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(NEW YORK) — The FBI said on Friday that it’s treating the recent hostage situation at a Texas synagogue as a terrorist act and hate crime.

An international federal investigation is ongoing after a rabbi and three members of his Dallas-Fort Worth-area congregation were taken hostage Saturday by an allegedly armed man who authorities said was demanding the release of a convicted terrorist.

The incident “underscores the continued threat violent extremists pose to religious institutions, particularly Jewish institutions and other Jewish targets,” Matthew DeSarno, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Dallas field office, said during a press briefing.

“The FBI is and has been treating Saturday’s events as an act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community,” DeSarno continued. “It was committed by a terrorist exposing an antisemitic worldview.”

The suspect “repeatedly demanded the United States release a convicted al-Qaida terrorist in exchange for the safe return of the hostages,” which met the definition of terrorism under federal law, said DeSarno, adding that forcibly holding hostage the victims as they exercised their right to worship was a federal hate crime.

“We recognize that the Jewish community in particular has suffered violence and faces very real threats from across the hate spectrum, from domestic violent extremists to foreign terrorist organizations. And because of that, the FBI considers the enduring threats to the community to be among our very highest priorities,” DeSarno said.

The suspect, who died in the incident when an FBI hostage rescue team breached the synagogue, was identified by authorities as Malik Faisal Akram, 44, a British citizen.

Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker was leading Shabbat services at the Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville on Saturday morning when, according to law enforcement officials, Akram interrupted the service and allegedly claimed he’d planted bombs in the synagogue.

Authorities believe the location was intentionally targeted because it was the closest synagogue to Carswell Air Force Base near Fort Worth, where the convicted terrorist is being held.

DeSarno did not identify the prisoner by name, though multiple law enforcement sources told ABC News the armed suspect was demanding the release of Aafia Siddiqui, who was convicted of assault and attempted murder of a U.S. soldier in 2010 and sentenced to 86 years in prison.

DeSarno said the suspect was aware that foreign terrorist organizations previously had tried to negotiate the release of the prisoner by exchanging American hostages. DeSarno said he doesn’t know of any personal connection between the suspect and the convicted terrorist.

In the days since the incident, law enforcement officials have received a “high volume of leads” and have interviewed all those they believe Akram had interacted with since arriving in the U.S. on Dec. 29, according to DeSarno, who did not elaborate if any were considered accomplices. Authorities have not detained anyone locally in connection with the incident.

Investigators have been digging into the suspect’s social media and personal devices to try and find out more about his travel and associates, as well as determine how he allegedly acquired a firearm, DeSarno said. No explosives were recovered at the scene.

The FBI is also working with international partners, including the U.K., as part of the investigation. Two men were arrested in England on Thursday morning as part of the investigation, British authorities said.

The 10-hour standoff ended with all four hostages safely escaping as the situation had gone from “bad to significantly worse,” said DeSarno.

“The professionalism and expertise in the negotiation team combined with the composure and judgment of the hostages set the conditions for a successful resolution,” he said.

Cytron-Walker said he had the cellphone number of Colleyville Police Department Chief Michael Miller and was able to text and communicate with him about the hostage situation as it unfolded.

“We were constantly looking for an opportunity to leave, and it was very, very hard to find an opportunity where we all could leave,” Cytron-Walker told reporters Friday.

Hostage negotiators successfully negotiated the release of one of the hostages. As three remained, Cytron-Walker said he threw a chair at the hostage-taker so they could make their escape.

“I stand up here before you with great gratitude just to be alive,” Cytron-Walker said. “With gratitude to God, with gratitude for all of those individual human efforts that allow us to be here today, I’m just overflowing with gratitude.”

Cytron-Walker invited all those interested to pray with the congregation Friday night and Saturday morning through its Facebook Live program as the community tries to find a “sense of peace” after the harrowing incident.

“We all desperately, desperately need that sense of peace,” he said. “And I would extend that not only to the Jewish community but extend that to all communities.”

ABC News’ Matthew Fuhrman contributed to this report.

 

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(LOS ANGELES) — Los Angeles community members gathered for a vigil outside the furniture store where a 24-year-old employee was killed in the middle of the afternoon.

Brianna Kupfer was attacked with a knife while she worked alone at the store on Jan. 13. Kupfer had texted a friend that afternoon saying someone in the store was giving her a “bad vibe,” Los Angeles Police Department Lt. John Radke said at a Tuesday news conference.

