5 dead in mass shooting in Northern California town; terror at elementary school
November 15, 2017 by admin
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A gunman killed four people and injured two children, in a shooting rampage in Tehama County on Tuesday morning before he was fatally shot by law enforcement.
Authorities described a chaotic scene in which a gunman in a stolen car appeared to pick targets at random in the rural Northern California county. They said the shootings appear to have begun as a “domestic violence incident,” but did not provide details.
The gunman was fatally shot by sheriff’s deputies. His name has not been released. The Tehama County Sheriff’s Office said that it was dealing with seven crime scenes and that 10 victims were being treated for injuries.
Officials don’t have a motive for the attack but said the gunman seemed to fire at random and might have been in some type of dispute with neighbors.
The gunfire began minutes before 8 a.m. off Bobcat and Fawn lanes in Rancho Tehama, near Red Bluff, about 120 miles northwest of Sacramento. Authorities received a call of a “man down,” officials said.
The gunfire awoke John and Ronda Root, who live nearby.
It was a sound they were accustomed to in the rural neighborhood of Rancho Tehama, where lots of people own guns. Neighbors are known to fire them off at night with some regularity, said Ronda Root. Another neighbor, Reta Sweeney, said she’s been hearing semi-daily gunfire in the evening and at night for more than a month.
So when the gunfire started, John, known as “Big John” to his neighbors, was angry. He stomped onto his porch and started yelling.
“Hey! Don’t make me come down there and take that gun away! It’s 7:30 in the morning!”
It quickly became clear that the noise wasn’t coming from an early morning target practice. The shooting stopped, then started again, then stopped again, then started again. John Root said he heard at least three different kinds of firearms.
“Gunfire like crazy. One bang after another,” he said.
By the time police arrived teh shooting had stopped and the gunman was gone.
The shooter stole an unoccupied white F-150 pickup truck “and went on a shooting rampage throughout the community,” said Tehama County’s assistant sheriff, Phil Johnston.
Authorities would not say exactly where the man opened fire in the area, but said it was spread across seven crime scenes that included the local elementary school about two miles from where the rampage began. At one point, officials said, the shooter returned to Bobcat Lane with the truck, but crashed it and then carjacked a sedan and continued his assault.
In between the two locations, authorities said the gunman drove down the street firing at random houses and cars and even shot at a mother taking her son to school who drove past him.
“She was transporting her children to school, driving down the road, passed by the [gunman’s] vehicle and he opened fire on them without provocation or warning,” Johnston said.
The boy, who was sitting in the back seat, was expected to survive. His mother, however, suffered “very life-threatening” injuries, Johnston said.
At the school, the gunman fired into buildings from outside, Johnston said. One boy in a classroom was wounded, but survived.
No children were among the dead, he said. There was also no apparent motive for the assault.
“We know of no real connection to any of the victims,” he said. “Most of the victims in this case appear to be random selections.”
“It was all over in about 45 minutes,” Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston said.
A semiautomatic rifle and two handguns were recovered after deputies shot and killed the gunman.
“I have to tell you I am personally grateful to the men who engaged this suspect,” Johnston said. “It’s a tragic event, but I am personally grateful for engaging such a terrible, a mass murderer really. That’s what he is.”
Tiffany Rodgers, 33, said the community of 1,200 is close knit, coming together even to hold a Christmas parade, decorations not required. She and her husband have lived here seven years, raising four children on a farmstead and running one of the few businesses in community, a small coffee and sandwich shop behind a thrift store.
Cellphone service is largely non existent.
Residents rely on a Facebook group page to share news, make requests to borrow ingredients when cooking, and post what they hear on the police scanner.
While her husband was outside their coffee shop monitoring the path of gunfire beyond the trees across the road, she went to that site, and saw the active shooter warnings.
“We heard 20 more shots. We could hear kids screaming Get Down. I could hear kids screaming. I could hear commotion and shots,” she said. “At that point my husband and the road crew ran across the street, we could see a guy on the airstrip screaming help, about half way down. We heard a car squeal, some more shots, a dog yelp.”
She continued her account: “Silver car flew past us up the hill with a shot out window. About three minutes past that, sheriff’s made it on here…
“We could hear everything, it is so quiet here.
“Then we could hear the gun battle. Minimal 10 shots. After that main exchange I heard no more.”
