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West Community Pulls Together After Tragedy

Written By Unknown on Senin, 22 April 2013 | 00.29

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The town of West is pulling together to help its residents affected by the fertilizer plant explosion that devastated the community Wednesday night.

In West, there is no answer to the question everyone seems to be asking: when can we return home?

The most authorities can say is "soon."

It won't be soon enough for Julia Zaharniak, who hasn't seen her home since she and her son, Anthony, 11, were running away from their home immediately after the explosion.

"It just really got to me because you just don't know what to expect and I don't have any answers to give to my son, other than this is where our life is right now," Zaharniak said Friday night.

Zaharniak found herself at the donation distribution center at the West Fest Fairgrounds, sifting through donated clothes and other items.

"I got an extra outfit which I'm wearing right now and that's the only outfit that I own," Zaharniak said.   "So I'm here to look and get me some clothes."

The donation center is a flutter of activity with explosion survivors searching for items they need and volunteers unpacking, sorting and distributing it all as quickly as they can.

"One of the most amazing things - most of these [volunteers] are actually the community members," said Shane Valverde, a field operations director with Team Rubicon, an organization helping to coordinate the donations.  "So most of these folks you see here are the ones who've been affected by this disaster."

One of those volunteers is Erick Perez, 21, who witnessed the explosion first hand and captured the moment on his cell phone video camera.

View Perez's dramatic video of the West explosion below.

View more videos at: http://nbcdfw.com.

Perez and some friends had been playing basketball when they noticed the flames rising from the West Fertilizer Plant.  

Perez told NBC 5 he recorded the flames for more than eight minutes before the explosion.  The force of the blast knocked him down. The concussion and the debris combined to total his truck.

Perez spent all day Friday helping to do whatever he could at the donation site, doing so even at the risk of hurting his own employment situation.

"I told my boss I'm not coming in to work. If she's gonna fire me, oh well," Perez said.  "And from what I've heard I think I was fired. But I don't care. I can always find a new job.  I'm gonna go be with my friends and my community up here."

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Famous Manhunts in American History

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One of the most extensive and chaotic manhunts in Boston history came to an end Friday night when the surviving marathon bombing suspect was captured alive after hiding out all day in a shrink-wrapped pleasure boat that was parked on the side of a suburban house.

Police were tipped off about 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's whereabouts when a resident of Watertown, Mass. stepped outside to smoke a cigarette and noticed a hole in his boat's covering. He peered inside and found what appeared to be, and turned out to be, a person, covered in blood.

Once police arrived, yet another shootout ensued, less than 24 hours after an explosive gun battle between suspects and authorities sent the manhunt into high gear. That gun fight led to the death of Dzhokhar's older brother and alleged accomplice, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was found with an improvized explosive device strapped to his chest. Tsarnaev escaped that scene on foot prompting a massive lockdown as police pursued their wanted man.

Below, see some of the other high-profile domestic manhunts in U.S. history:

HUNT FOR CHRISTOPHER DORNER
Found dead: 2013

The hunt for Christopher Dorner, an ex-cop who was fired from the Los Angeles Police Department in 2008, began in early February when he was named as a suspect in the fatal shooting of the daughter of a former LAPD captain and her fiancĂ©e. Over the next few days he was named a suspect in the killing of two others—both LAPD officers—and jittery police wound up opening fire on three innocent people, two of whom suffered injuries.

The hunt intensified when Dorner's truck was discovered abandoned near Big Bear Lake, prompting a door-to-door search by police. On Feb. 12 state wildlife officers encountered Dorner on the road and a shootout and chase ensued. One sheriff's deputy died and another was injured in the confrontation.

Dorner was able to make it to a cabin where he barricaded himself and entered into a lengthy standoff with police. It all came to an fiery end when law enforcement officials filled the cabin with incendiary tear gas, setting the place ablaze. Dorner's charred remains were discovered inside with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

HUNT FOR "WHITEY" BULGER
Captured: 2011

James "Whitey" Bulger, a Boston gangster wanted for 19 murders, lived on the lam for 16 years before police tracked and arrested him and his longtime girlfriend in their Southern California apartment.

