National

(NEW YORK) — Alec Baldwin has pleaded not guilty and waived his first court appearance after being charged with involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting on the set of his film Rust, court officials announced Thursday.

Baldwin and the film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, were both charged last month with two counts of involuntary manslaughter over the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in October 2021.

First assistant director David Halls has already agreed to plead no contest for the charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon. The plea agreement is pending a judge’s approval, prosecutors have said.

All three were scheduled to make their first court appearances remotely on Friday, though Baldwin and Halls filed a waiver of first appearance this week and no hearing will be held for them, a New Mexico court official said. Both pleaded not guilty to their charges in their waivers.

District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer also issued an order setting conditions of Baldwin’s release, including that he must not possess any firearms, not consume alcohol and have no contact with any potential witnesses unless it’s related to filming the movie.

Gutierrez-Reed’s hearing is scheduled for 10:15 a.m. MST Friday.

The charges followed a lengthy investigation into the on-set shooting, which has also spawned multiple lawsuits, including from Hutchins’ family.

In the statement of probable cause, investigator Robert Shilling charged that Baldwin, who was listed as the primary producer of Rust, “failed to act to mitigate or correct the reckless safety violations, neither in his capacity as actor nor producer.”

Shilling also said that evidence showed that Baldwin had his finger inside the trigger, and that the trigger was pulled — contradicting Baldwin’s statements saying he never pulled the trigger — and that no safety meeting was conducted on the day of the fatal shooting, based on statements and evidence.

In Gutierrez-Reed’s charging document, Shilling claimed that the armorer’s “deviation from known standards, practice and protocol directly caused the fatal death of Hutchins.” That included failing to insist that Baldwin have proper firearm training nor correct him on “dangerous” safety violations such as pointing the weapon at people and having his finger on the trigger, not ensuring that a fake gun was used in a rehearsal scene, leaving the set before the fatal shooting and allowing Halls to handle the firearm unsupervised, according to Shilling.

On Friday, New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney’s Office dropped the gun enhancement charge — a crime that would have carried a maximum five-year sentence if convicted — against Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed.

The decision came after Baldwin’s attorneys filed a motion arguing that prosecutors “committed a basic legal error,” and that the firearm enhancement didn’t apply at the time of the shooting. The accident occurred in October 2021, but the current version of the law did not take effect until May 2022, the attorneys said.

New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said they removed the enhancement “in order to avoid further litigious distractions by Mr. Baldwin and his attorneys.”

Baldwin’s legal team has also filed a motion seeking to disqualify Andrea Reeb, the special prosecutor appointed by Carmack-Altwies, arguing there is a conflict since Reeb is also an elected member of the New Mexico House of Representative.

Production of Rust, which has been on hold since the shooting on the Santa Fe set, is scheduled to resume in the spring at Yellowstone Film Ranch in Montana, producers announced this month.

Director Joel Souza, who was also injured in the shooting, is set to return, while Hutchins’ husband, Matthew Hutchins, will serve as an executive producer, Rust Movie Productions said.

New crew members will include two safety officers and cinematographer Bianca Cline, who will step in to “complete Halyna’s vision for the film,” the production company said in a statement.

The production will also “bar any use of working weapons and any form of ammunition,” the company said. “Live ammunition is — and always was — prohibited on set.”

The release did not name Baldwin, Gutierrez-Reed or Halls among the returning crew.

Plans to resume filming were first announced last year, when Hutchins’ family reached a settlement in their wrongful death lawsuit against the producers of the film.

ABC News’ Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(RALEIGH, N.C.) — A male juvenile suspect has been arrested at a high school basketball game after he was found carrying an AR-15, police said.

The incident occurred at approximately 8:40 p.m. when police in Raleigh, North Carolina, said they responded to a call of a person with a gun at Millbrook High School as a basketball game was underway.

