(NEW YORK) — A black bear attacked and injured a child Sunday night in Montana, officials said.
The child — who had been inside a tent on a private campground near Red Lodge — was taken to a medical facility in Billings, according to a news release from the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
Officials did not identify the child or disclose their current condition.
The campground was evacuated following the attack, and the bear was shot and killed the next day, officials said.
Officials said “unsecured attractants,” including food and garbage, were found in the vicinity of the tent where the attack occurred.
The black bear that attacked the child “had no history of conflicts” and “had likely become food-conditioned and human-habituated after accessing unsecured attractants in the area,” officials said.
Officials warned the public that Montana is “bear country,” and visitors should take precautions to avoid bear encounters while camping.
Campers were urged to keep food outside of tents, get rid of garbage in “bear resistant bins,” and safely secure food or anything with a scent.
“People should be prepared to encounter grizzly or black bears in Montana,” the news release stated. “Avoiding conflicts with bears is easier than dealing with conflicts.”
(NEW YORK) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is urging schools across the state to restrict students’ cellphone usage in classrooms, he said in a letter to schools.
Los Angeles Unified School District — the second largest district in the U.S. — and Santa Barbara Unified have already implemented restrictions on the use of cellphones in schools.
In 2019, Newsom signed a bill into law granting districts the authority to regulate the use of the devices during school hours.
“Excessive smartphone use among youth is linked to increased anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 72% of high school and 33% of middle school teachers report cell phone distractions as a major problem,” Newsom wrote in the letter.
“Combined with the U.S. Surgeon General’s warning about the risks of social media, it is urgent to provide reasonable guardrails for smartphone use in schools,” the letter said.
Newsom also argued that reducing the use of phones in class leads to improved concentration, better academic outcomes and enhanced social interactions.
The push for limited cellphone usage in schools comes amid concerns from public health leaders that social media platforms are contributing to a mental health crisis among young people. In June, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy called for a warning label to be added to social media platforms stating that social media usage can be associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents.
Virginia also announced it will restrict cellphone use in public K-12 schools. Restrictions in that state are set to go into effect starting 2025.
(NEW YORK) — The prosecutor and defense attorney delivered opening remarks Tuesday in the trial of Susan Lorincz — the Florida woman charged in the fatal shooting of her neighbor Ajike “AJ” Owens through a closed door — after a six-person jury was seated on Monday afternoon.
According to a June 6, 2023, statement from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO), Lorincz shot Owens, a Black mother of four, through a closed door in the presence of her now 10-year-old son after Owens went to speak with Lorincz about a dispute over Owens’ children playing near her home. Lorincz called 911 after fatally shooting Owens and admitted to the shooting.
Lorincz, who is white, was arrested on June 6, 2023, and charged with first-degree felony manslaughter for fatally shooting Owens on June 2, 2023, in Ocala, Florida. She pleaded not guilty on July 10, 2023, and was held on a $150,000 bond. If convicted, Lorincz faces up to 30 years in prison, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
Anthony Thomas, attorney for the family of Ajike Owens, told ABC News in a statement Tuesday that the family is “disappointed in the all-white jury that was selected to determine the outcome” of this case.
“We would have wanted the jury to be more diverse. But we believe in equal justice, so we are going to see what happens,” added family attorney Ben Crump in a statement to ABC News.
“I am keeping faith that justice will be served for my daughter, Ajike, that the jurors will not let Susan Lorincz get away with this,” Owens’ mother, Pamela Dias, told ABC News.
During opening arguments, public defender Morris Carranza argued that Lorincz was acting in self-defense because she feared for her life, while Assistant State Attorney Adam Smith stressed that Owens was “unarmed” and fatally shot through a “locked” door. Carranza claimed that Owens told Lorincz that she was going to “kill” her, while Smith told jurors that they will be hearing from witnesses who were present during the confrontation who will deny this claim.
“The death of AJ Owens is a tragedy. There is no doubt about that, but what the evidence will show is that in her mind, in her soul, in her core, Susan Lorincz felt she had no choice,” Lorincz’s defense attorney said. “It was either Susan or AJ. Susan chose to defend herself.”
