4 sleeping passengers fatally shot on train, mayor of Chicago suburb says; suspect arrested; gun recovered



Four sleeping passengers aboard a Chicago Transit Authority train were fatally shot Monday morning, according to the mayor of Forest Park, a Chicago suburb.

CTA workers discovered the shooting victims around 5:30 a.m., WLS-TV reported, adding that Forest Park police said they received a 911 call about the shooting. Three victims were pronounced dead at the scene, and a fourth died at Loyola University Medical Center, the station said.

'It's a Monday morning on a holiday. Everyone is supposed to enjoying their time off, time with their families; it's Labor Day. ...'

Forest Park Mayor Rory Hoskins told WLS the victims, all adults, were sleeping at the time they were shot.

"These victims likely never saw it coming," Hoskins added to the station. "They were executed on Labor Day. In our community, people go to the pool. They go to the park. You know, they barbecue. But today a lot of people were calling the mayor's office, expressing concern and asking if they were safe."

Police told WLS the shooter fled the scene, but officers took a suspect into custody within 90 minutes and recovered the gun allegedly used in the shooting.

"We believe he got off at the Forest Park stop, and he was apprehended at a Pink Line station in Chicago somewhere, so he may have gotten on a train going the opposite direction," Hoskins added to the station.

Police told WLS the shooting occurred on two train cars.

"I mean, it's a horrible situation," Forest Park Police Deputy Chief Christopher Chin added to the station. "It is definitely something you don't want to wake up to. It's a Monday morning on a holiday. Everyone is supposed to enjoying their time off, time with their families; it's Labor Day."

Forest Park police and the West Suburban Major Crimes Task Force are investigating the shooting, WLS said, adding that police said it appears to be an isolated incident, and there is no ongoing threat to the public.

Neither the shooting suspect nor the shooting victims have been identified, the station said.

- YouTube youtu.be

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Thug brutally beats older, smaller deli worker — and keeps kicking victim's bloody face even after he's motionless on floor



A male was caught on surveillance video brutally beating a much older and significantly smaller deli worker in New York City earlier this month — and the clip actually shows the attacker continuing to kick the victim's bloody face even after he's motionless and crumpled on the floor, apparently out cold.

You can view surveillance video of the attack at the Queens deli here. The deeply disturbing clip shows the attacker punching the victim at least 11 times — and kicking him in the face and head at least 13 times.

Police added to the New York Post that the suspect — heavily tattooed with skulls and a heart and the word 'KILLER' in all capital letters — has 25 prior arrests, mostly for robbery.

Perhaps worst of all is that after the attacker's third kick, the victim appeared motionless and unconscious; so the final 10 kicks to the victim's progressively bloody face likely happened after he was already out cold and totally defenseless.

The victim's son told WABC-TV last week that his father was in critical condition at Elmhurst Hospital with internal brain bleeding and a fractured face; the son added to the station that "there's a certain part of his bones that are detached from a very important part of his face."

The brutal assault took place June 17 around 11:20 p.m. at the shop on 64th Street and Broadway in the neighborhood of Woodside, WABC said, adding that it boiled over after the victim confronted the attacker who bumped into him.

Nearby residents told the station they recognize the suspect, who sports green hair in the video.

"Once you mentioned the green hair I knew I saw him because everybody looks at him. Everybody crosses the street when they see him. He's weird. He's definitely weird," one resident noted to WABC.

Another resident added to the station that the suspect frequently talks to himself and comes out at night.

The victim's son told WABC his dad is a "genuinely nice guy."

"He's kind of old fashioned where he talks to random strangers," he told the station of his father. "I know it sounds cliche, but he is the type of person to help out like a random person."

Suspect arrested

Police on Wednesday arrested a suspect after a standoff with police, authorities told amNY.

The outlet, citing police, reported that 29-year-old Osvel Diaz of Forest Hills attempted to shave his green hair to give law enforcement the slip.

