(WASHINGTON) — The Navy is investigating how two of its warships on Tuesday ended up on a collision course in a narrow channel of California’s San Diego Bay.
The vessels came within 35 yards of each other on Tuesday morning, according to a Navy official, but were able to avert disaster through some last-minute maneuvering.
“USS Momsen and USS Harpers Ferry were transiting opposite directions in the San Diego Bay in close vicinity, Nov. 29. Both ships maneuvered to safety,” U.S. 3rd Fleet spokesman Lt. Samuel Boyle told ABC News in a statement.
Neither was damaged and no sailors were hurt as a result of the evasive actions.
The incident occurred in a somewhat narrow part of the channel that requires constant turns, according to the Navy official. The commanders of both ships agreed in advance to traverse the channel simultaneously and pass by in opposite directions. But although the ships were in communication from the beginning, they ended up sailing head-on at each other.
A second Navy official confirmed the authenticity of a video posted on Twitter that shows the near miss, and includes audio of the two ships communicating to avoid collision.
In the video, transmission from the Momsen’s bridge to Harpers Ferry can be heard: “We are coming to port to avoid you.”
The word “port” is used here in the nautical sense, meaning the Momsen intended to veer left, as it can be seen doing in the video.
The Harpers Ferry responded in kind: “We are coming to port to avoid you as well.”
The Harpers Ferry is a 610-foot-long amphibious ship that weights more than twice as much as the Momsen destroyer vessel, which is why it appears slower to turn in the video.
It was not a viable option for either ship to simply stop and let the other pass, because without propulsion they would be left at the mercy of the currents and wind, and would not be able to keep stable and on course, according to the first official. But while it is not uncommon for ships to pass by in opposite directions in the channel, they came closer than they should have in this case, the official added.
“We were watching it and … the [surface warfare officers] around here were like, ‘Phew, that was close!'” the second Navy official said. “But the consensus here is like, wow, they did a really good job of talking to one another and getting out of a tough situation.”
The Navy is now working to find out how the two ships got into that tough situation in the first place, and who might have been responsible.
San Diego Bay is home to one of the largest Navy bases in the U.S., which serves as the main port for more than 50 ships and tens of thousands of personnel.
ABC News’ Luis Martinez contributed to this report.
(MOSCOW, Idaho) — From motive, to how two roommates survived, many questions remain unanswered in the mysterious murders of four University of Idaho students.
“Everyone wants answers… we want to give those answers as soon as we can,” Moscow Police Chief James Fry told ABC News on Wednesday, adding that some details must be withheld to protect the investigation.
Here’s what we know and what’s still unclear:
The crime
Kaylee Goncalves, 21, her roommate and lifelong best friend, Madison Mogen, 21, another roommate Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kernodle’s boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20, were stabbed to death in the girls’ off-campus house in the early hours of Nov. 13.
No suspects have been identified.
The murder weapon — which police believe was a fixed-blade knife — is still missing.
Were killings targeted?
Chief Fry told ABC News on Wednesday that police “believe this is a targeted attack,” but he wouldn’t reveal why police think that. Fry would not say if a person or the house was a target.
But the Moscow Police Department contradicted that in a statement released just hours later.
The statement said: “The Latah County Prosecutor’s Office stated the suspect(s) specifically looked at this residence, and that one or more of the occupants were undoubtedly targeted. We have spoken with the Latah County Prosecutor’s Office and identified this was a miscommunication. Detectives do not currently know if the residence or any occupants were specifically targeted but continue to investigate.”
As to whether the killings were targeted, former FBI agent and ABC News contributor Brad Garrett said Thursday, “I don’t think they [law enforcement] really know. I think they have theories, and maybe they’re good theories about what happened. … It certainly feels like, without knowing of course, that they don’t know what they have.”
Garrett isn’t involved in the investigation.
This wasn’t the first miscommunication by local leaders.
Initially after the shocking murders, Moscow police said they believed there was “no imminent threat to the community,” but later walked that back. Fry told ABC News Wednesday, “I own the messaging problem at the very beginning. We should’ve done a little better than that. … we needed to correct that.”
Garrett said high-profile cases put a lot of pressure on officials and it’s “not uncommon” to see uncoordinated responses among the different agencies.
Profile of the killer
Police have not released a motive or potential profile of the killer.
