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(KNOX COUNTY, Ohio) — A series of phone calls from a concerned mother helped set in motion what turned out to be a nationwide investigation that uncovered an alleged plot to attack the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House last weekend and led to the arrest of one of the suspects, according to authorities.

ABC News obtained phone calls made to the Knox County Sheriff’s Office in Ohio, including one by the mother of 19-year-old Tycen Proper, whom federal prosecutors have charged with conspiring against the United States, attempted murder of an officer of the U.S., and firearms crimes in connection with the alleged plot.

Authorities said Proper’s mother first called her cousin, who happens to be the chief deputy of the sheriff’s office, on June 10 — just four days before the White House event was set to take place. The deputy chief later called the dispatch center to describe his conversation with Proper’s mother and asked if a Danville, Ohio, police officer was available to go to her house and talk with her, according to the recordings obtained by ABC News.

“They are having some issues with their son, and I think, I don’t think anybody’s in immediate danger, as in this second, but I know she has concerns with weapons and ammo, and particularly a mindset that her oldest boy is in right now,” the cousin said.

“She’s probably going to call you,” the cousin added, “But in case she doesn’t, maybe dispatch him [a Danville police officer] up there right away so that he can get a handle on what’s going on. She called me on my phone all panicky, and I’m like, ‘Well, I’m at home, there’s nothing I can do, but I’ll call and get somebody on the way.'”

The dispatcher immediately issued a radio call to send an officer to Proper’s home, saying that the mother had “concerns about her son and having problems with him. She did mention something about guns and ammo and wanting somebody to check out,” according to the call recording.

A short time later, the mother called dispatch and said she wanted to file a report about her son to have it on record. The dispatcher asked if her son was there.

“Yes, we just got all of his guns and ammo out of his room and put it, got it out off our property. He just came inside and he’s probably going to discover it’s not in his room,” Proper’s mother replied.

“What’s going on, though? Is he like, is he suicidal? What’s going on?” the dispatcher asked.

“Oh no, he’s just … I don’t … we don’t even know what he’s wanting to do. He’s wanting to leave this weekend and go with a group of people to help, like, fight the corrupt government,” Proper’s mother replied, according to the call recording.

By the end of the evening, Proper had been taken to Knox Community Hospital for an emergency medical admission, according to police records. Those records indicate he had a history of suicidal ideations.

According to body camera footage from the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, also obtained by ABC News, after Proper left with deputies, his mother continued sharing her concerns with authorities.

“He’s texting somebody. If you go ahead and get a hold of his phone or his text messages, it’s all in there,” she tells authorities, according to the body camera footage. “It’s all on his phone. I saw him on Google Maps, he had a little pin dropped in it. I saw on Google maps, Washington, D.C.”

Describing a conversation to police she said she had with her son, she said he told her, “It’s a hit-and-a-run type of thing. I’m, like, Oh, that doesn’t sound good.”

The following day, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office contacted the FBI, which searched Proper’s iPhone, according to charging documents.

“During a preliminary search of the device, investigators observed chats on Signal groups that laid out detailed plans to conduct an attack in Washington D.C. with several unidentified confederates,” charging documents stated. “In the chat, detailed imagery of the National Capitol Region and maps of the area were shared to a group of which PROPER was a member, highlighting sniper locations, potential drone launch locations, and other detailed tactical planning.”

Later that day, investigators interviewed Proper at the medical facility where he had been taken where he “admitted to planning with others a coordinated attack against the United States government during the UFC event scheduled to take place on the White House lawn in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, June 14, 2026,” according to the charging documents.

The phone calls from Proper’s mother provide insight into what began as a local police investigation and quickly turned into a nationwide investigation involving the FBI, Secret Service and ATF that resulted in the arrests of five people in four states, including Proper.

“My client takes the allegations against him very seriously and we are going to take the case one step, and one day, at a time as we move the case forward,” Joseph Patituce, attorney for Proper, said in a statement to ABC News.

According to police records obtained by ABC News, the guns, ammunition and other tactical gear that was taken from Tycen Proper’s room by his family was located at the home of his grandfather and turned over voluntarily to the to the Knox County Sheriff’s Office for safekeeping. Those items would eventually be the subject of a federal search and seizure warrant.

Authorities are still working to identify and locate other people whom they say may have been involved in the alleged plot.

