National

(PITTSBURGH) — Two juveniles were killed and at least eight people were wounded when a barrage of 50 gunshots broke out early Sunday inside a Pittsburgh Airbnb rental house, where police said roughly 200 people were having a party. Some escaped the gunfire by jumping out of windows.

The shooting marked the third time in nine days that gunfire erupted during parties being held at Airbnb rentals, including one near Sacramento, California, which left a teenager dead, and another that rocked a suburban Houston residential neighborhood.

The Pittsburgh shooting unfolded around 12:30 a.m., when police were notified of multiple ShotSpotter gunfire-detection alerts in the East Allegheny neighborhood on the city’s North Side, the Pittsburgh Police Department said in a statement.

More gunshots were being fired as officers arrived at the scene and saw several young people running away and others fleeing in vehicles, according to the statement.

Victims suffering from bullet wounds were found near the home and taken to hospitals by ambulance, police said. Other gunshot victims were taken to area hospitals in private cars, including two juveniles who were pronounced dead upon arriving at emergency rooms, authorities said.

A total of 10 people were shot, including the two slain juveniles, police said. Several other victims suffered broken bones and cuts fleeing the chaotic scene, according to authorities.

A preliminary investigation found that the shooting occurred during a large party being held at the short-term rental property, “with as many as 200 people in attendance, many of them underage,” according to the police statement.

“As many as 50 rounds were fired inside, prompting some party-goers to jump out the windows, sustaining injuries such as broken bones and lacerations,” according to the police statement. “Several more shots were fired outside the home.”

No arrests have been made, and detectives are combing over evidence found at eight different crime scenes in a radius of several blocks around the Airbnb house. Detectives are also reviewing security video in an effort to identify suspects.

Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert said at a news conference Sunday that the gunfire started after an “altercation” and confirmed that multiple shooters engaged in a gunfight. He said that in addition to the gunshot victims, five other people were injured from either jumping out of windows or falling down stairs while taking cover.

“It is our top priority to find out who did this and get them off the street,” Schubert said.

He said the “vast majority” of people at the party were juveniles.

“This is something that shouldn’t have happened. This goes back to having too many guns — too many illegal guns — on the streets. Too many people who have access to these illegal weapons,” Schubert said. “Innocent people were struck… We’re sick about it, and we’re gonna do everything we can to get those responsible for it.”

Shell casings collected at the scene indicate multiple weapons were fired, including rifles, a police commander told ABC affiliate station WTAE in Pittsburgh.

“We share the Pittsburgh community’s outrage regarding this tragic gun violence. Our hearts go out to all who were impacted — including loved ones of those who lost their lives, injured victims and neighbors,” Airbnb said Sunday in a statement to ABC News. “Airbnb strictly bans parties, and we condemn the behavior that is alleged to have prompted this criminal gun violence.”

Airbnb said the person who booked the house has been issued a lifetime ban from Airbnb. The company confirmed that an “unauthorized party” was thrown without the knowledge or consent of the house host, who specifically stated in the listing page that no parties were allowed and that any evidence of a party would result in a $500 fee.

“We will be considering all legal options to hold this person accountable,” Airbnb’s statement said, adding that the company is cooperating with the Pittsburgh Police Department’s investigation.

Addressing allegations that many of those attending the party were minors, the company said, “we can confirm that users must be 18 or above to create an Airbnb account.”

The company also noted that its CEO, Brian Chesky, has joined a coalition of CEOs nationwide calling for stricter gun control measures to get illegal firearms off the streets.

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said in a statement on Sunday that police were using all available resources to find those responsible for the shooting and added that members of the community had contacted the investigators with information on the episode.

Gainey said the shooting came as Pittsburgh police and city leaders have been been working on a plan in the past several weeks to address gun violence in the city.  He said a special meeting of public safety and key community members is being scheduled to discuss a citywide effort to combat gun violence.

“The time is now for us to move with a sense of urgency to bring justice to the victims and peace to our city,” Gainey said in his statement. “It is critical that we come together now to help reduce the violence currently happening while we begin to do the long-term work of ending the culture of violence that is enabling the senseless loss of life we are experiencing today. We must say no more and never again.”

