(HOT SPRINGS, Ark.) — Police in Hot Springs, Arkansas, said they arrested a man after a shooting left one person dead and three others injured following a high school graduation.
The three injured were transported to local hospitals to be treated and suffered non-life threatening injuries, according to the Hot Springs Police Department.
Police say the shooting occurred after a large fight broke out in a parking lot across from a convention center where the ceremony was being held for Hot Springs World Class High School on Thursday night.
“During the fight, HSPD officers and Garland County deputies were on scene attempting to defuse the situation when a single gunman began shooting into the crowd. Officers of the HSPD returned fire on the suspect, later identified as Charles Johnson,” Officer Omar Cervantes, a spokesperson for the HSPD, told ABC News in a statement on Friday.
Johnson, 25, was wounded, but able to flee the scene, Cervantes said. He was later arrested while getting treatment for his wounds at a local hospital, he said. Johnson has been charged with one count of murder in the first degree and three counts of battery.
Arkansas State Police are investigating the officer-involved shooting and the officers involved have been placed on administrative leave with pay until the investigation is complete, Cervantes said.
Hot Springs Superintendent Dr. Stephanie Nehus acknowledged the incident in a Facebook update on Friday saying school counselors and staff will be working with students who witnessed events.
“We are heartbroken that these violent events took place following such a beautiful celebration for our graduates and their families. Our Law Enforcement Officers and staff will continue to do all that we can to collaborate with local law enforcement agencies/officials to complete an investigation,” Nehus said.
No current students or graduates were involved in the incident, Nehus said in an earlier post. “Our hearts and thoughts are with all individuals who suffered injuries tonight,” she said.
Hot Springs is about an hour west of Little Rock, Arkansas.
(NEW YORK) — Delaware State University announced plans to file a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice over what its president called a “constitutionally dubious” drug search of a bus transporting its women’s lacrosse team through Georgia last month.
The historically Black university intends to file the complaint next week, alleging “misconduct” by the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office, the school’s president, Tony Allen, said during a press briefing Friday.
Allen did not go into detail on the contents of the complaint ahead of the filing, but said that “from our standpoint, the evidence is clear and compelling.”
“What we believe is that the search was conducted inappropriately, and there was implicit racial bias in the search,” he said, noting that the lacrosse team is 70% African American.
The university is seeking “justice” for the student-athletes, who may choose to pursue legal action on their own, Allen said.
Liberty County deputies pulled the bus over for an alleged traffic violation that then turned into a drug search. Nothing illegal was found, authorities and school officials said.
The incident, which occurred on April 20, came to light after one of the team’s lacrosse players wrote about the search in the school’s newspaper last week with the headline, “Delaware State Women’s Lacrosse Team Felt Racially Profiled by Police in Georgia.” The player also released a video of part of the deputies’ interactions with the team.
The team’s head coach, Pamella Jenkins, also charged that it was an incident of racial profiling in interview with ABC Philadelphia station WPVI.
In response to the allegations, Liberty County Sheriff William Bowman said this week that there was probable cause for the luggage search due to an alert from a K9.
“Although I do not believe any racial profiling took place based on the information I currently have, I welcome feedback from our community on ways that our law enforcement practices can be improved while still maintaining the law,” he said.
The sheriff’s office also released body-camera footage of the incident, during which a deputy can be heard telling the student-athletes to come forward with anything “questionable.”
“Marijuana is still illegal in the state of Georgia,” he said.
Prior to conducting the search, the deputy can be heard while in his cruiser saying, “There’s a bunch of dang school girls on the bus. There’s probably some weed. Maybe.”
The university contacted Delaware Attorney General Kathleen Jennings about the incident, who this week wrote to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division “urging a full examination,” she said.
In her letter, Jennings said she was “deeply troubled” by what happened.
“By all accounts these young women represented their school and our state with class — and they were rewarded with a questionable-at-best search through their belongings in an effort to find contraband that did not exist,” she wrote. “Not only did the deputies find nothing illegal in the bags; they did not issue a single ticket for the alleged traffic infraction.”
(WASHINGTON) — House Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, gathered on the steps of the U.S. Capitol facing the Supreme Court on Friday, calling on the justices to defend access to abortion on the eve of abortion rights protests in Washington and nationwide.
