A Florida pastor says his church will "not today, not ever" burn a Quran, even if a mosque is built near ground zero.
Pastor Terry Jones had threatened to burn the Muslim holy book on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks over plans to build an Islamic center near where terrorists brought down the World Trade Center nine years ago.
He flew to New York and appeared on NBC's "Today" show. He says that his Gainesville, Fla., church's goal was "to expose that there is an element of Islam that is very dangerous and very radical."
He tells NBC that "we have definitely accomplished that mission." He says no meeting is planned with the imam leading the center but he hopes one will take place.
A "Burn a Koran Day" banner outside his church has been taken down.
Pastor Terry Jones is surrounded by reporters as he arrives at Laguardia airport, Friday, Sept. 10, 2010 in New York
US President Barack Obama (L), First Lady Michelle Obama (R) and their daughter Sasha
US President Barack Obama and his daughter have taken a dip in the Gulf of Mexico in an attempt to reassure Americans that, despite a massive oil spill, its waters remain safe for tourists.
The president, First Lady Michelle Obama, and their younger daughter, Sasha, traveled to this Florida panhandle city to talk to local officials and business leaders, and highlight the region's tourist attractions.
"Oil is no longer flowing into the Gulf," said Obama, speaking at a regional US Coast Guard headquarters.
"But I'm here to tell you that our job is not finished, and we are not going anywhere until it is."
Workers load oil booms onto a boat as the effort continues to try and contain the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
Efforts to stem the flow: A Subsea Dispersant Injection System will be deployed by BP to contain oil below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico
An economic and environmental catastrophe loomed closer last night as emergency workers were powerless to halt a giant oil spill bearing down on Florida's coat.
The spill was said to have tripled in size over the past two days and is now threatening the state's beaches.
President Obama flew to the Gulf Coast yesterday for a first-hand update on the growing slick from the sunken BP drilling rig a mile deep in the ocean off Louisiana.
Crews have so far tried stemming the flow from the ruptured well or removing oil from the surface by skimming it, burning it or dispersing it with chemicals, but with little success.
Experts fear a nightmare scenario if the Gulf Stream carries the oil to Florida and into the Atlantic beyond.
Black clumps were already clinging to marsh grass in the biologically rich Louisiana Delta, a breeding ground for crab, oysters, shrimp and other seafood, but environmentalists say the more damaging oil has yet to hit the shore.
The only hope was for a change of wind direction to push the danger away from land. But it is feared the slick could reach south Florida's Atlantic beaches by Wednesday if the oil gets swept into the Gulf's powerful current.
This could also steer it into the Florida Keys and then north up the east coast.
The oil slick could cause huge damage to the tourist industry in Florida, which is the the holiday destination of more than 1.4million Britons each year.
Mourners lay flowers and light candles during a vigil for the fallen officers
A procession of police vehicles escorts the bodies of four slain police officers as they pass beneath a U.S. flag in Parkland
A man and a woman write in a book of condolences at a memorial for the four slain police officers in front of the Lakewood Police Department in Lakewood, Washington yesterday
Police cars block access to the Leschi neighbourhood of Seattle early today as they surround Clemmons house
Siege: Smoke rises after police set off an explosive device at convicted robber Maurice Clemmons' house in Seattle in the early hours of this morning. Police were hunting Clemmons in connection with the deaths of four officers, gunned down in a coffee house ambush yesterday
A police car sits in front of the Forza Coffee Company where the four police officers were killed
Murdered in cold blood: (Clockwise from top left) Lakewood Police officers Greg Richards, 42, Mark Renninger, 39, Tina Griswold, 40, and 37-year-old Ronald Owens were looking at paperwork when they were ambushed
A solemn police officer directs traffic away from the crime scene
Suspect: Police are searching for Maurice Clemmons after four police officers were shot dead in a Washington State coffee shop
People stand in front of Rollies Tavern as a procession of police vehicles passes by, escorting the bodies of the four slain police officers
Hundreds of police officers flooded the area searching for the lone gunman
The town just outside of Seattle, Washington where the four officers were gunned down
Sheriff's deputies look over a rifle they removed from the Seattle home of Maurice Clemmons yesterday. A Swat team stormed the house after an 11-hour siege, but Clemmons was not there
Maurice Clemmons' house in Seattle after yesterday's siege. The murder suspect has now gone on the run
U.S. police have killed the man accused of gunning down four officers in a Seattle coffee shop.
