Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images, FILE
(NEW YORK) — Alex Jones has been ordered to pay more than $4 million in compensatory damages to Sandy Hook parents, a jury ordered Thursday.
The conspiracy theorist and Infowars founder was successfully sued by the parents of a 6-year-old boy who was killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre after he claimed that the shooting — where 20 children and six adults were killed — was a hoax, a claim he said he now thinks is “100% real.”
The parents sued Jones for $150 million. A verdict on punitive damages is expected Friday.
A lawyer representing the Sandy Hook families had said in court on Thursday that he intends to hand over two years’ worth of Jones’ text messages to the House committee investigating Jan. 6, after they were inadvertently provided to him by Jones’ lawyers.
“I’ve been asked to turn them over. I certainly intend to do that unless you tell me not to,” Mark Bankston told the judge, saying he’s been asked by the Jan. 6 committee to turn them over.
A source familiar with the matter also told ABC News that the committee and Bankston have been in touch about receiving the messages.
A jury made the determination in Jones’ defamation trial Thursday.
Bankston revealed Wednesday that Jones’ lawyers mistakenly sent him two years’ worth of text messages.
Bankston referenced “intimate messages with Roger Stone” that he said were not “confidential” or “trade secrets.” He said that “various federal agencies and law enforcement” contacted him about the information.
“There has been no protection ever asserted over these documents,” Bankston said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — Scientists are emphasizing the need for proper disaster planning now that they have confirmed another busy hurricane season ahead in the Atlantic.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a revised hurricane outlook for the rest of the 2022 Atlantic season on Thursday, stating that between 14 and 20 named storms are expected, with up to 10 hurricanes and up to five major hurricanes.
The average number of named storms per year is 14, with the average number of hurricanes clocking in at seven, and an average of three major hurricanes per year, according to NOAA, which continues to point to another above-average hurricane season.
NOAA had predicted up to 21 named storms in its original forecast in May. There have been three so far this season.
Although hurricane season officially starts on June 1, most tropical cyclones occur from August to October.
The U.S. is currently on the 27th year of a “high activity era,” meaning that the chance of a hurricane making landfall on the East Coast is double that of a “low activity era,” Matthew Rosencrans, climate test bed director of NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, told ABC News.
The intensity of hurricanes is expected to increase as climate change continues to warm ocean waters, leaving ample breeding ground for strong systems to develop.
The agency is urging Americans to be prepared for not only strong winds and storm surge, but inland flooding well away from the storm’s center.
The speed at which hurricanes are intensifying just before they make landfall is making it difficult for coastal communities to prepare, Rosencrans said.
Of the last several Category 5 hurricanes to make landfall in the U.S., the majority of them were tropical storms just 48 hours prior to strengthening to the most severe category, he said.
“So the way I look at that is, it’s not that you have 48 hours to prepare,” Rosencrans said, adding that both disaster management officials and residents need to start preparing now in the event of a hurricane later this season.
ABC News’ Melissa Griffin, Dan Manzo and Samantha Wnek contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Nearly one year after the death of Gabby Petito, her family announced a major donation to help victims of domestic violence.
The Gabby Petito Foundation, formed by Petito’s family after her death, has donated $100,000 to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, which offers free resources and support for people suffering from domestic violence.
“No family should feel the pain that we’ve felt every day since we lost Gabby,” Petito’s mother, Nichole Schmidt, said in a statement. “Survivors who are able to reach out should connect with an advocate quickly.”
The hotline said it will use the donated money to hire and train more full-time advocates and will use it to “advance its technology infrastructure” to be able to answer more calls and online messages.
Katie Ray-Jones, the hotline’s CEO, said the donation comes at a much-needed time due to the increase in rates of domestic violence throughout the coronavirus pandemic. The donation was made to the hotline’s “Hope Can’t Wait” emergency fundraising campaign, which is trying to raise $2 million.
“The Hotline’s contact volume has almost doubled over last year; on average we’re receiving nearly 80,000 incoming calls, chats and texts each month,” Ray-Jones said in a statement. “More than ever, survivors need validation, support and safety planning, and connection to resources such as shelter, legal aid, economic assistance and healthcare.”
