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(SANTA FE, N.M.) — Prosecutors argued Alec Baldwin behaved recklessly and “violated the cardinal rules of firearm safety” during the filming of “Rust,” while the defense said the actor “committed no crime” in the “unspeakable tragedy,” during opening statements Wednesday in the manslaughter trial over the 2021 fatal on-set shooting.

Baldwin was practicing a cross-draw in a church on the Santa Fe set of the Western when the Colt .45 revolver fired a live round, fatally striking 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.

Baldwin was indicted by a grand jury on involuntary manslaughter in connection with Hutchins’ death earlier this year after prosecutors previously dropped the charge. He pleaded not guilty.

Baldwin committed ‘numerous breaches’ of firearm safety, state says

“The evidence will show, ladies and gentlemen, that like in many workplaces, there are people who act in a reckless manner and place other individuals in danger, and act without due regard for the safety of others,” prosecutor Erlinda Ocampo Johnson told jurors during her opening statement. “That, you will hear, was the defendant — Alexander Baldwin, the lead actor on this film.”

Johnson told jurors that while they will hear the revolver referred to as a “prop gun,” it is a real gun that experts will testify was in proper working order.

She told jurors they will hear about “numerous breaches” of firearm safety regarding Baldwin, from him using it as a pointer to cocking the hammer and putting his finger on the trigger when he was not supposed to do either.

While handling the firearm prior to the shooting, Baldwin “would do his own thing,” including having his finger on or around the trigger during two draws, Johnson said.

“The evidence will show that that third and fatal time, he takes it out once again, fast,” Johnson said. “He cocks the hammer, points it straight at Miss Hutchins and fires that gun, sending that live bullet right into Miss Hutchins’ body.”

Baldwin has maintained that he did not pull the trigger of the firearm, though the FBI’s forensic report determined the gun could not have been fired without pulling the trigger.

“After the shooting, the defendant began to claim he didn’t pull the trigger. The evidence will show, ladies and gentlemen, that’s not possible,” Johnson told jurors.

Live bullet on set ‘most critical issue,’ defense says

Defense attorney Alex Spiro told jurors the state will attempt to “tarnish” Baldwin but that the “most critical issue” in the case is how the live bullet got on set.

“On this set, there was a real bullet, something that should never be on a movie set, something which has nothing to do with making a movie,” Spiro told the jurors during his opening statement. “You will hear no evidence, not one word that Alec Baldwin had anything to do with that real bullet being brought onto that set.”

He said it was the armorer’s responsibility to ensure the firearm was safe, and that the loading of the live bullet had nothing to do with Baldwin.

“No one had any idea that this venomous, toxic element had been inserted into this magic they were creating,” Spiro said. “But it did. It entered that place. It killed an amazing person, it wounded another, and it changed lives forever.”

Spiro said when the gun was handed to Baldwin, “cold gun” was announced, indicating it was safe. When it fired, everyone on set was “shocked,” he said.

“Alec is startled. He immediately says, ‘I didn’t mean to shoot. I didn’t pull the trigger,'” Spiro said.

Spiro said that Baldwin didn’t pull the trigger but that on a movie set “you’re allowed to pull the trigger.” Even if the state could prove that Baldwin did intentionally pull the trigger, “that doesn’t make him guilty of homicide,” Spiro said.

“He did not know, or have any reason to know, that gun was loaded with a live bullet,” Spiro said. “That’s the key. That live bullet is the key. That is the lethal element.”

1st witness recounts response to shooting

Following opening arguments, the state called its first witness, officer Nicholas Lefleur, who was the first law enforcement officer to arrive in response to a 911 call reporting the on-set shooting.

Lefleur discussed his efforts to secure the scene at the Bonanza Creek Ranch and separate witnesses.

During footage from his lapel camera shown to the jury, Lefleur seeks out Baldwin — who is seen talking on his cellphone while still in costume — and says he understands the actor was in the room during the shooting.

“I was the one holding the gun, yeah,” Baldwin responds.

Prosecutor Kari Morrissey questioned Lefleur about several instances in which Baldwin was seen talking to other witnesses even though the officer asked him not to.

