Category: US

CNN
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Police in Los Angeles have arrested a man suspected of shooting two Jewish people this week and are investigating the attacks as possible hate crimes, authorities said Thursday.

An “exhaustive” search for the suspect was launched after the victims were shot separately in the city’s western Pico-Robertson neighborhood on Wednesday and Thursday, about three blocks apart, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a release.

Both victims were Jewish men, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said. Officials have not publicly identified the victims or suspect.

“These attacks against members of our Jewish community in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood are absolutely unacceptable,” Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement. “At a time of increased anti-Semitism, these acts have understandably set communities on edge. Just last December, I stood blocks away from where these incidents occurred as we celebrated the first night of Hanukkah together.”

The shootings come amid a rise in antisemitic violence nationwide. According to the Anti-Defamation League, antisemitic attacks reached an all-time high in the US in 2021 – up 34% from 2020.

The suspect was found in Riverside County, about an hour’s drive east of Los Angeles, police said. Detectives found several pieces of evidence, they said, including a rifle and handgun.

The announcement of the arrest confirmed earlier reporting by CNN, which was the first news organization to report the suspect was taken into custody.

Earlier, authorities said they were searching for a suspect described as an Asian male with a mustache and goatee, possibly driving a white compact car. A license plate recorded near the scene of one of the shootings assisted authorities in locating and arresting the suspect, a law enforcement source told CNN.

“The facts of the case led to this crime being investigated as a hate crime,” Los Angeles police said.

The FBI is also investigating the attacks as hate crimes, Bass said in her statement.

Federal agents responsible for domestic terrorism and hate crime investigations are examining the suspect’s past to determine possible violations of federal law, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN.

At around 10 a.m. Wednesday, the first victim was walking to their vehicle when a man drove by and shot twice before fleeing the scene, a police spokesperson told CNN.

The following day, at around 8:30 a.m., the second victim was walking toward his home nearby when a man drove up and shot at him from inside a car, and then fled, the spokesperson said.

Both victims were taken to local hospitals and were in stable condition, the spokesperson said.

They were walking home from places of worship when they were shot, said Laura Fennell, Director of Communications for the Anti-Defamation League West.

The man shot Thursday is a member of the Beit El synagogue, which is about two blocks away from where police say he was shot, the synagogue confirmed to CNN. They did not identify the victim but said his injuries were minor.

“The victim that was shot today is a pillar of our community here at Beit El. He has been a dear member for many years,” Beit El said in an email Thursday. They added, “The victim had just concluded morning prayer services, walked to his car donned in his kippah, and was shot three times at point-blank range.”

“Our community is shaken to its core,” by the two shootings, Beit El said. “But we are strong and united.”

The synagogue said it is working with police to implement security measures. Luna also said Los Angeles police are increasing law enforcement presence and patrols around Jewish places of worship.

“The Los Angeles Police Department is aware of the concern these crimes have raised in the surrounding community. We have been in close contact with religious leaders as well as individual and organizational community stakeholders,” the department’s release said.

The investigation, which also includes state authorities, is ongoing and more information will be released in the coming days, police said.

The shootings in Los Angeles happened just a week after San Francisco authorities added a hate crime enhancement to charges against a man they said fired a replica gun inside a Bay-area synagogue earlier this month. No one was hurt.

The hate crime allegation against the suspect is tied to statements he made during the incident as well as social media posts he made involving “several postings of an individual in Nazi-type clothing,” San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said in a news conference. An attorney for the suspect, Deputy Public Defender Olivia Taylor, said outside the courthouse that the man is “not guilty of any hate crime.”

Days earlier in New Jersey, a man allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail at a synagogue in Bloomfield in an arson attempt. The suspect has been charged with a federal crime.

And in December, a 63-year-old man was assaulted in New York’s Central Park in what police called an antisemitic attack.

Hundreds of items from the estate of late fashion icon André Leon Talley, including paintings, personal photographs and some of his signature capes, have sold at auction for a combined $3.55 million.

A trove of the veteran editor’s possessions went under the hammer at Christie’s in New York on Wednesday, fetching almost $1.4 million, before a further 350 lots were sold online by the auction house.

An exhibition of items, including some of Talley’s signature capes and kaftans, went on show ahead of the sale. Credit: Courtesy Christie’s Images

The items in the collection also spoke to his deep network of relationships with some of the fashion world’s biggest names. Over a dozen sketches and photos by the late Karl Lagerfed, as well as a signed watercolor portrait that Gianni Versace once made of Talley. The latter item sold for $37,500.

