Joe Sohm/Visions of America / Contributor/Getty Images
(HOMESTEAD, Fla.) — A Florida inmate’s death while being transferred between prisons has prompted a criminal investigation, the resignation of a corrections officer and the placement of 10 others on leave, authorities said.
The death occurred Feb. 14, and state Department of Corrections officials released information about the incident on Saturday, a day after the Miami Herald, acting on a tip, inquired about it, the newspaper reported.
The Department of Corrections said in the Saturday statement that the prisoner, whose name and age have not been released, died while being transferred from the Dade Correctional Institution in Homestead, Florida, south of Miami, and that “the Department immediately took action to support a full investigation and ensure inmate safety.”
Citing an “open and active investigation,” the Department of Corrections declined to release further details.
The Miami Herald reported the inmate was found dead in a transfer van outside the Florida Women’s Reception Center, a prison in Ocala about 345 miles north of Homestead.
The Department of Corrections declined to say if the prisoner died from injuries suffered prior to being placed in the transfer vehicle or during the trip. The department would also not say if the inmate was shackled during the transfer.
Ricky Dixon, the secretary of the state Department of Corrections, described the investigation involving the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the state Office of Inspector General as a “criminal case.”
“As Secretary, I will be unwavering in my support for staff who perform their jobs with respect and integrity, but I will also be unrelenting in disciplining staff who act outside of the ethical standards of our profession; they will be held accountable for their actions, up to, and including criminal prosecution,” Dixon said in a statement.
The Department of Corrections statement said Dixon and other agency leaders traveled to the Dade Correctional Institution immediately after the inmate’s death to “assess the facility and to direct immediate action.”
The statement also noted that shortly before the incident, the Dade Correctional Institution warden was replaced for an undisclosed reason and that “the new warden is conducting a holistic review of facility operations.”
Alysha Tagert, a Washington, D.C. based mental health therapist, shares a photo of a coping tool box for kids. – Courtesy Alysha Tagert
(WASHINGTON) — As the United States enters a third year of the coronavirus pandemic, kids’ mental health continues to be a growing issue.
Kids’ health, school and after-school activities continue to be disrupted by the pandemic, while over 200,000 children under 18 in the U.S. have lost a parent or adult caregiver to COVID-19.
A report released late last year from the U.S. surgeon general warned of a growing mental health crisis among young people amid the coronavirus pandemic, while the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Children’s Hospital Association — which collectively represent over 77,000 physicians and over 200 children’s hospitals — declared children’s mental health challenges a “national emergency.”
With those statistics in mind, and as a mom of four herself, Alysha Tagert, a licensed clinical social worker in Washington, D.C., is sharing with parents a tangible way to help their kids.
Tagert, whose kids range in age from 3 to 8, said she noticed anxiety popping up among not only families she works with, but also in her own kids, particularly her 8-year-old son, as they navigated returning to in-person activities.
“There was so much transition,” Tagert said, describing the struggle with being away from friends and then back in school and having to follow different mask requirements in different places. “He just kept saying, ‘My stomach really hurts,’ over and over again.”
Recognizing her son’s physical symptom as a sign of anxiety, Tagert said she worked with him to create a coping tool box he could take with him to places such as school and baseball practice.
“It’s a tangible thing that you can hold on to that has simple, everyday stuff that helps engage all five of your senses for the purposes of calming down and being present for the moment,” Tagert said of the coping tool box. “My son’s was an old tin lunch box that has a dinosaur on the front of it.”
Tagert’s son put items like headphones, a joke book, a family photo, chewing gum and a fidget spinner in his tool box.
“I asked him, ‘What are the things that really help you feel like you can calm down?'” Tagert said. “And those are his go-to ones.”
Tips to create a coping tool box with kids
Tagert said it’s critical to include your child in the making of the tool box and to do so at a time when they are removed from an anxiety-provoking situation.
“It’s the same thing as if you were going to engage in a conversation with someone, you don’t want to do it when they’re really, really activated,” Tagert said. “So do it in a moment when they’re not feeling highly anxious.”
Tagert recommends using this as a teaching moment to explain to kids that not all anxiety is bad — that it can even be helpful in emergency situations — but it’s important they know how to identify and manage their emotions.
“It’s important for kids to understand, ‘I’m starting to feel this is what anxiety feels like, or this is what worry is, I’m going to name this, and now I have tools to address that,'” Tagert said, citing symptoms that can include sweating, increased heart rate and stomach pains.
Parents, she said, can start a conversation by naming and normalizing what their kids are feeling and figuring out ways they can help themselves.
When her son showed signs of anxiety, Tagert said she asked him what his stomachaches felt like and then gave examples from her own life.
