Tag: guns

Parents of college student from NJ killed by stray bullet speak out

The grieving family of the New Jersey teen killed by a stray bullet on her Nashville college campus have paid tribute to her “beautiful soul” — with her mom saying that part of her own heart was taken with the loss.

Jillian Ludwig, 18, a freshman at Belmont University, died overnight Thursday, two days after she was first found struck in the back of the head by a round allegedly fired by a career criminal.

“There’s a piece of my heart that was taken from me,” Ludwig’s mom, Jessica, told WKRN-TV.

The slain teen’s dad, Matt, said: “It’s kind of hard to comprehend. She was thriving so well and doing so well in so many ways, in every way.

“For it to all change so suddenly — it’s, it’s hard to, it’s hard to process. It’s impossible to process,” he added.

The family had raced to Vanderbilt University Medical Center when their daughter was at first fighting for her life, before succumbing to her injuries, WSMV reported.

Jillian Ludwig, center, with her parents, Matt and Jessica.
Family Handout

Her aunt Geri Wainwright sent the outlet a text shortly before the family received the horrible news that she had died.

“Jillian has such a beautiful soul,” her aunt Geri Wainwright texted the outlet shortly before news of her niece’s death was announced.

“Her smile lights up any room and she is loved by everyone lucky enough to know her,” she wrote.

Jillian Ludwig was an accomplished musician who regularly gigged in her native New Jersey.
Facebook / Jillian Ludwig

“Jillian is fierce. She lives every day with passion. Her fearlessness, spontaneity, love of laughter, kindness and compassion make her irreplaceable to our family. Losing her would forever change the fabric of our lives,” Wainwright wrote at the time.

“We sent our girl into the world to do amazing things. Given the opportunity, she would have. So we have to ask, why was this man free?” she continued.

“What kind of world do we live in where it’s not safe to take a walk near your college dorm in broad daylight? How could someone so carelessly dim the light of a star destined to shine so bright?” the aunt added.

Ludwig was struck by a stray bullet as she walked near her Nashville campus.
Metro Nashville Police Department

Ludwig, a graduate of Wall High School in New Jersey, was an “accomplished student, musician, and vocalist,” she said.

“She chose to study Music Business at Belmont University. She loved the short time she’s spent at Belmont. She loves her life, her friends, parents and her younger brothers, Shane & Trevor,” Wainwright added.

On Thursday, the Wall Township Committee sent a letter to the community, remembering Ludwig and offering mental health resources, according to WKRN.

“We are incredibly saddened to hear about the tragic and untimely passing of Jillian Ludwig. Jillian was an exceptional young leader within our community,” it wrote.

“She graced us with her beautiful voice to sing the National Anthem at many township community events. Jillian was a member of the Young Women’s Leadership Committee of Wall Township and was the recipient of the 2023 Women’s Leadership Committee Scholarship Award,” the local committee said.

Ludwig performed at venues around her New Jersey community, playing bass and guitar along with singing during the Asbury Park Porch Fest and Red Bank in New Jersey, The Tennessean reported.

Her first show was more than two years ago, when she performed at The Saint in Asbury Park with her band Arcadia.  

Accused shooter Shaquille Taylor.
Metro Nashville Police Department

Ludwig was shot about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday while walking at Edgehill Community Memorial Gardens Park in Nashville.

Shaquille Taylor, 29, allegedly opened fire on a car from a public housing complex across the street — striking her as she walked on a track, police said.

Surveillance video and witnesses led cops to the suspected gunman, who admitted to firing shots, police said. He has been charged over previous shootings — but was released from custody earlier this year after being deemed incompetent to stand trial.

The suspect was accused of giving the gun to another person after Tuesday’s shooting, The Tennessean reported, citing court records. His girlfriend also told investigators that he admitted to her that he was involved in a shooting, according to police records cited by the paper.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Let’s get organized on guns and ‘deal with mass shootings beforehand,’ ex-NYPD commish

Let’s get organized on guns

Howard Safir, NYC’s 1996 to 2000 police commissioner:

“Our system lists 350 million guns in the USA. The major cause of death for children. We need to deal with mass shootings BEFOREHAND.”

“Red flags exist. Nashville’s shooter had a history of mental issues. Yet each state has a different Red Flag Law if they have one at all. Health providers are not required to notify police when anyone exhibits violent tendencies. Nashville had no information or Red Flag Law!”

