(COLUMBIA, S.C.) — At least nine people have been shot at a South Carolina restaurant, according to police.
The shooting occurred Sunday morning at Cara’s Lounge in Furman, South Carolina, located about 50 miles northwest of Columbia, according to the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division, which received a request from the Hampton County Sheriff’s Office to lead the investigation.
The circumstances leading up to the shooting are not clear. Police did not immediately release further information.
The shooting comes a day after a shooting incident at a mall in Columbia, South Carolina, that left 14 people were injured.
Nine people were shot and five others were injured while fleeing the scene Saturday afternoon, police said. The injured ranged in age from 15 to 73 years old.
Police said they arrested a 22-year-old on a charge of unlawful carrying of a pistol and added that more charges may be forthcoming.
(PITTSBURGH) — Two teenagers were killed and at least eight people were wounded when a barrage of 50 gunshots broke out early Sunday inside a Pittsburgh Airbnb rental house, where police said roughly 200 people were having a party. Some escaped the gunfire by jumping out of windows.
The shooting marked the third time in nine days that gunfire erupted during parties being held at Airbnb rentals, including one near Sacramento, California, which left a teen dead, and another that rocked a suburban Houston residential neighborhood.
The Pittsburgh shooting unfolded Sunday around 12:30 a.m., when police were notified of multiple ShotSpotter gunfire-detection alerts in the East Allegheny neighborhood on the city’s North Side, according to the Pittsburgh Police Department.
Cellphone video taken from inside the packed house and obtained by ABC News captured the screams and panic of party-goers rushing to get out of the residence, some tripping and falling down a staircase.
In the footage, someone is heard shouting: “He’s got a gun!” and “We got to go!” As apparent gunfire sounded, someone yelled: “They’re shooting!” The shouts were followed by screams.
Victims suffering from bullet wounds were found near the home and taken to hospitals by ambulance, police said. Other gunshot victims were taken to area hospitals in private cars, including two juveniles who were pronounced dead upon arriving at emergency rooms, authorities said.
A total of 10 people were shot, including the two slain teenagers, police said. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the deceased as Mathew Steffy-Ross and Jaiden Brown, both 17.
Several other victims suffered broken bones and cuts fleeing the chaotic scene, according to police.
Police said a preliminary investigation found that the shooting occurred during a large party being held at the short-term rental property, “with as many as 200 people in attendance, many of them underage.”
“As many as 50 rounds were fired inside, prompting some party-goers to jump out the windows, sustaining injuries such as broken bones and lacerations,” police said in a statement Sunday. “Several more shots were fired outside the home.”
No arrests have been made, and detectives are combing over evidence found at eight different crime scenes in a radius of several blocks around the Airbnb house. Detectives are also reviewing security video in an effort to identify suspects.
During a press conference Sunday, Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert said the gunfire started after an “altercation” and confirmed that multiple shooters engaged in a gunfight. He said that in addition to the gunshot victims, five other people were injured from either jumping out of windows or falling down stairs while taking cover.
“It is our top priority to find out who did this and get them off the street,” Schubert told reporters.
He noted that the “vast majority” of people at the party were juveniles.
“This is something that shouldn’t have happened. This goes back to having too many guns — too many illegal guns — on the streets. Too many people who have access to these illegal weapons,” he added. “Innocent people were struck… We’re sick about it, and we’re gonna do everything we can to get those responsible for it.”
Shell casings collected at the scene indicate multiple weapons were fired, including rifles, a police commander told ABC affiliate station WTAE in Pittsburgh.
“We share the Pittsburgh community’s outrage regarding this tragic gun violence. Our hearts go out to all who were impacted — including loved ones of those who lost their lives, injured victims and neighbors,” Airbnb told ABC News in a statement Sunday. “Airbnb strictly bans parties, and we condemn the behavior that is alleged to have prompted this criminal gun violence.”
Airbnb said the person who booked the house has been issued a lifetime ban from Airbnb. The company confirmed that an “unauthorized party” was thrown without the knowledge or consent of the house host, who specifically stated in the listing page that no parties were allowed and that any evidence of a party would result in a $500 fee.