Anyone with information about the shooting can call the Pittsburgh Police Department’s Major Crimes unit at (412) 323-7161.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(RUIDOSO DOWNS, N.M.) — High fire danger continues in New Mexico, as very dry weather and gusty winds are leading to an increased risk while firefighters continue to battle a deadly blaze.

For days, hundreds of firefighters have been battling the McBride Fire in the village of Ruidoso in central New Mexico.

As of Saturday morning, the McBride Fire has burned through 6,195 acres in the Gavilan Canyon within Ruidoso and remains 0% contained, according to fire officials. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Fueled by timber downed by a significant wind storm, as well as brush and dry grasses on an arid landscape, the wildfire has burned 207 primary structures and multiple outbuildings since sparking Tuesday, officials said.

The bodies of two people were found in a home in Ruidoso on Wednesday, a day after the McBride Fire scorched the area, according to authorities. First responders located the bodies after family members noted that an elderly couple attempting to evacuate had been unaccounted for, police said. The couple has not yet been publicly identified.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she is “very proud” as residents have been reaching out to see what they can do to help amid the destruction.

“But there are no words to express — that’s a total loss,” she told the Albuquerque ABC affiliate KOAT. “Can you live back there again, where will you go?”

She said the state will be an “active partner” in the recovery process.

A second, smaller fire in Nogal Canyon north of Ruidoso has burned 433 acres as of Saturday morning since sparking Tuesday and is 4% contained, fire officials said.

Fire officials were optimistic Saturday about containment efforts with both fires, after being challenged by warm weather and high winds the previous day.

“Currently, you know, we’re 4% on Nogal, 0% on McBride, but you’ll see those numbers increasing today,” Dave Bales, incident commander for the McBride and Nogal Canyon fires, said during a briefing Saturday. “Today we expect a real successful day.”

Dangerous fire conditions persist Saturday for portions of western and central New Mexico up into the San Luis Valley in south-central Colorado, with a red flag warning in effect due to strong winds and low relative humidity. Wind gusts up to 50 mph are forecasted.

A voluntary evacuation order also has been issued in Larimer County in northern Colorado, as a wildfire has burned 114 acres and is 30% contained as of Saturday morning.

ABC News’ Julia Jacobo contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(RICHMOND, Calif.) — Celebrations are in order Saturday at the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park located in Richmond, California, for former National Park Service ranger Betty Reid Soskin.

Prior to her retirement just weeks ago, Soskin, at age 100, was the oldest active National Park Ranger serving the United States.

“To be a part of helping to mark the place where that dramatic trajectory of my own life, combined with others of my generation, will influence the future by the footprints we’ve left behind has been incredible,” said Soskin in a prepared statement and announcement from the NPS.

Soskin first joined the NPS in her 80s. In the early 2000s she was actively involved and participated in the planning effort to bring the Rosie the Riveter National Historical Park to the city of Richmond. She’s also credited with working to help uncover untold stories of African Americans on the home front during WWII.

“If we don’t know where we started, we have no conception of where we are or how we got here. Only if we go back and retrace our steps. And that’s what the park became for me,” Soskin said during a speech at the Rosie the Riveter Visitor Education Center, explaining what drove her to get involved with the park’s planning.

It was those efforts that led her to a temporary position with the NPS at age 84, and eventually a permanent role.

For more than a decade-and-a half she had led public programs at the park, providing broader context of the WWII war effort, and the backdrop of racism and segregation through her own life experiences. Her great-grandmother, born in 1846, was a slave until she was 19, freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. Soskin said she was 27 when her slave ancestor died at 102, during her speech.

“The National Park Service is grateful to Ranger Betty for sharing her thoughts and first-person accounts in ways that span across generations,” said Naomi Torres, acting superintendent of Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park. “She has used stories of her life on the Home Front, drawing meaning from those experiences in ways that make that history truly impactful for those of us living today.”

Soskin was born in Detroit in 1921 to African American parents. She spent her early years in New Orleans before “The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927” drove her family to relocate West to Oakland, California.

As a young woman during World War II, Soskin worked as a shipyard clerk for an all-Black auxiliary lodge of the segregated Boilermakers union. At the time, the union did not allow people of color and women to become union members.

In 1945, Soskin along with her husband founded one of the first Black-owned music stores, “Reid’s Records,” which shut its doors in 2019.

