17 Men Reportedly Heard Chanting, Firing Off Shots In Apple Valley Detained, Released

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APPLE VALLEY (CBSLA.com) — Federal and local law enforcement authorities Tuesday are investigating after 17 men were detained for reportedly firing off hundreds of rounds in a remote part of Apple Valley.

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies and an FBI agent were among the units that detained the men – reportedly all of Middle Eastern descent – who were camping out in the Deep Creek Hot Springs area Sunday morning, authorities said.

Feds & local law enforcement investigating after 17 men, reportedly Middle Eastern, fired 100s of rounds in Apple Valley. @KNX1070

— Margaret Carrero (@KNXmargaret)March 29, 2016

A 911 caller reported hearing over 100 shots fired and seeing five to seven men wearing turbans and shooting “assault rifles, handguns, and shotguns,” according to a Sheriff’s Department statement.

A county sheriff’s helicopter located the men walking near a creek with backpacks “and other items”, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Officials say the men were cooperative as they were detained and searched.

Several handguns, a rifle, and a shotgun were found at the scene, but a records check found all the weapons were registered with the exception of the rifle, which reportedly didn’t have a serial number because it was purchased in parts, an FBI spokesperson told The Times.

Police scanner traffic posted online by the Victor Valley News Group described “a large group of subjects wearing turbans and chanting” at the scene.

“They were up all night chanting ‘Allah akbar’-type stuff,” an unidentified officer is heard saying on the audio recording.

None of the hikers interviewed by Sheriff’s investigators say they witnessed any shots being fired, according to Sheriff’s officials.

A photo of the arrests was posted by the Victor Valley News Group but were not immediately confirmed by authorities.

All 17 men were eventually released because Sheriff’s investigators say they had no outstanding warrants or criminal histories.

“There was no evidence found that a crime had been committed by any of the subjects who were detained and they were released,” a Sheriff’s spokesperson said.

The FBI may conduct further interviews with the men to determine if any crimes were committed, The Times reported.

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CONFIRMED TWO AMERICANS KILLED IN BRUSSELS TERRORIST ATTACK

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New York City siblings killed in Brussels terror attacks

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Via Facebook

Siblings Alexander (l.) and Sascha Pinczowski were killed in the Tuesday terror attacks on Brussels.

A pair of New York City siblings was killed in the Tuesday terror attacks on Brussels, a family-friend confirmed Friday.

Sascha and Alexander Pinczowskiwere on the phone with a relative when twin bombs went off at the city’s airport. The family member on the line heard explosions and shattering glass — and then the call dropped

“The Pinczowski family confirms that their children Sascha and Alexander died during the attacks in Brussels,” Fans Van Herteren said in a statement Friday. “The family would like to express their gratitude for all the compassion and they now need time to grieve.”

U.S. officials confirmed Friday that two Americans were among the 31 killed in the attacks on the city\'s airport and subway system but did not reveal their names.

The brother and sister were traveling back to New York City when the duo of rush-hour bombs went off. Sascha\'s Facebook profile says she\'s from Vouliagmeni, Greece, but now lives in New York. Her brother\'s profile lists Manhattan as his home.

Two more Americans, a married couple from the South, are still missing.

View Gallery Mourners pay tribute to victims of Brussels terrorist attacks

Justin Shults, a Tennessee native, and his wife Stephanie, originally from Kentucky, dropped Stephanie\'s mother off at the airport just before the explosions. While the mom is fine, relatives have not heard from the couple, who moved to Brussels about two years ago.

About an hour after two blasts rocked Brussels airport, a third bomb went off at the city’s Maelbeek metro station. The attacks killed 31 people and wounded 270 more, including 12 Americans.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited the Belgian city Friday to meet with Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel.

“United States is praying and grieving with you for the loved ones of those cruelly taken from us, including Americans, and for the many who were injured in these despicable attacks,” Kerry said.

He also vowed to fight against the ISIS, which claimed responsibility for the deadly blasts.

POOL/REUTERS

Staff members at Brussels national airport and rescuers stand outside the terminal for a ceremony following bomb attacks in Brussels.

"We — all of us representing countless nationalities — have a message for those who inspired or carried out the attacks here or in Paris, or Ankara, or Tunis, or San Bernardino, or elsewhere: We will not be intimidated," Kerry said. "We will not be deterred. We will come back with greater resolve — with greater strength — and we will not rest until we have eliminated your nihilistic beliefs and cowardice from the face of the Earth."

Meanwhile, Brussels investigators announced Friday they are hunting for a new suspect in the coordinated bombings: 28-year-old Syrian Naim al-Hamed. Officials did not detail the role he played in the attacks, but he is also allegedly involved in the deadly terror attacks on Paris last November.

A day earlier, Belgian prosecutors saidsix people were tied to the bombings.

