Hard Boiled News

True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Medieval Re-Enactor Killed in Freak Lance Mishap at Kentucky Fair

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Peter Barclay, also known as Master Terafan Greydragon, died after his lance flipped backwards and impaled him

WILLIAMSTOWN, Kentucky (Oct. 12, 2018) — An avid Medieval knight re-enactor was killed in a tragic mishap at a fair in which he impaled himself with his own lance, officials and relatives said.

Peter Barclay, 52, of Virginia, was killed while performing as “Master Terafan Greydragon” at a Society for Creative Anachronism event in Williamstown, Kentucky, on Saturday, according to WLWT-TV.

Barclay’s brother, John, said in a post on Facebook that the accident happened “when his metal-tipped lance, used for catching rings (not jousting), hit the ground and flipped.”

The lance then hit Barclay in the sternum and impaled him. He died while being airlifted to a nearby hospital. The death was considered an accident, authorities said.

Barclay was a retired lieutenant colonel in the army and left behind a wife and two kids, his brother said.

“He died doing what he loved, but will still be missed,” John Barclay said.

In a statement, the Society for Creative Anachronism, which organizes Medieval re-enactments said it was investigating what exactly happened to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“A brother in arms to many of us lost his life in the pursuit of our game.The Society’s Equestrian Marshal, Master Terafan Greydragon, died while competing in an equestrian game at an SCA event in Kentucky,” the statement said. “We have reached out to Terafan’s family to express our support for them at this moment of loss. We ask that Terafan and his family be held in your hearts.”

 

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Balcony Sniper Charged With Cruelly Gunning Down 8-Year-Old’s Pet Pup

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Johansen Concepcion De La Ros is charged with opening fire on Princess from a balcony

DAVIE, Florida  — A heartless Florida teen has been charged with gunning down an 8-year-old girl’s pet chihuahua with a pellet gun from a balcony as her mother took the dog for a walk.

Cops say Johansen Concepcion De La Ros, 19,  took a knee on his pal’s second floor balcony in Davie, Florida on Saturday evening, and opened fire at the 6-pound pooch with a high-powered pellet rifle equipped with a scope.

The pellet passed through Princess’ chest, dealing a fatal wound. The little girl’s mother and her boyfriend heard the dog yelp and noticed blood coming out of its mouth, but didn’t immediately know Princess had been shot.

“We heard the pop, but it didn’t register that someone had shot the dog,” Roshelle Pearson, who bought the Chihuahua pup for her 8-year-old daughter in April, told the Sun-Sentinel.

The woman had just moved with her daughter to Florida from Wisconsin the day before, police said.

As chance would have it, an off-duty cop from Pembroke Pines happened to be walking nearby and saw a man armed with a rifle on the balcony and made the connection. He called 911 and was able to direct officers to the apartment from which De La Ros fired.

Offices found the gun, but De La Ros insisted he had simply been aiming at the water of a nearby lake and had accidentally shot the dog as it walked into his line of fire. His pal, Daniel Alvarez, told a different story.

He said he was on the balcony when De La Ros got down on one knee, looked through the scope and said, “I’m going to shoot the dog,” according to the police report.

Sadly, the dog died within minutes and when officers arrived, they found Pearson covered in blood and holding a small, limp body of a brown and white dog.

At first, Pearson said she didn’t have the heart to tell her daughter that her puppy was gone.

“I told her someone shot her dog and they were trying to save it,” she said. “I wanted her to sleep last night. Today I will tell her that her dog didn’t make it.”

De La Ros was charged with felony cruelty to animals.

 

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Fight Between Straight-A Students Over Boy Ends in Fatal Classroom Stabbing

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Straight-A student Danyna Gibson, 16, was killed in front of a classroom filled with terrified students

WARREN, Michigan — A dispute over a boy between two straight-A high school students ended in bloodshed when one stabbed the other in a shocking classroom attack, authorities said.

Danyna Gibson, 16, died less than an hour after being stabbed twice in the chest with a steak knife in front of as many as 30 classmates and teachers during first period on Wednesday at Fitzgerald High School in Warren, Michigan.

“I froze. I didn’t know what to do. I just saw one of my friends just dying,” 16-year-old Victoria Oraczko told the Detroit Free Press.

Warren Police Commissioner William Dwyer declined to identify the suspect, a 17-year-old Warren girl, who he described as a straight A student who was once friends with the victim. He said she would likely be charged with murder.

“It’s truly a tragedy. Two lives are ruined,” Dwyer said, noting that both girls, who are seniors, were good students and had not been in trouble before. “This is truly a tragedy on both sides.”

Dwyer said the violence appeared to have been sparked after the suspect grew angry with Gibson after thinking she told the suspect’s 17-year-old boyfriend that she was cheating on him.

Police say they had reviewed text messages between the suspect and her boyfriend, but declined to comment on what they said.  Investigators said they believe the suspect and her boyfriend had driven to school together that morning ahead of the attack.

