(NEW YORK) — South Carolina police have arrested a second suspect in the mall shooting that injured more than a dozen people and are continuing a manhunt for a third.
The Columbia Police Department has obtained an arrest warrant for 21-year-old Amari Sincere-Jamal Smith, Police Chief Skip Holbrook announced in a press briefing Monday afternoon, asking for anyone who sees him or knows of his whereabouts to call 911.
Marquis Love Robinson, 20, was arrested Monday on aggravated assault and attempted murder charges. Both he and Smith live in Columbia, Holbrook said.
At least 15 people ranging in age from 15 to 73 were injured Saturday when gunfire erupted at the Columbiana Centre mall in Columbia, Holbrook said. Nine people sustained gunshot wounds, while six people were injured in another manner, Holbrook said, adding that one victim remains in intensive care.
Investigators do not believe that it was a random act of violence, Holbrook said Saturday.
“We don’t believe this was random,” he said after the shooting. “We believe the individuals who were armed knew each other.”
MORE: 9 injured in shooting at South Carolina restaurant, police say
Jewayne M. Price, 22, was arrested Saturday on a charge of unlawful carrying of a pistol and has since received upgraded charges of aggravated assault and attempted murder, Holbrook said.
Holbrook called on lawmakers to do more work to ensure gun safety in the country, saying the “availability of firearms on the street for people that have illegal intentions or nefarious intentions to use those firearms against others” has gotten out of control.
“Something’s got to change,” he said Monday. “We need our legislators to legislate. We need more accountability for people that illegally carry firearms.”
ABC News’ Will McDuffie and Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.
Sergei Chuzavkov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
Russian forces have since retreated from northern Ukraine, leaving behind a trail of death and destruction. The United States and many European countries accused Russia of committing war crimes after graphic images emerged of dead civilians in the town of Bucha, near Kyiv. Moscow is now said to be refocusing its offensive on the eastern Donbas region, as it attempts to capture the besieged port city of Mariupol.
Latest headlines:
-Combat in eastern Ukraine part of Russia’s ‘shaping operations’ for future offensive
-US still assessing Russian strike in Lviv: Kirby
-Thousands more Russian troops back in Ukraine
-Russian forces seize town in war-torn Luhansk region
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Apr 18, 4:54 pm
Combat in eastern Ukraine part of Russia’s ‘shaping operations’ for future offensive
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Monday that while there has been combat in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine for some weeks, it is part of Russia’s ongoing “shaping” operations for a future offensive, and not the offensive itself.
“We’re not disputing that there’s not combat going on in the Donbas,” Kirby said. “What we’re saying is that we still consider that what we’re seeing to be a piece of shaping operations.”
“That the Russians are continuing to set conditions for what they believe will be eventual success on the ground by using, by putting, in more forces, putting in more enablers, putting in more command and control capability for operations yet to come,” he said.
Asked to clarify his answer, Kirby replied: “We believe that the Russians are shaping and setting the conditions for future offensive operations. We also see … that there is active combat going on right now in the Donbas as there has been for the last several weeks.”
Kirby described the fighting in the besieged port city of Mariupol as part of that since the Russians are “trying to set the conditions for more aggressive, more overt and larger ground maneuvers in the Donbas.”
He added that the Russians have also continued to flow in artillery, helicopters, enabling troops and more command and control units as part of the groundwork for that upcoming operation.
Kirby said that the U.S. believes that Russia has reinforced the number of battalion tactical groups in eastern and southern Ukraine as part of their preparations for a large operation in the Donbas region.
ABC News’ Conor Finnegan, Luis Martinez
Apr 18, 4:45 pm
US still assessing Russian strike in Lviv: Kirby
The U.S. is still assessing what the Russians were attempting to strike in Lviv in western Ukraine on Monday, according to Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.
Kirby said he would not describe Monday’s airstrike as a “bombardment” and said he did not know Russia’s intent.
“We don’t have a clear sense of battle damage assessment about what they were targeting and what they hit. At this time, we don’t have any indication that Western aid was targeted and/or hit or destroyed,” Kirby said.
ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Apr 18, 3:23 pm
US offering temporary protected status to Ukrainians in US as of April 11
The U.S. will offer temporary protected status to Ukrainians already in the country as of April 11, according to a new notice from the Department of Homeland Security in the Federal Register.
