At least 217 people have been charged with a federal crime, and more than 1,000 arrests have been made in major metropolitan cities since the Department of Justice launched Operation Legend in July, U.S. Attorney General William Barr announced on Wednesday.

Nearly 400 firearms have been seized by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

Barr launched Operation Legend on July 8 as “a sustained, systematic and coordinated law enforcement initiative in which federal law enforcement agencies work in conjunction with state and local law enforcement officials to fight violent crime,” the DOJ said in a release.

MURDER CHARGE ANNOUNCED IN KILLING OF LEGEND TALIFERRO, 4, WHOSE DEATH SPARKED OPERATION LEGEND

It was named in honor of 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was shot and killed while he slept in the early morning of June 29 in Kansas City, Mo. Last week, a Jackson County prosecutor announced second-degree murder charges against his suspected killer, 22-year-old Ryson Ellis, who was being held in Tulsa County Jail.

LeGend Taliferro, 4, was shot and killed while he slept in the early morning of June 29 in Kansas City, Mo. (Courtesy of FBI)

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“LeGend is a symbol of the many hundreds of innocent lives that have been taken in the recent upsurge of crime in many of our urban areas,” Barr said at a press conference in Kansas City. “His life mattered and the lives of all of those victims matter. His name should be remembered and his senseless death, like those of all the other innocent victims in this recent surge, should be unacceptable to all Americans.”

Barr said the federal government has dispatched to nine U.S. cities more than 1,000 additional agents from the FBI, ATF, Drug Enforcement Administration, and U.S. Marshals Service to work shoulder to shoulder with state and local partners on homicide and assault squads to crack cases.

The government has also allocated $78.5 million in grants to support additional police positions, hire more prosecutors, and improve technology to solve firearms crimes.

“We saw one result of those efforts last week when Kansas City Police arrested the suspected murderer of LeGend,” Barr said. “This arrest will not bring LeGend back but it will make his case an example of how we can come together to take violent criminals off the street and to make our communities safer.”

The spike in violent crime, according to Barr, may have a lot of reasons, including the “pent up aggression prompted by state and local quarantine orders,” the premature release of dangerous criminals by the courts and prosecutors, and the efforts “to demonize police and defund their work.”

“Operation Legend is the heart of the federal government’s response to this upturn in violent crime. Its mission is to save lives, solve crimes and take violent offenders off the streets before they can claim more victims,” Barr said. “Rather than demonizing and defunding our police, we are supporting and strengthening our law enforcement partners at the state and local level.

First launched in Kansas City, Operation Legend expanded to Chicago and Albuquerque on July 22, to Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee on July 29, to St. Louis and Memphis on Aug. 6, and to Indianapolis on Aug. 14.

The latest figures on charges and arrests do not include Indianapolis, whose operation was first announced last Friday. The arrests of more than 1,000 people include those charged in state and local courts.

In Kansas City, a total of 43 defendants have been charged with federal crimes. Sixty-one have been charged with federal charges in Chicago, 16 in Albuquerque, 32 in Cleveland, 22 in Detroit, 11 in Milwaukee, 25 in St. Louis, and 7 in Memphis, Tenn.

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The charges include illegal possession of a firearm, possession with intent to distribute controlled substances or narcotics, drug trafficking, theft, carjacking, bank robbery, illegal re-entry of an alien in connection with a widespread drug conspiracy, and making false statements to licensed firearm dealers.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/doj-operation-legend-barr-200-federal-crimes-1000-arrests

The post Operation Legend: More than 200 charged with federal crimes, 1,000 arrested, AG Barr announces first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The post Trump discusses plan to combat rising crime across the US first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

President Trump called the attack “an act of pure evil” and said the FBI and Department of Homeland Security are working with local authorities in the investigation. Mr. Trump spoke with Nevada’s governor and the mayor and sheriff of Las Vegas, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said. He will hold a moment of silent for the victims Monday afternoon and will travel to Las Vegas on Wednesday.

Aaron Rouse, the FBI special agent in charge in Las Vegas, said investigators had found “no connection with an international terrorist group” during a press conference Monday morning.

Country music star Jason Aldean was performing Sunday night at the end of the three-day Route 91 Harvest Festival when the gunman opened fire across the street from inside the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino.

SWAT teams quickly descended on the concert and the casino, and officers used explosives to get into the hotel room where the suspect was inside, authorities said.

The shooter: Stephen Paddock

The gunman was found dead at the scene and was identified by Lombardo as Stephen Paddock, 64, from Mesquite, Nevada. Investigators are still trying to discern Paddock’s motive.

A SWAT team found Paddock dead with at least 10 rifles in his hotel room. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) says it is conducting an “urgent trace” on the weapons to determine their origins. At a press conference Monday morning, Lombardo said Paddock brought the weapons into the hotel himself and used “a device similar to a hammer” to break the window.

The U.S. Homeland Security Department says there is no “specific credible threat” involving other public venues in the U.S. after the shooting.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed on Monday that Paddock was acting on behalf of the group, but offered no evidence. The terror group said in a statement released by its pseudo-news agency Amaq, citing anonymous sources, that Paddock converted to Islam several months ago and carried out the attack “in response to calls to target states of the coalition” battling ISIS.

U.S. officials dispute ISIS’ claim, telling CBS News there are no signs that Paddock had ties to radical Islamic groups or showed signs of being radicalized.

Lombardo said Paddock was not known to law enforcement in Las Vegas.

