(ATLANTA) — A listeria outbreak that caused one death in Illinois and sickened at least 23 other people has been linked to a Florida ice cream brand, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC advises consumers to discard Big Olaf Creamery brand ice cream they have at home. It also recommends cleaning any containers, utensils and areas that may have touched a Big Olaf ice cream product.
The brand is only sold in Florida but the outbreak spread across 10 states.
The CDC is advising retailers to remove Big Olaf ice cream products from shelves and notes that the Sarasota-based company is “voluntarily contacting retail locations to recommend against selling their ice cream products until further notice.”
Listeriosis is an infection typically caused by eating food contaminated with the bacterium “Listeria monocytogenes,” the CDC states on its site. When the bacteria spreads beyond the gut to other parts of the body, it can cause severe illness.
Symptoms can start as early as the same day or up to 70 days after eating the contaminated food.
The CDC says listeria typically affects pregnant women, newborns, older adults and people with weakened immune systems. It is rare for people in other groups to get the illness.
Symptoms vary based on the person and the part of the body affected – including fatigue, muscle aches, fever and more.
(WASHINGTON) — Congress “must pass” new immigration laws, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Sunday while defending the administration’s policies amid renewed scrutiny of the high amount of migration at the southern border.
“Because the border has been a challenge for decades, ultimately Congress must pass legislation to once and for all fix our broken immigration system,” Mayorkas told ABC This Week co-anchor Martha Raddatz.
Mayorkas’ defense comes after 53 migrants were found dead in a tractor-trailer in San Antonio, Texas, late last month, which Mayorkas called a “tragic result” of a “dangerous journey.” Four men have been charged in the deaths.
On This Week, Mayorkas said that the U.S. was working with regional allies in Central and South America beyond pushing for legislation, which remains a dim prospect in Congress.
“These are remarkable, distinct times,” Mayorkas said. In lieu of new laws, “we have a multi-faceted approach, not only to work with our partner countries but to bring law enforcement to bear to attack the smuggling organizations in an unprecedented way,” he said. “We are doing so very much.”
Raddatz pressed Mayorkas, noting that a legislative fix on immigration was unlikely given partisan gridlock on the issue — and, she said, the administration’s warning to migrants to not try to cross the border was either not being heard or not being heeded.
“Fifty-three people lost their lives in the most horrific of conditions,” Mayorkas said of the migrants who died in San Antonio. “We continue to tell people not to take the dangerous journey. We are enforcing our laws. And we are working with countries … including our close partner Mexico, but with Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia, to really address the migration that is throughout the Western Hemisphere.”
Still, Raddatz cited a historic high in May for southern border crossings: 240,000.
“I think that we are doing a good job. We need to do better,” Mayorkas acknowledged. “We are focused on doing more, and we are doing it with our partners to the south.”
“You have Congressman Henry Cuellar saying that only about 30% of the Border Patrol are doing missions at checkpoints and the border because the other 70% are tied up at detention centers. How do you fix that?” Raddatz pressed.
“We are pressing this issue vigorously and aggressively to address the number of encounters that we are experiencing at the southern border,” Mayorkas responded.
He touted the administration’s recent win before the Supreme Court, which ruled last week that the White House can end the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy that made migrants seeking asylum stay outside the U.S. during adjudication.
Mayorkas argued that policy “has endemic flaws and causes unjustifiable human tragedy.”
“We need to wait until the Supreme Court’s decision is actually communicated to the lower court, to the federal district court and the Northern District of Texas … So, we have to wait several weeks for that procedural step to be taken,” he said.
As for the migrant deaths in the tractor trailer in Texas, Mayorkas said he didn’t want to comment on the facts of the case as they were still emerging. He declined to say whether or not the vehicle had been “waved through” a checkpoint.
“The smuggling organizations are extraordinarily sophisticated. They are transnational criminal organizations,” he said.
Raddatz followed up, asking: “What good are these checkpoints if a truck like that gets through, full of migrants?”
Mayorkas said the “checkpoints are part of a multilayered approach.”
“In fiscal year 2022 alone we’ve stopped more than 400 vehicles and saved and rescued more than 10,000 migrants,” Mayorkas said. “But this is why we continue to communicate that the journey — the dangerous journey should not be taken. We are enforcing our laws and people lose their lives at the hands or exploitative smugglers.”
