(SPRINGFIELD, Ohio) — No hazardous materials were involved after a Norfolk Southern train derailed Saturday near Springfield, Ohio, officials said, the second such incident in just over a month.
Norfolk Southern General Manager Kraig Barner said Sunday that 28 train cars of 212 overall derailed, including four empty tanker cars.
The railroad company told authorities that this incident did not involve hazardous materials. But officials acknowledged Monday that other cars on the train did have hazardous contents.
A spokesman for Norfolk Southern, who attended a press briefing with local officials, declined to say how close those cars were to the ones that derailed.
“I’m not going to speculate on how close of a call it was,” Connor Spielmaker said. “Obviously, safety at Norfolk Southern is a priority.”
“There were no hazardous material cars involved in the derailment and that’s what’s important,” he added.
Spielmaker said representatives from NTSB were on site Monday investigating the wreck.
The four empty tankers were previously carrying diesel exhaust fluid and an additive commonly used in wastewater treatment, according to Clark County, Ohio, officials.
At Sunday’s press conference, officials, including the Springfield fire chief, Clark County hazmat coordinator and Clark County health commissioner, reiterated that the empty tanker cars, as well as the other cars that derailed, did not release “any chemical or any hazardous material to the soil, to the air or to the water,” Ohio EPA Director Anne Vogel said.
“We will be on-site ensuring that as cars are removed by Norfolk Southern that the soil is not impacted,” Vogel said.
The National Transportation Safety Board said Sunday that it’s investigating the new derailment near Springfield, and that investigators are expected to arrive Monday.
On Monday, a Clark County health official insisted that the derailment posed no risk to the public.
The incident comes a little over a month after a Norfolk Southern foreign train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, releasing vinyl chloride, ethyl acrylate and isobutylene into the environment. Springfield is located about 218 miles southwest of East Palestine.
Norfolk Southern officials had conducted a controlled burn of toxic chemicals from the train a few days after the derailment.
Residents expressed concerns that they were exposed to high levels of the colorless gas vinyl chloride, which easily burns and is associated with an increased risk of several cancers including brain, liver and lung cancers, as well as lymphoma and leukemia, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Environmental Protection Agency officials have insisted that they haven’t found any chemical levels that posed a health concern, a claim that angered residents during a town hall in East Palestine on Thursday.
“Don’t lie to us!” one person yelled during the meeting, and others booed loudly.
Homeowners have complained of various symptoms, including eye and skin irritation, nausea and headaches. A medical clinic recently opened to address those with health questions and concerns.
ABC News’ Matt Foster, Sasha Pezenik, Mary Kekatos and Will McDuffie contributed to this report.
(LOS ANGELES) — A United Airlines passenger was arrested after he allegedly tried to open a plane emergency exit door and then allegedly tried to stab a flight attendant, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts.
The incident took place during a Sunday flight from Los Angeles to Boston.
Francisco Severo Torres, 33, allegedly tried to stab a flight attendant in the neck with a broken metal spoon after he was confronted about tampering with the door, federal prosecutors said. Fellow passengers tackled him and the flight crew helped restrain him, prosecutors said.
The incident began about 45 minutes before the flight landed, when the crew received an alarm about a disarmed door between the first class and coach sections, prosecutors said.
A “flight attendant found that the door’s locking handle had been moved out of the fully locked position … and that the emergency slide arming lever had been moved to the ‘disarmed’ position,” prosecutors said.
After the door was relocked, a flight attendant told his colleagues that he saw Torres by the door and thought he tampered with it, prosecutors said.
A flight attendant then confronted Torres who allegedly “responded by asking if there were cameras showing that he had done so,” prosecutors said.
Torres then allegedly attacked the flight attendant, according to prosecutors.
Torres was charged with one count of interference and attempted interference with flight crew members and attendants using a dangerous weapon, prosecutors said. Torres made an initial appearance in court Monday and was detained. He’s set to return to court on Thursday.
(NEW YORK) — In hard-hit California, the Sierra Nevada mountains are continuing to get pummeled with snow.
Another 17.5 inches of snow fell in the mountains over the last 24 hours. The area has now been buried by 16 feet of snow in the last two weeks.
The snowfall total for the season now stands at 48.33 feet, surpassing the total from the winter of 2016-2017. But this year isn’t the snowiest season on record; the winter of 1951-1952 holds the record at 67.65 feet of snow.
