The body of kindergarten teacher, Luz Hernandez, who had been missing since Monday, Feb. 6, 2023 has been found buried in a shallow grave only a few miles away from where she lived and worked in Kearny, New Jersey. — WABC
(JERSEY CITY, N.J.) — A suspect has been arrested over the death of a beloved kindergarten teacher whose body was found in a shallow grave earlier this week.
Luz Hernandez, a 33-year-old kindergarten teacher from Jersey City, New Jersey, was first reported missing on Monday which led to the Jersey City Police Department to conduct a welfare check the following day in regards to the missing person’s report, according to Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez.
Her body was discovered in a shallow grave on Tuesday afternoon in Kearny, New Jersey — just a few miles from where she lived and worked.
Autopsy results revealed on Thursday indicate that she died of blunt force trauma to the head and compressions to the neck, according to ABC News’ New York City station WABC.
Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez announced that a suspect has been arrested but did not provide any further information on who the suspect is or what possible connection they could have had to Hernandez.
“An arrest has been made in connection with the death investigation of Luz Hernandez. More to follow,” Saurez tweeted early Friday morning.
Hernandez worked as a kindergarten teacher at BelovED Charter School in Jersey City and her death has led to an outpouring of grief within the community after the mother of three didn’t show up for work on Monday.
A makeshift memorial has appeared outside her home where people have been leaving flowers and condolence messages.
“[She was] the best sister in the world … it’s unbelievable,” Hernandez’s sister told WABC.
Hernandez is separated from her husband, Junior Santana, who was reportedly in church with their children on Sunday. The family said his whereabouts is currently unknown.
“[She was a] very pleasant woman, beautiful children. It is sad that she passed away. I feel terrible,” a neighbor identified as Monique told WABC in an interview. “She always seemed so pleasant so I really didn’t think something so severe [could happen].”
Anyone with information pertaining to this case is asked to contact the Office of the Hudson County Prosecutor at 201-915-1345 or to leave an anonymous tip. All information will be kept confidential.
(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — The local district attorney’s office in Tennessee’s Shelby County announced Thursday that it will review all prior cases — closed and pending — of the five former Memphis police officers charged in the death of Tyre Nichols.
“This is still an active and ongoing investigation,” the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office said.
Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith were involved in the traffic stop that allegedly led to Nichols’ death last month. Nichols was arrested in Memphis on the evening of Jan. 7, after officers attempted to make a traffic stop for reckless driving near the area of Raines Road and Ross Road, according to separate press releases from the Memphis Police Department and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. A confrontation unfolded as the officers approached Nichols, who ran away. Another confrontation occurred when the officers pursued Nichols and ultimately apprehended him, police said.
After the incident, Nichols “complained of having a shortness of breath” and was transported by ambulance to Memphis’ St. Francis Hospital in critical condition, according to police.
Due to Nichols’ condition, the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office was contacted and TBI special agents were subsequently requested to conduct a use-of-force investigation, according to the TBI.
Nichols “succumbed to his injuries” on Jan. 10, the TBI said.
Local, state and federal authorities continue to investigate the Jan. 7 traffic stop and Nichols’ death.
The Memphis Police Department announced on Jan. 21 that it had fired Bean, Haley, Martin, Mills and Smith following its administrative investigation into the incident.
On Jan. 26, all five former officers were arrested and charged with several felonies, including second-degree murder. They were booked into Shelby County Jail, with bonds set at $350,000 for Martin and Haley and $250,000 for Bean, Mills and Smith, according to a TBI press release. Online jail records show they have since been released after posting bond.
Mills’ lawyer, Blake Ballin, and the attorney for Martin, William Massey, told reporters last month that their clients were “devastated” about the charges and will be pleading not guilty. The defense attorneys representing Bean, Haley and Smith have either declined to comment or did not respond to ABC News’ previous requests for comment.
Video of the Jan. 7 traffic stop, comprised of footage from the city’s surveillance cameras and the former officers’ body-worn cameras, was made public on Jan. 27. The graphic video, which shows the officers beating Nichols, has sparked nationwide outrage.
According to a preliminary independent autopsy commissioned by Nichols’ family and released by their lawyers, he suffered from “extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating.”
Neither the independent autopsy report nor official autopsy report have been publicly released.