Garrett said his guess is the attacker “really wanted to kill all four of them — motive unknown and relationship to the victims unknown.”
“Why would you go to the trouble to kill four people if in fact you’re upset, angry or have revenge against one of them?” he said.
While Garrett doesn’t know the motive, he said he believes the killer “likes to do these type of things and maybe has done it before.”
He thinks the suspect is probably not in their late teens or early 20s because it’s unlikely they could “methodically think through” four murders.
“Because of the time it would take, the energy it would take, and the focus that would take, it’s a lot to ask of an 18-year-old,” he said.
The surviving roommates
Two other roommates were in the house at the time and survived, likely sleeping through the attacks, according to police. The roommates are not considered suspects, police said.
The murders likely took place around 3 a.m. or 4 a.m., according to officials. In the morning, the two roommates called friends over because they thought one of the victims on the second floor had passed out and wasn’t waking up, police said.
At 11:58 a.m., a 911 call from one of the roommate’s phones requested help for an unconscious person, police said. The 911 caller’s identity has not been released but police said “multiple people talked with the 911 dispatcher.”
Responding officers found the four victims on the second and third floors, police said.
Police said they do not believe anyone at the house at the time of the 911 call was involved.
As to how the surviving roommates could have slept through the murders, Garrett said the killer had the advantage of surprise, since the victims were likely asleep when he approached them. And the four victims “may have been killed in such a way it was difficult for them to scream,” he said.
Police said all four victims were stabbed multiple times and were probably asleep when attacked.
Community must help ‘get this person off the street’
As local, state and federal agencies continue to investigate, Garrett recommends they examine the “existing leads and go back over them regularly to see what you have missed.”
“You then also have to expand this case — and it sounds like they’ve done some of this — because if you’re dealing with a person who is a serial offender, then he has committed some version of this before,” Garrett said. “Are there other stabbings of a similar nature? Maybe in a house at night?”
Garrett added, “You also have to keep the case in the public’s eye, because you’re always looking for new leads” and want to encourage people to submit tips.
Sometimes community members are reluctant to come forward with information “because they’ve had bad experiences with police or they’re not sure what they know is really relevant,” Garrett said.
“I would push the heinous nature of this crime,” Garrett said, and stress that police need the community’s help to “get this person off the street.”
Students on edge
The University of Idaho community is on edge in the wake of the slayings, and the police department said it’s received an influx of 911 calls.
Garrett said he would tell concerned students: “What happened on your campus is extremely rare. The odds of you being in harm’s way is, relatively speaking, low.”
But he urges them to stay aware of their surroundings.
“Don’t walk alone,” he said. “Super-secure everything: the windows, the doors.”
The police chief promised to ABC News on Wednesday that the department won’t allow the case to go cold.
“We’re going to work continuously. And we’re going to provide as many answers as we can, and we’re going to do the best job we can,” he said.
Police urge anyone with information to upload digital media to fbi.gov/moscowidaho or contact the tip line at tipline@ci.moscow.id.us or 208-883-7180.
(NEW YORK) — The so-called culture wars are deeply affecting schools across the country, according to a new UCLA report that surveyed principals from across the country.
The report, released Wednesday, showed a vast majority of principles reporting “substantial and growing political conflict” that’s making it harder to combat misinformation and interfering with productive discussions in classrooms.
Over the last year, a conservative-led effort to target topics on race, oppression and the LGBTQ community have prompted state legislators and some school boards across the country to adopt policies that limit or restrict dialogue or curriculum on certain identities.
Principals in “Purple” districts, or politically divided communities, often faced more challenges than others, according to the survey.
The report found that these communities have been targeted by “small groups of vocal parents and community members” who are connected to conservative national organizations to “aggressively” challenge or threaten educators on such topics.
According to one principal in Minnesota who was quoted in the report: “My superintendent told me in no uncertain terms that I could not address issues of race and bias etc. with students or staff this year. He told me, ‘This is not the time or the place to do this here. You have to remember you are in the heart of Trump country and you’re just going to start a big mess if you start talking about that stuff.'”
Almost two-thirds or 64% of principals said parents and community members have challenged the information or media sources used by teachers in their school.
Nearly half of all principals – and 63% of principals in Purple communities – said parents or community members “sought to limit or challenge …teaching and learning about issues of race and racism.”