Lorincz’s attorney focused on the age difference between the 59-year-old Lorincz and the 35-year-old Owens, highlighted Lorincz’s health issues and also played for jurors Lorincz’s distressed 911 call on June 2, 2023, where she claimed that Owens tried to “break down” her door and admitted to shooting at the door.
“You can hear the absolute terror that she had,” Lorincz’s attorney said, referring to the 911 call.
Meanwhile, Smith disputed the claim that Owens was trying to “break” into Lorincz’s home and stressed that Owens, who approached Lorincz’s home to talk to her about the dispute with her children, was “unarmed” and was fatally shot through a “locked” front door after Lorincz called police to come to her home.
Smith argued that Owens “doesn’t try to break into” Lorincz’s home and was shot while she was “unarmed.”
“At the end of this case, you’re going to hear that the defendant Susan Lorincz, knowing the police would come, was in her apartment with her door locked and shot through that locked front door and killed Ajike Owens, who was unarmed,” Smith said.
“After the evidence is presented, we’re going to come back to you and ask that you find the defendant guilty,” he added.
Lorincz claimed in her June 6, 2023, interrogation interview with detectives — video of which was released by MCSO — that she was acting in self-defense when she shot Owens.
“She was saying, ‘I’m going to kill you,'” Lorincz claimed in the video.
“No one that we’ve interviewed so far has made any statements about her saying that she wanted to kill you,” one of the detectives told Lorincz.
Anthony Thomas, an attorney representing the family of Ajike Owens, told ABC News in a statement on Monday that two of Owens’ four children will be called to testify during the trial and are “determined to testify” on their mother’s behalf “despite their grief.”
“Unfortunately, yes, we have confirmed that they will be called to testify. This is an unimaginably painful experience for them, as they continue to grapple with the deep emotional wounds caused by losing their mother in such a violent way,” Thomas said.
According to Thomas, Isaac, 13, and Izzy (Israel), 10, who witnessed the shooting, could be called by prosecutors and the defense to testify this week.
“They do this out of profound love and respect for her, knowing that their voices are crucial in the pursuit of justice,” Thomas said. “They understand the gravity of this moment and want to ensure that their mother’s death is not in vain.”
Judge Robert W. Hodges of Florida 5th Judicial Circuit, who is presiding over the case, said that the trial is expected to conclude by Friday.
(NEW YORK) — The United Auto Workers Union has filed federal labor charges against former President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the union said Tuesday.
In a thread on X, the union said Trump and Musk had illegally attempted to “threaten and intimidate workers who stand up for themselves by engaging in protected concerted activity, such as strikes.”
Musk — who has endorsed Trump for president — interviewed him for two hours Monday night on X Spaces in a conversation that reached over 1 million users.
During the interview, Trump praised Musk as the “greatest cutter,” seemingly referring to the mass layoffs he conducted when he took over X, then known as Twitter.
“I mean, I look at what you do. You walk in, you say, ‘You want to quit?” Trump said. “I won’t mention the name of the company, but they go on strike, and you go, ‘You’re all gone.'”
Going on strike is considered protected activity under the National Labor Relations Act, and workers cannot legally be fired for doing so.
“When we say Donald Trump is a scab, this is what we mean,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement. “When we say Trump stands against everything our union stands for, this is what we mean.”
“Donald Trump will always side against workers standing up for themselves, and he will always side with billionaires like Elon Musk, who is contributing $45 million a month to a Super PAC to get him elected,” Fain continued. “Both Trump and Musk want working-class people to sit down and shut up, and they laugh about it openly. It’s disgusting, illegal, and totally predictable from these two clowns.”
Musk has denied reports he is contributing $45 million a month to get Trump elected. He has long been outspoken against workers forming unions, however.
On Tuesday, Musk replied to a post on X about the labor charges, criticizing Fain, responding, “The last two UAW presidents went to prison for bribery & corruption and, based on recent news, it looks like this guy will join them!”
