Monday, October 24 top stories
It is Monday, October 24. I hope your weekend was good. Here are today’s top stories.
St. Louis high school shooting
A 20-year-old gunman opened fire this morning at a high school in St. Louis, killing a teenage girl and a woman. Several people were injured.
Police officers entered the school a few minutes later and exchanged gunfire with the suspect and were able to shoot him. The suspect was taken to a hospital but died of his wounds.
The school’s name is Central Visual and Performing Arts High School. It is a magnet school that has about 400 students.
The suspect’s identity was not released at the time of writing and signing this news. Witnesses said the man was slim, dressed entirely in black, and started shooting from outside of the school with a long gun. It is not known if the suspect was a former student at the school.
Gunman kills two hospital employees in Dallas
On Saturday morning, a nurse and another hospital employee at the Methodist Medical Center in Dallas, Texas were shot and killed by a gunman.
News reports said the suspect was angry after his girlfriend gave birth because he suspected that he was not the father of the baby. The suspect, Nestor Hernandez, pulled out a handgun, hit his girlfriend in the head, and vowed to kill the first person who entered the room. A hospital employee entered the room and was shot and killed. A nurse then checked the room and was killed. A police officer who was already in the hospital was able to enter the room and shoot at Hernandez in the leg before detaining him. All of this happened near the labor and delivery area of the hospital.
Hernandez was already on parole for aggravated robbery, was wearing an ankle monitor, and had special permission to be at the hospital for the delivery of the baby. He is now charged with capital murder.
Rats being trained to act as first responders
A nonprofit organization in Belgium is training rats to act as first responders for survivors who may become trapped by collapsing buildings. The rats are fitted with little backpacks that carry technology such as video cameras. Rats are already skilled in crawling through small spaces.
The nonprofit organization, APOPO, said they are training rats to find survivors in a simulated disaster zone. The rats are able to pull a switch on their vest to trigger a beeper and get rewards for finding a survivor. The backpacks have two-way microphones and a location transmitter so human first responders can find the survivors.
A behavioral researcher said the rats are friendly, sociable and easy to work with. The group is now working on making the technology on the little backpacks thinner and lighter so the rats can move easier and more naturally in cramped spaces.
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Ethan Crumbley pleads guilty
16-year-old Ethan Crumbley, who was charged as an adult in relation to a deadly shooting at the high school in Oxford Township, Michigan in November of last year, pleaded guilty in court to four counts of murder, seven counts of attempted murder, one count of terrorism causing death, and 12 other charges.
Ethan was 15 at the time of the shooting. The four people who were killed were high school students and their ages were between 14 and 17.
The Detroit Free Press said Ethan wrote in his journal 11 months ago that he wanted to cause the biggest school shooting in state history. He also wrote that he has “fully mentally lost it.”
The handgun Ethan used in the shooting was given to him from his parents as a birthday gift only four days before the shooting happened. On the day of the shooting last year, before the shooting happened, the school called for the parents to come because of concerns over Ethan’s drawings and scribblings of a gun, bullets, and bleeding people. The parents did not inform the school at that time that they gave Ethan a gun. The parents also did not take him out of school. A few hours later, Ethan carried out the shooting.
The parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, left their home after the shooting and were found by Detroit police a few days later. They were charged with involuntary manslaughter and have been held ever since, unable to pay their $500,000 bond.
Some of the families of the victims have filed a civil lawsuit against Ethan’s parents.
Gold’s Gym owner possibly killed in plane crash
The owner of Gold’s Gym, Rainer Schaller, and his family are feared dead after a private plane they were in crashed into the ocean near Costa Rica on Friday. Schaller was traveling with his wife and two children. The pilot and a fifth passenger are also feared dead.
News reports said searchers have found the bodies of an adult and a child but have not yet identified them. Searchers also found backpacks, bags, and pieces of the plane.
Schaller, his family, and the passenger were German citizens. The pilot was Swiss.
The plane was on its way to Costa Rica from Mexico when it crashed.
Phillies, Astros in World Series
The Philadelphia Phillies and the Houston Astros are in the World Series. Game 1 is scheduled for Friday at Houston’s Minute Maid Field. Houston will host another game on Saturday before Philadelphia hosts Games 3 and 4 on Monday and Tuesday. The winner is determined through a best-of-seven playoff.
The last time the Phillies won the championship is 2008. The Astros was in the World Series last year and lost to the Atlanta Braves.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/24/us/st-louis-high-school-shooting.html
https://abcnews.go.com/US/dead-gunman-opens-fire-dallas-hospital-officials/story?id=91917260
https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/golds-gym-owner-family-killed-in-costa-rica-crash/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/costa-rica-plane-crash-rainer-schaller-5-others-feared-dead/
https://www.axios.com/2022/10/24/ethan-crumbley-plea-oxford-shooting-michigan
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/23/sport/phillies-world-series/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/24/world/search-and-rescue-rats-apopo-hnk-spc-intl/index.html