(NEW YORK) — Around 95,000 tins of baby formula arrived in the U.S. from Australia on Sunday, potentially offering relief to many families who have struggled to obtain infant formula in recent weeks.
Bubs Australia struck a deal with American grocery chains Kroger Co. and Albertsons Companies to import the formula under the fourth flight of Operation Fly Formula, the company announced.
“We extend our thanks to our retail partners, who will [endeavor] that our products quickly get to retail shelves in the States and stores in most need with the highest stock-out rates,” Bubs Founder and CEO Kristy Carr said in a statement.
Sunday’s shipment, which touched down in Los Angeles, is one of two entering the U.S this week from Bubs, with the second arriving on Thursday in Columbus, Ohio.
Both shipments combined will bring more than 4 million 8-ounce bottles, or 380,000 pounds, of baby formula on Albertsons and Kroger shelves starting on June 20.
In recent weeks, the Biden administration has pushed to restock store shelves across the country after a massive baby formula shortage forced mothers to go on social media to trade formula.
According to the White House, it has struck deals to bring nearly 128 million bottles of formula to the U.S.
“There’s nothing more stressful than the feeling you can’t get what your child needs,” President Joe Biden said during a virtual meeting with members of his administration and formula manufacturers on June 1, adding that his administration will use “every tool available” to restock shelves quickly.
Last month, Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to address the shortage so that suppliers could get necessary ingredients to formula manufacturers as fast as possible.
ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — At least seven mass shootings have occurred across the country since Friday night, making this the fourth consecutive weekend in which U.S. law enforcement officers have responded to multiple incidents involving four or more victims shot.
Shootings this weekend have left at least five people dead and 27 injured in seven cities, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a site that tracks shootings across the country. The website defines a mass shooting as a single incident involving four or more victims.
The string of consecutive weekend mass casualty incidents began over the Memorial Day holiday, when at least 17 shootings left a total of 13 dead and 79 injured in cities across the country, including Philadelphia, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Memphis and Chattanooga, Tenn. Last weekend, at least 11 mass shootings erupted, leaving a total of 17 dead and 62 injured across the nation.
Since a May 14 suspected racially motivated attack at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket left 10 Black people dead and 18-year-old white teenager charged with multiple counts of murder, there have been at least 63 mass shootings nationwide, an average of two per day, including the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in which 19 students and two teachers were killed, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
Adding to the carnage, were mass-casualty shootings this weekend in New Orleans, Detroit, Louisville, Kentucky; Decatur, Georgia; Antioch, Tenn.; Gary, Indiana; and for the third straight weekend in Chicago.
The shootings this weekend came as a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators announced Sunday that they have reached agreement on the framework of a plan to curb what Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., described as “the gun violence epidemic that has plagued our country and terrorized our children for far too long.”
A man and a woman were killed and four patrons were injured when gunfire erupted early Sunday at a nightclub in Gary, Indiana, according to police.
The shooting unfolded around 2 a.m. at the Playo’s Nightclub, the Gary Police Department said in a statement.
When officers arrived at the nightclub, they found a 34-year-old man near the entrance unresponsive and suffering from gunshot wounds, authorities said. Inside the nightclub, officers discovered a 26-year-old unresponsive woman, who had also been shot, police said.
The two mortally wounded victims were taken to Methodist Hospital Northlake, where they were pronounced dead, according to police. The Lake County, Indiana, coroner’s office identified them as Jah’Nice Quinn, 26, of Merrillville, Indiana, and Jonte Dorsey, 34, of Joliet, Illinois, according to ABC station WLS-TV in Chicago.
Four other people were shot in the incident, including one who was critically injured, police said.
No arrests were announced and a motive for the shooting remained under investigation Sunday afternoon.
4 injured in New Orleans street shooting
At least four people were injured when a shooting erupted on a street in New Orleans early Sunday, authorities said.
The shooting unfolded around 4 a.m. at an intersection in the Mid-City section of the New Orleans, leaving four men with injuries to the neck, knee, elbow and hand, the New Orleans Police Department said in a statement. The victims were all taken to hospitals in private vehicles, police said.
No additional information on the shooting was released.
4 shot, 2 fatally, at Tennessee pool party
Two men were killed and two others were wounded when gunfire broke out at a pool party in suburban Nashville, Saturday night, police said.
The shooting occurred just after 10 p.m. at the Hickory Hollow Apartment complex in Antioch, Tennessee, roughly 11 miles southeast of Nashville, police said.
Police sources told ABC affiliate WKRN in Nashville that an exchange of gunfire broke out during a birthday party that was going on at the apartment complex’s swimming pool.
Officers responding to calls of shots fired found one victim, whose name was not immediately released, dead at the scene and others wounded, according to police. A victim, identified by police as 20-year-old Kalem Burford, was taken by private car to Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, where he was pronounced dead.
The two wounded victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Homicide investigators were working Sunday to identify a suspect or suspects and a motive for the shooting.
5 injured in Chicago drive-by shooting
Five people were injured, one critically, in a shooting Saturday afternoon on the South Side of Chicago, authorities said.
