St. Louis’ Bosnian community sees hammer murder as hate crime

Insistence by St. Louis officials that the beating death of a Bosnian man was not a hate crime is being met with skepticism and anger, according to leaders of the city's 70,000-strong Bosnian community, and the victim's brother is calling on authorities to "investigate every possible motive."
Zemir Begic, a 32-year-old man who emigrated from war-torn Bosnia almost two decades ago in search of a better life, was bludgeoned to death Sunday, allegedly by a group of hammer-wielding teenagers, one of whom has been charged as an adult. Begic was driving with his fiancee, Arijana Mujkanovic, and a male passenger at about 1:15 a.m. Sunday in St. Louis when five teenagers began pounding his vehicle with a hammer, according to police. When Begic confronted them, he was struck in the mouth, face, head and body with hammers and died at a nearby hospital. 
"Zemir was a good person who would have given you the clothes off his back," his 20-year-old brother, Rasim Begic, told FoxNews.com Tuesday. "He never had any problems with anyone."
"He was my role model and a hero," the younger Begic said of his brother, noting that he pushed his fiancee out of harm's way during the attack.

"Bosnians right now have an impression that this was a hate crime."- Sadik Kukic, president of St. Louis' Bosnian chamber of commerce

The murder early Sunday of Begic has sparked protests, some consciously patterned after those taking place just 20 miles away in Ferguson, where the police shooting of a black man and a subsequent grand jury decision not to indict a police officer prompted racial anger and a federal civil rights probe. But the St. Louis Police Department and Mayor Francis Slay are insisting Begic’s death, allegedly at the hands of black and Latino teenagers, was not based on racial or ethnic hate.
"Investigators do not believe the attack on Mr. Begic had any connection to him being of Bosnian descent," St. Louis Police spokeswoman Schron Jackson said in a statement. In subsequent emails, Jackson made clear: "Investigators don't believe the incident is in any way related to Ferguson" and "The incident is not being investigated as a hate crime."
The St. Louis Police Department is now working in conjunction with the city prosecutor to determine a motive. Authorities told FoxNews.com there is no evidence at this time suggesting the murder was racially motivated.
But a string of previous crimes involving poor minorities and Bosnians in a tough area on the southwest side of the city has many in the Bosnian community questioning whether Begic's death was racially motivated.
"Bosnians right now have an impression that this was a hate crime," said Bosnian Chamber of Commerce president Sadik Kukic, who met Monday with the city's mayor and police chief to discuss the murder.
"We don't know if it's a hate crime," Kukic cautioned, though he claims there have been several racially-charged crimes against his community, including last year’s murder of a Bosnian convenience store clerk.

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One of the suspects, 17-year-old Robert Mitchell, has been charged with first-degree murder.

According to a criminal complaint released Tuesday, Begic and his fiancee were walking to their car when they heard a group, including at least of the defendants, yelling. As Begic drove away, one of the teenagers, "jumped on the back of his car and began hitting it," the complaint said. Unsure of what was happening, Begic stepped out of his vehicle and was approached by the individuals, one of whom "taunted" him and "challenged him to a fight," according to the document. Begic was then allegedly assaulted by four men and struck with a hammer and fell to the ground. Three others continue to beat him before the group fled on foot, police said. 
Robert Joseph Mitchell, 17, has been charged as an adult with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in early morning attack. Two others, ages 15 and 16, are in custody, and a fourth suspect remains at large, according to police.
Kukic said hundreds of protesters rallied the past two nights in the Little Bosnia neighborhood in response to Begic's killing, with many chanting "Bosnian lives matter" -- an echo of the "Black lives matter" chant heard in Ferguson after 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer.
Zemir Begic was a teenager when he and his family fled Bosnia in the aftermath of a bloody civil war. In America, he found work, friends and love before meeting a cruel fate, his family said. 
"We were all born in Bosnia and we came here in 1996," Rasim Begic said of Zemir and two other siblings. "We came to America thinking it was going to be a better life. Our family and friends were being killed over there."
"He loved every race," Rasim Begic said of his older brother, a karate instructor who will be buried in Waterloo, Iowa, where some of his family lives. "He had friends all over the world."
"He loved kids. He loved music," Begic said. "Our family will never be the same."

