US - News: Increasing violence as a health and safety threat - 2021

[Shiloh]

Source: https://apnews.com/article/portland-oregon-homicides-25699ecd9f885cc61f63774c2fed48ac

‘A dangerous time’: Portland, Oregon, sees record homicides
By SARA CLINE15 minutes ago

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — It was nearly last call on a Friday when Jacob Eli Knight Vasquez went to get a drink across the street from the tavern where he worked in northwest Portland — an area with a thriving dining scene, where citygoers enjoy laid-back eateries, international cuisines and cozy cafés.

The 34-year-old had been at the pizza bar only a short time when shots rang out. Vasquez was struck by a stray bullet and died at the scene.

His killing in late September was one of the 67 homicides this year in Portland, which has surpassed its previous full-year record of 66 in 1987. And with more than two months remaining in the year Portland will likely well exceed its previous high mark.

Fear and frustration with gang violence have settled over the metropolis, as stories like Vasquez’s make some wary to go out at night. Unlike previous years, more bystanders are being caught in the crossfire — from people mourning at vigils and sitting in cars to children playing in a park...

 

[Shiloh]

Source: https://abc7ny.com/11140772/?ex_cid...tent&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter


Surge in New York City subway crime fueled by robberies, muggings
Monday, October 18, 2021 11:27PM

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- NYPD's new crime statistics show an alarming jump in violence in New York City's subway system, and robberies are fueling that trend.

New Yorkers are returning to the city transit system. Now, more than three million people ride the subways every day. Double what it was last year when the pandemic drove ridership to historic lows.

But with the increase in riders there is an increase in crime. While overall crime in the system is down for the year, over the past few weeks, it's surging...

 

[Emily]

WA state:
https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/crime/article255011217.html
Some Tacoma residents feel crime is ‘taking over.’ They demand change from the city
By Allison Needles
October 19, 2021 5:00 AM

“I run a housing complex for vulnerable women (and) their children working hard to escape poverty and, in many cases, domestic violence. When there are threats to my residents, I call 911. At times I have been told that no police will come, ‘you will just have to protect yourself,’” Patterson said in a press release.

As part of the Tacoma Safe effort, Connelly and other members of Tacoma Safe traveled Thursday to O’Reilly Auto Parts on Sixth Avenue to clean graffiti off the building.

Store manager Sarah Burton told The News Tribune that one of the business’ truck windows was smashed Wednesday evening by thieves who stole a battery.

“I’ve been here 4-1/2 years, and this is the most crime I’ve seen,” Burton said. “The staff is leery. Society is going downhill fast.”

 

[kiwibird]

https://www.theguardian.com/society...oar-in-england-as-pandemic-hits-mental-health

UK - Psychosis cases soar in England as pandemic hits mental health


75% rise in referrals for first suspected episode of psychosis between April 2019 and April 2021

The charity is urging the government to invest more in early intervention for psychosis to prevent further deterioration in people’s mental health from which it could take them years to recover.

It says the statistics provide some of the first concrete evidence to indicate the significant levels of distress experienced across the population during the pandemic.

https://chicagohealthonline.com/covid-psychosis/

Covid Psychosis

Condition can cause serious, but temporary, psychotic episodes

Ben Price, 48, from Morris, Illinois, was a loving husband, father, and a dedicated business owner and farmer.

In February 2021, Ben contracted Covid-19. His symptoms landed him in the hospital for five days, during which he received the antiviral medication remdesivir and supplemental oxygen. Two days after returning home, he began acting unusual, anxiously pacing around the house.

“He was very worried and panicked about getting farm field work done, even though it was February and not even a possibility. You could not rationalize with him. He would stand and stare out the window,” his wife Jennifer Price says.

With no pre-existing mental health conditions, Ben’s behavior worried her. Doctors prescribed him antianxiety medication, and Price assumed he was experiencing Covid brain fog.

However, 16 days after his diagnosis, Ben died by suicide.

Price now believes her husband was experiencing Covid-19-induced psychosis — a condition that involves severe psychotic symptoms, such as losing a grip on reality.

 

[Shiloh]

Source: https://denver.cbslocal.com/2021/10/18/911-denver-on-hold-caller/


911 Calls In Denver On Hold: ‘It Was Frightening’ Says Caller
By Brian Maass
October 18, 2021 at 11:59 pm

DENVER (CBS4) – Denver’s 911 system is out of compliance with nationally recognized standards for answering calls as thousands of callers are finding themselves on hold when they call in to report an emergency.