Maurice Clemmons, 37, was shot dead by officers in a Seattle neighbourhood early this morning, a police spokesman said.
He had been on the run since the coffee shop ambush on Sunday.
Police had believed Clemmons was believed to be wounded, armed, and on the run after slipping through a police net yesterday.
He was charged with the murders of the four officers yesterday.
Last night it was claimed that the day before the shootings, Clemmons - a convicted robber who was bailed less than a week before Sunday's massacre - made a chilling boast.
He told friends to watch the news because 'I am going to kill some cops', police said.
'Unfortunately, no one acted on that statement,' a spokesman said yesterday.
After Sunday's shooting, Seattle police had laid siege to the house of Clemmons, 37, for eleven hours yesterday.
But when police entered the house, Clemmons was nowhere to be found. It is not clear if he was ever in the house at all.
Now he is believed to be on the run, suffering from a stomach wound that could become fatal if not treated.
Police have closed an elementary school in the area and are searching surrounding houses.
Clemmons is believed to have been wounded by one of the four officers during the execution-style killers.
Two were killed sitting in their seats, one had risen to their feet, and the fourth fought the gunman all the way to the door of the face, police said yesterday.
'We have determined that in fact he has been shot,' said Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff. 'He may be deceased from his gunshot wound.'
Troyer also described Clemmons as the 'number one suspect' in the slayings.
ABCNews reported that Clemmons, a convicted robber, has now been charged with the murders of the four officers.
Police and a Swat team surrounded Clemmons' house yesterday after a tip-off led them to his door.
Reports said police used a loudspeaker and even a robot as they attempted to persuade Clemmons to come out of the house.
'This is one of the toughest decisions you'll make in your life but you need to man up,' one negotiator reportedly told him.
They also fired tear gas and are believed to have fired shots in an attempt to persuade Clemmons to come outside.
However when they entered the house he was nowhere to be found.
Police were able to detain friends of Clemmons who allegedly helped him overnight, ABC reported.
It was those friends who reportedly told police about the wound to his abdomen.
Clemmons has an extensive violent criminal history from Arkansas, including aggravated convictions for robbery and theft.
He was also recently arrested and charged in Pierce County in Washington state for third-degree assault on a police officer and second-degree rape of a child.
In 1989, Clemmons, then 17, was convicted in Little Rock for aggravated robbery. He was paroled in 2000 after then-Gov. Mike Huckabee commuted Clemmons' 95-year prison sentence.
Huckabee, who was criticised during his run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 for the number of clemencies and commutations he granted, cited Clemmons' age at the time of the sentence.
After his release from prison, Clemmons violated his parole and was returned to jail in July 2001.
He was released March 18, 2004, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper.
The four officers were with the 100-member police department of Lakewood, which adjoins the unincorporated area of Parkland, where the shootings took place.
The city identified the victims as Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39; Ronald Owens, 37; Tina Griswold, 40; and Greg Richards 42.
All four were parents.
Troyer said one of those officers fought with the gunman and may have wounded him before the officer died just outside the doorway.
He told reporters that investigators were asking area medical providers to report any people wounded by gunshots.
Troyer said investigators believe two of the officers were shot dead while sitting in the shop, and a third was killed after standing up.
The fourth apparently struggled with the gunman out the doorway and 'gave up a good fight,' getting off a few shots before he was either shot there or succumbed to earlier wounds.
'We believe there was a struggle, a commotion, a fight ... that he fought the guy all the way out the door,' Troyer said.
He added: 'We hope that he hit him.'
Troyer said the gunman entered the coffee house and walked up to the counter as if to place an order.
A barista saw a gun when the man opened his jacket and fled out the back door.
