Category: CNN Regional

By Julia Avant

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    Detroit (WWJ) — A Waterford Township, Michigan, community is still in shock after the tragic death of their neighbor and her 2-month-old son.

Police say the two drowned in a bathtub in their apartment just off Cooley Lake Road.

“Oh, I was heartbroken, heartbroken; she didn’t do that,” said resident Laurie Medaris.

People in the Whispering Woods Apartments still have more questions than answers after the sudden death of one of their neighbors, Desiree Wheeler. Laurie Medaris says their community is like a family and that Wheeler loved her children.

“She did everything with her kids, everything. She was always smiling, she was always happy,” said Medaris.

Waterford Township police and fire were called to the apartment complex around 10:30 p.m. on Friday. That’s when they found the 36-year-old single mother of three had drowned in a bathtub with her 2-month-old son.

“Her oldest is going to have to live with this for the rest of his life, I think the detectives need to do more research,” said Medaris.

Wheeler’s next-door neighbor, Sue Carey, saw Wheeler and two of her children hours before police showed up that night.

“Her and the 13-year-old and the baby came out, and she said, ‘Hey, neighbor.’ I said, ‘Hey, neighbor.’ I said, ‘How the baby doing?’ She said, ‘Good, fine,’ and they went in, and that was the last of her that we knew,” said Carey.

Carey says she saw police rush the mother and the baby out of the home, along with the Wheeler’s 13-year-old child, who she says was in shock.

“He couldn’t really mumble words to tell us what had happened and went on so,” said Carey.

She says it was when her family showed up later that night that they learned Wheeler and her baby did not make it.

“Really gut-wrenching to hear her family cry, and it just plays over and over in my head,” said Carey.

CBS News Detroit reached out to the Waterford Township Police Department and the fire department that responded on Friday. While no new information has been released on this investigation, police say they are awaiting toxicology results.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Julia Avant

Click here for updates on this story

    Detroit (WWJ) — A Waterford Township, Michigan, community is still in shock after the tragic death of their neighbor and her 2-month-old son.

Police say the two drowned in a bathtub in their apartment just off Cooley Lake Road.

“Oh, I was heartbroken, heartbroken; she didn’t do that,” said resident Laurie Medaris.

People in the Whispering Woods Apartments still have more questions than answers after the sudden death of one of their neighbors, Desiree Wheeler. Laurie Medaris says their community is like a family and that Wheeler loved her children.

“She did everything with her kids, everything. She was always smiling, she was always happy,” said Medaris.

Waterford Township police and fire were called to the apartment complex around 10:30 p.m. on Friday. That’s when they found the 36-year-old single mother of three had drowned in a bathtub with her 2-month-old son.

“Her oldest is going to have to live with this for the rest of his life, I think the detectives need to do more research,” said Medaris.

Wheeler’s next-door neighbor, Sue Carey, saw Wheeler and two of her children hours before police showed up that night.

“Her and the 13-year-old and the baby came out, and she said, ‘Hey, neighbor.’ I said, ‘Hey, neighbor.’ I said, ‘How the baby doing?’ She said, ‘Good, fine,’ and they went in, and that was the last of her that we knew,” said Carey.

Carey says she saw police rush the mother and the baby out of the home, along with the Wheeler’s 13-year-old child, who she says was in shock.

“He couldn’t really mumble words to tell us what had happened and went on so,” said Carey.

She says it was when her family showed up later that night that they learned Wheeler and her baby did not make it.

“Really gut-wrenching to hear her family cry, and it just plays over and over in my head,” said Carey.

CBS News Detroit reached out to the Waterford Township Police Department and the fire department that responded on Friday. While no new information has been released on this investigation, police say they are awaiting toxicology results.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield

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    MINNESOTA (WCCO) — It’s been 18 months, but the pain is as fresh as ever for the Twin Cities community of West Tonka. Lilyana “Lily” Loycano, 11, was killed while riding to school with her family. A distracted driver was charged in that crash.

As you can imagine, the pain goes on for her family. Now, brother Jaxon Loycano is taking his grief into his high school classroom, and way beyond.

Jaxon Loycano is in DECA at Westonka High School, a class where kids create their own businesses. At first, he says he took it lightly.

“I was told to do it, so I didn’t really know what to expect of it,” said Jaxon Loycano.

But then everything in his life got serious. They were in a crash, and he lost his little sister. He says some nights he just thinks about her.

“Probably just her presence because she would always want to like make people smile and bring kindness to their room,” said Jaxon Loycano.

So that got him and his DECA business class partners thinking.

“It was definitely like, we didn’t really know what we wanted to do, like we had like a bunch of ideas and we were like, we don’t, like none of these we really like care about that much, and then like that one hit and we’re like, yes,” said classmate and partner Isabelle Markle.

They launched Live Like Lily.

“We’re continuing Lily’s legacy by just bringing people together and bringing the same joy to them that it seemed that she brought to everyone around her,” said classmate and partner Ella McClellan.

Lily Loycano donated her organs.