“Through investigative means and with the assistance of the Wake County Sheriff’s Office and Wake County Public School’s Security, the male juvenile suspect was located with an AR-15 in his possession and immediately taken into custody,” read a press release from the Raleigh Police Department following the arrest.

The juvenile suspect is not a student at Millbrook High School, authorities said. It is unclear what connection he had to the school or why he was carrying an AR-15.

Authorities say that juvenile petitions and a secure custody order are currently being pursued in regards to this case.

“The Raleigh Police Department works closely with Wake County Public Schools to ensure the safety of students and staff every day,” police said.

An extra police presence will be on hand at Millbrook High School on Friday, authorities confirmed.

An investigation into the case is currently ongoing and police said they will release additional information on this incident at an appropriate time.

ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(PHILADELPHIA) — Seven people were shot, six of them children, in a shooting that took place at a schoolyard in Philadelphia Thursday evening, according to the Philadelphia Police Department.

Police found multiple shooting victims at a schoolyard of the James G. Blaine School, located in Philadelphia’s Strawberry Mansion section, at about 5:52 p.m. Thursday. Authorities then transported six people to area hospitals, five of them children, and one being a 31-year-old woman who was shot twice and is in stable condition.

A 2-year-old girl, 13-year-old boy, 15-year-old boy, and two 16-year-old boys were shot at the schoolyard. All are in stable condition and are seeking treatment at area hospitals, police said.

A 17-year-old boy was also grazed by a bullet and was transported by Uber to a local hospital. He is listed in stable condition, according to police.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(PHILADELPHIA) — Six people were shot, five of them children, in a shooting that took place at a schoolyard in Philadelphia Thursday evening, according to the Philadelphia Police Department.

Police found multiple shooting victims at a schoolyard of the James G. Blaine School, located in Philadelphia’s Strawberry Mansion section, at about 5:52 p.m. Thursday. Authorities then transported six people to area hospitals, five of them children, and one being a 31-year-old woman who was shot twice and is in stable condition.

A 2-year-old girl, 13-year-old boy, 15-year-old boy, and two 16-year-old boys were shot at the schoolyard. All are in stable condition and are seeking treatment at area hospitals, police said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Shootings have continuously made headlines in just the first two months of the year.

So far, 6,278 people have been died from gun violence this year in the U.S, as of Feb. 23, according to the Gun Violence Archive – which is roughly an average of 116 deaths each day.

Deaths by suicide made up the vast majority of gun violence deaths this year – 56%, the nonprofit gun violence tracker reports. There’s been an average of 66 deaths by suicide per day in 2023 up to now.

Of those who died from gun violence this year, 227 were teens and 36 were children.

The majority of these deaths have occurred in Texas, California, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Illinois and Louisiana.

The grim tally of gun violence deaths includes 196 people fatally shot by police and 52 killed in “unintentional” shootings, the Gun Violence Archive shows.

There have been 84 mass shootings in 2023 so far, which is defined by the Gun Violence Archive as an incident in which four or more victims are shot or killed. These mass shootings have led to 126 deaths and 336 injuries so far this year.

In Michigan, three students were killed and five others were injured when a gunman opened fire at two locations on Michigan State University’s main campus in East Lansing on Feb. 13, police said.

California saw three shootings in a matter of days in January, with one shooting leaving at least 11 people killed and 10 others injured after a gunman opened fire at a dance studio near a Lunar New Year celebration in Monterey Park, California.

The U.S. has surpassed 39,000 deaths from gun violence per year since 2014, according to data from Gun Violence Archive. Still, gun deaths are down from 2016, 2017 and 2018, when the total number of deaths each year surpassed 50,000. There were 44,310 such deaths in 2022.

President Joe Biden in June signed into law a gun safety package passed by Congress and while not as sweeping as he requested and did not include a ban on assault weapons, it was the first gun reform bill in decades.

But advocates for gun reform continue to push for tougher measures. Florida lawmakers Rep. Jared Moskowitz and Rep. Maxwell Frost spoke with “GMA3” this month to mark the fifth anniversary of the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and called on Congress to do more to curb gun violence.

