(CLEVELAND, Ohio) — Vandals struck a Jewish cemetery in Ohio over the weekend, defacing nearly two dozen headstones with antisemitic graffiti and prompting outrage from local Jewish officials who called the incident “sickening.”
The desecration of the Jewish cemetery in the Cleveland suburb of Brooklyn came amid a precipitous rise in hate crimes and incidents across the country targeting Jewish and Arab-Muslim communities since an Oct. 7 surprise Hamas terror attack on Israel. More than 1,200 Israeli civilians and soldiers were killed in the attack, according to Israeli officials. Retaliatory strikes by Israel in the Gaza Strip have left more than 11,000 people dead, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, and prompted a humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory.
The vandalism at the Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in Brooklyn, Ohio, was discovered by police around 10:21 a.m. Sunday when officers were notified of the damage by a passerby, according to a statement Monday from the Brooklyn Police Department. The vandalism is believed to have taken place sometime between Saturday night and Sunday morning, according to police.
Officers discovered 23 headstones with antisemitic graffiti scrawled over them in red spray paint, according to police.
Currently, no arrests have been announced in the incident.
Volunteers from the local Jewish community gathered at the cemetery on Sunday and cleaned the graffiti from the headstones by hand.
The Jewish Federation of Cleveland, a nonprofit organization focused on the health and vitality of the Jewish community, released a statement condemning the vandalism.
“It is absolutely sickening that anyone could have so much hate for the Jewish people that they would desecrate Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery,” the group said in its statement. “This cowardly act to violate the memory of our elders only confirms what we already know: the hatred of the Jewish community here and around the world now is at a level not seen in generations.”
Nationwide, the Anti-Defamation League said last month it had recorded a “significant spike in antisemitic incidents” since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
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, when the ADL received reports of 64 such incidents, the organization said. More than half of the recent incidents (190) were directly linked to the Israel-Hamas war, the ADL said.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization, said Thursday that from Oct. 7 to Nov. 4, its national headquarters and chapters have 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.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned last month of an increase in antisemitic and Islamophobic hate attacks occurring in the U.S. amid the Israel-Hamas war.
“Targeted violence attacks may increase as the conflict progresses,” the assessment said.
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Jan. 6 defendant Gregory Yetman, who turned himself in to authorities Friday after a major police manhunt in New Jersey, allegedly deployed chemical spray at officers during the riot at the U.S. Capitol, according to charging documents unsealed Monday by the Justice Department.
Yetman’s arrest affidavit reveals investigators had been looking into his actions at the Capitol dating back to a week and a half after Jan. 6, 2021 — when the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division received information that he had admitted to being at the riot in a series of Facebook posts.
FBI agents interviewed him on Jan. 22, 2021, when he denied being part of any violence and stated anyone who entered the building or assaulted officers “should be prosecuted,” according to the affidavit.
However, prosecutors say they later gathered information that Yetman was among the scores of rioters who engaged in assaults against police — specifically using an MK-46H chemical spray canister against a line of officers trying to protect the building, the affidavit says.
Prosecutors include numerous photos they say show Yetman’s movements outside of the building leading up to him allegedly deploying the spray at officers on the West Front of the Capitol. They say Yetman picked up the canister just seconds after another rioter had set it down on the ground and walked away from it.
They allege Yetman sprayed officers for “approximately 12-14 seconds” as they were trying to fend off repeated assaults by other members of the pro-Donald Trump mob.
Yetman has not entered a plea to the charges and doesn’t have an attorney listed for him yet, according to court records.
Yetman, 47, is charged with several offenses from the Capitol insurrection, some felonies, including assaulting officers; obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; and act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings.
A federal arrest warrant was issued for Yetman on Nov. 6, and officials were looking for him in the area of Helmetta, a borough in Middlesex County, law enforcement officials said last week.
He surrendered to police in Monroe Township on Friday, officials said.
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso and Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.
(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:
Nov 13, 2:54 PM EST
Trump Jr. says golf course site was ‘old-school New York mob job’
Donald Trump Jr., in testimony for the defense, touted the work of the Trump Organization to convert a landfill in the Bronx, New York, into a “absolutely incredible” golf course.
