A decorated U.S. Marine veteran — who reportedly survived dangerous military missions overseas — was shot and killed at his Missouri home during what was supposed to be the sale of an iPhone on Facebook Marketplace, according to police. The distinguished service member allegedly spent the last moments of his life delivering a heartbreaking message to his family.

According to KOMU-TV, police were dispatched around 8:15 p.m. Jan. 18 concerning reports of gunshots at a residence in Columbia.

‘While stationed in Baghdad, Burke founded the Oasis Church.’

The Columbia Police Department said in a statement that 42-year-old Michael Ryan Burke was shot at his home.

Citing court documents, the New York Post reported that Burke was trying to sell his iPhone 15 Pro for $585 after arranging the sale on Facebook Marketplace.

Court docs said Burke provided a buyer with his address, and around 8:10 p.m. one of the suspects messaged the seller: “I’m here.”

Moments later, the transaction reportedly spiraled into violence, and Burke was shot. He was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.

RELATED: What was to be fun Florida trip ends in ‘cold-blooded’ triple murder: Elderly tourists dead, suspect earlier beat murder rap

Police arrested Alexis Baumann, Kobe Aust, and Joseph Crane, all 18 years old, along with a fourth individual whom authorities identified as a juvenile.

Citing court documents, the New York Post reported that one suspect confessed to investigators that they had “arranged to meet with the victim under the ruse of buying the victim’s cell phone.”

The Post reported that Baumann told investigators she drove the group to Burke’s home, and Crane and the juvenile went inside.

KOMU-TV in a separate story reported that Baumann confessed to investigators that she heard three gunshots from inside the home and recalled that the juvenile ran out of the home; the suspects drove away from the crime scene, according to court documents.

Citing the probable cause statement, WDAF-TV reported that detectives used traffic cameras to determine that the suspects’ car traveled in the direction of a nearby Walmart.

Just after the shooting, Burke’s stolen phone was sold at an ecoATM at a nearby Walmart, according to court documents.

Court documents indicated that surveillance cameras caught Baumann and the juvenile suspect selling the phone at Walmart.

A day before Burke was killed, the juvenile stole another cell phone under the guise of a Facebook Marketplace sale, according to court documents. The Post reported that the juvenile told the alleged victim, “If you touch me, I’ll shoot you.”

Baumann and Aust were arrested on charges of second-degree murder, first-degree robbery, and first-degree burglary; Crane and the juvenile were arrested on charges of second-degree murder, armed criminal action, first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary, and unlawful use of a weapon, Columbia Police said.

All three 18-year-old suspects are being detained without bond at the Boone County Jail, while the unidentified juvenile is being held at the Boone County Juvenile Office.

(L to R) Kobe Aust, Alexis Baumann, Joseph Crane. Image source: Boone County (Mo.) Jail

Jerry Reifeiss — who met Burke 24 years ago as a fraternity brother at Mizzou’s Sigma Nu — revealed the Marine’s heartbreaking last goodbye.

Reifeiss told KRCG-TV that Burke contacted his mother and sister: “He texted them saying that, ‘Hey, I’m dying, and I love you.'”

“That was just Ryan,” Reifeiss continued. “He always put people in front of him and wanted to make sure people knew how he felt.”

Before he died, Burke reportedly called 911 and gave a description of his attackers to the dispatcher.

“He didn’t want to go on to the next life and pass away without providing some information to us here that would bring justice to these people and let people know he always loves them,” Reifeiss said.

Reifeiss said of the arrests, “I’m very happy the police did their job and were able to get these people very quickly, assuming these are the correct people.”

Burke’s obituary said he served as a “Force Reconnaissance Marine in the United States Marine Corps, holding the rank of Staff Sergeant, with both active-duty and reserve service.”

Burke was deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit. From 2014 to 2021, Burke served as a medic in Baghdad.

While stationed in Baghdad, Burke founded the Oasis Church. According to his obituary, Burke also founded Holy Smokes — a men’s Bible study group. Burke also preached and taught in Uganda, the Philippines, Kenya, the U.K., and throughout the U.S.

