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(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis said video of the Jan. 7 traffic stop that allegedly led to Tyre Nichols’ death left her “horrified,” “disgusted,” “sad” and “confused.”

“In my 36 years, […] I would have to say I don’t think I’ve ever been more horrified and disgusted, sad […] and, to some degree, confused,” Davis told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos during an interview Friday on Good Morning America.

“As we continue to try to build trust with our community, this is a very, very heavy cross to bear — not just for our department but for departments across the country,” she added. “Building trust is a day-by-day interaction between every traffic stop, every encounter with the community. We all have to be responsible for that and it’s going to be difficult in the days to come.”

Nichols, 29, died in a hospital three days after a confrontation with police during a traffic stop in Memphis on Jan. 7. Video of the incident, comprised of footage from the city’s surveillance cameras and the former officers’ body-worn cameras, has yet to be made public but is expected to be released on Friday evening.

“There was much discussion about when an appropriate time for the video to be released,” Davis told ABC News. “We felt that Friday would be better. We’re taking under consideration the reaction of the community that could potentially take place and ensuring that our schools, you know, are out, most business folks would be on the way home.”

Authorities have warned law enforcement agencies of the reaction that may transpire when the footage is released, and Memphis is not the only city on alert. In Washington, D.C., the Metropolitan Police Department said Thursday that it has “fully activated all sworn personnel in preparation for possible First Amendment activities.” The United States Capitol Police, charged with protecting Congress, is also taking steps to boost security ahead of the video release, a source briefed on the agency’s plans told ABC News on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Police Department said Friday that it is “closely monitoring the situation in Memphis” and is “working with our stakeholders to ensure that we have ample staffing on hand in order to provide for the safety and First Amendment rights of demonstrators, residents, and visitors.”

Last week, the Memphis Police Department fired five officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith — in connection with Nichols’ death. All five men were arrested on Thursday and each charged with several felonies, including second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault, official misconduct and official oppression, according to online jail records for Tennessee’s Shelby County and a press release from the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office.

“Even though this is a very, very difficult video to watch, it was never a thought that we would not release this video,” Davis noted. “We wanted to make sure that it wasn’t released too prematurely because we wanted to ensure that the DA’s office, the TBI and also the FBI had an opportunity to cross some of the hurdles that they had to in their investigation. And we’re sort of at a point now that the DA has made his statements in reference to charges of these officers, that this is a safe time for us to release the video.”

When pressed on why the video left her “confused,” the police chief told ABC News that it was “just in the level of aggression and response to what had occurred in this traffic stop and is still very unclear, you know, as to the real reason for the stop in the first place.”

Nichols was arrested in Memphis on the evening of Jan. 7, after officers attempted to make a traffic stop for reckless driving near the area of Raines Road and Ross Road, according to separate press releases from the Memphis Police Department and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. A confrontation unfolded as the officers approached Nichols, who ran away. Another confrontation occurred when the officers pursued Nichols and ultimately apprehended him, police said.

After the incident, Nichols “complained of having a shortness of breath” and was transported by ambulance to Memphis’ St. Francis Hospital in critical condition, according to police.

Due to Nichols’ condition, the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office was contacted and TBI special agents were subsequently requested to conduct a use-of-force investigation, according to the TBI.

Nichols “succumbed to his injuries” on Jan. 10, the TBI said.

Local, state and federal authorities continue to investigate the Jan. 7 traffic stop and Nichols’ death.

According to a preliminary independent autopsy commissioned by Nichols’ family and released by their lawyers, he suffered from “extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating.”

Neither the independent autopsy report nor official autopsy report have been publicly released.

When asked what went wrong that fateful day, the police chief told ABC News that she thinks “there were several gaps that took place.”

“I’m just going to be honest, anytime we have officers that are working in various types of units — and our police department along with departments around the country have specialized units — it’s just important to make sure that there are supervisors that are where they’re supposed to be during these types of operations,” Davis added. ” You know, individuals that are the right people that are in place that will act appropriately when these types of incidents occur.”

