(HOUSTON) — A teenager was killed in a shooting at a high school graduation party in Houston, Texas, the local sheriff said in a statement.
The deceased has been identified by police as 16-year-old Isaac Zetino.
Several teenagers were attending a graduation party Saturday morning when shots were fired around 1:30 a.m., according to a statement from Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
Medical personnel at the scene were unable to save the teen at the scene of the shooting. The shooting took place in Houston’s residential Copperbrook neighborhood.
“During the gathering, shots were fired outside the residence resulting in a 16 year old white male victim sustaining a gunshot wound,” a statement from the sheriff’s office said. “Medical personnel was summoned to the location for life-saving measures with no avail.”
Zetino was not a resident at the home where the shooting took place and had been there to attend an after-prom party, according to Sheriff Ed Gonzalez. Investigators determined Zetino and another juvenile got into a “disturbance” with the father of a female at the party.
During this disturbance, both parties took out handguns and fired at each other, according to police. Investigators have located the adult male who exchanged gunfire with Zetino and the second juvenile involved in the incident.
“The individual cooperated w investigators and provided a statement that said, in part, that he had acted in self-defense when he was shooting. This statement was corroborated by findings at the scene,” Gonzalez said in a statement.
Police said no charges are being filed at this time.
The incident is still under investigation. Upon conclusion of the investigation, it will be presented to a grand jury for possible charges, police said.
(OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss.) — A teenager was killed and six others were injured in a shooting at a Mississippi Gulf Coast restaurant Friday night, authorities said.
Police responded to a shooting shortly before 11 p.m. local time at The Scratch Kitchen in Ocean Springs, east of Biloxi.
Responding officers found seven shooting victims at the scene, including a teenager who had died from his injuries, Ocean Springs Police Capt. Ryan LeMaire said. The police department identified the victim as 19-year-old Chase Harmon of Pascagoula, Mississippi.
The surviving victims were transported to area hospitals for treatment, said police, who did not provide details on the extent of their injuries.
There are no suspects in the shooting at this time, police said.
The Scratch Kitchen is located on a busy strip in downtown Ocean Springs that’s lined with restaurants and bars. It was offering Cinco de Mayo specials at the time of the shooting.
The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with any information is asked to call the Ocean Springs Police Department at 228-875-2211.
Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
(NEW YORK) — The indictment of rapper Young Thug on gang-related charges in May 2022 sparked a movement in the music industry against the use of rap lyrics as evidence in criminal proceedings. Now as the hip-hop star awaits trial in Georgia, the issue is gaining bipartisan support from lawmakers across the country, who are introducing bills on the federal and state level to limit the controversial practice.
Missouri state Rep. Phil Christofanelli, a Republican sponsoring the bill in his state, told ABC News on Tuesday that using artistic expression in court proceedings could have a “chilling effect” on freedom of speech and his bill is designed to regulate the practice and protect the First Amendment.
“For me, it’s about free speech,” he said.
“If you have a criminal system where your unrelated artistic creations can be brought against you as evidence to take away your life or liberty, that’s about as chilling an effect as you can get,” he added.
Rap lyrics have been used by prosecutors in the U.S. for decades as alleged evidence in criminal cases, but their inclusion in the indictment of Grammy-winning rapper Young Thug in Georgia brought national attention to the practice and sparked a movement across the music industry to “Protect Black Art.”
Recording Academy President Harvey Mason, Jr. told ABC News on Wednesday that using artistic expression in court is a “slippery slope” and sets a “dangerous precedent.” “Bills like this are opportunities to stand up,” Mason said, adding that legislation that limits the use of artistic expression in court will have “repercussions across all the creative areas” and will protect the “rights of creators” across genres and disciplines.
Missouri House Bill No. 353 or the Restoring Artistic Protect Act is known as the “Rap Act” and is named after the federal bill introduced in Congress last year.
Christofanelli said the bill got unanimous bipartisan support in committee and groups “across the ideological spectrum” testified in favor of the bill, including right-leaning organizations dedicated to protecting the First Amendment and progressive groups focused on “criminal justice reform and racial justice.”
