(MILWAUKEE, Wis.) — Multiple persons of interest are in custody in connection with a sextuple homicide in Wisconsin that police believe was a targeted attack.
Six people were found dead inside a Milwaukee home after officers conducted a welfare check at the residence Sunday, police said. All victims — five men and one woman — had been shot, police said.
Four persons of interest are now in custody, though no one has been charged yet, Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said during a press briefing Thursday.
“We are still trying to determine what their involvement was, if any, in this homicide,” Norman said.
Police believe there were “multiple suspects” involved in the incident. Evidence suggests that the shooting was targeted, and it does not appear to have been a murder-suicide, according to the chief, who said there is no threat to the public at this time.
The motive, exact time of the shooting and exact number of guns used in the shooting are still being determined, Norman said.
ABC Milwaukee affiliate WISN reported that it obtained court records that show that three of the six victims’ names appear on a witness list for a pending homicide case in Milwaukee County Court.
When asked if that could be a reason why the victims were targeted, Norman told reporters that he believes it is unrelated to the incident, but that authorities are “looking into all angles.”
“Obviously, you never want to use one explanation for a particular incident and stick to that,” Norman said. “At this time, we’re pretty sure that that is not relative to this particular incident, but we never want to take away any particular explanation for what we’re finding in this investigation.”
During their investigation, authorities discovered that a woman who claimed she was a victim of a shooting called 911 about 12 hours before the victims were discovered. Police do not believe that she was a victim of this shooting, and her possible connection to the incident remains under investigation.
Acting Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson urged anyone with information in the case to come forward.
“It’s time for that person to step forward, to come up, say something,” he said during the briefing. “We can’t have a city where somebody can go and pull the trigger and kill somebody, and then go sit on somebody’s couch. We can’t have that.”
ABC News’ Abigail Bowen contributed to this report.
Dai Sugano/MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images
(SAN JOSE, Calif.) — The National Association for Gun Rights filed a lawsuit against the city of San Jose, California, seeking to end a rule passed by city council which aims to reduce gun harm.
The rule, passed on Tuesday, requires gun owners to purchase liability insurance and pay an annual “gun harm reduction” fee. Gun owners will also be required to pay city cost recovery fees related to the program’s implementation.
“Liability insurance can reduce the number of gun incidents by encouraging safer behavior and it can also provide coverage for losses and damages related to gun incidents,” the bill states.
In the lawsuit, the National Association for Gun Rights claimed the new rule is unconstitutional.
“San Jose’s imposition of a tax, fee, or other arbitrary cost on gun ownership is intended to suppress gun ownership without furthering any government interest. In fact, the penalties for nonpayment of the insurance and fees include seizure of the citizen’s gun,” the lawsuit said. “The Ordinance is, therefore, patently unconstitutional”
The bill, which the group is attempting to strike down, will become law on July 25, six months after it was passed.
“If left intact, the City of San Jose’s Ordinance would strike at the very core of the fundamental constitutional right to keep and bear arms and defend one’s home,” the gun rights group said in the lawsuit.
“They want to tax law-abiding gun owners simply for exercising their Second Amendment rights,” the association said in a post on its website. “This is just as unthinkable as imposing a ‘free speech tax’ or a ‘church attendance tax.'”
“If this California city can tax citizen’s Second Amendment rights, gun grabbers in cities all across the country will quickly follow suit,” the association said on its website.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said he plans to support efforts to replicate these initiatives across the nation.
“Tonight San José became the first city in the United States to enact an ordinance to require gun owners to purchase liability insurance, and to invest funds generated from fees paid by gun owners into evidence-based initiatives to reduce gun violence and gun harm,” Liccardo said in a statement on Tuesday.
The mayor’s office and the National Association for Gun Rights did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
(HOUSTON) — Authorities in Houston are searching for the suspect who shot three Houston police officers and fled in a white Mercedes Thursday afternoon.
The officers’ conditions were not immediately clear.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden and Justice Stephen Breyer appeared together Thursday at the White House to announce Breyer’s retirement from the Supreme Court, clearing the way for Biden to follow through on his campaign promise to nominate the first Black woman to the high court as his historic first pick.