Talley was known not only for his love of fashion, but for his interest in art and culture. Two different Andy Warhol artworks (along with a Louis Vuitton luggage set) shared the title of the auction’s top seller, each fetching $94,500. Also among the big-ticket items was a Bradley Theodore portrait of former Vogue editor-in-chief Diana Vreeland that sold for just over $40,000. Several other photos of Vreeland appeared in the sale, as did an Annie Leibovitz photo of Vogue’s top gun Anna Wintour.

A brick red “Sleeping Bag” clutch coat by Norma Kamali fetched $25,200. Credit: Courtesy Christie’s Images

Elsewhere, a veritable miscellany of items went on sale to buyers from 47 countries, including travel clocks, amethyst geodes and a Vera Wang-designed silver cutlery set.

A portrait of former Vogue editor-in-chief Diana Vreeland, by artist Bradley Theodore, sold for just over $40,000. Credit: Courtesy Christie’s Images

The auction house said that proceeds from the sale will go toward two churches that “were close to Mr. Talley’s heart”: the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York and the Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church in Durham, North Carolina.

In a press statement, Christie’s head of private collections, Elizabeth Seigel, said the sale confirmed Talley’s “rarefied status within the fashion world and beyond.” The collection was, she added, “a testament to his impeccable taste.”

CNN
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Barcelona and Manchester United played a thrilling 2-2 draw at the Camp Nou in the first leg of their Europa League knockout playoff match, leaving the tie finely poised ahead of the second leg at Old Trafford.

In a fixture that fans are accustomed to seeing in the Champions League instead of the Europa League, the two teams nonetheless produced a brilliant night of European football.

Prior to kick off, managers Xavi and Erik ten Hag both said the match would be a test of each team’s progress under relatively new management and both will be pleased with the exciting attacking football their charges displayed. However, they will also rue the poor finishing that stopped either side from scoring more.

“In a game when you create five or seven chances you have to finish more,” Ten Hag said after the game.

“We should have won this game. We need to be more clinical, finish our chances. In such a game we created many chances and there is a disappointment that we did not finish them.”

After an open first half in which either side could have taken the lead, it was the home team who opened the scoring in the 50th minute when Marcos Alonso headed home from a corner. The former Chelsea man celebrated by honoring his father – a former Barça player – who passed away last week.

Just minutes later the match was level. Star forward Marcus Rashford finishing under keeper Marc-André ter Stegen from a tight angle.

Rashford was again involved as the Red Devils took the lead just before the hour mark. The England forward skipped past a defender before rifling in a cross that Bruno Fernandes cleverly back heeled in off Barça defender Jules Koundé.

United looked on its way to a famous first victory at the Camp Nou, but the Catalans struck back in the 76th minute. Raphinha’s whipped cross eluded both Robert Lewandowski and Raphaël Varane but in the confusion, it ghosted past David de Gea to set up a dramatic finish.

Both sides had a host of chances to find a winner, but neither could find the decisive touch, leaving both teams with a strong chance of going through when they meet again in a week’s time.

Barcelona will certainly be the more frustrated of the two after failing to win the home tie, and arguably the Catalans have more riding on the competition than its English opponent because of its continuing problems off the field.

The club’s dire financial state has been public knowledge for more than two years, while earlier this week it was revealed that the Barcelona Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the club over allegations it made $1.5 million in payments over three years to a company owned by a then-leading official with Spain’s referee committee, CTA.

Spanish radio station Cadena SER reported Wednesday that the club made a series of payments to a company owned by José María Enríquez Negreira between 2016 and 2018.

With mounting pressure off the field, Xavi will be desperate to show his team’s continued improvement on the pitch by progressing against United.

It is a far cry from when the two sides met in the Champions League Final almost 12 years ago, but the second leg at Old Trafford on February 23 will feel like a heavyweight European final.

CNN
 — 

The head of the US Environmental Protection Agency traveled to East Palestine, Ohio, on Thursday and said the agency plans to hold the train company Norfolk Southern accountable for its role in the derailment of a train carrying hazardous chemicals earlier this month.

Speaking to CNN’s Jason Carroll Thursday morning, EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said the agency has full authority to use its enforcement capabilities over the crisis.

“We issued a notice of accountability to the company, and they’ve signed that, indicating that they will be responsible for the cleanup,” Regan told CNN. “But as this investigation continues, and as new facts arise, let me just say, and be very clear, I will use the full enforcement authority of this agency, and so will the federal government, to be sure that this company is held accountable.”

The interview comes nearly two weeks after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, a town of under 5,000 people along the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. The derailment was followed by a dayslong blaze and the ordered evacuation of residents until local and state officials declared the air and water safe enough for people to return – about five days after the wreck.

