Police are investigating after a man and a woman in their 20s were found shot to death in a New Jersey park Thursday night.

Cops discovered the victims at approximately 10 p.m. near a bench inside Montclair’s Canterbury Park, NBC New York reports.

The investigation is ongoing. Relatives of the dead told NBC that the woman was from East Orange.

The post Two found shot to death in NJ park appeared first on Metro.us.

A Hofstra student and an armed suspect were shot dead early Friday morning during an apparent home invasion.

Police say a man wearing a ski mask forced his way into 213 California Ave. in Uniondale at approximately 2:30 a.m., the New York Post reports. Three women and one man were in the house at the time.

One of the women was allowed to leave the house, and she called 911, Nassau County Deputy Inspector Kenneth Lack said. The shooting that killed the suspect and the student occurred when police arrived at the home. It is not cleared who fired the deadly shots.

Police have not released any identities. The house is located near Hofstra’s campus.

Officials said at a press conference this morning that they suspect the motive was robbery. They said they are investigating and declined to provide further details.

The student killed was Andrea Rebello, 20, according to the Daily News.

The post Hofstra student shot dead during home invasion appeared first on Metro.us.

A man who is accused of physically assaulting two people was accidentally shot by police on Sunday night after the suspect barricaded himself inside of an apartment.

Hassan King, 42, allegedly punched a 22-year-old man and struck a 34-year-old woman at approximately 10:40 p.m. during a dispute inside an apartment at 1380 University Ave. in the Bronx. The victims were taken to St. Barnabas Hospital in stable condition.

After the assault, King barricaded himself inside the apartment, and hostage negotiators tried to convince the suspect to surrender for more than two hours, police said.

When cops finally forced the door open, the lead officer accidentally shot King in the wrist when the door swung back and hit the lead officer. King was transported to St. Barnabas Hospital in stable condition.

He is charged with assault, menacing, harassment and obstructing governmental administration.

The post Assault suspect accidentally shot by police in the Bronx appeared first on Metro.us.

Police are investigating a shooting that injured five people in Newark late Thursday night.

Multiple shots were fired at approximately 10 p.m. in the city’s South Ward, according to the Associated Press.

Among the victims was a 10-year-old girl, according to various news reports. The victims were listed in stable condition Thursday night.

No arrests have been made and it is not clear what led to the shooting. The investigation is ongoing.

The post Five people shot in Newark appeared first on Metro.us.

The correct name of the victim is Alphonza Bryant, police said.

Police have determined that Bryant was standing in front of the building when two suspects walked by across the street. The suspects returned a short time later and began shooting the victim.

Metro’s original story is below.

A 17-year-old male was shot and killed in the Foxhurst section of the Bronx on Monday night.

Cops responded to the call in front of 1159 Fox St. about 10:15 p.m. Alfonso Bryant was found with a gunshot wound to his chest.

He was transported to Bronx Lebanon Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Bryant lived a few blocks away from where he was shot.

No arrests have been made. The investigation is ongoing.

The post (UPDATE) Teen shot dead in the Bronx appeared first on Metro.us.

A 28-year-old man was shot to death in the Cypress Hills section of Brooklyn on Monday night, cops said.

Police responded to the call of a male shot inside 9 Bradford St. shortly after 11 p.m. Officers found the victim suffering from two gunshot wounds to his torso and one to his arm. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

No arrests have been made. The investigation is ongoing.

The post Man, 28, fatally shot in Brooklyn appeared first on Metro.us.

A 6-year-old boy from New Jersey is in stable condition after his 4-year-old neighbor accidentally shot him in the head with a rifle Monday night while the two were playing outside.

Police said the .22 caliber went off at about 7 p.m. in the yard of the 4-year-old’s home in Toms River, N.J., NBC News reports. It is not clear if the boy pulled the trigger or if the rifle accidentally discharged.

Cops are still investigating how the young boy obtained the rifle that he found in his home.

The post NJ boy, 4, accidentally shoots friend, 6, with rifle appeared first on Metro.us.

A 29-year-old man was shot to death in his own home in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn early Sunday morning, police said.