She would also later get involved in local politics, having served as a Berkeley city council member and as a field representative serving two members of the California State Assembly.

In 2015, Soskin introduced President Barack Obama during the national tree-lighting ceremony in Washington, D.C.

I heard Betty Reid Soskin is retiring at 100, and want to congratulate her for more than a decade of service as a National Park Ranger.

Betty, I hope you realize just how many people appreciate everything you’ve done—myself included. pic.twitter.com/lElFYwxVMg

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 2, 2022

It’s an experience, that she said, was “probably one of the greatest things I’ve ever done.”

“I was able to introduce the president, on the stage, to all of America,” Soskin recounted to CBS’s San Francisco news station.

On Saturday, the NPS will host a retirement ceremony for Soskin at the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park, which will be open to the public.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Five tipsters will split a $50,000 reward for providing police with information that led to the arrest of the suspect in Tuesday’s mass shooting on a New York City subway train, officials said.

The alleged gunman in the shooting, 62-year-old Frank James, was taken into custody on the streets of Manhattan Wednesday afternoon, about 30 hours after 10 people were shot on a Brooklyn N train.

While the manhunt was underway, police urged the public for help in locating the suspect. New York Police Department detectives identified five people whose tips “contributed directly to the arrest,” the NYPD said.

The five good Samaritans, who have not been publicly identified, will evenly split a combined $50,000 worth of Crime Stoppers rewards provided by the Police Foundation, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Transport Workers Union Local 100. Crime Stoppers rewards are distributed upon the arrest and indictment of an individual.

“We appreciate all of those who responded to our call for information to locate this suspect, including all of those whose tips did not pan out,” NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said in a statement. “We urged the public to join us in this effort to find this suspect and New Yorkers stepped up.”

Police have not shared what information helped lead to the arrest, and tipsters are offered anonymity. Though there have been several reports of witnesses spotting James after he was named as a suspect in the shooting, which occurred Tuesday morning on a rush-hour, Manhattan-bound N train as it approached the 36th Street station in Sunset Park.

A cellphone alert with James’ description went out to New York City residents at 10:21 a.m. Wednesday, and multiple sightings followed as the suspect wandered the streets of lower Manhattan.

At around 10:30 a.m., he was spotted sitting outside Dimes, a restaurant in Chinatown, sources said. Witnesses took pictures of him sitting, apparently using a Link NYC hub to charge his phone, and posted to social media, tagging police, sources said.

A few hours later, James was spotted getting lunch at Katz’s on the Lower East Side, sources said.

Just after 1 p.m. Wednesday, James called Crime Stoppers on himself, saying he was in a McDonald’s in the East Village, according to sources. James reportedly said: “I think you’re looking for me. I’m seeing my picture all over the news and I’ll be around this McDonald’s.”

By the time police arrived, James had already left the McDonald’s. But a good Samaritan spotted James nearby at St. Mark’s Place and First Avenue and flagged down police, sources said.

James was taken into custody without incident and charged by federal prosecutors with a terror-related offense. At his first court appearance on Thursday, he was ordered held without bail. He faces up to life in prison.

ABC News’ Aaron Katersky and Mark Crudele contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.) — The family of a man fatally shot by a police officer in Grand Rapids, Michigan, earlier this month is demanding that the officer be fired and prosecuted.

“It is an unjustifiable use of deadly force because police escalated a traffic stop into an execution,” civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Patrick Lyoya’s family, said during a press conference Thursday.

Lyoya’s mother, Dorcas Lyoya, who cried throughout the press conference, says she left her home in the Democratic Republic of the Congo “to escape war” and thought her son would be safe here, but is now heartbroken.

“As a parent, I was thinking maybe it was my son who was going to bury me, he will assist at my funeral, but what is so astonishing, I am the one burying my son,” Dorcas Lyoya said through the help of a translator.

Patrick Lyoya’s father, Peter Lyoya, compared his son’s death to crimes seen in other countries.

“I didn’t believe that in this country, that there was a genocide in this country, I didn’t know,” Peter Lyoya said through a translator.

Video of their son’s death on April 4 was recorded on an officer’s body camera, dashcam video, security cameras and a bystander’s cellphone. Police released the footage Wednesday amid community pressure.

