(NEW YORK) — More than a year after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam ordered the removal of a giant statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in the state’s capital, the monument will be coming down this week, state officials announced Monday.
The statue, erected in Richmond in 1890, will be removed from Monument Avenue this Wednesday, nearly a week after the Supreme Court of Virginia cleared the way for the state-owned monument to come down following several legal battles.
“Virginia’s largest monument to the Confederate insurrection will come down this week,” Northam said in a statement. “This is an important step in showing who we are and what we value as a Commonwealth.”
Northam ordered the removal of the statue in June 2020, amid nationwide protests against symbols of racism and oppression that erupted following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis while in police custody.
Last week, the Supreme Court of Virginia denied or dissolved injunctive relief sought in two lawsuits challenging the statue’s removal — one filed by a descendant of the former owners of the land where the monument stands, the other by several owners and a trustee of property in the area’s historic district — allowing the state to move forward with its plans.
The removal of the 12-ton, six-story statue is “extremely complex,” the state’s Department of General Services said, and will require “coordination with multiple entities to ensure the safety of everyone involved.”
The removal process will begin Tuesday evening, when crews will install protective fencing on the streets near the monument. All cars and pedestrians will be cleared from the area at that time.
The state will host a public viewing of the statue’s removal beginning at 8 a.m. Wednesday. On Thursday, crews will remove plaques from the base of the monument. The 40-foot granite pedestal will remain for now, with its future still to be determined, the state said.
The statue itself will be held “in secure storage at a state-owned facility until a decision is made as to its disposition,” the state said.
This is the sixth and final Confederate statue to be removed from Monument Avenue.
“We are taking an important step this week to embrace the righteous cause and put the ‘Lost Cause’ behind us,” Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney said in a statement. “Richmond is no longer the capital of the Confederacy. We are a diverse, open and welcoming city, and our symbols need to reflect this reality.”
Last year, the busts of Lee and eight other Confederate leaders were removed from the Old House Chamber in the Virginia State Capitol building in Richmond. The Fairfax County School Board has also changed the name of the Robert E. Lee High School in Springfield to the John R. Lewis High School, in honor of the late Georgia congressman and civil rights leader.
A great-great-great-nephew of Lee has previously said that taking down Confederate symbols in public spaces is a “no brainer.”
“I see them as idolatries,” Rev. Robert Lee IV told ABC News last year. “They have been created into idols of white supremacy and racism.”
Over 160 Confederate symbols were renamed or removed from public spaces in 2020, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
(NEW ORLEANS) — A flash flood watch has been issued for New Orleans until late Monday night as Louisiana continues its path toward recovery following Hurricane Ida’s disastrous touchdown.
Some regions of southern Louisiana could see two to four inches of heavy rain, threatening neighborhoods still picking up the pieces from one of the strongest hurricanes on record to hit the state.
Ida killed at least 11 people in Louisiana and initially left almost a million without power as it dumped more than 13 inches of rain in some communities. According to local utility company Entergy, Ida damaged or destroyed more than 14,000 poles, 2,223 transformers and 155 transmission structures.
Now, half a million customers remain without electricity more than a week later, according to PowerOutage.us.
The region is also experiencing hot and humid conditions, with temperatures reaching 90. The humidity will make it feel more like 95 to 100 degrees, forcing a heat advisory for the city as residents lack the power to run their air conditioners.
Several regions are also without water and some have been placed under boil-water advisories, while other homes are suffering from structural damages. Power lines and trees across southern Louisiana were uprooted by the hurricane’s 172 mph winds.
NOLAReady: Flash flood watch in effect in NOLA until 9pm today. Storm-related debris could block drains. Stay weather aware. Neutral ground parking allowed.
Though the flash flood could hinder recovery efforts, the storm brewing in the southern Gulf is not predicted to become a tropical cyclone as it winds through the Gulf of Mexico. Still, officials are telling residents to stay alert.
The National Weather Service warns residents to move to higher ground, be cautious at night when it is harder to recognize flood dangers, and never drive their car into floodwaters.
Heavy rainfall of 1 to 2 inches per hour in isolated spots will be a concern this afternoon into this evening. Soils are saturated, so any rain will quickly run off. Debris could also block drains, and this could result in street flooding issues. #lawx#mswxhttps://t.co/1iyLMLOJTt
President Joe Biden visited Ida-damaged regions on Friday, linking Ida’s destruction to climate change and urging rebuilding efforts to take into account the growing impact of environmental disasters.
