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What We Know About the Shooting in Midland and Odessa, Texas

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By Townhall. Police believe there was only one suspect in the shooting, despite initial reports that there were two shooters.

“Initially it was thought that there may have been multiple shooters, and that is because at some point this subject changed vehicles. We’re now confident that there was just the one actor,” Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke said during a Sunday press conference. . .

According to CNN, the shooter has been identified as 36-year-old Seth Ator. He used an “AR-style weapon” during the attack. . .

Saturday night’s tragic shooting in Odessa and Midland, Texas began when Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Troopers attempted to make a routine traffic stop. The gunman pulled out a rifle, pointed it towards his rear window and fired at the two troopers. One trooper was shot.

The gunman fled the scene and continued shooting at innocent bystanders. He shot at civilians along East Loop 338 and I-20 before stealing a U.S. Postal Service truck. He then used the USPS truck to carry out his rampage along State Highway 191, KOSA-TV reported. The shooting eventually ended at the Cinergy Movie Theater when the gunman shot at two police officers, one from the Odessa Police Department, the other from the Midland Police Department. Police returned fire and killed the suspect. (Read more from “What We Know About the Shooting in Midland and Odessa, Texas” HERE)

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Police Still Don’t Have a Motive for the Shootings, Source Says

By CNN. A law enforcement official tells CNN authorities have not yet been unable to identify a motive in the Midland-Odessa shootings. . .

Dustin Fawcett told CNN he was with his 3-week-old daughter at Starbucks on Saturday, about 40-50 yards away from 42nd Street, when chaos erupted.

He said 42nd Street is the town’s busiest intersection. The light was red before the shooting so cars were waiting there.

“Sitting ducks,” Fawcett said. (Read more from “Police Still Don’t Have a Motive for the Shootings, Source Says” HERE)

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Death Toll in Odessa Shooting Rises to 7, a 17-Month-Old Child Among Those Injured

By NBC News. A 17-month-old girl was among the 22 injured in a shooting rampage around Odessa, Texas, as the death toll increased to seven victims Sunday. The gunman was killed in a shootout with police.

The little girl, Anderson Davis, suffered shrapnel in her right chest and has a hole through her bottom lip and tongue after being shot in the face, according to her family. Eric Finley, marketing director of Texas’ UMC Health System, said Anderson was in satisfactory condition at a hospital in Lubbock.

“We praise God for walking beside us during this time and our prayers go out to all of the families that are walking this same walk,” Anderson’s parents said in a statement. “We hurt so badly for the families whose loved ones didn’t survive this tragedy. (Read more from “Death Toll in Odessa Shooting Rises to 7, a 17-Month-Old Child Among Those Injured” HERE)

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Texas to Loosen Gun Restrictions in Wake of El Paso Shooting

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Texas will loosen their restrictions on guns with ten new Republican-backed laws set to take effect in September. The Lone Star State, which has some of the most lax gun laws in the country already, will loosen restrictions on guns in places of worship, apartment complexes, foster homes, and schools.

USA Today reported on some of the soon-to-be in effect laws:

House Bill 1143 prevents school districts from prohibiting employees and other visitors at school campuses to store firearms in locked vehicles.

House Bill 2363 lets foster parents possess firearms “in a safe and secure matter … for personal protection purposes.”

Senate Bill 535 will reduce penalties for people who carry guns at “churches, synagogues or other places of worship” that prohibit firearms. …The bill treats places of worship in the same way private businesses are treated: They can still post signs prohibiting firearms, but will reduce penalties for people who unknowingly carry.

(Read more from “Texas to Loosen Gun Restrictions in Wake of El Paso Shooting” HERE)

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Mass Shooting Averted After Grandma Intervenes

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Law enforcement always says, “If you see something, say something,” but so often with mass murderers, it always seems that nobody said anything despite the warning signs being there. One Texas grandmother, however, is being hailed by authorities as a hero after she convinced her grandson to seek mental help and turn himself in to police after he made threats that he was going to shoot up a nearby hotel and then commit suicide.

Federal authorities arrested William P. Williams of Lubbock, Texas last Thursday after authorities searched his hotel room where he had planned to kill countless innocents. According to Breaking911.com, “Officers found an AK-47 rifle, seventeen magazines loaded with ammunition, multiple knives, a black trench coat, black tactical pants, a black t-shirt that read ‘Let ‘Em Come,’ and black tactical gloves with the fingers cut off.”

