THE END IS NEAR FOR THE FOUR MEN who staged the daring armed robbery at a major poker tournament in Berlin on March 6. Our most unusual story so far this month was our REPORT HERE of the brazen daylight robbery that was caught on surveillance tapes, part of which we showed you here (click on the above link).
They attempted to snatch $1.3 million, but a brave security guard tackled one of the robbers and recovered most of the loot, leaving them with barely over $300,000 for themselves.
It was disclosed yesterday by the German police that 21-yr.-old man turned himself in on Tuesday and after intensive questioning he admitted participating in the heist. He then gave the authorities the names of the other three men, a 19-year-old German, a 20-year-old from Turkey and another 20-year-old of unknown nationality.
Late last night (Wednesday) a 2nd man was taken into custody “without resistance” after presenting himself to two policemen working in a Metro station. “In my opinion, the robbery on the poker championship in the Hyatt can be considered largely solved,” a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office said this morning.
The remaining two fugitives have been entered into Interpol’s files because the police think it is probable that they have fled the country and they have issued international arrest warrants for them.
For more information, read related stories HERE and HERE.
This video report from RTL News includes some surveillance video that was not in our earlier coverage:
A LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, METRO AMBULANCE was involved in a collision around 11 pm Wednesday night that sent four people including the medics to the hospital and injured a fifth person.
Police say that the ambulance was carrying a patient to the hospital with its lights and siren on, but they have not yet determined how the accident occurred.
WHEN THE CREW WORKING THE NEWS ROOM AT OMAHA, NEBRASKA, Channel 3 heard a child’s voice coming over their emergency radio scanner, they took notice.
“Rescue squad number 21 on [sic] route to Immanuel code 2,” the young voice said, apparently coming from an ambulance. Curious, a camera crew went to station 21 and discovered what happened.
A reporter from the station who seems to be a little more worked up over it than she needs to be, tries her best to make it into a scandal, but it has a harmless ending. Watch the video report:
THE FRENCH RAILROAD SNCF ran a regularly scheduled in-house disaster drill Tuesday simulating a major incident with one of their ultra-high-speed TGV trains.
Part of the practice exercise involves the public relations department who are responsible for dissemination of the public information. Unfortunately, the faux press release was posted on their website instead of the training page and panicked relatives all over the country were greeted with:
An explosion of unknown origin occurred at 8am today aboard TGV1234, close to Macon.“The first estimates of the fire service say 102 people died and another 380 were injured. All the victims were evacuated to hospitals in Macon.
“Due to the dramatic events today on TGV1234, our site will only be publishing essential information. Thank you for your understanding.
It didn’t take long for the word to get back to HQ and the notice was quickly removed. “On March 16th, just before 12.00, an error appeared on the sncf.com site relaying information about an accident. This never took place,” the company said, adding that an investigation would seek to find out what had gone wrong as they were busily calming down distraught relatives who had been checking on their loved-one’s arrival schedules.
This tv news video shows the renegade web posting. Our friends in Quebec will also enjoy the report:
A VACANT PASSENGER TRAIN STORED OUTSIDE THE MILAN, Italy, railroad station burned Tuesday morning causing major disruptions to rail traffic and high damages.
The string of passenger cars were all old coaches that had been taken out of service and scheduled to be scrapped. For some reason, they were stored just outside the terminal shed alongside the operating trackage and had been regularly used by illegal immigrants as overnight sleeping accommodations. This home video shows the magnitude of the fire and the challenge to the firefighters:
The fire began shortly after midnight Tuesday morning and rapidly spread through the entire train. As railroad employees worked to remove all the other nearby cars that are in use, the fire spread to another train of six cars and caused significant damage.
This video shows the other trains being removed by some rather courageous engineers as the flames were threatening them:
So far there is no further information available, but the story will be updated if and when we receive any.
A MAUMEE (OHIO) EMS AMBULANCE WAS INVOLVED in a collision early Tuesday morning that sent four people to the hospital including the patient that was being taken there anyway.
