Mayors Against Illegal Guns released a new television ad Thursday that features family members of four victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting last December, and calls on leaders to remember their loved ones and prevent others from experiencing the toll of gun violence by taking real action to pass commonsense gun law reforms.

The ad features the families of two first-grade students, and two teachers killed in the shooting at Sandy Hook, out of the total 20 children and six adult staffers killed that day. The family members in the ad are Neil Heslin, father of first-grader Jesse Lewis; Chris and Lynn McDonnell, parents of first-grader Grace McDonnell; Jillian Soto, sister of teacher Vicky Soto; and Terri and Gilles Rousseau, parents of teacher Lauren Rousseau.

"I want to prevent any other family from having to go through what we're going through," Chris McDonnell says in the ad.

"Don't let the memory of Newtown fade without doing something real," adds Terri Rousseau.

The ad says that "Connecticut can save lives" and calls for comprehensive background checks, a limit on high-capacity magazines and an assault weapons ban.

The heart wrenching ad is the first to include family members of the Sandy Hook victims in a call for universal background checks for gun sales, which will be a component of the gun control legislation being introduced in the Senate. The ads will air on cable and broadcast television in the Hartford, Connecticut area. and specifically target the state's legislature to enact better gun violence prevention.

A day after the funeral of 16-year-old Kimani Gray, about a hundred people turned out to once again protest his shooting by the NYPD.

Gray was shot by two officers in East Flatbush on March 9 after police said he pulled a gun on them. But Gray's family and supporters have argued that no witnesses saw Gray with a gun.

Marchers at Sunday's rally began at the location where Gray was killed and walked to the 67th precinct, where the two plainclothes officers who shot Gray are stationed. The protesters are demanding that those officers be charged with a crime.

The rally and march was organized by members from a number of community activist groups, including Stop Mass Incarceration Network and Parents Against Police Brutality. Participants from pro-worker organizations and Occupy Wall Street were also in attendance.

ABC News:

The teen's funeral, at a Roman Catholic church not far from where he was killed, drew relatives, friends, and many mourners who had no connection to the teen or his family except a shared sadness over his death. Many mourners wore clothing or carried laminated cards bearing Gray's picture.

"He was funny. And he always knew how to put a smile on my face," said Sidonie Smith, a childhood friend. "Anytime somebody was in a bad mood, he always knew how to make them happy."

The emotion of the service was too much for Gray's father, who fled the church as the choir sang "Amazing Grace." Gray's mother sobbed during the memorial.

The NYPD deployed a large security force to the area around the church during the service, but there was no repeat of the disturbances that came in the days after the shooting.

The Gothamist reported that the NYPD used an "LRAD X" device during the march:

Groups protesting police brutality staged a rally at the vigil site for Kimani Gray on Sunday afternoon, followed by a march that wound through East Flatbush and eventually to the 67th Precinct. Throughout the march, the 200 or so demonstrators were accompanied by an astounding number of police, one of whom brandished a megaphone designed as a non-lethal deterrent. At times police appeared to outnumber protesters by three or four to one. One protester was detained after stepping off of the sidewalk, but an NYPD spokesman could not confirm that any arrests were made.

An officer from the NYPD's Disorder Control Unit carried the suitcase-sized "LRAD X," a super megaphone of sorts that the company's website describes as capable of issuing a "warning tone [that] provides a non-lethal deterrent, [and] shapes behavior." The LRAD X was not used in any kind of weaponized way. “Just knowing it's here makes me nervous,” protester Libor Von Schonau said. The company is primarily known for its larger LRAD product, a powerful sound cannon that can cause severe injuries not only to those targeted for its use, but also to bystanders.

This reporter has covered countless marches and demonstrations accompanied by a heavy police presence and has never seen that device. The officer carrying the "LRAD X" refused to respond to questions.

Kimani Gray was buried Saturday at the St. Catherine of Genoa Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn.