According to amNY, the victim in the attack is 62 years old — and the outlet noted that it all went down at the Sunnyside Mini Market. The outlet said the victim's condition — initially critical — has improved slightly.

Detectives and the NYPD Warrant Squad tracked down Diaz at his home on 62nd Drive, amNY said, adding that he allegedly put up a fight.

More from the outlet:

Sources familiar with the investigation said that Diaz briefly barricaded himself inside the home along with a three-week-old baby. Following a brief standoff, however, police were able to take him into custody and rescue the tot, who was not injured.

Detectives escorted a handcuffed Diaz out of the 108th Precinct in Long Island City on Thursday morning. He refused to answer questions hurled at him by journalists before being loaded into a waiting police car en route to Queens Criminal Court for his arraignment.

Diaz is charged with attempted murder, assault, and endangering the welfare of a child, amNY reported.

Police added to the New York Post that the suspect — heavily tattooed with skulls and a heart and the word “KILLER” in all capital letters — has 25 prior arrests, mostly for robbery.

More from the Post:

Diaz’s most recent bust before this one was for a broad-daylight assault of a UPS driver on Sept. 1, 2023 in Astoria, according to a complaint filed in Queens Criminal Court.

He is accused of throwing a metal canister at the driver’s side window of the truck — shattering it — before getting out and bashing the motorist in the head with the container, according to the court doc.

Diaz pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was granted a conditional discharge in that case, according to the Queens DA’s Office.

He was required to complete six days of an anger management course as part of the plea agreement, prosecutors said.

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Cops charge 16-year-old for allegedly shoving elderly woman down church steps as she was headed to Mass, fracturing her skull



New York City police have arrested a 16-year-old male for allegedly shoving an elderly woman down church steps as she was headed to Sunday Mass, reportedly leaving the victim with a fractured skull.

The suspect also stole her purse, which had $300 cash in it, as well as her cell phone and car keys — which he promptly used to steal her car, WNYW-TV reported. The juvenile is facing charges of robbery, assault, grand larceny, and criminal possession of stolen property, the station said.

What's more, police told WNYW the 16-year-old suspect has multiple felony arrests, including robberies of women, on his record.

What's the background?

Surveillance video shows the victim just feet from the front door of Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in the Briarwood section of Queens, WNBC-TV reported. The suspect is seen on video following the 68-year-old woman up the other side of the steps before meeting her on the top step, then shoving her backward. The victim landed on her head, the station said, after which the assailant appeared to rifle through her pockets and take off with her valuables.

"Horrible. I could not believe my eyes, seeing what he did to this lady," Rev. Konstantinos Kalogridis of St. Demetrios told WNBC. "She was coming to church to pray, to participate. I don’t know what kind of a person this is but evil. Pure evil.”

The family of the victim — identified as Irene Tahliambouris — told the New York Daily News she was so badly injured that she didn’t recognize her loved ones for days.

While in a hospital intensive care unit, Tahliambouris is showing signs of improvement, the Daily News added.

“She’s still recovering. Yesterday she started recognizing us,” Daniel Coffaro Hill, 19, whose brother and Tahliambouris’ niece share a child, told the paper Thursday. “She was brushing her hair today, really slow, but she’s in her right mind. She knows who we are now.”

Hill added to the Daily News that her stolen car — a 2006 Nissan Altima — was recovered about three miles away.

'This lowlife is off our streets for now'

Coffaro Hill also took to social media to express his outrage.

— (@)

"This lowlife is off our streets for now, and we are hoping the system will actually do its job this time. We’re tired of seeing criminals walk free because of our soft on crime laws," he wrote. "This thug is another example of how petty criminals feel bold enough to escalate their crimes, knowing they’ll likely get off with a slap on the wrist. Despite this, there seems to be a lack of urgency from both Albany and NYC to implement the necessary legal reforms to ensure these individuals are held accountable."

NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell shared similar sentiments: "Why is this happening? This was avoidable! What part of the process broke down and allowed this to happen???? More to come on this, trust me. To all the stakeholders, now is the time, enough already!!!!"

Anything else?

There are conflicting reports in regard to the victim's condition. WNYW reported she was in stable condition, while the New York Post, citing her family's GoFundMe page, indicated she was in critical condition.

NYC church attack: Teen arrested for allegedly shoving woman down stairs youtu.be

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Arrest made in case of woman, 19, who lost eye after being punched in head while standing up for special-needs boy. She told her attacker to stop bullying him.



Readers of TheBlaze may recall reading about a 19-year-old good Samaritan who lost an eye after being punched in head while standing up for a special-needs boy in November. Bianca Palomera told her attacker to stop bullying the boy — and it cost her.

Well, police earlier this month said they arrested Isaac White-Carter, 20, in connection with the crime, KRON-TV reported. White-Carter was charged with two felonies: mayhem and assault causing great bodily injury, police told the station.

Image source: KRON-TV video screenshot

What's the background?

Palomera was working as an assistant manager in a Habit Burger Grill in Antioch, California, on Nov. 12 when she said she saw a man harassing a special-needs boy who was standing alone, the station said.

The boy’s older brother worked at the restaurant, and Palomera told KRON she intervened because it was the right thing to do, telling the bully, “You can just leave.”

Palomera told the station the man quickly became hostile toward her, yelling anti-Mexican slurs and punching her multiple times.

“An employee was punched in the face multiple times after protecting an individual with an intellectual disability from being bullied,” police said, according to KRON.

\u201cBreaking: @AntiochPolice said they arrested the man who brutally attacked an employee of The Habit Burger Grill when she tried to stop him from bullying a boy with special needs. Suspect ID'd as Isaac White-Carter, 20, of Hayward. \nFull story: https://t.co/fG9WBvIJbG\u201d
— Amy Larson (@Amy Larson) 1670281638

The culprit was with a group of other men, and they all departed in a gray BMW SUV, the station said.

“After he had attacked me, the other people he was with, they just collected their food and left, like nothing had happened,” Palomera said, according to KRON.

Palomera was rushed to a hospital trauma center, the station said: “I thought I was crying, but then I realized that it was blood going down my cheek onto my shirt. At the ER, when they opened it, I asked, ‘Did you open my eye?’ And that’s kind of when I knew I couldn’t see. It was just black.”

Image source: KRON-TV video screenshot

White-Carter admitted to police that he was at the restaurant on the day of the attack and told investigators “his side of the story,” police told KRON, adding that he could face hate crime charges, as police added that "there were statements made during the attack that will be reviewed to see if hate crime charges apply."

'Don’t be afraid to step up for somebody'

A GoFundMe page organized by Palomera’s sister has raised more than $225,000 as of Tuesday; the money will help pay for the victim’s medical bills, the station said.

Palomera told KRON that despite her life-altering injury, she hopes others will stand up to bullies: “Don’t be afraid to step up for somebody, whether you know them or not. If you won’t do it, no one else will."

Two armed carjackers pick wrong motorist to rob — a concealed carrier who wins shootout and sends one crook to hospital



A pair of Michigan carjackers definitely picked the wrong motorist to steal from last week — a concealed pistol license holder who got the best of the duo in a shootout.

What are the details?

Eastpointe police officers were dispatched to the area of the 23000 block of Hayes on a complaint of an attempted carjacking and shots fired around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, the Eastpointe Police and Fire Department reported. Eastpointe is about 20 minutes northeast of Detroit.

The suspects approached the victim while he was parking his vehicle — a 2022 Dodge Charger Hellcat — in a driveway, authorities said.

The suspects and victim exchanged gunfire during the attempted robbery, authorities said, adding that the suspects fled the scene in a stolen Chevy Impala.

Shortly afterward authorities said a male — later identified as one of the suspects — checked himself into a nearby hospital with a gunshot wound to his leg. However, authorities added that as Eastpointe detectives were on their way to the hospital, the suspect fled.

