Newspaper Page Text
4A Monday, November 26, 2018
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
NATION
RAMON ESPINOSA I Associated Press
Migrants break past a line of police as they run toward the Chaparral border crossing in
Tijuana, Mexico, Sunday, Nov. 25, near the San Ysidro entry point into the U.S.
Migrants enveloped in
tear gas after attempting
to head for US border
BY CHRISTOPHER
SHERMAN
Associated Press
TIJUANA, Mexico —
Migrants approaching the
U.S. border from Mexico
were enveloped with tear
gas Sunday after a few tried
to breach the fence sepa
rating the two countries.
U.S. agents shot the gas,
according to an Associ
ated Press reporter on
the scene. Children were
screaming and coughing in
the mayhem.
Honduran migrant Ana
Zuniga, 23, said she saw
migrants open a small hole
in concertina wire at a gap
on the Mexican side of a
levee, at which point U.S.
agents fired tear gas at
them.
“We ran, but when you
run the gas asphyxiates
you more,” she told the AP
while cradling her 3-year-
old daughter Valery in her
arms.
Mexico’s Milenio TV also
showed images of several
migrants at the border try
ing to jump over the fence.
Yards away on the U.S.
side, shoppers streamed in
and out of an outlet mall.
U.S. Border Patrol heli
copters flew overhead,
while U.S. agents held vigil
on foot beyond the wire
fence in California. The
Border Patrol office in San
Diego said via Twitter that
pedestrian crossings have
been suspended at the San
Ysidro port of entry at both
the East and West facilities.
All northbound and south
bound traffic was halted.
Earlier Sunday, several
hundred Central Ameri
can migrants pushed past
a blockade of Mexican
police who were stand
ing guard near the inter
national border crossing.
They appeared to easily
pass through without using
violence, and some of the
migrants called on each
other to remain peaceful.
They convened the dem
onstration to try to pressure
the U.S to hear their asylum
claims and carried hand-
painted American and Hon
duran flags while chanting:
“We are not criminals! We
are international workers!”
A second line of Mexican
police carrying plastic riot
shields stood guard outside
a Mexican customs and
immigration plaza.
That line of police had
installed tall steel panels
behind them outside the
Chaparral crossing on the
Mexican side of the border.
Migrants were asked by
police to turn back toward
Mexico.
More than 5,000 migrants
have been camped in and
around a sports complex in
Tijuana after making their
way through Mexico in
recent weeks via caravan.
Many hope to apply for asy
lum in the U.S., but agents
at the San Ysidro entry
point are processing fewer
than 100 asylum petitions
a day.
Irineo Mujica, who has
accompanied the migrants
for weeks as part of the
aid group Pueblo Sin Fron-
teras, said the aim of Sun
day’s march toward the
U.S. border was to make
the migrants’ plight more
visible to the governments
of Mexico and the U.S.
“We can’t have all these
people here,” Mujica told
The Associated Press.
Tijuana Mayor Juan
Manuel Gastelum on Fri
day declared a humanitar
ian crisis in his border city
of 1.6 million, which he says
is struggling to accommo
date the crush of migrants.
U.S. President Donald
Trump took to Twitter Sun
day to express his displea
sure with the caravans in
Mexico.
“Would be very SMART
if Mexico would stop the
Caravans long before they
get to our Southern Border,
or if originating countries
would not let them form
(it is a way they get certain
people out of their country
and dump in U.S. No lon
ger),” he wrote.
Mexico’s Interior Minis
try said Sunday the coun
try has sent 11,000 Central
Americans back to their
countries of origin since
Oct. 19. It said that 1,906 of
them were members of the
recent caravans.
Mexico is on track to
send a total of around
100,000 Central Americans
back home by the end of
this year.
Police: Man shot woman at
Walmart, turned gun on self
AUSTIN L. MILLER I Associated Press
Authorities block access to a home in Ocala, Fla., shortly
after a shooting at a nearby Walmart. Police said David
Johnson was hospitalized after he fatally shot a woman
and turned the gun on himself a short time later.
Associated Press
OCALA, Fla. — A 54-year-
old man suspected of the
fatal weekend shooting of a
woman in a Walmart store in
north Florida has been hos
pitalized with a self-inflicted
gunshot wound, police said.
Ocala police said in a
Facebook post, that David
Johnson shot Carli Cronin,
30, in an apparent domestic
dispute on Saturday in the
garden section of a Walmart
in that city.
Witnesses told police
Cronin screamed for help
before she was shot multiple
times. Employees called 911
and attempted to intervene.
Investigators said Johnson
left the store on a bike after
the shooting.
A SWAT team surrounded
a home a few miles (kilome
ters) away a short time later
and evacuated neighbors
before Johnson was found
inside with a self-inflicted
gunshot wound, according
to authorities. Police said he
was taken to the hospital and
wasn’t expected to survive
his injuries.
Scotty Ballard told the
Ocala Star-Banner that Cro
nin was his roommate and
that Johnson and Cronin had
dated for about nine months
but weren’t currently
together.
Ballard told the newspa
per that the pair had been
arguing all day Saturday
because he wanted to get
back together and she did
not. Ballard said Johnson
threatened Cronin, saying
at one point he was “coming
strapped” for her.
On Saturday afternoon,
Ballard and Cronin went to
Walmart to get furnishings
for their apartment. Bal
lard said he was an aisle
away when the shooting
happened.
Johnson’s family gath
ered at Ocala Regional
Medical Center on Sat
urday night. His brother,
Kenneth Johnson, told the
newspaper that his brother
had been turning his life
around, adding that “he’s
not this monster, but a man
with a broken heart. ”
Kenneth Johnson said
Cronin was “the true love”
of his brother’s life.
