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reno
Shock, Grief After Unhoused Woman Killed and Volunteers Injured in Reno Car Attack
"At the end of the day, it's not going to stop Food Not Bombs," vowed one injured volunteer. "It's not going to stop our effort in the community."
Apr 06, 2023
A Nevada man has been arrested and charged with murder after allegedly telling police he intentionally rammed his car into a group of volunteers feeding unhoused people in Reno on Monday evening, killing one woman and critically injuring two others.
Michelle "Mama Bear" Jardine, a 55-year-old unhoused woman, died after David Turner drove his vehicle into a weekly Food Not Bombs Reno food distribution near the CARES Campus, a shelter for unhoused people run by Washoe County in downtown Reno.
Diamond Roman and her daughter Clarissa Roman were also struck by Turner. According to the Reno Gazette Journal, Diamond was struck with such force her body flew across the hood of the car.
\u201cVideo of vigil tonight for an unhoused woman at the location she was killed last night by a motorist during a food gathering with Food Not Bombs #Reno Two injured volunteers remain hospitalized and one called smiling from the hospital and said hello to those paying their respects\u201d— Biggest Little Streets (@Biggest Little Streets) 1680663869
Witness Alexander Molchor toldKOLO that he heard a "clash of people and a car" and then saw "two members from Food Not Bombs, my aunt and my cousin. Then I see 'Mama Bear' Michelle on the floor."
"We immediately went to all three of them, called 911, stabilized my aunt, and then made sure my cousin was still on her side in case she seized," Molchor added. "Then I checked on the pulse for Michelle and she was barely pulsing."
The women were rushed to hospital, where Jardine was pronounced dead.
According to a GoFundMe page set up by Tina Compston for the injured women and Jardine's burial expenses:
Diamond and Clarissa Roman were doing what they do best—giving back to our community through a food for the homeless program, which they started, cook for, manage, and run with their family and friends. As the team of community volunteers were wrapping up the evening, Diamond and Clarissa were assisting a woman as she was choosing what items she could use from the clothing donation Diamond brought along with the meal that night. At that time, a man suddenly and inexplicably drove his car through the area where the women were standing, hitting Diamond, Clarissa, and the other woman. All three ladies were transported to the hospital where Diamond and Clarissa were listed in critical condition upon assessment by emergency medical staff. Sadly, the other woman succumbed to her injuries.
Diamond arrived in the emergency room with a broken back. Clarissa's condition upon arrival at the ER was significant. She had a broken clavicle, broken ankle, broken ribs, collapsed lung, and a brain bleed.
Turner, who is 57, was arrested and charged with one count of open murder and two counts of attempted murder after he allegedly told police he rammed the group on purpose, KRNV reports. His motive was unclear.
\u201cA gofundme has been started by @FamilySoupReno for two victims of a car plowing Monday into a group from a #Reno Food Not Bombs gathering. A former casino purchasing officer David Turner has been arrested. Activists say an unhoused woman was killed. https://t.co/jetJbT1Bu3\u201d— Biggest Little Streets (@Biggest Little Streets) 1680638130
"Why would someone do this? We don’t understand," Celeste Tinajero, Clarissa Roman's sister, told the Gazette Journal.
In recent years, vehicular attacks have increased as right-wing extremists target racial justice and other protesters. Instead of moving to protect people from assaults like the 2017 white supremacist murder of Heather Heyer, numerous Republican-led states have passed laws shielding motorists who strike protesters under certain circumstances. Right-wing pundits, police, and even a professor have advocated running over protesters.
According to Biggest Little Food Not Bombs—not associated with Reno Food Not Bombs—"our unhoused neighbors are disproportionately represented in traffic fatalities and are often targeted in incidents of 'road rage.'"
"Here in Reno, 5 out of 7 pedestrian fatalities in 2022 were either homeless or at risk of homelessness," the group added.
In an update, Compston said Diamond Roman was released from the hospital Wednesday, while Clarissa Roman was moved from intensive care.
"It's unbelievable that something like this would happen, that this is something that we would have to worry about."
"My family has been volunteering with Food Not Bombs and doing feeds like this for years now, over 10 years," Clarissa Roman told KTVN Wednesday. "And so it's unbelievable that something like this would happen, that this is something that we would have to worry about."
"At the end of the day, it's not going to stop Food Not Bombs," she added. "It's not going to stop our effort in the community."
Prior to Monday's attack, the worst that Food Not Bombs had to endure were struggles with local authorities in various cities around the nation who tried to block the global volunteer movement from sharing vegan and vegetarian meals with community members in need.
Political Energy Electrifies Nevada Ahead of Bellwether Caucus
The Clinton campaign has been trying to lower expectations, spuriously painting Nevada as a largely-white state amid a Sanders surge
Feb 19, 2016
Nevada's unpredictable electorate and "fractured Latino vote" are in the spotlight on the eve of the state's Democratic caucus, with polls showing Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders going into Saturday's contest neck-and-neck.
