TomKat=Over

The spell is broken!   [Muahahaha]

10,000 Still Displaced in Raging Colorado Wildfire

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) – Making steady progress Saturday against the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history, crews kept a wary eye on weather that was getting warmer and drier as National Guard troops were deployed to help local police get things back to normal.

"The weather is making progress in a bad direction. Hotter, drier, with a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Winds will shift from one direction to another," said Incident Commander Rich Harvey.

The 26-square-mile Waldo Canyon fire was 45 percent contained by Saturday afternoon. It was one of many burning across the West, including eight in Utah and a fast-growing blaze in Montana that forced residents in several small communities to leave.

About 1,200 personnel and six helicopters were fighting the Waldo Canyon fire, and authorities said they were confident they'd built good fire lines in many areas to stop flames from spreading.

"Crews made progress all around the fire,'" said Harvey, who was cautiously optimistic. "The fire potential is still very, very high. It's extreme and explosive."

Two bodies were found in the ruins of one house, one of almost 350 destroyed in this city 60 miles south of Denver. The victims' names haven't been released. Police Chief Pete Carey said Saturday afternoon the approximately 10 people who had been unaccounted for had now been located.

Police did not expect to discover other victims in the rubble.

More than 150 National Guard soldiers and airmen helped Colorado Springs police staff roadblocks and patrol streets. Carey said Saturday the presence of military personnel will allow his department to resume normal police work in the rest of the city.

About 10,000 people remain evacuated, down from more than 30,000 at the fire's peak.

The mood was light as evacuees filtered back into an unscathed neighborhood of winding streets and split-level homes within an easy walk of the burned area.

High school counselor Pat Allen and her husband, Vic Miller, were all smiles less than five minutes after returning to their tri-level home on a quiet cul-de-sac.

"I'm just wanting to kiss the house, dance with the neighbors", Allen said.

Their house didn't smell of smoke. Their electricity was out for two or three days but the popsicles in their freezer didn't melt, she said.

Around the corner, retiree Nina Apsey wandered in search of eight small, solar-powered lights that somebody had taken from her yard during the evacuation.

"I'm assuming it was vandalism," she said.

Prized possessions still piled into the Hyundai sport-utility vehicle in her garage included caribou antlers and antelope and deer head mounts. As flames bore down, she'd also taken a small ceramic cowboy statue. Her late husband taught her how to hunt. He resembled the cowboy, she said.

She wasn't too perturbed about her missing lights because nothing else was touched.

"If that's the worst that happened to me, I'm blessed," she said.

On Sunday people whose homes were burned will be allowed to tour the affected areas. Authorities said some residences would be cordoned off with police tape, and people would not be allowed beyond that point.

The home of Janine Herbertson and her 15-year-old daughter, Tessa Konik, remained unburned amid 150 others that were destroyed, said Herbertson as they ate lunch outside a Red Cross shelter.

Even so, "I'm afraid to go on the tour tomorrow and see our neighborhood in ruins," she said.

Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the fire that broke out on June 23, and which so far has cost $8.8 million to battle. Dangerous conditions had kept them from beginning their inquiry.

Among the fires elsewhere in the West:

• Utah: Residents were sifting through the ashes of more than 50 houses destroyed by a central Utah wildfire. Homeowners were allowed to return Saturday to Indianola along Utah's scenic Route 89. In all, eight wildfires are burning across Utah.

• Montana: Authorities in eastern Montana ordered the evacuation of several communities Saturday as the Ash Creek Complex fires, which has burned more than 70 homes this week, consumed another 72 square miles. The blaze grew to 244 square miles overnight.

• Wyoming: A wind-driven wildfire in a sparsely populated area of southeastern Wyoming exploded from eight square miles to nearly 58 square miles in a single day, and an unknown number of structures have burned. About 200 structures were considered threatened.

• Idaho: A fast-moving 1,000-acre wildfire in eastern Idaho that destroyed 66 homes and 29 outbuildings was expected to be contained Saturday. Some 1,000 residents were evacuated; it was unclear when they would be allowed back.

• Colorado: The last evacuees from the High Park Fire in northern Colorado have been allowed to return home as crews get closer to full containment. The 136-square-mile fire killed one resident and destroyed 259 houses, a state record until the fire near Colorado Springs destroyed 346 homes. In western Colorado, the 18-square-mile Pine Ridge Fire was 10 percent contained.

Eastern US Storms Kill 13, Cut Power to Millions

WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions across the mid-Atlantic region sweltered Saturday in the aftermath of violent storms that pummeled the eastern U.S. with high winds and downed trees, killing at least 13 people and leaving 3 million without power during a heat wave.

Power officials said the outages wouldn't be repaired for several days to a week, likening the damage to a serious hurricane. Emergencies were declared in Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, the District of Columbia and Virginia, where Gov. Bob McDonnell said the state had its largest non-hurricane outage in history, as more storms threatened. "This is a very dangerous situation," the governor said.

In West Virginia, 232 Amtrak passengers spent Friday night on a train that was blocked on both sides by trees that fell on the tracks, and they were waiting for buses to pick them up Saturday. And in Illinois, storm damage forced the transfer of dozens of maximum-security, mentally ill prisoners from one prison to another.

In some Virginia suburbs of Washington, emergency 911 call centers were out of service; residents were told to call local police and fire departments. Huge trees fell across streets in Washington, leaving cars crunched up next to them, and onto the fairway at the AT&T National golf tournament in Maryland. Cell phone and Internet service was spotty, gas stations shut down and residents were urged to conserve water until sewage plants returned to power.

The outages were especially dangerous because they left the region without air conditioning in an oppressive heat. Temperatures soared to highs in the mid-90s in Baltimore and Washington, where it had hit 104 on Friday.

"I've called everybody except for the state police to try to get power going," said Karen Fryer, resident services director at two assisted living facilities in Washington. The facilities had generator power, but needed to go out for portable air conditioning units, and Fryer worried about a few of her 100 residents who needed backup power for portable oxygen.

On Saturday night, the train passengers stranded near rural Prince, W.Va., were waiting for buses to pick them up after they got stuck at 11 p.m. the previous evening, said Amtrak spokesman Steve Kulm. Kulm said the train bound from New York to Chicago has power, so lights and air conditioning are working. He says that since it's a long-distance train, it was stocked with food and crew members were able to get to town to buy more.

Kulm says passengers should be on the buses sometime Saturday evening.

