SHAFAQNA

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – Police are searching for a suspect in the Monday shooting in the Russian city of Belgorod. A gunman opened fire near an arms shop, leaving six people dead and one injured. A 14-year-old girl is among those killed.

Police have asked Belgorod residents not to leave their homes because of the special operation. The photo of the suspect – Sergey Pomazun, 32 – and his description have been posted on the internet. Law enforcers also warn that the man at large may be armed with a gas pistol and a semi-automatic rifle.

Local authorities say that some 1200 police personnel are engaged in the search for the fugitive.

Authorities have also sent a description of the suspect to the Interior Ministry of Ukraine in Kharkiv, Luhansk and Sumy regions. Border and customs controls have also been placed on high alert.

Belgorod authorities earlier stated that the suspect had been detained by police. However, they then said that the report was published on the local administration’s website by mistake.

“Information on the detention of the suspect has not been confirmed, the Interior Ministry told us two minutes ago,” the city administration’s press service told Interfax.

The man is still at large. Currently, law enforcers are checking vehicles and housing estates in Belgorod and its outskirts, the regional Interior Ministry Department said.

His residence was earlier cordoned off by police. While searching the suspect’s apartment, investigators discovered an open safe used for storing weapons, but found it empty. No weapon was located in the gunman’s abandoned car either.

About 2pm local time (10:00 GMT) the gunman drove up to a shop in a dark BMW X5. Getting out of the car, he opened fire in the street and then inside the shop. He then managed to flee the scene in his vehicle.

As a result of the shooting rampage, four men aged between 28 and 45, and two schoolgirls were killed, police said. One of the girls, a 16-year-old, was taken to a local hospital, but died later in the ICU. She would turn 17 in just over two weeks - on May 9.

The Belgorod shooter allegedly used a Kalashnikov-based semi-automatic 7.62 caliber Saiga carbine, popular with hunters, reports Lifenews tabloid.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is being kept informed on the development of the situation, his press secretary Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

The city administration has declared April 23 and 24 days of mourning in Belgorod. The authorities will also cover all the funeral expenses and provide financial aid to the families of the victims.

Russia’s Emergencies Ministry sent a team of psychologists to the city to help the grieving relatives to cope with the tragedy.

All churches in Belgorod region will hold memorial services for those killed in the shooting.

Meanwhile, the residents of the city – known to be very calm and quiet – remain shocked by Monday’s tragedy. Police presence was beefed up in Belgorod with sounds of sirens breaking the silence in now almost empty streets.

The suspect has a criminal record and has earlier been convicted four times, “mainly for thefts,” a source at regional Interior Ministry Told Interfax. It is alleged that he attempted to rob the arms shop.

Conflicting reports suggest there were two suspects in the shooting, with witnesses having seen them according to some media reports. The two may have reportedly been father and son.

According to law enforcers though, the suspect’s father, Aleksandr Pomazun, is actively cooperating with investigators.

“Initially, [the father] was put on a wanted list, as the BMW that Sergey Pomazun drove in to the shop was registered on Aleksandr’s name,” the regional Interior Ministry told Interfax. “But soon Aleksandr’s whereabouts were identified and he gave detailed evidence during questioning.”

Some media also stated that earlier the shooting suspect had undergone treatment at a psychiatric clinic. It was reported he had been sentenced to compulsory treatment by a court. However, the regional Investigative Committee did not confirm that information.

On the eve of the bloodshed, Pomazun managed to escape road police after he violated driving regulations by driving on the opposite side of the lane and ignoring a red traffic light at a junction, reported Life News tabloid.

Belgorod is a city with a population of over 420,000 people. It is located in the south of Russia’s European part, just 40km from the border with Ukraine.

An amateur video from the scene shows a killed person lying on the ground.

Locals say the shooting sparked panic among residents.

Elena Petrenko - a witness to the drama, who works in a close-by supermarket - says they heard the shooting, which they at first confused for fireworks before looking out of the window.

“There’s a school near [the shooting scene]. Children were running asunder and screaming,” she told RIA Novosti, adding that the area is generally very crowded with people as there are shops and a central market there.

“A woman with a baby carriage and a child in her arms tried to run into a shop, but the salesmen closed the door right in front of her,” the witness added.

