(SAN FRANCISCO) — The occupants of two vehicles exchanged gunfire as they raced through the streets of San Francisco on Sunday, leaving people injured by gunshots and flying glass along a mile-long path near the Embarcadero, police said.
Six people were injured during the “car-to-car” shooting, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said.
The injured included two people who were hit by gunfire, one of whom sustained life-threatening injuries, police said. A 10-year-old was also hit by a vehicle as she walked a bike across a street and three other people were injured by flying glass, police said.
“It appears that this was an isolated incident,” Scott said during a press conference. “And these individuals were targeting each other. We don’t believe this was random at all.”
The shooting began just before 7 p.m. near the intersection of Beach and Stockton streets, Scott said. The intersection is about a block south of Pier 39, a popular tourist destination along the city’s Embarcadero.
The vehicles — a black SUV and white sedan — then chased each other for about a mile, racing down the Embarcadero as the occupants exchanged gunfire, police said.
“And the cars basically drove very recklessly and chased each other while engaged in gunfire — in exchange of gunfire — until that incident concluded right behind me at Howard and the Embarcadero,” Scott said.
Officers arrived within four minutes and nobody has yet been taken into custody, Scott said. He said he expects there will be “a lot” of video of the incident, including cellphone footage.
ABC News’ Flor Tolentino and Amanda Morris contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Three women were injured late Sunday afternoon in a series of subway slashing incidents, New York Police Department officials said, as they released photos of a suspect.
At about 4:14 p.m., police received reports of a slashing that took place at the 86th Street-Lexington Avenue subway station, police said. A 19-year-old woman exited a southbound 4 train and was walking up the platform stairs when a male suspect slashed her right leg, the NYPD said in a press release.
The suspect then is alleged to have attacked a 48-year-old woman at the same station, slashing her on her right leg as she stood on the subway platform, police said.
The suspect fled on a downtown 4 train, and both victims were transported and treated at a local hospital for their injuries, police said.
A second incident was reported just minutes later, at about 4:32 p.m., when a 28-year-old woman who was sitting on a southbound 4 train heading toward the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station was slashed in her left leg, police said.
The suspect again fled the scene, police said. The victim was transported to a local hospital for her injuries, which police described as a “severe laceration.”
Police said they are looking for a male with short black hair and brown eyes. The about 5-foot-8-inch man is about 220 lbs, police said.
The suspect, according to police, was last seen wearing a white shirt, blue pants, black sneakers, and a black baseball cap.
(BEIJING) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday at 4:30 p.m. local time, according to an official with the U.S. Department of State.
The meeting comes amid soaring tensions between the United States and China, fueling concerns that the two counties could break out into conflict.
“State-to-state interactions should always be based on mutual respect and sincerity. I hope that Secretary Blinken, through this visit, could make positive contribution to stabilizing China-U.S. relations,” Xi said in opening remarks to Blinken before their closed-door meeting, according to Chinese state media.
Blinken, America’s top diplomat, arrived in the Chinese capital on Sunday for an official two-day visit aimed at easing tensions. He is the first U.S. secretary of state to visit China in five years and the highest-level U.S. official to make the trip since President Joe Biden took office.
On the first day of his high-stakes trip, Blinken met with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang for nearly six hours and, afterwards, both sides said they had agreed to continue high-level discussions, with Qin accepting an invitation from Blinken to visit Washington, D.C. However, behind closed doors, Qin told Blinken that China-U.S. ties “are at the lowest point since the establishment of diplomatic relations,” according to Chinese state media.
Earlier Monday, Blinken met with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi for about three hours.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(MIFFLINTOWN, Pa.) — A state police trooper was killed and another was critically injured during two violent encounters with the same armed suspect in central Pennsylvania, the first unfolding in the parking lot of a state police barracks, authorities said.
The suspect, Brandon Stine of Thompsontown, Pennsylvania, was fatally shot during a gunfight with officer Jacques Rougeau Jr., a 29-year-old state police trooper, who was killed, according to the Pennsylvania State Police.