Jonathan Emanus, 29, was shot numerous times inside 202 Pulaski St. just before 2:30 a.m. Sunday. He was taken to Woodhull Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

No arrests have been made. The investigation is ongoing.

The post Man shot to death in Bedford-Stuyvesant home appeared first on Metro.us.

A livery cab driver is in the hospital after he was shot Monday night in an attempted robbery.

Two suspects exited the victim’s cab about 10:30 p.m. near Fifth Avenue and 132nd Street in Harlem. One of the suspects, described as a black male, demanded cash from the victim and shot him. Both suspects fled without money.

The second suspect is described as a black female.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS.

The post Livery cab driver shot in Harlem appeared first on Metro.us.

Cops are investigating after a man was shot dead after an argument with a landlord turned violent in the East New York section of Brooklyn on Sunday.

Luis Martinez, 51, was found with a gunshot wound to his chest when police responded to a call about a shooting at 566 Shepherd Ave. at approximately 1 p.m., cops said.

A 63-year-old man was apprehended at the scene. The shooting may have been the result of a landlord-tenant dispute over unpaid rent between the suspect and another tenant, The Daily News reported. Martinez intervened and was shot by the suspect. The investigation is ongoing.

The post Man, 51, fatally shot in Brooklyn landlord-tenant dispute appeared first on Metro.us.

A woman has been arrested and charged with murder after police found her boyfriend shot to death in their Staten Island home on Sunday.

Police discovered the body of Christopher Bonafede, 39, around Sunday evening at 471 Ridgewood Ave. in the Arden Heights section of Staten Island. Bonafede had a gunshot wound to his head, police said.

Lisa McQuade, 38, was taken into custody. She has been charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

McQuade reportedly turned herself into police officers at Port Authority Bus Terminal after riding aimlessly on the subway for a few hours, according to the New York Post. She told police that her boyfriend had been beating her for a long time.

The post Staten Island woman charged in boyfriend’s murder appeared first on Metro.us.

UPDATE: The victim has been identified by police as 37-year-old Omar Murray of 204 Lott Ave.

His wife reportedly told police she heard him arguing with someone at their front door, and then heard approximately four gunshots.

She ran to their bedroom at the back of the apartment with their 11-month-old baby, locked the door and called 911, police said.

According to a law enforcement source, Murray was shot in the chest, wrist, thigh and pelvis.

The investigation is ongoing.

Metro’s original story is below.

A 37-year-old man was killed in a shooting in Brownsville on Sunday.

Cops responding to a report of a robbery on the corner of Lott Avenue and Osborn Street discovered the victim with an apparent gunshot wound to the chest. The victim, whom police declined to immediately identify, was taken to Brookdale Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

No arrests had been made as of Sunday afternoon.

The post (UPDATE) Man killed in shooting in Brownsville appeared first on Metro.us.

Fifteen-year-old Malala Yousufzai, who was shot in October and brought to Britain for treatment, was discharged from the hospital earlier this month to spend time with her family after her initial treatment phase.

Her doctors said on Wednesday she would return to hospital within the next 10 days to undergo surgery known as titanium cranioplasty to repair a missing area of her skull with a specially molded titanium plate.

The shooting of Yousufzai, in the head at point blank range as she left school in the Swat valley, drew widespread international condemnation.

She has become an internationally recognized symbol of resistance to the Taliban’s efforts to deny women education and other rights, and more than 250,000 people have signed online petitions calling for her to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for her activism.

British doctors who treated Yousufzai say the bullet hit her left brow but instead of penetrating her skull, traveled underneath the skin along the side of her head and into her shoulder.

The shock wave shattered the thinnest bone of the skull and the soft tissues at the base of her jaw were damaged. The bullet and its fracture lines also destroyed her eardrum and the bones for hearing, rendering her deaf in her left ear.

She is being cared for in a specialist department of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, central England, which has treated hundreds of soldiers wounded in conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Dave Rosser, the hospital’s medical director, said a procedure to insert a cochlear implant to restore her left side hearing and the complicated skull reconstruction surgery would be carried out by a team of 10 doctors and nurses.

The skull will be repaired with a 0.6 mm plate molded from a 3D model created using imaging data from Malala’s skull.

