(LAKELAND, Fla.) — A mass shooting in a Florida city has left 10 people wounded, the Lakeland Police Department announced on Monday.
According to police, two victims are critically injured and eight face non-life-threatening injuries.
“One is in surgery and the other is either in surgery or headed to surgery,” Lakeland Police Chief Sam Taylor said at a press conference on Monday.
Police responded to calls of a shooting at a location near Iowa Avenue North and Plum Street at 3:43 p.m.
All the victims were adult men between 20 and 35 years old, according to Taylor.
Lakeland Police did not identify any suspects, but believe that four alleged shooters fired guns on both sides of the street from their vehicle, which Taylor described as a four-door Nissan.
Police believe the shooting wasn’t random and the victims were targeted.
“We don’t believe there’s any reason that the public would need to be concerned right now,” Taylor said. “We think that the individuals in the car shot at and shot who they wanted to shoot.”
Authorities added that they located marijuana at the scene, hinting that marijuana was being sold at the time of the incident, but there is no information on whether the suspected sale of marijuana and the shooting are linked.
(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — Memphis police officer Preston Hemphill, a sixth officer involved in the arrest of Tyre Nichols, has been relieved of duty during an ongoing investigation, according to Memphis ABC affiliate WATN-TV.
Five officers, who are all Black, were fired and charged with second-degree murder in connection with Nichols’ beating at a Jan. 7 traffic stop. Nichols, 29, died three days later.
Hemphill, who is white, has not been fired or charged.
Hemphil’s attorney, Lee Gerald, said earlier that Hemphill was the third officer at Nichols’ initial traffic stop. The first body camera footage released was from Hemphill.
“As per departmental regulations Officer Hemphill activated his bodycam,” Gerald said earlier in a statement. “He was never present at the second scene. He is cooperating with officials in this investigation.”
(NEW YORK) — Texas is bracing for icy conditions that could cripple roads across major cities.
Winter storm warnings are in effect for Dallas and Austin where up to half an inch of ice accumulation is expected.
The freezing rain began Monday and may last through Wednesday morning.
The ice will stretch from Texas to Oklahoma City to Little Rock, Arkansas; Memphis, Tennessee; and most of Kentucky. An ice storm warning is in effect for Memphis.
The National Weather service is urging people to avoid driving if possible. Many Dallas-area schools are closed on Monday.
The ice could weigh down power lines and trees, so officials are urging Texans to be prepared for power outages and be mindful of the possibility of trees falling onto cars and homes.
A devastating ice storm in February 2021 crippled the state’s power grid and left millions without power or running water for days in freezing weather.
Meanwhile, the Midwest and Northwest are facing dangerously cold temperatures.
On Monday morning, the wind chill — what temperature it feels like — plunged to minus 20 degrees in Minneapolis and minus 33 degrees in Bismarck, North Dakota.
On Tuesday morning, the wind chill is forecast to reach minus 12 in Chicago and minus 25 in Minneapolis.
Despite this week’s bitter temperatures, this month still marks the warmest January on record for dozens of cities, including in the Upper Midwest and Northeast.
(MONTEREY PARK, Calif.) — The 26-year-old man who disarmed the Monterey Park, California, mass shooting suspect has been honored at a local Lunar New Year festival.
Brandon Tsay was greeted with cheers as he took the stage in Alhambra on Sunday to receive a medal of courage from the Alhambra Police Department.
“Most of the victims I knew personally,” Tsay told the crowd. “They’d always come by the dance studio and I considered them friends. They were some of the most caring people.”
“The start of the new year has been extremely difficult, but we have the rest of the year to spread compassion and build back our community,” he said.
Alhambra’s Lunar New Year festival included a remembrance ceremony for the Monterey Park victims.
Eleven people were killed and several others were injured on Jan. 21 when a gunman opened fire at a crowded Monterey Park dance studio. The suspect, 72-year-old Huu Can Tran, then fled and went to nearby Alhambra, where he allegedly entered a second dance hall and was disarmed by Tsay, according to police.
Tsay told ABC News’ Good Morning America last week that the gunman was “looking around the room … he started prepping the weapon and something came over me.”
“I realized I needed to get the weapon away from him … or else everybody would have died,” Tsay said.
“I lunged at him with both my hands, grabbed the weapon and we had a struggle,” he said. “He was hitting me across the face, bashing the back of my head.”
Tsay said once he wrestled the gun away, he pointed the weapon at the suspect and shouted at him to leave. When the suspect left, Tsay called police.
Tran was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot one day after the shooting, police said.
(NEW YORK) — New Yorkers won’t be walking in a winter wonderland any time soon. Multiple records are about to be broken in the Big Apple due to the lack of measurable snow this winter season.