“Employees of [a nearby] Sberbank office want to close the bank because of the incident. Connection is down. They are panicking,” ‏@anastasiaskull posted on twitter.

Police have “cordoned off the area,” says user @Angelina1Lina11. “Damn! I’m only 2-3 minutes far from home. It freaks me out.”

“Everyone who lives in Belgorod, be careful,” warns @Lizaveta_31. “I was called up and told not to leave house. We’ve got shooting here.”

“The reports are conflicting! So don’t believe anything, just keep safe! Don’t risk your lives!” adds another local resident, @TranceR1.

Dozens of Belgorod residents came to the scene of the tragedy events bringing flowers and candles to commemorate the six victims. (Watch the video below posted on YouTube by Mir Belogorya)

Legally acquired hunting weapons are used only in a tiny fraction of crimes registered in Russia, according to the police. Mass public shootings are also relatively rare, however, there have been several such cases in the last three years.

In November 2012, a Moscow lawyer shot six of his coworkers to death in an office over a broken relationship with a female colleague. Before the rampage, he also posted an online ‘hate manifesto’ on his Facebook page. The killer obtained a firearms certificate illegally, and it allowed him to carry two sporting guns to the scene of the crime – one of which turned out to be a rifle with 200 rounds of ammunition.

Another case that sparked public outrage and enjoyed unprecedented media attention in Russia was a shooting spree and hostage drama in a Moscow supermarket staged by a district police department chief.

The ‘killer cop’ gunned down two people and endangered lives of 22 others, injuring seven in the massacre. He also used an illegally-kept pistol to shoot at the approaching police and told them “it would be more fun if I had a machine gun” after he was detained.

It remained unclear, whether the policeman got drunk while celebrating his birthday, or if he had some mental disorder, which the court eventually ruled out before sentencing the man to life in prison.-www.shafaqna.com/English

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- Adam Lanza left a home stuffed with weaponry and carried out the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in a 154-bullet barrage that took less than five minutes, investigators said Thursday in the first detailed account of his surroundings and troubled state of mind.

Search warrants from the second-worst school shooting in American history revealed that the home Lanza shared with his mother in Newtown, Conn., was a veritable arsenal: Authorities found at least nine knives, three Samurai swords, two guns and a 7-foot, wood-handled pole with a blade on one side and a spear on the other.

Authorities also recovered a National Rifle Association certificate, seven of Lanza’s journals, drawings that he made and books from the house, including an NRA guide to the basics of pistol shooting.

The warrants offered a thorough look at the environment in which Lanza lived before he shot his mother, Nancy, to death and drove to Sandy Hook on the morning of Dec. 14. Twenty first-graders and six teachers and staff were killed before Lanza shot himself to death with the 155th bullet.

An FBI report included in the search warrants said that Lanza rarely left home, considered himself a shut-in and was an avid gamer who played “Call of Duty,” a first-person shooter game. Lanza considered the elementary school his “life,” the papers said.

Among other items seized from the home were a holiday card containing a check from his mother to buy a firearm, an article from The New York Times about a 2008 school shooting at Northern Illinois University and three photographs of what appeared to be a dead person covered with plastic and blood.

Other books included “Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s” and “Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Mind of an Autistic Savant.”

At the school, Lanza fired the 154 rounds from a Bushmaster .223-model rifle and the final bullet from a Glock 10mm handgun to take his own life, said Stephen Sedensky, the chief prosecutor investigating the shooting.

Police recovered nine 30-round magazines for the Bushmaster that Lanza took to the school. Three of the magazines had a full 30 rounds still in them.

Among school shootings in the United States, the death toll from Newtown is second only to the 32 people killed at Virginia Tech in 2007.

The attack touched off a nationwide debate about gun control, and Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy used the release of the warrants to call for stricter gun laws.

“We knew that these weapons were legally purchased under our current laws,” Malloy said. “I don’t know what more we can need to know before we take decisive action to prevent gun violence. The time to act is now.”

On Wednesday, a judge granted a request from prosecutors to withhold some information in the records, including a witness name, credit card information, telephone numbers and serial numbers.

Lanza used a Bushmaster .223-caliber XM15-E2S rifle with a 30-round magazine to shoot the victims at the school, authorities have said.

Authorities also found the Glock 10mm semiautomatic pistol and a Sig-Sauer 9mm semiautomatic pistol in the school, one of which Lanza used to kill himself. In the car outside, police found a shotgun.