“Five years later, we feel like we’ve made some progress and then we were reminded that nothing has changed,” Moskowitz said.

If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide — free, confidential help is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Call or text the national lifeline at 988. Even if you feel like it, you are not alone.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LOS ANGELES) — Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was sentenced Thursday to 16 years in prison for rape in his Los Angeles sexual assault trial.

The sentence will be served consecutively after a 23-year prison sentence he is currently serving in New York for criminal sexual assault and third-degree rape.

The judge denied Weinstein a new trial during Thursday’s hearing, following a motion from his defense that argued his conviction was based on the improper exclusion of evidence and flawed jury instructions.

A Los Angeles jury found Weinstein guilty of three of seven counts, including one count of rape of a woman identified as Jane Doe 1, late last year. He faced up to 18 years in prison.

Judge Lisa Lench sentenced Weinstein to eight years for count 1, six years for count 2 and two years for count 3, to be served consecutively.

Weinstein was accused by four women of assaulting them in hotels between 2004 and 2013 in Los Angeles. He faced two counts of rape and five counts of sexual assault.

The 70-year-old former movie executive pleaded not guilty and has said all of the encounters were consensual.

Jane Doe 1 addressed the court Thursday prior to the sentencing announcement, saying Weinstein’s “selfish, disgusting actions have greatly impacted my life.”

“Before that night I was a very happy and confident woman. I valued myself and the relationship I had with God. I was excited about my future. Everything changed after the defendant brutally assaulted me,” she said. “I thought I did something wrong because he chose me that night. I thought I did something wrong for him to do that to me. I soon became invisible to myself and to the world. I lost my identity. I was heartbroken, empty and alone.”

“My rapist did that to me,” she continued.

During Thursday’s sentencing hearing, Weinstein — sitting in a wheelchair and wearing gray county jail attire — claimed to not know Jane Doe 1 and said that she’s an actress who can “turn on the tears.”

Weinstein’s lawyers had argued for each count to be served concurrently, citing his age and “bad health.”

Following his conviction for rape last year, Jane Doe 1 said in a statement, in part, “Harvey Weinstein forever destroyed a part of me that night in 2013 and I will never get that back. The criminal trial was brutal and Weinstein’s lawyers put me through hell on the witness stand, but I knew I had to see this through to the end, and I did.”

“I hope Weinstein never sees the outside of a prison cell during his lifetime,” she added.

The four women all testified during the trial, including Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Siebel Newsom was referred to as Jane Doe 4 during the trial, but she has been publicly identified by her lawyer.

Following Weinstein’s sentencing, Siebel Newsom released an emotional, 6-minute video statement on Instagram, during which she called this “one of the hardest experiences of my life.”

“What Harvey Weinstein did to me was the worst. His assault was excruciatingly traumatic. And for years, he walked away unfettered while I spent years nursing my wounds,” she said, later adding that “during this recent trial and the almost three years leading up to it, I was asked, like others, to relive and lay bare the most horrific and humiliating experience of my entire life with complete strangers, the general public and even my own family in ways so harmful, more harmful than you can even imagine.”

Siebel Newsom said the “most important takeaway” is that “we all have a role to play in healing this culture where violence against women is the norm.”

Weinstein’s lawyer, Mark Werksman, said in opening arguments during his LA trial that each allegation was a “weak and unsubstantiated trickle that will evaporate upon your close scrutiny.”

In his closing argument, Deputy District Attorney Paul Thompson said the witnesses testified “credibly,” even under intense cross-examination.

In their motion requesting a new trial, Weinstein’s defense said the judge erred when he refused to allow evidence that could have impeached the credibility of two witnesses — Jane Doe 1 and Pascal Vicedomini, the founder of an Italian film festival in LA.