The Biden administration announced last month that it would offer Ukrainians this legal basis to stay in the U.S. if they had arrived before March 1. This new notice means that Ukrainians who have been in the U.S. as of April 11 can apply for the legal status, which will remain in effect for 18 months — until Oct. 19, 2023.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services estimates that about 59,000 Ukrainians could be eligible, according to the Federal Register notice.
Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, has tweeted about the change, which he said was made at the Ukrainian government’s request.
ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Apr 18, 12:49 pm
Thousands more Russian troops back in Ukraine
There are now 76 Russian battalion tactical groups — each made up of about 800 to 1,000 troops — inside Ukraine, all in the south or east of the country, a senior U.S. defense official said Monday. Last week there were 65 battalion tactical groups.
There are about 22 additional battalion tactical groups in the north of Ukraine, most likely refitting and resupplying after being depleted from earlier combat, the official said.
The besieged port city of Mariupol is still under threat of missile and artillery bombardment as Ukrainian forces continue to fight to push back Russian troops, according to the official.
Kyiv and Lviv are under long-range fire, the official said. Russian long-range bombers have hit both cities with air-launched cruise missiles over the last couple of days, the official said.
“Our initial assessment is that they were going after primarily military targets, or what they believed to be military targets,” the official said.
The U.S. is sending 18 howitzers — short cannons used to fire projectiles — to Ukraine and plans to begin training Ukrainians on the artillery in the coming days, the official said.
(NEW YORK) — More than 8,000 nurses and health care workers in Northern California are planning a one-day strike Monday over staffing and other COVID-19-related concerns.
The employees of Sutter Health, a health delivery system headquartered in Sacramento, are planning to strike at 15 facilities — including locations in Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco, Santa Cruz and Vallejo — between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
According to a press release from the California Nurses’ Association (CNA), a labor union, the workers are protesting concerns related to staffing shortages as well as health and safety protections they say are putting both patients and staff in danger.
The CNA said the nurses voted to strike in March and alerted Sutter Health of the plans to picket 10 days in advance.
“We have tried repeatedly to address the chronic and widespread problem of short staffing that causes delays in care and potentially puts patients at risk, but hospital administrators continue to ignore us,” Amy Erb, a critical care nurse who works for Sutter’s California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, said in a statement.
The statement continued, “We have a moral and legal obligation to advocate for our patients. We advocate for them at the bedside, at the bargaining table, and if we have to, on the strike line.”
Additionally, the workers alleged Sutter Health did not provide its workers with enough personal protective equipment at the beginning of the pandemic and has refused to invest in stockpiles, ignoring California’s PPE stockpile law.
Staff also said the health network has not been conducting contact tracing after positive cases are reported among staff.
In addition to getting Sutter to address their concerns, the workers are attempting to negotiate higher salaries. Sutter Health told KCRA 3 in a statement it does offer competitive wages and pandemic protections.
“They resist having nurses directly involved in planning and implementation of policies that affect all of us during a pandemic,” Renee Water, a neurotrauma ICU nurse at Sutter, said in a statement. “A fair contract is needed to retain experienced nurses, have sufficient staffing and training, and ensure we have the resources we need to provide safe and effective care for our patients”
The union said nurses and other health care workers have been negotiating with Sutter for a new contract since June 2021 with little advancement.
Sutter did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment. However, in a statement Sunday, the health network said it was hopeful the strike would be called off, referring to it as “disruptive” and “costly.”
“We notified CNA today that if the uncertainty of a strike remains this afternoon, we will staff our hospitals on Monday with the contracted replacement workers,” a spokesperson for Sutter Health said, according to local affiliate ABC 10. “We hope the union will call off this strike so our nurses can work their normal shifts on Monday and do what they do best — care for our patients.”
Sutter also said in its statement negotiations with CNA have resumed with the help of a federal mediator.
(OHATCHEE, Ala.) — Before showtime, pots and pans are some of the tools reenactor Tanya Haessly makes the most use of as a camp cook, feeding families and individuals taking part in a Civil War reenactment in Janney Furnace, Alabama.
Haessly and her kids sleep in a tent near the camp under the shadow of a Confederate flag — one of the many props used in the reenactment. Every morning, she builds up a fire to make breakfast and gets ready to welcome a new audience.
