St. Louis school shooting suspect had nearly a dozen 30-round magazines: Police

St. Louis school shooting suspect had nearly a dozen 30-round magazines: Police
St. Louis school shooting suspect had nearly a dozen 30-round magazines: Police
Oliver Helbig/Getty Images

(ST. LOUIS) — A 16-year-old girl and a 61-year-old woman were killed by a gunman in a shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis, Missouri, on Monday morning, according to authorities.

Seven other victims, all 15 or 16 years old, were hospitalized with injuries including gunshot wounds, police said. All were currently listed in stable condition, according to police.

The suspect also died, according to the St. Louis Public School District and St. Louis police.

Police identified the suspect as 19-year-old Orlando Harris, who graduated from the high school last year.

Police said Harris has no prior criminal history and they’re working to establish a motive, saying Monday there are “suspicions that there may be some mental illness that he was experiencing.”

St. Louis Police Commissioner Michael Sack said, “This could have been much worse — the individual had almost a dozen 30-round, high-capacity magazines on him. So that’s a whole lot of victims there.”

The shooting was reported at about 9:10 a.m. local time, police said. As students fled the building, they reported that a gunman was armed with a long gun, police said.

Authorities did not say how the gunman entered the building but police stressed that the school’s doors were locked.

Seven security guards were in the school, according to St. Louis Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams. Officials said security staff identified the suspect’s efforts to enter the school and immediately notified other staff.

“It’s very easy to get guns,” Sack said. “I’ve said it before — the gun laws in Missouri [are] very broad … they can carry them openly down any street, and there’s really nothing we can do.”

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones said she had visited students when the school year started.

“They were bright eyed, bushy-tailed. We laughed, we sang, we danced. And now to be here for such a devastating and traumatic situation breaks my heart,” she said. “I’m heartbroken for these families who send their children to our schools hoping that they will be safe. Our children shouldn’t have to experience this.”

The mayor added, “I’m sure that everyone involved is going to have to deal with the trauma that will reverberate across our community.”

When asked about the shooting, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “We need additional action to stop the scourge of gun violence.”

“Every day that the Senate fails to send assault weapons ban to the president’s desk, or waits to take … other commonsense actions, is a day too late for our families and communities impacted by gun violence,” she told reporters.

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Amazon worker found dead in yard after suspected mauling by two dogs

Amazon worker found dead in yard after suspected mauling by two dogs
Amazon worker found dead in yard after suspected mauling by two dogs
kali9/Getty Images

(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) — An Amazon worker has been found dead in a yard after a suspected mauling by two dogs.

The body of the Amazon worker was found in a yard on a property in the Wood Heights area of Excelsior Springs, Missouri — approximately 32 miles northeast of Kansas City — on Monday evening, according to ABC News’ Kansas City affiliate KMBC-TV.

Neighbors told KMBC that they called the Ray County Sheriff’s Office to report a delivery truck which had been parked in front of a residence in Wood Heights for several hours on Monday evening.

But when authorities responded to investigate the truck, they found the body of the driver in the yard along with two dogs on the property, according to KMBC.

The responding deputy shot and killed both of the dogs after an initial investigation revealed that animal bites were a factor in the Amazon worker’s death, according to Ray County Sheriff Scott Childers.

“We’re deeply saddened by tonight’s tragic incident involving a member of our Amazon family and will be providing support to the team and the driver’s loved ones. We are assisting law enforcement in their investigation, “Amazon said in a statement obtained by ABC News.

The Amazon employee has not yet been identified and it is unclear if the residents of the home were there at the time of the suspected — but currently unconfirmed — mauling or if there had been any history of aggression by the dogs.

The circumstances around the death remains under investigation.

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Broken elevator leaves five trapped underground at Arizona’s Grand Canyon Caverns

Broken elevator leaves five trapped underground at Arizona’s Grand Canyon Caverns
Broken elevator leaves five trapped underground at Arizona’s Grand Canyon Caverns
DeepDesertPhoto/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — Five people remain trapped some 200 feet underground at Arizona’s Grand Canyon Caverns after an elevator broke down on Sunday, authorities said.