In his cross-examination, Spiro addressed that at no point during those instances did Lefleur tell the witnesses to separate.

Baldwin 2nd person to go on trial in shooting

The jury was selected on Tuesday. The trial is currently scheduled to go through July 19. That does not include deliberations.

Prosecutors were seeking to argue during the trial that, as a producer of the film, Baldwin bore responsibility for unsafe conditions on the set. However, during a pretrial hearing on Monday, Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer denied using evidence of his role as a producer during the trial.

The judge also ruled that footage from the “Rust” set showing Baldwin’s handling of the firearm can be admitted into evidence in the trial, but that videos of him yelling or cussing at the crew to hurry up were not relevant in the case.

Baldwin, 66, is the second person to go on trial in connection with the fatal shooting.

The film’s armorer — 27-year-old Hannah Gutierrez — was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in March. Prosecutors argued that she repeatedly failed to maintain proper firearm safety and brought several live rounds onto the set — including the one that killed Hutchins.

Her attorney told ABC News on Tuesday that they have been informed that she will be called to testify on Friday and plans to invoke the Fifth Amendment.

Marlowe Sommer denied last month the state’s request to use immunity to compel Gutierrez’s testimony during Baldwin’s trial. Prosecutors sought immunity so that Gutierrez’s testimony could not be used against her in her appeal. At a pretrial interview in May, Gutierrez asserted her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, prosecutors said.

Last year, David Halls, the film’s first assistant director who had conducted the safety check on the Colt .45 revolver prior to the shooting, accepted a plea deal in the case after being charged with negligent use of a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to six months unsupervised probation.

He could also be called to testify during the trial, court records show.

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(NEW YORK) — The NASA astronauts who were aboard the first crewed flight into space on Boeing’s Starliner said they are “confident” the spacecraft can get them home safely.

Flight commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore, 61, a former U.S. Navy captain, and Sunita Williams, 58, a former Navy service member, have been aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for more than a month after Starliner experienced several mechanical issues, including helium leaks and a thruster issue.

“We’re absolutely confident,” WIlmore said Wednesday. He said the pair tested a “Safe Haven procedure,” sheltering inside Starliner in the event they needed to suddenly undock from the ISS, and the test went well.

“We’ve been through a lot of simulations…and I think where we are right now…I feel confident that if we had to, if there was a problem with the International Space Station, we could get in our spacecraft, we could undock, talk to our team and and figure out the best way to come home,” Williams added.

Wilmore and Williams lifted off on June 5 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and docked with the ISS on June 6.

The pair were initially expected to spend one week aboard the ISS evaluating the spacecraft and its systems and return June 14. However, Starliner’s mechanical issues left the astronauts stuck onboard the ISS with no set return date.

NASA has insisted Wilmore and Williams are safe while they remain onboard the ISS with the Expedition 71 crew. The agency has said the ISS has plenty of supplies in orbit, and the station’s schedule is relatively open through mid-August.

“We’re taking our time on the ground to go through all the data that we have before we decide on the return opportunity,” Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew program, said during a Wednesday afternoon press briefing. “We’re taking time to build confidence in the spacecraft to understand the thruster performance … and also totally understand the helium margins before we undock.”

NASA and Boeing say Wilmore and Williams are “integrated” with the Expedition 71 crew aboard the ISS and are helping the crew with station operations as needed, as well as completing “objectives” needed for NASA’s possible certification of Starliner.

“Since their arrival on June 6, Wilmore and Williams have completed half of all hands-on research time conducted aboard the space station, allowing their crewmates to prepare for the departure of Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft,” NASA wrote in a recent update.

This week, teams at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico are performing ground tests of Starliner’s thruster, putting it through similar conditions the spacecraft experienced on its way to the ISS, according to an update on Boeing’s website.

The tests will replicate Starliner’s docking, when some of the thrusters failed, and what the thrusters will experience between when Starliner undocks from the ISS and touches down back on Earth.

