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(NEW YORK) — Gov. Greg Abbott said on Wednesday that Texas bused a group of migrants to Los Angeles, adding it to a growing list of so-called “sanctuary cities” targeted by the Republican governor.
The move expanded his efforts to bus migrants outside of Texas, which has sent other buses to Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, Denver and Philadelphia.
“Texas’ small border towns remain overwhelmed and overrun by the thousands of people illegally crossing into Texas from Mexico because of President Biden’s refusal to secure the border,” the governor said in a statement.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the governor bused more than 40 people.
“It is abhorrent that an American elected official is using human beings as pawns in his cheap political games,” Bass said in a statement.
A staunch opponent of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies, Abbott’s busing efforts have drawn the ire of the officials across the country. In April 2022, he directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to begin transporting migrants to cities outside of Texas. According to the governor’s office, the state has transported more than 21,600 migrants.
Nongovernmental organizations and city agencies across the country have had to scramble to meet the groups of migrants as they’re dropped off, often with no heads up from Texas government officials or the organizations they’ve contracted to help dispatch the buses. In September 2022 the governor bused migrants to a location near Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence in Washington, D.C.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a 2024 presidential contenders, has also launched his own efforts to transport migrants. In September he flew nearly 50 migrants from San Antonio, Texas, to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
Civil rights attorneys representing some of the migrants filed a class-action lawsuit accusing the governor and other state officials of misleading migrants by promising resources if they boarded the flights.
Earlier this month, DeSantis transported another 36 migrants from Texas to Sacramento, California. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the Department of Justice is determining whether a crime was committed.
Shortly after taking office in December 2022, Bass directed city agencies to begin planning for the possibility her city would be the target of “a despicable stunt that Republican Governors have grown so fond of,” she said in a statement.
“This did not catch us off guard, nor will it intimidate us,” Bass said, adding that emergency management and law enforcement officials found out about the incoming bus before it arrived.
(MOSCOW, Idaho) — Justice may be blind, but it’s not cheap.
Prosecutors in Moscow, Idaho, this week said the upcoming prosecution of Bryan Kohberger, the man charged with killing four college students last fall, could cost more than eight times their entire annual trial budget.
Meeting with county commissioners Tuesday, Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson requested a $135,000 budget, as his team puts together what is expected to be a complicated and high-profile case.
Thompson said they know the trial “is not going to be cheap,” according to the minutes from the meeting, obtained by ABC News, acknowledging the request is a significant departure from the $15,000 budget they had maintained “for years and years.”
Thompson said his office is trying to keep its projected budget “as conservative as possible,” while at the same time “[making] sure the case is handled properly.”
Among the anticipated expenses, Thompson’s budget request cites “witness travel fees, transcript fees, exhibit display expenses [and] postage fees,” as well as “travel associated with case development, expert witnesses and other associated trial expenses,” according to the budget request.
Thompson said his office is also proposing to add a “part-time legal assistant” position to the payroll in order to help shoulder the workload, according to the meeting minutes.
One of the commissioners on the board, Kathie LaFortune, suggested an even larger allowance for Thompson’s budget, according to meeting minutes, suggesting an increase to $150,000 in order to fully cover potential costs.
Separately, the defense has been augmenting its resources, as well.
Kohberger’s lead counsel, the chief public defender in neighboring Kootenai County, Anne Taylor, is receiving $200 an hour — an amount agreed to by Latah County upon her hiring. Taylor’s co-counsel is receiving $180 an hour. Additional further expenses to the case include hiring a private investigator and experts’ services to aid their case.
Kohberger, 28, was indicted last month and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. At his arraignment in late May, Kohberger declined to offer a plea, so the judge entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf.
A trial date has been set for Oct. 2.
Kohberger is currently being held in the Latah County Jail in Moscow.
Prosecutors allege that in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022, Kohberger, a criminology Ph.D. student at Washington State University, broke into an off-campus home and stabbed to death four University of Idaho students: Ethan Chapin, 20; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21.
After a more than six-week hunt, police zeroed in on Kohberger as a suspect, tracking his white Hyundai Elantra, cell phone signal data, and recovering what authorities say was his DNA on a knife sheath found next to one of the victims’ bodies, according to court documents. He was arrested on Dec. 30, 2022, in Pennsylvania, after driving cross-country to spend the holidays at his family home in Albrightsville.
