Campaign for Victims of Crime

Philadelphia Inquirer addresses prevention ignorance.

They are called the “gold standard” for violence-prevention programs: 11 models - out of more than 600 examined - that have proved most effective at thwarting crime and violence.

At least five of these prevention efforts, aimed at children and teens, are being used in Philadelphia, but often on a very small scale or desperately short of funding or volunteers.

With gun violence and murders mounting in Philadelphia, the lack of interest or investment in proven programs raises questions about why the city hasn’t done more.

Houston Chronicle documents teenage crime increase.

Thirty-three juveniles died in homicides in Houston through October this year, compared with 20 in the same period last year, according to the Houston Police Department.

Furthermore, juveniles were implicated in more homicides, robberies and assaults through Oct. 31 than during a comparable period the year before, according to the most recent HPD data available.

And Houston police reported the most homicides with juvenile suspects last year since 1998.

Buffalo News depicts tragic recurrence.

“It’s so uncanny, because of the similarities and the location . . . It really shakes me,” said [Daniel] O’Neill, who visited the site with a reporter on Saturday.

“When my uncle was shot, he and his partner were chasing a guy. They told him, “Take your hand out of your pocket,’ and he pulled out a gun and shot at them. The same thing happened to Patty and Carl.”

The street corner where his uncle died is directly across Chippewa from the place where Parete and Andolina were shot. As of Saturday evening, Andolina was home, recovering from his injuries. Parate still is in Erie County Medical Center, where she has been awake and alert, but remains on a ventilator to help her breathe, police officials have said.

While there have been conflicting reports about Parete’s official status, she has been and remains listed in critical condition, Thomas Quatroche, spokesman for ECMC, said Saturday. O’Neill, 45, a 19-year police veteran, is the founder and president of the Buffalo Police Fallen Officers Memorial Society. Since 1997, he has dedicated much of his time to creating memorials that honor the memories of the 45 Buffalo Police officers who have died in the line of duty.

Baltimore Sun discusses predators’ privacy.

Under investigation by police for the alleged sexual abuse of a 13-year-old girl and reassigned from his classroom to a nonteaching job, English instructor Timothy N. Gounaris left the Baltimore County school system in June.

Before the summer was over, however, he had been hired to teach at a Baltimore City middle school. And less than a month into that new job, the state had revoked Gounaris’ teaching certificate - perhaps unbeknownst to the city school system.
Now, in the wake of Gounaris’ arrest late last month for a second-degree sex offense in the case of the middle school pupil, some education officials and parents are asking how a teacher under investigation in one school system could be hired by another just a few miles away. The scenario raises questions about whether protecting employee privacy overshadows the obligation to safeguard children.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Double murder suspect held, 1 dead in rush-hour gunplay

Kansas City Star: Late night shooting death investigated

Memphis Comercial-Appeal: Dozens arrested in late-night raids at strip clubs

Miami Herald: 2 charged in Hialeah shooting

Orlando Sentinel: Man dies after being stabbed at trailer park

Philadelphia Inquirer: In club, man shoots dancer, himself

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: : Ex-superintendent held on theft charges

San Antonio Express News: Toddler’s death is suspicious

 From the Associated Press:

Sen. Sam Brownback took his budding presidential campaign to prison this weekend, spent a restless night among inmates and pressed his message that faith can work even to improve the lives of hardened criminals.

The Kansas Republican had no expectation that the drug cartel hit man, serial rapist or other convicts in his cell block would vote for him. After all, about nine in 10 of the inmates are serving life sentences. His mission at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, rather, was to promote religious-based prison efforts to curtail violence and provide inmates with an alternative to crime once - or if - they got out.

On Friday night, Brownback joined hundreds of inmates at a prayer service before prison officials escorted him to his modest sleeping quarters. On Saturday morning, he emerged from his 7-by-10-foot cell to tour the maximum-security facility and take a walk down death row.

“There aren’t probably a lot of votes for me here,” he said. “There can be a lot of prayers, though.”

Last Monday, Brownback formed an exploratory committee that allows him to raise money for a possible run for president. He kicked off a multistate tour with a more conventional trip to Iowa on Tuesday before traveling to the prison.

 From the Chicago Tribune:

A 20-year-old woman was hospitalized in critical condition Friday after being shot in the face while waiting for a bus at the Chicago Housing Authority’s Altgeld Gardens development on the South Side, Chicago police said.