The man then turned and opened fire on the officers as they sat working on their laptops, killing the three men and one woman in what Troyer described as a targeted ambush.
Troyer said the attack was clearly targeted at the officers, not a robbery gone bad.
'This was more of an execution. Walk in with the specific mindset to shoot police officers,' he said.
Troyer said the officers were catching up on paperwork at the beginning of their shifts when they were attacked at 8:15 a.m. Sunday.
'There were marked patrol cars outside and they were all in uniform,' Troyer said.
There was no indication of any connection with the Halloween night shooting of a Seattle police officer.
The suspect in that shooting remains hospitalised.
'We won't know if it's a copycat effect or what it was until we get the case solved,' Troyer said.
'We don't even have a suspect ID right now.'
Troyer estimated that a couple of hundred officers from the Washington State Patrol and multiple surrounding police agencies in the area were at the crime scene, with some coming on their own time.
On Sunday night, a motorcade of dozens of police cars and motorcycles with lights flashing escorted the bodies of the four officers from the crime scene to the Pierce County medical examiner's office in Tacoma.
The motorcade rolled under a giant American flag hanging from fire truck ladders.
'We have no motive at all,' Troyer said. 'I don't think when we find out what it is, it will be anything that makes any sense or be worth it.'
Two employees and a few other customers were in the shop during the attack.
All were interviewed by the Pierce County sheriff's investigators. Some are in shock. They are very upset,' Troyer said. 'They are the ones who are going to put together for us how this happened.'
The Forza Coffee Shop, part of a popular local chain, is on a side street near McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma.
The shop is in a small retail center alongside two restaurants, a cigar store and a nail salon.
Brad Carpenter, founder and owner of Forza Coffee, said his staff was being interviewed by police, and that his main concern was for the families of the police officers.
'I'm a retired police officer, so this really hits close to home for me,' said Carpenterr.
Troyer said the Lakewood officers were two blocks outside their jurisdiction, and the coffee shop was a popular place for officers from surrounding jurisdictions to meet and share information.
Streets around the coffee shop were blocked off and a police helicopter hovered over a large crowd of investigators. TV video showed police taking possession of a pickup truck parked in a grocery store in Parkland.
Troyer said investigators were checking surveillance video from multiple sources, trying to identify a possible getaway car.
Dave Gabrielson, a clerk at Foot Mart about a block away from the coffee shop, told the newspaper all was quiet when he opened the store at 8am About 30 minutes later, 'All of a sudden a million cops were zooming up and down the road,' Gabrielson said.
He said he saw officers bring a police dog into a nearby apartment complex.
Last month, Seattle police officer Timothy Brenton was shot and killed Halloween night as he was sitting in a cruiser with trainee Britt Sweeney.
Sweeney was grazed in the neck.
Authorities say the man charged with that shooting also firebombed four police vehicles in October as part of a 'one-man war' against law enforcement.
Christopher Monfort, 41, was arrested after being wounded in a firefight with police days after the Seattle shooting. He remains hospitalized in stable condition, the hospital said Sunday.
The officers killed Sunday were a patrol squad made up of three officers and their sergeant.
No threats had been made against them or other officers in the region, sheriff's officials said. Their families have been notified.
'We lost people we care about. We're working to find out who did this and deal with him.'
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire said she was 'shocked and horrified' by the killings.
This undated drivers license photo provided Friday, Nov. 27, 2009 by the Jupiter, Fla. Police shows Paul Michael Merhige. Police were searching Friday for Merhige, suspected in the Thanksgiving shooting deaths of his twin sisters, aunt and a 6-year-old cousin during a family celebration.
This undated photo provided by Jim Sitton via WPTV shows Makayla Sitton, 6. Four people including a child in bed were shot to death during a family Thanksgiving gathering Thursday night, Nov. 26, 2009 in Jupiter, Fla., and a manhunt was under way across South Florida early Friday for Paul Michael Merhige, 35, a relative suspected in the slayings.
