A man has been sent to the hospital after a late-night stabbing in Norfolk Monday.
According to Norfolk police, officers were dispatched to 871 N. Military Highway, a strip mall in the Military Circle area, just before 11 p.m. At the scene, a man was located with life-threatening injuries, and he was transported to the hospital.
At this time, police have not released information about potential suspects or what may have led to the stabbing. Anyone with information is asked to call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.
A former Lakewood-based Army National Guard recruiter whose crimes were called “sadistic” and “indescribably cruel” by the judge who sentenced him Monday will spend 10 years in prison for the sexual abuse of a minor.
Joshua Carl Harrod, 44, of Spanaway was charged in July 2021 and pleaded guilty in October 2023.
Before he was a recruiter, Harrod was an Air Force special agent at Joint Base Lewis-McChord where the molestation took place. That made it a federal crime.
Between October 2017 and April 2018, Harrod sexually molested a young child who had been left in his care, according to court records. Harrod left the Air Force in 2018 and then worked as a recruiter.
U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle ordered Harrod to be on lifetime supervised release.
“The consequences of many crimes before me do not have the impact that this one does … Victims of these crimes carry with them a life sentence,” Settle said.
The case was investigated by the FBI, the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, JBLM’s Military Police Investigations, the Lakewood Police Department and the Washington State Patrol.
Wednesday morning’s memorial service for Lowcountry tow truck operator and Marine veteran Eric “PK” Albertson brought more than 150 mourners from differing walks of life to Beaufort National Cemetery. Those that attended represented the various and rich aspects of his life including his wife and three children, friends, Marines, motorcycle enthusiasts and fellow tow operators.
Albertson was killed on December 27, 2023, by a hit and run driver while he was on the job for A-1 Towing providing assistance on Frontage Road just north of Ridgeland. The person responsible for his death has not yet been identified by law enforcement.
Roadside Angel Towing owner Edwin GaNun, of Walterboro, S.C., shared that he interacted with Albertson while on the job. “He was always happy, down to business and he didn’t play around.”
GaNun turned out with one of over three dozen tow trucks, in addition to over 40 motorcycles that lined Robert Small Parkway in front of Copeland funeral home. Albertson’s wishes were that he took a “last ride” as all of the vehicles formed a processional to Beaufort Cemetery, where he received full military honors. He served as a Marine for 12 years, and was preparing his son to enter the military.
Many in attendance wore sweatshirts honoring Albertson on the front while offering a reminder of the South Carolina Move Over law on the back. Their message was clear: more needs to be done to protect tow truck operators as they respond to calls on or near dangerous roadways and intersections.
Tammie Davids, co-owner of A-1 Towing, said that Albertson was one of the company’s best drivers and that their company makes safety a top priority including holding monthly meetings that focus on operator safety. “We do what we can to make sure our operators are lit up like Christmas with the neon reflective material on their clothing.”
Her husband, and co-owner, Bobby Davids fears that passing motorists have become desensitized to the warning lights on tow trucks. “The blue and red lights are synonymous with fire, police and EMS. Everyone has a tendency to respect those,” Davids explained, “the problem with the orange, yellow, and white lights is that folks are used to seeing them on other vehicles such as in construction zones and they don’t garner the same level of respect.”
“I add extra lights but it still does not slow them down,” GaNun added.
Mrs. Davids said, “There is no respect, patience, empathy or compassion, and because of that, this man lost his life. There needs to be better walls of protection.” Currently, violation of the Move Over law in South Carolina carries a minimum fine of $300, and a maximum of $500.
Albertson’s father in law, George Romer, said of the hit-and-run driver, ” I don’t know how you can run somebody over and keep going. They need to do the right thing.”
According to a spokesman from the South Carolina State Patrol, there have been no leads in who was responsible for Albertson’s death. The agency has released a description of a vehicle as a dark metallic gray Chevrolet Trailblazer with a damaged headlight and grill that was last seen traveling north on West Frontage towards SC 462.