Bulger was working as an FBI informant when he went on the run in 1995 after learning that he would eventually face indictment. His girlfriend Catherine Grieg joined him and was charged in 1997 for harboring a fugitive.

The FBI revived its efforts to find the pair through a series of public service announcements in 2011 that focused mainly on Greig's affinity for beauty salons and animals. Shortly after the PSAs began airing a tip came in that led authorities to a Santa Monica home, where the pair was arrested "without incident." Greig, who was 60 at the time of arrest, was sentenced to eight years in prison; Bulger, who was 81, was charged with participating in 19 murders and is awaiting trial.

HUNT FOR ERIC ROBERT RUDOLPH
Captured: 2003

Eric Robert Rudolph, the man behind the 1996 Olympic bombing in Atlanta, Ga., evaded police by hiding out in the Appalachian wilderness for years.  After carrying out the Olympic attack, which killed one person and wounded 111 others, he carried out several other bombings, targeting abortion clinics and a gay club.

His final attack in 1998 provided police with their first major lead: A witness who saw him flee the scene jotted down his license plate number, which gave police an identity to pursue. It took five years, however, before Rudolph was finally arrested in Murphy, North Carolina. He was found rummaging through the trash by a local policeman who had no idea at the time whom he had encountered. Rudolph is currently serving five consecutive life sentences.

HUNT FOR BELTWAY SNIPERS
Captured: 2002

For 23 days, a pair of gunmen who executed people at random spread terror throughout the Washington, D.C.-area. The invisible killers fired fatal shots at a man closing his pizzeria, a woman pumping gas, a man driving a bus, a woman reading in the park. Ten people were killed and three critically injured in the shooting spree before law enforcement officials were able to identify and capture two suspects.

Their break in the case came when a man claiming to be the sniper called investigators and essentially confessed to a crime he had carried out in Montgomery, Ala. Authorities in Alabama who had collected forensic evidence from that crime scene were able to help link the sniper to a dark blue Chevrolet Caprice sedan. Police and media urged the public to be on the lookout for the car, which was spotted at a rest stop off Interstate 70 in Maryland.

Police closed in and found two men sleeping in the car with a Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle, a rifle's scope, a digital voice recorder and other materials. The men, John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, were arrested at the scene. In 2003 Muhammad was sentenced to death and Malvo was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences. Muhammad was executed in 2009.

HUNT FOR UNABOMBER
Captured: 1996

Ted Kacinzsky's 17-year bombing campaign prompted the FBI's longest-running domestic terrorism investigation in the agency's history. Beginning in 1978, the reclusive terrorist targeted a long list of universities, killing three people and injuring more than 20.

In 1996, acting on a tip from Kacinzsky's brother who had read a manifesto Ted had published in the New York Times, FBI agents discovered the "Unabomber" at a crude cabin in Montana. He is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. 

HUNT FOR TIMOTHY MCVEIGH
Captured: 1995

The search for Timothy McVeigh, who killed 168 people in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, lasted less than two hours. A state trooper pulled him over for driving without a license plate 80 miles north of Oklahoma City, shortly after he had fled the scene of the attack. The state trooper discovered a concealed weapon and placed him under arrest.

But neither the state trooper nor any other law enforcement officials yet knew that McVeigh was the man behind the bombing. More than a day would pass before a hotel employee would identify McVeigh from a police sketch. It took just one call to the FBI to find that the suspect was already in jail. He was sentenced to death in 1997 and executed by lethal injection in June 2001.

HUNT FOR TED BUNDY
Captured: 1978

Theodore Robert Bundy, one of the most notorious serial killers in American history, murdered an average of one woman a month between January 1974 and February 1978. He was arrested in August of 1975 after police pulled him over and found an ice pick, handcuffs and pantyhose in his car, and later extradited him to Colorado where he faced other charges. Before that trial began, he leapt from the window of the courthouse library and was on the loose for six days before being captured once again.

