By: Sarah Purtill
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MARYLAND, U.S. – On Wednesday, March 21, a 17 year old male student opened fire in a Maryland high school. At 7:55AM, Austin Wyatt Rollins used a handgun to shoot two classmates, a male and a female. Less than a minute later, school resource officer Blaine Gaskill responded and fired a shot at Rollins, who fired a round of his own. Gaskill was unharmed and Rollins was later pronounced dead. The female victim, a 16 year old, is in critical condition fighting life threatening injuries atUniversity of Maryland Prince George’s Hospital Center. The 14 year old male student who was shot is in stable condition.

The female victim has been identified by family as Jaelynn Willey. According to the St. Mary County Sheriff’s office, it is believed Rollins had a prior relationship with the female student. Her family wrote a statement that was distributed on Facebook by family friend, Lucinda Avis. According to the statement, they were “devastated to learn that our beautiful Jaelynn was one of the victims in a school shooting.” They further said, “It is hard for us not to see her shining, smiling face right now, and to see her light up the room with her presence. We know that many of you are anxious to hear about her condition, and we will update you when we can.”

Classmate Isiah Tichenor, 18, was in the hallway when the shooting happened. He stepped out into the hallway and saw Rollins with a gun to his head when Gaskill rounded the corner. Gaskill and Rollins both fired shots. It is unclear at this time if Gaskill’s shot hit Rollins or if Rollins shot himself. Tichenor then ran away from the closed classroom door to a backroom area. There, he and about 20 other students waited for around 10 minutes until an officer knocked on the door and told them they could come out.

The shooting was notable because it followed a national debate over arming teachers and putting more officers in schools.  Authorities credit Gaskill with possibly saving lives because of his quick response. While authorities are reviewing the tapes from the school to understand how the incident unfolded, St. Mary’s County Sheriff Timothy K. Cameron said there was “no question” that the situation would have been worse if Gaskill had not confronted the shooter as quickly as he did.

The shooting happened just days before a national protest scheduled for Saturday March 24 in Washington D.C. called the March for Our Lives. The march is a stand against gun violence and school shootings. This is the 17th school shooting in the United States in 2018.

On March 23, the family of Jaelynn Willey announced that Jaelynn was taken off life support and died on Thursday, March 22 after doctors pronounced the 16-year old brain dead. 

For more information, please see:

NBC News – Maryland school shooting victim Jaelynn Willey dies after being taken off life support – 22 March 2018

Baltimore Sun – Maryland High School Shooting: 16-year-old Victim Remains in Critical Condition – 21 March 2018

CNN – Maryland School Officer Stops Student Who Shot Two Others – 20 March 2018

Washington Post – Student Gunman Dies After Maryland School Shooting; Two Other Students Injured – 20 March 2018

By: Sarah Purtill
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

DUTCHESS COUNTY, New York – Following the tragedy at Stoneman Douglas, several schools in Dutchess County New York have dealt with potential threats. The week of February 19th, three Dutchess County School Districts dealt with threats. The following week, social media has brought to light more potential threats for several different schools. Among those schools, both junior high schools and high schools, have threats under investigation.

For Van Wyck Junior High School, a threat is currently under investigation by the East Fishkill Police Department. According to the Chief of Police, the students are safe and the child who is alleged to be making the threats was not in school on February 27-28. On the 26th, a parent was made aware of the student’s plan to shoot up the school by her daughter who came home and told her about it. They contacted the police who informed the parent that the investigation began last Monday. Social media is sparking rumors and gossip to run wild with these potential threats. Parents are anxious and posting on community pages and school pages trying to find out more information, but also fueling further rumors.

On February 28th, rumors began about a threat to John Jay High School. A vague email went out to parents explaining that police were investigating but, at this time, it was still safe for children to come to school. Following that email, posts were made by parents on social media claiming the school was on lock down, but those allegations proved untrue. On Friday, February 23rd, John Jay had been under lock down after school hours. That alarm proved to be a glitch in the alarm system, but all the recent threats have parents on edge. Some have chosen to keep their children home from school or pick them up early.

In Poughkeepsie, the school district was closed on Wednesday February 28th due to the alleged threats made against the school. The Superintendent sent out an email saying the school was closed because of a social media post detailing a potential shooting at the high school. That threat was posted on social media site ‘snapchat’ and contained a picture of several guns and text stating that no one was safe. There was also a list of students who were named in that post. The School Board President said the threat is “beyond (the district’s) purview,” and that local police and the FBI are actively investigating the situation.

