Share Tweet By Billy Hallowell Editor
May 11, 2023
A 20-year-old security guard who died trying to save others during a shooting last Saturday at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas, is being remembered for his bravery.
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Christian LaCour, a mall guard, was among the eight victims slaughtered in the Allen Premium Outlets shooting.
Those who knew LaCour were unsurprised to hear reports of his heroic efforts trying to save others before being shot and killed, citing past examples of the young man’s endeavors to serve with kindness, KDFW-TV reported.
Lacour is being credited with giving his life for others, with Allen Police Chief Brian Harvey publicly praising the late security guard.
“We also must acknowledge the bravery of Allied security guard Christian LaCour, who evacuated one individual to safety and was shot while courageously remaining to help others,” Harvey said.
And store manager Andria Gaither, who shared a past example of LaCour kindly offering to walk her to her vehicle after hours, told KDFW-TV she believes LaCour’s actions during the shooting were heroic.
“I really think that he died being a protector for the people working here and the people shopping out here,” Gaither said. “He was brave. Thats undoubted.”
She added, “I think that he 100% should be remembered as a hero, because thats what he was.”
LaCour’s family has also spoken out in heartbreak over the tragic loss.
Kellie Smith, his sister-in-law’s mother, wrote, “Words can not even begin to describe the devastation that our family feels. There will forever be a void.”
His mother, Tracye LaCour, said she is praying for other victims’ families, and his sister, Brianna Smith, described the late security guard as “a really sweet kid.”
“I’m sad that he’s gone,” she said.
Police are reportedly still investigating the facts and looking for a motive after Mauricio Garcia, 33, murdered eight innocents, including LaCour.
The family of 20-year-old Christian LaCour confirms to me he was one of the 8 people killed in Saturday's mass shooting at the #Allen Outlet Mall.
LaCour worked at the mall as a security guard on site and grew up in Farmersville, TX. @FOX4 pic.twitter.com/wOhQPwnU6J— Peyton Yager (@peytonyager) May 7, 2023
Authorities are also praising an unnamed Allen police officer who shot and killed Garcia and halted the rampage. At the moment, that cop reportedly wishes for privacy as he processes what unfolded, according to the New York Post.
The officer sprinted towards high-power rifle fire as everyone else ran away,” Zach Horn, a representative for the officer, said. “Hes a brave servant with a gentle heart that embodies the best the law enforcement profession has to offer.”
Continue to pray for the city of Allen as well as the victims’ families.
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Kim Kardashian has arrived at court to face a group accused of robbing her at gunpoint nearly a decade ago.
Wearing a black skirt suit, sunglasses, and with her hair pulled back into a chignon, the US reality star walked up the steps accompanied by her mother Kris and a large entourage.
The US reality star greeted the judge with a soft “Hello,” thanking the French authorities for “allowing me to tell my truth”.
Image: Kim Kardashian waves as she arrives at court. Pic: AP
She began by telling the court of her love for Paris, calling it a “magical place,” before becoming tearful when describing the robbery, and talking of her “confusion” when two men entered her room dressed as police officers, accompanied by the handcuffed concierge.
She told the court: “I had fallen asleep naked with a robe on, I was flustered.”
Kardashian will face 10 defendants who it is alleged pulled off one of the most audacious celebrity heists in modern French history in the early hours of 3 October 2016.
Ahead of her in-person appearance, Kardashian’s lawyers said she was ready to “confront” the defendants and intended to do so “with dignity and courage”.
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It’s alleged that five masked men posing as police officers stormed the residence, with two entering Kardashian’s room and robbing her at gunpoint.
Image: Kim Kardashian. Pic: Reuters
Police say the men escaped on bicycles, with around $9m of jewellery, including a $4m engagement ring from Kardashian’s then-husband Kanye West. Most of the jewellery was never recovered.
Earlier on Tuesday, in Paris’s central criminal court, Kardashian’s stylist Simone Harouche described the moment she was woken by the US star’s screams of terror and feared she had been “raped or violated”.
Ms Harouche, 45, who says she has worked for Kardashian for many years and has been friends with her since she was 12, told the court she was woken by “a sound I had never heard from Kim… It was terror”.
Sleeping in a separate apartment, on the next floor down from Kardashian’s, she went on: “What I heard specifically was [Kim saying], ‘I have babies and I need to live – that is what she kept saying… Take everything. I need to live'”.
She told the judge: “When I realised something terrible was going on upstairs and I realised it was not friends [in Kim’s room], I started looking for my telephone and I started looking for something to help save mine and Kim’s life.”
Image: Simone Harouche pictured last year. Pic: Virisa Yong/BFA.com/Shutterstock
She went on to lock herself in her bathroom and hide in her shower, where she called Kardashian’s sister Kourtney and texted her security guard, Pascal Duvier, telling them, “Something is very wrong… Kim is upstairs with men and we need help.”
