(LOS ANGELES) — Three Los Angeles Police Department officers were shot Wednesday night in a “violent encounter,” police said.
The three men, all senior officers in the Metropolitan Division K-9 unit, are now in stable condition after being shot by a parolee at large, LAPD Assistant Chief Al Labrada said during an evening press conference.
The LAPD responded to calls earlier Wednesday of a parolee at large, Labrada said. When officers located him, he refused to obey commands, according to police. Officers utilized gas, but the suspect still did not comply, Labrada said, eventually exiting the residence where he was holed up and firing on the K-9 unit officers.
The suspect is dead at the scene, Labrada said. It’s unknown if the suspect was shot by officers or if it was self-inflicted.
All three officers were said to be alert while they were transported to the trauma center at LA County/USC Medical Center.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said she was able to have a conversation with two of the officers.
(MICHIGAN) — The FBI is renewing its push as it searches for a Michigan woman who has been missing since December and may have been killed.
Heather Mae Kelley, 35, of Portage, has been missing since Dec. 10, according to the FBI, which is supporting local authorities in the investigation.
“There is evidence to suggest that she may have been the victim of a homicide,” the FBI said in a press release.
Kelley told family she was on her way to pick up an acquaintance from downtown Kalamazoo but has not been seen or heard from since, according to the Department of Justice’s National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
She last spoke to her children around 10:20 p.m. local time that night saying she should be home soon, authorities said.
Her vehicle was found abandoned in Comstock Township on Dec. 11, authorities said.
“The vehicle was set on fire and evidence of blood was found inside the vehicle,” Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller III said in a press briefing last month. Her clothing was found near the vehicle, Fuller said.
Authorities had identified an unnamed person of interest who was offering “limited cooperation” in the investigation, the sheriff said at the time.
Fuller said investigators believe at least one person may have helped with the burning of the vehicle and “the possible destruction of other evidence.”
No charges have been announced in the case.
Silent Observer is offering up to $5,000 for information that leads to Kelley’s location.
(VIRGINIA) — A local prosecutor said Wednesday that he does not believe the law supports charging the 6-year-old boy accused of shooting a teacher at his Virginia elementary school.
“We don’t believe the law supports charging a 6-year-old with a criminal offense as serious as this one,” Newport News Commonwealth’s Attorney Howard Gwynn told ABC Hampton, Virginia, affiliate WVEC in a phone call.
Gwynn said they would have to show that “any defendant, including a 6-year-old,” is competent to stand trial and understands the legal system enough to help with their defense.
“I think it’s problematical to assume that a 6-year-old understands the criminal justice system enough to be competent to stand trial,” Gwynn told the station.
Gwynn added that once his office has reviewed the facts of the case, they will determine if anyone else should be criminally charged in connection with the shooting.
The incident occurred at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News on Jan. 6. The 6-year-old, who has not been named publicly, allegedly brought a handgun from his home to school in his backpack and shot and wounded a teacher in a first-grade classroom in what police described as an “intentional” act.
The teacher, Abigail Zwerner, sustained a gunshot wound to the chest. A bullet remains lodged in her body, according to her lawyer.
About 16 to 20 students were in the room at the time of the shooting and none of them were physically injured, officials said. After Zwerner was shot, she ushered all of her students out of the classroom, according to police.
Police said the boy’s mother legally purchased the 9 mm Taurus pistol.
The 6-year-old’s family released a statement through a spokesperson in the wake of the incident, saying, “Our family has always been committed to responsible gun ownership and keeping firearms out of the reach of children.”
“We have been cooperating with local and federal law enforcement to understand how this could have happened,” the family said.
Their son “suffers from an acute disability and was under a care plan at the school that included his mother or father attending school with him and accompanying him to class every day,” the family said. “The week of the shooting was the first week when we were not in class with him. We will regret our absence on this day for the rest of our lives.”
