Florida Sentinel Bulletin

CHICAGO – An 18-year-old man was shot and killed in weekend violence that wounded at least 12 others across Chicago.

The teen was fatally shot outside of a reported family party, according to Chicago Police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli.

He was identified as Dionte Maxwell.

Three people were in custody in connection with the shooting including a 19-year-old man who allegedly shot Maxwell during a verbal argument after he was asked to leave the party, police said.

Two 16-year-old boys were reportedly charged with armed home invasion, attempt home invasion, and mob action in the incident Sunday, according to police..

All three were expected in bond court Sunday, however, charges were still pending for the 19-year-old man and he will not appear in court, Mirabelli said.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – A 14-year-old boy was reportedly playing rough with a friend in Miami Beach when police approached the teens and ordered them to stop.

When cops asked Tremaine McMillian to point out his mother, they say the boy reacted in a way that justified being choked and slammed to the ground. McMillan gave the officers “dehumanizing stares” and clenched his fists in a threatening manner.

In juvenile court on Tuesday (May 28), McMillan’s family said that the officers’ claims were wrong as the boy was said to be feeding his six-month-old puppy with a bottle at the time. McMillian’s mother, Maurissa Holmes, captured the violent arrest of her son on a cell phone video camera. Police assert they approached McMillan after they saw him slam another boy into the sand, but the teenager says the cops came up to him on an ATV and slapped a puppy out of his hand. Miami-Dade Police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta said that McMillian’s supposed actions after they approached him showed he was resisting arrest and the officers acted to “neutralize the threat.”

CLEVELAND, OH — A brawl that started over spilled punch at a kindergarten graduation ceremony Friday resulted in the arrest of eight people, authorities said.

Police were called when one participant pulled out a pipe and another a hammer. Two teenage girls apparently started hitting each other at Michael R. White Elementary School, and their families joined in, Cleveland police Cmdr. Wayne Drummond said. The fight involved adults and minors, he said. “You had adults fighting adults, juvies fighting juvies, and so forth,” he said as parents streamed into the building to pick up their children. “You just had a melee here.”

No one was hurt, Drummond said. It wasn’t clear whether the hammer and pipe were brought to the school or were grabbed during the fight from a janitor’s supplies or elsewhere, police spokeswoman Detective Jennifer Ciaccia said.

NEW YORK – Getting out of jail shouldn’t be a problem if you’re a drug kingpin.

In one particular case, a correction officer at Rikers Correctional Facility offered to help an inmate break out in exchange for $100,ooo in coke. Last Thursday, the now former CO was found guilty of charges including drug possession, conspiracy and bribery, though.

Former corrections officer Robert Whitfield has been found guilty for participating in that sort of transaction. And it all would have worked out well if the inmate hadn’t turned him in.

A new Cheerios commercial featuring an interracial couple and their child was forced to shut off its comments section on YouTube due to a large number of racist comments. Before the comments section was closed, comments included referenced “Nazis,” “troglodytes” and “racial genocide.”

In the commercial, a young biracial girl approaches her white mother saying, “Mom, dad told me Cheerios is good for your heart. Is that true?” The mother agrees, calling Cheerios “heart healthy,” and the girl smirks and runs off. The next thing you see is an African-American man, presumably the girl’s father, sleeping on a couch. When he wakes up, he realizes that there are Cheerios all over his chest where his heart is located. As of this Friday afternoon the video had been viewed over 278,000 times with 4,627 likes and 708 dislikes.

While the commercial received some backlash, it has also received some praise. One Facebook user posted: “Just had the pleasure of enjoying a Cheerios commercial that featured a biracial family. Talk about ‘good for your heart!’

Despite a life of adversity, poverty, and even homelessness, 18-year-old Chelesa Fearce is blazing a trail of academic success. Growing up in Clayton County, Georgia, Chelesa, along with her mother and three siblings, frequently moved from shelter to shelter, even living in her family’s car in times of need.