“It was raw dirt. It had been that way for a long time,” Trump Jr. said of the original site of Trump Links Ferry Point near the Whitestone Bridge.
“People were supposedly trying to build a golf course for years,” Trump Jr. said about previous efforts to build the facility, describing it as an “old-school New York mob job” where people got paid to move dirt around but not build anything.
Trump Jr. said that once his father got involved in the project, the site was successfully transformed in a matter of months.
Nov 13, 1:42 PM EST
Trump Jr. to get new and improved sketch
When he was last in court, Donald Trump Jr. took a particular interest in his courtroom sketch.
“He said, ‘Make me look sexy,'” the sketch artist Jane Rosenberg told ABC News. By some accounts, the result was underwhelming.
Rosenberg has another opportunity to draw Trump Jr. with his return to court, and she thinks the new iteration is coming along well.
“I think they get better every time,” she told ABC News.
Earlier in his testimony, Trump Jr. joked about a photo of his brother Eric Trump.
When the slideshow Trump Jr. was narrating displayed a professional headshot of his brother, Trump Jr. took a job at his younger sibling.
“A lot of Photoshop,” Trump Jr. joked.
Nov 13, 1:12 PM EST
Trump Jr. assails judge’s finding on Mar-a-Lago
In presenting a slideshow chronicling the Trump Organization’s properties, Donald Trump Jr. highlighted many of their luxury features and iconic views — implicitly suggesting their value.
That’s particularly true of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, which Judge Engoron in a pretrial ruling determined was worth only a fraction of the amount claimed by Donald Trump, because Trump signed a deed that restricted its use to a social club, thereby limiting its resale value.
Describing how he took “umbrage” to the judge’s determination that Mar-a-Lago was worth between $18 and $28 million, Trump Jr. highlighted specific features to challenge that finding. Showing an aerial photo of the property, Trump Jr. said that a nearby home whose size was dwarfed by the social club has been on sale for $50 million.
“You couldn’t build that atrium for $18 million today,” Trump Jr. said while presenting a photo of the building’s historic atrium.
Nov 13, 12:53 PM EST
With glossy slides, Trump Jr. recounts firm’s story
Donald Trump’s testimony in the defense’s case has so far centered around a slide show being presented by the defense, entitled “The Trump Story,” that paints a timeline of Donald Trump’s real estate acquisitions. When state attorneys objected to the glossy presentation — which Trump Jr. acknowledged was created by his marketing team — the judge allowed the slides, and thus permitted Trump Jr. to testify unrestrained about the company’s properties.
“He’s an artist with real estate. He sees the things other people don’t,” Trump Jr. said at one point when describing his father.
As he narrates the slide show, Trump Jr.’s testimony resembles a lecture on real estate, sprinkled with details about his family’s properties — such as the individual stones used to construct the Seven Springs estate or the bank safes at 40 Wall Street, which he said once stored gold from the Federal Reserve.
“They’re actually spectacular … it’s truly a mechanical work of art,” Trump Jr. said of the safes.
Referencing broken down historic properties that the company has transformed back to their former glory, Trump Jr. called such properties the “canvas” for his his “father’s art.”
“He understands and has an incredible vision that other people don’t,” Trump Jr. said.
After a particular lengthy response, Trump Jr. referenced his father’s own tendency to speak in prolonged monologues, joking, “I got half the genes.”
Nov 13, 11:06 AM EST
Trump Jr. details history of Trump Organization
Testifying for the defense, former President Trump’s eldest son described his father as a real estate “visionary” who “sees the sexiness in a real estate project,” creating value for the family business that cannot be captured on paper.
Donald Trump Jr. began his testimony with a quip after Judge Engoron welcomed him back to the stand following his testimony earlier in the month.
“I’d say it’s good to be here, but the attorney general would probably sue me for perjury,” Trump Jr. joked.
In his testimony, Trump Jr. described the Trump Organization as “a large family business,” with Trump and his eldest children at the top and other executives handling many of the details.
“If there were numbers and things, I would rely on them to give me that,” Trump Jr. said.
