UN embargoes gang leader School shooter spared execution

The UN Security Council is negotiating a resolution that would impose an arms embargo, asset freeze and travel ban on influential Haitian gang leader Jimmy Cherizier, nicknamed “Barbeque”. It also would target other Haitian individuals and groups who engage in actions that threaten the peace, security or stability of the Western Hemisphere. The US-drafted resolution singles out by name Cherizier, a former police officer who leads an alliance of Haitian gangs known as the “G9 Family and Allies”. But it would establish a Security Council committee to designate other Haitians and groups to be put on a blacklist and subjected to sanctions as well.

A divided jury spared Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz the death penalty yesterday for killing 17 people at a Parkland high school in 2018, sending him to prison for the rest of his life in a decision that left many families of the victims angered, baffled and in tears. Cruz, 24, pleaded guilty a year ago to murdering 14 students and three staff members, and wounding 17 others, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018. The jury rejected the death penalty after deliberating for about seven hours over two days. Cruz’s lead public defender, Melisa McNeill, told the jury during her closing arguments that life in prison would still be a horrible punishment and suggested that other prisoners might target him. But that wasn’t enough for many family members, who express their shocks at the jury’s decision. Some called Cruz a “monster,” while others cried. “We are beyond disappointed with the outcome,” said Lori Alhadeff, whose daughter, Alyssa, was killed.