(NEW YORK) — Three men were stabbed, one fatally, in separate attacks in the New York City subway system within an eight-hour span Thursday.
A 38-year-old Bronx man was getting off a northbound 4 train as it arrived at the 176th Street station just before 9 p.m. Thursday when he was stabbed multiple times in the back and chest by a suspect who came up behind him in what police said they believe was an unprovoked attack.
The victim collapsed on the platform and was rushed to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he later died.
He was the seventh person to be killed in the NYC transit system this year, and the second fatal subway stabbing in less than a week.
The suspect fled westbound on East 176 Street and remains at large.
Earlier Thursday, at 5:15 p.m., a 45-year-old man was slashed in the face by a man who followed him into a Brooklyn subway station in East New York.
Just after 1 p.m., a 59-year-old man was stabbed in the back at a Harlem subway station. The victim was waiting for a train at the 125th Street station at St. Nicholas Avenue when he got into an argument with a man he didn’t know, possibly after a harmless bump on the platform, police said.
The other man pulled a knife and stabbed the victim in the upper back. He was taken to Mount Sinai Morningside hospital in stable condition.
The suspect, a Black man wearing blue jeans, a blue jacket and blue-tinted glasses, ran off. He also remains at large.
(LAS VEGAS) — Two people are dead and six others injured in a stabbing spree outside a Las Vegas casino on Thursday, according to police.
Three victims were in critical conditions and the other three survivors were in stable condition Thursday night, Las Vegas police said.
The victims include both locals and tourists, Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said during a press briefing Thursday.
The initial stabbing, which took place around 11:40 a.m. local time, occurred on the sidewalk along Las Vegas Boulevard, Deputy Chief James LaRochelle told reporters. It appears to have been unprovoked, he said.
The suspect then proceeded south and stabbed five more victims, and then an additional victim on Sands Avenue, he said. It’s unclear when or where the eighth victim was stabbed.
One victim was pronounced dead at the scene, and a second died after being transported to the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, police said.
The two people who died were identified as Brent Allan Hallett, 47, of Las Vegas, and Maris Mareen Digiovanni, 30, of Las Vegas, according to the Clark County Office of the Coroner/Medical Examiner.
The suspect, 32-year-old Yoni Barrios, was taken into custody within a “matter of minutes” by a security guard and police officer after fleeing the scene, police said.
A large kitchen knife used in the incident has been recovered from the scene, police said.
Police believe Barrios acted alone, adding that a motive is unknown.
He was booked on two counts of open murder with a deadly weapon and six counts of attempted murder with a deadly weapon, police said.
ABC News’ Lisa Sivertsen contributed to this report.
(DEARBORN, Mich.) — A suspect has been taken into custody following a deadly shooting and hourslong negotiations with authorities at a Hampton Inn in Dearborn, Michigan, the Michigan State Police said.
“The barricaded gunman has been taken into custody without incident,” police said Thursday night. “Michigan Ave. is still closed and will be as the investigation continues. This will be our final update.”
Dearborn Police Chief Issa Shahin said Thursday night there was one fatality, a 55-year-old clerk from Riverview “just trying to do his job.”
Police said the suspect — a 38-year-old man with a history of mental illness and drug abuse — was armed with a rifle and threatened officers many times.
Dearborn police said they had been in contact with the suspect’s family to get him to surrender peacefully.
According to police, the incident was a confrontation over a bill.
Officers evacuated hotel employees and guests, police said.
Authorities were urging people to stay away from downtown Dearborn.
ABC News’ Darren Reynolds contributed to this report.
Authorities in Central California’s Merced County released surveillance video video showing the armed suspect outside the business where a family of four was kidnapped on Oct. 3, 2022. – Merced County Sheriff’s Office
(MERCED COUNTY, Calif.) — All four family members who were mysteriously kidnapped in Northern California have been found dead in a rural almond orchard, the Merced County sheriff said.
Eight-month-old Aroohi Dheri and her parents — 27-year-old mother Jasleen Kaur and 36-year-old father Jasdeep Singh — were taken against their will from a business on Monday, Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke said. The baby’s uncle, 39-year-old Amandeep Singh, was also kidnapped, the sheriff said.
The suspected kidnapper, 48-year-old Jesus Manuel Salgado, was taken into custody on Tuesday and later booked into the Merced County Jail on Thursday, the sheriff’s office said.
