Alabama
District attorney says teen killed by police had grabbed a gun
A district attorney said Wednesday that an Alabama police officer who fatally shot a teenager in the back was justified in his use of deadly force because the youth grabbed a gun after struggling with the officer.
But the teen’s family questioned that conclusion and said they have many unanswered questions about what had happened.
Jefferson County District Attorney Dany Carr announced that no charges will be brought against the officer who shot and killed Jabari Peoples, 18. Peoples was shot on June 23 by a police officer in a parking lot in Homewood, an affluent suburb near the city of Birmingham.
Peoples and a friend had been parked in the parking lot. Carr said an officer had approached the car at about 9:30 p.m. and attempted to detain Peoples because of suspected marijuana in the car. The officer attempted to put handcuffs on Mr. Peoples “for officer safety” after noticing a gun in the car door but a struggle ensued, Carr wrote. He said Peoples then ran back to his vehicle and grabbed a gun.
“At the time of the shooting, Mr. Peoples had the gun in his right hand and the officer fired one shot, hitting Mr. Peoples in the left side of the back causing injury that ultimately caused his death,” Carr wrote in a statement.
Carr made the announcement immediately after showing the family body camera footage of the shooting. The footage has not been released to the public.
But a family member said they were only shown a short clip that was hard to see and want additional information.
Ben Crump, an attorney representing the family, said they want full transparency. He said the police department should release all of the available video.
Groups have staged regular protests in Homewood since the shooting, criticizing the police department’s refusal to show the video to family members.
Carr made the decision to show the video to family members after the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency turned its findings over to his office.
Washington
Man accused of killing Israeli Embassy staffers indicted on federal hate crime and murder charges
WASHINGTON (AP) — The man accused of fatally shooting two staff members of the Israeli Embassy in Washington outside a Jewish museum has been indicted on federal hate crime and murder charges, according to court documents unsealed Wednesday.
The indictment, filed in federal court in Washington, charges Elias Rodriguez with nine counts, including a hate crime resulting in death. The indictment also includes notice of special findings, which would allow the Justice Department to potentially pursue the death penalty.
Elias Rodriguez is accused of gunning down Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim as they left an event at the museum in May. He was heard shouting “Free Palestine” as he was led away after his arrest. He told police, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,” federal authorities have said.
Rodriguez had previously been charged with murder of foreign officials and other crimes, and the hate crimes charges were added after prosecutors brought the case to a grand jury. It means prosecutors will be tasked with proving Rodriguez was motivated by antisemitism when he opened fire on Lischinsky and Milgrim, a young couple who were about to become engaged.
Prosecutors have described the killing as calculated and planned, saying Rodriguez flew to the Washington region from Chicago ahead of the Capital Jewish Museum event with a handgun in his checked luggage. He purchased a ticket for the event about three hours before it started, authorities have said in court papers.
An attorney for Rodriguez didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Wednesday.
Witnesses described him pacing outside before approaching a group of four people and opening fire. Surveillance video showed Rodriguez advancing closer to Lischinsky and Milgrim as they fell to the ground, leaning over them and firing additional shots. He appeared to reload before jogging off, officials have said.
After the shooting, authorities say Rodriguez went inside the museum and stated that he “did it.”
“I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza, I am unarmed,” he spontaneously said, according to court documents. He also told detectives that he admired an active-duty Air Force member who set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in February 2024, describing the man as “courageous” and a “martyr.”
North Carolina
Judge dismisses ‘Cardiac Pack’ lawsuit for name, image, likeness compensation
A North Carolina judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the 1983 N.C. State men’s basketball team, shutting down the national championship team’s request for name, image and likeness compensation.
The team was known as the “Cardiac Pack” for a series of close, nail-biting victories, including a 54-52 win over Houston in the 1983 national championship game. Lorenzo Charles sealed the victory with a buzzer-beating dunk, and coach Jim Valvano rushed the court — a moment that encapsulated the thrill of March Madness and was used in promotions for years.
The players filed a suit requesting a jury trial and “reasonable compensation” in June.
“For more than 40 years, the NCAA and its co-conspirators have systematically and intentionally misappropriated the Cardiac Pack’s publicity rights — including their names, images, and likenesses — associated with that game and that play, reaping scores of millions of dollars from the Cardiac Pack’s legendary victory,” the lawsuit said.
According to WRAL News, the NCAA requested the case be dismissed after a similar lawsuit filed by a former Kansas basketball player was dismissed in April.
