Curses, Foiled Again
Cincinnati police reported that when Rufus Bowman, 16, pulled a gun on a 6-foot-1, 290pound prostitute “wearing a pink halter top and pumps,” the victim resisted. The 5-foot-7, 230-pound Bowman shot the victim in the arm and chest but couldn’t stop the prostitute from taking away the gun, grabbing him by the hair and administering what Hamilton County, Ohio, prosecutor Ryan Nelson termed a “beat down.” Identifying victim Joshua Bumpus as a “a transvestite prostitute,” Nelson noted that Bowman “picked the wrong prostitute to rob.” (Cincinnati Enquirer)
When Guns Are Outlawed
An Ontario court sentenced David Birch, 25, to four months in jail for assaulting his exwife with poutine. The court heard that after the two argued at a business in Timmins, Birch dumped the poutine —french fries, gravy and cheese curds — over the woman’s head, then snatched her purse and fled. (Toronto Sun) Police in Takoma Park, Md., charged Oritse Ayu, 29, with assault after he walked past a woman at a college library while masturbating and struck her arm with his semen. He fled, but investigators tracked him using his DNA. (Baltimore’s WJZ-TV)
When Bullets Are Outlawed
Authorities in Rockingham County, N.C., charged Lonnie Irvin Pinnix, 38, with shooting his wife in the back with toilet paper. Sheriff’s officials said Pinnix told them he loaded the gun with toilet paper instead of bullets, then shot Darlene Pinnix, 55, because she wouldn’t leave when he ordered her to. She was treated at the hospital for a powder burn. (Greenboro’s WGHP-TV)
Slightest Provocations
Irish authorities charged Sandra Talbot, 32, with assaulting her ex-girlfriend during a costume party at a Dublin pub after bumping into her while wearing an inflatable sumo wrestler suit. Victim Adrienne Martin objected and said Talbot hit her with a bottle she had hidden under her costume after Martin tried to wave at a man dressed as a Snickers bar. (Dublin’s Evening Herald) Police charged Russell Willis Shepherd Jr., 40, with stabbing his 58-year-old roommate in the hand after the men argued at their apartment in Myrtle Beach, S.C., because the suspect was being loud while having sex with a 39-year-old homeless woman. (The Sun News) George Stein, 54, was arrested in Vernon, Conn., after he became angry at his girlfriend’s child for objecting to the noisy video game Stein was playing and grabbed some kind of weapon, prompting the boy to call police. Officers also arrested the girlfriend, April Devaux, 42, after she became combative with them, spat at one of them and refused to let go of a front porch post. (Associated Press) Police in Gainesville, Fla., charged Jennifer B. Elder, 25, with “robbery by sudden snatching” after she grabbed money from Dan Alford’s shirt pocket. Alford explained that negotiations over sex for money broke down when Elder smiled, and, according to Cpl. Tscharna Senn, he was turned off by “the extent of her dental issues.” (The Gainesville Sun)
Troy Hixon, 45, his girlfriend, another woman and his father, former Ku Klux Klan Exalted Cyclops George Hixon, 73, were drinking at home in Osceola County, Fla., when, according to the sheriff’s report, Troy Hixon threw his girlfriend down and began shooting into the ground near her. The unnamed girlfriend told deputies that the incident occurred during an argument that began after she complained she was forced to drink cheap beer while the men drank “good beer”—Budweiser, according to the report. Troy Hixon explained the gunshots by telling a deputy he “did the redneck thing” by shooting holes in a trash can full of water so it could drain. Both Hixon men were arrested after they made threats against the deputies. (Orlando Sentinel)
Way to Go
Richard Butler, 30, was minutes away from proposing to Bethany Lott, 25, when she was killed by lightning while hiking up a mountain in Madison County, N.C. “I had a ring in my pocket, and I was going to ask her to marry me,” said Butler, who suffered second-degree burns from the strike. (Asheville Citizen-Times)
A Wedding Night to Remember
Friends of the groom at a wedding reception in Niles, Ill., celebrated by throwing him up in the air as part of what his sister-in-law described as a “traditional dance.” They failed to catch him, however, and the 29-year-old man landed flat on his back and had to be taken to the hospital with neck and back injuries. (Chicago Sun-Times)
Second-Amendment Follies
Arnold Morris, 77, explained that he accidentally shot his wife of 54 years in the chest while the couple was training for “robbery scenarios” at their home in Cocoa, Fla.