This undated photo provided by Jim Sitton via WPTV shows Makayla Sitton, 6. Four people including a child in bed were shot to death during a family Thanksgiving gathering Thursday night, Nov. 26, 2009 in Jupiter, Fla., and a manhunt was under way across South Florida early Friday for Paul Michael Merhige, 35, a relative suspected in the slayings.
The body of one of the victims killed in a shooting Thursday night, Nov. 26, 2009 is placed in a van at the scene of the incident Friday Nov. 27, 2009 in Jupiter, Fla. Police were searching Friday for a man suspected in the Thanksgiving shooting deaths of his twin sisters, aunt and a 6-year-old cousin during a family celebration.
A manhunt is under way in Florida for a man police say opened fire on his family after Thanksgiving dinner and killed four people.
Paul Michael Merhinge of Miami is believed to be driving a royal blue 2007 Toyota Camry with a rear spoiler and a Florida license plate.
Authorities say 17 people were gathered in the home in Jupiter, Fla., on Thursday when the shootings happened. The town is about 90 miles north of Miami and is known as a home to celebrities such as Michael Jordan and Burt Reynolds.
Police say the victims are Merhige's pregnant sister, her twin, a 6-year-old cousin and a 79-year-old aunt.
Photo credit: AP | Grandparents of Somer Thompson, Phillip and Debbie Bowling, are escorted back to Somer's parent's house after addressing the media in Orange Park, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009. Authorities believe a body found under trash in a landfill is that of 7-year-old Somer Thompson, a north Florida girl who vanished on her walk home from school, the sheriff in charge of the case said Thursday.
A young girl signed a card on Thursday at a memorial for Somer Renee Thompson outside her home in Orange Park, Fla. Somer's body was discovered Wednesday in a Georgia landfill.
Map shows route to school of Orange Park, Florida, missing girl Sabra and daughter Victoria Ray pay their respects at a shrine made in memory of Somer Thompson across the street from where Somer lived in Orange Park, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009. Authorities believe a body found under trash in a landfill is that of 7-year-old Somer Thompson, a north Florida girl who vanished on her walk home from school, the sheriff in charge of the case said Thursday.
This undated photo released by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement shows Somer Renee Thompson, 7, who was last seen Monday Oct. 19, 2009 in Orange Park, Fla. A Florida Ambert Alert has been issued for Somer Thompson.
After 7-year-old Somer Thompson vanished on her way home from school, investigators tailed nine garbage trucks from her neighborhood to a Georgia landfill nearly 50 miles away, then picked through the trash as each rig spilled its load.
They sorted through more than 225 tons of garbage before their worst fears were realized: Sticking out of the rubbish were a child's lifeless legs.
Sheriff Rick Beseler said the quick discovery of Somer's body on Wednesday, two days after she disappeared, may have saved precious evidence that could lead to her killer.
"Had we not done this tactic, I believe that body would have been buried beneath hundreds of tons of debris, probably would have gone undiscovered forever," he said Thursday.
An autopsy to establish the cause of death was performed Thursday, but authorities would not disclose their findings. At a news conference, Beseler would not say if Somer had been sexually assaulted or answer other questions about the condition of the body.
"I fear for our community until we bring this person in. This is a heinous crime that's been committed," Beseler said. "And we're going to work as hard as we can to make this community safe."
Searching landfills is common when children disappear, but it is unusual to try to zero in on them more efficiently by tracking a neighborhood's garbage trucks, said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
"Time is the enemy in these cases and the sheriff used every resource," Allen said.
The sheriff said police have questioned more than 155 registered sex offenders in the area so far. State online records show 88 sex offenders live in Orange Park, a Jacksonville suburb of about 9,000 people just south of Jacksonville Naval Air Station.
Beseler would not say whether investigators believe the crime was committed by more than one person.
Somer's father and other family members were "torn up" upon hearing the news, aunt Laura Holt said.
As for the killer or killers, "I don't think they deserve to live," Holt said. "I don't think there's anything worse that a person can do — to kill a child and dump her in the dump like a piece of trash?"
The girl disappeared in a heavily populated residential area about a mile from a stretch of fast-food restaurants and other businesses. Investigators will presumably try to pinpoint the trash bin or garbage can where she was dumped, based on the trash around her and the truck's pickup route.
