(NEW YORK) — A total of 22 people were injured after a car crashed into a restaurant in upper Manhattan on Monday night. Three people refused medical attention at the scene and 19 others were transported to area hospitals with non-life threatening injuries, according to the NYPD.
Police responded to a 911 call of a vehicle collision involving multiple injured people at around 9 p.m. at the Inwood Bar and Grill, according to officials.
A preliminary investigation determined that an Audi sedan exited a gas station on West 204 St and Broadway and collided into the rear of a Toyota RAV4 on Broadway, according to officials.
The 31-year-old male driver of the Toyota then lost control of his car and the vehicle mounted the curb and drove into the front glass window of the Inwood Bar and Grill, according to officials.
The driver of the Audi sedan did not remain at the scene and the vehicle was last seen heading northbound on Broadway, according to officials.
The driver of the Toyota was transported to New York Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in stable condition, according to officials.
(NEW YORK) — The suspect accused of murdering four University of Idaho students in November is set to appear in court Tuesday as he faces first-degree murder and burglary charges.
Bryan Kohberger, 28, a Ph.D. student at Washington State University’s department of criminal justice and criminology, will appear in a Monroe County, Pennsylvania, court to hear the charges and as the first step in his extradition to Idaho.
Kohberger’s parents and two sisters are planning to be in court, according to Kohberger’s attorney, Monroe County Chief Public Defender Jason LaBar.
LaBar said Kohberger “intends to waive his extradition hearing to expedite his transport to Idaho.” LaBar said Kohberger “is eager to be exonerated of these charges and looks forward to resolving these matters as promptly as possible.”
LaBar told ABC News that the death penalty is on the table.
Kohberger was arrested Friday in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains for the Nov. 13 murders of roommates Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, as well as Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin. The four victims were stabbed to death at the girls’ off-campus house in the middle of the night.
After Kohberger’s semester at Washington State ended this December, he and his father drove cross-country together, arriving at the family’s Pennsylvania home on Dec. 13, exactly one month after the murders, Monroe County Chief Public Defender Jason LaBar told ABC News.
They drove the pre-planned road trip in the white Hyundai Elantra which authorities said they were looking for in connection to the murders, according to LaBar.
The father and son were pulled over twice in Indiana, once for speeding and once for tailgating, LaBar said.
Police have not said what led them to Kohberger, but law enforcement sources told ABC News that authorities identified him as a suspect through public DNA genealogy databases.
The probable cause affidavit, which details the reasons for the arrest, is sealed and won’t be released until he returns to Idaho, Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson said.
Kohberger’s family said in a statement, “We care deeply for the four families who have lost their precious children. There are no words that can adequately express the sadness we feel.”
“We will continue to let the legal process unfold and as a family we will love and support our son and brother,” the family said.
Steve Goncalves, dad of victim Kaylee Goncalves, said the arrest has brought relief and comfort.
It “felt like a cloud was lifted off of us,” he told Good Morning America. “All this torture of waiting had a purpose and a meaning.”
ABC News’ Kayna Whitworth, Luke Barr, Nick Cirone, Matt Foster and Christopher Looft contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Tornadoes brought on by severe storms on Monday left significant damage in parts of the South, namely Louisiana and Arkansas.
The storms will continue to push east on Tuesday with severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings in effect from Texas to Kentucky. The big threat zone for Tuesday will be from Louisiana to Alabama and Tennessee. Cities in the path include New Orleans; Nashville, Tennessee,; Mobile, Alabama and Montgomery, Alabama.
The main threats on Tuesday are tornadoes, damaging winds and flash flooding.
In Louisiana, 10,000 customers are without power on Tuesday with ongoing severe storms. The exact number of tornadoes is still unknown. Storm surveys will need to be taken on Tuesday.
The local fire department is responding to numerous stranded motorists and water rescues from residences in Greenville, Kentucky, amid flash flooding. Authorities said numerous roadways are flooded inside the city and throughout our district. Numerous first responders and road crews are blocking flooded roadways.
Multiple homes were damaged in Jessieville, Arkansas, on Monday after a possible tornado passed through the area, law enforcement officials told ABC News.
