Free Republic

Missing from the picture, though, is the violence and disorder that makes these camps untenable from the get-go. They’re crime dens. They’re dangerous. They’re places no human should live, and places that the public should not have to subsidize. Even though police run patrols, and community groups run outreach programs, tent cities tend to be “governed” by gangs. In Vancouver, gang members set up tents in the community as an outpost for dealing. In Calgary, a gang took over a camp near a drop-in centre — resulting in beatings of campers and assaults on centre workers. In Edmonton, gangs are...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago's Board of Education made a decision Thursday on CPS school resource officers. In a unanimous vote, Chicago's Board of Education approved a plan to remove police officers from Chicago Public Schools, starting next school year. Dozens of students who want to see police out of their schools rallied outside CPS headquarters Thursday morning. CPS students from "Cops Out CPS" gathered to call on the Board of Education to remove police from schools and re-invest more than $10 million spent on police in school programs and resources. Many students said the student resource officers are costly, ineffective...

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office sought high bail for a group of illegal immigrants accused of attacking two NYPD officers near Times Square last month after their initial no-bail release caused a national uproar. The suspects each pleaded not guilty at their arraignment on a superseding indictment Friday morning. Despite the prosecution's change in stance, one suspected Venezuelan gang member who was ordered to leave the country last year had his bail set at $1. However – it is not expected to be paid. The move allows him to avoid deportation while in custody. First up, the judge set...

The deadly shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ victory parade that killed one and injured nearly two dozen was the result of a personal dispute that exploded into violence – and cops have detained three people who may be at fault, authorities said Thursday. Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves emphasized that the Wednesday afternoon attack on the west side of the city’s landmark Union Station had nothing to do with homegrown terrorism or violent extremism. Instead, the shooting “appeared to be a dispute between several people that ended in gunfire,” Graves told reporters at a Thursday press conference.

A brutal Venezuelan gang that has used the border crisis to set up in New York could join forces with the feared MS-13, a senior FBI agent has told The Post. Tren de Aragua, which law enforcement is warning is rapidly expanding its criminal empire with a spate of brazen phone robberies in the five boroughs, is a priority for the FBI, agent John Morales said. Morales, the special agent in charge of the El Paso division in Texas, said the agency is closely monitoring Tren de Aragua’s growth and is concerned about it forming alliances with existing networks.

Have you heard of the Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan criminal gang? Maybe not, but this is “the little engine that could” that may bring your quiet American neighborhood some dangerous young men with little to contribute and even less to lose. Joseph Humire, an expert on Latin American security, calls the Tren “the fastest-growing transnational criminal organization in the world.” Last year, the Tren de Aragua didn’t even make the Border Patrol’s “Nationwide Apprehensions by Gang Affiliation,” an alphabetical list of 50 Central and South American gangs invading the United States—from the Angelino Heights Sureno 13 to the Zetas....

Jose Luis Sanchez Valera, a 43-year-old retired Venezuelan police officer, was lured to a hotel by two women, then robbed and murdered on November 28.. The killers tortured Sanchez to hand over his apartment keys, then raided the property: they told his niece, with whom he lived, they were Tren de Aragua.. Tren de Aragua is one of the most feared gangs in Latin America: it was born in Venezuela around 2012, and the Miami murder is the first by the gang in the US ... A former Venezuelan police officer lay dead in his silver Toyota 4Runner in a...

Bukele's war on gangs is credited with slashing homicide rates while restoring security and dignity to citizens of what was once one of the world's most dangerous countries. There is no sign of Bukele's crackdown coming to an end any time soon. The president, who describes himself as the 'world's coolest dictator', appears to have swept to victory in last weekend's election, so far winning 83 percent of the vote. His war on El Salvador's gangs is cited as a major reason behind his popularity.

UNITED NATIONS — An unprecedented surge in gang violence is plaguing Haiti, with the number of victims killed, injured and kidnapped more than doubling last year, the U.N. special envoy for the conflict-wracked Caribbean nations said Thursday. In a grim briefing, Maria Isabel Salvador told the U.N. Security Council, “I cannot overstress the severity of the situation in Haiti, where multiple protracted crises have reached a critical point.” She said the 8,400 victims of gang violence documented by her U.N. office last year — a 122% rise from 2022 — were mainly targeted by gangs in the capital, Port-au-Prince. Some...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- At least 21 people have been shot, four fatally, in gun violence across Chicago this weekend, police said. A man was shot and killed Saturday night in the South Loop. The 32-year-old victim was found dead in the driver's seat of an SUV around 9:16 p.m. near South State Street and East Cermak Road, Chicago police said. He was shot more than once in the chest, police said. No one was in custody as police continue to investigate. Three people were shot, one fatally, in an exchange of gunfire on the city's Northwest Side early Saturday. Police...

