Putnam: Orlando Gunman Cleared Background Checks
June 14, 2016
The gunman who carried out a massacre early Sunday in an Orlando nightclub passed all of the legally required background checks for his weapons, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam told reporters Monday.
Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old St. Lucie County resident, had a clean criminal record, passed a mental-health screening to get a security guard job, lawfully purchased guns from a licensed dealer and abided by the state’s three-day waiting period to complete the purchase of guns, Putnam said.
“He held a ‘D’ license, as well as a ‘G’ license, which means that he is a security guard and a security guard who is permitted to carry a firearm,” Putnam said of Mateen, who was killed by local law enforcement after the attack at the Pulse gay nightclub.
“All of the information related to his application to receive those licenses was in order,” Putnam continued. “He was fingerprinted. He successfully completed the application, had a criminal background check. There is nothing in that record that would have disqualified this individual, who was a U.S. citizen, who had a clean criminal record, who underwent a background check and mental-health screening.”
Mateen’s licenses were valid through 2017.
Putnam runs the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which oversees weapons permits in Florida. The department hasn’t released Mateen’s application paperwork.
Putnam addressed the media after a meeting at the state Emergency Operations Center.
Gov. Rick Scott has labeled the mass murder at the nightclub — at least 49 victims were killed and 53 others wounded — as a “terror attack.” Putnam called it a “man-made disaster, rooted in hate, rooted in terrorist ideologies.”
Mateen, who federal officials say purchased two guns, including an assault rifle, within the past week, worked for G4S, a global security company with offices in Jupiter. He had been with the company since 2007, the same year Mateen applied for his first weapons permit.
News reports said Mateen, U.S.-born to immigrants from Afghanistan, had come to the attention of federal authorities in 2013 and 2014, but no case was ever produced. During the shooting early Sunday, he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist group, authorities said.
Putnam said his agency is working with the FBI, along with state and federal law enforcement to “coordinate the appropriate timing of the release of those records.”
Putnam objected to a characterization that the FBI was blocking the release of the records.
“There is information in those records that is relevant to the ongoing investigation,” Putnam said.
Asked about the need for legislation that would impose restrictions on assault rifles or gun rights, Putnam instead discussed the ability of people hiding “an ideology so dark, that they’re capable of using the freedoms and liberties that this country awards all our citizens for the darkest possible motives.”
Putnam said his agency is working with Volunteer Florida to create a central type of organization to assist people who want to donate to charities in the wake of the shooting.
“It is fairly common in the aftermath of a tragic event like this for people to further prey on good-hearted people’s emotions and rip them off by creating a charity that has no intention of sending the money to the victims or victims’ families or anything related to the incident,” Putnam said.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida
Wahoos Double Up On The Montgomery Biscuits
June 14, 2016
Pensacola catcher Kyle Skipworth wanted to make up for his throwing error that allowed Montgomery to get the first run of the game and, boy, did he.
Skipworth blasted the ball over the center field wall for a two-run, walk-off homer that gave the Blue Wahoos a, 4-2, victory over the Biscuits in front of 3,932 fans Monday at Blue Wahoos Stadium. Pensacola’s four wins in its last five games have all come in the team’s last at bat.
It not only helped Pensacola clinch the five-game series, 3-1, over Montgomery with one game to go Tuesday but also helped them regain a one-game lead over Biloxi. The Shuckers lost, 9-2, Monday to the Birmingham Barons.
Pensacola, which is six-for-six in series wins at home, improved to 37-26. Meanwhile, Biloxi fell to 36-27.
Skipworth, who is coming off of surgery on his right ankle in December, has played seven games behind the plate for Pensacola and now has two homers and four RBIs.
“I don’t think there is any better feeling really,” said Skipworth of his walk-off bomb. “I hope by now you know how invested I am in what I do for the pitchers. I hate when (I give up a run) because it’s my fault. I needed to come through in a spot like that.”
Pensacola manager Pat Kelly said he admires the strength of the 6-foot-4, 230-pound Skipworth.
