(KYIV and LONDON) — Russia’s military struck cities across Ukraine overnight, sending waves of missiles and drones in an hourslong attack that Ukrainian officials said may be among the biggest since the war began nearly two years ago.
The Ukrainian Air Force said it’s “never seen so many locations targeted simultaneously.”
The aerial attack began at about 11 p.m. on Thursday and lasted for several hours. It included at least 122 missiles and 36 drones, the Ukrainian Armed Forces said.
Civilian hubs, including Kyiv, were among the targets, military officials said. Deaths were reported in at least three cities, with many others injured, local officials said.
“We will surely respond to terrorist strikes,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media. “And we will continue to fight for the security of our entire country, every city, and every citizen. Russian terror must and will lose.”
The attack hit targets including a “maternity ward, educational facilities, a shopping mall, multi-story residential buildings and private homes, a commercial storage, and a parking lot,” Zelenskyy said.
Along with Kyiv, the cities Russia struck included Lviv, Odesa, Dnipro, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia, he said.
“Unfortunately, there have been fatalities and injuries as a result of the strikes,” he said. “All services are working around the clock and providing the necessary aid. My condolences to those who have lost their loved ones. I wish a speedy recovery to those injured.”
Last year, on Dec. 29, 2022, the Russian military had launched 70 missiles over Ukraine, marking one of the biggest missile attacks on Ukraine at the time. Ukrainian officials downed 58 of those missiles, they said at the time.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti contributed to this story.
(SAN ANTONIO, Texas) — Police said they are seeking two persons of interest in a capital murder case after 18-year-old Savanah Soto is believed to have been found dead days after the mom-to-be was scheduled to be induced.
An 18-year-old full-term pregnant woman and a 22-year-old man were discovered dead in a vehicle in San Antonio on Tuesday, police said. An unborn child was also found deceased, police said.
The Kia Optima found had been at that location for likely several days, police said.
The female victim has yet to be officially identified by the medical examiner but “I think we can be confident” that it is Soto, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said during a press briefing Thursday.
The male victim has been identified as her boyfriend — 22-year-old Matthew Guerra — police said. He died from a gunshot wound to the head though the medical examiner has not yet determined the manner of death, McManus said. Right now police do not believe this to be a murder-suicide though noted “that possibility exists,” the chief said.
The case is currently being investigated as a capital murder for both victims, he said.
“It was a heinous act, it was unspeakable, the tragedy of it,” McManus said.
Police released footage on Thursday of two persons of interest being sought in connection with the case. One was captured driving the victims’ Kia Optima, and the other was seen driving a dark-colored pickup truck, police said.
The person of interest in the pickup truck is seen talking to the driver of the victims’ car. McManus said they do not believe either victim appears in the video.
McManus had called the case “very, very perplexing” following the discovery of the bodies.
“It was undetermined at that time whether we were going to be looking at it as a murder-suicide, or as a capital-murder investigation,” he said Thursday. “I think we’ve gotten past that point right now, unless we get evidence that would lead us to believe otherwise.”
Soto, 18, was last seen on Dec. 22 in Leon Valley, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. The agency issued a CLEAR Alert — used to help law enforcement locate someone in imminent danger or whose disappearance is involuntary — for Soto on Monday.
The pregnant teen had passed her delivery date, which “caused significant concern among her family members after missing an essential medical appointment,” the Leon Valley Police Department said in a press release earlier on Tuesday.
Soto’s mother, Gloria Cordova, told San Antonio ABC affiliate KSAT that her daughter was scheduled to be induced at a hospital this past Saturday.
“When I called her all morning she wasn’t answering, was going straight to voicemail,” Cordova told the station. “We went to the hospital anyways. She was a no-show, and that’s when I called the cops.”
Cordova said her daughter’s home was clean and had been prepped for the baby’s arrival.
“This is not like her,” Cordova told KSAT. “She was so excited to have this baby. The house was already baby-ready.”
Detectives are combing through social media and cellphone records, as well as days of surveillance video from several different locations where the victims were known to be, the chief said.
“Detectives are hopeful that surveillance video will lead to the events leading up to their death,” McManus said.
(NEW YORK) — Astrid Burkle, a 10-year-old transgender girl who lives in Ohio, said she wishes she “could have a normal life.”
