fatally

A 24-year-old Honduran man who was fleeing federal immigration agents in Virginia died on a highway after being struck by a vehicle.

The death of Josué Castro Rivera follows recent incidents in which three other immigrants in Chicago and California were killed during immigration enforcement operations under the Trump administration’s crackdown.

Castro Rivera was headed to a gardening job Thursday when his vehicle was pulled over by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, brother Henry Castro said.

Agents tried to detain Castro Rivera and the three other passengers, and he fled on foot, tried to cross Interstate 264 in Norfolk and was fatally struck, according to state and federal authorities.

Castro Rivera came to the United States four years ago and was working to send money to family in Honduras, according to his brother.

“He had a very good heart,” Castro said Sunday.

The Department of Homeland Security said Castro Rivera’s vehicle was stopped by ICE as part of a “targeted, intelligence-based” operation and passengers were detained for allegedly living in the country without legal permission.

DHS said in a statement that Castro Rivera “resisted heavily and fled” and died after a passing vehicle struck him. DHS officials did not respond Sunday to requests for further comment.

Virginia State Police said officers responded to a report of a vehicle-pedestrian crash around 11 a.m. Thursday on eastbound I-264 at the Military Highway interchange. Police said Castro Rivera was hit by a 2002 Ford pickup and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The crash remains under investigation.

Federal authorities and state police gave his first name as Jose, but family members said it was Josué. DHS and state police did not explain the discrepancy.

Castro called his brother’s death an injustice and said he is raising money to transport the body back to Honduras for the funeral.

“He didn’t deserve everything that happened to him,” Castro said.

DHS blamed Castro Rivera’s death on “a direct result of every politician, activist and reporter who continue to spread propaganda and misinformation about ICE’s mission and ways to avoid detention.”

Similar deaths amid immigration operations elsewhere have triggered protests, lawsuits and calls for investigation amid claims that the Trump administration’s initial accounts are misleading.

Last month in suburban Chicago, federal immigration agents fatally shot a Mexican man during a traffic stop. DHS initially said a federal officer was “seriously injured,” but police body camera video showed the federal officer walking around and describing his own injuries as “ nothing major.”

In July, a farmworker who fell from a greenhouse roof during a chaotic ICE raid at a California cannabis facility died of his injuries. And in August, a man ran away from federal agents onto a freeway in the same state and was fatally struck by a vehicle.

Tareen and Walling write for the Associated Press.

Shooting took place in York County, in a rural part of the US state.

At least three police officers have been killed and two injured in the state of Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Christopher Paris told the media on Wednesday that five officers were shot – three fatally.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro was rushing to the scene of the shooting in North Codorus Township, about 185km (115 miles) west of Philadelphia.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said he is also heading to the scene and urged on social media “all residents to follow the instructions of local law enforcement”, adding he is “praying for all involved”.

A local school district issued a shelter-in-place order, though it said schools and students were not involved in the shooting. The order was lifted later in the afternoon. The district said in a statement that authorities “advised us to hold students and staff in our buildings as a precaution while several area roads are closed”.

The medical response unfolded on a rural road in south-central Pennsylvania that winds through an agricultural area with a barn and farm fields.

Police have not provided any details about who was involved in the shooting.

Attorney General Pamela Bondi called the violence against police “a scourge on our society”. She said federal agents were on scene to support local officers.

Sept. 8 (UPI) — Police on Monday shot and killed a man they believe is a suspect who had evaded capture for more than 3 1/2 years after he disappeared into rural New Zealand with his three children.

Police have been hunting Tom Phillips since December 2021 when took his three children — Ember, Maverick and Jayda — into the New Zealand bush, with only brief sightings reported since.

Phillips faced a range of charges including aggravated robbery, aggravated wounding and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Police shot and killed Phillips early Monday following a reported burglary in Piopio, a North Island town home to around 400 people located about 280 miles north of the capital Wellington. One officer was seriously injured in the shooting, and was undergoing surgery, authorities said.

“The formal identification of this male has yet to take place but we believe him to be Tom Phillips,” acting Deputy Commissioner Jill Rogers with New Zealand Police told reporters during a press conference.

One of his three children was with him, and is receiving care, Rogers said, adding that they “hold serious concerns” for the welfare of his other two children.

“We are making urgent inquiries to locate Tom Phillips’ other children,” she said.

“Our focus is finding them.”

Ember is now 9 years old, Maverick is 10 and Jayda 12.

An early morning burglary of a rural supply store in Piopio was reported to police at around 2:30 a.m. NZST, authorities said.

The member of the public reported to authorities that the store was being burgled by a man wearing a headlamp and farm clothing and “a shorter person” also wearing a headlamp, police said.

The two suspects loaded their all-terrain vehicle with the alleged stolen wares and fled the scene at about 2:45 a.m., authorities said.

A statement from New Zealand Police states that based on the descriptions provided, officers believed that man was likely Philips, and additional resources were called in.

