Another Theater Shooting

The shooter is described as a 51 year-old local man. Story developing...

Rick Perry: People Should Be Allowed To Bring Their Guns Into Movie Theaters

Mediaite reports:

“I think that it makes a lot of sense to send a message across this country,” Perry said on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday morning. “If we believe in the Second Amendment, and we believe in people’s right to protect themselves and defend themselves, and their families.” “I believe that, with all my heart, that if you have the citizens who are well trained, and particularly in these places that are considered to be gun-free zones, that we can stop that type of activity, or stop it before there’s as many people that are impacted as what we saw in Lafayette,” he added. Perry also said the Lafayette shooter, who had a history of mental instability and criminal activity, was able to procure a firearm because the existing gun laws weren’t being enforced. How he squares this with only “well-trained” people in movie theaters having guns was left to the winds.

LOUISIANA: Theater Gunman Identified

The gunman in last night's mass shooting in a Louisiana movie theater has been identified as 59 year-old John Russell Houser. Local police are calling Houser a "drifter from Alabama" who had been living in a nearby hotel since early this month. Houser's motives are not yet known. He is reported to have an "old" criminal history.

Mass Shooting At Louisiana Theater

Via Reuters:

A gunman fatally shot at least one person and injured eight others at a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana, before killing himself on Thursday, according to police and local media. NBC News reported that one person died and eight others were wounded at the Grand Theatre in Lafayette before the gunman took his own life. Those reports could not immediately be confirmed by Reuters, but Lafayette police said in a tweet that they were "working a shooting at the Grand Theater on Johnston Street" and that it involved multiple victims. The local Advertiser newspaper reported that the gunfire broke out during a 7 p.m. showing of the film "Train Wreck". Witness Katie Domingue told the paper that the gunman was an older white man who stood up in the theater and began shooting. "He wasn't saying anything. I didn't hear anybody screaming either," Domingue said.

It was three years ago this week that James Holmes murdered 12 and injured 70 in a mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.

OREGON: Judge Denies Settlement Offer To Alleged Victim Of Activist Terry Bean

An Oregon county judge has refused to allow HRC co-founder Terry Bean to make a financial settlement with the underage boy Bean and his former boyfriend are alleged to have hooked-up with on Grindr in 2013.

Bean, who lives in Portland and is a prominent political fundraiser, proposed a civil compromise that could result in the dismissal of the criminal charges. Had the request been granted, the criminal charges against Bean would have been dismissed. Circuit Judge Charles Zennaché said he was unaware of another child sex abuse case that has been settled by civil compromise. In Oregon, judges have discretion to accept or deny a civil compromise. In the Bean case, the alleged victim, now 17, supports the settlement and does not want to testify, said attorney Lori Deveny, who represents the boy. "He has been as vocal as he can be and his voice still isn't being heard," Deveny said. "There are certain social mores that we, as a society say, 'We are not going to let this happen,'" Zennaché said. "I think it's bad public policy ... (and bad) from a public safety perspective," Zennaché said.

The terms of the settlement offer were not disclosed.

RELATED: Ex-boyfriend Kiah Lawson was sentenced yesterday in an unrelated drug case.

Junction City resident Kiah Loy Lawson was placed on probation and issued a 20-day jail sentence after being convicted in Lane County Circuit Court of methamphetamine possession and supplying contraband, in connection with an arrest last year in Eugene. Lawson, 26, was given credit for time he has already served in jail and was expected to be promptly transported from Eugene to Washington County, where he faces sexual abuse allegations. That case is scheduled to be resolved before the Aug. 11 trial in Lane County set for both Lawson and Bean. They are charged with sexual abuse and sodomy for an alleged encounter with a 15-year-old boy in a Eugene hotel room in September 2013.

PHILADELPHIA: Prosecutors Make Plea Offers To Alleged Gay Bashers

Philly Mag reports that the suspects in last year's brutal gang gay-bashing have been offered a plea deal by prosecutors.