The first of those records — the latest first snow ever recorded during a winter in New York City — was broken Monday with the city going snowless through Jan. 30 and counting. Previously, the latest New Yorkers had seen snowfall in the 154 years of record-keeping was when it took until Jan. 29, 1973, during the 1972-73 winter, according to the National Weather Service.
In addition, New York City is approaching its longest streak without measurable snow. The previous record is 332 days, which occurred from Jan. 19, 2020 to Dec. 15, 2020.
The last time there was measurable snow in New York City was on March 9 of last year, when .4 inches was measured in Central Park. If the city remains snow-free by Feb. 5, that record will be broken.
Current forecasts are not showing measurable snow in the city over the next week.
Storm systems moving into the Northeast last Wednesday brought along a chance of measurable snow in New York City, but the precipitation changed to rain after only a trace of snow had fallen, according to the NWS.
While brief flurries and snow showers have fallen occasionally this winter in New York City, accumulation of at least 0.1 inches must be recorded for it to be considered measurable snowfall by the NWS.
January has been relatively mild in New York City this year — normally a time when it should be racking up the coldest temperatures. As temperatures remain far above freezing, any precipitation will fall as rain.
Other major cities east of the Colorado Rockies are also experiencing record or near-record warmth. The least amount of snow in 16 years has fallen in Bridgeport, Connecticut, which is experiencing its warmest year on record.
Measurable snow has not fallen in Philadelphia, which is experiencing its second-warmest winter on record. Baltimore is also experiencing a snow drought this winter, its warmest on record.
The same can’t be said for Empire State residents in upstate New York.
Record-breaking amounts of snow fell just before the Christmas weekend, killing dozens of people.
The storm, described as the “blizzard of the century” by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, led to nearly 52 inches of snowfall and 39 deaths.
ABC News’ Melissa Griffin and Max Golembo contributed to this report.
(BLOOMFIELD, N.J.) — Authorities are searching for a suspect who allegedly threw a lit Molotov cocktail at the front door of a New Jersey synagogue early Sunday morning.
According to security video footage, the suspect approached the front door of Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield, New Jersey at 3:19 a.m. and threw the Molotov cocktail. The glass bottle broke but did not cause any damage, and the suspect then fled, the Bloomfield Police Department said in a statement Sunday afternoon.
Surveillance pictures shared by police show the suspect was wearing a ski mask.
Local law enforcement is investigating alongside the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said in a statement that his office is “working closely with local, county, state and federal law enforcement agencies, to identify and apprehend the suspect in this attack. Our investigation remains ongoing.”
The New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness said in a tweet that they are “closely monitoring” the incident, and urge “all faith-based communities to remain vigilant.”
In a joint statement, the Anti-Defamation League of New York/New Jersey, the Jewish Federations of North Jersey and other groups said they were “outraged” to hear of the incident, which came just days after International Holocaust Remembrance Day and within months of other security threats to New Jersey synagogues.
“We urge our leaders and community partners to speak out against this outrageous act and ask that all communities remain vigilant, though we have not been informed of any particular additional threats to Jewish institutions in New Jersey at this time,” the groups wrote.
Rep. Mikkie Sherill (D-N.J.), who represents the district where Bloomfield is located, wrote on Twitter that she is in touch with law enforcement and that “my prayers” are with the community.
“Anti-Semitic hatred is on the rise in our state, our country and around the world, and we all must work together to eradicate it,” Sherrill wrote.
Evan Bernstein, CEO of Community Security Services, a group that trains volunteer security teams to help keep Jewish institutions safe, wrote in a statement to ABC News that “we have to be aware that the threat level against our communities are increasing, in the United States and abroad.”
The incident comes at a time when synagogues and Jewish institutions around the country continue to navigate what experts say is a volatile and difficult security environment for American Jews.
(LOUISVILLE, N.Y.) — At least six people are dead after an express bus and a box truck crashed in Upstate New York on Saturday, police said.
Three people were also injured in the crash, with one person in critical condition and two seriously injured, New York State Police said in an update Saturday evening. They were transported to local hospitals.
The incident occurred around 6 a.m. on State Highway 37 in Louisville and involved a 2021 Freightliner box truck and a 2013 express bus, police said. The deceased and injured victims were all traveling in the bus, police said.
State Highway 37 from St. Lawrence County Route 14 to Coles Creek Road remains closed amid the ongoing investigation.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
This Nov. 2014, file photo provided by the U.S. National Park Service shows a mountain lion known as P-22, photographed in the Griffith Park area near downtown Los Angeles. – U.S. National Park Service
(LOS ANGELES) — Another mountain lion near Los Angeles has died, over a month after P-22, a beloved local mountain lion who spurred conservation efforts, was euthanized in December after being hit by a vehicle.
The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area shared the news Friday that P-81, a four-year-old mountain lion, died on Jan. 22 after likely being hit by a vehicle. Since March 2022, vehicle strikes have been the cause of death for nine mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains research area.