ABC News has contacted the Trump campaign and X for comment.
Musk told BBC’s James Clayton in April 2023 during a Spaces interview that the cuts at Twitter were “one of the hardest things he’s had to do.”
Gabe Ginsberg/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(LOS ANGELES) — A second man has died of heat exposure in California’s Death Valley National Park this summer, according to the National Park Service.
Peter Hayes Robino, 57, a Los Angeles resident, died of hyperthermia on Aug. 1, the park announced Monday.
Bystanders saw Robino stumble as he returned from the National Bridge Trail — a 1-mile round-trip journey — and offered to help him but he declined, the NPS said, adding bystanders said his responses were not making sense.
Robino then got in his car and drove off a steep, 20-foot embankment at the edge of the parking lot and his car rolled over, deploying its airbags. A bystander left to call 911 and other bystanders helped him walk back to the parking lot and sit in the shade, the NPS said.
Bystanders said Robino was still breathing until just before park rangers arrived to provide help, according to officials. NPS emergency responders said they provided Robino with CPR and moved him to an air-conditioned ambulance.
He was declared dead shortly afterward, according to the park service.
The temperature reached 119 degrees in Death Valley that afternoon.
Symptoms of overheating can include confusion, irritability and lack of coordination.
Park rangers in Death Valley National Park advise summer visitors to avoid the heat by staying in or near air conditioning, not hiking at low elevations after 10 a.m., drinking plenty of water and eating salty snacks.
“My condolences go out to Mr. Robino’s family and friends,” said Mike Reynolds, a superintendent at the park and emergency medical technician who responded to the incident. “His death serves as a reminder not to underestimate the dangers of extreme heat.”
(HILLSBOROUGH, N.C.) — A convicted murderer is on the loose after escaping from a North Carolina hospital Tuesday morning, officials said.
Ramone Alston, 30, escaped from North Carolina Department of Corrections custody while receiving medical care at UNC Hospital in Hillsborough, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
Alston was convicted of shooting and killing a 1-year-old girl in 2015.
He was last seen wearing a gray T-shirt, brown pants and white New Balance sneakers, as well as handcuffs connected to a belly chain, officials said.
Officials are asking the public to immediately call 911 if they see Alston and warning them not to approach him.
(LOS ANGELES) — Two former Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies and two former foreign military members – one from the U.K. and one from Australia – have been accused of staging a “sham raid” on a man’s home as part of a business dispute, federal prosecutors said.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, the four men were hired by a “wealthy Chinese national” — who is being identified as an unindicted co-conspirator — to pressure the victim into handing over his shares of a Chinese rubber chemical manufacturer and nearly $37 million.
The alleged co-conspirator and victim, neither of whom are identified, had been in a yearslong feud over ownership interests in the company, prosecutors said.
The four men charged were identified as Steven Arthur Lankford, 68, a since-retired Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy; Glen Louis Cozart, 63, a former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy who runs a private investigation and security services company; Max Samuel Bennett Turbett, 39, a former member of the British military who owns a private investigation and asset recovery business; and Matthew Phillip Hart, 41, a former member of the Australian military who owns a risk management services business.
They were arraigned Monday, each on one count of conspiracy to commit extortion, one count of attempted extortion, one count of conspiracy against rights and one count of deprivation of rights under color of law. If convicted, they could face up to 20 years in federal prison for each extortion-related count and up to 10 years in federal prison for each deprivation of rights-related count, prosecutors said.
It was not immediately clear if they had retained attorneys. ABC News reached out to all of the defendants except Hart, whose contact information could not be found, but did not immediately hear back.
The alleged co-conspirator contacted Turbett in December 2018 to ask for help in solving the two business partners’ feud, prosecutors said. The co-conspirator allegedly said prior litigation had not been “the smart way” to handle the dispute and asked Turbett to find another “solution to finish the problem,” promising that if he did, “we can both retire.”
