An Ohio State University student who used a car and knife to injure 11 people in a violent rampage Monday morning appears to have been inspired by ISIS and American Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, FBI officials said at a press conference Wednesday.
The terrorist organization, however, does not appear to have played a direct role in planning or carrying out the attack in the university, Angela Byers, special agent in charge of the Columbus, Ohio, FBI office said.
"At this time, we are not aware of anyone else being involved in the planning of this attack, but the investigation continues," Byers said. "It appears that (Abdul Razak Ali) Artan may have been at least inspired by Anwar al-Awlaki and the Islamic State."
Abdul Razak Ali Artan, a Somali refugee, had not been under FBI investigation nor popped up on the agency's radar before the attack, Byers said.
Investigators are still reviewing electronic evidence and conducting dozens of interviews to determine exactly what the motive was behind the attack, and how Artan may have been influenced by ISIS.
But despite ISIS claiming responsibility for the attack, Byers said there was no evidence the group had contact with Artan before Monday's incident.
"In the past they have claimed responsibility when the assailant has been dead and they can't refute that, so that makes it pretty easy for them," she said.
Artan also appears to have been influenced by American Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed by a US drone in Yemen in Sept. 2011. Awlaki gained prominence through sermons posted on YouTube. After fleeing to Yemen, Awlaki praised the Fort Hood shooter and the failed "Underwear bomber" who tried to blow up a flight over Detroit, and in 2010 called for jihad against the US.
He was accused of helping organize attacks by al-Qaeda.
Byers said the agency is also looking at a Facebook post that was published the day of the attack. Investigators were still working to make sure it was authentic.
Despite the post, Byers said, the short time between the time it was published and the attack would not have helped agents prevent the assault.
It appears Trump really, realllllly loves Pakistan.
Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif called President-elect USA Donald Trump and felicitated him on his victory. President Trump said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif you have a very good reputation. You are a terrific guy. You are doing amazing work which is visible in every way. I am looking forward to see you soon. As I am talking to you Prime Minister, I feel I am talking to a person I have known for long. Your country is amazing with tremendous opportunities. Pakistanis are one of the most intelligent people. I am ready and willing to play any role that you want me to play to address and find solutions to the outstanding problems. It will be an honor and I will personally do it. Feel free to call me any time even before 20th January that is before I assume my office.
On being invited to visit Pakistan by the Prime Minister, Mr. Trump said that he would love to come to a fantastic country, fantastic place of fantastic people. Please convey to the Pakistani people that they are amazing and all Pakistanis I have known are exceptional people, said Mr. Donald Trump.
"You have a very good reputation."
"You are a terrific guy."
"You are doing amazing work..."
"Your country is amazing with tremendous opportunities."
"Pakistanis are one of the most intelligent people."
"I am ready to...find solutions to the outstanding problems."
Trump would love to come to a "fantastic country, fantastic place of fantastic people."
"Please convey to the Pakistani people that they are amazing, and all Pakistanis I have know are exceptional people."
Michael "Jim" Delligatti, the McDonald's franchise owner who invented the iconic Big Mac burger at his Pennsylvania restaurant in the 1960s, has died. He was 98.
"Today, we celebrate the 98 inspirational years of Big Mac inventor, Michael 'Jim' Delligatti. Jim, we thank and will forever remember you," the company said in a statement.
Delligatti died Monday at his home in Pittsburgh surrounded by loved ones, according to an obituary prepared by his family and provided by McDonald's to BuzzFeed News. A cause of death was not released.
Delligatti was one of McDonald's earliest franchisees, opening up his first store in Pittsburgh in 1957. During his life, he would own and operate 47 other McDonald's restaurants, making him one of the company's largest ever franchise holders.
In 1967, he began serving the Big Mac at his Uniontown, Pennsylvania, restaurant after being inspired by double-decker burgers at other competitors.
"This wasn't like discovering the lightbulb,” he said in 1993. “The bulb was already there. All I did was screw it in the socket."
McDonald's
The Big Mac — "two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions – on a sesame seed bun," as a famous 1970s jingle described it — was an instant hit and McDonald's began selling it nationally in 1968.
In 2008, for the burger's 40th anniversary, McDonald's said they sold more than half a billion Big Macs each year. It is currently sold in more than 100 countries around the world.
But sales of the 540-calorie burger declined in recent years as customers became more health-conscious. Earlier this month, the company officially announced that in 2017 it will briefly offer smaller and larger versions of the sandwich.
Total US sales have rebounded in the past year at McDonald's, thanks largely due to the introduction of all-day breakfast — an area where Delligatti's influence was also felt.
"A true innovator for the industry, Jim was instrumental in introducing breakfast service at McDonald’s," his family obituary stated. "He developed the Hotcakes and Sausage meal to feed hungry steel workers on their way home from overnight shifts in the mills."
Delligatti at his 90th birthday in 2008.
Gene J. Puskar / AP
In a statement, a McDonald's spokesperson praised Delligatti as "legendary franchisee...who made a lasting impression on our brand."
Delligatti, who also served as a US army sergeant in World War II, is survived by his wife Ellie, two sons, five grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.
"Delligatti...never dreamed his 1968 'invention' would become a major piece of Americana," McDonald's said in 2008. "Next to baseball and apple pie, his Big Mac stands as a proud figure of American pop-culture."
Dylann Roof’s decision to act as his own attorney in his federal capital murder trial is “unwise” and “foolhardy,” but within his constitutional right, Judge Richard Gergel wrote in a newly unsealed order officially granting the white supremacist’s motion to represent himself.
In the document, Gergel describes the accused Charleston church shooter first asking about defending himself during a competency hearing on Nov. 22, a closed-door proceeding that was set by the judge after Roof’s appointed attorney, David Bruck, “expressed concern” about his client’s mental capacity to stand trial.
Gergel wrote that at the end of the hearing, Roof stood up and said, “Is there any way that someone could write...a document that would take away all responsibility from my lawyers, but still keep them as my lawyers and then they could do whatever I say, but they wouldn't have any responsibility, and then I could sign it?"
Gergel informed him that his attorneys have a professional obligation to present an effective defense. To which Roof responded, "Okay. But I also have a right to represent myself."
Gergel then told Roof that if he filed a motion to represent himself he would "hear you out" but that the “lack of wisdom...would weigh heavily against” Roof.