Brevard County authorities said Patricia Morris, 72, underwent surgery and is expected to recover. (Orlando’s WKMG-TV)
Rough Times Dead
Anita Smithey, 41, admitted fatally shooting her estranged husband while they had sex at her home in Oviedo, Fla. She said Robert Cline III, 41, was being too rough, but when she told him to take it easy, he didn’t. She reached for a .38-caliber handgun on the nightstand, pointed it at his chest and warned him again, but he only laughed and leaned toward her. She said the gun fired accidentally, but he still didn’t get off her, so she fired twice more, wounding him again. According to Smithey’s arrest report, when Cline finally rolled off the bed onto the floor, she got a knife and stabbed herself in the belly to make it look like she had acted in self-defense. Smithey added that even though she and Cline had been separated for three months, they still had sex every Monday. (Orlando Sentinel)
First Things First
A Utah judge sentenced Adam Manning, 31, to six months in jail for fondling a maternity nurse while she was wheeling the man’s pregnant girlfriend to the delivery room at an Ogden hospital. Because he was promptly arrested after the nurse reported the incident, Manning missed his child’s birth. (Ogden’s Standard-Examiner)
Anti-Social Network
Police said Shemika McVey, 21, stabbed boyfriend Maurice Davenport, 22, with a kitchen knife at their Indianapolis home after he refused to let her view his Facebook page. (Indianapolis Star)
Hell’s Kitchen
Stanley Neace, 47, killed five people in two mobile homes outside Jackson, Ky., then turned the shotgun on himself when police arrived. The shooting spree began because Neace didn’t like how his wife cooked his eggs, according to Sherri Anne Robinson, a relative of two of the victims. “He just got mad at his wife for not making his breakfast right, and he shot her,” Robinson said. “She tried to run to tell my family, and he shot them, too, because they found out about it.” (Associated Press) Authorities accused Jerome Keller, 72, of hitting his wife while she was fixing dinner in Pasco County, Fla. Deputy Gary Stritt reported that Keller told him he didn’t think Peggy Keller, 73, was cooking correctly. “He told me all she wants to do is fight with him and accuse him of stupid things,” Stritt said. (St. Petersburg Times) Frederick Wilkes, 54, beat his wife after he started to prepare lasagna for dinner and found leftover beans inside a ricotta cheese container, according to Massachusetts authorities. “He threw the container of beans at her, and they became involved in an altercation,” said Jake Wark of the Suffolk County district attorney’s office. Dinner guest Mario Donnarumma, who offered to go to the store for ricotta cheese but returned with only beer and vodka, told police that Wilkes grabbed his wife and threw her outside their Chelsea apartment, along with a bean-splattered couch. Police found the lifeless body of Theresa Kenna Wilkes, 50, in her driveway the next morning. (Boston Herald)
Overreaction of the Week
When his girlfriend turned down his marriage proposal at a Burger King in Pico Rivera, Calif., Francisco Hernandez, 22, went to his car, which still had “Stacy Will You Marry Me?” written on the back window. He drove onto the sidewalk, through some bushes and into the restaurant parking lot, where he reportedly tried to run the ex-girlfriend down. He narrowly missed, then tried to drive away with two flat tires. He abandoned the car and ran, according to Los Angeles County sheriff’s Lt. Andrew, but “then our helicopter guys spotted him walking down the street carrying a bouquet of flowers.” (Los Angeles Times)
Everyone’s a Critic
Sheriff’s deputies arrested Shannon Wriska, 34, at her trailer home in Milton, Fla., after her husband accused her of trying to burn his boat, go-kart and Jacuzzi because of an argument the night before while they were watching a movie starring actress Jennifer Lopez. Robert Wriska stated that his wife was very jealous of the actress and didn’t like him seeing her in the movie. After they argued over the actress, both went to bed, but the next day the husband said Shannon Wriska saw him drinking with a neighbor and set the fires. (Northwest Florida Daily News) Authorities said Steven N. Cowan, 66, fired a shotgun at his television, then aimed it at his wife, who fled their home outside Black Earth, Wis., and called 911. Cowan held sheriff’s deputies at bay for 15 hours before surrendering.
According to the criminal complaint, Cowan and his wife were watching Dancing with the Stars when Bristol Palin appeared. He flew into a rage, complained about “the {expletive} politics” of Palin’s appearing on the show because he didn’t think she was that good a dancer and then went for his gun. (Wisconsin State Journal)
In the Doghouse
Utah authorities said Ronald Charles Dallas, 32, faces charges for sending letters to his estranged wife’s cat. Dallas was ordered not to contact his wife, who is the alleged victim in a domestic violence case against him, but prosecutors said he mailed 11 letters to the cat and a neighbor while in jail, containing requests that the wife not testify against him. The new charges against Dallas include violating a protective order and tampering with a witness. (Deseret News)
Guns and Love Don’t Mix
Justin Paul Goldstone, 21, admitted killing his girlfriend with a sawed-off shotgun, which he pointed at her with his finger on the trigger while she took his picture. Goldstone said he believed his finger was outside the trigger guard and not resting on the trigger. “I’m satisfied that you didn’t use the gun deliberately, but you did know the gun was loaded,” New Zealand Justice Forrest Miller said when sentencing Goldstone in the High Court at Auckland to three years and four months in jail. (New Zealand Press Association)
News and Blues is compiled from the nation’s press. To contribute, submit original clippings, citing date and source, to Roland Sweet in care of The New Times.