“We will be considering all legal options to hold this person accountable,” Airbnb’s statement said, adding that the company is cooperating with the Pittsburgh Police Department’s investigation.
Addressing allegations that many of those attending the party were minors, the company said, “we can confirm that users must be 18 or above to create an Airbnb account.”
The company also noted that its CEO, Brian Chesky, has joined a coalition of CEOs nationwide calling for stricter gun control measures to get illegal firearms off the streets.
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said in a statement Sunday that police were using all available resources to find those responsible for the shooting and added that members of the community had contacted the investigators with information on the episode.
According to Gainey, the shooting came as Pittsburgh police and city leaders have been been working on a plan in the past several weeks to address gun violence in the city. He said a special meeting of public safety and key community members is being scheduled to discuss a citywide effort to combat gun violence.
“The time is now for us to move with a sense of urgency to bring justice to the victims and peace to our city,” Gainey said. “It is critical that we come together now to help reduce the violence currently happening while we begin to do the long-term work of ending the culture of violence that is enabling the senseless loss of life we are experiencing today. We must say no more and never again.”
Anyone with information about the shooting can call the Pittsburgh Police Department’s Major Crimes unit at 412-323-7161.
(COLUMBIA, S.C.) — At least nine people have been shot at a South Carolina restaurant, according to police.
The shooting occurred Sunday morning at Cara’s Lounge in Furman, South Carolina, located about 50 miles northwest of Columbia, according to the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division, which received a request from the Hampton County Sheriff’s Office to lead the investigation.
The circumstances leading up to the shooting are not clear. Police did not immediately release further information.
The shooting comes a day after a shooting incident at a mall in Columbia, South Carolina, that left 14 people were injured.
Nine people were shot and five others were injured while fleeing the scene Saturday afternoon, police said. The injured ranged in age from 15 to 73 years old.
Police said they arrested a 22-year-old on a charge of unlawful carrying of a pistol and added that more charges may be forthcoming.
(NEW YORK) — The 130-ton Ever Forward cargo ship that has been mired in the mud of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland for more than a month was dislodged and refloated early Sunday, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The 1,095-foot cargo ship, which ran aground in shallow water 36 days ago, was yanked from a mound of mud by seven tugboats working in tandem around 7 a.m., the Coast Guard said.
The ship was extricated after crews spent the last week using two large cranes on barges to offload around 500 of the nearly 4,900 containers aboard to make the vessel buoyant enough for the tugboats to pry it loose, officials said.
The Ever Forward, which is owned by Evergreen Marine Corp., was being towed by five tugboats to a ship parking area near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. The Hong Kong-flagged ship will eventually head back to the Seagirt marine terminal in Baltimore to pick up the containers that were taken off before resuming its voyage to Norfolk, Virginia, officials said.
Two previous attempts to free the vessel were not successful. Crews had tried to move the fully loaded ship with multiple tugboats, but it wouldn’t budge. Crews also attempted dredging around the hull of the big boat, but that effort was in vain as well.
The refloating situation had gone so badly that the Evergreen Marine notified anyone with a container on board that they would need to share in the cost of freeing the ship under the law of general average, a principal of maritime law dating back to 1890.
An estimated cost of extracting the ship has not been made public.
The Coast Guard said the Ever Forward got stuck on March 13 in about 23 feet of water off Downs Park in Pasadena, Maryland, about 20 miles south of Baltimore. The ship had just departed the Seagirt marine terminal and, for reasons that remain under investigation, was traveling outside of the deep-water shipping channel when it ran aground, the Coast Guard said.
No one was injured, and inspections showed that no fuel or pollution leaked from the ship into the Chesapeake Bay, according to the Coast Guard.
The ship did not block the shipping channel, officials said.
Evergreen is the same company that owns the Ever Given cargo ship that got stuck in Egypt’s Suez Canal in March 2021, blocking the world-famous waterway for six days and causing massive delays in global shipping.
(NEW YORK) — The threat of severe weather is continuing after nearly a week of strong systems wreaking havoc on much of the country.