Salgado was arrested on four counts of murder and four counts of kidnapping, according to the sheriff’s office.
“Our detectives, alongside investigators from assisting agencies, will continue to follow up on any leads of additional people who may have been involved in this horrific incident,” the sheriff’s office said.
Warnke announced Wednesday night that a farm worker came across the victims’ bodies, which were found relatively close together.
No motive is known, Warnke said.
The sheriff called it “horribly senseless.”
Salgado attempted to take his own life “prior to law enforcement involvement” and was receiving medical attention, which delayed investigators’ ability to talk to him, the sheriff’s office said.
Warnke said Wednesday night that investigators have now spoken with Salgado, but the sheriff didn’t provide details.
“Salgado is still being medically treated and investigators are still interviewing him,” the sheriff’s office said Thursday.
Salgado was arrested in 2005 for robbery, burglary, and criminal threats against a man and his family, according to the police report.
The sheriff added that he believes at least one other person is involved.
On Wednesday, sheriff’s officials revealed surveillance video showing the family’s movements outside the business — a trucking company — on the day of the kidnapping.
At 8:30 a.m. Monday, Jasdeep Singh arrived at the business in a minivan, and minutes later, his brother Amandeep Singh arrived there in his pickup truck, the sheriff’s office said.
Someone was seen walking along the highway near the business that morning, officials said. Jasdeep Singh then made contact with the suspect and the two walked back toward the building, officials said.
The suspect — identified by sheriff’s officials Thursday as Salgado — was seen on video pulling out a gun and entering the business, officials said.
At 9:11 a.m., video showed the back door opening and the armed suspect exiting, officials said.
Jasdeep and Amandeep Singh were seen exiting the building, apparently with their hands zip-tied behind their backs, and were put in the back seat of the pickup truck, officials said.
The truck left for a few minutes and then returned, and the suspect got out of the truck and went into the business, officials said.
Less than one minute later, Jasleen Kaur and her 8-month-old baby exited the business, officials said.
The final surveillance video image showed the truck leaving the business, officials said.
The four family members were the only people in the business at the time, the sheriff said.
The sheriff’s office announced on Tuesday that Amandeep Singh’s truck had been found on fire shortly before noon on Monday.
Police went to Amandeep Singh’s Merced home around 12:35 p.m. Monday; while they couldn’t locate him, they spoke to another relative, the sheriff’s office said. When the relative couldn’t reach Jasleen Kaur, Jasdeep Singh or Amandeep Singh, the relative reported them missing, the sheriff’s office said.
Sheriff’s officials then responded to the business, and “during the primary investigation, detectives determined that the individuals were kidnapped,” the sheriff’s office said Tuesday.
There were two bank transactions from the family’s accounts, the sheriff said.
Editor’s note: The sheriff’s office initially said a subject captured in surveillance footage making a transaction at a bank matched the appearance of the suspect seen in surveillance footage at the kidnapping scene. The sheriff’s office later said the photo of the person at the ATM was not the suspect in custody.
ABC News’ Melissa Gaffney and Marilyn Heck contributed to this report.
(DEARBORN, Mich.) — A suspect has been taken into custody following a shooting and hourslong negotiations with authorities at a Hampton Inn in Dearborn, Michigan, the Michigan State Police said.
“The barricaded gunman has been taken into custody without incident,” police said Thursday night. “Michigan Ave. is still closed and will be as the investigation continues. This will be our final update.”
One victim has been hospitalized, according to Dearborn police. Authorities said they did not have an update on the victim’s condition.
Police said the suspect was firing shots with a long gun from inside the hotel.
Dearborn police said they had been in contact with the suspect’s family to get him to surrender peacefully.
According to police, the suspect was in a dispute with hotel staff over money.
Officers evacuated hotel employees and guests, police said.
Authorities are urging people to stay away from downtown Dearborn.
(LAS VEGAS) — Two people are dead and three are in critical condition from a series of stabbings outside a Las Vegas casino on Thursday, according to police.
There are eight victims total from the incident, which started around 11:40 a.m. local time, Las Vegas police said. They include both locals and tourists, Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said during a press briefing Thursday.
The initial stabbing, which occurred on the sidewalk along Las Vegas Boulevard, appears to have been unprovoked, Deputy Chief James LaRochelle told reporters.
