(NEW YORK) — The U.S. State Department confirmed on Tuesday that a U.S. citizen was killed in Syria after disturbing videos surfaced showing him among a group of men apparently being executed by Syrian government forces.
“We offer condolences to the family on their loss and are providing consular assistance to them,” the State Department said in a statement. “We are greatly concerned when any U.S. citizen is harmed overseas, wherever they are. The United States calls for accountability in all cases where U.S. citizens are harmed abroad.”
Family and friends confirmed to ABC News that one of the men executed was Hosam Saraya, an American citizen.
The confirmation came after videos shared on social media last week showed eight men kneeling next to each other in civilian clothes, with a group of soldiers filming. In one video, the soldiers are seen talking to each other. Then, without warning, they open fire, shooting the unarmed, kneeling men dozens of times at close range.
The videos were filmed in Tishreen Square, in southern Syria, on the afternoon of July 16 amid ongoing fighting there.
ABC News has spoken to friends and family of Hosam Saraya, a American-Syrian citizen, and confirmed that he and other relatives were among those seen in the video being gunned down.
Besides Saraya, the family said his brother, Karim, their father, Ghassan, and their uncles and cousins were also shot to death in the incident.
The family showed ABC News Saraya’s American passport, confirming his U.S. citizenship.
The State Department is “looking into accounts of the death of an individual reported to have been a U.S. citizen in Syria,” a spokesperson said.
The Saraya family are Druze, the largest ethnic group in the city but a minority in Syria. Sectarian clashes broke last week between government forces and Druze, Sunni Bedouins and other Sunni factions.
A close friend of the Sarayas who worked with Hosam told ABC News that he spoke with Hosam and his relatives last Tuesday night and that they told him bombs had been falling around their home. On Wednesday, the friend, who only wants to be identified as Omar, heard from other family members that Hosam and the others had been taken from their home by government forces.
Saraya’s mother was left in their ransacked home, Omar said.
Sarah A. Miller/Idaho Statesman/Tribune News Service via Getty Image
(BOISE, Idaho) — Bryan Kohberger, the admitted killer in the University of Idaho quadruple murders, will be face-to-face with the victims’ families on Wednesday at his high-profile sentencing hearing, with President Donald Trump even weighing in on how it should unfold.
Here’s what to expect:
The case Roommates Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle, and Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, were stabbed to death at the girls’ off-campus house in the early hours of Nov. 13, 2022, sending shockwaves through the small college town of Moscow and capturing the nation’s attention.
Kohberger, a criminology Ph.D. student at Washington State University at the time, was arrested at his parents’ Pennsylvania home nearly seven weeks later.
After proclaiming his innocence for more than two years, Kohberger pleaded guilty to all counts at a July 2 change of plea hearing. The deal took the death penalty off the table; Kohberger will be sentenced to four consecutive life sentences on the four first-degree murder counts and the maximum penalty of 10 years on the burglary count. The sentencing hearing begins on Wednesday and could last through Thursday.
Families and survivors Sentencing is the first time the victims’ families — including the Goncalves, who have expressed anger with prosecutors over the plea deal — can speak directly to their children’s killer. They’ll get the chance to read victim impact statements in open court, though the parents of victim Ethan Chapin have said they’re not planning to attend.
“I would almost describe this as like a legal funeral, in the sense of, it’s your ability to give your last goodbyes in a situation where you’re talking about your pain, your anxiety, how you feel about the loss of a loved one,” ABC News legal contributor Brian Buckmire said. “Everyone grieves differently. Some people grieve by going to the funeral and speaking, some people grieve by going to the funeral and saying nothing, some people grieve by not going at all. And I think all are healthy, all are correct.”
The victims’ roommates, who have avoided the spotlight, might also speak at sentencing. The night of the murders, two roommates inside the house survived, including one woman who told authorities she saw a man in a mask walking past her in the middle of the night, according to court documents.
It’ll be up to the women whether they speak in court themselves, have an attorney or relative read a statement on their behalf, or decline altogether, Buckmire said.
Moscow police and the victims’ friends are also expected to be in the Boise, Idaho, courtroom. Moscow Police Chief Anthony Dahlinger said last week about sentencing, “Our hope is that not only the families, but the friends, even the Moscow community and all the communities that were affected by this, can start to heal and bring some sort of closure to this horrendous act.”
Will Kohberger speak? After the victim impact statements, Kohberger will have the opportunity to address the court, but he’s not required to do so, Buckmire said.
With a set sentence of life in prison, “there’s no incentive for him to speak,” Buckmire explained. “The [criminal justice] system just doesn’t operate that way — it’s not a rehabilitative process.”
“I think there’s a less than 50% chance he does speak, and a zero percent chance that he says anything that makes anyone walk away from this sentencing feeling any better,” Buckmire predicted.
