Savannah shooting: First details on Oglethorpe Mall suspects emerge after multiple injured
Gunfire erupted inside Oglethorpe Mall at approximately causing panic as shoppers fled or sheltered in stores. Videos shared on X captured crowds running and emergency responders treating victims, with at least two people injured near a jewelry store.
The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 574 described the scene as an 'active and dangerous situation', urging the public to avoid the area.
At least five victims were injured, with one in critical condition and four others transported to Memorial Health University Medical Center with minor to moderate injuries, according to local media. Chatham EMS confirmed five ambulances were dispatched. No fatalities have been reported, and victim identities remain undisclosed.
The SPD, supported by Chatham County Sheriff's Office and Georgia State Patrol, locked down the mall, evacuated shoppers, and cleared the premises, declaring no active threat by 6:37 PM.
No suspects have been publicly identified or apprehended and the shooter's status (at large or detained) remains unclear. The SPD has not released descriptions or confirmed the number of suspects involved. Gang-related reports
Sources cited by WJCL 22 News reported the shooting was gang-related, with 'members of the gangs shooting at each other.' This claim, while unconfirmed by SPD, aligns with Savannah's recent gang activity, including a US Attorney's Office indictment of 30 gang members in February 2025 for racketeering and firearms charges.
Oglethorpe Mall has seen prior shootings, including a 2020 incident inside Jimmy Jazz Shoe store, where two males fought, and one fired a shot, leaving a bullet hole. A 2022 parking lot shooting injured a 36-year-old man, with the suspect described as a young Black male with dreads, driving a blue Honda sedan. A 2024 shooting near the mall killed a woman, with no suspects identified.
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Indian Express
5 hours ago
- Indian Express
‘This should not happen to anyone': Indian-origin man exonerated 22 years later despite DNA proof
In November 2001, Gujarati-American Sandeep 'Sonny' Bharadia was around 400 km away from Thunderbolt, Georgia. Meanwhile, back in US town on the same day, a woman walked in on a burglar inside her house. The burglar sexually assaulted her at knifepoint and fled with her belongings in a stolen car. That stolen car belonged to Bharadia, whose family has roots in Padana village of Gujarat's Kutch district. He had called the police earlier to report that his 'acquaintance' Sterling Flint had 'disappeared with his car'. Despite his complaint, Bharadia was convicted for burglary and sexual assault in the Thunderbolt case in 2003. On May 16 this year, in a hearing that lasted less than a minute, Bharadia was exonerated by the very judge who had sentenced him in 2003. However, his exoneration came at a steep cost: 22 years in prison after being denied a retrial in 2004 despite having DNA evidence to prove his innocence. During the May 16 hearing, Bharadia said, 'This should not happen to anyone.' At this, the judge simply said: 'Okay.' Speaking to The Indian Express over videoconferencing from the US, Bharadia says, 'It is surreal. You wait for something for so long and believe it will happen, but circumstances are so overwhelming that you fight against hope.' Till October 2001, Bharadia was just another sheet metal worker in an air-conditioning workshop in Thunderbolt. He had just turned 27, had a girlfriend, earned a decent wage and spent his spare time in the gym. A month earlier, on September 11, 2001, New York's Twin Towers were destroyed in a terror attack. Then, November rolled in, bringing with it a 22-year-long nightmare for Bharadia. His stolen car and the assault-cum-robbery led the police to Flint, from whom they recovered the stolen goods. The victim too identified Flint as her attacker from a photo line-up. Bharadia's attorney said Flint had used his vehicle to commit two burglaries and was also involved in a high-speed chase with the police in the same vehicle before crashing it. Denying all accusations in the Thunderbolt case, Flint claimed Bharadia had given him the stolen goods for safe keeping. So the police organised a second photo line-up — only this time, they only put Bharadia's photo and not Flint's. This time, the victim identified Bharadia as her attacker, even though he looks nothing like Flint, a Black man, says his attorney. According to the Georgia Innocence Project (GIP), which helped overturn Bharadia's conviction, Flint pleaded guilty to burglary in exchange for immunity from the 'aggravated sodomy and sexual battery' charge and a statement against Bharadia. There was still no physical evidence against Bharadia, says GIP Senior Attorney Christina Cribbs, who, along with a pro bono counsel, filed an amended habeas corpus petition (used in cases of illegal detention) in December 2022. She adds that Flint and his girlfriend's 'incentivised' testimony, the 'unreliable' second photo line-up and a pair of blue batting gloves worn by the attacker — the only item the victim