Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Crime Alert 02.17.23

Episode Date: February 17, 2023

Armed robbery suspect sentenced. Nursing home prematurely declares a death.  For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Alert, I'm Nancy Grace. Breaking crime news now. Brian Byers points a gun at employees in a Missouri sushi restaurant demanding money. While one person opens the register, the other employees jump into action. One grabs the gun and fights, while another throws plates of food and a chair at the armed robber. Crime Online's John Limley. Nancy, authorities arrest buyers and commend the employees for their bravery. Upon inspection, cops discover the gun buyers was carrying did have the slide from a Glock-style pistol,

but the body was an airsoft gun, making the weapon incapable of firing shots. Breyer sentenced to six and a half years in federal penitentiary for armed robbery. An 82-year-old woman passes away at an Iowa nursing home, and a local funeral home is called. When workers unzip the body bag, the woman is still breathing. She is rushed to the hospital. This incident comes only days after an Iowa memory care facility was fined $10,000 for a similar incident in which a patient was declared dead, transported to a funeral home, and then found breathing. Nancy, that woman,

only 66 years old, was returned to care but passed away several days later. New York police investigating the Water's Edge nursing home and workers could face charges for the premature declaration of death. More crime and justice news after this. Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news, Crime Online's John Limley. One person was killed and three more wounded in a shooting at a shopping mall in El Paso, Texas, adding to the dozens of people already killed this year in mass shootings across the United States. El Paso police said hours after the gunfire that two people had been taken into custody, though details of what led to the shooting remained unclear. Authorities said that the Celo Vista Mall was still considered a crime scene,

and that it would remain locked down until authorities complete their investigation. The shooting happened in a busy shopping area and across a large parking lot from a Walmart, where 23 people were killed in a racist attack targeting Hispanic people in 2019. El Paso, with a largely Latino population of about 700,000 people, sits on the U.S. border with Mexico, where residents of both countries cross frequently. Two sheriff's deputies who have been suspended for five days for their role in the arrest of Tyree Nichols failed to keep their body cameras activated after they went to the location where Nichols had been beaten by five Memphis police officers. Sydney Sumner is with Crime Online.

Shelby County Sheriff's Office deputies Jeremy Watkins and John Tavius Bowers each violated multiple policies after they reported to the location of Nichols' violent arrest on January 7th. Nichols had fled a traffic stop but was caught near his home by Memphis Police Department officers who punched him, kicked him, and hit him with a baton. Video released by the city showed several law enforcement officers standing around as Nichols struggled with serious injuries while he sat on the ground propped up against a police car. Nichols was taken to a hospital in an ambulance that left the location of the beating 27 minutes after emergency medical

technicians arrived. Nichols died at a hospital on January 10th. Five Memphis police officers accused of beating Nichols have been fired and charged with second-degree murder. One other Memphis officer has been fired but not charged criminally for his role in the traffic stop that preceded the beating. The University of Texas at Dallas has banned a student from attending classes on campus while she serves house arrest in Texas ahead of a trial in a Las Vegas area stabbing that drew international attention. Authorities in Nevada have said that 22-year-old Nika Nkubin attacked her date in a hotel room last year in retaliation for the 2020 death of an Iranian military leader killed in a U.S. drone strike. A university spokesman confirmed that

Nkubin was admitted for the spring 2023 semester before university officials became aware that she was charged with a crime and is under the jurisdiction of a Nevada court. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro says he will not allow his state to execute any inmates while he is in office and called for the state's lawmakers to repeal the death penalty. Crime Online's Sydney Sumner. Shapiro, who was inaugurated last month, said he will refuse to sign execution warrants and will use his power as governor to grant reprieves to any inmate whose execution is scheduled. In doing so, he is

exercising an authority used for eight years by his predecessor, Governor Tom Wolf, to effectively impose a moratorium on the death penalty in a state where it is sparsely used. Shapiro went further, asking lawmakers to repeal the death penalty, calling it irreversible. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 27 states currently allow the death penalty. Missouri cops answer a call at a convenience store and find someone used a fuel pump handle to smash in a glass door. The cops follow footprints in the snow to a nearby home and find two juveniles with stolen tobacco products. They're arrested for B&E,

breaking and entering, robbery, and given MIPs, minors in possession, as a cherry on top. For the latest crime and justice news, go to CrimeOnline.com. With this crime alert, I'm Nancy Grace. This is an iHeart Podcast.