For more information, please see:

Poughkeepsie Journal – Threat Closes Poughkeepsie Schools as Officials Investigate – 28 February 2018

Poughkeepsie Journal – 2 More Dutchess School District Handling Threats, Police Say No Concern – 27 February 2018

News 12 Westchester – Van Wyck JHS Student Accused of Making Threats – 27 February 2018

Poughkeepsie Journal – John Jay High Goes into Friday Afternoon Lockdown Following Alarm Mishap: Police – 23 February 2018

By: Karina Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

BALTIMORE, Maryland — On Monday, February 12, 2018, two former detectives from the Baltimore Police Department were convicted of racketeering conspiracy, racketeering, and robbery as a part of an ongoing federal investigation into widespread corruption within the department.

The two detectives, Daniel Hersl and Marcus Taylor, face maximum sentences of 60 years each, are part of a larger group of eight police officers from the Baltimore Police Gun Trace Task Force that was indicted on March 1, 2017.  The jury deliberated for 12 hours before delivering the guilty verdicts for each officer.

The officers were accused of falsifying hours worked for overtime pay, filing false court paperwork, and robbing and extorting citizens.  Allegations extended to officers reselling the drugs and guns that they had seized from the streets.  Six of the eight officers pled guilty to the charges, and the remaining two were tried in federal court.  These two detectives have been on unpaid leave since their indictment in March 2017. The Baltimore Police Department is moving to terminate their employment following their conviction.

According to reports from BBC News and AP News, four ex-officers testified for the prosecution during the trial in hopes of a reduced sentence.  Sergeant Wayne Jenkins, the leader of the Gun Trace Task Force since June 2016, pled guilty to stealing drugs from the people he arrested and admitted to planting heroin on a man who was sent to prison.  Other officers told the jury that Jenkins instructed officers under his command to carry BB-guns in their police cars to plant in the even the officers shot an unarmed suspect.

The officers’ testimony further detailed how the Gun Trace Task Force was actually “made up of thugs with badges who stole cash, resold looted narcotics and lied under oath to cover their tracks,” and spoke of officers conducting armed home invasions going back to 2008.  The testimony also alleged wrong-doing, ranging from active participation in crimes to the subsequent cover-ups, from a dozen other officers not involved in the proceedings.  Among those mentioned included the head of Internal Affairs, an unnamed Baltimore assistant state’s attorney, an officer assigned to the police training academy, and homicide detective Sean Suiter.  Detective Suiter was fatally shot with his own gun under mysterious circumstances the day before he was supposed to testify before a federal grand jury in connection with the case.

Following the March 2017 indictment, Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby said her office has identified 150 closed and adjudicated cases possibly tainted by the officers’ involvement and that of 50 active cases reviewed, 30 of them had the charges dropped.  More recently, public defenders alleged that there could be several thousand cases going back to 2008 tainted by the officers’ involvement.  As of the date of the verdict, 125 cases involving the indicted officers have been dropped.

The Federal investigations into the Baltimore Police Department were sparked by the acquittal of six officers connected to the 2015 death of Freddie Gray, who suffered a fatal spinal cord injury while handcuffed and transported in the back of a police vehicle.

For more information, please see:

The Baltimore Sun – Attorneys release video from Baltimore Police Gun Trace Task Force raid; criticize state’s attorney for inaction – 14 February 2018

AP News – 2 Baltimore detectives convicted of racketeering, robbery – 13 February 2018

BBC News – Who were the corrupt Baltimore police officers? – 13 February 2018

The Baltimore Sun – The Gun Trace Task Force trial has ended. What is Baltimore doing to prevent future police corruption – 12 February 2018

Los Angeles Times – Baltimore police officers found guilty of racketeering and robbery – 12 February 2018

NPR News – Baltimore Police Officers Convicted in Corruption Scandal – 12 February 2018

Newsweek – Police Unit Steals $100,000 in House Search Without Warrant in Rogue Cop Crime Spree, Prosecutors Say – 25 January 2018

The Baltimore Sun – Prosecutor who raised early questions about Gun Trace Task Force officer speaks out – 8 December 2017

The Washington Post – Convictions in cases involving 7 indicted Baltimore police may be overturned – 23 March 2017

The Baltimore Sun – Seven Baltimore Police officers indicted on federal racketeering charges – 1 March 2017

By Sarah Purtill
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

Washington, D.C., U.S. – Psychiatric Services published a study that estimates about 3.4% of Americans suffer from some sort of serious psychological problems. That amounts to over 8 million Americans, roughly the population of New York City.  What’s worse is that there is a severe shortage of inpatient care in the United States which continues to rise wit the number of people suffering from psychological problems.

