(SEVIERVILLE, Tenn.) — A black bear has died after accidentally locking itself inside a hot car while authorities say it was most likely scavenging for food.
The incident occurred at a rental cabin in Sevierville, Tennessee — approximately 30 miles east of Knoxville — when authorities from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) say the owner of the vehicle the bear was found had left the property in a different vehicle at around 10 a.m.
But when the owner returned to the home approximately nine hours later at 6:45 p.m., they found the bear dead inside the vehicle with the car doors shut.
“It appears that the bear got inside the car by using its teeth or paws to open the unlocked door and was trapped inside after the door shut behind it,” the TWRA said in a post on social media. “We believe that heat likely killed the bear as outside temperatures exceeded 95 degrees [on Wednesday] meaning the vehicle’s interior possibly reached over 140 degrees.”
Pictures released by the TWRA show the bear slumped between the driver’s seat and the front passenger’s seat as a soda can and food waste can be seen on the floor of the car.
Citing the incident, authorities implored the public to be extra cautious and vigilant when it comes to dealing with and disposing of food in areas where bears might be.
“Here is a good example of how garbage kills bears … Notice the empty soda can and food package on the floorboard,” warned the TWRA. “Bears have noses 7 times better than a bloodhound and can smell even the faintest odor of food inside a vehicle. Lock your doors, roll up your windows, and never leave food or anything that smells like food inside! Empty food containers, candy wrappers, fast food bags, and even air fresheners can attract bears.”
(WASHINGTON) — Ali Alexander, the conservative activist behind the “Stop the Steal” movement, appeared Friday before a federal grand jury investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Alexander’s attorney confirmed to ABC News.
Alexander provided nearly three hours of testimony to one of the grand juries impaneled in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., as part of the Department of Justice’s criminal probe into the events of Jan. 6, Alexander’s attorney, Paul Kamenar, said.
The appearance came six months after Alexander testified before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.
In a written statement on Friday, Alexander said that several months ago he received a grand jury subpoena from the U.S. Attorney’s office “requesting essentially the same documents I turned over to the January 6 Committee and to testify.”
“I was assured that I was not a target but a fact witness,” Alexander said in the statement. “I provided the documents requested and suggested they obtain my full transcript of my testimony from the January 6 Committee. They responded then that they cannot obtain those transcripts due to separation of powers and thus, they needed me to repeat my testimony here today.”
Alexander, who organized a series of “Stop the Steal” rallies in the months leading up to Jan. 6, was at the U.S. Capitol during the attack but has said he was only there to de-escalate the conflict, and that his comments at rallies and on livestreams leading up to the riot have been taken out of context and misconstrued as encouraging violence.
“I did not plan or participate in any illegal activity, and in fact, pleaded with protestors not to enter the Capitol,” he said in Friday’s statement.
On Dec. 9, Alexander spent eight hours taking questions from the House Jan. 6 committee on everything from his organization’s finances to his communications with Republican officials. Afterward Alexander described the tone of the questions as “absolutely adversarial,” but said he was “truthful” with the committee.
Later that month, ABC News reported that Alexander had told congressional investigators that he had communicated with several House Republican lawmakers ahead of the Jan. 6 rally and Capitol riot, along with at least one member of the Trump family’s inner circle. Alexander disclosed his communications in a lawsuit he filed challenging the panel from obtaining his phone records from Verizon.
Alexander disclosed his communications in a lawsuit he filed trying to prevent the panel from obtaining his phone records from Verizon.
“I am challenging in court the Select Committee’s unlawful subpoena to Verizon to fish through my phone records and those of one of my volunteers whose only ‘crime’ was to exercise her First Amendment rights to pass out a few signs at the rallies, sing patriotic songs, and pray,” Alexander said in Friday’s statement.
(NEW YORK) — The federal case against Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, a former Theranos executive accused of defrauding investors and patients, is now in the hands of a jury.