Between 2018 and 2022, heightened community-based contention over teachers’ use of media sources and information grew almost three-fold in Purple districts from 12% to 35%, the survey found.
In Purple communities, almost a quarter (23%) of principals reported their school board or district leaders took action on limiting teaching and learning about race and racism.
Nearly half of all principals reported efforts to challenge LGBTQ+ rights in the 2021–2022 school year. In Purple communities, principals were nearly twice as likely to say such attacks occurred multiple times than in Red or Blue communities.
According to the report, the communities in which principals reported high rates of hostility and disrespect towards LGBTQ+ youth were also the communities in which principals reported fewer efforts to address these concerns.
Principals say these new policies have not only deeply affected the actual content being delivered in the classroom but also the way students responded to one another.
Roughly 69% of principals said students made derogatory remarks to liberal or conservative classmates, a problem that was much more likely to occur repeatedly in Purple communities.
Principals at schools in Purple communities were also more likely than Red and Blue districts to report high levels of political conflict.
One Iowa principal said: “I had to come down and help the teacher, like a veteran teacher, who’s never had problems having discussions. And the kids were just so stuck in their trenches, they weren’t willing to be open to even listen to the other side.”
(NEW YORK) — The Manhattan district attorney’s office failed to prove former President Donald Trump’s namesake real estate firm is guilty of tax fraud, a defense attorney insisted Thursday during closing statements in the criminal tax fraud trial of the Trump Organization.
Two entities of the Trump Organization — the Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corporation — are on trial for paying the personal expenses of some executives without reporting them as income and for compensating them as independent contractors instead of full-time employees.
In her closing statement, defense attorney Susan Necheles pinned the scheme on Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer who pleaded guilty in August to a 15-count indictment, and said the company is not liable for his criminal conduct.
“The prosecution’s case rests on one thing: trying to convince you, the jurors, that Mr. Weisselberg’s actions were done in behalf of the company,” Necheles said. “They were not. They were done solely to benefit himself. And that is the critical issue in this case.”
The longtime CFO testified at trial that he reduced his reported salary by the total amount of the personal expenses that the company covered, and that the company benefitted by paying less in payroll taxes. He also testified that his primary motive was greed.
Weisselberg “testified that Allen Weisselberg committed these crimes solely to benefit himself — solely to benefit himself,” Necheles said. “In other words, no intent to benefit the corporation.”
“This case is about greed. But only the greed of Allen Weisselberg,” said defense attorney Michael van der Veen, who represents the Trump Payroll Corporation. “There’s not any dispute about what Allen Weisselberg did. The real question is, ‘Who did he do it in behalf of?'”
Van der Veen suggested that the real crime was not the company’s decision to pay Weisselberg’s rent, the lease on his Mercedes Benz, or his grandchildren’s school tuition — but Weisselberg’s failure to report those perks on his income taxes. The attorney questioned why the Manhattan district attorney’s office charged the company.
“They wanted something with the Trumps attached to it,” van der Veen said, drawing an objection from prosecutor Josh Steinglass that the judge overruled.
The defense also tried to convince the jury the Trump Organization’s outside accountant, Donald Bender of Mazars USA, should be blamed for failing to flag the company to fraud or other criminal conduct.
“Bender never told the owner of the Trump Corporation, President Trump, that there was anything wrong,” defense attorney Susan Necheles said. “There can be no claim that President Trump had any knowledge or belief that the fringe benefits were illegal.”
The defense prepared a scorecard for the jury that listed elements of the scheme and boxes to check “yes” or “no” regarding whether there was an intent to benefit the Trump Organization. Necheles paired it with transcripts of select testimony in which witnesses said the sole beneficiary was Weisselberg.
But some of the transcript pages displayed for the jury included answers to questions that had been successfully objected to, which caused a delay while the pages were reviewed and prosecutors sought corrections.
“It’s your responsibility to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” Judge Juan Merchan told the defense. “I don’t fault the People for being upset.”
The outcome of the case could turn on the vagaries and nuances of a part of New York criminal law that even the presiding judge has called “confusing.” Judge Juan Merchan said Wednesday he would allow defense attorneys to argue in their closing statements that prosecutors failed to show Weisselberg acted “in behalf of” the company.
