(ATLANTA) — One person is dead and four are injured from a mass shooting at an Atlanta medical center on Wednesday, police said.
Police have released these images of a suspect who they say is at large.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
May 03, 2:02 PM EDT
1 dead, 4 injured
One person was killed and four were injured in the shooting at Laureate Medical Center in Atlanta, according to police.
“Officers are actively searching for the suspect and any other victims,” police said.
Northside Hospital tweeted that it’s “cooperating with law enforcement following the shooting at our midtown #Atlanta location earlier this afternoon. We urge people in the area to shelter in place and follow instructions from law enforcement on the scene.”
(CLEVELAND, Texas) — Francisco Oropeza, the man accused of gunning down five people in an “execution-style” mass shooting in Cleveland, Texas, was taken into custody Tuesday evening after a multiday manhunt, officials said.
Oropeza, 38, was apprehended at a relative’s house in Montgomery County, about 20 miles from Cleveland, uninjured and without incident, authorities said.
He was “caught hiding in a closet underneath some laundry,” San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said at a news conference.
“I believe he thought he was in a safe spot,” Chief Deputy Sheriff Tim Kean said.
Oropeza’s partner, Divimara Nava, was also detained at the scene where the suspect was found, San Jacinto County District Attorney Todd Dillon said at a news conference Wednesday.
Nava allegedly provided “him with material aid and encouragement — food, clothes — and had arranged transport to this house,” Dillon said. She’s charged with hindering the apprehension of a known felon. Authorities said that Nava appeared to be cooperating with investigators as recently as Sunday, but now, authorities say that was all a ruse.
A second person, a friend who allegedly helped Oropeza hide, was also taken into custody in San Jacinto County, authorities said.
Authorities also recovered a weapon that may have been used in the shooting, Kean said, adding that officials were waiting for ballistics information.
The tip for the suspect’s location came in through the FBI tip line, FBI assistant special agent in charge Jimmy Paul said.
“We just want to thank the person who had the courage and bravery to call in the suspect’s location,” he said.
Reward money will be given to the person who called in the tip, officials said. It wasn’t immediately clear how much the person would receive. The total reward increased to $100,000 earlier Tuesday, after the U.S. Marshals announced a contribution of $20,000 on top of $25,000 from the FBI, $50,000 from the state and $5,000 from Multi-County Crime Stoppers.
A Border Patrol Tactical Unit, or BORTAC, apprehended the suspect, and air and marine operations assisted with surveillance, Troy Miller, the acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said in a statement.
“In small towns and communities like Cleveland, Texas, the men and women of U.S. Customs and Border Protection — in particular, the U.S. Border Patrol — provide integral law enforcement support to local authorities, protecting and serving the communities they live in,” he said.
Oropeza has been booked on one charge of murder with additional charges expected.
The massacre unfolded Friday night after neighbors asked Oropeza, 38, to stop shooting his AR-15 in his yard because a newborn was trying to sleep, authorities said.
Oropeza then allegedly stormed the neighbors’ home, killing five of the 10 people inside, including a young boy, authorities said. Two of the women killed were found in a bedroom lying on top of two surviving children, authorities said.
The San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office received a call around 11:31 p.m. Friday detailing harassment, Capers told reporters on Sunday. When deputies arrived at the home, they found five victims at the property, Capers said.
The victims were identified as Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25; Diana Velazquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; Jose Jonathan Casarez, 18; and Daniel Enrique Laso Guzman, 9. Five other people who were in the home were not harmed.
Oropeza is a Mexican national who was previously deported four times, a source familiar with the investigation told ABC News.
He was deported on March 17, 2009, after an immigration judge ordered his removal, the source said. He unlawfully returned to the U.S., and he was then apprehended and deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in September 2009, January 2012 and July 2016, the source said.
Kean on Wednesday said he wouldn’t talk much about the suspect — or even mention his name.
“I don’t think he deserves the glory for what he’s done,” he said.
ABC News’ Matt Rivers, Jack Date, Luke Barr, Julia Jacobo, Armando Garcia and Kevin Shalvey contributed to this report.
(RALEIGH, N.C.)– North Carolina legislators have introduced a new abortion bill that would ban the procedure after 12 weeks.
Republican leaders announced in a news conference Tuesday there was agreement in the GOP-controlled House and Senate to reduce the state’s abortion ban, which currently sits at 20 weeks, to the end of the first trimester.
The bill, known as “The Care for Women, Children and Families Act,” offers exceptions in cases of rape and incest up to 20 weeks’ gestation and for fetal anomalies up to 24 weeks’ gestation.
