National

(NEW YORK) — It has been a particularly perilous week for federal law enforcement.

On Monday, DEA Special Agent Michael Garbo, a 16-year veteran of the agency, was shot and killed during an operation in Tucson, Arizona.

What started as a routine investigation with DEA agents following up on tips that illegal drugs were being transported on an Amtrak train from California turned deadly as agents closed in on a suspected drug dealer.

The Tucson incident was one of three shootings in the past week that left at least 4 agents killed or wounded. As of Oct. 5, 55 law enforcement officers had been killed or wounded so far this year, approaching the five-year high set in 2018.

Another agent was also shot but not killed in the operation.

On Tuesday an ATF agent was shot and critically wounded in Nashville after a suspect opened fire team of agents looking to arrest him as he sat in his parked in his car outside a diner.

The dramatic scene was captured on security camera video. According to court records, the suspect, who died in the incident, was the target of a drug investigation.

Earlier this week, an FBI agent was shot and critically wounded while serving an arrest warrant with the U.S. Marshals in Racine, Wisconsin, according to police. They did not specify what the agent was doing other than categorizing it as “law enforcement activity.”

FBI Agents Association President Brian O’Hare said the association stands with those law enforcement agents who were shot at.

“The FBI Agents Association stands with these courageous agents, and our thoughts and prayers are with them and with their families,” O’Hare said in a statement to ABC News. “The FBIAA hopes that all Americans will join us in condemning these abhorrent acts of violence.”

And last Friday in Louisiana, a deputy U.S. marshal died after he was in a car accident while on duty.

Law enforcement leaders say these incidents show just how dangerous the profession can be.

“These tragedies are yet another painful reminder of what everyone in this audience knows firsthand: violent crime — particularly gun violence — has reached epidemic levels,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco told the Major City Chiefs Association during its annual conference on Wednesday.

Acting Deputy Director of the ATF Tom Chittum told ABC News in an interview it has been a hard week for federal law enforcement.

“This has been an incredibly difficult week for federal law enforcement,” he said. “Our hearts and thoughts and prayers go out to the families, the friends and to those officers that have been subjected to this gun violence.”

He said law enforcement is a dangerous profession, investigating the most serious violent offenders, but as of late it’s been more dangerous.

“I think they represent in a lot of cases, a callous disregard for life, no respect for them law,” Chittum said. “We have seen an increase in assaults on law enforcement officers that goes hand-in-hand with just the increase in violent crime we’ve seen across the country. It’s a dangerous time out there and increasingly we see more rounds being fired, often in the ambush style attacks.”

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(DALLAS) — A panel of judges on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a temporary administrative stay Friday night that will allow state courts in Texas to continue accept lawsuits under the state’s restrictive abortion law.

President Joe Biden’s Justice Department had sued the state of Texas last month after it instituted a ban on abortions once doctors detect cardiac activity — about six weeks into a pregnancy and often before a woman would even know she was pregnant. The law, which is civil instead of criminal, allows anyone to sue someone they “reasonably believed” provided an illegal abortion or assisted someone in getting it in the state.

The ruling late Friday will again reinstate the law, at least as the appeals process continues to unfold.

“IT IS ORDERED that Appellant’s emergency motion to stay the preliminary injunction pending appeal is temporarily held in abeyance pending further order by this motions panel,” the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in its ruling. “Appellee is directed to respond to the emergency motion by 5 pm on Tuesday, October 12, 2021.”

“IT IS ORDERED that Appellant’s alternative motion for a temporary administrative stay pending the court’s consideration of the emergency motion is GRANTED,” the court, comprised of Judges Carl E. Stewart, Catharina Haynes and James C. Ho, added.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman had issued an emergency injunction barring enforcement of the controversial new abortion law and effectively allowing abortions after six weeks again.

The state of Texas immediately appealed that injunction to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

In addition to the emergency injunction, Pitman had denied Texas’ request to put a pause on his ruling while the state appeals it. But that was undone Friday.