The issue was discovered on Sunday evening when visitors went to leave the popular tourist attraction near Peach Springs, Arizona, about 100 miles west of Flagstaff. Several people were able to walk up the 21 flights of stairs to get out, but five others were either unable to safely do so or chose to stay behind with those who physically couldn’t, according to a spokesperson for the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office.

The stranded group was provided accommodation and food that night by a small hotel and restaurant adjacent to the dry caverns, which are among the largest in the United States and date back 65 million years. The elevator malfunction was initially thought to be electrical but is now believed to be mechanical after an external generator that arrived on Monday was hooked up to the elevator and did not fix the problem, the sheriff’s office spokesperson said.

Elevator technicians have since been dispatched but were traveling from a far distance and, as of Monday evening, had not arrived on site yet, to the knowledge of the sheriff’s office spokesperson.

The spokesperson said the sheriff’s office has sent a search and rescue team with a basket apparatus that can lift people up the elevator shaft one-by-one, in the event that the technicians cannot repair the elevator quickly.

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Boy, 8, accidentally shot and killed by brother playing with shotgun

Boy, 8, accidentally shot and killed by brother playing with shotgun
Boy, 8, accidentally shot and killed by brother playing with shotgun
ABC News / KTRK-TV

(HOUSTON) — An 8-year-old boy has been killed after his brother accidentally shot him with a shotgun while playing with it in the family home, police say.

The incident occurred at approximately 3 p.m. Monday at the Bear Creek Apartments some 20 miles west of downtown Houston, Texas, when the 8-year-old boy — who was home alone with his 10-year-old and 13-year-old siblings — was hit in the torso with a bullet that was discharged from a shotgun inside the only bedroom in their home, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.

“A child was playing with a shotgun when it discharged and struck his sibling,” said Gonzalez in a statement released by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. “The child was pronounced deceased at the scene. A teen sibling was also in the apt at the time, but was not injured.”

It is currently unclear if the shotgun was already loaded or if it was loaded while the children were playing with it.

“We know the family is extremely devastated by what has occurred out here this afternoon,” Gonzalez said in a press conference as he addressed the media regarding the incident. “I always even struggle to say it’s accidental because [incidents like] these are truly preventable … if [a gun] is going to be in the home, especially if kids are going to stay in the home, it needs to be safely secure or not in the home.”

The family is believed to have just recently moved from Venezuela to the Houston area just a few months ago and they were in the process of getting their children enrolled in new schools, according to ABC News’ Houston station KTRK-TV.

The children’s parents may potentially face charges in this case depending on the outcome of the investigation.

“We always encourage responsible gun ownership and safe storage,” said Gonzalez.

The investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of the 8-year-old boy is ongoing.

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Antisemitic flyers distributed in Beverly Hills, police investigating

Antisemitic flyers distributed in Beverly Hills, police investigating
Antisemitic flyers distributed in Beverly Hills, police investigating
avid_creative/Getty Images

(LOS ANGELES) — Antisemitic flyers blaming Jewish people for health, environmental, racial and social issues were distributed in the Los Angeles city of Beverly Hills over the weekend, according to police.

Westwood resident Sam Yebri posted images of the flyers to Twitter on Sunday, saying he and his neighbors found them on their properties.

“You never expect something like that to be on the on the doorstep of your home,” Yebri, a Jewish refugee from Iran, told ABC News. “My family was forced to flee our homeland when I was a year old because of antisemitism and violence, so to see some of the same ideas, Jewish conspiracy theories, pop up at our home it’s really terrifying.”

Beverly Hills police said they collected the flyers and are investigating the incident. But residents like Yebri worry that the perpetrators will continue to go unpunished, making others feel more confident to do the same.

The Los Angeles Police Department’s Major Crimes Division said it is also investigating similar flyers distributed in its jurisdiction. The flyers did not contain any specific threats to life or property, according to police.

On Saturday, a neo-Nazi hate group hung banners over the 405 freeway in Los Angeles, seemingly in support of antisemitic comments made by Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, earlier this month.

It is unclear if the flyers distributed in Beverly Hills were directly connected to the freeway demonstrators.

