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American Press
a day ago
- American Press
'We see you': Joint operation to combat recent gun violence nets 13 arrests
A joint operation between the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office, Lake Charles Police and Louisiana State Police to address the recent gun violence in the community has netted 13 arrests in the past few weeks — and Sheriff Stitch Guillory has a message for those who are in possession of stolen firearms and are bragging about it online: 'We see you.' Over a six-week period between June and August, six shootings were reported within the parish. Four resulted in fatalities. In June, LCPD responded to a fatal shooting in the 200 block of North 1st Avenue and CPSO investigated the death of a man whose body was discovered on the side of the road near the 6700 block of U.S. 90 riddled with gunshot wounds. In July, CPSO investigated a fatal shooting at the Lake Charles Event Center Seawall, a Fourth of July shooting in the 1100 block of Allen Street in DeQuincy, and a shooting in the parking lot of Cowboys Night Club. On Aug. 5, LCPD responded to a fatal shooting in the parking lot of the On The Rocks bar — which is across the street from the McNeese State University Legacy Center. Guillory said the joint operation was underway before the On The Rocks shooting. 'We're not being reactive, we are proactive,' he said. 'Getting guns off our street and targeting criminals in and around local bar establishments where we know we're having problems (led to the operation). We decided to get ahead of the curve, it just so happened that the homicide at On The Rocks happened afterward.' Police Chief Shawn Caldwell said the arrests range from a 'variety of gun charges, a variety of drug charges and some traffic charges, as well.' During the arrests, seven illegally possessed firearms, more than 400 grams of marijuana, 12 Xanax pills and nine pressed Fentanyl pills were recovered. 'We take this serious. We're going to go out there, we're going to identify these people and we're going to arrest them,' Caldwell said. 'When we're done with that, we're going to turn them over to the DA.' District Attorney Stephen Dwight said two prosecutors on his team have been assigned to the joint operation to lend support and answer questions on searches and seizures. 'This is what the community wants to see; this is what we want to see,' Dwight said. 'We're getting guns off our streets and drugs off our streets and we're prepared to take these cases and run them through the judicial system.' Guillory said among the firearms confiscated was an AR-15. 'There's no purpose for that,' he said. 'What are you going to do with an AR-15?' To those college students fearful of patronizing local bars after their classes because of the recent violence, the sheriff said there has been no problems inside any of the facilities. 'It's just been in the parking lots, after they're closed,' he said. 'The bars themselves are safe.' Local ordinances require area bars and nightclubs to close at 2 a.m. Special details have been set up at these locations to clear out the parking lots after hours. Guillory said the men and women behind the badge signed up for this career because they want to make a difference in their community 'We're going to do everything we can, we're going to use every tool we have at our disposal to make our community safe and to keep our community safe,' he said. 'To the criminals out there, you want to go on social media and you want to post your stuff, we see it, too. That's our message. When you have drugs and you have them combined with a firearm, that's enhanced charges. I can promise you we're going to work with our federal partners to try and send you away for a very long time.'
