(NEW YORK) — Dangerous heat is enveloping a large swath of the U.S., with temperatures forecast to climb above 100 degrees Monday from California to Arizona to Texas to Missouri.
Temperatures on Monday could reach a scorching 111 degrees in Redding, California; 114 in Palm Springs; 112 in Las Vegas; and 115 in Phoenix.
East of the Rockies, the humidity combined with the heat will make it feel oppressive. The heat index — what temperature it feels like with humidity — is forecast to skyrocket to 111 degrees in Austin, Texas; 109 in Houston; 105 in Dallas; 104 in St. Louis and 99 in Memphis, Tennessee.
College Station, Texas, reached a record high temperature of 111 degrees this weekend. At Camp Mabry, a military base in the Austin area, the temperature reached a July record high of 110.
More record highs are possible Monday in Texas, Northern California and Oregon.
Some of this heat will stretch into the mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Tuesday and Wednesday, with a forecast of 92 degrees in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia and 91 degrees in New York. With humidity, it will feel like the upper 90s in some areas.
(UVALDE, Texas) — Hundreds of people marched from Robb Elementary School to Uvalde Town Square on Sunday to honor the victims and to hold elected officials accountable for the mass school shooting that claimed the lives of 19 children and two teachers.
Family members of the victims made impassioned speeches at the Unheard Voices March & Rally, demanding justice for their loved ones who were killed in the May 24 shooting.
“What I want, you can’t give me. I want my daughter back,” Kimberly Rubio, mother of Lexi Rubio, said. “We want answers. We seek justice. We demand change.”
One by one, victims’ family members came to the mic and announced the name of their loved one, holding posters with the child’s picture on them, according to ABC News San Antonio affiliate KSAT.
There were repeated chants of “vote them out,” referring to politicians who don’t support gun reform and who didn’t attend the rally.
People at the rally also expressed anger at law enforcement’s response to the shooting.
Uvalde police waited 77 minutes in the hallway outside the classroom where the suspect was before approaching him.
Pete Arredondo, the police chief for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (UCISD), resigned from his position on the Uvalde City Council, saying in his resignation letter that it was “in the best interest of the community to step down as a member of the City Council for District 3 to minimize further distractions.”
At the Unheard Voice March Sunday, community members called for Arredondo to step down from his position in the school district. The school district put him on administrative leave in June.
“You do not deserve to wear a badge,” said a loved one of 10-year-old Amerie Jo Garza, who was killed in the mass shooting.
ABC News’ Izzy Alvarez and Marilyn Heck contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — As gun violence in America continues to take lives, lawmakers are pushing states to implement “red flag” laws, which allow law enforcement or family members to ask a civil court to temporarily remove guns from a person who poses a risk to themselves or others.
Nineteen states currently have “red flag” laws, also known as extreme risk protection orders, on the books. Recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York; Uvalde, Texas; and Highland Parks, Illinois have reignited calls for the government to enact these types of gun laws.
Last month, President Joe Biden signed into law a bipartisan gun bill which included $750 million in funding to help states implement “red flag” laws and other violence prevention programs.
The bill also enhanced background checks for people under the age of 21 and closed a so-called “boyfriend loophole,” by preventing individuals in serious dating relationships who have been convicted of domestic violence from being able to purchase a gun.
Experts told ABC News that when they are more frequently used, “red flag” laws could be effective.
“There’s many documented cases of use of red flag laws in circumstances and when people are threatening or saying they’re going to commit mass shootings. And they use the order, they remove firearms, and there’s no documented case [that] that person, for example, found another firearm or just went and did it anyway,” Daniel Webster, director for the Gun Policy and Research Center at Johns Hopkins University, told ABC News in an interview.
He added, “I wouldn’t call it necessarily ironclad, certain proof. But, it’s certainly compelling evidence that the laws are being used as intended to prevent these things.”
According to Webster, “red flag” laws are modeled after domestic violence restraining orders, which make them a quick response, allowing judges to immediately take action. The procedures allow due process for those whose guns are removed by giving them the opportunity to appear in court and present evidence as to why they should keep their guns.
Webster also said there is evidence these laws reduce suicide risk, which is the most common reason these orders are issued.
However, this tool is completely reliant on a good system response when there is evidence that someone might be a danger, Webster said.
Jeffrey Swanson, a professor of psychology and behavioral studies who is affiliated with the Center for Firearms Law at Duke University, told ABC News these laws are not being implemented on a large enough scale to determine whether they are effective.
“If nobody knows about it, it’s not used, it’s not scaled up, the police don’t have experience using it or aren’t accustomed to doing that, [or] you don’t have the infrastructure or the protocols in mind for it to become routine, you can’t expect it to do any good,” Swanson said.
