Homeland Security News
Multiple Life Sentences For Maryland Mass Shooter: State’s Attorney
Jabre Griffith was sentenced to two life terms plus 120 years on Tuesday, Feb. 18, for the murders of Ernest Hall and Micah Strong, as well as for a violent shooting spree in March 2023, according to Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates. “I do not take a sentence of this length lightly when it…
Read MoreCultlike group’s leader connected to 6 killings in 3 states ordered held without bail in Maryland
The leader of a cultlike group connected to six killings in three states was ordered held without bail Tuesday in Maryland, where she faces trespassing and other charges. Jack LaSota, 34, of Berkeley, California, and two others arrested with her on Sunday appeared via videoconference for bail hearings in Allegany County District Court. A judge…
Read MoreDetained Britons charged with espionage in Iran
Detained Britons Craig and Lindsay Foreman have been charged in Iran with espionage, the country’s judiciary news agency has said. Mr and Mrs Foreman were arrested in January but news of their detention, on unspecified security charges, emerged last week. A judiciary spokesperson said that the couple, both aged 52, had “entered Iran under the…
Read MoreUN human rights chief accuses Rwanda-backed rebels in east Congo of killing and recruiting children
The U.N. human rights chief accused Rwanda-backed rebels who seized a second major city in eastern Congo of killing children and attacking hospitals and warehouses storing humanitarian aid. Volker Türk said in a statement Tuesday that his office “confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23 after they entered the city of Bukavu last…
Read MoreColumbine High School shooting survivor dies decades after tragedy
While Columbine High School shooting survivor Anne Marie Hochhalter’s life was shaped by tragedy, the tenacious woman worked hard to ensure tragedy did not define her. Hochhalter was 17 when her life shifted from teen clarinet player to among the most injured survivors of the 1999 Columbine High School shooting. The high school junior was…
Read MorePensacola man accused of throwing explosive device at sub shop facing several charges
A man from Pensacola is facing several charges after allegedly threatening people with a gun and throwing a small explosive device at a Jimmy John’s in Fort Walton Beach. Deputies with the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office arrested 41-year-old Gregory Simonds on Saturday. According to an arrest report, Simonds went to the Emerald Coast Harley-Davidson around…
Read MoreMysterious leader of violent, cultlike Zizian group arrested in Western Maryland
Jack ‘Ziz’ LaSota, the apparent leader of the Zizians, a cult-like group tied to at least six deaths, was arrested Sunday evening in western Maryland. LaSota, who uses she/her pronouns, is being held in the Allegany County jail on charges of trespassing, wrongly possessing a handgun in a vehicle and obstructing or hindering authorities, according…
Read MoreMother, daughter die from injuries suffered in Munich car attack
A 37-year-old mother and her 2-year-old daughter have died from injuries they sustained in the Munich car attack on Thursday. They were from Munich and the mother was a city staff member, according to a spokesperson for the Bavarian State Office of Criminal Investigation. At least 37 other people, including several children, were injured after…
Read MoreMichigan appeals court finds terrorism threat law unconstitutional, tosses Wayne Co. case
Michigan’s law about making a terroristic threat or a false threat of terrorism has been found by a three-judge Michigan Court of Appeals panel to be unconstitutional. Judges Michael Kelly, Mark Boonstra and Allie Greenleaf Maldonado wrote that the Michigan law violates the First Amendment because it does not account for a person’s state of…
Read MoreUS says it killed senior al-Qaeda affiliate official in Syria
The US military said Sunday it killed a member of an Al-Qaeda affiliate organization in a precision airstrike in Syria. US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it conducted the strike Saturday “in Northwest Syria targeting and killing a senior finance and logistics official in the terrorist organization Hurras al-Din (HaD), an Al-Qaeda affiliate,” according to a…
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