(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a federal ban on firearms for domestic violence offenders.
The 8-1 opinion was authored by Chief Justice John Roberts. Justice Clarence Thomas dissented.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(HUTCHINSON ISLAND, Fla.) — A Pennsylvania couple drowned in a rip current while on vacation in Florida with their six children, according to authorities.
The parents, 51-year-old Brian Warter and 48-year-old Erica Wishard, were swimming on Hutchinson Island Thursday afternoon when the couple and two of their teenage children were swept out to sea by a rip current, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office said.
The teens were able to escape and they tried to rescue their parents, “but it became too dangerous and they were forced to swim ashore,” according to the sheriff’s office.
Responders found Warter and Wishard and gave them CPR on shore, the sheriff’s office said. But the couple was declared dead at a hospital, authorities said.
The sheriff’s office said its crisis intervention team deputy is helping the children as they wait for other family members to come meet them in Florida.
Martin County Fire Rescue said it will evaluate conditions Friday morning before deciding if the ocean will be open to the public.
A rip current, which flows out toward the ocean, can quickly pull a swimmer away from the shore. Rip currents usually reach a speed of 1 to 2 feet per second, but some can clock in at 8 feet per second, which is faster than an Olympic swimmer, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Click here for what to know about escaping a rip current.
ABC News’ Jessica Gorman contributed to this report.
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(NEW YORK) — Few modern-day structural mysteries have garnered as much international fascination as the tall, mirrored monolith columns that have appeared in seemingly random locations since 2020.
Reminiscent of the prehistoric Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England, but rooted in Millennium-era fictional lore, monoliths are long vertical metal slabs, each approximately 10 to 12 feet tall.
Monoliths are believed to stem from Arthur C. Clarke’s “Space Odyssey” series and Stanley Kubruck’s 1968 famed sci-fi film “2001: A Space Odyssey,” where aliens used large, black monolith-shaped machines as a guide to monitor and control humans’ evolution.
However, the scores of monoliths that have appeared around the world since 2020 look slightly different from those Clarke and Kubrick imagined — opting for a metal, often stainless steel structure.
From Utah in the United States, Wales in the United Kingdom and as far as Romania in southeastern Europe, these often unexplained structures have left officials and Internet sleuths questioning their makers and intentions.
Below is a timeline of monolith appearances internationally since 2020.
Nov. 18, 2020: Utah
The first unaccounted-for monolith appeared in Utah’s remote Red Rock Country on Nov. 18, 2020, during the height of the pandemic.
The Utah Department of Public Safety Aero Bureau was working to conduct a count of big horn sheep in a portion of southeastern Utah when crew members “spotted an unusual object” and landed nearby to investigate further, according to a press release at the time.
The crew members discovered the metal monolith installed in the ground in a remote area of Red Rock, according to the release.
Just 10 days later, the monolith disappeared, with officials saying it was removed by an “unknown party.”
“We have received credible reports that the illegally installed structure, referred to as the ‘monolith’ has been removed by an unknown party,” the Utah Bureau of Land Management wrote on X on Nov. 28, 2020.
A man named Andy Lewis later took credit for the removal, sharing a YouTube video of him and a small crew detaching the monolith from the rocks.
“We removed the Utah Monolith because there are clear precedents for how we share and standardize the use of our public lands, natural wildlife, native plants, fresh water sources, and human impacts upon them,” Lewis said in an interview at the time.
Despite Utah officials never specifically saying where the monolith was located, online detectives allegedly found it on satellite images dating back to 2016 and determined its GPS coordinates, according to Britain’s The Independent at the time.
Nov. 28, 2020: Romania
On Nov. 27, 2020, just as the monolith was removed from its location in Utah, another monolith was discovered across the world in Romania.
The prism was found near an archaeological site outside of the city of Piatra Neamt, on the plateau of Bâtca Doamnei, officials said at the time.
Piatra Neamt Mayor Andrei Carabelea took to Facebook to joke about the mysterious monolith in Romania, “My guess is that some alien, cheeky and terrible teenagers left home with their parents’ UFO and started planting metal monoliths around the world. First in Utah and then at Piatra Neamt. I am honored that they chose our city,” the mayor wrote.
Four days after it first appeared, the Romanian monolith disappeared as mysteriously as it arrived.
