This article is adapted from today’s Morning Wire Afternoon Update. To listen to the podcast version, click here.
Nashville Shooting Update
A former middle school friend of the Covenant school shooter revealed chilling messages that she received via Instagram shortly before the attack on the Nashville Christian elementary school. Daily Wire reporter Zach Jewell has more:
The shooter’s former middle school basketball teammate Averianna Patton saw the disturbing messages, at 9:57 a.m., around 15 minutes before the shooter entered the school.
The shooter wrote: “I’m planning to die today. THIS IS NOT A JOKE!!!! You’ll probably hear about me on the news after I die.” The messages show that Patton pleaded with the shooter, telling her that she had so much to live for, but the shooter responded with more chilling texts, including stating that “something bad is about to happen.”
Police Officers Praised For Decisive Action
Metro Nashville Police Department has now released the names and bodycam footage of the officers who stopped the assailant. Rex Engelbert, a 4-year veteran, and Michael Collazo, a 9-year veteran, were part of a team of first responders to the Covenant campus. The two men are being praised for their heroic and courageous quick action. Body camera footage shows they decisively entered the school upon arriving on the scene, ran toward the shooting, and successfully killed the shooter.
China And Utah Teaming Up?
A new investigative report published this week by the Associated Press alleges that China has been able to forge ties in Utah that have led to the communist nation scoring public relations and legislative victories in the state and from its lawmakers. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pearce reported on “Afternoon Update”:
The report found that Chinese officials “appealed” to lawmaker’s ties to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to win favor. The Chinese later used that good will to score wins in a variety of areas, such as delaying legislation against Chinese propaganda, canceling resolutions that condemned China, and promoting false positive images of the Chinese regime. The report also said the Mormon church has “long dreamed of expanding in China.” Some have speculated that Utah lawmakers’ delayed decision to close universities’ Confucius Institutes, which the U.S. government has called Chinese propaganda groups, could be evidence of the Mormon Church’s goals.
Deadly Migrant Fire
More than three dozen people are dead after a fire at a migrant detention center in Mexico, just across from the U.S. southern border.
According to officials, at least 39 people are dead and 29 others hospitalized after a fire broke out at a migration center in Ciudad, Juarez, run by the National Migration Institute. Those hospitalized are in “delicate to serious condition.” Mexico’s President alleged that the fire started after the migrants, mostly from Venezuela, found out they were going to be deported and started a protest in response. According to authorities, they put mattresses from the shelter at the facility’s entrance and then set them on fire. Details are still trickling in.
DHS Can’t Say How Reliable Mexico Is
Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified before the Senate today, yet he was unable to say whether or not Mexico was a reliable partner in cracking down on the flow of drugs and illicit border crossing over the southern border:
DHS Secretary Mayorkas can't say whether or not Mexico is a "reliable partner" in the fight against fentanyl. pic.twitter.com/2tz06xT8Fo
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 28, 2023
Miracle Baby Heads Home
And, the youngest surviving baby ever born in the state of Maine at just 22 weeks old last July has returned home after spending roughly 8 months in the hospital. The child’s name, fittingly enough, is “Winner” and her family says she will have to have a series of follow-ups with specialists but are thrilled to have her home.
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