Garland County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Courtney Kizer said 14 homes were damaged, with at least two homes so severely that several families would not be able to live in them again.
A tornado watch was issued for portions of the South, including parts of eastern Texas, northwestern Louisiana and much of Arkansas on Monday.
One of those destroyed homes was across the street from Jessieville High School, which had seven of its buildings damaged.
Students were in class at the time and were directed to go to their “safe rooms,” Kizer said.
Three commercial buildings in Jessieville were also damaged. No injuries were reported.
Thunderstorms will develop ahead of a cold front making its way through southeast Texas late Monday night into Tuesday morning, according to the NWS.
Additionally, the storms could also produce flash flooding through Monday night. Flood watches are in effect.
By Tuesday, the severe storms will shift east across Mississippi and Alabama, with flooding and damaging winds possible from New Orleans to Montgomery, Alabama.
The same storm system that brought flooding to California over the weekend has now moved into the Central U.S., bringing the winter storm to the North and the severe weather and flooding to the South.
At least 22 states, from California to Indiana, are under alert for heavy snow, dangerous ice, high winds and flooding rain.
More than 3 feet of snow fell in the Sierra Mountains in California over the weekend. According to the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab, up to 7.5 inches of snow fell per hour on Saturday in the Sierras.
Over a foot of snow and winds over 40 mph are possible in Nebraska, South Dakota and Minnesota on Monday and Tuesday, potentially causing driving conditions and power outages.
Nearly a foot of snow had already fallen in northern Nebraska as of Tuesday morning. Up to a foot and a half of snow is still possible in parts of South Dakota and Minnesota.
The California coast is preparing for an inundation of heavy rainfall with the next atmospheric river set to flood parts of the state from Wednesday morning to Thursday morning. The National Weather Service warned it will be an impactful storm and needs to be taken seriously.
(NEW YORK) — The Maine teen charged in the New Year’s Eve knife attack near Times Square on New York City police officers is due in court as soon as Tuesday to face attempted murder and attempted assault charges.
Trevor Bickford, 19, of Wells, Maine, carried out what a senior police official told ABC News was a terror attack likely motivated by Islamic extremism.
“He knew what he was doing. He knew why he was doing it and he thought he would die in the attack,” Thomas Galati, NYPD Chief of Intelligence and Counterterrorism, told ABC News. “He did yell out ‘Allahu Akbar.'”
Galati said the FBI interviewed Bickford last month in Maine after his mother reported her concern that her son was becoming radicalized. The FBI determined Bickford wanted to fight in Afghanistan and placed him on a federal watch list to prevent him from travelling overseas.
Instead, Bickford acquired a large sum of cash, packed a Gurkha knife and boarded a train to New York on Dec. 29. He arrived with what Galati described as intent to carry out an attack on “police officers or anybody in uniform,” seeming to advance jihadist propaganda that has called for such attacks using low-tech tactics like stabbings.
A diary found at the scene indicated Bickford thought he would die a martyr, law enforcement sources told ABC News. He ended up shot in the shoulder by an officer on the force just eight months.
“So the event happens outside the secure zone, not inside Times Square,” Galati said. “Means that our plan works.”
(NEW YORK) — The suspect accused of murdering four University of Idaho students in November is set to appear at a court hearing on Tuesday as he faces four counts including first-degree murder and burglary.
Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, a graduate student at Washington State University, will appear in a Monroe County, Pennsylvania, court to hear the charges and as the first step in his extradition to Idaho, where he will have another appearance.
Monroe County Chief Public Defender Jason LaBar, who is representing the suspect, previously said Kohberger “intends to waive his extradition hearing to expedite his transport to Idaho” and that he “is eager to be exonerated of these charges and looks forward to resolving these matters as promptly as possible.”
Kohberger was arrested Friday in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains after police used DNA technology, at least in part, to identify him as a suspect.
Kohberger is accused of stabbing Ethan Chapin, 20; Xana Kernodle, 20; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; and Madison Mogen, 21, to death as they slept in the early hours of Nov. 13.
The murder occurred at the girls’ off-campus house and Chapin, who was Kernolde’s boyfriend, was spending the night.