The victims of the Tuesday attacks hailed from countries across the globe. Briton David Dixon was among the dead, British Prime Minister David Cameron confirmed Friday. A Chinese national was also killed, Chinese official said.

With News Wire Services.

mwagner@nydailynews.com

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Obama Dances The Tango While The World Burns

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AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

by CHARLIE SPIERING24 Mar 20161252

President Obama is enjoying a taste of Latin America culture, spending the evening at a state dinner in Argentina. After dinner, two dancers appeared to perform a tango dance for the President and the First Lady.

At one point, the female dancer asked Obama to dance and after initially resisting, he got up to dance while the First Lady danced with the male dancers.

According to the pool reporter, many guests began videotaping the presidential pair dancing with their partners.

During a press conference earlier in the day, Obama insisted that he would continue on his Latin America trip in spite of the terrorist attacks in Brussels. Thirty-one people were killed in the attacks and an estimated 270 were wounded.

Disrupting his schedule, Obama said, would only send a message to the terrorists that they were succeeding in making the world afraid.

“It is very important for us to not respond with fear … we defeat them in part by saying, ‘You are not strong. You are weak,’” Obama explained when asked by reporters why he attended a baseball game with Raul Castro in Cuba after the attacks.

He argued that it was important to visit countries in Latin America to promote good things like fighting climate change and creating jobs.

“We have to make sure that we lift up and stay focused as well on the things that are most important to us because we’re on the right side of history,” he added.

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Cruz pushed for doubling of immigrants, including Muslims, to 1.67M PER YEAR

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www.washingtonexaminer.com

Plans pushed by GOP presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz under the immigration reform debate in 2013 would have jumped the number of immigrants, including those from Muslim nations, by doubling green card caps and boosting temporary worker visas five-fold.

Under the Cruz plan, yearly legal immigration would have gone from 740,000 to 1,675,000.

Well before Donald Trump drew a line on Muslim immigrants following a wave of terror attacks, highlighted by Tuesday's deadly blasts in Belgium, Cruz's suggested changes to the so-called Gang of Eight legislation would have also created a family green card category and lifted the per-country caps on immigrants.

A lifting of those caps would have opened the doors to more Muslim immigrants from Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other nations known for harboring terrorists.

Secrets recently reported that the administration has approved more immigrants from Muslim nations over the next five years than the entire population of Washington, D.C.

Figures from the Department of Homeland Security show that the president has already issued 680,000 green cards to immigrants from Muslim nations over the past five years. Unless Congress changes his policy, that number will be repeated in the next five years.

Under the Cruz amendments, shown in full below, the yearly cap on green cards would have increased from 675,000 to 1.35 million, not including refugees and asylees.

A second amendment would have boosted the H-1B visa cap for high-tech workers from 65,000 to 325,000.

The legislation never passed and Cruz has been critical of Obama's open borders. He has since called for a halt to increases in legal immigration and offered a bill to tighten restrictions on H-1B visas.

On Tuesday, he hit Trump for suggesting that the U.S. reconsider how much it spends overseas and he lashed out against Islamic terrorism.

"Radical Islam is at war with us. For over seven years we have had a president who refuses to acknowledge this reality. And the truth is, we can never hope to defeat this evil so long as we refuse to even name it," Cruz said. "That ends on January 20, 2017, when I am sworn in as president. We will name our enemy — radical Islamic terrorism. And we will defeat it."

Two Cruz immigration amendments from his Senate webpage:

Cruz 1324: Green Card (LPR) reform to modernize, streamline and expand legal immigration

This amendment would streamline and simplify our legal immigration system by consolidating segmented visas, creating real and transparent caps, eliminating the diversity visa lottery, and treating all immigrants equally by eliminating the per-country caps.

Provisions of his amendment include:

Doubling the overall worldwide green card caps from 675,000 visas per year to 1.35 million per year (not including refugees and asylees):

Employment-based green cards: Consolidates the 5 existing employment-based visas into a single high-skilled employment-based visa.

Family-based green cards: Creates a single family-based visa category that treats all immigrant families equally by redefining "immediate relatives" as "spouses, minor children, and parents of citizens or LPRs."

Treating immigrants from all countries equally by eliminating the diversity visa program and the per-country visa caps: Currently, immigrants of identical skill may experience drastically different wait times and burdens based merely on their country of origin. Not only is this inequitable, it hurts our ability to attract the best and brightest.

Reducing bureaucracy: Creates a user-friendly online portal where visa applicants can apply and obtain updates on their application.

Cruz 1325: Increase high-skilled temporary worker visas (H-1B visas) five-fold

This amendment would improve our nation's legal immigration system by increasing the H-1B cap from 65,000 to 325,000. It would also help America retain the people it educates by authorizing dual-intent student visas and address the need for high-skilled labor by creating a block grant to promote domestic high-skilled workers.

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted atpbedard@washingtonexaminer.com

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