At trial, prosecutors said Vicedomini provided Jane Doe 1’s hotel room number to Weinstein, who then sexually assaulted her. The defense said it was stopped from showing the jury sexually charged messages between Jane Doe 1 and Vicedomini that suggested they lied about the nature of their relationship and suggesting “it would be anathema for Mr. Vicedomini to provide his lover’s room number to Harvey Weinstein.”

The defense also argued it was improper for the judge to instruct the jury on a law that allows jurors to infer Weinstein was aware of his guilt. Prosecutors requested the instruction, arguing during the trial Weinstein made threats to some of his victims, including a woman identified as Jane Doe 3.

The trial in Los Angeles came more than two years after Weinstein was found guilty of similar crimes in New York City. The landmark decision came after the so-called #MeToo movement, in which powerful men were exposed for sexual misconduct, began largely around bombshell reports about the Miramax founder’s behavior in The New York Times and The New Yorker in 2017.

The New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, agreed last year to hear his appeal of his 2020 sex crimes conviction in Manhattan.

ABC News’ Mark Osborne, Aaron Katersky and Ashley Riegle contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Alex Murdaugh, a disgraced South Carolina attorney accused of killing his wife and youngest son, began testifying in his own defense in his double murder trial on Thursday — admitting to jurors that he lied to investigators but denying that he committed the brutal murders.

The bodies of Margaret Murdaugh, 52, and Paul Murdaugh, 22, were found dead from multiple gunshot wounds near the dog kennels at the family’s home near Islandton, South Carolina, in June 2021, authorities said.

Alex Murdaugh, 54, who called 911 to report the discovery, was charged with their murders 13 months later.

Weeks into the trial, Alex Murdaugh was called to take the stand by his defense team. His attorney, Jim Griffin, asked right away if he shot his wife and son in the head.

“No, I did not,” Alex Murdaugh said. “I didn’t shoot my wife or my son any time, ever.”

He grew emotional when asked by his lawyer what he saw at the scene of their murders.

“I saw what y’all have seen pictures of,” he told the jurors, crying. “So bad.”

Prosecutors have focused on footage taken from Paul Murdaugh’s cellphone the night of the murders, including a video taken at the kennels several minutes before the victims were believed to be killed that investigators said has Alex Murdaugh talking in the background. Alex Murdaugh told investigators early in the case that he was not down by the kennels that night and had last seen his wife and son at dinner.

When asked by his lawyer about those prior statements, Alex Murdaugh admitted to lying to investigators.

“I did lie to them,” he said, and confirmed he was in the video the night of their murders on June 7, 2021.

When asked why he lied about the last time he saw his wife and son, Murdaugh blamed his addiction to painkillers, which he said caused “paranoid thinking.”

“On June the 7th, I wasn’t thinking clearly,” he said. “I don’t think I was capable of reason and I lied about being out there and I’m so sorry that I did.”

Alex Murdaugh detailed on the stand a 20-year addiction to opioids, noting that he has been clean for 535 days.

“I battled that addiction for so many years, I was spending so much money on pills,” he said.

Alex Murdaugh faces 30 years to life in prison without parole if convicted of the killings, for which he has pleaded not guilty and adamantly denied.

During the trial, which began last month, prosecutors have presented more than 60 witnesses and evidence, including body camera footage of police arriving at home following the murders and an interview Alex Murdaugh gave to police two months later, in which he denied killing his wife and son.

In the body camera footage from that night, a distraught Alex Murdaugh told officers, “It’s bad, it’s bad,” and mentioned that his son had been getting threats following a boat wreck he was involved in.

At the time, Paul Murdaugh was awaiting trial on a charge of allegedly boating under the influence after a crash in February 2019 that killed a 19-year-old woman, Mallory Beach of South Carolina.

In the months following his wife’s and son’s murders, Alex Murdaugh resigned from his law firm, which sued him for allegedly funneling stolen money from clients and the law firm into a fake bank account for years. He also said he entered a rehab facility.

