Anchorage news

• Eagle River man sentenced in 2014 child sex abuse case

  07-02-2017 23:41
  
  An Eagle River man who was convicted of sexually abusing a 5-year-old girl and possessing child pornography was sentenced Friday to more than 25 years in prison, according to a release from the District Attorney’s Office.
  Timothy Lineer (Photo courtesy APD)
  Timothy Lineer, 28, was first charged in November 2014 with multiple counts of first and second-degree sexual abuse of a minor, as well as two counts of unlawful exploitation of a minor and two counts of possessing child porno
  
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• Hickel traded from Boston to Connecticut

  07-02-2017 23:23
  
  Photo courtesy of the National Women's Hockey LeagueZoe Hickel appeared well on her way to a second straight Isobel Cup, as she and her Boston Pride teammates remain undefeated in the second season of the National Women’s Hockey League.
  That road just got bumpier. Boston traded the Anchorage native Tuesday to the last place Connecticut Whale, for the Whale’s first pick in next year’s draft, along with future considerations.
  Hickel, 24, had a goal and five assists in 12 ga
  
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• Travel Tuesday: All aboard the Alaska Railroad with AKontheGO

  07-02-2017 23:13
  
  Looking to keep the kids engaged and get out of town this winter? Erin Kirkland with AKontheGO recommends the Alaska Rail Road’s winter trains. Kirkland’s choice? The train to Talkeetna, as it’s just right for the kids and parents.
  “You can bring snacks, you can bring books, we brought some games, and three hours went pretty quickly,” Kirkland added. According to her, the train departs around 8 a.m. On the train itself there’s three cars, one of which is a din
  
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• Army approves Dakota Access Pipeline route, paving way for the project’s completion

  07-02-2017 22:37 via ktoo.org
  
  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has granted an easement allowing the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under the Missouri River north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, paving the way for construction of the final mile and a half of the more than 1,700-mile pipeline.
  In doing so, the Army cut short its environmental impact assessment and the public comment period associated with it.
  In a Jan. 18 notice published in the Federal Register the Army had said it would accept public comments on the
  
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• Army to allow completion of Dakota Access oil pipeline

  07-02-2017 22:32
  
  BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – The Latest on the Dakota Access pipeline being built to carry oil from North Dakota to Illinois (all times local):
  3:20 p.m.
  The Standing Rock Sioux tribe is promising a legal battle after the Army said it’s clearing the way for completion of the Dakota Access oil pipeline.
  Tribal attorney Jan Hasselman says the government “will be held accountable in court.” He says the specifics of the tribe’s challenge are being worked out.
  The Army said Tue
  
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• Anchorage police investigate break-in at Young’s congressional office

  07-02-2017 21:05
  
  Police in Alaska’s largest city are investigating a reported break-in at U.S. Rep. Don Young’s congressional office there.
  Anchorage police spokeswoman Renee Oistad says no arrests have been made in the incident, which occurred last Wednesday. She says doors to some offices in the building either were pried open or efforts were made to pry them open.
  She says several items were taken, such as clothing, some artwork and an MP3 player.
  Young spokesman Matt Shuckerow says by email that
  
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• Focus On Community – Mind Over Matter – 2-6-17

  07-02-2017 20:26 via ktoo.org
  
  
  What causes so many of us to have chronic or intermittent muscular pain? Is it just aging or perhaps an unknown injury or is there a deeper reason? So deep that the pain or tensions goes back to our own life history. Tune in to KTOO this coming Monday at 7 pm to Mind Over Matter to hear Dr. Elaine Schroeder and Mary Pat Schilly discuss somatic education and how the body can train the mind to release old, hard wired physical patterns that restrict us.http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2017/02
  
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• Pence becomes first VP to break Senate tie over Cabinet nomination

  07-02-2017 20:07 via ktoo.org
  
  Vice President Pence has done something that his predecessor, Joe Biden, did not do even once in his eight years in the same office.
  He cast a tie-breaking vote in the U.S. Senate.
  The occasion is Tuesday’s confirmation of Betsy DeVos as President Trump’s secretary of education. The DeVos nomination has so far proven the most contentious of all Trump’s controversial Cabinet picks.
  Two Republican senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, joined all 46 Democr
  
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• Betsy DeVos confirmed as education secretary

  07-02-2017 19:27 via ktoo.org
  
  President Donald Trump’s nominee for Education secretary, Betsy DeVos (Screenshot of U.S. Senate video)
  Today the Senate confirmed Betsy DeVos as President Trump’s education secretary, 51-50. Vice President Pence had to cast an unprecedented tie-breaking vote, after hearings that became fodder for Saturday Night Live; after angry constituents swamped Senate offices with 1.5 million calls a day; after two Republican senators defected; and Democrats held the floor overnight in protest.
  