Her desire for normalcy — a life of baking cookies with her grandmother, singing with her friends in the local choir, and going on field trips — is shrouded by impending anti-transgender legislation passed by the statehouse.
“It’s been really frustrating at times,” Astrid told ABC News in an interview alongside her family. “Because there’s just so many people out there who are just really mean.”
Families across the state are bracing for the impact of a bill that would restrict certain transgender rights for minors.
Ohio House Bill 68 is comprised of two acts: the “Save Adolescents from Experimentation Act,” which would ban transgender minors from receiving gender-affirming care, and the “Save Women’s Sports Act,” which would prevent transgender girls from taking part in girls’ and women’s sports.
An exception in this bill allows hormone-based care and surgery for intersex and cisgender youth.
Republican Gov. Mike DeWine has yet to announce whether he will sign or veto the legislation – but more than three-fifths of legislators have voted in favor of the bill so far and can override his veto.
Astrid’s mother, Alicia Burkle said Astrid has been receiving strictly mental health care services in recent years. Therapy, Astrid said, offers a “safe space” to talk through her experiences.
However, the restrictions placed on Astrid’s future choices for care have the family questioning their options.
“Just because you’ve said that you’re not going to allow us to get the care here in Ohio doesn’t mean we’re suddenly going to stop getting the care for our kids,” said Alicia Burkle.
She continued, “We trust the science, we trust her healthcare providers. And so we’re going to do what we have to do and whether that is travel out of state to get it, whether it’s leave the state and move — that’s what we’ll do.”
Burkle said her cisgender daughter is on hormone replacement therapy — “But nobody’s questioning that … So I don’t understand.”
Supporters of gender-affirming care restrictions believe that gender transitioning is harmful to youth. Some say patients should wait until they are older to make this kind of health decision.
State Sen. Terry Johnson, who is a retired physician, argued in favor of the bill on the Senate floor.
“If you don’t know if something you’re doing is going to hurt someone 10, 15, 20 years down the road — or maybe even one year down the road — don’t do it,” Johnson said in a Dec. 13 debate. “The medical evidence is not there to support what we’re doing in the country.”
Critics of these laws say they prevent families and physicians from making decisions about their health care and will harm transgender youth.
MORE: Federal judge blocks Idaho gender-affirming transgender care ban
State Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson argued against the bill in the Dec. 13 debate.
“When we look at this legislation, let’s be clear, it is not necessarily about preventing children from being exposed to these types of procedures, but it is preventing parents who are making decisions about the health care of their children,” she said. “It also removes that decision for health care from professionals and parents and gives it again to government.”
Gender-affirming care has been called safe, effective, and medically necessary by more than 20 major national medical associations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association.
Dr. Christopher Bolling, a member of the Ohio Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told ABC News in an interview that pediatricians and physicians are “extremely cautious” when it comes to gender-affirming care and often have many long conversations with people who are questioning their gender. This gives patients time to explore their identity and create an individualized approach to care.
For youth approaching puberty, puberty blockers are a reversible form of gender-affirming care that allows children to pause puberty and explore their gender identity without the growth of permanent sex characteristics, according to physicians interviewed by ABC News. This option would be banned by the legislation. It would also ban hormone therapy, which brings physical traits in line with gender identify.
Often because of gender-related discrimination and gender dysphoria, transgender youth are more likely to experience anxiety, depressed mood, and suicidal ideation and attempts, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Research shows that hormone therapy can improve the mental health of transgender adolescents and teenagers, a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine found.
The legislation has a grandfather clause that allows minors who are already on medication to continue to receive care. It’s a benefit for some families in the state, including Nick Zingarelli, his wife and his teenage daughter who is already taking puberty blockers.
Zingarelli raised his daughter in Cincinnati, Ohio — but the family moved to Missouri in 2019 to be closer to his wife’s family. His daughter came out as transgender in 2020 when she was still a preteen.
He told ABC News that his daughter’s coming out changed both everything and nothing about their family.
“Obviously it changed everything in terms of having to advocate for her rights,” said Zingarelli in an interview. “Missouri is a deep red state.”
He continued, “And when I say that nothing at all changed — when we told friends, family, school, everybody, it was like, ‘Okay, great. So these are her new pronouns. This is her name.'”
Zingarelli said he met with doctors at the time who said there was nothing they could do for his daughter at her age except for counseling.
