Carol Gray holds picture of son Kimani (credit: Al Jones/1010 WINS)
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Brooklyn, Carol Gray, John Montone, Kathryn Brown, Kimani Gray, NYPD, Paul Murnane, protests, Rev. Gilford Monrose, shooting
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – The mother of a Brooklyn teen who was shot and killed by police spoke out Thursday after dozens of people protesting the boy’s death were arrested overnight in a clash with police.

Speaking from the office of City Councilman Charles Barron, Carol Gray, the mother of 16-year-old Kimani Gray, said her son was slaughtered and she wants to know why.

Gray told reporters her son was killed in front of his best friend’s house after a birthday party. She also said she does not condone violence and only wants justice for her son.

Officers in riot gear arrested 46 people during a candlelight vigil Wednesday night, the third straight day of protests against Gray’s death. Most were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct, police said.

Two officers were also injured. One was treated for a gash in his face after police said a brick was thrown at him.

Wednesday’s protest came after autopsy results showed Gray was shot seven times in his shoulders, arms and legs with wounds to the front and back of his body.

He was shot by two plainclothes cops Saturday night after police said he pulled a .38 caliber gun on the officers.

Police arrest a man during a vigil for Kimani Grey which turned raucous on March 13, 2013. (credit: CBS 2)
Police said the officers from the Brooklyn South Anti-Crime Patrol were walking East Flatbush when they came upon a group of young men standing in front of a home on East 52nd Street.

When the officers approached and started to talk to the group, Gray began acting suspiciously and ran from the officers, police said.

Police said at one point, Gray grabbed for something in his waistband. Gray then pulled out a gun and pointed it at the officers, according to police.

When the plainclothes officers saw the gun, they both fired. Gray was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital a short time later, police said.

A gun was recovered at the scene, but Gray’s family maintains the teen wasn’t armed.

“After he got the first shot on the ground, he was like please don’t kill me, don’t let me die and then I heard the police went over and started shooting,” said Gray’s cousin, who did not give his name.

Police arrest a man during a vigil for Kimani Grey which turned raucous on March 13, 2013. (credit: CBS 2)
People in the community have said Gray’s death highlights a larger problem of police brutality.

“The cops need to respect the people and the neighborhood and maybe the people wouldn’t be so angry,” said Flatbush resident Aaron Viera. “The community is angry and the community is voicing their opinion right now and the cops need to understand they just can’t react any way they want to with a gun.”

On Thursday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it’s sad for the family and that he understands the anger in the East Flatbush community, but said he won’t tolerate violent outbreaks in the community, 1010 WINS’ Stan Brooks reported.

“You can rest assured we will take adequate precautions to protect the public and I am not at liberty to discuss what those will be — they’ll be different every day,” Bloomberg said. “Some you’ll see, some you won’t. That’s what we do all the time. We have the best trained police department in the country.”

Bloomberg said he has not gone to the shooting scene because he does not want to inflame the situation, Brooks reported. The mayor also said he believes it is too soon to visit the teen’s family.

Bloomberg said he promises a thorough investigation, and that all indications are that Kimani “Kiki” Gray had a gun.

A weapon recovered after the shooting was originally purchased in Florida, Bloomberg added.

Carol Gray said she doesn’t believe her son pointed a gun at police. She sobbed as she discussed choosing the color of her son’s casket.

On Monday, a mob broke away from a candlelight vigil and stormed a produce stand, trashing registers and throwing bottles at the cashier, police said.

They then ransacked a Rite Aid and attacked a customer, police said.

Gray’s parents have condemned the recent protests, saying the violence “clouded their message,” a family spokesman said.

“It’s a tough time for the community,” said the spokesman, Rev. Gilford Monrose. “But the family and myself do not condone the violence.”

The 6-month-old infant girl shot five times on Chicago’s South Side Monday died in the hospital Tuesday morning.

Jonylah Watkins was rushed to Comer Children’s Hospital Monday afternoon in serious-to-critical condition after being shot in the 6500 block of South Maryland Avenue in the city’s Woodlawn neighborhood around 12:48 p.m. Her father, Jonathan Watkins, had been changing her diaper in the front passenger seat of a Chevy Venture minivan when a gunman approached them and opened fire. He fled in a waiting van.