David Barnes is seen in an undated photo provided by his family. – Courtesy Carol Barnes
(HUNTSVILLE, Ala.) — A Texas man who has spent more than five months in a Russian detention center is facing a different challenge from other recent American detainees such as Trevor Reed and Brittney Griner, as authorities in Moscow are accusing him of wrongdoing in his home country.
David Barnes, a Huntsville, Alabama, native who has lived in the Houston area in recent years, was taken into custody by law enforcement in Moscow in January and has been incarcerated on Russian soil ever since.
“If I could go over there and just sit in that place with him, I would do it in a minute, because this is the most unjust situation I’ve ever experienced in my entire life,” Carol Barnes, David’s older sister, told ABC News. “I feel like part of me is missing.”
David Barnes was in Russia attempting to gain legal clearance to either see his children or bring them home, after his Russian ex-wife allegedly violated a court custody order and fled the United States with them, his family says.
On Jan. 13, Russian investigators apprehended Barnes in Moscow, accusing him of abusing his two children years earlier in Texas, according to translations of court documents. Similar allegations against Barnes were brought to authorities in Texas by his now-ex-wife Svetlana Koptyaeva during their long and acrimonious divorce proceedings. The allegations were investigated in 2018 by the Department of Family and Protective Services, which found insufficient evidence to support them and closed the case without any findings of abuse or any charges against Barnes.
Barnes’ ex-wife is herself now wanted in the U.S. on a felony charge of interference with child custody, after she fled with the children in 2019.
“His mission was to save his children,” Carol Barnes said. “His mission all along has not been really revenge against her at all.”
With her brother locked up abroad in a country that is currently fighting a war in Ukraine that has lead to a diplomatic dispute with the United States, Carol Barnes says she worries about his future.
“I’ve never been so sad and so hurt,” she said. “All I think about is the conditions that he’s living in.”
Making ‘examples out of U.S. citizens’
For much of his time in Russia, David Barnes has been in Moscow’s Detention Center 5, according to his family. He is not the only American — or even the only Texan — who has been held there in recent years.
Trevor Reed, a former Marine from Texas, was arrested by Russian authorities in 2019 and sentenced to nine years in prison. After being accused of assaulting two police officers in Moscow, Reed spent part of his time behind bars in Detention Center 5.
After Reed’s case gained widespread publicity in the U.S., he was released by Russian authorities in April in exchange for a Russian man who was being held in Connecticut on a federal drug trafficking conviction.
In an interview with ABC News, Reed described his pretrial Russian detention facility as rat-infested and “extremely dirty.”
“It took Trevor Reed three years to get out and his alleged crime was much less severe than what David is being accused of,” Carol Barnes said. “We’re talking about Russia. They’re going to make examples out of U.S. citizens.”
Another Texan, Brittney Griner, is still being held by Russian law enforcement in the Moscow area. The WNBA star and Olympic gold medalist was arrested at an airport after Russian authorities alleged that she had vape cartridges with hashish oil in her luggage, but the U.S. government says Griner is being “wrongfully detained.”
Barnes had been living in Texas since 2007, working initially as a design engineer for an Alabama-based software company’s Houston office.
Houston is where he met Svetlana Koptyaeva, who was also living there for work. The two would go on to marry and have two sons, at least one of whom has dual Russian and American citizenship.
“I saw a difference in him when he had those two children,” Carol Barnes said. “His boys were his only focus in this life.”
Svetlana Barnes filed a petition for divorce in 2014, and over the next five years, a lengthy and ugly custody battle ensued between the two parents, resulting in a jury trial and numerous court hearings in Texas.
“It was horrible,” David Barnes’ younger sister Margaret Aaron said. “She tried everything she could to take the children from him and to get sole control, and he fought her tooth and nail.”
Of Barnes’ two children, Carol Barnes said, “He wanted them — even though their parents were divorcing — to have two parents. He thought that children should be raised by two parents’ influence.”
Paul Carter, a lifelong friend of David Barnes who is also divorced with two sons, said the struggle between Barnes and his ex-wife became “a cascading series of events” stemming from “her desire to not have David in any part of their lives.”
“My boys are everything,” Carter said. “Watching my sons grow up has been a wonderful experience. I’ve wanted so much for David to have that.”
‘Completely and totally devastated’
In early 2019, as part of a custody arrangement, Svetlana Barnes was expected to bring the children to an agreed-upon meeting point so David Barnes could have the boys for a few days.
However, she never showed with the children. According to law enforcement records, David Barnes called the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office multiple times to ask for welfare checks on the two boys.