“That other courts may find a way to avoid this conclusion is theirs to decide; this Court will not sanction one more day of this offensive deprivation of such an important right,” Pitman wrote.

In the meantime, as the appellate court waited to rule Friday, some abortion providers in Texas had already begun to offer services again to people past six weeks into pregnancy.

“We reached out to some of the patients that we had on a waiting list to come in to have abortions today, folks whose pregnancies did have cardiac activity earlier in September,” Whole Woman’s Health founder Amy Hagstrom Miller said during a press briefing with the Center for Reproductive Rights Thursday. “And we were able to see a few people as early as, 8, 9 this morning, right away when we opened the clinic.”

The 113-page ruling from Pitman Wednesday was scathing in targeting the state in how he says it schemed to evade judicial review in its implementation of this law.

“A person’s right under the Constitution to choose to obtain an abortion prior to fetal viability is well established,” Pitman wrote. “Fully aware that depriving its citizens of this right by direct state action would be flagrantly unconstitutional, the State contrived an unprecedented and transparent statutory scheme to do just that.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Civil rights charges will not be pursued against the Wisconsin police officer who shot Jacob Blake last year, partially paralyzing him, the Department of Justice announced Friday.

Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey, who is white, fired seven times at Blake, who is Black, on Aug. 23, 2020, after responding to a report of a domestic dispute, authorities said.

Following an investigation, federal prosecutors said the evidence obtained was insufficient to prove Sheskey “willfully used excessive force,” the DOJ said in a statement.

Investigators reviewed police reports, law enforcement accounts, witness statements, witness affidavits, photographs, videos and more of the incident, which was captured on a witness’ cellphone and sparked days of large-scale protests in Kenosha.

“After a careful and thorough review, a team of experienced federal prosecutors determined that insufficient evidence exists to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the KPD officer willfully violated the federal criminal civil rights statutes,” the DOJ said.

The DOJ said it has informed representatives of Blake’s family about its decision.

ABC News spoke with Blake’s father, Jacob Blake Sr., shortly after the DOJ’s announcement. He said he had not yet heard about the decision.

“I was expecting more from the administration than this. I was expecting much more than this,” he said. “I believe that we’re in a systematic racist system, and that this system was not set up for us. So I didn’t expect the system to work for us, because it never works for us. It wasn’t made for us.”

Blake’s father said he disagrees that Sheskey didn’t willfully use excessive force.

“Seven times in the back is excessive,” he said. “I don’t care if you’re a dog. Seven times in the back, that’s not excessive?”

The shooting occurred as officers were attempting to detain Blake, who had a warrant out for his arrest. After Blake walked to the front of his vehicle toward the driver’s side door, Sheskey fired his gun seven times toward his back.

Blake was struck by six of the bullets and is now paralyzed from the waist down.

An unfolded knife was found on the driver’s side floorboard of Blake’s vehicle, authorities said.

Kenosha County District Attorney Mike Graveley also declined to file any criminal charges against Sheskey related to the incident last year, saying at the time the officer was justified in his use of force and was acting in self-defense because Blake was armed with a knife.

Sheskey was not disciplined for his use of force by the Kenosha Police Department either, which said he was acting “within policy.”

In March, Blake filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Sheskey, accusing the officer of using “excessive and unnecessary” force.

“We believe that this lawsuit will help establish accountability,” B’Ivory LaMarr, one of Blake’s attorneys, told ABC News at the time.

ABC News’ Stephanie Wash contributed to this report.

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(CODY, Wyo.) — After a video of her trying to photograph grizzly bears went viral, a woman from Illinois has been sentenced to four days in jail and banned from Yellowstone National Park for a year.

Samantha Dehring, 25, from Carol Stream, Illinois, was charged on Oct. 6 for disturbing wildlife at Roaring Mountain in the park on May 10 while attempting to get a close-up picture of a grizzly bear and her cubs. Dehring has to spend four days in custody, a year on unsupervised probation and faces up to $2,040 in fines and fees.

