A woman was killed in a fireworks explosion in Chino, California, on July 4, 2026. (KABC)
(CHINO, Calif.) –A man has been arrested for involuntary manslaughter after a woman died and three people were injured from a fireworks explosion in Southern California over the weekend, authorities said.
Investigators believe a large quantity of fireworks ignited, prompting an explosion during 4th of July celebrations Saturday night in Chino, about 35 miles east of Los Angeles, Chino police said. The blast also engulfed a car in flames, police said.
Derion Tradon James Jr., 28, was detained at the scene and later booked on an involuntary manslaughter charge, police said.
“There was a humongous explosion. The explosion was so loud, it’s what I would assume a gas line in a house blew up,” witness Gabriel Gilmore told ABC Los Angeles station KABC. “… The plume of smoke that rose from the floor was equivalent to the size of the house.”
One victim, a woman in her 20s, was taken to a hospital where she died from her injuries, police said on Sunday.
Two other adults suffered serious injuries but are expected to survive, according to police, who said a child was also injured and has since been released from the hospital.
A spokesperson for the Chino police department told ABC News that the investigation into the incident is “active and ongoing,” and that “detectives are continuing to work closely with the Ontario [California] Fire Department’s bomb squad to determine exactly what occurred.”
Tyler Robinson, accused of fatally shooting Charlie Kirk, appears during a hearing in Fourth District Court on December 11, 2025 in Provo, Utah. (Photo by Rick Egan-Pool/Getty Images)
(PROVO, Utah) — A crucial court hearing is expected to get underway on Monday to determine whether prosecutors have enough evidence to warrant a murder trial for the alleged assassin of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Utah prosecutors have said they have a mountain of evidence against the suspect, 23-year-old Tyler James Robinson, and plan to seek the death penalty.
The state is expected to begin presenting its evidence on Monday at a preliminary hearing in the 4th District Court in Provo, Utah. The hearing is expected to last up to five days.
Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, and his parents, Robert and Kathryn Kirk, are expected to attend the suspect’s preliminary hearing, according to The Associated Press.
The Kirk family released a statement Monday morning, saying, “Charlie was a beloved husband, son, brother, friend, and father.”
“Every court proceeding serves as a painful reminder of his death and the loss that has irrevocably impacted our lives and the lives of his children,” the family said. “We remain deeply grateful for the support, prayers, and kindness we have received. This outpouring has sustained us during the darkest days of our lives.”
The family said it will not be commenting further on the case: “We ask for continued privacy as we navigate this process and immense grief.”
District Judge Tony Graf will weigh the evidence presented by prosecutors and decide if there is enough to hold Robinson over for trial and whether prosecutors can proceed in seeking the death penalty.
Prosecutors need only to demonstrate that there are reasonable grounds to warrant a trial for Robinson. If Graf orders Robinson to proceed to trial, prosecutors must then prove beyond a reasonable doubt at a trial that the defendant is guilty of killing the 31-year-old Kirk.
Robinson has been charged with aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, obstruction of justice, two counts of witness tampering and commission of a violent offense in the presence of a child.
Robinson has yet to enter a plea to the charges, and his attorneys have not issued any statements on his guilt or innocence.
The fatal shooting of Kirk, who was the founder of the conservative youth movement Turning Point USA and a strong ally of President Donald Trump, occurred in September 2025 at an outdoor rally at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
On Sept. 10, 2025, Kirk was holding the first stop of his “The American Comeback Tour,” which invited students on college campuses to debate hot-button issues. He was at an amphitheater on the campus of Utah Valley University taking a question about gun violence in America when a single shot rang out from a distance away, hitting him in the left side of his neck.
Kirk’s security team immediately carried him to a vehicle and rushed him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Police investigators have said the shot that killed Kirk was fired from the rooftop of a building about 200 feet from where Kirk was speaking.
Robinson allegedly fled the scene on foot, prompting a massive manhunt. He surrendered to authorities on the night of Sept. 11, 2025, after his father contacted law enforcement officials and told them he recognized his son in photographs of the suspect released by authorities, officials said.
According to court documents, Robinson allegedly confessed in a note left for his roommate, who was also his romantic partner, that read, “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.”
