(DALLAS) — Aaron Dean, the now-former police officer charged in the 2019 fatal shooting of Atatiana Jefferson, took the stand Monday in his murder trial.
Dean is charged with fatally shooting Jefferson, a Black woman who was killed inside her Fort Worth, Texas, home on Oct. 12, 2019.
“This jury needs to hear from me and hear the truth,” Dean said of his decision to testify.
The defense focused its questioning on what Dean learned in police academy training, specifically “shoot, don’t shoot survival training.”
Dean testified that he was sent to respond to an “open structure” call around 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 12. An open structure call refers to a door or window left open on a building, according to testimony from Officer Carol Darch, Dean’s partner that night.
A neighbor had dialed a non-emergency number about his concerns of open doors at Jefferson’s home, according to testimony from the call center employee who received the call. The neighbor, who testified last week, said he wanted a welfare check on the family.
Officers parked down the street from the home, Dean said. When asked why he didn’t park in front of the house, he responded, “We don’t want to give away our position to a criminal actor who might be on scene, it’s for officer safety.” He said he and Darch did not walk up the driveway of the home for similar reasons.
According to officials and body camera footage, Dean didn’t knock on the door or announce a police presence.
He testified the residence was quiet when he and Darch approached. As they looked inside, “I could see objects strewn all over the floor … it looked ransacked,” Dean said.
He said he believed it was “a possible burglary.” He said he responded by examining “the whole structure for signs of forced entry.”
Dean then testified that he opened a gate to the backyard. He said he saw a person when he looked into the window of the house.
“I could tell there was movement, like the upper arms are moving like someone was reaching for something,” Dean said on the witness stand.
According to Dean, the person was very close to the window.
He continued, “I thought we had a burglar, so I stepped back, straightened up and drew my weapon and then pointed it towards the figure. I couldn’t see that person’s hands and we’re taught the hands — and it’s what’s in them that kill. We need to see the hands. We need to get people to show us our hands. We need to get control of those hands. So I drew my weapon intended to tell that person to show me their hands.”
Dean testified that he looked back after he got his “light on [and] saw the silhouette again.” He said he shouted, “Put up your hands, show me your hands, show me your hands.”
“And as I started to get that second phrase out, ‘Show me your hands,’ I saw the silhouette. I was looking right down the barrel of a gun. And when I saw the barrel of that gun pointed at me, I fired a single shot from my duty weapon,” Dean testified.
(NEW YORK) — Hate crimes in the United States remained at the same level in 2021 as they were in 2020, the FBI said Monday, even as hate crimes based on a person’s sexual orientation increased.
However, the FBI also said there was a nearly 30% drop in police agencies that reported data in 2021, because of the new way the data was reported to the FBI, making it difficult to meaningfully compare 2021 statistics to years past, an FBI official said on a conference call with reporters.
Some of the agencies that didn’t report data were from bigger city agencies, but the FBI did not say which ones.
The FBI said 64.8% of victims were targeted because of their offenders’ bias against race and ethnicity, 15.6% were targeted because of the offenders’ bias toward their sexual orientation and 13.3% were targeted because of their religion.
“The bias groups of sexual orientation and disability showed increases in reported hate-crime incidents and bias-related incidents of anti-Asian and anti-Native Hawaiian [and] other Pacific Islander also increased in 2021, as well as a number of non-juvenile offenders connected to reported hate crimes,” a senior FBI official told reporters on a conference call Monday.
In total there were more than 8,000 victims of a hate crime, the FBI said, adding 44.2% were for intimidation, 35.9% were simple assault and 18.3% were aggravated assault.
The Justice Department has charged 60 people with hate crimes and secured convictions against 55 people since 2021, a senior DOJ official said.
(NEW YORK) — Ninety flights are canceled across the country on Monday, including 36 in Boston, as winter storms wreak havoc on roadways.
Up to 6 inches of snow hit near Hartford, Connecticut, and Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Up to 9 inches of snow slammed western Massachusetts and upstate New York.
In the west, a weekend storm dropped up to 5 feet of snow in California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range and heavy rain fell from the Bay Area to Los Angeles.
That West Coast storm is now moving east and forecast to bring blizzard conditions to the Heartland and a tornado threat to the south.
