Jason Allen Glidewell II, 19, is wanted in a shooting, August 28, 2025, on Interstate 85 in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, that left a 20-year-old driver dead and his female passenger injured./ (Virginia State Police)
(NEW YORK) — A manhunt for the suspect in a Virginia freeway shooting that left a 20-year-old driver dead and his passenger injured intensified on Tuesday when state police asked for the public’s help and released photos of the alleged gunman and his vehicle.
The suspect was identified as 19-year-old Jason Allen Glidewell, who the Virginia State Police said should be considered armed and dangerous.
The shooting unfolded Thursday afternoon on Interstate 85 in Mecklenburg County, about five miles from the Virginia-North Carolina border, according to a statement from the state police. A motive for the shooting remains under investigation.
The victim killed in the freeway shooting was identified by state police as 20-year-old Hunter A. Bates, of Colonial Heights, Virginia.
Bates was driving northbound on Interstate 85 when he was shot around 3:47 p.m., according to the state police. Bates’ car swerved off the freeway and came to a rest in a culvert, police said.
Bates was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police. His passenger, a woman whose name was not released, was taken to a local hospital, treated and released, police said.
“State Police are asking anyone with information regarding this incident to please contact the Virginia State Police Division 3,” according to the state police statement.
Authorities on Tuesday released a photo of Glidewell, who is believed to have ties to the Richmond and Henrico, Virginia, area.
“On August 28, 2025, Hunter’s life was cut short by a senseless act of violence that has left our hearts broken. As we come to terms with this unimaginable loss, we are reminded of how precious and fragile life is,” Bates’ family said of Hunter Bates in an obituary published by the Owen Funeral Home in Jarratt, Virginia.
ABC News’ Benjamin Stein contributed to this report.
Views from the Drift Hotel March 25, 2019 Overseas Highway, Key Largo Florida (Photo by Paul Harris/Getty Images)
(KEY LARGO, Fla.) — An 8-year-old boy was bitten by a shark while snorkeling off the coast of Key Largo, Florida, on Labor Day, officials said.
The incident occurred around 3:24 p.m. on Monday, Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post. The child was airlifted by Trauma Star to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.
A good Samaritan, identified as Richard Hayden, heard calls for help over the radio and helped guide the boy’s boat to shore, according to an incident report. Hayden assisted the child’s father in applying tourniquets to the boy’s right leg to control bleeding before emergency responders arrived, the report stated.
Officials notified the U.S. Coast Guard and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission about the incident. The Key Largo Fire Department said they believed the attacking shark was a reef shark of unknown length.
The boy’s current condition has not yet been released.
This attack marks the latest in a series of shark encounters in the Florida Keys region. Last July, a 37-year-old man survived multiple bites from a bull shark while spearfishing near a reef off Key West.
(EVANSTON, Ill.) — Officials in Illinois are searching for a Northwestern University professor who was reported missing after leaving home to go on a walk, according to the Evanston Police Department.
Nina Kraus, a 72-year-old professor at the university’s school of communication, was last seen on Monday after she left her Evanston home to go on a walk at approximately 9 a.m. local time, officials said. Her family reported her missing the same day, officials said.
“The University is hopeful that with the community’s help, we can find Professor Kraus and assure her safety,” Northwestern said in a press release on Monday.
She was last seen wearing long pants and a windbreaker, and was believed to be carrying a dark backpack, officials said.
Kraus is 5 feet, 4 inches tall, weighs approximately 140 pounds and has long silver hair, police said.
On Tuesday, police said they would be flying drones along the waterfront of Lake Michigan as part of the investigation.
According to her faculty bio, Kraus’ is a “scientist, inventor and amateur musician who studies the biology of auditory learning.”
“My research on sound and the brain aims to understand how our life in sound, for better or worse, alters the processing of sound in the brain, makes us us, and affects the world we live in,” Kraus wrote in her bio.
Officials said anyone with information on Kraus’ whereabouts should contact police at 847-866-5000.
A still from police body camera footage at the scene of a deadly fireworks incident in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Sept. 1, 2025. Tulsa Police Department
(TULSA, Okla.) — A 13-year-old boy died while setting off fireworks in Oklahoma, according to police.