In addition to be a top student, Gibson was involved in numerous extracurricular activities, including cross-country, robotics, color guard, marching band, student council and Generation of Promise, a youth leadership program.

“You took something that was so valuable to me that I would rather be laying there than her,” her father, Preston Gilbert, told WJBK-TV. “I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.”

 

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Mom Guns Down Estranged Hubby in Front of Their 3 Kids at Walmart

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Kayla Coutee shot her estranged husband when they met to exchange their kids

ALEXANDRIA, Louisiana — A mother of three gunned down her estranged husband in front of their kids at a Walmart parking lot, cops said.

Kayla Coutee, 31, had gone to meet her ex, Thomas Coutee, 30, to exchange the children on Saturday morning, when she shot him once in the chest, the Alexandria police department said.

She then remained at the scene with the three children, ages 7, 5 and 2, until police arrived to find Thomas laying on his back in a pool of blood at an outer area of the parking lot. Paramedics tried to save Thomas, but he was declared dead at the scene.

Kayla was taken into custody at the scene and later charged with second-degree murder. The children were not injured and were taken to police headquarters before being released to a relative.

Thomas Coutee had filed for divorce from Kayla earlier this year, court records show.

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Woman Killed After Boyfriend Cuts Brake Line to Make Crack Pipe

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Tammy Fox lost control and crashed into a tree after her brake lines had been cut

SCRANTON, Pennsylvania — A 38-year-old mother of five was killed in a terrifying car crash after her brake lines had been cut by her boyfriend as he searched for something to forge into a makeshift crack pipe.

Tammy Fox was driving through Scranton, Pennsylvania on August 22 when “her vehicle began to accelerate,” police said.

The out-of-control car then tore through an intersection before slamming into a tree. Fox died a short time later at a nearby hospital.

Her boyfriend, John Jenkins,  told cops he had cut into the brake lines in an attempt to obtain a metal pipe that could be used to smoke crack cocaine,” Pennsylvania state police said.

Jenkins told investigators that Fox had been “driving him crazy” the evening before the crash because she wanted a pipe to smoke crack. So he “cut anything from underneath the vehicle that could be used to smoke crack.”

The following day, she drove off from her home and quickly lost control.

“We saw the car going through and she hit the two parked cars to there and she hit the tree,” said Richard Hein. “Everybody was there … and they were trying to get the door open.”

John Jenkins

Fox’s family was skeptical of Jenkins’ story, staying Fox had been drug-free for months and suggesting the couple’s relationship had taken a bad turn and that he had become abusive, according to the Scranton Times-Tribune.

Earlier this year, Fox had been a witness in a court case against a corrections officer accused of corruption and sexually assaulting female inmates.

 

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Beloved Alpaca Dies After Florida Man Feeds it Bags of Junk Food

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An alpaca met a tragic end after being fed a huge amount of Doritos, Cheese Nips and peanuts

FLEMING ISLAND, Florida — What an animal!

Cops in Florida are hunting for a man who dumped bags of junk food on a field where a young alpaca gorged on it and died from overeating.

The Creekside Animal Hospital in Fleming Island says a man driving a blue car had been leaving food for the animals for weeks and that they had asked him to stop.

But late last week, he left two boxes of animal crackers, a large bag of Doritos, two boxes of Cheese Nips and two bags of whole peanuts.

Hospital officials say the young alpaca gorged himself on the peanuts and developed endotoxemia, or bacterial toxins in its bloodstream. “The little guy just didn’t know any better,” the hospital said.

“We worked on him for 36 hours and just couldn’t bring him back,” the center said.

Officials say they will likely move the remaining animals to a different location because they worry the man in the blue car might return.

 

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Oklahoma School Shut Amid Threats Against Transgender 7th Grader

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Officials shut the school down because they worried about demonstrators by out-of-towners against a transgender student

ACHILLE, Oklahoma — Officials were forced to shut down a school in a tiny Oklahoma town for two days after people posted violent threats online against a transgender 7th grade girl.

Brandy Rose says the trouble started on the first day at the Achille Public School last week when her 12-year-old daughter, Maddie, used the girl’s bathroom, triggering a flurry of threatening messages on a Facebook page for parents.

“If he wants to be a female, make him a female. A good sharp knife will do the job really quick,” one message read, according to KFOR-TV. Other messages referred to Maddie as “it.”

In one post, a person wrote: “You know we have open hunting seasons on them kind. Ain’t no bag limit either.”

Rose said her daughter has publicly identified as female since before they moved to the town of 500, so no one there had ever known Maddie as a boy.

“She’s been living as female for years– she started at Achille as Maddie,” Rose told KXII-TV. “We had no problems when we first started.”

For the past two years, Maddie had used the teacher’s bathroom after being falsely accused of trying to look under a stall partition at another student. But when she started middle school last week, she didn’t know where the staff bathroom was in the new building, so used the regular toilets.

“She’s an awesome kid. To see any fear in her,I can’t explain how bad that hurts me for them to hurt her,” Rose said.