Kohberger’s change of plea hearing on July 2 marked the first time his voice was heard in years. Judge Steven Hippler asked him a series of questions and Kohberger gave brief responses, showing no emotion. Defense attorneys have attributed Kohberger’s “flat affect” to autism spectrum disorder.
Kohberger’s attorneys said they will not speak until sentencing is finished.
Motive still a mystery Despite Kohberger’s admission of guilt, a motive for the killings has not been revealed, and Kohberger is under no legal obligation to disclose one.
Asked if police were able to find a clear motive, Dahlinger told ABC News last week that he could not answer.
Trump weighed in on social media Monday, saying he thinks Kohberger should be required to give a motive, “I hope the Judge makes Kohberger, at a minimum, explain why he did these horrible murders. There are no explanations, there is no NOTHING. People were shocked that he was able to plea bargain, but the Judge should make him explain what happened.”
Buckmire said a motive is not likely to ever surface.
“This isn’t a 30-minute true crime show where everything gets wrapped up in a nice bow at the end,” he said.
Police are, however, planning on releasing a large amount of information from the case later on, according to the department. Buckmire said those documents will likely relate to evidence and witness statements.
Once the hearing concludes and the judge formally sentences Kohberger, the convicted killer will be placed into the custody of the Idaho Department of Correction. He’ll then be evaluated to determine where he’ll be sent to prison.
(NEW YORK) — A 4-year-old child was attacked by a mountain lion at a national park in Washington state, officials said.
The incident occurred Sunday afternoon in Olympic National Park, near the Victoria Overlook area on Hurricane Ridge, according to the National Park Service.
The child was bitten by the mountain lion while walking with their family on a “popular trail,” park officials said.
Paramedics and park staff responded and transferred the victim via an air ambulance to a Seattle hospital, where the child is undergoing treatment, park officials said Monday. No additional details on the child have been released to protect their privacy, park officials said.
Following the attack, park rangers immediately began searching for the collared cougar, which was located and dispatched Monday morning, park officials said.
“There are no current threats to the public,” the National Park Service said in a press release on Monday.
The incident remains under investigation. Witnesses to the attack are urged to contact the parks service at 888-653-0009 or email nps_isb@nps.gov.
According to the National Park Service, cougars are typically elusive and attacks on humans are rare.
Photo by Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
(SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.) — Nearly two dozen whales have died in the San Francisco Bay Area in recent months, according to animal rescue groups.
A total of 19 gray whales, two unidentified baleen whales and one minke whale have died in the Bay Area region so far this year, according to the California Academy of Sciences.
At least seven of the gray whale deaths have been determined to be suspect or probable vessel strikes, according to the organization.
In addition, there has been an “unusually high” number of whale sightings in the Bay Area this year, with more than 30 individual gray whales confirmed in the region via photo identification, the Academy said, noting that the whales’ physical conditions have ranged from normal to emaciated.
About a third of the whales have stayed in the region for at least 20 days and researchers expect more sightings for another couple of weeks before the whales migrate north to Arctic feeding grounds. The whales breed off the coast of Mexico but should be farther north at this time of year, Kathi George, director of cetacean conservation biology at The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, Calif., told ABC News.
In 2024, just six gray whales were sighted in the region. Researchers are investigating the potential reasons behind the “massive” spike in sightings this year.
Animal rescue groups in the region have not responded to this many dead gray whale deaths since the unusual mortality event in 2019 that saw more than 70 gray whale deaths on the West Coast, and another event in 2021 in which 15 whales died in the Bay Area, according to the California Academy of Sciences.
An estimated 45% of the North Pacific gray whale population was lost between 2019 and 2023, the California Academy of Sciences said.
In previous unusual mortality events, the gray whale population has typically rebounded but after 2019, the populations have experienced continued declines, George said. The population was estimated to be at nearly 27,000 in 2016 but fell to as low as 13,230 animals in the winter of 2022-2023 as a result of the mass mortality event, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Marine researchers in the U.S., Mexico and Canada are monitoring the health of the gray whale population in hopes of gaining further insights into the unusual mortality event, the organization said.
Earlier this year, scientists in Southern California have reported a record-low gray whale calf count, “which is a cause for concern,” according to the Academy.
Only about 85 gray whale calves migrated past Central California on their way to feeding grounds in the Arctic earlier this year, according to NOAA.
“It shows signs of concern for this population as it moves forward into the future,” George said. “What we’re trying to learn is we know that climate change is changing ocean conditions and changing prey available availability for these whales in the Arctic.”
The Bay Area serves as a “puzzle piece” to the gray whales’ lengthy annual migration, George said.
Dead whales have been reported in the San Francisco Bay Area since March 30, when a female gray whale was found dead at Black Sands Beach, located in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The animal died from a probable vessel strike, according to The Marine Mammal Center.