Roof filed the motion to act as his own counsel on Sunday, Nov. 27. The next day, before the start of individual jury questioning was scheduled to begin, Gergel questioned Roof about the motion.
“Defendant nonetheless again confirmed — unambiguously — his knowing and intelligent decision to represent himself. The Court then granted Defendant's motion,” Gergel wrote.
Gergel told Roof in court that he thought the decision was "strategically unwise." The judge then designated Bruck as Roof’s “stand-by counsel.”
In his order, Gergel described Roof as “cogent and articulate” during past court interactions. He said that the defendant has an “extremely high IQ” and "was alert, focused, and confident as he expressed his resolve to represent himself.” While the judge said he doesn’t agree with Roof’s decision, he felt it was not “rashly made.”
From a legal perspective, Gergel said that Roof’s decision to represent himself is his constitutional right under the Sixth Amendment. He added that the Supreme Court had ruled “that a defendant competent to stand trial is competent to choose self-representation — even if that choice would be "ultimately to his own detriment.""
Jury selection continues in the Roof trial this week in Charleston.
A North Carolina district attorney said Officer Brentley Vinson’s use of deadly force was lawful. Scott’s September death in Charlotte prompted days of protests in the city.
AP
Officials in North Carolina on Wednesday declined to press charges against the police officer who fatally shot Keith Lamont Scott, whose death prompted widespread protests in Charlotte.
Scott was fatally shot by Officer Brentley Vinson on Sept. 20 while he was exiting his vehicle outside of an apartment complex. Police said the 43-year-old was holding a handgun, and that he ignored commands to drop it. His family had said that he was holding a book, but officers said they only recovered a handgun at the scene.
In a lengthy press conference on Wednesday in which he meticulously laid out the details of the investigation, Andrew Murray, the Mecklenburg County district attorney, said Vinson's use of deadly force was lawful because he feared for his life.
"After a thorough review and given the totality of the circumstances and credible evidence in this case, it is my opinion that Officer Vinson acted lawfully when he shot Mr. Scott," Murray told reporters.
Vinson and his partner had been participating in a surveillance operation for an unrelated case in the parking lot of a Charlotte apartment complex when Scott parked his vehicle close to the police van. The officers observed him roll marijuana, but only became concerned when they saw him holding a gun, Murray said. Although North Carolina is an open-carry state, the pair sought back-up from other officers before trying to arrest Scott.
Murray said officers who approached Scott later described him as having "a blank stare as if he was in a trance-like state" — behavior he said was consistent with a medication prescribed to Scott.
Video from a police dash cam showed Scott getting out of his SUV as police had their guns drawn. The video does not show what Scott was holding in his hands, as he slowly moved backward and was shot four times. He was struck in the wrist, abdomen, and rear shoulder.
Murray said Scott's DNA and fingerprints were found on the slide and grip of a gun recovered at the scene. The Colt .380 semi-automatic handgun was loaded with a bullet in the chamber.
"We cannot know what Mr. Scott's intentions or reasoning were that day," Murray said. "Officer Vinson could not know that at the time. What he saw was a man who had drawn a gun when confronted by police, exited a vehicle with a gun in hand, and failed to comply with officers who commanded him at least 10 times to put the gun down."
The district attorney said FBI investigators had determined that three witnesses who claimed to have witnessed the incident had not in fact seen the shooting.
"When they were interviewed by FBI later, they said they did not actually see the shooting despite their claims on social media or with the media," he said.
Murray said a group of 15 "career prosecutors" were brought in to review the district attorney's review of the case, and they reached the same unanimous recommendation.
"Essentially the law says we have to determine whether it was reasonable for the officer to believe he needed to use deadly force," Murray said, concluding that Vinson held legitimate fears for his safety.
Murray said he met on Wednesday morning with Scott's widow to extend his condolences and "to go over in detail all the evidence in this case."
"As you can imagine, it was a difficult discussion. However, the family was extremely gracious," he said.
After Murray's announcement, Charles Monnett, an attorney for the Scott family, said they still questioned whether officers used effective de-escalation tactics.
"We still have concerns, and it's important for the family — the public to understand that this doesn't end our inquiry," Monnett said.
District Attorney Murray urged the community to "take a collective pause" and "read" and "digest" the report on the shooting before passing judgment.
"But the fact that criminal charges are not appropriate under the law in this particular case does not mean we can dismiss the concerns expressed by those who raised their voices to raise the consciousness of this community," Murray said of the September protests that followed Scott's death. "I think it's high time that all of us recognize that this is Charlotte and not everyone experiences the same Charlotte."
Donald Trump said in a series of tweets Wednesday morning that he would be leaving his company in order to focus on the presidency.
He announced that he would discuss the matter in a news conference alongside his children on Dec. 15.
Although he says, it is not mandated by law that he leave the company, he thinks it is "visually important" to not have any conflicts of interest with his businesses.
Although last week, in an interview with the New York Times he said that the "president can't have a conflict of interest."
"In theory, I could run my business perfectly and then run the country perfectly," he said.
However, he is saying Wednesday, that the presidency is a "far more important task" and he wants to "fully focus" on "making America great again."
“Lemme explain. I’m as American as any American. Go back centuries,” Wright said to a Trump supporter, who called for a Westworld boycott because of his views.
Jeffrey Wright got into a massive Twitter fight with a Trump supporter on Tuesday and people loved it. The whole thing started with an empowering, Feminist tweet that Wright had shared the day after Donald Trump's presidential win.
Then on Nov. 12, Twitter user Howlman, who describes himself as a retired police lieutenant that is blocked by Cher, responded by saying all Trump supporters should boycott Westworld, noting "Hollywood does not represent America."
Then on Tuesday, Wright responded. "Lemme explain. I'm as American as any American. Go back centuries." He added that Trump's recent Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin helped finance X-Men and Avatar.
Mnuchin, who led Donald Trump’s fundraising efforts during the presidential campaign, previously had a stint in Hollywood, producing movies such as Suicide Squad and Mad Max: Fury Road.
President-elect Trump and Romney, his former critic, met Tuesday night at a French restaurant in the Trump International Hotel & Tower.
President-elect Donald Trump and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney had dinner together Tuesday night amid reports that Romney was being considered as Trump's Secretary of State.
Drew Angerer / Getty Images
Romney had been a vocal critic of Trump during the 2016 campaign, and on Tuesday, people couldn't help notice he looked a little... uneasy.
