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Tag: societal issues

  • 98-year-old woman and her daughter among 3 victims killed by New Mexico student who fired randomly, hitting cars and homes | CNN

    98-year-old woman and her daughter among 3 victims killed by New Mexico student who fired randomly, hitting cars and homes | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A 98-year-old woman and her 73-year-old daughter were among the three people killed by an 18-year-old high school student who roamed through his neighborhood Monday firing indiscriminately at homes and passersby in their vehicles, according to authorities in the northwestern New Mexico town of Farmington.

    In all, Beau Wilson shot nine people Monday morning before four Farmington police officers fatally shot him, police officials said at a Tuesday news conference.

    Gwendolyn Schofield, 98, and daughter Melody Ivie, 73, were killed in their vehicle and Shirley Volta, 79, who also was shot in a car, died at a hospital, according to authorities.

    Farmington Police Sgt. Rachel Discenza was wounded in the exchange of fire with the assailant and New Mexico State Police officer Andreas Stamatiadas was shot as he came to the scene.

    Four other wounded victims were hospitalized, but like the officers, have been released.

    “The amount of violence and brutality that these innocent people faced is something that is unconscionable to me. And I don’t care what age you are. I don’t care what else is going on in your life. To kill three innocent elderly women that were just absolutely in no position to defend themselves is always going to be a tragedy,” Farmington Deputy Chief Kyle Dowdy said Tuesday.

    Investigators are still working on a motive for the shooting, Dowdy said. Interviews with Wilson’s family indicated they had concerns about his mental health, but it was unknown whether Wilson had been diagnosed with any mental health issues, he added.

    The shooter only had “minor infractions” as a juvenile, so he was not on the radar of authorities, the deputy chief said.

    The gunman turned 18 in October 2022 and the next month purchased one of the three weapons used in the shooting, Dowdy said. The deputy chief said police believe the other weapons were legally owned by a family member and they are investigating how the shooter got them.

    One of the guns was an assault-style rifle – a weapon of choice among US mass shooters in recent, high-profile massacres, including the 2012 Sandy Hook school attack and a shooting in Uvalde, Texas, nearly a year ago that left 19 children and two teachers dead.

    The attack left Farmington “shaken to the core by an unthinkable incldent that robbed families of their loved ones,” Mayor Nate Duckett told reporters. It is the latest American city to experience the wider scourge of US gun violence that’s resulted in 225 mass shootings in the first 20 weeks of the year.

    The shooter walked through the neighborhood in this commercial hub near the Southwest’s Four Corners and “randomly fired at whatever entered his head to shoot at,” before police fatally shot him, Police Chief Steve Hebbe said in a video statement Monday night.

    “There were no schools, no churches, no individuals targeted,” he said.

    Dowdy said investigators have not seen a link between the assailant and the victims, but the shooter was staying at a residence in the neighborhood.

    Investigators are piecing together how the attack that left more than 150 shell casings over a “wide and complex scene” that spans more than a quarter of a mile unfolded, authorities said. The assailant fired at three vehicles and six houses, though none of the victims was in a residence.

    Dowdy said investigators were still at the scene and haven’t found all the shell casings it was unclear how many of those the gunman fired.

    Discenza, a patrol sergeant with 10 years at the department, was wearing body armor but was hit by a bullet in the pelvic region, police officials said.

    Stamatiadas was shot while driving to the scene, officials said, and drove himself to a medical facility, according to the chief. The mayor said both have been released from the hospital.

    The four civilians who were shot are no longer in the hospital, Farmington Deputy Chief Baric Crum said Tuesday,

    Five people were treated at the scene for injuries such as cuts from flying glass.

    The shooting was first recorded on a doorbell camera at 10:56 a.m. MT and then emergency dispatch received “hundreds” of calls for an active shooter, police said. Officers were dispatched one minute later, including three who on their way to lunch and responded without body armor.

    They arrived at 11:02 and four minutes later the officers killed the gunman, according to Dowdy. Farmington officers were the only law enforcement personnel who shot at the gunman, firing 16 rounds total, officials said.

    Wilson was a student at Farmington High School, which was set to have its graduation ceremony Tuesday evening.

    Authorities expect to hold another news conference Wednesday.

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  • North Carolina Democratic governor vetoes abortion ban, setting up likely override vote | CNN Politics

    North Carolina Democratic governor vetoes abortion ban, setting up likely override vote | CNN Politics

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a controversial bill that would ban most abortions after 12 weeks, setting up a likely override effort from the state legislature, where Republicans have a supermajority.

    Cooper’s swift veto comes just over a week after the Republican-controlled state Senate advanced the bill to his desk in a party-line vote.

    Speaking to a crowd of supporters at a rally in Raleigh before his veto, Cooper urged those gathered to put pressure on four state Republican lawmakers who had previously vowed to protect abortion rights to stand by their comments and not join any veto override.

    “We are going to have to kick it into an even higher gear when that veto stamp comes down. If just one Republican in either the House or the Senate keeps a campaign promise to protect women’s reproductive health we can stop this ban,” Cooper said at the Saturday rally. “But that’s going to take every single one of you to make calls, to send emails, to write letters. Tell them to sustain this veto. Tell them to ask the Republican leadership to stop it.”

    This is a breaking story and will be updated.

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  • Man shot 9 times by South Carolina deputies files lawsuit alleging ‘reckless’ use of deadly force during wellness check | CNN

    Man shot 9 times by South Carolina deputies files lawsuit alleging ‘reckless’ use of deadly force during wellness check | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A South Carolina man, who survived being shot nine times by York County sheriff’s deputies responding to a “wellness check” call about him being suicidal two years ago, claims in a recent lawsuit that he was talking with his mother in his pickup truck when officers approached them “like cowboys from a John Wayne movie.”

    Trevor Mullinax and his mother, Tammy Beason, allege that deputies immediately drew their weapons and used deadly force without trying to deescalate the situation and are suing York County and the sheriff’s department for gross negligence, among other claims.

    The lawsuit, filed Friday and obtained by CNN, claims, “Sheriff’s deputies were grossly negligent, willful, wanton, careless, and reckless in their use of deadly force towards Plaintiff Mullinax and Plaintiff Beason, the same causing irreparable and permanent physical, mental, and emotional injury to Plaintiffs.”

    Mullinax was charged with pointing and presenting a weapon – by the State Law Enforcement Division in relation to their investigation of the shooting. That charge is still pending.

    However, attorneys for Mullinax said that while he was “lawfully in possession of a hunting shotgun” inside the truck, “at no point prior to, during, or after Sheriff’s deputies began shooting did Plaintiff Mullinax raise, point, or otherwise move with a weapon in such a fashion as would authorized Sheriff’s deputies to use deadly force.”

    In several dash and body camera videos viewed by CNN, there is no mention of seeing a gun before deputies begin firing their weapons at Mullinax’s truck. However, body camera footage shows deputies after the shooting discussing seeing a “shotgun or rifle.” A deputy can be heard saying he found a weapon in the truck.

    CNN obtained bodycam footage showing deputies with their guns drawn, surrounding the pickup truck, and demanding to see Mullinax’s hands before firing. The video also shows Beason standing beside the truck, speaking with her son through the driver’s side window. Attorneys for the family say officers fired nearly 50 shots at close range as he suffered a mental health crisis, claiming their client was contemplating suicide. Beason can be heard screaming and crying as she’s put into handcuffs by deputies. Attorneys for the family also accuse deputies of failing to render immediate medical aid to Mullinax.

    The lawsuit notes that a shocked Beason “dove backward” to avoid the bullets that hit the vehicle.

    Two years after the May 7, 2021, incident, both mother and son are suing for undetermined damages.

    Justin Bamberg, an attorney for Mullinax, said during a news conference on Tuesday that Mullinax had been hit several times by bullets, including directly in the back of his head.

    “Almost 50 shots fired at somebody who was in need of help. A citizen who was in need of help,” said Bamberg.

    Mullinax, who was present at the news conference, acknowledged that the shooting was triggered by a mental health crisis.

    “I can tell you that it’s hard to believe in the police when they destroyed everything I believe in that day,” Tammy Beason said during the news conference. “It’s taken me a very long time to recover from that. I’m still recovering.”

    According to a recording of the 911 call, a friend of Mullinax had called emergency services with another friend on a three-way call to report Mullinax was having a mental health crisis and was potentially suicidal.

