(KONGSBERG, Norway) — Five people were killed and two others injured in an apparently random attack in Kongsberg, Norway, late Wednesday as a man roamed the city shooting people with a bow and arrow.
Authorities said the man was taken into custody in the city center and is currently being held in the nearby city of Drammen.
Police are not searching for any other suspects.
“Based on the information we have at the present time; the apprehended man has acted alone. We will also have to look at whether this is an act of terror or not,” Øyvind Aas, the city’s assistant chief of police, said in a statement. “The suspect has not yet been questioned by the police, and it is therefore too early to say anything about his motivation for his actions.”
The suspect was identified as a 37-year-old man who lived in Kongsberg, but is a Danish citizen. He has been charged in the crime, police said.
Kongsberg is located about an hour southwest of Oslo.
Police said the man was spotted walking around the city shooting at random around 6:30 p.m. local time and was taken into custody about 20 minutes later. Photos from the city showed arrows stuck in walls of buildings.
One of those who was injured was an off-duty police officer, authorities said.
“There has been, and there still is a major police activity in the area,” Aas said. “The reason for this is that the suspect has moved over a large area, and we are now working on securing evidence and get as much information about the incident as we can.”
In a statement, the U.S. State Department said, “We are aware of today’s attack and extend our heartfelt condolences to the victims and their families.”
(WASHINGTON) — The battle over White House records of former President Donald Trump’s activities related to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack intensified Wednesday as President Joe Biden formally rejected Trump’s claims that the documents should be shielded from release to the House select committee investigating the insurrection.
In a letter to the National Archives, the White House counsel’s office said President Biden is “instructing” the agency to comply with the House select committee’s request for the records.
“President [Biden] maintains his conclusion that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the best interests of the United States,” the letter states, after Trump last week made a broad effort to keep confidants from cooperating with the probe.
“President Biden does not uphold the former President’s assertion of privilege,” said Wednesday’s letter, which also told the agency that “in light of the urgency of the Select Committee’s need for the information, the President further instructs you to provide those pages 30 days after your notification to the former President, absent any intervening court order.”
Trump issued a statement late last week saying the requests “are not based in law or reality — it’s just a game to these politicians. They don’t care about our Country or the American people.” Trump went on to say the Democrats are “drunk on power.”
Wednesday’s move comes as the committee ramps up its efforts to move ahead with its investigation. Former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen testified before the committee Wednesday, according to a source familiar with the proceedings.
On Tuesday, the committee issued a subpoena to former Associate Attorney General Jeffrey Clark. A lawyer for Clark declined to comment when reached by ABC News.
The House select committee has subpoenaed multiple former White House officials and aides to Trump and his campaign, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. The committee has said Meadows has been cooperating with the committee, though the extent of his participation in the investigation is unclear.
However, former Trump White House senior advisor and one-time campaign CEO Steve Bannon is standing firm in rebuffing the committee. In a second letter to the committee, obtained by ABC News, Bannon’s lawyer says they have been directed by Trump’s counsel not to respond, citing the former president’s invocation of executive privilege.
“Until such a time as you reach an agreement with President Trump or receive a court ruling as to the extent, scope and application of the executive privilege … Mr. Bannon will not be producing documents or testifying,” Bannon’s counsel, Robert Costello wrote in a letter to committee chairman Bennie Thompson.
Thompson and vice-chair Liz Cheney said last week they would “swiftly consider” holding Bannon, and potentially others, in contempt of Congress for ignoring committee subpoenas.
Sources confirmed to ABC News that Trump’s lawyer sent a letter to several of those subpoenaed informing them that the former president wants the subpoenas ignored and that he plans to claim executive privilege. In the letter, Trump suggested he would be willing to take the matter to court to block their cooperation.
White House counsel Dana Remus said in an earlier letter to the National Archives that the White House “has determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the best interests of the United States,” but that they would “respond accordingly” if Trump asserts executive privilege over only a subset of the documents.
The committee has issued at least 18 subpoenas, with most going to Trump associates and individuals linked to the rallies in Washington on the day of the Capitol riot.
(PLAISTOW, N.H.) — A driver experiencing a medical emergency crashed a school bus carrying six children into the woods in New Hampshire Tuesday, according to the Plaistow Police Department.
