All articles tagged with #double slaying
A Chicago-raised teacher, Andrew James McGann, has been charged with double murder in Arkansas after admitting to stabbing a couple and their children at a state park. McGann, who grew up in Chicago and attended Fenwick High School, was arrested in Springdale, Arkansas, while getting a haircut. He has no prior criminal record and was expected to start a new teaching job in Arkansas. The motive for the killings remains unknown.
Michael Dewayne Smith, convicted of a double slaying in 2002, was executed in Oklahoma after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a stay of execution. Smith, who maintained his innocence, was put to death for the shooting deaths of Janet Moore and Sharath Pulluru. His attorney argued that Smith was intellectually disabled and heavily influenced by drugs at the time of his confession, but prosecutors portrayed him as a ruthless gang member seeking revenge. This marks the first execution in Oklahoma this year and the 12th since the state resumed executions in 2021.
A man and a woman were shot to death inside a southwest Birmingham home. The victims have been identified as Jacquic Little and Damon Thomas. The shooting was detected by the city's gunfire detection system, and police arrived to find both victims wounded. The details surrounding the incident are limited, and the investigation is ongoing. This marks the 104th and 105th homicides in Birmingham this year. Anyone with information is urged to contact the authorities.
Preston Walls, a Des Moines teenager, has been convicted of manslaughter and second-degree murder for fatally shooting two fellow students at the Starts Right Here program. Walls shot and killed Rashad Carr and Gionni Dameron in January, while program founder William Holmes was seriously injured. The jury acquitted Walls of attempted murder but convicted him of willful injury causing serious injury. Walls argued that the shooting was justified as he believed Carr and Dameron planned to kill him. The jury disagreed and found Walls guilty. The community is urged to end the cycle of violence in Des Moines.