9 injured in Denver shooting near NBA Finals celebrations, police say

9 injured in Denver shooting near NBA Finals celebrations, police say
9 injured in Denver shooting near NBA Finals celebrations, police say
kali9/Getty Images

(DENVER) — Nine people were injured in a “chaotic” shooting in Denver near the arena where the Nuggets won their first NBA title on Monday night, police said.

A suspect in the incident was also shot and taken into custody and is currently hospitalized, police said.

The shooting, which occurred near the 2000 block of Market Street around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, followed an altercation during a suspected drug deal, Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said during a press briefing Tuesday. Multiple bags of fentanyl pills and cash were recovered from the scene, police said.

“Our strong believe is that this was completely unassociated to the celebration,” Thomas told reporters, noting that “tens of thousands” of people were in the downtown area peacefully celebrating the win.

“Unfortunately, there was a small group of individuals that chose to engage in some illegal behavior and that went awry and shots were exchanged,” Thomas said.

Thomas described the scene as “very chaotic.” At least 20 rounds were fired from multiple firearms, police said. Five to six of the shooting victims are believed to have been innocent bystanders, Thomas said.

There was a large police presence in the area and nearby officers ran toward the scene and rendered aid, the chief said. Eight men and a woman suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

The suspect who had been shot — identified by police as 22-year-old Ricardo Vazquez — was taken into custody following a police foot chase and is hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, according to Denver Police Major Crimes Division Commander Matt Clark. Officers recovered a firearm and fentanyl pills on him, Clark said.

A second suspect — identified by police as 33-year-old Raoul Jones — was located in a vehicle near the scene of the shooting and has also been taken into custody on a weapons charge, Clark said.

Police are still working to determine “what their involvement was and what, if any, injuries they caused by the rounds that were fired,” Clark said.

Police believe there are multiple suspects and urged anyone with information or footage from the scene to come forward.

The shooting was about a mile away from Ball Arena, where the Denver Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat on Monday to claim their first NBA title.

“All of us share the concern about this — the concern about gun violence in our community, you know, such a great event marred by some senseless acts of violence that we see far too common,” Denver Department of Safety Executive Director Armando Saldate said.

MORE: Graduate and his dad killed in mass shooting after high school graduation in Virginia
Police closed some downtown streets as large crowds exited the arena.

Many of those fans had dispersed before the shooting began but a smaller crowd lingered around the area, a police spokesperson said.

Thomas said will be a “significant” police presence at a parade planned for Thursday to celebrate the Nuggets’ win.

“We believe that we can keep them safe,” Thomas said.

ABC News’ Amanda Morris, Kevin Shalvey and Jeffrey Cook contributed to this story.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

As Trump faces charges in docs case, special counsel is quietly continuing Jan. 6 probe

As Trump faces charges in docs case, special counsel is quietly continuing Jan. 6 probe
As Trump faces charges in docs case, special counsel is quietly continuing Jan. 6 probe
Win McNamee/Getty Images

(WASHINGTON) — As former President Donald Trump makes his first court appearance in Florida to face federal charges related to his handling of classified documents, special counsel Jack Smith’s separate investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election appears to be quietly pressing on inside a grand jury room in Washington, D.C.

Nevada GOP Chairman Michael McDonald and Nevada GOP committee member Jim DeGraffenreid were spotted by a network pool reporter Tuesday afternoon inside the Prettyman Federal Courthouse, where the Jan. 6 grand jury meets.

Both men were part of the failed 2020 effort to put forward slates of fake electors who would attempt to cast electoral college votes for Trump on Jan. 6, despite Trump’s loss in the state to Joe Biden.

The House Jan. 6 committee said the “fake elector” plan, set up in multiple swing states, assembled “groups of individuals in key battleground states and got them to call themselves electors, created phony certificates associated with these fake electors, and then transmitted these certificates to Washington, and to the Congress, to be counted during the joint session of Congress on January 6th.”