She told ABC News her job is to make sure history is told, and she wants her children to learn about what happened during the Civil War — especially when it comes to the Confederacy.
“Some people think that we’re racist for doing this,” she said. “I had people on the northern side. My mom was from Maine, my father was from the South. And so I had people on the northern side that died. I had people on the southern side that died.
“We’re just trying to portray history, and we have people of all races that fight for both sides because they did. So for me, this is history. I homeschool my children and this is a history lesson for them.”
Civil War battle reenactments have been taking place across the South since the 1960s. But reenactor Billy Pugh told ABC News that recently, they have been seeing a growing number of people interested.
“There were probably about three or four hundred spectators yesterday, so there were a good bit of people,” Pugh said. “They were lined up all the way around the road and up the hill to the flag yesterday.”
Some of these reenactors travel the country to tell the stories of their ancestors, and high school social studies teacher Jason Sumner expects to have a busy summer as the interest grows.
Sumner said the Civil War shaped the nation in many ways, and its ramifications can still be seen today. As an educator, he said the country doesn’t do enough with education to dig deep into the past, and he hopes people will remember the whole history behind the conflict.
“It’s so important that we don’t forget that and it is an offensive history, but it’s like I tell my students, it is well and good that history’s offensive because if it’s not, we will not develop that emotional connection to the past and we won’t learn from it,” Sumner told ABC News.
Along with his co-stars, Sumner will wear his uniform for six more performances in the spring alone. Depending on the battle, participants can portray Confederates one day, Union the next.
For Ron Carpenter, participating in the reenactment is not a hobby, but rather an homage to his ancestors who fought in the battles.
“If we don’t continue this, then my grandchildren and your grandchildren won’t have the option of learning exactly what happened, not the polished version, not the governmental version, but exactly what happened,” Carpenter said. “And that’s not fair to them.”
Pugh, whose son recently graduated school, said the version they show in the reenactments are not displayed in school, which gives him reason to continue spreading the history behind the Confederacy and his ancestors.
The importance of telling and sharing the Civil War history has grown over the past years since the rise of protests after the murder of George Floyd, according to the reenactors.
“When everything happened in 2020, I think what really pushed me to really want to go for the reenactments is to try to better help people understand the history,” Christopher Re, who has begun documenting the reenactments, said.
While they believe recent events have impacted the way people look back on the country’s racial history, many still resent seeing protesters tear down Civil War monuments.
“Not taking anything away from what happened in Minneapolis, I know that was a sad time, but I believe, you know, the monuments being removed and everything else was kind of like a spit in the face,” Re said.
Confederate monuments began being erected throughout the country shortly after the Civil War, but the majority took place around the 1900s during the Jim Crow era. Out of the 800 Confederate monuments and statues erected on public property across the country, 604 were dedicated before 1950 while 28 were built between 1950-1970 and 34 after 2000, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s research.
Since the protests took place, 73 Confederate monuments were removed or renamed from public spaces, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, with more than 700 remaining across the country. For many, the monuments represent racism and white supremacy during the Civil War, and when the future of slavery was being decided.
Martin O’Toole is a spokesperson for the Georgia Division Sons of Confederate Veterans. The group is suing, in some cases, to stop cities across the country from removing Civil War monuments from public spaces.
He told ABC News it should be acceptable for people in the South to honor and celebrate the Confederacy.
“When we have calls for diversity, it should include diversity of opinion as well,” O’Toole said. “And if people say they don’t like statues, put up their own statues, let all Americans have their say [about] what they want about their ancestors, their history and the like.”
O’Toole said he has been seeing a growing interest in joining the organization over the past few years.
“There’s more passion because they feel like they’re under attack and so that we are being told that they’re the most singularly wicked and evil people that have ever lived on the planet,” O’Toole said.
While the group celebrates and honors the history of the Confederacy, others, like Richard Rose, Atlanta Chapter President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, resent it due to its link to white supremacy.
Rose told ABC News, some people across the south are still fighting the Civil War since it ended more than 150 years ago.
“The bottom line is, obviously, the Civil War was fought on the premise that Blacks, in theory, are subservient to whites. And so every reenactment, every celebration continues to send that message,” Rose said.
He’s among Black leaders trying to remove the giant carvings of three Confederate generals at Stone Mountain in Atlanta.
