- Justin and Hailey Bieber Attend Church After Model’s Dad Stephen Baldwin Asks for Prayers for the Couple Entertainment Tonight
- Justin and Hailey Bieber Go to Church Together After Her Dad Stephen Requested ‘a Little Prayer’ for the Spouses PEOPLE
- Hailey Bieber ‘frustrated’ by dad’s prayer request as Justin and she deal with…: Report Hindustan Times
- Stephen Baldwin Asks for Prayers for Justin Bieber and Hailey Bieber E! NEWS
- Justin And Hailey’s Church Minister Called Out For His “Inappropriate” Instagram Post Asking People To Pray For Them BuzzFeed News
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Retired Pope Benedict XVI is ‘very sick’; Pope Francis, Vatican seek prayers
The Vatican, in its statement, said the situation “at the moment remains under control, and is constantly followed by the doctors.”
The comments appeared to mark a worrying turning point for Benedict, who has been frail but sharp-minded for years and who has now been ex-pope for a longer period than he served as pope.
One close friend to Benedict, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk candidly about a delicate subject, said the retired pontiff had become weaker since before Christmas but did not have information about his health in the most recent hours.
“Of course time is not on his side,” the friend said. “Some concerns are surely there.”
After Francis’s general audience, he visited Benedict at a convent inside the Vatican’s ancient walls. The Vatican statement said, “We join [Francis] in prayer for the Pope Emeritus.”
In photos the Vatican has published of Benedict — including on Aug. 27, after a ceremony to name new cardinals — he appeared gaunt and hunched. But friends have said he remained clear-minded.
Benedict’s longtime aide, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, did not respond to a request for comment.
In 2013, Benedict became the first pope in six centuries to step down from the job. Given that he’d cited “deteriorated” strength as a factor in his abdication, he has had a long final chapter in retirement. In 2018, he told the Corriere della Sera, an Italian daily, that he was “on a pilgrimage toward Home.”
He had pledged in retirement to take up a life of seclusion — reading, writing, going on walks in a stately garden. But his life behind closed doors has ended up being quite complicated — and complicating for the church.
He opted in retirement to wear papal white and chose not to revert to his given name, Joseph Ratzinger. He was embraced as a symbol by a small but vocal band of traditionalists who say Francis is leading the church astray. Though Benedict often stayed quiet on controversial matters, he intervened several times, including once to contradict Francis’s ideas on the nature of clerical abuse and later in objection to floated exceptions on priestly celibacy.
At the same time, he stated clearly that there is only one top authority figure in the church. “There is one pope, he is Francis,” Benedict said in one interview.
Francis and Benedict have had a publicly warm relationship, and the current pontiff regularly quotes his predecessor and cites him in admiring terms. But their stylistic and policy differences have fostered years of intrigue about their relationship, while also inspiring a Netflix movie.
On one point — the issue of resignation — Francis has described Benedict as a clear-eyed trendsetter. He has said that Benedict’s decision “should not be considered an exception,” and that Benedict had “opened a door” for other pontiffs to follow suit. Many church watchers have speculated that Francis would be reluctant to step down, even if in bad health, if Benedict remained alive, given the headaches that would arise for a church with two ex-popes. But Benedict’s death could eventually allow Francis, 86, to consider stepping down.
Benedict became one of the church’s leading theologians by holding an orthodox line, leading the campaign — first as a cardinal, then as pope — to resist changes brought on by outside forces. His view was that if the church tried to bend with the whims of modern times, its teachings would weaken.
His tenure as pope coincided with the escalation of one of its foremost crises — a wave of clerical abuse cases. And while Benedict went further than his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, defrocking hundreds of priests, he was slow to grasp the systemic nature of the issue.
More recently, his reputation suffered from a church-commissioned German investigation, accusing Benedict of “wrongdoing” in his handling of several cases during his time running the archdiocese of Munich.
Protesters in Iran’s Zahedan encounter gunfire following Friday prayers
CNN
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Protesters encountered teargas and gunfire following Friday prayers in the eastern Iranian city of Zahedan, according to videos posted on social media and provided by IranWire, an activist website.
