Florida man shoots neighbor’s cow 5 times after it wandered onto his property
Facebook / Lee County Sheriff’s Office
(FORT MEYERS, FL) — A man in Florida has been arrested for shooting his neighbor’s cow five times after it wandered onto his property, police said.
The incident happened in North Fort Myers in Florida on May 13 when members of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Agriculture Unit responded to a call from a ranch of Sharon Drive regarding reports of animal cruelty, according to a statement from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
“Deputies were informed that a victim located his 2-year-old calf on the neighbor’s property with five gunshot wounds to the guts, chest, and rear leg,” police said. “Due to the calf’s injuries, a veterinarian determined the calf needed to be euthanized.”
The cow’s owner stated the neighbor, 54-year-old Hung Trinh, had been “angry in the past about livestock jumping the fence and threatened to shoot the animals,” according to authorities.
Detectives from the First Precinct ended up obtaining a search warrant and were able to locate the .22 caliber gun allegedly used in the shooting in a shed on Trinh’s property.
“There will be accountability for taking your frustrations out on innocent animals, in this case multiple felonies and jail time,” said Sheriff Carmine Marceno. “We know how much these animals mean to our farming community, and we will not tolerate these actions. I am proud of my Agriculture Unit for their immediate response and ability to make an arrest in this case.”
Trinh was charged with animal cruelty and grand theft of a commercial farm animal.
The investigation into the incident is currently ongoing.
(WASHINGTON) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty Friday to human smuggling charges, one week after he was brought back to the Unites States from detention in El Salvador.
The 29-year-old has been the subject of a prolonged legal battle since he was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison — despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution — after the Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which his family and attorneys deny.
The Trump administration, after arguing for nearly two months that it was unable to being him back, returned him the U.S. last week to face a two-count indictment alleging that, while living with his wife and children in Maryland, he participated in a yearslong conspiracy to haul undocumented migrants from Texas to the interior of the country.
Federal prosecutors say the conspiracy involved the domestic transport of thousands of noncitizens from Mexico and Central America, including some children, in exchange for thousands of dollars.
Prosecutors have also asked the judge in the case, Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes, to schedule a pre-trial detention hearing in order to determine if Abrego Garcia should continue to be held in custody pending trial. Judge Holmes is expected to consider that motion on Friday.
In a court filing on Monday, prosecutors acknowledged that Abrego Garcia would almost certainly be immediately taken in custody by ICE if Judge Holmes were to deny their motion for pre-trial detention — but they asked the court to consider, for the sake of argument, the possibility that he “would have an enormous reason to flee” if he were not immediately detained by ICE.
They also argued that Abrego-Garcia’s alleged MS-13 ties put him at risk of attempting to obstruct justice or intimidate potential witnesses against him, including his alleged co-conspirators.
“The United States would submit that at least one co-conspirator has described that the Defendant has previously used his membership in MS-13 not just to facilitate his illegal activity in the smuggling conspiracy but also to intimidate others in the conspiracy who attempted to confront him about the treatment of female smuggling victims and his smuggling of firearms and drugs which added to the conspiracy’s risk of detection and were not a goal of the overall conspiracy,” the government’s filing said.
In response, attorneys for Abrego Garcia said in a filing Wednesday that the Trump administration’s arguments for a detention hearing are meritless.
“It should also come as no surprise that the government has not cited a single case holding that a generic alien-smuggling charge provides grounds for a detention hearing,” Abrego Garcia’s attorneys said. “This case should not be the first.”
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys also argued in the filing that their client is not a flight risk, and said that the government “points to zero facts” suggesting Abrego Garcia has a history of evading arrest, has any prior restrictions, or has “systematically engaged in international travel in the recent past.”
The attorneys also argued that there is no “serious risk” Abrego Garcia will obstruct justice, arguing that the government’s “baseless gang-affiliation allegations” do not support a finding that he poses a “serious risk” of obstructive behavior.
“[The] government is not entitled to seek detention in this case, Mr. Abrego Garcia respectfully asks the Court to deny the government’s motion for detention,” the attorneys said.
Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
(ORLANDO, Fla.) — The Orlando, Florida, community on Thursday evening is set to honor the 49 victims who were gunned down at the Pulse nightclub on June 12, 2016.
It was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history at the time, though it was surpassed by the Las Vegas attack the following year.
The ninth anniversary of the attack comes as groups of victims and survivors this week visit Pulse — once a popular gay nightclub — for the last time before the building is razed so that the city can build a permanent memorial in its place. All of the furniture and the dance floor inside the building have been moved and the walls were painted black.
City of Orlando Outreach and Engagement Coordinator Donna Wyche told ABC affiliate in Orlando, WFTV, that the families of victims and survivors expressed that they wanted to visit the building before it is demolished.
“They’ve said very clearly we want to see it for one last time before it’s gone. We want to be in that sacred place one more time where our loved ones take their last breath,” Wyche said. “It’s part of the journey of grief.”
Pulse nightclub shooting survivor Joshua Hernandez told WFTV on Wednesday that he needs to go inside the nightclub so he can heal.
“It’s going to feel horrible because I was in the restroom for three hours. So when I go to the restroom, it’s going to be very, very sad for me,” Hernandez, who was held hostage in the bathroom during the shooting, said.