“They should be completely covered and destroyed. They’re not works of art, and they are not historical,” Rose said.
But Abraham Mosley, the chairman at Stone Mountain, who is also African American, said the idea to destroy the carvings is a bad idea — and one very unlikely to happen.
“I have no problem with the carving. I have no problem at all,” Mosley told ABC News. “Removing that carving will not change people. The only thing that will change people is a change of heart.”
For Rose, monuments and reenactments honoring the confederacy are not a way to represent history.
“What country celebrates the failed insurrection against itself? And that’s what all of these … reenactments do,” Rose said.
But in the midst of the scalding sun in Alabama, in a field where rifles and cannons fire blank bullets and canisters for an audience, Haessly believes, regardless of the result of the war, it should be told.
“It’s still history. Win or lose, it’s still history. It’s still things that we need to remember,” she said.
(HONG KONG) — China has reported its first three deaths linked to the COVID-19 outbreak in Shanghai, as the country battles its worst surge of infections since the pandemic began.
According to a statement on Monday from the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, the people who died on Sunday were aged between 89 and 91. All of them were unvaccinated.
As Shanghai’s 25 million residents enter a third week of lockdown, the city on Monday recorded 22,248 new cases, 2,417 of which were symptomatic.
The official death toll, which is remarkably lower than those in other major cities, has fueled skepticism of the official data coming out of China.
Some experts suspect that China is attributing underlying health conditions to COVID deaths. Yanzhong Huang, a Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations pointed to a Shanghai study that estimates there were more than 2,000 excess diabetes deaths in Shanghai associated with the lockdown.
Anger over the country’s hardline “Zero COVID” approach to the pandemic has been swelling in the country, particularly in Shanghai where residents have experienced food shortages and delivery difficulties.
The economic costs are also growing as the lockdown impacts the flow of goods to major shipping ports, posing disruptions to global supply chains.
On Monday, China’s State Council Vice-Premier Liu He, an economic advisor to Chinese President Xi Jinping, said that China must stabilize its supply chains with the help of local governments.
Meanwhile, Shanghai’s Economic and Information Technology Commission announced plans to resume production and ease controls on manufacturers.
Data released on Monday showed a significant slowdown in the country’s economic activity in March. Shanghai contributes to about a third of China’s gross domestic product.
“We should solve outstanding problems one by one in key regions,” Liu said, according to Xinhua News Agency. Liu said the government will establish a so-called “white list” of companies that require assistance in recovering from disruptions.
Speaking with ABC News, Huang also voiced concern that prolonged lockdowns could hurt China’s competitiveness in the lockdown.
“When other countries are now learning to coexist with the virus and their economy and the manufacturing capacity is recovering, China’s export sector will be affected,” Huang said.
Huang added that it’s time for China to move away from its 2020 tactics: “Over the past two years, the Zero COVID strategy was effective in sustaining extremely low levels of infection in helping China fight this, to boost its reputation as a success by pandemic response. But now this approach are showing diminishing returns. The social economic costs associated with the approach are rising rapidly and exponentially.”
(WASHINGTON) — It’s a “hoppy” day at the White House — as the Easter Egg Roll returns Monday.
Following a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden continue the tradition of welcoming families to the South Lawn for the famed Easter Egg Roll on Monday, although COVID cases are, once again, on the rise with the BA.2 variant.
Jill Biden, a longtime educator who has continued her job teaching community college while serving as first lady, created and curated this year’s theme: “EGGucation!” Her husband is scheduled to give remarks at 10:15 a.m.
The White House said the public will see the South Lawn “transformed into a school community” — with plenty of events to entertain the thousands of kids expected to attend. The day will feature a reading nook, talent show, farm station and an obstacle course, among other activities.
The tradition of inviting families to the South Lawn to hunt for colorful eggs and roll them on wooden spoons dates to 1878 — but its return after two years risks being overshadowed by the very reason it was paused. It’s unclear if all those attending are required to submit a negative COVID test, but it is expected that children under five — still unauthorized to receive the vaccine — will be on-site in scores.
The White House said 30,000 people were invited to take part in this year’s outdoor event “including thousands of military families, and the crew members and families from the U.S.S. DELAWARE, the U.S. Naval Submarine, for which the First Lady is the sponsor.”
