The seal of the Department of Homeland Security (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
(ATLANTA) — A Department of Homeland Security employee was “brutally shot and stabbed to death,” Monday, according to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, in a shooting spree across the Atlanta area, in which one other person was killed and a third is in critical condition.
Lauren Bullis was walking her dog on Monday, when she was randomly attacked, allegedly stabbed and shot by Olaolukitan Adon Abel, a 26-year-old born in the United Kingdom who was naturalized in 2022, Mullin said.
“He possesses a prior criminal record that includes convictions for sexual battery, battery against a police officer, obstruction, and assault with a deadly weapon, vandalism and now stands accused of murdering @DHSgov employee Lauren Bullis by shooting and stabbing her while she walked her dog,” Mullin wrote on X.
Mullin said Abel was arrested for reportedly shooting a woman to death outside a restaurant before “randomly shooting a homeless man multiple times” outside a supermarket. ABC affiliate WSB reported that man is in critical condition.
Police said Abel, 26, shot and stabbed Burris about four hours later, according to WSB.
Police raided a home that the suspect rented near where Burris was attacked and arrested Abel, WSB reported, who faces at least six charges, including murder, aggravated assault and possession of a gun as a convicted felon.
Officials say an ice block crashed through the roof of a home in Whittier, California, on April 10, 2026. (Los Angeles County Supervisor)
(LOS ANGELES) — Federal authorities are investigating after a California resident reported that a large chunk of ice fell from the sky and crashed through the roof of a house and landed on a couch.
The incident occurred around 11:15 a.m. on Friday at a home in Whittier in Los Angeles County, according to local officials.
The resident reported hearing “what sounded like an explosion” and found a large block of dirty-looking ice on the living room couch, Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn’s office said in a press release on Tuesday.
The ice had crashed through the roof and ceiling, according to Hahn’s office, which released photos of the damage to the home.
No one was injured in the incident, Hahn’s office said.
Local law enforcement and fire personnel responded and classified the situation as a “suspicious circumstance,” and the resident submitted a report to the Federal Aviation Administration, according to Hahn.
The home is under the Los Angeles International Airport landing approach. Data from Flightradar24 shows there were planes flying over the house around the time of the incident, and there is a plane over the house approximately every 3 minutes.
Hahn has called for a “thorough and timely” investigation into the incident in a letter to the FAA. The letter, dated Tuesday, noted that a “large mass of ice penetrated the roof of a residential home, causing significant structural damage and posing substantial risk of injury or loss of life.”
“While such incidents are rare, the potential consequences are extremely serious,” Hahn wrote. “Whether the material originated from aircraft systems, waste leakage, or another source, this event raises important concerns about aviation safety over densely populated communities in Los Angeles County.”
The FAA said it is investigating, and that the agency investigates every report it receives alleging ice fell from an airplane and damaged property.
The homeowner, Thania Magana, had reached out to Hahn on Saturday, “requesting assistance ensuring this incident is properly investigated,” Hahn’s office said.
“We definitely want to know what it consists of and if it’s going to affect our health,” she told the station.
If the ice was due to a plane, Magana told KABC that she wants to “understand why it happens, because even right now as we’re speaking, there’s a plane flying over us and it’s scary.”
Construction on the Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve building in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (Pete Kiehart/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Prosecutors from the U.S. attorneys office in Washington were turned away Tuesday after they made an unannounced visit to the Federal Reserve, where they allegedly requested a tour of renovations that have attracted scrutiny from the Trump administration, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News.
The unusual visit prompted immediate backlash from an attorney for Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who wrote a letter to D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office, citing the recent ruling from a federal judge that blocked subpoenas to the bank after determining DOJ’s criminal probe was driven by President Donald Trump’s political animus towards Powell.
Robert Hur, who formerly served as special counsel who investigated former President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents and now represents Powell, warned DOJ in the letter reviewed by ABC News that future efforts to initiate contact with Fed representatives should be negotiated through legal counsel.
“As you know, Chief Judge [James] Boasberg has concluded that your interest in the Federal Reserve’s renovation project was pretextual. Should you wish to challenge that finding, the courts provide an avenue for you; it is not appropriate for you to try to circumvent it,” Hur said. “I ask that you commit not to seek to communicate with my client outside the presence of counsel.”
According to Hur’s letter, attorneys from Pirro’s office, Carlton Davis and Steven Vandervelden, and a case agent showed up at the Fed’s headquarters, stating they wished to “check on progress” and that they asked for a “tour.”
A source said they were then told they could not access the site without preauthorized clearance from Fed management and were given the contact information for the Fed’s legal counsel, after which the three left the area.
“Any construction project that has cost overruns of almost 80% over the original construction budget deserves some serious review,” Pirro said in a statement on X after the prosecutors were turned away. “And these people are in charge of monetary policy in the United States?”