McDonald appeared before the House Jan. 6 committee but invoked his Fifth Amendment right to refuse to answer questions.

Trump has dismissed the investigations into Jan. 6 and blasted the Jan. 6 panel as partisan.

The Nevada Independent reported in June of last year that the FBI seized McDonald’s phone as part of its investigation in the fake elector scheme, well before the appointment of Smith as special counsel last November.

In May, eight of the so-called “fake electors” in Georgia accepted immunity in the Fulton County district attorney’s separate probe into the matter, according to their lawyer.

Smith was appointed in November by Attorney General Merrick Garland to oversee the investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents after leaving the presidency, as well as efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

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Nine injured in Denver shooting near NBA Finals celebrations, police say

9 injured in Denver shooting near NBA Finals celebrations, police say
9 injured in Denver shooting near NBA Finals celebrations, police say
kali9/Getty Images

(DENVER) — Nine people were injured, including three critically, in a shooting in Denver near the arena where the Nuggets won their first NBA title on Monday night, police said.

A suspect, who was also shot, was in custody, the Denver Police Department said in a statement. The suspect’s injuries were believed to have been non-life threatening, police said.

Three of the injured people were in critical condition following the shooting near the 2000 block of Market Street, police said.

“This is a complex, ongoing investigation in its early stages,” the department said. “Preliminary info indicates multiple shots were fired during an altercation involving several individuals.”

The shooting was about a mile away from Ball Arena, where the Denver Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat on Monday to claim their first NBA title.

Police earlier in the evening closed some downtown streets as large crowds exited the arena.

Many of those fans had dispersed before the shooting began, but there was a smaller crowd lingering around the area, a police spokesperson said.

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Body recovered from Interstate 95 collapse wreckage

Body recovered from Interstate 95 collapse wreckage
Body recovered from Interstate 95 collapse wreckage
A tanker fire caused part of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia to collapse, June 11, 2023. — WPVI

(PHILADELPHIA) — Officials recovered a body from the wreckage of the Interstate 95 collapse in Philadelphia, which happened on Sunday morning when a tanker caught fire beneath an underpass.

Family members of Nathaniel Moody told ABC News he was the truck driver who died in the crash, fire and collapse on I-95. Authorities have not yet identified the remains taken from the wreckage as Moody’s.

Moody leaves behind a son and two daughters, his son told ABC News.

The Philadelphia County Medical Examiner and coroner are working on identifying the remains, as officials continue to clear the damaged part of the highway.

The rebuild of that section of I-95 is expected to take months, officials said.

“With regards to the complete rebuild of I-95 roadway, we expect it to take some number of months,” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said at a press conference on Sunday evening.

Shapiro signed a disaster declaration on Monday, which he said would allow Pennsylvania to use federal funds in its rebuilding effort and immediately access $7 million in state funds.

The complete demolition of the bridge is likely to be complete within the next four to five days, officials said at a press conference Monday.

The bridge itself, which was constructed 10 to 12 years ago, was “structurally sound” prior to the crash, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll said at a press conference Monday.

The tanker truck, carrying 8,500 of gasoline, attempted to navigate a left-hand turn after exiting at the Cottman Avenue offramp of I-95, according to officials. Losing control through its turn, the tanker fell on its side and ruptured its own tank, according to Carroll. Once ignited, the fuel burned at a high enough heat to structurally compromise the concrete and steel I-beans of the overpass.

The tanker that crashed and ignited has since been removed from the crash site. Officials have largely removed the collapsed section of the interstate and are working on demolishing the structurally unsound southbound portion of the road.

Inspectors from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation determined that the southbound portion cannot be reopened and will also need to be replaced, according to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security report reviewed by ABC News on Monday.

Individuals who crossed the southbound portion of the road around 6:25 a.m. prior to the road being shut down described the road as slumping downward.

“It was like a sinkhole,” emergency room nurse Lisa Taormino told ABC News. “It felt like if you were driving, and you hit a really big pothole, and the whole entire road just sunk down probably a good six to 12 inches down.”

