(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — California will not require students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for at least another school year, health officials announced Thursday.
The earliest the requirement would go into effect is now July 1, 2023, pending full approval by the Food and Drug Administration of a COVID-19 vaccine for children under 16 years old.
State officials had initially said the mandate could be implemented as late as July 2022, depending on FDA full approval.
The state is delaying implementation of the mandate for the 2022-2023 school year “to ensure sufficient time for successful implementation of new vaccine requirements,” the state health department said.
“[The California Department of Public Health] strongly encourages all eligible Californians, including children, to be vaccinated against COVID-19,” State Public Health Officer Dr. Tomás J. Aragón said in a statement. “We continue to ensure that our response to the COVID-19 pandemic is driven by the best science and data available.”
California became the first state in the country to move forward on mandating COVID-19 vaccines for school children in October, when Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the state will require the vaccine for all school children ages 12-17 once the FDA grants full approval. The mandate allow exemptions for medical reasons, personal beliefs and religious beliefs.
Since then, one other state — Louisiana — has announced a vaccine mandate for school children, according to the National Academy for State Health Policy. The mandate, slated to go into effect for the 2022-2023 school year, would only apply to those who are eligible for a fully approved vaccine and includes an opt-out for parents.
Schools and universities around the country have also instituted vaccine requirements, including the Los Angeles public school district. Enforcement of its mandate requiring students ages 12 and up to be fully vaccinated was postponed from January to the fall to allow more time for compliance.
The FDA has granted full approval for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for those ages 16 and up, and for Moderna’s vaccine for those ages 18 and up.
Pfizer has requested to expand its approval to include those ages 12 to 15.
When the requirement was announced in October, 63.5% of Californa residents aged 12-17 had received at least one dose.
“For 12 to 17, we’re not where we need to be. And so we hope this encourages folks to get vaccinated,” Newsom said at the time.
Currently, 74.2% of residents aged 12-17 have gotten at least one dose.
ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report.
(OXFORD, Mich.) — Parents and students called for greater safety measures and transparency at the Michigan high school where four students were fatally shot in a mass shooting last year.
Nearly five months after the massacre at Oxford High School, a group of concerned parents and students said that those who attend the suburban Detroit school still do not feel safe.
“Our children tell us they do not feel safe at school,” Lori Bourgeau, a parent of an Oxford student, said Thursday during a press briefing organized by the group Change 4 Oxford. “They don’t feel safe using the restroom, they don’t feel safe eating in the lunchroom.”
The group is calling for an immediate independent expert review of Oxford’s student safety procedures, with an updated school safety plan based on the review implemented prior to the start of the 2022-2023 school year. It is also calling for greater transparency into the school’s safety plan and to include students and teachers in the process.
Those who spoke during the emotional event said they have felt like their questions and concerns have not been addressed by the school.
“Just let the students talk,” Jeff Jones, the parent of two students at Oxford Community Schools, said during the briefing. “Ask the students what they need. Ask the students what would make them feel safe.”
His son, Oxford junior Griffen Jones, charged that new safety measures including clear backpacks and checking IDs at the school’s entrance “have done almost nothing.” He spoke about what it’s been like to be in school in the wake of the deadly shooting.
“Every day I pray that whatever conversation I have with my friends or anyone else isn’t my last with them or my last conversation ever,” he said. “Every day I pray that I won’t die on the high school floor because of the lack of caring they have shown towards me and my friends, the whole student body and teachers.”
“I hate waking up certain days because of the anxiety and stress and lack of safety and the thought gets to me sometimes in class and I can’t focus,” he said. “I don’t care about school half the time because most of the time I’m concerned for my safety, my teachers’ safety and my friends.”
Speakers were critical of school officials’ decision last year to decline Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s offer to lead an independent review. Nessel will be speaking with the community on Monday, the group said.
Parents also questioned the district’s decision not to go on lockdown after the high school received several threats on Friday.
In response to the group’s demands and concerns, Superintendent Ken Weaver said in a statement that the “physical safety and emotional well-being of our students and staff remains our top priority.”
“We value all parent and student input and continue to work with our students and parents through these difficult times,” he said.
Following the shooting, Weaver said the district has engaged with the community through meetings, phone calls, town halls, forums and surveys.
“Input from our students, staff and families has helped shape and drive our successful return to school plan and our school safety plans,” he said. “We have also consulted with mental health experts, security experts and local law enforcement in developing our plans.”
Four students were killed in the shooting on Nov. 30, 2021. Seven people, including a teacher, were also injured.
Prosecutors allege that the gunman emerged from a bathroom with a gun and started shooting in a hallway. The suspect, 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, allegedly opened fire on students and staff just hours after meeting with school counselors over disturbing drawings depicting a gun, prosecutors said.
A lawsuit alleges that the district failed to heed warning signs before the shooting, which the district has denied.
