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 For Robert Hinton, 2015 was supposed to be a year of new beginnings. In March, he was released from prison after serving time for a parole violation. In September, he was awarded $450,000 by New York City to settle a lawsuit against several jail guards who hogtied and severely beat him in 2012 while he was incarcerated at Rikers Island. 
 
 In the months since the settlement, Mr. Hinton had been making plans to buy a house someplace far from his Brooklyn neighborhood, where he could not seem to stay out of trouble. 
 
 In the end, he could not escape. 
 
 Early on Friday morning, Mr. Hinton, 28, was shot and killed outside a housing project in Brownsville, Brooklyn, not far from his own home in Bedford-Stuyvesant, police officials said. No arrests had been made by Friday evening, and investigators provided no other details about the circumstances of the shooting. 
 
 Mr. Hinton had a history of violence as a member of the Bloods gang; he had served time for attempted murder and had been in and out of prison since 2005. 
 
 He had hoped that the settlement he had received would break that cycle. His lawyer, Nicole Bellina, said that when she spoke with him a few days ago he was upbeat about the future. 
 
 “We had a conversation about how hopeful he was, about how the settlement money was going to give him a chance for a fresh start,” she said. 
 
 Mr. Hinton’s beating was one of several recent cases that shed light on a culture of brutality and abuse of inmates at Rikers Island, and the subsequent outcry helped spur city officials to adopt sweeping changes there. 
 
 In his lawsuit, he described how in April 2012, five guards and a captain shackled his arms and legs, carried him into a solitary confinement cell and then beat him so savagely that he suffered a broken nose and a fractured vertebra. 
 
 Photos of Mr. Hinton — his face bloodied and bruised and his eyes swollen shut — circulated in the news media, including The New York Times. An administrative law judge described the beating as “brazen misconduct.” And in a rare move, the Correction Department chose to fire the guards involved. 
 
 Mr. Hinton had been moving on with his life, spending much of his time taking care of his mother at the home they shared in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Ms. Bellina said. He had expressed a desire to move out of New York and buy a house, possibly in Yonkers, she said. 
 
 Recently, Ms. Bellina added, he sent her a text message that read, “I pray I even live long enough to see some sort of happiness.” ||||| Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email 
 
 A man who shot and killed a British toddler in a Turkish cafe almost 14 years ago has been shot dead at his own wedding. 
 
 Two-year-old Alistair Grimason was hit by a bullet as he slept in his pram after a gunfight broke out in a cafe in the Aegean seaside town of Foca in 2003. 
 
 Daimi Akyuz, 46, was jailed for life in 2004 at a court in Izmir for killing Alistair and another man during the shootout. 
 
 He was released early and six days later on Saturday, according to reports in the Turkish media, was gunned down at his own wedding in Izmir. 
 
 The toddler's dad David Grimason, from East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire said: "He was sentenced to 58 years with a maximum of 36, so I really expected he was going to spend a long time in jail. 
 
 "I don't take any joy in what has happened. I would rather that he was in prison and being punished for what he did. 
 
 "I was told that he was at his wedding and stepped outside for a cigarette and someone came along and shot him. 
 
 "It's a big story over in Turkey because the man that killed Alistair has been killed in the same manner I suppose." 
 
 David has since split up from Alistair's Turkish-born mother Ozlem, who has moved back to Izmir. 
 
 He added: "Ozlem has moved back to Turkey recently, so there was an opportunity they could have bumped in to each other. It is a horrible thought. No-one informed us that he was being let out. 
 
 "We were told at the time he would serve his full sentence. They were making an example of him. But here we are 13 and half years later and they let him out. 
 
 "We went through months of court cases. It was a tough time for us. But it's worse for his family at the moment, I remember he had two kids. 
 
 "They've let him out to be killed." 
 
 A source in Turkey said prisons are "overflowing" since the attempted coup last year and a number of inmates, who had served more than 10 years, were offered early release. 
 
 Alistair had been sleeping peacefully in his pram when he was caught in the crossfire of the gunfight. A stray bullet pierced his lung, killing him instantly. 
 
 Ozlem had been enjoying a family day-out while visiting her Turkish parents with the two-year-old. 
 
 On the evening of Monday July 7, Ozlem, Alistair and his grandmother had been at a small cafe in Foca, about an hour from Izmir. 
 
 Alistair was asleep in his pram as the two women chatted. But the peace was shattered when an argument broke out at another table. 
 
 Akyuz, who was a car salesman, pulled a gun on three others and opened fire, killing Ali Bektas, a mobile phone salesman, injuring two other men and killing the toddler. 
 
 He was found guilty in July 2004 and sentenced to 58 years, albeit Turkish law meant that he would serve a maximum of 36 years. 
 
 According to Turkish media, police are interviewing five suspects in relation to his shooting. 
 
 After the death of Alistair, his parents began campaigning for tighter gun controls. 
 
 The campaign secured more than 300,000 signatures which were presented to the Turkish parliament in December 2003. 
 
 David now lives in East Kilbride with his partner and three-year-old son Emil.
– Robert Hinton had a chance to move on with his life. But the former inmate of Riker's Island—whose savage beating there by guards spawned a pending $450,000 settlement—was shot and killed Thursday night outside a housing project in Brooklyn, the Daily News reports. Hinton had just eaten Thanksgiving dinner with his family when the 28-year-old went home with his nephews and little sister, according to his aunt, Lynette Johnson. She says the family was still together when they heard news of his death. "It was devastating," says Johnson. "It doesn’t seem real. In the blink of eye you’re gone. He was a beautiful person." Another victim was shot in the leg and fled the scene, officials say. Police are still seeking the gunman. Hinton was just weeks from receiving his money over the beating he suffered at Riker's in April 2012, the New York Times reports. In his lawsuit, Hinton said a captain and five guards shackled and beat him, fracturing a vertebra and breaking his nose; all six were later fired for the attack. Hinton apparently hoped for a new start with the payout, but his mom, Parys Johnson, tells the Daily News that he "felt like something was going to happen to him." She says her son was likely "set up" by people who believed he already had the settlement money. Hinton has a pregnant girlfriend, but it's unclear who, if anyone, will receive the money. Hinton had been linked to the Bloods street gang and was serving time for shooting and injuring a man when the beating occurred. (Read about an innocent man who was "tortured" at Riker's and later killed himself.)