Since the massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School three years ago, at least 554 American children under the age of 12 have died from gunshots, both intentional and accidental, NBC News reported. 

That figure, based on news reports and other publicly available information, is likely significantly lower than the true number of child gun deaths, as suicides often are not covered by news media and other gun deaths sometimes go unreported. Even so, it works out to a rate of just under one death of a child by firearm every two days in this country.

That's not an improvement from the rate before Sandy Hook — when Adam Lanza stormed into the school in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 14, 2012, and shot dead 20 children and six staff members—  according to an NBC News analysis. One new government dataset suggests that the risk of children dying by gunfire may even have increased slightly since then.

Stamford firefighters are responding to a working fire.

The blaze broke out at 239 West Trail in Stamford Monday afternoon, according to Stamford fire officials. Smoke was coming from the roof, the department tweeted.

Fire officials responded just after 2 p.m.

A survivor of the San Bernardino massacre told NBC News that she spends little time thinking about the co-worker who shot her and massacred her colleagues. 

"I don't really think about him ... I just don't try to think about him," said Jennifer Stevens of Syed Farook, who, with his wife Tashfeen Malik, gunned down county employees at a social services facility on Dec. 2.

Stevens, who had been shot straight through her abdomen and in her arm, said she is grieving for "people I worked with, people I was very familiar with, I talked with every day ... They're not there anymore or, you know, they're not doing as well and it just breaks my heart."

Farook was one such person that Stevens was used to seeing at work, but she said the 28-year-old was "very quiet" and "wouldn't really make eye contact."

The FBI has arrested an Edgewood, Maryland, man suspected of providing material support to ISIS.

Mohamad Elshinawy allegedly pledged his allegiance to ISIS and said his "soul was over there with the jihadists," according to the FBI.

Elshinawy was formally charged Monday in U.S. District court in Baltimore with attempting to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, obstruction of agency proceedings, and making false statements and falsifying or concealing material facts.

The FBI said Elshinawy was instructed by ISIS to "cause destruction" or to conduct a terrorist attack in the United States. He allegedly pretended to sell printers on eBay to mask payments coming from a suspected ISIS operative. Elshinawy received the payments through Western Union and PayPal, authorities said.

Elshinawy allegedly used an Internet hotspot allowing him to go online quasi-anonymously and used social media, email accounts and "pay as you go" phones to communicate. The FBI said he used a social media account under the pseudonym "Egyptt in USA" and declared a "love of jihad."

There's no indication that Elshinawy planned any attacks, according to the court records reviewed by the News4 I-Team, but the FBI says Alshinaway made a pledge to support ISIS and stated a desire to die a martyr.

An address listed in a search warrant for Elshinawy's Edgewood home in Harford County shows he lives about two minutes from the U.S. Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground and a MARC train station.

He had been under investigation since early this year and is accused of lying to FBI agents who questioned him. The FBI said he "appeared overeager to ingratiate himself with the FBI and be a 'part of the team.'"

The FBI said Elshinawy appeared to have masked or cut off his communication with ISIS after special agents questioned him in July. The agency said he dropped communication channels known to the FBI and "substituted other methods" that were more covert.

Hartford police have identified a 22-year-old man killed after a shooting in Hartford late Saturday afternoon.

Police say they responded to the area of 20 Griswold Street near Maple Avenue around 4:19 p.m. Saturday for reports of a shooting. There they found Edison Burge, 22, of Hartford, suffering a gunshot wound to the neck. Aetna Ambulance transported him to Hartford Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 4:57 p.m. This is the 31st homicide of the year for the city.

"None of the officers have ever been to a call on this street. This is an old great street," said Deputy Chief Brian Foley.

Police say they found significant evidence at the scene but would not comment on exactly what they found. Griswold Street was shut down while detectives from the Major Crimes Division investigate.

Police have made no arrests at this time. It is not immediately known if the victim had any connection to the neighborhood. Check back for updates.
 