American Press
05-08-2025
- American Press
Law enforcemcent leaders: Calcasieu Parish remains a safe place to live
Despite what is being called an 'uptick' in crime around Calcasieu Parish this summer, local law enforcement leaders want to assure residents that Southwest Louisiana remains a safe place to live and raise families. 'We're a united front,' Sheriff Stitch Guillory said during a news conference Tuesday morning while flanked by the police chiefs of Lake Charles, Iowa, Vinton, DeQuincy, McNeese State University, Sulphur and Westlake; the marshals for Lake Charles and Sulphur; Lake Charles Mayor Marshall Simien; and Calcasieu Parish District Attorney Stephen Dwight. 'The safety of our community is a shared responsibility and we're committed to confronting the issues within our community. We're going to work together, help each other, be there for each other and provide resources for each other.' In June, LCPD responded to a fatal shooting in the 200 block of North 1st Avenue and CPSO investigated the death of a man whose body was discovered on the side of the road near the 6700 block of U.S. 90 riddled with gunshot wounds. In July, CPSO investigated a fatal shooting at the Lake Charles Event Center Seawall, a Fourth of July shooting in the 1100 block of Allen Street in DeQuincy, and a shooting in the parking lot of Cowboys Night Club. On Saturday, LCPD responded to a fatal shooting in the parking lot of the On The Rocks bar. 'On social media people are saying how unsafe Lake Charles is, but that's just not true,' Guillory said. 'Everything you read on social media is not always true. We're here today to dispel those rumors. Calcasieu is a safe place to live.' CPSO — which employs 869 workers and serves more than 205,000 residents — has not had an unsolved homicide in 10 years, Guillory said. 'We go out there and we do our jobs.' In 2023, CPSO investigated seven homicides. In 2024, that number rose to nine. From January to July of this year, there have been eight homicides in the parish — four those have been in the last four weekends. 'You're not going to stop crime 100 percent, but when someone commits a crime in Calcasieu Parish we want them to know … we're coming for you.' Lake Charles Police Chief Shawn Caldwell said on the surface it may look like July had an 'uptick' in crimes, but year to date the city has not had an increase in crimes. 'When you look at it year to year, it's sometimes cyclical in nature,' he said. 'I believe this year we've been inside the norms. I will say July appears to be an anomaly.' Caldwell said his office has investigated 10 homicides this year within city limits. 'While two remain open, I am quite confident those two cases will be closed and we will have solved all 10 of those cases,' he said. 'The men and women of the Lake Charles Police Department are going to work tirelessly to solve these crimes and to (hold the offenders) accountable.' Lake Charles Mayor Marshall Simien said there are several components to keeping the community safe: law enforcement, the district attorney's office, business owners and the community. 'Part of public safety is that we have to work together,' Simien said. 'If law enforcement is out there doing their job, the public participates and the establishment owners participate, if we all work together, we can put an end to (these crimes). Most of the crimes we are seeing are done by people who know each other and are having offensive encounters. Bringing guns to a parking lot, bringing guns to nightclubs, bringing guns to places where you have alcohol, where you have emotions is a formula for disaster.' Dwight said all of the law enforcement agencies in Southwest Louisiana are 'on the same page' and 'united.' 'This is a safe community,' he said. 'I'm proud to live in this community, I'm proud to raise my family in this community.'
CBC
17-07-2025
- Health
- CBC
Former Pembroke doctor facing sexual assault charges
A former doctor in Pembroke, Ont., who lost his licence to practise medicine is facing four criminal charges including the alleged sexual assault of two minors. Now 75, Brian Baxter is charged with two counts of sexual assault and two counts of sexual touching of a minor. Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) said it launched an investigation in June following allegations from a Pembroke resident. It's not the first time Baxter has come under public scrutiny. In 2021, he was referred to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) for disciplinary proceedings following allegations of professional misconduct, including sexual abuse of patients. He resigned from the college and undertook not to re-apply to practise medicine in Ontario. In 2017, the CPSO ordered Baxter to complete special training after it received reports that he'd been trading drug prescriptions for sexual favours and landscaping work from patients. He was also accused of taking patients away for weekends and attending "strip joints" with them. Following an investigation, the college found the allegations to be untrue, but Baxter admitted to letting patients live in his home and paying for a patient's cell phone. Denied earlier allegations Baxter denied the previous allegations with respect to sexual abuse of patients, but acknowledged shortcomings in his practice, including with respect to prescriptions. In its public notification detailing his promise to undergo further training including a "boundaries course," the college wrote that Baxter had a history "similar in nature to the allegations." In December 2020, he was again being scrutinized by the CPSO after the college said it had "concerns about his standard of practice in his general medicine practice." He was placed on clinical supervision and limited to seeing 45 patients a day. Baxter promised to take professional education in "opioid prescribing, well-baby care, management of chronic conditions, and medical record-keeping."