Tuesday was trash day in Somer's neighborhood, and it was Detective Bruce Owens' idea to track the garbage trucks to the landfill they use in Folkston, Ga., 48 miles way.
"At that time I realized that this is probably not going to turn out good," the 10-year veteran of the Clay County Sheriff's Office told The Florida Times-Union. But he said he had been expecting to find perhaps a backpack or a piece of clothing, not a body.
The sheriff said he had told the girl's mother, Diena Thompson, to prepare for the worst, and called her after receiving the news Wednesday night.
"Needless to say, she was absolutely devastated," Beseler said. "It was the hardest phone call I've ever had to make in my life, and I hope I never have to make another one like that."
Somer vanished on Monday during her mile-long walk home from school. Authorities said she squabbled with another child and walked ahead of the group. She was last seen outside a vacant house that was on her route home, sheriff's spokeswoman Mary Justino said. Investigators are examining the house for evidence, Justino said.
On Thursday, flowers and dozens of teddy bears were heaped around an oak tree across the street from Somer's home where about 200 people gathered for a candlelight vigil in front of the family's home just after sundown.
Diena Thompson came out to thank the group who sang "Amazing Grace" and "You Are My Sunshine," then recited the Lord's Prayer.
"I wish I could hug every one of you," Thompson said. "I love every one of you."
Neighbor Carter Beukema shouted his comments about if the accused killer goes to trial: "I hope I'm on the jury. He will pay."
Somer "was always happy unless she couldn't find anyone to play with," neighbor Robert Ocain said. "She trusted anybody. Honestly, I think all the kids around here do."
At the tree, Catherine Sullivan held her teary-eyed 5-year-old daughter, Nya Frederick. They drove to the Thompsons' neighborhood from Jacksonville because Sullivan wanted to show her child the dangers of being too friendly with strangers.
"She seemed to understand when I explained to her her mommy wouldn't see her anymore," the mother said.
Investigators on Thursday intensified their search for evidence in the slaying of a 7-year-old Florida girl whose body was discovered Wednesday afternoon in a southeast Georgia landfill after a nationwide two-day hunt for her when she did not return home from school.
The authorities in Clay County, Fla., said they identified the body as that of Somer Renee Thompson of Orange Park, Fla., from a birthmark on her left shin and her clothing. An autopsy was performed Thursday by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in Savannah to determine the cause of death.
“There is a child killer on the loose, and that’s why we’re going to catch this person and bring him to justice,” Sheriff Rick Beseler of Clay County said early Thursday at a news conference outside Jacksonville, Fla. “This is a heinous crime that’s been committed. I fear for our community until we bring this person in.”
Sheriff Beseler said investigators got their first break in the case when they decided to follow the trail of garbage trucks from the neighborhood where Somer disappeared. Garbage was collected Tuesday in nine trucks and taken to the Chesser Island Road Landfill, near Folkston, Ga., about 50 miles from where Somer was last seen. Investigators sorted through more than 100,000 tons of garbage.
Later on Thursday afternoon, the spokeswoman for the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, Mary Justino, said investigators were still sorting through the trash looking for forensic clues. Officers were also checking 470 “relevant” tips they had received, Ms. Justino said.
According to various news reports, Somer had gotten into an argument with a friend on Monday while walking home from Grove Park Elementary School, less than a mile away, and stormed off alone.
Sheriff Beseler would not release details about the abduction, but Ms. Justino said later that the police had questioned nearly all the registered sex offenders in the area. According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, 161 sex offenders live within five miles of Somer’s home, and Ms. Justino said that as of Thursday afternoon, investigators had been able to speak to all but five of them.
“I don’t think that is shocking or surprising,” David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes against Children Research Center in New Hampshire, said of the number of sex offenders living in the area.
Dr. Finkelhor added in a telephone interview on Thursday: “I am of the opinion that these kinds of crimes have declined. They are shocking and galvanizing to the communities where they occur. But some of the research suggests that the effort we have made, both in flushing out sex offenders, incarcerating them and doing things like registering them and keeping tabs on them, are among the things responsible for the decline.”