“This testing is trying to replicate what the worst-case thruster saw inflight,” Mark Nappi, Boeing’s vice president of its Commercial Crew Program, said during the Wednesday afternoon news conference. “So far, we’ve not been able to replicate the temperatures that we saw in flight, so the team is off talking about that – as a matter of fact, right now – so that they can determine whether or not there’s a form of testing, or something in the test that we want to go change, so that we can replicate that situation.”

Stich said the tests, and taking one’s time with them, are not unusual for a new spacecraft, and because Starliner can be powered from the ISS, it allows the team to use the space station as temporary hangar. He added that he expects the tests to be completed by the end of this week or over the weekend.

Starliner had been plagued by issues even before launch. The flight test was originally tentatively scheduled for May 6, but was scrubbed after a problem with an oxygen valve on a rocket from United Launch Alliance, which manufactures and operates the rockets that launch Starliner spacecraft into orbit.

A new launch date was subsequently set for May 25, but then a small helium leak was discovered in the Starliner service module, which contains support systems and instruments for operating the spacecraft.

Those helium leaks and a thruster issue threatened to delay Starliner’s ISS docking, but it docked successfully. Five days after docking with the ISS, NASA and Boeing announced that the spacecraft was experiencing five “small” helium leaks, but added at the time that enough helium remained for the return mission.

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(HOUSTON) — More than 1.3 million electrical customers in the Houston area remained without power Wednesday as sweltering temperatures set in following the destruction left by Hurricane Beryl.

As CenterPoint Energy, the main utility company in the area, warned “it will take days” to restore power to everyone, Harris County officials sought to calm residents suffering under hot, humid conditions.

Beryl made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane early Monday, knocking down power lines, toppling trees onto homes, flooding streets, killing at least six people and leaving Houston, the fourth largest U.S. city with more than 2.3 million residents, under miserable conditions, officials said.

“I know that we’re all tired and frustrated. We’re hot. We are struggling to sleep and cool off and we absolutely have storm fatigue,” Judge Lina Hidalgo, the executive of Harris County, said at the start of a news conference on Tuesday afternoon.

Assessing the post-Beryl situation, Hidalgo reported long lines at the few gas stations that remain open, hospitals and senior living facilities without power, food dwindling at grocery stores, widespread damage caused by Beryl’s 97 mph wind gusts and 13 inches of rain in some areas.

On top of the damage exacted by Beryl, a heat advisory remains in effect in the Houston area, where the temperature is forecast to reach a high of 93 degrees on Wednesday. The National Weather Service said the heat index, which factors in low humidity, will make the Houston area feel more like 106 degrees.

“The main point here [is] I really want to encourage people not to panic. We can get through this,” said Hidalgo, adding that her home was without power.

But Paul Locke, CenterPoint Energy’s director of local government affairs, could only offer cold comfort to customers of the utility giant, saying, “It’s going to be days” before power is restored to everyone.

“I can’t give you a timeline, but it’s not going to be tomorrow,” Locke said.

About 12,000 linemen have been deployed to the field as CenterPoint continued Wednesday to assess damage to its electrical grid, the energy provider said.

When Beryl blew in on Monday, a total of 2.2 million CenterPoint Energy customers lost power, about 80% of those the utility serves, as the storm toppled powerlines and trees and ripped roofs off buildings, including part of the roof on NRG Stadium, home of the NFL’s Houston Texans, officials said.

Drawing comparisons to a severe storm in May that knocked out power to about 1 million CenterPoint Energy customers, Locke said it took 4 1/2 days to restore power to everyone in the wake of that storm.

“Now we’re at 2.2 million,” Locke said.

But CenterPoint Energy’s outage map showed Wednesday that repairs hadn’t started in many areas without power and that assessment of the damage was still ongoing.

Locke assured customers that the utility company was working as fast as possible to restore power, adding many members of the repair crews were without power, too.

“Nobody wants to sleep in a house that’s 85 degrees,” Locke said.

Compounding the problem, the Red Cross has been unable to set up shelters in Houston because of the lack of electricity, Hidalgo said.

Hidalgo also noted an emergency that occurred at the Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital in Houston at the onset of the hurricane, saying the facility, which she described as “one of the pillars” of the city’s health care system, lost power and could not get its back-up generator to work for several hours.

