Rampage in India

[UPDATE] 11 p.m., Nov. 28: The last terrorists involved in the attacks at Mumbai's Taj Mahal hotel were killed early Saturday, Mumbai's police chief told CNN-IBN. But the director-general of the national security guard said the situation remains unresolved. The conflicting accounts came after a fire broke out and a flurry of heavy gunfire. The death toll from the rampage has risen to 160 civilians, police and military, including 5 Americans. Indian officials are suggesting the terrorists came from Pakistan.

Not to be a downer on your holiday happiness, but it's important to note what's going on in India today/tonight.

From CNN.com: Gunmen rampaged through a series of targets in the Indian city of Mumbai killing indiscriminately and taking hostages at two luxury hotels.

Mumbai police spokesman Satish Katsa said gunmen have taken over the Taj Mahal Hotel and Hotel Oberoi, and were holding hostages on multiple floors.

Flames and smoke poured from the Taj early Thursday, and several explosions were heard at the building. (Photo, right: Blood stains the floor of the railway station.)

At the Oberoi the military reportedly entered the building and a large explosion was heard shortly afterwards. Another hostage situation was unfolding at Cama Hospital, CNN's sister network in India, CNN-IBN reported.

One witness told local reporters that gunmen tried to find people with U.S. or British passports and took about 15 of them hostage.

Black --and deadly-- Friday

I've never been into the whole Black Friday thing, though I admittedly thought about getting up at 4 a.m. today and hitting the stores from some deals. Unfortunately for my shopping ambition (but fortunately for my dwindling back account), I am working today...not quite sure why, because everyone I need to contact --including the police department-- is off today, grrr.

Anyway. For those of you who got out to the stores or plan to get in on the tail end of the door buster deals, good for you... but be careful! I just caught wind of an incident in Long Island where a Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death by a Black Friday crowd. (*Note, this picture was not taken from the same Wal-Mart.)

The news story seems to have a lot of unconfirmed information, but apparently a pregnant woman also taken down in the stampede and despite previous reports of a miscarriage, doctors say the baby is fine.

The unidentified worker, employed as an overnight stock clerk, tried to hold back the unruly crowds just after the Valley Stream store opened at 5 a.m.

Witnesses said the surging throngs of shoppers knocked the man down. He fell and was stepped on. As he gasped for air, shoppers ran over and around him.

"He was bum-rushed by 200 people," said Jimmy Overby, 43, a co-worker. "They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down too...I literally had to fight people off my back."

Crazy stuff. Click to read more.

Thanks, TJS.

[UPDATE] 11 p.m. Nov. 28: In an unrelated incident, two men were shot dead in a Toys "R" Us in Palm Desert, California, after they argued in the store, police said. The toy company and authorities said the California shootings had nothing to do with shopping on Black Friday

J-Hud's mother, brother killed

[BREAKING NEWS] The body of a young boy found today in a car has been confirmed as that of Julian King, Jennifer Hudson's 7-year-old nephew.

Several news agencies are reporting that the mother and brother of singer/actress Jennifer Hudson were found dead today in Chicago.

A male family member discovered the body of Hudson's mother, Darnell Donerson, 57, and police later found the body of Hudson's brother, Jason.

The shootings are believed to be domestic.

[UPDATE] Police confirm they have taken a person into custody but are not saying who it is. News reports, however, say that person is Hudson's brother-in-law, William Balfour. Balfour's mother has also acknowledged her son has been questioned about the shootings.

Authorities issued an Amber Alert for Hudson's 7-year-old nephew, Julian King, and were seeking a 1994 white Chevrolet Suburban.

The alert said the child was possibly abducted, and accompanied by a man — considered armed and dangerous — who was a suspect in the double homicide investigation. Records with the Illinois Department of Corrections show the man, who has not been charged with a crime, is on parole and spent nearly seven years in prison for attempted murder, vehicular hijacking and possessing a stolen vehicle.

OJ: convicted to a pulp!

I apologize for the day-old "breaking news" - Comcast sucks and I've been without (and continue to be without) Internet for two days now...

OJ Simpson was found guilty of armed robbery Saturday and could now spend the rest of his life in prison.

Check out how eery this is: He was convicted of a crime that took place on Sept. 13 and found guilty on the 13th anniversary of his murder acquittal. On top of that, the jury deliberated for 13 hours after a 13-day trial. Guess it was his lucky day!

The 61-year-old Hall of Fame football star was convicted of kidnapping, armed robbery and 10 other charges for gathering five men a year ago and storming a room at a hotel-casino to seize Simpson sports mementos — including game balls, plaques and photos — from two collectors. Prosecutors said two of the men with him were armed; one said Simpson had asked him to bring a gun.