“She was a flight risk and somehow was able to flee with the passports,” Carter said. “I think that’s a real travesty. It’s a real breakdown of the system.”
By April 6, 2019, the FBI was able to track Svetlana Barnes to Turkey, according to a criminal complaint.
“He was completely and totally devastated,” Aaron said. “He had gotten their room ready at his apartment and bought them toys, and he was just so happy that they were going to come back to him, and then they were gone. He was crushed.”
In August 2020, a judge in Montgomery County signed an order designating David Barnes as the sole managing conservator of his children, which gave him rights to decide the primary home for his children, make decisions regarding their education, represent them in legal actions, and possess their passports.
Yet despite the order, the two boys were nowhere to be found in the U.S. and Barnes was unable to reestablish contact with them.
His family said he had a gut feeling about where the children had ended up.
“He was pretty certain what had happened, that [Svetlana] had taken them back to Russia,” Aaron said. “He knew that she would probably do this if she had the opportunity.”
Svetlana Barnes was eventually traced to her homeland, with court-appointed receiver Robert Berleth writing in a November 2020 report, “It is understood by the Receiver the Defendant has fled to Russia and has no intention of returning” to her home in Texas.
Carol Barnes said that after locating and hiring an attorney in Moscow, her brother decided to fly there in December 2021 to see if he could secure at least partial custody or limited rights to visitation with his children in Russian court.
“Society doesn’t consider fathers to be as important as mothers,” Carol Barnes said. “They don’t take into consideration that maybe there are fathers out there that are willing to fight for their children.”
Not long after David Barnes arrived in Moscow and rented a room near where Svetlana Barnes was believed to be living, the former spouses ran into each other, according to Carol Barnes, who alleges that the ex-wife then contacted Russian authorities to make the same past child abuse allegations that Texas authorities could not substantiate.
David Barnes was soon arrested by law enforcement in Moscow.
“After reviewing the decision to initiate a criminal case against me, I think that this is absurd,” court records say that David Barnes told Russian investigators during an interrogation. “I did not take the actions set forth in the decision to initiate a criminal case against me.”
“I’m sure he was panicked,” Aaron said. “You feel so helpless.”
‘It was all made up to destroy him’
David Barnes’ detention in Russia has come as news to prosecutors in the Lone Star State.
“We were not aware that Mr. Barnes was being held in a Russian detention center,” Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office Trial Bureau Chief Kelly Blackburn told ABC News when informed of Barnes’ incarceration. “At this time, there are no accusations out of Montgomery County that we are aware of that would allow Mr. Barnes to be held in custody.”
Nor have any child abuse charges been made against David Barnes in neighboring Harris County, which covers the part of Houston also referenced in Russian court documents, according to the district attorney’s office there.
A 2014 petition for divorce that was filed on Svetlana Barnes’ behalf said that “Petitioner believes that Respondent [David Barnes] has a history or pattern of sexual abuse directed against” one of the children, but did not go into detail.
“There was not a lot of information in 2014,” Carol Barnes said. “All I remember from talking to David was she started accusing him of some kind of abuse, but there was nothing definitive really said.”
In 2017, a settlement agreement between David and Svetlana Barnes noted in part that Svetlana Barnes was “to refrain from making statements, either written or oral, to any third party, alleging that … [David Barnes] … molested his minor child and/or engaged in improper sexual contact with his minor child” — though she did not waive any legal reporting duties.
An incident report from a constable’s office in Montgomery County said that law enforcement interviewed Svetlana Barnes and the children in 2018 regarding sexual assault concerns that she reported. A search warrant was subsequently executed on David Barnes’ apartment in The Woodlands, but no charges were ever filed.
“I know my brother. I know that he loved his children and he would never do those things that she has accused him of,” Aaron said. “It was all made up to destroy him and to get the children away from him.”
While David Barnes is not currently facing criminal charges in Texas, the same cannot be said for Svetlana Barnes, who was indicted in 2019 for interference with child custody, a felony.
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office alleged that despite a judgment allowing David Barnes to have partial custody of the two children, Svetlana Barnes “failed to comply with any condition for travel outside of the United States with the children,” and left the country with the boys on a Turkish Airlines flight from Houston to Istanbul on March 26, 2019.
“Svetlana Barnes still has yet to be arrested on the charge of interference with child custody, and the warrant for her arrest is still active,” Blackburn said.
Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, considers March 26, 2019, to be the date on which the children disappeared. The organization, which published yellow global police notices containing pictures of the boys, still considers them missing.
