(HOUSTON) — Over two million Houston residents are under a water boil notice after a power outage Sunday affected a water treatment plant, officials said.
The water pressure dropped below the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s required minimum of 20 PSI during a power outage at the East Water Purification Plant around 10:30 a.m. local time, according to the agency. Houston schools were closed Monday because of the order.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said the water was safe and that the boil order was done to comply with regulations. He tweeted that the city submitted its plan to TCEQ to lift the notice Sunday night.
“Water samples will subsequently follow and hopefully we will get the all clear from TCEQ. The City has to wait 24 hours from that point before the boil water notice is suspended. The earliest would be tomorrow night or very early Tuesday morning,” Turner tweeted Sunday night.
He is scheduled to update the situation at a news conference at 10:30 a.m. local time Monday.
Yvonne Williams Forrest, Houston’s water director, told ABC affiliate KTRK-TV Sunday night that the order the city’s pressure system was never at zero, just below the regulatory limit. That pressure is important because it prevents anything from infiltrating the water system, she said.
“There are a number of steps in the regulatory process before you issue a boil water notice and we didn’t want to unnecessarily alert the city if we did not have to issue a boil water notice,” she told KTRK.
(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — Alleged Buffalo supermarket shooter Payton Gendron pleaded guilty to state charges stemming from the Tops supermarket shooting in a predominantly Black neighborhood of East Buffalo.
Gendron pleaded guilty to 15 charges in all, including domestic terrorism motivated by hate, murder and attempted murder. He still faces more than two dozen federal charges, some of which carry the possibility of the death penalty.
Gendron fatally shot 10 Black people at a Tops supermarket “because of the perceived race and/or color” of the victims, according to the indictment by the Erie County district attorney.
Gendron is charged with carrying out a “domestic act of terrorism motivated by hate” along with 10 counts of murder in the first degree, 10 counts of murder in the second degree as a hate crime, three counts of attempted murder as a hate crime and one count of criminal possession of a weapon.
He is the first to be charged with domestic terrorism motivated by hate in New York under a 2020 statute, which was implemented following an El Paso, Texas, shooting targeting Latinos in 2019.
“That charge only has one sentence if the defendant is found guilty of that charge: life in prison without parole,” Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said at the time the indictment was unsealed.
He has been charged by federal prosecutors with a total of 26 counts of committing a hate crime resulting in death and a hate crime involving bodily injury. He’s also charged with using a firearm to commit murder during a crime of violence. In July, Gendron’s public defender entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
White supremacist rhetoric online, including the promotion of racist conspiracy theories, has been linked to Gendron and his alleged motive behind the Buffalo attack, ABC News has previously reported. Gendron traveled from his home near Binghamton, New York, to carry out the shooting, according to officials.
The families of Buffalo victims are expected to speak following the hearing.
(MOSCOW, Idaho) — Authorities are receiving an influx of 911 calls from the fearful University of Idaho community weeks after four students were stabbed to death in an off-campus house.
The students — Ethan Chapin, 20; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21 — were killed in the early hours of Nov. 13. No arrests have been made.
Kernodle, Mogen and Goncalves were roommates. Chapin was sleeping over with Kernodle, his girlfriend.
Moscow police said Sunday that, since the killings, they’ve received 78 “unusual circumstances” calls and 36 welfare check requests — up from 70 calls and 18 requests, respectively, for all of October.
Police, who have been asking the community for help, also noted that residents have uploaded over 488 digital media submissions to the case’s FBI page.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little has directed up to $1 million in emergency funds for the ongoing investigation, according to police.
Idaho State Police spokesman Aaron Snell told ABC News on Sunday that concerns from the victims’ families over the case going cold are “legitimate,” but he added, “our concern is a successful prosecution.”
“Justice is the end result — we have to do what we are doing [out of public view],” Snell said.
Two other roommates were in the house at the time of the murders and survived, appearing to have slept through the crimes, according to police. The surviving roommates are not considered suspects, police said.
As students return to campus following the Thanksgiving break, the university is gearing up for a candlelight vigil for the four victims, set for Wednesday.