Prosecutors and lawyers for Balwani — the ex-boyfriend of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes — wrapped up their closing arguments on Friday following several weeks of witness testimony.
The jury is expected to begin its deliberations on Friday.
Prosecutors say Balwani and Holmes, who touted her startup’s technology as capable of accurately and reliably running any blood test, fraudulently raised hundreds of millions of dollars from investors.
Money poured in, but the miniature blood-testing device, dubbed the “Edison,” could never run more than 12 tests, government attorneys said.
Balwani joined the company in 2009, guaranteeing a $10 million loan and quickly rising to the post of president and COO of Theranos. While his attorneys sought to distinguish his position in the company from the CEO, Holmes, prosecutors say he played an equal role in the fraud.
“I am responsible for everything at Theranos. All have been my decisions too,” read a text message from Balwani to Holmes in July 2015, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Schenk presented to the jury in his final argument.
“Of course [Balwani] had a hand in making the decisions at Theranos,” defense attorney Jeff Coopersmith said during his closing argument.
But, Coopersmith, said in meetings with investors and others, “everyone was listening to Elizabeth Holmes.” The company was her vision, he added, and Balwani had bought in.
“Mr. Balwani is not a victim. He’s a perpetrator of the fraud,” the prosecutor, Schenk, said to wrap up his remarks.
The feds originally charged Balwani and Holmes together. But their trials were later severed after Holmes revealed she may testify to abuse at the hands of Balwani. She was convicted in January of four counts of fraud related to investors. She is expected to be sentenced in September.
Balwani faces similar charges: 10 counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted on just one count.
Wayne Kaatz, a juror on the Holmes case, told ABC News in an exclusive interview earlier this year that his group of 12 jurors convicted Holmes, in part, because “everything went through her,” he said. “She had final approval.”
He also revealed his team found Holmes’ testimony largely not credible. Balwani, in his trial, did not take the stand.
(UVALDE, Texas) — One month has passed since a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School, and a series of new revelations about the May 24 shooting has done little to abate the frustrations of Uvalde’s residents as they continue to heal.
State and local officials have spent weeks trying to reconcile incomplete and, at times, conflicting reports on the shooting and the questionable police response. And while multiple investigations remain ongoing — including one being conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice — some critical facts remain elusive following one of the deadliest school shootings in the nation’s history.
Some information emerged this week when Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw, whose agency is conducting one of the probes, testified before the Texas state legislature. McCraw, who presented an updated timeline of events that he said was based on video surveillance and police communications, characterized the police response as an “abject failure,” and offered what appeared to be the most complete account of what occurred during the deadly rampage.
In McCraw’s telling, enough officers and equipment arrived on the scene within three minutes to “neutralize” the 18-year-old shooter. He also made the stunning assertion that the door to the classroom containing the gunman might have been unlocked all along — even as officers waited more than an hour to find a key that would open it.
“One hour, 14 minutes and eight seconds. That’s how long the children waited, and the teachers waited, in rooms 111 and 112 to be rescued,” McCraw said. “And while they waited, the on-scene commander waited for radios and rifles. Then he waited for shields. Then he waited for SWAT. Lastly, he waited for a key that was never needed.”
Police officers arrived on-scene almost immediately, but failed to overcome logistical and communications challenges in time to limit the carnage. McCraw said officers had difficulty communicating because their radios had no reception inside the building, contributing to a leadership vacuum that crippled the police response.
McCraw reserved his harshest criticism for Pete Arredondo, the embattled school district police chief who was the on-scene incident commander. McCraw called Arredondo “the only thing stopping a hallway of dedicated officers from entering” the classrooms and killing the gunman.
“[Arredondo] decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children,” McCraw said.
McCraw’s condemnation of Arredondo has added to a growing chorus of outrage over the police response on May 24. Emotional accounts from survivors and first responders before Congress and in the press have cast a critical eye on law enforcement.
