Department officials declined to identify -- was driving home about 3 a.m. Thursday through a section of Little Village carved up as turf by the Latin Kings and Two-Sixers, rival gangs that have been fighting to dominate the local drug trade for decades.
The officer, who was wearing a jersey-type shirt over his police uniform, sensed he was being followed by a car with four people inside, the source said.
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4 charged with attempted murder of Chicago cop
Monday, August 31, 2009
Sailor dies in crash after alleged assault leaves 12-year-old son dead
Sailor dies in crash after alleged assault leaves 12-year-old son dead
By Travis J. Tritten and Chiyomi Sumida, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Wednesday, September 2, 2009
SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan — A USS Denver sailor died in a motorcycle crash after he allegedly assaulted his family in an attack that left his 12-year-old son dead Sunday at Sasebo Naval Base in Japan, base officials said Monday.
John W. Bench Jr., 39, died after his motorcycle collided with oncoming vehicles on a Sasebo expressway, Japanese police said.
The Navy would not confirm the identity of the sailor or name his family members Monday, citing an ongoing investigation. But the USS Denver’s Web page in early August listed a John W. Bench as the ship’s command master chief.
read more here
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=64500
By Travis J. Tritten and Chiyomi Sumida, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Wednesday, September 2, 2009
SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan — A USS Denver sailor died in a motorcycle crash after he allegedly assaulted his family in an attack that left his 12-year-old son dead Sunday at Sasebo Naval Base in Japan, base officials said Monday.
John W. Bench Jr., 39, died after his motorcycle collided with oncoming vehicles on a Sasebo expressway, Japanese police said.
The Navy would not confirm the identity of the sailor or name his family members Monday, citing an ongoing investigation. But the USS Denver’s Web page in early August listed a John W. Bench as the ship’s command master chief.
read more here
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=64500
Wildfire with 'mind of its own' doubles in size
Wildfire with 'mind of its own' doubles in size
A fast-moving wildfire more than doubled in size on Monday and has burned through 164 square miles in Southern California since it started. Fire officials ordered mandatory evacuations for residents of 10,000 homes, and five people who refused to evacuate were trapped by the fire. The blaze "has a mind of its own," U.S. Forest Service official Mike Dietrich said. full story
Schwarzenegger: Heed fire warnings
Explainer: All about fighting wildfires
Fire time-lapse mirrors volcano eruption
A fast-moving wildfire more than doubled in size on Monday and has burned through 164 square miles in Southern California since it started. Fire officials ordered mandatory evacuations for residents of 10,000 homes, and five people who refused to evacuate were trapped by the fire. The blaze "has a mind of its own," U.S. Forest Service official Mike Dietrich said. full story
Schwarzenegger: Heed fire warnings
Explainer: All about fighting wildfires
Fire time-lapse mirrors volcano eruption
Family suspects PTSD in murder suicide of Iraq vet and wife
Family suspects PTSD in couple's murder-suicide
03:22 PM PDT on Monday, August 31, 2009
KREM.com / LEE STOLL
REPUBLIC, WA. -- Family members say a young man suspected of killing his wife and then himself in an apparent murder-suicide in Republic may have suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after returning from Iraq.
Jessica Armstrong and Chad Olson.
Chad Olson, 21, and Jessica Armstrong were found shot to death in the home they shared with Olson's parents early Saturday morning.
Olson's brother called 911 after hearing gunshots in the home. He went to check on the couple, but saw blood through the window.
Authorities say they found several rambling notes in the house, mostly incoherent, but many starting with the words "I'm sorry."
According to Olson's MySpace page, he logged on about an hour before police say he shot Armstrong and killed himself.
Last month, Jessica posted several messages about how excited she was to marry Olson on July 10th. But less than two weeks later, authorities say Armstrong filed for separation.
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Family suspects PTSD in couples murder-suicide
How many more times will this happen?
Fort Bragg Iraq war vet kills girlfriend, then himself
Fort Bragg Iraq war vet kills girlfriend, then himself
By LAURA NORTON & GLENDA ANDERSONGLENDA ANDERSON
Published: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at 1:27 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at 1:27 p.m.
