(DANBURY, Conn.) — A Connecticut mother allegedly killed her three children before taking her own life, the Danbury Police Department said Thursday.
Police identified the mother as 36-year-old Sonia Loja and her three children as Junior Panjon, 12; Joselyn Panjon, 10; and Jonael Panjon, 5.
“A truly horrible event occurred in our city yesterday and we mourn the tragic loss of life. In the coming days, mental health and counseling services will be provided through collaboration with the Danbury Public Schools and the City of Danbury. Our community grieves for the innocent lives taken from us. We will get through this together,” Danbury Mayor Dean Esposito said in a statement.
Police found the four bodies Wednesday night after receiving a 911 call from someone distraught and crying, according to WTNH. Police said they believe the mother strangled her children before killing herself.
Autopsies are scheduled for Thursday at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Farmington, Connecticut, authorities said.
Police said the family lived in the home with two other adults. The adults were not present when police arrived on the scene, but they and other family members have been contacted and informed of the incident, police said.
“The kids were really good kids. They were really friendly kids,” neighbor Ralph Baugher told ABC News Connecticut affiliate WTNH. “When you drive by, they would wave and say, ‘How are you doing?’ Wave back to them, ‘Hi, how are you doing?’ They were always happy kids. Always playing in the yard, having fun, laughing all the time.”
The mayor’s office and other local government agencies said they are providing support for family and friends of the deceased and for first responders who responded to the scene, officials.
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — A 7-year-old California boy is being heralded as a hero for his quick-thinking actions that helped save a toddler at the bottom of a pool.
Massiah Browne, of Sacramento, was swimming with relatives at the apartment complex where he lives with his mom and brother when he said he saw something out of the ordinary.
“I was just playing in the pool and then I saw a boy at the bottom of the pool,” Massiah, a second-grade student, told “Good Morning America.” “And I went to go get him.”
Massiah, who was in the pool with a 9-year-old relative, swam down in 6-feet deep water to rescue the boy, according to his mom, Tiara Delvalle, who said she rushed to the scene from her apartment after being alerted by relatives who were with her son at the pool.
Massiah said he noticed the 3-year-old boy, a stranger, with his mouth and eyes open and dove down to get him, grabbing his arm and pulling him to the pool’s surface.
From there, his 9-year-old relative, a girl named Savannah, pulled the boy onto the pool deck, where adults came to help and then called 911.
“Savannah brought him to his mom and then they did CPR on the boy and then they called the doctor,” Massiah said.
A spokesperson for the Sacramento Fire Department confirmed to ABC News that first responders responded to a 911 call at the apartment complex’s pool on July 19.
Bystanders performed CPR on the boy, who was breathing by the time first responders arrived, according to the spokesperson.
“The child was transported in critical condition with advanced life support efforts provided by Sacramento firefighters,” the spokesperson said.
Delvalle said she is in touch with the mother of the boy, whom she reports is doing well.
“It’s a miracle,” Delvalle said of the boy’s survival.
Massiah’s father, Marcus Browne, a boxer who competed for the United States at the 2012 London Olympics, said that although his son swims like “a fish,” he was in shock when he learned of his heroic efforts.
“I just couldn’t believe it,” Browne said of his son, who also goes by his superhero nickname, “Siah Fire.” “He’s a good kid.”
In the U.S., drowning is the leading cause of death for kids between the ages of 1 and 4, and the second leading cause of death for kids up to age 14, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A report released last year by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) found that male toddlers and teenage boys are at the highest risk of drowning.
Here are four water safety tips from the AAP:
1. Close, constant, attentive and capable adult supervision when children are in and around water, as well as life jacket use among children and adults.
2. To prevent unsupervised access to water, use four-sided pool fencing at least 4 feet tall with self-closing and self-latching gates that completely isolates the pool from the house and yard.
3. In the home, be aware that infant bath seats can tip over, and children can slip out of them and drown in even a few inches of water in a bathtub. Infants should never be left alone in a tub, even for a minute.
4. Water should be emptied from containers, such as pails and buckets, immediately after use.
(NEW YORK) — Alena Analeigh Wicker, a 13-year-old from Texas, is not preparing for back to school like most kids her age.
