(HOUSTON) — A 5-year-old child was killed in a drive-by shooting on Sunday that also injured an 8-year-old in a Houston neighborhood, Houston Police said.
Police received several phone calls around 1 a.m., saying there was a shooting in the city’s Greenspoint area, but when they arrived, they didn’t find anything, Asst. Chief Chandra Hatcher told reporters early Sunday.
About 15 minutes later, officers got word that two children arrived at an area hospital with gunshot wounds. The 8-year-old child is expected to fully recover from their injuries, Hatcher said.
Both children were reportedly in a car at a stop sign when a person in another vehicle began shooting, witnesses told authorities. Their mother reportedly drove them to the hospital.
Police are investigating the incident and looking at footage from surveillance cameras to aid in the investigation. A suspect is not in custody, police said.
Authorities are unsure if the two children were the intended targets.
“We do not know a motive,” Hatcher said.
Police described the suspect’s vehicle as dark-colored and added that there may have been two people in it.
“If anyone knows information, please come forward and please continue to pray for the family of the deceased child and the injured 8-year-old,” Hatcher said.
The backlash that Adele experienced after she abruptly called off her Las Vegas residency back in January turned her into a “shell of a person,” the singer told told BBC Radio.
Appearing on an episode of BBC Radio 4’s program Desert Island Discs, which aired on Sunday night, Adele revealed, “I definitely felt everyone’s disappointment and I was devastated and I was frightened about letting them down. I thought I could pull it together and make it work and I couldn’t, and I stand by that decision.”
However, Adele admitted, “I was a shell of a person for a couple of months,” she continued. “I just had to wait it out and just grieve it, I guess, just grieve the shows and get over the guilt, but it was brutal.”
Adele insisted that the show as it was simply wasn’t “good enough,” adding, “I’m not going to just do a show because I have to or because people are going to be let down or because we’re going to lose loads of money.”
Addressing why she hasn’t given fans any updates as to when the residency might be rescheduled, Adele told the program, “Of course I could be someone on TikTok or Instagram Live every day being like, ‘I’m working on it.’ Of course I’m working on it! I’m not gonna update you if I ain’t got nothing to update you with because that just leads to more disappointment.”
In February, Adele told talk show host Graham Norton that the residency would “absolutely 100%” happen this year. On Friday, the BBC reports, she told the audience at her concert in London’s Hyde Park that she’d been announcing the dates “very, very soon,” and she was waiting for one more piece of equipment to be ready.
Night two of the much-anticipated Essence Fest concert series at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans saw soulful performances by leading ladies of R&B: Jazmine Sullivan, Summer Walker, Patti LaBelle and more.
Janet Jackson headlined the night’s entertainment with epic song-and-dance showings of some of her most iconic hits, including “If” and “I Get So Lonely.”
Straight out of the gate, the multi-talented singer, 56, proved to be just as energetic and flexible as early ’90s Jackson, sporting a fierce sparkly Black jumpsuit and leading the pack of backup dancers through just about every hit.
Thousands of excited attendees packed the house, returning the love Jackson dished throughout her hour-and-fifteen-minute-long performance and sang along to fan favorites like “What Have You Done for Me Lately,” “State of the World” and “Let’s Wait Awhile.”
Before Jackson came the “Godmother of Soul” Patti LaBelle, who in all of her iconic glory, hit the C-Walk dance, belted out notes high and low and commanded the stage as she’s known to do. With songs like “Love, Need and Want You” and “If Only You Knew,” LaBelle seemed to have left the crowd more than pleased.
When Grammy-winning singer Jazmine Sullivan graced the stage, the room went wild with applause. With great ease, Sullivan delivered memorable performances of “Bodies (Intro)” and “On It” from her smash album Heaux Tales.
Adorning her newly announced growing baby bump, Summer Walker kicked off Ladies Night using her calm but appreciated energy to perform hits such as “Girls Need Love” and “No Love.”
The 2022 Essence Fest concert series continues Sunday with City Girls, Lil Kim, Wizkid, New Edition and more, streaming live on Hulu starting at 7 p.m. CT.
After canceling several recent concerts because of health issues affecting multiple band members, Whitesnake has now pulled the plug on the rest of the current European leg of its Farewell Tour.
“It is with the deepest sadness that I must announce that due to continuing health challenges, doctor’s orders, and our concern for everyone’s health and safety, Whitesnake is unable to continue its European Farewell Tour,” frontman David Coverdale writes in a message posted on the group’s official website.
