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(NEW YORK) — Attorneys for the Rust film armorer charged with involuntary manslaughter Tuesday said she felt “extreme pressure” to work within an irresponsible culture that resulted in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and actor Alec Baldwin were both charged Tuesday with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in New Mexico. First assistant director David Halls has already agreed to plead no contest for the charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon.

Attorney Jason Bowles said Halls “rushed” Gutierrez-Reed “all the time,” which did not allow her to do a full safety check on the gun held by Baldwin that fatally killed Hutchins. His client was waiting on Halls to call her back to the church where the scene was scheduled to be filmed and where she expected to perform a full check on the gun.

According to her, she never got the call.

Gutierrez-Reed “didn’t even know that Baldwin was there with the gun. So for the DA’s office to blame Hannah for failing to do something … it’s insane,” Bowles told ABC News.

In an exclusive with ABC News, Bowles and attorney Todd Bullion characterized the Rust set as negligent regarding its safety and blamed the culture on Halls, who they said insisted on having a “real gun” on the set and ignored Gutierrez-Reed’s request to be called to the set when it was time to use the Colt .45 in a scene.

Halls, Bowles said, “handed the gun to Baldwin and didn’t do the check himself. He admitted that had Hannah been called back in [he] would have prevented this tragedy. That’s a David Halls failure.”

Amid the allegations by Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys, Halls’ legal team said, “You can quote anything in the public record.” Lisa Torraco, attorney for Dave Halls, told ABC News earlier that Halls was responsible for “announcing that there’s a firearm on set” but denied he was responsible for the handling of the weapon to Baldwin.

Law enforcement said Halls, Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed were the only three people who handled the gun on the set. Halls testified in a deposition in December with attorneys from the New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau that he checked the gun and did not “have any recollection” announcing the gun was “cold,” indicating it did not contain live rounds.

“I have recollections of Hannah saying it,” he testified.

Gutierrez-Reed contradicts those claims, her attorneys say. Prosecutors said Baldwin has given contradicting statements to media and law enforcement, first telling police he received the gun from Gutierrez-Reed and later saying it came from Halls and that Halls told him it was a “cold gun.”

Bowles said the charges brought against Baldwin are appropriate because he failed to follow the appropriate training when handling a firearm. Despite following the required hour-long training, it lasted 30 minutes because Baldwin was texting his family throughout, according to court documents.

“She was demanding the training occur, she was asking for it, pleading that the training occurred. They didn’t allow her to do it,” he said.

When reached for comment, Baldwin’s attorney directed ABC News to his Jan. 19 statement. “Mr. Baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun — or anywhere on the movie set. He relied on the professionals with whom he worked, who assured him the gun did not have live rounds. We will fight these charges, and we will win,” attorney Luke Nikas said.

Despite her concerns over a reckless safety culture, Gutierrez-Reed did not feel comfortable demanding that protocols be met because of her junior status. Investigator Robert Shilling wrote in the statement of probable cause that she was unqualified because she had “no certification or certifiable training, or union ‘card’ for this practice,” and the production violated industry practices by also assigning her assistant prop master duties, which meant she could not focus primarily on her armorer duties.

Bowles rejected the suggestion that Gutierrez-Reed, 24, was not capable of safety measures because of lack of experience.

“She was absolutely qualified to work in this film,” he said, because she received training from Thell Reed, her father, a veteran armorer and weapons specialist whose credits include Tombstone, Django: Unchained, 3:10 to Yuma, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

“Everybody has to start somewhere. That didn’t mean she wasn’t trained or capable of doing this job,” said Bowles.

He added she was simply “trying to follow orders” because Rust presented her the “opportunity to get her union certification to then be certified” as a professional armorer.

“She’s trying to do her job. And she’s being made to do certain things that she’s fighting against,” he said. “So when you have a 30-year veteran [like Halls] telling her ‘you’re going to do this.’ That’s what she did.”

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(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — Following the disciplinary actions and murder charges brought against several officers involved in the death of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee, Rebecca Duran, the mother of Donovan Lewis, renewed her call Tuesday for the Columbus, Ohio, police officer who fatally shot her son last year to be terminated and charged.

“If it can be done in a swift manner anywhere, it can be done swiftly here,” Duran said at a press conference. “Yesterday was five months since the murder of my son, and for the most part there hasn’t been any action when it comes to the reprimanding or termination of Ricky Anderson.”