Turbett and the alleged co-conspirator then allegedly “drafted purported settlement agreements” that called for the victim to transfer shares of the company and nearly $37 million cash to the co-conspirator.
Prosecutors said Turbett hired Cozart in order to locate the victim and assemble a team to get the victim to sign the settlement agreements.
Prosecutors said Turbett hired Lankford — who was still working for the sheriff’s office — who, in violation of department policy, allegedly used a law enforcement database to search the victim’s name and date of birth.
In June 2019, the four men allegedly drove an unmarked vehicle belonging to the sheriff’s office to the victim’s home in Irvine. There, prosecutors said they entered his home and “forced [him], his wife, and their two children into one room, took their phones, and prevented them from leaving for hours.” The victim was also allegedly “slammed against a wall and choked.”
“Defendants allegedly also threatened to deport Victim 1 and his wife and permanently separate them from their 4-year-old son unless Victim 1 complied with their demands,” the news release states.
The man, fearing for his family’s safety, signed the documents, handing over shares in the company that were worth millions, prosecutors said.
Despite Lankford allegedly threatening the victim against calling police, saying he would be deported if he did so, prosecutors said the victim contacted police immediately afterward.
“Lankford thereafter spoke with an [Irvine Police Department] officer and falsely claimed that he had been at Victim 1’s home for a legitimate law enforcement purpose, that Victim 1 consented to all parties being in his home, and that no force was used,” prosecutors said in the release.
Within several months, the alleged co-conspirator paid Turbett’s company $419,813 and emailed to thank him for a “very good job,” prosecutors said.
“It is critical that we hold public officials, including law enforcement officers, to the same standards as the rest of us,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. “It is unacceptable and a serious civil rights violation for a sworn police officer to take the law into his own hands and abuse the authority of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.”
Letitia James, New York’s attorney general, speaks during a news conference in New York, Feb. 16, 2024. (Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — New York Attorney General Letitia James is asking nearly a dozen large tech companies to take meaningful steps to protect voters from election-related misinformation, according to a letter obtained exclusively by ABC News.
“While misinformation has been a concern in past elections, with the rise of gen AI, barriers that prevent bad actors from creating deceptive or misleading content have weakened dramatically,” said the letter, which was sent to 10 social media and AI companies, including Meta, Google and OpenAI.
The letter said the generative AI tools the recipients have built have “become increasingly popular and easy to use and misuse.”
Deceptive and misleading content about the 2024 presidential election has been circulating online, and generative AI has been making it increasingly difficult for users to distinguish fact from fiction.
In an altered campaign video of Vice President Kamala Harris last month, her original audio was swapped out and replaced with an AI voice-clone mimicking her voice to make her say things she never said. The creator posted the video on the social media platform X, along with a disclaimer saying it was a parody — but the video then garnered massive attention after it was reposted by X owner Elon Musk, who did not explicitly say it was satire.
In January, a robocall appearing to impersonate the voice of President Joe Biden encouraged recipients of the call to “save your vote” for the November general election, rather than participate in the New Hampshire primary, according to audio obtained by ABC News.
James isn’t the only politician raising the alarm about election-related AI.
Last month, the secretaries of state from Minnesota, Michigan, New Mexico, Washington and Pennsylvania sent a public letter to Musk calling for X’s AI search assistant, “Grok,” to direct voters seeking election information to the nonpartisan CanIVote.org, as the administrators of ChatGPT and OpenAI already do.
“As tens of millions of voters in the U.S. seek basic information about voting in this major election year, X has the responsibility to ensure all voters using your platform have access to guidance that reflects true and accurate information about their constitutional right to vote,” read the letter.
A recent study by AI Forensics, a European nonprofit investigating the impact of AI, found that Microsoft Copilot’s answers to simple election-related questions contained factual errors 30% of the time. Following that investigation, as well as a request for information from the European Commission, Microsoft and Google introduced “moderation layers” to their chatbots so that they refuse to answer election-related prompts, AI Forensics told ABC News.