The quadruple homicide in November rocked Moscow, Idaho, the college town where the killings occurred; the ensuing investigation, and impending trial, strained the city’s already slim budget.
Police overtime and other expenses mounted exponentially, with the ongoing need for increased patrols and law enforcement work — and shouldered by a short-staffed force putting in long hours.
The bottom line, officials said: The ongoing cost of the case has burned through cash that could have gone to benefit the community and fix up city infrastructure.
“Moscow is not awash in a funding excess,” Moscow Mayor Art Bettge told ABC News in May. “We run a very, very lean budget, and the impact of the investigation has been felt on the budget.”
Even with a suspect in custody, the ongoing investigation had depleted Moscow’s coffers and scrambled an already fragile balance sheet, city officials said.
“You budget for fires. You budget for floods. You prepare for natural disasters. This was not natural,” Moscow City Council member Sandra Kelly told ABC News. “The cost is astronomical. And of course, you can’t skimp on keeping people safe. Yet, this is just not something you budget for — because it’s something you’d never dream could happen.”
(COSTA MESA, Calif.) — Two men, including an active duty Marine, are facing federal charges in connection with the firebombing of a Planned Parenthood clinic in California in 2022, the Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
Chance Brannon, 23, an active duty Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton, and Tibet Ergul, 21, both of Orange County, are accused of using a Molotov cocktail to firebomb a Costa Mesa clinic in March 2022, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said in a release.
Special agents with the FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service arrested the two men Wednesday morning without incident. They are charged with the use of an explosive or fire to damage real property affecting interstate commerce, according to the federal complaint.
The attack occurred around 1 a.m. on March 13, 2022. Prosecutors allege that Brannon and Ergul ignited and threw a Molotov cocktail at the front door of the clinic, causing a fire. No one was injured in the incident and the clinic had to temporarily close.
Security videos captured two suspects wearing hooded sweatshirts and face masks, and the FBI was offering an award of up to $25,000 for information leading to their identification, arrest and conviction.
On April 3, a witness contacted the FBI, identifying the suspects as Ergul and Brannon, according to the complaint. The witness stated that they were high school friends and that Ergul allegedly sent them text messages “admitting his involvement” in the attack, “including photographs of the Molotov cocktail,” the complaint stated.
Cell phone data allegedly placed Brannon near the Planned Parenthood clinic the night of the attack, according to the complaint.
The charge of using an explosive or fire to damage real property affecting interstate commerce carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison if convicted, prosecutors said.
“My office takes very seriously this brazen attack that targeted a facility that provides critical health care services to thousands of people in Orange County,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement. “While it is fortunate that no one was physically harmed and responders were able to prevent the clinic from being destroyed, the defendants’ violent actions are entirely unacceptable.”
The defendants were expected to make their first court appearance on Wednesday. It wasn’t immediately clear if they have attorneys who can speak on their behalf.
Brannon enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in September 2018 and is currently ranked a corporal, according to information released by a Marine Expeditionary Force spokesperson.
The Marine Corps does not comment on ongoing legal matters, the spokesperson said.
The firebombing at the Costa Mesa clinic was one of several attacks on reproductive health service facilities around the country last year.
“Incidents of this nature have been on the rise at Planned Parenthood health centers across the country and this is unacceptable,” Planned Parenthood said in a statement to ABC Los Angeles station KABC earlier this year.
The FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service are continuing to investigate the Costa Mesa incident.
(MIAMI) — Former President Donald Trump is narrowing down his list of potential attorneys as he and his team work to expand his legal team following his arraignment Tuesday on federal charges, sources tell ABC News.
Multiple sources have described the process as “productive,” with “several options” for lawyers that could join his legal defense.
The former president, appearing in federal court in Miami, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 37 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information ranging from U.S. nuclear secrets to the nation’s defense capabilities.
Trump has denied all wrongdoing, saying that his handling of all documents was in line with the Presidential Records Act. Officials with the National Archives and Records Administration, however, have said that the act requires a president to separate personal and presidential documents “before leaving office.”
Trump’s search for new counsel comes after his attorneys in the case, Jim Trusty and John Rowley, resigned on Friday, just hours after Trump was informed on Thursday of the indictment.
With no timetable set for Trump’s next court date, sources said there’s no time crunch to officially finalize the team.
Nevertheless, Trump’s history of legal turnover has led to some attorneys to turn him down, while others have asked for retainer fees that Trump’s team views as excessive, multiple sources told ABC News.