Five states — South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana and eastern Colorado — are under blizzard warnings, as the combination of falling and blowing snow are expected to create whiteout conditions.
Snowfall totals in the Plains and the Heartland could reach 1 to 2 feet.
Tuesday will be the big day for damaging winds, large hail and tornadoes in the south. Strong tornadoes are possible from Lufkin, Texas, to Alexandria, Louisiana.
On Wednesday, the severe weather threat moves into the Gulf Coast. Damaging winds will be the biggest threat from New Orleans to Tallahassee.
That storm system will move into the Northeast later in the week, bringing heavy snow inland and rain to the coast by Thursday and Friday.
(LOS ANGELES) — A Los Angeles City Councilman who has refused to resign over a leaked audio recording of him participating in a meeting in which racist comments were made about his colleagues, is now being investigated by police after a video surfaced allegedly showing him getting into a fight with a community activist at a holiday event, authorities said.
Councilmember Kevin de León was video recorded Friday night getting into a physical confrontation in front of parents and children at a toy giveaway and Christmas tree lighting event in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles to which police were called to quell the violence, according to a statement issued by the Los Angeles Police Department on Sunday.
A video obtained by ABC Los Angeles station KABC showed de León, wearing a red and white Santa Claus hat, being confronted by a group of activists calling him a racist and apparently attempting to block his path as he tried to leave the event. In the footage, which has been posted on social media, one of the activists, identified as Jason Reedy, is seen standing nose-to-nose with de León before the councilman shoved him onto a table and grabbed his jacket, pushing him out of the camera’s view.
After the incident, de León claimed he was attempting to defend himself after saying Reedy had headbutted him. De León filed a battery complaint against Reedy, who countered by filing his own battery complaint against de León, according to the LAPD.
The LAPD said the incident is under investigation and no one was taken into custody.
“Kevin de León is a disgrace. Video footage clearly shows him and his supporters initiating this assault while Mr. Reedy stands with his hands up,” Reedy’s lawyer said in a statement. “Not only has Kevin de León lost all political legitimacy, his claims that he was the one attacked here simply underscores how he’s lost touch with reality.”
De León released a statement alleging Reedy is part of “a group of so-called ‘activists'” that has been harassing him and his staff for more than a year.
He claimed the group “cornered and physically assaulted me, a staff member, and a volunteer during a holiday event on Friday evening.”
He said Reedy and other members of the group started shouting obscenities and disrupting the holiday event, prompting him to attempt to exit the event to “draw the disrupters away from the attending families and children,” but the activists blocked all the exit doors.
“Once we were able to push open a door and try to get out, Reedy launched a pelvic thrust, followed by a headbutt to my forehead,” de León alleged. “My response, in defense of myself, was to push him off of me. In the ensuing struggle, Reedy struck me in the face with a closed fist, violently elbowed a female staff member, and injured a volunteer in front of horrified parents and children.”
Earlier Friday, chaos ensued at a city council meeting when de León showed up for the first time since becoming embroiled in the scandal over the closed-door meeting in October 2021 he attended with then-City Council President Nury Martinez and a third Latino member of the city council, Gil Cedillo. In the recording of the meeting, leaked earlier this year, Martinez allegedly made racist comments about her colleagues and the Black son of white councilmember Mike Bonin while discussing redistricting to hold onto their power.
During Friday’s council meeting, community members in attendance booed de León’s presence and Bonin abruptly stood up and stormed out of the meeting. The uproar caused a recess to be called and de León did not return to the meeting.
De León said he attempted to attend the meeting to represent his constituents.
“I remained out of the room after the outburst by agitators to give the council president the opportunity to regain control of the meeting and allow public comment to continue since so many of those present were my constituents,” de León said. “Unfortunately, neither of those things happened.”
But de León’s departure did not curtail the raucous meeting. Instead, outgoing City Councilmember Paul Koretz used his farewell speech to take a parting shot at protesters, saying they “have done their best to make it difficult for us to do our work in the last 2½ years.”
“In their own words: I yield the rest of my time. F*** you,” Koretz said.