Zwerner claimed the student had a history of violent behavior at the school and accused the school’s assistant principal of failure to act despite being told repeatedly that the student had a gun at school, her lawyer alleged in a letter notifying the district of the intent to file a lawsuit last month.
The student had been suspended the day before the shooting because he “slammed Ms. Zwerner’s phone breaking it” and had cursed at the guidance counselors,” according to the letter.
The student had allegedly been removed from the school a year prior after he “choked his teacher until she couldn’t breathe,” according to the letter.
“This school year, the shooter was put on a modified schedule in the fall of 2022 after the school year had started because he constantly cursed at the staff and teachers and then one day took off his belt on the playground and chased kids trying to whip them,” according to the letter.
The school’s assistant principal, Ebony Parker, resigned from her position on Jan. 25, according to a school spokesperson.
The Newport News School Board last month voted 5-1 to relieve its superintendent, George Parker III, “without cause,” effective Feb. 1, in the wake of the shooting.
ABC News’ Nadine El-Bawab and Beatrice Peterson contributed to this report.
(CALIFORNIA) — A Northern California woman was rescued after surviving three nights in her car when she became stranded in a historic snowstorm while driving up a winding mountain road in an attempt to evacuate snowbound relatives, authorities said.
The 43-year-old woman got stuck on Friday night near her home in Laytonville, about 150 miles north of San Francisco, along with her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend when a snowstorm slammed Mendocino County, according to officials.
Search-and-rescue crews and sheriff’s deputies came to the woman’s rescue on Monday afternoon in a convoy of bulldozer and snowcat tractors after several earlier attempts to locate her were unsuccessful due to the heavy snow, ice and white-out conditions, said Capt. Greg Van Patten, a spokesperson for Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office.
The lack of cell phone reception in the area prevented her from immediately calling for help, Van Patten said. He said worried loved ones reported her missing when she failed to show up to evacuate her relatives.
Van Patten said that once the snow let up, the woman was able to walk to an area where she found cell phone reception and called for help on Monday.
He said the woman’s daughter and boyfriend managed to walk to an empty home to hunker down. But the woman stayed in her car alone waiting for the rescuers, he said.
Van Patten said the woman had some food and water in her car to sustain her. When rescuers reached her, she was very cold and showing signs of dehydration, Van Patten said.
“She was definitely nearing the end of that sustainability had we not been able to get up to her with all those coordinated efforts,” Van Patten told ABC San Francisco station KGO-TV.
Van Patten said rescue workers also found the woman’s daughter and her boyfriend safe.
Authorities did not release the woman’s name, but a friend identified her to the community newspaper MendoFever as Lisa Herbstritt.
Herbstritt could not be reached for comment Wednesday. In a post on her Facebook page, Herbstritt wrote, “I want to let everyone know that we are safe and sound.”
“I am safe and sound thanks to the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Department and search and rescue,” wrote Herbstritt, adding that she was still “in shock.”
(MEMPHIS) — The release of additional footage in the Tyre Nichols case has been delayed due to a court order, Memphis officials said.
About 20 more hours of police video and audio were initially slated to be released Wednesday, City of Memphis Chief Legal Officer Jennifer Sink said during a city council meeting on Tuesday.
Following a motion for protective order filed by defense attorneys Wednesday morning, the Criminal Court of Tennessee for the 30th Judicial District Division 3 “has ordered that no video, audio, or records related to the City’s administrative investigation may be released until further order by the court,” Memphis city spokesperson Allison Fouche’ said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.
The release of materials related to the investigation, including videos and personnel files, will be delayed while the state and defendants review the information, according to the order.
“The release of this information shall be subject to further orders of this court and, in the public interest, will be ordered as soon as practicable,” the order stated.
Nichols, 29, died several days after a violent traffic stop captured in body camera footage, which shows officers striking Nichols repeatedly.
His death has prompted protests and unrest across the country.
In Tuesday’s city council meeting, Sink also announced that a seventh officer who was involved in the Jan. 7 incident was fired following an internal investigation.
