(CHICAGO) — A postal worker was fatally shot in front of a residence in Chicago on Friday, officials said.
The gunman approached the victim and fired multiple times before fleeing in a vehicle, police said.
“NALC (National Association of Letter Carriers) is heartbroken by the murder of Octavia Redmond, our sister from Chicago, IL Branch 11,” read a statement from the NALC released on Friday. “Today, Sister Redmond was shot multiple times on her route and was taken to the hospital, where she died. The perpetrator is still at large.”
Redmond had been a letter carrier for five years and was only 48 years old.
The shooting occurred on the city’s South Side in the West Pullman neighborhood around 11:38 a.m. CT, according to police.
The 48-year-old victim sustained “multiple gunshot wounds” and was transported to an area hospital, where she died, police said. Her name has not been released.
No one is in custody in connection with the shooting, police said.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service Chicago Division is offering a reward up to $250,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect or suspects.
🚨REWARD🚨Postal Inspectors are offering a reward up to $250,000 for info leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect(s) responsible for the homicide of a #USPS letter carrier today near 12156 S Harvard, #Chicago. Call us at 877-876-2455. #USPISpic.twitter.com/vkCPHjVg4v
“Like me, the members of NALC are outraged by this senseless act of violence that took an innocent woman’s life. For far too long, violent crime against letter carriers has been on the rise. Shockingly, now it is not uncommon for letter carriers to be targeted, assaulted, and even murdered. This is completely unacceptable, and we need immediate change,” read the NALC statement. “Every American deserves to go to work without fear and return home safely to their families. We will not stop fighting until this is a reality for all letter carriers.”
(SPRINGFIELD, Ill.) — A funeral was held Friday for Sonya Massey, the Springfield, Illinois, woman who died after authorities say a police deputy shot her after she called 911 to report a possible intruder.
Sean Grayson, the deputy involved in the shooting who has since been fired, was indicted on three counts of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct, according to a statement from Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser.
Grayson pleaded not guilty and was denied pretrial release.
“Today is about peace, today is about my big sister. It’s not about that man that’s gonna rot in jail, it’s about my big sister,” Massey’s younger sister, Breeanna Toles, said. “As baby sister, I look back at our text messages. She’d say, ‘I love you, baby sister.’ I hold onto those memories. I wish all of my sisters could be in the room today.”
The Sangamon County State’s Attorney’s Office has not yet released the body camera footage of the incident, but is expected to do so on Monday, July 22.
“I know people wanna see the video, I know people wanna talk about the video; I just ask if you do it, just do it out of respect for us,” Toles said. “It’s not a video you want to see. My dad can’t even sleep.”
Two sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a Springfield, Illinois, residence at about 12:50 a.m. on July 6 to investigate a possible prowler, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office obtained by ABC News.
“At approximately 1:21 a.m., the Deputies reported that shots had been fired, resulting in a female being struck by gunfire,” according to the sheriff’s statement. “Deputies immediately administered first aid until EMS arrived. The woman was transported to St. John’s Hospital, where she was later pronounced deceased. No deputies were injured during the incident.”
The shooting was investigated for use of deadly force by the Illinois State Police (ISP) at the request of the Sangamon County Sheriff’s office. After an investigation and through viewing body-camera footage, Milhiser found that Grayson was not justified in his use of deadly force.
According to charging documents filed in Sangamon County Court, Grayson allegedly shot Massey in the face after the deputy “aggressively yelled” at her to put down a pot of boiling water and she threw it on a couch. Grayson then allegedly discouraged his partner from retrieving a medical kit to render aid to Massey because he allegedly thought the injuries were too severe to revive her, according to prosecutors. Court documents describe Massey as “calm, perhaps unwell, not aggressive” at the time that the deputies responded to her call for help.
According to the family’s attorney, Ben Crump, Massey struggled with her mental health.
The other deputy, who has not been named, proceeded to render aid anyway and stayed with Massey until paramedics arrived, the charging documents say. Grayson did not attempt to render aid, according to the documents.
Grayson only activated his body-worn camera after the shooting, according to the charges. The other deputy had activated his camera upon arriving at the scene, the charging documents say.
Grayson has had six different police jobs in the past four years, according to the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board. The longest job he has held lasted one year. It’s not clear why he changed jobs during that time span.
Massey’s father, James Wilburn, brought up the former deputy’s employment history during the funeral and called on Illinois lawmakers present to reform the hiring process for police officers and sheriff’s deputies. It’s not clear why he changed jobs during that time span.