“I believe there was a sense of group think in the mentality of what was happening,” she said, “and it’s just very unfortunate that nobody stepped forward to say ‘enough.'”

Davis also noted that “the stop itself was very questionable” and investigators “have been unable to verify the reckless driving allegation.”

Bean, Haley, Martin, Mills and Smith were part of the SCORPION Unit, an acronym for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace In Our Neighborhoods launched in 2021 by the Memphis Police Department. The goal of the unit was created to address violent crimes in the city in a 50-person unit that operates seven days a week. According to the Memphis Police Department, the five former officers violated policies for use of force, duty to intervene and duty to render aid. Other officers are under investigation for department violations as well.

The police chief told ABC News that she is not aware of any prior criminal records for Bean, Haley, Martin, Mills or Smith.

All five were booked into Shelby County Jail on Thursday. Bonds were set at $350,000 for Martin and Haley, and $250,000 for Bean, Mills and Smith, according to a press release from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. As of early Friday morning, online jail records show Bean, Martin, Mills and Smith have since been released after posting bond. Records show Haley is the only one still in custody, though it appears he has posted bond.

Mills’ lawyer, Blake Ballin, and the attorney for Martin, William Massey, told reporters on Thursday that they have not yet seen video of the Jan. 7 incident, but they said their clients were “devastated” about the charges and will be pleading not guilty. Although there have been no public announcement of other defense attorneys representing the officers, Ballin and Massey told reporters that all former officers are currently represented.

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy, joined by TBI Director David Rausch and other members of the state agency, held a press conference on Thursday afternoon to officially announce the charges against the five former officers.

“Nothing we do today or did today precludes the addition of any further charges regarding any of the people [involved],” Mulroy told reporters.

Earlier this week, Nichols’ stepfather, Rodney Wells, told ABC News that the family is seeking a first-degree murder charge. But Mulroy said Thursday that he had met with the family about the charges brought and “expedited” the investigation.

The TBI director described the Jan. 7 incident as “absolutely appalling.”

“Let me be clear, what happened here does not at all reflect proper policing,” Rausch told reporters. “This was wrong. This was criminal.”

Nichols’ family and their lawyers have already seen video of the incident. One of the family’s attorneys, Ben Crump, told ABC News that the footage was “tragic” and “so difficult to watch,” describing Nichols as a “gentle soul.”

“Even while he’s being brutalized, you still see the humanity in Tyre that he was a good kid,” Crump said during an interview Thursday night on ABC News Live Prime. “It’s just troubling on so many levels that they continue to escalate. They never de-escalate. And it’s just heart wrenching at the end where, you know, he calls for his mother three times. I mean, heart wrenching cries for his mother. And then he never says another word again.”

Crump said Nichols’ family is “relieved” that the officers were terminated “in a swift manner” and also “thankful that the charges were brought today.”

“What I found is — in my almost 25 years of doing this civil rights work in America — it is not the race of the police officer that is the determining factor of whether they are going to engage in excessive use of force,” he added. “But it is the race of the citizen and, oftentimes, it’s Black and brown citizens who bear the brunt of this police brutality. We don’t see our white brothers and sisters who are unarmed encounter this type of excessive force at the hands of police.”

ABC News’ Nakylah Carter, Armando Garcia, Ahmad Hemingway, Josh Margolin, Mark Osborne, Stephanie Wash and Whitney Lloyd contributed to this report.

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(ATLANTA) — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency Thursday in response to ongoing protests in downtown Atlanta.

Kemp ordered the state’s defense department to mobilize up to 1,000 state National Guard troops to be called up to active duty “as necessary.”

Authorities arrested six people Saturday when demonstrations over a proposed training ground for the Atlanta Police Department, which started peacefully, involved shooting fireworks, smashing windows, and igniting a police cruiser once protestors reached downtown.

Police suppressed the protests quickly, authorities said last weekend.

The group behind the protests, called ‘Stop Cop City,’ has demonstrated against the training facility for months and was particularly moved last week by the death of a protestor when police raided a campground occupied by demonstrators.

