A middle school English teacher in Louisiana was arrested after asking a question at a Vermillion Parish school board meeting. Deyshia Hargrave was arrested in a now-viral video, after she stood up at a school board meeting and questioned why the superintendent was getting a $30,000 raise, when the teachers hadn’t gotten a raise in nearly a decade. During the meeting, Hargrave addressed the superintendent directly after the school board allowed the audience to comment on a vote to grant his raise.
Deyshia Hargrave: “Superintendent, how are you going to take a raise when there’s ELA—when I first started teaching ELA, there was like 20, 21 kids in a class, and now there’s 29 kids in a class that we are now having. And we have not gotten raises. How are you going to take that money? Because it’s basically taking out of the pockets of teachers.”
Anthony Fontana: “All right, stop. Stop right now. That’s not germane to what’s on the agenda tonight. Deyshia Hargrave: “Yes, it is!”
Woman: “Come on now!”
Deyshia Hargrave: “How are you going to take”—
Anthony Fontana: “What’s on the agenda is the superintendent’s contract.”
Crowd: “With a raise!”
She was ruled out of order by Board President Anthony Fontana for asking a question when board policy said only comments were allowed. After her questioning, the teacher voluntarily left the room after being asked to leave and was then forcibly arrested in the hallway by a marshal. Hargrave was charged with remaining after being forbidden and resisting an officer, but they were later dropped after the school board declined to press charges.
The school district says they do not plan to discipline her. Vermilion Parish superintendent Jerome Puyau, who now makes about $140,000 annually with his new raise said of the incident “I don’t support our people getting arrested. I do not. However, a person has to follow the rules.” Puyau said the pay bump boosts his salary to the level of what his counterparts make. He also pointed out that his school district ranks sixth in performance while his salary is 57th.
Puyau said that his family has been bombarded with death threats since the video of the incident went viral. “My sisters, my family — we’re all educators,” he said. “It is not fair to our families, anyone’s families, anyone in Vermilion Parish.”
Hargrave said she would like to receive an apology from both the superintendent and the marshal who arrested her. She also would like to see other people to speak out for what they believe. “I’m hoping for teachers, people outside of education, to have a voice,” she said. “Show up. You don’t have to say anything, just show up. Just do something.”
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A gunman in Denver, Colorado used a rifle to fire at least 100 rounds in an “ambush-style attack” at police who were responding to a disturbance. The suspect, Iraq veteran Matthew Riehl, shot and killed Sheriff Deputy Zackari Parrish, 29, and injured four other officers and two civilians. The gunman used a rifle and fired at least 100 rounds. The gunman, a 37-year-old former soldier and lawyer, was killed in a shootout with SWAT officers.
Douglas County Deputies were called to the apartment in the Copper Canyon Apartment Complex at 3 a.m. on a report of a verbal disturbance between two males. Riehl’s roommate told the four officers that arrived that the suspect was acting bizarre and might be having a mental breakdown. Deputies cleared the scene at 3:40 a.m. and left because no crime had been committed. Officers were called back to the scene at 5:14 a.m. on a domestic disturbance call and all four officers were there by 5:35 a.m. Riehl’s roommate returned to the apartment, gave deputies a key and permission to enter the apartment but left before the gunman opened fire at 5:56 a.m.
After the officers entered the suspect’s apartment, they found that he had barricaded himself inside a bedroom. The officers talked with Riehl through the door and determined it to be a mental health call. In the officers body cam footage Parrish is heard saying “It’s deputy Parrish, DougCo Sheriff’s Office.” “Hey, Matt, it’s Zack. Yes we can help you. I’m with the sheriff’s office. Right here man. We can talk out here. I just want to make sure you’re OK.” Deputies talked to Riehl and tried to help him until 5:35 a.m. Parrish is then heard “He’s going through a manic episode,” “We’re going to take him for an M1.” M1 stands for a mental health hold.