All those weapons were legally owned by the mother, authorities have said. Enough public blame and anger has been directed at her that she was left out of many of the memorials and shrines to the Newtown victims.

There have been reports that Lanza was obsessed with other mass killers, including Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in a shooting and bomb attack in Norway two years ago.

A law enforcement official told NBC News last month that Lanza had collected material on previous mass shootings, although the source said there was no indication that it played a role in the school massacre.

Police told NBC News in February that investigators were still a long way from determining Lanza’s motive. Police said then that they hoped to have a report on the shooting finished by June.

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SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- Several people were killed in a shooting at a wood manufacturing factory on the outskirts of the central Swiss city of Lucerne on Wednesday, police said. Several others were wounded.

Rescuers flew four critically wounded people to two area hospitals, according to air rescue spokeswoman Karine Hoerhager.

The situation is under control, said Lucerne county police spokesman Urs Wigger, and officers have cordoned off a wide area around the factory.

The incident took place at 9:00 a.m. local (3:00 a.m. ET) at the offices of Kronospan, a manufacturer of wood products in the town of Menznau outside of Lucerne.

The factory employs 410 people, according to local media, and has had to cut production due to a reduction in the wood harvest.

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SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- A South Carolina university remained locked down early Wednesday morning as police searched for the person who shot and killed a student in a campus dormitory.

Officials at Coastal Carolina University in Conway said the school still plans to hold classes Wednesday, and will make counselors available.

The victim was identified as Anthony Darnell Liddell, 19, from Bennettsville.

The shooting took place at the University Place residence hall, the school said. The suspected shooter left in a vehicle, and police continue to look for him.

More than 9,000 students attend the school, which is on 630 acres about 15 miles northwest of Myrtle Beach.

Coastal Carolina University was founded in 1954 as Coastal Carolina Junior College. It became an independent university in 1993.

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SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – At least two people have been injured in a shooting at a school in the US state of Georgia in the latest of gun violence in the country.

The incident took place at Price Middle School in southeast Atlanta on Thursday.

School officials said a 14-year-old student was transferred to Grady Memorial Hospital in downtown Atlanta after being shot in the head.

“The student was alert, conscious and breathing” while being transferred to the hospital, police said in a statement.

The second victim is a teacher, who had suffered minor injuries and was treated at the scene.

No details were released about the shooter and the weapon used.

Earlier in the day, an assistant district attorney was shot dead near the North Texas county courthouse.

On December 14, 2012, twenty children and six adult victims were fatally shot by a gunman -- who later killed himself -- at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in the town of Newtown in the US state of Connecticut. Earlier in the day, the assailant killed his mother in another location.

There have been reports that the twenty-year-old killer, Adam Lanza, suffered from a personality disorder, was on the antidepressant Prozac, and was fond of first-person shooter games.

Every year, more than 30,000 people are shot and killed in the US.

The US averages 87 gun deaths each day as a function of gun violence, with an average of 183 injured, according to the University of Chicago Crime Lab and the Centers for Disease Control.

The year 2012 was a record setting year for gun sales in the US.

About 4.5 million firearms are sold annually in the United States at a cost of 2 to 3 billion dollars.-www.shfaqna.com/English

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- A nine-year-old boy has died after being shot by a stray bullet in Brampton, Ont.

Kesean Williams was alone in his bedroom when he was hit in the head by a bullet fired outside his family’s townhouse around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday.

He was rushed to the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, but he died of his injuries early Thursday, police said.

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SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – At least three people, including one gunman, have been injured in a shooting at a college in the US state of Texas, according to local media reports.

The incident occurred at a campus of Lone Star Community College, which is located in the Houston area, at about 12:30 p.m. local time (1830 GMT) on Tuesday.

Jed Young, a spokesman for the college, said one of the shooters was injured and was in police custody and the other had fled.

He added that two students had been injured in crossfire.

"At first glance it appears to be (a dispute) between two people," Young said.

He went on to say that it was unclear whether the suspects were students.

On December 14, 2012, twenty children and six adult victims were fatally shot by a gunman -- who later killed himself -- at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in the town of Newtown in the US state of Connecticut. Earlier in the day, the assailant killed his mother in another location.