Jonylah had sustained wounds in her lung, liver, leg, shoulder and bowel or intestine, according to DNAinfo Chicago, and had undergone at least five hours of surgery.

(Read a Wednesday update on the search for Jonylah’s killer.)

“This morning, the baby passed away,” the Rev. Corey Brooks, who is acting as a spokesman for the family, told the Chicago Tribune. “We have another tragedy in the city of Chicago.”

“The city of Chicago should be outraged that in our city a 6-month-old baby could be shot and killed,” Brooks added Tuesday, according to DNAinfo.

Brooks told the Tribune his Woodlawn-based New Beginnings Church would offer up to a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Jonylah’s killer. Another community group also agreed to chip in $1,000, bringing the total reward to $6,000.

Jonylah’s father was also wounded in the shooting — being struck in the side and buttocks, plus a graze wound to his cheek — and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in serious-to-critical condition. According to NBC Chicago, he remains in critical condition as of Tuesday morning.

Jonathan Watkins told the Chicago Sun-Times Tuesday that he has no idea who opened fire on him and his child, but sources told the paper that the shooting was possibly prompted by an angry Facebook post.

Police say the father has known gang affiliations, a claim Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy took up in a Tuesday press conference, according to the Associated Press:

He said police weren’t sure yet whether Watkins will decide to cooperate in the investigation. … “No child, certainly not an infant, should be a victim of gang violence,” McCarthy said. … “He was obviously targeted,” McCarthy said of Jonathan Watkins. Police were trying to determine whether a reported Facebook post threatening Watkins actually exists, McCarthy said.
Jonylah’s mother, Judy Watkins, was previously shot while carrying the child. She was working at McDonald’s at the time of the Monday shooting, according to the Tribune. Judy and Jonathan had recently gotten married.

On Tuesday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel called Jonylah’s murder “senseless” and “despicable,” according to DNAinfo.

A relative of Jonylah’s, Dominique Young, told ABC Chicago that gun violence has been commonplace in the neighborhood, saying, “There is always someone getting shot in this neighborhood. We are close together, and we know them. There are killings all the time.”

No one is in custody in the shooting as of Tuesday afternoon and police are investigating.

Gun violence in Chicago has earned the city national media attention, even as its homicide rate in February plummeted to a 56-year-low. Previously, in January, 40 homicides were reported by police.

Prior to the shooting on Monday, Superintendent McCarthy touted that shootings in Chicago so far this year are down 19 percent compared to last year, according to NBC. Homicides, McCarthy said in a press conference, are also down by 26 percent compared to 2012.

Jonylah’s slaying reportedly inspired a surge of submissions to the “500 Project,” a social media campaign launched by Chicagoan Bryant Cross. The campaign aims to make a message of anti-violence more visible.

Teen’s shooting pits Brooklyn neighborhood against cops
By Ashley Fantz, CNN
updated 1:34 PM EDT, Thu March 14, 2013