    “We’re just trying to get our buddy some help,” the friend said. They told the dispatcher that they suspected the crisis was, in part, sparked by Mullinax’s belief there was a burglary warrant out for his arrest due to an incident the previous night.

    The 911 caller explained to the dispatcher that Mullinax’s mother was out with him, and that their friend “had locked himself in his truck with a knife – and I say that because I don’t want him to hop out and get shot, I don’t know if that’s his plan.” The friends provided cell phone numbers for Mullinax and his mother so law enforcement could contact them.

    However, the complaint alleges that the 911 dispatcher did not provide the responding deputies with the cellphone numbers she was given for Mullinax or his mother.

    The filing said that when deputies arrived on scene, they found Mullinax’s grandfather at the house. Body camera video obtained by CNN shows the grandfather directing deputies to where he thought Mullinax could have been parked.

    The 911 dispatcher relayed information to deputies about Mullinax being suicidal and the warrant, but deputies who arrived at the home seemed focused on the outstanding warrant based on comments recorded on body camera videos.

    “He’s got to go to jail,” a deputy said to Mullinax’s grandfather.

    As they approach the truck in the distance, a deputy can be heard in one dash camera video observing out loud that there is “somebody standing right beside” the truck and that Mullinax can be seen inside.

    Body camera video shows deputies arriving, shouting “hands up” and “hands, hands” before opening fire on the truck, with Beason still standing there, all in less than 10 seconds time.

    Tammy Beason, Mullinax's mother, on May 9, 2023.

    Mullinax was life flighted to a hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina, for his injuries. Dashcam video shows it appears at least 14 minutes went by before aid for Mullinax was provided by emergency services. He was handcuffed and removed from the pickup truck after the shooting.

    Deputies handcuffed Beason immediately after the shooting. She can be seen on body camera video hysterically crying while begging to see her son.

    “I was trying to get him to go in, and he was talking to me finally. He was talking to me. Why did y’all come? I could have done this peacefully. I could have done this peacefully,” sobbed Beason to a deputy, who captured the interaction on his body camera.

    In a news conference on Wednesday, York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson said his agency had not been served with a lawsuit and that he felt “forced” to address the claims.

    “I feel forced to address this suit out of what I consider to be the proper venue and that’s the court,” Tolson said. “I’ve never held a press conference about litigation, litigation that I haven’t even been served with yet.”

    Tolson said that Mullinax had active arrest warrants through the York Police Department for a violent felony and malicious injury to personal property. Sheriff’s deputies’ claim that Mullinax pulled and pointed a weapon at them when they arrived following a request for a wellness check for Mullinax. He said all four deputies fired their weapons at Mullinax

    “Four deputies approached an individual wanted for a violent felony who was armed with a knife and experiencing mental distress. As those deputies approached, this individual pulled a shotgun. Fearing for their safety, these deputies discharged their weapons at the individual,” said Tolson, who also claimed that Mullinax’s mother corroborated the deputies’ claims that her son grabbed a weapon when law enforcement arrived on scene.

    An image taken from video released by the York County Sheriff's Office shows the scene moments before officers opened fire on Mullinax's truck with him inside and his mother, seen in red, standing beside it on May 7, 2021.

    In response to that claim from the sheriff, attorneys for Mullinax and Beason told CNN “on the day of the shooting, Tammy Beason did tell SLED investigators that Trevor grabbed the shotgun but did so when he saw deputies driving down Highway 324, not as officers pulled right up to the front of his truck.”

    Tolson also said the SLED investigation shows upon arriving at the hospital after being by deputies, Mullinax told medical personnel that he wanted to kill himself but then “decided to have the police do it.”

    Tolson denounced criticism against police officers for their handling of situations “that should not be the responsibility of law enforcement” and said more mental health resources are needed.

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  • 2 families lost multiple loved ones in the Texas outlet mall shooting | CNN

    2 families lost multiple loved ones in the Texas outlet mall shooting | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A family of four has become a family of one after a 6-year-old’s parents and brother were fatally shot by a gunman at a Texas outlet mall Saturday, a GoFundMe post by the family’s friends said.

    The Houston office of the South Korean Consulate confirmed Monday that three Korean Americans – husband Cho Kyu Song, 37, and wife, Kang Shin Young, 35, as well as one of their children – were killed in the shooting, according to the Dallas Morning News. The child’s name and age were not given.

    “Cindy, Kyu and three year old James were among those victims that tragically lost their lives and the family is in deep mourning,” a GoFundMe post read, written by friends of the family, referring to the family by their American names. “After being released from the ICU, their six year old son William is the only surviving member of this horrific event.”

    Eight people were shot dead and at least seven others wounded before the gunman was killed by an Allen police officer who was already at the retail center on an unrelated call, police said.

    It was one of more than 200 mass shootings in the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which like CNN defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are shot, not including the shooter. People going about their daily lives in schools, parks, grocery stores and medical buildings in communities big and small must now grapple with the trauma and grief that lingers when the shooting stops.

    Here’s what we know so far about those killed in the Texas shooting:

    The Cho family was at the mall for a day that should have been “filled with light, love and celebration,” but ended in tragedy, according to the GoFundMe campaign.

    William, who just celebrated his birthday, lost his mother, father and younger brother in the shooting, according to the post.

    Sisters Daniela and Sofia Mendoza were both elementary school students in the Wylie Independent School District, according to a letter sent to parents by the district.

    Daniela was in fourth grade and her sister was in second grade, the letter said. Their mother, Ilda Mendoza, is in the hospital in critical condition.

    “Words cannot express the sadness we feel as we grieve the loss of our students,” the letter reads. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the Mendoza family, the families of the victims, and all those affected by this senseless tragedy.”

    Cox Elementary School Principal Krista Wilson described the sisters as “rays of sunshine” in the letter.

    “Daniela and Sofia will not be forgotten,” the letter read. “Hug your kids, and tell them you love them.”

    The school district says it is not announcing the news to the students and is leaving it up to parents to have that conversation with their children. Counseling services are being offered for students, staff and families, the letter said.

    “Please hold the Mendoza family close to your heart. We know in times of tragedy, our community rallies around each other, and we will do all we can to support the family and friends of the precious students we lost.”

    Christian LaCour

    Christian LaCour was a well-liked security guard at the outlets.

    “Christian was a sweet, caring young man who was loved greatly by our family,” his sister Brianna Smith told CNN.

    The 20-year-old was “the kind of person who would just walk into the store and everyone in the room would light up because he was there,” said Max Weiss, a mall store employee.

    “Every time he was in the store, it felt safer,” Weiss added. “He brought laughter and joy and always knew what to say.”

    Aishwarya Thatikonda

    Aishwarya Thatikonda was killed while visiting the mall with a friend, CNN affiliate WFAA reported.

    Thatikonda was a few days away from turning 28, Ashok Kolla, a spokesperson with the Telugu Association of North America (TANA) told CNN. The organization helps the Telugu community in the United States.

    Family and friends described Thatikonda as a loving and hard-working person who was respected by co-workers, Kolla said.

    Thatikonda worked as an engineer, a family representative told WFAA.

    She moved to the United States about five years ago to pursue her master’s degree, Kolla said. She graduated with that degree from Eastern Michigan University in 2020.

    “We were deeply saddened to learn this morning that an Eastern Michigan University graduate, Aishwarya Thatikonda, was among those killed in Saturday’s shooting at a mall outside of Dallas, Texas,” the university said in a statement. “Aishwarya graduated from Eastern in Dec. 2020 with a Master of Science in construction management.”

    “As the nation has to once again grapple with a senseless act of gun violence, we share our condolences with Aishwarya’s family and friends,” the school added. “She will forever be remembered as a strong Eastern Michigan University Eagle.”

    Thatikonda lived in McKinney, but her family is mourning her loss from their home in India.

    The family plans to have her body sent to India, Kolla said.

    CNN has reached out to the consulate general of India in Houston for more information.

    In a statement released Monday, the Texas Department of Public Safety also identified 32-year-old Elio Cumana-Rivas as a victim in the massacre.

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  • Attorneys for Trump and E. Jean Carroll dispute character and evidence in closing arguments of civil rape trial | CNN Politics

    Attorneys for Trump and E. Jean Carroll dispute character and evidence in closing arguments of civil rape trial | CNN Politics

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    E. Jean Carroll’s civil battery and defamation trial against Donald Trump neared a close Monday with closing arguments as her attorney told a federal jury in New York that no one is above the law, while Trump’s lawyer said not to hold any negative feelings about the former president against him.