The current exception that allows an abortion if the life of the mother is in danger will remain in place.
Final votes are expected to take place Wednesday in the state House and Thursday in the state Senate, lawmakers told reporters.
“It’s time for North Carolina to take the nest step forward in honoring the sanctity of human life,” state Sen. Joyce Krawiec, a Republican, said during the press conference, according to local ABC affiliate WTVD. “We are beginning the process of creating a culture that values life, and that’s something we can all be incredibly proud of.”
Before an abortion is performed, pregnant people must receive a consultation in person at least 72 hours prior about the potential risks of receiving an abortion and other options, including adoption or that the father is liable to pay child support.
Research has shown that abortions performed in a clean area with properly trained staff are very safe. Between 2013 and 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the national case-fatality rate was 0.41 abortion-related deaths per 100,000 legal abortions.
The pregnant person must also receive an ultrasound prior to the abortion as well as notice that they can look at “the remains” after the procedure is completed.
Providers who perform an abortion past 12 weeks will be required to provide information to the state Department of Health and Human Services, including “the probable gestational age” of the fetus, its measurements and an ultrasound image as well as how the provider determined the pregnancy fell into one of the exceptions.
Any physician who violates the bill will be subject to discipline from the North Carolina Medical Board, which includes potentially being placed on probation, public reprimanding, paying a fine, educational training or having their license revoked.
Gov. Roy Cooper’s tweeted a statement Wednesday that he did not support the bill and planned to veto it.
“It will effectively ban access to reproductive freedom earlier and sometimes altogether for many women because of new restrictions and requirements,” he wrote. “This is why Republicans are ramming it through with no chance to amend. I will veto this extreme ban and need everyone’s help to avoid it.”
Cooper’s veto power, if the bill is passed, would only delay its enactment. Republicans hold a supermajority in the Senate and are close to a supermajority in the House, which would override the veto.
Florida will be the 16th state once a new six-week abortion ban is implemented — but only if the state’s current 15-week ban is upheld as legal challenges play out in court.
Additionally, Utah passed a bill earlier this year banning abortion clinics in the state. Starting May 3, the state’s health department would not be allowed to grant new licenses, but it was blocked by a state judge Tuesday.
(WASHINGTON) — Millions of Americans who rely on federal payments to make ends meet, could be negatively impacted if the government is unable to pay its bills come June 1.
If allowed to happen, economists agree the first debt default in U.S. history would be an economic catastrophe and could trigger a global financial crisis. Allowing the U.S. to default on its debts would induce “a self-inflicted recession,” Gregory Daco, Chief Economist at EY-Parthenon, wrote in a note to clients this week.
This week Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen put Congress on notice. In a letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Yellen warned the U.S. could be unable to “continue to satisfy all of the government’s obligations” by June 1 if Congress does not raise or suspend the debt limit before that time.
Yellen wrote that a debt default would “cause severe hardship to American families.”
The federal government would have to make hard decisions, like who gets paid and when, and the consequences would be far-reaching.
Will Social Security be affected by debt ceiling?
Payments to 67 million Social Security beneficiaries could be halted.
However, a 1996 law provides an escape clause that allows the Treasury Department to continue paying Social Security benefits, even if there is a delay in raising the debt ceiling. “There is legal authority, and it arguably should be used to make sure benefits are paid,” Steve Robinson, chief economist for the bipartisan Concord Coalition wrote in a recent paper.
The law allows for the Social Security trust fund to be drawn down to keep those benefits flowing until the debt limit is raised, while prohibiting those funds from being used to pay for any other government programs.
There’s very little Americans can do to prepare for the unprecedented event of a U.S. debt default, “since it’s difficult to know what payment would be made, in full or in part as well as the timing,” Daco wrote.
Analysts say your best defense is to keep your own financial house in order. They say having emergency savings on hand and paying down debt will be more important than ever.
What else could be impacted?
Payments on other U.S. obligations, including for Medicare and Medicaid, SNAP food assistance, Veterans’ benefits, housing assistance, and school lunch programs would also be at risk, inflicting pain on Americans across the country.
The U.S. credit rating would most likely be downgraded, sending interest rates higher and making it more expensive for businesses and consumers to borrow money.
Analysts say a credit market freeze could hurt the ability of U.S. companies to operate effectively.
Yellen also warned that a debt default would “harm our global leadership position,” as world financial markets lose faith in the U.S. and its ability to pay its bills. The government would not have the money to pay back buyers of its bonds and other securities, causing the U.S. dollar to weaken and the stock market to tumble, hurting Americans’ retirement savings and other investments.
