Tuesday, May 31 top stories
It is Tuesday, May 31. Here are today’s top stories.
Fifth grader in Florida arrested over mass shooting threat
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office in Florida said they arrested a 10-year-old boy in fifth grade on Saturday because he sent a text message that included a threat of a mass shooting. The sheriff’s office showed a video of the boy being led to a patrol vehicle in handcuffs and released a mugshot. The boy texted that he bought four assault rifles and to get ready for “water day,” which is a school event in which students play outside with water activities. The sheriff said he understands that the boy is “10 years old and that his brain is not fully developed yet, but that when a 10-year-old presses a trigger, the aftermath is the same.”
In separate but similar news, a 18-year-old man in Hillsborough County, Florida was arrested after he posted on social media an image of himself with two firearms, a tactical vest, and a caption that said, “Hey Siri, directions to the nearest school.” The man’s name is Corey Anderson. Law enforcement said after an investigation, they found that the firearms were air-soft weapons but he was still charged with making a written threat to conduct a mass shooting, which is a felony. The maximum penalty for this charge is 15 years in prison.
Canada proposes national freeze on handgun sales
The Canadian government is now introducing legislation that would put a national freeze on importing, buying, or selling handguns. Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau said he is doing this because gun violence in Canada was increasing and that he’s seen how difficult it is to control gun violence in the U.S.
The legislation is expected to pass because left-leaning politicians control Parliament.
The new law would cap the number of handguns in Canada beginning this fall. Only those who are security guards, Olympic athletes, or elite sport shooters will be allowed to possess handguns. The legislation would also require long-gun magazines to only be allowed to hold five or less rounds.
Canada already plans to ban many types of military style firearms this fall and will conduct a mandatory buyback program.
Reuters said the Canadian gun homicide rate is less than one-fifth of the U.S. rate, but Canada has a higher rate compared with other wealthy countries — in 2020 Canada had five times as many gun homicides as Australia. So it’s still high.
A Canadian official said guns are often illegally smuggled from the U.S. and that the Canadian government plans to increase criminal penalties and provide more tools to law enforcement to investigate and stop gun smuggling.
Burglars steal $2 million gold relic from NYC church
Someone broke into a Catholic church building in Brooklyn and stole a gold relic worth $2 million and removed the head from a statue of an angel. The church was closed for construction at the time. Police said the burglary took place sometime between Thursday and Saturday and that the suspects cut through a metal protective casing to get to the golden relic, which held items for communion. The church had a surveillance system but it was stolen as well. Church leaders said it was a brazen crime of disrespect and hate.
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Clinton-linked attorney acquitted of lying to FBI
Michael Sussmann, a lawyer who worked for a firm that worked with the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016, was acquitted of lying to the FBI in a federal trial today.
Sussmann was investigated by Special Counsel John Durham, who was appointed by the Trump administration to probe how the FBI investigation of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and its ties with Russia started.
Sussmann met with the FBI in 2016 and provided information that purportedly showed that there was a secret back channel communication between the Trump Organization and a Russian bank. S ussmann told the FBI that he was not doing this on behalf of any client but at the time he was working for a law firm that worked with the Clinton campaign.
In 2021, a grand jury indicted Sussmann of lying to the FBI. His trial began two weeks ago. Sussmann’s defense team said the Clinton campaign never wanted Sussmann to talk with the FBI and actually preferred for the allegations of the Trump-Russian bank story to be spread through the news media instead.
A juror told the Washington Post that politics was not a factor in their decision to acquit Sussmann and that most jurors thought the case was a waste of time.
9-year-old girl survives cougar attack
On Saturday in Washington state, a 9-year-old girl named Lily Kryzhanivskyy was attacked by a cougar when she was walking on a trail with two of her friends on a camping trip. The girl’s friends ran off, leaving the girl to fight off the cougar alone.
When adults came to the scene, they found the girl injured and bloodied. She was airlifted to a hospital and underwent surgery for wounds to her head and upper body. She is now recovering. The cougar, a young male, was found and killed.
A GoFundMe shows that Lily has several serious wounds to her head. People have donated over $65,000 to support her recovery.
That’s all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-fifth-grader-arrested-threatening-mass-shooting-police-say-rcna31085
https://www.npr.org/2022/05/30/1102084025/canada-bill-freeze-handgun-sales-imports
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/05/31/nyc-church-gold-angel-beheaded/7452710001/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/05/31/tabernacle-stolen-brooklyn-church-nyc/
https://www.axios.com/2022/05/31/john-durham-michael-sussmann-fbi-verdict
https://www.ky3.com/2022/05/31/9-year-old-girl-survives-rare-cougar-attack-washington/