With that, authorities said Eastpointe detectives and the department's Special Investigation Unit joined forces with the Detroit Police Organized Crime Unit and tracked the stolen Impala to Clinton Township — which is about 20 minutes north of Eastpointe.

Eastpointe detectives worked with Clinton Township police and located the stolen vehicle, authorities said. When the suspect exited a residence and entered the vehicle, the suspect was arrested without incident after a brief vehicle pursuit, authorities added.

Search warrants were executed at the residence and the stolen vehicle, authorities said, adding that evidence of the crime was recovered.

Damon Lamar Currie, 27, faces charges that include assault with intent to murder, authorities said.

Image source: Eastpointe Police and Fire Department

Bond was set at $750,000, authorities said, and Currie was arraigned at the 38th District Court in Eastpointe.

Police are still working on locating the second suspect, authorities added.

Historically black Mississippi churches set aflame on Election Day. Democrat candidate calls it 'terrorism' to 'suppress our right to vote' — then suspect is arrested.



Two historically black churches in Jackson, Mississippi, were deliberately set on fire early Tuesday morning — Election Day — authorities told USA Today.

There were five additional suspected arson cases in the city — and all seven occurred in the area of Jackson State University, a historically black public university, the paper said.

'We will not allow domestic terrorists to suppress our right to vote'

Mississippi Democrat congressional candidate Shuwaski Young released a statement early Tuesday morning calling the fires acts of "terrorism," USA Today reported.

\u201cMy statement on the church burning in Jackson, Mississippi on #ElectionDay. Go VOTE Mississippi. Just Go VOTE.\u201d
— Shuwaski Young for Congress (@Shuwaski Young for Congress) 1667915682

"This morning several churches were burned in Jackson, Mississippi on Election Day," the statement reads. "These cowardly actions invoke historical acts of terrorism when people are fighting for their right to vote and live peacefully as Americans and Mississippians. We will not be deterred and will not be intimidated. We will not allow domestic terrorists to suppress our right to vote. I ask all Mississippians to GO VOTE regardless of this decades-old intimidation tactic to suppress our votes today. Just go VOTE."

Suspect arrested

Suspect Delvin McLaurin was arrested Tuesday, USA Today said. The Hinds County Sheriff's Office said deputies arrested McLaurin in the evening after a tip from citizens in Terry near the Hinds-Copiah County line. Authorities said McLaurin will be transferred to the Jackson Police Department for further questioning.

Image source: Hinds County Sheriff's Office

A Jackson Police Department spokesperson said McLaurin is being charged with felony malicious mischief, USA Today reported, adding that the FBI is questioning him and McLaurin may face additional charges.

Officials began receiving calls about several fires starting around 2:45 a.m., the paper reported, adding that Jackson Police spokesman Sam Brown said McLaurin was in the area of the fires during the hours they were set.

House of cards tumbles

Young wasn't alone in his "suppress our right to vote" post following the suspected arsons. Other commenters underneath his post concurred — and took things a lot further:

  • "The layers of racist symbolism associated with burning churches… in Mississippi… on Election Day. When will this country wake up? This makes me incredibly sad…" one commenter added. "I’m guessing the terrorist/arsonist who did this thinks they’re a Christian and a patriot."
  • "... this what the SCLC fought against, the same white-hooded cowards are a product of 45's GOP, the most racist, corrupt treasonous administration in White House, anti-[Semitism], racism is their platform," another user said. "This act today says it all."
  • "This is beyond hideous. The hypocrisy is off the charts, too," another commenter said. "The burning was probably carried out by people who profess to be Christians."
  • "Domestic white supremacist terrorists will not suppress Democratic voters from voting!" another commenter declared. "But Still, Like Air We Rise ..."

