(DANBURY, Conn.) — A Connecticut mother allegedly killed her three children before taking her own life, the Danbury Police Department said Thursday.
Police identified the mother as 36-year-old Sonia Loja and her three children as Junior Panjon, 12; Joselyn Panjon, 10; and Jonael Panjon, 5.
“A truly horrible event occurred in our city yesterday and we mourn the tragic loss of life. In the coming days, mental health and counseling services will be provided through collaboration with the Danbury Public Schools and the City of Danbury. Our community grieves for the innocent lives taken from us. We will get through this together,” Danbury Mayor Dean Esposito said in a statement.
Police found the four bodies Wednesday night after receiving a 911 call from someone distraught and crying, according to WTNH. Police said they believe the mother strangled her children before killing herself.
Autopsies are scheduled for Thursday at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Farmington, Connecticut, authorities said.
Police said the family lived in the home with two other adults. The adults were not present when police arrived on the scene, but they and other family members have been contacted and informed of the incident, police said.
“The kids were really good kids. They were really friendly kids,” neighbor Ralph Baugher told ABC News Connecticut affiliate WTNH. “When you drive by, they would wave and say, ‘How are you doing?’ Wave back to them, ‘Hi, how are you doing?’ They were always happy kids. Always playing in the yard, having fun, laughing all the time.”
The mayor’s office and other local government agencies said they are providing support for family and friends of the deceased and for first responders who responded to the scene, officials.
(CHICAGO) — Ashbey Beasley said the horrors of the July Fourth mass shooting are still fresh in her mind.
The Highland Park, Illinois, native was at the Independence Day parade with her 6-year-old son when the gunman opened fire. The two ran for their lives.
“The look on his face was indescribable. It was such a sheer, primal sense of terror,” she told “NIGHTLINE.”
While she and her son were not hurt during the carnage, Beasley said the mental anguish remains and she is devoting her life to stopping gun violence.
On Wednesday, Beasley took her case straight to lawmakers in Washington, D.C. She was on hand for a congressional hearing with gun manufacturers and gave video testimony about her experience during the mass shooting.
Beasley told “NIGHTLINE” that she has become more active in promoting gun control policy because she is tired of people living in fear of something unavoidable.
“The idea that we, as a country, cannot go to a mall without the idea creeping in the back of our heads that someone could shoot us is unacceptable,” she said. “That we are scared to send our children to school with fear that they won’t come home is unacceptable.”
Gun manufacturer executives were in the hot seat when congressional members grilled them about the roles their companies’ weapons played in recent mass shootings.
Many of the executives acknowledged the violence and those hurt by it, but contended that they didn’t want to deprive Americans of their Second Amendment rights.
“I believe our nation’s response needs to focus not on the type of gun, but on the type of persons who are likely to commit mass shootings,” Marty Daniel, the founder and CEO of Daniel Defense, testified.
Daniel Defense made the rifle used in the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 students and two teachers were killed at Robb Elementary School on May 24.
Gun control advocates, like Ryan Busse, a senior adviser with Giffords, testified that weapons makers are not doing enough to prevent their guns and rifles from proliferating among the populace.
Busse, a former gun manufacturer executive, told “NIGHTLINE” the industry has “established irresponsible marketing” which creates and propagates the violence.
“I’m a proud gun owner… I hunt and shoot with my boys every chance I get, but we have gone far off the rails with regard to balancing responsibility and decency,” Busse said. “And part of being a responsible citizen, especially a gun owner with a right that immense means that we have to balance that kind of right with responsibility and regulation. And we have an industry who is thwarting that at every chance we get and our society, our country is paying the price for it.
Beasley echoed this message when she spoke with several members of Congress, including Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La.
Higgins contended during the hearing that if there was a ban on assault rifles, federal agents will be shot when they go to confiscate the rifles.
“When those gunfights happen, that blood will be on your hands,” Higgins told the Democratic members of the committee.
Higgins repeated his claims during his exchange with Beasley in the halls of the Capitol.
“If you don’t think they will come door to door to seize your weapons, you’re wrong,” he told Beasley.
“Have you ever run from a mass shooter? Have you ever been shot at by a mass shooter?” she asked.