The confusing part, the judge said, is that the New York state legislators who drafted the relevant statute did not define exactly what “in behalf of” means in that context.
The judge said he would not allow the defense to “overstate what that intent was.”
Prosecutor Josh Steinglass said he planned to tell the jury in his closing statement that Weisselberg qualifies as a “high managerial agent” of the company and that he committed his crimes while in his official capacity in a manner that benefitted the company.
“It was understood that by having less payroll you’d have less payroll taxes,” Weisselberg acknowledged on the stand.
The longtime CFO, who agreed to testify as part of a plea deal with prosecutors, said his primary goal in arranging the perks was to “save pretax dollars.”
If convicted, the company faces fines of up to $1.7 million. Potentially more significant could be collateral consequences if banks call in loans or partners cancel contracts.
The trial also revealed that Trump reported nearly $1 billion in operating losses over a two-year period about a decade ago, spilling into public view tax information that the former president had tried repeatedly to keep private.
(ORLANDO, Fla.) — Joel Greenberg, a former Florida tax collector who sources say agreed to cooperate in the federal probe into his one-time close associate, Rep. Matt Gaetz, was sentenced Thursday to 11 years in prison after pleading guilty to crimes ranging from wire fraud to sex trafficking a minor.
Greenberg pleaded guilty last May to six of the 33 federal charges he was facing, including charges of stalking, identity theft, wire fraud, and conspiracy to bribe a public official, as well as one charge of sex trafficking.
The case grabbed national attention in the spring of 2021 after news broke that the investigation into Greenberg, a Seminole County tax collector, had, according to multiple sources, erupted into a sprawling federal probe that included whether Gaetz, his close friend, had had sex with a minor who he met through Greenberg.
Gaetz has long maintained his innocence and has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
In September of this year, The Washington Post reported that career prosecutors had recommended against charging the Florida congressman with sex trafficking. During a subsequent interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Gaetz said he didn’t know any more about the case than what’s been in the media, adding that “I continue to proclaim my innocence.”
Multiple sources familiar with the probe told ABC News that the investigation into Gaetz has stalled, with federal investigators having concerns regarding multiple key witnesses in the case, including Greenberg — as well as specifics in the case that could make a conviction difficult for prosecutors.
Ahead of Thursday’s sentencing, Greenberg’s attorney, Fritz Scheller, issued a veiled criticism of the Justice Department’s inaction against other individuals whom his client has implicated as part of his cooperation.
“If the Government is so concerned with general deterrence, then why hasn’t it prosecuted the other individuals, including public figures, who were also involved in Greenberg’s offenses?” Schiller wrote in a memo filed ahead of his client’s sentencing. “Perhaps the DOJ are master strategists far beyond the capabilities of the undersigned. Or perhaps the DOJ is like Nero fiddling away as Rome burns.”
Greenberg — who served as Seminole County tax collector for just over three years — was initially charged in 2020 with over 30 counts that included defrauding the Seminole County Tax Office out of hundreds of thousands of dollars through schemes ranging from buying sports memorabilia and cryptocurrency to paying women he met on a self-described “sugar daddy” website using the office credit card.
Greenberg reached a plea deal with investigators in May 2021 in which he agreed to provide “substantial assistance” to prosecutors as part of their ongoing investigation into Gaetz and others, according to sources familiar with the arrangement. The former tax collector provided investigators with years of Venmo and Cash App transactions and thousands of photos and videos, as well as access to personal social media accounts.
Greenberg’s cooperation led to probes of two dozen individuals, including eight people being investigated for sex crimes, seven for public cooperation, and 10 for election fraud, according to his attorney.
Four individuals have been indicted in part due to Greenberg’s cooperation, and Scheller said two additional new indictments related to crimes stemming from fraudulent COVID relief loans were expected in the coming months.
At a pre-sentencing hearing on Wednesday, both the prosecution and Greenberg’s defense attorneys recommended to U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell that Greenberg be sentenced to between 9.25 and 11 years in prison, per federal sentencing guidelines. But Presnell signaled Wednesday that he was considering a harsher sentence for Greenberg, citing concerns about stacking the multiple, wide-ranging charges together.
“We don’t have related crimes,” Presnell said, noting that “there is no precedent” for the range of crimes Greenberg pled guilty to committing.