Community members brought flowers, candles and posters to a Thursday vigil for the slain 24-year-old, who, when not working at the Croft House furniture store, was taking design courses through UCLA Extension, a continuing education program.

“I’m the parent of a girl two years younger than her. It’s shocking to me that this happened here or anywhere in our city,” resident Sherry Gonzalez told Los Angeles ABC station KABC.

The suspect, 31-year-old Shawn Laval Smith, was apprehended in Pasadena on Wednesday. Police said the crime appeared to be random.

Smith was charged Friday afternoon with murder.

“Those who show no compassion for human life will face serious consequences,” LA District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement. “The murder of Brianna Kupfer has left Los Angeles County devastated and my office is reaching out to her family to provide any services they may need.”

 

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(NEW YORK) — The FBI on Friday released new details in the investigation of Gabby Petito’s death, saying that that Brian Laundrie wrote in a notebook that he killed her.

The FBI’s Denver office had sent out a timeline of the investigation, saying that before discovering Laundrie’s remains in a Florida wetland in October, agents had discovered a backpack, a gun and a notebook that all belonged to him.

“A review of the notebook revealed written statements by Mr. Laundrie claiming responsibility for Ms. Petito’s death,” the FBI said in a statement.

The agency said Petito’s family met with agents as the case into the 22-year-old’s disappearance and death soon will be closed.

“All logical investigative steps have been concluded in this case,” Michael Schneider, FBI Denver Division special agent in charge, said in a statement. “The investigation did not identify any other individuals other than Brian Laundrie directly involved in the tragic death of Gabby Petito.”

Steven Bertolino, an attorney representing the Laundrie family, released a statement Friday expressing condolences for both families.

“We can only hope that with today’s closure of the case each family can begin to heal and move forward and find peace in and with the memories of their children,” he said in a statement.

Petito went on a road trip with Laundrie, her boyfriend, through Colorado and Utah from July to August.

Utah Police said officers responded to a 911 call in August where the caller claimed he saw Laundrie slap Petito, and police stopped the couple for questioning on the side of the road. They were allowed to continue their trip because of “insufficient evidence” of any wrongdoing, police said.

Petito went missing around Aug. 27 and Laundrie returned home to Florida on Sept. 1, investigators said.

Two weeks later, he was named a person of interest in Petito’s disappearance, but Laundrie was reported missing Sept. 17.

On Sept. 19, search crews discovered a body in Bridger-Teton National Park in Wyoming later revealed to be Petito’s. An autopsy determined she died from strangulation.

Search crews combed the Florida wetlands where Laundrie was last seen, and on Oct. 20 found his remains in Carlton Reserve, near North Port.

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(DALLAS) — Dallas police said an 11-year-old boy who was missing for two nights and last seen wearing only shorts and socks during frigid temperatures has been found safe.

Traveon Michael Allen Griffin left his home in southwest Dallas early Thursday, around midnight, according to police.

“He may be confused and in need of assistance,” police said.

Police upgraded the missing person’s case Thursday to “critical” due to the “victim’s clothing attire and current below-freezing temperatures.”

Friday afternoon, police said in an update on social media that Traveon had been “located and he is safe.” No further details were provided.

Since he was reported missing, police had been going door-to-door looking for Traveon, and were focused on a playground and pond near the child’s home. The department had also been utilizing its mounted and canine units, drones and a helicopter. Police said volunteers were joining the search efforts

Police said in an earlier update Friday morning that they had found no new leads, though noted there was no evidence of foul play.

Officers additionally planned to visit friends’ homes and hospitals to search for Traveon, police told ABC Dallas affiliate WFAA-TV Friday.

“We will not leave any stone unturned,” Dallas Police spokesperson Sgt. Warren Mitchell told WFAA-TV Thursday. “We will check every creek, every residence in this area, every alley, every backyard, until we can find him.

Mitchell had suspected the child might be trying to hide.

“But eventually, hopefully, we’ll be able to find him,” he said.

 

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(NEW YORK) — At the beginning of 2020, as the nation celebrated the start of a new year, many Americans were still unaware of the “mysterious pneumonia” that had sickened dozens of workers at a live animal market in Wuhan, China.

The illness, later identified as the “novel coronavirus”, began spreading rapidly across the globe. Several studies have suggested that the virus had already been spreading in the United States, potentially as early as December 2019.

However, it was not until mid-January of 2020, when the virus would officially be recognized as present on U.S. soil.

Two years ago, on Jan. 21, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the first domestic case of coronavirus. The positive patient was a 35-year-old man from Washington state, who had recently returned from Wuhan, China.