A Fort Bragg couple was found dead Monday evening in what authorities believe is a murder suicide.Mendocino County Sheriff’s authorities said Tuesday 26-year-old Jacob Gregory Swanson, an Iraq war Army veteran, was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head in his living room. His girlfriend, 36-year-old Amy Rochelle Salo, was found dead of a gunshot wound to the face in a bathroom at the home.
Iraq vet struggled with PTSD then killed wife, himself
TORTURED SOUL: Iraq vet struggled with PTSD then killed wife, himself
Wartime tragedy followed airman home to North Las Vegas
By KEITH ROGERSLAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL...........The fire was so intense it melted plastic reflectors on another truck in the 35-vehicle convoy.When the flames subsided seven hours later, "Klink," as he was called, recovered Jurn's remains and hauled them back to their base in Balad.Jason's parents, Art and Monette Klinkenberg of Tooele, Utah, noticed the change in their son upon his return from Iraq in early 2006.
Fort Hood Reservist and Iving Police Officer Kills Wife and Self
WFAA-TV Investigators say an Irving police officer murdered his wife while their two children were present in their Fort Worth home.
By DAVID SCHECHTER / WFAA-TV WFAA-TV FORT WORTH — Investigators say an Irving police officer murdered his wife while their two children were present in their Fort Worth home. Then, police say, the officer killed himself. The officer was a 36-year-old Army reservist currently on active duty at Fort Hood.
Sgt. Steven D. Lopez was thought to be suicidal before murder-suicide ended two lives
Inquiry reveals soldier was thought suicidal
By Ruffin Prevost - The Billings Gazette
Posted : Wednesday Aug 20, 2008 18:51:28 EDTCODY, Wyo. — Lovell police and an Army sergeant worked unsuccessfully last year to persuade a suicidal soldier to return to his base in North Carolina, fearing that he might harm himself or others. One week later, the soldier killed his estranged wife and himself.Recordings of telephone conversations between police and Army personnel, along with a separate report by the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division, offer some insight into the circumstances leading up to the fatal encounter.
There are more, far too many more on this blog alone. It's only been up for two years and here are over 42 posts on murder suicide and several more on investigations. There are Iraq veterans and Afghanistan veterans, Vietnam veterans, cops, you name it. The most troubling part out of all of this is that too many other people will just not get it and understand how serious this all is.
These are not your average run of the mill common criminals. These are men and yes, women, willing to lay down there lives for the sake of someone else all of a sudden turning into someone not only wanting to die, but to take someone they are supposed to love with them. See any reason to respond to all of this better than we have done? Do people kill other people? Yes. There is an enormous problem when it ends up coming from someone willing to die to help a stranger though.
We will keep reading more and more reports like this unless we finally get our act together and address the deeper emotional issue behind most of this. PTSD is not going away and will end up being one more generational carry over when kids grow up with a Dad or Mom veteran that never saw the help they need.
If you want to read more about murder-suicides, try reading Screaming in an Empty Room because that blog goes back over a few years. There are many more there.
Fort Hood soldier found dead in room
Hood soldier found dead in room ID’d
Staff report
Posted : Monday Aug 31, 2009 17:34:29 EDT
Officials at Fort Hood, Texas, on Monday identified a soldier who was found dead in his barracks room.
Pvt. Stephen Alexander Blake, 24, of Chicago, was found unresponsive Aug. 26 in his barracks room on post by a member of his unit.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The cause of Blake's death was unknown Monday, and his death remains under investigation, officials said.
Blake joined the Army in August 2007 as an infantryman and had been assigned to 2nd Squadron, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, since January 2008.
His decorations and awards include the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal and the Army Service Ribbon.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/08/army_soldier_death_083109w/
Shipping out nearly killed him, but not good enough says DOD
If he died, well then that's a different story but he lived. The part about him almost dying because of the injection he had to get, that didn't count and this is simply wrong!
Missouri veteran injured by vaccine ineligible for benefit
By DAVID GOLDSTEIN
The Star’s Washington correspondent
WASHINGTON It wasn’t a bullet or roadside bomb that felled Lance Cpl. Josef Lopez three years ago, after just nine days in Iraq.