The suspect then proceeded south and stabbed five more victims, and then an additional victim on Sands Avenue, he said. It’s unclear when or where the eighth victim was stabbed.
One victim was pronounced dead at the scene, and a second died after being transported to the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, police said. Three patients are hospitalized in stable condition, police said.
The suspect was taken into custody within a “matter of minutes” by a security guard and police officer after fleeing the scene, police said.
LaRochelle said the suspect is a man in his 30s who recently arrived in Las Vegas. Police are working to confirm his identity, he said.
A large kitchen knife used in the incident has been recovered from the scene, police said.
A motive is unknown, according to police.
“[It’s] hard to comprehend, hard to understand murder investigation,” LaRochelle said.
The victims will be identified pending family notification, the sheriff said.
Authorities stressed there is no known threat to the public at this time, with Lombardo describing the scene of the attacks as “static.”
(NEW YORK) — The plaintiffs’ attorney in a defamation trial against Alex Jones argued the conspiracy theorist should pay more than half a billion dollars to victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting for calling the massacre a hoax.
“It is your job to make sure he understands the wreckage he has caused,” the attorney, Chris Mattei, told the Connecticut jury during his closing argument Thursday at a trial to determine how much the Infowars host should pay in damages.
A judge last year found Jones and Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, liable in the defamation lawsuit, with plaintiffs that include an FBI agent who responded to the scene and eight families of victims that Jones called actors.
Mattei said $550 million was a “baseline” and did not take into account the emotional distress of the families, who claim Jones violated a Connecticut law that prohibits profiting off of lies.
“He built a lie machine,” Mattei said. “You reap what you sow.”
Mattei asked the six jurors to “think about the scale of the defamation,” citing as one example Jones’ claim the families, “faked their 6- or 7-year-old’s death.”
Defense attorney Norm Pattis said he represents a “despised human being” but balked at the half-billion-dollar sum proposed by the plaintiffs’ attorney.
“It would take a person earning $100,000 a year hundreds of years to make $550 million,” Pattis said during his closing statement.
The defense said the plaintiffs presented no evidence that put a price tag on the harm the families said they suffered.
“You heard from no physician. You saw no medical bill. You heard nothing about a lost wage. No receipt for anything has been put before you,” Pattis said.
Pattis told jurors it was not their job to bankrupt Jones so he would stop broadcasting lies.
“That’s not why you’re here,” Pattis said.
Each of the plaintiffs, which include parents of some of the 20 children killed in the 2012 massacre, have testified during the weeks-long trial, detailing how they have faced years of death threats, rape threats and confrontations outside their homes from people who believed Jones’ lies.
In his closing argument Thursday, Mattei told the jurors that Jones built an argument based on “fear, anger and demonization” that the 2012 mass shooting was a hoax so his loyal audience would buy products he was selling.
Mattei said Jones knew “darn well” his lies about the massacre prompted harassments of the families that sued Jones for defamation and infliction of emotional distress.
“As these families were living out their daily lives Alex Jones was waiting to pounce,” Mattei said. “He knew his army was coming after them.”
In his testimony last month, Jones declined to apologize, declaring he was done saying sorry and actually believed the government staged the shooting to generate support for gun control legislation.
“Is this a struggle session? Are we in China? I’ve already said I’m sorry hundreds of times and I’m done saying I’m sorry,” Jones said.
Jones declined to testify as a witness for the defense this week, claiming he could be held in contempt if he says he is “innocent.”
After closing arguments wrapped, Judge Barbara Bellis gave the jury final instructions and they are now deliberating on how much Jones should pay to the plaintiffs.
In August, a Texas jury ordered Jones to pay nearly $50 million in damages to the parents of one of the Sandy Hook victims in a separate defamation trial.
(TUCSON, AZ) — A professor was shot and killed on the University of Arizona campus in Tucson on Wednesday afternoon, allegedly by a former student, campus police said.
The suspect, Murad Dervish, 46, was taken into custody hours later following a traffic stop by the state’s Department of Public Safety near the town of Gila Bend, University of Arizona Police Chief Paula Balafas said at a news conference.
Police said the suspect used a handgun.
The victim was identified Thursday as professor Thomas Meixner, department head of the Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, said university president Robert Robbins.
