(MICHIGAN) — The death of a 21-year-old Michigan State University student has prompted the school to suspend a fraternity he recently joined as police investigate whether alcohol played a role in the tragedy that unfolded at an off-campus frat house, officials said.
The student, identified as Phat Nguyen by the Ingram County Medical Examiner’s Office, was found unresponsive around 2 a.m. on Saturday at a residence several blocks from the East Lansing school, according to police.
When police officers responded to a medical emergency call at the residence, they found four individuals passed out inside, including Nguyen, who was unresponsive and not breathing, according to a statement from the East Lansing Police Department.
Police officers and East Lansing firefighters performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Nguyen, but he never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead at the scene.
“The preliminary investigation indicates that the deceased is an MSU student and that alcohol consumption could play a factor in this case,” the police statement reads.
The three other individuals found passed out in the residence, listed as the Pi Alpha Phi fraternity house, were taken to Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, where they were treated and released.
The cause of Nguyen’s death is pending the results of toxicology tests taken as part of an autopsy, police said.
“We are heartbroken by this loss to our Spartan community and our thoughts and prayers are with the student’s family and friends,” Dan Olsen, a spokesperson for the university, told the Lansing State Journal.
Olsen told the newspaper that university officials suspended the Pi Alpha Phi chapter pending further investigation, meaning the Greek organization must cease from recruiting new members and is barred from hosting campus-related events.
Pi Alpha Phi’s national board confirmed to the State Journal in an email that its “Michigan State University chapter has been placed under interim suspension pending investigation upon the death of a student member last weekend.”
Nguyen’s death appears to have come a day after the MSU Pi Alpha Phi chapter listed him on its Facebook page as one of four students who had just joined the fraternity.
(CALIFORNIA) — Yosemite National Park officials warned visitors not to feed or approach wildlife after a girl was attacked by a buck.
The girl, whose identity has not been made public, was approaching a deer being fed by other visitors when the animal became spooked and charged her with his antlers, the park service said on Wednesday.
She was taken to Yosemite Medical Clinic to be treated for deep wounds on her arm and chest lacerations, officials said.
“It is illegal to feed or approach wildlife in Yosemite! While some animals, including deer, might get used to people approaching them, they spook easily and will defend themselves if people get too close or startle them,” officials posted on Wednesday.
Earlier this year, another National Park visitor was sentenced to four days in jail for willfully remaining, approaching and photographing wildlife within 100 yards, according to an October press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Samantha R. Dehring was at Roaring Mountain in Yellowstone National Park on May 10, 2021, when visitors noticed a grizzly bear and her three cubs. While other visitors backed away, Dehring remained and continued to take pictures until the adult bear charged her.
“Wildlife in Yellowstone National Park are, indeed, wild. The park is not a zoo where animals can be viewed within the safety of a fenced enclosure. They roam freely in their natural habitat and when threatened will react accordingly,” said U.S. Attorney Bob Murray in the press release. “Approaching a sow grizzly with cubs is absolutely foolish. Here, pure luck is why Dehring is a criminal defendant and not a mauled tourist.”
Dehring pled guilty and was sentenced to four days in custody with a year of unsupervised probation and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.
In addition, she was ordered to make a $1,000 community service payment to Yellowstone Forever Wildlife Protection Fundt, according to the press release.
Dehring was banned from Yellowstone National Park for a year.
Yosemite officials on Wednesday urged visitors to stay away from wild animals.
“Please, for the protection of these wild animals and for the safety of all visitors, always keep your distance!” they said. “This is not how we want anyone’s visit to Yosemite to end.”
(LOUISVILLE) — Two people were gunned down, including a 15-year-old boy, on Thanksgiving morning in Louisville.
The city of 600,000 residents saw its 174th and 175th homicides of the year in a span of six hours, breaking the all-time record of 173 set in 2020, according to Louisville Police Department crime statistics.
Louisville eclipsed its deadliest year in the same week that Milwaukee, Wisconsin, (183 homicides) and Columbus, Ohio, (178 homicides), surpassed annual records.
Philadelphia recorded its 500th homicide on Wednesday, tying an all-time high set in 1990 with more than a month yet to go in the year. This week, Washington, D.C., police also investigated its 200th homicide of the year, the most to occur in the nation’s capital in 18 years.