Authorities said they don’t know why Victoria Johnson, an Altgeld Gardens resident, was shot. But it appears she suddenly found herself standing between two gunmen firing at one another.
“She was not the intended target,” said police spokesman Marcel Bright. “She was an innocent bystander.”

There have been no arrests made in the shooting, authorities added.

Johnson was rushed to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn shortly after 10 a.m. Officials there said she remained in critical condition late Friday.

Those who live in Altgeld Gardens said the development, located at 976 E. 133rd St., has been in transition in recent years with residents relocating to public and private housing units across the region.

In the last two months, residents said, the area has been a hotspot “for shootings and gang activity among a lot of the kids.”

Chris Simmons, 19, said he saw Johnson waiting for a bus near the development’s main entrance at about 9:45 a.m. A moment later, he heard “the sounds of rapid gunfire going off.”

“I looked out the window and saw her walk over to a building and then she collapsed,” Simmons said.

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

The remains of what is tentatively identified as three human fetuses or infants were discovered in the freezer of a woman who was found dead in her home last month.

A family member who was clearing out a unit at the Graymere Apartments discovered the bodies bagged in a freezer Thursday, Detective Lt. Michelle Jones said.

The age and cause of death will be determined in an autopsy expected to be done Saturday by state Medical Examiner Dr. Bruce Levy.

“The cold conditions do certain things to the flesh. It’s kind of hard to comment on the age now,” Jones said. “These were not like 9-pound babies. They were smaller in nature.”

Jones said 35-year-old Tracy Howard lived alone in the apartment. Her body was found there Nov. 28 after co-workers became concerned when she didn’t show up for work.

An initial autopsy showed she died of natural causes, but toxicology reports are pending.

“There was no indication from the scene that pointed to investigators that it might be suicide,” Jones said. “It appeared natural, even though she was 35.”

DNA tests also will be done to determine whether Howard was the mother. The initial autopsy didn’t indicate she was pregnant, and so far, no one has said she was.

“Ms. Howard was rather large female, and it probably would not have been as prominent with her as it would have been with a small woman,” Jones said.

From the Associated Press:

A gunman killed three people and injured another Friday when he walked into an office at a prominent downtown skyscraper, chained the doors behind him and opened fire, police said. He was shot by authorities as he held a hostage at gunpoint, Superintendent Phil Cline said.

The shootings at the 43-story Citigroup Center, which also houses a train station, sent office workers fleeing and stranded rush-hour commuters.

Cline said the gunman, who was armed with a revolver, a knife and hammer, didn’t work in the office but demanded to see one of the victims who was killed. The gunman had been escorted to the office by building security and was carrying a manila envelope where he apparently hid the weapons, Cline said.

“He was not employed there but we feel he did have previous encounters with the individuals in that office,” Cline said.

None of the dead victims, all men, or the gunman were identified. A fourth victim, a woman, was shot and taken to the hospital in serious condition. The hostage was unharmed, police said.

The Medical Examiner’s office said the shooter was in his 60s. The dead victims included men ages 65 and 58, while the age of the third dead victim was unknown, the Medical Examiner’s office said.

Fire officials said they received reports of shots fired on the 38th floor, which houses law offices, around 3:15 p.m. The man began shooting after locking the door with a padlock and chain that he had brought with him, Cline said, then “grabbed a hostage and he was pointing a gun alternately at the hostage’s head and his own head.”

Officers entered through another door, Cline said, and a SWAT officer shot him with a sniper rifle from about 45 yards away. He said there was no negotiation, and there were up to 30 other people on the floor at the time.

Cindy Penzick, secretary in a law firm on the 37th floor, said that after a co-worker told her she heard gunshots, a police officer with his gun drawn on their floor yelled at them to get out.

Penzick said she is usually calm, “But I have to tell you this was scary as hell.”

People hurried down the escalators and ran from the skyscraper on the west side of downtown. Dozens of police cars and two fire trucks were in front of the building, where one person was seen being loaded onto an ambulance.

Keegan Greene, who works at Verizon Wireless on the first floor, was helping a customer when fire alarms began going off.

“One of the security guards came up to us and started saying, “Run, run, run, run, run!” Greene said.

Service on the Metra commuter line was suspended for more than an hour and area buses were diverted while the incident unfolded. Metra spokeswoman Judy Pardonnet said all Metra crew members had been locked into secure areas before train service resumed just after 5 p.m.