A 61-year-old homeless man in Brazil has fought with a gunman to save a woman. He was killed after the gunman shot him in the chest. The woman held hostage has survived.
The homeless man, Francisco Erasmo Rodrigues de Lima, sacrificed his life to fight off a gunman who was threatening to kill a woman outside the famous Sao Paulo Cathedral in Brazil.
The gunman has been identified as Luiz Antonio da Silva (49) and he was shot and injured by police as Francisco bravely intervened. Silva has previously spent 22 years in prison for theft, damage of property and causing bodily harm.
Francisco received at least two bullets to the chest and died at the scene.
Thousands of online users are now urging authorities to honour Francisco by giving him a decent burial.
A video of the shooting is below. [DISTURBING CONTENT]
• Just before 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Virginia State Police saw the suspect’s Ford Mustang headed east on Interstate 66. With emergency lights activated, a Virginia State Police trooper initiated a traffic stop on the suspect vehicle, said police spokeswoman Corinne Geller.
• The driver refused to stop and sped away before running off the road and crashing, Geller told CNN. Troopers found the driver inside. He had suffered a gunshot wound. He is being transported to a nearby hospital for treatment of life-threatening injuries, Geller said. The driver is believed to be the suspect in the on-air shootings of two WDBJ journalists and an interviewee, she said. She did not name the suspect.
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Police say a former WDBJ-TV reporter sought in connection with the on-air slayings of two of the TV station’s employees shot himself Wednesday on Interstate 66 in Virginia after police confronted him, a law enforcement official told CNN.
Vester Flanagan was a reporter at WDBJ for about a year using the on-air name, Bryce Williams, according to a former WDBJ employee.
Flanagan was fired from the station, though the reason was not made public, the ex-employee said.
“Two years ago, we had to separate him from the company. We did understand that he was still living in the area,” WDBJ General Manager Jeff Marks said.
ABC News reported that it received a fax containing a 23-page manifesto from someone named Bryce Williams, according to a tweet. The document was handed over to investigators, ABC said.
Two videos posted on a Twitter account under the name, Bryce Williams, show someone walking up to the WDBJ news crew and pointing a gun at them.
Another tweet says, “I filmed the shooting.” The Facebook and Twitter account were suspended shortly after the tweets.
Video shows the gunman approaching WDBJ reporter Alison Parker and photographer Adam Ward as Parker conducted a routine interview about a local story outside Moneta, Virginia.
Ward’s back is to the gunman. Parker is in profile, and the interviewee is facing the gunman. The shooter appears to take his time aiming the gun, presenting it and then withdrawing it, before composing the angle of his video. He opens fire on Parker first. Both Parker and the interviewee scream.
Shocking morning broadcast
During the live broadcast around 6:45 a.m., TV viewers saw the camera fall to the ground and caught the briefest glimpse of a man who appeared to point a gun toward the downed cameraman.
The station cut away to a shocked anchor, Kimberly McBroom, back in the studio.
Parker, 24, and photographer Adam Ward, 27, were killed at Bridgewater Plaza near Moneta, the station reported later.
Ward’s fiancée was in the control room and saw the shooting, Marks told CNN.
Though Marks has heard that Flanagan had leveled accusations in the past, he said, “I don’t think (reporter) Alison (Parker) and that individual even overlapped here.”
Marks added he was not exaggerating when he says that Parker and photographer Adam Ward were “the kindest and nicest people who worked here. … I can’t figure out any connection.”
The woman being interviewed, Vicki Gardner, executive director of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce, was shot in the back and is in surgery, said Barb Nocera, the chamber’s special projects manager.
The gunman is believed to have fired six or seven times, Marks said.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives joined in the manhunt, while the ATF and FBI are participating in the investigation. Area schools are on lockdown.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe told WTOP radio in Washington that the suspected gunman may be a disgruntled employee of the TV station.
Parker a ‘rock star’
“We do not know the motive,” Marks said. “We do know the Franklin County sheriff … they are working very diligently to track down both the motive and the person responsible for this terrible crime against two fine journalists,” he said during the station’s coverage of the shooting.
“Our hearts are broken,” Marks said. “We have people walking around here in tears, lots of hugs.”
McBroom described Parker as a “rock star” and said, “You throw anything at that girl and she could do it.”
Photographer Adam Ward managed to capture a brief image of the suspected gunman after being shot.
Another journalist at the anchor’s desk said Ward was engaged to be married to morning show producer at WDBJ, Melissa Ott, and Ward recently told her, “I’m going to get out of news. I think I’m going to do something else.”
Ward joined WDBJ in 2011 after graduating from Virginia Tech with a degree in communication and media studies, according to his Facebook page. He enrolled at the university in 2007, the same year a gunman went on a deadly rampage, leaving 32 people dead.
In April, days before the eighth anniversary of the campus massacre, Ward changed his Facebook profile photo to an image of the Virginia Tech logo with a black ribbon.