“They’re cowards,” teacher Arnulfo Reyes, who lost 11 students and sustained multiple gunshot wounds, told ABC News in an exclusive interview. “They sit there and did nothing for our community. They took a long time to go in … I will never forgive them.”
Meanwhile, after several weeks of community members calling for Arredondo’s resignation, the Uvalde school superintendent on Wednesday placed Arredondo on administrative leave. Arredondo has not responded to multiple requests for comment from ABC News.
“He should never be allowed to work in law enforcement again,” one member of the Uvalde community told ABC affiliate KSAT on Wednesday. “My personal opinion.”
Many Uvalde residents say the shifting narrative has fostered an immense distrust of authorities — while the lack of information has provided little solace to relatives of the victims. A number of family members hope that an upcoming report from the county medical examiner will answer some of their most pressing questions.
“[The medical examiner] can tell us more or less what happened to our child. Was [her death] immediate or could she have been saved if [police] went in faster?” Kim Rubio, the mother of Uvalde victim Lexi Rubio, told ABC News’ Mireya Villareal. “I just think about how long she was there. Was she scared? Was she in pain? It just worries me.”
Demands for investigative documents also reached new heights this week, prompting a new round of infighting among officials.
Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin on Tuesday accused McCraw of “[having] an agenda, and it’s not to present a full report on what happened and to give factual answers to the families of this community.”
On Wednesday, a Texas state senator who represents Uvalde filed a lawsuit against McCraw’s agency seeking access to its investigative records. The Department of Public Safety did not respond to the lawsuit nor to McLaughlin’s criticism.
“From the very start, the response to this awful gun tragedy has been full of misinformation and outright lies from our government,” state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat, wrote in an eight-page complaint.
During his Tuesday appearance before the state legislature, McCraw said the district attorney who covers Uvalde, Christina Busbee, told him to cease contact with lawmakers and the press. McCraw pledged to release investigative records and video surveillance footage of the shooting once Busbee approves their release.
Uvalde residents say they hope they won’t have to wait much longer.
(NEW YORK) — The new Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center will be the first LGBTQ+ visitor center within the National Park Service, and organizers are set to break ground on the new endeavor.
The center is set to open in the summer of 2024 and will take over the half of the Stonewall Inn that is no longer occupied by the bar on Christopher Street in New York City’s West Village.
The center will be led by Pride Live, a social advocacy and community engagement organization for the LGBTQ+ community.
“Our goal from the beginning has been to look at what can we do and how can we preserve, advance and celebrate the legacy of the Stonewall Rebellion,” said Ann Marie Gothard, president of the Pride Live Board of Directors, in an interview with ABC News.
The Stonewall Uprising of June 1969, which began as a police raid of a gay bar and turned into a dayslong protest, was the catalyst for the modern gay rights movement and is what Pride celebrations nationwide commemorate each year.
The Stonewall National Monument was designated as the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ+ rights and history by President Barack Obama in 2016.
Gothard hopes the visitor center can be a gathering point, a “welcoming location for all people to really explore and experience LGBTQ history and culture.”
Gothard said it “could help to really bring people of differing minds together to learn about the LGBTQ history, as well as culture,” in a time when LGBTQ rights are under legislative attacks.
The site is expected to feature historical and art exhibits, as well as events and lecture series, hosted by LGBTQ creators and figures. They plan on hosting in-person and virtual tours of the spaces, as well.
The center will serve as the home base for a dedicated group of National Park Service Rangers, who will be focused on preserving the Stonewall National Monument, but it will mainly be managed by Pride Live.
“The designation of Stonewall as a National Monument is an important step in memorializing an invaluable historical landmark that represents courage, hope and triumph for the LGBTQ community,” Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland said in a statement.
(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — The Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday striking down a New York State law limiting the right to carry a concealed handgun in public is drawing criticism from many in the state, including Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown.