The episode unfolded in an alley in the Gresham neighborhood, where a group of people were gathered, according to an incident report from the Chicago Police Department. Around 3:20 p.m., a car drove up to the group and at least one occupant opened fire, police said.
One victim was shot multiple times and was taken to a hospital in critical condition while three men ranging in age from 24 to 42 were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police.
No arrests have been announced.
5 teenagers shot near Louisville bridge
Five teenagers were injured Saturday when a barrage of gunfire was unleashed on a group of people gathered near the Big Four Bridge in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, according to the Louisville Metro Police Department.
The shooting occurred just after 9 p.m. and arriving officers found three teenagers suffering from gunshot injuries, including one critically wounded, LMPD Maj. Brian Kuriger said at a news conference Saturday. Two other teenagers with non-life threatening injuries were taken to a hospital in a private vehicle, he said.
Two teenagers later arrived at the hospital for treatment in their own car with non-life-threatening injuries.
No arrests were announced.
4 shot at Detroit bachelor party
At least four people were shot Saturday during a bachelor party at a short-term rental house in Detroit, police said.
The shooting erupted around 12:25 p.m. in the Davison-Schoolcraft neighborhood on the west side of the city. Police said they are searching for a black SUV that witnesses said drove up to the front of the home and at least one occupant opened fire.
All of the victims were treated at hospitals for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
No one has been arrested in the incident.
1 killed, 3 injured in Georgia restaurant shooting
A 48-year-old man was killed and three other men were injured when a shooting broke out in a restaurant in Decatur, Georgia, according to police.
A preliminary investigation indicates that a fight over a woman escalated into a shooting at about 11:30 p.m. Friday at Fletcher’s Place, a restaurant in the Gallery at South DeKalb shopping mall, according to the DeKalb County Police Department.
All four shooting victims were taken to area hospitals in serious to critical condition, including the man who was pronounced dead, police said. The slain victim was identified by police as Daletavious McGuire.
Police told ABC affiliate station WSB-TV in Atlanta that they suspect the shooting started when an intoxicated customer got into an argument over a woman with either another customer or employee.
No arrests have been announced.
Five people were injured, one critically, in a shooting Saturday afternoon on the South Side of Chicago, authorities said.
The episode unfolded in an alley in the Gresham neighborhood, where a group of people were gathered, according to an incident report from the Chicago Police Department. Around 3:20 p.m., a car drove up to the group and at least one occupant opened fire, police said.
One victim was shot multiple times and was taken to a hospital in critical condition while three men ranging in age from 24 to 42 were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police.
No arrests have been announced.
5 teenagers shot near Louisville bridge
Five teenagers were injured Saturday when a barrage of gunfire was unleashed on a group of people gathered near the Big Four Bridge in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, according to the Louisville Metro Police Department.
The shooting occurred just after 9 p.m. and arriving officers found three teenagers suffering from gunshot injuries, including one critically wounded, LMPD Maj. Brian Kuriger said at a news conference Saturday. Two other teenagers with non-life threatening injuries were taken to a hospital in a private vehicle, he said.
Two teenagers later arrived at the hospital for treatment in their own car with non-life-threatening injuries.
No arrests were announced.
4 shot at Detroit bachelor party
At least four people were shot Saturday during a bachelor party at a short-term rental house in Detroit, police said.
The shooting erupted around 12:25 p.m. in the Davison-Schoolcraft neighborhood on the west side of the city. Police said they are searching for a black SUV that witnesses said drove up to the front of the home and at least one occupant opened fire.
All of the victims were treated at hospitals for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
No one has been arrested in the incident.
1 killed, 3 injured in Georgia restaurant shooting
A 48-year-old man was killed and three other men were injured when a shooting broke out in a restaurant in Decatur, Georgia, according to police.
A preliminary investigation indicates that a fight over a woman escalated into a shooting at about 11:30 p.m. Friday at Fletcher’s Place, a restaurant in the Gallery at South DeKalb shopping mall, according to the DeKalb County Police Department.
All four shooting victims were taken to area hospitals in serious to critical condition, including the man who was pronounced dead, police said. The slain victim was identified by police as Daletavious McGuire.
Police told ABC affiliate station WSB-TV in Atlanta that they suspect the shooting started when an intoxicated customer got into an argument over a woman with either another customer or employee.
(NEW YORK) — At least six mass shootings have occurred across the country since Friday night, making this the fourth consecutive weekend in which U.S. law enforcement officers have responded to multiple incidents involving four or more victims shot.
Shootings this weekend have left at least three people dead and 23 injured in six cities, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a site that tracks shootings across the country. The website defines a mass shooting as a single incident involving four or more victims.
The string of consecutive weekend mass casualty incidents began over the Memorial Day holiday, when at least 17 shootings left a total of 13 dead and 79 injured in cities across the country, including Philadelphia, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Memphis and Chattanooga, Tenn. Last weekend, at least 11 mass shootings erupted, leaving a total of 17 dead and 62 injured across the nation.
