Eleven-month-old girl dies after left in car for three hours while parents went to church: Police

Oliver Helbig/Getty Images

(PALM BAY, Fla.) — An 11-month-old baby girl has died after being left in a car for three hours while her parents attended a Florida church service, police said.

Police in Palm Bay responded Sunday around 1 p.m. to a report of an unresponsive infant in a vehicle.

“When they arrived, they learned the infant had been left in a car for approximately three hours while the parents went to the church service,” the Palm Bay Police Department said in a statement.

The infant was transported to a local hospital where she was later pronounced deceased, police said Tuesday. A police department spokesperson did not have the time of death available.

No arrests have been made in the case at this time and the investigation is ongoing, police said.

“This is an unfortunate incident, and our condolences and prayers go out to the family,” Palm Bay Police Chief Mario Augello said in a statement.

Palm Bay is located about 75 miles southeast of Orlando. The temperature in the city around midday Sunday was in the high 70s.

The temperature inside a car can exceed 115 degrees when the outside temperature is just 70 degrees, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

In 2022, 33 children died of heatstroke in vehicles, according to the NHTSA.

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South Carolina teen falsely accused of shoplifting fatally shot by store owner: Police

WOLO

(SOUTH CAROLINA) — A South Carolina gas station owner was charged with murder on Monday after allegedly shooting and killing a 14-year-old boy he falsely believed was shoplifting bottles of water, according to police.

Rick Chow, 58, was arrested and charged in connection to the fatal shooting of Cyrus Carmack-Belton in Columbia, South Carolina, the Richland County Sheriff’s Office said.

In a news conference on Monday, Sheriff Leon Lott said the teenager did not shoplift from the Shell gas station, despite Chow’s belief that he did.

“He did not shoplift anything. We have no evidence that he stole anything whatsoever,” Lott said.

Police said there was a verbal confrontation inside the store before Cyrus left and took off running.

Lott said the convenience store owner, who police said was armed with a pistol, and his son chased after the teenager toward an apartment complex.

Cyrus fell during the chase, got up and was allegedly shot in the back by Chow, police said.

According to police, Chow’s son said the victim had a gun. Police said a gun was found close to the teen’s body, but there was no evidence of who the gun belonged to.

“Even if he had shoplifted four bottles of water, which is what he initially took out the cooler and then he put them back, even if he had done that, that’s not something you shoot anybody over, much less a 14-year-old,” Lott said. “You just don’t do that.”

Following a peaceful protest at the gas station Monday, there was alleged vandalism and looting, which Lott condemned during a second press conference Tuesday, saying those who took part would be held responsible.

According to a police report, protesters shattered the business’s window, vandalized gas pumps, spray-painted outside the store and left the scene carrying beer and other food items.

Chow is being held at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, according to police.

A date and time for his bond hearing has not been scheduled, police said.

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Memorial Day weekend mayhem leaves 53 shot, 11 fatally, in Chicago

WLS

(CHICAGO) — More than 50 people were shot, 11 fatally, over a violent Memorial Day weekend in Chicago, police said.

The gunshot victims included two toddlers who were accidentally shot and wounded in separate incidents and two teenagers, a 14-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl, who were hurt in unrelated shootings while standing on sidewalks, according to a review by ABC News of the weekend incident reports from the Chicago Police Department.

On Tuesday, police officials said at least 53 people were shot across the city in 42 separate incidents that occurred between 6 p.m. on Friday and 11:59 p.m. on Monday.

Besides the 11 people who were fatally shot over the weekend, an additional person was fatally stabbed, according to police.

The string of shootings occurred as newly-elected Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s safety plan was deployed over the Memorial Day weekend. Johnson’s initiative supports violence prevention programs, and youth outreach efforts by funding the work of more than 250 grassroots organizations across 24 communities on the West and South Sides of Chicago.

The spike in gun violence in Chicago comes as city leaders were seeing declines in both homicides and shootings this year. Before this past weekend, homicides in Chicago were down 7% from the 228 slayings that occurred in the first five months of 2022, according to the Chicago Police Department’s crime statistics. Shooting incidents are also down 9% this year compared to last year, crime statistics say.

“This weekend, what you saw on display is that everybody recognizes that it’s going to take all of us to unite this city and build a better, stronger, safer city,” Johnson told reporters at a community event on Monday.