Moscow Police Chief James Fry said the murder weapon has not been recovered.
Many details of the case remain a mystery, including a motive for the murders or whether Kohberger knew the victims.
However, sources told ABC News that for several days, the FBI had been watching the location where Kohberger was staying in Pennsylvania before a specialized team of state troopers and federal agents entered and arrested him.
Authorities announced earlier this month that they were looking to speak with the driver of a white 2011-2013 Hyundai Elantra that was spotted near the victims’ house around the time of the crime.
Asked at Friday’s news conference if that car has now been found, the chief replied, “We have found an Elantra.” Kohberger and his father drove home from Washington to their home in Pennsylvania for the winter break, according to sources.
Kohberger was attending Washington State, which is less than 10 miles away from the University of Idaho, to receive a Ph.D. in the department of criminal justice and criminology.
According to the university, he completed his first semester in its criminal justice program early last month.
Kohberger previously attended college at DeSales University, earning his bachelor’s degree in 2020 and completing graduate studies in June 2022.
“As a Catholic, Salesian community, we are devastated by this senseless tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims’ families during this difficult time,” the university said in a statement following his arrest.
(PITTSBURGH, Penn.) — A man wanted in connection with the shooting of two police officers, one fatally, died on Monday after being shot by officers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, authorities said.
“While fleeing from officers, the suspect fired at officers,” Allegheny County Police Superintendent Christopher Kearns said. “The officers returned fire. The suspect was struck. He was pronounced dead at the scene.”
The suspect, Aaron Lamont Swan, 28, had initially fled a traffic stop, Kearns said. He was wanted for probation violations and weapons charges, officials said.
An hours-long search for him in the town of Brackenridge, Pennsylvania, turned into a foot pursuit and ended with multiple “shooting incidents,” according to authorities in Allegheny County.
The deceased officer was struck in the head by gunfire. The injured officer was struck in the leg and is stable, authorities said.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro on Monday night identified the slain officer as Police Chief Justin McIntire.
“Today’s tragedy in Brackenridge is a devastating reminder of the bravery of those who put their lives on the line every day to protect us,” said Shapiro, who is also the state’s governor-elect.
“Police Chief Justin McIntire ran towards danger to keep Pennsylvanians safe — and he made the ultimate sacrifice in service to community,” he added.
Kearns later Monday said Swan had fled the scene in Brackenridge in a stolen silver Subaru. Detectives in Pittsburgh were alerted that he may be headed there. Officers mobilized and “saturated” the city’s Lincoln neighborhood, where they believed the suspect might have fled, Kearns said.
“They attempted to stop the vehicle,” he said. “The vehicle fled.”
The suspect led Pittsburgh police officers on a car chase, before crashing the Subaru and fleeing into nearby woods, Kearns said. Police surrounded the area. The suspect then fled into a housing development, where he exchanged gunfire with police, authorities said. Swan was pronounced dead at the scene, they said.
“Based on the description and the circumstances, we believe that is in fact the suspect we were seeking in the shooting of the officers in Brackenridge this afternoon,” Kearns said.
(MOSCOW, Idaho) — Police identified Bryan Christopher Kohberger as the suspect accused of murdering four University of Idaho students in November through DNA using public genealogy databases, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
Local police and the FBI tracked him to Pennsylvania through his vehicle. The FBI surveilled the house in the Pocono Mountains for four days prior to the arrest.
The 28-year-old was arrested Friday morning for the murders of roommates Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21, and Xana Kernodle, 20, as well as Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20.
Kohberger is a graduate student at Washington State University, located less than 10 miles away from the University of Idaho, Moscow Police Chief James Fry said at a Friday news conference.
The murder weapon has not been recovered, the chief said.
Jason LaBar, Kohberger’s public defender in Pennsylvania, confirmed to ABC News on Monday that Bryan and his father Michael were pulled over twice in Indiana while driving from Pullman, Washington, to the Poconos, saying it was “approximately an hour apart, once for speeding, once for tailgating.”
The pair were doing their preplanned, end-of-semester cross-country road trip, arriving at the family home on Dec. 13, 2022, exactly one month after the murders. They drove in the white Elantra, which is now being processed by authorities.
