The war on terrorism is being waged against ‘suspicious’ shoppers in American malls. One such shopping mall in Minnesota has over 40 million visitors per year. In regard to retail space, it is the largest mall in the USA; it even includes an indoor “amusement park.” Over the years, Mall of America (MOA) security has stopped and questioned thousands of mall visitors which has landed many innocent people as topics of suspicious activity reports (SAR).
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The UK’s Guardian reports more than 5,000 security guards in London’s financial district have been instructed by police to report people taking photographs, recording footage or even making sketches near buildings, the Guardian has learned.
City of London police’s previously unseen advice singles out people who may appear to be “legitimate tourists” to prevent reconnaissance by al-Qaida.
The document, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, helps explain a number of recent cases in which photographers have been stopped and searched by police using section 44 of the Terrorism Act, after first being approached by security guards.
There has been concern over the misuse of section 44, which allows officers to stop and search anyone without need for suspicion in designated areas. It has been repeatedly used to question tourists, photographers and film-makers. Cases have also been documented where artists have been stopped from painting in the street.
A man pretending to be a U.S. Secret Service agent slipped past security Saturday at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington and was not stopped until he got to the sixth-floor suite of offices for Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, authorities said.
Frederick J. Nickerson, 46, apparently left the building after being confronted by employees. He was arrested Tuesday on charges of impersonating a Secret Service agent and was being held pending a detention hearing next week in the District’s federal court.
Officials with the Federal Protective Service wrote in court papers that Nickerson flashed what appeared to be a Secret Service badge to security guards and said he was employed by the agency and needed to see Sebelius. Nickerson also motioned to the side of his body as if to suggest he was carrying a gun on his waistband, court papers say. He is not an employee of HHS or Secret Service.
A witness later saw Nickerson sitting in the lobby outside Sebelius's suite making calls on his cellphone.
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Ten Pakistani students suspected of terror links who obtained security clearances to work as guards showed flaws in Britain’s vetting system, critics say.
Despite promises by government ministers to tighten up a system for checking the backgrounds of foreign nationals applying for sensitive security posts, 10 members of a suspected Islamist terror cell in Manchester had obtained permission by the British Home Office to work as security guards, The Sunday Times of London reported.
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According to a Fox News report, Navy SEALs have secretly captured one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq, the alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah in 2004. And three of the SEALs who captured him are now facing criminal charges.
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For terrorists intent on making a statement, a shopping mall is a perfect target. Tonight on Spike TV’s Surviving Disaster, Host Cade Courtley shows you how to survive and escape an active shooting by a group of terrorists in a shopping mall.
Watch The Video Preview here.
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At an electricity substation on a bleak industrial estate north of Paris a masked union militant is preparing to deprive a neighborhood of power.
His colleague is outside, dragging nervously on a roll-up cigarette while keeping a lookout for police or security guards. “Get a move on,” he says. “And then let’s get out of here.”
UPDATE 12/10/07 8:00 am MST: Matt Murray 24, son of a Denver Neurologist and living with his parents in their Englewood home, has been identified as the shooter in the Colorado Church shootings at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs.
UPDATE 12/10/07 8:00 am MST: The home that was searched is owned by a Doctor from Sky Ridge Medical Center. No name has yet been released.
UPDATE 12/10/07 6:50 am MST:A home in Englewood Colorado is being searched in connection with the two shootings. Live Video Feed is up at MyFoxCommunity
UPDATE 12/09/07 12:25 pm MST: A second victim has died from the shooting at New Life Church.
UPDATE 12/09/07 11:25 pm MST: The investigation has shifted to unincorporated Arapaphoe County, where authorities are searching a home in connection to Sunday’s shootings.
Arvada Dep. Chief Gary Creager said he was still unsure whether the two cases are connected, but that officials are looking into the similarities.
“We are very interested,” Creager said. “That’s why we’re there.”
A woman who said she is related to the family living at the home said she has a 24-year-old brother who lives there. He is a computer programming student at a community college. Another brother is attending college in Oklahoma, she said.
About 25 officers were searching the home close to midnight including those from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and the Arapahoe County bomb squad. Authorities were carrying out boxes from the home, and snapping pictures.
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UPDATE 12/09/07 10:55 pm MST: Video of 10:00pm Press Conference available from MyFoxColorado
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UPDATE 12/09/07 10:27 pm MST: Bomb squad has arrived at warrant search site in Greenwood.
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UPDATE 12/09/07 10:20 pm MST: Arvada Police are helping Colorado Springs Police serve a search warrant on a home in Arapahoe County in connection with the shootings at New Life Church.
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UPDATE: Two people are now dead, including the suspect, in Sunday’s shooting at New Life Church in Colorado. Four other people were taken to area hospitals. Some of the four have life-threatening injuries. The gunman was shot and killed by a church security guard after entering the church’s main foyer with high-powered rifle shortly before 1 p.m. and opening fire.
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UPDATE: One suspect in custody.
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