(OXFORD, Mich.) — Three people, all believed to be students, were killed in a shooting at Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan, on Tuesday, authorities said.
Six others were shot and injured, including a teacher, authorities said. Their conditions were not immediately clear.
The suspected shooter, a 15-year-old male student, was taken into custody within five minutes, authorities said. A handgun has been confiscated, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said.
Authorities said they believe he acted alone. The teen has not mentioned a motive, authorities said.
Over 100 calls poured into 911 as the shooting unfolded, authorities said. The entire incident lasted five minutes, authorities said.
Oxford is about 40 miles north of Detroit.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — A woman prosecutors have referred to as “Jane,” one of the three alleged minor victims whose allegations against Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell are detailed in a federal indictment, testified on the second day of her trial.
She told the jury that she met Maxwell and Epstein while attending summer camp at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan, the beginning of what prosecutors earlier called “a nightmare that would last for years.”
After returning home to Palm Beach, Florida, “Jane” said, she began visiting Epstein at his seaside mansion, where she testified that she had her first sexual contact with Epstein in 1994 when she was just 14. According to “Jane,” Epstein abruptly took her to his pool house, pulled down his pants and “proceeded to masturbate on me” while she remained “frozen in fear.”
The abuse continued, “Jane” said, during subsequent visits to Epstein’s house, and Maxwell contributed, she alleged, by “leading me to a massage table and showing me how Jeffrey likes to be massaged.”
On Tuesday morning, Epstein’s former pilot, Larry Visoski, testified that he met “Jane” in the cockpit of Epstein’s plane, though he later acknowledged he did not know how old she was at the time and could not recall whether she had actually taken a flight.
Maxwell faces a six-count indictment for allegedly conspiring with and aiding Epstein in his sexual abuse of underage girls between 1994 and 2004. She has been held without bail since her arrest in July 2020 and has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(LAS VEGAS) — More than 40 years after a teenage girl’s murder in Las Vegas, her suspected killer has been identified through DNA evidence and genetic genealogy.
Kim Bryant, 16, was kidnapped, raped and killed on Jan. 26, 1979, police in Las Vegas said.
The teen was last seen at a Dairy Queen restaurant near her high school and was reported missing after she didn’t return home, police said.
Her body was found one month later in a desert area, police said.
For decades, her slaying went unsolved.
Semen from a suspect was recovered during Bryant’s autopsy, but the DNA sample could not be identified at the time, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Lt. Raymond Spencer said at a news conference on Monday.
“We first attempted DNA on this particular case back in 2008. We were not able to get a DNA profile,” Kimberly Murga, director of laboratory services for the Las Vegas police, said at the news conference. “Technology has continued to advance and revolutionize. We again attempted DNA on different items of evidence in January of this year. We were able to obtain a foreign male DNA profile on some evidence and we put that DNA profile into CODIS — the Combined DNA Index System — and at that time we obtained no hits.”
That’s when the department turned to advanced genetic genealogy testing, she said.
Through genetic genealogy, DNA left at a crime scene can be used to identify a suspect’s family members, who voluntarily submit their DNA to a genealogy database. This allows police to create a more detailed family tree than if they were limited to using law enforcement databases like CODIS. Genetic genealogy gained visibility as an investigative tool in 2018 when the “Golden State Killer” was arrested.
Employees of Othram Inc., a private laboratory, built a genealogical profile of Bryant’s unknown killer through his family tree, Michael Vogen, director of case management at Othram, said at the news conference.
Othram and police eventually narrowed the search to a relative who was willing to give a DNA sample, officials said.
That sample allowed investigators to zero in on their suspect, Johnny Peterson, who died in January 1993, police said.
Peterson was 19 and living in Las Vegas at the time of the murder, Spencer said. Peterson had previously attended Bryant’s school, though it’s not clear if they had interacted, Spencer said.
In April 1980, Peterson was arrested for sexual assault, but that case was dismissed, Spencer said.
Peterson was never on the department’s radar as a suspect in Bryant’s case, Spencer said.