Three are dead after a shooting at Quantico Marine Corps Base in Virginia on Thursday night. All the victims were Marines, including the shooter, who took his own life. Early reports indicated that after the first person was shot around 11 p.m, authorities and the gunman -- believed to have been a staff member at the base’s officer-candidate school -- engaged in a standoff, with the suspect barricaded in the barracks. When the authorities finally entered the barracks early Friday morning, they found the shooter and another victim dead inside.

NBC News reports:

"The assailant and both victims, a man and a woman, were staff members at the school and not students, a senior defense official said. The official called the incident "isolated," adding: "There was nothing random here."'

"The names of the dead were being withheld for 24 hours pending notification of next of kin."

"Military police and Prince William County, Va., Sheriff's Department officers responded to a report of gunshots around 10:30 p.m. local time and were on the scene within five minutes, base commander Col. David W. Maxwell said at a press conference on Friday."

"They found one Marine dead and the shooter inside the barracks, a Marine official said. At 3 a.m., officers entered the barracks and found two more bodies, including that of the shooter, the official said. The three, all active duty Marines, were pronounced dead at the scene."

Updated reports Friday morning say that authorities did not fire any shots and did not hear any shots fired, and there was no standoff or barricades.

"Why officers hesitated before entering the barracks remained unclear Friday morning."

The assailant appeared to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to base officials.

At this time it is believed that a "relationship dispute" was the motive behind the shooting, according to a Marine official.

[Editor's warning: This story contains graphic content. Video NSFW]

An Ohio teenager wearing a T-shirt with "killer" scrawled on it gave a profane statement and made an obscene gesture in court as he was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Tuesday for killing three students in a school shooting rampage last year.

T.J. Lane, 18, had pleaded guilty last month to shooting at students in February 2012 at Chardon High School, east of Cleveland. Investigators have said he admitted to the shooting but said he didn't know why he did it.

Three students -- Demetrius Hewlin, 16; Russell King Jr., 17; and Daniel Parmertor, 16 -- were killed last February. Nate Mueller and Joy Rickers were wounded, as was Nick Walczak, who is paralyzed from the waist down, according to Reuters.

The families of the boys who died in the shooting have attended every one of Lane’s court hearings, The Plain Dealer said. Other victims' family members also attended Tuesday's sentencing, and read statements to the court ahead of Lane's sentencing.

Reuters:

Parmertor's mother, Dina Parmertor, was among family members who spoke after Lane's statement and before Fuhry sentenced him.

"I hope you have a cold, rough, unkind, harsh prison life with monsters like yourself," Dina Parmertor said. "I want you to endure years and years of pain, and abuse, which is in my opinion not harsh enough."

Holly Walczak, who spoke while her son Nick Walczak looked on from a wheelchair, told Lane he was lucky there were so many police in the courtroom.

"You are evil," Walczak said. "I will have to eventually forgive you. You will never be in my thoughts again."

Lane responded to the grieving families with two brutal sentences: "The hand that pulls the trigger that killed your sons now masturbates to the memory. F**k all of you." He then gave them the finger, according to NBC News.

Fuhry said Lane lacked remorse and examinations showed he had feigned mental illness. A bright student set to graduate from high school early, Lane instead long planned, prepared for, and then executed the attack, he said.

"This defendant has never shown any remorse and his actions today just confirmed what we have known all along," Geauga County prosecutor James Flaiz said at the sentencing.

A lone gunman opened fire at a car wash and barber shop in Herkimer and Mohawk, upstate New York. Four people have been killed and at least two injured.

Schools in Herkimer County are on lockdown after the suspect opened fire at two different locations before fleeing, according to local reports.

The shooter opened fire at Gaffey's Car Wash, on Mohawk Street in the village of Herkimer, 65 miles east of Syracuse, killing two people. The gun rampage continued to the nearby area of Mohawk, where the suspect shot four people at John's Barber Shop on Main Street, killing two. There were also reports of an explosion/fire at South Washington Street in Mohawk shortly before the shootings. A report from the Utica Observer-Dispatch indicates the suspect is believed to have lived in that building; "police were seen taking about half a dozen long guns from the residence shortly before 11 a.m. but would not confirm if they belonged to the suspect."

