It’s Friday, June 11th – and NBC 6 has the top stories for the day.
No. 1 - A man fatally shot a woman and her young grandson before turning the gun on himself inside a Publix in Palm Beach County Thursday, authorities said.
The shooting happened shortly before noon in the produce area of the store at 1180 Royal Palm Beach Boulevard in Royal Palm Beach. Palm Beach Sheriff's Office officials said deputies responded to the shooting and found the man, woman and child dead. Their family invoked Marsy's Law, and law enforcement will not be releasing the names of the woman and the child. Authorities identified Timothy J. Wall, 55, as the gunman. There is no known motive or relationship between Wall and the victims, the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office said. Detectives are investigating what led to the shooting, officials said.
No. 2 - Two passengers aboard the Celebrity Millennium cruise have tested positive for COVID-19, cruise officials confirmed Thursday.
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The two guests, who are sharing a stateroom, are asymptomatic and currently isolating. They also confirmed that this cruise has paying customers and is not a test cruise. The cruise sailed from Aruba earlier this week and will end its excursion in St. Maarten. It was the first cruise ship since the start of the pandemic in March 2020 to sail out of North America, the company confirmed. The Celebrity Millennium is sailing with fully vaccinated crew members and passengers, the subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group said. Passengers are required to show proof of vaccination as well as a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours before sailing.
No. 3 - Some who attended the world's largest cryptocurrency conference in Miami last weekend have started testing positive for COVID-19, CNBC reported.
There was no mask mandate or proof of vaccination required to attend Bitcoin 2021, which was held over two days at Mana Wynwood Convention Center. About 12,000 people attended the conference, according to CNBC. The conference was Miami's biggest in-person event since COVID-19 began, with Miami branding itself as a tech destination. NBC 6 reached out to the event organizers, who deferred to health authorities. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez's office did not respond to requests for comment by Thursday evening, as well as the attendees who posted on Twitter about testing positive.
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No. 4 - Florida's state Board of Education banned “critical race theory” from public school classrooms Thursday, adopting new rules it said would shield schoolchildren from curricula that could “distort historical events.”
Florida's move was widely expected as a national debate intensifies about how race should be used as a lens in classrooms to examine the country's tumultuous history. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis appeared by video at the top of the board's meeting, urging its members, many of whom he appointed, to adopt the new measures he asserted would serve students with the facts rather than “trying to indoctrinate them with ideology.” Both sides accuse the other of politicizing classroom instruction and violating the free speech rights of countless people by limiting the allowable points of view.
No. 5 - Lindon Cooke started a new life in Fort Lauderdale in 2013 after living in the New Jersey area for much of his life, but his new beginning proved to be a tragic move.
Cooke's mother, Althea Littlejohn, is still waiting for closure. Seven long years have gone by, and her son's murderer remains on the run. Cooke was working at a cellphone business in Fort Lauderdale. On Jan. 9, 2014, as he was leaving work, a co-worker told police he told her he was meeting with someone. On Jan. 10, Cooke was found dead miles away from Fort Lauderdale in Northeast Miami-Dade. To find out why a cellphone purchase may help find the killer, click here for the story from NBC 6 News.
No. 6 - Two South Florida sisters are petitioning to lift visitation restrictions that were put into place due to COVID-19 at Jackson Memorial Hospital.
Michelle Cardenas and Vivianne Nieto started an online petition that currently has more than 1,700 signatures. After nearly three months at Jackson Memorial Hospital with a blood infection and other complications, their father Sandalio Cardenas died on June 7. The Cardenas sisters say with only one visitor allowed and limited hours, it was extremely difficult. On the day Cardenas died, Jackson Memorial Hospital staff allowed several family members to be by his side. Vivianne says she is grateful for that, but she needed more time with her father. To hear why they don’t want any other family to go through the same events, click here for the story from NBC 6 reporter Laura Rodriguez.