He continues, “I extend my sincere apologies to All of Whitesnake’s Amazing Fans who have been looking forward to the remaining scheduled shows of this tour, All of our Amazing, Fabulous Snakes & tour personnel who have been working so hard to put on these shows, and All of the promoters and other professionals who have helped set up the tour…I Appreciate & Love You All!!!”
Before the latest announcement, Whitesnake had canceled their June 25 appearance at the Rock Imperium Festival in Cartagena, Spain, because drummer Tommy Aldridge was “under the weather,” and then canceled the next three concerts — June 28 in Milan, Italy; June 30 in Vienna, Austria; and July 2 in Zagreb, Croatia — due to Coverdale suffering from “an infection of the sinus and trachea.”
The remainder of the European trek was to have featured seven more shows, running from a July 4 performance in Budapest, Hungary, through a July 19 gig in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Whitesnake is now scheduled to return to the stage for the North American leg of its Farewell Tour, which kicks off August 17 in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, and is plotted out through an October 21 performance in Las Vegas. The band will be supporting The Scorpions at most of the shows.
Vice President Kamala Harris participated in a “fireside chat” with actress Keke Palmer at the Essence Festival of Culture Saturday, where she spoke on important issues pertaining to women and the Black community.
Speaking on the “outrageous” decision to overturn Roe v. Wade — the law protecting the right for women to have an abortion — Harris shared her thoughts on the ruling’s implications and its effect on other personal topics like contraception and same-sex marriage.
“What else might be vulnerable that we otherwise thought was settled law?” she questioned.
She called the decision a “serious matter” — a phrase applauded by those in the audience a part of the Black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha, of which Harris is a member. “It requires all of us to speak up, speak out and to be active,” Harris said. She added, “We have to recognize we’re a nation that was founded on certain principles that are grounded in the concept of freedom and liberty.”
Remembering the words of Coretta Scott King Harris said, “The fight for civil rights — which is the fight for freedom, the fight for liberty, the fight for justice — the fight for civil rights must be fought and won with each generation.”
In relation to the continued fight for freedom in America, Harris suggested two key points from King’s words: “The very nature of these fights is that whatever we gain, they will not necessarily be permanent.” And that, “you have to be vigilant.”
“Don’t be overwhelmed to the point that we are disheartened and we think that we can’t do anything about it,” she said. “It’s the nature of it that these gains will not be made. And so we must be vigilant and we must remember we are always going to have to fight to maintain these rights.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department should not avoid prosecuting Donald Trump in relation to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack if a prosecution is warranted, Rep. Liz Cheney said in an interview with ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl.
While bringing charges against the former president — who may challenge President Joe Biden in 2024 — would be unprecedented and “difficult” for the country, not doing so would support a “much graver constitutional threat,” Cheney said Wednesday in an interview at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library that aired Sunday on “This Week.”
“Are you worried about what that means for the country, to [see] a former president prosecuted? A former president who was a likely candidate; who may in fact be running for president against Biden?” Karl asked Cheney.
“I think it’s a much graver constitutional threat if a president can engage in these kinds of activities, and the majority of the president’s party looks away; or we as a country decide we’re not actually going to take our constitutional obligations seriously,” Cheney said. “I think that’s a much, a much more serious threat.”
“I really believe we have to make these decisions, as difficult as it is, apart from politics. We really have to think about these from the perspective of: What does it mean for the country?” she said.
‘Absolutely confident’ in Hutchinson’s testimony
The Wyoming Republican told Karl she was “absolutely confident” in Cassidy Hutchinson’s startling testimony last week during a surprise hearing by the House’s Jan. 6 committee, which Cheney vice-chairs.
“She’s an incredibly brave young woman,” Cheney said of Hutchinson.
On Tuesday, the former aide to Trump’s White House chief of staff Mark Meadows testified that she was told Trump was verbally aggressive with Secret Service agents and lunged for the steering wheel of his vehicle after learning he was not going to the Capitol after his rally on Jan. 6, 2021.
Hutchinson said Tony Ornato, a Secret Service agent and Trump deputy chief of staff, told her as much not long after the incident that same day. Hutchinson’s account has drawn significant attention and push-back from Trump.
“What Ms. Hutchinson testified to was a conversation that she was part of with Mr. Ornato and which Mr. Engel [a Secret Service agent] was present, where they detailed what happened in the limousine,” Cheney said.
“Do you have any evidence other than Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony to corroborate what she said happened in that presidential motorcade?” Karl asked Cheney.
