(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump’s attorneys are appealing an order for former Vice President Mike Pence to testify before the special counsel investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, sources familiar with the matter confirm to ABC News.
Trump has previously sought to assert executive privilege in an attempt to block Pence’s testimony, but late last month the chief judge for the D.C. district court, James Boasberg, rejected his team’s arguments and ordered Pence to testify and provide records to special counsel Jack Smith.
Boasberg, however, did narrowly uphold parts of a separate legal challenge brought by Pence himself, who argued he should be shielded from having to testify on certain aspects related to his role as president of the Senate overseeing the certification of the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021.
Pence was subpoenaed by the special counsel in February, following months of negotiations between federal prosecutors and Pence’s legal team.
Pence said last week he would not seek further appeal, though said he was unsure whether Trump’s team would continue their own fight to prevent his testimony and bring their executive privilege claims before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The appeal was formally docketed Monday before the D.C. Circuit, court records show, though other details surrounding it will remain under seal due to its connection to grand jury matters.
In previous instances where Trump’s team has sought intervention from the D.C. Circuit, judges there have acted swiftly to order legal briefs from his team and the special counsel before rejecting his legal challenges.
A spokesperson for the special counsel’s office declined to comment to ABC News.
(NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J.) — Thousands of academic workers at Rutgers University, including professors and graduate student workers, launched a strike on Monday, picketing outside of campus buildings and urging colleagues to forego teaching classes.
The strike marks the first in the university’s nearly 257-year history, according to a group of unions representing the workers.
Contract negotiations began nearly one year ago for some 9,000 workers represented by three unions participating in the strike, the unions said.
The unions are seeking salary increases that keep up with inflation, a $15 minimum wage for campus workers, longer contracts for non-tenured faculty, five years of guaranteed funding for graduate students and a new set of standards for racial and gender equity, among other demands.
Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway voiced dissatisfaction on Sunday in response to the impending strike.
“To say that this is deeply disappointing would be an understatement,” Holloway said in a letter posted online. “We have all been hard at work trying to resolve issues around compensation, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment.”
The disruption of classes at Rutgers University, where 67,000 students study, prompted New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, to call for a “productive dialogue” between the university and workers in his office on Monday.
In one of several protests on Monday morning, 50 faculty, graduate and undergraduate students marched in a picket line outside of the student center on the Rutgers University satellite campus in Livingston, New Jersey, Sebastian León, an assistant professor of Latino and Caribbean Studies and Criminal Justice at Rutgers University, told ABC News.
The picketing amounts to “a full-time job from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on every campus across multiple shifts,” León said, noting workers’ plans to supply protesters with food, water bottles, safety gear and sunscreen.
“We hope that the strike produces extra impetus to settle a fair and a reasonable contract,” he added.
León, who began teaching at Rutgers University in 2018, said he supports the strike because the workers’ contract proposal aims to break down a “pretty messed up hierarchy” between full-time faculty, adjunct professors and graduate students.
“I’ve been an adjunct where you’re basically sub-human – your opinion and professional views don’t count,” he said. “You’re lucky to have your own office and place to store your papers.”
The university has offered to raise the minimum salary for postdoctoral fellows and associates in the faculty union by more than 20% over the contract period, Holloway said in a statement on Sunday.
“Significant and substantial progress has been made, as I have noted, and I believe that there are only a few outstanding issues,” Holloway added. “We will, of course, negotiate for as long as it takes.”
León said he had heard of some faculty opting to teach on Monday, despite the strike. However, he said the workers participating in the strike understand that the protest could last several days or longer.
“This is a full-time organizing job that we’ll be doing as long as it takes,” he said. “We’re not asking for new iPads or brand new buildings or a second car.”
(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) — Four victims were killed and eight others were injured following a mass shooting at a bank in Louisville, Kentucky, on Monday morning, according to police.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 10, 11:27 AM EDT
McConnell ‘devastated’ by news of Louisville shooting
Republican leader and Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, who lives in Louisville, tweeted that he’s “devastated” by the news of Monday morning’s mass shooting.
“We send our prayers to the victims, their families, and the city of Louisville as we await more information,” McConnell tweeted.
His fellow Kentucky senator, Rand Paul, tweeted, “Our hearts break for the families of those lost.”
Apr 10, 11:21 AM EDT
Officers exchanged gunfire with suspect who died at scene
Officers arrived within three minutes of being dispatched and found the suspect still firing, Louisville police said.
