(FLORIDA) — A 24-year-old Florida woman is facing criminal charges after she allegedly left two children in a car that caught fire while she was shoplifting at a mall, according to the Oviedo Police Department.
Alicia Moore, who was arrested for an unrelated warrant, was charged with aggravated child abuse and arson, according to a police report.
Moore parked her car in the parking lot of a Dillard’s at the Oviedo Mall, leaving the children inside her car. Moore was then observed inside Dillard’s with another male and began to shoplift items, according to police. The two were watched by security for an hour, police said.
Moore then began to exit Dillard’s about an hour later, only to see her vehicle engulfed in flames. She then dropped the merchandise before exiting the store, according to the police report.
Citizens who saw the vehicle engulfed in flames helped the children escape, authorities said. Law enforcement and fire rescue were notified.
The children were rushed to Arnold Palmer Children’s Hospital for medical attention and suffered first-degree burns from the fire, according to police.
The vehicle was totaled in the incident, according to police.
While in custody, the child neglect and arson charges were added. She faces a $15,000 bond for the child neglect charge.
Police said they do not know how the fire was started but placed blame on Moore, saying she was “neglectful,” according to the police report.
(WEST VIRGINIA) — A 29-year-old man accused of fatally shooting a West Virginia state trooper is in police custody, according to the ATF’s Louisville Office.
Law enforcement responded to a shooting complaint in Mingo County, West Virginia, on Friday where they encountered Timothy Kennedy who began shooting at police. Troopers said they were met with gunfire when they responded to a shooting complaint near Matewan.
A trooper was fatally shot in the ensuing gunfire.
“I am absolutely heartbroken tonight to report that Sergeant Cory Maynard of the West Virginia State Police was fatally wounded in an incident this afternoon near Matewan,” West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said.
“The brave men and women of law enforcement, and all first responders who put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe, are an inspiration to us all,” Justice said in a statement.
The governor’s office has ordered all U.S. and West Virginia flags to be flown at half-staff to honor the following trooper starting immediately.
The manhunt for Kennedy delayed graduation ceremonies at Mingo Central High School and emergency workers urged area residents to stay indoors while police searched for the suspect.
Justice said multiple law enforcement agencies joined a widespread search of the Beech Creek area to look for the suspect ahead of his arrest.
(IDAHO) — Investigators are probing the digital footprint of Bryan Kohberger, the suspect accused of killing four Idaho college students in an early morning attack last year, according to new court documents.
The documents include search warrant applications for some of Kohberger’s internet activity and some additional phone records, as well as some of the four victims’ social media accounts. There is “probable cause to believe” that those records could yield evidence regarding the November killings of Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin and Madison Mogen at the girls’ off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, the documents say.
Though they do not reveal details of what the warrants obtained, the records indicate that prosecutors have launched an expansive examination of Kohberger’s activities online as they probe the suspect’s possible connection to the victims – and the crimes he is accused of committing.
“The case has only just begun once you make an arrest,” said Robert Boyce, an ABC News contributor and retired chief of detectives in the New York Police Department. “You want to see what he was looking up. You want to know what he was saying, whether under his or under an assumed name on these platforms.”
“They want to establish his state of mind, who he talks to and what he talks about,” Boyce said. “There could be probative materials there.”
The Latah County Prosecutor’s Office, leading the case against Kohberger, did not reply to requests from ABC News for comment.
Kohberger, 28, was indicted last month on charges including four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. At his arraignment last week, Kohberger declined to offer a plea, so the judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
A trial date was set for Oct. 2.
Prosecutors allege that in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022, Kohberger, a Ph.D. student at Washington State University’s department of criminal justice and criminology, broke into an off-campus home and stabbed to death four University of Idaho students: Ethan Chapin, 20; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21.
After a more than six-week hunt police zeroed in on Kohberger as a suspect, tracking his white Hyundai Elantra, cell phone signal data, and recovering what authorities say was his DNA on a knife sheath found next to one of the victims bodies, according to court documents. He was arrested on December 30 in Pennsylvania, after driving cross-country to spend the holidays at his family home in Albrightsville, PA.
The murder weapon has not been recovered, authorities have said.