Alena has already been accepted to medical school, with plans to attend the Heersink School of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
“After I was accepted, it was the most amazing moment,” Alena said Thursday on “Good Morning America.” “Just knowing that I’ve reached the goal of getting into medical school at this age was amazing for me.”
She expects to start medical school in 2024, after graduating from the two undergraduate programs she’s currently enrolled in, studying biological sciences at Arizona State University and Oakwood University.
“My goals right now are to definitely make it through college so I can go into medical school,” she said, adding that she wants to become a viral immunologist to be able to “study viruses and really help communities.”
Alena, who on Thursday was awarded the President’s Volunteer Service Award’s lifetime achievement award, graduated from high school last year at just 12 years old.
She is also the founder of Brown Stem Girl, an organization she said she launched to provide an outlet for girls of color in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics classes).
“I started the organization because when I was about 3 and I had first had my passion of working for NASA, I didn’t see a lot of people who looked like me,” said Alena. “I didn’t see a lot of girls and a lot of women getting into the STEM field.”
“That’s what struck my passion for advocating for them, really giving them those opportunities and showing them that they can do whatever they put their mind to,” she continued. “They can have the same path as me and become whatever they want to become without anybody telling them it’s impossible.”
Only 13% of engineers are women and just 8% of female college students enter their freshman year intending to major in engineering, math, statistics or computer science, according to the Society of Women Engineers.
Among STEM workers, Black individuals make up only 9% of the industry, with that number dropping to 7% for Hispanic individuals, according to the Pew Research Center.
Alena’s mom, Daphne McQuarter, said she saw her daughter’s STEM and academic talents early on.
“She was just always smart, gifted and she was always ahead,” McQuarter said on “GMA.” “There was just something about her that I knew I had to nurture her gift.”
Alena called her mom her “biggest supporter.”
“She always gave me opportunities over things and she believed in me,” she said.
Asked what advice she would give to other kids who also want to dream big, Alena said to ignore those who tell them “no.”
“First I would say don’t let anybody tell you no, because there was a lot of people who told me no, or that I couldn’t do what I dreamed to do,” she said. “I also had that support system. They were there when I needed them and they gave me that support to say, ‘Don’t give up on your dreams.'”
(NEW YORK) — A New York City police officer has adopted the same dog that she helped save from a hot car last month.
Aruna Maharaj, an officer with the NYPD’s 19th Precinct, adopted the pup after helping with its rescue.
“A month ago, this sweet doggo was rescued after his owner left him in his hot locked car for hours; yesterday, one of its rescuers, Officer Maharaj, adopted him,” the 19th Precinct posted on its Twitter account.
The dog was found in a hot car on June 18. Nearby residents had noticed the dog locked in the car on 88th Street near Third Avenue for over two hours and called 911, police said.
Passersby said the dog looked distressed inside the vehicle, according to police.
Police broke open one of the car’s windows to rescue the dog, helping it out of the vehicle before taking it to veterinary care.
A 26-year-old man was charged with animal cruelty, according to police.
The dog was taken in by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, before Maharaj adopted the dog from their care.
“This pup will never be neglected again!” the 19th Precinct said in its post.
The ASPCA said that animals should never be left alone in hot cars. The organization also said it’s important to look for signs of heatstroke in pets.
Excessive panting or difficulty breathing, increased heart and respiratory rate, drooling, mild weakness, stupor or collapsing, are all signs of your pet overheating, the ASPCA said.
According to the NYPD, it only takes 10 minutes for the inside of a car to reach 102 degrees on an 85-degree day.
The Humane Society said that it’s also important to watch out for humidity.
“It’s not just the ambient temperature, but also the humidity that can affect your pet,” Dr. Barry Kellogg, senior veterinary advisor of the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association, said in a Humane Society statement.
Kellogg said that animals pant to evaporate moisture from their lungs, which takes heat away from their body. If the humidity is too high, however, they are unable to cool themselves down and their temperature can quickly reach dangerous levels.