“I was a SWAT cop for 12 years,” the congressman responded.
“So, you know what these bullets are,” Beasley said.
Beasley said she does not feel intimidated standing up to elected officials and speaking out on gun control. She reiterated that she’ll continue to do so. And Beasley said she won’t be alone in her mission.
“There is a whole contingency of women and parents and moms and community members who have gone to D.C. who are going to continue to fight and are getting more involved every day,” she said.
(NEW YORK) — For only the third time in the 20-year history of Mega Millions, the jackpot has surpassed the massive $1 billion mark.
The estimated jackpot for the Mega Millions drawing on Friday is now $1.1 billion, the second-largest in the game’s history.
“Friday night’s drawing will be the thirtieth in this jackpot run, which began April 19 after the jackpot was won in Tennessee on April 15,” Mega Millions said in a statement issued early Wednesday.
The lump sum payment is worth $648.2 million, pre-tax.
Even though Friday’s prize is now estimated to be valued at over $1 billion, it still falls short of the Mega Millions’ record jackpot, which was won in South Carolina on Oct. 23, 2018. The winner took home $1.537 billion — the world’s largest lottery prize ever won on a single ticket. The largest lotto prize ever came when three people split a $1.586 billion Powerball drawing in 2016.
Only four Mega Millions jackpots have been won this year: in California, Minnesota, New York and Tennessee.
“We look with anticipation on the growing jackpot,” Ohio Lottery Director Pat McDonald, current lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a press release. “Seeing the jackpot build over a period of months and reaching the billion-dollar mark is truly breathtaking. We encourage customers to keep play in balance and enjoy the ride. Someone is going to win.”
There were 6,775,330 winning tickets at all prize levels from Tuesday night’s drawing. A total of nine tickets matched the five white balls to win the Mega Millions second prize. One of those sold in Ohio was worth $3 million because it included the optional Megaplier. The other eight Match 5 tickets were all worth $1 million, with two each being sold in New Jersey and New York, plus one each in California, Florida, Illinois and Ohio.
“In the 29 drawings since the jackpot was last won in Tennessee on April 15, there have been more than 28.1 million winning tickets at all prize levels, including 42 worth $1 million or more,” the company said. “Those big prizes have been won in 17 states across the country: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia.”
Lottery winners have two options: Take the money as a lump sum payment or annuity payments over 29 years.
Most winners take the lump sum payment, but record inflation has complicated matters, experts said.
“If we believe that inflation will be here for a while, then you may want to consider taking the annuity versus taking the lump sum,” tax and estate planning attorney Kurt Panouses told ABC News’ Deirdre Bolton.
The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 303 million, according to the lottery.
(FRANKFORT, Ky.) — At least eight people have been killed in Kentucky amid “one of the worst, most devastating” floods in the state’s history, Gov. Andy Beshear said.
Among those killed was an 81-year-old woman, Beshear said.
The governor told reporters Thursday afternoon that he expects “double-digit” deaths and anticipates this will be one of the deadliest floods in Kentucky in “a very long time.”
A flash flood emergency was issued overnight as 2 to 5 inches of rain pounded the state. The governor warned there’s a chance for another 2 to 3 inches of rain Thursday night or over the weekend.
In most areas, the water hasn’t crested yet, Beshear said at a morning news conference, warning, “We probably haven’t seen the worst of it.”
The state’s combating washed out roads, destroyed homes and flooded schools, the governor said.
Hundreds of residents are expected to lose their homes and it’ll likely take families years to recover and rebuild, Beshear said.
Some people are waiting on roofs to be rescued, the governor said.
Crews from Kentucky’s Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources are out on boats making rescues, Beshear said.
The governor said he’s activated the National Guard whose members are also preparing helicopters and trucks to evacuate stranded residents.
“This is all hands on deck,” he said.
Three state parks are being opened to people who have lost their homes, Beshear said.
ABC News’ Alexandra Faul and Kenton Gewecke contributed to this report.
Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images, FILE
(WASHINGTON) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Wednesday found 73 migrants — including 13 children — in multiple Washington, D.C., homes believed to be operated by human smugglers, according to an ICE official.
