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U.S. NEWS Saturday 24 November 2018

Ruling in genital mutilation case

shocks women’s advocates

By AMY FORLITI, Associ- connection with the geni- Legal experts say the
ated Press tal mutilation of nine girls judge made clear that
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — from Michigan, Minnesota states have authority to
Women’s rights advocates and Illinois. ban the practice.
say they’re shocked after Most of the case was But 23 states have no such
a federal judge in Michi- thrown out Tuesday, as ban.
gan ruled this week that Judge Bernard Friedman The AHA Foundation works
a law protecting girls from ruled that a law banning to protect women from
genital mutilation was un- the practice was unconsti- genital mutilation.
constitutional. tutional. The group says it fears girls
Dr. Jumana Nagarwala He said Congress didn’t will now be brought to In this April 21, 2017 file photo, FBI agents leave the office of
was among eight people have the power to regu- one of those states for the Dr. Fakhruddin Attar at the Burhani Clinic in Livonia, Mich., after
completing a search for documents.
charged in federal court in late the issue. procedure.q Associated Press

Alabama mall shooting leaves 1 dead, 2 wounded

HOOVER, Ala. (AP) — Police
responding to a fight inside
an Alabama shopping mall
shot and killed a man who
had brandished a weapon,
authorities said Friday. Two
other people were injured,
including a 12-year-old girl.
The Hoover Police Depart-
ment said in a statement
that two men were en-
gaged in a “physical al-
tercation” at the glitzy Riv-
erchase Galleria in Hoover
late Thursday, when one of
the men pulled out a hand-
gun and shot the other
man twice.
Two officers who were pro-
viding security at the mall
heard the gunfire and ap-
proached the area. They
spotted a suspect waving a
pistol and shot him. He died
at the scene. His name was
not immediately released,
but police said he was 21
years old and from Huey-
town.
The other shooting victim
was an 18-year-old male
from Birmingham. He was This Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018, image made from a video provided by ABC 33/40, authorities respond after reports of shots fired at the
Riverchase Galleria in Hoover, a Birmingham, Ala., suburb.
taken to a nearby hospi- Associated Press.
tal in serious condition. A
12-year-old bystander was A witness, Lexi Joiner, told shopping trip with other administrative leave while security officer said. It bills it-
also shot and taken to Chil- Al.com she was shopping family members when the the Jefferson County Sher- self as the largest enclosed
dren’s Hospital by a Hoover with her mother when the shooting happened, and iff’s Office investigates shopping center in Ala-
Fire Department rescue gunfire started. Joiner said didn’t immediately realize the shooting. The officer’s bama, with more than 150
squad. she heard six or seven shots that the pain in her back name was not released. stores.q
Police said the fight hap- and was ordered, along was from a bullet. The officers were not hurt.
pened on the mall’s sec- with some other shoppers, “She was hurting a lot, but Video posted on social me-
ond floor concourse area, into a supply closet for cov- very brave and positive as dia by shoppers showed a
near the entrance to the er. always,” the mother wrote chaotic scene as shoppers
Footaction shoe store. “It was terrifying,” Joiner after seeing the girl when fled the mall, which closed
Capt. Greg Rector said at said. she arrived at a hospital. for the remainder of Thurs-
a news conference that A woman who described Hoover police said Friday day night.
investigators do not know herself as the mother of the morning that the girl was in The mall, located in the Bir-
what sparked the original injured 12-year-old posted stable condition. mingham suburb of Hoover,
confrontation between the on social media that the The officer who shot the reopened at 6 a.m. Friday,
men. girl was on a Black Friday gunman was placed on a Riverchase Galleria mall