A detective has been found dead inside a police station in Sydney’s north-west.
The 46-year-old detective sergeant was on duty when he was found dead by colleagues inside a room at Ermington Police Station about 12:30pm on Monday.
NSW Police revealed initial inquiries suggest there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death.
The Daily Telegraph has reported the man died after a “shooting incident” and early investigations suggest the officer was shot with a police-issued firearm.
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Detectives have launched a critical incident investigation into the man’s death.
“The 46-year-old detective sergeant from a specialist command was on-duty at the time and initial inquiries suggest there are no suspicious circumstances,” a statement from NSW Police read.
“A critical incident investigation has been launched by detectives from the South West Metropolitan Region, who will prepare a report for the Coroner.
“The investigation will also be reviewed by the Professional Standards Command and independently oversighted by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC).”
Support services have been made available to the man’s colleagues, the officers who found him and those who were in the station at the time.
The death comes less than two years after another police officer took his own life at the Sydney Police Center in Surry Hills.
ELWOOD, Ind. (AP) — A young Indiana police officer was killed early Sunday when a man got out of his car during a traffic stop and opened fire, authorities said.
The suspect was caught roughly 30 minutes later after a car chase, state police said.
Noah Shahnavaz, 24, was an officer at the Elwood police department, 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Indianapolis. He stopped the driver of a Buick LaCrosse just after 2 am
“For an unknown reason, the suspect exited the Buick and fired multiple rounds, striking the officer at least one time,” state police said.
Shahnavaz was a US Army veteran who had been an Elwood officer for 11 months.
“A senseless act of violence robbed this young man of the life and career he deserved,” Major Todd Jones said.
People placed flowers next to a patrol car outside the police department.
“The cop didn’t deserve to die like that,” resident Donna Williams said.
The 42-year-old suspect has a criminal record, which includes a conviction in 2006 for firing a gun at Indianapolis officers, said Andrew Hanna, Madison County’s chief deputy prosecutor.
Sheriff Scott Mellinger told The Herald Bulletin that the shooting made him go “from being prayerful to being angry.”
“Prayers. Senseless act. Please join us in holding up Elwood PD’s officers and their families,” the sheriff’s office said on Facebook.
A woman was randomly slashed by a man with a boxcutter as she walked down a Midtown street Sunday, police said.
The 59-year-old victim was sliced in the right hand by the man who crept up behind her on Seventh Avenue near West 42nd Street in an unprovoked attack around 10 am, according to cops.
Dramatic video shared by the NYPD shows the suspect a few steps behind the woman as she pulls a shopping trolley down the block.
He raises the blade in the air, with his arm outstretched towards the sky, before suddenly lunging at the woman and slashing the blade down on her right hand.
The man uttered no words before stabbing the woman’s hand, police said.
The woman was transported to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition.
The suspect, meanwhile, fled eastbound on East 42nd Street before cops arrived.
The criminal shared no words before slashing the victim’s hand.Paul MartinkaThe 59-year-old victim was sliced in the right hand by the suspect. Paul MartinkaVideo shows the man raising a blade in the air and slashing the woman.DCPI
Police are asking anyone with information in regard to the incident to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/ or on Twitter @NYPDTips.
UPDATE: 7/31/2022, 10:07 pm – According to a Bozeman Police Department social media post, at approximately 7:50 pm on Sunday, July 31, 2022, officers responded to Walmart after receiving multiple reports of a shooting inside the store.
“Officers eventually located one male victim and took one male suspect into custody. It appears there was an altercation between the two males which led to the shooting. There does not appear to be an ongoing threat to the public. Please avoid the Walmart area as multiple agencies continue to process the scene and interview witnesses.”
UPDATE: 7/31/2022, 10 pm – MTN News has attempted to interview other Walmart employees who are leaving the scene, but they say it’s against company policy to talk to the media.