Among the new documents are search warrant applications for Kohberger’s accounts on Reddit, Google and TikTok, as well as the four victims’ Snapchat accounts, and additional records from AT&T.
Investigators obtained information from the suspect’s Reddit account this spring, including his public posts and private messages with other users; saved files and photos; and location data, court documents show.
Investigators had also previously obtained records from Kaylee Goncalves’ Reddit account, earlier court filings show.
In the affidavit for Kohberger’s arrest, officials noted he had previously “posted a Reddit survey which … asked for participants to provide information to ‘understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision making when committing a crime.'”
From Kohberger’s Google account, investigators, according to the new filings, have also pulled extensive records: emails, including drafts and trash; “hangouts” and “chats” including photos; his Google Drive, including “documents, spreadsheets, presentations and files, and associated metadata.”
The warrant also obtained information about his search and browsing history; calendar events and contacts, Google Play purchases, along with his Google Pay transactions; court documents show.
“You want to develop a profile of him in your case, sometimes a psychological profile,” Boyce said.
“They want to put a knife in that sheath, because they don’t have it right now. So you want to see if he bought it somewhere online, you’re looking at credit card receipts,” he added. “The more evidence you can put before a judge, the better you’ve got.”
Investigators also obtained additional AT&T records for a subscriber “unknown at this time,” for the specific time period of June 23, 2022 to August 1, 2022 “including any messages, records, files, logs, or information that have been deleted but are still available,” including cell tower pings that transmitted outgoing and incoming calls.
Investigators previously used cell tower data to link Kohberger to the killings’ crime scene, court documents show.
Records from “Strava,” an internet service which allows users to track their physical exercise and share their performance on social networks, were also obtained, filings show – including “biometric information” like “exercise data,” session logs, geolocation data, contacts and photos. Names and accounts obtained were redacted, but the search warrant application says there is “information related to the investigation” into the students’ killings.
Records related to the four victims’ Snapchat accounts were also obtained, according to the documents, including “communications or other messages sent or received by the accounts,” logs of previous snaps, stories and chats, and “all records pertaining to communications between Snapchat and any person regarding the user or the user’s Snapchat accounts, including contacts with support services, and all records of actions taken, including suspensions of the accounts.”
“There’s a lot to this case, technology-wise. It’s an evolving and changing field but it’s the best evidence you have – because it’s irrefutable, unbiased, human error-free,” Boyce said. “It may not be one knockout punch – but there could be overwhelming circumstantial evidence.”
(SOUTH CAROLINA) — The viewing service for Cyrus Carmack-Belton, who was allegedly shot and killed by a South Carolina gas station owner, is being held Friday, according to Leevy’s Funeral Home. His funeral is planned for Saturday.
Rick Chow, 58, was arrested and charged with murder in connection to 14-year-old Cyrus’s death, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department said. Chow wrongly believed Cyrus had shoplifted several bottles of water, police said.
“He did not shoplift anything,” Sheriff Leon Lott said during a press conference Monday. “We have no evidence that he stole anything whatsoever.”
Summit Parkway Middle School, where Cyrus was a student, released a statement on Facebook, Thursday remembering what it said was its “young Eagle.”
“He was intelligent, humorous with quick wit and well-liked by his classmates,” the post said. “We could always depend on Cyrus to ask questions beyond the scope of the topic as he often would seek to understand, rather than accept and move on.”
The school noted that he had dreams of owning a tattoo shop.
During a press conference Monday by the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, Lott said there was a verbal confrontation inside the store before Cyrus left and took off running.
Lott said the convenience store owner, who police said was armed with a pistol, and his son chased after the teen.
The sheriff told reporters that Cyrus fell during the chase, got up, and “at some point” during the chase, the store owner’s son said that the teen had a gun.
“The father shot the young man in the back,” Lott said. According to law enforcement, a gun was found close to the teen’s body.
Veronica Hill, a public information officer for the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, told ABC News in a statement Friday that “Cyrus was in possession of the gun, but in South Carolina a juvenile cannot legally own a handgun.” She added that the office is investigating the gun’s origin.
Naida Rutherford, the Richland County coroner, said during the press conference that Cyrus died from “a single gunshot wound to his right lower back” that caused “significant damage to his heart and hemorrhaging.”