The internal investigations resulted in four Memphis Fire Department personnel being charged, and 13 Memphis Police Department personnel being charged, according to Sink, who clarified that these are administration — not criminal — investigations.
Prior to the meeting the Memphis Police Department announced that six officers involved in the incident were fired. Sink revealed to council members that a seventh unidentified officer who was under investigation was terminated.
Of the remaining officers under investigation, three officers received a suspension, two had their charges dismissed and one individual resigned in lieu of termination, Sink said.
All officers directly involved in Nichols’ beating were part of the first round of terminations and criminal charges, Sink said.
Those five officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III and Justin Smith — have pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and other charges in Nichols’ beating and subsequent death.
A sixth officer, Preston Hemphill, was fired in February, days after the body camera footage was released to the public.
Another officer, who was suspended, “did place hands on [Nichols’] legs,” Sink said, but asserted that it was not a strike or assault.
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso, Ivan Pereira and Will McDuffie contributed to this report.
(CHICAGO) — The mother of Chicago postal worker Kierra Coles, who mysteriously vanished more than four years ago, is hoping the FBI will take the lead in the search for her daughter.
Coles was about three months pregnant and eager to meet her first child when she disappeared on Oct. 2, 2018, according to her mother, Karen Phillips.
Phillips said every day without her daughter is a mental struggle.
“One minute I want to scream and holler, I want to cry all day,” she told ABC News. “But I know I have to keep going, because I still have to live my life and pay my bills. But it’s just so stressful. Sometimes I don’t even want to get up — I just want to sleep all day.”
Phillips said Wednesday, “I’m hoping the FBI can get us a conviction, or maybe find something that the [Chicago] police hasn’t found. … Working with just the [Chicago] police, it’s getting nowhere.”
She said she hopes answers will bring her “some type of closure.”
Chicago police, who classify the 26-year-old’s disappearance as an open and cold case, has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment on Phillips wanting the FBI to join the investigation.
The FBI would not comment on this case directly, but a spokesperson said, in general, “The FBI is always willing to work with law enforcement partners to the greatest extent possible to provide critical resources on local cases.”
Chicago police released surveillance video in 2022 that captured some of Coles’ last known movements on Oct. 2, 2018.
The surveillance video showed a man — who is considered a person of interest — arriving at Coles’ home, and later Coles and the man were seen driving away in Coles’ car.
At about 10:43 p.m. that night, Coles was spotted on surveillance video making ATM withdrawals — the last known images of her, according to police.
Later that night, Coles’ car was parked in another part of the city, police said. The person of interest was seen getting out of the passenger side, but nobody got out of the driver’s side, according to police.
The next day, the person of interest was seen parking Coles’ car near her home and going inside, police said. He then left Coles’ home and drove away in his car.
When the person of interest was interviewed, police said he gave varying accounts of the last time he saw Coles.
As the search continues, Phillips vowed, “I’m never gonna stop looking for my daughter.”
“Sometimes I find myself talking to her,” she said. “‘Kierra, where are you? Give us a sign.'”
ABC News’ Sarah Beth Guevara contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — A nearly two-year civil rights investigation into the Louisville, Kentucky, police department and Louisville Metro Government, touched off by the killing of Breonna Taylor, found the city and law enforcement engaged in a pattern of unlawful and discriminatory conduct, depriving people of their constitutional liberties, the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.
“This conduct is unacceptable and it is heartbreaking,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a press conference, outlining a damning portrait of the Louisville police as he announced the findings of the civil rights investigation.
“It erodes the community trust necessary for effective policing. It is an affront to the vast majority of officers who put their lives on the line every day to serve Louisville with honor and it is an affront to the people of Louisville who deserve better,” Garland said.
He said that Louisville has signed an agreement in principle with the DOJ to negotiate toward a legally binding consent decree that will include the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee a series of reforms to address the problems that investigators uncovered.