Pirro publicly vented her frustrations about Boasberg’s ruling that effectively blocked her office from investigating Powell, which she has vowed to continue appealing despite threats from Republican Sen. Thom Tillis to block any confirmation of Powell’s replacement until the criminal probe is resolved.
The probe centered on Powell’s testimony to Congress last year about cost overruns in a multibillion-dollar office renovation project.
Trump on Wednesday again threatened to fire Powell if he does not step down when his term as chair ends May 15.
“I’ll have to fire him, OK, if he’s not leaving on time — I’ve held back firing him. I’ve wanted to fire him, but I hate to be controversial, you know, I want to be uncontroversial,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo.
Legal experts have questioned if Trump has the authority to fire Powell. His attempt to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook last year is currently awaiting a decision at the Supreme Court.
The confrontational visit also comes as Pirro’s name has repeatedly been floated as a potential permanent replacement for Pam Bondi as the next attorney general.
Powell rebuked the investigation in a video message in January as a politically motivated effort to influence the Fed’s interest rate policy.
Pirro, at a press conference in March, denied that politics played any role in her probe of Powell and the focus was whether public money has been wasted as a result of the Fed’s renovations, and potential false statements to Congress by Powell about the operations.
A suspected Molotov cocktail incendiary device was used to start a fire at the front door of a Tesla sales office in Louisiana, April 14, 2026, according to officials. (ATF New Orleans Field Division)
(NEW ORLEANS) — An apparent Molotov cocktail was used to start a fire outside a Tesla sales office in New Orleans, according to federal officials.
The incendiary device sparked a blaze at the office’s front door just before 8 a.m. Tuesday, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and New Orleans police.
No one was injured, but the business suffered damage, police said.
No arrests have been made, police said.
ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.
The US Treasury building in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Wednesday is Tax Day, the last day of this year’s tax season, and the average refund for filers is up 11% compared to last year’s filing season, according to new Treasury Department data.
The average refund this filing season is “over $3,400,” the Treasury Department data said.
The data, which is as of Tuesday, also showed that “over 53 million filers claimed at least one of President Trump’s signature new tax cuts,” which includes provisions from Trump’s sweeping legislation that was passed last year.
Treasury has also announced that more than 5 million filers have opened so-called Trump Accounts for children who were eligible under the law.
“Treasury and the IRS have worked tirelessly to ensure our tax system works for the people it is meant to serve,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a press release on Wednesday. “From the shop floor to the kitchen table, taxpayers are feeling the difference of the largest tax cuts in our nation’s history, and millions of Americans are keeping more of what they earn and seeing their paychecks go further than ever before.”
Over 25 million filers have claimed No Tax on Overtime, with an average deduction of over $3,100, the department’s data noted, while more than 30 million seniors have claimed the Enhanced Deduction for Seniors, with an average deduction of over $7,500.
The data also showed that more than 105 million filers have claimed the permanently doubled standard deduction — the specific dollar amount that reduces the amount of income on which people are taxed.
The Hookers’ boat, “Soulmate,” is seen in Marsh Harbor on Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas, April 8, 2026. (ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — Cadaver dogs are heading to help with the search for Lynette Hooker, an American woman who’s missing in the Bahamas, according to police.
The K-9 team from the U.S. Coast Guard will be on the ground in Hope Town on Wednesday morning, Advardo Dames, assistant commissioner of the Royal Bahamas Police, told ABC News.
Lynette Hooker has been missing since she went overboard on a dinghy on the evening of April 4.
When the 55-year-old Michigan woman and her husband, Brian Hooker, departed Hope Town on the Abaco Islands for their yacht, Soulmate, in Elbow Cay, bad weather caused her to fall off the dinghy, her husband told authorities.
Brian Hooker, 58, was arrested on April 8 and questioned by police. He was released on Monday without charges.
Brian Hooker told ABC News on Tuesday that he’s staying in the Bahamas with a “sole focus” of finding his wife, “no matter how likely or unlikely that is.”
He said he was planning “to go back to the boat, and then hire or beg people to help me go find some areas to search.”
Brian Hooker’s attorney did not allow him to answer questions about what happened the night his wife went overboard due to the pending investigation.
When asked if there was anything he wishes he’d done differently, Brian Hooker was emotional, saying, “I will always think there was something I could have done differently. My one job, my one job was to look out for her, and that has not happened. And I’m gonna keep looking out for her now, the best I can.”
ABC News’ Brian Andrews contributed to this report.