Lewis, a 20-year-old expectant father, was fatally shot by Officer Ricky Anderson on Aug. 30, 2022. He later died at a hospital.

Columbus police have said they went to Lewis’ apartment around 2 a.m. to arrest him on three separate charges: domestic violence, assault and improper handling of a firearm.

When police arrived, they identified themselves and stood outside the apartment for approximately eight minutes asking those inside to exit, body camera footage shows. Two people eventually exit the apartment and police enter with a K-9, finding Lewis in bed, the video shows.

The footage, played during the press conference Tuesday, appears to show Anderson, a 30-year veteran with the Columbus Police Department and K-9 unit, open fire almost immediately after police open the bedroom door to where Lewis was sleeping.

In the footage, Lewis is seen raising his hands as he lies in bed. Anderson is then seen firing the single gunshot.

Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant previously said Lewis appeared to be holding something in his hand, but only a vape pen was found on his bed and that there was no sighting of a weapon.

Duran told ABC News’ Linsey Davis in September that “there was no attempt to preserve his life.”

Several months after Lewis’ death, Duran said “there’s no accountability whatsoever.”

The Columbus Police Department has previously said Anderson was on paid administrative leave.

During the press conference this week, Rex Elliott, an attorney for Lewis’ family, applauded Memphis leadership’s action against the officers involved in Nichols’ beating and read statements from Columbus community leaders condemning how Nichols was treated by Memphis police. Attorneys for two of the Memphis officers have said they will plead not guilty.

“With all due respect, do something here in Columbus,” Elliott said, criticizing Columbus’ lack of punishment against its own law enforcement. “It is time for the other officers who acted inappropriately in this situation with Donovan, that they be handled, and that … Officer Anderson be indicted and charged with homicide.”

“We need to let the criminal process work here in Columbus like it is working in Memphis,” he added.

Michael Wright, an attorney for Lewis’ family, said the Bureau of Criminal Investigation completed its investigation in December.

In a statement to ABC News on Wednesday, Sgt. David Scarpitti, public information officer for the Columbus Division of Police, said: “Once the investigation is completed, BCI forwards the investigation to the Franklin County Prosecutor, who will present the evidence to a grand jury.”

“Once the criminal process is completed, the Office of the Inspector General may conduct an administrative investigation if a complaint is filed or if the Civilian Police Review Board initiates a complaint in order to determine if the officer’s actions were within policy,” he continued. “The IG’s findings go to the Civilian Review Board for review and recommendation of discipline and/or policy changes.”

According to Scarpitti, the Collective Bargaining Agreement requires that recommendations regarding discipline undergo review by the chain of command, which “may rise to the level of the Chief and then the Director of Public Safety.”

“Officer Ricky Anderson is still employed with the Division of the Columbus Police while this process takes place,” Scarpitti said.

Mark Collins, the attorney representing Anderson, did not yet respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

In a previous statement to ABC News, Collins said: “When we analyze police-involved shootings, we must look to the totality of the circumstances, and we are expressly forbidden from using 20/20 hindsight, because unlike all of us, officers are not afforded the luxury of armchair reflection when they are faced with rapidly evolving, volatile encounters in dangerous situations.”

Remembering her son, Duran said she misses Lewis’ sense of humor and his smile the most.

“He had a lot of life in him and had a lot of life left, and he’s not here to be able to live that to his full potential,” she said.

“If something is not done, I can promise you as we sit here and do nothing, it’s going to happen again,” Elliott added, of deadly encounters with police, “and none of us want that.”

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(DALLAS) — A day after two missing monkeys from the Dallas Zoo were found, the zoo is upping its reward for information on who may have been tampering with its animal exhibits.

The Dallas Zoo is now offering a $25,000 reward–up from $10,000– for information that leads to the arrest of the person, or people, responsible for a string of incidents at the zoo in January.

Two emperor tamarin monkeys went missing from their habitats at the zoo on Monday, which was “intentionally compromised,” the Dallas Zoo told ABC News in a statement.

The Dallas Police Department found the monkeys on Tuesday and alerted zoo officials.

According to the Dallas Zoo, on Wednesday, the monkeys, named Bella and Finn, were examined by veterinarians and were uninjured.

Dallas Police received a tip that the monkeys were at an abandoned home in Lancaster, a city in the Dallas area, and responding officers found the animals in a closet in the home shortly before 5 p.m. local time, police said.