The DOJ plans to hold a virtual community meeting on Wednesday night to discuss their findings with Louisville residents.
The department launched its pattern or practice investigation into the Louisville police in April 2021, more than a year after the botched raid that resulted in Taylor’s shooting death in her home, which spurred nationwide protests along with the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota.
According to the DOJ’s report released Wednesday, one police leader told investigators that Taylor’s death “was a symptom of problems that we have had for years.”
The DOJ’s review, based on hundreds of interviews, thousands of documents and thousands of hours of body-worn camera footage, found Louisville officers routinely used excessive force in arrests, including unjustified neck restraints and wrongful use of police dogs and tasers.
The police department also conducted searches based on “invalid warrants,” the review found, and officers unlawfully executed search warrants without knocking and announcing.
“For years, [the Louisville police department] has practiced an aggressive style of policing that it deploys selectively, especially against Black people, but also against vulnerable people throughout the city,” the report stated. “Some officers have videotaped themselves throwing drinks at pedestrians from their cars; insulted people with disabilities; and called Black people ‘monkeys,’ ‘animal,’ and ‘boy.'”
The federal review found police officers conducted unlawful stops and arrests of suspects and that the department routinely discriminated against Black people in their enforcement actions. The department and city also were found to have discriminated against people who had behavioral health disabilities when they were in crisis, the report stated.
Investigators singled out members of a specialized group in the department that was once called the “Viper Unit.” Those officers were found to have routinely made dubious traffic stops in Black neighborhoods and violated residents’ Fourth Amendment rights, according to the report.
“The unit’s activities were part of an overall enforcement approach that resulted in significant and unlawful racial disparities,” Garland said at the press conference.
The DOJ investigation further found that Louisville police leaders “endorsed and defended” unlawful conduct by their officers, with some supervisors accused of defending instances of obviously excessive force or search warrants that lacked probable cause.
Last August, Garland announced civil rights charges against four Louisville police officers for a range of alleged offenses in connection with Taylor’s death, including unlawful conspiracies, unconstitutional use of force and obstruction.
One of those officers, former Louisville Detective Kelly Goodlett, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to violate Taylor’s civil rights while the others, Sgt. Kyle Meany and Joshua Jaynes and Brett Hankison, both former detectives, have pleaded not guilty.
The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division head, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, said at Wednesday’s press conference that their investigation found disturbing disparities in how Black residents were treated by police in comparison with white residents.
Black drivers were nearly four times as likely as white drivers to be cited for improperly tinted windows and nearly five times as likely as white drivers to be cited for improper tags, with Black drivers almost 50% more likely to be searched when stopped by police in their cars than white people, Clarke said.
Louisville police brought charges against Black people at higher rates than white people for the same misdemeanor offenses, she said.
“For example, [the Louisville police department] charges Black people for loitering more than four times the rate of white people, for disorderly conduct two-and-a-half times the rate of white people and for littering at three times the rate of white people,” Clarke said. “This pattern of racial discrimination fuels distrust and impedes the community’s confidence in the [police] and their law enforcement operations.”
The DOJ expects to continue working with Louisville police and the city government on a host of reforms to their law enforcement practices, including some that have already been implemented in the years following Taylor’s killing.
The newly released report outlines more than 30 recommendations for the department and city to implement, including structural changes to its use-of-force policies and reporting and an overhaul of their training protocols.
(NEW YORK) — Some of the regions in California buried under several feet of snow are now bracing for rapid melting due to forecasts of higher temperatures and heavy rain.
Another round of atmospheric rivers will be slamming much of California with tropical moisture over the coming days, washing away the snowpack that has accumulated in recent weeks forecasts show.
Up to 8 inches of rain is expected to fall on top of the piles of snow in lower elevations, which could cause flash flooding and present the risk for mudslides and rockslides with debris flow as streams as rivers rise quickly and saturated slopes are unable to hold in the extra moisture.