In an announcement on Thursday, acting U.S. attorney Bob Murray on behalf of the District of Wyoming said: “Approaching a sow grizzly with cubs is absolutely foolish. Here, pure luck is why Dehring is a criminal defendant and not a mauled tourist.”

Dehring appeared before a magistrate judge in Mammoth Hot Spring, Wyoming, on Wednesday, more than a month after she was slated to appear. She was also charged with another count of feeding, touching, teasing, frightening or intentionally disturbing wildlife, which was dismissed.

As per the National Park Service’s regulations: “willfully remaining near or approaching wildlife” is prohibited.

“The park is not a zoo where animals can be viewed within the safety of a fenced enclosure,” Murray said.

This news comes less than a month after Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon announced the state’s intention to ask the federal government to lift its protections for grizzly bears in the Yellowstone area.

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(BOSTON) — A guilty verdict was reached Friday afternoon in the trial of John Wilson and Gamal Abdelaziz, two wealthy fathers charged with paying bribes to secure prestigious college spots for their kids under false pretenses.

Wilson and Abdelaziz were the first defendants among about five dozen to stand trial in Boston for charges stemming from the sweeping Operation Varsity Blues scheme.

They pleaded not guilty to fraud and bribery conspiracy charges in the case.

Abdelaziz, a former casino executive from Las Vegas, allegedly paid $300,000 to get his daughter into the University of Southern California as a basketball recruit even though she didn’t make her high school varsity team.

Wilson, a former Staples executive, allegedly paid $220,000 to have his son designated as a USC water polo recruit and gave an additional $1 million to get his twin daughters into Harvard and Stanford.

While the two men argued they thought their payments to scheme mastermind Rick Singer were legitimate donations, the jury agreed with prosecutors that they amounted to bribes to buy their kids’ way into those schools.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Frank told jurors during closing arguments: “These parents were not willing to take ‘no’ for an answer, and to get to ‘yes’ they crossed a line. In crossing that line, they broke the law.”

Jurors deliberated for nearly 11 hours over two days. Abdelaziz will be sentenced Feb. 16 and Wilson on Feb. 17.

The trial featured audio recordings of phone calls between Singer, who pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate in the investigation, and each of the men. Prosecutors argued the calls showed that the fathers understood they were partaking in a scheme.

On a phone call where Abdelaziz is heard saying, “Sabrina is loving USC!” Singer also is heard saying, “I’m not going to tell the IRS that your $300,000 was paid to Donna Heinel at USC to get Sabrina into school even though she wasn’t a legitimate basketball player at that level.”

“You’re OK with that right?” Singer asked.

“Of course,” Abdelaziz replied.

“I’m going to say your $300,000 payment was made to our foundation to help underserved kids,” Singer said. “I just want to make sure you’re OK with that.”

“I am,” Abdelaziz replied.

Three other parents are expected to face trials in January, and three coaches are scheduled for trails in November.

Four dozen other defendants, including the actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, opted to plead guilty, and many have already served their sentences.

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(NEW YORK) — The United States has been facing a COVID-19 surge as the more contagious delta variant continues to spread.

More than 710,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.8 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Just 65.8% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the CDC.

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

Oct 08, 1:50 pm
CDC committee to meet on Moderna, J&J boosters

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s independent advisory committee plans to meet on Oct. 20 and Oct. 21 to discuss the Moderna and Johnson &Johnson vaccine boosters. This will follow the Food and Drug Administration’s independent advisers who are set to meet and vote on boosters on Oct. 14 and Oct. 15.

That means Moderna and J&J boosters could be authorized, recommended and available as soon as Oct. 22.

The CDC committee is also set to meet on Nov. 2 and Nov. 3 to discuss pediatric vaccinations.

-ABC News’ Eric M. Strauss

Oct 08, 12:32 pm
LSU ends COVID protocols for football games

Louisiana State University said Friday that fans at its football games will no longer need to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test beginning with the Oct. 16 game.

