Suspect in Michigan Walmart stabbings is charged with a rarely used state terrorism count
DETROIT (AP) — A Michigan prosecutor filed a terrorism charge Monday against a man accused of stabbing 11 people at a Walmart store. The charge has been rarely used in the state's courts since it was adopted more than 20 years ago during the national outrage over 9/11.
Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Noelle Moeggenberg said she believes the charge fits because the weekend attack was intended to 'put fear in the entire community and to change how maybe we operate on a daily basis.'
But proving that could be difficult. Bradford Gille, 42, has a history of mental health problems. A judge signed an order Friday, the day before the attack, telling police to find him and take him to a hospital because he was considered a risk to himself or others. Police said they were unable to find him.
Moeggenberg also filed attempted murder charges, one for each Walmart stabbing victim. A not-guilty plea was entered for Gille, and bond was set at $100,000.
A look at Michigan's terrorism law:
Lawmakers respond to 9/11
The Michigan Legislature in 2002 created and amended a stack of anti-terrorism laws after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington.
A terrorism crime is defined as an act "intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population or influence or affect the conduct of government or a unit of government through intimidation or coercion.' A conviction carries a sentence of up to life in prison.
'I don't see the prosecutor being able to establish this,' sad Margaret Raben, a Detroit-area lawyer who has served as president of a statewide association of defense attorneys. 'It seems to have been a random thing, and the fact that he injured 11 people doesn't make it any less random."
Gille's mental health will be an issue. He'll likely be evaluated to determine if he understands the charges and can assist his lawyer. Experts will also determine if he can be held criminally responsible.
In 2016, Gille was accused of smashing a cemetery vault that had not yet been covered with grass, one of many encounters with local police over many years. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity, according to Emmet County court records.
'He never should have been out on the street. It was just sad,' Karl Crawford, superintendent of Greenwood Cemetery in Petoskey, Michigan, told The Associated Press.
School shooter convicted of terrorism
There's no dispute that a terrorism charge is rare in Michigan. Wayne County, the largest in the state, has never used it, according to Maria Miller, a spokesperson for the prosecutor.
The biggest case: the 2021 Oxford High School shooting in which four students were killed and more were wounded. Ethan Crumbley, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, pleaded guilty to terrorism, murder and other crimes, and is serving a life sentence. He had planned the attack.
It was the first time that a school shooter was convicted of terrorism in the United States, Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said.
'The sheer force of destruction, violence, trauma and murder the shooter caused that day did not stop at the doorway of Oxford High School. It was carried through the doors and out into the community," McDonald said.
___
Associated Press reporter Corey Williams contributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Sean Combs' 'Victim-3' Skipped Trial, Now Supports Bail As Defense Tries Again To Get Diddy Out Before Sentencing: 'He Has Not Been Violent For Many Years'
Donald Trump may be hedging on Sean Combs getting a pardon, but the ex-girlfriend and AWOL government witness who skipped the sex-trafficking trial of the convicted Bad Boy Records founder now thinks Diddy's changed, poses no threat, and should be out on a $50 million bond ASAP. 'Our relationship, like many, was not always perfect, we experienced ups and downs, and mistakes were made but he was willing to acknowledge his mistakes and make better decisions in the future,' declares the self revealing Virginia Huynh a.k.a. 'Gina' a.k.a. Victim-3 in a letter included with correspondence from Combs' defense team filed today in federal court. More from Deadline John Oliver Urges End To U.S. Complicity In Israel's Blockade: "Gaza Is Being Starved By Israel" Trump Goes Looney Over "Sleazebag" Charlamagne Tha God's Epstein & GOP Coup Remarks On Fox News Senate Confirms Jeanine Pirro To Serve As U.S. Attorney For D.C. Cited in the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York's indictment of Combs on racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution as one of the accused primary victims, Victim-3 was scheduled to testify for the feds along with Victim-1 Cassie Ventura and Victim-2 'Jane' in the May 12 starting trial in Manhattan. However, just days before the jury trial in front of Judge Arun Subramanian was beginning, Victim-3 was nowhere to be found and wasn't responding to prosecutors' attempts to contact her or her lawyer. Risking throwing the whole matter into chaos, the former Combs girlfriend's absence was noted by attorneys and witnesses alike repeatedly over the more than a month of trial. 