Prosecutors claim that Alex Murdaugh, who comes from a legacy of prominent attorneys in the region, killed his wife and son to gain sympathy and distract from his alleged financial wrongdoings.

Meanwhile, the defense has portrayed him as a loving husband and father and argued that police ignored the possibility that anyone else could have killed them.

During hours of questioning on Thursday, Alex Murdaugh’s attorney asked if he believed his “financial house of cards was about to crumble” on June 7, 2021, to which Alex Murdaugh replied, “Absolutely not.”

The trial adjourned Thursday evening while prosecutors were in the middle of questioning Murdaugh about his financial dealings as a lawyer — during which he admitted to stealing money from several clients.

“I did a lot of damage, I wreaked a lot of havoc, there’s no question,” Alex Murdaugh said.

Court is scheduled to resume Friday at 9:30 a.m. ET. Prosecutors estimated they need another three to four hours to finish their cross-examination of Alex Murdaugh.

The trial has drawn a packed courtroom, with lines outside. After two jurors tested positive for COVID-19, both sides were worried an outbreak could sicken more jurors and force a mistrial.

Alex Murdaugh faces about 100 other charges for allegations ranging from money laundering to staging his own death so his surviving son could cash in on his $10 million life insurance policy.

He was also charged for allegedly misappropriating settlement funds in the death of his housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, who reportedly died after a falling accident in the Murdaugh family home in February 2018.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Nearly 1 million customers are without power in the U.S. as two monster winter storms bring blizzard conditions, heavy snow, ice and rain to large swaths of the country.

The vast majority of the outages are in Michigan, where more than 820,000 customers are without power amid an ice storm.

A volunteer firefighter in Paw Paw, Michigan, died Wednesday evening when a power line fell on him, according to Paw Paw Fire Chief Jim DeGroff. The buildup of ice caused a tree limb to snap the line, DeGroff said.

In the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes, blizzard conditions and heavy snow topping 1 foot are halting travel. Some snow drifts have blanketed roads, shutting down highways.

And gusty winds and bitter cold temperatures aren’t making it for easy for power crews to restore service to areas facing outages.

In Minneapolis, where schools are closed, the blowing snow will start to improve Thursday night, but bitter cold temperatures will be moving in.

Thursday afternoon and evening, the storm will move into the Northeast, dropping an additional 3 to 6 inches of snow in northern New England.

Buffalo, New York, is forecast to see freezing rain and sleet Thursday night, causing slick conditions on the roads.

Parts of New York state, Connecticut and Massachusetts will get rain and a wintry mix. Coupled with a flash freeze in southern New England, a dangerous layer of ice could form on roads.

In the West, Portland, Oregon, recorded 10.8 inches of snow on Wednesday, marking the second-biggest day of snowfall in recorded history.

In Salt Lake City, nearly 17 inches of snow fell, which is one of the city’s top 9 biggest snowstorms.

Snow even fell in the Las Vegas metro area and mixed with rain in the Los Angeles suburbs.

In California, residents are bracing for heavy rain and possible flooding this weekend.

A rare blizzard warning was also issued for Southern California where up to 8 feet of snow is expected in the highest elevations in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains.

And in the South, residents are encountering record-breaking heat.

Atlanta hit 81 degrees Wednesday, marking the city’s hottest February temperature on record.

The temperature in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Nashville climbed to 85 degrees on Thursday, setting new records for both city’s hottest February day ever.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Federal investigators on Thursday released a preliminary report into the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, earlier this month.

Detailing the report at a Washington, D.C., news conference, chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said “we know what derailed the train” and addressed the town’s worried residents.

“I can tell you this much. This was 100% preventable. We call things accidents. There is no accident. Every single event that we investigate is preventable. So, our hearts are with you know that the NTSB has one goal and that is safety. And ensuring that this never happens again,” she said.

The NTSB would hold a rare field hearting in East Palestine this spring, she said, but added that a final report with recommendations might not be finished for up to two years.