    “In this country, even the most powerful person can be held accountable in court,” said attorney Roberta Kaplan. “No one, not even a former president, is above the law.”

    Trump attorney Joe Tacopina said he knows Trump is a divisive figure, but that shouldn’t matter to jurors when reaching a verdict.

    “People have very strong feelings about Donald Trump. That’s obvious,” Tacopina said. “There’s a time and a secret place to do that: it’s called a ballot box during an election.”

    “They want you to hate him enough to ignore the facts,” Tacopina added. “All objective evidence cuts against her.”

    Trump asked about infamous ‘Access Hollywood’ tape in deposition. See his reaction

    Carroll, a former magazine columnist, alleges Trump raped her in the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the spring of 1996 and then defamed her when he denied her claim, said she wasn’t his type and suggested she made up the story to boost sales of her book. Trump has denied all wrongdoing.

    Attorneys for Carroll and Trump rested their respective cases last Thursday. Carroll’s legal team put on 11 witnesses in her case, including the writer herself, over seven trial days. Trump did not put on a defense and ultimately opted not to testify, as is his right.

    Kaplan pointed out that Trump didn’t attend the trial, even though clips from his deposition were shown.

    “And you only saw him on video. He didn’t even bother to show up here in person,” Kaplan said.

    Carroll’s attorney showed clips of Trump’s video deposition taken last October including a moment where Trump mistook Carroll for his ex-wife. This shows, Kaplan said, that Carroll “was exactly his type.”

    Tacopina stressed that the former president did not need to appear in court to testify in his own defense.

    “How do you prove a negative?” Tacopina asked. “Challenging the story is our defense. There are no witnesses for us to call. There’s no witness for us to call because he was not there, it didn’t happen.”

    Tacopina said Trump did not defame Carroll when he denied her false accusations on social media. Trump’s lawyer told jurors not be confused by the verdict form when they see it. “If there’s no rape, there’s no defamation. There was no sexual assault and there was no defamation, they go hand in hand.”

    The jury again saw the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape and heard Trump describe how he aggressively moves on women without their consent because they let you “when you’re a star.”

    Trump revealed his “playbook” for handling women on the tape when he thought no one was listening, Kaplan said. “Telling you in his very own words how he treats women.”

    According to Kaplan, Trump and his lawyers want the jury to believe Carroll and the other witnesses in her case are a part of a huge “hoax” to take down the former president. “The big lie,” Kaplan called it.

    “There is only one person here who is lying and that person is Donald Trump,” Kaplan said.

    In order to side with Trump’s defense, “You’d need to conclude that Donald Trump, the nonstop liar, is the only person in this room telling the truth.”

    Tacopina responded by criticizing Trump’s language on the tape but said the crude nature still doesn’t make Carroll’s allegations true.

    “They’re trying to take parts of Donald Trump that you dislike or even hate,” Tacopina said. “You can think Donald Trump is a rude and crude person and that her story makes no sense. Both of those things can be true.”

    Carroll’s attorney also showed the jury a chart mapping how allegations from Carroll, Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff reveal a pattern of aggressive behavior. In each woman’s testimony at trial they described how Trump first engaged them in a semipublic place, then allegedly grabbed them suddenly, then later denied the allegations and said “she is too ugly for anyone to assault,” Kaplan said.

    Trump has denied Leeds’ and Stoynoff’s allegations against him.

    “Three different women, decades apart, but one single pattern of behavior. What happened to Ms. Carroll is not unique in that respect. Trump’s physical attacks and verbal attacks are his standard operational procedure,” Kaplan said.

    The jury in this case can award Carroll damages if they believe her account.

    “For E. Jean Carroll this lawsuit is not about the money,” Kaplan said. “It’s about getting her good name back.”

    “I’m not going to stand here and tell you how much you should award E. Jean Carroll in damages. What is the price for decades of living alone without companionship? No one to cook dinner with, no one to walk your dog with, no one to watch TV with. And feeling for decades that you’re dirty and unworthy,” Kaplan said. “I’m not going to put a number on that.”

    Responding in his closing, Tacopina accused Carroll of fabricating her rape allegations to sell her book and make money.

    “She’s abused this system, bringing false claims for, amongst other things, money, status, and political reasons,” Tacopina told the jury. “You cannot let her profit to the tune of millions of dollars for her abuse of this process.”

    District Judge Lewis Kaplan (no relation to Roberta Kaplan) is expected to instruct and charge the jury to begin deliberations on Tuesday.

    This story has been updated with additional developments.

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  • Iran executes two people convicted of blasphemy | CNN

    Iran executes two people convicted of blasphemy | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Iran hanged two people on Monday who had been sentenced to death for blasphemy, according to the judiciary news agency Mizan.

    Yusef Mehrdad and Sadrullah Fazeli Zare were arrested in May 2020 and sentenced to death in April 2021 for running online “anti-Islam groups and channels,” Mizan said.

    Authorities convicted both after they were found to be members of a Telegram channel titled “Critique of Superstition and Religion,” according to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.

    Members of the Telegram channel allegedly shared opinions insulting Islam. One member allegedly said that they set religious books on fire, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom claimed. Iran’s state-run AlAlam said Mehrdad was filmed burning the Quran.

    Zare and Mehrdad were denied family visits and phone calls for eight months after their arrest. Mehrdad reportedly went on hunger strike in February 2022 to protest the authorities’ refusal to allow him to make phone calls, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom said.

    United Nations experts have previously called on Iran to stop the persecution of religious minorities, under what they described as a policy of targeting dissenting beliefs and religious practices, including Christian converts and atheists.

    “Such state-sanctioned intolerance furthers extremism and violence. We call on the Iranian authorities to de-criminalize blasphemy and take meaningful steps to ensure the right to freedom of religion or belief,” the experts said in a statement published in August.

    The executions come days after the execution of a dual Swedish-Iranian national, Habib Chaab, who was convicted for leading a national Arab separatist group accused of attacks in Iran.

    A joint report issued by the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and the France-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) revealed at least 582 executions were carried out last year – a 75% increase from the previous year.

    It was the highest number of executions in the Islamic republic since 2015, according to the report released last month.

    The report found there was a “surge” of executions in Iran following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody in September. Amini’s death sparked a months-long national uprising, which was eventually quashed by a brutal police crackdown.

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  • Tiger Woods is accused of sexual harassment by ex-girlfriend, according to court document | CNN

    Tiger Woods is accused of sexual harassment by ex-girlfriend, according to court document | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Erica Herman, who was a longtime girlfriend of professional golfer Tiger Woods, has accused the 15-time major champion of sexual harassment, according to a court filing by Herman’s attorney in Florida on Friday.

    Woods is accused of pursuing a sexual relationship with Herman while she worked for him and then forcing her to sign a non-disclosure agreement or she’d be fired from her job, according to the document.

    Herman was an employee at his South Florida restaurant, The Woods Jupiter, at the time.

    “Tiger Woods, the internationally renowned athlete and one of the most powerful figures in global sports, decided to pursue a sexual relationship with his employee, then – according to him – forced her to sign an NDA about it or else be fired from her job,” the Friday court document said. “And, when he became disgruntled with their sexual relationship, he tricked her into leaving her home, locked her out, took her cash, pets, and personal possessions, and tried to strong-arm her into signing a different NDA.”

    “A boss imposing different work conditions on his employee because of their sexual relationship is sexual harassment,” Herman’s attorney Benjamin Hobas states in the filing.

    CNN reached out to Woods’ representatives for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

    The document also alleges a “scheme” used against Herman last year where Woods asked her to pack for a weekend getaway to the Bahamas. She was allegedly driven to the airport and then was asked to speak to Woods’ attorney.

    “Then, Mr. Woods’s California lawyer, out of the blue, told her that she was not going anywhere, would never see Mr. Woods again, had been locked out of the house, and could not return,” the document said. “She would not even be able to see the children or her pets again.”

    Herman was asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement, which she refused to do, according to the document.

    Herman has brought two separate complaints involving Woods in the past year.

    The first, filed in October 2022, alleges a trust owned and created by the golf star violated the Florida Residential Landlord Tenant Act by breaking her oral tenancy agreement to continue living in Woods’ home.

    As part of that suit, a trustee of Woods’ trust, Christopher Hubman, has asked the court to order Herman to arbitrate her claims pursuant to an arbitration provision in a non-disclosure agreement she signed in 2017.