“So this belief that doctors are just running to get prescriptions filled and everything else as soon as gender dysphoria is disclosed is nonsense,” said Zingarelli.
Zingarelli and his family later moved back to Ohio in part to escape anti-transgender legislation in Missouri that restricted trans participation in sports and gender-affirming care. They did not expect to be faced with restrictive legislation in Ohio, the place they call home, he said.
For Zingarelli, the grandfather clause protecting his daughter’s care is “not good enough,” since it doesn’t protect care in the future for children like Astrid who are not yet old enough to receive medical care.
The community has been supportive of Astrid and her family, according to Astrid’s father, Aaron.
“We want to be able to support our communities and the state of Ohio, but like, people are going to leave,” said Abs Burkle, Astrid’s sister. “People are going to be hurt. They’re not going to want to come back to Ohio.”
If you or a loved one is struggling with a mental health crisis or considering suicide, call or text 988.
(LOS ANGELES) — With the minimum wage in California increasing to $20 an hour for fast food workers in 2024, some Pizza Hut franchisees say they’re preparing to eliminate jobs as well as delivery options for customers.
As first reported by ABC News Los Angeles station KABC, two major Pizza Hut franchisees with restaurants in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties are planning layoffs that would impact 1,200 workers.
The mass layoffs would also reportedly impact another 800 workers at Pizza Hut locations in Sacramento, Central California, Southern Oregon, and the Reno-Tahoe area, according to KABC.
The cuts would eliminate the franchisees’ delivery services for customers in those locations, they said. Customers will instead have to rely on services like Uber Eats or DoorDash.
“Pizza Hut is aware of the recent changes to delivery services at certain franchise restaurants in California,” a company spokesperson said Thursday. “Our franchisees independently own and operate their restaurants in accordance with local market dynamics and comply with all federal, state, and local regulations, while continuing to provide quality service and food to our customers via carryout and delivery.”
The chain, which is owned by Yum! Brands, said access to delivery would continue to be available via the Pizza Hut mobile app, website and phone ordering.
Other fast food companies including KFC and Taco Bell did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
The wage legislation, AB 1228, which was signed into law by California Gov. Gavin Newsom in late September, is the catalyst for this decision by operators, the franchisees say.
The new law goes into effect in April and will boost minimum wage to $20 per hour for fast food workers, $4 more than the state minimum wage of $16 that will be effective Jan. 1.
Other fast food companies, including McDonald’s and Chipotle, previously said the new law would impact the respective chains’ operating costs and could potentially change menu pricing for customers.
Although a decision has not been made official, Chipotle CEO Jack Hartung said on a November earnings call that the pricing at the popular fast-casual Mexican restaurant would have to change “to take care of the dollar cost” and cover the new margins.
“We are definitely going to pass this on. We just haven’t made a final decision as to what level yet,” he said.
(FRIENDSWOOD, Texas) — A Texas teenager accused of shooting two people at his home, one fatally, allegedly told police that he wanted to “commit a homicide for a long time,” according to newly released court documents.
The suspect — 17-year-old Connor Hilton — was showing the two victims a revolver at his Friendswood home Saturday night when he allegedly shot them both in the head, according to a complaint charging the teen with murder.
A third person who was at the house that night called 911 while hiding in the bathroom and reported hearing two gunshots, according to the complaint.
Responding officers found Hilton outside the home appearing “visibly distraught,” the complaint stated. When asked by police if anyone was hurt, Hilton nodded yes then held up two fingers, motioned toward the house and said there were two teenagers inside he believed to be dead, according to the complaint.
Once inside, an officer found two male victims — identified as Ethan Riley, 18, and Benjamin Bliek, 19 — lying on the floor with gunshot wounds as well as a revolver on a table, according to the complaint.
A second officer located the 911 caller, who “reported hearing Hilton walk by the bathroom door crying and stating, ‘What have I done,'” the complaint stated.
The shooting victims were transported to local hospitals in critical condition. Riley succumbed to his injuries on Sunday, while Bliek remains in critical condition, police said.
Hilton was brought in for questioning following the shooting and was initially charged by the Galveston County District Attorney’s Office with two counts of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury.
He was released after posting $1 million bond before being arrested again at his home on Monday for murder, police said. He is currently being held at the Galveston County Jail on no bond.
