Ten years ago: The Dallas Mavericks won their first NBA title by winning Game 6 of the finals against the Miami Heat, 105-95. “The Book of Mormon” took home nine Tony Awards, including the prize for best musical; “War Horse” won five Tonys, including the best play award.
Five years ago: A gunman opened fire at the Pulse nightclub, a gay establishment in Orlando, Florida, leaving 49 people dead and 53 wounded; Omar Mateen pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group during a three-hour standoff before being killed in a shootout with police.
One year ago: Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old Black man, was shot and killed by one of the two white officers who responded after he was found asleep in his car in the drive-thru lane of a Wendy’s restaurant in Atlanta; police body camera video showed Brooks struggling with the officers and grabbing a Taser from one of them, firing it as he fled. (An autopsy found that Brooks had been shot twice in the back. Officer Garrett Rolfe faces charges including murder.) A federal judge ordered Seattle police to temporarily stop using tear gas, pepper spray and flash-bang devices to break up peaceful protests. The Oregon Supreme Court upheld Gov. Kate Brown’s shutdown orders aimed at stemming the coronavirus pandemic. William Sessions, a former federal judge appointed by President Ronald Reagan to head the FBI and fired years later by President Bill Clinton, died at his Texas home at the age of 90.