(NEW YORK) — Three people have died, and their bodies have been recovered after a small plane crash in Nebraska, authorities said.
The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office said that “a small plane was traveling along the Platte River south of Fremont when it crashed into the river” on Friday night.
“The three occupants of the plane have been recovered and are confirmed deceased,” authorities continued. “Those identities will not be released at this time pending next of kin notification.”
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board have now taken over the investigation. The cause of the crash is currently unknown.
The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office has asked the community to avoid the area until further notice so that they may continue with their investigation.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — A Florida State University graduate student shared with ABC News the harrowing moments she was shot on campus and forced to play dead as the gunman reloaded.
Madison Askins, 23, one of seven people shot near FSU’s student union on Thursday, said she was walking with a friend when she heard gunshots.
Askins and her friend “took off running,” but “unfortunately, I fell,” she said.
Her friend tried to help her up, but Askins said she was then shot in her buttocks. Her friend ran to safety, which she said was “valid.”
As Askins lay wounded, she said she remained calm and thought about what her parents told her to do during active shooter drills: play dead.
“I released all the muscles in my body, closed my eyes and held my breath,” she said. “And I would take short breaths in between when I needed to.”
“At one point I did think [the gunman] had walked away, so I was going to shift over to grab my phone to share my last ‘I love you’s’ with my family,” she said.
“I wanted to call my dad, tell him I loved him,” she said, wiping away tears.
But she said she then heard the gunman approach and reload his weapon. She said she heard him calmly say, “Keep running.”
“I know for certain if I was moving he would’ve shot me again,” she said.
Askins said she “didn’t want to entertain” the thought of dying, adding, “I knew I just needed to stay calm.”
Eventually the gunman left and Askins said she stayed where she was until an officer came to her rescue.
“She packed my wound for me and she kept an eye on the surrounding area,” Askins said. “I knew everything was over when we had multiple officers come over and they tell me they got him. I was able to breathe.”
Two people were killed and six others were wounded in the shooting. All six injured are expected to survive, officials said.
Askins said she’ll likely remain in the hospital for several more days. She still has the bullet lodged in her vertebrae and will have it removed in a later surgery, she said.
But Askins said this won’t slow her down in finishing her studies and pursuing her dreams.
“I’m glad to be with my family, glad to keep moving forward. I’ve got an internship lined up. I’m so ready to go for it,” she said.
“I’m not gonna let it tear me down,” she added. “No, he doesn’t get that.”
The suspected gunman, 20-year-old FSU student Phoenix Ikner, was shot by officers and is also expected to survive, authorities said. A motive is not known.
(NEW YORK) — In a remarkable coincidence, NASA astronaut Don Pettit will mark his 70th birthday with a fiery reentry through Earth’s atmosphere on Saturday, capping off his fourth mission to space, the agency said in a release.
Pettit, along with Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner, will bid farewell to their orbital home of more than seven months when they undock from the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft at 5:57 p.m. ET Saturday.
The trio’s journey back to Earth is scheduled to end at 9:20 p.m. ET, NASA noted. It will culminate in a parachute-assisted landing on the remote steppes of Kazakhstan, where recovery teams will be waiting to extract them from their capsule.
During their 220-day mission, the crew circled the Earth an astounding 3,520 times, traveling approximately 93.3 million miles.
The departure marks another milestone for the crew members: Ovchinin concludes his fourth spaceflight with 595 days in orbit. Vagner adds to his impressive record with 416 cumulative days across two missions.
Before their departure, a change of command ceremony will take place on Friday, with Ovchinin transferring leadership of the space station to Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi, who will command Expedition 73.
After touchdown, NASA noted that the crew will be transported by helicopter to Karaganda, Kazakhstan. From there, they’ll part ways — Pettit heading back to Houston while his Russian crewmates return to their training base in Star City, near Moscow.
The mission highlights the continuing international cooperation aboard the ISS, which has maintained continuous human presence for over two decades.
NASA’s release also stated that the ISS remains a crucial platform for scientific research and testing technologies for deep space exploration as the agency shifts its focus toward ambitious Moon and Mars missions under the Artemis program.
