Police: Suspect Arrested in Attempted Kidnapping of NYC Child
Police on Friday arrested a suspect accused in the attempted kidnapping of a five-year-old who was walking alongside his family in Queens.
Twenty-four-year-old James McGonagle of Pomonok was charged with attempted kidnapping, reckless endangerment, and acting in a manner injurious to a child regarding the incident in Richmond Hill on Thursday, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) told the New York Post.
“McGonagle’s alleged accomplice, an older bald man photographed wearing jeans, an orange polo shirt and sunglasses, remains at large,” the outlet said.
Video footage released Friday showed the child walking with his mom at approximately 8:00 p.m. on Hillside Avenue when McGonagle appeared to exit a red car, pick the boy up, and carry him back to the car while the other suspect waited inside the vehicle, according to ABC 7.
The child’s mom, Dolores Diaz Lopez, then reached through the car’s open window, grabbing her son and pulling him out.
Sources told ABC 7 officers were at Brookdale Hospital regarding another matter when they recognized the suspect from the video footage.
“They say the suspect was at the hospital seeking some sort of treatment and was taken into custody. Police say the suspect is undergoing an evaluation at the hospital,” the outlet continued.
Diaz Lopez explained the family was on their way to visit her husband at work when the suspect grabbed her son, whose name is Jacob.
She said the boy initially sat down in the back seat but once she and her other kids pleaded for them to give him back, he stood and she took hold of him.
Police told CBS New York the car fled southbound on Hillside Avenue then westbound on Jamaica Avenue.
“The people coming, and because I’m screaming, the people coming, and they help me,” the mother recalled. “One lady come and called the police.”
The video footage has disturbed neighbors in the area.
“It’s a pretty safe neighborhood. I see kids on my block all the time. I’ve never seen anything like that happen before. It’s kind of scary,” resident Orlando Reyes commented.
Exclusive: Wealthy Suburb Wanting ‘Divorce’ from Crime-Ridden Atlanta Will Get Senate Hearing
The Georgia Senate plans to grant the Buckhead City proposal a hearing during its upcoming special session, a sign that the push for the wealthy district to deannex from Atlanta is continuing its momentum.
Bill sponsor Sen. Brandon Beach (R-Alpharetta), who has served in the state legislature’s upper chamber for ten years, told Breitbart News he has “never seen” Buckhead cityhood gain so much traction before.
The deannexation idea is not new, having been floated by local officials and residents on and off again for at least a decade. However, the passage of a pair of introductory cityhood bills in the Georgia General Assembly this past spring has given the effort newfound validation. Beach said surging crime numbers are driving the support for it.
“I’ve got Senate leadership behind it, and I’ve got a lot of really high-powered folks that are interested in making sure we get this thing moving forward,” Beach said.
Sen. Lee Anderson (R-Grovetown), chairman of the State and Local Government Operations Committee, confirmed to Breitbart News he plans to schedule a committee hearing for the legislation next time the Senate convenes, which is expected to be in late fall for a special session for redistricting.
The goal of the organization leading the cityhood effort, the Buckhead City Committee, is to earn a spot on next year’s ballot so that Buckhead’s roughly 90,000 residents can formally vote on it.
Buckhead City Committee spawned from residents’ frustrations over crime rates in the area and has evolved in recent months into a serious effort that has backing from many Republican state lawmakers, including Beach and Anderson, and, according to committee CEO Bill White, substantial fundraising abilities.
“The money is a leading indicator in my book,” White told Breitbart News.
He detailed the price tags of several upcoming events designed to fundraise for Buckhead City. One gentleman hosting a local event is anticipating ten attendees at $25,000 per head, while another is hosting a dinner at his home for four couples at a similar cost. The committee in September will have a 75-person event at Bones, a fancy local steakhouse, and White said that event has already raised $75,000. A committee board member hosting an event in October expects that one to generate half a million dollars.
“I think by October we’ll have another million dollars on the books. That’s what our plan is,” White said.
The committee head moved to the affluent district with his husband a few years ago from New York, where he had been CEO of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum for about 20 years. He said he has been disturbed by the “brazenness” of the criminal behavior as of late, pointing to a high murder rate, home invasions while residents are home, and a recent police warning of “bump and robs.”
“Our [agenda], which is irrespective of politics, is just taking control back of our city,” White said in June.
Buckhead has often been ranked one of the wealthiest communities in the south and is home to an abundance of expensive retail, shiny new office buildings, and upscale neighborhoods. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis assessed that a hypothetical Buckhead City would be 74 percent white and have an average median income of around $140,000, and that the city would take with it about 40 percent of Atlanta’s entire value.
