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(LOS ANGELES) — The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department released body camera footage on Friday of a deputy-involved shooting of a 27-year-old woman after they entered her home responding to a domestic violence call that she made.

Niani Finlayson was allegedly shot and killed in her home in Lancaster, California, after an officer fired four shots at her on Dec. 4, the LASD said. She called the police because she claimed that her boyfriend would not leave her alone, according to an LASD statement.

“It’s so unfair that we have to live our lives without Niani Finlayson,” Tracie Hall, Finlayson’s mother, told ABC News. “That was my best friend. I’m going to miss her so much. I miss her already.”

In the 911 call made by Finlayson for police to assist her, audio of which was released by LASD, Finlayson can be heard yelling for someone to get their hands off of her. She told the dispatcher she needed assistance getting a man out of her home.

Hall told ABC News that Finlayson’s daughter informed her that the estranged boyfriend choked Finlayson and would not get off her after she repeatedly demanded for him to. When Finlayson’s daughter tried to help her mother, the man grabbed the 9-year-old and forcefully threw her against a nearby dresser, according to Hall.

Three deputies arrived on the scene. In the body camera footage, yelling could be heard coming from inside of the apartment. After police tried to kick the door down, Finlayson answered the door and appeared to have a knife in one hand, according to the body camera footage.

In the body camera video Finlayson said, “I’m going to stab him.” Finlayson then disappeared off camera as she left the doorway and went back into her home. At this point, deputies had their guns drawn.

Deputies followed Finlayson into the home where she proceeded to yell at, who Hall says is, her ex-boyfriend to leave. Finlayson’s daughter could also be seen on camera saying, “He pushed me” or “He punched me.”

Finlayson then grabbed the alleged estranged boyfriend with one hand, as the knife was in her other hand. Deputy Ty Shelton then fired at Finlayson four times causing her to drop to the ground.

“No, no,” the alleged ex-boyfriend yelled at police after the shooting. “Why did you shoot?” Finlayson’s daughter also witnessed the shooting.

“We’re trying to, as a family, make her [Finlayson’s daughter] not feel guilty for helping her mother,” Hall said. “She was in no wrong. She did nothing wrong. And I want her to know that. I can’t express that enough to her.”

Deputies performed first aid until paramedics arrived and transported Finlayson to the hospital where she was later pronounced deceased, according to a statement from LASD.

After the shooting, the alleged ex-boyfriend became resistant to police and was arrested for child abuse and assault on a peace officer, according to a statement from the sheriff’s department. He was later released from custody pending further investigation.

Neither the police department nor Hall’s attorney, Bradley Gage, confirmed the identity of the ex-boyfriend to ABC News.

On Dec. 21, a claim was filed in court from Finlayson’s family asking for at least $30 million from LASD and Los Angeles County for the killing of Finlayson by an LASD deputy, according to Gage.

“The deputy involved in the shooting has been removed from the field pending the outcome of the Department’s critical incident review,” LASD said in a statement. “The Department will examine and evaluate every aspect of the shooting including the response, tactics, and background of the employee.”

The investigation will include a multi-level review process involving the Office of Inspector General, the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner, and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, Justice System Integrity Division, according to a statement from LASD.

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(NEW YORK) — The Powerball jackpot has risen to an estimated $760 million after there was no winner in Wednesday night’s drawing.

The winning numbers drawn for Wednesday’s jackpot were: 4, 11, 38, 51, 68 and red Powerball 5.

The estimated cash value of the prize is $383.6 million. If a player wins the jackpot in Saturday night’s drawing, they will be offered the choice between annual payments worth $760 million — starting with one immediate payments and remaining payments over 29 years increasing by 5% each year — or a lump sum payment estimated at $383.6 million.

The next drawing is Saturday night. It is the last Powerball drawings remaining in 2023.

There have been 33 consecutive drawing without a jackpot winner. The last Powerball jackpot was won on Oct. 11.

