Vegas cop killers ‘had pro-gun militia links’
LOS ANGELES: A gun-toting couple possibly linked to antigovernment militias killed two US cops execution- style and left a swastika on the bodies, in America’s latest chilling shooting rampage, police said Monday.
In the third mass shooting in three weeks in the western US, the couple shot the police in cold blood at a Las Vegas pizza restaurant, before killing a civilian at a nearby Walmart and then committing suicide.
Jerad and Amanda Miller saw police as Nazi- style oppressors, and claimed links to a Nevada cattle rancher who won a highprofile standoff with authorities two months ago with the help of pro-gun militias.
“This is the beginning of the revolution,” read a note pinned on one of the bodies by Jerad Miller, 31, after he and his 22-year-old wife slaughtered the cops on Sunday, said assistant sheriff Kevin McMahill.
“There’s no doubt that the suspects have some apparent ideology that’s along the lines of militia and white supremacists,” he said, the morning after the
This is the beginning of the revolution. Kevin McMahill, assistant sheriff
massacre which left five dead.
The couple entered the restaurant, walked past the booth where the officers were eating, and then Jerad Miller “pulled a handgun out and shot officer (Igor) Soldo one time in the back of his head,” said McMahill.
“Officer Soldo immediately succumbed to his injuries. At that time, officer (Alyn) Beck immediately began to react, when he was confronted by lethal gunfire from Jerad Miller, and he was shot once in the throat area,” he told reporters.
The couple then both shot multiple rounds into the two officers, before pulling the bodies out of the restaurant booth. They placed an American revolutionary flag on one of the bodies, “and also threw a swastika on top of his body.” Jerad Miller then “pinned a note to officer Soldo basically stating that this is the beginning of the revolution.” — AFP WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama on Monday struck out at the literal and political constraints hemming him in during an increasingly contentious second White House term.
Obama went off script to eviscerate Republicans blocking plans to ease the huge burdens in student debt many Americans carry when they graduate from college.
Then Obama marched out of the White House to visit a Starbucks down the street, in a rare unannounced foray outside the security bubble in which US presidents live.
“The bear is loose,” Obama declared as he walked out the White House gate, testing his Secret Service detail.
Obama has been showing increasing signs of frustration with his political plight, after failing to move significant reform legislation on Capitol Hill since his second inauguration in January 2013.
A string of rows including over a scandal in delays to veterans health care and a firestorm over a Taliban prisoner swap to free US soldier Bowe Bergdahl are also bearing down on the besieged White House.
On Monday, Obama poured special disdain on Republicans who oppose a Democratic plan to close tax loopholes for millionaires to provide funds for graduates to refinance outstanding student loan debt at lower rates.
“You would think that if somebody like me has done really well, in part because the country’s invested in them, that they wouldn’t mind at least paying the same rate as a teacher or a nurse,” said Obama.
“I want Americans to pay attention to see where their lawmakers’ priorities lie here. Lower tax bills for millionaires or lower student loan bills for the middle class. This should be a nobrainer.” The bill has little chance of making it through Congress where Republicans control the House of Representatives and can block legislation in the Democratic Senate. — AFP