The incident occurred Monday evening near an apartment complex in Tulsa, where a group of boys were setting off “mortar-style fireworks,” according to police.
Someone in the group told police that the victim “was holding the tube with the mortar facing his head when it ignited,” the Tulsa Police Department said in a statement.
A small grass fire also ignited near the complex in the explosion, police said.
Witnesses pulled the teen away from the fire and called 911, police said.
Firefighters responded and attempted lifesaving efforts on the teen, who was reported to be in cardiac arrest, according to police.
He was transported to a local hospital, where he died, police said. Authorities did not release the name of the victim.
“This is a stark reminder that fireworks can be extremely dangerous,” the Tulsa Police Department said. “Please take every precaution when handling them.”
Stock image of police lights. Douglas Sacha/Getty Images
(ST. GEORGE, Utah) — A college student in Utah has died after falling off a balcony just days after the academic year began, according to the university and fire officials.
At approximately 5:45 p.m. local time on Sunday, fire officials and paramedics responded to reports of a “fall from a balcony” at Utah Tech University’s Campus View Student Housing, St. George Fire Chief Robert Stoker said in a statement to ABC News.
The student — who has not been identified — was transported to St. George Regional Hospital where they died “due to the injuries sustained in the fall,” Stoker said.
The university said in a statement to ABC News that the community is “devastated by the loss of a member of our Utah Tech family” and that the student will be “deeply missed on campus.”
“We are thinking of the family and friends and will continue to support one another as we grieve together during this difficult time,” the university said.
Mental health professionals are available for students, faculty and staff “needing assistance processing this tragedy,” the university said.
Classes for the new academic year at Utah Tech began on Aug. 20, according to the school’s calendar.
The Utah Tech University Police Department did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
(CHICAGO) — At least 58 people have been shot, eight fatally, across Chicago over Labor Day weekend, including a drive-by attack that left seven victims wounded, according to police.
The violent holiday weekend came as President Donald Trump renewed threats to send federal agents and National Guard troops to Chicago over the objections of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Trump on Saturday sent a warning to Pritzker in a post on his social media platform, referencing recent crime in Chicago and saying Pritzker “better straighten it out, FAST, or we’re coming!”
Pritzker, a Democrat, responded in a news conference a week ago to an earlier Trump threat to “straighten out Chicago, just like we did D.C.,” by saying that the president’s plan was “unprecedented and unwarranted. It is illegal, it is unconstitutional, it is un-American.”
Johnson responded last week by saying in part that he had “grave concerns about the impact of any unlawful deployment of National Guard troops to the city of Chicago,” and calling Trump’s approach “uncoordinated, uncalled for, and unsound.” Johnson also said that deploying the National Guard in Chicago could “inflame tensions between residents and law enforcement.”
On Saturday, Johnson signed an executive order dubbed the “Protecting Chicago Initiative,” which he described in a news conference as “the most sweeping campaign of any city in the country to protect ourselves from the threats and actions of this out-of-control administration” and which “directs our department of law to pursue any and every legal mechanism to hold this administration accountable for violating the rights of Chicagoans.”
“We have received credible reports that we have days, not weeks, before our city sees some type of militarized activity by the federal government,” Johnson said, in part. “We take these threats seriously and we find ourselves in a position where we must take immediate, drastic action to protect our people from federal overreach.”
At least 37 separate shootings occurred in Chicago between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Monday, according to a review by ABC News of police incident reports published online.
The victims included a 17-year-old girl who was inside her home when a bullet came through a front window and hit her in the arm, a 31-year-old man who was shot in the leg after getting caught in the crossfire of gunmen shooting at each other from two vehicles, and two people who shot and injured while driving down a street, all according to the incident reports.
Fewer than five hours after Trump posted a message on social media on Saturday criticizing Pritzker’s handling of crime in Chicago, a mass shooting occurred in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago’s South Side that left seven people wounded.
“He better straighten it out, FAST, or we’re coming!” Trump said in his post about Pritzker.