Police laid spikes at an intersection at about 3:20 a.m., with the suspect driving over them minutes later, and coming to a stop shortly after.

The suspect then fired multiple rounds at the responding officer, who was shot as he was exiting his police vehicle and fell to the ground, Rogers said.

A statement from New Zealand Police said the officer was struck twice, once in the head and once in the shoulder.

The suspect was then fired upon by a second police unit that arrived at the scene, “incapacitating him,” the statement said.

First aid was provided to the suspect, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

The injured officer was airlifted to the hospital in critical condition at about 4:50 a.m. and was undergoing surgery as Rogers was speaking to reporters. She said he would require multiple surgeries.

“This has been a deeply traumatic incident this morning for those involved,” she said. “It has been confronting and challenging in a small rural, isolated location.”

Rogers said multiple firearms were located on and near the all-terrain vehicle. Though she would not state the number nor specify what type of firearms were retrieved, she did say the wounded officer had been shot with a high-powered rifle.

Phillips had initially disappeared into the New Zealand bush with his children in September 2021, but then emerged two weeks later.

Then they disappeared again in December of that year. An arrest warrant was issued for Phillips after he failed to appear in court in January 2022.

Only brief sightings had been reported since.

In late August, police released CCTV footage believed to show Phillips during a Piopio business burglary.

Images released by police seemingly showed Phillips and one of his children attempting to break into the business early Aug. 27.

Rogers said dozens of officers are currently looking for the two other children.

Sept. 7 (UPI) — Police in New York City fatally shot a knife-wielding man who slashed an officer in the face after entering a police precinct early Sunday, authorities said.

The suspect, who was not identified, was shot multiple times by several officers in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn and pronounced dead at a local hospital, authorities said.

Chief of Patrol Phillip Rivera of the New York Police Department told reporters during a press conference that the suspect entered the front of the 73rd Precinct station house at about 5:24 a.m. EDT Sunday, but left shortly after attempting to enter a locked door without interacting with any police officers.

The suspect then went to the back of the building, which is restricted to NYPD personnel, and entered via an unlocked door, he said.

There, he was confronted by an officer who told the suspect that if he needed assistance, he needed to use the front door.

“Then he took out a large butcher knife and began attacking the officer,” Rivera said.

The officer sustained a slash wound to the face, Rivera said, adding that she was able to fight off her assailant, who then ran out of the precinct.

Rivera said an officer shot the suspect with a Taser, but to little effect, leading the police on a foot chase to Park Place and Saratoga Avenue, where he lunged at a pursuing officer with the 14-inch knife.

“Several officers discharged their firearms and the male was struck numerous times,” he said.

The police-involved shooting is under investigation.

The injured officer sustained superficial wounds to the face and was expected to be discharged from the hospital soon, he said.

“This incident certainly could have turned out very differently,” he said. “An individual walked into a known NYPD building with a large knife and attacked one of our officers. Every day our officers put on these uniforms they encounter dangerous situations out in the street, but it’s another kind of danger when someone comes directly into the precinct armed with a knife and attacks our officers.”

FOUR children have been detained after allegedly stealing a car and mowing down an elderly woman before fleeing the scene.

Cecilia De Astis, 71, died after being struck by an out-of-control vehicle while walking in the Italian city of Milan on Monday.

3

3

3

The grandma had just left a lunch at the “House of Solidarity” – run by the Brothers of St. Francis – in her local Gratosoglio neighbourhood when the tragic incident occurred, reports Italian outlet La Stampa.

Local police took four children – aged between 11 and 13 – into custody on suspicion of vehicular homicide aggravated by failure to provide assistance.

The children were identified by the T-shirts they were wearing, which had been caught on surveillance cameras from a nearby shop.

Under Italian law, children under 14 are not criminally liable.

The minors were tracked down at a Roma settlement on Via Selvanesco, according to Il Fatto Quotidiano.

The stolen Citroën reportedly skidded, crashed into a curb and struck De Astis – throwing her several metres into the air – before slamming into a nearby road sign.

The impact was said to have been devastating – despite emergency services’ quick arrival, nothing could be done to save the woman.

Her sons, Gaetano and Filippo, arrived at the scene shortly afterwards and collected the few belongings left scattered on the road – including the face of their mum’s wristwatch.

Originally from Puglia, De Astis had worked for over 30 years as a textile worker at the Cederna cotton mill before retiring, according to La Stampa.

Dozens of messages of condolence have reportedly been posted in a social media group created by former mill employees.

De Astis had dinner with her sons the night before the incident.

“The only blessing is that we managed to have dinner together the night before,” they told the newspaper.

Her granddaughter said: “She was my second mother, we grew up together. She was a good woman. You can’t die like that.”

The stolen Citroën – which had French number plates – reportedly belonged to a 20-year-old from Strasbourg who was visiting Milan with three friends.

He had parked the car about a mile from the scene and gone to visit the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology with his friends, only to return and find it missing.

He reported it stolen on Sunday evening.