Police say the protestor, Manuel Esteban Paez Teran, fired first, injuring an officer, but activists have questioned authorities’ description of the encounter.

The proposed training center, which was approved by the Atlanta City Council in 2021, will “reimagine law enforcement training,” according to the website of the Atlanta Police Foundation, which is spearheading the project.

In a September FAQ posted on its website, the Foundation acknowledged that the 85 acres on which the facility is being built, which is part of a wooded area in DeKalb County, had been designated by the city council in 2017 as a future green space. However, the group claims that the plan “was not well-known” and said it was not binding.

Kemp’s state of emergency declaration came as Atlanta braces for possible protests on Friday when Memphis authorities intend to release body camera footage of the alleged beating of Tyre Nichols by five Memphis police officers who have since been fired and charged with murder in his death.

“We are closely monitoring the events in Memphis and are prepared to support peaceful protests in our city,” the Atlanta Police Department said in a statement Thursday. “We understand and share in the outrage surrounding the death of Tyre Nichols. Police officers are expected to conduct themselves in a compassionate, competent, and constitutional manner and these officers failed Tyre, their communities and their profession. We ask that demonstrations be safe and peaceful.”

Kemp did not indicate whether his declaration was also in preparation for any Nichols-related protests.

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(CYRIL, Okla.) — Remains found last week amid the search for a missing 4-year-old girl in Oklahoma have been confirmed to be those of the child, authorities said.

Athena Brownfield was reported missing earlier this month after a postal carrier found her sister wandering alone outside, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

Remains found in rural Grady County, outside of Rush Springs, on Jan. 17 have been positively identified as those of Athena, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said on Thursday.

The agency said it had no further comment due to a gag order filed in Caddo County District Court.

Local authorities began searching for Athena on Jan. 10, when the postal worker discovered her 5-year-old sister wandering alone and notified police, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. The search became a “recovery operation,” the agency said on Jan. 16, several days after one of her caregivers was arrested on a murder charge in connection with the child’s disappearance.

Alysia Adams, 31, was arrested on Jan. 12 in Grady County, Oklahoma, on two counts of child neglect, the agency said. Her husband, Ivon Adams, 36, was taken into custody in Phoenix that day on one count of murder in the first degree and one count of child neglect, it said.

The two sisters had reportedly been in the couple’s care for at least a year, before the 5-year-old was found alone outside their home in Cyril, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. Alysia Adams is related to the sisters, the agency said. Authorities did not comment on how the Adams’ became the primary caregivers of the children.

The girls’ biological parents have been interviewed by agents and are “cooperating with the investigation,” the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said.

During a court appearance in Maricopa County a day after his arrest, Ivon Adams waived his right to an extradition hearing.

“I need to get there and fight this,” he told the court.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol issued a missing and endangered person alert for Athena on Jan. 11 to people in a 15-mile radius of Cyril, located about 70 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said on Jan. 16 that the search was now considered a “recovery operation” and that its agents and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol were searching areas of Caddo County for the child’s remains.

Amid the search, Brook Arbeitman, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, said that authorities were finding items in town that “could be relevant” and helpful to the case, though did not elaborate.

“We are finding things that we hope might give us clues,” she said.

Athena’s sister was placed in protective custody with the state after she was found, Arbeitman said.

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(LOS ANGELES) — Following four California mass shootings in the span of eight days that left 25 people dead and 17 injured, some gun violence researchers said they’re concerned that a phenomenon known as “mass shooting contagion” is occurring across the state.

The cluster of deadly incidents is not surprising, gun violence researchers told ABC News, saying studies have shown the probability is high that a mass shooting garnering national attention will be rapidly followed by another.

“‘Contagion’ is a statistical process. It’s when the likelihood of a similar crime of another mass shooting increases in the aftermath of another mass shooting. That’s what ‘contagion’ is,” James Alan Fox, a professor of criminology at Northeastern University, who led a study on the subject published in 2020, told ABC News.

Fox said a 2015 study conducted by researchers at Arizona State University concluded that every mass shooting tends to increase the likelihood of another mass shooting for about 13 days.

String of California massacres

California’s recent string of mass shootings began on 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.