The shooting in Bronzeville occurred about 11:10 p.m. on Saturday on South State Street, according to police. A group of people were gathered outside in the area when a vehicle drove by and at least one occupant opened fire on the crowd. All seven people shot, five men and two women ranging in age from 28 to 32, were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries to their lower extremities, police said. No suspects have been arrested.
The first of eight homicides that police say occurred over the long holiday weekend happened at 11:56 p.m. on Friday at the South Shore apartment complex on East Essex Street, where two women were discovered shot, according to police.
A 25-year-old woman was found in the apartment suffering from two gunshot wounds to her stomach and one to her leg, according to a police incident report. She was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center where she was pronounced dead, according to authorities. The victim’s name was not immediately released.
The second victim, a 23-year-old woman, suffered gunshot wounds to both legs and was in fair condition at the University of Chicago Medical Center.
Investigators were interviewing a person of interest in the East Essex Street homicide but no arrests have been announced, according to police.
Elsewhere, two men were shot, one fatally, in the East Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago around 11 a.m. on Saturday, according to police. The victims were standing outside on North Sawyer Avenue when a dark SUV approached them and a gunman exited the vehicle and opened fire, according to a police incident report.
A 29-year-old man, whose name was not immediately released, was shot multiple times and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to police. The second victim, a 32-year-old man, suffered a gunshot wound to his right side and was in stable condition at Mount Sinai, police said. No arrests have been announced in the incident.
Also on Saturday, gunfire erupted in the Altgeld Gardens neighborhood. Around 7:46 p.m., a 43-year-old woman was standing outside on E. 131st Street when five armed men approached her and opened fire, striking her multiple times, according to police. The victim, whose name was not immediately released, was taken to Christ Hospital where she was pronounced dead, police said.
No arrests have been announced in the Altgeld Gardens homicide.
Around 1:39 a.m. on Sunday, a 46-year-old man, whose name was not immediately released, was killed in a triple shooting that occurred in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago’s Lower West Side, according to police. The victims were standing on West 17th Street when a gunman walked up to them and opened fire, police said.
The two other victims, a 41-year-old man and a 43-year-old man, suffered gunshot wounds to their legs and were in good condition at Mount Sinai Hospital, police said.
Around 2:52 a.m. on Sunday, a 33-year-old man was killed in the West Inglewood neighborhood on the Southwest Side of Chicago, police said. The victim got into a argument inside a residence with a man who shot him in the head, according to police. The victim, whose name was not immediately released, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police. No arrests were announced.
The violence continued Sunday night as police launched two more homicide investigations.
A 26-year-old woman was fatally shot around 7:28 p.m. on Sunday in the Pullman neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side after getting into a verbal altercation with another woman, police said. The victim, whose name was not released, was shot in the chest and taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead, according to police. No arrests have been announced.
Also on Sunday night, police discovered a man lying on the ground suffering from multiple gunshot wounds in the Little Village neighborhood of southwest Chicago, police said. The victim, who was found on S. Drake Avenue, died at the scene, police said. No suspects have been identified.
At least three additional shootings unfolded early Monday in the city, including one that left five people wounded, including a 17-year-old boy who was in critical condition after suffering multiple gunshot wounds, police said.
Just after 1 a.m. on Monday, police were called to the Oakland neighborhood on the city’s South Side for a report of a large disturbance on South Cottage Grove Avenue, according to a police incident report. Upon arrival, officers followed the sound of gunfire to an area where they found the five shooting victims and four discarded firearms, according to police. Besides the critically wounded teenager, police said the four other victims, ranging in age from 26 to 36, were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.
One person of interest was being questioned in the Oakland neighborhood shooting, but no charges have been announced.
Around 11:20 a.m. on Monday, a 48-year-old man was fatally shot in the West Elsdon neighborhood of southeast Chicago, according to police. The victim, who was taken in critical condition to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to police. He was standing outside of a residence when a gunman approached him and opened fire, striking him multiple times in the abdomen, according to police. No arrests have been announced.
The series of shootings came after President Donald Trump said last week that he is prepared to order National Guard troops to American cities in addition to those in the nation’s capital, but that he wanted local officials to request his help.
