These are the crime stories making headlines today, Tuesday, September 27, 2016 …
A Tennessee woman has expressed her shock and fear after walking into her home to find burglars having sex on her couch. “It’s horrible in there,” Jamie Barnes said, describing what happened when she arrived at her home in Memphis after being away for a few days and caught the burglars mid-coitus. “It’s like they had a big old nasty party.” So she picked up her broom and confronted the assailants, and the woman tried to put on one of Barnes’s dresses before Barnes grabbed it back. The woman was arrested for aggravated burglary, but the man fled before police arrived. According to WREG, neighbors became suspicious when they saw the suspects taking bins of clothes out of the home, and attempting to sell Barnes’s jewelry. [WREG]
A man armed with a machete robbed a Walgreens in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Monday morning. According to police, a Mexican male in his thirties wearing black pants and a black shirt walked into the store at 15th Street and South Lewis Avenue around 5 A.M. and demanded money from the register. After he got the cash, police said that he fled the scene on his bicycle. Only one store clerk and a manager were inside the store at the time, and no one was hurt. Police said they are canvassing surrounding neighborhoods hoping to catch the man on his bike. [KTUL]
Guillermo Romero [Chicago Police]
A Chicago man who turned 18 years old on Saturday has been charged with fatally shooting a 20-year-old man at a house party earlier this month. Police say that Guillermo Romero was at the party on September 17 when the victim, Tonriche Weathersby, 20, was hit in the side of the head with a bottle after a fight broke out. Prosecutors allege that Romero then pulled a handgun from his waist and fired twice at Weathersby, hitting him in the chest and killing him. Ironically, the party invitation specified no weapons or gangbanging. It read: “Leave the bulls–t at home and come celebrate.” [Chicago Tribune]
Marquise Hollerway [Chicago Police]
A 22-year-old Chicago man, who was paroled last year after an armed robbery on Valentine’s Day in 2013, has been charged with killing two men on Valentine’s Day in 2016. Marquise Hollerway faces two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the February 14 shooting deaths of Jeremy D. Hunter and Steven Tate, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Witnesses who found the bodies told police that they saw Hollerway leave the apartment moments after hearing the gunfire, prosecutors say. Prosecutors also allege that they have forensic evidence including traces of gunpowder residue inside Hollerway’s car, and cell phone records that show Hollerway’s phone “pinged” off a tower near the scene of the shooting. [CBS Chicago]
Law enforcement officers in Lawrenceville, Kansas, are reminding members of the public that being mad at a presidential candidate is not a reason to call police. In an attempt to dissuade people from misusing the 911 system, the police department posted a tweet that read: “We realize politics can make emotions run high, but being mad at a presidential candidate in a debate is NOT a reason to call 911.” It’s not yet clear how many residents chose to call 911 instead of tweeting or posting on Facebook, nor what those individuals hoped the police might do for them. In a tongue-in-cheek effort to head off emergency calls related to last night’s debate, the department wrote that they discourage party games that involve drinking every time a certain candidate says “yuge.” [5 News]
REMINDER
We realize politics can make emotions run high, but being mad at a presidential candidate in a debate is NOT a reason to call 911.
— Lawrence Police (@LawrenceKS_PD) September 26, 2016
Avocados, which can be used as pot pipes and classified as “drug paraphernalia” [Wikimedia Commons]
A motorist has been arrested in Missouri after a sheriff’s deputy spotted him using an avocado to smoke pot. After stopping Benjamin Hensley, 21, in Branson on September 3, two deputies approached the car and noticed the “strong odor of marijuana emitting from the interior of the car.” According to a Taney County Sheriff’s Office report, Hensley, who is a student at the University of Arkansas, pointed to an avocado in the center console of the car and told the deputies that he had made a pot pipe out of the fruit. He then pulled out and handed over a small bag of pot to the officer, who cited him for marijuana possession. Deputies confiscated the avocado, and last week prosecutors tacked on a second charge, since the avocado was classified as “drug paraphernalia.” [The Smoking Gun]
Nine people have been shot and wounded, one critically, by a disgruntled Houston lawyer who was wearing a Nazi uniform during the rampage, sources have said. Nathan DeSai, 46, was killed by police after he opened fire in a strip mall at around 6.30 A.M. on Monday. When officers arrived, the attorney exchanged gunfire with them until he was eventually shot and killed. The FBI is helping the Houston Police Department establish a motive for the shooting. During the shooting, DeSai was wearing an antique Nazi uniform with swastikas on it, according to the station. He had two guns — a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun and a tommy gun — and more than 2,500 rounds of live ammunition. Until recently, DeSai was listed as a partner at law firm McDaniel & DeSai LLP, but his LinkedIn profile now says he’s no longer affiliated with the business. His father has told reporters that DeSai was “upset” about his law partnership not going well. [Daily Mail Online]
Main image: Jamie Barnes [Photo: WREG (screenshot)]