    In an earlier briefing, Herman cited a statute that says plaintiffs in sexual harassment or assault disputes cannot be compelled to arbitrate those claims.

    The most recent suit, filed in March, Herman argues the 2017 agreement is not enforceable in part because of a new federal law invalidating arbitration clauses in sexual assault or sexual harassment cases.

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  • Key moments from the video of Trump’s deposition in E. Jean Carroll trial released to the public | CNN Politics

    Key moments from the video of Trump’s deposition in E. Jean Carroll trial released to the public | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The video deposition of Donald Trump played before the jury in the E. Jean Carroll civil battery and defamation trial was made public Friday, showing the former president discussing the accusations against him, the “Access Hollywood” tape and the Russia “hoax.”

    In the video, Trump confirms that he made the allegedly defamatory statements denying knowing Carroll, calling her allegations that he raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman’s dressing room in the mid-1990s a “hoax,” and saying she is not his type.

    He also tells Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, that she, too, is not his type. And many times during the deposition, he calls Carroll a series of names, including “nut job,” a “whack job” and “mentally sick.”

    The edited deposition runs for nearly an hour. Trump was interviewed in October 2022. He denies all allegations against him.

    Here are key moments from the deposition as reviewed by CNN:

    At one point, Trump is shown a black and white photograph that includes Carroll, but mistakes her for his second wife, Marla Maples. Holding the photo, he points at it and says, “That’s Marla, that’s my wife.”

    After his attorney, Alina Habba, intervenes, Trump says the photo is blurry.

    KAPLAN: You have in front of you a black and white photograph that we’ve marked as DJT 23. And I’m going to ask you, is this the photo that you were just referring to?

    TRUMP: I think so, yes.

    KAPLAN: And do you recall when you first saw this photo?

    TRUMP: At some point during the process, I saw it. That’s I guess her husband, John Johnson, who was an anchor for ABC, nice guy, I thought, I mean, I don’t know him but I thought he was pretty good at what he did. I don’t even know who the woman. Let’s see, I don’t know who – it’s Marla.

    KAPLAN: You’re saying Marla’s in this photo?

    TRUMP: That’s Marla, yeah. That’s, that’s my wife.

    KAPLAN: Which woman are you pointing to?

    TRUMP: Here

    HABBA: No, that’s Carroll.

    TRUMP: [inaudible] Oh I see.

    KAPLAN: The person you just pointed to is E. Jean Carroll.

    TRUMP: Who’s that, who’s this?

    HABBA: [inaudible] That’s your wife.

    KAPLAN: And the person, the woman on the right is your then-wife –.

    TRUMP: I don’t know, this was the picture. I assume that’s John Johnson. Is that –.

    HABBA: That’s Carroll.

    TRUMP: – Carroll, because it’s very blurry.

    Since Carroll came forward in 2019, Trump has repeatedly denied her allegations, often saying that she is “not my type.” Here, Kaplan asks Trump about a June 24, 2019, interview with The Hill, where the president used that phrase.

    KAPLAN: One of the other things that you said about Ms. Carroll at the time appears in your June 24 statement, which is DJT 22. And what you said there is, “I’ll say it with great respect. Number one, she’s not my type.” When you said that Ms. Carroll was not your type, you meant that she was not your type physically, right?

    TRUMP: I saw her in a picture. I didn’t know what she looked like. And I said it, and I say it with as much respect as I can, but she is not my type.

    After more back and forth with Trump repeating the claim, Kaplan ended the exchange:

    KAPLAN: I take it the three women you’ve married are all your type?

    TRUMP: Yeah.

    The former president continued insulting Carroll in denying her allegations.

    TRUMP: I still don’t know this woman. I think she’s a whack job. I have no idea. I don’t know anything about this woman other than what I read in stories and what I hear. I know, I know nothing about her.

    …

    TRUMP: She said that I did something to her that never took place. There was no anything. I know nothing about this nut job.

    Trump appears the most agitated on the video when he denies the rape allegation, saying it is “the worst thing you can do. The worst charge.” He also says that he has a right to defend himself, and asks why, if he is insulted, he can’t insult someone back.

    Kaplan later asked Trump about a Truth Social post from October 12, 2022, where, among other things, he says, “And, while I am not supposed to say it, I will. This woman is not my type!”

    KAPLAN: Okay, then you go on to say in the statement, “And while I’m not supposed to say it, I will.” Why were you not supposed to say it?

    TRUMP: Because it’s not politically correct to say – read the next, go ahead, that she’s not my type. Yeah, because it’s not politically correct to say it, and I know that, but I’ll say it anyway. She’s accusing me of rape. A woman that I have no idea who she is. It came out of the blue. She’s accusing me of rape, of raping her. The worst thing you can do, the worst charge. And, and you know, you know it’s not true too. You’re a political operative also. You’re, you’re a disgrace. But she’s accusing me, and so are you, of rape, and it never took place. And I will tell you, I made that statement. And I said, well, it’s politically incorrect. She’s not my type. And that’s 100% true. She’s not my type.

    trump ireland

    New video shows Trump talking to reporters about E. Jean Carroll trial

    The deposition includes an exchange between Trump and Carroll’s attorneys about his frequent use of the word “hoax.”

    KAPLAN: Now, in your Truth Social statement on October 12, you use the word hoax. Specifically, you say, “It is a hoax and a lie just like all the other hoaxes that have been played on me for the past seven years.” Do you see that?

    TRUMP: Yeah.

    KAPLAN: Recall making that statement? And I take it what you’re saying there is Ms. Carroll fabricated her claim that you sexually assaulted her, correct?

    TRUMP: Yes, totally. 100%.

    KAPLAN: Fair to say, you’d agree with me, would you not, that you use the term hoax quite a lot?

    TRUMP: Yes, I do.

    KAPLAN: CNN reported that you used it more than 250 times in 2020. Does that sound right?

    TRUMP: Could be. I’ve had a lot of hoaxes played on me. This is one of them.

    KAPLAN: And how would, how would you define the word hoax?

    TRUMP: A fake story. A false story. A made up story.

    KAPLAN: Something that’s not true.

    TRUMP: Something that’s not true. Yes.

    KAPLAN: Sitting here today can you recall what else you have referred to as a hoax?

    TRUMP: Sure. The Russia Russia Russia hoax, it’s been proven to be a hoax. Ukraine Ukraine Ukraine hoax. The Mueller situation for two and a half years hoax – ended and no collusion. It was a whole big hoax. The lying to the FISA court hoax; the lying to Congress many times hoax by all these people, this scum that we have in our country; lying to Congress hoax; the spying on my campaign hoax. They spied on my campaign and now they admitted that was another hoax, and I could get a whole list of them. And this is a hoax too.

    KAPLAN: This, when you say this and that –.

    TRUMP: This ridiculous situation that we’re doing right now, it’s a big fat hoax. She’s a liar and she’s a sick person in my opinion, really sick. Something wrong with her.

    As the exchange continues, Kaplan asks Trump about his having called voting by mail a “hoax.” Trump acknowledges both that he said that and has, in fact, voted by mail himself.

    KAPLAN: Okay, in addition to the Russia Russia Russia hoax, the Ukraine Ukraine Ukraine hoax, the Mueller the Mueller or Mueller hoax, the lying to FISA hoax, the lying to Congress hoax, and the spying on your campaign hoax. Isn’t it true that you also referred to the use of mail in ballots as a hoax?

    TRUMP: Yeah, I do. I do. I think they’re very dishonest, mail in ballots, very dishonest.

    KAPLAN: And isn’t it true that you yourself have voted by mail?

    TRUMP: I do. I do. Sometimes I do. But I don’t know what happens to it once you, once you give it, I have no idea.

    Trump was also asked to react to the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape.

    He repeated his admonition that the exchange with Billy Bush captured on the videotape was “locker room talk,” and said it was historically something that stars – including himself – could get away with “fortunately or unfortunately.”

    KAPLAN: And you say – and again this has become very famous – in this video, ‘“I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p*ssy. You can do anything.” That’s what you said. Correct?

    TRUMP: Well, historically, that’s true with stars.

    KAPLAN: It’s true with stars that they can grab women by the p*ssy?

    TRUMP: Well, that’s what, if you look over the last million years I guess that’s been largely true. Not always, but largely true. Unfortunately or fortunately.

    KAPLAN: And you consider yourself to be a star?