Oh, and:

\u201c@forpetessakeny @shuwaskiyoung Yeah, mystery huh?\u201d
— Shuwaski Young for Congress (@Shuwaski Young for Congress) 1667915682

However, one commenter couldn't help pushing back against Young in light of McLaurin's arrest, saying "…except the suspect is a black man. You can stop the racial narrative now."

Incidentally, Young lost his congressional bid to incumbent Republican Michael Guest, the Clarion Ledger reported, adding that Guest was ahead of Young by more than 40 points with 94% of the votes in Wednesday.

The rest of the story

USA Today said fires were reported at Greater Bethlehem Temple Church, Epiphany Lutheran Church, the baseball field at Jackson State, a gas station, a location at Central Street and Dalton, a location in the 1100 block of Pascagoula St., and a location at Terry Road and Cherry Street.

Epiphany Lutheran, one of the oldest predominately black Lutheran churches in Mississippi, burned for more than four hours before the fire was put out, USA Today said.

Lloyd Caston, 73, an elder at Epiphany, was awakened around 4 a.m. by a call from a family member who lives in the neighborhood where the church is located, the paper said. Caston then headed to the church around 4:30 a.m. to find the building “fully enflamed," USA Today reported.

“I was hurt,” Caston told the paper of his emotions upon seeing his church on fire, adding that "it destroyed the church and everything in it."

Epiphany is 85 years old, USA Today reported, adding that renovations to the building’s interior were completed in March.

Fire also damaged Greater Bethlehem Temple Church, the paper said.

"We can't always understand why people do evil, but we know that ... it's our job to overcome evil with good. That's why we're committed to continue to help this community," Ervin Ricks, Greater Bethlehem's communications director, told WAPT-TV .

Jackson officials did not connect the fires with an attempt to affect Tuesday's election, USA Today reported.

Arrest Made In String Of Jackson, Mississippi, Arsonsyoutu.be

Suspect arrested in cold-case murder of Texas family, alleged killer upset over failed job promotion



Police arrested 58-year-old Feng Lu for the 2014 murder of a Texas family of four on Sunday. The court filings theorized that Lu allegedly committed the killings because he was upset about not receiving a job promotion, KTRK-TV reported.

In 2014, Maoye Sun and Mei Xie were shot and killed in their Cypress home, along with their two sons, 9-year-old Timothy and 7-year-old Titus. While authorities strongly suspected Feng Lu, they could not place him at the scene of the crime. As a result, leads ran dry for more than eight years.

Authorities believed that the family of four was attacked in their home on Friday, January 24, 2014. Their bodies were not discovered until Monday after Maoye Sun failed to show up to work.

Feng Lu, Maoye Sun's coworker, became a suspect early on in the case because he had purchased a firearm the day before the shooting. Police believed that the gun was the same weapon used in the murders.

New court documents disclosed Lu's possible motive for committing the murders. Investigators believed that he was disgruntled about not receiving a job promotion.

Lu told police that he had asked his coworker, Maoye Sun, to recommend him for a promotion. He reported hearing a rumor that Sun did not put in the recommendation. He called Sun to ask about it, and Sun informed him that he did recommend Lu.

The suspect told police that when he arrived at work the next day, he thought he was being "treated differently" by his coworkers. Lu assumed Sun had told coworkers about the phone call and talked badly about him. He blamed Sun because he did not receive the promotion.

Lu insisted that he did not know any other members of the Sun family or where they resided. Because authorities could not prove that Lu was inside the Sun home, family and friends remained unaware that he was a suspect.

Court documents revealed that new technology was able to place Lu at the scene. This year, investigators retested an old purse found inside the home using STRmix software. The software identified Lu's DNA by separating DNA strands from multiple individuals found on the purse.

With this new evidence, police had enough to issue a warrant for his arrest.

Feng Lu was arrested in San Francisco on Sunday after returning from a trip to China. He is currently being held in San Mateo County Jail and awaiting extradition to Texas. Lu is charged with capital murder for the deaths of the Sun family.