NASA will provide live coverage of the crew’s return journey on NASA+, starting with Friday’s change of command ceremony and continuing through Saturday’s landing.
(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — The Florida State University community is reeling and police are searching for a motive after a gunman opened fire on the Tallahassee campus on Thursday, killing two and injuring six.
Tallahassee police on Friday laid out how the shooting unfolded.
The suspect, 20-year-old FSU student Phoenix Ikner, arrived at a campus parking garage at about 11 a.m. and stayed in the area for around an hour, moving in and out of his car, police said.
Ikner left the garage at 11:51 a.m., police said, and then between 11:56 and 11:57 a.m. he started firing a handgun, police said. The shooting was reported to 911 by 11:58 a.m., police said.
At noon, Ikner was shot by officers and taken into custody, police said. He’s expected to survive.
Police have not identified the two people killed but said they were not students.
Food services company Aramark said one of its employees was killed in the shooting.
“We are absolutely shaken by the news and our deepest sympathies are with the family and our entire Aramark community,” the company said.
Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare officials said the hospital received six patients, all in stable condition.
All six are expected to make full recoveries and two of them may be released on Friday, officials said.
McKenzie Heeter, a 20-year-old junior, told ABC News she was just feet away from the gunman when he shot a woman wearing scrubs by the student union.
The shooter was “waving around a bigger rifle … and then he pulled out the handgun and shot that woman,” Heeter said.
“Her back was to him, she was just walking. I don’t even think she registered what happened,” she said. “That’s what I just keep thinking about.”
Heeter described sprinting across campus in sheer panic.
“I did a four-minute mile in sandals. I’ve never run that fast in my life,” she said. “I felt like I have got to leave, or else it could be me next.”
Officials revealed that the suspect’s stepmother, Jessica Ikner, is a current deputy with the local Leon County Sheriff’s Office. While authorities identified Jessica Ikner as the suspect’s mother, court documents indicate she is his stepmother.
Phoenix Ikner had access to one of his stepmother’s personal weapons, which was one of the weapons found at the scene, Sheriff Walter McNeil said.
The suspect was also a “long-standing member” of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office’s Youth Advisory Council, McNeil said.
He was “engaged in a number of training programs that we have,” the sheriff said, adding, “Not a surprise to us that he had access to weapons.”
In a statement to the Florida State University community, President Richard McCullough called the shooting a “tragic and senseless act of violence.”
FSU has canceled classes and sporting events through the weekend. A vigil is set for Friday at 5 p.m.
President Donald Trump said Thursday he has an “obligation to protect” the Second Amendment when asked by a reporter in the Oval Office if he sees anything “broken” with America’s current gun laws.
“Look, I’m a big advocate of the Second Amendment. I have been from the beginning. I protected it, and these things are terrible, but the gun doesn’t do the shooting. The people do. It’s a phrase that’s used probably too often,” Trump said.
“I will tell you that it’s a shame,” he said of the shooting.
ABC News’ Alex Faul, Faith Abubey and Fritz Farrow contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — More than 50 million Americans are on alert for severe weather this Easter weekend, as several states in the Heartland have already been slammed with tornadoes, hail and damaging winds.
On Thursday, 15 tornadoes, 86-mph wind gusts and softball and baseball-sized hail were reported across Nebraska and Iowa.
Damage to farm buildings, downed trees and power lines have also been reported across Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota.
The severe weather will persist this weekend as this storm system will begin to stall across the Central and Eastern parts of the country.
On Friday, areas stretching from central Texas up to southern Wisconsin and western Indiana will be hit with large hail, damaging winds, along with threats of possible tornadoes, especially in parts of Oklahoma and Texas.
The main window for severe weather will begin on Friday afternoon and continue until Saturday morning local time.
The wet and windy conditions will shift southwest on Saturday, hitting areas of central Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri.
The National Weather Service said flash flooding is likely in these areas on Saturday.
On Easter Sunday, the weather will finally break out of its stall across the Central U.S. and move further east, hovering over parts of northwestern Texas, northwestern Louisiana, most of Arkansas and south-central Missouri.