The accident occurred around 3:30 am when the ambulance and an automobile traveling on cross streets crashed in an intersection. The driver of the car was seriously injured, but the ambulance personnel and their patient suffered only minor injuries. The details of how and why the accident happened are still under investigation.
WTOL-TV Ch. 11 Toledo has this early video report:
A POPULAR FAMILY-OWNED RESTAURANT IN CAHOKIA, ILLINOIS, was totally destroyed Monday afternoon by a fire of unknown origin. Stingers Restaurant and Pizzeria was not only a local favorite, but they also catered to the area police and firefighters who patronized the business loyally.
Fox2 / Nelson
The restaurant is closed on Mondays, but the owners and a couple of employees had been there earlier preparing an order of carry-outs for the local Meals-on-Wheels program. Nobody was in the business at 2:30 when the fire broke out, however. The incident brought units from 12 neighboring fire departments with over 70 firefighters. The Cahokia VFD attempted to attack it from the interior, but the fire was too advanced to remain inside.
Fox2
The entire roof collapsed into the building and everything was burned. There is no indication of anything suspicious, but the Illinois State Fire Marshal’s office is investigating the cause. KPLR-TV filed this video report:
A SANDY SPRINGS, GEORGIA, HOME BURNED TO THE GROUND early Monday morning. The 6,800 sq. ft. mansion was undergoing a major renovation and the family, which had lived there for at least 20 years, was staying elsewhere during the work.
WSB-TV
The fire was discovered by a police cruiser after it broke through the roof shortly before 3 am. When the FD arrived it faced an access challenge because the house had a “several hundred” foot-long driveway and was built against a steep hillside in the rear. The first-arriving officer described it as “almost a fireball” as the stores of paints and flooring materials were feeding the fire.
The home is a total loss and investigators are waiting to get into the rubble to try and find the cause. Currently, arson is not suspected.
A YOUNG MAN DRIVING A CAR WITH TWO OTHER passengers in Kansas City, Missouri, somehow didn’t see Big Red at 3:30 Sunday morning. Police say that he was fiddling with his GPS receiver while driving and breezed through a red light and smashed into the side of Engine 8 that was returning to quarters after a call.
The fire engine wasn’t too badly damaged, but the car…….
AN EARLY-MORNING FIRE IN A ROMAN, (ITALY) DANCE HALL killed four people when they were trapped with only one possible exit.
La Stampa
The club was a large concrete room that had been created in an underground parking garage. The police are investigating the circumstances and what may have caused the fire. One possibility they are considering is a circuit overload from the sound amplifying equipment that was being used for the party.
La Stampa has this STORYalong with a photo gallery.
In Diretta has this video report from the fire scene later today:
WE HAVE NO INFORMATION ON THIS FIRE Tuesday night in Turin (Torino) Italy. But it’s always enlightening to see the the operations and equipment deployed by the Vigili del Fuoco.
THE NORTON, OHIO, FIRE DEPARTMENT knew that they needed a new building to house Station 1, so they have been planning and acquiring land. Everything is all set for a groundbreaking later this month with a hoped-for opening in November. But it won’t be happening any too soon.
On February 24 the on-duty firefighters heard a loud crack coming from the roof. When they went up to inspect it to see what was wrong, they found that nearly all of the roof trusses had snapped. About 30-seconds later, the drywall in the station started splitting. They immediately got all of the trucks out of the station, three ambulances, a rescue truck, two fire engines, a tanker, and a brush truck.
Some citizens came by to help the FD load up
and move their equipment out of the building.
(Akron Beacon Journal photo)
The next day a structural engineer said that the building had been infiltrated with dry rot and was in danger of collapse. Everything else was then removed from the building. Some of the apparatus were moved over to Station 2, but the rest had to be located in a heated building that was quickly rented.