“He hit a ball over the scoreboard last year,” Kelly said. “He’s so strong when he hits those balls they go so long. You don’t see too many go out like that.”
Montgomery right fielder Cade Gotta put the Biscuits in front, 1-0, when he walked, moved to second on center fielder Braxton Lee’s single to left, stole third base on a double steal and scored on Skipworth’s misfire to second base.
Pensacola starting pitcher Rookie Davis made his third start since a groin injury sidelined him for three starts and worked five innings — his most since returning to the Blue Wahoos starting rotation.
Davis retired the last seven Montgomery batters he faced. Davis allowed two hits, walked four and struck out three, giving up one unearned run.
“He battled,” Kelly said. “We asked him if he was in discomfort or pain? He said, ‘I’m just in discomfort.’ He didn’t have his best stuff but he battled.”
Montgomery went ahead, 2-0, in the sixth inning when third baseman Patrick Leonard smashed a hit to center field, stole second and scored when catcher Mike Marjama followed with a single up the middle.
Pensacola shortstop Zach Vincej extended his hitting streak to nine games when he led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a double that bounced of the left field wall on one hop. However, he was stranded there. During his hitting streak, Vincej is batting 13-30 (.433), raising his average from .207 to .248.
Montgomery starter Jacob Faria had Pensacola batters under his spell for 6.2 innings, allowing no runs and just three hits, while striking out seven.
“There starter was really, really good today,” Skipworth said.
However, with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning Pensacola’s Skipworth singled to right center and then Blue Wahoos third baseman Alex Blandino launched a bomb over the left field wall to tie the game, 2-2.
Faria completed seven innings, giving up six hits, allowing two runs and striking out seven.
The Biscuits came right back to take a 3-2 lead when shortstop Willy Adames drew a leadoff walk in the top of the eighth and scored on a two-out single by Marjama. Marjama stole second and then tried to score on a slow chopper to third that Gotta beat out to first. But an alert Pensacola first baseman Kyle Parker threw home to get Marjama out at the plate by a mile.
In the ninth with one out, Brandon Dixon reached first when Montgomery’s Leonard couldn’t handle his sharp grounder and then Skipworth launched his game-winning dinger
Thunderstorm Winds Cause Damage In Flomaton; Giant Flag Destroyed
June 13, 2016
Strong winds in an afternoon thunderstorms cause minor damage in Flomaton Monday afternoon.
The wind bent an 86-foot high flagpole at Rowland Tires at Highway 31 and Highway 113, and the 25 x 40 foot flag was ripped into shreds.
“It’s unfortunate when a storm like this comes up so quick because you can’t just run out and take it down,” Christopher Rowland of Rowland Tires said. “Another pole and flag has already been ordered and we will have it flying again as soon as possible.”
Reader submitted photos also showed a trampoline tossed into a pole. There were scattered reports of power lines down, and yard furniture blown about.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Terrorism Hits Florida In Nation’s Deadliest Mass Shooting
June 13, 2016
Terrorism brutalized Florida early Sunday morning in the nation’s worst mass shooting, leaving 50 people dead and dozens more injured.
The horrific shooting by a lone gunman around 2 a.m. at the Pulse gay nightclub in downtown Orlando — declared “an act of terror and an act of hate” by President Barack Obama — prompted Gov. Rick Scott to declare a state of emergency in Orange County.
Authorities identified the killer as Omar Mateen, 29, who was killed in a shootout with police after he held some club-goers hostage for about three hours. Mateen purchased two guns, including an assault rifle, within the past week, according to federal officials.
Mateen worked for G4S, a global security company with offices in Jupiter, since 2007, the company confirmed in a statement.
Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi and U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson joined local and federal officials in Orlando after the shooting. The investigation has been taken over by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI Special Agent in Charge Ron Hopper told reporters at a press conference Sunday afternoon. Hopper also said that no other suspects are linked to the shooting. Mateen had been questioned by the FBI in 2013 for “inflammatory comments” made to coworkers and again in 2014 regarding a suicide bomber, but he was not currently under investigation or surveillance, Hopper said.