Kidnapping is punishable by five years to life in prison. Armed robbery carries a sentence of at least two years behind bars and could bring as much as 30.

Now, I think OJ dying in jail is appropriate - he killed his wife and Ron Goldman and got away with it - but he definitely got shafted as far as jury selection: 11 of the 12 jury members were White and one was Hispanic. Nine of the 12 were women. So, essentially he's got a bunch of white females like myself determining his sentencing - justice at last! haaaa.

Update: Bus beheading suspect in court

The man reportedly responsible for stabbing, decapitating and eating a sleeping 22-year-old on a Greyhound bus in Canada last week is asking to be killed, according to the Associated Press.

Vince Weiguang Li appeared in court Tuesday, declining to speak for the most part except to softly whisper, "Please kill me," to the judge. He is being charged with second degree murder for last week's attack, and has yet to enter a plea. Li is expected back in court Sept. 8.

The man had a plastic bag containing his victim's ear, nose and part of a mouth in his pocket when officers arrested him, Prosecutor Joyce Dalmyn said. The only response officers received from him was: "'I have to stay on the bus forever,'" she said.

Witnesses reported Li displayed the severed head to them while he was being contained on the bus. Audio of a police tape leaked on the Internet this weekend revealed an account of the man eating pieces of the body during the standoff.

RELATED LINKS
Update: Greyhound bus murder

Update: Greyhound bus murder

Depending on my schedule, I don't usually get a lot of posting done on the weekend, which is why I didn't end up writing about the man who decapitated a sleeping passenger on a Greyhound bus in Canada Thursday; I figured it would be old news by the time I got to it tonight (Sunday).

But between Friday and now, I've broken the news of this story to at least four different people, so apparently word hadn't gotten out as much as I had thought and this begs a news brief.

The moral of a story is that a 40-year-old man, who witnesses said seemed completely normal entering the bus, repeatedly stabbed his seatmate on a ride from Manitoba Thursday. Some described him as robot-like, saying he exhibited no anger and no emotion while he decapitated the 22-year-old victim.

Now, more grisly details of the attack have been leaked, particularly a police tape describing how the attacker defiled and ate the victim's body. Yes, ate.

The video on LiveLeak.com does contain some violent images (nothing derived directly from the crime scene), but what's more disturbing is when a police officer --calling the attacker "Badger"-- says "Badger is the at back of the bus hacking off pieces...and eating it."

Listen for yourself. Pretty sick stuff.



For full details on the story, click here. To learn more about the victim and the family's response to the gruesome attacks, click here.

[UPDATE] A 31-year-old man in Santorini beheaded his girlfriend and her dog today after a heated argument, according to officials there. Click here to read more. Disgusting. What is wrong with these people?

Don't mess with New York...?

From Reuters:

A New York Yankees' fan was accused on Monday of murdering a Boston Red Sox supporter and injuring another by running both down with a car after a heated argument over one of America's oldest sporting rivalries.

Ivonne Hernandez, 43, pleaded not guilty on Monday to reckless second-degree murder, aggravated driving while intoxicated and two counts of reckless conduct after the incident in a Nashua, New Hampshire parking lot last Friday.

Prosecutors say Hernandez was drunk when she drove her car across a dirt parking lot outside the Nashua City Hall into Matthew Beaudoin, 29, and Maria Hughes, 21, after exchanging words with them about the Yankees and Red Sox baseball teams.

The spat began at a local bar where Hernandez said she was a Yankees fan, according to witnesses quoted by the Nashua Telegraph newspaper.

It then spilled outside where a group that included Beaudoin chanted "Yankees suck!" when they saw a Yankees sticker on the rear window of Hernandez's car, New Hampshire's Assistant Attorney General, Susan Morrell, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

She told Nashua District Court that Hernandez drove directly at the group and did not brake, hitting Beaudoin.

"The forensic evidence at the scene indicates tire tracks going about 200 feet that did not swerve or brake," Morrell said. "He went onto the windshield and then when the car hit the parking meter he was ejected," she added.

Beaudoin died of massive head trauma, she added. Hughes suffered minor injuries.

Hernandez told police she had only wanted to scare the group. She was ordered held without bail.

He called the Columbine shooters "my gods"

I stumbled upon this article about a 19-year-old Idaho guy who had previously plotted to kill his high school classmates, his mother and his sister...but now he's hoping kids who experience the same thing he did will seek help.