Auto Insurance
Specialist
• Easy Payments
• Any Driver
• Any Age
NEW LOCATION!
2415 OLD CORNELIA HWY., GAINESVILLE
Next to Rabbittown Cafe
770-450-4500
Officers on trial, accused
of lying about teen’s death
From left, former Detective David March, Chicago Police
Officer Thomas Gaffney and former officer Joseph Walsh
appear at a pre-trial hearing at Leighton Criminal Court
Building in Chicago on Oct. 30.
BY DON BABWIN
Associated Press
CHICAGO — Dashcam
video showing Jason Van
Dyke pointing his gun at
black teenager Laquan
McDonald and firing 16
times was key evidence in
the murder conviction of
the white Chicago police
officer. The same video will
be at the forefront again this
week, as three more officers
stand trial, accused of lying
to protect Van Dyke in the
aftermath of the killing.
The trial starting Tues
day of David March, Joseph
Walsh and Thomas Gaff
ney won’t receive nearly
as much media attention
as Van Dyke's, but there’s
no understating the signifi
cance of using that same
video to underscore what
prosecutors call the Chi
cago Police Department‘s
unofficial code of silence,
in which officers cover for
each other.
“When you go out and
talk to people who are living
in communities that have
experienced police abuse,
what really makes them
feel betrayed and lose faith
in the system is the officers
who cover up what they’ve
seen or don’t say any
thing,” said Christy Lopez, a
Georgetown University law
professor who led a federal
probe of the city’s police
force. “So, yes, this is very
significant.”
Jim Pasco, executive
director of the National
Fraternal Order of Police,
agrees but for a very differ
ent reason.
“This is going to have a
chilling effect on appropri
ate, aggressive policing,” he
said.
The charges of con
spiracy, misconduct and
obstruction of justice boil
down to the accusation that
March, Walsh and Gaffney
falsified their reports about
the October 2014 shooting
and didn’t interview wit
nesses who could have pro
vided accounts they didn’t
want to record.
Prosecutors contend that
Walsh, who was Van Dyke’s
partner and Gaffney, a
patrolman, wrote among
other things that McDon
ald assaulted Van Dyke.
Gaffney claimed Van Dyke
and other officers had been
injured. Further, Walsh sup
ported Van Dyke’s claim
that McDonald lunged
at the two of them with a
knife and, even after bul
lets knocked McDonald
down, he “attempted to get
up while still armed with a
knife.”
None of these details was
apparent on the dashcam
video that captured the
shooting and has been shown
on news shows countless
times since a judge ordered
the city to make it public a
year after the shooting.
Prosecutors say March
— a detective who investi
gated the shooting and who
along with Walsh has since
left the department — not
only cleared Van Dyke of
any wrongdoing by say
ing the video matched wit
ness accounts, but also told
another officer to include
false information in her
report. Gaffney remains
on the force but has been
suspended.
While no other officers
have been charged, the
special prosecutor, Patri
cia Brown Holmes, said
it is clear that others on
the force, including brass,
ZBIGNIEW BZDAKI Associated Press
wanted Van Dyke to be
cleared.
“We should be applaud
ing him, not second guess
ing him,” wrote a sergeant
identified only as March’s
supervisor in an email to
a lieutenant. Prosecutors
contend police also shooed
witnesses from the scene,
and that the defendants and
others met at a station to
“conceal the true facts” of
the shooting.
Not surprisingly, attor
neys for the three dismiss
any talk of conspiracy.
“The whole indictment
is a sham, based not on
evidence, but on politics,”
March’s attorney, James
McKay, said at a recent
hearing.
Lopez, the law profes
sor, said a conviction would
send a powerful message to
police officers all over the
country that, “You can be
held accountable, even if
you didn’t pull the trigger.”
But Robert Weisskopf, a
retired Chicago police offi
cer and former president of
the lieutenants’ union, said
that message has already
been sent.
“Are you really going to
work that hard and do any
thing more than the bare
minimum if you think you
could go to prison, lose your
mortgage, have protesters
in front of your house?” he
asked. “They’re going to say,
‘Screw that.’”
■^ERICA’S ORIGINAL BUTCHfd
TENDERNESS
and SAVE 75%' on Omaha Steaks
30 GOURMET ITEMS!
The Family
Gourmet Feast
2 (5 oz.) Filet Mignons
2 (5 oz.) Top Sirloins
2 (4 oz.) Boneless Pork Chops
4 Boneless Chicken
Breasts (1 lb. pkg.)
4 (3 oz.) Kielbasa Sausages
4 (4 oz.) Omaha Steaks Burgers
4 (3 oz.) Potatoes au Gratin
4 (4 oz.) Caramel Apple Tartlets
Omaha Steaks Seasoning Packet
55586GXZ I $100.01' separately
Combo Price
Omaha Steaks
BONELESS
CHICKEN
BREASTS
ORDER NOW & SAVE 75%
Plus get
4 more Burgers
FREE
OMAHA STEAKS
BURGERS 4If
1-866-334-1897 ask for 55586GXZ
www.OmahaSteaks.com/excellent45
'Savings shown over aggregated single item base price. Limit 2 55586 pkgs. Your 4 free burgers will be sent
to each shipping address that includes 55586. Standard S&H will be added per address. Flat rate shipping and
reward cards and codes cannot be used with this offer. Not valid with other offers. Expires 2/28/19. All purchases
acknowledge acceptance of Omaha Steaks. Inc. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Visit omahasteaks.com/
terms-of-useOSI and omahasteaks.com/info/privacy-policy or call 1-800-228-9872 for a copy. ©2018 OCG I
Omaha Steaks, Inc. 118M1531