It was an injection into his arm before his Marine Corps unit left the United States.
It left Lopez in a coma, paralyzed and unable for a time to breathe on his own. He can walk now, but with a limp. He has to wear a urine bag, has short-term memory loss and must swallow 15 pills daily to control leg spasms and other ailments.
Yet the Springfield, Mo., man does not qualify for a special GI benefit of up to $100,000 for troops who suffer traumatic injuries.
Seemed “pretty traumatic to me,” Lopez said.
“I could have easily died or not been able to walk because of that. It destroyed my world.”
Lopez suffered a rare reaction to the smallpox vaccine. The vaccine is not mandatory, but the military strongly encourages troops to take it.
read more here
http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/1415095.html
Georgia slayings 911 call
Georgia slayings 911 call: 'My whole family's dead'
Story Highlights
NEW: Police identify one of deceased as 19-year-old Michael Toller
Guy Heinze Jr. heard on 911 call telling dispatcher he arrived home to find bodies
"I don't know what to do, man," Heinze tells 911. "My dad, he's laying there dead"
Police say "no known suspects" in the attack; 7 dead at scene, 8th died later
(CNN) -- In an anguished 911 call, a Georgia man told dispatchers that he arrived home to find "my whole family's dead."
"I just got home," a man identified as Guy Heinze Jr. told the emergency dispatcher in the Saturday call, released Monday by authorities. "I was out last night. I got home just now, and everybody's dead. ... My whole family's dead. It looks like they've been beaten to death."
Seven people were found dead Saturday at a residence at the New Hope mobile home park in Brunswick, Georgia, authorities said. Two others were hospitalized in critical condition; one of them, identified by police as 19-year-old Michael Toller, died Sunday.
The remaining survivor remained in critical condition on Monday, police said.
A neighbor of Heinze's placed the call and put him on the phone, as well as the mobile home park's maintenance man. The park manager also called 911, sobbing as she told dispatchers, "Please hurry."
read more here
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/08/31/georgia.killings/index.html
Story Highlights
NEW: Police identify one of deceased as 19-year-old Michael Toller
Guy Heinze Jr. heard on 911 call telling dispatcher he arrived home to find bodies
"I don't know what to do, man," Heinze tells 911. "My dad, he's laying there dead"
Police say "no known suspects" in the attack; 7 dead at scene, 8th died later
(CNN) -- In an anguished 911 call, a Georgia man told dispatchers that he arrived home to find "my whole family's dead."
"I just got home," a man identified as Guy Heinze Jr. told the emergency dispatcher in the Saturday call, released Monday by authorities. "I was out last night. I got home just now, and everybody's dead. ... My whole family's dead. It looks like they've been beaten to death."
Seven people were found dead Saturday at a residence at the New Hope mobile home park in Brunswick, Georgia, authorities said. Two others were hospitalized in critical condition; one of them, identified by police as 19-year-old Michael Toller, died Sunday.
The remaining survivor remained in critical condition on Monday, police said.
A neighbor of Heinze's placed the call and put him on the phone, as well as the mobile home park's maintenance man. The park manager also called 911, sobbing as she told dispatchers, "Please hurry."
read more here
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/08/31/georgia.killings/index.html
Armed robbers tie up customers at Family Dollar
Armed robbers tie up customers at Family Dollar
Bianca Prieto
Sentinel Staff Writer
3:31 p.m. EDT, August 31, 2009
Thieves tied up several people during an armed robbery at a Family Dollar store on Curry Ford Sunday, stealing cell phones and money from the register.
Orlando police are investigating the armed robbery that occurred at the discount store around 5:30 p.m. Sunday.
read more here
Armed robbers tie up customers at Family Dollar
Bianca Prieto
Sentinel Staff Writer
3:31 p.m. EDT, August 31, 2009
Thieves tied up several people during an armed robbery at a Family Dollar store on Curry Ford Sunday, stealing cell phones and money from the register.