Automatic gunfire can be heard in the videos, which also show protesters picking up bullet casings on the ground.
According to a video posted on 1500tasvir, at least one 12-year-old boy was shot.
Responding to news of the clash, United Nations Secretary General spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday that the international body is “increasingly concerned about the reports of rising fatalities” of protestors in Iran.
“Today, a number of protesters were reportedly killed in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan and Baluchestan Province,” he said. “We condemn all incidents that have resulted in death or serious injury to protestors and reiterate that security forces must avoid all unnecessary or disproportionate use of force against peaceful protestors. Those responsible must be held to account.
The Sistan and Baluchistan security council said security forces and civilians were injured after being shot by “unknown people,” according to state media.
Protesters threw rocks at security forces and chanted “death to Khamenei,” referring to Iran’s supreme leader, according to video posted on 1500tasvir.
State-run IRNA news agency reported that protesters set fire to tires and chanted anti-government slogans.
A heavy security presence was seen moving into the city before the start of prayers on Friday, according to video posted on social media.
Zahedan is located in the Sistan and Baluchistan province, which neighbors Pakistan and is home to the Baluch ethnic minority. The region has a history of unrest and violence with armed groups carrying out attacks against Iranian security personnel.
Zahedan saw large protests on September 30 against the alleged rape of a Baluch girl by a police chief, according to Baluch Activists Campaign.
The Sistan and Baluchistan province security committee removed the head of police in Zahedan and the head of police precinct 16 on Thursday, according to state-run IRNA.
Internet connectivity has been disrupted regionally in the province, according to internet watchdog NetBlocks on Friday.
“Metrics show that internet connectivity has been disrupted regionally in #Zahedan, Sistan and Baluchestan Province, #Iran, amid reports that several protesters have been shot by security forces,” NetBlocks said in a tweet.
Demonstrations have also taken place in the cities of Saravan, Iranshahr, Chabahar and Nikshahr after Sunni Friday prayers, according to state-run IRNA.
The protests come amid nationwide demonstations following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was detained by the Islamic Republic’s “morality police,” sparking outrage among Iranians who took to the streets to demand more freedoms.
Hugs and anger, prayers and hope: Vigil held at Drake Park for Bend Safeway shooting victims
(Update: Adding video of Monday evening vigil)
Funds raised for sister of shooting victim; slain worker hailed as hero; shopper heard dozens of shots, thought ‘I was going to die’
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — Sunday night’s Safeway shooting on Bend’s Eastside resulted in the tragic deaths of a customer at the front of the store and employee in the produce section at the rear who is being hailed as a hero for trying to wrestle the gun away.
Hours after police gave new insight into what took place, a vigil was held Monday evening at Drake Park, hosted by Central Oregon Moms Demand Action, to honor both Bend men and share hugs, tears and a swirl of emotions, from sadness and frustration to anger and a commitment to seek change and prevent future tragedies. More than 100 people were on hand.
Bend resident Glenn Bennett, 84, was shopping at the store and was near the front entrance when he was fatally shot. A GoFundMe page says Glen lived with his sister and helped pay for their home.
Moments later, a Safeway employee, 66-year-old Donald Surrett Jr., was also shot and killed in the rear of the store, in the produce section. Police say Surrett engaged with the shooter in an attempt to disarm him. His efforts may have helped prevent further deaths.
“Mr. Surrett acted heroically during this terrible incident,” Bend police Communications Manager Sheila Miller said at Monday’s news conference.
Surrett’s sister-in-law also has created a GoFundMe page to assist with expenses.
Debora Jean Surrett, the ex-wife of the Safeway employee killed in the attack, told The Associated Press in a phone interview that Surrett served in the Army for 20 years as a combat engineer.
He wasn’t deployed to active combat zones, but during the 20 years they were married from 1975 to 1995, they were stationed in Germany three times and lived on military bases across the U.S.
“They’re trained to be the first ones to go into war and the last ones to come home,” she told the AP.
People who were in the area when gunfire broke out Sunday night came back Monday to retrieve any property they left there, including cars and bikes.