In the weeks following the shooting, the district announced a zero-tolerance policy toward threats, and that students would be removed from the school until a mental health evaluation could be completed. The district’s board of education also approved a resolution to initiate a third-party review of what happened before, during and after the shooting.
The district held a safety meeting with local first responders and government agencies to review safety procedures and protocols in February. Officials reported that student feedback on the clear backpacks “has been positive,” and that they are considering continuing using them next school year.
Officials also said they plan to create parent forums “to provide an avenue to share concerns and ideas.”
In a letter to the school community on the district’s response to Friday’s threats, Weaver said they did not want to “put students and staff through any unnecessary psychological trauma by going into a lockdown when it is not warranted.”
“I understand the importance to share as much information as possible with our school community during this time of healing,” he said.
Crumbley, who was charged as an adult, faces 24 counts, including four first-degree murder counts. Last month, his lawyer told the court that a psychiatric evaluation of the teenager has been completed and a written report of the results is expected to be available in 45 days. He plans to plead insanity, according to court filings.
Crumbley has pleaded not guilty and remains in jail. A pretrial hearing has been scheduled for April 21.
His parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, have also been charged with involuntary manslaughter after allegedly neglecting or failing to notice warning signs about their son in the months before the shooting. They also allegedly bought their son a 9-mm Sig Sauer pistol as a present just days before he allegedly used it in the shooting.
The Crumbleys have pleaded not guilty to the charges. They are due back in court on April 19 for a pretrial hearing.
ABC News’ Will McDuffie and Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report.
(ALEXANDRIA, Va.) — A federal jury found ISIS fighter El Shafee Elsheikh guilty on all counts of being part of a core group of British terrorists known as the “Beatles,” who held hostage 26 westerners in a conspiracy that led to the murders of four Americans and at least two Britons.
The jury deliberated for less than a full day. Closing arguments came Wednesday and they were handed the case in the afternoon. By the time they finished lunch Thursday, they had reached a verdict.
“Elsheikh really incriminated himself,” despite wearing a mask as he and the other Britons brutalized her son, said Diane Foley, mother of New Hampshire-raised journalist James W. Foley.
Humanitarian aid worker Kayla Mueller’s dad Carl said justice was served, and added that he felt his daughter’s presence throughout the trial.
“This is what the families asked for. And this is what we got. It’s the American justice system at work at its best,” he told ABC News.
As the jury settled in for its short deliberations, Mueller approached Elsheikh’s defense team, thanking them for their service as court-appointed lawyers and assuring them of his respect. Some of the defense team wiped away tears. “I hold no malice toward them for what they do,” he said.
Many of the former hostages testified in graphic detail about the beatings and other cruelties inflicted on them, seated a mere 12 feet from the man now convicted of breaking ribs and slapping faces of captives the Beatles starved and tortured.
Because of an agreement with the UK, neither Elsheikh or co-defendant Alexanda Kotey, who pleaded guilty, faced the death penalty.
Elsheikh doesn’t deny fighting for ISIS but rested his defense in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on his claim that this was a case of mistaken identity about holding the westerners captive. He faces a life sentence for the conviction of holding hostages and causing the deaths of journalists and humanitarian aid workers.
In closing arguments Wednesday, federal prosecutors said Elsheikh was one of the men who brutalized American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, as well as aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller. The men were shown in ISIS videos in 2014-15 being beheaded by a black-clad and masked ISIS executioner nicknamed “Jihadi John” because hostages had dubbed the men the “Beatles” to discuss them while in captivity.
The videos shocked the world as the executioner — later named as Mohammed Emwazi — demanded the U.S. cease military strikes against ISIS.
Kayla Mueller, 26, of Prescott, Arizona, was reportedly killed by an airstrike by ISIS in February 2015. It was later revealed that she had been taken by ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and repeatedly abused and raped.
“Elsheikh, without a shadow of a doubt, is an ISIS Beatle,” prosecutor Raj Parekh told the jury.
But defense lawyer Nina Ginsberg countered that the U.S. never presented any hard evidence that the defendant was anything other than a foot soldier in ISIS battling the Syrian Army.
Despite evidence from a parade of former hostages and FBI agents who testified during the trial about what she described as “loathsome, brutal acts,” Ginsberg said the government failed to prove Elsheikh was a captor, and that he was “never identified at this trial by any of the former hostages.”
The U.S. instead relied primarily on Elsheikh’s own statements after his 2018 capture by Syrian Democratic Forces with fellow admitted ISIS Beatle Alexanda Kotey, who has pleaded guilty. They told several journalists, primarily British filmmaker Sean Langan, on video that they held the westerners captive, got family members’ email addresses from hostages such as Mueller, and beat others such as Danish photojournalist Daniel Rye.
Rye testified on Tuesday, revealing agonizing details of how the British ISIS members had stuck him in the ribs 25 times on his 25th birthday, hanged him by his hands and jammed the barrel of an MP5 submachine gun in his mouth.
