Online post suggests rampage suspect may have resented women
TORONTO — The suspect in the deadly van attack in Toronto posted a chilling Facebook message just minutes before plowing into a crowded city sidewalk, authorities said Tuesday, raising the possibility that he may have nursed grudges against women — a possible echo of a 1989 massacre of 14 women that remains one of Canada’s most traumatic acts of violence.
The 25-year-old suspect was charged Tuesday with first degree murder in the deaths of 10 pedestrians he mowed down in the rented van he sent careening along the busy walkway. Fourteen others were injured.
Toronto Police Services Det. Sgt. Graham Gibson told a news conference that those killed and injured were “predominantly” women, though he declined to discuss a possible motive.
“All the lanes are open with this investigation,” said Police Chief Mark Saunders.
Authorities have not yet released a list of victims. Those known to have been killed include a 30-year-old woman from Toronto, Anne Marie D’Amico, who was active in volunteer work, as well as a female student at Seneca College, which Minassian also attended. A Jordanian citizen and two South Koreans were also among those killed.
Judge rules against ending program to protect Dreamers
WASHINGTON — A federal judge ruled Tuesday against the Trump administration’s decision to end a program protecting some young immigrants from deportation, calling the Department of Homeland Security’s rationale against the program “arbitrary and capricious.”
U.S. District Judge John D. Bates in Washington wrote that the decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, “was unlawful and must be set aside.”
Bates wrote that DHS’ decision “was predicated primarily on its legal judgment that the program was unlawful. That legal judgment was virtually unexplained, however, and so it cannot support the agency’s decision.”
Bates gave DHS 90 days to “better explain its view that DACA is unlawful.” If the department cannot come up with a better explanation, he wrote, it “must accept and process new as well as renewal DACA applications.”
His nomination in peril, Jackson fights for VA post
WASHINGTON — His nomination in peril, Veterans Affairs nominee Ronny Jackson fought Tuesday to convince lawmakers of his leadership abilities as more details of accusations against him emerged, ranging from repeated drunkenness to a toxic work environment as he served as a top White House doctor.
President Donald Trump sent mixed signals about his choice to lead the sprawling veterans’ agency, suggesting during a White House news conference that Jackson may want to withdraw because of unfair scrutiny. But the president privately urged his nominee to keep fighting to win Senate confirmation, and Jackson showed few signs of backing down.
A watchdog report requested in 2012 and reviewed by The Associated Press found that Jackson and a rival physician exhibited “unprofessional behaviors” as they engaged in a power struggle over the White House medical unit. The six-page report by the Navy’s Medical Inspector General found a lack of trust in the leadership and low morale among staff members, who described the working environment as “being caught between parents going through a bitter divorce.”
“There is a severe and pervasive lack of trust in the leadership that has deteriorated to the point that staff walk on ‘eggshells,’” the assessment found.
The inspector general report reviewed by The AP included no references to improper prescribing of drugs or the use of alcohol, separate allegations revealed by a Senate committee.
Jury in Bill Cosby case to begin deliberating
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — The jury in Bill Cosby’s sexual-assault retrial will begin deliberating Wednesday after a searing day of closing arguments in which the comedian was variously portrayed as a calculating predator who is finally being brought to justice, or the victim of a multimillion-dollar frame-up by a “pathological liar.”
The judge sent the seven men and five women back to their hotel Tuesday evening after the jurors indicated they were exhausted from listening to 5½ hours of arguments.
“I want you well rested. I think you have collectively made a wise decision,” Judge Steven O’Neill said.
The first big celebrity trial of the #MeToo era pits Cosby, the 80-year-old former TV star whose career and good-guy reputation were destroyed by a barrage of allegations involving drugs and sex, against Andrea Constand, a former Temple University women’s basketball administrator who testified that he drugged and sexually violated her at his suburban Philadelphia mansion 14 years ago.
Five other women got on the witness stand and testified the same thing had happened to them.
Gunman’s troubles began years before
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A gunman’s erratic behavior began years before police say he showed up without pants at a Waffle House restaurant and killed four people with an assault-style rifle.
The onetime construction crane operator bounced between states and suffered from delusions, sometimes talking about plans to marry singer Taylor Swift, friends and relatives told police. He was arrested outside the White House last year after asking to speak to President Donald Trump, and his bizarre actions seemed to intensify in recent days with a car theft.
Now the suspect is charged in Tennessee with four counts of criminal homicide. He’s been jailed without bond.
“He’s a good kid that went off the handle for some reason,” said Dave Warren, who once worked with the gunman in Colorado.
Former co-workers at Rocky Mountain Crane in Salida, Colorado, told police after the shooting that he was complex.
By wire sources