Orlando police are investigating the armed robbery that occurred at the discount store around 5:30 p.m. Sunday.
read more here
Armed robbers tie up customers at Family Dollar
Missing boaters clung to thread of hope
Missing boaters clung to thread of hope
Story Highlights
Three fishermen spent week on on capsized boat in Gulf of Mexico
Men rationed water, crackers, beer to live
Boater spotted fishermen about 180 miles from coast of Port Aransas, Texas
Coast Guard had called off search for men on Friday
CNN) -- They kept their bodies alive with rationed crackers, bubble gum, beer and three gallons of water. But spiritually, the three men lost at sea for eight days had something else to keep them going.
"We just kept praying, and we kept hope alive," rescued boater Tressel Hawkins told CNN on Monday. "Even though hope had managed to thread down to a little bitty string, I mean, that little bitty string could be just as strong as the rope you hung on to the first time you got started."
What was supposed to be a fishing expedition to catch swordfish and marlin became instead a test of survival.
Hawkins, 43, and his fellow boaters, Curtis Hall, 28, and James Phillips, 30, set out on August 21 from Matagorda Bay in Texas and went about 100 miles south. Their first night in the Gulf of Mexico almost proved fatal.
While Hawkins was sleeping, he said, he felt the bean bag he was resting on floating. He awoke to find water in the 23-foot catamaran knee-high. The water extractor had malfunctioned. He woke up Hall and Phillips and they tried to stop the flooding but it was too late, Hawkins said.
read more here
Missing boaters clung to thread of hope
Story Highlights
Three fishermen spent week on on capsized boat in Gulf of Mexico
Men rationed water, crackers, beer to live
Boater spotted fishermen about 180 miles from coast of Port Aransas, Texas
Coast Guard had called off search for men on Friday
CNN) -- They kept their bodies alive with rationed crackers, bubble gum, beer and three gallons of water. But spiritually, the three men lost at sea for eight days had something else to keep them going.
"We just kept praying, and we kept hope alive," rescued boater Tressel Hawkins told CNN on Monday. "Even though hope had managed to thread down to a little bitty string, I mean, that little bitty string could be just as strong as the rope you hung on to the first time you got started."
What was supposed to be a fishing expedition to catch swordfish and marlin became instead a test of survival.
Hawkins, 43, and his fellow boaters, Curtis Hall, 28, and James Phillips, 30, set out on August 21 from Matagorda Bay in Texas and went about 100 miles south. Their first night in the Gulf of Mexico almost proved fatal.
While Hawkins was sleeping, he said, he felt the bean bag he was resting on floating. He awoke to find water in the 23-foot catamaran knee-high. The water extractor had malfunctioned. He woke up Hall and Phillips and they tried to stop the flooding but it was too late, Hawkins said.
read more here
Missing boaters clung to thread of hope
VA's Suicide Prevention Program Adds Chat Service
VA's Suicide Prevention Program Adds Chat Service
New Service Expands Online Access for Veterans
WASHINGTON (August 31, 2009) - The Suicide Prevention campaign of the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is expanding its outreach to all
Veterans by piloting an online, one-to-one "chat service" for Veterans
who prefer reaching out for assistance using the Internet.
Called "Veterans Chat," the new service enables Veterans, their families
and friends to go online where they can anonymously chat with a trained
VA counselor. If a "chatter" is determined to be in a crisis, the
counselor can take immediate steps to transfer the person to the VA
Suicide Prevention Hotline, where further counseling and referral
services are provided and crisis intervention steps can be taken.
"This online feature is intended to reach out to all Veterans who may or
may not be enrolled in the VA health care system and provide them with
online access to the Suicide Prevention Lifeline," said Dr. Gerald
Cross, VA's Acting Under Secretary for Health. "It is meant to provide
Veterans with an anonymous way to access VA's suicide prevention
services."
Veterans, family members or friends can access Veterans Chat through the
suicide prevention Web site (www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org
on the left-hand side of the website that will take them directly to
Veteran resource information. On this page, they can see the Hotline
number (1-800-273-TALK), and click on the Veterans Chat tab on the right
side of the Web page to enter.
Veterans retain anonymity by entering whatever names they choose once
they enter the one-on-one chat. They are then joined by a counselor who
is trained to provide information and respond to the requests and
concerns of the caller.
If the counselor decides the caller is in a crisis, the counselor will
encourage the Veteran to call the Suicide Prevention Hotline, where a
trained suicide prevention counselor will determine whether crisis
intervention techniques are required.