While being interviewed by police following the shooting, Hilton allegedly confessed to pulling the trigger and said there was no disturbance or disagreement that night, according to the complaint.
He allegedly told police “he had thought about, and wanted, to commit a homicide for a long time,” according to the complaint. He allegedly said he had talked his mother into buying him a handgun, which he wanted “with the intent of shooting someone and/or himself,” according to the complaint.
“Hilton stated that he fully understands what he had done and that he should be held accountable,” the complaint stated.
Hilton’s attorney, Jennifer Carpenter, told ABC News that his mother did not purchase a gun for him.
“The parents of Connor Hilton cannot express enough their deepest condolences to the victims’ families who have been heavily on the Hiltons’ hearts and minds as they try to navigate this devastating situation,” Hilton’s family said in a statement released through the attorney on Thursday.
“The Hilton family wants to thank everyone who has reached out in love and support, including all who sent positive comments about Connor’s character and good nature in general,” the statement continued. “The family asks for continued prayers for everyone affected, especially the victims’ families.”
His attorney has filed a motion seeking to conduct a hearing to determine whether his statements to police can be admissible in court, claiming they were not made and preserved in compliance with state law.
Hilton is scheduled to appear in court for a status conference on Feb. 2, online court records show.
Former UN ambassador and 2024 Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley speaks at a town hall campaign event at Kennett High School in North Conway, New Hampshire, on December 28, 2023. JOSEPH PREZIOSO/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Thursday addressed the backlash to her Wednesday night comments about what she thought was the cause of the American Civil War, during which she notably did not cite slavery as a cause, sparking criticism.
“Of course, the Civil War was about slavery,” said Haley at a Thursday town hall in New Hampshire. “We know that. That’s unquestioned. Always the case. We know the Civil War was about slavery.”
Haley continued to elaborate, telling the crowd that the war was about more than that.
“It was about the freedoms of every individual,” she said. “It was about the role of the government. For 80 years, America had the decision and the moral question of whether slavery was a good thing and whether government economically, culturally, any other reasons, had a role to play in. By the grace of God, we did the right thing and slavery is no more. But the lessons of what the bigger issue with the Civil War is that let’s not forget what came out of that, which is government’s role, individual liberties, freedom for every single person freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to do and be anything you want to be without any one on government getting in our way.”
Haley said that she believes deserves to be a free individual.
Her comments were prompted by an audience question about what Haley thought the war was about.
The Republican candidate first turned the question around on the person who posed it.
“What do you think the cause of the Civil War was?” she asked, to which the questioner responded by saying, “I’m not running for president.”
Haley then stated: “I think it always comes down to the role of government and what the rights of the people are. And we will always stand by the fact that I think the government was intended to secure the rights and freedoms of the people,” Haley said. “It was never meant to be all things to all people. Government doesn’t need to tell you how to live your life. They don’t need to tell you what you can and can’t do. They don’t need to be a part of your life. They need to make sure that you have freedom.”
The questioner told Haley it was “astonishing” she gave an answer that did not mention slavery.
“What do you want me to say about slavery?” she responded before pivoting and asking for the next question.
Critics accused Haley of refusing to mention slavery, saying her description of the Civil War is whitewashing U.S. history.
“Haley’s refusal to admit that the Civil War was rooted in slavery last night in Berlin is just the latest of her shameful attempts to whitewash our country’s history,” said New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley. “From defending the Confederate flag and leaders to equating Black History Month with Confederate History Month, Haley’s record bowing to the extreme fringes of the MAGA base speaks volumes and is yet another reason why New Hampshire voters will reject her next year.”
President Joe Biden responded to Haley’s comments on X, formerly known as Twitter, stating simply: “It was about slavery.”
(NEW YORK) — With 2023 ticking down, the nation is poised to finish the year with its biggest annual drop in homicides on record, according to preliminary data from law enforcement agencies both large and small.
The homicide rate in the United States is expected to plummet nearly 13% compared to 2022, meaning more than 2,000 fewer people were the victims of homicide this year, Jeff Asher, a national crime analyst, told ABC News.