An online public lottery was also held to distribute tickets to families across the country as it’s set to be the largest event held at the White House since Biden took office.
The White House said special guests include Jimmy Fallon, Ciara, Kristin Chenoweth, 2021 National Teacher of the Year, Juliana Urtubey, an elementary teacher in Las Vegas. Sports fans can expect to see the Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Commanders and the Washington Spirit. And costumed characters will be roaming the grounds, including Disney’s Doc McStuffins, Dr. Seuss’ Cat in the Hat, Sonic the Hedgehog, Snoopy and Charlie Brown, Cookie Monster, The Minions and the Washington Nationals’ Racing Presidents.
Announcing the theme on Twitter last week, the first lady said, “As a teacher, my heart is always in the classroom.”
To mitigate crowds, Monday’s event will be broken into five sessions starting at 7:30 a.m. and ending at 6:30 p.m. Still, it comes amid concerns the president himself could catch COVID as some in his circles in Washington, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have tested positive in recent weeks. The White House has shifted its messaging to acknowledge the president could get COVID but argued the concern for illness is lessened since he’s vaccinated and double boosted.
Former President Donald Trump’s White House canceled the event in 2020 “out of an abundance of caution,” and Biden canceled it last year when vaccines weren’t yet widely available. The tradition dating back to Rutherford B. Hayes’ White House has also been canceled in its 144-year history in wartime and inclement weather.
(NEW YORK) — Actor Brian Austin Green is opening up about his experience with ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease that affects the inner lining of the digestive tract.
In a recent Instagram post, Green said he had been dealing with the disease for about “six, six-and-a-half weeks,” and that the illness had left him “bedridden for a while.”
Ulcerative colitis, or UC, most commonly affects young adults 15 to 30 years old, but also tends to crop up among adults starting around age 50. Green is 48 years old.
“Unfortunately, we don’t know the exact cause of ulcerative colitis,” said Dr. Lea Ann Chen, director of inflammatory bowel disease translational research at Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine at Rutgers University. It is potentially “caused by abnormalities of the immune system,” Chen said.
Roughly 600,000 to 900,000 people in the U.S. have ulcerative colitis, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Here are six things to know about this common disease.
1. Symptoms might not be obvious at first
“The most common symptoms include diarrhea, sometimes bloody diarrhea and abdominal pain. The symptoms can overlap with a number of other conditions.” Chen said.
Some associated symptoms may be bowel urgency, bowel incontinence, weight loss, fever and weakness, according to the NIH. There may be periods that someone with UC will not have symptoms and they will return.
2. Straightforward diagnosis, lifelong treatment
To diagnose ulcerative colitis, colonoscopies and biopsies are most common.
“There are features of inflammation both in the colonoscopy and microscopically, that help us to distinguish ulcerative colitis from other conditions,” Chen said.
Many treatment options exist, and it requires lifelong care.
“It depends on the severity and how symptomatic patients are,” Chen said of choosing a treatment plan. Pills, like mesalamine or sulfasalazine, and injections and infusions called biologics can be administered.
If you stop your medication, even when you feel great and have no symptoms, it can cause serious health problems. Flare-ups may occur and require hospitalizations or even surgery.
3. There is no prevention
“Unfortunately, there is not anything specific you can do to protect yourself,” Chen said. A healthy diet of fresh fruit and vegetables is a start, however, “it’s not clear that this would protect you from developing ulcerative colitis,” Chen said.
The most independent risk factor is a family history of the disease. If you have a first-degree relative with the disease, you have a four times higher risk.
4. Increased risk of colorectal cancer
“Some people get joint pains or inflammation in their eyes. Occasionally, some get primary sclerosing cholangitis, which is inflammation in the biliary system. Less than half of people will get these conditions,” Chen said.
It can also lead to abscesses, toxic megacolon, further bleeding for your gastrointestinal tract and other infections.
“Unfortunately, ulcerative colitis and the inflammation that it causes in the colon over time can increase a person’s colon cancer risk,” Chen said.
The risk of getting colon cancer is roughly 2% after 10 years of diagnosis, according to StatPearls research.