School officials said they thought the threatening posts were made by people who do not live in the school district and don’t have kids who attend the school. Local police advised them to close the school for the first two days of the week, because they worried about demonstrators coming from out of town.

 

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Man Charged in Brutal Slaying of ‘Full of Life’ 101-Year-Old Neighbor

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Gregory Jesmer is accused of brutally stabbing his 101-year-old neighbor

ROCHESTER, New York — A 101-year woman with “a lot of life left in her,” was brutally killed when her knife-wielding wacko upstairs neighbor stabbed her repeatedly in her own apartment.

Cops were called to Marcia Morrison’s home Tuesday morning when a senior transportation company came to pick her up, but she did not answer the door.

Inside, they found a gruesome scene, with the centenarian lying in a pool of blood after being stabbed repeatedly in the neck, throat and upper torso, the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle reported.

“This is one of the most egregious crimes that we as a community have ever seen,” said prosecutor Monica O’Brien, head of the Monroe County District Attorney’s elder abuse bureau.

A short time later, cops arrested 54-year-old Gregory Jesmer, who lived above Morrison, after he got off a bus and began following a 13-year-old girl and offered her money to come home with him. A passing motorist intervened.

Investigators say that as they questioned Jesmer, certain evidence emerged that pinned him to the slaying of Morrison.

Jesmer has had previous arrests for grand larceny and driving while intoxicated.

Marcia Morrison

Morrison did not have children and her husband had died decades ago, but she was very active in the community. Neighbors said Morrison was a stalwart in the building where she lived and was a powerhouse despite her age.

“She had a lot of get-up-and-go in her,” neighbor Sandra Fields said. “She was like our grandmother.”

“She had a lot of life left in her, more than some young people,” Fields said.

She said she knew Jesmer and that he drank a lot, but that he didn’t seem violent or threatening. Fields said Jesmer sometimes asked neighbors for money and she thought Morrison had sometimes helped him out.

He has been charged with second-degree murder.

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Jaguar Escapes at New Orleans Zoo, Kills Seven Other Animals

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Valerio the jaguar killed four alpaca, a fox and an emu before being tranquilized

NEW ORLEANS — Animal instinct can’t be caged.

A 3-year-old jaguar escaped its enclosure at a Louisiana Zoo and rampaged through the nearby habitats of several other animals, killing four alpaca, an emu and a fox, before being sedated with a tranquilizer dart.

The male jaguar, named Valerio, got out of its habitat at around 7:20 a.m. Saturday morning, officials at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans said, and was on the loose for about an hour before zookeepers were able to stop him.

“Our animals are our family. We are devastated by this loss,” the zoo said in a statement. The zoo was closed Saturday while officials conducted an investigation.

The zoo said they believe the wild cat got out of its habitat through a break in its roof. A second jaguar living in the enclosure — a female named  Ix Chel — remained in a separate indoor habitat during the incident.

After Valerio got out, he killed the alpaca named Noel, Micia, Alexandria and Lil Melody, as well as a fox named Maggie May and an emu named Elmo. Another alpaca named Daisy and two foxes named Copper and Rusty, were injured but survived.

The zoo said that veterinarians responded immediately after Valerio broke free, but it took some time to prepare the tranquilizers and to get a good line of sight to dart the cat. Once darted, Valerio was sedated within minutes. The cat was moved to a secure location at the zoo and was in good health.

“Nothing is going to happen to the jaguar itself. Unfortunately, it was doing what jaguars do and we are not going to euthanize the jaguar over this,” said Joel Hamilton, the zoo’s vice president.

Valerio was born in March 2015 at San Diego Zoo and moved to Audubon Zoo in New Orleans last October.

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Bystander Shot on Same Block She Was Hit by Stray Bullet 20 Years Ago

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Fran Williams has twice been the victim of a stray bullet shooting on the very same block

NEW YORK — What are the odds?

A New York woman is clinging to life after being hit in the face in a stray-bullet shooting on the same block where she was shot in a similar stray-bullet shooting 20 years earlier.

Fran Williams, 67, was shot Thursday while waiting for a bus on Jersey Street in Staten Island when a gang member opened fire following a brawl outside a nearby courthouse.

It was on the same block in 1998 were she was shot while doing her laundry, police said.

“What a shame. Here is an innocent lady getting shot 20 years apart,” a law enforcement official told the New York Post. “Even during the crack days, drug dealers didn’t have that bad of luck.”

This week’s shooting came after a scuffle outside the court which led to a group of five gang members stealing a van which they later crashed into a pedestrian, killing him.

About a half hour later, a gang member opened fire in what cops think was an attempt to retaliate for the van strike , but hit Williams instead, as she waited for the bus near her home.

Neighbors said Williams was known as “Ms. Franny,” and was a good-spirited animal lover.

“She’s a great person with a great heart,” a pal said. “She’s always in good spirits. She makes you laugh.”

 

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