“Things are changing so drastically in terms of the environment,” the president said. “We’ve already crossed certain thresholds. We can’t build back a road, a highway, a bridge or anything to what it was before. I mean, you got to build back to what it is now, what’s needed now.”
(CHICAGO) — At least eight children were shot in Chicago over Labor Day weekend, including a 4-year-old boy who was killed when bullets fired outside his home flew through a window and hit him in the head while he was getting a haircut, police said on Monday.
A frustrated Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said at a news conference that the children being shot in Chicago are getting caught in the crossfire of criminals and their intended targets, both of whom appear not to care if children are in the way.
“I’m not trying to vilify the victim, but these innocent young children should not be the byproduct of your criminal behavior,” Brown said. “This is directly to the offenders who are being targeted: You know the life you lead, you know that you’re being targeted, or that you’ve done something to cause this retribution from some rival gang or some rival person. Why are you continuing to be around young people, our children?”
Seldom is it the case that children are directly targeted, Brown said, adding that “it’s always some other offender, gang member, criminal network, beef” in which adults are targeted and young people nearby “are shot as innocent bystanders.”
Mychal Moultry was the youngest child shot over the holiday weekend and police were still searching for his killer on Monday. A $9,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the identification, arrest and prosecution of the person responsible for the child’s death.
Chicago police said the 4-year-old was in his home in the Woodlawn neighborhood on the city’s South Side when shooting erupted outside the residence around 9 p.m. on Friday.
“This victim was inside his residence in the front area getting his hair cut when two bullets came through the front window and struck our victim in the head,” said Deputy Chief of Detectives Rahman Muhammad.
The child was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Muhammad pleaded for the public’s help in solving the homicide.
Shootings over the weekend in Chicago added to a grim toll of at least 280 minors who have been shot this year in the city, including now 35 who have died, according to data analyzed by ABC station WLS in Chicago.
At least seven other victims, ranging in age from 12 to 18, were shot in Chicago over the weekend.
Another 49 adults were shot in the city, four fatally, between 8 p.m. on Friday and 8 a.m. on Monday, including a Chicago Transit Authority bus driver who was shot and wounded on the job during an attack, according to a review by ABC News of police incident reports.
A 13-year-old boy was shot while inside his home on Saturday, Muhammad said. The shooting happened just before 8 p.m. on the South Side and police said no suspects have yet been identified.
The child was shot in the head and remains in serious condition at Comer Children’s Hospital, police said.
“He was inside of the basement area of his home with friends and someone shot into that basement window,” Muhammad said.
In another shooting on Saturday, a 14-year-old boy and his 11-year-old sister were both wounded at a community back-to-school event where they were doing volunteer work at the behest of their parents, according to police. The shooting unfolded abound 3:23 p.m. when two suspects opened fire from a car driving by the event, which was being held at a gas station in the Garfield Park neighborhood on the city’s West Side and included a bouncy house and go-karts for children.
“There were multiple shots that were fired into that crowd causing the injuries of our victims,” Muhammad said.
Police said the girl suffered a graze wound to her hip and her brother was shot in the ankle. They were taken to Rush University Medical Center, where they were treated and released. A 25-year-old man was also shot four times, including twice in the chest, in the same incident and was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
It remained unclear on Monday if the wounded man was the intended target.
Lamar Peterson, the father of the two children shot, told WLS he took his son and daughter to the event to “give back to the community” by volunteering to help children who are less fortunate than them.
“I don’t know what’s in these people’s heart that would make them want to shoot at a bouncy house and go-karts and cotton candy,” Peterson said.
In yet another shooting, a 14-year-old boy walking with his father to a car was hit by gunfire in the elbow around 10:30 a.m. on the city’s West Side, according to police. No suspects have been identified in the shooting.
Another 14-year-old boy was shot on Sunday in the Little Village neighborhood in the southeast part of the city. The boy was standing outside about 3 a.m. when shots rang out from a white car and he was hit in the thigh and buttocks, police said. The boy was treated at Mt. Sinai Hospital, and police are still working to identify suspects in the shooting.
And two teenagers, a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old, were both shot around 2 a.m. on Sunday while they were in a car in the Hyde Park neighborhood on the South Side traveling home from a party, police said. The 17-year-old was shot in the back while the other victim was hit in the leg, police said.