(DELPHI, Ind.) — Evidence in the Delphi, Indiana, double murder case was unsealed by a county court on Tuesday, revealing key new details, including that suspect Richard Allen’s gun was linked to the crime scene.
But many questions still remain around the murders of Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14.
Here’s what we’ve learned and what remains unclear:
Allen places himself at the scene
Abby and Libby, best friends in the eighth grade, were on a hiking trail in rural Delphi when they were killed in February 2017.
Allen, a 50-year-old Delphi man, was arrested last month. He’s charged with two counts of murder and has entered a not guilty plea.
When interviewed by police in 2017, Allen said he was on the trail on the afternoon of the murders, according to the probable cause affidavit.
In an Oct. 13, 2022, interview, Allen told police he saw juvenile girls on the trails east of Freedom Bridge and said he went onto the Monon High Bridge, near where the girls were killed.
This year, Allen “again admitted” to police “that he was on the trail but denied knowing Victim 1 or Victim 2 and denied any involvement in their murders,” according to the probable cause affidavit.
Allen “has been consistent” in police interviews over the years, former FBI agent and ABC News contributor Brad Garrett said. “He put himself at the scene, on the bridge.”
But Garrett said he doesn’t understand how it took so long for an arrest.
“In a small town, in a place where there’s a small amount of traffic on this abandoned railroad bridge … your suspect pool is fairly small,” Garrett said, so police likely concentrated their investigation on Delphi and the surrounding communities.
Allen’s gun linked to crime scene
According to video recovered from one of the victim’s phones, Abby or Libby mentioned “gun” as a man approached them, the probable cause affidavit said.
A .40-caliber unspent round was found less than 2 feet away from one of the girls’ bodies, and that unspent round went through a gun that Allen owns, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Garrett explained that an “unspent bullet is one that has the casing and the projectile still together.” To get that, he said one of two things happens: 1.) Someone tries to fire the gun but it’s a faulty bullet and it doesn’t fire, or 2.) The gun jammed, which Garrett said is common.
During a search of Allen’s home on Oct. 13, 2022, officers found knives and guns, including a “Sig Sauer, Model P226, .40-caliber pistol,” the probable cause affidavit said.
Indiana State Police’s analysis of Allen’s gun “determined the unspent round located within two feet” of one of the victims “had been cycled through Richard M. Allen’s Sig Sauer Model P226,” the probable cause affidavit said.
“When asked about the unspent bullet, [Allen] did not have an explanation of why the bullet was found between” the girls’ bodies, the probable cause affidavit said.
When Allen voluntarily spoke to police on Oct. 26, 2022, he said he never allowed anyone to borrow that gun, which he said he owned since 2001, the document added.
Garrett said he doesn’t understand why it took police so many years to match an unspent round from the crime scene to a gun owned by a man who lives in Delphi.
Garrett said he hopes investigators went to all of the local gun stores to see their records of sales of .40-caliber-type weapons. Garrett said he’s solved homicide cases that way, because typically a perpetrator buys a gun legally near his or her home, he said.
While it’s unclear if police did go to gun stores, Garrett think it’s unlikely because there was no mention of a gun in the case until the probable cause document was released Tuesday.
How did the girls die?
Despite mention of a gun, it’s not clear if Abby or Libby died from gunshot wounds. Police still have not released their causes of death.
The probable cause affidavit did reveal that clothes belonging to the girls were found in a creek south of where their bodies were discovered.
“I’ve always been concerned about how these two youngsters died. The police have put a .40-caliber weapon into the case,” Garrett said. “You have this unspent shell casing near the victims’ bodies, but you also have things that are really troubling to me: [The girls] are in one place and their clothes are in another. … Unless he made them undress — which I guess is possible — was there some other weapon used?”
Investigators also cite a witness who saw Allen walking with “clothes that were muddy and bloody,” according to the probable cause affidavit.
According to Garrett, it’s unlikely Allen would be bloody if a gun was the only murder weapon, unless Allen handled the bodies in some manner.
Garrett said it’s possible that the gun jammed and the killer turned to another weapon.
Knives were also found at Allen’s home, according to the affidavit.
“Why would the police withhold [the cause of death]? The only thing I can think of is it was too gruesome, in their mind, to release,” Garrett said. “It seems like there is something more to it than just a gun.”