The accident took place at 3:43 p.m. local time. None of the children were hospitalized and the driver, who was taken to the hospital, was stable Tuesday evening, police said.
Two mothers — Stephanie Geary and Gina Lynch — were present at the scene of the crash and were able to help the children off the bus.
In an interview on Wednesday, Geary told ABC News that she and Lynch were driving toward Timberlane Regional School when she noticed the bus coming in the opposite direction in her lane.
“I noticed something right away was off because I’m like why would a bus be in my lane coming at me very fast,” Geary said.
Geary swerved her car to the left, allowing the bas to pass on her right, before it hit a guardrail and crashed down an embankment. Geary and Lynch rushed to the scene to help the children.
Geary and Lynch pried open the back door of the bus in order to evacuate the children, according to Boston ABC affiliate WCVB.
“We were scared. We didn’t know what we were going to see. All we heard were screaming kids and my heart went into my throat,” Lynch said.
The area surrounding the crash site was closed off by the police for approximately an hour.
“You got to do what you got to do. When Mama Bear kicks in, Mama Bear kicks in,” Lynch told WCVB.
(KONGSBERG, Norway) — Five people were killed and two others injured in an apparently random attack in Kongsberg, Norway, late Wednesday as a man roamed the city shooting people with a bow and arrow.
Authorities said the man was taken into custody in the city center and is currently being held in the nearby city of Drammen.
Police are not searching for any other suspects.
“Based on the information we have at the present time; the apprehended man has acted alone. We will also have to look at whether this is an act of terror or not,” Øyvind Aas, the city’s assistant chief of police, said in a statement. “The suspect has not yet been questioned by the police, and it is therefore too early to say anything about his motivation for his actions.”
Kongsberg is located about an hour southwest of Oslo.
Police said the man was spotted walking around the city shooting at random around 6:30 p.m. local time and was taken into custody about 20 minutes later. Photos from the city showed arrows stuck in walls of buildings.
“There has been, and there still is a major police activity in the area,” Aas said. “The reason for this is that the suspect has moved over a large area, and we are now working on securing evidence and get as much information about the incident as we can.”
ABC News’ Sohel Uddin, Kirit Radia and Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.
(STOCKTON, Calif.) — The family of a Black man who was shot seven times in Stockton, California, last week is pushing for justice in what is now being investigated as a potential hate crime.
Bobby Gayle, 45, a cement mason and father of five was seriously injured in the unprovoked attack last Friday, according to his family. His brother, Marlon Gayle, said Bobby had just finished a construction job at a restaurant when the shooting occurred.
“This big truck came by and almost hit them. So my brother says, ‘Hey, slow down,'” Marlon Gayle told ABC News. “According to my brother and the guy who was with him, his friend, the guy gets out of the truck, the white guy, and he has a gun, and he starts saying the n-word over and over again and started shooting my brother.”
Bobby Gayle was shot seven times, including in the face. His family said that he is in stable condition and that no major arteries were hit.
Right after the shooting, he left his brother a voicemail saying that he had been shot and asking him to pray.
“It was a miracle. God answers prayer and we’re just so thankful,” Marlon Gayle said. “He’s just so happy to be alive, and blessed to be with his family and his children.”
The Stockton Police Department described the shooter as a white male in his 30s, wearing a dark-colored jacket and jeans. Police have described his vehicle as a late-model Chevrolet Silverado extended cab truck with after-model, chrome-colored wheels. There’s a $10,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
While detectives are in the early stages of the investigation, they said the shooting is being probed as a potential hate crime. The Stockton Police Department said it has had an average of eight hate crime cases a year over the last five years.
“His heart is not right, the hatred that’s inside of him,” Marlon Gayle said. “Yes, it was a hate crime and that person needs Jesus, that person needs prayer, that person needs to be brought to justice.”
“Our family, we never expected something like this to happen. We love people. We’re people that serve in the community, and we love people from all backgrounds,” he added. “We believe in forgiveness, but that person, he definitely needs to be taken off the streets. He’s dangerous.”
Gayle said that the police department has been very helpful.
“I really believe that they’re doing everything that they can to try to find this guy,” he said.
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has released sweeping new guidance for the food industry to voluntarily reduce sodium in processed, packaged and prepared foods in an attempt to reduce Americans’ consumption.
