Violent Venezuelan gang infiltrates every major city in Tennessee



The vicious Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua has infiltrated every major city in Tennessee, according to state officials.

TDA has been tied to criminal activity across the United States, including apartment takeovers in Aurora, Colorado, and violent crimes in New York City and Dallas, Texas. Thus far, the gang has primarily, but not exclusively, focused on expanding its presence in sanctuary jurisdictions, where local law enforcement agencies are forbidden to cooperate with federal immigration officials.

'They will not hesitate to attack their opponents in public and in broad daylight.'

During a budget meeting this week, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation director David Rausch warned Governor Bill Lee (R) that TDA has recently become a growing threat in the state.

According to Rausch, the gang started to appear in Tennessee two years ago, but its influence has substantially expanded over the past few months. He noted that TDA is active in Memphis and Nashville.

"We first saw them a couple years ago where we uncovered a group here in a human trafficking operation," Rausch explained. "We recognized a number of the members here trafficking females that they had abducted from Venezuela and brought them here."

The bureau successfully captured several individuals involved in the illicit operation, but "many of them fled" out of Tennessee, Rausch said.

"Now what we are seeing is they are back. They are back in all of our major cities," he declared.

When TDA arrives in a new area, it starts by running trafficking operations, then expands into other criminal activities, including organized retail theft and drug trafficking, Rausch told Lee.

He expressed concerns about TDA's brazenness and its targeting of cartel members.

"They will, and they have taken on the cartel head-on, and they're very violent in their efforts," Rausch continued. "They will not hesitate to attack their opponents in public and in broad daylight."

"Recently, there was a video that they shot where they shot an individual, a cartel member, 31 times. Broad daylight, on video, and posted it to social media," he stated.

Rausch did not share how many TDA gang members he believes are in the state but noted that "they're in numbers here."

According to Straight Arrow News, the Knoxville Police Department is unaware of any TDA activity in the area.

The Department of Homeland Security has reportedly identified more than 600 individuals in the U.S. with ties to TDA, Blaze News previously reported. The federal government has confirmed the gang's activity in at least 15 states, and it may have expanded to another eight.

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Knoxville-based ISIS booster convicted by federal jury



Benjamin Carpenter, 31, of Knoxville, Tennessee, was convicted on Oct. 19 of attempting to provide material support to ISIS.

A federal jury learned in court that Carpenter ran Ahlut-Tawhid Publications, a glorified fan club for ISIS dedicated to supporting the terrorist organization's international propaganda efforts. Under the alias "Abu Hamza," Carpenter published and generated a great deal of ISIS content.

Carpenter produced a weekly newsletter entitled "From Dabiq to Rome," wherein he celebrated the murder of American soldiers, idolized suicide bombers, and called for jihad against the U.S. and its allies.

According to Miron Lakomy, a political science professor at the University of Silesia in Poland, Carpenter's newsletter amounted to an "ambitious, but somewhat unsophisticated attempt" to make up for two other flagship ISIS magazines after their publication runs came to an end. Over 30 editions of the newsletter were published.

The articles contained in the newsletters reportedly drew heavily from the Quran and Hadith. One article ended with a promise to fight jihadists' enemies "until everyone submits to the din of Allah (...) and complies with its rules and surrenders to its authority."

Carpenter identified Israeli politicians as potential targets.

Paul Kamolnick, an East Tennessee State University professor specializing in terrorism and religion, told WBIR-TV, "The words that are used [in the newsletters] are extraordinarily dehumanizing. ... It gives you a clear conscience in destroying people who you believe to be the enemy of God."

Social media messages presented in court reportedly showed Carpenter also sending the U.S. Army Munitions Handbook to foreign nationals along with a review, which said, "This book contains more info than you would ever think would be legal to buy on Amazon."

The Department of Justice indicated that in 2020 and in 2021, Carpenter contacted an individual who he believed to be a terrorist affiliated with ISIS' central media bureau. Carpenter then provided translation services for a project with the aim of relaunching Al-Hayat Media Center, ISIS' foreign-language propaganda outfit.

Court documents indicate that a covert FBI official had posed as someone from ISIS' media organization Diwan and flushed Carpenter out with fulfilled requests for translation services. Carpenter was arrested shortly thereafter on March 24, 2021, reported Courthouse News Service.

Carpenter faces 20 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release. U.S. District Court Judge Katherine Crytzer will preside over his sentencing at a later date.