The obituary states, “He was deeply committed to creating lasting impact, helping fund schools and churches in Africa and Asia, including support for 14 churches in the Philippines.”

One of Burke’s passions was fighting human trafficking, and he worked both locally and internationally to help victims.

Burke also served as a firefighter with the city of Columbia.

Police said there is an “active and ongoing investigation” into the alleged murder.

Anyone with information about this case is urged to contact the Columbia Police Department at 573-874-7652 or call CrimeStoppers at 573-875-8477.

The Columbia Police Department did not immediately respond to Blaze News‘ request for comment.

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Jack Posobiec is sounding the alarm that the growing unrest surrounding ICE operations is no accident, but part of a coordinated effort to intimidate, obstruct, and destabilize law enforcement.

And he believes Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) is in on it.

“These situations, obviously they’re always unfortunate, right? Obviously the chaos and the confusion and any time a human life is lost, it’s totally unfortunate. But imagine that you’re an ICE officer, and you have an entire city who is out to get you,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales tells Posobiec.

“They’ve created these chats to monitor you, to follow you, to harass you, to intimidate you, to obstruct you from doing your job. … How can we be surprised that this happened?” she asks.

“I think it also helps to kind of zoom out and look at the context in so many of these situations,” Posobiec replies. “Tim Walz, who’s the governor of Minnesota, he could right now issue an executive order saying that he wants the state police and the local police to work with ICE, and that they would be able to go out and provide security.”

“But that’s not what he’s done. No, Tim Walz has sent out the National Guard to go give milk and cookies and doughnuts to the agitators that are out there at the Whipple Center. He’s actually taking sides against ICE,” he continues, pointing out that the tactics being used against ICE are eerily similar to the Chinese Communist Party.

“And it occurs to me that, ‘Oh, yeah. Didn’t Tim Walz go to China 30 times, including lying about being there during Tiananmen Square?’ So, you wonder why it looks like a Chinese Communist insurgency,” he says.

“That’s exactly where Tim Walz learned how to do this stuff. These guys are operational. They are trained,” he adds.

Posobiec has also learned that the protests are “more heavily organized than Portland, more heavily organized than CHAZ, than anything that we’ve seen before.”

In fact, it’s so insidious that Posobiec tells Gonzales, “We’re dealing with a domestic Marxist insurgency.”

“What do the Marxists do? What do the communists do? They use them as a martyr, these useful idiots, because they want to create the crisis because then they can use the crisis to destabilize the actual party in power or the government that’s in power, because they want to take power themselves,” he says. “This is a tried and true communist tactic.”

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A nurse may have lost her job after she posted several videos on social media seemingly encouraging people to poison Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to prevent them from enforcing immigration laws.

Libs of TikTok shared a compilation of videos allegedly from Malinda Rose Cook’s social media. Cook reportedly worked for the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center.

‘Nobody’s gonna die, just enough to incapacitate them, get them off the street for the next day.’

“I thought of something good,” the nurse apparently states in the first video. “Sabotage tactic, or at least scare tactic: All of the medical providers, grab some syringes with needles on the end. Have them full of saline, or succinylcholine, you know, whatever, whatever. That will probably be a deterrent. Be safe.”

Succinylcholine is a muscle relaxant used as a local anesthetic to cause short-term paralysis.

In a second video, while wearing her scrubs, she seemingly tells viewers, “For today’s resistance tip, I vote, anybody got any poison ivy, poison oak in their yard? Get some of that up, with gloves, obviously. Get it in some water.”

She then apparently describes soaking the poison ivy and oak in a gallon of water and putting the tainted water in a water gun.

“Aim for faces, hands,” the medical worker appears to say.

RELATED: Activist judge who downplayed Don Lemon’s church antics, summoned ICE director donated to pro-illegal-alien group

Poison ivy. Andrew A. Nelles/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

In a third video, she suggests that single women use dating apps to set up dates with ICE agents.