The school said in a statement, “It is shocking and deeply saddening for this community to be again struck by gun violence. We deplore this senseless violence, now seemingly commonplace in our society.”
Added one of Ward’s professors, Robert Denton, “Adam was a delightful person. He worked hard — you could tell he loved what he was doing. He wasn’t afraid to pitch in and do whatever was necessary for the broadcast. He did whatever was needed with a smile and with grace. He was simply a very nice young man and very professional.”
Parker was the morning reporter for the Roanoke station and a native of Virginia, having spent most of her life outside Martinsville. She started with WDBJ as an intern, her biography on the station’s website says.
She previously worked with another CNN affiliate, WCTI-TV, in Jacksonville, North Carolina, near Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. She was a graduate of James Madison University’s School of Media Arts and Design in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Boyfriend describes himself as ‘numb’
Chris Hurst, a reporter for the station, tweeted that he and Parker “were very much in love” and had just moved in together after dating nine months, “the best nine months of our lives. We wanted to get married. We just celebrated her 24th birthday.”
He continued, “She was the most radiant woman I ever met. And for some reason she loved me back. She loved her family, her parents and her brother.”
Hurst described himself as “numb.”
Parker and Ward worked together every day, Hurst tweeted. “They were a team. I am heartbroken for his fiancee,” he wrote.
“You know, you send people into war zones, you send people into dangerous situations and into riots, and you worry that they are going to get hurt. You send somebody out to do a story on tourism and — how can you expect something like this to happen?” Marks told CNN.
The shooting made Marks want to step out of his role as a journalist and say of the shooter, “I don’t know whether I want him to live or die,” he told CNN.
A local pastor, “a friend of the newsroom,” is at the station, consoling Parker’s and Ward’s co-workers, he said.
Shocking moment teen girl is surrounded and beaten by mob who burned her to death after she was involved in murdering a 68-year-old taxi driver in Guatemala
Girl was burned alive in a street in Guatemala as a vicious 25-strong mob stood by and cheered.
Vid has been shared widely in Guatemala and shows the teenager, blood streaming down her face, being punched and kicked before she is set on fire.
According to reports, the unnamed girl was surrounded in the village of Rio Bravo, 77 miles west of capital Guatemala City, after she was allegedly part of a gang that murdered a motorcycle taxi driver.
She and two other men allegedly shot Carlos Enrique González Noriega, 68, before robbing him and running away.
The two men with the teenager fled down a series of alleys, but the girl took a wrong turn and was surrounded by a vigilante mob.
he horrific video shows the girl dazed and stumbling in the middle of a crowd of people, her face bleeding.
After she is viciously beaten, the helpless woman is doused in a flammable liquid before going up in flames, and is filming screaming and writhing in pain as the mob watches on.
As she lies on the ground, a man runs over with a can of petrol and pours it over her, sending her up in flames as she screams.
The camera continues to roll as the fire continues to ravage her body and the girl dies.
A police spokesman said that officers had tried to intervene but were blocked by the bystanders.
The girl has not been identified, according to news website Tiempo. because the National Civil Police are worried it will spark further tensions in the area.
The cyclist branded callous for knocking down a toddler on a pavement has said his life has been ‘destroyed’ after the CCTV footage of the accident was released.
It showed Lucie Wilding, three, being hit by the rider moments after she stepped out of her front garden.
The cyclist, wearing a bright orange jacket, was seen speeding towards the girl before she was sent hurtling through the air and then dragged face-down along the street.
Yesterday Andrew Holland spoke for the first time after the alleged ‘hit and run’ in Blackpool last Monday.
The 23-year-old disputed the version of events and claimed he had since been verbally attacked and threatened by members of the public.
Mr Holland, who recently completed his university studies in computer games design, claimed he had apologised to Lucie’s mother, Lauren Howarth, 26, moments after the incident.
And he had since voluntarily attended a police station twice and had emailed an apology to the family.
He denied he was callous and said only a shortened version of the video had been shown publicly whereas the full version showed ‘much more’. ‘Apparently it was a “hit and run”, but it wasn’t,’ he claimed.
Lucie had been following her mother to the car when she was hit by Mr Holland’s bike.
She became caught up in the pedals and was dragged along, her face scraping on the pavement. Her father Matt jumped over the garden wall, picked up his daughter and cradled her in his arms.
The family claimed Mr Holland began to ‘hurl abuse’ at them, blaming their daughter for the accident, before fleeing the scene leaving Lucie covered in blood with cuts to her face, head, hands and knees.
However, Mr Holland denied this version of events, saying that he had fallen off his bike and was in shock. He said the insinuation that he was a ‘dangerous hit-and-run cyclist’ had destroyed his life.
His family say he did not flee the scene but was driven away by his father George, 64, who happened to be passing in his car. His mother Linda said: ‘He didn’t cycle away, he got taken away in a car.’