The pilot program, which has been in operation since July 3, has already
had positive results. In one instance, the online counselor determined
that a Veteran in the chat required immediate assistance. The counselor
convinced the Veteran to provide the counselor with a home telephone
number and then remained in the chat room with the Veteran while the
hotline staff called the number and talked to the Veteran's mother. The
hotline counselor worked with the Veteran's mother to convince the
Veteran to be admitted to a medical facility for further treatment.
"The chat line is not intended to be a crisis response line," said Dr.
Janet Kemp, VA's National Suicide Prevention Coordinator at the VA
medical center in Canandaigua, N.Y., where VA's trained counselors staff
the chat line 24 hours a day, seven days a week. VA's suicide
prevention hotline is also staffed continuously.
"Chat responders are trained in an intervention method specifically
developed for the chat line to assist people with emotional distress and
concerns," Kemp said. "We have procedures they can use to transfer
chatters in crisis to the hotline for more immediate assistance."
Both Veterans Chat and the VA's Suicide Prevention Hotline have been
established under the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which was
established through collaboration between VA and the Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of the Department of
Health and Human Services.
Since becoming operational in July 2007, VA's Suicide Prevention Hotline
has received more than 150,000 calls, resulting in 4,000 rescues.
New Service Expands Online Access for Veterans
WASHINGTON (August 31, 2009) - The Suicide Prevention campaign of the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is expanding its outreach to all
Veterans by piloting an online, one-to-one "chat service" for Veterans
who prefer reaching out for assistance using the Internet.
Called "Veterans Chat," the new service enables Veterans, their families
and friends to go online where they can anonymously chat with a trained
VA counselor. If a "chatter" is determined to be in a crisis, the
counselor can take immediate steps to transfer the person to the VA
Suicide Prevention Hotline, where further counseling and referral
services are provided and crisis intervention steps can be taken.
"This online feature is intended to reach out to all Veterans who may or
may not be enrolled in the VA health care system and provide them with
online access to the Suicide Prevention Lifeline," said Dr. Gerald
Cross, VA's Acting Under Secretary for Health. "It is meant to provide
Veterans with an anonymous way to access VA's suicide prevention
services."
Veterans, family members or friends can access Veterans Chat through the
suicide prevention Web site (www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org
on the left-hand side of the website that will take them directly to
Veteran resource information. On this page, they can see the Hotline
number (1-800-273-TALK), and click on the Veterans Chat tab on the right
side of the Web page to enter.
Veterans retain anonymity by entering whatever names they choose once
they enter the one-on-one chat. They are then joined by a counselor who
is trained to provide information and respond to the requests and
concerns of the caller.
If the counselor decides the caller is in a crisis, the counselor will
encourage the Veteran to call the Suicide Prevention Hotline, where a
trained suicide prevention counselor will determine whether crisis
intervention techniques are required.
The pilot program, which has been in operation since July 3, has already
had positive results. In one instance, the online counselor determined
that a Veteran in the chat required immediate assistance. The counselor
convinced the Veteran to provide the counselor with a home telephone
number and then remained in the chat room with the Veteran while the
hotline staff called the number and talked to the Veteran's mother. The
hotline counselor worked with the Veteran's mother to convince the
Veteran to be admitted to a medical facility for further treatment.
"The chat line is not intended to be a crisis response line," said Dr.
Janet Kemp, VA's National Suicide Prevention Coordinator at the VA
medical center in Canandaigua, N.Y., where VA's trained counselors staff
the chat line 24 hours a day, seven days a week. VA's suicide
prevention hotline is also staffed continuously.
"Chat responders are trained in an intervention method specifically
developed for the chat line to assist people with emotional distress and
concerns," Kemp said. "We have procedures they can use to transfer
chatters in crisis to the hotline for more immediate assistance."
Both Veterans Chat and the VA's Suicide Prevention Hotline have been
established under the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which was
established through collaboration between VA and the Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of the Department of
Health and Human Services.
Since becoming operational in July 2007, VA's Suicide Prevention Hotline
has received more than 150,000 calls, resulting in 4,000 rescues.
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