LSU said the change is due to a “consistent and significant decline in COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations across the state of Louisiana and in the Baton Rouge area.”

Masks will still be required for all attendees.

Oct 08, 8:13 am
Former CDC head ‘cautiously optimistic’ about vaccines for kids

Dr. Richard Besser, a pediatrician and former acting director of the CDC, told “Good Morning America” Friday that he’s “cautiously optimistic” about vaccine approval for young children, adding that he’ll be closely watching the reviews by the FDA and CDC.

“Thankfully children have been impacted by COVID less severely than adults and I want to make sure, as a pediatrician, before I recommend this to my patients, I’m convinced that it’s safe and it’s effective,” Besser said. “The information I’ve seen so far gives me a lot of hope.”

The Florida Board of Education has authorized the state’s education commissioner to sanction the board members of eight school districts that have continued to require masks for students in defiance of state rules.

In the latest development in the state’s battle over mask mandates, board members in Florida’s largest districts — Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward — as well as Alachua, Brevard, Duval, Leon and Orange will have their salaries withheld following Thursday’s vote, officials said.

“For nearly two months now, these school districts have barred from the school house doors thousands of children, many of whom have significant disabilities or health-related reasons that prevent them from learning with a face mask on,” Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran said in a statement.

Corcoran also slammed the Broward and Alachua districts, which were previously sanctioned in August and September, for accepting funds from the Biden administration to make up for lost paychecks, calling it “political bailouts from federal co-conspirators.”

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(CAPITOL HEIGHTS, Md.) — Two victims are dead following a shooting at a senior living facility in Prince George’s County, Maryland, Friday morning, police said.

The suspect has been taken into custody without incident, Prince George’s County police said.

The scene at National Church Residences – Gateway Village has been secured, police said, adding that there’s no ongoing threat to community.

“We heard a ‘pow’ … I looked and I saw his hand go up and he shot twice. And I just ran,” one woman told ABC Washington, D.C., affiliate WJLA. “I’m nervous now ’cause my mother-in-law is still in the building on lockdown.”

One victim was found in a corridor and the other was recovered in an office, police said.

The suspect and victims have not been identified.

As of Thursday night, Prince George’s County surpassed 100 homicides for the year.

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(ELLICOTT CITY, Md.) — A Maryland man has been charged with allegedly killing his brother, a pharmacist, after going to confront him about “the government poisoning people with COVID vaccines,” according to court documents.

Jeffrey Burnham allegedly killed his sister-in-law, another woman and his brother, who administered vaccines, saying he was “killing people,” according to charging documents filed in Howard County, Maryland.

Burnham went to the Ellicott City, Maryland, home of his brother, Brian Robinette, and sister-in-law, Kelly Robinette, who were later found dead of apparent gunshot wounds on Sept. 30, authorities allege.

Burnham wanted to confront his brother about the vaccine and said that “Brian knows something!,” according to investigators.

He took off in his brother’s Corvette, authorities said, and was pursued when the vehicle’s EZ Pass was used and a tipster alerted authorities of seeing him. Burham was arrested in West Virginia and extradited back to Maryland on Tuesday.

Police also believe that Burham may have killed one elderly woman, Rebecca Reynolds, in Cumberland, Maryland, before taking her car and traveling to the home of his brother. Reynolds was found with a deep laceration to her throat inside her home, according to ABC News affiliate WMAR.

Burham has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and use of a handgun in Howard County, Maryland. He was also charged with first degree murder and car theft in Allegany County, Maryland.

Burnham has not pleaded to the charges. His attorney did not not immediately respond to request for comment.

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(BODEGA BAY, Calif.) — Surfer Eric Steinley is recovering in the hospital after he was bitten by a great white shark in Bodega Bay, California.

The 38-year-old told ABC News he was on his surfboard Sunday at Salmon Creek Beach waiting to catch a wave when the harrowing incident occurred.