Johnson acknowledged that “we have a lot of work to do” to curb gun violence in Chicago and said poverty continues to be one of the primary reasons for the shootings and homicides.

“Poverty didn’t go away over the weekend,” Johnson said. “We understand that when communities have been disinvested in and traumatized, that you’re seeing the manifestation of that trauma.”

Seven of the 11 gunshot homicides occurred on Saturday, according to police.

The first homicide of the holiday weekend unfolded just before 1 a.m on Saturday in the Beverly View neighborhood, when a 33-year-old man was discovered unresponsive on a sidewalk with a gunshot wound under his left armpit, according to police. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene and no arrests have been announced in the incident.

Just after 2 a.m. Saturday, a 35-year-old man was found on a sidewalk in the Lake View East neighborhood suffering from a bullet wound to the chest, according to police. The victim, William Hair, was taken to Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. No arrests have been announced.

“Senseless. It’s the only word for it,” Hair’s brother, Matthew Hair, told ABC Chicago station WLS-TV.

He said his brother was walking home from a bar with his best friend when a car pulled up alongside them. The occupants of the vehicle shot Hair while attempting to rob him and his friend.

Around 2:09 a.m. on Saturday, four people were shot in a drive-by shooting, including a 69-year-old woman who was killed, according to police. Witnesses told police that the gunfire came from a vehicle and was aimed at a car containing three men, who all suffered gunshot wounds. Police later discovered the 69-year-old woman alone in another car, suffering from a bullet wound to the side. She was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

Just before 3 a.m. on Saturday, a man and a woman were both shot in the face while standing on a sidewalk. Both victims were taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where one of them, a 36-year-old man, was pronounced dead, according to police. No arrests have been announced.

At about 3:20 a.m. Saturday, a 22-year-old man, identified by police as Jonathan Salgado, was shot in the chest while standing on a sidewalk in the Little Village neighborhood in the southwest area of the city, police said. Salgado was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Also on Saturday, an unidentified man, described as 25 to 30 years old, was found shot multiple times in the Humboldt Park area in the northwest section of the city and was later pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital, police said.

A 20-year-old man was shot in the back around 10 p.m. Saturday as he walked along a street, police said. The victim was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

About an hour later, a 26-year-old man was shot and killed when he exited a gas station in the West Woodlawn section of the city, police said.

The string of killings continued on Sunday in the Fernwood neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, when around 12:30 a.m. a 20-year-old man was shot multiple times by two assailants, who remained at large Tuesday morning, according to police.

Two people were shot, one fatally, around 2:09 a.m. Sunday. A 35-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman were found critically injured inside a car were taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where the man was pronounced dead, according to police.

In addition to the 11 fatal shootings, a 42-year-old woman was found stabbed to death just after midnight Saturday in an alley in the Austin neighborhood of the city. A 64-year-old man, police identified as Arnel Smith, was arrested and charged with murder in the fatal stabbing, police said.

Among the victims shot and wounded over the weekend was a 77-year-old man, who was shot in the back. The man was among three people wounded in a drive-by shooting that unfolded around 1:43 a.m. Monday in the Burnside neighborhood, police said. No arrests were announced in the incident.

On Saturday, a 21-year-old man was shot in the thigh by a 24-year-old man he allegedly approached and fired shots at, police said. The man who was shot was arrested after being taken to Holy Cross Hospital for treatment. The man who shot him has a permit to legally carry a firearm and was not charged, police said.

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53 people shot, 11 fatally, during violent Memorial Day weekend in Chicago

WLS

(CHICAGO) — More than 50 people were shot, 11 fatally, over a violent Memorial Day weekend in Chicago, police said.

The gunshot victims included two toddlers who were accidentally shot and wounded in separate incidents and two teenagers, a 14-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl, who were hurt in unrelated shootings while standing on sidewalks, according to a review by ABC News of the weekend incident reports from the Chicago Police Department.

On Tuesday, police officials said at least 53 people were shot across the city in 42 separate incidents that occurred between 6 p.m. on Friday and 11:59 p.m. on Monday.

Besides the 11 people who were fatally shot over the weekend, an additional person was fatally stabbed, according to police.

