(AUSTIN, Texas) –Police in Texas said they were investigating possible connections between a series of shootings in Austin and a fatal shooting near San Antonio that left six dead in total and injured several others on Tuesday.
A suspect in his 30s was booked into the Travis County Jail and charged with capital murder on Tuesday night, the Austin Police Department said. His name has not been released. Additional charges are pending, officials said.
Austin officers said they were investigating whether the suspect had been involved in shootings at four locations throughout the city that left four dead and three injured on Tuesday. Two of the injured were police officers, law enforcement said.
Law enforcement officials in Bexar County also said they were also investigating whether another shooting that left two dead in a “grisly” crime scene near San Antonio was connected.
The series of shootings in Austin began at about 10:43 a.m. on Tuesday, when a resource officer was shot and injured near Northeast Early College High School, the Austin Police Department said.
About two hours later, a man and a woman were fatally shot near Shadywood Drive on Austin’s south side, police said.
Officers then responded to a possible burglary just before 6 p.m. on Tuesday near the 5300 block of Austral Loop. Police and the suspect fired at each other, and one of the responding officers was hit multiple times, police said. The officer was later transferred to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, officials said.
The suspect then allegedly led officers in a high-speed pursuit that ended in a crash of the vehicle the suspect was driving, police said. The man was arrested with a firearm in his possession, police said.
While the pursuit was in progress, officers went inside the residence that was allegedly burglarized on Austral Loop and discovered two people dead from fatal gunshot wounds, officials said.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said that he was contacted by Austin police officers on Tuesday evening and was told that the suspect in custody for the Austin shootings had a connection to a residence in San Antonio.
When deputies arrived at that residence, they forced entry and found two additional people, believed to be in either their 40s or 50s, with fatal gunshot wounds, police said. The bodies were wedged inside a very small room and officials described the scene as “grisly.”
The sheriff said it wasn’t yet clear if the suspect had any connection to the people found dead in the house. He said officials believed the killings near San Antonio happened first and then the suspect went to Austin.
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York in a $250 million civil lawsuit that could alter the personal fortune and real estate empire that helped propel Trump to the White House.
Trump, his sons Eric Trump and and Donald Trump Jr., and other top Trump Organization executives are accused by New York Attorney General Letitia James of engaging in a decade-long scheme in which they used “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation” to inflate Trump’s net worth in order get more favorable loan terms. The trial comes after the judge in the case ruled in a partial summary judgment that Trump had submitted “fraudulent valuations” for his assets, leaving the trial to determine additional actions and what penalty, if any, the defendants should receive.
The former president has denied all wrongdoing and his attorneys have argued that Trump’s alleged inflated valuations were a product of his business skill.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Dec 05, 5:04 PM EST
Defense expert quotes John Lennon, compares Trump to MLK
Prior to his brief cross-examination, real estate valuation expert Lawrence Moens quoted John Lennon’s “Imagine” and compared Donald Trump to Martin Luther King Jr. at the conclusion of his direct testimony.
“You may say I am a dreamer, but I’m not the only one,” Moens said, quoting the “Imagine” lyrics before comparing Trump to Thomas Jefferson and Martin Luther King Jr.
“He’s a dreamer for sure. If you have a dream and are a great American, I don’t think that’s a bad thing,” Moens said of Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago estate he praised as “something breathtaking” and “amazing to see.”
Moens’ cellphone went off during his testimony, and he briefly interrupted his direct examination to answer a call.
“I’ll call you right back … love you,” Moens said in a quiet tone as Judge Engoron watched in disbelief.
Moen apologized to the judge, explaining that the call was from his elderly father.
Court was adjourned for the day after Moens stepped off the witness stand.
Dec 05, 4:45 PM EST
Mar-a-Lago valuation expert is also Mar-a-Lago member
During a short cross-examination of the defense’s real estate valuation expert, Lawrence Moens, state attorney Kevin Wallace attempted to highlight flaws in Moens’ analysis that valued Mar-a-Lago at $1.2 billion in 2021.
Wallace noted that Moens’ analysis added over $100 million in membership dues to the value of the property, while Trump’s own statements of financial conduction didn’t include the membership fees since they’re refundable.
“Some get paid back, and some are nonrefundable,” Moens said in response. “I don’t know what their methodology is in those numbers.”
Wallace also asked if Moens had a membership in the club he had been paid to value.