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg pledged the full support of his department to the rebuilding efforts during remarks at the American Council of Engineering Companies conference in Washington, D.C. on Monday.

Buttigieg said the collapse would slow passenger traffic but significantly impact supply chains.

“This is going to be a major disruption in that region and it’s really going to affect the Northeast,” he told reporters Monday.

I-95 is one of the busiest travel corridors in the United States and serves as the main north-south highway on the East Coast. An average of more than 160,000 vehicles travel across the impacted section in Philadelphia every day, according to a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

Roughly 8-9% of traffic through that portion of I-95 is comprised of commercial traffic, with the American Trucking Association warning that the collapse is “likely to have significant impacts on the supply chain.”

Carrol pledged on Monday to work “24/7” to “attack this problem in the most efficient way possible so that we can resume normal traffic movements on I-95.” All lanes between the exits for Philadelphia’s Woodhaven Road and Aramingo Avenue are closed in both directions indefinitely, local ABC station WPVI reported.

“It’s gonna look like lower Manhattan like every day, probably throughout the summer,” Somerton resident Mark Fusetti told ABC News. “It’s going to be a nightmare.”

President Joe Biden was briefed on the collapse and his administration is in communication with Shapiro as well as Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

A team of specialists from the National Transportation Safety Board, in coordination with the Pennsylvania State Police, will also be on site Monday to begin the on-scene portion of their safety investigation into the incident. A preliminary report will be available in two to three weeks, according to the NTSB.

ABC News’ Victoria Arancio, Matt Foster, Amanda Maile, Chad Murray, and Josh Margolin contributed to this report.

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Trump federal indictment: How serious are obstruction charges?

Trump federal indictment: How serious are obstruction charges?
Trump federal indictment: How serious are obstruction charges?
DOJ via US Southern District of Florida

(NEW YORK) — Of all of the federal charges that former president Donald Trump and his aide Walter Nauta face in the investigation into the alleged mishandling of top secret government documents, obstruction is one of the most serious, according to legal experts.

Claire Finkelstein, the founder and faculty director of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law (CERL), at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center, noted that the obstruction charges in the indictment against Trump and his aide carry as much serious weight as the charges related to keeping the top secret documents, with a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Finkelstein told ABC News this was not surprising, as the federal government has always treated allegations of interfering with any investigation seriously and often spearhead these kind of probes.

“You can see it as the most important charges, as protecting the rule of law goes,” she said.

Finkelstein said an obstruction charge can cover a broad change of alleged activities from as simple as lying to investigators to as major as destroying evidence. But it all comes down to one clear allegation, she said: That the accused deliberately interfered with an ongoing criminal investigation.

“[U.S. Code] 1001 is lying to investigators. Very, very often you find 1001 charges filed in federal court,” she said.

Vida Johnson, an associate professor of law, at Georgetown University, told ABC News that federal prosecutors will seek an indictment on obstruction when they have evidence the subject knows they are part of an investigation.

“This is sort of the classic type of crime where people say the cover-up is worse than the crime,” she said. “The idea that you would cover up, that is the type of thing that prosecutors always look for.”

Trump allegedly ordered Nauta, his attorneys and other staff members to move boxes of government documents, some of which included nuclear information and information regarding other nations, to his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving office, according to the federal indictment. The boxes were allegedly kept in disarray in unsecured locations including a ballroom and bathroom, according to investigators.

After he was subpoenaed, Trump allegedly had his attorneys falsely sign an affidavit that all of the documents were returned, according to federal prosecutors.

Trump, who is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Miami, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and accused federal prosecutors of a political “witch hunt.”

“We did absolutely nothing wrong. … It’s a disgrace what’s happening,” he said at a campaign event on Saturday.

Finkelstein noted that obstruction can be charged against individuals who aren’t the main focus of a federal investigation.