“This is not a livable way for kids to grow and thrive and grow into their dreams and ambitions,” Christopher 2X, a Louisville community activist who runs Game Changers, a nonprofit dedicated to helping vulnerable youth in the city, told ABC affiliate station WHAS in Louisville.
The latest homicide in Louisville unfolded around 2:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving. A 15-year-old boy, identified as Cortez Duncan Jr. by the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office, was suffering from multiple gunshot wounds in the Shawnee neighborhood in west Louisville when police found him, according to Dwight Mitchell, a spokesperson for the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department.
Mitchell said the boy was taken to University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
A second 15-year-old boy with bullet wounds was discovered two blocks away in the Chickasaw neighborhood and taken to a hospital in critical condition, Mitchell said. He said investigators suspect the two teenagers were shot in the same incident. No arrests had been made as of Friday afternoon.
Around 9 p.m. Wednesday, a 48-year-old man, identified by the coroner’s office as Desmond Lamont Bell of Louisville, was found shot dead in a car in the Highview neighborhood in the northeast section of the city, police said. No suspects have been arrested.
Of the 175 homicide victims this year, about 75% were Black, according to an analysis of the police data by the Louisville Courier Journal.
(WASHINGTON) — As people travel to visit loved ones for the holiday season, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland is warning that unruly passengers on flights will not be tolerated and may face prosecution.
“Passengers who assault, intimidate or threaten violence against flight crews and flight attendants do more than harm those employees; they prevent the performance of critical duties that help ensure safe air travel,” the Attorney General wrote in a memo to U.S. Attorneys on Wednesday. “Similarly, when passengers commit violent acts against other passengers in the close confines of a commercial aircraft, the conduct endangers everyone aboard.”
He urged all 52 U.S. attorney’s offices to prioritize the prosecution of federal crimes that “endanger the safety of passengers, flight crews, and flight attendants.”
On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screened 2.3 million people, according to an agency spokesperson.
“The figure represents 88% versus pre-pandemic volume screened in 2019 for that same day of the week,” the administration said.
Airline crews have reported incidents in which visibly drunk passengers verbally abused them, shoved them, threw trash at them, kicked seats, defiled restrooms and, in some cases, even punched them in the face.
A Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson confirmed to ABC News earlier this month that the administration has referred 37 of the “most egregious” cases to the FBI out of the 227 unruly passenger cases they’ve initiated enforcement action on.
Representatives from the Justice Department and FAA began meeting in August, according to a joint statement, “to develop an efficient method for referring the most serious unruly-passenger cases for potential criminal prosecution.”
The FAA said it has received more than 5,000 reports from airlines of unruly passengers since the start of the year.
In his memo on Wednesday, Garland urged U.S. attorney’s offices to talk to state and local law enforcement. He directed them to “reaffirm” the DOJ’s willingness to help.
“The Department of Justice is committed to using resources to do it’s part to prevent violence, intimidation, threats of violence, and other criminal behavior that endangers the safety of passengers, flight crews, flight attendants, on commercial aircraft,” Garland wrote.
ABC News Mina Kaji and Amanda Maile contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.1 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 775,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
Just 59.1% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the new is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 26, 9:24 am
Belgium confirms 1st European case of new variant
Belgium’s health department has confirmed its first case of the new B.1.1.529 variant.
The patient, a woman, had traveled to Belgium from Egypt via Istanbul. She developed symptoms 11 days after her return and was not vaccinated. Her family members have tested negative for COVID and the woman is not in a life-threatening condition, officials said.
Hong Kong has two confirmed cases and Israel has one other confirmed case of the B.1.1.529 variant. Several cases have been reported in South Africa and Botswana.
The World Health Organization is meeting Friday to discuss the new variant.
Nov 26, 4:04 am
EU to propose travel ban on southern Africa over new variant
The European Union’s executive branch said Friday that it wants to suspend air travel to the bloc from southern Africa due to concerns over a newly identified variant of the novel coronavirus.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the announcement via Twitter, saying a proposal “to activate the emergency brake to stop air travel from the Southern Africa region” will be made “in close coordination” with EU member states.
The variant, called B.1.1.529, was first detected in South Africa earlier this week and has quickly spread. At least 22 cases have been confirmed in the country so far, according to South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases. South African scientist Tulio de Oliveira told reporters Thursday that the new variant carries “a very high number of mutations,” but it’s unclear whether it will limit the effectiveness of vaccines.