“There was all these red flags and yet they still made him a deputy in this county,” Wilburn said. “State senator, introduce the bill tomorrow. You can call it the Sonya Massey bill.”
Crump delivered a call for justice at the funeral.
“We come to fight for justice for Sonya Massey,” he said, “We say to Deputy Sean Grayson: until we get justice, we rebuke you in the name of Jesus. We say to the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Department: until we get justice we rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”
“I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” was one of the last things Massey said before Grayson shot her, according to Crump.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker released a statement saying that Massey deserved the protection that she called law enforcement to provide.
“My heart breaks for Sonya’s children, for her family and friends and for all who knew and loved her, and I am enraged that another innocent Black woman had her life taken from her at the hands of a police officer,” Pritzker’s statement says.
Grayson’s attorney, Dan Fultz, declined to comment.
(SPOKANE, Wash.) — A high-speed police pursuit that ended in a multi-vehicle crash in Washington state Friday left seven officers injured and three suspects in custody, according to officials.
The crash took place near the intersection of North Oak Street and West Carlisle Avenue in Spokane, police said.
All individuals involved in the crash, including the suspects, were taken to a nearby hospital for injuries, Spokane Interim Police Chief Justin Lundgren told reporters during a press briefing after the crash.
All of the officers are expected to make full recoveries, according to Lundgren, who notes the conditions of the suspects are not yet known.
Additionally, a canine that was in the pursuing police vehicle was transported to an emergency veterinary clinic, according to Lundgren, who said the dog is expected to make a full recovery.
Detailing how the high-speed pursuit began, Lundgren said Spokane police started tracking the suspected vehicle at approximately 1:00 p.m. local time as authorities were wrapping up an unrelated search warrant.
Lundgren said an officer recognized a suspect vehicle that was allegedly involved in a drive-by shooting that occurred days before.
Officers initiated a pursuit of that suspect vehicle through a residential neighborhood, according to Lundgren, who noted the car was driving at a high speed.
As the suspect vehicle was attempting to drive through an intersection, it collided with an assisting armored police vehicle, resulting in a crash, Lundgren said.
Subsequently, a pursuing police vehicle also crashed into the suspect vehicle, according to Lundgren.
No one was killed in the pursuit, Lundgren said, adding that a civilian vehicle was approaching behind the armored vehicle that fortunately stopped in time.
The intersection will be closed for several hours for the investigation, officials said.
(BATON ROUGE, La.) — Louisiana’s new law requiring all public school classrooms display the Ten Commandments will not be publicly enforced or endorsed in any way until November 15, 2024, according to a new court filing in the ongoing legal battle over the policy.
Both parties agreed that the Ten Commandments will not be posted in any public school classroom and defendants — including the state’s Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education — and schools will not publicly move forward on the law’s implementation until November.
Lester Duhe, a spokesperson for the Louisiana Attorney General’s office, clarified that the defendants “agreed not to take public-facing compliance measures” until then because it will give time for “briefing, oral arguments and a decision” ahead of the January 2025 date in which schools have to have the Ten Commandments.
The January requirement still stands pending the outcome of the suit.
A multi-faith group of Louisiana families with children in public schools sued to challenge the law, HB 71, which mandates public schools — from kindergarten to the collegiate level — display the Ten Commandments, a religious set of rules from the Old Testament, in every classroom on “a poster or framed document that is at least 11 inches by 14 inches.”
The posters were expected to be paid for by private donations and not state dollars, according to the law, which does not disclose what would happen if a school does not comply with the order.
The suit argues that the law violates a U.S. Supreme Court precedent, pointing to the Stone v. Graham case in which the court overturned a similar state law, holding that the separation of church and state bars public schools from posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
The nine families — who are Jewish, Christian, Unitarian Universalist and nonreligious — also argue the law is religious coercion and violates their First Amendment rights: “Permanently posting the Ten Commandments in every Louisiana public school classroom – rendering them unavoidable – unconstitutionally pressures students into religious observance, veneration and adoption of the state’s favored religious scripture,” the complaint reads.
It continues, “It also sends the harmful and religiously divisive message that students who do not subscribe to the Ten Commandments — or, more precisely, to the specific version of the Ten Commandments that H.B. 71 requires schools to display — do not belong in their own school community and should refrain from expressing any faith practices or beliefs that are not aligned with the state’s religious preferences.”
The law argues that the Ten Commandments are also historically significant, reflecting “the understanding of the founders of our nation with respect to the necessity of civic morality to a functional self-government,” the text reads.