According to a sheriff’s office incident report obtained by ABC News, the shooting is not believed to be “a bias motivated incident.”
ABC News reached out to Chow’s attorney, James Snell, Jr., in the wake of the murder charge, but his office declined to comment.
On Thursday, Fifth Circuit Solicitor Byron E. Gipson said in a statement his office will determine whether any additional charges will be made in the incident once it has conducted a full review.
This week’s shooting was not the only alleged incident involving Chow.
Hill told ABC News in a statement Wednesday that Chow has had two prior confrontations with alleged shoplifters that resulted in him firing a weapon — in 2015 and 2018 — but his conduct in those incidents “did not meet the requirements under South Carolina law to support criminal charges.”
Todd Rutherford, who represents Cyrus’s family, told ABC News in a statement Wednesday that “what happened to [Cyrus] wasn’t an accident. It’s something that the Black community has experienced for generations: being racially profiled, then shot down in the street like a dog.”
“One beacon of hope is seeing the resilience of the Black community as they wrap their arms around this family that has joined the club that no Black family ever wants to be a part of,” he continued.
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso and Teddy Grant contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — North Carolina’s Fort Bragg, named after Confederate Army Gen. Braxton Bragg, was officially redesignated to Fort Liberty on Friday.
The renaming ceremony Friday was part of a national campaign to change the names of nine U.S. Army installations, as recommended by the Department of Defense’s Naming Commission to erase symbols that commemorate the Confederate States of America.
Last month, the U.S. Army base formerly known as Fort Hood in central Texas was changed to Fort Cavazos and Georgia’s Fort Benning was renamed to Fort Moore. Fort Lee was renamed Fort Gregg-Adams in April, with more changes to come.
While the previously renamed bases were chosen to honor past soldiers or Army families, Fort Liberty was named after no one person.
“Every name was considered, debated. … Ultimately, any of them could have been chosen,” said Lt. Gen. Chris Donahue, the XVIII Airborne Corps’ commanding general. “A consensus could not be reached on just one. How could you choose any and leave any of those others behind? … There was no right name. There were no names that could define what this post is all about.”
Among the names considered by the community team tasked with renaming the base were Medal of Honor recipients past and present, including Sergeant Alvin York and Sergeant Robert J. Miller.
Donahue detailed that names were considered from soldiers from “all legendary tenant units,” including the 82nd Airborne Division, United States Army Special Operations Command, Joint Special Operations Command and 18th Airborne Corps.
The final decision on the new name was inspired when one of the American Gold Star Mothers, Patti Elliot, brought up the theme of liberty.
“The name Liberty honors the heroism, sacrifices, and values of the Soldiers, Service Members, Civilians, and Families who live and serve with this installation,” the press release stated. “We view this as the next chapter in our history and look forward to honoring the stories of our military heroes from every generation and walk of life.”
The three-day event began on May 30 with a sneak peek of the Sunset Liberty March, a new daily march the base will do to honor the “service, sacrifices and legacy of Liberty,” according to the press release. The grand opening of the marching site was held on Thursday.
The Friday event included the casing of the Fort Bragg garrison colors, and uncasing of the Fort Liberty colors, signifying the redesignation of Fort Liberty.
“Liberty has always been here,” Donahue said. “Liberty has always been ingrained in this area.”
(NEW YORK) — A settlement has been approved in the wrongful death suit filed by Matthew Hutchins and his son following the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the film set of Rust.
The cinematographer died in October 2021 after allegedly being shot by a prop gun that Alec Baldwin, also a producer for the film, was holding during rehearsals on the set, according to police. The actor was practicing a cross-draw when the gun fired, striking Hutchins. The film’s director, Joel Souza, was also injured in the shooting.
A judge issued an order approving the settlement for a minor, Hutchins’ son, on Thursday. All the parties have agreed to settle all claims against the defendants, according to court documents.
Hutchins’ 10-year-old son, Andros Hutchins, will receive his portion of the settlement in annuities that will be paid out over time when he reaches the ages of 18 and 22, according to court documents.
Other documents and materials related to the settlement have been sealed by the court.