“Are you a member at the club?” Wallace asked.
“I am,” Moens said, adding that he joined in 1995 or 1996.
“I don’t go too often. I don’t like clubs,” he said.
Moens described his process for valuing properties as comparable to a baker making a cake by taste, rather than a recipe. By his own admission, the process was not replicable or scientific.
“You’re not running a process that is recreatable … is that fair?” Wallace asked.
“That’s fair,” Moens said.
Like during his direct examination, Moens appeared confident and playful on the stand, even taking a job at the profession of a colleague mentioned in an email.
“I think he is still a liar — I mean a lawyer,” Moens said. “Sorry, I apologize, it was really low.”
Dec 05, 3:51 PM EST
Eric Trump will not be called as defense witness
Defense attorney Clifford Robert said the defense team was able to “streamline” their case and cut Eric Trump from their witness list.
After being called to the stand by the state last month, Eric Trump had been scheduled to testify for the defense on Wednesday, but now he will not appear.
Trump lawyer Chris Kise also requested that Judge Engoron postpone Donald Trump’s testimony until the New York Court of Appeals rules on Trump’s appeal of the case’s gag order.
“He is not capable of fully testifying because he is subject to the gag order,” Kise said.
Engoron flatly denied the request to delay Trump’s testimony, which is scheduled for Monday.
“Absolutely not. No way, no how. It’s a nonstarter,” Engoron said. “If he is going to testify, it’ll be Monday, and that’s that.”
Dec 05, 3:03 PM EST
Defense expert says Mar-a-Lago was worth $1.2 billion
Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club was worth more than $1.2 billion in 2021 — roughly double the value listed in Trump’s statement of financial condition — according to defense expert Lawrence Moens.
Describing Mar-a-Lago as a castle nestled on 17.6 acres of waterfront property, Moens said he determined the value by considering nearby properties and adding the total value of the club’s 500 memberships, which in 2021 cost $350,000 each.
Between 2011 and 2021, Moens’ analysis found that Trump undervalued Mar-a-Lago in his statements of financial condition — but his analysis appeared to be based on Trump being able to sell the property to an individual to use it as a private residence, which the New York attorney general says Trump is prohibited from doing based on a 2002 deed he signed that would “forever extinguish their right to develop or use the Property for any purpose other than club use.”
Judge Engoron only qualified Moens as an expert on the value of residential real estate.
Moens spoke with confidence about his ability to value real estate in Palm Beach, saying that he has sold billions of dollars of real estate since his first sale as a broker in 1982. Asked if any broker has sold more Palm Beach real estate than he has, Moens replied, “They don’t exist.”
“I am on the front lines everyday of selling properties, and I have a pretty good handle of what is going on currently in the market,” Moens said.
He later added, “My numbers are usually right.”
Moens also put together a seven-minute promotional video about Mar-a-Lago, which was played during his testimony. Set to relaxing music, the video included high-resolution drone shots and dramatic panning shots of the property’s amenities. After the video played, Moens highlighted details such as hand-carved stones, gold decorations that cost millions to construct, and other details that required years of work from tradesmen.
“I invited the attorney general’s office to come see it anytime. The offer still stands,” Moens said. “I will make sure he is not there when you come,” he said of Trump.
Engoron appeared attentive to Moen’s testimony — but once Moens left the courtroom, he indicated that he wasn’t as concerned about Mar-a-Lago’s specific value as he was about whether it was misrepresented.
“I see this case about the documents — whether the defendants used false documents when transacting business,” Engoron said. “I am not trying to figure out what the value is … I don’t necessarily consider it relevant.”
Dec 05, 12:31 PM EST
Mar-a-Lago would be residence if club was abandoned, expert says
Defense expert John Shubin attempted to explain that a 1993 agreement preserved Donald Trump’s right to sell his Mar-a-Lago social club as a private residence.
The testimony came after Judge Engoron prevented Shubin from sharing his own conclusion about whether Mar-a-Lago was a residence, leading Shubin to read into the record several documents involving the issue.
Shubin suggested that a 1993 agreement between Trump and the town of Palm Beach included a provision that Trump’s property would revert from a social club to Trump’s private residence if the club was ever abandoned, despite Trump’s 2002 deed restricting the property’s use to a social club.
Shubin also read into the record documents related to a 2021 Town of Palm Beach town meeting concerning whether Trump could continue to live at Mar-a-Lago as his residence.