Among the first motions Trump’s legal team is expected to file is a motion to dismiss the indictment entirely, according to sources.
Sources said Trump’s team believes a critical witness in the case will be Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran, who was ordered to turn over notes and provide testimony to a grand jury after a federal judge determined in March that the government had made a prima facie case that Trump had “committed criminal violations” by deliberately misleading Corcoran about his handling of documents, as ABC News reported at the time.
Trump’s legal team has discussed filing a motion to suppress Corcoran’s notes and make his testimony inadmissible at trial, sources tell ABC News.
(NEW YORK) — A grand jury has indicted former U.S. Marine Daniel Penny in connection with the chokehold death of Jordan Neely aboard a subway train, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The exact charges will not be unsealed until Penny appears in court at a later date, the sources said. Penny was initially arrested on a second-degree manslaughter charge.
Video showed Penny, 24, putting Neely in a chokehold on May 1. Several witnesses observed Neely making threats, assistant district attorney Joshua Steinglass told the judge.
Some witnesses told police that Neely was yelling and harassing passengers on the train, authorities said. Police sources told ABC News that Penny was not specifically being threatened by Neely when he intervened and that Neely had not become violent and had not been threatening anyone in particular.
Neely was homeless at the time of the incident.
Penny held Neely for several minutes, and at some point Neely stopped moving, but Penny continued to hold him for a period of time, Steinglass said. Penny remained on the scene to talk with police following the incident, Steinglass said.
The medical examiner determined Jordan Neely was killed by a chokehold and his death was ruled a homicide.
Steinglass said prosecutors conducted a “thorough investigation” that included interviews with eyewitnesses, 911 callers and responding officers before moving forward with the criminal charge. Penny turned himself in to police on May 12 following an announcement from the Manhattan district attorney’s office regarding charges. He has not yet entered a plea.
Neely, who was homeless at the time of his death, had a documented mental health history, according to police sources. Neely had been previously arrested for several incidents on the subway, though it’s unclear how many, if any, led to convictions.
Attorneys for Penny said in a past statement to ABC News that they “fully expect that Danny will be exonerated of all charges.”
Penny’s attorneys offered “condolences to those close to Mr. Neely” and claimed, “Mr. Neely began aggressively threatening Daniel,” and that the Marine veteran and others “acted to protect themselves” in an earlier statement.
Mayor Eric Adams released a statement Wednesday afternoon stating he appreciated the DA “conducting a thorough investigation into the death of Jordan Neely.”
“Like I said when the DA first brought charges, I have the utmost faith in the judicial process, and now that the grand jury has indicted Daniel Penny, a trial and justice can move forward,” the mayor said in his statement.
(BOUTE, La.) — A 28-year-old woman has been arrested for allegedly posing as a 17-year-old student and attending a Louisiana high school throughout this school year, authorities said.
Martha Jessenia Gutierrez-Serrano, 28, who was placed in the ninth grade, allegedly pretended to be a teenager so she could learn English, St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg Champagne said at a news conference Wednesday.
“She was in school, she minded her own business, she did her schoolwork, she caused no trouble,” the sheriff said. “She wanted to learn English.”
Gutierrez-Serrano, 28, and her mother, Marta Elizeth Serrano-Alvarado, 46, both of Boutte, Louisiana, were each charged Tuesday with one count of injuring public records, the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office said.
Serrano-Alvarado allegedly used a fraudulent passport and birth certificate to enroll her 28-year-daughter at Hahnville High School in Boutte during the 2022-2023 school year, according to the sheriff’s office.
Boute is about 25 miles west of New Orleans.
School officials launched an investigation after getting “a tip that a female student, who was on record as being 17 years old, was in fact an adult possibly in her mid 20’s,” the sheriff’s office said. School officials then relayed their findings to the authorities on May 29, the sheriff’s office said.
The fraudulent birth certificate, from Honduras, “looked just like a real birth certificate,” the sheriff said.
“Whether you’re a U.S. citizen, a foreign national, some type of immigrant — no matter what status — students are entitled a role in our public school system,” Champagne said. “Inquiring about their immigration status is not done.”
The mother, Serrano-Alvarado, had been in the U.S. for “a number of years” and had an expired visa, the sheriff said. Her daughter, Gutierrez-Serrano, arrived in the U.S. in fall 2021, and the sheriff said, based on a photo taken at that time, she could “very easily be taken for a young teenager.”