Light snow also fell this weekend in the mountains outside of Los Angeles, where people are still digging out from the more than 100 inches of snow that slammed the area over one week ago.
In San Bernardino County, crews have removed more than 7.2 million cubic yards of snow from highways, which equals nearly 2,270 Olympic-size swimming pools, according to the governor’s office.
On Monday, an avalanche warning is ongoing for the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Another storm is set to bring more snow to Northern California and the Sierras Tuesday into Wednesday, but this system isn’t expected to be strong.
The next major storm for California is expected for the end of the week for Northern California.
The atmospheric river will slam the San Francisco area with heavy rain and bring about 5 more feet of snow to the Sierras.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the winter snow record in the region.
(NEW YORK) — In hard-hit California, the Sierra Nevada mountains are continuing to get pummeled with snow and have now set a new snowfall record.
Another 17.5 inches of snow fell in the mountains over the last 24 hours. The area has now been buried by 16 feet of snow in the last two weeks.
The snowfall total for the season stands at 48.33 feet, which breaks the previous record of 47.77 feet set in the winter of 2016-2017.
Light snow also fell this weekend in the mountains outside of Los Angeles, where people are still digging out from the more than 100 inches of snow that slammed the area over one week ago.
In San Bernardino County, crews have removed more than 7.2 million cubic yards of snow from highways, which equals nearly 2,270 Olympic-size swimming pools, according to the governor’s office.
On Monday, an avalanche warning is ongoing for the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Another storm is set to bring more snow to Northern California and the Sierras Tuesday into Wednesday, but this system isn’t expected to be strong.
The next major storm for California is expected for the end of the week for Northern California.
The atmospheric river will slam the San Francisco area with heavy rain and bring about 5 more feet of snow to the Sierras.
(EAST PALESTINE, Ohio) — The rail operator at the center of a hazardous train derailment in Ohio announced Monday its plans to “immediately enhance the safety of its operations.”
Norfolk Southern Railway said in a press release that the changes “are based on” the preliminary findings of the National Transportation Safety Board’s ongoing investigation into the Feb. 3 derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
“Reading the NTSB report makes it clear that meaningful safety improvements require a comprehensive industry effort that brings together railcar and tank car manufacturers, railcar owners and lessors, and the railroad companies,” Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan Shaw said in a statement. “We are eager to help drive that effort and we are not waiting to take action.”
While Norfolk Southern called it a “six-point safety plan,” some of the initiatives had already been announced by the company while others followed last week’s proposal of rail safety legislation.
Shaw is set to testify Thursday on the East Palestine derailment before the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
The Atlanta-based company is facing scathing criticism and scrutiny for two major derailments in just over a month. On Saturday, a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed near Springfield, Ohio, though the company said no hazardous materials were involved.
In Monday’s press release, Norfolk Southern said it “will immediately begin” to enhance the hot bearing detector network; pilot next-generation hot bearing detectors; work with industry on practices for hot bearing detectors; deploy more acoustic bearing detectors; accelerate our Digital Train Inspection program; and support a strong safety culture.
Hot bearing detectors are put in place along railroads to assess temperature conditions of wheel bearings while en route as well as the overall health of rail equipment and infrastructure. In the case of the East Palestine derailment, investigators said the detectors had flagged the rapidly rising temperature of one of the Norfolk Southern train’s wheel bearings. But by the time the wheel bearing reached the temperature threshold for the train to stop and be inspected, investigators said it appeared the derailment had already occurred, raising questions about whether there was enough warning or if the detectors should have been able to flag the overheating sooner.
So far, the NTSB’s findings have indicated that an overheated wheel bearing likely caused the East Palestine derailment. It was unclear what caused the Springfield derailment, which the NTSB is also investigating.
Norfolk Southern said it plans to add approximately 200 hot bearing detectors to its network, “with the first installed on the western approach to East Palestine.” The company already had nearly 1,000 detectors along its system. Norfolk Southern said it is also “evaluating the distance between hot bearing detectors, which currently averages 13.9 miles on its core network.” The company noted that it will “examine every location on its core network where the distance is more than 15 miles and develop a plan to deploy additional detectors where practical due to terrain and operating conditions.”
