Tag Archives: Jim Reynolds

News, Politics, Government

Remarks by the First Lady at the Joint Luncheon Meeting: Working Together to Address Youth Violence in Chicago

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By The White House

Hilton Chicago
Chicago, Illinois

1:54 P.M. CDT

MRS. OBAMA: Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. It’s good to be home. It is. Even though it’s freezing cold in April, it’s good to be home.

It is certainly a pleasure to be here with all of you today. I want to start by thanking Rahm for that very kind introduction and that very powerful statement of what our kids in this city need, and also for his outstanding leadership here in this city.

I also want to acknowledge Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. Thank you all for being here. It’s good to see you. You’re all looking good. It’s very good.

And of course, I want to recognize Jim Reynolds as well as Tom Wilson for taking the lead as co-chairs of the Public Safety Action Committee. Thank you both for your leadership, for your words, for your service. We are so very proud of you.

And most of all, I want to thank all of you for coming here today on behalf of this city’s young people. I want to thank you for your commitment to their safety, their wellbeing, and their God-given potential. And I know that many of you aren’t new to this work. For years, you have been sponsoring sports leagues, afterschool programs, summer jobs and more.

So you in this room know firsthand the impact that we can have when this city truly invests in our children. And that’s something I know from my own experience, which is why it was so important for me to be here today.

I’m here today because Chicago is my home. I was born and raised here. I built my career here. Several of my bosses are here — former bosses are here. I met and married the love of my life here. I raised my children here, who, by the way, still refer to Chicago as home. They believe it gives them a little more credibility.

So let me tell you, when it comes to ensuring the health and development and success of young people in this city, for me, this is my passion, it is my mission. And for me, this is personal because my story would not be possible without this city.

And that’s where I want to start today -– by talking about our city and the neighborhoods that make us who we are. As you all know, Chicago is truly a city of neighborhoods, separated by parks and boulevards. It’s a city where walking just a few blocks can put you into an entirely different world of experiences. Cut through a park, and you go from English to Spanish, black to white, Puerto Rican to Polish. Cross a few streets, and you go from historic homes and manicured lawns to abandoned buildings and dark street corners.

So the opportunities available to a child growing up in one neighborhood in this city might be vastly different than a child growing up just five blocks away. And that difference can

Source: FULL ARTICLE at The White House Press Office

Articles of Interest

Couple's 911 Call During Dorner Capture Released

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By Ruth Brown Audio of the 911 call made by a couple while tied up and held captive by former LAPD Officer Christopher Dorner during his rampage across Southern California has been released by San Bernardino County. You can listen to the full audio at KPCC . Karen and Jim Reynolds came to check… …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home

News, Politics, Government

Charred remains found in cabin positively ID'd as Christopher Dorner, police report

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Charred remains found in a burned out California cabin have been positively identified as that of fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.

San Bernardino County sheriff’s spokeswoman Jodi Miller said the remains were identified through dental examination in the autopsy. Authorities said other personal effects were found in the cabin, including Dorner’s license.

Miller did not give a cause of death.

The search for Dorner began last week after authorities said he had launched a deadly revenge campaign against the Los Angeles Police Department for his firing, warning that he would bring “warfare” to LAPD officers and their families.

The manhunt brought police to Big Bear Lake, 80 miles east of Los Angeles, where they found Dorner’s burned-out pickup truck abandoned. His footprints disappeared on frozen soil and hundreds of officers who searched the area and checked out each building failed to find him.

Five days later, but just a stone’s throw from a command post authorities had set up in the massive manhunt, Karen and Jim Reynolds said they came face to face with Dorner inside their cabin-style condo.

The couple said Dorner bound them and put pillowcases on their heads. At one point, he explained that he had been there for days.

“He said `I don’t have a problem with you, so I’m not going to hurt you,”‘ Jim Reynolds said. “I didn’t believe him; I thought he was going to kill us.”