Yesterday, Thursday March 11, the roof collapsed sometime in the early afternoon. A city councilman was driving by the vacated firehouse and saw a hole in the roof. He called the fire chief and the firefighters drove over to see what it was. As soon as they got there, they had to leave on a fire call, but when they came back the entire roof had collapsed.
WEWS-TV has today’s video report on this latest event:
Read more on Ohio.com HERE and HERE.
Norton Fire Department WEBSITE.
THE FRIENDSHIP ENGINE & HOSE CO. has been serving Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, since 1780 and is one of the oldest fire companies still active in the state. Friendship is one of five VFD’s in the borough, but it is also the only one that has refused to bring its membership up to the minimum standards mandated by the Chambersburg Fire Chief.
In the mid-1970’s Chambersburg took over most of the financial obligations of the town’s 5 volunteer companies while combining four of them in two borough-owned firehouses. The 5th company still operates out of its own house. Chambersburg also owns most of the appratus and provides paid drivers for the engines. The McKinley St. station where Friendship operates out of is also used by the Good Will Fire Company.
The borough also requires the volunteer firefighters to meet minimum standards for training and personnel requirements such as background checks. Fire Chief William FitzGerald has given Friendship until April 10 to remove the fire engine that they own and until September 1 to qualify its members properly. Chief FitzGerald tells WHTM-TV:
“We’ve gotten past the point of talking to them about meeting the standards,” said FitzGerald. He says their volunteers do not meet national standards in things like CPR and Hazmat.
“Most of these things are not hard to get. We provide the computers — most can be done online,” said FitzGerald. But he says they also have not fulfilled bare minimum borough requirements.
“The biggest stepping stone is we need to have a full background check, a physical and we need them to sign an arson affidavit,” FitzGerald.
The time for talking is over after several months of discussions and no attempts being made by the volunteers to meet the minimum standards.
WHP-TV Ch. 21 has this video report:
The Chambersburg Public Opinion has MORE HERE.
Friendship Engine & Hose Co. WEBSITE. (Recommended, click on the History Page button.)
AN EXPERIENCED 9-1-1 DISPATCHER IN PUNTA GORDA, FLORIDA, is on administrative reassignment today after an incident where an ambulance was not dispatched until 14 minutes after the call came in.
The incident took place on Friday night when a caller reported that a 91-yr.-old woman was in cardiac arrest. The dispatcher who is also a supervisor, took the call and immediately sent a police unit and a fire engine that was staffed with three EMT’s and one Paramedic. But for some as-yet-unknown reason, the ambulance wasn’t dispatched until much later.
This video report from WZVN-TV has the full story, but the newscasters appear to be trying to blame the dispatch error for the woman’s death, despite the timely arrival of the paramedic engine crew:
AN EARLY-MORNING FIRE IN A FASHIONABLE restaurant district in London, England, on Thursday has gutted a 4-story building and spread to a second building before the London Fire Brigade was able to contain the blaze.
The fire was reported around 4:30 am and the first-arriving units found the building well-involved already. Upgraded responses brought over 100 firefighters to the scene and it took them more than six hours to bring it under control. Early in the operation the top two floors collapsed after the FF’s attempted to do a primay search with thermal imaging cameras. It is believed that there were no casualties from the fire.
BBC News
Some unconfirmed reports say that the restuarant involved is The East Room, a private members’ club. Others say that it began in the Sosho Bar and Restaurant. Police and fire investigators are on the scene, but it will be a long time before they can get inside to search for the cause and point of origin.
Sky News has posted this brief video report from the fire scene:
A 76-YR.-OLD MAN DRIVING ON I-465 in Indianapolis, Indiana, started to exit the freeway Tuesday afternoon, then changed his mind and attempted to pull back into the traffic lane. He then struck an SUV causing it to spin around and collide with a tractor-trailer carrying a large water tank containing salt-water fish.
The truck crashed into the jersey barrier splitting open the fuel tank and starting a diesel fire before the vehicles even came to a stop.