Norfolk Southern said it is working with manufacturers to “accelerate the testing and deployment” of safety technology on its network that “can scan a greater cross-section of a railcar’s bearings and wheels.” These so-called “multi-scan” hot bearing detectors may offer the potential to catch overheated bearings more effectively, the company said.
With questions about whether these detectors should have been able to trigger temperature alarms earlier and if that could have mitigated circumstances in East Palestine, Norfolk Southern said it plans “to work with peers” in the rail industry “to analyze data for patterns that could provide earlier warnings of potential safety issues” and “to review best practices, including response to high-temperature alarms.” Last week, the Federal Railroad Administration issued a safety advisory urging companies to improve the use of their hot bearing detectors.
Moreover, Norfolk Southern said it “will immediately accelerate the deployment of acoustic bearing detectors, which play a different role in its safety inspection program.” The company noted that “these detectors analyze the acoustic signature of vibration inside the axle and can identify potential problems that a visual inspection could not.” Norfolk Southern said it will add 13 new detectors to the five already in service, stationing these devices on high-traffic routes, which the company said “will strengthen the early-warning system that identifies potential risks before they become issues.”
Norfolk Southern said it is also partnering with the Georgia Tech Research Institute in Atlanta to develop more advanced safety inspection technology by using “machine vision and algorithms powered by artificial intelligence to identify defects and needed repairs much more effectively than traditional human inspection.”
The company noted that the new technology will include “ultra-high-resolution cameras stationed in strategic locations around its network,” which “will give Norfolk Southern a 360-degree health check on railcars, improving its ability to detect, diagnose, and repair defects before they become issues.” The company added that it “is accelerating the installation of the next phase of this new technology on its Premier Corridor, which connects the Midwest and Northeast and is the line that runs through East Palestine.”
As part of its six-point plan, Norfolk Southern touted its agreement to join the FRA’s Confidential Close Call Reporting System, or C3RS, which the company did at the urging of U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg last week.
On the night of Feb. 3, about 50 cars of a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in a fiery crash on the outskirts of East Palestine, which is nestled near Ohio’s state line with Pennsylvania. Eleven of the derailed cars were transporting hazardous materials, five of which contained vinyl chloride, a highly volatile colorless gas produced for commercial uses. Several cars were also carrying ethyl acrylate and isobutylene, which are considered to be very toxic and possibly carcinogenic. There were no injuries reported from the accident, according to officials.
Efforts to contain a fire at the derailment site stalled the following night, as firefighters withdrew from the blaze due to concerns about air quality and explosions. About half of East Palestine’s roughly 4,700 residents were warned to leave before officials decided on Feb. 6 to conduct a controlled release and burn of the toxic vinyl chloride from the five tanker cars, which were in danger of exploding.
A large ball of fire and a plume of black smoke filled with contaminants could be seen billowing high into the sky from the smoldering derailment site as the controlled burn took place that afternoon, prompting concerns from residents about the potential effects.
A mandatory evacuation order for homes and businesses within a one-mile radius of the derailment site was lifted on Feb. 8, after air and water samples taken the day before were deemed safe, officials said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency deployed a team to East Palestine on Feb. 18 to help support the ongoing operations there.
On Feb. 23, the NTSB released preliminary findings from its ongoing investigation into the East Palestine derailment. The NTSB report reads, in part: “Surveillance video from a local residence showed what appeared to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment. The wheel bearing and affected wheelset have been collected as evidence and will be examined by the NTSB.” During a press conference, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy called the derailment “100% preventable” and said it was “no accident.”
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan announced on Feb. 21 that his agency is ordering Norfolk Southern “to conduct all necessary actions associated with the cleanup from the East Palestine train derailment.” The rail operator will be required to continue cleaning up the contaminated soil and water and transport it safely; reimburse the EPA for cleaning services; and attend public meetings at the EPA’s request and share information. If Norfolk Southern does not comply, the company will be ordered to pay triple the cost, according to Regan.
As of March 6, approximately 1,970 tons of solid waste and 2.7 million gallons of liquid waste have been collected from the derailment site and hauled out of East Palestine, according to a press release from the office of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, which cited the Ohio EPA. The liquid waste total was revised down from 3.2 million gallons the previous day, which was later said to be a typo.
Norfolk Southern has not said which chemicals were found in the material that was removed.