“I’m here today to express the nation’s gratitude to Justice Stephen Breyer for his remarkable career of public service, and his clear-eyed commitment to making our country’s laws work for its people,” Biden said.
Biden praised Breyer’s career in public service, beginning in the United States Army as a teenager before going on to serve in all three branches of government before he turned 40. Multiple times, Biden noted his personal connection to Breyer, as the only president to have presided over a justice’s confirmation — when he was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Breyer was nominated to the Supreme Court in 1994 by President Bill Clinton.
“He has patiently sought common ground and built consensus, seeking to bring the court together. I think he’s a model public servant in a time of great division in this country,” Biden said, hailing Breyer for being a justice who could bridge divides on the bench.
Turning to the vacancy he will leave, Biden also reaffirmed his commitment to nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court, which he said was “long overdue.”
BREAKING: “I’ve made no decision except one: The person I will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications…That person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court,” Pres. Biden announces. https://t.co/hQKNJg7Lhrpic.twitter.com/yDjebjLOVu
“While I’ve been studying candidates’ backgrounds and writings, I’ve made no decision except one: the person I will nominate will be someone with extraordinary qualifications, character, experience and integrity. And that person will be the first Black woman ever nominated to the United States Supreme Court. It’s long overdue in my opinion, I made that commitment during the campaign for president, and I will keep that commitment,” he said.
Biden said he’s made “no choice at this point” but it’s his intention to announce his nominee “before the end of February” after consulting with both Democratic and Republican senators. He also noted Vice President Kamala Harris will play a key consulting role in the process.
“I will fully do what I’d said I’d do. I will fulfill my duty to select a justice, not only with the Senate’s consent, but with its advice,” Biden said. “I’m going to invite senators from both parties to offer their ideas and points of view.”
Biden said he will keep in mind Breyer’s spirit when he makes his decision on filling the seat.
“In the end, I will nominate a historic candidate, someone who’s worthy of Justice Breyer’s legacy, and someone who like Justice Breyer, provide incredible service on the United States Supreme Court,” Biden said.
Breyer, quoting from President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, reminded that the nation’s founders described American democracy as one great “experiment.”
“‘We are now engaged in a great Civil War to determine whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure,'” he said, citing Lincoln’s famous words, saying they are still relevant today.
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer reflects on his career: “It’s a kind of a miracle, when you sit there and see…people that are so different in what they think, and yet they’ve decided to help solve their major differences under law.” https://t.co/JhNQIRZvbDpic.twitter.com/OZFj5gW6ry
Recalling conversations with his students, Breyer said it’s now up to the next generation will “determine whether the experiment still works.”
“It’s an experiment that’s still going on. And I’ll tell you something, you know who will see whether that experiment works? It’s you, my friend. It’s you, Mr. high school student,” Breyer said. “I am an optimist, and I’m pretty sure it will.”
Earlier Thursday, in a letter to the president Thursday, Breyer formally notified Biden of his retirement and wrote he intends to complete term and remain until a successor is confirmed, holding his seat in several blockbuster decisions that will close the term in late June.
Breyer called the job a privilege and great honor, saying “I have found the work challenging and meaningful. My relations with each of my colleagues have been warm and friendly.”
BREAKING: Justice Stephen Breyer announces his retirement from the Supreme Court.
The move clears the way for Pres. Biden to follow through on his campaign promise to nominate the first Black woman to the high court for his historic first pick. https://t.co/Szf1sdE8A9pic.twitter.com/wq6rKFjrRy
In finishing out the term — but stepping down ahead of the midterm elections — Breyer, 83, the most senior member of the Supreme Court’s liberal wing who served on the bench for 27 years, fulfills the wish of Democrats who lobbied to ensure Biden could name a successor while Democrats controlled the Senate.
With the slimmest of margins, Democrats can now pass Biden’s nominee without a single Republican vote due to a 2017 rule change under then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, which lowered the threshold to break the filibuster from 60 votes to 51 votes for Supreme Court nominees. McConnell said last year that the GOP may try to block a Democratic nominee to the court if Republicans won control of the Senate in November and a vacancy occurred in 2023 or 2024.