The drop in homicides comes as more than three-quarters of Americans say there is more crime in the U.S. than a year ago and more than half of Americans say the same about crime in their local area, according to a Gallup poll released last month. Adding to that perception is the annual National Crime Victimization Survey published this month by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics that found the number of violent crime victims nationwide climbed from 16.5 per 1,000 people in 2021 to 23.5 per 1,000 in 2022.
Cities say the 2023 drop in homicides and other violent crimes can be attributed to expanded efforts to prevent crime, including working with community volunteers, targeting gun possession in high-crime areas and placing officers on foot and bike patrols.
“It is historic. It’s the largest one-year decline,” said Asher, co-founder of AH Datalytics and a former crime analyst for the CIA and the New Orleans Police Department. “It’s cities of every size, it’s the suburbs, it’s rural counties, tiny cities, it’s large cities. It’s really a national decline.”
Asher said his analysis is based on available preliminary crime data provided by 180 law enforcement agencies.
He said before this year, the largest year-over-year drop in homicides occurred in 1996 when murders fell by 9%.
An ABC News review of preliminary crime data from the 10 largest U.S. cities shows that heading into the last week of the year, seven of the municipalities have seen double-digit year-over-year declines in 2023 homicides — including an 11% drop in New York City, a 16% decrease in Los Angeles, and a 13% reduction in Chicago.
Houston, the country’s fourth largest city, saw its homicide numbers fall by 11% and homicides in Philadelphia, the nation’s sixth biggest city, have fallen by 21%, according to the preliminary data.
‘Force multiplier’
The challenge faced by local law enforcement to bring down the country’s homicide numbers for the second consecutive year following a record jump in 2020 and a sizable increase in 2021, was achieved this year with a major assist from the U.S. Justice Department and bipartisan gun-control legislation passed by Congress, officials said.
“We’re seeing double-digit declines in homicide across nearly 70 of America’s largest cities,” U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in an exclusive interview with ABC News chief justice correspondent Pierre Thomas, citing information from the Major Cities Chiefs Association.
Monaco said the federal government has played the role of “force multiplier” in helping local law enforcement drive down the nation’s murder rate by identifying and removing the most prolific shooters and violent offenders from the streets.
“Something that we are doing is using new authorities from the most significant gun safety law that has passed in 30 years … the bipartisan Safer Communities Act that passed last year. And with that tool, we’ve charged more than 300 defendants with new gun trafficking and illegal trafficking,” Monaco told ABC News. “We’re using tools like crime-gun intelligence, the ability to trace the gun and the spent shell casing from a crime scene to identify who’s that shooter, how many violent crimes have they been involved with.”
Smaller cities are also seeing dramatic decreases in homicides. New Orleans, which had the highest murder rate in the nation in 2022, has seen a 25% drop in homicides in 2023. Baltimore’s homicide numbers have fallen by 25%, Atlanta’s by 18%, and Miami’s by 15%.
But not all cities have seen homicides fall. As of Dec. 26, Washington, D.C., has seen its homicides jump 36% and Dallas has seen a 14% increase. In Memphis, Tennessee, homicides rose 31% through the first six months of the year, the most recent data available.
“But those cities are especially notable because they are outliers this year, not the norm,” Asher said.
Motor City murders tumble
One of the largest drops in homicides occurred in Detroit, which as of Dec. 26 has seen murders fall by 18% since last year, according to the police department’s preliminary data.
“We’re looking at some numbers that we haven’t seen in close to 60 years in the city of Detroit,” Detroit Police Chief James White told ABC News. “But we’re stopping short of celebrating because certainly we still have a lot of work to do.”
Following a rash of shootings in downtown Detroit in April, White immediately instituted a 12-point crimefighting program normally reserved for the hot summer months, he said.
“That involved just really having officers on foot patrol, bike patrol, engaging our community in a very positive way,” said White.
He said the city, led by Mayor Mike Duggan, a former Wayne County prosecutor, has helped pave the way for an overall reduction in crime by boosting the number of police officers from 2,331 in 2022 to 2,486 in 2023 and giving cops a substantial pay raise. White said his department has been approved to hire another 200 officers in the coming year.
Like other chiefs interviewed by ABC News, White attributed a large part of Detroit’s crime turnaround to winning back the public’s trust following widespread protests and calls for defunding police departments in the wake of the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers in 2020. White said the city forged relationships with “community violence interrupters,” civilians who work in the streets to help the police department pinpoint problem areas and solve crimes.