“It got so warm in the hospital that people’s lives were at risk,” Hidalgo said. “They had to shut down all operating rooms except for two, which meant even a lot of emergency operations were delayed.”

Hidalgo also said the storm prompted the closure of the Port of Houston, where much of the fuel for gas stations comes in. She said gas stations are relying on trucks to bring in fuel.

“So the ones that don’t have power, they can’t supply the fuel and the ones that do have fuel are seeing limitations because everyone is going there,” Hidalgo said.

She said that while some grocery stores reported running out of perishable items, “We’re not in a situation where we are going to run out of food or where it is just impossible for fuel to get to Harris County in the event of a serious emergency.”

Houston resident Joanne Posey was among numerous people without power on Wednesday picking up emergency supplies and water at a cooling station established at the LeRoy Crump Stadium in Houston.

“It’s hard, but you just keep the faith with sweat going down your face,” Posey told ABC Houston station KTRK, as she waited in her car to pick up supplies.

Susan Balderas of Houston was among those waiting in line at a gas station, telling KTRK that it was the second place she went to fill up her tank.

“I’ve taken my lunchtime today to find gas because in the area I live, a lot of power is still out,” Balderas said. “Gas stations are out. Long lines everywhere.”

President Joe Biden granted a federal emergency disaster declaration on Tuesday for 121 Texas counties affected by Beryl, which will speed up federal assistance to the area.

Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick is serving as governor in the absence of Gov. Greg Abbott, who is on an economic development mission in Asia. Patrick said he spoke to Biden on Tuesday and made the formal request for federal assistance after he toured the damaged areas.

In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, Biden alleged that state officials in Texas slowed down the federal efforts by not putting in a formal request with the administration sooner.

“I don’t have any authority to do that without a specific request from the governor,” Biden told the Chronicle.

Patrick, a Republican, later accused Biden of making the storm recovery “a political issue.”

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(NEW YORK) — Even though Beryl lost its status as a tropical storm, it still packed a punch as it moved from Arkansas to Michigan, bringing with it tornadoes and flash flooding.

The remnants of the storm, which had made landfall in Texas on Monday as a Category 1 hurricane, are expected to move on Wednesday afternoon and evening into western Pennsylvania, upstate New York and northern New England, where tornadoes are possible.

In addition to tornadoes, there is a significant threat for flash flooding from northern New York into Vermont and New Hampshire, with up to 5 inches of rain is possible in a short period of time.

The worst of Beryl should stay just north and west of Interstate 95 corridor.

At least eight people were killed when Hurricane Beryl tore through Texas and Louisiana on Monday, including a civilian employee of the Houston Police Department who drove into flood conditions on the way to work, officials said.

Multiple fatalities were due to fallen trees, officials said.

Two reported tornadoes had ripped through Kentucky and Indiana on Tuesday.

Up to 8 inches of rain fell just out of Little Rock, Arkansas, flooding homes and neighborhoods on Tuesday. And Up to 3.6 inches of rain fell in about 1 hour and 40 minutes in Lansing, Michigan, producing flash flooding.

More than 1.7 million power customers were without power in Texas early on Wednesday, almost two days after the storm rolled through the state, according to PowerOutage.us, a website that tracks power providers.

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(NEW YORK) — The NASA astronauts who were aboard the first crewed flight into space on Boeing’s Starliner will participate in a press conference on Wednesday morning.

Flight commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore, 61, a former U.S. Navy captain, and Sunita Williams, 58, a former Navy service member, the flight’s pilot, both of whom are currently aboard the International Space Station (ISS), are set to answer questions about the test flight and the mission.

Wilmore and Williams lifted off on June 5 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and docked with the ISS on June 6.

The pair were initially expected to spend one week aboard the ISS evaluating the spacecraft and its systems and return June 14. However, Starliner has experienced several mechanical issues, including helium leaks and a thruster issue, leaving the astronauts stuck onboard the ISS with no set return date.

NASA has insisted Wilmore and Williams are safe while they remain onboard the ISS with the Expedition 71 crew. The agency has said the ISS has plenty of supplies in orbit, and the station’s schedule is relatively open through mid-August.