She says minutes later, Kardashian “hopped” into her room, explaining: “To see my friend with her feet taped and a very light robe with nothing under, and all messed up and pulled, I thought she could have been raped or very violated.”
She said she removed the tape from Kardashian’s feet, and her friend was “beside herself”, adding, “I’ve never seen her like that before. She was screaming, ‘We need to get out, what do we do if they come back? We need to jump from the first floor, we need to get out'”.
Later, when questioned by the lawyer of one of the defendants on why she did not come out of the bathroom, she said: “I’m the kind of person to hide, [Kardashian’s] the kind of person to take care of other people.”
‘Just because a woman wears jewellery, doesn’t make her a target’
When asked by the judge whether she or Kardashian had believed at the time that wearing and sharing images of such expensive jewellery would be a risk, Ms Harouche says: “Just because a woman wears jewellery doesn’t make her a target. That’s like saying because a woman wears a short skirt she deserves to be raped”.
She went on to say: “I think that that moment changed [Kardashian’s] life forever… In terms of security, she doesn’t go alone to places anymore.”
Following the robbery, Ms Harouche says she quit her job as a stylist as the experience “made me fearful of all the things that could happen to celebrities, and being around them”.
Asking for ‘forgiveness’
At the end of her time in the witness stand, the judge attempted to play a video message from one of the defendants, Yunice Abbas.
Image: Kardashian at the Siran Presentation on the day of the robbery. Pic: Matteo Prandoni/BFA/Shutterstock
Mr Abbas, who has admitted his part in the heist, published a book in 2021, titled “I Kidnapped Kim Kardashian”. A court has since ruled he will not benefit financially from it.
A tech issue meant the message would not play, so instead, the judge read out the statement from Mr Abbas, asking for “forgiveness” for his actions. When asked by the judge if she had a reaction to the apology, Ms Harouche answered, “No”.
The trial, which is being held in front of three judges and six jury members, is due to conclude at the end of this week.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — Miami coach Mario Cristobal said Monday that quarterback Carson Beck has been cleared to participate in all team summer activities and is approaching 100 percent following elbow surgery last year.
Cristobal said Beck has been throwing for the past three weeks as part of his rehab regimen. Beck missed all of spring practice and has yet to throw to Miami’s receivers as part of organized team activities. But that is all about to change when Miami begins summer workouts next week.
“He’s good to go,” Cristobal told ESPN at the ACC spring meetings. “He’s exceeding every benchmark.”
Beck underwent surgery on his right elbow to repair his ulnar collateral ligament, which he injured on the final play of the first half in second-ranked Georgia‘s 22-19 overtime win against Texas in the SEC championship game Dec. 7.
Beck started at Georgia for two seasons, going 24-3, and ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. had him rated as the No. 5 quarterback for the 2025 draft. But given his injury and inconsistent performance in 2024, Beck entered the portal in January. He quickly opted for Miami, where he will replace No. 1 NFL draft pick Cam Ward.
Beck threw for 7,426 yards over his two seasons as Georgia’s starter, fifth most among all FBS passers since 2023, with 57 total touchdowns and 23 turnovers.
AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — NCAA president Charlie Baker said Monday he was “up for anything” when asked about a President Donald Trump-proposed commission on collegiate athletics.
Reports surfaced last week that Trump was going to create the commission.
While his conversations at ACC meetings with league football coaches, men’s and women’s basketball coaches, athletic directors and other school officials focused on governance and the pending House settlement, Baker was asked during an informal media availability for his thoughts on the presidential commission.
“I think the fact that there’s an interest on the executive side on this, I think it speaks to the fact that everybody is paying a lot of attention right now to what’s going on in college sports,” Baker said.
“I’m up for anything that can help us get somewhere.”
Baker noted the NCAA has already spent time in Washington asking for congressional help that is focused on three big issues. Among the biggest: a patchwork of state laws that relate to how collegiate athletics work in individual states; and whether student-athletes should be considered employees.
“I think [Congress] can help us. I really do,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said during an interview with ACC Network. “We have been very bold in the desire for a national standard when it comes to name, image and likeness. We need to make sure that we have something that comes out of Washington that connects all 50 of the states because we’ve had a piecemeal project and it’s really undermined college sports. It’s been a race to the bottom. So that’s one. Two is we need some legal protection. We cannot sustain one legal case after another legal case after another legal case. A reaffirmation that these are student-athletes. Those three things to me will be very important to see if that can come out of the commission.”
Baker said, “People in our office have talked to folks who are working on this, but I don’t think they’ve decided the framework around who they want to put on.”
When asked whether he felt the creation of a commission would enhance the NCAA’s chances at legislative relief, Baker said, “I don’t have a crystal ball on that one. I don’t know. I do think, though, that it’s quite clear at this point that there are a lot of people interested in college sports, and we do need some help at some point to create some clarity around some of these issues in Washington. Creating clarity one lawsuit at a time is just a really bad way to try to move forward.”