The string of shootings occurred as newly-elected Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s safety plan was deployed over the Memorial Day weekend. Johnson’s initiative supports violence prevention programs, and youth outreach efforts by funding the work of more than 250 grassroots organizations across 24 communities on the West and South Sides of Chicago.

The spike in gun violence in Chicago comes as city leaders were seeing declines in both homicides and shootings this year. Before this past weekend, homicides in Chicago were down 7% from the 228 slayings that occurred in the first five months of 2022, according to the Chicago Police Department’s crime statistics. Shooting incidents are also down 9% this year compared to last year, crime statistics say.

“This weekend, what you saw on display is that everybody recognizes that it’s going to take all of us to unite this city and build a better, stronger, safer city,” Johnson told reporters at a community event on Monday.

Johnson acknowledged that “we have a lot of work to do” to curb gun violence in Chicago and said poverty continues to be one of the primary reasons for the shootings and homicides.

“Poverty didn’t go away over the weekend,” Johnson said. “We understand that when communities have been disinvested in and traumatized, that you’re seeing the manifestation of that trauma.”

Seven of the 11 gunshot homicides occurred on Saturday, according to police.

The first homicide of the holiday weekend unfolded just before 1 a.m on Saturday in the Beverly View neighborhood, when a 33-year-old man was discovered unresponsive on a sidewalk with a gunshot wound under his left armpit, according to police. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene and no arrests have been announced in the incident.

Just after 2 a.m. Saturday, a 35-year-old man was found on a sidewalk in the Lake View East neighborhood suffering from a bullet wound to the chest, according to police. The victim, William Hair, was taken to Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. No arrests have been announced.

“Senseless. It’s the only word for it,” Hair’s brother, Matthew Hair, told ABC Chicago station WLS-TV.

He said his brother was walking home from a bar with his best friend when a car pulled up alongside them. The occupants of the vehicle shot Hair while attempting to rob him and his friend.

Around 2:09 a.m. on Saturday, four people were shot in a drive-by shooting, including a 69-year-old woman who was killed, according to police. Witnesses told police that the gunfire came from a vehicle and was aimed at a car containing three men, who all suffered gunshot wounds. Police later discovered the 69-year-old woman alone in another car, suffering from a bullet wound to the side. She was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

Just before 3 a.m. on Saturday, a man and a woman were both shot in the face while standing on a sidewalk. Both victims were taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where one of them, a 36-year-old man, was pronounced dead, according to police. No arrests have been announced.

At about 3:20 a.m. Saturday, a 22-year-old man, identified by police as Jonathan Salgado, was shot in the chest while standing on a sidewalk in the Little Village neighborhood in the southwest area of the city, police said. Salgado was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Also on Saturday, an unidentified man, described as 25 to 30 years old, was found shot multiple times in the Humboldt Park area in the northwest section of the city and was later pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital, police said.

A 20-year-old man was shot in the back around 10 p.m. Saturday as he walked along a street, police said. The victim was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

About an hour later, a 26-year-old man was shot and killed when he exited a gas station in the West Woodlawn section of the city, police said.

The string of killings continued on Sunday in the Fernwood neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, when around 12:30 a.m. a 20-year-old man was shot multiple times by two assailants, who remained at large Tuesday morning, according to police.

Two people were shot, one fatally, around 2:09 a.m. Sunday. A 35-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman were found critically injured inside a car were taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where the man was pronounced dead, according to police.

In addition to the 11 fatal shootings, a 42-year-old woman was found stabbed to death just after midnight Saturday in an alley in the Austin neighborhood of the city. A 64-year-old man, police identified as Arnel Smith, was arrested and charged with murder in the fatal stabbing, police said.

Among the victims shot and wounded over the weekend was a 77-year-old man, who was shot in the back. The man was among three people wounded in a drive-by shooting that unfolded around 1:43 a.m. Monday in the Burnside neighborhood, police said. No arrests were announced in the incident.

On Saturday, a 21-year-old man was shot in the thigh by a 24-year-old man he allegedly approached and fired shots at, police said. The man who was shot was arrested after being taken to Holy Cross Hospital for treatment. The man who shot him has a permit to legally carry a firearm and was not charged, police said.