About 170 miles to the northeast in Morgantown, W.Va., Jeff and Alice Haney loaded their cart at Lowe's with cases of water, extra flashlights and batteries, and wiring for the generator they hoped would be enough to kick-start their air conditioner. Even if they had to live without cool air, the family had a backup plan.

"We have a pool," Jeff Haney said, "so we'll be OK."

The storm did damage from Indiana to New Jersey, although the bulk of it was in West Virginia, Washington and suburban Virginia and Maryland. At least six of the dead were killed in Virginia, including a 90-year-old woman asleep in bed when a tree slammed into her home. Two young cousins in New Jersey were killed when a tree fell on their tent while camping. Two were killed in Maryland, one in Ohio, one in Kentucky and one in Washington.

Illinois corrections officials transferred 78 inmates from a prison in Dixon to the Pontiac Correctional Center after storms Friday night caused significant damage, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Stacey Solano said.

No one was injured, Solano said. Generators are providing power to the prison, which is locked down, confining remaining inmates to their cells.

Utility officials said it could take at least several days to restore power to all customers because of the sheer magnitude of the outages and the destruction. Winds and toppled trees brought down entire power lines, and debris has to be cleared from power stations and other structures. All of that takes time and can't be accomplished with the flip of a switch.

"This is very unfortunate timing," said Myra Oppel, a spokeswoman for Pepco, which reported over 400,000 outages in Washington and its suburbs. "We do understand the hardship that this brings, especially with the heat as intense at is. We will be working around the clock until we get the last customer on."

Especially at risk were children, the sick and the elderly. In Charleston, W.Va., firefighters helped several people using walkers and wheelchairs get to emergency shelters. One of them, David Gunnoe, uses a wheelchair and had to spend the night in the community room of his apartment complex because the power — and his elevator — went out. Rescuers went up five floors to retrieve his medication.

Gunnoe said he was grateful for the air conditioning, but hoped power would be restored so he could go home.

"It doesn't matter if it's under a rock some place. When you get used to a place, it's home," he said.

More than 20 elderly residents at an apartment home in Indianapolis were displaced when the facility lost power due to a downed tree. Most were bused to a Red Cross facility to spend the night, and others who depend on oxygen assistance were given other accommodations, the fire department said.

Others sought refuge in shopping malls, movie theaters and other places where the air conditioning would be turned to "high."

In Richmond, Va., Tracey Phalen relaxed with her teenage son under the shade of a coffee-house umbrella rather than suffer through the stifling heat of her house, which lost power.

"We'll probably go to a movie theater at the top of the day," she said.

Phalen said Hurricane Irene left her home dark for six days last summer, "and this is reminiscent of that," she said.

Others scheduled impromptu "staycations" or took shelter with friends and relatives.

Robert Clements, 28, said he showered by flashlight on Friday night after power went out at his home in Fairfax, Va. The apartment complex where he lives told his fiancee that power wouldn't be back on for at least two days, and she booked a hotel on Saturday.

Clements' fiancee, 27-year-old Ann Marie Tropiano, said she tried to go to the pool, but it was closed because there was no electricity so the pumps weren't working. She figured the electricity would eventually come back on, but she awoke to find her thermostat reading 81 degrees and slowly climbing. Closing the blinds and curtains didn't help.

"It feels like an oven," she said.

At the AT&T National in Bethesda, Md., trees cracked at their trunks crashed onto the 14th hole and onto ropes that had lined the fairways. The third round of play was suspended for several hours Saturday and was closed to volunteers and spectators. Mark Russell, the PGA Tour's vice president of rules and competition, couldn't remember another time that a tour event was closed to fans.

"It's too dangerous out here," Russell said. "There's a lot of huge limbs. There's a lot of debris. It's like a tornado came through here. It's just not safe."

The outages disrupted service for many subscribers to Netflix, Instagram and Pinterest when the storm cut power to some of Amazon Inc.'s operations. The video and photo sharing services took to Twitter and Facebook to update subscribers on the outages. Netflix and Pinterest had restored service by Saturday afternoon.

The storm that whipped through the region Friday night was called a derecho (duh-RAY'-choh) , a straight line wind storm that sweeps over a large area at high speed. It can produce tornado-like damage. The storm, which can pack wind gusts of up to 90 mph, began in the Midwest, passed over the Appalachian Mountains and then drew new strength from a high pressure system as it hit the southeastern U.S., said Bryan Jackson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

"It's one of those storms," Jackson said. "It just plows through."

R.I,P. Jimmy

The night before last an employee of Uncle Buck's Laundromat on Stillwater Avenue in Stamford was murdered.  My fiancee Joey lived on Stillwater last year. I was over his house all the time, and we did laundry together all the time at Uncle Buck's. I encountered the man that they had killed on a few occasions.  He was very lively and passionate, and I could tell he revolved his whole life around his job.  It is so incredibly disgusting to me that someone could murder him, without even knowing him at all, just for whatever few bucks they thought they could profit.  It's a disgrace.  Evil. Disgusting.  Just don't know what else to say.  It boggles the brain.



I wish that the video cameras were working that night, that they could really tell what had happened.  But it seems they weren't, and I hope that the real truth can come out somehow.


PEOPLE: SPEAK OUT!!!

Police: Cameras in Stamford laundromat were not operational during overnight homicide


STAMFORD -- Surveillance cameras at a Stillwater Avenue laundromat where a 50-year-old Stamford man was beaten to death during an apparent robbery were not operational, said police.

Stamford Police Lt. Diedrich Hohn said police have been investigating the death of James "Jimmy" Decrescenzo, of 26 Main St., who police believed died of blunt force trauma. Hohn said that even though the laundromat's cameras were not working, the investigation was not held up.



"We have now found out that the video cameras at Uncle Buck's laundromat were not working, which is unfortunate," said Hohn. "But police are now looking at hours of footage from surveillance cameras of businesses around the area to see if they can see the comings and goings around the area from the hours of 11 p.m. to 1:20 a.m."

The victim's body was discovered at about 1:20 a.m. Tuesday inside Uncle Buck's Laundromat, 118 Stillwater Ave. Hohn said the attack occurred sometime between 11 p.m. and the time that the body was discovered,. Hohn said the laundromat closes at 11 p.m. The instrument used in the assault is unknown.

Hohn said the official cause of death will be determined after an autopsy, which was expected to be completed Wednesday. Messages left with the state Medical Examiner's Office on Wednesday were not returned.

"I don't expect anything crazy to come out of the autopsy," said Hohn. "This was a cold-blooded homicide and police are doing everything they can to find the person responsible."