Bean, Haley, Martin, Mills and Smith were part of the SCORPION Unit, an acronym for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace In Our Neighborhoods launched in 2021 by the Memphis Police Department. The goal of the unit was created to address violent crimes in the city in a 50-person unit that operates seven days a week. According to the Memphis Police Department, the five former officers violated policies for use of force, duty to intervene and duty to render aid. Other officers are under investigation for department violations as well.
According to a Tennessee Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission document obtained by ABC News, Haley took two pictures on his personal cellphone of the “obviously injured” Nichols after he had been handcuffed. He admitted to sharing a photo in a text message with five people — a civilian employee, two Memphis police officers and a “female acquaintance” — while an administrative investigation uncovered that a sixth person also received the same photo, according to the document.
The actions violated a Memphis Police Department regulation regarding confidential information, which states that officers cannot share information relating to official police matters “without prior approval or subpoena, except to authorized persons,” according to the document, which was part of the process to decertify Bean, Haley, Martin, Mills and Smith.
On Jan. 30, the Memphis Police Department announced that Preston Hemphill, another officer involved in the Jan. 7 traffic stop, and one unidentified officer were relieved of duty amid the ongoing investigation into Nichols’ death. The Memphis Fire Department also announced that three of its members who were deployed in an ambulance to the scene that night — EMTs Robert Long and JaMicheal Sandridge, as well as Lt. Michelle Whitaker — have been fired for failing to properly assess Nichols as he lay beaten on the ground.
Seven additional Memphis police officers could face discipline in connection with Nichols’ death, according to the city’s chief legal officer, Jennifer Sink.
ABC News’ Kiara Alfonseca, Whitney Lloyd and Armando Tonatiuh Torres-García contributed to this report.
(MILFORD, N.J.) — New Jersey leaders are mourning the loss of a councilman who was killed in what police said was a targeted workplace shooting on Wednesday.
Russell Heller was fatally shot outside utility company PSE&G’s Somerset Central Division Headquarters in Franklin Township, where he was the senior distribution supervisor, officials said.
Heller, 51, was also a councilman in Milford, a small borough in Hunterdon County.
“The Milford Borough Council is deeply saddened by the loss and our hearts go out to his family,” Milford Mayor Henri Schepens said in a statement. “He was so full of life, it’s just unbelievable that he’s gone. Something like this has never happened in borough history. We are very shaken by this.”
Heller, a Republican, was first elected to the Milford Borough Council in 2017 and re-elected in 2020.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Russell Heller’s family and friends in the wake of this tragic act of gun violence,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy tweeted.
Franklin Township police responded to multiple 911 calls reporting a shooting victim in the parking lot of the PSE&G location around 7 a.m. Wednesday, the department said. Heller was found dead from a gunshot wound, police said.
Investigators determined that a former PSE&G employee — identified as Gary Curtis, 58, of Washington, New Jersey — allegedly approached Heller in the parking lot and shot him while he was outside his vehicle, police said.
Curtis was tracked to a parking lot in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey, within an hour of the shooting, according to police. As law enforcement officers approached they “observed him suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound” and he was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
The Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office along with Franklin Township Police are continuing to investigate the homicide.
“Preliminary investigation has revealed that the shooting was an isolated incident and Mr. Heller was the intended target,” the Franklin Township Police Department said in a statement.
A motive is under investigation. Investigators have determined that the shooting was not connected with Heller’s “elected office or political affiliation,” Deputy Chief Frank Roman Jr. with the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement Thursday.
PSE&G said it was “heartbroken” over the death of Heller, who had been a supervisor with the company for over 11 years.
“This event is tragic and disturbing, and we are offering support to our employees as they process this,” PSE&G said in a statement.
New Jersey Congressman Tom Kean said he was “shocked and saddened by the tragic murder” of Heller.
“Russell was an outstanding public servant who proudly represented the river town he loved,” Kean tweeted.
The incident comes one week after the separate, fatal shooting of another New Jersey council member.
Sayreville councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour was shot and killed on Feb. 1 while sitting inside her SUV outside her home, police said.
Dwumfour sustained multiple gunshot wounds in her SUV and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police.
Dwumfour — the mother of a 12-year-old daughter and leader of her church — was elected into office in 2021 and worked as a business analyst and part-time emergency medical technician.
No arrests have been announced in the case.
ABC News’ Nadine El-Bawab contributed to this report.
(JACKSON, Miss.) — The Mississippi House passed a controversial bill that would form a court system of unelected judges and prosecutors to preside over part of the majority-Black city of Jackson.