Now, two years later, the U.S. has confirmed more than 69 million COVID-19 cases, and 859,000 deaths, the highest in the total for any country, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. And the nation, despite the wide availability of highly effective vaccines and novel treatments, is experiencing its most significant surge on record due to the highly transmissible omicron variant and tens of millions of eligible Americans remaining unvaccinated.

“These last two years have brought transformational advancements spanning vaccines, treatments and testing. Though these tools are having a clear impact on reducing poor outcomes, we are still seeing one of the worst surges to date,” said John Brownstein, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor.

‘Low’ risk morphs into pandemic

Just days before the first case was confirmed two years ago, the CDC had implemented public health entry screening at several major airports including San Francisco International Airport, New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport.

At the time, the CDC reported that while the virus was originally thought to be spreading from animal-to-person, there were “growing indications” that “limited person-to-person spread” was taking place.

“This is certainly not a moment for panic or high anxiety. It is a moment for vigilance,” Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee said during a news conference that same day. “The risk is low to residents in Washington.”

Less than a week after the first domestic case was confirmed, Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, which is a division of the CDC, stressed that the “virus is not spreading in the community… For that reason, we continue to believe that the immediate health risk from the new virus to the general public is low at this time.”

In late February, Messonnier said she ultimately expected to see community spread in the U.S. At the time, health officials noted that the virus may not be able to be contained at the border and that Americans should prepare for a “significant disruption” in their lives.

In the months to come, Life Care Center of Kirkland, a skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility in Seattle suburbs, would become the first epicenter of the virus’ deadly journey across the country. The epicenter quickly then became New York City, which experienced hundreds of deaths a day at the peak of April 2020.

It would be another seven weeks until the World Health Organization would declare the global coronavirus a pandemic, subsequently forcing borders to close, and Americans to retreat to their homes for what some thought would be just a few weeks of “social distancing” and “stay-at-home” orders.

In the first months of pandemic, through April 2020, more than 1 million Americans were sickened and 65,000 died, when the virus was still largely mysterious, treatments and supplies were scarce and hospitals were overwhelmed in large urban areas like New York. Subsequent waves of the virus each had their own characteristics from the deadly winter surge of 2020 to 2021 and the delta variant surge, which upended the optimism that the pandemic would finally come to an end after mass vaccination.

In fact, in the last year alone, more than 450,000 Americans have been lost to the virus.

17 million cases in a month

Two years into the pandemic, federal data shows that hundreds of thousands of Americans are still testing positive for the virus every day, and more than 1,600 others are dying from COVID-19.

In the last month alone, there have been more than 17.1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, and 44,700 reported virus-related deaths. In addition, more than a year into the U.S. domestic vaccine rollout, 62 million eligible Americans who are over the age of 5, about 20% of that group, remain completely unvaccinated.

“After 24 months and unprecedented medical innovation, the last month has brought millions of cases and tens of thousands of deaths. While many might declare victory on the pandemic, we are clearly very far from where want we want to be right now, especially with billions of people yet to be vaccinated,” Brownstein said, referring to the continued global crisis.

The U.S. is still averaging more than 750,000 new cases a day, about three times the surge from last winter in 2021. However, there is growing evidence to suggest that the latest omicron case surge may be beginning to recede in the parts of the country that were first struck by the variant.

Although preliminary global studies indicate that the omicron variant may cause less severe illness than prior variants, health officials say that the sheer numbers of infections caused by the new variant could still overwhelm the health care system.

Glimmers of hope

In New York, daily cases have dropped by 33% in the last week, and in New Jersey, new cases are down by 43.7%. In Massachusetts, wastewater samples indicate the state’s omicron surge is falling rapidly.

In the Southeast, daily cases in Florida are falling too — down by 30% in the last week, though the state is still averaging more than 45,000 new cases a day.

However, health officials caution that overall, the latest COVID-19 surge across much of the country has yet to peak, and hospitals could still be faced with difficult weeks ahead.

Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday that the omicron surge has not yet peaked nationally.

“This is a very difficult time during this surge. We are seeing high case numbers and hospitalization rates… we’re also seeing strain in many of our hospitals around the country,” Murthy said. “The next few weeks will be tough.”

More than 160,000 virus-positive Americans are currently hospitalized across the country, a pandemic high. It was just over two weeks ago that we hit 100,000 COVID-19 positive Americans hospitalized.

Half the country – 25 states and Puerto Rico – has seen their COVID-19 related hospital admission rates jump by at least 10% in the last week, and nationwide, an average of more than 21,000 virus-positive Americans are seeking care every day.

