SOURCE: NBC-K5
SEATTLE – A suspect has been arrested in connection with a double shooting at a Seattle restaurant that left the owner dead and another person wounded Wednesday in the Central District.
The Associated Press is reporting that 23-year-old Rey Alberto Davis-Bell, who was a suspect in the shooting, was arrested.
The car he was last seen in, a black, 2002 Lincoln Continental, was previously found by police and impounded.
Police had believed Bell was heavily armed and dangerous, so much so they brought in off-duty officers to help track him down.
Officers responded to reports of the shooting at roughly 11:15 a.m. Wednesday at Philadelphia Cheese Steak restaurant, located at 23rd Avenue and East Union Street.
The owner of the eatery, 32-year-old Dejene Berecha, was killed. The other victim, who has been upgraded from critical to serious condition at Harborview Medical Center, might have been a customer.
“I’m still trying to grasp it. We just had someone else pass away. It just doesn’t feel real. It’s surreal,” said friend Kulla Jatani.
Police believe the incident may be related to a domestic-violence related shooting that occurred at 10:45 a.m. in the area of 5900 Delridge Ave. S.W. in West Seattle. Police say shots were fired in that incident, but no one was hit.
“If this suspect has been involved in two separate shootings in one day, we’re concerned about the level of violence we’re seeing and we’d like to prevent any additional shootings,” said Deanna Nolette, police spokesperson.
Streets were closed near the Philadelphia Cheese Steak restaurant Wednesday and dozens of police were at the scene, including members of the police gang unit.
A blogger from Centraldistrictnews.com interviewed a witness, who said the shooting took place inside the restaurant. He described the events this way: “A gentleman walked inside the Philadelphia Cheese Steak and opened fire and shot two people.”
The witness said after shots were fired, the suspect exited the restaurant and left in a dark sedan.
“I saw him come outside,” the witness said. “Two people definitely were shot.”
Dejene Berecha was an Ethopian immigrant and a newlywed. Friends say he worked hard not only for himself, but to provide good jobs for his employees.
“He was an extremely hard worker, a good guy and a good friend,” said Edward West.
Berecha moved here from Ethiopia several years ago and had just started an exciting new chapter of his life. He started working at the restaurant as a dishwasher and would later go on to own it. He’d just been married a year ago and his wife was planning to join him from Ethiopia. Berecha also planning on moving his restaurant to a new location down the street this weekend.
“Justice has to be served. This innocent man died at the hand of this useless individual,” said Berecha’s friend, Endale Bogale.
A previous owner of the same restaurant was killed back in 2003. Troy Hackett was found shot to death in his car on July 30, 2003. The restaurant was then known as “Philly’s Best Steaks and Hoagies.” His murder remains unsolved.
By Patrick Worsnip, Reuters
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The Security Council renewed the mandate of the struggling U.N. peace force on the Eritrea-Ethiopia border for six months on Wednesday despite a request from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for just one month.
Ban had proposed only a brief extension because he said a fuel cut-off by Eritrea had crippled the force’s activities and troops might have to be withdrawn within weeks. But council diplomats said that would amount to giving in to blackmail.
The 1,700-strong United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, or UNMEE, went to the border in 2000 at the end of a two-year war between the two impoverished countries in the Horn of Africa, which killed 70,000 people.
An independent commission charged with marking the border after the war awarded the flashpoint town of Badme to Eritrea in 2002, but Ethiopia did not implement the decision. In November, the commission demarcated the line by map coordinates in a ruling that Eritrea accepted but Ethiopia rejected.
With UNMEE unable to enforce the commission’s decisions, its relations with Asmara have become steadily colder. Earlier this month Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki told the Security Council the force’s continued presence on the border would be tantamount to occupation.
In a report to the council last week, Ban said fuel restrictions begun by Eritrea in 2006 and culminating in a total shut-off on December 1 “have severely hampered the mission capacity to effectively implement its mandate.”
A resolution passed on Wednesday by the Security Council demanded “that the government of Eritrea resumes immediately fuel shipments to UNMEE or allows UNMEE to import fuel without restrictions.” It also prolonged the mandate for six months.
“I think there was a feeling that the council wasn’t going to be blackmailed by Eritrea,” said a diplomat who asked not to be identified. “We believe (UNMEE) needs to be on the ground as one factor, if not the main factor, preventing the parties from returning to conflict.”
The fuel cut-off has forced UNMEE troops on the Eritrean side of the border to drastically reduce patrols and demining activities, according to Ban.
The two countries insist they will not restart their war, but both have moved tens of thousands of troops to the 620-mile (1,000-km) border.
The Security Council called on both sides to reduce their troop levels, settle the border issue and normalize relations.
A letter to the council on Tuesday from Eritrean charge d’affaires Tesfa Alem Seyoum did not mention the fuel cut-off but said the ruling by the Hague-based boundary commission had ended the border issue.