The cranioplasty, which is expected to take between one and two hours, will be carried out first, followed by the cochlear implant operation, which should take around 90 minutes, Rosser said in a statement.

The post Malala Yousufzai: Pakistani girl shot by Taliban to have skull reconstructed appeared first on Metro.us.

Fifteen-year-old Malala Yousufzai, who was shot by the Taliban in October and brought to Britain for treatment, was discharged on Thursday but is due to be re-admitted in late January or early February for reconstructive surgery to her skull, doctors said.

The shooting of Yousufzai, in the head at point blank range as she left school in the Swat valley, drew widespread international condemnation.

She has become a an internationally recognized symbol of resistance to the Taliban’s efforts to deny women education and other rights, and more than 250,000 people have signed online petitions calling for her to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for her activism.

Doctors at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham where Yousufzai was treated said that although the bullet hit her left brow, it did not penetrate her skull but instead travelled underneath the skin along the side of her head and into her neck.

She was treated by doctors specializing in neurosurgery, trauma and other disciplines in a department of the hospital which has treated hundreds of soldiers wounded in conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“Malala is a strong young woman and has worked hard with the people caring for her to make excellent progress in her recovery,” said Dave Rosser, the hospital’s medical director.

“Following discussions with Malala and her medical team, we decided that she would benefit from being at home.”

Yousufzai has already been leaving the hospital on a regular basis on “home leave” in recent weeks to spend time with her parents and younger brothers, who have a temporary home in central England, Rosser said.

“During those visits assessments have been carried out by her medical team to ensure she can continue to make good progress outside the hospital,” Rosser said.

Yousufzai’s father said in October he was sure she would “rise again” to pursue her dreams after medical treatment.

The post Pakistani girl shot by Taliban leaves British hospital appeared first on Metro.us.

According to the NYPD, two officers working with the Bronx Gang Unit pulled over a man driving a Honda near Grand Avenue and Tremont Avenue on Tuesday around 5 p.m.

As the officers approached the car, the driver accelerated and hit one of the officers with his vehicle. The other officer fired a shot at the driver, striking him in the leg, the NYPD said.

The suspect fled in his car and later struck a parked car at Van Nest Avenue and Matthews Avenue. He was taken into custody and brought to Jacobi Hospital where he was in stable condition, the NYPD said.

The officer who was hit with the car was also taken to Jacobi Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The post Suspect shot after striking cop with car appeared first on Metro.us.

32-year-old Christopher Brahan was hired for a $150 shift to replace the regular bouncer for Saturday night at Pat’s Palm Tree Inn on Church Avenue in Flatbush, according to the New York Post.

A group of men were tossed out of the club for fighting just before 4:30 a.m. According to police, one of those men returned with a gun just minutes later.

Brahan, who was standing in the doorway, was first shot in the foot. When he collapsed, the gunman fired seven more shots. Brahan was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital.

“It’s like a nightmare in my head,” Patricia Watson, the club’s owner, told the Post. She was hosting her 50th birthday party at the venue Saturday night.

The NYPD has not yet named a suspect.

Brahan’s half-brother, Douglas Smith, was gunned down three years ago after an argument over a piece of equipment at a local gym on the same street just half a mile away.

The post Christopher Brahan: Bouncer killed on same street brother was murdered appeared first on Metro.us.

The spokesman said in a statement that 14-year-old Malala Yousufzai, whose shooting has drawn widespread condemnation, will require prolonged care to fully recover physically and psychologically.

An air ambulance transporting Yousufzai, provided by the United Arab Emirates, had departed from Islamabad and was heading for the United Kingdom, said the spokesman.

“The panel of doctors recommended that Malala be shifted abroad to a UK center which has the capability to provide integrated care to children who have sustained severe injury,” said the spokesman in a statement.

An attack by about 50 militants on a police outpost near the large northwestern city of Peshawar on Sunday night highlighted Pakistan’s struggle to contain the Taliban and its allies. At least six policemen were killed.