He recounted the history of the Trump Organization, beginning with his great-grandfather who he said built hotels in the Yukon Territories of Canada. His grandfather, Fred Trump, “started working on job sites around Queens, learned the trades” and eventually “created an incredible portfolio, by the time of his passing, of rental apartments in Brooklyn and Queens.”
A state attorney jokingly objected that references to the 1800s were outside the statute of limitations — then more seriously objected to the history lesson’s relevance.
“I think it is relevant to get the historical perspective — I find it interesting,” Judge Engoron said in overruling the objection. “Let him go ahead and say how great the Trump Organization is.”
Trump Jr. obliged.
“My father learned a lot of the business from him, but had some flair and saw New York City and Manhattan as the ultimate frontier,” he said. Speaking of Trump Tower, he said, “I think it would have been one of the first, I think great, ultra-luxury real estate emerging in Manhattan.”
Nov 13, 10:20 AM EST
Donald Trump Jr. takes the stand for the defense
“Would you like to call your first witness, defense?” Judge Arthur Engoron asked to begin court this morning.
“The defense calls Donald Trump Jr. to the stand,” defense attorney Clifford Robert responded.
Like his last time on the witness stand when he was called by state attorneys, Trump Jr. appears comfortable on the stand, punctuating his testimony with lighthearted remarks.
Robert began his direct examination with some questions about Trump Jr. ‘s biography, starting with his graduation from the University of Pennsylvania.
“Was a bartender for about 18 months,” Trump Jr. said about his first job out of college.
“Did you enjoy that?” Robert asked.
“I did,” said Trump Jr., joking that he had a challenging conversation with his father when he began that job.
Nov 13, 9:45 AM EST
Trump Jr., arriving in court, met with chants of ‘crime family’
Donald Trump Jr. and his defense lawyers arrived at the New York State Supreme Courthouse this morning to be met with a small crowd of protestors chanting “crime family.”
Trump Jr. did not make a statement before entering the courthouse, but offered a brief response to a question about his expected testimony.
Asked what he plans on saying today on the stand, he replied, “We’ll see what I’m asked.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James arrived at court shortly after Trump Jr. and took a seat in the courtroom with her staff.
Nov 13, 9:06 AM EST
Donald Trump Jr. attends UFC event ahead of testimony
Donald Trump Jr. took in some ultimate fighting ahead of his scheduled return to the witness stand this morning.
Trump Jr. attended a UFC doubleheader at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night with his father, in addition to Tucker Carlson, Kid Rock, and UFC president Dana White.
“I legitimately can’t think of a better squad to roll with,” Trump Jr. posted on social media.
Earlier that day while speaking at a campaign rally in New Hampshire, Donald Trump appeared to joke about appointing White to a position in a potential future administration.
“He’s a guy I’d like to make my Defense Chief. I wouldn’t call him my defense chief. I’d call him my ‘Offense Chief.’ He’d be my Offense Chief,” Trump said.
Nov 13, 8:32 AM EST
Defense to begin presenting its case
As Trump’s legal team prepares to begin presenting its case this morning, defense attorney Alina Habba says responsibility for the financial statements that the New York attorney general says are fraudulent lies with Trump’s external accounting firm.
Previewing the defense’s case during an appearance on Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, Habba also said the banks that loaned money to the Trump Organization were responsible for conducting their own due diligence regarding Trump’s financial statements.
The state rested its case last week in the sixth week of the trial. The defense has said they expect their case to wrap up by Dec. 15.
Habba also suggested that Donald Trump plans to file a motion seeking a mistrial.
While Habba declined to comment on alleged misconduct by Judge Arthur Engoron’s clerk — which she is prohibited from doing due to the limited gag order handed down by the judge — she said the issue would be addressed in their mistrial motion “very soon.”
“I actually can’t tell you why, because I am gagged. I can tell you that we will be filing papers to address all of those issues,” Habba said.
However, Habba downplayed the chance the motion would be favorably decided Engoron.
“The problem we have is the judge is the one who is going to make those decisions, and he has proven himself to be quite motivated by the other side,” Habba said.