The bill, which was included as an amendment to a Senate bill on judicial proceedings, passed the Missouri House on Tuesday and is expected to go up for a vote in the Senate before the legislative session ends on May 12.
“There’s a little bit for everybody to love in this issue, and I think that’s why it’s done pretty well, even in a very conservative state like Missouri and a liberal state like California,” Christofanelli said.
California became the first state to adopt a law limiting the use of lyrics in court when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law in Oct. 2022.
Democratic Reps. Hank Johnson of Georgia and Jamaal Bowman of New York reintroduced the The Rap Act on Capitol Hill last week – a bill that was first introduced last year and helped inspire legislation on the state level.
A similar bill in Louisiana sponsored by Republican Rep. and Speaker Pro Tempore Tanner Magee passed in the House last week and is also expected to go up for a vote in the Senate this month.
In New York, Democratic Sens. Brad Hoylman and Jamaal Bailey co-sponsored the “Rap on Trial” bill last year. The bill passed in the Senate, but never made it to the state assembly and is up for a Senate vote again this year. Similar bills have also been introduced in Maryland and Illinois.
The bills would essentially require prosecutors to prove to a judge without the presence of a jury, that the lyrics in question have a factual nexus to an alleged crime and were intended to be taken literally as a representation of the defendant’s true thoughts or statements.
“We want there to be a hearing before a judge outside of the jury’s presence to make sure that this type of evidence isn’t used to unfairly prejudice jurors against artist defendants,” Christofanelli said.
Although the legislation addresses all artistic genres, research outlined in the 2019 book “Rap on Trial” by Erik Nielson and Andrea Dennis shows that the practice of using lyrics in court disproportionately impacts rap musicians.
“Rap music is the only fictional form — musical or otherwise, that is targeted this way in the courts,” Nielson previously told ABC News.
“It’s absolutely racist,” he added. “Essentially what’s happening is rap music is being denied the status of art.”
Mason said that the Recording Academy is deploying its members to states across the country to provide grassroots support and meet with lawmakers to advocate for the issue.
“This is exactly what the Academy is for,” Mason said.
“Anytime we can jump into action to protect or support or uplift our music community to enable them to do what they do, that’s what we are here for.”
(JACKSONVILLE, Fla.) — Three men have been charged in connection with the killing of a 39-year-old Black man in Jacksonville, Florida.
On May 2, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office was alerted to an unconscious individual, and found the victim lying on the ground near a dumpster in downtown Jacksonville with an apparent gunshot wound. He was pronounced deceased by the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, authorities said.
Multiple shell casings were found in the area and the dumpster had “multiple bullet defects,” according to a police report.
Authorities have not yet released the name of the victim.
During the course of the investigation, detectives found evidence that led them to them a possible suspect vehicle in the area where the shooting occurred, the police report says. The report states that a suspect was “observed” chasing the victim and approaching him as the victim was trying to hide behind a dumpster, before the suspect got into the vehicle and left the scene.
Ryan Nichols, 19, was charged Thursday with second-degree murder, according to the sheriff’s office. Daniel DeGuardia, 18, and Holden Dodson, 21, have been charged with accessory after the fact in the murder. The three men are white.
A judge on Thursday advised DeGuardia and Dodson they may have hate crime charges added to their offense, according to local outlet First Coast News. The judge later told the outlet that she based that upon the allegations that the three white men had been chasing the Black victim for no apparent reason.
However, law enforcement agencies told the outlet there is no information yet that evidences a hate crime.
Attorney information for the three men was not immediately available.
Hate crimes bring heavier penalties, according to Florida statutes. In the state, a crime must evidence “prejudice based on the race, color, ancestry, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, homeless status, or advanced age of the victim” to be considered a hate crime.
(DETROIT) — A Detroit school will remain closed until Monday after dozens of students began experiencing flu-like symptoms and a kindergartner died of flu-like symptoms, the Detroit Public Schools Community District told ABC News.