A man protesting the police shooting death of a Brooklyn teenager is arrested Wednesday after the protest turned violent.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
16-year-old Kimani Gray was shot and killed by NYC police
His neighborhood in Flatbush in Brooklyn is outraged, calling the shooting police brutality
Police say Gray pointed a gun at them
Vigil turned violent with young men throwing bottles, trash cans, fighting cops
(CNN) — A band of furious teenagers hurled bottles, bricks and trash cans at New York police Wednesday night, days after police shot and killed an armed Brooklyn youth.
Many in the community of Flatbush say the shooting of 16-year-old Kimani “Kiki” Gray was racially motivated police brutality. The neighborhood is a place where many people mistrust the police and gun violence is part of everyday life.
About 11:30 p.m. Saturday, plainclothes officers were on patrol in their car in Flatbush when they saw a group of men gathered on the street, according to police.
As the officers got closer, Gray broke away from the group and adjusted his waistband, officers said. The teen “continued to act in a suspicious manner,” so the officers got out of their unmarked car and tried to get his attention.
Gray then “turned on them,” a police statement says, and pointed a .38 caliber revolver at the officers.
One officer fired four rounds; another fired seven. Both are now on administrative duty, police said.
The New York City Medical Examiner’s Office said the teen was struck seven times.
Gray died at a hospital, and a loaded .38 was recovered at the scene.
The officers were taken to a hospital and treated for what the department described as trauma and tinnitus, a ringing in the ears.
Residents have speculated that Gray’s wounds suggest that he was facing away from officers and therefore not a threat.
By Monday, Flatbush was enraged, with a mob of young people reportedly interrupting a vigil by running wildly into local businesses. Police said they arrested two people that day.
On Tuesday, another protest brought out a mostly calm crowd who returned Wednesday, anticipating that Gray’s mother would speak, said iReporter and professional photographer Joel Newport.
“She was supposed to be joined by other mothers of local shooting (victims),” he said.
But the hope that a mother might stand and speak and move a peaceful crowd was dashed when about 30 young men showed up across the street from the vigil, he said.
“They were not coming out of the shadow. They were staying in the dark area of the street. You just knew it was going to turn into the cops trying to contain those kids who were obviously gonna go for it,” Newport said. “That just stopped the original intention of the night.”
Newport begin to take photos, watching as kids crossed the street toward the protesters. Community leaders started shouting for everyone to calm down and asked anyone taking pictures to stop so they could talk to the young men and calm things down.
“These kids broke loose and took off. The police were caught off-guard,” Newport said. “Those kids really know the streets, and they’re spreading out and going down side streets away from the main street.”
Next came the sound of breaking glass and rolling trash cans. Businesses quickly pulled down their metal store-front security coverings.
One officer received a gash to his face while another was pushed off his scooter, police said.
Forty-six arrests were made, including two juveniles, police said, with the majority charged with disorderly conduct.
For days, Councilman Jumaane D. Williams has been speaking out in the community and asking on Twitter for those who are trying to make trouble at the vigils to stop.
“Please stay the HELL out of our community if will only agitate our kids,” he tweeted Wednesday. “It’s dangerous and counterproductive. Be responsible or STAY away!”
Several people responded angrily to that.
One person tweeted “Friends, family & the community came out to protest a police killing and you’re told them to be ‘disciplined’?”
CNN’s Mary Snow and Eliott C. McLaughlin contri

A court in East China has jailed 46 people for selling meat from sick pigs.

Zhang Xingbing, the principal offender who illegally purchased, slaughtered the diseased pigs and sold the meat, was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison and fined 800,000 yuan ($129,000), Xinhua reported.

The case was heard in Wenling, a city in Zhejiang province.

Last year police arrested 65 people accused of selling meat from sick pigs and confiscated more than 10 metric tons of the product.

Forty-five other offenders and local vendors who sold diseased pigs to Zhang were also sentenced on Wednesday.

Excessive amounts of bacteria were detected in the pork products, which can pose serious health risks, the court said.

Zhang was convicted of buying more than 1,000 pigs that died from disease and selling the meat after slaughtering them between 2010 and April 2012.

Chen Guanghua, who worked at a meat factory in Wenling, was found guilty of introducing pig farmers to Zhang.

The defendants also included farmers who knowingly sold pigs killed by illness, the court said.

Meanwhile, officials in Zhejiang’s Jiaxing city have reported that 6,000 pig carcasses have now been collected, after being dumped in local rivers, apparently by pig farmers.

Shanghai authorities said on Monday they had determined from the animals’ ear tags that they came from Jiaxing, about 100 km away in Zhejiang province

Tests have showed some pigs may have died from porcine circovirus, a common pig disease.

“Among the 14 ear tags sent from Shanghai, one has been identified as belonging to a Jiaxing farmer, who has admitted he dumped the carcasses,” the city’s agriculture department was quoted as saying by people.com.cn on Wednesday.

“Seven tags cannot be identified due to the absence of information, while six still need further checks,” it said.

Jiaxing authorities said they are continuing to investigate the causes of the deaths, and who was responsible for dumping the carcasses.

MET please tell this cry baby Patrice fi stop mek ah fool of herself pon di intanet. Every minute she ah bawl ova bruk pocket Whitey and den two two’s she run bac pon di cocky. And ah wha Reggae Pop haffi do wit dem slackness? Hmmm look like somebody know sey him ah fu#k pon har and nah tell har. Could it be with di new gyal him did ah pose up wit ah Bruck it Dung? Ah who she? Di gyal look like one likkle pickney wey sneak out har granny house fi “Bruck it dung.”