Bend resident Laura Patterson said she was hiding inside a Safeway office when the shooting broke out and returned Monday to retrieve her wallet today, which she dropped while she was running for safety.
Here is her account of what happened:
“I was in, cashing a Scratch-It (lottery ticket) because I won $30 in Safeway. And I cashed it, and there wasn’t Scratch-Its available at the counter. So I moved over to where the machine is, to the left, which is towards 27th (Street) and I put $20 in the machine.
“One of the employees, a young gentleman with blonde hair, came running in from the exit near 27th and told Sophia, the manger, ‘Sophia, someone’s shooting in the parking lot!’ Of course I stopped, I saw her go out. She turned around and ran back in.
“I heard a couple (of gunshots) out there — I could hear them, and then it was coming in. So I ran back into an office, right there. Somebody was shutting the door, and I ran in there and got under a desk and sat there and sobbed.
“It was so loud — I heard 25 or more shots, and I thought they were at the door of the office because I have not been around gunshots before. When it got quiet, the gentleman with me went and knocked on the door a couple times, and we waited. I did hear somebody yell, ‘Get down on the ground!’ earlier, and I assumed it was the police, because I heard sirens.”
I asked Patterson what thoughts were was running through her head as she heard the gunfire.
“I was going to die,” Patterson said.
Patterson said her brother-in-law and sister also were at the scene and were not injured.
Alec Baldwin Among Celebrities Criticized for Sending Anne Heche Love, Thoughts, and Prayers After Car Crash
Alec Baldwin and Rosanna Arquette are among a number of celebrities who have been slammed for sending thoughts and prayers to Anne Heche after the A-lister’s high-speed crash into a Mar Vista house while allegedly drunk.
Baldwin took to Instagram on Saturday to send “my best wishes and all my love” to Heche, who is reportedly in stable condition in a hospital after suffering severe burns in the incident. According to a statement from the Los Angeles Fire Department, it took 59 firefighters more than an hour to access, confine, and extinguish the “stubborn flames” caused when Heche’s vehicle slammed into the two-story home, “causing structural compromise and erupting in heavy fire prior to LAFD arrival.” Heche was pulled out of the burning vehicle in critical condition.
She is now stable, according to a statement from Heche’s friend and podcast partner, Heather Duffy Boylston. “Anne is currently in stable condition. Her family and friends ask for your thoughts and prayers and to respect her privacy during this difficult time,” she said.
In his Instagram video, Baldwin says: “Anne is an old pal of mine. There’s not a lot of women I’ve worked with that are brave in the way that Anne is brave.
“I love you, Anne, I love you and I think you are such a talented person. I hope everything is OK, I hope you come through this. My heart goes out to you. I’m sorry you had this tragic thing happen to you, and I’m sending you all my love.”
He then asked: “’Everyone please join me please in sending their support and love to the wonderful Anne Heche. Thanks.”
In response, many took to the comments to suggest that the focus should be on the occupant of the house whose Heche’s car slammed into.
Footage taken by numerous doorbell cameras in the neighborhood on Friday showed the speed at which Heche’s car was traveling before the crash. Moments later she slammed into the home, which subsequently went up in flames. The Los Angeles Fire Department said the house is now “uninhabitable.”
The occupant of the home, identified as Lynne Mishele, told CBS LA reporter Tena Ezzeddine after the crash: “I’m a mess. We’re alive, but that’s about as far as it goes.”
Police have not charged Heche but said she was allegedly driving at twice the legal speed limit.
“What about the people that she almost killed?… Is she more important?” posted one user in reply to Baldwin’s video.
“Yes I hope she is okay but hey how about saying my thoughts are with those who were nearly killed also,” said another. “C’mon Alec.”
Actors Peter Facinelli, Rosanna Arquette, and Big Little Lies actor James Tupper, Heche’s ex with whom she shares a 13-year-old son, were also among the celebs who came in for criticism after posting tributes.
Political consultant Nathan Schneider tweeted in reply to Arquette, who asked people to “pray” for Heche: “She could have killed somebody. Heche needs some serious mental health counseling before she hurts someone.”