Police believe Allen is the man in suspect photo
Video from one of the victim’s phones shows a man on the trail wearing a dark jacket and jeans. An image taken from the video was released years ago as police asked for information to help them find the unknown suspect.
Investigators said in the probable cause affidavit that they believe Allen is the man seen on the video.
Allen told investigators on Oct. 13, 2022, that he wore jeans and a blue or black Carhartt jacket that day, according to the probable cause affidavit. Allen’s wife confirmed to police that he owns a blue Carhartt jacket, the document said.
Investigators also claim Allen forced Abby and Libby down the hill to the spot where they were killed, according to the document.
Allen’s lead defense attorney Brad Rozzi did not respond to a request for comment and fellow attorney Andrew Baldwin declined to comment.
Indiana State Police told ABC News on Tuesday: “Out of respect for the prosecutorial process, which is being led by the Carroll County prosecutor, we are refraining from making any public statements and are going to allow the probable cause affidavit to stand on its own. As this continues to be an active and ongoing investigation, the Indiana State Police will continue to provide any and all resources available to assist in the prosecution of this case.”
Carroll County Sheriff Tobe Leazenby said the information in the probable cause affidavit is “self-explanatory” and declined to comment further.
(NEW YORK) — Closing statements are beginning Thursday in the criminal tax fraud trial of former President Donald Trump’s family business, the outcome of which could turn on the vagaries and nuances of a part of New York criminal law that even the presiding judge has called “confusing.”
The Trump Organization is accused of partially compensating certain executives by paying their rent, covering their car lease payments, and providing other under-the-table perks never declared on their income taxes.
Prosecutors plan to remind the jury about the August guilty plea of Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer who testified that he arranged the illegal compensation scheme for his own benefit, concealed it from the company’s outside accountant, and ended it only when Trump’s ascendance to the presidency invited fresh scrutiny of the company’s business practices.
In a closing statement he estimated could run four or five hours, prosecutor Josh Steinglass said he will tell the jury that Weisselberg qualifies as a “high managerial agent” of the company and committed his crimes while in his official capacity.
But that alone may not be enough for a conviction. Judge Juan Merchan said he will allow defense attorneys to argue in their closing statements that prosecutors failed to show Weisselberg acted “in behalf of” the company.
“The people will need to demonstrate to some degree, to some extent, there was an intent to benefit the corporation,” Merchan said during a conference Tuesday in which he mulled how he will instruct the jury on the law.
The confusing part, the judge said, is that the New York state legislators who drafted the relevant statute did not define exactly what “in behalf of” means in that context.
The judge said he would not allow the defense to “overstate what that intent was.”
Weisselberg testified that he paid the Trump Organization back for the free perks by reducing his reported annual salary by the total value of the perks he received — but prosecutors pointed out that the move saved the company money by reducing its payroll taxes.
“It was understood that by having less payroll you’d have less payroll taxes,” Weisselberg acknowledged on the stand.
The longtime CFO, who agreed to testify as part of a plea deal with prosecutors, said his primary goal in arranging the perks was to “save pretax dollars.”
On cross-examination, defense attorney Susan Necheles accused Weisselberg of “desperately trying to help prosecutors come up with a benefit” to the company, so he could fulfill a requirement of his plea agreement that he testify to the satisfaction of the district attorney’s office.
(PUYALLUP, Wash.) — A barbershop owner has been gunned down and murdered in his own shop while he was in the middle of cutting an 8-year-old child’s hair.
The incident occurred at approximately 5:09 p.m. Wednesday in Puyallup, Washington — about 30 miles south of Seattle — when the Puyallup Police Department were dispatched to at JQ’s Barbershop after receiving reports that an employee at the store had been shot multiple times, according to a statement from the Puyallup Police Department.
“The business was occupied at the time of the incident by several individuals who are cooperating with the investigation,” authorities said. “These individuals informed responding officers that the suspect entered the business and went directly to the booth where the victim was cutting an eight-year-old child’s hair. Per the witnesses, the suspect entered the booth and shot the victim multiple times.”
The suspect — described as 5’8” tall and wearing “wearing black pants, a black jacket, and possibly a mask” — then fled the area on foot, police said.
While the child was not harmed in the shooting, the victim — identified as the 43-year-old owner of JQ’s Barbershop who lived in Tacoma, Washington — was pronounced dead at the scene.