The Humane Society encourages pet owners to limit their pets’ exercise on hot days and provide lots of shade and water. They also note not to rely on fans, which don’t work as effectively for animals as they do for humans.
(DANBURY, Conn.) — A Connecticut mother allegedly killed her three children before taking her own life, the Danbury Police Department said Thursday.
Police identified the mother as 36-year-old Sonia Loja and her three children as Junior Panjon, 12; Joselyn Panjon, 10; and Jonael Panjon, 5.
“A truly horrible event occurred in our city yesterday and we mourn the tragic loss of life. In the coming days, mental health and counseling services will be provided through collaboration with the Danbury Public Schools and the City of Danbury. Our community grieves for the innocent lives taken from us. We will get through this together,” Danbury Mayor Dean Esposito said in a statement.
Police found the four bodies Wednesday night after receiving a 911 call from someone distraught and crying, according to WTNH. Police said they believe the mother strangled her children before killing herself.
Autopsies are scheduled for Thursday at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Farmington, Connecticut, authorities said.
Police said the family lived in the home with two other adults. The adults were not present when police arrived on the scene, but they and other family members have been contacted and informed of the incident, police said.
“The kids were really good kids. They were really friendly kids,” neighbor Ralph Baugher told ABC News Connecticut affiliate WTNH. “When you drive by, they would wave and say, ‘How are you doing?’ Wave back to them, ‘Hi, how are you doing?’ They were always happy kids. Always playing in the yard, having fun, laughing all the time.”
The mayor’s office and other local government agencies said they are providing support for family and friends of the deceased and for first responders who responded to the scene, officials.
(CHICAGO) — Ashbey Beasley said the horrors of the July Fourth mass shooting are still fresh in her mind.
The Highland Park, Illinois, native was at the Independence Day parade with her 6-year-old son when the gunman opened fire. The two ran for their lives.
“The look on his face was indescribable. It was such a sheer, primal sense of terror,” she told “NIGHTLINE.”
While she and her son were not hurt during the carnage, Beasley said the mental anguish remains and she is devoting her life to stopping gun violence.
On Wednesday, Beasley took her case straight to lawmakers in Washington, D.C. She was on hand for a congressional hearing with gun manufacturers and gave video testimony about her experience during the mass shooting.
Beasley told “NIGHTLINE” that she has become more active in promoting gun control policy because she is tired of people living in fear of something unavoidable.
“The idea that we, as a country, cannot go to a mall without the idea creeping in the back of our heads that someone could shoot us is unacceptable,” she said. “That we are scared to send our children to school with fear that they won’t come home is unacceptable.”
Gun manufacturer executives were in the hot seat when congressional members grilled them about the roles their companies’ weapons played in recent mass shootings.
Many of the executives acknowledged the violence and those hurt by it, but contended that they didn’t want to deprive Americans of their Second Amendment rights.
“I believe our nation’s response needs to focus not on the type of gun, but on the type of persons who are likely to commit mass shootings,” Marty Daniel, the founder and CEO of Daniel Defense, testified.
Daniel Defense made the rifle used in the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 students and two teachers were killed at Robb Elementary School on May 24.
Gun control advocates, like Ryan Busse, a senior adviser with Giffords, testified that weapons makers are not doing enough to prevent their guns and rifles from proliferating among the populace.
Busse, a former gun manufacturer executive, told “NIGHTLINE” the industry has “established irresponsible marketing” which creates and propagates the violence.
“I’m a proud gun owner… I hunt and shoot with my boys every chance I get, but we have gone far off the rails with regard to balancing responsibility and decency,” Busse said. “And part of being a responsible citizen, especially a gun owner with a right that immense means that we have to balance that kind of right with responsibility and regulation. And we have an industry who is thwarting that at every chance we get and our society, our country is paying the price for it.
Beasley echoed this message when she spoke with several members of Congress, including Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La.
Higgins contended during the hearing that if there was a ban on assault rifles, federal agents will be shot when they go to confiscate the rifles.
“When those gunfights happen, that blood will be on your hands,” Higgins told the Democratic members of the committee.
Higgins repeated his claims during his exchange with Beasley in the halls of the Capitol.