Just five days after the Goshen killings, a 72-year-old man allegedly opened fire in a dance studio in the Los Angeles County city of Monterey Park, killing 11 people, all of Asian descent, and injuring nine others, according to law enforcement officials. The gunman, identified as Huu Can Tran, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after police cornered him following an intense manhunt, officials said. A motive in the shooting remains under investigation.

A day later, a 66-year-old farmworker allegedly shot and killed seven co-workers, five of Asian descent and two of Hispanic descent, and injured one in what authorities said was a workplace shooting at two mushroom growing farms in Half Moon Bay. The suspect, Chunli Zhao, was charged with seven counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, firearm use enhancements and a count of special circumstance allegation of multiple murder.

Just hours after the Half Moon Bay shooting, seven 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.

“There are mass shootings waiting to happen, so one of them can influence the other,” Lori Post, director of the Buehler Center for Health Policy and Economics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told ABC News.

Post, who keeps a database of mass shootings dating back to 1966, added, “If a would-be shooter sees all the attention of another mass shooter, it may incentivize him to carry out his plan. But one mass shooting does not inspire a normal person to commit a massacre.”

Difference between contagion, copycat killings

Fox said mass shooting contagion is very different from what law enforcement officials call “copycat shootings,” when an individual attempts to mimic or copy the actions of mass shooter they may admire.

Elliot Rodger, who killed six people and injured 14 in a May 2014 rampage in Isla Vista, California, near Santa Barbara, became a hero to the so-called “incel,” or voluntarily celibate community after distributing a document in which he said he planned his murderous rampage as a “Day of Retribution” to exact revenge on a society that had denied him sex and love.

“There were a couple of mass shootings by incels who revered him,” said Fox, adding that copycat killings can occur long after the original crime.

“The 20th anniversary of Columbine brought a number of attempts,” Fox said. “Fortunately, no one succeeded.”

In contagion mass shootings, Fox said, “It’s not necessarily that the killer admires the previous ones.”

“There are individuals who have the motivation to commit a mass killing and another crime can help precipitate it, but it doesn’t cause it. It’s just that they say, ‘Ok, that’s what I want to do too and I’ll do it now,” Fox said.

In addition to the spat of California mass shootings, Post said there have been several recent examples of the phenomenon, indicating contagion mass shootings don’t have to occur in the same geographic location or even the same state if widespread publicity is spawned by the initial event.

On May 14, 2022, 18-year-old Payton Gendron killed 10 Black people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, in what investigators said was a racially-motivated attack he later pleaded guilty to. Ten days after the Buffalo mass shooting, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos committed a mass shooting at Rob Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 children and two teachers before he was killed by a police officer.

One day after an Aug. 3, 2019, mass shooting at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart, a gunman fired 41 shots in 30 seconds in a nightlife district in Dayton, Ohio, killing 9 people and wounding dozens of others before being shot and killed by police. In the final report of its investigation released in 2021, the FBI said the gunman, 24-year-old Conner Betts, had a fascination with mass shootings, serial killings and murder-suicide for at least a decade.

Fox said a cluster of mass shootings can be followed by a lull in massacres, some lasting several weeks to several years.

Fox, who once served on President Bill Clinton’s advisory committee on school shootings, said that from the latter half of the 1990s to March 2021, there were eight multiple victim shootings in U.S. schools, each with at least four victims and at least two deaths, prompting a tremendous amount of discussion among the public, educators and students.

“After March of 2001, we had summertime, and of course there’s no school shootings in the summertime, and then we had 9/11,” Fox said. “After 9/11, no-one talked about school shootings. The shift of attention went from school shootings to terrorism. Once we stopped obsessing about it, they dissipated.”

Less than 1% of annual homicides

Tage S. Rai, a psychologist and an assistant professor of management at U.C. San Diego Rady School of Management, who studies violence, told ABC News that data shows mass shootings only account for less than 1% of all annual homicide deaths in the United States, yet they garner the most attention and create widespread fear that is unwarranted.