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Former inmate at Elizabeth Holmes’ prison describes what she’ll see behind bars

Image Source/Getty Images

(TEXAS) — Elizabeth Holmes, the convicted fraudster and founder of failed blood-testing company Theranos, on Tuesday began serving an 11-year sentence at the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas.

Holmes, according to a source, self-surrendered with “little fanfare.” She was accompanied by her parents and husband Billy Evans.

She isn’t the only famous face at Bryan: Former “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” cast member Jen Shah entered the minimum-security facility in February after being sentenced to six and a half years for what prosecutors said was a telemarketing scheme targeting the old and vulnerable.

Holmes might have a humbling first job at the prison, according to a former inmate at the facility.

“That is Bryan’s rule,” said Lynn Espejo, who was convicted of defrauding her employer. “The policy is that every new person arriving gets cleared by medical and they have to go work in the kitchen for 90 days.”

That’s not a guarantee, though. Holmes could get a job elsewhere, such as the prison’s education department, and be excused from kitchen work, said Espejo, who now works as a prison reform advocate and was granted compassionate release in 2021 because of COVID-19.

There is also a program in which inmates train service dogs at the facility, or Holmes could teach classes to other inmates, Espejo said.

“Who’s to say Elizabeth Holmes will be in the kitchen tonight,” Espejo said. “By policy, she’s supposed to. But who knows if that’s going to happen?”

Holmes, Espejo told ABC News, will be dressed in a khaki jumpsuit, which is recycled from inmate to inmate, and will be sleeping on what she likened to a “kindergarten mat.”

“That’s basically what it looks like, those kind they fold out at school and take naps on,” Espejo said. “It’s not a good bedding. And you really feel like you’re laying directly on steel.”

There are four units at the prison camp facility, which is among the lowest level security facilities in the federal system.

But Espejo said it isn’t “camp cupcake,” as some describe it. She recalled “dilapidated” conditions when she served time there, including moldy showers and little hot water in the winter.

A source said that every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night, movies are shown in common areas.

Holmes won’t be locked behind bars in her cell. Rather she’ll live in a room with two bunks and folding chairs in the middle.

Espejo said the hardest adjustment is being alone.

“I think it’ll be a cultural shock to her. I know it was for me when I first got there,” she said. “Missing your family is gut wrenching.”

ABC News’ Gina Sunseri contributed to this report.

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Man arrested in slaying of New Jersey councilwoman apparently knew victim from church

Borough of Sayreville

(VIRGINIA) — A Virginia man has been arrested for the murder of New Jersey councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour, who was gunned down outside her home in February.

Rashid Ali Bynum, 28, who apparently knew Dwumfour from church, was taken into custody Tuesday morning on charges including first-degree murder, Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone announced at a news conference Tuesday.

According to Ciccone, Bynum was a contact in Dwomfour’s phone under the acronym “FCF,” which authorities believe stands for “Fire Congress Fellowship,” a church that the congresswoman was previously affiliated with, “which was also associated with the Champion Royal Assembly, the victim’s church at the time of her death.”

On the day of the shooting, Bynum allegedly searched online for information on the Champion Royal Assembly church and the Sayreville area, according to Ciccone.

In the days before the murder, Bynum allegedly searched online for what magazines were compatible with a specific handgun, she said.

Bynum’s phone traveled from Virginia to New Jersey at the time of the murder, and Bynum’s physical description matched a witness description of the suspect at the scene, Ciccone said.

Officials did not discuss a possible motive and did not take questions from reporters.

Ciccone called it a “complex, extensive case.”

Dwumfour, a business analyst and a part-time emergency medical technician, was elected as a Republican to the Sayreville Borough Council in 2021, defeating an incumbent Democrat.

“There are no words that can be said to you to make you whole,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said to Dwumfour’s family, who attended the press conference. “I did not know Eunice. I wish I had. But I know that she was a public servant.”

“I hope that today is the beginning of a healing process, and also the beginning of a sense of justice,” he added.

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Assailant pours gas on man and lights him on fire after verbal altercation escalated: Police

Facebook / Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office

(TAMPA, Fla.) — A verbal confrontation at a gas station has left one man in critical condition with life-threatening injuries after an assailant poured gasoline over him and lit him on fire, police say.