She continued, “The Gabby Petito Foundation’s generous donation, and all gifts to our campaign, will help to ensure our critical 24/7 work continues and we can connect with more people impacted by domestic violence.”
Petito, 22, went missing in late August while on a trip through Colorado and Utah with her then-boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, who later went missing after returning to Florida without Petito.
On Sept. 19, 2021, search crews discovered a body in Bridger-Teton National Park in Wyoming that was later determined to be Petito’s. An autopsy found she died from strangulation, officials said.
Search crews combed the Florida wetlands where Laundrie was last seen and found his remains in Carlton Reserve, near North Port, on Oct. 20, 2021.
In January, the FBI released new details in the investigation of Petito’s death, saying that Laundrie wrote that he killed her in his notebook.
Petito’s parents have worked since her death to raise awareness around domestic violence and provide support for people in need.
In his eulogy at his daughter’s funeral, Joseph Petito told mourners, “If there is a relationship that you’re in that might not be the best thing for you, leave it now. Take care of yourself first.”
The Gabby Petito Foundation’s mission is to “address the needs of organizations that support locating missing persons and to provide aid to organizations that assist victims of domestic violence situations, through education, awareness, and prevention strategies,” according to its website.
Experts note that when cases like Petito’s are in the news, though extremely tragic, they can raise awareness about domestic violence and the many forms it may take.
On average, more than one in three women and one in four men will experience rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner, according to the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
Young people between the ages of 18 and 24 experience the highest rates of domestic violence, according to Kiersten Stewart, director of public policy and advocacy of Futures Without Violence, a nonprofit organization focused on ending violence against women and children.
“Domestic violence is still a very serious issue,” Stewart told ABC News last year. “As a country, we have made great progress in the last 25 years, but we haven’t actually reduced homicides nearly as dramatically, and that still needs to be a real focus.”
If you need help or need help supporting someone else, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or text START to 88788 or chat online at TheHotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7.
(WASHINGTON) — U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Thursday that the Department of Justice has filed charges against four former and current Louisville police officers in connection with the death of Breonna Taylor. The charges include civil rights offenses, unlawful conspiracies, unconstitutional use of force and obstruction offenses.
“The federal charges announced today allege that members of a Police Investigations Unit falsified the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant of Ms. Taylor’s home and that this act violated federal civil rights laws, and that those violations resulted in Ms. Taylor’s death,” Garland said in a news conference.
The federal charges against detective Joshua Jaynes, former Louisville detective Kelly Goodlett and sergeant Kyle Meany allege they violated Taylor’s Fourth Amendment rights when they sought a warrant to search Taylor’s home while knowing they lacked probable cause, and that they knew their affidavit supporting the warrant contained false and misleading information and omitted other material information, resulting in her death.
“Among other things, the affidavit falsely claimed that officers had verified that the target of the alleged drug trafficking operation had received packages at Ms. Taylor’s address. In fact, defendants Jaynes and Goodlett knew that was not true,” Garland said during a press conference.
Garland also alleged that Jaynes and Goodlett knew armed officers will be carrying out the raid at Taylor’s home, and that conducting the search could create “a dangerous situation for anyone who happened to be in Ms. Taylor’s home.”
Prosecutors allege that Jaynes and Goodlett met in a garage after Taylor’s death “where they agreed to tell investigators” looking into the botched raid “a false story.”
Charges have also been filed against Brett Hankison a former Louisville Metro Police officer who was involved in the death of Breonna Taylor. Hankison has been charged in a two-count indictment for deprivation of rights under color of law, both of which are civil rights offenses.
Hankison allegedly used unconstitutional excessive force during the raid when he fired 10 shots through a window and sliding glass door in Taylor’s home that was covered in blinds and curtains after there was no longer a “lawful objective justifying the use of deadly force.”
Hankison went to trial on state charges relating to the raid on Taylor’s apartment and was found not guilty on all counts. He was charged with recklessly shooting into a neighboring apartment during the course of the raid that ended with the death of Breonna Taylor, not guilty on all three counts of wanton endangerment in the first degree.
