Tag Archives: Death

One dead in knife attack in Hamburg supermarket, motive unclear

Security forces are seen after a knife attack in a supermarket in Hamburg, Germany, July 28, 2017. REUTERS/Morris Mac Matzen

BERLIN (Reuters) – One person was killed in an attack by a lone knifeman in a supermarket in the northern German city of Hamburg on Friday, and four more were injured when the man fled the scene, police said.

The police said the man had suddenly started attacking customers in the shop, with no immediate indication of any political or religious motive. Officers detained him near the site.

“We have no clear information as to the motive or the number of wounded,” Hamburg police said in a tweet. “It was definitely a lone attacker.” They said initial reports about a possible robbery had not been substantiated.

Police said passersby tackled the man after he fled the scene, injuring him slightly, before plain clothes police officers could take him into custody.

Police have been on high alert in Germany since a spate of attacks on civilians last year, including a December attack on a Berlin Christmas market, when a hijacked truck plougher into the crowds, killing 12 and injuring many more.

Security has been a campaign issue ahead of Sept. 24 parliamentary elections, in which Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to win a fourth term in office.

Newspaper Bild showed a picture of the alleged Hamburg attacker sitting in the back of a police car, his face concealed with a bloodied shroud.

A video on its website showed a helicopter landed outside the supermarket with armed police in body armor patrolling the neighborhood.

(Reporting By Thomas Escritt and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Michelle Martin and Toby Davis)

UK announces fire safety review after tests identify 82 unsafe tower blocks

A man looks at floral tributes for the victims of the Grenfell Tower fatal fire, in London, Britain July 15, 2017. REUTERS/Tolga Akmen

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain announced a review of building and fire safety rules on Friday after tests conducted following last month’s deadly tower block blaze in London found a cladding system known to be used on 82 buildings breached regulations.

Police have said they believe the system of insulation and cladding panels added during a refurbishment of Grenfell Tower may have contributed to the rapid spread of the fire in which 80 people died.

After initial testing highlighted potential fire risks in buildings across the country, a second, more extensive round of tests found a specific cladding system known to be in use on 82 buildings did not meet building regulations, the government said in a statement.

Alongside the release of the test results, ministers ordered an independent review of building regulations and fire safety.

“It’s clear we need to urgently look at building regulations and fire safety,” communities minister Sajid Javid said in a statement. “This independent review will ensure we can swiftly make any necessary improvements.”

The review will look at the existing regulatory system, compliance and enforcement of the regulations, and will draw on similar regulations overseas.

Friday’s results are the first to be published from six sets of tests involving three different types of aluminium composite material combined with two different types of insulation.

The government said immediate action was already underway to ensure the safety of residents in the affected buildings, without giving further details.

The BBC reported on Thursday that police investigating the fire believe there are grounds to suspect that corporate manslaughter may have been committed by the local council.

(Reporting by William James,; editing by Kylie MacLellan and Ed Osmond)

Dutch manufacturer suspends ride that killed 1 at Ohio fair

A ride called Fireball malfunctioned causing numerous injuries at the Ohio State Fair in Columbus, Ohio, U.S. July 26, 2017. Bruce Lamm/@OntheLamm/Social Media Website/via REUTERS

By Suzannah Gonzales and Chris Kenning

(Reuters) – The Dutch manufacturer of the ride that killed an 18-year-old man who just enlisted in the Marines and injured seven other people at the Ohio State Fair instructed operators on Thursday to suspend use of similar rides.

The notice from KMG International BV came as several states said they had temporarily shut or were further inspecting rides similar to the “Fireball,” which police in Columbus, Ohio, said flung the victims into the air on Wednesday after their seats snapped off.

“We are currently gathering information on the accident and investigating the cause and circumstances,” KMG product manager Albert Kroon said in a statement.

Following the death of Tyler Jarrell, 18, in Ohio, at least nine other states, a New Jersey county fair and a Canadian city said they were suspending or reinspecting similar rides.