Shocking moment toddler Lucie Wilding is mowed down by cyclist
Caught on CCTV: Lucie Wilding, three, is dragged along the pavement outside her home by the bicycle
She said he had done the right thing, ‘owning up (to the police) straight away’, adding: ‘He’s never been in trouble. He’s a quiet lad and anyone that knows him will tell you that.’ His father said: ‘His life has been destroyed.’
Scarred: Lucie, three, was treated in hospital
Lucie needed hospital treatment for extensive bruising and scarring to her face caused by the bike’s tyre. She is now recovering at home, but her family fear the mental scarring may last much longer.
Miss Howarth posted a picture of Mr Holland taken on her phone on social media in an effort to identify the cyclist.
However, police confirmed Mr Holland had voluntarily attended a police station the day after the incident. He has been told he may be summonsed for dangerous cycling.
He said he had been cycling on the pavement because the roads were busy with school traffic, adding: ‘I didn’t know it was illegal. I usually use cycle paths or the roads.’
Miss Howarth, a carer who is also mother to Katie, six, and eight-week-old Ellie, is now hoping to raise awareness of cyclists who ride on pavements despite it being illegal.
She added: ‘The speed he was going in a residential area with young children around is dangerous and this happened to Lucie out of nowhere.’
Section 72 of the Highway Act 1835 makes it a criminal offence to ‘lead or drive’ a ‘carriage of any description’ on any footpath set apart for the use of foot passengers.
The maximum court fine is £500 or the police can issue a £50 fixed penalty notice.
Morsi has been forced to sit in a soundproof glass cage during the hearings
An Egyptian court has sentenced ousted president Mohammed Morsi to death over a mass prison break in 2011.
The former leader has already been sentenced to 20 years in jail for ordering the arrest and torture of protesters during his time in power.
The country’s religious authorities will now have to give their opinion before the sentence can be carried out.
Morsi was deposed by the military in July 2013 following mass street protests against his rule.
Since then, the authorities have banned his Muslim Brotherhood movement and arrested thousands of his supporters.
Morsi’s supporters took to the streets in protest after he was given a 20-year jail sentence in April
Morsi was among more than 100 other defendants to be sentenced to death for their involvement in mass jail breaks during the 2011 uprising against Egypt’s then-president, Hosni Mubarak.
All death sentences must first be sent to the Grand Mufti, Egypt’s highest religious authority, for his opinion on whether they should stand.
Convictions are still open to appeal, even if the Grand Mufti gives his approval.
Morsi’s supporters have said that the cases against him are politically motivated and attempts to give legal cover to a coup, while Morsi has rejected the authority of the courts.
Morsi was Egypt’s first freely elected president, but protests began building less than a year into his rule when he issued a decree granting himself far-reaching powers.
In May 2014, Morsi’s successor, former military chief Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, secured a landslide victory in presidential elections which had a turnout of 46%.
The British mother of the four-year-old victim cries in an LA court as her nearly 15-year wait for justice comes to an end.
A father has been convicted of first-degree murder for throwing his daughter off a cliff in California.
Cameron Brown killed four-year-old Lauren Sarene Key nearly 15 years ago to get revenge against her mother and avoid custody payments, prosecutors said.
The former airline baggage handler, 53, showed no emotion in Los Angeles Superior Court as the verdict was read out.
He faces a mandatory term of life in prison without parole when he is sentenced next month.
Briton Sarah Key-Marer, Brown’s ex-wife and Lauren’s mother, was crying in the courtroom.
Brown, 53, claimed his daughter tripped and fell
“It’s all been really hard. The pain, we just learned to live with the pain,” she said.
“All I ever wanted was that he would take responsibility for what happened that day.
“So I am thankful to God for carrying me and my family and my friends through this time.”
Brown maintained his daughter’s death was an accident.
He said she tripped and fell as she ran towards the cliff’s edge at Inspiration Point in Rancho Palos Verdes in November 2000.
“I’m innocent,” he told the judge.
Inspiration Point, where Lauren died in 2000
But prosecutors said he tossed her off the 120-ft (36.5m) cliff because he never wanted the child and was locked in a bitter custody dispute with her mother.
The long-running case saw two previous juries deadlocked over whether Brown was guilty of murder or manslaughter.
In this third trial, jurors heard most of the same evidence as the previous juries.
But evidence of a financial motive for Lauren’s killing was bolstered by a new witness.
Deputy District Attorney Craig Hum said the witness testified that Brown had said it would be “nice to get rid of Lauren” to get out of paying $1,000-a-month child support.
Leaving court, juror Shelia Janis said: “I’m sorry to Sarah for all the pain she has been going through. I’m sorry for the death of your baby. But justice has finally been served.”
The cyclist branded callous for knocking down a toddler on a pavement has said his life has been ‘destroyed’ after the CCTV footage of the accident was released.
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