“In this lawsuit, twelve former members of North Carolina State University’s (“NC State”) 1983 NCAA men’s basketball championship team have sued the NCAA for using without permission their names, images, and likenesses contained in copyrighted game footage from that season,” Superior Court Judge Mark A. Davis wrote in a 44-page order released Thursday. “Because their claims are untimely, barred by their failure to allege a violation of a legally enforceable right, and preempted by the federal Copyright Act, dismissal of this action in its entirety is appropriate.”
The House vs. NCAA Settlement, approved in June, promises nearly $2.8 billion in back pay to athletes who competed from 2016 onward and lost NIL opportunities.
Minnesota
Man gets 28 years for pandemic-era food fraud
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced a leader of a sprawling, pandemic-era food fraud plot in Minnesota to 28 years in prison.
Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, 36, must also pay nearly $48 million in restitution. He faces potentially more years in prison at a later sentencing hearing after previously pleading guilty in a juror bribery case involving a bag of $120,000 in cash.
Farah is one of dozens of people charged in the Feeding Our Future case in which prosecutors alleged a scheme to steal $300 million from a federally funded program meant to feed children during the coronavirus pandemic.
Farah and several co-defendants went to trial last year where he was convicted of 23 of 24 counts against him. Those offenses include multiple counts of federal programs bribery, wire fraud and money laundering.
Prosecutors said Farah exploited the program by opening fraudulent sites where he claimed to be serving meals to thousands of children a day. Farah and his associates falsified meal counts and invoices, including fake children’s names, prosecutors said. He directed the stolen money to others and perpetuated the fraud through a “pay-to-play” system,” prosecutors said.
He and his associates stole more than $47 million in program money, and Farah took more than $8 million over a year and a half period, according to prosecutors. He used that money to buy five luxury vehicles and real estate, including property in Kenya, prosecutors said. That overseas property and money prosecutors say Farah laundered via China are out of reach of U.S. law enforcement.
In a statement, Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said Farah “has done untold damage to this state” by “robbing us blind” after finding opportunity in Minnesota.
Seventy-three people have been charged in connection with the Feeding Our Future case; 51 have been found guilty.
Maryland
Boyfriend charged with killing police officer in their home nearly 30 years ago
GAITHERSBURG, Md. (AP) — A man charged this week with fatally shooting a police officer in her Maryland home nearly 30 years ago was the officer’s live-in boyfriend and had blamed her 1995 killing on a burglary, police officials said Wednesday.
Amir Jalil Ali, who was arrested Tuesday on a first-degree murder charge, initially was charged in 1995 with killing 24-year-old Denna Fredericka Campbell, an officer for the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. But the charges against him were dropped two months later by prosecutors in Maryland’s Montgomery County.
Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said he can’t explain why the charges were dropped in 1995, when his office was led by a predecessor.
“I was not privy to, nor do I know, what the conversation was regarding why the charges were dropped at that point in time,” McCarthy told reporters at a news conference.
Campbell, a four-year MPD veteran, was shot five times in her Silver Spring, Maryland, apartment. Her department-issued handgun was missing and hasn’t been found.
“While this arrest won’t erase the pain of losing Denna, we hope that it brings some resolution and sense of peace to everyone involved,” Montgomery County Police Chief Marc Yamada said.
Ali, 62, of Laurel, Maryland, was known as Kenneth Burnell Wonsom at the time of the killing. He legally changed his name in 2021, police said.
Ali told investigators that he had left their apartment after 3 a.m. on Sept. 16, 1995, to go to a store and found her body when he returned home, a police report says. Ali called 911 to report a burglary and said his girlfriend had been shot, according to the report.
Officers who worked with Campbell told police detectives that she was afraid of her boyfriend and had been sleeping with her department-issued weapon under her pillow, the report says.
Campbell said she planned to leave Ali, adding, “If I don’t show up for work Saturday, you’ll know he killed me and buried me somewhere,” one of those colleagues told investigators.
Detectives didn’t find any evidence of a burglary at Campbell’s apartment and believe she was shot with her own gun, according to the report. Based on DNA evidence, investigators believe Ali was bleeding after an altercation with Campbell.
Ali remained jailed on Wednesday pending a bond hearing in a county court. Online court records don’t identify an attorney representing him.
Montgomery County Police Detective Paula Hamill said she spoke to Campbell’s father on Tuesday and told him about Ali’s arrest.
“And the only words that he could get out were ‘thank God,’” Hamill added. “It was a long time coming.”
MPD Executive Assistant Chief Andre Wright said Campbell had a promising career ahead of her but had already proved herself to be “a hero in the community she served.”
“In 1993, she selflessly pulled four victims out of a burning van on Pennsylvania Avenue,” Wright said. “Those actions proved Officer Campbell was ready to place the safety of those in the community above herself.”