Near-Earth asteroid Apophis is a potentially hazardous asteroid that will safely pass close to Earth on April 13, 2029. It will come about 20,000 miles (32,000 kilometers) from our planet’s surface — closer than the distance of many satellites in geosynchronous orbit (about 22,236 miles, or 36,000 kilometers, in altitude). (NASA)
(NEW YORK) — A rare asteroid will soon be visible to the naked eye in a rare celestial event, according to astronomers.
Asteroid 99942 Apophis – named after the Egyptian deity of chaos, darkness and fire – is expected to safely pass close to Earth on April 13, 2029, according to NASA.
The asteroid will pass within roughly 20,000 miles of Earth – nearly 12 times closer than the moon’s average distance from Earth, and closer than many satellites in geosynchronous orbit – making it one one of the closest approaches ever recorded for an object if its size and a “very rare event,” according to NASA.
The approach will be visible to observers on the ground in the Eastern Hemisphere, weather permitting, according to NASA. It will be close enough that sky-watchers won’t need a telescope or binoculars to see it, astronomers say.
When Apophis was first discovered in 2004, it was labeled a potentially hazardous asteroid because of the possibility that it could impact Earth in 2029, 2036 or 2068, according to NASA.
After closely tracking the asteroid and its orbit using optical telescopes and ground-based radar, astronomers are now confident that there is no risk of Apophis impacting Earth for at least 100 years.
The Earth’s gravitational pull could change the asteroid’s orbit around the sun as it passes in 2029, making the orbit slightly larger or the orbital period slightly longer, but the risk of impact with Earth will remain the same, NASA says. Its close passage will also afford astronomers around the world the opportunity to learn more about the asteroid.
Apophis is the Greek name for the Egyptian god known as Apep. The name was proposed by the astronomers who discovered the asteroid: Roy Tucker, David Tholen and Fabrizio Bernardi of the Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona.
The asteroid is a relic of the early solar system from about 4.6 billion years ago, made of leftover raw material that was never part of a planet or moon, according to NASA. Though its exact size and shape is unknown, it has a mean diameter of about 1,115 feet and a long axis of at least 1,480 feet.
Apophis’ surface is weathered due to eons of exposure to space weather, including solar wind and cosmic rays, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Observatories around the world and in space will observe the asteroid’s historic approach to Earth in order to better understand its physical properties.
NASA has redirected a spacecraft to rendezvous with Apophis shortly after its close approach in 2029, while the European Space Agency is sending a spacecraft to study it.
When the April 2029 flyby occurs, Apophis will become a member of the “Apollo” group, the family of asteroids that cross Earth’s orbit but that themselves have orbits around the sun that are wider than the Earth’s, according to the ESA.
he Terrorism Containment Center (CECOT) maximum security prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023. (Camilo Freedman/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — A federal appeals court on Tuesday halted a criminal contempt inquiry into former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other officials for last year’s deportation of more than 200 Venezuelans to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison, marking the second time in less than a year that the probe has been frozen.
A divided panel of judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered an end to the inquiry, concluding that the probe into whether the officials knowingly defied a court order with the deportations “encroaches on the autonomy” of the executive branch.
The Trump administration, in March 2025, invoked the Alien Enemies Act — an 18th century wartime authority used to remove noncitizens with little-to-no due process — to deport two planeloads of alleged migrant gang members by arguing that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is a “hybrid criminal state” that is invading the United States.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order and ordered that the planes be turned around, but Justice Department attorneys said his oral instructions directing the flight to be returned were defective, and the deportations proceeded as planned.
Boasberg subsequently sought contempt proceedings against the government for deliberately defying his order, and had concluded that “probable cause exists to find the government in criminal contempt” — but his inquiry was frozen by the same appeals court last year.
When Boasberg attempted to continue with his probe within the confines of the court’s order, the Trump administration filed an interlocutory appeal to stop the investigation outright.
“The district court proposes to probe high-level Executive Branch deliberations about matters of national security and diplomacy,” Judge Neomi Rao, one of two Trump appointees on the panel who ruled in favor of the government, wrote in Tuesday’s order. “These proceedings are a clear abuse of discretion, as the district court’s order said nothing about transferring custody of the plaintiffs and therefore lacks the clarity to support criminal contempt based on the transfer of custody.”
Judge J. Michelle Childs dissented from the majority and argued that Boasberg should have the latitude to proceed with basic fact-finding into the deportations.
“There is no question that there could be much to fear in a factual inquiry about the actions of potential contemnors who may have defied a court order. However, that does not mean that this court must intervene to end a criminal case before it begins, even for the Executive Branch,” she wrote.
In a sharply worded dissent, she argued that “the fate of our democratic republic” depends on whether courts can properly investigate and punish contempt.
“Without the contempt power, the rule of law is an illusion, a theory that stands upon shifting sands,” she said.