    TRUMP: I think you can say that. Yeah.

    KAPLAN: And now you said before, a couple of minutes ago, that this was just locker room talk.

    TRUMP: It’s locker room talk.

    KAPLAN: And so does that mean that you didn’t really mean it?

    TRUMP: No, it’s locker room talk. I don’t know. It’s just the way people talk.

    Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff both testified during the trial about times they say they were sexually assaulted by Trump, who has denied the accounts. Neither woman is a party to the Carroll litigation.

    Stoynoff said Trump forcibly kissed her on December 27, 2005, during a photoshoot and interview session at Mar-a-Lago for People magazine. A story on the Trumps was eventually published in 2006, and Stoynoff went public with her allegations during the 2016 presidential campaign.

    Trump addressed the claims during his deposition.

    KAPLAN: Okay, now, are you familiar with someone by the name of Natasha Stoynoff?

    TRUMP: No. You’ll have to give me a little bit of a background.

    KAPLAN: Do you remember she wrote about you a lot when she worked at People Magazine?

    TRUMP: Oh I do remember there was some woman that wrote and then she, a long time later, I think she wrote a wonderful story. And then a long time later, as I remember it, a long time later, she said that I was aggressive with her. But she wrote the most beautiful story. And then all of a sudden, like, is it a year or two years later, she comes out with this phony story. That I was aggress-, I said, well, why would she have written such a good story for People Magazine, she wrote a really nice piece. And then all of a sudden, like, you know, years or months, many months later, she came up with this phony charge.

    Leeds, a woman who has claimed Trump sexually assaulted her while sitting in first class on an airplane in the late 1970s, also testified. Trump again denied the claims in his deposition.

    TRUMP: This woman made up a story, just like your client made it up. Just made up a story having to do with sitting me and sitting next to me in an airplane. And I mean, I’ll have to read this again, but that story was so false, also. But this was, I guess, making out as opposed to what your client said. This story was so false. This is a disgrace also.

    This story has been updated with additional developments.

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  • Montana governor signs slate of bills restricting abortion rights | CNN Politics

    Montana governor signs slate of bills restricting abortion rights | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Montana Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed on Wednesday a collection of bills restricting access to abortion, triggering legal action and challenging a 1999 state Supreme Court ruling on the procedure.

    While abortion remains legal in Montana, the legislation specifies that access to the procedure until viability is no longer protected under the right of privacy in the state’s constitution – contradicting the court’s two decades old ruling.

    “For years in Montana, abortion activists have used the cloak of a shaky legal interpretation to advance their pro-abortion agenda. That stops today,” Gianforte said in a statement Wednesday, describing the new laws as “giving a voice to the voiceless.”

    The restrictions come as states navigate a new abortion landscape in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade last year, which removed federal abortion protections. Several Republican-led states have enacted restrictions, while some Democratic-led states have passed legislation expanding access to their residents and those seeking care from other states.

    One of the new laws Gianforte signed Wednesday establishes a “right of conscience” that allows health care providers or institutions to refuse to perform abortions if it violates their “ethical, moral, or religious beliefs or principles.”

    Another bill, HB625, signed by Gianforte Wednesday, requires health care providers, in the rare case a baby is born alive after an attempted abortion, to give care to the infant or face fines and imprisonment. However, it is already considered homicide in the US to intentionally kill an infant that is born alive.

    While Gianforte said that the slate of “pro-family, pro-child, pro-life bills will make a lasting difference in Montana,” Democrats and abortion rights advocates argue that the new laws add “unnecessary” provisions to restrict access.

    Abortion rights advocates secured a preliminary victory Thursday, with a Montana judge temporarily blocking one measure, HB575, that would require a patient to have an ultrasound and get a written determination of viability from a provider in order to get an abortion.

    The state’s Planned Parenthood chapter had filed an emergency relief request Wednesday after the provision took effect, arguing that requiring an ultrasound before a procedure effectively bans telehealth medication abortion. Such procedures have surged since the Supreme Court’s ruling on abortion last summer.

    “Instead of trusting us to make our own decisions about our bodies and lives, Montana lawmakers are once again forcing their way into our exam rooms and blocking our access to essential health care,” said Martha Fuller, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Montana.

    “By adding unnecessary and burdensome red tape to a safe and legal medical procedure, these politicians have made clear that it was never about our health and safety,” Fuller said in a statement Wednesday. “It was always about undermining our personal freedom and shaming people who seek abortions.”

    This move is one of several legal battles related to reproductive rights playing out in state and federal courts. Near-total abortion bans in Indiana and Ohio remain in limbo after judges issued orders halting the restrictions.

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  • GOP frontrunner for NC governor mocked school shooting survivors and once justified shooting protesters | CNN Politics

    GOP frontrunner for NC governor mocked school shooting survivors and once justified shooting protesters | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the current Republican favorite to be the party’s nominee for governor in 2024, has a long history of remarks viciously mocking and attacking teenage survivors of the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, for their advocacy for gun control measures.

    In posts after the shooting, Robinson called the students “spoiled, angry, know it all CHILDREN,” “spoiled little bastards,” and “media prosti-tots.”

    Robinson, whose political rise as a conservative Internet personality started when a clip of him speaking at a city council meeting in April 2018 went viral, as he was speaking against a proposal to cancel a local gun show after the Parkland shooting. He also began attacking the Parkland survivors after they launched the “March for Our Lives” movement that called for new gun control measures, comparing the students to communists.

    Robinson’s comments about the school shooting survivors were frequently personal, mocking their appearance and intelligence. In one post on Facebook, Robinson shared a photo of several students posing for photos, with the caption, “the look you get when you let the devil give you a ride on a river of blood to ’15 minutes of Fameville.’”

    In another comment on Twitter in April of 2018, Robinson shared several crying laughing emojis in response to a post that blasted conservatives who mocked the survivors, writing that when children “got sassy,” adults needed to make sure the “CHILDREN knew their place.”

    Robinson did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

    As Robinson became known for his fierce defense of gun rights, he was frequently featured in videos and promoted by the National Rifle Association. Robinson leveraged his often viral and unapologetic Facebook posts to win his party’s nomination for the state’s lieutenant governorship in 2020, winning the race to become the state’s first Black lieutenant governor.

    Though the position is largely considered a ceremonial role – and the state has a Democratic governor because the jobs are elected separately – Robinson has now set his sights on the top job. Roy Cooper, the current Democratic governor, is term-limited, and Robinson would likely face Josh Stein, the state’s attorney general, a Democrat finishing out his second term.

    CNN’s KFile examined his mostly unreported remarks, as the candidate is coming under renewed scrutiny in his bid for the governor’s mansion. Robinson, who frequently posted in defense of law enforcement, often attacked left wing protesters, going so far as defending the shooting of students at Kent State protesting the Vietnam War in May 1970, commonly known as the “Kent State Massacre.”

    Robinson said such a response deserved to be emulated today.

    “The shooting that happened at Kent State now, I don’t know how much you know about that shooting at Kent State, but people have got to understand it,” Robinson said on one podcast in 2018. “We have the constitutional right to peacefully assemble. Now peacefully assemble does not mean you could throw bricks at National Guardsmen, bust out windows and block traffic. Once you cross that line into violence and the disruption of public transportation and public services and start blocking the entrances of a federal building, you are no longer a protester.”

    “You are are now a criminal and you need to be dealt with like a criminal,” he continued. “And we need some politicians in office in some of these cities that’s gonna let people know from the get-go, you go in the street and block traffic, if you block buildings, if you destroy property, you are going to be dealt with swiftly and harshly. We are not going to tolerate it. That is exactly the message that needs to go out to these people. You wanna apply for a permit to protest at the park, that’s fine, but it’s gonna be peaceful and you’re not going to bother anybody, and you’re not going to destroy anything. If you do, you will be dealt with harshly and swiftly.”

    Though there were violent clashes between local police and protesters in the days leading up to the shooting, the Nixon administration-established President’s Commission on Campus Unrest said that the shooting was unjustified, writing in a 1970 report, “Even if the guardsmen faced danger, it was not a danger that called for lethal force. The 61 shots by 28 guardsmen certainly cannot be justified.”

    Robinson was also frequently critical of the “March for Our Lives” rally itself, calling it, “a march of pawns in Washington today” and mocked attendees.

    One photo shared by Robinson mocked an attendee at the “March for Our Lives” rally in Washington, DC, saying the college-aged student needed to “put that sign down and go read a book dummy” and “They live. They breathe. They’ll procreate. #funnybutscary.”