He described the loyalty of Foley, who once had an opportunity to escape captivity but refused to abandon his comrade, the British journalist John Cantlie, whose whereabouts and survival remain unknown. Notably, Cantlie’s photo was shown to jurors alongside six other hostages known to have been killed.
The captors forced them to sing a version of “Hotel California,” emphasizing the line, “You can never leave” — but that was hardly the worst of their suffering.
Sotloff tried to leave letters for Mueller in a communal toilet, but they were caught and he, Cantlie and Foley were punished severely, he recalled. When he learned after 13 months he had been ransomed and set for release, Rye said Cantlie came to him.
“He wanted me to bring out a message. ‘If you cannot get us released, drop a bomb on this place – kill us,'” Rye said, as family members of hostages in the courtroom held each other.
By the time he and another hostage were told they were being released as the last two Europeans, Rye said the Americans and British hostages knew they were going to be executed. The U.S. began bombing ISIS in August 2014.
The Americans retreated silently to one corner of the small room, the British men in another corner. As he left the room, “I took one last look at my friends, and thought it was the last time I would see them alive,” Rye told the jury.
Prosecutors said all of the hostages who were brutalized and those ultimately murdered showed superhuman courage. They described a year or more of broken ribs, severe blows to the thighs called “dead legs,” stress positions, water deprivation, mock executions – and finally beheadings which, at least, ended their suffering.
“All these people wanted was to do the right thing,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Dennis Fitzpatrick said.
Sotloff’s father, Art, told ABC News that justice has been served.
“I feel like all of them are looking down on us, pattin’ us on the back for doing the right thing,” he said.
Editor’s Note: ABC News investigative reporter James Gordon Meek is the recipient of the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation’s 2022 World Press Freedom Award for reporting on hostage cases since 1993.
(RUIDOSO, N.M.) — Three people have died as a result of extreme weather that has ripped through the U.S. in recent days.
The bodies of two people were found in a home in Ruidoso, New Mexico, after the McBride Fire scorched the area, according to authorities. On Tuesday, local firefighters had responded to a home on Gavilan Canyon Road that had been overcome with flames, New Mexico State Police spokesman Dusty Francisco announced. The next day, officers from the Ruidoso Police Department located the bodies after family members noted that an elderly couple attempting to evacuate had been unaccounted for, Francisco said.
The McBride Fire has burned through 5,736 acres in the Gavilan Canyon within the Village of Ruidoso since it sparked on Wednesday and remains 0% contained, according to fire officials.
Fueled by timber, brush and dry grasses on an arid landscape, the wildfire has burned 207 primary structures and multiple outbuildings and prompted hundreds of evacuations, officials said.
The extreme fire danger on Wednesday ranged from Western Texas into Colorado, where humidity dropped to as low as 2% with wind gusts up to 70 mph. The critical fire danger continued on Thursday, with 10 states from Texas to South Dakota under a red flag warning due to humidity levels down to 4% and wind gusts between 40 and 60 mph.
About half of the continental U.S. under threat for volatile weather for much of the week, which led to more fatalities. In Rison, Arkansas, one person died Wednesday evening after a tree fell onto their mobile home, according to officials. At least one person was injured in Adair, Oklahoma, Wednesday after a reported tornado damaged homes and businesses in the area.
Nearly 600 storm reports this week across the Heartland, with more than 250 reports of damaging straight line winds on Wednesday as the severe weather blew through from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes on Wednesday alone, according to the National Weather Service.
More than 30 tornadoes were reported in 10 states over the past three days, a continuation of record-breaking tornado activity in March. The system also brought uncharacteristic winter weather to places like Portland, Montana and North and South Dakota, where some regions were piled with several feet of snow.
The storm system has now moved east and will bring damaging winds into the I-95 corridor from Maryland to Massachusetts, which will include large cities such as Philadelphia and New York City.
ABC News’ Max Golembo, Marilyn Heck, Melissa Griffin and Flor Tolentino contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Rudy Giuliani assisted federal investigators in unlocking several electronic devices that had been seized from him by the FBI — a move that could speed a decision from Southern District of New York prosecutors whether to charge the former New York City mayor and presidential candidate over his lobbying efforts in Ukraine, his attorney and sources familiar with the case told ABC News.
The FBI seized more than a dozen devices from Giuliani’s home and office during a search last April. A court-appointed special master has been reviewing the contents but had been slowed by the inability to access all of the devices, the sources said.
Giuliani either unlocked several devices himself or gave investigators a list of possible passwords, the sources said, confirming information first reported by CNN.
There has been no comment as of yet from the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York.
ABC News previously reported prosecutors began reviewing thousands of communications from Giuliani after the special master filtered out material she deemed to be subject to the attorney-client privilege.