Knoxville man suspected of helping ISIS makes his case in federal courtyoutu.be

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Police 'had no respect for human life,' family says; graphic video shows Lisa Edwards' desperate pleas for help



Family members are distraught after bodycam footage shows Lisa Edwards' desperate pleas for help while in Knoxville Police Department custody, WATE and other outlets reported Friday.

"They treated her like she was trash," said a tearful Tim Boylan, Lisa Edwards' son, in a heart-wrenching interview on WVLT.

Lisa Edwards, age 60, went to Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center on February 5 after falling ill on a flight, WATE reported. When she refused to leave after the hospital released her, security guards called the Knoxville Police Department to arrest her. In the course of the arrest, Edwards became unresponsive. Officers brought her back inside the hospital where she was placed on life support and died of an ischemic stroke the following day.

What did the bodycam footage show?

"I'm going to have a stroke," 60-year-old Lisa Edwards says, her words slurred, as she is seen slumped on the ground near a police van on February 5. "I'm going to die."

"I know it's all an act," one officer says, responding to Edwards' pleas as they arrest her for trespassing after she refused to leave Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center, where she died the next day.

When Edwards tells the officers she can't breathe and asks for a stretcher, officers' comments, caught on the bodycam footage, suggest they don't believe her. One offers her a cigarette.

"This is the Lord's Day. All I want to do is get me some coffee and some oatmeal. I'm not going to deal with your mess this morning," an officer tells Edwards.

After they eventually got Edwards into a cruiser, she became unresponsive. An officer says, "I don't know if she's faking it or what, but she's not answering."

At that point, officers took her back inside the hospital. Edwards was placed on life support and died of an ischemic stroke the next day.

How are family members responding?

"I can't believe she was treated the way she was. I just can't wrap my mind around it," said Tim Boylan, Lisa Edwards' son.

"I just want people to remember her as a loving, caring person," he added.

"The security guards were saying all kinds of stuff that’s not true about her. She did not deserve to be treated like that. Nobody does."

"It's the worst thing I've ever seen in my life," said August Boylan, Lisa Edwards' daughter-in-law in the interview with WVLT. "There's no way anybody is not going to look at this footage and think about if that was their loved one."

"The police officers may not have done anything intentionally criminal to cause anything to happen to her, but they definitely were negligent and had no respect for human life, any basic needs, anything," August Boylan told WATE.

What is the current status of the officers involved?

"To put the liability on the city of Knoxville for this lady's death is going to be a bit of a stretch because police officers are not trained to be EMTs," Dennis Francis, an attorney who represents police officers, told WBIR.

The Knox County District Attorney's Office announced that no criminal charges will be filed in connection with Edwards' death, WATE reported.

The Knoxville Police Department released an unlisted video on YouTube Thursday showing "relevant police video footage from the February 5, 2023 arrest of 60-year-old Lisa Edwards." TheBlaze cautions viewers that the portions of the footage contain graphic content that may be disturbing.

Critical Incident Video Release: Arrest of Lisa Edwards (February 5, 2023) youtu.be

Watch WBIR's coverage of recent developments in Lisa Edwards' case below.

'We want to know what happened' | 60-year-old woman dies after becoming unresponsive in KPD custody youtu.be

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Breaking: Police report 'multiple' gunshot victims, including officer, at Knoxville high school



Police in Knoxville, Tennessee, say "multiple" victims have been shot, including a Knoxville Police Department officer, at Austin-East Magnet High School.

What are the details?

The Knoxville Police Department tweeted Monday afternoon, "Multiple agencies are on the scene of a shooting at Austin-East Magnet High School. Multiple gunshot victims reported, including a KPD officer. The investigation remains active at this time. Please avoid the area."

Multiple agencies are on the scene of a shooting at Austin-East Magnet High School. Multiple gunshot victims report… https://t.co/C6csCS1fu1
— Knoxville Police TN (@Knoxville Police TN)1618257160.0

"I'm walking up to the scene now," Vice Mayor Gwen McKenzie told WVLT-TV, adding, "All I can say is pray."

Knox County Schools Superintendent Bob Thomas tweeted, "The school building has been secured and students who were not involved in the incident have been released to their families."

WATCH: Several people are hurt, including a police officer, after a shooting at a high school in Knoxville, Tenness… https://t.co/JtL34SEfyw
— Austin Kellerman (@Austin Kellerman)1618260073.0


This is a developing story that will be updated as more information becomes available.