(NEW YORK) — The East Coast is bracing for severe thunderstorms on Monday from New York down to South Carolina, potentially impacting more than 60 million Americans.
The biggest threats are lightning, large hail and wind gusts up to 70 mph.
Airlines have cancelled more than 1,400 flights due to the severe weather, with airports in New York City, Boston and Atlanta getting hit the hardest.
A severe thunderstorm watch is in effect through Monday night for Baltimore and Washington, D.C., as well as parts of western New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
Damaging winds are expected to hit Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York City, while flood watches have been issued from Virginia to New York.
Meanwhile, more than 300,000 customers are without power across Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Georgia and Michigan in the wake of rough storms.
Severe weather this weekend spawned at least 20 reported tornadoes across the Midwest.
There were three confirmed tornadoes in Indiana, killing at least one person and damaging or destroying dozens of homes, local authorities said.
In Lonoke County, Arkansas, two people were killed when a tree fell on a mobile home, a coroner official told ABC News.
Another person was killed by a fallen tree in Fulton County, Georgia, local authorities said.
ABC News’ Matt Foster, Mariama Jalloh, Emily Shapiro and Sam Sweeney contributed to this report.
(NEWTON, Mass.) — A couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and a relative in her 90s were found stabbed and bludgeoned to death in a Boston area home over the weekend, prompting authorities to warn residents to lock their doors and be vigilant as investigators work to identify the killer, officials said.
The victims were discovered dead Sunday morning in their home in Newton, Massachusetts, after a friend went to the residence to check on them when they did not show up for a church service, according to police.
Killed in what police believe was a “random” act of violence was a couple in their 70s who was celebrating a golden wedding anniversary and the wife’s mother, who is in her 90s and lived them, authorities said.
As of Monday morning, the assailant or assailants in the triple homicide remained unidentified and at large, striking fear into residents of Newton, a city of 87,453 people which was ranked in a 2022 SafeWise report as the second safest city for families in America.
“This is the night to lock your doors and windows,” Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said at a news conference Sunday night. “We are asking people if they hear or see something suspicious, please call the Newton police immediately.”
A friend called 911 at 10:14 a.m. on Sunday to report finding the three victims dead inside the home from stab wounds and blunt trauma, according to a statement released by the Newton Police Department.
A preliminary investigation found evidence suggesting forced entry was made into the home, and police are investigating whether the incident is connected to an attempted home break-in Sunday morning at a residence about a half-mile from where the slayings occurred, police said.
Ryan said investigators have not found evidence linking the attempted burglary to the homicides, but added, “That’s why we are concerned particularly about the safety issue.”
The names of the victims were being withheld by police pending autopsies by the Middlesex County Medical Examiner.
Ryan said the couple who was killed were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this weekend.
“As you can imagine, this would be tragic on any day, but to have family gathered for this kind of celebration makes it particularly tragic,” Ryan said.
Newton police are asking neighbors of the slain couple to check their doorbell cameras and other video surveillance equipment for anything suspicious and report it to police.
“As far as the Newton Police Department, we won’t rest until we find out who did this and we find justice for the victims that were involved here,” Newton Police Chief John Carmichael said at the news conference.
(COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.) — The suspect in a mass shooting at LGBTQ bar Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colorado, that left five people dead accepted a plea deal Monday.
Anderson Lee Aldrich, who identifies as nonbinary, has pleaded guilty to five counts of murder in the first degree, 46 counts of attempted murder in the first degree. They pleaded no contest to two bias-motivated crimes.
Aldrich will receive five consecutive life sentences without the possibility for parole on the murder charges, according to Judge Michael McHenry. Aldrich will also receive 46 consecutive 48-year sentences for the attempted murder counts followed by mandatory periods of parole, according to the judge.
“Like too many other people in our culture, you chose to find a power that day behind the trigger of a gun. Your actions reflect the deepest malice of the human heart and malice is almost always born out of ignorance and fear,” said McHenry.