Windsor police are looking for two men who robbed a federal credit union in town on Monday morning.

Police responded to a robbery underway at Comtrust Federal Credit Union at 1901 Day Hill Road in Windsor on Monday after receiving at call at about 9:31 a.m.

Credit union employees told officers that two men robbed the bank at about that time

One of the robbers, described as a heavy man in an orange hat, orange vest, gloves and black mask approached the teller and then jumped over the counter, removing cash from the drawer, police said. A second man in a black hooded sweatshirt, black gloves and a red and black mask with shiny eyes reached over the counter and also took money from the teller drawer, police said.

Neither men showed any weapons and no one was injured.

It's unknown how much cash was stolen.

Windsor police detectives continue to investigate the incident.

Anyone with information is asked to called the department at 860-688-5273.

Monday marks three years since a deadly mass shooting claimed the lives of 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

For the first time, Newtown students are in school on the anniversary of the tragedy.

Gov. Dannel Malloy has ordered Connecticut and U.S. flags to be flown at half-staff Monday as the state honors the victims of the Dec. 14, 2012 massacre.

Among those who died were first-grade students Charlotte Bacon, Daniel Barden, Olivia Engel, Josephine Gay, Ana Marquez-Greene, Dylan Hockley, Madeleine Hsu, Catherine Hubbard, Chase Kowalski, Jesse Lewis, James Mattioli, Grace McDonnell, Anne Marie Murphy, Elimie Parker, Jack Pinto, Noah Pozner, Caroline Previdi, Jessica Rekos, Avielle Richman, Benjamin Wheeler and Allison Wyatt.

Also killed were school principal Dawn Hochsprung, school psychologist Mary Sherlach, teachers Victoria Soto and Lauren Rousseau, behavioral therapist Rachel Davino and school aide Anne Marie Murphy.

Community members are coming together to remember the victims. Trinity Episcopal Church will hold its annual Interfaith Gathering for Prayer and Comfort at 7 p.m. Monday. The service will include prayer, readings of sacred texts and moments of silence for everyone to "reflect" or "pray in his or her own way," according to Newtown religious leaders.

"As faith leaders, we come from a variety of religious communities that are diverse in belief and practice," Rev. Matt Crebbin of Newtown Congregational Church wrote to the community. "However, we want you to know that we are united in our commitment to offer care and compassion to all of Newtown. As we near the three year Anniversary of the traumatic events at Sandy Hook School, we want to let you to know that we continue to hold this community in our prayers and we continue to offer care for anyone who wishes to find spiritual and faith-based support. Many of our individual fellowships will be offering specific events in the days around the anniversary as part of our worship and community life. We plan to post details about these in the very near future.

The door at Newtown Congregational Church bears a sign with a simple message: "We are Sandy Hook. We Choose Love."

"Choosing love is not something that is an afterthought, it really is a conscious choice that we try to make every day," Crebbin, the church’s senior minister, said. "When I hear of other communities that have been affected by gun violence, there is this connection with compassion, but there’s also this great sorrow that’s still there."

Crebbin said his community must find a way to recognize the tragic events of three years ago without reliving the trauma.

"We may be in the same chapter of a book, but we’re on different pages, so part of the way we can care for one another is be aware that different people will be at different places, especially around this anniversary," Crebbin said.

Newtown recovery centers are also providing quiet spaces and therapeutic programs to support grieving community members.

"It is very hard, it is very difficult to overcome," said Rabbi Shaul Praver, who served as rabbi at Newtown's Congregation Adath Israel at the time of the shooting, "but we will overcome."

Praver is writing a book called Sacred Testimony on the narrative of what happened, why and the search for solutions.

"Teaching the golden rule in school, being compassionate to one another, educating the entire child, reaching out to the loner as the most powerful thing we can do to keep our children safe in school," he said.

Monday is the first anniversary of the tragedy that falls on a school day. Students from Newtown are still attending school in neighboring Monroe while construction continues on the new Sandy Hook Elementary School. Construction is scheduled to be finished by fall of 2016, according to the project website.