Between 5:35 a.m. and 5:57 a.m. deputies were developing a plan to get medical and mental health aid to Riehl, until he opened fire. All the officers were wearing bulletproof vests but were struck in unprotected parts of their bodies. During a news conference, Sheriff Tony Spurlock said all four officers went down within seconds of each other. Deputy Zackari Parrish was shot several times and the wounded officers tried to pull him out but were unable to because of their injuries. The wounded deputies then crawled away while other officers responded to the shots fired call.
SWAT team members entered the apartment at 7:30 a.m. and exchanged gunfire with the gunman. The gunman was killed and another officer was wounded by the suspect. Riehl’s roommate was not injured and has been cooperating with investigators. The injured deputies are Michael Doyle, 28; Taylor Davis, 30; and Jeff Pelle, 32. Castle Rock police officer Thomas O’Donnell, 41, was also wounded. All were listed in stable condition at area hospitals. Two people in adjacent apartments were also wounded, but their injuries were not life-threatening.
During the press conference, Sheriff Spurlock said Riehl was an Iraq war veteran that at one time worked as a lawyer in Rawlins, Wyoming. He had no criminal history but was well known to law enforcement. Spurlock said Riehl has posted a number of anti-law-enforcement videos on YouTube and other social media. Deputy Parrish, who had been a deputy for about 7 months, was rushed to the Littleton hospital but he had suffered mortal wounds. A motorcade of officers from various police agencies accompanied the fallen officer from the hospital to the coroner’s office. Parrish is survived by a wife and two young daughters.
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In an effort to broaden the company’s “social interaction” with our clients and FaceBook fans, Daily Trivia Questions are posted on both of our business pages. Here are the weekly standings for this past week, and the winner of the Sunday night Weekly Drawing for an AmEx gift card!
Congratulations – To this past week’s Trivia Contest Winner!! Our latest contest winner for the weekly FaceBook HealthInsurance4Everyone/Health & Life Solutions, LLC Trivia Contest, drawn randomly by computer late Sunday evening, December 17th, 2017 was:
CRYSTAL DOUGHERTY MERRILL
Brighton, MI
Winner Of A $25.00 AmEx Gift Card
Each day, fans who have “liked” either of our company FaceBook pages (HealthInsurance4Everyone or Health & Life Solutions LLC) are able to test their skills with our Daily TRIVIA QUESTION. The first 20 winners who post the correct answer to the TRIVIA QUESTION, will then get entered into the weekly drawing held late on Sunday evenings for a $25.00 Am Ex Gift Card.
Weekly Gift Card winners will be posted in our blog at this site. Remember to become a FaceBook “fan” on either of our company pages to enter and post your answers.
Here are the daily contestants from last week’s Trivia Contest that were entered into the Sunday drawing:
12/11/17
Jennifer Marie
Jenifer Garza
Tina Mimick
Trish Musgrave
Brittany Light
Trish Hysell
Jakara Jackson
Kathleen Marks
Nicole Blaha
Sunney Michelle Johnson
Michelle Hughes
Kathleen Hickman
Helen Saez Deverter
Chelcie Malow
Brooke Scott
Dawn Raasch
Melissa D’Ornellas Curtis
Sheila Carvell
Debbie Burke Garretson
Wayne Gallas
Paula Rousseau
Vickie Gipson
12/12/17
Mary Ann Cody
Jodi Stevens
April Ashcraft
Angie Cantrell Jenks
Rosalee Jacklin
Kaitlyn Rutherford
Kassi Krick-King
Sheri Boydston
Tiffany Greene Elliott
Teena Sierson
Althea Thomas
Anggie Marie
Karen Goodwin Delaney
Brittany Light
Amanda Nicole Young
Cheryl Reagin Burns
Adaria Johnson
Debbie Burke Garretson
Marilyn Wall
Mikey Mellor
12/13/17
Lisa Garrett
Emily Rice Bowersock
Paula Rousseau
Melissa D’Ornellas Curtis
Jennifer Leffler
Wayne Gallas
Lisa David Carr
Brian Fulop
Preeti Chand
Kristina Rosson
Eva Biggs
Wilma Mast