Sources on both sides of the case confirm that all three suspects now have plea offers in hand and that they are are weighing their options. "On behalf of my client, we are reviewing a plea offer from the District Attorney," says Williams' attorney Fortunato Perri. Williams stands accused of punching both victims, Zachary Hesse and Andrew Haught, according to court documents. Haught suffered the greatest injuries, requiring hospitalization.

Louis Busico, attorney for Kathryn Knott, says that he's "always happy to have open lines of communication" with prosecutors but wouldn't say whether Knott is going to take the deal. While Williams and Harrigan were allegedly the more physical aggressors, it was Knott who received the brunt of public backlash after homophobic rants were found on her Twitter feed.

Harrigan's attorney, Josh Scarpello, did not return calls seeking comment. According to an affidavit of probable cause in the case, Harrigan initiated the confrontation when he called the victims "faggots," and he struck Hesse.

According to the above-linked report, if convicted on all charges at trial the trio could face from 34 to 68 years in prison. That result is highly unlikely as none of the three had been arrested before. If the plea offer is accepted, an insider predicts sentences of 12-24 months in county jail. Jury selection will begin in September if they don't take the deal.

Headline Of The Day

Details. (Tipped by JMG reader Brandon)

OREGON: Prosecutors Reveal Additional Sex Abuse Allegations Against Terry Bean

Via Williamette Week:

Prosecutors say Portland real-estate developer and Democratic Party activist Terry Bean engaged in sex with an underaged boy in 1979, providing the 16-year-old with alcohol and drugs. The teenager later tried to kill himself after Bean broke off the relationship, court records say. The records were filed by prosecutors late Thursday in Lane County Circuit Court as part of an ongoing criminal case against Bean. Bean in November 2014 was charged with two counts of third-degree sodomy, a felony, and one count of sexual abuse in the third degree, a misdemeanor, allegedly involving a 15-year-old boy. Prosecutors say they wanted to introduce evidence of Bean's "prior bad acts" dating back to 1979 into the current case to establish a pattern of sexual abuse by Bean. The events described in the filing are beyond the statue of limitations.

Bean is a co-founder of the Human Rights Campaign and was the largest Oregon fundraiser for both Obama presidential campaigns. Last week the attorney for Bean requested the dismissal of the original charges after Bean reportedly reached a civil settlement with the alleged victim, whom he met on Grindr. Prosecutors are opposing the dismissal motion. From Bean's attorney:

A civil compromise was filed on July 2 with a statement by the “alleged victim” that he has no interest in prosecuting this case and never did. A civil compromise represents a resolution of criminal charges that satisfies both parties. There is a hearing on this compromise on Thursday, July 16. The law allows a civil compromise in this case. However, the special prosecutor is objecting for dubious reasons. For almost two years, Terry Bean has been the victim of Kiah Lawson’s schemes and lies which have led law enforcement to harass Mr. Bean’s friends, seek out old acquaintances and threaten him with further prosecution unless he admits to events that did not occur.

World Net Daily is thrilled with the latest developments:

The Eugene paper noted Bean was first recognized for his activism in the 1970s when he helped persuade the Eugene City Council to pass an ordinance barring discrimination based on sexual orientation. Scott Lively, known for his opposition to the “gay” rights agenda, was communications director for an activist group that proposed ballot measures in the early 1990s to defend against the homosexual movement. He told WND in an interview the Bean case fits a pattern. “This is very common,” he said. “We see gay-activist leaders, one after another, being accused, sometimes charged, with pederasty – adult male homosexuality with teenage boys.” Oregon voters, Lively said, could have “stopped the LGBT agenda dead in its tracks” in 1992 by supporting the ballot measures he promoted. He pointed out that prosecutors allege regarding the 2013 charge that Bean paid the victim $40 after the encounter and encouraged the boy to join a support group for “gay” youths. “I have alleged for many years that these LGBT youth groups are really not much more than grooming center for predators, and this supports that allegation,” Lively told WND.