"It seemed to be most appropriate, and since we’ve had a couple of years, that we have that day where children come together and learn and celebrate the gift of learning," Crebbin said.

Memorial services for the 26 lives lost were also held over the weekend.

A structure fire that ripped through an historic home in Plainfield early Sunday morning is still being investigated by officials. 

According to the Plainfield fire department, 75 firefighters were called to 150 Weston St. around 7 a.m. this morning. It took two and a half hours and 18 tankers to get the fire out.

By the time the fire department got on scene, flames were shooting out of the house and the roof had collapsed. Firefighters believe the fire started on the second floor. 

Officials did not describe the incident as "suspicious", however police are still requesting information by anyone who knows anything about the fire. 

While no one was home at the time of the fire, there was a large Christmas party held at the residence the night before. The home is used as a reception hall and formerly as a bed and breakfast.

Part of the home was under renovation at the time of the fire.

One man has been arrested after three armed suspects invaded a New Haven home over the weekend, police said.

Victims on Pine Street say that three men carrying handguns entered their third floor apartment and demanded money. Two of the suspects were bald. The victims were grabbed and forced to the ground by the suspects but no one suffered any injuries, New Haven police said.

One of the suspects asked one of the victims where the money was but the victim said she did not know, police said.

After the suspect left with a cellphone and cash from pick-pocketing victims, police saw of a bald man walking through Blatchley and Grand Avenues that matched the description of the suspect.

Police arrested Eduardo Quinones-Martinez of New Haven. 

This is the second time the victims have reported a home invasion and police doubt this is simply "poor luck." New Haven police continue to investigate the incident. 

A woman who is accused of posting a photo on Facebook showing a dog muzzled with duct tape that sparked outrage and went viral was arraigned in court on Monday for  animal cruelty charges in North Carolina. 

A Facebook user with an account registered to "Katie Brown" posted a photograph on her Facebook wall last month of a dog with duct tape wrapped around its mouth and the message, "This is what happens when you dont (sic) shut up!!!"

Police in Cary, North Carolina, charged Katharine F. Lemansky, 44, with animal cruelty after law enforcement agencies in three states tracked her there. She allegedly admitted to police that the incident happened in Cary, according to a statement released by the town on Monday night.

It's unknown if she's being represented by an attorney.

“Taping the dog’s muzzle shut was a terrible decision on Ms. Lemansky’s part, and charging her with animal cruelty under North Carolina law was the right thing to do,” Cary Police Captain Randall Rhyne previously said in a news release.

But the dog, who police identified as "Brown," will not be taken away from Lemansky, Rhyne noted. Neither will Brown's littermate, because they appeared to be well cared for. City of South Daytona officials said the dog was unharmed.

“At the same time, it’s important to also note that our animal control officers who physically examined both Brown and her littermate found the dogs to be very well cared for, which is why we did not and could not remove them from the owner," Rhyne said. "The dogs are current on their shots, spayed, and microchipped. They are clean and well-nourished and appear to be comfortable in their surroundings. And there were no signs of injury to Brown’s muzzle, not even detectable hair loss.”

Cary police worked with law enforcement agencies "across two states" to determine whose jurisdiction the case was in and pursue a quick resolution to the situation that had prompted public outcry and messages to local officials from thousands of people across the globe.

Police in Avon and Torrington, as well as South Daytona, Florida, were inundated with phone calls and emails from people concerned about the Facebook post of the dog, claiming the photo to be evidence of animal cruelty and calling on police to do something.

All three departments launched investigations and worked together to track down the woman to find out what happened and where. 

South Daytona police first launched an investigation after the department received numerous calls about the Facebook post and Lt. Dan Dietrich, of South Daytona police, said police then determined the woman's legal name is Katharine F. Lemansky.

Police there contacted her adult son, who lives in that town, and he told them his mother moved to Connecticut over a year ago and has been living in Avon with a boyfriend, possibly a fiancé, Dietrich said.