Researchers from the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area captured P-81 in March 2020 and equipped him with a radio collar. According to the researchers, P-81 was significant in their study due to his physical abnormalities, including a kinked tail and a deformed reproductive organ.
According to the researchers, those features were early evidence of inbreeding within the cougar population, leading to concern about the health of the animal population.
Researchers later found that the mountain lions of the Santas Monica mountains have some of the lowest genetic diversity ever documented, second only to Florida panthers in the 1990s.
According to the National Park Service, Los Angeles and Mumbai are the only two megacities in the world to maintain a population of big cats; however, the growth of roads and traffic have fragmented the cats’ habitats, and fast-moving cars have contributed to 34 fatalities of the animals in California since 2002.
Another mountain lion, P-22, became a local celebrity in Los Angeles, helping spur the creation of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing over the 101 Freeway, which would connect marooned wildlife, including mountain lions, to populations north of the city without having to cross the busy freeway. P-22 was euthanized in December after beginning to act erratically, including killing a chihuahua and attacking other dogs. Veterinarians euthanized P-22 after learning he was hit by a car and had several other ailments.
P-22’s death came amid a public outcry of support for the famous big cat, whose rise to fame in a city known for its celebrities inspired a generation of conservationists. His death prompted a front-page obituary in the Los Angeles Times, with a headline of the Sunday edition proclaiming, “Improbable trek led puma to win Angelenos’ hearts.”
“P-22’s survival on an island of wilderness in the heart of Los Angeles captivated people around the world and revitalized efforts to protect our diverse native species and ecosystems,” said California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
(NEW YORK) — George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Philando Castile, Laquan McDonald, and now Tyre Nichols — all are part a growing list of people who have been killed by police.
The latest disturbing death of Nichols at the hands of Memphis police officers has renewed calls for police reform.
“The world is watching us,” Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said Thursday as he announced charges against the five police officers who allegedly beat Nichols to death earlier this month. “We need to show the world what lessons we can learn from this tragedy.”
But rather than looking inward, some experts say U.S. law enforcement officials may be better served by looking at the rest of the world for its lessons.
A recent report by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), an independent research organization that focuses on critical issues in policing, shows significant gaps in how police in the U.S. are trained when compared to their international counterparts.
According to the report, titled “Transforming Police Recruit Training: 40 Guiding Principles,” training standards for the more than 18,000 police agencies in the U.S. are outdated and inconsistent, and often provide training that is too brief — with an emphasis on weapons and tactics and too little focus on decision-making, communications and other critical thinking skills that officers use every day.
“Almost every major aspect of policing has fundamentally changed in recent decades, except for one: how we train officers,” the report states.
A matter of weeks
Police training in the U.S. is most often measured in weeks, while in many other countries it is measured in months or years.
“Our training is outdated, antiquated, and is trying to do on the cheap what other places have done in a comprehensive way,” PERF Executive Director Chuck Wexler told ABC News.
A 2018 Justice Department study of state and local law enforcement training academies found that the average length of core basic police training in the U.S. is 833 hours, or less than 22 weeks. A more recent survey by PERF found a similar result, with responding agencies reporting an average of 20 weeks of basic police training.
In comparison, police recruits in Japan get between 15 and 21 months of training. Police in Germany get 2.5 years of training. And in Finland, police education takes three years to complete.
U.S. law enforcement agencies do often provide additional training for police on the job who serve in specialized police units such as narcotics squads and violent crime suppression teams. But in Memphis, it was one of those special units — Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhood, or SCORPION — whose members are accused of fatally beating Nichols during a traffic stop arrest. The unit has now been deactivated following Nichols’ death.
Like the military
Many police academies in the U.S. still resemble military boot camps, with cadets in buzz cuts and hair buns getting yelled at by drill instructors.
“Barking orders and giving commands and sort of a military kind of thinking — it’s not a problem-solving approach. It’s not critical thinking,” Wexler said.
Much of the training in American police academies emphasizes skills like marksmanship and defensive tactics, with less focus on so-called “soft skills” like communication and crisis intervention.
“People call those soft skills — those are not soft skills, those are hard,” Wexler says. “Communicating, being a good listener, responding, thinking, and sometimes saying, ‘You know what, we need to step back, we’re not the right ones here. For this we need to bring someone else in.’ Those are important skills, to know your limitations, and also to ask the right questions.”
De-escalation training
A 2020 study by the University of Cincinnati looked at the impact of a training program focused on de-escalation and critical thinking skills in the Louisville Metro Police Department in Kentucky. The program, called Integrated Communications, Assessment and Tactics (ICAT) was developed by PERF. University of Cincinnati researchers found that ICAT training was associated with a sizeable reduction in use-of-force incidents as well as the number of injuries to both citizens and officers.