And nationally, 99% of U.S. counties are still reporting high transmission. Out of the 3,220 U.S. counties, just 16 counties are not reporting high transmission.

Earlier this week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the White House, said at the Davos Agenda, a virtual event held by the World Economic Forum, that it is an “open question” as to whether the omicron variant will lead the globe into a new phase of the pandemic.

“It’s not going to be that you’re going to eliminate this disease completely. We’re not going to do that. But hopefully it will be at such a low level that it doesn’t disrupt our normal, social, economic and other interactions with each other,” Fauci said. “To me, that’s what the new normal is. I hope the new normal also includes a real strong corporate memory of what pandemics can do.”

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(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.5 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 860,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

About 63.2% 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 news is developing. All times Eastern:

Jan 21, 9:09 am
Non-citizens entering US via land border, ferry terminals must be fully vaccinated

Beginning Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security is requiring non-U.S. citizens entering the U.S. via land or ferry to be fully vaccinated.

This rule, outlined in October, applies to people arriving from Mexico’s and Canada’s borders.

This requirement does not apply to U.S. citizens traveling over the border.

-ABC News’ Luke Barr

Jan 20, 10:44 pm
Breakthrough cases grew fourfold during omicron emergence: CDC

Despite waning immunity over time, vaccines still dramatically reduced the risk of severe illness caused by COVID-19 through at least the end of the delta wave, according to data updated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Thursday evening.

In November, unvaccinated adults had a four times greater risk of testing positive for COVID-19, and a 15 times greater risk of dying from COVID-19, compared to vaccinated individuals, according to federal data pulled from 28 states and jurisdictions.

Additionally, unvaccinated adults had a 13 times greater risk of testing positive for COVID-19 and a 68 times greater risk of dying from it as compared to fully vaccinated individuals with a booster.

The emergence of omicron does appear to have increased the occurrence of breakthrough cases. Between late November and late-December, the rate of infections among the fully vaccinated increased more than fourfold. Even so, unvaccinated Americans remained twice as likely to test positive for the virus.

Similarly, the rate of infections among the fully vaccinated and boosted Americans testing positive increased by nearly tenfold. However, unvaccinated Americans remained 3.8 times as likely to test positive for the virus.

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Jan 20, 4:54 pm
Wastewater data finds omicron may have been in US as early as Nov. 21

A new CDC study finds that the omicron variant was likely in the U.S. more than a week before the first case was detected.

The first official case was detected on Dec. 1 in California. But a review of the national wastewater surveillance system indicates that the variant could have been present as early as Nov. 21, according to samples collected in New York City.

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos, Sony Salzman

Jan 20, 4:37 pm
Hospitalizations at record high, cases dropping in some areas

More than 160,000 COVID-19-positive Americans are currently in hospitals — a pandemic high and double the number from about three weeks ago, according to federal data.

It’s still not clear how many were admitted with COVID-19 and how many tested positive for the virus after they were admitted for other reasons.

The U.S. is reporting an average of 760,000 new cases per day, according to federal data.

Although case levels remain high, there’s growing evidence to suggest the omicron surge is receding in the parts of the country first struck by the variant.

In New York, daily cases have dropped by 33% in the last week, while in New Jersey new cases are down by 43.7%.

Wisconsin now leads the nation in new cases per capita, followed by Rhode Island, Utah and South Carolina.

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Jan 20, 3:12 pm
San Francisco appears to pass peak of omicron surge: Officials

In San Francisco, COVID-19 cases are “dropping rapidly” following record highs that appeared to peak on Jan. 9, officials announced.

While “cases are still extremely high,” they “have plateaued and are starting to go down,” said Dr. Grant Colfax, director of the Department of Public Health.

“We’re looking at data from other places … the consistent data seem to show that cases go up very fast, they started to come down very fast. So we’re on that downward trend now,” Colfax said.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.5 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 860,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

About 63.2% 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 news is developing. All times Eastern:

Jan 20, 10:44 pm
Breakthrough cases grew fourfold during omicron emergence: CDC

Despite waning immunity over time, vaccines still dramatically reduced the risk of severe illness caused by COVID-19 through at least the end of the delta wave, according to data updated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Thursday evening.

In November, unvaccinated adults had a four times greater risk of testing positive for COVID-19, and a 15 times greater risk of dying from COVID-19, compared to vaccinated individuals, according to federal data pulled from 28 states and jurisdictions.