Debt limit could hurt jobs, unemployment
The damage would largely depend on how long the impasse lasts.
If the default lasts for about a week, close to 1 million jobs would be lost, the unemployment rate would jump to about 5% and the economy would contract by nearly half a percent, according to the financial services company Moody’s.
But if the impasse drags on for six weeks, Moody’s estimates more than 7 million jobs would be lost, the unemployment rate would soar above 8% and the economy would decline by more than 4%.
How did we get here?
The Biden Administration and House Republicans have been deadlocked in debt negotiations for months.
House Republicans passed their own bill that slashes government spending in exchange for raising the debt ceiling, but President Joe Biden has said he will not negotiate with them until spending talks are separated from the debt limit.
A vast majority of poll respondents, 82%, are very or somewhat worried that a government default would damage the economy. Just 26% of Americans adopt McCarthy’s position that Congress should allow the government to pay its debts only if the administration agrees to cut federal spending, while an overwhelming 65% agree with Biden’s view that the issues of debt payment and federal spending should be handled separately.
(LAKE WALES, Fla.) — A man allegedly killed his girlfriend and her three children in a “senseless” mass shooting in a Florida apartment, according to authorities.
On Tuesday night, after family members called 911, officers responded to the Sunrise Apartments in Lake Wales and found a mother, her son and two daughters shot dead, police said.
The victims were ages 40, 21, 17 and 11, according to police.
Al Stenson allegedly shot them in the apartment around 5 a.m. Tuesday and then fled, according to police.
The motive is unknown, police said.
“Completely senseless. It makes absolutely no sense,” Lake Wales Police Chief Chris Velasquez said at a news conference.
When authorities tracked the 38-year-old Stenson to the Slumberland Motel in Sanford, “Stenson made statements that he would kill himself or force law enforcement to kill him,” police said in a statement.
An hourslong standoff and negotiations ended with an officer-involved shooting, police said.
He was “going” for a gun on the ground when four officers opened fire, “neutralizing the threat,” authorities said at a news conference.
Stenson was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
ABC News’ Robinson Perez contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK)– A clinical psychologist told the jury that former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll displays elements of post-traumatic stress disorder at the start of the sixth day of Carroll’s civil defamation and battery case against former President Donald Trump.
Carroll, who brought the lawsuit in November, alleges that Trump defamed her in a 2022 Truth Social post by calling her allegations “a Hoax and a lie” and saying “This woman is not my type!” when he denied her claim that Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in the 1990s.
She added a charge of battery under a recently adopted New York law that allows adult survivors of sexual abuse to sue their alleged attacker regardless of the statute of limitations. Trump has denied all allegations that he raped Carroll or defamed her.
Dr. Leslie Lebowitz, who evaluated Carroll, testified that she did not formally diagnose Carroll with PTSD, but said Carroll met some of the criteria for it.
Lebowitz said Carroll exhibited signs of memories affected by trauma, describing a moment during her evaluation when Carroll “began to squirm in her seat” because she was “re-experiencing” elements of the alleged assault.
She also told the jury that rape victims commonly experience self-blame.
During her testimony earlier this week, Carroll said, “I was ashamed. I thought it was my fault.”
“Why did you think it was your fault, Ms. Carroll?” her attorney, Michael Ferrara, asked.
“Because I was flirting with him and laughing and having one of the great times. It was high comedy. It was funny,” Carroll said.
Trump attorney Joe Tacopina told Judge Lewis Kaplan at the conclusion of testimony Tuesday that Trump himself would not be testifying in the case.
“It’s his call,” the judge said. “I understand that. You understand that. He understands that.”
Trump is not required to appear, as the trial is a civil case and not a criminal one.
The nine-member jury of six men and three women is weighing Carroll’s defamation and battery claims and deciding potential monetary damages.
Carroll’s lawsuit is her second against Trump related to her rape allegation.
She previously sued Trump in 2019 after the then-president denied her rape claim by telling The Hill that Carroll was “totally lying,” saying, “I’ll say it with great respect: No. 1, she’s not my type. No. 2, it never happened. It never happened, OK?” That defamation suit has been caught in a procedural back-and-forth over the question of whether Trump, as president, was acting in his official capacity as an employee of the federal government when he made those remarks.
If Trump is determined to have been acting as a government employee, the U.S. government would substitute as the defendant in that suit — which means that case would go away, since the government cannot be sued for defamation.
This month’s trial is taking place as Trump seeks the White House for a third time, while facing numerous legal challenges related to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, his handling of classified material after leaving the White House, and possible attempts to interfere in Georgia’s 2020 vote. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said last week she would decide whether to file criminal charges against Trump or his allies this summer.