“The FDA is issuing a final guidance, ‘Voluntary Sodium Reduction Goals: Target Mean and Upper Bound Concentrations for Sodium in Commercially Processed, Packaged, and Prepared Foods,’ which provides voluntary short-term sodium reduction targets for food manufacturers, chain restaurants and foodservice operators for 163 categories of processed, packaged and prepared foods,” the agency announced.
Acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock lauded the new sodium reduction guidance in a press conference Wednesday morning. She said it is a “critical step” in improving Americans’ nutrition, reducing the burden of diet-related chronic diseases and advancing health equity, predicting the effort would “become one of the most significant public health nutrition interventions in a generation.”
The guidance is intended to provide measurable voluntary short-term goals over the next two and a half years to reduce excess sodium intake, while recognizing and supporting the important roles sodium plays in food technology and food safety.
ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton said the news from Woodcock and Susan T. Mayne, director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, is “really targeting the food industry.”
The current salt intake recommendation of 3,000 milligrams per day is now set to a goal of 2,300 milligrams a day over the next two and a half years.
“Right now, it is clear that diet is a major contributing factor to not only our obesity, but high blood pressure, which, of course, then increases the risk for heart attack [and] strokes,” Ashton said.
Woodcock voiced hope that this voluntary guidance that targets the food industry itself — rather than leaving the onus on individuals — will help level the playing field for Americans who may not be well-equipped to police their nutrition alone, especially with sparse healthy food options in food deserts and due to some healthier food options being cost-prohibitive for lower-income families.
“The problem is so cumulative — it’s the tomato sauce, the cheese, the bread, the salad dressing, and pretty soon your whole meal has hidden salt in it. And it’s really hard right now for people to manage that on their own,” Woodcock said. “Most of the salt in the diet, the sodium in the diet, it comes from processed or packaged or prepared foods — not from the saltshaker.”
“Sodium is widely present in the American diet (most commonly, but not exclusively, as a result of eating or drinking foods to which sodium chloride, commonly referred to as “salt,” has been added),” according to the FDA. “More than 70% of total sodium intake is from sodium added during food manufacturing and commercial food preparation.”
During the same press conference, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra underscored Woodcock’s point that neglecting to address sodium consumption would carry high human and economic costs. He added that the COVID pandemic has shown the importance of taking better care of one’s health.
“The pandemic has graphically illustrated why today’s announcement is so important and why it’s so important that we take care of our health,” Becerra said, adding the consequences of Americans’ sky-high sodium intake could be “catastrophic personally and for the country.”
Mayne said that this issue impacts all age groups with “more than 95% of children age two to 13 who exceed recommended sodium limits for their age groups — even baby food — which carries long-term ramifications for children’s health and development,” she said.
But being that this is voluntary, truly capping sodium intake effectively will require a groundswell of both industry cooperation and consumer demand to help drive the initiative.
When asked whether there would need to be more teeth behind such policy, Woodcock said the government would monitor the impact of this current guidance over time, pointing to the importance of public support.
“If we don’t see success, then we’re going to have to evaluate what else we should do,” Woodcock said, without ruling out the idea of further, more stringent future measures.
“We have a plan to monitor and then to ratchet it further down, and what we learn over the next several years will tell us what magnitude of steps we can take,” Woodcock said. She acknowledged that “this change won’t happen overnight” and will require “an iterative approach that supports gradual reduction in sodium levels, broadly across the food supply, over time.”
(NEW YORK) — Actor William Shatner was overcome with emotion after his “unbelievable” 10-minute trip to space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard.
“Everybody in the world needs to do this,” Shatner told Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos after he touched down in Texas Wednesday.
“To see the blue color rip by — now you’re staring into blackness,” Shatner said, who, at the age of 90, is now the oldest person ever to go to space. “It was so moving. This experience has been something unbelievable.”
“What you have given me is the most profound experience,” the “Star Trek” star said to Bezos.
“I am so filled with emotion. It was extraordinary,” he said. “I hope I never recover from this. I hope that I can maintain what I feel now. I don’t want to lose it. It’s so — so much larger than me and life.”
Shatner also told Bezos, “It would be so important for everybody to have that experience through one means or another. I mean maybe you can put it on 3D and wear the goggles.”
