The Daily Blog

11-Year-Old Boy Punches Teacher In Nose At Adelanto Community Day School.

ADELANTO, Calif. — An 11-year-old California boy at an alternative school for at-risk students is accused of punching his fifth-grade teacher in the face and breaking her nose.

San Bernardino County sheriff’s investigators say the teacher was attacked around 9 a.m. Thursday at the Adelanto Community Day School in Adelanto, about 85 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

The teacher was taken to a nearby Mojave Desert hospital for treatment. The boy is in juvenile hall for investigation of assault.

Investigators tell the Victorville Daily Press that the boy became upset when the teacher asked him to move to another seat in the classroom. The boy refused to move and yelled at the teacher before getting up and punching her.

Cane Corso Mastif Mauls 4-Year-Old Boy In Brooklyn.

A Brooklyn boy was fatally mauled by a family dog Friday in a split-second attack that may have been prevented.

Jayelin Graham, a 4-year-old boy, was killed when the dog, a Cane Corso Mastif, erupted in a violent rage, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. No one seems to know what set off the dog, but apparently the animal was already a known menace in the neighborhood.

“Within a split second it happened,” Calandra Jubeark, the boy’s aunt, told WABC-TV. e “[Saquina Jubeark, the boy’s mother] said, ‘The dog wouldn’t let go.’ It’s painful.”

The dog’s owners maintain the dog did not have a vicious nature, but neighbors seem to disagree, accoridng to ABC.

A man who tried to save the boy from the dog said as soon as the dog had the child in his jaws, there was no hope.

“He was trained to kill,” the man told the Daily News. “He had the boy by his throat. The dog was shaking him. He had no chance.”

According to ABC News the dog apparently belonged to the boy’s mother’s boyfriend.

Jayelin’s other siblings have since been removed from the apartment, though the dog was tranquilized and taken away following the attack.

Charges are yet to have been filed.

It’s a Boy: R&B Singer Syleena Johnson Gives Birth.

R&B star Syleena Johnson gave birth on Super Bowl Sunday to a healthy baby boy named Kingston Garris.

“Being chosen to bring life into this world is the greatest gift God gave,” the singer told BlackVoices.com.

 Kingston weighed in at eight pounds and five ounces when he was born.”It was a hard, terrible delivery,” Johnson shared. “It was 13 hours of labor with three hours of pushing. We had to have an emergency C-section from complications. But thank God he is here and healthy!”In 2007, Johnson got married for a second time to international basketball star Kiwane Garris, a point guard currently playing for Reyer Venezia of the Italian Series A2.The couple also has a 3-year-old son named Kiwane Garris, Jr.

On the music front, the 34-year-old singer will soon be putting the final touches on her fifth CD, ‘Chapter V: Underrated.’

After years of being signed to Jive Records, in 2009 Johnson released her last CD, ‘Chapter 4: Labor Pains’ independently on her own label, Aneelys Records.

That CD featured the hit song ‘Maury Povich,’ which explored the crazy relationship drama often featured on that talk show.

A frequent collaborator with R&B veteran R. Kelly, Johnson is best known for hits like ‘Guess What,’ ‘I Am Your Woman’ and ‘Another Relationship.’ She also has a duet with Kanye West on his 2004 single ‘All Falls Down.’

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon Expecting a Boy and a Girl.

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon are already looking forward to double duty with the upcoming birth of their twins, but the couple are now happily revealing that they’re getting the best of both worlds and expecting both a boy and a girl.

The pair, who married in 2008, announced Carey’s pregnancy in October 2010, although it wasn’t until December that news that the pair were expecting twins was made public.

Now Carey tells Life & Style, “There were fan contests on Twitter about what gender they are and rumors about them being two boys or two girls — but nobody guessed this!”
Carey expressed excitement about expecting children of both sexes, but the Hello Kitty fan says she won’t be imposing any of her girly-girl aesthetic on her kids. “Even before we announced it was twins, I was trying to keep everything gender-neutral because I didn’t want to impose an identity on them too soon,” she says.

During an appearance on ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show,’ Carey said of her design choices, “I’m not going to impose pink on a girl. You think I’m really going to go that hard with it?” to which Ellen responded, “When that baby comes out, you’re going to have high heels on it immediately.”

The singer, who initially kept mum about her pregnancy despite her growing belly, first broke the news of her “double treat” to another power couple: Barack and Michelle Obama.

Following her performance at TNT’s ‘Christmas in Washington’ special, the singer ran into the Obamas backstage and told them the news. Cannon said of the event, “Because of the excitement, because of the emotion, she was overwhelmed [and] she shared with the President and First Lady that we are having twins.”

10-Year-Old Ohio Boy Suspected of Killing His Mother.

Investigators in north central Ohio have taken a 10-year-old boy into custody for suspicion of killing his mother with a .22 caliber rifle, police said.