“They’re an ICE agent, bring some Ex-Lax, put it in their drinks. Get ’em sick. You know, nobody’s gonna die, just enough to incapacitate them, get them off the street for the next day,” she seems to say. “Highly easily deniable. You know, you could get sick too. ‘Won’t eat there again.’ I’m just saying, let’s get ’em where they eat.”

“Somebody’s not going to be supporting these guys. Where’s the hotel where they eat? Who makes that breakfast? Let’s find them,” she adds.

“Let’s make their lives f**king miserable,” she continues, according to the video.

“Anything you can do to make the living conditions bad.”

She also apparently suggests hiding dead fish in their hotel rooms.

“Just stay toxic,” she concludes.

RELATED: More than 100 outraged community members denounce elementary school teacher over 2-word post about ICE

Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images

VCU Health released a statement yesterday, announcing that a health care worker had been placed on administrative leave while an investigation was underway.

“We prioritized the health and safety of anyone who comes to us for care,” the statement read. “We are aware of a series of videos that appear to have been posted by an individual confirmed to be an employee of our health system. The content of the videos is highly inappropriate and does not reflect the integrity or values of our health system.”

Later that same day, VCU Health stated that it had terminated the individual’s employment.

“Following an investigation, the individual involved in the social media videos is no longer employed by VCU Health. In addition, VCU Health has fulfilled its reporting requirements under Virginia state law,” it stated.

Cook was previously listed on VCU Health’s website but has since been removed.

Blaze News reached out to VCU and Cook for comment.

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On Monday, January 26, President Trump announced that he had had “very good” and “productive” conversations with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) amid the escalating anti-ICE protests, violence, and backlash over fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

According to statements from all three, their conversations centered on de-escalating tensions from the anti-ICE protests and federal immigration operations in Minnesota, including potential reductions in federal agent numbers, allowing state-led investigations into the recent fatal shootings by agents, cooperation on handing over criminal noncitizens from state custody, reassigning Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, and assigning border czar Tom Homan to oversee matters on the ground.

Many people on the right interpreted this as the Trump administration caving to leftist protesters. Glenn Beck confesses that that was his initial reaction upon hearing the news.

“When I first saw this story yesterday … I thought, is he waving the white flag? What is he doing? … Is this all about the election and getting re-elected and he’s got to make nicey-nice?” he admits.

But deeper scrutiny led Glenn to believe that it is not surrender but rather “counterinsurgency” that we are witnessing in the Twin Cities.

“We’re seeing Trump shift the battlefield, not abandon it,” he says, explaining that if Trump were legitimately surrendering, he would “end the enforcement nationwide,” “call off ICE operations,” “publicly repudiate Homan or Miller,” “admit wrongdoing,” and “accept the ‘Gestapo snatching people off the streets’ narrative.”

But “none of that happened,” says Glenn.

Instead, Trump “narrowed the enforcement criteria. Political pressure is rerouted, optics cooled, legal authority preserved, responsibility transferred back to the states,” he explains. “This is not a surrender. I believe this is a reframing of the fight, and it’s really smart.”

From the get-go, Trump was clear about ICE’s objective, says Glenn: “Get the really bad criminals off the streets.”

“So the goal was never ICE agents everywhere all the time. The goal was this: Force blue-state leadership to choose publicly and unmistakably between protecting violent criminals or cooperating with federal law enforcement,” he explains.

Minnesota was sliding into irremediable chaos, which would only benefit the radical left, which is aiming to cultivate a “legitimacy crisis,” he says. Escalation is exactly what the insurrectionists wanted Trump to do.

But he smartly didn’t drop the hammer. Instead, he made some moves in order to win the “optics war” — one of them being relocating Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, whom Glenn calls “a walking headline” and a “symbol” for the left’s anti-ICE movement.

This one move, Glenn says, accomplished a number of things. It weakened the Senate shutdown talks, took the media’s favorite villain out of the story, and moved the fight from “personality back to policy.”

“This is classic Trump,” he says.