On the day of the shooting, Robinson allegedly sent his boyfriend a text message that said, “Drop what you are doing, look under my keyboard,” Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray said at a news conference following Robinson’s arrest.
Robinson’s boyfriend told police that he found a handwritten letter under the keyboard, according to Gray, who said the note read in part, “If you are reading this per my text, then I am so sorry. I left the house this morning on a mission, and set an auto text.”
Gray said Robinson allegedly sent another message to his boyfriend, in which he allegedly said of Kirk, “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”
Ukrainian firefighters evacuate an elderly woman from the scene of an attack as Russian missiles and drones struck Kyiv overnight on Monday, killing at least ten people and heavily damaging apartment buildings on July 6, 2026 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — A large Russian drone and missile strike on Kyiv killed at least 18 people and injured dozens in the Ukrainian capital and surrounding region overnight, local officials said, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again appealing to foreign partners to ramp up the delivery of key anti-missile ammunition.
The Ukrainian air force said in posts to Telegram that Russia launched 68 missiles — among them 23 ballistic missiles — and 351 drones into the country overnight.
The air force said that 37 missiles and 326 drones were shot down or otherwise suppressed, with impacts of 29 missiles and 18 drones reported across 34 locations.
The capital bore the brunt of Russia’s latest overnight strike, officials said. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in posts to Telegram that at least 12 people were killed and 46 people were injured, of which at least 26 were hospitalized.
A further six people were killed and 26 people injured across the wider Kyiv region, according to regional governor Mykola Kalashnyk.
Klitschko reported damage in the Obolonskyi, Holosiivskyi, Podilskyi and Darnytskyi districts of the capital. In Podilskyi and Darnytskyi, the mayor said that rescue teams were searching for additional victims under the rubble of destroyed residential buildings.
Zelenskyy said in posts to social media that Ukrainian forces defending against the “massive Russian attack” intercepted many drones and cruise missiles, but not the more advanced ballistic weapons.
“The reason for this is precisely the insufficient supply of interceptor missiles. It is very important that the world, especially America and our European partners, come out of the NATO summit in Ankara with strong decisions to support our defense of the sky, and hence, the protection of ordinary people’s lives,” Zelenskyy wrote.
“As long as the missiles for the Patriots remain in the warehouses of allies, this only encourages Russia to continue destroying residential buildings,” the Ukrainian president added, referring to the American-made Patriot surface-to-air missile system which Kyiv often uses to intercept Russian missiles.
“The U.S. and Europe have enough power to stop this terror,” he added.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, described the overnight attack in a post to Telegram as “a massive strike with high-precision long-range weapons of land, air and sea-based systems, as well as with strike drones.”
The ministry claimed to have targeted military-industrial and energy facilities in Kyiv, plus military airfield infrastructure.
The Defense Ministry also reported that its forces intercepted at least 625 Ukrainian drones overnight and into Monday.
Moscow was among the targets of the latest wave of Ukrainian long-range attacks, the city’s Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said in posts to Telegram. The mayor said that at least 15 Ukrainian drones were shot down en route to the capital since midnight on Sunday.
ABC News’ Natalia Popova, Natalia Kushnir and Tanya Stukalova contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump participates in a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, June 24, 2026. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump will head to the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, this week as an unstable ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran and Trump’s feud with his NATO allies continue.
The summit will be held Tuesday and Wednesday at the Beştepe Presidential Compound and chaired by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. The formal opening is scheduled for Tuesday and the event is expected to conclude the following day, when Trump will hold a news conference.
Trump’s trip will be brief. He is expected to leave the White House Monday night and return to the U.S. on Wednesday evening. While in Turkey, the president is expected to take part in a bilateral meetings with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and participate in a number of working sessions.
‘Taking stock’ of NATO
Matt Whitaker, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, said Sunday that the summit will measure the progress of NATO allies’ commitment to spend 5% of their GDP on defense and said that the U.S. would also “take stock of our allies’ expanding NATO’s capabilities in support of the burden-shifting going on here on the European continent.”
“Some allies are doing more than others. Poland, the Nordic countries, the Baltic countries lead the way, and Germany is on track for the 5%, reaching it in 2029. But many others are lagging behind,” Whitaker said.