Yousufzai, a cheerful schoolgirl who had wanted to become a doctor before agreeing to her father’s wishes that she strive to be a politician, has become a potent symbol of resistance against the Taliban’s efforts to deprive girls of an education.

Pakistanis have held some protests and candlelight vigils but most government officials have refrained from publicly criticising the Taliban by name over the attack, in what critics say is a lack of resolve against extremism.

Opponents of Pakistan’s government and military say the shooting is another example of the state’s failure to tackle militancy, the biggest threat to the stability of the nuclear-armed South Asian country.

The shooting of Yousufzai was the culmination of years of campaigning that had pitted the young girl against one of Pakistan’s most ruthless Taliban commanders, Maulana Fazlullah.

Fazlullah and his faction of the Pakistani Taliban took over Yusufzai’s native Swat Valley in 2009 after reaching an agreement with the government which gave them de facto control of the former tourist spot.

Fazlullah imposed the Taliban’s austere version of Islam there, blowing up girls’ schools and publicly executing those deemed immoral. The army later launched a major offensive in Swat, forcing many Taliban fighters to flee.

MELTED AWAY

Fazlullah’s men simply melted away across the porous border to Afghanistan. Earlier this year, they kidnapped and beheaded 17 Pakistani soldiers in one of several cross-border raids that have become a new security headache for Pakistan.

Yousufzai continued speaking out despite the danger. As her fame grew, Fazlullah tried everything he could to silence her. The Taliban published death threats in the newspapers and slipped them under her door. But she ignored them.

The Taliban say that’s why they sent assassins, despite a tribal code forbidding the killing of women.

Taliban sources said Fazlullah ordered two men specialising in high-profile assassinations to kill Yousufzai.

Pakistan’s Taliban, who are linked to al Qaeda, has been fighting for years to topple the U.S.-backed government and establish the kind of rule they imposed in Swat.

The United States and other Western allies who give Pakistan billions of dollars in aid have been pushing Islamabad to crack down harder on the Taliban, al Qaeda and other groups that have formed a complex web of militancy.

Pakistan says Western criticism of its performance is unjustified, and that it has sacrificed more than any other country that joined the U.S. war on militancy after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed.

The attack on Yousufzai has angered many Pakistanis, raising questions over whether the incident could sharply turn public opinion against the militants and give the military a big edge.

But many experts argue the war on militancy can only be won if the government strengthens the fragile economy and creates jobs to ensure that fewer people join radical groups who exploit disillusionment with the state.

The Taliban struck again on Sunday night, attacking the police outpost near Peshawar with rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire. Security officials said at least six policemen were killed, including two who were beheaded.

Seven policemen are still missing and presumed kidnapped. Several police cars and an armoured vehicle were torched.

The Taliban has been blamed for many suicide bombings across Pakistan and have also staged sophisticated, high-profile attacks on the military, one of the biggest in the world.

Pakistan’s interior minister said police had despatched guards to protect journalists who had been threatened by Taliban militants angered by coverage of Yousufzai’s case.

The Taliban, based mostly in the unruly ethnic Pashtun tribal areas near the Afghan border, have said they would now try to kill her father, a headmaster of a girls’ school in Swat.

The post Malala Yousufzai: Pakistani schoolgirl shot by Taliban sent to UK for treatment appeared first on Metro.us.

“Malala is considered as an icon of hope and enlightenment in Pakistan and is respected and honored for her courage and determination,” a Pakistani government spokesman told Metro. “The extremist mindset which led to such a grave incident is only limited to a few fanatics.”

Metro spoke with Sajjan Gohel, the Pakistani-born International Security Director of the Asia-Pacific Foundation.

Metro: Is this a one-off incident, or are the Taliban gaining strength in Pakistan?

Gohel: Unfortunately this is not a one-off incident. It will happen again. I’ve been warning for a long time that women will be the biggest victim of the Taliban ascendency. This brutal attack and the medieval ideology of the Taliban once again reiterates the naivety of those who advocate talking and negotiating with them, even considering allowing the Taliban a role in governance.

Do Pakistani girls now have to worry about their safety?