In a telephone call with 911 operators around the time of the attack, Mateen — who was reportedly on a terror watch list — allegedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State terrorism group, according to authorities. After the attack, federal, state and local law enforcement were at a home in Fort Pierce where Mateen lived.
Elected officials and political candidates quickly issued statements or took to social media to condemn the massacre at the nightclub, a popular meeting place among the region’s close-knit LGBT community.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer set up a special website and hotline for families and friends, many of whom were unable to locate their loved ones late Sunday afternoon.
“This is probably the most difficult day in the history of Orlando,” Dyer told reporters at the afternoon press conference. “We need to support each other. We need to love each other. And we will not be defined by a hateful shooter. We will be defined by how we support and love each other.”
The governor asked the nation to join in moment of silence at 6 p.m. Sunday to “mourn the loss of life and also pray for those that are still fighting for their life.”
“Clearly, this is an act of terrorism. You just can’t imagine this happening in any community,” Scott, who also ordered flags to be flown at half-staff, said. “My heart goes out to every family member that’s been impacted. … This state is going to be defined as a state of generosity, a state of love. We are a resilient state. We love people in our state and we are going to continue to do that.”
Sunday’s attack “could happen anywhere in the world,” Rubio, R-Fla., said.
“Unfortunately, today was Orlando’s turn,” he went on. “We know that there’s hate in the world. We know that some of it is inspired by warped ideology. … I hope they see today they won’t terrorize America. They won’t terrorize Floridians. We stand with all Americans … irrespective of their sexual orientation.”
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Obama called the “horrific massacre” an “especially heartbreaking day for all of our friends — our fellow Americans — who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.” June is LGBT Pride Month.
“The shooter targeted a nightclub where people came together to be with friends, to dance and to sing, and to live. The place where they were attacked is more than a nightclub — it is a place of solidarity and empowerment where people have come together to raise awareness, to speak their minds and to advocate for their civil rights,” Obama said.
Many gay activists turned their grief into action by organizing blood drives, counseling and efforts to raise money for victims and their families. A number of vigils were planned across Florida on Sunday and Monday.
“We are heartbroken and angry that senseless violence has once again destroyed lives in our state and in our country,” Equality Florida said in a statement.
Gay clubs “were often the only safe gathering place and this horrific act strikes directly at our sense of safety,” the statement said.
“We have received a steady stream of emails and messages from those seeking to help or to make sense of the senseless. We make no assumptions on motive. We will await the details in tears of sadness and anger. We stand in solidarity and keep our thoughts on all whose lives have been lost or altered forever in this tragedy,” the statement concluded.
Bondi also pledged support for the LGBT community, calling it a “horrible, horrible time” in Florida.
“We are making it clear — anyone who attacks our LGBT community, anyone who attacks anyone in our state will be gone after to the full extent of the law,” she said. “You’re hearing on a horrible, tragic, violent day the word love.”
But Obama and others, including Florida Democratic Congressman Ted Deutch, also used the massacre, which left 53 people hospitalized, to press for stricter gun laws.
The president — who has seen 15 mass shootings since he took office in 2008 — noted that Sunday’s tragedy was the most-deadly shooting in the nation’s history.
“The shooter was apparently armed with a handgun and a powerful assault rifle. This massacre is therefore a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or a movie theater, or in a nightclub. And we have to decide if that’s the kind of country we want to be. And to actively do nothing is a decision as well,” he said.
Deutch said that “thoughts and prayers alone are not a sufficient response” to the situation, and demanded that lawmakers address the gun issue when Congress reconvenes Monday after a break.
Congress should immediately “vote to close the loophole that allows people on the terror watch list to buy assault rifles — or any weapon,” Deutch said in a statement. “This isn’t politics; it’s common sense.”
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Felony Suspect Arrested After Alabama Manhunt
June 13, 2016
A man wanted on an outstanding felony warrant and a person of interest in a murder was arrested after a manhunt late Sunday afternoon near Flomaton.