Police do not yet have a suspect or suspects in the homicide. Initial investigation shows evidence of a robbery of the victim and at the business, according to police.


A friend of Decrescenzo's, who preferred to go by just her first name, Joy, said the entire community was shocked by his death.

Decrescenzo had a side business washing other people's laundry at the laundromat, and knew almost everyone in the neighborhood, she said.

"Jimmy was such a kind--hearted person," Joy said Wednesday. "He was so helpful. If you had to do something, he would do your laundry for you. Jimmy was just that kind of guy. He was very well loved in the community."

An employee at Uncle Buck's Laundromat -- which reopened Wednesday after being closed all day Tuesday -- said she is going to miss Decrescenzo very much.

"I saw him every day," said the woman, who preferred to stay anonymous. "He was a good man."

A neighborhood man who was friends with Decrescenzo said he doesn't know anyone who didn't like "Jimmy."

"I can't say one bad thing about Jimmy," said the man, who also preferred to stay anonymous. "He was such a great person. I don't know why this happened."

Hohn echoed the community members' statements, saying it is apparent Decrescenzo was very well liked in the community, and police are now looking for any information from his neighbors or friends that can help the investigation.


"Police have been out canvassing the area, trying to see if anyone has any information on this homicide," said Hohn. "Hopefully someone will come forward with some information, but until then, we will continue to investigate with the information we have."

Decrescenzo's death was the city's third homicide of the year.

Police are asking anyone with information on the homicide to call (203) 977-441

Grenade found in Mill River Park

It figures... (Ooops!)

STAMFORD - Cleanup volunteers in Stamford discovered a grenade in Mill River Park today.




The grenade was found at around 11 o'clock. The volunteers initially thought the object was a broken bottle covered in mud.



Police say the Bomb squad was called in and the grenade was taken away to be X-rayed and possibly detonated.

Heroic Father Kills Man Who Molested His Daughter, Gets Away With It

ROOT ROOT ROOT!

Gossip- Deputies in Texas say that they are NOT going to pursue charges against a father who used his bare hands to kill another man after he caught him sexually assaulting his 4-year-old daughter.


According to CNN, during a social gathering last Saturday (Jun 9) at his home in Lavaca County, Texas … the father caught a 47-year-old man — whom he was reportedly “casually acquainted” with — attempting to molest his daughter, who had earlier disappeared inside the home, while other family members were outside tending to horses.

Lavaca County Sheriff Micah Harmon says that when the homeowner caught the acquaintance in the act of molesting his young daughter (after hearing her scream), he reacted by repeatedly punching him in the head and face.



The father claims he heard screaming from the barn and arrived to find the man molesting his daughter.



The father struck the would-be abuser so hard, that he was instantly killed … and he was pronounced dead at the scene by responding paramedics.



The names of the father and daughter haven’t been released in an effort to protect the identity of the 4-year-old victim, who was described by Sheriff Harmon as “okay, besides the obvious mental trauma” of the incident.



Pending the announcement of his death to his family, the name of the pedophile wasn’t released either … but officials say he was a ranch hand from the nearby town of Gonzales.



The Lavaca County Sheriff’s Office says that they will defer the case to a grand jury to decide whether or not charges will be brought against the father, who is being hailed as a hero.



“You have a right to defend your daughter,” Harmon told CNN. “[The girl's father] acted in defense of his third person. Once the investigation is completed we will submit it to the district attorney who then submits it to the grand jury, who will decide if they will indict him.”



Harmon said that the dad was “very remorseful,” and he had no intentions of killing the man.



He was just a father trying to protect his daughter, and he definitely succeeded. (Just in time for Father’s Day, too!)

A preliminary autopsy report indicated that the victim — who definitely got what he deserved — died as the result of “blunt-force head and neck injuries.”

Police Shoot, Kill Woman In Brooklyn .

It is unfortuanate that things had turned lethal, but I am SO SICK of hearing people saying she was "unarmed"... She had just flew through two red lights, smashing into a minivan that very well could have been carrying babies/children. She almost killed the officer while she went into reverse (while he was hanging out of her STOLEN CAR).

In my opinion, she used deadly force first.

She was arrested EIGHT TIMES in the past, and was out on bail for attempted kidnapping and murder. You play with serious fire, like that woman did, and you get burned. Simple as that. One less idiot in this world.

Wall St. Journal- A New York City police detective shot and killed a woman in Brooklyn Thursday as they grappled in her car after it ran through a red light and collided with a minivan, a police spokesman said.

The 23-year-old woman, who wasn't immediately identified, was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital Center not long after the 5:40 p.m. incident.

She was the fifth person to be shot and killed this year by New York City police, who have averaged 10 fatal shootings annually in recent years.

New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said the woman was behind the wheel of a Toyota Camry that was driving erratically. It caught the attention of two members of the Brooklyn South Narcotics unit, a detective and an officer.

The car went through two red lights in the Flatbush section and crossed the double line in the center of Church Avenue before smashing into the Toyota minivan at East 38th Street, Mr. Browne said.

The detective approached the car on the driver's side, while the officer went to the passenger side, the spokesman said. Both were plain-clothed.


Inside, the woman scrambled to the passenger side as both officers attempted to enter the Camry, the spokesman said.

Mr. Browne said the 44-year-old detective, who has been on the force since 2000, began struggling with the woman over the gear shift, his gun drawn. She was able to put the car in reverse, knocking the 27-year-old officer back out of the car.

The car backed up 18-20 feet, with the detective inside it. The gun fired, hitting the woman once in the chest.

"He has his gun out with one hand, attempting with the other hand to shift the car into park," Mr. Browne said. "She puts it into reverse and guns it, and a single round is discharged, hitting the woman in the chest."

It was unknown if the discharge was accidental or intentional.

The officer was taken to New York Methodist Hospital, the official said.
The driver of the minivan had minor injuries.


The woman had been arrested eight times, including for kidnapping and attempted murder in connection with a May 2011 home invasion, a law-enforcement official said. She was out on $25,000 bail in that case and due in court on Friday, the official said.


The Camry had been stolen at gunpoint on June 5, and its passenger seat had been removed, Mr. Browne said.

He said the woman wasn't carrying identification and police determined her name through fingerprints.

Witnesses described a chaotic scene.

"They shot her and pulled her out of the car. Then she started screaming," said Ayanna Blackman, 38, who watched from her apartment on the same corner.

Witnesses said the woman was covered in blood when she was pulled from the car.