“And so what that means is we’re probably not paying enough attention or giving enough resources to other kinds of gun violence that go on,” Rai said. “We’re not paying enough attention to violence in the home, we’re not paying enough attention to suicide deaths by gun, we’re not paying enough attention to a lot of other kinds of gun violence that we see.”

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(LOS ANGELES) — January’s record rain and snowfall on the West Coast has had a positive side effect for over 27 million California residents.

California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced Thursday that the extra rainwater will allow the State Water Project (SWP) to increase deliveries to 29 local water agencies this year.

In December, the agency announced that it would initially allocate 5% of requested supplies to the local agencies, but now it will allocate 30% of those requests.

“The SWP’s two largest reservoirs (Oroville and San Luis) have gained a combined 1.62 million acre-feet of water in storage — roughly enough to provide water to 5.6 million households for a year,” DWR said in a statement.

Several rain and snow storms left parts of California with flash floods, downed trees and other damage during for weeks starting at the end of December. More than three feet of rain fell in California during those storms and the Sierra Nevada Mountains surpassed seasonal averages for snowfall, according to state data.

Extreme drought, the second-highest level of drought, in California fell from 27.1% to 0.32% Between Jan. 3 and Jan. 10, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Severe drought, the third-highest level, fell from 71% to 46%, during that same period, according to the monitor.

“These storms made clear the importance of our efforts to modernize our existing water infrastructure for an era of intensified drought and flood. Given these dramatic swings, these storm flows are badly needed to refill groundwater basins and support recycled water plants,” DWR Director Karla Nemeth said in a statement.

The agency warned Californians to still conserve their water use as the state could see a return to warm and dry conditions prior to April 1, which is the end of the wet season.

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(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — Jan. 7, 2023: Tyre Nichols pulled over

Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, was pulled over by police for alleged reckless driving.

According to Nichols’ mother, Rowvaughn Wells, Tyre was 2 minutes away from his home when he was pulled over.

Officials said that Memphis officers approached Nichols, who ran away.

Attorneys for Nichols’ family said the body camera footage of the incident shows that Nichols did not originally run when being approached by officers. They say Nichols told police that “he was just trying to get home” from FedEx, where he worked, and yelled for his mother three times toward the end of the video. The body camera footage has not yet been released publicly.

Officers say they then pursued Nichols after he ran and apprehended him, police said.

After the incident, Nichols “complained of having a shortness of breath” and was transported by ambulance to Memphis’ St. Francis Hospital in critical condition, according to police.

Due to Nichols’ condition, the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office was contacted and TBI special agents were subsequently requested to conduct a use-of-force investigation, according to the TBI.

The Memphis Police Department said at the time that the “officers involved will be routinely relieved of duty pending the outcome of” the TBI’s investigation.

Jan. 10: Tyre Nichols’ death

Nichols died three days after being detained by Memphis police.

Jan. 18: Federal investigations begin

Kevin G. Ritz, United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, announced that the FBI and DOJ are investigating the incident.

“State authorities have publicly announced that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating,” Ritz said in a statement. “In addition, the United States Attorney’s Office, in coordination with the FBI Memphis Field Office and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, has opened a civil rights investigation.”

Jan. 20: The firing of Memphis police officers

The Memphis Police Department announced that it fired five police officers following an investigation into Nichols’ death.

The officers were identified as Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith. They are all Black men.

“After a thorough review of the circumstances surrounding this incident, we have determined that five MPD officers violated multiple department policies, including excessive use of force, duty to intervene and duty to render aid,” the department said in a statement.

Jan. 23: Family describes body camera footage

The video footage of Nichols’ interaction with five Memphis police officers was viewed by Nichols’ family and attorneys.

They described the video as “appalling,” “deplorable,” “heinous,” “violent” and “troublesome on every level,” according to Ben Crump, attorney for the Nichols family.

“What he was in that was defenseless the entire time,” said Antonio Romanucci, another attorney for the family. “He was a human piñata for those police officers. It was unadulterated, unabashed, nonstop beating of this young boy for 3 minutes.” Romanucci also mentioned that Nichols, who died January 10, was kicked during the footage.