Taylor’s death sparked protests nationwide, and outrage was further inflamed after no officers were charged in relation to her fatal shooting.
“The lack of accountability showcased in every aspect of Breonna’s killing speaks to how much more work there is to be done before we can say our justice system is fair and our system of policing is protective of people of color,” Taylor’s attorney, Ben Crump said after Hankison’s trial in March.
The Justice Department has had a pattern or practice investigation ongoing into the Louisville Police Department since April 2021. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke from DOJ’s Civil Rights Division told reporters the separate investigation remains ongoing and that DOJ has a team on the ground still conducting interviews with stakeholders and are conducting ride-alongs with police there.
Louisville officers conducted a raid of Taylor’s apartment on March 13, 2020, at around 12:45 a.m. When officers broke down the door to the apartment, a guest in Taylor’s home, thinking it was an intruder, fired a single gunshot using a legally purchased firearm, hitting the first officer at the door. Two Louisville officers then fired a total of 22 shots into the apartment, one of which hit Taylor in the chest, according to an information filed by the Justice Department.
A third officer moved from the doorway to the side of the apartment and fired ten more shots through a window and a sliding glass door, both of which were covered with blinds and curtains, according to an information filed by the Justice Department.
Garland also alleged that officers who carried out the raid were not involved in drafting the warrant and were unaware of the false and misleading statements it contained when they carried out the raid.
Garland said he spoke with Taylor’s family earlier Thursday and informed them of the charges.
“We share, but we cannot fully imagine, the grief felt by Breonna Taylor’s loved ones and all of those affected by the events of March 13, 2020. Breonna Taylor should be alive today,” Garland said.
-ABC News’ Alexander Mallin and Jack Date contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Thursday that the Department of Justice has filed charges against four former and current Louisville police officers in connection with the death of Breonna Taylor. The charges include civil rights offenses, unlawful conspiracies, unconstitutional use of force and obstruction offenses.
The Justice Department has had a pattern or practice investigation ongoing into the Louisville Police Department since April 2021.
The federal charges allege that police officers falsified the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant of Taylor’s home and that this act violated federal civil rights laws, resulting in her death. Former Louisville detective Kelly Goodlett and officer Joshua Jaynes have been charged with conspiracy for allegedly falsifying the affidavit for a search warrant, according to the justice department.
Charges have also been filed against Brett Hankison a former Louisville Metro Police officer who was involved in the death of Breonna Taylor. Hankison has been charged in a two-count indictment for deprivation of rights under color of law, both of which are civil rights offenses.
“We share, but we cannot fully imagine, the grief felt by Breanna Taylor’s loved ones and all of those affected by the events of March 13, 2020. Breonna Taylor should be alive today,” Garland said during a press conference.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
-ABC News’ Alexander Mallin and Jack Date contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Intense heat has returned to the Northeast, with 70 million Americans facing heat advisories on Thursday that will likely extend into the weekend.
Boston is projected to reach 99 degrees on Thursday, breaking a 96-degree high from 1928, according to the National Weather Service. The mayor of Boston declared a heat emergency on Wednesday through Sunday, opening 16 cooling centers across the city.
“I urge everyone to stay cool and safe, and check on your neighbors during the week,” Mayor Michelle Wu said in a statement.
Hartford, Connecticut, is forecast to hit 101 degrees on Thursday, breaking a 1944 record of 96 degrees, the NWS said.
Newark, New Jersey, could tie a 1993 record of 100 degrees. The city of Newark issued a Code Red on Wednesday, urging residents to take precautions against the dangerous heat.
New York City is forecast to break a 2006 record, reaching 94 degrees on Thursday, according to the NWS.
Con Edison, the city’s energy supplier, issued an advisory on Wednesday, asking residents to conserve energy due to the anticipated heat and humidity creating increased demand for electricity.
Philadelphia is expected to tie a 1995 heat record by reaching 95 degrees, according to the NWS.