“I’m not ready yet. It’s hard. It’s hurt me. I’m gonna be — come out stronger. I’m gonna be stronger to do this, it’s time to close the chapter of my life,” he added.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, who has been in office since 2003, also did a walk through of the building on Wednesday and reflected on the 2016 massacre.
“It took me back nine years and reflecting on being in the command center on Orange Avenue as all the things are transpiring then,” Dyer told WFTV. “The realization of just how many people were impacted. I came out the second time and told everybody, it’s not 20, it’s 49 victims.”
Family and friends of the victims, as well as survivors and advocates for the LGBTQ+ community, are set to gather at First United Methodist Church in downtown Orlando at 5:30 p.m. local time for a remembrance ceremony. Rick Scott, who was Florida’s governor in 2016, declared June 12 Pulse Remembrance Day in Florida in 2018.
The City of Orlando purchased the Pulse nightclub site in October 2023 and committed to building a permanent memorial. Now, the city said plans are moving forward.
In March, the city of Orlando issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to solicit a design-build firm for the permanent PulseMemorial, following the advancement of a conceptual design in February.
Proposals were submitted by May 29 — the conceptual design includes a survivor’s tribute wall, a reflection pool, a hearing garden and a private gathering space for reflection, according to the city. The memorial is slated to be complete by 2027, it noted.
(COOPERSTOWN, NY) — Pete Rose, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and 15 other deceased baseball players have been removed from MLB’s permanent list of banned players, according to a memo from the league’s commissioner.
The decision allows Rose, who accepted a ban for life from MLB in 1989 for gambling on games, to be eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame posthumously.
The decision only applies to dead players who have been placed on the ineligible list.
“The National Baseball Hall of Fame has always maintained that anyone removed from Baseball’s permanently ineligible list will become eligible for Hall of Fame consideration,” Hall of Fame Chairman Jane Forbes Clark said in a statement. “Major League Baseball’s decision to remove deceased individuals from the permanently ineligible list will allow for the Hall of Fame candidacy of such individuals to now be considered.”
However, a vote by the Historical Overview Committee, often known as the veterans committee, which considers players who made their greatest impact prior to 1980, will not vote on candidates to be included in the hall again until December 2027.
Rose died last October at 83 years old. Rose petitioned the league to be removed from the list in 1992, 1998, 2003, 2015 and 2022 — but either was rejected or received no response each time, including from Manfred.
Rose and Jackson are likely the only two players on the list of players whose body of work would make them likely to be voted to the Hall of Fame.
Rose’s workmanlike attitude and hustle on the field won him innumerable fans. By the end of his 24-year career, 19 of which were with the Cincinnati Reds, he held the record for most career hits, as well as games played, plate appearances and at-bats. He was also a 17-time All-Star, the 1973 NL MVP and 1963 Rookie of the Year.
He also won three World Series — two with Cincinnati’s “Big Red Machine” clubs in 1975 and 1976, and a third with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1980.
But Rose will always be remembered for being banned for life over gambling on games while he was managing the Reds.
With Rose under suspicion, new MLB Commissioner Bart Giamatti commissioned an investigation led by John Dowd, a lawyer with the Department of Justice, in April 1989. By June, the damning report was released, documenting at least 52 bets on Reds games in 1987, his first season as solely a manager after serving as player/manager for three seasons. The bets totaled thousands of dollars per day, according to the Dowd Report.
“While it is my preference not to disturb decisions made by prior Commissioners, Mr. Rose was not placed on the permanently ineligible list by Commissioner action but rather as the result of a 1989 settlement of potential litigation with the Commissioner’s Office,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday. “My decision today is consistent with Commissioner Giamatti’s expectations of that agreement.”
Jackson, meanwhile, was banned from baseball for life in 1920 by then-Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis in connection to the so-called “Black Sox Scandal.”
Jackson and seven other members of the Chicago White Sox were given money by an organized gambling ring to fix the 1919 World Series for the Reds. The players made a paltry sum of money compared to today’s mega-millionaire contracts and were angry about the team owner, Charles Comiskey, paying them a pittance. There was no baseball players union at the time.
All eight of the players — featured in the 1988 movie “Eight Men Out” — have been reinstated: Jackson, Eddie Cicotte, Happy Felsch, Chick Gandil, Fred McMullin, Swede Risberg, Buck Weaver and Lefty Williams. Gandil was known as the ringleader of the group and allegedly set up the payment, while it’s always been disputed how much Jackson even knew about the plan. He did, however, allegedly admit to accepting $5,000 as part of the scheme, according to testimony from a criminal trial over the case, something he later recanted.
If he did accept money, he didn’t show any signs of throwing games on the field. Jackson hit 12-for-35 (.375) with three doubles, five runs scored and six runs batted in over the eight games in the series. The World Series was a best-of-9 format at the time.
Jackson was one of the best hitters of the early 20th century. Over 13 seasons with Philadelphia, Cleveland and Chicago, the outfielder had a lifetime batting average of .356 with a .423 on-base percentage. He finished in the top 10 in MVP voting four times and led the majors in hits twice, triples twice and total bases twice.
The other former players banned from the league and now reinstated — who are not as widely known — were Joe Gedeon, Gene Paulette, Benny Kauff, Lee Magee, Phil Douglas, Cozy Dolan, Jimmy O’Connell and William Cox.