In February 2023, most of the technology companies James addressed in this week’s letter signed a voluntary pact to prevent AI tools from being used to disrupt democratic elections around the world. The companies did not commit to banning or removing deepfakes; instead they outlined methods to try to detect and label deceptive AI content when it is created or distributed on their platforms.
In her letter, James is requesting an in-person meeting with these companies to review steps they are taking to protect voters from misinformation. The letter seeks written responses to questions about policies and practices, plus a meeting with corporate representatives.
The letter said nothing about the companies’ obligation to comply, though implicit in any request from the state attorney general is the possibility of an enforcement action.
(NEW YORK) — The former Illinois sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot Sonya Massey in her home after she called 911 to report a prowler was the subject of a complaint alleging inappropriate conduct following a 2022 arrest, according to Sean Grayson’s disciplinary paperwork obtained by ABC News.
A woman arrested by Grayson stated that he asked her to remove drugs from her vaginal area in front of him and another officer when he was employed with the Logan County Sheriff’s Office, according to police records. Grayson worked at the Logan County Sheriff’s Office full time from May 2022 until he resigned in April 2023. He was hired in May 2023 by the Sangamon Sheriff’s Office, where he remained until he was fired following the Massey killing.
“I went to do as he had instructed me to do feeling very afraid and forced to do such action,” the detainee stated in her complaint against Grayson. “The C.O., Aaron (Female C.O.) stopped me and informed officer Grayson that I was not to do that in front of them because they are male officers.”
According to the report, the female officer then took the woman away from the male officers, so the detainee could attempt to extract the narcotics, but she was not able to retrieve them. The detainee was then transported to a hospital to have the drugs removed.
The woman then claimed that when she was on a hospital bed “completely exposed” during the procedure, Grayson flung the curtain back, causing her to be visible to him and, what she believed were two other male officers, before the doctor immediately shut the curtain and told the officers not to enter again.
“I knocked on the door and walked into the room,” Grayson claimed in a police report, explaining that he entered to deliver a plastic evidence bag for the extracted narcotics. “As I entered the room I observed [name extracted by ABC News for the former detainee’s privacy] laying on the bed fully clothed in a gown and with a blanket on her.”
Grayson stated in the report that when police originally told the woman to remove the drugs, he handed her a plastic glove and asked her to extract the narcotics. A “female jailor” then took the woman “into the jail” to attempt to remove the narcotics, according to the former deputy.
“In conclusion of this I was never in physical contact with [name extracted by ABC News],” Grayson stated. “I was never alone with [name extracted by ABC News]. I did not talk to [name extracted by ABC News] alone at any point.”
Grayson resigned in “good standing” from the Logan County Sheriff’s Office to join Sangamon County law enforcement before the complaint could be officially investigated, according to a police record.
The former deputy has been charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct in Massey’s death. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and remains in custody.
A review by Illinois State Police found Grayson was not justified in his use of deadly force. He was fired from his position with the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office on July 17, the same day the charges were filed against him.
Grayson’s job with Sangamon County was one of six different police jobs he held over the past four years.
Miller, Grayson’s boss at the Logan County Sheriff’s Office, expressed concerns over Grayson violating department policy and submitting inaccurate reports while discussing his mishandling of a traffic case, according to audio files previously obtained by ABC News.
Prior to his time in public law enforcement, Grayson was discharged from the U.S. Army for unspecified “misconduct (serious offense),” according to documents obtained by ABC News. The U.S. Army, citing the Privacy Act and Department of Defense policy, said it is prevented from releasing information relating to the misconduct of low-level employees or characterization of service at discharge.
ABC News also learned that Grayson was charged with two DUI offenses in Macoupin County, Illinois, in August 2015 and July 2016, according to court documents. He pleaded guilty to both charges. He paid over $1,320 in fines and had his vehicle impounded as a result of the 2015 incident. In 2016, Grayson paid over $2,400 in fines, according to court records.
Grayson and a second, unnamed deputy responded to Massey’s 911 call on July 6 reporting a possible intruder at her Springfield home.