District attorney says teen killed by police had grabbed a gun
A district attorney said Wednesday that an Alabama police officer who fatally shot a teenager in the back was justified in his use of deadly force because the youth grabbed a gun after struggling with the officer.
But the teen’s family questioned that conclusion and said they have many unanswered questions about what had happened.
Jefferson County District Attorney Dany Carr announced that no charges will be brought against the officer who shot and killed Jabari Peoples, 18. Peoples was shot on June 23 by a police officer in a parking lot in Homewood, an affluent suburb near the city of Birmingham.
Peoples and a friend had been parked in the parking lot. Carr said an officer had approached the car at about 9:30 p.m. and attempted to detain Peoples because of suspected marijuana in the car. The officer attempted to put handcuffs on Mr. Peoples “for officer safety” after noticing a gun in the car door but a struggle ensued, Carr wrote. He said Peoples then ran back to his vehicle and grabbed a gun.
“At the time of the shooting, Mr. Peoples had the gun in his right hand and the officer fired one shot, hitting Mr. Peoples in the left side of the back causing injury that ultimately caused his death,” Carr wrote in a statement.
Carr made the announcement immediately after showing the family body camera footage of the shooting. The footage has not been released to the public.
But a family member said they were only shown a short clip that was hard to see and want additional information.
Ben Crump, an attorney representing the family, said they want full transparency. He said the police department should release all of the available video.
Groups have staged regular protests in Homewood since the shooting, criticizing the police department’s refusal to show the video to family members.
Carr made the decision to show the video to family members after the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency turned its findings over to his office.
Washington
Man accused of killing Israeli Embassy staffers indicted on federal hate crime and murder charges
WASHINGTON (AP) — The man accused of fatally shooting two staff members of the Israeli Embassy in Washington outside a Jewish museum has been indicted on federal hate crime and murder charges, according to court documents unsealed Wednesday.
The indictment, filed in federal court in Washington, charges Elias Rodriguez with nine counts, including a hate crime resulting in death. The indictment also includes notice of special findings, which would allow the Justice Department to potentially pursue the death penalty.
Elias Rodriguez is accused of gunning down Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim as they left an event at the museum in May. He was heard shouting “Free Palestine” as he was led away after his arrest. He told police, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,” federal authorities have said.
Rodriguez had previously been charged with murder of foreign officials and other crimes, and the hate crimes charges were added after prosecutors brought the case to a grand jury. It means prosecutors will be tasked with proving Rodriguez was motivated by antisemitism when he opened fire on Lischinsky and Milgrim, a young couple who were about to become engaged.
Prosecutors have described the killing as calculated and planned, saying Rodriguez flew to the Washington region from Chicago ahead of the Capital Jewish Museum event with a handgun in his checked luggage. He purchased a ticket for the event about three hours before it started, authorities have said in court papers.
An attorney for Rodriguez didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Wednesday.
Witnesses described him pacing outside before approaching a group of four people and opening fire. Surveillance video showed Rodriguez advancing closer to Lischinsky and Milgrim as they fell to the ground, leaning over them and firing additional shots. He appeared to reload before jogging off, officials have said.
After the shooting, authorities say Rodriguez went inside the museum and stated that he “did it.”
“I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza, I am unarmed,” he spontaneously said, according to court documents. He also told detectives that he admired an active-duty Air Force member who set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in February 2024, describing the man as “courageous” and a “martyr.”
North Carolina
Judge dismisses ‘Cardiac Pack’ lawsuit for name, image, likeness compensation
A North Carolina judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the 1983 N.C. State men’s basketball team, shutting down the national championship team’s request for name, image and likeness compensation.
The team was known as the “Cardiac Pack” for a series of close, nail-biting victories, including a 54-52 win over Houston in the 1983 national championship game. Lorenzo Charles sealed the victory with a buzzer-beating dunk, and coach Jim Valvano rushed the court — a moment that encapsulated the thrill of March Madness and was used in promotions for years.
The players filed a suit requesting a jury trial and “reasonable compensation” in June.
“For more than 40 years, the NCAA and its co-conspirators have systematically and intentionally misappropriated the Cardiac Pack’s publicity rights — including their names, images, and likenesses — associated with that game and that play, reaping scores of millions of dollars from the Cardiac Pack’s legendary victory,” the lawsuit said.
According to WRAL News, the NCAA requested the case be dismissed after a similar lawsuit filed by a former Kansas basketball player was dismissed in April.