The “stash houses,” as they are known to investigators, were found in the largely affluent area of Northwest Washington, the official confirmed. The development was first reported by NBC.
An ICE spokesperson declined to comment on specifics, citing the ongoing nature of the investigation.
The health and condition of the migrants was unclear on Thursday. Authorities are investigating how they arrived in the district and the full extent of the potential smuggling ring, one official said.
“HSI [Homeland Security Investigations] has dedicated groups assigned to combat human smuggling,” an ICE spokesperson said in a statement. “Our goal is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle significant Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCO) involved in human smuggling through the aggressive, and smart, application of the full range of our authorities.”
The discovery comes amid what Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser called a broader “humanitarian crisis.” Separate from the case of the 73 people, Bowser said on Wednesday she had requested assistance from the D.C. National Guard to aid in managing migrants who have been bussed north by authorities at the direction of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
“I’ve asked for the deployment of the guard as long as we need the guard to deal with the humanitarian crisis that we expect to escalate,” Bowser said. “The number of people crossing the border [into the U.S.] seeking asylum we expect to only go up.”
Abbott has said his bussing policy is in response to President Joe Biden and Congress’ border policies and the “chaos they have caused … they refuse to come down and see firsthand.”
Local nonprofits have reportedly strained to accommodate the busses with migrants as they have arrived.
Human smuggling networks are typically found much closer to the southwest border. These sort of illegal operations have received intense scrutiny from immigration authorities in recent months as Homeland Security officials move to crack down on transnational criminal smuggling organizations.
Last month, the largest mass-casualty incident in the U.S. believed to be smuggling related left more than 50 people dead after they were discovered inside an overheated tractor-trailer in San Antonio, Texas.
Since April, the Department of Homeland Security has directed more than $50 million and 1,300 personnel with a renewed focus on human smuggling. More than 3,500 arrests have been made in recent months, according to DHS.
ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson contributed to this report.
(CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, S.C.) — A 13-year-old girl is dead and six people are under arrest after police alleged the suspects unleashed a barrage of gunfire with an assault weapon into her South Carolina home, striking her as she was playing video games in a room with a younger child.
The girl’s death has rocked the small community of Cheraw in Chesterfield County and even stunned the suspects, who allegedly attacked the child’s home while looking for the intended target they believed lived there, authorities said.
“They just seemed in shock at the whole situation. Sometimes I feel like they think it’s just a big game,” Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Capt. Wayne Jordan said of the suspects in an interview with ABC affiliate station WSOC in Charlotte, North Carolina. “Once your life is over, it’s over. You don’t start over, you don’t start the game over. These kids do not comprehend what they’re doing.”
The sheriff’s office announced the arrests Wednesday of five men and a woman ranging in age from their late teens to mid-20s. Five of the suspects are charged with murder and attempted murder and a sixth suspect was arrested on charges of obstruction of justice, authorities said.
The shooting unfolded early Tuesday morning when the suspects allegedly drove to the girl’s home in Cheraw, a northeast South Carolina community of roughly 5,000 people, and fired multiple shots into the residence, Jordan said. At least one of the suspects was wielding an assault rifle, Jordan said.
At the time of the shooting, the teenage victim, whose name has not been released by authorities, was in a room with a younger child playing video games and was hit by a stray bullet, Jordan said.
The shooting stemmed from an ongoing dispute between two groups and the suspects allegedly believed one of their rivals was inside the house, Jordan said.
“From what I understand, the 13-year-old child was not the target. There was another target at the house, or they (the suspects) felt was at the house,” Jordan said.
The five murder suspects were identified by the sheriff’s office as Kyron Robinson, Michael Flowers, Jr., Michael Johnson, Timothy Byrd and Trevoin Gary. The suspect charged with obstruction of justice was identified as Genesis Evans, according to the sheriff’s office.
It was not immediately clear if the suspects have hired attorneys or are awaiting a judge to appoint public defenders to represent them.
(NEW YORK) — The severe heat in the Northwest has now turned deadly, with the Oregon state medical examiner reporting two suspected heat deaths on Wednesday.
With temperatures expected to stay in the triple digits across much of the Northwest this weekend, officials are warning people of the dangers.