But he didn't stay in custody for long. Six months after arriving at a Colorado jail he made another escape—this time by losing 30 pounds so he could fit into a light fixture hole in the ceiling of his cell. He made it across the country to Tallahassee, Fla. where his reign of terror continued.

There, he broke into a Florida State University sorority house in January 1978 and murdered two sleeping women, bludgeoning and strangling them to death. Weeks later he abducted and killed a 12-year-old girl—the final murder in his years-long spree. He was captured for good after police in Pensacola, Fla. found him driving a stolen car in February of 1978. He was convicted for the FSU murders and sentenced to death in June 1979. He was executed in 1989.

HUNT FOR BONNIE AND CLYDE
Killed:1934

Clyde Champion Barrow and Bonnie Parker, one of the most infamous couples in American history, were ambushed and killed by police in Louisiana after a brazen crime spree that captured the country's attention. The pair was accused of 13 murders and a host of robberies around the country. Their run ended after police lured them into a trap: Police enlisted the help of an ex-con, one of Barrow's former associates, who promised Barrow protection at his home. As the couple's car sped into the trap, police ambushed them, sending the car careening off the road. Both were dead at the scene.

HUNT FOR LINCOLN'S ASSASSIN:
Killed: 1865

John Wilkes Booth fled Ford's Theatre in Washington after carrying out the first assassination of an American president on April 14, 1865. He and an accomplice, David Herold, led authorities on a 12-day chase that ended in Virginia. Authorities offered a $100,000 reward for information that would lead to the capture of the brazen killer, and dispatched federal troops to search southern Maryland after receiving a tip that he might be in the area. Booth made several stops while on the lam, including his infamous stop at the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd who treated Booth's leg injury caused by his leap onto the theater's stage. He was finally tracked to a Virginia farm and shot and killed by Union soldiers.

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Texas Town Residents Slowly Allowed to Return After Blast

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Fertilizer Plant 911 Calls and History

NBC 5 Investigates obtains 911 records after explosion and looks into the West Fertilizer Company's inspection history.

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Residents of the town of West, Texas will be allowed to return home in phases starting Saturday afternoon. Wednesday night's explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. killed 14 people.

Mayor pro tem Steve Vanek announced Saturday afternoon that residents from Oak to Walnut Streets would be the first to be allowed back into their neighborhoods.

Residents would need to have their vehicles marked by authorities to be allowed inside the blast area.

The city also said a curfew would be enforced starting at sundown and that residents would need to stay inside their homes or leave the impact zone by 7 p.m. and could not return until 7 a.m.

No vehicles larger than pickups would be allowed into the area and each family would be allowed only two vehicles.

Vanek reminded residents to be aware of broken glass, nails and debris from the explosion.

The Texas Department of Public Safety reiterated that the death toll was still 14 Saturday afternoon.

Vanek would not answer reporter questions about if anyone is still missing in the explosion.

Vanek said the city was working on a memorial for those killed in the explosion, but said it was too soon to provide details.

Small Fires at Explosion Site Contained

"It is safe, it is safe, it is safe, for our citizens, Vanek said at the beginning of Saturday afternoon's news conference.

The statement came after officials told residents displaced by the massive fertilizer plant explosion in Texas that tanks on site are leaking gas and causing small fires, according to the Associated Press.

They said the fires are contained, but they prevented those who live nearby from returning to their homes in the town of West.

He said the leaks were caused by tanks damaged by heat and had triggered small fires. He said no further evacuations were necessary.

Paramedic Bryce Reed visited a hotel crammed with displaced residents on Saturday and gave a short briefing.

Reed, who is also a spokesman for West, said there may be reports of "another explosion in West," but warned that those are exaggerated.

Residents Ready to Return Home

Many West residents spent all day Saturday at City Hall hoping to get an update from officials on when the road blocks will be lifted and they'll be allowed to start picking up the pieces at home.