Inspectors are notifying operators in Illinois to stop three “Fireball” rides, eight “Freak Out” rides, and one “Extreme” ride, state labor department officials said.

Officials said the Fireball ride will not operate at the Indiana State Fair when it opens next week, while Kentucky State Fair officials said they scrapped plans to include the Fireball ride at this year’s event in August.

A spokeswoman for the California State Fair said that operators there suspended use of the Fireball within 20 minutes of the Ohio accident and were reinspecting it.

“It’s one of the more popular rides. My son was just on it yesterday,” said spokeswoman Darla Givens.

North Carolina issued a moratorium on the ride’s use until an investigation is completed. Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Missouri, New York and the Monmouth County Fair in New Jersey also suspended operations of the Fireball and similar rides.

At an annual fair in the Canadian city of Edmonton, officials shut down the Fireball ride on Wednesday night until further notice, said Caiti Farquharson, a spokeswoman for the organization that holds the event.

Those taken to area hospitals after the Ohio accident ranged in age from 14 to 42, authorities said. Two patients remain in critical condition and another is in serious condition after multiple surgeries at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, according to a hospital statement.

Jarrell had enlisted in the Marines Friday and had been due to begin basic training in South Carolina next June, said Captain Oliver David, a Marine spokesman.

Since 2010, there have been 22 U.S. fatalities, including Jarrell, linked to amusement attractions such as rides, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is investigating the Ohio incident. That excludes work-related incidents and fatalities at water parks or slides.

There were about 30,900 injuries associated with amusement attractions seen in emergency rooms in 2016, commission spokeswoman Elizabeth Klinefelter said.

Amusements of America, which provided rides to the Ohio State Fair, called the Fireball “an aggressive thrill ride” and said it was one of its most popular since it began using it in 2002.

(Reporting by Suzannah Gonzales and Chris Kenning in Chicago; Additional reporting by Julia Jacobs in Chicago and Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Lisa Shumaker)

Floods kill 120 in India’s Gujarat, with industry, cotton hit

People use boats as they try to move to safer places along a flooded street in West Midnapore district, in West Bengal. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri

By Amit Dave

AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) – Widespread flooding in India’s western industrial state of Gujarat has killed more than 120 people and paralyzed infrastructure, officials said on Friday, with tens of thousands of cotton farmers also suffering heavy damage.

Torrential monsoon rain and flooding in recent weeks have killed at least 300 people in western and eastern states, an official in the National Disaster Management Authority told Reuters in New Delhi.

“Our teams are working in different parts of India with soldiers to ease the situation,” said Deepak Ghai, an emergency room control officer.

More than a million households had been affected and losses to farmlands were being assessed.

The airport in Ahmedabad, the main commercial hub of Gujarat, was partially flooded, forcing airlines to divert flights. More than 150 factories were forced to shut down, said A.R. Raval, a district administrator.

The floods have come at a particularly bad time for cotton farmers in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state.

Raval said more than 50,000 were struggling to drain water from their land and homes.

Recent downpours have hit cotton and millet in Gujarat and Rajasthan, where farm experts now fear pest infestations.

“Cotton and millet harvests are expected to suffer in about three districts each in Gujarat and Rajasthan, but the biggest worry is that the extra moisture could lead to pest attacks in these areas,” Devinder Sharma, an independent farm expert, said.

Rains have been 4 percent above average since the four-month monsoon season began in June, according to the state-run India Meteorological Department.

(Additional reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj Writing by Rupam Jain)

One dead, seven hurt after thrown from ride at Ohio fair

A ride called Fireball malfunctioned causing numerous injuries at the Ohio State Fair in Colombus, Ohio, U.S. July 26, 2017. Bruce Lamm/@OntheLamm/Social Media Website/via REUTERS

(Reuters) – One person was killed and seven injured, three critically, at the Ohio State Fair on Wednesday when they were flung into the air after their seats snapped off a ride that hoists and spins people, police officials said.