They were taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center and were both in stable condition, police said. No arrests have been made.
Chief of Patrol Brian McDermott of the Chicago Police Department said the weekend shootings came despite officers being deployed to neighborhoods where there has recently been an uptick in shootings.
Citywide a total of 2,344 people have been shot in the first eight months of this year in Chicago, a 9% increase from the same period in 2020, according to police department crime statistics. Police have investigated 524 murders this year, an increase of 3% over last year.
Brown asked residents of Chicago to work with police if they have information about any of the shootings.
“People in the community know who the offenders are and the circumstances behind who’s targeted, and we need people in the community to come forward,” Brown said. “This is beyond trusting the police. This is about the safety of our babies.”
(COLO.) — An investigation is underway after a 6-year-old girl was fatally injured on a ride at an amusement park in Colorado, officials said.
The incident occurred shortly before 8 p.m. local time Sunday at the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park, located atop Iron Mountain in Glenwood Springs, about 60 miles west of Vail.
The child was fatally injured while riding on the Haunted Mine Drop ride — which plunges riders 110 feet down a pitch-black tunnel in seconds — the Garfield County Coroner’s Office said.
Employees of the amusement park administered first aid until paramedics arrived and determined the child was dead, the coroner’s office said in a statement.
The name of the child, who was visiting with her family from Colorado Springs, has not been released pending notification of additional family members.
An autopsy is scheduled for this week, said the coroner’s office, which is investigating the death along with the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office.
In the wake of the fatality, the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park was scheduled to be closed Monday and Tuesday.
“Out of respect and concern for all parties involved, we will not have further comment until all details have been confirmed,” the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park said in a statement on its Facebook page Saturday. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to all involved.”
An incident has occurred on the Haunted Mine Drop ride that resulted in a fatality. An investigation is in progress. Out of respect for all involved, we have no further comment until details have been confirmed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all involved.
A message on the amusement park’s website informs visitors of the fatality, park closures and contact information for refunds.
“An investigation is ongoing,” the message says. “We are deeply saddened and ask that you please keep the family of the deceased in your thoughts and prayers.”
The Haunted Mine Drop, seen here, opened in 2017 and is the “world’s first drop ride to go underground,” according to the amusement park. It was named one of USA Today’s Most Anticipated Theme Park Rides of 2017 and the Best New Theme Park Attraction by USA TODAY’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards.
Riders must be a minimum height of 46 inches tall — almost 4 feet — and sign a waiver to ride the Haunted Mine Drop, according to the amusement park’s website. There are no age restrictions noted.
The section on the ride has since been removed from the amusement park’s website.
Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park is billed as the only mountaintop theme park in America.
Other “thrill rides” at the park include the Cliffhanger Roller Coaster, the highest-elevation, full-sized roller coaster in America, at 7,160 feet above sea level, according to the amusement park; the Giant Canyon Swing, located at the edge of a cliff 1,300 feet above the Colorado River; and the Soaring Eagle Zip Ride, which pulls riders 600 feet up the mountain.
(NEW YORK) — As many children and teens return to a new school year after Labor Day, educators and advocates are sounding the alarm on the challenges faced by Black and Hispanic students.
Those students were left behind during the pandemic, according to a Department of Education report released this summer, that showed the COVID-19 pandemic worsened disparities in access and opportunities for students of color in public schools.
“The pandemic has exacerbated preexisting inequities,” said Shavar Jeffries, president of advocacy group Education Reform Now. “Our school districts need to implement evidence-based interventions to address any learning loss that our students experience.”
The pandemic turned the world upside down and students, educators and administrators had to adapt to a changing world. Some students began virtual schooling, which highlighted gaps in internet and technology access.
According to the 2020 Census data, about 1 in 10 Black and Latinx homes lacked consistent computer access, compared to only 6.7% of white households — meaning children had a harder time accessing online classroom materials, homework or virtual classes themselves.
The data also showed that Black households were twice as likely as white households to report inconsistent internet access, and Latinx households were one-and-a-half times more likely than white households.
For others, schooling wasn’t the only hurdle amid the COVID-19 pandemic. For some, the virus hit close to home.
Many students were faced with sick or dying family members, friends and neighbors. Hispanics are about two times more likely to catch COVID-19, according to the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Black children made up 20% of those who lost a parent to COVID-19 prior to February 2021, despite only making up 14% of all children in the U.S, according to JAMA Pediatrics.