Johnny Jermaine Johnson, 38, was taken into custody by the Escambia County (AL) Sheriff’s Office on escape charges from community corrections, according to Escambia County (AL) Chief Deputy Mike Lambert. He was apprehended on Fannie Church Road, near Highway 31, just east of Flomaton, after a three hour multi-agency manhunt.
Law enforcement officers from Alabama and Florida, along with K-9 teams from the Century Correctional Institution, the Santa Rosa Correctional Institution and Holman Prison, tracked Johnson in an area between Highway 31 and Junction Road for about three hours.
Johnson was reportedly also a person of interest in an apparent murder Sunday morning in Brewton. Someone reportedly dropped a woman off that was beaten to death outside the D.W. McMillan Hospital Emergency Room Sunday morning. As of early Monday morning, the Brewton Police Department had not released any further information on the apparent murder.
Cantonment Church Builds Courtyard For Waterfront Rescue Mission
June 13, 2016
Pinewoods Presbyterian Church of Cantonment worked last week to construct a courtyard for the men in the Waterfront Rescue Mission program. The project was part of the church’s annual local missions outreach. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
No Injuries In Beulah Crash
June 13, 2016
There were no injuries in a two-vehicle accident Sunday at the intersection of Nine Mile and Beulah Roads. Everyone involved in the crash refused medical treatment at the scene. Further details have not been released by the Florida Highway Patrol. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
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Tate’s Branden Fryman Drafted By The New York Mets
June 13, 2016
Tate High School graduate Branden Fryman was chosen by the New York Mets in the 37th round of the Major League Baseball Draft. He was selection 1,120 overall.
Fryman has signed to play baseball for Samford University in Birmingham. Fryman hit .400 last year as a junior. The Aggies shortstop is the son of Travis Fryman who spent 12 years in the majors with the Detroit Tigers and the Cleveland Indians, and he was named an all-star five times.
Pictured: Tate’s Branden Fryman signs with Samford University. Filed photos.
Biscuits Beat The Wahoos, Snapping Three Game Streak
June 13, 2016
The Montgomery Biscuits snapped the Pensacola Blue Wahoos three-game winning streak on Sunday with a 5-2 victory.
The Biscuits relied on strong pitching from starter Hunter Wood, who limited Pensacola to two hits through five innings in his third start in Double-A, in front of the 15th sellout crowd of 5,038 at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
Pensacola snapped Wood’s scoreless inning streak at 14.1 innings when Pensacola DH Donald Lutz hit a deep sacrifice fly to center to score Sebastian Elizalde from third in the fourth inning. In his first two starts at the Double-A level, Wood had thrown 11 scoreless innings and won both games.
The Blue Wahoos finally chased Wood, the Rays’ No. 30 prospect, from the game in the sixth inning when Pensacola’s left fielder Tony Renda doubled to the left field corner and then scored when Kyle Parker smacked a double to left to pull the Blue Wahoos within, 4-2.
Pensacola manager Pat Kelly said he was impressed with Wood, now 3-0, and his mix of pitches.
“He was terrific,” Kelly said. “He has a nice mix of pitches and throws two different kinds of changeups. We had our chance in the sixth.”
However, Ryne Stanek, a former Biscuits starter and the Rays No. 17 prospect, came in and got the next two hitters out with runners on second and third. Pensacola second baseman Brandon Dixon did hit a 398-foot fly out to dead center that measures 400-feet from home plate.
Over the final 3.2 innings, Stanek, whose fast ball reaches the upper 90-mph range, allowed just two hits, walked one and struck out four to shut down the Pensacola offense.
Pensacola will remain in first place, despite the loss, in the Southern League South Division with a record of 36-26. The Biloxi Shuckers were one game behind and could tie the Blue Wahoos with a win over the Birmingham Barons.
Pensacola manager Pat Kelly played down the hunt for the first half title that gives the winner an automatic pass to the Southern League playoffs.