Dec. 2, 2020: California
The streak of monolith appearances continued the exact day the column was removed in Romania — this time in California.
On Dec. 2, 2020, another monolith was discovered on Pine Mountain in Atascadero, a city in San Luis Obispo County in central California.
The 10-foot-tall and approximately 18-inch-wide monolith was found by hikers two miles up from the base of the mountain, according to local reports.
“I think it disappeared in Utah and landed right here in Atascadero,” hiker Blake Kuhn told ABC News’ Fresno affiliate at the time.
However, unlike the mysteries surrounding the other monoliths, the makers of the California column came forward to reveal themselves.
The four men who created and installed the third monolith are Travis Kenney, his father Randall Kenney, Wade McKenzie and Jared Riddle, they said in a statement.
“The purpose of this project was to create a positive and encouraging environment in a rather negative 2020, a year that has been plagued with health issues, political separation, and systemic racism,” Riddle said in an interview with Your Tango. “This event separated all of that!”
December 2020: Various locations
After the Internet frenzy the string of back-to-back monoliths caused, several copycat monoliths started popping up around the world in Pittsburgh, Joshua Tree, Las Vegas, Boulder, Albuquerque, Russia, Colombia, Spain and more.
A Business Insider report in Dec. 2020 estimated there were 87 monolith sightings globally.
March 12, 2024: Wales
Years after the initial monolith obsession died down, the tall, mysterious structure reemerged in Wales, United Kingdom, in 2024.
The 10-foot-tall silver monolith was discovered in Hay-on-Wye in Powys, Wales, by construction worker Craig Muir while he was out for his regular hike.
Muir posted a video of the bizarre find on TikTok, saying, “I come up here most days, and I’ve never seen this before. Almost looks like a UFO just put it on the ground.”
June 17, 2024: Las Vegas
This month, the monolith mystery continued when the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department took to X to share two photos of the long, vertical slab of metal they said appeared on a hiking trail near Gass Peak on the northern side of the Las Vegas area.
“We see a lot of weird things when people go hiking like not being prepared for the weather, not bringing enough water… but check this out,” the department wrote alongside photos of the column.
In the photos, the tall, geometric figure reflects the rocky desert and perfectly aligns with the horizon.
A similar monolith appeared in downtown Las Vegas in December 2020, standing under the Fremont Street Experience canopy.
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(NEW YORK) — “The heat is coming for everybody,” Andrew Dessler, a professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University, said as one of the season’s earliest-onset heat waves scorches the United States.
As officials heed heat wave warnings across the country, forecasting what could become another hottest year on record, air conditioning units whirr and utility bills rise.
This week, dangerously high temperatures hit 14 states across the Midwest and Northeast, with New York City expecting a record-breaking, five-day heat wave with temperatures above 90 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
While air conditioning can certainly mitigate the dangers of extreme heat, experts say the threat of heat-related illnesses and death is present if you’re unable, even with AC, to maintain a cool enough room temperature to regulate your body’s temperature.
“Many people who die of extreme heat die inside their homes,” Jaime Madrigano, a public health researcher with Johns Hopkins University, told ABC News. “Many of those people are not adequately running air conditioning when they succumb to heat-related deaths”
In 2023, extreme heat was linked to over 11,000 deaths and approximately 120,000 emergency room visits in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Madrigano is continuing a study that began last summer in New Orleans, Louisiana, funded by the National Institutes of Health, that recruits participants to take temperature and humidity measurements inside their home, to see what daily heat levels they’re experiencing during the summer.
The researchers then use that data to analyze how those temperatures change throughout the day, as well as what health impacts related to sleep, mood and physical discomfort the participants are experiencing.
“Very blunt preliminary data can see that even with air conditioning, many people are not able to maintain what is a comfortable temperature in their home environment,” Madrigano said, adding a fourth of the participants recorded inside temperatures well over 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
Some barriers to adequate air conditioning include poorly functioning units and financial constraints that make it difficult to pay utility bills, according to Madrigano.
New Orleans broke heat records in 2023, with over 10 excessive heat alerts issued by the National Weather Service (NWS). The unrelenting summer saw triple-digit temperatures, with humidity that made the climate feel like it was over 115 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the government agency.
“It’s really important to recognize heat as a hazard,” Dr. Leah Schinasi, an environmental and occupational epidemiologist at Drexel University, told ABC News.