“Normalize that and say, ‘You know what, here are some things that I’ve done before that helped me when I get that same pit in my stomach, or make me feel worried. Do you have any ideas of what helps you when you get worried about some things,'” she said. “And then just start engaging.”
According to Tagert, the second most important thing for making a child’s coping tool box is to include items that touch all five senses — touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste.
In her son’s case, he told Tagert that one thing that made him excited about baseball was being able to chew gum, so that went in the tool box. They also listen to his favorite songs on the drive to baseball practice.
Here are more examples from Tagert of items to include in a coping tool box:
Something that provides the body’s awareness of itself and its limbs, such as a weighted cushion, vest or stuffed animal;
An item to squeeze and keep their hands occupied such as a stress ball or fidget spinner;
Items to support breathing and relaxation such as a bottle of bubbles or a pinwheel;
Olfactory sensory support, aka something that smells good, such as a calming essential oil spray;
Something that requires movement such as a book of yoga poses or a jump rope;
A favorite playlist of music and noise-canceling headphones;
An item for oral motor sensory support such as sugar-free chewing gum;
Something that requires thought or concentration such as a puzzle or reading book;
And something visually soothing such as an hourglass or even an eye mask to block everything out so they can concentrate on their calming efforts.
Tagert added that it’s also important for parents to recognize that they, too, are going through a difficult and exhausting time through the pandemic, and to look out for themselves.
“The thing that is really important about us as parents is that we need to be doing these things, too, to help us in our moments of anxiety,” she said. “As a parent, you are the most influential person in your child’s life, hands down, and our job as parents is to teach our children how to live in this world. That doesn’t mean that we do it perfectly. They watch us work through things. They’ve watched us work through the pandemic, too.”
If you are in crisis or know someone in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. You can reach Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860 (U.S.) or 877-330-6366 (Canada) and The Trevor Project at 866-488-7386.
(NEW YORK) — After weeks of mounting tensions, United States officials have warned that a Russian attack on Ukraine could happen “any day now.”
Russia has spent weeks building up military forces near eastern Ukraine, with more than 150,000 troops encircling Ukraine in Belarus and on the Russian side of the border, according to U.S. officials.
The Kremlin has denied warnings of an imminent invasion and claimed in recent days that it is withdrawing some troops, while U.S. and NATO officials have said — and commercial satellite images have shown — there have been no signs of de-escalation.
As global leaders continue to engage in diplomatic efforts to avoid war between Russia and Ukraine, a senior Department of State official told ABC News warned Thursday that this is “perhaps the most perilous moment for peace and security since the end of the Cold War.”
As the conflict plays out on a global stage, Americans are somewhat mixed on how the U.S. should respond. In a new poll from Quinnipiac University, 57% of Americans said the U.S. should not send troops into Ukraine if Russia invades, and 54% support Biden’s decision to deploy troops to support NATO allies.
Earlier this week, President Joe Biden addressed the American public and again made clear the U.S. will not send troops to support Ukraine. But he promised to defend “every inch” of NATO territory, already deploying several thousand more troops to Europe, and to support the Ukrainian people and their government with lethal defensive weapons, economic aid, and crippling U.S. and allied sanctions on Russia.
That high level of U.S. involvement is necessary, he said, because “this is about more than just Russia and Ukraine.”
“It’s about standing for what we believe in, for the future that we want for our world, for liberty, the right of countless countries to choose their own destiny. And the right of people to determine their own futures, or the principle that a country can’t change its neighbor’s borders by force,” Biden said. “If we do not stand for freedom where it is at risk today, we’ll surely pay a steeper price tomorrow.”
NATO ties
To understand the United States’ vested interest in the conflict, you’d have to go back to the Cold War, Craig Albert, an associate professor of political science and the director of Intelligence and Security Studies at Augusta University, told ABC News.
To counter Soviet aggression in Europe, the U.S. helped form the security alliance NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, in 1949. In the years since, NATO has expanded several times, including adding three former Soviet republics.
Ukraine, a former Soviet republic that is bordered by Russia on the east, is not a NATO member, though in 2008 the alliance opened the door to membership. Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded this not happen, as he seeks to limit NATO along Russia’s border.
“Ukraine has attached itself to the West, to NATO,” Albert said. “They still have military agreements, treaties, economic treaties, business treaties or relationships, even though there’s no NATO treaty in place between Ukraine and NATO and the U.S.”
The NATO members bordering Russia also present a concern. The potential impact of the Ukraine conflict on U.S. interests is considered “significant,” by the Council on Foreign Relations, which said in part that the conflict “risks further deterioration of U.S.-Russia relations and greater escalation if Russia expands its presence in Ukraine or into NATO countries.”
As Russia tries to “reassert itself into the great power game,” the U.S. is seeking to maintain the balance of power in Europe and “protect Ukraine as a buffer against Russian-perceived aggression in Europe itself,” Albert said, noting that Ukraine is “strategically important” for Russia, the U.S. and NATO.