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• Now that it’s legal, what’s it like to buy pot in Alaska?

  07-02-2017 19:23 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Evan Levinton, left, looks over security forms with his business partner and mother, Jane Stinson, right, and their security contractor, Thomas Craig, while they were remodeling their store last May. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes/Alaska Public Media)
  Over the last few weeks, many Alaskans have been trying something new: walking into a store to buy pot.
  http://media.aprn.org/2017/ann-20170206-05.mp3For more than a year, Alaska Public Media has been profiling one family cannabis business as they try
  
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• DeVos confirmed as Education secretary, Pence breaks tie

  07-02-2017 18:56
  
  The Senate has confirmed school choice activist Betsy DeVos as Education secretary, with Vice President Mike Pence breaking a 50-50 tie.
  The Senate historian says it was the first time a vice president had to break a tie on a Cabinet nomination.
  Two Republicans joined Democrats Tuesday to vote to derail DeVos’ nomination. Democrats cited her lack of public school experience and financial interests in organizations pushing charter schools. DeVos has said she would divest herself from those
  
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• Twitter takes more steps to clamp down abuse and hate

  07-02-2017 17:00
  
  NEW YORK (AP) – Twitter is broadening its campaign to clamp down on hate speech and abuse.
  The company said Tuesday that it has begun identifying people who have been banned for abusive behavior and will stop them from creating new accounts. It is also creating a ‘safe search’ feature that removes tweets with potentially sensitive content and tweets from blocked and muted accounts from search results. The tweets will still exist on Twitter if people look for them, but won&rsquo
  
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• Juneau Docks and Harbors, UAS to restart talks over Auke Bay lab

  07-02-2017 11:02 via ktoo.org
  
  The Auke Bay Marine Station on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017. Juneau Docks and Harbors is interested in the property for a potential expansion of Statter Harbor. (Photo Tripp J Crouse/KTOO)
  The Juneau Assembly has given clear direction to city staff to try and mend fences with the University of Alaska Southeast over a prime piece of federal property up-for-grabs on Auke Bay.
  Both the city’s Docks and Harbors division and the university have competing applications with the federal government to ta
  
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• Amnesty: As many as 13,000 hanged in Syria prison since 2011

  07-02-2017 08:20
  
  Satellite image of Saydnaya Military Prison
  Coordinates 33.6648°, 36.3288°, Google Earth © 2016 DigitalGlobe via Amnesty International
  Syrian authorities have killed as many as 13,000 people – possibly more – since the start of the 2011 uprising in mass hangings at a prison north of Damascus known to detainees as “the slaughterhouse,” Amnesty International said on Tuesday.
  In a new report covering the period from 2011 to 2015, Amnesty said 20-50 people were
  
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• U.S. appeals court to hear arguments on travel ban reinstatement

  07-02-2017 07:33
  
  An appeals court in San Francisco will hear arguments Tuesday on whether to reinstate President Trump’s travel ban.
  In a filing on Monday evening, government lawyers argued that the ban does not discriminate based on religion — it targets country of origin instead.
  Lawyers for two states urged the appeals court not to reinstate President Trump’s travel ban, saying it would “unleash chaos again”… ”separating families, stranding our university students an
  
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• Reports show privatizing state services may cost more, not less

  07-02-2017 06:58
  
  In lawmakers’ quest to cut the state budget, new reports show that privatizing some services would actually cost the state money. The Senate Health and Social Services Committee reviewed feasibility studies Monday for potential privatization of the Alaska Psychiatric Institute (API) and state juvenile justice facilities. 
  The studies were a requirement under Senate Bill 74, which implemented reforms to the state’s Medicaid system after it was passed by lawmakers last year.
  SB 74
  
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• Anchorage man sentenced in 2014 fatal hit-and-run