Black residents make up 82.8% of the city’s population, according to the U.S. Census.
The bill would expand the city’s capitol complex improvement district, which “was created by the Mississippi Legislature to establish regular funding and administration of infrastructure projects within a defined area of the city of Jackson,” according to city documents.
Instead of giving the city’s majority-Black residents an opportunity to vote for judges and prosecutors in the court, the Republican-backed bill would require government officials to choose who fills those positions.
This court system would preside over the district expansion, according to one of the bill’s sponsors, Republican Sen. Trey Lamar.
The legislation would also expand the capitol police force.
The bill’s details include: the state’s supreme court chief justice wouls appoint two judges; the attorney general would appoint two prosecutors; the state public defender would appoint public defenders; and the Mississippi public safety commissioner would have authority over capitol police.
The state’s supreme court chief justice, the AG, the state public defender and the public safety commissioner currently in office are white.
Lamar, the bill’s sponsor, does not live in Jackson and represents a majority-white district in Mississippi.
Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba called it “the most oppressive legislation that we have seen in our city’s history.”
“It’s oppressive because it strips the right of Black folks to vote and it’s oppressive because it puts a military force over people that has no accountability to them,” he told reporters. “It’s oppressive because there will be judges who will determine sentences over people’s lives. It’s oppressive because it redirects their tax dollars to something they don’t endorse or believe in.”
Lawmakers intensely debated the bill on the House floor Tuesday.
Lamar said the effort hopes to address crime in Jackson, as well as help with “a backlog, a need for assistance in the Hinds County judiciary.”
“The people who voted for this bill are trying to make Jackson safer, that’s all they’re interested in and if you’re not committing crimes in Jackson, you really don’t have anything to worry about,” said Lamar.
Critics argued that the bill was targeting the Black community, and stripping residents of their “consitutional right” and voting power.
Several lawmakers compared the bill to Jim Crow-era laws and racist legislation of the past: “I’ve been here since — for 74 years and one thing I can do is recognize a racist when I see one,” Democratic state Rep. Solomon C. Osborne said on the House floor,
“In my humble opinion, I think that House Bill 1020 is simply a power grab,” said John G. Faulkner, another Democratic member of the Mississippi House of Representatives.
Lamar waived concerns, citing the courts lower or “inferior” status, which means that decisions will be subject to scrutiny from a higher court.
The bill will now head to the Senate floor, where the Republicans also hold the majority of seats.
(NEW YORK MILLS, Minn.) — Authorities are praising a group of factory employees they say disarmed a 21-year-old colleague who allegedly shot at and chased a co-worker at a boat manufacturing facility in northern Minnesota on Thursday morning.
According to the Otter Tail County Sheriff’s Office, an employee at Lund’s Boat Factory, in the city of New York Mills, pulled a handgun during a verbal argument with a 31-year-old co-worker shortly after 7:00 a.m. and fired at him.
The bullet missed the victim, who ran outside the building with the suspect allegedly chasing him, possibly firing more shots, the sheriff’s office said.
An employee blocked the door while others ran down the suspect and subdued him before law enforcement arrived and arrested him.
The sheriff’s office late Thursday identified the suspect as David Jeremiah Gadsden. County records show Gadsden is facing four counts, including second degree assault with a dangerous weapon, second degree intent to murder, carrying/possessing a gun without a permit and intentionally pointing a gun.
“Had it not been for the quick actions of Lund staff members, the outcome may have been much worse,” the sheriff’s department said in a press release.
Lee Gordon, a spokesperson for Brunswick Corporation, which owns the factory, said in an email to ABC News that there were “no issues that we are aware of” during Gadsden’s employment at the facility.
The plant was closed after the incident and will reopen Monday with increased security, the company said in a statement.
“The health and safety of our employees and the New York Mills community is our number one priority, and we are fortunate that there were no injuries during this morning’s incident,” the company said. “We are working very closely with local law enforcement in Otter Tail County and will continue to support them in their investigation.”
The statement added, “We want to thank our employees who worked quickly to respond to the situation and appreciate the outreach and support from the local community.”
Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(TALLAHASSEE) — The College Board has addressed the Florida Department of Education’s rejection of AP African American Studies courses and subsequent criticism of the program, as well as the controversy that ensued.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ DOE initially rejected the course on Jan. 12 in a letter obtained by ABC News, calling it “inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.”