“In sum, it is argued that Mar-a-Lago is either a private residence or a club, but cannot be both,” Palm Beach Town Attorney John C. Randolph wrote in a report read by Shubin.
“If he is a bona fide employee of the Club, absent a specific restriction prohibiting former President Trump from residing at the club, it appears the Zoning Code permits him to reside at the Club,” Randolph’s report concluded.
According to Shubin, no action was taken by the town after the meeting, suggesting Town officials concluded that Trump had the right to use the club as a residence.
New York Attorney General Letitia James has accused Trump of valuing the property as a residence worth upwards of half a billion dollars in Trump’s financial statements, while treating it as social club worth between $18 million and $28 million for tax purposes.
Dec 05, 11:03 AM EST
‘No prohibition’ on using Mar-a-Lago as residence, expert says
Introduced as an expert on land use, planning, entitlements and zoning, a witness for the defense immediately pushed back on New York Attorney General Letitia James’ chief argument that Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property was restricted to use as a social club — a claim that Judge Engoron called the “ultimate issue on Mar-a-Lago.”
“There is absolutely no prohibition on the use of Mar-a-Lago as a single-family residence,” said defense witness John Shubin.
Engoron barred Shubin from testifying about legal conclusions and immediately sustained an objection from the state regarding the testimony.
“It absolutely is a legal conclusion,” Engoron said, prompting defense lawyer Clifford Robert to unsuccessfully try to rephrase his question.
“Why don’t we just look through the documents and run backwards?” defense lawyer Chris Kise suggested.
Shubin’s testimony runs contrary to evidence presented by state lawyers that Trump signed a 2002 deed that surrendered his right to develop the property “for any purpose other than club use.”
Dec 05, 9:36 AM EST
Defense focusing on value of Mar-a-Lago
Donald Trump’s lawyers plan to call two experts, Lawrence Moens and John Shubin, to testify on Trump’s valuation of his Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Florida.
Moens is a well-known real estate broker in Palm Beach, and Shubin is an expert on deeds and land restrictions.
The value of the property has been bitterly contested by Trump’s lawyers since the start of the trial, after Judge Arthur Engoron, in his pretrial partial summary judgment determined that Trump overvalued the property by at least 2,300%. When Trump testified in the trial in November, he repeatedly lashed out at Engoron for what he called a “crazy” assessment of the property.
“He said in his statement that Mar-a-Lago is worth $18 million and it’s worth 50 times to 100 times more than that, and everybody knows it. And everybody is watching this case. He called me a fraud and he didn’t know anything about me,” Trump said on the stand.
According to evidence shown at trial, Trump agreed in a 2002 deed to “forever extinguish [his] right to develop or use the Property for any purpose other than club use.” While Trump Organization executives were aware of the limited use of the property, they allegedly valued the property as a residence in Trump’s financial statements while treating it as a social club for tax purposes, according to New York Attorney General Letitia James.
In Trump’s statements of financial condition, he valued the property between $426 million and $612 million, despite a local tax assessor appraising the market value of the property between $18 and $27 million. Engoron, in his summary judgment ruling, wrote that James had proven that Trump was liable for a false valuation of the property.
Trump has repeatedly argued that Engoron misunderstood the purpose of a tax assessment, going as far as to call Engoron’s finding “fraud.”
“Are you paying taxes on an $18 million valuation of Mar-a-Lago or $1.5 billion?” state attorney Kevin Wallace asked Trump during his direct examination.
“You know that assessments are totally different from the valuation of property,” Trump responded.
(NEW YORK) — A man has been sentenced to four years in prison after a 6-minute video that his 9-year-old child took of him beating and injuring his wife emerged, authorities said.
Miguel Lazaro-Castillo was sentenced to the maximum term allowed on his charges of four years in prison last Friday by Yuba County Judge Julia Scrogin after pleading no contest in October to charges of felony domestic violence, false imprisonment and misdemeanor child abuse, according to the Yuba County District Attorney’s Office, located north of the state capital of Sacramento.
Lazaro-Castillo’s sentencing stemmed from an incident that took place on Oct. 9 shortly before 2 a.m. when the Yuba County Sheriff’s Department received a 911 call from one of Lazaro-Castillo’s children.