“Even if you were a bystander and saw something like documents being taken away, if you deliberately lie to investigators, you’re liable,” she said.

Nauta allegedly lied to investigators when he denied having knowledge about the location and movement of the documents before Trump provided them to authorities even though there were alleged communications between himself, Trump and other staffers about previously moving the boxes of documents, the indictment said.

Trump has defended Nauta and the aide accompanied the former president during campaign events over the weekend.

Finkelstein said that prosecutors tend to gather as much evidence as possible to make a strong case before a grand jury and trial jury. Finkelstein said Special Counselor Jack Smith and his team would be very thorough given this is a major investigation that concerns national security and a former head of state.

Trump’s indictment references recorded conversations where he allegedly admits to knowing the documents at Mar-a-Lago were classified, text messages about the alleged movement of the documents and testimony from witnesses.

Finkelstein said the government will stress their obstruction case is based on the fundamental idea that no one is above the law.

“If the government can’t rectify those basic rule of law violations, or wrongdoings…then we have damaged quite a profound component of the rule of law,” Finkelstein said.

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Al Sharpton blames systemic flaws at funeral of Florida mother killed by neighbor

Al Sharpton blames systemic flaws at funeral of Florida mother killed by neighbor
Al Sharpton blames systemic flaws at funeral of Florida mother killed by neighbor
ABC News

(OCALA, Fla.) — At the funeral Monday for Ajike Owens, the Black mother of four who was shot and killed by a white woman, the Rev. Al Sharpton directed his ire at a judicial system he said laid the path for Owens’ death.

“They said, ‘I hope y’all won’t bring race in,’ when this woman called them [the victim’s children] the N-word,” Sharpton said of the suspected killer who was arrested four days after Ajike Owens was shot and killed in front of two of her children, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO). “If it was the other way around, and a Black woman had shot through a door at a white kid you would have arrested her that night.”

Susan Lorincz, 58, is currently detained at the Marion County Jail, where her bond is set at $150,000, according MCSO. She is accused of shooting Owens, 35, on June 2 in Ocala, Florida, on the doorstep of Lorincz’s home.

“A racist white woman fatally murdered Ajika through a locked, closed metal door,” Pamela Dias, Owens’ mother, said to the congregation attending the funeral at Meadowbrook Church in Ocala. “Many say, ‘Wow, you are so strong. How do you do it?’ It is simply by the grace of God you see me in front of the cameras. I’m simply just a voice for my daughter and my four children.”

The incident happened after Owens went to Lorincz’s home to address an alleged dispute between the suspect and the victim’s children, according to MCSO. Lorincz admitted to calling children in the neighborhood the N-word and other derogatory terms in the past, according to a police report.

According to a police report, Lorincz claimed Owens threatened her while banging on her locked door. According to police interviews, other witnesses said Owens was yelling at Lorincz to open the door. Lorincz also said she did not intend to hit Owens, according to the report.

“Oh my God, this lady just tried to break down my door,” Lorincz told the emergency dispatcher on a 911 call ABC News obtained from the sheriff’s department. “I shot through the door.”

Through their investigation, the sheriff’s office said it determined Lorincz’s actions were not justified under Florida’s self-defense statutes, commonly known at Stand Your Ground laws.

“They say the killer of AJ is claiming [Florida] Stand Your Ground law as her defense,” Ben Crump, who is representing Owens’ family, said of Owens, affectionately known as AJ, during the eulogy. “Our call to justice today is that we’re going to stand our ground for respect for AJ. We’re gonna stand our ground for the dignity of AJ.”

Lorincz was arrested last week and charged with first-degree manslaughter, punishable by up to 30 years in prison, if convicted, the sheriff’s office said in a statement. She was also charged with culpable negligence, battery and two counts of assault.

In a statement, MCSO explained they conducted interviews with witnesses, Owens’ children and Lorincz.