Black and Latinx adults were at higher risk of contracting COVID-19, and were more likely to be hospitalized or die from the virus, according to the CDC. Adding to these horrific outcomes, social isolation forced many to face new mental health struggles.
“This has been such a disruptive event that has touched a lot of families personally, and children, they take all of this in,” said Amalia Chamorro, the director of the Latino civil rights organization UnidosUS’s Education Policy Project.
“It’s going to be important for school systems to provide wraparound supports to not only help students get back on track with unfinished learning but also to provide assistance and support along the way,” Chamorro added.
Education advocates are hoping teachers and school administrators turn these statistics into learning opportunities for supporting students of color. She said accelerating students forward, instead of focusing on remediation, can help students who’ve fallen behind during the pandemic.
“You start with the current grades competency … then you could pinpoint where students are struggling and provide that support,” Chamorro said.
Culturally competent outreach services, tutoring and counseling can help turn the tide on disparities in education, she added. Chamorro also said that offering Spanish-language resources to Latino and Hispanic families so they can address needs at home and help students outside of the walls of school can make a big difference.
Chamorro also recommended reaching out to local community organizations that can help students find safe spaces to talk about mental health, schooling and mentorship from people who understand their cultural background.
However, Marc Morial, President and CEO of the civil rights group National Urban League, said that teachers are the experts in the classroom and that local and federal governments should be listening to them about what their students need to succeed.
“People have to understand the interdependency of the issue, and the necessity of ensuring that we close these resource gaps in education,” Morial said. “These young people have borne the most difficult brunt of the pandemic and have to be given extra support. And I think the smart thing to do is to say to teachers: ‘What do you need? We have resources, how should we deploy them?'”
(HAMMOND, La.) — Hurricane Ida ravaged Louisiana and much of the East Coast, killing at least 59 people across eight states and leaving thousands without power — and often without a hot meal.
That’s where Operation BBQ Relief comes in. The nonprofit, which serves barbecue meals to those in need after national disasters, says it has deployed to 80 natural disasters since 2011 to feed families and first responders.
“I do this time and time again,” said Jeremy Bruce, Operation BBQ Relief’s Head of IT, who arrived in Louisiana this week. “You know, ‘From the frying pan into the fire,’ as they say, and literally because it’s hot, it’s hard. But when you see the impact that you make, it makes all those sacrifices worth it.”
The volunteer group arrived in Hammond, Louisiana, on Aug. 30 to serve hot meals to the community impacted by Ida.
“We’re trying to get meals out into the community as fast as possible. We got in on Monday afternoon. We rolled in fired up the generator and started putting sausage links on the smoker,” Stan Hays, CEO and co-founder of Operation BBQ Relief told Good Morning America.
Hurricane Ida was the fourth-fastest intensifying hurricane on record and left some areas with up to 15 inches of rain. Local Louisiana officials warned it could take weeks before the power is fully restored.
“Our community has been completely devastated,” Kaite McCaleb of Hammond, Louisiana, told ABC News. “We’ve lost homes. We’ve lost cars. My car flooded and a tree fell on my house.”
With power lines down, most stores and restaurants remain closed, making food resources difficult to come by. The free meals were a resource McCaleb said she was grateful to find.
“It makes us feel like we’re not alone and we’re cared for like, people care about Louisiana,” she said. “They gave us a warm meal when there was no other way we can get one, so we’re very thankful.”
So far the group says it has given out thousands of meals in Hammond.
“It’s a barbecue meal. I mean, it’s pulled pork, it’s a vegetable, it’s a roll. In the big scheme of things, that’s really not anything. But on that day, when you’re the lowest of low, and somebody just hands you a hot meal, it just totally changes your day and makes you kind of want to go on and continue,” volunteer David Keith said.
The devastation hits home for Keith and other staff and volunteers.
“Our house was basically underwater from (Hurricane) Sandy. We lost everything. Before Sandy I had never thought about volunteering,” he said.
After that experience, he knows “firsthand what that hot meal means.”
“It really makes you realize what’s important in life when you see people who lost everything and their whole day is brightened up by that one hot meal,” Keith said.
(POLK COUNTY, Fla.) — A former Marine sharpshooter dressed in full body armor and wielding an automatic weapon allegedly went on an early-morning shooting “rampage” in Polk County, Florida, on Sunday, killing four strangers, including a mother and her baby, and wounding an 11-year-old girl before giving up, authorities said.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said the suspect allegedly told investigators the victims “begged for their lives, and I killed him anyway.”
