Tiger kills man

ROLLING HILLS ESTATES, CA – FEBRUARY 23: A sign for the Genesis Invitational golf tournament is seen on the door of the car that golf legend Tiger Woods was driving when seriously injured in a rollover accident on February 23, 2021 in Rolling Hills Estates, California. Rescuers used hydraulic rescue tools to extricate him from the car where he reportedly sustained major leg injuries. Law enforcement reports that there was no evidence of impairment. He was in town to participate in the tournament. (David McNew/Getty Images/AFP)

Woods did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol during the early-morning incident, and underwent surgery after the roll-over collision, said Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva.

No other vehicles or passengers were involved in the crash which occurred on a steep stretch of road known as an accident “hotspot,” where Woods was travelling at “a greater speed than normal,” said the sheriff.

“I will say that it’s very fortunate that Mr. Woods was able to come out of this alive,” said deputy Carlos Gonzalez, the first officer to arrive on scene.

Gonzalez found Woods trapped in his vehicle but conscious, appearing “calm and lucid” and able to identify himself to the deputy as “Tiger.”

“It is my understanding that he had serious injuries to both legs,” said Los Angeles County fire chief Daryl Osby, describing Woods’ condition as “stable.”

Firefighters and paramedics extricated Woods from the wreckage of his SUV and transported him with a neck collar and backboard to a local hospital via road, where he underwent surgery.

There was “no evidence of impairment at this time” including any influence of narcotics, mediciation or alcohol, said Villanueva, adding that the crash remained “subject to investigation.”

He added that no blood was drawn at the scene of the crash because the sheriff’s office does not have that capability.

Woods, one of the most successful golfers of all time, has won 15 major golf championships.

He recently underwent his fifth back surgery, and said he was uncertain if he will be able to play at the upcoming Masters, which he last won in 2019.

Woods, 45, was in the area for his annual Genesis Invitational golf tournament at the Riviera Country Club, and was driving a courtesy car on the morning of the crash.

“We are awaiting further information when he comes out of surgery. On behalf of the PGA Tour and our players, Tiger is in our prayers and will have our full support as he recovers,” said PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement.

– ‘True champion’ –

The crash occurred near the hilly Palos Verdes peninsula, at the bottom of a steep stretch of road which has runaway truck ramps for vehicles that lose control going downhill.

The section has become notorious for fatal accidents over the years.

“Apparently the first contact was with the center median, and from there (the car) crossed into the opposing lane of traffic, hit the curb, hit a tree, and there was several rollovers during that process,” said Villanueva, who did not provide a cause of the crash.

The car ended up several hundred feet from the inital impact, lying on its side on a patch of grass some distance off the road, with its hood badly damaged.

News of the crash spread rapidly around the sport world and beyond, with figures inside and outside golfing swift to send their prayers and best wishes to Woods.

Skier Lindsey Vonn, Woods’ former girlfriend, tweeted: “Praying for TW right now.”

“Sending my prayers to @TigerWoods and his family tonight — here’s to a speedy recovery for the GOAT of golf,” said former US president Barack Obama.

“If we’ve learned anything over the years, it’s to never count Tiger out.”

Fellow ex-president Donald Trump, speaking to Fox, urged Woods to “get better and get out there because we all miss him.”

– ‘Deeply concerned’ –

Woods was one of the most revered athletes in the world when he became engulfed in scandal in late 2009.

He smashed his car into a tree and a fire hydrant outside his luxury Florida home, sparking a series of scandalous revelations that doomed his marriage and put his game in freefall.

He later divorced from his Swedish wife Elin Nordegren, with whom he has two children, after a cascade of women came forward to say they had affairs with the golfer, making him fodder for tabloids around the world.

Woods underwent four back surgeries between 2014 and 2017.

In May 2017, Woods was arrested near his Florida home for being asleep at the wheel of his car in a traffic lane.

Woods said he had taken prescription drugs and pleaded guilty to reckless driving.

But he made an astonishing comeback to win the Masters in 2019, his first major title since 2008.

He is the winner of 82 US PGA titles, level with Sam Snead for the all-time record.

In 2000-2001, while aged just 25, Woods became the first man to hold the US Open, British Open, the USPGA and the Masters titles at the same time.

Woods remains three major victories shy of the all-time record 18 won by Jack Nicklaus.

“Barbara and I just heard about Tiger’s accident, and like everyone else, we are deeply concerned,” tweeted Nicklaus.

“We want to offer him our heartfelt support and prayers at this difficult time. Please join us in wishing Tiger a successful surgery and all the best for a full recovery.”