The shooting

Aldean, the performer, was in the middle of a song when the shots came rapidly: Pop-pop-pop-pop. Video of the shooting then showed Aldean stopping and the crowd getting quiet as if they were unsure of what had just happened. The gunman paused and then fired another volley of muzzle flashes from the gold glass casino as more victims fell to the ground while others fled in panic. Some said they hid behind concession stands and other crawled under parked cars.

Gail Davis, who was at the Las Vegas outdoor country music concert Sunday night, witnessed the terrifying scene.

“We went there to see Jason Aldean,” she said. “We were standing, like, maybe halfway up. He came on and about 20 to 10, he sang about five songs and all of a sudden we heard about three or four little pop, pop, pops, and everybody looked around and said, ‘Oh, it’s just firecrackers.’ And then we heard pop, pop, pop, and it just kept going and going, and my husband said, “That’s not firecrackers. That sounds like a semi-automatic rifle.’ And then everybody started screaming and started to run.

“I looked over to my right where this girl had been standing right beside me, and she had fallen — first, she stood there and she grabbed her stomach and she looked at her hands and her hands were all bloody, and she was wearing, like, a little crop top and, you know, blue jean shorts and cowboy boots, and she looked at her hands and her hands were bloody, and she just kind of screamed and she just fell back.”

Kodiak Yazzie, 36, said the music stopped temporarily when the first shots began and the tune even started up again before the second round of pops sent the performers ducking for cover and fleeing the stage.

“It was the craziest stuff I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” Yazzie said. “You could hear that the noise was coming from west of us, from Mandalay Bay. You could see a flash-flash-flash-flash.”

Thousands in the crowd fled as the bullets ran rampant. Monique Dumas from British Columbia, Canada, said she was at the concert, six rows from the stage when she thought she heard a bottle breaking, and then a burst of popping sounds that may have been fireworks. She said as she made her way out, it was “organized chaos” as everyone fled. “It took four to five minutes and all that time there was gunfire.”

In addition to Paddock, police said they located a woman connected to Paddock. Marilou Danley, 62, was overseas at the time of the shooting and has spoken to authorities. Police said Danley was not believed to have been involved.

“It’s a devastating time,” Lombardo said.

Police shut down the usually busy Las Vegas Boulevard and authorities across the state and federal ranks converged onto the scene as dozens of ambulances ferried those struck by gunfire. Nearby Interstate 15 and flights at McCarran International Airport were briefly closed. Hospital emergency rooms were jammed with victims delivered by ambulance. Others loaded the wounded into their cars and drove them to hospitals.

Jose Baggett, 31, of Las Vegas, said he and a friend were in the lobby of the Luxor hotel-casino — directly north of the festival — when people began to run, almost like in a stampede. He said people were crying and as he and his friend started walking away minutes later, they encountered police checkpoints where officers were carrying shotguns and assault rifles.

“There were armored personnel vehicles, SWAT vehicles, ambulances, and at least a half-mile of police cars,” Baggett said.

Among those killed were two off-duty police officers who were attending the concert. Two on-duty officers were wounded, including one who underwent surgery and was upgraded to stable condition early Monday, police said.

Hours after the shooting, Aldean posted on Instagram that he and his crew were safe and said the shooting was “beyond horrific.”

“It hurts my heart that this would happen to anyone who was just coming out to enjoy what should have been a fun night,” Aldean said.

The reaction

The shooting prompted reactions from politicians on both sides of the aisle in Washington and around the country.

Mr. Trump said the nation must stay unified. He said that although “feel such great anger at the senseless murder of our fellow citizens, it is our love that binds us today and always will.”

“In moments of tragedy and horror, America comes together as one. And it always has,” Mr Trump said Monday morning at the White House. “Our unity cannot be shattered by evil” and “our bonds cannot be broken by violence.”

Mr. Trump also issued a proclamation ordering flags be flown at half-staff until sunset Oct. 6.

The proclamation covers flags at the White House and all public buildings, military posts, naval stations and naval vessels throughout the U.S. and all territories. It also extends to embassies, military facilities and other sites overseas.

At the daily White House briefing on Monday afternoon, Sanders, the press secretary, said now is not the time to talk about gun control.

“There’s a time and place for a political debate, but now is the time to unite as a country,” Sanders said. She said Mr. Trump is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment.

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise says he agrees with Mr. Trump that the shooting  was “an act of pure evil.”

Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, returned to the Capitol last week after he was shot and critically wounded in June as he and fellow Republicans practiced for a congressional baseball game. Scalise said he prays for the victims of the shooting and that the whole nation grieves with their loved ones.

Scalise encouraged people across America to stand together in solidarity to support the Las Vegas community, “especially by giving blood and encouraging others to do the same. In the face of unspeakable evil, our whole nation must respond with countless acts of kindness, warmth and generosity.”

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said it’s time for Congress to do something about mass shootings. Murphy, a leading gun-control proponent, said mass shootings had become an “epidemic” in America.

He said “it is positively infuriating that my colleagues in Congress are so afraid of the gun industry that they pretend there aren’t public policy responses to this epidemic.”

Other Democrats condemned the shooting but did not specifically urge gun-control legislation. Action in the Republican-controlled Congress is unlikely.

House Speaker Paul Ryan ordered flags over the Capitol lowered to half-staff and said “the whole country stands united in our shock, in our condolences and in our prayers.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/las-vegas-shooting-last-night-stephen-paddock-live-updates/

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