He was arrested on four counts of first degree murder, one count of attempted first degree murder, seven counts of attempted first degree murder on a law enforcement officer, shooting into an occupied dwelling, two counts of armed burglary with battery, arson and cruelty to an animal, according to the probable cause affidavit released by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. He is now at Polk County Jail.
The shooting unfolded before dawn at two adjacent homes on the same property near Lakeland, Florida, about 35 miles east of Tampa. A sheriff’s lieutenant two miles away heard the volley of automatic gunfire, responded to the scene and radioed for backup, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said at a news conference.
Judd said that nine hours earlier, deputies received a 911 call from the same home and that a woman reported a strange man parked near her residence who allegedly told her he was there because “God sent me here to speak with one of your daughters,” Amber, to prevent her from committing suicide. Judd said the woman and another witness told the suspect there was no one by that name who lived at the residence and told him to leave or they were going to call the police.
The sheriff said deputies responded to the 911 call within six minutes, but the man was nowhere to be found.
The sheriff said the same man, who he identified as Bryan James Riley, 33, of Brandon, Florida, returned to the home around 4:30 a.m. Sunday and allegedly unleashed a barrage of fatal gunfire.
“We find zero connection between our shooter, our murderer and our victims,” Judd said.
The sheriff said that when deputies first approached the home where the shooting occurred, they saw a truck on fire and a path leading from the road to the house illuminated by glow sticks.
“At that moment in time, as we approached, we saw an individual totally outfitted in body armor and looked as if he was ready to engage us all in an active shooter situation,” said Judd, adding that deputies initially did not see the man holding a gun.
He said the suspect immediately retreated into the house and deputies heard another volley of automatic gunfire that was followed by a woman screaming and a baby crying.
Judd said a sheriff’s lieutenant initially tried to enter the front door, but it was barricaded. When the lieutenant went to the back of the house, a gunfight erupted.
“The suspect shot at our lieutenant. Our lieutenant returned fire and backed out of the house,” Judd said.
He said three deputies in front of the house were pinned down by gunfire directed at them and that other officers returned fire, giving the trapped deputies time to get out of harm’s way.
“I can tell you there were at least dozens if not hundreds of rounds fired this morning between our suspect and our deputies who were directing fire back at him,” Judd said.
No law enforcement officers were injured in the incident, Judd said.
He said that when the shooting subsided, Riley, who was shot once in the shootout, walked out of the home with his hands up and surrendered.
Judd said that after the suspect was arrested, deputies and Lakeland police officers heard sounds coming from inside the house and shouted out orders for people to come out. He said deputies briefly entered the home and found an 11-year-old girl shot at least seven times but still conscious.
“She looks our deputies in the eyes and said, ‘There’s three more dead people in the house,'” Judd said.
He said deputies removed the girl from the home and she was airlifted to Tampa General Hospital, where she was undergoing surgery Sunday morning and is expected to survive.
Fearing the residence was booby-trapped, a robot was sent into the house to search for explosives, he said. Deputies then entered the home and discovered three people fatally shot, a man and a mother cradling an infant in her arms.
Deputies found the fourth victim, a woman who was fatally shot in a nearby house on the same property.
Judd identified one of the victims as Justice Gleason, 40. He said the other victims were a 33-year-old white female, her 3-month-old baby and the infant’s 62-year-old grandmother.
The sheriff said the suspect also shot and killed the family dog, “Diogi,” who was named after a Polk County Sheriff’s Office K-9 that was fatally shot along with his handler, Deputy Sheriff Vernon Matthew Williams, in 2006.
Judd said a preliminary investigation, which he cautioned is subject to change, indicates the suspect drove to the Lakeland area from his home near Tampa and has no connection to the people he allegedly killed and hurt.
“At this early point in the investigation, we don’t know how he ended up there or why he ended up there,” Judd said. “But he showed up twice in nine hours.”
After being taken into custody, Riley allegedly told deputies that he is a “survivalist” and that he had been using methamphetamine.
“This guy admitted to us that he was taking those drugs before he went on this active shooter rampage,” Judd said.
He said that when Lakeland police officers took the suspect to a hospital to be treated, a scuffle broke out and the suspect allegedly tried to grab one officer’s gun.