State officials have repeatedly said water from the municipal system – which is pulled from five deep wells covered by solid steel casing – is safe to drink. However, the state’s EPA encouraged residents who get water from private wells to get that water tested, the governor’s office said.

Despite the assurances, a chemical odor lingered days afterward and officials estimate thousands of fish were killed by contamination washing down streams and rivers, fueling residents’ concerns about water and air safety.

Hundreds of East Palestine residents attended a town hall Wednesday night to express their frustrations and mounting distrust. The train operator had agreed to attend but later pulled out of the event due to safety concerns.

Regan visited the town Thursday and observed some of the remediation efforts following the hazardous train derailment. He said the state has primary responsibility over the scene but the EPA was prepared to partner and provide necessary resources.

“We are testing for the full breadth of toxic chemicals that were on that train that was spilled. We have the capabilities to detect every single adverse impact that would result from that spill, and that’s what we’re doing,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said Thursday he has requested the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention immediately send medical experts to East Palestine to evaluate and counsel community members with questions or health symptoms.

In anticipation of rainfall, emergency response teams have plans in place to prevent contaminants not yet removed from the derailment site from washing into local waterways during the storms, DeWine said in a statement.

The governor said a chemical plume of butyl acrylate in the Ohio River is currently located near Gallipolis, Ohio, and will be near Huntington, West Virginia, sometime tomorrow. Testing results indicate that the chemical is currently well below a level the CDC considers hazardous, he said. No vinyl chloride has been detected in the Ohio River, he added, though agencies will continue sampling river water out of an abundance of caution.

DeWine said the Ohio Department of Agriculture continues to assure Ohioans that its food supply is safe and the risk to livestock remains low following the train derailment.

Wednesday night’s town hall was filled with comments from frustrated residents unsure of their safety.

“Is it OK to still be here? Are my kids safe? Are the people safe? Is the future of this community safe?” East Palestine resident Lenny Glavan told reporters at the meeting. “We all know the severity of that question, and what’s at stake. Some people think they are downplaying; some people don’t think so – let’s find out.”

Further spurring residents’ questions about safety were crews’ decision to conduct controlled detonations February 6 of some of the tanks that were carrying toxic chemicals, including vinyl chloride that has the potential to kill at high levels and increase cancer risk.

The detonation essentially released those chemicals into the air, but officials said they didn’t have other viable options.

“There (were) two options: We either detonate those tanks, or they detonate themselves,” Mayor Trent Conaway told a group of reporters at Wednesday’s meeting. “Yes, harmful chemicals went into the air. I am truly sorry, but that is the only option we had. If we didn’t do that, then they were going to blow up, and we were going to have shrapnel all across this town.”

Conaway also expressed the need for assistance from the EPA.

“I need help,” Conaway told reporters Wednesday night. “I have the village on my back, and I’ll do whatever it takes … to make this right. I’m not leaving, I’m not going anywhere.”

During a Thursday news conference, Regan, the federal EPA administrator, said the community deserved answers.

“I want the community to know that we hear you, we see you, and that we will get to the bottom of this,” Regan said. “We are testing for all volatile organic chemicals, we’re testing for everything. We’re testing for everything that was on that train. So we feel comfortable that we are casting a net wide enough to present a picture that will protect the community.”

Regan added the federal agency “will be here as long as it takes to ensure the health and safety of this community.”

Representatives of the train’s operator, Norfolk Southern, planned on attending Wednesday night’s meeting to provide information to residents on how they’re responding to the chemical crisis. But the company backed out, citing threats against its employees.

“We have become increasingly concerned about the growing physical threat to our employees and members of the community around this event stemming from the increasing likelihood of the participation of outside parties,” the company said in a release.

Nate Velez, who said he lives less than half a mile from where the train derailed, told CNN on Wednesday night that the company’s absence from the meeting was “a slap in the face.”

Velez and his family are temporarily staying in rentals away from the town. He previously told CNN that when he visited the town Monday, a chemical odor left his eyes and throat burning, and gave him a nagging headache.

“Most people did not want to go home, but they had to. So, all the people who had to go home were complaining of smells, pains in their throat, headaches, sickness,” he said. “I have gone back a few times, and the smell does make you sick. It hurts your head.”

Regan, the EPA administrator, was also one of those frustrated by Norfolk Southern’s absence.

“I was extremely disappointed that they didn’t show up at the town hall meeting last night. The public deserves transparency,” he said. “The public deserves to have the latest information. And so it’s our job, as the federal government, to hold this company accountable, and I promise you we will.”

