Western PA News

By Wilson Wong

A police officer who shot and killed a high school student in Knoxville, Tennessee, last Monday will not be charged, prosecutors said.

Knox County District Attorney Charme Allen said Officer Jonathon Clabough was justified and acting in self-defense when he fatally shot Anthony Thompson Jr., 17, at Austin-Magnet High School on April 12. During a Wednesday press conference, Allen released surveillance and body-camera footage showing Clabough firing two shots, killing Thompson and injuring another officer, Adam Willson, in the leg.

Four officers responded to a call of domestic abuse involving Thompson’s former girlfriend at the high school, according to NBC affiliate WBIR. Officers Clabough, Willson and two others can be seen in the body-camera footage entering the school’s bathroom. They located Thompson inside a stall and asked him to show his hands, according to the video.

The footage shows the officers trying to handcuff Thompson, who can be heard repeatedly saying, “My bad, my bad.” One officer grabs Thompson’s left hand, while his right hand remains in the front pocket of his hoodie, according to the video. Clabough said in a statement he could see the barrel of a gun pointing at him from inside the pocket.

A single shot fired from the gun hit a trash can but none of the officers, Allen said. It was unclear if the handgun fired accidentally.

After the first shot, Thompson can be heard repeatedly saying, “Wait, wait, wait.”

Clabough quickly draws his weapon and shoots Thompson in the upper chest, video shows. According to Allen, Clabough said in his statement that he saw Thompson fire the gun and believed one of his colleagues was shot when he stepped back.

Source: No charges for officer who fatally shot Tennessee high school student

Reality television star Caitlyn Jenner announced plans Friday to run for governor of California.

“I’m in! California is worth fighting for,” Jenner tweeted.

Jenner, a Republican, also filed paperwork to seek the governorship and has hired several well-known Republican operatives to guide her burgeoning campaign.

She’s hoping to unseat Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who faces an all-but-certain recall election later this year.

Source: Caitlyn Jenner announces run for governor of California: ‘I’m in!’ | Fox News

President Joe Biden has told a major summit that we are in a “decisive decade” for tackling climate change.

The US has pledged to cut carbon emissions by 50-52% below 2005 levels by the year 2030.

This new target, which was unveiled at a virtual summit of 40 global leaders, essentially doubles their previous promise.

But the leaders of India and China, two of the world’s biggest emitters, made no new commitments.

Source: Biden: This will be ‘decisive decade’ for tackling climate change – BBC News

Attorney Alan Dershowitz compared statements made by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) during the Derek Chauvin trial to tactics used by the Ku Klux Klan to intimidate jury pools in the 1920s and ’30s.

“Her message was clearly intended to get to the jury,” Dershowitz said this week during an appearance on Newsmax. “‘If you acquit or you find the charge anything less than murder, we will burn down your buildings, we will burn down your businesses, we will attack you.'”

Waters told a group of protesters and journalists in Brooklyn Center, Minn., on Saturday that “we’ve got to get more confrontational” when advocating for police reforms, a remark partisan critics and conservatives pounced on, saying they interpreted it to be an endorsement of political violence.

Source: Dershowitz: Maxine Waters used KKK tactics to intimidate Chauvin jury | TheHill

(CNN)The Senate passed with a wide bipartisan majority Thursday a bill denouncing discrimination against Asian communities in the United States, and creating a new position at the Justice Department to expedite reviews of potential Covid-19-related hate crimes.

The vote was 94-1. The lone vote in opposition was from Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley.

The bill would also direct the departments of Justice and Health and Human Services to issue guidance raising awareness of hate crimes during the pandemic, and work with agencies to establish online reporting of them. It now goes to the House before being signed into law by President Joe Biden.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday that the bill is “proof” that “the Senate can work to solve important issues,” and would tell bigots “we’re going after you.”

Source: Senate overwhelmingly passes anti-Asian hate crimes bill – CNNPolitics

Dramatic bodycam footage shows police shooting dead a Tennessee teen in his high school bathroom as he grabs a gun while resisting arrest — as officials announced that none of the officers will be charged.

Anthony J. Thompson Jr., 17, was sitting in a bathroom stall in Knoxville’s Austin-East Magnet High School when officers came in to arrest him on April 12 after his ex-girlfriend’s mom lodged a formal complaint of domestic abuse.