The footage shows a white police officer, whose name has not yet been released, struggling with the 26-year-old after chasing him on foot following a traffic stop. The officer eventually forces Lyoya to the ground and is heard shouting, “stop resisting,” “let go” and “drop the Taser,” before shooting him in the head.

While many residents have expressed shock over the incident, Cle Jackson, the president of the Grand Rapids NAACP, says it was a matter of time before such an incident happened.

“We’ve been trying to bring reform for decades here. Some folks here have said, ‘a George Floyd will never happen in Grand Rapids. This would never happen in the city of Grand Rapids’. Now I always have to remind them it’s not if this is gonna happen, it’s just when it’s going to happen. And today is our real day,” Jackson told ABC News.

Jackson says issues involving police officers in the city have been going on for years. In 2018, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights opened an investigation after several complaints against the Grand Rapids police by Black residents, he said.

The department held public hearings where several people voiced concerns, but declined to set a timeline for when the investigation would be completed.

Jackson says the NAACP is intrigued to see if changes will come with the police department’s new chief, Eric Winstrom. The NAACP is joining with the family and Crump in calling for the officer to be fired, he says.

The Grand Rapids Police Officers Association did not immediately respond Thursday to ABC News’ request for comment regarding calls for the officer to be fired.

“I think [Winstrom] has an opportunity to come to Grand Rapids and do the type of cleanup work that needs to happen in this department…the number one metric or the initial metric that we will be able to determine if he is committed to improving community police relations for the city of Grand Rapids is to do the right thing and fire the officer,” Jackson said.

Winstrom said Wednesday that Grand Rapids Police and Michigan State Police are conducting an ongoing investigation and he would not comment further or take any action until after the investigation is completed.

He said the officer is a seven-year veteran of the department who is currently on paid leave and “stripped of all police powers” amid the investigation.

“I view it as a tragedy…It was a progression of sadness for me,” Winstrom said about the shooting.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Dozens of people were injured, including 10 by gunfire, in a mass shooting on a rush-hour subway train in Brooklyn, New York, on Tuesday morning, triggering a manhunt for the gunman.

More than 24 hours later, authorities announced they had apprehended a suspect in the shooting — 62-year-old Frank James of Philadelphia — and that federal prosecutors had charged him with a terror-related offense.

In the hours since the incident, hundreds of New York Police Department detectives have been on the case, scouring surveillance footage, interviewing witnesses and tracking leads from evidence left behind at the scene to plot out how the attack unfolded.

APRIL 6

Around 2 p.m., James rented a U-Haul in Philadelphia that was later recovered near a subway station in Brooklyn, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Department of Justice. The key to the van and a credit card, which law enforcement sources told ABC News was used to rent the U-Haul, were among the gunman’s possessions recovered from the scene of the shooting.

APRIL 11

James picked up the U-Haul from U-Haul Moving & Storage of Allegheny West at 2:03 p.m., sources said.

Around 6:17 p.m., James visited a storage facility in Philadelphia, according to the complaint. A receipt for the unit was found in a jacket that James discarded on the subway platform, authorities said.

While executing a search warrant on the unit on April 12, law enforcement agents said they had recovered gun parts and ammo, including “9mm ammunition, a threaded 9mm pistol barrel that allows for a silencer or suppresser to be attached, targets and .223 caliber ammunition, which is used with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle,” the complaint stated.

Agents found more gun parts during a search of James’ apartment, on April 12, according to the complaint, including “an empty magazine for a Glock handgun, a taser, a high-capacity rifle magazine and a blue smoke canister.”

APRIL 12

The U-Haul was captured by surveillance footage driving over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn just after 4 a.m., after crossing state lines from Pennsylvania to New Jersey and then to New York, according to the complaint.

Security cameras captured an individual wearing a yellow hard hat and “orange working jacket” toting a backpack and rolling bag leaving the U-Haul at approximately 6:12 a.m. at West 7th Street and Kings Highway in Brooklyn, according to the complaint. Police ultimately found the U-Haul nearby on Kings Highway, about three blocks from an N subway stop where James entered the subway system, authorities said. He entered the Kings Highway station at around 8 a.m., sources said.