There have been reports that the twenty-year-old killer, Adam Lanza, suffered from a personality disorder, was on the antidepressant Prozac, and was fond of first-person shooter games.

Every year, more than 30,000 people are shot and killed in the United States.

The US averages 87 gun deaths each day as a function of gun violence, with an average of 183 injured, according to the University of Chicago Crime Lab and the Centers for Disease Control.

The year 2012 was a record setting year for gun sales in the US.

About 4.5 million firearms are sold annually in the United States at a cost of 2 to 3 billion dollars.-www.shfaqna.com/English

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) -- The teacher stood in the classroom, face-to-face with his 16-year-old student, who was holding a shotgun.

Ryan Heber, 40, talked to the teen, trying to persuade him to end an armed assault in which one student had already been shot.

Heber had no idea whether the student -- whose pockets were filled with ammunition -- would put the gun down or pull the trigger.

Campus supervisor Kim Fields helped distract the teen, allowing other students in the classroom to escape, while Heber talked to him, according to CNN affiliate KGET.

Eventually, the teen let go of the gun, and police took him into custody.

That was how police described the frightening situation Thursday at Taft Union High School, about 30 miles outside Bakersfield, California.

"To stand there and face someone that has a shotgun, who's already discharged it and shot a student, speaks volumes for these two young men and what they may have prevented," Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said Thursday.

Heber, however, hates the term hero. He told CNN Friday that he doesn't want to be labeled anything except "teacher."

Classes were canceled for Friday, the school website said, and on-campus counseling was being made available for students in the morning.

The wounded student was in critical but stable condition Thursday night, and the shooter was in custody, police said. Heber and his wife, who also works at the school, visited the hospital Friday and met with the father of the victim.

The name of the student in custody was not released. He will be charged as a juvenile with attempted murder, according to Youngblood, who added that prosecutors will decide whether he should be charged as an adult. Authorities searched his home, according to sheriff's spokesman Ray Pruitt.

Heber, who teaches science, is known as a well-liked teacher at the school, according to his father, David Heber. He is himself a graduate of Taft, where he played football and served as student body president.

David Heber wasn't surprised that his son played a key role in diffusing the situation, saying Ryan Heber makes a point of getting to know his students -- including the suspected gunman -- on a personal level.

"Because he knows the boy and the boy knows him ... I attribute that to why the boy talked and listened to my son," David Heber said. "It's all about kindness. It's all about my son being kind and caring about his students that makes this successful."

David Heber also said his son, who was standing just a few feet away from the student who was shot, had been hit in the head with a shot pellet, but was fine and didn't seek treatment for it.

Nonetheless, Ryan Heber will be coping mentally with a difficult situation, his father said, adding his son slept little Thursday night.

"This was a very upsetting incident," David Heber said, describing his son as "emotionally worn out."

"It was hard for him. ... but he's come to the conclusion that he did everything he could do."

Ryan Heber told CNN that it wasn't just his students he was worried about as he faced the gunman -- it was also his wife, who works in the business office of the school, and his two sons, ages 5 and 3, at home.

As the school went into lockdown amid the shooting, Heber's wife texted him from her office, reminding him to lock his classroom door. His response, according to his father, "The shooter is in my room."

Ryan Heber said the ordeal has really made him want to come home to his family.

The Taft shooting is the latest incident of gun violence that launched a fiery national debate over whether teachers should be armed.

Last month the National Rifle Association called on communities to arm teachers or place armed guards in schools as a solution following a Newtown, Connecticut, shooting spree in which a 20-year-old gunman killed seven adults and 20 children at an elementary school.

"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," said the NRA's Wayne LaPierre. The idea has been rejected by teacher's groups and mayors, including New York's Michael Bloomberg, Boston's Thomas Menino and Philadelphia's Michael Nutter.

The debate prompted CNN commenter Adika to weigh in Thursday, saying, "So let me get this straight. The NRA wants to have police officers in schools ... yet an unarmed teacher talked a student into surrendering his gun. Besides being one heck of a hero, that teacher just might have some advice for the NRA."

Another CNN commenter, Frank455444, countered: "Well if the schools are armed and another nut shows up HE GETS SHOT! PROBLEM SOLVED!"

In Utah it's been legal for a dozen years for teachers to be armed in class. Since the law took effect, there have been no school shootings in the state, nor accidents or incidents involving educators' firearms.

