Monday, December 17, 2012 | Borderland Beat Reporterbadanov
A total of five armed suspects were killed in an encounter with a Mexican Army unit in Tamaulipas state Sunday, according to Mexican news accounts.
A wire dispatch originating from El Universal news daily reported that the gunfight took place at around 1310 hrs in Ciudad Victoria near the intersection of calles José Sulaiman Chagnon and Pamoran.
Ciudad Victoria is the state capital of Tamaulipas.
The incident involved two civilian vehicles one of them a 2012 Nissan Rogue SUV. Presumably, suspects in the second vehicle escaped the encounter. All five of the dead were inside the SUV. Soldiers also found five AR-15 rifles.
Two of the suspects were identified as Amado Gustavo Teran de la Fuente, 33, and Esau Shealtiel Cepeda Espinoza, 22. The other three were unidentified men in their 20s.
DEKALB, Ill. (AP) — Nearly two dozen fraternity members at Northern Illinois University were charged Monday with hazing-related counts after a freshman was found dead at their fraternity house following a night of drinking.
DeKalb police and prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 22 members of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity in DeKalb. Five members are charged with felony hazing, while the other 17 members are facing misdemeanor hazing charges.
Phone messages and emails sent to local and national fraternity officials were not immediately returned.
The warrants were filed after David Bogenberger, 19, was found unresponsive at the fraternity house early on Nov. 2. The DeKalb County Coroner's Office said toxicology results found his blood alcohol content was about five times the legal limit for driving.
The coroner ruled Bogenberger's cause of death was cardiac arrhythmia, with alcohol intoxication as a contributing cause.
The DeKalb Police Department said its investigation found the fraternity hosted an unsanctioned event on Nov. 1 that wasn't registered with the university or the fraternity's national chapter.
"The event that night involved the pledges rotating between several rooms in the fraternity house, being asked a series of questions, and then being provided cups of vodka and other liquor to drink," police said in a statement. "This resulted in the pledges drinking a large quantity of alcohol in about a two-hour time period."
Police said several other pledges reported getting sick and passing out due to excessive alcohol consumption.
In addition to the charges, NIU said 31 students are accused of violating the school's code of conduct. Those students could face penalties ranging from reprimand to expulsion.
Bogenberger's family said in a statement that they appreciate law enforcement professionals who investigated his death and "seek accountability for a horrible event."
"We have no desire for revenge," the family said. "Rather, we hope that some significant change will come from David's death. Alcohol poisoning claims far too many young, healthy lives.
"We must realize that young people can and do die in hazing rituals. Alcohol-involved hazing and initiation must end."
JUAREZ - Police Chief Julian Leyzaola - a career law-enforcement officer
especially picked to reduce the once uncontrolled violence that tarnished the
image of this city - is prepared to leave the country once his dangerous
assignment ends in October.
"There is no safe place in Mexico for me," said Leyzaola, who has worked in
law enforcement in the military for 37 years. "Mexico is prohibited for me."
During a lengthy interview with the El Paso Times, Leyzaola, who came to
Juárez from Tijuana, talked about his job in a city once considered one of the
world's most dangerous cities.
After 20 months on the job, he feels satisfied because the number of
homicides is declining: from March 2011, when he arrived, to November of this
year, the number of homicides has declined every month. And 2012 is projected to
close with fewer than 800 homicides compared with 1,956 homicides in 2011.
Leyzaola, 54, and a lieutenant colonel of the Mexican Army, is credited with
a remarkable reduction in crimes such as extortion, carjacking and kidnappings.
The reduction was accomplished with a strategic plan that included the cleansing
of the police department - 800 officers have been dismissed in his term - and
regaining the neighborhoods that once were under control of criminal groups such
as the Juárez and the Sinaloa drug cartels.
Even though the city is making a slow turnaround, Leyzaola is not without
critics.
In the past 20 months, he has been the target of two assassination attempts and accused of human-rights abuses.
"They (human rights organizations) have never given me the right to respond,"
he said.
He said his job is to fight crime and in doing so, he has become "the bad guy
of the movie."
Leyzaola's job will end Oct. 10 - something he is looking forward to.
"You don't know how big the responsibility of sitting here is," he said. "I
don't know how many people would like to be here, but when the time to give my
resignation comes, it will be a very happy day for me."
Missing ASU student Jack Culolias was last seen leaving Cadillac Ranch in Tempe, Arizona on November 30; a search for him around the area turned up a single shoe, which was later proven by DNA tests to be his. Now, a body found in the Salt River is believed to be that of Culolias, and investigators are trying to determine whether foul play was involved.
Culolias was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at ASU and had attended a party sponsored by the frat at Cadillac Ranch the night he disappeared. However, he was kicked out after it was discovered he had a fake I.D. (Culolias was 19), and the last his friends knew, he was walking away from the bar towards a taxi. Interestingly, the body was found not far from where the shoe was originally found, which is proving to be confusing for officials.
After an initial exhaustive search for the college student, his stepmother expressed concern that someone from his fraternity knew what had happened and were too scared to come forward.
“I think someone knows something and they’re just not talking,” Renae Culolias said.
For now, the coroner is working to positively identify the body, which was found with one red shoe but was not immediately recognizable because of extended exposure to the water. Investigators are now trying to determine whether Culolias was served alcohol in the bar before he was kicked out; if so, the bar owners could face criminal charges.
The Weeks family will be preparing services in conjunction with Empire High School this week. Grayson’s Godfather, uncle and head coach Jorge Mendivil confirmed the passing of his Godson. Our hearts at the Tucsoncitizen.com goes out to the Weeks/Mendivil family.
Grayson was a good kid and was always great with me and he was friends with my daughter Maggie. I will prepare a more proper story on Grayson once I can digest what happened. In the meantime, I have made all of my photos of Grayson available to the media.
Grayson Weeks and Jorge Mendivil. Andy Morales Photo.
Memphis police say one officer has been killed and another wounded in a shooting.
Police Chief Toney Armstrong said officers went to a home in east Memphis early Friday to serve a drug-related search warrant. He said a suspect opened fire, striking officers Martoiya Lang and William Vromah (VROH'-mah).
Armstrong said officers returned fire, striking a suspect.
Armstrong said Lang died of her injuries and Vromah, who was struck multiple times, was in stable condition at the Regional Medical Center.
Martoiya Lang
Lang, 32, was a mother of four children.
Details on the condition and identify of the suspect were not immediately released. Armstrong said a second person in the home was taken into custody but no charges have yet been filed.
Monday, December 17, 2012 | 