“Ms. Lorincz’s fate is now in the hands of the judicial system, which I trust will deliver justice in due course,” Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said in a statement. “As I go to bed tonight, I will be saying a prayer for Ms. Owens’ children and the rest of her family. I’d ask all of you to do the same.”

Woods said there was an ongoing feud between Lorincz and Owens. On the day of the shooting, the children were playing in a field adjacent to the property where the suspect’s home is located. At that point, the suspect allegedly engaged in an argument with the children, the sheriff’s department said.

Lorincz allegedly threw a pair of skates at Owens’ 9-year-old son and hit the child in the toe, according to MCSO. Afterwards, the minor and his 12-year-old brother went to Lorincz’s home to speak to her. Lorincz swung an umbrella at them, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office.

The children notified Owens, resulting in Owens going to the suspect’s home and demanding that she come out. That’s when Lorincz shot Owens through her closed door, striking her in the upper chest, according to MCSO. Owens’ 9-year-old son was beside her, police said.

“Our 12-year-old blames himself for the death of his mother because he couldn’t save her,” Dias said at a press conference last week. “He couldn’t give her CPR. His words, ‘Grandma, grandma, I couldn’t save her! I tried to give her CPR! I tried to give her CPR!'”

According to police records, when officers arrived on the scene, they found Owens under a nearby tree with a gunshot wound. She had a faint pulse as the officers applied medical aid. Owens was transported to a local hospital where she was pronounced deceased later that evening.

In a press conference last week, Woods said that Florida Stand Your Ground laws made it harder to execute an immediate arrest. The sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit was able to arrest Lorincz on June 6 after gathering enough evidence, the sheriff’s department said. Lorincz’s next court date will be on July 11, according to Judge Lori Cotton, who presided over Lorincz’s first court appearance.

Sharpton took the opportunity to point out what he said were inconsistencies of outrage among Florida political officials who have given their voice for particular social issues but haven’t said anything about Owens’ murder.

“They get outraged about certain things taught in school. You get outraged about migrants coming. You get outraged about those that have a different lifestyle,” Sharpton said in front of a roaring congregation.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Utah mom accused of fatally poisoning husband with fentanyl denied bail ahead of trial

Utah mom accused of fatally poisoning husband with fentanyl denied bail ahead of trial
Utah mom accused of fatally poisoning husband with fentanyl denied bail ahead of trial
ABC News

(SALT LAKE CITY) — A Utah woman who is accused of poisoning her husband with a lethal dose of fentanyl was denied bail in a court appearance Monday as she awaits trial.

Kouri Richins, 33, was arrested in May and charged with aggravated murder and multiple counts of drug possession in connection with the death of her husband, Eric Richins, 39, who was found dead at the foot of their bed last year, according to the probable cause statement in the charging document. The mom of three authored a children’s book on grief in the wake of her husband’s death.

A month prior to her arrest, Kouri Richins appeared on a “Good Things Utah” segment on Salt Lake City ABC affiliate KTVX to promote the book. In the segment, Kouri Richins said her husband of nine years died “unexpectedly” and that his death “completely took us all by shock.”

Three witnesses were called at the detention hearing that saw Kouri Richins occasionally wipe tears from her eyes. The first witness was lead detective on the case, Jeff O’Driscoll, who answered questions from the defense and prosecutors. A digital forensics and financial forensics investigator also testified in the hearing.

Kouri Richins was visibly emotional as O’Driscoll described the scene where her husband’s body was found. O’Driscoll testified that Kouri Richins said she had attempted CPR on her husband, but an emergency medical technician told O’Driscoll on scene that Eric Richins began foaming at the mouth when they attempted CPR — a sign no one else had tried to resuscitate him.

Eric’s sister, Amy Richins, also gave a victim impact statement at the hearing, saying if Kouri is guilty it is the “ultimate act of betrayal.” She said he was a family man who “loved fully, laughed loudly, lived life with reckless abandon,” and got emotional as she thought about what Kouri Richins may have said to him in his last moments, how long he was conscious and wondered did his boys “catch a glimpse of their father taking his last breath.”