“Police need to be notified when someone exhibits such proclivity.

“Notification goes to a secure database and can be provided to gun dealers like the airlines’ No Fly list that shows in a background check. Remember: That Nashville shooter purchased her guns ‘legally.’

“Many shooters post intentions on social media beforehand. Companies already have algorithms that identify objectionable posts. Why not the same for a potential mass shooter?”

“We need background checks and a return to assertive policing. Criminals no longer fear police. Insane no bail laws put them and their guns back on the street.”


“Police need to be notified when someone exhibits such proclivity,” said former NYPD Commissioner Howard Safir.
Getty Images/Taylor Hill

Make a choice, by George

Capitol Hill has begun loudly bitching about Long Island’s newly elected forked-tongue Congressman George Santos — may his tripe decrease — the human Pinocchio who’s currently repping citizens of our great country.

Santos — who lies his pantos off — is under federal, NY state and Nassau County criminal investigations.

But Republicans in Congress don’t care to wait.

They want smelly George Santos OUT! NOW! Like yesterday.


Rep. George Santos leaves a House GOP conference meeting on Capitol Hill, in Washington on Jan. 25, 2023.
AP

In the House, lots of noise is coming from newbies who are getting blamed by big-time donors for keeping him in Congress.

And for accepting him. Protecting him.

They have just told Speaker Kevin McCarthy it’s either Santos — or Them.

McCarthy may have to choose.

Spring-cleaning

YOU won’t believe this. But believe this. Great Neck, LI, has a car wash place with the sign: “Passover Special.”

So if you don’t want to swab your two-year-old BMW with damp matzos, try them. True. This is true. Absolutely true.

And lest you dare accuse me of fibbing — may your hair turn gray. And mine, too — again.

It’s just a name


Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine delivers remarks at a rally in Times Square supporting New York City’s bid to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention.
Europa Newswire/Shutterstock

Mark Levine beat West Virginia’s Bradley Madison Hoylman for Manhattan Boro President. Then Hoylman married David Sigal in a temple, dropped the Madison, changed his name to Brad Hoylman-Sigal which made him unbeatable in his West Side political race. He now chairs the Dem’s Senate judiciary committee. I know this comes under the heading of “Who cares?” — but what good is my knowing something if nobody knows I know it?

NO laughing matter. UCLA says 65 species — cows, foxes, seals, mongeese, some bird types and even dogs — laugh. Also, they say, rats. This surprised scientists. So although we applaud Manhattan’s newest garbage collection manifesto, let’s don’t get nervous if NYC’s newest resident — the rat — is laughing at us.

Oy, only in New York, kids, only in New York.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Julia Fox co-signed brother’s $450K bail bond in NYC ghost gun peddling bust

Julia Fox’s brother posted bail Monday after getting busted for allegedly running a ghost gun peddling operation out of his Upper East Side apartment — getting a helping hand from his famous sister, The Post has learned.

The “Uncut Gems” actress co-signed the $450,000 bond to get her kid brother Christopher Fox sprung from Rikers Island after he was hit with a slew of gun possession and manufacturing charges last week.

“Of course Ms. Fox seemed upset,” celebrity bail bondsman Ira Judelson, who posted the bond, told The Post. “It is her brother.”

Christopher Fox, 30, was arrested last week and hit with a slew of charges for allegedly using 3D printers to create gun parts that could be assembled and sold as untraceable “ghost guns,” according to Manhattan prosecutors.

Authorities confirmed on Monday that Christopher made the $450,000 bond and was awaiting to be released following an appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday. He’s due back in court on May 4.

The bail receipt shows that Julia and her parents signed off on the bond, with the star listing her occupation as “actress/model” with the word “retired” penciled in.


Julia Fox’s brother, Christopher, was released on a $450,000 bond Monday after getting hit with multiple gun possession and manufacturing charges in Manhattan last week.

The bond was secured with assets belonging to her and Christopher’s dad Thomas Fox, officials said. The elder Fox was taken into custody along with his son but has not been charged. Authorities say the investigation into the operation is ongoing.

Prosecutors allege Christopher cashed in on about $345,000 in illicit gun sales through his CashApp account between April 2020 and January 2023.

Cops also found drug paraphernalia and chemicals in his apartment, including pressure cookers, fentanyl, chloroform, heroin, crack and cocaine, prosecutors said.