In March, Romney called Trump a phony and a fraud. After dinner on Tuesday, he told reporters he was impressed with Trump's speech upon winning the presidency and the people he had chosen for his transition team and cabinet.
"He did something I tried to do and was unsuccessful in accomplishing," Romney said. "He won the general election."
Carrier Air Conditioning will not move 1,000 factory jobs from Indiana to Mexico, a reversal that came after company leaders met with the incoming Trump administration.
The decision was announced by the air conditioning company on Tuesday.
"We are pleased to have reached a deal with President-elect Trump &VP-elect Pence to keep close to 1,000 jobs in Indy. More details soon," it tweeted.
Donald Trump spoke often on the campaign trail about his plans to keep manufacturing jobs in the US. He named the Carrier move in particular as a failure of Democratic leadership.
On Nov. 24, Trump said he was working hard to keep Carrier in the US and was making progress. The company several hours later said it was in discussions with members of the Trump team.
"We look forward to working together," the company tweeted on Nov. 24. "Nothing to announce at this time."
As part of the deal to keep the factory in Indianapolis, Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence are expected to renew their commitment to overhauling the corporate tax code and easing regulations on industry, the New York Times reported.
A company announcement captured on video earlier this year revealed Carrier was moving 1,400 jobs from Indianapolis to Monterey, Mexico in 2017. The company said the move was necessary to stay competitive.
"I want to be clear this is strictly a business decision," a man told Carrier employees.
More than a week after Kanye West was hospitalized for reported exhaustion, a source close to the situation is refuting reports that the rapper's condition is worsening.
West continues to receive treatment at UCLA Medical Center after being admitted last week for sleep depravation, dehydration, and exhaustion. But contrary to published reports, West is not paranoid, hallucinating, or delusional, the source told BuzzFeed News on condition of anonymity since they aren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Kim Kardashian West, meanwhile, has been at his side around the clock.
"She has been amazing," the source said.
West was admitted to the hospital Nov. 21 after Los Angeles police officers responded to a disturbance call involving the rapper. That call came one day after he canceled the rest of his Saint Pablo Tour over the weekend following a number of bizarre statements.
An LAPD spokesman told BuzzFeed News officers responded to a call at 1:20 p.m. near West Hollywood at the home of his personal trainer Harley Pasternak “that became a medical emergency call.” The Los Angeles Fire Department would only say that paramedics transported a “medically stable” adult male from a residence to a hospital for assessment.
Two days after Nicole Farnham created a Facebook event for an anti-Trump protest in Pottstown, Pennsylvania on Saturday, Nov. 12, she was getting attacked by hundreds of commenters and threatened with lawsuits by a former boss. It was all thanks to one self-described troll.
The harassment came after Jonathan Lee Riches posted the 19-year-old Temple University student’s name, two photos, and former place of employment on two pro-Trump Facebook groups containing well over 500,000 members. “Expose the People who are hosting these Anti Donald Trump events,” his post read.
Two days after that, Riches’ post would have more than 60 shares and hundreds of comments. Commenters insulted Farnham’s appearance — calling her a “skank,” “scary,” and “nasty,” to name a few. They called her an “attention whore,” among other insults, like “cuck,” a favorite in the alt-right internet lexicon. One person called on others to “end” Farnham’s “career social life love life etc.”
“I was genuinely scared for my safety,” Farnham told BuzzFeed News after seeing the comments and other commenters searching for her whereabouts.
Then the harassment shifted to Farnham’s former workplace, the Schnitzel House. Riches, from another Facebook account with the name “Johnny Riches,” wrote on the restaurant’s Facebook page, “Your waitress Nicole Farnham plans to host a Anti Donald Trump Rally in Pottstown on 11/18/16.”
Commenters flooded the restaurant's page with apparently false stories. One claimed Farnham gave her bad service because the person wore a Donald Trump pin. Farnham hasn't worked at the restaurant for over a year — a fact her former boss pointed out to the commenter.
Her former boss wasn’t happy. In three voicemails to her that were reviewed by BuzzFeed News, Ed Anghelache, the restaurant’s owner, threatened to sue Farnham and her family.
“There will be repercussion for the actions you did,” he said, incorrectly assuming the reviews were coming from Farnham’s friends. “I hope you get a good lawyer, and your parents as well,” he said, adding that he hopes she doesn’t get expelled from school.
He ended by saying, “Call me when you get this message, or I will sue you and your parents for everything they have.”
Some background on Riches: He has served 10 years in federal prison for running a phishing scam. He has filed hundreds of frivolous lawsuits, harassed residents of a Connecticut town after a school shooting, and has costumed himself (poorly) as a Muslim and managed to get selfies with Hillary Clinton and her top aide, Huma Abedin. Since Trump was elected, he has been intimidating and encouraging harassment of people who organize anti-Trump rallies on pro-Trump Facebook pages and posting racist language on his own feeds.
Riches, who lives in Philadelphia and said he has no job because he comes from an affluent family, told BuzzFeed News in a Facebook message that he feels it’s his “Patriot duty” to call out anti-Trump protest organizers and thwart protests. Here’s his explanation in full:
I feel it's my Patriot duty to inform the public who exactly is hosting these Protests online through social media which then gathers a bunch of people protesting at those locations. As you see on my JLR page & my twitter that the people hosting these Protests come from all walks of life. From high school kids, to big wigs & Planned Parenthood, people who come from other countries. I also trolled/attended protests in Philadelphia that I documented & to see first hand how they work. I will continue to expose & identify who these people are as its my right & duty of mine to inform communities who these people are & give the community a heads up to protect themselves in case these civil disobedience street protests turn violent. I don't think these hard working Americans who have to be subjected to having to be clogged in traffic when these people March up streets & disrupt traffic without a permit. I thwarted some protests already by exposing the people who were creating them. I called schools to inform principals/administrations when I see a student creating a protest event to give them a heads up. I also expose anyone I see online who creates these petitions defying Trump. I feel Anti Trump people creating protests & petitions against him or any president elect are traitors to democracy & the public has a right to know who these people are. Alot of the people I exposed got removed from Facebook for violating fb community standards, which I don't get cause these people are already identifying themselves who they are hosting these Protests & why would fb coddle/protect these protester organizers knowing these Protests in the streets are illegal.