An elementary student at Marcus Garvey Academy who was sent home last week after experiencing flu-like symptoms later died on April 25, Chrystal Wilson, the assistant superintendent of communications at the Detroit Public Schools Community District, told ABC News.
The following Monday, a number of students at the school began showing flu-like symptoms, including fever and vomiting, and the school advised that those students be sent home.
School and district officials then alerted the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and the Detroit Health Department that students were experiencing symptoms of an illness. Health officials advised that they were unsure what the symptoms could be attributed to, Wilson said.
By Tuesday, there were less than 25 students experiencing symptoms so health officials advised that the school be closed and a deep cleaning be conducted, Wilson said.
While students were advised to visit their physicians for a diagnosis, health officials believe the illnesses may be related to the H flu, or H. influenzae — a bacteria that can cause a variety of infections in infants and young children, Wilson said.
The infections can be mild, such as ear infections, to serious, like bloodstream infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms vary based on the kind of infection but can include fever, chills, vomiting and headaches.
The medical examiner’s office has not yet determined the student’s cause of death, according to Wilson. The medical examiner’s office did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
The school has conducted a deep cleaning in classrooms, as recommended by health officials, according to Wilson.
Marcus Garvey Academy will reopen on Monday but students experiencing symptoms are being asked to stay home, Wilson said.
(WASHINGTON) — A 29-year-old woman who was killed while hiking on a Phoenix trail last week was stabbed 15 times, according to court documents.
Lauren Heike was found dead in a desert area around 10:30 a.m. local time Saturday — about 24 hours after the attack is believed to have occurred, according to Phoenix police.
A 22-year-old suspect, Zion William Teasley, has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder. His bond was set at $1 million during a court appearance Friday.
Teasley had recently been terminated from his job for “being aggressive toward female employees,” according to the probable cause document. Management at that job told investigators that he often carried a pocketknife, which would have been consistent with the murder weapon, according to the document.
Phoenix police were on their way to a person-down call on the hiking trail on Saturday when they also got a call from Heike’s friend saying she did not show up for work that day and that it was unusual, according to the probable cause document.
Investigators determined there was blood and personal items at the scene of the crime showing her path of travel, and they believed she was chased through or over a barbed wire fence, according to the document. A medical examiner determined she had 15 stab wounds on her upper body, and there were defensive wounds on her hands and forearms, the document stated.
A photograph and tattoo description given by her family were used to identify the body as Heike, court documents said.
Police had released surveillance footage depicting a suspect running near the crime scene prior to Teasley’s arrest Thursday evening. He is the same person who was seen in a video clip running away from the scene, Sgt. Maria Soliz said during a press conference.
Teasley is already on probation; he has been convicted of robbery, armed robbery and disorderly conduct and was released from prison in November, prosecutors said.
DNA from Heike’s shoe at the crime scene was preliminarily matched to Teasley, according to the probable cause document. A search warrant for cell carrier data showed him in the area at the time of the murder, and the suspect captured in the surveillance footage was wearing clothing Teasley had stolen from his previous employer, according to the document.
In a police interview, Zion said he was in the area walking to a movie theater and that he knew Heike was attacked from the news but could not recall if he ever met her in person, the probable cause document stated. He reportedly told police, “I am definitely not the person who plans to kill another person,” and, “If I was going to do something like that it wouldn’t be premeditated,” according to the document.
During a court appearance on Friday, the judge advised Teasley that this could be a capital murder case and that he has the right to remain silent. When asked if he understood that right, Teasley responded, “Yes, ma’am, I choose to use that right.”
Prosecutors argued they were concerned Teasley was a flight risk because he had scheduled a flight to Detroit scheduled the previous day.
The judge set the bond at $1 million because she said she was concerned that Teasley could pose a flight risk and it was unclear if this was a targeted or random attack. The judge also ordered to hold Teasley without bail in his probation case.
Teasley is next scheduled to appear in court on May 11 for a status conference. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for May 15.
