Page 12 - 3-31-15 Tuesday's Edition

National
Mom Accused Of Killing Two
Gas Leak Explosion Injures 19 In Apartment Building
Gas leak led to explosion and fire at apartment build- ing.
NEW YORK -- At least 19 people were injured, four of them critically, when an explo- sion and seven-alarm fire de- stroyed an apartment building and burned three other struc- tures in New York City's East Village Thursday.
At an evening news confer- ence, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said a prelimi- nary investigation indicated that a gas explosion caused by plumbing and gas work in the building that collapsed was to blame. The New York Post re- ported that construction crews accidentally "hit a gas main."
Boston Police Officer Clinging To Life; Suspect Killed By Other Officers
Young Transgender Activist Who Was Elected Homecoming King Commits Suicide
Of Her Children And Storing Them In A Freezer
CHARLOTTE, NC --- Transgender activist Blake Brockington died in what appears to have been a sui- cide, police said, according to the Charlotte Observer.
The North Carolina 18- year-old, who was an advocate for sexual-minority rights, transitioned during his soph- omore year at East Mecklen- burg High School, having previously been known as a girl.
Last year he was crowned homecoming king at his Char- lotte, N.C., school.
In an earlier report by the Observer on transgender indi- viduals in Charlotte, Brock- ington recalled being forced to wear dresses even though
he “felt like a boy,” and also discussed the difficulty he had coming out to his fam- ily.
“My fam- ily feels like this is a decision I made,” Brockington said at the time. “They think, ‘You’re al- ready black, why would you want to draw more attention to yourself?’ But it’s not a deci- sion. It is who I am. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.” His situation at home ended up becoming so bad that he opted to move in with a foster family, who supported him
through his transition.
DETROIT, MI --- For more than a year, the two chil- dren in apartment No. 804 of the Martin Luther King Apart- ments lived with a terrible family secret: The bodies of their brother and sister were hidden inside a large freezer in the living room, police and family say.
The 8-year-old boy and 17- year-old girl are trying to make sense of it, said their great-aunt, Angela Gordon, who is caring for them. Police say their mother, Mitchelle Blair, admitted she killed 9- year-old Stephen Berry and 13-year-old Stoni Blair after she discovered they had been molesting a young relative, two police sources familiar with the case said Wednesday.
Wayne County prosecu- tors charged Blair on Wednesday with four counts of first-degree child abuse, a 15-year felony; and one count of committing child abuse first-degree in the presence of another child, a felony pun- ishable by up to life in prison.
BLAKE BROCKINGTON
MITCHELLE BLAIR
killed her son two years ago and her daughter in 2014, after she said she learned of the sexual abuse, two sources said. Prosecutors said Stoni would be 15 now and Stephen would be 11.
Police are awaiting au- topsy results to determine the cause of death. Sources said it appears the boy died of stran- gulation and the girl from blunt-force trauma.
The Detroit News is not disclosing the identity of the relative who was allegedly molested, nor naming Blair's surviving kids.
Blair had cut off contact with the rest of the family, which is why nobody noticed Stephen and Stoni were missing.
Inmates Claim They Were Forced To Fight ‘Gladiator-Style’ By Guards
Blair told detectives she
Voters And Candidates Encountering
SAN FRANCISCO, CA --- Jail inmates held in San Fran- cisco's Hall of Justice say sher- iff's deputies have forced them to fight "gladiator-style," San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi said Thursday.
Adachi said Thursday that his office was alerted to the allegedly deputy-orches- trated fights by the father of an inmate via email on March 12. Garcia, who is of Hawai- ian and Filipino descent, said he felt he was being bullied as a result of his race and feared for his life.
Adachi interviewed the man's son, Ricardo Pa- likiko Garcia, who con- firmed that he had been forced to fight twice and that the deputies were planning an- other fight.
20s, weighs about 150 pounds and stands 5 feet 9 inches tall — said he was injured in the fights and made to go up against an inmate who weighed at least twice what he does.
San Francisco prosecutors called the alleged conduct "de- plorable" in a statement Thursday.