The incident occurred on Sunday at approximately 4:32 p.m. at a Mobile gas station on North 22nd Street in Tampa, Florida, when two men entered into a verbal confrontation, according to a statement published by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office on Monday.

“Earl Hargrove, Jr., 34, bought a small amount of gasoline from the gas station,” authorities said in their statement. “Hargrove then proceeded to pour the gasoline on the victim and lit … him on fire.”

The victim — who currently remains unnamed — was taken to Tampa General Hospital where he was listed in critical condition with life-threatening injuries, police said.

Hargrove, Jr. is now facing facing charges of aggravated battery great bodily harm and attempted murder in the first degree.

“A verbal argument should never escalate to this level of violence,” said Sheriff Chad Chronister. “This suspect’s behavior is not only deplorable but will never be tolerated in our community. The suspect, in this case, is currently behind bars while we wait in anticipation for justice to be served.”

Anybody who has additional information on this case is asked to call the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office at 813-247-8200.

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Murder trial of “Family Feud” contestant enters second week

Quincy Police Department

(QUINCY, Ill.) — The murder trial of a former Family Feud contestant accused of killing his wife enters its second week Tuesday in Quincy, a historic city in downstate Illinois that overlooks the Mississippi River.

Adams County prosecutors say Tim Bliefnick, 39, killed his estranged wife Rebecca Bliefnick, 41, in February at her house, located just minutes away from his own. Her body was found shot 14 times, officials said.

In 2020, Tim Bliefnick gained notoriety when he appeared on an episode of Family Feud, telling host Steve Harvey his “biggest mistake” at his wedding was saying “I do” to his wife. He is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of home invasion. Tim Bliefnick faces life in prison if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty.

Dozens of witnesses, including friends and family of the couple and local police officers, testified in Adams County Circuit Court last week over four days. They revealed intimacies of the couple’s troubled relationship, which had fractured during divorce proceedings and involved court orders of protection.

On Friday, Quincy police detective Eric Cowick testified that he reviewed records of phone and laptops owned by the couple. The greatest evidence originated from Tim Bliefnick’s laptop, which included Google searches and website visits for instructions on how to pick locks, open windows from the outside, clean gunshot residue from a smoking gun, open doors with a crowbar and trace shotgun rounds fired from a specific gun.

Tim Bliefnick used an alias on Facebook to purchase a bicycle police found a half-mile from Bliefnick’s home after the murder, Cowick testified. Prosecutors said videos from neighbors show someone riding a bicycle in the area between both homes in the days leading to the killing.

Tim Bliefnick’s attorney, Casey Schnack, said the records of websites Bliefnick visited on his phone had no time or date stamp, which made them irrelevant and “only opens the door for speculation.” In her opening argument, she said the case “is dripping with reasonable doubt.”

The defense introduced several friends and co-workers of the couple who collectively painted a picture of Rebecca Bliefnick as a victim of verbal and emotional abuse from her husband. A text from Rebecca shared by Christine Moore, a family friend, revealed she was worried her husband would kill her.

“The thought has gone through my mind that I may need a restraining order … I’m definitely changing the locks as soon as I can. The only way to ensure all three [sons] choose him over me is to eliminate me as the choice,” she wrote.

Despite filing for divorce in 2021, the proceedings dragged on for years because several conditions were contested, according to attorneys who testified last week. The conditions included the location of a handgun owned Tim Bliefnick, custody arrangements involving the children and whether or not Ray Bliefnick, Tim’s father, could be alone with the three sons.

Denny Woodworth, one of Rebecca’s divorce lawyers, said Rebecca filed a temporary restraining order against Ray Bliefnick in August 2021 because she did not want him to have any contact with the couple’s children. Ray Bliefnick, a retired sales consultant in Decatur, Illinois, had purchased a house on the same block as Rebecca. She also filed a petition to have Tim Bliefnick return a handgun to her but his defense attorney revealed he could not find it.

Jerry Timmerwilke, Rebecca’s second divorce attorney, testified that Tim Bliefnick would consider evenly split custody of the children only if Rebecca would undergo a psychological evaluation. He said Tim wanted his father to have unsupervised time with the children.

Testimony from friends showed Rebecca worried Tim would turn violent and Ray Bliefnick would take their children away from her.