Riches spent time prison for fraud and conspiracy, part of a group that reportedly netted over $1.5 million in a phishing scam. In prison, Riches filed 3,000 handwritten frivolous lawsuits against seemingly everyone, in “virtually every district in the country,” according to a 2013 profile in the New Republic. He sued George W. Bush, Allen Iverson, and even himself. He once sued daylight saving time. He told BuzzFeed News it was an attempt to “fill time” while making “a mockery of the system.” The Smoking Gun, Gawker, the Huffington Post, and local news websites picked up on the absurdity of his lawsuits.
When Riches was released in April 2012, online video became his platform of choice. In December 2012, Riches was arrested for violating probation after he filmed himself driving to Newtown, Connecticut, shortly after 26 people, 20 of them children, were slaughtered in a school shooting. In a YouTube video, Riches talks to two dolls designed to look like the shooter, Adam Lanza, and his brother, Ryan. He taped himself driving close to the Lanza home. Later, at a memorial for the victims, Riches identified himself as Adam Lanza’s uncle, Jonathan Lanza, to reporters, telling the New York Daily News that the shooter was taking antipsychotic drugs. He was photographed kneeling in front of flowers and candles.
Hartford Courant / Getty Images
At the probation violation in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where he lived at the time, Assistant District Attorney Andrea Cardamone said the part of the video where he tried to call Ryan Lanza was a “violation of his probation for disseminating personal information on the Internet,” the Daily Local Newsreported. He served three years for leaving his judicial district, and prison records indicate he was released in May 2016. Riches and his lawyer during the hearing said he was mentally ill.
Riches told BuzzFeed News that the prosecutor’s reference to posting information online was likely about a time when he posted the private information of his probation officer.
As the presidential campaign went on, Riches — once described as a “rally junkie” — attended events for both Democrats and Republicans.
Selfies posted to Facebook show him posing with Hillary Clinton at one rally and with her aide, Huma Abedin, at another.
In both photos, Riches is wearing a Muslim prayer cap. In another photo on his page, Riches appears to be at a rally, holding a “Muslims for Hillary” sign.
In Farnham’s case, the owner of the restaurant got a barrage of comments about his business. He wrote in several posts that Farnham didn’t work there anymore, that he was “100% against her actions,” and that she was a “disgrace.”
Some of the trolls Riches unleashed relented. “The owner seems [like] a nice guy i removed mine also,” said one person who wrote a negative review of the restaurant.
“I’m not against what she does, any body is free to do whatever they want. But when someone attacks my restaurant without stepping a foot inside, I have to protect my business,” Anghelache told BuzzFeed News.
Anghelache said he received 600 negative reviews in half an hour when it all began. “I don't know when it's going to stop. I don't know what to do. I don't even know how to report it,” Anghelache said, adding that negative reviews keep coming in.
Farnham admits that some of her own friends, on their own volition, began giving the restaurant bad ratings after reading that the owner had called her a “disgrace.” Farnham talked with her former boss and her parents — who were upset with her and frightened about the threats of a lawsuit — smoothing things over slightly. She encouraged her friends to remove their negative ratings and apologized to the restaurant on Facebook.
Farnham went to Temple University Police on Nov. 14, and said an officer told her that the police could not do anything because the harassment was taking place online. The university police department told BuzzFeed News it would not reveal any information regarding students and harassment.
Three days later, Farnham went to the Philadelphia Police Department’s 22nd District and met with an officer who advised her not to go into work that weekend. Farnham’s former boss, Anghelache, in his earlier Facebook post, disclosed Farnham’s current workplace, resulting in pro-Trump supporters calling every location of the franchise in the area to “expose,” as Riches said, her.
She said the Philadelphia police officer reluctantly took a sparse report about the harassment, which BuzzFeed News reviewed and includes the phrase “harassment by communication,” an address for Farnham and report number. (BuzzFeed News requested the full report and police said it would take 15 days to receive a response by postal mail.)
As Farnham visited the police departments, the harassment continued. A video was posted to YouTube with a picture of her and a computerized voice urging: “Nicole Farnham is a traitor against the United States. Treason. This person lives in Pennsylvania. Please share and expose her.” It is unclear who made the video.
BuzzFeed News reached out to four other people who organized anti-Trump protests and were subsequently noticed by Riches. In each case, Riches posted the organizer’s name and date of the protest, along with two identifiable photos of the organizers on Facebook.
“It shocked me, but only in the sense that it happened so quickly. I didn't expect something like that to come out within a week of starting the protest, so that was surprising,” said Olivia Antezana, who is organizing an anti-Trump protest in Washington, DC, during the inauguration.
“I wasn't really offended either, just concerned. The OP and commenters didn't say anything that could affect me because I know who I am and I know what I stand for,” Antezana added.
Two others who were targeted by Riches told BuzzFeed News they weren’t previously aware of his posts but found them extremely disturbing.
Kaitlyn Hodge, who organized an anti-Trump rally in Costa Mesa, California, believes that enhancing security features on her Facebook page before the protest saved her from online harassment.
“I had a weird feeling on Tuesday and made all of my information private. I'm not sure if that's why I didn't get harassed,” Hodge said. Days later, after trying to report Riches’ post to Facebook, Hodge said, “I am honestly outraged that FB refuses to take down the posts. I have tried multiple times and there's no way to reach them.”
Photos and Facebook Live videos on Riches’ Facebook page on Nov. 12–14 show him attending many anti-Trump rallies in Philadelphia after the election.
“We have a right to counter-protest protests,” Riches said. When asked if he would have embarked on the same crusade if Clinton won and pro-Trump people were organizing protests, he said he would have absolutely at the very least identified them.
While Facebook has recently announced plans to address the issue of fake news on the social media site, it is unclear what actions, if any, Facebook will take on self-professed members of the alt-right community, like those who appear to be engaged in Riches’ hunt for anti-Trump protesters.
A spokesperson from Facebook confirmed that Riches’ posts do not violate the “Bullying and Harassment” and “Direct Threats” policies outlined in Facebook’s “Community Standards,” since Riches’ posts did not contain a threat of physical harm and did not disclose personal information that was not already public.
Riches’ posts have increasingly became pro-Trump. He himself said his support for the president-elect is genuine. At times his Facebook posts contained racist rhetoric. “It will be Bigger than Berlin’s wall & bigger than a n*&ger’s Cawk,” he wrote on a Nov. 9 post.
In another post, he said, “I hope Donald Trump doesn’t deport my illegal Mexican ex who lives at …,” with the remainder of the post containing an address.