“The defendant possessed enough gun parts to assemble an assault weapon-style rifle,” Assistant District Attorney Cyril Heron said at Christopher’s arraignment late Thursday.


Actress and model Julia Fox personally reached out to a Big Apple bail bondsman before her brother, Christopher, made bail on gun charges lodged last week.
WireImage

Printed gun parts are typically sold piecemeal and used to assemble ghost guns, which are manufactured without serial numbers and are therefore untraceable.

Cops busted into Fox’s home around 6 a.m. on March 8 as part of a larger ghost gun investigation, with police allegedly finding several printers and individual gun parts.

Amid all the contraband recovered inside the 84th Street apartment were thousands of dollars worth of high-end wine bottles, law enforcement sources said.


Big Apple bail bondsman Ira Judelson, who has bailed out stars like Connor McGregor and footballer Plaxico Burress, said Julia Fox co-signed her brothers $450,000 bond.
Steven Hirsch

Julia Fox has spoken out in the past about growing up in the Big Apple with her single dad and brother, and has said she does not often get a chance to see them.

In a 2019 interview with the highsnobiety.com entertainment site, she called her brother “a mad scientist recluse” who “builds 3D printers for fun.”

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Iowa gun-toting mother stops duo from kidnapping her son: reports

An armed mother in Iowa fended off two people who attempted to take her son while in a Des Moines skywalk, by drawing her gun, according to reports.

Fox station KDSM in Des Moines, Iowa reported that two people, later identified as Michael Ernest Ross, 43, and Laurie Lynn Potter, 57, repeatedly walked in front of the Hubbell Tower Apartments door on Jan. 5.

Apartment manager Shay Lindberg, whose son was at her side, eventually opened the door to ask Ross and Potter if there was a problem. Then, one of the two attempted to snatch the child, but Lindberg was armed.

Sergeant Paul Parizek of the Des Moines Police Department told KDSM that this was an example of someone possessing a gun legally and doing something well with the gun.

“It certainly looks like the big turning point here, the pivotal piece to keeping her child safe was the fact that she was lawfully-armed with a handgun, and she produced it and told them ‘let go of my kid,’” Parizek said.

Lindberg then called Will Hunter of Per Mar Security Services, who recognized Potter based on the descriptions provided.

Per Mar Security has watched over the skywalk since 2020, when the Skywalk Association hired the firm in response to a couple getting assaulted by a group of teens. The company told KDSM they take the names of anyone who causes issues there.

Hunter called police, provided the names of Ross and Potter, and followed the two until police arrived to take over the situation.

Des Moines Police did not immediately respond to inquiries about the incident on Sunday night.

According to Polk County Jail records, Potter and Ross were booked and charged with felony Child Stealing on Jan. 5.

Potter was on probation and charged with two counts of violating her probation.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Another vital criminal justice fix that Hochul’s ignoring

“A glaring weakness in our effort to combat gun violence is the fact that you have Raise the Age that still permits 16- and 17-year-olds to possess loaded firearms,” Albany District Attorney David Soares told The Post in a critique of the public-safety goals Gov. Kathy Hochul outlined in her State of the State speech.

Right on: It’s another huge omission when Hochul’s claiming to put public safety first.

Soares, a George Soros-backed progressive, has long flagged the issues with Raise the Age, a 2018 law that sends most teen criminal defendants to Family Court rather than the adult justice system.

He’s also blasted Hochul and the Legislature over the no-bail law and other reforms that Soares feels have “normalized” violence. “No meaningful legislative action has been taken to address bail reform, and Raise the Age, which have demonstrably impacted violent crime in our most vulnerable neighborhoods,” he thundered after two more fatal shootings in Albany last fall.

Soares criticized Hochul and the state Legislature for the bail reform laws that he claims to have “normalized” violence.
Photo by Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/Shutterstock

The cookies-and-hot-chocolate approach to teen gun violence just doesn’t work, Soares told The Post.

Last fall, a bombshell NYPD analysis revealed that the number of teen shooters and victims in NYC has tripled in the last five years — a deadly trend that coincides with enactment of the Raise the Age law. The report also noted that teen recidivism has shot up since 2017.