President Joe Biden’s immigration crisis is hitting home in an all-new way. For border state residents, of course, the long, national nightmare has been ongoing since before Biden took office. More recently, Democratic-run cities like New York and Chicago have felt the pain. Now, upscale homes in what used to be considered safe neighborhoods are getting a taste, too. And one dangerous piece of technology is playing a role.

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -- Court records revealed that a fourth suspect has been arrested in connection to the brutal murder of a Phoenix man last month. According to arresting documents, 21-year-old Christopher Ibarra was arrested on Monday in connection to the death of 30-year-old Bernardo Pantaleon. Ibarra was arrested on Tuesday, but no details surrounding his arrest were immediately released. On Nov. 26, Pantaleon’s body was found with “significant trauma” on a trail near Mountain View Park, near 7th and Peoria avenues. Court paperwork revealed that he had been shot multiple times and that his body was mutilated. Injuries extended...

Gangland shootings and bombings that have plagued Sweden's biggest cities have spread to quieter suburbs and towns, shattering its reputation as a safe and peaceful nation.Half an hour north of central Stockholm, Upplands-Bro features lakeside boat clubs, copper-red wooden villas and apartments flanked by pine and spruce trees. But a 14-year-old boy was found dead in a forest here in August, and since January there have been several shootings and bombings targeting houses and apartments. "It's awful. We've [been] woken up by explosions in the neighbourhood and it's scary," says 42-year-old Anna Petterson, who lives in Bro and has...

It was a sinister attack that erupted after a simple road rage row. An innocent victim who was caught up in the crossfire; left with his hand severed by an axe amid the horror. The violence exploded on the Newbold Estate in Rochdale in 2017, where organised crime gang 'Adam' had a firm hold - wreaking havoc on the streets and instilling fear in the many innocent civilians living there. The victim, 18-year-old tree surgeon Cameron Brooksbank, was among his other colleagues who were set upon by the mob and attacked as he tried to diffuse the escalating volatility. The...

A FedEx tractor-trailer was blocked by several cars in a Memphis, Tennessee, intersection before dozens of people pillaged the back of the truck for packages, leaving boxes discarded all over the road during the brazen weekend theft. Video from the scene shows multiple people running through parked cars in the road toward the FedEx truck as the driver attempts to escape the ravagers who are carrying their loot. Multiple men allegedly used an unknown tool to open the safety latch on the truck’s sealed back doors and took numerous packages, the driver said, according to multiple local reports. When police...

THE son of federal judge Esther Salas has been killed and her husband critically wounded after a gunman dressed as a Fedex delivery driver ambushed them inside their home last night. Daniel Anderl, 20, was shot and killed Sunday evening after the killer entered the house in North Brunswick, New Jersey days after Salas took on an Epstein-linked case. There is no suggestion that the shootings are linked to any of the judge's cases. Her husband Mark Anderl - a 63-year-old criminal defense attorney - was also shot at their home and was taken to the hospital in critical condition,...

UPDATED: Sunday, November 5, 2023 8:15PM CHICAGO -- At least 34 people have been shot, seven fatally, in weekend gun violence across Chicago, police said. A child was shot and critically injured inside a South Side home on Sunday afternoon, Chicago police said. Earlier Sunday, a man was killed and another was wounded in another Englewood shooting, police said. The two were shot while standing on a sidewalk around 1:10 a.m. in the 7400 block of South Stewart Avenue, according to police. One man, whose age has not been reported, was fatally shot in the head and the other, a...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Six-time convicted felon William Groves remains in a lockup after prosecutors convinced a Cook County judge he's a danger to society. The 48-year-old is accused of opening fire in a crowd of people attending a Halloween party in the city's North Lawndale neighborhood, injuring 15 people. Groves, who had a pre-trial detention hearing on Tuesday, has arrests and convictions dating back to when he was 19 years old. He faces 15 counts of attempted murder and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon for the attack that happened early Sunday in the 1200 block of South...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- At least 15 people were shot at a Halloween party on the city's West Side early Sunday, Chicago police said. The shooting happened just after 1 a.m. in the 1200 block of South Pulaski Road in the Lawndale neighborhood., police said. There was a large gathering at the location to celebrate Halloween. Officers responded to the scene and observed a male suspect shooting, police said. The man fled on foot and was later arrested, and a firearm was recovered by officers. Six women and nine men were shot, police said. The victims' ages ranged from 26 to...

Nearly 30 children have gone missing in Cleveland in the first two weeks of May, in an “extraordinary” surge of disappearances in the area, officials said. Cleveland police said 27 kids have been reported missing between May 2 and May 16, as Newburgh Heights Police Chief John Majoy warns that the disappearances have reached unprecedented levels in 2023. “There’s always peaks and valleys with missing persons, but this year it seems like an extraordinary year,” Majoy, who serves as the board president of the Cleveland Missing nonprofit group, told Fox News. “For some reason, in 2023, we’ve seen a lot...