For some reason, this article doesn't really sit well with me. They throw in the "learn from my experience" graph at the end of the story, but for the most part, this article goes through this guy's history of mental illness and the fact that his mother is still afraid of him. And something tells me that exposing his true identity and mental instability on CNN is not going to make his life any easier.

Give it a gander. See what you think.

I appreciate CNN and the mother's attempt to share this story and try to avoid another Northern Illinois or Virginia Tech incident (as that anniversary is quickly approaching), but what I get from this article is--if you get caught while you're in high school and your parents make you go to a psychiatrist, wait til you're 19 and then go to town. But share your story with a large news source so no one expects anything. I don't know. I'm still not convinced. Quite disturbing.


RELATED LINKS
Another school shooting leaves six dead
Update: NIU school shooting

Snake: 'Chihuahua muy tasty'

This is gut-wrenching: A 110-pound python ate a family dog as the family's two children watched Monday in Australia.

The scrub python, a breed that stalks and kills small wild animals, set its sights on the family's terrier-Chihuahua crossbreed and devoured it as a 5-year-old and 7-year-old watched.

The snake showed up in the dog's bed a few days earlier, but no one contacted the zoo to come get it out of there. On Monday, all that could be seen of the dog was its hind legs and tail sticking out of the python's mouth.

How freaky is that picture?!

The snake was brought to a zoo, and was reportedly still digesting the dog Wednesday.

In attempt to stop the snake, a woman threw plastic chairs at it. Yeah, smart.

Update: NIU school shooting

The girlfriend of Northern Illinois University shooter, Steven Kazmierczak, gave an interview this weekend in which she told CNN that there was no indication that her boyfriend was planning anything.

Jessica Baty, who dated Kazmierczak on and off for more than two years, said he was on anti-depressants but had recently stopped taking them.

She also said that while she was in class Feb. 14 at University of Illinois, she heard students talking about the shooting going on at NIU. Not knowing that it was her boyfriend who was responsible for the shooting spree, she called his cell phone several times. She later found out that Kazmierczak had killed five others and taken his own life.

Baty said her boyfriend had sent her a letter before the shootings, which read: "You are the best Jessica!" it read. "You've done so much for me, and I truly do love you. You will make an excellent psychologist or social worker someday! Don't forget about me! Love, Steven Kazmierczak."

Not your typical love note so close to Valentine's Day.

Baty said she feels sorry for the victim's families, but that her boyfriend was also a victim. Unbelievable. I can't even come up with any sort of commentary for this, just that it makes me sick.

To read more about the interview, click here.

RELATED LINKS
Another school shooting leaves six dead

Another school shootings leaves six dead

Less than a year after the deadliest school shooting in history, and with smaller scale shootings scattered in between, (not to mention the Omaha mall shooting) another gunman has opened fire on a school campus, killing six, including himself.

Around 4 p.m. ET, a gunman dress in all black emerged from behind a curtain in a crowded lecture hall classroom at Northern Illinois University and opened fire. According to University President John Peters, 22 people were shot and at this point, six have been pronounced dead and six are in critical condition. Most of the injuries were head and neck wounds.

The campus was on lock down and a state of emergency was declared by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

There is no motive currently known.

I'm not going to preach about the state of the world, but just pray that this school shooting fad will fall out and young people will realize nothing is so bad that you need to open fire on innocent victims and ruin the lives of hundreds. I shudder to think that this is going to become known as the modern day Valentine's Day Massacre.

Stick a fork in him

This is one of the most disgusting news stories I've seen: Police are saying that a 25-year-old Dallas man allegedly killed his girlfriend and then cooked her remains after they found her ear boiling in a pot on the stove and a slab of human flesh on the table with a fork in it.

Christopher McCuin told his mother to go in the garage Saturday and "see what he had done," and after they fled the scene for help, McCuin called police. Authorities are still unsure if the man had actually eaten any parts of the body.

McCuin is also being charged with stabbing the lover of his estranged wife prior to the slaying of his girlfriend, Jana Shearer. Police believe that the 21-year-old Shearer was abducted from her home after she left the home with no shoes, purse or cell phone Friday night. Neighbors said they had hurt the couple loudly fighting in the past.

I don't know if this guy was delusional and seriously wanted to eat his girlfriend or if he was just looking for a way to make national news, which is so often the case nowadays. This reminds me of that book "Two Bottles of Relish" by Lord Dunsany, except this guy was forthright in his means of murder and was almost bragging about it. Disgusting.

McCuin was charged with capital murder. He was being held in the Smith County Jail on a $2 million bond yesterday and did not have an attorney, officials said. He is scheduled to be arraigned today, and Texas will give him the death penalty for this heinous crime. Good thing this wasn't in New Jersey.