Trump threatened to make Chicago the next city he would target after he declared what he said was a public safety emergency in Washington, D.C., and he put the city’s police force under federal control on Aug. 11.
Violent crime in Chicago has dropped significantly in the first half of the year, according to official data released by the city. Shootings are down 37% and homicides have dropped by 32% compared to the first half of 2024, while total violence crime dropped by over 22%, according to the crime statistics.
“Do not come to Chicago, you are neither wanted here nor needed here,” Pritzker further said in response to Trump during a news conference last week. “Donald Trump wants to use the military to occupy a U.S. city to punish its dissidents and score political points. If this were happening in any other country, we would have no trouble calling it what it is – a dangerous power-grab.”
ABC News Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.
(HOUSTON) — A 42-year-old Texas man is facing a murder charge in the shooting of an 11-year-old boy after the victim and his friends banged on the suspect’s door late Saturday night in what police described as a “ding-dong-ditch” prank that has been trending on TikTok and other social media platforms, authorities said.
The suspect, Leon Gonzalo Jr., was arrested and booked at the Harris County Jail on Tuesday morning, charged with one count of murder, according to Harris County court records.
The shooting unfolded around 10:55 p.m. on Saturday at a home in southeast Houston, according to the Houston Police Department.
The child, who police initially said was 10 years old, was pronounced dead at a hospital on Sunday afternoon, according to a statement released by police. The boy’s name was being withheld by police pending an autopsy.
“Officers were told the male was ringing doorbells of homes in the area and running away. A witness stated the male was running from a house, after ringing the doorbell, just prior to suffering a gunshot wound,” Houston homicide detectives said.
It remained unclear if Gonzalo is the owner of the home where the door-kicking prank occurred, or whether he just lived there.
The prank allegedly committed in Houston is similar to what’s being dubbed the “door-kicking challenge,” a national trend based on an old prank called “ding dong ditch,” in which groups of kids record videos of themselves kicking and banging on doors of homes and apartments before running away and then posting the videos on social media platforms such as TikTok.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(HARRISBURG, Pa.) — Three people have been hospitalized, including one child and a woman in a wheelchair, after a minivan drove through the Kipona Festival in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Monday.
It is unclear if the act was intentional at this time, according to police. The driver is in custody and officials are investigating.
The Kipona Festival is an annual, three-day event held over Labor Day weekend that celebrates the region’s Native American heritage.
During a press conference Monday evening, Harrisburg Bureau of Police Captain Atah Akakpo-Martin said the vehicle came through one of the barricaded areas just after 6 p.m. when festival ended.
The three people who were hit include a 6-year-old boy, who is in critical condition, Harrisburg Mayor Wanda Williams said. The other two adults, a man in the city’s traffic engineering department and a woman who was in a wheelchair during the incident, are in stable condition, the mayor said.
It is uncertain if the driver was alone in the car or if the driver was injured at the time, officials said. Photos from the scene show the red minivan sustained damage to the front of the vehicle in the incident.
The minivan came to a stop after hitting multiple objects and driving for multiple blocks through the festival, police said.
(BLACK ROCK CITY, Nev.) — Officials in Nevada are investigating a homicide after a Burning Man participant was found dead, according to the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office.
On Saturday at approximately 9:14 p.m., a sheriff’s deputy was alerted by an event participant at Burning Man — an annual festival that takes place in Black Rock City, Nevada — that there was a man “lying in a pool of blood,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement on Sunday.
Officials “immediately responded” to the campsite and found a “single white adult male lying on the ground, obviously deceased,” according to authorities.
Law enforcement then created a perimeter around the area, with the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office’s Forensic Science Division assisting in “processing the scene and collection of evidence,” officials said. The sheriff’s office also noted that they interviewed “several participants in the immediate area.”
But as of Sunday, the investigation was “still ongoing,” with portion of the festival’s “City” having “heavy law enforcement presence until the scene can be released,” according to officials.
“Although this act appears to be a singular one, all participants should always be vigilant of their surroundings and acquaintances,” the sheriff’s office said.
On Monday, the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office told ABC News that detectives are actively receiving tips and tracking down information related to the death.
There have been no arrests, officials said.