Riches said he wants “to kind of get back at these people and ... expose people that are against the system,” using Black Lives Matter protesters and anti-police protesters as examples.
Riches told BuzzFeed News he has no remorse and considers his actions no different than the media that covers protests, but with his own twist — publicly singling out the organizers. “I want them to be accountable for what they do,” Riches said.
“Basically I’m just a source of information. If anyone chooses to do whatever they want what that information that I provide, then so be it. I’m not going to have any remorse,” Riches said of the fallout from his posts.
“If you don't like this country, get out, behave. These are the rules, these are the laws. I had to follow them and I didn’t, and I had to pay the consequences,” Riches added.
Nicole Farnham
Farnham decided to continue with Friday’s protest in Pottstown. “It went very well actually,” Farnham said. “We had about 40 people show up, a lot more than I ever expected, and the only people who bothered us was a lifted truck with a giant Confederate flag hung on the back, and they just laid down their horn at us.”
As for Riches, it is unclear from a legal standpoint, in addition to any probation regulations, what his exposing of anti-Trump protesters entails. Riches believes that his posts do not constitute harassment since he is posting publicly available information and is not interacting with the organizers by calling them on the phone or posting to their Facebook page. The District Attorney’s Office in Chester County, Pennsylvania, declined to comment.
Farnham she said she will continue to protest Trump and that the experience “showed me that standing up for what I believe in won't always be easy, but I know I will be able to do it in the future, and I won't let anyone stop me.”
More than 2,000 people have signed a petition calling for the University of North Carolina Wilmington to fire professor Mike Adams while the university says his opinions are protected by the First Amendment.
More than 2,000 people have supported a petition calling for the University of North Carolina Wilmington to terminate professor Mike Adams for his "history of spewing misogynistic, xenophobic, transphobic, homophobic, racist rhetoric," and for publicly mocking a Muslim student's sexual orientation and religion on his blog.
The petition said, in part, about the criminology and sociology professor: "Adams has disrespected the university's promise to provide a safe environment for all individual student[s], and instead has mocked and ridiculed not only individuals, but entire groups. These actions are not acceptable, and no university should make a student feel unsafe."
Adams sparked outrage when he targeted Nada Merghani, a Sudanese refugee and LGBT student-activist at UNCW, in a September article titled "A 'Queer Muslim' Jihad" in which he said "her claims to be a 'queer Muslim' are probably part of an act designed to fit into as many victim categories." The university said Adams' opinions were protected by the First Amendment.
Adams' piece on Merghani was published in response to an incident in August in which Secret Service agents questioned her about her Facebook post regarding Donald Trump's visit to the campus.
In the post, Merghani, who is the founder of the Muslim Student Association at UNCW, said, "Expect to see me at the Trump rally on Tuesday. Y’all are not prepared for what I’m about to do." It ended with, “All I can say is pray I make it out of this alive.”
While the agents were satisfied that Merghani did not pose any threat, Adams wrote, "That sounds like a suicide mission for those who have never met Merghani."
He also described Merghani as "the most frightening type of student imaginable ... A self-described 'queer Muslim social justice warrior.'"
In a Tumblr post responding to Adams' piece, Merghani detailed allegations of troubling online interactions with the "tenured professor."
Merghani told BuzzFeed News in late November that she was leaving UNCW because Adams' behavior took a "toll on me emotionally and severely affected my academic journey."
Merghani said that since she was from a country where being gay is punishable by death, she was very careful about the platforms she chose to identify herself as a queer Muslim woman and often changed her last name to protect her identity. "People were shocked that [Adams] outed me and used my full name in his article," Merghani said.
Adams called Merghani's notion that he "outed" her "comical" and said she "outed herself."
In an email to BuzzFeed News on Tuesday, Nov. 29, Adams said, "The notion that I somehow 'outed' her in my column is comical. She is the founder of the Muslim Student Association and President of a gay pride group. She 'outed' herself when she consented to an interview with the College Fix. Furthermore, her accusations against me of instigating threats have now been investigated and proven false."
In a statement to BuzzFeed News on Nov. 29 a UNCW spokesperson said, "We are deeply disappointed by the use of hateful, hurtful language to degrade a fellow human being, even when that language is legally protected speech. However, we have fully investigated this matter and believe we have done all we are able to do to support the student involved, given that the comments were not made in a UNCW living, learning or working environment or otherwise affiliated with the faculty member’s role at UNCW."
In an earlier statement following a review of the incident, the university had said that Adams' opinions were protected by the First Amendment.
"Dr. Adams’s online column and social media presence represent his personal expressions and opinions on a variety of topics," the statement said. "These expressions and opinions are neither within the requested scope of Dr. Adams’s duties with the university, nor do they represent the views of this institution. However, they are expressions protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution."
The university also said it had not found evidence that Adams had "improperly released any private or confidential information to the student, or violated the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)" and that there was no evidence of "unlawful discrimination" by him toward Merghani per the school's harassment policy.
"Finally, Dr. Adams’s conduct and written material do not contain any evidence of a true threat toward this or any other student," the statement said.
Merghani said that while she supported the petition to get Adams fired, she was focused on holding the UNCW administration accountable for "allowing this to happen" and for "protecting" him.
"If Mike Adams wasn’t given a platform, if he didn’t have access to young impressionable minds, he would be another angry internet troll."
Adams' post on Merghani, along with other posts and tweets — in which he called the Black Lives Matter movement a "terrorist organization," compared the acceptance of LGBT individuals to rape, referred to gay people as "fags," and tweeted about killing Muslims "who criticize Danish cartoons" — has triggered a fierce free-speech debate on campus and is gaining national attention.
Adams, who describes himself as a free-speech advocate and has worked at UNCW since 1993, sued the university in 2006, alleging that it denied him a promotion to full professor "because his nationally syndicated opinion columns espoused religious and political views that ran contrary to the opinions held by university officials." He alleged that the university had violated his First Amendment right to free speech.
After a seven-year legal battle, UNCW settled the case with Adams, promoting him to full professor and agreeing to $50,000 in back pay.
In an email sent to students, staff, and faculty on Nov. 23, and provided to BuzzFeed News, the UNCW Faculty Senate said, "Public remarks by professors about a student’s race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, age, disability, political affiliation, or sexual orientation are inconsistent with our values."
The UNCW Creative Writing Department said in a Nov. 21 statement provided to BuzzFeed News that they were "appalled" by Adams' actions and called for the university to "quickly" address the situation.