“Never die on someone else’s hill if it isn’t the hill you chose. … Only die on the hill you choose,” he adds, quoting Trump’s iconic 1987 book “The Art of the Deal.”

“So when he talks to Walz and Frey, I don’t think this is capitulation. I think these were traps.”

To hear more of Glenn’s analysis, watch the video above.

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​Glenn beck, The glenn beck program, Blazetv, Blaze media, Tim walz, Jacob frey, Minneapolis, Minneapolis protests, Minnesota, Anti ice, Anti ice protests, Renee good, Alex pretti, Ice agents, Bovino, Gregory bovino, Tom homan 

Senate Democrats were caught this week trying to rehabilitate an old grievance and use a three-year-old tragedy to mobilize more opposition to the Trump administration’s enforcement of federal immigration law.

On Tuesday, Democrats on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee shared a picture of 8-year-old illegal alien Anadith Danay Reyes Alvarez, noting she “died in government custody.”

‘It’s really f**ked up how Trump let her die in 2023.’

“She had sickle cell and congenital heart disease but couldn’t access timely and adequate medical care,” said the Democrats’ post on X. “We need to reform immigration detention.”

However, Democrats neglected to mention that Anadith died on the Biden-Harris administration’s watch in 2023, when the southern border was effectively open and border facilities were overwhelmed.

Anadith, a girl with a heart condition who was born in Panama to Honduran migrants, was brought illegally into the U.S. on May 9, 2023. While waiting for a deportation flight to Honduras with her mother, father, and two siblings in a Customs and Border Protection facility in Harlingen, Texas, the girl experienced a medical emergency and died.

CBP indicated that during her intake at the Donna Processing Facility in Donna, Texas, the girl was medically assessed and “did not complain of any acute illnesses or injuries.” Days later, however, she “voiced complaints of abdominal pain, nasal congestion, and cough” and was “prescribed and administered doses of Oseltamivir (Tamiflu), as well as Ondansetron (Zofran).”

RELATED: Ilhan Omar accuses Trump of ulterior motive for ICE raids — and JD Vance shuts her down

Former Biden spokesman Andrew Bates. Photographer: Oliver Contreras/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Following agency protocols, the family was moved to Harlingen, which was used specifically for cases requiring medical isolation. At the Harlingen facility, the girl continued to receive medical attention and medication; however, her condition worsened. After her mother’s unsuccessful requests for an ambulance, the girl suffered a seizure. She was taken to Valley Baptist Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead on May 17, 2023.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee — several of whom have advocated for cuts to Department of Homeland Security funding — claimed in a minority staff report last year that CBP facilities are chronically understaffed and that “the circumstances that resulted in Anadith’s death were unfortunately not an aberration, but indicative of systemic problems with the provision of medical care in CBP facilities and CBP’s broader failure to properly oversee that care.”

Democrats concern-mongered in their report that “more individuals and children may die” under the Trump administration.

As with their January 2025 minority report, Senate Democrats’ Tuesday tweet appears aimed at exploiting a tragedy that occurred under the previous Democrat administration — and under a homeland security secretary Democrats refused to impeach — to condemn the current administration.

One critic, EV Partners founder Robert Sterling, wrote in response to the Democrats’ viral tweet, “Man it’s really f**ked up how Trump let her die in 2023.”

Conservative writer Brian Pfail noted, “I’m not one for party politics, but this is an outright disgusting grievance post to emotionalize views on border enforcement. Low-information liberals will attribute this to the Trump admin, yet it was Biden. To them, none of these deaths are valued beyond political fervor.”

As other critics began to pile on, Biden’s former deputy White House press secretary Andrew Bates reflexively worked on damage control, writing, “Not about Democrat or Republican/left or right. Just absolutely wrong.”

Republican operative Tim Murtaugh said in response, “What’s remarkable, Andrew, is the level of pride you must have felt when posting this, completely unaware that it had happened while you worked in the White House yourself. Just remarkable. Top notch work from beginning to end.”

Bates dug in his heels, writing, “I stand by what I said. It’s horrible and shouldn’t have happened.”