Nov 11, 1:51 PM EST
Court administrator responds to Stefanik’s complaint
In response to Rep. Elise Stefanik’s letter of complaint against Judge Engoron that she filed Friday with the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, a spokesperson for New York State Office of Court Administration has issued a statement.
“Judge Engoron’s actions and rulings in this matter are all part of the public record and speak for themselves,” said Office of Court Administration communications director Al Baker. “It is inappropriate to comment further.”
Nov 10, 8:17 PM EST
Rep. Stefanik files complaint against Judge Engoron
Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York has filed a judicial complaint against Judge Arthur Engoron.
The letter, addressed to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, largely concerns the judge’s rulings in the case and his public statements, and is unlikely to impact the proceedings of the trial.
“Judge Engoron’s bizarre and biased behavior is making New York’s judicial system a laughingstock,” Stefanik, a staunch Trump supporter, wrote.
The lengthy letter echoes some of Trump’s attacks on the trial, criticizing Engoron’s limited gag order in the case, the actions of his legal clerk, his summary judgment ruling, and his comments during Trump’s testimony this week.
“Simply put, Judge Engoron has displayed a clear judicial bias against the defendant throughout the case, breaking several rules in the New York Code of Judicial Conduct,” Stefanik wrote.
(RUSTON, La.) — A Louisiana Tech University student is in custody after he allegedly stabbed four people in a “random act of violence” on campus, according to the university.
The four victims — one graduate student and three non-students — had just left the campus recreation center when they were attacked around 9 a.m. Monday, Louisiana Tech University said.
The suspect, student Jacoby Johnson, allegedly fled the scene and was apprehended minutes later by campus police, according to the university.
One victim was hospitalized in critical condition, according to the university. Two others were hospitalized in serious but stable condition and the fourth victim refused treatment.
Johnson was also hospitalized, Louisiana Tech said.
The university described the incident as an apparent “random act of violence.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(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:
Nov 13, 9:45 AM EST
Trump Jr., arriving in court, met with chants of ‘crime family’
Donald Trump Jr. and his defense lawyers arrived at the New York State Supreme Courthouse this morning to be met with a small crowd of protestors chanting “crime family.”
Trump Jr. did not make a statement before entering the courthouse, but offered a brief response to a question about his expected testimony.
Asked what he plans on saying today on the stand, he replied, “We’ll see what I’m asked.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James arrived at court shortly after Trump Jr. and took a seat in the courtroom with her staff.
Nov 13, 9:06 AM EST
Donald Trump Jr. attends UFC event ahead of testimony
Donald Trump Jr. took in some ultimate fighting ahead of his scheduled return to the witness stand this morning.
Trump Jr. attended a UFC doubleheader at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night with his father, in addition to Tucker Carlson, Kid Rock, and UFC president Dana White.
“I legitimately can’t think of a better squad to roll with,” Trump Jr. posted on social media.
Earlier that day while speaking at a campaign rally in New Hampshire, Donald Trump appeared to joke about appointing White to a position in a potential future administration.
“He’s a guy I’d like to make my Defense Chief. I wouldn’t call him my defense chief. I’d call him my ‘Offense Chief.’ He’d be my Offense Chief,” Trump said.
Nov 13, 8:32 AM EST
Defense to begin presenting its case
As Trump’s legal team prepares to begin presenting its case this morning, defense attorney Alina Habba says responsibility for the financial statements that the New York attorney general says are fraudulent lies with Trump’s external accounting firm.
Previewing the defense’s case during an appearance on Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, Habba also said the banks that loaned money to the Trump Organization were responsible for conducting their own due diligence regarding Trump’s financial statements.
The state rested its case last week in the sixth week of the trial. The defense has said they expect their case to wrap up by Dec. 15.
Habba also suggested that Donald Trump plans to file a motion seeking a mistrial.
While Habba declined to comment on alleged misconduct by Judge Arthur Engoron’s clerk — which she is prohibited from doing due to the limited gag order handed down by the judge — she said the issue would be addressed in their mistrial motion “very soon.”
“I actually can’t tell you why, because I am gagged. I can tell you that we will be filing papers to address all of those issues,” Habba said.