“If you want to respect the rule of law, you gotta start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses,” Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said during a press conference where he signed a package of education bills.
(NEW YORK) — A federal judge on Friday declined to dismiss criminal charges against former Rep. George Santos for alleged schemes that cost him his seat.
The judge denied Santos’ motion to dismiss certain fraud charges, ruling he failed to meet the legal standards.
The New York Republican who represented parts of Queen’s and Nassau County has pleaded not guilty to a host of charges accusing him of defrauding donors, lying to Congress and using campaign contributions for personal expenses.
Santos dropped his bid for reelection after he was expelled from the House in December.
Santos faces 23 felony charges, including two counts of wire fraud, two counts of making materially false statements to the Federal Election Commission, two counts of falsifying records submitted to obstruct the FEC, two counts of aggravated identity theft and one count of access device fraud, according to the United States Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York.
Two of Santos’ associates, his former campaign finance chief Nancy Marks and fundraiser Sam Miele, have already pleaded guilty to charges.
Santos had represented New York’s 3rd Congressional District since January 2020 before being expelled on Dec. 1, 2023, in a bipartisan vote.
(NEW YORK) — Friday’s wave of global IT outages, which affected CrowdStrike customers who use Windows products, has led to more than 1,100 flight cancelations and hundreds of delays in the U.S., leaving travelers to navigate uncharted next steps as major airlines deploy workarounds and slowly come back online.
With interim efforts underway at American Airlines, United and Delta, Nick Ewen, a travel expert and senior editorial director of The Points Guy, told ABC News that there’s a potential lengthier domino effect as they get back to fully operational.
“There may be knock-on effects with the impacted airlines throughout the day and even into the weekend,” he said. “This is because planes and crew members get stranded when a flight is cancelled, and if that plane and/or crew are scheduled to operate two more flights later in the day, and then another four the next day, all of those are at risk of being disrupted.”
Tips to navigate flight, travel delays and reimbursements this weekend amid CrowdStrike outages
For anyone traveling this weekend, Ewen suggested people “make sure they’re proactively keeping an eye on their flights to learn about delays or cancellations as soon as possible.”
“Download your airline’s app, which may allow you to track where your inbound plane is coming from. If not, an app like FlightRadar24 allows you to see the registration number of the plane scheduled to operate your flight,” he said. “If you’re waiting to depart from New York in two hours and your plane is still sitting in Texas, you’re not leaving on time — even if the airline’s system is saying your flight is on schedule.”
For anyone experiencing significant delays, especially if it forces travelers to stay overnight at an airport, Ewen said to “inquire with your airline about hotel and food vouchers.”
“If they are unable — or unwilling — to provide them, investigate any trip delay protection you may have on the credit card you used for the flight,” he added. “In some cases, you may be eligible for reimbursement for extra expenses incurred — though you’d still need to submit a claim with the benefits provider. So save your receipts.”
Tomasz Pawliszyn, CEO of AirHelp, a claims management company, echoed Ewen’s advice for travelers to retain receipts for any incurred expenses during the delays, telling ABC News “it’s crucial for passengers to understand their rights and know their options during disruptions.”
“Although this incident is beyond the control of airlines and airports, passengers still have certain rights under U.S. Department of Transportation regulations,” he said. “The passengers are entitled to assistance from the airline. This can include rebooking on the next available flight and, in some cases, meal vouchers and accommodation if the delay extends overnight.”
Pawliszyn said that later this year, there will be some updated rules in place.
“The new refund rules apply when the airline has rescheduled the flight for either an earlier or later time with a margin of 3-4 hours, depending on whether it is a domestic or international flight,” he explained. “When this happens, if the passenger rejects the reschedule, the passenger has a right to obtain a cash refund as opposed to a voucher. “
He added that the new rules “will not apply until after the summer.”
The home of 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, the suspected shooter who attempted to assassinate former President Donald J. Trump is cornered off with crime scene tape and guarded by law enforcement, investigators are also converging on the home again to search for clues and evidence with many road closures in the area in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania on July 18, 2024. The United States Secret Service killed the gunman. (Photo by Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(BUTLER, Pa.) — New details have emerged about the suspected shooter at former President Donald Trump’s rally over the weekend, including what first brought Thomas Matthew Crooks under suspicion.
Multiple law enforcement sources confirmed to ABC News that suspicions about the suspect were first aroused at the site by other attendees when they spotted him with a range finder and duffel bag.