Several cases of B.1.1.529 have since been confirmed in neighboring Botswana as well as in Hong Kong and Israel. The cases detected in Hong Kong and Israel were linked to travelers who had arrived from southern Africa.
The World Health Organization will meet on Friday to assess B.1.1.529 and determine whether it should be designated a variant “of interest” or “of concern.”
Nov 25, 8:01 pm
UK issues travel restrictions due to concerns over new variant
The United Kingdom announced Thursday new travel restrictions for six countries over concerns about a new variant of the novel coronavirus that emerged in South Africa.
The variant, known as B.1.1.529, has also been found in Botswana and Hong Kong in travelers from southern Africa. It has not yet been detected in the U.K., officials said.
“The early indications we have of this variant is that it may be more transmissible than the delta variant, and the vaccines that we currently have may be less effective against it,” U.K. Health Secretary Sajid Javid said during a briefing Thursday.
Starting midday on Friday, all flights from six southern African countries — South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Botswana — will be temporarily suspended, and travelers entering the U.K. from those countries after 4 a.m. on Sunday must quarantine in a government-approved hotel for 10 days.
Currently, B.1.1.529 is not designated by the World Health Organization as a variant “of concern” or “of interest.” So far, 22 cases have been confirmed in South Africa, according to the country’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases.
The WHO’s technical working group is scheduled to meet Friday to assess the new variant and may decide whether to give it a name from the Greek alphabet, based on its naming system for variants of concern and variants of interest.
The virus evolves as it spreads and many new variants, including those with worrying mutations, often just die out. Scientists monitor for possible changes that could be more transmissible or deadly, but sorting out whether new variants will have a public health impact can take time.
Nov 25, 10:18 am
Arizona hospital enters ‘crisis care’ operating mode
The Copper Queen Community Hospital in Bisbee, Arizona, is “operating in crisis care” due to the latest surge of COVID-19 cases in the state, local ABC affiliate KNXV reported.
The hospital only had 13 beds available and was “really struggling,” according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
The state reported its 84,813th COVID-19 hospitalization on Tuesday, according to health department data. Arizona reported more than 4,000 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday.
(BRUNSWICK, Ga.) — Prosecutors for the three white men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery said they believe the cellphone video showing Arbery’s final moments and his death was the evidence that clinched the guilty verdict.
“Not a lot of homicides are on video,” Larissa Ollivierre, a Cobb County assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case, told 20/20. “I think for this case in particular, that was really important because I just don’t know that we would’ve gotten the verdict that we did had it not been for that video.”
On Wednesday, Travis McMichael, who fatally shot Arbery in February 2020, was convicted by a Glynn County jury on all nine charges, including malice murder and four counts of felony murder.
His father, Gregory McMichael, was found not guilty of malice murder but was convicted on all other charges, including four counts of felony murder.
The McMichaels’ neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, who recorded the incident on a cellphone, was found guilty on six charges, including three of the felony murder counts.
All three men face up to life in prison. A sentencing date has yet to be announced.
Bryan shot the cellphone video from the driver’s seat of his pickup truck as he followed Arbery, who can be seen running alongside a residential street in the Satilla Shores neighborhood outside of Brunswick, Georgia. The video then shows Arbery tussling with Travis McMichael over the shotgun he was holding, as his father, Gregory McMichael stood in the bed of his pickup truck, also holding a gun. A gunshot is heard, and the video shows Arbery struggling with Travis McMichael for the shotgun. There is a second shot, and Arbery can be seen punching Travis McMichael, who then fires a shot at point-blank range, killing Arbery.
In addition to the video, Cobb County senior assistant district attorney Linda Dunikoski said the statements the defendants made after Arbery was killed was another key piece of evidence for their case. Travis McMichael claimed that he and his father suspected Arbery had just burglarized a home under construction in their neighborhood.
Defense attorneys had argued that Arbery was shot in self-defense when he resisted a citizen’s arrest. Prosecutors, meanwhile, alleged the defendants pursued and murdered Arbery because of incorrect “assumptions and driveway decisions” they made that the Black man running through their neighborhood had committed a burglary.
“Those statements were very, very important because those statements showed that they had absolutely no knowledge of any crime that he had committed,” Dunikoski said.
Initially after the incident, police questioned and then released the McMichaels, as well as Bryan. It wasn’t until the video was leaked online months later, sparking a widespread public outcry, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case that the three men were eventually arrested and charged with murder.