It comes after the unprecedented leak last week of a Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade followed by Senate Democrats’ failure to codify abortion rights into federal law on Wednesday.
“Americans are marching and making their voices heard,” Pelosi said. “Public sentiment is everything. We will never stop fighting for patients and their health care.”
Pelosi said Republicans around the country have already mobilized a “dangerous” and “extreme” agenda to criminalize all forms of reproductive healthcare — referring to the conservative push for a nationwide abortion ban — even though Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he would not try to break a Democratic filibuster to block a ban should Republicans take control of Congress.
She warned, because Roe is based on a constitutional right to privacy, that other similar rights such as same-sex marriage and contraception would be stripped from Americans if Roe case is overturned.
Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., sponsor of the Women’s Health Protection Act, commended her colleagues for passing her House bill in September that would provide a national right to abortion, calling it the “most supportive” reproductive rights bill in the history of Congress.
Chu called out West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin who voted with anti-abortion Republicans to block the Senate bill, arguing it went “too far.”
“Even though Senator Manchin did not join, all of the other 49 Senate Democrats did. I also want to talk about that to so called pro-choice Republicans who voted against whip-up because they said our bill goes too far. Well, that’s not true. It does exactly what we need it to do — uphold Roe versus Wade.”
Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., co-chair of the congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, said Republican lawmakers are “out of step” with Americans’ views because a majority of them support abortion access and personal liberty to make their own decisions regarding their reproductive health care.
“This is personal for many of us,” said Lee. “It’s personal for me, because I know firsthand what being denied access to legal abortion looks like. I have personally experienced the fear the stigma, the trauma, the despair, of being denied the care that you need. I know what it’s like to have your medical decisions criminalized to be forced to travel for the care that you need and to see your future hang on the decisions of politicians rather than doctors.”
Reps. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., and Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., called on Americans to mobilize for the approaching midterms in November.
“I am proud to stand with my Democratic colleagues and with our speaker,” said Maloney. “We are united in our resolve to defend abortion rights in this country with our like minded men and women. And it’s time to take America forward again.”
(DALLAS) — Haley Taylor Schlitz made headlines in 2019 after getting accepted into nine law schools. She was just 16 at the time.
Now, after three years of classes, long nights, clerkships and internships – and a pandemic to boot – Taylor Schlitz is ready to step into her next chapter.
The 19-year-old from Keller, Texas, graduates from Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law on Friday and will become the Dallas law school’s youngest Black student to do so, the school confirmed to “Good Morning America.”
“We are incredibly proud of Haley and all she has accomplished during her time at SMU Law School. We know she is going to make a difference in this world, and we can’t wait to see all the wonderful places her career will take her,” SMU Dedman School of Law Professor Jennifer Collins told “GMA” in an emailed statement.
Schlitz told “GMA” it feels surreal to finally be graduating but is ready for her big day.
“It’s just been a lot of buildup and it’s really exciting to take off,” the student said.
She’ll be celebrating this weekend with her family, including her mother, father and siblings before she gets cracking on her bar exam studies next Monday. “My village is a huge part of my motivation to keep going,” Schlitz said.
“My mom has been probably my absolute biggest motivator, my biggest supporter, the person that I look up to the most,” she continued. “She’s an ER doctor and so for the longest time, I wanted to be an ER doctor, but even after wanting to be an attorney, and now going to law school, she’s still somebody that is such a huge life counselor, such a great advisor for me.”
When she stopped by the “GMA” studio three years ago, Schlitz said she wanted to “help other students and fight for equity” and with law school wrapped up, she wants to do just that.
“I absolutely feel that even more strongly now,” Schlitz said. “It’s so much more tangible. I’m so close to actually being able to make that impact that I’ve been talking about … write that legislation, really get active.”
Schlitz, who cited criminal law and torts law as her two favorite law school courses, hopes to work in educational policy or teach. “I have quite a few job offers and right now, it just depends on where I want to be in the country,” she said.
For others searching for their own success, Schlitz said she had one key message for them.
“You don’t find your path. You make it,” she said. “Take life by the reins, by the horns, and just really make what you want your reality.”
She also encouraged people to take advantage of opportunities and not to be afraid to take chances.
