Page 29 - Florida Sentinel 11-1-19

National
Texas A&M Shooting: Gunman Fatally Shoots Two And Wounds 14 Others At Homecoming Party
Just before midnight Sunday (October 27), a gunman opened fire at an off-campus homecoming party near Texas A&M University-Commerce, resulting in the death of two people. Over a dozen others were wounded, according to Dallas News.
Police are searching for the shooter, who is still at large. According to authorities, the suspect used a 9mm handgun and appeared to “pick out one individual” for his first victim and then continued shooting.
“It was mass chaos with peo- ple trying to exit the building,” Hunt County Sheriff Rand Meeks said during a morning press conference. “Some of the injuries were from broken glass. They were breaking the glass of the window trying to get out of the building.”
The shooting took place at The Party Venue, an 8,000- square-meter event space, which was holding a Halloween party called “Twerk or Tweet” to commemorate the end of the university’s homecoming week.
Authorities believe around 750 people attended the event. Local sheriff deputies were on the scene before the shooting took place responding to illegal
TEXAS A&M
parking. The venue also had private security guards but that none of them were able to re- turn fire, WFAA-TV Channel 8 reports.
Air ambulances were spotted taking victims to area hospi- tals.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, families, and friends of those affected by this morning’s shooting in Greenville, Texas,” the univer- sity said in a statement. School spokesman Michael John- son noted that the shooting did not occur on campus and couldn’t confirm that any stu- dents of Texas A&M Univer- sity-Commerce were involved.
‘Tribute To Our Sheroes’ Is New Campaign To Help Black Women Boost Their Retirement Savings
NEW YORK, NY – AARP and the Ad Council have teamed up to launch the “Trib- ute to Our Sheroes” retirement savings campaign to help Black women boost their retirement savings.
Launched on October 24, “A Tribute to Our Sheroes” is de- signed for Black women seek- ing to get more out of their existing retirement plans, or to begin one. This work is an ex- tension of AARP and the Ad Council’s “Saving for Retire- ment” campaign, which launched in 2017, with the goal of ensuring diverse audiences feel confident and prepared as they reach retirement age.
This campaign creative will promote AARP and the Ad Council’s free, three-minute online chat and customized tips and resources available at www.aceyourretirement.org/S hero, which will help equip Black women with specific,
“TRIBUTE TO OUR SHEROES”
personalized strategies to en- hance their retirement savings. The U. S. at large is facing a growing retirement savings crisis, but Black women are disproportionately affected. Many factors, including wage disparity, play a role in the lack of savings Black women are able to accumulate throughout
their careers.
According to EqualPayTo-
day.org, Black women typically have to work an additional seven to eight months to earn what their white male peers make in one year. In addition, the daily financial pressures of caring for their family and loved ones often cause them to deprioritize their own needs in favor of nurturing and uplift- ing others. All this can leave them less prepared for what’s to come in their retirement years.
“We believe in supporting Black women as they plan for the next phase of their lives,” states Edna Kane- Williams, Senior Vice Presi- dent, Multicultural Leadership, AARP. “They are so often taking care of others and deserve to have access to all the necessary tools needed to live comfortably in retire- ment.”
Florida Man Who Identifies As Female Sets Woman On Fire At Taco Bell
A 32-year-old biological male who identifies as a female was arrested last week after walk- ing into a Taco Bell, dousing a woman with gasoline, and then setting her on fire, Tallahassee police told the Miami Herald.
Police said Mia Williams ran away after committing the heinous act on Wednesday, and the victim was taken to a hospital by helicopter with se- rious injuries, the paper re- ported.
Williams was arrested Thursday and charged with at- tempted premeditated homi- cide, aggravated assault on an officer and resisting arrest with violence, according to WFLA.com.
It’s unclear if the victim was a customer or employee. It’s also not clear whether Williams knew her or what may have prompted the alleged attack.
When the Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) responded to an aggravated battery at the Taco Bell around 6:18 p.m., they “discovered that a subject entered the business and doused the victim with gasoline
MIA WILLIAMS
before setting the victim on fire,” according to a TPD Face- book post (via New York Daily News). “The suspect fled the scene on foot.”
Police are trying to deter- mine if Williams is connected to several other fires that oc- curred hours later near the Taco Bell, including a church that was completely destroyed.
Police eventually arrested Williams after a massive search, and he was in posses- sion of a cigarette lighter, the Herald reported.
Williams was charged in connection with the woman he set on fire inside Taco Bell — not with the other fires, which police are still investigating.
PAGE 22-A FLORIDA SENTINEL-BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019