“Upon their arrival, officers immediately requested the assistance of Central Pierce Fire and Rescue. Central Pierce Fire and Rescue arrived at the scene within moments of the request and determined that the individual was deceased,” the Puyallup Police Department said, confirming the fatality.
Officers immediately began conducting an extensive search of the area for the suspect aided by at least one police canine unit but were unable to locate him. The suspect is still at large.
The investigation is now being led by the Puyallup Police Department’s Investigative Services Unit and authorities are asking anybody who works or resides in the area of the shooting to check their security cameras for anyone matching the description of the suspect and to contact the Puyallup Police Department with any information regarding this case.
(FRANKLIN, Wisc.) — The arrest of a man accused of financially preying on women he meets through dating apps followed weeks of warnings from Wisconsin police to be on the lookout for the alleged perpetrator.
It also came as the man — 52-year-old Timothy Olson — was being sought for questioning in the recent death of a woman he was with at a South Milwaukee bar when she fell unconscious, dying days later, according to police. She was the third woman to have fallen unconscious while in his presence, according to police. Her death is under investigation and it is not known at this time if any crime has been committed, police said.
Olson was arrested in Franklin, Wisconsin, on Tuesday after allegedly committing three burglaries in the city, including one involving a 79-year-old woman who rebuffed him in a bar. A warrant was also out for his arrest on personal identity theft charges after he allegedly withdrew hundreds of dollars from a date’s bank account in September.
“We’re glad he’s off the street,” Franklin Police Chief Rick Oliva told reporters Tuesday. “There’s no doubt this person would continue to do what he did until caught.”
As multiple investigations involving Olson are underway, here’s what we know so far.
Sept. 2
A woman who resides in Mount Pleasant, a village in Racine County, goes on a date with Olson that allegedly ends with him stealing her debit card and withdrawing $800 from her account, according to a criminal complaint. The woman was only identified by her initials in the complaint.
The victim connected with Olson on Match.com, where he reportedly went by the name “Tim Wilson,” according to the complaint. She had met him in person once or twice before this date, during which they visit several establishments in Racine, Zion, Mount Pleasant and Caledonia, according to the complaint. At around 10 p.m. she asks him to drive because she is tired and “she soon blacked out,” according to the complaint. The woman doesn’t remember anything else from that night and believes she might have been drugged, according to the complaint.
When she wakes up, she discovers Olson had taken her car, according to the complaint. When she contacts him about it, he claims he can’t remember anything from the night and suggests she drugged him, according to the complaint. He allegedly tells her he left the car at an Applebee’s and she is able to retrieve it there.
At some point the victim also discovered four unauthorized withdrawals on her debit card totaling $800 from two gas stations, prompting her to contact law enforcement, according to the complaint. She initially thought her card was stolen from a bar that night, though surveillance footage allegedly captured Olson withdrawing the funds from ATMs at both locations — on Sept. 2 at around 10 p.m. and Sept. 3 at around 6 a.m., according to the complaint.
Detectives with the Mount Pleasant Police Department were unable to locate Olson’s Match.com profile and believe he deactivated the account, the complaint stated.
Nov. 9
A warrant is issued for Olson’s arrest in connection with the Sept. 2 incident, court records show. He faces multiple counts of felony personal ID theft for financial gain, according to the criminal complaint. The complaint notes that Olson goes by several aliases, including Timothy Wilson.
The Racine Police Department issues a safety alert regarding Olson to “caution the women in Racine County and get the public’s help in locating a male subject who has met women on dating apps and victimizes them, resulting in financial loss.”
“The Racine Police Department is looking to speak to Olson regarding a similar incident out of our jurisdiction,” the department said. A spokesperson later confirmed to ABC News they are unable to share any further details due to the ongoing investigation.
Nov. 17
Olson is with 55-year-old Kim Mikulance when she loses consciousness at Powers on 10th, a South Milwaukee bar, according to local police. Mikulance suffers an “unknown medical emergency” at the bar and is transported to a local hospital, police said.
Surveillance video shows Olson and Mikulance, a Cudahy resident who was a regular at Powers on 10th, sitting together at the bar before she loses consciousness, police said.