De León is also purportedly heard making racially charged comments on the tape recording about Bonin’s son and calls for him and Cedillo to resign have grown louder in recent weeks. Martinez resigned from the city council in October and apologized for her comments.
De León and Cedillo have refused to step down from the council despite calls from California Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Joe Biden for them to do so.
On Oct. 26, the city council voted 12-0 to publicly reprimand the three councilmembers.
The bank of Mill Creak in Washington County, Kansas, following a rupture of the Keystone Pipeline on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022, in this handout published Dec. 9 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. – U.S. EPA
(WASHINGTON COUNTY, Kan.) — Federal and state environmental officials worked over the weekend to mitigate the fallout from last Wednesday’s Keystone Pipeline rupture that leaked about 14,000 barrels of crude oil into a Kansas creek.
Officials hadn’t yet determined the cause of the incident, TC Energy, the Canadian pipeline operator, said on Sunday.
The spill near Mill Creek, in Washington County, Kansas, had been “contained” by about 250 people working at the site, TC Energy said in a statement.
Some of the thousands of barrels of unrefined oil product ran downhill into the creek, according to the Environmental Protection Agency and the company.
Third-party environmental specialists were among the hundreds of people who responded to clean up the mess, the company said in its Sunday update.
“The product remains contained and multiple vacuum trucks, booms, and additional resources are onsite as we continue the recovery process,” TC Energy said. “Repair planning is also underway, as are shoreline assessments.”
The leak in the 36-inch pipeline was first detected at 9:01 p.m. local time on Wednesday, according to an order issued by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
A trip alarm was received six minutes later, the order said. The pipeline was shut down and its isolation valves were closed at 9:08 p.m., according to officials.
As TC Energey staffers approached the site they “identified a crude oil odor,” the order said.
“Continuous air quality monitoring has been deployed and, at this time, there is no indication of adverse health or public concerns,” the company said on Sunday.
TC Energy workers have built an “earthen underflow dam” about 4 miles downstream from the spill, according to the EPA. A pipe is allowing the creek’s water to pass through the dam, “while preventing further migration of oil,” the EPA said in a press release on Friday.
“Oil impacts within Mill Creek are contained upstream of this underflow dam. There are no current concerns for oil migration past the underflow dam,” the EPA said on Friday. “TC Energy has mobilized additional resources, such as vacuum trucks and oil skimmers, to support oil recovery from Mill Creek.”
Rain had been forecast for Monday, the company said, and “crews we are beginning preparations” to deal with worsening weather.
“Additional boom is being deployed and the underflow dam is being shored up to withstand precipitation,” the EPA’s on-site coordinator, Tim Curry, wrote in a statement on Sunday.
ABC News’ Darren Reynolds contributed to this report.
(SAN DIEGO) — The Artemis I Orion capsule has splashed down after a 25-day trip that reached within 60 miles of the moon, completing the first step in an ambitious plan to establish a long-term presence there and later send a crewed shuttle to Mars.
The spacecraft spent 25.5 days in space and journeyed on a 1.4-million-mile journey around the Moon, according to NASA.
“Our spacecraft is home,” NASA tweeted at 9:41 a.m. PT Sunday, shortly after the splashdown occurred near Baja California, Mexico.
The mission, which overcame multiple launch delays, will return the unmanned capsule to Earth in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego.
The capsule has performed well throughout the nearly month-long trip, Mike Sarafin, Artemis I mission manager, said at a press conference on Thursday.
“We are on track to have a fully successful mission,” said Sarafin, who told reporters that the management team had met daily to track the capsule’s progress.
As it returns to Earth, Orion will deploy parachutes that float it down into the ocean over its final descent, Judd Frieling, a NASA flight director, said on Thursday.
After Orion splashes down, it will remain in the water for two hours as NASA performs tests on the heat generated by the capsule upon its return, Frieling said.
Artemis had a rocky start with multiple failed attempts to get the rocket off the ground before the successful launch on Nov. 16.
The first launch attempt on Aug. 29 was scrubbed due to a faulty temperature sensor that indicated an engine hadn’t properly cooled down when it actually had.
The second attempt was subsequently scrubbed on Sept. 3 after engineers discovered several liquid hydrogen leaks. Liquid hydrogen is one of the propellants needed to fill the rocket’s core stage.
