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D.C. police said officers responded to a report of an "assault in progress" on Sunday at a residential building in Southeast Washington. They found the man, identified as Alonzo Smith, in the custody of what city police said were "special police officers working at the location." Special police officers are licensed by the District of Columbia, and city police must sign off on their application for the job.
Smith was found handcuffed, unconscious and not breathing, police said. He was transported to a hospital, where he later died.
Smith self-published a book of poems in 2013 that he said he wrote between the ages of 14 and 22, starting when he was put in the juvenile justice system. In his author bio, he said he was working in a private school assisting with special needs youth and finishing his social work degree.
"To dream freely with a life at my own pace, carelessly happy released of my hate, who can say they don't wish on this star, a star so bright and promising yet so far," he wrote in one poem, titled "The Road."
Several of Smith’s colleagues at an alternative school in Virginia took to Facebook to mourn his death. One wrote that Smith was “one hell of a great worker” who “kept the kids smiling, and did his job right." Another friend from college wrote that “very few people” knew Smith’s past, but everyone believed he was “destined for greatness.”
On his Facebook page, Smith was enthusiastic about his work. Pictures show him dressing up for sports day and spirit week. "I'm all in for these kids," he wrote on Oct. 27. An earlier post reads, "I will be at work with my smile and anxious to hear 'Mr. Smith' from the students. Bless my soul."
Quentin Tarantino says police boycotts don't intimidate him
Under fire from law enforcement groups across the country, director Quentin Tarantino said Tuesday that his remarks condemning police brutality have been misrepresented to "demonize" him and deflect attention away from the issue.
"All cops are not murderers," Tarantino told The Times in his first public response to the controversy. "I never said that. I never even implied that.
"What they’re doing is pretty obvious," he said. "Instead of dealing with the incidents of police brutality that those people were bringing up, instead of examining the problem of police brutality in this country, better they single me out. And their message is very clear. It’s to shut me down. It’s to discredit me. It is to intimidate me. It is to shut my mouth, and even more important than that, it is to send a message out to any other prominent person that might feel the need to join that side of the argument."
Tarantino's interview with The Times comes after law enforcement groups in New York, Los Angeles, Orange County, New Jersey, Chicago and Philadelphia, among others, began calling for a public boycott of the filmmaker's upcoming movie, "The Hateful Eight."
Los Angeles Police Dept. Lt. Craig Lally, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, says that when Tarantino called specific police officers "murderers" four days after a New York police officer was killed in East Harlem, he showed a "stunning lack of sensitivity" toward the family of the slain officer and his uniformed colleagues.
Lally thinks that public outrage over Tarantino's remarks and their timing will damage "The Hateful Eight" when it opens on Christmas.
"There's an underground of people who are very pro-police, and you don't hear about them until they get pissed off," Lally said. "And it's going to be this underground that shuts down the movie, not the cops."
Tarantino, though, says he is standing by what he said.
"I'm not being intimidated," he said. "Frankly, it feels lousy to have a bunch of police mouthpieces call me a cop hater. I'm not a cop hater. That is a misrepresentation. That is slanderous. That is not how I feel.
"But you know, that's their choice to do that to me. What can I do? I'm not taking back what I said. What I said was the truth. I'm used to people misrepresenting me; I'm used to being misunderstood. What I'd like to think their attack against me is so vicious that they're revealing themselves. They're hiding in plain sight."
Child shot multiple times in head, killed; driver critically injured after marshal-involved shooting Tuesday night in Marksville
Updated, 11:35 a.m.: A six-year-old boy was fatally wounded and his father was listed in critical condition after a chase with deputy city marshals in Marksville ended in a shooting on Tuesday night, Louisiana State Police said.
The boy, Jeremy David Mardis, of Effie, was killed by multiple gunshot wounds to the head and torso. He was pronounced dead at the scene, Avoyelles Parish Coroner L.J. Mayeaux said Wednesday. The boy was a student at Lafargue Elementary in Effie.
Mayeaux said the boy was in the vehicle when he was shot and it appears all the shots came from outside and through the driver's side of the vehicle. He said the investigation is ongoing, but the "working theory" is that all shots were fired by city marshals.
The shooting on Martin Luther King Drive in Marksville happened at the end of a pursuit and involved multiple city marshals from Ward 2, Louisiana State Police spokesman Trooper Daniel “Scott” Moreau said.
According to The Town Talk in Alexandria, the driver tried to run his car into a police vehicle
“The Louisiana State Police Bureau of Investigations/Alexandria Field Office responded to the scene at the request of the Marksville Police Department to investigate the incident/shooting,” Moreau said.
Chris Few, the boy’s father, was taken to Rapides Regional Medical Center in Alexandria where he’s listed in stable condition, Mayeaux said.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
6-year-old killed following officer-involved shooting in Marksville
MARKSVILLE, La. (KALB) – Louisiana State Police are investigating an officer-involved shooting that occurred around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday in Marksville on Martin Luther King Drive.
According to State Police, City Marshals from the Ward 2 office were in pursuit of a vehicle. KALB was told that City Marshals fired their weapons at the vehicle at the conclusion of the pursuit.
State Police confirmed that the driver of the vehicle, who has not been identified, is in critical condition.
His passenger was identified as 6-year-old Jeremy Mardis by Avoyelles Parish coroner Dr. L. J. Mayeux. The boy was pronounced dead.
Mardis was a first grader at Lafargue Elementary. Dr. Mayeux said the man, identified as Chris Few, is in critical condition and is the boy’s father.
State Police have not identified the officers involved in the shooting.
A manhunt is underway in Northern Illinois after two suspect reportedly shot and killed a police officer.
According to a report from Chicago station WGN, police are searching for three armed suspects, one black man and two white men, after the officer was shot Tuesday morning.
Sources also told the station that the suspects took the officer's gun and pepper spray.