Across Virginia
UDPATE:Four people were taken to the hospital with injuries that were sustained during a house fire this morning in the Raleigh Court area of Roanoke. Investigators say two people were found on the roof and two were inside the house, needing to be rescued. Two were taken to a hospital for treatment of life-threatening injuries, while the other two were taken for evaluation of smoke inhalation.
Previous: Roanoke crews are on the scene of a house fire near Raleigh Court.The call came in early this morning. Chesterfield Street SW is blocked between Memorial Avenue and Maiden Lane.
ROANOKE, Va. – Transportation Security Administration officers stopped a Roanoke resident from carrying his .45 caliber handgun onto an airplane at Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport on Saturday, October 2. The handgun was loaded with six bullets.
TSA officials detected the gun in the man’s carry-on bag. They immediately alerted the airport police, who responded to the checkpoint, confiscated the weapon and cited the man on weapons charges.
This loaded handgun was detected by TSA officers in a passenger’s carry-on bag at Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport on October 2. (TSA photo)
Passengers are permitted to travel with firearms in checked baggage if they are properly packaged and declared at their airline ticket counter. Firearms must be unloaded, packed in a hard-sided case, locked, and packed separately from ammunition. Firearm possession laws vary by state and locality. TSA has details on how to properly travel with a firearm posted on itswebsite. Travelers should also contact their airline as they may have additional requirements for traveling with firearms and ammunition.
TSA reserves the right to issue a civil penalty to travelers who have guns and gun parts with them at a checkpoint. Civil penalties for bringing a handgun into a checkpoint can stretch into thousands of dollars, depending on mitigating circumstances. This applies to travelers with or without concealed gun carry permits because even though an individual may have a concealed carry permit, it does not allow for a firearm to be carried onto an airplane. The complete list of civil penalties is posted online. If a traveler with a gun is a member of TSA PreCheck®, that individual will lose their TSA PreCheck privileges.
When an individual shows up at a checkpoint with a firearm, the checkpoint lane comes to a standstill until the police resolve the incident. Guns at checkpoints can delay travelers from getting to their gates.
Nationwide, TSAofficers detected 3,257 firearms on passengers or their carry-on bags at checkpoints last year, although the total number of passengers screened at airport checkpoints across the country fell by 500 million compared to 2019 due to the pandemic. The result was that twice as many firearms per million passengers screened were detected at checkpoints in 2020 compared to 2019. In 2020, TSA caught approximately 10 firearms per million passengers as compared to about five firearms per million passengers in 2019. Of the guns caught by TSA in 2020, about 83 percent were loaded.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The owner of the gun that authorities say a 14-year-old boy allegedly used to kill a 13-year-old girl has been charged with a misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Richard M. Pierce appeared in the Henrico County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court on Thursday.
Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor announced the new charge in a news release Friday. Taylor didn’t detail Pierce’s connection to the boy, who has also gone unidentified. But she had previously said someone in the boy’s household had a handgun to which the boy got access.
Pierce will next appear in court Nov. 1
Last month, Taylor announced that she would be seeking to have the youth tried as an adult. A hearing is set for Nov. 22.
The boy is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 13-year-old Lucia Bremer. If tried in juvenile court, he could only be held until the age of 21. If tried as an adult, he could receive up to life in prison.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A leading Islamic State media figure and foreign fighter has been charged in U.S. federal court in Virginia with conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization resulting in death, federal officials said Saturday.
Mohammed Khalifa, a Saudi-born Canadian citizen who was a leading figure in the Islamic State of Iraq, was captured overseas by the Syrian Democratic Forces in January 2019, federal officials said. He was recently transferred into FBI custody, at which point he was first brought to the Eastern District of Virginia.
“As alleged, Mohammed Khalifa not only fought for ISIS on the battlefield in Syria, but he was also the voice behind the violence,” said Raj Parekh, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Through his alleged leading role in translating, narrating, and advancing ISIS’s online propaganda, Khalifa promoted the terrorist group, furthered its worldwide recruitment efforts, and expanded the reach of videos that glorified the horrific murders and indiscriminate cruelty of ISIS.”
Khalifa, 38, served in prominent roles within the Islamic State starting in 2013 and continuing until his capture by the SDF in January 2019 following a firefight between Islamic State fighters and the SDF, officials said.
In addition to allegedly serving as an Islamic State fighter, Khalifa allegedly served as a lead translator in the group’s propaganda production and the English-speaking narrator on multiple violent recruitment videos.
The complaint in federal court also alleges Khalifa traveled to Syria in the spring of 2013 with the intent of becoming a foreign fighter and ultimately joining the Islamic State. He joined the group in or around November 2013 and swore allegiance to then-Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In early 2014, he was recruited to join the group’s Media Bureau partly due to his linguistic capabilities as a fluent English and Arabic speaker.
Prosecutors say Khalifa played an important role in producing and disseminating Islamic State propaganda across multiple media platforms targeting Western audiences. He focused primarily on enticing supporters to travel to Islamic State-controlled areas to join or to conduct attacks in the West, including in the United States, on the group’s behalf. He also actively participated in armed hostilities on behalf of the Islamic State, according to the complaint.
The complaint alleges Khalifa assisted in the translation and narration of approximately 15 total videos created and distributed by the Islamic State. The productions narrated by Khalifa include two of the most influential and exceedingly violent propaganda videos, the complaint said.
The videos, containing English narration by Khalifa, were part of a media campaign promoting violence committed against U.S. citizens and other countries’ citizens in order to incite further violence against the United States, allied nations, and their citizens.
The videos depict glamorized portrayals of the Islamic State and its fighters as well as scenes of violence, including depictions of unarmed prisoners being executed, depictions of Islamic State attacks in the United States, and footage of attacks and fighting in what is described as Syria and Egypt, a news release from the U.S. attorney’s office said.
If convicted, Khalifa faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Virginia’s governor is asking for federal assistance to help Buchanan County recover from extreme rainfall that destroyed homes and caused an estimated $13.8 million in damage to public infrastructure in August. According to a news release, Gov. Ralph Northam requested Thursday that President Joe Biden approve federal assistance through a major disaster declaration to help the county and residents recover after a storm dumped 8 to10 inches of rain in the Hurley area, causing flash flooding and landslides. Virginia officials say in addition to the damage to infrastructure, such as roads and water lines, assessments found 31 homes were destroyed, 27 sustained major damage, and eight had minor damage from this extreme rainfall event.
The Christian Broadcasting Network says Pat Robertson is stepping down as host of the long-running daily television show the “700 Club. “The 91-year-old televangelist says Friday was his last show as host of the weekday program, and his son, Gordon, is taking over as full-time host. CBN began airing in 1961 after Robertson bought a bankrupt UHF television station. The “700 Club” began production in 1966. The network is now based in Virginia Beach. And its outreach extends to more than 100 countries and territories in dozens of languages. The “700 Club” talk show can be seen in the vast majority of U.S. television markets.
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) – Authorities say a North Carolina man wanted for first-degree murder in the death of his girlfriend has been apprehended in Virginia. Police in Newport News, Virginia, say 27-year-old Travis Jefferson was taken into custody around 2 p.m. on Thursday. A news release says local officers along with the U.S. Marshal Service and Virginia State Police had been looking for Jefferson. News outlets report 21-year-old Nicoda Melvin was shot in the head in a home that the couple shared. The shooting happened on Sept, 19, three days before two of her relatives were shot and killed.