Dunikoski and Cobb County assistant district attorney Paul Camarillo said they were concerned at first about the racial makeup of the jury in this case, which was almost entirely white except for one Black person.
“But I think deep down, we knew as a team, it wasn’t going to matter,” Camarillo said. “I had faith that … we were going to get a conviction, no matter what the makeup of the jury was.”
When the guilty verdicts were announced, Dunikoski said it was a “very, very emotional” moment for Arbery’s family, especially his mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, who refused to give up her crusade for getting justice for her son.
“We could tell that the waves of relief were resonating through their bodies,” she said. “Wanda Cooper-Jones took one look at us and you could tell just everything fell away from her. She was crying and sobbing … but I think it was some relief that she’d finally gotten the justice that she was so desperately hoping for.”
Ahmaud Arbery’s mother said she is feeling especially thankful this Thanksgiving, after the three men were found guilty of her son’s murder.
“Today is Thanksgiving and I’m really, really thankful. My family and I are really, really thankful for the verdict we got yesterday,” Wanda Cooper-Jones told Good Morning America.
Arbery’s father Marcus Arbery told ABC News Wednesday that he had been skeptical that the case would result in any guilty verdicts.
Following the verdicts, attorneys for the McMichaels said they will appeal — a process that can start once sentencing is done.
“This is a very difficult day for Travis McMichael and Greg McMichael,” Travis McMichael’s defense attorney Jason Sheffield told reporters. “These are two men who honestly believe that what they were doing was the right thing to do. However, the Glynn County jury has spoken, they have found them guilty and they will be sentenced.”
Bryan’s attorney, Kevin Gough, told reporters he was “very disappointed” in the verdict.
“But we have to respect that verdict. That’s the American way,” he said, adding that he plans to file a motion for a new trial on behalf of Bryan next week.
ABC News’ Sabina Ghebremedhin, William Hutchinson and Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.
Watch the full story on the Ahmaud Arbery case and trial on “20/20” Friday at 9 p.m. ET
(CHICAGO) — Delisa Tucker was just steps away from her son’s memorial in Chicago early Wednesday morning when she was fatally shot.
She had lost 14-year-old Kevin Tinker to gun violence the Sunday before, and friends said she was tending to his memorial when she was gunned down.
“While she was lighting candles for her son, her life was taken,” wrote Michelle Tharpe, a family friend, on the GoFundMe page set up to help pay the family’s funeral expenses. “This world is so cold.”
Police responded to a ShotSpotter alert at around 12:15 a.m. and found Tucker, 31, lying on a sidewalk in the 200 block of West 110th Place. She was transported to Roseland Hospital and pronounced dead, according to officials.
They reported finding no one on the block who saw the shooting, and no one’s been taken into custody for that attack or the one on her son.
On Sunday, her son was shot several times at the exact same location and pronounced dead on the scene, according to police.
“He was a quiet boy,” Tharpe wrote in the GoFundMe page. “Rest well Lil Kevin.”
CPD said investigations for both shooting are ongoing. Chicago police declined to comment on whether the shootings are connected, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Tucker leaves behind five other children, according to Tharpe.
Shootings have spiked in Chicago this year, according to CPD crime data. As of Nov. 8, there had been 3,105 incidents in 2021, an increase of 10% over 2020 and a 66% increase compared with 2019.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.1 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 775,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
Just 59.1% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the new is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 26, 4:04 am
EU to propose travel ban on southern Africa over new variant
The European Union’s executive branch said Friday that it wants to suspend air travel to the bloc from southern Africa due to concerns over a newly identified variant of the novel coronavirus.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the announcement via Twitter, saying a proposal “to activate the emergency brake to stop air travel from the Southern Africa region” will be made “in close coordination” with EU member states.
The variant, called B.1.1.529, was first detected in South Africa earlier this week and has quickly spread. At least 22 cases have been confirmed in the country so far, according to South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases. South African scientist Tulio de Oliveira told reporters Thursday that the new variant carries “a very high number of mutations,” but it’s unclear whether it will limit the effectiveness of vaccines.
Several cases of B.1.1.529 have since been confirmed in neighboring Botswana as well as in Hong Kong and Israel. The cases detected in Hong Kong and Israel were linked to travelers who had arrived from southern Africa.
The World Health Organization will meet on Friday to assess B.1.1.529 and determine whether it should be designated a variant “of interest” or “of concern.”