The North is bracing for another round of winter weather in the middle of spring after receiving several feet of snow last week.
Blizzard conditions with up to 3 feet of snow is expected in North Dakota, where temperatures reached as low as zero degrees on Saturday. Blowing snow will also be an issue in the northern plains and upper Midwest, as wind advisories are in effect for much of North and South Dakota.
That storm will move into the Great Lakes and into the Northeast on Monday and Tuesday, delivering snow to the Appalachians and upstate New York and rain in the major cities.
A cold front is sweeping through the North through Tuesday, with Chicago topping out around 40 degrees and New York in the 50s on Sunday. Unseasonably low temperatures are expected to continue into Monday.
Severe thunderstorms are expected to flare up in the South on Sunday afternoon, with large hail and damaging winds likely across states such as Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and even as far east as the Florida panhandle. Isolated tornadoes are possible as well but are not expected to be as abundant as they were last week.
Problematic weather occurred all over the country at the start of the weekend as well.
In Baltimore, hail interrupted the Yankees vs. Orioles game at Camden Yards on Saturday afternoon, and late-season snow blanketed California’s Sierra Nevada mountains.
Damage from large hail was reported in northeastern Arkansas on Friday night after thunderstorms rolled through Arkansas to southwestern Alabama.
Conditions ripe for the formation of tornadoes has persisted since last month, which broke the record for the most tornadoes to ever occur in the U.S. in March.
At least three people died last week as a result of a tornado in Arkansas and the McBride Fire in New Mexico.
The severe weather threat is expected to subside early next week with no organized threat forecast for Monday.
(PITTSBURGH) — Two juveniles were killed and at least eight people were wounded when a barrage of 50 gunshots broke out early Sunday inside a Pittsburgh Airbnb rental house, where police said roughly 200 people were having a party. Some escaped the gunfire by jumping out of windows.
The shooting marked the third time in nine days that gunfire erupted during parties being held at Airbnb rentals, including one near Sacramento, California, which left a teenager dead, and another that rocked a suburban Houston residential neighborhood.
The Pittsburgh shooting unfolded around 12:30 a.m., when police were notified of multiple ShotSpotter gunfire-detection alerts in the East Allegheny neighborhood on the city’s North Side, the Pittsburgh Police Department said in a statement.
More gunshots were being fired as officers arrived at the scene and saw several young people running away and others fleeing in vehicles, according to the statement.
Victims suffering from bullet wounds were found near the home and taken to hospitals by ambulance, police said. Other gunshot victims were taken to area hospitals in private cars, including two juveniles who were pronounced dead upon arriving at emergency rooms, authorities said.
A total of 10 people were shot, including the two slain juveniles, police said. Several other victims suffered broken bones and cuts fleeing the chaotic scene, according to authorities.
A preliminary investigation found that the shooting occurred during a large party being held at the short-term rental property, “with as many as 200 people in attendance, many of them underage,” according to the police statement.
“As many as 50 rounds were fired inside, prompting some party-goers to jump out the windows, sustaining injuries such as broken bones and lacerations,” according to the police statement. “Several more shots were fired outside the home.”
No arrests have been made, and detectives are combing over evidence found at eight different crime scenes in a radius of several blocks around the Airbnb house. Detectives are also reviewing security video in an effort to identify suspects.
Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert said at a news conference Sunday that the gunfire started after an “altercation” and confirmed that multiple shooters engaged in a gunfight. He said that in addition to the gunshot victims, five other people were injured from either jumping out of windows or falling down stairs while taking cover.
“It is our top priority to find out who did this and get them off the street,” Schubert said.
He said the “vast majority” of people at the party were juveniles.
“This is something that shouldn’t have happened. This goes back to having too many guns — too many illegal guns — on the streets. Too many people who have access to these illegal weapons,” Schubert said. “Innocent people were struck… We’re sick about it, and we’re gonna do everything we can to get those responsible for it.”
Shell casings collected at the scene indicate multiple weapons were fired, including rifles, a police commander told ABC affiliate station WTAE in Pittsburgh.