The accident at the fair, which opened on Wednesday in Columbus, occurred when a section of open-air seating snapped off the “Fire Ball” ride, they said.

“It’s a very tough day and a very tough night for the people of our state,” Ohio Governor John Kasich told a news conference, describing the incident as a tragedy.

He said all fair rides had been shut for inspection.

None of the victims have been identified.

The seats on the Fire Ball are in a circular configuration at the end of an arm that swings riders in a pendulum motion as they are being spun.

It can hoist riders up to 40 feet (12 meters) in the air and spins them at 13 revolutions per minute, according to Amusements of America, an operator of amusement park rides.

The person killed was an 18-year-old man, fire officials told Ohio media.

The man who died was thrown into the air and landed about 50 feet (15 meters) from the ride, the Columbus Dispatch reported a fire official as saying.

All those injured were taken to area hospitals, officials said.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas; Editing by Leslie Adler and Lisa Shumaker)

El Salvador prosecutors order nearly 600 arrests to stem crime spree

El Salvador's Attorney General Douglas Melendez in San Salvador, El Salvador, April 4, 2017. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas

SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) – Prosecutors in El Salvador ordered the arrests of some 593 people nationwide on suspicion of crimes like homicide and extortion, an action that appeared to be a major strike against gangs that have turned the Central American country into one of the deadliest in the world.

Attorney General Douglas Melendez said in a statement on Wednesday that all the detention orders were based on investigations. Other charges filed against the suspects included crimes such as terrorism, fraud, rape, kidnapping and drug possession.

So far, 337 suspected gang members had been arrested, police chief Howard Cotto said in a news conference, and efforts are ongoing to arrest the remaining suspects.

State security forces in Central America and Mexico are often accused of arbitrary detentions by human rights groups.

Violence has surged in El Salvador since a 2012 truce between the Barrio 18 gang and its rival Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, began to unravel in 2014.

The majority of those arrested so far were from MS-13 and suspected of committing crimes against the police, Cotto said.

Violent crime in El Salvador and other countries in the region is one of the main reasons why people seek to emigrate, often moving northward through Mexico to the United States.

(Reporting by Nelson Renteria; editing by Grant McCool and G Crosse)

Minneapolis orders stricter police body-camera rules after fatal shooting

Justine Damond, also known as Justine Ruszczyk, from Sydney, is seen in this 2015 photo released by Stephen Govel Photography in New York, U.S., on July 17, 2017. Stephen Govel/Stephen Govel Photography/Handout via REUTERS

By Chris Kenning

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Minneapolis officials set stricter police body camera rules on Wednesday, more than a week after officers failed to activate cameras during the fatal police shooting of an Australian woman.

Mayor Betsy Hodges and acting Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said the new policy will require officers to turn on cameras anytime they are dispatched to a call or undertake any self-initiated activity. The new policy takes effect on Saturday.

“What good is a camera if it is not being used when it may be needed the most?” said Arradondo, who acknowledged that some officers were not using the cameras frequently enough.

Justine Damond was shot shortly before midnight on July 15 by an officer responding to an emergency call she had placed about a possible assault in her residential neighborhood. The shooting sparked outrage in Australia and Minnesota.

Authorities said officer Mohamed Noor shot the 40-year-old woman through the window as she approached his patrol car. Neither his nor his partner’s body camera were on, nor was dashboard camera activated.

The incident, still under investigation, led Hodges to request the resignation of the city’s police chief.

Minneapolis rolled out cameras late last year with use guidelines calling for officers to activate them “when safe” in a variety of situations including traffic stops, emergency responses, vehicle pursuits, searches and before any use of force.

Arradondo said supervisors were being trained to audit the use of the cameras.

“Many of our officers are using our cameras a lot,” he said. But some officers, he said, are failing to use them enough.