The feds confiscated the weapon and placed Williams in custody, but were only made aware of the threat after his grandmother encouraged him to allow her to bring him to a local hospital for psych treatment following his comments that he intended on attacking the hotel.

“This was a tragedy averted,” U.S. Attorney Nealy Cox told media. “I want to praise the defendant’s grandmother, who saved lives by interrupting this plot, as well as the Lubbock police officers and federal agents who investigated his unlawful acquisition of a deadly weapon. If you suspect a friend or loved one is planning violence against themselves or others, do not hesitate to seek help immediately by calling law enforcement.” (Read more from “Mass Shooting Averted After Grandma Intervenes” HERE)

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El Paso Killer is an Environmental Extremist; Made Chilling Admission to Police, Charged With Capital Murder

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By Natasha Lennard. An entire paragraph of the [El Paso killer’s] manifesto is dedicated to environmental degradation and Malthusian claims about the need to “get rid of enough people” to protect ever dwindling resources. The author cites the Christchurch shooter’s lengthy manifesto, titled “The Great Replacement,” as an inspiration, reiterating the paranoid fears of demographic shift and white decline. The Christchurch shooter self-identified as an “eco-fascist,” writing, “there is no nationalism without environmentalism.”

Against the perilous climate change denialism typical of U.S. conservatives, environmental decimation is broadly seen as a liberal and left concern. . .

[The El Paso killer’s manifesto continued,] “The American lifestyle affords our citizens an incredible quality of life. However, our lifestyle is destroying the environment of our country,” the El Paso manifesto notes, adding, “Everything I have seen and heard in my short life has led me to believe that the average American isn’t willing to change their lifestyle, even if the changes only cause a slight inconvenience. … So the next logical step is to decrease the number of people in America using resources.” Read more about the man charged with capital murder from this left-wing publication HERE)

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By The Blaze. The man accused of killing 20 people at an El Paso Walmart was officially booked into the El Paso jail on capital murder charges early Sunday morning, records show. . .

FBI Special Agent in Charge Emerson Bowie told KTSM that “enhanced charges” are likely given the probability the killer was a white nationalist inspired by hatred for Hispanic people. . .

A manifesto posted online, which has been attributed to the killer but not yet confirmed by authorities as authentic, said the attack was “a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”

Indeed, the killer made a similar chilling admission to police.

According to ABC News, citing law enforcement officials, the killer told authorities his goal was to “shoot as many Mexicans as possible.” (Read more from “El Paso Killer Booked on Capital Murder Charges, but Makes Chilling Admission to Police” HERE)

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Mass Shooting That Killed 20 in El Paso Investigated as ‘Domestic Terrorism’: Officials

By ABC News. Twenty people were killed and dozens more injured on Saturday morning in a massacre at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart that was packed with back-to-school shoppers, making it one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history, officials said. . .

The suspect was identified by authorities as Patrick Crusius, 21, of Allen, Texas. He is being held on a charge of capital murder, court records show.

John Bash, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, said Sunday that federal authorities are investigating the incident as an act of “domestic terrorism,” meaning the suspect was allegedly intent on “coercing and intimidating a civilian population.” . . .

In El Paso, the suspect Crusius was “taken into custody without incident” and without any law enforcement officers firing their weapons, according to El Paso Police Department Sgt. Robert Gomez. He later told investigators he wanted to shoot as many Mexicans as possible, two law enforcement officials told ABC News.

“He was forthcoming with information. He basically didn’t hold anything back,” El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen said during Sunday’s news conference, declining to comment on specifics of what the alleged gunman told investigators. (Read more from “Mass Shooting That Killed 20 in El Paso Investigated as ‘Domestic Terrorism’: Officials” HERE)

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WATCH: Woman Licked Ice Cream, Put It Back on Grocery Shelf — Now She Faces 20 Years in Jail

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By The Blaze. A woman who thought it would be funny to video herself licking the ice cream in a tub at a Walmart store and replacing it on the freezer shelf isn’t laughing at the prison time she’s facing. . .