AFP

Three people were killed and three others injured following a violent confrontation at a karaoke parlor in the northern Vietnamese province of Hoa Binh on the weekend.

Senior Lieutenant Colonel Bui Van Chieu, head of the police unit in Luong Son District, Hoa Binh confirmed to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the incident occurred in Hoa Son Commune on Sunday evening.

At around 7:00 pm, a group of 13 people arrived at Luxury karaoke shop, Chieu elaborated.

A confrontation later broke out, during which a man attacked many people with a knife.

Two women and one man were killed on the spot, while two other victims were injured.

The attacker then stabbed himself with the same knife.

He was admitted to the hospital along with the two wounded victims.

An eyewitness stated that the attacker showed signs of being high on crystal meth.

Further investigation is ongoing.

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A gunman massacred at least 26 worshipers and wounded 20 others at a white-steepled church in southeast Texas on Sunday, carrying out the latest in a series of mass shootings that have plagued the United States, authorities said.

The lone suspect, wearing black tactical gear and a ballistic vest and carrying an assault rifle, opened fire after entering the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs in Wilson County, about 40 miles (65 km) east of San Antonio.

The victims ranged in age from 5 to 72 years old, law enforcement officials said at a news conference.

After the shooting, the gunman, described as a white man in his 20s, was fired on by a local resident. He fled in his vehicle and was later found dead in neighboring Guadalupe County.

It was not immediately clear if the suspect killed himself or he was hit by gunfire by the resident, authorities said.

“We are dealing with the largest mass shooting in our state’s history,” Texas Governor Greg Abbott said at the news conference. “The tragedy of course is worsened by the fact that it occurred in a church, a place of worship where these people were innocently gunned down.”

Neither the suspect’s identity nor motive were disclosed by authorities.

But law enforcement officials who were not identified have said the gunman was Devin P. Kelley, describe as a white, 26-year-old man, the New York Times and other media reported.

First responders are at the scene of shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, U.S., November 5, 2017. Photo by Reuters/Joe Mitchell

The 14-year-old daughter of pastor Frank Pomeroy was killed, the family told several television stations.

Jeff Forrest, a 36-year-old military veteran who lives a block away from the church, said what sounded like high-caliber, semi-automatic gunfire triggered memories of his four combat deployments with the Marine Corps.

“I was on the porch, I heard 10 rounds go off and then my ears just started ringing,” Forrest said. “I hit the deck and I just lay there.”

The massacre comes just weeks after a sniper killed 58 people at an outdoor concert in Las Vegas, the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. The shootings have stirred a years-long national debate over whether easy access to firearms was contributing to the trend.

President Donald Trump said he was monitoring the situation while in Japan on a 12-day Asian trip.

“May God be w/ the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas. The FBI & law enforcement are on the scene,” he said on Twitter.

According to the witnesses, about 20 shots rang out at 11:30 a.m. (1730 GMT) during the church services, according to media reports. It was unclear how many worshippers were inside at the time.

After the shooting, the suspect sped away in a car and was soon cornered by sheriff’s deputies just outside of Wilson County in Guadalupe County, Wiley told Reuters. He did not know if the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot or was killed by deputies.

Connally Memorial Medical Center in Floresville received eight patients, the hospital said in a statement, while Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston received another eight.

At Connally, three people were treated and released, one is in critical condition and four were transferred to the University Hospital in San Antonio for a higher level of care.

The First Baptist Church is one of two houses of worship in Sutherland Springs, an area that is home to fewer than 900 residents, according the 2010 Census. There are also two gas stations and a Dollar General store in town.

The white-painted, one-story structure features a small steeple and a single front door. On Sunday, the Lone Star flag of Texas was flying alongside the U.S. flag and a third, unidentified banner.

Inside there is a small raised platform on which members sang worship songs to guitar music and the pastor delivered a weekly sermon, according to videos posted on YouTube. In one of the clips, a few dozen people, including young children, can be seen sitting in the wooden pews.

The shooting occurred on the eighth anniversary of the Nov. 5, 2009 massacre of 13 people at the Fort Hood Army base in central Texas. A U.S. Army Medical Corps psychiatrist convicted of the killings is now awaiting execution.

In 2015, a white gunman killed nine black parishioners at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The gunman was sentenced to death for the racially motivated attack.

In September, a gunman killed a woman in the parking lot of a Tennessee church on Sunday morning and wounded six worshipers inside the building before shooting himself in a scuffle with an usher who rushed to stop the attack.