The summit also comes after Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of leaving NATO. As recently as April, Trump expressed frustration with European allies amid the U.S.’s war with Iran, as many members have been reluctant to join military operations in re-opening and patrolling the Strait of Hormuz.
“Oh yes, I would say [it’s] beyond reconsideration. I was never swayed by NATO,” Trump said in April when asked if he would reconsider the U.S.’s membership after the conflict ends. “I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows that too, by the way.”
More broadly, Trump has been extremely critical of NATO allies over their ability to share the burden of contributing to the post-World War II alliance.
Whitaker said, “The United States remains a proud NATO member,” but “we have responsibilities elsewhere in the world as the world’s only superpower.”
Trump continued his criticism of some NATO allies as recently as last week.
“Ridiculous for the U.S.A. to continue along this one sided path when the relationship is not reciprocal. They were not there for us,” Trump wrote last Thursday on his social media platform.
“The United States spends more money on NATO than any other country, by far, to protect them, without getting any benefit from so doing,” the president also claimed on Thursday in a post on social media.
While Trump claims that allies spend “on NATO,” that’s not how the alliance works. Member states must spend 2% of their GDP on their own national defense budgets. The U.S. is NATO’s largest defense spender by virtue of having the world’s largest defense budget. But taken as a percentage of GDP, the US has hovered around 3% range — less than Poland and Baltic allies.
NATO’s involvement in Iran war
Trump’s requests for allies’ support in the U.S. war against Iran goes beyond NATO’s collective defense agreement, which calls for all to respond to an attack on a member country. Yet Trump has framed it as a test of whether allies reciprocate in return for American security commitments.
A senior U.S. official said Sunday the U.S. believes ensuring freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz would be on the agenda, but that many NATO allies don’t have the capabilities to support those operations.
“I certainly believe that the Strait of Hormuz and the protection of the maritime traffic going through there is going to be a subject that comes up,” the official said.
But, they continued, “Many [NATO allies] don’t have the necessary ships or assets to contribute to a meaningful maritime effort” despite the fact that “we’ve had a lot of allies raise their hand and offer to participate.”
Shifting the burden to NATO allies
Two senior U.S. officials said on Sunday that the U.S. plans to further shift the burden of European defense onto European countries, saying that a force posture review currently underway of the military’s presence in Europe “very well may lead” to changes.
Asked about the potential for a U.S. force reduction in Europe, one senior U.S. official confirmed that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attended a meeting of NATO defense ministers weeks ago to announce a “six-month or less” review of the U.S. force posture in Europe.
“The main reason being, we continue to have global demands as the United States of America, and we should always be looking at how we’re deployed to our threats,” the official said, adding that any shift in troop placement would be “based on nonpolitical reasons.”
“There should be no surprise that we’re doing a posture review or surprise if that posture review very well may lead to us adjusting our posture because we’re trying to shift burden to Europe,” another official added.
NATO 3.0
The summit comes fresh off of Rutte’s visit to the White House on June 24, when he said NATO is entering a new phase centered on greater European responsibility while keeping the U.S. engaged in the alliance. Rutte framed the summit as the moment when member countries begin implementing the spending and capability commitments made at last year’s Hague summit.
Rutte said the summit will be the beginning of a transatlantic “defense industrial revolution,” promising announcements of “tens of billions” of dollars in defense-related contracts. He ventured that this year’s summit is “more important” than last year’s in the Hague because of implementation of concrete investments aimed directly at Russia.
“Vladimir, we will defend ourselves,” Rutte addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin in a speech to the Atlantic Council last week.
A ‘big gift bag’ for Turkey
Trump said last Wednesday he would not have attended the summit were it not for his relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and suggested he plans to bring a significant offer, or a “big gift bag” for his host — potentially including the sale of dozens of F-35 fighter jets to the country.
“I am going to the summit out of respect for President Erdogan … Except for the fact that it was being held in Turkey by President Erdogan, I don’t think I would have gone to it,” Trump said before a meeting with Rutte in the Oval Office in June.
Turkey is seeking to join the U.S. F-35 program, but it is prohibited from doing so as long as it possesses Russian-made air defenses.