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(WASHINGTON) — As the city of Philadelphia fights to preserve the slavery memorial at the President’s House, a federal appeals court ruled that the Trump administration can remove and replace the exhibit at the site of President George Washington’s former home.

The Thursday ruling comes after the Trump administration stated in a court filing on Wednesday that it removed panels at the exhibit — some of which were restored in February following a judge’s order — because they allegedly “disparage” Americans.

The outdoor memorial, “From Enslavement to Emancipation,” is located at Independence National Historic Park. The exhibit tells the stories of the nine people enslaved by Washington.

The unanimous appeals court decision tosses a February district court ruling that ordered the National Parks Service (NPS) to restore the panels that were removed from the site. NPS took down the outdoor memorial in January before it was partially restored in February after a district court ruling, but not all materials were returned to the site.

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that while the city had standing to sue, the lower court wrongly interpreted the contract claims brought by the city and determined that they don’t have merit. 

“In sum, the City has standing to sue because it alleges that its contractual rights were violated, but we should not, as the District Court did, mistake that jurisdictional determination for a conclusion that the City’s underlying statutory and contract claims have merit. They do not,” the appeals court ruling said.

ABC News reached out to the city of Philadelphia but requests for comment were not immediately returned.

Asked about the appeals court ruling and about a potential timeline for replacing the exhibit, a spokesperson for the Interior Department on Thursday provided ABC News with a three-word statement: “Trust in Trump.”

The city of Philadelphia argued in a lawsuit filed in January that by removing the panels “without notice,” NPS violated various congressional laws, as well as a 2006 agreement NPS made with the city and laid out the terms for building the exhibit, which opened to the public in 2010.

Amid pending litigation, NPS shared proposed changes to the panels at the slavery memorial that were published on its website in April.

The images shared by NPS don’t show photos of the original panels, but share proposed new panels and revised text. Of note, are proposed changes to the panels titled “Presidents Washington and Adams on Slavery,” and “The Constitution and Slavery.”

The appeals court’s ruling said, “These new panels are full of historical context. They highlight the momentous events that took place in the President’s House and the other sites at Independence National Historical Park. They acknowledge the evil of slavery, including its injustices and hypocrisies, and, by telling the story of the nine slaves that Washington kept in the President’s House, remind us of their essential humanity.”

The ruling added, “Given all these developments, we cannot agree with the District Court that the exhibit removal six months ago was NPS’s last word on the matter.”

Avenging the Ancestors Coalition (ATAC), the advocacy group founded by attorney Michael Coard in 2002 to advocate for the building of the memorial, criticized the [proposed changes in an April statement, calling the replacement panels “deeply offensive.”

“The National Park Service’s most recent posting of proposed replacement panels at the President’s House Slavery Memorial is deeply offensive and represents yet another troubling attempt to distort and censor American history,” the group’s statement said, criticizing NPS for not consulting with ATAC before proposing the new panels.

“What we are seeing now is not restoration–it is revision,” ATAC’s statement added. “It is an attempt to sanitize history and present a version of the past that is more comfortable, but far less truthful.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Interior Dept. told ABC News in a statement on April 9 that the changes underscore the administration’s commitment to “celebrating and acknowledging the full breadth of our nation’s history.”

“The hard work and sacrifices of the men and women who built this nation deserve to be remembered and honored,” the spokesperson said. “By telling the full story, every triumph, every challenge, and every step towards a more perfect union we strengthen our shared understanding and ensure that future generations inherit not just the land we love, but the truth of the journey that brought us here.”

The Interior Department told ABC News in several statements that the removal of the exhibit was made in compliance with a March 27, 2025, executive order in which President Donald Trump ordered the Interior Dept. to remove content that cast the United States’ “founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light.”

In the public filing on Wednesday, which stems from a separate lawsuit challenging the removal of materials at national parks across the country, the Interior Department indicated that while most glass panels at the slavery exhibit were restored in February after a judge’s order, the “large format metal panels were damaged and not restored.”

The government did not specify in the list the process for recreating the metal panels, writing “TBD” in that section.

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(NEW YORK) — Some lucky stargazers in the United States will have an opportunity to catch a glimpse of the next solar eclipse, according to astronomy experts.