The family said they saw the police kick, pepper spray and use a stun gun on their son all while Nichols repeatedly asked, “What did I do?”

Jan. 26: Independent autopsy released, officers charged

A grand jury indicted five officers involved in the Nichols incident. They have each been charged with murder and are in custody. They have been charged with “second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravating kidnapping, resulting in bodily injury, aggravated kidnapping involving the possession of a weapon official misconduct through unauthorized exercise of power, official misconduct through failure to act when there is a duty imposed by law, and official oppression,” according to the Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy.

An independent autopsy, completed by a forensic pathologist hired by the family’s attorneys, found that Nichols suffered from “extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating,” according to the family.

“His observed injuries are consistent with what the family and attorneys witnessed on the video of his fatal encounter with police on January 7,” the family of Tyre Nichols and their attorneys said in a statement. “Further details and findings from this independent report will be disclosed at another time.”

Memphis Chief of Police Cerelyn Davis called the officers’ actions “heinous, reckless and inhumane,” adding that “when the [body camera footage] is released in the coming days, you will see this for yourselves.”

Chief Davis said that she expects protests following the video’s release, but warns that even though she anticipates outrage, that “none of this is a calling card for inciting violence.”

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(WELLINGTON, Kan.) — A dog has shot and killed a 30-year-old man in the front seat of a car after it stepped on a hunting rifle lying in the back seat, Kansas authorities said.

The victim, Joseph Smith, was in the front passenger seat at the time of the shooting, which unfolded while he and another man were on a hunting trip, according to the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office.

“The stock of the gun was in the back seat, and the barrel was laying on the console facing the victim,” Sumner County Undersheriff Mike Westmoreland told ABC News via email.

At about 9:45 a.m. Saturday, the German shepherd stepped on the trigger from the back seat, and a bullet struck Smith in the back, according to the sheriff’s office and Wellington Fire and EMS Chief Timothy Hay.

Smith died at the scene, Hay told ABC News.

Westmoreland said the German shepherd belongs to the driver of the vehicle.

“You don’t want to leave a loaded weapon in your vehicle that’s out in the open,” Hay advised. “Unload it if it’s inside of the vehicle, or at least have the safety on.”

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(NEW YORK) — Federal and local law enforcement in Pennsylvania said they are struggling to locate the bulk of firearms stolen in a recent string of burglaries of licensed firearm dealers.

Of the 93 guns stolen, officials have been able to locate 33 — some of which were involved in later robberies and shootings — leaving the status of 60 guns unknown, according to a joint press release.

The Montgomery County District Attorney, Bucks County District Attorney, Special Agent-in-charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Philadelphia Field Division and the Springfield Township Police Chief announced on Wednesday that they had arrested 13 people, including 11 juveniles, on charges related to three burglaries and one attempted burglary.

Two adults — aged 40 and 22 — and two people who were listed as juveniles were charged as adults, police said. Angel Mason, 40, and Donte Purnell, 22, were released after bail was set. Elijah Terrell, 16, was arraigned and remanded to the Montgomery County Youth Center, and Liv Hall, 18, was incarcerated in Philadelphia on unrelated charges, police said.

The remaining nine minors, who ranged in age from 14 to 17, were charged in juvenile court.

Police said they traced at least four of the guns to later crimes, including a September double shooting in Philadelphia that left a 16-year-old dead and a 14-year-old injured, as well as an additional shooting incident. At least two other firearms were used in armed robberies.

“With 60 firearms unaccounted for, we still don’t know the extent of the damage by this corrupt organization’s criminal activities, including shootings and murders,” said Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele.

The 60 missing firearms represent a small portion of the total number of stolen firearms circulating in the United States. Roughly 1.2 million guns were stolen from individuals between 2012 through 2015, according to data collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and analyzed by the Center for American Progress. Twenty-two thousand were stolen from gun stores. In total, during that timeframe, a person in the U.S. stole a gun every two minutes.

“Together, we fight hard every day against lawless criminals that steal and use crime guns to terrorize our communities, regardless of whose borders they cross,” said Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub. “And we will not rest. More to come.”