Anyone with information is asked to call the SCHP at 843-953-6010, or 800-768-1501.
The man suspected of targeting the University of Minnesota with deadly threats to students has been located and contained, the school said early Thursday afternoon.
An all clear was sent out in a campuswide alert, which noted that the Sheriff’s Office in Chippewa County, where the man lives, in Watson, “has located the suspect and [has] him contained. TC campus can resume normal operations.”
The man’s threats turned out to be fake and he did not travel to the Twin Cities campus, according to University spokesman Jake Ricker. The campus resumed its normal operations Thursday afternoon.
The notice did not explain what led to the man being found or elaborate on his containment.
A police car waits on campus at the University of Minnesota after receiving deadly threats by a man saying he was going to target the U on Thursday in Minneapolis (Angelina Katsanis/Star Tribune/TNS)
Ricker told the Star Tribune, “My understanding is Chippewa County sheriff’s [deputies] have this individual surrounded in his home.”
As the apparent standoff continued into the afternoon, the man went back on the same Facebook page where the threats were posted and wrote, “I know your [sic] not leaving…. hope you don’t just get the presidents secret service here.”
He posted a picture of an armored SWAT vehicle outside his window just before 1 p.m.
The string of safety alerts began about 7:20 a.m., with the university saying its police were joining with other agencies to have additional officers on campus in the wake of the social media threats.
A second alert soon afterward said that all campus operations would proceed normally, but employees were encouraged to work remotely. Students initially did not receive the same direction to avoid campus. Shortly after 10 a.m., an alert included that students also should not come to campus.
A final alert around 1 p.m. confirmed that police found the man inside his home in Watson, about 135 miles west of the Twin Cities, and were working to arrest him.
Chippewa County Sheriff Derek Olson said the man, who is a former mayor of a small town in his county and still lives there, made a flurry of threatening posts on Facebook that started Wednesday. The Sheriff’s Office then notified the university of the postings.
Olson added he had deputies “staged at the [man’s] residence” should he show up there. The sheriff said relatives of the man were at the home as well.
“Public Safety has received a specific threat to shoot persons on the TC campus …” the initial university safety notice read.
The alert identified the suspected sender by name and described him as 41 years old, 6 feet tall, 195 pounds and having brown hair and hazel eyes. The alert did not disclose his ethnicity. Olson also identified the man by name and added that he is white.
The Star Tribune is not reporting his name, because he has yet to be charged in connection with this allegation.
“I’m not aware of any specific individual or location involved with these threats, beyond the general threat of gun violence at the Twin Cities campus,” Ricker said. “I’m also not immediately aware of any connections [the suspect] has to the university. That’s not to say there is none, but at this time I’m not aware of any.”
The notice did not offer any specifics about the threat or how it was communicated, but Olson told the Star Tribune that the suspect went on an hours-long threat-filled rant on his landscape company’s Facebook page. Some of the postings included a specific family as an intended target.
“Here we go AMERICA,” the last of his many postings read. “I am heading out … to the U of M Minneapolis mn to start killing kids. … if I can’t get the USA military to [come] talk to me face to face then I’m going for it to try defend your freedom America. … I may have been played … on this brain reading technology but today I find out for sure.”
The posting then warned, “IM COMING FOR YA KIDS AND ITS GOING TO GET BLOODY.”
A previous posting from the man also made a threat against Iranian students, saying, “If this government don’t have the total lock down of ALL university’s of Minnesota by this morning sun up watch out PARENTS … Kids will die for real amongst them u of m students.”
Other postings from the man made explicit threats to Sheriff Olson, and Chippewa County judges Thomas Van Hon and Keith Helgeson. In 2016, Van Hon ordered the man civilly committed for six months as mentally ill and chemically dependent.
Court records show that the man has a criminal history in Minnesota that includes convictions for burglary, theft, drunken driving and illicit drug possession.