(NEW YORK) — The case involving the death of a homeless man on a New York City subway is likely headed to a grand jury next week, law enforcement sources said.
The investigation into John Neely’s death is ongoing. A grand jury would determine whether criminal charges are warranted, according to the sources.
Detectives have interviewed more than six witnesses and are still looking to talk to several more.
Neely, a homeless man, was killed by another New York City subway passenger who held him in a chokehold for several minutes, according to witnesses and police. Neely had allegedly been yelling before being subdued by the other passenger, police said. The man seen restraining Neely told police he was not trying to kill Neely.
Police confirmed Neely lost consciousness after the physical struggle. Neely was rushed to Lenox Hill Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Neely’s death has been ruled a homicide by the medical examiner’s office. The 24-year-old involved in the incident has not been charged.
According to police sources, Neely had a documented mental health history. He had been arrested more than 40 times prior for assault, disorderly conduct and fare evasion.
The NYPD has issued a call for public help as investigators review video footage and other material, urging anyone who saw or has any information about this matter to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
The Manhattan DA’s office encourages anyone who witnessed the incident or might have information to also call 212-335-9040.
(PHOENIX) — A man has been taken into custody after a woman was killed while hiking on a Phoenix trail last week, police said.
“Phoenix police have taken a man into custody in connection with the murder of 29-year-old Lauren Heike,” the Phoenix Police Department tweeted Thursday night.
He was identified Friday as 22-year-old Zion William Teasley. He has been booked into Maricopa County Jail for first-degree murder. He is being held without bond.
Teasley was arrested at his residence around 6:30 p.m. local time Thursday, Sgt. Maria Soliz said during a press conference.
He is the same person who was seen in a video clip running away from the scene, Soliz said.
There was an outpouring of support and tips after Heike’s family spoke, police said. Soliz would not say whether one of these tips led to the man’s arrest.
Heike’s parents had pleaded with the public for information in the case, as police hunted for a suspect in the “vicious attack.”
Heike was found dead in a desert area with “trauma to her body” around 10:30 a.m. local time Saturday — about 24 hours after the attack is believed to have occurred, Phoenix police said.
She lived in the area and was on a popular trail that she routinely hiked, police and her family said.
“She loved to exercise. She was walking and we know she was happy. She went out that morning on a beautiful day, she did what she does every day,” her mother, Lana Heike, told reporters during a press briefing Wednesday while surrounded by her daughter’s friends and family.
Phoenix police Lt. James Hester said Lauren Heike was attacked from behind and died as a result of her injuries.
“The vicious attack on Ms. Lauren Heike is unconscionable,” he said during the briefing.
Hester declined to share many details in the case to not compromise the investigation. But he said police have surveillance footage from Friday of a person believed to be a suspect in the homicide.
The suspect was described by police as being upward of 6 feet tall and having a thin build with a dark complexion. The individual was wearing a dark backpack, gray or lighter-colored shirt, dark pants and shoes and was seen running near the area of the crime, police said.
Hester asked people who noticed anything “that didn’t look right” on the trail the day of the incident, as well as the days leading up to and after it, to come forward.
“The behavior, in my opinion, was so heinous that I would imagine that the subject would be displaying behavior symptoms that just would look out of place,” he said.
In a sign posted on the trail, police are also now warning people not to walk alone and to report suspicious activity.
Lauren Heike’s mother described her daughter as “beautiful inside and out” and someone who had a “kind heart.”
“Everybody who met her loved her,” Lana Heike said. “She was super funny. She was just a sweet child.”
Lana Heike said she spoke to her daughter every day, and every call or text ended with, “I love you, mom.”
“We just want the world to know what a sweet person she was, and what she meant to us and to our family. And what a void it is for us,” Lana Heike said.
“I’m begging people to come forward,” she said.
Lauren Heike’s family came in from Washington state to attend Wednesday’s press briefing.
“I just hope they can find whoever did this to her,” her father, Jeff Heike, said.