Before the animals were found, Dallas PD released a photo on Tuesday of an unidentified man they are looking to speak with about the tamarin monkeys.

On Monday, the zoo said that it believed the monkeys were taken because emperor tamarin monkeys are most likely to stay close to their homes.

No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing, police said.

The missing monkeys were the latest in a series of animal incidents to rock the Dallas Zoo in January.

Last month, a clouded leopard escaped her enclosure after her fence was “intentionally cut,” officials said at the time. According to zoo officials, the female leopard, named Nova, was found the same day it went missing. Dallas police launched a criminal investigation into the incident.

In a similar incident last month, the Dallas Police Department opened a criminal investigation after finding a second fence cut inside the langur monkey habitat at the Dallas Zoo.

Despite the cut fence, no langurs escaped their habitat or appeared to be in danger or harmed, Dallas PD said in a press release.

Zoo workers found a rare and endangered vulture dead in its enclosure on Jan. 21, describing its death as “unusual.” Both police and zoo officials said the vulture, named Pin, did not appear to die from natural causes.

The Dallas Zoo confirmed that it had increased its security measures after the vulture’s death and the leopard’s escape.

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(NEW YORK) — A revamped legal team representing Hunter Biden is taking the first steps in what appears to be a more aggressive approach to his defense, disseminating on Wednesday a batch of criminal referrals and cease-and-desist letters targeting some of his most vocal detractors.

Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for Hunter Biden, wrote to the Justice Department and the Delaware attorney general’s office asking investigators to examine the conduct of several operatives who allegedly played a role in “accessing, copying, manipulating, and/or disseminating Mr. Biden’s personal computer data,” including Rudy Giuliani, Steve Bannon, and other supporters of former President Donald Trump.

“The actions described above more than merit a full investigation and, depending on the resulting facts, may merit prosecution under various statutes,” Lowell said. “It is not a common thing for a private person and his counsel to seek someone else being investigated, but the actions and motives here require it.”

Law enforcement agencies are not obligated to act on such referrals, nor are they required to acknowledge them.

Lowell also wrote to the Internal Revenue Service requesting a probe into Garrett Ziegler, a former Trump White House aide who recently published a trove of emails allegedly tied to Hunter Biden. That letter challenges the tax-exempt status of Ziegler’s organization, Marco Polo, which is filed as a 501(c)(3).

Ziegler’s organization “has failed to operate solely for charitable purposes,” Lowell wrote to the agency. “To the contrary, [Marco Polo] has operated as little more than a thinly disguised political operation to attack the Biden administration and the Biden family.”

Bryan Sullivan, a defamation lawyer retained by Hunter Biden, also sent a cease-and-desist letter to Fox News and Tucker Carlson, asking the network and its primetime host to retract and correct a report they ran about alleged rent payments Hunter Biden made to his father, which they have claimed as evidence that the president was more closely tied to his son’s financial arrangements.

Carlson’s promulgation of the story stands in “flagrant violation of all journalistic professionalism,” wrote Sullivan, who also warned of “potential litigation” if the network fails to agree to a retraction by the end of the day on Thursday. Sullivan also asked that Fox News preserve any records related to its handling of the story.

The change in tack by lawyers for the president’s only living son comes at a precarious time for the younger Biden, as Republican scrutiny of his business dealings ramps up and federal prosecutors reportedly near the conclusion of their years-long probe into his tax affairs.

Federal authorities in the Delaware U.S. attorney’s office, led by U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Trump-era appointee, have been investigating Hunter Biden since 2018, ABC News has previously reported, but paused for several months ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

The probe spilled into public view in December 2020, shortly after Joe Biden secured the presidency, when Hunter Biden confirmed the probe into his “tax affairs.” Prosecutors have since examined whether he paid adequate taxes on millions of dollars of his income, including money he made from multiple overseas business ventures.

Hunter Biden has repeatedly said he is cooperating with investigators and remains “100% certain” that he will be cleared of any wrongdoing. President Biden has said he and his son never discussed his foreign business dealings, and there are no indications that the federal investigation involves the president in any way. The White House has repeatedly sought to distance the president from the probe.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, Republicans have taken their first investigative steps in a long-awaited congressional probe into the younger Biden. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, have called investigations into the president’s family a “top priority” and have pledged to “pursue all avenues” of wrongdoing. They said they “would love” to speak with Hunter Biden, but did not announce plans to issue a subpoena.