Regarding the original charges, Bean contends that he is the victim of an "extortion ring" that included ex-boyfriend Kiah Lawson, who claims to have discovered that Bean secretly videotaped sexual encounters with Lawson and other men in Bean's bedroom. It was Bean who first went to police in June 2014 to charge that Lawson and others were demanding money in exchange for remaining silent about the videotaping. In March 2014, Bean filed for a restraining order against Lawson, claiming domestic physical abuse. In that petition, Bean claimed that Lawson is a crystal meth addict who had burglarizing his home and charged $15K on stolen credit cards. He also accused Lawson of dealing meth out of Bean's second home, a condo where Lawson lived at that time. Bean claims that police characterized his accusations as a civil dispute between landlord and tenant.

RELATED:  In August 2014, a New Jersey man filed a federal lawsuit against Grindr, alleging that the hook-up app's "lax age verification standards" led him to be arrested for having sex with a 13 year-old boy who had been allowed to be a paying member of the site. Grindr's motion to dismiss cited the Communications Decency Act, which they claim immunizes companies from bad acts resulting from misinformation provided by other parties. They additionally claimed that the Third Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that it is "not feasible" for web publishers to verify the age of users. The lawsuit was dismissed in March of this year.

CALIFORNIA: Gay Porn Actor Found Guilty Of Extorting Telecom Tycoon Donald Burns

Via Courthouse News Service:

A gay porn actor was found guilty Thursday of extorting and attempting to extort $1.5 million from a Florida-based business tycoon. The case ended Thursday afternoon after about two hours of deliberation, with the jury delivering a guilty verdict against defendant Teofil Brank, who performs as Jarec Wentworth, on all six of the government's charges.

Brank, flushed and on the verge of tears, buried his head in his hands after the jurors left the courtroom. His defense attorney Seema Ahmad wept as two U.S. Marshals cuffed and chained Brank, who was dressed in a white-collared blue shirt, gray pants and black shoes. Brank's criminal trial began on Tuesday. He was charged with extorting Florida tycoon Donald Burns.

During trial, jurors heard salacious details, including Burns' bid to have a gay porn movie shoot on his multimillion dollar cliffside estate, lurid testimony about sex parties and Burns' very public relationship with another former gay model and porn star. In a stunning admission, a male prostitute confirmed he was reluctant to talk to authorities because of his relationship with a "powerful" individual. "David Geffen" was the name he uttered on the second day of proceedings.

Efforts to contact Geffen - billionaire philanthropist, founder of Geffen Records and co-founder of Dreamworks SKG - or his representatives were unsuccessful. Brank was arrested in an FBI sting at a Starbucks near LAX as he tried to blackmail Burns for $1 million. By that time, Brank had already persuaded Burns to hand over his Audi R8 sports car and wire $500,000 from a Goldman Sachs account to a Wells Fargo bank account under Brank's name.

Brank faces six to nine years in federal prison. He will be sentenced in September. (Tipped by JMG reader TJ)

FLORIDA: Telecom Tycoon ID'd As Target Of Alleged Extortion By Gay Porn Actor

Via Courthouse News Service:

A Florida-based tycoon was identified as the target of an alleged $1.5 million extortion attempt by a gay porn actor during the first day of the actor's criminal trial. Taking the stand Tuesday afternoon in U.S. District Judge's John Walter's courtroom, Donald Burns of Palm Beach said he paid defendant Teofil Brank $1,500 to $2,500 each time the actor referred him to male models and adult performers. He said he also paid to have sex with Brank at least four times. "It was partly a coping mechanism from the loss of my long-term relationship," Burns said in response to a prosecutor's question why he had paid Brank to help set him up with the men.

The Smoking Gun website in April identified Burns as the alleged victim in the federal government's case. But Burns, who jurors heard is worth close to $140 million, successfully moved to have his identity kept secret until trial. The businessman has a stake in Internet phone company Magicjack Vocaltec. He was a co-founder of the Telco Communications Group and controls the Donald A. Burns Foundation. Brank, who performs as Jarec Wentworth, was charged in March with extortion and making criminal threats after the FBI arrested him in a sting at a Starbucks parking lot in El Segundo. Federal prosecutors say Brank extorted Burns and threatened to ruin his reputation by posting sexually explicit photos on Twitter.