Regardless of the obstacles in the way, Chelesa stayed focused on her goals: scoring high marks in high school and attending a good college.

Thursday Chelesa graduated with a 4.529 GPA from Charles Drew High School in Clayton County, making her class valedictorian. Thanks to taking college courses for the past two years, Chelesa will enter Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia later this year as a junior.

During Chelesa’s high school years, her mother, Reenita Shepard, was laid off from her job more than once, resulting in the family losing their home. But Chelesa stayed focused on her studies even when bouncing from shelter to shelter, or on those most difficult nights spent in the car.

“At night I just had to open my book in the dark and use my cellphone light, just do what I had to do,” she said.

A man taken into custody by the Sacramento Police Department has died, and police are currently investigating the events leading up to the man’s death after being beaten by a female police officer.

According to police, a man walked into a local Metro PCS store and frightened a female employee with “unintelligible” statements. She called 911 and when police arrived, he attempted to barricade himself in the store.

According to the police press release, pepper spray and multiple baton strikes were used to free an officer that was in the suspect’s grasp. In addition, the release notes bystanders kicking the suspect, a security guard also using a baton on the suspect.

The suspect was eventually restrained and brought into custody after backup officers and a nearby off-duty Sacramento County District Attorney investigator arrived. After the subject was in custody, officers noted he wasn’t breathing.

The suspect was taken to a nearby hospital, where he later died. A police officer and the investigator were also taken to the hospital for medical treatment.

ALLENTOWN, PA — An eastern Pennsylvania woman who fatally stabbed her fiance on their wedding day — and then apparently could not comprehend that he had died — was convicted of first-degree murder on Thursday.

Jurors found Na Cola Franklin, 32, guilty after deliberating about three hours in Lehigh County Court. She could get life in prison when she is sentenced July 16. Her attorney said an appeal is likely.

Prosecutors say Franklin and 36-year-old Billy Brewster got into the deadly argument on Aug. 11 around 2 a.m. in their Whitehall Township apartment. They were scheduled to be married at 10 a.m. in neighboring Allentown.

At her arraignment that night, Franklin appeared distraught and confused to learn Brewster was dead, telling the judge, “You got to check again!”

Defense attorney John Waldron told jurors during the trial this week that Brewster had come home drunk that night after an impromptu bachelor party. Brewster attacked Franklin and then tried to leave with the couple’s 9-month-old son, Waldron said.

Waldron argued Franklin killed the groom-to-be after grabbing a knife to protect her child. He had pushed for a voluntary manslaughter conviction, which carries a lighter sentence.

But prosecutors, who said the child was not in danger, sought a first-degree murder conviction. First Assistant District Attorney Steven Luksa said Thursday that he hopes the verdict will bring some comfort to Brewster’s family.

MOORE, Okla. — A giant tornado, a mile wide or more, killed at least 91 people, 20 of them children, as it tore across parts of Oklahoma City and its suburbs Monday afternoon, flattening homes, flinging cars through the air and crushing at least two schools.

The injured flooded into hospitals, and the authorities said many people remained trapped, even as rescue workers struggled to make their way through debris-clogged streets to the devastated suburb of Moore, where much of the damage occurred.

Amy Elliott, the spokeswoman for the Oklahoma City medical examiner, said at least 91 people had died, including the children, and officials said that toll was likely to climb. Hospitals reported at least 145 people injured, 70 of them children.

Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore was reduced to a pile of twisted metal and toppled walls. Rescue workers were able to pull several children from the rubble, but on Monday evening crews were still struggling to cut through fallen beams and clear debris amid reports that dozens of students were trapped. At Briarwood Elementary School in Oklahoma City, on the border with Moore, cars were thrown through the facade and the roof was torn off.

“Numerous neighborhoods were completely leveled,” Sgt. Gary Knight of the Oklahoma City Police Department said by telephone. “Neighborhoods just wiped clean.”

He said debris and damage to roadways, along with heavy traffic, were hindering emergency responders as they raced to the affected areas.