Schinasi’s work focuses on understanding the population health impacts of high ambient temperatures. She is currently leading a study analyzing the effect of indoor temperatures on mortality outcomes in older adults.
Heat-related illnesses, including heat exhaustion and heatstroke, occur when a person’s body temperature rises faster than the body can cool itself, and can damage the brain and other vital organs, according to the CDC. Early symptoms can include dizziness, headaches, nausea, weakness and fatigue, according to the agency.
The public health agency further notes that older adults, the very young, and people with chronic diseases and mental illnesses are at the highest risk of heat illnesses. However, prolonged exposure to extreme heat, as well as strenuous activity in extreme temperatures, can be detrimental to anyone.
While there is no national standard regarding at what temperature an AC unit needs to be set to ensure safety during a heat wave, the air conditioner manufacturer Carrier Global recommends setting your air conditioner at 72 degrees Fahrenheit, which they say is “generally considered a comfortable indoor temperature for many people,” and “strikes a good balance between comfort and energy efficiency.”
When it comes to getting a good night’s sleep during the summer’s heat, the Cleveland Clinic recommends a cooler thermostat setting, between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit.
“As we know, many lower-income households do not have adequate access to air conditioning,” Schinasi said. “Even if they do have access, they’re often unable to afford to use it as much as needed because of the enhanced energy costs that come with using air conditioning,” Shinasi added, echoing Madrigano.
In May 2022, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released results from the 2020 Residential Energy Consumption Survey, which found that 88% of American households use some method of air conditioning, whether it’s central air or individual AC units. The survey also found that apartments were the housing type least likely to use AC equipment.
The financial burden of running air conditioning, however, is not considered in these figures, according to Madrigano. “Just because someone has air conditioning doesn’t mean they’re always running it, because they might be constrained due to really exorbitant utility bills or other financial constraints,” she said.
The average monthly residential power bill in the U.S. is projected to rise to $173 in June, July and August, which marks a 3% increase from summer 2023, according to the EIA.
“There are two worlds you can live in. You can live in a world where we subsidize air conditioning for poor people, or we’re simply going to normalize people suffering and high temperatures,” Dessler told ABC News, also noting that historically hot cities that are only getting hotter points to a global reality.
“When you look at Phoenix, Arizona, you see a future that the rest of the country is going to have to deal with,” Dessler said.
In July 2023, Phoenix endured a record-breaking streak of over a month with highs at or above 110 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the NWS.
“Phoenix is a living laboratory for environmental heat research,” Ariane Middel, a professor in Arizona State University’s Urban Climate Research Center, told ABC News. “The hot temperatures we frequently experience in summers in the Southwest will be matched by heat waves in other regions that are not used to the heat, historically.”
One of Middel’s biggest concerns surrounding extreme heat is that lawmakers and citizens alike are not taking the threat seriously enough, as they might other climate-related perils.
“Heat is a silent killer. It’s the deadliest weather-related killer in the U.S., but it doesn’t leave a visible trace of destruction like a hurricane or tornado,” Middel further noted, adding, “All heat-related deaths are preventable in theory, but it becomes more difficult in practice.”
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(OKLAHOMA CITY) — The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating after a Southwest Airlines plane descended to a dangerously low altitude as it made its approach to the Oklahoma City Airport just after midnight Thursday, according to the FAA.
An automated warning went off from the Minimum Safe Altitude Warning system at 12:05 a.m., prompting an air traffic controller to tell Southwest Airlines Flight 4069 that they had descended to a low altitude, nine miles from the runway at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, an FAA spokesperson said.
The plane passed over Yukon High School, dangerously low at roughly 625 feet, and at one point had descended to roughly 525 feet, according to FlightRadar24.
In a statement Thursday night, Southwest said it is in contact with the FAA “to understand and address any irregularities with the aircraft’s approach to the airport.”
“Nothing is more important to Southwest than the Safety of our Customers and Employees,” the company’s statement read.
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(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump filed a motion Thursday to try to get the judge who oversaw his civil fraud trial in New York kicked off the case.
The motion alleges that Judge Arthur Engoron violated the rules governing how judges are supposed to behave.