He continued, “The sentence of this court is the judgment of the people of the state of Colorado that such hate will not be tolerated and that the LGBTQ+ community is as much a part of the family of humanity as you are.”
They will plead no contest to “a class five felony bias-motivated crime and class one misdemeanor bias-motivated crime” with associated sentences, according to McHenry. They will also be sentenced to three years and 364 days respectively for the bias-motivated crimes.
Daniel Davis Aston, Kelly Loving, Derrick Rump, Ashley Paugh and Raymond Green Vance died in the attack. At least 19 people were also injured in the shooting.
“Ashley was an amazing woman who always showed so much love and kindness toward people,” Paugh’s sister, Stephanie Clark, said in court Monday. “My world was shattered the morning of Nov. 20.”
“The screams and the cries” of Paugh’s daughter after learning about her mother’s death “are forever etched in my mind,” Clark said, wishing Aldrich could hear it for themself.
“Raymond was 22 years old — a kind, loving, gentle man who touched a lot of people’s hearts,” said Adriana Vance, the mother of Green Vance. “He was always there for his family and friends … he never harmed a soul.”
Loving’s sister, Tiffany Loving, remembers her as “my compass, my best friend, my sister.”
“Just like that my sister become a number of a violent statistic” regarding the disproportionate rate of violence and victimization facing the transgender community,” Tiffany Loving said in a statement. Loving was a transgender woman. “She loved herself and wanted others to unapologetically be themselves.”
Investigators and witnesses said Aldrich opened fire as soon as they walked into Club Q before midnight on Nov. 19, 2022. Patrons at the venue tackled Aldrich, subduing them until police arrived, according to witnesses.
“You shot up my family,” said Laura Kent, the mother of Wyatt Kent, one of the survivors of the shooting whose partner and close friend were killed in the attack, at the hearing. “You will never understand the devastation you’ve caused.”
In February, preliminary hearings were held on whether the case against Aldrich was strong enough to move forward. Their defense attorneys focused on Aldrich’s mental health and highlighted Aldrich’s history of drug use and claimed they suffered abuse at home to counter the messaging that Aldrich was motivated by hate.
“Aldrich’s behavior after this incident says they’re sorry, upset and emotional about what they did,” defense attorney Joseph Archambault said in court. “It’s categorically different than someone who targets a group, and that’s not what Aldrich did.”
Lead investigators for the state said Aldrich administered and ran a website that hosted a “neo Nazi white supremacist” shooting training video, according to testimony from lead detective Rebecca Joines in the preliminary hearings. Joines also said that Aldrich used gay and racial slurs when playing video games online, in testimony aimed at Aldrich’s bias charges.
The defense has not openly commented on the case, as per Office of the State Public Defender policies.
(NEW YORK) — The East Coast is bracing for severe thunderstorms on Monday from New York and Connecticut down to South Carolina, potentially impacting more than 86 million Americans.
The highest threat will be lightning, large hail and wind gusts up to 70 mph.
Airlines have cancelled more than 1,000 flights due to the severe weather, with airports in New York City, Boston and Atlanta seeing the biggest impacts so far.
The cities in the bullseye of Monday’s storms will be Raleigh, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; Washington, D.C.; and Philadelphia.
New York state’s Hudson Valley and New York City as well as parts of Connecticut are also under threat for severe storms.
A severe thunderstorm watch is in effect for parts of western New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware though 9 p.m.
Meanwhile, more than 350,000 customers are without power across Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas and Georgia in the wake of rough storms.
Severe weather this weekend spawned at least 20 reported tornadoes across Iowa, Michigan and Indiana.
On Sunday alone, there were four reported tornadoes in Indiana, killing at least one person and damaging or destroying dozens of homes, local authorities said.
In Lonoke County, Arkansas, two people were killed when a tree fell on a mobile home, a coroner official told ABC News.