Yes. The Taliban are determined to deprive women, including young girls, even basic human rights. It is very depressing when young Pakistani women, proud of their nationality, want to aspire for equal rights such as in education but are targeted because of it. Women’s rights have improved in some parts of Pakistan but not in the rural areas of the country. The Foreign Minister is a woman but that’s an aberration. She represents the urban elite and not the rural masses. In addition, she had the benefit of being partly educated abroad. Most Pakistani women don’t have that option. And any person, not just women, who wants to further the rights of women and girls is a potential target. The Governor of Punjab was a prominent advocate of women’s rights. He was targeted for that.

Is the Pakistani government doing enough to counter extremism?

No, it needs to do more to protect women. But on the positive side, it’s far better to have the civilian government in charge than the military.  However, condemning acts of violence are not enough. The perpetrators have to be prosecuted to the full extend of the law. Far too often individuals behind the attack are rounded up and then quietly forgotten.

The post Q&A with expert after Pakistani girl Malala Yousafzai attacked by Taliban for blogging appeared first on Metro.us.

Chapman, who shot and killed former Beatle John Lennon 32 years ago, had his seventh parole hearing this week, New York state’s Department of Corrections said on Saturday.

Chapman’s interviews with the parole board took place at Wende Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison in Alden, New York, where he is being held, she said.

Chapman, 57, is serving a prison sentence of 20 years to life for shooting Lennon four times in the back outside the musician’s New York City apartment building on December 8, 1980. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

He has come up for parole every two years since 2000 and has been turned down each time.

After his last hearing in 2010, the three-member parole board cited in written comments to Chapman, the “disregard you displayed for the norms of our society and the sanctity of human life.”

Ahead of that hearing, the parole division received dozens of letters arguing against Chapman’s release, including one from Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono, who said she believed Chapman posed a risk to her, Lennon’s two sons, the public and himself.

Chapman was transferred in May to Wende from Attica Correctional Facility, where he had been held for 31 years.

A corrections spokesman said at the time that Chapman was placed in protective custody at Wende but the reason was not made public. Wende is located in western New York state, east of Buffalo.

The post Mark David Chapman: John Lennon’s killer denied parole for seventh time appeared first on Metro.us.

In a week already riddled with gun violence, a police officer was shot twice in the legs by a suspect in Queens Wednesday night.

NYPD Sgt. Craig Bier was in plainclothes and an unmarked car when he and his partner stopped a man on a bicycle. The man fled and Bier chased him on foot, eventually exchanging gunfire with suspect near 107th Ave. and Union Hall St. in Jamaica. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the suspect fired four times and Bier six. Bier was shot twice in the legs.

A first-year cop applied pressure to Bier’s wounds to control the bleeding, Mayor Bloomberg said. Bier was taken to Jamaica Hospital where he is expected to make a full recovery.

“Commissioner Kelly and I just visited with Sergeant Craig Bier, a highly decorated 15-year veteran of the department, who was shot tonight while keeping the rest of us safe,” Bloomberg said at Jamaica Hospital last night. “Thank God Sergeant Bier’s injuries are non-life threatening. He is alert and in remarkably good spirits.”

Police recovered the suspect’s Ruger 9-mm. pistol. They searched for the suspect, described as a 6’4″ black man wearing a white T-shirt. A man police believe is the shooter has been taken into custody after walking into an area hospital with a graze wound to the head.

Bier is the son of an NYPD veteran who was also survived being shot in the line of duty, according to the Daily News.

Bloomberg used Bier’s shooting as a platform to tout his position on gun control last night.

“Thirty-four people are being murdered in this country every single day with illegal firearms, and I think it’s fair to say we are still waiting for the leaders of our country and those who want to be the leaders of our country to stand up and tell us what they’re going to do about this,” he said.

It has been a particularly bloody week in NYC, after 10 people were shot in six acts of gang violence on Tuesday night — the same evening Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commission Kelly attended the anti-violence event National Night Out Against Crime.

The post NYPD Sgt. Craig Bier expected to recover after gunshots to the legs appeared first on Metro.us.

Officer Brian Groves, 30, was chasing a man with a gun down the stairs in the Seward Park Housing complex when the man shot the seven-year veteran in the chest from less than eight feet away.
Police blocked off several surrounding streets Thursday while they searched all day for Groves’ shooter.