Two elected officials from the area, Assemblyman Nick Perry and Councilmember Jumaane Williams, appeared on the scene and called for an investigation into the shooting.

A crowd gathered in the tense hour after the incident, and shouts of "murderers" were directed at police officials on the scene. But the simmering tension quieted later in the evening.

The shooting comes at a time of heightened public scrutiny of the NYPD's tactics, particularly in some of the city's minority communities.

A narcotics-enforcement officer pleaded not guilty to manslaughter charges Wednesday in the fatal shooting in February of an unarmed African-American teenager in the Bronx. Officer Richard Haste was the first officer to be charged criminally in an on-duty shooting since three officers were indicted in the 2006 death of Sean Bell.

Mr. Haste was indicted in the February death of 18-year-old Ramarley Graham, who was shot at close range in his apartment after he tried to flush a bag of marijuana down the toilet. Police had chased him into his home on the belief that he was carrying a gun, Mr. Haste's defense attorney, Stuart London, said Wednesday.


Recent months also have seen increasing backlash by many African-American and Hispanic New Yorkers against the NYPD's stop-and-frisk policy, including new legal challenges against the tactic. A record 685,000 stops were made in 2011, the majority involving black and Latino men in low-income neighborhoods.

--------------------------------------------------

Update: The woman is now identified as Shantel Davis.


Military Drone Mistaken for UFO on D.C.’s Capital Beltway

Yahoo- Some folks in the Washington, D.C., area are buzzing about what they thought was a UFO atop a flatbed truck on the Capitol Beltway.


Turns out the disc-shaped object was just a run-of-the-mill military drone.


MyFoxDC reports that what drivers saw—and some photographed—around 11 p.m. Wednesday on Interstate 270, and then later on Interstate 495, was an X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System being transported from Edwards Air Force Base in California to the Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland for testing.

During its travels through the D.C. area, local station WTOP reported a flurry of activity on Twitter about the strange-looking object.

This not the first time a drone was mistaken for something alien. Last year, a drone being transported by flatbed to Pax River for practicing aircraft carrier takeoffs and landings was also mistaken for a UFO, the Daily Caller reported.

Bear Found in Greenwich Was Young Female

Stamford Advocate- The black bear that roamed through Chickahominy on Wednesday was probably by itself, as state officials said they don't believe there is a family of black bears in the area.



"Although the bear was young, we think it was old enough that there weren't any other bears," said Dwayne Gardner, a spokesman for the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.



The 155-pound female bear, believed to be around 2 years old, was in a tree behind 58 Spring St., when DEEP officials shot it with a tranquilizer gun about 2:30 p.m. Gardner said a padded landing area was used to prevent injury. The bear was removed and relocated to an undisclosed state forest.



The last time this bear came into contact with a government agency was in October, when New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection officials found it feeding on dead livestock in the northwest part of the state, said Larry Ragonese, the department's press director.



It was discovered in Sandyston, N.J., in Sussex County near the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and Pennsylvania, south of New York state.



Officials in New Jersey and in Connecticut tag bears when they can for research purposes, Ragonese said.



Bears are hunted in New Jersey, which is not the case in Connecticut.



"We have about 3,500 bears in the state," Ragonese said. "We have the most bears per square mile in the country, and that sometimes surprises people."



There are an estimated 500 bears in Connecticut.



Both Connecticut DEEP spokesman Dennis Schain and Ragonese said environmental officials believe the bear swam across the Hudson River some time in the last eight months.



"Our guys estimate that somewhere along the line the bear did some swimming," Ragonese said.



"Bears, like other animals, walk along the edge of rivers and sometimes they find an area where they can cross," Schain said.



While male bears tend to travel farther than females -- sometimes hundreds of miles away from where they were born -- females have also been known to roam, Ragonese said.



"Bears are looking for food and a place to sleep and a little exercise," he said.



New Jersey-tagged bears also have been found in western Pennsylvania, western New York state and Maryland, Ragonese said.

Horrific Cab Crash on Long Island Kills Grandmother, Seriously Injures Grandson

NY Daily News- A horrific three-vehicle Long Island Expressway accident killed a Utah woman and seriously injured her grandson shortly after they arrived for a dream New York vacation.



Suzanne Nicholson, 60, was riding with the 11-year-old boy inside a cab from JFK Airport to her hotel when the taxi clipped the back of a Porsche on the rain-slicked Queens highway, police said.



The cab flipped onto its side early Saturday and skidded from the left lane into the right, where it stopped in the path of an oncoming garbage truck.



Nicholson, of Ogden, Utah, and cabbie Mohamed Hussain, 46, of Queens, were both killed in the brutal 12:32 a.m. wreck.



Her grandson Mason Larson survived, but suffered broken ribs, a fractured collarbone, a punctured lung and a concussion, according to family and friends.



The little boy was listed in stable condition with a positive prognosis at Elmhurst General Hospital, where his grandmother was pronounced dead hours earlier.



Duane Nicholson, the dead woman’s husband of 37 years, was up waiting to hear from his wife when the phone brought news of the tragedy.



“I’m still stunned,” he said. “I’m waiting for someone to wake me up from this bad dream.”

The drivers of the Porsche and the garbage truck both emerged without injuries.



According to Nicholson, Suzanne and the little boy were meeting in the city with her best friend — who brought along a grandson, too.



The quartet planned a weeklong “dream vacation” in the city as a reward for the boys’ academic achievement in a school competition called “Give Me Liberty.”



The two youngsters were honored for their knowledge of the presidents, states, state capitals and the Gettysburg Address.



The planned tour of the Big Apple included stops at the Statue of Liberty, the Museum of Natural History and Yankee Stadium for a game between the Bronx Bombers and Tampa Bay.



“My wife loved New York,” said Duane Nicholson. “She was planning this for three months. She was really excited.”

Police: Drunk Indiana Man Strapped 4 Children To Hood Of Car

Ugh, is that Beetlejuice (from Howard Stern)'s sister on the right?

AOL- Police in Fort Wayne, Ind. have arrested Aaron S. Stefanski, 29, alleging he drove out of a liquor store parking lot with four children strapped to the hood of his car.



Stefanski had a blood alcohol content of .17, more than twice Indiana's legal limit, according to police. He was charged with driving while intoxicated and neglect of a dependent. His passenger, Jessica A. Clark, of Fort Wayne, also faces a neglect charge.



On Monday evening, witnesses stay Stefanski used a tow strap to secure the children, ages 4, 5, 6 and 7 and believed they would enjoy the experience. The journey lasted for three blocks. A U.S. marshal who happened to be driving in the neighborhood, pulled the vehicle over and called the police.