That is: Adolescents are a prime driver of the frightening rise in gun violence across the city. Worse, this means more young people beginning a life of crime — meaning big trouble for the future, with a growing criminal class.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie prides himself on being a “numbers guy,” but ignores the data showing that the Raise the Age law has been a disaster for minority teens. Instead, he stands by his theory that teenage brains just can’t learn self-restraint, so it’s just wrong to hold young people responsible — no matter the consequences to society, or to them.

So he won’t consider fixing RTA, and Hochul’s plainly unwilling to force the issue. And the body count of young victims in minority communities around the state will keep rising.

Never mind that the gov holds immense power in budget negotiations to insist on legal changes: She’s determined to work with the Legislature, no matter how little legislators want to work with her on anything besides spending and taxing ever more.

The worst is yet to come, New York.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Abby Zwerner shot by 6-year-old as she tried to confiscate gun

The first-grade teacher in Virginia who was shot by her 6-year-old student was about to confiscate the gun when the child pulled the trigger.

“She was going to confiscate it — and that’s when he shot,” Brittaney Gregory, whose son was in the class, told the Washington Post.

Abby Zwerner, 25, was shot about 2 p.m. Friday at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Va. She was listed in serious but stable condition at Riverside Regional Medical Center, the paper reported.

The teacher has been hailed as a hero for warning the other kids to flee when the shooting erupted.

The 6-year-old has been taken into custody after the shocking incident, which Police Chief Steve Drew said resulted from a fight and was “not an accidental shooting.”

It was unclear what sparked the fight or how the boy managed to get a hold of the weapon.

Abby Zwerner, 25, of Williamsburg, Virginia, was shot intentionally by a student Friday.
“She was going to confiscate (the gun) — and that’s when he shot,” said Brittaney Gregory, whose son was in the class, referring to teacher Abby Zwerner, above.

Gregory said that when the teacher told the children to run, they fled to another teacher’s classroom and remained under lockdown.

The mom described Zwerner as her son’s favorite teacher, who would leave notes in his backpack.

“I hope you had a great day,” Gregory said the teacher wrote in one. “I want you to know your smile is contagious,” another said, according to the parent.

Gregory said her son is “still in shock” and has nightmares from the shooting.

“He normally sleeps in his own room but the night of the shooting he came into my room. He was talking in his sleep, saying we got to get out of here,” she told the paper, adding that she plans to take her son to a therapist.

Gregory said she found out about the shooting when a neighbor asked her if she saw a report on TV.

“What school?” she said she asked. “‘Your son’s school. They said it was the first grade,’” the neighbor told her, she said.

“My heart instantly dropped,” Gregory said.

When she arrived at the scene, police said no kids had been hurt.

“Not physically, but this is going to scar him mentally,” she said she thought.

When she was finally reunited with her son, she said “you could tell on his face what he was going through. He was a deer in the headlights.”

Authorities said it wasn’t immediately clear what sparked the argument.
AP

Meanwhile, another student described the frantic moments after the shooting.

“We were doing math … an announcer came on she was like, ‘Lockdown, I repeat lockdown,’” fifth-grader Novah Jones, who was in another classroom, told CNN.

“I was scared … it was like my first lockdown and I didn’t know what to do, so I just hid under my desk like everybody was,” she said during an interview that included her mother, Kasheba Jones.

As police raced to the scene, Novah informed her mother about the lockdown.

The young student who shot Zwerner was taken into custody.
ABC4

“I texted her, ‘Mom, help,’” she said.

“I couldn’t breathe I was in shock,” her mother, Kasheba told CNN.

Novah said she had “flashbacks” found it difficult to sleep that night because she worried that the boy “still had the gun and he was going to come to my house.”

Andrew Block, an associate professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said it is unlikely the shooter could be prosecuted even though there is no minimum age for being charged with a crime in Virginia.

“As a practical matter, it would be next to impossible to prosecute a 6-year-old, no matter how serious,” Block, the former director of the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice, told the Washington Post.

He cited the “infancy defense,” in which people under age 7 do not have the ability or mental state to form the intent to commit a crime.

“The bigger barrier, presuming the prosecution could overcome that, is all defendants have to be competent to stand trial,” Block told the outlet.

“That means you have to understand the nature of legal proceedings against you and assist in your own defense. There’s no way a 6-year-old would meet that criteria,” he added.