The shooting unfolded shortly before 8:30 a.m., just as a Manhattan-bound N train approached the 36th Street station in Sunset Park. A man mumbling to himself on the train donned a gas mask and detonated a smoke canister before pulling out a handgun and firing 33 bullets, police said. Ten people, including three teenagers, were shot, authorities said. The hard hat and orange jacket were found at the scene, police said.

James eluded law enforcement by boarding an R train that pulled into the station and traveled one stop before exiting at the 25th Street station, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig. A surveillance camera recorded a man matching James’ driver’s license photograph exiting the 25th Street station at approximately 8:40 a.m., according to the complaint.

James was seen again that day at a Park Slope subway stop at 9:15 a.m., Essig said. He bought a new mask and entered the Seventh Avenue subway station, sources said.

James made it into Manhattan and, sometime that night, checked into the Chelsea International Hostel on West 20th Street, sources said.

Police named James as a person of interest in the investigation later that day.

APRIL 13

Social media posts circulated appearing to show James, now a suspect in the shooting, walking around Manhattan.

Multiple sightings began at around 10:30 a.m., when he was spotted sitting outside Dimes, a restaurant in Chinatown, sources said. Witnesses took pictures of him sitting, apparently using a Link NYC hub to charge his phone, and posted to social media, tagging police, sources said.

A few hours later, James was spotted getting lunch at Katz’s on the Lower East Side, sources said.

The NYPD received a tip saying the suspect was in Manhattan’s East Village, in a McDonald’s at Sixth Street and First Avenue, police said. After reviewing the 911 call, investigators believe James may have called the police on himself, an NYPD official told ABC News. James reportedly said: “I think you’re looking for me. I’m seeing my picture all over the news and I’ll be around this McDonald’s.”

Frank Robert James had nowhere else to run or hide — and is now in NYPD custody. The work of our detectives is second to none and the dedication of our patrol officers is never ending. pic.twitter.com/uOXliUvoJ7

— Commissioner Sewell (@NYPDPC) April 13, 2022

Responding officers didn’t see James in the McDonald’s. A good Samaritan spotted him nearby on St. Mark’s Place and First Avenue and flagged down police, sources said. James was taken into custody without incident at 1:42 p.m.

James was transferred into federal custody after his arrest and charged by federal prosecutors with a terror-related offense for an attack on mass transit, officials said.

APRIL 14

James made his first court appearance and didn’t enter a plea. He was ordered held without bail. His defense attorney, Mia Eisner-Grynberg, called the shooting a tragedy but said that initial information can often be wrong. She also lauded James for turning himself in.

ABC News’ Aaron Katersky, Mark Crudele, Luke Barr and Emily Shapiro contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Frank James, the man accused of opening fire on a subway train in Brooklyn, visited multiple Manhattan neighborhoods, including a stop at the famous Katz’s Delicatessen, as the NYPD scoured the city for him, according to police sources.

James, 62, was arrested in Manhattan’s East Village neighborhood on Wednesday afternoon, authorities said, more than 24 hours after 10 people were shot on a crowded N subway as the train pulled into Brooklyn’s 36th Street Station. Twenty-nine people were wounded overall in the chaos.

Police recovered James’ phone, credit card and MetroCard at the scene of the shooting, but he had a second phone and second MetroCard which police are now using to track his movements after he eluded capture at the scene of the crime, police sources told ABC News.

After the mass shooting during Tuesday morning’s rush hour, James switched subway trains, from the N to the R, and got off the train at the 25th Street Station around 8:35 a.m., sources said. He then took the B67 bus to Park Slope, where he bought a new mask and entered the 7th Avenue subway station at 9:18 a.m.

James made it into Manhattan and, sometime Tuesday night, checked into the Chelsea International Hostel on West 20th Street, sources said.

He emerged sometime Wednesday morning and began wandering the streets of Lower Manhattan, hiding in plain sight, sources said.

Multiple sightings began at around 10:30 a.m., when he was spotted sitting outside Dimes, a restaurant in Chinatown, sources said. Witnesses took pictures of him sitting, apparently using a Link NYC hub to charge his phone, and posted to social media, tagging police, sources said.

A few hours later, James was spotted getting lunch at Katz’s on the Lower East Side, sources said.

Just after 1 p.m. Wednesday, James called Crime Stoppers on himself, saying he was in the East Village at a McDonald’s at East 6th Street and First Avenue, according to sources. James reportedly said: “I think you’re looking for me. I’m seeing my picture all over the news and I’ll be around this McDonald’s.”