In an attempt to reach Svetlana Barnes for comment, ABC News sent an email to an address previously associated with her, but received an unsigned response from the email account that stated in part, “as her attorney I won’t recommend her talking to you.”
‘I want to see his release’
The news that David Barnes is being detained in Russia has prompted calls for his release from many of those closest to him, including his employer.
“We continue to hope for his well-being and safe return home as soon as possible,” Philip Ivy, vice president of Houston-based engineering firm KBR, said.
David Barnes’ arrest was covered by state media outlets in Russia, but has not previously made headlines in the U.S.
In the months since he was taken into custody, Barnes has been visited by representatives of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, according to emails between his family and the State Department. A trial date has not yet been scheduled and his future remains uncertain.
“We are aware of reports of the arrest of a U.S. citizen in Moscow,” a U.S. State Department spokesperson told ABC News. “We take seriously our responsibility to assist U.S. citizens abroad, and are monitoring the situation. We stand ready to provide all appropriate consular services in cases where U.S. citizens are detained abroad.”
Back in Huntsville, his family and friends are hoping that he will be able to rejoin them soon.
“I want to see his release,” said his sister Margaret Aaron. “He is being held there as guilty until they can prove him innocent, but there’s nothing to hold him there, there’s no evidence of anything, [and] he did not do anything. We would like some action taken for his freedom.”
“President Biden, if you could help David in any way, God bless you,” said his friend Paul Carter. “We want him back.”
ABC News’ Patrick Linehan contributed to this report.
(AKRON, Ohio) — Ohio police officials released officer body-camera footage of a 25-year-old Black man killed in a hail of bullets fired by eight officers while he was unarmed and running away.
As Jayland Walker’s family has demanded answers about the circumstances of last week’s killing, which authorities said occurred following a police chase, large protests have erupted in Akron, Ohio, with demonstrators marching on the city’s police headquarters.
Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan and Police Chief Steve Mylett, during a news conference Sunday afternoon, joined the Walker family in calling for peaceful protests and for patience as the investigation continues in the man’s death.
“When an officer makes the most critical decision in his or her life as a police officer, it doesn’t matter where in the country this happens, when they make that most critical decision to point their firearm at another human being and pull the trigger, they’ve got to be ready to explain why they did what they did,” Mylett said Sunday. “They need to be able to articulate what specific threats they were facing, and that goes for every round that goes down the barrel of their gun.”
Mylett began the news conference by expressing his “deepest sympathies to Jayland’s family” and apologized for their loss.
“I cannot imagine the sense of loss, the pain they are going through right now,” Mylett said. “I want to personally thank you for the way in which you have been dealing with this situation. You have asked for peace in an environment that is rife for aggression and violence. If Jayland reflects the character of this family, which I continually heard that he did, you raised a good son.”
Before the body-camera footage was shown, Horrigan said he was “beyond outraged” at the situation, and told reporters that “the video you are about to watch is heartbreaking.”
Akron police officials said the fatal incident unfolded about 12:30 a.m. on June 27 in Akron’s North Hill neighborhood when officers attempted to pull over Walker for a traffic violation and an equipment violation with his car. Police said the driver allegedly refused to stop, setting off a chase that ended in his death.
Police officials played footage from two police body-camera videos, the first showing police pursuing Walker’s silver Buick onto Route 8 in Akron.
The video showed the Buick taking an onramp and a flash of light that Mylett said appeared to be the muzzle flash of a gun coming from the driver’s side of Walker’s car. Police officials also released freeze frames of the flash coming from the vehicle’s window.
A second body-camera video recorded officers radioing that they heard at least one shot being fired from Walker’s car. The video also shows the officer following the Buick off Route 8 and continuing the pursuit on side streets.
At one point, Walker slowed down and jumped out of the vehicle before it came to a full stop. The footage showed a man, who police said was Walker, exiting the car’s passenger side door wearing a ski mask.
Multiple officers are seen in the footage running after Walker, who appeared to look over his shoulder as officers fired their weapons at him.
Mylett said he has watched the video at least 40 times and said there are still photos showing Walker appear to reach for his waistband, turn toward the officers and move an arm forward.
Mylett said Walker’s face and body were blurred out in the video shown to the public at the request of the Walker family.
The chief said he is reserving further comment on the video and judgment on the incident until the Ohio Bureau of Investigation completes its probe.
In an earlier statement, Akron police officials said, the “actions by the suspect caused the officers to perceive he posed a deadly threat to them. In response to this threat, officers discharged their firearms, striking the suspect.”