For Bryant’s family, Spencer said, “Nothing is gonna make the pain go away, but at least the family has some closure.”
5 Seconds of Summer aren’t looking ahead to 2022. In fact, they’re looking back in time with their brand-new single, “2011.”
The group says the new single, which comes out on Friday, celebrates the year they officially came together as a band. The song not only marks a decade of success, it also pays homage to their journey from a simple boy band from Sydney, Australia to a global phenomenon.
“This year we’re celebrating 10 years of 5 Seconds of Summer. Singlehandedly the best 10 years of our lives,” 5S0S said in a statement, noting that the single not only explores their past, but also is “a nod to what we have in store to the future. We’ve loved every minute of being in this band. Here’s to another ten years of 5 Seconds of Summer.”
In addition to releasing their new single on Friday, the “Youngblood” singers will make their grand return to the live performing circuit with an all-out “10-year celebration” event. The concert, which will take place in Los Angeles, will be streamed live on YouTube — the platform they say made them famous.
5S0S will perform their hits from the past decade in addition to reflecting on what the past 10 years have taught them. While the show is designed to “honor every experience, lesson and person we’ve encountered,” they also plan on bringing the laughs with some comedic sketches.
In addition to pre-saving the “2011” single before its December 3 release, fans can head on over to 5S0S’ official YouTube page to catch their livestream spectacular when it goes live this Friday at 2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET.
(NEW YORK) — A spacewalk by two U.S. astronauts was called off on Tuesday morning due to the risk of space debris, NASA announced in a statement.
NASA astronauts Kayla Barron and Thomas Marshburn were scheduled to leave through the International Space Station’s Quest airlock at 5:30 a.m. EST to replace a part on the space station, according to a NASA blogpost.
“Marshburn and Barron will work at the Port 1 truss structure, where the antenna is mounted. The antenna recently lost its ability to send signals to Earth via NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System,” NASA said in the blog.
However, four hours before the scheduled spacewalk, the ISS tweeted that the repair would be delayed until more information was available.
The source of the debris hasn’t been confirmed. Two weeks ago Russia had conducted an anti-satellite test that created a “dangerous” debris field in the orbit.
The spacewalk was scheduled to last 6 1/2 hours and be Barron’s first and Marshburn’s fifth spacewalk, NASA said.
(NEW YORK) — Julie Anne Genter, a Green Party member of the New Zealand Parliament, is a keen cyclist who used her skills to bike to the hospital in the middle of the night while in labor Sunday. Within an hour of setting off, she gave birth to a healthy baby girl.
“I genuinely wasn’t planning to cycle in labor,” she wrote on Instagram later that day, “but it did end up happening.”
Genter shared photos of her nighttime journey on a cargo bike, smiling through contractions while locking up in the Wellington, New Zealand, hospital car park.
“My contractions weren’t that bad when we left at 2 a.m. to go to the hospital,” she said on Instagram. “Though they were 2-3 min apart and picking up in intensity by the time we arrived 10 minutes later.”
At 3.04 a.m., her daughter was born.
Originally, the plan was for her partner Peter Nunns to cycle with her in front, Genter told New Zealand outlet Stuff. When they realized there was too much weight with her hospital bag, Genter “just got out and rode.”
Genter is a dual U.S.-NZ citizen. She grew up in Los Angeles and moved to New Zealand in 2006 as a post-grad scholar at the University of Auckland. She credits her L.A. upbringing with her interest in transportation and urban design. She worked in transport and urban planning before becoming a Member of Parliament in 2011 where she has been an advocate of cycling and increasing bike infrastructure. Her baby girl was born two days after her 10-year anniversary in parliament.
This is the second time the lawmaker has cycled to the hospital to give birth. She did so in 2018 for the birth of her first child, although on that occasion, labor was induced, she said.
New Zealand’s parliament is one of the most gender-equal in the world, electing 49% female members in its 2020 election. It also has a reputation for being family-friendly.