“I’m probably going to do something that’s going to make him very happy,” Trump said.
Ending the war in Ukraine
As has been the case since the war with Russia began in 2022, the issue of Ukraine is also likely to play a key role in the NATO gathering.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said Sunday that Trump will meet separately with Zelenskyy on Wednesday afternoon in addition to other meetings with NATO leaders.
A senior U.S. official said Sunday that Trump planned to speak with Zelenskyy about “how we can end the war.”
“So, there are some small areas where Ukraine has made progress. There’s some small areas where Russia has made progress. But, the line of contact has been frozen over the last couple of months,” the official said.
The official said that Trump was hopeful a meeting with Zelenskyy could bring the war closer to an end.
“We’re hopeful that we can make progress towards doing that when, when the president gets together with President Zelenskyy and I’m sure he’ll follow up with President Putin as well,” the official said.
The conversation with Zelenskyy would come after Trump spoke with Putin on Saturday for nearly an hour and a half, according to a Kremlin readout, which noted that the two touched on Ukraine and that Trump “reiterated his readiness” to find a solution to the conflict.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the call.
Cyclospora cayetanensis is a unicellular parasite that causes an intestinal infection called cyclosporiasis. (CDC)
(MICHIGAN) — A “large and growing” outbreak of a parasitic infection is spreading in Michigan, health officials warned this week.
As of Thursday, more than 300 cases of cyclosporiasis, an intestinal infection, have been confirmed, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) told ABC News. Typically, the state only sees about 50 cases per year, according to MDHHS.
The parasite usually spreads through food or water contaminated with feces, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“We are working closely with our state and local partners to identify the source of this outbreak that is making so many people ill as quickly as possible,” Lynn Sutfin, public information officer for MDHHS, told ABC News.
The outbreak comes as the CDC reports 145 cases have been infected in 17 states, excluding Michigan, as of June 15, with at least 20 people hospitalized.
The CDC, the Food and Drug Administration, state and local authorities are investigating several clusters of cyclosporiasis cases in multiple states.
Doctors told ABC News that cases usually start in May, so the Michigan outbreak occurred during the time or year when public health specialists typically would see a rise in cases. However, the number of cases in Michigan is particularly high, doctors said.
Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious diseases specialist and associate dean for regional campuses at the University of California, San Francisco, told ABC News that in years past, the U.S. used to see many cases cyclosporiasis acquired outside of the U.S, or from imported vegetables and fruits.
“But now we’re starting to have more domestic cases as well,” Chin-Hong said.
Foodborne outbreaks of cyclosporiasis have been linked to various types of imported fresh produce, such as raspberries, basil, snow peas, mesclun lettuce and cilantro, according to the CDC. The agency further said it takes about one week from the time of infection to become symptomatic, but that time can range from two days to two weeks.
Some patients do not experience any symptoms but, for those who do, the most common symptom is “explosive watery diarrhea,” Dr. Zoe Weiss, director of clinical microbiology at Tufts Medical Center, told ABC News.
Other symptoms can include cramping, bloating, low-grade fever, nausea and vomiting, Weiss said.
“Though in most cases this illness causes discomfort from cramping, bloating and watery diarrhea, we are concerned about individuals who may be immunocompromised due to cancer treatment or an organ transplant as the effects may be more severe,” Sutfin from MDHHS said.
Weiss said the infection is very unlikely to spread from person-to-person “because the parasite is passed in the stool, and then it requires days to weeks of formulation in the environment before it can become infectious.”
Chin-Hong said that oftentimes people dismiss watery diarrhea, but it is important to get a diagnosis to get treatment as soon as possible.
Cyclosporiasis is treated with the oral antibiotic trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX), commonly sold as Bactrim, Septra and Cotrim, taken for 10 days, according to the CDC.
Doctors told ABC News that people can prevent infection by thoroughly washing produce, cutting away bruised or damaged parts of fruits and vegetables, and refrigerating pre-prepared or pre-cut produce.
“If you’re in an area that’s been affected and you have sudden ongoing watery diarrhea, you should definitely seek a physician and get treatment,” Weiss said.