“They’re sick and tired of the senseless, violent crime and they’re cooperating. They’re telling us where the problems are, and it’s our responsibility to address them quickly and keep working to keep those relationships strong in the community,” White said about community violence interrupters.
The result, he said, has been 55 fewer homicides in the city compared to this time last year.
“That’s 55 lives, 55 people, 55 mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters that don’t have to bury a loved one,” White said.
White also noted that there have been 135 fewer non-fatal shootings in Detroit compared to last year.
“So if half of those had resulted in homicide, you can clearly see what the numbers would be, and the victimization that would have occurred, the families that would be impacted. But the fact that 135 people weren’t shot this year is absolutely incredible,” White said.
Overall violent crime falling
Besides the tumbling homicide numbers nationwide, Asher said preliminary data shows significant decreases in nearly every type of violent and property crime, except for auto theft which has risen 10%. Through the first three quarters of the year, he said aggravated assaults were down 7%, robbery declined 9% and the number of rapes fell 15%.
“It’s something that I think ideally deserves more attention. We certainly pay attention when things go up,” Asher said. “I think that we should be talking about it and writing about it, and discussing it when it goes down as well because there are important things to learn there, and we should be acknowledging what’s happening.”
Despite the reductions in homicides and other violent crimes nationwide, recent polls indicate the majority of Americans believe overall crime is out of control.
“Seventy-something percent of Americans believe crime is rising this year. And seventy-something percent of Americans in this case just happen to be wrong,” Asher said, citing the Gallup poll last month.
Asher’s analysis appears to correspond with a report released last week by the Council on Criminal Justice, a think tank comprised of policy leaders in the criminal justice field. The CCJ analyzed preliminary crime data from 30 large U.S. cities and found that homicides in the first half of the year fell 9.4%.
“If this trend continues through the end of 2023, the nation will have experienced one of the largest single-year homicide reductions in the era of modern record-keeping,” the CCJ said in a statement.
The Gun Violence Archive, a website that tracks shootings across the nation, also reports a significant 9% drop in gun homicides this year. As of Dec. 26, 18,513 people had been victims of homicide, about 1,700 fewer than in 2022, according to the website.
The sizable fall in homicides comes after a record high in murders was set in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when courts were mostly closed and jail populations were being drastically reduced in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus.
“Certainly, after it hit, we saw backlogs of cases and delayed trials and things like that,” White said. “There was no real accountability for bad acts.”
According to the FBI’s annual Uniform Crime Reporting Program, which analyzed data from 15,897 law enforcement agencies, the largest single-year jump in murders in more than a century occurred between 2019 and 2020 as murders and nonnegligent manslaughter offenses nationwide rose nearly 30%.
Homicides across the country continued to increase in 2021 by 4.3% before falling by 6% in 2022, according to the FBI report.
‘A very simple strategy’
San Antonio, Texas, the nation’s seventh biggest city, has experienced a nearly 12% decline in homicides this year, after seeing murders rise by 43% in 2022 compared to 2021.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus told ABC News that the 231 homicides that occurred in his city in 2022, included the deaths of 53 migrants found in the back of an abandoned tractor-trailer as part of a human smuggling operation.
“If you’re looking at including those numbers, we’re looking at about a 32% decrease. But if you extract those numbers, we’re looking at a 12% decrease year-to-date,” McManus said. “But we’re not complaining about 12% though.”
One of the multiple crimefighting strategies McManus attributed to his city’s falling homicide numbers was first suggested by a team of criminologists at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
“Actually, it was a very simple strategy that, quite frankly, I was somewhat skeptical of at first,” McManus said.
He said by examining calls to the city’s computer-aided dispatch system (CAD), the police department identified 28 areas of the city with the highest numbers of violent crime calls and even pinpointed certain days and times when the volume of calls is the highest.
“We will sit there at that location with our emergency lights on for 10 to 15 minutes. That’s about as proactive as it gets,” McManus said. “We’re not getting out stopping people or knocking on doors or anything like that. It’s simply a high visibility, hot-spot policing effort.”
McManus said that in the coming year, he plans to try other crimefighting strategies involving the city’s public works department and animal control services.