In 2021, the man was convicted of burglary for driving a tractor through the narthex of a Lutheran church in his home town, where he was elected mayor in 2012. A police officer went inside and found the man on the altar wrapped in a blanket, the criminal complaint read.
A judge gave him 15 months in prison, but set aside the sentence, order him jailed for 30 days and put him on probation for five years.
In 2016, the man was sentenced to nine months in jail after pleading guilty to burglarizing the home of a man who followed him as mayor. The deal also dismissed charges from when he allegedly fired a rifle through the sunroof of his truck while he was “trying to get away from the corpses that were after him,” according to court documents.
The U.S. Department of Education wrote in a report released in September that “active shooter incidents represent a small subset of the possible gun violence or serious violent incidents that occur at schools,”
The department recorded 18 such incidents at colleges between 2000 and 2021, though researchers noted that many schools moved online in 2020 while responding to the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The U.S. wants Ukraine to sharpen its plan for fighting Russia’s invasion as the war heads into its third year and is expected to raise the issue with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Davos next week.
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is likely to bring up the topic with the Ukrainian leader on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum and American officials will continue to push the point in the coming weeks, according to people familiar with the planning who asked not to be identified to discuss matters that aren’t public.
Washington’s effort is the latest sign of friction between Ukraine and its most important ally. More than $110 billion in European and U.S. aid for Kyiv remains held up and Ukraine’s counteroffensive last year – heavily backed by U.S. and European arms and training – failed to deliver a major breakthrough.
Officials in Washington are concerned differences between Zelenskyy and his army chief, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, are slowing efforts to crystallize a new strategy, the people said.
Spokespeople for the White House National Security Council declined to comment.
Zelenskyy warned Wednesday that allied hesitancy “only increases Russia’s courage and strength.” Speaking in Lithuania, he warned that air defenses are running short as Russia has stepped up missile strikes in recent weeks.
Allied officials remain hopeful the aid may be released by next month, the people said, though there’s no sign of a deal in Washington yet.
Ukraine’s military is currently developing plans for 2024 and a full range of options are under consideration, one of the people said. The U.S. wants to determine how it can best align its support to help Ukraine defend itself in the coming year, the person added.
Zelenskyy, who is on a trip to NATO’s three Baltic states, ruled out on Thursday any pause in fighting as it would give Russia the opportunity to replenish its troops and military stockpiles, enabling it to strike with greater force. With a decisive breakthrough unlikely in the coming months, Kyiv’s allies say designing a clear military strategy for how to defend current positions and then break through Russian lines is crucial.
Kyiv Tensions
Tensions between Zelenskyy and his military chief emerged in November when Zaluzhnyi publicly described the war as having reached a stalemate, irritating the president, who has repeatedly pledged to drive Russian forces from his territory. Zaluzhnyi later walked back the comments, but stresses have remained despite official assertions the leadership is unified.
The two have been at odds over the need to lower the draft age in order to rebuild the ranks of the military, where losses have been heavy.
In December, Zaluzhnyi criticized the slow pace of conscription after Zelenskyy delayed signing a bill that would have lowered the recruitment age. The cabinet has since submitted a new draft bill to parliament. Zelenskyy has indicated that Ukraine’s military leaders have asked to mobilize as many as 500,000 people.
Lawmakers discussing the draft bill this week sent it back to the cabinet on Thursday together with their proposals, David Arakhamiya, a member of parliament from Zelenskyy’s party, said on Telegram.
“We understand the request of the military leadership and we are ready to play ball. All political forces understand and support the need of mobilization.” Arakhamiya said. “But not everything can be backed as some articles violate human rights, some are not formulated in the best way.” No time frame was given for when the draft law will be re-submitted to parliament.
To be sure, Kyiv’s efforts to make progress on the front lines have in part been hampered by the slow delivery of key supplies, such as longer-range missiles and fighter jets, and some allied states are falling short in fulfilling pledges they made to provide Ukraine with more weapons and artillery ammunition.