Two heat deaths have been reported in the Northeast over the last two weeks, one in New York City and one in Philadelphia, officials said. Authorities have warned residents of the danger for more fatalities.
The heat will peak on Thursday, will highs forecast to decrease slightly on Friday before rising again on Sunday. The NWS predicts thunderstorms across the Northeast over the weekend, as heat and humidity come to a head.
The dangerous heat has persisted throughout the summer, with records broken across the Northeast just two weeks ago being threatened once again.
Last week, a heat wave settled over the Northwest, where over a dozen deaths have now been linked to the extreme temperatures.
(NEW YORK) — Coler Rehabilitation and Nursing Care Center on Roosevelt Island in New York City is the foundation of where the Open Doors NYC project came to be. It was founded by Jennilie Brewester, a former volunteer at the hospital, who saw a need for more creativity among black and brown people in wheelchairs at the facility.
Vincent Pierce, the Director of Open Doors NYC, said what started as a writing workshop, turned into writing their own poetry, which would eventually turn into the Reality Poets, “being that most of us that was involved with injured due to gun violence. We told her that we wanted to go to schools and talk to kids about gun violence and the consequences of it. She’s got us doing that. Then we started doing these slam poetry workshops. And we started writing poetry and realized we was writing about our lives. One of the members came up with the name Reality Poets.”
Pierce, now 36, became paralyzed a decade ago, after being shot in the neck, saying he initially felt like his life was over after being confined to a wheelchair. But Pierce saw the bigger picture, “Thank god I had a four-year-old daughter at the time. That’s what really steered me straight and gave me a reason to know why I’m still alive… being blessed to be placed in a place where I had. People dealing with the same thing as me. People around my age, and people younger.”
Open Doors NYC hosts Freestyle Fridays, a virtual session where they invite artists as guest speakers, and all are encouraged to join and learn more about the project as well. Guns Down Mic Up! Is held bi-weekly, and is an open mic and discussion for those looking to share their stories about systemic and personal violence, including gun violence.
ZING! Is another one of the many programs under the Open Doors NYC umbrella. Pierce launched the program as a way to try and keep kids off the street and give them access they may have been initially denied, to showcase their talent and creative ability.
“Who knows? I could be saving lives by having here at that point in time, and actually paying them to come learn. I got a grant to start the program… It was just important to just keep kids off the street and give them something positive to do. Something I never had.
In March of 2022, New York State comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli, released an audit showing that Health Department officials underreported nursing home deaths related to the COVID-19 pandemic, by nearly half for almost a year. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned in August 2021 over allegations of sexual harassment, and his administration also could not account for about 4,000 nursing home deaths during the 10-month period.
Pierce launched the #NursingHomelivesMatter campaign in July 2020, in response to how they felt the pandemic was handled when it came to residents in long-term care facilities. Pierce in a message on the site saying, “We were fighting for our lives—COVID patients were brought into our home, no safety precautions were followed, and bodies piled up in two refrigerated trucks parked outside. Then as the lockdown dragged on for more than a year, we were fighting to see our families or just to get beyond the iron gate and yellow tape that corralled us in like convicts or animals at the zoo.”
The movement contains a Bill of Rights which includes being treated as an individual, families never being locked out, safe staffing ratios, decent wages for staff, and more.
When asked what he hopes the future of Open Doors NYC holds, Pierce said “I want to see us grow. Especially that this pandemic is dying down for us to get more out there again… doing poetry shows and basically growing in the social justice field. Disability justice and being more known.”
(LOS ANGELES) — A fire burning out of control in a Northern California national forest and threatening a town of nearly 8,000 people has quickly become the largest wildfire in the state this year, officials said.
The McKinney Fire in the Klamath National Forest in Siskiyou County, near the Oregon border, had burned 57,519 acres and was 10% contained as of Wednesday night, according to Cal Fire.
Rain in the area on Tuesday presented firefighters with opportunities to properly combat the fire, officials said. However, the fire is expected to grow in the next few days due to drier and hotter weather. The forecast was for temperatures to reach 96 on Wednesday.