Adaria Johnson
Alicia Johnson
Kendra Lynne Ramsey
Trish Hysell
Anggie Marie
Ambreen Rouf
Sheila Carvell
Marcy Coull
Bea Patrick
12/14/17
Carla M. Williams
Jennifer Downing
Paula Rouseau
Mary Ann Cody
April Ashcraft
Jenn Anthony
Melissa Ann Stura-Bassett
Amanda Rosario
Pamela White Brearley
Tiffany Greene Elliott
Katrina Worford
Sherry Lilly
Jennifer Ramlet
Crystal Dougherty Merrill
Alicia Johnson
Hayley Cordaro
Minta Boggs
Sheila Carvell
Kellie Lacy
Diane Hamric
12/15/17
Dean Bruss
Hayley Cordaro
Brittany Light
Alexia Maureen
Cheryl Golden
Kim Floyd
Wilma Mast
Alexandria Fields
Jenifer Garza
Brian Fulop
Michelle Cervantes
Marilyn Wall
Jenn Hess
Jessica Miller
Chelsie Nicole
Misty Shallcross
Vickie Gipson
Darlene Whyte
Adaria Johnson
Emily Rice Bowersock
Rondi Clark-Conn
Cassandra Berholtz
Kendra George
12/16/17
Christy Hawkes
Cheryl Hall
Teena Sierson
Jill Nauyokas
Brittany Light
Lori Capobianco
Crystal Young
Mary Mcmenamy
Jenifer Garza
Adaria Johnson
Michelle Hughes
Trish Musgrave
Mary Alice Ford
Amanda Peters
Nyeasia Pippin
Sandy Nevels
Chelcie Malow
Amanda Rosario
Dawn Raasch
Carla M. Williams
Melissa White
12/17/17
Chelsie Nicole
Trish Musgrave
Kathy Rubio
Jill Nauyokas
Kathleen Marks
Georgiann D’Angelo
Misty Shallcross
Amber Chandler
Cheryl Golden
Adaria Johnson
Sheri Boydston
Crystal Dougherty Merrill
Sarah Bellestri Shih
Nikki Hunsacker
Michelle R. Carlino
Jean Simmons Homfeld
Karen Brunet Moore
Diane Hamric
Megan Landor
Jenifer Garza
Be sure to watch both of our FaceBook pages for your chance to win and enter again next week, with questions posted daily on HealthInsurance4Everyone or at Health & Life Solutions, LLC!!
Remember that if you try your hand at answering the Trivia Question several days each week, your odds of winning the Sunday weekly drawing are much better. Also note that a number of the posted answers each day are from contestants who have forgotten to “Like” one of our pages, so their names WILL NOT be entered at the end week drawing for the gift card, giving our fans a better chance!
You may also find that if you “Like” BOTH of the business pages, you will receive faster notifications of the other players as they post their answers to compete with you!
—————————————————————-
At Health Insurance 4 Everyone, we not only want to improve our customer service but also interact with our customers on a social media level that wasn’t available before. Interested in connecting with us? Look us up on…. 
Twitter: Healthinsurane4 (Follow Us On Twitter To Receive Faster Notifications When Daily Trivia Questions Posted, & To Be Immediately Notified When Weekly AmEX Gift Card Winners Are Announced!!)
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An investigation by the Center for Investigative Journalism in Puerto Rico has revealed that nearly 1,000 more people died in the 40-day period after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico compared to that same time period last year. These findings sharply contradict the storm’s “official” death toll of 62. The government allowed 911 bodies to be cremated without being physically examined by a government medical officer to determine if they should be included in the official death toll from the storm. Each cause of death was listed as being of “natural causes.”
The revelation of the new data also coincides with accounts from relatives’ reports of victims that point to problems with essential health services such as dialysis, ventilators, oxygen, and other critical circumstances caused by the lack of electricity in homes and hospitals throughout Puerto Rico.
The majority of the deaths were men and women over 50 who died in hospitals and nursing homes from conditions such as diabetes, Alzheimer’s, kidney disease, hypertension, pneumonia and other respiratory diseases. When compared to the same time period from 2016, there was a significant increase in deaths, especially in hospitals and nursing homes.