According to her latest report in January, the special master, retired Judge Barbara Jones, agreed about half of what Giuliani designated as privileged should be withheld from federal prosecutors who are investigating his business practices.
Jones said Giuliani previously asserted privilege over 96 chats and messages on a cellphone that contained about 25,000 chats and messages.
“Mr. Giuliani designated 96 items as privileged and/or highly personal. Of those 96 designated items, I agreed that 40 were privileged, Mr. Giuliani’s counsel withdrew the privilege designation over 19, and I found that 37 were not privileged,” Jones said in her report.
The remaining 56 items were turned over to federal prosecutors.
(GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.) — Police in Grand Rapids, Michigan, released video footage on Wednesday of the fatal police shooting of a Black man during a traffic stop April 4.
Patrick Lyoya, 26, a native of Congo, was shot by an officer following a struggle outside a house in Grand Rapids after he was pulled over for a faulty license plate, according to police.
The footage shows the white officer, whose name has not yet been released, struggling with Lyoya, eventually forcing him to the ground and shouting “stop resisting,” “let go” and “drop the Taser,” before shooting Lyoya in the head.
The city’s new police chief, Eric Winstrom, released four videos of the incident Wednesday amid pressure from the community. These include a dashcam video, body camera video, a cell phone video and surveillance video from a neighbor.
“I view it as a tragedy…It was a progression of sadness for me,” said Winstrom, during a press conference.
“Me being from Chicago for the last 20 years, I’ve handled many police shootings myself, so I do have a lot of experience in this,” the chief said. “I was hoping to never have to utilize that experience here.”
Winstrom said Grand Rapids Police and Michigan State Police are conducting an ongoing investigation and he would not comment further or take any action until after the investigation.
He said the officer is a seven-year veteran of the Grand Rapids Police who is currently on paid leave and “stripped of all police powers” as the investigation is ongoing.
The footage released Wednesday shows the officer shouting at Lyoya to “get back in the car” shortly after the video began. He then asked Lyoya if he spoke English and demanded he show his driver’s license. Lyoya turned to the passenger in the car and started to walk away. The officer then grabbed him, beginning an aggressive struggle.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump who is representing Lyoya’s family says the family is devastated and he is calling for the officer to be fired and prosecuted.
The Grand Rapids Police Officers Association did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
“He’s on his hands and knees facing away from the officer. There are so many other things the officer could have done instead of pulling his gun out and shooting him in the back of the head,” Crump told ABC News.
After the release of the video, businesses in Grand Rapids closed early as a precaution on Wednesday. Demonstrators gathered across the city with many convening in front of City Hall throughout the night. There have been no reports of violence during the protests.
(NEW YORK) — The man accused of opening fire on a subway train in Brooklyn may have rushed the attack and had more weapons available to possibly commit other shootings, prosecutors revealed Thursday.
As Frank Robert James faced a federal judge for the first time, other revelations into his alleged plot to shoot subway riders were shown, including that he may have been rushed into his action, according to law enforcement sources.
James, 62, was arrested in Manhattan’s East Village neighborhood on Wednesday afternoon, authorities said, more than 24 hours into an intense manhunt that began after 10 people were shot on a crowded subway car in Brooklyn.
Police have determined James rode the subway from Brooklyn to Manhattan, law enforcement sources told ABC News. Detectives are going through hours of footage to piece together the entire timeline of his movements.
James was charged in a criminal complaint with committing a terrorist act on a mass transportation vehicle and was subsequently transferred to federal custody. James faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted, said Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
James didn’t enter a plea during his first court hearing Thursday and only answered a few yes or no questions. U.S. Magistrate Judge Roanne Mann ordered him held without bail but did not rule out a future bail application.
Investigators believe James may have rushed the attack, and are working to determine whether James intended to carry out the attack as the train pulled into the 36th Street Station, or whether he set off his smoke grenades sooner than intended, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
As the subway car filled with smoke, it’s believed James knelt on one knee to avoid the rising smoke, and opened fire from that crouched position, sources said. Investigators believe that’s why most of the gunshot wounds were to the legs or hands.
The shooting unfolded on a Manhattan-bound N subway car during the Tuesday morning commute, just before 8:30 a.m. ET, as the train approached the 36th Street subway station in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood.
A man witnessed mumbling to himself on the subway car donned a gas mask and detonated a smoke canister before pulling out a handgun and firing a barrage of 33 bullets, hitting 10 people, a police official told ABC News.
The gun jammed during the incident, which is believed to have saved lives, a law enforcement official told ABC News.
Smoke poured out of the subway car as the doors opened and screaming riders ran out onto the platform of the station. Bloodied people were seen lying on the floor of the train and the platform.
A total of 29 people were injured, according to hospital officials.
In a court filing, federal prosecutors called the shooting calculated and “entirely premeditated.” They noted James wore a hard hat and construction worker-style jacket as a disguise and then shed them after the gunfire to avoid recognition.