Beach warned, “The city of Atlanta’s going to fight this. They’re going to fight it tooth and nail because this is a big portion of their tax collection, and the people have always been okay with that as long as they felt like they were getting a return on their investment, but when you’re not getting public safety, and you’ve got potholes and your trash isn’t being picked up and you’re not getting any services, people say, ‘Hey we want to take control and control our own destiny,’ if you will.”
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D), who is opposed to Buckhead’s deannexation, restated Friday at a press conference about anti-violence initiatives that the “current wave of violent crime” in her city is a “COVID crime wave.” She reasserted that Georgia reopening earlier than other states last year caused more people to flock to Georgia, which she claimed correlated to the uptick in crime.
Bottoms made similar comments in April at the Buckhead Rotary Club as she addressed deannexation, saying, “In creating a new city, you’re not building a wall around the city.” She contended, “It doesn’t address crime,” and added that the way to correct the “COVID crime wave” is to “continue to work together as we have done for decades, as a city, as one city.”
White, however, argued a lack of proper police resources was the source of the crime spike. He said there is “no leadership here in Atlanta” and called Bottoms the “worst mayor in history.”
He compared Buckhead’s deannexation to a divorce, saying, “At a certain point you realize you have — literally they call it ‘irreconcilable differences’ — and the only way to civilly handle that is to file for divorce in a marriage.”
Write to Ashley Oliver at aoliver@breitbart.com.
Suspect Wanted in Shooting Arrested After Commenting on Police Facebook Post
An Oklahoma woman is in jail after commenting on a police department’s Facebook page about warrants regarding her arrest.
The Tulsa Police Department (TPD) makes a weekly Facebook post about its “Most Wanted” fugitives, KFOR reported Friday.
Authorities wrote Wednesday that Lorraine Graves was wanted in connection with the murder of Eric Graves, who was shot and killed at the St. Thomas Square Apartments this year.
“Detectives arrested Jayden Hopson and Gabriel Hopson for the murder, but they were still searching for Lorraine Graves, who was charged with accessory to murder,” the outlet said.
Once the Facebook post was shared, Graves commented, “What’s ,where’s the reward money at.”
“On 7/15/21 around 4:30 p.m., detectives with our Fugitive Warrants unit arrested Graves in north Tulsa near 36th St. N. and Garrison Ave. Graves is charged with Accessory to Murder. Her bond is set at $500,000,” the department said in a post on Friday.
The post featured photos of Graves and a screenshot of her comment:
The department also emphasized, “This is an arrest, not a conviction.”
Police noted in the initial post about Graves that detectives said she was “involved in the city’s 10th homicide of 2021 where Eric Graves was shot and killed at the St. Thomas Square Apartments” and asked citizens with information about her to contact the Tulsa Crime Stoppers:
According to KBTX, Graves remains in the Tulsa County Jail and if she is convicted, may face a sentence of up to 45 years in prison.
Meanwhile, Fox 23 reported in June Tulsa Police were investigating a spike in shooting calls that occurred within a short time span.
However, “When it comes to gun crimes, not just homicides, we have a 97 percent solve rate on things like this,” TPD Officer Danny Bean said at the time.
“If you’re going to go out there and commit a crime with a gun in Tulsa where you shoot someone, there is only a small three percent chance we will not catch you,” he added.
29 Shot Wednesday Alone in Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Chicago
Twenty-nine people were shot, two fatally, Wednesday alone in Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s (D) Chicago.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports the first of the two fatalities occurred at 6:40 p.m., when a 24-year-old was shot in the head. He was sitting in a vehicle “in the 1600 block of South Christiana Avenue” when he was shot. He died at the scene.
Less than an hour later, at 7:20 p.m., a 38-year-old woman was shot and killed while standing “in front of a home in the 200 block of South Kilpatrick Avenue.” A vehicle pulled up near the woman and a gunman exited the vehicle and opened fire, killing her.
There were two shootings that left behind multiple wounded victims on Wednesday as well.
The first occurred early Wednesday morning when a gunman opened fire on five people who were standing “in the 4600 block of West Monroe Street just after midnight.” A man and four women were injured in the incident.
NBC 5 notes that the second such shooting occurred at 12:09 p.m. when three assailants opened fire on people standing on “a sidewalk near the intersection of 79th Street and Justine Street.”
Five people were wounded in the attack, two of them critically.
The violent Wednesday in Chicago comes just days after a weekend over which 40 people were shot, 11 of them fatally.
The Chicago Tribune points out some 364 people were killed in Chicago January 1, 2021, through July 7, 2021.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.