Sheriff Beseler said he had told Diena Thompson, Somer’s mother, to be prepared for the worst when a body was found after 3 p.m. on Wednesday, and he said he called her again at 9 p.m. to tell her that the body was Somer’s.
“Needless to say, she was absolutely devastated,” the sheriff said. “It was the hardest phone call I’ve ever had to make in my life, and I hope I never have to make another one like that.”
A Collier County Crime Scene Investigator removes bags of evidence on Sunday from a home where authorities say Guerline Damas and her five children were found dead Saturday evening.
In this driver's license photo provided by the Collier County Sheriff's Office, Mesac Damas, 33, is shown. Collier County Sheriff's officials say they want to talk to Damas, who is a person of interest in the slaying of a woman and five young children inside a Naples, Fla. apartment.Damas believe to be the husband of the slain family. Believed to have fleed to Haiti.
Pastor Pierre Merone prays during service at First Haitian Baptist Church in East Naples Sunday, Sept. 20, 2009.
Five young children and their mother have been found dead in a Florida apartment, and authorities are searching for the woman's husband.
The Collier County Sheriff's Office says the husband boarded a flight to Haiti, where he has family. The sheriff's office describes him as a person of interest.
His car was found at Miami International Airport and investigators are checking it for evidence.
Family members contacted authorities Thursday saying they hadn't heard from the mother, and a missing person report was filed the next day. Yesterday, the sheriff's office entered the home in a gated community in Naples and found the bodies.
Police launched a massive manhunt late Saturday for Damas' husband, Mesac, who they say drove to Miami International Airport on Friday morning and boarded a flight to Haiti. Damas reportedly has family from Haiti.
Collier Sheriff Kevin Rambosk called the homicides “the worst of the worst.”
“In no uncertain terms this is the most horrific and violent event this community has ever experienced,’’ the sheriff said.
Dead are wife Guerline Damas, 32 and children Michzach, 9, Marven, 6, Maven, 5, Megan, 3, and Morgan Damas, 11 months.
Damas is no stranger to the Collier County court system according to court records. He has been involved in four domestic violence cases this decade.Collier County court records show Mesac Damas has prior charges for domestic violence against his wife. Roberts said that in January, Damas pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor battery charge against his wife.
Mesac Damas is a cook at Miller’s Ale House on Naples Boulevard in Naples. He also told his landlord that he was a disc jockey.
“We don't have a comment on anything,” general manager Jimmy Chico said.
Investigators said Damas left Miller’s Ale House shortly before 9 p.m. on Thursday.
Neighbors said they often saw the three older children at the bus stop in the morning. The oldest was protective of his two younger siblings, warning them to stay out of the street. They could also be seen playing in their yard and saying hello to neighbors in the community landscaped with palm trees and filled with light colored town homes, many of which have screened patios in the back.
Neighbor Vebi Shuaipi said the family was very nice and friendly.
He said he never saw the couple fighting, although the police were at their house all week because they had been yelling.
'Every homicide is tragic, however this is the worst of the worst.' Collier County sheriff's office chief investigator Jim Williams said 'the couple has a history of violence that has been in the court system.' The sheriff, too, noted that police had gone twice in the past year to the Damas residence to respond to 'domestic violence' complaints, most recently in January.
In an interview on Sunday, Mr Damas's father told the Naples Daily News that his son had fled to Haiti.
Jean Damas Sr said he knew his son had arrived in the Caribbean nation because 'he (Mesac Damas) called his brother from there', the newspaper reported on its website.
The father also confirmed to the paper that those killed in the North Naples home were his daughter-in-law and five grandchildren, and acknowledged that his son and his wife had had domestic problems.
Mr Williams said picking through the crime scene was 'very, very difficult and tedious'. Police said the child victims included three boys, age nine, six and five, a girl age three and a baby girl 11 months old.
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5 young children and their mother have been found dead in a Fla. apartment, and authorities are searching for the woman's husband. Officials say the couple had a history of domestic violence calls to their home over the past decade.