In recent weeks, Russia has fired some of its largest missile barrages of the war. Russian President Vladimir Putin may become even bolder once the formality of his reelection is out of the way in March, according to an assessment by one Group of Seven member.
Ukraine’s air defenses, in particular, depend on steady supplies from western allies.
Aid Stalled
The U.S. and its G-7 allies are also working with Ukraine to finalize longer term bilateral security commitments, which they’re hoping to conclude in the next month, the people said.
The Biden administration’s request for $61 billion in aid to Ukraine for this year has been stalled for months amid Republican opposition in Congress, including calls for more clarity on Ukraine’s plans for keeping up the fight.
“We need to know what their plan is and I’m sure that’s what the administration is pushing for as well,” Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst said Wednesday. “They can’t clearly speak to what winning looks like.”
The U.S. and Ukraine have differed on military strategy before. American officials would have preferred Ukraine focus last year’s counteroffensive on concentrated efforts to punch through Russian lines in southern Ukraine rather than stretch its resources across a larger front.
Kyiv – and some other allies – believe Ukraine’s approach of working to wear down Russian forces and supplies was the right one, given that it didn’t have air cover and would have struggled to sustain the losses that attacking without it would have caused.
A former Compton gang leader charged with orchestrating the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur can be released on $750,000 bail and placed under house arrest with electronic monitoring pending a June trial, a Clark County, Nevada, judge decided Tuesday.
Court-appointed lawyers for Duane “Keffe D” Davis had sought his release on his own recognizance or a reasonable bail, citing the 60-year-old former gang leader was in poor health after battling cancer, which is currently in remission.
After the hearing, a member of Davis’ legal team told reporters: “We believe he can” post bail.
Davis, an admitted “shot caller” for the Compton Southside Crips, was arrested in late September in connection with Shakur’s slaying. The arrest came two months after Las Vegas police served a search warrant at his home in Henderson, Nev. He has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge and has remained jailed without bail since.
Prosecutors had sought to keep Davis behind bars, arguing he was a threat to witnesses in the case.
In an October recording of a phone call by Davis from the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas, prosecutors say Davis’ son told the defendant about a “green light” authorization.
“In (Davis’) world, a ‘green light’ is an authorization to kill,” prosecutors Marc DiGiacomo and Binu Palal told Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny in the court document.
The court filing made no reference to Davis instructing anyone to harm someone or anyone being physically harmed, but prosecutors say at least one witness was provided assistance from federal authorities “so he could change his residence.”
Davis’ legal team told the judge that their client never threatened anyone. “Duane’s son was saying he heard there was a greenlight on Duane’s family,” Davis’ attorneys wrote in seeking bail.
Prosecutors say Davis, who was indicted by a grand jury on a charge of murder with a firearm, didn’t pull the trigger but provided the gun and encouraged the killing as revenge for a beating that his nephew Orlando Anderson had received at the hands of Shakur, Death Row Records head Marion “Suge” Knight and others affiliated with the Mob Piru Bloods at the MGM Grand Hotel.
Knight was driving Shakur in a BMW near the Las Vegas Strip when a white Cadillac pulled alongside them and a gunman opened fire, according to police and court records. Knight and Davis are the only living witnesses to the killing.
Authorities have said some of the most compelling evidence against Davis comes from the suspect himself.
Davis identified Anderson as the shooter in 2008 when he finally talked to authorities with the protection of a proffer from the Los Angeles Police Department and the FBI, meaning his statements could not be used against him. In that interview, then-LAPD Det. Greg Kading asked whether Anderson, a.k.a. Baby Lane, had pulled the trigger.
Shakur “leaned over, and Orlando rolled down the window and popped him,” Davis replied. “If they would have drove on my side, I would have popped them. But they was on the other side.”
When Kading and the LAPD’s Daryl Dupree interviewed Davis in December 2008, they were seeking to solve the 1997 slaying of rapper Christopher Wallace, or “The Notorious B.I.G.,” also known as Biggie Smalls. The proffer information could not be used to charge Davis, but his statements since were part of the evidence presented to the grand jury this year.