“The committee has significant evidence about a whole range of issues, including the president’s intense anger,” Cheney responded.
“I think you will continue to see in the coming days and weeks additional detail about the president’s activities and behavior on that day,” Cheney added.
In a statement to ABC News, the Secret Service said agents were prepared to give sworn testimony to the panel. A source close to the Secret Service did not dispute to ABC News that Trump was angry with agents in the car but said he did not reach for the wheel or lunge at Robert Engel, the lead agent on his detail.
Hutchinson also claimed that Trump knew his supporters were armed on Jan. 6 ahead of a march on the Capitol.
Trump on Tuesday worked to dismiss and downplay Hutchinson’s testimony, posting on social media that “I hardly know who this person … is, other than I heard very negative things about her (a total phony and ‘leaker’).”
“She is bad news!” he added.
Speaking with Karl, Cheney said the House committee “is not going to stand by and watch her [Hutchinson’s] character be assassinated by anonymous sources and by men who are claiming executive privilege. And so we look forward very much to additional testimony under oath on a whole range of issues.”
Criminal referral over witness tampering?
Cheney said during last week’s hearing that some witnesses had told investigators Trump aides attempted to influence their testimony before the panel. Hutchinson was among those to receive messages about protecting the former president, sources later told ABC News.
“Witness tampering is a crime. Are you making a criminal referral to DOJ on this?” Karl asked.
“We’ll make a decision as a committee about that,” Cheney replied.
“Do you have any doubt that [Trump] broke the law and that he is guilty of criminal violations?” Karl asked Cheney. (Trump insists he did nothing wrong.)”It’s a decision that we’ll make together as a committee,” Cheney said of referring any potential criminal conduct to the Justice Department.
“There’s no question that he engaged in high crimes and misdemeanors. I think there’s no question that it’s the most serious betrayal of his oath of office of any president in the history of the nation. It’s the most dangerous behavior of any president in the history of the nation,” she said.
“It’s possible there will be a criminal referral?” Karl asked.
“Yes,” Cheney said, adding that the Justice Department “doesn’t have to wait” for the panel to make a referral and that the committee could issue “more than one criminal referral.”
Damaging Trump ‘not the goal’ of hearings
Cheney has emerged as perhaps her party’s most vocal and most famous anti-Trump voice, drawing praise from Democrats and derision from many conservatives. Last year, she told ABC News that she would “do everything that I can to make sure” Trump “never gets anywhere close to the Oval Office again.”
“Have these hearings gotten you closer to that goal — making him toxic and not a viable candidate?” Karl asked in the new interview.
“That’s not the goal of the hearings,” she said.
“It’s crucial for the country to make sure that he’s never anywhere near the Oval Office again,” Cheney continued.
“The goal of the hearings is to make sure that the American people understand what happened; to help inform legislation, legislative changes that we might need to make,” she said. “I think it’s also the case that there’s not a single thing that I have learned, as we have been involved in this investigation, that has made me less concerned.”
“There’s no question: A man as dangerous as Donald Trump can absolutely never be anywhere near the Oval Office ever again,” Cheney said.
With looming primary, Cheney doesn’t ‘intend to lose’
Cheney was one of 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach Trump in 2021 for inciting the Capitol riot. Of that group, four are not running for reelection and Rep. Tom Rice of South Carolina was defeated in his May primary by a Trump-endorsed opponent.
Cheney will face Trump-backed candidate Harriet Hageman in early August. The former president won a greater share of the vote in Wyoming in 2020 than in any other state.
“You said recently the country is now in a battle: We must win against the former president trying to unravel our constitutional republic. What will it mean for that battle if you lose the Republican primary in Wyoming?” Karl asked Cheney.
“Well, I don’t intend to lose the Republican primary in Wyoming,” Cheney said.
“How important is it that you win, for that larger battle?” Karl asked.
“I think it’s important, because I will be the best representative that people of Wyoming can have,” Cheney said.
“The single most important thing is protecting the nation from Donald Trump. And I think that that matters to us as Americans more than anything else, and that’s why my work on the committee is so important,” she said.
“It’s so important to not just brush this past and say, ‘Okay, well, that’s in the past,’ but it informs whether this sort of toxin of Trump’s belief that he can put himself above the Constitution and put himself above the law — whether or not we successfully defeat that. And I think it’s very important that people know the truth. And that there are consequences,” Cheney said.