Some of the defendants in Pennsylvania belonged to a Philadelphia juvenile youth gang called “54th Street,” authorities said. Between Sept. 23 and Nov. 20, the group allegedly executed three successful burglaries in Montgomery and Bucks Counties and attempted a fourth that was foiled when a bystander heard breaking glass and called 911. According to the release, the group also allegedly planned two additional robberies that had not yet been executed.

For each successful robbery, the defendants are alleged to have entered the store between 2 a.m. and 4:30 a.m., smashed the glass display case, grabbed the firearms, then fled. Their first heist yielded 26 guns, the second produced 32 pistols, eight rifles, and one suppressor, and their last provided 27 firearms, officials said.

“Detectives found that those stolen firearms were rapidly distributed and illegally transferred between members of the corrupt organization and to others, which led to the use of these stolen guns to commit crimes,” the release noted.

The arrests resulted from cooperation across multiple local, county, state and federal law enforcement entities. The Springfield Township Police Department said law enforcement quickly analyzed the volume of cell phone and social media data through membership in the U.S. Secret Service’s Philadelphia Area Cyber Fraud Taskforce.

“This was truly interagency cooperation at its best,” wrote the Springfield Township Police Department in their release.

The Department of Justice announced in 2021 the creation of five firearms trafficking “strike forces” aimed at disrupting firearms trafficking by leveraging existing resources in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

Such task forces work to stop the traffic of guns from where they are more obtainable into cities. For example, ATF data shows that 81% of guns recovered in New York in 2022 originated from out of state, with cities like Chicago and Baltimore seeming similar sourcing for illegal firearms.

“All too often, guns found at crime scenes come from hundreds or even thousands of miles away,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in 2021.

Following the fatal shooting of two New York Police officers with an illegally obtained gun in 2022, President Joe Biden called for strengthening task forces to stop the illegal flow of firearms.

At the time of Garland’s 2021 announcement, Philadelphia did not acquire a dedicated strike force from the DOJ; however, the Pennsylvania Attorney General, Philadelphia Police and District Attorney’s Office run a similar gun violence task force with multiple federal agencies to trace the origin of gun crimes.

“These defendants brazenly broke into gun stores and stole nearly 100 firearms, then sold and transferred them widely throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware,” said Steele.

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(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — The five Memphis police officers who were fired in connection with the death of Tyre Nichols after a traffic stop on Jan. 7 have each been charged with murder and are in custody Thursday, according to Shelby County, Tennessee, jail records.

Memphis police identified the officers last week as Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith. All five have been booked into jail.

There has been no official announcement of charges against the officers, but jail records for the officers show they’ve each been booked on several felonies, including second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault.

Bonds are set at $350,000 for Martin and Haley, and $250,000 for Bean, Mills and Smith, according to a news release from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Former officer Mills is currently being represented by defense attorney Blake Ballin, who will be holding a press conference today with defense attorney William Massey, representing former officer Martin.

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy, joined by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director David Rausch and other TBI members, made the official announcement Thursday afternoon, charging the officers on multiple counts.

“In a word, ‘it’s absolutely appalling. Let me be clear, what happened here does not at all reflect proper policing. This was wrong. This was criminal,” Rausch said.

The investigation is still ongoing at this time. According to Mulroy, under the laws of Tennessee, second-degree murder is a knowing killing.

“Nothing we do today or did today precludes the addition of any further charges regarding any of the people [involved],” Mulroy said.

The video footage of the incident is comprised of city cameras and body camera footage of the former officers.

Nichols’ stepfather Rodney Wells told ABC News earlier this week that they are seeking a first-degree murder charge, but Mulroy told press that he met with the family about the charges brought today and “expedited” the investigation.

MPD announced this week that other officers in the department are under investigation for department violations as well.

According to the department, the officers violated policies for use of force, duty to intervene and duty to render aid.

“The news today from Memphis officials that these five officers are being held criminally accountable for their deadly and brutal actions gives us hope as we continue to push for justice for Tyre,” Nichols’ family attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci said in a statement.