Additionally, unvaccinated adults had a 13 times greater risk of testing positive for COVID-19 and a 68 times greater risk of dying from it as compared to fully vaccinated individuals with a booster.

The emergence of omicron does appear to have increased the occurrence of breakthrough cases. Between late November and late-December, the rate of infections among the fully vaccinated increased more than fourfold. Even so, unvaccinated Americans remained twice as likely to test positive for the virus.

Similarly, the rate of infections among the fully vaccinated and boosted Americans testing positive increased by nearly tenfold. However, unvaccinated Americans remained 3.8 times as likely to test positive for the virus.

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Jan 20, 4:54 pm
Wastewater data finds omicron may have been in US as early as Nov. 21

A new CDC study finds that the omicron variant was likely in the U.S. more than a week before the first case was detected.

The first official case was detected on Dec. 1 in California. But a review of the national wastewater surveillance system indicates that the variant could have been present as early as Nov. 21, according to samples collected in New York City.

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos, Sony Salzman

Jan 20, 4:37 pm
Hospitalizations at record high, cases dropping in some areas

More than 160,000 COVID-19-positive Americans are currently in hospitals — a pandemic high and double the number from about three weeks ago, according to federal data.

It’s still not clear how many were admitted with COVID-19 and how many tested positive for the virus after they were admitted for other reasons.

The U.S. is reporting an average of 760,000 new cases per day, according to federal data.

Although case levels remain high, there’s growing evidence to suggest the omicron surge is receding in the parts of the country first struck by the variant.

In New York, daily cases have dropped by 33% in the last week, while in New Jersey new cases are down by 43.7%.

Wisconsin now leads the nation in new cases per capita, followed by Rhode Island, Utah and South Carolina.

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Jan 20, 3:12 pm
San Francisco appears to pass peak of omicron surge: Officials

In San Francisco, COVID-19 cases are “dropping rapidly” following record highs that appeared to peak on Jan. 9, officials announced.

While “cases are still extremely high,” they “have plateaued and are starting to go down,” said Dr. Grant Colfax, director of the Department of Public Health.

“We’re looking at data from other places … the consistent data seem to show that cases go up very fast, they started to come down very fast. So we’re on that downward trend now,” Colfax said.

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(MANITOBA, Canada) — Four people, including two adults, a teen and an infant, have been found frozen to death about 40 feet from the U.S.-Canada border while being smuggled into North Dakota, according to U.S. and Canadian authorities.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and law enforcement officers with the Department of Homeland Security performed a traffic stop Jan. 19 on a 15-passenger van about 1 mile from the border when they found two undocumented Indian nationals from Canada inside, according to the Manitoba Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Less than a quarter mile away from the border, law enforcement encountered and apprehended five additional undocumented Indian nationals that walked across the U.S. border from Manitoba, Canada, according to the RCMP.

One of the travelers who was taken into custody was carrying a backpack containing children’s items, such as clothes, diapers and toys, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. He told authorities he was carrying the backpack for a family that was traveling with their group but got separated from them as they traveled to the border during the night.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, coordinating with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, began a search on both sides of the border for additional travelers when they found the bodies of four individuals on the Canadian side of the border in Manitoba.

The adult male, adult female, teen male and infant were found “frozen,” according to Canadian authorities, and are believed to have died due to exposure.

The DOJ said, according to the group of travelers, the border crossing took an estimated 11 hours. Two of the travelers were transported to a hospital with serious injuries, the DOJ said.

The low temperature in Emerson, Manitoba, which is at the U.S.-Canada border, dipped to minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday.

Steve Shand, 47, a U.S. citizen from Florida who was driving the van, was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol and charged with one count of knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien had come to, entered, or remained in the United States in violation of law, having transported and moved or having attempted to transport and move such aliens, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Shand made his first court appearance Thursday and is due back in court on Jan. 24. He is currently being held in custody in Grand Forks County in North Dakota.

An autopsy will be conducted to determine cause of death of the victims. The four travelers who died have not yet been identified.

The Mounted Police said it plans to continue searching for any additional people who may have been illegally crossing the border.

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(MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.) — Opening statements in the joint federal trial of three former police officers accused of civil rights violations in the death of George Floyd are expected to begin next week after a jury was seated on Thursday.

Fired Minneapolis police officers J. Alexander Kueng, 28, Thomas Lane, 38, and Tou Thao, 35, are set to fight charges stemming from their alleged roles in the 2020 death of the 46-year-old Black man who their one-time senior officer, Derek Chauvin, was convicted of murdering.