Officers exchanged gunfire with the suspect who died at the scene, police said. It’s not yet clear if the suspect’s wounds were self-inflicted, police said.
Four victims were killed and eight people are injured, police said.
At least two officers were shot during the exchange of gunfire, police said, including one who is undergoing surgery.
It appears the suspect was a previous or current employee, police said.
“This is awful. I have a very close friend that didn’t make it today. And I have another close friend who didn’t, either, and one who is at the hospital that I hope is gonna make it through,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said at a news conference.
Apr 10, 10:53 AM EDT
At least 15 mass shootings so far this month
There have been at least 15 mass shootings in the U.S. in the first 10 days of April, including Monday morning’s shooting in Louisville, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
So far this year, the nation has seen at least 146 mass shootings.
The Gun Violence Archive defines a mass shooting as at least four people shot, not including the suspect.
“It feels like every day in this country we are totally consumed by yet another mass shooting. Nowhere else in the developed world do people wake up to this preventable horror every single morning,” Kris Brown, president of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said in a statement Monday. “Whether it’s a bank, a school, a supermarket, or a church, Americans no longer feel safe in their communities. And Americans are increasingly tired of living in fear of being a victim of a mass shooting.”
“It does not have to be this way,” Brown said. “But until the gun industry no longer has a vice grip on our elected officials, this will continue to be our daily reality.”
Apr 10, 10:32 AM EDT
Shooting unfolded in bank conference room
The gunman opened fire in the bank’s first-floor conference room at about 8:30 a.m. local time, according to officials.
Eyewitnesses said the shooter appeared to have been armed with a long gun.
“He just started shooting,” Troy Haste told ABC Louisville affiliate WHAS-TV. “Whoever was next to me got shot. Blood is on me from it.”
Police said the suspect is dead.
A responding police officer was shot in the head, sources told ABC News. The officer’s condition is unknown.
According to preliminary information, this shooting is not believed to have been terror-related, sources told ABC News.
Apr 10, 10:19 AM EDT
Suspected shooter neutralized
Louisville police tweeted that the “suspected shooter has been neutralized,” adding, “There is no longer an active aggressor threat.”
There is no longer an active aggressor threat. The suspected shooter has been neutralized.
Apr 10, 10:05 AM EDT
Residents urged to avoid area
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg tweeted that residents should avoid the area around Slugger Field until further notice.
There is an active police situation downtown. Please avoid the area around Slugger Field until further notice. We will provide information as soon as possible.
— Mayor Craig Greenberg (@LouisvilleMayor) April 10, 2023
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said he is heading to the scene.
“Please pray for all of the families impacted and for the city of Louisville,” he tweeted.
FBI and ATF agents are assisting with the incident.
(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) — Five people are dead and six others, including a police officer, are injured following a shooting at a bank in Louisville, Kentucky, on Monday morning, according to police.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 10, 10:53 AM EDT
At least 15 mass shootings so far this month
There have been at least 15 mass shootings in the U.S. in the first 10 days of April, including Monday morning’s shooting in Louisville, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
So far this year, the nation has seen at least 146 mass shootings.
The Gun Violence Archive defines a mass shooting as at least four people shot, not including the suspect.
“It feels like every day in this country we are totally consumed by yet another mass shooting. Nowhere else in the developed world do people wake up to this preventable horror every single morning,” Kris Brown, president of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said in a statement Monday. “Whether it’s a bank, a school, a supermarket, or a church, Americans no longer feel safe in their communities. And Americans are increasingly tired of living in fear of being a victim of a mass shooting.”
“It does not have to be this way,” Brown said. “But until the gun industry no longer has a vice grip on our elected officials, this will continue to be our daily reality.”
Apr 10, 10:32 AM EDT
Shooting unfolded in bank conference room
The gunman opened fire in the bank’s first-floor conference room at about 8:30 a.m. local time, according to officials.
Eyewitnesses said the shooter appeared to have been armed with a long gun.
“He just started shooting,” Troy Haste told ABC Louisville affiliate WHAS-TV. “Whoever was next to me got shot. Blood is on me from it.”
Police said the suspect is dead.
A responding police officer was shot in the head, sources told ABC News. The officer’s condition is unknown.
According to preliminary information, this shooting is not believed to have been terror-related, sources told ABC News.
Apr 10, 10:19 AM EDT
Suspected shooter neutralized
Louisville police tweeted that the “suspected shooter has been neutralized,” adding, “There is no longer an active aggressor threat.”
There is no longer an active aggressor threat. The suspected shooter has been neutralized.