Shatner joined Audrey Powers, Blue Origin’s vice president of mission and flight operations and a former NASA flight controller and engineer; Chris Boshuizen, the co-founder of satellite company Planet Labs and a former space mission architect for NASA; and Glen de Vries, the co-founder of Medidata Solutions, a life science company.
This was Blue Origin’s second crewed mission to space.
(FORT HOOD, Texas) — A Fort Hood soldier assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division was found dead Saturday behind his barracks over the weekend, according to military officials.
Officials have not released the victim’s ID or the cause of death.
“More details will be released once all next of kin have been notified. The incident is under investigation,” Fort Hood officials said in a press release.
Fort Hood officials did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
There have been multiple incidents at the Texas base this year.
Last week, there were concerns for Pfc. Jennifer Sewell, who was believed to be missing after she failed to report for duty on Oct. 7. Fort Hood officials said in an update Sunday that “Sewell’s family confirmed she is safe and with extended family.” She returned to the base Monday.
Fort Hood is the same Army base where Vanessa Guillen was murdered in April 2020, in a case that engrossed the nation.
Guillen, 20, was bludgeoned to death with a hammer in an arms room on April 22, 2020, authorities said. She was missing for months until some of her remains were found buried along the Leon River in June 2020.
Her suspected killer was fellow soldier Spc. Aaron Robinson, who took his own life when confronted by police after her remains were discovered, authorities said at the time.
Her death cast a harsh spotlight on the base and its culture, particularly for its handling of sexual assault and harassment, as she told her family that she had been harassed at the base. A long-awaited U.S. Army investigation released in April determined she had been sexually harassed by a supervisor, but the incidents of harassment were not related to her murder.
In December 2020, the Army announced 14 senior leaders and enlisted personnel at Fort Hood were fired or suspended following an independent panel’s review of the command climate and culture at the base.
Last week, the base unveiled the People First Center, a training center for support and resources for victims of sexual assault or those experiencing suicidal thoughts.
(WASHINGTON) — Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, one of four Latino cabinet members in President Joe Biden’s administration, said on Tuesday he wanted to end raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at workplaces.
“The deployment of mass worksite operations, sometimes resulting in the simultaneous arrest of hundreds of workers, was not focused on the most pernicious aspect of our country’s unauthorized employment challenge: exploitative employers,” Mayorkas wrote in a memo obtained by ABC News. “These highly visible operations misallocated enforcement resources while chilling, and even serving as a tool of retaliation for, worker cooperation in workplace standards investigations.”
Such a change from what was seen under the previous administration is something that policy experts, including Sylvia Puente, president and CEO of Latino Policy Forum, have said may result from Biden having surrounded himself with a more representative cabinet.
Mayorkas has been joined by Secretary Xavier Becerra of Health and Human Services, Secretary Miguel Cardona of the Department of Education and Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman of the Small Business Administration.
“It was about time — the increase in representation that looks like us in the White House, and cabinet levels in Congress, really allows us not to be invisible,” Puente told ABC News. “It really allows us to take our place in our American society.”
Becerra, who made history as the first Latino to lead HHS, discussed with ABC News the importance of representation for all Americans.
“There’s a pride that comes in understanding what you bring to the table, of what your parents taught you and what your forefathers and foremothers did for this country,” Becerra said. “I’m very proud that I bring that to my country. And that’s the heritage that has made the fabric of our country so strong.”
Becerra is the first person in his family to get a four-year college degree, after his parents emigrated from Mexico at a young age. Ultimately, he added, his opportunities have allowed him to help provide opportunities for others.
“It’s about helping people like my dad, who didn’t get past sixth grade, who worked with his hands all his life as a construction worker, a farm worker, so that he could actually have a better [life], at least for his kids,” Becerra said.
“Given that we have this historic number of cabinet officials who are Latino,” Puente said, “it really feels like the administration is living up its profit promise to have equity, to have diversity and to have inclusion.”
Puente said she hopes to see it continue, and not “just in Hispanic Heritage Month,” which spans Sept. 14 to Oct. 15. It’s important for Latinx and Hispanic individuals “to be a part of this ongoing dialogue.”
Barack Obama had a total of six Latino cabinet members.
Educational disparity
Cardona said during a GMA3 interview on Sept. 15 that he hopes to improve access to higher education.