WRTV
The fire was so destructive to the asphalt pavement that the highway had to be shut down for several hours while an emergency re-paving job was done to the lanes. Police believe that alcohol was a factor in the cause of the wreck.
WISH-TV Ch. 8 has this video report including an interview with the obviously disgusted truck driver:
A 2-ALARM FIRE IN A NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT, apartment building has left nearly 100 people homeless this morning.
The Day / Jensen
The blaze broke out on the 3rd-floor of the 36-unit building and quickly got up into a false attic where a peaked roof had been built over the original flat roof. When the first-alarm units arrived, the fire was growing rapidly and they FF’s were faced with a major rescue challenge with 30 to 40 people trapped in their apartments.
Fire attack was delayed as all hands were devoted to the evacuations. “While we were doing that, we couldn’t extinguish the fire, so it did get ahead of us a little bit,” New London Fire Chief Ronald Samul told reporters. Approx. 6 people were brought down via ground ladders and so far only three injuries have been reported, all of them civilians suffering smoke inhalation.
The fire started around 10 pm Tuesday night and it was called under control at 2:30 am Wednesday. Chief Samul said the city’s hydrants were running at maximum capacity and “we’re taking every drop” as firefighters battled the blaze.
This video report from The Day has good fire footage and an interview with Chief Samul:
The Day also has a written report HERE.
New London Firefighters L-1522 WEBSITE.
THE SAN CARLOS, CALIFORNIA, CITY COUNCIL is considering a brainstorm presented by their City Manager Mark Weiss. He thinks that the cash-strapped city could save $3 million to 5.5 million if they shut down the police department and the fire department and contracted other agencies to provide the emergency services.
His plan calls for contracting with the San Mateo County Sheriff’s office to patrol the streets and answer calls, and making an agreement with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or CalFire, to come in and answer fire calls.
According to THIS ARTICLE in the San Jose Mercury-News, Weiss said he prefers the outsourcing plan because the city needs to “do something bolder” than what they have been doing for the past several years. His alternative proposal to the “outsourcing” is to save the money by, among other tricks, closing the city’s Youth Center and discontinue televising the City Council meetings. (We are not making this up…Ed.) The article does not say whether Weiss has gotten any pre-approval from either the Sheriff’s Dept. or CalFire for this scheme.
Firegeezer is of the opinion that the good citizens of San Carlos are in real trouble when their city is being run by somebody who thinks that running a “youth center” is more important than running a police station. When you think that televising the city council public meetings is more valuable than sending out a fire engine to handle an emergency, then you have completely lost touch with reality.
“If we adopt this, if we totally outsource departments, it will dramatically affect how we do business,” Weiss said. (At least he’s got that part right….Ed.)
The San Mateo Daily Journal has MORE.
San Carlos Fire Department WEBSITE.
* * * * *
IN VIGO COUNTY, INDIANA, NEVINS TOWNSHIP Trustee Carl Gregory arbitrarily shut down the town’s volunteer fire department last Monday March 1 after he became upset with some administrative shortcomings of the VFD.
Gregory donned his best coveralls for this interview with WISH-TV last week:
But the township leaders have had second-thoughts on such a drastic reaction to the lack of a few reports and rapidly called a meeting of all the involved parties to settle the dispute. Work has commenced at the firehouse to satisfy some requirements and the volunteers are expecting to return to answering alarms in a few days.
WTHI-TV Ch. 10 filed this video update last night:
A GREENFIELD, OHIO, MAN IS BEING ARRAIGNED today on two felony counts of child endangerment following a fire in his house Sunday morning that killed his two sons ages 3 and 4. Following the 8 am court appearance, he is being held on $1 million bond. Investigators said they are charging Wesley Coonrod, 42, because of his level of intoxication and his actions when the fire started.
Wesley Coonrod
Investigators have not yet determined what started the fire, but neighbors reported that it was well involved before the FD arrived and the house was so filled with smoke that none of the neighbors were able to get inside to search for the boys.
