Northeast
Pennsylvania pastor forgives gunman after attempted shooting during sermon: 'Grateful to God'
A Pennsylvania pastor’s brush with death turned into a testament of faith and an opportunity to show forgiveness after an assailant’s gun jammed during an attempted mid-sermon attack on Sunday.
“I’m grateful to God because all it takes is one [bullet],” Glenn Germany, pastor at Jesus’ Dwelling Place Church in North Braddock, said Tuesday on “Fox & Friends.”
“I would not be with my family today, so I’m definitely grateful to God because he definitely had the upper hand on me because I did not see him coming.”
PENNSYLVANIA MAN AIMS GUN AT PASTOR IN CHURCH, INTERRUPTS SERMON ON VIDEO
Footage of the incident captured the suspect approaching the pulpit with a firearm pointed at Germany as he delivered his sermon. Germany quickly ran for cover as one of the church deacons tackled the gunman, eventually removing the weapon from his possession.
Court papers identified the suspect as 26-year-old Bernard Polite, who later confessed that he felt compelled to shoot Germany because “God told him to do it” and he wanted to go to jail to “clear his mind,” according to a local report.
Germany said he spoke to Polite after the incident and forgave him.
“I let him know that I forgave him,” he told co-host Steve Doocy. “When he was in the car, that’s when I let him know, ‘I forgive you, I love you, and my name is Glenn Germany, and I want you to remember my name in any way I can help you. I’d like to help you, man.’”
Germany said Polite told him about “the voices” inside his head during their conversation.
Court records show Polite faces charges of attempted homicide, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment. He was being held without bail at the Allegheny County Jail and is due back in court on May 13.
FATHER OF SLAIN CHRISTIAN COLLEGE STUDENT URGES FORGIVENESS AFTER DORM ROOM KILLING
Doocy asked Germany how he might tell the story of what happened 10 years down the line, but he insisted the focus should instead be on the word of God.
“It’s like when you go to school, you don’t want to talk about current events. When you come to church, we want to talk about the Bible. We want to teach people about the word of God, but my focus will be on the word of God and not current events,” he said.
The Allegheny County Police Department said separately that it has also launched a homicide investigation into a man’s death on Stokes Avenue. Public records show Polite has relatives on the street.
Fox News’ Michael Ruiz and Mitch Picasso contributed to this report.
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New York
Critics Fault ‘Aggressive’ N.Y.P.D. Response to Pro-Palestinian Rally
Violent confrontations at a pro-Palestinian rally in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, on Saturday reflected what some local officials and protest organizers called an unexpectedly aggressive Police Department response, with officers flooding the neighborhood and using force against protesters.
At the rally, which drew hundreds of demonstrators, at least two officers wearing the white shirts of commanders were filmed punching three protesters who were prone in the middle of a crosswalk. One officer had pinned a man to the ground and repeatedly punched him in the ribs, a 50-second video clip shows. Another officer punched the left side of a man’s face as he held his head to the asphalt.
The police arrested around 40 people who were “unlawfully blocking roadways,” Kaz Daughtry, the department’s deputy commissioner of operations, said on social media on Sunday.
Mr. Daughtry shared drone footage of one person who climbed on a city bus, “putting himself and others in danger.” The Police Department, he wrote, “proudly protects everyone’s right to protest, but lawlessness will never be tolerated.”
Neither Mr. Daughtry nor the police commented on the use of force by officers. A spokeswoman for Mayor Eric Adams did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the police response. The Police Department’s patrol guide states that officers must use “only the reasonable force necessary to gain control or custody of a subject.”
Bay Ridge has a significant Arab American population and hosts demonstrations in mid-May every year to commemorate what Palestinians call the Nakba, or “catastrophe” — when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes during the war that led to Israel’s founding in 1948.
Andrew Gounardes, a state senator and a Democrat who represents the area, said local politicians had been in touch with the commanding officer of the 68th police precinct before the preplanned protest and said there had been no indication that there would be such a heavy police response. He called the videos he saw of the events “deeply concerning.”
“It certainly seems like the police came ready for a much more aggressive and a much more confrontational demonstration than perhaps they had gotten,” he added.
Justin Brannan, a Democrat who is the city councilman for the area, said the protest was smaller than last year’s but that officers had come from all over the city to police it. He said their approach appeared to be directed by 1 Police Plaza, the department headquarters in Manhattan.
“These were not our local cops. Clearly, there was a zero-tolerance edict sent down from 1PP, which escalated everything and made it worse,” Mr. Brannan said.
“I’m still waiting on information and details about the arrests that were made,” he added, “but from my vantage point, the response appeared pre-emptive, retaliatory and cumulatively aggressive.”
