Category: Crime News

FBI Ranks Churches Top 5 Targets For Crime

  

Via FOX5– The FBI labels places of worship as one of the top five soft targets for crime. That includes everything from mass shootings on down to burglary.

Security trainer Thomas Gillan warns religious leaders. He works for Training Force USA and hosted a workshop at the Hill Country Bible Church. The company reports a steady increase in security threats to places of worship across the country.

In December, a woman was arrested for ramming her car into the Church of Scientology in Central Austin.

“Churches are vulnerable. We open our doors to everyone.” says Gillan.

Over the summer the company was summoned to South Carolina by law enforcement in response to the murder of nine bible study attendees. 

Gillan says recent active shooter cases have caused a mass rush for religious leaders to better arm their facilities.

The Center for Public Safety Innovation advises, ”Lock the nursery door and hide children if alerted to a violent person in the church.”

But Gillan says more likely crimes include things like burglary, embezzlement and arson.

Pizza Delivery Man Stabs Customer Over $3 Tip 

 

Michael Charles Parker, 31 was accused of stabbing 21 year old customer over tip dispute.
 
A California man is recovering after being stabbed by a Domino’s delivery man.

A 21-year-old customer got into an altercation with 31-year-old Michael Charles Parker when he delivered a pizza to his house.

KTLA news was told that Parker was tipped $3 on a $45 bill and refused to leave.

An argument followed, leading to a physical altercation.

The altercation spilled out into the customer’s driveway, and allegedly Parker stabbed the customer in the wrist and neck.

Parker was found at his workplace and was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon. He was booked at the Covina Police Department and posted $30,000 bail.

The victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was treated by the Los Angeles County Fire Department and transferred to a local trauma center.

Mexican Mayor Assasinated One Day After Taking Office

  
Via ABC News– The mayor of a city south of Mexico’s capital was shot to death on Saturday, less than a day after taking office.

Gunmen opened fire on Mayor Gisela Mota at her house in the city of Temixco, said the government of Morelos state, where Temixco is located. Two presumed assailants were killed and three others detained following a pursuit, said Morelos security commissioner Jesus Alberto Capella. He said the suspects fired on federal police and soldiers from a vehicle.

On his Twitter account, Morelos Gov. Graco Ramirez attributed Mota’s killing to organized crime, without citing a particular drug cartel or gang. Cartels seeking to control communities and towns have often targeted local officials and mayors in Mexico.

Mota’s leftist Democratic Revolution Party released a statement describing her as “a strong and brave woman who on taking office as mayor, declared that her fight against crime would be frontal and direct.”

Temixco is a city of about 100,000 people neighboring Cuernavaca, a resort and industrial city which has been suffering kidnappings and extortion linked to organized crime groups. Though Cuernavaca is the capital of Morelos, Temixco is the seat of several state institutions including the Public Security Commission, which coordinates state and local police forces. Morelos also neighbors drug cartel-plagued Guerrero state.

Mota, who had been a federal congresswoman, was sworn into office on New Year’s Day. She was killed the following day.

Morelos Gov. Ramirez vowed there “would be no impunity” in her killing and promised that state officials would not cede to what he described as a “challenge from criminals.”

Federal and state forces are deployed in Cuernavaca and municipalities near the Guerrero state border in what is called operation “Delta.”

Capella did not provide more details about the attack on Mota, but said that when the suspects were detained, authorities found a 9-millimeter gun, an Uzi, ski masks and an SUV with Mexico State license plates.

Morelos Attorney General Javier Perez Duron said the detained suspects have been tied to other crimes, but declined to provide more details.