Florida’s “Stop WOKE” Act restricts certain race-related content in workplaces, schools and colleges in the state. Supporters of the legislation argued that some lessons taught “kids to hate our country or to hate each other,” according to DeSantis in a 2021 statement on the law.
Critics claim the legislation will be used to remove important lessons on race, racism and oppression from classrooms.
According to an open letter from the College Board on Thursday, the College Board said it never received written feedback from the Florida DOE specifying how the course violates Florida law, despite repeated requests.
“On three occasions beginning in September 2022, we requested from FDOE specific information about why the pilot course was deemed out of compliance with Florida law,” the College Board open letter read. “We received a commitment that such feedback would be provided, but it never was.”
College Board also claimed that in a Feb. 7 letter from the state DOE, the department characterized course topics as “historically fictional” but did not specify which topics were as described, or why they were deemed as such.
“If the course comes into compliance and incorporates historically accurate content, the department will reopen the discussion,” a Florida DOE official told ABC News in January about the course rejection.
The College Board denied it provided the FDOE with a preview of the official course framework and that “no topics were removed because they lacked educational value. We believe all the topics listed in your letter have substantial educational value.”
The FDOE did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment. An alleged letter from the Florida Department of Education, reported on by the New York Times, claimed Florida officials and the College Board were in consistent communication about the state’s complaints concerning the course.
The official framework was released on Feb. 1 in honor of Black History Month.
The course was first piloted during this 2022-23 school year in just 60 schools and will be expanded to hundreds of additional schools with the official course framework for the next round of pilot courses in the 2023-24 school year.
The College Board said that all piloted courses go through revision before they are officially launched.
The framework was missing some of its most controversial material – including lessons on intersectionality, Black queer studies, Black Lives Matter and critical race theory, which particularly angered some conservatives and the DeSantis administration.
However, the College Board claims it was not influenced by Florida officials.
“Many AP courses, especially those based in history and culture, deal with contested topics. The AP Program navigates those challenging waters by relying on our AP Principles,” the open letter read. “These principles make it abundantly clear that we stand against censorship and indoctrination equally.”
(MARQUETTE, Mich.) — Deep in the rough waters of Lake Superior, researchers have discovered a 19th century ship that had actually sank twice before its final demise.
The 144-foot barquentine named Nucleus was found under 600 feet of water around 40 miles northwest of Vermilion Point Nature Preserve on Lake Superior, according to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society.
The ship was carrying a load of iron ore after leaving Marquette, Michigan, when it sank on Sept. 14, 1869, amid a storm, researchers said. Once the Nucleus started to take on water, the crew abandoned the vessel on a lifeboat.
After a few hours on the water, officers aboard the S.S. Union reportedly spotted the crew struggling in the storm but did not rescue them, according to researchers.
“What a bunch of jerks, right?” Corey Adkins, communications director for the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society, told ABC News.
After about five hours in rough waters, crew members were picked up by a schooner called Worthington, researchers said.
“Lake Superior is often referred to as a freshwater ocean. It’s one of the biggest lakes on the planet,” Adkins said. “So I’m sure during this storm in September 1869, it was probably not very hospitable — to the crew of the Nucleolus or the ship.”
The Nucleus is nicknamed the “Bad Luck Barquentine” due to its multiple accidents — one of them occurring in 1854 when it rammed and sank a side-wheeler called S.S. Detroit in Lake Huron. In the two previous incidents, the Nucleus was re-floated, repaired and reused, Adkins said.
Researchers first detected the shipwreck in the summer of 2021 using marine sonic technology from the surface of Lake Superior, Adkins said. It was then positively identified as the Nucleus in 2022 after researchers used a remotely operated vehicle to explore the site further.
The ship was one of the oldest to go down along Lake Superior’s Shipwreck Coast, making it a “significant discovery,” Shipwreck Society Executive Director Bruce Lynn said in a statement.
The wreck site is “littered” with shovels and some dinner plates, which speaks to the crew’s work and shipboard life, Lynn said.
The ship is mostly intact, Darryl Ertel Jr., the historical society’s director of marine operations, said in a statement.
“At first, I thought it was totally in pieces on the bottom,” Ertel said.
Ertel had a “very good year of shipwreck hunting” in 2021, finding 10 in that year alone, Adkins said.
(PHOENIX) — A suspect has been arrested in connection with a “high-value theft” amid Super Bowl festivities in Phoenix, police said Thursday.
Officers responded to the report of a theft at a parking garage in downtown Phoenix on Saturday. Approximately $100,000 worth of production equipment had been taken from the location, police said.
