Latest news with #JordanFisher
Daily Mail
27-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Man shot dead by teenager in Utah after celebrating his birthday on night out
The mother of a British man shot dead by a teenager has placed the blame on parents who 'normalize' gun violence in U.S. schools. Rory Swimm, born in Dundee, Scotland, was killed after an altercation with a stranger in Salt Lake City, Utah, just days after his 23rd birthday on October 13, 2023. The student had been out celebrating when he started teasing Jordan Fisher, then 15, about whisky, according to accounts from his friends at the scene. After an argument broke out, Fisher drove away before coming back to throw bottles at Swimm, driving off again and eventually returning to shoot him in the chest with the help of a laser. The teen, now 17, will be tried as an adult in a Utah court in June but will not face the death penalty if he is found guilty. He is pleading self-defense. Rory's mom Susan, 56, blamed the tragic incident on American parents who put up with 'shooter drills' and the sale of 'bullet-proof backpacks'. She said: 'What has struck me since Rory's murder is the blame I place on parents of American children who think it is okay their kids are drilled into hiding under desks at school and in closets. From Kindergarten all the way through to high school they do shooter drills. This is a normal occurrence across America.' Susan added: 'You have got kids waiting for the school shooter to come. Gun culture in schools has become normalized. We did simple fire drills in the UK - they do shooter drills here. 'You've got adverts for what color bulletproof backpack to get. America has accepted that kids will be killed at school and the parents have allowed that to happen. 'They don't seem to understand. Even the Sandy Hook parents have been able to do very little to change that. What kind of a country allows this and what message is that giving to children? 'People are still not allowed to drink until they are 21 - yet can buy an AK Rifle at 18.' The distraught mom said that despite Fisher's name being released in court documents, she would never say it herself. She added: 'That boy was out to kill someone and it was a complete stranger encounter. If Rory hadn't gone into the store or if he had turned left instead of right he would still be alive. 'I am still not going to say his name. I never will. He was just 15 yet had managed to acquire two handguns - one of them had a laser. They travelled 45 minutes from where they live and came across my beautiful son and his best friends. 'It started as a banter altercation. Rory was offering him whisky. He was hospitable and liked to have a drink with his mates. The problem was that boy was just out to kill someone.' Susan added: 'They had been coming home from a bar celebrating Rory's 23rd birthday and had stopped to get some snacks. They started singing with a homeless man and Rory offered him some whisky. 'Three boys approached and called him a skater f**' and Rory told them to f*** off. Rory gave the homeless man a snack and those boys started harassing him again.' They clashed again a short while later and Susan said Rory's friend saw the killer pull out the gun, and saw the bullet leave. She added: 'It had a laser on it. You don't miss when there is a laser. All the boys fled in different directions and Rory fell to the ground. His killers then got back into the car and sped away.' Despite the horrifying incident, Susan described Salt Lake City as 'peaceful and quiet' and the area where it took place as a 'very quiet residential street'. Susan explained the family's mission was now to develop a non-profit to 'teach youths kindness, compassion, empathy, inclusion through sport, art and music'. She said she struggled to get the wider public interested in her son's case but hoped publicity around the trial might make some take notice. Susan went on: 'America doesn't want to hear any bad news - they are not interested my son was killed. The local paper did a big piece on his memorial and how incredible it was but they didn't want to go into what happened. 'So many young children are being killed. But America doesn't care. If they did they would do something. Instead they are doing shooting drills, which only normalizes the culture. It's easier to get a gun than it is to get a Budweiser. 'Rory was the most joyful human being I knew and had the ability to see good in everyone. He was a non-judgmental person and would include everybody. 'He was the magnet of his huge friend group and people gravitated towards him. He had a real kindness. He would stand up to bulling and get involved but he would never want to hurt anybody. He was so full of fun. 'He was on his way to doing really well. But that was ripped away from him.'