According to the Anti-Defamation League’s Audit of Antisemitic Incidents published in May, antisemitic incidents including assault, harassment and vandalism reached a record high in 2021, 42 years after the organization began tracking them in 1979.

“This is an outrageous effort to fan the flames of antisemitism gripping the nation,” Jeffrey Abrams, Anti-Defamation League’s Los Angeles regional director, said in a statement on Sunday.

This past weekend’s events were not the first of their kind. Similar fliers were also reported by Beverley Hills residents earlier this year on Passover and by Westwood, San Marino and Pasadena residents on Yom Kippur. Other attacks have not been so passive, however. Assaults and mass shootings targeted against Jews have left a devastating mark on California and the nation as a whole in recent years.

Rabbi Noah Farkas, president and CEO of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, issued a statement to ABC News, calling out the banners and flyers and raising an alarm over the increasingly frequent antisemitic acts.

“Vicious and slanderous antisemitic attacks like this one are repugnant to who we are as Americans. Unfortunately, incidents like this are on the rise in the United States and globally,” he said, adding, “But the Jewish community is as vigilant as ever and together are standing up to antisemitism and all forms of hate.”

Los Angeles mayoral candidate Karen Bass called Ye and Adidas out for “enabling and financing his hate.” Mayoral candidate Rick Caruso expressed his solidary for the Jewish community and said the city “cannot tolerate hatred in any form.”

In a statement, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said, “This weekend’s public display of antisemitic hate is another wake-up call to all of us that we must remain vigilant to protect our values and freedoms as Californians.”

“Our state is committed to protecting our diverse communities and will continue to lead the fight against racial, ethnic, and religious hate wherever it rears its ugly head,” he added.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre spoke Monday on behalf of President Joe Biden to address antisemitism in the U.S.

“When racism or antisemitism rears its ugly head, he [Biden] is going to call that out,” Jean-Pierre said during a briefing. “It is ugly, it is dangerous, it is despicable, and he believes that we should as leaders… we should be calling this out.”

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Two killed, Seven injured in St. Louis high school shooting, gunman also dead: Police

St. Louis school shooting suspect had nearly a dozen 30-round magazines: Police
St. Louis school shooting suspect had nearly a dozen 30-round magazines: Police
Oliver Helbig/Getty Images

(ST. LOUIS) — A 16-year-old girl and a 61-year-old woman were killed by a gunman in a shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis, Missouri, on Monday morning, according to authorities.

The gunman “was quickly stopped by police,” there was an exchange of gunfire and the suspect has also died, according to the St. Louis Public School District and St. Louis police.

Seven other victims, ranging from 15 to 16 years old, were hospitalized with injuries including gunshot wounds, police said. All were currently listed in stable condition, according to police.

During a press conference Monday evening, police identified the suspect as 19-year-old Orlando Harris, a former student who graduated from the high school last year.

Police said Harris has no prior criminal history, and they’re working to establish a motive, saying Monday night there are “suspicions that there may be some mental illness that he was experiencing.”

The shooting was reported at about 9:10 a.m. local time, police said. As students fled the building, they reported that a gunman was armed with a long gun, police said.

Authorities did not say how the gunman entered the building but police stressed that the school’s doors were locked.

Seven security guards were in the school, according to St. Louis Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams. Officials said security staff identified the suspect’s efforts to enter the school and immediately notified other staff.

Police said “the scene is secure and there is no active threat.”

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones said at a press conference she had visited students at the school when the year started.

“They were bright eyed, bushy tailed. We laughed, we sang, we danced. And now to be here for such a devastating and traumatic situation breaks my heart,” she said. “I’m heartbroken for these families who send their children to our schools hoping that they will be safe. Our children shouldn’t have to experience this.”

The mayor added, “I’m sure that everyone involved is going to have to deal with the trauma that will reverberate across our community.”

When asked about the shooting, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at Monday’s press briefing, “We need additional action to stop the scourge of gun violence.”

“Every day that the Senate fails to send assault weapons ban to the president’s desk, or waits to take … other commonsense actions, is a day too late for our families and communities impacted by gun violence,” she said.