Texas police on Wednesday said that they had identified her after detectives “obtained surveillance video placing a woman matching the suspect description in the Lufkin store on June 28 around 11 p.m.”

That charge could mean up to $10,000 in fines and 20 years in prison, if she’s convicted.

“Our detectives are working to verify the identity of the female suspect before a warrant is issued for her arrest on a charge of second-degree felony tampering with a consumer product,” said a police spokesperson.

Police are also trying to identify the male who shot the video and can be heard encouraging the women to lick the ice cream.

(Read more from “Woman Licked Ice Cream, Put It Back on Grocery Shelf — Now She Faces 20 Years in Jail” HERE)

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Police Find Girl Who Licked Blue Bell Ice Cream in Viral Video

By NBC News. Police in Texas said Friday that they found the girl who was filmed licking a tub of ice cream and returning it to a grocery store shelf in a viral video last week. . .

At least four women, including the person who lied about her involvement, had similar screen names and appearances, police said. Authorities had to rule each one out before finding the actual suspect.

Before police knew the girl’s identity, they said she could face a second-degree felony charge of tampering with a consumer product, which comes with a two- to 20-year prison term and up to $10,000 in fines, according to Texas state penal code.

Lufkin police said Friday that if the girl faces charges related to the incident, they will be “at the discretion of the juvenile justice system.” (Read more from “Police Find Girl Who Licked Blue Bell Ice Cream in Viral Video” HERE)

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City Takes down Church’s ‘Jesus Welcomes You’ Sign Overnight

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For four years, those who drove into a small town in Texas were greeted with a sign that said: “Jesus Welcomes You to Hawkins.”

But overnight, after a lengthy court battle, the town abruptly took down the sign. City officials say it’s on public land and in the way of future development. . .

The sign along U.S. 80 leading into the Hawkins, a Texas town with a little over 1,300 residents, was put up in 2015 in front of a Hawkins coffeehouse, on property owned by Jesus Christ Open Altar Church. Until it was taken down, members of the flock stood watch over the “Jesus” banner. . .

“The city employees destroyed our church property, pulled up our crosses and destroyed everything,” [Church trustee Mark] McDonald told the Longview News-Journal Friday.

“We’re treating it like a hate crime of religious discrimination that was conspired by the city. We have enough documents to prove that,” McDonald added. “The city was warned (Thursday) by our attorneys not to touch it and not to bother it. There’s been closed meetings, closed records (and) a lot of things wrong.” (Read more from “City Takes down Church’s ‘Jesus Welcomes You’ Sign Overnight” HERE)

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Border Crisis: Texas Town Overrun with Crime and Disease, and This Mayor Has Had ENOUGH

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“From my standpoint, I don’t even know why we have federal elected officials,” said Uvalde, Texas, Mayor Don McLaughlin in an exclusive interview with CR.

Uvalde, Texas, is a small town of 17,000 inhabitants, and they are now overrun by illegal immigrants and an international cartel smuggling operation. Uvalde is 40-60 miles from the border, but it might as well be right at the border. “We are in no man’s land. The state is not doing anything; the federal government is not doing anything,” said the mayor, who is begging the politicians to get involved. “We are getting nothing. I’ve lived here all my life and have never seen anything like this. The people in the communities are getting scared. What is coming that we don’t see? Who knows? People up north and in D.C. have no clue what is going on here. They don’t realize that these people are not being screened for diseases. We’re fed up.”

Situated at the crossroads of major highways coming up from border towns in the Laredo and Del Rio border sectors, Uvalde has now become a dumping ground for migrants coming north. And they are not just coming from Central America. Del Rio has received hundreds of African migrants in recent weeks. Uvalde has a Border Patrol holding facility, and according to McLaughlin, whenever it is full, if the city doesn’t take charge, many immigrants are released in a Walmart parking lot. Mayor McLaughlin said his city must pick up the tab to have them bused to San Antonio. On Friday, local media reported how San Antonio has now received hundreds of African migrants.

“In Uvalde, Border Patrol told us if we didn’t have buses ready right at the holding facility, they would have released them in a parking lot at a Walmart or a Stripes. This is what’s happening in outlying areas, but thanks to our working relationship with Border Patrol, we make sure to have buses ready. We just don’t have the facilities for them. We have to pay for these buses out of our pockets, and are citizens are mad.”