Some have said they considered heart attacks and people who died of lack of oxygen because of lack of power as hurricane-related deaths, while others said they considered those “natural causes.” Accurate information about the death toll is important because it allows victims’ families to claim federal relief aid. It has also been used as a measure of how effective relief efforts have been. The official death toll likely fails to take account of all those who died as a result of the deadly hurricane.
Demographer José A. López, the only person at the registry in charge of analyzing this data, has said that the increase in deaths in the first two post-Maria months is significant and the government’s inability to link more deaths to the hurricane shows that the current process of documenting causes of death in a disaster is not working and must be reformed. López and the Department of Health appeared before Puerto Rico’s Senate to request that a dialogue begin about the issue and that they lead to changing the system.
Currently, linking a death to a disaster depends almost exclusively on a physician making an annotation related to the hurricane in the death certificate and listing the clinical cause of death, but both doctors and hospitals maintain that their responsibility and knowledge are strictly tied to the clinical cause of death. In most cases, the doctor who certifies the death may not be the same doctor who was in charge of the patient. Because of this, most death certificates do not include additional information about the other circumstances that could lead to death — such as the stress caused by an emergency; lack of power, transportation services or medications; lack of access to health services; changes in diet; and increases in ambient temperatures, among others.
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North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile, its first missile launch in two months. North Korea media claims the successfully tested missile topped with a “super-large heavy warhead,” is capable of striking the US mainland. The country’s state media made the announcement hours after leader Kim Jong Un ordered the 3 a.m. launch of the Hwasong-15 missile, which reached the highest altitude ever recorded by a North Korean missile.
North Korea news agencies called its new missile “the most powerful ICBM” and said it “meets the goal of the completion of the rocket weaponry system development. After the launch, Kim said North Korea had “finally realized the great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force.” North Korea has been working on its’ missile “re-entry” technology to one day have a warhead able to survive re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. This ICBM would be able to hit any city within the U.S. if a warhead is able to survive re-entry.
The missile reached an altitude of 2,800 miles, before landing in the Sea of Japan. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said it was the furthest missile launch by North Korea to date and demonstrates that North Korea has the ability to hit “everywhere in the world.” Defense Secretary Mattis added “North Korea is continuing to build missiles that can threaten everywhere in the world as it continues to endanger world peace, regional peace and certainly the United States.”
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry said “With each launch, North Korean officials are advancing their capability and they are making it clear that they can hold the entire U.S. at risk. They are steadily moving on and we’re not responding in kind.” He added, “It is incredibly serious partly because Kim Jong Un is very serious about what he says and what he says is that he wants to hold the entire United States at risk with his missiles, with nuclear weapons, and we have seen him actually deliver on what he says he wants to do.”
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, and ambassadors from Japan and South Korea, requested an emergency meeting of the U.N. security council following the launch. Haley said if war comes as a result of further acts of “aggression” like the latest launch “make no mistake the North Korean regime will be utterly destroyed”. Haley says the Trump administration warned North Korea that its future is in the hands of its leaders and the choice was theirs. With Tuesday’s launch, she said, Kim’s regime made a choice “and with this choice comes a critical choice for the rest of the world”. She called on all countries to cut all ties to North Korea.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said that US President Trump was briefed on the launch while it was still in the air. President Trump told reporters that the missile launch “is a situation that we will handle,” and added the U.S. will “take care of it.” Trump later said in a tweet that he had spoken with the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, about “the provocative actions of North Korea”, and promised: “Additional major sanctions will be imposed on North Korea today. This situation will be handled!”
As nuclear tensions between the U.S. and North Korea continue to escalate, Hawaii is preparing to test its early warning system aimed at warning residents about a nuclear attack. The test, slated for Friday, will be the first time Hawaii has deployed the warning system since the 1990s, after the Cold War ended.
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In an effort to broaden the company’s “social interaction” with our clients and FaceBook fans, Daily Trivia Questions are posted on both of our business pages. Here are the weekly standings for this past week, and the winner of the Sunday night Weekly Drawing for an AmEx gift card!