UPDATE: 7/31/2022, 9:47 pm – Bozeman Police are asking the public to stay away from the area of Walmart on No. 7th and Oak St. The area and store will be closed for several hours as police interview witnesses and employees and try to piece together exactly what happened.
WATCH: Employee describes witnessing shooting at Walmart
Premier Mark McGowan has defended police resourcing in regional WA saying an officer responding alone to a triple-zero call which left man shot was an “exceptional circumstance”.
Key points:
Premier Mark McGowan says “exceptional circumstances” led to officer responding alone to call that led to shooting
A police investigation into the incident in Pingelly is underway
Senior officers will meet with community leaders
The man was shot in the torso when police said he ran towards the officer who responded in Pingelly, in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The man is in a stable condition in Royal Perth Hospital and an investigation into the incident is underway.
Police officers at the scene of the shooting in Pingelly on Sunday.(abcnews)
Yesterday, Deputy Commissioner Allan Adams said resourcing issues meant only one officer could respond immediately and backed the constable’s decision to attend.
Resourcing not a problem: Premier
In a press conference today, Mr McGowan defended the officer’s decision to attend the call alone.
“A police officer called in sick on the day in question … [it was an] exceptional circumstance, and so a police officer went out on their own,” he said.
“That is an unusual event … it doesn’t happen often but on this occasion, because of the illness, that was what was required.”
Premier Mark McGowan says regional police stations in the state are well resourced.(ABC News: Keane Bourke)
When questioned whether regional police stations were adequately staffed, the Premier said WA has “the best resourcing of police in history”, and that 1,100 more officers were being recruited to the WA Police Force.
“1,100 additional police officers is about a 15 to 20 per cent increase in the police numbers across the state.
“We’re obviously in a very difficult environment for recruiting across the board, but we’re getting more police through the academy… and putting more police out there into police stations and regional communities around the state.”
WA Police Union declined to comment on the matter.
Acting Superintendent for the Great Southern region Glenn Spencer also defended the actions taken by the officer.
“The officer concerned made a critical decision … he put the community’s safety first and he went out by himself, and I don’t think he can be criticized for that,” he said.
Police to meet with community leaders
Great Southern Police Acting Superintendent Glenn Spencer will meet with community leaders in Pingelly on Monday.(Supplied)
Acting Superintendent Spencer said Great Southern Police would be meeting with Aboriginal elders from the community today in order to “understand what actually happened.”
“The biggest fear is that someone tries to distil this down to just being police shooting another Aboriginal man, and it’s far more complicated than that.”
Deputy Commissioner Adams said it was not “normal practice” to have one officer respond to a serious incident, but praised the constable’s response.
“Whilst it’s not desirable a single officer attend an event like this… I don’t sit here in any way saying that the police officer shouldn’t have gone,” he said.
“The officer made an assessment at that time that it was in the best interest of the community to attend straight away. He could not have foreseen what was to eventuate and I’m sure if he did, he would’ve waited a bit longer .”
South Australian detectives have launched a second investigation into the death of a child by suspected criminal neglect.
Key points:
A seven-year-old boy died in February after being rushed to hospital
Police have since received information to start an investigation into possible criminal neglect
This is the second child death Taskforce Prime has started investigating in a month
WARNING: This story contains content that some readers may find upsetting
The new case involves a seven-year-old boy, who died soon after he was taken to the Lyell McEwin Hospital by his father in February.
The boy’s five siblings, aged between seven and 16, were later removed from their home at Craigmore in Adelaide’s northern suburbs.
Police say they have examined volumes of evidence from child protection authorities, alongside a post-mortem report and advice from a pediatrician at the hospital.
“There is an enormous amount of records and we’ve only had a cursory look at those since we’ve got them, but it seems sufficient to launch a criminal investigation,” Detective Superintendent Des Bray said.
“Several serious health issues were identified but in themselves [were] not necessarily cause for immediate concern.”