But it’s the people they don’t see who concern residents of Uvalde the most. “In addition to those being released in parking lots to get bused into San Antonio, what we are really concerned about is the increased foot traffic to our community. We have checkpoints on highway 90 and 83. The migrants are walking around the checkpoints. Now we are starting to see more calls to police of people walking through the neighborhoods, [of] finding car doors open [and] storerooms open. The Border Patrol is seeing this on their cameras, but they just don’t have the agents to respond. The foot traffic around the checkpoints has increased by 100 percent.”

McLaughlin is worried about crime. “With the Border Patrol so busy with the family units, we are seeing an increase in the bad guys. Our DPS and local authorities in surrounding communities are having more car chases. When they crash the cars, all of the smugglers bail out. Border Patrol can’t always respond, so we need to take officers and deputies to track down these people. Three weeks ago, we had a group come right in middle of town, they bailed out and we had to put all our schools on lockdown. We caught all eight individuals, but it took all day.”

In addition, McLaughlin said that there are often dozens of illegal immigrants piled on freight trains coming into his town. He said Border Patrol often lacks the resources to to check the freight trains, but recently they have caught as many as 35 in a single group. “These are the bad guys with criminal records. According to Border Patrol, 99 percent of these guys on those trains are bad guys and have criminal records. They can’t get in any other way, so they’re sneaking in on freight trains.”

McLaughlin noted that he called his Republican congressman, William Hurd, as well as the two Texas senators, the governor, and the state attorney general, but can’t get any meaningful response from them. “I don’t hear any of them prioritizing this issue. We had a citizen last week who was just on his property right where they stopped the freight train. Some of the illegals got off the train, got on his property, and confronted him. One of them started to get aggressive and the guy threatened him. That night he and his family couldn’t sleep. His grandkids won’t even come over any more to swim in the pool unless he sits there with a shotgun. That’s how much traffic we’re getting here right in Uvalde. He’s a farmer who’s been here all his life and is now thinking of moving.”

“There are ranchers around here seeing more break-ins and vehicles being stolen. It’s just a sad situation. We’ve dealt with immigration all our life, but we never had a problem of this magnitude. And most of them who used to come through were congenial people and we didn’t have to worry. Now they are aggressive. Some are coming to hunting camps and robbing the hunters.”

I heard a similar story earlier this year from county officials in New Mexico on how they see a huge change in the attitude of some of the migrants coming in through this wave from the past, even though they’ve been dealing with illegal immigration for many years.

Then of course there are the drugs. “Border Patrol is so busy with the families that the cartels are increasing the flow of narcotics with impunity,” warns McLaughlin.

Finally, there are the health issues. “They are taking them into a 10×10 room and asking them if they are OK. They have no idea what diseases they are carrying. We had two people quarantined here in Uvalde with the mumps, and there might be a third case. They are not doing anything to check these people for other diseases.”

Hidalgo County, Texas, already has 46 confirmed cases of mumps in the country. As I reported before, while Border Patrol screens out those in need of triage, there is no mechanism to ensure that all these migrants who don’t exhibit apparent symptoms of diseases in front of them are safe to be released.

Now, with the influx of Africans, particularly into the Del Rio Sector, the mayor said there is widespread concern of other diseases such as Ebola.

The small-town mayor is simply stupefied that major Texas state and federal politicians of both parties are not making a bigger deal of what’s going on. “Why don’t they hold a press conference attracting national attention? It’s going to take someone being killed in our community before we get the national attention.”

The tragedy of towns like Uvalde and similar areas in Texas is that they have a great history of doing immigration the right way. “We’re close to 90 percent Hispanic, and our community does not want these people in town. They get very upset they are being released here. They ought to be doing it like their grandparents did. They did it legally. These people are mad as hell.” (For more from the author of “Border Crisis: Texas Town Overrun with Crime and Disease, and This Mayor Has Had ENOUGH” please click HERE)

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Hundreds of Illegals Get Away as Just 14 Agents Patrol Extensive, Highly Trafficked County

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The shocking May border apprehension numbers are bad enough, but what is worse is what we are not seeing coming in, but is getting in nonetheless because of the catch-and-release of Central American families.