Since a May 14 suspected racially motivated attack at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket left 10 Black people dead and 18-year-old white teenager charged with multiple counts of murder, there have been at least 63 mass shootings nationwide, an average of two per day, including the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in which 19 students and two teachers were killed, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
Adding to the carnage, were mass-casualty shootings this weekend in New Orleans, Detroit, Louisville, Kentucky; Decatur, Georgia; Antioch, Tenn., and for the third straight weekend in Chicago.
The shootings this weekend came as a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators announced Sunday that they have reached agreement on the framework of a plan to curb what Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., described as “the gun violence epidemic that has plagued our country and terrorized our children for far too long.”
4 injured in New Orleans street shooting
At least four people were injured when a shooting erupted on a street in New Orleans early Sunday, authorities said.
The shooting unfolded around 4 a.m. at an intersection in the Mid-City section of the New Orleans, leaving four men with injuries to the neck, knee, elbow and hand, the New Orleans Police Department said in a statement. The victims were all taken to hospitals in private vehicles, police said.
No additional information on the shooting was released.
4 shot, 2 fatally, at Tennessee pool party
Two men were killed and two others were wounded when gunfire broke out at a pool party in suburban Nashville, Saturday night, police said.
The shooting occurred just after 10 p.m. at the Hickory Hollow Apartment complex in Antioch, Tennessee, roughly 11 miles southeast of Nashville, police said.
Police sources told ABC affiliate WKRN in Nashville that an exchange of gunfire broke out during a birthday party that was going on at the apartment complex’s swimming pool.
Officers responding to calls of shots fired found one victim, whose name was not immediately released, dead at the scene and others wounded, according to police. A victim, identified by police as 20-year-old Kalem Burford, was taken by private car to Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, where he was pronounced dead.
The two wounded victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Homicide investigators were working Sunday to identify a suspect or suspects and a motive for the shooting.
5 injured in Chicago drive-by shooting
Five people were injured, one critically, in a shooting Saturday afternoon on the South Side of Chicago, authorities said.
The episode unfolded in an alley in the Gresham neighborhood, where a group of people were gathered, according to an incident report from the Chicago Police Department. Around 3:20 p.m., a car drove up to the group and at least one occupant opened fire, police said.
One victim was shot multiple times and was taken to a hospital in critical condition while three men ranging in age from 24 to 42 were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police.
No arrests have been announced.
5 teenagers shot near Louisville bridge
Five teenagers were injured Saturday when a barrage of gunfire was unleashed on a group of people gathered near the Big Four Bridge in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, according to the Louisville Metro Police Department.
The shooting occurred just after 9 p.m. and arriving officers found three teenagers suffering from gunshot injuries, including one critically wounded, LMPD Maj. Brian Kuriger said at a news conference Saturday. Two other teenagers with non-life threatening injuries were taken to a hospital in a private vehicle, he said.
Two teenagers later arrived at the hospital for treatment in their own car with non-life-threatening injuries.
No arrests were announced.
4 shot at Detroit bachelor party
At least four people were shot Saturday during a bachelor party at a short-term rental house in Detroit, police said.
The shooting erupted around 12:25 p.m. in the Davison-Schoolcraft neighborhood on the west side of the city. Police said they are searching for a black SUV that witnesses said drove up to the front of the home and at least one occupant opened fire.
All of the victims were treated at hospitals for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
No one has been arrested in the incident.
1 killed, 3 injured in Georgia restaurant shooting
A 48-year-old man was killed and three other men were injured when a shooting broke out in a restaurant in Decatur, Georgia, according to police.
A preliminary investigation indicates that a fight over a woman escalated into a shooting at about 11:30 p.m. Friday at Fletcher’s Place, a restaurant in the Gallery at South DeKalb shopping mall, according to the DeKalb County Police Department.
All four shooting victims were taken to area hospitals in serious to critical condition, including the man who was pronounced dead, police said. The slain victim was identified by police as Daletavious McGuire.
Police told ABC affiliate station WSB-TV in Atlanta that they suspect the shooting started when an intoxicated customer got into an argument over a woman with either another customer or employee.
(FURNACE CREEK, Calif.) — Tens of millions of residents in the Southwestern U.S. are experiencing dangerous heat, with triple-digit temperatures blanketing much of the region.
The most brutal heat is concentrated over Texas, where recording-breaking temperatures are expected in Amarillo, Abilene and possibly Dallas, near 105 degrees.
In California, Furnace Creek is expected to hit 118 degrees, while Phoenix is predicted to be 113 degrees, and Las Vegas 109 degrees.
While the heat is expected to ease in the coming days across the Southwest, fire danger in the region will ramp up as strong, gusty winds replace the blistering temperatures.
Red flag warnings will begin on Sunday from southern Nevada to northern New Mexico. Fire watches have also been issued for portions of Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado.
More than 85% of the West is experiencing drought conditions, making the fire danger even more of a threat.
The scorching heat will then move east, with the brunt of it focused over the center of the country on Monday. Widespread hot air temperatures and humid conditions will produce triple-digit heat index values across much of the Plains and into the South Monday afternoon. It will be feeling like it’s 105 to 110 degrees in some cities from Texas and into the Plains as far north as Nebraska and Southern states like Alabama and Tennessee during the peak heat on Monday.