Those risks will be compounded by the flooding rain that moves in as the storm system approaches, Brian Ochs, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Hanford, California, told ABC News.
If possible, please avoid heavy snow buildup on roofs. Heavy snow on roofs can damage them and potentially cause them to collapse. Moderate to heavy rain is expected late Thursday into the weekend, and snow on roofs can absorb the rain and become even heavier. #CAwxpic.twitter.com/3squOdOrk2
Elevations higher than 9,000 in the Sierra Nevada mountains will experience even more snow, leading to concern that additional snow accumulations will cause rooftops to collapse in the region, Ochs said. In the lower elevations that receive rain, the moisture could be absorbed by the snowpack, increasing the risk for structural damage, the National Weather Service warned.
“That could cause some damage if they don’t get the snow off the roofs,” he said.
High avalanche danger is expected for the Sierras and mountains in Southern California as well, forecasts show.
The bulk of the rain is expected to begin falling Thursday evening into Friday morning, Ochs said. Flood, winter storm and high wind watches have been issued all over the state.
The San Joaquin Valley could reach flood stage by Friday as creeks and rivers near Merced County and Yosemite National Park overflow, Ochs said. Flood watches have been issues for places like Redding, Bakersfield and east of the state, in Reno, Nevada.
Flooding is even possible in the San Francisco Bay, where more than 3 inches of rain could fall in a short amount of time. Heavy rain will begin reaching Los Angeles on Thursday night into Friday.
Parts of Southern California are already experiencing flooding. Video taken Tuesday in Sunland, a town about 20 miles north of Los Angeles, shows roadways inundated with rushing floodwaters as the snow in the foothills begins to thaw.
Anyone living near creeks and rivers should create an evacuation plan due to the flooding risk, Ochs said.
“Keep up with what the sheriffs are asking the residents to do,” he said. “Heed their warning.”
The messy weather will continue past the weekend, with another atmospheric river system already on the horizon past the weekend and into Wednesday, Ochs said.
Additional systems could be on the heels of that one later next week, Ochs said, citing National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center.
“We are in a pretty high risk of at least being in above average precipitation next week,” Ochs said.
(WASHINGTON) — A nearly two-year civil rights investigation into the Louisville, Kentucky, police department and Louisville Metro Government, touched off by the killing of Breonna Taylor, found the city and law enforcement engaged in a pattern of unlawful and discriminatory conduct, depriving people of their constitutional liberties, the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.
“This conduct is unacceptable and it is heartbreaking,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a press conference, outlining a damning portrait of the Louisville police as he announced the findings of the civil rights investigation.
“It erodes the community trust necessary for effective policing. It is an affront to the vast majority of officers who put their lives on the line every day to serve Louisville with honor and it is an affront to the people of Louisville who deserve better,” Garland said.
He said that Louisville has signed an agreement in principle with the DOJ to negotiate toward a legally binding consent decree that will include the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee a series of reforms to address the problems that investigators uncovered.
The DOJ plans to hold a virtual community meeting on Wednesday night to discuss their findings with Louisville residents.
The department launched its pattern or practice investigation into the Louisville police in April 2021, more than a year after the botched raid that resulted in Taylor’s shooting death in her home, which spurred nationwide protests along with the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota.
According to the DOJ’s report released Wednesday, one police leader told investigators that Taylor’s death “was a symptom of problems that we have had for years.”
The DOJ’s review, based on hundreds of interviews, thousands of documents and thousands of hours of body-worn camera footage, found Louisville officers routinely used excessive force in arrests, including unjustified neck restraints and wrongful use of police dogs and tasers.
The police department also conducted searches based on “invalid warrants,” the review found, and officers unlawfully executed search warrants without knocking and announcing.
“For years, [the Louisville police department] has practiced an aggressive style of policing that it deploys selectively, especially against Black people, but also against vulnerable people throughout the city,” the report stated. “Some officers have videotaped themselves throwing drinks at pedestrians from their cars; insulted people with disabilities; and called Black people ‘monkeys,’ ‘animal,’ and ‘boy.'”
