(SILER CITY, N.C.) — The North Carolina Department of Public Safety released police dashcam footage of a traffic stop that turned deadly when a state trooper shot and killed a man who allegedly pulled out a gun.
The footage seems to show the trooper, Rodney Cook, stopping a white Ford pickup truck because the driver and passenger were not wearing seatbelts, according to police.
The incident happened May 30 in Siler City after the car was pulled over around 4:30 p.m., according to DPS.
A superior court judge allowed the release of the footage by signing a formal request submitted by State Highway Patrol.
Cook asked the driver, identified as 21-year-old Mark Anthony Diaz, for identification but Diaz allegedly said he didn’t have any, according to police.
The trooper then asked Diaz to get out of the car after saying he smelled marijuana, police said.
The footage shows Diaz pulling a gun out the window and the trooper attempting to back away as Diaz steps out of the vehicle with the weapon.
Moments later, Cook shoots Diaz, who falls to the ground. The car begins to roll down the street and the passenger is seen running away.
After the trooper removes the gun from Diaz’s hands, he radios for backup emergency assistance, the footage shows. He is then seen performing lifesaving measures on Diaz.
DPS said Diaz was transported from the scene, but was later pronounced dead. The passenger who fled the scene later returned to the scene, according to DPS.
No shots were fired at Cook, the video shows.
Investigators told Durham ABC station WTVD-TV that the passenger is a minor who is cooperating with the investigation.
Cook was placed on administrative duty pending an internal investigation as per protocol, DPS said. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is also conducting an independent probe of the shooting, according to DPS.
DPS declined to comment further, directing all inquiries to SBI. A representative for the bureau said the investigation is ongoing.
The North Carolina Troopers Association did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment regarding Cook’s involvement in the shooting.
(SMITHSBURG, Md.) — Three people are dead and one critically injured after a shooting at a factory in Smithsburg, Maryland, Thursday afternoon, authorities said.
The alleged gunman was wounded in an ensuing shootout with state police, authorities said.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said it responded to reports of an active shooter at Columbia Machine at around 2:30 p.m. and found the victims.
The alleged shooter had fled the scene and was apprehended by Maryland State Police in nearby Hagerstown based on a description of the suspect, the sheriff’s office said.
The suspect and a state trooper exchanged gunfire, and both were injured and transported for medical treatment, the sheriff’s office said.
The sheriff’s office said the weapon used at both scenes was a semi-automatic handgun.
The deceased victims were identified as Mark Alan Frey, 50; Charles Edward Minnick Jr., 31, and Joshua Robert Wallace, 30, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said.
The fourth victim who was injured was identified as 42-year-old Brandon Chase Michael.
The suspect, whom authorities said was a 23-year-old Hispanic man who lives in West Virginia, remains in custody, and his identity will not be released until charges are filed.
Maryland State Police said the injured trooper is a 25-year veteran of the department assigned to the Criminal Enforcement Division Western Region, and that he’s not being identified at this time. He was transported to Meritus Medical Center in Hagerstown, where he was treated and released, state police said.
“There is no confirmed active threat to the community in relation to this incident,” the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said.
The FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are assisting in the investigation.
Washington County Sheriff spokesperson Sgt. Carly Hose said the alleged shooter is a man, though no additional information on the suspect or a possible motive was released.
Hose could not confirm the employment status of the suspect or victims.
Columbia Machine manufactures concrete products equipment. Smithsburg is about 70 miles northwest of Washington, D.C.
(NEW YORK) — The parents of a now 19-year-old New York woman are suing Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, alleging their daughter developed an Instagram addiction that led to an eating disorder and other mental health struggles.
In the personal injury lawsuit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Kathleen and Jeff Spence of Long Island allege that their daughter Alexis began using Instagram at age 11 — two years younger than Instagram’s required minimum age of 13 — without their knowledge.
They claim she then developed an addiction to the social media app, which allegedly caused injuries including “addiction, anxiety, depression, self-harm, eating disorders, and, ultimately, suicidal ideation,” according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, which was filed by the Social Media Victims Law Center, claims that as Alexis’ parents, the Spences were “were emotionally and financially harmed by Meta’s addictive design and continued and harmful distribution and/or provision of multiple Instagram accounts to their minor child.”
“The fact that Alexis is here is truly a miracle because we fought tooth-and-nail for her,” Kathleen Spence told ABC News. “We did everything we possibly could for her. We got her the help that she needed on multiple levels, and there were times when we were very concerned for her safety.”