Coonrod has a prior arrest record including domestic violence, aggravated menacing, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and numerous criminal damaging and OVI and DUI arrests.
The Red Cross had just moved the family temporarily into the duplex apartment two days earlier following another fire in their previous dwelling last week.
A GROUP OF ARMED ROBBERS CHARGED INTO a high-stakes poker tournament in Berlin, Germany, Saturday in a brazen attempt to steal the $1.3 million jackpot.
The four masked men armed with guns and machetes stormed into the tournament room at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz at 2:15 pm and made a rush for the money cache.
Over the next several minutes there was a brave resistance mounted by the security guards who managed to reclaim a large part of the jackpot cash that was in several bags.
Security cameras throughout the game room recorded much of the holdup and the crowd reaction. This raw video from AP shows some of the footage:
Much of the tapes have not been released by the police who say that they believe they can identify the culprits from the videos. They are not disclosing how much of the money ended up being taken, but have said it’s in the “low six-figures.” A later report says that it was about $140,000. A security guard who tackled one of the robbers was able to save a large part of the loot.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
Police officials said the robbers appeared to be less than professional. Detectives said they are reviewing video of the heist, which they said shows at least one robber who failed to wear gloves.
“We obtained fingerprints,” Mr. Gassen said.
Detectives said they are also reviewing surveillance video of the hotel and surrounding area. Police said they hope to trace the path of the robbers from the earliest possible on-camera sighting prior to the heist, until they made their getaway. Mr. Gassen declined to say whether police have clear pictures of the robbers without their masks.
THREE WEEKS AGO TODAY ON FEBRUARY 14, Firegeezer reported HERE on a deadly fire in Cicero, Illinois, on Valentine’s Day. The fire broke out in a house that had been illegally converted to separate living units and the fire spread to the next building over that had been altered similarly. Altogether nearly 30 people were crammed into the tenements and when the fire was extinguished there were seven dead inside the house. Roughly 20 people escaped, but the exact number isn’t known.
See Larry Shapiro’s 180-image photo gallery of this fire HERE.
This past Wednesday March 3, two men were arrested and charged for arson and murder in the case. One of them was the owner of the buildings Lawrence Myers, 60, and a maintenance man, Marion Comier, 47. According to the prosecutors, Myers hired Comier to set the fire in exchange for $3,000 to $15,000. The prosecution says that Myers was in financial difficulty, behind in mortgage payments and facing foreclosure on two other properties that he owns in other towns. His motive was to collect $250,000 in insurance that he held on the Cicero house. The Chicago Tribune reported:
“It was done at the wrong time,” Lawrence Myers said in a secretly taped conversation with the maintenance man, Marion Comier, according to prosecutors. “I didn’t want any of this to happen.” Myers had instructed Comier to burn down the apartment building during the day “when the children were at school and the women were at work,” according to one of the recordings, prosecutors said.
The two are also heard on the wiretaps talking about how much Comier would be paid, anywhere from $3,000 to $15,000, Cook County Asst. State’s Attorney Mary Lacy said in court.
And they discussed how Comier used a mixture of gasoline and oil to start the fire in an attempt to disguise the smell. “I dumped it on there, threw in a match and that was it,” Lacy said, quoting Comier’s statement. The fire started in the rear of the first floor of the building, which was empty, Lacy said. But it raced up a back stairs, cutting off the only escape for people on the second floor.
During one taped conversation, Myers repeatedly discussed plans to take the insurance money and flee to West Virginia, where he would live without a mailbox or telephone so he would be difficult to find.
In the days after the fire, three witnesses came forward and told Cicero police they had heard Myers and Comier discussing burning down the building, prosecutors said. One of the witnesses said Comier admited setting the fire.
Witnesses also described hearing Myers repeatedly calling Comier before the fire and asking him to do it, prosecutors said. A witness agreed to wear a wire and, on five separate days, recorded the two making statements implicating themselves, prosecutors said.