Andrew Dameron, Denver’s Director of Emergency Communications, said “Obviously no one in the Department of Safety wants anyone to end up on hold when they call 911.”

A CBS4 investigation found it’s happening frequently.

In September, the average 911 caller in Denver was put on hold for 23 seconds and more than 1,000 emergency callers, or 2.5% of actual emergency calls, were put on hold for at least two minutes...

 

[Shiloh]

Source: https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2021/10/20/michigan-avenue-magnificent-mile-crime/


Magnificent Mile: More Trouble For Area That Was Once A Crown Jewel Of American Retail
By Tara Molina
October 20, 2021 at 8:47 am

CHICAGO (CBS) — Chicago Police have issued a formal warning after continued robberies on and around the city’s Magnificent Mile, at a time when stores continue to leave while others fight to stay in business after big pandemic hits.

CBS 2’s Tara Molina reports that retail leaders say the problem is so bad, that new business is hesitant to move in. That hesitation stems not only from the continued retail theft and robbery issue here, and across the city, but the perception that the city isn’t a safe place to be right now.

A stretch of North Michigan Avenue remains vacant and locked up–telling of the struggle on the city’s Mag Mile. Former tenants like Macy’s and Disney are gone, and there are no plans for a new tenant for the old Macy’s space at the Water Tower Place anytime soon.

“I think it does not help in terms of the recovery for downtown Chicago,” said Robb Karr, president and CEO of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association. “The impression around the nation is that Chicago is not a very safe place to be. And the incidents we saw this morning, over the weekend, the episodes before that, only feed that.”...

 

[Emily]

https://www.swtimes.com/story/news/...ristofer-conner-julia-marie-moore/8500881002/
3 dead, Fort Smith Police officer recovering following Sunday morning incident
Fort Smith Times Record Oct. 17
...
In an afternoon press conference, Fort Smith Police Chief Danny Baker said officers were dispatched to a report of a disturbance fight with weapons at 6:20 a.m.

Upon arrival, the unidentified officer found a man hitting another individual, identified as a 15-year-old boy, in the face and head with a brick.

When told by the officer to stop, 40-year-old Christofer Conner appeared to comply but Baker said when the officer attempted to put Conner in restraints, he produced an edged weapon and sliced the police officer in the throat and neck.

The officer then fired two shots, killing Conner.

The boy, identified as Conner's son, was pronounced dead at the hospital. He had sustained multiple stab wounds and blunt force trauma.

Inside the home, police saw evidence of a violent attack and located the body of Julia Marie Moore who had suffered multiple stab wounds. A 5-year-old child, also found inside the house, was placed with relatives...

 

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hate-crimes-report-2020-fbi-highest/


2020 saw highest number of reported hate crimes in two decades, updated FBI data shows
By Nicole Sganga
October 25, 2021 / 12:30 PM / CBS News

The number of hate crimes reported in 2020 was the highest recorded in two decades, according to updated FBI data released Monday. The FBI revealed its amended hate crime statistics for fiscal year 2020 following a technical submission error that had excluded some data from Ohio in the agency's original release in August. The FBI has since addressed the technical challenge in the state's reporting system.

Law enforcement agencies submitted reports for 8,263 criminal incidents and 11,129 related offenses motivated by biases toward race, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender, and gender identity. The updated release reflects an increase in more than 500 hate crime incidents with the inclusion of the new data.

The total number of criminal incidents represents a 16% increase from 2019 and the highest number of hate crime incidents recorded since 2001, a year that documented 9,730 incidents and a sharp rise in hate crimes directed toward perceived Muslim Americans in the wake of the September 11 attacks...

 

[Emily]

Video at link. The man is a senior - should have been safe walking at 8am with a German Shepherd, but was not.

https://www.kptv.com/news/southeast...cle_af6f1a52-32ef-11ec-a231-fbcb21b73a77.html
Southeast Portland man held at gunpoint, hit by car while walking his dog

• Audrey Weil
• Updated Oct 22, 2021 | Posted on Oct 22, 2021

...
Realizing he didn’t have his phone or wallet, he decided he and his dog Greta should make a run for it.

But as they tried to get away, the car hit him.

"That’s when I thought, 'I’m dead, they’re gonna shoot me and they’re gonna go,'" Wenberg said. "When I was laying on the ground the only thing going through my mind was my wife is gonna be alone, she’s gonna lose me."