NATO is “critical to U.S. policy in Europe,” and supporting Ukraine for the past 30-plus years “has been integral to U.S. security policy for the European continent as a whole,” Matthew Pauly, an associate professor of history at Michigan State University who is an expert on Russia, Ukraine and Eastern Europe, told ABC News.
“There’s no doubt that the most eastern-facing NATO member states are quite rightly anxious about Russia’s actions in Ukraine,” Pauly said. “The United States obviously views it as its duty to oblige by the responsibilities of NATO membership to hold the line on the eastern front of NATO.”
Indeed, the U.S. has already sent in troops amid the Russian aggression to support NATO’s eastern flank.
“Make no mistake, the United States will defend every inch of NATO territory with the full force of American power,” Biden said this week. “An attack against one NATO country is an attack against all of us.”
Preventing ‘world war’
The U.S. has sent thousands of additional troops to Central and Eastern Europe in recent weeks, though Biden has made it clear he won’t be sending any to Ukraine to fight Russia and has stressed the importance of diplomacy toward achieving de-escalation.
In an interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt earlier this week, Biden acknowledged the risk of further aggression. When asked what scenario could prompt him to send troops to aid Americans in Ukraine, Biden said, “There’s not. That’s a world war when Americans and Russia start shooting at one another.”
“We’re dealing with one of the largest armies in the world. It’s a very different situation, and things could go crazy quickly,” he said.
The risk of the conflict escalating beyond Ukraine is “high,” Michael “Mick” Patrick Mulroy, ABC News national security and defense analyst, said on ABC News Live this week.
“It should be a concern to everybody,” he said.
Preserving democracy and sovereignty
Another important dimension to U.S. involvement in the crisis has to do with its support of Ukraine as a democracy, Pauly said. Since 1991, when Ukraine declared its independence, the U.S. has offered “substantial” foreign aid, particularly in the 1990s, to help it emerge from the Soviet period, democratize and develop a free market economy, he said.
“Ukraine is a democracy, it’s the only really functioning democracy of the few in the former Soviet space,” Pauly said. “Although democratization has had sort of a challenging path in Ukraine, it’s hard to argue that it is not a democracy.”
“Democracy in Ukraine is worth protecting,” he continued. “Democracy is our best guarantee against war and best assurance of peace.”
The U.S., along with Western allies, has also voiced support for Ukraine maintaining its sovereignty and territorial integrity against Russian aggression.
Biden said the U.S. has been supplying Ukraine’s military with arms, training and intelligence to help defend itself.
“Nations have a right to sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the president said Tuesday. “They have the freedom to set their own course and choose with whom they will associate.”
Impact at home
The exact impact of an invasion beyond the front lines remains unclear. Though Biden warned the American people that there would be “consequences at home” — foremost an increase in energy prices as a result.
“I will not pretend this will be painless,” Biden said Tuesday. “There could be impact on our energy prices, so we’re taking active steps to alleviate the pressure on our own energy markets and offset rising prices.”
In an incursion limited to eastern Ukraine, there could be a rise in the price of oil by $5 or $10 a barrel, according to Patrick De Haan of GasBuddy. Currently, a $1 per barrel rise equates to about a 1.5 cents per gallon rise in the national average price of gas. Should the U.S. and allies issue severe sanctions on Russia, it could retaliate by curbing oil exports, he said, impacting global markets.
If higher oil and gas prices cause the Federal Reserve to be more aggressive in its monetary tightening, that could also impact inflation, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics.
Cyberwarfare also remains a concern. Last month, the Department of Homeland Security warned that the U.S. response to a possible Russian invasion could result in a cyberattack launched against the U.S. by the Russian government or its proxies.
There’s also the impact on American troops, as more military forces are being deployed to support NATO countries.
“I think [Americans] should be paying attention to this because it could significantly affect strategic deployments of U.S. personnel,” Albert said. “If nothing else, just people moving from where they are in their typical assignments right now, to move somewhere else, more strategically positioned against, perhaps, a Russian invasion.”
ABC News’ Conor Finnegan, Molly Nagle, Sarah Kolinovsky, Zunaira Zaki, Mary Burke, Layne Winn and Will Kim contributed to this report.
(MILWAUKEE) — A suspect arrested in the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old Milwaukee girl allegedly told investigators it was the first time he had ever fired a gun, according to a criminal complaint.
Marcellus Duckworth, 23, of Milwaukee, was charged with first-degree reckless homicide in the death of 15-year-old Gabby Landry, according to police.
Landry was in the backseat of a car when Duckworth allegedly fired a gun into the vehicle during an argument on Feb. 13 in the Silver Spring neighborhood of north Milwaukee.
