Latest news with #ShotSpotter
Eyewitness News
7 hours ago
- Eyewitness News
Gun violence flares up in Vrygrond, police officer shot dead
CAPE TOWN - Gun violence has flared up again in the Vrygrond area of Cape Town. In the latest shooting, a 48-year-old police sergeant was killed outside his home in the early hours of Friday morning. ALSO READ: A community member in the area spoke to Eyewitness News on condition of anonymity "Remember, ShotSpotter does not cover that area, although it is deemed as a red zone and because of the taxi violence that took place here. I don't understand why the city hasn't deployed [ShotSpotter]. JP [Smith] hasn't deployed more law enforcement officers." Cape Town Safety and Security MMC JP Smith said that although they do assist police with certain issues, they can only do so within their allocated areas "LEAP [Law Enforcement Advancement Plan] is not deployed in that area. It is not a leap area. We've issued press statements recently explaining where the LEAP areas are. We've deployed in terms of the crime stats to the highest crime rate areas."
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
‘It's complete': Officials detail ‘chilling sequence' prior to fatal shooting
A day after ShotSpotter detected 18 gunshots in seven seconds and police found a man fatally shot, a chilling text message was sent: 'It's complete.' Three men have now been charged in connection with the Feb. 4 death of 33-year-old Mauricio Lawrence on Tennis Road in Mattapan. At about 11:30 p.m. on Feb. 4, ShotSpotter detected 18 gunshots near 35 Tennis Road. Boston police responded and found Lawrence had multiple gunshot wounds. He died while being taken by Boston EMS to Boston Medical Center. Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden said the case is a 'chilling sequence of calculated actions.' About six hours before the shooting, video surveillance shows Jair Meeks, 24, entering Lawrence's place of work to record him while two others waited nearby in a Honda Accord. Once back in the car, the car's dash cam recorded Meek tell Shovan Darby, 29, of East Weymouth, and Roberto Taylor, 29, of Dorchester, what to do leading up to the shooting, the district attorney's office said. This included telling them to 'wrap [the gun] up in a bag' to 'try to catch the shells,' to put different tire rims on the Accord to alter its appearance and to use special tape to cover the license plate to make the vehicle harder to detect. Darby and Taylor followed Lawrence in the Accord when he left work, officials said. As Lawrence neared his apartment door, Taylor approached from behind and fired, officials added. Taylor returned to the car and, with Darby driving, fled the area. 'It's complete,' Darby sent Meeks in a text the next morning. 'This case presents a chilling sequence of calculated actions. It also provides an excellent example of investigators pursuing a criminal incident until every person who played a role is identified and brought forward to answer for their conduct,' Hayden said in a press release. Meeks was charged in Suffolk Superior Court with one count of accessory before the fact. He was ordered held without bail. Darby and Taylor were charged in Suffolk Superior Court with first-degree murder on May 8. Meeks, Darby, and Taylor are all due back in Suffolk Superior on June 17 for pre-trial hearings. Here's how long you can get Dunkin's new Pink Spritz refresher for just $3 Scammer told her to withdraw $20K and stop talking to her family — so she did Mass. firefighter arrested at work in connection with child sex abuse materials Mass. casino winner: Slots player bet $1.80 on jackpot spin Community Preservation Committee to hold informational meeting Read the original article on MassLive.
IOL News
a day ago
- Politics
- IOL News
JP Smith responds to 'The Truth About Cape Town's Well-Run Image'
JP Smith addresses Michael Andisile Mayalo's opinion piece, offering a comprehensive view of Cape Town's safety challenges and the city's proactive measures to combat crime. Image: File Picture In response to the opinion piece by Michael Andisile Mayalo titled 'The Truth About Cape Town's Well-Run Image: A Cape Flats Perspective'. The sentiments expressed by Mr Mayalo portray a dim and singular view of a complex issue that the City of Cape Town's Safety and Security directorate has been tackling for nearly two decades. Central to the confusion often exhibited by the communities, and evident in this opinion piece, is the control over the South African Police Services (SAPS) and governmental mandates that stipulate who has the authority to exercise control in this regard. The Constitution clearly outlines the roles and responsibilities of various spheres of government. The City's constitutional mandate includes traffic and by-law enforcement. National government is constitutionally responsible for crime prevention, investigation, and intelligence gathering and exclusively controls SAPS. The Provincial Government has only an oversight role over SAPS and no actual City's Safety and Security directorate boasts an array of departments and initiatives which were strategically founded to address the shortfall by SAPS to effectively police the gang hotspots across Cape Town. Improving the lives of residents of the so-called Cape Flats has always been a priority for this directorate with the bulk of our resources being deployed daily to communities such as Manenberg, Lavender Hill, Hanover Park and various others. In addition to the additional boots on the ground, we take a strategic approach to proactive policing the City has successfully amalgamated the use of gunshot detection technology and other aids such as drones and CCTV cameras for intelligence driven deployment not just reactive policing after shootings flare up. The main misconception about ShotSpotter is that it will end gun violence. ShotSpotter