“I was in a lot of pain and still thinking, you know, I’m either going to lose my leg or I’m gonna die,” Steinley said. “I just felt this heavy thing pull on me and it was like a clamp right around my leg. And we went underwater together in slow motion.”

Another surfer who was nearby in the water, Jared Davis, said he saw “the tail fin of a shark. They were kind of going down into the water.”

As Steinley was under the surface and bleeding, he fought back.

“I punched this thing. And I mean, you can see just from grazing its teeth. I cut my hand. But it was such a measly punch compared to how big this creature was,” he explained.

The shark loosened its bite, according to Steinley, who then came up for air and warned other surfers.

“He was saying, ‘shark,’ he was saying ‘out,’ he was saying ‘help,'” Davis recalled.

Nearly a five minute paddle from shore, Steinley said he questioned his own fate.

“I started to see spots and then I know, you know, [thought] I’m definitely I’m not going to make it,” he said. “And I catch up to Jared and he paddles next to me.”

When Davis saw Steinley’s leg, he said it looked like there was a red stripe on his wetsuit.

“He goes, ‘You going to make it, don’t look at your leg, let’s just keep going.’ And then we paddled in together until a wave came, and then I gave it my all,” Steinley said of the moment he fought to get to safety.

Nearly a dozen surfers rushed in to help once they got to shore, using surfboard leashes as a makeshift tourniquet to help stop the bleeding.

“All of the surfers that were with me out in the water came out altogether and grabbed this big, long board and put me on that long board,” Steinley said. The group “held me on the board, kept up the board and carried me all the way up the steps, saving time for when the ambulance got there.”

Timothy Saluzzom, a paramedic who responded on the scene, said the care Steinley got prior to his arrival “really helped to save his leg.”

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife confirmed that this was a great white shark, at least 10-feet long, based on the DNA and bite radius from Steinley’s surfboard.

Dave Bader, chief operations and education officer at the Marine Mammal Care Center, said bites from great white sharks can be severe. Steinley “was lucky enough to be in and around a space where there were other people that were there to help him.”

He added, “Eric did all the right things by being in a space where he could get that immediate help.”

Steinley is out of the ICU after two surgeries with a long recovery ahead. While surfing may not be the same, he said he wants to get back up on the board at least one more time.

“I still want to be part of the lifestyle,” Steinley explained. “I’m just so thankful … and still in disbelief that I’m alive because of it.”

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(ANDERSON, Texas) — Authorities in Grimes County, Texas, are scrambling to find any clues surrounding the disappearance of 3-year-old Christopher Ramirez, who has been missing since Wednesday.

Ramirez’ mother, Araceli Nunez, is pleading with the public for help in finding her son.

“I am asking you all to please help and find my son. I don’t know anything about him, and a lot of time has passed. I don’t know what to do. Please everyone help me,” she told reporters in Spanish at a press conference Thursday.

“I’m desperate and my heart has a hole in it. Please bring back my son, please help me,” she said.

Nunez said she believes that someone may have abducted her son, but Grimes County Sheriff Don Sowell said there is no evidence of foul play.

According to authorities, Christopher was playing with a neighbor’s dog on Wednesday around 2 p.m. local time while his mother unloaded groceries from her car. The boy then followed the dog into the woods.

The dog returned but Christopher hasn’t been seen since.

Sowell told ABC News on Thursday that the search is ongoing.

“We continue what we’ve been doing yesterday and last night with a new team, fresh teams and no news to report,” he said.

“We’ve had search teams on the ground also yesterday and through the night, so we have another group of them already on the ground,” he added.

Crews and community volunteers are canvassing the wooded area and using everything from drones and dogs to track Christopher’s scent.

The FBI has also offered to help in the search.

“The FBI has offered all of our assistance,” Brittany Garcia, public affairs representative at the FBI in Houston, told ABC News affiliate KTRK on Thursday. “The biggest resource that we are offering to them is personnel. So our evidence response team is out here doing searches high and low, between the trees everywhere, even in water to to find Christopher.”

ABC News’ Abby Cruz contributed to this report.

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