recalled in her police statement — lead to Bharadia's conviction for burglary, aggravated sodomy, aggravated sexual battery and theft by receiving on June 27, 2003, by the Senior Judge of Chatham County Superior Court of the Eastern Judicial Circuit. Bharadia says, 'I had given the investigators proof of my innocence: the calls I had made (that day), and my stops at Wendy's (a fast-food restaurant) and a gas station (around 11.45 pm). I was on (CCTV) cameras at these locations, but he (the judge) did not care. He just relied on this guy (Flint's) girlfriend (whose testimony said Bharadia had brought the goods stolen from the victim's house to hers).' Since the Georgia Bureau of Investigation required bodily fluids to conduct DNA tests and none were present, the gloves — that would eventually lead to Bharadia's exoneration — were not tested at the time of his trial. When his attorney reached out to the GIP, they suggested the 'touch' DNA test, then a cutting-edge procedure that tested for DNA from skin cells left on surfaces. Bharadia says, 'My attorney asked if I was sure because the results could be the final nail in my coffin. 'I am innocent,' I wrote back in big letters on a sheet of paper.' The attorney sent the glove to a laboratory in California, almost 4,000 km away, to obtain a DNA profile and compare it with a sample from Bharadia. The two DNAs were not a match. In 2004, the attorney moved a plea seeking a sample from Flint, but his plea was denied. Confident of his conviction being overturned after the DNA results, the development left Bharadia 'crushed'. He says, 'In TV shows, when a DNA test comes back negative, the person is set free. For me, there was hurdle after hurdle after hurdle. The judge even denied me a new trial.' The first breakthrough came only eight years later, in 2012, when the DNA profile matched with someone else after it was run through CODIS (the national DNA database): Flint. Bharadia's case then went all the way to the Georgia Supreme Court, which ultimately decided against him, partially on the grounds that his counsel had not insisted on a DNA test for the gloves during the 2003 trial, although 'touch' DNA testing was not routinely performed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation until 2015, over a decade after Bharadia's trial. The GIP and a pro bono counsel filed an amended habeas corpus plea in December 2022. An evidentiary hearing was held on June 20, 2023. On April 9, 2024, an order of Gwinnett County Judge Laura Tate overturned his conviction, stating that Bharadia's 'constitutional rights were violated'. Once again, his case was sent back to the Chatham County District Attorney's Office to determine whether it wanted to prosecute Bharadia. As the state's decision was awaited, he was released in November 2024. On May 16, 2025, the state dismissed all charges against him. Attorney Cribbs says, 'Although the court exonerated Bharadia in its final order, Flint was never arrested or held accountable for the crime despite the DNA evidence.' She says a new legislation that came into effect in the US on July 1 will make Bharadia eligible to move an application for compensation from the state for unlawful incarceration, 'but the process would be long'. Stating that his initial years in jail were 'full of turmoil', Bharadia says he faced attacks by aggressive prison gangs, including getting stabbed in the ear. Bharadia, who spent 22 years in a 'high-security prison', recalls, 'I was surrounded by hardened criminals. They possessed arms illegally, which they used to run gangs — African-Americans, Whites and Hispanics — in prison. I never met another Indian man in prison. I got stabbed in the ear once. My biggest fear was dying there. It was like trying to survive in a jungle:. Everybody had weapons, but if you get caught, you get (punished)…They (inmates) are aggressive. If you get anything more than they do — food, a coke or whatever — they want it' Then there was the ostracism from his own family. 'My sister, who stays in London, cut ties with me. Our relationship turned rocky after I went to prison. I think she knew I was innocent, but the scandal had affected her social standing. The hardest was losing my father 10 years ago. My mother says she saw him cry only once in the 45 years they were married — when I was arrested. Though we made peace just before he passed, I could not attend his funeral,' he says. Despite his Indian roots, Bharadia has never visited India. 'My family has not lived in Gujarat for generations now. Most of them are in London now. My father was born in Africa, my mother in Uganda. He moved to London in the early 1970s. They migrated to the US in 1984.' Since his exoneration, Bharadia has been living with his mother, nearly 75. Stating that he still 'hasn't fully processed the ordeal I went through' he says, 'She is glad to see me out of prison. Till date, I am not in touch with most of my family members, just an aunt and some of my father's relatives. People just walk away when they see a scandal, which affected my father. They succeed in life, while I ended up in prison.' In prison, he says, he spent his time reading books since words of encouragement were few and far between. 