Landry was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
When Duckworth learned a teenage girl in the vehicle had been struck and killed, he purportedly told detectives “he did not mean to do that and it was his first time shooting a gun and there were no excuses,” according to the criminal complaint obtained by ABC affiliate station WISN in Milwaukee.
The suspect told detectives he was aiming at a tire of the vehicle when he allegedly fired, according to the criminal complaint.
Duckworth appeared in court on Friday and was ordered to be held in jail on $50,000 bail.
Duckworth’s girlfriend told police the incident unfolded after she made an Instagram post about selling shoes and received a message from a woman who claimed to have had a relationship with Duckworth and was coming to his house to fight, according to the complaint.
When the woman arrived at Duckworth’s house with Landry and another teenager, she allegedly vandalized Duckworth’s girlfriend’s car, and then Duckworth allegedly confronted them with a gun, according to the complaint.
As the woman started to drive away, Duckworth and his girlfriend chased them on foot, and Duckworth allegedly fired at the vehicle, striking Landry, according to the complaint.
Landry’s death is the latest in a series of shootings in Milwaukee this year in which children have been killed. The shooting came just three days after 10-year-old Jada Clay was fatally shot in her home, allegedly by her mother, Henrietta Rogers, who was charged with reckless homicide.
Among the victims in the other child homicides was 8-year-old Tiana Huddleston, who was allegedly killed Jan. 2 by her father, Michael Huddleston, who claimed it was an accident, according to police. Huddleston was charged with reckless homicide.
Michael J. Snow is seen in a undated police mugshot.- New York State Police
(POTSDAM, N.Y.) — A 21-year-old college student was shot and killed in northern New York near her university’s campus, according to authorities.
Elizabeth Howell, a senior at SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music, was identified as the victim of the shooting, which took place Friday in the village of Potsdam, located about 200 miles north of Albany, according to New York State Police.
When officers arrived to the scene just before 6 p.m., they found Howell unconscious with gunshot wounds, police said. She was transported to Canton-Potsdam Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Authorities did not provide details surrounding the circumstances of the shooting.
A shelter-in-place order was placed at the university after police received reports of shots fired near campus and lifted Saturday morning.
Michael J. Snow, 31, of Massena, New York, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder on Saturday afternoon, police said. At his arraignment, Snow was remanded to St. Lawrence County Jail without bail. He is not affiliated with the college, according to the university, and it is unclear how he and Howell were connected.
State police are asking the public for information on Snow’s whereabouts between 5 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on Friday. He was seen driving a gray Honda Civic with New York license plate KVE2731 with damage to the driver’s side door through Potsdam, Hopkinton, Malone, Westville, Hogansburg and Massena during that time frame, police said.
Howell, who went by the nickname “Beth,” was a cellist who performed with the Crane Symphony Orchestra, Dr. Phil Neisser, the president of SUNY Potsdam, said in a statement. She was scheduled to graduate this year.
“She was an aspiring educator with a bright future ahead of her.” Neisser wrote. “Together, we — as one united campus community — honor her life and mourn her loss.”
Classes are canceled on Monday, the school announced.
“The entire SUNY Potsdam community mourns her loss, and we stand together in unity to remember her,” the university wrote in a statement.
(NEW YORK) — When the recent COVID-19 wave fueled by the omicron variant hit the U.S., no one expected it would lead to the number of deaths it did.
As of Wednesday, the nation is reporting 2,200 new COVID daily deaths on average. While this is lower than the 3,400-peak seen last winter, it’s still three times higher than the number of average fatalities recorded two months ago.
Additionally, last winter, vaccines had only just started to roll out, children were not yet eligible and the conversation surrounding boosters was far off.
With around 60% of Americans fully vaccinated during the most recent wave, daily deaths from omicron are still relatively high, which begs the question: Who is dying of COVID-19 when there is such strong vaccination coverage?
Infectious disease doctors say it is still mainly unvaccinated people, most of whom are in their 30s and 40s with no underlying health issues, who are dying.
“The vast majority of patients — anywhere from 75% and greater — we’re seeing is primarily unvaccinated individuals who are getting COVID and wind up in the hospital severely ill and are currently dying,” Dr. Mahdee Sobhanie, an assistant professor of internal medicine and an infectious diseases physician at The Ohio State University, told ABC News.
A small percentage of deaths are among fully vaccinated (and boosted) people who are either older or have preexisting conditions that increase their risk of dying.
Unvaccinated still make up majority of deaths
Nearly two years into the pandemic, unvaccinated Americans are still making up the majority of COVID deaths.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that during the first week of December — when the omicron variant began taking hold — unvaccinated people were dying at a rate of 9 per 100,000.