He told police that she was staying in North Carolina and was headed down to his place in Florida, but that he didn't know where she was at the time of her Facebook post.

Meanwhile, back in Connecticut, Avon police police went to the "so-called residence" that police believe she was associated with in the town, but that "she has not been there" and police are unclear on "the last time she actually was at the home." NBC Connecticut also went to the house, but no one answered the door.

“We have received an outpouring of telephone calls and e-mail about the recent Facebook posting of a dog with its mouth duct-taped closed. We thank everyone for their concern. The Avon Police Department Animal Control Officer is actively investigating this case and we want to assure you that we take all cases of animal abuse very seriously,” Avon police said in a statement.

Daytona Animal Control in Florida also reported getting tens of thousands of messages and calls from around the world, as far as Canada and Australia, about the Facebook post of the tape-muzzled dog.

South Daytona police notified authorities in Cary, North Carolina, that the woman behind the photo might be there. Within an hour, Cary police sent animal control officers to look for Lemansky and they found her on Churchview Street and charged her with class 1 misdemeanor cruelty to animals after she allegedly admitted to police that she duct taped her dog's mouth shut at the place she was staying at in Cary, police said.

Online outrage over the post also affected at least one business in Simsbury, Connecticut, which reported being unfairly targeted with criticism over an employee's alleged association with the woman accused of posting the photo of the tape-muzzled dog.

Lemansky could face a fine and as many as 150 days in jail, Cary officials said. She was scheduled to appear in a Wake county court in North Carolina on Monday, Dec. 14, according to the North Carolina judicial website.

The Emmet O'Brien Technical High School in Ansonia was put on lock down after a mother of one of the student's called hysterical crying and saying her son was "an angry child."

"He is like the kid that killed the babies of Columbine and he is an angry child," Leslie Teixeira, 39, told school officials, according to a police arrest summary.

Teixeira's comments prompted the lock down and her son was escorted to the principal's office to be interviewed and searched for weapons.

Officials found no evidence of weapons or the ability for the son to obtain weapons. Teixeira was arrested for breaching peace and released on $2,500 bail. She was involuntarily committed to the Bridgeport Hospital due to her history of mental illness and putting the school on high alert.

It is not clear if she has an attorney. 

A chain of dry cleaners in Connecticut is warning customers about a potential data breach.

Swiss Cleaners, which has eight locations in Connecticut, alerted customers that hackers accessed cardholder names, card numbers, expiration dates and verification codes.

"We believe that an unauthorized person was able to install a program on a server in our payment card system that was designed to make a copy of payment card data as it was being routed through our system to our payment process,” the company said in an online statement.

The data breach affects all eight Swiss Cleaners locations in Connecticut. The company warned that any card used at any of their locations between December 2014 and October of 2015 "could have been captured."

A Coventry man learned someone racked up $700 in charges on his credit card, he believes after he swiped his card at Swiss Cleaners.

Philip only wants to use his first name, but he told the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters the fraudulent purchases were made at stores in Massachusetts.

Several hundred dollars was spent at various liquor stores, which was a red flag because Philip said doesn’t drink alcohol. He suspected his credit card information had been stolen at Swiss Cleaners right away.

“This credit card, I don't use often and the last place I used it was here at Swiss Cleaners,” Philip said.

He said he questioned an employee of the cleaners who advised him to call a number for the Swiss Cleaners Response Line.

“You don’t have to be out in the street to be robbed anymore,” Philip said.

Coventry police said they are seeing a rise in fraud and identity theft. They urge people to be vigilant in protecting their information.

“To say it is an epidemic would be an understatement,” Sgt. Michael Hicks of the Coventry Police Department said.

He urges anyone who thinks they might be a victim of credit card fraud to file a report with their local police department.

If you suspect your card was compromised at one of the stores, you can call the Swiss Cleaners Response Line at 1-888-760-4869.