He said there must have been three or four young teenagers in the car. They drove off, Greta was unharmed, and with his broken leg, Wenberg crawled to neighbors houses to call 911. A homeless man helped him get someone to find his wife.

"I can’t believe we’ve gotten to this point," he said.

He said what scares him is people could be so brazen to do something like this in the middle of a neighborhood during the day.

He fears criminals are emboldened amid rising gun violence and a police force stretched too thin.

"Our city is supposed to take care of the citizens," Wenberg said...

 

[sharon sanders]

bump this

 

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-ta...al&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer


What we know about the increase in U.S. murders in 2020
By John Gramlich

The U.S. murder rate rose 30% between 2019 and 2020 – the largest single-year increase in more than a century, according to data published this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The findings align with a separate tabulation of the nation’s murder rate published in September by the FBI.

The CDC tracks murders by analyzing information contained in death certificates. The FBI tallies murders by collecting information from thousands of law enforcement agencies across the country. Despite their different methodologies, both sources point to a sharp rise in the U.S. murder rate during the pandemic year of 2020, even as the rate itself remained well below the level of earlier decades.

Below are some key takeaways from the two new sets of government data...

 

[Emily]

https://thehill.com/changing-americ...-entire-police-department-resigns-in-missouri
Entire police department resigns in Missouri
Officers reported a number of reasons for why they resigned.
By Christian Spencer | Sept. 10, 2021

Story at a glance:

• An entire Missouri police department, including the police chief and his officers, resigned.
• Kimberling City Police Chief Craig Alexander resigned on Aug. 23.
• The mass resignation reportedly caught Mayor Bob Fritz of Kimberling City off guard.

...
About 2,600 officers from New York retired in 2020, according to The New York Times, compared to the 1,509 who retired the year prior.

Portland, Ore., had 69 officers resign and 75 retire from April 2020 to April 2021, compared to 27 and 14 the previous year, respectively.

In Seattle, resignations went from 34 to 123 and retirements went up from 43 to 96.

 

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/loc...d-of-kyle-rittenhouse-trial-decision/2683456/


Gov. Evers Deploys National Guard to Kenosha Ahead of Kyle Rittenhouse Trial Decision
With the potential for unrest, Evers said the state will provide support and resources to help keep residents safe.
Published 3 hours ago • Updated 3 hours ago

Hundreds of Wisconsin National Guard troops have been activated in preparation for a possible verdict next week in the Kenosha murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, according to Gov. Tony Evers' office.

Approximately 500 troops are reporting for active duty and will partner with law enforcement as the city braces for the possibility of unrest.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys for Rittenhouse have rested their cases, and closing arguments are set to begin next week.

"We stand ready to support our communities during times of need,” Maj. Gen. Paul Knapp, Wisconsin’s adjutant general, said in a news release. “In close coordination with the governor, we have assembled approximately 500 Soldiers to help keep the Kenosha community safe, should a request from our local partners come in.”...

 

[Emily]

Second female teacher in her 60's brutally attacked by students whom I've read about recently.

https://www.kcci.com/article/iowa-i...der-of-spanish-teacher-nohema-graber/38193452
Iowa investigators seek motive in murder of Spanish teacher

 

[Emily]

He looked so happy on Monday in the picture at the cancer center.

https://www.wreg.com/news/police-respond-to-shooting-at-makedas-on-airways/
Rapper Young Dolph dead in Memphis shooting

by: David Royer
Posted: Nov 17, 2021 / 01:11 PM CST
Updated: Nov 17, 2021 / 06:17 PM CST

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — (WREG) Memphis-based rapper Young Dolph was killed Wednesday in a shooting at a cookie shop in Memphis, according to preliminary information from Memphis Police. He was 36.

Who is Young Dolph? Rapper killed in Memphis shooting

Memphis Police were on the scene of a shooting Wednesday afternoon at 2370 Airways Boulevard near Ketchum in Memphis.

Officers and witnesses could be seen in front of a broken window at Makeda’s Butter Cookies, a bakery in a strip shopping center that Young Dolph had visited recently. See video of his visit to Makeda’s in July.
Young Dolph, whose real name is Adolph Thorton Jr., was a graduate of Hamilton High School in Memphis. Last year, he donated $25,000 to the school for new sports equipment and supplies.