Despite the shooting occurring seven days ago, Mylett said none of the officers have been interviewed by investigators. The chief said the police union president has assured him that all of the officers involved in the shooting will fully cooperate.
The officers involved in the shooting are on paid administrative leave, pending the outcome of the investigation being led by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Following the news conference, Bobby DiCello, an attorney for Walker’s family, said the key fact of the case, which Mylett confirmed, is that Walker was unarmed when he was killed.
Mylett said while the video confirmed that Walker was unarmed when he was shot, he said the footage also captured a handgun with a separate loaded magazine and what appears to be a gold wedding band left on the driver’s seat of Walker’s car.
The body-camera videos were released in accordance with a city law passed last year requiring police body-camera footage be made public seven days after an officer’s use of force resulted in death or great bodily injury.
DiCello said the videos show Walker did not pose a threat to the officers when they fired more than 60 shots.
“You can see his hands as he is running on the video,” DiCello told ABC News’ Good Morning America after watching the video before it was made public.
He said the first two Akron police officers to engage Walker, deployed their stun guns. Mylett confirm that officers deployed Tasers, but they had no effect.
“Why do eight men shoot him, mostly from behind, as he’s running away?” DiCello told GMA of the troubling list of questions he has over the shooting.
DiCello said he saw no evidence in the video he reviewed of Walker posing a threat to the officers.
“Just sprinting away from these men, he is shot as he starts to turn and look over his shoulder,” DiCello said.
Walker’s aunt, LaJuana Dawkins, told GMA, “We’d like to know why he was shot down like a dog.”
DiCello said Sunday that Walker was saddened over the recent death of his girlfriend, but relatives told him they did not notice anything about his behavior that would have led them to believe he would allegedly lead police on a chase or shoot at officers.
DiCello accused Mylett of playing “armchair quarterback” during Sunday’s news conference without knowledge of all the facts.
“I’m disappointed. They want to turn him into a masked monster with a gun,” DiCello said. “He wasn’t a criminal, he was obviously in pain. He didn’t deserve to die.”
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost attempted to assure the public on Sunday that the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation “will conduct a complete, fair and expert investigation.”
“People want and deserve answers, and they shall have them,” Yost said in a statement. “Body-worn camera footage is just one view of the whole picture — before drawing conclusions, the full review must take place.”
He said the investigative file will be made public at the conclusion of the case and people will be able to review it online.
“The goal is the truth, and we need to talk to anyone who knows anything,” Yost said. “Silence will never produce justice.”
(CAIRO) — Two women were killed in shark attacks in Egypt’s Red Sea over the weekend, prompting officials to close off a stretch of the coastline.
The Egyptian Ministry of Environment said in a statement Sunday that the women were attacked by a shark while swimming in the Red Sea near the resort town of Hurghada. The governor of the wider Red Sea Governorate, Maj. Gen. Amr Hanafi, has issued an order to suspend all water activities in the vicinity of the deadly attacks, according to the ministry.
The ministry said a committee of specialists has been formed to investigate the circumstances of the incidents and any scientific reasons behind them. The group “is still completing its work to find out precisely the reasons for the behavior of the shark that attacked the two victims,” according to the ministry.
It was unclear whether the same shark was involved in both attacks.
“The Ministry of Environment regrets the accident and extends its deepest condolences to the families of the two victims and extends its sincere thanks and appreciation to all concerned parties for their support,” the ministry added.
The ministry did not release the identities of the two women.
A spokesperson for the Austrian Foreign Ministry confirmed to ABC News that an Austrian citizen from the western state of Tyrol had died in Egypt. The Austrian embassy in Cairo is in contact with the victim’s relatives as well as Egyptian authorities, according to the spokesperson, who would not provide further information due to “reasons of data protection and confidentiality.”
Shark attacks in Egypt’s Red Sea coastal region have been relatively rare in recent years. In 2020, a 12-year-old Ukrainian boy lost an arm and an Egyptian tour guide lost a leg in a shark attack while snorkelling off the coast of Sharm El-Sheikh, another Red Sea resort town.
OLAFUR STEINAR GESTSSON/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images
(LONDON) — At least three people were killed and four others were critically wounded in a shooting at a Copenhagen shopping mall on Sunday, authorities said.
