A Chicago boy accidently shot and killed his 3-year-old brother while playing with his father’s illegal gun on Sunday. The boys were playing a common game known as “cops and robbers” and got ahold of their father’s gun who told officials was given to him illegally by a gang member in Chicago.

The boy was rushed to the hospital but later died.

Police arrested the boys’ father, 25-year-old Michael Santiago, on a felony charge of child endangerment. The gun was reportedly bought off the street, kept on top of the refrigerator wrapped in pajama pants, and was shown to the oldest son. Being a former gang member himself, the father kept the gun for protection after he knowingly snitched on another gang member in a murder trial.

Santiago is represented by the county’s public defender and has bail set at $75,000.

A man was found in criminal condition Sunday morning after he was pinned under a car after an 11-car crash in Syracuse.

Emergency responders rushed to Interstate 81 south around 5:43 a.m after several callers reported the crash just past the Interstate 690 eastbound split.

Sgt. David Sackett, of the Syracuse Police Department says that the first car involved in the crash was taxicab, followed by 10 more cars. One out of the 11 drivers was pinned under a vehicle, suffering a serious head injury.

Written By: Christina Galvin

Syracuse Police are investigating after one person is reported dead and another suffered a leg injury in a shooting near a home on Hope Avenue in Syracuse Wednesday evening.

According to reports, two suspects dumped their car and fled into Oakwood Search resulting in what is being considered an active search and homicide investigation.

Because of the closeness to the school, Syracuse University issued an Orange Alert which warned students of the off-campus investigation and recommended that they stay indoors and not let anybody in.

As of 10:56 PM, the Alert was lifted, but authorities still have not been able to find the suspects, who shot at two police officers in two separate encounters.

No officers have been reported injured at this time.

Last night marked the first of many Democratic Presidential Debates in which Hillary Clinton surprised many with her professional and poised approach.  Along with candidates Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley, Jim Webb, and Lincoln Chafee.

Clinton has been listed as the frontrunner for the Democratic side of the Presidential Race for some time now, but candidate Bernie Sanders’ recent uprising in the polls has given her campaign some fits.

Many were excited and curious to see how Sanders would be in the debate, and he stayed true to himself, being the ultra-progressive, almost revolutionary candidate that many Democratic voters have fallen in love with.

The major piece to take from this debate is the overall sense of unity of the candidates that was not seen in the Republican Debate.  For the most part, all five candidates agreed on the same set of principles including higher taxes on the wealthy and stricter gun regulations.  Where they did differ is on their plans on how to achieve their goals.

Overall, Clinton seemed to show off her confidence as being the frontrunner, whereas Bernie Sanders stuck with his radical approach that may have won him a couple voters.  While we do not know for sure who will emerge from the Democratic Party for President, what we can be sure of is that it will be an election for the ages.

Mighty Taco will be making an appearance again in Central New York.

Last Friday, Mighty Taco announced on Facebook that they will be opening a new location in Cicero, NY. The food chain will be taking the place of an old Tim Horton’s.

Mighty Taco is a Mexican style restaurant that started in the city of Buffalo in 1973 and it has been a fan favorite ever since it started and has spread out to, with the addition of this new location, 24 locations.

Mighty Taco is primarily based around the Buffalo area and western New York, and the new location will now be the farthest east of any of the other Mighty Taco locations. It is also the second time the franchise tried starting up in the Syracuse area.

The last time Mighty Taco was in the Syracuse area was when it had a location in Carousel Center, now known as Destiny USA.

Given the continuous growth, Mighty Taco believes they are now ready to take on the challenge of starting up in Syracuse.

College students that are also volunteer firefighters have the ability to receive tuition reimbursements in New York State. Assemblyman Will Barclay calls this a “relatively new program” offered through the Fireman’s Association of the State of New York (FASNY).

The National Fire Prevention Association has estimated that roughly one hundred thirty nine billion dollars annually are saved by volunteer firefighters stepping up.