Crude oil tankers, bulk carriers and vessels sit anchored around Qaboos Port June 22, 2026, in Muscat, Oman. The Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route for the region’s oil and gas. (Elke Scholiers/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Mortgage rates have dropped to their lowest level since May as negotiations between the United States and Iran ease financial markets.
The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage stands at 6.43%, down from last week’s rate of 6.49%, Freddie Mac data on Thursday showed.
Still, mortgage rates register above their level before the war with Iran. Prior to the Middle East conflict in late February, a 30-year fixed mortgage clocked in at an average just below 6%.
“Rates did drop, which does provide some relief. But they’re still high,” Julia Fonseca, a professor at the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, told ABC News.
A decline in mortgage rates over recent weeks has come in response to a drop in oil prices and Treasury yields, some analysts told ABC News. The shift has partially reversed a trend that took hold after the Iran war broke out.
At that time, mortgage rates surged in response to a jump in U.S. Treasury yields, or the amount paid annually to a holder of government debt. The rise in bond yields is owed to fear of a renewed bout of inflation as oil prices climbed.
Since bonds pay a given investor a fixed amount each year, the specter of inflation risks higher consumer prices that would eat away at those annual payouts. In turn, bonds often become less attractive in response to economic turmoil. When demand falls, bond yields rise.
High bond yields make borrowing more expensive for average Americans, since 10-year Treasury rates influence the rates offered for a variety of loans, including mortgages.
Bond yields eased in recent weeks as negotiations unfolded between the U.S. and Iran, pushing down oil prices and softening inflation expectations, Ken Johnson, a real estate economist at the University of Mississippi, told ABC News. In turn, Johnson said, mortgage rates have fallen.
“The big driver has been the cooling of tensions in the Gulf,” Johnson told ABC News.
Despite the recent drop, mortgage rates remain higher than their pre-war level. Even more, mortgage rates stand well above their level as recently as 2022, when the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage came in below 5%.
Elevated mortgage rates have contributed to a phenomenon known as the “lock-in” effect.
Mortgage rates remain well above the rates enjoyed by most current homeowners, who may be reluctant to put their homes on the market and risk a much higher rate on their next mortgage.
“Rates are still pretty high relative to what they were a few years ago, but every drop in mortgage rates helps. This is not going to go all the way toward unlocking people. We might see this gradual unlocking as time goes by and as rates tick down,” Fonseca said.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth speaks during an event with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on June 22, 2026, in Washington, DC. President Trump signed two orders on quantum computing. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Thursday dismissed protesters chanting “Guard go home” outside a ceremony in Washington, D.C., honoring National Guard troops as their presence in the nation’s capital approaches the one-year mark and has nearly doubled in recent weeks to roughly 5,000 personnel.
“It’s the sound of ingrates,” Hegseth told a formation of some 250 National Guardsmen gathered at a park nestled in Washington D.C.’s northwest neighborhoods. “People who are so blinded by ideology they can’t see law and order and common sense in front of them. There’s nothing ideological about this group.”
Outside the park, dozens of protesters gathered in front of a security perimeter formed by National Guard troops and law enforcement, chanting through megaphones and blowing whistles while drums and a trombone added to the noise as they sought to drown out the speeches. The peaceful demonstration remained largely uneventful.
Speaking in front of the Meridian Hill Park fountain that was recently repaired by the Department of the Interior after years of being inoperative, Hegseth was joined by National Guard chief Gen. Steven Nordhaus, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Brig. Gen. Leland Blanchard, commander of the District of Columbia National Guard, and senior White House aide Stephen Miller, who has been an architect of the Trump administration’s National Guard mission in Washington D.C. Each praised the troops serving in Washington.
The deployment has largely focused on high-visibility patrols through downtown corridors and major tourist areas, far from the city’s high-crime areas, along with civic support missions, including trash collection. Troops are commonly armed with 9mm SIG Sauer M17 pistols or 5.56mm M4 rifles.
National Guard troops have been deployed to Washington since last August, with states maintaining a steady rotation of personnel into the city. The broad mission has placed military personnel on civilian streets in an unprecedented domestic role, though National Guard troops retain very limited legal authority.