“What makes me proud is that the American people are rejecting the cruelty that ICE is forcing on Americans and immigrants, putting all of us in danger,” added the former Biden spokesman, who does not appear to have spoken out at the time of Anadith’s death.

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Earlier this week, President Trump sent border czar Tom Homan to speak personally with leaders in Minnesota. In the latest update to those exchanges, President Trump called out a top official at the center of the controversy for refusing to cooperate with the administration.

On Wednesday morning, Trump issued a stern warning to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) after Frey indicated on Tuesday afternoon he was not going to enforce federal immigration law.

‘He is PLAYING WITH FIRE!’

Frey posted a short thread to X summarizing his position, stating that Minneapolis “will not enforce federal immigration law, and that we will remain focused on keeping our neighbors and streets safe.”

Trump noted his surprise at Frey’s apparent switchback following a “very good conversation with him”: “Could somebody in his inner sanctum please explain that this statement is a very serious violation of the Law, and that he is PLAYING WITH FIRE!”

President Trump sent Homan to Minnesota on Monday to discuss a solution with Mayor Frey and other leaders in the state. As of Monday, Trump said on Truth Social that “lots of progress is being made!”

RELATED: Homan heads to Minnesota: ICE to continue making arrests amid ‘violent organized protests,’ $20B fraud, Trump says

Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images

By Tuesday, Homan likewise believed that he had had a “productive” conversation with Frey and Gov. Tim Walz (D). He said that “we all agree that we need to support our law enforcement officers and get criminals off the streets.”

In his message, posted hours before Homan’s, Frey emphasized the safety of the community and the strain on local police officers, stating that his “main ask is for Operation Metro Surge to end as quickly as possible.”

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A gun-toting Los Angeles homeowner shot at a burglar who broke into the residence early Tuesday morning.

Officers responded to reports of a shooting at the home in the 11600 block of Laurel Crest Drive in Studio City around 4 a.m., KNBC-TV reported, citing the Los Angeles Police Department.

‘Too bad owner didn’t hit more suspects.’

Police said the homeowner shot at one of the burglary suspects, whom authorities identified as a 16-year-old male, KNBC reported.

The two suspected burglars fled the scene in a Black Chevy Traverse, the station said.

Police said the driver of a car matching the description of the suspected burglars’ getaway vehicle dropped off a 16-year-old at a hospital with gunshot wounds, KNBC noted.

The teen was hospitalized Tuesday afternoon, and his condition was stable, the station said, citing police.

None of the residents in the home were injured, and it was unknown if anything was taken, KNBC reported.

According to the station’s video report, the second suspect is still on the loose, there were no physical descriptions of either suspect, and video shows a shattered glass back door.

RELATED: Two teens — 15 and 16 — force their way into home, physically attack resident. But victim is armed with handgun and shoots intruders dead.

A number of commenters underneath KNBC’s Facebook post about the incident aired spirited reactions to it:

“California will probably charge the homeowner on some ridiculous law, and the 16-year-old’s family will probably sue the homeowner and win,” one commenter noted.”If you’re old enough to commit a crime then you’re old enough to get shot,” another user said.”Good,” another commenter stated. “Too bad owner didn’t hit more suspects.””Hopefully he learned his lesson [to] not break into people’s houses,” another user offered.

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It’s bad enough that when Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show” ends in May, democracy will die. But we’ll also lose one of our nation’s finest joke-smiths.

Case in point? Colbert’s latest riff on ICE agents enforcing the law in Minnesota.

Whenever a woke movie or TV show gets blitzed by fans, the legacy media rushes to blame ‘review bombing’ as the culprit. It’s never the show’s fault, mind you.

The far-left comic noted the chilly temperatures facing Minneapolis residents this weekend, impacting both protesters and law enforcement agents. That’s a modicum of good news regarding the latter, Colbert crowed.

“This weekend, temperatures in Minneapolis are expected to plunge to around zero degrees, which could hinder the Trump administration’s continuing immigration crackdown. … I mean this with respect: I hope their dongs freeze and snap off. Like a graham cracker.”

