(COVINGTON, Ga.) — A small plane crashed in the lot of a General Mills plant in Georgia shortly after takeoff Thursday evening, killing all aboard, authorities said.
The plane took off from the Covington Municipal Airport around 6:45 p.m., Covington Police Department Captain Ken Malcom said during a press briefing.
Witnesses told police it appeared that the aircraft, believed to be a Cessna twin-engine propeller plane, was having trouble gaining altitude and that it sounded like there was engine trouble.
Malcom said the plane then suddenly veered and crashed into the lot of the General Mills plant, located about a mile from the airport. The plane went down in an isolated area that stored tractor-trailers, some of which caught fire, he said.
There were no survivors, Malcom said. It is unclear how many people were aboard the plane, and police are working to determine who the victims are, he said.
No one was injured on the ground, according to Malcom, who noted that many lives were potentially saved since the plane didn’t crash directly into the plant.
Fire personnel was still working to put out the fire at the scene several hours after the crash.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident.
ABC News’ Darren Reynolds contributed to this report.
(DULUTH, Minn.) — A family of four, including two children, were fatally shot while sleeping in their Minnesota home in what police believe to be a murder-suicide incident, authorities said.
The suspected gunman, a relative of the family, was found dead in the home from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, Duluth Police Department Chief Mike Tusken said.
“It’s just a sad day,” a visibly shaken Tusken said during a briefing on the incident Thursday.
“In 32 years, we haven’t seen anything like this, when we’ve had four victims of a homicide,” he said.
The victims were publicly identified by police following next-of-kin notification as Riana Lou Barry, 44; Sean Christopher Barry, 47; Shiway Elizabeth Barry, 12; and Sadie Lucille Barry, 9.
Duluth police had responded to the home in the East Hillside neighborhood shortly after noon on Wednesday, stemming from a request for a welfare check in neighboring Hermantown regarding an individual experiencing a mental health crisis.
A family member had provided the Hermantown Police Department with a message the suspect allegedly sent to them and later posted on social media indicating that he intended to harm himself and other family members, authorities said.
Hermantown police were unable to locate or make contact with the suspect, identified as 29-year-old Brandon Taylor Cole-Skogstad. They provided Duluth police with the address of the Duluth home owned by the suspect’s aunt and uncle, authorities said. Duluth police had also received information that the suspect had access to a weapon, Tusken said.
Duluth police who responded to the home heard what they believed to be a single gunshot as they knocked on the door, authorities said.
After securing the scene, police initially used robots and drones to search the premises, though the devices were unable to enter all the rooms, Tusken said. A room-by-room search by a tactical team found the victims in their beds dead from apparent gunshot wounds, he said. A family dog was also found dead, he said.
A 9mm handgun was found near the suspect, the chief said.
A 911 call history search did not indicate any prior concerns involving Cole-Skogstad, police said.
“This is a tragedy for Minnesota, a tragedy for, certainly, the city of Duluth and for this community,” said Tusken, who added that he hopes getting the facts out will provide some “closure and healing.”
No further details were provided amid the ongoing investigation.
Duluth City Council President Arik Forsman told reporters he knew the family, who was known for selling Girl Scout cookies at an East Hillside church.
“No family or community should have to go through what has been happening over the last 24 hours,” he said. “It’s hard to put into words the sadness that I feel as a councilor, as a Duluthian and as a father.”
“That was compounded when the names were released, because these folks were my neighbors in Lakeside,” he continued.
Duluth Mayor Emily Larson said the incident is “deeply painful” for the community.
“As a parent and member of a family, it is wrenching to consider what the Barry family might be feeling,” she said in a statement. “There is only loss to every part of this story. To the Barry family: our community mourns with you and we share in your pain. Because your loss is our community’s loss.”
(NEW YORK) — A wildfire inferno is setting up in multiple states as dangerous fire conditions threaten to spread the fires even further.
At least 14 fires are currently burning through Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas and Oklahoma.
North of Flagstaff, Arizona, where the Tunnel Fire has been scorching through communities after sparking on Sunday, about 750 homes have been evacuated. The Tunnel Fire has burned through 20,000 acres so far and is 0% contained.
About 100 miles southwest of Flagstaff, the Crooks Fire in Prescott, Arizona, has blazed through 2,000 acres and is also 0% contained.
Voluntary evacuations have been ordered in Jarales, New Mexico, where the Bosque Fire has burned through 165 acres and is expected to grow, while mandatory evacuations were issued in Boulder County, Colorado, after the Table Mountain Fire grew to 52 acres.