Red flag warnings were in effect as well.
The blaze grew by nearly 3,000 acres overnight on Monday as gusty winds helped fan its spread through a drought-dry tinderbox of high grass, brush and timber, according to Cal Fire.
Two people were found dead in their car in a driveway in the town of Klamath River, Siskiyou County Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue told ABC News. Firefighters said they suspected that the two were caught in the fast-moving fire as they tried to flee, according to the sheriff. More rescue teams were expected to search the area on Monday.
The fire started around 2:15 p.m. Friday and has caused the closure of Highway 96 in the area and the evacuation of several communities, including the partial evacuation of Yreka, California, officials said.
There was concern that lightning storms over the fire area could have sparked additional fires, officials said. But that same storm system also carried a significant amount of moisture, slowing the fire’s spread significantly over the past 24 hours, the sheriff said on Monday.
“We’re feeling pretty good” about protecting Yreka, whose western fringes were threatened by the fire, he told ABC News.
The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office told ABC News Sunday afternoon that more than 100 structures have been destroyed, including the homes of several deputies who are continuing to work despite personally being under evacuation orders.
Many of the lost structures are along the Klamath River, which runs parallel to Highway 96, according to a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office. The Klamath River Community Hall in Klamath River was also among the structures destroyed, officials said.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said search crews rescued about 60 hikers from a section of the Pacific Crest Trail, a popular backpacking trail that runs from Canada to Mexico.
Sgt. Shawn Richards of Jackson County Search and Rescue told reporters the hikers were not in immediate danger. He said that because of the rapidly spreading fire, unpredictable winds and smoke reducing visibility to roughly 20 feet, the decision was made to rescue the hikers before conditions worsened.
More than 1,300 firefighters are battling the blaze on the ground and from the air with 10 helicopters and 16 air tankers, Cal Fire said Monday.
“Really erratic winds from the start of the incident all the way up until now,” Kelsey Lofdah, a firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service, told San Francisco ABC station KGO of challenging firefighting conditions. “Pretty extreme fire behavior throughout the entire shift.”
The Yreka Police Department issued evacuation orders for a neighborhood in the western part of the town “due to its proximity to the fire” about 12 miles away.
“Please leave IMMEDIATELY,” the police department wrote in the evacuation order.
The police department also issued evacuation warnings to residents in all areas of the community west of Interstate 5.
The cause of the fire is under investigation and emergency management officials are assessing the damage.
Californian Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency on Saturday for Siskiyou County due to the effects of the McKinney Fire. A state of emergency frees up more state resources to be used in battling the blaze, including dispatching more firefighters and equipment to the scene.
The McKinney Fire surpassed the Oak Fire in Mariposa County near Yosemite as the largest wildfire in the state this year, according to Cal Fire. The Oak Fire, which started on July 22, was 72% contained on Monday after burning 19,244 acres and destroying 182 structures, including more than 100 homes, officials said.
(ARLINGTON, Texas) — A 16-year-old boy is speaking out after he was held at gunpoint and detained by police in what authorities said appears to have been a misunderstanding.
The incident occurred Monday afternoon at an apartment complex in Arlington, Texas, located between Dallas and Fort Worth.
Arlington police say they responded to a report of an armed man standing outside the door of one of the apartments.
A 911 caller told the dispatcher that he looked through his door’s peephole and saw a “male at his door wearing a hoodie and holding a firearm that was partially covered by a towel,” the Arlington Police Department said in a statement.
“The 911 caller advised that he’d been receiving threats from a person over social media, and the 911 caller believed the person at his door with a firearm was the same person who was making the threat,” the department said.
Apartment complex resident Rykeem Johnson, 16, says he was returning home from the pool that afternoon and was on the third floor of the building when two officers responded to the call. He matched the description of the suspect, wearing a hoodie and holding a towel, police said.
“They told me to put some weapon down. I didn’t know what they were talking about at first,” Johnson told ABC Dallas affiliate WFAA.
The teen said he froze, as officers pointed their firearms up at him from their position on the ground.