Congratulations – To this past week’s Trivia Contest Winner!! Our latest contest winner for the weekly FaceBook HealthInsurance4Everyone/Health & Life Solutions, LLC Trivia Contest, drawn randomly by computer late Sunday evening, November 26th, 2017 was:
KAREN DELANEY
Randolph, VT
Winner Of A $25.00 AmEx Gift Card
Each day, fans who have “liked” either of our company FaceBook pages (HealthInsurance4Everyone or Health & Life Solutions LLC) are able to test their skills with our Daily TRIVIA QUESTION. The first 20 winners who post the correct answer to the TRIVIA QUESTION, will then get entered into the weekly drawing held late on Sunday evenings for a $25.00 Am Ex Gift. Card
Weekly Gift Card winners will be posted in our blog at this site. Remember to become a FaceBook “fan” on either of our company pages to enter and post your answers.
Here are the daily contestants from last week’s Trivia Contest that were entered into the Sunday drawing:
11/20/17
Holly Cajigas
Jenifer Garza
Kellina Fernell Murphy
Jennifer Kinner
Alisa Jones
Jodi Stevens
Penny Fuller
Deborah Farris
Kathy Rubio
Amy Marie Wilkinson
Stacy Lynn Nelson
Joanie Waterman
Katrina Worford
Alexandria Fields
Sarah Bellestri Shih
Susanne Killion
Kathi Taylor
Tera Wardrip
Lori Capobianco
Jennifer Ramlet
11/21/17
Kathi Taylor
Trish Musgrave
Mary Mcmenamy
Sheri Boydston
Danyel Leigh Walentin
Lori Capobianco
Teena Sierson
Dana Dilaura
Michelle Cervantes
Jenifer Garza
Jennifer Vega
Jan Lehman
Mary Ann Cody
Ambreen Rouf
Debbie Smith
Althea Thomas
Peggy Burdick Buchanan
Nai Merri
Sherry Lilly
Isis Sample
Tiffany Patrick
Suzie Mize Lockhart
11/22/17
Brandi K Chaney
Teena Sierson
Sheila Carvell
Jenifer Garza
Holly Cajigas
Rebecca Fauteux
Cheryl Golden
Jenn Hess
Trish Marks
Priscilla Shimp
Nia Rammal
Crystal Young
Shell Srock
Dean Bruss
Jennifer Ramlet
Sherri Boydston
Marilyn Wall
Joann Tompkins-Winborn
Amanda Saltsman
Tina Mimick
Maria Bouchard
Isis Sample
11/23/17
Kimberly Taylor Hall
Sunney Michelle Johnson
Rondi Clark-Conn
Amanda Peters
Sheila Carvell
Ashley Weaver
Melissa Ann Stura-Bassett
Alexandria Fields
Joann Tompkins-Winborn
Michael Flagg
Nikki Hunsacker
Sarah Bellestri Shih
Jill Nauyokas
Vickie Gipson
Cheryl Hall
Christian Mayle
Anna Nichols
Lia Bonita
Heather Lynn Rood
Allison Frederick
11/24/17
Michelle Cervantes
Amy Marie Wilkinson
Shelby Lynn
Jill Nauyokas
Karen Brunet Moore
Paula Rousseau
Kim Floyd
Christian Mayle
Kathleen Marks
Gracie Hudson
Darlene Whyte
Chrissy Kim
Rebecca Honey Graham
Deborah Farris
Jill Blythe
Jane Peterson
Susanne Killion
Be Schwerin
Brooke Scott
Tracy Shafer
Jenifer Garza
Lia Bonita
Jennifer Lang
Tonya Velazquez
Martha Balderson
11/25/17
Cheryl Hall
Rebecca Fauteux
Amy Marie Wilkinson
Christine McKinnon
Emily Rice Bowersock
Sheila Carvell
Alexis Maureen
Sherri Kidwell
Karen Goodwin Delaney
Stephanie Beckwith
Jennifer Ramlet
Susanne Killion
Kimberly Taylor Hall
Jenn Hess
Michelle R. Carlino
Rosalee Jacklin
Priscilla Shimp
Sheri Boydston
Nyeasia Pippin
Adaria Johnson
11/26/17
Rachael Dakota-Two-Feather Smith
Brittany Light
Cheryl Golden
Christian Mayle
Katrina Worford
Sunney Michelle Johnson
Deborah Farris
Mary Mcmenamy
Amanda Saltsman
Eva Biggs
Paula Rousseau
Trish Musgrave
Jill Blythe
Kayla Clemons
Emily Rice Bowersock
Isis Sample
Tonya Velazquez
Annette Broxton
Kaitlyn Rutherford
Edward John
Be sure to watch both of our FaceBook pages for your chance to win and enter again next week, with questions posted daily on HealthInsurance4Everyone or at Health & Life Solutions, LLC!!