She “wanted to become proficient in English and perhaps further her education, which I think we can all be sympathetic with,” Champagne said. “Unfortunately, whether it was her decision or her mother’s decision, it’s certainly bad judgment to submit a falsified document to the government.”
The St. Charles Parish school district said in a statement it “will enhance processes to determine the authenticity of enrollment documents for current and future students as well as modify policy and procedures as warranted.”
(NEW YORK) — Thirty million Americans are on alert for severe weather as tornadoes slam the South on Wednesday.
A tornado watch is in effect for Georgia and Alabama, where two tornadoes have already been reported, and severe thunderstorm watches have been issued for much of central Mississippi.
Wind gusts up to 90 mph and huge hail are also in the forecast.
The bull’s-eye will be from Jackson, Mississippi, to Montgomery, Alabama, to Albany, Georgia.
But the severe weather could stretch as far west as Dallas and as far east as Savannah, Georgia.
On Thursday, the threat for hail and winds will be in two pockets: one in Kansas and Oklahoma, and another along the Gulf Coast from Alabama to Florida.
The South is also facing dangerous heat.
On Tuesday, McAllen, Texas, hit a record high of 103 degrees.
On Wednesday afternoon the heat index — what temperature it feels like with humidity — could soar to 104 degrees in San Antonio, 105 in Houston and a scorching 114 in Corpus Christi, Texas.
By Saturday, the heat index is forecast to climb to a dangerous 108 degrees in Dallas and 111 degrees in San Antonio and Houston.
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(BOSTON) — Five people, including a Harvard Medical School morgue manager, face federal charges after allegedly conspiring to steal and sell body parts from cadavers donated to the institution.
A federal grand jury indicted Cedric Lodge, 55, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, who managed the morgue for the Anatomical Gifts Program at Harvard Medical School, with conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods charges for allegedly transporting and selling the human remains across multiple states between 2018 and 2022.
Cedric Lodge’s wife, Denise Lodge, 63, and two others — Katrina Maclean. 44, of Salem, Massachusetts, and Joshua Taylor, 46, of West Lawn, Pennsylvania — were also indicted on the same charges as part of an alleged conspiracy to “profit from the interstate shipment, purchase, and sale of stolen human remains,” the indictment stated.
A fifth man — Jeremy Pauley, 41, of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania — was also indicted by a federal grand jury on conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods charges for allegedly purchasing and then selling human remains stolen from two medical schools, including Harvard’s.
The indictments, filed this week in the United States District Court Middle District of Pennsylvania, lay out an unsettling scheme involving the alleged theft and sale of human body parts — including brains, faces and skin — in multiple states, with transactions totaling in the tens of thousands of dollars.
As morgue manager at the Boston medical school, Cedric Lodge had access to the morgue and the donated cadavers, according to his indictment. He allegedly stole dissected portions of donated cadavers, including heads, brains, skin and bones, from the morgue and transported them to his home in New Hampshire, the indictment said. He also allegedly used his access to let Maclean and Taylor into the morgue to “choose what remains to purchase,” the indictment alleged.
Cedric Lodge and his wife allegedly communicated with others, including Maclean and Taylor, “through internet social media websites and cellular telephones regarding the sale of stolen human remains,” the indictment stated.
Among the transactions referenced in the indictment, Cedric Lodge and Maclean allegedly met at the morgue on Oct. 28, 2020, after Maclean agreed to purchase two “dissected faces” for $600 from him.
Maclean allegedly stored and sold stolen remains at her store, Kat’s Creepy Creations in Peabody, Massachusetts, as well as shipped to buyers in multiple states, including Pauley, according to the indictment.
In one instance, in 2021, Maclean allegedly shipped Pauley human skin to be tanned to create leather, and provided him with human skin as payment, according to the indictment. Maclean contacted Pauley to confirm the shipment arrived because she “wanted to make sure it got to you and I don’t expect agents at my door,” the indictment stated.
Taylor is also accused of buying remains stolen from Harvard Medical School and selling them to buyers including Pauley, according to the indictment.
Between September 2018 and July 2021, Taylor transferred 39 electronic payments to a PayPal account operated by Denise Lodge totaling $37,355.56 in “payment for human remains stolen by Cedric Lodge from Harvard Medical School,” the indictment stated. One $1,000 payment in 2019 was sent with the memo “head number 7,” while a $200 payment in 2020 had the memo “braiiiiiins,” according to the indictment.