On Aug. 12, a partial solar eclipse will be visible from some parts of the U.S., from Alaska to North Carolina, according to NASA. Most of Canada, much of Europe and northwestern Africa will also be able to see the partial eclipse, according to NASA.

Those in the U.S. and southern Canada will only see a small “bite” taken out of the solar disk as the moon clips the sun, NASA said.

But the full show — a total solar eclipse — will pass over the Arctic Ocean, Greenland, Iceland, Atlantic Ocean, Portugal and northern Spain, according to the National Solar Observatory.

A sunset eclipse will even be visible for viewers along the western part of the eclipse path, from mainland Europe to Africa, according to NASA. A sunset solar eclipse occurs when the sun is setting while still partially eclipsed.

After Aug. 12, the next total solar eclipse will be visible on Aug. 2, 2027, in southern Spain and North Africa.

The difference between a total and partial solar eclipse

A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon slips in front of the sun. Viewers located in the center of the moon’s shadow then experience a total solar eclipse, according to NASA. The moment of totality is when the moon completely covers the sun.

A partial solar eclipse occurs when watchers are inside the moon’s shadow but outside the path of totality, according to NASA.

When the solar eclipse will occur

In the U.S., the maximum of the partial solar eclipse will occur in Anchorage at 8:21 a.m. local time but midday on the mainland. The maximum will occur in Bangor, Maine, at 1:53 p.m.; in Boston at 1:55 p.m.; in Detroit at 1:36 p.m.; in New York City at 1:54 p.m.; and in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., at 1:53 p.m., according to NASA.

The total solar eclipse will occur at midday in a small, remote region of northern Russia. From Greenland to Iceland, totality will occur from late afternoon to early evening.

In Spain and northwestern Portugal, the sun will be fully eclipsed during the late evening, shortly before sunset, according to NASA. A sunset solar eclipse is a “rare spectacle,” according to Space.com.

How to watch the eclipse safely

Anyone who plans to watch the partial solar eclipse will need safe solar viewing glasses to protect their eyes, according to NASA.

UV radiation, whether from natural sunlight or artificial rays indoors, can damage the surface tissue, cornea and lens of the eye, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

The only time viewers can look directly at the eclipse without eye protection is during the brief moments of totality, when the moon completely covers the sun. It is never safe to look directly at a partial solar eclipse without eye protection.

Viewers can also use handheld solar viewers and other safe solar filters that block out most of the Sun’s light and prevent eye damage.

An indirect viewing method, such as a pinhole projector to cast images of the Sun, can also be used to see the partial phases of the eclipse, NASA said. The device has a small opening that projects an image of the Sun onto a nearby surface.

It is not safe to look at the eclipse through a camera lens, telescope, binoculars, or any other optical device while wearing eclipse glasses or using a handheld solar viewer because the concentrated solar rays could burn through the filter and cause serious eye injury, NASA said.

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(LOS ANGELES) — The Los Angeles Police Department said it’s investigating an incident in which an officer shot and killed a dog while answering a 911 call, which turned out to be a false alarm over a woman celebrating the New York Knicks’ historic championship win on Saturday.

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said in a statement Wednesday that the department is thoroughly investigating the incident, which he called “incredibly tragic,” and vowed transparency.

Around 8:55 p.m. Saturday, officers responded to a 911 call of a woman screaming inside a condo in Canoga Park, the LAPD said.

Witnesses and the son of the woman, however, later told ABC News Los Angeles affiliate KABC that she was just celebrating the Knicks’ victory that night.

The LAPD said that while officers were speaking with a resident in the apartment at the center of the 911 call, a “large dog was barking by her side at the officers.” The dog was wearing a Knicks shirt, witnesses told KABC.

The woman closed her door momentarily after officers asked her to secure the dog, who was named Jameson, police said. After she reopened it, the dog exited the apartment and allegedly “charged at one of the officers,” prompting one of them to open fire, according to the LAPD.

Cell phone video circulated online of a woman crying over the dog’s body, shouting “We were just celebrating the Knicks.”

The neighbor who called police told KABC that they felt guilty about calling 911, but sincerely thought the woman was in trouble.

McDonnell sympathized with Jameson’s family.

“The loss of a pet is deeply personal. For many, a dog is not simply an animal; it is a companion, a source of comfort, and a member of the family,” McDonnell said in his statement.