On Tuesday, widespread temperatures in the 90s in the Midwest and much of the Southeast. Daily record highs will likely be challenged from Michigan to North and South Carolina by midweek.
ABC News’ Daniel Amarante and Dan Peck contributed to this report.
(COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho) — Police in a small Idaho city arrested 31 people allegedly affiliated with a white nationalist group near a Pride parade, authorities announced on Saturday.
People associated with the group “Patriot Front” allegedly had shields, shin guards, and other riot gear with them, including at least one smoke grenade, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, Police Chief Lee White said. They were charged with conspiracy to commit a riot.
The individuals were arrested after a citizen called police to alert them that at least 20 men were seen getting out of a U-Haul van wearing masks and carrying shields, White said.
“It is clear to us based on the gear that the individuals had with them, the stuff they had in the possession and in the U-Haul with them along with paperwork that was seized from them, that they came to riot downtown,” Chief White told reporters on Saturday.
The group, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, has white nationalist ideologies that was founded shortly after the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
“So preventing a riot by arresting and 31 people with a misdemeanor, I will gladly do that every day of the week,” he said.
Paperwork, the Chief said “appeared to be very similar to an operations plan that a police or military group would put together for a day’s for an event,” was also found on the persons arrested, but did not elaborate any further on what it said.
Individuals who were arrested came from at least 11 states and as far away as Virginia, according to police.
The arrests come as the Department of Homeland Security warned last week the summer could be a “dynamic” threat landscape, and extremists could target public gatherings, faith-based institutions, schools, racial and religious minorities, government facilities and personnel, U.S. critical infrastructure, the media and perceived ideological opponents.
“In the coming months, we expect the threat environment to become more dynamic as several high-profile events could be exploited to justify acts of violence against a range of possible targets,” the National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin issued by DHS last week said. “Threat actors have recently mobilized to violence due to factors such as personal grievances, reactions to current events, and adherence to violent extremist ideologies, including racially or ethnically motivated or anti-government/anti-authority violent extremism.”
John Cohen, the former acting undersecretary for intelligence and analysis at DHS, told ABC News this incident is an example of the real-world warning DHS issued last week.
“DHS and law enforcement officials have repeatedly warned that violent extremists will target for violence public officials and others whom they perceive as holding views that conflict with their extremist ideological beliefs,” Cohen, also an ABC News contributor, said. “While in this case, law enforcement officials appear to have prevented violence, we are in the midst of a highly volatile threat environment and we can expect more acts of violence by lone offenders and extremist groups in the weeks ahead.”
Those charged on Saturday will make their first court appearance on Monday.
ABC News’ Michelle Mendez contributed to this report.
(NEWTOWN, Conn.) — When Nicole, who was just a girl when she survived the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting a decade ago, first heard about the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, she broke down in tears.
“I couldn’t handle it,” she said. “You hear about other shootings and it breaks you. But the fact that it was the exact same thing completely re-triggered me and my anxiety.”
Nicole was in the second grade when a gunman shot and killed 26 people at her school in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012. She and three other student survivors, as well as a school employee there that day, detailed their experience and the effects that day still has on them in an interview that aired Sunday with “This Week” co-anchor and Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz.
Out of respect for their privacy, ABC News is not using the survivors’ last names.
“I was just thinking about all the families that are in their houses right now, telling their children that their siblings and that their friends and their classmates are gone,” Maggie, another student, told Raddatz. “It just really broke me to know that after 10 years of everyone giving us their thoughts and prayers, after 10 years of everyone saying, ‘Enough is enough,’ and, ‘Never again after Sandy Hook’ — it happened again.”
Maggie was in third grade at the time of the shooting. She will graduate from Newtown High School next week. The other three survivors — Andrew, Jackie and Nicole — are now juniors at Newtown High. All of them are speaking publicly for the first time.
“I was in my second-grade classroom. I remember looking at my teacher’s face, and her shock. We knew it wasn’t a drill,” Jackie recalled. “When we ran to our cubbies to hide, I remember thinking, you know, I should hide to the back of the classroom, to the other side, so that I don’t get shot. And that should never run through a 7-, 8-year-old kid’s head. It shouldn’t run through anybody’s head.”
All lost friends, classmates, neighbors.
Maggie lost her best friend, Daniel Barden. Some of her starkest memories of the massacre are waiting to hear if he was alive and safe.
“There were neighbors telling us all the updates — that a class had been found in a closet, that other people were still in the firehouse,” she remembered of the aftermath 10 years ago. “We kept saying, ‘That was Daniel, Daniel was coming.'”
“It was very traumatic for me, because there was no comfort whatsoever,” she said. “No one could comfort anyone else because it was pure devastation and loss. We all loved this boy so much.”
Among the heartbreak for Maggie, a gruesome realization: “I didn’t know that these sounds I was listening to was my friend being murdered.”
Living through a mass shooting changed all four of the students. For Nicole, that means anxiety. For Jackie and Maggie, trouble with loud noises. And for Andrew, it meant nightmares in the immediate months after.