Anyone with information can upload digital media to fbi.gov/moscowidaho or contact the tip line at tipline@ci.moscow.id.us or 208-883-7180.
(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — Alleged Buffalo supermarket shooter Payton Gendron is expected to plead guilty to state charges Monday morning.
Gendron fatally shot 10 Black people at a Tops supermarket in a predominantly Black community “because of the perceived race and/or color” of the victims, according to the indictment by the Erie County district attorney.
Gendron is charged with carrying out a “domestic act of terrorism motivated by hate” along with 10 counts of murder in the first degree, 10 counts of murder in the second degree as a hate crime, three counts of attempted murder as a hate crime and one count of criminal possession of a weapon.
He is the first to be charged with domestic terrorism motivated by hate in New York under a 2020 statute, which was implemented following an El Paso, Texas, shooting targeting Latinos in 2019.
“That charge only has one sentence if the defendant is found guilty of that charge: life in prison without parole,” Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said at the time the indictment was unsealed.
He has been charged by federal prosecutors with a total of 26 counts of committing a hate crime resulting in death and a hate crime involving bodily injury. He’s also charged with using a firearm to commit murder during a crime of violence. In July, Gendron’s public defender entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
White supremacist rhetoric online, including the promotion of racist conspiracy theories, has been linked to Gendron and his alleged motive behind the Buffalo attack, ABC News has previously reported.
The families of Buffalo victims are expected to speak following the hearing.
(MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md.) — Two people have been rescued from a small private plane after it struck and got lodged in a high-tension power line tower in Montgomery County, Maryland.
Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service Chief Scott Goldstein confirmed both the pilot and passenger were transported to local area trauma centers with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
“There’s some hypothermia issues,” Goldstein said. “They’ve been out there very anxious, but very happy to be down. They were communicating with us the entire time.”
The plane struck the tower at about 5:30 Sunday evening, Goldstein said.
However, rescue work was being delayed until the plane could be secured to the tower and the tower was confirmed to be grounded, according to Goldstein.
The plane, which was stuck about 100 feet off the ground, is “not going to be stable until it’s chained and strapped in place,” said Goldstein, adding that heavy fog in the area could make the task difficult.
About 85,000 Montgomery County customers were without power as a result of the crash, officials with the local power company said on Twitter.
Goldstein said that most of the power in the county has been restored by Pepco.
FAA officials said the plane had departed from Westchester County Airport in White Plains, New York. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board said they will investigate the incident.
Montgomery County Public Schools announced earlier that MCPS schools and offices will be closed Monday, Nov. 28 “due to a widespread power outage and its impact on safety and school operations.” There has been no update since most of the power has been restored.
(BENSALEM, Penn.) — A Pennsylvania teen has been charged with murder after he allegedly confessed over Instagram to fatally shooting another child, according to police.
The Bensalem Police Department received a 911 call Friday afternoon about a possible homicide, with the caller detailing an Instagram video chat she received from a friend, according to a police press release.
In the chat, the teen stated that he “had just killed someone” before flipping the camera around and showing the legs and feet of someone covered in blood, police said. He then asked for assistance with disposing the body, according to police.
The caller told police that the teen who sent the message lived at the Top of the Ridge trailer park in Bensalem, the release states. When officers arrived, the teen ran out of the back of a trailer, and he was later arrested about a mile away on Newport Mews Drive and Groton Drive, police said.
Officers who entered the trailer observed a girl on the floor of the bathroom dead from an apparent gunshot wound, according to authorities. There were also “substantial steps” taken to clean up the crime scene, investigators said.
The victim’s identity and age have not been released, other than that she is a juvenile.
The suspect, 16-year-old Joshua Cooper, is being charged as an adult for criminal homicide, possessing instruments of crime and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, police said.
He attended a preliminary arraignment Friday night where he was denied bail, online court records show. It is unclear whether he entered a plea.
Cooper is being held at the Edison Juvenile Detention Center, police said. His arraignment has been scheduled for Dec. 7, according to online records.
An attorney for the teen was not listed on online court records. Instagram did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Investigators are asking anyone with more information on the case to call the Bensalem Police Department.
(COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.) — One of the two men credited as heroes for stopping the Colorado Springs gunman as he searched for more victims, has spoken from his hospital bed.
U.S. Navy Petty Officer, Second Class, Thomas James helped U.S. Army veteran Richard Fierro subdue the alleged gunman, 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, after Aldrich stormed LGBTQ nightclub Club Q in Colorado Springs on Nov. 19. The mass shooting claimed the lives of five people and injured more than a dozen, according to law enforcement.
After Fierro confronted Aldrich, yanking him from behind and causing him to fall, James aided in fighting with Aldrich to make sure he could not reach the firearms he had dropped, Fierro told ABC News last week.
“At that moment, me, Thomas, … we’re all trying to keep everybody alive,” Fierro said. “… everybody was a hero that day.”
As of Sunday, James was still recovering from his injures at the Centura Penrose Hospital in stable condition.
In a statement released from the hospital, James said during the chaos of the shooting he “simply wanted to save the family I found.”
“If I had my way, I would shield everyone I could from the nonsensical acts of hate in the world, but I am only one person,” he said.
James continued, saying that he and his community have come “a long way from Stonewall,” the New York City bar that was the site of the 1969 riots that launched the Gay Rights Movement.
“Bullies aren’t invincible,” James said.
James said his thoughts are with those who were killed and injured at Club Q, adding that “pain and loss have been all too common these past few years.”
“To the youth I say be brave,” he said. “Your family is out there. You are loved and valued. So when you come out of the closet, come out swinging.”
One of the club’s regulars who was injured in the shooting, Ed Sanders, told ABC News from his hospital bed last week that he looks forward to returning to the club after he recovers, describing it as a place he called home for a long time.
Another club regular who was near the DJ booth when he heard the gunshots and subsequent screams, told ABC News that Club Q is a “safe space” for the LGBTQ community.
“Coming here, this is one of the first places that I felt accepted to be who I am,” he said. “…It’s supposed to be a safe space and the community shouldn’t have to go through something like this.”
(ATLANTA) — One person is dead and five others are injured after a shooting that took place near Atlantic Station on Saturday evening in Atlanta, the Atlanta Police Department said.
One male was pronounced deceased on the scene and five other victims were shot and later transported to nearby hospitals, Atlanta Police Lt. Germain Dearlove said in a press conference Saturday night. The extent of their conditions was not specified.
A group of people were escorted off of Atlantic Station property by off-duty Atlanta police officers and station personnel at about 8 p.m., police said. They were juveniles, said Dearlove, and were removed for “unruly behavior” along with curfew violations. Police believe that the victims were between the ages of 15 and 21.
Once the group was escorted off the property, a dispute occurred near Atlantic Station, which led to the shooting, said Dearlove. The reason for the dispute is currently under investigation.
Atlantic Station is a major retail and recreation area in midtown Atlanta and includes a sprawling mixed-use development. The neighborhood has seen periodic incidents of gun violence.
Police are looking to identify the parties involved, as preliminary information suggests this dispute was between two groups, with two possible shooters, said Dearlove.
Authorities are not sure how many shots were fired at this time.
(UPPER MARLBORO, Md.) — The Jackson Family Rodeo Crew is an Upper Marlboro, Maryland, family of seven epitomizing the rodeo lifestyle and legacy of Black cowboys in the United States.Parents Corey and Robyn Jackson have dedicated themselves to supporting their five kids, four of whom compete, in living that lifestyle to the fullest.
Corey Jackson told “Good Morning America” that from the time he was a young child in his hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, he had always wanted to be a cowboy.
“It’s really nostalgic, you know, to think back on that time because it was my grandfather and I. He is who got me started watching Westerns [on] Saturday mornings,” he said. “So just from that little, young age, you know, seeing just the mystique of the cowboy you know, riding the Western Range, what have you, I just fell in love with it.”
In some ways, Corey Jackson’s childhood dreams were Robyn Jackson’s norm.
“It’s funny, Corey wanted to be a cowboy — I thought it was normal,” Robyn Jackson said of her generations-long family history in the field that made growing up around horses a reality.