While Burns has been characterized by some outlets as major GOP donor due to his support of Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, Rudy Giuliani, and other top Republicans, he has also supported the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and donated $400,000 to Florida Red & Blue, the group formed to battle 2008's ultimately successful Amendment 2, which placed a ban on same-sex marriage into the state constitution. Burns reportedly went to the FBI when Brank demanded an additional million dollars after having been paid $500,000 and given an extremely expensive Audi R8. There's no mention of Burns being closeted at the time of the alleged extortion. Brank performed under the name Jarec Wentworth.

DC: Suspect Arrested In Subway Stabbing Death Of LGBT Activist Kevin Sutherland

Via the Associated Press:

Jasper Spires, the man suspected of stabbing and killing a 24-year-old at a Metro station Saturday afternoon, has reportedly been arrested. The victim, Kevin Joseph Sutherland of Northeast D.C., died after he was stabbed on a train approaching the NOMA-Gallaudet Metro Station Saturday at about 12:50 p.m. An arrest warrant was subsequently issued for Spires for first-degree murder in the case. Sutherland had recently started working for "New Blue Interactive," a political strategy firm. Co-worker Brandt McCool told ABC7, "We all really loved working with Kevin. He came on a few months ago and ever since he has been one of the best digital strategists in the country. He's a bright spot, a pleasure to work with. It's a terrible, terrible tragedy." Sutherland graduated from American University in 2013. He was twice elected Student Government Secretary.

More about Sutherland from the Washington Post:

He was known to enjoy the sunset at a Kenny Chesney concert with a cocktail in hand, and he decorated his student government office at American University — where he advocated for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights — with posters depicting glam shots of pop star Lady Gaga. On his Twitter profile, he led with the Latin words of the Connecticut seal, “Qui transtulit sustinet” — “He who is transplanted still sustains.” By all accounts, Sutherland lived by the motto. In photographs and videos Sutherland posted online, he showed reverence and adoration for D.C.’s monuments and the city’s history, highlighting what he considered the nation’s treasures.

Local Connecticut news reports on the crime.

(Tipped by JMG reader DC Dave)

Charleston Mass Murderer Researched The Same White Supremacists Group Once Addressed By FRC President Tony Perkins

As I have mentioned here many times over the years, in 2001 then Louisiana state Rep. Tony Perkins addressed (photo above) the Council Of Conservative Citizens, an SPLC certified racist hate group with active chapters in more than a dozen states including South Carolina. Perkins' speech to the CCC (formerly the White Citizens Council) came only five years after he was fined by the Federal Elections Commission for lying about an $82K payment to Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke. Per its website, the CCC opposes "race mixing" and considers black people "a retrograde species of humanity."

Today we learn that another fan of the CCC is Charleston mass murderer Dylann Roof. The Inquisitr quotes from Roof's just-discovered manifesto:

"But more importantly this prompted me to type in the words 'black on White crime' into Google, and I have never been the same since that day. The first website I came to was the Council of Conservative Citizens. There were pages upon pages of these brutal black on White murders. I was in disbelief. At this moment I realized that something was very wrong. How could the news be blowing up the Trayvon Martin case while hundreds of these black on White murders got ignored?”

The Inquisitr notes that the CCC's website has crashed today due to it now being linked to the Charleston massacre. The SPLC maintains a lengthy file on the CCC, here's an excerpt:

The danger of "race-mixing" has been a consistent theme for the group since the days of the White Citizens Councils. "God is the author of racism," said one story on the CCC's website in 2001. "God is the One who divided mankind into different types. ... Mixing the races is rebelliousness against God." After the NAACP declared its boycott of South Carolina in 1999 because the state continued to fly the Confederate battle flag over its Capitol dome, the CCC distributed a mock advertisement proclaiming, "South Carolina Now Has Whiter Beaches!" The Citizens Informer item urged whites to vacation in South Carolina and "enjoy a civil liberty that has been denied to them for many years at hotels, restaurants and beaches: the freedom to associate with just one's own people." Along with theological arguments, the Citizens Informer has published countless stories detailing "scientific" evidence for white people's inherent superiority.