is the alarm not the sprinkler. It provides one single version of the truth about the high levels of gun violence affecting our communities and this provides authorities, including SAPS, with objective data. Mr Mayalo's claim that the directorate controls 21 safety units and specialised crime intelligence is blatantly untrue or he is misinformed. I have oversight over the following departments: • Emergency Services (PECC/107) • Disaster Risk Management • Traffic Services • Fire and Rescue Services • Law Enforcement Services • Metro Police Department • Events and Film • Safety and Security Investigations Unit (SSIU) and the Safety and Security Information Management Systems (SSIMS). • Neighbourhood Watch Support Teams. In addition, The City does obtain and share crime intelligence from and with SAPS. We have our own in-house information management unit that assists both the City and SAPS with crime data to aid their investigations as our municipal mandate does not extend to the formal investigation into organised crime. For the period between January 2021 and January 2025, the City's enforcement agencies have removed 1670 firearms from the streets of Cape Town. This includes prohibited firearms, zip guns and replica recent years I have continually called for the devolution of the police service in the Western Cape and even across South Africa. The national Police Minister has the authority to devolve policing powers to competent local or provincial governments The City of Cape Town has proven that even with limited resources, the restrictions of municipal budgets and limited policing powers, we have made a significant impact in reducing crime but we are ready to do more. Alderman JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Peoria man's 15-year sentence reduced by Appellate Court
PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — It was a win, sort of, for a Peoria man who appealed his conviction to a higher court. The 4th District Appellate Court in Springfield kept the conviction in place but did cut some time off his 15-year sentence, according to a 20-page order released on May 27. The order, written by Judge David Vancil with Judges Thomas Harris and James Knecht concurring, left in place convictions for reckless discharge of a firearm and for being a felon in possession of a firearm in connection with a chain of events that occurred on Oct. 28, 2023, that led to a man's death. Man sentenced in connection to deadly Peoria traffic collision The judges found now-retired Peoria County Circuit Judge Paul Gilfillan improperly allowed Demetrius Drummond to be sentenced for an extended term on reckless discharge charge. At the time, it appeared the judge as well as the attorneys thought he was eligible for an extended term of six years instead of the typical three years because of his past record. But because the course of conduct that night — shooting a gun in the air — was similar in both cases, the appellate judges found it wasn't appropriate to give him an extended term so they reduced his time on that count to three years. 'The State agrees that defendant's possession of a firearm and reckless discharge of that firearm were related, and there was no change in his criminal objective. Therefore, the State concedes that defendant's conviction for reckless discharge was not eligible for extended-term sentencing. The State also concedes that the unauthorized sentence was plain error,' the judges wrote. The judges left in place the 9-year prison term for the possession charge. According to Peoria police, officers responded to the area after an alert from the ShotSpotter gunfire detection system indicated nine rounds had been fired around 12:41 a.m., Oct. 28, 2023. People had gathered at a house party on Thrush Street that night. And some point, a man — later determined to be Drummond — fired a gun in the air. '. . . people began to flee. One person, later identified as Kobe Johnson, appeared to crouch down in front of a parked car. Someone else got into the car and drove away, driving over Johnson and leaving him lying in the middle of Thrush Street,' the order stated. Man arrested in connection with deadly Peoria traffic collision When they arrived, officers found an injured man on the road. That man was 24-year-old Kobe Johnson of Peoria who suffered multiple blunt-force trauma and crush injuries after being hit by the car and likely died instantly, according to the Peoria County Coroner's Office. Using witnesses' statements and cell phone records, prosecutors were able to convince a jury that it was Drummond who was the shooter. Drummond at the August 2024, trial opted to represent himself after his public defender said he wasn't ready to go to trial with only six weeks to review the evidence. With the court's ruling and the fact that Drummond is eligible for day for day 'good-time' credit, he could be released in a bit less than five years. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Woman receives gunshot wound in South Peoria late Sunday night
PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — A woman was hospitalized after being shot in the foot late Sunday evening. The Peoria Police Department was called at 11:42 p.m. to the 1500 block of South Arago Street to a three-shot alert from the ShotSpotter gunfire detection system, said Semone Roth, a police spokeswoman. When police arrived, they did not find any gunshot victims in at the location. After a search, however, police found a woman at the 2000 block of South Friedan Street with a gunshot wound to the foot. She was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Roth said. Roth said the victim was found about a mile away from where the ShotSpotter alert was registered. The incident is still currently under investigation and there is no suspect information. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