“We share the Pittsburgh community’s outrage regarding this tragic gun violence. Our hearts go out to all who were impacted — including loved ones of those who lost their lives, injured victims and neighbors,” Airbnb said Sunday in a statement to ABC News. “Airbnb strictly bans parties, and we condemn the behavior that is alleged to have prompted this criminal gun violence.”
Airbnb said the person who booked the house has been issued a lifetime ban from Airbnb. The company confirmed that an “unauthorized party” was thrown without the knowledge or consent of the house host, who specifically stated in the listing page that no parties were allowed and that any evidence of a party would result in a $500 fee.
“We will be considering all legal options to hold this person accountable,” Airbnb’s statement said, adding that the company is cooperating with the Pittsburgh Police Department’s investigation.
Addressing allegations that many of those attending the party were minors, the company said, “we can confirm that users must be 18 or above to create an Airbnb account.”
The company also noted that its CEO, Brian Chesky, has joined a coalition of CEOs nationwide calling for stricter gun control measures to get illegal firearms off the streets.
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said in a statement on Sunday that police were using all available resources to find those responsible for the shooting and added that members of the community had contacted the investigators with information on the episode.
Gainey said the shooting came as Pittsburgh police and city leaders have been been working on a plan in the past several weeks to address gun violence in the city. He said a special meeting of public safety and key community members is being scheduled to discuss a citywide effort to combat gun violence.
“The time is now for us to move with a sense of urgency to bring justice to the victims and peace to our city,” Gainey said in his statement. “It is critical that we come together now to help reduce the violence currently happening while we begin to do the long-term work of ending the culture of violence that is enabling the senseless loss of life we are experiencing today. We must say no more and never again.”
Anyone with information about the shooting can call the Pittsburgh Police Department’s Major Crimes unit at (412) 323-7161.
(RUIDOSO DOWNS, N.M.) — High fire danger continues in New Mexico, as very dry weather and gusty winds are leading to an increased risk while firefighters continue to battle a deadly blaze.
For days, hundreds of firefighters have been battling the McBride Fire in the village of Ruidoso in central New Mexico.
As of Saturday morning, the McBride Fire has burned through 6,195 acres in the Gavilan Canyon within Ruidoso and remains 0% contained, according to fire officials. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Fueled by timber downed by a significant wind storm, as well as brush and dry grasses on an arid landscape, the wildfire has burned 207 primary structures and multiple outbuildings since sparking Tuesday, officials said.
The bodies of two people were found in a home in Ruidoso on Wednesday, a day after the McBride Fire scorched the area, according to authorities. First responders located the bodies after family members noted that an elderly couple attempting to evacuate had been unaccounted for, police said. The couple has not yet been publicly identified.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she is “very proud” as residents have been reaching out to see what they can do to help amid the destruction.
“But there are no words to express — that’s a total loss,” she told the Albuquerque ABC affiliate KOAT. “Can you live back there again, where will you go?”
She said the state will be an “active partner” in the recovery process.
A second, smaller fire in Nogal Canyon north of Ruidoso has burned 433 acres as of Saturday morning since sparking Tuesday and is 4% contained, fire officials said.
Fire officials were optimistic Saturday about containment efforts with both fires, after being challenged by warm weather and high winds the previous day.
“Currently, you know, we’re 4% on Nogal, 0% on McBride, but you’ll see those numbers increasing today,” Dave Bales, incident commander for the McBride and Nogal Canyon fires, said during a briefing Saturday. “Today we expect a real successful day.”
Dangerous fire conditions persist Saturday for portions of western and central New Mexico up into the San Luis Valley in south-central Colorado, with a red flag warning in effect due to strong winds and low relative humidity. Wind gusts up to 50 mph are forecasted.
A voluntary evacuation order also has been issued in Larimer County in northern Colorado, as a wildfire has burned 114 acres and is 30% contained as of Saturday morning.
ABC News’ Julia Jacobo contributed to this report.