This prize is the fourth jackpot this year to exceed more than $500 million. This year’s largest jackpot prize of $1.765 billion was won on Oct. 11 in California. The second largest prize was $1.08 billion that was won on July 19 in California, according to Powerball.

Powerball tickets are sold for $2 each.

The odds of winning the jackpot prize are one in 292.2 million.

The game’s largest price ever — of $2.04 billion — was won on Nov. 7, 2022.

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(NEW YORK) — As the holiday weekend starts, New York City ball drop watchers can expect potential showers while California’s coast is continuing to experience extremely dangerous beach conditions with dangerously large waves, life-threatening rip currents and coastal flooding.

New York City may have showers in the area as the ball drops in Times Square. Spectators should be prepared for mist, sprinkles and potential showers.

Elsewhere, much of the country is looking dry, besides snow showers in West Virginia and western Pennsylvania and parts of western New York like Binghamton and Ithaca.

Temperatures will likely be in the upper 30s at midnight in New York City and will be hovering near the freezing mark for Kansas City, Chicago and most places in the Midwest and North. Temperatures will be in the 40s and 50s in much of the South.

The California coast remains lined with a High Surf Warning until Saturday evening.

Powerful waves and strong rip currents will pose an exceptional risk of ocean drowning and damage to coastal structures like piers and jetties. Large breaking waves can cause injury, wash people off beaches and rocks and capsize small boats near shore.

Waves will be highest and strongest Saturday morning and slowly go down — but remain dangerous — throughout the day.

From Big Sur to the Bay Area, the threat for high surf and coastal flooding is a dangerous combination. Dangerously large breaking waves of 28 to 33 feet with isolated waves up to 40 feet are possible, especially in the morning hours of Saturday.

Numerous roads may be closed in these areas and low lying property including homes, businesses, and some critical infrastructure will be inundated. Some shoreline erosion will occur. Life-threatening swimming conditions and significant beach erosion can be expected.

In Southern California, the highest surf will be likely across west-facing beaches such as Hermosa, Manhattan, Palos Verdes Beaches and Ventura County Beaches. Dangerously large breaking waves of 10 to 15 feet with max sets to 20 feet and dangerous rip currents. San Luis Obispo County Beaches and Santa Barbara County Central Coast Beaches could see swells up to 25 feet.

Over the last 24 hours, much of the coast has seen 1-2 inches of rain, with a few isolated areas reporting over 3 inches of rainfall accumulation.

There will be more rain in California on Saturday. It will move quickly so accumulations are not expected to be too impressive. Snow in Sierra Nevada is expected to add 3 to 6 inches in places Saturday.

Sunday and Monday are expected to be dry and calmer for much of California.

The next storm to hit the West Coast is expected on Tuesday, intensifying Tuesday night into Wednesday.

By Thursday, this storm will bring rain to northern Arizona and rain for southern.

Next Friday, the energy and moisture from this storm may move into Texas and combine with additional moisture from the Gulf to bring rain throughout the state and eventually to the entirety of the Gulf Coast before exiting through the mid-Atlantic next weekend. By that time, the next storm may have already entered through the Pacific Northwest setting up a potential cross-country swing with rain and snow for the second week of the new year.

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(GREENVILLE, N.C.) — Civil rights leader Rev. William Barber II spoke out in a press conference Friday after a Dec. 26 incident at an AMC theater in Greenville, North Carolina, in which he says he was escorted out of the theater.

Barber, a prominent activist in North Carolina who led the state’s large NAACP chapter for years, said he suffers from ankylosing spondylitis, an inflammatory disease that has prompted him to use a different type of chair to ease his pain.

He said he brought his own chair to the movie theater to watch “The Color Purple” with his 90-year-old mother. He said he placed it in a section specifically designated for guests with disabilities, which prompted safety concerns from theater employees.

According to Barber, he was threatened with trespassing charges when he refused to leave and was escorted out by local police officers.

“Our plans were interrupted when the managers of the AMC theater here in Greenville chose to call the police rather than accommodate my visible disability,” said Barber.