Body camera footage shows Massey, who was unarmed, telling the two responding deputies, “Please, don’t hurt me,” once she answered their knocks on her door.
Grayson responded, “I don’t want to hurt you, you called us.”
Later in the video, while inside Massey’s home as she searches for her ID, Grayson points to a pot of boiling water on her stove and says, “We don’t need a fire while we’re in here.”
Massey then pours the water into the sink and tells the deputy, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”
Grayson then shouts at Massey and threatens to shoot her, the video shows, and Massey apologizes and ducks down behind a counter, covering her face with what appears to be a red oven mitt. She briefly rises, at which time Grayson shoots her three times in the face, the footage shows.
Grayson said he feared for his life during his encounter with Massey, according to documents released by the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office last week.
“While on scene, I was in fear Dep. (redacted) and I were going to receive great bodily harm or death. Due to being in fear of our safety and life, I fired my duty weapon,” Grayson wrote in his field case report.
Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell, who hired Grayson, will be retiring later this month, he announced Friday in a statement.
“As elected leaders, we must always put the overall good of the community above ourselves; and I will not risk the community that I swore to protect. For this reason, I am announcing my retirement as Sheriff of Sangamon County, effective no later than August 31st,” Campbell said in the statement.
The booking photo for Devereaux Christopher Johnson. (Canton Public Safety Department)
(NEW YORK) — A Michigan man is accused of fatally shooting his neighbor after getting into an argument with him on the street, officials said.
Devereaux Christopher Johnson, 47, of Canton, was arraigned Monday on first-degree murder in connection with the shooting, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office said.
The victim — 35-year-old father-of-two Nathan Morris, also of Canton — was shot and killed while on a walk Saturday morning, the prosecutor’s office said.
“It is alleged that the defendant initiated a verbal argument when he saw Mr. Morris walking down the street,” the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement. “Defendant Johnson then produced and fired a handgun multiple times, fatally wounding Mr. Morris who was unarmed at the time he was killed.”
The suspect allegedly started threatening Morris’ family after one of Morris’ daughters touched the neighbor’s mulch, according to former RNC National Committeewoman Hima Kolanagireddy, a friend and colleague of the victim’s, according to her statement shared on the Michigan GOP X account. Morris stayed behind to try and “diffuse” the situation while his family went home, her statement continued.
Canton police officers responding to a reported shooting shortly before noon Saturday found Morris lying in the street suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, the prosecutor’s office said.
Morris was transported to a local hospital, where he died, police said.
Johnson barricaded himself inside his home following the shooting before ultimately surrendering, according to police.
Johnson was additionally charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and two counts of felony firearm, the prosecutor’s office said. Judge Jim Plakas entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf to all charges during his arraignment on Monday.
Johnson’s attorney, Wade McCann, requested a referral to the Center for Forensic Psychiatry to assess competency and criminal responsibility, which Plakas allowed.
The suspect was remanded to jail without bond and is next scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 23. ABC News has reached out to his attorney for comment.
The charge of first-degree murder carries a sentence of life without parole if convicted, police said.
“This was a senseless act of violence toward the victim,” Canton Police Chief Chad Baugh said in a statement following the incident. “The Canton Police Department sends our deepest condolences to the victim’s family, and to the neighbors who may have witnessed this tragic event.”
Morris worked as an engineer at Ford Motors, according to Kolanagireddy, an executive committee member of the Wayne 6th County Republican Committee, where Morris served as the secretary.
“Nathan is one of those few guys who are near perfect,” Kolanagireddy said. “He would do no harm and think no harm. He is just an amazing and gentle soul. He will be missed dearly.”
He is survived by his wife of 10 years and two girls, ages 5 and 2, according to his church, St. Michael Lutheran Church of Canton.
His friend, Edward McCall, called the incident “surreal” and said the victim’s family and friends are “numb and shocked.”
“He was a great man, and a real gentleman, a real father figure,” McCall told ABC Detroit affiliate WXYZ-TV. “I’m just kind of sorting through the kind of loss that represents for his family.”