Washington State University identifies Kohberger as a Ph.D. student in its department of criminal justice and criminology. He completed his first semester in its criminal justice program earlier this month, the university said.
Within an hour of Kohberger being identified as the suspect, more than 400 calls came in to the Moscow Police Department’s tip line, Fry said.
Kohberger is set to appear in Monroe County Court to face his charges, which include four counts of first-degree murder and burglary.
It is also the first step in his extradition to Idaho, where he will have another appearance.
Monroe County Chief Public Defender Jason LaBar, who is representing the suspect, previously said Kohberger “intends to waive his extradition hearing to expedite his transport to Idaho” and that he “is eager to be exonerated of these charges and looks forward to resolving these matters as promptly as possible.”
Police have said they cannot reveal any information, including a motive or further details about how they tracked down Kohberger, until he is back in Idaho.
Many details of the case remain a mystery including a potential motive for the murders or how Kohberger knew the victims.
Authorities announced earlier this month that they were looking to speak with the driver of a white 2011-2013 Hyundai Elantra that was spotted near the victims’ house around the time of the crime.
Asked at Friday’s news conference if that car has now been found, the chief replied, “We have found an Elantra.”
Fry later told ABC News Saturday that Kohberger is believed to be the only suspect in the high-profile case, authorities said.
“We believe we have our guy, the one that committed these murders,” he said, adding that he does not anticipate any additional arrests.
Prior to attending Washington State University, Kohberger attended college at DeSales University, earning his bachelor’s degree in 2020 and completing graduate studies in June 2022.
“As a Catholic, Salesian community, we are devastated by this senseless tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims’ families during this difficult time,” the university said in a statement following his arrest.
ABC News’ Kayna Whitworth and Timmy Truong contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A tornado watch was issued for portions of the South, including parts of eastern Texas, northwestern Louisiana and much of Arkansas on Monday.
The tornado watch lasts until 9 p.m. local time, according to the National Weather Service.
Strong to severe thunderstorms will develop across the region with the possibility of damaging winds, hail and a brief tornado risk overnight, putting 22 million Americans, from Texas to Tennessee, under alert.
Thunderstorms will develop ahead of a cold front making its way through southeast Texas late Monday night into Tuesday morning, according to the NWS.
Additionally, the storms could also produce flash flooding through Monday night. Flood watches are in effect.
By Tuesday, the severe storms will shift east across Mississippi and Alabama, with flooding and damaging winds possible from New Orleans to Montgomery, Alabama.
The same storm system that brought flooding to California over the weekend has now moved into the Central U.S., bringing the winter storm to the North and the severe weather and flooding to the South.
At least 22 states, from California to Indiana, are under alert for heavy snow, dangerous ice, high winds and flooding rain.
More than 3 feet of snow fell in the Sierra Mountains in California over the weekend. According to the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab, up to 7.5 inches of snow fell per hour on Saturday in the Sierras.
Over a foot of snow and winds over 40 mph is possible in Nebraska, South Dakota and Minnesota on Monday and Tuesday, potentially causing driving conditions and power outages.
The ice event began on Monday afternoon and will continue throughout the day, with snow falling and covering the ice on Tuesday morning.
(NEW YORK) — The 19-year-old accused of attacking three police officers with a machete on New Year’s Eve near Times Square has been charged with two counts of attempted murder of a police officer and two counts of attempted assault.
Trevor Bickford, from Maine, attacked the officers unprovoked after taking a train to the city on Dec. 29. His mother and aunt recently notified law enforcement about their concerns he was gravitating toward dangerous Islamist ideologies, law enforcement sources said.
Police found the suspect’s backpack at the scene, which contained a diary, sources said.
The final diary entry indicated the suspect thought he would die in the attack and asked for burial according to Islamic tradition, the sources said.
The three officers were released from the hospital on Sunday.
(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — After a blizzard left 39 people dead across New York’s Erie County, the City of Buffalo announced that New York University will conduct an “after-action report” about the region’s response to the storm, according to Buffalo Mayor Bryon Brown.
NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service will review the storm preparation, response and recovery to outline best practices for other major cities as well as offer Buffalo feedback, according to Brown.
“The City of Buffalo is resolved to learn from this storm and make additional improvements in how we respond to future extreme winter snow storms,” Brown wrote in a statement.
The deadly blizzard devastated the region, killing at least 39, requiring residents to stay off roads for nearly a week and cutting off residents from emergency services at the storm’s peak.
“There is no guarantee that in a life threatening emergency situation that they’re going to be able to respond immediately,” Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz said at a Dec. 24 press conference, adding that the most affected areas would have no emergency services at all.
At the time of the press conference, two-thirds of emergency vehicles were stuck in the snow.
As the New York National Guard including military police moved to Buffalo to help with recovery efforts, many residents were left to fend for themselves and their communities.
“Nobody would come,” Buffalo resident Tayron Knight said when explaining how he got stuck on Niagara Falls Boulevard. “I called the police numerous times — the police told me I was on a waiting list that they couldn’t see nobody out.”
Another resident, Eddie Porter, explained how he got stuck on the road during the storm for 28 hours. His calls to police were left unanswered, he said. He noted that he called police on Dec. 23 and eventually heard back on Dec. 29.
“I thought it was over like it was going to be; You ever felt that you’re going to die and you can’t do nothing about it?” Porter asked in an emotional interview with ABC News.
Instead of being rescued by police, Porter was rescued by William Kless, a local resident who spent days saving an estimated fifty residents on his snowmobile.
“If he hadn’t been there, I don’t know what I was gonna do,” Porter said.
In an interview with ABC News, Kless said he ended up helping residents get to shelters, transporting dogs and cats, transporting supplies and even helping a man get critical dialysis treatments after being stuck in his car for 17 hours. In person, over social media or via calls with police, Kless learned information about the needs in the community and offered door-to-door to help, he said.
“There were so many calls that emergency services were canceled, you know, there’s so many people left helpless, not realizing when they’re going to be able to get help,” Kless said.
Kless added that he communicated with Buffalo police when they could not safely get to a location with their vehicles.
“It was just like a search and rescue,” he said. “The Buffalo police were involved because they couldn’t get down on the streets.”
During a Dec. 24 press conference, Poloncarz flagged the lack of vehicle mobility as an issue, since the county, city and state lacked snowmobiles and relied on traditional emergency response vehicles and National Guard Humvees.
Knight said he was eventually rescued by a friend, after which he began to work with friends and family to coordinate rescues in the absence of emergency services.
“We started going around helping everybody in the city of Buffalo, as many people as we can,” Knight said. “We had put up our numbers, so if anybody that was trapped, or had no power, or in desperate need of emergency, [if] they needed any help that wasn’t getting any help from the city of Buffalo, they could give us a call.”
Knight estimated they received hundreds of calls to the point where they had to triage responses based on the highest-priority emergencies.
Looking back on their experience with the storm, Kless, Knight and Porter each flagged issues with the city’s response.
“We didn’t see any paramedics, any police, any firemen, any emergency response teams at all,” Kless said. “It was literally they didn’t come out till about the day after once the storm and everything calmed down.”
Porter added that he was frustrated by the lack of emergency response in some communities within Buffalo, believing the city “dropped the ball” for the east side, a largely African American area, where casualties from the storm were common.
“Let’s be clear — that was one of the reasons it was so tragic,” Porter said
Knight said he believes that not only should Buffalo have been better prepared, but that the city could have saved lives if it had its act together.
“They knew everything was happening days beforehand, they were warned and knew how bad the storm was going to be,” he said. “They should have had the right personnel on hand.”
At one point, Poloncarz publicly called out Buffalo for its “embarrassing” response, before eventually apologizing for his statements.
“Storm after storm after storm after storm, the city unfortunately is the last one to be open. And that shouldn’t be the case,” he said. “It’s embarrassing to tell the truth.”
He added that Erie County took over operations for one third of the city.
Residents said they’ve been left with traumatic repercussions of the storm, an unprecedented death toll and feelings of regret about what could have been done, regardless of who was to blame.
“Most of this could have been prevented as far as fatalities,” Knight said.