“I was very terrified. I was so terrified, I couldn’t move my body,” he told the station.
When the teen didn’t respond to verbal commands to drop the towel and show his hands, the officers called for backup and the police department’s tactical unit responded to the scene, police said.
“He goes gets his rifle and he’s pointing it directly at me, I get more scared,” Johnson recounted to WFAA. “My body starts to shake, I can’t move. My body feels stiff. In my mind, I was like, what should I do?”
The SWAT team was ultimately able to get the teen to show his hands and come down the stairs, and officers detained him, handcuffing him and placing him in a patrol car, police said.
Officers determined the teen was unarmed and was not the person making social media threats to the 911 caller and he was not arrested, police said.
“The only thing they said to me was ‘sorry for the misunderstanding. We apologize.’ That wasn’t enough for me,” Johnson told WFAA. “They had me at gunpoint, scared for my life.”
The teen was released to his older brother and guardian, Relius Johnson, who had rushed home from work after he received a call from an officer advising residents to shelter in place.
Relius Johnson told ABC News he didn’t realize at first that his brother was the one being detained by police. He said he spoke to his brother after getting the shelter-in-place call, and that he sounded “panicked.” When he got ahold of him again on the phone, his brother “started screaming, ‘Save me, they’re trying to shoot me,'” Relius Johnson said.
Relius Johnson said he told several officers at the scene that they had the wrong person. Eventually he was able to get a detective to connect with the SWAT commander, he said.
“That’s when he got on my phone with my little brother and got him to come down the stairs,” he said.
The incident lasted nearly three hours, police said.
Relius Johnson believes the situation could have been over a lot sooner if they had listened to him and his brother, whom he said officers kept calling by a different name.
“He was trying to tell them, try to talk to them,” Relius Johnson said. “If they would have listened from the very beginning, that would have been a whole different situation, as well as if they would have listened to me, for about 30, 40 minutes, when I’m trying to tell them that’s my little brother.”
“If I wouldn’t have gotten that call, or if I wouldn’t have been there, I think it would have been a totally different outcome,” he said. “I would be burying my brother instead of him being here.”
Arlington Police Department spokesperson Tim Ciesco told ABC News police are investigating whether the 911 caller mistook the teen for the person threatening him online.
“We don’t have any evidence to show that anybody that was trying to harm him was actually there,” Ciesco said.
Throughout the response, police also determined there were “consistency issues” with the original 911 caller and “slowed down its actions so that we could be sure that we were proceeding appropriately given the circumstances,” the department said. Ciesco could not elaborate on the consistency concerns due to the ongoing investigation.
Members of the police department’s command staff have been in direct contact with the family following the incident, Ciesco said.
Relius Johnson said he reached out to the chief and deputy chief to understand “how did this get to where it did.” They arranged a call on Wednesday and a sit-down meeting next week during which he hopes to get some questions about the incident answered, including why his brother was considered a suspect.
(ROCKVILLE, M.D.) — An Amtrak train departing from Washington, D.C., collided with a semi-truck in Maryland Wednesday evening, officials said.
The incident occurred around 5:20 p.m. in Rockville, Maryland, when the vehicle “obstructed the track” and “came into contact with the train,” Amtrak said in a statement.
None of the 142 passengers and crew aboard Amtrak Capitol Limited train 29 were injured, Amtrak said. The train was en route to Chicago.
Amtrak said it’s working with local law enforcement to investigate the incident.
The railroad service has had other high-profile, sometimes fatal, incidents, in the last year.
In June, an Amtrak train crashed into a dump truck in Mendon, Missouri, killing four people and injuring 150.
Also, in June, another train, this time in Brentwood, California, slammed into a car, killing three people and seriously injuring two others, including a child.
An Amtrak train derailed in northern Montana, killing three people and injuring dozens of people in September 2021. Multiple passengers filed federal lawsuits against Amtrak and the operator of the railroad tracks for negligence.
ABC News’ Amanda Maile, Bill Hutchinson, Mark Osborne, Melissa Gaffney, Teddy Grant, Emily Shapiro and Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.