'Gina, though she will not be testifying, is a main character in this trial,' prosecutor Christy Slavik stated at one point of the abuse and assaults Victim-3 allegedly suffered. Identifying herself publicly now at a pivotal time for Combs, who in early July was only found guilty of two lesser counts of transportation to engage in prostitution and is set to be sentenced on October 3, Huynh started seeing the 'I Need A Girl' performer in 2014. Huynh and Combs' relationship caused tensions with both Ventura (who dated him from 2007 to 2018, with Combs alleging raping her after they broke up) and 'Jane' (who dated Diddy from 2021 to 2024) as sometimes harrowing testimony of drug driven and filmed 'freak-off' sex sessions with male escorts, horrible violence by admitted domestic abuser Combs and more laid bare. Still that alleged maltreatment and exploitation seems cast aside in Huynh's letter Sunday. 'Over the years that followed he made visible efforts to become a better person and to address the harm he had caused,' she says of the much accused and much sued Combs, advocating for him being sprung from the Metropolitan Detention Center, where he had been in custody since his September 2024 arrest, on a $50 million bond. 'By the time our relationship ended, he embodied an energy of love, patience and gentleness that was markedly different from his past behavior. To my knowledge, he has not been violent for many years, and he has been committed to being a father first.' In a direct blow to prosecutors' POV and to Judge Subramanian's own repeated opinion in denying previous bond requests by Combs' lawyers, Huynh adds: 'I am writing because I do not view Mr. Combs as a danger to me or to the community.' At the end of the one-page letter she takes a fairly large leap of faith: 'Allowing him to be at home will also support the healing process for all involved.' Without direct mention of Victim-3, the once Maurene Comey-led prosecution (Trump's DOJ fired her suddenly late last month) has already put their difference of opinion and facts in the docket. 'The trial record is replete with evidence of the defendant's acts of violence towards others,' the feds said in a July 31 letter to Judge Subramanian pushing back on the Marc Agnifilo- and Teny Gerago-led defense's latest move to get their client out. Again, in correspondence filed before Huynh's letter Sunday, the SDNY also counter the notion that Combs has changed in recent years. 'More recently, the defendant brutally attacked Jane in June 2024, also in the context of a Freak Off,' they pinpoint of Combs, an abuse episode that would be months after Ventura's quickly settled lawsuit ($20 million) against him and months after federal officials had raided homes of his on the East and West Coast. 'As Jane testified at trial, after she initiated a physical confrontation with the defendant, she repeatedly locked herself in rooms in her home to protect herself from the defendant.' The defense today waved off prosecutors allegations about 'Gina,' the reported June 2024 attack on 'Jane' and where Combs himself is at now. 'If any of this was true,' the now eight-lawyer deep defense says in a nuanced but also heavily redacted eight page letter of the abuse and freak-offs that allegedly rained down on Victim-3, 'the government would have called this individual, but without credible evidence the Court should not consider this to continue to detain Combs.' Reiterating the preemptive acknowledgement they used at trial, Agnifilo, Geragos, Alexandra Shapiro, Jason D. Driscoll, Nicole Westmoreland, Xavier Donaldson, Brian Steel and Anna Estevao make sure to affirm Combs has been on the straight and narrow since his arrest and detainment. 'At trial, the defense admitted violence in connection with decades-old violence, and an incident of assault for which Combs was first attacked repeatedly in June of 2024,' they said Sunday. 'But Combs has not participated in any violence for the past 11-months, demonstrating to the Court that even in the conditions he is currently subject to, where there is 'unchecked violence' surrounding him, he will not commit assault,' the defense went on to say. 