Police responded to reports of a shooting at the Field’s shopping center in Denmark’s capital just before 5:30 p.m.local time on Sunday. A boy and girl, both 17-year-old Danish citizens, and a 47-year-old Russian man were killed when a gunman opened fire there, according to Copenhagen chief police inspector Søren Thomassen.
As of Monday, four people — two Danish and two Swedish citizens — remain hospitalized in critical but stable condition. Several others suffered minor injuries while fleeing the mall, Thomassen said.
The suspect — a 22-year-old man with a history of mental health issues — was arrested at the scene, according to Thomassen. The man was expected to be arraigned in a Danish court on Monday on preliminary charges of murder.
The deadly shooting remains under investigation. While a motive was unknown, Thomassen said the victims appeared to have been randomly targeted and the gunman was believed to have acted alone. There was also nothing to suggest terrorism, he said.
“There is nothing in our investigation, or the documents we have reviewed, or the things we have found, or the witnesses’ statements we have gotten, that can substantiate that this is an act of terrorism,” the police inspector told reporters during a press conference Monday.
(BATTLECREEK, Mich.) — One person is dead after an accident during the “pyrotechnic portion” of an air show in Michigan, police said.
The incident occurred Saturday shortly after 1 p.m. at the Battle Creek Field of Flight Air Show and Balloon Festival, held at Battle Creek Executive Airport.
Chris Darnell, 40, died while driving a race truck dubbed the Shockwave Jet Truck during the air show, police said in an update Saturday evening. The accident is under investigation.
Dramatic video by attendees of the air show captured the truck racing two aircraft on the runway before the accident occurred. A small fire behind the truck can be seen as the vehicle slides past a large fireball and crashes.
“Oh boy, we’ve got an incident here with our Shockwave out here at Air Show Center,” the announcer can be heard saying following the accident.
The Battle Creek Fire Department, Battle Creek Police Department and Federal Aviation Administration responded to the scene, police said.
Police have not released any further information amid the investigation.
The remainder of Saturday’s air show was canceled “out of respect for the incident that has occurred,” Battle Creek Field of Flight said in a statement. Saturday evening’s activities were scheduled to resume at the festival, which runs through Monday.
Shockwave, a custom-built race truck, is owned by Darnell Racing Enterprises, based in Springfield, Missouri. ABC News has reached out to the company for comment.
The truck, which was equipped with three flame-shooting jet engines, was capable of racing at over 350 mph, according to its owners. It frequently appeared at air show and drag racing exhibitions across the country.
Darnell was involved in motorsports “his entire life,” according to a bio on Darnell Racing’s website, and worked with his father in the business.
In a Facebook post Sunday, Neal Darnell described his son as a “family man” who leaves behind a wife and two daughters.
“We have lost our youngest son Chris in an accident doing what he loved; performing with Shockwave,” Neal Darnell wrote. “Chris so loved life and his huge air show and drag racing family.”
(HALTOM CITY, Texas) — Two people were shot and killed and four others injured, including three police officers, Saturday night in Haltom City, Texas, police said.
Sgt. Rick Alexander of Haltom City police said during a briefing that the three officers did not suffer any life-threatening injuries, as one officer was hit in the right arm, finger and leg, a second male officer was hit in both legs and a third officer was hit in the upper thigh.
At a press conference on Sunday, Alexander identified the three injured cops as Cpl. Zach Tabler, and officers Tim Barton and Jose Avila.
An elderly female had called 911 and police arrived at the residence, where officers returned fire during the incident, Alexander said. The elderly female sustained non-life-threatening injuries. A woman was found dead in the home and a man was found dead outside, Alexander said.
Officers said the elderly female’s call was crucial because they entered a situation where the gunman ambushed them.
“If they wouldn’t have been prepared, this situation could have turned out a lot worse,” Haltom City Police Chief Cody Phillips said. “There could have been several officers deceased over not being able to respond correctly.”
Alexander identified the suspected gunman as 28-year-old Edward Freyman. Police said they returned fire, forcing the suspect to flee. He was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
Freyman had a military style rifle and a handgun near him, according to the Haltom City Police Department.
The relationship between the victims and the shooter is not yet known, but officers confirmed that the three people — the two deceased and the suspected shooter — knew each another.
“The main concern is getting the scene secure, trying to get to our officers, be able to get them out of harm’s way while also trying to keep containment on the suspect,” Alexander said, WFAA reported.
The Texas Rangers are taking over the investigation.
ABC News’ Izzy Alvarez and Teddy Grant contributed to this report.
