COP INDICTED FOR SHOOTING SUSPECT
MO.» A suburban St. CLAY T O N,
Louis police officer who says she meant to use her stun gun but mistakenly grabbed her service revolver was indicted on a second-degree assault charge Wednesday for shooting a suspected shoplifter outside a grocery store.
St. Louis County prosecutor Wesley Bell said Julia Crews, 37, is charged in the April 23 shooting on the parking lot of a Schnucks store in Ladue, one of Missouri’s wealthiest communities. The woman who was shot was seriously hurt, Bell said.
The 33-year-old woman, who is black, remains in a hospital. While authorities said she will survive, her father, Robert Hall, said she is “fighting for her life.” Authorities haven’t released her name, but her family identified her as Ashley Hall.
Air Force test-launches Minuteman missile from California.
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, CALIF.» A fiery streak lit up the sky as the Air Force conducted a morning test of an unarmed Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile.
The Air Force Global Strike Command says the missile was launched from Vandenberg, northwest of Los Angeles, at 2:42 a.m. Wednesday.
The ICBM’s re-entry vehicle traveled approximately 4,200 miles over the Pacific to a target in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
U.S. military stops releasing Afghanistan war information.
Amid a battlefield stalemate in Afghanistan, the U.S. military has stopped releasing information often cited to measure progress in America’s longest war, calling it of little value in fighting the Taliban insurgency.
The move fits a trend of less information being released about the war in recent years, often at the insistence of the Afghan government, which previously stopped the U.S. military from disclosing the number of Afghans killed in battle as well as overall attrition within the Afghan army.
The latest clampdown also aligns with President Donald Trump’s complaint that the U.S. gives away too much war information, although there is no evidence that this had any influence on the latest decision.
Florida lawmakers pass bill allowing more armed teachers.
FLA.» More TALLAHASSEE,
Florida classroom teachers could carry guns in school under a bill passed Wednesday by state lawmakers, the latest response to last year’s mass shooting at a Parkland high school.
The Republican-led House voted 65-47 on Wednesday to send the bill to GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to sign it.
The measure expands an existing school “guardian” program to allow any teacher to volunteer to carry a weapon if their local school district approves.
“It allows the good guys to stop the bad. The bad guys will never know when the good guys are there to shoot back,” said Republican Rep. Chuck Brannan of Lake City, a retired law enforcement officer.
“The guardian is the last line of defense.”
U.K. defense chief fired over Huawei leaks, denies involvement.
LONDON» British Prime Minister Theresa May summarily fired Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson on Wednesday after an investigation into leaks from a secret government meeting about the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei. He denied any involvement in the leak.
An investigation was launched last week after newspapers reported that Britain’s National Security Council, which meets in private, had agreed to let Huawei participate in some aspects of Britain’s new 5G wireless communications network.
The United States has been lobbying allies including Britain to exclude Huawei from all 5G networks, noting that the Chinese government can force the company to give it back-door access to data on its networks. — Denver Post wire services