According to the SPLC, the CCC calls LGBT Americans "perverted sodomites." The SPLC also notes that the membership rolls of the Council Of Conservative Citizens "overlap greatly" with those of the League Of The South, the racist group which recently distributed signs at an Alabama anti-gay marriage rally addressed by Roy Moore, whose return to the Alabama Supreme Court was bankrolled by the League's former president.

Tony Perkins and other hate group leaders regularly scream with outrage when the LGBT movement is compared to the black civil rights movement. Yet time after time after time after time we find that both movements share common enemies. The next time Perkins appears on cable news, we need to pressure every outlet to mention what HE has in common with confessed mass murderer Dylann Roof.

South Carolina Shooter Caught In NC

E.W. Jackson: South Carolina Shooting Might Be Part Of The War On Christians

But don't jump to conclusions or anything.

PREVIOUSLY ON JMG:  E.W. Jackson says Christians must be willing to die to stop gay marriage. E.W. Jackson says Christianity is the world's only real religion. E.W. Jackson says using his own words against him violates the Constitution. E.W. Jackson launches petition to legalize anti-gay discrimination nationwide. E.W. Jackson says Satan supports the separation of church and state. E.W. Jackson joins international coalition to criminalize homosexuality. E.W. Jackson joins hate group rally against Virginia marriage. E.W. Jackson says women who commit sins give birth to deformed babies. E.W. Jackson says God invented the Tea Party because Obama got elected.

NEW YORK CITY: Suspect In Chelsea Chair-Bashing Turns Himself In

Via the New York Daily News:

The man accused of bashing a gay couple with a chair in a Chelsea barbecue restaurant has turned himself in, police sources said. Bayna-Lehkiem El-Amin, 41, surrendered to NYPD Hate Crime detectives at the Seventh Precinct and was being questioned Tuesday, the sources said. He was charged with assault and attempted assault. El-Amin slammed a chair over the heads of Jonathan Snipes, 32, and Ethan York-Adams, 25, during a dispute inside Dallas BBQ on Eighth Ave. near W. 23rd St. on May 5. He's also accused of using homophobic slurs, police said. El-Amin left the city, but professed his innocence online. Writing on the blog The G-List, El-Amin said that he was the one victimized. "I was the victim ... I was sitting at my table," he wrote. "With no provocation, he came up and hit me. There was no slur thrown at him."

Gothamist notes that El-Amin "reportedly has 18 arrests in numerous states for assault, credit-card fraud, possession of stolen property, and forgery."

VIDEO: Citizens Tackle Manhattan Mugger

Via DNA Info:

An Arizona tourist who brought her children to New York for their first visit to the city was mugged in Midtown and dragged half a block by her attacker before a group of Good Samaritans and police captured him and rescued her cash and belongings. Jaime Cowgur, 36, was finishing a two-day swing through the Big Apple with her teenaged son and daughter when she suddenly felt a hand reaching into her back pocket as she walked along West 35th Street near Eighth Avenue Wednesday around 6:15 p.m. “What are you doing?” she demanded as she grabbed his wrist. But then he grabbed her backpack straps and try to rip it from her back. But one Bad Apple did not sour her on The Big Apple. “So many people came to my aid,” the Phoenix resident said. “Civilians who I don’t know, police officers, men and women who came over asking if I was all right. It was pretty amazing,” she added. “People were so warm. I still love New York. It’s a great place.“

The mugger was charged with assault, theft, and possession of PCP. The victim sustained a skinned knee and split lip.

MANHATTAN: Trans Woman Pushed Onto Subway Tracks In Possible Hate Crime

Via NBC New York:

A transgender woman was pushed onto the subway tracks at a Greenwich Village station by a man "acting erratically" who demanded to know what she was looking at, police said Wednesday. Authorities said they are investigating the case as a hate crime. The 28-year-old victim was on the southbound platform waiting for the 6 train at Lafayette and Bleecker streets Monday morning when she was approached by the suspect, according to police. He allegedly asked her "What are you looking at?," then ran to a garbage can, where he fished out an empty plastic bottle and threw it at her, according to police. The man pushed the woman onto the tracks, then ran away. The woman was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where she was treated for cuts and bruises and released.