Red flag and high wind alerts had been issued Thursday for eight states from Arizona to Nebraska. Relative humidity is also down to 5%, with wind gusts as high as 70 mph are possible. The wind is being created by a storm system moving through the West on Thursday and Friday.
The worst fire conditions Thursday are expected to stretch from New Mexico to Colorado. A decades-long megadrought in the West has also contributed to the fire danger in the region.
The fire danger is expected to worsen even more on Friday, with states from New Mexico to Colorado classified as being in extreme fire danger, the highest level of fire danger.
The storm system moving West will bring severe weather from Texas to Minnesota, with damaging winds, large hail and the possibility of isolated tornados.
ABC News’ Max Golembo and Marilyn Heck contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A New York City mother found stabbed to death inside a duffel bag was allegedly killed by a handyman she’d been having an off-and-on affair with for two years, the NYPD said.
The suspect, David Bonola, was arrested just before 1 a.m. Thursday, days after he allegedly dumped Orsolya Gaal’s body in her son’s hockey bag, police said at a news conference Thursday.
Bonola, 44, allegedly stabbed 51-year-old Gaal dozens of times at her Queens home early Saturday morning while her 13-year-old son was upstairs, according to police sources.
Police described it as a domestic dispute, saying “their relationship was considered at an end.”
After the murder, police believe Bonola sent a text message to Gaal’s husband from her phone that referenced a previous crime and indicated the rest of the family was in danger. Police said there was no past crime and no danger to Gaal’s husband and two children.
Authorities said Bonola was seen on video rolling the duffel bag, leaving a bloody trail behind him.
After disposing of the body, Bonola allegedly fled through a park, where police said they found his jacket.
Gaal’s body was found Saturday morning.
Bonola turned himself in Wednesday night after officers canvassed his Queens neighborhood, according to police sources. He’s charged with murder, criminal tampering and criminal possession of a weapon, according to the NYPD.
NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said Bonola “made incriminating statements” but he didn’t elaborate.
(NEW YORK) — A person is in custody in connection with the death of Orsolya Gaal, the New York City mother found stabbed to death inside a duffel bag, police sources told ABC News.
Gaal was found in a duffel bag in Queens on Saturday morning. The 51-year-old was stabbed dozens of times, according to police sources.
(ALANTA) — Attorneys for Robert Aaron Long, the suspect in the Atlanta spa shootings case, are seeking to dismiss the death penalty as he awaits trial on multiple murder charges for the March 2021 massacre.
Long, 23, was indicted last year for the deaths of four women that occurred at Gold Spa and Aromatherapy Spa in Fulton County, Georgia.
He previously pleaded guilty to four other murders that took place the same day at Young’s Asian Massage in Cherokee County. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole, plus an additional 35 years.
Long pleaded not guilty in Fulton County last year to four counts of murder, among other charges. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has said she’d seek the death penalty and hate crime charges against Long.
Long appeared in Fulton County court Tuesday for a motions hearing. His attorneys have filed dozens of motions on his behalf ahead of the trial, which is expected to start this fall.
In seeking to dismiss the death penalty, his attorneys argued that the death penalty statute violates his constitutional rights and that the capital jury process could be biased against him.
They also argued that Long’s age should bar the death penalty.
“The Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment protects Mr. Long from disproportionate and excessive punishment,” defense attorneys Jerilyn Bell and Christian Lamar wrote. “Mr. Long’s youth at the time of the offense — he was 21 years old — substantially lessens his culpability, and a sentence of death would be disproportionate to his diminished moral blameworthiness.”
In announcing that she would seek the death penalty, Willis told reporters that the case “warrants the ultimate penalty.”
Willis also filed sentencing enhancements under Georgia’s hate crime law, which offers guidelines for anyone convicted of targeting a person based on race, color, religion and gender. Willis said at the time that race and gender played a role in the shooting.
In the shooting spree, which occurred across two spas on March 16, 2021, six out of the eight people killed were Asian women.
The victims in Fulton County were Suncha Kim, 69; Soon Chung Park, 74; Hyun Jung Grant, 51; and Yong Ae Yue, 63.
Paul Michels, 54; Xiaojie “Emily” Tan, 49; Daoyou Feng, 44; and Delaina Yaun, 33, were killed in the shooting in Cherokee County.
When he entered his guilty plea in Cherokee County court last year, Long said he loathed his sex addiction and that he blamed it on the spas he claims to have frequented for sex.
