5 are dead and five more police officers shot after a gunman opened fire in Aurora, Ill. CBS:

The suspect, identified as Gary Martin, opened fired at Henry Pratt Company Friday afternoon in Aurora and was shot dead, police said.

Martin, 45, is believed to have been employed by the company.

Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said police were notified about the shooting at 1:24 p.m. They arrived on the scene at 1:28 p.m. and were immediately fired upon.

Five officers were shot. A sixth suffered a knee injury.

Five civilians were killed. The names of the victims have not been released.

ABC News has eyewitness reports:

John Probst, a Henry Pratt employee who escaped the building, said he saw a man holding a pistol with a laser scope. He said he recognized the shooter as a coworker.

There would have been approximately 30 people in the building at the time of the shooting, Probst said.

Probst said he saw other coworkers injured and that the shooter was firing indiscriminately. ...

"(The shooter) just went ballistic," John Probst, who works at Henry Pratt and was in the building at the time told ABC. "[One victim] came running down; he was bleeding pretty bad."

Probst said he recognized the shooter as a coworker. Probst said he was "rolling down the aisles" with "a pistol with a laser on it."

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Crimetip for cop impersonators! Police departments do not issue fully loaded 4Runners to officers. The Miami Herald:

“I thought, that’s weird. Well, they must have better undercover cars than they did when I was undercover,” he said.

When the driver in the SUV finally gave up trying to pull over Martinez, he changed lanes and tired to pass the commissioner, Martinez said. But Martinez said he stuck with the vehicle and eventually flagged down an officer in a squad car on the roadside, who radioed for help.

Martinez, 61, said he was there when the driver was pulled over on State Road 836 near Northwest 45th Avenue. The driver, he said, wasn’t wearing a police uniform and he had a firearm.

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Good luck escaping from this one.

Notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is convicted in Brooklyn, could put him behind bars for the rest of his life in a high-security prison.

The person stealing this package struck me as very unlucky: the homeowner has his driveway, his porch, his living room and his truck all cammed up. Then he was also lucky enough to take a lucky turn or two through his neighborhood hunting her down, and to have police give enough of a shit to send a car within a minute or two. Lake Sarasota must be awful! Read the rest

Police in Fontana, California were searching a suspected gang member's home when they found a manhole built into the floor. Down the ladder was a small secret underground hideout containing an arsenal, shooting range, and rather modest hang-out space. According to CNN, "interlocking rubber mats lined the ground in one area, with something resembling furniture pads or moving blankets fixed to walls, and a US flag hanging in one corner. Another area had a dirt ground and a wall lined with sandbags."

"We are the champions at Hide n Seek and no manhole will help you..." the police wrote on Facebook. "We strongly recommend that you put as much effort as you did in your underground cave, into becoming a productive member of society. You will thank us later for this advice." Read the rest

This spring, HBO will air a new documentary about Adnan Syed, the subject of the first season of the Serial podcast. The four-part series is directed by Amy Berg ("Deliver Us from Evil"). From the Baltimore Sun:

Syed, the subject of the wildly popular “Serial” podcast, was convicted in 2000 of killing his former girlfriend and Woodlawn High School classmate. But “Serial” raised questions about why his attorney, M. Cristina Gutierrez, did not call a potential alibi witness. The attorney died in 2004.

Syed’s conviction was vacated in June 2016 by a Baltimore circuit judge, and the Court of Special Appeals upheld the decision, prompting the state to bring its case for reinstating the conviction before Maryland’s highest court in November.

The HBO trailer prominently features Syed’s family friend, Rabia Chaudry, who brought the case to “Serial” host and former Baltimore Sun reporter Sarah Koenig. The documentary, directed by Academy Award nominee Amy Berg, promises “a piece of evidence that nobody even realized existed for all these years.”

It’s unclear when the Court of Appeals, Maryland’s highest court, will make a decision. Chaudry said in November that Syed’s family expects a ruling by August.

