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UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting considered targeted attack, police say

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UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting considered targeted attack, police say – CBS News


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Warning, some images and information could be disturbing. UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed in New York City on Wednesday, in what police are calling a targetted attack. CBS News’ Meg Oliver and Anna Schecter have more on the suspect and the investigation.

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Alternative healer from California gets 10 years in U.K. prison for death of woman at “slapping therapy” workshop

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An alternative healer who advocated “slapping therapy” to treat a range of maladies was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for the death of a 71-year-old diabetic woman who stopped taking insulin during one of his workshops.

Hongchi Xiao, 61, was convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence for failing to get medical help for Danielle Carr-Gomm as she howled in pain and frothed at the mouth during the fourth day of a workshop in October 2016.

Xiao, of Cloudbreak, California, promoted paida lajin therapy, getting patients to slap themselves repeatedly to release “poisonous waste” from the body. The technique has its roots in Chinese medicine but critics say it has no scientific basis and patients often end up with bruises, bleeding – or worse.

Carr-Gomm was one of two of Xiao’s patients who died.

He was extradited from Australia, where he had been convicted of manslaughter after a 6-year-old boy died when his parents withdrew his insulin medication after attending one of his workshops in Sydney.

“I consider you dangerous even though you do not share the characteristics of most other dangerous offenders,” Justice Robert Bright said during sentencing at Winchester Crown Court.

“You knew from late in the afternoon of day one of the fact that Danielle Carr-Gomm had stopped taking her insulin,” the judge said. “Furthermore, you made it clear to her you supported this.”

Britain Slapping Therapy Death
This photo issued by Wiltshire Police on Friday, Dec. 6, 2024 shows Danielle Carr-Gomm who died when an alternative healer who advocated “slapping therapy” to treat a range of maladies failed to get her medical help, during the fourth day of a workshop in October 2016. 

/ AP


Bright said Xiao only made a “token effort” to get Carr-Gomm to take her insulin once it was too late and had shown no sign of remorse as he continued to promote paida lajin in prison.

Carr-Gomm was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1999 and was desperate to find a cure that didn’t involve injecting herself with needles, her son, Matthew, said.

“She always maintained a healthy lifestyle and was adamant that nothing would stop her from living a full life,” Matthew said, according to the BBC.

She sought out alternative treatments and had attended a previous workshop by Xiao in Bulgaria a few months before her death in which she also became seriously ill after ceasing her medication.

However, she recorded a video testimonial, calling Xiao a “messenger sent by God” who was “starting a revolution to put the power back in the hands of the people to cure themselves and to change the whole system of healthcare.”

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Hongchi Xiao

Wiltshire Police


The court heard that Xiao said “well done” to Carr-Gomm after she told the participants that she had stopped taking her insulin at the week-long retreat, the BBC reported.

By day three, Carr-Gomm was “vomiting, tired and weak, and by the evening she was howling in pain and unable to respond to questions,” prosecutor Duncan Atkinson said.

A chef who wanted to call an ambulance said she deferred to those with holistic healing experience.

“Those who had received and accepted the defendant’s teachings misinterpreted Mrs. Carr-Gomm’s condition as a healing crisis,” Atkinson said.

The BBC reported that while sentencing Xiao on Friday, Bright said: “You congratulated her [Danielle] when you found out she had stopped taking insulin. You failed to summon emergency medical care when you of all people knew she was likely to die without insulin. I believe you will continue to practice it. There is a risk you will actively or tacitly encourage followers to reduce their medication.”



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Body of 64-year-old Elizabeth Pollard found at the site of abandoned Pennsylvania mine

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UNITY TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) – The Westmoreland County Coroner tells KDKA-TV that the body of the missing 64-year-old woman, Elizabeth Pollard, who fell through a sinkhole in Unity Township has been found. 

Pollard had been missing since Monday and crews spent nearly two full days digging, shoring up, and searching an abandoned coal mine behind Monday’s Restaurant on Marguerite Road.

State police informed Pollard’s family that the operation was moved into a recovery phase on Wednesday night. 

“It’s just a matter of trying to find her and do right by her family,” Limani said. “We had a conversation with them a couple of hours ago about where we thought the investigation was.”  

Crews feared the abandoned mine was going to collapse

As of Thursday night, search teams fear the abandoned mine property could be at risk of collapsing.

“The goal is to remove the dirt and then to come up from underneath and extract that dirt. We’re going to take that dirt and put it in separate piles. We’re going to have people reviewing that dirt, looking through it, possibly if we could find a cellphone or anything that could be of significance,” said Pa. State Trooper Steve Limani on Thursday night. 

Police said on Thursday that excavators reached the spot where they believe Pollard is. 

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A search is underway for a missing woman who is believed to have fallen into a sinkhole in Unity Township.

Pennsylvania State Police


At one point, more than 100 people had responded to the scene to assist in the massive search and rescue effort.   



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Daniel Penny jurors indicate they can’t reach agreement on manslaughter charge

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Daniel Penny trial deliberations to enter 4th day


Daniel Penny trial deliberations to enter 4th day

00:27

NEW YORK – Jurors deliberating in the Daniel Penny trial sent a note to the judge Friday morning indicating they are unable to reach a unanimous vote on the second-degree manslaughter charge he faces. 

That note prompted the defense to move for a mistrial, as the prosecution asked for the judge to issue what’s called an Allen charge to the jury to keep them deliberating and to reach a decision. 

The judge issued the Allen charge, and the jury returned to deliberations. 

Penny, 26, is charged in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely aboard a subway last year. The Marine veteran has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges. 

Only if Penny is cleared of the more serious manslaughter charge will the jury consider the lesser criminally negligent homicide charge. The manslaughter charge carries with it up to 15 years in prison if convicted. 

The judge instructed the jury at the beginning of deliberations that they must agree on the manslaughter charge before they can even consider the second charge of criminally negligent homicide. The jury has been told all along that if they were to find Penny guilty of second-degree manslaughter, the would not have to issue a decision on the lesser count. 

So far, the jury has deliberated for roughly 20 hours since beginning their talks on Tuesday. 

The jury has sent several notes so far, requesting to watch cell phone and police bodycam footage of the incident, as well as Penny’s interview at the police station. They also wanted to hear readback of the defense’s cross examination of New York City Medical Examiner Dr. Cynthia Harris, who performed Neely’s autopsy, and ruled his cause of death compression of the neck

Jurors also asked for part of the judge’s instructions, as well as the legal definitions of “recklessness” and “negligence,” to be re-read to them. 

Prosecutors have argued that while Penny’s intentions were good in restraining Neely, he had him in a chokehold for too long. Penny’s defense has argued he wasn’t using pressure during the hold, just holding Neely down. A defense witness also disagreed with the Medical Examiner’s cause of death determination, arguing Neely died due to a combination of factors including drugs and sickle cell crisis. 



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