(PITTSBURGH) — As the investigation to identify suspects entered its fourth day in a mass shooting at a Pittsburgh Airbnb house that left two teenagers dead, police amended the number of gunshot survivors from eight to nine.
The Pittsburgh Police Department said in a statement that the new non-fatal gunshot victim was taken to a hospital in a private car and arrived at an emergency room on the morning of the shooting in stable condition.
Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert said another five people suffered cuts and broken bones fleeing the gunfire, some by jumping from second-story windows.
No arrests have been announced in the shooting that occurred early Sunday morning during a party at an Airbnb rental in the East Allegheny neighborhood of North Pittsburgh that police said was attended by more than 200 people.
Schubert said Tuesday that about two hours before the shooting erupted, a police officer responded to a noise complaint at the Airbnb house, but left after issuing a verbal warning to keep the noise down.
“There was nothing unusual to indicate that something was wrong,” Schubert said. “We have some information that shows that a lot of these people didn’t come until after midnight.”
The shooting erupted around 12:40 a.m. Sunday, and investigators collected 90 shell casings from the scene, including 50 from inside the Airbnb home.
Schubert said the shooting broke out after an “altercation” inside the house, but has declined to elaborate.
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the two 17-year-olds killed in the shooting as Mathew Steffy-Ross and Jaiden Brown. Both teens were scheduled to graduate from high school in June, according to friends and loved ones.
“Matthew was a fun, loving kid that cared so much about everybody. Matthew would give you the shirt off your back,” Steffy-Ross’ great-aunt, Bonnie McLain, told ABC affiliate station WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh.
She described Steffy-Ross, a senior at Grace Non-Traditional Christian Academy in Pittsburgh, as having “the biggest smile in the world.”
“He cared about people and he loved people, and he acted upon it,” McLain said, adding that she last spoke to her nephew on Saturday morning and heard of his death from a neighbor on Sunday.
Pittsburgh community activist Lee Davis of the Greater Valley Coalition Against Violence told WTAE that he was a mentor to both Steffy-Ross and Brown.
“I have been to over 100 funerals in the 17 years I have been doing this work, and I thought I was all cried out, but when I seen what happened to Jaiden and Matt, the tears just came all over again,” Davis said. “It just hurt my heart.”
Davis said he knew Brown, a senior at Woodland Hills High School in Pittsburgh, since he was a child.
“His energy was great,” Davis said of Brown. “Everybody loved him, and he became very well-liked in the community. To see this happen to him was really heartbreaking … because he had a very bright future.”
Cathy Jo Welsh, a member of the youth anti-violence program Helping Out Our People in Pittsburgh, said Brown’s father died from an illness a few years ago and that Steffy-Brown’s mother died recently.
“(Steffy-Brown) was just getting his bearings from losing his own mother and just learning how to live with trauma and grief,” Welsh told WTAE.
(NEW YORK) — The man accused of pushing a New York City woman to her death in front of an oncoming subway train in January was deemed unfit to stand trial at a court hearing Tuesday in accordance with findings from a psychiatric evaluation.
Simon Martial, 61, will now be sent to a psychiatric facility under the custody of the city’s Department of Mental Health and Hygiene, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Briggs’ office.
The DA’s office did not contest the determination, but told ABC News that the office will continue to review the case and pursue Martial’s conviction.
Michelle Alyssa Go had been standing on the southbound N/Q/W/R platform at Times Square station on Jan. 15, looking at her phone, when she was suddenly shoved, unprovoked, onto the tracks, police say. She was pronounced dead at the scene just weeks after celebrating her 40th birthday.
Martial, who is homeless, fled the station but turned himself in later that day, according to police. He was charged with second degree murder.
New York County Defender Services, which is representing Martial, declined to comment Wednesday when reached by ABC News.
Though police have not classified the tragic attack as a hate crime, Go’s death heightened anxiety around a rise in anti-Asian sentiments and violence, weighing heavily on many as they came together for vigils in Times Square and San Francisco’s Chinatown in honor and remembrance of the Fremont, California, native and several other Asian crime victims back in January.
Go was a consultant for Deloitte and a longtime volunteer and advocate for the homeless, according to ABC affiliate WABC-TV.
Her family released a statement describing her as a “beautiful, brilliant, kind, and intelligent woman who loved her family and friends, loved to travel the world and help others.”
(BETHANY, Conn.) — A Connecticut State Police trooper was arrested on a felony manslaughter charge after a report by the state inspector general alleged his use of deadly force was not justified in the January 2020 shooting of a 19-year-old Black man.
