Rare Simple

Almost four months after a botched police raid left a homeowner and a police officer with gunshot wounds — and the homeowner’s dog dead at the hands of the police — the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office hasn’t released any new information on the investigation.

The case drew widespread condemnation and headlines when DeKalb County sheriff’s deputies walked into the wrong house, guns drawn, after getting a 911 call about a burglary.

Inside, 36-year-old homeowner Chris McKinley was watching a movie with his wife, Leah, and 1-year-old son when police entered through an unlocked back door, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Police claim they announced themselves, but in interviews afterward, McKinley said the deputies did not give any warning. When McKinley heard his dog barking, he got up to see what was happening and walked to the rear of the house, where police shot him and his dog, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“I hear Leah screaming, I see Chris walking out, ‘They just shot me, they just shot me, and they killed my dog,’” Tama Colson, a neighbor who was returning home from an evening walk when she stumbled into the chaotic scene, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
For their part, police blamed the original 911 caller and the dispatcher for the incident.

“Are we perfect?” DeKalb Director of Public Safety Cedric Alexander asked, reports the Journal-Constitution. “Absolutely not. But when we find a mistake, we own it. We own the fact that we were at the wrong house. We didn’t hide it. We didn’t mismanage it. We were at the wrong location based on information that was given to us.”

In the initial police version of events, McKinley “burst out of a closed door with a pit bull that charged at the officers,” according to a police report cited by WSB-TV.

McKinley’s attorney, Jeff Brickman, flatly denied the police report, which was written in language that seemed to absolve the deputies from any wrongdoing. The dog was a boxer, Brickman told WSB-TV.

“Chris McKinley didn’t burst out of any closed door,” Brickman said. “He doesn’t have a pit bull.”

McKinley was shot once in the leg, while Officer Travis Jones was shot in the hip.

Since the incident, Jones and his two fellow officers — Timothy Hardin and Quhanna Lloyd — have been on paid administrative leave.

Authorities urged calm in interviews with Atlanta-area media in September and October, asking the public to withhold judgment until the investigation is complete, but DeKalb County District Attorney Robert James has not issued any new information on the case, as of Dec. 14, nor has he given any indication when the investigation will be completed.

The unfortunate mother, Heather, said that she lost her young son and has since been working hard to share her important message with all parents.

Heather shared her story on her social media account under the heading “The Blue Stain”. As you read it for yourself, you quickly understand why it is pulling at so many people’s heartstrings.

One day, the mother was picking up some slime off the floor that her daughter had dropped. It’s then that everything became obvious to her.

Her daughter had done her best to clean up the stain left by the slime, but Heather naturally had to get in there too and help. She was, as natural for any parent, annoyed by the situation. But as she began muttering under her breath, she suddenly remembered a different stain. A stain from 14 years prior. At that time, Heather had of two-year old triplets as well as a four year old little boy. She did not have her daughter yet. On this particular evening, she was struggling to get her 4 active boys into bed. With four young children in the house, life was nothing but a tornado of activity and non-stop chaos. She spent most of the time chasing her kids — often feeling like she was facing the potential of a third world war. “My hands were full, but so was my heart.” As night drew near that evening 14 years ago, she recalled the struggle of feeding and bathing all four boys, all the while cleaning up after the usual mess.

The children had music blasting and ran around singing and dancing, full of energy as usual. This would be the last time in a while that this kind of atmosphere would prevail in the house… for several reasons. Amidst the chaos and her struggle to get the boys in bed, she looked down at the carpet and saw a large ink-blue stain. One of the triplets, Jacob, stood nearby, broken pen in hand — the ink had spread all over the carpet. It was also all over his pajamas, his body and more or less everything else in the room! “We had only lived in this house for six months and now the carpet was completely ruined. We scrubbed that stain for an hour that night, but yet it remained.”

The stain continued to get on her nerves and she was annoyed at it every time she saw it. “It made me feel angry and it made me feel like such a failure for leaving out the pen where my young son could reach it. That blue stain was just a big fat negative in my life. I hated it,” Heather says. But as her frustration over the stain continued to grow, suddenly, it all went away, in a single, life-changing moment. The little boy who had broken the pen that day was soon diagnosed with cancer. And two years following the heart-shattering news, Jacob was gone. As Jacob went to heaven, the blue stain remained. “It was still there . . . and now . . . it was a constant reminder of my son. It was a constant reminder of my frustration over something so trivial . . . something so unimportant in the scheme of life.” Heather now wants mothers everywhere to realize that young children will of course always make a mess. Raising young children can be incredibly frustrating and as they get older, a parent faces new trials and challenges. For Heather, the blue stain is now a constant reminder that life with children can be messy, but is so worth living.

The subjects of reincarnation and what happens after death are hotly debated. Some people believe that nothing happens when we die, others believe in heaven and hell, and still others believe in the concept of reincarnation – that we come back in another form after we die.

For the Druze people in the Middle East, reincarnation is very much a part of their beliefs and practices. It is customary for elders to take a child to the home of his previous life if he remembers it, and they believe that birthmarks are related to past-life deaths.

So when a three-year-old boy in the Golan Heights region near the border of Syria and Israel told his parents he had been murdered in a previous life, they didn’t discount his story. Read the full story here ▶

Robert and Joanne Forster got married and quickly realized that they would probably never have their own family sadly.