National debt exceeds $18T, sparking renewed criticism of spending under Obama

The national debt has passed the $18 trillion mark, sparking renewed criticism Tuesday from Republicans and other fiscal conservatives over the soaring trajectory of government spending under President Obama.
“This is a sad milestone for America,” Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said Tuesday.
The debt was at $10.6 trillion when Obama took office in 2009 but has increased by 70 percent during his roughly six years in office.
“The national debt has skyrocketed by over $7.3 trillion,” Priebus said. “President Obama once said it was ‘unpatriotic’ and ‘irresponsible’ to add $4 trillion to the debt. By his own reasoning then, (he) has reached a new level of irresponsibility.”
The federal debt, which topped $18 trillion last week, is the sum of two numbers.
The first is $12.92 trillion in public debt, which consists of all the outstanding Treasury bills, notes and bonds held by individuals, corporations, foreign governments and others.
The second is the $5.08 trillion in so-called “intra-governmental” holdings, special securities held by U.S. government trust funds and special funds – or basically IOUs from the federal government for money that it “borrowed” from Social Security and Medicare.
The new figure, reached late Friday, likely drew little attention because the federal deficit -- how much the U.S. government spends annually in excess of revenue -- has dropped under Obama, from roughly $1.4 trillion to $483 billion. 
But fiscal conservatives argue the climbing national debt is still a big problem. Kevin Broughton, spokesman for the Tea Party Patriots, calculates the debt when divided equally among the U.S. population means “every man, woman and child” in the country owes $56, 250. 
He and Priebus used the new number to renew calls for cuts in government spending to protect future generations and to garner support for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.
“Our children and grandchildren deserve better,” Priebus said.
Said Broughton: “American families live within their means. It's time for the American government to follow suit."

House moves to extend tax breaks to end of year

Millions of businesses and individuals could be in luck as the House moves to extend a $45 billion package of expired tax breaks through the end of the year.
Businesses and individuals would be able to claim them on their tax returns this year, but there is no certainty they would have the same luck beyond Dec. 31.
Time is short because the House plans to adjourn for the year next week, and the Senate could as well.
"Let's see what they send us," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., "and we'll make a decision then."
The $45 billion would be added to the budget deficit.
The tax breaks would benefit big corporations and small businesses. Commuters, teachers and people who live in a state without state income tax would benefit from the breaks as well. One in six taxpayers would be affected by the extension.
Congress routinely extends the package of tax breaks every year or two. But they were allowed to expire in January.
Technically, the bill is a one-year, retroactive extension of the tax breaks, even though it only lasts through the end of the month.
Advocates and lawmakers from both political parties said the short-term measure is the product of a divided Congress that has trouble passing routine legislation.
"It's just unworthy of the world's greatest economy to have a tax code for two weeks," said former Michigan Gov. John Engler, who is now president of the Business Roundtable, an association of corporate CEOs.
Talks between House Republicans and Senate Democrats to make the tax breaks permanent fell through last week after the White House threatened to veto the emerging package saying it too heavily favored big business.
Among the biggest breaks for businesses are a tax credit for research and development, an exemption that allows financial companies such as banks and investment firms to shield foreign profits from being taxed by the U.S. and several provisions that allow businesses to write off capital investments more quickly.
There is also a generous tax credit for using wind farms and other renewable energy sources to produce electricity.
The biggest tax break for individuals allows people who live in states without an income tax to deduct state and local sales taxes on their federal returns. Another protects struggling homeowners who get their mortgages reduced from paying income taxes on the amount of debt that was forgiven.
NASCAR racetrack owners, film and theater producers, electric motorcycle manufacturers, commuters who use mass transit and teachers who pay out of pocket for classroom supplies will also benefit from the tax breaks.
The package leaves out a tax credit that helps some laid-off workers pay for health insurance and a tax credit for buying an electric motorcycle, which makes some Democrats unhappy.
"The House proposal on a number of important particulars really clobbers working-class families," said Sen. Ron Wyden D-Ore., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. "For example, the health care tax credit is particularly important to people who may have been laid off.
The credit for electric motorcycles was left out because of "an oversight," said Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.