“When deputies arrived six minutes later, they located Lazaro-Castillo’s wife lying face-down on the floor, surrounded by bloody napkins. Lazaro-Castillo was sitting on top of her, and their three minor children, ages 15, 14, and 9, were also present,” said the Yuba County District Attorney’s Office.
Lazaro-Castillo initially denied striking his wife and claimed he had no idea where all the blood had come from when police arrived on scene.
However, it didn’t take long for deputies to discover that his youngest child had actually filmed the attack in a video that lasted over six minutes.
“Deputies discovered that the youngest of the children had videotaped the beating,” said the district attorney’s office. “The video lasted over six minutes and showed Lazaro-Castillo repeatedly hitting his wife in the head and face. One of the children tried to protect her mother, shielding her with her hands. Lazaro-Castillo slapped the child on the leg and continued assaulting his wife. Lazaro-Castillo turned his wife onto her stomach and forced her face down into the carpet for an extended amount of time.”
Lazaro-Castillo, his wife and one of the minor children were intoxicated at the time of the incident, according to the district attorney’s office.
Yuba County Sheriff’s Deputy Bonifacio Paredes placed the children into protective custody and arrested Lazaro-Castillo at the time of the incident.
“Despite Lazaro-Castillo not having a prior criminal record, he received the maximum sentence for felony domestic violence based on the brutality of his actions and his utter disregard for his children,” the district attorney’s office said.
“Thank you to Deputies Paredes, Manion, and Jones, for you work to keep the victim and children safe,” the district attorney’s office continued. “Thank you to Yuba County Chief Deputy Shiloh Sorbello for prosecuting this case to the full extent of the law.
(NEW YORK) — A 28-year-old New York City man has been indicted on hate crime charges stemming from an October antisemitic attack on a 23-year-old Israeli tourist in Times Square, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Yehia Amin was indicted by a New York State Supreme Court grand jury on charges of stalking in the first degree as a hate crime, assault in the third degree as a hate crime and stalking in the third degree as a hate crime, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement. Amin was also indicted on one count of aggravated harassment in the second degree, Bragg said.
The attack unfolded around 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 18 as the victim and four friends were walking through Times Square wearing kippahs or traditional Jewish yarmulke when they encountered Amin, Bragg said.
“As alleged, Yehia Amin taunted and punched a tourist after stalking his friends and going on a vile antisemitic tirade that spanned several minutes,” Bragg said in a statement. “Violence stemming from hate and discrimination will not be tolerated in Manhattan. We will continue working with our law enforcement partners to hold those that cause harm accountable to ensure Manhattan is a safe place for everyone.”
The assault occurred about 12 days after Hamas terrorists launched a surprise attack on Israel, indiscriminately killing more than 1,200 people and taking more than 240 people hostage, according to the Israeli government. Israel responded to the attack with a bombing campaign and ground operation in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 16,200 people, according to figures released by Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health and the Hamas government media office.
Bragg said that when Amin crossed paths with the victim and his friends, the suspect allegedly recognized they were Jewish, apparently because of the kippahs they were wearing.
The suspect allegedly followed the group for several blocks, using his Bluetooth speaker to play music he later described as “Hamas music,” according to Bragg’s statement.
During the confrontation, Amin is accused of making antisemitic and anti-Israeli remarks to the victim and his friends, allegedly telling them, “Hamas should kill more of you” and “All Jews should die,” according to the district attorney’s office.
The victim and his friends tried to report the harassment to a security guard in Times Square, prosecutors said. As they continued walking to a nearby train station, Amin allegedly followed them and taunted them with threats and more antisemitic remarks, according to the district attorney’s office.
After harassing the victim and his friends for over 10 minutes, Amin allegedly sprinted up behind the victim and punched him in the back of the head, causing redness, swelling and substantial pain, according to Bragg’s statement.
Amin allegedly tried to flee the scene, but the victim and his friends followed him and flagged down a police officer who caught up to Amin and arrested him.
Even after being taken into custody, Amin allegedly continued to yell, “I will die for Gaza” and “God kill all the Israelis,” according to the district attorney’s statement.
Amin could not be reached Tuesday for comment. It was unclear if he had hired an attorney.
Reports of anti-Jewish incidents have been on the rise amid the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas, including in New York City, new data shows. The total number of bias crimes investigated by the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force increased by 124% (from 45 to 101) in October, led by a 214% spike in anti-Jewish incidents (from 22 to 69), the NYPD said on Nov. 9.