Prosecutors suggested James had the means to carry out more attacks, noting that he had ammunition and other gun-related items in a Philadelphia storage unit.
“The defendant, terrifyingly, opened fire on passengers on a crowded subway train, interrupting their morning commute in a way this city hasn’t seen in more than 20 years,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Winik said in court Thursday. “The defendant’s attack was premeditated; it was carefully planned; and it caused terror among the victims and our entire city. The defendant’s mere presence outside federal custody presents a serious risk of danger to the community and he should be detained pending trial.”
James’ defense attorney Mia Eisner-Grynberg called the subway shooting a tragedy but pointed out that initial information can often be wrong. She also lauded James’ actions after the shooting.
“Yesterday Mr. James saw his photograph on the news,” Eisner-Grynberg said. “He called crime stoppers. He told them where he was.”
The lawyer said her client deserves a fair trial like all other defendants.
In court, she asked the judge to order James to undergo psychiatric treatment while in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Brooklyn.
The judge did not immediately respond to the request for psychiatric treatment.
According to the criminal complaint, police recovered two bags from the scene containing, among other items, a Glock 17 pistol, a key to a U-Haul rental vehicle and multiple bank cards, including a debit card with the name Frank James. They also discovered a jacket with reflective tape near the two bags that had a receipt for a storage unit in Philadelphia, which records provided by the facility showed was registered to James, the complaint said.
James was born in New York City and has lived in Philadelphia and Milwaukee in recent years, according to Peace.
The Glock recovered from the scene was lawfully purchased by James in Ohio, according to the complaint.
Records provided by U-Haul showed James rented a white Chevrolet van from the company in Philadelphia on Monday, according to the complaint. The U-Haul vehicle crossed states lines from Pennsylvania to New Jersey and then to New York, the complaint said. Surveillance cameras recorded the van driving over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge before dawn Tuesday and entering Brooklyn, according to the complaint.
At approximately 6:12 a.m. ET, another surveillance camera recorded an individual wearing a yellow hard hat, orange working jacket with reflective tape, carrying a backpack in his right hand and dragging a rolling bag in his left hand, leaving the U-Haul van on foot near West 7th Street and Kings Highway in Brooklyn’s Gravesend neighborhood, according to the complaint.
Police later located the vehicle parked on Kings Highway, about two blocks from a subway stop for the N-train, where investigators believe James entered the mass transit system.
“Based on the preliminary investigation, we believe he was alone,” Mayor Eric Adams told “Good Morning America” on Wednesday.
Senior law enforcement officials told ABC News they also uncovered a number of social media posts and videos tied to James, including, police said, “race-based grievances and conspiracy theory narratives.”
Police added, “James made several statements indicating that he suffers from a deteriorated mental and emotional state, including claims of severe post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as at least one video that includes a potential indicator of his intent to conduct an act of violence.”
The investigation was complicated by the fact that none of the surveillance cameras inside the 36th Street subway station were working at the time of the attack, a police official told ABC News. The cameras, which are aimed at turnstiles, didn’t transmit in real-time due to a computer malfunction, a source said. The same glitch impacted cameras at the stops before and after 36th Street. Investigators said they are looking into how this malfunction happened.
MTA chief Janno Lieberman confirmed that a failed internet connection prevented cameras at three Brooklyn stations, including 36th street, from properly transmitting images. Lieber reiterated James was caught on other subway station cameras, contributing to the successful apprehension.
James was ultimately apprehended after police received a tip that he was in a McDonald’s near 6th Street and 1st Avenue. When responding officers didn’t see James at the fast-food restaurant, they drove around the area and spotted him near St. Marks Place and First Avenue, where he was taken into custody at around 1:45 p.m. ET on Wednesday, according to police.
Sources told ABC News that James may have called police on himself. Among the calls to NYPD Crime Stoppers was reportedly someone who said: “I think you’re looking for me. I’m seeing my picture all over the news, and I’ll be around this McDonalds.”
James allegedly gave his name and a description of what he was wearing, according to sources. He said his phone battery was dying and he would be either in the McDonald’s charging his phone or out front, according to sources. A New York City Police Department official told ABC News investigators are reviewing the 911 call.
When officers didn’t find the suspect in the McDonald’s, a block away they encountered pedestrians who told officers they found James, sources said. James was found standing at a kiosk charging his phone, according to sources.
ABC News’ Luke Barr, Mark Crudele, Alex Hosenball, Joshua Hoyos, Soo Rin Kim, Josh Margolin, Christopher Looft and Pierre Thomas contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The man accused of opening fire on a rush-hour subway train in Brooklyn was ordered to be held without bail following his first court appearance Thursday.
Frank Robert James, 62, was arrested in Manhattan’s East Village neighborhood on Wednesday afternoon, authorities said, more than 24 hours into an intense manhunt that began after 10 people were shot on a crowded subway car in Brooklyn.