The statement, which was sent to the Faculty Senate, the provost, and the dean of the UNCW College of Arts and Sciences, said, "As writers, we believe in free speech. We are appalled that a fellow teacher would abuse that freedom to publicly ridicule, harass, and humiliate a student. The university, given its stated dedication to cultivating a respectful and inclusive community, must act quickly to address this situation and to prevent further harm."
Adams addressed the Faculty Senate's letter in his column on conservative news and opinion site Town Hall on Wednesday, saying he was "disappointed" with their statement, which he called "problematic for a number of reasons. He said the statement "encouraged defamation," "was overly broad," and was a "rebuke made in response to conservative speech."
"Obviously, political bias and viewpoint discrimination are among your cherished faculty values," Adams said in his post.
The UNCW Student Government Association also issued a statement "unequivocally" condemning Adams' article "bullying" Merghani.
"We are appalled and disgusted by the recent article posted by Mike Adams," the SGA said in its statement on Nov. 16. "While we don't understand the need for a highly educated adult to devote his time to bullying a young college student, we do understand the dark reality that this student has faced in light of the unrelenting statements over their time here. We are especially saddened to have learned that this student will be transferring away from the university out of concerns for her safety."
A person with inside knowledge of law enforcement’s investigation into dark-web drug bazaar Silk Road sold information to the site’s mastermind, according to lawyers for Ross Ulbricht, the man convicted over the site and sentenced to life in prison.
Attorneys for Ulbricht, who was convicted last year of seven drug crimes, said Tuesday that a user named 'notwonderful' communicated with the Silk Road boss’s Dread Pirate Roberts account on the site's forum in the summer of 2013.
According to the defense attorneys, notwonderful asked DPR to pay him or her an $8,000 down payment, with subsequent payments of $500 per month, in exchange for information on the authorities' investigation into Silk Road.
After DPR was said to have agreed, notwonderful allegedly set up an account on the Silk Road marketplace under the name albertpacino in order to receive the payments in bitcoins.
Ulbricht’s attorneys believe that between $10,000 and $11,000 was paid by DPR to the albertpacino account. The last payment was made in September 2013 just weeks before Ulbricht’s arrest inside a California library, where his laptop was still logged-in to the DPR account.
Ulbricht’s lawyers said that the information “kept DPR one step ahead” of the investigation.
Ulbricht’s lead attorney, Joshua Dratel, said that his team found the communications between notwonderful and DPR while examining an administrator version of the forum they just discovered this past summer during their persistent review of the massive amount of digital data — an estimated five to six terabytes — from the Silk Road.
However, in a puzzling twist, Dratel said that the communications were missing from previous versions of the forum that were turned over to the defense during the course of the case by the government. In fact, all forum data from July and August 2013 is missing from those government versions, Dratel said.
“Why was it wiped? Because somebody didn’t want it to be found,” Dratel said.
Silk Road
According to Ulbricht’s attorneys, notwonderful told DPR that they were working as a law enforcement analyst and had access to the same intel as field agents. The notwonderful user allegedly told DPR that he was “in it for the money” and thought the Silk Road was “interesting” and “in a fantasy world I might be doing this myself.”
Ulbricht’s attorneys said that they reviewed the investigation information that notwonderful provided to DPR and that the timing and substance of communications align with information that agents testified to during the case, further leading them to believe that the person operating notwonderful was a corrupt law enforcement agent.
However, Dratel said that they had reason to believe notwonderful is not one of the two former law enforcement agents who were convicted of corruption related to their investigation into Silk Road, DEA agent Carl Mark Force and Treasury Department special agent Shaun Bridges.
Force and Bridge were caught extorting hundreds of thousands of dollar in bitcoin from site admins that they transferred to personal accounts.
Dratel said that during the investigations of Force and Bridges all of their electronic devices were seized and investigated by the government, and neither albertpacino or notwonderful came up. If one of the corrupt agents had operated under these aliases, Dratel said, “We would have seen it in hundreds of pages."
However, the albertpacino handle was referenced in the Force case at least one time during the investigation, according to a recently unsealed 2014 letter in which Department of Justice officials discussed their probe of agency corruption:
Department of Justice
However, the albertpacino handle was never officially mentioned again in the case.
“This is someone else,” Dratel maintained.
Ulbricht’s team said that they sent a letter requesting additional discovery to prosecutors handling the case against the corrupt agents in the District of Maryland. They hope to gain more information about notwonderful and albertpacino and determine why exactly the forum communications were wiped from versions of the site that the government turned over to the defense.
“If they have investigated, we should be apprised of the results,” Dratel said. “If they haven’t, the government is derelict.”
Ulbricht is currently appealing his life sentence in the Second Circuit. At the appeal arguments in October, the judges indicated some apprehension, calling the life sentence for Ulbricht “unusual” and “quite a leap” given his lack of a criminal history.
The judges also asked whether allowing the impact statements of families whose loved ones died after buying drugs from the Silk Road and overdosing created “enormous emotional overload” at sentencing.
During his argument at the appeal, Dratel told the panel of judges that corrupt agents had administrative privileges and hijacked user accounts. “They were inside the guts of the website,” Dratel said.
Ulbricht’s attorneys said that this new evidence would not have direct immediate impact on the appeal. However, Dratel said that this new information “amplifies our defense that the investigation lacked integrity.”
They also said they would not ask the Second Circuit to put the appeal aside while they continue to investigate. However, they said they were not ruling out using this new information about notwonderful selling information to DPR as the subject of a new trial motion at some point.
The husband of a California mom who went missing for three weeks said when she was found on Thanksgiving Day she was starved to 87 pounds, bruised, and branded.
Sherri Papini's disappearance while jogging near her home in Redding, California, on Nov. 2 caught national headlines.
On Thursday, authorities said her captors left her on the side of a road 150 miles from her home, chained and injured.
The identity of her kidnappers — described only as two Hispanic women armed with a handgun — is unknown, as is why the 34-year-old "super mom" was taken.
Papini managed to flag down a driver early Thursday, who then called police.
When officers arrived, they called her husband, Keith Papini, who then met them and his wife at a hospital.
"The officers warned me to brace myself," he said in a statement to Good Morning America. "My first sight was my wife in a hospital bed, her face covered in bruises ranging from yellow to black because of repeated beatings, the bridge of her nose broken.