She paused.
“I just want to make sure this town doesn’t get a bad name. Such a beautiful, remote community and this happens everywhere,” she said. “And I’m really hoping they don’t go for the gun violence portion of this, either, because it’s not a gun. I own guns. I take my kids shooting. It’s the person. and some times just bad things happen.
“It’s not the gun, its not mental illness. its not anything, it’s just life unfortunately.”
Five of the shooting victims were taken to Enloe Medical Center and three have since been released, the hospital said. Dignity Health said its facilities received five victims and two have been transferred to other hospitals.
“We have assembled our resources, including staff and specialists, and are working closely with local facilities and agencies to help during this time,” Dignity Health said in a statement.
Nearby residents and business owners said they heard at least 100 gunshots.
“I thought this only happens to places like L.A. or New York,” Jose Garcia, owner of La Fortune Convenience, told the Los Angeles Times.
Coy Ferreira, a parent at the school, told KRCR-TV that he heard a series of gunshots through a classroom window and saw one young boy shot in the foot and chest and a second student shot in the arm. Both were alert and conscious, he said.
Gov. Jerry Brown released a statement expressing shock at the violence.
“Anne and I are saddened to hear about today’s violence in Tehama County, which shockingly involved schoolchildren. We offer our condolences to the families who lost loved ones and unite with all Californians in grief,” he wrote.
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Zimbabwe crisis: Soldiers ‘take over broadcaster ZBC’
November 15, 2017 by admin
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Reuters
Armoured vehicles were seen taking up positions on roads outside Harare on Tuesday
Soldiers are reported to have taken over the headquarters of Zimbabwe’s national broadcaster, ZBC, amid a growing political crisis.
Explosions have also been reported in the capital, Harare, but the cause is unclear.
Earlier, the country’s ambassador in South Africa denied talk of a coup.
It comes as Zimbabwe’s ruling party accused the country’s army chief of “treasonable conduct” after he warned of a possible military intervention.
General Constantino Chiwenga had challenged President Robert Mugabe after he sacked the vice-president.
Gen Chiwenga said the army was prepared to act to end purges within Mr Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party.
Tensions were raised further on Tuesday when armoured vehicles were seen taking up positions on roads outside Harare, although their purpose was unclear.
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AFP
Zimbabwe Army General Constantino Chiwenga warned of a military takeover
Some staff at ZBC were manhandled when soldiers took over their offices in Harare, sources told Reuters.
Workers were told that they “should not worry”, a source added, and that soldiers were only there to protect the site.
Soon afterwards, witnesses reported three loud explosions in the city centre, although the exact location is unclear.
The US State Department said it was “closely monitoring” the situation in Zimbabwe and urged all parties to resolve disputes “calmly and peacefully”.
The US embassy in Harare tweeted that it would be closed on Wednesday “due to ongoing uncertainty”.
There has been no word so far from 93-year-old President Mugabe or his representatives.
The Zimbabwean ambassador to South Africa, Isaac Moyo, had told Reuters that the government was “intact” and dismissed any talk of a possible coup as “just social media claims”.
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Mr Mugabe sacked Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa last week, amid a row over succession.
Mr Mnangagwa had previously been seen as an heir to the president, but First Lady Grace Mugabe is now the clear front-runner.
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AFP
Grace Mugabe is seen as a potential successor to her elderly husband
The Zanu-PF party said Gen Chiwenga’s comments were “calculated to disturb national peace… [and] incite insurrection”.
The party said it would never succumb to military threats, and that it “reaffirms the primacy of politics over the gun”.
The leader of Zanu-PF’s youth wing, Kudzai Chipanga, said the general did not have the full support of the entire military.
“It is our country and future at stake and we will not let any individual military man interfere with the leader of the party and legitimately voted president of this country,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
The youth wing is a strong supporter of Grace Mugabe.
Gen Chiwenga’s warning of possible military intervention came on Monday at a news conference at army headquarters where he was surrounded by senior army officers.
He said the “purging” within Zanu-PF was “clearly targeting members of the party with a liberation background”, referring to the country’s struggle for independence.
“We must remind those behind the current treacherous shenanigans that when it comes to matters of protecting our revolution, the military will not hesitate to step in,” he said.
Mr Mnangagwa is one such veteran of the 1970s war which led to independence.