The new policy will still include some exceptions, but will reduce the amount of discretion officers have in using them, officials said.

The technology has been adopted by police departments across the country, increasing sharply after the 2014 police shooting of a teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, sparked demonstrations over police treatment of minorities.

At least 14 people were killed in the United States by officers wearing body cams that were either not turned on or inoperative since 2014, the American Civil Liberties Union said in December. Even so, that was a tiny fraction of police-involved shootings.

Jim Pasco, a senior adviser with the Fraternal Order of Police, said recently that noncompliance among police was not widespread nationally. A Pew Research Center report earlier this year found 66 percent of police supported the use of body cameras.

(Reporting by Chris Kenning; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

Survivors of Texas truck where 10 immigrants died seek to trade testimony for visas

Police officers work on a crime scene after eight people believed to be illegal immigrants being smuggled into the United States were found dead inside a sweltering 18-wheeler trailer parked behind a Walmart store in San Antonio, Texas, U.S. July 23, 2017. REUTERS/Ray Whitehouse

By Jon Herskovitz and Mica Rosenberg

AUSTIN, Texas/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Some of the illegal immigrants who survived a deadly human-smuggling journey into Texas are seeking visas to stay in the United States in exchange for testimony against those responsible for an operation that killed 10 people on a sweltering truck, a lawyer said on Tuesday.

There is precedent for such visas and it could help U.S. authorities bring more people to justice, experts said. So far, only one person has been charged, the driver of the truck who said he was unaware of the human cargo aboard until he took a rest stop in San Antonio. He could face the death penalty if convicted.

The case could also provide a test for the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, which has promised to crack down on illegal immigration and the criminal syndicates responsible for human trafficking.

Silvia Mintz, an attorney representing the Guatemalan Consulate in Houston, said she has contacted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to see if it would consider granting “U visas,” available to victims of crimes such as human trafficking who have pertinent information to provide law enforcement.

At least 100 illegal immigrants, mainly from Mexico and Guatemala, were crammed into the back of the truck after crossing the U.S. border.

“If we are able to establish the case, we will go ahead and seek the U visa,” Mintz said in a telephone interview.

Shane Folden, special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations in San Antonio, said most of the people found alive at the scene are still in local hospitals. He said it was too early to talk about possible visas.

“There are a number of paths toward immigration relief for situations such as this,” he said in a telephone interview, adding, “we are not at that point yet.”

Of the 39 people found at the scene, 10 have died, 22 were in hospitals and seven have been released and were being questioned, he said.

Most of those aboard the truck fled before authorities could capture them.

DEATH IN VICTORIA

U.S. law enforcement has granted temporary visas previously for immigrants who provided testimony in what is considered the worst illegal immigrant-smuggling case in U.S. history, when 19 people died after traveling in an 18-wheeler truck through Victoria, Texas, in 2003.

Temporary visas for about 40 people aboard that truck helped U.S. prosecutors charge more than a dozen people with conspiracy in the case, prosecutors said at the time.

Alonzo Pena, a former deputy director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said witnesses in the San Antonio case can be released into the community under strict conditions that could include wearing electronic monitoring devices.

Authorities would likely repatriate the others, said Pena, who runs a San Antonio consulting business, in a telephone interview.

A U-visa is valid for four years and offers a path to apply for permanent residency status. Congress limited the number to 10,000 a year, and the program is heavily oversubscribed.

Those on the truck may also try for a T-visa for victims of human trafficking.

Agent Folden said U.S. authorities want to topple the criminal groups responsible for human trafficking.

“Our primary goal is to disrupt and dismantle these organizations,” he said.

(Additional reporting by Jim Forysth in San Antonio and Reade Levinson in New York; Editing by Frank McGurty and Lisa Shumaker)

Jordanians protest against Israel at funeral of shot teenager

People attend the funeral of Mohammad Jawawdah in Amman, Jordan July 25, 2017. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed

By Suleiman Al-Khalidi

AMMAN (Reuters) – Several thousand Jordanians urged their government on Tuesday to close the Israeli Embassy in Amman and scrap an unpopular peace treaty during the funeral of a young Jordanian shot dead by an Israeli security guard in the embassy.