The National Guard also maintains its constant rotation of units to missions in Africa, Europe and in the Middle East amid the war with Iran. Troops often serve in a part-time capacity, juggling their Guard duty with typical civilian careers.
The force has been drawn overwhelmingly from Republican-led states. The D.C. National Guard itself accounts for about 500 troops, roughly one-quarter of its force, serving on the mission.
South Carolina has deployed roughly 700 troops, Georgia nearly 800 and Mississippi about 500, according to National Guard figures. Other states with sizable contingents include West Virginia, Nebraska, Florida and Louisiana.
Democratic-led states and U.S. territories have begun sending troops to D.C. in recent weeks, but only for events tied to America’s 250th anniversary celebration and an expected surge in tourism.
Earlier this week, Michigan’s Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer warned she would withdraw her state’s troops if they were assigned to President Donald Trump’s ongoing “Safe and Beautiful” mission rather than July 4th-related events.
In practice, however, drawing a distinction between holiday security operations and the Guard’s broader mission in Washington, D.C., may be difficult. Much of the ongoing mission is already concentrated around the National Mall and downtown transit stations, where tourists and local residents celebrating the holiday are expected to converge, one U.S. official explained. National Guard units from other states are frequently sent to Washington for major events such as presidential inaugurations.
Estimates have shown the Guard deployment is more expensive than using additional police officers or municipal workers.
An analysis from the Niskanen Center found the cost differential between troops and local law enforcement was roughly $607 per Guardsman per day compared to about $384 per day for a D.C. police officer.
The report also noted that the National Guard’s presence in D.C. has not reduced violent crime but has coincided with a decline in property crimes.
One estimate from the Congressional Budget Office found the National Guard’s D.C. footprint will cost at least $660 million this year, but it doesn’t account for the additional surge of troops for the summer.
A White House spokeswoman dismissed the Niskanen analysis and insisted the National Guard presence had driven down crime and improved quality of life in the District.
Two National Guard members from West Virginia were shot in the head while on patrol in November. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from her injuries. U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, was critically injured and is still recovering, his family says.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 30, an Afghan national and suspected gunman, pleaded not guilty to the shootings. The Department of Justice said in June it is determining whether to seek the death penalty.
(WASHINGTON) — Three-time U.S. Olympian David Hearn has been indicted in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia for allegedly “maliciously” destroying lining at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
From left: Elizabeth Siders, Christina Siders, Gary Siders Jr. and Gary Siders Sr., are seen in booking photos on June 30, 2026. (Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail)
(VINTON COUNTY, Ohio) — Four people have been charged with child endangerment after 16 children were removed from a home in Ohio where officials say they were living in “deplorable conditions.”
Authorities executed a search warrant at the home in Hamden in Vinton County on Tuesday, where they say they found the children and four suspects inside.
Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson said the evidence in the case is “beyond comprehension.”
“I think if they would have waited another 24 hours, that there was a very high probability that we’d be dealing with a death or multiple deaths of these children,” he said during a press briefing on Wednesday.
Vinton County Prosecutor William Archer said this is not a case of human trafficking, but an “intra-family situation.”
He described the suspects as being the “grandma, grandpa, father and mother” during Wednesday’s press briefing.
The four suspects — Gary Siders Sr., 73; Christina Siders, 67; Gary Siders II, 36; and Elizabeth Siders, 33 — have each been charged with 16 counts of endangering children, a second-degree felony, according to officials. They pleaded not guilty during their arraignment Wednesday morning and their bond was set at $300,000 each. They will likely request court-appointed counsel, officials said.
The charges allege the four suspects abused the children, resulting in “serious physical harm.”
The children range in age from 1 ½ to 18, according to Wilson. He did not go into the nature of the injuries but said seven of the children were transported to the hospital on Tuesday, including two who were airlifted there. One of the children was in critical condition, Wilson said.
Archer said the children are safe and officials are working to have them placed in temporary custody.
“They are currently in a good situation and are being protected,” he said.
Wilson said the investigation has been ongoing for some time, and that a separate but “parallel” investigation led law enforcement to execute the search warrant on Tuesday.
The family had lived in Vinton County for the past four years and were “clearly bouncing around,” according to Wilson.