Cheney thinks GOP ‘can’t survive’ a Trump 2024 bid
Cheney said the Republican Party “can’t survive” if the former president runs for the White House again and wins the GOP nomination for 2024.
“I think that he can’t be the party nominee. And I don’t think the party would survive that,” Cheney said. “I believe in the party, and I believe in what the party can be and what the party can stand for. And I’m not ready to give that up.”
“Those of us who believe in Republican principles and ideals have a responsibility to try to lead the party back to what it can be, and to reject, and to reject so much of the toxin and the vitriol,” she added.
“I think it’s important also to remember that millions of people, millions of Republicans have been betrayed by Donald Trump. And that is a really painful thing for people to recognize and to admit,” she said.
“But it’s absolutely the case and they’ve been betrayed by him, by the ‘big lie” — referring to Trump’s continued baseless claims of election fraud — “and by what he continues to do and say to tear apart our country and tear apart our party, and I think we have to reject that,” Cheney said.
She said she has not “made a decision” about running for president in 2024.
“I’m obviously very focused on my reelection. I’m very focused on the Jan. 6 committee,” she said, with public hearings expected to resume later this month. “I’m very focused on my obligations to do the job that I have now. And I’ll make a decision about ’24 down the road.”
“But I think about it less in terms of a decision about running for office and more in terms of as an American — and as somebody who’s in a position of public trust now — how do I make sure that I’m doing everything I can to do the right thing, to do what I know is right for the country, and to protect our Constitution?”
Halsey has been outspoken about their anger over the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court last month, leading fans in a chant of “my body, my choice” at an Arizona concert and telling those in favor of the ruling to “go home right now. I don’t care.” Now, they’ve written an essay for Vogue detailing their own experiences with abortion and why motherhood has only strengthened their resolve to fight for abortion rights.
In the essay, Halsey reveals, “I miscarried three times before my 24th birthday,” adding, “One of my miscarriages required ‘aftercare,’ a gentle way of saying that I would need an abortion, because my body could not terminate the pregnancy completely on its own and I would risk going into sepsis without medical intervention.”
“During this procedure, I cried. I was afraid for myself and I was helpless,” they continue. “I was desperate to end the pregnancy that was threatening my life.”
Revealing that they’d changed their will during pregnancy so they could donate their organs if they were brain-dead, but their heart was still beating, Halsey noted the irony in the fact that “a beating heart in my womb could mean I couldn’t consent to saving my own life.”
While they’ve since been asked many times if becoming a mother has changed their views on abortion, Halsey writes, “The answer is firmly no. In fact, I have never felt more strongly about it. My abortion saved my life and gave way for my son to have his.”
They conclude, “Every person deserves the right to choose when, if, and how they have this dangerous and life-altering experience. I will hold my son in one arm, and fight with all my might with the other.”
Travis Barker took to social media Saturday to explain the medical emergency that landed him in the hospital earlier in the week.
He confirmed that he suffered from a “severe life-threatening” case of pancreatitis.
“I went in for an endoscopy Monday feeling great. But After dinner, I developed excruciating pain and have been hospitalized ever since,” Barker tweeted.
“During the endoscopy, I had a very small polyp removed right in a very sensitive area, usually handled by specialists, which unfortunately damaged a critical pancreatic drainage tube,” he continued. “This resulted in severe life-threatening pancreatitis.”
“I am so very very grateful that with intensive treatment I am currently much better,” Barker wrote.
Barker’s wife, Kourtney Kardashian, also broke her silence on the medical scare, writing on her Instagram Story, “Oh what a scary and emotional week it has been. Our health is everything and sometimes we take for granted how quickly it can change.”
She continued, “I am so grateful to God for healing my husband, for all of your prayers for him and for us, for the overwhelming outpouring of love and support. I am so touched and appreciative.”
(VADNAIS HEIGHTS, Minn.) — The bodies of three young children and their mother were pulled from a Minnesota lake during a two-day search in what is being investigated as a possible triple murder-suicide, authorities said.
Law enforcement responded to Vadnais-Sucker Lake Regional Park in Vadnais Heights Friday afternoon in response to a welfare check requested on the woman and children, the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
The woman’s car and items including the children’s shoes were found at the scene, prompting responding deputies and officers to close the park and begin searching the area and water, the sheriff’s office said.
The first child was pulled out of the lake around 7:30 p.m. Friday and declared dead following life-saving measures, authorities said. The second child was located around midnight and declared dead. Responders continued to look for the remaining child and woman until 3 a.m.