CTV News
11-07-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Some Ontario doctors can treat family members as regulatory college relaxes rules amid shortage
A doctor wears a lab coat and stethoscope in an exam room on Friday, July 14, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh TORONTO — The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario is relaxing its policy against doctors treating themselves, family members and others close to them amid the province's primary care crisis. Doctors were previously only allowed to treat relatives and other people close to them in emergencies or for minor conditions if no other qualified health-care professional was readily available. Now, those practising in underserved areas can provide other medical care — including ordering tests and treating illnesses and injuries — if there isn't another option, such as virtual care, or an alternate health-care provider within a reasonable distance, said a policy that was approved by the CPSO's board in May and communicated to physicians in the June issue of its digital publication, 'Dialogue.' 'The policy responds most directly to ongoing challenges in accessing timely care in Ontario, with particular recognition of the unique considerations of physicians working in smaller communities,' said Laura Zilke, spokesperson for the CPSO, in an emailed response to The Canadian Press on Friday. 'The updates enable physicians to provide care beyond emergency treatment and treatment of minor conditions to people close to them in communities with limited treatment options, including rural, remote and Indigenous communities.' In some areas, the only doctor available to patients might be someone they're related to or have a close relationship with, the policy notes. Zilke said important safeguards remain in place 'to ensure high-quality care and minimize risks to patient safety.' '(The policy) continues to prohibit ongoing episodic care for family members or others close to the physician and requires care to be transferred to another provider as soon as practical when further treatment is needed,' she said. Doctors also can't do intimate examinations or prescribe narcotics to people close to them, except in an emergency. They are also not allowed to provide psychotherapy to family members. In an accompanying 'advice to the profession' on its website, the college encourages doctors to be mindful that personal relationships with patients 'can reasonably affect a physician's professional judgment in a number of ways,' including feeling uncomfortable discussing sensitive issues, feeling pressured to treat conditions that are beyond their expertise or to prescribe drugs. When asked for comment on the college's policy as a way to address the primary-care shortage, a spokesperson for Ontario Minister of Health Sylvia Jones said the CPSO is 'an independent regulatory body, which in Ontario is independently responsible for setting the rules and regulations that physicians need to follow.' She also said the provincial government is 'investing $2.1 billion to connect every single person in the province to primary care — and that will continue to be our focus.' Dr. Adil Shamji, a Toronto Liberal MPP and an emergency physician, said it is 'embarrassing' that the college had to change a policy that had been in place for a reason. 'Until recently, there's been a prohibition on physicians providing care to themselves, family members, or others close to them, because when providing care to such individuals, for various reasons, it can be difficult to maintain the standard of care,' he said in an interview Friday afternoon. 'The CPSO has been forced to adjust its policy to meet the new reality of profound health-care and primary-care scarcity in this province,' he said. Shamji placed the blame for the change squarely on Ontario's Progressive Conservative government, saying they were 'leaving regulatory bodies such as the CPSO with no choice but to resort to amending their policies in the interest of ultimately delivering at least some care to patients in our province.' With files from Allison Jones This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 11, 2025. Nicole Ireland, The Canadian Press
Winnipeg Free Press
11-07-2025
- Health
- Winnipeg Free Press
Some Ontario doctors can treat family members as regulatory college relaxes rules amid shortage
TORONTO – The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario is relaxing its policy against doctors treating themselves, family members and others close to them amid the province's primary care crisis. Doctors were previously only allowed to treat relatives and other people close to them in emergencies or for minor conditions if no other qualified health-care professional was readily available. Now, doctors can provide other medical care — including ordering tests and treating illnesses and injuries — if there isn't another option, such as virtual care, or an alternate health-care provider within a reasonable distance. The college says on its website the updated policy responds to 'current access to care challenges in Ontario,' and recognizes that patients in smaller communities, including Indigenous communities, may only have access to a doctor who is related to them or close to them. However, it also says that physicians can't provide treatment to themselves or friends and family on an ongoing basis. Doctors also can't do intimate examinations or prescribe narcotics to people close to them, except in an emergency. The policy appears to have been updated on the college's website in May and the changes were published in the June issue of its digital publication. In an emailed response, a spokesperson for Ontario Minister of Health Sylvia Jones said the CPSO is 'an independent regulatory body, which in Ontario is independently responsible for setting the rules and regulations that physicians need to follow.' Wednesdays Columnist Jen Zoratti looks at what's next in arts, life and pop culture. She also said the provincial government is 'investing $2.1 billion to connect every single person in the province to primary care — and that will continue to be our focus.' The CPSO did not immediately respond to request for comment. -With files from Allison Jones This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 11, 2025. Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