The federal review found police officers conducted unlawful stops and arrests of suspects and that the department routinely discriminated against Black people in their enforcement actions. The department and city also were found to have discriminated against people who had behavioral health disabilities when they were in crisis, the report stated.
Investigators singled out members of a specialized group in the department that was once called the “Viper Unit.” Those officers were found to have routinely made dubious traffic stops in Black neighborhoods and violated residents’ Fourth Amendment rights, according to the report.
“The unit’s activities were part of an overall enforcement approach that resulted in significant and unlawful racial disparities,” Garland said at the press conference.
The DOJ investigation further found that Louisville police leaders “endorsed and defended” unlawful conduct by their officers, with some supervisors accused of defending instances of obviously excessive force or search warrants that lacked probable cause.
Last August, Garland announced civil rights charges against four Louisville police officers for a range of alleged offenses in connection with Taylor’s death, including unlawful conspiracies, unconstitutional use of force and obstruction.
One of those officers, former Louisville Detective Kelly Goodlett, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to violate Taylor’s civil rights while the others, Sgt. Kyle Meany and Joshua Jaynes and Brett Hankison, both former detectives, have pleaded not guilty.
The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division head, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, said at Wednesday’s press conference that their investigation found disturbing disparities in how Black residents were treated by police in comparison with white residents.
Black drivers were nearly four times as likely as white drivers to be cited for improperly tinted windows and nearly five times as likely as white drivers to be cited for improper tags, with Black drivers almost 50% more likely to be searched when stopped by police in their cars than white people, Clarke said.
Louisville police brought charges against Black people at higher rates than white people for the same misdemeanor offenses, she said.
“For example, [the Louisville police department] charges Black people for loitering more than four times the rate of white people, for disorderly conduct two-and-a-half times the rate of white people and for littering at three times the rate of white people,” Clarke said. “This pattern of racial discrimination fuels distrust and impedes the community’s confidence in the [police] and their law enforcement operations.”
The DOJ expects to continue working with Louisville police and the city government on a host of reforms to their law enforcement practices, including some that have already been implemented in the years following Taylor’s killing.
The newly released report outlines more than 30 recommendations for the department and city to implement, including structural changes to its use-of-force policies and reporting and an overhaul of their training protocols.
(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — The Memphis City Council passed new police reform policies two months after the death of Tyre Nichols, who died several days after a traffic stop with Memphis police that turned violent.
Body camera footage captured officers striking and beating Nichols repeatedly. His death has prompted protests and unrest across the country.
At the Tuesday meeting, City Council members voted to pass the new ordinances banning police from conducting routine traffic stops with unmarked vehicles, unless in special circumstances, as well as requiring officers to regularly submit data on traffic stops, arrests, use of force and complaints.
The policies also establish annual review procedures for the police academy and training.
Complaints involving police use of force and deaths or injuries of people while in police custody will now be required to go through an independent investigation.
In the meeting, City of Memphis Chief Legal Officer Jennifer Sink announced that internal investigations related to the Tyre Nichols’ case resulted in four Memphis Fire Department personnel being charged, and 13 Memphis Police Department personnel being charged.
According to Sink, these are not criminal investigations, but rather administrative investigations.
Seven officers involved in the incident have been fired.
Memphis Police Department Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis said the department also has undergone reforms of its own.
“The last several weeks we have really taken a closer look into, not just our policy and procedures, but just best practices,” Davis said in the City Council meeting.
This includes more frequent and random audits of body worn cameras, enhancing radio communications, creating a selection criteria for special assignments and enhancing the protocol for response to critical incidents.
The move came one day before the Justice Department confirmed it has launched a review into the Memphis Police Department’s use-of-force and de-escalation policies, along with a separate review of specialized police units deployed in cities across the country.