Engoron in February ordered Trump to pay $464 million in disgorgement and pre-judgment interest after he found the former president and his adult sons liable for using “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation” to inflate his net worth in order to get more favorable loan terms. Trump has denied all wrongdoing and has appealed the decision in the case.
Trump’s attorneys said in Thursday’s filing that the judge “may have engaged in actions fundamentally incompatible with the responsibilities attendant to donning the black robe and sitting in judgment.”
The defense alleged Engoron spoke to a New York real estate attorney about the substance of Trump’s case, in violation of New York’s Code of Judicial Conduct. The filing cited a conversation between Engoron and lawyer Adam Leitman Bailey, who alleged he spoke with Engoron three weeks before the judge issued his decision in the case.
“I saw him in the corner [at the courthouse] and I told my client, ‘I need to go.’ And I walked over and we started talking,” Bailey told NBC New York, which first reported the story. “I wanted him to know what I think and why … I really want him to get it right.”
Bailey could not immediately be reached for comment. Al Baker, the court’s spokesperson said, “We have no further comment on this matter.”
In a statement to ABC News, Bailey pushed back on the allegation that his discussion with Engoron about the case was inappropriate or merits the judge’s recusal.
According to Bailey, their discussion only concerned Engoron’s September 2023 summary judgment order in which the judge determined Trump committed fraud.
“I did not think that speaking to Judge Engoron about my own personal views of his already published decision was wrong in any way,” Bailey said.
Bailey said he was “devasted” and “hurt” that his remarks could impact Engoron.
According to a filing today, defense lawyers are preparing to subpoena Bailey for information related to his discussion with Engoron. He told ABC News that he has not yet spoken with defense attorneys about his communications with Engoron.
Trump’s defense argued in their filing Thursday that Engoron should either recuse himself from the case or allow a hearing on the allegations.
“In sum, this Court appears to have proceeded not only in contravention of controlling law and the Constitution, but perhaps also contrary to the governing standards of judicial conduct,” the filing said.
Trump is already appealing the outcome of the civil fraud case to an intermediate appellate court, with the appeal due to be filed next month. If the appeal fails, Engoron would oversee payment of the financial penalty. He also oversees the monitor he imposed on the Trump Organization to assure the integrity of the company’s financial statements, which the trial determined inflated Trump’s wealth by as much as $2 billion.
In a statement, defense attorney Alina Habba said the allegations demonstrate that Engoron cannot fairly oversee the case.
“Justice Engoron’s communications with Attorney Adam Leitman Bailey regarding the merits of this case, however, directly violate that code and demonstrate that Judge Engoron cannot serve as a fair arbiter. It is clear that Judge Engoron should recuse himself immediately,” Habba said.
In a separate statement, defense attorney Chris Kise said Engoron’s recusal is the only way to preserve the court’s reputation.
“The staggering $464 million judgment entered against President Trump in a case with no victims, no fraud, no loss and no harm to any public or private interest has already imperiled public confidence in the integrity of the New York legal system. Now serious allegations of prohibited communications between the judge and a third party are under active investigation by the Judicial Conduct Commission. Thus, the Court has proceeded not only in contravention of controlling law and the Constitution, but perhaps also contrary to the governing standards of judicial conduct,” Kise said.
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(NEW YORK) — The man accused of murdering a Maryland woman in 2023 is an undocumented immigrant who was arrested and expelled at least three times, according to an ICE official.
Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez is accused of murdering Rachel Morin in August of 2023. He was arrested last week by authorities in Oklahoma and sent to Maryland to stand trial on murder charges.
Martinez-Hernandez, who is from El Salvador, entered the country on Jan. 19, 2023, near Santa Teresa, New Mexico. He was expelled on Jan. 31, 2024, near El Paso, and again near New Mexico on Feb. 6 under the Title 42 authority.
Title 42, a Trump-era policy that expelled migrants under the auspices of a public health emergency, was phased out in May of 2023 by the Biden Administration.
An ICE spokesperson said that Martinez-Hernandez was placed on an ICE detainer with the Tulsa County Jail before being extradited to Maryland to face charges.
“On June 14, officers from the Tulsa, Oklahoma, police department and agents from the FBI arrested Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, a 23-year-old unlawfully present Salvadoran national wanted by authorities in Harford County, Maryland, for the Aug. 6, 2023, murder of Rachel Morin. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged an immigration detainer against Martinez-Hernandez with the Tulsa County Jail June 15, 2024,” ICE Spokesperson James Covington said in a statement.