“I want to make it clear that Butch and Suni aren’t stranded in space,” Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew program, said during a June 28 teleconference. “Our plan is to continue to return them on Starliner and return them home at the right time.”

NASA and Boeing say Wilmore and Williams are “integrated” with the Expedition 71 crew aboard the ISS and are helping the crew with station operations as needed, as well as completing “objectives” needed for NASA’s possible certification of Starliner.

“Since their arrival on June 6, Wilmore and Williams have completed half of all hands-on research time conducted aboard the space station, allowing their crewmates to prepare for the departure of Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft,” NASA wrote in a recent update.

This week, teams at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico are performing ground tests of Starliner’s thruster, putting it through similar conditions the spacecraft experienced on its way to the ISS, according to an update on Boeing’s website.

The tests will replicate Starliner’s docking, when some of the thrusters failed, and what the thrusters will experience from undocking to landing back on Earth.

“We really want to understand the thruster and how we use it in flight,” said Dan Niedermaier, the lead Boeing engineer for the thruster testing, in a statement. “We will learn a lot from these thruster firings that will be valuable for the remainder of the Crew Flight Test and future missions.”

Starliner has been plagued by issues even before launch. The flight test was originally tentatively scheduled for May 6, but was scrubbed after a problem with an oxygen valve on a rocket from United Launch Alliance, which manufactures and operates the rockets that launch Starliner spacecraft into orbit.

A new launch date was subsequently set for May 25, but then a small helium leak was discovered in the Starliner service module, which contains support systems and instruments for operating the spacecraft.

Those helium leaks and a thruster issue threatened to delay Starliner’s docking, but it docked successfully. Five days after docking at the ISS, NASA and Boeing announced that the spacecraft was experiencing five “small” helium leaks, but added at the time that enough helium remained for the return mission.

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(NEW YORK) — A 28-year-old man who worked for a business in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming allegedly threatened to carry out a mass shooting before being killed in a shootout with rangers on the Fourth of July, officials said Tuesday.

Samson Lucas Bariah Fussner, of Milton, Florida, was confronted by Yellowstone law enforcement rangers early on the morning of July 4 while allegedly shooting a semi-automatic rifle toward a dining facility at Canyon Village, according to the National Park Service. Approximately 200 people were in the facility at the time, NPS said in an update on the incident Tuesday.

During an exchange of gunfire, Fussner was shot by law enforcement rangers and died at the scene, NPS said. A ranger was also shot in a lower extremity, NPS said. The injured ranger was transported to an area hospital in stable condition and has since been released, NPS said. No other injuries were reported.

Fussner was an employee of Xanterra Parks and Resorts, a private business authorized to operate in Yellowstone, according to NPS. ABC News has reached out to the business for comment.

Law enforcement rangers initially began searching for the suspect after Yellowstone’s 911 dispatch center received a report just after midnight on July 4 “that a woman had been held against her will by a man with a gun in a residence at Canyon Village,” NPS said in a press release.

“She also reported to law enforcement rangers that Fussner threatened to kill her and others, including plans to allegedly carry out a mass shooting(s) at July 4th events outside the park,” NPS said.

Rangers were “strategically deployed” in the park amid the search for Fussner, NPS said. Those posted near Canyon Lodge — which houses employee and public dining rooms in the center of the park — encountered him around 8 a.m. local time as he “reportedly walked toward the service entrance of the facility while firing a semi-automatic rifle,” NPS said.

The investigation into this incident is being led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and will be reviewed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming, the NPS said. The probe will include the shooting involving the rangers, who have been placed on paid administrative leave amid the investigation per NPS policy.

“Thanks to the heroic actions of our law enforcement rangers, many lives were saved here last Thursday,” Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly said in a statement. “These rangers immediately confronted this shooter and took decisive action to ensure he was no longer a threat to public safety. We are working now to provide maximum support to those involved and their families.”

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(NEW YORK) — A Delaware woman who was allegedly assaulted by New Castle County police during a traffic stop on June 29 gave her first public comments Tuesday about the stop and her arrest.