“We’re going to have proceeds from our project and engagement with the community go to organ donation research and road safety research,” said McClellan.

And that emotion has fueled some big results. They had a packed house for their Ripple of Kindness Event, and their pickleball tournament was also a hit.

So they plan to keep these gatherings going for good, rooted in a lesson Jaxon Loycano says we could all learn.

“That the world is a better place with kindness in it,” he said.

And as they head to state competition, they’ll try and win for Lily Loycano, too.

“It kind of gives me the motivation to do better because it’s for her,” said Jaxon Loycano.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield

Click here for updates on this story

    MINNESOTA (WCCO) — It’s been 18 months, but the pain is as fresh as ever for the Twin Cities community of West Tonka. Lilyana “Lily” Loycano, 11, was killed while riding to school with her family. A distracted driver was charged in that crash.

As you can imagine, the pain goes on for her family. Now, brother Jaxon Loycano is taking his grief into his high school classroom, and way beyond.

Jaxon Loycano is in DECA at Westonka High School, a class where kids create their own businesses. At first, he says he took it lightly.

“I was told to do it, so I didn’t really know what to expect of it,” said Jaxon Loycano.

But then everything in his life got serious. They were in a crash, and he lost his little sister. He says some nights he just thinks about her.

“Probably just her presence because she would always want to like make people smile and bring kindness to their room,” said Jaxon Loycano.

So that got him and his DECA business class partners thinking.

“It was definitely like, we didn’t really know what we wanted to do, like we had like a bunch of ideas and we were like, we don’t, like none of these we really like care about that much, and then like that one hit and we’re like, yes,” said classmate and partner Isabelle Markle.

They launched Live Like Lily.

“We’re continuing Lily’s legacy by just bringing people together and bringing the same joy to them that it seemed that she brought to everyone around her,” said classmate and partner Ella McClellan.

Lily Loycano donated her organs.

“We’re going to have proceeds from our project and engagement with the community go to organ donation research and road safety research,” said McClellan.

And that emotion has fueled some big results. They had a packed house for their Ripple of Kindness Event, and their pickleball tournament was also a hit.

So they plan to keep these gatherings going for good, rooted in a lesson Jaxon Loycano says we could all learn.

“That the world is a better place with kindness in it,” he said.

And as they head to state competition, they’ll try and win for Lily Loycano, too.

“It kind of gives me the motivation to do better because it’s for her,” said Jaxon Loycano.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Nicholas Lentz, Ubah Ali

Click here for updates on this story

    MINNESOTA (WCCO) — A 42-year-old man is accused of stealing a law enforcement camera that reads license plates in Faribault, Minnesota, and trying to break it, according to a court document filed in Rice County.

According to the criminal complaint, the man from Faribault is charged with one count each of theft, interfering with emergency communications and fourth-degree damage to property.

An individual reported to police on July 27 that someone had stolen a Flock camera, the court document said. The company is contracted by the City of Faribault for automated license plate readers, which police use for investigations, missing persons and other tasks.

The complaint said officers checked the camera located near the intersection of Lyndale Avenue South and Highland Place in Faribault and saw it had been removed.

“The cables that had been attached to the camera appeared to have been cut and were hanging freely,” according to the court document.

Police learned the camera went offline during the morning of July 27, the complaint said. The individual who reported the theft told investigators the man charged had allegedly come to their shop on Seventh Street around midnight on July 26 and was telling them about Flock cameras. At one point, he said, “I think I might take one,” according to the court document.

During the afternoon of July 27, the man came to the individual’s shop on Central Avenue, opened a backpack and told them, “it’s one of those Flock cameras,” the complaint said. The individual said they wanted nothing to do with it.

The man later showed up to one of the individual’s stores, was looking for tools and trying to “tear apart” the camera, according to the court document.

The complaint said officers executed a warrant to search the man’s home. They told him they assumed he knew why they were there.

According to the complaint, the man told police he found a camera in the road “the other night,” that he didn’t know what it was and wasn’t going to keep it. The officers then asked the man to retrieve the camera, which they later saw had black tape over the lens.

While speaking with the man, the complaint said, the officers saw a backpack that “appeared consistent” with the backpack he was wearing in surveillance video of the shop that investigators had previously reviewed.

Both the Flock camera and backpack were seized as evidence, the court document said. The license plate reader had the same serial number as the camera missing from the area of Lyndale Avenue South and Highland Place.

If convicted, the man faces a maximum of over four years in prison and a fine of up to $14,000.

At the same time, law enforcement agencies in other Minnesota communities say they’re seeing an increase in vandals targeting the cameras.

In Winona, police say someone cut down poles and removed all eight Flock cameras, leaving the city’s entire system offline since Saturday. The estimated value of the stolen equipment is roughly $24,000. Investigators are working to learn who is responsible.

Edina officials say the city has experienced four separate incidents involving Flock cameras being damaged.

As of Monday, the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office has had one issue with vandalism of a camera, in the City of Nowthen.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.