James was charged in a criminal complaint with committing a terrorist act on a mass transportation vehicle and was subsequently transferred to federal custody. James faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted, said Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
James didn’t enter a plea during the court hearing and only answered a few yes or no questions. U.S. Magistrate Judge Roanne Mann did not rule out a future bail application.
James was born in New York City and has lived in Philadelphia and Milwaukee in recent years, according to Peace.
“As alleged, the defendant committed a heinous and premeditated attack on ordinary New Yorkers during their morning subway commute,” Peace said in a statement Wednesday. “All New Yorkers have the right to expect that they will be safe as they travel throughout our great city and use our vital transportation systems.”
The shooting unfolded on a Manhattan-bound N subway car during the Tuesday morning commute, just before 8:30 a.m. ET, as the train approached the 36th Street subway station in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood.
A man witnessed mumbling to himself on the subway car donned a gas mask and detonated a smoke canister before pulling out a handgun and firing a barrage of 33 bullets, hitting 10 people, a police official told ABC News.
The gun jammed during the incident, which is believed to have saved lives, a law enforcement official told ABC News.
Smoke poured out of the subway car as the doors opened and screaming riders ran out onto the platform of the station. Bloodied people were seen lying on the floor of the train and the platform.
A total of 29 people were injured, according to hospital officials.
In a court filing, federal prosecutors called the shooting calculated and “entirely premeditated.” They noted James wore a hard hat and construction worker-style jacket as a disguise and then shed them after the gunfire to avoid recognition.
Prosecutors suggested James had the means to carry out more attacks, noting that he had ammunition and other gun-related items in a Philadelphia storage unit.
“The defendant, terrifyingly, opened fire on passengers on a crowded subway train, interrupting their morning commute in a way this city hasn’t seen in more than 20 years,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Winik said in court Thursday. “The defendant’s attack was premeditated; it was carefully planned; and it caused terror among the victims and our entire city. The defendant’s mere presence outside federal custody presents a serious risk of danger to the community and he should be detained pending trial.”
James’ defense attorney Mia Eisner-Grynberg called the subway shooting a tragedy but pointed out that initial information can often be wrong. She also lauded James’ actions after the shooting.
“Yesterday Mr. James saw his photograph on the news,” Eisner-Grynberg said. “He called crime stoppers. He told them where he was.”
The lawyer said her client deserves a fair trial like all other defendants.
In court, she asked the judge to order James to undergo psychiatric treatment while in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Brooklyn.
The judge did not immediately respond to the request for psychiatric treatment.
According to the criminal complaint, police recovered two bags from the scene containing, among other items, a Glock 17 pistol, a key to a U-Haul rental vehicle and multiple bank cards, including a debit card with the name Frank James. They also discovered a jacket with reflective tape near the two bags that had a receipt for a storage unit in Philadelphia, which records provided by the facility showed was registered to James, the complaint said.
The Glock recovered from the scene was lawfully purchased by James in Ohio, according to the complaint.
Records provided by U-Haul showed James rented a white Chevrolet van from the company in Philadelphia on Monday, according to the complaint. The U-Haul vehicle crossed states lines from Pennsylvania to New Jersey and then to New York, the complaint said. Surveillance cameras recorded the van driving over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge before dawn Tuesday and entering Brooklyn, according to the complaint.
At approximately 6:12 a.m. ET, another surveillance camera recorded an individual wearing a yellow hard hat, orange working jacket with reflective tape, carrying a backpack in his right hand and dragging a rolling bag in his left hand, leaving the U-Haul van on foot near West 7th Street and Kings Highway in Brooklyn’s Gravesend neighborhood, according to the complaint.
Police later located the vehicle parked on Kings Highway, about two blocks from a subway stop for the N-train, where investigators believe James entered the mass transit system.
“Based on the preliminary investigation, we believe he was alone,” Mayor Eric Adams told “Good Morning America” on Wednesday.
Senior law enforcement officials told ABC News they also uncovered a number of social media posts and videos tied to James, including, police said, “race-based grievances and conspiracy theory narratives.”
Police added, “James made several statements indicating that he suffers from a deteriorated mental and emotional state, including claims of severe post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as at least one video that includes a potential indicator of his intent to conduct an act of violence.”
The investigation was complicated by the fact that none of the surveillance cameras inside the 36th Street subway station were working at the time of the attack, a police official told ABC News. The cameras, which are aimed at turnstiles, didn’t transmit in real-time due to a computer malfunction, a source said. The same glitch impacted cameras at the stops before and after 36th Street. Investigators said they are looking into how this malfunction happened.
James was ultimately apprehended after police received a tip that he was in a McDonald’s near 6th Street and 1st Avenue. When responding officers didn’t see James at the fast-food restaurant, they drove around the area and spotted him near St. Marks Place and First Avenue, where he was taken into custody at around 1:45 p.m. ET on Wednesday, according to police.