    His harshest rhetoric was saved for then-18-year-old Parkland activist David Hogg, calling the student a “commie stooge,” in a post that also mocked 18-year-old Parkland student X Gonzáles as “that bald chick,” referring to the pair as “stupid kids.”

    In another post on Facebook, less than two weeks after the shooting in 2018, Robinson shared the laughing crying emoji with a photoshopped chyron on a picture of Hogg on MSNBC with the title “Media Hogg,” and a day later shared a crude photoshop of the student’s face on body of Boss Hogg from “The Dukes of Hazzard” calling the student “just as corrupt as the TV character.”

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  • 21-year-old former UC Davis student arrested in connection with series of stabbings near campus, police say | CNN

    21-year-old former UC Davis student arrested in connection with series of stabbings near campus, police say | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A 21-year-old former student at the University of California, Davis, has been arrested in connection with three stabbings that occurred near the campus within the span of five days, leaving two people dead and the community in fear, the city’s police chief said Thursday.

    Carlos Dominguez, 21, was arrested on two counts of homicide and one count of attempted murder, Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel said during a Thursday news conference.

    “At this point we believe that all three (stabbings) are connected and we have evidence and information that they are and have one person responsible,” the chief said, linking the three attacks for the first time.

    The latest attack happened Monday night near campus and left a woman in critical condition. Just days before, stabbings at two different parks near campus claimed the lives of UC Davis senior Karim Abou Najm on Saturday and 50-year-old David Breaux on Thursday.

    Dominguez was a third-year student at the university until April 25, when he was “separated for academic reasons,” UC Davis said in a news release.

    He was initially taken into custody Wednesday for possessing a large knife and was placed under arrest earlier on Thursday in connection to the stabbings, Pytel said.

    The university is working with law enforcement to “provide access to any and all information as part of the investigation,” its news release said.

    Police are conducting a search warrant at a house where Dominguez lived with several roommates and where it appears he had been in between the stabbings, Pytel said. The roommates have been interviewed, he added.

    Officials believe Dominguez is from Oakland, but they are still working to learn more, Pytel said. He is being held at the Yolo County Jail while the district attorney reviews the investigation to determine any final charging decisions, the chief said.

    About 15 people called police Wednesday afternoon to report someone matching the suspect description from the third attack near Sycamore Park, where the second stabbing occurred, Pytel said.

    One of the callers followed the individual and led law enforcement officers directly to him, the chief said.

    The suspect was wearing the same clothing described by a witness to the third attack and appeared to have “some physical evidence on him that might be part of the investigation,” Pytel said.

    In his backpack, law enforcement found “a large knife that was consistent with the one we were looking for based on evidence from the first homicide,” which led to his arrest, the chief added.

    Detectives interviewed Dominguez for “many hours” following the arrest, Pytel said. He described Dominguez’s demeanor as “reserved.”

    The suspect was “compliant during the entire process,” the chief said, adding that the motive remains under investigation. He did not offer further details on what Dominguez said to police.

    Pytel said the evidence collected included “blood evidence and fibers and other types of trace evidence.”

    The days leading up to Dominguez’s arrest saw the college community on edge, with officials ramping up security measures and urging students to be ultra-vigilant.

    Police patrols on campus and around the city increased, classes were rescheduled or went virtual and the university expanded its Safe Rides program, which provides students with transportation to other campus locations or within the city from 8 p.m. – two hours earlier than its previous starting time – until 3 a.m.

    Elaine Lu, a recent graduate of UC Davis, was visiting campus earlier this week and said the town had always felt safe – until these attacks.

    “This kind of thing never happened before. After this murder, everyone is going to be so intimidated about it. I hope the school can improve their safety,” Lu told CNN Tuesday.

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  • Eight killed in fire at Czech cabin used by homeless people as shelter | CNN

    Eight killed in fire at Czech cabin used by homeless people as shelter | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Eight people have died in the city of Brno, the Czech Republic, after a large fire broke out early on Thursday in a structure thought to be used as a shelter by homeless people, Czech police said.

    Six men and two women were killed after the fire engulfed several mobile cabins near a residential complex in Brno, the second largest Czech city, police said.

    The police said that initial investigation suggests the people became trapped inside the cabins, unable to find their way out because of heavy smoke.

    “According to the owner, the building was empty as of yesterday afternoon, but homeless people were using it as a shelter to sleep in,” the police said in a statement.

    The cabins were used as a dormitory for construction workers in the past, but have been abandoned for some time. The police said the structure was slated for demolition and the people who were caught in the blaze entered it “without authorization.”

    The Fire Rescue Service of the South Moravian Region said in a statement that the fire has been extinguished as of Thursday morning.

    “This is a huge human tragedy that cannot leave anyone untouched. Big thank you to the firefighters who bravely fought the flames,” Brno’s mayor Markéta Vaňková said in a statement.

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  • Texas massacre suspect’s longtime partner is accused of helping him get food, clothes and transportation while he was on the run | CNN

    Texas massacre suspect’s longtime partner is accused of helping him get food, clothes and transportation while he was on the run | CNN

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    Coldspring, Texas
    CNN
     — 

    The longtime partner of the man accused of gunning down five people, including a 9-year-old, in a neighboring Texas home apparently helped the suspect while also cooperating with authorities – all while a massive manhunt was underway – a prosecutor said Wednesday.

    The suspected gunman, Mexican national Francisco Oropesa, was caught Tuesday and faces one count of first-degree felony murder – with four more counts expected – after the mass shooting Friday night, San Jacinto County criminal district attorney Todd Dillon said. The charge could be upgraded to capital murder – a death penalty offense in Texas – a source with his office told CNN.

    Oropesa’s longtime partner, Divimara Lamar Nava, faces a charge of hindering apprehension or prosecution of a known felon, a third-degree felony, online sheriff’s records show. She was booked Wednesday; It’s not clear if she has an attorney or when her court appearance will be.

    “Ms. Nava appeared to be cooperating up until the time that we arrested her,” Dillon said. However, “what we believe that Ms. Nava was doing is that she was providing him with material aid and encouragement, food, clothes, and had arranged transport to this house.”

    Nava was arrested at the same Montgomery County location where Oropesa was found Tuesday evening hidden in a closet under a pile of laundry, according to case records and San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers. Law enforcement had tracked her to the home, associated with a relative of Oropesa, a law enforcement source told CNN, about a 20-minute drive west of where the shooting unfolded in Cleveland, northwest of Houston.

    The district attorney, like other officials, has referred to Nava as the suspected killer’s “wife,” though public records suggest she is not married. “I don’t know if it’s common-law (marriage), or they’ve actually in fact been married,” Dillon said. “But they were living together as husband and wife.”

    FOLLOW LIVE UPDATES

    A man suspected of assisting Oropesa also is in custody in the San Jacinto County jail, the district attorney said. He’s being held on a possession of marijuana charge, and “we expect there to be more charges filed,” Dillon said.

    “Several arrests” have been made in connection with the slayings, and “others are hinging on what’s going on right now,” Chief Deputy Tim Kean of the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday morning. Fewer than five people have been arrested beyond Oropesa, he said.

    The massacre is among more than 180 US mass shootings this year.

    The manhunt had stretched from the US South into Mexico.

    Oropesa, 38, is accused of gunning down five people Friday night after he was asked to stop firing his rifle outside near his neighbor’s home.

    Wilson Garcia, whose wife and son were killed, and two others had asked Oropesa to shoot on the other side of his property because the gunfire was waking Garcia’s baby, he told CNN. The suspect refused and soon unleashed gunfire into the home where Garcia’s family and friends were gathered, he said.

    The victims – all Honduran nationals – have been identified as Garcia’s wife, Sonia Argentina Guzman, 25, and her son Daniel Enrique Laso-Guzman, 9; Diana Velázquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31, and José Jonathan Cásarez, 18.

    Authorities are waiting to learn whether the mass shooting weapon has been recovered. “As of now, we may have the weapon, but we have to wait for ballistics (testing),” Kean said at a news conference.

    Authorities now have 90 days to indict Oropesa, and the Mexican consulate will be formally notified Wednesday of his circumstances, a law enforcement source involved said.

    At least four times since 2009, Oropesa had entered the US unlawfully and been deported, according to an ICE source. An immigration judge first removed him in March 2009 before he was deported again in September 2009, January 2012 and July 2016, the source said.