By comparison, fully vaccinated people were dying at a rate of 0.4 per 100,000, meaning unvaccinated people were 20 times more likely to die of the virus, according to an ABC News analysis. State-level data, from California to Mississippi, shows similar results.
“We started [in 2020] with the most vulnerable deaths among the elderly,” Dr. David Zonies, associate chief medical officer for critical care services at Oregon Health & Science University, told ABC News. “As we transitioned into different variants, the age demographic shifted. Now we see very young people dying. It’s around 30-year-olds and 40-year-olds.”
Deaths by COVID-19 vaccination status in California
One of those people was father-of-two Christian Cabrera, a 40-year-old comedian from Los Angeles with no underlying conditions.
“He’s always brought joy and laughter to everybody,” his brother, Jino Cabrera Carnwath, told ABC News. “He would be the type of person that would bust out into song in a quiet elevator.”
However, he was unvaccinated. Christian feared potential side effects and, because he didn’t get sick often, he didn’t think he needed the vaccine, his brother said.
But, right after the Christmas holidays, he started to develop symptoms. After attempting to treat himself at home, his oxygen levels began dropping dangerously low.
Christian was taken to Sherman Oaks Hospital, where he was admitted to the ICU and where he remained until he passed away on Jan. 21.
Jino, who has set up a GoFundMe for Christian’s 3-year-old son Noel, said two days before his brother died, he received a text message from Christian in his hospital bed saying he regretted not getting vaccinated.
“He sent me a text saying, ‘I can’t breathe. I wish I had gotten vaccinated. I really regret it. If I could do it all over again, I would do it in a heartbeat to save my life,'” Jino said. “I think that was his message too to everybody: if you’re on the fence, please get all the protection you can, get your vaccine, get your booster.”
Dr. Taison Bell, a critical care and infectious disease physician at the University of Virginia, told ABC News many of his unvaccinated patients had similar feelings and regretted their decisions.
When he asked why they weren’t vaccinated, they would mostly answer, “I just thought I didn’t need to get vaccinated.”
“And there are sighs of regret in how they say it,” Bell said. “These are preventable deaths now, by and large. The people that we have in the ICU could have avoided hospitals altogether if they were vaccinated.”
Fully vaccinated people with preexisting conditions also dying
While most U.S. COVID deaths are made up of unvaccinated people, there is a small percentage of fully vaccinated Americans who are getting breakthrough infections and dying.
Doctors say the overwhelming majority of these cases are among people with underlying conditions, many of whom are on immunosuppressive medications.
“Also, patients who have other medical conditions: obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, HIV,” Sohbanie said. “So, if you have other medical conditions that can also put you at high risk, those are the [fully vaccinated] patients that can wind up getting hospitalized and dying of COVID.”
Jeff Sales, a 47-year-old Army veteran and nurse, from Sarasota, Florida, was one of those patients.
He enlisted in the Army at age 18 with the goal of being a medic and served two tours in South Korea, according to his son, Brayden Sales, 22.
During one of those tours, Jeff came down with rheumatic fever, which went untreated for several weeks. This led to a hole in his heart and, at age 22, he had a metal heart valve installed.
After being medically discharged from the Army, he got his nursing degree and was a nurse for more than 15 years, mostly in Utah before the family moved to Florida in August 2020.
“Everything in his life was about helping people and making special connections and doing everything he could for everybody and anybody,” Brayden told ABC News.
Although Jeff worked as an orthopedic nurse, his unit had been converted into a COVID unit to deal with the influx of patients. He took several precautions including always wearing a mask and getting fully vaccinated and boosted.
However, on the night of Jan. 20, another nurse told him he was looking pale. Then, he developed chills. He was admitted into the ER and at 6:00 a.m. the next day, his COVID test results came back positive.
Brayden said a few hours later, his father was struggling to breathe, and his condition rapidly declined.
Individuals with heart valves have an increased risk of blood clotting compared to the general population, and one of the side effects of COVID is an additional increased clotting risk. “When his blood thickened up, it caused his heart valve to fail and, when his heart valve failed, he went into complete organ failure,” Brayden said. “If it wasn’t for his heart valve, it wouldn’t have hit him as hard, and he probably would still be here.”
On Jan. 21, just 12 hours after testing positive, Jeff died.
Dr. Scott Curry, an assistant professor in the division of infectious diseases at Medical University of South Carolina, called the deaths of fully vaccinated people the “most heartbreaking” to him.
He said, in Charleston, as of Feb. 10, COVID-19 deaths have comprised about 50% severely immunosuppressed, vaccinated patients and 50% unvaccinated patients of all ages.
“When you’re a healthy adult who chose not to get vaccinated, you rolled the dice and took your chance,” Curry told ABC News. “But when you’re immunocompromised, and you live with someone who won’t get vaccinated or you’re exposed to someone, those are the ones who will die when they get COVID. They are the ones at the greatest risk.”