Fliers handed out at the crime scene described him as a black male in his 20s, about 5-foot-9, last seen wearing a black shirt with red basketball shorts.

Groves is now in stable condition at Bellevue Hospital, where doctors checked his heart.
“It’s really miraculous that he’s going to survive,” Dr. Eli Kleinman said at a news conference. “He was shot right over the heart.”

Officials attributed Groves’ survival to his Kevlar bulletproof vest.

“(The vest) kept him alive and will allow him to see his little girls again,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

Checking the stairwells shortly before 4 a.m., Groves opened a door to find a man holding a silver revolver. After yelling ‘gun’ to his partner, Groves pursued the gunman down the stairs.

Between the 18th and 19th floors, the gunman turned and shot Groves in the sternum, according to police. Without realizing he had been shot, Groves returned fire and chased the man down more flights of stairs before collapsing.

Antony Rodriguez, 45, who lives in the building across the street, said he was shocked by the shooting.

“Oh man, it’s usually a pretty safe neighborhood,” said Rodriguez, who said he was a corrections officer for 18 years before retiring. “I mean we have the 7th precinct right down the block.”

Rodriquez added that he may have even heard the shots while on his morning run.

“I thought they were the after effects from the fireworks,” he said. “I heard, ‘Boom, boom, boom.’”
The NYPD is offering $10,000 as a reward to find the gunman.

Officer a father of two

Officer Brian Groves is a seven-year veteran with the NYPD, assigned to the housing bureau. He has two young children, the youngest only two weeks old. Groves and his wife live in Long Island. Groves will celebrate his 31st birthday later this month.

NYPD injuries

Kelly said Groves is the ninth NYPD officer to be shot since January. Other officers who have been attacked this year:
   
MTA police officer John Barnett had to undergo four hours of surgery after a deranged man suddenly stabbed him in the eye at a Long Island Rail Road station Wednesday.
   
Officer Kevin Brennan survived a shot to the skull while chasing a suspect in Bushwick in January.
   
Officer Nelson Vergara was shot in his leg and shoulder in June when he was caught in the middle of a brawl in University Heights. Vergara still managed to arrest one of the men involved in the fight.
   
Officer Thomas Richards was saved by his gunbelt when a man approached and shot at him and his partner on the Lower East Side in February.
  
Officer Eder Loor survived a stab wound to the head in East Harlem after an emotionally disturbed man stabbed him through his brain. Loor pulled the knife out himself.
   

The post NYPD officer saved by bulletproof vest, gunman still at large (UPDATED) appeared first on Metro.us.

The incident occurred on Saturday when a woman flagged down a police officer after seeing two men fighting on a pedestrian walkway of the exit ramp near downtown Miami.

The Miami Herald reported the police officer approached the scene and saw a naked man gnawing on the face of another man. The officer called for the man to back away but he ignored the order and the policeman responded by shooting him once, the Herald said.

The man continued his attack after being shot, leading the officer to fire several more shots, the Herald said, citing police sources.

A Miami police spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment. Several witnesses recounted details of the incident to local television stations.

The man who was attacked was in intensive care on Sunday at a Miami hospital, the Herald reported.

The post Miami police shoot naked man found gnawing another man’s face appeared first on Metro.us.

YouTuber user “NewYorkRawVideos” posted the video, along with the comment, “Most traffic feeding onto the main route leading to the hospital was blocked off at least 5-10 min in advance of the emergency vehicles.”

Brennan was shot in the head last night during a scuffle with a suspect outside the Brooklyn Houses at 370 Bushwick Ave. The bullet was removed from the base of his skull in the emergency room and he is in stable condition and expected to recover.

Luis Ortiz, 21, was arrested in Bushwick two hours after the shooting following a search that enlisted 500 police officers. According to the NYPD, Ortiz has been charged with attempted murder of a police officer, assault on a police officer, criminal possession of a weapon, and menacing.

The post VIDEO: Dozens of NYPD cruisers escort ambulance of shot cop Kevin Brennan to hospital appeared first on Metro.us.