“It is a disappointment and it is a dark day for sensible gun reform in this nation,” Brown told ABC News’ Linsey Davis during an interview for ABC News Live Prime.
This ruling comes weeks after 10 African Americans were gunned down on May 14 in a racially motivated mass shooting at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York, and after many other mass shootings in the country. Brown added the ruling would only add to gun violence in the country and be another hurdle for law enforcement.
“I do see a concern for law enforcement. They will not know who is legally permitted to carry a weapon if there are more weapons being carried in a concealed fashion in the city of Buffalo, and across the state of New York and other communities across the country. It will make the job of law enforcement a lot more difficult,” Brown said.
While Brown is criticizing the ruling, other New York lawmakers are praising the decision.
“Today’s Supreme Court ruling upholds the Constitutional rights of law abiding citizens to keep and bear arms and correctly declares New York’s shameful attempt to shred Second Amendment rights on New Yorkers unconstitutional,” New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik said in a statement shortly after the decision was announced.
Brown called her statement “absolutely wrong.”
“Far too many innocent Americans are losing their lives to gun violence. We don’t want to take away the rights of responsible gun owners. We certainly do not want to infringe on the Second Amendment, but it does make sense for there to be sensible gun reform that does not infringe on the rights of responsible gun owners and at the same time keeps average innocent Americans safe from unnecessary gun violence,” he said.
This ruling also coming on the heels of what could potentially be historical bipartisan gun reform legislation passage in Congress, gaining support from 15 Senate Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“The timing of this ruling is very difficult, particularly when you have a bipartisan group of United States senators that have advanced sensible gun reform after years of inaction in the Congress,” Brown said.
Legislation that was pressed upon after several mass shootings, most recently in Uvalde, Texas, would be the first time in nearly 30 years that Congress has acted on gun reform.
“It took tragedies like the mass shooting, the act of domestic terror that took place in Buffalo on May 14, and other mass shootings since that time to finally get Congress to take some action– and on the day when we are seeing further movement in Congress on sensible gun reform, this ruling comes down from the United States Supreme Court. It is a disappointment,” Brown said.
(AUSTIN, Texas) — When she opened the door that one day in April, Sgt. Bishop Evans’ aunt, Felisha Pullen, said she knew instantly that her family’s worst fears had been realized. The 22-year-old Bishop they knew and loved was dead.
“The military doesn’t show up without the soldier, if they know where the soldier is,” Pullen said.
Evans, a sergeant with the Texas National Guard, died while assigned to Operation Lone Star, a border security joint initiative launched by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in March 2021 to curb the influx of migrants entering the U.S. Abbott has dispatched thousands of state troopers and service members to dozens of counties near the border, with authorization to arrest migrants on trespassing charges if they are caught on private property in Val Verde and Kinney counties.
Evans, upon seeing two migrants drowning in the Rio Grande River one day, jumped into the water to attempt to rescue them, going beyond his duties. But he was swept away by the river’s current.
Evans’ body was found four days later on April 24, 2022.
“These things can happen even if he’s not in the military, but my heart hurts that he’s not with us,” Jo Ann Johnson, Evans’ grandmother, said. “That he had so much potential.”
Members of Evans’ family said they have yet to receive a report on the details of what exactly transpired.
“What I remember is him explaining that he was going down to guard the border,” Pullen said. “We knew the location that he was going to and what the mission pertained to. But that was pretty much it.”
An already controversial program, Operation Lone Star is now under increasing internal scrutiny for what critics are calling its unclear delineation of responsibilities, as well as insufficient training and resources for service members.
The Texas National Guard wrote in a statement to ABC News that water operations training was not provided because water rescues did not fall under the “purview” of the soldiers at security points.
“Because of the selflessness of Texas Guardsmen, the necessity for throw-ropes became apparent and were ordered,” they wrote. “Unfortunately, that equipment had not been delivered in time for Sgt. Evans to use it in his attempt to rescue the drowning migrants.”