As he was told to put his hands behind his back to be cuffed, the teen suddenly struggled as he reached for a handgun in his hoodie — with it discharging during the struggle.

Officer Jonathon Clabough saw the gun “with Anthony Thompson’s hand” on the butt and “thinks, ‘I’m about to die,’” Knox County District Attorney General Charme Allen said while releasing the footage during a two-hour press conference Wednesday.

Source: Video shows teen struggling for gun before being shot by cops

A North Carolina man was fatally shot by a sheriff’s deputy in Elizabeth City on Wednesday morning while law enforcement officers were executing a search warrant at the person’s home, officials said.

Andrew Brown Jr. was shot and killed at approximately 8:30 a.m. local time while deputies from the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office were conducting the search warrant at a home located on Perry Street near Roanoke Avenue, Sheriff Tommy Wooten II said during a Wednesday afternoon news conference

PHILADELPHIA PREGNANT MOTHER MURDER SUSPECT ‘ARMED AND DANGEROUS,’ REMAINS AT LARGE, FBI SAYS

Source: North Carolina man fatally shot by sheriff’s deputy executing search warrant, officials say | Fox News

The U.S. House of Representatives has once again voted on a bill to grant statehood to Washington, D.C., and enfranchise more than 712,000 Americans, a cause that enjoys unprecedented support but still faces an uphill battle in the U.S. Senate.

“This country was founded on the principles of no taxation without representation and consent of the governed. But D.C. residents are taxed without representation and cannot consent to the laws under which they as American citizens must live,” said Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.’s non-voting delegate, on the House floor ahead of the vote.

Her statehood bill, H.R. 51, would reduce the size of the federal district and create a new state with the remaining territory with two U.S. senators and a representative, placing residents on equal footing with voters in other states. Statehood advocates contend the cause is also a fight for racial justice. If admitted, D.C. would be the first state with a plurality of Black residents.

Source: House Democrats Pass Bill To Make D.C. The 51st State

A large police presence is at a Pittsburgh housing complex.

Investigators said they were called the 2100 block of Rhine Street just after 8:15 p.m. The victim was a man and he was shot several times in the leg and torso.

Officers and K9 teams could be seen going between the buildings at the Three Rivers Manor complex in Pittsburgh’s Spring Hill neighborhood.

Source: Large police presence after shooting at Pittsburgh housing complex

Biden described the US as systemically racist in an address to the nation Tuesday night after the Chauvin verdict.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki tersely cut off a line of questioning Wednesday when The Post pressed her on criticism that President Biden is himself guilty of feeding into what he’s decried as ‘”systemic racism” in the United States.

In light of Biden’s comments after ex-Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin’s guilty verdicts for murdering George Floyd, The Post asked Psaki at her daily press briefing about Biden’s own role in establishing federal laws in the 1980s and ’90s that disproportionately jailed minorities.

“Well, I would say that the president’s — one of the president’s core objectives is addressing racial injustice in this country, not just through his rhetoric, but through his actions,” Psaki said.

“And what anyone should look to is his advocacy for passing the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, for nominating leaders to the Department of Justice to address long-outdated policies and to ask his leadership team here in the White House to prioritize these issues in his presidency, which is current and today and not from 30 years ago.”

Pressed further on whether Biden believes that “it’s important to accept his own culpability for setting up the system,” Psaki replied: “I think I’ve answered your question” and moved on to another reporter

Source: Psaki cuts off reporter when pressed on Biden’s ‘racism’ culpability

The case of Duane Wright is an illustration of what over-enforcement of the laws can lead to. Wright, a 20-year-old black man, was killed after he was stopped on a highway for an expired driver’s license and for having an air freshener dangling from his rearview mirror.

It was totally unnecessary to pull Wright over. In London, they use ubiquitous cameras to see who is driving and, with computers, to determine if they have a valid license. Those whose licenses have expired receive summonses in the mail and if necessary personal visits in their home. What is the reason, in this over-wrought racial situation, to send police to stop cars and confront unlicensed drivers?