A third attempt on Sept. 27 was postponed after Hurricane Ian made landfall in southwestern Florida and gradually traveled to the northeastern part of the state as well as the Carolinas.
In total, the Artemis expedition includes four missions, each of which will cost roughly $4.1 billion. The project will cost up to $93 billion by 2025, according to an audit from the NASA Office of the Inspector General.
If Artemis I is deemed successful, Artemis II is scheduled to send four astronauts into space in 2024 for a lunar flyby before returning to Earth.
Artemis III plans to send four astronauts to the moon in 2025 including the first woman and the first person of color while Artemis IV plans to be the second lunar landing in 2027.
In addition to setting up a permanent base camp on the moon, the program aims to be the gateway to eventual human missions to Mars.
(MAYFIELD, Ky.) — In the days and weeks leading up to this weekend — which marks one year since a devastating tornado outbreak tore through Kentucky — Mayfield pastor Al Chandler has sensed anxiety among residents in the region.
“It was a whirlwind for several days there and weeks,” Chandler, a pastor at Northside Baptist Church, told ABC News. “Everybody was impacted one way or the other.”
On Dec. 10 and 11 of last year, multiple states in the Midwest and South were struck by a series of intense tornadoes, including a massive EF-4 tornado that traveled some 165 miles in Kentucky alone.
Once state officials were able to fully assess the damage, it was determined that at least 1,000 homes were damaged or destroyed and 76 people were killed in hard-hit Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear has said.
Memorials and vigils will be held throughout the state this weekend to remember and honor those killed as communities continue to heal from the trauma and devastation of the tornadoes.
“Now that Dec. 10 is creeping up on us, I get afraid. I can’t help but get afraid and I get stressed,” Deloris Williams, whose Dawson Springs home was one of many destroyed in the city, told ABC Louisville affiliate WHAS. “I think, ‘Please God, don’t let this happen again. Please don’t.'”
Kentucky native Misty Thomas recalled waking up on Dec. 11, 2021, to what was unprecedented devastation for most Kentuckians.
“We weren’t prepared for the reality of the possibility of an EF-4 tornado, period,” Thomas, the executive director for the American Red Cross Western Kentucky Chapter, told ABC News. “I think my mindset that night was, we will have some tree limbs down, we’ll have some power outages.”
“It took our breath — of what that storm, what Mother Nature was capable of,” she said.
The past year has been one of rebuilding and repairing. And while much progress has been made, many people are still waiting for a permanent place to call home.
As chair of the Mayfield Graves County Long Term Recovery Group, which partners with dozens of nonprofit organizations, Chandler has been involved in the efforts to provide free assistance to survivors in the weeks and months after the tornadoes. That could mean anything from food and power needs to helping file FEMA claims for damaged homes and cars.
Chandler said the group has closed some 155 cases since it was founded in the weeks after the tornado, though still has nearly 170 open cases and more than 250 that are awaiting case management.
A year after the tornado, one of the biggest concerns remains housing, he said. Upwards of 800 homes in the area were hit, with renters in particular impacted, he said.
“We determined that about 70% of our survivors were in rental units,” Chandler said, which presents a “unique gap” for the community’s recovery to help keep people in the area. “There are very few resources available for [renters].”
Through state and federal assistance, some people have been housed in campers and trailers while waiting for more permanent housing, and the humanitarian aid organization Samaritan’s Purse has built 60 new homes, said Chandler. He estimates nearly 200 people are still in need of permanent housing, while currently living in campers, hotels or with family.
To help survivors find a pathway to homeownership, the long-term recovery group launched what it’s dubbed the Home for the Holidays program — wherein it acquires homes in the community to rent to families for a year, at which point the renters will have the chance to purchase the home. The group has 13 people under contract right now, he said, with the goal to find 25 families homes by Dec. 25.
“That’s one of our creative ways to help meet some needs for our renters and get them into a home quickly,” he said.
Even those who do find a new place to live may have difficulty calling it home. After Williams lost everything when the tornado leveled her Dawson Springs home, she eventually ended up moving some 25 miles away to Hopkinsville to find an affordable apartment.