  07-02-2017 06:29
  
  An Anchorage man will spend two and a half years in jail for killing a pedestrian. On Monday, Superior Court Judge Jack Smith sentenced 23-year-old Pao Vang to 66 months with 36 suspended for the death of 54-year-old Guy Merculief.
  Pao Yang
  Police said Vang hit and killed Merculief while he was walking across Fifth Avenue on Sept. 20, 2014. A defense attorney said there was evidence Vang had been drinking that night.
  Vang’s passenger, 22-year-old Pao Yang, was initially charged i
  
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• Police use Taser to take down break-in suspect with ‘extremely heightened physical strength’

  07-02-2017 06:25
  
  A man accused of breaking into and stealing items from a midtown Anchorage tech store was arrested Monday evening, police say.
  The case began Saturday when a male suspect backed a 2011 Volkswagen Golf into the front of Device Pitstop, located on West 36th Avenue. Footage from the store, shared in the above video, shows the suspect entering through a broken window and quickly gathering up a number of items before leaving. The store’s owner, Scott Stansbury, said the cost of damages and
  
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• Anchorage business break-ins on the rise, some stores hit multiple times

  07-02-2017 06:25
  
  Thieves are breaking in to more Anchorage businesses, according to data from the Anchorage Police Department. There were 264 commercial robberies in 2016, compared to 193 in 2015. Commercial burglaries jumped from 407 to 676 during the same period.
  Several businesses have been hit multiple times. On Saturday, Midtown electronics repair and refurbishment store Device Pitstop was burglarized for the third time since it opened in March of 2016. Surveillance footage shows a Volkswagen Golf hatc
  
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• Despite protest, Sen. Sullivan to vote ‘yes’ for DeVos

  07-02-2017 05:43
  
  U.S. Senate Democrats are holding the floor, trying to block the confirmation of education secretary nominee Betsy DeVos.
  Senators are hoping to sway more Republicans to vote no on DeVos on Tuesday. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, of Maine, have already said they oppose DeVos.
  Senate Democrats need just one more Republican to flip their yes vote to a no in order to keep DeVos from getting the job.
  A group of Alaskans is urging Sen. Dan Sullivan to do just that.
  On Monday, the sid
  
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• Assemblyman’s ordinance aimed at bringing Uber back

  07-02-2017 05:35
  
  An Anchorage Assemblyman is pushing to allow ride-sharing companies to operate in Anchorage.
  Assemblyman Bill Evans has filed an ordinance that would spell out the rules for companies like Uber and LYFT.  He says Anchorage residents have made it clear they want the service.
  “I think there are a lot of people in Anchorage who use those services when they are elsewhere and really like them,” Evans said. “I think all the members of the Assembly have constituents who’ve
  
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• Walker, House Dems aim to put climate policy back on the table

  07-02-2017 03:58 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott (with Gov. Bill Walker, right) is heading up an effort to develop a formal climate change policy. Pictured April 20, 2016. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)
  Climate change has always been a sticky issue for Alaska policymakers. In a state that sits on the front lines of global warming but remains deeply dependent on oil, it sometimes seems like the easiest option is just not talking about it at all.
  But now, Gov. Bill Walker and Democrats in the state House are consideri
  
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• School board invites public to budget meetings

  07-02-2017 03:45 via ktoo.org
  
  This week the Juneau School Board is inviting the public to give their take on the school district’s budget for the next fiscal year.
  Kristin Bartlett, the Juneau School District chief of staff, said the district adds items to its budget one piece at a time.
  Juneau School District Chief of Staff Kristin Bartlett at the Jul. 9 School Board Meeting. (Photo by Quinton Chandler/KTOO)
  “Rather than cutting, which is a process that was used in the past,” Bartlett said. “So, what
  
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• Pet meds sending kids to the ER

  07-02-2017 03:42
  
  The flea medications and heartworm pills that millions of Americans give to their beloved pets pose poisoning risks to any children in the home, new research warns.
  The study authors said just one poison center in Ohio received more than 1,400 calls for poisoning from pet medications over the course of 15 years, with 87 percent of those calls involving children under the age of 5.
  “We realize that pets are common and an important part of families, especially those with young children,&rdqu
  
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• DeVos opponents press Alaska’s Sullivan