Bystander and police body camera video show N’Finitee Coleman being detained by four officers in a parking lot where she was stopped by police.

“My hair was pulled up and down,” Coleman said during Tuesday’s press conference. “My head was punched by a male and by a female. I have constant migraines.”

In police body camera footage, released by the New Castle County Police Department, an officer can be seen stepping out of his vehicle after he pulls Coleman over. He approaches Coleman’s car and asks her to step out of the vehicle.

The officer tells Coleman she was being arrested for multiple unsafe lane changes, not using a turn signal, and because her registration was suspended for no insurance.

“An officer with the New Castle County Division of Police was traveling in the area of Walther Road and Pulaski Highway when he observed a car commit several traffic violations,” New Castle County Police said in a statement obtained by ABC News. “The officer was also able to confirm that the car’s registration was suspended without insurance and observed an old bullet hole in the driver’s side door that had police evidence markings on it. The officer activated his emergency lights behind the car at Pulaski Highway and Wellington Drive to initiate a traffic stop. However, the car continued down Pulaski Highway, making the right turn onto Brookmont Drive. The car then continued to the Royal Farms parking lot before backing into a parking space.”

The body cam video shows Coleman refusing the officer’s instructions to exit the car and asking for his supervisor. The officer then pulls her car door open. The two of them argue for a few minutes, with Coleman continuing to refuse to comply with instructions to exit her vehicle, until other officers arrive on the scene.

Three male officers can then be seen on body cam video pulling Coleman out of her car and forcing her to the ground. A female officer is then seen arriving on the scene as the other three policemen struggle with Coleman on the ground. The female officer proceeds to punch Coleman in the head area multiple times. One of the male officers is also seen throwing punches in body camera video as he claims that Coleman is holding his foot.

Coleman was eventually handcuffed and placed in a police vehicle. In addition to traffic violations, she was charged with two counts of offensive touching of law enforcement, one count of resisting arrest, and one count of disorderly conduct, according to New Castle County police.

Emeka Igwe, Coleman’s lawyer, said at Tuesday’s press conference that his client had legitimate registration for her car at the time of the incident.

“I do think there is a perception out there that when an officer approaches someone who may have an attitude or may be mouthy that they can then do whatever, whether retaliate with force or assault,” Igwe said. “That’s not OK. As an officer, you’re trained to be a professional. You’re going to encounter people with mental health challenges.”

Coleman claimed at the press conference that she has post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and her anxiety and PTSD were contributing reasons for her “verbally aggressive” behavior during the traffic stop.

“The New Castle County Division of Police Professional Standards Unit is conducting an administrative investigation to determine whether the officer’s actions were within policy,” the New Castle County Police Department said in a statement. “Additionally, the Division’s Use of Force Review Unit is conducting a use-of-force analysis, including a detailed video examination. Finally, the incident was referred to the Delaware Department of Justice, Office of Civil Rights and Public Trust. These investigations and reviews are still ongoing.”

The Delaware Department of Justice, Office of Civil Rights and Public Trust or the New Castle County attorney’s office did not immediately respond to ABC News requests for comment. The New Castle County Police Department declined to comment when ABC News asked if any of the officers involved with Coleman’s arrest have been disciplined.

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(NEW YORK) — A pastor is facing federal charges after he allegedly hit his wife in the head during a flight when she got upgraded and he didn’t.

The incident allegedly occurred on July 2 on board an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Anchorage, Alaska.

According to the complaint, Roger Allan Holmberg, Sr. and his wife were traveling for an event related to their ministry.

According to witnesses interviewed by Anchorage Airport Police detailed in the complaint, Holmberg asked his wife, “How the hell did you get the upgrade?”

She responded, “I’m a Gold Point member. Don’t speak to me like that.”

Holmberg allegedly handed his phone to his wife from the aisle while telling her to read it and gestured with his middle finger, according to the complaint.

Some time after handing her his phone, Holmberg allegedly attempted to swing toward his wife and struck the top of her head.

Another witness told airport police, according to the complaint, that Holmberg went to the first-class lavatory after the incident. When he came out, the witness confronted him and said, “If there were any further incidents, we would put him in handcuffs.”