Sources told ABC News that James may have called police on himself. Among the calls to NYPD Crime Stoppers was reportedly someone who said: “I think you’re looking for me. I’m seeing my picture all over the news, and I’ll be around this McDonalds.”
James allegedly gave his name and a description of what he was wearing, according to sources. He said his phone battery was dying and he would be either in the McDonald’s charging his phone or out front, according to sources. A New York City Police Department official told ABC News investigators are reviewing the 911 call.
When officers didn’t find the suspect in the McDonald’s, a block away they encountered pedestrians who told officers they found James, sources said. James was found standing at a kiosk charging his phone, according to sources.
ABC News’ Luke Barr, Mark Crudele, Alex Hosenball, Joshua Hoyos, Soo Rin Kim, Josh Margolin, Christopher Looft and Pierre Thomas contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The man accused of opening fire on a rush-hour subway train in Brooklyn was ordered to be held on a permanent order of detention following his first court appearance Thursday.
Frank Robert James, 62, was arrested in Manhattan’s East Village neighborhood on Wednesday afternoon, authorities said, more than 24 hours into an intense manhunt that began after 10 people were shot on a crowded subway car in Brooklyn.
James was charged in a criminal complaint with committing a terrorist act on a mass transportation vehicle and was subsequently transferred to federal custody. James faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted, said Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
James didn’t enter a plea during the court hearing and only answered a few yes or no questions. U.S. Magistrate Judge Roanne Mann did not rule out a future bail application.
James was born in New York City and has lived in Philadelphia and Milwaukee in recent years, according to Peace.
“As alleged, the defendant committed a heinous and premeditated attack on ordinary New Yorkers during their morning subway commute,” Peace said in a statement Wednesday. “All New Yorkers have the right to expect that they will be safe as they travel throughout our great city and use our vital transportation systems.”
The shooting unfolded on a Manhattan-bound N subway car during the Tuesday morning commute, just before 8:30 a.m. ET, as the train approached the 36th Street subway station in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood.
A man witnessed mumbling to himself on the subway car donned a gas mask and detonated a smoke canister before pulling out a handgun and firing a barrage of 33 bullets, hitting 10 people, a police official told ABC News.
The gun jammed during the incident, which is believed to have saved lives, a law enforcement official told ABC News.
Smoke poured out of the subway car as the doors opened and screaming riders ran out onto the platform of the station. Bloodied people were seen lying on the floor of the train and the platform.
A total of 29 people were injured, according to hospital officials.
“The defendant, terrifyingly, opened fire on passengers on a crowded subway train, interrupting their morning commute in a way this city hasn’t seen in more than 20 years,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Winik said in court Thursday. “The defendant’s attack was premeditated; it was carefully planned; and it caused terror among the victims and our entire city. The defendant’s mere presence outside federal custody presents a serious risk of danger to the community and he should be detained pending trial.”
James’ defense attorney Mia Eisner-Grynberg called the subway shooting a tragedy but pointed out that initial information can often be wrong. She also lauded James’ actions after the shooting.
“Yesterday Mr. James saw his photograph on the news,” Eisner-Grynberg said. “He called crime stoppers. He told them where he was.”
The lawyer said her client deserves a fair trial like all other defendants.
In court, she asked the judge to order James to undergo psychiatric treatment while in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Brooklyn.
According to the criminal complaint, police recovered two bags from the scene containing, among other items, a Glock 17 pistol, a key to a U-Haul rental vehicle and multiple bank cards, including a debit card with the name Frank James. They also discovered a jacket with reflective tape near the two bags that had a receipt for a storage unit in Philadelphia, which records provided by the facility showed was registered to James, the complaint said.
The Glock recovered from the scene was lawfully purchased by James in Ohio, according to the complaint.
Records provided by U-Haul showed James rented a white Chevrolet van from the company in Philadelphia on Monday, according to the complaint. The U-Haul vehicle crossed states lines from Pennsylvania to New Jersey and then to New York, the complaint said. Surveillance cameras recorded the van driving over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge before dawn Tuesday and entering Brooklyn, according to the complaint.
At approximately 6:12 a.m. ET, another surveillance camera recorded an individual wearing a yellow hard hat, orange working jacket with reflective tape, carrying a backpack in his right hand and dragging a rolling bag in his left hand, leaving the U-Haul van on foot near West 7th Street and Kings Highway in Brooklyn’s Gravesend neighborhood, according to the complaint.
Police later located the vehicle parked on Kings Highway, about two blocks from a subway stop for the N-train, where investigators believe James entered the mass transit system.
“Based on the preliminary investigation, we believe he was alone,” Mayor Eric Adams told “Good Morning America” on Wednesday.