The incident later prompted a conversation about accommodations for disabled people and accessibility in public places.

“If I cannot sit in my chair in a theater in Greenville, North Carolina, there are thousands of other people who will be excluded from public spaces in this nation,” Barber said. “This is now about what systemic changes, policy changes, changes to training can ensure this happens to no one.”

In a statement to ABC-owned television station WTVD, AMC apologized to Barber for “how he was treated, and for the frustration and inconvenience brought to him, his family, and his guests.”

AMC Chairman and CEO Adam Aron has reached out to Barber and plans to meet with him to discuss the incident, according to the statement, which Barber confirmed in the press conference.

“AMC welcomes guests with disabilities,” the statement read. “We have a number of accommodations in place at our theatres at all times, and our theatre teams work hard to accommodate guests who have needs that fall outside of the normal course of business.”

AMC said it encourages guests who require special seating to speak with a manager in advance to see how the theater can best accommodate them. The company, which has 900 theaters and 10,000 screens worldwide, said it is reviewing policies “to help ensure that situations like this do not occur again.”

The NAACP North Carolina called for concrete steps to ensure accessibility in all AMC theaters across the nation.

“This incident serves as a powerful reminder that we must create spaces that are inclusive, fair, and respectful of the rights of every individual,” read a statement from the NAACP local chapter. “Discrimination based on physical abilities has no place in our society, and we must take decisive action to address this issue.”

AMC and the Greenville Police Department did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

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(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump’s onetime fixer Michael Cohen sent his attorney non-existent legal cases produced by the artificial intelligence program Google Bard as he sought to beef up his petition for early termination of his supervised release, according to a letter to the court made public Friday.

Cohen, who pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations in 2018, sought an early end to his term of supervised release in a motion that included three cases he believed backed up his argument. His lawyer said Cohen mistakenly believed Google Bard “to be a supercharged search engine, not a generative AI service like Chat-GPT.”

That the invalid citations were included in Cohen’s motion his attorney insisted “was a mistake driven by sloppiness, not malicious intent” but Judge Jesse Furman is now considering whether to impose sanctions.

“As a non-lawyer, I have not kept up with emerging trends (and related risks) in legal technology and did not realize that Google Bard was a generative text service that, like ChatGBT, could show citations and descriptions that looked real but actually were not,” Cohen said in a sworn statement to the court made public Friday.

In his own letter to the court, Cohen’s attorney David M. Schwartz said he believed the legal citations came from a different attorney for Cohen, Danya Perry.

“If I had believed that Mr. Cohen had found these cases, I would have researched them. It was my belief, however, that Mr. Cohen had sent me cases found by Ms. Perry,” Schwartz said.

Judge Furman gave all parties until January 3 to submit additional comments about possible sanctions and whether Cohen deserves early termination of supervised release.

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(NEW YORK) — Over 4 million portable blenders sold across the United States and Canada are being recalled due to potential fire and laceration risks, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The agency announced a voluntary recall Thursday of BlendJet 2 Portable Blenders after over 300 reports of incidents ranging from overheating to the blades breaking while in use.

To date, there have been nearly 50 reports of “minor burns,” one report of a “laceration injury,” and property damage totaling around $150,000 caused by the recalled blenders, according to the CPSC.

The agency said the recalled blenders have the potential to “overheat or catch fire,” adding that the “blender blades can break off” as well.

The agency is calling on consumer to stop using the recalled blenders immediately.

The recall involves around 4.8 million blenders that have numbers between 5201 and 5542 as the first four digits of the serial number, located on the bottom of the base.

The recalled blenders, which retail for $50 to $75, were sold at Costco, Walmart and Target, as well as online at BlendJet.com, between October 2020 and November 2023, according to the CPSC.

Consumers can go to BlendJet Inc.’s website to identify whether their blender is part of the recall.

The California-based company notes on its website that BlendJet 2 blenders currently for sale are “not impacted by the recall,” as the recall only impacts blenders sold through November.