Apr 10, 10:05 AM EDT
Residents urged to avoid area
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg tweeted that residents should avoid the area around Slugger Field until further notice.
There is an active police situation downtown. Please avoid the area around Slugger Field until further notice. We will provide information as soon as possible.
— Mayor Craig Greenberg (@LouisvilleMayor) April 10, 2023
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said he is heading to the scene.
“Please pray for all of the families impacted and for the city of Louisville,” he tweeted.
FBI and ATF agents are assisting with the incident.
(ROME) — A migrant boat adrift in the Mediterranean with about 400 people on board was in “huge danger” amid high waves on Monday, Sea-Watch International, a non-governmental rescue operation said.
Italian Coast Guard ships had been dispatched in a rescue operation, the organization said. Another vessel with about 800 people on board was also being rescued about 120 miles off the southern coast of Sicily on Monday, according to ANSA, an Italian news agency.
The adrift vessel had departed from Tobruk, Libya, with migrants heading to Europe, according to Alarm Phone, a migrant-aid group.
“The people on board are in panic and ask for immediate rescue,” Alarm Phone said on Twitter.
The vessel had been taking on water on Sunday as it drifted between Greece and Malta in high seas, both organizations said. Sea-Watch said it came across the vessel “in distress” on Sunday after the captain had apparently abandoned ship.
“Two merchant ships that are ordered not to rescue, instead one was asked by Malta to only supply the boat with fuel,” Sea-Watch said.
Alarm Phone said several people had jumped into the water when they saw nearby merchant ships. The ship that had supplied fuel didn’t rescue any of the passengers, Sea-Watch said.
“A woman reported the seriousness of the conditions on board. The captain left & there is nobody who can steer the boat,” Alarm Phone said. “Several people require medical attention, incl. a child, a pregnant woman & a person with a physical disability.”
(NEW YORK) — As young professionals navigate the workforce with an emphasis on valuing self-care and work-life balance, behavioral trends like “quiet quitting” and pushes for a four-day workweek have emerged. Now, the latest career trend to take hold of the internet is “Bare Minimum Mondays.”
“I think what I’m seeing at least is a trend that started with quiet quitting. Now we’ve got Monday’s bare minimum Mondays and a big, a big push towards a four-day workweek. It clearly is an indication that people are burned out and trying to find ways to re-energize themselves while doing the things they have to do to get a paycheck,” Tessa White, a career expert, told ABC News’ Good Morning America.
The term “Bare Minimum Mondays” was coined by TikTok content creator Maris Mayes, who said the idea is to ease into the work week by prioritizing self-care over productivity on Mondays.
The #BareMinimumMondays hashtag has racked up more than two million views.
Physical therapist Logan Lynch decided to take Mayes’ advice and said she no longer takes patients on Mondays.
“I’m very familiar with hustle culture and the grind and doing everything all the time. So to have a mindset, to have a system to kind of give yourself a break, I really resonated with that,” Lynch told Good Morning America.
Lynch said the new parameters actually increase her productivity.
“I have been trying to put into place boundaries around my work and knowing that it’s OK to take a little extra rest time,” Lynch said.
Mother and entrepreneur Juliana Walker said that the Bare Minimum Mondays strategy has helped her be more intentional with her time.
“I started getting migraines on Mondays and I was overworking myself and bringing myself up into the ground,” the mother of one told Good Morning America. “So that’s when I started scheduling doctors’ appointments, haircuts, getting my nails done.”
According to a Gallup poll from November, 68% of Gen Z and millennials reported feeling more stressed overall compared to their older counterparts and 54% of young workers reported they were also less engaged at work than their senior co-workers.
With the pandemic blurring the lines between work and home, younger workers are setting more boundaries between their professional and personal lives. White said whether you like it or not, younger workers “rebelling” against traditional career structures have already redefined employer relationships.
“They’re insisting on work-life balance and insisting that mental health is important as a result of where they’re at in this generation,” she said. “They don’t have a lot to lose by actually laying it out on the line and saying, ‘I really want to have a better experience at work.'”
(NEW YORK) — Well before a federal judge in Texas issued his ruling on the abortion drug mifepristone, abortion providers across the country said they had been preparing for what they called a “worst-case scenario.”
In his April 7 decision, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas ruled in favor of Alliance Defending Freedom — a conservative Christian legal advocacy group — that asked him to reverse the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, an oral medication typically taken with misoprostol to end a pregnancy.