However, Habba downplayed the chance the motion would be favorably decided Engoron.
“The problem we have is the judge is the one who is going to make those decisions, and he has proven himself to be quite motivated by the other side,” Habba said.
Nov 11, 1:51 PM EST
Court administrator responds to Stefanik’s complaint
In response to Rep. Elise Stefanik’s letter of complaint against Judge Engoron that she filed Friday with the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, a spokesperson for New York State Office of Court Administration has issued a statement.
“Judge Engoron’s actions and rulings in this matter are all part of the public record and speak for themselves,” said Office of Court Administration communications director Al Baker. “It is inappropriate to comment further.”
Nov 10, 8:17 PM EST
Rep. Stefanik files complaint against Judge Engoron
Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York has filed a judicial complaint against Judge Arthur Engoron.
The letter, addressed to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, largely concerns the judge’s rulings in the case and his public statements, and is unlikely to impact the proceedings of the trial.
“Judge Engoron’s bizarre and biased behavior is making New York’s judicial system a laughingstock,” Stefanik, a staunch Trump supporter, wrote.
The lengthy letter echoes some of Trump’s attacks on the trial, criticizing Engoron’s limited gag order in the case, the actions of his legal clerk, his summary judgment ruling, and his comments during Trump’s testimony this week.
“Simply put, Judge Engoron has displayed a clear judicial bias against the defendant throughout the case, breaking several rules in the New York Code of Judicial Conduct,” Stefanik wrote.
Sgt. Andrew P. Southard, 27, of Apache Junction, Arizona; Sgt. Cade M. Wolfe, 24, of Mankato, Minnesota; Chief Warrant Officer 3 Stephen R. Dwyer, 38 of Clarksville, Tennessee; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Shane M. Barnes, 34, of Sacramento, California; and Staff Sgt. Tanner W. Grone, 26, of Gorham, New Hampshire. — DOD
(WASHINGTON) — Five American service members were killed in a crash late Friday after their helicopter had a “mishap” during a training exercise and went into the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the military said Sunday.
Two officials confirmed that the five were Army special operations soldiers, as first reported by The New York Times and Washington Post. Search and rescue efforts went into Saturday before being called off, according to the officials.
Department of Defense officials on Monday identified the service members as Chief Warrant Officer 3 Stephen R. Dwyer, 38 of Clarksville, Tennessee; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Shane M. Barnes, 34, of Sacramento, California; Staff Sgt. Tanner W. Grone, 26, of Gorham, New Hampshire; Sgt. Andrew P. Southard, 27, of Apache Junction, Arizona; and Sgt. Cade M. Wolfe, 24, of Mankato, Minnesota.
“We mourn the loss of these five incredible soldiers, each of them a national treasure,” Lt. Gen. Jonathan P. Braga said in a statement. “They hail from rare patriotic families with deep military service ties that span multiple generations and formations.”
They were members of an elite unit, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), known as the Night Stalkers, based in Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, officials said. They’re the Army’s best helicopter pilots and usually transport Delta Force or Seal Team Six into missions.
“Our thoughts and prayers remain with the families of the fallen,” the department said. “The U.S. Army’s Combat Readiness Center is conducting an investigation into the incident.”
The craft that crashed was an MH-60 helicopter, the officials said.
U.S. European Command said in an initial statement on Saturday that the cause of the crash was under investigation but “there are no indications of hostile activity.”
The aircraft was conducting a “routine air refueling mission” when the “mishap” occurred, according to European Command’s statement on Sunday. Further details about what went wrong were not provided.
The helicopter went down near Cyprus, a third U.S. official said. The crew was part of special operations forces recently sent there to be in place if needed to help evacuate American citizens from the region amid the unfolding Israel-Hamas war, according to this official.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in his own statement that “while we continue to gather more information about this deadly crash, it is another stark reminder that the brave men and women who defend our great nation put their lives on the line each and every day to keep our country safe. They represent the best of America. We will remember their service and their sacrifice.”
“My prayers are with the patriots we have lost today and their families, loved ones, and teammates,” Austin said.