Matthew Hutchins filed a suit against the Rust film production company and a number of individuals involved in the production, including Baldwin and the production’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, in February 2022. The two sides came to an agreement in October 2022, but the judge finally signed off Thursday.
The terms of the settlement have not been released publicly and were sealed by a judge in April.
Attorneys for Hutchins’ family filed the wrongful death suit after conducting an investigation into the incident leading them to believe there were numerous violations of industry standards by Baldwin and others charged with safety on the set of Rust, lawyers for the family said last year.
Shooting of the film was suspended after the deadly incident, but resumed in April with Matthew Hutchins as executive producer.
Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed were charged with involuntary manslaughter in February. First assistant director David Halls also agreed to plead no contest for the charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon.
The charges against Baldwin were dropped in April, at least in part because an investigation revealed the gun used in the incident was mechanically improper.
Investigators effectively conducted an autopsy of the Colt .45 revolver and found that there were worn joints and that the trigger control was not functioning properly, sources told ABC News.
(NEW YORK) — Three people have been killed and three others injured in a Northern California crime spree, the motive for which authorities say remains under investigation.
The suspect, whose name was not released, was taken into custody following the Thursday afternoon attacks.
The spree began at about 3:11 p.m. when the attacker stabbed and carjacked a victim in San Jose, according to police. The victim was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, San Jose police said.
The suspect then allegedly stole that victim’s car, drove to a shopping center and tried to carjack another vehicle, police said. The suspect allegedly stabbed that second driver, who was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, according to police.
The suspect then tried to drive away, allegedly striking a pedestrian in the parking lot who suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Later on, the suspect was spotted at an intersection, appearing to intentionally ram two pedestrians, killing both of them, according to police.
The final incident was reported at about 4:30 p.m., when police in nearby Milpitas responded to a stabbing homicide in a shopping center parking lot, authorities said.
The suspect allegedly fled the Milpitas scene and was found by police hiding in a nearby neighborhood, authorities said.
No motive is known and it’s not clear if the suspect knew any of the victims, police said.
(OXON HILL, Md.) — Dev Shah hoisted the coveted Scripps Cup after correctly spelling the word psammophile — an organism that prefers or thrives in sandy areas — to win the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday.
“It felt good knowing that I accomplished something I worked hard for,” Shah told Good Morning America Friday morning in the wake of his monumental accomplishment.
The eighth grader from Largo, Florida, previously competed in 2019 and tied for 51st place and again in 2021 when he tied for 76th place.
When asked, “were you ever in doubt when you first heard the word?” Shah replied confidently and succinctly, “no.”
“When I heard the word, I was pretty sure I got it,” he continued.
The 14-year-old, who was full of quiet confidence during the bee, said that stems from “practice and a lot of it.”
Here’s how Shah broke down his training habits for the big event: “By myself, I would just go through individual lists and I would just analyze the patterns behind them. And then my dad would just make lists for me of words that I struggle with. And my coach, Scott Reamer would quiz me [on] stems and roots.”
When Shah isn’t practicing spelling, he said, “I play the cello, I play tennis [and] I like to read.”
While holding up the coveted Scripps Cup after the win, he said “it’s surreal” and added, “My legs are still shaking.”
Overall, Shah took out 228 competitors from around the country and took home a cash prize of $50,000.
(NEW YORK) — Payton Washington, one of two Texas cheerleaders shot in April after her friend accidentally opened the door of the wrong car, is speaking out for the first time since the attack that left her in critical condition.
“My spleen was shattered. My stomach had two holes in it. And my diaphragm had two holes in it. And then they had to remove a lobe from my pancreas. I had 32 staples,” said Washington.
Washington, 18, described the terrifying incident in an exclusive interview with Good Morning America co-anchor Michael Strahan.
“I was actually texting and [eating] Twizzlers,” Washington said of the moments before someone opened the door of her teammate’s car.
Just after midnight on April 18, Washington and three of her fellow teammates with the Woodlands Elite Cheer Company finished practice and were in the HEB parking lot in Elgin, Texas.
One teammate, Heather Roth, 21, opened the door of a vehicle that she thought was hers, but a stranger, later identified by police as Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr., 25, was in the passenger seat.