Police have not commented on the Reynolds’ account, but it renews questions about the thoroughness of a search for a man who authorities declared was armed and extremely dangerous as they hunted him across the Southwest and Mexico.

“They said they went door-to-door but then he’s right there under their noses. Makes you wonder if the police even knew what they were doing,” resident Shannon Schroepfer said. “He was probably sitting there laughing at them the whole time.”

The notion of him holed up just across the street from the command post was shocking to many, but not totally surprising to some experts familiar with the complications of such a manhunt.

“Chilling. That’s the only word I could use for that,” said Ed Tatosian, a retired SWAT commander for the Sacramento Police Department. “It’s not an unfathomable oversight. We’re human. It happens. It’s chilling (that) it does happen.”

Law enforcement officers, who had gathered outside daily for briefings, were stunned by the revelation. One official later looking on Google Earth exclaimed that he’d parked right across the street from the Reynolds’ cabin each day.

The Reynolds said Dorner was upstairs in the rental unit Tuesday when they arrived to ready it for vacationers. Dorner, who at the time was being sought for three killings, confronted the Reynolds with a drawn gun, “jumped out and hollered `stay calm,”‘ Jim Reynolds said during a Wednesday night news conference.

His wife screamed and ran downstairs but Dorner caught her, Reynolds said. The couple said they were taken to a bedroom where he ordered them to lie on a bed and then on the floor. Dorner bound …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

News, Politics, Government

Couple says fugitive ex-cop Dorner tied them up in home, stole their car before presumed death

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A California couple says they were tied up in their mountain condominium by a fugitive ex-cop who allegedly killed four people before presumably dying after a firefight with law enforcement.

Karen and Jim Reynolds recounted their encounter with Christopher Dorner in chilling detail at a news conference Wednesday, saying Dorner rushed them when they entered the unit Tuesday.

“I thought we were dead,” Jim Reynolds said according to MyFoxLA.com. “Really, it was pretty scary.”

The couple said they immediately recognized Dorner from news reports, and although he said he did not want to hurt them, he put pillowcases over their heads and tied up their arms.

Jim Reynolds says Dorner told them, “I don’t have a problem with you, I just want to clear my name.”

The couple says Dorner fled in their purple Nissan. Karen Reynolds was able to reach her cell phone and dial 911.

Authorities couldn’t immediately verify the couple’s story to The Associated Press, but it matched early reports from law enforcement officials. Later reports said the incident involved two women from a cleaning crew.

The couple spoke out after authorities announced in an afternoon press conference that they believed the nearly week-long manhunt for Dorner was over, even though human remains found in the burned out cabin where he was believed to have been hiding have not yet been identified.

An official briefed on the investigation tells The Associated Press that a wallet with a California driver’s license with the name Christopher Dorner has been found in the burned rubble of a cabin.

San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon also addressed mounting speculation over whether police had purposely started a fire to smoke out Dorner, saying his deputies did not intentionally start the fire.

McMahon said deputies shot pyrotechnic tear gas into the cabin and it erupted in flames. He says the tactic was intended to drive Dorner out, but it was not their intention to set the cabin on fire. McMahon did not say directly that the tear gas started the blaze and the cause of the fire remained unclear.

The saga that had gripped the nation ended when a man believed to be Dorner barricaded himself in a vacant cabin after stealing two cars and took part in a shootout, in which he killed one sheriff’s deputy and wounded another.

Game wardens from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife spotted the Reynolds’ purple Nissan Tuesday going in the opposite direction and gave chase, department spokesman Lt. Patrick Foy said. The driver looked like Dorner.

They lost the purple car after it passed a school bus and turned onto a side road, but two other Fish and Wildlife patrols turned up that road a short time later, and were searching for the car when a white pickup truck sped erratically toward the wardens.

“He took a close look at the driver and realized it was the suspect,” Foy said.

Dorner, who allegedly stole the pickup truck at gunpoint after crashing the Nissan, rolled down a window and opened fire on the wardens, striking a warden’s truck more than …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News