“I couldn’t get the sounds out of my head during the night,” he told ABC News. “I couldn’t close my eyes without reliving it.”
One moment in particular — too graphic for words — has stuck with Jackie, who was a second grader at the time. As the kids were exiting their school, they were told to put their hands on the shoulders of the student in front of them and to close their eyes as they walked.
Jackie opened hers.
“There was glass and obviously blood and I didn’t want to step on anything. So I did, I did open my eyes,” she said.
“That’s a thought that probably does not go away,” Raddatz told her.
“No,” Jackie said, closing her eyes.
Mary Ann Jacob, a library clerk at Sandy Hook Elementary, also detailed her experience to ABC News. Jacob was in the library at the time and locked 19 students in a closet to keep them safe.
Jacob said she came to realize the gravity of the situation — and the immensity of the loss — later, at a nearby fire station, where parents were looking to account for their children.
“They started lining kids up by class in the fire house so they could start to sign them out to parents,” Jacob said. “And it became evident very quickly that almost two whole classes were missing.”
All five survivors shared the horror they felt when they learned a gunman killed 21 people at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde last month.
All shared in the dismay and frustration they feel watching more school shootings occur.
“I’m struck by how sad it makes me that it keeps happening. And angry at the same time, because, you know, the world watched what happened to Sandy Hook,” Jacob said. “And there was no action after that.”
Like the other survivors, Andrew called for gun reform — an issue that remains intensely polarizing in Congress, where Republicans are reluctant to take up legislation they argue restricts the Second Amendment.
Andrew told ABC News that the government and the nation “know the solutions” to stopping more mass violence, pointing to proposed limitations on magazines for ammunition and age restrictions for purchasing assault-style weapons.
“I think what we know just needs to come to fruition.”
Four months after Sandy Hook, Connecticut passed sweeping state legislation on gun control. That bipartisan legislation included instituting mandatory background checks and banning the sale of high-capacity magazines. The law also created the nation’s first dangerous weapon registry and broadened what classifies as an assault weapon, leading to a ban of more than 150 models.
After the shooting, then-President Barack Obama called on Congress to enact federal gun control.
“If there is even one step we can take to save another child, or another parent, or another town, from the grief that has visited Tucson, and Aurora, and Oak Creek, and Newtown, and communities from Columbine to Blacksburg before that — then surely we have an obligation to try,” Obama said at a vigil for the Sandy Hook victims in 2012.
But those efforts failed. A vote focused on background checks, led by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., did not pass the Senate — one in a string of largely unsuccessful efforts at new gun laws in Congress in recent decades.
Since then, no major federal gun reform has come to pass.
“It makes me angry, because it doesn’t have to keep happening,” Jacob, the Sandy Hook library clerk, told ABC News. “And the fact that we saw what happened at Sandy Hook, and we saw how many children died, and how affected the survivors were, and how the ripple effects of gun violence affect so many people,” she said. “And we still act like we don’t know how to solve the problem is maddening.”
(CALIFORNIA) — The son of former MLB player Steve Sax was one of five Marines killed when their military aircraft crashed during routine flight training this week, the family confirmed Saturday.
Capt. John J. Sax, 33, and four other Marines from the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing died when their MV-22B Osprey — a hybrid airplane and helicopter — crashed in a remote, desert area of Southern California near Glamis on Wednesday.
“It is with complete devastation that I announce that my precious son, Johnny, was one of the five U.S. Marines that perished,” Steve Sax said in a statement.
Steve Sax called his son a “hero and the best man I know.”
“For those of you that knew Johnny, you saw his huge smile, bright light, his love for his family, the Marines, the joy of flying airplanes and defending our country,” he continued.
John Sax served in the Marines for over five years and had been awarded the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and a Letter of Appreciation, his family said.
Ahead of Veteran’s Day last year, Steve Sax proudly spoke about being the father of a Marine and about the intense training his son had undergone to become a captain.
“What he’s done — to sacrifice himself — is unbelievable,” Steve Sax said on his podcast, “Sax in the Morning.” “Just know this. I know my son, and I know that you people can rest assured that he would give his life so that you can have your freedom.”
Steve Sax, an All-Star second baseman, was a two-time World Series champion with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The team expressed their condolences Saturday.
“The Los Angeles Dodgers are saddened to hear about the passing of Steve Sax’s son, John, and the five Marines who lost their lives in this week’s tragic helicopter accident,” the team said in a statement.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are saddened to hear about the passing of Steve Sax’s son, John, and the five Marines who lost their lives in this week’s tragic helicopter accident. Our thoughts and condolences go out to their families and friends.
John Sax was one of two MV-22B pilots killed in the crash, along with Capt. Nicholas P. Losapio, 31, of Rockingham, New Hampshire, the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing said Friday. Three tiltrotor crew chiefs also died in the crash — Cpl. Nathan E. Carlson, 21, of Winnebago, Illinois; Cpl. Seth D. Rasmuson, 21, of Johnson, Wyoming; and Lance Cpl. Evan A. Strickland, 19, of Valencia, New Mexico — the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing said.
All were based at Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton in California and assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor (VMM) Squadron 364.