Roth, who later spoke out on Instagram Live after the incident, said she got out of the car and went back to her friend’s vehicle where the three other cheerleaders, including Washington, were sitting. According to authorities, Rodriguez allegedly approached the vehicle with the cheerleaders, and when Roth rolled down the window to apologize, Rodriguez opened fire on the four cheerleaders, injuring Roth and shooting Washington three times.
Washington told Strahan she acted on instinct at the moment.
“I turned immediately with my blanket,” she said. “I didn’t know where it was coming from or anything, but it being so loud that my ears were ringing, I knew to turn and do something.”
The cheerleaders drove off while the shots continued to fire. Washington said she began to notice she was having trouble breathing and realized she had been shot.
“We were tryin’ to get away. I really was just telling myself to breathe. It was hard to breathe because of my diaphragm,” she said. “I was trying to stay as calm as possible for the other people in the car. I could tell how sad and scared they were.”
Very quickly, she knew “something was wrong.” “I saw blood on [my passenger] seat. So I knew somewhere I was bleeding. But I had so much adrenaline, I didn’t really know where,” said Washington. “And then whenever we pulled over and opened the door, I was like, ‘Oh, gotta throw up.’ And that’s when I was throwing up blood.”
Rodriguez allegedly fled the scene, but was later arrested at his home, according to court documents. He’s since been charged with deadly conduct, a third-degree felony, said police. Rodriguez’s bail was initially set at $500,000 but was reduced to $100,000, according to his attorney. Rodriguez is currently released on bail and has yet to enter a plea.
Roth, who was grazed by a bullet, was treated for her injuries and released at the scene, while Washington was helicoptered to a hospital near Austin in critical condition.
Washington went through a series of lifesaving procedures to treat the two bullets that struck her backside and a shot through her left abdomen.
However, she said “the hardest part was after the surgeries.”
Before the shooting, Washington had been accepted to Baylor University and was set to join its acrobatics and tumbling team in the fall. Now, she said simple things, like getting up from bed or standing by yourself are challenging.
“It was hard … hurting to walk or stand is really weird when, a week before, you were doing a bunch of flips, running the track, and doing long jump, and all this stuff,” said Washington.
But she said she won’t dwell on the past.
“He did what he did, and I’m just gonna try and get through it. There’s no point in me really thinking about what he did,” she said.
Only five weeks after the shooting, Washington joined her friends at graduation. She said she’s committed to getting her life back.
“You can literally do anything if you push and you persevere,” she said. “Don’t doubt yourself ever because you can do anything as long as you’re putting your 120% into it.”
ABC News’ Marilyn Heck contributed to this report.
(SIOUX FALLS, S.D.) — A zoo in South Dakota has welcomed a litter of critically endangered red wolf pups — a litter vital to the existence of the species with only an estimated two dozen left existing in the wild.
The Great Plains Zoo in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, said that they were “thrilled to announce the births of six critically endangered red wolves” on Thursday in a statement on the zoo’s website.
The six pups — two females and four males — were born to first-time parents Camelia and Uyosi, who only arrived at the Great Plains Zoo in October of last year from facilities in Washington and Texas, respectively.
These six pups are vital to the existence of the species with an estimated 23 to 25 red wolves remaining in the wild and only an estimated 278 alive in captivity, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Red Wolf Recovery Program.
“Camelia and Uyosi are amazing parents, I wouldn’t expect anything less from them,” said Joel Locke, the Animal Care Director of the Great Plains Zoo. “We are fortunate to have vet staff and animal care staff that have worked with red wolves for more than 15 years. We had our last litter from our previous pair of red wolves in 2016, so the team is well-versed in red wolf care.”
Red wolves are currently the most endangered canid species in the world, according to the zoo, and the red wolves at the facility are part of the Red Wolf Species Survival Plan, which aims to “breed pairs with the greatest possible genetic diversity, with the goal of bolstering the wild population.”
“We will soon see the pups wandering around the exhibit, as they get bigger and braver,” the Great Plains Zoo said in the birth announcement. “However, zookeepers request that everyone in the area continue to use low voices, as new wolf parents can be especially susceptible to environmental stressors.”
The pups are now under close observation by the zoo’s veterinary and animal care teams and are also being monitored very closely by camera as well as regular check-ups on their health and wellbeing.