    It’s unclear how long Oropesa had been in the US before last week’s attack. He and Nava have been together for about 12 years and share a home and a child, a source who knows the family told CNN, though they are not legally married. The woman in the Montgomery County booking photo is Nava, the source confirmed.

    In the end, it was information submitted through the FBI’s tip line that pointed investigators to the home where Oropesa was discovered, FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul said Tuesday night.

    Federal, state and local authorities had devoted considerable resources to hunting for the fugitive, including a collective $80,000 reward for information leading to his arrest and more than 200 law enforcement officers on the case, officials have said.

    Officials’ efforts may have been stymied by a lack of trust in law enforcement. Some Latinos, particularly immigrants, fear contact with law enforcement could lead to questions about their immigration status and lead to deportation, they told CNN.

    After initial leads on Oropesa went cold over the weekend, authorities pleaded for tips – which eventually came in from Texas, Wyoming, Florida, Maryland and Oklahoma, the sheriff said.

    “We just want to thank the person who had the courage and bravery to call in the suspect’s location,” Paul said.

    It’s not clear if law enforcement had tracked Oropesa’s wife to the home before or after the tip was sent to the FBI.

    Once they had zeroed in on the house, members of the Texas Department of Public Safety, US Marshals Service and US Customs and Border Patrol’s tactical unit, known as BORTAC, entered the home and brought the suspect into custody, an FBI Houston spokesperson said.

    Evelyn Echeverria, 16, had been lying in bed around 6 p.m. when she heard helicopters flying above her home, she told CNN.

    “I headed out and saw a lot of cops and maybe 20 minutes later they came out with him,” said Echeverria, who took video of the apprehension. “He came out handcuffed. He looked like he was cooperating with the officers.”

    Officers led Oropesa through the yard of a house, then gathered around him as he sat in a law enforcement vehicle, witness videos show.

    “We are so happy,” Jefrinson Rivera, the partner of Velázquez Alvarado, told CNN of the arrest.

    The sheriff’s office said the home where Oropesa was found is in the small city of Cut and Shoot, while the FBI Houston office tweeted it is in adjacent Conroe. The BORTAC unit has played a key role in several high-profile US operations, including the mass shooting last year at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where its members fatally shot that gunman, authorities said.

    More than a dozen family members and friends were gathered Friday in the Cleveland home, said Garcia, whose wife and son were killed. They were helping his wife get ready for a church event, he said.

    But their evening was disturbed by gunshots fired by Oropesa outside his home next door, the father said. The shots were waking up Garcia’s baby and making him cry.

    Sonia Argentina Guzman and her son, Daniel Enrique Laso-Guzman, were shot and killed by a neighbor Friday in Cleveland, Texas, officials said.

    About 10 to 20 minutes before the suspected gunman opened fire, Garcia and two others walked over to Oropesa to ask that he instead shoot on the other side of his property, he said.

    The suspect refused, and Garcia said he would call police.

    “We walked inside and my wife was talking to the police, and we called five times because he was being more threatening,” Garcia recalled.

    At some point, they watched as Oropesa walked off his property and cocked his gun, Garcia said. Concerned, he told his wife to come inside the house.

    “My wife said, ‘You go inside, I don’t think he will fire at me because I’m a woman, I’ll stay here at the door.’”

    Soon after, the gunman charged into Garcia’s home, first shooting his wife, Argentina Guzman, in the doorway before killing three other adults and Garcia’s son Daniel, the grieving father said.

    Diana Velázquez Alvarado, 21, was one of the five people killed. Her partner, 23-year-old Jefrinson Rivera, said they had been together for six years.

    “One of the people who died saw when my wife fell to the ground,” Garcia told CNN. “She told me to throw myself out the window because my children were already without a mother. So one of us had to stay alive to take care of them. She was the person who helped me jump out the window.”

    The victims were shot “almost execution style” at close range above the neck, Capers told local media.

    Officers responded to the scene as fast as they could, the sheriff said. But his small force covers a large county, he said, and the home is about 15 minutes outside town.

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  • E. Jean Carroll sounded ‘breathless’ and ’emotional’ in call after alleged rape, friend testifies | CNN Politics

    E. Jean Carroll sounded ‘breathless’ and ’emotional’ in call after alleged rape, friend testifies | CNN Politics

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    Editor’s Note: This story contains graphic descriptions of an alleged assault.


    New York
    CNN
     — 

    A friend of E. Jean Carroll testified Tuesday that the former magazine columnist called her within minutes after being allegedly raped by Donald Trump in a New York department store in 1996, as the rape and defamation trial against the former president continues.

    Lisa Birnbach recounted how Carroll called her minutes after leaving the department store and told her about the incident in detail.

    Birnbach said Carroll sounded “breathless, hyperventilating, emotional. Her voice was all kinds of things” when she called.

    “He pulled down my tights, he pulled down my tights,” Carroll repeated on the phone, according to Birnbach. “Like she couldn’t believe it. She was still processing what happened to her. It had just happened to her.”

    On the stand, Birnbach said she recalled she was feeding her young children in her kitchen at the time when Carroll called and walked out of the room to whisper “‘E. Jean he raped you. You should go to the police.’” Carroll described the incident with Trump as a fight, she didn’t want to hear the word “rape,” Birnbach said.

    “It sounded like a physical fight she tried to get free from him and she did not want me to say that word,” Birnbach testified. Carroll refused to go to the police and made her friend promise never to speak of it again.

    After the phone call that lasted just a few minutes, the two never spoke about it again until 2019, according to Birnbach. “It was her life, her story, not my story. She clearly didn’t want to tell anybody what happened and I honored that.”

    She never checked in with Carroll about how she was holding up, Birnbach added. “Well because I had made a promise to her not to bring it up not to discuss it and certainly not tell anybody so I put it – I buried it and as life went on it was easier to not think about it.”

    Carroll is suing Trump, alleging he raped her in the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the mid-1990s and then defamed her when he denied her claim, said she wasn’t his type and suggested she made up the story to boost sales of her book. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

    After Birnbach publicly identified herself in 2019 as Carroll’s friend referenced in Carroll’s book, Birnbach said she gave a few media interviews to support Carroll. “Because I was telling the truth, because my friend was telling the truth and I felt strongly that I could be a supportive friend.”

    Birnbach acknowledged that she doesn’t like Trump and has spoken out publicly against him at length on social media and on her podcast. On cross-examination, Trump’s attorney W. Perry Brandt read a long list of such posts.

    Jessica Leeds, a woman who has claimed Trump sexually assaulted her while sitting in first class on an airplane in the late 1970’s, testified on Tuesday as well.

    Leeds, now 81, said she found herself seated next to Trump when a stewardess offered her an empty seat in first class. She was ticketed for a seat in coach at the time. When she sat down, the man seated next to the window introduced himself as Donald Trump. The two shook hands, Leeds testified.

    After they ate the offered meal in first class, it was “all of a sudden” that Trump tried to kiss and grope her, Leeds said. “There was no conversation. It was like out of the blue.”

    “It was like a tussle,” she said.

    “He was trying to kiss me. He was trying to pull me toward him. He was grabbing my breasts. It was like he had 40 zillion hands. It was a tussling match between the two of us,” she said.

    It was when Trump started to slide his hand up her skirt that she found a jolt of strength to fight to break free, Leeds testified. “I managed to wiggle out of my seat and went storming back to my seat in coach,” she said.

    She doesn’t recall herself or Trump saying anything during the interaction, Leeds testified Tuesday.

    She acknowledged she said in an interview with Anderson Cooper that it lasted about 15 minutes, but what she meant was it felt like it lasted that long.

    Trump accuser speaks out after decades (full)

    No stewardess came to her rescue and no passengers tried to intervene on her behalf, she said. Leeds waited for the entire plane to empty before she disembarked to avoid another run-in with Trump. At the time of the incident, she said she didn’t think anyone would be interested in hearing what happened to her.

    “Men could basically get away with a lot and that’s sort of where I put it,” she said.

    She didn’t report the incident to anyone from the airline and never disclosed it to friends or family until Trump ran for president. Then she told everyone she could, Leeds said, because I thought he was not the kind of person we wanted as president.”

    Trump has denied Leeds’ allegations.

    This story has been updated with additional developments.

