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Another Fatal Shooting Involving a 3-Year-Old Boy

March 16th, 2012

You might be wondering if we’re repeating the same news, the same one we wrote about only a few days ago, unfortunately that isn’t the case. This has been Washington’s third recent shooting involving a child.  “It is incredible in light of the other ones,” said Tacoma police Officer Naveed Benjamin. “You would think people would take more care, not less.” We couldn’t agree more with Officer Benjamin. It’s devastating news to find out a child has been shot, let alone 3 in only a span of 2 months, because those parents’ are becoming too careless and irresponsible.

The family had stopped for gas after midnight around 12:30 a.m. The father put his handgun under one of the seats and went outside to pump gas. The mother went inside the convenience store, Benjamin said. Their son and daughter were left inside the car as the son got out of his seat. He found the handgun and tragically shot himself in the head, police said. He was declared dead at the hospital. Fortunately, his sibling wasn’t injured during the shooting.

Investigators and detectives began questioning the parents and have deemed the tragic shooting an accident, Benjamin said. The father did have a concealed weapons permit and charges are not expected, he said. Washington doesn’t have a law that prohibits child access to firearms.

Another Tragic Shooting Involves Police Officer’s 7-Year-Old Daughter

March 13th, 2012

It all sounds too familiar as we have another shooting involving a police officer’s child who was shot last Saturday afternoon. The 7-year-old daughter of a Marysville police officer was tragically shot by her sibling inside their parents’ van. She died at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle the next day, Snohomish County Sherriff’s Office said.

“At this time we are all extremely concerned for the well-being of one of our department family members,” Marysville Police Chief Rick Smith said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.”

The children’s parents were nearby when they heard the gun go off. The Sheriff’s Office is currently investigating the situation and that no other information were to be released. There was also no information regarding who the officer is or details about his career with the department. It is still not clear whether or not the firearm that was used in the shooting was registered under the department.

The Snohomish County Medical Examiner will be responsible for releasing the child’s identity and cause of death, the Sheriff’s Office said. The child was sent to the nearest hospital after she was shot and then to the Harborview Medical Center. This wasn’t the only shooting that involved a young child in Washington. Another shooting occurred only a few weeks before when a 9-year-old boy brought a loaded handgun to school from his mother’s home. He stuffed the firearm into his backpack and the gun went off as soon as he slammed his backpack down. An 8-year-old girl, Amina Kocer-Bowman was severely injured by the gunshot. This tragic incident has her in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center and doctors believe that the injuries will change her life forever.

Washington is only one of the few states that have no law that enacts criminal penalties for adults who allow children access to guns. State lawmakers have thought about requiring additional testing on gunlocks and safes before any equipment is given to law-enforcement officers for home use. The bill was prompted when a Sheriff’s Deputy’s 3-year-old son shot himself when he got ahold of a gun from a department-issued safe, which the family claimed was defective. The deputy was placed on administrative leave after the accident. He was then fired in November where an internal-affairs investigation had found out that he improperly stored the gun and wrongly blamed his 11-year-old stepdaughter for the son’s death.

Many accidents like this can be prevented if we take the time to make sure dangerous items, not only firearms, are kept away from children. Just like anything we use everyday, we need to keep anything harmful to children away and safe. We keep cleaning supplies inside a childproof sink cabinet. We make sure medicine is kept away high and inside a medicine cabinet. All those items need to be kept away to prevent accidents. We should pay even more attention to keep firearms away. There are plenty of alternatives, but the better alternatives are to keep guns and other weapons inside security storage units. Whether it’s a high quality gun safe, handgun safe or you keep them hidden elsewhere, you need to keep them stored in an area where it is nearly impossible for children to reach and gain access. It’s time we start thinking safe and responsibly because accidents like this should never happen.