“It’s OK to make mistakes,” Schlitz said.
She went on, “Just go back to your foundation and build up again and don’t be confined to boxes or stereotypes or when other people are trying to say whether it’s no or yes. It’s really up to you.”
(AUSTIN, Texas) — The Texas Supreme Court reversed the statewide halt on investigations into parents who provide gender-affirming care to their transgender children on Friday.
However, the court also stated that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services is not legally obligated to investigate such care as child abuse based on the directives from Gov. Greg Abbott and state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The court did not rule whether such investigations violate the families’ rights or not — that is still up to lower courts.
In a Feb. 22 letter, Abbott called gender-transitioning or affirming procedures “child abuse,” following an opinion from Paxton that said the same.
Paxton attacked gender-affirming care for LGBTQ youth, saying that his opinion “comes at a critical time” when “Texans are seeing the horrors that flow from the merging of medicine and misguided ideology.”
State District Judge Amy Clark Meachum issued a temporary injunction on the directive in March after hearing from the parents of a 16-year-old transgender girl who were under investigation by DFPS. Meachum also heard from attorneys from the state.
The Texas Court of Appeals later that month affirmed the injunction.
The state Supreme Court said that neither the governor’s letter nor the attorney general’s opinion changed the legal obligations of the DFPS and have no authority over the state agency. Gov. Abbott was dismissed from the case, because the court states he has no authority over such investigations.
In February, the DFPS announced that it would comply with Paxton and Abbott’s directive. It was investigating at least nine families under Paxton’s directive, an agency spokesperson told ABC News.
“In sum, we are directed to no source of law obligating DFPS to base its investigatory decisions on the Governor’s letter or the Attorney General’s Opinion,” the opinion from the Texas Supreme Court states.
The court also will uphold the decision to block an investigation into a family that is suing the DFPS and Governor Greg Abbott over the directive.
According to an ACLU complaint against the state, “some doctors and other providers have discontinued prescribing medically necessary treatment for gender dysphoria to transgender youth” as a result of Abbott’s directive.
(WASHINGTON) — Shortly after the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, then-top Department of Homeland Security official Alejandro Mayorkas saw a picture of a Federal Emergency Management Agency analysis as part of the investigation — and realized the equipment used, to illustrate what happened on the day of bombing and lay out a plethora of evidence and leads, had been purchased through a grant program run by his department.
Years later, a repeat: After a shooting on the New York City subway last month injured 10 people, Mayorkas told ABC News in an interview this week, authorities relied on equipment purchased with FEMA funds to capture “critical evidence.”
“We impact people’s lives by making those lives safer,” said Mayorkas, now the secretary of DHS.
The DHS on Friday announced nearly $1.6 billion as part of the FEMA preparedness grant program for the 2022 fiscal year, available to cities from coast to coast, with a specific focus on terrorism and preventing disasters.
The newly announced awards are the latest in what DHS officials called significant funding funneled to the local level. Since FEMA’s preparedness grant program began in 2002, the department has given localities more than $54 billion.
State and local governments, which can apply annually, can be funded by eight grant programs that range from an increase in law enforcement equipment to overtime for local officers on the southern border.
The grant recipients for the largest amount of money, the Urban Area Security Initiative, have to address six priority areas of cybersecurity, soft target and crowded places, information and intelligence sharing, domestic violent extremism, community preparedness and resilience and election security, according to DHS.
The categories of community preparedness and resilience and election security are new for 2022, Mayorkas told ABC News.
DHS’ continued focus on cybersecurity and domestic extremism comes amid the department’s concerns of possible Russian cyberattacks as retaliation to the U.S. response to the war in Ukraine and what Mayorkas himself has called one of the “greatest” threats to the country: homegrown extremists.
As part of the latest wave of grants, which will be disbursed throughout the 2022 fiscal year, DHS will identify 36 high-threat, high-density cities, states and localities that will receive some of the $615 million funds allocated through the program to focus on the six priority areas.
These areas are selected in a nonpartisan way, Mayorkas stressed.
“This is a risk-based program,” he said.
The secretary told ABC News that officials have increased the percentage of funds — from 25% to 30% — which must be dedicated to law enforcement’s terrorism prevention. Mayorkas cited their “role in preventing terrorist acts on the front lines in each of our communities across the country.”