“I truly believe if it wasn’t for my cousin that helped me because he works at an apartment complex, I still would not have a place to call home,” she told WHAS. “Even though I’ve found an apartment with the help of my cousin, which I am truly grateful for, you don’t feel like you’re at home.”
‘Herculean’ recovery work
There are nine long-term recovery groups like the one Chandler chairs that are located in the Western Kentucky chapter of the Red Cross, Thomas said. Most of the volunteer-run groups sprung up in the wake of the December tornadoes to help with what will likely be a years-long recovery effort, she said.
“This is going to be such a long process because of the amount of homes destroyed, and the people who were displaced,” she said. “I would say, a year into this, there’s still a lot to do, but there’s been a lot accomplished.”
Thomas said she was impressed with the “creativity and ingenuity” of the long-term recovery groups as they step up and work to restore their communities, pointing to programs like Home for the Holidays.
“I’m really impressed with the people who’ve banded together, continue to be resilient and persevere for the good of the survivors,” she said. “There’s so many people working on behalf of survivors that it’s very heartwarming to watch this happen in real-time.”
Once the groups help those recovering from the disaster, they will likely pivot to community preparedness — to be ready if and when the next disaster strikes, Thomas said. Though for now, they’re still very much in the recovery phase.
“It’s just been incredible to get to know these people after this disaster, in these communities, doing such herculean work for the people they love,” she said. “It just reminds me, there’s so much good out there.”
Chandler has been thankful for the volunteers who continue to come from all over to help rebuild Mayfield, which in addition to residents has seen scores of businesses displaced.
“It’s a whole new town right now, in the sense that we’re all temporarily dislocated,” he said. “We’ve seen a lot of good things happen, but there’s still a lot more to do.”
(MACCLENNY, Fla.) — First responders rescued an eagle impaled by a lightning rod atop a 120 -foot radio tower at St. George Elementary in MacClenny, Florida.
Fire department crews responded to a call Friday about the eagle stuck on top of the tower and contacted wildlife authorities from the scene. It was determined that someone would need to go to the top of the tower to help the eagle, MacClenny Fire and Rescue Department said in a post on Facebook.
Engineer Louis Castle and Lt. Garret Williams loaded up into a 100-foot tall tower and headed toward the elementary school, according to the fire department.
Crews gained access to the area by cutting a fence then went up 100-feet in the tower, the department said in a statement on Facebook.
Castle then exited the bucket of the fire department’s ladder and hooked himself onto the tower, using safety equipment, and climbed the remaining 20-feet, according to the department.
The eagle was found in “obvious distress,” according to the department.
Once he was at the top, Castle was able to free the bird of its impalement. It then soared down and was captured by wildlife rescuers.
As of Saturday afternoon, the fire department did not have an update on the eagle’s health status.
(SILVER SPRING, Md.) — Officers seeking a suspect in a fatal shooting at a Maryland gas station made a “surprising discovery” when they found the decomposing body of a likely pregnant woman at the man’s apartment, police said.
Torrey Moore, 31, of Silver Spring, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder on Friday for allegedly killing an employee at the Dash In Convenience Store in Silver Spring during an altercation the previous day, Montgomery County police said.
The investigation of the gas station shooting led detectives to an apartment complex across the street, where they executed a search warrant in Moore’s apartment, police said.
“When SWAT made entry, and after arresting Moore, they discovered a deceased female, believed to be an adult, on the floor in the apartment in an advanced stage of decomposition,” Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones told reporters during a press briefing Friday.
Moore allegedly told police that he was in a relationship with the woman and that she was eight months pregnant at the time of her death. He also allegedly said that “there had been some type of fight between the two about one month prior that led to the victim becoming deceased prior to today,” Jones said.
Police are waiting for the medical examiner to determine the cause and manner of death, to confirm whether the woman was pregnant and how far along and to verify the woman’s identity, Jones said. That process could take several days, he said.
Police were not aware of anything amiss at that apartment, or of any missing persons from that location, the chief said.
“This is very new to us, again a surprising discovery upon our entry this morning. So we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Jones said Friday. “We’re a little bit amazed that we did not receive any calls, none that we have seen, thus far, that would have given us any indication that something was occurring within that apartment.”
“We’re very concerned about what has been occurring between these two,” he said.