RELATED: The Daily News, which is usually relatively good on LGBT items, managed to work Caitlyn Jenner into their lede.

REPORT: Accused Fugitive In Chelsea Chair-Bashing Speaks Out To Gay Blogger

On May 6th two gay men were brutally clubbed over the head with a chair during a fracas at a Chelsea restaurant that was widely characterized as an anti-gay hate crime after video of the incident went viral nationwide. The following day New York City blog The G-List Society posted a claim that one of the victims had instigated the fight and that the attacker was a gay man himself. On May 20th the NYPD identified the man as Bayna El-Amin and reported that he remains a fugitive. On May 26th Gawker confirmed reports that El-Amin is gay.

Last night The G-List Society posted an interview with El-Amin, describing him as an "HIV/AIDS counselor and ballroom community leader." The opening paragraph is attributed to El-Amin:

"We are fortunate enough to live in a country where all people are protected against crimes based upon their race or sexual orientation. That’s a blessing because everyone in this world doesn’t have that privilege and right. I think that is sad and unfortunate that someone would misuse that right and play this card that they have been gay-bashed or been attacked and then call someone a homophobe. I’m also disappointed in the community, in particular certain members of the LGBT community, who have not done their due diligence to make sure that if someone is saying this – that what they’re saying is true. In particular, that [openly-gay] Councilman [Corey Johnson] in that area who said so many horrible things about me to his constituents. I don’t understand why he would call me a homophobe.”

Further down in his post, G-List Society author Waddie G says that he advised El-Amin to press charges against the alleged instigator of the incident, should he decide to turn himself into the police. El-Amin is reportedly staying with friends at an undisclosed location and is being advised by an attorney while he builds his case of self-defense. Another quote from El-Amin: 

"He assaulted me. I was the victim. People don’t realize that. People don’t know that. I was sitting at my table. With no provocation, he came up and hit me. There was no slur thrown at him. There was no bumping into my table and knocking over my drinks. There was no interaction between us in a sense, except for what I said earlier when I said to them, ‘Hey, guys! There are ladies here.’ Then, he came over to me and said, ‘And YOU calling up ladies.’ Then, POW! He definitely made false accusations and tried to put a crime on my that did not happen. I defended myself.”

NYPD Chief Of Detectives Robert Boyce calls El-Amin a "career criminal," noting his multiple arrests on charges that include forgery and credit card fraud. Hit the final link above for the full interview.

BROOKLYN: Local Tea Party Founder Busted For Possession Of Child Porn

Via the New York Post:

An ultra-conservative one-time Brooklyn city council candidate — whose campaign slogan was “Our children are our future” — has been nabbed for possessing and sharing kiddie porn, prosecutors said Friday. Joseph Hayon, 37, was arrested Thursday and admitted to police that he traded the sick pics of kids between the ages of 2 and 12 in December 2014 using his email account ArtModel@juno.com, according to a criminal complaint. At his arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court, prosecutors said a tip led police to search Hayon’s Midwood home, where the stash of child porn was found. Cops confiscated Hayon’s two laptops, five desktops, video camera, Samsung cellphone and one DVD, prosecutors said. He was also slapped with an order of protection Friday barring him from coming in contact with his four children, ages 9, 7, 4 and 15 months. He was released on $50,000 bail.

Hayon is the founder of the Brooklyn Tea Party. He ran for the NYC Council in 2009 and 2013, losing both times. A recap of his 2009 campaign platform reveals that he intended to sponsor legislation ordering NYC to disobey then-Gov. David Patterson's directive for state agencies to recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages. (How would that have worked, exactly?) Hayon also vowed to "make all public library staff criminally responsible for making any form of electronic obscenity available to minors." Ahem. And then there's the usual Tea Party anti-trans, anti-gay bloviating about indoctrinating children, plus something about requiring that kosher grape juice be made available to people on food stamps. (Tipped by JMG reader Mark)

Nebraska To Repeal Death Penalty