A woman has been sentenced for fatally striking a 28-year-old man in downtown Puyallup after she got behind the wheel after drinking at a Halloween party in 2021.
Cheryl Anise Johnson, 64, pleaded guilty on May 4, 2023, for vehicular homicide and felony driving under the influence, which resulted in the death of Mark Matthew Burnett of Puyallup. Johnson struck Burnett on Oct. 30, 2021, at the intersection of West Main Street and North Meridian Avenue, court records show.
A Pierce County Superior Court judge sentenced Johnson to 27 months in prison on Friday. She will also serve 12 months in community custody, according to court documents.
Johnson had no prior criminal history in Pierce County before the incident, court records show.
Details of the incident
Prior to the collision, Johnson was at a Halloween party on the Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Johnson told a Puyallup Police Department officer that she took a few shots at her son’s house on the military base. The collision occurred about 11 p.m. as she was driving home. A witness said that the driver went through a green light at the intersection when she struck Burnett, who had been standing just off a crosswalk, according to charging documents.
Johnson was driving about 40-45 mph. Police said the speed limit was 25 mph in the area. Johnson was arrested on suspicion of DUI, after a breathalyzer showed her blood-alcohol content was 0.18, above the legal limit of 0.08, charging documents show.
When police arrived, Johnson was standing by her vehicle and appeared distraught. Officers asked if she was OK, and she allegedly replied, “He just jumped out. I didn’t mean to hit him,” charging documents show.
Witnesses were performing life-saving measures on Burnett before medical personnel arrived. He was taken to St. Joseph Medical Center in critical condition. Burnett died from his injuries about two weeks later on Nov. 14, according to the probable cause document.
Johnson was taken to MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital to have her blood drawn that night, court records show. Puyallup police Capt. Ryan Portmann said that Johnson was released the same night after being processed at the hospital, according to a previous News Tribune report.
Johnson’s sentencing
Johnson has two adult children and a stepson. She moved from Colorado to Washington in 2021 to be closer to her son’s family in Puyallup, according to the sentencing memorandum.
Johnson’s attorney wrote in the memorandum that following the fatal crash in 2021, she took steps to maintain sobriety. She attended Alcohol and Drug Information School and a DUI victim’s panel. Johnson also obtained a Substance Use Disorder Assessment at a state-certified treatment agency.
Johnson maintained her sobriety since completing treatment and does not plan to ever using alcohol again. She wants to continue to share her story with others with the goal of preventing similar incidents in the future, her attorney wrote.
“The impact to Mark Burnett and his family cannot be underestimated, and there is not even a day — or even hour — that goes by that [Johnson] does not reflect on the loss she caused,” her attorney wrote.
More details are emerging about the life of a California woman found dead in a chest freezer shortly before Christmas.
On Dec. 22, police said they were called to a home on the 4900 block of Zion Avenue. There, they were met by “out-of-town family” who allegedly made a grisly discovery: the remains of a dead person “inside of a chest freezer.” Last week, San Diego police and the medical examiner’s office identified the body in the freezer as Mary Margaret Haxby-Jones. Detectives think she lived at the residence where her body was found, although she may have been “missing or dead up for up to nine years.” She would have been 81 at the time her remains were discovered.
According to a report in the LA Times, the woman was “estranged” from family and worked as a nurse anesthetist at Zion Medical Center in San Diego from 1980 until 1999. A anonymous family member who spoke with the Times said Haxby-Jones was former military and “rescued exotic birds.” The family member, related by marriage, was under the impression that Haxby-Jones had no living blood relatives.
As the LA Times noted, a “U.S. Army Retired” sticker can be seen on a red car parked in Haxby-Jones’ driveway; a truck next to it also has a military sticker on the back windshield.
The medical examiner’s office is still determining a cause of death, but the police department said in a statement that there was “no obvious traumatic injury” found. “Detectives are interested in speaking with anyone that may have known her or have relevant information about her,” the department said in a statement. Detectives have been tight-lipped so far on if anyone else lived in the home with Haxby-Jones and the circumstances around the other family members’ visit.