According to the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office, a police dispatcher received an emergency call about 6 p.m. Sunday. The caller told police that a neighbor boy had come to the caller’s home and said he just shot his mother, a police press release said.

Police and emergency medical responders were sent to the boy’s home on Route 511 in Big Prairie, an unincorporated community about 75 miles south of Cleveland. When they arrived on the scene, they discovered the victim, 46-year-old Deborah L. McVay, face-down inside the home. McVay had been shot once in the head and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.The 10-year-old boy, who is not being identified because of his age, was taken into custody and transported to the Richland County Juvenile Detention Center in Mansfield. The victim’s body is being examined by the Stark County Coroner’s Office.

The victim’s 15-year-old daughter has been placed in the care of relatives, police said. Her whereabouts at the time of the shooting remain unclear.

According to Cleveland’s WEWS-TV Channel 5 News, the 10-year-old boy is scheduled to appear in Holmes County Juvenile Court today.

Contacted by AOL News, the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office said the investigation is ongoing and they had no additional information to release on the case.

Police Say Mom, Daughter Sexually Abused Same Boy.

PHOENIX - The daughter of a county supervisor has been arrested on suspicion of sexual misconduct with the same teenage boy that her mother is accused of sexually abusing over a three-year period, police said Thursday.

Rachel Katherine Brock, 21, was arrested Wednesday on three counts of sexual conduct with a minor and one count of transmitting obscene material as part of an ongoing investigation surrounding her mother, 48-year-old Susan Brock.Both women were being held without bond at the Maricopa County jail.

In Rachel Brock’s initial court appearance, acting attorney John Rock argued that the judge should free her on bond because there appeared to be no physical evidence to support any of the charges. Rock also said the teen would have been asked if he had been a victim of any other sexual abuse when Susan Brock was arrested in October.”It appears that he’s given contradictory information,” Rock said. But the judge wasn’t persuaded.

It was unclear whether Rachel Brock had a permanent attorney. Susan Brock’s attorney, Pheron Hall III, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Thursday.

Rachel Brock is the daughter of Maricopa County Supervisor Fulton Brock, and Susan Brock is his wife of 28 years. The family lived together in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler but Fulton Brock filed for divorce after his wife’s arrest.

Rachel Brock is accused of committing numerous sex acts with the teenage boy between February 2007 and August 2008, and sending him nude photos and a video of herself masturbating; none of the acts involved intercourse. The boy was 14 at the time, and Rachel Brock was 18, classifying the crimes as dangerous crimes against children.

Police said that between August 2007 and October of this year, the teen met Susan Brock for sexual trysts. Susan Brock reportedly provided the boy with cell phones, and police seized text messages reportedly recording sexual exchanges between the two.

Chandler police Sgt. Joe Favazzo said it appears that Susan and Rachel Brock didn’t know about each other’s relationship with the teen.

“You have a situation where you have a mother who’s abusing a juvenile victim, seemingly unknowingly to the daughter, or vice versa, and the daughter is also abusing the same victim,” Favazzo said. “I just can’t imagine a mother and daughter having this conversation, and the investigators say they don’t have anything indicating the two of them knew about it.”

The boy, now 17, told police that Rachel Brock began abusing him in 2007 by inappropriately touching him during a trip to California, and it escalated to other sexual contact in a vehicle about a month later, according to a court document released Thursday. The boy also told police there was sexual contact with Rachel Brock at the Brocks’ home and at a property owned by the Brock family.

Susan Brock was arrested in October on two counts of child molestation and two counts of sexual contact with a minor involving the same boy.The teen told police Susan Brock would pick him up at school or home and drive him to secluded areas where they would have sexual contact in her car, although there was no intercourse, according to a court document. Authorities say Susan Brock also helped the boy meet his girlfriend and provide places where the young couple could have sex.

In a statement Thursday, Fulton Brock said “‘shocked and devastated’ are not sufficient words to describe the news this day or what has transpired over the last two months.”

“I have filed to divorce my wife. I cannot divorce my daughter,” Fulton Brock said. “She is my blood. I will always be her dad. And she needs me now more than ever.”

A third woman, Christian Hart Weems, 37, was arrested in the case Tuesday on suspicion of obstructing a criminal investigation and conspiracy to commit computer tampering. She’s accused of deleting potentially incriminating e-mails between the boy and Susan Brock. Police say Weems is a friend of Susan Brock.

9-Year-Old Becomes Youngest US Chess Master.

A 9-year-old California boy has become the youngest American to earn the title of “national master” in chess.

Samuel Sevian of Santa Clara earned the United States Chess Federation title at a match in San Francisco on Dec. 11, the federation’s website says. He earned a rating of 2,201, just over the threshold of 2,200 to become a “national master.”“It feels good,” Samuel, a fourth-grader at Don Callejon School, told the San Jose Mercury News.