Meanwhile, DeWine’s office said the EPA has not detected contaminants linked to the Feb. 3 derailment while testing air quality within area homes. Similarly, all sampling of East Palestine’s municipal water supply to date have shown no contaminants associated with the Feb. 3 derailment.
While the majority of homes in the area get drinking water from the municipal supply, some get theirs from private wells. So far, 157 private systems have been sampled, of which 57 test results have been verified and none have shown any harmful contaminant levels linked to the Feb. 3 derailment, according to the governor’s office.
DeWine’s office has said that residents whose drinking water is sourced from private wells should continue drinking bottled water until the testing results are returned. Officials have underscored that those who get their drinking water from private wells should get it tested, especially since those wells may be closer to the surface than municipal water wells and thus potentially easier for any contaminants to seep into.
Last week, six wild animals — four raccoons, one muskrat and one snapping turtle — were found dead in or around Sulphur Run, a creek that flows through downtown East Palestine and near the derailment site. Although some of the animals were too decomposed for lab work, preliminary reports showed “no evidence to support chemical toxicity as a cause of death,” according to the governor’s office.
(NEW YORK) — In hard-hit California, the Sierra Nevada mountains are continuing to get pummeled with snow and are just a few inches away from breaking a new record.
This weekend, 38 inches of snow fell in the Sierras in just 24 hours, bringing this winter’s total snowfall to a whopping 47.5 feet. The last record was set in the winter of 2016-2017.
Light snow also fell this weekend in the mountains outside of Los Angeles, where people are still digging out from the more than 100 inches of snow that slammed the area over one week ago.
In San Bernardino County, crews have removed more than 7.2 million cubic yards of snow from highways, which equals nearly 2,270 Olympic-size swimming pools, according to the governor’s office.
On Monday, an avalanche warning is ongoing for the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Another storm is set to bring more snow to Northern California and the Sierras Tuesday into Wednesday, but this system isn’t expected to be strong.
The next major storm for California is expected for the end of the week for Northern California.
The atmospheric river will slam the San Francisco area with heavy rain and bring about 5 more feet of snow to the Sierras.
Police respond to a home invasion that left 3 people dead, March 5, 2023, in Bolingbrook, Ill. — WLS
(BOLINGBROOK, Ill.) — Two adults and a child were killed in a home invasion on Sunday night in Illinois, police said.
Bolingbrook police said they responded to a report of a home invasion at 8:15 p.m. to find four individuals with gunshot wounds.
A man, woman and child were killed, and another woman was shot and injured, officials said.
Later Sunday evening, Bolingbrook Police reported that they had located and detained a suspect in the shooting.
“Our patrol officers and investigators are working diligently on all potential leads and evidence at this time,” Bolingbrook Police wrote in their most recent statement.
Neighbor Ryan Hedberg told ABC News’ Chicago station WLS that he heard two gunshots after coming home to the normally “quiet” neighborhood.
“Came home from dropping off my kids, hanging out inside, heard two gunshots; there was apparently more, but it’s what we heard sitting inside,” Hedberg said. “It’s kind of weird being over here, it’s usually quiet.”
Bolingbrook is a suburb roughly 30 miles from Chicago with more than 73,000 residents, according to Census data. One of the wealthiest cities in the Midwest, Bolingbrook has a median household income of $97,371 and a median home value of $242,600.
(ATLANTA) — Dozens of people were arrested in Atlanta on Sunday evening after throwing bricks, rocks, fireworks and Molotov cocktails at officers near the site of a planned public safety training facility, police said.
After attending an event near the site of the soon-to-be Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, a group of people changed into black clothing and entered the construction area at around 5:30 p.m. ET. The “agitators” approached officers there and launched a “coordinated attack,” according to the Atlanta Police Department.
“This is not a protest,” Atlanta Chief of Police Darin Schierbaum said at a press conference on Sunday night. “This is criminal activity.”
The officers “exercised restraint” and held their position until authorities from multiple law enforcement agencies responded and “used non-lethal enforcement” to detain at least 35 people, some of whom were not from the area, according to police. Additional arrests were being made, with information on the suspects and the charges against them expected to be released Monday.
“We continue to see a number of individuals not from Atlanta, Georgia, that are present tonight undertaking criminal activities to destabilize the construction of a fire and police training center,” Schierbaum told reporters.