Daily Mail
26-05-2025
- Daily Mail
My son was shot dead by a teenager just days after celebrating his 23rd birthday... but I blame American parents for normalising a culture of gun violence in schools
The mother of a British man who was allegedly shot dead by a teenager has placed the blame for her son's death on parents who 'normalise' gun violence in US schools. Rory Swimm, who was born in Dundee in Scotland, was killed after an altercation with a stranger in Salt Lake City, Utah, just days after his 23rd birthday on October 13, 2023. The student had been out celebrating when he started engaging in 'banter' with schoolboy Jordan Fisher, then 15, about drinking whisky, according to accounts from his friends at the scene. After an argument broke out, the teenager is believed to have driven away before coming back to throw bottles at Mr Swimm, driving off again and eventually returning to shoot the Brit in the chest with the help of a laser. Fisher, 17, will be tried as an adult in a Utah court in June but will not face the death penalty if found guilty. He is pleading self defence. Now Rory's mother Susan, 56, has placed the blame on American parents who put up with 'shooter drills' and the sale of 'bullet-proof backpacks'. She said: 'What has struck me since Rory's murder is the blame I place on parents of American children who think it is okay their kids are drilled into hiding under desks at school and in closets. 'From Kindergarten all the way through to high school they do shooter drills. This is a normal occurrence across America. 'You have got kids waiting for the school shooter to come. Gun culture in schools has become normalised. We did simple fire drills in the UK - they do shooter drills here. 'You've got adverts for what colour bulletproof backpack to get. America has accepted that kids will be killed at school and the parents have allowed that to happen. 'They don't seem to understand. Even the Sandy Hook parents have been able to do very little to change that. What kind of a country allows this and what message is that giving to children? 'People are still not allowed to drink until they are 21 - yet can buy an AK Rifle at 18.' The distraught parent was born in Glasgow but moved to Edwards, Colorado with husband Rob, 59, and their two other children Scott, 26, and Maggie, 21. Ms Swimm said that despite Fisher's name being released in court documents, she would never say it herself. She added: 'That boy was out to kill someone and it was a complete stranger encounter. If Rory hadn't gone into the store or if he had turned left instead of right he would still be alive. 'I am still not going to say his name. I never will. He was just 15 yet had managed to acquire two handguns - one of them had a laser. They travelled 45 minutes from where they live and came across my beautiful son and his best friends. 'It started as a banter altercation. Rory was offering him whisky. He was hospitable and liked to have a drink with his mates. 'The problem was that boy was just out to kill someone.' Ms Swimm added: 'They had been coming home from a bar celebrating Rory's 23rd birthday and had stopped to get some snacks. They started singing with a homeless man and Rory offered him some whisky. 'Three boys approached and called him a "skater f**" and Rory told them to f off. Rory gave the homeless man a snack and those boys started harassing him again.' They allegedly clashed again a short while later and Susan said Rory's friend saw the murderer pull out the gun, and saw the bullet leave. She added: 'It had a laser on it. You don't miss when there is a laser. All the boys fled in different directions and Rory fell to the ground. 'His killers then got back into the car and sped away.' Despite the horrifying incident, Ms Swimm described Salt Lake City, which had 11 homicides at the time of her son's death, as 'peaceful and quiet' and the area where it took place as a 'very quiet residential street'. Mr Swimm was just about to complete welding school and was planning to move to Montana with his best friend when he was killed 'Never in a million years would you think something bad would happen there,' she said. 'Our mission now is developing a non-profit we have started to teach youths kindness, compassion, empathy, inclusion through sport, art and music. 'Rory was an incredible skier. He was called a "reckless beauty like no other".' Ms Swimm said she has struggled to get the wider public interested in her son's case but hoped publicity around the trial might make some take notice. She added: 'America doesn't want to hear any bad news - they are not interested my son was killed. The local paper did a big piece on his memorial and how incredible it was but they didn't want to go into what happened. 'So many young children are being killed. But America doesn't care. If they did they would do something. Instead they are doing shooting drills, which only normalises the culture. It's easier to get a gun than it is to get a Budweiser. 'Rory was the most joyful human being I knew and had the ability to see good in everyone. He was a non-judgmental person and would include everybody. 'He was the magnet of his huge friend group and people gravitated towards him. He had a real kindness. He would stand up to bulling and get involved but he would never want to hurt anybody. He was so full of fun.' Mr Swimm was just about to complete welding school and was planning to move to Montana with his best friend when he was killed. 'He was on his way to doing really well,' his mother added. 'But that was ripped away from him.'