The advocacy group’s lawsuit said mifepristone is unsafe and that the FDA didn’t study it closely enough before approving its use. The FDA and mainstream medical doctors insist this isn’t true, and that there have been no safety concerns during the 23 years the drug has been on the market.
Now, Kacsmaryk’s issuing of a nationwide injunction on mifepristone — set to take effect by Friday — may impact as many as 64 million women of childbearing age in the U.S.
“This is something that can cause confusion. It’s something that can cause fear,” Dr. Gopika Krishna, a board-certified OB-GYN in New York, told ABC News of both the lawsuit and the judge’s decision. “And that affects our patients and our patients’ understanding of what’s available to them and what options are safe.”
Here are six questions answered by abortion providers and reproductive policy experts about how the judge’s decision may impact women:
1. If I live in a state where abortion is legal, does the Texas abortion pill ruling impact me?
Yes, the injunction on mifepristone is nationwide, affecting even states where abortion, including medication abortion, is legal.
That means drug manufacturers will have to halt production and distribution of mifepristone for the U.S. market.
Eventually, after supply of the drug dwindles, patients will not be able to access mifepristone from any provider, whether it’s via telehealth or inside a clinic.
In states where abortion is legal, providers would only be able to offer in-clinic surgical procedures or opt to provide medication abortions using only one other medication, misoprostol. Doctors say that method is safe and mostly effective but can also cause more side effects.
2. When does the ruling go into effect?
For now, mifepristone remains accessible because Kacsmaryk gave the federal government seven days to appeal his ruling.
On the same day Kacsmaryk’s decision was released, April 7, the Department of Justice and drugmaker Danco Laboratories, which produces the brand name version of the drug, appealed it to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
“Today’s decision overturns the FDA’s expert judgment, rendered over two decades ago, that mifepristone is safe and effective,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “The Department will continue to defend the FDA’s decision.”
GenBioPro, the manufacturer of generic mifepristone, responded to Kacsmaryk’s ruling and said they were confident in the legality of the drug.
“Nothing in the court’s order changes the decades of science and evidence regarding mifepristone’s safety and efficacy. As we review the court’s order, we will continue to make our product available,” Evan Masingill, CEO of GenBioPro, said in a statement.
3. What is mifepristone and what role does it play in medication abortion?
A medication abortion involves the use of two medications, mifepristone and misoprostol, taken orally.
It is not a surgical procedure, and the FDA says both medications are safe enough to be mailed to a patient following a telehealth or in-person visit from a certified provider.
In most cases in a medication abortion, mifepristone is taken first to block the hormone progesterone. Then 24 to 48 hours later, a second pill, misoprostol, is taken to empty the uterus.
“Mifepristone is a medication that’s been on the market for decades. It has many, many scientific articles and research that have supported it’s safety, and it’s something that is used quite often for abortion care but in other situations as well,” said Krishna, also a fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health. “Misoprostol is a medication that, again, has been used for many, many years, has lots of good evidence and data supporting its safety, and it’s a medicine that we use not only in abortion care but in other aspects of OB-GYN care as well.”
In addition to its use in abortion care, mifepristone is also used currently for miscarriage care, according to Krishna. It remains unclear how the judge’s ruling will impact miscarriage care. The plaintiff had asked for the judge to only block the drug for purposes of abortion, but it’s possible availability will dry up since it’s primary purpose was to end a pregnancy.
The medication is also FDA-approved to treat patients with Cushing’s syndrome, a disorder in which the body makes too much of the hormone cortisol, according to the National Institutes of Health. That medication, however, is manufactured and provided to patients at a different dose. The judge’s ruling would still allow for the availability of that drug.
Guidelines from the FDA, which first approved medication abortions in 2000, advise that abortion-inducing pills are safe to use up to 70 days, or 10 weeks, of pregnancy, though evidence shows it can be safe even later in pregnancy, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
While the FDA has continued to approve mifepristone for abortion care, individual states can still set laws about dispensing mifepristone within their state.
Last week, Wyoming became the first state to ban medication abortions separate from a ban on all abortion services.
4. Does the Texas ruling mean medication abortion is no longer available?
The Texas judge’s ruling means that, for now, the FDA-approved method of medication abortion — using both mifepristone and misoprostol — is available. But that could change by Friday unless the higher court intervenes.
Abortion providers told ABC News though that they are prepared to offer misoprostol-only medication abortions in states where it is allowed.
“We are preparing a misoprostol-only regimen,” said Dr. Ashley Jeanlus, a board-certified OBGYN in California. “The misoprostol regimen is a bit longer and it utilizes more pills to complete it, so we’re just adjusting our clinic to be able to help patients that way.”