(PULLMAN, Wash.) — Newly released video shows the suspect in a quadruple murder in Idaho talking his way out of a traffic ticket for running a red light in Washington state a month before the gruesome slayings.
The Washington State University Police Department released body camera footage on Thursday from when one of its officers pulled over Bryan Kohberger on campus in Pullman on Oct. 14. The nearly 10-minute video starts with the officer getting out of her patrol vehicle after stopping Kohberger and parking behind his white 2015 Hyundai Elantra, which is seen with a Pennsylvania license plate. The officer is seen approaching the car from the driver’s side, where Kohberger is sitting behind the wheel with the window rolled down.
“I think you know why I stopped you. You ran the red light,” the officer tells Kohberger.
“What actually happened was I was stuck in the middle of the intersection,” Kohberger replies.
“Yeah,” the officer interjects. “I was behind you the whole time. Yeah. So, technically, you’re not supposed to enter the intersection at all for that reason because if the light turns red, then you’re stuck in the intersection and then you run the red light.”
The officer then asks for Kohberger’s driver’s license, vehicle registration and proof of insurance. Kohberger hands over the documents and then asks the officer to “explain” the traffic laws in Washington state “a little bit further,” telling her he’s from “a very rural area” of Pennsylvania.
“We actually don’t have, like, crosswalks,” Kohberger says. “There’s a little bit more leeway as well.”
After the officer details the specifics of the law, Kohberger apologizes for “asking too many questions” and clarifies that he’s not trying to “disagree.”
“I’m just curious about the law,” he adds.
The officer then decides to let Kohberger off with a warning.
“So I’m not running a ticket or anything like that today. I understand you’re from Pennsylvania,” she says. “But in the future, don’t proceed through the intersection.”
The car in which Kohberger was pulled over is the same one that authorities identified as the suspect vehicle in the Nov. 13 stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students. After the bodies were discovered in a house near the school’s campus in Moscow, Idaho, police said they reviewed surveillance footage that captured a white sedan driving by three times before entering the area for a fourth time in the early morning hours. Police said they then traced the car traveling back to Pullman, Washington, where Kohberger lived and was a graduate student at Washington State University.
In the probable cause affidavit for Kohberger’s Dec. 30 arrest, the Moscow Police Department cites the Oct. 14 traffic stop in Pullman, Washington, noting that Kohberger was the driver and sole occupant of the white sedan.
Kohberger, 28, remains in custody in Idaho and has not yet entered a plea.
ABC News’ Emily Shapiro contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — In Platte County, Missouri, the signs of growth are on almost every corner, with new apartment buildings and shopping centers becoming a common sight. Yet signs for affordable housing remain few and far between.
“There’s still this perception that Platte County is a rich community and that there’s no poverty in Platte County, which couldn’t be further from the truth,” said Becky Poitras of the Metro Lutheran Ministry.
Over the last decade, typical rents in Platte have risen 30 percent, pricing out residents whose income hasn’t kept up, according to an ABC News analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.
As rents have risen, so too have wait times for subsidized housing: County residents placed in public housing in 2012 had waited two years on average. Last year, residents receiving housing had waited nearly twice as long.
“There are waiting lists that are so long that people don’t bother applying, and then sometimes, the waiting lists aren’t even open,” said Maggie Thomas, a colleague of Poitras.
An ABC News and ABC Owned Television Stations investigation found that dozens of counties around the country have even longer subsidized housing wait times than those in Platte.
“Today what we’re seeing is a housing crisis unlike one that we’ve seen since the mid-20th century,” said San Diego State University Assistant Professor Valerie Stahl.
As public housing becomes increasingly difficult to access, especially in areas with growing population and rising cost of living, many of those who are struggling to afford a home question how we got here.
“It’s ridiculous that the waitlist and the waiting time is this long,” said Brenell Whitfield, who has been waiting for housing in California for over a decade.
American public housing dates back to 1937, when Congress created local housing authorities to build public housing for millions of people who were struggling after the Great Depression.