'I read books, like Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom. It spoke to me. I read nearly three books a week in jail. I stayed in touch with family through phones that other inmates had (smuggled in),' he says. One thing that helped Bharadia in jail was talking to people. 'One of these people is Jennifer Thompson, a friend, rape survivor and a bestselling author (of Picking Cotton, a memoir of her case). She became my go-to over the years, especially when I was depressed about my situation. Then there is Christina (Cribbs, his attorney).' On his future plans, Bharadia says, 'I saw my 20s, 30s and 40s go by in jail. I will be 51 soon. I grew up in a Gujarati-speaking household, but forgot the language in prison. Maybe I will pick up the language again. I also plan to write books. I already started writing one, Eastern Fathers, Western Sons, a few years back. It comes from my own challenges in my relationship with my father. He grew up in the East and I, in the West. We spoke different languages. I also plan to join a vocation that will help me support others, including trafficking victims, in fighting against similar injustices.'
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First Post
12 hours ago
- First Post
Drive-by shooting in Chicago: 4 killed, 14 others hospitalised; police look for shooter
Police said 13 women and five men ranging in age from 21 to 32 were shot, and that the dead included two men and two women. At least three were critically injured, added police read more Advertisement Officers work the scene of a shooting in Chicago on Wednesday. AP The upbeat mood in a busy Chicago neighborhood known for its restaurants and nightlife quickly turned into horror late Wednesday as shots were fired at a crowd from a fast-moving vehicle, killing four people. After the shots rang out, some people fell to the ground or screamed, witnesses said. 'I can only describe it as a war zone,' Chicago pastor Donovan Price, who responds to communities and people in crisis, told The Associated Press. 'Just mayhem and blood and screaming and confusion as people tried to find their friends and phones. It was a horrendous, tragic, dramatic scene.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The shooting was a cowardly act, said Larry Snelling, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department, and Mayor Brandon Johnson at a Thursday news conference. The shooting was isolated to a location rented out for a specific event, Snelling said. 'In a matter of seconds, they were able to shoot 18 people, taking four lives,' he said. Police said the driver immediately fled and that no one was in custody. Snelling asked the public to submit anonymous tips to help detectives identify suspects. Police said 13 women and five men ranging in age from 21 to 32 were shot, and that the dead included two men and two women. At least three were critically injured, police said Thursday. Those shot were taken to hospitals. Snelling said police are trying to determine a motive and that the venue is closed 'until we get to the bottom of this.' Snelling did not give an exact number of shooters but said police found two different calibers of casings and are still reviewing footage from the shooting. 'Clearly, there was some target in some way,' Snelling said. 'This wasn't some random shooting.' Price said people in the crowd outside Artis Restaurant and Lounge in the city's River North neighborhood told him they had been at an album release party for a rapper. Videos on social media showed a red carpet outside and guests mingling and dancing inside. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The Black and LGBTQ-owned Creole restaurant, which opened in April, posted on Instagram that it was created as a safe space 'where Black, Brown, Queer, and allied communities could gather, be celebrated, and feel at home in River North.' They said, 'what happened last night disrupted it in the most painful way.' Mello Buckzz, a rapper from Chicago's East Side whose fanbase is largely women, was performing at the restaurant for her album release party. She asked for prayers and expressed her anger and sadness on social media. 'My heart broke into so many pieces,' the artist said on Instagram hours after the shooting. Video showed people waiting and crying outside of hospitals. Other images showed multiple police and ambulances at the scene of the shooting. Price expressed sadness that the shooting took place outside of a local business aiming to make a difference in the community and just days after city-wide Pride month celebrations. 'Folks need places like that now,' Price said. 'It's a rough world.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The shooting took place days before the Fourth of July weekend, when Chicago and other major cities often see a surge in gun violence, despite overall decreases in gun violence in Chicago in recent years. Last year, over 100 people were shot, including at least 19 deaths, during the holiday weekend. Mayor Brandon Johnson said at the time that the violence 'has left our city in a state of grief.'