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Detroit cop Gary Steele pulled over a young black woman for expired plates, forced her to leave her car in -18f weather, took video of her walking off in the freezing cold, and taunted her with racist insults. He posted the video online for the amusement of other racists, went viral, was "reassigned" by his chief, and turns out to have a history of domestic violence during his time on the force.

WXYZ Detroit:

Moore was ordered to walk to her destination because of the expired tags. As she walked away, the officers recorded Moore with a cell phone camera. The officers referred to Moore as making a "walk of shame in the cold." One of the officers used the phrase "bye Felicia."

The video also included a "Celebrate Black History Month" filter that included the caption "what black girl magic looks like."

He was a cop when he shot at his ex-girlfriend a decade ago, and he's still a cop today.

UPDATE: Here's his mugshot and charge sheet from the 2008 attack on his ex-girlfriend. He was originally charged with torture and assault with intent to commit murder, among other crimes, but got to plead to a misdemeanor charge of reckless discharge.

Original charges: Torture; assault w/intent to commit murder; assault w/intent to do great bodily harm less than murder; 2 counts felonious assault w/a dangerous weapon; weapons / firearm discharge in or at a building; felony firearm. ... Plea bargain: Pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of reckless discharge of a firearm, and was placed on probation for one year.

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Youtube's ContentID system allows rightsholders to upload video and audio and block videos that contain their works (or put ads on those videos and take the revenue they generate), and to have the accounts of repeat copyright offenders permanently deleted, along with all their videos. Read the rest

Remember when drug kingpin Joaquín Guzmán Loera, aka El Chapo, escaped from prison through a tunnel below his cell that was outfitted with lighting, rails, and a motorcycle? In fact, El Chapo built his crime career on top of his tunnels, secret doors, and underground escape routes.

Read the rest

If American police were trained to do this sort of thing, how could they experience the joy of lethal escalation? [via]

The British police don't use pikes, but they do have ways and means. Read the rest

Watched and filmed by the other drivers he has delayed, a man in East London slowly, laboriously, loudly removes and steals the catalytic converter from another vehicle.

If you have plans to be in Britain any time after March or thereabouts, maybe just cancel them. Read the rest

If you're into the dark fringes of true crime media... The forthcoming documentary "Conversations With A Killer," about serial killer Ted Bundy, is based on 100 hours of two journalists' unheard audio interviews conducted on death row before Bundy was executed in 1989. From Rolling Stone:

The series also explores how Bundy was able to avert capture as he didn’t adhere to the serial killer stereotype; women flocked to Bundy’s trial despite the serial killer’s gruesome “sex crime slayings of more than 30 women.” “He was charming, good-looking, smart... Are you sure you got the right guy,” one woman says of Bundy in voiceover.

“I’m not an animal, I’m not crazy, I don’t have a split personality,” Bundy said in one recording. “I mean I’m just a normal individual.”

"Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes" premieres on Netflix on January 24, the anniversary of Bundy's execution. Read the rest

Here's something to remember come the next Sysadmin Appreciation Day: Mexican drug lord El Chapo was only caught because his systems administrator flipped and started working for the feds, backdooring El Chapo's comms infrastructure and providing the cops with the decryption keys needed to eavesdrop on El Chapo's operations. Read the rest

EU privacy rules force European companies to surrender data they hold on anyone, anywhere; and that includes SCL Elections, which owned Cambridge Analytica, the notorious Facebook data-miner and election-manipulator that extravagantly claimed to have won the election for Donald Trump. Read the rest

On Saturday night, Casper the Friendly Ghost attempted to rob a Ramada Inn in Wayne, New Jersey. According to police, the ghost jumped over the reception desk, pried open the cash drawer, and ran off with the dough. Eventually though, police determined that the ghost was not actually Casper, and not even a real specter, but rather a 59-year-old gentleman named Joseph Elder who was a guest staying at the hotel.

""... [Elder] attempted to conceal his identity with a Casper the ghost style bed sheet with holes cut out," the police said.

(NBC New York) Read the rest

In southern Italy today, a brazen highway robbery in which thieves used bulldozers to pry open an armored van on the road. Read the rest