CDC shooter blamed COVID vaccine for depression; union demands statement against misinformation
The 30-year-old suspect, who died during the incident, had also tried to get into the CDC's headquarters in Atlanta but was stopped by guards before driving to a pharmacy across the street and opening fire, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Saturday.
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Winnipeg Free Press
5 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice's disciplinary hearing set for Sept. 30, AP source says
Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice will have a disciplinary hearing with the NFL on Sept. 30 in New York, a person with knowledge of the schedule told The Associated Press on Thursday. The person, speaking on condition of anonymity because the details haven't been announced, said Sue L. Robinson is scheduled to hear Rice's case. Robinson is a former U.S. district judge who serves as the disciplinary officer jointly appointed by the NFL and NFL Players Association. It's the second time under the 2020 collective bargaining agreement that the league and the players' union haven't agreed on length of discipline, sending the case to Robinson. She presided over Deshaun Watson's case in 2022. Rice still has to serve a 30-day jail sentence in the future for causing a chain-reaction crash last year on a Dallas highway that left multiple people injured. He already agreed to pay more than $1 million in a settlement with the victims. Rice is returning from a knee injury that cut short his sophomore season in the NFL following a standout rookie campaign. He would be eligible to play the first four games, including a Super Bowl rematch against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2, before his hearing. ESPN was first to report the date of Rice's upcoming hearing. Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. ____ AP NFL:
Winnipeg Free Press
5 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Fact File: Canadian misidentified as CDC headquarters shooter
Social media posts falsely claimed a Canadian teen, Silas Kruger, was responsible for a shooting at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta, Ga., on Friday that left a police officer and the suspect dead. In fact, authorities said 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White is the suspected shooter. Kruger's father, a Saskatchewan-based contractor and social media influencer, said his son lives in Canada and is the victim of an online troll group. THE CLAIM The man who attacked the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta, Ga., on Friday died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after killing DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose, authorities said. As the shooting unfolded Friday, some social media posts misidentified the suspect as Silas Kruger. The shooting happened near the campus of Emory University, and several posts to the X platform, formerly Twitter, claimed Kruger was the gunman and died at the scene. A TikTok about the shooting with more than 4.5 million plays and 500,000 likes named Kruger in its hashtag. THE FACTS The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) identified Patrick Joseph White, 30, as the shooter. The agency provided The Canadian Press with an undated handout of White's driver's licence photo. Police said White fired more than 180 shots at the CDC headquarters and wanted to send a message against the COVID-19 vaccine. In a press release Tuesday, the GBI said White verbalized thoughts of suicide and interacted with law enforcement shortly before the shooting, but had no criminal history. Kruger's father is Murray Kruger, a Saskatchewan-based contractor and social media influencer with 2.9 million followers on Instagram. Kruger's social media posts indicate his son graduated from high school in June. The Canadian Press reached out to the family and will update this fact check if it receives a response. In a series of X posts after the shooting, Kruger said his son was the target of online trolls. Responding to a now-deleted post, Kruger wrote, 'This is our son and we live in Canada. We have been victims of a Discord troll group for 3 years and this is their doing,' adding the group made fake accounts of his son and father. An X account called 'The Exposure' posted a video of the elder Kruger addressing claims about his son's supposed involvement in the shooting. He said the family is in contact with cybercrime units in the United States and Canada, including the RCMP's National Cybercrime Coordination Centre. With files from The Associated Press. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 14, 2025.
Global News
15 hours ago
- Global News
‘Significant crisis': Number of violent incidents reported in Ontario's schools grows
The number of violent incidents in Ontario's classrooms has skyrocketed in recent years, according to new data obtained by Global News, leading to calls for the Ford government to spend more on the education system. Years' worth of data shows the level of violence reported by school boards to the Ministry of Education has risen by 77 per cent since the Progressive Conservatives took office, with more than 4,400 incidents reported in the 2023-24 year alone. The rate of violent incidents has risen annually since the 2018-19 school year, with the exception of the COVID-19 pandemic, when school boards were closed for long stretches. The information, obtained by Global News using freedom of information laws, has led to renewed calls from teachers and opposition politicians for the government to address what some call a growing 'crisis.' 'It confirms what parents and educators have been saying for some time — that there is a significant crisis of violence in our classrooms and the violence is getting worse over time,' NDP MPP Chandra Pasma said. Story continues below advertisement The Ministry of Education acknowledged the numbers were increasing. 'To address rising violence in our schools and communities, our government has increased funding for school safety initiatives to the highest in Ontario history, including more funding to hire psychologists, social workers, child/youth workers and educational assistants to enhance direct services for students,' a spokesperson said. More than 4,400 incidents last year A summary of all the violence incidents reported to the government by Ontario's school boards over the past seven years shows a significant increase, especially since the pandemic. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy In 2018-19, schools reported 2,499 incidents across the province over the course of the academic year. The next year, it rose to 3,237. The figures dropped to just 993 during the 2020-21 year and 2,866 the year after, as the pandemic wound up and school returned to a normal schedule. Story continues below advertisement By 2022-23, the numbers spiked up to 4,414 violent incidents through the year. Last year, officials saw a marginal increase, taking the total to a recent record of 4,424. Use the chart above to explore the total number of incidents reported in Ontario, as well as a board-by-board breakdown. Note that the Y-axis will change depending on your selection. The Peel District School Board reported the highest number of violent incidents in the 2023-24 year, with 431. That was a drop from the year before, when Peel's 717 violent incidents made up 16 per cent of every altercation reported in the entire province. The Toronto District School Board, the largest in the country, had the second-highest number of incidents in 2023-24 at 410. Halton District School Board also appeared high in the statistics with 237. Story continues below advertisement Martha Hradowy, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, said those in classrooms had been noticing the increase for some time. 'Our members are reporting to us that the level of respect for teachers, for education workers, has seen a steady decline for the last number of years,' she said. Last year, an OSSTF survey of members came to the same conclusion. It found teachers were struggling with a surge of violent attacks, including biting, hitting and kicking, as well as students using furniture to harm staff. The survey included the anonymized accounts of high school teachers. 'For the first time in my years as an educator, I dreaded coming to work every day,' one is quoted as saying in the study. 'I was starting to have severe anxiety and heart palpitations…I have a lot of skills, a lot of training…but what it came down to was there were not enough supports to meet the needs of those children in the classroom.' Calls to increase funding Chandra said the number of violent incidents in Ontario's classrooms was ultimately an issue of funding — something she accused the government of shying away from. Story continues below advertisement 'It's about children whose needs are not being met,' she said. 'We have a mental health crisis in our schools, but we don't have enough mental health professionals, so kids are asking for help and then they're not getting any until the following school year. We're closing special education programs, and so EAs are running from one crisis to the next, after the crisis has already happened.' The Ministry of Education suggested a planned increased role for police in classrooms would help. 'The rise in school violence also coincides with the shortsighted decision of many school boards across the province, starting in 2017, to end School Resource Officer programs in schools,' the spokesperson said. 'This is why our government has introduced measures that will require school boards to work with police services to develop School Resource Officer and youth engagement programs that will help foster positive relationships between students and law enforcement while making schools safer.' Pasma said addressing the rate of violence in schools was about increasing support for children, and paying the cost of hiring more staff to do that. 'Parents and teachers know the solution to this is providing the supports,' she said. 'It's having the investments to have additional caring adults in our schools. And until we have that, unfortunately, we're going to see the crisis continue to worsen.'