Brayden said he hopes his dad’s death encourages others to do what they can to limit the effects of COVID.
“He always was an advocate of doing something to prevent the spread,” Brayden said. “If he could get one person to just think about what they’re doing and change something to make it so this virus doesn’t spread as much, he would be happy.”
ABC News’ Mark Nichols contributed to this report.
(PORTLAND, Ore.) — A woman was killed and five others were injured on Saturday in a shooting near a park in Portland, Oregon, police said.
Officers responded to a report of a shooting near Normandale Park in northeast Portland at about 8 p.m. local time, the Portland Police Bureau said in a statement. A protest had been planned for the area, police said.
“When officers arrived they located a female victim who was deceased,” the department said. “Additional shooting victims, two men and three women, were transported to area hospitals and their status is unknown at this time.”
Police said their initial investigation “indicates this incident started with a confrontation between an armed homeowner and armed protesters.”
“The scene was extremely chaotic, and a number of witnesses were uncooperative with responding officers,” police said in a statement late Sunday. “Most people on scene left without talking to police. Detectives believe a large number of people either witnessed what happened, or recorded the incident as it unfolded. This is a very complicated incident, and investigators are trying to put this puzzle together without having all the pieces.
Police have not yet identified the victim.
Normandale Park sits near the intersection of Northeast 55th Avenue and Northeast Hassalo Street, in the city’s Rose City Park Neighborhood.
ABC News’ Keith Harden, Izzy Alvarez and Nicholas Kerr contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The United States continues to warn that Russia could invade Ukraine “any day” amid escalating tensions in the region, with President Joe Biden telling reporters Thursday that the threat is now “very high.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday, making urgent remarks to the United Nations Security Council, challenged Moscow to commit to no invasion.
More than 150,000 Russian troops are estimated to be massed near Ukraine’s borders, U.S. officials have said. While Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin claim that some troops have begun to withdraw, Biden told reporters that more Russian forces have moved in, contrary to Moscow’s claims.
It remains unclear whether Putin has made a decision to attack his ex-Soviet neighbor.
Russia has denied any plans to invade and reiterated its demands that the U.S. and NATO bar Ukraine from joining the military alliance.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 21, 5:27 am
Talk of Biden-Putin summit ‘premature,’ Kremlin says
The Kremlin has said it is still “premature” to talk about a summit between President Joe Biden and President Vladimir Putin, though it didn’t rule out that one could take place.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Sunday said Biden and Putin have agreed “in principle” to meet, provided Russia did not invade Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced the possibility of a meeting after speaking with both leaders on Sunday, amid intense diplomatic efforts to try to dissuade Putin from launching an invasion the U.S. fears could come this week.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that for now there’s only an agreement for Russia and the U.S. to speak at a lower level, between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister. That meeting is scheduled for this week.
Peskov seemed to suggest that an agreement on a meeting between Biden and Putin would depend on the outcome of those talks.
“I can say that an understanding has been reached that we need to continue the dialogue at the level of ministers,” Peskov told reporters on Monday. “But to talk about some kind of concrete plans about organizing any summits is for now premature.”
Contacts between Biden and Putin can be arranged quickly, if necessary, he said.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 20, 10:28 pm
US alleges Russia making list of Ukrainians ‘to be killed or sent to camps’
The United States has obtained information of potential Russian operations against Ukrainian targets as part of a potential invasion, including targeted killings, kidnappings, detentions and torture, the U.S. alleged in a letter to the United Nations obtained by ABC News.
“We have credible information that indicates Russian forces are creating lists of identified Ukrainians to be killed or sent to camps following a military occupation,” U.S. Ambassador Bathsheba Nell Crocker wrote to Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights.
That includes the “likely use” of lethal measures to “disperse peaceful protesters or otherwise counter peaceful exercises of perceived resistance from civilian populations,” Crocker wrote.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken alluded to this during his remarks to the U.N. Security Council on Thursday, telling his fellow diplomats, “Conventional attacks are not all that Russia plans to inflict upon the people of Ukraine. We have information that indicates Russia will target specific groups of Ukrainians.”
In addition, sources told ABC News last Tuesday that the U.S. believed Russia aimed to move into Kyiv to decapitate the Ukrainian government and install their own.
But this new letter goes further, saying Russia “would likely target those who opposes Russian actions, including Russian and Belarusian dissidents in exile in Ukraine, journalists and anti-corruption activists, and vulnerable populations such as religious and ethnic minorities and LGBTQI+ persons.”
Ambassador Michele Sison, the top U.S. diplomat for international organizations, is headed to Geneva this week to meet Bachelet at the U.N. headquarters there, the State Department announced Sunday.