Amy Richins also pleaded with the judge not to let Kouri Richins out on bail. The judge agreed, saying “the circumstances of this case weigh soundly against pretrial release.”

Ahead of the detention hearing in Park City, Richins’ attorneys argued in recent court filings that the realtor should be eligible for bail because there is “no substantial evidence to support the charges.”

Prosecutors allege that Eric Richins was poisoned by a lethal dose of fentanyl on the night of March 3, 2022, according to the charging document.

Kouri Richins allegedly told police following his death that they were celebrating her closing on a house for her business that night and she “made Eric a Moscow Mule in the kitchen and brought it to their bedroom where Eric consumed it while sitting in bed,” according to the probable cause statement.

She allegedly said she went to sleep with one of their children who was having a night terror and returned to her and her husband’s bedroom around 3 a.m., where she found him “cold to the touch,” according to the charging document.

An autopsy determined that Eric Richins died from a fentanyl overdose, and that the level of fentanyl in his system was five times the lethal dosage, according to the charging document. The medical examiner indicated the fentanyl was “illicit fentanyl,” not medical grade, and that it was likely ingested orally, according to the charging document.

Detectives obtained a search warrant for their residence following the toxicology report, including for electronics, and alleged that a search of Kouri Richins’ phone uncovered “several communications” with an acquaintance of hers who had various drug counts, according to the initial charging document. The acquaintance reportedly told authorities they sold Kouri Richins fentanyl pills six days before Eric Richins was found dead, prosecutors allege.

Kouri Richins’ lawyers argued in the new filings that law enforcement never found fentanyl in their family home, and that there are “inconsistencies” in witness statements from someone reported to have been present at the alleged drug deal, including regarding dates and payments of the alleged pill transactions, between the initial and amended charging documents.

Regarding the alleged fatal poisoning, her lawyers said Kouri Richins made her husband a drink that he “consumed two sips of” and that he continued to use his phone for more than two hours. They stated that Kouri Richins had slept in one of her children’s rooms because their child was having a nightmare and when she woke up around 3 a.m. she discovered her husband “cold and not breathing” and called 911, the filings stated.

Her lawyers also addressed various financial dealings involving the couple that were detailed in the amended charging document.

Among them, prosecutors alleged that “unknown to Eric Richins,” Kouri Richins allegedly purchased four life insurance policies on her husband’s life between 2015 and 2017 amounting to nearly $2 million in death benefits. Kouri Richins’ lawyers refuted the allegations that she took out life insurance policies without her husband’s knowledge, arguing in new court filings that he would have known about them.

Her lawyers also responded to claims in the amended charging document that Eric Richins “broke out in hives” after eating a sandwich his wife had prepared for him on Valentine’s Day last year and reportedly used an EpiPen. Her lawyers argued that their nanny did not witness him acting ill or use an EpiPen.

A judge issued a partial gag order earlier this month, limiting what the prosecutors and defense can discuss, amid national interest in the case.

ABC News’ Alyssa Pone contributed to this report.

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One dead after boat capsizes during underground cave tour in upstate New York

One dead after boat capsizes during underground cave tour in upstate New York
One dead after boat capsizes during underground cave tour in upstate New York
Catherine McQueen/Getty Images/STOCK

(NEW YORK) — 

One person has died after a tour boat capsized Monday morning at the Lockport Cave, a historical, underground boat ride by the Erie Canal in upstate New York, the local fire chief said.

Twenty-nine adults — 28 of whom were Niagara County hospitality employees — were on the small boat, which can handle 40 passengers, Lockport Fire Department Chief Luca Quagliano said at a news conference. At one point the boat became unbalanced and capsized, throwing everyone into the water, he said.

The man who died may have been stuck under the capsized boat, Quagliano said.

About 16 people were rescued by fire and EMS personnel, Quagliano said. Everyone else was able to get themselves to safety, he said, noting that the water is about 6 feet deep.