Click here to see the full statement from Swiss Cleaners.

Online retail giant, Amazon is yanking a good portion of Hoverboards after almost a dozen fires have been reported linked to the self-balancing electric scooters.

All due to the potential fire hazards related to the lithium ion batteries used to power up the popular items.

Fire Chief Kevin Frazier with the Montgomery County, Maryland Fire Department stated, "The hoverboard ignited while it was being charged and actually rolled over to a bed and ignited the bedding in the bedroom."

Calling each case, a high priority, federal investigators are reviewing eleven fires linked to the self-balancing electric scooters in ten separate states.

And with questions still looming, Amazon is also asking sellers doe "documentation demonstrating all Hoverboards listed are compliant with applicable safety standards."

Amazon is also sharing safety tips about lithium ion batteries, while allowing customers to cancel orders as well.

Overstock-dot-com already discontinued the sale of all brands.

Locally, firefighters advise not to leave hoverboards charging overnight.

Suffield Fire Chief Chuck Flynn tells NBC Connecticut, "When you're charging it, make sure you're watching it, only use the approved chord with the unit, if it is UL listed, that's a huge plus, because we know it’s met some standards, some electronic standards within the United States.

The list of airlines forbidding hoverboards on flights is growing, including Delta, American Airlines, United, Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Virgin America and JetBlue.

A New Haven firefighter has been arrested after investigators found he stole about $125,000 from a 95-year-old woman, police said.

Kenneth Burgos of New Haven has been charged with first degree larceny and tampering with a witness. 

“This type of crime is particularly upsetting," Assistant Chief of Detectives Achilles Generoso said. "When someone abuses their authority to take advantage of someone so vulnerable, we are all shaken."

The victim contacted police in September when she realized that several thousand dollars had been missing from her bank accounts. The investigation found that money had been stolen from the woman since 2013 according to bank records for four separate financial institutions. Accounts showed suspicious withdrawals over the last three years. 

The missing money became clearer when firefighters showed up at the victim's house for a medical call a few months back, a New Haven police statement read. The victim told the New Haven firefighters that she had befriended one of their colleagues, Burgos, and that he was her power of attorney. 

After the medical call, firefighters notified police and the 17-year department veteran was placed on paid administrative leave. On Monday, Burgos was arrested.

James Kottage, the president of the New Haven Fire Union called Burgos' actions "disgusting."

"We are a brotherhood and a family in the firehouse," Kottage said. "It hurts us when there's a bad apple in the orchard. 

It is not clear if Burgos has an attorney.

The recent terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., have vaulted terrorism and national security to become the American public's top concern, and they've helped drive President Barack Obama's job rating to 43 percent — its lowest level in more than a year, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

What's more, seven-in-10 Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction — the highest percentage here since Aug. 2014, NBC News reported.

"For most of 2015, the country's mood, and thus the presidential election, was defined by anger and the unevenness of the economic recovery," says Democratic pollster Fred Yang of Hart Research Associates, which conducted this survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies. "Now that has abruptly changed to fear."

This focus on national security and terrorism comes as the NBC/WSJ poll finds President Obama's job-approval rating at 43 percent, which is down two points from late October.

Not everyone is on board with the new Hard Rock Hotel coming to downtown Hartford--the first hotel of its kind in New England. 

Opponents took their concerns to the city council meeting Monday night, hoping to get through to local leaders about why they say it may not be a good idea for the Downtown North development.

The 170 room hotel was announced Monday and would open in 2018. Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra said it is another home run for the project anchored by the Yard Goats baseball stadium.

“I love the venue and I hope it becomes a reality,” Mayor Segarra said.

Some residents expressed concerns about the mixed-use parcel of land where the hotel would be built. Residents think a hotel could mean less space for other things that were promised like a grocery store and affordable housing on the parcel.

“I don’t think anybody in this city understands what this developer wants to do,” Alyssa Peterson of Hartford said. “There’s applications for money galore, announcement here, announcement there, So much has been happening, but we see nothing concretely being done.”