But Block noted that an adult could face misdemeanor charges if the pistol came from a home where the child lives because under state law, guns must be secured from kids under 14.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Gunman threatens MTA bus driver who demanded he pay

A Queens fare-beater pulled a gun and hissed, “I should kill you” to an MTA bus driver — who dared to ask the scofflaw to pay, cops said Sunday.

The twisted transit rider, who was wearing a brightly colored hoodie, boarded a Q17 MTA bus at Horace Harding Expressway and Kissena Boulevard around 9:30 p.m.. on Dec. 23 without paying the fare, cops said.

A fare-beater on a Queens bus pulled a gun on the driver, who had only asked the man to pay.
Crime Stoppers

The 59-year-old bus driver asked the scofflaw to come over to him, at which point the man began arguing, prompting the operator to ask him to leave the vehicle.

As the fare-beater exited the bus, he snarled, “I should kill you” while pointing a firearm at the driver, cops said. 

The gunman was caught on surveillance camera on the Q17 bus.
Crime Stoppers

“The individual then walked in front of the bus and pointed the firearm at the bus operator again before fleeing to parts unknown,” police said in a news release containing photos of the suspect dressed in a colorful hoodie with letters on it. 

There were no injuries, cops said.

The gunman is described as approximately 5’7″ tall with a medium build. He was last seen wearing a black face mask, black bubble jacket with a light, multicolored hood, black pants and black sneakers.

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked 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 Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or on Twitter @NYPDTips.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Suing Big Guns and Big Oil is just cynical political posturing

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown announced last week that the Queen City had filed a “first of its kind” lawsuit targeting and blaming firearms manufacturers for the rising gun violence there. It’s not remotely the first, despite invoking a new “public nuisance” state law, and it’ll fail: Suits against Big Guns over crime, like those targeting Big Oil over climate, are just lawyer-enriching, and posturing-pol-promoting, bunk.

“The City of Buffalo is not going to let these gun industry members continue to flood our city with illegally possessed guns. We must hold them accountable,” Brown declared of the case against such gunmakers as Beretta, Smith & Wesson, etc., as well as distributors and local gun shops — plus, ghost-gun retailers like Polymer 80.

Maybe there’s a case against the ghost-gun crew, but all the other targets have weathered similar litigation before, starting in the ’90s. As long as the defendants obey the laws on serial numbers, background checks and so on, they’re not liable for third parties’ illegal use of their products.

The lawsuit blames gun manufacturers for the high number of illegal guns in Buffalo.
Corbis via Getty Images

Blame racist gunman Payton Gendron, not the gun industry, for the Tops Supermarket massacre. Local thugs and gangbangers are responsible for the terrible street violence in Buffalo and urban areas across New York.

Brown, like many pols before him, is trying to dodge his real duty. Lawyers are eyeing fees, or in some cases just hoping friendly judges will ignore the law to help them shut down the “evil” industry.

It’s much the same with litigation pretending that Big Oil has deceived the public about carbon fuels and climate change. Suit after suit has failed because the evidence just isn’t there — which hasn’t stopped New Jersey from filing a new suit because its politicians want to posture.

Reality check: Oil’s used precisely as intended to run our cars, heat our homes and keep the lights on. Lacking practical alternatives, society has chosen the emissions despite environmental costs. (By the way, global coal-burning rose this year, for the same reason.)

And while some petro-companies have questioned some claims of the anti-carbon lobby, they haven’t lied about what’s known, or even about what their private research has found.

Again, the hope here is that ideology will triumph in the courts where it hasn’t when it comes to writing laws. Lawyers get some work, politicians get to wax indignant — and they can all hope for a windfall if enough judges play along.

It’s not a bold struggle for justice; it’s a racket.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Man shot, killed in Staten Island

A man was fatally shot on Staten Island Monday evening — and police are searching for two possible gunmen, authorities said.

The victim, 53, was blasted in the chest at about 5:30 p.m. on Broad Street near Cedar Street in Stapleton, the NYPD said.

The man was rushed to Richmond University Medical Center and pronounced dead at about 6:50 p.m., police said.

Police are searching for two possible gunmen.
Steve White

No arrests have been made, and police are searching for one male wearing all black and another male wearing a red jacket, authorities said.

The pair fled toward the back of another property on Broad Street, according to the NYPD.

It’s unclear if one or both suspects fired at the victim and the investigation is ongoing, police said.

The identification of the victim was not released pending family notification.

Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook

Original Source

Exit mobile version