Police officer slashed; suspect shot dead in NYC

Police officer slashed; suspect shot dead in NYC

NEW YORK

A New York City police officer shot and killed a knife-wielding man Thursday after the officer was slashed in the neck while trying to stop the man from assaulting an elderly woman, authorities said.

Officer Filippo Gugliara, 24, was hospitalized in stable condition. At a news conference, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner William Bratton praised his response.

“He faced quite clearly a life-threatening situation with this individual,” Bratton said. “But for his intercession, the assault on this 78-year-old woman – we don’t know what would have happened.”

Dolezal removed from commission

SPOKANE, Wash.

The Spokane City Council has voted to remove Rachel Dolezal, the former Spokane NAACP president, from the city’s volunteer police ombudsman commission.

The 6-0 vote came Thursday afternoon, KREM-TV reported.

On Wednesday, Mayor David Condon and Spokane Council President Ben Stuckart called for Dolezal and two others to step down from the five-member commission after an independent investigation found the three commissioners acted improperly and violated government rules.

The evidence and interviews confirmed workplace harassment allegations and “a pattern of misconduct” by Dolezal, the chairwoman, and two other commissioners, the report said. The council accepted the resignation of one of those commissioners and voted to give the other more time to respond.

World’s oldest person dies at 116

DETROIT

A woman deemed the world’s oldest person died in Michigan, about a month after her 116th birthday.

Jeralean Talley died Wednesday evening at her home in the Detroit suburb of Inkster, according to her daughter, Thelma Holloway. Holloway said Thursday that her mother was recently hospitalized and treated for fluid in her lungs before returning home “just where she wanted to be.”

Talley turned 116 last month. She celebrated at her church and a local office of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Attendees at the second event included U.S. Rep. John Conyers. The Democrat is the longest-serving member in the House, but even at 86 he was still three decades younger than Talley.

More than 70 countries make demand to Syria

UNITED NATIONS

More than 70 countries have signed a letter demanding that Syria stop indiscriminate aerial attacks that have killed thousands of people and urging the U.N. Security Council to prevent the Syrian Air Force from future attacks including dropping barrel bombs.

The letter, sent Thursday to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the Security Council and General Assembly, expresses “outrage” at the continuing violence against civilians, especially by “the systematic use of barrel bombs.”

May was reportedly the deadliest month in the Syrian conflict, now in its fifth year, the letter said, and in recent weeks Syrian air force helicopters repeatedly bombarded heavily populated areas in and around Aleppo, the country’s largest city, leaving hundreds dead and dozens of others wounded.

Associated Press