Sunday’s Border Patrol statistics from just one Texas county tell the story of a border crisis that is more of a national security issue than just an immigration problem.

On Tuesday, Jaeson Jones, a retired Texas Department of Public Safety captain who used to manage the daily operations of the Texas Rangers’ Border Security Operations Center (BSOC) tweeted out the following:

I reached out to Jones for an exclusive interview to distill these numbers. He tells me what the politicians are missing and what the president is not getting briefed on is that the Gulf Cartel in the Rio Grande Valley is strategically controlling the flow of migrants so that they can get in more “criminals, cartel members, drugs, weapons, and special interest aliens than anyone can imagine.”

His sources tell him that last Sunday, 1,232 illegals were apprehended in Starr County alone. But what happens when Border Patrol is pulled off the line transporting and processing bogus asylum claims?

When the surges of Central American families are happening, all Border Patrol agents are pulled off the line to support the humanitarian effort, meaning we are borderless. From what I’m hearing, they are averaging 14 agents remaining on patrol for the entire 68 miles of Starr County. That is when the cartels send in all the drugs, criminal aliens, and SIAs. Plus, they send money and weapons south from the cartel associates who are already residing in the Rio Grande Valley. All of those flows of migrants and transfer of drugs, weapons, and criminals are coordinated activities.

For months, Customs and Border Protection’s political brass has been warning how bad people and items are getting in while Border Patrol is tied down. CBP in Tucson warned yesterday, “Transnational criminal organizations are employing dangerous and unconventional methods to smuggle humans and drugs into the United States, hindering law enforcement and first responder capabilities.”

Now, Jones is putting a number on that. Just this Sunday, Jones said, there were 347 known “got aways.” Again, that is just in one county on one day. Given how generously we are offering status to anyone who comes here, “one has to fear that many of the got aways are the worst of the worst” who really don’t want to get apprehended, according to Jones.

I asked Jones how Border Patrol collates this daily data on got aways. As a former commander of Texas’s Border Security Operations Center, he helped collate for state law enforcement all the intel from CBP as well as from local law enforcement as part of Operation Secure Texas like no other border state government. “BSOC has 30+ analysts who pull all border data from all agencies and collates them and then shares it with local, state and federal officials.”

“It’s a multi-layered approach,” explained Jones. “First, we have thousands of sensors in the ground that notifies us about foot or vehicle traffic crossing the border. Next, there are thousands upon thousands of ‘Drawbridge cameras’ that spot the actual bodies coming over in addition to tall tower cameras that scan the broader area. Unlike other state governments, in Texas, we invested millions in this technology.”

Finally, Jones explained the feds have their Aerostat blimps equipped with sensors as well as their helicopters and drones. Border Patrol begins the data collation by counting footprints in the ground and adding them to the hits they get on all the cameras and sensors. Then they compare those suspected infiltrations against the apprehension numbers. “The difference between the two is the rough estimation of how many people got away that day in the given area of operation.” Hence, this is how Border Patrol estimates there were 347 got aways on Sunday in Starr County.

I reached out to CBP’s press office for comment confirming or denying Sunday’s got away numbers but have not received a statement as of publication.

I did, however, confirm with a line agent in the Rio Grande Valley Sector that there were indeed 347 “known got aways” on Sunday in Starr County. The agent, who must remain anonymous because he is not authorized to speak to the press, also confirmed, that “in recent days, Border Patrol has been forced to divert 70-75% of resources in parts of Texas to deal with the humanitarian care.” He told me that Starr is the second most trafficked area for both human smuggling (behind Hidalgo County, Texas) and drugs (behind Ajo Arizona station).

This veteran agent was certain that the number of got aways is likely an undercount. “Cutting sign,” which means counting the footprints of the got aways, “is often difficult.” “The guides will often brush out the sign, walk in hard-packed areas, or travel in thick brush, Caliche or on hard-paved roads.” Much of the traffic in those areas is unaccounted for.

The fact that our immigration policies are allowing cartels to tie down all but a handful of agents for 68 miles and smuggle in hundreds of dangerous people and goods should make this a national defense issue, not an immigration issue. Even if the president didn’t have immigration authority to shut down all asylum requests, which he does, his power as commander-in-chief should allow him to shut it down just on account of the national security problems it creates, as it is used as the prime strategic weapon of our enemies.

