Free Republic

This senseless loss of life is due to yet another violent criminal act in the Bay Area. We hope that offering a reward will help lead to the arrest of those responsible so they can face justice for this terrible tragedy.'. A security guard has died after he was shot while he protected a San Francisco Bay Area television news crew covering a smash-and-grab theft, part of a rash of organized retail crime in the region. “We are devastated by the loss of security guard and our friend, Kevin Nishita. Our deepest sympathy goes to Kevin’s wife, his children, his...

Since 5:00 p.m. on Friday, at least 18 Chicagoans have been shot in street violence, with three dead.A two-year-old got shot while sitting in the backseat of a car. Less than two hours later, three more people got shot in a drive-by shooting.Five teenagers between 15 and 18 were shot during several incidents on the city’s south side. An 8-year-old boy got shot in the knee.Police called in a SWAT unit after suspects shot and wounded 3 people near the Grand Street L station. And all this happened before noon on Saturday.ABC News:So far this year, 997 people have been...

On criminal can easily commit a large number of crimes.  Removing them from society does a great deal to lower the crime rate.   Often, it is an armed citizen who is on the scene and able to stop the crimes.  This recent example occurred in Perland, Texas.  A man in a close neighborhood stopped a minor crime wave by grabbing a gun and holding a burglary suspect for the police.   From thefacts.com: PEARLAND — A man suspected of burglarizing several cars on one street was caught when a neighbor pulled a gun after finding the man rifling through his...

On 23 April, an alert neighbor stopped an ongoing crime spree by shooting a burglary suspect in the leg, allowing police to apprehend the suspect.   While the situation is still under investigation, it appears that the shooting was justified, given the facts reported.   From the Lake Charles Police Facebook page: Lake Charles Police responded to a prowler call in the 3700 block of Vanderbilt Street. While on the way to that call, Officers were advised that a shot was fired at the same location. When officers arrived, they discovered that a homeowner had encountered a subject running from a...

Sometimes, 7 shots are not enough.  10 Shots are not enough.  20 shots are not enough, 30 shots are not enough.  In the case related below, 40 shots were required to defeat a determined attacker. Most predators retreat in the face of resistance.  If a predator faces armed resistance very many times, they will be killed or wounded.  In nature, that makes for a short life.  But there are motives for aggression other than predation.  Defending territory and competing for mates are two of them, often intertwined.  Those conflicts are engaged in with fierce dedication.  Without territory or mates, ...

An alert and armed business owner made a citizens arrest of the third suspect in a string of over 40 burglaries.   Police had distributed email alerts describing the suspect, and Charles Fouche, owner of Beach Pawn Shop was able to get the drop on the suspect, William Hasencamp.  Link to video of the encounter Mr. Fouche, along with a number of other jewelery and gold dealers had been sent pictures of the suspect, who police believed to be the ringleader of the three man team.  The other two suspects had already been arrested. The police had described the suspect...

In Lancaster County, PA, an alert and armed woman stopped a crime spree.  One of the things that destroys the sense of security in a neighborhood is  the proliferation of  burglaries and thefts of personal property from vehicles.  That is what the pair of suspects were involved in when an alert woman stopped Robert LaFleur from breaking into her car at 2:30 am and held him at gunpoint until the police arrived. It seems unlikely that LaFleur would have obeyed the woman's commands if she had not been armed.   The police report that he resisted arrest when they...

The Internet is utterly scandalized.With a burgeoning primary comes Freedom of Information Act requests, and three reporters at Buzzfeed (three reporters), were apparently tasked with using FOIA to reveal the horrors of Ted Cruz's adolescent years. Pursuant to that mission, they came into possession of Cruz's 2003 application to be Solicitor General of Texas. In a shocking revelation from the documents that surprises absolutely no one who spent any fraction of their late teens in the company of other people in their late teens, it turns out Ted Cruz was once ticketed for possessing alcohol as a minor, after a...

A Milwaukee teen charged in a string of armed robberies last week told police he was trying to do as many crimes as he could before he turned 18 on Sept. 11. Rocarldo Chalmers is one of five suspects charged Wednesday in a dizzying spree of armed stick-ups and car jackings that only ended after a high speed chase. Chalmers faces 10 felonies, including armed robbery, car theft and fleeing. Isiah Deshawn Thomas, 18, is charged with five counts, Anthony Griffis, 17, with two. Two juveniles have been charged in Children's Court. As many as three other suspects remain at...

PUEBLO, Colo. (AP) — A woman caught with her two brothers after a nationwide manhunt told Colorado authorities she "deserved to get shot" after pointing a gun at a police chief at the end of the siblings' run from the law, according to a court document. Lee Grace Dougherty, 29, Dylan Dougherty Stanley, 26, and Ryan Edward Dougherty, 21, are being held in Pueblo County, Colo., on bonds of $1.25 million each. The three made their first court appearance Thursday by video from jail, and none made any statement during the brief hearing. They face charges of attempted murder of...

Minneapolis police officer Timothy Edward Carson's shift on Wednesday started at 9 a.m. But he wasn't there. By the time he told a supervisor he was running late at 9:30, the FBI says, Carson had robbed an Apple Valley bank and was well on his way to getting caught. Carson, 28, was arrested early Thursday and appeared in federal court Thursday afternoon, charged with bank robbery. More criminal charges are expected to follow; police sources familiar with the investigation say he could be connected to at least a dozen robberies in the metro area over the past two weeks. "The...

EL RENO, Okla. — A man being sought in connection with the deaths of an Oklahoma woman and her four young children was captured in Texas on Tuesday night after a car accident, authorities said. Joshua Steven Durcho, 25, was taken into custody in Texas' Hamilton County, said Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Jessica Brown. A Texas Department of Public Safety communications officer in Waco, who declined to give his name, said Durcho was injured in a one-vehicle accident. Authorities checking his identity determined he was wanted by Oklahoma authorities. Prosecutors earlier Tuesday charged Durcho with five counts of...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Bernalillo County sheriff's deputies and New Mexico State Police are investigating a semi truck crash in Albuquerque's North Valley. Police said that Eric Dubach dropped off the trailer to his semi truck at a gas station near Nine Mile Hill. They said he took methamphetamine and went on I-40 for a joy ride. He drove on Rio Grande Boulevard, where he went through fences in several yards, eventually making his way to Alameda Boulevard, police said. This is where Dubach left little in his wake police said. Shrubs, trees, street signs, cars and even homes were smashed...

A loophole in US law may allow people to get away with any major crime within a 50-square mile "zone of death" in eastern Idaho, according to a Michigan law professor. This lawless oasis is said to exist on the edge of Yellowstone National Park because of a poorly drafted statute in the Sixth Amendment to the US Constitution. Criminals are entitled to be tried by a jury drawn from the state and legal district they committed their crime in, the constitution says. But, argues Prof Brian C Kalt, while Yellowstone comes entirely under the district of Wyoming, small parts...

Police say fake Saudi prince rang up royal shopping tabBy Doris Bloodsworth Sentinel Staff Writer June 5, 2002 Behind the wheel of the $55,000 Mercedes convertible with a trunk full of designer clothes, the 31-year-old tourist could have passed for royalty. Even as Orlando police Tuesday led Anthony Enrique Gignac handcuffed to the patrol car outside Sheraton Studio City Hotel on International Drive, he continued to play the role of a Saudi Arabian prince. "Call the embassy!" shouted the man who police said has fooled people for years from Miami to Honolulu, claiming he was Khaled al Saud, the...