St. Louis Police Officer Shot & Wounded in an Ambush Style Shooting as He Sat in His Car

DO POLICE LIVES MATTER?

A St. Louis police officer was shot ambush style as he sat in his car in the Central West End Tuesday morning, shortly before 5 AM on Maryland Avenue, between Kingshighway and N. Euclid. Thankfully, his bulletproof vest did its job as following the shooting the officer was was taken to Barnes Jewish Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Following the shooting, a car sped away with three men inside. The gunman was described as a black man between 18 and 22 years old, 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-8, thin build with a medium complexion. He wore a black bandanna when he started shooting but the bandanna fell off. The officer got a look at his face and said the gunman had some facial hair. The police are actively searching for four African-American males who fled the scene in a gray or silver Ford Taurus. One suspect may have been injured.

Ed ?@EdBigCon 23m

A St. Louis police officer was shot and wounded in an ambush while sitting in his own car working a second job in the Central West End early Tuesday, police said.

A bulletproof vest saved the officer’s life, and the search was under way for the shooters, said Police Chief Sam Dotson.

The officer’s injuries are not life-threatening, police said. The officer, a 39-year-old sergeant who has been with the department for 16 years, suffered injuries to his torso or side.

“They tried to assassinate a police officer,” said Police Chief Sam Dotson.

The wounded officer was in full uniform and was seated in his own personal vehicle working a secondary security job when he was shot. The officer said he saw two men walking in the area, but he did not speak to them or confront them, Dotson said.

UPDATE I: St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson said, “They targeted, they ambushed, they tried to assassinate a police officer.”

The sergeant was in his full uniform and personal vehicle when he saw two individuals walking down the street. Chief Dotson said the sergeant did not bother the individuals but saw them walking in the area a short time later with a third person, he monitored them again and did not exit his vehicle.

Shortly after the individuals walked past a second time, the sergeant observed the suspect vehicle approach him with four people inside, including the three he saw walking in the area earlier. The suspect vehicle pulled directly in front of the sergeant’s vehicle and one of the passengers exited the front side, with a bandana over his face, and began firing shots at the sergeant, who was still inside his vehicle, Chief Dotson said.

After the suspect fired shots, the sergeant returned fire. The sergeant told authorities he believes one of the suspects may have been struck by his gunshots.

The suspect vehicle began leaving the scene and the suspect who fired the shots ran on foot. While in his vehicle, the sergeant followed the suspect that was running on foot but lost him after he entered a parking garage on York, Chief Dotson said.

Missing Maricopa, Arizona Couple, 44 Year Old Michael Careccia & 42 Year Old Tina Careccia, Bodies Found … Jose Valenzuela Arrested & Charged with First Degree Murder

The bodies of missing 44 year old Michael Careccia and his wife, 42 year old Tina Careccia have been found in Maricopa, Arizona. The bodies were found on the property of 38 year old Jose Valenzuela in a 6 foot grave. Valenzuela reportedly confessed to the crime and has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder. He is being held on a $2 million cash bond.  Valenzuela reportedly shot the victims with a .22 caliber handgun. Valenzuela claims that he and the couple have been acquainted for the past two years and used methamphetamine together.  Michael Careccia and Tina Careccia went missing on 6/22/15. Investigators said Valenzuela brought meth to the couple’s home the day before they went missing, Father’s Day. Then they went to Valenzuela’s home later that day and Valenzuela brandished a weapon during a fight. Of course this is the comments of a man facing two counts of first degree murder. A toxicology will have to be done to confirm any of his comments.

A missing Phoenix-area couple were killed and buried in the yard of a man who told investigators he was high on methamphetamine at the time, authorities said Thursday.

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said Jose Valenzuela, 38, acknowledged killing Michael Careccia, 44, and his wife, Tina, 42.

“Essentially he confessed,” Babeu said at a news conference.

Valenzuela has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder. He is being held on a $2 million cash bond.

According to Babeu, Valenzuela was found with a .22 caliber revolver that authorities believe is the murder weapon.

Two bodies were recovered from Valenzuela’s property and identified as the couple, authorities said. The grave was not noticeable initially because the suspect had piled other debris and materials on top of it, Babeu added.

Jose Valenzuela claims a fight broke out after he had provided drugs to the couple. Read the story and see if it makes any sense or was Jose on meth at the time he confessed to authorities?

Valenzuela claimed he brought Michael and Tina Careccia the drug on June 21 and attended a Father’s Day party at the Carrecias’ home, Babeu said.

“Sometime later that evening … they went over to Valenzuela’s home, and something happened, a fight ensued and that’s when he brandished a weapon,” Babeu told reporters.

Valenzuela allegedly used a .22-caliber revolver to kill the couple. He shot Michael Careccia first, and then shot Tina Careccia sometime later, Babeu said. Investigators believe Valenzuela was high on drugs at the time of the killings.

The bodies were kept on the property, possibly in a shed, until Valenzuela borrowed a backhoe from an acquaintance and buried them in a six-foot deep grave, and their car was moved to a location away from the home, Babeu said.