5. Regular follow-ups are important
“Patients, after they’ve been diagnosed [with UC] for a number of years will be put on a schedule [with their doctor] for more frequent colonoscopies. Within the first eight years the colonoscopies are to help look at the location of the disease and to check response to therapy. After eight years, the gastroenterologist may recommend annual colonoscopies to every other year. Depending on the severity and the duration, that somebody has had UC,” Chen said.
Regular follow-ups with your gastroenterologist are important.
“One thing patients can do to lower that risk [of colon cancer] is to get good control of their disease,” Chen said.
You should also discuss any concerns you have with your doctor.
Raffaele Macri, M.D., is an emergency medicine and family medicine resident physician at Jefferson Health Northeast in Philadelphia and member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
(NEW YORK) — Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Sunday in an exclusive interview with ABC “This Week” that the besieged city of Mariupol has not yet fallen despite Russian demands that Ukrainians surrender.
“There [are] still our military forces, our soldiers, so they will fight until the end,” Shmyhal told “This Week” Anchor George Stephanopoulos.
Mariupol is a strategic city for Russia because it would allow Russian forces in the south to connect with troops in the Donbas region. It would also give Russia a key port.
Shmyhal said even though the city remains in Ukrainian control, its residents are suffering.
“They have no water, no food, no heat, no electricity,” Shmyhal said. “They ask all of our partners to support and help stop this humanitarian catastrophe.”
During a virtual address overnight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia’s actions in Mariupol were “just inhuman.”
“Russia is deliberately trying to destroy everyone who is there in Mariupol,” Zelenskyy said.
The Russian Defence Ministry warned that the military would kill any remaining Ukrainian fighters who did not surrender before the overnight deadline.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that Russia is regrouping and repositioning forces to the east, warning that “a big Russian offensive” is expected in the Donbas region in southeastern Ukraine.
Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last week. Nehammer was the first European leader to do so since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Stephanopoulos asked Schmyhal about the Austrian chancellor’s assessment that Putin believes he is winning the war. “Has the tide turned?” he asked.
Schmyhal replied that only one big city “is under control of Russian military forces. But all of the rest of the cities are under Ukrainian control.”
On Saturday, Russia continued attacks across Ukraine, including in the capital, Kyiv. The Ukrainian president’s office reported missile strikes and shelling in eight regions across the country.
Stephanopoulos asked Schmyhal if peace talks between Ukraine and Russia have reached a dead end.
Schmyhal said Ukraine was open to diplomacy, but if Russia does not want to negotiate, Ukraine will continue to fight.
“We will not surrender; we will not leave our country, our families, our land,” Schmyhal said. “So we will fight absolutely to the end, to win in this war.”
President Joe Biden authorized $800 million more in military aid last week, after referring to Russia’s actions in Ukraine as “genocide.” Stephanopoulos asked the Ukrainian Prime Minister what more the country needs.
“We are so grateful to American people, especially to President Bident for [the] support of Ukraine,” Schmyhal said. “Only half of our economy is working, so we ask for financial support.”
Reuters has reported that Schmyhal will travel to Washington, D.C., this week along with other top Ukrainian finance officials for the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings.
Schmyhal told Stephanopoulos that while members of his financial team are in Washington, they will continue to push for additional financial support.
Stephanopoulos asked Schmyhal what his message is for the West.
“We need more sanctions from West partners. We need more ammunition to protect our country and European borders,” Schmyhal added.
(COLUMBIA, S.C.) — At least nine people have been shot at a South Carolina restaurant, according to police.
The shooting occurred Sunday morning at Cara’s Lounge in Furman, South Carolina, located about 50 miles northwest of Columbia, according to the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division, which received a request from the Hampton County Sheriff’s Office to lead the investigation.
The circumstances leading up to the shooting are not clear. Police did not immediately release further information.
The shooting comes a day after a shooting incident at a mall in Columbia, South Carolina, that left 14 people were injured.
Nine people were shot and five others were injured while fleeing the scene Saturday afternoon, police said. The injured ranged in age from 15 to 73 years old.
Police said they arrested a 22-year-old on a charge of unlawful carrying of a pistol and added that more charges may be forthcoming.
(PITTSBURGH) — Two teenagers were killed and at least eight people were wounded when a barrage of 50 gunshots broke out early Sunday inside a Pittsburgh Airbnb rental house, where police said roughly 200 people were having a party. Some escaped the gunfire by jumping out of windows.