Steve Allen. Jack Paar. Johnny Carson. None delivered wit and wisdom quite like Colbert. He will be missed (assuming he stays away for good!).

Hudson’s Diamond status

Hollywood has forgiven Kate Hudson for crushing the rom-com apparently.

The star of the awful, terrible, no-good “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” (and other forgettable low points of the genre) kept on working after that cinematic train wreck. Meanwhile Oscar voters looked the other way.

Hard. Can you blame them?

That ended this week when Hudson’s performance in “Song Sung Blue” snagged her a Best Actress Oscar nomination. It’s a wonderful, bittersweet story about a Neil Diamond tribute duo falling on hard times. And to be fair to Goldie Hawn’s daughter, she knocks it out of the park in the film.

Few expected Hudson to crack the top-five list of the year’s best performances by an actress, but she defied the odds. Let’s hope she continues to stay far away from Matthew McConaughey.

Potty-mouth Pratt

You kiss your mother with that mouth, Star-Lord?

Chris Pratt isn’t just an A-lister who can do comedy and action. He’s a Christian husband and father who speaks kindly about his faith. And he doesn’t bully those who don’t share his worldview.

Rare. Refreshing. Cool.

Yet the “Mercy” star lost it on the red carpet when actress Tilly Norwood’s name came up. Tilly isn’t real. She’s an AI construct whose very existence threatens flesh-and-blood actors who fear losing their livelihoods in the AI revolution.

That includes Pratt apparently.

“I don’t feel like someone’s going to replace me that’s AI … I heard this Tilly Norwood thing, I think that’s all bull***t. I’ve never seen her in a movie. I don’t know who this b***h is.”

Guessing he’ll be putting a few dollars in the swear jar.

RELATED: Brave Hollywood stars hit Sundance red carpet in defiance of ICE ‘gestapo’ terror

Photos by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

No ‘bomb’ shelter for ‘Melania’

Let the review bombing commence!

Whenever a woke movie or TV show gets blitzed by fans, the legacy media rushes to blame “review bombing” as the culprit. It’s never the show’s fault, mind you, just angry bigots who hate seeing diversity on screens large and small.

Yeah, that’s why the uber-diverse “Fast & Furious” series lasted for 10 films … and counting.

The latest alleged review bombing victim? Paramount Plus’ “Starfleet Academy” series.

So will we see the same media framing for “Melania”? The January 30 documentary takes us behind the scenes of what it means to be FLOTUS in the Trump era. Now given that the vast, vast, vast majority of film critics lean to the left (and hard), will the movie get a fair critical shake?

And if not, will we see cries of “review bombing” from the usual suspects? To paraphrase Bret Easton Ellis’ literary classic, the chances are “less than zero.”

Closet-maxxing on ‘SNL’

To be fair, today’s “Saturday Night Live” fan isn’t familiar with actual jokes.

“Stranger Things” alum Finn Wolfhard hosted the most recent “SNL” episode, one featuring a sketch tweaking the Netflix’s show’s “coming out” sequence. The episode in question got drubbed by many as woke on steroids.

So “SNL” created a bit mocking Netflix for trying to extend the show’s brand at all costs. It’s a commentary on how Hollywood can’t stop milking popular IPs for all they’re worth. Did anyone ask for “Welcome to Derry,” the HBO Max prequel series to Stephen King’s “It”?

Except one of the show’s characters, Will, couldn’t be a part of the various spin-offs because his “coming out” monologue is still going on. And on. And on.

Well select fans recoiled at the bit. Here’s a sample:

“SNL making fun of will byers being gay and sexualising max mayfield all in one night,” a fan commented. “Me if i ordered a homophobicburger with a side of misogynyfries.”

Good news for all involved. The show will no doubt resume its regularly scheduled Orange Man Bad theater this weekend.

​Hollywood, Entertainment, Culture, Stephen colbert, Late night, Woke, Melania trump, Movies, Chris pratt, Toto recall