“We want access to higher education for Latino students at the same rate as other students — we want to make sure completion happens,” Cardona said.
While Latinos account for 18.7% of the U.S. population, according to Census data, only 16.4% complete a four-year degree.
“We also want to make sure at the pre-K level that Latino students have access to early childhood education that serves as a foundation,” Cardona added.
The dropout rate among Latino students, according to a 2019 fact sheet from the National Center for Education Statistics, is about 7.7%, which has declined in recent years but still trails Black (5.6%), white (4.1%) and Asian (1.8%) students.
In August, more than 200,000 migrants were encountered crossing the southern border, according to DHS data.
“People really want to come to the U.S. because they feel they can’t make a living in their homeland, or they can’t stay safe in their homeland, or they’re afraid of being murdered in their home,” Puente told ABC News.
After reports of U.S. border patrol agents acting aggressively towards Haitian migrants fleeing their country amid multiple crises, DHS launched an investigation and alerted the department’s Office of Inspector General. Biden condemned the agents’ actions by saying those who confronted the Haitian migrants aggressively “will pay.”
Puente is among those hoping Biden’s words can lead to larger reforms.
“We certainly expect immigration reform,” she added. “We expect the president and vice president to not only continue to elevate the issue, but to really work with Congress. There are so many pieces of immigration that need to be unpacked.”
Late last month, Mayorkas announced the formation of the Law Enforcement Coordination Council, an effort to “institutionalize best practices in law enforcement.”
Mayorkas intends to chair the LECC, the first department-wide body to serve as a governing organization for agencies including U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“We are bringing a greater, in my opinion, a greater degree of organization, cohesion to [law enforcement policies],” Mayorkas told ABC News at the time.
Biden has said on multiple occasions he will be a leader for all Americans, and organizations and his cabinet members have said they’ll do what they can to help him keep that promise.
“As secretary, I’m going to make sure that when the president says ‘everyone,’ it includes everyone,” Becerra told ABC News. “We’re not going to leave anyone out. I don’t care what corner of the country you’re from, if you exist in the shadows, we’re going to service you. We believe in the people who lift up this country.”
(VAN HORN, Texas) — Actor William Shatner and his three crewmates on Blue Origin’s New Shepard have returned to earth after an 11-minute trip to space.
Shatner, 90, is the oldest person ever to go to space.
The “Star Trek” star joined Audrey Powers, Blue Origin’s vice president of mission and flight operations and a former NASA flight controller and engineer; Chris Boshuizen, the co-founder of satellite company Planet Labs and a former space mission architect for NASA; and Glen de Vries, the co-founder of Medidata Solutions, a life science company.
This was Blue Origin’s second crewed mission to space.
Latest headlines:
-‘I am so filled with emotion,’ Shatner says
-Capsule touches down safely
-Capsule separates from booster
-Shatner soars to space in historic launch
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Oct 13, 11:32 am
Bezos pins Shatner and crew
“Welcome to a very small club,” Bezos told the four new astronauts as he fastened pins on their suits.
“Oops, this one is bent,” Bezos said as he tried to pin one on Shatner. “So am I,” Shatner joked back.
ABC News’ Ayushi Agarwal
Oct 13, 11:25 am
‘I am so filled with emotion,’ Shatner says
Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin’s founder, joined friends and family as they greeted the astronauts who exited the capsule one by one.
Bezos sprayed bottles of champagne to celebrate the safe and historic launch.
“Everybody in the world needs to do this,” Shatner, who was overcome with emotion, told Bezos.
“It was so moving. This experience has been something unbelievable,” he said. “The blue down there, the black up there.”
“You have done something,” Shatner said to Bezos. “What you have given me is the most profound experience. I am so filled with emotion.”
“I hope that I can maintain what I feel now,” he said. “I don’t want to lose it.”
“I am overwhelmed,” he said. As for the camaraderie with the crew, the actor said, “It’s like being in battle together.”
Oct 13, 11:02 am
Capsule touches down safely
The newest astronauts touched down safely at about 11 a.m. ET.
This was the second crewed flight for Blue Origin.
Oct 13, 10:59 am
Booster returns to earth ahead of capsule
The booster touched back down on Earth after launching Shatner and crew to space.