Thousands of fish found dead after Ohio train wreck, residents worried about water safety

Jami Cozza’s family has lived in East Palestine for generations near the contaminated creek, but right now she is staying at a hotel paid for by the railroad due to toxicity from the derailment.

Speaking to CNN’s Don Lemon, Cozza said the railroad company told her it was safe to return home after conducting air testing. However, she insisted the railroad company run soil and water tests, and only then did a toxicologist deem her house unsafe.

“Had I not used my voice, had I not thrown a fit, I would be sitting in that house right now, when they told me that it was safe,” Cozza said Thursday.

Cozza said she worried that not all residents are receiving the proper level of testing.

“My concern is how many of those kids are laying in their bed in East Palestine right now that are not safe,” she said. “I absolutely do not trust them.”

The railroad is providing hotel accommodations for her family and has offered to pay all of her moving expenses, according to Cozza.

“It’s not about the money. It’s about our house,” she said.

CNN
 — 

A Shreveport, Louisiana, police officer was arrested Thursday on a charge of negligent homicide in the fatal shooting earlier this month of Alonzo Bagley, an unarmed Black man, Louisiana State Police said.

Officer Alexander Tyler made his initial appearance in court, where a Louisiana State Police investigator told the judge that body camera footage shows that Bagley’s hands were up in the split second after the shot is fired. Investigators said no weapon was found on Bagley.

The officer acknowledged in court that the view from the body camera is obstructed by the way the officer is turned the moment the shot is fired.

Bagley, 43, was killed February 3 after officers responded to a domestic disturbance call at an apartment complex, according to police. When police arrived, Bagley jumped down from an apartment balcony and fled, and after a brief foot chase one officer fatally shot Bagley – who was later found to be unarmed, state police said.

Tyler’s attorney, Dhu Thompson, said he hopes the bodycam footage is reviewed “thoroughly and a decision is made based on facts and evidence.”

“Officers are always faced on a day-to-day basis with dangerous situations like that and at times where they have to make split-second decisions where they’re in a potential life-threatening situation,” Thompson said.

“The mere fact that an argument is being made by the investigator in court that he was unarmed does not necessarily mean that he is not a threat to the officer.”

Bagley’s family was shown the police video of the shooting Thursday morning, according to one of their attorneys. The state police then released what they said were the videos from each of the two officers’ body-worn cameras: one from Tyler and one from an unnamed officer.

The body camera video from the unnamed officer begins when the officers enter the apartment building, walk up stairs and knock, at which point Bagley opens the front door. The officers ask him to step out of his house and Bagley refuses.

The officers then follow Bagley into the house as he says he’s going to put the dogs away. Officers tell him to let someone else in the home do it and continue following him into a room, where he exits onto an outdoor balcony and jumps over the railing, landing on the ground below. The officer goes back through the apartment and then exits the building in pursuit of Bagley, running on foot.

The pursuit lasts about a minute. According to the state police statement on Thursday, it was Tyler who then comes upon Bagley.

A shot is heard as Bagley is shot in the chest. He slowly falls to the ground and says, “Oh no! Oh, God, you shot me.”

According to state police, Tyler “inadvertently” turned off his camera and then turned it back on “within one second” after he fired the shot that killed Bagley.

After Tyler fired the shot, his body-cam video shows Tyler walking back over to Bagley, gun in hand. The other officer turns Bagley on his back as he begins first aid and calls for EMS.

Tyler is audibly distraught, saying, “Come on, dude,” and “Stay with me,” as the other officer performs chest compressions. The other officer is heard telling Tyler to go to the front of the building, which he does as first responders arrive.

Xavier Sudds, Bagley’s brother, told CNN what he saw on the police video less than an hour after watching it for the first time.

Sudds said his brother’s “hands were up” at the time of the shooting – though it is difficult to tell from the video released Thursday. “He was not threatening in any kind of way,” Sudds said of his brother.

Watching the video, he was at first confused, then angry, Sudds told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

“That’s just from not understanding… why did a domestic call turn deadly?” Sudds said. “I think at this point, the only thing I’m wondering is just, you know, the procedure, the procedure. Why did it happen like it happened?”

The state police investigator told the court Thursday that Tyler had his weapon out during the chase, while the other officer holstered his weapon when Bagley jumped from the balcony.

Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux, who opened a Thursday afternoon news conference with a prayer, expressed his regret for not contacting Bagley’s family in the days after the shooting and said he had learned from the experience.

“It was hard for me to watch,” the mayor said of the video of the shooting. “And I’m sure it was excruciating for the family to watch. It is heartbreaking for the family and all concerned. This is the kind of experience I hope no one has to endure.”

