Month: May 2024

Drake’s home in Toronto is at the center of an investigation following a shooting late on Tuesday, May 7, in which the rapper’s security guard was reportedly the victim.  According to TMZ, the 48-year-old man was shot in the chest and rushed to the hospital, and is said to be in stable condition.  In addition, the Toronto Police Department posted on X: “SHOOTING:(UPDATE) – occurred at a a residence on Park Lane Circle – the man shot was a security guard who was standing outside the gates, o/f of the home – the man remains in hospital – a vehicle fled the scene – anyone with info 416-808-2510 or Crime Stoppers”

ABC News reports that according to Inspector Paul Krawczyk with the Toronto Police Service’s Integrated Gun and Gang Task Force, the male security guard was shot while standing outside the gate of the residence at approximately 2 a.m. Tuesday. According to video evidence of the incident obtained by police, the suspects fled the scene in a vehicle.

Emergency crews were called to Park Lane Circle near Bayview Avenue and Lawrence Avenue East just after 2 a.m. local time. The entrance to the property on Park Lane Circle in the expensive Bridle Path neighborhood was taped off by officers early Tuesday. The security guard was found suffering from an apparent gunshot wound and remains hospitalized in serious condition, Krawczyk said.

Inspector Krawczyk said that police have not yet confirmed whether Drake, 37, was home at the time of the shooting, but told reporters that the Canadian rapper’s team is cooperating with the investigation, sharing during a press conference: This is no different than any other investigation. It’s maybe more high profile because there’s more people here, but we treat it like any other incident. We’ll be using all our resources. Our teams will be doing as much as they can to investigate this.”

The suspects remain at large, and authorities do not currently have a vehicle description or number of suspects at this time, Krawczyk said. A motive also remains unknown.  Police are also staying quiet about the possible connection to the shooting and Drake’s ongoing, very public feud with fellow artist Kendrick Lamar

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Columbia University has cancelled its university-wide graduation ceremony on Monday in favor of smaller, school-based events amid ongoing pro-Palestinian protest demonstrations in the city and other college campuses across the country. A university official told NBC News that the decision to alter the graduation ceremony plans were made largely due to security concerns.

The decision from Columbia comes as universities around the country are deciding with how to handle their graduation ceremonies amid the protests. Emory University also announced Monday that it would move its commencement from its campus quadrangle in Atlanta to a suburban arena; and the University of Southern California earlier canceled its main graduation ceremony while allowing other commencement activities to continue. Other universities have held their graduation ceremonies with additional security, including The University of Michigan and Northeastern University’s commencement in Fenway Park, Boston, MA.

Columbia said in a statement that the past few weeks have been “incredibly difficult for our community,” adding: “we have decided to make the centerpiece of our commencement activities our Class Days and school-level ceremonies, where students are honored individually alongside their peers, rather than the university-wide ceremony that is scheduled for May 15.” The University added that the decision was made following discussions with faculty and students leaders, sharing: “based on their feedback we have decided to make the centerpiece of our Commencement activities our Class Days and school-level ceremonies, where students are honored individually alongside their peers, rather than the University-wide ceremony that is scheduled for May 15.” Typical commencement is held on Columbia’s main campus where the encampment was; however, the majority of the upcoming ceremonies will now be hosted at Columbia’s Baker Athletics Complex with some exceptions, according to the university.

The protests at Columbia have inspired similar demonstrations at dozens of universities around the U.S. Students have called for a ceasefire in Gaza and have demanded their schools divest from companies with ties to Israel.

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Former president Donald Trump was fined again and held in criminal contempt for violating a gag order for the 10th time – with possible jail time being threatened — as week 4 of Trump’s hush-money trial got underway on Monday. Violations of the gag order are punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, by jail time of up to 30 days – or both. The gag order blocks the defendant from speaking out about potential witnesses and most people in or associated with the court or the New York district attorney’s office.

Per The Associated Press, the $1,000 fine imposed Monday marks the second time since the trial began last month that Trump has been sanctioned for violating the gag order. He was fined $9,000 last week, $1,000 for each of nine violations. The latest violation stems from an April 22 interview with television channel ‘Real America’s Voice’ in which Trump criticized the speed at which the jury was picked and claimed, without evidence, that it was stacked with Democrats.

Judge Juan Merchan told Trump on Monday: “going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction. Mr. Trump, it’s important you understand, the last thing I want to do is put you in jail. You are the former president of the United States and possibly the next president as well”, but it appears to the judge that the continuous flow of $1,000 fines “are not serving as a deterrent.” Merchan added: “rhe magnitude of this decision is not lost on me but at the end of the day I have a job to do. So as much as I don’t want to impose a jail sanction … I want you to understand that I will if necessary and appropriate.”

Trump has repeatedly called Merchan “conflicted” as he criticized the judge just before going in this court in the morning, telling reporters outside: “It’s a ridiculous case, I did nothing wrong. And yet the judge gags me and I’m not allowed to talk about, I guess, his total conflict.”

In a statement, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung called the gag order “unconstitutional and un-American”, adding: “President Trump has not violated this wrongful edict by a partisan operative. The threat to throw the 45th President of the United States and the leading candidate in the 2024 Presidential Election in jail for exercising his First Amendment rights is a Third World authoritarian tactic typical of Crooked Joe Biden and his comrades.”

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One person was killed and 23 injured in a fatal bus crash on Interstate 95 early Sunday in Harford County, Maryland State Police said in a news release. Harford County is about 35 miles north of Baltimore.

Maryland State Police shared that a preliminary investigation found the bus lost control for unknown reasons and struck a guardrail just after 6 a.m. The bus had been carrying 24 people and was traveling northbound when it crashed; no other vehicles were involved.

State police told CNN that one passenger was pronounced dead on the scene and 23 others, including the driver, were transported to a local hospital. The Maryland State Police Crash Team is leading the investigation into its cause, and northbound lanes of I-95 were closed for the investigation, but have since reopened. No charges were immediately filed as of Sunday afternoon.

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The University of Mississippi announced they have opened an investigation into reports of students making hostile and racial gestures toward Black students on campus.

The University’s chancellor, Glenn F. Boyce sent a letter to students and staff noting that Ole Miss leaders were aware of behaviors that were “offensive, hurtful, and unacceptable, including actions that conveyed hostility and racist overtones” at Thursday’s protest, with NBC reporting that “statements were made at the demonstration on our campus Thursday that were offensive and inappropriate”.  Boyce wrote: “While student privacy laws prohibit us from commenting on any specific student, we have opened one student conduct investigation. We are working to determine whether more cases are warranted.”

A video posted online with many noting that the pro-Palestinian demonstrators appeared to be a multiracial group but were surrounded by a mostly white group of Ole Miss counterprotesters taunting them at a pro-Gaza rally on campus.  The one confrontation which drew particular offense showed a Black female graduate student on the protest side of a barricade went up to two young men to record the group as they yelled in her direction, and a man can be seen jumping up and down and appearing to make a noise to imitate an ape at the woman.

In a statement provided to The Independent, a spokesperson for Ole Miss said: “Statements were made at the demonstration on our campus Thursday that were offensive and inappropriate. We cannot comment specifically about that video, but the university is looking into reports about specific actions. Any actions that violate university policy will be met with appropriate action.”

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