Alexis Spence told ABC News she created her first Instagram account at age 11 in order to interact with a popular online kids game at the time. Using her own tablet and then later a smartphone, as well as friends’ devices, to access Instagram, Alexis said her feed quickly became inundated with content related to eating disorders and self-harm
“When I’m 11 years old, what am I to do but keep looking at this content?” she said. “And when you’re being told every day, ‘This is how [to] be pretty … this is what you’re supposed to look like,’ what am I to think? I was a child.”
Kathleen Spence, who also has a 13-year-old son, described the changes she and her husband claimed they saw in their daughter in the years that followed.
“When Alexis first started going on Instagram without our consent or knowledge at 11 years old, we didn’t know what was going on,” she said. “We just know that our daughter was disappearing. Slowly, piece by piece, we were losing our confident, loving child, and she was becoming depressed, angry, withdrawn.”
In the lawsuit, the Spences allege that even as they got Alexis professional mental health treatment, they were not initially aware of the full impact of their daughter’s Instagram use.
They claim they connected the dots in 2021, when thousands of pages of internal Facebook documents were released by Frances Haugen, a former product manager at the tech company.
The documents Haugen shared were published by the Wall Street Journal and several other outlets in October 2021, and are collectively known as The Facebook Papers.
As ABC News reported last year, the documents showed Facebook had reportedly commissioned studies about and knew of the potential harm that negative or inflammatory content on its platforms was causing — including researchers’ findings that Instagram had made body image issues worse for 1 in 3 teens — but did not act to stop it.
In testimony to Congress last October, Haugen alleged that Facebook had disregarded concerns about the harmful effects their platforms could have on children’s mental health.
Kathleen Spence said that after reading the documents Haugen shared, she came to believe that there was not much she and her husband could have done to help Alexis.
“We did all we could,” she said. “We would encourage her to come downstairs. We ate dinner together as a family every night. We would have family outings on the weekend. We would take her places, but the phone and the social media was always there and it didn’t matter.”
She continued, “At the end of the day, my husband and I are one loving set of parents who are trying to keep our daughter safe from a multi-billion dollar company who was meeting behind closed doors to come up with ways to keep our children addicted to their products because they want to make money.”
In a response to Haugen’s congressional testimony last October, Meta issued a statement that characterized Haugen as “a former product manager at Facebook who worked for the company for less than two years, had no direct reports, never attended a decision-point meeting with C-level executives — and testified more than six times to not working on the subject matter in question.”
“We don’t agree with her characterization of the many issues she testified about,” the company said.
A spokesperson for Meta on Thursday declined to comment on the Spences’ lawsuit, citing it as “active litigation.”
The spokesperson highlighted general protections for kids they say are offered by Instagram, including age verification, parental controls, time control settings, default settings to provide more privacy, direct message restrictions between adults and teens, as well as in-app resources offering mental health support.
The Spences are being represented in the lawsuit by attorney Matthew Bergman, who in February filed a separate lawsuit against Meta and another social media company on behalf of a mother who claims the “defective design, negligence and unreasonable dangerous features” of the companies’ products allegedly led to her daughter’s death by suicide.
Bergman, founder of the Social Media Victims Law Center, told ABC News he believes social media companies, not individual parents, have the tools and the responsibility to make social media safer for kids.
“Phones are ubiquitous. Kids rely on their phones to get their homework assignments, to get their sports assignments and to get a ride home,” said Bergman. “To say that taking phones away is a realistic, viable solution, it’s not. Turn off the algorithms. Turn off the ability of kids to stay on all day and all night.”
In addition to calling on Instagram to make product changes to make the app safer for kids, the Spences’ lawsuit is asking for monetary damages, including Alexis’ “past and present” medical expenses and her “loss of future income and learning capacity.”
(CASPER, Wyo.) — A $5,000 reward has been offered after a women set fire to a planned abortion clinic in Wyoming on May 25, according to new police footage.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives offered the reward on Wednesday, as a woman was shown in security footage released by local police.
The Casper Police Department released the 30-second video, which shows the suspect in a hooded shirt and surgical mask carrying what appears to be a red fuel tank through an empty room within the clinic. The video shows the woman then crouching in a doorway with the tank.