“There is no incident more serious than when an officer fires a service weapon. For this reason, the LAPD has a specialized division of investigators specifically trained to handle these types of incidents. A thorough, multi-layered examination of this weekend’s incident in Canoga Park is already underway, but it will take time to ensure fairness, transparency, and accountability,” he added.

A memorial for Jameson was formed outside the condo and an online fundraiser has raised thousands of dollars for its family.

Local activists have called for more details about the incident, including body camera footage from the officers who responded to the call.

“The tragic killing of Jameson was unnecessary and unwarranted,” Najee Ali, a senior organizer with the Los Angeles National Action Network, said during a news conference Tuesday.

“We demand immediate accountability, which can only happen through the prompt release of the body-worn camera footage and the names of the officers responsible for shooting and killing Jameson,” he added.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also released a statement on Wednesday, saying that a thorough investigation will be conducted.

“Every life lost to violence is a tragedy, and we know that the devastating loss of Jameson will be felt by his family forever,” she said.

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(CLARK COUNTY, Wash.) — Heart-stopping video has been released showing the moment a deputy in Clark County, Washington, saved a 2-year-old boy who was left alone in a hot car on a 92-degree day.

Witnesses called 911 in May to report the child in a parked car, and the witnesses tried to create shade around the car as they waited for responders, the Clark County Sheriff’s Department said on Wednesday.

Deputy Ben Hulsey arrived at the scene to find the 2-year-old strapped in his car seat, “sweating heavily, with his head tilted to the side and not responding,” the sheriff’s department said. The car had a small crack in the back window, authorities said.

Hulsey broke a window to rescue the little boy, who was checked by medics, authorities said.

Investigators determined the boy was left alone for about 16 minutes, the sheriff’s department said. When deputies found his parents, they had been inside a nearby grocery store for almost 30 minutes, authorities said.

The parents are facing reckless endangerment charges, the department said.

“Never leave a child or pet alone in a vehicle. Not even for a few minutes,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement Wednesday. “If you see a child or pet left alone in a vehicle and believe they’re in distress, don’t hesitate to call 911. That’s exactly what these community members did.”

At least seven children have died in hot cars so far this year in the U.S., according to national nonprofit KidsAndCars.org. Last year, at least 37 children died in hot cars across the country, KidsAndCars.org said.

Click here for what to know to keep your children safe.

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(NEW YORK) — Tropical Storm Arthur, the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, weakened overnight but its energy is still powerful enough to cause serious flooding and other issues in the southeast Thursday.

A rare High Risk, level 4 of 4, for life-threatening flood potential was in place over southern Mississippi, southern Alabama and western Florida panhandle along the central Gulf Coast Thursday, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). 

Historically, a third of all flood-related fatalities and 80% of all flood-related damages occur in such high-risk areas, according to NWS data.

Areas under the High Risk advisory include Pensacola, Florida; Mobile, Alabama; and the Mississippi cities of Gulfport, McComb and Hattiesburg. 

Rainfall rates of multiple inches per hour are possible, and some areas could see up to 20 inches of rainfall accumulation. 

Extremely heavy rain already hit the Gulf states Thursday morning. Kenner, Louisiana, near the New Orleans airport, saw a radar estimated rainfall rate of 6.5 inches per hour.

Some Gulf areas are under a level 3 of 4 risk for flooding, including Montgomery, Alabama, and Atlanta, Georgia.

Tornadoes are also possible in the central Gulf Coast Thursday. 

The life-threatening flood threat will continue into the overnight hours and people need to remain aware of their flood risk overnight into early Friday morning, forecasters warn. 

More heavy rain will continue in the South on Friday and more sporadically on Saturday. 

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(NEW YORK) — Recently released polling on Americans’ opinions of artificial intelligence gives us an updated look at how people are interacting with AI, what they are using it for and whether they are skeptical of the technology.

About half of American adults (49%) said that they have used chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot before, up from 33% in 2024, according to a Pew Research Center report released Wednesday.

The study found 42% of adults who used chatbots used them to search for information, 38% used it for work tasks, 25% for fun or entertainment, 24% for creating or editing images or videos, 20% for medical advice and another 20% for diet and fitness information.

About a quarter of Americans — 24%– said they used chatbots daily, according to Pew.