Another person was killed by a fallen tree in Fulton County, Georgia, local authorities said.
ABC News’ Matt Foster, Mariama Jalloh and Emily Shapiro contributed to this report.
(KANSAS CITY) — A shooting that erupted Sunday morning in a Kansas City, Missouri, parking lot killed at least three people and left five others injured, according to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.
The violence unfolded about 4:30 a.m. southeast of downtown Kansas City, Jackson County Sheriff Darryl Forte tweeted Sunday morning.
Forte said officers were called to investigate a report of gunfire and found three victims, two men and a woman, dead in the parking lot and on a street just south of the intersection of 57th Street and Prospect Avenue.
No arrests were immediately announced, and a motive was under investigation.
Five other people were taken to hospitals by ambulance or private vehicles, all suffering from what are believed to be non-life-threatening gunshot wounds, Forte said.
Preliminary evidence, according to Forte, indicates there was a large gathering of people in a parking lot at the intersection when the shooting broke out.
Detectives and crime scene investigators were interviewing witnesses and collecting evidence at the crime scene.
A $25,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the suspect or suspects involved in the shooting.
The triple homicide came amid a 28% increase in homicides in Kansas City this year, according to Kansas City Police Department crime statistics. Prior to this weekend, Kansas City police had investigated 91 homicides this year, up 20 from the same time last year, according to the statistics.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucus posted a message on Twitter Sunday, expressing his condolences to the families of those killed and questioning why a crowd was gathered in a parking lot at the time of the shooting.
My condolences to the families of three people killed in a shooting this morning at an apparent after-hours gathering near 57 and Prospect. If the business knew persons would be present, without security, selling alcohol, and thwarting our laws, that business should be closed.
“If the business knew persons would be present, without security, selling alcohol, and thwarting our laws, that business should be closed,” Lucus tweeted.
Lucus said a total of 13 people were shot in Kansas City overnight, including a person slain at a short-term vacation rental.
(COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.) — The suspect accused of killing five people in a mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is set to be arraigned Monday on 323 charges, including multiple first-degree murder, attempted murder and bias-motivated crimes charges.
Investigators and witnesses say Aldrich, a 22-year-old who identifies as nonbinary, allegedly opened fire as soon as they walked into Club Q before midnight on Nov. 19, 2022. Patrons at the venue tackled Aldrich, subduing them until police arrived, according to witnesses.
Daniel Davis Aston, Kelly Loving, Derrick Rump, Ashley Paugh and Raymond Green Vance died in the attack. At least 19 people were also injured in the shooting.
In February, preliminary hearings were held on whether the case against Aldrich was strong enough to move forward. Their defense attorney’s focused on Aldrich’s mental health and highlighted Aldrich’s history of drug use and claimed they suffered abuse at home to counter the messaging that Aldrich was motivated by hate.
“Aldrich’s behavior after this incident says they’re sorry, upset and emotional about what they did,” defense attorney Joseph Archambault said in court. “It’s categorically different than someone who targets a group, and that’s not what Aldrich did.”
Lead investigators for the state said Aldrich administered and ran a website that hosted a “neo Nazi white supremacist” shooting training video, according to testimony from Lead Detective Rebecca Joines in the preliminary hearings. Joines also said that Aldrich used gay and racial slurs when playing video games online, in testimony aimed at Aldrich’s bias charges.
The defense has not openly commented on the case, as per Office of the State Public Defender policies.
(NEW YORK) — More than half a million customers were without power in the United States early Monday after a weekend of deadly tornadoes and severe thunderstorms.
The severe weather outbreak over the weekend spawned at least 20 reported tornadoes across three Midwestern states — Iowa, Michigan and Indiana. On Sunday alone, there were four reported tornadoes in Indiana, killing at least one person and damaging or destroyed dozens of homes, according to local authorities.
Another person was killed in Georgia’s Fulton County by a falling tree, local authorities said.