The kids had been secured, "with one of those straps you crank on a semi to hold down lumber, they were strapped with that thing, wiggling and wobbling down the street," witness Tom Nowak tells the Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne.



The newspaper reported the children were uninjured, and that more charges could come, as the incident is still under investigation from the Fort Wayne Police Department, Department of Child Services and the Allen County Prosecutor's Office.



Three of the children were related, according to television station WLKY, and are now home with their mother, who was unaware of the unusual transportation arrangement until police called.

Ut Oh, Hillary...

CNN- A photo of Bill Clinton posing with adult film actresses in Monte Carlo, Monaco is circling after one of the stars, Brooklyn Lee, posted the picture on her Twitter page Wednesday.


In the picture, a cheerful Clinton stands flanked by Lee and another porn actress, Tasha Reign, while a third woman, Jennifer Taule, also appears in the photo.



Clinton was in the European country Wednesday at the Hotel de Paris for a gala to benefit the William J. Clinton Foundation and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.


Clinton's team has not returned a request for comment.

Miami 'Zombie' Eats Homeless Man's Face Suspectedly High on Bath Salts

Huffington Post- A newly released surveillance video from atop a Miami Herald parking garage shows the entire violent attack Saturday during which a naked man chewed off most of a homeless victim's face.




The video, uncensored though partially obscured and from a distance, shows 31-year-old Rudy Eugene in the last moments of his life: striking Ronald Poppo, 65, removing Poppo's pants, and brutalizing his face in broad daylight for nearly 18 minutes as traffic rolled past on the busy MacArthur Causeway.



Eugene was shot and killed by Miami Police officer Jose Rivera as he loomed over Poppo's bleeding body, but the video helps piece together the moments leading up to the gruesome attack and suggests the two men met by chance on the MacArthur's Biscayne Boulevard off-ramp, in the shadow of the Miami Metromover.



CBS Miami reports in a timeline of his last hours that Eugene, who spent Friday night with a girlfriend in Miami Gardens, drove to South Beach Saturday morning to check out Memorial Day weekend festivities and was unable to start his car to make a return trip. Abandoning his purple sedan, which was later towed, police say he at some point set off on foot across the causeway:

"It was a hot day, with temperatures in the 90's, and a long walk. Either late that morning, or early that afternoon, police sources said, Eugene began his trek back to Miami. As he walked across the causeway, they said he started stripping, leaving his clothes on the walkway and in the road.



Cops found his drivers license and clothes strewn from the beach to the mainland."

Footage released by the Herald picks up a fully naked Eugene just before 2 p.m. as he walked down the exit ramp on the other side of the bridge. Pausing in a shady spot, he reels or spins slightly as a bicyclist whizzes by, then is mostly lost to sight as he bends over the homeless Poppo where he sat or lay on the ground.


About two minutes, later, however, Eugene rolls Poppo into the middle of the sidewalk. He appears to strip away some of the older man's clothing and then savage his face as Poppo futilely resists. Several minutes later, Eugene again drags Poppo farther down the sidewalk and continues to attack him before another cyclist rolls slowly by and a white car pauses on the off-ramp, just on the other side of a short wall separating the roadway from the bike path.


Gruesome photos circulating the web would later confirm most of Poppo's face, including his nose, eyes, and mouth, was ripped away, in what Miami's Fraternal Order of Police vice president Sgt. Javier Ortiz told the Associated Press was of the "goriest scenes I've ever been to." Poppo remains in critical condition.




"He had his face eaten down to his goatee. The forehead was just bone. No nose, no mouth," said Sgt. Armando Aguilar, Miami FOP president. "In my opinion, he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."



The Herald reports at least five passersby called police:

"According to Miami police, the first call of a disturbance came from a passing motorist who reported seeing Eugene stripping off his clothes and acting erratically. That call was routed to the Florida Highway Patrol — it’s unclear why — and then transferred to the Miami police. Police have not disclosed the time of the first call.



A Road Ranger called to the scene also called 911 and used a loudspeaker to call for the naked attacker to cease. As the attack dragged on, two other motorists called police, as did another cyclist, Larry Vega, who later told reporters that Eugene “just stood, his head up like that, with pieces of flesh in his mouth. And he growled.” '

The surveillance video shows at least two more cyclists pass before Officer Rivera drives up the off-ramp, about 18 minutes into the attack. Rivera can be seen approaching the scene at a normal pace before pulling his gun and quickly stepping into a shooting stance. Vega later told news outlets that when Rivera yelled at Eugene to back away, the naked man merely raised his head "with pieces of flesh in his mouth," growled, and began chewing again.




Rivera reportedly then shot Eugene once, but Eugene still continued to attack Poppo's face, prompting the officer to shoot multiple times until he was dead.



"The guy, he was like a zombie, blood dripping, it was intense," the New York Daily News quotes Vega as saying. "The closest thing I've seen to it? 'The Walking Dead'."



Though police theorize Eugene was prompted to attack Poppo by drug-induced psychosis -- possibly caused by a new drug called "bath salts" -- the Herald reports no drugs or paraphernalia were found at the scene. Toxicology reports are expected to take several weeks.

--------------------------------------------------------------

How could ANY drug drive a person to do that to another person's face?  Then again, I don't believe Dr. Lector was on anything. ;)  But seriously, I now want to throw up. Holy shit. 

(Click HERE for graphic picture)

(Video of assault here!)

Dolphins Die of Heroin Overdose at Zoo

F*ckin horrible!

CT News Blog- A toxicology report has surfaced that says two dolphins who died last year after a zoo rave in Switzerland that says heroin was found in the mammals’ urine.




MSN.com reports:  About a year ago, dolphins Shadow and Chelmers died agonizing deaths in Connyland, Switzerland, after the zoo allowed a rave (attended by thousands) to be held near their training pool. For animals with sonar hearing, a possibly dubstep-heavy event was already considered a strain.



Now a toxicology report has emerged that shows a heroin substitute was found in the animal’s urine. This would seem to confirm initial suspicions that whacked-out ravers fed the dolphins drugs while possibly on some kind of weird acid trip.



AOL UK reports that it was originally believed that the techno music pumping out from the club just yards from the dolphins’ pool had caused their deaths:



But toxicology tests carried out by the forensics institute in St Gallen show that the heroin substitute Buprenorphin was present in the dolphins’ urine.



According to The Sun, Dutch marine biologist and dolphin expert Cornelis van Elk said: “Opiates are extremely dangerous for underwater mammals and would never be used in any legitimate treatment.