In a letter to the city council, Mayor Segarra said it’s true putting in a hotel would reduce the number of residential units and parking, but the money it would generate makes it worth it.

“It’s more economic development, more jobs and more economic activity,” Mayor Segarra said.
Some question why Hartford needs another hotel when those already in the city are rarely booked to capacity. City Councilors say Hard Rock hotel is different.

“It’s more of a weekend destination,” City Councilor Ken Kennedy said. “It’s more about the amenities in the hotel.”

The current city council could have more meeting the Monday after Christmas where they could vote on the hotel. If they do not, 7 new members and the new mayor will have to take it up in the new year.

An East Bay woman visited a Dick’s Sporting Goods last week and asked a store employee about buying eight boxes of ammunition for her AR-15. Two days later, on Friday, Sim Sangha received an unwelcome visit by two police officers.

The store employee had alerted them, police said. Now, the 24-year-old Fremont resident is accusing the store of racial profiling.

"I don't know if it's [because of] my skin color or that I’m Indian," she said. "I'm not a Muslim, but even if I were, that's no reason to call police to my home, instantly."

Sangha, a firearms instructor, didn’t buy ammunition for her rifle – the same kind used to gun down 14 people and injure 17 others in San Bernardino – and left instead with an exercise mask.

"They singled me out," Sangha said. "They singled me out because of the way I look."

Had the store asked, Sangha, who is preparing to join the Los Angeles Police Department, said she would have provided proof of her certification.

"I feel like I was racially profiled," she said. "I've had friends buy bulk ammo and they've never had police show up at their door."

A Fremont police spokeswoman said that the department does not have a defined policy to step up police actions against activity that may be construed by some as terrorist-related. They are, however, on heightened alert since a husband-and-wife duo opened fire at a holiday party at the Inland Regional Center in Southern California. 

A store manager referred NBC Bay Area’s questions about the case to Dick's corporate office.

Fremont police said the officers apologized to Sangha but defended their duty to check out what residents consider "suspicious."

An angry man rammed his pickup truck through an Oklahoma hotel lobby and into the front desk as two women dove for safety at the last second, according to video obtained by NBC News.

The incident occurred Thursday in the town of Alva, about 110 miles northwest of Oklahoma City. No one was injured, but the lobby of the Alva Comfort Inn and Suites was damaged, NBC News reported.

The video, provided to NBC News by the hotel’s manager, shows the driver of the 2006 Sierra GMC talking with a police officer outside the hotel entrance. It then shows him slam the truck into drive and race through the front entrance and into the front desk.

John Edward Parsley, 62, of Gonzalez, Texas, was held on $1 million bond Monday night on two felony counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and one count of malicious injury to property worth more than $1,000, according to court records. According to local newspaper Enid News & Eagle, he was upset that his credit card was declined twice and had to pay cash.

Seattle became the first city to allow ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft to unionize over pay and working conditions, NBC News reported.

Companies that hire or contract drivers must now bargain with their drivers if a majority shows they want representation. Drivers would be represented by nonprofit organizations certified by the city, according to The Associated Press.

Many drivers in Seattle are immigrants who depend on full-time work, but some make less than minimum wage and don’t have basic worker rights, according to a council member.

Uber and others say federal labor law prevents cities from regulating collective bargaining and that the ordinance would violate federal antitrust laws. Lyft urged the mayor and council to reconsider the measure.
 

Donald Trump’s supporters became violent with protestors a rally on Monday night and at least one man yelled “Sieg heil.”

During the Republican presidential candidate’s rally in Las Vegas, Trump was interrupted a few times by Black Lives Matter protester. Trump supporters responded violently by shoving a heckler, NBC News reported. Along with the Nazi salute, another man called a protester a Muslim.

Trump took the interruptions in stride and complained that they were the only way to get media outlets to turn their cameras towards his crowds to show off their size.