Jason Featherston, a former senior enlisted leader in the Texas Guard who retired just as the operation was underway, said he is now speaking out about the program on behalf of the soldiers who would risk severe consequences if they did so themselves.
“It was a rush to put a number of soldiers on the border,” he said. “The magnitude of problems with pay and equipment with Operation Lone Star is more than I’ve ever seen.”
“I couldn’t plan to do a mission this bad ever,” he said.
The program also has taken a toll on service members’ mental and emotional health, according to Featherston. He said in January alone, 14 soldiers expressed thoughts of self-harm, though this went unreported.
Not long after Evans’ death, the Texas Legislature held a three-hour hearing with the program’s leaders, who requested additional funding and more mental health resources like behavioral health specialists.
To date, Texas has allocated nearly $4 billion in taxpayer funds to the operation, including an additional $500 million in funds approved by Abbott in late April.
A soldier recently deployed under Operation Lone Star, who spoke to ABC News on the condition that ABC News not name him or show his face, said the program is a “very political mission.”
“We’re here so the government can say, I put X amount of soldiers on the border to keep Texas safe so that he [Abbott] can get votes,” he said.
The governor’s office has not responded to ABC News’ requests for comment about the initiative. But Abbott claims it has successfully taken illegal drugs and criminals off the street.
Still grieving the loss of Evans, Pullen said her family now has a “new mission” to push for change.
“If it could happen to Bishop, then certainly it could happen to anyone,” she said. “Our military or any servicemen, and women that are down there for the purpose of this mission, let’s make sure they have what they need. Make sure it’s as safe as possible.”
(AUSTIN) — U.S. Marshals found the black Jeep Grand Cherokee registered to Kaitlin Marie Armstrong, the Austin woman suspected of killing professional cyclist Anna Moriah Wilson in May, the law enforcement agency said Thursday.
Investigators with the U.S. Marshals Lone Star Fugitive Task Force discovered that Armstrong sold the car to a CarMax dealership in Austin on May 13 for $12,200. Armstrong received a check from CarMax just one day after she was questioned by police, they said.
Wilson was found bleeding and unconscious at a friend’s house on May 11 after suffering multiple gunshot wounds, according to police. Despite first-responders performing life-saving measures, she was pronounced dead. Police issued a warrant for Armstrong’s arrest and have been looking for her since last month. She faces a first-degree murder charge.
Colin Strickland, who has been dating and living with Armstrong for three years, dated Wilson during a brief break in their relationship. Strickland and Armstrong resumed dating after that. The day Wilson was killed, she had met with Strickland to go swimming, according to police.
Investigators said Armstrong went to Austin International Bergstrom Airport on May 14, where she boarded a flight to Houston Hobby Airport. Shen then took a connecting flight to New York LaGuardia Airport. Her last known location is the Newark Liberty International Airport where she was dropped off on May 18, according to U.S. Marshals.
Investigators say a source told them Armstrong was provided with transportation to the Newark airport on May 18, but upon searching outbound flights from the airport they found no flight reservations under her name.
The U.S. Marshals Service has elevated the case to “major” and is offering a reward of up to $5,000 in addition to the $1,000 reward from the Capital Area Crime Stoppers, for any information that leads to her arrest. An anonymous donor is also offering up to $15,000 in reward money for her arrest, according to the agency.
Investigators put out a warrant out for Armstrong’s arrest on May 25 for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
U.S. Marshals described Armstrong as 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighs about 125 pounds. She has long, curly light brown hair and hazel eyes.
(ST. MICHAEL, Minn.) — A 30-hour standoff involving Wright County sheriff’s deputies and a suspect carrying a rifle came to end when authorities stormed the home in St. Michael, Minnesota, on Wednesday night.
The standoff began after the sheriff’s office received a complaint that a man and woman were verbally arguing and the man was carrying a rifle.