He urged neighbours, friends and workers in government and private agencies to come forward and contact Crime Stoppers to assist the investigation.
“Essentially a case of criminal neglect occurs when a person who has a duty of care to a child fails to take all reasonable steps to protect the child from harm and the child dies or is harmed as a result of that neglect and the neglect is so serious that it warrants a criminal sanction,” Superintendent Bray said.
Police have now referred the boy’s death to Taskforce Prime, which was set up a fortnight ago to investigate the death of another child, a six year-old girl named Charlie.
Charlie, aged six, died soon after arriving at the Lyell McEwin Hospital last month.(Facebook)
Charlie died soon after arriving unresponsive at the Lyell McEwin Hospital last month.
While there are no links between the two cases, police say there are some similarities.
A Gold Coast taxi driver has been arrested after allegedly threatening passengers with a knife and later hitting one of them over a fare dispute.
Key points:
A taxi driver allegedly threatened a passenger and struck a pedestrian in Surfers Paradise
A member of the public witnessed the initial incident and notified police
The 35-year-old man has been charged with dangerous driving and going armed to cause fear
Superintendent Geoff Sheldon said a member of the public called police after seeing the driver arguing with four male passengers on Hanlan Street in Surfers Paradise around 1:30 this morning.
“There was some sort of dispute in the taxi, a member of the public has seen that and alerted us and we’ve had them followed on CCTV camera,” Superintendent Sheldon said.
Police followed the vehicle’s movements via the council CCTV system to Cavill Avenue, where the driver allegedly struck one of the passengers.
“The person has ended up on the bonnet and the taxi driver reversed back and the person has fallen off,” Superintendent Sheldon said.
“He’s driven at another person nearby and didn’t strike the second person.”
The men received minor injuries.
The 35-year-old taxi driver was arrested a short time later at Macintosh Island and has been charged with dangerous driving and going armed so as to cause fear.
He was granted police bail and is due to appear in the Southport Magistrates Court on August 15.
A University of West Georgia professor fatally shot one of his own school’s students in a parking lot in the early hours of Saturday, Carrollton Police said.
Richard Sigman, 47, is now facing a murder charge over the death of 18-year-old Anna Jones.
According to police in Carrollton, a college town located about 50 miles west of Atlanta, Sigman threatened to whip out his gun during a verbal fight with another man in the parking lot of a pizza joint at 12:30 am Saturday.
The man alerted a security guard and when the guard saw that Sigman was indeed armed, police say they asked him to leave. But Sigman walked away and began to shoot into a vehicle parked in the lot near Adamson Square, a busy nighttime district in downtown Carrollton.
One of the bullets hit Jones, though it’s unclear if she was the intended target or if she knew Sigman. Her friends of her drove her to a hospital where she was pronounced dead, police said.
In a GoFundMe organized to cover funeral expenses, Jones was described as “a beautiful, sweet soul” whose “smile would light up a room.”
“This was a devastating and senseless crime that left a lot of hearts broken, a community mourning, and a family grieving,” the fundraiser said.
Relatives and friends also took to social media to express their grief and shock, with one friend writing that “to know Anna was to love Anna.” Stephanie Hodges, one of Jones’ former teachers, wrote that the 18-year-old freshman was planning on becoming a teacher herself, having had a natural knack for working with children.
Another friend, Emma Phillips, described Jones as “endlessly kind, selfless, extremely loving, hilarious, and overall the life of every party. She was simply full of life and love. She had such a love for her family, friends, and her home de ella mount zion. ”
“I remember multiple times her buying me clothes, dinner, and even paying for me to get my nails done because I had no money and she wanted me to feel included,” Phillips wrote. “That’s exactly how she was… Anything I needed, she was there to give it. I wish I could be half as selfless as she was.”
A relative told The Daily Beast on Sunday afternoon that the family is not yet ready to speak publicly about Jones’ death.