The slow-moving nature of this storm system will also bring an increasing flash flood threat in the coming days as rounds of heavy rain and thunderstorms sweep across many of the same areas of the South and Midwest through the holiday weekend.
Flood watches have been posted across portions of six states, from north Texas to southern Illinois. A widespread 2 to 4 inches of rain is expected through Sunday with locally up to 6 inches where the heaviest rain falls.
Thankfully, the brunt of the heavy rain will fall just west of the areas that were recently hit with extreme rainfall and major flooding. However, much of this rain will eventually still drain down across the lower Mississippi River Valley, keeping the Mississippi and other nearby rivers in the region elevated for at least the next several days.
This system also brings heavy snow to the higher elevations of northern Arizona and New Mexico, extending up across the central Rocky Mountains through Friday evening. Winter storm warnings have been posted for portions of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado through Saturday afternoon. These areas could see 6 to 12 inches of snowfall with locally up to 20 inches at the highest elevations.
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from deporting noncitizens to countries other than their place of origin without due process.
U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy issued an injunction that bars the Trump administration from deporting any noncitizen to a country not explicitly mentioned in their order or removal without first allowing them to raise concerns about their safety.
“Defendants argue that the United States may send a deportable alien to a country not of their origin, not where an immigration judge has ordered, where they may be immediately tortured and killed, without providing that person any opportunity to tell the deporting authorities that they face grave danger or death because of such a deportation,” Judge Murphy wrote.
“All nine sitting justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Assistant Solicitor General of the United States, Congress, common sense, basic decency, and this Court all disagree.”
The ruling throws a roadblock in the Trump administration’s policy of removing noncitizens to countries like El Salvador, Honduras, or Panama, even if the noncitizens lack an order of removal to those countries.
The Trump administration last month invoked the Alien Enemies Act to deport two planeloads of alleged Venezuelan gang members to the CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador with little-to-no due process.
Judge Murphy noted that the Trump administration officials “have applied and will continue to apply the alleged policy of removing aliens to third countries without notice and an opportunity to be heard on fear-based claims — in other words, without due process.”
He said his order prevents the irreparable harm of noncitizens being sent to countries where they might face persecution, torture, or death without having the chance to challenge their removal in court.
“The irreparable harm factor likewise weighs in Plaintiffs’ favor. Here, the threatened harm is clear and simple: persecution, torture, and death. It is hard to imagine harm more irreparable,” he wrote.
Judge Murphy’s order requires that the Trump administration provide noncitizens written notice before they are removed to a third country, as well as a “meaningful opportunity” to raise concerns about their safety, including providing at least 15 days to reopen their immigration proceedings.
He also certified a class — meaning the order applies not only to the plaintiffs in the case, but also any noncitizen with a final order of removal.
Separately, Judge Murphy is considering whether the Trump administration violated his temporary order when it removed at least three men to El Salvador without allowing them to raise concerns about their safety. He is still considering that issue.
(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — When a gunman opened fire near the student union at Florida State University on Thursday, killing two and wounding six, for student Robbie Alhadeff, the tragedy on his Tallahassee campus brought him back to another school shooting.
Alhadeff told ABC News Live he was really close to Alyssa, who was a freshman on track to play college soccer when she was gunned down on Valentine’s Day.
On Thursday, Alhadeff said he was walking to his apartment when friends started to text him about the gunfire.
“I ran right back into my apartment because I was scared about the whole situation,” he said.
Alhadeff said he took off at least two weeks of school after his sister was killed. In the wake of Thursday’s shooting, he said his friends are “terrified” to return to class.
“A lot of the people I’m friends with are from Parkland and a lot them go to FSU,” he said. “This is the second time it’s happened — and no one I know wants to go back to school.”
“You could end up being killed just going to learn,” he added.
“I thought this would never happen again,” Alhadeff said, “but it continuously keeps happening — and something has to change.”
Manuel Oliver, whose 17-year-old son, Joaquin, was killed in Parkland, told ABC News Live, “I don’t understand how anyone could be surprised” by another school shooting “if we haven’t done anything to stop it.”