The shooting marked the third time in nine days that gunfire erupted during parties being held at Airbnb rentals, including one near Sacramento, California, which left a teen dead, and another that rocked a suburban Houston residential neighborhood.
The Pittsburgh shooting unfolded Sunday around 12:30 a.m., when police were notified of multiple ShotSpotter gunfire-detection alerts in the East Allegheny neighborhood on the city’s North Side, according to the Pittsburgh Police Department.
Cellphone video taken from inside the packed house and obtained by ABC News captured the screams and panic of party-goers rushing to get out of the residence, some tripping and falling down a staircase.
In the footage, someone is heard shouting: “He’s got a gun!” and “We got to go!” As apparent gunfire sounded, someone yelled: “They’re shooting!” The shouts were followed by screams.
Victims suffering from bullet wounds were found near the home and taken to hospitals by ambulance, police said. Other gunshot victims were taken to area hospitals in private cars, including two juveniles who were pronounced dead upon arriving at emergency rooms, authorities said.
A total of 10 people were shot, including the two slain teenagers, police said. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the deceased as Mathew Steffy-Ross and Jaiden Brown, both 17.
Several other victims suffered broken bones and cuts fleeing the chaotic scene, according to police.
Police said a preliminary investigation found that the shooting occurred during a large party being held at the short-term rental property, “with as many as 200 people in attendance, many of them underage.”
“As many as 50 rounds were fired inside, prompting some party-goers to jump out the windows, sustaining injuries such as broken bones and lacerations,” police said in a statement Sunday. “Several more shots were fired outside the home.”
No arrests have been made, and detectives are combing over evidence found at eight different crime scenes in a radius of several blocks around the Airbnb house. Detectives are also reviewing security video in an effort to identify suspects.
During a press conference Sunday, Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert said the gunfire started after an “altercation” and confirmed that multiple shooters engaged in a gunfight. He said that in addition to the gunshot victims, five other people were injured from either jumping out of windows or falling down stairs while taking cover.
“It is our top priority to find out who did this and get them off the street,” Schubert told reporters.
He noted that the “vast majority” of people at the party were juveniles.
“This is something that shouldn’t have happened. This goes back to having too many guns — too many illegal guns — on the streets. Too many people who have access to these illegal weapons,” he added. “Innocent people were struck… We’re sick about it, and we’re gonna do everything we can to get those responsible for it.”
Shell casings collected at the scene indicate multiple weapons were fired, including rifles, a police commander told ABC affiliate station WTAE in Pittsburgh.
“We share the Pittsburgh community’s outrage regarding this tragic gun violence. Our hearts go out to all who were impacted — including loved ones of those who lost their lives, injured victims and neighbors,” Airbnb told ABC News in a statement Sunday. “Airbnb strictly bans parties, and we condemn the behavior that is alleged to have prompted this criminal gun violence.”
Airbnb said the person who booked the house has been issued a lifetime ban from Airbnb. The company confirmed that an “unauthorized party” was thrown without the knowledge or consent of the house host, who specifically stated in the listing page that no parties were allowed and that any evidence of a party would result in a $500 fee.
“We will be considering all legal options to hold this person accountable,” Airbnb’s statement said, adding that the company is cooperating with the Pittsburgh Police Department’s investigation.
Addressing allegations that many of those attending the party were minors, the company said, “we can confirm that users must be 18 or above to create an Airbnb account.”
The company also noted that its CEO, Brian Chesky, has joined a coalition of CEOs nationwide calling for stricter gun control measures to get illegal firearms off the streets.
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said in a statement Sunday that police were using all available resources to find those responsible for the shooting and added that members of the community had contacted the investigators with information on the episode.
According to Gainey, the shooting came as Pittsburgh police and city leaders have been been working on a plan in the past several weeks to address gun violence in the city. He said a special meeting of public safety and key community members is being scheduled to discuss a citywide effort to combat gun violence.
“The time is now for us to move with a sense of urgency to bring justice to the victims and peace to our city,” Gainey said. “It is critical that we come together now to help reduce the violence currently happening while we begin to do the long-term work of ending the culture of violence that is enabling the senseless loss of life we are experiencing today. We must say no more and never again.”
Anyone with information about the shooting can call the Pittsburgh Police Department’s Major Crimes unit at 412-323-7161.