One death was reported by Multnomah County, which includes Portland, on July 25. Officials have not said where and when the second death occurred.
The Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office has not yet responded to ABC News’ request for further details on the deaths.
Over a dozen counties across Oregon remain in a state of emergency on Thursday.
Spreading across the country, over 35 million Americans continue to be under excessive heat warnings or heat alerts, with many of them in the Northwest.
Redding, California, will likely near 115 degrees on Thursday to break its previous record, according to the National Weather Service.
Spokane, Washington, may also break a record on Thursday as it is projected to reach 102 degrees.
The extreme heat in the region, coupled with record warm nights, is expected to reach into next week, the NWS said.
Multnomah County officials ask residents to take the heat seriously.
Officials have set up overnight cooling shelters and a daytime cooling center along with officials from the city of Portland and community partners.
County officials said the centers will remain open until at least Friday morning.
“People don’t think they’re at risk from heat. But we have plenty of younger people ending up in the emergency room right now. It’s not cooling off much at night and we’re only halfway through this thing,” Brendon Haggerty, program supervisor at the Multnomah County Health Department, said in a statement.
The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division has put measures in place to ensure safety for outdoor workers during the heat.
According to OSHA, when the heat index hits or exceeds 80 degrees, employers need to provide shady areas for workers to rest, more break time and access to plenty of water. If the index hits 90 degrees, breaks must be longer, communication must become more frequent and each worker must be monitored more closely throughout the shift.
During a 2021 heat wave, 800 people died in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia throughout late June and early July. Heat records were broken across the region, with Portland hitting 116 degrees at its peak.
Jason and Keely Roberts pose with four of their six children, including their 8-year-old twins, Luke and Cooper. – Roberts Family photo
(HIGHLAND PARK, Ill.) — Eight-year-old Cooper Roberts, who was enjoying a Fourth of July parade when he was shot in the chest in the Highland Park, Illinois, mass shooting, is now paralyzed from the waist down, his mother, Keely Roberts, said.
The bullet went into his back and exited his chest, “which did significant damage throughout his body, including to his aorta, liver, esophagus and spinal cord,” Roberts said in a statement Wednesday.
Cooper remains in the hospital recovering from multiple surgeries and infections, and will need another heart surgery, she said.
“Cooper has been asking me — will I walk again? Will I have to be in a wheelchair forever?” Roberts went on. “I have been straight with him, because I have to be … we don’t know what kind of mobility he will have.”
Roberts herself was shot in two parts of her leg and needs ongoing orthopedic treatment.
Cooper’s twin, Luke, was hit by shrapnel. While his physical injuries were minor, “what he has to carry is devastating,” Roberts said.
“To hold a tourniquet on his mother’s leg … to see his twin brother’s lips go gray … to sit covered in our blood as good Samaritans provided the on-the-spot first-aid that kept us both alive… it’s too much for anyone, much less an 8-year-old,” she wrote.
Seven were killed and dozens were injured in the mass shooting. The suspected gunman is in custody.
“While I — along with Cooper and my entire family, should feel a lot of hate right now — I do not. My family does not. I find myself feeling that I have seen much more kindness than evil,” Roberts said.
The mom of six thanked the community members at the parade who rushed to help and all of the doctors and nurses who have cared for Cooper.
“They saved my son’s life,” she said. “On a holiday, when many were not in, they stepped up and made the impossible possible. There was someone who made sure to be available to run back and forth to a blood bank as needed for Cooper. Those surgeons spent six hours in the operating room refusing to let Cooper die — patch-working his liver, aorta, esophagus — again and again and again pouring blood transfusion after blood transfusion into his body.”
“The fact that Cooper is still here with us today is a miracle,” she added.
She also credited the doctors and nurses for keeping the family’s spirits up and helping Cooper stay “the happy, sweet little boy he has always been.”
Cooper and Luke “are good, sweet boys who love everyone and want good for everyone they know,” Keely Roberts said. “Their lives are so much more and better than this terrible thing than was done to them.”
The suspected mass shooter was indicted Wednesday on 117 counts. He has not entered a plea and is due in court on Aug. 3.
