A) DNA Test Stuns Man Who Wants All-White Town
A neo-Nazi who wants to found an all-white enclave in North Dakota has been shown evidence of racial diversity where he least expected it: in his own DNA. Craig Cobb agreed to the test as part of the Trisha Goddard Show's "Race in America" series, but he rejected the result as "short science" and "statistical noise" when it revealed he is 14% sub-Saharan African and 86% European, the Daily Mail reports. "Sweetheart, you have a little black in you," the show's British host told Cobb, who recoiled when she attempted to fist-bump him.
Cobb, whose white supremacist plans for Leith, ND, have met with protests and attempts to thwart him with building codes, says that even if a test he respects proves that he's not white enough for his own standards, he will "continue on either way," and consider himself a "border guard for the purebreds." Bobby Harper, a black man who lives in the tiny North Dakota town, says he finds the test results hilarious. "I knew there was one other black person in town," he tells the Bismarck Tribune. "Is he going to want to kick his own self out of town and discriminate against himself?"
B) Death of UK Spy Found in Gym Bag 'Probably an Accident'
The MI6 spy whose naked body was found inside a zipped, padlocked gym bag probably died ... by accident, UK police have decided. The coroner said last year Gareth Williams was probably killed by someone else in a criminal act, but now the Metropolitan Police have completed an evidence review and say it's "more probable" no one else was in his apartment when he died in his bathroom in 2010, the BBC reports. The deputy assistant commissioner said today it's "theoretically possible" Williams locked himself into the bag.
Not surprisingly, Williams' family is sticking with the coroner's initial finding, saying in a statement, "We consider that on the basis of the facts at present known, the coroner's verdict accurately reflects the circumstances of Gareth's death." And the AP notes that the police department's "tentative conclusion" is "unlikely to calm conspiracy theories around the bizarre case." Police say they found little evidence of foul play in the code-breaker's death, no signs of a struggle or forced entry, and no evidence that the apartment had been forensically cleaned to remove DNA. Click for more on the strange case.
C) Florida man gets stuck in chimney during attempted robbery
A Florida man who was doing a mean-spirited Santa Claus impression might be spending Christmas behind bars after getting caught in the chimney of a Naples home during an attempted burglary.
Richard Tyler Brandon, 25, got trapped in a chimney early Wednesday morning after running out of cash during a night out. His friend, Derek Grenfell, alerted two Naples police officers about the situation after it became apparent Brandon was stuck.
A team of police officers and local fire department officials broke into the home and saw Brandon’s foot hanging in the fireplace.
“I said, ‘Dude, you’re not Santa Claus, what are you doing?’” Grenfell reportedly said to the police.
It took two hours, but Brandon was freed from the chimney and taken to the hospital for treatment of issues including leg pain and trouble breathing. It could have been worse.
“There is a chance he could have died,” said Naples Detective Robert Young. “That space he was jammed into was really tight. He couldn’t move.”
Brandon was hit with two burglary charges and Grenfell was charged as an accessory to the crime after the fact.
D) Man attempts to rob gun range in mid daylight
A California man attempted to steal guns from a gun range in Los Angeles last Tuesday at 12:00 pm. He was shot in the leg twice, and taken to the Hollywood Community Hospital for treatment.
Officer Paul Gomez, a Los Angeles Police officer, who was off duty at the time shot the armed robber twice in the thigh, “I just came to practice my shooting, and the suspect was holding up the manager. When he saw me he aimed his pistol at me, and I took immediate action in subduing him.”
As it turns out, the suspect, 24 year old James Hroeth, did not even have a loaded gun. His pistol was in fact a toy airsoft BB gun that he had spray painted black.
“What an idiot,” said range manager, Joe Thomas, “I cannot believe that someone would try to rob real guns with a plastic toy”.
The attempted robbery was also quite traumatizing for a 13 year old girl, Ashley Russell, who was with her father, Chris shooting an AR-15 at the time of the robbery. “It is a real shame,” said Chris, “that my daughter had to witness a man get shot in front of her. Hopefully it will teach her to be more cautions of people in the world today.”
James Hroeth will be held at the Los Angeles county jail without bail until his arraignment on July 17. He is charged with armed robbery.
