Good morning. Today is the 27th day of the year. On this day in 1945, the Soviet Army liberated about 6,000 prisoners of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz. It is estimated that 1.5 million inmates were killed at Auschwitz between 1941 and 1945, about 95 percent of them Jewish (although the camp was originally built to house Polish political prisoners). Many other concentration camps, including the equally infamous Buchenwald, were liberated by the American Army.
 

Well-known people who were born today include ballet dancer and actor Mikhail Baryshnikov (White Nights, The Turning Point), sportscaster and former football player Cris Collingsworth, actress Bridget Fonda (Single White Female, Lake Placid) and U.S. Chief Justice John G. Roberts.
 

Tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Bedford Central Presbyterian Church, Assemblyman Karim Camara (D-Bedford-Stuyvesant) is holding a “cash for guns” event in cooperation with the Kings County District Attorney’s Office. Turn in a weapon and receive a bank card ranging from $20 to $200, no questions asked. …

The Gallery Players, 199 14th St., Park Slope, are presenting A Man of No Importance starting tomorrow night. The musical by Terrence McNally concerns a bus driver in 1964 Dublin who is struggling with the fact that he is gay. …

On Sunday, the Brooklyn Chinese-American Association is sponsoring the annual Chinese New Year Parade at noon starting from Eighth Avenue and 50th Street in the heart of Brooklyn’s Chinatown. The parade will proceed to 61st Street. In between, “lions” in costume will do the traditional lion dance in front of each store to bring good fortune to the community. The parade will also include music and dance by schoolchildren, a kung fu demonstration and a spectacular fireworks display.
 

Today’s News
 

An off-duty police lieutenant shot and killed a suspect in Brooklyn yesterday morning. The 22-year-old suspect crashed a stolen car into a pole around 4 a.m. on Jamaica Avenue and Cypress Street in Cypress Hills. The lieutenant noticed the suspect walking away from the crash and carrying a gun, and started following him. When the man noticed the lieutenant and shot at him, the officer fired back. The suspect was shot in the face and rushed to Brookdale Hospital, where he died.

 

According to the New York Times, men wearing their hair in buns is now the rage in Williamsburg, Bushwick and other arty neighborhoods in Brooklyn. One bartender, asked why he didn’t wear his hair in a pony tail, said they evoked “Steven Seagal, hippie uncles and the like.” Often, the men use plain rubber bands to anchor their buns.

 

The Village Voice says that a bank robber has recently hit two Capital One branches in Brooklyn. The man first robbed a bank at 185 Broadway, Williamsburg. He demanded cash, but when it wasn’t given to him, he fled on foot. The second time, at the branch at 856 Washington Ave., Prospect Heights, on Dec. 30, he was able to obtain cash before fleeing. Police describe the robber as a black man in his 20s or 30s weighing about 250 pounds, between 5-foot-7 and 5-foot-10. He was last seen wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt, a black ski cap, a plaid scarf, a black pea coat, blue jeans and black sneakers.