The Republican state assemblyman whose district includes parts of Bay Ridge, Alec Brook-Krasny, had a different perspective. He said an investigation would determine whether the officers’ actions were warranted, but he said some protesters were “breaking the law” by refusing to clear the street.
“I think that those bad apples are really hurting the ability of the other people to express their opinions,” Mr. Brook-Krasny said.
Some local residents supported the police and said they were tired of the protests’ disruptive impact. “Enough is enough,” said Peter Cheris, 52, a 40-year resident of Bay Ridge, who said he had viewed the videos of the protest. “If you’re going to break the law, you deserve it,” he said.
Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, singled out the presence of the Police Department’s Strategic Response Group, a unit that is sometimes deployed to protests and has been the subject of several lawsuits brought by the civil liberties union and other groups.
The police unit’s handling of the demonstration “was a violation of New Yorkers’ right to speak out and risks chilling political expression,” Ms. Lieberman said in a statement. “N.Y.C.L.U. protest monitors witnessed violent arrests, protester injuries, and even arrests of credentialed members of the press.”
She added: “The continual pattern of N.Y.P.D. aggression against pro-Palestine demonstrators raises important questions about the city’s disparate treatment of speakers based on their message.”
Abdullah Akl, an organizer with Within Our Lifetime, the pro-Palestinian group that organized the protests, said the response took organizers aback, particularly for a demonstration that occurs every year in Bay Ridge and is known to be frequented by families with children.
“It was really an unusual and unprecedented response,” Mr. Akl said.
He said he witnessed two men being pushed to the ground. One of them can be seen in a video with blood streaming down the side of his face. Nerdeen Kiswani, chair of Within Our Lifetime, said three protesters — including the two who can be seen being punched — were treated for their injuries at hospitals.
The Police Department has arrested hundreds of demonstrators since street protests began shortly after the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza. The protests have been largely peaceful, with few injuries or violent clashes.
In a turning point, on April 30 officers cleared Hamilton Hall at Columbia University, which had been occupied by protesters for 17 hours. Many officers showed restraint during the arrests, though a handful were filmed pushing and dragging students as they removed them from the building.
On Sunday, Ms. Lieberman said police response to the protests in Bay Ridge underscored the importance of implementing the terms of a $512,000 settlement the civil liberties union and the Legal Aid Society reached with the city this month. The settlement set new terms for how the Police Department manages protests, creating a tiered system that dictates how many officers can be sent to demonstrations and limits the use of the Strategic Response Group. It will take years to put into practice.
The settlement is one of several that stemmed from the George Floyd racial justice protests in 2020. Last year, the city agreed to pay $13.7 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that claimed unlawful police tactics had violated the rights of demonstrators in Manhattan and Brooklyn. In March, the city agreed to pay $21,500 to each of roughly 300 people who attended another Black Lives Matter protest in 2020 in the Bronx. Those people were penned in by the police, then charged at or beaten with batons, according to a legal settlement.
Andy Newman and Camille Baker contributed reporting.
Boston, MA
Boston’s professional women’s hockey team takes Game 1 in front of sold out crowd
LOWELL – Game 1 of the inaugural Walter Cup Finals in women’s hockey went to Boston in front of their home crowd for a moment bigger than sports. It was a history-making moment.
The first-ever playoff finals round of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) took place between Boston and Minnesota.
Playing to a sold out crowd
“This is such a wonderful venue, such a wonderful event and people are so enthusiastic and the team is great,” said Boston hockey fan Joellen in disbelief, watching a sold out crowd support women living a dream that for her felt so far away. “I never thought that this would be possible for me to see when I was a little girl.”
And the players put on a show. The teams went toe-to-toe, swapping goals all game, but Boston took the win, 4-3.
Women’s hockey league making history
“It’s a huge responsibility to establish a legacy here in Boston,” said PWHL Boston’s captain, Hilary Knight. Boston is one of six teams spearheading year one of the professional league. “To finally break through and have this historic year, it means everything.”
Now the tournament is down to two, with a trophy on the line and an MVP award named after the league’s biggest supporter and a history maker herself.
“What’s happening in women’s sports now is people think about investing in us,” said Billie Jean King, who was in attendance for the game at Tsongas Center in Lowell. “We were the leaders, the first ones. It’s different now, there’s a lot more people who believe in us. The players are organized, there’s associations, there’s unions now, they know how to fight.”
A fight that continues on and off the ice.
“Girls now have the dream. Now girls have the dream to play professional hockey in the PWHL,” said King.
PWHL Boston and PWHL Minnesota will be back at the Tsongas Center for game 2 on Tuesday night and once again, a packed house is expected.
Pittsburg, PA
Photos: Pittsburgh Pirates 3, Chicago Cubs 2 at Wrigley Field
Photos from the game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on Sunday, May 19, 2024.
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