“This incident is a deep shock to our community, and it is a tragedy. I have no words that can undo it, but I grieve with you for the loss, and I am pained especially for Tom’s family members, colleagues and students,” Robbins said.
(FORT MEYERS, FL) — Power has been restored to more than 2.1 million customers as of Thursday morning in some of Florida’s hardest-hit areas, a week after Hurricane Ian made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane, Florida Power & Light said. Less than 100,000 of its customers are still in the dark, the utility company reported.
“In some of the hardest-hit areas, multiple specialized tree-trimming crews are needed to clear debris for every traditional line crew working to repair or, in some instances, rebuild infrastructure,” FPL said in a statement.
Crews have been working around the clock to restore power to customers and made a lot of progress overnight, Eric Silagy, FPL’s Chairman and CEO, said during a press conference held in Fort Meyers.
“Lots of destruction in the area, many buildings are unsafe and need to be inspected before they can actually have the power turned back on. Even when we have power in the area, you have to make sure that your home, your condominium building, your apartment building or your business can safely be restored,” Silagy said.
Sanibel Island remains inaccessible and FPL cannot turn the power back on in Fort Meyers Beach until search, rescue and recovery operations cease, according to Silagy.
In a statement Silagy said that progress will “slow some” as FPL focuses on the hardest-hit areas.
FPL expects to restore power to 95% of customers in the counties of Charlotte, DeSoto, Lee and Sarasota (south of Fruitville Road) by end of day Friday, except those who cannot safely accept service or who are still located in heavily-flooded area, the company said in a statement.
A total of more than 186,000 customers remain in the dark in Florida, according to PowerOutage.us.
The death toll from Ian continues to rise with at least 120 people, according to local officials. President Joe Biden visited Florida Wednesday to tour the damage and meet with local officials including Gov. Ron DeSantis.
(ORLANDO, FL) — The world’s tallest tower drop ride will be taken down after a Missouri teenager fell to his death while riding it earlier this year, the operator of the Florida amusement park attraction announced Thursday.
Fourteen-year-old Tyre Sampson died after slipping out of his seat while on the Orlando FreeFall ride at ICON Park on March 24. The eighth grader was a star football player who was visiting the theme park with his team.
Orlando Slingshot, which operates the ride, said it has decided to take down the 430-foot-tall attraction in the wake of Sampson’s death.
“We are devastated by Tyre’s death. We have listened to the wishes of Tyre’s family and the community, and have made the decision to take down the FreeFall,” Ritchie Armstrong, an official with Orlando Slingshot, said in a statement.
The timeline for decommissioning the ride, which has been closed since the incident, will be determined pending approval from “all involved parties and regulatory entities,” the operator said.
Orlando Slingshot also plans to create a scholarship in Sampson’s name to honor his “legacy in the classroom and on the football field,” Armstrong said.
ICON Park said it supports the removal of the Orlando FreeFall.
“Tyre’s death is a tragedy that we will never forget. As the landlord, ICON Park welcomes and appreciates Orlando Slingshot’s decision to take down the ride,” ICON Park said in a statement.
An attorney representing Sampson’s mother, Nekia Dodd, said the ride should have been taken down “immediately” after the teen’s death.
“This is not a ride that can be operated safely, given the design defects,” the attorney, Bob Hilliard, said in a statement. “Dismantling the ride is the right move, though it should have been done immediately after Tyre’s death.”
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Sampson’s father, Yarnell Sampson, called the announcement “long overdue” and one his father has been advocating for “since the day Tyre fell to his death.”
“The Orlando Free Fall ride never should have been permitted to operate under those faulty conditions,” Crump said in a joint statement with Hilliard. “Theme parks, their parent companies, and regulatory agencies must do better to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening to any other family.”
Operator error is suspected as the primary cause in Sampson’s death, according to a forensic engineer’s field investigation report released in April. The report showed that the individual operator of the FreeFall ride, who was not identified, “made manual adjustments to the ride resulting in it being unsafe.”
According to the report, manual manipulations were made to the seat Sampson was sitting in to allow the harness restraint opening to be loosened, apparently to accommodate the more than 300-pound teenager. The investigation found Sampson’s harness restraint opening was “almost double that of a normal restraint opening range.”
Sampson’s parents have filed a civil wrongful death lawsuit accusing ICON Park and other defendants of negligence.