European Command officials and Austin’s statement initially conflicted on the timing of the incident, whether it was late Friday or early Saturday. The Pentagon said Sunday afternoon that it was late Friday.
President Joe Biden publicly mourned the deaths, saying in a statement that military members “put their lives on the line for our country every day. They willingly take risks to keep the American people safe and secure. And their daily bravery and selflessness is an enduring testament to what is best in our nation.”
Acknowledging the crash occurred at the start of Veterans Day weekend, Biden said, “We once more affirm the sacred obligation we bear to those who volunteer to serve our nation as well as their families, caregivers, and survivors.”
“Jill and I are praying for the families and friends who have lost a precious loved one—a piece of their soul. Our entire nation shares their grief,” the president said.
ABC News’ Fritz Farrow contributed to this report.
(HOUSTON) — At least six people were killed and another is in critical condition after a “major crash” in downtown Houston early Saturday, police said.
Police responded to the scene of the two-vehicle collision around 2 a.m., according to Houston Police Department Asst. Chief Megan Howard.
A driver of a black Chrysler 300 sped through a red light at a “high velocity,” colliding with a black Acura SUV that had the right of way at the intersection, Howard said.
Five men and one woman died in the collision, police said.
Four people were pronounced dead at the scene, Howard said, including the driver of the Chrysler and a man who appears to have been homeless. Two people succumbed to their injuries after being transported to a local hospital, Howard said.
Two others — a woman with life-threatening injuries and a man — were transported to the hospital as well, Howard said. The man, who was being interviewed by officers earlier, is in stable condition, police said.
It is unclear at this time who was driving the SUV, Howard said.
“We’re looking to get more information from what appears to be one of the survivors of the SUV,” Howard told reporters during a press briefing.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner briefly addressed the crash during an unrelated press briefing on Saturday.
“That’s just tough,” he said. “Six individuals, young people, deceased.”
Finner said police will release the names of the victims once all families of the deceased are notified.
A friend of the homeless man killed told ABC Houston station KTRK he was sleeping near the victim when the collision occurred.
“Literally, it sounded like two trains crashing together. I can still hear the sound in my head. It’s nerve-wracking,” the man told the station. “I was right next to him. I just had something in my gut telling me to get up, and I got up. But it could have been me.”
(AUSTIN, Texas) — Three people are dead after a hostage situation unfolded in Austin, Texas, early Saturday, including a responding SWAT officer who was shot and killed in a shootout with the suspect, police said.
A second officer was also injured and the suspect was killed in the shooting, which occurred at a residence in southwest Austin, police said.
“This has been a very tragic day, a very tragic incident for all involved,” interim Austin Chief of Police Robin Henderson said in emotional remarks during a press briefing on Saturday.
The incident unfolded shortly before 3 a.m. local time Saturday, when a 911 caller requested help at the residence, Henderson said. The caller was “screaming for help” and said somebody was stabbing her, Henderson said.
The first officers who arrived on scene located an injured victim who had managed to escape the residence, Henderson said. She was transported to a local hospital, said Henderson, who did not provide any details on the extent of her injuries.
The officers were notified that two other injured victims were still inside the residence with the suspect, who the escaped victim said still had a knife, Henderson said.
Officers attempted to make an emergency forced entry into the residence to “rescue the two victims,” Henderson said. After they announced themselves as police and entered the residence, they were “fired upon by the suspect,” Henderson said. The officers retreated and did not return fire, she said.
“Because the suspect was armed and barricaded inside a residence and had two hostages, SWAT was called out to the scene,” Henderson said.
SWAT officers arrived shortly after 4 a.m. and attempted a second forced entry to rescue the victims, Henderson said. Upon entry, the suspect “immediately fired,” she said.
Two officers were shot and transported to a local hospital. One succumbed to his injuries despite life-saving measures, while the second is in stable condition, Henderson said.
The two victims were located inside the residence with fatal injuries and pronounced dead at the scene, Henderson said. They have not been publicly identified.
The suspect was also pronounced dead at the scene, she said. The suspect has not been publicly identified.
