Day: September 12, 2024

Three Brooklyn residents faced an early morning nightmare Thursday after armed robbers came calling in a dramatic home invasion, authorities said.

Four men climbed through a window near the foyer of a home on the 1900 block of 80th Street in Bensonhurst, at around 4 a.m. on Sept. 12, according to police sources.

Once inside, cops said, the armed intruders used a handgun to pistol-whip a 34-year-old man across his head, causing a large laceration. Another assailant punched a 41-year-old man in the face, causing a cut to his cheek, law enforcement sources reported.

Both male victims and a 19-year-old woman were zip-tied by the suspects, who then ransacked the house looking for valuables, police said.

Moments later, the violent crooks made off watches, pocketbooks, and $20,000 in cash, according to police. The perpetrators — who, authorities said, wore all-black clothing — fled inside a dark-colored vehicle.

The incident was reported to the 62nd Precinct. The female victim was not injured.

Anyone with information regarding the incident can call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (for Spanish, dial 888-57-PISTA). You can also submit tips online at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X (formerly Twitter) @NYPDTips.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government on Thursday responded to Venezuela’s disputed July presidential election by imposing sanctions against 16 allies of President Nicolas Maduro, accusing them of obstructing the vote and carrying out human rights abuses. 

Those targeted by the Treasury Department include the head of the country’s high court, leaders of state security forces and prosecutors. The move came days after the departure into exile of Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, the former diplomat who represented the main opposition parties and claimed to have won the July 28 presidential election by a wide margin. 

Venezuela’s electoral authorities declared Maduro the victor hours after polls closed, but unlike previous elections, they never released detailed vote tallies to back up their claim. Global condemnation over the lack of transparency prompted Maduro to ask Venezuela’s high court, stacked with ruling party loyalists, to audit the results. 

The court reaffirmed his victory. 

Experts from the United Nations and the Carter Center, which at the invitation of Maduro’s government observed the election, determined the results announced by electoral authorities lacked credibility.

(NewsNation) — Police chiefs of America’s largest cities have published the first guide about UAPs, or unidentified aerial phenomena, which details encounters and how officers can report the incidents.

Major Cities Chiefs Association, a forum for police executives, says UAPs and UFOs pose a national security threat and it’s the responsibility of police officers to know how to detect, track and report them.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings discussed the importance of having a unified plan to handle any encounter or sighting of UAPs on NewsNation’s “Morning in America” on Thursday.

Jennings said the 11-page guide is to help officers understand that unexplained occurrences do happen and it’s important for them to know what to do if they ever encounter that experience.

“They’re happening. Whether you believe in what the origin of them is or not, they’re happening, and it’s important that we are able to report,” Jennings said.

Jennings hasn’t personally seen a UAP or UFO, and sighting reports are fairly low in his city. However, he said they do happen more often in other parts of the U.S.

“We just want to make sure that they’re reporting properly, and they’re taken seriously,” Jennings said.

His police department doesn’t have resources dedicated to UAPs and UFOs, and most departments across the nation don’t have funding for it either. However, police leaders are hoping the little handbook can work as a guide and bring awareness to departments in the U.S.

The goal of the guidebook is to normalize UAP and UFO sightings so that when and if an officer does encounter something, the officer knows what to do and the command to which the officer is reporting, takes them seriously.

“It’s important to make sure we’re tracking these incidents,” Jennings said.

LANSING, Kansas — The shuttered Kansas prison where the killers chronicled in Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood were executed is now a tourist attraction. 

Starting Friday, former wardens and corrections officers will lead two-hour tours of the stone-walled building in Lansing that first began housing inmates in the 1860s, The Kansas City Star reported. 

The building, originally called the Kansas State Penitentiary, was without purpose after the Kansas Department of Corrections opened the newly constructed Lansing Correctional Facility in 2020. But instead of demolishing it, the Department of Corrections transferred control of the building to the Lansing Historical Society and Museum. 

Upcoming events include a car show inside the prison walls later this month. 

“We’re expecting the prison to open up to large crowds who want to know what went on inside those walls,” Debra Bates-Lamborn, president of the society, said after state prison officials handed over the keys this week. 

For years, the prison carried out executions by hanging at the gallows — a site that visitors will not be able to access during tours. Since removed from prison grounds, the wooden gallows are now disassembled and under the state’s custody. 

Among the notable inmates executed at the prison were Richard “Dick” Hickock and Perry Smith, who were convicted of murdering four members of the Clutter family on Nov. 15, 1959, in the family’s home near Holcomb, Kansas. 

Capote, along with his close friend and fellow writer Harper Lee, visited the prison while doing research for the book about the killings. Hickock and Smith were executed in April 1965, among the last inmates to be hanged in the state. 

One spot on the tour is the Chow Hall, where the late country music legend Johnny Cash performed for inmates in 1970. 

“Johnny Cash has always said that audiences in prisons are the most enthusiastic audience he’s ever played to,” Bates-Lamborn said. 

The prison tour is modeled off of a similar tour in Missouri. About a year ago, a state lawmaker approached the Lansing Historical Society and Museum with the idea of preserving the prison by converting it into a tourist attraction. 

Bates-Lamborn said she and another board member made the trip to Jefferson City to tour the Missouri State Penitentiary, which has been open for tours since 2009. 

“Afterwards, I thought ours is a shoo-in and we’re so much better,” she said. 

Tours of the facility will be held on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and are scheduled to run until October 26. Since the facility has no heat or electricity, the tours stop over the winter and will return in the spring.

AP correspondent Rita Foley reports on new delivery vehicles for letter carriers.

11AM ET 09/12/2024 Newscast
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