Pennsylvania
Police: 2nd Philadelphia school suspect released
PHILADELPHIA – Police charged a boy with aggravated assault and related crimes on Saturday in connection with a shooting that wounded two students inside a Philadelphia high school gymnasium but released a second boy from custody without charging him.
Police were not releasing the name of the 17-year-old suspect who was charged because it wasn’t immediately clear if he was to be tried as an adult. Police also didn’t identify the boy who was released. He had surrendered Friday night, hours after the 3:30 p.m. shooting at the Delaware Valley Charter High School in north Philadelphia.
The wounded boy and girl each were shot in an arm, and by Saturday, police confirmed that both had been hit by the same bullet.
The female student, 18, was shot in the rear of her left arm. “The bullet exited her bicep and then struck a 17-year-old male student in the shoulder,” police said.
The female student was treated for her injuries and released from Albert Einstein Medical Center, while the male victim was admitted in stable condition, police said. The hospital could not provide additional information Saturday because police had not released the male victim’s name.
Maryland
Exorcism may have led to 2 kids stabbed, killed
GERMANTOWN, Md. – Police charged two women on Saturday in the deaths of two children in Maryland, saying the women believed they were performing an exorcism.
Montgomery County Police charged 21-year-old Monifa Denise Sanford and 28-year-old Zakieya Latrice Avery with murder in the deaths of two of Avery’s children, a 1-year-old and a 2-year-old. The women are also facing attempted murder charges for injuring the children’s siblings, ages 5 and 8.
Police say the two younger children who died suffered multiple stab wounds.
Police were called to the home where the women lived on Friday. A neighbor called 911 after noticing a vehicle with the door open and a knife lying outside the vehicle. Avery was arrested when authorities say she tried to flee from a townhouse near the vehicle. Police found the two children dead inside the home; their siblings and Sanford were taken to the hospital with injuries.
Police say Sanford was arrested Saturday after being released from the hospital.
The older children who were injured remained hospitalized Saturday.
New York
Man in biker assault files legal claim against NYC
NEW YORK – A man who was dragged from his SUV and beaten by a group of motorcyclists after a frightening chase on a Manhattan highway has filed a legal notice saying he intends to sue New York City over the attack.
Prosecutors say an off-duty police detective was among the bikers who pursued and beat Alexian Lien after a confrontation on the West Side Highway.
The September assault was recorded by one biker and later posted on the Internet.
The New York Post reports that Lien filed a formal “notice of claim” against the city on Dec. 24. It accuses the police department of failing to properly train officers.
A spokeswoman for the city’s Legal Department said it would defend the claim if it proceeds to a full lawsuit.