Meanwhile, thunderstorm winds brought down trees in multiple areas southwest of Knoxville, Tennessee, and baseball-sized hail was spotted 35 miles northwest of Indianapolis, Indiana.
Overall, a potent line of storms impacted a swath of the nation from the U.S.-Canadian border to the Gulf Coast, with tens of millions of Americans under tornado and severe thunderstorm watches on Sunday.
By Monday morning, nearly 430,000 customers were without power across the South, namely Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas and Georgia. An additional 71,000 were without power in Michigan, according to data collected by PowerOutage.us.
The massive weather system is forecast to move toward the East Coast on Monday, with severe storms expected to hit from New York and Connecticut all the way down to South Carolina, potentially impacting more than 86 million Americans. The highest threat will be damaging winds, large hail and even a few tornadoes.
The cities in the bullseye of Monday’s storms will be Raleigh, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; Washington, D.C.; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. New York state’s Hudson Valley and New York City as well as parts of Connecticut are also under threat for severe storms on Monday, but less acute than in the South.
The weather system could bring flash flooding to parts of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania on Monday.
ABC News’ Matt Foster and Mariama Jalloh contributed to this report.
(KANSAS CITY) — A shooting that erupted Sunday morning in a Kansas City, Missouri, parking lot killed at least three people and left five others injured, according to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.
The violence unfolded about 4:30 a.m. southeast of downtown Kansas City, Jackson County Sheriff Darryl Forte tweeted Sunday morning.
Forte said officers were called to investigate a report of gunfire and found three victims, two men and a woman, dead in the parking lot and on a street just south of the intersection of 57th Street and Prospect Avenue.
No arrests were immediately announced, and a motive was under investigation.
Five other people were taken to hospitals by ambulance or private vehicles, all suffering from what are believed to be non-life-threatening gunshot wounds, Forte said.
Preliminary evidence, according to Forte, indicates there was a large gathering of people in a parking lot at the intersection when the shooting broke out.
Detectives and crime scene investigators were interviewing witnesses and collecting evidence at the crime scene.
A $25,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the suspect or suspects involved in the shooting.
The triple homicide came amid a 28% increase in homicides in Kansas City this year, according to Kansas City Police Department crime statistics. Prior to this weekend, Kansas City police had investigated 91 homicides this year, up 20 from the same time last year, according to the statistics.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucus posted a message on Twitter Sunday, expressing his condolences to the families of those killed and questioning why a crowd was gathered in a parking lot at the time of the shooting.
My condolences to the families of three people killed in a shooting this morning at an apparent after-hours gathering near 57 and Prospect. If the business knew persons would be present, without security, selling alcohol, and thwarting our laws, that business should be closed.
“If the business knew persons would be present, without security, selling alcohol, and thwarting our laws, that business should be closed,” Lucus tweeted.
Lucus said a total of 13 people were shot in Kansas City overnight, including a person slain at a short-term vacation rental.
(NEW YORK) — The pattern of severe weather is continuing over the next couple of days, threatening tens of millions of Americans on Sunday and even more on Monday.
A large swath of the U.S. — from the Canadian border to the north down to the Gulf Coast in the South — is at risk for damaging winds tornados, especially in Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio, forecasts show.
At least two tornadoes confirmed in Indiana by storm spotters on Sunday — one with apparent debris near Crane, Indiana, and another near Fairland, Indiana.
On Sunday afternoon, the tornado watch zone had expanded into Ohio and farther into Michigan, including Detroit, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio.
The number of people under severe weather threat will increase from 57 million on Sunday to 86 million on Monday as the line of potent thunderstorms marches toward the Atlantic coast.
Much of the Interstate 95 corridor from New York City to Washington, D.C., could be seeing strong to severe thunderstorms, with an enhanced risk in parts of Virginia and North Carolina, according to the National Weather Service.