“I saw the look on her face and I saw she was holding a drink and she kind of started leaning back,” Sam Anderson, who was bartending at the time, told ABC Milwaukee affiliate WISN. “She was in here for maybe five minutes until she hit the ground.”
Nov. 21
The Racine Police Department updates its initial safety alert to say that Olson has been linked to “another woman in a bar who fell unconscious while in his presence” on Nov. 17 — the incident at Powers on 10th, a spokesperson for the department confirms.
This marks the third woman Racine police are aware of from other jurisdictions who “ended up unconscious while being in Timothy Olson’s presence,” the department said.
Nov. 22
Mikulance dies at the hospital, according to police. Her death is under investigation by the South Milwaukee Police Department, which is awaiting autopsy results. Olson is a person of interest in the investigation and is being sought for questioning, police say.
“At this time, the investigation is ongoing and it is not known if any crime has occurred, or if this incident is related to any other investigations by other jurisdictions,” the department said.
Nov. 23
Olson allegedly finds his next victim at a bar in Franklin, a city in Milwaukee County. He approaches a 79-year-old woman at an unidentified establishment and offers to buy her a drink, though she declines, according to Oliva. When she leaves, he allegedly approaches her in the parking lot with a gun, forces her into her car and holds her “for a number of hours,” Oliva said. They drive to at least one ATM and he allegedly takes her cards and withdraws cash, according to Oliva.
Nov. 28
Olson is spotted in Franklin at a business on South 27th Street at night, according to local police.
Nov. 29
Officers spot a man believed to be Olson pushing a bicycle on the 7000 block of South 35th Street in Franklin at around 10:15 a.m. local time, according to Oliva. As officers approach, he flees into a nearby condominium complex and after a “brief struggle” is tased and taken into custody, according to Oliva.
He faces charges of kidnapping, burglary and identity theft stemming from the Nov. 23 incident in Franklin, Oliva says. Prior to his arrest, Olson was allegedly involved in at least two burglaries in Franklin, according to Oliva.
While in custody of the Franklin Police Department, Olson is interviewed by detectives from the police departments in Franklin, Racine and South Milwaukee, according to Oliva.
Olson is being held by the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office, online records show. It is unclear if he has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
Police across the jurisdictions are continuing to work through evidence.
“These are active investigations,” Oliva said. “There’s a lot of evidence to be processed.”
(LOS ANGELES) — A judge declared a mistrial Wednesday in the Danny Masterson rape case after the jury was unable to reach a verdict.
The “That ’70s Show” star had pleaded not guilty to three counts of felony rape following accusations by three different women. The alleged attacks took place between 2001 and 2003.
On count 1, two jurors voted for guilty and 10 voted for not guilty. On count 2, four voted for guilty and eight for not guilty. Five voted for guilty and seven for not guilty on count 3.
The three alleged victims were members of the Church of Scientology, as was Masterson. All three women said they were initially hesitant to speak to law enforcement because they said church teachings discouraged reporting to police. The women eventually left the church.
Masterson, who was arrested in 2020, said each of the encounters was consensual. “That ’70s Show” was still on the air at the time of all three alleged rapes.
The Church of Scientology told ABC News in October that there’s “no policy prohibiting or discouraging members from reporting criminal conduct of Scientologists, or of anyone, to law enforcement. … Church policy explicitly demands Scientologists abide by all laws of the land.”
Masterson was facing 45 years to life in prison if convicted on all charges.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said it will now consider its “next steps as it relates to prosecuting this case.”
“While we are disappointed with the outcome in this trial, we thank the jurors for their service,” the office said in a statement. “We also want to give our heartfelt appreciation to the victims for bravely stepping forward and recounting their harrowing experiences.”
Two of the alleged victims are also involved in an ongoing civil case against Masterson and the Church of Scientology over the allegations.
“We are obviously disappointed that, at least for the time being, Daniel Masterson has evaded criminal accountability for his deplorable acts,” they said in a joint statement, adding that they are “collectively resolved to continue our fight for justice, including in civil court.”
Alison Anderson, their attorney in the civil case, said her clients “remain hopeful that Mr. Masterson will experience some criminal consequences for his vile conduct.”
“Our clients showed tremendous courage in testifying about such personal and horrendous acts in a very public forum and despite persistent harassment and intimidation,” Anderson said in a statement.