Police are believed to be looking for one suspect, 64-year-old Kurt Myers of Mohawk, who is thought to have used a long gun and fled in a red Jeep with a black top. The vehicle was recovered shortly after 10am this morning in Herkimer, but Myers is still on the run. Police describe Myers as "a 50- to 60-year-old slender white male, about 5-foot-11, with white hair and a white beard, last seen wearing a flannel shirt." Myers is considered "armed and extremely dangerous." Residents are advised to stay indoors and to call 911 if they see him. Police also said they are "familiar" with Myers, but could not comment on any criminal record he may have.

A 6-month-old infant girl shot five times on Chicago's South Side Monday died in the hospital Tuesday morning.

Jonylah Watkins was rushed to Comer Children's Hospital Monday afternoon in serious-to-critical condition after being shot in the 6500 block of South Maryland Avenue in the city's Woodlawn neighborhood around 12:48 p.m. Her father, Jonathan Watkins, had been changing her diaper in the front passenger seat of a Chevy Venture minivan when a gunman approached them and opened fire. He fled in a waiting van.

Jonylah was wounded in her lung, liver, leg, shoulder and bowel or intestine, according to DNAinfo Chicago, and had undergone at least five hours of surgery.

"The girl's father, identified by family as Jonathan Watkins, 28, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was in serious-to-critical condition, police said. A police source said he is a known member of the Gangster Disciples street gang."

ABC7 Chicago reports:

"This appears to be a targeted incident. It was very clear that whoever was doing this was firing at the father and exclusively at the father," said Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy.

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Brooklyn teens held a protest Monday night -- that some reports say broke into a riot -- in response to the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Kimani Gray by NYPD officers, reports the Daily Mail.

The 16-year-old boy was hanging out with friends Saturday night when they were approached by undercover officers who allegedly asked him to show his hands. Authorities claim that it was only after Gray suspiciously reached for his waistband that an officer fired 11 rounds.

According to The Gothamist, “Gray was shot multiple times in the leg and stomach when he pointed a .357 revolver at the cops in East Flatbush just before 11:30 p.m. on Saturday. ‘The cops, they just jumped out of the car so fast, witness Devonte Brown said. ‘They started shooting him and he went down, he was bleeding, holding his side, screaming, ‘stop, stop,’ Brown said of Gray.”

Via Gawker:

"After the anti-crime sergeant and police officer told the suspect to show his hands, which was heard by witnesses, Gray produced a revolver and pointed it at the officers, who fired a total of 11 rounds, striking Gray several times," Paul J. Browne, the NYPD's chief spokesman, told the New York Times.

But as Think Progress notes, eyewitness accounts differ from the official police reports. One witness, Camille Johnson, told Pix 11 that Gray was "running for his life, telling the cops 'Stop.'" She went on, telling the news station,"They really are, seriously shooting little kids."

According to the Times, another witness told Gray's sister, Mahnefeh, that Gray was fixing his belt, not reaching for a gun, when he was shot. Mahnefeh, as well as Gray's mother, insisted that Gray didn't own a gun and that, even if he did, he would not have pointed it at police, telling the Wall Street Journal, "He has common sense...They killed my little brother for no reason."

Another witness, who lives across the street from where the shooting took place, told the Times that Gray pleaded with the officers, telling them, "Please don't let me die." The police reportedly responded by telling the wounded 16-year-old, "Stay down or we'll shoot you again."

According to NBC New York, there were roughly 70 protesters who marched to the 67th Precinct station in East Flatbush and threw garbage and empty bottles at the windows. No police were injured, and there were no damages to the building during the protest.

"Some angry kids were protesting the death of a friend," said witness Martin Williams. "They were marching through the street, yelling and protesting."