State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens described the exchange of gunfire between the officer and suspect as being like in “a warzone,” according to ABC affiliate station WHTM-TV in Harrisburg.
The violence began at 12:45 p.m. Saturday when the gunman opened fire on Pennsylvania state trooper James Wagner in the parking lot of the Lewiston Station state police barracks near Mifflintown, about 45 miles northwest of Harrisburg, according to police. Wagner was taken to the hospital and was listed in critical condition on Sunday, police said.
After allegedly shooting Wagner, Stein fled the scene, setting off an intense search that lasted more than two hours, according to police.
During the search, Stine called 911 several times, Bivens said. State police officers attempted to talk Stine into surrendering but Bivens said the suspect seemed to be “playing a game of cat and mouse.”
Police eventually tracked down Stein and cornered him in Walker Township, about 50 miles northwest of Mifflintown, Bivens said.
Rougeau was among the first officers to arrive at the scene in Walker Township and was hit by a bullet that was fired through his windshield in what authorities said appeared to be an ambush by Stine, according to Bivens. Rougeau managed to return fire, killing Stine, according to police.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Pennsylvania State Police Col. Christopher Paris visited Wagner and his family in a hospital.
“I thanked his colleagues for their service and prayed for his recovery,” Shapiro said in a statement released on Twitter.
Shapiro said he and his wife Lori “send our love to the family of the trooper killed.”
Shapiro praised the two state troopers who were shot, saying, “Each one put themselves on the line to protect their fellow troopers — and to protect their fellow Pennsylvanians.”
A motive for the shootings remained under investigation Sunday.
At least 25 U.S. law enforcement officers have now been shot to death in the line of duty this year, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page. In 2022, a total of 61 U.S. law enforcement officers were killed by gunfire in the line of duty, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page website.
(WASHINGTON) — At 10 months old, Hodge Gomez has already roamed the halls of Congress, meeting with politicians and presidents.
He even went viral — watching all 15 rounds of Kevin McCarthy’s historically messy fight for the speakership from the arms of his dad, California Rep. Jimmy Gomez.
“He’s a famous little baby,” Gomez recently told ABC News, joking, “I’m just riding his coattails.”
Hodges’ charm, and Gomez’s new fatherhood, led him this year to help create the Congressional Dads Caucus, a group of 28 lawmakers, all Democrats, focusing on what they call the big picture parenting issues, like expanding the child tax credit and paid family leave.
“Now I get other issues in a more visceral sense. Like child care. It’s expensive,” Gomez said.
“You can see it on paper,” he said, “but when you’re going through it, you’re experiencing what other parents experience.”
Since the spread of COVID-19 in 2020, dads across the country say they have started taking a larger role in parenting.
But according to Pew Research data, while fathers have increased their child care workload over the years, moms still report taking on the most responsibility.
The dads caucus is well aware of that.
“These should not be issues that only moms are worried about or fighting for,” said Rep. Dan Goldman of New York, who co-founded the caucus with Gomez and New Jersey Rep. Andy Kim.
“The burden still disproportionately falls on mothers. And part of what we’re trying to do is uplift the responsibility that dads have for families,” Goldman said.
While they work, members of Congress are often stuck on Capitol Hill, away from their kids sometimes nearly half of the year.
“Their assumption is that I’m not going to be there in some way. … And what pains me about this is like the only reason I’m here is because I’m a dad,” Kim said.
But for advice on how to balance it all, look no further than Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the No. 3-ranking Republican in the House. Emmer and his wife raised six boys and one girl.
“Kids come first no matter what. I’ve actually had this conversation with members already: Your family comes first,” he told ABC News.
A hockey dad and coach-turned-congressman, Emmer has carried lessons from the rink to Washington.
“All the personalities are different. People have up days and down days. My wife has always said when we had everybody at home — she called it organized chaos,” he said.
Gomez and his wife, Mary, say they wouldn’t trade Hodge’s papoose or the Capitol diaper changes for the world.