Zoie Whitestone, who was one of Sigman’s students last semester, told The Daily Beast Sigman taught upperclassmen management courses.
“Many of us had him a few months ago and never would’ve suspected this,” she said.
The University has since fired Sigman.“On behalf of the university, we wish to convey our deepest condolences to Anna’s family and many friends,” UWG President Dr. Brendan Kelly said in the statement. “We know this news is difficult to process and affects many members of our university community. We ask that you keep Anna’s family, friends, and all who have been touched by this tragedy in your thoughts during this tremendously difficult time.”
AK was full of life, kind hearted, and an amazing mother.
Key points:
AK’s family has remembered her as a warm, loving mother who was full of life
NT Police have been criticized for not releasing more information about the murder-suicide in which she was killed
Her sister says she doesn’t believe NT Police took her sister’s calls for help seriously
That’s how her heartbroken sisters remember the 30-year-old mother, who was allegedly killed by her partner last month, along with her 15-week-old baby, in Central Australia, north of Alice Springs.
“We loved her and we are going to miss her,” the sisters said.
Her family has given the ABC permission to share her initials and their images, in the hope that she is remembered as “more than a statistic”, and to push for systemic change.
AK’s partner’s body and a gun were also found at the scene, and Northern Territory Police have confirmed they are investigating the episode as a murder-suicide.
Police at the crime scene the day after the incident.(ABC News: Samantha Jonscher)
Speaking out for the first time since her death, AK’s family said they’re frustrated at the lack of information that has been made available to them by police.
Close in age, her three sisters said the four of them “were pretty much always together” and “very close”.
Her younger sister, Michelle, has taken custody of AK’s two surviving young children.
She said her sister was “extremely funny” and a dedicated mum, “always taking the kids on little adventures.”
Wendy, AK’s adoptive mother, remembered her as “very funny”.
“She never had a serious side and if she tried to be serious, she’d just got a look at you, and she’d burst into laughter or something… she was my scatterbrain,” she said.
“It’s a tragedy. It’s devastating. And everyone’s at a loss for words.”
The family says police have provided them with little information about the deaths. (ABC News: Samantha Jonscher)
‘We still have lots of questions’
More than two weeks on from her death, Northern Territory Police has still not responded to a number of detailed questions asked by the ABC about the incident, and AK’s family said they don’t know much more than the public.
Michelle said she had first heard about what had happened through the rumor mill, as friends and family called her to ask “if it was true.”
Detectives visited her that night and said “there was an incident that happened involving my sister and her partner,” but Michelle said police did not give her much more information than that.
In the two weeks since, their bodies have been released to the family, but police information has been thin on the ground.
AK’s little sister, Mouse, said the family had not been told if the gun was registered, if there were witnesses to the event or other key details about their sister’s alleged murder.
The broad strokes of the situation were only clarified early last week by the Police Minister, Kate Worden, who said the gun had been found in the possession of the man, revealing that he was the alleged perpetrator of the violence.
The crime happened at a property about 25 kilometers north of Alice Springs.(ABC Alice Springs: Samantha Jonscher)
Police took several more days to confirm they were investigating the deaths as a murder-suicide and that the pair were in a domestic relationship.
NT Police has only addressed the media once about the incident that left three people dead, and have declined to take any public questions.
Police ‘failed at their jobs’, family claims
According to court documents obtained by the ABC, AK’s partner was sentenced in the Northern Territory Supreme Court earlier this year, after he pleaded guilty to unlawfully causing harm to a previous partner.
He was given a nine month suspended sentence for the incident, which he would need to carry out if he committed another offense in the following two years.
AK’s family want to know how it was possible that his history of domestic violence did not alert authorities to the fact that she might have been in trouble, given they were allegedly called out to their property several times, over domestic incidents.
Mouse said the man was “really controlling,” and showed signs of coercive control.
“When we would go and sit down with her, he had to be sitting right there,” she said.