Lowell, a celebrated defense lawyer, joined Hunter Biden’s legal team in December to assist with congressional oversight inquiries. He has represented a number of high-profile political figures, including Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump; Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J.; and former Sen. John Edwards.

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(DETROIT) — Detroit police are searching for three local rappers who went missing after they were expected to perform at an event almost two weeks ago.

Police are looking for leads in the search for 38-year-old Armani Kelly, 31-year-old Dante Wicker and 31-year-old Montoya Givens, saying their phone records are very concerning.

“We are very concerned because there has been no activity on any of their phones,” Detroit Police Chief James White said during a press conference.

Police obtained search warrants for the three men’s phone records and said the phones are not hitting any towers nor have their owners communicated with anyone. There also has not been any activity on their online accounts.

The three men were together for a rap event at Lounge 31 on Jan. 21, but that event was canceled at the last minute. Police said they are unaware if the three men left the local bar together. Police are unsure what happened from that point, but White said they know the three men were together at some point that evening.

White said police are looking at video in the area as they continue their investigation.

A representative for Lounge 31 could not confirm to ABC News if the three men arrived at the venue the day of the performance, but said they are cooperating with police.

The event was canceled due to an issue with the DJ about 30 minutes before it was scheduled to begin, the representative said.

Police were able to locate a vehicle that belonged to an acquaintance of Kelly, but White said there were no signs of the three men. Police are also looking into an individual who was in possession of the vehicle when they found it to see if they are connected to the disappearance, according to White.

Detroit police asked members of the public to come forward with any information they have about the men.

“The case is wide open and extremely active,” White said.

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(GRANTS PASS, Ore.) — A man who was accused of torturing a woman, and who evaded police for a week, also appears to be responsible for a double murder, Oregon police said Wednesday. The man was found dead late Tuesday following an hourslong standoff from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Benjamin Obadiah Foster, 36, was wanted for attempted murder, kidnapping and assault, police said.

The Grants Pass Police Department announced late Tuesday that Foster was in custody following a standoff. Lt. Jeff Hattersley, a spokesperson for the police department, confirmed to ABC News that Foster subsequently died.

Police said Wednesday that while searching for Foster they found a double homicide scene near the scene of where the woman was allegedly tortured. The victims were not identified and it was not clear the relationship to Foster, but police said they believe he was their killer.

The standoff occurred after a man police believed to be Foster was spotted walking a small dog in the Grants Pass area Tuesday morning, the department had said. He was considered an “extremely dangerous suspect,” the department warned in an update on Sunday amid the manhunt.

Authorities said Wednesday that Foster was found under the home where the alleged torture took place and police had to rip up the floorboards of the home to find him. He was breathing when he was found, but died overnight of a gunshot wound to the head.

Police began looking for Foster on Jan. 24, after responding to a home in Grants Pass for an assault. At the home, officers found a woman in critical condition who had been “bound and severely beaten into unconsciousness,” police said.

The suspect had already fled the scene before officers arrived but was identified as Foster, of Wolf Creek, police said.

“It’s essentially an all-hands-on-deck operation,” Grants Pass Police Chief Warren Hensman told ABC News earlier this week. “We are laser-focused.”

Hensman told reporters during a press briefing on Jan. 26 that they were still working on a timeline, but said the assaults are believed to have occurred over a “protracted period of time.” He would not elaborate on the nature of the suspect’s relationship with the victim.

“The scene was horrific,” Hensman told ABC News. “This is a bad man that needs to be captured.”

Amid the manhunt, authorities located Foster’s car and executed a search warrant in a home in Wolf Creek last week. The suspect “evaded capture and likely received assistance in fleeing the area,” police said.

“The investigation has revealed that the suspect is actively using online dating applications to contact unsuspecting individuals who may be lured into assisting with the suspect’s escape or potentially as additional victims,” police said.

During the search of the home, a 68-year-old woman, Tina Marie Jones, was arrested for allegedly hindering prosecution. She remains in custody at the Josephine County Jail.

The victim, identified by her family as Justine Siemens, was transported to an area hospital and remains on life support.

“She will survive this and as her family, we implore the nation to help bring her attacker to justice,” her family said in a statement.

Foster had been convicted on domestic violence charges for two assaults that occurred within the past five years in Las Vegas, court records show.