According to a statement from police on Tuesday, the suspect in the video is a white woman, between 5 feet, 6 inches and 5 feet, 8 inches tall and of medium build. Police added that the suspect entered the building around 3:30 a.m. and that they believe the suspect acted alone.
The fire began early in the morning and firefighters arrived at the scene to find a broken window and smoke coming out of a corner of the building.
A witness who called police said they heard glass breaking and saw a person leaving the area carrying a gas can and a black bag, according to police.
“While this act of destruction is profoundly upsetting and presents new challenges, we remain unwavering in our commitment to ensuring that the people of Casper can access the reproductive health care they need,” Wellspring Health Access founder Julie Burkhart said in a statement.
According to organizers of the clinic, because of the damage from the fire, the clinic will not open for an additional six months after its planned opening. The building affected was being renovated and slated to open in mid-June as the only facility of its kind in the state.
“When the needed repairs have been completed, we will open our clinic with the goal of providing the full spectrum of reproductive health care, including OB-GYN care, family planning, gender-affirming care and abortion care,” Burkhart added.
The Wellspring Health Access clinic in Casper has faced regular anti-abortion protests.
The damage to the clinic means that women will have even more restrictions to care in the state. Wyoming is one of 13 states who pledged to ban all or nearly all abortions if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade in an upcoming decision.
In March, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon signed a bill into law that would prohibit most abortions, should Roe be overturned. The bill includes exceptions for abortion in cases of rape, incest or to protect the mother from death or serious medical harm not involving mental health.
Already, abortion is limited within the state, as there are no doctors performing abortions in Wyoming. The only access women have to abortions in the state is through a medication abortion, which there is also limited access to, and can only be performed within the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.
Country star Jimmie Allen is a dad to three kids, so he’s a good authority when it comes to figuring out what the dad — or dad figure — in your life really wants for Father’s Day this year, and he’s sharing his list of favorite gifts with People.
On Jimmie’s Father’s Day wish list you’ll find items for dad to cultivate a new favorite hobby, plus some cozy apparel and one item that he created himself.
The latter gift is his children’s book, My Voice Is a Trumpet, which he released in 2021. The music-themed, colorfully illustrated book celebrates all kinds of voices, and everyone who uses their voice to do good in the world.
Comfort is a must-have for Father’s Day, so Jimmie includes his favorite brand of boxer briefs and his go-to basketball shoes on his list.
If dad’s a country fan, you can’t go wrong with Jimmie’s favorite felt cowboy hat from Boot Barn. “I never take the stage without wearing my wide brim tan hat,” he explains. “I actually have multiple backups.”
For other Father’s Day options — including a fishing reel, a bowling ball and a tie-dyed hoodie with a special connection to Jimmie’s home state — check out the singer’s full gift list at People.
Carrie Underwood’s finally putting out a record that she describes as a “sing-into-your-hairbrush” album: Denim & Rhinestones.
The track list takes cues from all different genres and is full of fun. Whether it’s the high drama of “She Don’t Know” and “Ghost Story,” a retro banger like “Crazy Angels” or the ‘80s vibes of the title track, Denim & Rhinestones delivers a good time from start to finish, and that’s intentional.
“That’s what I wanted to do from the beginning, when, you know, we had nothing — a complete blank piece of paper,” Carrie says. “And that’s what my co-producer, David Garcia, asked: ‘What do you wanna do?’ And I said, ‘I wanna have fun. I wanna have fun.’”
It’s been a while since Carrie truly got to let loose on an album. Her last two projects had fallen more on the serious side: She put out her Christmas album, My Gift, followed by her gospel project, My Savior.
“And I just felt like that, coupled with the past couple of years of not being able to tour and do all that stuff we normally do — I was like, ‘I am looking forward to going out on the road. I need happiness in life,’” the singer continues. “I just felt like I wanted to have fun and be positive and be happy.”
Carrie will keep the party going this fall when she heads out on The Denim & Rhinestones Tour, which kicks off in mid-October and features direct support from Jimmie Allen.
Green Day will be presented with the Icon Award by the British publication Kerrang! at the 2022 Kerrang! Awards.
In a statement, Kerrang! editor Luke Morton says the prize recognizes Green Day’s “longevity and legacy as one of the greatest and most important acts in the history of rock and alternative music, who still captivate and electrify millions of fans all over the world with the power of punk rock.”
Previous Kerrang! Icon winners include Led Zeppelin‘s Jimmy Page, Blink-182 and the Ramones.
The 2022 Kerrang! Awards take place June 23.