By the time police arrived, James had already left the McDonald’s. But a good Samaritan spotted James nearby on St. Mark’s Place and First Avenue and flagged down police, sources said.

James was arrested on a federal charge of committing a terrorist act on a mass transportation vehicle. James made his first court appearance Thursday and didn’t enter a plea. He was ordered held without bail.

James’ defense attorney Mia Eisner-Grynberg called the shooting a tragedy but pointed out that initial information can often be wrong. She also lauded James for turning himself in.

In a court filing, federal prosecutors called the shooting calculated and “entirely premeditated.” They noted James wore a hard hat and construction worker-style jacket as a disguise and then shed them after the gunfire to avoid recognition.

Prosecutors suggested James had the means to carry out more attacks, noting that he had ammunition and other gun-related items in a Philadelphia storage unit.

“The defendant, terrifyingly, opened fire on passengers on a crowded subway train, interrupting their morning commute in a way this city hasn’t seen in more than 20 years,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Winik said in court Thursday. “The defendant’s attack was premeditated; it was carefully planned; and it caused terror among the victims and our entire city.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — California will not require students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for at least another school year, health officials announced Thursday.

The earliest the requirement would go into effect is now July 1, 2023, pending full approval by the Food and Drug Administration of a COVID-19 vaccine for children under 16 years old.

State officials had initially said the mandate could be implemented as late as July 2022, depending on FDA full approval.

The state is delaying implementation of the mandate for the 2022-2023 school year “to ensure sufficient time for successful implementation of new vaccine requirements,” the state health department said.

“[The California Department of Public Health] strongly encourages all eligible Californians, including children, to be vaccinated against COVID-19,” State Public Health Officer Dr. Tomás J. Aragón said in a statement. “We continue to ensure that our response to the COVID-19 pandemic is driven by the best science and data available.”

California became the first state in the country to move forward on mandating COVID-19 vaccines for school children in October, when Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the state will require the vaccine for all school children ages 12-17 once the FDA grants full approval. The mandate allow exemptions for medical reasons, personal beliefs and religious beliefs.

Since then, one other state — Louisiana — has announced a vaccine mandate for school children, according to the National Academy for State Health Policy. The mandate, slated to go into effect for the 2022-2023 school year, would only apply to those who are eligible for a fully approved vaccine and includes an opt-out for parents.

Schools and universities around the country have also instituted vaccine requirements, including the Los Angeles public school district. Enforcement of its mandate requiring students ages 12 and up to be fully vaccinated was postponed from January to the fall to allow more time for compliance.

The FDA has granted full approval for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for those ages 16 and up, and for Moderna’s vaccine for those ages 18 and up.

Pfizer has requested to expand its approval to include those ages 12 to 15.

When the requirement was announced in October, 63.5% of Californa residents aged 12-17 had received at least one dose.

“For 12 to 17, we’re not where we need to be. And so we hope this encourages folks to get vaccinated,” Newsom said at the time.

Currently, 74.2% of residents aged 12-17 have gotten at least one dose.

ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(OXFORD, Mich.) — Parents and students called for greater safety measures and transparency at the Michigan high school where four students were fatally shot in a mass shooting last year.

Nearly five months after the massacre at Oxford High School, a group of concerned parents and students said that those who attend the suburban Detroit school still do not feel safe.

“Our children tell us they do not feel safe at school,” Lori Bourgeau, a parent of an Oxford student, said Thursday during a press briefing organized by the group Change 4 Oxford. “They don’t feel safe using the restroom, they don’t feel safe eating in the lunchroom.”

The group is calling for an immediate independent expert review of Oxford’s student safety procedures, with an updated school safety plan based on the review implemented prior to the start of the 2022-2023 school year. It is also calling for greater transparency into the school’s safety plan and to include students and teachers in the process.

Those who spoke during the emotional event said they have felt like their questions and concerns have not been addressed by the school.

“Just let the students talk,” Jeff Jones, the parent of two students at Oxford Community Schools, said during the briefing. “Ask the students what they need. Ask the students what would make them feel safe.”