In 2019, he was accused of holding his then-girlfriend captive inside her Las Vegas apartment for more than two weeks and beating her, according to an arrest report obtained by ABC News. He was charged with four counts of battery and two counts of assault, though in August 2021 he pleaded guilty to two of the battery charges as part of a plea deal, online court records show. A judge sentenced him to up to 1.5 years in prison, with credit for the 729 days he had already spent in jail awaiting trial, according to court records.

In August 2021, he reached another plea deal in a 2018 domestic violence case and was sentenced to credit for time served for a misdemeanor battery charge, court records show.

“Am I troubled by what I know already? The answer is yes,” Hensman told reporters when asked about the prior Las Vegas cases. “We’re laser-focused on capturing this man and bringing him to justice.”

The Grants Pass Police Department was offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of Foster in the attempted murder case.

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(NEW YORK) — A young man playing with a gun pointed it at a 12-year-old boy and opened fire, shooting him in the lobby of a Brooklyn apartment building, police said.

The boy was shot in the left shoulder at the apartment building in the Brownsville neighborhood just before 9:20 p.m. Tuesday, police said.

He was rushed to Maimonides Medical Center in stable condition and is expected to survive.

A group of eight to 12 youths were “playing or hanging out” in the lobby of the apartment building when the incident occurred, according to police.

The youths were reportedly playing with a gun when, based on video or witness accounts, detectives believe one of them removed a magazine from the firearm, pointed it at the victim and pulled the trigger.

“That’s the way the investigation is leaning right now. He takes out the magazine, there is one still in the chamber. He points it, fires and according to witnesses, they say ‘what did you do. what did you do,”’ NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said.

There were no prior disputes or arguments prior to this incident, Essig said. Police recovered one .380 shell casing and a .380 Smith & Wesson firearm at the scene, he said.

The group scattered after the shot was fired, dropping the weapon behind, Essig said.

No arrests were immediately made. Detectives are pleading for the public’s help to find the suspect who shot the 12-year-old.

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(NEW YORK) — A massive ice storm is freezing Texas and the southern United States on Wednesday.

Some 60 million people in 22 states — from New Mexico to Maine — are on alert for dangerously cold weather, ice and flooding.

Freezing rain and sleet are in the forecast from Texas to Tennessee, before slowly transitioning into just rain as temperatures warm up late Wednesday into Thursday.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Feb 01, 12:54 PM EST
Pistons stuck in Dallas, Wizards vs. Pistons game postponed

Wednesdays night’s basketball game between the Washington Wizards and Detroit Pistons has been postponed because the ice storm has stranded the Pistons in Dallas.

The Pistons were in Texas for a Monday night game, and now the weather conditions are preventing the team from returning home, according to the NBA.

Feb 01, 12:32 PM EST
Dallas airports face major flight cancellations

More than 2,200 flights have been canceled amid the storm.

Dallas Fort Worth International Airport has canceled 75% of its flights while Dallas Love Field Airport has called off 68% of its flights.

-ABC News’ Sam Sweeney

Feb 01, 12:12 PM EST
Over 280,000 without power in Texas

More than 280,000 customers are without power in Texas on Wednesday afternoon as a massive ice storm slams the South.

Feb 01, 9:55 AM EST
Over 250,000 without power in Texas

More than 250,000 customers are without power in Texas on Wednesday morning as a massive ice storm slams the South.

Feb 01, 9:26 AM EST
Latest forecast

The latest weather forecast for Wednesday shows waves of freezing rain and sleet continuing to move through the southern Plains and the Mid-Mississippi River Valley, from western Texas to western Tennessee.

Some areas have already accumulated more than a half an inch of freezing rain, as well as 1 to 2 inches of sleet.

Numerous roads and highways have been shut down, many schools have been closed and state of emergencies have been declared in the South due to the icy storm.

Freezing rain and sleet will continue from Texas to Tennessee, before slowly transitioning into just rain as temperatures warm up late Wednesday into Thursday.

The Texas cities of Austin, Dallas and Midland as well as Arkansas’ capital, Little Rock, can expect to see freezing rain on Wednesday evening at around 7 p.m. CT. That ice will turn into rain the next morning at 6 a.m. CT.

Up to half an inch of additional ice accumulation is in the forecast for these areas.

The brutal cold is not expected to last long, however. Much warmer weather is in the forecast by Sunday and into early next week.

Feb 01, 9:03 AM EST
Over 1,400 flights already canceled nationwide

More than 1,400 flights scheduled for Wednesday nationwide had already been canceled by the morning, according to the tracking service FlightAware.