Nationwide, the Anti-Defamation League said it has recorded a “significant spike in antisemitic incidents” since Oct. 7. According to preliminary data from the ADL Center on Extremism, 312 incidents of harassment, vandalism and assault were recorded from Oct. 7 to Oct. 23 — a 388% increase over the same period last year.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization, said last month that from Oct. 7 to Nov. 4, its national headquarters and chapters had received 1,283 requests for help and reports of bias. In an average 29-day period in 2022, it said it received 406 such complaints.
(AUSTIN, Texas) — Police in Texas said they were investigating possible connections between a series of shootings in Austin and a fatal shooting near San Antonio that left six dead in total and injured several others on Tuesday.
A suspect in his 30s was booked into the Travis County Jail and charged with capital murder on Tuesday night, the Austin Police Department said. His name has not been released. Additional charges are pending, officials said.
Austin officers said they were investigating whether the suspect had been involved in multiple shootings throughout the city that left four dead and three injured on Tuesday. Two of the injured were police officers, law enforcement said.
Law enforcement officials in Bexar County also said they were also investigating whether another shooting that left two dead in a “grisly” crime scene near San Antonio was connected.
The series of shootings in Austin began at about 10:43 a.m. on Tuesday, when a resource officer was shot and injured near Northeast Early College High School, the Austin Police Department said.
About two hours later, a man and a woman were fatally shot near Shadywood Drive on Austin’s south side, police said.
Officers then responded to a possible burglary just before 6 p.m. on Tuesday near the 5300 block of Austral Loop. Police and the suspect fired at each other, and one of the responding officers was hit multiple times, police said. The officer was later transferred to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, officials said.
The suspect then allegedly led officers in a high-speed pursuit that ended in a crash of the vehicle the suspect was driving, police said. The man was arrested with a firearm in his possession, police said.
While the pursuit was in progress, officers went inside the residence that was allegedly burglarized on Austral Loop and discovered two people dead from fatal gunshot wounds, officials said.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said that he was contacted by Austin police officers on Tuesday evening and was told that the suspect in custody for the Austin shootings had a connection to a residence in San Antonio.
When deputies arrived at that residence, they forced entry and found two additional people, believed to be in either their 40s or 50s, with fatal gunshot wounds, police said. The bodies were wedged inside a very small room and officials described the scene as “grisly.”
The sheriff said it wasn’t yet clear if the suspect had any connection to the people found dead in the house. He said officials believed the killings near San Antonio happened first and then the suspect went to Austin.
(NEW YORK) — Two students have been arrested for allegedly supplying THC edibles and psilocybin mushrooms that sent at least seven students to the hospital for observation when they all ingested the drugs during the school day, police said.
Last Friday, at approximately 12:33 p.m., Cabarrus County Schools contacted the Concord Police Department after a number of students at C.C. Griffin Middle School — located some 20 miles northeast of Charlotte, North Carolina — had what police say were “negative reactions to ingesting an unknown substance,” according to a statement from the Concord Police Department describing the incident.
“Police investigators recovered a sample of the rice krispy treat eaten by students, and it tested positive for THC,” police said. “The sample has been sent to a lab for additional testing, and it will likely take several months before those results are returned. Police also recovered illegal psilocybin mushrooms.”
In total, seven students were taken to Atrium Health Cabarrus for observation after ingesting the drugs, police said.
“Working with the school system, police investigators interviewed several students and learned that this was a planned activity,” according to the Concord Police Department. “Two students shared with classmates that they had access to THC edibles, and in advance of Friday, some students made an agreement to buy some of those edibles.”
As a result, the THC edibles were brought to school on Friday and shared among a group of students, some of whom also admitted to ingesting psilocybin mushrooms, before several of them had negative reactions to ingesting the illegal substances, police said.
“The investigation also revealed that students knowingly ingested the edibles,” authorities said. “All the students who ate a piece of the rice krispy treat and who spoke with police admitted to knowing that they were eating a THC edible.”
The Concord Police Department subsequently filed petitions through the North Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice for the two students who brought the edibles to school so that they could be held responsible for the incident.
“One student is being charged with two counts of possession with intent to deliver a Schedule VI drug,” said the Concord Police Department. “One student is being charged with one count of possession with intent to deliver a Schedule I drug.”