“They had to fight with him again in the Lakeland emergency room,” Judd said. “Once we got him tied down, they gave him medication to render him unable to fight any longer and they could continue to treat him.”
When questioned by investigators, Riley allegedly confessed to everything.
“The suspect denied knowing the victims and when asked for a motive for shooting the infant, the suspect replied, ‘…because I’m a sick guy. I want to confess ti all of it and be sent to jail,'” the affidavit states. “The suspect also admitted to setting fire to a pick-up truck at the incident location for the purpose of creating an exit strategy.”
Judd said investigators digging into Riley’s background learned he was trained as a Marine sharpshooter and was honorably discharged after serving tours in both Afghanistan and Iraq. He said Riley was working as a bodyguard for an executive protection company.
Judd said Riley’s fiancé told investigators he suffered from post traumatic stress disorder and that he allegedly claimed he had been getting instructions from God to do certain things. According to the probable cause affidavit, she also said Riley told her, prior to the shooting, that God was telling him to go save a woman named Amber’s life.
Randolph “Randy” Murdaugh IV and John Marvin Murdaugh speak with ABC News for an interview that aired on “Good Morning America” on June 17, 2021. – (ABC News)
(VARNVILLE, S.C.) — More than two months after his wife and son were murdered, a prominent South Carolina attorney was shot on the side of the road Saturday, police and family representatives said.
Alex Murdaugh, 53, called 911 Saturday afternoon to report being shot near Varnville, South Carolina, in Hampton County, according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED). Murdaugh said he was changing a tire when a car passed him, turned around and then someone in the car shot him, a family spokesperson told ABC News.
Murdaugh was airlifted to Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, Georgia, for treatment of a superficial gunshot wound to the head, according to SLED. He was in stable condition at the hospital Sunday afternoon, the family spokesperson said.
On June 7, Murdaugh’s wife, Margaret “Maggie” Branstetter Murdaugh, 52, and his son, Paul Terry Murdaugh, 22, were found dead with multiple gunshot wounds near the family’s hunting lodge on their property in Colleton County, South Carolina. No arrests have been made in connection with their killings.
“The Murdaugh family has suffered through more than any one family could ever imagine. We expect Alex to recover and ask for your privacy while he recovers,” the Murdaugh family spokesperson said in a statement shared with ABC News.
The family has been a fixture in the South Carolina legal community for over 80 years. Three generations of Murdaughs have served as the elected solicitor in the 14th Judicial Circuit.
Murdaugh works at the Hampton-based law firm that was established by his grandfather 100 years ago and serves as a volunteer prosecutor.
SLED is leading the investigations into Saturday’s incident and the June murders. The agency said it has spent the entire weekend collecting evidence, interviewing witnesses and following up on leads into Murdaugh’s shooting.
His Mercedes SUV was impounded, according to SLED. As of Sunday evening, no arrests have been made.
Margaret and Paul Murdaugh’s murders have devastated the family hard and left them seeking answers.
“It’s just hard to imagine somebody can be so sick as to do this, intentionally kill people like that,” Randy Murdaugh, Alex’s brother, told ABC News in June.
Paul Murdaugh was a student at the University of South Carolina and awaiting trial on a charge of boating under the influence causing death in a 2019 crash that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach, whose body was found a week later. The Murdaugh family told ABC News that Paul received threats from strangers, but they were never believed to be “credible.”
SLED is asking anyone with information about Saturday’s shooting to contact Crimestoppers of the Lowcountry at 843-554-1111.
(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 643,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.5 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 61.7% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news was developing. All times Eastern:
Sep 05, 6:51 pm
Nearly 350 children currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in Texas
Nearly 350 children are currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in Texas, state data shows.
According to the Texas Department of State Health Services’ online COVID-19 dashboard, which was last updated on Sunday afternoon, there are 345 pediatric patients in hospitals across the Lone Star State. That number was up from 282 on Thursday afternoon.
The data also shows there are 73 staffed pediatric intensive care unit beds available in all of Texas.
Since the new school year began in Texas last month, some 52,000 students have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the data.
Sep 05, 5:09 pm
Moderna booster shots delayed by at least one week: Fauci
Booster shots for the Moderna vaccine will have to wait at least one week after the president’s Sept. 20 target because of the delay in submitting data, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday.
Fauci told CNN that Pfizer was able to submit its data to the Food and Drug Administration about their mRNA vaccine booster shot earlier, and “it’s been examined and ready to go.” Moderna is behind in submitting its data causing the delay.