Garcia said San Francisco Deputy Scott Neu, as well as deputies Eugene Jones, Clifford Chiba and another deputy with the last name Staehly, made him fight in- mate Stanly Harris. Har- ris, a black man who is also in his 20s and stands about 6 feet tall and weighs over 300 pounds, was interviewed by Adachi and confirmed that he was forced to fight Garcia on two separate occasions.
Violent Attacks On Election Day
Voters
OFFICER JOHN MOYNIHAN
ANGELO WEST
KANO, NIGERIA - Sus- pected Boko Haram gunmen beheaded 23 people and set fire to homes in Buratai, northeast Nigeria, on the eve of Saturday's general elec- tions, a federal lawmaker rep- resenting the area told AFP.
In Abuja, gunmen killed at least 15 people including an opposition politician near polling stations in northeast Nigeria on Saturday, casting an ominous shadow over the closest electoral contest since the end of military rule in 1999.
The tense race pits Presi- dent Goodluck Jonathan against former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari for the favour of an electorate di- vided along a complex mix of ethnic, regional and in some cases religious lines.
The poll is seen as the first election in Africa's most pop- ulous nation in which an op- position candidate has a serious chance of unseating the incumbent, and wide- spread fears it could trigger violence are already becom-
ing reality.
Islamist Boko Haram in-
surgents launched several at- tacks on voters in the northeast, killing three in Yobe state and three more in Gombe state, police said.
Shortly afterwards, at least eight people, including the opposition parliamentary candidate for Dukku in Gombe, were killed by unidentified gunmen, a spokesman for Buhari's All Progressives Congress (APC) said.
The militants, who are trying to revive a medieval Is- lamic caliphate in religiously mixed Nigeria, reject democ- racy and their leader Abubakar Shekau has threat- ened to kill those who go to vote.
A string of military victo- ries by troops from Nigeria and neighboring Chad, Cameroon and Niger has re- claimed much of the territory the Islamists controlled ear- lier this year, but they retain the ability to mount deadly attacks on civilians.
A highly decorated Boston police officer was fighting for his life Saturday after being shot in the face "assassination- style" by a violent career crimi- nal, authorities said.
Officer John Moynihan, 34, was shot point-blank below the right eye by suspect An- gelo West, 41, who emptied his revolver at cops during a routine traffic stop in the city’s Roxbury neighborhood Friday, Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said.
West, who was packing a .357 Magnum handgun, was shot dead on the scene, officials said.
The sudden attack on the six-year Boston police veteran was unprovoked.
His shooter, who authorities say has a criminal history with several prior gun convictions, had continued firing at the other five gang task force offi- cers as he tried to flee the scene, Evans said.
Witness videos, which have not been released to the public, show the cop barely exchanging words with the driver before he was blasted in the face about 6:40 p.m., Evans said. None of the officers involved had their guns drawn before the attack.
Garcia — who is in his
3 Alabama A&M Students Shot
During Spring Break Party In Florida
PANAMA CITY, FL --- Three Alabama university stu- dents were among seven peo- ple shot, several critically injured, on Saturday morning at a spring break party in Panama City Beach, Florida, and the suspected shooter was taken into custody, local police said.
Shortly before 1 a.m., offi- cers were called to a building near the beach, where they found the victims, three of whom are students at Alabama A&M University, the Bay County Sheriff's office said in an electronic statement.
The suspected shooter, 22- year old David Jamichael Daniels of Mobile, Alabama, was found nearby and taken into custody. He was charged with seven counts of at- tempted murder, police said.
The Florida Panhandle city has been struggling with out- of-control, around-the-clock parties attended by the hun- dreds of thousands of college
(Inset) DAVID JAMICHAEL DANIELS
students who pack into the area in March and April dur- ing spring break.
Police described a "chaotic scene" with victims found in and around the home. A .40- caliber handgun was found in the backyard of the residence. Police said the shooting was the sixth firearm related call of the evening.
Alabama A&M University Lieutenant William Schu- make, citing a Bay County in- vestigator, said the students were "innocent victims in the wrong place when an alterca- tion broke out resulting in shots being fired."
PAGE 12 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2015