Police in Ho Chi Minh City arrested a man on Tuesday after he gave himself up for allegedly killing an American tourist during a drug deal that went wrong.

The arrest comes two weeks after the news of the death of Stephen Marshall Pendeeton, 22, took expat forums in Vietnam by storm.

Trinh Quoc Hung in a photo provided by HCMC police.

Trinh Quoc Hung, the 20-year-old suspect, said Pendeeton and a foreign friend came to find him on Bui Vien Street on the night of June 21. They said the drugs he had sold them earlier were fake and demanded a refund.

Hung said he tried to explain, in broken English, that he was not the one selling them the drugs.

As the argument heated up, he grabbed an iron bar off the ground and allegedly stabbed the American in the back. The victim’s friend and some locals rushed him to hospital, but he died soon after.

Police said they are still clarifying the reason for the murder.

Bui Vien is part of the city’s popular backpacker district, with bars, spas and clubs staying open until late at night. It draws up to 2,000 foreign visitors every day.

Ho Chi Minh City is one of the top tourist destinations in Vietnam, and welcomed more than five million foreign arrivals last year. But safety issues remain a concern for visitors.

An Uzbek immigrant accused of plowing a truck down a New York City bike path, killing eight people, told investigators he had been inspired by watching Islamic State videos and began planning the attack a year ago, according to a criminal complaint filed against him on Wednesday.

Sayfullo Saipov, 29, who was hospitalized after he was shot by a police officer and arrested, confessed to authorities that he made a trial run with a rental truck on October 22 to practice turning the vehicle and “stated that he felt good about what he had done” after the attack, the complaint said.

The 10-page charging document said Saipov waived his rights to remain silent and avoid self-incrimination in agreeing to speak to investigators without an attorney present from his bed at Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan.

In the course of that interview, the complaint said, Saipov told investigators he chose Halloween for the attack because he believed more people would be on the streets and said he had originally planned to strike the Brooklyn Bridge as well as the bike path on the western edge of lower Manhattan.

The complaint said Saipov had requested permission to display the flag of the Islamic State militant group in his hospital room.

It said he was particularly motivated by seeing a video in which Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who led the campaign by Islamic State – also known as ISIS – to seize territory for a self-proclaimed caliphate within Iraq and Syria, exhorted Muslims in the United States and elsewhere to support the group’s cause.

Investigators found thousands of ISIS-related propaganda images and videos on a cellphone belonging to Saipov, including video clips showing ISIS prisoners being beheaded, run over by a tank and shot in the face, the complaint said.

Separately on Wednesday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it had located another Uzbek man, Mukhammadzoir Kadirov, 32, wanted for questioning as a person of interest in the attack. The FBI earlier had issued a wanted posted for Kadirov.

The assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office, William Sweeney Jr., declined at a news conference to give any details on Kadirov or where he was found.

U.S. law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing, told Reuters that Saipov had been in contact with Kadirov and another person of interest in the investigation, though they did not elaborate.

Eligible for death penalty

Uzbek man charged in New York attack said he ‘felt good’ about what he did

New York attack suspect charged with providing support to IS

Saipov was charged with one count of providing material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization, specifically Islamic State, and one count of violence and destruction of motor vehicles causing the deaths of eight people.

Manhattan acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim said the first count carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, while the second would make Saipov eligible for capital punishment if convicted, if the government chose to seek the death penalty. Additional or different charges could be brought later in an indictment, Kim said.

Vehicle assaults similar to the New York attack took place in Spain in August and in France and Germany last year, claiming dozens of lives.

Tuesday’s assault was the deadliest in New York City since Sept. 11, 2001, when suicide hijackers crashed two jetliners into the World Trade Center, killing more than 2,600 people.

Of those killed on Tuesday, five were Argentine tourists, who were among a group of friends visiting New York to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their high school graduation, one was a Belgian citizen, one was a New York resident and one lived in New Jersey.

Saipov allegedly used a pickup truck rented from a New Jersey Home Depot store to run down pedestrians and cyclists along a 20-block stretch of the bike path that runs along the Hudson River before slamming into a school bus.

According to authorities, he then exited his vehicle shouting “Allahu Akbar” – Arabic for “God is greatest” – and brandishing what turned out to be a paint-ball gun and a pellet gun before a police officer shot him in the abdomen.

Saipov lived in Paterson, New Jersey, a one-time industrial hub about 25 miles (40 km) northwest of lower Manhattan.