Pauley allegedly transferred 25 payments totaling $40,049.04 to Taylor via PayPal, according to the indictment, which did not specify what the payments were for.
“Some crimes defy understanding,” U.S. Attorney Gerard Karam said in a statement. “It is particularly egregious that so many of the victims here volunteered to allow their remains to be used to educate medical professionals and advance the interests of science and healing. For them and their families to be taken advantage of in the name of profit is appalling. With these charges, we are seeking to secure some measure of justice for all these victims.”
ABC News has reached out to Harvard Medical School for comment. Karam said the school, “which is also a victim here,” is cooperating in the investigation.
FBI Boston special agents arrested Cedric and Denise Lodge and Maclean on Wednesday without incident, the FBI said. Online records do not include attorney information for them. ABC News was unable to reach them for comment.
Taylor entered a not guilty plea on Wednesday, court records show. His attorney declined to comment to ABC News on the allegations.
Pauley is also implicated in another alleged human remains trafficking scheme involving the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, according to his indictment.
He is accused of buying stolen remains from Candace Chapman Scott, who worked at a Little Rock mortuary and crematorium that had contracted with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences for cremation services for cadavers received through its anatomical gift program, according to the indictment.
Pauley is accused of advertising human remains for sale on Facebook and selling remains he purchased from Scott to buyers in various states, including Matthew Lampi, 52, of East Bethel, Minnesota, according to his indictment. Pauley and Lampi allegedly bought and sold from each other over an extended period of time and exchanged over $100,000 in online payments, prosecutors allege.
Lampi was also indicted this week on conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods charges in connection with his alleged dealings with Pauley.
Online court records do not include any attorney information for Lampi and Pauley. ABC News was unable to reach them for comment.
Scott was previously indicted in the Eastern District of Arkansas. She pleaded not guilty in April to multiple charges, including interstate transportation of stolen property and mail fraud.
(INDIANOLA, Miss.) — The attorney for Greg Capers, the Mississippi police officer who was suspended for shooting and injuring 11-year-old Aderrien Murry, says the May 20 incident was unintentional.
“The shooting was not intentional, it was not reckless, and [Capers] wishes none of this happened. It was a pure accident,” attorney Michael S. Carr told “GMA3” co-anchor DeMarco Morgan in an interview that aired on “Good Morning America” on Wednesday.
Aderrien was shot in the chest by Capers in the early morning of May 20 after the boy called 911 when his mother’s ex-boyfriend showed up at their home. The boy’s mother, Nakala Murry, said she asked Aderrien to call police.
Following the shooting, Aderrien was rushed to the hospital where doctors discovered a bullet had collapsed his lung and cut his liver, according to the Murry family. Aderrien has since been released from the hospital.
Capers has not spoken publicly about the incident, instead speaking to ABC News through his attorney.
“Officer Capers is absolutely sorry. As to what happened to the young man is very, very sorry, and his feelings go out to the family,” Carr said.
Carr said that Capers has been with the Indianola Police Department for four years and was named officer of the year in 2021. He said that Capers “knew the child” prior to the incident because Indianola is a small town and he never wanted to hurt him.
Asked what led to the shooting, Carr declined to provide further details but called for the release of the body camera footage, claiming that it would clear the officer’s name.
Aderrien spoke about the harrowing experience in an exclusive interview with Morgan that aired on “GMA” and “GMA3” on May 30.
“I came out of the room like this,” Aderrien said with his hands above his head as he reflected on the incident in an interview with “GMA3” co-anchor DeMarco Morgan.
“It felt like a Taser, like a big punch to the chest,” he added.
Following the incident, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation launched an investigation.
Asked about the timeline of the investigation and the potential release of the body camera footage, the MBI told ABC News that this is an ongoing investigation and that the results will be turned over to the Mississippi Attorney General’s office. The state AG’s office did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Capers was initially suspended with pay, according to Indianola Mayor Ken Featherstone, but on Monday the Indianola Board of Aldermen voted 4-1 to suspend the officer “without pay effective immediately,” according to Alderman Marvin Elder of Ward 4.
Carr said that Capers found out about the suspension on social media and was not given due process.
“We wish that the city would have given us an opportunity to speak on the issue,” he said.