The identity of the body, which will be transferred to the Washoe County Medical Examiner’s Office, has not been identified by officials, the sheriff’s office noted.
Burning Man said in a statement they are “cooperating with law enforcement” as the investigation continues, and three public WiFi spots will be available for attendees who “need to communicate with loved ones,” the festival said.
As of Monday, no further information regarding the incident was available, officials said.
Officials said anyone with any additional information regarding the incident should contact the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Josh Nicholson through dispatch at 774-273-2641.
Burning Man is a “temporary metropolis in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert,” according to its website.
“Tens of thousands of people converge on a dry lakebed in Nevada, build a fully functional city where they live and work for week, then make it disappear without a trace. In this crucible of creativity, all are welcome!” the festival’s website said.
The sheriff’s office told ABC News investigation is made more difficult by the fact that Black Rock City is a temporary city that is disappearing Monday, now that attendees have left, so officials have to work before evidence disappears. Because that death happened in such a remote location in the desert, cell phone service is non-existent in most areas, so video and surveillance evidence is not as available as it would be elsewhere, officials said.
(HOUSTON) — An 11-year-old Texas boy has died after being shot in the back when he allegedly attempted a door-knocking prank on a neighbor, police said.
The shooting unfolded around 10:55 p.m. on Saturday at a home in southeast Houston, Shay Awosiyan, a spokesman for the Houston Police Department, told ABC News.
The child, who police initially said was 10 years old, was pronounced dead at a hospital on Sunday, according to a statement released by police. The boy’s name was being withheld by police pending an autopsy.
“Officers were told the male was ringing doorbells of homes in the area and running away. A witness stated the male was running from a house, after ringing the doorbell, just prior to suffering a gunshot wound,” Houston homicide detectives said.
One person detained for questioning had been released, but was detained again as a possible suspect in the shooting after police were notified around 2 p.m. local time on Sunday that the child had died, Sgt. Michael Cass of the Houston Police Department said at a news conference on Sunday.
Cass said it was unclear if the man being detained was the owner of the home where the deadly door-knocking prank occurred.
A search warrant was served on the home, and Cass said a significant amount of weapons were found inside the house.
“The possible suspect has been detained and interviewed but not yet formally charged,” Cass said.
Cass said the victim, who lived about a block away, was running away from the house with at least two friends when a witness saw a man exit the home with what appeared to be a handgun and fire multiple rounds in their direction.
After being hit in the back, the victim ran about a block before collapsing in the street, Cass said.
The prank allegedly committed in Houston is similar to what’s being dubbed the “Door Kicking Challenge,” a national trend based on an old prank called “Ding Dong Ditch,” in which groups of kids record videos of themselves kicking and banging on doors of homes and apartments before running away and then posting the videos on social media platforms such as TikTok.
In July, a 58-year-old Texas homeowner was arrested and charged with aggravated assault when he allegedly fired multiple rounds at a vehicle fleeing his home in Frisco after someone banged on the front door, according to a statement from the Frisco Police Department.
The driver of the car that was shot at around 10:50 p.m. on July 28 and two passengers contacted police to file a complaint, showing officers three bullet holes in the vehicle, according to police.
“However, during subsequent interviews, all admitted to ding, dong, ditching in a random neighborhood when they were confronted by a male with a firearm,” the Frisco police said in a statement.
In June, police in Chandler, Arizona, released video footage of a group of juveniles committing the “Door Kicking Challenge,” alleging the group pulled the prank on the same home at least 18 times, prompting the homeowner to move out.
“Let’s be clear: These ‘pranks’ can have serious consequences and lead to charges such as criminal damage, disorderly conduct, or harassment,” the Chandler Police Department said in a message to parents in the community. “Parents — please take a moment to talk with your children. Know where they are, who they’re with, and what they’re doing.”
Police in Fort Worth, Texas, posted a similar community message in May after receiving more than 20 complaints of young people committing the “Door Kicking Challenge.”
“It can be mistaken as an attempted break-in, potentially prompting dangerous or defensive responses from homeowners,” the Fort Worth Police Department said in a statement. “What may seem like a prank can result in very real trouble and/or danger.”