"Her now emaciated body of 87 pounds was covered in multicolored bruises, severe burns, red rashes and chain markings. Her signature long blond hair had been chopped off. She has been branded, and I could feel the rise of her scabs under my fingers," he said.
Shasta County Sheriff's Office
The Shasta County Sheriff's Office, which is leading the investigation, has said they have no reason to doubt the Papinis' statements.
Keith Papini told GMA he was grateful for how news of his wife's disappearance had spread on social media, but he was also disheartened by public reaction.
"Rumors, assumptions, lies, and hate have been both exhausting and disgusting," he said "Those people should be ashamed of their malicious, subhuman behavior. We are not going to allow those people to take away our spirit, love, or rejoice in our girl found alive and home where she belongs."
Neither of the couple has appeared on camera since Thursday. Keith Papini said the family has always been private, and he asked the public to understand they need time to heal emotionally, and for Sherri to recover physically.
"My Sherri suffered tremendously, and all the visions swirling in your heads of her appearance, I assure you, are not as graphic and gruesome as the reality," he said. "This will be along road of healing for everyone. Ultimately, it was Sherri's will to survive that brought her home."
“With her fast-wagging tail seeing her owners, Zuzu lit up like a Christmas tree.”
Zuzu is a 2-year-old German shepherd currently living at the Downey Animal Care Center in California. She is described by volunteers as "beautiful and loving" and "amazing."
Downey Animal Care Center
However, Zuzu's road to the shelter wasn't a happy one. Zuzu had been living in a home with her biological father, but he died, according to a shelter volunteer named Desi.
Downey Animal Care Center
Desi told BuzzFeed News she has been volunteering at the shelter for about seven years.
She wrote on Facebook that Zuzu's former owners told her the dog had become depressed and was "crying" after her father had passed away.
Zuzu eventually jumped her fence into the neighbor's yard, where the unhappy neighbors found her and called animal control.
The shelter assumed Zuzu was a stray, and volunteers were easing her into the facility when Desi noticed the dog freaking out with happiness. Her owners had arrived at the shelter, and Zuzu "lit up like a Christmas tree."
Former North Charleston Officer Michael Slager testified in court Tuesday that he was "in total fear" before shooting Walter Scott, an unarmed black man in the back in 2015.
Slager was charged with murder and manslaughter in the death of Scott, who he shot after a traffic stop related to a burned-out brake light in April 2015. Video captured at the scene shows Slager shooting Scott in the back as he ran away.
On the witness stand the former police officer detailed the traffic stop that would later lead to the fatal shooting, stating that after stopping the vehicle, he was going to write a warning ticket when Scott fled from his car.
"In my mind at that time was, people don't run for a broken taillight. There's always another reason," he testified. "I don't know why he ran. It doesn't make any sense to me."
Slager said he ran after Scott, yelling that he had his Taser out, which he then fired three times.
Once Scott fell to the ground after being hit by the stun gun, Slager said Scott grabbed for his Taser and took control of it.
"I saw that Taser coming at me and I knew I was in trouble," he said, adding that he felt in total fear. "I knew I was overpowered."
Feidin Santana / AP
Scott, who began running again, was 18 feet away from Slager when the former officer fired the first shot with his firearm. Deputy Solicitor Bruce DuRant asked Slager whether Scott was a real threat to him from that distance.
Slager went on to say that Scott came after him with the taser. That's when he decided to use his firearm.
"He never stopped," Slager said of Scott. "He was still dangerous. I fired until the threat was stopped like I am trained to do."
In the now-infamous video of the incident, Slager is seen picking up something — which prosecutors have identified as his Taser — and dropping it next to Scott's body.
Slager testified he did that because officers are trained to account for their weapons, and denied he was planting evidence.
Slager faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted.
Darren Sharper appears in court in Los Angeles in 2014.
Wally Skalij / AP
Former NFL star Darren Sharper was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison for drugging and raping two women in Los Angeles, bringing prosecutions that spanned four states to an end.
Sharper, 41, has pleaded guilty or no contest to drugging and raping nine women in total. He also pleaded guilty to four counts of furnishing a controlled substance.
The first case was filed in Los Angeles, after which the other women came forward, sparking prosecutions in Nevada, Arizona, and Louisiana.
One of them addressed the court on Tuesday, saying the night she was assaulted "will forever be remembered as the worst night of my life."
Darren Sharper with his attorneys in 2015.
Nick Ut / AP
"I lost every bit of self confidence and I am always in fear, when it is day or night," she said through tears. "The only thing good about this situation is that this disgusting low-life human and will go to prison."
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge E. Pastor said Sharper can serve his time concurrent to his sentences in Nevada and Louisiana, where earlier this year he was given an 18-year prison term that he's appealing. Sharper must also submit to HIV testing, the results of which will be disclosed to two victims.
Upon his release, the judge ordered Sharper be placed on parole for five years and register as a sex offender for life. He must also pay restitution in varying amounts to the victims.
Sharper, who has been in jail since January 2014, retired from the NFL in 2011 after a 14-year career with the Green Bay Packers, the Minnesota Vikings, and the Saints, where he won a Super Bowl.
Gerald Herbert / AP
He was working as an NFL network analyst when his victims began reporting that they had blacked out while drinking with him, then awoke to discover they had been sexually assaulted.
Prosecutors say Sharper continued to drug and rape women even after the first case was filed, slipping sedatives into their drinks.
After his arrest, Sharper vigorously defended himself in court, but by March 2015, he gave up and agreed to plead guilty and no contest to the drugging and rape charges dating back to 2013.
During his sentencing in New Orleans, he told the federal court that he "would like to apologize a thousand times" for his actions and was "still trying to figure out why I made some of these choices."
As news was breaking Monday that a judge granted avowed white supremacist Dylann Roof’s request to represent himself in his federal death penalty trial over the fatal shooting of nine people inside the Charleston Emanuel AME church, concerned followers of the case spoke out on social media wondering if Roof was promoting himself to lead counsel in order to have a better chance at appealing the verdict.
On Monday, people on Twitter wondered if Roof decided to represent himself so he can appeal the case.
Twitter
However, legal experts and experienced death penalty attorneys tell BuzzFeed News that Roof's decision to represent himself will actually hurt his ability to appeal.
“Depending on how it plays out. It’s really going to harm his appeal,” attorney Rick Kammen told BuzzFeed News. “It’s a horrible thing. You couldn’t imagine a less productive way of going ahead. The prospect of disaster looms really large.”