For them, Hodge — with his wide-eyes always looking toward the future — is a symbol of what they’re fighting for.
“He’s part of a story, he’s part of a family, and that’s what I want him to know,” Gomez said. “Not just that his dad was a member of Congress, but what his grandparents sacrificed, what their parents sacrificed, and understand what his role is in the bigger story of America but also of his own family.”
Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(WILLOWBROOK, Ill.) — At least 23 people were injured, one fatally, when gunfire erupted early Sunday at a Juneteenth celebration in suburban Chicago, authorities said.
The shooting unfolded about 12:30 a.m. in the parking lot of a strip mall in Willowbrook, about 23 miles west of Chicago, according to the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office.
The gunfire erupted during a large gathering of several hundred people to commemorate Juneteenth, Battalion Chief Joe Ostrander with the Tri-State Fire Protection District told ABC Chicago station WLS-TV.
Victims were taken to multiple area hospital with gunshot wounds, according to the sheriff’s office. One person was pronounced dead and at least two were in critical condition, Deputy Chief Eric Swanson of the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office said at a news conference.
No arrests have been announced.
A motive for the shooting is under investigation.
Sheriff’s deputies had been monitoring the annual Juneteenth celebration when they responded to a 911 call of a fight breaking out nearby, the sheriff’s department said. While deputies were investigating the report of the fight, they heard gunshots and immediately returned to the Juneteenth celebration, authorities said.
“An unknown number of suspects fired multiple rounds from multiple weapons into the crowd,” police said in a statement.
In addition to those shot, several victims were treated at area hospitals for injuries they suffered attempting to flee the area, according to the sheriff’s office.
Detectives were combing through security video and witness cellphone video Sunday afternoon in hopes of identifying suspects, authorities said.
Witnesses described a scene of panic with people scattering in all directions, seeking cover from the barrage of gunfire.
“It was supposed to be like a Juneteenth celebration; we just started hearing shooting, so we dropped down until they stopped. They just kept going. After that, we literally scattered away,” witness Markeshia Avery told WLS-TV.
(ST. LOUIS) — An overnight shooting at a party in a downtown St. Louis office building injured at least 10 people and killed one person, St. Louis police chief Robert Tracy said at a press conference Sunday afternoon.
Eight out of the 11 victims, including the deceased, were minors, according to St. Louis police. Five of the victims were male, while six were female.
The victims are between 15 and 19 years old, according to police.
The deceased victim has been identified as Makao Moore, a 17-year-old boy, according to St. Louis Police Department Sgt. Charles Wall.
A 17-year-old girl was trampled when trying to run from the shooting, resulting in serious spinal cord injuries, Tracy said.
Police recovered multiple firearms and shell casings at the scene, including “AR-style rifle pistols” and a handgun, according to Tracy.
The suspect in custody is a17-year-old male who lives outside of St. Louis, Tracy said.
The shooting took place on the fifth floor of an office building in downtown St. Louis, according to authorities.
The initial investigation suggested the social gathering was organized through social media direct messaging platforms, though law enforcement does not currently know how the attendees got access to the office building.
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones attributed the shooting to Missouri’s “lax” gun laws, including the state legislature’s February decision to continue allowing minors to carry firearms, as well as downtown St. Louis being a late-night gathering place for young people from outside the city.
“Rather than celebrating 10 fathers [and] father figures, families in our very own community are dealing with the unthinkable,” Jones said at the press conference.
“It’s every parent’s worst nightmare, tenfold,” she said of the shooting. “My heart goes out to all of the families in pain today. All those attending will carry with them the scars, physical and mental, from the gun violence that tore into their lives.”
Missouri has some of the weakest gun laws in the country, according to the nonprofit anti-gun violence organization Everytown for Gun Safety.
The state does not require a background check to buy or own a gun, according to Everytown.
Anyone 19 and older can legally conceal and/or open carry a gun in Missouri without a permit, according to the law, and the state also recognizes concealed weapon permits issued by other states.