More than one dozen states currently restrict access to medication abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute .
5. What is misoprostol?
Misoprostol is a medication that the FDA currently approves for the use of treating gastric ulcers.
However, there are several off-label uses for obstetrical and gynecological purposes including treating postpartum hemorrhaging and softening and opening the cervix for patients ready to give birth vaginally, experts told ABC News.
When it comes to its use in pregnancy, misoprostol causes the uterus to contract and dilates the cervix, which will expel an embryo.
A misoprostol-only regimen for abortion not only takes longer to complete, but can also come with more side effects, including nausea and diarrhea, Dr. Laura Laursen, an OB-GYN at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, previously told ABC News.
Studies though show that while using misoprostol with mifepristone is more effective, using misoprostol-only is safe. One 2019 study found “misoprostol alone is effective and safe and is a reasonable option for women seeking abortion in the first trimester,” while a larger review of data published in 2020 also found it safe and effective in terminating a pregnancy.
Rachel Jones, principal research scientist at the Guttmacher Institute, said in many cases, it will not be a quick fix for abortion providers to pivot to using a misoprostol-only regimen.
“It’s not a regimen that has been used in clinical settings in the U.S. very often,” Jones said, adding, “And anytime a medical practice is changed, it takes it a while for everything to get in place and running smoothly.”
Krishna said she worries the judge’s ruling means providers like herself will not be able to offer patients comprehensive reproductive care.
“As clinicians, we really want to make sure that we are offering our patients all of these options and they can make a decision based on what they feel is best for them, not a decision that they have to make because of what’s limited to them by law,” she said. “So there are options for medication abortion with the removal of mifepristone, but it is still something that we’re really worried about because it’s the medically unnecessary removal of a medication that we know is safe.”
6. Could the Texas judge’s abortion pill ruling be overturned?
Yes, the ruling can go through an appeals process, meaning it would move to higher courts for other judges to decide.
Jones said that for abortion rights advocates, there is “not a lot of hope” for the appeals process given previous rulings by courts that would see the case.
Ultimately, the case could go as high as the U.S. Supreme Court, the same court that last year overturned Roe v. Wade, the constitutional right to abortion that had been the law in the U.S. for almost 50 years.
(AKRON, Ohio) — A special grand jury will be seated Monday to decide whether to indict any of the eight Akron, Ohio, police officers involved in the death of Jayland Walker, a 25-year-old Black man who was shot more than 40 times following a 2022 attempted traffic stop, an episode that sparked riots in the city last summer.
Bracing for the Summit County grand jury’s decision, businesses in downtown Akron began boarding up windows over the weekend and the city has erected a fence and barricades around the courthouse where the special grand jury will be empaneled specifically to hear evidence in the Walker case.
“The city of Akron has been preparing for the grand jury results since last summer,” Stephanie Marsh, a spokesperson for the city, said at a news conference Friday. “The most important part of our preparation has been building relationships with our community members and establishing better lines of communication.”
Authorities are hoping to avoid a repeat of what occurred last summer when police used tear gas to disperse angry demonstrators gathered outside police headquarters and arrested about 50 protesters on charges of rioting, failure to disperse, disorderly conduct and misconduct at an emergency. The charges against most of those arrested were later dropped.
Anticipating “strong reactions to the impending grand jury decisions,” city officials have created a demonstration zone near the courthouse “to allow for residents to safely demonstrate, protest and exercise their first amendment rights to freedom of speech, assembly, and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances,” reads a statement issued on the city’s recently relaunched critical information website.
Prosecutor explains grand jury process
Craig Morgan, the city of Akron’s chief prosecutor, took the unusual step on Friday of holding a livestream seminar to explain to the community the basics of the grand jury process.
“A grand jury does not determine guilt or innocence,” Morgan said. “The purpose of the grand jury is to determine whether sufficient probable cause exists to charge a person or persons with a particular offense or offenses.”
Morgan said the state Attorney General, which is prosecuting the case, is presenting evidence to the special grand jury because in Ohio, most “felony matters flow through the grand jury at the beginning of the process.”
“This is done often in situations involving extremely lengthy investigations, investigations that involve a high volume of evidence and complex legal issues,” Morgan said.
Nine Summit County registered voters will be empaneled as primary grand jurors and three to five people will be picked to serve as alternates, Morgan said. At least seven jurors are required to vote yes in order to issue an indictment, also referred to as a true bill.