It comes as a popular travel influencer couple who documented their van life adventures online have died in an off-road crash.

Stacey Tourout and Matthew Yeomans reportedly lost control while driving through rough terrain in the mountains near Trout Lake, British Columbia, Canada.

The Canadian couple ran the Toyota World Runners YouTube channel, which had over 200,000 subscribers, and also built a following of 72,000 on Instagram.

News of their deaths was shared by friends and family on social media and confirmed by Kaslo Search and Rescue, who responded to the scene.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A Bad Bunny fan who was visiting Puerto Rico for the hip-hop star’s concert residency was fatally shot early Sunday in La Perla, a popular seaside shantytown in the capital, police said.

The victim was identified as Kevin Mares, a 25-year-old who lived in New York, according to a police statement.

The shooting happened in the predawn hours at a nightspot called Shelter for Mistreated Men in La Perla, a coastal community of San Juan that has struggled to shed its dark reputation.

Homicide detective Sgt. Arnaldo Ruiz said in a phone interview that the shooting took place when several people near Mares began arguing and one pulled out a gun and shot at least three people, including Mares. Two other men, who live in La Perla, were injured and remain hospitalized.

Ruiz said Mares was an innocent bystander. He was with three other friends who told police they were in Puerto Rico for one of Bad Bunny’s 30 concerts, which have attracted tens of thousands of visitors to the U.S. territory, where the artist was born.

Mares was shot on the left side of his abdomen and was taken to Puerto Rico’s largest public hospital, where he died, authorities said.

Ruiz said police don’t yet know what the people were arguing about and don’t have a description of the shooter. “We have very little information,” he said.

Ruiz added that Mares’ three friends also were from New York. He didn’t know their hometowns.

La Perla is on the outskirts of a historic district popular with tourists known as Old San Juan. A couple hundred people live in the shantytown, which once served as Puerto Rico’s biggest distribution point for heroin and was known for its violence.

Police used to avoid the community, which used to have a sign proclaiming, “Not open to visitors. Do not enter.”

But violence eased when hundreds of federal agents raided the slum in 2011 and arrested dozens of people, including a well-known community leader who was later convicted.

The neighborhood became even safer and more welcoming after Puerto Rican singers Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featured it in their hit “Despacito.”

But isolated violence persists.

In February 2023, three tourists were stabbed after police said a person told them to stop filming inside the community.

In April of last year, a 24-year-old tourist from Delaware was killed and his body set on fire after police said he and a friend were attacked after a drug purchase. Police said the victims were trying to take pictures of La Perla after being warned not to do so.

The island of 3.2 million people has reported 277 killings so far this year, compared with 325 killings in the same period last year.

Coto writes for the Associated Press.

May 27 (UPI) — Deputies in central Florida fatally shot a man believed to be on drugs who allegedly charged at them after emerging from a lake where he appeared to have been attacked by an alligator.

The incident happened Monday morning in a gated community in Polk County.

The deceased has been identified as Timothy Schulz, 42. The county sheriff, Grady Judd, told reporters during a press conference that Schulz had a long criminal history related to methamphetamine and was most recently released from prison on May 20.

“He’s dead. Deader than four o’clock,” Judd said.

“I don’t know if this is a suicide by cop or a suicide by being absolutely out of your mind on methamphetamine.”

Two deputies, one a trainee, shot and killed a garden-shears-armed Schulz as he entered their running patrol car and allegedly tried to take either a rifle or shotgun from the vehicle, the sheriff said.

“This is one more example of how violent people are when they use meth and they use drugs,” he said.

Judd said law enforcement was first notified about Schulz by a local racetrack at 5:56 a.m. EDT, reporting there was a “bizarre” man on the premises who was “shaking” and asking to call his son.

About two hours later, a second witness called to report a White man seen swimming in an alligator-infested lake. One witness, Judd said, tried to give Schulz a life preserver, which he rejected.

A witness also reported seeing Schulz treading water in the lake near several alligators, one of which appeared to have bitten him on the arm.

He then emerged from the lake into a gated community, walked between houses and picked up a pair of garden shears. Deputies arrived on the scene as he was throwing a brick at the window of a vehicle.

Judd said the deputies repeatedly backed away from Schulz as they tried to get him to drop the shears. They then twice tased Schulz who attempted to enter the patrol car.

“He was trying to get to our rifle and or shotgun and we shot him. Now, quite frankly, his conduct was outrageous. It was bizarre,” Judd said.

“The fact that he was bitten by an alligator significantly and still continued his rampage is shocking.”

Judd used the press conference to warn others who may consider threatening deputies.

“Let me make this abundantly clear: You’re not going to shoot at our deputies, you’re not going to point guns at our deputies, you are not going to point garden sheers at our deputies, you’re not going to break into the car and try to get their rifles, you’re not going to assault feloniously our deputies — you’re just not going to do that. And if you do, we’re going to shoot you — just enough so you don’t want to do that ever again or can’t do that ever again,” he said.