“If you don’t think they will come door to door to seize your weapons, you’re wrong,” he told Beasley.
“Have you ever run from a mass shooter? Have you ever been shot at by a mass shooter?” she asked.
“I was a SWAT cop for 12 years,” the congressman responded.
“So, you know what these bullets are,” Beasley said.
Beasley said she does not feel intimidated standing up to elected officials and speaking out on gun control. She reiterated that she’ll continue to do so. And Beasley said she won’t be alone in her mission.
“There is a whole contingency of women and parents and moms and community members who have gone to D.C. who are going to continue to fight and are getting more involved every day,” she said.
(NEW YORK) — For only the third time in the 20-year history of Mega Millions, the jackpot has surpassed the massive $1 billion mark.
The estimated jackpot for the Mega Millions drawing on Friday is now $1.1 billion, the second-largest in the game’s history.
“Friday night’s drawing will be the thirtieth in this jackpot run, which began April 19 after the jackpot was won in Tennessee on April 15,” Mega Millions said in a statement issued early Wednesday.
The lump sum payment is worth $648.2 million, pre-tax.
Even though Friday’s prize is now estimated to be valued at over $1 billion, it still falls short of the Mega Millions’ record jackpot, which was won in South Carolina on Oct. 23, 2018. The winner took home $1.537 billion — the world’s largest lottery prize ever won on a single ticket. The largest lotto prize ever came when three people split a $1.586 billion Powerball drawing in 2016.
Only four Mega Millions jackpots have been won this year: in California, Minnesota, New York and Tennessee.
“We look with anticipation on the growing jackpot,” Ohio Lottery Director Pat McDonald, current lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a press release. “Seeing the jackpot build over a period of months and reaching the billion-dollar mark is truly breathtaking. We encourage customers to keep play in balance and enjoy the ride. Someone is going to win.”
There were 6,775,330 winning tickets at all prize levels from Tuesday night’s drawing. A total of nine tickets matched the five white balls to win the Mega Millions second prize. One of those sold in Ohio was worth $3 million because it included the optional Megaplier. The other eight Match 5 tickets were all worth $1 million, with two each being sold in New Jersey and New York, plus one each in California, Florida, Illinois and Ohio.
“In the 29 drawings since the jackpot was last won in Tennessee on April 15, there have been more than 28.1 million winning tickets at all prize levels, including 42 worth $1 million or more,” the company said. “Those big prizes have been won in 17 states across the country: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia.”
Lottery winners have two options: Take the money as a lump sum payment or annuity payments over 29 years.
Most winners take the lump sum payment, but record inflation has complicated matters, experts said.
“If we believe that inflation will be here for a while, then you may want to consider taking the annuity versus taking the lump sum,” tax and estate planning attorney Kurt Panouses told ABC News’ Deirdre Bolton.
The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 303 million, according to the lottery.
(FRANKFORT, Ky.) — At least eight people have been killed in Kentucky amid “one of the worst, most devastating” floods in the state’s history, Gov. Andy Beshear said.
Among those killed was an 81-year-old woman, Beshear said.
The governor told reporters Thursday afternoon that he expects “double-digit” deaths and anticipates this will be one of the deadliest floods in Kentucky in “a very long time.”
A flash flood emergency was issued overnight as 2 to 5 inches of rain pounded the state. The governor warned there’s a chance for another 2 to 3 inches of rain Thursday night or over the weekend.
In most areas, the water hasn’t crested yet, Beshear said at a morning news conference, warning, “We probably haven’t seen the worst of it.”
The state’s combating washed out roads, destroyed homes and flooded schools, the governor said.
Hundreds of residents are expected to lose their homes and it’ll likely take families years to recover and rebuild, Beshear said.
Some people are waiting on roofs to be rescued, the governor said.
Crews from Kentucky’s Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources are out on boats making rescues, Beshear said.
The governor said he’s activated the National Guard whose members are also preparing helicopters and trucks to evacuate stranded residents.
“This is all hands on deck,” he said.
Three state parks are being opened to people who have lost their homes, Beshear said.
ABC News’ Alexandra Faul and Kenton Gewecke contributed to this report.
Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images, FILE
(WASHINGTON) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Wednesday found 73 migrants — including 13 children — in multiple Washington, D.C., homes believed to be operated by human smugglers, according to an ICE official.
The “stash houses,” as they are known to investigators, were found in the largely affluent area of Northwest Washington, the official confirmed. The development was first reported by NBC.
An ICE spokesperson declined to comment on specifics, citing the ongoing nature of the investigation.
The health and condition of the migrants was unclear on Thursday. Authorities are investigating how they arrived in the district and the full extent of the potential smuggling ring, one official said.
“HSI [Homeland Security Investigations] has dedicated groups assigned to combat human smuggling,” an ICE spokesperson said in a statement. “Our goal is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle significant Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCO) involved in human smuggling through the aggressive, and smart, application of the full range of our authorities.”
The discovery comes amid what Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser called a broader “humanitarian crisis.” Separate from the case of the 73 people, Bowser said on Wednesday she had requested assistance from the D.C. National Guard to aid in managing migrants who have been bussed north by authorities at the direction of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
“I’ve asked for the deployment of the guard as long as we need the guard to deal with the humanitarian crisis that we expect to escalate,” Bowser said. “The number of people crossing the border [into the U.S.] seeking asylum we expect to only go up.”
Abbott has said his bussing policy is in response to President Joe Biden and Congress’ border policies and the “chaos they have caused … they refuse to come down and see firsthand.”
Local nonprofits have reportedly strained to accommodate the busses with migrants as they have arrived.
Human smuggling networks are typically found much closer to the southwest border. These sort of illegal operations have received intense scrutiny from immigration authorities in recent months as Homeland Security officials move to crack down on transnational criminal smuggling organizations.
Last month, the largest mass-casualty incident in the U.S. believed to be smuggling related left more than 50 people dead after they were discovered inside an overheated tractor-trailer in San Antonio, Texas.
Since April, the Department of Homeland Security has directed more than $50 million and 1,300 personnel with a renewed focus on human smuggling. More than 3,500 arrests have been made in recent months, according to DHS.
ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson contributed to this report.
(CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, S.C.) — A 13-year-old girl is dead and six people are under arrest after police alleged the suspects unleashed a barrage of gunfire with an assault weapon into her South Carolina home, striking her as she was playing video games in a room with a younger child.
The girl’s death has rocked the small community of Cheraw in Chesterfield County and even stunned the suspects, who allegedly attacked the child’s home while looking for the intended target they believed lived there, authorities said.
“They just seemed in shock at the whole situation. Sometimes I feel like they think it’s just a big game,” Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Capt. Wayne Jordan said of the suspects in an interview with ABC affiliate station WSOC in Charlotte, North Carolina. “Once your life is over, it’s over. You don’t start over, you don’t start the game over. These kids do not comprehend what they’re doing.”
The sheriff’s office announced the arrests Wednesday of five men and a woman ranging in age from their late teens to mid-20s. Five of the suspects are charged with murder and attempted murder and a sixth suspect was arrested on charges of obstruction of justice, authorities said.
The shooting unfolded early Tuesday morning when the suspects allegedly drove to the girl’s home in Cheraw, a northeast South Carolina community of roughly 5,000 people, and fired multiple shots into the residence, Jordan said. At least one of the suspects was wielding an assault rifle, Jordan said.
At the time of the shooting, the teenage victim, whose name has not been released by authorities, was in a room with a younger child playing video games and was hit by a stray bullet, Jordan said.
The shooting stemmed from an ongoing dispute between two groups and the suspects allegedly believed one of their rivals was inside the house, Jordan said.
“From what I understand, the 13-year-old child was not the target. There was another target at the house, or they (the suspects) felt was at the house,” Jordan said.
The five murder suspects were identified by the sheriff’s office as Kyron Robinson, Michael Flowers, Jr., Michael Johnson, Timothy Byrd and Trevoin Gary. The suspect charged with obstruction of justice was identified as Genesis Evans, according to the sheriff’s office.
It was not immediately clear if the suspects have hired attorneys or are awaiting a judge to appoint public defenders to represent them.