'He is sober, has been committed to bettering himself with therapy (as established in the trial record) and is committed to doing everything possible to support himself and his family.' The high profile defense goes on to exclaim: 'That Sean Combs has been free of violence of every sort is important to understanding that man he is today. He has shown nothing but respect for the criminal justice system and everyone in it, from his first minute in jail until now. There is no reason to believe he will be violent or threatening to anyone in any manner.' The U.S. Attorney's office for the SDNY did not respond to Deadline's request for comment Sunday on the defense's latest letter and the correspondence from Huynh. With just two months to go before the 20-year stint facing Combs is actually sentenced (he won't get anywhere near that), it seems almost ludicrous for him to be let out at this point, especially with time served clearly to be part of what he gets. Almost, ludicrous but less so because the defense are already asking for a new trial and plan to formally appeal as soon as Judge Subramanian hands down the sentence in October. till, having rejected bail requests for almost a year and as recently as when Combs was convicted on July 2, Judge Subramanian has said he will entertain the notion one more time — whether today's letters have any impact beyond public opinion is the wild card — unless Trump really does pardon the 'half-innocent' Combs beforehand. Best of Deadline 2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Emmys, Oscars, Grammys & More
CBS News
39 minutes ago
- CBS News
Police arrest alleged gunman who shot at driver that crashed into East Hollywood crowd
Police have arrested the alleged gunman who they say opened fire on the suspect who drove his car into a crowd outside of an East Hollywood club two weeks ago. After an extensive search that began on July 20, Los Angeles police announced that 38-year-old Efrain Villalobos was arrested on Sunday afternoon in Redondo Beach. They did not provide further details on his arrest, but said that his case would be presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office for filing in coming days. Villalobos was wanted for opening fire on 29-year-old Orange County man Fernando Ramirez moments after he drove his car into a large crowd gathered outside of the Vermont Hollywood, which is located near the intersection of Vermont Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard. Some of the people in the crowd pulled Ramirez from the car and began to attack him, at which point investigators allege Villalobos produced a gun and fired at Ramirez. Ramirez was wounded in the shooting after suffering a gunshot wound to the buttocks. He was hospitalized then arrested and has since been charged with 74 criminal charges for the crash, which left more than three dozen people injured. He remains behind bars since his arrest and is being held in lieu of $37 million bail. LAPD detectives had just recently identified Villalobos as the alleged shooter last week. "Villalobos is facing serious felony charges in connection with the shooting of the driver and should be considered armed and dangerous," police said in a news release on Friday.
New York Times
39 minutes ago
- New York Times
Woman Arrested After Toddler Found Stowed in Suitcase in New Zealand
The authorities in New Zealand charged a woman with child neglect on Sunday after a 2-year-old girl was discovered alive in a suitcase in the luggage compartment of a bus. The child was found when the bus made a routine stop at Kaiwaka, a town about 50 miles northwest of Auckland, Detective Inspector Simon Harrison of the New Zealand police said in a statement. The driver noticed the suitcase moving after a passenger asked to open the luggage compartment, the statement said. The driver opened the suitcase and found the girl. A 27-year-old woman was arrested and has been charged with ill treatment or neglect of a child, the police statement said. The charge carries a potential jail term of up to 10 years under New Zealand law. The police said they have not ruled out further charges. Officials did not say how the woman was connected to the child. 'The little girl was reported to be very hot, but otherwise appeared physically unharmed,' Mr. Harrison said. She was transported to the hospital to undergo an extensive medical assessment. Mr. Harrison commended the bus driver's quick actions, saying that he had prevented 'what could have been a far worse outcome.' The woman appeared at a district court in Auckland on Monday, local news media reported. The judge granted an order that the woman's name not be disclosed publicly. She did not enter a plea, and the court ordered that she remain in police custody, local news media reported. She will appear in court again on Tuesday after undergoing a psychiatric evaluation. InterCity, the bus company, which runs long-haul buses across New Zealand, said in a statement that it was aware of an incident involving a passenger on one of its buses on Sunday. 'No one was physically harmed during the incident, and the service resumed,' the company said.