The latest death occurred on July 7 at the Richmond Long Wharf, located about 20 miles north of San Francisco, according to The Marine Mammal Center. A dead female adult gray whale washed up adjacent to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge after suffering from blunt force trauma by a suspected vessel strike, the organization said.
A necropsy revealed hemorrhaging on the animal’s left side, between the head and pectoral fin, likely as a result of the strike, according to the Center.
“This latest gray whale caught everyone a bit by surprise given how late in the season it is and the fact that we had not sighted the species in the bay in nearly two weeks,” George said in a statement.
Gray whales typically have a “very low profile” in the water that can make them difficult to see, unlike other coastal whales, such as humpback whales, according to the Academy.
“It’s vital that all boaters – from large commercial vessels to sailboats – be ‘whale aware’ and continue to slow down,” the California Academy of Sciences said.
Further south, thousands of marine animals have been sickened by an unprecedented toxic algae bloom that has overrun the Southern California coasts.
Species such as seabirds, sea lions and dolphins have been impacted by elevated levels of the neurotoxic domoic acid produced by the algae blooms in the region. However, the harmful algae blooms aren’t related to the recent whale deaths in the Bay Area because gray whales transiting north don’t stop in Southern California to feed, George said.
“That is something we test for, though, when we are doing he necropsies – to see what they may have been exposed to recently,” she said.
(JACKSONVILLE, Fla.) — An investigation has been opened after a cellphone video that appears to show sheriff’s deputies punching and beating a Black man during a traffic stop went viral on social media, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
“We are aware of a video circulating on social media showing a traffic stop represented to be from February 19, 2025,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement on Sunday. “We have launched an internal investigation into it and the circumstances surrounding this incident. We hold our officers to the highest standards and are committed to thoroughly determining exactly what occurred.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — Attorneys for Harvard University and the American Association of University Professors asked a federal judge Monday to prevent the Trump administration from withholding federal funds from the school.
Lawyers for university are seeking a motion for summary judgment to prevent the administration from withholding federal funding if the school does not comply with its list of demands.
At a hearing Monday, the government argued that its grant contracts with Harvard include language saying the government can terminate its contracts if the school does not align with the government’s priorities.
“Harvard should have read the fine print,” Michael Velchik, an attorney for government argued.
Government attorneys say the government’s priorities include combatting antisemitism, and that the administration will not fund institutions that fail to address antisemitism to its satisfaction.
The same money could be sent to HBCUs or any other university that does not discriminate on the basis of race, Velchik said.
Saying that the government can terminate its contract regardless of the reason, Velchik argued that Harvard should bring a termination of contract claim in the Court of Federal Claims.
When the judge pushed back that claims of constitutional violations cannot be brought in that court, Velchik maintained that this is a termination of contract issue.
“This case is only about money. Harvard is the richest university in history,” Velchik said. “Harvard wants billions of dollars that’s the only reason why we are here.”
Velchik said that recent pro-Palestinian protests have prompted students on campus to wear baseball caps to hide their identity and have prompted professors to avoiding walking through Harvard Yard. Federal taxpayers should not support this, he argued.
President Donald Trump issued an order to combat antisemitism, and the government’s policy is that that taxpayer dollars do not go to institutions that fail to address antisemitism, Velchik said.
Attorneys for Harvard pushed back, saying they brought the case against the government to protect the school’s constitutional and statutory rights.
“Until today I’m not sure we heard any explanation about what the agency priorities are,” Steven Paul Lehotsky, an attorney for Harvard, said.
The provision of funding contracts that allows the government to terminate contracts in pursuit of its priorities refers to research priorities, not institutions that the government prefers, Lehotsky said. For example, shifting from funding Covid vaccines to something else, not shifting from funding one institution to another, he said.
“This is an astounding theory that only the executive branch could possibly love,” Lehotsky said.
Lehotsky argued that the government simply did not want to follow the procedures mandated by Title VI. They can’t choose to follow it whenever they decide it is convenient for them, he argued.
If they have a provision that they can terminate funding for any reason, “that doesn’t mean that they get to set aside the Constitution,” he said.
U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs said at the end of the hearing that she would try to get out an opinion as quickly as she can.
Trump, posting on his social media platform Monday, criticized Burroughs and called her “a TOTAL DISASTER.”
“She has systematically taken over the various Harvard cases, and is an automatic ‘loss’ for the People of our Country!” Trump wrote, saying that the government would “IMMEDIATELY appeal” if the judge rules in Harvard’s favor.
ABC News’ Arthur Jones II contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s attorneys on Monday asked a federal judge for a 30-day stay if he is ordered released from custody while awaiting trial.
The lawyers said their request comes after they were advised by the government that if released, the Department of Homeland Security would begin removal proceedings for the accused MS-13 gang member.