The Concord Police Department is continuing to investigate this incident, including the original source of the THC edibles and psilocybin mushrooms, and their investigation is currently ongoing.
(NEW YORK) — A teacher has been arrested after allegedly knocking out a 12-year-old student’s tooth with his elbow and throwing a basketball at him in a fit of rage, police say.
The alleged assault took place at the Putnam Academy of Arts and Science School in Palatka, Florida — some 60 miles south of Jacksonville and 100 miles north of Orlando — sometime during the school day on Monday, according to a statement from the Palatka Police Department in the aftermath of the incident.
Police first learned about the alleged assault at approximately 4:20 p.m. on Monday when they were called to a residence on Belmont Drive in reference to a report of battery which took place at the school earlier in the day.
“When the officers arrived, they made contact with [the boy’s mother]. [She] informed the officers her 12-year-old son had been struck earlier in the day by a teacher identified as James Bellamy,” the Palatka Police Department said in their statement. “[She] had been shown a video of her son and Bellamy playing basketball. The video showed Bellamy throwing the ball at her son and then later elbowing him in the mouth which knocked the child’s tooth out.”
Officers subsequently talked with the 12-year-old boy who was able to confirm to them what his mother had said and said that “Bellamy had gotten angry at him because Bellamy believed he had intentionally struck his arm or head while they were playing,” according to authorities.
“The child told Officers Bellamy called him back out onto the court and then threw the ball at him, but he was able to duck and not get hit by it,” the statement continued. “The child said he and Bellamy then started playing and then Bellamy struck him in the face with his elbow which knocked his tooth out.”
Authorities subsequently relocated to a residence on Napoleon Street where they made contact with Bellamy, who was advised of his rights and questioned by the Palatka Police Department about the incident.
“Bellamy informed the officers he was playing basketball with some students. He said the victim had hit him while playing so he called him back out onto the court. He said he threw the ball at the victim but when his elbow hit the child it was not intentional,” read the Palatka Police Department statement.
Bellamy was then placed under arrest for child abuse and battery and booked into the Putnam County Jail and is currently being held on no bond.
No court date has been announced yet and the investigation into the alleged assault is currently ongoing.
(NEW YORK) — An off-duty pilot accused of trying to shut down engines mid-flight on an Alaska Airlines plane in October was indicted on 84 charges — though the grand jury declined to go for attempted murder.
Joseph David Emerson, 44, was charged with one count of endangering aircraft in the first degree and 83 counts of recklessly endangering another person in connection with the Oct. 22 incident, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.
He is being held at the Multnomah County Detention Center and is scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday.
Emerson was initially charged with 83 counts of attempted murder after he allegedly tried to shut off the engines by pulling the fire extinguisher handles. He pleaded not guilty in October.
His attorneys previously said he “suffered a panic attack” while on the flight and was in a dream-like state during the incident. They also said he had taken “a small amount of psilocybin,” which is found in mushrooms, two days prior to the flight.
In a statement on the grand jury indictment, his attorneys said the attempted murder charges “were never appropriate in this case because Captain Emerson never intended to hurt another person or put anyone at risk — he just wanted to return home to his wife and children.”
“Simply put: Captain Emerson thought he was in a dream; his actions were taken in a single-minded effort to wake up from that dream and return home to his family,” the statement continued.
His attorneys said they were “disappointed” that the grand jury indicted Emerson on the 84 counts.
“Captain Emerson had no criminal intent, and we look forward to being able to present a fulsome defense at trial and bring forth all the facts and circumstances to a jury,” his attorneys said. “Captain Emerson’s defense team is crafting a release plan and expect that he will finally return home to his family by the end of this week.”
At the time of the incident, off-duty captain Emerson was sitting in the flight deck jump seat, which is in the cockpit, Alaska Airlines said.
The flight was en route from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco when it diverted to Portland, Oregon, the airline said. Emerson was scheduled to be on a flight crew of a 737 leaving San Francisco, according to a federal official.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — A house in Virginia exploded Monday night shortly after officers were executing a search warrant at the residence for reports of a person discharging several rounds with a flare gun, officials said.
The suspect, who was inside the Arlington duplex at the time of the explosion, is presumed dead, authorities said.
Police responded to the residence on the 800 block of North Burlington Street at approximately 4:45 p.m. Monday with reports of possible shots fired, said Ashley Savage, public information officer with Arlington County Police Department.