“In this lawsuit, twelve former members of North Carolina State University’s (“NC State”) 1983 NCAA men’s basketball championship team have sued the NCAA for using without permission their names, images, and likenesses contained in copyrighted game footage from that season,” Superior Court Judge Mark A. Davis wrote in a 44-page order released Thursday. “Because their claims are untimely, barred by their failure to allege a violation of a legally enforceable right, and preempted by the federal Copyright Act, dismissal of this action in its entirety is appropriate.”
The House vs. NCAA Settlement, approved in June, promises nearly $2.8 billion in back pay to athletes who competed from 2016 onward and lost NIL opportunities.
Minnesota
Man gets 28 years for pandemic-era food fraud
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced a leader of a sprawling, pandemic-era food fraud plot in Minnesota to 28 years in prison.
Abdiaziz Shafii Farah, 36, must also pay nearly $48 million in restitution. He faces potentially more years in prison at a later sentencing hearing after previously pleading guilty in a juror bribery case involving a bag of $120,000 in cash.
Farah is one of dozens of people charged in the Feeding Our Future case in which prosecutors alleged a scheme to steal $300 million from a federally funded program meant to feed children during the coronavirus pandemic.
Farah and several co-defendants went to trial last year where he was convicted of 23 of 24 counts against him. Those offenses include multiple counts of federal programs bribery, wire fraud and money laundering.
Prosecutors said Farah exploited the program by opening fraudulent sites where he claimed to be serving meals to thousands of children a day. Farah and his associates falsified meal counts and invoices, including fake children’s names, prosecutors said. He directed the stolen money to others and perpetuated the fraud through a “pay-to-play” system,” prosecutors said.
He and his associates stole more than $47 million in program money, and Farah took more than $8 million over a year and a half period, according to prosecutors. He used that money to buy five luxury vehicles and real estate, including property in Kenya, prosecutors said. That overseas property and money prosecutors say Farah laundered via China are out of reach of U.S. law enforcement.
In a statement, Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said Farah “has done untold damage to this state” by “robbing us blind” after finding opportunity in Minnesota.
Seventy-three people have been charged in connection with the Feeding Our Future case; 51 have been found guilty.
Maryland
Boyfriend charged with killing police officer in their home nearly 30 years ago
GAITHERSBURG, Md. (AP) — A man charged this week with fatally shooting a police officer in her Maryland home nearly 30 years ago was the officer’s live-in boyfriend and had blamed her 1995 killing on a burglary, police officials said Wednesday.
Amir Jalil Ali, who was arrested Tuesday on a first-degree murder charge, initially was charged in 1995 with killing 24-year-old Denna Fredericka Campbell, an officer for the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. But the charges against him were dropped two months later by prosecutors in Maryland’s Montgomery County.
Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said he can’t explain why the charges were dropped in 1995, when his office was led by a predecessor.
“I was not privy to, nor do I know, what the conversation was regarding why the charges were dropped at that point in time,” McCarthy told reporters at a news conference.
Campbell, a four-year MPD veteran, was shot five times in her Silver Spring, Maryland, apartment. Her department-issued handgun was missing and hasn’t been found.
“While this arrest won’t erase the pain of losing Denna, we hope that it brings some resolution and sense of peace to everyone involved,” Montgomery County Police Chief Marc Yamada said.
Ali, 62, of Laurel, Maryland, was known as Kenneth Burnell Wonsom at the time of the killing. He legally changed his name in 2021, police said.
Ali told investigators that he had left their apartment after 3 a.m. on Sept. 16, 1995, to go to a store and found her body when he returned home, a police report says. Ali called 911 to report a burglary and said his girlfriend had been shot, according to the report.
Officers who worked with Campbell told police detectives that she was afraid of her boyfriend and had been sleeping with her department-issued weapon under her pillow, the report says.
Campbell said she planned to leave Ali, adding, “If I don’t show up for work Saturday, you’ll know he killed me and buried me somewhere,” one of those colleagues told investigators.
Detectives didn’t find any evidence of a burglary at Campbell’s apartment and believe she was shot with her own gun, according to the report. Based on DNA evidence, investigators believe Ali was bleeding after an altercation with Campbell.
Ali remained jailed on Wednesday pending a bond hearing in a county court. Online court records don’t identify an attorney representing him.
Montgomery County Police Detective Paula Hamill said she spoke to Campbell’s father on Tuesday and told him about Ali’s arrest.
“And the only words that he could get out were ‘thank God,’” Hamill added. “It was a long time coming.”
MPD Executive Assistant Chief Andre Wright said Campbell had a promising career ahead of her but had already proved herself to be “a hero in the community she served.”
“In 1993, she selflessly pulled four victims out of a burning van on Pennsylvania Avenue,” Wright said. “Those actions proved Officer Campbell was ready to place the safety of those in the community above herself.”