Dozens of demonstrators chanted “No to an Israeli Embassy or ambassador on Jordanian land!”, and called for a jihad – or holy war – as they carried the coffin of Mohammad Jawawdah, 16, to his burial place in a cemetery in the capital.

Jordanian police said on Monday that Jawawdah, who worked in a furniture firm, had got into a brawl with the Israeli security guard after entering the fortress-like compound of the embassy on Sunday to deliver an order.

They said the Israeli security guard had fired on Jawawdah after the young man attacked him, but did not confirm Israel’s account that he had used a screwdriver to stab the guard in what Israeli officials described as a “terrorist attack”.

Israel said the security officer had acted in self-defense when he shot Jawawdah while his father said the young teenager had no militant links.

The staff of Israel’s Embassy in Jordan, including the security guard involved in the shooting incident, returned to Israel from Amman on Monday.

Responding to public anger that the security guard was able to leave Jordan, Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said the Israeli had been protected by diplomatic immunity, but he vowed to “get justice” for the victims of what he called a “criminal attack”.

“The government had insisted that the person who committed the crime should not leave”, Safadi said, adding that the Israeli security guard left the country only after the authorities got his testimony to pursue a legal case against him.

“The government acted in a way to ensure the rights of Jordanian citizens,” Safadi said denying any secret deal that allowed his departure.

The main political opposition, the Muslim Brotherhood, blasted the authorities for handing over the security guard in what it said was an affront to national sovereignty.

“The Jordanian people were shocked by the death of two Jordanians in cold blood and instead of the government doing its duty toward its citizens, we were appalled by its protection of the killer and returning him without punishment,” the mainstream Islamist group said in a statement

“CLOSE COOPERATION”

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu thanked U.S. President Donald Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner for helping to bring the embassy staff home as well as Jordan’s King Abdullah “for our close cooperation”.

Israeli media showed a smiling Netanyahu embracing the security guard after meeting him on Tuesday. He said his government had a “commitment to get you out, that was never a question”.

“You represent the state of Israel and Israel doesn’t forget that for a moment”, Netanyahu added.

Jordan’s peace accord with Israel, the second to be concluded with Israel by an Arab country after Egypt, is unpopular with many Jordanians, many of whom are of Palestinian origin.

Israeli-Jordanian tensions have escalated since Israel installed metal detectors at entry points to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City after two police guards were shot dead by gunmen there on July 14.

The kingdom has seen an outpouring of public anger against Israel in recent days over the Al-Aqsa situation, with thousands of Jordanians demonstrating last Friday against Israel in protests in Amman and in cities and refugee camps across Jordan.

Israel removed the metal detectors on Tuesday in favor of CCTV cameras, hoping to calm days of bloodshed, but Palestinians said the modified security measures were still unacceptable.

(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; editing by Gareth Jones and G Crosse)

Trucker in Texas denies knowing immigrants were in stifling tractor trailer

Police officers work on a crime scene after eight people believed to be illegal immigrants being smuggled into the United States were found dead inside a sweltering 18-wheeler trailer parked behind a Walmart store in San Antonio, Texas, U.S. July 23, 2017. REUTERS/Ray Whitehouse

By Jim Forsyth

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) – The truck driver accused of smuggling at least 100 illegal immigrants inside a sweltering tractor-trailer, 10 of whom died, has said he was unaware of the human cargo he was hauling until he took a rest stop in Texas, court papers showed on Monday.

James Bradley Jr., 60, told investigators he was caught by surprise when he opened the trailer doors outside a Walmart store in San Antonio, only to be knocked down by a group of “Spanish” people pouring out of the rig, according to the criminal complaint filed in the case.