“They were pretty adept at keeping these kids out of sight and out of investigative eyes,” he said.
The children were not enrolled in school, according to Wilson. The eldest child is included among the charges because the 18-year-old is believed to developmentally still be a minor, officials said.
“Some of these children couldn’t even speak,” Wilson said. “It was terrible.”
Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain described the condition of the house as “disgusting,” including the presence of human feces, and said the children were largely confined to a small area.
“Most of our livestock is kept in better condition than the children,” Cain said during Wednesday’s briefing.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine called the situation “tragic.”
“It is heartbreaking to learn the conditions that these children were living in, and to learn of their medical conditions,” DeWine said in a statement, which also thanked those helping them.
An attorney for one of the suspects said that the case is in an “extremely preliminary stage.”
Gary Siders Sr. is “entitled to the same presumption of innocence that every person charged in this county should and does enjoy,” his attorney, Dorian Keith Baum, said in a statement on Thursday, in part.
“So while there is little ability to stop all speculation, conjecture, or uncorroborated guess-work from taking place, I would ask that we all let the process play out, irrespective of the sensationalist underpinnings of the allegations against Mr. Siders, so that we as his defense counsel can be provided with whatever evidence the State allegedly has in order to give it a thorough review and determine if the State can meet their burden of proof; or, alternatively, if Mr. Siders is actually not guilty of what is being alleged,” the statement continued.
ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik contributed to this report.
Jail booking photo of Michael Butler, who was arrested, July 1, 2026, on a manslaughter charge stemming from a crash of a Tesla into a home in Katy, Texas, that killed a 76-year-old woman. (Harris County Sheriff’s Office)
(KATY, Texas) — A Texas man has been arrested on a manslaughter charge after his Tesla crashed into a home last month while he claimed it was in self-driving mode, killing a woman inside the residence, authorities said.
The driver, Michael Butler, was arrested on Wednesday and booked at the Harris County Jail, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.
Butler is scheduled to appear in court for arraignment on July 6, according to online jail records. He remained in custody on Thursday morning, according to jail records.
The fatal crash allegedly involving Butler unfolded on June 19 in the Houston suburb of Katy, Texas, according to the sheriff’s office.
Butler was traveling in his Tesla Model 3 around 8 p.m. local time and claimed the vehicle was operating “with an automated driving assistance system,” the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Butler allegedly failed to drive in a single lane, left the roadway and crashed through the front of a two-story brick residence, according to the sheriff’s office.
Butler’s car allegedly drove into the front room of the home, pinning 76-year-old Martha Avila, the sheriff’s office said.
Avila was airlifted to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead, the sheriff’s office said.
Avila’s family filed a $1 million wrongful death lawsuit last month in Harris County District Court, alleging Tesla and Butler were negligent.
“So, what we have is a horrific and what we believe will be proven to show preventable crash amidst a rising number of autonomous vehicle crashes, particularly including Tesla. And in this particular situation, a 76-year-old grandmother who was tragically, preventively and needlessly killed while in her own residence,” Ryan Zehl, an attorney for Avila’s family, told ABC News in an interview last month.
Investigators said Butler, who was injured, showed no signs of intoxication and was cooperating with investigators.
It was unclear on Thursday if Butler had hired an attorney.
Investigators said Butler claimed his car was in self-driving mode, but Tesla disputed that and alleged he overrode the feature.
Following the crash, Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of Tesla, posted a response on social media, saying Butler’s account of the crash “makes no sense.”
“FSD [full self-driving] drives slowly through neighborhood streets and this was a high-speed crash!” Musk said in his post.
In a separate online post, Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s head of artificial intelligence, responded to Musk, alleging that the self-driving mode on Butler’s vehicle was manually overridden.
“Yup. In this case, the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100% of the accel pedal in this residential area,” Eluswamy claimed in his post. “They reached a speed of 73 mph during the crash, and had the accelerator pressed even after the crash.”
Zehl said that Tesla has a system called a collision snapshot that sends data to its servers during significant crashes.
“So they clearly have the data because they’re talking about accelerator data. We would like to see it. We don’t have it. We will request it,” Zehl said.
The crash is being investigated by local authorities, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the National Transportation Safety Board.
ABC News’ Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.