Barclay hopes that this program will encourage more students to become volunteers. The deadline for this semester’s program was recently extended to Oct. 16.

Volunteer firefighters attending college can apply online at http://www.fasny.com/index.php/resources/fasny-help/ or by emailing HELP@fasny.com, Attn: John D’Alessandro, Deputy Volunteer Programs Coordinator. Students can also call FASNY toll free at (855) 367-6933.

One is dead and three are wounded after a confrontation outside of a residence hall causes a student to shoot four people in what has been the second reported “mass” shooting in a month.

18-year-old Steven Jones produced a handgun and shot four students after it is reported that two groups of males took part in a fight outside one of the residence halls.

The Arizona Board of Regents prohibits people from carrying guns around campus, but they are allowed to stow them in their cars.

This incident comes on the same day that President Barack Obama was scheduled to meet with families of the victims of the events at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, a shooting which took place just 8 days ago.

In a statement President Obama made regarding Oregon, he said “Somehow this has become routine. The reporting is routine. My response here at this podium ends up being routine.”

For many that hear about these two school shootings in 8 days, it is hard to think of it as anything but routine.

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From the Polka to the party the first ever Oswego Oktoberfest brought Deutschland to downtown Oswego.

“This is the first time running the Oktoberfest. So this is something that I think a lot of people have been interested in and we’re just putting it together for a fun community event,” said Event Director Chris Jones.

Jones felt that whether people came for the food or the fun. Everyone found something worth staying for.

Jones said, “Honestly I think it’s a little bit of both. For me the fall season’s the best time to eat and you know, we’ve got about three hundred pre-sales on the event. Hopefully with everything looking the way that it is hopefully about five hundred or so.”

Ice-cold local beer topped everyone’s glass while the polka band played on, but the beer wasn’t the only thing that was cold. With temperatures in the forties most individuals camped out. Enjoying some good times as well as some delicious local beer.

“Most of them are New York State breweries. There are seventeen different beers that are going to be on tap in addition to a couple wines and beverages. So there’s a long list, Adirondack, Woodchuck, Davidson brothers, quite a few on there,” said Jones.

The weather was cold but more than 400 turned out for the night’s events.

Jones felt, “This is fall weather, this is what Oktoberfest is about,” and he hopes to re-create the event again next year. And based on the reception from Oswego resident Trish Auer.

“I think, yeah I’d love to see it come back again and definitely more entertainment,” said Auer.

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Jones added, “I think that bringing more events into the community and encouraging not only the people that live here to come out, but start getting people to come here from other regions.”

And Auer felt, “I just love it there’s just so much more going on here. This year especially and it’s just so exciting to have everybody out and about.”
Although next year’s Oktoberfest is a year away you can visit WTOP10.com and take a look at some photos of this year’s festivities.

Chris Mintz.

That is the name of the student at Umpqua Community College who was shot five times in his attempt to save others from a gunman who went on a shooting rampage on the school’s campus.  During the aftermath of the horrific shooting at the College, participants on social media have called for the widespread recognition of Mintz while stressing the importance of not popularizing the shooter.

The shooter has been identified as 26-year-old Christopher Harper Mercer, and the father of one of the victims said that during the shooting, Mercer intentionally targeted Christians.  While it is unclear why he targeted the college specifically, it was reported that he went into at least two different classrooms.

A total of ten people were killed during the incident, with seven others reported as injured. The father of one of the victims stated that the gunman went into the classroom, and said (to the professor) “I’ve been waiting to do this for years” and then shot the professor point blank.  Other reports say that he ordered “Christians” to stand up and then would shoot them when they emerged.

The gunman was reported dead earlier Thursday.

Chris Mintz is a 30-year-old military veteran and student of Umpqua Community College.  According to claims, he attempted to block the door to prevent the gunman from coming into the classroom, and was shot three times.  He then looked up at the gunman and stated “It’s my son’s birthday today”, to which he was shot at least two more times.  While it is still unknown exactly how many times he was shot, it is reported that both of his legs are broken.  He remains in stable condition at Mercy Medical Center.

