A man walked into a filled movie theater in Hanover, Maryland and set off fireworks causing a panic when people believed someone was committing a mass shooting.
Police have not been able to identify the man who walked into the Cinemark Movie Theater in Arundel Mills.
“Everybody’s just jumping out of their seats and screaming,” witness Luis Andrade told CBS Baltimore about the explosion’s aftermath. “We saw a gentleman say ‘there’s an emergency exit’ and we ran out.”
Police say it appears that the man who committed the act was pulling a prank.
“The person needs to be held responsible and brought to justice (even if a prank),” Lt. TJ Smith told reporters.
Police obtained photos of an African-American man wearing a red bandanna that they believe to have set off the homemade explosive device. They are asking the public’s help in trying to track him down.
A piece of artwork called Homeless Jesus that features an image of Jesus lying on a park bench covered in a blanket is drawing outrage from some residents in Davidson, North Carolina.
The sculpture in front of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church was created by the artist as “a representation that suggests Christ is with the most marginalized in our society.” The artwork shows a part of Christ’s face but shows his entire nail-scarred feet.
The sculpture is a duplicate of a piece on display in Vatican City that was blessed by Pope Francis. Reverend Dr. David Buck, rector of St. Alban’s, said the artwork is beautiful and reminds Christians their ultimate calling is to do what they can individually to take care of those in need of shelter, food and clothing.
However, some residents of the area are upset with the Sculpture.
One woman, Cindy Castano Swannack, called police when she drove past it the first time thinking a homeless person was lying on a bench in her neighborhood.
“My complaint is not about the art-worthiness of meaning behind the sculpture,” Davidson resident Jerry Dawson wrote in a letter to the editor. “It is about people driving into our beautiful, reasonably upscale neighborhood and seeing an ugly homeless person sleeping on a park bench.”
The church says they will not remove the sculpture.
A woman who was forced to spend a night in jail after recording a police officer on her phone has filed suit over wrongful imprisonment.
Brandy Berning, 33, was stopped for driving in the HOV lane at the wrong time and then began to record Lt. William O’Brien as he approached her vehicle. When Berning said that she was recording the stop, O’Brien said she had committed a felony and demanded the phone.
The officer then argued with the woman over the next few minutes before reaching into the car to take the phone and spraining her wrist.
In Florida, both sides of a conversation are required to know that a conversation is being recorded. It is legal for third parties to record a law enforcement officer performing duties.
The ACLU says it’s very likely the law will be on Berning’s side in the lawsuit.
The lethal combination of heroin and fentanyl that had been making its move along the East Coast has now killed at least 80 people in the last few weeks.
The tainted heroin has now drawn a bulletin from the Drug Enforcement Association to local authorities for “killer heroin.” Fentanyl is considered 80 times stronger than morphine and is used for people in extreme pain such as cancer patients.
Police in Vermont have released information that pure fentanyl is being sold as heroin in their state.
Ellen Unterwald of the Center for Substance Abuse Research at Temple University said the dealers sell the drug as creating a “super high” but don’t mention the fentanyl. Unterwald said just a small amount of the drug can be lethal by stopping the victim’s breathing.
New York City police released information that the heroin that killed actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was not a tainted batch of heroin but pure drug.
Parents in an upstate New York public school district are furious that a judge is keeping secret letters from at least 22 teachers who were supporting a colleague that sexually assaulted an 8-year-old boy.
Some of the letters in support of convicted pedophile Matthew LoMaglio during his sentencing phase were even written by the teachers on school stationary. The parents say that because the letters were written on school stationary, they were on taxpayer provided items and thus should be available as public record.
Prosecutors say their case was hampered by the fact teachers in the same school as the defendant refused to help in his prosecution.
A petition by parents in the district says, “we believe that children in the Rochester City School District are in danger.”
“It’s upsetting, but more than that, it’s fearful,” parent Karen Bryant told Fox News. “We have 22 teachers who still support this man and sent the letters after he was convicted and admitted he was guilty.”
The school district told Fox News they did not authorize any teachers to write letters in support of LoMaglio.
A school in England shocked parents by sending home letters that they have been catching students as young as six acting out scenes from the video game series Grand Theft Auto.
The letter says that they have been acting out violent scenes that have resulted in several students and bystanders being injured. The students were also caught forcing other students to participate in reenactments of the game’s sexual assault scenes.
The game’s latest installment, Grand Theft Auto 5, has told more than 32 million copies worldwide. The game is labeled for Adults Only.
“Until I went online and checked the content of the game, I thought it was just a bit of swearing and some shooting,” head teacher Morian Morgan said. “I think some of the parents will tell you that they have been equally naïve.”
He stressed he wasn’t condemning parents for not knowing the game’s content.
A report released in the wake of the heroin overdose of Oscar winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman shows that over 70 million Americans are addicted to some kind of mind altering drugs.
While the vast number of addictions is initially to prescription painkillers such as Oxycontin, many of the addicts find their way to illegal drugs such as heroin because they are cheaper and provide many of the same effects.
The study says that if you include the 60 million Americans who are alcoholics, 130 total Americans daily are under the influence of some kind of mind-altering drug.
The study did not take into account people who are now using marijuana in the wake of legalization in Colorado and Washington. Several other states are also considering legalization of the drug including California. Stock prices for companies that grow cannabis have soared since the beginning of the year.
The Department of Health and Human Services reports that in the average year, 30 million Americans drive drunk and an additional 10 million drive while under the influence of drugs.
If you’re in Vancouver and feel like smoking some crack, you now have the opportunity to pick up a fresh crack pipe at one of two new vending machines.
The machines are operated by the Portland Hotel Society’s Drug Users Resource Center and dispense the crack pipes for just 25 cents. The DURC says the move is an attempt to stop diseases from spreading among addicts.
Kailin See, the director of the DURC, told CTV that the pipes are very durable and less likely to chip meaning that drug users won’t cut their mouths on the pipes and spread HIV or hepatitis C.
Canada’s Minister of Public Safety spoke out Saturday opposing the action.
“Drug use damages the health of individuals and the safety of our communities,” Steven Blaney said. “We believe law enforcement should enforce the law.”
Four workers at a New York group home have been fired after they were found to be causing the disabled residents of the home to fight for their amusement.
The workers shot video of the fights on their cell phones.
Erin McHenry, Justin McDonald, Stephen Komara and Rosemary Vanni are all facing a charge of endangering the welfare of a disabled person along with other individual charges. Bail was set at $10,000 for all but Vanni who did not appear at court and had a warrant issued for her arrest.
The group reportedly made two 50-year-old men who had the mental capacity of preschoolers fight with each other. When one was knocked out of his wheelchair by the others, the workers can be heard on the video praising the one who beat him.
All four workers will likely face prison time if convicted.
A Florida woman is under arrest after she reportedly used stun guns to punish children under her care.
Letina Smith, 41, was arrested after three children under 9-years-old told police that she had used a “pink, rectangle shaped” machine with “two points of electricity”on them when she said they misbehaved.
Investigators say they were able to interview the children after being alerted by officials at Sunrise Elementary School.
Officials could not say what the relationship is with the children. She was jailed on just $3,000 bond.