“On my dad’s side, back to the Reconstruction Era, [in] my family, the men were sharecroppers. And so to be a sharecropper, you needed help, and the help came by way of an animal — horse, mule — and they became very skilled in training those horses for work purposes,” she said. “Not until my dad did that skill kind of change into a pleasure activity.”
The pair would eventually meet and hit it off rather fittingly at the famous Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo — which “celebrates and honor Black Cowboys and Cowgirls and their contributions to building the west,” according to its official website — going on to raise their fifth generation wrangler children Dylan, 9, Nic, 14, twins Reagan and Ryan, 12, and Robert,15, on the land that Robyn Jackson’s father Robert Harper purchased and developed, and training in their home arena that he built decades ago.
“It almost brings tears to my eyes because I don’t think we ever, you know, we just never imagined. You don’t know what your future holds,” Robyn Jackson said. “I don’t know that I had ever planned to have little cowboys and cowgirls but that is what has happened. And I’m so thankful because all the decisions that my dad made early on, we had no idea how that was going to impact our lives today.”
As for the kids, when they’re not at a competition or in daily practice with their dad, a former Division I college football player and football coach, or in school with their educator mom, Dylan, Reagan, Ryan and Nic also like to hunt, fish, play various instruments, travel and bake. Though Robert, who has cerebral palsy, does not compete, horses have been and continue to be a big part of his life, as he rides, bonds with the family’s animals, and eagerly attends his sibling’s competitions, including the Bullride Mania Finals Amateur Championship where Nic took the win earlier this month.
Nic was only 7 years old when he got on his first bull. At 13, he was named the 2020 Junior World Bull Riding Champion, making him the first ever in the Northeast to win. With goals of going pro, that was just the beginning for the now-14-year-old, who hopes to take home the title again at this year’s Junior World Finals in December.
“It’s a passion, you know, it’s a lifestyle. It’s just not something that we do. It goes … so far deep, deeper than just the competition,” Corey Jackson told “GMA,” adding that loving and taking care of the land and animals they cultivate is an integral part of their routine. “So when we’re not rodeoing, we’re talking about rodeo, we’re watching rodeo … we’re watching videos of the kids’ performances.”
“Now I can separate from it a little more,” Robyn Jackson added. “But I think the gist of it is we can do just about anything as a family. Whatever the activity is, we’re able to do it as one unit, and I really am thankful for that.”
Raphael Louis Hipos and Ebony Peeples contributed to this report.
(SALT LAKE CITY) — A Utah man is facing charges after allegedly bringing a straight edge razor blade on a flight and holding it near a passenger’s throat.
The incident comes just weeks after a man brought two box cutters through security and onto a Frontier Airlines flight en route to Tampa.
Merrill Darrell Fackrell, 41, allegedly boarded a JetBlue flight Monday at JFK Airport in New York en route to Salt Lake City. During the flight, Fackrell was in the window seat next to a woman, when he allegedly placed his hand in front of her screen and told her to pause her movie, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Utah. The woman then realized Fackrell was holding what appeared to her as a knife, “inches from her skin at her throat/neck area,” the release said.
The woman’s husband then went to the front of the plane to get assistance from a flight attendant. The woman lunged for the aisle to escape and Fackrell reached and tried to stop her by grabbing her shoulder, according to the release.
The object was secured and later identified as a wood-handled straight edge razor with a one-to-two-inch blade.
In a statement to ABC News, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said it “take[s] our responsibility to secure the skies for the traveling public very seriously.” The agency said it’s introducing new X-ray technology at more airports to improve the capability to detect items such as the one used in this incident.
Fackrell was later charged with Carrying a Weapon on an Aircraft and Assault with a Dangerous Weapon in the Special Aircraft Jurisdiction of the United States.
“Crewmembers responded by working to de-escalate the situation and notified law enforcement who met the flight in Salt Lake City,” JetBlue said in a statement Friday. “The safety of our customers and crewmembers is JetBlue’s first priority, and we will support law enforcement during their investigation.”