No officers were injured during the incident, though police noted that “the illegal actions of the agitators could have resulted in bodily harm.” Some of those arrested sustained minor injuries. Several pieces of construction equipment at the site were destroyed by fire and vandalism during the attack, according to police.
“This wasn’t about a public safety training center,” Schierbaum added. “This was about anarchy, and this was about the attempt to destabilize.”
Police continue to investigate the incident. Both the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are also conducting a probe.
The Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, known by its opponents as “Cop City,” has been at the center of escalating demonstrations and confrontations since its proposal in 2021. The city-approved facility is being built on 85 acres of a 400-acre, city-owned property in unincorporated DeKalb County that is within the larger South River Forest, or “Weelaunee” as it’s called by the land’s indigenous people.
The city has said the training center “will support high-quality, community-oriented training for police, fire and E-911 personnel,” while the remaining 315 acres of the property will be preserved “as restored and improved green space for ecological protection and the public’s enjoyment as part of the larger South River Forest initiative.”
Those protesting the planned facility have said they lament the increasing militarization of law enforcement as well as the development of the forest.
More demonstrations are expected to take place in the coming days. While calling for “peaceful” protests, the Atlanta Police Department said its officers, “in collaboration with law enforcement partners, have a multi-layered strategy that includes reaction and arrest.”
Sunday’s clashes came as the GBI investigates multiple law enforcement officers in the Jan. 18 fatal shooting of an environmental activist during a raid on protesters camped out in the forest. Several large protests have occurred in downtown Atlanta over the death of 26-year-old Manuel Esteban Paez Teran, prompting Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to declare a state of emergency on Jan. 26.
(CONWAY, Ark.) — It’s been more than 45 days since 14-year-old Tanvi Marupally went missing near the bus pickup area at her school in Conway, Arkansas, and there are still no publicly known leads as to where she went.
Tanvi’s parents initially told the Conway Police Department that the Indian-American teenager might have run away from home due to fear of deportation, according to police. She had run away previously at age 11 when her mother was deported, but in that instance, she was gone less than a day and was near her house for the entirety of her disappearance, officials said.
Her parents, Sridevi Eadara and Pavan Roy Marupally, have said deportation is no longer a concern. The couple expressed this assurance in a video posted to YouTube of them pleading for their only daughter to come home. Eadara, the mother, returned legally to the United States as a dependent on her husband’s visa, she told ABC News.
Eadara told ABC News that while transitioning to junior high this school year was stressful for her daughter, “she’s smart, hardworking, kindhearted, and always wanted to help people, especially in high school … all of her teachers are so proud of her.”
She also said that between Tanvi’s excitement for college and the ACT she was scheduled to take in February, it makes no sense that she’d run away.
According to CPD, Tanvi was last seen walking past her usual bus pickup area at Conway Junior High School on Jan. 17, 2023. When she did not arrive home by bus later that day, her parents contacted the police. She was not carrying any sort of trackable electronic device.
The community of approximately 65,000 people has rallied around her family and the cause to bring Tanvi home, searching the town for weeks, holding a vigil in February, and bringing home-cooked meals to Tanvi’s parents.
“You wish every community with a missing child would respond the way Conway has,” Rebecca Steinbach, spokesperson for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), told ABC News. “They’ve banded together in such a loving, positive way to bring Tanvi home.”
Eadara said, “Our family, friends and community … they are helping us … literally they are taking care of my family.”
But Steinbach fears awareness of the case has not sufficiently reached beyond the small town. She hopes NCMEC’s latest effort will spread the word further.
“Tanvi’s face will be on TV screens at gas pumps throughout the state of Arkansas and surrounding states of Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Missouri over the next month,” she said. NCMEC also has a dedicated case manager working in conjunction with law enforcement and the family to offer resources and assistance daily, according to the spokesperson.
In February, the U.S. Marshals Service joined CPD in its efforts to search for the teen. But despite a multi-agency effort, the case appears to be running cold, leading some community members to criticize law enforcement’s response and begin their own sleuthing efforts.
Jenny Wallace is a lifelong resident of the Conway area, former teacher, and mom of six who organized the vigil in February and continues to advocate for more resources dedicated to finding Tanvi, as are other local parents. Tanvi’s mother confirmed Wallace has grown close to their family since her daughter’s disappearance.