The officer’s suspension came after the Murry family filed both a federal civil lawsuit and a criminal complaint against the officer.
The criminal complaint for aggravated assault was filed against Capers on June 5 by Nakala Murry.
Carr said that the affidavit is “flawed and inaccurate” and the next step is a probable cause hearing scheduled for Oct. 2.
The Murry family also filed a federal lawsuit on May 30 against the city and police in Mississippi federal court on behalf of Aderrien and his mother. The lawsuit, which ABC News has reviewed, alleges that Capers arrived at the home with his firearm drawn and that he fired at Aderrien without warning as the boy emerged from the room.
“This is a claim for negligence and excessive force,” said the complaint, which named the city of Indianola, Capers, Police Chief Ronald Sampson and John Does.
The lawsuit said, “… as a result of the defendants’ deliberate indifference, reckless disregard and gross negligence, plaintiffs sustained injuries and damages.”
The Indianola Police Department and the city of Indianola did not respond to ABC News’ requests for comment. ABC News has also attempted to reach the two other officers named in the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, Carr disputed the allegation that the shooting was “reckless” and called on the MBI to release the body camera video of the incident, which he claims will clear Capers’ name.
“[Officer Capers] is ready to have his name cleared,” Carr said.
Indianola Mayor Ken Featherstone addressed the “public outcry” over the incident in an interview with ABC News on May 30 and urged the residents of Indianola to remain “patient” as the MBI investigates.
Asked about a timeline for the release of the body camera video, Featherstone said that the city had a special meeting on the incident with the city aldermen and they decided not to release it yet due to “pending litigation.”
“We didn’t want to taint the process at all,” he said. “The board voted overwhelmingly to follow the advice of legal counsel.”
Featherstone didn’t immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment on Capers’ comments Wednesday.
ABC News’ Armando Garcia contributed to this report.
(SURFSIDE, Fla.) — Nearly two years after the 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium complex collapsed, causing the deaths of 98 people in Surfside, Florida, plans were submitted Monday that call for another 12-story condominium building to be constructed on the oceanfront property where the catastrophe occurred.
DAMAC International, a company based in United Arab Emirates, said in a news release that the proposed “ultra-luxury boutique oceanfront development” would include 57 condominiums and two pools. The company released renderings of two possible designs for the building.
The Town of Surfside’s Planning Department confirmed to ABC News that the developer’s application was received Monday.
“DAMAC plans to commence construction sometime in 2024,” a spokesperson for the developer told ABC News.
The Surfside Planning Commission would need to approve the plans in order for DAMAC International to be allowed to proceed with the project. Surfside’s municipal government will first review the proposal and will eventually schedule a public hearing, but a meeting date has not yet been set.
“It’s a difficult issue because there’s the emotional aspect to it,” Surfside Mayor Shlomo Danzinger told ABC News. “We can’t deny a plan unless there’s a legal reason.”
Champlain Towers South opened in 1981 just north of Miami Beach and included 136 condominiums. The collapse of roughly half of the building occurred around 1:22 a.m. on June 24, 2021, and caused first responders from around the world to travel to South Florida to assist with the search and rescue efforts.
“While no work of architecture can ever remove the pain of the past, nor should it, a truly ambitious work of architecture can respect such a significant site,” Chris Lepine of Zaha Hadid Architects said in the press release. “It’s a great responsibility to be providing this vision for Surfside.”
Just over a year after the collapse, East Oceanside Development, LLC, a firm associated with DAMAC International, bought the property for $120 million, according to Miami-Dade County property records.
“I think we’d have all liked to see a memorial there and it turned into some kind of park, but that ship sailed a long time ago,” Danzinger said, adding that part of nearby 88th Street is now expected to be converted to a memorial park in at least a year.
The news of the development proposal comes as an exact cause of the collapse has still not been determined.
Investigators from the National Institute of Standards and Technology are expected to provide an update on their research during a meeting on Friday, but according to a NIST spokesperson, their investigation will not be completed until spring of 2024 and the resulting report will not be published until a year after that.
Meanwhile, Surfside officials, survivors and relatives of the victims are preparing to mark two years since the collapse. A torch will be lit in a public remembrance service at a park across the street from the property at 1:22 a.m. on June 24 and the victims’ names will be read after.
“We don’t want to forget,” Danzinger said. “We want to keep their memories alive.”