“It is with heavy hearts that we mourn the loss of five Marines from the Purple Fox family,” Lt. Col. John C. Miller, commanding officer of VMM-364, said in a statement. “This is an extremely difficult time for VMM-364 and it is hard to express the impact that this loss has had on our squadron and its families.”
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
ABC News’ Izzy Alvarez contributed to this report.
(AMESBURY, Mass.) — A 6-year-old boy remains missing days after his mother drowned while trying to rescue him and his sister from a Massachusetts river.
The child disappeared into the Merrimack River Thursday evening while with his family, who were fishing and swimming on Deer Island, a recreational area near the Amesbury and Newburyport border, police said.
The search for the boy — identified by Massachusetts State Police as Mas DeChhat of Lowell — resumed Saturday morning. Divers and boat operators with the state police continued to search the river along with divers from the Boston Fire Department using sonar devices and tow bars.
Local authorities also involved in the search said Friday that first responders had shifted into a recovery effort.
“We’ve seen several tragedies on the river, but not usually where a whole family is affected,” Newburyport Fire Chief Christopher LeClaire told reporters Friday.
Mas was supposedly reaching for a stick when he fell into the water around 7 p.m. Thursday, state police said. His 7-year-old sister tried to grab him and also fell into the water.
As both were pulled along by the swift current, their mother “entered the water to save her children,” Massachusetts State Police spokesperson Dave Procopio said in a statement Saturday. Their mother, identified as 29-year-old Boua DeChhat, “was not known to swim,” Procopio said.
While the three were swept upstream by the current, the children’s father also went into the water to try and save them.
“The father also was not a swimmer, could not reach his loved ones, and began to struggle himself,” Procopio said.
The father managed to make it back to shore and was later hospitalized for exposure to the cold waters, police said.
MSP Dive Team and Marine Unit back at Merrimack River this morning with @NewburyportPD and @NewburyportFD to resume search boy, 6, who went missing last night. Two other family members, who presumably entered water to try to save boy, were rescued by a boater. pic.twitter.com/iy65dPDfvZ
— Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) June 10, 2022
Boua DeChhat and her daughter were eventually pulled from the water by a fishing boat operator. The mother was unresponsive, while her daughter was alert, authorities said. The two were transported to a nearby hospital, where the mother was pronounced dead. The daughter has since been treated and released.
Local resident Mark Bajko told Boston ABC affiliate WCVB he and a police officer administered CPR to the mother after she was pulled ashore.
“The little girl stopped crying and yells, ‘My brother’s still in the water,'” Bajko told the station.
Mas was not seen in the water when his mother and sister were pulled out, police said.
LeClaire said the strong current in the river has challenged search efforts.
The U.S. Coast Guard has also been involved in the search since the boy went into the water. Coast Guard Sector Boston said Friday evening that it had suspended its search “pending new information.”
“It is always a difficult decision to suspend a search and rescue case, and even more painful when children are involved,” Capt. Kailie Benson, Coast Guard Sector Boston commander, said in a statement. “Considering the extensive search efforts by the Coast Guard and the numerous state and local agencies, along with on-scene conditions, I have made the decision to suspend the search for the missing 6-year-old boy.”
She added, “Our prayers are with the boy and mother’s family and friends during this time.”
(WASHINGTON) — Americans advocating for gun reform are taking to the streets in communities across the U.S. Saturday to participate in protests sparked by the back-to-back mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York.
The nationwide marches were organized by March For Our Lives, a group founded by student survivors of the 2018 high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people.
Saturday’s marches are in response to the May 24 shooting at a Uvalde elementary school that killed 19 students and two teachers, as well as the May 14 massacre at a Buffalo grocery store where 10 people, all of whom were Black, were gunned down in an alleged hate crime.
Jun 11, 3:54 pm
‘No one should be able to inflict these types of injuries’
At the March For Our Lives rally in Los Angeles, one woman held a sign reading: “Send the guns to Ukraine.”
Dr. Jeffrey Birnbaum, a pediatric emergency medicine doctor in LA and a Parkland, Florida, native, explained the severity of semi-automatic rifle injuries.
He recalled his first experience treating patients shot by semi-automatic rifles, saying “the images of their injuries will be forever burned into my mind.”
“I vividly remember thinking that no one should be able to inflict these types of injuries on a fellow human being,” Birnbaum told the crowd.
A survivor of the 2014 mass shooting at the University of California Santa Barbara also shared her experience at the LA rally. She said after the shooting, her mother begged her to drop out of college, terrified for her safety.
Last month’s Uvalde, Texas, shooting came one day after the anniversary of the UCSB massacre. She said she doesn’t want any other generation to endure this grief.
“I know that we are exhausted — but we must continue showing up … because I can’t take it anymore,” she said.
Jun 11, 3:01 pm
Buffalo community marches weeks after mass shooting
Buffalo, New York, residents held a March For Our Lives rally on Saturday, weeks after a mass shooting that killed 10 shook their community.
Another rally was in Parkland, Florida, home to the 2018 school shooting that killed 17.
Americans in cities across the nation, from New York to Chicago, also joined in, taking to the streets and making their voices heard.