This is the first time in a decade that an officer from the Austin Police Department has been killed in the line of duty, according to ABC affiliate KVUE in Austin.
“My heart and the hearts of Austinites are broken this morning. This is a horrible moment for our city and those who protect us,” Mayor Kirk Watson said in a statement. “I’m praying for the family of our fallen officer, for our officer who was shot and in surgery and his family.”
Multiple officers discharged their firearms during the shooting, Henderson said. They are not being identified at this time.
The Austin Police Department will conduct a criminal investigation into the officer-involved shooting in conjunction with the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, as well as an administrative investigation with oversight from the Office of Police Oversight, Henderson said.
(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) — The parents of a Belmont University freshman who was killed by a stray bullet earlier this week are speaking out about the death of their daughter.
Jillian Ludwig, 18, was struck in the head by a bullet when walking in a park in Nashville, Tennessee, authorities said. She was taken to the hospital on Wednesday in critical condition and died on Thursday morning.
“There’s a piece of my heart that was taken from me,” Jessica Ludwig, her mother, told “Good Morning America” in an interview. “And I don’t know how to feel that.”
“It’s kind of hard to comprehend,” said her father, Matt Ludwig. “She was thriving so well and doing so well in so many ways, in every way.”
Shaquille Taylor, 29, was allegedly shooting at a vehicle across the street from the park when a stray bullet hit Jillian Ludwig.
Police said Taylor was most recently arrested in September, charged with felony auto theft and released on a $20,000 bond. Taylor missed his Nov. 3 court appearance and the court issued a failure to appear warrant, according to Nashville police.
“A repeat criminal who’s deemed to have mental health issues should be dealt with in a facility or in some way that deals with those issues. The answer should not be to release him back into the streets,” Matt Ludwig told “GMA” on Friday.
Taylor was initially charged with aggravated assault and evidence tampering for the alleged shooting, police said. In the wake of Ludwig’s death, police said they were “in discussion with the District Attorney’s Office concerning modified charges.”
The president of Belmont University issued a statement shortly after the shooting.
“Jillian is an engaged member of our community who is known for her love of music,” Belmont University President Greg Jones said in a statement to the school community. “A music business major and bass player, she is often found at concerts, cheering on fellow musicians and using music as a way to connect with those around her. Jillian is also an avid runner who enjoys being outside.”
Meanwhile, Jillian’s parents are doing their best to come to terms with what happened to their daughter.
“You’re just so loved and so missed,” said Jessica Ludwig. “And we are so proud of you and you put a lot of living into your 18 years.”
(KEY WEST, Fla.) — Roughly 30 miles off the coast of Key West, Florida, sits a ship called The Dare. Its exact location is a closely guarded secret because, deep below the crystal-clear water, through hundreds of years of sand and shells, the crew believes there is a pile of sunken treasure.
The Dare is owned and operated by the company Mel Fisher’s Treasures. It’s part of a fleet of salvage ships that have come to these waters for half a century searching for lost riches from the Nuestra Señora de Atocha, a Spanish galleon loaded with gold, silver and gemstones that sank off the Florida coast in a hurricane in 1622.
Treasure from the four-centuries-old vessel is now scattered across the ocean floor by hundreds of other storms, the company says, in a debris field that stretches tens of miles.
But to The Dare and its crew — many dressed in tie-dye t-shirts, wearing flip flops and living a kind of seafarer’s life that keeps them onboard roughly two weeks at a time — treasure hunting isn’t just a passion. It’s a profession.
For decades, the promise of riches has brought divers to the ocean off the coast of the Florida Keys, an area ripe with shipwrecks, where just one dive could make millions of dollars.
For nearly as long, Mel Fisher’s has been operating a commercial treasure hunting operation, in which investors pay for the cost of the search and then get a cut of whatever booty is found.
ABC News has found dozens of similar companies that hunt for treasure across the globe from ships that have sunk throughout history.
Vince Trotta, captain of The Dare, has led hundreds of treasure-hunting expeditions. His current crew is a mix of veterans and rookies, whose job it is to dive down deep into holes made by the salvage ship on the ocean floor in search of riches.