All three are charged with using the “color of the law,” or their positions as police officers, to deprive Floyd of his civil rights on May 25, 2020, by allegedly showing deliberate indifference to his medical needs as Chauvin dug his knee in the back of a handcuffed man’s neck for more than 9 minutes, ultimately killing him.

Kueng and Thao both face an additional charge alleging they knew Chauvin was kneeling on Floyd’s neck but did nothing to intervene to stop him. Lane, who was heard on police body camera footage asking if they should roll Floyd on his side to help ease his breathing, does not face that charge.

The three defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The 18-member jury, including six alternates, was impaneled in just one day, chosen from a pool of 256 potential jurors. The jury is comprised of 11 women and seven men, none of whom are Black.

The trial, expected to last at least two weeks, is being held at the Warren E. Burger Federal Building in St. Paul. Opening statements are expected to begin Monday.

U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson, who is presiding over the case, has instructed attorneys that he wants the trial to move quickly to lessen the possibility of people involved in the proceedings coming down with COVID-19 as the omicron variant continues to spread across the country.

The trial will commence a little over a month after Chauvin, 45, a former Minneapolis police officer, pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges stemming from Floyd’s death and the abuse of a 14-year-old boy he bashed in the head with a flashlight in 2017. He admitted in the signed plea agreement with federal prosecutors that he knelt on the back of Floyd’s neck even as Floyd complained he could not breathe, fell unconscious and lost a pulse.

The guilty plea came after Chauvin was convicted in Minnesota state court in April of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison in the state case and is facing an even stiffer sentence in the federal case.

Kueng and Lane were rookies being trained by Chauvin at the time of Floyd’s fatal arrest.

The May 25, 2020, police encounter with Floyd was recorded on video from start to finish and included multiple angles taken by bystanders with cellphones, police body cameras and surveillance cameras.

The footage showed Chauvin grinding his knee into the back of Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds while Kueng helped keep Floyd down even after he stopped resisting by placing his knee on the man’s back and holding and lifting one of his handcuffed hands. Lane, according to the videos, held down Floyd’s feet.

Thao, according to footage, stood a few feet away, ordering a crowd to stand back despite several witnesses, including an off-duty firefighter, expressing concern for Floyd’s well-being.

Following the federal trial, Lane, Keung and Thao are facing a state trial on charges arising from Floyd’s death of aiding and abetting second-degree murder, and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.

The state trial, which had been scheduled to get underway in March, was postponed until June 13 due to uncertainty over how long the federal trial will last.

The three defendants have pleaded not guilty to the state charges.

ABC News’ Whitney Lloyd contributed to this report.

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(MIAMI) — A first-class passenger who allegedly refused to wear a mask disrupted a London-bound American Airlines flight Wednesday night and prompted the pilot to turn back to Miami so the customer could be booted off the aircraft, police and airline officials said.

American Airlines Flight 38, with 129 passengers and 14 crew members aboard, was over the Atlantic Ocean when the passenger allegedly refused to obey instructions to wear a mask and became disruptive, a spokesperson for the airline said.

The flight departed Miami International Airport at about 7:40 p.m. local time. About an hour into the flight, the pilot decided to turn the Boeing 777 aircraft around and head back to Miami, according to the airline.

The flight was ultimately canceled and the passengers needed to rebook on future flights, the airline’s spokesperson said.

“The flight landed safely at MIA where local law enforcement met the aircraft. We thank our crew for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for the inconvenience,” American Airlines said in a statement.

Steve Freeman, a passenger on the flight, told ABC Miami affiliate WPLG the woman was verbally abusive to the flight crew.

“She sat behind us in first class — she was a first-class passenger and was extremely abusive to the stewards,” said Freeman, who was flying home to London. “I could see the writing on the wall — they gave her a lot of warnings, so we were kind of ready for it.”

He said flight attendants tried to offer the passenger several different masks.

“She complained about each mask,” Freeman said.

Det. Argemis Colome of the Miami-Dade Police Department told ABC News on Thursday that police were contacted by American Airlines about a disruptive female passenger refusing to wear a mask.

Colome said police officers met the plane when it returned to the Miami International Airport. He said officers escorted the passenger off the plane, but she was not arrested or charged.

Colome said the woman, whose name was not released, was turned over to American Airlines officials to handle administratively.

A spokesperson for American Airlines told ABC News on Thursday that the woman has been placed on the airline’s internal no-fly list pending an investigation. Such incidents are referred to the Federal Aviation Administration as part of a standard reporting process, the spokesperson said.

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