“We will continue to fight — these kinds of events empower us to do more, different things, because whatever we’ve been trying is not enough,” said Oliver, who has become an advocate for gun control.
“You don’t want to be me … so you better get involved,” he said. “You better choose better leaders and ask and demand the safety of your kids.”
Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter, Jaime, was killed in Parkland, said some of Jaime’s former classmates were at the FSU student union when the gunfire broke out.
“As a father, all I ever wanted after the Parkland shooting was to help our children be safe,” Guttenberg, who has become a gun reform supporter, wrote on social media. “Sadly, because of the many people who refuse to do the right things about reducing gun violence, I am not surprised by what happened today.”
Abigail Esparza Reyes was killed in a shootout while trying to arrest an escaped inmate from California on Wednesday, officials said. ABC News
(TIJUANA, Mexico) — An escaped U.S. inmate, who was wanted for killing a Mexican police commander — or a “Gringo Hunter” — during a shootout last week, has been caught in Tijuana, officials said.
Cesar Hernandez, who had been convicted and sentenced for murder in California, allegedly killed Abigail Esparza Reyes, who was part of a specialized Mexican state police unit responsible for locating foreign fugitives who cross the border, during a shootout on April 9, officials said.
Surveillance footage reviewed by ABC News showed an individual, who authorities identified as Hernandez, changing into bright yellow worker’s clothing, seeming to blend in after the shooting in Mexico.
In a statement released on Friday, the Baja California State Prosecutor General’s Office confirmed Hernandez was arrested on Thursday evening.
“These actions reflect the outstanding intelligence and investigative work carried out by personnel from the State Attorney General’s Office, whose coordinated efforts, tactical analysis strategies and data collection made it possible to accurately locate the person arrested today,” the Baja California prosecutor’s office said.
Officials in Mexico said Hernandez is currently facing criminal proceedings and “his legal situation will be determined in accordance with the law.”
Hernandez escaped from custody on Dec. 2, shortly after arriving for a court appearance in Delano, California, according to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Upon arrival, Hernandez “evaded staff custody, jumped out of the van and is currently at large,” officials said at the time.
He had been arrested in 2019 for murder in Los Angeles County and sentenced to 80 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole, officials said. He received 25 years for first-degree murder, a sentence “doubled because it was a second strike,” and discharging a firearm during the crime, officials said. Hernandez also received five years for a prior offense, officials said.
Reyes and the team of “Gringo Hunters” were featured in a “Nightline x Impact” episode in 2024 that highlighted their work to catch fugitives who evade law enforcement by fleeing to Mexico.
In the episode, Reyes is seen leading a mission to arrest a fugitive charged with murder who was found in Tijuana.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment regarding Hernandez’s arrest.
ABC News’ Sara Sandrick, Ellie Kaufman, Jen Watts and Alondra De La Cruz contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia, spoke exclusively on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Friday morning in her first interview since Sen. Chris Van Hollen met with her husband in El Salvador Thursday.
Van Hollen late Thursday released a photo of himself with Abrego Garcia, which was the first time Vasquez Sura had seen him since spotting him in a photo among several other migrants being brought into El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison last month.
“It was very overwhelming,” Vasquez Sura said of seeing the image Thursday night.
“The most important thing for me, my children, his mom, his brother, his sibling, was to see him alive, and we saw him alive,” she told GMA’s Michael Strahan.
Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native who has been living with his wife and children in Maryland, was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT 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.
The Trump administration, while acknowledging that Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador in error, has said that his alleged MS-13 affiliation makes him ineligible to return to the United States.
After a federal judge ruled earlier this month that the Trump administration must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return, and the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that ruling, the polarizing case has become a test of the power of the executive branch versus the courts.
Vasquez Sura, speaking to GMA, denied that her husband is a member of MS-13 or any other gang.
“I won’t stop fighting until he returns home, until I know that he’s safe,” Vasquez Sura told Strahan.
“It’s been 37 days since March 12, since my husband was abducted,” said Vasquez Sura. “It’s been an emotional, emotional rollercoaster, honestly.”