Wilton Man Accused of Killing Father

WILTON -- A 22-year-old Wilton man who told police he was hearing voices, was arraigned in Norwalk Friday morning for the alleged murder of his 73-year-old father.

Aaron Ramsey of 125 Signal Hill Road allegedly punched, kicked and stabbed his father, Edward Ramsey Thursday afternoon before running through the woods to escape from aliens, he told police.
Judge Bruce Hudock maintained Aaron Ramsey's bond at $1 million during an arraignment at state Superior Court in Norwalk. Ramsey appeared at the Norwalk courthouse in a blue paper jumpsuit and socks, with his hands and feet shackled. He held his head down during the brief hearing and did not speak, but began to tear up just before being led out of court by judicial marshals.

His case was transferred to Stamford where more serious cases are heard and is scheduled for his first appearance there on May 15.

Wilton police were first alerted at 3:25 p.m. Thursday when they received a report of a man in his 20s with short brown hair trying to break into a car on Cheese Spring Road. Minutes later, police received another 911 call reporting that a man matching the earlier description ran into a house on Cheese Spring Road yelling that people were chasing him. The man then laid down on the living room floor and appeared to go to sleep.

When police arrived, they found Ramsey lying on the floor semi-conscious and acting irrationally and incoherent, according to the arrest warrant. Police called paramedics who treated him, but only found minor cuts despite blood on his T-shirt, jeans and sneakers.

About 70 minutes after the burglary call, Ramsey's mother SuAnne Fehr-Ramsey called 911. When police got there they found her standing in the yard calling for Aaron. She told police that her husband was in the house bleeding and needed help.

Police found Edward Ramsey lying on a floor of a bedroom with severe traumatic injuries to his face and upper body and police noted that he was "obviously dead," in the four page arrest affidavit. A check of his vital signs determined there was no pulse and that there was no blood coming from several stab wounds to his chest, the affidavit said. He also had a "significant" injury to the left side of his head.

A ratcheting socket wrench was found on the left side of Ramsey's body and a single set of bloody footprints consistent with the sneakers Aaron Ramsey had worn to Cheese Spring Road led toward the door.

Police quickly connected Aaron Ramsey to the scene when an officer recognized him in a family photo in the kitchen of the house.

During an interview with investigators at Norwalk Hospital about two hours after Ramsey's body was found, Aaron told police that he heard voices telling him that he needed to find out who "the fakers and manipulators are" and that he had been "tasked to put people on trial."

He said he had confronted his father in his bedroom Thursday afternoon and asked him a question. Ramsey said he felt his father was lying and told him to get out of the house. When his father refused, he struck him with his right wrist, then he told police he tried to strike him with a "death blow," as he made a karate chop motion, the affidavit said.

Ramsey told police his father, a former pilot for American Airlines, never fought back.
Ramsey then picked up a bench in the bedroom and struck his father with it. While his father was knocked to the floor, Ramsey went to the kitchen to retrieve "a perfect sharp knife."
He said he then went to the bedroom and attempted to slit his father's throat, but his hand slipped off the handle due to blood and sweat. He then proceeded to stab his father in the stomach, groin, head and heart, police said.

Ramsey said he heard voices telling him to prevent his father from getting back up because "he has magic powers and can heal himself." He then told police that he stomped his father's entire body and "beat him to a pulp," the affidavit said.

Ramsey said the voices then told him "they're coming for you, you gotta run."

When police asked who was coming, Ramsey responded "aliens." He said he ran through the woods and used his mind to open a sliding glass door of a house -- evidently the one that he broke into on Cheese Spring Road -- the affidavit said.

Ramsey's public defender James Lamontagne called the incident a "true tragedy," and asked the judge that Ramsey be given mental health evaluation and treatment, which was granted.
Police said no other family members were home at the time.

The geodesic domed house is located at the end of a long driveway in a wooded area. According to land records, Edward Ramsey built the home in 1974 on the 4.5-acre wooded lot.

Neighbors in this affluent neighborhood keep to themselves. One woman who recently moved to the neighborhood said she'd recently seen the wife walking her dog.

During a morning press conference, Wilton police Chief Michael Lombardo said officers have responded to calls at the Ramsey house in the past, but would not elaborate on the nature of the calls.
During her emotional 911 call to police, SuAnne Fehr-Ramsey told police that her son had been acting strangely for more than a week and that he was "either on drugs or a little psychotic."
Ramsey is a 2008 graduate of Wilton High School where he played on the varsity football team as a place kicker.

Wilton High School Principal Robert O'Donnell said Ramsey was good student, engaged in athletics and had good friends. He said counselors were made available at the school Friday for any students who wanted to talk about the incident.

"We're a very tight-knit high school and local community," O'Donnell said.  "Our primary concern right now is with and for the Ramsey family at this very difficult time."

Ramsey has two prior convictions. He was arrested in November 2009 for possession of less than four ounces of marijuana and was found guilty. He paid a $250 fine.

In November 2011, he was arrested for driving under the influence and pleaded guilty.
Wilton police detectives and investigators from the State Police major crime squad worked throughout the night, poring over the crime scene.

It is the first murder in Wilton since the June 2008 death of 13-year-old Nicholas Parisot. Parisot died while riding his motorcycle off-road in North Wilton and struck an elevated object that police said appeared to have been placed there intentionally.

No arrest was ever made in the Parisot case.

--------------------------------------

I believe him when he says aliens are coming for him... Have you seen that house? Lol.  Not to be too insensitive.. I mean, I do feel horrible for the family.  What a tragedy. And that kid is handsome, too.  What a shame.

Titanic: 100 Years Later

ABC News- The captain of the cruise ship that hit a rock and toppled over has been detained for questioning by Italian authorities as Titanic-like tales of survival emerged among angry passengers.

Three people died when the luxury cruise liner Costa Concordia struck a reef and sank onto its side off of the small island of Giglio early today. The U.S. embassy in Rome said none of the 126 Americans on board the ship are among those who were seriously injured.

The gleaming ship was carrying 4,234 passengers and crew when it struck rocks off Italy's west coast during the night, tearing a 160-foot long gash in the hull.

Most of the ship's passengers were ferried to safety, but dozens were unaccounted for. Some may be safely on land, but officials feared some may have been trapped in the ship.

"The place where they might be is in the belly of the ship," Coast Guard Capt. Cosimo Nicastro told Sky TG24 TV.