In the subsequent decades, large public housing projects were constructed nationwide. But without sufficient investment, many fell into disrepair, amassing a capital needs backlog now estimated at around $70 billion, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
“We’ve seen a steady deterioration of the quality of public housing since the ’80s and ’90s,” said New York University Associate Professor Jacob Faber.
The U.S. hasn’t built any large-scale public housing since the 1970s when then-President Richard Nixon put a moratorium on its construction, Faber said, preventing expansion to keep up with population growth in counties like Platte.
In the 1980s, amid negative perceptions of neglected public housing buildings and their residents, federal and local governments turned to the private market to address its public housing problem.
Instead of investing in its existing housing portfolio, the federal government launched Section 8, which aimed to deconcentrate poverty by providing vouchers for people in need of housing to use on the private real estate rental market.
“This approach reproduced the same concentrated poverty and inequalities, as discrimination in the private market led to housing segregation,” said Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto Prentiss Dantzler, who has spent the last decade studying affordable housing in the U.S. and Canada.
“We can’t just leave it up to private market actors to solve these issues,” Dantzler said. “The government has a place in that.”
The U.S. government also tried to address its decaying housing stock through the private market, implementing the Hope VI program to give grants to developers to demolish and revitalize public housing. Thousands of units were torn down nationwide, but only about half were replaced, and many of the replacement units were unaffordable to displaced tenants, according to Prentiss Dantzler.
“A lot of the housing stock that was targeted were predominantly Black public housing residents,” Dantzler said, adding that many of these residents “were just pushed out of public housing altogether.”
In 1999, the Faircloth Amendment solidified the federal government’s shift away from public housing, halting new public housing construction and capping units at their existing levels. This legislation is still in effect today, despite recent efforts to repeal it.
“It’s an enormous problem,” Faber said, noting that tens of millions of Americans meet income eligibility requirements for housing assistance. “We simply don’t have the units.”
While most counties nationwide are at or near limits of federally funded public housing allowed under the Faircloth Amendment – with fewer units than they had 24 years ago – due to a lack of resources and a political move away from traditional public housing.
“We’ve seen this really big shift in public housing priorities towards this voucher-based system,” Faber said. Even still, he added the government is “severely underfunding” both public housing and Section 8 vouchers program.
Alantis Perkins spent over seven years on the Quincy, Mass. Section 8 waitlist. Once he finally got his voucher, he struggled to find an affordable unit that fit program guidelines in the three-month timeframe he was given to find housing.
“It was nerve-racking,” Perkins said.
Just before the deadline, Perkins was able to move into an apartment, but he now worries his rent may increase beyond the limit allowed by his voucher.
As the rental market tightens, it becomes more difficult for voucher holders like Perkins to find a place to live.
Faber and Stahl pointed to a lack of federal action to increase support for public housing and vouchers.
Under the current system for both public housing and Section 8, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development provides grants to local housing authorities, but with long or closed waitlists at existing authorities and no new housing authorities being created, the volume of people seeking housing overwhelms the capacity to house them.
HUD declined multiple interview requests from ABC News, but released a statement calling for increased rental assistance funds from Congress.
Poitras said that in places like Platte County, thousands more affordable housing units are needed as growth continues. Of Missouri’s 95 housing authorities, 84 are already at their Faircloth limits or have room for few additional units, all while homelessness remains a concern.
“If we don’t do something as a community to make change, we’re going to continue to have rising homelessness,” Poitras said.
Platte County Presiding Commissioner Scott Fricker acknowledged that the county’s growth has priced out residents, but he disagreed that more public housing is the solution.
“I don’t think government does a good job of owning housing and a lot of private owners don’t do a very good job either, but you can definitely use government subsidies in private development to create affordable housing,” Fricker said.
But relying on the private market to meet low-income Americans’ housing needs becomes tricky when the rental market is hot, some experts say.
“Public housing and Section 8 vouchers are a stable, affordable form of housing, and unfortunately, the private market is not providing that type of stability or affordability right now,” Stahl said.