The Treatment Advocacy Center, a nonprofit organization that works to remove treatment obstacles for people with mental illness, published a study finding that, in 2012, there were only 50,509 state psychiatric beds. In raw numbers, that means that there were only 14 beds available for every 100,000 people suffering from a mental illness.

“Many times individuals who really do require intensive psychiatric care find themselves homeless or more and more in prison,” said Dominic Sisti, director of the Scattergood Program for Applied Ethics of Behavioral Health Care at the University of Pennsylvania. “Much of our mental health care now for individuals with serious mental illness has been shifted to correctional facilities.”

Of the facilities that are still up and running today, many do not accept insurance. Considering most cost upwards of $30,000 a month, many people cannot afford the care. For low income individuals, their only hope is that they qualify for Medicaid. But even Medicaid has its limits. A provision in the law prevents the government from paying for long term care in such institutions.

Since so many cannot afford the care that they need, many end up in the emergency room during a mental health crisis. “We are the wrong site for these patients,” Dr. Thomas Chun, an associate professor of emergency medicine and pediatrics at Brown University, told NPR last year. “Our crazy, chaotic environment is not a good place for them.” Usually, hospitals only take people who need such care for up to 72 hours. At that point, they are released back into the community.

Over the last decade, the disappearance of such long term care facilities and psychiatric beds has increased. This is because of a trend in deinstitutionalization in the 1950’s and 60’s that has continued through today.”State hospitals began to realize that individuals who were there probably could do well in the community,” says Sisti. “It was well-intended, but what I believe happened over the past 50 years is that there’s been such an evaporation of psychiatric therapeutic spaces that now we lack a sufficient number of psychiatric beds.”

One place people may find new support is Nonprofits. NAMI Appalachian South, a regional chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness is one such nonprofit in North Carolina.

For more information, please see:

Smokey Mountain News – Nonprofits Offer Support, Funding to Mental Health – 21 February 2018

North West Herald – President Donald Trump’s Focus on Mental Health After School Shooting Denounced – 19 February 2018

NPR – How the Loss of U.S. Psychiatric Hospitals Led to a Mental Health Crisis – 30 November 2017

By: Sarah Purtill
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

CHICAGO, United States – Many elderly people struggle to get out of their homes following snowy weather. Particularly, those with asthma, neuropathy, and oxygen tanks. This was the case after snowy weather in Chicago on the weekend of February 10th. Many of these senior citizens called Jahmal Cole about their inability to shovel their drive ways and side walks. “When you’re getting emails and calls, you don’t want to let people down,” said Cole. “I wasn’t trying to make a campaign. This was literally me trying to help out my neighbors. We had to organize on the spot,” he said.

Chicagoan Jahmal Cole is a community organizer in Chatham who runs the non-profit, My Block My Hood My City. He runs it without office space and only two full time staff members. My Block My Hood My City both organizes and brings teenagers from under-served communities on different field trips. With one tweet, Cole called for volunteers to help clear the snow of elderly neighbors in Chatham . That one tweet was retweeted more than 22,000 times and liked over 64,000 times.

What did that tweet say? “Meet me at the 79th St. Red Line stop at 10:00 am tomorrow. I got hoodies, hats and lunch for anybody that comes through.” The following morning, 120 people showed up offering to help shovel, some even bringing shovels of their own. “The people who showed up, they showed that whether people have privilege or don’t have privilege, everyone recognizes a need,” said Cole. Cole had brought 10 shovels and his 15 person van. With all the volunteers, he had to go buy more shovels. Then, he sent the volunteers to dozens of addresses that needed snow removal.

The volunteers came from all over, including Rogers Park, Roseland and even Indiana (a two and a half hour bus ride away). Men and women of all ages shoveled for more than four hours. The next day, 11 more people showed up. About his efforts, Cole said, “My mindset is always, ‘What’s something simple that I can do that’ll have a positive impact on my block and my neighborhood’? You don’t have to have a law degree to shovel your neighbor’s walkway.”

When all was said and done, Cole and the all of the volunteers went out to lunch at a neighborhood restaurant. “I’m proud of our city. We’re getting things done,” Cole said. “People could have been doing anything in the world. They could have been home with families or making snowmen, but they came out to help.”

For more information, please see:

KMOV – How 1 Tweet inspired 120 People to Shovel Snow for the Elderly – 14 February 2018

CNN – How 1 Tweet Inspired 120 People to Shovel Snow for the Elderly in a Chicago Neighborhood – 13 February 2018

Independent – Chicago Man’s Tweet Asking for 10 Volunteers to Help Clear Snow for Elderly Draws 120 After Going Viral – 13 February 2018