Following Biden and Breyer’s joint announcement, McConnell called on Biden to select a nominee to fill Breyer’s vacancy who has “demonstrated reverence for the written text of our laws and constitution” and urged him “not to outsource this important decision to the radical left.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday the chamber is prepared to move to confirm Biden’s nominee with “all deliberate speed.” Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who once served as a clerk to Breyer and was confirmed to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals last year with bipartisan support, is considered a top contender.
Once Biden nominates a replacement, Senate Democrats plan to not only hold a confirmation hearing swiftly — similar to Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who had her first hearing within 13 days of her nomination — but also to hold those proceedings while Breyer is still sitting on the bench, according to two Democratic aides familiar with the matter.
While the transition presents an exciting opportunity for Biden and his supporters, replacing Breyer will not change the court’s 6-3 conservative majority.
ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Moderna announced Thursday that it’s launched early-stage clinical trials of an HIV mRNA vaccine.
The biotechnology company has teamed up with the nonprofit International AIDS Vaccine Initiative to develop the shot, which uses the same technology as Moderna’s successful COVID-19 vaccine.
The first participants in the Phase I trial were given doses at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C., according to a company statement.
“We are tremendously excited to be advancing this new direction in HIV vaccine design with Moderna’s mRNA platform,” Dr. Mark Feinberg, president and CEO of IAVI, said in a statement. “The search for an HIV vaccine has been long and challenging, and having new tools in terms of immunogens and platforms could be the key to making rapid progress toward an urgently needed, effective HIV vaccine.”
Nearly 38 million people worldwide — including about 1.3 million in the U.S — are living with HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, which can lead to the potentially fatal disease AIDS.
Being diagnosed with HIV was once considered a death sentence. During the height of the U.S. AIDS epidemic in the mid-1990s, more than 50,000 deaths occurred every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Today, HIV is much more manageable with medications that can reduce viral loads to undetectable so the virus can’t be transmitted, as well as pills that can be taken to prevent infecting those who are HIV-negative.
But despite decades of research, no vaccine has ever been developed. Several candidates have entered clinical trials but failed in later stages.
The new vaccine uses mRNA, or messenger RNA, which teaches the body’s cells how to make proteins that trigger immune responses.
Researchers have developed not only a primary vaccine but also a booster to deliver HIV immunogens — molecules that elicit an immune response — via mRNA.
The hope is this process can induce specific white blood cells, called B cells, which can then turn into what are known as broadly neutralizing antibodies that can neutralize the virus.
According to the statement, Phase I of the trial will enroll 56 healthy, HIV-negative adult participants at GWU and three additional sites: Hope Clinic of Emory Vaccine Center in Atlanta; Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle; and the University of Texas-Health Science Center at San Antonio.
Of the volunteers, 48 will receive one or two doses of the mRNA vaccine, and 32 also will receive the booster. The remaining eight will receive just the booster.
Researchers will then monitor for safety and efficacy of the new vaccine for up to six months after participants receive their final dose.
Moderna did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
ABC News’ Sony Salzman contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A snow storm is bearing down on the East Coast, with snow even expected to reach as far south as coastal North Carolina.
The brunt of the storm will hit from eastern Long Island to coastal Massachusetts, with moderate to major impacts for the Interstate 95 corridor from Philadelphia to New York City to Boston.
The storm will begin in the overnight hours early Saturday for Philadelphia and New York City.
By 7 a.m. it’ll be snowing heavily across much of the I-95 corridor. By early Saturday afternoon, the storm will clear out for most of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, focusing on Rhode Island, Cape Cod, Boston and Maine.
High winds and coastal flooding are a major threat. Wind gusts up to 65 mph are possible along the coast from Delaware to New Jersey to Long Island to Nantucket.
Whiteout conditions are possible from eastern Long Island to Cape Cod to Maine.
Eastern Long Island to Boston and Cape Cod are expected to get the brunt of the heaviest snow, with over 1 foot possible in some places.
New Jersey, Connecticut and New York City are forecast to see 4 to 10 inches of snow, with the higher totals closer to the coast.
North Carolina could get up to 4 inches.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has declared a state of emergency. He warned residents to be mindful of heavy snow and high winds as well as the possibility of tidal flooding and power outages.