Source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017727656_childshooting12m.html

Group of Professional Thieves Arrested For Multiple Break-Ins

March 9th, 2012

For the majority of the time, if you have the necessary security equipment to protect yourself, your home or business, you’ll be able to keep thieves and attackers at bay. However, their will always be someway a thief will get around your security. That shouldn’t keep you from investing in high security because most of the time, it’ll save your valuables and even your life.

In rare cases though, there are professional thieves who know their way around security. They know how to stay under the radar without being caught. Usually, they’re in groups, to help guide each other along the way, and they always carry the right tools.

Recently, police have caught five suspects who were all involved in multiple thefts and break-ins. Police say that these burglars knew how to cut the exact wires to keep the alarms from going off. They even used some high-tech equipment such as scanners to keep a lookout on police transmissions. They also planned ahead of time for locations and a variety of different vehicles that were never registered to them. These experts were not kidding around and knew what they were doing. All their illegal activities kept stacking up, as they were able to raid businesses and storefronts all over South Shore.  Eventually, everything traced right back to them and the police say that the charades are finally over.

The police have arrested three Weymouth residents and two other men from Hull last week by a multi-department task force that has solved three break-ins and could have solved many more.  The men arrested were all in their early-mid 30’s.  They were charged in thefts that were taken place last month in Quincy, Hingham and Brighton. “They’re still under investigation for a lot of crimes throughout our region,” said Marshfield police Capt. Phil Tavares, who also leads the Old Colony Police Anti-Crime Task Force.

In took about two weeks of police surveillance and investigation until they were able to arrest the individuals. The investigators said they broke into businesses after they have been closed and made sure to cover up any evidence of their break-in. They would seek out safes and standalone ATMs in the robbery.

“They have been doing this for quite some time, we believe,” Quincy police Lt. John Steele said. “In the past year they’ve been able to get well into six figures worth of cash out of various businesses throughout the South Shore and Boston area.”

On Feb. 17th, the police say that the group broke their way into a men’s room of a gas station after it was closed. From there they were able to gain access to the office by busting down a wall where they broke into a safe and stole thousands of dollars, Steele said. As they smashed the window to escape was when the alarm triggered.

A little over a week after the 1st burglary, two of the men in the group broke into a carwash where they destroyed electrical and alarm boxes and then raided the office and file cabinets. They also stole two guns that were contained inside a wall safe. Hingham police Sgt. Steven Dearth says that the two Beretta semiautomatic pistols were fully loaded still haven’t been recovered. They were stored inside a safe and were registered to an employee of the car wash, he said.

When the police arrested the group of men and searched the vehicle they were driving in, they found a pry bar, screwdrivers and a police scanner. One of the suspects already had a significant criminal track record with outstanding warrants for his arrest and was out on bail for charges.

It made it tough for police officials to track down these thieves as they traveled all over the place. They needed help and evidence from every task force that included towns from Quincy, Weymouth, Hingham, Marshfield, Rockland, Scituate, Hanover, Norwell, Braintree and State Police investigators assigned to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s office. Boston Police were involved in the arrest and Brighton break-in investigation. “This was an example of what law enforcement has had to do to keep up with the times,” Steele said. “Criminals now go all over the place, into all sorts of different jurisdictions, and this collaborative effort really made this whole thing come together.”

Source: http://www.patriotledger.com/mobile/x587876056/Police-say-South-Shore-burglary-ring-broken-up-with-arrest-of-5-people

Thieves Raid Home Stealing Over $25,000 Worth of Valuables

August 5th, 2011

In the city of Bradenton, Florida a recent burglary has the local towns people worried and nervous as the police are investigating a Palmetto home that was broken into. The burglars stole a 700-pound gun safe that stored a plethora of guns that totaled to 23 different firearms. They also stole a 50-pound safe that was even anchored to a wall, reported by the Sherriff.

