NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
1 Police attacked: A New York Police Department lieutenant shot in the arm by a gunman who opened fire in a precinct building was released from the hospital to cheers and applause on Monday. Jose Gautreaux was wounded Sunday in the Bronx station. The suspect, Robert Williams, 45, was captured at the station. That attack came just hours after Williams approached a patrol van in the same part of the Bronx on Saturday night and fired at two officers inside, wounding one — Paul Stroffolino — before escaping on foot, police said. Williams faces charges including attempted murder and resisting arrest.
2 Churches burned: The suspect in a series of fires set at African American churches in Louisiana last spring pleaded guilty Monday to four federal criminal counts. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Holden Matthews pleaded guilty in Lafayette to three counts of intentional damage to religious property, a federal hate crime carrying a possible 20year sentence per count. Matthews, 21 at the time of his arrest last year, is white and the destruction of the three historic black churches in St. Landry Parish evoked memories of civil rightsera terrorism. But race is not mentioned as a factor in the charges. The indictment said the fires were set “because of the religious character” of the properties. Three churches were burned in a span of 10 days.
3 University leader arrested: The president of Jackson State University resigned Monday after he was arrested in a prostitution sting in central Mississippi. William Bynum Jr., 57, was among more than a dozen people arrested during the weekend in Clinton, according to police Chief Ford Hayman. A statement from the Mississippi university system on Monday said Bynum submitted his resignation, and it took effect immediately. Bynum had been president of Jackson State since 2017.
4 LAPD probe: The California Department of Justice will review the Los Angeles Police Department’s records and policies regarding use of the state’s gang member database after allegations emerged that officers in an elite crime suppression team falsified records and listed innocent people as gang members, Attorney General Xavier Becerra said Monday. At least 20 members of the police department’s Metropolitan Division are under investigation after authorities found inaccuracies on field interview cards that officers fill out after stopping and questioning people. The department has presented the case to county prosecutors for possible criminal charges. NBC Los Angeles first reported the investigation. 5 Refugee settlement: The Trump administration has agreed to speed up the cases of some former interpreters for the U.S. military in Iraq and hundreds of other refugees whose efforts to move to the U.S. have been in limbo since he announced his travel bans on mostly Muslim nations three years ago. The deal was filed in federal court in Seattle on Monday. It concerned more than 300 refugees who were on the verge of being permitted to come to America in 2017 when their applications were halted as part of Trump’s efforts to restrict entry.