(OKLAHOMA CITY) — While tens of millions of Americans in the South are enduring a sweltering heat wave, another round of severe storms is threatening other parts of the region.
Nearly 300,000 customers across Oklahoma were without power following severe storms Saturday into Sunday morning, according to two of the state’s power providers, Oklahoma Gas and Electric and the Public Service Company of Oklahoma.
Relentless rounds of severe thunderstorms continue to batter parts of the South this weekend, with thunderstorms expected to touch down from Arkansas to the Florida Panhandle from Sunday afternoon through the evening, forecasts show.
Strong, potentially damaging wind gusts and large hail remain the primary hazards of the latest sequence of storm systems, with the possibility of isolated tornadoes and frequent lightning.
The severe weather threat will linger across parts of the northern Gulf Coast region on Monday, focusing from the Mississippi coast and eastward across the Florida Panhandle, including cities such as Mobile, Alabama, and Tallahassee, Florida.
Any strong, slow-moving thunderstorms bringing torrential rain could trigger areas of flash flooding on Monday across parts of the Southeast, as well.
By early Sunday afternoon, nearly 300 reports of severe weather were issued from Colorado to Florida over the weekend. The majority of the reports detailed strong wind gusts, wind damage and large hail, as well as multiple tornado reports since Saturday. Most of the tornados were reported as either brief, weak or taking place in open fields.
Hail larger than baseballs was reported in multiple locations, including central Texas, the Oklahoma panhandle and southwestern Kansas, according to the National Weather Service. Numerous wind gusts topping 70 mph were reported across northern Oklahoma on Saturday evening, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, was hit hard with widespread wind damage and power outages reported in the city. Wind gusts up to 100 mph were reported there on Saturday night.
In Oklahoma, outages centralized in the Tulsa and McAlester metro areas were caused by severe weather, including wind gusts up to 90 mph that caused “sustained substantial damage to the grid including transmission structures, broken poles, cross-arms and downed wires,” PSO said in a statement.
The outages are “the most significant restoration event” since an ice storm severely damaged the grid in 2007, PSO said, adding that it will take several days to recover power.
The system comes days after five people were killed as tornadoes rolled through Texas last week.
And another strong storm system could be approaching from the Atlantic in the coming weeks.
A tropical disturbance located several hundred miles southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands is showing signs of better organization and will likely develop into a tropical depression within the next 48 hours, forecasts show. The system will continue to move westward over the central Atlantic Ocean and could be near the Lesser Antilles by the end of the week.
ABC News’ Nicholas Kerr contributed to this report.
(GEORGE, Wa.) — A suspect was detained after at least two people were killed during an “active shooter” situation at a campground near the Gorge Amphitheatre on Saturday in Washington, the sheriff said.
“Officers pursued, closed in on the suspect, and have the suspect in custody. Multiple individuals have suffered gunshot wounds,” the Grant County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post at about 10:50 p.m.
Three others, including the alleged shooter, were injured, said Kyle Foreman, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office.
The suspect opened fire at about 8:20 p.m. in an area about 100 yards away from the venue, Foreman said during a press briefing.
After the alleged shooter “walked away,” law enforcement officials arrived and tracked the suspect down, Foreman said. The suspect “continued to shoot randomly into the crowd” before being taken into custody, he said.
The sheriff had earlier posted that there was an “active shooter at Gorge Amphitheatre,” adding, “If at the Gorge, seek cover. Run, hide or fight suspect.”
The open-air venue, which can host up to 27,500 people, was scheduled on Saturday to host Beyond Wonderland, an electronic dance festival.
“Please avoid the Gorge Gate H campgrounds area as it is closed due to an incident that has been handled by local authorities,” Beyond Wonderland said on Twitter. “There is no current danger to festival-goers or the campgrounds.”
Promoters of the electronic dance festival announced Sunday morning that the second day of the festival has been canceled “due to the incident that took place in the overflow camping area.”