Swanson said this was the case in Connecticut where a “red flag” law was passed in 1999, but wasn’t often put to use until around 2008. Researchers found that when used in the state, these laws were “modestly” effective in preventing suicides.
“For every 10 to 20 of these gun removal actions, one life was saved,” Swanson, a coauthor of the study, said.
After the July 4 shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, police revealed they had deemed the suspect, Robert Crimo III, a “clear and present danger” after a family member revealed he had threatened to “kill everyone,” according to police records.
Police had also gone to the suspect’s home a number of times before the shooting, including in September 2019, when Highland Park police removed a 24-inch Samurai blade, a box containing a 12-inch dagger and 16 hand knives from Crimo’s house that day, according to an incident report.
However, when he made the threats, the suspect did not own any firearms. So when state police did not find a gun license for Crimo in their system, no action was taken. Later that year, the suspect’s father signed an affidavit allowing him to obtain a gun license.
While Illinois has a “red flag” law in place, Webster said the state’s law does not apply a “prospective” approach that would have prevented Crimo from obtaining guns in the months after he made the threats. Webster said it is worth considering preventing people who pose a threat from being able to get guns for a certain span of time.
“To me, that sounds very reasonable, because you’re using the same logic to disarm someone once they already have a firearm,” he said. “But, you’re not using it to prevent the acquisition. So, that’s, that’s the missing piece here.”
According to Webster, things to be considered when determining whether an individual presents a “clear and present danger” to those around them include whether they have a history of violent behavior and what evidence there is that they could commit a shooting (such as their online search history or things they have obtained like body armor).
Whether the individual has displayed behavioral signals common among mass shooters should also be considered, he added.
(FRESNO, Calif.) — A wildfire near Yosemite National Park is creeping closer to a grove of iconic sequoia trees that have been in the region for thousands of years.
The Washburn Fire, which originated on Thursday near the Washburn Trail in Yosemite’s Mariposa Grove, has since grown to nearly 1,600 acres and could soon threaten the survival of the sequoias, fire officials said.
The fire is burning in “difficult terrain” due to heavy fuel lingering nearby after a significant tree mortality event from 2013 to 2015, according to Yosemite Fire and Aviation Management.
The fuel consists of both standing trees and fuel that has fallen to the ground and is presenting safety hazards to firefighters, according to Yosemite fire officials.
The Mariposa Grove, one of the most popular destinations in Yosemite National Park and home to more than 500 mature giant sequoia trees, was evacuated and remains closed. People in the community of Wawona, which is surrounded by national park land and campground, were also ordered to leave their homes and campsites on Friday.
No reports of damage to any of the named trees in the grove have been reported. Some of the tree trunks were wrapped in fire-resistant foil, a similar method used in September to protect trees in Sequoia National Park’s Giant Forest when the KNP Complex Fire threatened their existence.
The trees, native to the Sierra Nevada range in California, are adaptive to fire, but intense fire could kill them, according to experts. Wildfires sparked by lightning have killed about a fifth of the 75,000 large sequoias, The AP reported.
The Washburn Fire is not fast-moving and is not impacting human safety, fire sources told ABC News. It will take several weeks for the fire to be fully extinguished because firefighters are managing the fire by setting off backfires to clear the fuel, the experts said.
Firefighters are also battling the blaze using air drops of fire retardant and by using bulldozers to create fire lines, The Associated Press reported.
A warming trend is forecast in the region over the next several days, but high wind events are not expected to exacerbate the wildfire.
ABC News’ Jenna Harrison Lisette Rodriguez contributed to this report.
(PHILADELPHIA) — Police in Philadelphia are seeking seven teenage suspects wanted in an attack on a 73-year-old man who later died from head injuries sustained during the assault.
The Philadelphia Police Department released disturbing surveillance footage on Friday of the deadly attack, which occurred around 2:30 a.m. on June 24.
In the footage, a group of teens can be seen chasing a person, who is blurred, across a street in North Philadelphia. One of the teens is captured hurling a traffic cone at the victim. A girl is then seen picking up the traffic cone and repeatedly throwing it at the victim. Another suspect appears to be filming the assault on a cellphone.
“The teens struck the victim several times with objects, knocking the victim to the ground causing injuries to his head,” the department said in a statement. “The victim was transported to the hospital where he died of his injuries the following day.”
Police identified the victim as James Lambert of North Philadelphia.
Homicide Capt. Jason Smith told reporters during a briefing Friday that the medical examiner has ruled the cause of Lambert’s death as blunt force trauma, ABC Philadelphia station WPVI reported.
Police said they are seeking four boys and three girls who appear to be in their early to mid-teens. Smith said at least two teens took part in the assault, WPVI reported.
The city is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction, as is the case with all open homicides.
Smith is appealing to the parents of the suspects to come forward.