Source: Minimize Police Interactions With The Public – DickMorris.com at DickMorris.com

The inquiry will likely lead to a consent decree between the department and the federal government, a tool that the Obama administration repeatedly used to address police misconduct.

Source: Merrick Garland Announces an Investigation Into Minneapolis Police Dept – The New York Times

A man was killed and the suspect later took his own life following a shooting outside a Wawa convenience store and gas station in Upper Macungie Township, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, according to Lehigh County District Attorney James Martin.

Source: Upper Macungie: One killed and suspect is dead from self-inflicted gunshot after a shooting at a Wawa convenience store in Pennsylvania – CNN

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Columbus police shot and killed a teenage girl who swung at two other people with a knife Tuesday, according to bodycam footage from the officer who fired the shots just minutes before the verdict in George Floyd’s killing was read.

Officials with the Columbus Division of Police showed a segment of the footage Tuesday night just hours after the shooting took place in a neighborhood on the city’s east side. The decision to swiftly release the video was a departure from protocol as the force faces immense scrutiny from the public following a series of recent high-profile police killings that have led to clashes.

The 10-second clip begins with the officer getting out of his car at a house where police had been dispatched after someone called 911 saying they were being physically threatened, Interim Police Chief Michael Woods said at the news conference. The officer takes a few steps toward a group of people in the driveway when the girl, who was Black, starts swinging a knife wildly at another girl or woman, who falls backward. The officer shouts several times to get down.

The girl with the knife then charges at another girl or woman who is pinned against a car.

From a few feet away, with people on either side of him, the officer fires four shots, and the teen slumps to the ground. A black-handled blade similar to a kitchen knife or steak knife lies on the sidewalk next to her.

A man immediately yells at the officer, “You didn’t have to shoot her! She’s just a kid, man!”

The officer responds, “She had a knife. She just went at her.”

The race of the officer wasn’t clear.

Full Coverage: Ohio

The girl was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police said. It remains unclear if anyone else was injured.

Police did not identify the girl or her age Tuesday. One family member said she was 15, while another said she was 16.

The shooting happened minutes before the verdict in the killing of George Floyd was announced.

Source: Columbus police officer fatally shoots girl swinging knife

 

PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) – Mayor Ted Wheeler declared a state of emergency in Portland Tuesday before the verdict in Derek Chauvin’s trial was read.

The former Minneapolis police officer was found guilty Tuesday of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter in the death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020.

During a press conference, which was held before the verdict was read, Wheeler said a state of emergency will be in place for the next 24 hours. The order could be extended.

Wheeler says the National Guard and Oregon State Police are on standby.

The Portland Police Bureau says they are working with local partners to ensure safety after the verdict is read and warns against criminal activity.

PPB said the group causing destruction and property damage have changed their tactics, so the bureau has as well and is making more targeted arrests.

Wheeler says that police are working closely with local, state and federal partners and are looking at legal strategies to alleviate destructive behavior done by those in the group destroying property.

Source: Portland mayor declares state of emergency to address potential protests following Chauvin verdict | News | kptv.com

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Following nearly a year of protest, introspection and raw emotion, former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin, who last May held a knee down on George Floyd’s neck for more than 9 minutes, has been found guilty of second-degree murder and two other charges in Floyd’s death.

Chauvin has been remanded to the custody of Hennepin County. He was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs.

READ MORE:Officials In Minnesota React To Verdict In Derek Chauvin Trial

Source: BREAKING: Derek Chauvin Guilty On All 3 Counts In George Floyd’s Death – WCCO | CBS Minnesota

By: KDKA-TV News Staff

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Pittsburgh Police say a pizza delivery driver was carjacked in Homewood.

READ MORE:City Of Pittsburgh To Add Hundreds Of Miles Of New Bike Lanes To Existing Network

The driver says he was making a delivery along Monticello Street when two men approached him with a gun and took his car.

(Photo Credit: KDKA)

The car was spotted through Pittsburgh and Wilkinsburg.

READ MORE:Ohio Pharmacy Board Approves Large Increase In Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

Officers caught up to the car along Frankstown Avenue and chased after one of the men who ran from the car.

The man was taken into custody, but was let go after questioning.

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There is no word on any other suspects.

Source: Police Investigating Delivery Driver Carjacking In Homewood – CBS Pittsburgh