News

London, Ont., woman killed in roadside gunpoint robbery in Mexico – CBC.ca

Published

6 months ago

March 20, 2024

A London, Ont., woman who lived in Mexico for close to a decade was shot and killed during a roadside robbery while driving home to Canada, according to friends and local news reports.

Canadian officials have not yet confirmed the death of Gabriele Schart, but her family and friends have spoken to CBC News.

Schart owned the Firefly Cinema and karaoke bar in Zipolite, a town in southern Mexico. The business, founded by Schart about eight years ago, was a popular gathering spot for expatriates and locals, friends say.

Family members say they’ve been told Schart was shot in Queretaro, just north of Mexico City, on Saturday — about a day into her journey home with her four dogs and cat. Mexican media say Schart was 50 but a friend said she was 57.

“She absolutely loved animals and she would not leave without them, so she decided to buy a vehicle there and drive home with them,” said longtime friend Raquel Shulman, adding Schart was going home to look after her ailing mother.

Canada warns Mexico visitors to be cautious

A spokesperson from Global Affairs Canada said it’s “aware of the death of a Canadian in Mexico.”

“Consular officials are providing consular assistance and support to the family and are in contact with local authorities to obtain additional information,” said the statement emailed to CBC News on Wednesday. “Due to privacy considerations, no further information can be disclosed.”

The Canadian government also advises visitors to Mexico to “exercise a high degree of caution” because of high levels of criminal activity and kidnapping.

CBC News also reached out to authorities and others in Mexico about the Schart case.

Ramon Rodriguez is a reporter who specializes in security issues and wrote about Schart’s killing for regional Mexican media outlet Iqro, based in Queretaro.

Rodriguez told CBC News the road on which the robbery happened has been a hot spot for robberies because of the access criminals have to vehicles that slow down as they approach a toll booth.

Shulman said Schart was driving with a male friend who was supposed to help her on the sometimes dangerous Mexican highways, where drivers are sometimes stopped by men who demand money.

“He was supposed to be a safety net for her, so she would be safe getting to the border.”

Family working on funeral plans

The friend was also shot and sent to hospital for treatment, Rodriguez said. Authorities told him Schart got out of the car when a group approached and she was shot and died instantly.

“Mexico right now is living one of its most violent times of recent years,” Rodriguez told CBC News in Spanish.

“It’s a situation that you, as foreigners, should be aware of becoming to Mexico,” he said, adding the country is also dangerous for locals.

Schart has two sons — Corin, who lives in Mexico, and Michael, who resides in London with his grandmother. The siblings are working to get answers from authorities in Mexico.

“Gabriele was a very bright person. Strong-willed. Loving. No matter how hard things got, she found the strength to keep on trying,” eldest son Michael wrote on a GoFundMe page to raise money for travel costs to claim his mother’s remains and for funeral costs.

A funeral will be held in Mexico, Shulman said.

She said Schart moved to Mexico in 2015 to escape the hustle and bustle of life in Canada.

“She applied to lots of different places that offered room and board and Mexico was the first place to get back to her, offered her a job at a hotel doing data entry, and she took it. She fell in love with Zipolite.”

2 of woman’s pets found, search on for 3

One of the dogs she was taking home, a boxer named Ruby, as well as a cat were picked up by Mexican animal protection officials after the killing.

Schart was driving home to Canada from Mexico with her four dogs. After she was killed, the animals scattered. Only the boxer, Ruby, has been found. (Supplied by Claudia Memet)

The three other dogs have not been found but people in Mexico are trying to locate them, said another friend, Claudia Memet.

“Gabby and I met years ago when she offered to foster two dogs. She already had two of her own,” said Memet, owner of the Dogs of Puerto Angel rescue organization, which operates in Mexico. “She’s well known in the community of expats because she ran the only cinema in the area, which was very popular.”

Recently, the health of Schart’s mother deteriorated, so she decided to move back home to help her son look after her, Memet said.

“She could have taken a flight back to Canada and it would have been a lot less expensive and easier,” she said. “But there was no way she was going to rehome these animals and leave them behind.”

Adblock test (Why?)

Source link

News

Langford, Heim lead Rangers to wild 13-8 win over Blue Jays

Published

2 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Rookie Wyatt Langford homered, doubled twice and became the first Texas player this season to reach base five times, struggling Jonah Heim delivered a two-run single to break a sixth-inning tie and the Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 13-8 on Tuesday night.

Leody Taveras also had a homer among his three hits for the Rangers.

Langford, who also walked twice, has 12 homers and 25 doubles this season. He is hitting .345 in September.

“I think it’s really important to finish on a strong note,” Langford said. “I’m just going to keep trying to do that.”