Eleven people were taken to hospitals for minor injuries, Quagliano said.

No one on board was wearing a life jacket, Quagliano said. 

It’s not clear why the boat capsized, the fire chief said.

The victim, who was not identified, was believed to be about 60 years old, Quagliano said, noting that his wife was among the people taken to a hospital.

Lockport is about 30 miles northeast of Buffalo.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul tweeted that her “team is in close contact with local officials and emergency operations teams.”

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Asteroid the size of a bridge expected to pass by Earth, NASA says

Asteroid the size of a bridge expected to pass by Earth, NASA says
Asteroid the size of a bridge expected to pass by Earth, NASA says
JPL/NASA

(NEW YORK) — A “potentially dangerous” asteroid the size of a bridge is expected to pass by Earth Monday, NASA said.

The asteroid — called 1994 XD — has a span of 1,500 feet, comparable to that of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City, according to the space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It even has its own satellite that circles it, which was discovered in 2005.

There is currently no danger of the asteroid hitting Earth, with the object passing the planet at a distance of about 1.9 million miles.

That’s roughly eight times the average distance between Earth and the moon but also about 20 times closer than Venus gets at its nearest to Earth.

Although it’s common for asteroids to make relatively close approaches, this is one of the bigger asteroids to do so. Because of its size, NASA has classified it as a “potentially hazardous object.”

1994 XD might be hard to see with the naked eye because it will be passing Earth at roughly 48,000 miles per hour, according to NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies.

Near-Earth objects are entities such as asteroids and comets that orbit the sun like the planets do. This asteroid orbits the planet every 1,310 days, roughly equivalent to about three-and-a-half years.

The asteroid has made several close approaches to Earth in the past and is expected to make at least three more over the next three decades, according to spacereference.org.

1994 XD is not the only asteroid that will pass Earth this week. Two other asteroids, each roughly the size of an airplane, will also pass by Monday. Additionally, one the size of a bus and another the size of a building, will pass by Earth Tuesday.

As of June 1, NASA has discovered 10,472 asteroids that are larger than 460 feet, with an estimated 15,000 left to be found. Overall, 32,103 near-Earth asteroids of all sizes have been discovered.

Additionally, there have been seven asteroids over the last 30 days and 105 over the last 365 days that have passed closer to Earth than the moon, according to NASA.

Recently, NASA has taken steps to purposely stop asteroids in case of a future impact with Earth. In September, the agency performed its first planetary defense mission known as the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, which involved colliding a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with an asteroid to adjust its speed and path.

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Michigan toddler dies after shooting unsecured firearm: Police

Michigan toddler dies after shooting unsecured firearm: Police
Michigan toddler dies after shooting unsecured firearm: Police
ABC News

(HOWELL, Mich.) — A 2-year-old child in Michigan died from an accidental shooting Sunday evening after accessing an unsecured firearm, authorities said.

Police initially responded to the report of a shooting at 6 p.m. in the Rolling Oaks subdivision of Howell, Michigan, according to a statement from the Howell Police Department.

“It was reported that a 2.5-year-old child had gained access to an unsecured firearm that resulted in an accidental shooting,” the release noted.

The victim was transported to a local hospital, where the child was pronounced dead.

The Howell Police Department has not released additional details about the incident, and the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office, which also responded to the incident, declined to provide information as well.

Incidents involving children accessing unsecured firearms are common, with nearly one child shooting themselves or someone else using an unsecured firearm every day, according to gun-violence prevention nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety.

Between 2015 and 2022, at least 895 children under the age of 5 and preschoolers were able to shoot themselves or someone else, wounding or killing at least 933 children, according to Everytown.

The Howell shooting also comes less than two months after Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed bills requiring safe storage requirements for firearms.

“Universal background checks and safe storage are long-overdue steps we are proud to take today that will save lives by keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and domestic abusers and children in the home,” Whitmer said at the time of the bill signing.

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