Ahead of the storm is a deep freeze. Bitter cold hit the East Coast Thursday morning with a wind chill — what temperature it feels like — at about 8 degrees in New York, 2 degrees in Boston, 15 in Raleigh and 24 in Atlanta.
And behind the snow storm will be the coldest temperatures in years for Florida. Sunday morning the wind chill could plunge to 23 degrees in Orlando and 29 degrees in Miami.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.6 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 876,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 63.5% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 27, 12:34 pm
Cases decreasing or at plateau in most states
The U.S. is now reporting an average of 627,000 new COVID-19 cases per day — an 18% drop over the last two weeks, according to federal data.
Most states are seeing cases decreasing or at a plateau, according to federal data. Just 10 states are seeing at least a 10% increase in cases: Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.
Despite this positive news, cases in the U.S. are still extremely high. Since the beginning of January, more than 17.4 million new cases have been reported — that’s nearly three times the number of cases reported in every other month of the pandemic.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Jan 27, 8:01 am
New Hampshire to sell rapid COVID-19 tests at liquor stores
Rapid at-home COVID-19 testing kits will soon be on sale at liquor stores across New Hampshire, according to Gov. Chris Sununu.
Sununu announced Wednesday that the New Hampshire Executive Council unanimously approved a request by the state’s Department of Health and Human Services to use federal funds from the American Rescue Plan to secure 1 million over-the-counter antigen test kits for liquor store customers. The tests are expected to hit shelves within the next two weeks.
“In addition to tax-free liquor and lottery tickets, you’ll be able to grab a tax-free test,” the governor wrote on Twitter Wednesday.
Sununu said the test kits will be sold “at cost” for about $13, which can be reimbursed through health insurance, though that will vary from company to company.
Jan 26, 6:36 pm
1st participant dosed in Moderna’s omicron-specific vaccine
Moderna announced Wednesday that the first participant has been dosed in the phase 2 study of its omicron-specific booster candidate, in case it becomes necessary.
Moderna’s trials will include people who received two doses of the original Moderna vaccine and people who received two doses of the original Moderna vaccine and a Moderna booster shot.
Pfizer announced Tuesday that it’s initiated clinical studies to evaluate an omicron-based vaccine for adults.
Jan 26, 5:00 pm
NIH trial finds mixing and matching boosters is safe and effective
A study from the National Institutes of Health published in the New England Journal of Medicine found mixing and matching boosters are safe and create a similar immune response to sticking with your initial vaccine.
An earlier version of this study, with more preliminary findings, helped guide the CDC’s decision to allow mix-and-match.
The study authors make no claims about specific combinations being more or less effective. The study did find that people who got an mRNA vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna) and then received the Johnson & Johnson booster had a significant increase in T-cell response, a part of immunity.
The trial looked at 458 participants who received a vaccine with no prior COVID-19 infection. This data is only for the first 29 days after receiving the booster; researchers plan to follow the participants for one year, allowing for more data.
-ABC News’ Vanya Jain, Sony Salzman, Eric Strauss, Dr. Alexis Carrington
Jan 26, 4:47 pm
Unvaccinated child dies in Mississippi
An unvaccinated child has died in Mississippi from COVID-19, according to the state’s health department.
The department confirmed to ABC News that the child was between the ages of 11 and 17, an age bracket that is eligible to receive Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
This marked the 10th child — including an infant — to die in Mississippi from COVID-19. None of the 10 children were vaccinated, according to the health department.
(NEW YORK) — Prices have continued to climb from the grocery store to the gas station amid the pandemic. According to a new report, the prices of some foods and household staples are heading higher.
Kraft Heinz alerted customers that its prices will go up in March on dozens of popular products including certain SKUs of Velveeta cheese by 6.6%, hot dogs and cold cuts by 10% and Oscar Mayer turkey bacon by 30%.
Even coffee is affected — Kraft Heinz’s Maxwell House coffee price would go up by 5%, the company said.
Prices have risen steadily across the food industry, with unprecedented ingredient, labor and transportation shortages coupled with surging demand driving prices higher.