Immediately after the Taft shooting Thursday, amid the frenzy of desperate parents coming to the school to retrieve their children, parents expressed concern about school security.

"It just goes to show you that we're going to have to do a lot more to protect our students in this small town," an unidentified parent told KGET. "It might be a small environment, but there's always that one bad apple."

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SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – Prosecutors have revealed the first extensive public details of last year's mass shooting at a Colorado cinema, outlining their case against the man suspected of killing 12 people and wounding at least 58.

The hearing on Monday will determine whether the case will go to trial. Legal analysts said evidence appears to be so strong that James Holmes may accept a plea agreement before trial.

Holmes is charged with more than 160 counts in the Colorado attack, including murder and attempted murder.

Investigators say he was wearing body armour and a gas mask when he tossed two gas canisters and opened fire in the cinema on July 20.

On Monday, a police officer who arrested Holmes said he at first thought he was a fellow officer because he was wearing body armour.

Then the officer realised he was wrong because Holmes was not running towards the scene.

Police officers who arrested Holmes described him as unusually relaxed but fidgety at times, that he seemed detached and volunteered that his apartment had been booby trapped.

Until now, many details of the case have been kept quiet. Three days after the shooting, District Judge William Sylvester forbade attorneys and investigators from discussing the case publicly, and many court documents have been filed under seal.

Police say Holmes, now 25, had stockpiled weapons, ammunition, explosives and body armour.

Mentally ill?

Holmes was a first-year student in a PhD neuroscience programme at the University of Colorado, Denver, but he failed a year-end exam and withdrew, authorities have said. The shootings came six weeks later.

Federal authorities have said Holmes entered the cinema with a ticket and is believed to have propped open a door, slipped out to his car and returned with his weapons. Police arrested him outside the movie theatre shortly after the shootings ended.

In general, plea agreements help prosecutors avoid costly trials, give the accused a lesser sentence like life in prison rather than the death penalty and spare the victims and their families from the trauma of going through a lengthy trial.

Holmes' mental health could be a significant issue in the hearing.

His attorneys have told the judge Holmes is mentally ill, but they have not said whether they plan to employ an insanity defence.

He had seen a university psychiatrist, and his lawyers have said he tried to call the psychiatrist nine minutes before the killing began.

Defence lawyers have said they plan to call at least two witnesses who could testify about Holmes' mental health. Prosecutors asked the judge to block the witnesses, but he refused.

Lawyers have been debating what physical evidence should be made available, whether a psychiatrist who met Holmes is barred from testimony by doctor-patient privilege and other issues.- www.shfaqna.com/English

Source: AL Jazeera

SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) – Arnold Schwarzenegger may be one of the world's biggest action stars but the former governor of California says violence in films is entertainment and should not be linked to tragic events like the Connecticut school shooting in which 20 children died.

The star of films such as "The Terminator," "Predator" and "True Lies" told a press conference before the opening of his new movie, "The Last Stand," on January 18th that "one has to keep (the two) separate."

"(This is) entertainment and the other thing is a tragedy beyond belief. It's really serious and it's the real deal," Schwarzenegger, 65, told reporters.

The actor, who will star in his first leading role in the film since serving as California governor for seven years, said the tragedy in which a gunman killed 20 children and six staff at the Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, is about more than just guns.

"We have to analyze how we deal with mental illness, how we deal with gun laws, how we deal with parenting," he said.

In "The Last Stand," Schwarzenegger plays a retired Los Angeles policeman who becomes a border town sheriff who must stop a violent drug lord from crossing the border.

The film, with its violent scenes, is the type of movie that National Rifle Association chief Wayne LaPierre recently cited as a contributing factor to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

But Schwarzenegger said that gun laws and mental health guidance need reform, not Hollywood.

"How can we do better with gun laws?" asked Schwarzenegger. "If there are any loopholes, if there's a problem, let's analyze it ... Are we really dealing with the mental problems the right way as a society?"

In terms of parenting, the former politician alluded to the Connecticut killer Adam Lanza's mother, Nancy, who was also shot and killed by her own son on that tragic day.

"Does a mother need to collect guns and take her little kids shooting?" he asked.

"Everything has to be analyzed; no stone unturned," he added. "I think that's what we owe to our- www.shfaqna.com/English

Source: Yahoo