Police said in a statement that a preliminary investigation indicated the suspect “discharged a flare gun approximately 30-40 times from inside his residence into the surrounding neighborhood.”
Following the discharge, police were attempting to make contact with the suspect and draw him out when the house exploded at approximately 8:25 p.m., police said.
Police officers sustained minor injuries and were treated on scene and the fire has since been extinguished.
Fire crews had evacuated other residents of the duplex and surrounding homes starting at around 7 p.m. as a precaution, which “saved lives,” Arlington County Fire Department Assistant Chief Jason Jenkins told reporters.
The cause of the explosion is under investigation and authorities are working to collect evidence from the scene.
The fire department had turned off the gas at the residence prior to the explosion, according to Jenkins, who said he could not speculate on any cause or origin of the explosion at this time.
Arlington County Police Chief Andy Penn said human remains were recovered from the scene but have not yet been identified.
The suspect — identified as 56-year-old James Yoo — was the only person inside the residence at the time of the explosion and is presumed to be dead, Penn said.
“There is no ongoing threat to the community related to this incident and no outstanding suspects,” Penn said during a press briefing on Tuesday.
Penn said police are aware of “concerning social media posts made by the suspect,” though did not elaborate.
The suspect had been in touch with the FBI over the years via phone calls, online tips and letters with complaints about “alleged frauds he believed were perpetrated against him,” David Sundberg, assistant director in charge with the FBI Washington Field Office, told reporters.
The complaints did not lead to the FBI opening any investigations, according to Sundberg, who did not provide any further details on the alleged frauds.
Before the explosion, Savage said that a barricade situation took place after attempts to make contact with the suspect were unsuccessful.
“During the early parts of it, after we had obtained a search warrant, we were attempting to make contact with the individual. Our SWAT team was on scene at that point, we would determine that the incident would be a barricade because the suspect had not exited the residence,” she said. “We were attempting to make contact with the individual when shots were discharged inside the residence.”
Right before the explosion, police were using “nonflammable” chemical munitions to draw the suspect out of the home, Penn said.
“Officers began to deploy nonflammable less lethal chemical munitions to multiple areas within the residence where the suspect was believed to be hiding. The purpose of this type of deployment is to cause irritation and hopes of compelling the suspect to surrender,” Penn said.
About 10 households were impacted by the incident, authorities said.
Witnesses described seeing flares in the sky emanating from the area of the blast prior to the blast.
Neighbors several blocks away described feeling the concussion from the blast in their homes.
The investigation remains ongoing.
ABC News’ Tia Humphries contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced it will examine its rules on pilot mental health.
The move comes after years of calls from industry and government leaders, and the high-profile case of an off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot who allegedly tried to crash a commercial flight in October, and who claimed he suffered from mental health issues.
The pilot, Joseph Emerson, allegedly told officers he believed he was having a “nervous breakdown,” according to a criminal complaint. Emerson also stated he became depressed about six months prior to the incident, the complaint said.
An Oregon grand jury on Tuesday indicted Emerson on one count of endangering an aircraft in the first degree and 83 counts of recklessly endangering another person — one count for every other person onboard the aircraft — in connection with the Oct. 22 incident, according to the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office. He pleaded not guilty to initial charges in October.
The FAA said Tuesday it would establish a rulemaking committee to “identify and break down any remaining barriers that discourage pilots from reporting and seeking care for mental health issues.” The committee will also examine the same issues for air traffic controllers.
Current regulations mandate that pilots undergo a medical examination with an aviation medical examiner (AME) every six months to five years, depending on their age and the type of flying they do, including whether private or commercial. AMEs determine the pilot’s mental health and fitness to fly.
Pilots are also required to disclose any physical and psychological conditions, as well as any medications they may be taking. Many pilots and air traffic controllers have expressed concern about revealing mental health information, for fear of it adversely affecting their careers.
“This is quite a challenge for the FAA but a very appropriate one because if there is anything that we can do to lower the barriers of people reporting mental health problems, then we need to research it,” ABC News contributor and former commercial pilot John Nance said.
The FAA says it “encourages” pilots to seek help if they have a mental health condition “since most, if treated, do not disqualify a pilot from flying.” Certain conditions do, however, disqualify pilots from flying, such as “psychosis, bipolar disorder and some types of personality disorder,” according to the agency.
The committee must submit its recommendations to the FAA by March 2024.