While the Silver State was supposed to be a lock for Clinton, recent endorsements (and non-endorsements) and demonstrable voter enthusiasm have signaled a Sanders surge backed up by polling.
| #americatogether Tweets |
As The New Republicexplained, "Nevada offers a much different terrain" than Iowa or New Hampshire: "The state's population is 28 percent Latino, 8 percent Asian-American, and 9 percent African-American."
"Sanders needs to prove he can win over Latinos, Asian-Americans, and African-Americans--there's no other way that he can seriously compete for the nomination," wrote TNR's Jeet Heer. "Clinton, conversely, needs to prove that her 'firewall' of non-white support, which she's also counting on in the upcoming Southern primaries, will be strong enough to block Sanders."
Des Moines Register reporter Jennifer Jacobs wrote on Friday:
For Clinton to be victorious in the Nevada caucuses, she needs blacks and Latinos to turn out in numbers like in the 2008 race, and she needs to carry that Las Vegas-based segment of the electorate. She has to make sure she doesn't get swamped in rural counties like she did running against Barack Obama eight years ago. And although she doesn't need to dominate Nevada's other population base -- Reno -- she needs to post a decent showing there.
"Our state is a three-pronged approach," said Leo Murrieta, a Democratic political consultant and Latino activist in Las Vegas who supports Clinton.
Sanders, who didn't open his first office here until October, three months later than Clinton, must thwart her meticulously planned strategy in those three areas by stoking the last-minute fever of enthusiasm that left-leaning Nevadans are feeling for him, strategists said.
Indeed, "the fractured Latino vote threatens further to erode Clinton's aura as the party's nominee-in-waiting," the Guardian reported on Friday.
While Clinton "still maintains the backing of Nevada's older, democratic establishment, including a string of prominent Latino figures...look beyond the endorsements from prominent figures, such as civil rights leaders Astrid Silva and Dolores Huerta and actor Eva Longoria, and the Latino community's alliances begins to fray," the paper continued, writing:
The same is true for unions in Nevada, which also tend to be heavily Latino and, in a service-sector dominated state, have historically been kingmakers in Democratic elections.
While labor leaders back Clinton, low-wage workers and indebted students are being drawn to the message of radical economic change propagated by the 74-year-old senator from Vermont who some are calling "El Viejito" (the little old man).
Meanwhile, the Clark County Black Caucus, an organization in Nevada's largest county, endorsed Sanders late Thursday. On Friday, the Sanders campaign launched its #AmericaTogether hashtag, highlighting the Vermont senator's multicultural appeal.
To that end, the Clinton campaign has appeared to be trying to lower expectations, painting Nevada as a largely-white state.
"There's an important Hispanic element to the Democratic caucus in Nevada, but it's still a state that is 80% white voters," Brian Fallon, the Clinton campaign press secretary, said last week. "You have a caucus-style format, and he'll have the momentum coming out of New Hampshire presumably, so there's a lot of reasons he should do well."
Renowned Nevada pundit Jon Ralston scoffed at that "canard," noting that "Nevada's Hispanic population is about 27 percent" and that "nearly half of the state's population is made up of minorities."
According to Politico, Sanders' surge in Nevada has been served by his "ability to tap directly into the bloodstream of Nevada progressives."
Politico reports:
While Clinton has been making a direct appeal to Latino voters here by saying she would go further than President Barack Obama on immigration reform, Sanders' resolute message reverberated across the demographic board here, party leaders said.
"Nevada was one of the states hit hardest by the Bush recession and the foreclosure crisis," said Rebecca Lambe, a senior adviser to the Nevada Democratic party and to Sen. Harry Reid, who has not endorsed a candidate in the race. "The unemployment rate was the worst in the nation. The Sanders campaign recognized that their candidate's economic message would resonate here and they pounced."
Or, as University of Nevada-Las Vegas English instructor and restaurant server Brittany Bronson wrote in a New York Times op-ed on Friday:
Clinton's proposals are a step in the right direction. But with the economy tepid and income inequality only growing, modesty is not a good enough policy. And as anyone who has spent time in the real Las Vegas -- the struggling, striving working-class metropolis behind the neon lights -- can attest, her proposals won't make a dent in most Americans' lives.
Nevada's recent history testifies to the tragic ramifications of corporate greed and power, but also to the benefits of worker-centered policies. Mr. Sanders speaks directly to those themes, and to voters' growing concerns. Nevada, more than any other early contest, will show how well he is getting through to them.
"With its relatively few delegates, Nevada isn't a do-or-die state--but its diversity does make it a bellwether state," Heer wrote at TNR. "If Sanders can pull off a win on Saturday, or even if he comes close, it'll be clear that his revolution has real legs."
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