A more frightening fact is that the burglars were able to break into the home, raid the area and take two safes without being seen by anyone or creating any suspicion. That must be startling for the neighborhood and those that live close by. The thieves didn’t use any sophisticated techniques or tools to break into the home. They did it the old fashion way, by smashing the front window of the home. It’s surprising to hear that because most burglars would go through the backyard where they would be less exposed to the neighbors.

Once the robbers gained entry inside, it led them into the home office. They raided the office room and two bedrooms where they then stole the two safes that contained multiple firearms. The victim of the burglary was a member of the Manatee Gun Club and told the police that he had no clue who would do such a thing.  The heavy-duty and hefty gun safe held 23 guns that valued at an estimated worth of $15,000. The smaller 50-pound safe that was attached securely on to the wall contained about $7,000 in cash, $3,000 in jewelry and coins and $3,000 in savings bonds. All in all, the total amount that was stolen in valuables was $28,000. That doesn’t even include the damages that were done to the home and the value of the safes.

The deputies went around the neighborhood asking if anyone had seen any suspicious activity in the area, but no one had seen anything. With that being said, the deputies don’t have any suspects or witnesses to go by. We hope that any evidence presents itself that can lead to these suspects. Any person or group of people that breaks into a home doesn’t have the greatest intentions. Even worse, the thieves stole a horde of firearms that could be an even greater threat when choosing their next home to burglarize. Although they took in a large amount of cash and jewelry, they will be coming back for more to target another innocent victim.

Dumped Safe Left Unopened In Bushes

July 13th, 2011

An investigation is being made in Springfield Oregon where a safe was dumped behind some bushes. The only thing is, the safe was capable of withstanding the attacks from the thieves, who seemed to become frustrated and left it stranded. Investigators are now trying to search for the rightful owner of the safe. The home safe was behind a McKenzie Meadows apartment complex.

The residential safe was found when a group of kids found it on Monday evening. Sgt. Richard Jones responded, “It appeared that somebody had been trying to break into the safe. There were pry marks on it.” Some of the neighbors around the area say they’ve encountered and seen some suspicious activity going on around the neighborhood. A resident of the neighborhood, Alberta Hurt, commented saying, “This neighborhood is not known for very good things. We had someone who’s described as a Peeping Tom tried to open up a screen door.”

The thieves who stole the safe, seemed to have difficulty opening it up and plus the safe had not been reported missing to the police. Not until the next day came around and everyone in the neighborhood was asked if they were missing a safe. During the investigation, there had been some leads, one of them named Anginetta Newton whose daughter’s safe had been missing. She claims that her daughter’s safe was missing in her storage unit, which is only a few yards away from where the safe was found. She said the safe was empty and was moved into the storage unit on Friday. Another lead claims to have the rights to the safe saying, “I’m going to go down to that police station and I’m going to open up my safe and let them know it’s mind,” says safe owner Sherrell McClain, who claims she has the code to support her claim.

The KVAL News team is closely following the investigation as neighbors and other people around the area who have lost their safe walk into the Police Department on Tuesday afternoon to see if it is theirs. The detectives have kept the safe at an offsite location and the difficult challenge is to find whom the reported missing safe belongs to.  Another issue that arises is that the combination lock was dismantled after being stolen, which means McClain will have a difficult time proving the safe was hers with her code. The only way the police will go about the investigation is to identify the true owners of the safe by the contents that are contained inside.

It’s very fortunate that the safe was not broken into. It seems like the safe that was stolen was of great quality. Even forced attempts of prying it open and a destroyed combination lock left the thieves confused. It’s real life stories like these that have us believe that home safes can keep thieves away, especially those made of high security and steel. The only problem is finding out whom the rightful owner of the safe belongs to. You can imagine how difficult this process has to be, which is similar to one of the other stories we’ve wrote about (Large Amount of Safes & Valuables Found After Japan’s Natural Disaster).  We hope that the police find the rightful owner and that the process goes smoothly, as well as capturing the thieves who left the safe behind.

Source: http://www.kval.com/news/local/125458648.html

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