The veteran border agent has had it and said morale is very low. “So much of our Texas border is wide open many days. The cartel, just like any other insurgency, watches and records our every move… so they can gain the upper hand in ALL their OPERATIONS. They see how we responded to the traffic… They see how we are not prosecuting… They see how the government has left us behind,” Jones messaged. (For more from the author of “Hundreds of Illegals Get Away as Just 14 Agents Patrol Extensive, Highly Trafficked County” please click HERE)

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Accused Shooter Came to U.S. As Refugee

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By Breitbart. The suspect accused of shooting four people and killing a woman in Cleveland, Texas, last week was a foreign refugee who entered the United States decades ago, Breitbart News has confirmed.

Last week, 65-year-old Pavol Vido was wanted by Texas police after he allegedly shot four people, including shooting a Liberty County Sheriff’s deputy in the neck and killing one woman. After a short search by police, Vido shot and killed himself.

A law enforcement official confirmed to Breitbart News that Vido entered the U.S. as a refugee in 1977 from the Czech Republic and lived in the country as a refugee until his death, never applying for a green card. (Read more from “Accused Shooter Came to U.S. As Refugee” HERE)

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Suspect in Texas Shootings That Left a Woman Dead Has Killed Himself, Police Say

By NBC News. An hourslong search that began Wednesday morning after a 65-year-old man allegedly shot and killed a woman and injured a deputy in back-to-back shootings in Texas ended with the suspect killing himself, authorities said.

Multiple law enforcement agencies began searching for Pavol Vido after he allegedly opened fire around 7 a.m. at a plumbing shop in Cleveland, Texas, 45 minutes north of Houston. He then fled the scene and shot a deputy who had pursued him into the parking lot of a veterinary clinic.

Scent dogs with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice tracked Vido’s scent and found him hiding under a boat, the agency said in a Facebook post. Vido shot and killed himself after he was confronted by officers, according to authorities.

Liberty County Sheriff’s Capt. Ken DeFoor told KPRC-TV earlier Wednesday that Vido entered the plumbing shop and shot three people.

The woman, who has not been identified, was pronounced dead at the scene, DeFoor told the outlet. The other two victims were hospitalized. (Read more from “Suspect in Texas Shootings That Left a Woman Dead Has Killed Himself, Police Say” HERE)

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Privately-Funded Border Wall Construction Begins

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By The Blaze. Construction has begun on a section of border wall in El Paso, Texas, with the help of a privately funded organization that saw an area of need, according to Fox News.

The organization, called “We Build the Wall,” is seeking to close a large gap in the El Paso sector, which is a large and heavily-trafficked crossing area where authorities say 930 people are apprehended per day. According to former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, this is only the beginning.

“We’ll keep on building as long as people keep chipping in. The average contribution has been only $67 but so many people have chipped in,” said Kobach, who is involved with We Build the Wall and who served as an immigration advisor to President Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign.

The barrier is being built on private land—land which the Army Corps of Engineers have said is too rugged for fencing, Kobach said. (Read more from “Privately-Funded Border Wall Construction Begins” HERE)

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Judge Blocks Trump from Building Sections of Border Wall

By Fox News. A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump from building key sections of his border wall with money secured under his declaration of a national emergency, delivering what may prove a temporary setback on one of his highest priorities.

U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr.’s order, issued Friday, prevents work from beginning on two of the highest-priority, Pentagon-funded wall projects — one spanning 46 miles (74 kilometers) in New Mexico and another covering 5 miles (8 kilometers) in Yuma, Arizona.

On Saturday, Trump pledged to file an expedited appeal of the ruling.

Trump, who is visiting Japan, tweeted: “Another activist Obama appointed judge has just ruled against us on a section of the Southern Wall that is already under construction. This is a ruling against Border Security and in favor of crime, drugs and human trafficking. We are asking for an expedited appeal!”

While Gilliam’s order applied only to those first-in-line projects, the judge made clear that he felt the challengers were likely to prevail at trial on their argument that the president was wrongly ignoring Congress’ wishes by diverting Defense Department money. (Read more from “Judge Blocks Trump from Building Sections of Border Wall” HERE)

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