(HOUSTON) — A 5-year-old child was killed in a drive-by shooting on Sunday that also injured an 8-year-old in a Houston neighborhood, Houston Police said.
Police received several phone calls around 1 a.m., saying there was a shooting in the city’s Greenspoint area, but when they arrived, they didn’t find anything, Asst. Chief Chandra Hatcher told reporters early Sunday.
About 15 minutes later, officers got word that two children arrived at an area hospital with gunshot wounds. The 8-year-old child is expected to fully recover from their injuries, Hatcher said.
Both children were reportedly in a car at a stop sign when a person in another vehicle began shooting, witnesses told authorities. Their mother reportedly drove them to the hospital.
Police are investigating the incident and looking at footage from surveillance cameras to aid in the investigation. A suspect is not in custody, police said.
Authorities are unsure if the two children were the intended targets.
“We do not know a motive,” Hatcher said.
Police described the suspect’s vehicle as dark-colored and added that there may have been two people in it.
“If anyone knows information, please come forward and please continue to pray for the family of the deceased child and the injured 8-year-old,” Hatcher said.
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department should not avoid prosecuting Donald Trump in relation to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack if a prosecution is warranted, Rep. Liz Cheney said in an interview with ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl.
While bringing charges against the former president — who may challenge President Joe Biden in 2024 — would be unprecedented and “difficult” for the country, not doing so would support a “much graver constitutional threat,” Cheney said Wednesday in an interview at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library that aired Sunday on “This Week.”
“Are you worried about what that means for the country, to [see] a former president prosecuted? A former president who was a likely candidate; who may in fact be running for president against Biden?” Karl asked Cheney.
“I think it’s a much graver constitutional threat if a president can engage in these kinds of activities, and the majority of the president’s party looks away; or we as a country decide we’re not actually going to take our constitutional obligations seriously,” Cheney said. “I think that’s a much, a much more serious threat.”
“I really believe we have to make these decisions, as difficult as it is, apart from politics. We really have to think about these from the perspective of: What does it mean for the country?” she said.
‘Absolutely confident’ in Hutchinson’s testimony
The Wyoming Republican told Karl she was “absolutely confident” in Cassidy Hutchinson’s startling testimony last week during a surprise hearing by the House’s Jan. 6 committee, which Cheney vice-chairs.
“She’s an incredibly brave young woman,” Cheney said of Hutchinson.
On Tuesday, the former aide to Trump’s White House chief of staff Mark Meadows testified that she was told Trump was verbally aggressive with Secret Service agents and lunged for the steering wheel of his vehicle after learning he was not going to the Capitol after his rally on Jan. 6, 2021.
Hutchinson said Tony Ornato, a Secret Service agent and Trump deputy chief of staff, told her as much not long after the incident that same day. Hutchinson’s account has drawn significant attention and push-back from Trump.
“What Ms. Hutchinson testified to was a conversation that she was part of with Mr. Ornato and which Mr. Engel [a Secret Service agent] was present, where they detailed what happened in the limousine,” Cheney said.
“Do you have any evidence other than Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony to corroborate what she said happened in that presidential motorcade?” Karl asked Cheney.
“The committee has significant evidence about a whole range of issues, including the president’s intense anger,” Cheney responded.
“I think you will continue to see in the coming days and weeks additional detail about the president’s activities and behavior on that day,” Cheney added.
In a statement to ABC News, the Secret Service said agents were prepared to give sworn testimony to the panel. A source close to the Secret Service did not dispute to ABC News that Trump was angry with agents in the car but said he did not reach for the wheel or lunge at Robert Engel, the lead agent on his detail.
Hutchinson also claimed that Trump knew his supporters were armed on Jan. 6 ahead of a march on the Capitol.
Trump on Tuesday worked to dismiss and downplay Hutchinson’s testimony, posting on social media that “I hardly know who this person … is, other than I heard very negative things about her (a total phony and ‘leaker’).”
“She is bad news!” he added.
Speaking with Karl, Cheney said the House committee “is not going to stand by and watch her [Hutchinson’s] character be assassinated by anonymous sources and by men who are claiming executive privilege. And so we look forward very much to additional testimony under oath on a whole range of issues.”
Criminal referral over witness tampering?
Cheney said during last week’s hearing that some witnesses had told investigators Trump aides attempted to influence their testimony before the panel. Hutchinson was among those to receive messages about protecting the former president, sources later told ABC News.
“Witness tampering is a crime. Are you making a criminal referral to DOJ on this?” Karl asked.