ABC News’ Ben Gittleson, Darren Reynolds, Matt Foster and Teddy Grant contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Dad charged with murder of little girl who went missing in New Hampshire in 2019

Dad charged with murder of little girl who went missing in New Hampshire in 2019
Dad charged with murder of little girl who went missing in New Hampshire in 2019
Catherine Falls Commercial/Getty Images

(MANCHESTER, N.H.) — The father of Harmony Montgomery, a little girl who disappeared in 2019, was arrested on Monday for her murder, New Hampshire officials said.

Adam Montgomery, 32, is charged with second-degree murder, tampering with a witness, falsifying evidence and abuse of a corpse, New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella announced at a news conference Monday.

Prosecutors allege Adam Montgomery repeatedly hit his daughter in the head on or about Dec. 7, 2019. The tampering with a witness charge is for allegedly pressuring his wife to give false information, prosecutors said.

This August, authorities announced they had determined Harmony had been murdered in Manchester in early December 2019.

Harmony’s remains have not been found. She would be 8 years old if alive today.

Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg became choked up when talking about Harmony at Monday’s news conference.

In honor of Harmony — an “innocent and defenseless child” — the chief said he wanted to encourage people “to do something nice for a child today.”

“Give him or her a hug, some special words of encouragement,” he said.

Formella called the arrest a “major step,” but said more work must be done.

Harmony’s case dates back to 2019, when a Massachusetts court ordered Harmony be sent to live with her father and stepmother in New Hampshire, according to a state report released in February.

Harmony’s mother, Crystal Sorey, said the last time she saw Harmony was via FaceTime in spring 2019, officials said.

In July 2019, an anonymous call was made to New Hampshire’s Division for Children, Youth and Families alleging that in a visit a week earlier, he or she saw Harmony “had a black eye that Adam Montgomery admitted to causing,” the report said. The same day as the anonymous call, a case worker visited and didn’t see a black eye on Harmony, the report said.

One week later, that same case worker noted a red mark and faded bruising under Harmony’s eyelid, and both Harmony and her dad told the worker the mark was from being hit by a toy while playing, the report said.

In following visits to the home, “the children appeared happy and healthy,” the report said. In the last visit, in October 2019, case workers found the abuse allegations unfounded but added, “the situation was scored high risk for future child welfare involvement pursuant to the Risk Assessment tool citing the history of substance use, prior family history with child protection, and economic challenges,” according to the report.

In January 2020, Adam Montgomery told the child protective services worker that Harmony had been living in Massachusetts with her mother since Thanksgiving 2019, the report said. The worker left a voicemail with Sorey to confirm Harmony lived there, but never heard back, the report said.

In September 2021, someone close to Harmony’s mother contacted the Division for Children, Youth and Families with concerns, and the agency determined Harmony had never been registered for school in Manchester, the report said.

The Division for Children, Youth and Families then searched for Adam and Kayla Montgomery.

When police found Adam Montgomery in December 2021, he gave the authorities “contradictory and unconvincing explanations of Harmony’s whereabouts,” the report said. Adam Montgomery allegedly told police Harmony’s mother had picked her up, even though Kayla Montgomery told police that Adam Montgomery told her he drove Harmony back to her mother on the day after Thanksgiving 2019, according to the report.

Adam Montgomery is expected to be arraigned on Tuesday, Formella said.

Authorities urge anyone with information on Harmony’s death or the location of her remains to call or text the case’s tip line at 603-203-6060.

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An unsolved death in Yosemite leads investigators to a strange, rumored cult

An unsolved death in Yosemite leads investigators to a strange, rumored cult
An unsolved death in Yosemite leads investigators to a strange, rumored cult
Courtesy of Lone Wolf Media

(YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif.) — A possible brutal murder in one of the most scenic places in America goes unsolved, a serial killer confesses to more than 100 murders and two generations of detectives try to crack the case.

The second season of “Wild Crime” on Hulu launches on Oct. 24. The case at the heart of this season begins in June 1983 when a man out walking with his friends’ son in Yosemite National Park finds a hand in a meadow.

“It was pretty obvious it was a human hand,” said Tom Day, who stumbled upon the crime scene. “I knew I had to get a hold of law enforcement and get somebody up there to look at it.”