“You have two good teams and playing five games is tough,” Kelly said. “You’re not going to win all five games.”
Pensacola first baseman Kyle Parker, who was released from the Colorado Rockies after spring training and missed most of April before the Cincinnati Reds picked him up, got his fourth multi-hit game in his last five contests. He went 2-4 with a double and drove in one of Pensacola’s two runs Sunday.
Parker isn’t focused on the first half crown either. He said the best thing to do is relax
“We’re all competitors and we want to win,” he said. “Obviously, it’s nice to be winning. We’re playing our best every single day. Things like that will take care of themselves.”
Pensacola starter Sal Romano cruised through the first two innings, striking out four including Montgomery second baseman Tommy Coyle on a 3-2 count with runners on first and second to end the second inning.
But Romano has had tough luck this season, compiling a 1-6 record losing his last four starts in a row. He has given up 34 hits in 22.2 innings pitched during that span, posting a 5.96 ERA.
In the third inning, Montgomery finally got to Romano scoring three runs on three hits and two walks. Biscuits left fielder Pat Blair earned a leadoff walk and scored from third to give Montgomery the lead, 1-0, when right fielder Cade Gotta hit a slow roller to Pensacola first baseman Kyle Parker, who tagged him out.
The Biscuits made it, 2-0, when shortstop Willy Adames, Tampa Bay Rays’ No. 3 prospect, tripled over the Pensacola outfielders’ heads into the right center gap to drive in third baseman Kean Wong, who had singled to left field, to go ahead, 2-0.
The final run of the third inning came when DH Patrick Leonard singled on a ground ball to left field to score Adames, putting Montgomery up, 3-0.
Montgomery added another run to go up, 4-1, when first baseman Jake Bauer hit a hard liner to center in the fifth inning to score Adames from third base, which he reached when Pensacola third baseman Eric Jagielo fielded a routine ground ball and threw it past first base.
Romano finished the game throwing five innings, giving up eight hits and three walks and allowing four runs, three earned, while striking out five. He lost his fifth consecutive start and is 1-7 with a 4.93 ERA on the season.
Kelly said Romano seemed to lose faith in his 95-mph fastball when he struck out a couple batters on his breaking ball.
“I thought he lost trust in his fastball,” Kelly said. “He hurt himself with a couple of walks and the triple (by Adames) hurt him.”
Montgomery stretched its lead back to three runs in the eighth when Bauer earned a leadoff walk and reached third on a routine single to left field by Leonard. Bauer increased the Biscuits’ lead to 5-2 on a sacrifice fly by catcher Jake DePew.
‘Monster’ Fire Destroys Historic Atmore Home
June 12, 2016
A massive fire Sunday morning destroyed a historic turn of the century home in downtown Atmore.
The fire was reported about 6:35 a.m. at 311 South Main Street, at a two story, 4000 square foot home built in 1900. Flames were shooting skyward from the second floor as the fire firefighters arrived on scene.
“It was a real monster,” Atmore Fire Chief Ronald Peebles said of the fire.
For a NorthEscambia.com photo gallery, click here.
The resident of the home was reportedly not at home at the time of the blaze. A family dog was miraculously found alive and doing well on the first floor of the home nearly two hours after the blaze began. Click here to read more about the dog.
Firefighters were hampered by heat and humidity as they fought the blaze, but there were no immediate reports of any injuries. The cause of the fire is still under investigation by the Alabama State Fire Marshal.
Smoke from the fire was visible as far away as Ernest Ward Middle School on Highway 97 in Walnut Hill.
The Atmore, Poarch and Flomaton fire departments from Alabama and the Walnut Hill Station of Escambia Fire Rescue in Florida, Atmore Ambulance, the Atmore Police Department and the Poarch Creek Tribal Police responded to the fire.
“We are real blessed that we have that ladder truck, and we are grateful that these other departments responded to prevent this from becoming a lot worse,” Atmore Mayor Jim Staff said.
For a NorthEscambia.com photo gallery, click here.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