Mishele’s neighbor Lynne Bernstein told People that she “was extremely fortunate” to survive and that Heche’s car crashed “almost all the way through” the house and “almost immediately” caught fire.
A GoFundMe page set up by neighbors John and Jennifer Durand for Mishele has already raised close to $40,000.
“Lynne and her family very narrowly escaped physical harm, and for that we are very, very grateful,” the fundraiser reads. “The home, however, was completely burned. Even more distressing is that Lynne lost her entire lifetime of possessions, mementos, all equipment for her business including her laptop and iPad, all of her clothing and basic necessities, and all household items. With firefighters’ help, she was able to pull a few damaged sentimental belongings from the wreckage. Everything else is gone.”
They described Mishele as a “kind and generous person, Lynne is always first to offer help to others” and urged supporters to donate to the campaign.
In video, prankster at NRA convention thanks Wayne LaPierre for ‘thoughts and prayers’ after shootings
Then Selvig addressed LaPierre directly.
Except it was a prank. Selvig, half of a two-comedian act that often targets conservative politicians, was merely posing as a LaPierre supporter to implicitly criticize him to his face and in front of NRA attendees at the gun lobby’s largest meeting of the year. A video capturing Selvig’s speech posted on Twitter had been viewed 8 million times as of early Tuesday.
Selvig did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post.
Organizers carried on with the four-day event in Houston, even though it was in the state where two days earlier a gunman killed 21 people, including 19 schoolchildren. That mass shooting happened as the country was reeling from another 1½ weeks earlier, when a shooter killed 10 people in a racist attack at a grocery store in Buffalo.
The NRA’s decision to forge ahead with its annual meeting echoed a similar call 23 years ago when it held a shortened version of its 1999 convention in Denver about a week after the deadly shooting at Columbine High School, a suburb of the Mile High City.
Neither the NRA nor LaPierre immediately responded to a request for comment from The Post late Monday.
LaPierre, who was reelected Monday as the group’s chief executive, started the convention by addressing the shooting in Uvalde, lamenting the “21 beautiful lives ruthlessly and indiscriminately extinguished by a criminal monster,” but he said “restricting the fundamental human rights of law-abiding Americans to defend themselves is not the answer. It never has been,” the Associated Press reported.
Instead, the NRA pledged “to redouble our commitment to making our schools secure” in a statement released after the shooting, according to AP. That lines up with the position the group took after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn. — advocating for more armed staff members inside schools.
Against the backdrop of being at a convention for the country’s most prominent gun rights group in the wake of two mass shootings, Selvig approached the microphone and declared that he was “sick and tired of the left-wing media,” and even some convention attendees, claiming that LaPierre “isn’t doing enough to stop these mass shootings and even implying [he] has played a part in making it easier for these shooters to get guns.”
Then Selvig launched into a long list of those shootings.
“You heard [the criticism] after Las Vegas, you heard it after Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, you heard it after Columbine, you heard it after Parkland, you heard it after Virginia Tech, you heard it after Sandy Hook, you heard it after El Paso, you heard it after Buffalo. You kept hearing that Wayne LaPierre isn’t doing enough.”
But that’s not true, Selvig said. The NRA, under LaPierre’s leadership, had given victims’ family members thoughts and prayers, “and maybe these mass shootings would stop happening if we all thought a little bit more and we prayed a little bit more.”
Then he addressed a confused-looking LaPierre.
“I want to thank you … for all your thoughts and all your prayers — thank you.”
Selvig turned and walked away.
Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem Sees Brief Unrest After Friday Prayers: Live Updates
JERUSALEM — Two rounds of Friday prayers at one of Jerusalem’s holiest sites were followed by brief unrest that subsided quickly, keeping tensions in the Old City on a low boil. It was the seventh time in eight days that violence broke out at the Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Jews as Temple Mount.
The first clashes erupted shortly after dawn prayers at the mosque. Video showed dozens of young Palestinian men approaching a gate at one entrance, throwing stones at the Israeli riot police stationed there and setting off fireworks. That prompted the police to enter the compound, firing tear gas in an attempt to clear the group of young Palestinian men.