But the narrative attributed to Bradley, who could face the death penalty if convicted, was at odds with authorities’ accounts of a small fleet of SUVs waiting in the Walmart lot to carry away some of the immigrants who clamored out of the truck.

Bradley was arrested on Sunday after police said they found the bodies of eight people in the truck, along with 30 to 40 others in and around the vehicle suffering from dehydration and heat stroke. All were illegal immigrants, the bulk of them Mexican nationals, ranging in age from 15 into their 20s and 30s, officials said.

Two died later, bringing the death toll to 10, while 29 remained hospitalized on Monday, according to Thomas Homan, acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Daytime temperatures in the hours before the truck arrived had topped 100 Fahrenheit (37.8 Celsius).

Bradley made a brief appearance in federal court on Monday in San Antonio, where he was charged with one count of transporting illegal immigrants – a felony for which he could face capital punishment if convicted because the crime resulted in deaths.

More than 100 people were originally crammed into the stifling big-rig trailer, Homan said. But one of the survivors later told investigators that some managed to flee the scene before police arrived, swarming out of the truck when the rear doors opened to be whisked away by six black sport utility vehicles waiting for them nearby.

San Antonio Police Chief William McManus also said video footage showed several vehicles coming to pick up people who were inside the truck, though Bradley, according to court documents unsealed on Monday, denied seeing any such vehicles.

Two of the survivors, according to the criminal complaint, recounted having been smuggled in small groups of immigrants across the Rio Grande River from Mexico to Texas, where they were harbored in “stash houses” around the border town of Laredo before being rounded up into the tractor-trailer for the trip to San Antonio, about 150 miles (240 km) to the north.

Describing desperate conditions inside the pitch-black interior of the truck without water or proper ventilation, one survivor recalled people taking turns to gasp for fresh air through a hole in the trailer’s side. Some passed out, while others shouted and pounded on the walls of the truck to get the driver’s attention. Their pleas went unanswered until arriving at the Walmart, according to the account.

One survivor said about 70 people were already present when he climbed into the trailer with his group of nearly 30. Another estimated as many as 200 were aboard in total.

Bradley told investigators he did not know anyone was inside the truck until he parked near the store to use the bathroom and heard banging and shaking coming from the back, according to the criminal complaint.

When the driver opened up the trailer, he noticed “bodies just lying on the floor like meat,” the complaint said. Some 30 or 40 people got out and “scattered,” Bradley told investigators.

According to the complaint, Bradley told investigators he was hauling the trailer from Iowa to Brownsville, Texas, to deliver it to its new owner. He said he had stopped in Laredo to get the vehicle washed before heading on to San Antonio.

Authorities gave Bradley’s residence as Clearwater, Florida. But Darnisha Rose, who lives in Louisville, Kentucky, and identified herself as his fiancee, told Reuters Bradley was a 47-year trucking veteran who made his home in his rig.

Rose described Bradley as a kind, family man whom she met two years ago when he was hospitalized in Louisville for a toe amputation and she was the housekeeper for his room. She said he recently had his right leg amputated.

Public defender Alfredo Villarreal, one of two lawyers representing Bradley, did not respond to a request for comment.

Mexico’s foreign ministry said four of the 10 dead were Mexicans, as were 21 of the 29 people hospitalized. The Guatemalan government confirmed that one of its citizens was among the dead and two others had been found alive.

Crossing the border illegally from Mexico has long been a dangerous proposition, according the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which has documented at least 7,000 deaths among those making the trek since 1998.

In what is considered the worst illegal immigrant smuggling case in U.S. history, 19 people died after traveling in an 18-wheeler truck through Victoria, Texas, in 2003.

(Additional reporting by Barbara Goldberg and Jonathan Allen in New York, Letitia Stein in Tampa, Sofia Menchu in Guatemala City, Steve Bittenbender in Louisville and Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Frank McGurty, Jeffrey Benkoe and Lisa Shumaker)