(ALAMEDA COUNTY, Calif.) — A sheriff’s deputy has turned himself in after allegedly fatally shooting a married couple at a home in California, authorities said.

The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office deputy was off-duty when he is alleged to have committed the double homicide early Wednesday at a home in Dublin before fleeing the scene, authorities said. The sheriff’s office said the suspected murder weapon is the deputy’s firearm, which they were working to recover after he disposed of it in a rural area.

The sheriff’s office had warned that the suspect — identified as 24-year-old Devin Williams, Jr. — was at large following the shooting, prompting a statewide manhunt, and should be considered armed and dangerous.

During a midday press briefing, Chief Garrett Holmes, a commander with the sheriff’s office and the chief of police services for the city of Dublin, announced Williams reportedly called the office earlier that morning to turn himself in and was just taken into custody near Coalinga, several hours south.

“Chief Holmes personally talked the suspect into surrendering and spent about 45 minutes on the phone with him to get him to surrender peacefully,” Alameda County Lt. Ray Kelly told reporters during the briefing.

Kelly said that deputies were in the process of bringing Williams back to Dublin. It is unclear if the suspect has an attorney who can speak on his behalf at this time.

Police responded to the home around 12:45 a.m. after a 911 caller reported an intruder who was “brandishing a firearm,” Holmes said. Two people were ultimately shot and pronounced dead at the scene, he said.

“It’s a great loss for our community, and it’s even more disheartening to find out that it was one of our own that actually was the trigger person behind this tragic incident,” Holmes said.

Six people were in the home at the time of the shooting, including a child and the two victims, Kelly said. A relative of the family who was visiting at the time is a “key eyewitness,” he said.

The victims were a 42-year-old woman and a 58-year-old man, Kelly said. Authorities have not yet released their names. He said the two had a child together, though he did not provide any further details.

Kelly said they are investigating a motive in the shooting and the relationship between Williams and the victims.

“There is connectivity between Mr. Williams and the victims,” he said.

Williams has worked for the sheriff’s office for a year, according to Kelly. Prior to applying to be a sheriff’s deputy, he was going through a field training officer program in Stockton upon graduating from the police academy, Kelly said. Williams did not pass his probation to become a solo police officer and was let go, he said.

“A lot of those issues that we found were related to his skillset and his ability to effectively do the job,” Kelly said. “They were not based on any type of conduct. It was more of his ability and skillset wasn’t meeting the criteria that this job demands. And so at that point, they let him go. That’s not uncommon.”

Williams was considered a “very good candidate” for law enforcement, said Kelly, who noted that the agency is “in shock.”

“Somewhere in the last several months of his life, some significant events happened that led up to this moment. A lot of those events went undiscovered and disclosed. And we’re gonna be looking into that,” Kelly said. “I think there’s a lot of questions that need to be answered.”

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(LANSING, Mich.) — A Michigan Court of Claims judge ruled Wednesday that the state’s 1931 abortion ban violates the state constitution, according to a copy of the ruling obtained by ABC News. The ruling permanently bars the attorney general and county prosecutors from enforcing the ban in the state, effectively legalizing abortions in Michigan.

The ruling from Judge Elizabeth Gleicher came as part of a lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood of Michigan and Dr. Sarah Wallett, the organization’s chief medical officer, against Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and the Michigan state House of Representatives and Senate, challenging the ban.

“This historic ruling is a critical victory for abortion access in a post-Roe v. Wade world and means that abortion care remains protected in Michigan,” Planned Parenthood of Michigan said in a statement to ABC News.

The 1931 law makes it a felony to provide an abortion unless it is medically necessary to save the life of a pregnant person. The law does not make exceptions for rape or incest. The law also states that if the pregnant person dies, the provider would be charged with manslaughter.

The ruling found the state’s abortion ban unconstitutional as it violates the due process and equal protection clauses of the Michigan constitution and would deprive pregnant women of their right to bodily integrity, autonomy and the equal protection of the law, Gleicher wrote in the order.

Gleicher ruled that enforcement of the law will “endanger the health and lives of women seeking to exercise their constitutional right to abortion” and threatens pregnant women with irreparable injury because without access to abortion care they will be denied “appropriate, safe and constitutionally protected medical care,” court documents show.

The court also found that the law would cause Planned Parenthood and Wallett “irreparable injury” by exposing them to “felony prosecution and imprisonment for performing a medically necessary procedure that their patients are constitutionally entitled to have,” according to the ruling.

The court also found that issuing a permanent injunction will cause no harm to the attorney general nor does it adversely affect the pubic interest.

“The harm to women on, the other hand, is a wholesale denial of their fundamental right to an abortion, necessitating permanent injunctive relief,” according to the ruling.

The ruling is effective immediately, and the court also denied the Michigan legislature’s request to stay the decision, according to Planned Parenthood.

“We are proud to have won this victory on behalf of Michigan abortion providers and the patients who depend on us for care. Today’s Court of Claims ruling will ensure that Michiganders can continue to make deeply personal decisions about their health, lives, and futures without interference from state officials,” Wallett said in a statement to ABC News.

The judgment is the latest development in the state’s battle over abortion rights which began when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, eliminating federal protections for abortion rights.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has vowed to fight for abortion rights, bringing another lawsuit challenging the law’s constitutionality and asking the state’s supreme court to determine whether the abortion law already on the books is unconstitutional.

Last month, a state court granted a request by Whitmer’s lawyers for a temporary restraining order on the abortion ban, pending ongoing litigation. In a ruling, Judge Jacob Cunningham argued that not issuing the injunction would cause harm to the public.

The courts will also be left to decide whether Michigan voters will have an abortion question on the ballot this November. The Board of Canvassers was deadlocked, unable decide on a ballot initiative, which would leave it to voters to divide whether to add abortion protections to the state’s constitution.

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(NEW YORK) — The man accused of repeatedly stabbing author Salman Rushdie on a Western New York stage last month appeared briefly Wednesday in court as prosecutors build their attempted murder case against him.

Hadi Matar, 24, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree attempted murder and assault charges in connection with the attack Aug. 12 at the Chautauqua Institution where he allegedly stabbed the 75-year-old Rushdie about a dozen times in front of a crowd that had gathered for a lecture.

Matar is being held without bail.

Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said investigators are examining more than 30,000 files produced by New York State Police in its ongoing investigation.

“We are currently reviewing those documents and preparing them in a manner to be appropriately disclosed,” Schmidt said.

Prosecutors are seeking a protective order preserving the confidentiality of witnesses and limiting the persons who may review the materials disclosed. Arguments were scheduled for Sept. 13.

Schmidt conceded that, to date, a limited disclosure has been made to the defense, consisting of statements which Matar made to police at the time he was in custody. He said a more substantial disclosure to the defense is coming.

“I intend to take full advantage of the time allotted to the prosecution under applicable statutes so that we can ensure our compliance with the discovery laws and maintain the integrity of our case,” Schmidt said.

Authorities have not released a motive for the attack.

Rushdie faced years of death threats after his novel, “The Satanic Verses,” was published in 1988. The late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini accused the author of blasphemy over the book and issued a fatwa against Rushdie in 1989, calling for his death.

In 1998, the Iranian foreign minister said the country no longer supported the fatwa against Rushdie, though a $3.3 million bounty for his death continues to be offered by an Iranian religious foundation.

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