Jones said Moore was captured on footage leaving the gas station following the shooting Thursday afternoon and heading toward the apartment complex across the street. Detectives were able to positively identify him from several witnesses, he said, and store employees said Moore was a “problem customer” at that location.
Moore is alleged to have shot Ayalew Wondimu, 61, of Silver Spring, following a dispute at the gas station. The footage captured Moore grab a bottle of iced tea and bring it to the counter, where the altercation occurred, according to Jones.
“We did observe Moore pick up items from in front of the counter and began throwing them at the clerk,” Jones said.
Wondimu then picked up a metal pole behind the counter and attempted to strike Moore, who was on the other side of the counter, Jones said.
“Moore stepped back and for reasons unknown he retrieved a silver handgun from his vest pocket and he shot Wondimu at a point-blank range,” Jones said.
Moore allegedly then reached over the counter and fired again multiple times, before grabbing the iced tea bottle and leaving the store, said Jones, who called the incident “very troubling.”
Wondimu suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and was pronounced dead at the scene, Jones said.
Moore was charged with first-degree murder and possession of a firearm while committing a felony and is being held on no bail. He is scheduled to appear in court on Monday. It is unclear if he has an attorney.
Additional charges could be likely depending on the medical examiner’s determination of the cause and manner of death of the woman found in his apartment, police said.
(CHARLOTTE, N.C.) — A rally for Shanquella Robinson, the American woman who died while vacationing in Mexico in what local authorities are investigating as a femicide, is scheduled to be held Saturday.
The rally is calling for justice for Robinson, 25, of Charlotte, North Carolina, who died in October while on a trip with six friends to San Jose del Cabo, a resort city on the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula.
The event is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. at Little Rock AME Zion Church in Charlotte and will be livedstreamed via the Million Youth March Of Charlotte & Salisbury Teen Advisory Board’s Facebook page. Robinson’s family will be in attendance, organizers said.
“There were thousands of people that didn’t make it into the services a couple weeks ago, so this is the opportunity to come and show their support with the Robinson family again and to love on them and basically let them know that we stand with them,” Mario Black, the founder of Million Youth March of Charlotte, told reporters during a press briefing announcing the rally. “It’s justice for Shanquella Robinson until justice is served.”
Questions have mounted amid conflicting reports on what happened in the hours leading up to Robinson’s death.
The original autopsy report obtained by ABC News said Robinson died from a severe spinal cord injury and a dislocated neck. According to the document, which was dated Nov. 4, Robinson was found unconscious in the living room of a residence on Padre Kino Avenue in San Jose del Cabo on the afternoon of Oct. 29 and was declared dead within 15 minutes.
That report differs from a recent update from Mexican authorities, who said that Robinson may have been alive and received care from a medical professional for several hours before authorities arrived and she was pronounced dead, ABC News has learned.
The medical professional at the scene allegedly told Robinson’s friends that Robinson was drunk and dehydrated, and that they should take her to a hospital. However, they declined to do so, according to authorities.
Authorities have not responded to ABC News’ request for comment on the difference between their report and the autopsy.
An arrest warrant was issued last month in Robinson’s death for the crime of femicide, a form of gender-based violence, according to a local prosecutor. The warrant was issued for an unnamed alleged perpetrator, “a friend of hers who is the direct aggressor,” Daniel de la Rosa Anaya, local prosecutor for the state of Baja California Sur, said.
The FBI opened an investigation last month into Robinson’s death, though no further details were released due to the ongoing probe.
Robinson went to the Mexican resort city on Oct. 28, according to her family. Robinson’s parents said they got a frantic telephone call from their daughter’s friends the next day saying she had died from alcohol poisoning.
The Mexican Secretariat of Health’s autopsy report and death certificate do not mention alcohol.
With all the new and developing information, Robinson’s family is still seeking answers from her friends.
Sallamondra Robinson, the mother of Shanquella Robinson, told ABC News she’s happy the FBI has stepped in to help solve her daughter’s case so it “won’t go in vain.”
None of Robinson’s friends who were with her in Cabo have responded to ABC News’ repeated requests for comment.
ABC News’ Erica Y. King, Anne Laurent and Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.