"We just want to get back home and get to fixing the house up. Get back to life. I know there's a lot of stuff that needs to be done to the perimeter," said displaced resident Pete Arias. "But it's not a huge perimeter."

Pete Arias, his wife Jackie and his 8-year-old son Sam have been staying with his mother in Waco.

Their house in the 900 block of Main Street was damaged but not destroyed in the explosion.

"I'm trying to stay calm about the whole situation. We're in an area where all the windows shattered and the garage doors are damaged. We all suffered the same damage on that block. Nobody's house was totally floored, or totally destroyed. We should be allowed to get in there and try and fix some of the damage to the house," he said.

Jackie Arias said she's worried about the toll it's taking on the town's children.

"Our son has to go to school on Monday, and it's like, you want your life to come back together. Especially for the kids, it's so important to keep them on schedule. Because if you don't, they know something's wrong in their world," she said.

Classes will resume on Monday and many parents said they have no idea how the school bus routes will be affected in the area.

NBC 5's Jeff Smith contributed to this report.

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Faces of the West Fallen

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Investigators are still looking for the cause of the blast in West, meanwhile...

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Apr 20, 2013

Residents of some of the least damaged homes in West finally returned home on Saturday...

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Apr 20, 2013

A state fire official says there's no sign of criminal activity in the explosion of a...


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Finally Home.. For Some In West

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NBC 5 and Kroger are asking our community to help with the relief effort. Coin boxes are in place at checkstands at every Kroger in the DFW Metroplex.

Perry Talks After Aerial Tour of West

Governor Rick Perry says search and rescue operations have been largely completed in the small town where a fertilizer plant explosion killed 14 people and injured about 200 others. Flanked by local officials, Perry told a news conference this afternoon that all affected buildings in West had been cleared with possibly the exception of one burned home. Authorities explain confusion on numbers of unaccounted for people.

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After three days of waiting, following the deadly explosion at the West Fertilizer Company on Wednesday, some residents who had been evacuated were allowed to return home.

"I'm not leaving my home," said Mindy Williams.

Williams says the last three days have been frustrating at times.

"Three days, yes, I've been turned around by the troopers and game wardens nine different times," she said.

But on Saturday night, Williams was happy to be home. She waited for about an hour with dozens of other neighbors to be escorted into her neighborhood south of the plant.

"I'm sitting in the car going, 'wooohoo, I get to go home!'" Williams said. "And then it's, 'what am I going to go home to? And how many other people I know can't go home and they're not going to have anything.'"

Inside Williams' home her things were tossed about, cupboards blown open, mirrors shaken and her bathroom totaled.

"If someone had been in this room particularly, such as I since I was in the house, I don't know what would have happened," she said. "A tornado and an earthquake together, that's exactly what it felt like."

The damage to the homes south of Oak Street in West is relatively minimal, with blown out windows, a collapsed awning and damaged garage doors. A large number of DPS troopers and game wardens kept a close eye as residents returned, not allowing anyone farther north than Oak.

"They tell me that every house is destroyed from this point forward pretty much," Williams said.

That's understandable given what residents here felt and saw on Wednesday.

"Felt this force come over the house and then the windows busted and the doors busted open," Williams said.

Williams' mother and son were gardening outside, but were uninjured. She said she saw a neighbor down the street screaming with part of her leg missing. She said she ran toward the blast, calling 911 but couldn't get through. She says a state trooper told her to leave as gas might still be in the air.

"I thought it was a lightning bolt that hit, then look up in the sky and there's the mushroom cloud," said Ryan Janek.

Janek's front door was blown off its hinges and several windows were blown in too. His wife and three young daughters were unharmed. While they prayed in the laundry room he ran outside. He was going to help rescue folks from the nursing home, but his sister-in-law warned him about chemicals still in the air and they've stayed with her and his brother since.

"I thought my house was a disaster when I first stepped outside, but when you see the other houses you realize you're very fortunate."