Remember that if you try your hand at answering the Trivia Question several days each week, your odds of winning the Sunday weekly drawing are much better. Also note that a number of the posted answers each day are from contestants who have forgotten to “Like” one of our pages, so their names WILL NOT be entered at the end week drawing for the gift card, giving our fans a better chance!
You may also find that if you “Like” BOTH of the business pages, you will receive faster notifications of the other players as they post their answers to compete with you!
—————————————————————-
At Health Insurance 4 Everyone, we not only want to improve our customer service but also interact with our customers on a social media level that wasn’t available before. Interested in connecting with us? Look us up on….
Twitter: Healthinsurane4 (Follow Us On Twitter To Receive Faster Notifications When Daily Trivia Questions Posted, & To Be Immediately Notified When Weekly AmEX Gift Card Winners Are Announced!!) 
Click-On for LinkedIn To Follow Our Posts: LinkedIn
Like us on facebook: HealthInsurance4Everyone or Health & Life Solutions, LLC
Over 54,000 Combined Fans/Followers To Our Social Media Sites, & We’re Growing Daily!
Follow Mark Shuster, Founder/Owner at Health & Life Solutions, LLC for daily health tips!
Mark Shuster FaceBook Link
Follow our word press blog and read about everything from health insurance and reform news to healthy living and current events!
Company Blogs
Find out more about LegalShield, our corporate partner which gives you the power to talk to an attorney about any legal issue, and offering high-quality Identity Theft plans.
LegalShield
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The White House requested Congress approve $44 billion in disaster relief in what would be the largest single round of disaster aid to address the widespread damage inflicted by hurricanes and wildfires over the last three months. It is the third request since hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria slammed the Gulf Coast and Caribbean. The new request would add another $24 billion to the disaster relief this fall and bring the total close to $100 billion. It would also establish a new $12 billion grant program for flood risk mitigation projects. Smaller amounts would go to small business loans and to aid farmers suffering crop losses.
The White House is proposing the increased funding be offset by cuts to federal programs in hopes to deter members from Congress who might not vote for a disaster assistance package that adds to the deficit. Two previous disaster relief bills totaling nearly $51.8 billion that Congress approved earlier this year had no such offsets.
And that’s before most of the money to rebuild Puerto Rico’s devastated housing stock and electric grid is added in. Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló has asked the federal government for $94.3 billion in disaster relief funds to help repair critical infrastructure and rebuild housing following Hurricane Maria. He said the sum will help the U.S. territory adequately recover from Hurricane Maria. Over half of Puerto Rico is still without power almost two months after Hurricane Maria made landfall. More than 10 percent of the island is still without running water.
The largest chunk of Rosselló’s request, $31 billion, goes to housing assistance with $17.7 billion to rebuild the island’s power grid and $14.9 billion for health care. “This is a critical step forward in the rebuilding of Puerto Rico where we’re not only looking to rebuild as was before but we want to make it much stronger and much more resilient and make Puerto Rico a model for the rest of the Caribbean,” Rosselló said. Ricardo Rosello also urged Congress to adopt a tax overhaul plan that addresses the territory’s specific needs to avoid an exodus of the companies that currently generate 42% of the island’s gross domestic product.