A San Diego Police Department suspicious death investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact SDPD’s homicide unit at 619-531-2293 or call Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is believed to have turned 40 years old, though the milestone was not publicly acknowledged in the secretive country.
Kim’s birthday has never been revealed to the public, but if speculators are correct, he celebrated the event on Monday, the same day official pictures were released of him visiting a chicken farm with his daughter.
According to BBC News, the birthdays of his father Kim Jong Il (Feb. 16) and grandfather Kim Il Sung (April 15) are celebrated as national holidays in North Korea. Kim, who took over as supreme leader in 2011, has not celebrated his birthday publicly like his predecessors, whose birthdays are notable for great fanfare and military parades.
Why Kim’s birthday has remained a secret is not known.
In January 2020, North Korean officials thanked then-President Donald Trump for his birthday wishes for Kim but didn’t specify which day.
Around the same time in 2014, basketball player Dennis Rodman sang “Happy Birthday” to Kim in front of a crowd of thousands before an exhibition basketball game in Pyongyang. That remains the only public honoring of Kim’s birthday.
There are a number of theories as to why Kim hides his birthday, such as criticism that he’s still too young for his position and and his lack of accomplishments, according to The Associated Press. Some think it’s possible he does not want to draw unwanted attention to his deceased mother, who was born in Japan — a country North Korea distrusts.
However, that all may change in the future.
Kim Jong Il’s birthday reportedly became an official holiday when he turned 40 in 1982, but Kim Il Sung’s birthday became a holiday when he turned 56 in 1968.
Taiwan issued an air raid alert over a Chinese satellite launch, an event that caused some anxiety days before a pivotal presidential election.
The Defense Ministry in Taipei sent out the warning, accompanied by a shrill alarm ringing across the island, to mobile phones around 3 p.m. Tuesday. It cautioned the public about possible debris tumbling from the sky.
“If any unidentified objects are found, please report that to the police and fire department,” it said.
While China’s satellite launches have traveled high above Taiwan in the past, the latest episode raises concern it could be part of Beijing’s efforts to bully the island’s voters just days before Saturday’s election. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen warned in November that the democracy of some 23 million people faces “mounting military intimidation, gray-zone campaigns, cyber attacks and information manipulation” from China.
Taiwan’s national security officials determined there was no political motive behind China’s decision to launch a satellite just a few days before the election, the Presidential Office in Taipei said in a statement late Tuesday.
Beijing has refused to hold talks with Tsai during her nearly eight years in power because she doesn’t acknowledge Taiwan is a part of China. It’s also held major military drills around the island it claims as part of its territory twice since August 2022 because Tsai met top U.S. lawmakers.
And it’s ratcheted up economic and diplomatic pressure on her government, for example by convincing nations to switch official recognition to Beijing.
Last week, China sent a flurry of weather balloons over Taiwan. The Taiwanese military would take countermeasures if the aircraft pose a serious danger to lives and property, Defense Ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fang said, the semi-official Central News Agency reported Tuesday.
Sun didn’t say exactly what moves the island could take but in 2022 its military started downing drones that approached its offshore islands.
The alert on Tuesday came as Chinese state media said a Long March 2C rocket carrying a satellite was sent up from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
“The satellite successfully entered its predetermined orbit, and the launch mission was a complete success,” the state broadcaster said.
The English text in Taiwan’s alert called the object that traveled over the island “a missile,” phrasing that added to the initial anxiety. The Defense Ministry in Taipei later apologized for the “imprecise” choice of words.
The island will choose its next leader on Saturday as Tsai steps down due to term limits.
The vote will determine the direction of cross-strait ties for years. If the ruling DPP wins, the U.S. would retain a willing partner in its efforts to push back against China, straining ties with President Xi Jinping’s government. A victory by one of the challengers could de-escalate tensions with Beijing.