Green Day, meanwhile, just launched a European tour. They’ll reunite with Fall Out Boy and Weezer later this month to launch the European leg of the Hella Mega Tour, which kicked off in the U.S. last summer.
The “Ringo Starr NFT Collection — The Creative Mind of a Beatle” includes five unique NFTs, each featuring an animated version of a painting created by the legendary drummer, and most soundtracked by a custom-made drum track played by Starr.
Those who purchase an NFT also will receive a 25-by-25-inch canvas print of the artwork signed by Ringo, and will be given access to a virtual gallery of Starr’s digital art called “RingoLand.”
The paintings that serve as the basis for the NFTs include self portraits and colorful spin art.
During a recent press event in Rama, Canada, promoting the launch of Ringo’s current tour with his All Starr Band, Starr talked about the virtual gallery created to display his digital art in conjunction with the NFT auction.
“It was just a great idea,” Ringo said. “And, you know, it’s not even there. It’s a fantasy just on your computer. And [an avatar of me is] walking around looking at my paintings, and you can do the same.”
A total of 20 NFT packages — four of each of the five pieces — will be auctioned as part of the sale, which is being hosted by Julien’s Auctions. Bids can be placed at JuliensLive.com. You also can check out videos of Ringo’s animated artwork at that website and on YouTube.
A portion of the proceeds raised by the auction will benefit Ringo’s Lotus Foundation, which funds and supports charitable projects that focus on various social welfare causes.
Ringo and his All Starr Band’s tour continues tonight in Red Bank, New Jersey. Since Tuesday, Edgar Winter has been sitting out the shows after testing positive for COVID-19.
The gang is back together in Jurassic World Dominion, out today.
Jeff Goldblum returns as chaos theory specialist Dr. Ian Malcolm. It’s a world where dinosaurs now roam freely, interacting with humans, but is that a world Goldblum would want to live in?
“No,” he tells ABC Audio with a laugh. “I feel like I have experienced it. It’s amazing and sometimes unpleasant.”
JWD is the first in the franchise since the original in 1993 to reunite Goldblum, Laura Dern, and Sam Neill, and Goldblum says it felt like “I’d been drenched and purged with dopamine.”
“We had an amazing experience with Steven Spielberg 30 years ago, and so getting back together with them was just great and rich in nostalgia and current focused, vibrant, robust, creative attack.”
Even with the reunion, don’t expect the film to be dripping in nostalgia.
Director Colin Trevorrow explains, “I have to take the risk of telling a new story because when you watch all six of these movies together, if you’re a kid born today, you’re not going to know nostalgia when it comes to any of this.”
There may not be nostalgia, but what runs through the entire franchise is a message about environmentalism.
“This movie is very much about humility in the face of nature’s power,” Trevorrow shares.
“The fact that we made it during this pandemic where we were all very afraid as to whether we were going to survive the future, creates a tone in the film… that all of these characters are not really sure if the future is going to be better than the past,” he says. “And I like the we end on a note of hope in the idea that we actually can survive if we learn to coexist and we move forward together.”
The 29-year-old singer dropped their new single “Skin Of My Teeth” on Friday along with the visuals to match. Both the track and the video introduce a new rock era for Demi, which she told Jimmy Fallon during an appearance on The Tonight Show on Thursday, was actually a return to her roots, noting, “that’s what I started singing when I released my first album, second album…”
Over a background of drums and guitar, Demi openly references her previous drug struggles and mental health.
“Demi leaves rehab again / When is this s*** gonna end? / Sounds like the voice in my head / I can’t believe I’m not dead,” she powerfully opens the song.
Meanwhile, in the music video, viewers watch as Demi soaks in a bathtub while wearing a white tee, eventually having to fight off the grim reaper who “knocks on my door.”
“I’m alive by the skin of my teeth / I survived, but it got harder to breathe /Askin’ why doesn’t make it easier / Go easier on me,” she pleads in the chorus.
“Skin Of My Teeth” is the leading single off Demi’s forthcoming eighth studio album HOLY F***, which is due out August 19. Demi told Fallon she’s especially proud of this release.
“I came out of treatment again and I realized like, I really wanna do this for myself and I want to make the best album possible, something that you know, really represents who I am” she said, adding, “The easiest way to do something the most authentic is to do it clean and sober. I made this album clean and sober, I can’t say that about my last album.”
The accompanying tour is set to kick off on August 13.
