Thursday, May 4, 2023

5/4 WAKE-UP CALL: Atlanta Gunman In Custody

Police on Wednesday evening arrested a man accused of opening fire inside the waiting room of an Atlanta medical practice, killing one woman and wounding four others earlier in the day. Authorities had swarmed the city’s bustling midtown neighborhood shortly after noon in search of the suspect, who fled after the shooting. Police said in a statement that the gunman, who they identified as 24-year-old Deion Patterson, was captured in Cobb County, just northwest of Atlanta.

Authorities said Patterson shot five women on the 11th floor of a Northside Medical building, which is in a commercial area filled with office towers and high-rise apartments. News of the shooting prompted workers and lunch-goers to shelter in place for hours. Patterson had an appointment at the medical practice and shortly after arriving shot the first victim, law enforcement officials said at a news conference Wednesday night. The shooting lasted approximately two minutes before Patterson left the building and went to a Shell gas station and took a pickup truck that had been left running and unattended, authorities said.

Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said a 39-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting. The Fulton County medical examiner’s office identified her as Amy St. Pierre.

➤FED RAISES INTEREST RATE: The Fed approved another quarter-point interest-rate rise—and signaled that could be it for now. The central bank’s tenth consecutive rate increase To curb inflation will bring its benchmark federal-funds rate to a range between 5% and 5.25%, a 16-year high. The Fed upped rates at its previous nine meetings by a cumulative 4.75 percentage points from near zero in March 2022, the fastest rate-raising cycle in 40 years. In their policy statement, central-bank officials said they would monitor economic and financial-market developments and the effects of their earlier rate increases “in determining the extent to which additional policy firming may be appropriate to return inflation to 2% over time.” The language is broadly similar to how the Fed concluded its rate hikes in 2006.

➤RUSSIA CLAIMS PUTIN SURVIVED ASSISSINATION ATTEMPT: Russia has been accused of staging an alleged drone attack on the Kremlin that it blamed on Ukraine, with Ukraine with analysts saying it’s likely Moscow carried out the “attack” itself. Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War said Wednesday evening that “Russia likely staged this attack in an attempt to bring the war home to a Russian domestic audience and set conditions for a wider societal mobilization.” Ukraine denied any involvement in the incident that purportedly involved two drones, saying it more likely signaled that Russia was planning a large-scale terrorist attack against Ukraine in the coming days.

Two drones crashed into the Kremlin, according to the Russian government. Moscow said an electronic-warfare system downed the unmanned aircraft, which exploded over the grounds in the heart of the capital, injuring no one and causing no major damage. Kyiv denied involvement and suggested President Vladimir Putin’s domestic opponents were responsible. Another theory is that Russia itself was responsible for the incident, which some observers noted could give Putin political cover for further military mobilization.

➤LAWMAKERS BELIEVE FBI HAS BIDEN BRIBE FILE: A whistleblower tip about a document allegedly putting President Biden at the center of a bribery scheme triggered a guessing game across Washington Wednesday — as journalists and politicians pored over Biden’s extensive history of interactions with his family’s overseas business associates. Biden, 80, regularly met with his son Hunter and brother James’ international connections during and after his eight-year vice presidency, including citizens of China, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Russia and Ukraine. However, the tip pertains to alleged wrongdoing by President Biden, a source said, meaning that it may not necessarily involve figures linked to his relatives.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) revealed the whistleblower information Wednesday, saying the tip involves “an alleged criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions.” “If it’s as explosive as what we heard, we expect it to be very difficult to get it,” Grassley told Fox News Wednesday afternoon, “but we know it’s unclassified now, and the American people deserve transparency from the FBI, and that’s what this is all about.”

➤EPSTEIN DOCS REVEAL PROMINENT NAMES:  Jeffrey Epstein’s private documents reveal more connections with prominent names. A former Treasury secretary, an Oscar-winning movie director and a former Israeli prime minister are among a range of politicians, executives and celebrities who had a deeper relationship with the disgraced financier than previously reported after he was a registered sex offender, new details from a trove of his private documents show. Many of the people told the WSJ that they had met with Epstein for reasons related to his wealth and connections and regretted their association with him.

➤ACTIVISTS REMOVED FROM OFFICE OF FL GOVERNOR: Over a dozen liberal activists were arrested Wednesday night while protesting in Governor Ron DeSantis' Florida Capitol Office over the expansion of the state's so-called 'Don't Say Gay' law, officials said. The 14 arrested were charged with misdemeanor trespass and were booked into the Leon County Jail, Florida Department of Law Enforcement spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger told the Tallahassee Democrat . 'Once the building closes, unless you have an office in the Capitol, you're not allowed to be here,' Plessinger said, citing Department of Management Services policy.

➤JURY GETS SHEERAN CASE: A jury will now decide whether British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran ripped off Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" after hearing closing arguments on Wednesday in a week-long copyright trial. Sheeran's lawyer, Ilene Farkas, told the jurors in Manhattan federal court that similarities in the chord progressions and rhythms of Gaye's classic and Sheeran's hit "Thinking Out Loud" were "the letters of the alphabet of music." "These are basic musical building blocks that songwriters now and forever must be free to use, or all of us who love music will be poorer for it," she said. Keisha Rice, who represents heirs of Gaye's co-writer Ed Townsend suing Sheeran and his record label, said her clients were not claiming to own basic musical elements but rather "the way in which these common elements were uniquely combined."

🏀CELTICS REBOUND:  The Boston Celtics rebounded from their shocking Game 1 loss in the Eastern Conference semifinals to defeat the Philadelphia 76ers in a 121-87 blowout. Celtics forward Jaylen Brown led the way for the Boston with 25 points to help them tie the series at 1-1. MVP winner Joel Embiid returned after missing Game 1 with a sprained LCL in his right knee to score 15 points in the defeat.

⚾METS SCHERZER ROUGHED-UP:  Eric Haase homered in both games of a doubleheader, driving in six runs, and the Detroit Tigers tagged Max Scherzer in his return from a suspension to sweep the New York Mets with an 8-1 victory Wednesday night. Haase had five RBIs in the first game, including a go-ahead single in the eighth inning of a 6-5 comeback win, and then added one of Detroit's two homers off Scherzer in the nightcap. 'I've watched him pitch a lot,' said Haase, who grew up a Tigers fan in Detroit. 'I want to say that was just another homer, but it was obviously pretty cool.'

⚾YANKEES RALLY FOR WIN, BUT...: Even on a night when the Yankees won, they might have lost — two players, that is. The Yankees escaped Wednesday with a 4-3, 10-inning victory over the Guardians, but they finished the game without both their starting center fielder and a rising prospect after Harrison Bader and Oswald Peraza were injured in the ninth inning.

➤JACKSON MAHOMES ARRESTED: Jackson Mahomes was arrested for aggravated sexual battery in connection with an incident in February on Wednesday morning.  The 22-year-old - known for his outlandish behavior at NFL stadiums - was previously accused of forcibly kissing a 40-year-old female owner of a bar just outside Kansas City. He was released in the afternoon after he posted his bail and made his first court appearance, according to KMBC News, but refused to acknowledge the media as he left jail. He was asked, 'What would you like to say to the victims of these crimes you've been charged with?' To which, Mahomes had no response.



Posted

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)