Jun 11, 2:37 pm
A teacher’s perspective
“We need fewer guns in schools — not more of them!” Randi Weinstein, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said in a passionate speech in Washington, D.C.
“Teachers want to be teaching!” she said. “As we head back to school this fall, please arm us with resources — with books, with school counselors. Not with bulletproof vests.”
Weinstein also addressed critical race theory, noting, “If we have the judgment to shoot a bad guy, why don’t we have the judgment to plan our lessons?”
Jun 11, 2:08 pm
MLK’s granddaughter returns to stage
Yolanda King, a 14-year-old granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr., returned to the Washington, D.C., March For Our Lives stage, four years after she addressed protesters at age 10.
“Like so many of you, I come from a thoughtful, prayerful family. My grandfather was taken from the world by gun violence,” the teen said.
King stressed that this movement “isn’t only about kids — it’s about all of us.”
“We’ve had enough of having more guns than people,” she said.
Our “leaders” care more about getting elected than the lives of children. It’s time to change that.
Today we will march in Washington, D.C. to demand federal action against gun violence NOW. pic.twitter.com/kOwD0zJQqN
— Martin Luther King III (@OfficialMLK3) June 11, 2022
Jun 11, 2:06 pm
Crowd briefly disperses in false alarm
The Washington, D.C., crowd briefly dispersed in a false alarm incident.
Activist Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter Jaime was killed in Parkland, took the mic to calm the protesters, saying everyone was OK and “there is nothing to be concerned about.”
Speakers then resumed.
Jun 11, 1:48 pm
Congresswoman shares personal story surviving gun violence
Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., shared a personal story at the Washington, D.C., march, recounting when, as a young adult, she was in a relationship with an abusive partner who owned guns.
“He did not approve of the way I was cooking … we began arguing, he started to hit me. I decided to run out of the apartment,” Bush said. “As I ran, I remember thinking to myself, why isn’t he chasing me? … When I turned back for a moment … I heard shots. Shots fired. But I didn’t know if they were aimed at me. Until they started whizzing past my head.”
“That moment of horror, it stays with me,” Bush said.
“It’s so deeply traumatic and completely preventable,” Bush said, referencing the boyfriend loophole, red flag laws and universal background checks.
Bush said, “We will never give up our push to save lives.”
Jun 11, 1:26 pm
Parkland dad, survivor take the stage
Manuel Oliver, whose son, 17-year-old, Joaquin was killed in Parkland, said in Washington, D.C., “Our elected officials betrayed us and have avoided the responsibility to end gun violence.”
He said, “If lawmakers who have the power to keep us safe from gun violence are going to avoid taking action,” then he’s calling for a nationwide strike of schools, from elementary to college.
“Avoid attending school if your leaders fail … to keep us safe,” he said. “Avoid going back to school if President Biden fails to open a White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention so that we can finally give this issue the attention that it deserves.”
Oliver appeared on stage with David Hogg, a Parkland survivor and March For Our Lives co-founder, who vowed, “This time is different.”
“This is not a political issue — this is a moral issue,” Hogg said.
He suggested combatting gun violence the way the U.S. addressed cigarettes.
“With cigarettes, we didn’t just change the laws — we addressed why people want to smoke in the first place,” Hogg said. “We have to address how people get guns and why they feel the need to pick them up in the first place. We must address the fact that the reason why communities like Parkland don’t have shootings on a daily basis isn’t because we necessarily have the strongest laws … we have some of the most resources.”
Jun 11, 1:20 pm
NY AG joins Brooklyn march
New York Attorney General Letitia James joined a march in Brooklyn, tweeting, “We will fight every single day until we get the common-sense gun reforms this nation needs to end gun violence and save lives.”
Today, New York joins cities across the nation to #MarchForOurLives and say:
Enough waiting.
Enough praying.
Enough offering empty thoughts.
We will fight every single day until we get the common-sense gun reforms this nation needs to end gun violence and save lives. pic.twitter.com/hD0QWItyNq
#MarchForOurLives getting started over here at Cadman Plaza Park. Activists calling for stricter national gun laws. Crowds set to march across the Brooklyn Bridge. pic.twitter.com/UtpMsJde3u
— NYC Mayor’s Office (@NYCMayorsOffice) June 11, 2022
Jun 11, 1:04 pm
DC mayor: Tell your senators ‘make change now– or get out of our way’
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser told protesters she’s frustrated because “we have been here before.”
“We’re not asking for a lot. We’re asking to drop off our children at school without having to worry that someone will bring an AR-15 into their classroom. We are asking to go to the grocery store without worrying that someone will be shot dead by a gunman who is filled with hate. We are asking to let our children go to the playground without worrying that a car will drive by, firing a high-capacity magazine,” the mayor said. “We’re done asking. We’re demanding change and we’re demanding change now.”
She urged Americans “who share our values to let their senators know that they neither need to make change now– or get out of our way.”