“This young man lost his life in a particularly disgusting manner that points to the desperate need for change and reform to ensure this violence stops occurring during low-threat procedures, like in this case, a traffic stop.”

This announcement comes after MPD Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis released a statement including that the five officers were “directly responsible for the physical abuse” of Nichols and that the video footage of the incident was “heinous, reckless and inhumane.”

“I expect our citizens to exercise their first amendment right to protest, to demand action and results, but we need to ensure our community is safe in this process. None of this is a calling card for inciting violence or destruction on our community or against our citizens,” Davis said.

The video has yet to be made public but is expected to be released on Friday.

Authorities have warned law enforcement agencies of the reaction that may transpire when the official video footage is released.

Tennessee Sheriff’s Association President Jeff Bledsoe sent out a letter to Jonathan Thompson, the National Sheriffs’ Association Executive Director/CEO, on Wednesday anticipating the public reaction to the video’s release.

“Due to the nature of the video’s contents it is believed it may spark responses outside of the traditional protests,” the letter read. “There is a public safety risk potential to communities and peace officers expanding outside of the Shelby County (Memphis) TN area.”

After being pulled over for “reckless driving” on Jan. 7, Nichols was involved in an altercation with Memphis officers that led to him being hospitalized in critical condition after complaining of shortness of breath during the arrest. Three days later, Nichols died.

According to a preliminary independent autopsy commissioned by Nichols’ family and released by attorneys, Nichols suffered from “extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating.”

The independent autopsy report or official autopsy report has still not been publicly released.

The incident also continues to be investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice.

ABC News’ Armando Garcia, Josh Margolin, Stephanie Wash and Whitney Lloyd contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Sayfullo Saipov, an Uzbek native who drove a rented truck down a Manhattan bike path adjacent to the Hudson River in an ISIS-inspired terror attack that killed eight people, was convicted Thursday by a federal court jury of murder and attempted murder in order to gain entry to ISIS, making him eligible for the death penalty.

The trial, which began in Manhattan federal court earlier this month, marked the first federal death penalty trial of the Biden administration. Jurors will next decide whether Saipov should face the death penalty.

Saipov had pleaded not guilty to multiple charges, including murder in the aid of racketeering and providing and attempting to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization.

The truck attack, which was on Halloween, was the deadliest terror attack in New York since Sept. 11, 2001.

Saipov, a native of Uzbekistan who lived in Florida, Ohio and New Jersey following his arrival in the United States, was allegedly inspired to commit the killings by ISIS videos he viewed, prosecutors said. The rental truck used in the Oct. 31, 2017, attack was decorated with an ISIS flag.

Prosecutors alleged that the suspect drove the truck on a bike lane and pedestrian walkway in lower Manhattan, and when the truck collided with a school bus he exited the vehicle holding a paintball gun and pellet gun.

“Moments after Saipov got out of the truck, he yelled, in substance and in part, ‘Allah Akbar,'” according to charging documents filed in the case.

He chose Halloween to commit the attack, which required “substantial planning and premeditation,” anticipating there would be more civilians on the streets that day, prosecutors alleged, calling it “heinous, cruel and depraved.”

“Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov caused injury, harm, and loss to the families and friends of Diego Enrique Angelini, Nicholas Cleves, Ann-Laure Decadt, Darren Drake, Ariel Erlij, Hernan Ferruchi, Hernan Diego Mendoza, and Alejandro Damian Pagnucco,” according to court records. Five of the victims were tourists from Argentina.

The defense, which did not call any witnesses during the trial, conceded during opening statements that Saipov carried out the attack but challenged the government’s allegation he did it to become a full-fledged member of ISIS. The defense said Saipov did not want to join the terror group, he wanted to die a martyr.

Saipov has been in federal custody since his arrest.

The Southern District of New York’s last capital murder case was against Khalid Barnes, who was convicted of murdering two drug suppliers but was ultimately sentenced to life in prison in September 2009.

The last time the death penalty was carried out in a New York federal case was in 1953 when husband and wife Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed after being convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage for the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

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