Young Dolph’s first album, King of Memphis, was released in 2016 and peaked at No. 49 on the Billboard charts. His hits include “Get Paid.”

On Monday, he was at the West Cancer Center outside Memphis with rapper Key Glock to give away 200 Thanksgiving turkeys...
...
The threat of retaliatory violence and unrest had state Rep. London Lamar of Memphis, and City Councilman JB Smiley, calling for a citywide curfew Wednesday night.
...
At one point, a woman in a truck pulled up to the scene, telling police she had a shooting victim in her vehicle. That shooting was apparently unrelated to the Young Dolph shooting. EMTS began treating the man on the scene....

 

[sharon sanders]

bump this

 

[Shiloh]

Hundreds protest Rittenhouse acquittal across US: https://apnews.com/article/kyle-rit...nsin-kenosha-a39905965d026e466e1288148a84b728

Insane moment dozen Portland cops are cornered in garage by 200 protesters during riots over Kyle Rittenhouse verdict: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...rotesters-riots-Kyle-Rittenhouse-verdict.html

The Media's Verdict on Kyle Rittenhouse, Why so many got this story so wrong: https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/the-medias-verdict-on-kyle-rittenhouse

The Rittenhouse Verdict Shouldn’t Have Been a Surprise. Rittenhouse was no hero. But the failure of the media helps explain why so many people expected him to be convicted: https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-rittenhouse-verdict-shouldnt

 

[Emily]

https://amgreatness.com/2021/11/18/terror-in-the-capitol-tunnel/
Terror in the Capitol Tunnel

The D.C. Medical Examiner’s Office concluded Rosanne Boyland died of a drug overdose but that autopsy result is highly suspicious.
By Julie Kelly
November 18, 2021

n 2018, after a local news crew filmed Ryan Nichols rescuing dogs abandoned by their owners after Hurricane Florence, the former Marine appeared on the “Ellen DeGeneres Show.” Not only did DeGeneres commend Nichols’ longtime work as a search-and-rescue volunteer, she donated $25,000 to the Humane Society in his name and gave Ryan and his wife, Bonnie, a $10,000 check to pay for the honeymoon they had missed the year before so Ryan could assist rescue efforts in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

But instead of heading to Hawaii, the Nicholses used the generous donation to buy a rescue boat. With his Marine buddy and best friend, Alex Harkrider, at his side, the pair has participated in “dozens of hurricane rescues and disaster relief efforts,” according to Joseph McBride, Nichols’ attorney.

Three years after his appearance on the DeGeneres show, Nichols was featured on another program, but this time, Nichols spoke from the fetid confines of a political prison in the nation’s capital. And instead of telling a heroic story of saving dogs drowning in rising flood waters, Nichols told Newsmax host Greg Kelly a harrowing tale of what he saw at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

“We showed up in good faith . . . to protest the election results but never would have imagined we would encounter the horrors that we did on the west terrace and in the tunnel that day,” Nichols explained to Kelly in a phone interview on November 9. “When I saw women being beaten and in distress, my rescue instinct kicked in and I knew I had no choice but to help rescue them.”

Nichols’ account is detailed in an appalling new court filing that confirms what American Greatness has reported for months: on January 6, D.C. Metro and Capitol police assaulted nonviolent protesters with explosive devices, rubber bullets, tear gas, and in some cases, their own fists and batons. A tunnel on the lower west side of the Capitol building became a dangerous—and, likely for at least one protester, deadly—battle scene as police viciously attacked American citizens on the “hallowed” grounds of the U.S. Congress...

 

[sharon sanders]

bump this

 

[Shiloh]

Source: https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2...armacies-dispensaries-in-weekend-crime-spree/


Thieves Swarm East Bay Stores, Pharmacies, Dispensaries In Brazen Weekend Crime Spree
By Wilson Walker
November 22, 2021 at 8:39 pm

OAKLAND (KPIX) — Mobs of thieves went on a weekend crime-spree, robbing department and jewelry stores, cannabis dispensaries and pharmacies. Dozens of businesses were hit.

David Massey was one of those who showed up to the Walgreens on High Street Monday, only to find the pharmacy closed after a robbery on Sunday.

“You know, they tell you to go over to Alameda, go down the street,” says David Massey of Oakland. “Then all of them have to be verified, and here we are right before Thanksgiving.”

Massey depends on his pharmacy.

“I’ve got cancer,” he explains. “So I’m trying to get certain medications filled and they tell you to go to another Walgreens.”...