“The United States is gravely concerned that a further Russian invasion of Ukraine would produce widespread human suffering. In light of OHCHR’s important mandate and its reporting presence in Ukraine, we wish to share this information with you as an early warning that a further Russian invasion of Ukraine may create a human rights catastrophe,” Crocker added in the letter.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Feb 20, 8:46 pm
Biden, Putin agree to summit
U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to hold a summit proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron. The leaders both accepted the summit “in principle,” with one major condition: that Russia does not invade Ukraine.
“As the president has repeatedly made clear, we are committed to pursuing diplomacy until the moment an invasion begins,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Sunday evening.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov are set to meet Thursday. During their meeting, they will prepare “the substance” of the summit, according to a statement from the French government. Macron “will work with all stakeholders to prepare the content of these discussions” as well.
Macron spoke with Putin twice Sunday, both before and after he called Biden for a brief 15-minute phone call.
“We are always ready for diplomacy,” Psaki said. “We are also ready to impose swift and severe consequences should Russia instead choose war. And currently, Russia appears to be continuing preparations for a full-scale assault on Ukraine very soon.”
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Feb 20, 7:49 pm
US State Department gives more info on Moscow safety alert
A State Department spokesperson said the alert published Sunday warning Americans to avoid crowds and stay alert in places frequented by tourists and Westerners was issued “out of an abundance of caution,” stopping short of tying it directly to the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
“In recent days a number of Russian media outlets have reported on a spate of bomb threats being made against Russian public buildings, including metro stations, in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and elsewhere,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“The U.S. Department of State has no greater responsibility than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas,” they said. “Out of an abundance of caution, and in line with our commitment to providing U.S. citizens with clear and timely information so they can make informed travel decisions, we published this alert.”
(NEW YORK) — Although tattooing has been around for centuries, the practice was mainly underground before becoming recognized as legitimate art in modern history.
Despite being a fairly mainstream industry now, discriminatory hiring practices and racial stigmas are among the challenges that Black tattoo artists say they face in the white-dominated field of tattoo artistry.
Even tattoo artists of color in New York City — considered the birthplace of modern tattooing following a nearly four-decade ban, according to The New York Historical Society, say the field needs more diversity.
Richard Parker, who owns a private tattoo studio, Think Before You Ink in Brooklyn, New York, said that being an artist brings “a struggle of its own” — but being a Black artist only adds another layer of obstacles.
“As a whole, we have been left far behind in an industry that has actually derived from our tribal heritage,” Parker told ABC News.
The lack of diversity can also affect customers due to many professionals’ inexperience with tattooing on Black and brown skin, something that “has left many darker-skinned clients struggling to find someone who can actually provide them with quality work,” Parker said.
For Black women working in the field, inclusion issues are deeper, as the industry is not only white-dominated, but it’s also inundated by men.
Jacci Gresham, who is considered America’s first Black female tattoo artist, is still working and living her dream at the age of 75. She has been running her business in New Orleans for over 50 years after first opening her own tattoo shop in the 1970s, making it one of the state’s oldest tattoo parlors.
“I had issues because of color… I had issues because of being a woman and just being trusted … they just weren’t used to women being in that field. Let alone Black women,” Gresham told ABC News.
Gresham is a native of Flint, Michigan, who grew up during an era when tattoos were not widely accepted. She said she used her artistic background to study architecture before pursuing her true passion of tattooing.
Today, she is living in Mississippi and regularly travels to her New Orleans studio, Aart Accent Tattoos & Body Piercings, after her home flooded during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. She said that although her business temporarily lost power and the roof was destroyed, she is grateful her shop was still left standing despite the deadly hurricane.
Gresham, who doesn’t have any biological children, said she hopes that among her biggest impact is being a trailblazer within the industry.
“My kids are the people I’ve trained to tattoo,” she said.
While there has been progress in recent years for Black women tattoo artists, Kandace Layne, owner of Magic Mirror tattoo studio in Atlanta, said the industry still has a long way to go to become more inclusive.
“It is hard for anyone to get an apprenticeship, but it’s even harder for Black women to find a place that will teach them and to find a place that will treat them with respect,” Layne told ABC News.
The 27-year-old said that one of her primary drives in taking the leap to open her own shop was after her struggle with finding opportunities elsewhere. Now, Layne runs a shop that prioritizes service for women/femmes, LGBTQA+; and Black, Indigenous and people of color
“I felt that creating my own space was the best way to get my needs met,” Layne said, adding that she worked at some locations that made her question her worth.
But there are those in the industry who are working to make the tattoo business more inclusive. Helios Tattoo Supply in New York is a manufacturing and supply company providing artists with items such as needles, machines, ink and after-care products.
Craig Petralia, Helios’ founder and CEO who is from Long Island, New York, has been working in the industry for over two decades. The father of two said he aims to provide a family atmosphere to support several artists, many of whom are people of color, and also the freedom to create without limitations.