Wallace told ABC News that she believes in the crucial period of the first two weeks of the case, CPD failed to address the teen’s disappearance adequately. Arkansas State Police confirmed neither an AMBER Alert nor Endangered Missing Advisory were sent out in January, which Wallace claimed she begged the police for.
In an email to ABC News on Thursday, CPD public information officer Lacey Kanipe said they were in contact with Arkansas State Police regarding issuance of an AMBER Alert, since that agency decides what cases qualify for alerts but added, “While ASP is sympathetic, ultimately, they determined that the information we have at this time does not meet the requirement for an Amber Alert.” In an email to ABC News, ASP stated, “Based on the information provided by the Conway PD on Feb. 17, the case did not meet the ASP requirement for an Amber Alert.” “We did not receive a call before Feb. 17,” they continued, which was a month after Tanvi went missing.
For cases to qualify for an AMBER Alert, the U.S. Justice Department requires specific criteria be met, including that there must be a reasonable belief by law enforcement that an abduction has occurred, and law enforcement must believe the child is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death. An EMA alert, according to ASP’s alert guidelines, can be used when law enforcement has a case that does not fully qualify for an AMBER Alert. Neither CPD nor ASP responded to inquiries as to why an EMA was not issued.
The offense description box of the January 2023 police report reviewed by ABC News labels Tanvi’s disappearance as “harassment conduct that repeatedly causes alarm,” not “runaway” or “missing person,” but the narrative section of her report states that a BOLO was sent out and she was registered into ASP’s Crime Information Center as a runaway.
In an email to ABC News, Kanipe stated: “Typically when juveniles run away the incident is categorized as harassment.”
Kanipe did not respond to requests to explain “harassment” and why it is applied to missing children.
“Initially, we reported Tanvi as wearing tan pants based on a description given to us by her parents,” Kanipe said. “We later realized that Tanvi’s parents were mistaken when we received footage from the school district, and we put out an accurate release with photos from the day Tanvi left school.”
“I think they [police] felt like this was a runaway who was going to come home and that’s how it was treated. And so we applied pressure at two weeks … and then they started canvassing,” Wallace said of her experience. “I would say more stuff is being done [by police] now,” she added. But over a month into the case, law enforcement has not informed the public of any leads.
In reply to criticism that CPD’s response to Marupally’s case has been insufficient, CPD listed its efforts, ranging from park, town, and sewage canvasses by foot and drone, interviews with those who knew Tanvi, and surveillance footage requests. “CPD began our search for Tanvi as soon as her parents notified us that she did not come home from school…,” Kanipe wrote.
“Our concern lies with Tanvi’s family and ensuring that we remain in communication with them about any updates on the investigation,” Kanipe wrote.
Nevertheless, because of Wallace’s dissatisfaction with law enforcement’s response, she says she took matters into her own hands in those first two weeks, orchestrating her own searches in the area and reviewing door camera footage from the area where Marupally went missing. She was also pleased when the family hired a private investigator.
Eadara, meanwhile, simply had a message for anyone who may have taken Tanvi and for her daughter. “I’m begging, please let Tanvi go home,” she said. “And Tanvi, please understand your mother’s pain, and let us know you’re safe.”
Officials ask that anyone with information on Tanvi’s whereabouts call 911 or the Conway Police Department at 501-450-6120.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is also taking calls and texts at 1-800-843-5678. Information can be reported anonymously.
(ATLANTA) — At least two people were killed and six others were injured when gunfire erupted late Saturday night at a suburban Atlanta house party packed with more than 100 teenagers, according to law enforcement officials.
The shooting broke out about 11 p.m. at a home in Douglasville, about 20 miles west of Atlanta, according to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.
“We know that there was a house party where well over a hundred teenagers were attending. A confrontation occurred that resulted in two deaths and six injured from gunshots,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement Sunday.
No arrests were immediately announced and a motive remains under investigation. Sheriff’s investigators are asking anyone with information about the episode to contact them.
The names of the two people killed were not immediately released, but parents of teenagers who attended the party wrote on Facebook that the deceased victims were teenagers.
“My child is traumatized. Her friends are traumatized. I am traumatized,” a parent of one of the partygoers wrote on Facebook.
Aerial Gardner, who lives next door to the house where the shooting occurred, told ABC affiliate station WSB-TV in Atlanta that she and her family heard the gunshots and took cover inside their home.
“My kids were on the floor. They were scared,” Gardner said.