Wheel chair-bound suspect

Saipov, seated in a wheelchair, appeared for a brief hearing in Manhattan federal court Wednesday evening before Magistrate Judge Barbara Moses. A Russian interpreter translated for Saipov. Saipov did not ask for bail and was remanded to federal custody. It was not immediately clear where he would be held. Moses appointed public defense attorney David Patton to represent Saipov. Patton asked Moses that she recommend that Saipov be given a wheelchair or cane while in custody. He said Saipov was in “a significant amount of pain” and asked that he be given treatment for that as well. Moses agreed to the requests.

Two senior U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday urged authorities to treat Saipov as an enemy combatant, which would allow investigators to question him without having a lawyer present.

President Donald Trump said he would be open to transferring Saipov to the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where other suspects including alleged Sept. 11 plotters are held.

Kim, the federal prosecutor, said there was nothing about charging Saipov in civilian court that would necessarily prevent him from later being declared an enemy combatant. “That is a determination that will be made elsewhere,” he told reporters.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said police will be out in force to protect the city’s marathon on Sunday, one of the world’s top road races, which draws some 51,000 runners and 2.5 million spectators from around the globe.

A Japanese man arrested after police found nine dismembered corpses rotting in his house has confessed to killing all his young victims over a two-month spree after contacting them via Twitter, media reports said Wednesday.

Takahiro Shiraishi, 27, has also confessed he “assaulted” all of his eight female victims, the Fuji TV network said, using a Japanese media euphemism for sexual attacks.

Prosecutors were now quizzing Shiraishi, who has reportedly admitted hacking the flesh off the bodies and throwing it out with the trash, then sprinkling cat litter over the remains in an effort to cover up the evidence.

In all, some 240 pieces of bone belonging to nine people, including heads and limbs, were discovered inside coolers and toolboxes at his apartment, the Tokyo Shimbun said.

The grisly case has stunned Japan, which enjoys an extremely low crime rate, and pictures of the nondescript apartment building in a quiet residential area were splashed across the country’s front pages.

“Killing room,” splashed the Nikkan Sports tabloid. “One murder a week,” wrote the Sports Nippon.

‘Inside the cooler’

Details also began to emerge as to how investigators tracked down the suspected killer and trapped him using the same medium — Twitter — he himself used to lure his victims.

Police were led to Shiraishi while investigating the disappearance of a 23-year-old woman, who had reportedly tweeted she wanted to take her own life.

Her brother managed to hack into her Twitter account, noticed a suspicious handle, and then tweeted about his sister’s disappearance, major media said.

One female follower told him that she recognized the handle.

The brother asked her to contact the person, while he also reported the case to police, the Yomiuri daily said.

The woman managed to convince Shiraishi to come to a train station, where investigators awaited and followed him to his house, media say.

Immediately after he returned to his apartment, police knocked on the door and found a white bag belonging to the missing sister, the Yomiuri said.

“When investigators asked the whereabouts of the sister, Shiraishi said ‘inside the cooler’, pointing at it,” the Yomiuri said.

Foul smell

Shiraishi has reportedly told police that four of his victims were teenagers, four others were around 20 years old and the other was in his or her late 20s. There were eight female victims and one male.

He contacted his prey via Twitter and killed most of them “on the day he met” them, he is reported to have told authorities.

He moved to the flat in Zama, a southwestern suburb of Tokyo, on August 22 and contacted victims by tweeting that he would help their suicide plans, the Mainichi Shimbun daily reported.

Shiraishi told police that he killed his first victim, a female acquaintance, shortly after moving there, and spent three days dismembering her body, the Yomiuri Shimbun said.

He then killed her boyfriend who asked about his missing girlfriend, the Yomiuri said, citing unnamed police sources.

Police for now believe that Shiraishi acted alone, the Tokyo Shimbun said.

But his motives remain unclear, and investigators are questioning whether it’s possible to kill a person nearly every week without neighbors noticing sounds of altercations or screams, the Tokyo Shimbun said.

Neighbors have since reported noticing a foul smell emanating from the flat.

Shiraishi has told investigators that he kept the body parts because he was afraid he might get caught if he discarded them.

For now, he has been charged with improper disposal of one body but police are searching for evidence he killed all nine.

While Japan prides itself on its low crime rate, it is no stranger to high-profile violent crimes.

In Japan’s bloodiest crime for decades, Satoshi Uematsu faces charges of killing 19 people and attempting to kill or injure 24 others at a disability centre near Tokyo in July 2016.

In 1997 a 14-year-old schoolboy decapitated an 11-year-old acquaintance and placed the head at the gates of his school.