His son, Oxford junior Griffen Jones, charged that new safety measures including clear backpacks and checking IDs at the school’s entrance “have done almost nothing.” He spoke about what it’s been like to be in school in the wake of the deadly shooting.

“Every day I pray that whatever conversation I have with my friends or anyone else isn’t my last with them or my last conversation ever,” he said. “Every day I pray that I won’t die on the high school floor because of the lack of caring they have shown towards me and my friends, the whole student body and teachers.”

“I hate waking up certain days because of the anxiety and stress and lack of safety and the thought gets to me sometimes in class and I can’t focus,” he said. “I don’t care about school half the time because most of the time I’m concerned for my safety, my teachers’ safety and my friends.”

Speakers were critical of school officials’ decision last year to decline Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s offer to lead an independent review. Nessel will be speaking with the community on Monday, the group said.

Parents also questioned the district’s decision not to go on lockdown after the high school received several threats on Friday.

In response to the group’s demands and concerns, Superintendent Ken Weaver said in a statement that the “physical safety and emotional well-being of our students and staff remains our top priority.”

“We value all parent and student input and continue to work with our students and parents through these difficult times,” he said.

Following the shooting, Weaver said the district has engaged with the community through meetings, phone calls, town halls, forums and surveys.

“Input from our students, staff and families has helped shape and drive our successful return to school plan and our school safety plans,” he said. “We have also consulted with mental health experts, security experts and local law enforcement in developing our plans.”

Four students were killed in the shooting on Nov. 30, 2021. Seven people, including a teacher, were also injured.

Prosecutors allege that the gunman emerged from a bathroom with a gun and started shooting in a hallway. The suspect, 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, allegedly opened fire on students and staff just hours after meeting with school counselors over disturbing drawings depicting a gun, prosecutors said.

A lawsuit alleges that the district failed to heed warning signs before the shooting, which the district has denied.

In the weeks following the shooting, the district announced a zero-tolerance policy toward threats, and that students would be removed from the school until a mental health evaluation could be completed. The district’s board of education also approved a resolution to initiate a third-party review of what happened before, during and after the shooting.

The district held a safety meeting with local first responders and government agencies to review safety procedures and protocols in February. Officials reported that student feedback on the clear backpacks “has been positive,” and that they are considering continuing using them next school year.

Officials also said they plan to create parent forums “to provide an avenue to share concerns and ideas.”

In a letter to the school community on the district’s response to Friday’s threats, Weaver said they did not want to “put students and staff through any unnecessary psychological trauma by going into a lockdown when it is not warranted.”

“I understand the importance to share as much information as possible with our school community during this time of healing,” he said.

Crumbley, who was charged as an adult, faces 24 counts, including four first-degree murder counts. Last month, his lawyer told the court that a psychiatric evaluation of the teenager has been completed and a written report of the results is expected to be available in 45 days. He plans to plead insanity, according to court filings.

Crumbley has pleaded not guilty and remains in jail. A pretrial hearing has been scheduled for April 21.

His parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, have also been charged with involuntary manslaughter after allegedly neglecting or failing to notice warning signs about their son in the months before the shooting. They also allegedly bought their son a 9-mm Sig Sauer pistol as a present just days before he allegedly used it in the shooting.

The Crumbleys have pleaded not guilty to the charges. They are due back in court on April 19 for a pretrial hearing.

ABC News’ Will McDuffie and Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(ALEXANDRIA, Va.) — A federal jury found ISIS fighter El Shafee Elsheikh guilty on all counts of being part of a core group of British terrorists known as the “Beatles,” who held hostage 26 westerners in a conspiracy that led to the murders of four Americans and at least two Britons.

The jury deliberated for less than a full day. Closing arguments came Wednesday and they were handed the case in the afternoon. By the time they finished lunch Thursday, they had reached a verdict.

“Elsheikh really incriminated himself,” despite wearing a mask as he and the other Britons brutalized her son, said Diane Foley, mother of New Hampshire-raised journalist James W. Foley.

Humanitarian aid worker Kayla Mueller’s dad Carl said justice was served, and added that he felt his daughter’s presence throughout the trial.

“This is what the families asked for. And this is what we got. It’s the American justice system at work at its best,” he told ABC News.