Kammen, who has acted as lead counsel in approximately 35 federal capital cases, points out that Roof is “not likely to know how to preserve the record” during the trial by making objections and motions in order to have issues to raise at an appeal.
“I always say it’s the objections you don’t make, it’s the motion you don’t make, that leads to the client being executed,” Kammen said.
Charleston-based attorney Chris Adams, who has defended 75 capital cases without a death verdict, agrees that Roof will be “held to the same standard as lawyers are.”
“Assuming the judge’s finding is on solid ground. He just shot his appeal in the foot,” Adams said.
Roof’s request to represent himself was granted by Judge Richard Gergel just before the start of the individual questioning phase of jury selection. Gergel told Roof he was granting his motion to act as his own counsel but thought it was “unwise.”
Georgetown law professor and experienced death penalty attorney Abbe L. Smith said that Gergel’s statements warning Roof will factor into his ability to appeal.
“It’s difficult to appeal when there’s a full colloquy on the record about how important counsel is,” Smith said. “The judge admonished him about this.”
That decision to allow Roof to represent himself relegated Roof’s attorney David Bruck, one of the most respected and sought after death penalty defense lawyers in the country, to stand-by counsel.
Harlem, New York-based attorney Anthony Ricco, who represented the bombers of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya in 1998 in a death penalty trial where the four men charged all received life sentences, called the scenario of Roof representing himself a “nightmare” and the “epitome of mental illness.”
“The idea that you have a 22-year-old who is represented by one of the most premiere death penalty lawyers in the world, and that individual says, ‘well, I think I’ll do better by myself.’ Normal people don’t do this.” Ricco said.
Smith says that the judge could take a more nuanced approach that allows Bruck to guide Roof in order to do the necessary things at trial to give him a chance to later appeal.
“I’ve been stand by counsel. I struck a deal with the judge,” Smith said, referring to a case involving Alfonso “Mo Africa” Robbins, a member of Philadelphia-based black liberation group MOVE, in a case where he was charged with multiple counts of felony assault against police.
“I did all the pre-trial motions, and I picked the jury along with my client. I made all the evidentiary objections. That satisfied my client who wanted to speak on his behalf. I thought that judge handled it in a more nuanced way than the Roof judge is handling it,” Smith said.
Gergel indicated Monday during jury questioning that he may limit Bruck’s role in the case and not allow him to speak on behalf of his client.
At one point, Bruck tried to register an objection to the judge striking a juror who hesitated when asked if she could impose the death penalty. Prosecutor Jay Richardson responded by “vigorously objecting” to Bruck’s attempt to object on Roof’s behalf.
“We can’t function this way,” Gergel responded.
“Mr. Bruck, sit down. Mr. Roof, stand up,” Gergel added. The judge then reminded the defense that Roof had decided to represent himself and any objections to jurors being qualified or struck from the jury needed to come during their questioning from Roof and not “after the fact.”
“He got shot down. The judge essentially said you’re now the world’s most talented paralegal. You can pass him notes all day long but you’re not going to speak during the trial. He’s been relegated to a role of note passer,” Adams said.
“I’d be delighted to have David Bruck represent me. I’d be smart enough not to fire him,” he added.
Individual questioning of prospective jurors continues Tuesday in Roof’s trial in Charleston. On Monday, seven jurors — 6 women, one man — were “qualified” to move onto the next round of jury selection. After the court has selected 70 people to move on, Roof and the prosecutors will select 12 jurors and six alternates to hear the case.
According to a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, 90% educators say the school climate has been “negatively affected” after Donald Trump won the election.
As part of the report, teachers described hate incidents that occurred in their schools post-election.
Human rights leaders and education activists called on Trump to reconsider his recent cabinet appointments including those of Stephen Bannon, Gen. Mike Flynn, and Sen. Jeff Sessions.
These appointments, said Brenda Abdelall of Muslim Advocates, "indicate that bigoted and divisive rhetoric that we saw in the campaign will continue as matter of policy and practice."
“Mr. Trump claims he’s surprised his election has unleashed a barrage of hate across the country,” SPLC President Richard Cohen said at the conference. “But he shouldn’t be. It’s the predictable result of the campaign he waged. Rather than feign surprise, Mr. Trump should take responsibility for what’s occurring, forcefully reject hate and bigotry, reach out to the communities he’s injured, and follow his words with actions to heal the wounds his words have opened.”
The report said that the biggest fear of Trump came from immigrants, with nearly 1,000 teachers naming “deportation” or family separation as a major concern among students.
An early childhood teacher in Tennessee, cited in the report, said that despite her students coming from middle-class, educated families and diverse cultures, one Muslim girl clung to her kindergarten teacher on Nov. 9 and asked, "Are they going to do anything to me? Am I safe?"
A middle school counselor in Florida said that "students were suicidal and without hope" as "fights, disrespect have increased."
A middle school teacher in Pennsylvania said that many of Hispanic and Muslim students were "crying and so scared the day after Trump won."
"My Muslim students wondered why America didn’t like them. It’s been tough and emotionally exhausting," the teacher said.
Videos of the Brazilian soccer team and of journalist Deva Pascovicci are being shared as a way to celebrate the memory of the victims of the tragic plane crash in Colombia.
One video shows goalkeeper Danilo tearing up while listening to the commentator narrate their classification to the final.
"I'm emotional, even more after hearing Deva's narration, that for me it is one of the best sports commentators in Brazil. I appreciate the support that he's giving me," said Danilo to the Fox Sports reporter.
Hundreds of fans gathered at Arena Condá in Chapecó to mourn the loss of members of the Chapecoense soccer team who died in a plane crash as the team was traveling to Medellín, Colombia.
Paulo Whitaker / Reuters
The team has had a meteoric ascent - going from league D to league A in just a few years - and has a very strong bond with the locals.
Paulo Whitaker / Reuters
Fans left flowers and messages at the team's stadium, Arena Condá, in honor of their idols who passed away in the crash.
Paulo Whitaker / Reuters
According to news agencies, the climate in the city is of disbelief and sadness.
Paulo Whitaker / Reuters
Social media posts appealed to fans of other teams asking them to support Chapecoense by buying their jerseys or signing up to be a member of the team in solidarity.
Paulo Whitaker / Reuters
The last match Chapecoense played in Arena Condá was against San Lorenzo, from Argentina, for the semifinal of Copa Sulamericana last Wednesday Nov. 23.