“On June 20, 2024, authorities in Tulsa, Oklahoma, successfully extradited Martinez-Hernandez to Harford County, Maryland. Martinez-Hernandez currently remains in the Harford County Jail pending trial,” he added.
ABC wasn’t immediately able to find a legal representative for Martinez-Hernandez.
Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five, was found dead on a hiking trail in Bel Air, Maryland on Aug. 6, 2023, a day after her boyfriend reported her missing.
Martinez-Hernandez was found and arrested after a 10-month search, which involved using DNA evidence to track him down.
Investigators said they believe Martinez-Hernandez attacked Morin while she was hiking, dragged her through a wooded area, then killed her in a nearby drainage culvert.
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(NEW YORK) — Actor Donald Sutherland, who starred in films including “Klute,” “M*A*SH*,” “Ordinary People” and, more recently, played the evil President Snow in “The Hunger Games” franchise, has died at age 88.
Sutherland’s son, actor Kiefer Sutherland, posted the news to social media.
“With a heavy heart, I tell you that my father, Donald Sutherland, has passed away,” Sutherland wrote. “I personally think one of the most important actors in the history of film. Never daunted by a role, good, bad or ugly. He loved what he did and did what he loved, and one can never ask for more than that. A life well lived.”
Born on July 17, 1935, in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, Donald Sutherland got his start in acting as a student and went on to a prolific career that included nearly 150 film credits and over 40 television roles.
His first acting roles were in the early television series “Man of the World” and “Suspense.” He had more small roles across television in film throughout the 1960s before landing the role of Vernon L. Pinkley in the 1967 World War II classic film, “The Dirty Dozen.”
Donald Sutherland then played Army surgeon Hawkeye Pierce in director Robert Altman’s 1970 film version of “M*A*S*H,” which inspired the classic TV series. The role launched a series of film roles and projects for the actor throughout the 1970s, including the drama “Klute” in 1971, in which he starred alongside Jane Fonda, who won the Best Actress Oscar for her role.
In 1980, Donald Sutherland starred opposite Mary Tyler Moore in the Robert Redford-directed drama “Ordinary People,” which also starred Judd Hirsch and 20-year-old Timothy Hutton, who became the youngest-ever Best Supporting Actor Oscar-winner for his role in the film, one of five Academy Awards it won.
The actor returned to Broadway in 1981 after his 1969 debut in “Buck White,” and starred in the Edward Albee-adapted play of Vladimir Nabokov’s novel, “Lolita.”
Following Broadway, Sutherland continued to star in many notable films throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including “A Dry White Season” in 1989 alongside Marlon Brando, and in writer/director Oliver Stone’s controversial “JFK” in 1991, with Kevin Costner, Kevin Bacon and Tommy Lee Jones.
In the 2000s, Donald Sutherland’s career in film continued to thrive with roles in the action comedy “Space Cowboys” in 2000, the Civil War drama “Cold Mountain” in 2003, in which he starred in with Nicole Kidman, and the heist film “The Italian Job” in 2003, with Charlize Theron.
Sutherland also portrayed Mr. Bennett in the 2005 film adaptation of “Pride & Prejudice,” with Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen, Rosamund Pike and more.
Sutherland reached a new generation of fans when he starred in four films in “The Hunger Games” action drama franchise, playing Coriolanus Snow, the tyrannical president of the fictional Panem. The franchise’s star-studded cast included Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Stanley Tucci and more.
While speaking with “Good Morning America” in 2015 about “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1,” Donald Sutherland said of playing President Snow, “he’s not misunderstood, he runs a totalitarian state — he’s an oligarch,” adding, “I just wanted to be a part of it. I wanted to end my life being part of something that I thought would maybe catalyze and revolutionize young people.”
Tom Blyth, who played a young Coriolanus Snow in “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” paid tribute to Donald Sutherland on Instagram and wrote, “Donald Sutherland came about as close to mastering the craft of acting as anyone gets.”
“So may genius performances,” he continued. “I never had the honor of knowing him personally, but it was the honor of a lifetime to follow in his footsteps. Thank you sir for birthing one of the great movie characters of all time.”