“The message I would like to put out there is to the parents of these juveniles, if they are aware that their son or daughter is involved in this incident, I think that the best course of action would be for them to contact an attorney and then contact the homicide unit,” he said.
News of the assault comes a day after a summer curfew for minors went into effect.
Through Sept. 29, those between the ages of 14 and 17 are required to be home by 10 p.m. Previously, the latest some teenagers were able to be out was midnight. Those under 13 are required to be home by 9:30 p.m.
The modified curfew is an attempt to keep young people off the streets and safe during a high-crime season, officials said.
“We’re seeing our young people involved in more criminal incidents, criminal activity simply because they’re out late,” Councilwoman Katherine Gilmore Richardson, who proposed the bill that modified the curfew, told WPVI.
For those found violating the curfew, police will attempt to reunite them with their families at home or a precinct or bring them to one of several community centers that have been established during the curfew.
(SANGER, Calif.) — Two people have been arrested and charged with attempted murder after getting into an argument with a man and then lighting him on fire.
The incident occurred at approximately 9:15 p.m. on Thursday, July 7, when the Sanger Police Department responded to reports of an injured man suffering severe burns to his upper body in Sanger, California — about 15 miles east of Fresno.
When authorities reached the victim, who remains unnamed, he told them that a woman had set him on fire several blocks away when they encountered each other at Sanger Park. He was immediately transported to a local area hospital due to the severity of his injuries.
“Investigators used video surveillance and witness statements to identify Patricia Castillo and Leonard Hawkins as the suspects,” the Sanger Police Department said in a statement released on social media. “The video shows Castillo approaching the victim and throwing a liquid from a cup onto him, and she and the victim appear to argue before Castillo sparks a lighter and lights the victim on fire. Further investigation revealed that Leonard Hawkins had provided the accelerant used to light the victim on fire to Castillo.”
Authorities were able to locate both suspects and reportedly arrested them without incident. Patricia Castillo, 48, and Leonard Hawkins, 43, were subsequently booked into the Fresno County Jail and charged with attempted murder, arson, and conspiracy.
The victim’s condition is currently unknown but he is expected to survive.
(NEW YORK) — Oppressive heat continues to take hold of the South and West this weekend, with record heat possible for some regions Saturday.
A mix of excessive heat warnings and heat advisories are in effect across parts of 14 states, stretching from California to Alabama, as of Saturday morning.
The National Weather Service warned that there could be “dangerous heat and humidity” across parts of the South Plain to the Lower Mississippi and Tennessee valleys through Monday.
Record temperatures could be possible on Saturday in more than a dozen locations, from Utah to Mississippi. In Dallas, temperatures could reach 107 degrees, which would beat a record 106 degrees. In Houston, temperatures could exceed 105 degrees — topping a record 102 degrees.
Denver and Salt Lake City could also see record temperatures on Saturday.
Heat indices — what the temperature feels like — topped 110 degrees from Texas to Tennessee on Friday and could do so again on Saturday.
High temperatures are expected to continue throughout the weekend. Phoenix, Arizona, is forecast to hit temperatures north of 110 degrees from Saturday through Monday.
The heat follows record-setting temperatures on Friday, including in Memphis (103 degrees); Forth Smith, Arkansas (106 degrees); and Abilene, Texas (107 degrees).
Meanwhile, red flag warnings have been issued Saturday for critical fire danger in Nevada, Utah and Idaho. Winds will be gusty, up to 35 mph and the relative humidity will drop to as low as 6%.
Several fires are burning in the West, including the Washburn Fire, which has caused evacuations near Yosemite National Park and has closed the south entrance to the park. The Washburn fire has so far burned over 700 acres.
Elsewhere, flood watches have been issued for parts of Maryland and Virginia, including Washington, D.C., through this afternoon, where upwards of 7 inches of rain is possible.
(AKRON, Ohio) — Many are taking to the streets after officials released body-camera footage Sunday of Jayland Walker killed in a hail of bullets fired by eight officers while he was unarmed and running away.
Ohio officials are calling for calm in Akron, which has been rocked by protests following the fatal police shooting of Jayland Walker, after two people, including a 4-year-old girl, were killed Saturday night at a family celebration.
“This has been a very difficult week for Akron, almost two weeks for Akron. The heat is very very high, tensions are running high in this city,” Akron Police Chief Steve Mylett said at a press briefing late Friday night. “We’re asking for people to stand down for at least 48 hours, let the temperature come down.”
Mylett was joined in the message by Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan and several community pastors outside Akron Children’s Hospital, where the 4-year-old girl died earlier after suffering severe head wounds in the shooting, the chief said.
A 40-year-old man was also critically injured after multiple shots were fired into a large crowd gathered near downtown Akron around 9:15 p.m., police said. He later died from his injuries at an area hospital.
The victims were identified by the Summit County Medical Examiner Saturday morning as 4-year-old Journei Tolbert, and 40-year-old Johnny Gaiter, both from Akron.