“What you might see is rather than the simultaneous rolling out of the booster program of both those products you may have be sequential by about a week or two,” he said. “I don’t think that is a major issue there, but we would have liked to have seen it happen all together simultaneously.”
(PORTLAND, Ore.) — The Aug. 22 clash between far-right groups and counter-protesters in Portland was the latest in a series of violent confrontations that have rocked the city over the last year.
While last month’s incident was not as destructive as the riots that took place last summer, it highlights how the city, with its reputation as a liberal bastion amid the state’s early history of white supremacy, has become a proxy in the culture wars, researchers said.
City officials said in an October 2020 statement that in recent months, alt-right groups amassed in Portland in response to the Black Lives Matter movement and measures intended to combat COVID-19.
“Portland’s leadership in racial justice reform and community demands for change have made the city a target for right-wing politicians and white supremacist groups, who use Portland as a rhetorical tool for division,” the statement said.
Portland Police instead say that instead of a rise in right-wing extremism, there has been an increase in violent disputes that take place in public.
Randy Blazak, the chair of the Oregon Coalition Against Hate Crimes, a non-profit that works with community groups and local, state, and federal governmental agencies to combat hate groups and their activities, told ABC News that the recent conflicts have been decades in the making as groups like the Proud Boys, which were at the Aug. 22 incident, are using their feuds with the far left to fuel their cause around the country.
“Portland being the largest metropolis in the Northwest, is where these ideologies collide,” he told ABC News.
Blazak and other experts who have researched far-right activity noted this problem has been decades in the making due to the growing presence of the far-right groups and changing demographics along the West Coast.
The experts noted that it will be difficult to combat that buildup, especially as people from outside the city join in on the rallies, but there have been proven solutions that can mitigate the damage to the city and residents.
Far right ties to city stretch back for decades
Cassie Miller, a senior research analyst with the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, who has been monitoring the far-right activity in Portland, told ABC News that Oregon has been attractive to white nationalists due to its origin as a state that excluded Blacks and minorities.
Although the state’s founders prohibited slavery in 1843, it enacted laws that prohibited Black settlers a year later. The 14th Amendment nullified the exclusion laws in 1868, however, they remained part of the state constitution until 1926.
Miller noted that the Ku Klux Klan had a strong presence in Oregon during the early 20th century using the state’s history as a rallying message.
“The region itself has long played a prominent role in the imagination of white power activists, who see it as the ideal place to create a white ethnostate,” she said.
In the ’80s, Oregon, and Portland, in particular, saw a jump in neo-Nazi and skinhead groups, Miller said. In 1988, three skinheads murdered Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian immigrant in Portland, which resulted in both an increase in far-right groups and more action by leaders and law enforcement to curb the violence, according to Miller.
Blazak said anti-skinhead groups also began forming during the ‘90s and physically engaging with their opponents. The city would be dubbed “skinhead city” because of these clashes, according to Blazak, who’s been living in Portland since 1995.
As law enforcement cracked down on both groups and the number of public fights decreased, Portland saw a jump in new residents, many of whom were minorities and younger groups, as well as a more progressive environment, according to Blazak.
“It’s this strange intersection of the history of Portland,” he said, “There is this bubble where newer residents think it’s been this liberal oasis and there is the long history of white supremacy that’s bumping up against it.”
Recent increase in activity and violent counter protests
A mix of new factors, including an active social media scene that helped to get either side’s message to a bigger audience has reignited the public feud in Portland, according to Blazak.
“We’re seeing a modern version of skinhead city with Proud Boys verses ANTIFA,” he said.
Miller said far-right groups, especially the Proud Boys, have been mobilizing since the beginning of the Trump administration, spurred on by the former president’s rhetoric as well as other far-right growth throughout the world.
West Coast cities like Berkeley, Seattle and Portland saw the biggest far-right rallies outside of Charlottesville and they only grew in the wake of George Floyd’s death in May 2020, according to Miller.
Miller said that the far right is now using social media to their advantage to bolster their presence with a calculated scheme.
The cycle begins with them holding a rally or crashing a public event hosted by the far left, instigating the other side’s members into a public fight and sharing it online with a message about how the far-left is hurting the city, according to Miller.
“Their main goal was to create a conflict with anti-fascists, get it on film and then put it on social media as propaganda,” she said.
