Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Arkansas Woman Held Black Teens At Gunpoint After They Came To Her Door For Football Fundraiser

An Arkansas woman felt threatened when a group of Wynne High School students raising money for an athletic program approached her residence on Morningside Drive.

Her knee jerk response to seeing the Black students was to take the law into her own hands and pull a gun on them.


Jerri Kelly, a 46-year-old married to Cross County Jail Administrator Joe Kelly, immediately called 911 and armed herself after seeing the teenagers on her driveway.

According to news station WREG, instead of asking them to leave she asked the four boys—two of whom were wearing school jerseys—to get on the ground and keep their legs spread with their hands behind their backs before they had a chance to explain their visit.

Wynne Police Chief Jackie Clark said in a media statement that officers responded to a call involving "suspicious persons."

When they arrived at the location, they saw Kelly standing over the boys with the gun pointed down at them.

After investigating the scene, the police took the boys home.

On Monday, Kelly was arrested and charged with four counts of aggravated assault, false imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a minor.




The grandmother of one of the traumatized boys, who wished to remain anonymous, was shocked.

"My grandson said, 'Grandma, if she'd had shot me, I had made my peace with God."



Superintendent Carl Easley of Wynne Public Schools notified the parents of those involved and released a statement saying that the football team raises money annually by selling restaurant coupons.

Easley additionally mentioned the school may dispense with the fundraising method of going door to door because of the incident.

"We intend to review all methods of fundraising used by school groups in grades K-12 to insure the safety of our children."

The New York Post cited WMC's report that the Cross County Sheriff David West didn't take a mugshot of Kelly because of an alleged "medical issue" at the time of her booking.


West insists Kelly was not given preferential treatment as the wife of the jail administrator.

Said West:

"I'm professional. My department is professional. There was no special treatment. She went through the steps just like any other person would."

Bill Winkler lived in the neighborhood for four decades and said there was nothing unusual about spotting the boys going door to door during this time of year.

"Usually, it's right before football season, late summer or early fall the kids were out selling these discount cards."

WREG wanted to understand Kelly's motivation to act violently, but when their reporter visited her residence, neighbors informed him she moved out days ago.

Kelly was released after posting $10,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on August 15, according to officials.

Here's a tip:

If you are suspicious about solicitors, just don't open the door.

The book Articulate While Black: Barack Obama, Language, and Race in the U.S. is available here.

"Using their analysis of Barack Obama as a point of departure, Alim and Smitherman reveal how major debates about language, race, and educational inequality erupt into moments of racial crisis in America."

More from Trending

Alex Cooper singing 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame'
@MBDChicago/Twitter (X)

'Call Her Daddy' Host Alex Cooper Gets Brutally Booed At Wrigley Field After Painfully Off-Key Singing

If there's one thing that all baseball fans can come together about, it's the importance of their traditions—and songs.

In the seventh inning at Wrigley Field during a match between the Cubs and the Cardinals, popular Call Her Daddy podcast host Alex Cooper was invited to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and brought two backup dancers with her.

Keep ReadingShow less
Linda Yaccarino
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

X CEO Resigns Day After AI Chatbot Grok Praised Hitler In Alarming Series Of Antisemitic Tweets

Linda Yaccarino—the former NBC Universal executive who later took the reins at X—stepped down as CEO of billionaire Elon Musk's platform after two years on the job just a day after Grok, the platform's AI chatbot, went on antisemitic rants and openly praised Adolf Hitler.

Grok issued deeply antisemitic responses on Tuesday following a reported software update that encouraged the bot to embrace what developers described as the “politically incorrect.” Taking that directive to heart, Grok responded with a series of disturbing posts that included praise for Hitler and even a statement expressing its aspiration to become a “digital version” of the Nazi leader.

Keep ReadingShow less
Black and white photo of a falling spider.
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

People Divulge Their 'Rare' Phobias That People Refuse To Believe

I am a SEVERE claustrophobic.

I have struggled with this issue for decades.

Keep ReadingShow less
Ted Cruz
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

'The Onion' Rips Ted Cruz With Brutal Headline After Yet Another Vacation During Texas Disaster

The satirical news site The Onion had social media users cackling with its brutal headline mocking Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz for once again being out of the country when Texas was hit by another deadly natural disaster.

Cruz faced considerable national backlash after he flew to Cancún while millions of people went without food and water as a result of the February 2021 Texas power disaster. At least 246 people were killed directly or indirectly; some estimates suggested as many as 702 people were killed as a result of the crisis.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk and Grimes
Kevin Tachman/Getty Images for Vogue

Elon Musk's Ex Grimes Calls X Platform A 'Poison' And 'Theatre' After Social Media Hiatus

Claire Boucher—who performs and creates under her stage name Grimes, but prefers her birth name or just "C" offstage—recently returned to her musical persona's social media accounts after taking a hiatus for her own well-being.

Once extremely active, she noted on X in April:

Keep ReadingShow less