“We don’t know exactly what happened yet but we’re going to find out and we’re going to find the people that are responsible for this,” Mylett said Friday night.
The shooting was unrelated to the ongoing protests, the chief told the Akron Beacon Journal.
As the investigation into the homicides and search for suspects is underway, officials called for the city to “deescalate.”
“There is a lot of heightened tension in the right now,” Mayor Horrigan said. “There’s a level in this community that we need to bring down.”
Pastor Bradley Reeves with Restoration Community Church was one of several religious leaders who joined the briefing outside the hospital.
“Not only does the community need to calm down, but the police need to calm down, too,” he said. “Some of this is bad emotions and is leading to bad actions. Everybody’s got to stop. There’s a baby here that won’t see 5.”
Despite the calls from city officials, protests continued Saturday in support of Walker, who was fatally shot by police on June 27 after a traffic stop turned into a pursuit. The 25-year-old Black man was unarmed and running away when eight Ohio officers opened fire on him, body-camera footage released by the city showed.
The incident is under investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
On Thursday, the city instated a nightly curfew for downtown Akron that was implemented amid largely peaceful protests over Walker’s killing, after some protesters became violent with officers, the city said.
(NATIONAL CITY, Calif.) — Four men have been arrested and charged with federal drug trafficking offenses after an estimated record-breaking two-and-a-half tons of methamphetamine was seized from a box truck that had just crossed the border between the United States and Mexico.
The incident occurred on Thursday, July 7, in National City, California, at approximately 4:55 p.m. when the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California said a commercial 20-foot box truck reportedly crossed into the United States through the Otay Mesa Commercial Port of Entry.
“Law enforcement surveilled the box truck as it travelled to Hoover and 30th Street, in National City,” the U.S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California said in their statement. “Once there, agents observed the defendants unloading dozens of cardboard boxes from the box truck and loading them into a Dodge van.”
The four men — all from Tijuana, Mexico, and ranging in ages from 37 to 44 — were apprehended and taken into custody. Upon further investigation, authorities said they discovered 148 bundles of a substance located within the seized cardboard boxes. The substance field tested positive for methamphetamine and, in total, there were more than 5,000 pounds of the drug found on the truck in what authorities believe is one of the largest methamphetamine seizures ever in San Diego County.
“This is a significant accomplishment by our law enforcement partners,” said U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman. “Due to stellar work by law enforcement agents, the government stopped more than 5,000 pounds of methamphetamine from being distributed on our streets.”
The defendants in the case have been named as 37-year-old Rafael Alzua, 41-year-olds Mario Contreras and Galdrino Contreras, and 44-year-old Ethgar Velazquez. They have been charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and, if found guilty, could face a maximum penalty of 10 years to life in prison and a $10 million fine.
“This monumental seizure represents another win against drug cartels that fuel addiction in the United States,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Shelly S. Howe. “Because of our great partnerships with other law enforcement agencies, we will continue to disrupt the cartels’ flow of drugs into our cities.”
The street value of the more than 5,000 pounds of methamphetamine is estimated to be millions of dollars.
“I am grateful for the hard work, vigilance, and steadfast dedication of our Sheriff’s Detectives, as well as our local, state and federal partners,” said Sheriff Anthony C. Ray. “Our partnership and collaboration allow us to share information that is absolutely critical in keeping drugs from entering our streets and holding drug traffickers accountable.”
(UVALDE, Texas) — ABC News pieced together what happened the day Salvador Ramos allegedly killed 21 people at Robb Elementary School, using maps, video evidence and information from law enforcement.
The mayor of Uvalde, Texas, said in a press release Friday that he supports The Texas House special committee investigating the Robb Elementary School shooting releasing the 77-minute hallway videos.
The videos will most likely be released on Monday and will show the breach that took place on May 24 when a gunman shot and killed 19 children and two teachers.
Mayor Don McLaughlin said that the release of these videos would “bring clarity to public, to the families, and to the survivors,” according to the press release.
It has been more than six weeks since the massacre at the elementary school and there have been questions about the response of the police before they breached the classroom where the gunman was as it took 77 minutes from the time the shooter entered the school to when he was killed by officers.
A report from the Texas State University’s Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training released earlier in the week said there were missed opportunities to save lives and that one officer saw the shooter outside the school but did not take action.
The “officer did not hear a response [on his radio] and turned to get confirmation from his supervisor. When he turned back to address the suspect, the suspect had already entered the west hall exterior door at 11:33:00,” according to the assessment.
McLaughlin disputed the report on Friday.
“Ultimately, it was a coach with children on the playground, not the shooter,” McLaughlin said in a statement.
Uvalde:365 is a continuing ABC News series reported from Uvalde and focused on the Texas community and how it forges on in the shadow of tragedy.