“Given the uncertainty of the outcome of any removal proceedings, Mr. Abrego respectfully requests that, should the Court deny the government’s motion for revocation, the issuance of an order releasing Mr. Abrego be delayed for 30 days to allow Mr. Abrego to evaluate his options and determine whether additional relief is necessary,” his lawyers wrote.
Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native, was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison — despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution — after the Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which he denies.
He was brought back to the U.S. last month to face charges in Tennessee of allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the U.S. while he was living in Maryland. He has pleaded not guilty.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw Jr. said he anticipates making a decision Monday on whether Abrego Garcia should be released pending trial.
The attorneys said in Monday’s filing that the government does not oppose their request for a stay.
(NEW YORK) — A Florida man was arrested last week for allegedly threatening on X to kill “EVERY ONE” on what he believed was the Jeffrey Epstein client list, charging documents unsealed Monday show.
Terrell Bailey-Corsey allegedly posted the threats on X last Tuesday, seemingly reacting to a response from X’s AI agent Grok that disputed any such client list exists, as the FBI and Justice Department recently confirmed.
“Well @grok you’re wrong. Everyone involved if I see them in real life I will KILL. On sight,” Bailey-Corsey allegedly said. “I will KILL EVERYONE ON THE LIST. ON SIGHT. AND THEY ABSOLUTELY DESERVE IT.”
Roughly an hour after that post, Bailey-Corsey posted another message singling out three government officials — unnamed in the charging documents — saying he would “KILL YOU ON SIGHT.”
“IT’S TIME TO START KILLING POLITICIANS ON SIGHT,” he added minutes later.
Prosecutors detailed multiple other concerning messages they say were posted by Bailey-Corsey over the next several days, including a video posted where he threatened another unnamed government official.
News of Bailey-Corsey’s arrest was first reported by CourtWatch.
A public defender listed as representing Bailey-Corsey did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
As of Monday afternoon, Bailey-Corsey had not yet made his initial court appearance according to court records, and had not yet entered a plea.
Epstein, a wealthy financier and convicted sex offender, died by suicide in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking of minors.
(WASHINGTON) — Attorneys for Harvard University and the American Association of University Professors are in federal court Monday to argue against the Trump administration’s withholding of federal funds from the school.
Lawyers for university are seeking a motion for summary judgment to prevent the administration from withholding federal funding if the school does not comply with its list of demands.
At Monday’s hearing, the government is arguing that its grant contracts with Harvard include language saying the government can terminate its contracts if the school does not align with the government’s priorities.
“Harvard should have read the fine print,” Michael Velchik, an attorney for government argued.
Government attorneys say the government’s priorities include combatting antisemitism, and that the administration will not fund institutions that fail to address antisemitism to its satisfaction.
The same money could be sent to HBCUs or any other university that does not discriminate on the basis of race, Velchik said.
Saying that the government can terminate its contract regardless of the reason, Velchik argued that Harvard should bring a termination of contract claim in the Court of Federal Claims.
When the judge pushed back that claims of constitutional violations cannot be brought in that court, Velchik maintained that this is a termination of contract issue.
“This case is only about money. Harvard is the richest university in history,” Velchik said. “Harvard wants billions of dollars that’s the only reason why we are here.”
(NEW YORK) — Pedro Hernandez, the man convicted of kidnapping and murdering Etan Patz in 1979, should be retried or released, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based its decision on a flawed jury instruction given by a New York state judge about Hernandez’s purported confessions.
Hernandez, 64, is currently in state prison serving a sentence of 25 years to life after he was convicted in 2017 of kidnapping and murdering Patz, the 6-year-old boy whose face was the first placed on a milk carton to seek public help finding missing children.
A spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said, “We are reviewing the decision.”
Because of the lack of physical evidence, the trial — Hernandez’s second, after the first jury hung — hinged entirely on Hernandez’s purported confessions to luring Etan into a basement as he walked to his school bus stop alone in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood.
Hernandez, who has a documented history of mental illnesses and a low IQ, initially confessed after seven hours of questioning by three police officers. Immediately after Hernandez confessed, the police administered Miranda warnings, began a video recording and had Hernandez repeat his confession on tape. He did so again, several hours later, to an assistant district attorney.
When deliberating, the jury sent the judge three different notes about Hernandez’s confessions. One of them asked the judge to explain whether, if the jury found that Hernandez’s confession before he was read his rights “was not voluntary,” it “must disregard” the later confessions. The judge responded, without further explanation, “the answer is, no.”
The federal appeals court concluded “the state trial court’s instruction was clearly wrong” and “that the error was manifestly prejudicial.” The court said Hernandez must be released or retried within a reasonable amount of time.
Hernandez, a stock boy at a local convenience store, was accused of luring Patz to the basement with a bottle of soda. Patz vanished on the first day he was allowed to walk to the school bus stop alone on May 25, 1979.