(RICHMOND, Calif.) — Celebrations are in order Saturday at the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park located in Richmond, California, for former National Park Service ranger Betty Reid Soskin.
Prior to her retirement just weeks ago, Soskin, at age 100, was the oldest active National Park Ranger serving the United States.
“To be a part of helping to mark the place where that dramatic trajectory of my own life, combined with others of my generation, will influence the future by the footprints we’ve left behind has been incredible,” said Soskin in a prepared statement and announcement from the NPS.
Soskin first joined the NPS in her 80s. In the early 2000s she was actively involved and participated in the planning effort to bring the Rosie the Riveter National Historical Park to the city of Richmond. She’s also credited with working to help uncover untold stories of African Americans on the home front during WWII.
“If we don’t know where we started, we have no conception of where we are or how we got here. Only if we go back and retrace our steps. And that’s what the park became for me,” Soskin said during a speech at the Rosie the Riveter Visitor Education Center, explaining what drove her to get involved with the park’s planning.
It was those efforts that led her to a temporary position with the NPS at age 84, and eventually a permanent role.
For more than a decade-and-a half she had led public programs at the park, providing broader context of the WWII war effort, and the backdrop of racism and segregation through her own life experiences. Her great-grandmother, born in 1846, was a slave until she was 19, freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. Soskin said she was 27 when her slave ancestor died at 102, during her speech.
“The National Park Service is grateful to Ranger Betty for sharing her thoughts and first-person accounts in ways that span across generations,” said Naomi Torres, acting superintendent of Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park. “She has used stories of her life on the Home Front, drawing meaning from those experiences in ways that make that history truly impactful for those of us living today.”
Soskin was born in Detroit in 1921 to African American parents. She spent her early years in New Orleans before “The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927” drove her family to relocate West to Oakland, California.
As a young woman during World War II, Soskin worked as a shipyard clerk for an all-Black auxiliary lodge of the segregated Boilermakers union. At the time, the union did not allow people of color and women to become union members.
In 1945, Soskin along with her husband founded one of the first Black-owned music stores, “Reid’s Records,” which shut its doors in 2019.
She would also later get involved in local politics, having served as a Berkeley city council member and as a field representative serving two members of the California State Assembly.
In 2015, Soskin introduced President Barack Obama during the national tree-lighting ceremony in Washington, D.C.
I heard Betty Reid Soskin is retiring at 100, and want to congratulate her for more than a decade of service as a National Park Ranger.
Betty, I hope you realize just how many people appreciate everything you’ve done—myself included. pic.twitter.com/lElFYwxVMg
It’s an experience, that she said, was “probably one of the greatest things I’ve ever done.”
“I was able to introduce the president, on the stage, to all of America,” Soskin recounted to CBS’s San Francisco news station.
On Saturday, the NPS will host a retirement ceremony for Soskin at the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park, which will be open to the public.
(NEW YORK) — Five tipsters will split a $50,000 reward for providing police with information that led to the arrest of the suspect in Tuesday’s mass shooting on a New York City subway train, officials said.
The alleged gunman in the shooting, 62-year-old Frank James, was taken into custody on the streets of Manhattan Wednesday afternoon, about 30 hours after 10 people were shot on a Brooklyn N train.
While the manhunt was underway, police urged the public for help in locating the suspect. New York Police Department detectives identified five people whose tips “contributed directly to the arrest,” the NYPD said.
The five good Samaritans, who have not been publicly identified, will evenly split a combined $50,000 worth of Crime Stoppers rewards provided by the Police Foundation, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Transport Workers Union Local 100. Crime Stoppers rewards are distributed upon the arrest and indictment of an individual.
“We appreciate all of those who responded to our call for information to locate this suspect, including all of those whose tips did not pan out,” NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said in a statement. “We urged the public to join us in this effort to find this suspect and New Yorkers stepped up.”
Police have not shared what information helped lead to the arrest, and tipsters are offered anonymity. Though there have been several reports of witnesses spotting James after he was named as a suspect in the shooting, which occurred Tuesday morning on a rush-hour, Manhattan-bound N train as it approached the 36th Street station in Sunset Park.