The unrest lasted for about an hour, a shorter escalation than in previous days, and in a smaller section of the site.
The early skirmishes ended by midmorning, followed by hours of calm. But the tensions escalated again briefly after midday prayers at the mosque, attended by about 150,000 Palestinians, according to mosque officials.
Israeli police fired tear gas from a drone at Palestinians who had gathered on one part of the compound. It was not immediately clear what prompted the Israeli fire.
During the earlier skirmishes, the police stayed close to the edge of the compound, with the result that fighting did not erupt within the main mosque at the site, unlike earlier in the week. Dozens of Palestinians threw stones from behind makeshift barricades, some of them carrying green flags associated with Hamas, the Islamist militant group that dominates the Gaza Strip.
At least 31 Palestinians were injured, 14 of them hospitalized, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. One police officer was injured after being hit in the face by a rock, the police said.
The recent clashes at the compound, which is sacred both to Jews and Muslims, have contributed to a particularly volatile period in Israel and the occupied territories. The unresolved nature of the conflict means that tensions are always simmering, but the situation began to escalate more than usual a month ago, the start of the deadliest wave of Arab attacks in Israel in more than half a decade.
The attacks killed 14 and prompted an Israeli military crackdown in the occupied West Bank, which killed at least 15 Palestinians.
Tensions rose further on April 15, the first day of a rare overlap between Ramadan and Passover and Easter. Clashes broke out that day at the mosque compound.
Fighting has flared repeatedly over most of the past week as young Palestinians have tried to block visits by Jewish worshipers amid rumors on social media that hard-line Jewish activists were planning a Passover sacrifice within the mosque’s precincts.
That never happened, and the Israeli police have arrested several Jews said to have been planning such a move.
The Israeli government has also said it will maintain its annual practice of blocking non-Muslims from accessing the site from Friday — the start of the last 10 days of Ramadan and a particularly sensitive time in the holy fasting month.
The police did allow thousands of Jews to enter the site during regular morning visiting hours earlier in the month. Many of them were allowed to quietly pray in a secluded part of the site, in contravention of a decades-old convention by which Jews were allowed to visit the site but not worship there.
To prevent attacks on Jewish worshipers, the police also blocked Muslim access to the site for several hours on Sunday, after a crowd of Palestinian youths blocked the route usually taken by Jewish visitors.
Israel said its repeated police interventions were essential to restore public order. But they caused offense across the Muslim world and drew unusual public criticism from Israel’s new Arab allies, Bahrain, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates.
It also prompted an Islamist party in the Israeli governing coalition to suspend its membership, deepening a government crisis that could lead to early elections. And it gave militants in Gaza a pretext to fire rockets toward Israel for the first time since January.
Hiba Yazbek contributed reporting.
Ahmaud Arbery trial: Guilty verdicts were an answer to prayers, family says. Here’s what comes next
As the first verdict was being read, Marcus Arbery Sr., Arbery’s father, “leapt up and cheered,” according to a pool reporter in the room.
“I never saw this day back in 2020, I never thought this day would come,” said Ahmaud Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, as she stood just outside the courthouse doors following the verdicts.
She thanked God and all the people who marched and prayed for her family.
“Quez, which you know him as Ahmaud, I know him as Quez. He will now rest in peace,” his mother said to the crowd of people gathered, who had celebrated upon hearing the news.
“The verdict today was a verdict based on the facts, based on the evidence and that was our goal, was to bring that to that jury so that they could do the right thing,” said prosecutor Linda Dunikoski, adding, “the jury system works in this country.”
Now, questions over the sentencing, appeals process and additional federal charges for Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan Jr. must be answered.
Trio face possibility of life in prison
Judge Timothy Walmsley has yet to set a sentencing date for the three convicted men.
The jury on Wednesday found Travis McMichael guilty of malice murder, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of false imprisonment and one count of criminal attempt to commit a felony in Arbery’s death on February 23, 2020, just outside Brunswick, Georgia.