Trooper Brian North, 31, surrendered Tuesday at the state police barracks in Bethany, Connecticut, after a warrant was issued for his arrest in connection with the fatal shooting of Mubarak Soulemane, state police said.
State Inspector General Robert Devlin Jr.’s investigation found that although Soulemane was allegedly armed with a steak knife, had stolen a Lyft rideshare vehicle and was apparently off his medication for schizophrenia, he was not a threat to North and other officers when he was shot multiple times, according to the report released Wednesday.
Soulemane was killed when North allegedly fired seven times at him through the closed driver’s side window of a stolen Lyft vehicle after troopers stopped him and pinned him in on Interstate 95 in West Haven following a chase that reached speeds of 100 mph, according to the report.
Delvin’s investigation found that Soulemane was sitting behind the wheel of the car surrounded by troopers and officers from other agencies and was trapped inside because North’s cruiser was blocking the driver’s side door.
An officer from the West Haven Police Department was bashing in the passenger-side window with a baton and another trooper was poised to deploy a stun gun on Soulemane when North opened fire as Soulemane reached into his pocket and pulled a knife, according to the report.
“Stated briefly, the investigation establishes that, at the time Trooper North fired his weapon, neither he nor any other person was in imminent danger of serious injury or death from a knife attack at the hands of Soulemane,” Devlin concluded in his report. “Further, any belief that persons were in such danger was not reasonable. I therefore find that North’s use of deadly force was not justified under Connecticut law.”
North, a seven-year veteran of the Connecticut State Police, was booked on a charge of first-degree manslaughter with a firearm, Devlin said in a statement. North was released on $50,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Superior Court in Milford on May 3.
‘A good day’
North was placed on administrative leave and his police powers have been suspended pending criminal proceedings, according to state police.
Mark Arons, the attorney for Soulemane’s family, said the arrest marked “a good day” for the family.
“This is the first step in the journey for justice for the wrongful killing of a 19-year-old Black youth in Connecticut…The family looks forward on this matter being tried and this state trooper being convicted,” Arons said in a statement.
The incident unfolded on Jan. 15, 2020, in Norwalk, Connecticut, after police received a complaint that Soulemane was armed with a knife and acting erratically at an AT&T store, according to Devlin’s report.
Police were called to the store, but Soulemane left in a Lyft vehicle as they arrived. The Lyft driver told police that Soulemane ordered him to “drive, drive, drive” when he got into the car, according to the report.
The driver alleged that Soulemane demanded his cellphone and slapped him on the side of the head when he refused, the report says. The driver told police he drove to a gas station and got out of the car, pulling a gun on Soulemane and flagging down a police officer, according to the report.
Soulemane allegedly jumped into the driver seat and fled, prompting the police chase.
Trooper claims he was protecting officers
North told investigators, according to the report, that he opened fire because he was concerned that the officers on the passenger-side of the car were in “imminent risk of serious physical injury or death.”
“As a result, I discharged my duty firearm to eliminate the threat,” North told investigators, according to the report.
North’s attorney could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.
Connecticut State Police Union officials released a statement to ABC affiliate station WTNH-TV in New Haven, saying they are “disappointed” in the inspector general’s decision to prosecute North.
The union added that North “was forced to make a split-second decision during these dangerous and rapidly evolving circumstances.”
The union asked the public to reserve judgment “until all facts are known in this case.”
“Trooper North was risking his own life while trying to fulfill his oath of office to protect the lives of others,” the union’s statement said. “Regardless of the Inspector General’s decision, we will respect the judicial process while we vigorously defend Trooper North and his actions. It is our obligation to protect Trooper North’s constitutional right to due process of law and a fair trial.”
(CHICAGO) — Chicago’s top prosecutor announced Wednesday that her office completed its Cannabis Expungement Project with over 15,000 cannabis convictions removed from the record.
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said that her office has complied with Illinois’ new cannabis rules that took effect two years ago after the substance was legalized.
Foxx said in a statement that the expunges have brought relief to thousands of people.
“Felony charges can affect every aspect of a person’s life, from jobs to housing, long after the debt to society has been paid,” she said in a statement.
Foxx filed her first 100 motions to vacate cannabis related offenses in December 2019 and has presented more motions since.
On Friday, she will present 214 additional cannabis expungement requests, bringing the total to 15,191, according to her office.
There are 588 remaining cannabis cases in the system that date back as far as 1965, however, the state attorney’s office said it will require additional time for research and data to expunge those records.