Divers cautiously tried to inspect the ship which lay on its side half submerged, but the search was called off by darkness.

Many passengers fumed that they were left to fend for themselves as the ship keeled over and the electricity went out. There were few crew members to help and when they did try to help often got in the way of evacuations, passengers said.

The ship's captain Francesco Schettino was detained by authorities and questioned along with the ship's first bridge officer, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. ANSA said the captain could face criminal charges.

There are reports in the Italian press that Schettino took the Costa Concordia close to the harbor of Giglio island many times in the past so his passengers could take photographs.

Harrowing tales of chaos ensued for several hours as the crew and passengers tried to scramble to safety.

A passenger interviewed in the nearby port of Santo Stefano told ANSA that the pianist playing next to the restaurant while dinner was being served jumped into the sea after the ship slammed into the rock, and others followed him.

American Mark Plath, who had leaped off the ship and swam to rocks, told Sky Italia that he was woken up by loudspeakers shortly before 11 p.m. saying there was a power outage, but not to worry about it. About a half hour later, another announcement said they were still working on the power outage, but he noticed the ship was listing about 15 degrees.

When he went outside, he found about 500 people on the fourth floor deck.

"We were trying to get outside. People had children with them, people were pushing, people were yelling, people were pushing back. It was difficult to stay in control because so many people were upset," Plath said.

Lynn Kaelin of Seattle, Wash., told ABC News the ship's hallways were so crowded "We couldn't see where we were going. People were crying and screaming. No one was telling us what to do, at all."

Karen Kois, also of Seattle, said she knew to get warm clothing, although others were barefoot and lightly dressed.

"I had a sweater on under a raincoat. I gave it to a baby who had nothing," she said.

As for the pushing and shoving, Kois said, the crew "told us go one way, then the other. We didn't know what to do. They were just standing looking at us."

When they succeeded in reaching a life boat, it took 45 minutes to launch it, with the ropes tangled and the little crafts tilted. "And it's pitched black," Kois added.

Above them was the clatter of helicopters trying to pluck people from the decks.

"Have you seen 'Titanic?' That's exactly what it was," said Valerie Ananias, 31, a schoolteacher from Los Angeles. She and sister and parents all had dark red bruises on their knees from crawling along nearly vertical hallways and stairwells to reach rescue boats.

"We were crawling up a hallway, in the dark, with only the light from the life vest strobe flashing," her mother, Georgia Ananias, 61 said. "We could hear plates and dishes crashing, people slamming against walls."

She said an Argentine couple handed her their 3-year-old daughter, unable to keep their balance as the ship lurched to the side and the family found themselves standing on a wall.

"He said 'take my baby,'" Mrs. Ananias said, covering her mouth with her hand as she teared up. "I grabbed the baby. But then I was being pushed down. I didn't want the baby to fall down the stairs. I gave the baby back. I couldn't hold her."

Many of those who arrived on shore with blankets covering their elegant, but not very warm, dinner clothes, lashed out at the ship's crew.

"They are without shame! Without shame!" one passenger shouted after making it to land.

Giuseppe Romano, a 57-year-old carabinieri on the cruise, said, "We lived apocalyptic scenes. There was a strident sound followed by a bang and plates and glasses started flying in the restaurant."

"After the first bang, the crew members said there was a fault and that we should stay calm... Then we heard another bang and I think that the ship hit the rocks again. Then the lights went out," Romano said.

"An officer on the ship asked me to help the people. Immediately afterwards I with other men stated taking people off the ship. During this whole apocalyptic scene we saw few crew members," he said.

Mike van Dijk, a 54-year-old from Pretoria, South Africa, said crew members delayed lowering the lifeboats even thought the ship was listing badly.

"We had to scream at the controllers to release the boats from the side," said van Dijk. "We were standing in the corridors and they weren't allowing us to get onto the boats. It was a scramble, an absolute scramble."

The ship's owner was as mystified by the crash as the passengers.

"At the time of the collision with the rock the captain of the Costa Concordia was on the command bridge," said the Director General of Costa Crociera Gianni Onorato speaking to journalists at the port of Porto Santo Stefano.

Onorato said the liner was on its regular, weekly route when it struck a reef.

"The ship was doing what it does 52 times a year, going along the route between Civitavecchia and Savona," Onorato said.

The itch Is Back

Courtesy of yoube: Casey Anthony Speaks Out For The First Time On Video Diary

She has some nerve vlogging herself, hasn't she heard she's the most hated woman in America?

It makes me sick watching her... I guess she feels obligated to do her little videos as to not dissapoint her fanbase.
Wait, what?

ORLANDO -- We have confirmed that the YouTube video featuring a woman who looks and sounds like the Orlando mother acquitted of murdering her daughter, Caylee, is none other than Casey Anthony.

And now attorneys who are already suing Anthony hope to use this video in their lawsuit. Sources close to Casey Anthony's defense team confirmed Thursday.

Attorney Cheney Mason says Anthony is maintaining memoirs and notes primarily for future counseling. She did not upload the video to YouTube, nor did she authorize anyone to do it. Mason says whoever leaked the video did it illegally or criminally.

The 4-minute, 20-second video posted Wednesday features Casey Anthony with a shorter, blond hairstyle. The woman in the recording gives the date as Thursday, October 13, 2011.
----------------------------

The really sad part is that she gets more views on her "counseling" blog than I probably ever will. I guess if I kill my child then I could be famous too, hey-whatdyaknow?

The only vlogging I want to see of her in the future is the one that captures her assasination.

Attack On a 77 Year Old Woman

This story hits us personally.. Our good family friend's daughter is the grand-daughter of the woman attacked... (Her ex's mother is the victim).

How horrible to have happened during the holiays. Our friend is all shaken up, and I feel so horrible for her daughter- I hope she doesn't lose her grandma on the holiays.

BRIDGEPORT - An elderly Bridgeport woman is seriously injured after police say a man attacked her with a broken bottle as she was crossing the street.

Police say Marvin Narcisse stabbed an elderly woman while he was in his underwear.

Witnesses say the 77-year-old woman was walking across Williams Street earlier today when a man ran from across the street in his underwear, tackled her to the ground and beat her.

Residents in the area say they intervened to help the victim. "I kept stomping on him because he kept reaching for the lady," says one resident. "I kept stomping on his face."

The suspect was taken into custody, and faces attempted murder charges. He is being held on $1 million bond.

The woman was rushed to the hospital. Officials have not released any information on her condition or her identity.

BURN IN HELL

This story both infuriated me and scared the hell out of me when I first heard about it yesterday morning.