Senior law enforcement officials told ABC News they also uncovered a number of social media posts and videos tied to James, including, police said, “race-based grievances and conspiracy theory narratives.”
Police added, “James made several statements indicating that he suffers from a deteriorated mental and emotional state, including claims of severe post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as at least one video that includes a potential indicator of his intent to conduct an act of violence.”
The investigation was complicated by the fact that none of the surveillance cameras inside the 36th Street subway station were working at the time of the attack, a police official told ABC News. The cameras, which are aimed at turnstiles, didn’t transmit in real-time due to a computer malfunction, a source said. The same glitch impacted cameras at the stops before and after 36th Street. Investigators said they are looking into how this malfunction happened.
James was ultimately apprehended after police received a tip that he was in a McDonald’s near 6th Street and 1st Avenue. When responding officers didn’t see James at the fast-food restaurant, they drove around the area and spotted him near St. Marks Place and First Avenue, where he was taken into custody at around 1:45 p.m. ET on Wednesday, according to police.
Sources told ABC News that James may have called police on himself. Among the calls to NYPD Crime Stoppers was reportedly someone who said: “I think you’re looking for me. I’m seeing my picture all over the news, and I’ll be around this McDonalds.”
James allegedly gave his name and a description of what he was wearing, according to sources. He said his phone battery was dying and he would be either in the McDonald’s charging his phone or out front, according to sources. A New York City Police Department official told ABC News investigators are reviewing the 911 call.
When officers didn’t find the suspect in the McDonald’s, a block away they encountered pedestrians who told officers they found James, sources said. James was found standing at a kiosk charging his phone, according to sources.
ABC News’ Luke Barr, Mark Crudele, Alex Hosenball, Joshua Hoyos, Soo Rin Kim, Josh Margolin, Christopher Looft and Pierre Thomas contributed to this report.
(BOSTON) — Boston public health officials are urging residents to take extra precautions as COVID-19 cases tick up ahead of the upcoming holiday weekend.
In a blog post Wednesday, the Boston Public Health Commission said the city’s test positivity rate currently sits at 6.2%, which is above the agency’s “threshold of concern” of 5%.
It’s also nearly three times higher than the 2.2% test positivity rate recorded one month ago.
Additionally, data shows young adults between ages 20 and 30 are driving the increase and have the highest case rate in Boston.
Ahead of several holidays — including Passover, Easter and Ramadan — and the 126th running of the Boston Marathon Monday, the BPHC recommended wearing a well-fitting mask, getting tested before attending indoors gatherings, and getting vaccinated or boosted.
“Celebrating with family and friends is an important and treasured time and, as cases increase, we must remain vigilant so we can be together safely,” Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, Commissioner of Public Health and Executive Director of the BPHC, said in a statement. “We have the tools … to stay safe and lower the risk of COVID-19 infection and severe illness.”
Experts said the increase in Boston is mostly due to the spread of BA.2, a highly infectious subvariant of the original BA.1 omicron variant.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, BA.2 makes up more than 90% of cases that have undergone genome sequencing in New England.
“It’s nothing compared to what we saw in terms of the huge and dramatic spike when BA.1 was in the process of replacing the delta variant,” Dr. Shira Doron, an infectious disease physician and hospital epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, told ABC News. “It’s an uptick, it’s not what we want, but it’s much less significant than BA.1.”
Dr. Paul Sax, clinical director of the division of infectious diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said health officials had been preparing for an increase in the city after seeing cases rise in Western Europe due to BA.2 a few weeks ago.
“Whatever happens in Western Europe [with COVID-19] has been a harbinger of what’s going to come in the United States,” he told ABC News. “You can almost set your calendar by it.”
However, there may be some positive signs that this increase in cases will not lead to another wave.
At Tufts Medical Center, Doron said there are more people seeking COVID-19 treatment at outpatient facilities compared to a few weeks ago, but there has not been an increase in hospitalizations.
She added that there has also been a small increase of employees testing positive every day, but it’s not causing staffing shortages.
“It’s not straining our ability to properly staff, it’s not straining our ability to get people in for monoclonal antibodies if they need it,” Doron said.
Experts suggested one reason why COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations may not be surging as they did during the winter is because so many people were infected during the omicron wave that they may have boosted their immunity.
“So many people came down with COVID during the last wave … that they either knew someone who had it, or they had it themselves” Sax said.
Both doctors recommended similar precautions to the BPHC over the holiday weekend including getting tested before gathering with family and friends and taking measures, such as masking indoors, especially if someone is immunocompromised.
Sax also recommended anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing symptoms contact their doctor to see if they’re eligible for Paxlovid, Pfizer’s antiviral pill.
“Unlike our previous waves, we are lucky enough to have an antiviral treatment,” Sax said. “The key is to take it quickly so, as soon as they get diagnosed, they should see if they are eligible because it could really help prevent the most dreaded complications of COVID-19.”