  07-02-2017 03:16 via ktoo.org
  
  President Donald Trump’s nominee for Education secretary, Betsy DeVos (Screenshot of U.S. Senate video)
  Parents and activists who don’t want to see Betsy DeVos confirmed as U.S. Education secretary are hitting the streets and the phone lines, around the country and in Alaska.
  Last week, Great Alaska Schools and Students with a Voice launched a home-spun telethon in an Anchorage home, which they broadcast on Facebook live. They say they took more than a thousand calls.
  “We had s
  
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• Privatization could save some money at API, not at youth centers

  07-02-2017 03:09 via ktoo.org
  
  (Creative Commons photo by Neil Conway)
  Alaska’s state government can save money by privatizing some services at the Alaska Psychiatric Institute, or API. But it doesn’t look like it would save if it privatized all services.
  Consultants who studied the privatization for the state found that management of the institute, as well as operating the state’s juvenile justice detention centers, are better done by the state.
  Savings depend on how many patients are at the psychiatric ins
  
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• Juneau murder trial begins for 2015 Kodzoff Acres shooting

  07-02-2017 03:02 via ktoo.org
  
  Jury selection started Monday in the trial of a Juneau man who is accused of shooting another man at the Kodzoff Acres trailer park over a year ago.
  Christopher Strawn is charged with first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of 30-year-old Brandon Cook in October 2015.
  Strawn also is charged with a single count each of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, third-degree assault and misconduct involving weapons.
  Attorneys on Monday mor
  
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• Alaska’s first lady seeks nominations for volunteer of the year

  07-02-2017 02:54
  
  Do you know a volunteer who has gone above and beyond to help their fellow Alaskans? Nominations for the First Lady’s Volunteer of the Year awards are now being accepted, according to a statement from the office of Alaska first lady Donna Walker.
  “Over the years, we have recognized many exceptional individuals who have done amazing things for Alaskans,” Walker said in the statement. “I am so pleased to continue this tradition, and encourage Alaskans to nominate those in t
  
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• AVCP urges compliance with wood bison hunting ban

  07-02-2017 02:34
  
  Wood Bison No. 124, seen here from the air, was illegally shot and killed January 27, 2017 near Quinhagak. (Photo: Alaska Department of Fish and Game via KYUK)
  The Association of Village Council Presidents (AVCP) is urging compliance with the hunting ban on wood bison in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, according to a story originally published by KYUK Public Media.
  Two weeks ago, a cow known as wood bison 124 was illegally shot and killed near Quinhagak. The bison was one of 130 released in the lower
  
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• What road lies ahead for Juneau’s electric cars?

  07-02-2017 02:21 via ktoo.org
  
  A drone shot of Juneau’s electric vehicle get together. (Photo by Gabe Strong)
  Juneau’s privately-owned electric utility is trying to plan for a future that includes more electric cars. It’s estimated there are over 100 fully electric vehicles in the city, with one or two arriving by ferry or barge each week. Even Teslas — the Porsche of electric vehicles — have been spotted in the capital city. As this new reality sets in, the state’s regulatory commission is
  
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• Spike In alcohol-related calls straining Bethel Search and Rescue resources

  07-02-2017 02:01 via ktoo.org
  
  
  Bethel Search and Rescue President Mike Riley and Vice President Fritz Charles address BSAR members at a regular meeting on Feb. 2, 2017. (Photo by Anna Rose MacArthur/KYUK)
  It’s the first winter in Bethel since a liquor store opened after almost 40 years of illegal sales. Alcohol is easier than ever to get, and Bethel Search and Rescue says the number of calls they receive, almost all alcohol-related, has spiked.
  Volunteers are getting worn out, resources are depleting and the organizatio
  
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• Juneau Afternoon – 2-7-17

  07-02-2017 02:00 via ktoo.org
  
  Tuesday at 3 on A Juneau Afternoon,Get an update on Library activities;We’ll talk about Perseverance Theatre’s current production, They Don’t Look Back;We’ll learn about the second SHAPED NOTE WORKSHOP Saturday, February 11;
  Kelly Hansen, School Counselor at Floyd Dryden Middle School, will be here to talk about the Kindness Campaign and the Think Kindness Award.And we’ll hear Writers Almanac, Bird Note, music and more.Live at 3 on KTOO, repeated at 4 on KRNN, and o
  