“We are a group of people coming together to build something bigger than ourselves … our purpose is to give artists the tools to create their best artwork,” Petralia told ABC News.
Petralia’s company sponsors Ceaser Emanuel, a tattoo artist of color, and star of “Black Ink Crew” — a reality TV show which began by following New York-based tattoo artists and later expanded to other cities.
Parker has collaborated with Petralia for over five years. Petralia’s Helios is also a sponsor of Parker’s tattoo studio. Both say they are committed to diversifying the tattoo business and also bringing more art to more people. For instance, Parker, who is the father of a 5-year-old boy, says he has worked with several students across New York City over the last decade to create artwork in schools and help inspire students’ creativity.
From seeing his son create illustrations to subjecting him to the atmosphere of his tattoo shop, Parker said being a positive influence is one of his most important jobs.
“I’m just extremely happy and proud that I get to expose him to a life that’s more out of the box so he can create his own canvas,” Parker said.
Parker — who also is a former cast member of “Ink Master,” a tattoo artist competition TV show — said becoming an entrepreneur was the best way to open more doors.
He says he is also trying to implement change by joining other artists involved in “The Black Tattoo Experience,” which is a collective of artists creating opportunities and a space for minorities to build within the industry.
“More of us are coming together and trading secrets as a community to build each other up [and] us sticking together is what will further diversify the playing field,” Parker said.
(SAN ANTONIO, Texas) — Lina Sardar Khil’s family had held out hope that she would be found to celebrate her 4th birthday on Sunday, Feb. 20, at home, but two months after she went missing in San Antonio, Texas, there are still no answers.
“Her light is missing from her family and community. Our continuous prayer is that she will be back in the arms of those that love her,” Pamela Allen, who is representing the Khil family, told ABC News on Saturday.
Lina was last seen on Dec. 20, 2021 at a park on the 9400 block of Fredericksburg Road in San Antonio between 4:30 p.m. and 5:10 p.m., according to police. The park is near the family’s home at the Villa Del Cabo apartment complex.
On Sunday afternoon, Lina’s family and the community prepare to gather near the family home to celebrate her birthday and pray for her safe return home.
She was out of sight from her mother for an unknown amount of time before the mother realized Lina was nowhere to be found, according to the San Antonio Police Department.
“At this time there are no updates on Lina’s case. The missing person case involving Lina Khil is still an active missing person investigation,” a spokesperson for SAPD told ABC News on Friday. “The San Antonio Police Department, in partnership with our federal partners have worked tirelessly on finding Lina.”
Lina’s family is part of an Afghan refugee community in San Antonio. They arrived in the United States in 2019 and speak Pashto.
Lina’s mother, Zarmeena Sardar Khil, is pregnant with her second child. She spoke with FOX 29 in San Antonio through a translator earlier this month.
“I am missing my child, I cannot forget her and it is affecting me a lot and my other child who is coming to this world,” she said.
“We all have the same pain, it doesn’t matter that I am from Afghanistan, I have a different culture, different religion. What we have in common is the pain of motherhood as a human, is the same as all people,” she added.
The Afghan community in the city, along with a group of nonprofits and organizations have rallied behind the family, joining search crews, fundraising and raising awareness about Lina’s case.
The Islamic Center of San Antonio announced Wednesday that it increased a $100,000 reward for any information on Lina to $120,000. Meanwhile, Crime Stoppers of San Antonio has offered $50,000 for information resulting in the arrest or indictment of a suspect accused of involvement in Lina’s disappearance, bringing the latest total to $170,000.
The Eagles Flight Advocacy & Outreach organization, a San Antonio-based nonprofit, joined the search in early January, with about 150 people from the Afghan community showing up to help.
Allen, the CEO of the group, became the family’s spokesperson after meeting the Khils through her organization’s work. She told ABC News last month that the family believes Lina was abducted.
“We believe someone has her,” she said. “And so that this is what the family believes — that someone has their daughter and hopefully keeping her alive.”
Lina has brown eyes and straight, brown hair, and was last seen wearing a black jacket, red dress and black shoes, according to police.
Last month, Allen’s organization shared a newly surfaced photo taken by a family member of Lina the day she disappeared in hopes that details about Lina’s jewelry could assist the public in identifying her.
In the photo, which was obtained by ABC News, Lina appears to be wearing blue bangle bracelets on one wrist and gold-toned bangles on the other. She is also wearing small gold earrings and an article around her neck that Allen said is known as the Taweez, which is etched with verses from the Quran and is usually worn for protection.
Police are urging anyone with information regarding Lina or her whereabouts to come forward and contact the missing persons unit in San Antonio at 210-207-7660.
ABC News’ Kiara Alfonseca contributed to this report.
