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Father Of Two Parkland Shooting Survivors Fatally Shot At His Convenience Store
The father of two survivors of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting in February was shot and killed last Tuesday at the convenience store where he worked.
Ironically, it was Parkland’s supposed safety that prompted Ayub Ali to move his wife and children to the community, Parkland survivor Elama Ali told CNN. Ayub Ali, was 61 when he was fa- tally shot at Aunt Molly’s Food Store, in North Lauderdale, Fla.
“The reason we moved to Parkland was because he liked the school,” Elama Ali, 16, told the news organization. “I didn’t want to move here, but he told us, ‘We are only mov- ing because the school is amazing.’ ”
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the scene of the deadly shooting in February in Parkland, was named by the National Council for Home Safety as Florida’s safest in 2016.
Ali would become the vic- tim of the type of violence that turned his life and the lives of fellow parents upside-down. On Feb. 14, teen shooter
AYUB ALI
Nikolas Cruz burst into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, shooting at students and teachers and leaving 17 people dead. Ayub Ali’s daughter, Elama Ali, and a son were survivors of the shooting.
Ayub Ali came to the United States from Bangla- desh in the 1990s, the sole breadwinner for Elama Ali and three sons, the youngest just short of 2-year-old.
Elama Ali became an anti-violence advocate after the Parkland shooting and her father encouraged her to travel to Washington for the “March for Our Lives” rally in March.
“When I was in Washing- ton, he asked about it,” she said. “He watched it on TV.”
9 Members of the Same Family Killed in Freak Boat Accident That Left 17 Dead
Tragedy struck Table Rock Lake near Branson, Missouri on Thursday night when a tourist duck boat capsized, claiming the life of 17 people. There were 31 people on- board, ranging in ages from 1- 76. One family, The Colemans lost nine family members.
Belinda Coleman, Glenn Coleman, Horace “Butch” Coleman, Irvin Raymond Coleman, Angela Cole- man, Evan Coleman, Reece Coleman, Maxwell Coleman and Arya Cole- man all lost their lives in the tragedy, according to ABC News. Only two members of the family survived: Tia Coleman and her 13-year- old nephew. Tia lost her hus- band, her parents-in-law and all three of her children, aged 9, 7 and 1.
From her hospital bed, Tia shared her horrific experi- ence.
“I couldn’t hear screams, it felt like I was out there on my own. And I was yelling, screaming and finally, I said, ‘Lord, just let me die, let me die, I can’t keep drowning, I just can’t keep drowning.’ And then I just let go,” Tia told ABC.
Once Tia “let go,” she began floating and was able to make it to the top of the water and was thrown a life jacket from the rescue boat.
According to Fox affiliate WXIN, Tia said that she was told by the boat’s captain, who survived, not to worry about
The Coleman Family
the life jackets.
“My husband would want
me to say this — he would want the world to know that on this boat we were on, the captain had told us ‘don’t worry about grabbing the life jackets — you won’t need them’ so nobody grabbed them as we listened to the captain as he told us to stay seated,” Tia Coleman said.
Even though there were se- vere thunderstorms happen- ing that evening, the boats still set sail. The weather got really bad, really fast, with winds up to 60mph. If the boat was still going to go out on the water, it seems as if there would be a need to tell people to all wear life jackets.
ABC News reached out to Ripley Entertainment, which owns the duck boat company, but they did not immediately respond. They have since put out this statement:
is now underway. U. S. Coast Guard Captain Scott Stoer- mer said at a press confer- ence on Friday that whether or not the life jackets were
worn will “definitely be a focus of the investigation and cer- tainly one of the questions we will be looking to ask.”
And apparently, the Cole- mans were never supposed to be on the duck boat that cap- sized. Tia told KOLR that they missed their boat after arriv- ing at the wrong duck boat business. So when they got to “Ride the Ducks,” they switched out their tickets for the 6:30 ride, the ride that claimed 17 lives of the 31 on- board.
The names of the victims are slowly starting to be re- leased. According to sources the deceased include Janice Bright, 63, and William Bright, 65 (they were cele- brating their 45th wedding anniversary); William Asher, 69 and his girlfriend Rosemarie Hamann, 68; father and son, Steve Smith, 53, and Lance Smith, 15; Leslie Dennison, 65 and the driver of the duck boat, Robert “Bob” Williams.
Home Depot Reverses Course And Offers
Employee Fired For Responding To Customer's
Racist Rant His Job Back
Maurice Rucker has got- ten his job back, but if you’re looking for a way to reach out and personally support him there is a GoFundMe cam- paign running in his honor with the goal of raising $5,000 for Rucker. GoFundMe in- formed The Root that they are coordinating with the event organizer to ensure that the funds do in fact go to Mau- rice.
As of the time of this up- date, the campaign, which is trending, has raised more than $1,300.
The Home Depot has miraculously seen the light and decided—after pointed so- cial media shaming, and arti- cles like this—to offer a ten-year employee his job back, after firing him for de- fending himself against a racist and verbally abusive customer.
Deputy Managing Editor
Maurice Rucker was fired from his job at Home Depot after an encounter with a ‘racist’ customer.
Yesha Callahan, received a forwarded email from com- pany spokesperson Matt Harrigan, saying that the company has changed its mind about the employment status of 60-year-old Mau- rice Rucker. It reads in part: “We’ve taken another look at this and we are offering Mau- rice his job back.”
Body Of Transgender Woman Found Near Orlando Apartment Complex
A transgender woman was found dead near an Orlando, Fla. apartment complex on Thursday, Orlando Weekly re- ports.
Law enforcement said the body of 27-year-old Sasha Garden had signs of trauma when it was discovered.
“She was traveling a lot, try- ing to find a new home and find herself,” Mulan Mon- trese Williams, an outreach coordinator for Miracle of Love, an HIV/AIDS organiza- tion told Orlando Weekly.
Williams said that Gar- den has been living in Orlando on and off for two years after moving there from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Garden was reportedly a sex worker who had goals on becoming a stylist, per Or- lando Weekly. Williams, who also used to be a sex worker, said that Garden was most
SASHA GARDEN
likely working when her body was found.
“You know when something happens, we don’t call the po- lice. We don’t want to be judged by the police. We don’t want to be misgendered by of- ficers – they still tell us, ‘We
have to call you by your gov- ernment name, what’s on your ID.'”
Despite Williams telling Orange County officials, who came to visit her to help iden- tify the body, that Garden identified as a woman, their re- port described her as a man who “was wearing a wig and was dressed as a female,” which was picked up by local news stations.
“As soon as I opened the door, I get, ‘I hear a bunch of transvestites stay here.’ I had to let them know, I’m a trans- gender woman and I’m the only one that stays here,” she said when officers came to her home in order to identify Gar- den.
Garden’s death comes at a time when trans women, espe- cially trans women of color, are facing an increased threat of violence.
PAGE 20 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND TUESDAY, JULY 24, 2018