Kraft Heinz said the price increases are not a sweeping action across all its products and instead applies specifically to products experiencing the greatest cost pressures.
Officials at the Federal Reserve on Wednesday signaled they are on the verge of addressing this issue of soaring prices by potentially hiking interest rates very “soon.”
“With inflation well above 2 percent and a strong labor market, the Committee expects it will soon be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate,” the Fed said in a statement Wednesday.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that “inflation remains well above our longer run goal of 2%,” which it notably has for some time now. He attributed this largely to supply and demand imbalances related to the pandemic and the reopening of the economy.
ABC News’ Catherine Thorbecke contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A snow storm is bearing down on the East Coast, with snow even expected to reach as far south as coastal North Carolina.
The brunt of the storm will hit from eastern Long Island to coastal Massachusetts, with moderate to major impacts for the Interstate 95 corridor from Philadelphia to New York City to Boston.
The storm will begin in the overnight hours early Saturday for Philadelphia and New York City. Snow will continue into Saturday afternoon in New England.
Boston could see more than 1 foot of snow. New York City is forecast to get 4 to 8 inches of snow while Philadelphia could see about 3 to 5 inches.
The New Jersey coast and the mid-Atlantic could get over 6 inches of snow and North Carolina could get up to 4 inches.
Ahead of the storm is a deep freeze. Bitter cold is hitting the East Coast Thursday morning with a wind chill — what temperature it feels like — at about 8 degrees in New York, 2 degrees in Boston, 15 in Raleigh and 24 in Atlanta.
And behind the snow storm will be the coldest temperatures in years for Florida. Sunday morning the wind chill could plunge to 23 degrees in Orlando and 29 degrees in Miami.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.6 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 876,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 63.5% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 27, 8:01 am
New Hampshire to sell rapid COVID-19 tests at liquor stores
Rapid at-home COVID-19 testing kits will soon be on sale at liquor stores across New Hampshire, according to Gov. Chris Sununu.
Sununu announced Wednesday that the New Hampshire Executive Council unanimously approved a request by the state’s Department of Health and Human Services to use federal funds from the American Rescue Plan to secure 1 million over-the-counter antigen test kits for liquor store customers. The tests are expected to hit shelves within the next two weeks.
“In addition to tax-free liquor and lottery tickets, you’ll be able to grab a tax-free test,” the governor wrote on Twitter Wednesday.
Sununu said the test kits will be sold “at cost” for about $13, which can be reimbursed through health insurance, though that will vary from company to company.
Jan 26, 6:36 pm
1st participant dosed in Moderna’s omicron-specific vaccine
Moderna announced Wednesday that the first participant has been dosed in the phase 2 study of its omicron-specific booster candidate, in case it becomes necessary.
Moderna’s trials will include people who received two doses of the original Moderna vaccine and people who received two doses of the original Moderna vaccine and a Moderna booster shot.
Pfizer announced Tuesday that it’s initiated clinical studies to evaluate an omicron-based vaccine for adults.
Jan 26, 5:00 pm
NIH trial finds mixing and matching boosters is safe and effective
A study from the National Institutes of Health published in the New England Journal of Medicine found mixing and matching boosters are safe and create a similar immune response to sticking with your initial vaccine.
An earlier version of this study, with more preliminary findings, helped guide the CDC’s decision to allow mix-and-match.
The study authors make no claims about specific combinations being more or less effective. The study did find that people who got an mRNA vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna) and then received the Johnson & Johnson booster had a significant increase in T-cell response, a part of immunity.
The trial looked at 458 participants who received a vaccine with no prior COVID-19 infection. This data is only for the first 29 days after receiving the booster; researchers plan to follow the participants for one year, allowing for more data.
-ABC News’ Vanya Jain, Sony Salzman, Eric Strauss, Dr. Alexis Carrington
Jan 26, 4:47 pm
Unvaccinated child dies in Mississippi
An unvaccinated child has died in Mississippi from COVID-19, according to the state’s health department.
The department confirmed to ABC News that the child was between the ages of 11 and 17, an age bracket that is eligible to receive Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
This marked the 10th child — including an infant — to die in Mississippi from COVID-19. None of the 10 children were vaccinated, according to the health department.