In years past, according to public filings, the grants have been used to fund local narcotics task forces, training for intelligence analysts and more.
Mayorkas says the program has improved because they’ve engaged with local stakeholders on the flexibility of how they spend their grant money.
Along the southern border — where federal officials have been dealing with historically high levels of migration — the department is allocating $90 million for local communities through their Operation Stonegarden grant.
Operation Stonegarden pays for border officer overtime, Mayorkas said, as well as technology enhancements for local communities, such as phones and tablets to allow for better communication, according to previous filings.
Regarding the southern border, the secretary told ABC News that the federal government has been planning since September for the end of Title 42, the Trump-era policy continued by the Biden administration which expels migrants before they can seek asylum under the auspices of a public heath emergency.
President Joe Biden’s White House is seeking to now roll back the use of Title 42 regarding immigrants — which drew intense criticism from advocates under both Trump and Biden — but that plan is being challenged in court, with the latest hearing scheduled in Louisiana on Friday.
Conservatives have continually voiced concerns about how the government will handle high levels of immigration at the same time that the government’s treatment of these migrants, dating beyond the Biden administration, has also drawn scrutiny.
(ELGIN, Ill.) — Betty Brown was rejected by Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin, Illinois, for nursing school 71 years ago because she is Black. This year, the now-retired 90-year-old is being named an honorary chief nursing officer by that same hospital.
“It was very emotional,” Brown told ABC News. “And it was emotional for the speaker … because of somebody like me, it made her what she is today,” she said, referring to the hospital’s current president, Sheri De Shazo, who is a Black woman.
“That refusal to let that moment that I know was deeply painful — She didn’t let it become a barrier and that’s what inspires me,” De Shazo told ABC 7 Chicago.
Brown didn’t let the rejection 71 years ago phase her — she went on to make history as the first Black nursing student and the first Black nurse at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Joliet, Illinois.
She later returned to work at Advocate Sherman Hospital, but she never held a grudge against the institution.
“I would always say to the young women: don’t give up,” she said. “Keep your eye on the goal and don’t give up and don’t become bitter.”
She’s also a local leader, volunteering with organizations like the local Elgin YWCA, which she says gave her and other Black children a safe place to play and socialize.
“When I was growing up, there weren’t many places that Black young women could go and be accepted and the YWCA was a place that we could go and be accepted,” she said.
She took swimming, tap dancing and music lessons there — and she says the organization sparked her passion for giving back to the community.
“While other organizations were still segregated, we have always welcomed everyone into our programs,” said Alana Freedman, an administrator at YWCA Elgin. “Over the years, almost her entire 90 years, she’s been a supporter of our programs and our mission. She’s come back to teach classes to our children here, like etiquette classes.”
The YWCA honors Brown annually, by presenting a social justice award in her honor to up-and-coming local heroes: the Betty Brown Racial Justice Award. It’s one of the many ways Brown has been honored over the years.
(NEW YORK) — Frank James, the man accused of opening firing on a Brooklyn, New York subway train last month, wounding 10 people, pleaded not guilty Friday in federal court to a two-count indictment that includes a federal terrorism charge.
(BALTIMORE) — Baltimore police are searching for the gunmen who killed a pregnant woman, leaving her newborn in the hospital in critical condition.
Officers found a man and a 38-year-old pregnant woman shot inside a car at about 8:13 p.m. Thursday, Baltimore police said.
Both victims were taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital where the man was immediately pronounced dead, police said.
The woman gave birth and was pronounced dead a short time later, police said.
The newborn is in critical condition as a result of the emergency delivery, not the shooting, Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison told reporters.
Police said they believe at least two gunmen fired multiple shots.
The suspects’ car pulled up next to victims’ car as it was parking, and one person fired out of the passenger window into the victim’s car, police said. Authorities believe the second gunman then got out of the driver’s side and fired into the victim’s car, police said.
“To be quite honest and frank, I don’t really give a s— what the conflict was,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott told reporters. “We cannot have folks shooting at pregnant women in our city.”
Harrison called it a “very, very violent, brazen assault.”
