Wounds fatal for
Mississippi killer
CLINTON, Miss. -- A man who shot and killed four people he held hostage in a Mississippi home has died from gunshot wounds he suffered in the 12-hour standoff, authorities said Sunday.
Two small children were released unharmed from the home in Clinton several hours after the standoff started, police said.
Police used a battering ram to force their way into the house and found four people dead and the suspect wounded, authorities said.
Nam Le died from his wounds at a hospital, said Hinds County Coroner Sharon Gresham Stewart. The coroner hasn't released the names of the four people killed inside Le's home or any relationship they had with him.
The standoff started about 2:30 a.m. Saturday when officers checking on a domestic call were fired on. The suspect went back inside the home and refused to come out, authorities said.
Officers fired shots during the standoff, but a statement from Mississippi Public Safety Department spokesman Capt. John Poulos did not say if Le shot himself or was wounded by officers.
Authorities have not given any further details about the call that preceded the standoff.
The house is in a large subdivision in Clinton that backs up to the Natchez Trace Parkway about 10 miles west of Jackson.
Detainees refuse
meals in protest
BOSTON -- Dozens of people detained by federal immigration officials are on a partial hunger strike at a Boston jail.
Rhode Island-based community groups Alliance to Mobilize Our Resistance and the FANG Collective say they've been in contact with about 70 detainees at the Suffolk County House of Correction who are participating in a hunger strike that began Friday.
The organizations say the men are protesting abuse by jail officials and "inhumane conditions" such as bad food and broken bathroom fixtures. They also challenge the jail's authority to detain people on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The organizations say the detainees sent jail officials a list of their grievances Feb. 10. A jail spokesman confirmed the detainees are refusing set meals, but are still eating their canteen food and drinking fluids.
2nd man charged
in officer's death
NEW YORK -- A second man was charged Sunday in connection with the death of a New York City police detective who died last week after he was hit by "friendly fire" from officers responding to a robbery in Queens.
The man, Jagger Freeman of Queens, was charged with second-degree murder, robbery, assault and criminal possession of a weapon, according to a spokesman for the Queens district attorney's office.
He was arraigned on the charges Sunday morning in Queens.
Freeman, 25, is facing many of the same charges as the man who was shot while in the store, Christopher Ransom, during what was initially reported to police as an armed robbery in progress. Police have said Ransom, 27, used a realistic-looking toy gun to hold up the cellphone store Tuesday evening, and made motions to make it look as if he was firing the weapon. Officers responding to the scene fired 42 times in 11 seconds, striking Ransom eight times.
Two officers were also struck during the fusillade. Detective Brian Simonsen, 42, a 19-year veteran of the department, was struck in the chest and killed. His boss, Sgt. Matthew Gorman was struck in the leg. Gorman has been treated for his wounds and released, police said.
Police have not specified what role they believe Freeman played in the episode, which happened on Atlantic Avenue in the Richmond Hill neighborhood.
"He was acting in concert with an apprehended individual during the commission of a robbery which caused the death of a member of the service," said Sgt. Brendan Ryan, a spokesman for the Police Department.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
A Section on 02/18/2019