According to the CPSC, in order to receive a free replacement base for a recalled blender, consumers will need to follow several steps.

“Consumers will need to remove and cut the rubber seal from the base of their recalled blender into three or more pieces and upload or email a photo showing the serial number on the bottom of the unit and its rubber seal in pieces to BlendJet at www.blendjet.com/safetyandrecall or safety@blendjet.com to receive a free replacement base,” the agency said in its recall notice.

On its website, BlendJet Inc. also offers consumers a step-by-step process for disposing of the blender base and submitting a request for a free replacement.

Only the base of recalled blenders needs to be replaced, according to the company.

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(NEW YORK) — A Texas teenager accused of shooting two people at his home, one fatally, allegedly told police that he wanted to “commit a homicide for a long time,” according to newly released court documents.

The suspect — 17-year-old Connor Hilton — was showing the two victims a revolver at his Friendswood home Saturday night when he allegedly shot them both in the head, according to a complaint charging the teen with murder.

A third person who was at the house that night called 911 while hiding in the bathroom and reported hearing two gunshots, according to the complaint.

Responding officers found Hilton outside the home appearing “visibly distraught,” the complaint stated. When asked by police if anyone was hurt, Hilton nodded yes then held up two fingers, motioned toward the house and said there were two teenagers inside he believed to be dead, according to the complaint.

Once inside, an officer found two male victims — identified as Ethan Riley, 18, and Benjamin Bliek, 19 — lying on the floor with gunshot wounds as well as a revolver on a table, according to the complaint.

A second officer located the 911 caller, who “reported hearing Hilton walk by the bathroom door crying and stating, ‘What have I done,'” the complaint stated.

The shooting victims were transported to local hospitals in critical condition. Riley succumbed to his injuries on Sunday, while Bliek remains in critical condition, police said.

Hilton was brought in for questioning following the shooting and was initially charged by the Galveston County District Attorney’s Office with two counts of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury.

He was released after posting $1 million bond before being arrested again at his home on Monday for murder, police said. He is currently being held at the Galveston County Jail on no bond.

While being interviewed by police following the shooting, Hilton allegedly confessed to pulling the trigger and said there was no disturbance or disagreement that night, according to the complaint.

He allegedly told police “he had thought about, and wanted, to commit a homicide for a long time,” according to the complaint. He allegedly said he had talked his mother into buying him a handgun, which he wanted “with the intent of shooting someone and/or himself,” according to the complaint.

“Hilton stated that he fully understands what he had done and that he should be held accountable,” the complaint stated.

Hilton’s attorney, Jennifer Carpenter, told ABC News that his mother did not purchase a gun for him.

“The parents of Connor Hilton cannot express enough their deepest condolences to the victims’ families who have been heavily on the Hiltons’ hearts and minds as they try to navigate this devastating situation,” Hilton’s family said in a statement released through the attorney on Thursday.

“The Hilton family wants to thank everyone who has reached out in love and support, including all who sent positive comments about Connor’s character and good nature in general,” the statement continued. “The family asks for continued prayers for everyone affected, especially the victims’ families.”

His attorney has filed a motion seeking to conduct a hearing to determine whether his statements to police can be admissible in court, claiming they were not made and preserved in compliance with state law.

Hilton is scheduled to appear in court for a status conference on Feb. 2, online court records show.

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(NEW YORK) — A New Jersey man motivated by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel “devoted himself to waging violent jihad against America and its allies” and sought to join a foreign terror group, federal prosecutors in New York said Friday.

Karrem Nasr, 23, was arrested in Kenya earlier this month and brought to New York to face charges of attempting to provide material support to al-Shabab, the Somalia-based terror group affiliated with al-Qaida.

Nasr is expected to make an appearance later Friday before a federal magistrate in Manhattan federal court.