“Specifically, to mention Animal Care Services, if you have a bunch of dogs running around, it brings the quality of life in that neighborhood down,” McManus said. “If you have a bunch of abandoned properties that are not being tended to, it brings the quality of life of that neighborhood down. Those properties could be used for drug sales, drug use, prostitution, all those things that make a neighborhood feel unsafe.”
Another strategy is to “address specific actors that are involved in violent crime,” he said.
“We pull them in, most of them are under supervision, and we offer them services, we offer them possible employment. If you choose to accept that type of help, whatever it may be, then good for you,” McManus said. “But if you don’t, then the next time you’re arrested, we’re going to throw the book at you.”
‘Recipe for success’
In Phoenix, the nation’s fifth largest city, interim Police Chief Michael Sullivan credited a 15% decline in homicides this year to a crimefighting strategy focused on clearing the streets of violent criminals in possession of guns.
“We know that if we focus on those areas, we’re going to see reductions, and we did this year,” Sullivan told ABC News.
Sullivan said his department launched “Operation Summer Shield” this year, which involved the help of federal and other local law enforcement agencies to round up people with warrants for their arrests. He said the operation resulted in the arrests of 580 people, with 70% wanted for felonies.
“I think we seized 40 guns from those prohibited possessors,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said he has also used the strategy of putting detectives on the streets during the summer months to help increase patrols, saying, such a move has “been very important in helping us control the homicide number this year.”
Like in Detroit, Sullivan said non-fatal shootings, which he described as “truly failed homicides,” are down 18% this year and attributes that to the launch of a “Non-Fatal Shooting Investigation Squad” that responds whenever a bullet pierces the skin to assist or assume the investigation.
But like other police chiefs in cities with falling homicide numbers, Sullivan said community engagement has been the most beneficial in the post-pandemic era.
“Community engagement is much easier when you’re not doing it on a Zoom call, when you’re having face-to-face meetings with the community and being able to build that trust,” Sullivan said. “When I talk about community engagement, you put a lot of deposits in the bank before people trust enough to be able to give us the information to close crimes.”
Sullivan said his agency has also focused on recruiting the best officers for the job.
“What we would expect from our police departments is to have a good strategy. But then you have to have women and men who can go out and execute that strategy,” Sullivan said. “That’s what we have here at the Phoenix Police Department, and I believe that’s a recipe for success.”
(NEW YORK) — Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., announced Wednesday that she will switch congressional districts when she runs for reelection next year after barely eking out a victory in 2022.
Boebert, a House hardliner who made a name for herself as a staunch advocate for gun owner rights, said in a video that she will be running in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District rather than the 3rd Congressional District, which she currently represents. The 4th Congressional District is currently held by Rep. Ken Buck, a Republican who is retiring at the end of his current term. The district leans more Republican than the seat Boebert currently holds.
In a Facebook video, Boebert cast the move as a “fresh start.”
“I cannot put into words how grateful I am for everyone who has steadfastly stood alongside me over the past year and beyond. I am going to do everything in my power to represent the 3rd District well for the remainder of this term as I work to earn the trust of grassroots conservative voters in the 4th District to represent them in 2025,” Boebert wrote in caption accompanying the video.
Still, the Colorado Republican nodded to the headwinds she could face if she were to run for reelection in her current district and the implications for House Republicans’ narrow majority if she were to lose.
“I will not allow dark money that is directed at destroying me personally to steal this seat. It’s not fair to the 3rd District and the conservatives there who have fought so hard for our victories,” she said.
Boebert was already facing a credible primary challenger in the 3rd Congressional District in attorney Jeff Hurd, who had started racking up endorsements from prominent Republicans like former Gov. Bill Owens.
The move comes after she won reelection by about 500 votes against Adam Frisch, a Democrat who is running again in 2024 and has more than tripled her in fundraising so far this cycle.
Frisch responded to Boebert’s announcement in a statement shared with ABC News, in which he said he has “one of the greatest name ID, fundraising, and district-wide relationship advantages for any challenger in the country.”
“From Day 1 of this race, I have been squarely focused on defending rural Colorado’s way of life, and offering common sense solutions to the problems facing the families of Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District,” he said. “My focus will remain the same, and I look forward to bringing these issues with me to Congress in 2024.”
Boebert’s self-styled reputation as a Christian conservative took a hit earlier this year after she was caught on video groping a date at a performance of the musical “Beetlejuice” in Denver. She has since apologized for the incident.