In 2006, before he even met Joanne, Robert suffered from non-Hodgkin lymphoma and by the grace of God and medicine he beat it, thanks to life-saving chemotherapy treatments.

But just two years later, Joanne was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma and had to go through similar treatments.In both cases, the need to begin chemo immediately was so serious that neither Robert nor Joanne had any time at all to freeze sperm or eggs for the future. Read the full story here ▶

If you’ve ever lost your wallet or a purse, it is a horrible experience.You feel so vulnerable knowing that someone else has access to all your personal information including your driver’s license, your health insurance card, credit cards – not to mention all the cash you had in there.

So when Shelia Spencer noticed that her wristlet was missing, she started to panic, as most people would.

The wallet, which hung from her wrist from a small leather strap, held her personal information, nearly $300 cash, and her smartphone. As you can imagine, Shelia was mortified that someone had her stuff and was going to do who-knows-what with it. Read the full story here ▶

According to the court documents, the 27-year-old dad, Joshua, put his 4-year-old stepson in a bathtub of near-boiling hot water.

Prosecutors said the child suffered burns over more than one-third of his body. The stepfather admitted to burning the little boy and was sentenced to 40 years in a state correctional facility.

The 27-year-old defendant pleaded guilty to injury to a child with intent to cause serious bodily injury. He also pleaded to a sentencing enhancement based on previous convictions on charges of se-ual assault and burglary of a habitation.

According to the court documents, this unfortunate incident occurred on May 26, 2022. Child Protective Services contacted the Sheriff’s Department regarding a 4-year-old boy who had been brought to a hospital to treat severe burns. The boy, who was not identified due to his age, was admitted to the hospital, intubated, and placed on a ventilator due to his injuries. Authorities said he required multiple surgeries and skin grafts due to the burns. Hospital staff told authorities that the 4-year-old boy suffered burns over more than one-third of his body. According to the doctors, the burns included the entirety of both of his legs, feet, and buttocks, as well as a portion of his right arm. The doctor also noted that most of the burns sustained by the child were third-degree burns that were likely the result of forceful immersion.

During an interview with investigators, the victim’s mom reportedly said that when she arrived home from work, her son was wrapped in a towel that hid his injuries. When she removed his towel and revealed the victim’s injuries, she immediately Joshua to call 911 and the child was transported to the hospital. During an interview with investigators, the 27-year-old stepfather blamed the 4-year-old, claiming the boy sustained the burns when he bumped into the stove, accidentally spilling a pot of hot water on himself.

But, the boy’s babysitter reportedly told investigators that while the mother was out, the boy went to the bathroom. The babysitter then told Joshua to clean the boy. Joshua then undressed the little boy, ran a hot bath and went into the bathroom with the child. Joshua then left the child and went to play video games. The 27-year-old stepfather then returned to the bathroom and yelled at the boy, while the 4-year-old victim was crying. Hospital staff told investigators that the boy’s injuries were likely the result of him being held down in the dangerously hot water by force.

Summer has arrived, so parents are reintroducing their children to sunscreen. But for one mother, a normal outing turned into every parent’s worst nightmare. Now this grieving mother is warning every parent.

It only takes one bad sunburn to learn that three minutes worth of preparation is much easier than weeks of painful, peeling, and crackling skin.

But not all sunscreens are good for you. As one mother from Botwood, Canada can attest, some sunscreens may actually be more dangerous than the sun itself. Read the full story here ▶

Happiness and tragedy struck on the same day for Matt Logelin in March 2008. His wife, Liz, gave birth to their baby girl and within hours had passed away. Liz hadn’t had an easy pregnancy and was on bed rest for more than four weeks, she started a blog to help pass the time and keep friends and family updated.

Liz gave birth to Madeline via C-section seven weeks early and got to see her baby for several brief moments. Doctors advised Liz to stay in bed for another day before she held her new baby. Liz died from a massive pulmonary embolism before she could hold Madeline. Shortly afterward, Matt logged on to Liz’s blog and began typing he shared his emotions (good and bad) just like Liz had done.

Watch the video

Within months, the blog had taken on a new shape and something beautiful happened. Share away, people.

Per reports, the doctors were stunned when the 16-year-old boy came into the hospital complaining of pains in his midsection. He didn’t know why he was suffering and asked the doctors for help.

After discovering the stunning cause of the boy’s, Arjun, pain, the doctors had no choice but to operate. The teen showed up at the hospital complaining of the pain in his stomach.

When the professional performed an endoscopy, they discover the unusual cause of his suffering. They had never seen anything like it, and this teen’s body was filled with something very unusual. Read the full story here ▶

Per reports, both parents, 48-year-old Timothy and 35-year-old Tina were appointed by the court to serve as guardians for the 7-year-old boy Ethan.

Although the couple opened their home to the young boy, they did not open their hearts to him. After demanding that the boy read and memorize passages from the Bible, they realized he had not done as they had asked, so they did something unthinkable.

Ethan was one part of a set of twins. Although both twins were ordered to memorize verses from the Bible, Ethan was the one who suffered the most from his family’s punishments. Read the full story here ▶