Escaped New York Prisoner Richard Matt Shot and Killed by Police, Manhunt Continues for David Sweat

ONE DOWN, ONE TO GO …

Convicted murderer and prison escapee Richard Matt has been shot and killed by authorities in update New York. According to ABC News, Richard Matt was killed by a Customs and Border Protection SWAT team at about 3:45 PM in Elephant’s Head, New York, about 20 miles south of the Canadian border. Matt had a 20-gauge shotgun on him at the time of the incident. The manhunt continues for convicted murderer David Sweat. The two convicted murderers escapade from the from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York with the aid of Joyce Mitchell and 57 year old prison guard Gene Palmer.

Convicted murderer Richard Matt was shot and killed by authorities in upstate New York Friday, according to officials, 20 days after he made an elaborate escape from prison.

Matt, armed with a 20-gauge shotgun, was shot and killed by a Customs and Border Protection SWAT team at about 3:45 p.m. in Elephant’s Head, New York, about 20 miles south of the Canadian border and just 50 miles away from Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, N.Y., after he was spotted by a law enforcement officer walking in the woods.

Officials said earlier Friday they had no reason to believe Matt wasn’t with fellow escapee David Sweat but he has not been sighted since his escape.

One Person Decapitated & Several Injured in Islamic Terror Attack on a US Owned factory in France (Update: One Terrorist Killed, One Arrested)

ISLAMIC TERRORIST ATTACK IN FRANCE …

The BBC is reporting that there has been a terrorist attack at a factory in France that has left one individual dead and several injured. The attack occurred around 10:00 local time (08:00 GMT), when a car crashed through the gates of the US owned company Air Products plant in southeastern France’s town of Saint-Quentin Fallavier. Officials said that set off an explosion. French President Francois Hollande has called this an act of terrorism. President Hollande stated the decapitated body was found with “inscriptions” on it and said the attack bore the hallmarks of terrorism, adding that security has been stepped up at sensitive sites in France. The decapitated body was found with Islamic flags placed nearby.

A man has been decapitated and several others injured at a factory in France in what President Francois Hollande has called a terrorist attack.

Two men drove into the Air Products gas factory near Lyon, French officials said, before several explosions were heard.

One of the suspects, who was investigated by police in 2006, has been arrested.

The dead man was found with Arabic inscriptions on him and an Islamist flag was found near the site.

At a press conference from Brussels, Mr Hollande confirmed that two attackers had targeted the chemicals factory in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, crashing into it in a car.

“We have no doubt that the attack was to blow up the building. It bears the hallmarks of a terrorist attack,” he said

UPDATE I:  Multiple Arrests After Factory Attack.

A 30 year old has been arrested who is reportedly known to authorities.  French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the suspect was believed to be from the area and had been flagged in 2006 for ties to Islamic extremists, but surveillance was dropped in 2008.

France’s top security official says a man arrested in the attack at a gas factory in southeastern France was known to intelligence services for possible ties to Islamic extremists but had no arrest record.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve says the investigation has just begun and cautioned against jumping to conclusions.

The suspect had been flagged as an extremist in 2006 and then police monitoring dropped off two years later, according to Cazeneuve.

VIDEO – NBC News

A Question to the Gun Grabbing Liberals … Why Do Gunmen Target Churches And Schools, Not NRA Meetings?

Breitbart asks as very good question, Why Do Gunmen Target Churches And Schools, Not NRA Meetings?

In the wake of the deadly shootings at the historic Emanuel American Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC where 9 innocent black church members, including Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney, were murdered at the hands of a racist, hate-filled individual Dylann Roof, some liberal Democrats like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were quick to politicize the heinous crime and call for grabbing, rather than mourn and honor the victims. However, Breitbart.com ask and interesting and provocative question following this murder of innocents, who’s only crime was to worship and be a Bible study.

Breitbart asks … Why Do Gunmen Target Churches And Schools, Not NRA Meetings? The short answer is, because they would be dead before they were able to pull the gun out of their pocket. So the next time a gun grabbing liberal spouts off about ending violence with gun grabbing rhetoric remember one thing, as Breitbart opines, an “unarmed people are vulnerable people, and criminal predators prey upon them.” There is a reason why criminals attack schools, churches and movie theatres, they are gun free zones and the people with evil intent know that and exploit it.

In the wake of the heinous attack on Charleston’s Emanuel American Methodist Episcopal Church, Democrats’ ritual calls for more gun control have louder than usual, and a mainstream media’s focus on the threat of “mass shootings” has been kicked up a notch.

The question none of the Democrats or media outlets have asked is why gunmen, historically speaking, attack churches and school but bypass NRA meetings?

Why do they target Fort Hood twice within a five years period while opening fire in Walmart remains unpopular?

To ask the questions is to answer them. Law-abiding citizens are largely prohibited from possessing guns for self-defense in churches and schools around the country, but they may be heavily and openly armed at an NRA meeting. Likewise, soldiers are then mandated to be unarmed on stateside military bases while law-abiding shoppers at Walmart can and frequently do carry guns to protect themselves and their families.

In the end, when you take the guns away from the law-abiding citizens guess who are the only ones who have them?