Armed with metal detectors, sometimes sifting through the sand by hand, his divers look for the smallest glint of treasure on the ocean floor. Whatever they find — they’ll be the first person to touch it in 400 years.
But despite meticulously mapping the ocean floor, Mel Fisher’s will be the first to tell you: treasure hunting isn’t an exact science.
Gary Randolph, the company’s vice president and director of operations, tells ABC News making money is possible, but “you have to be in it for the long haul.”
The company has been recovering emeralds, silver and especially gold coins from the Atocha for decades and even sells some of what they recover from a storefront in downtown Key West. But, Randolph says, according to the ship’s manifest, a fortune of treasure onboard has never been found.
“We’re still looking for another approximately half a billion dollars worth in today’s value of treasure,” Randolph said.
But to some historians and archaeologists, Mel Fisher’s and others like them, aren’t fortune seekers or adventurers. Many in the historical community believe they’re nothing more than pirates, pilfering sunken ships for their own financial gain.
Paul Johnston, curator of maritime history at the Smithsonian Institution, has been trying to shut down treasure hunters for his entire professional career. He accuses the industry of destroying shipwrecks to get at the gold and even breaking historically significant artifacts in the process.
That’s why most of the world’s prestigious museums, like the Smithsonian, reject items that were discovered by treasure hunters, according to Johnston.
“Treasure hunters don’t want to conserve things. It takes too long, and it costs too much money to do it. And so they just want to raise, rinse and retail the findings,” Johnston said.
When pressed by ABC News on that criticism, Mel Fisher’s pointed to its efforts to preserve the artifacts it recovers. The company even showcases some artifacts in a private museum.
Onboard The Dare, Trotta showed how items were kept in salt water in a bucket. Each item was individually numbered and tagged and the company says they will eventually be taken to their lab to be cleaned and catalogued.
But several professional archaeologists who spoke to ABC News balked at that explanation. They’re worried the company’s methods of digging through the sand are too aggressive and said the very act of taking an artifact out of the water, without first meticulously studying the area it came from, ruins its historical value.
Many archeologists point to guidance from UNESCO, the United Nations agency charged with the preservation of historic landmarks, that deemed treasure hunting a threat to underwater cultural heritage in a landmark convention two decades ago. Today, UNESCO advises that historical artifacts should not be removed from shipwrecks without professional archeologists.
That criticism hasn’t scared off Jeff Hummel, whose Seattle-based crew represents a new breed of underwater fortune seekers. A former software engineer, Hummel’s organization, the Northwest Shipwreck Alliance, also has investors and is looking for a heap of gold, too.
The group used custom submersible robots to locate the wreck of the S.S. Pacific, which sank in the 1870s, sending millions of gold rush riches to the ocean floor off Washington state.
Inside the shipwreck are perfectly preserved artifacts, Hummel claims. He, too, wants to put them in a museum and says he’s working with archeologists on his team to determine how any artifacts should be removed. The gold is just a way to pay the bills, he says.
But some federal authorities don’t see it that way.
There’s been a steady stream of red tape Hummel says he’s had to cut through – designed, he believes, to put a stranglehold around new treasure-hunting operations.
“Look at where our artifacts are going to be treated. Look how the collections are being treated now. We are absolutely not pirates,” Hummel said.
Mel Fisher’s is also used to fighting city hall. Forty years ago, its namesake, Mel Fisher himself, went all the way to the Supreme Court, fighting against the state of Florida for ownership of the Atocha wreck and its riches. He won, and they’ve been pulling up treasure ever since.
But nowadays, every dive is under scrutiny like never before, Randolph says.
Even though the company has drawn criticism, Randolph says, “I think there’s more that actually really enjoy what we do, because it’s exciting. It’s the fun, romance and adventure. As Mel would say, you know, the American dream.”
Johnston, on the other hand, believes the industry will gradually diminish as nations restrict treasure recovery.
But back onboard The Dare, there’s no sign its crew will be stopping the search for the mother lode anytime soon.
When Trotta’s divers return to the surface from their first dive of the day, there’s a sense of disappointment – no gold this time, just a few pieces of coral. Onto the next dive.