Her move will place her in Colorado’s most Republican district, which Buck won with over 60% of the vote in 2022. However, there is already a crowded field of Republicans running to replace Buck, and Boebert currently lives hundreds of miles from the 4th Congressional District, though she said she plans on moving.
Legally, she can run in any district in Colorado as long as she lives in the state.
ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Amazon will begin displaying advertisements in movies and TV shows on its Prime Video streaming service next month, the company said in an email to subscribers this week viewed by ABC News.
Customers will be offered an ad-free alternative for an additional $2.99 per month, the company added.
“This will allow us to continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time,” the company said. “We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers.”
The notice to customers follows an announcement in September setting out plans to add advertisements to video content on Prime in early 2024.
The ads will be introduced in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Canada in early 2024, followed by France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Australia later in the year, the company said in the announcement.
The move at Amazon comes amid an industrywide shift toward the inclusion of advertisements across major streaming services.
Netflix — the most popular streaming service worldwide — made headlines last year when it launched a subscription tier with advertisements for $6.99 per month.
Max, which launched an ad-supported tier in 2021, offers the option for $9.99 per month.
A Prime Video subscription costs $8.99 per month, or customers access the service as a complimentary offering along with the company’s Prime membership service.
The introduction of advertisements in Prime video content will take place on Jan. 29, the company said.
Prime Video is often one of the top two drivers of customer sign-ups for the company’s Prime membership service, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said on an earnings call last month.
“We also have increasing conviction that Prime Video can be a large and profitable business in its own right,” Jassy said.
Last year, Amazon closed its $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM, a decades-old Hollywood movie studio. As part of the deal, the company acquired global TV rights to the “Lord of the Rings” franchise.
The company debuted an initial season of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” in September 2022 and a second season of the fantasy series is forthcoming.
(NEW YORK) — The off-campus house where four University of Idaho students were killed was demolished on Thursday — despite mixed feelings from victims’ families.
The demolition began before the sun came up. The three-story house in Moscow, Idaho, was torn down in under two hours.
The excavator started by removing the siding and then the first level of the house. The giant claw then busted through the second level, following by the third level and the roof.
Moscow Police Chief James Fry and officials from the university were among those at the scene.
About eight dump trucks removed the debris and the cleanup process is now underway.
The gruesome crime unfolded in the early hours of Nov. 13, 2022, when roommates Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle, and Kernodle’s boyfriend Ethan Chapin, were stabbed to death inside the girls’ home. Two other roommates survived.
The suspect, Bryan Kohberger, who was a criminology Ph.D. student at nearby Washington State University at the time of the murders, was arrested weeks later. He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting a trial date.
University officials said they decided to tear down the house during winter break to try “to decrease further impact on the students who live in that area.”
Kaylee Goncalves’ family is firmly against knocking down the house at this time, saying doing so would “destroy one of the most critical pieces of evidence in the case” before a trial date is even set.
“It is obvious from the two recent visits to the house, by both the Prosecution and the Defense, that there is still evidentiary value in having the King Road house still standing. There may be additional discovery by either party that prompts one side or the other to go back to the scene of the crime,” the Goncalves family said in a statement this month. “Jurors are notoriously unpredictable and they tend to make decisions on a variety of facts and circumstances. It would be foolish of us to try and foresee what they will want or need to make a just verdict in this case.”
“It’s like screaming into a void,” the family said. “Nobody is listening.”
The Goncalves and Kernodle families issued a strong new statement on the eve of the demolition pushing for a trial date to be set and urging the university to not tear down the house until the trial is completed.
They cited eight reasons they say the house could hold evidentiary value for the trial, including: all of the entry and exit points in the home; where any potential biological evidence was found inside or outside the house; and if the house itself could have been a target for the crime.
But Ethan Chapin’s parents said they’re supportive of the demolition. Ethan was a triplet and his brother and sister are both current University of Idaho students.
The Chapins said the demolition is “for the good of the University, its students (including our own kids), and the community of Moscow.”
University President Scott Green said, “While we appreciate the emotional connection some family members of the victims may have to this house, it is time for its removal and to allow the collective healing of our community to continue.”
The university added, “After the trial was delayed earlier this fall, both prosecution and defense asked for access to the house and have both gone into the house in the last two months. Neither has asked for the house to be retained.”