Heim was 1-for-34 in September before he lined a single to right field off Tommy Nance (0-2) to score Adolis García and Nathaniel Lowe, giving Texas a 9-7 lead. Heim went to the plate hitting .212 with 53 RBIs after being voted an All-Star starter last season with a career-best 95 RBIs. He added a double in the eighth ahead of Taveras’ homer during a three-run inning.

Texas had 13 hits and left 13 men on. It was the Rangers’ highest-scoring game since a 15-8 win at Oakland on May 7.

Matt Festa (5-1) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the win, giving him a 5-0 record in 13 appearances with the Rangers after being granted free agency by the New York Mets on July 7.

Nathan Eovaldi, a star of Texas’ 2023 run to the franchise’s first World Series championship, had his worst start of the year in what could have been his final home start with the Rangers. Eovaldi, who will be a free agent next season, allowed 11 hits (the most of his two seasons with Texas) and seven runs (tied for the most).

“I felt like early in the game they just had a few hits that found the holes, a few first-pitch base hits,” said Eovaldi, who is vested for a $20 million player option with Texas for 2025. “I think at the end of the day I just need to do a better job of executing my pitches.”

Eovaldi took a 7-3 lead into the fifth inning after the Rangers scored five unearned runs in the fourth. The Jays then scored four runs to knock out Eovaldi after 4 2/3 innings.

Six of the seven runs scored against Toronto starter Chris Bassitt in 3 2/3 innings were unearned. Bassitt had a throwing error during Texas’ two-run third inning.

“We didn’t help ourselves defensively, taking care of the ball to secure some outs,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.

The Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a double and two singles, his most hits in a game since having four on Sept. 3. Guerrero is hitting .384 since the All-Star break.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Blue Jays: SS Bo Bichette (calf) was activated and played for the first time since July 19, going 2 for 5 with an RBI. … OF Daulton Varsho (shoulder) was placed on the 10-day injured list and will have rotator cuff surgery … INF Will Wagner (knee inflammation) was placed on the 60-day list.

UP NEXT

Rangers: LHP Chad Bradford (5-3, 3.97 ERA) will pitch Wednesday night’s game on extended five days’ rest after allowing career highs in hits (nine), runs (eight) and home runs (three) in 3 2/3 innings losing at Arizona on Sept. 14.

Blue Jays: RHP Bowden Francis (8-4, 3.50) has had two no-hitters get away in the ninth inning this season, including in his previous start against the New York Mets on Sept. 11. Francis is the first major-leaguer to have that happen since Rangers Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan in 1989.

—

AP MLB:

Source link

News

Billie Jean King set to earn another honor with the Congressional Gold Medal

Published

3 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

WASHINGTON (AP) — Billie Jean King will become the first individual female athlete to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey announced Tuesday that their bipartisan legislation had passed the House of Representatives and would be sent to President Joe Biden for his signature.

The bill to honor King, the tennis Hall of Famer and activist, had already passed unanimously in the Senate.

Sherrill, a Democrat, said in a statement that King’s “lifetime of advocacy and hard work changed the landscape for women and girls on the court, in the classroom, and the workplace.”

The bill was introduced last September on the 50th anniversary of King’s victory over Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes,” still the most-watched tennis match of all-time. The medal, awarded by Congress for distinguished achievements and contributions to society, has previously been given to athletes including baseball players Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente, and golfers Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson and Arnold Palmer.

King had already been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. Fitzpatrick, a Republican, says she has “broken barriers, led uncharted paths, and inspired countless people to stand proudly with courage and conviction in the fight for what is right.”

___

AP tennis:

Source link

News

Account tweaks for young Instagram users ‘minimum’ expected by B.C., David Eby says

Published

3 hours ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

SURREY, B.C. – Premier David Eby says new account control measures for young Instagram users introduced Tuesday by social media giant Meta are the “minimum” expected of tech companies to keep kids safe online.

The parent company of Instagram says users in Canada and elsewhere under 18 will have their accounts set to private by default starting Tuesday, restricting who can send messages, among other parental controls and settings.

Speaking at an unrelated event Tuesday, Eby says the province began talks with social media companies after threatening legislation that would put big tech companies on the hook for “significant potential damages” if they were found negligent in failing to keep kids safe from online predators.

Eby says the case of Carson Cleland, a 12-year-old from Prince George, B.C., who took his own life last year after being targeted by a predator on Snapchat, was “horrific and totally preventable.”

He says social media apps are “nothing special,” and should be held to the same child safety standards as anyone who operates a place that invites young people, whether it’s an amusement park, a playground or an online platform.

In a progress report released Tuesday about the province’s engagement with big tech companies including Google, Meta, TikTok, Spapchat and X, formerly known as Twitter, the provincial government says the companies are implementing changes, including a “trusted flagger” option to quickly remove intimate images.

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024

Source link