Mouse said she had also witnessed him be physically violent with AK, and one time her sister’s partner allegedly hit her.
“When I rang the police they refused to take my statement and they didn’t come and see me the next day,” she said.
AK’s family feels she was let down by police.(ABC News: Peter Garnish)
After the alleged incident, Mouse said that AK had called police who attended the house, however she said they again didn’t take a statement.
“If the police actually did take it seriously, when he hit me, he would be in jail, because he was on probation, and she and the baby would still be here,” she said.
Mouse said she felt that the police had “failed at their jobs”, because she claims they allegedly made AK feel like the perpetrator, when she called for help.
This experience is common for women across Australia and is a significant issue for Indigenous women such as AK
A 2017 Queensland analysis of 27 domestic homicides, found that almost half the women who were killed by their partner had previously been identified by police as the perpetrator on a protection order.
Nearly all of the Aboriginal women killed by their partners had been recorded by police as both perpetrators and victims.
NT Police said in a statement: “as with all homicide investigations, a review of all the circumstances surrounding the deaths includes assessment of any reported prior family violence incidents of both the deceased, and a review of the relationship history of all the parties involved” .
Police said they “appreciate there is a lot of public interest, however police must maintain the integrity of the investigation and will not comment on the details”.
‘Why is this extreme act of violence being kept quiet?’
Peta-Lee Cole-Manolis has 12 years experience working on the front line of child protection and domestic and family violence.
Peta-Lee Cole Manolis says the deaths of AK and her baby highlight flaws in the system.(ABC Alice Springs: Samantha Jonscher)
She’s been supporting AK’s family since her alleged murder, and said she was concerned by the lack of public information being made available by police.
“Why is this extreme act of violence being kept quiet?”
“Where is that information, why isn’t it being made available and why isn’t it strong, clear language being used that would hold the perpetrator to account?”
“It’s a missed opportunity to shine a light on this … and support other women experiencing similar power and control to understand they are at risk,” she said.
Ms Cole – Manolis claimed it was clear that AK was at risk of being murdered based on the standard assessment tool used across Central Australia.
“I just don’t know whether or not we are equipped, or we are spending enough time on doing these really important assessments and education and support to women experiencing violence and men who are perpetrating violence,” she said.
Larissa Ellis says information from police is crucial for raising public awareness.(ABC Alice Springs: Samantha Jonscher)
Larissa Ellis, chief executive of Women’s Safety Services of Central Australia, also called on police to release as much information as possible about what had happened because without information, the “horrific” incident of domestic violence was going unremarked by the nation.
“We’ve had at least five deaths over the last 18 months of women and children in the Northern Territory; none of them have really made national coverage, none of them have created an outcry,” she said.
The Northern Territory has the highest rates of domestic violence in the country which advocates attribute to the ongoing effects of colonization and the legacy of inter-generational trauma.
Ms Ellis said the Northern Territory “is beyond crisis”.
Los Angeles police were involved in a standoff with a suspect after officers responded to unconfirmed reports of a shooting at the Hollywood Farmers’ Market.
HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Los Angeles police on Sunday morning were involved in a standoff with a suspect after officers responded to unconfirmed reports of a shooting at the Hollywood Farmers’ Market, authorities said.
Multiple callers told police dispatch that a gunman opened fire from the window of a building shortly before 8 am in the 1600 block of Cosmo Street, between Hollywood Boulevard and Selma Avenue, an LAPD spokesperson told ABC7.
When officers arrived at the scene, they saw a person throwing rocks from a balcony, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. A standoff dream.
No injuries were immediately reported.
Officials quickly announced the closure of the popular Hollywood Farmers’ Market for the day “due to an emergency situation.”
“We’re glad our staff and vendors are OK,” a statement posted on the marketplace’s Facebook page said. “If you need access to fresh food and produce and can travel, please visit our sibling market Atwater Village Farmers’ Market.”