Janek says they've been trying to help other neighbors more seriously impacted the last few days and spent his time in the neighborhood boarding up the windows and screwing shut his front door.
He returned to stay with his brother, but expects to be back next week.

Mandy Williams sent her mother and son back to her aunt's farm not far away, but she plans on staying at her home and says she, her neighbors and city won't be going anywhere.

"We've got a lot of lost ones that aren't going back home, we all know them and they're all our family," she said. "And we're going to be all right, we're going to be all right."

West remains under a curfew in the restricted zone. Concrete barriers prohibit entry along some streets. Residents will be allowed back in between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. under escort, but they can stay at their homes. Officials just say those residents need to remain inside the structures during the curfew.

As for when more residents will be allowed in north of Oak Street, Steve Vanek, West's mayor pro tempore, says they're working on phase two of that as quickly as possible but are asking for patience from residents.

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Police: LI Mom Had Teens Shoot BB Gun Out of Car

Susan Becker, 43, of East Northport was arrested after police say she encouraged her teenagers to shoot the windows out of parked cars with a BB gun.

Police: Long Island Mom Had Teens Shoot BB...

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Police say a Long Island woman has been arrested on charges she encouraged her teenagers to shoot the windows out of parked cars with a BB gun as she drove.
 
Susan Becker, 43, of East Northport was arrested Friday.
 
Police say Becker bought a BB gun and gave it to her children. They say Becker's 15-year-old daughter, her 13-year-old son and another teenage boy fired the BB gun as she drove.
 
Police are investigating more than 60 reports of damage to car windows in three different areas over the past two weeks.
 
Becker was scheduled to be arraigned Saturday on charges including criminal mischief and endangering the welfare of a child.
 
Information on an attorney for Becker was not immediately available.

Becker's neighbor, Wendy Morelli, said she was shocked to learn of the charges and described Morelli as a "great mom" and a "great neighbor."

"She's always there to help everybody," Morelli said of Becker. "This doesn't seem real. She's just such a good person."
 

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FBI: IIll. Teen Accused of Seeking to Join Syrian Terrorist Group

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An 18-year-old man was arrested Friday just before he traveled to the Middle East to join an al-Qaida terrorist group, according to federal officials.

Abdella Ahmad Tounisi was held without bail Saturday after he was charged with one count of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, a felony offense that could result in up to 15 years in prison.

The arrest was not connected to the Boston Marathon bombing, officials said.

Investigations of Tounisi began as he was reportedly connected to Adel Daoud, a 19-year-old man charged with the attempted bombing of a downtown Chicago bar last year, officials said.

Though Tounisi admitted he discussed attack techniques and targets prior to the attempted bombing, he was not involved in the act itself, according to federal officials.

Tounisi allegedly recommended certain attack techniques, offered ideas about targeting and researched the locations online to analyze their feasibility, but pulled out of the attack in mid-August after suspecting law enforcement was involved, according to a federal complaint.

Tounisi later made contact with a person he believed was a recruiter for Jabhat al-Nusrah, a jihadist militant group operating in Syria and claims to be connected to nearly 600 terrorist attacks in Syria. The group is reportedly connected to al-Qaida.

But the recruiter was actually an undercover federal employee, officials said.

Tounisi reportedly expressed a "willingness to die" for the cause and planned to travel to Syria through Turkey, the complaint said.

On April 10, he bought an airplane ticket to Istanbul, Turkey with intentions of later traveling into Syria and was arrested at O'Hare Airport Friday evening.

Tounisi's father, Ahmad Tounisi said federal investigators seized a computer, a Nook and two Xbox systems from their home Friday night.

"I feel that my son is innocent," he said. "His perfect world is a world that doesn't have any rape, that doesn't have any oppressors, that doesn't have any injustice."

He said his son was studying radiology at the College of DuPage and claimed to know nothing of his plans to join the terrorist group.

Ahmad Tounisi said he thought his son was going to a mosque for three days and that he didn't have money to buy a plane ticket to Turkey.

Tounisi is expected to appear in court Tuesday.
 

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