His father, Gregory McMichael, was acquitted only on a malice murder charge and was found guilty of the other charges faced by him and his son.
Bryan was found guilty of three counts of felony murder, one count of aggravated assault, one count of false imprisonment, and one count of criminal attempt to commit a felony. He was acquitted of malice murder, one count of felony murder, and one count of aggravated assault.
The men now face a sentence of up to life in prison without the possibility of parole on each of the murder charges, 20 years on each of the aggravated assault charges, 10 years on the false imprisonment charge, and 5 years on the criminal attempt to commit a felony charge. Walmsley will decide whether the sentences will be served consecutively or concurrently.
Prosecutors have indicated they will seek sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Defense attorneys plan to appeal
Jason Sheffield and Bob Rubin, attorneys for Travis McMichael, said they planned to appeal the conviction.
When asked about the location of the trial, Sheffield said he was sure their decision not to file for a change of venue would be discussed “ad nauseam” and could become a part of a future appeal but said they did not have any second thoughts about the decision.
“I can tell you honestly, these men are sorry for what happened to Ahmaud Arbery,” said Sheffield. “They are sorry that he is dead, they are sorry for the tragedy that happened because of the choices that they made to go out there and try to stop him.”
Kevin Gough, Bryan’s attorney, said he planned to appeal the decision regarding his client, noting, “We believe the appellate courts will reverse this conviction.”
During the trial, Gough made remarks that were widely considered insensitive, beseeching the court to prevent high-profile Black pastors from sitting in the public gallery. And one prosecutor told CNN Wednesday the decision to raise the issue may have been intentional to help with an appeal.
Gough said on November 11 he had “nothing personally against” the Rev. Al Sharpton, who was in attendance alongside Arbery’s family, adding, “We don’t want any more Black pastors coming in here or other Jesse Jackson, whoever was in here earlier this week, sitting with the victim’s family trying to influence a jury in this case.”
Walmsley ruled that as long as court proceedings were not disrupted, there would be no sweeping bans. Gough apologized for his statements the next day.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson had not made an appearance at the time of the comments, but later sat in the gallery with Arbery’s parents.
Dunikoski, the prosecutor, told CNN’s Jim Acosta after the verdict that Gough’s comments about Black pastors — though made without the jury present — were strategic.
“Mr. Gough is a very, very good attorney, and he purposefully and intentionally and strategically, I believe, did what he did in an effort to attempt to insert potentially some error into the case in case he lost the case and it went up on appeal,” she said.
Federal charges await
All three were indicted in April on separate federal hate crime charges, which include interference with rights and attempted kidnapping, according to the US Department of Justice. Travis and Gregory McMichael were also charged with using, carrying, brandishing and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
Federal prosecutors said all three men “used force and threats of force to intimidate and interfere with Arbery’s right to use a public street because of his race.”
The McMichaels and Bryan pleaded not guilty to the federal charges.
Sheffield and Rubin, on behalf of Travis McMichael, said after the federal indictment, “We are deeply disappointed that the Justice Department bought the false narrative that the media and state prosecutors have promulgated.”
Arbery Sr.’s attorney Ben Crump said at the time, “This is an important milestone in America’s uphill march toward racial justice, and we applaud the Justice Department for treating this heinous act for what it is — a purely evil, racially motivated hate crime.”
The federal trial is set to take place in February. Since they were being held on the state charges, there has been no federal bond hearing yet.
If convicted on the federal charges, they could face an additional penalty of up to life in prison.
CNN’s Chris Boyette, Amir Vera, Angela Barajas and Madeline Holcombe contributed to this report.
On Delhi’s Toxic River, Prayers to a Sun Struggling to Shine Through Smog
Her brother-in-law, Sonu Prasad, 36, who sells buttons, said he knows what contributes to the pollution of the river: “When I shower, it goes into a small canal, then a big canal, then it goes into the river,” he said.
“It’s a sewer,” Ms. Devi’s husband and Sonu’s older brother, Ravi Shankar Gupta, said. “But the sun deity says: ‘Even if you stand in a gutter and make an offering, I will protect you for the rest of the year.’”