Olivia Troye, former national security official under the Trump administration, speaks during the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, US, on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Olivia Troye, a former aide to Vice President Mike Pence who was among the highest-profile Trump administration officials to become a vocal critic of the president during his first term, is launching a bid for Congress as a Democrat in Virginia.
Troye served as Pence’s homeland security adviser but spoke out against President Donald Trump over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and has since become a fierce critic of Trump. She also spoke at the 2024 Democratic National Convention as one of the Republicans supporting then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid.
“They sent MAGA after me. Tried to bankrupt me. Threatened to kill me. They thought they could silence me. They obviously don’t know me very well,” Troye said in a video released by her campaign.
“In 2024, nothing could keep me from telling the truth on the stage of the Democratic National Convention. Because I believe in fighting for what’s right — for those who can’t fight for themselves. That’s why I’m a Democrat and that’s why I’m running for Congress.”
A press release from her campaign says that Troye is set to run in the “new proposed seventh district” in Virginia. That refers to the district lines in a new congressional map proposed by Democrats; voters are deciding in an April 21 statewide ballot measure vote in Virginia if the Democratic-controlled legislature should be allowed to implement it.
The current 7th district is represented by Democratic Rep. Eugene Vindman, although under the proposed map Vindman would be in the new 1st district. Troye’s campaign says she is working on helping the measure pass, but would not mount a primary challenge to Vindman if it does not.
Multiple other notable candidates such as former Virginia First Lady Dorothy McAuliffe, former federal prosecutor JP Cooney, and state Delegate Dan Helmer are also running for the proposed 7th district.
Severe weather outlook for Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — More than 50 million people across the Midwest are bracing for severe weather on Tuesday, a day after baseball-sized hail and multiple tornadoes were reported in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Kansas.
The threat of damaging storms has shifted slightly south from where strong winds blew the roofs off several buildings on Monday, including the collapse of a nursing home roof in Lodi, Wisconsin.
A level 3 out of 5 “enhanced risk” for severe storms is in place on Tuesday for parts of Iowa, southern Wisconsin, northern Illinois, far northern Indiana, far northwestern Ohio and southern Michigan. Strong tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail are possible for parts of the Midwest on Tuesday, including the cities of Chicago, Milwaukee, Des Moines, Iowa and Detroit.
A level 3 out of 5 “enhanced risk” for severe storms is also in place on Tuesday for parts of central Oklahoma. Some tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail are possible for parts of the south-central Plains on Tuesday, including Oklahoma City.
A widespread area from the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas to the U.S.-Canadian border in Michigan is under the threat of slightly less severe storms on Tuesday.
Tornadoes, especially in Oklahoma, are possible, along with large hail and damaging winds.
In the Northeast, there is also a chance for severe storms in parts of the region on Tuesday, with damaging wind gusts expected from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire, including the cities of Scranton, Pennsylvania, Binghamton and Albany, New York, and Burlington, Vermont.
The storms are expected to pop up in the Northeast sometime after 3 p.m. ET on Tuesday and continue into the evening.
The severe weather comes after destructive storms hit on Monday in parts of rural Minnesota, Wisconsin and Kansas.
At least 14 tornadoes were reported on Monday across Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin.
The sheriff’s office in Franklin County, Kansas, reported that three people suffered minor injuries when a suspected tornado touched down in Ottawa, Kansas.
Video taken by ABC Kansas City affiliate station, KMBC, showed the roofs ripped off several buildings in the Ottawa area, including a motel in the city.
In nearby Hillsdale, Kansas, in Miami County, more than 50 homes were damaged by a suspected tornado, according to the Red Cross, which was providing support for displaced families.
On Wednesday, severe storms are expected to be in place from Oklahoma, including Oklahoma City and Tulsa, to southern Wisconsin. Parts of Kansas, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Ohio, including the cities of Pittsburgh and Cleveland, could also be in the path of severe weather on Wednesday.
In Michigan, heavy rains over the past few days, combined with snow melt, caused flooding on Monday when several rivers, including the Manistee River in northwest Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, overflowed, officials said. Several roads and bridges were washed away in the flood and some homes were damaged by the floodwaters, authorities said.
The Manistee River, near Sherman, Michigan, reached a new record level on Monday and was still rising early Tuesday morning as heavy rain continued to fall. The river has surpassed 18 feet, topping its previous record of 16.9 feet set in April 2014, authorities said.
Residents living downstream from two Michigan dams were advised to evacuate after seepage was found at the base of the Bellaire Dam in Antrim County. The Cheboygan Dam in Cheboygan County, near Lake Huron, was at risk of failing, authorities said Monday night.
Rain in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is expected to taper off on Tuesday afternoon, but another round of thunderstorms is expected to bring more rain to the area on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, increasing the flooding threat and adding pressure to the Bellaire and Cheboygan dams.