Times
21-05-2025
- Times
Friends of Scot shot dead in US ‘desperately tried to save him'
Details of the alleged killing of a Scot in the United States have emerged including his friends' desperate attempts to save him. Jordan Fisher, a 17-year-old schoolboy, is charged with shooting dead Rory Swimm, 23, in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2023. He is also charged with the purchase, transfer, possession or use of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person. Prosecutors also allege he was in possession of or using marijuana. Fisher is to be tried as an adult but would not face the death penalty if convicted as he was 15 at the time of Swimm's death. One court document described the scene that confronted police when they were alerted to the incident on the night Swimm died. It also tells how Swimm's
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Soup, salad, monstera? Have your next lunch date inside this breezy Pierce County nursery
Nurseries can be a sort of refuge, a quiet place where you can get lost in part-sun and part-shade, where the woes of the world can soak into the dirt instead of settling in your soul. What if they also served lunch? While other restaurants dot their shelves and windows with dangling philodendrons and towering ficus, Terrace Café lives among plants in a more literal sense. It's located inside the inside the 32,500-square-foot Watson's Greenhouse on Pioneer Way East, in what is technically Puyallup. I had been to Watson's a few times in search of yet another houseplant I definitely didn't need or a particular varietal of lavender to add to the butterfly garden — or maybe it was solace and a snack. So it was that I found myself at Watson's one day last spring, although I'm pretty sure I also left with a plant. The server/host kindly asked if I had a reservation. It was a weekday, about 10:30 a.m., and I thought it odd that I would have bothered. First, I was alone, and second, how busy could it be? Then I noticed the white placards on most of the tables that read, 'RESERVED.' By the time I was crunching away on a super-parmed Caesar salad, wanting even more of the delightful housemade croutons, the place was abuzz. Huh. So this is where ladies lunch. What was for years nothing more than a modest coffee bar has been transformed into a full-service restaurant with a professional kitchen that offers seasonal salads and flatbreads, sandwiches and soup, hearty plates of short ribs and roast chicken. Since its debut one year ago, the menu has changed a few times, largely with the seasons. Executive chef Jordan Fisher will shake things up again come March. The cavatappi, for instance, has transitioned from a decadent Dungeness crab mac to the current version, the curly-cue pasta tossed in the pan with a creamy tomato sauce and Italian meatballs made with beef from Royal Family Farms in Central Washington. The summer presented halibut with pesto butter and Copper River salmon with asparagus risotto. Handhelds have ranged from sliced steak with garlic aioli to chipotle chicken with smoked gouda, and since last August have included breakfast sandwiches, like the classic with Tillamook smoked cheddar and red-pepper jelly or one with bacon, a folded egg and sundried tomato schmear. This fall and winter, the rotating sourdough grilled cheese blends brie and gruyere with a jammy note of cranberry and sliced pear. Espresso drinks with Monroe's Vinaccio Coffee also vary, such as winter's vanilla-eggnog that evokes crème brûlée. They pair perfectly with the homemade pastries — a compelling reason to take the Pioneer Way route between Tacoma and Puyallup in 2025. Pastry chef Vanessa Poisson previously baked at Zylberschtein's, the Jewish-style deli and bakery in Seattle's Pinehurst neighborhood. Her case at Terrace holds bagels, cookies, sourdough cinnamon buns, wonderfully knobby scones, muffins, quickbreads and croissants. Homemade ice cream and luscious cheesecake are among the plated sweet treats. The only thing missing is house bread, which is sourced instead from Macrina Bakery. Watson's has had a cafe since the late 1990s when the family built the big, Belgian greenhouse that now holds seemingly endless houseplants and homewares. They leased it to several tenants over the years, most of whom ran it as a coffee shop with pastries and light bites. They had 'been kind of marinating' on the idea of taking it under their wing and kicking it up a notch, explained CEO Maidee Watson. 'We knew how to run a garden center,' she added. 'We didn't know how to run a restaurant, but we knew what we wanted.' The Watsons have been in the plant business since 1974 when Maidee and her mother, Fran, developed a little U-pick patch. They grew all sorts of produce but customer sales — from a garage — hinged on cucumbers and beans, recalled Watson recently. Her late father, Don, had always 'wanted land he could grow things on,' she said. He continued teaching high-school biology for another decade before joining his daughter and wife at the family business full-time. Larry's Market, a regional grocery chain that fell into bankruptcy in the early 2000s, asked them to grow bedding plants. So they built a greenhouse and on Valentine's Day 1984 hung a cowbell near the makeshift entrance. 'We didn't know if anyone would come out this way, but people started showing up,' said Maidee. 'They did, even the first day … Now all three of my sons work here.' Today the nursery is at least four times its original size, growing 'almost all our own annuals,' she added. In 2021 they opened a small second shop in Federal Way and last November took over Bark and Garden Center in Olympia. In Puyallup, the then-cafe tenant kept it closed during the pandemic. Amid many pivots — Watson's had never sold a thing online until 2020 — the family decided it was time. In 2023, Maidee's son Addison, a graphic designer by study, fleshed out the concept and aesthetic. They completely overhauled the layout and greatly expanded its footprint with the help of their in-house construction team. (Garden centers, it turns out, always have a need for custom builds.) I wish they would bring back the beautiful, flaky, fluffy quiche, whose Instagram image first compelled me to visit. On a subsequent late-lunch date — a friend and I made a 1 p.m. reservation — the day's allotment had already been consumed. I get it; the egg game got weird last year, and people can get angry when menu items are M.I.A. There's plenty more to dig. The family's ambition is to nurture a café as reliable as their core businesss, and Terrace is 'the food representation of Watson's,' said Fisher. It all feels inextricably intertwined with the rest of the greenhouse. They went with a streamlined, timeless black-and-white theme, a smart move. Let the plants do the talking — most restaurants would kill for this kind of natural light. ▪ 6211 Pioneer Way E, Puyallup, 253-251-25274, ▪ Details: full-service coffee shop and cafe with breakfast, lunch, house pastries, wine and beer; catering and private event rentals available ▪ Reservations: recommended on weekends and peak lunch hours, but walk-ins welcome