Attendees then notified law enforcement, according to sources.
The suspect, who was 20, had two cell phones — one on him and a second one found at his home, sources said.
Sources also told ABC News that Crooks came to the rally site in Butler, Pennsylvania, on the morning of the shooting, stayed there for an hour, left and then came back sometime in the early 5 p.m. ET hour.
Additionally, a source told ABC News that an individual using the name of the suspect signed up online to attend the Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump rally on July 6, a week before the shooting.
Meanwhile, the FBI told lawmakers they’ve conducted 200 interviews as part of the investigation, a source said.
On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General opened its third probe into the security that led to the assassination attempt.
The agency said the third probe will investigate the U.S. Secret Service’s planning and implementation activities for protective operations.
“Our objective is to determine the extent to which the Secret Service plans and implements protective activities to ensure the safety and security of designated protectees,” the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General said.
The announcement follows two prior probes, opened on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively that examined the U.S. Secret Service’s process to secure the campaign event and a review of the Secret Service Counter Sniper Team’s preparedness and operations.
Investigators working to determine a motive behind the assassination attempt are also examining a message left on a gaming platform site purported to have been authored by the suspect, according to multiple law enforcement sources briefed on the probe.
Investigators, according to multiple law enforcement sources, found a post on the gaming platform Steam that is credited to the suspected gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. The post reads “July 13 will be my premiere, watch as it unfolds.” Investigators are working to determine whether the post is legitimate.
Investigators also found internet searches for both Trump and President Joe Biden on the phone belonging to Crooks, sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News. Crooks had searched for the dates of Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and for those of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the sources said.
The suspect’s phone was one of several devices that law enforcement investigators had collected as they worked to piece together a timeline of the assassination attempt against the former president during a Saturday rally.
“What is beginning to emerge is a portrait of a troubled young person who turned to violence,” said John Cohen, an ABC News contributor and former head of intelligence at the Department of Homeland Security.
Cohen, who specializes in the phenomenon of mass shooters, added that investigators may never determine a single or precise motive for the attack. Sources familiar with the investigation have told ABC News that a search of the suspect’s phone history has revealed no indication of Crooks’ political views or his motive for the shooting. Investigators have also found no digital footprint from the suspect suggesting any affiliations with international or domestic terrorist groups. They have also been unable to identify any ideological nexus to Trump and/or Biden, according to sources.
“Likely, it was a combination of mental health issues, ideological beliefs and a sense of personal grievance, the same combination of factors present in almost every school shooting and mass casualty attack over the past several years. As with those incidents, the warning signs were there, they were just not recognized,” Cohen said. “The threat was real but people around him did not understand what they were witnessing or how it would play out last Saturday.”
The FBI early on Sunday had identified Crooks as the suspect. The U.S. Secret Service said snipers had killed Crooks at the scene. Firefighter Corey Comperatore, a dad who was attending the rally, was killed, and two other bystanders injured, officials said.
The searches compounded the questions that were swirling as investigators searched for a reason for the shooting, including a possible political motive. Crooks had been registered as a Republican voter, according to state records. But a $15 donation to a progressive group was also recorded under “Thomas Crooks” in January 2021, according to FEC records.
As investigators analyzed the suspect’s phone, they looked at his search history, which included the queries for Trump and Biden. But that search history didn’t immediately appear to reveal Crooks’ political views, sources told ABC News.
Law enforcement officials investigating the assassination attempt told lawmakers on Wednesday that 20 minutes had passed between the time Secret Service snipers first spotted Crooks on a rooftop and the time the first shots were fired, according to several law enforcement officials and lawmakers briefed on the matter.
Meanwhile, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, wrote a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Thursday requesting more information on the Trump rally shooting — a preview of what GOP members on the committee may ask Wray when he appears at a hearing on Wednesday, July 24.
Jordan alleges that “whistleblowers have disclosed to the Committee that the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) did not have proper resources for President Trump’s campaign event in Butler because of staffing shortages” due to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit, which ran from July 9 to July 11 in Washington, D.C., and an event attended first lady Jill Biden in Pittsburgh on the same day as the Trump rally.
“The information provided to this Committee raises serious questions about the thoroughness of the security planning by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies in support of President Trump’s campaign rally,” Jordan said. “Law enforcement overlooked a number of vulnerabilities prior to and during the event.”
Editor’s note: The story has been updated based on additional information from law enforcement.
(WASHINGTON) — Two people were killed and two others — including a toddler — were injured in a mass shooting in broad daylight in Washington, D.C., authorities said.