Morgan warned that any protesters who resort to violence will be arrested and prosecuted.
“The types of things that will cause a protest to transition into people being arrested is when windows are being smashed and fires are being set, people are being subjected to physical harm,” Morgan said.
He said it is expected to take a week for prosecutors to present the case to the grand jury.
“The variable, the unknown, that we don’t have is we don’t know how long it will take jurors to deliberate,” Morgan said.
Shot 46 times
The fatal shooting involving Walker unfolded just after midnight on June 27, 2022, when two police officers attempted to stop Walker for a minor vehicle equipment violation, police said. Walker led officers on a brief car chase before exiting out the passenger side door while his vehicle was still moving and attempted to run, authorities alleged.
Walker was unarmed when he was fatally shot while running away from eight officers, who opened fire on him, body camera footage released by the city showed.
An autopsy determined Walker suffered 46 gunshot wounds, according to the Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office. Walker had injuries to his face, heart, both lungs, liver, spleen, left kidney, intestines, pelvis, iliac artery and several bones in his legs, according to the medical examiner.
About a week after Walker’s death, officials released police body camera footage from the incident. During a news conference, Akron Police Chief Steve Mylett freeze-framed a section of the footage capturing a flash of light coming from Walker’s car and said it appeared to be the muzzle flash of a gun fired from the driver’s side of the vehicle and aimed at pursuing officers.
In a second body camera video, officers are heard radioing that a shot was fired from Walker’s car. The footage shows an officer following Walker’s Buick off Route 8 and continuing the pursuit on side streets.
Mylett said as Walker jumped from his vehicle and ran, he appeared to reach for his waistband, turn toward the officers and move an arm forward, prompting the officers to open fire.
While the video confirmed Walker was unarmed when he was shot, Mylett said the body camera footage also captured a handgun with a separate loaded magazine and what appeared to be a gold wedding band left on the driver’s seat of Walker’s car.
While the eight officers who fatally shot Walker were initially placed on administrative leave, they were all reinstated to active duty in November. The officers were assigned to administrative duties due to a staffing “crisis,” according to Mylett said.
‘How do you need that many bullets for one person?’
Walker’s family is hoping justice will prevail and the officers are all indicted.
“That was too much. Too much. How do you need that many bullets for one person?” Walker’s mother, Pamela Walker, told ABC News in last July. “And he was a slight-build guy. He was 6 (foot) 2, but he only weighed probably 160 pounds. And I’m sure probably two of their bullets would have killed him anyway. And you needed eight people to be shooting at him like that? I can’t even fathom how you can stand there and just empty out your gun on someone who’s running away from you, who was running away whether he had a gun or not.”
None of the officers involved in the Walker shooting or their attorneys have spoken publicly about the case.
Akron’s Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge No. 7, the union that represents the officers, released a statement early in the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s independent probe of the shooting defending the actions of the officers.
“The decision to deploy lethal force as well as the number of shots fired is consistent with use of force protocols and officers’ training,” the union said.
According to the union, the officers “reasonably believed that Mr. Walker presented an immediate threat of serious physical harm or death and lawfully, based on their training as well as state and federal law, discharged their weapons.”
The union’s statement added, “We believe the independent investigation will justify the officers’ actions, including the number of shots fired.”
(TACOMA, Wash.) — The Tacoma Fire Department has issued a temporary shelter-in-place for some areas near Tacoma, Washington, as authorities continue to respond to a fishing vessel that has been on fire since Saturday and is carrying diesel and freon.
Since the Kodiak Enterprise caught fire Saturday morning while moored in the Hylebos Waterway of Tacoma, the fire has since progressed, and is now about 100 feet from the boat’s freon tanks, the Coast Guard said in their latest release Sunday.
Freon can be toxic if inhaled “in large quantities or in a confined space,” the Coast Guard said, but the release of freon in the atmosphere does not pose any risks to the general health and safety of the public at this time.
The temporary shelter in place is in effect for residents living in northeast Tacoma, Browns Point and Dash Point neighborhoods. The city asked those living in these areas to remain indoors and limit exposure to smoke.
“Residents concerned about smoky conditions can provide additional protections by keeping doors closed and shutting outside air vents,” Jim Ferrell, mayor of neighboring city, Federal Way, told residents living in the Twin Lakes and Green Gables neighborhoods on Twitter. “Residents may also want to avoid any strenuous activity or exercise outdoors.”
The Tacoma Fire Department, U.S. Coast Guard, Environmental Protection Agency and the Washington Department of Ecology are responding at this time. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