The production equipment was “being utilized for events downtown,” according to Phoenix Police spokesperson Sgt. Robert Scherer.
The victim was a third-party vendor for the Super Bowl Experience, occurring nearby, ABC Phoenix affiliate KNXV reported.
George Rodriguez, 36, was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the incident and was booked on theft charges, police said.
Information gathered during the information led police to identify Rodriguez as “one of the people involved,” Scherer said in a statement.
Booking records show Rodriguez was booked on Wednesday on one count of theft. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Feb. 16 in the case. Online court records do not list attorney information for Rodriguez.
The stolen production equipment was located and returned to the victim, police said.
“The investigation remains an open investigation as detectives continue to follow up on leads associated with the case,” Scherer said.
The Super Bowl Experience is being held at the Phoenix Convention Center ahead of Sunday’s game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs at Phoenix’s State Farm Stadium.
Police said they have ramped up security ahead of Super Bowl 57, including updating security cameras around the downtown area.
Billy Schuerman/Newport News Daily Press/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(NEWPORT NEWS, Va.) — The teacher shot in class by her 6-year-old student in Newport News, Virginia, claims the shooter had a history of violent behavior at school and accused the school’s assistant principal of failure to act despite being told repeatedly that the student had a gun at school, her lawyer alleged in a letter notifying the district of the intent to file a lawsuit.
The letter is one of three intent-to-file lawsuit letters sent to the school district and obtained by ABC News. Two other letters were submitted by parents of students who go to Richneck Elementary School.
In the letter, a lawyer for Abigail Zwerner, the teacher who was shot, alleged that four teachers, including Zwerner, and a guidance counselor all warned the school’s assistant principal, Ebony Parker, about the shooter’s behavior on the day of the shooting, but Parker failed to act when she was first notified, between 11:15 and 11:30 a.m., and when Zwerner was shot at 1:59 p.m.
Zwerner sustained a gunshot wound through her hand and into her chest on Jan. 6 when the student brought a gun into a classroom at Richneck Elementary School and intentionally shot and wounded her, according to police. A bullet remains lodged in her body, according to Diane Toscano, Zwerner’s lawyer.
The letter also alleged that the shooter had a history of concerning behavior at Richneck Elementary School, which Parker was aware of.
The student had allegedly been removed from the school a year prior after he “choked his teacher until she couldn’t breath,” according to the letter.
“This school year, the shooter was put on a modified schedule in the fall of 2022 after the school year had started because he constantly cursed at the staff and teachers and then one day took off his belt on the playground and chased kids trying to whip them,” according to the letter.
The shooter had been suspended the day before the shooting because he “slammed Ms. Zwerner’s phone breaking it” and had cursed at the guidance counselors,” according to the letter.
Zwerner also alleged that she told Parker that the student was in a “violent mood” and had already threatened to beat up a kindergartner on the day of the shooting.
Parker resigned from her position on Jan. 25, according to a school spokesperson.
In a second letter, the parents of one student alleged their daughter, Emari Nieves, who was in Zwerner’s class, was bullied by a student and witnessed the shooting.
Emari’s parents alleged they repeatedly notified Newport News Public Schools of the bullying and claim that the school division “did not take reasonable and appropriate actions to protect Emari and ensure Emari’s opportunity to attend a safe school environment. In addition, Emari was present in the classroom when the January 6, 2023 shooting occurred and suffered emotional harm as a result,” they wrote in the letter.
It is not clear whether the student who bullied Emari is the student who shot Zwerner.
The family is asking for all documents, information, video and audio recordings to be kept for the case.
The parents of the second student, Mark Garcia Jr., allege their son was feet away from the shooting.
According to lawyers, Garcia, who was allegedly in a classroom adjacent to the one where the shooting happened, also sent an intent-to-file lawsuit letter. Garcia’s lawyer said she is representing the student for “injuries sustained during” the shooting. They also are asking for the preservation of materials in this case.
In the aftermath of the shooting, the district said it will install metal detectors at every school. Richneck Elementary School reopened to students on Jan. 30.
A spokesperson for the Newport News Public School district did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment. Parker could not immediately be reached for a comment.
(SAN FRANCISCO) — At least one civilian and one firefighter were injured in a massive, three-alarm fire that impacted three homes in San Francisco on Thursday, according to the San Francisco Fire Department.
The civilian is in serious condition and the firefighter is in stable condition, the department said.