Arceneaux added, “Now is the time for all of us to begin the healing process. We should surround the family with our love, support and prayers.”

Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith said the relatively new officer’s disciplinary history “had not reached the level where early warning systems” would have brought him to the attention of superiors. Policy violations involving Tyler included one for violence against a suspect, the chief said at the news conference, which was also attended by members of the city council.

Earlier Thursday, Ronald Haley, an attorney for the family, held a news conference with community activists and Bagley family members. Haley praised the rapid arrest of the officer and the release of the video.

Haley said Tyler had 66 seconds after Bagley fled to take non-lethal action.

“A short flight takes place but flight is not a death sentence,” Haley said. “Flight does not mean shoot to kill. Flight does not mean judge, jury and executioner and that’s what happened here.”

Sudds told reporters, “I want Alonzo’s death to mean something at the end of the day. And I know that it will happen and I appreciate everybody’s condolences and prayers but none of that compares to the pain that I’m feeling, the pain that my mom is feeling… That’s going to linger for a while, for a long time.”

Haley highlighted the Louisiana State Police’s swift action in the case and the importance of the body camera footage on CNN’s AC360°.

“If we don’t have this body camera footage, we just have this officer’s word. And we likely do not have an arrest today and this family would be burying their loved one with the cloud of uncertainty,” he said.

After the shooting, Smith said his “heart bled” and the department will “do our very best to make sure that it doesn’t occur again.” He urged the community to “remain patient.”

Bagley’s shooting death occurred about a month after the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, by Memphis officers during a traffic stop that reignited a national conversation about police use of force against people of color, particularly Black Americans.

Bagley had previously sued the police department, alleging excessive force, according to a lawsuit obtained by CNN.

Tyler, on the force since May 2021, was on paid administrative leave as state police investigated the incident, which included reviewing the officer’s body worn camera.

His arrest was based on the findings of the investigators and coordinated with the Caddo Parish District Attorney’s Office, according to a police statement.

Tyler’s bond was set at $25,000; his next court date is April 3. Before the arrest, Tyler declined to comment to CNN about the incident.

Bagley’s funeral will be Saturday.

Documents show Bagley had a previous run-in with Shreveport police, years before he was killed.

Twelve months after Shreveport police allegedly assaulted Bagley during an arrest in January 2018, he filed a federal lawsuit against the department.

Bagley required “treatment of a broken occipital orbital eye-socket bones, contusions to the head and face, and a number of his front upper teeth knocked out,” the suit says.

During the 2018 incident, officers responded to a domestic dispute between Alonzo and his wife, the complaint states.

Bagley was put into handcuffs that “were placed too tightly” on him and he “maneuvered his hands to the front of his body due to the pain and discomfort of being handcuffed behind his back in the back passenger portion of an SPD (Shreveport Police Department) patrol car,” the suit said.

According to the court filing, Bagley “was not attempting and did not attempt to escape but only rearranged himself out of the painful position he was in.”

One police officer then opened the door and “delivered forceful and several close-fisted strikes to the head and face” and a second officer did not stop the assault, the suit says. Bagley was handcuffed the entire time and offered no resistance, the lawsuit says.

In response to the complaint, the city said that one of its officers did open the door of the patrol car, but was assisting Bagley because he was “attempting to strangle or choke himself with the seatbelt.”

The city went on to say the officer did strike Bagley’s “head and facial area when Plaintiff (Bagley) covered his head with his arms and prevented Officer Kolb from removing the seatbelt and removing Plaintiff from the vehicle.”

It is unclear what the resolution was on the lawsuit.

An attorney who represented Bagley in the case did not return calls from CNN seeking comment.

Bagley was charged with domestic abuse battery and resisting an officer related to the incident. The domestic abuse charge was dismissed, and he pleaded guilty in February 2018 to the charge of resisting an officer, according to court records.

CNN has requested comment from the police department, and filed an open records request with the city to find out more about the 2018 incident.

Tyler was not with the department when the 2018 incident occurred.

Bagley’s family has sued Tyler, seeking more than $10 million in damages, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court. The lawsuit alleges that the office violated Alonzo Bagley’s Fourth Amendment rights.

Louisiana State Police said the case is still under investigation.

Asked for his response to the charge of negligent homicide against Tyler, Bagley’s brother said: “My immediate response is, ‘OK, that’s fine,’ but it doesn’t stop there. It can’t stop there. We have to make sure that my brother’s death is not in vain. We have to make sure have transparency, to make sure that we have justice.”