Ramsey County Sheriff Water Patrol searching Vandnais Lake—family members running to scene—being kept back by police. The medical examiner has arrived. We’re waiting for an update. @kstppic.twitter.com/kZPUfce7wu
The search resumed at 6 a.m. Saturday. The woman was located around 10:40 a.m., and the third child about 20 minutes later, the sheriff’s office said. Both were declared dead.
All three children — two boys and a girl — are believed to be under the age of 6. The Ramsey County Medical Examiner will release the names of the four found and their manner and cause of death at a later date.
“There is nothing more tragic than the loss of children,” Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher told reporters Friday, saying that the responders would be searching “long into the night.”
Distraught family and friends had gathered outside the police perimeter while the search was underway Friday, ABC affiliate KSTP in Saint Paul, Minnesota, reported.
The welfare check at the lake is believed to be connected to another death investigation in a nearby city in Ramsey County, the sheriff’s office said. On Friday morning, Maplewood police officers and firefighters responding to the report of a possible suicide in a residential area found a man dead at the scene.
After responding to that report, authorities then began searching for the mother and three children, ultimately tracking the mother’s cellphone to the lake, Ramsey County Undersheriff Mike Martin told reporters during a briefing Saturday.
“Our hearts go out to the families involved here and their friends,” Martin said. “Our goal was to find the children and the mother and to return them to their families, and we’re glad that we were able to do that.”
No further information was released on the connection between the two death investigations.
If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or worried about a friend or loved one, help is available. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 [TALK] for free, confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
(UVALDE, Texas) — Pete Arredondo, the embattled police chief of the school district where 19 children and two teachers were killed in a shooting, is resigning from his city council post, city officials said.
A local newspaper in Uvalde, Texas, first reported Arredondo’s decision to resign, which city officials later confirmed.
Arredondo, the police chief for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, served as incident commander during the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24. He has faced criticism and calls for his resignation as chief from parents and the Uvalde community over the police response and delay in breaching the classrooms where the gunman carried out the attack.
Arredondo was elected to the Uvalde City Council in early May and sworn in days after the school shooting. He told the Uvalde Leader-News on Friday he plans to resign from his city council post, according to the local newspaper.
Following the report’s publication, the city of Uvalde said it had not seen a letter of resignation or spoken to Arredondo. The Uvalde city manager’s office told ABC News Saturday afternoon that the city council had just received his written resignation. The city called his resignation “the right thing to do.”
In his resignation letter obtained by ABC News, Arredondo said that “it is in the best interest of the community to step down as a member of the City Council for District 3 to minimize further distractions.”
“The Mayor, the City Council, and the City Staff must continue to move forward to unite our community, once again,” he continued.
Arredondo and his representatives have not responded to ABC News’ requests for comment.
The news comes after the Uvalde City Council last week denied Arredondo’s request for a leave of absence from future meetings, in an effort to be more transparent following criticisms of law enforcement’s handling of the shooting.
Arredondo has not been present at three meetings since he was sworn in, including a heated hearing on Thursday during which families of victims demanded more information on what happened that tragic day.
The school district placed Arredondo on administrative leave last week, effective immediately, amid multiple ongoing investigations into the shooting.
Arredondo defended the police response in a rare interview with The Texas Tribune last month.
“Not a single responding officer ever hesitated, even for a moment, to put themselves at risk to save the children,” Arredondo told the paper. “We responded to the information that we had and had to adjust to whatever we faced.”
He added, “Our objective was to save as many lives as we could, and the extraction of the students from the classrooms by all that were involved saved over 500 of our Uvalde students and teachers before we gained access to the shooter and eliminated the threat.”
He also told the paper he did not consider himself the commanding officer on the scene that day.
During an emotional school board meeting last week, parents and community members called for Arredondo’s resignation. Several argued that law enforcement should be held partly accountable for the tragedy due to what was described as inadequate decision-making.
Nineteen law enforcement officers waited 77 minutes in the hallway outside the classroom containing the gunman, after Arredondo wrongly believed that the situation had transitioned from an active shooter to a barricaded subject, law enforcement has said.
Arredondo testified last week for almost five hours during a hearing on the shooting held during an executive session by the Texas state House of Representatives. A special Texas state Senate panel is also currently conducting a probe into the shooting.
The Uvalde district attorney is also investigating the shooting, and the U.S. Justice Department is reviewing the law enforcement response.
ABC News’ Julia Jacobo, Teddy Grant, Samira Said and Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.