By Monday evening, these storms will also move through Washington D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia, bringing heavy rain, lightning and the potential for damaging winds, large hail and an isolated tornado.
The forecast for inclement weather is a continuance of disturbances over the past several days.
More than 600 severe weather reports have been reported over the past five days, with residents in Nebraska reporting softball-sized hail on Friday night.
Relentless, life-threatening heat is also continuing to plague much of the southern U.S.
Heat advisories and warnings have also been issued for 50 million people from Arizona to Tennessee, with triple-digit temperatures forecast in a vast majority of the affected area.
There is no end in sight for the brutal heat for much of Texas, with the scorching temperatures expected to last for the next several days.
(COLUMBUS, Mont.) — Cleanup is continuing at the site where a train carrying potentially hazardous materials derailed into the Yellowstone River in Montana, according to officials.
The incident left multiple tankers in the Yellowstone River and decimated the railroad portion of the Yellowstone Twin River Bridges in Stillwater County, Montana. Officials have not indicated whether the derailment caused the bridge to collapse or whether the collapse precipitated the derailment.
Three of the railcars that derailed were carrying hot asphalt, and four were carrying molten sulfur, KC Williams, the director of Emergency Management for Yellowstone County, told ABC News.
Two impacted railcars were also carrying sodium hydro sulfate, a corrosive substance, but those substances did not enter the river, according to Montana Rail Link.
The site work and remediation that began Saturday evening continued into Sunday, Montana Rail Link Public Information Officer Andy Garland said in a statement. Track repairs have been made, enabling access to begin cleanup of the affected cars, Garland said.
Transloading of the sodium hydrosulfide car closest to the river was underway on Sunday morning, Garland said. The car remains safely out of the water and there has been no release involving this material.
“We continue to closely monitor all releases involving molten sulfur and asphalt and mitigating any impacts to the site and surrounding area,” Garland said. “Both of these substances harden and solidify quickly when interacting with water and modeling suggests that significant downstream movement of material is unlikely.”
Water sampling also began on Saturday and will continue throughout the incident, Garland said.
Drinking water in Yellowstone County is not currently affected, Williams said.
“The safety of our employees and the public remains our top priority,” MRL said. “We are committed to addressing any potential impacts to the area as a result of this incident and working to understand the reasons behind the accident.”
Montana Rail Link said in a statement Saturday that the incident happened around 6:45 a.m. local time while the train was traveling westbound near the town of Reed Point. Several cars remain in the river, including several hazmat cars, the railroad operator said. No crew members were injured in the incident according to MRL.
The cause of the derailment is under investigation, the operator said, with MRL personnel and first responders onsite. Montana Disaster and Emergency Services and the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Response Center have been notified, MLR said.
“We continue to work closely with MT DEQ, EPA, and other local, state, and federal partners in our cleanup, removal and restoration efforts as a unified command,” Garland said on Sunday. “Montana Rail Link remains committed to addressing any potential impacts to the area as a result of this incident.”
Local residents told ABC News that the river was running high after heavy rainfall over the last month, including a storm the prior evening.
“It’s completely muddy, so it’s bringing a lot of material down with it,” said John Counter, who lives roughly two miles from the collapsed bridge. “It’s running full banks right now.”
Counter added that the bridge included a portion for car traffic, which was removed recently. Yellowstone Public Radio reported in 2021 that the section of the bridge was removed after erosion made it a risk to the public.
The incident at Twin Bridges Road between the towns of Reed Point and Columbus has led to the closure of some public access points to the Yellowstone and Stillwater Rivers, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks said Saturday.
State officials are advising the public to avoid parts of the Yellowstone River due to “potential contaminants.”
While there is no immediate threat to Yellowstone County, the sheriff’s office said, the incident left some residents concerned about the vulnerability of their chief water supply.
“All of our water comes through the river for our wells and our irrigation and everything,” Couch told ABC News. “So it gets a little concerning when you have toxic stuff coming into your wells.”