(NEW YORK) — Alex Murdaugh, the former South Carolina lawyer serving a life sentence for killing his wife and son, said he “invented” the story about a dog causing his housekeeper’s fatal fall at the family’s hunting property, Moselle, in February of 2018, causing her to die, according to court documents.
The Murdaugh family’s housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, died in what was initially described as a “trip and fall” accident. One of Murdaugh’s dogs got under Satterfield and caused her to fall, hitting her head, Murdaugh said at the time.
But that story turned out to be fabricated.
“No dogs were involved in the fall of Gloria Satterfield on February 2, 2018,” according to statements made by Murdaugh in court documents filed on Monday in federal court. “After Ms. Satterfield’s death, Defendant invented Ms. Satterfield’s purported 2 statement that dogs caused her fall to force his insurers to make a settlement payment, and he stated that she was not on the property to perform work.”
The documents were filed as part of a lawsuit filed against Murdaugh by an insurance company accusing him of committing insurance fraud in relation to the Satterfield fall.
Murdaugh has been accused of stealing settlement money from the Satterfield children and pocketing it for himself.
(FLINT, Mich.) — A school district in Michigan has banned all backpacks from school buildings, in response to growing safety concerns.
Flint Community Schools announced last week that backpacks would be banned and the ban would be in place for the rest of the school year. The new policy went into effect on Monday.
“We are doing all that we can to create a safe and secure environment for our scholars, families, teachers and staff,” Superintendent Kevin Jones wrote in a letter posted on the school district’s website.
Jones cited growing threatening behavior happening across the country, including weapons being brought to schools, as the reason for the backpack ban.
“Backpacks make it easier for students to hide weapons, which can be disassembled and harder to identify or hidden in pockets, inside books, or under other items,” he said.
Following the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, last May, where 19 students and two teachers died, schools began implementing policies requiring students to use clear backpacks. However, Flint Community Schools have gone a step further and banned clear backpacks from school buildings, with the superintendent saying that it doesn’t resolve the issue.
“By banning backpacks altogether and adding an increased security presence across the district, we can better control what is being brought into our buildings,” Jones said.
Students are allowed to store personal items like wallets, keys, hygiene products and phones in small purses, bring lunchboxes or place their gym clothes in clear plastic bags, all of which will be subject to searches.
If a student brings a backpack to school, parents or guardians must pick it up from the school, according to Jones.
The Flint Board of Education, the district’s administration and principals approved the policy change, Jones said, adding that the district received support from the Flint Police Department.
“We have thought long and hard about this decision, knowing that it will impact how scholars and families prepare for their days and operations in the classroom,” Jones said. “However, based on the issues we continue to see across the country regarding school safety, we believe that this is the best solution for those we serve.”
(NEW YORK) — An “up-and-coming” teenage equestrian has died following an accident during a competition in Florida over the weekend.
The incident occurred when 15-year-old Hannah Serfass was riding Quaxx — a 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding — and “the horse tripped and suffered a rotational fall” while competing at the Fox Lea Farm Spring Concours I in Venice, Florida, according to the U.S. Equestrian Federation.
“The fall was unrelated to a jumping effort,” the U.S. Equestrian Federation said in a statement confirming Serfass’ death. “The EMT responded immediately, and Hannah was transported to Sarasota Memorial where she was pronounced dead.”
The horse was uninjured in the accident.
A Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office report that was obtained by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune said the accident happened just moments after the horse successfully landed a jump when it planted its left front hoof which subsequently caused the horse to lean significantly.
“This action caused the rider to then topple forward and off the horse in the same direction and onto the ground. The horse then continued to fall in the same direction falling over and onto the rider’s head on the ground,” the report said.
Serfass was described by the U.S. Equestrian Federation as a “very talented up-and-coming young rider … She was known for her passion for horses, her natural ability, and her work ethic.”
“The USEF, USHJA, and Fox Lea Farm team wish to extend our deepest condolences to Hannah’s family, support team, and friends,” the USEF said in their statement. “The Federation takes every accident very seriously and will be reviewing the accident thoroughly to learn what we can do to minimize risk and increase safety in equestrian sport.”
Fox Lea Farm, where the accident occurred, released a statement expressing their condolences on social media.
“Fox Lea Farm had a tragedy occur today,” the statement read. “Out of respect to the family, no information will be shared at this time. We send our sincere condolences to the family, trainer, friends, & the whole equestrian community. We are all heartbroken.”