The sheriff’s office said it received the gun complaint at 12:37 a.m. on Tuesday regarding a domestic situation. The residence then remained under surveillance until emergency response units arrived at approximately 2:50 p.m. on Tuesday. Authorities were on the scene into Wednesday night, according to the sheriff’s office.
Police identified the suspect as 39-year-old Brandon Gardas. He has active arrest warrants for domestic assault and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, according to the sheriff’s office.
The standoff came to an end at approximately 8:30 p.m. Wednesday after law enforcement entered Gardas’ home. Officers shot Gardas upon entering the residence, police said.
He was airlifted to an area hospital and his condition is unknown. No police officers were injured.
Gardas fired several rounds at law enforcement during the standoff, authorities said.
Police said the area surrounding the home will remain secured for investigative purposes and asked the public to stay away from that area. Earlier Wednesday, police had told people in the immediate vicinity of the home to evacuate due to the “volatile nature” of the incident and said they rerouted several roads in the area for public safety.
(WASHINGTON) — Yellowstone National Park reopened three of its five entrances to visitors on Wednesday after unprecedented flooding closed the park on June 13 and reshaped many of its rivers, canyons and roads.
The south loop’s Cody, West Yellowstone and Grand Teton/Jackson entrances opened at 8 a.m. on Wednesday. The Madison, Old Faithful, Grant Village, Lake Village, Canyon Village and Norris areas of the park will again become accessible to visitors.
The park’s northern region, including Lamar Valley and Mammoth Hot Springs, will remain closed until at least early July, park officials said.
Many of the park’s famous wildlife-viewing areas will also be unavailable to visitors returning to the south loop region of the park.
Main routes into the Montana tourist towns of Gardiner, Red Lodge and Cooke City continue to be closed off.
A statement from the National Park Service said that park staff have engaged over 1,000 business owners, park partners, commercial operators and residents in the surrounding gateway communities to help create a plan for how to manage summer visitation while the park’s north loop remains closed.
“It is impossible to reopen only one loop in the summer without implementing some type of system to manage visitation,” the park’s superintendent, Cam Sholly, said in a statement.
The park has subsequently instituted an interim visitor access plan, coined the Alternating License Plate System (ALPS), to balance the demand for visitor access, park resource protection and economic interests of the local communities.
Park officials said the plan was suggested by those from gateway communities during a major public engagement with the park last week. They added that the National Park Service will actively monitor the new system while also building a new reservation system that can be implemented if needed.
According to ALPS, visitation will essentially be monitored based on a vehicle’s license plate.
For public vehicle entry, it will not matter if the last numerical digit on the plate is odd or even. For all others, entrance will be granted based on the odd and even numbered days of the calendar month, so that odd-numbered ending license plates will be able to enter on odd days and vice versa for those ending in even numbers.
For vehicles with personalized license plates that only contain letters, entry will be granted along with odd-numbered ending plates. Vehicles with a combination of letters and numbers that end in a letter will be granted entry on even-numbered days.
Park officials have stated that under this new plan, entrance station staff will turn away vehicles that do not follow the odd-even structure.
There are some exceptions. For one, current commercial use operators with active commercial use permits can enter on any day, including those with commercial tours and stock groups. Commercial motor coaches will also be permitted to enter regardless of their license plate makeup.
Visitors who have proof of overnight reservations in the park’s hotels, campgrounds and backcountry reservations may also be permitted entry regardless of the day’s number status. Essential services such as mail, employees and contractors will be able to enter any day as well.
Regardless of license plates, motorcycle groups will only be permitted into the park on even days.
The ALPS plan is temporary, as the park braces for its summer season while managing its partial-capacity status.
Sholly said that as repairs continue across the park, park officials will work to reopen new sections throughout the summer.
“It is critical for visitors to stay informed about this interim system as we evaluate its effectiveness. They should plan ahead and be patient with us as we are still managing significant recovery while moving into this operational phase,” Sholly said.