The 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.”

The agency released an investigative update last week saying that through surveillance video it identified and examined a rail car with “what appears to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment.”

According to the report released Thursday, the wheel bearing passed three sensors prior to derailment. With each passing the temperature was higher. The third and final sensor recorded the temperature at 253 degrees. Critical audible alarms went off and instructed the crew to stop.

In the process of stopping the train, automatic emergency braking kicked in and the train made a full stop. The focus will now be on car 23 that carried plastic pellets and it was a combination of the hot axle and plastic pellets that started the initial fire.

Homendy said placards posted on the train cars indicating hazardous material on board were plastic and melted and that needs to change.

Thirty-eight rail cars total derailed in the incident, NTSB said. Eleven of those cars contained hazardous materials, five of which contained vinyl chloride, a highly volatile colorless gas produced for commercial uses.

The release of the report also coincides with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s first visit to the derailment site.

Buttigieg has faced criticism from Republicans for not traveling to the site sooner. The secretary defended his decision, writing on Twitter that he “followed the norm of staying out of the way of the independent NTSB.”

At a press conference after touring the community on Thursday, Buttigieg briefly mispronounced East Palestine before correcting himself and then made what appeared to be a thinly-veiled reference to former President Donald Trump, who had touched down one day prior.

“To any national political figures who have decided to get involved in the plight … I have a simple message which is: I need your help. Because if you’re serious about this, there is more we can do to prevent more communities from going through this,” he said.

Asked several times about the timing of his visit, Buttigieg maintained that he was “trying to strike the right balance” and allowing NTSB to play its role first.

He was joined on the trip by Amit Bose, the administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, and Tristan Brown, the deputy administrator for the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

Asked at the Washington news conference about the political finger-pointing and former President Donald Trump’s visit to East Palestine Wednesday, Homendy said, “Enough with the politics on this. Enough with the politics. I don’t understand why this has gotten so political. This is a community that is suffering. This is not about politics. This is about addressing their needs, their concerns, that’s what this should be about.”

ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Power outages have topped one million throughout the U.S. as 25 states from California to Connecticut are on alert for blizzard conditions, heavy snow, strong winds and ice.

The vast majority of the outages are in Michigan, where more than 732,000 customers are waking up without power amid an ice storm.

A volunteer firefighter in Paw Paw, Michigan, died Wednesday evening when a power line fell on him, according to Paw Paw Fire Chief Jim DeGroff. The buildup of ice caused a tree limb to snap the line, DeGroff said.

Over 83,000 outages were reported Thursday morning in Illinois and there were 60,000 outages in Wisconsin. Some outages were also reported in New York and California.

On Thursday, the eastern storm will continue to bring blizzard conditions to the Dakotas and Minnesota.

In Minneapolis, where public schools are closed due to the storm, 10 inches of snow has fallen so far.

In the Northeast, an icy mix continues Thursday morning from New York state to southern New England, with heavy snow in northern New England and Maine.

In the West, Portland, Oregon, recorded 10.8 inches of snow on Wednesday, marking the second-biggest day of snowfall in recorded history.

In Salt Lake City, nearly 17 inches of snow fell, which is one of the city’s top nine biggest snowstorms.

Snow even fell in the Las Vegas metro area and mixed with rain in the Los Angeles suburbs.

In California, residents are bracing for heavy rain and possible flooding this weekend.

A rare blizzard warning was also issued for Southern California where 7 feet of snow is expected in the highest elevations in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains.

And in the South, extreme heat is moving in on Thursday.

Temperatures are forecast to climb to 79 degrees in Washington, D.C., 83 degrees in New Orleans and 80 degrees in Nashville, Tennessee.

Atlanta hit 81 degrees Wednesday, marking the city’s hottest February temperature on record.

Orlando is forecast to climb to a scorching 90 degrees on Thursday, which would break its February record temperature.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.