At about 11:22 a.m. Thursday, three people got out of a car with what authorities believe were rifles and “shot up the block,” Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith said at a news conference.
Three men who were in the intersection at the time were shot, Smith said. Two of the men were killed and the third was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, she said.
A 2-year-old girl was also shot and hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, Smith said.
When the gunfire broke out, the 2-year-old was exiting a day care with a group for their morning walk, Smith said. No other children were hurt, she said.
“This is another example of gun violence that we cannot have in our communities,” Smith said, appearing exasperated. “We’re sick and tired of this.”
The suspects are at large, Smith said.
Police are searching for a blue Dodge Charger with heavy tinted windows, Smith said. It appears the suspects ditched one car and then jumped into the blue Charger after the shooting, Smith said.
“We urge anyone, anyone with information that can help our detectives, to call us right away at 202-727-9099,” Smith said.
(NEW YORK) — Hyundai is recalling up to 54,647 vehicles due to loss of drive power from fuel pump failure, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The recall impacts certain 2019-2023 models of Genesis G70, Veloster N, Elantra N, and Kona N, the federal agency said.
According to NHTSA, premature wearing of the fuel control valve in the high-pressure fuel pump “could allow excess fuel to enter the fuel pump and the air and fuel mixture can result in a reduction or loss of motive power at low speeds, increasing the risk of a crash.”
Indications that there might be an issue include, “MIL illumination, lack of power, rough idle or misfire,” according to NHTSA recall documents.
Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed out by Sept. 9, 2024. To remedy the issue, Hyundai dealers will install an updated fuel control valve (FCV) plunger design and revised engine ECM software logic, the agency’s recall notice states.
“To ensure the safety of its customers, Hyundai Motor North America and Genesis Motor North America has filed recall campaign 262/023G to address a condition involving the high-pressure fuel pump assemblies in certain Hyundai and Genesis vehicles produced for sale in the U.S. and Canada,” Hyundai said in a statement to ABC News on Thursday.
The company added: “There are no confirmed crashes or injuries related to this condition in the U.S. or Canada.”
(CHICAGO) — An Illinois Sheriff’s deputy has been charged in the shooting death of Sonya Massey, a Springfield woman who called authorities to report a possible intruder.
The deputy, Sean Grayson, is facing three counts of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct, according to a statement from Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser, who filed the charges.
Grayson has also been fired from the Sangamon County Sheriff’s department, according to a statement from Sheriff Jack Campbell, posted to the department’s Facebook page.
“It is clear that the deputy did not act as trained or in accordance with our standards,” Campbell’s statement says. “The actions taken by Deputy Grayson do not reflect the values and training of the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office or law enforcement as a whole.”
Two sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a Springfield, Illinois, residence at about 12:50 a.m. on July 6 to investigate a possible prowler, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office obtained by ABC News.
“At approximately 1:21 a.m., the Deputies reported that shots had been fired, resulting in a female being struck by gunfire,” according to the sheriff’s statement. “Deputies immediately administered first aid until EMS arrived. The woman was transported to St. John’s Hospital, where she was later pronounced deceased. No deputies were injured during the incident.”
The shooting was investigated for use of deadly force by the Illinois State Police (ISP) at the request of the Sangamon County Sheriff’s office. According to Milhiser, a review of the investigation and the body-worn camera footage found that Grayson was not justified in his use of deadly force.
Investigators have not said if the other deputy will face charges in connection with the shooting.
The Sangamon County State’s Attorney’s Office has not yet released the body camera footage of the incident.
Jim Allmon, Sangamon County Coroner, told ABC News that an autopsy found that Massey died from a gunshot wound.
Massey’s family’s attorney, Ben Crump, called the news of Grayson’s indictment a step forward in gaining justice for Sonya’s loved ones.
“While nothing can undo the heinous actions of this officer, we hope the scales of justice will continue to hold him accountable and we will demand transparency at every step,” Crump said in a statement.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker released a statement saying that Massey deserved the protection that she called law enforcement to provide.
“My heart breaks for Sonya’s children, for her family and friends and for all who knew and loved her, and I am enraged that another innocent black woman had her life taken from her at the hands of a police officer,” Pritzker’s statement says.
Grayson is currently in custody. He is expected to make his first court appearance Thursday afternoon when he will be arraigned on the charges.
An attorney for Grayson did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
ABC News’ Emily Chang and Tesfaye Negussie contributed to this report.