He added, “We will do everything within our power to find who did this, catch them and hold them accountable.”
(NEW YORK) — A new study is offering new clues in solving the medical mystery of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), which causes over 1,000 infant deaths per year in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The study, led by researchers in Australia and published this week in the medical journal eBioMedicine, found that babies who died due to SIDS had lower levels of an enzyme known as Butyrylcholinesterase (BChE).
The previously unidentified enzyme is thought to be involved in the brain pathways that drive a person to take a breath, according to ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton, a board-certified OBGYN.
“Potentially, this would represent a target for intervention,” Ashton said Friday on ABC’s Good Morning America. “If you could screen babies and found they had a low enzyme level, potentially you could improve that.”
Currently, there is no method to know an infant’s risk for SIDS, which is defined as the unexplained death of a baby younger than the age of 1. In most cases, a SIDS death occurs while a baby is sleeping.
Because of the risk of SIDS, medical experts, including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), recommend that parent and caregivers place infants to sleep on their back, practice room-sharing without bed-sharing, avoid any soft objects or bedding in a baby’s sleep area and use only firm sleep surfaces such as a crib, bassinet or pack-and-play.
The AAP offers these additional sleep safety recommendations for babies:
1. Until their first birthday, babies should sleep on their backs for all sleep times — for naps and at night.
“We know babies who sleep on their backs are much less likely to die of SIDS than babies who sleep on their stomachs or sides. The problem with the side position is that the baby can roll more easily onto the stomach. Some parents worry that babies will choke when on their backs, but the baby’s airway anatomy and the gag reflex will keep that from happening. Even babies with gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) should sleep on their backs.”
2. Use a firm sleep surface.
“A crib, bassinet, portable crib, or play yard that meets the safety standards of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is recommended along with a tight-fitting, firm mattress and fitted sheet designed for that particular product. Nothing else should be in the crib except for the baby. A firm surface is a hard surface; it should not indent when the baby is lying on it. Bedside sleepers that meet CPSC safety standards may be an option, but there are no published studies that have examined the safety of these products. In addition, some crib mattresses and sleep surfaces are advertised to reduce the risk of SIDS. There is no evidence that this is true, but parents can use these products if they meet CPSC safety standards.”
3. Keep baby’s sleep area in the same room where you sleep for the first 6 months or, ideally, for the first year.
“Place your baby’s crib, bassinet, portable crib, or play yard in your bedroom, close to your bed. The AAP recommends room sharing because it can decrease the risk of SIDS by as much as 50% and is much safer than bed sharing. In addition, room sharing will make it easier for you to feed, comfort, and watch your baby.”
4. Only bring your baby into your bed to feed or comfort.
“Place your baby back in his or her own sleep space when you are ready to go to sleep. If there is any possibility that you might fall asleep, make sure there are no pillows, sheets, blankets, or any other items that could cover your baby’s face, head, and neck, or overheat your baby. As soon as you wake up, be sure to move the baby to his or her own bed … Bed-sharing is not recommended for any babies.”
5. Never place your baby to sleep on a couch, sofa, or armchair.
“This is an extremely dangerous place for your baby to sleep.”
6. Keep soft objects, loose bedding and other items out of the baby’s sleep area.
“These include pillows, quilts, comforters, sheepskins, blankets, toys, bumper pads or similar products that attach to crib slats or sides. If you are worried about your baby getting cold, you can use infant sleep clothing, such as a wearable blanket. In general, your baby should be dressed with only one layer more than you are wearing.”
7. Swaddle your baby safely.
“However, make sure that the baby is always on his or her back when swaddled. The swaddle should not be too tight or make it hard for the baby to breathe or move his or her hips. When your baby looks like he or she is trying to roll over, you should stop swaddling.”
8. Try giving a pacifier at nap time and bedtime.
“This helps reduce the risk of SIDS, even if it falls out after the baby is asleep. If you are breastfeeding, wait until breastfeeding is going well before offering a pacifier. This usually takes 2-3 weeks. If you are not breastfeeding your baby, you can start the pacifier whenever you like. It’s OK if your baby doesn’t want a pacifier. You can try offering again later, but some babies simply don’t like them. If the pacifier falls out after your baby falls asleep, you don’t have to put it back.”