Donald Sutherland’s final on-screen role was as the no-nonsense Judge Isaac Parker in the 2023 Western television miniseries “Lawmen: Bass Reeves,” opposite star David Oyelowo.
In 2017, Sutherland was presented with an Honorary Academy Award for his body of work, and was introduced and lauded onstage by his “The Hunger Games” co-star and fellow Oscar winner Lawrence.
“This is very important to me, to my family,” Sutherland said at the time. “It’s like a door is opened and a cool, wonderfully fresh breath of air has come in. I wish I could say thank you to all of the characters that I’ve played. Thank them for using their lives to inform my life,” he added.
“And of course, thank you to Francine Racette, from whom everything has come — that’s my family — from whom everything has come and to whom everything is owed,” he continued, referring to his wife. “I have been a partner to her for over 45 years. And in all that she has supported me with her intelligence, her intuition, her instruction, her ability to make me laugh in the direst of situations. Her extraordinary sense of taste, her residual belief in me. Amongst all of these, her ability to absorb and sustain the extraordinary ups and downs of this crazy movie life we have gone through. She deserves a medal for that.”
Sutherland’s memoir, titled “Made Up, but Still True,” to be published by Penguin Random House, is due in November.
Donald Sutherland is survived by his five children: twins Kiefer and Rachel Sutherland, whom he shares with the late actress Shirley Jean Douglas, as well as Rossif, Roeg and Angus Redford Sutherland, whom he shares with Racette.
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(NEW YORK) — Amtrak service between Philadelphia and New Haven, Connecticut, resumed on Thursday evening after train service was suspended for over two hours as crews worked to restore power in the New York area, Amtrak said.
“Significant delays are anticipated due to rail congestion and single-tracking,” Amtrak said in a statement to passengers after service was restored.
The outage included trains in and out of New York Penn Station, Amtrak said.
New Jersey Transit resumed service of its trains into Penn Station after it also had to suspend service in the afternoon due to the Amtrak issue.
An unrelated brush fire was impacting wire repairs, according to Amtrak and NJ Transit.
The outage was reported shortly after Amtrak warned that the extreme heat in the Northeast might force trains to slow down, causing up to one-hour delays. It was not immediately clear if the service suspension was caused by the heat.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(KATY, Texas.) — A family of taekwondo black belts in Texas rescued a woman who was allegedly being sexually assaulted.
Han An, wife Hong An and their three children Hannah, Simon and Christian, all of whom have black belts in the Korean martial art, came to the aid Tuesday of a cell phone store employee who worked directly next to their dojo, Yong-In Tae Kwon Do in Katy, Texas, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
“When we already opened the door, the male was on top of the female already on the inside the employees’ room,” Hannah An told ABC News of the alleged attack. “So, by that moment, my dad grabbed him, dragged him out, and the girl was really, really crying, desperately crying, and then she ran towards me. She needed the comfort, the calming down, and then she wanted to go away from that situation.”
“They were able to pull the female away from her attacker,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez wrote in a statement on Facebook. “The male then turned to attack the good Samaritans. By utilizing their training and discipline, they managed to stop the assault and hold him.”
The Harris County Attorney’s Office identified the alleged attacker as Alex Robinson, 19, of Katy. Robinson has been charged with felony attempted sexual assault, according to the county attorney.
Han An said that he first saw Robinson on a bicycle around 2:00 p.m. the day of the alleged attack, riding up and down the adjacent plaza and looking into different stores. About two hours later, when Han An was inside his dojo, he said he saw Robinson and the victim physically tussling outside. The eighth-degree black belt said he thought they were playfully horsing around.
Shortly thereafter, however, Han An said he heard screaming coming from the cell phone store next door. All five members of the family rushed into the store, where Han An said they found Robinson on top of the woman.
Hannah and Hong An escorted the woman out of the store and comforted her, Hannah An told ABC News, adding that the frightened woman told her they “came just in time.” Han, Simon and Christian An stayed in the cell phone store as they subdued Robinson and waited about 15 minutes for sheriff’s deputies to arrive, according to Han An.
Han An told ABC News that the alleged attacker bit him twice and scratched him as he restrained him. One of his sons then attacked Robinson to stop him from assaulting his father, according to the family.
Robinson is currently in custody with bond set at $100,000, according to the Harris County Attorney’s Office, and will be arraigned on Friday.
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