The Pew study found that, overall, while Americans under 50 years old were more likely than those 50 and older to use chatbots, use has risen over time among adults of all ages. And while men and women both use chatbots at roughly the same rate overall, more men use chatbots on a daily basis than women.

The share of Americans using AI bots for advice and information on health has also increased. A KFF study released Wednesday found that 29% of Americans said they used AI tools or chatbots at least monthly for information and advice on health, up from 17% in 2024.

Most of these users, 56%, are confident they can determine what is true and what is false when accessing health information on chatbots. Younger adults were more confident than older adults.

Still, Americans are skeptical of AI chatbots.

Pew found that more Americans (40%) said that AI will have a negative impact on society over the next 20 years while only 16% said it will have a positive impact. Americans are also more negative on AI’s impact on themselves: 31% said it will have a negative impact over the next 20 years rather than a positive one (23%).

Younger adults are more wary about the impacts that AI will have on society and themselves than older adults, according to Pew. Nearly half of adults under 30 (48%) believe that AI will have a negative impact on society, compared to 39% of those 30 to 49 and 37% of those 50 and older. While 37% of adults under 30 said the impact on themselves will be negative, that falls to 30% among those 30 to 49 and 28% of those older than that.

Americans largely think AI is moving too fast: A 63% majority of adults said that AI is advancing too quickly, according to Pew, while 19% said it was moving at the right pace and just 2% said it was moving too slowly.

Americans are also concerned about personal information and AI. Pew found about 7 in 10 adults (71%) said that the use of AI will make personal information less secure.

While Americans don’t trust big tech or AI companies to do what’s best, they also don’t trust the government to keep them in check.

A CNN poll, also released Wednesday, found 69% of Americans saying they trust companies developing AI tools “a little” or “not at all” to do what is best for their users.

Pew found a similar share of Americans voicing skepticism that the U.S. government will regulate AI effectively (67%).

Democrats have become less confident in the government regulating AI. In a 2024 Pew Research Center poll, 54% said they had not much or no confidence in the government regulating AI effectively, rising to 74% in the new Pew poll. Republicans’ lack of confidence has declined over the same period from 70% to 61%. This divergence in the views of Democrats and Republicans over time may be because there was a Democratic president in 2024 and a Republican president now.

The Pew Research Center poll was conducted Feb. 17-23 among 5,119 U.S. adults with an error margin of +/- 1.6 percentage points, including 2,605 AI chatbot users with an error margin of +/- 2.2 percentage points.

The KFF poll and the CNN poll were both conducted May 7-31 among 2,480 U.S. adults and have an error margin of +/- 2.7 percentage points.

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(NEW YORK) — In the foothills of the Appalachians, where a coal plant once operated, now sits a massive data center operated by Google — and it’s about to get even bigger.

This week the tech giant announced a $1.5 billion expansion of its Jackson County, Alabama site. The company gave ABC News a rare exclusive look inside the campus — including its high-security server room — as public backlash grows against the buildout of data centers nationwide.

“There’s a lot of negative sentiment,” Thomas Gamble, the Southern Corridor Area Manager for Google Data Centers, told ABC News. “As we’re building, we’re trying to figure out the best, most efficient use of all the power, the water, any of the systems we can.”

Gamble, who grew up just five miles from the sprawling campus, said that the company pays for 100% of the power it uses at the facility, where corridors stacked with servers feed global demand for the company’s offerings, from maps to email to video streaming.

“We’re just a lot of servers storing information, just like books are in your library,” Gamble said.

Google is one of several big tech companies that has signed on to a voluntary “Ratepayer Protection Pledge” pushed by the Trump administration that seeks to protect American households from paying more for electricity costs associated with the construction of new data centers.

But the public remains skeptical. A Gallup poll conducted this spring found that 71% of Americans oppose the construction of AI data centers in their area, citing concerns about quality of life, the economy, local resources, pollution, water usage, electricity bills, and AI in general.

Of the poll respondents who said they would be in favor of a data center in their area, two-thirds cited local economic benefits as the reason.

ABC News has observed this debate play out in contentious town halls across the country, where impassioned residents and local leaders wrestle over the presence of these facilities, which developers say deliver hundreds of jobs and renewed investment in regions that may be otherwise neglected.

Lawmakers in at least 14 states are now considering slowing or banning the development of data centers. Proposed moratoriums in these states all target new facilities, and in some cases, include requirements to study the impacts of data centers.