“The issue that requires the council’s urgent attention is Ethiopia’s continued occupation of sovereign Eritrean territory,” it said.
(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Listen to Ethiopian Review interview with chairman of the Oromo Federal Democratic Movement Ato Bulcha Demeksa, Jan. 31, 2008. Several OFDM candidates have been arrested as they campaigned for the April 2008 local elections in Ethiopia. Click here to listen.
በኦሮሚያ ክልል በሰሜን ሸዋ ዞን ግራር ጃርሶ ጉለሌ ወረዳ ውስጥ ለቀጣዩ የሚያዝያ የአከባቢና የማሟያ ምርጫ በመቀስቀስ ላይ የነበሩ ስምንት እጩዎች በፖሊስ ቁጥጥር ስር መዋላቸውን ሪፖርተራችን ዘገበ፡፡
ትናንት ከሰአት በኋላ በጉለሌ ዋና ከተማ ካምቦ ውስጥ የምርጫ ቅስቀሳ በማድረግ ላይ የነበሩት ወጣቶች የኦፌዴን እጩዎች እንደነበሩ ዘጋቢያችን ያረጋገጠ ሲሆን በፖሊስ ቁጥጥር ስር ከመዋላቸው አስቀድሞ የገዢው ፓርቲ ካድሬዎች በየመንደሩ በመዞር እድገትና ልማት ባመጣላችሁ መንግስት ላይ ልጆቻችሁ ሸፈቱ በሚል ውዥንብር ሲነዙ እንደነበር የከተማዋን ነዋሪዎች ዘገባ ዋቤ ያደረገው ሪፖርት ያመለክታል፡፡
በጉዳዩ ላይ አስተያየታቸውን የጠየቅናቸው የንቅናቄው ሊቀ መንበር አቶ ቡልቻ ደመቅሳ ክስተቱ እንዳሳዘናቸው ገልጸው ሁኔታውን እየተከታተሉት መሆኑን ተናግረዋል፡፡ ጨምረውም ሁኔታው ምን ያህል አስቀያሚ ደረጃ ላይ እንደደረሰ አመላካች ክስተት ይሆናል ብለዋል፡፡ አቶ ቡልቻ በጉለሌ ወረዳ ስለሚካሄደው ምርጫ ኢ-ፍትሃዊነት ሲገልጹም የምርጫ ጣቢያው በፖሊስ ጽ/ቤቱ ቅጥር ግቢ ውስጥ በመሆኑ ስነ ልቦናዊ ጫና እንዲኖረው ሆን ተብሎ ተዘጋጅቷል ብለዋል፡፡
በቀጣዩ ሚያዝያ ለሚካሄደው የአከባቢና የማሟያ ምርጫ በእጩዎች ላይ የሚደርሰው እንግልት ከፍተኛ ደረጃ ላይ በመድረሱ የኢትዮጵያ ምርጫ ቦርድ ጸሃፊና የጽ/ቤቱ ዋና ኃላፊ የሆኑት አቶ ተስፋዬ መንገሻ ለወያኔ ካድሬዎች የማስጠንቀቂያ ደብዳቤ ለመጻፍ ተገደዱ፡፡
ተቃዋሚ ፓርቲ አባላትን፤ እጩዎችንና ደጋፊዎችን የማዋከቡ ተግባር በከፍተኛ ደረጃ ከመቀጠል አልፎ በሰላማዊ መንገድ የምርጫ ቅስቀሳ የሚያከናውኑ እጩዎችን ያለምንም የህግ አግባብ ወደ እስር ሲያግዙ ከቆዩት የወያኔ ካድሬዎች በተለይ በኦሮሚያ ክልል ወረጃርሶ ወረዳ ውስጥ የተፈጸሙት የመብት ገፈፋዎች መነጋገርያ መሆን በመጀመራቸውና ተቃዋሚ ፓርቲዎቹም ተደጋጋሚ አቤቱታ በማቅረባቸው ሃላፊው የማስጠንቀቂያ ደብዳቤቀውን ለመጻፍ መገደዳቸውን የውስጥ ምንጮቻችን ገልጸዋል፡፡
በደብዳቤ ቁጥር አባሪ/46/030/2000 በአቶ ተስፋዬ የተጻፈው ይህ ማስጠንቀቂያ የወረዳው ጽ/ቤት ይህን አይነቱን ድርጊት መፈጸሙ አግባብነት የሌለው በመሆኑ የወረዳው አስተዳደር አስቸኳይ የእርምት እርምጃ ወስዶ የታሰሩት የፓርቲ አባላት ተፈተው ፓርቲው ህጋዊ እንቅስቃሴውን እንዲቀጥል በሚል ማሳሰቢያ የሚደመድም ነው፡፡ የወያኔ ቀኝ እጅ እንደሆኑ የሚታመነው አቶ ተስፋዬ በትናንትናው እለት የጻፉት የዚህ ማስጠንቀቂያ አንድምታ እስካሁን እያነጋገረ ይገኛል፡፡
