INTERNATIONAL:
MORE THAN 50 DEAD IN RUSSIAN MALL FIRE
A fire that broke out Sunday afternoon at the Winter Cherry mall in Kemerovo, Russia has left 64 people dead and others still missing. A majority of the victims are feared to be children.
Officials said that fire exits were blocked and an alarm system was turned off when the fire broke out. Investigators also discovered that a security guard had turned off the public address system. Moreover, witnesses told Russian media outlets that the sprinklers had also failed to function.
“Serious violations (of the law) took place when the mall was being built and when it was functioning,” Svetlana Petrenko, a spokeswoman for the committee, said in a statement. “The fire exits were blocked.”
The fire burned throughout the night until it was put out Monday morning. An investigation is underway to determine what caused the fire.
NATIONAL:
FATHER OF PULSE NIGHTCLUB SHOOTER WAS A FORMER FBI INFORMANT
The trial for Noor Salman, the wife of Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen is underway and her lawyer is calling for a mistrial. This action came to be when court documents revealed that Mateen’s father, Seddique Mateen, was an FBI informant for more than 10 years.
During a search of Seddique Mateen’s residence on June 12, 2016, the day of the shooting, officials found receipts for money transfers to Turkey and Afghanistan, according to prosecutors.
Salman’s lawyers have asked that the court not continue with their planned polygraph test because of the FBI’s “desire to implicate Noor Salman, rather than Seddique Mateen in order to avoid scrutiny of its own ineptitude with the latter.”
Salman has pleaded not guilty to being charged with obstruction of justice and for material support to a foreign terrorist organization, BuzzFeed News reports.
LOCAL:
UNDERAGE DRINKING AND SHOTS FIRED AT RENO AIRBNB RENTAL
Once a popular hub for the garden scene in Reno, the Sierra Water Gardens has since become an Airbnb rental after closing its doors late last year. However, on March 24, Sierra Gardens co-owner Samantha Stremmel received a late night call that underage drinking had been fully underway and shots had been fired at the property.
“It feels like we were taken advantage of and we are just trying to do something neat for the community,” Stremmel told KOLO 8 in an interview. “To have that happen, it’s disappointing.”
According to KOLO 8, Stremmel said that she had rented out the center to a 19-year-old woman who claimed to be using the place for her parents that were visiting Reno.
Stremmel told KOLO 8 that this was her last time renting out the center for special events and will now only look for long-term leases.
Karolina Rivas can be reached at karolinar@sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @karolinarrivas.