“I think within the left there has been a snowballing effect,” Miller added. “These groups like the Proud Boys create violence and that goes for a need for retaliation.”
Blazak said Portland’s situation was exacerbated by the number of far-right groups that had been operating in the Portland suburbs. Since those rallies have begun, Blazak said there have been reports of Proud Boys members from outside the state joining in.
“There is this false narrative that Portland is burning down by ANTIFA and the city is being run by communists. That brings the far-right wingers to Portland and that’s for photo ops,” he said.
Since the protests and clashes begin last year, Proud Boys members and figureheads have claimed the anti-fascist groups in Portland needed to be protested and fought.
Blazak said that despite what some reports might say, the majority of people who took part during last year’s George Floyd protests were not part of any violent far-left group.
Indeed, representatives from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland said last August that there was no evidence that the protesters that were arrested during the demonstrations had links to ANTIFA or other violent anti-fascist groups.
City’s latest response questioned
Portland Mayor Tim Wheeler and the Portland Police have come under fire for their responses to the far-right’s growth and rallies, particularly the Aug. 22 incident.
The rally turned into a riot with people throwing items at each other, damaging vehicles and buildings and shooting paintball pellets, according to police. More officers were called in and had to use mace and smoke to disperse the crowds. No one was seriously hurt, according to the police.
Police said on Wednesday they have identified six people involved with the violence and are on the lookout for more suspects who were involved in the incident.
Two days before the incident Wheeler held a Zoom news conference where he was joined by the civil rights groups and other community organizers and urged those who attended the event to, “Choose love.”
Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell, who was also part of the news conference, said that officers would be in attendance but not keep the warring crowds separated.
“People can and should keep themselves apart and choose to avoid violent physical confrontations,” Lovell said during the news conference.
Representatives for Wheeler’s office didn’t immediately respond to messages left by ABC News asking for comment.
The mayor has repeatedly condemned both the far-right and the far-left groups and the public fights that have been going on for over a year.
“Hate and hate groups have no place in our city. Violence has no place in our city. Bigotry has no place in our city. We will not tolerate acts of violence, destruction, prejudice or intimidation,” he said during the Aug. 20 news conference.
Miller said that the Portland Police have traditionally taken a laissez-faire approach to the far-right rallies, but this old tactic is feeding right into the group’s goals.
“Not only does that place communities in danger, but it also acts as a signal to the far right that their actions are essentially sanctioned by law enforcement,” she argued.
In a statement to ABC News, Portland Police Sgt. Kevin Allen defended the department’s actions that day, saying officers have to “respond in an impartial manner, irrespective of political perspective, while respecting constitutional rights for all participants.”
“Unfortunately, over the past three years or so we’ve seen these events where two or more opposing sides arrive specifically to confront each other, and some engage in violence with one another,” he said in a statement. “That adds additional complexity, as we often get criticized for responding too much or too little, or responding in a way that is seen as favoring one side or another.”
Blazak said the police could have done a better job at separating the groups but acknowledged that the Portland Police Department’s resources are limited. In June, the department’s crowd control unit resigned after one of its officers was indicted for assaulting a protester, who had no ties to any radical group, last year.
Solutions
Even with the limited city resources, Blazak and other experts say there are strategies that law enforcement and organizers can implement to curb the violence between the far-right and the far-left.
The Department of Justice and other police forces in the country have implemented a system where far-right protesters and their opponents are separated by “a football field length” during the planned event, Blazak said.
“It’s to keep the groups separate, so there isn’t direct contact. Therefore, those media images aren’t created. Everyone gets free speech, but they don’t have the right to street violence,” he said.
Miller also said that keeping the groups as far apart as possible is the best solution and added that city officials and law enforcement need to be on the lookout for violent members who are known to attend rallies.
Miller also said that there needs to be a stronger effort to stop counter-protesters and anti-fascist groups from playing into the far-right group’s hands.
She noted that in several cities groups have protested the Proud Boys and other far-right groups with planned peaceful demonstrations, often with singing, where they ignore any instigation.
‘They usually have a bigger crowd,” Miller said. “Not only does it drown out the far right, but it also strengthens community ties.”
Ultimately, the experts said the community, police and other stakeholders will have to address the long-standing problem of Oregon’s far-right and white supremacist organizations and their recruitments to their cause.
“A lot of this work has to be done at a community level. Prevention work has to be done at the community level with people who are at most risk of being radicalized,” Miller said.