The relief request is over $30 billion more than a $61 billion relief request from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott after Hurricane Harvey flooded parts of metro Houston and East Texas. The Florida congressional delegation has asked for $27 billion. It is likely that Congress will pare down the amount as they did after Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
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Authorities say a shooting rampage in California that left 5 people dead and injuring at least 10 others could have been much worse. The gunman, Kevin Janson Neal, 43, shot randomly at people and homes as he drove toward Rancho Tehama School in the town of Corning, 130 miles north of Sacramento. Teachers heard gunfire and ordered a lockdown shortly before the gunman rammed a fence with a pickup truck and entered the grounds with a semi-automatic rifle. He roamed the grounds for about 6 minutes and shot out windows but left, apparently frustrated, after he was unable to access classrooms. Police say he fired shots in at least seven locations before he was killed by police.
Police believe the motive was a bizarre revenge plot against his neighbors following a dispute in January. At a news conference, Tehama County, California, Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston said Neal’s wife had been found dead in their home on Tuesday night. Authorities suspect she was fatally shot on Monday, after which Neal hid her body under the floor. Police had been at the home earlier that day in response to a domestic violence call.
The shooting spree began on Tuesday at about 8 a.m. in Neal’s neighborhood. Both neighbors who filed charges against him —a man and a woman—were killed at the start of Tuesday’s rampage. Police say after Neal shot his neighbors, he stole the unidentified male neighbor’s white pickup truck and drove it through town, doing several random drive-by shootings of residences in the community of about 1,500 people. Authorities say a 6-year-old boy was shot in the chest and foot at the school and is in stable condition. Other students were injured by glass from the windows but no students or teachers were killed because of the quick thinking staff at the school.
Rancho Tehama resident Salvador Tello, who was taking his three children to school, described seeing the gunman open fire, killing a woman. Tello said he saw bullets strike the truck in front of him and he put his children down to protect them and put his truck in reverse to get away. As he left, he saw a woman lying dead in the street and her wounded husband next to her. At one point, the shooter crashed the truck and carjacked a driver for his small sedan. The suspect then drove past a woman taking her children to school and fired gunshots ‘without provocation’ into their truck. The woman and her son were injured and both are recovering.
Neal was being prosecuted on charges of assault with a deadly weapon that occurred in January. Tehama County District Attorney Gregg Cohen said “Neal had a long-running dispute with his neighbors and during the January incident, he allegedly shot through a wooden fence at two female neighbors as they walked along the fence. Neal then jumped the fence, confronted the women, stabbed one and took a cellphone from the other.” Neal was also involved in an assault on a male neighbor in February.
Neal’s mother says she posted his $160,000 bail after the January assault charge. She said her son was a marijuana farmer and was in a dispute with neighbors he believed were cooking methamphetamine. She says when she spoke to him Monday and he said he felt like he was on a “cliff” and people were trying to “execute” him. She says he told her “Mom, it’s all over now. I have done everything I could do and I am fighting against everyone who lives in this area.” Neal’s sister described him as becoming extremely paranoid, spending hours on the phone with his mother who try to calm him down.
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A gunman in Texas opened fire Sunday morning church service in the small town of Sutherland Springs, killing 26 people and wounding at least 20 others. Witnesses say a man dressed in black wearing tactical gear and a ballistic vest began firing outside the church before entering the building, shooting dozens of people inside. The suspected shooter has been identified as a 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley from New Braunfels, Texas. Kelley was found dead in his car shortly after the shooting.
Survivors of the attack said they heard what sounded like firecrackers outside the church and realized someone was shooting at the tiny wood-frame building. Congregants began screaming and dropped to the floor after getting hit. The gunman then entered the church and shot the people in charge of the camera and audio of the service. He quickly moved down the center aisle shooting congregants. The shooting stopped, leaving worshippers to think it was over but the gunman entered the church again yelling “Everybody die!” as he checked each aisle for more victims, including babies who cried out amid the chaos, shooting helpless families at point blank range.