“We’ll make a decision as a committee about that,” Cheney replied.
“Do you have any doubt that [Trump] broke the law and that he is guilty of criminal violations?” Karl asked Cheney. (Trump insists he did nothing wrong.)”It’s a decision that we’ll make together as a committee,” Cheney said of referring any potential criminal conduct to the Justice Department.
“There’s no question that he engaged in high crimes and misdemeanors. I think there’s no question that it’s the most serious betrayal of his oath of office of any president in the history of the nation. It’s the most dangerous behavior of any president in the history of the nation,” she said.
“It’s possible there will be a criminal referral?” Karl asked.
“Yes,” Cheney said, adding that the Justice Department “doesn’t have to wait” for the panel to make a referral and that the committee could issue “more than one criminal referral.”
Damaging Trump ‘not the goal’ of hearings
Cheney has emerged as perhaps her party’s most vocal and most famous anti-Trump voice, drawing praise from Democrats and derision from many conservatives. Last year, she told ABC News that she would “do everything that I can to make sure” Trump “never gets anywhere close to the Oval Office again.”
“Have these hearings gotten you closer to that goal — making him toxic and not a viable candidate?” Karl asked in the new interview.
“That’s not the goal of the hearings,” she said.
“It’s crucial for the country to make sure that he’s never anywhere near the Oval Office again,” Cheney continued.
“The goal of the hearings is to make sure that the American people understand what happened; to help inform legislation, legislative changes that we might need to make,” she said. “I think it’s also the case that there’s not a single thing that I have learned, as we have been involved in this investigation, that has made me less concerned.”
“There’s no question: A man as dangerous as Donald Trump can absolutely never be anywhere near the Oval Office ever again,” Cheney said.
With looming primary, Cheney doesn’t ‘intend to lose’
Cheney was one of 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach Trump in 2021 for inciting the Capitol riot. Of that group, four are not running for reelection and Rep. Tom Rice of South Carolina was defeated in his May primary by a Trump-endorsed opponent.
Cheney will face Trump-backed candidate Harriet Hageman in early August. The former president won a greater share of the vote in Wyoming in 2020 than in any other state.
“You said recently the country is now in a battle: We must win against the former president trying to unravel our constitutional republic. What will it mean for that battle if you lose the Republican primary in Wyoming?” Karl asked Cheney.
“Well, I don’t intend to lose the Republican primary in Wyoming,” Cheney said.
“How important is it that you win, for that larger battle?” Karl asked.
“I think it’s important, because I will be the best representative that people of Wyoming can have,” Cheney said.
“The single most important thing is protecting the nation from Donald Trump. And I think that that matters to us as Americans more than anything else, and that’s why my work on the committee is so important,” she said.
“It’s so important to not just brush this past and say, ‘Okay, well, that’s in the past,’ but it informs whether this sort of toxin of Trump’s belief that he can put himself above the Constitution and put himself above the law — whether or not we successfully defeat that. And I think it’s very important that people know the truth. And that there are consequences,” Cheney said.
Cheney thinks GOP ‘can’t survive’ a Trump 2024 bid
Cheney said the Republican Party “can’t survive” if the former president runs for the White House again and wins the GOP nomination for 2024.
“I think that he can’t be the party nominee. And I don’t think the party would survive that,” Cheney said. “I believe in the party, and I believe in what the party can be and what the party can stand for. And I’m not ready to give that up.”
“Those of us who believe in Republican principles and ideals have a responsibility to try to lead the party back to what it can be, and to reject, and to reject so much of the toxin and the vitriol,” she added.
“I think it’s important also to remember that millions of people, millions of Republicans have been betrayed by Donald Trump. And that is a really painful thing for people to recognize and to admit,” she said.
“But it’s absolutely the case and they’ve been betrayed by him, by the ‘big lie” — referring to Trump’s continued baseless claims of election fraud — “and by what he continues to do and say to tear apart our country and tear apart our party, and I think we have to reject that,” Cheney said.
She said she has not “made a decision” about running for president in 2024.
“I’m obviously very focused on my reelection. I’m very focused on the Jan. 6 committee,” she said, with public hearings expected to resume later this month. “I’m very focused on my obligations to do the job that I have now. And I’ll make a decision about ’24 down the road.”
“But I think about it less in terms of a decision about running for office and more in terms of as an American — and as somebody who’s in a position of public trust now — how do I make sure that I’m doing everything I can to do the right thing, to do what I know is right for the country, and to protect our Constitution?”