As the jury settled in for its short deliberations, Mueller approached Elsheikh’s defense team, thanking them for their service as court-appointed lawyers and assuring them of his respect. Some of the defense team wiped away tears. “I hold no malice toward them for what they do,” he said.

Many of the former hostages testified in graphic detail about the beatings and other cruelties inflicted on them, seated a mere 12 feet from the man now convicted of breaking ribs and slapping faces of captives the Beatles starved and tortured.

Because of an agreement with the UK, neither Elsheikh or co-defendant Alexanda Kotey, who pleaded guilty, faced the death penalty.

Elsheikh doesn’t deny fighting for ISIS but rested his defense in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on his claim that this was a case of mistaken identity about holding the westerners captive. He faces a life sentence for the conviction of holding hostages and causing the deaths of journalists and humanitarian aid workers.

In closing arguments Wednesday, federal prosecutors said Elsheikh was one of the men who brutalized American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, as well as aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller. The men were shown in ISIS videos in 2014-15 being beheaded by a black-clad and masked ISIS executioner nicknamed “Jihadi John” because hostages had dubbed the men the “Beatles” to discuss them while in captivity.

The videos shocked the world as the executioner — later named as Mohammed Emwazi — demanded the U.S. cease military strikes against ISIS.

Kayla Mueller, 26, of Prescott, Arizona, was reportedly killed by an airstrike by ISIS in February 2015. It was later revealed that she had been taken by ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and repeatedly abused and raped.

“Elsheikh, without a shadow of a doubt, is an ISIS Beatle,” prosecutor Raj Parekh told the jury.

But defense lawyer Nina Ginsberg countered that the U.S. never presented any hard evidence that the defendant was anything other than a foot soldier in ISIS battling the Syrian Army.

Despite evidence from a parade of former hostages and FBI agents who testified during the trial about what she described as “loathsome, brutal acts,” Ginsberg said the government failed to prove Elsheikh was a captor, and that he was “never identified at this trial by any of the former hostages.”

The U.S. instead relied primarily on Elsheikh’s own statements after his 2018 capture by Syrian Democratic Forces with fellow admitted ISIS Beatle Alexanda Kotey, who has pleaded guilty. They told several journalists, primarily British filmmaker Sean Langan, on video that they held the westerners captive, got family members’ email addresses from hostages such as Mueller, and beat others such as Danish photojournalist Daniel Rye.

Rye testified on Tuesday, revealing agonizing details of how the British ISIS members had stuck him in the ribs 25 times on his 25th birthday, hanged him by his hands and jammed the barrel of an MP5 submachine gun in his mouth.

He described the loyalty of Foley, who once had an opportunity to escape captivity but refused to abandon his comrade, the British journalist John Cantlie, whose whereabouts and survival remain unknown. Notably, Cantlie’s photo was shown to jurors alongside six other hostages known to have been killed.

The captors forced them to sing a version of “Hotel California,” emphasizing the line, “You can never leave” — but that was hardly the worst of their suffering.

Sotloff tried to leave letters for Mueller in a communal toilet, but they were caught and he, Cantlie and Foley were punished severely, he recalled. When he learned after 13 months he had been ransomed and set for release, Rye said Cantlie came to him.

“He wanted me to bring out a message. ‘If you cannot get us released, drop a bomb on this place – kill us,'” Rye said, as family members of hostages in the courtroom held each other.

By the time he and another hostage were told they were being released as the last two Europeans, Rye said the Americans and British hostages knew they were going to be executed. The U.S. began bombing ISIS in August 2014.

The Americans retreated silently to one corner of the small room, the British men in another corner. As he left the room, “I took one last look at my friends, and thought it was the last time I would see them alive,” Rye told the jury.

Prosecutors said all of the hostages who were brutalized and those ultimately murdered showed superhuman courage. They described a year or more of broken ribs, severe blows to the thighs called “dead legs,” stress positions, water deprivation, mock executions – and finally beheadings which, at least, ended their suffering.

“All these people wanted was to do the right thing,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Dennis Fitzpatrick said.

Sotloff’s father, Art, told ABC News that justice has been served.

“I feel like all of them are looking down on us, pattin’ us on the back for doing the right thing,” he said.

Editor’s Note: ABC News investigative reporter James Gordon Meek is the recipient of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation’s 2022 World Press Freedom Award for reporting on hostage cases since 1993.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.