Stephen Willeford, who had run out of his house near the church barefoot, shot at Kelley, hitting him twice and forcing him to flee. Willeford, ran toward a truck that was stopped at the stop sign outside the church and quickly told the driver, Johnnie Langendorff what had transpired. The two followed Kelley in the truck for 11 miles at speeds reaching 90 mph before Kelley lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a ditch. Willeford and Langendorff kept a safe distance while Willeford aimed his rifle at Kelley’s car and Langendorff directed the police to the location of the shooter. Authorities believe Kelley shot himself in the head shortly after the crash. Authorities also said Kelley appears to have carried out the massacre because of a domestic dispute he had with a former mother-in-law, who was a member of the First Baptist Church but was not present on Sunday.
Kelley enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 2010 but was court-martialed for assaulting his then wife, Tessa and his stepson-who suffered a fractured skull during the assault. Kelley was demoted and underwent a year-long imprisonment where he once escaped from a psychiatric hospital, threatened to kill his superiors in the U.S. Air Force and tried to smuggle firearms onto his base. His first wife divorced him during his confinement and he received a “bad conduct” discharge in 2014, a dismissal that usually precludes ex-servicemen from buying firearms. The Air Force has admitted it failed to report Kelley’s domestic violence court-martial to a federal database, which would have prohibited Kelley from legally buying the rifle that he used in the shooting.
Kelley married his second wife, Danielle Shields in 2014 but they became estranged sometime in 2016. Kelley had sent threatening text messages to Shields mother, Michelle who was a member of the church but was not present during the shooting. Authorities say nearly half of those shot in the church were children and many were from the same families. Those killed in the shooting were Michelle Shields mother, Lula Woicinski White, 71; Robert Scott Marshall and his wife, Karen, both 56, Peggy Lynn Warden, 56; Keith Allen Braden, 62; Robert and Shani Corrigan, both 51; Dennis Johnson, 77 and his wife Sara, 68; Haley Krueger, 16, Tara McNulty, 33; Ricardo Rodriguez, 64, and his wife Therese, 66; Annabelle Pomeroy, 14; Joann Ward, 30; Emily Ward, 7; Brooke Ward, 5; Bryan Holcombe, 60; Karla Holcombe, 58; Marc Daniel Holcombe, 36; Noah Holcombe, 17 months; Greg Holcombe, 13; Emily Holcomb, 11; Megan Holcombe, 9; Crystal Holcombe, 36 and her unborn child Carlin.
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The Department of Defense (DOD) is planning to send 3,000 more troops to its Afghanistan operations in early 2018. The NATO contribution would boost the training mission, called Resolute Support, to around 16,000 US troops. About half of the additional troops would come from the United States and the rest from NATO allies and partner countries. The additional personnel will not have a combat role but the alliance hopes more soldiers can train the Afghan army and air force.
In August a new strategy in Afghanistan was unveiled which includes providing more troops, a stronger Afghan army, support from regional allies such as India and a harder line with Pakistan. The latest announcement of 3,000 more troops is in addition to the September announcement that another 6,000-plus ground troops from Fort Carson are slated for a future deployment to the country.
NATO allies have already promised almost $3 billion to help the United States fund the Afghan military until 2020, which is developing an air force to complement its ground forces. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference “We have decided to increase the number of troops to help the Afghans break the stalemate, to send a message to the Taliban, to the insurgents that they will not win on the battleground.” Stoltenberg said an attack on a television station in Kabul underlined the importance of fighting militants and supporting Afghan security forces. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the assault, without giving evidence.
Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander for Afghanistan, told reporters “My plan is to have U.S. forces focused on the things that only U.S. forces can do, so I would not like to have to divert U.S. forces to do things that allies could perform.” “We have made it very clear to the allies that we really need their help in filling these billets that we’ve identified.”
Hundreds of soldiers with the U.S. Army’s first security force assistance brigade are expected to deploy to Afghanistan in early 2018 as part of that ANDSF training mission. The Army intends to have a total of six brigades by 2022 with the primary mission is to train and advise foreign troops. In Afghanistan, the focus will be bolstering government forces, which have sustained heavy losses and huge swaths of territory to the Taliban since the U.S. combat mission ended in 2014.
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