LMPD officers who had participated in ICAT training experienced a 28% reduction in use-of-force incidents and 36% fewer injuries, compared to their peers who had not been given the training. In addition, 26% fewer citizens were injured in encounters with officers who had the training compared to officers who did not.
“It turns out that actually using a critical decision model … is not only safer for the person you’re dealing with, but it’s actually safer for police officers,” said Wexler.
The cost of reform
Regardless of their training, police in the U.S. face unique challenges compared to many of their international counterparts, experts say. American streets are awash in guns and illicit drugs like fentanyl, and training alone won’t change that.
Meanwhile, police departments across the country continue to struggle with staffing shortages. Qualified new recruits are in short supply, and many departments are not keeping pace with the number of police retiring or leaving the profession.
Expanding police training is costly and could have the undesirable effect of slowing down the pipeline of new officers at a time when law enforcement agencies can’t get new police online fast enough. According to a 2020 PERF survey, 71% of police agencies spend less than 5% of their budgets on recruit training.
And law enforcement remains a dangerous profession, with difficult hours and limited pay.
As a result, Wexler says that improving policing requires a wide-ranging investment in the profession.
“There has to be a national commitment to want to fundamentally train … and to compensate police at a level that makes them professionals,” he said.
(LOS ANGELES) — At least three people were killed and four injured in the second mass shooting to erupt in Los Angeles County in eight days — the sixth in California this month, according to police.
The latest shooting occurred Saturday in the upscale Beverly Crest neighborhood of Los Angeles, bordering Beverly Hills.
The mass-casualty shooting unfolded around 2:30 a.m. when police received multiple 911 calls of a shooting in progress at a short-term rental luxury home in the8 neighborhood, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
A senior LAPD source told ABC News that the three people killed were found in a car outside of the rental home. Two wounded individuals were found nearby and two others were taken to area hospitals in private vehicles, police said.
Sgt. Bruce Borihanh, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department, said at a news conference that the shooting occurred in front of the rental home.
Two of the injured victims were in critical condition, police said.
No arrests were immediately announced.
Borihanh said investigators were trying to determine if the shooting occurred during a party at the rental house.
A motive for the shooting remains under investigation.
“We’re still interviewing additional occupants, as well as witnesses and neighbors, to try to piece together exactly what happened here,” Borihanh said. “Investigators are also going door to door and looking for additional surveillance video, or any evidence that could help us.”
The Beverly Crest episode came just eight days after a Jan. 21 mass shooting in the Los Angeles County city of Monterey Park, where 12 people were fatally shot at a dance studio allegedly by a 72-year-old man, who died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound when police cornered him in a van in Torrance, California.
The two Los Angeles County mass shootings are among six that have occurred in California since Jan. 16, when six people, including a teenage mother and her baby, were found fatally shot at a home in Goshen, a semi-rural area in the state’s San Joaquin Valley. The Tulare County Sheriff’s Department, which has yet to announce any arrests, said the shooting appeared to be a targeted attack by two gunmen possibly connected to a drug cartel.
A day after Monterey Park rampage, a 66-year-old farmworker allegedly shot and killed seven co-workers and injured one in what authorities said was a workplace shooting at two mushroom growing farms in the Northern California city of Half Moon Bay. The suspect, Chunli Zhao, was arrested and charged with seven counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, firearm use enhancements and a count of special circumstance allegation of multiple murders.
Just hours after the Half Moon Bay shooting, five people were shot, one fatally, in Oakland, California, in what police described as a “targeted” and possibly gang-related attack during the filming of a music video at a gas station.
And on Friday night in San Diego, four people were shot, one fatally, in two shooting incidents that occurred several miles apart and allegedly committed by the same suspect, according to the San Diego Police Department.
The first shooting occurred around 8:26 p.m. in San Diego’s Encanto neighborhood, where police found two 15-year-old boys suffering from gunshot wounds, officials said. They were taken to an area hospital and are expected to survive, police said.
About 49 minutes later, two men were found shot, one fatally, several miles from the Encanto neighborhood, authorities said.
“After both of these shootings, officers received a detailed physical description of the suspect and his vehicle, and it became apparent these shootings were likely related,” police said in a statement. “Officers saturated the area in an effort to locate the suspect before additional acts of violence could occur.”
The suspect was located and arrested after police initiated a “high-risk” traffic stop on a vehicle witnesses saw leaving the scene of at least one of the shootings, officials said. The suspect was identified as 22-year-old Jaime Gonzalez, who was jailed of murder and attempted murder, according to police. He was also arrested gun-related charge stemming from a semi-automatic 9mm handgun found in his car that appeared to be an untraceable “ghost gun,” police said.
Nationwide, there have been 48 mass shootings in the first month of 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a website that tracks shootings nationwide.