Nov 25, 8:01 pm
UK issues travel restrictions due to concerns over new variant
The United Kingdom announced Thursday new travel restrictions for six countries over concerns about a new variant of the novel coronavirus that emerged in South Africa.
The variant, known as B.1.1.529, has also been found in Botswana and Hong Kong in travelers from southern Africa. It has not yet been detected in the U.K., officials said.
“The early indications we have of this variant is that it may be more transmissible than the delta variant, and the vaccines that we currently have may be less effective against it,” U.K. Health Secretary Sajid Javid said during a briefing Thursday.
Starting midday on Friday, all flights from six southern African countries — South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Botswana — will be temporarily suspended, and travelers entering the U.K. from those countries after 4 a.m. on Sunday must quarantine in a government-approved hotel for 10 days.
Currently, B.1.1.529 is not designated by the World Health Organization as a variant “of concern” or “of interest.” So far, 22 cases have been confirmed in South Africa, according to the country’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases.
The WHO’s technical working group is scheduled to meet Friday to assess the new variant and may decide whether to give it a name from the Greek alphabet, based on its naming system for variants of concern and variants of interest.
The virus evolves as it spreads and many new variants, including those with worrying mutations, often just die out. Scientists monitor for possible changes that could be more transmissible or deadly, but sorting out whether new variants will have a public health impact can take time.
Nov 25, 10:18 am
Arizona hospital enters ‘crisis care’ operating mode
The Copper Queen Community Hospital in Bisbee, Arizona, is “operating in crisis care” due to the latest surge of COVID-19 cases in the state, local ABC affiliate KNXV reported.
The hospital only had 13 beds available and was “really struggling,” according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
The state reported its 84,813th COVID-19 hospitalization on Tuesday, according to health department data. Arizona reported more than 4,000 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday.
(FLORIDA) — The death of a 14-year-old Florida boy whose body was found last week has been ruled a homicide by local police.
Ryan Rogers of Palm Beach Gardens was found dead Nov. 16 around 9 a.m. local time near an Interstate 95 overpass by a passerby who spotted the boy’s bike lying in the grass.
“We now know that Ryan Rogers’ death was not an accident, but a deliberate act,” the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department said in a statement Wednesday.
ABC West Palm Beach affiliate WPBF reported that an autopsy on Saturday revealed Rogers’ death was not from a bicycle accident.
Statement regarding the investigation into Ryan Rogers’ death. Please call 561-799-4445 with any tips. pic.twitter.com/I9KGjfgudo
Palm Beach Gardens PD, Fire Rescue Foundation and Crime Stoppers are seeking evidence and witnesses, and offering a reward of $8,000 for any information on the case.
Police are urging potential witnesses, or anyone who has a dashcam in their car and was traveling near the Central Boulevard and Interstate 95 area from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Nov. 15, to contact them.
“No amount of information is too small,” police added.
(NEW YORK) — Two New York City Police officers were shot but are expected to make a full recovery after a “gun battle” broke out in the Bronx on Wednesday evening.
Police say the perpetrator, who was not immediately identified, was also shot and had undergone surgery but is expected to survive.
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said during a news conference Wednesday from St. Barnabas Hospital that the entire incident was captured on body camera footage. The two officers were responding to a call from a community member who was concerned about a man with a gun in the neighborhood.
“They’re walking up there, discussing tactically how they will approach, and they immediately encounter this individual who’s sitting on the front stoop of the building,” Shea said of the officers. “Within seconds, they are in a gun battle.”
A female police officer was struck twice in the right arm and a male police officer was shot in the right armpit area, according to Shea. The suspect, who Shea said had a record of previous arrests, was struck three times.
The firearm was reported stolen in Georgia last year, according to Shea. The body cam footage was not immediately released, but Shea said it indicates that the first shot was fired by the suspect and hit the female officer in the arm.
“What strikes you as you watch that video is the speed in which it happens,” Shea said. “And the no regard for human life.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio said the public can expect to learn more about the two officers in the days ahead. But he is thankful they are alive.
“I want to give thanks that these two, Thank God, are OK, and it looks like they’ll make a full recovery,” de Blasio told reporters.
“We also got to recognize there are too many guns out there, so another example of a gun from out of state comes into our city hurts a New Yorker,” the mayor added. “This is something we’ve got to deal with in a whole different way.”