President Barack Obama released a statement after the incident in which he indirectly pushed for stricter gun control laws, stating, “Somehow this has become routine,” he said. “The reporting is routine. My response here at this podium ends up being routine, the conversation in the aftermath of it. We’ve become numb to this.”

This incident is just one of the many that continue to seem more and more common in the United States.

In situations like this, it is important to publicize not the gunman, but the heroes like Chris Mintz.

*Quotes recorded from CNN.com*

This year’s cold in Oswego is not only breaking records, but apparently water lines as well.

Mayor Thomas W. Gillen said the below zero temperatures have caused water lines in some neighborhoods to freeze, leaving the residents of those areas without water.

“It’s possible people will be without utilities, specifically water, for an extended period of time, potentially for several days,” the mayor said.

Oswego is currently working with the American Red Cross of Central New York to house impacted people in Laker Hall, a building on the SUNY Oswego Campus.

Mayor Gillen declared a state of emergency in the city to address the situation as quickly as possible.

He advises all residents to check on their neighbors, especially the elderly or disabled, to make sure they are okay.

If you know anyone who needs help, call 911, or (315) 343-1212 for other assistance.

A new SUNY Oswego Assistant Professor introduced herself to campus in a special way: by enlightening students with her violin.

Ahreum Kim, the campus’s new assistant professor in high strings and musicology, performed with Professor Robert Auler in front of an audience in Sheldon Ballroom.  The sonatas consisted mostly of classical and romantic times in music.

Professor Kim not only had to perform the music, but also make sure that her movements accurately portrayed the specific emotions of the songs.

Reporter David Hermanovitch talked with Kim, who told him that to portray the emotion, she had to change her expressions at the same time, which is very tiring during the performance.

Overall, the performance was a creative way for Kim to begin her tenure with SUNY Oswego.

On February 13, 2015, SUNY Oswego University Police arrested Abhay Pant on a charge of first-degree rape.  Pant is originally from New Delhi, India, but lived in Hart Hall while studying abroad in Oswego.  He is accused of entering a residence hall room and sexually assaulting the resident early in the morning.  He was arraigned in Oswego Town Court and remanded to the county jail in lieu of bail in the amount of $50,000 cash or $100,000 bond.  He is scheduled to reappear in Town Court on Wednesday, February 18.

A house in Clay last night broke out into flames. The fire started at 8 p.m. Saturday night.

The family that lives there has been hosting a haunted house event for the last 10 years. This was only their second night having their house opened for the season.

There were no reports of injury.

They currently have put up a GoFundMe account in hopes to rebuild the house and to continue their Halloween spirit.

Photo By CNY Jeremy Ryan

The Marano Campus Center was packed with hundreds of students to see one of SUNY Oswego’s most famous alumni on Oct. 16.

Al Roker not only came for the Media Summit, but hosted his show ‘Wake Up with Al’ and ‘Today’ in the Marano Campus Center at 6 a.m.

There were students there who had lined up at the Marano Campus Center since 12 a.m.

Al Roker was willing to take photos with the students and took a few selfies with them as well.

He was able to show off his old college campus and shine a light on it as well.

Al Roker participated in the 10th annual Media Summit along with Charlie Rose, Dennis Thatcher, Connie Shultz, and hosted by Ken Auletta.

Photo By Al Roker (Facebook)

One SUNY Oswego student is dead and two are hospitalized due to allegedly lethal heroin.

Students were alerted early Saturday morning to the potential danger of the heroin by the New York state mass alerting system.

“Danger; Oswego heroin may be lethal. One is dead and two are hospitalized since early this morning,” the call said, “please beware.”

Students are urged to call University Police at 315-312-5555.

The names of the students have yet to be released, but WTOP will keep you updated with the latest information.