Toronto
Suspect alleged to have killed family with a crossbow
TORONTO (AP) - A man who allegedly used a crossbow in a triple homicide in Toronto last week killed his mother and two brothers, according to police.
A judge lifted a publication ban on the identities of the victims Tuesday and court records show the people killed in last Thursday's attack were Susan Ryan, 66, Alexander Ryan, 29, and Christopher Ryan, 42. Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash confirmed the victims were Brett Ryan's mother and brothers.
Ryan, 35, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder.
Police say the mother died from ligature strangulation, while one of the men died from a crossbow bolt wound to the neck and the other from a single arrowhead wound to the neck.
Authorities would not say whether the fatal wounds came from the crossbow being fired or from manual stabbings.
Ryan lived in an upscale waterfront condo that was evacuated last Thursday after police responded to a report of a suspicious package at about the same time they were dealing with the east-end home killings. The two incidents were related, police said, though they offered no details.
In 2008, Ryan was arrested in the case of the Fake Beard Bandit, and charged with numerous counts including robbery, wearing a disguise, and weapons charges. The charges related to a string of bank robberies in Toronto and the nearby region of Durham in which a man showed a teller a note indicating he was armed and demanded cash. In that case, Ryan was arrested after going into a bank wearing a false beard and carrying pepper spray, police said at the time. It was not immediately clear what became of the charges.
Social media profiles show that Ryan was engaged to a registered physiotherapist. They were to be married in Hamilton on Sept. 16. The couple, according to their registry page, met three years ago on a blind date in downtown Toronto.
The crossbow killings shocked the otherwise tranquil, tree-lined neighborhood as police cordoned off the immediate area.
Ohio
Man dies after killing neighbor at school bus stop
HOLLAND, Ohio (AP) - An Ohio man who shot a couple, killing a woman, at a school bus stop amid what neighbors called a long-running feud has died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The Lucas County sheriff's office says Jimmie Pemberton died Tuesday night at a Toledo hospital, about 12 hours after he shot the couple.
Investigators say Pemberton shot the couple just after they put their children on a school bus. They say he then set fire to their home and shot himself.
Others who live on the street in the village of Holland say there had been a feud between Pemberton and his neighbors.
Authorities say Susan Buchholz died a few hours after the shooting. Daniel Bennett was injured, but his condition hasn't been released.
Georgia
County to end ban,mosque project can go forward
ATLANTA (AP) - Officials in a Georgia county say they will lift a ban on building permits for religious institutions that had been sparked by local opposition to a mosque and Muslim cemetery.
In a statement Wednesday, Newton County commissioners say they will vote Sept. 13 on zoning changes. But those changes won't affect the mosque.
The project needs other approvals before construction can start, but Newton County officials say they will work with members on those steps.
The moratorium prompted the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the NAACP to request a federal civil rights investigation in Newton County. CAIR Georgia director Edward Mitchell thanked county officials for lifting the ban.
Mohammed Islam, religious leader of the Doraville mosque proposing the project, says he plans to continue "building bridges" with neighbors.
Indiana
Mother claims religious freedom in abuse defense
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The attorney for a woman charged with child abuse says Indiana's religious freedom law gives her the right to discipline her children according to her evangelical Christian beliefs.
Kin Park Thaing of Indianapolis was arrested in February on felony abuse and neglect charges. She is accused of beating her 7-year-old son with a coat hanger, leaving 36 bruises and red welts. The Indianapolis Star reports that her attorney, Greg Bowes, argues in court documents filed July 29 that the state shouldn't interfere with her right to raise her children as she deems appropriate. He cited the Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Thaing cited biblical scripture in her defense.
Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Matt Savage said in an Aug. 5 response that the boy's beating went "beyond these religious instructions."
Florida
State Supreme Court scolds judge who jailed abuse victim
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - The Florida Supreme Court has publicly reprimanded a judge who jailed a domestic violence victim for not showing up to testify against her alleged abuser.
News outlets report that Florida Chief Justice Jorge Labarga on Tuesday told Seminole County Judge Jerri Collins that her behavior was "intolerable" when she publicly belittled the Lake Mary woman upon sentencing the victim to three days in jail for contempt last year.
The case drew public attention after an Orlando television station broadcast the hearing where Collins berated the crying victim.
Collins has admitted her misconduct and has agreed to take an anger management course and one on domestic violence.
The Florida Supreme Court found that Collins had the legal right to jail the woman, but shouldn't have been so mean.
Georgia
Family wants DOJ to investigate stun gun death
ATLANTA (AP) - The family of a Florida man who died after Georgia sheriff's deputies repeatedly used their stun guns on him is asking for a federal investigation into his death.
Attorney Chris Stewart, who represents the family of Chase Sherman, said he sent the request Tuesday to the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice.
Sherman's mother called 911 on Nov. 20 as they traveled on Interstate 85 from Atlanta to their home in Destin, Florida. She said her 32-year-old son was "freaking out" and had taken a synthetic drug known as spice.
Video from Coweta County sheriff's deputies' body cameras shows the deputies struggling with Sherman in the back of an SUV until he's still and they later realize he's not breathing. Sherman was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Stewart says Coweta Judicial Circuit District Attorney Peter Skandalakis has taken too long to decide whether to present the case to a grand jury.
Published: Thu, Sep 01, 2016