“It would be great if they improve it, but even if they don’t, what can we do?” Mr. Gupta added, pointing to the infighting over the pollution between the states that the river flows through. “We will still live, and enjoy life.”
The Yamuna forms the boundary between Delhi and the state of Uttar Pradesh, a circumstance that has complicated the already tortured process of cleaning it up. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent in recent decades, to little effect. Less than half of the roughly 16 billion gallons of daily sewage in India’s urban centers is treated, according to government figures, and much of the rest pollutes the country’s rivers.
New Delhi, overwhelmed by a growing population, treats about two-thirds of its sewage. But hundreds of millions of gallons are still dumped into the Yamuna untreated, along with untreated industrial waste, in its slog through the city.
Delhi gets a good portion of its drinking water from the Yamuna, which enters the city limits relatively clean. After that, the river is pummeled with wastes.
Family of 15-year-old Timberview High School shooting victim asks for prayers
Family of 15-year-old Timberview High School shooting victim asks for prayers
The family of the 15-year-old boy who was critically injured in the Timberview High School shooting is asking for prayers as he struggles to recover.
ARLINGTON, Texas – The family of the 15-year-old boy who was critically injured in the Timberview High School shooting is asking for prayers as he struggles to recover.
Zacchaeus Selby’s mother, Iysha Selby, talked to reporters Friday as he underwent another round of surgery.
She said he has been in and out of a drug-induced coma. But during the times that he is more alert, he has been able to squeeze her hand.
“He has tubes in this throat and in his nose. He just lays there,” the 15-year-old’s mother said while trying to hold back her emotions.
Selby was one of four people hurt in Wednesday’s school shooting at Timberview High School in Arlington.
RELATED: Timberview High School shooting leaves four injured; suspect arrested
Police said he and 18-year-old Timothy Simpkins got into a physical fight in a classroom. Others tried to break up the fight, then Simpkins pulled a handgun out of his backpack and shot Selby multiple times.
A 25-year-old teacher, identified by students as Cedric Petit, was also shot and a teenage girl was grazed by a bullet. A pregnant teacher fell and was hurt but is okay.
“He said, ‘Momma, momma, I have been shot,’ and I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘I have been shot,’ oh my God. And he held the phone and I saw the hole in his chest and the blood was just pouring, pouring, pouring out of his chest. It was all over his clothes, his mouth, his ears, the concrete,” Iysha recalled.
That’s how she learned her son had been shot Wednesday morning. She then rushed to the school.
“I was beating on the door, ‘Let me in, my baby’s in there!’ But they wouldn’t let anybody in,” she said. “and he came out on the stretcher and I ran to the stretcher and I grabbed his hand and he looked up and he said I love you and I said I love you too.”
She then watched as the ambulance raced with her son to Medical City Arlington, where he underwent a second four-hour surgery Friday.
Simpkins was arrested after an hours-long manhunt and charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He posted bond a day later and was released from jail.
RELATED: Timberview High School shooting suspect bonds out of jail
His family claims he was being bullied and was trying to protect himself.
RELATED: Family of Timberview High School shooting suspect says he was being bullied
Police advised Selby’s family not to talk about what prompted the fight because of the ongoing investigation. But they said they want people to know he is not the monster people are making him out to be on social media.
“We’ve seen the video ourselves. We were shocked to see the video because we’ve never ever seen him that way before. I’ve never seen him fight with even his sister or his older brother. He’s a mild-mannered, soft-spoken child,” said Kathy Selby, his grandmother.
The family described him as a sweet and caring kid who loves football and video games just like most teenagers his age.
Selby’s family said his condition has improved slightly since he was admitted. They are optimistic about his recovery but said it will be a long one.
“Everybody’s so nice and sweet and caring. We’ve been getting so much love and support. They said the visiting room is just full of people trying to come in and see him. One of the other victims, the teacher, their family came and prayed with us. We’ve had the police come and speak with us and give us hugs and the staff is nice. We’ve had staff pray with us. I mean, the love and support is… it’s so much,” his mom said.
RELATED: Teacher recalls what he did to protect students during Timberview High School shooting