“We’ve been together over seven years. It’s been amazing. He is very a loving husband, and amazing father. We were just young parents trying to live the American dream,” said Vasquez Sura, who is a U.S. citizen, along with the couple’s children.
“Our faith has grown, and I keep him in my prayers to bring him back home,” she said.
Strahan questioned Vasquez Sura about her filing for an order of protection from her husband in 2021, in which she cited being slapped, hit with an object, and being detained against her will. The case was closed about a month later when she failed to appear for a court hearing.
“You did take out a temporary order of protection against your husband in 2021. Were you in fear of your husband?” Strahan asked.
“My husband is alive,” Vasquez Sura responded. “That’s all I can say.”
Earlier this week, in a statement released to ABC News through her attorney, Vasquez Sura said, “After surviving domestic violence in a previous relationship, I acted out of caution after a disagreement with Kilmar by seeking a protective order in case things escalated. We were able to work through this situation privately as a family, including by going to counseling. Kilmar has always been a loving partner and father, and I will continue to stand by him and demand justice for him.”
Van Hollen, a Democratic senator from Vasquez Sura’s home state of Maryland, flew to El Salvador on Wednesday to try to meet with Abrego Garcia.
“I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance,” Van Hollen said in the social media post in which he shared the photo of him with Abrego Garcia. “I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return.”
Vasquez Sura was told that the meeting between Van Hollen and Abrego Garcia was set up by El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, a source close to the family told ABC News.
The source said Abrego Garcia and Vasquez Sura were not able to speak.
(CHESTER COUNTY, S.C.) — A middle school student is dead after his school bus blew a tire and overturned on a South Carolina highway, officials said.
The collision happened Thursday afternoon on Interstate 77 in Chester County. The bus was carrying students from Pine Ridge Middle School back from a field trip outside Charlotte, North Carolina, school officials said.
The boy who died was an eighth grader at Pine Ridge and 13 years old, according to Chester County Coroner Terry Tinker.
There were two adults and approximately 35 students on the bus, the school district, Lexington School District Two, said in an updated statement Thursday night.
A spokesperson for the Chester County Sheriff’s Office said there were “multiple injuries” in the crash, but that there is no confirmed number or information on the nature of the injuries at this time. The victims were transported to multiple hospitals. The crash was reported around 1:47 p.m., the sheriff’s office said.
The bus was traveling southbound on I-77 when it “traveled off of the road to the right, struck a guard rail and overturned,” South Carolina Highway Patrol Sgt. Tyler Tidwell said. The bus was the only vehicle involved in the incident, he said.
Footage from the scene showed the school bus overturned, with part of the bus on top of a guardrail.
Two additional buses that were traveling back from the field trip maneuvered to avoid the accident, the school district said.
Multiple agencies, emergency responders and school personnel were on the scene, with EMS assessing all the occupants on the buses, school officials said.
“We are grateful for the support of our EMS, first responder, and law enforcement partners, both those based here locally and those up the road at the affected Interstate 77 sites,” the school district said in a statement. “They worked tirelessly today to assist our Lexington Two students, families and employees.”
The South Carolina Highway Patrol is investigating the collision.
“Today’s school bus accident in Chester County is a tragedy no family should ever have to endure,” South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said in a statement. “Please join us in praying for the victim, their family, a speedy recovery for those injured, and the entire Lexington Two community. All of South Carolina is with you.”
Between the three buses, an estimated 35 students and four adults were transported for further medical evaluation, the school district said.
“We are grateful for the support of our EMS, first responder, and law enforcement partners, both those based here locally and those up the road at the affected Interstate 77 sites,” the school district said in a statement. “They worked tirelessly today to assist our Lexington Two students, families and employees.”
The South Carolina Highway Patrol is investigating the collision.
“Today’s school bus accident in Chester County is a tragedy no family should ever have to endure,” South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said in a statement. “Please join us in praying for the victim, their family, a speedy recovery for those injured, and the entire Lexington Two community. All of South Carolina is with you.”
ABC News’ Victoria Arancio contributed to this report.