Both men were arrested Wednesday evening at 6 pm and are charged with seven counts of 1st-degree murder and two counts of aggravated arson. Read the full story in the Chicago TribuneHERE.
The men were arraigned Friday afternoon and WFLD-TV Ch. 32 filed this video report:
A MANITOWOC, WISCONSIN, WOMAN DECIDED THAT THE SIGNS in the Lincoln Park Zoo that say “Stay Away From Fence” and “Do Not Feed Animals” didn’t apply to her.
Saturday just before noon she decided to share her lunch with the cute, cuddly black bear, so she went around the barrier and stuck her hand holding a plastic bag containing people food through an access hole in the fence. The cute, cuddly black bear promptly chomped down on the proffered treat, bag, food, and woman’s hand.
By the time her boyfriend was able to pry the bear’s jaw open, the 47-yr.-old woman, Tracy Weiler had lost her entire thumb, forefinger, and portions of her middle and ring fingers. The Associated Press filed this video report:
Weiler and her boyfriend both admitted that they had been drinking alcohol that morning (Who would have guessed?! ….Ed.). The 51-yr.-old man suffered lacerations from his efforts, but no lost appendages.
EIGHT WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN, FIREFIGHTERS WERE injured at a major fire Friday when an aerial operating a master stream brushed along a high-voltage electric line. All of them were transported with non-life threatening injuries, but one of them remains hospitalized with burns. Most of them were people who were on the ground but in contact with the truck when it happened.
WISN-TV
The fire began at 2 pm when a grease pit under the broiler flamed up. One of the restaurant’s cooks was there and he acitvated the Ansul system before initiating an evacuation of the popular tavern. By the time the FD arrived, the fire had extended rapidly.
The 6-alarm fire completely destroyed the Mulligan’s Sports Bar & Restaurant, a popular business in the community of Delavan.
To “FD” or Not “FD,” – Politicians Puzzled
CommentsTHE SAN CARLOS, CALIFORNIA, CITY COUNCIL is considering a brainstorm presented by their City Manager Mark Weiss. He thinks that the cash-strapped city could save $3 million to 5.5 million if they shut down the police department and the fire department and contracted other agencies to provide the emergency services.
His plan calls for contracting with the San Mateo County Sheriff’s office to patrol the streets and answer calls, and making an agreement with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or CalFire, to come in and answer fire calls.
According to THIS ARTICLE in the San Jose Mercury-News, Weiss said he prefers the outsourcing plan because the city needs to “do something bolder” than what they have been doing for the past several years. His alternative proposal to the “outsourcing” is to save the money by, among other tricks, closing the city’s Youth Center and discontinue televising the City Council meetings. (We are not making this up…Ed.) The article does not say whether Weiss has gotten any pre-approval from either the Sheriff’s Dept. or CalFire for this scheme.
Firegeezer is of the opinion that the good citizens of San Carlos are in real trouble when their city is being run by somebody who thinks that running a “youth center” is more important than running a police station. When you think that televising the city council public meetings is more valuable than sending out a fire engine to handle an emergency, then you have completely lost touch with reality.
“If we adopt this, if we totally outsource departments, it will dramatically affect how we do business,” Weiss said. (At least he’s got that part right….Ed.)
The San Mateo Daily Journal has MORE.
San Carlos Fire Department WEBSITE.
* * * * *
IN VIGO COUNTY, INDIANA, NEVINS TOWNSHIP Trustee Carl Gregory arbitrarily shut down the town’s volunteer fire department last Monday March 1 after he became upset with some administrative shortcomings of the VFD.
Gregory donned his best coveralls for this interview with WISH-TV last week:
But the township leaders have had second-thoughts on such a drastic reaction to the lack of a few reports and rapidly called a meeting of all the involved parties to settle the dispute. Work has commenced at the firehouse to satisfy some requirements and the volunteers are expecting to return to answering alarms in a few days.
WTHI-TV Ch. 10 filed this video update last night:
d