He moved up from chess “expert,” a title he got at age 8, by besting the previous record holder, Nicholas Nip of San Francisco. Samuel beat Nicholas to the record by 11 days.Samuel, who turns 10 Sunday, has been playing since he was 5. “I like the tactics and the combinations,” he said.

Samuel plays chess with his father, Armen Sevian, 37, also an avid chess player at the “expert” level. The family is from Armenia, where chess players are held in high esteem.

“In Armenia, chess is very big,” Armen Sevian told the Mercury News. “It’s certainly not a geek sport. Chess players are compared to rock stars.”

Each day, Samuel spends at least two hours studying chess moves in books, playing chess with his father and practicing, via Skype, with his coach in Los Angeles.

Wis. High School Student Who Held Class Hostage Dies.

(Nov. 30) — A 15-year-old Wisconsin boy who held 23 classmates and a teacher hostage for nearly six hours before shooting himself died today of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

Samuel Hengel, a sophomore at Marinette High School in northeastern Wisconsin, died at 10:44 a.m. at a hospital in Green Bay, Marinette Police Chief Jeff Skorik told reporters. An autopsy will be conducted, Skorik said.

Police said Hengel was the only person hurt in the hostage drama. All the captives were freed Monday night, as SWAT teams stormed the classroom after shots rang out around 8 p.m.
Mystery swirls around the boy’s possible motives.

“[The case is] still under investigation,” Skorik said. “We have learned nothing more as far as the reasoning behind this.”“I was unaware of any problems with this particular student,” Lambie told today’s news conference. “He was a student in good standing. … He was an outdoorsman. He liked hunting and fishing.”

Marinette County District Attorney Allen Brey called the hostage situation a “terrible tragedy” and said authorities may “never truly know why this happened.”

Skorik said investigators will still trying to determine where Hengel obtained the two firearms, a .22-caliber and a 9-mm semiautomatic, that he took into the sixth-period class.

Students said the ordeal began between 1:30 and 2 p.m. Monday during a Western civilization class, while they were watching a film about Greek myths. Student Austin Biehl told WLUK-TV that he thought Hengel was sick because he briefly left the room, but then returned with a bag of guns and opened fire on the film projector.

After firing another round of shots, the gunman asked all the students to dump their cell phones in the middle of the room. When his own cell phone rang, he snapped it in two, student Zach Campbell said.

The gunman seemed more comfortable talking to his fellow students than to the teacher, but he allowed her to keep her cell phone and communicate with police outside, though he didn’t talk to hostage negotiators himself, witnesses and police said.

Students said the mood inside the classroom was tense at first, but then they managed to coax Hengel into chatting about his outdoor interests — even getting him to laugh at one point — as they tried desperately to win his trust and possibly save their own lives.

“I was scared at the beginning, but as it progressed it was just be calm, stay relaxed,” Biehl told WLUK. “Everyone was fine, just relaxed, just like me, except for like two of them.”

Five students managed to persuade the gunman to allow them to use the restroom. When they left the classroom, police outside whisked them to safety. One of them, Campbell, said Hengel seemed depressed but didn’t seem to want to do his classmates any harm.

“I don’t know why he did that,” Campbell told The Associated Press. Six of the shooter’s good friends were in the class, he noted.

“We just wanted to be on his good side,” Campbell said. “It was a very scary event.”

Keith Schroeder, a former teacher in the school district who knows the shooter’s family, told the Green Bay Press Gazette that he thinks 10th-grade teacher Valerie Burd probably played a key role in securing the safe release of all the students.

“She’s very dedicated, educated, loves children,” he said. “If I had been in that classroom, I don’t know what I’d have been able to do.”

The standoff ended when three shots rang out in the classroom. Police then decided to storm the room, fearful of the students’ safety. Once inside, they realized that the three shots weren’t directed at anyone and that no one was hurt, Police Chief Skorik told WBAY.

But then Hengel shot himself with a single bullet, police said.

“All of the students were safely removed from the school and were put on buses and reunited with their families,” Skorik told the TV station. Police later found the guns in the room.

Marinette is a city of about 12,000 residents, about 50 miles north of Green Bay on the state line with Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. About 800 students attend the high school.

Principal Lambie said a critical response team will meet Wednesday morning to discuss the hostage situation. Administrators will review potential changes, such as the possibility of adding metal detectors to the school, he said.

“We understand there is a fear factor that we must overcome, but we’re the adults and the leaders in the building, so we need to take care of that for our kids,” Lambie said.

Brey, the district attorney, said once the investigation is completed, a full report will be available for public review.

“We are going to be able to say at conclusion of this process that anyone may,can come and look and see that the situation was appropriately handled by the school authorities, by the police [and] by the other agencies that were here,” Brey said.


Hengel had no record of previous trouble with police. Marinette High School Principal Corry Lambie described him as a good student.