(On a side note, that makes [two] women in NYC to die in elevators in tragic/strange situations in one week.)

'Fiend confesses to elevator blaze that killed Brooklyn woman who fired him'

NY Post- A Brooklyn fiend repaid the kindness of an elderly woman who hired him for odd jobs by first stealing from her — and then burning her alive when she fired him, police said yesterday.

“I hope he burns in hell!” the victim’s stricken daughter, Sheila Gillespie Hillsman, 49, fumed to pals on Facebook.

Accused sadistic killer Jerome “Jerry’’ Isaac, 47, was reeking of gasoline when he turned himself in to cops more than eight hours after the horrific torching of tragic 73--year-old churchgoer Delores Gillespie.

Cops said Isaac was furious that the postal clerk had refused to pay him for some of the work he’d done at her Prospect Heights apartment after she discovered he’d swiped her kitchenware and DVD player.

Isaac allegedly ambushed the terrified woman at 4:10 p.m. Saturday, standing in the fifth-floor hallway of her building as the elevator doors opened and she started to step off, returning from a trip to Key Foods with bags hanging from her wrists.

Isaac sprayed her with a flammable liquid, used a barbecue lighter to set her ablaze, tossed a Molotov cocktail at her and then sprayed her again for extra measure even though she was already engulfed in flames, screaming in agony, police said.

The madman then fled — first to his nearby apartment at 315 Lincoln Place that he shared with his brother in the gentrifying neighborhood to also try to set it ablaze, police said. He managed to only damage the door frame.

The perp ran next to the rooftop of 571 Lincoln Place, where he hid, thinking he’d been burned — even though he wasn’t — and terrified that he would be easily identified if he was spotted on the street, police said.

He fell asleep on the roof, and when he woke up, Isaac went on the run again, wandering around before finally turning himself in at 12:30 a.m. at Transit District 32, about two miles away in Crown Heights, officials said.

Some of the items he had allegedly used to set ablaze Gillespie were recovered on the Lincoln Place rooftop, authorities said.

“I set the fire in the hallway, and I set the fire in the elevator,” the suspect sniveled to cops after surrendering — although he refused to admit he had also burned Gillespie, police told The Post.

He was charged with first-degree murder and arson.

The victim’s grief-stricken son, Maurice Gillespie, 37, said his trusting mother “just met [Isaac] one day and said he was an honest guy” and hired him.

Her nephew, Rick Causey, 52, who lived with the mother and son, added, “She trusted him” and even gave him a key to the apartment.

But the son said his mom realized that Isaac was a thief at some point earlier this year because she’d be on the street and found herself having to “[buy] her stuff back.”

“He was doing more stealing than cleaning,’’ Causey noted.

After learning of Isaac’s thievery, Gillespie refused to pay him for at least some of his work. A furious Isaac then left a note on the family’s door last summer with a list of chores for which he was demanding payment, relatives said.

Not getting any satisfaction, he began a campaign of terror against Gillespie, kin said.

He was harassing her, chasing her down the street and cursing at her,” Maurice said, adding he’d seen Isaac hanging around across the street from his mother’s apartment at 203 Underhill Ave. three days ago.

Neighbor Dorinda Thomas, 56, said Gillespie was “desperately afraid” of the suspect.

“She knew that something was going to happen to her in that building,” Thomas said. “Everyone knew this.”

Still, cops said Gillespie never filed an official complaint again Isaac, who claimed that she owed him $2,100 for work he’d supposedly done.

But Maurice’s girlfriend, Linda Moses, noted bitterly, “She was just trying to help [Isaac] out, and here we are, for being kind.”

Gillespie, who worked at the General Post Office in East New York, and Isaac were never romantically involved, relatives and cops said.

The suspect’s chilling attack on his victim was caught on video tape and showed him allegedly wearing gloves and a dust mask pulled up on top of his head when he pounced, police said.

His spraying of Gillespie was methodical, ensuring that the beloved Gillespie, known as a local activist who helped the homeless and spoke out passionately against crime in her neighborhood, was covered head to toe in the flammable liquid, police said.

“She’s cowering, trying to protect her face with her hands,’’ said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne, describing footage of Gillespie’s final moments.

Isaac made statements incriminating himself when he was under questioning, sources said.

“He was giving some of this stuff up,” a source said

One police source called the scene as nothing less than “torture.’’

Neighbors said the accused maniac, who had no prior arrests, was known locally as a loner.

“He’s always out riding his bike. He collects empty cans and bottles Sometime, he’ll have a big bag of them . . . He was never friendly. I’ve never seen him talking to anyone,” said Isaac’s neighbor, Eric Charles, 42.

“When I came home I saw all the police. One told me what he did in the elevator and said he did something here too. It’s crazy.”

Causey, Gillespie’s nephew, blamed himself partly for the tragedy, saying he usually walked the victim to and from the street when she went shopping.

“I should have been there,” he said.

Causey said he was watching TV when he heard a commotion and looked into the hallway but that cops and firemen forced him back into the apartment.

He said cops questioned him at the 77th Precinct station house until 9 p.m. Saturday before letting him go.

Neighbors described Gillespie as a “wonderful” person who always looked out for her neighbors and community.

“Everybody in the neighborhood would tell you, anything she had in her house she’d give you,” said Thomas, 56, adding that Gillespie was her nephew’s godmother.

“She was a wonderful lady, you understand.”

Margie Grooms, 67, who lives on the block, said Gillespie was a “community activist.”

Another neighbor who would only say her name was Rose, said Gillespie “was a lady who looked out for everybody. Whoever did this had no heart.”

Additional reporting by Doug Auer, Jessica Simeone, Jamie Schram and Jennifer Bain

This Day In History

Aug 22 1992
FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi fires a rifle shot that kills unarmed Vicki Weaver, at the Ruby Ridge standoff. Horiuchi claimed he was trying to shoot another man in the back. The FBI also killed Weaver's fourteen year old son Sam, and the son's dog.

Aug 22 1995
David Gahan, lead singer of rock group Depeche Mode, was hospitalized after trying to commit suicide by slashing his wrist. Gahan was found in his Hollywood home with a two-inch slit in his wrist.

Aug 22 2001
A star circus performer known as Smiley the Clown was convicted of molesting and sodomizing his teenage assistant. Smiley AKA Christopher Bayer was convicted of third-degree sodomy, sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a young clown. The boy's father became suspicious that Bayer might clowning around with his son and subsequently installed a hidden camera which captured the clown in the act.