The list for cancellations included both major airports in Dallas, as well as airports in Austin and Nashville.

Feb 01, 8:56 AM EST
Over 200,000 without power in Texas

More than 200,000 customers were without power in Texas on Wednesday morning, as a massive ice storm slams the South.

Power was out for 231,081 customers across the Lone Star State as of 7:08 a.m. CT, according to data collected by the website PowerOutage.us.

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(WASHINGTON) — A gunman opened fire in several locations in a string of random shootings Wednesday, killing a DC Metro subway employee and injuring three others.

The DC Metro worker was fatally shot after trying to intervene when the gunman got into a confrontation with a woman on the subway platform at the Potomac Avenue station, according to police.

“His heroism has to be recognized here today,” Ashan Benedict, the executive assistant chief of police for the Metropolitan Police Department, said at a press conference Wednesday morning.

Police said they believe the shooter may have been trying to rob the young woman.

Benedict said a second employee was able to deescalate the situation and stop the string of attacks. He suffered minor injuries by shrapnel from the shooting of the other employee, police said.

The shootings began on a Metrobus, where the gunman allegedly shot someone in the leg. He then shot another person in the leg inside the nearby subway station. Both are being treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

“The fact that our citizens have to intervene with an armed gunman is disturbing to me,” Benedict said.

Officers found the suspect on the Potomac Avenue Metro Station train platform and took him into custody, but police do not yet know the motive for the attacks.

A weapon was recovered on the train tracks.

“We have a gun violence problem in America, and sometimes unfortunately that comes into Metro. But this is not a Metro-specific safety issue. It’s an American gun violence issue. And I think that’s becoming increasingly clear all over America day in and day out,” said Randy Clarke, general manager and CEO for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

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

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(NEW YORK) — A New York City woman has been charged with using cryptocurrency to provide financial support to terrorist groups in Syria, a rare prosecution involving virtual currency to fund terrorism.

The 11-count indictment charged Victoria Jacobs, 43, who was known as Bakhrom Talipov, with providing support for an act of terrorism, money laundering and other crimes.

Jacobs provided material support to Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, a U.S. State Department-designated foreign terrorist organization, and provided more than $5,000 to the terrorist training group Malhama Tactical, which fought with and provided special tactical and military training to Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, the indictment said.

“This case marks the first time that terrorism financing is being prosecuted in New York State Court and is one of the rare cases worldwide where cryptocurrency is alleged to have financed terrorism,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.

Jacobs allegedly laundered $10,661 on behalf of Malhama Tactical by receiving cryptocurrency and Western Union and MoneyGram wires from supporters around the globe and sending the funds to Bitcoin wallets controlled by Malhama Tactical. In addition to sending cryptocurrency, she also purchased Google Play gift cards for the organization, according to the indictment.

In October 2018, the defendant saved notes on her cellphone, which the indictment quoted as saying “Assalamu aleykum my dear brothers and sisters, we currently are buildings new place (train camp), it’s getting cold and we need new place, who want help us and support can do this safely and anonymously by Bitcoin wallet. Send me DM for details. Retweet.”

In December 2019, Jacobs provided a comprehensive U.S. Army Improvised Munitions Handbook to an online group — which she believed was associated with both Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and al-Qaeda affiliated Jihadist group Hurras al-Din — to facilitate their bomb-making efforts in Syria, the indictment said.

Prosecutors said Jacobs bought military-style combat knives, metal knuckles and throwing stars in August 2021 that were found in her Upper East Side apartment.

“Disturbingly, approximately one month later, on September 21-22, 2021, the defendant, in a Telegram chat, claimed to be a ‘brother’ who was ‘behind enemy lines’ and asked for prayers for the ‘courage, strength, guidance, and wisdom to carry out certain missions,'” Assistant District Attorney Edward Burns said in a statement.

“Along with these statements, defendant posted a 15-second video clip of an unknown person ominously moving around with a firearm,” he continued. “The timing of this post and the defendant’s acquisition of the weapons supports the conclusion that she intended to use the weapons in an unlawful manner.”

Jacobs is being held without bail.

In a parallel investigation, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn charged four defendants in December with crowdfunding support for ISIS using cryptocurrency, Bitcoin wallets, GoFundMe and PayPal to collect what they called “blood money.” It’s alleged Jacobs was using some of the same crypto wallets as the federal defendants, according to a source familiar with the case.

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