“As alleged, Karrem Nasr, motivated by the heinous terrorist attack perpetrated by Hamas on October 7, devoted himself to waging violent jihad against America and its allies. Nasr, a citizen of this country, traveled from Egypt to Kenya bent on joining and training with al Shabab so that he could execute his jihadist mission of death and destruction. Nasr was prepared to kill and be killed to support the jihadist cause, and in his own words, he described America as ‘evil’ and the ‘head of the snake,'” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.

Nasr moved to New Jersey from Egypt in July, according to the criminal complaint, and repeatedly expressed a desire to join al-Shabab during communications with someone he thought was an al-Shabab facilitator, but who was really a confidential FBI source.

The complaint quotes messages with the confidential source and postings online in which Nasr said he had been thinking about engaging in jihad for a long time and was particularly motivated by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel. In recent public social media posts, Nasr warned “Jihad” was “coming soon to a US location near you,” posting airplane, bomb and fire emojis.

Nasr flew from Egypt to Kenya on Dec. 14, according to federal officials. Prosecutors said he planned to transit into Somalia before Kenyan authorities took him into custody.

Nasr, of Lawrenceville, New Jersey, is charged with attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

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(LOS ANGELES) — As a crowd watched the high surf at the end of an avenue in Ventura, California, a “rogue” wave crashed over the seawall, flooding the area and carrying people and vehicles up the street.

The wave sent eight people to the hospital on Thursday, a spokesperson for the Ventura County Fire Department said on social media.

Cities along the California coast were warning residents that the rough waters caused by a Pacific storm this week can turn quickly into dangerous waves.

“Stay away from rocks, jetties, piers, and other waterside infrastructure,” the National Weather Service in the Bay Area said on social media. “Never turn your back to the ocean!”

NWS officials issued a high surf warning that was in effect until 3 a.m. Friday in the Bay Area. They warned of “very dangerous” waves that could reach as high as 40 feet in some spots.

The highest surf was expected Thursday, but conditions were still forecast as dangerous and were expected to continue into Saturday. A high surf warning remained in place for Southern California into Saturday night with waves 15 to 20 feet, and local sets reaching 25 feet.

The rain is forecast to start Friday morning in the northwest and is expected to reach the Bay Area by the afternoon. It could impact evening travel around San Francisco. The storm also comes with wind, especially near the coast, where gusts could reach 50 mph Friday.

Santa Cruz Fire Department officials issued an urgent advisory on Thursday, saying, “The big surf we have been talking about is here! Please help us keep you and our teams safe!”

The Southern California city closed Santa Cruz Wharf, along with Main Beach and Cowell Beach. Low-lying areas along West Cliff had been flooding, with debris “crashing on shore with big waves,” officials said.

Waves near Santa Cruz were expected to be 25 to 30 feet, the National Weather Service said. The service warned of rip currents, storm surges and “sneaker” waves in the area.

“We urge everyone to remain INDOORS and away from the coastline for your safety,” the Santa Cruz Fire Department said on social media on Thursday.

In Ventura County, where a wave sent eight to the hospital, some public beaches were closed. The city of Oxnard said it had closed its beaches through Sunday.

Fire officials in the county spent Thursday night using heavy equipment and bulldozers to construct a berm along the beaches to guard against high surf.

“The finished berm is about seven feet high and about a mile in length, running from San Pedro St. down to Greenock Lane,” a spokesperson said.

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(COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.) — Police are searching for a Colorado mother who is suspected of killing two of her children and injuring a third.

Kimberlee Singler, 35, is accused of lying about a burglary at her home earlier this month in which two of her three children were found dead, Colorado Springs police said Thursday.

Singler was last seen on Dec. 23, police said. A warrant has been issued for her on two counts of first-degree murder as well as several other related charges.

After receiving a 911 call for a burglary on Dec. 19, Colorado Springs police responded to the scene to find Singler and an 11-year-old girl both injured as well as a 9-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy who were dead, authorities said.

The mother and injured daughter were treated at the scene before they were transferred to an area hospital, police said.

Upon further investigation, police said the initial report of a burglary was “unfounded,” according to a press release.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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