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• ASD announces next year’s budget, includes cuts to 99 teaching positions

  07-02-2017 01:51
  
  The Anchorage School District announced its budget proposal for next year on Monday. With a $15 million budget deficit, the plan will likely mean the loss of more than 120 positions, 99 of which are teaching positions.
  “The education funding available will make us change the way we do business,” ASD superintendent Dr. Deena Bishop said in a statement. “It is difficult to make many of these reductions but we must keep moving forward, taking care of students, and providing them a
  
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• APD: Man wounded in early morning shooting, involved parties ‘mostly uncooperative’

  07-02-2017 01:46
  
  The Anchorage Police Department is investigating an early morning shooting that resulted in at least one injury.
  The shooting was reported just after 2 a.m. on Monday on the 4600 block of Reka Drive, police spokeswoman Renee Oistad said in a statement. Multiple 911 callers stated that several shots had been fired outside an apartment.
  When police arrived, they found two men and a juvenile male inside the apartment involved in the shooting. Police questioned the three and obtained search war
  
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• Trump, GOP lawmakers back off from immediate Obamacare Repeal

  07-02-2017 01:18 via ktoo.org
  
  There’s a moment in the Broadway musical Hamilton where George Washington says to an exasperated Alexander Hamilton: “Winning is easy, young man. Governing’s harder.”
  When it comes to health care, it seems that President Trump is learning that same lesson. Trump and Republicans in Congress are struggling with how to keep their double-edged campaign promise — to repeal Obamacare without leaving millions of people without health insurance.
  During the campaign, Trump p
  
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• More than $4,000 stolen from local fish processing plant

  07-02-2017 01:13 via ktoo.org
  
  Sitka’s Superior Court has indicted a 27-year-old man with burglary and theft felonies for stealing more than $4,000 from a local fish processing plant.
  According to court documents, Derek Daly pried open a bay door at the Seafood Producers Cooperative in the early morning hours of Dec. 21, 2016.
  Once inside, Daly broke open a locked file cabinet in the building’s office. He took several items from the cabinet, including bank bags, a money box with cash, rolled quarters, nearly $2,00
  
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• Weekly published Unalaska Police Blotter, which gained national attention, goes offline

  07-02-2017 01:00 via ktoo.org
  
  
  FBI counselor Michael Siegling presents Unalaska’s Jennifer Shockley with her new deputy police chief badge at the FBI National Academy in Virginia. (Photo by FBI National Academy)https://cpa.ds.npr.org/kdlg/audio/2017/02/06_blotter.mp3Many police stations have a way of communicating their whodunits to the public, but few of them have gained as much worldwide attention as the Unalaska Police Blotter.
  Soon after the Unalaska police department began publishing their weekly activities, t
  
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• Trump says media fail to report terrorist attacks; White House promises list

  07-02-2017 00:44 via ktoo.org
  
  President Donald Trump, in another broadside against the news media, on Monday accused “the dishonest press” of failing to report terrorist attacks.
  Speaking to troops at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, the headquarters of the U.S. Central Command, Trump cited a series of recent attacks, and then added, “It’s gotten to a point where it’s not even reported, and in many cases the very, very dishonest press doesn’t even want to report it.”
  Trump told the
  
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• Online teaching tool incorporates Bering Strait community members in oil spill response

  07-02-2017 00:19 via ktoo.org
  
  Communities near the Bering Strait now have access to a new teaching tool and will be able to share information with various organizations and agencies about threats to arctic marine life, such as oil spills.
  The Bering Strait Response Teaching Tool is now available online, thanks to a University of Alaska Anchorage student and the Defenders of Wildlife organization.
  Allison Dunbar, a junior studying environmental engineering and biology at UAA, is project lead for the online teaching tool. She&
  
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• Two men rob east Anchorage Denny’s, no one injured

  07-02-2017 00:02
  
  Anchorage police are investigating a Monday morning robbery at an east Anchorage Denny’s.
  According to a release from the Anchorage Police Department, they were called to the restaurant at 7:59 a.m. Described by APD as two black men, the robbers ordered an employee to open the cash register and give them the money. One of them was visibly carrying a gun, police noted. Four customers were also robbed for money.
  “At some point during the robbery, the suspect with the gun fired a single
  
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