Weekly News Briefs: July 31

Local

A missing woman’s grandson allegedly threatened to rape her.

11alive reported that before Christmas of 2014, Millicent Williams told police that her grandson threatened to kill her. The grandson, Gregory Anthony Williams, is a veteran with PTSD and is now a suspect for his grandmother’s’ disappearance. DeKalb County court records indicate that the two shared a violent history with each other; Millicent Williams filed two violence orders of protection between 2011-2014, which restricted her grandson from her residence at Brookhaven Point in Decatur. In her request to the court she alleged that Gregory verbally and physically abused her. Millicent was last seen on July 23, and when family hadn’t heard from her, police went to check on her; the police found blood in the home with no sign of Millicent. Gregory has not told police the whereabouts of his grandmother and on Thursday he was arrested and charged for theft by taking vehicle and aggravated assault and kidnapping.

National

Trump responds after ‘skinny repeal’ of Obamacare falls through

According to the Washington Post, after the attempt to have a “skinny repeal” of the Affordable Care Act failed on Capitol Hill, President Donald Trump took to twitter to voice his frustration over the collapse of the years-long effort. On the morning of July 29, Trump tweeted: “Republicans in the Senate will never win if they don’t go to a 51 vote majority now. They look like fools and are just wasting time[…]” Additionally, President Trump repeated his demand that the Senate throw out a rule requiring 60 votes for certain bills. The president said that the 60 vote rule has kept “great” future bills from being passed in the Senate.

Global

Hamburg supermarket attacker was known to be an Islamist

The BBC reported that the man responsible for killing one person and injuring six others in a Hamburg supermarket knife attack was previously known to be an Islamist, according to German officials. Hamburg’s Interior Minister Andy Grote said the assailant was not a Jihadist, however, and that he had “psychological” issues. The attacker was also a failed asylum seeker born in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The offender was identified as Ahmad A; he arrived in Germany in 2015, but was unable to be deported because he lacked identification papers and was dealing with mental health problems. Hamburg police searched the shelter where he was living and found no evidence of him having accomplices or being affiliated with a terrorist organization. When Ahmad entered the Hamburg supermarket, he pulled an 8-inch-long kitchen knife from the shelves, ripped off its packaging, and attacked and killed a 50-year-old man. He then injured two other men before leaving the crime scene. Ahmad’s motivations, however, remain unclear.