“I am scared of his behavior and constant lies … on top of that he has our guns and ammunition,” she texted childhood friend Nicole Bateman.

To Rebecca Spots, a co-worker, she wrote that she feared her father-in-law.

“It has gotten to the point that I hate even going to work for fear he will secretly take off with the kids and I won’t see them for a long time or ever,” she wrote.

Sarah Reilly, Rebecca’s sister, read a text to jurors from Rebecca in which she said “if something ever happens to me, please make sure the number one person of interest is Tim.”

Their final divorce hearing was not yet scheduled “because Becky Bliefnick was murdered,” said Josh Jones, an assistant state’s attorney.

Schnack, however, repeatedly emphasized to jurors that a messy divorce is not grounds for a murder conviction. She also said none of the witnesses reported the texts to law enforcement.

Closing arguments for the trial are expected early next week. Rebecca Bliefnick’s family has launched an online fundraising drive to support the couple’s three sons.

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Aderrien Murry, 11, speaks out after being shot by police following 911 call

Courtesy Nakala Murry

(NEW YORK) — Aderrien Murry, the 11-year-old boy who was shot by police on May 20 after calling 911, spoke out about the harrowing experience in an exclusive interview with ABC News that is set to air on Good Morning America and GMA3 on Tuesday.

“I came out of the room like this,” Murry said with his hands above his head as he reflected on the incident in an interview with GMA3 co-anchor DeMarco Morgan.

“It felt like a Taser, like a big punch to the chest,” he added.

The boy’s mother, Nakala Murry, previously told GMA3 in an interview that aired on Thursday that her son was shot in the chest by a police officer who responded to their home in Indianola, Mississippi in the early morning hours of May 20 after her son called 911. Nakala Murry is now calling for the officer to be fired.

Nakala Murry told ABC News that she gave her son, Aderrien, the phone and asked him to call his grandmother, after Murry says she woke up around 4 a.m. on the morning of the incident, heard a knock on the window and saw her ex-boyfriend standing outside.

“I noticed he was kind of irate. And from dealing with him in the past, I know the irate version of him, what it could lead to,” she told GMA3.

ABC News has reached out to the ex-boyfriend but a request for comment was not immediately returned.

According to Nakala Murry, Aderrien first called the police and then he called his grandmother, who also called 911.

She explained that two officers responded to their home in Indianola, and her daughter’s father asked her not to open the door as police tried to break in.

“I heard a shot and I saw my son run out toward where we were,” she said recalling the shooting.

“[Aderrien] fell, bleeding,” Nakala Murry added.

Indianola Mayor Ken Featherstone told ABC News on Wednesday that Indianola police officer Greg Capers fired the shot that hit Aderrien. Capers was suspended Monday, Featherstone said. ABC News’ attempts to reach out to Capers directly were unsuccessful.

ABC News has reached out to the Indianola Police Department but they declined to comment.

According to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI), which is investigating the incident, officers responded to a domestic disturbance at the home, and a minor was significantly hurt from an “officer-involved shooting.”

The results of the investigation will be shared with the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, the agency said.

Asked about the status of the investigation, the Mississippi District Attorney’s Office referred all inquiries to the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office.

“The Mississippi Attorney General’s Office is tasked with reviewing and prosecuting all office- involved shootings. That being the case, we do not have any comment nor involvement in this investigation nor prosecution,” the DA’s office told ABC News.

The Mississippi Attorney General’s Office did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

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Man missing after falling overboard on Carnival cruise ship near Florida

David Sacks/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — A 35-year-old man is missing after falling from a cruise ship off the coast of Florida, authorities said.

The U.S. Coast Guard said it is searching for a passenger who went overboard from the Carnival Magic cruise ship traveling 186 miles east of Jacksonville on Monday.

The man’s companion reported him missing late Monday afternoon and “an initial review of closed circuit security footage confirms that he leaned over the railing of his stateroom balcony and dropped into the water at approximately 4:10 a.m. Monday,” Carnival Cruise Line said in a statement to ABC News.

After the Coast Guard released the ship from search and rescue efforts, the 1,004-foot Carnival Magic continued its return trip to Norfolk, Virginia, where it was scheduled to arrive as planned on Tuesday.

The Coast Guard said it is using both air and water assets to conduct the search for the passenger, who has not been publicly identified.

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