Month: August 2023

A 19-year-old Ohio woman was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison on Monday for deliberately crashing her car  into a brick wall at 100 mph, killing her boyfriend and another teenaged friend. The woman, Mackenzie Shirilla, was found guilty last week on charges of murder, felonious assault, aggravated vehicular homicide, drug possession and possession of criminal tools.

Shirilla was 17-years-old at the time of the July 2022 crash in the Cleveland suburb of Strongsville that killed Shirilla’s boyfriend, 20-year-old Dominic Russo, and their 19-year-old friend, Davion Flanagan. Shirilla, who was tried as an adult, was spared consecutive sentences in the case, and was instead sentenced to two concurrent life sentences. She will serve a minimum of 15 years in prison before she is eligible for parole.

Defense attorneys argued that Shirilla lost control of the Toyota Camry while driving recklessly two days shy of her 18th birthday on July 31, 2022, but prosecutors said the evidence showed she intentionally crashed the vehicle into an industrial park building. A security camera video of the crash shows the car accelerating in what prosecutors called “a controlled manner” up to 100 mph “with intent” before careening off the road and into the building.

Cuyahoga County Judge Nancy Margaret Russo called Spirilla’s actions “selfish, intentional and a cruel decision ..There’s only one person who’s responsible for the pain of every person in this room and that person is you, Mackenzie. Nobody else is responsible.” Judge Russo also responded to family members who pleaded for the sentences to run consecutively so that parole would be withheld for 30 years: “I understand that the pain in this room wants me to impose the harshest sentence. But I don’t believe that would be an appropriate sentence, because I do believe that Mackenzie will not be out in 15 years.

Before she was sentenced Monday, Shirilla tearfully read a statement in court and apologized to the families of Flanagan and Russo, saying she had no intention of killing the two men: “I wish I could take all of your pain away. I’m so sorry. I hope one day you can see I would never let this happen or do it on purpose. We were all friends, and Dom was my soul mate.”

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According to federal prosecutors, agents arrested a Chicago-area woman on Monday after a criminal complaint accused her of sending emails threatening to shoot former President Donald Trump and his son Barron. According to the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago, the woman, 41-year-old Tracy Marie Fiorenza, was arrested Monday morning on a charge of transmitting threats to kill or injure. The case was filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court in southern Florida.

According to an affidavit accompanying the complaint, Fiorenza said in a May 21 email to the head of an educational institution in the Palm Beach, Florida: “I will state that I will shoot Donald Trump Sr. AND Barron Trump straight in the face at any opportunity I get!”  The affidavit submitted by a U.S. Secret Service agent stated that Fiorenza allegedly wrote a similar email on June 5, saying she would “slam a bullet” into Barron Trump “with his father IN SELF DEFENSE!”  Donald Trump’s primary residence is in Palm Beach. The affidavit says Fiorenza lives in the southwest Chicago suburb of Plainfield, Illinois.

Reports state that that Fiorenza made an initial appearance Monday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Chicago, and a judge said she must go to the district court in Florida to answer the charges. The judge will decide at a Wednesday hearing how she will be transferred. It wasn’t immediately clear if Fiorenza had an attorney who could speak on her behalf. No attorney is listed for her on the federal docket.

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Tropical Storm Hilary made landfall Sunday in the northern part of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, as National Hurricane Center warned “catastrophic and life-threating flooding” in that region , including across portions of the southwestern United States. The National Weather Service said that Hilary was downgraded to a tropical storm as rain from the storm started spreading in Southern California. The storm will make history as the first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years.

By the time Hilary reaches California, it is forecast to have downgraded to a tropical storm, which is defined as having winds of at least 39 mph, according to the National Weather Service. California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday declared a state of emergency ahead of Hilary’s expected landing later Sunday; It is the first time ever that the National Hurricane Center to issue a tropical storm warning for Southern California, and Los Angeles county officials held a press conference saying they were expecting 1 to 3 inches of rain and wind speeds of 20 to 30 mph. Forecasters warned of “life-threatening” flooding in areas not known for rainfall and said strong winds might down trees and power lines, with tropical storm conditions in the southwestern U.S. and gusty winds expected to spread well inland. The National Hurricane Center said large swells are expected to affect portions of the Baja California peninsula as well as southern California over the next several days.

The California Department of Parks and Recreation on Saturday ordered a temporary closure of all San Diego and Orange County state beaches and several state parks, and Disneyland parks closed early on Sunday. California State Parks announced that all state beaches in San Diego and Orange counties would be closed Sunday and Monday, while the National Park Service closed the Joshua Tree National Park, located east of Palm Springs, through Monday evening over fears of flash flooding. The San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels moved all their Sunday games to Saturday double-headers in anticipation of the storm.

Other parts of the southwestern U.S. were preparing, with the National Weather Service in Las Vegas warning on Sunday that strong winds were likely, as well as flash flooding. Widespread “moderate to heavy” rain is expected into early Monday for Southern California, with a high risk of flash flooding that could include “landslides, mudslides and debris flow” in mountains and deserts, and according to the National Weather Service some areas had at least a 70% chance of experiencing flash flooding.

A White House spokesperson said that President Biden had been briefed on Hilary and that his team was working “with state and local agencies ahead of the storm.” The president and first lady Jill Biden are slated to travel to Hawaii Monday to survey the destruction from the Maui wildfires.

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Nine people were shot after multiple gunmen opened fire on a crowd at a block party in West Philadelphia on Saturday, killing one person and wounding eight others.

The shooting happened at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday in the city’s Parkside neighborhood, in the 500 block of N. Creighton Street, with at least 38 shots fired into the crowd. Philadelphia Police Captain Anthony Mirabella Jr. said: “Emergency 911 received numerous calls about a shooting on the highway with numerous victims and numerous gunshots in the area,” adding that many residents were at the block party when the gunfire rang out.

Two victims were rushed to the hospital by police, two others were taken by ambulance, and one of the victims was dropped off by a private vehicle at Penn Presbyterian Hospital. Police say two additional victims arrived at the same hospital about an hour later, and another two teenage victims arrived at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia later on Saturday afternoon. The victims include a 19-year-old man who was killed; the injured include two 17-year-old females, two 20-year-old women, two 21-year-old women, a 47-year-old man, and a 51-year-old woman.

Authorities said Saturday’s attack is being investigated although no suspects or motives have been identified, and no arrests have been made. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said in a statement: “Shootings are down by more than 20% compared to this time last year, but we know that we must continue to work together to stop violence and save lives.”

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