The country’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gave birth to her daughter Neve while in office in 2018, making headlines as one of the first sitting world leaders to do so. Genter followed her lead, bringing her firstborn to a UN meeting a year later.
In 2019, the Speaker of Parliament, Trevor Mallard, appeared in headlines around the world when he cradled and fed a bottle to a baby boy during a general debate.
Mallard told ABC News at the time that inclusivity is something that he focused since becoming speaker in 2017. “When I became speaker, I made it clear that I wanted the parliament to be much more family-friendly than it had been,” he said.
Mariah Carey knows she’s a catch, so she has this small piece of advice to the potential suitor who wants to win her heart: “You have to love Christmas.”
Speaking with E!’s Daily Pop recently, the decorated singer said everyone in her family is a big fan of the holiday, so they “have the best time at Christmas.” That means she’ll kick anyone to the curb who threatens to wreck the halls.
“There was a person in my life at one time —we won’t say names— and they didn’t love holidays,” Mariah remarked. “And I was like, ‘Well you’re with the wrong person then, honey.'”
The “Fantasy” singer doubled down that hating the holidays is her dating dealbreaker. She also hinted that being a fellow Christmas lover may be a requirement to get on her good side.
This should be common knowledge considering Mariah is dubbed the “Queen of Christmas,” but since she just said she dumped someone over their aversion to the holidays, it doesn’t hurt to set such an important dating rule in stone — or on top of a Christmas tree.
We have a preview of Five Finger Death Punch‘s next album, courtesy of frontman Ivan Moody.
On his Instagram, Moody posted a 17-second video of him and producer Kevin Churko listening to a snippet from the record, which will mark FFDP’s ninth studio effort. In the caption, Moody added the punny hashtag #FeelinJustF9, as well as #AndHellIsComingWithMe.
Earlier this year, guitarist Zoltan Bathoryteased that the new album would arrive sometime in 2022. He also shared that Death Punch would be re-recording their debut record, 2007’s The Way of the Fist.
Five Finger Death Punch’s most recent album is 2020’s F8. It includes the singles “Inside Out,” “Living the Dream,” “A Little Bit Off” and “Darkness Settles In.”
Thomas Rhett is ready to “Slow Down Summer” with a teaser for the upcoming music video for his hit tune.
Though the song begs to “slow down summer,” a photo from the video posted on his Twitter feed shows the singer caught in a winter wonderland. The pic captures Thomas poised at a piano in the middle of a snow-covered forest, looking up at the sky as snowflakes pour down.
“I loved creating this video and can’t wait for y’all to see it,” he writes in the caption that accompanies the photo.
“Slow Down Summer” is the lead single off Thomas’ upcoming album, Where We Started. It’s quickly racing up the charts, currently inside the top 30 on the Billboard Country Airplay tally.
The video premieres on YouTube this Friday, December 3, at 11 a.m. ET.
Chicago and Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson have unveiled plans for a 2022 U.S. co-headlining tour that will take place during the late spring and summer.
The 25-date trek will kick off on June 7 in Phoenix and is mapped out through a July 26 concert in the Detroit suburb of Clarkston, Michigan.
As has been the case for the last several years, Wilson’s band will include two other Beach Boys alums, Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin.
Tickets for the tour dates will go on sale to the general public this Friday, December 3, at 10 a.m. local time at ChicagoTheBand.com and BrianWilson.com. Pre-sale tickets will be available to Citi card starting Wednesday, December 1, at 10 a.m. local time; visit CitiEntertainment.com for information.
Prior to the trek with Wilson, Chicago has a variety of other tour dates and concerts lined up this year and in 2022, including a new six-show Las Vegas residency at The Venetian Theatre this February.
Wilson recently released a new album titled At My Piano that features solo piano renditions of various Beach Boys classics.
In addition, the new documentary Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road was recently made available for purchase via digital video at Apple and Amazon Prime, and the film’s soundtrack also is out now. The album includes “Right Where I Belong,” a new collaboration song Brian recorded with My Morning Jacket‘s Jim James.