“We would like to express our sincere appreciation to the local authorities and staff who acted quickly and managed the situation,” the promoters said in a statement. “Our heartfelt thoughts and condolences go out to the family, friends, and all those affected by this tragic event.”
ABC News’ Victoria Arancio and Amanda Morris contributed to this story.
(GREENVILLE, S.C) — The South Carolina Republican Party voted unanimously on Saturday to hold their 2024 GOP presidential primary on February 24 next year, sources close to the process told ABC News.
The potential move would lengthen the time candidates have to focus on campaigning across the pivotal Palmetto State compared to the 2016 GOP election cycle.
The designation, if approved by the Republican National Committee, would upend the usual cadence of the Republican nominating calendar by placing South Carolina after Nevada for the first time in cycles. It would also make South Carolina Republicans vote 18 days after Nevada’s scheduled primary, putting the first-in-the-South presidential primary state front and center in the race for more than two full weeks.
In 2016, South Carolina’s Republican primary came three days before Nevada held its caucuses– when campaigns were pinballing between the two early states in an effort to sway each electorate.
A February 24 primary next year would give candidates far more time than in previous cycles to concentrate on winning South Carolina.
“This gives South Carolina the most exposure to candidates to come campaign in our state,” a source close to the process told ABC News.
The proposal earned applause from at least one presidential campaign: that of Ron DeSantis, whose team is bullish on the Florida governor’s chances in South Carolina.
“This could not have shaken out any better for us. We were happy to support this decision and look forward to competing to win in all four early states,” Andrew Romeo, a spokesman for the DeSantis campaign, told ABC News in a statement.
“Governor DeSantis has the strongest political operation and footprint of any of the announced candidates, including Biden,” he added.
Chris Murphy, a Republican member of the South Carolina House of Representatives who is involved in the DeSantis campaign’s operations in the state, told ABC News that the governor’s past military service and his wife’s ties to the state – she graduated from the College of Charleston and her parents live in Aiken – should attract South Carolina Republican voters.
“I think he’s going to win, just based on everything I’m seeing on the ground,” he said.
A spokesman for former President Donald Trump’s campaign did not comment directly on the South Carolina GOP vote when reached by ABC News but accused DeSantis of attempting to “claim any victory he can, even if it’s completely detached from reality.”
Representatives for multiple other presidential campaigns did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The proposed date would set South Carolina behind Nevada in the GOP nominating calendar for the first time since 2008, when South Carolina voted on Jan. 19, the same day Nevada held its caucus. In 2016, the Republican primary date was Feb. 20, which was three days ahead of Nevada’s caucus on Feb. 23. In 2012, South Carolina Republicans voted in the primaries on Jan. 21, two weeks before Nevada Republicans caucused.
The South Carolina GOP also voted on Saturday to approve participation thresholds for presidential candidates: a filing fee of $50,000 per candidate and a filing deadline of October 31, 2023, according to one source close to the process.
In South Carolina, primary dates are chosen by state party officials, which are then approved by the RNC. Every state has until October 1, 2023, to submit to the RNC their plans for electing or awarding delegates.
“Every state has until October 1st to let the RNC know what their plan is for electing, selecting, allocating, and binding delegates. We look forward to reviewing each state and territory’s plans,” Emma Vaughn, an RNC spokesperson, said of South Carolina’s Saturday vote.
The Democratic National Committee voted in February to make South Carolina the first state on their presidential primary calendar–on Feb. 3, 2024.
“This calendar reflects who we are as a nation,” DNC Party Chair Jamie Harrison said at the time.
In Nevada, the presidential primary for both parties is already scheduled by the Secretary of State’s office to be held on February 6. However, the Nevada Republican Party is suing the state to allow the party to hold a caucus – the method both major parties in Nevada have used for decades in presidential election years.
“We look forward to holding [a caucus] in Feb 2024,” Alida Benson, the Nevada Republican Party’s executive director, told ABC News.
If the party’s legal challenge is successful, Benson said a caucus would likely be held in early February 2024.
ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Soo Rin Kim, Hannah Demissie and Abby Cruz contributed to this story.