In her interview with airport police, Holmberg’s wife said he struck her in the head with the back of his knuckles. She said Holmberg knew she had epilepsy and contact with her head could cause a seizure. She claimed he had a history of abusing her and had previously broken her finger.

According to the complaint, Holmberg told authorities he was upset that his wife “had been upgraded to first class because he wanted his wife to travel with him and sit next to him. Although he was upset, he stated he was not a violent person and did not intend to hurt his wife.”

He told authorities he “tapped his wife on the head in passing to get her attention,” and added he and his wife had been going to marriage counseling and that his wife was “disrespectful to him often and had anger issues.”

He told authorities of a previous incident where she allegedly grabbed his leg while he was driving and broke her finger.

The complaint said once the flight crew became aware that the incident occurred, they notified law enforcement. Holmberg was arrested upon landing for simple assault and transported to the Anchorage Correctional Center. According to court documents, he has since been released and cannot come within 100 yards of his wife.

In a statement to ABC News, a spokesperson for Alaska Airlines said, “Mr. Holmberg has been banned from our flights and a simple assault charge was filed against him by the U.S. Gov’t. (FBI) on July 3rd.”

Holmberg didn’t respond to a request for comment.

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(NEW YORK) — No criminal charges will be filed in connection with a deadly National Guard helicopter crash that occurred near the U.S.-Mexico border in March.

The Starr County Sheriff’s Office in Texas has closed its investigation into the March 8 incident, which involved a UH-72 Lakota chopper assigned to Washington, D.C.’s Army National Guard.

“No criminality was found,” Major Carlos Delgado of the Starr County Sheriff’s Office told ABC News by email.

The crash killed U.S. Border Patrol agent Chris Luna along with Casey Frankoski and John Grassia, both of whom held the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 2 with the New York Army National Guard.

National Guardsman Jacob Pratt survived the collision and was transferred less than a month later to Brooke Army Medical Center to recover from his injuries, according to a report by ABC affiliate KRGV-TV.

The Pentagon could not immediately be reached for comment.

The existence of the sheriff’s office’s investigation, which is separate from the Army’s safety probe, was disclosed in the spring after ABC News filed a request under the Texas Public Information Act seeking public records associated with the incident.

The county initially denied the request, citing a Texas law that says that the “release of the information would interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime.”

With the criminal investigation having concluded without charges, the sheriff’s office released body-worn camera videos of the response to the crash to ABC News on Friday.

The videos show the crumbled remains of the helicopter in a remote field alongside a dirt road, but do not shed additional insight into the cause of the incident.

“What a tragedy,” a sheriff’s deputy can be heard saying.

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(NEW YORK) — A man hiking in the Grand Canyon has died after being found unresponsive over the weekend, marking the third death in the national park within the last three weeks.

A 50-year-old unresponsive male hiker was found on the Bright Angel Trail in the Grand Canyon about 100 feet from the trail head on Sunday, according to the Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center.

Bystanders began CPR while emergency personnel responded to the scene, but efforts to resuscitate the hiker were unsuccessful.

The hiker was a San Angelo, Texas, native and had been attempting to reach the rim from an overnight stay at Havasupai Gardens. He has not been identified by authorities.

The National Park Service is conducting an investigation into the incident.

Two other hikers have died in the Grand Canyon in recent weeks.

A 41-year-old man was found unresponsive on the Bright Angel Trail on June 16 and attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful. The hiker was also hiking from an overnight stay.

A semi-responsive 69-year-old hiker was found on the River Trail in the Grand Canyon on July 1, and later became unresponsive. Attempts from bystanders and National Park Service personnel to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.

The hiker was identified as Scott Sims of Austin, Texas, and he had been attempting to reach Phantom Ranch.

Last week, the NPS said temperatures on exposed parts of the trail can reach over 120 degrees in the shade. The NPS does not advise hiking in the inner canyon during the heat of the day between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

The NPS also said efforts to assist hikers may be delayed during the summer months because of limited staff, the number of rescue calls, employee safety requirements and limited helicopter flying capability during periods of extreme heat or inclement weather.

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