Jun 11, 12:44 pm
Buffalo victim’s son: ‘Until it happened to us, we were sitting on the sidelines’
Garnell Whitfield Jr., son of 86-year-old Buffalo, New York, mass shooting victim Ruth Whitfield, told the Washington, D.C., crowd, “We were being naïve to think that it couldn’t happen to us. And until it happened to us, we were sitting on the sidelines.”
“Guns by themselves are only one aspect of a much more insidious problem in America,” he said, calling out the systems he said radicalize mass gunmen, “filling them with weapons and hate-fueled rhetoric.”
“Through their inaction they’re giving their tacit approval,” he said, demanding the passage of an anti-white supremacy hate crime bill.
The Rev. Denise Walden-Glenn, whose brother died of gun violence in Buffalo, addressed the crowd ahead of Whitfield.
She said she’s “working tirelessly to figure out long-term, sustainable solutions” to address gun violence and issues that plague Black and Brown communities across the U.S.
“We need a national government that understands equity,” she said. “We are tired of them not valuing us.”
She added, “If they don’t give us what we ask for, we will vote them out.”
Jun 11, 12:03 pm
Lawmakers join Florida, Michigan rallies
Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., joined a Saturday morning march in Parkland, Florida, home to the 2018 high school mass shooting that killed 17 students and educators.
“In the great struggle to rid our communities of gun violence, the kids will win,” he wrote.
Want to know what today reminds us? In the great struggle to rid our communities of gun violence, the kids will win. The kids will win. And we will have a safer world because of them. #MarchForOurLives#Parklandpic.twitter.com/qNX9wlw1iU
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., attended a local rally in Michigan, where a student held a sign reading, “I should be writing my college essay not my will.”
What an honor to stand side by side with all the young adults at the #MarchForOurLives rally today. Thank you Riley for the introduction!
Firearms are now the leading cause of death for American children. Enough is enough!! pic.twitter.com/DukW5hUY0H
President Joe Biden tweeted support for the marches Saturday morning.
“Today, young people around the country once again march with [March For Our Lives] to call on Congress to pass commonsense gun safety legislation supported by the majority of Americans and gun owners,” Biden tweeted. “I join them by repeating my call to Congress: do something.”
Today, young people around the country once again march with @AMarch4OurLives to call on Congress to pass commonsense gun safety legislation supported by the majority of Americans and gun owners.
I join them by repeating my call to Congress: do something.
Jun 11, 9:56 am
Son of Buffalo mass shooting victim among Saturday’s speakers
Speakers at Saturday’s Washington, D.C., rally will include Garnell Whitfield, son of 86-year-old Buffalo mass shooting victim Ruth Whitfield; David Hogg, a Parkland survivor and March For Our Lives co-founder; and Yolanda King, a 14-year-old granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr.
Garnell Whitfield said to the Senate Judiciary Committee this week, “I ask every one of you to imagine the faces of your mothers as you look at mine, and ask yourself, ‘Is there nothing that we can do?'”
“Because if there is nothing, then respectfully senators, you should yield your positions of authority and influence the others that are willing to lead on this issue. The urgency of the moment demands no less,” he said.
(SMITHSBURG, Md.) — A 23-year-old man faces over two dozen charges after allegedly opening fire at his workplace, killing three people and later wounding an officer in an ensuing shootout, authorities announced.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said Friday it has charged Joe Louis Esquivel, of Hedgesville, West Virginia, in connection with Thursday’s shooting at Columbia Machine in Smithsburg, Maryland.
Esquivel faces 25 charges, including three counts each of first-degree murder and second-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder.
The suspect was working his normal shift at the factory before allegedly retrieving a semi-automatic handgun from his car and firing upon his coworkers in the breakroom at around 2:30 p.m., according to the sheriff’s office.
He then allegedly fled the scene in his bronze Mitsubishi Eclipse and was apprehended by Maryland State Police in nearby Hagerstown based on a description of the suspect, the sheriff’s office said.
The suspect and state troopers exchanged gunfire and the suspect and a trooper were wounded, the sheriff’s office said. Both were transported for medical treatment with non-life-threatening injuries.
Esquivel was arrested Friday and is being held by the Washington County Detention Center without bond. A bail hearing has been scheduled for Monday. Online court records do not include any attorney information for him.
Authorities have not commented on a possible motive in the attack.
When police arrived at Columbia Machine they found a victim critically injured outside the business. Responding sheriff’s deputies then found three additional victims dead inside.
The deceased victims were identified by the sheriff’s office as Mark Alan Frey, 50; Charles Edward Minnick Jr., 31; and Joshua Robert Wallace, 30. The fourth victim who was injured was identified as 42-year-old Brandon Chase Michael.
Maryland State Police said the injured trooper is a 25-year veteran of the department assigned to the Criminal Enforcement Division Western Region, and that he’s not being identified at this time.
Local authorities and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives executed a search warrant at the suspect’s home and found additional firearms, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said.
Columbia Machine manufactures equipment for concrete products. Smithsburg is about 70 miles northwest of Washington, D.C.
The company said it is working closely with local authorities amid the ongoing investigation.
“Our highest priority during this tragic event is the safety and well-being of our employees and their families,” Columbia Machine CEO Rick Goode said in a statement.