A cellphone alert with James’ description went out to New York City residents at 10:21 a.m. Wednesday, and multiple sightings followed as the suspect wandered the streets of lower Manhattan.
At around 10:30 a.m., he was spotted sitting outside Dimes, a restaurant in Chinatown, sources said. Witnesses took pictures of him sitting, apparently using a Link NYC hub to charge his phone, and posted to social media, tagging police, sources said.
A few hours later, James was spotted getting lunch at Katz’s on the Lower East Side, sources said.
Just after 1 p.m. Wednesday, James called Crime Stoppers on himself, saying he was in a McDonald’s in the East Village, according to sources. James reportedly said: “I think you’re looking for me. I’m seeing my picture all over the news and I’ll be around this McDonald’s.”
By the time police arrived, James had already left the McDonald’s. But a good Samaritan spotted James nearby at St. Mark’s Place and First Avenue and flagged down police, sources said.
James was taken into custody without incident and charged by federal prosecutors with a terror-related offense. At his first court appearance on Thursday, he was ordered held without bail. He faces up to life in prison.
ABC News’ Aaron Katersky and Mark Crudele contributed to this report.
(GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.) — The family of a man fatally shot by a police officer in Grand Rapids, Michigan, earlier this month is demanding that the officer be fired and prosecuted.
“It is an unjustifiable use of deadly force because police escalated a traffic stop into an execution,” civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Patrick Lyoya’s family, said during a press conference Thursday.
Lyoya’s mother, Dorcas Lyoya, who cried throughout the press conference, says she left her home in the Democratic Republic of the Congo “to escape war” and thought her son would be safe here, but is now heartbroken.
“As a parent, I was thinking maybe it was my son who was going to bury me, he will assist at my funeral, but what is so astonishing, I am the one burying my son,” Dorcas Lyoya said through the help of a translator.
Patrick Lyoya’s father, Peter Lyoya, compared his son’s death to crimes seen in other countries.
“I didn’t believe that in this country, that there was a genocide in this country, I didn’t know,” Peter Lyoya said through a translator.
Video of their son’s death on April 4 was recorded on an officer’s body camera, dashcam video, security cameras and a bystander’s cellphone. Police released the footage Wednesday amid community pressure.
The footage shows a white police officer, whose name has not yet been released, struggling with the 26-year-old after chasing him on foot following a traffic stop. The officer eventually forces Lyoya to the ground and is heard shouting, “stop resisting,” “let go” and “drop the Taser,” before shooting him in the head.
While many residents have expressed shock over the incident, Cle Jackson, the president of the Grand Rapids NAACP, says it was a matter of time before such an incident happened.
“We’ve been trying to bring reform for decades here. Some folks here have said, ‘a George Floyd will never happen in Grand Rapids. This would never happen in the city of Grand Rapids’. Now I always have to remind them it’s not if this is gonna happen, it’s just when it’s going to happen. And today is our real day,” Jackson told ABC News.
Jackson says issues involving police officers in the city have been going on for years. In 2018, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights opened an investigation after several complaints against the Grand Rapids police by Black residents, he said.
The department held public hearings where several people voiced concerns, but declined to set a timeline for when the investigation would be completed.
Jackson says the NAACP is intrigued to see if changes will come with the police department’s new chief, Eric Winstrom. The NAACP is joining with the family and Crump in calling for the officer to be fired, he says.
The Grand Rapids Police Officers Association did not immediately respond Thursday to ABC News’ request for comment regarding calls for the officer to be fired.
“I think [Winstrom] has an opportunity to come to Grand Rapids and do the type of cleanup work that needs to happen in this department…the number one metric or the initial metric that we will be able to determine if he is committed to improving community police relations for the city of Grand Rapids is to do the right thing and fire the officer,” Jackson said.
Winstrom said Wednesday that 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 is completed.
He said the officer is a seven-year veteran of the department who is currently on paid leave and “stripped of all police powers” amid the investigation.
“I view it as a tragedy…It was a progression of sadness for me,” Winstrom said about the shooting.