Indian Express
18 hours ago
- Indian Express
What is the Mann Act, the 114-year-old law used to convict Sean ‘Diddy' Combs?
Sean 'Diddy' Combs, the iconic music mogul and entrepreneur, was convicted Wednesday under the federal Mann Act, a 114-year-old anti-sex trafficking law originally intended to curb 'immoral' behaviour and prostitution across state lines. Though Combs was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges, he was found guilty of transporting people across state lines for paid sexual encounters, including former romantic partners and male sex workers. The case marks one of the most high-profile modern convictions under the Mann Act that has previously ensnared figures like R. Kelly, Ghislaine Maxwell, Chuck Berry, and more than a century ago, Jack Johnson, the first Black heavyweight boxing champion. The Mann Act was passed by the US Congress in 1910 and named after Republican Representative James Robert Mann of Illinois. It was originally known as the 'White-Slave Traffic Act', intended to crack down on forced prostitution and sex trafficking. It criminalised the transport of 'any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.' Initially aimed at addressing what was perceived as the forced trafficking of women (often sensationalised as 'white slavery'), the law's vague wording led to numerous controversial prosecutions. According to Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute, the statute was later used to criminalise interracial relationships, consensual sex, and other forms of behaviour labelled as 'immoral' by early 20th-century standards. Combs was convicted of transporting individuals across state lines for prostitution, specifically involving two women: R&B singer Cassie and another woman who testified under the pseudonym Jane. Cassie said Combs pressured her into degrading sex marathons with strangers and beat her when she tried to leave one such event. Jane described a similar incident, saying Combs assaulted her when she refused to participate. Both women testified that some of the individuals involved were paid for sexual performances. Though the court did not convict Combs on the more severe counts of sex trafficking, the Mann Act conviction still carries serious penalties and reputational damage. The Mann Act was originally aimed at stopping the transport of women and girls for prostitution or 'immoral purposes.' It gained notoriety for its use in controversial cases, most notably that of Jack Johnson, the first Black world heavyweight boxing champion. Johnson was convicted in 1913 for traveling with a white girlfriend who was a sex worker. President Donald Trump posthumously pardoned Johnson in 2018, calling the conviction a 'racially motivated injustice.' A 1917 Supreme Court ruling expanded the act's interpretation, allowing prosecutions for consensual sexual activity under the definition of 'immoral purpose.' In 1986, the Mann Act was amended to become gender-neutral, removing outdated phrases like 'debauchery' and 'immoral purpose' and replacing them with more legally precise language: 'any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense.' The Act was also updated in 1978 and 1994 to focus specifically on the sexual exploitation of minors and child trafficking. Today, the Mann Act is primarily used to prosecute interstate prostitution and child sex crimes, rather than consensual adult relationships. Still, its past continues to cast a shadow. Despite these reforms, Combs' lawyers sought to dismiss the charge, arguing that the Mann Act still carried racial baggage. Prosecutors pushed back, pointing out that most of Combs' accusers are people of color and that the current use of the law is based strictly on the nature of the criminal acts. (With Inputs from Associated Press)