Opponents of data centers argue that moratoriums will allow additional time to explore their effects on local communities, while proponents argue the moratoriums will hamper AI development and hurt local economies.

The map below shows states that have recently considered moratoriums, and the status of bills that include language on data center development. Click on or scroll over any of the shaded states for details on the bills.

Back in Jackson County, Chamber of Commerce president Rick Roden says Google’s data center has made him more excited about the future than he’s ever been.  

“This changes our history, this changes our future, and we’re now known as a technology area,” he told ABC News. “We know that that’s going to open doors that we would have never had open before, just because we landed Google.”

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(LOS ANGELES) — The eight people killed in an Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber crash in California have been identified.

The B-52 was on a “routine test mission” Monday morning when it crashed shortly after takeoff at Edwards Air Force Base and burst into flames, officials said.

Everyone on board was killed: four crew members, one civilian and three contractors, officials said.

The victims were identified by the base as: Col. Gregory Watson, 53, weapon systems officer, Boeing; Lt. Col. Gabriel Estrella, 40, weapon systems officer, Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center; retired Lt. Col. Miles Middleton, 50, pilot, Boeing; Maj. Alexander Davis, 34, weapon systems officer, 419th Flight Test Squadron; Maj. Robert Dee, 40, pilot, 419th Flight Test Squadron; Maj. Brad Hovey, 35, pilot, 419th Flight Test Squadron; Jeromy Smith, 32, flight test engineer, 419th Flight Test Squadron; and Christopher Rischar, 41, flight test engineer, JT4 contractor.

“They were dedicated professionals, beloved family members and irreplaceable teammates,” Col. Thomas Tauer, 412th Test Wing Commander, said in a statement on Wednesday. “Our thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathies are with their families, loved ones and fellow Airmen, Air Force civilians and mission partners affected by this tragedy.”

Two Boeing employees were among the victims. Boeing said in a statement, “The loss of Miles and Greg is deeply felt across our teams, and our hearts remain with their families, loved ones and those who worked with them.”

The cause of the crash is under investigation, a process that will likely take several months, Col. James Hayes, deputy commander for the 412th Test Wing at the base, said Monday.

Test missions take place multiple times a day at Edwards Air Force Base, Hayes said.

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(SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.) — Seventeen horses died after a fire broke out in a barn in Saratoga Springs, New York — a city famous for its rich equestrian heritage.

The Saratoga Springs Fire Department responded to a structure fire at the Saratoga Casino Hotel harness racing facility early Tuesday, officials said.

When firefighters arrived, the barn was “heavily” engulfed in flames, the department said in a statement. They were able to contain the fire and prevent it from spreading to adjacent buildings, but the majority of the horses died as a result of the fire.

After the fire broke out around 2:30 a.m., security personnel from both Saratoga Casino Hotel and the nearby Saratoga Racecourse — along with emergency responders — acted quickly to evacuate horses from neighboring barns and secure the surrounding area, according to the Saratoga Harness Horseperson’s Association. About 350 horses are typically housed in the backstretch, the association said.

Seventeen horses being housed within the barn died, located in the backstretch area of the harness racetrack, according to the association. There were a total of 18 horses in the barn, the association noted.

The horses belonged to two trainers who stabled their horses in the barn. Trainer Robyn Mangiardi lost 11 horses, while trainer Timothy Benson lost six horses, the association said.

“The loss suffered today is heartbreaking for our racing community,” Sam Gerrity, CEO of Saratoga Casino Hotel, said in a statement. “Our thoughts remain with Robyn, Tim, their teams, the horse owners, and everyone affected by this tragedy.”

Sarah Burger, counsel for Saratoga Harness Horseperson’s Association, described the horses’ deaths as a “tragic loss” and thanked first responders for jumping into action so quickly.

“This is a sobering day in our industry, a horseperson’s worst nightmare,” Henry Westbrook, Jr, president of the Saratoga Harness Horseperson’s Association, said in a statement. “We express our deep condolences to all impacted and thank all emergency responders and track workers for their quick response.”

No civilians or firefighters were injured as a result of the fire, the department said. The area near the fire remains closed as officials investigate.

Grief counseling services are being made available to trainers, caretakers, owners and other members of the backstretch community affected by incident, according to the association.

The association declined to provide further comment to ABC News.

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