The protesters continued to march from Snyder Avenue and ended up at Church and East 57th Street where the protest continued. There were police in riot gear along the block with barricades, but there were no reports of arrests.

The two NYPD officers who shot Kimani Gray have been placed on administrative duty.

A Texas public school employee was accidentally shot and wounded during a district-sponsored handgun safety class. According to local news sources KLTV and The Tyler Morning Telegraph, maintenance worker Glenn Geddie was accidentally shot after a training session aimed towards arming employees.

The Van Independent School District released the following statement on the incident:

At the conclusion of the CHL training on February 27, 2013, one certified person stayed for private instruction with the instructor and had a mechanical malfunction with his weapon. With the assistance of the instructor, the malfunction was addressed, but the gun misfired and the bullet ricocheted coming back to strike the VISD employee in the left leg. The VISD employee was attended to at the scene and transferred to Tyler for further treatment. The injury is not life threatening or disabling. Because of privacy and security issues we cannot make any further statement.

Anyone out there want to tell me what a good idea arming public school staff members is again?

Phillip Sailors, 69, a war veteran and a former church missionary, is being held on charges of malice murder after a shooting at his residence on Saturday.

A group of friends in Lilburn, GA said they were going to pick up a girl who lived in the area to go ice skating around 10 p.m. when their GPS system sent them to the wrong home.

“The guy came out. He went in again and he came out with a gun in his hand and he shot into the air,” 15-year-old passenger Yeson Jimenez said.

The teens say after Sailors fired that one shot into the air, the driver got scared and tried to turn around. That's when Sailors allegedly fired the second shot, killing their friend.

Police took the other three who were in the car to the police station and questioned them overnight. Authorities say they then had enough evidence to arrest Sailors and charge him with murder.

Garcia, who has only been in the country for a few months, can't understand how any of this could have happened.

"That means that you cannot come to a house and be confused about it? And somebody will come out and say, 'Hello, may I help you? What are you doing here?' And you start shooting like a maniac," Garcia said through a translator.

Rodrigo Diaz, 22, who was driving the car, was shot in the head, according to the arrest warrant.

The passengers said Sailors never asked what they were doing there.

“’Shut up.’ That’s the only thing that came out of his mouth,” passenger Gandy Cardenas said.

The friends said that Sailors held them in the car at gunpoint until local police arrived at the home. The three passengers who were in the car are all local high school students.

Sailors' attorney told WSBTV that the man believed he and his wife were being attacked.

“He is very distraught over the loss of life from the defense of his home. This incident happened late in the evening hours when he was home with his wife and he assumed it was a home invasion and he maintains his innocence,” the attorney said.

[Via, Via ]

Four people were discovered dead Saturday inside a suburban Denver home following a barricade hostage situation, which drew in a team of 40 officers. One woman reportedly escaped the townhome, although it is unclear whether or not she sustained injuries. Officials first arrived on the scene close to 3 a.m. Saturday following reports that shots had been fired inside the home. The "armed and dangerous" man is reported to be among the deceased. The identities of the victims have yet to be released.

Via:

A SWAT team arrived in the area after a standoff took place between the gunman and police officers. Authorities said the gunman then shot at SWAT team members.

Police were initially unsure how many people were barricaded inside the home. Officers later confirmed that three people were found dead inside the home when SWAT moved in and shot the gunman.

Authorities said a fifth person managed to get out of the house. The identities of the victims and the suspect have not been released.

Tear gas was deployed into the home, according to police scanner traffic.

Police had evacuated several neighborhoods in the area for safety reasons.

Just last summer, a mass shooting occurred inside of the Century movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, during a midnight screening of the film "The Dark Knight Rises." A gunman, dressed in tactical clothing, set off tear gas grenades and shot into the audience with multiple firearms, killing 12 people and injuring 58 others. James Eagan Holmes, the lone suspect, was arrested outside of the theater just moments later.