“We had no idea of the who, what, when, where, why, or how this hand had come to Summit Meadow,” said Kim Tucker, former criminal investigator at the National Park Service.

The officers faced obstacles from the outset: the crime scene was in the complete wilderness, there was no widespread DNA testing at the time and there were no clues in the surrounding area.

“We didn’t have any known missing people from the immediate area,” said Tucker, “so it was very difficult to think, well, what is the next thing we should do?”

Investigators would eventually turn to a forensic anthropologist, who suggested the deceased was a young woman.

In the spring of 1984, when the case had gone cold, investigators were contacted by the California Department of Justice, who gave them a tip that an alleged serial killer was confessing to murders across the country, including one that could fit the profile of the Yosemite case.

Investigators thought this might be a breakthrough in the case, and went to meet this alleged serial killer, whose name and frightening backstory is revealed in “Wild Crime.”

The alleged serial killer was confessing to things like necrophilia and cutting up victims into “little tiny pieces” and during four months in police custody he admitted to committing 156 murders, mostly female victims.

One place that he said he had committed a homicide was “a mountainous national park in California,” said Tucker, which gave investigators a potential lead for the first time in the case.

Additionally, the alleged serial killer said in an interview with the police that he had “specifically across the United States left evidence to show I was doing the crimes.”

Investigators went to meet the alleged killer in the Sacramento county jail in August 1984.

He gave them his testimony, confessing to killing a young woman in the national park by strangulation.

A few months later, in Texas, the alleged killer provided even more details, saying that he and the alleged victim had had lunch together, eating “some fried chicken wrapped in tinfoil” and beer, before he killed her. He also said that he remembered trail markings near where the murder occurred.

These markings, the investigators realized, could have been the cross-country ski trail signs nailed to the trees in Summit meadow.

“It’s like, ‘This guy has been to the crime scene,'” said former criminal investigator for the National Park Service Don Coelho. “That’s when it hit us.”

Back in Yosemite, the investigators made crucial breakthroughs with leads from the alleged killer’s confession. They found beer cans, wrapped-up tin foil, a canteen and what seemed like a piece of fabric that could have been from the victim’s jacket.

“I don’t know that what we found was proof,” said Tucker, “but I felt like we had found the scene that he described.”

The story continues to get stranger and more unbelievable.

Aspects of the case begin to fall apart when the alleged killer recants his confession. A human skull, found across the street from the meadow, brings investigators closer to identifying the victim.

The case would eventually be taken over by National Park Service agent Cullen Tucker, Kim Tucker’s son, nearly 40 years later.

“This unidentified skeleton has a name,” said Cullen Tucker. “We need to find it. We need to help bring justice to these people, to the families.”

The rest of the investigation would lead them to name the suspected victim and uncover their relationship to an alleged bizarre California cult.

Watch Season 2 of “Wild Crime” on Hulu to learn how the story ends.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Five victims hurt in St. Louis high school shooting, gunman in custody: Source

St. Louis school shooting suspect had nearly a dozen 30-round magazines: Police
St. Louis school shooting suspect had nearly a dozen 30-round magazines: Police
Oliver Helbig/Getty Images

(ST. LOUIS) — Five victims were injured in a shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis, Missouri, on Monday morning, according to a source briefed on the investigation.

The suspect “was quickly stopped by police” inside the school following the shooting and taken into custody, according to the St. Louis Public School District and St. Louis police.

The suspect was also injured, the source told ABC News.

Students are being evacuated from the building, the district said.

The conditions of those injured were not immediately clear, and the source said not all injured were necessarily shot.

Story developing…

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Two hurt in shooting at St. Louis high school, suspect in custody

St. Louis school shooting suspect had nearly a dozen 30-round magazines: Police
St. Louis school shooting suspect had nearly a dozen 30-round magazines: Police
Oliver Helbig/Getty Images

(ST. LOUIS) — Two students were injured in a shooting at a St. Louis, Missouri, high school Monday morning, according to the school district.

The suspect “was quickly stopped by police” inside the Central Visual and Performing Arts school following the shooting, according to the St. Louis Public School District.

Students are being evacuated from the building, the district said.

The injured students’ conditions were not immediately clear.

Story developing…

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