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  • Two hospitals under federal investigation over care of pregnant woman who was refused abortion | CNN

    Two hospitals under federal investigation over care of pregnant woman who was refused abortion | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is investigating two hospitals that “did not offer necessary stabilizing care to an individual experiencing an emergency medical condition, in violation of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA),” according to a letter from US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

    Under EMTALA, health care professionals are required to “offer treatment, including abortion care, that the provider reasonably determines is necessary to stabilize the patient’s emergency medical condition,” Becerra said Monday in his letter to national hospital and provider associations.

    The National Women’s Law Center, which said in a statement that it filed the initial EMTALA complaint on behalf of Mylissa Farmer, identified the hospitals as Freeman Hospital West of Joplin, Missouri, and the University of Kansas Health System in Kansas City, Kansas.

    The patient was nearly 18 weeks pregnant when she had a preterm premature rupture of membranes, Becerra wrote, but she was told that her pregnancy wasn’t viable.

    “Although her doctors advised her that her condition could rapidly deteriorate, they also advised that they could not provide her with the care that would prevent infection, hemorrhage, and potentially death because, they said, the hospital policies prohibited treatment that could be considered an abortion,” Becerra wrote.

    Becerra added in a statement Monday, “fortunately, this patient survived. But she never should have gone through the terrifying ordeal she experienced in the first place. We want her, and every patient out there like her, to know that we will do everything we can to protect their lives and health, and to investigate and enforce the law to the fullest extent of our legal authority.”

    Abortion is banned in Missouri, with limited exceptions, such as to save the mother’s life. State law requires counseling and a 72-hour waiting period. In Kansas, abortion is generally banned at or after 22 weeks of pregnancy, with a 24-hour waiting period and counseling required.

    Passed in 1986, EMTALA requires that hospitals provide stabilizing treatment to patients who have emergency medical conditions, or transfer them to facilities where such care will be provided, regardless of any conflicting state laws or mandates.

    Changes to state laws in the wake of the US Supreme Court decision that overturned the right to an abortion have left many hospitals and providers uncertain or confused about the steps they can legally take in such cases. HHS issued guidance last year reaffirming that EMTALA requires providers to offer stabilizing care in emergency cases, which might include abortion.

    Hospitals found to be in violation of EMTALA could lose their Medicare and Medicaid provider agreements and could face civil penalties. An individual physician could also face civil penalties if they are found to be in violation.

    HHS may impose a $119,942 fine per violation for hospitals with more than 100 beds and $59,973 for hospitals with fewer than 100 beds. A physician could face a $119,942 fine per violation.

    The National Women’s Law Center says the new actions are the first time since Roe v. Wade was overturned that EMTALA has been enforced against a hospital that denied emergency abortion care.

    “The care provided to the patient was reviewed by the hospital and found to be in accordance with hospital policy,” the University of Kansas Health System said in a statement to CNN. “It met the standard of care based upon the facts known at the time, and complied with all applicable law. There is a process with CMS for this complaint and we respect that process. The University of Kansas Health System follows federal and Kansas law in providing appropriate, stabilizing, and quality care to all of its patients, including obstetric patients.”

    Freeman Hospital did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.

    An HHS spokesperson told CNN that both hospitals are working toward coming into compliance with the law.

    In the law center’s statement, Farmer said she was pleased with the investigations, “but pregnant people across the country continue to be denied care and face increased risk of complications or death, and it must stop. I was already dealing with unimaginable loss and the hospitals made things so much harder. I’m still struggling emotionally with what happened to me, but I am determined to keep fighting because no one should have to go through this.”

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  • Adidas sued by shareholders over its failed Ye partnership | CNN Business

    Adidas sued by shareholders over its failed Ye partnership | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Adidas shareholders filed a class-action lawsuit against the brand, accusing it of failing to warn investors about the antisemitism and “extreme behavior” exhibited by the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, before their partnership ended last year.

    In the lawsuit, filed Friday in a federal court, shareholders allege that Adidas “routinely ignored” his behavior as early as 2018. They claim that senior executives “ignored serious issues” affecting the Yeezy partnership, namely his antisemitic remarks and troubling public comments about slavery.

    In a report from that year, Adidas was “generally alluding” to the risks “rather than stating that the company had actually considered ending the partnership as a result of West’s personal behavior,” according to the lawsuit. During that time, Ye said that slavery was a “choice” in a TMZ interview.

    The lawsuit said that Adidas was aware of his behavior and that the company “failed to take meaningful precautionary measures to limit negative financial exposure” if the partnership ended.

    The lawsuit doesn’t name the rapper, who now goes by Ye. Adidas’ Chief Financial Officer Harm Ohlmeyer and former CEO Kasper Rørsted are named as defendants. The suit covers anyone who bought an Adidas share from May 3, 2018 (when Ye made the slavery remark) until 2023.

    “We outright reject these unfounded claims and will take all necessary measures to vigorously defend ourselves against them,” Adidas said in a comment to CNN.

    Adidas

    (ADDDF)     ended its almost decade-long partnership in October 2022 after Ye wore a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt in public. The Anti-Defamation League categorizes the phrase as a hate slogan used by White supremacist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan. Days later, Ye said “I can say antisemitic s*** and Adidas

    (ADDDF)     cannot drop me” during a podcast taping.

    Adidas said that its partnership with Ye ended because it “does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech” and said his comments were “unacceptable, hateful and dangerous.” It also said they violated the company’s “values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”

    The company said in February that it was expected to lose $1.3 billion in revenue this year because it’s unable to sell the designer’s Yeezy clothing and shoes. In a statement, Adidas said its financial guidance for 2023 “accounts for the significant adverse impact from not selling the existing stock.” If the company can’t repurpose any of the remaining Ye clothing, Adidas said that could cost the company $534 million in operating profit this year.

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  • GOP presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson says he would sign federal abortion ban but supports exceptions | CNN Politics

    GOP presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson says he would sign federal abortion ban but supports exceptions | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Republican presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson said Sunday he would sign a federal abortion ban if he were elected president but would support exceptions.

    “I would support the restrictions, and I would advocate for the exceptions of the life of the mother and the cases of rape and incest,” the former Arkansas governor said on CNN’s “State of the Union” in an interview with Dana Bash. “I believe that’s where the American public is. I don’t think anything will come out of Congress without those exceptions. And I certainly would sign a pro-life bill, but I would expect those exceptions to be in place.”

    As governor in 2021, Hutchinson signed a near-total abortion ban into law that did not include exceptions for rape and incest. He told CNN at the time that he signed the measure because he hoped the US Supreme Court would eventually take up the legislation and overturn the Roe v. Wade ruling that had legalized abortion nationwide.

    A year later, the Supreme Court did just that, allowing various state restrictions on the procedure to move forward, including in Arkansas. Hutchinson told CNN last year before Roe was overturned that he believed the Arkansas law should be “revisited” to provide exceptions for instances of rape or incest.

    Hutchinson said Sunday that unless Republicans earn supermajority status in Congress, “we’re going to keep this issue in the states.”

    Republicans have been wrestling with the issue of abortion, which has become a political landmine for their party and has hurt conservative candidates in recent elections. CNN previously reported that House Republicans have abandoned a yearslong push by their party to pass a federal abortion ban and are exploring other ways to advance their anti-abortion agenda.

    Still, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said Sunday that Republicans need to directly take on abortion issues in order to appeal to independents.

    “Abortion was a big issue in key states like Michigan and Pennsylvania so the guidance we’re going to give to our candidates is to have to address this head-on,” she said on “Fox News Sunday,” adding that Republicans need to “fight back” against Democratic attacks.

    “You need to say, ‘Listen, I’m proud to be pro-life. We have to find consensus among Democrats and Republicans,’” she added.

    Hutchinson formally kicked off his campaign in Bentonville, Arkansas, last week, touting his experience and record as a “consistent conservative.”

    Asked by Bash on Sunday if there’s any appetite for his brand of Republicanism, Hutchinson said, “Absolutely. I wouldn’t be in this race if I didn’t believe it.”

    The former governor also took a swing at a potential GOP rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, over his yearlong fight with Disney, saying, “I don’t understand a conservative punishing a business that’s the largest employer in the state.”

    “It’s not the role of government to punish a business when you disagree with what they’re saying or a position that they take,” Hutchinson said.

    DeSantis’ clash with Disney dates back to the entertainment giant’s opposition to a Florida measure that restricts certain instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. The law was dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by opponents, and Disney vowed to help overturn it.

    The Florida governor has defended the state’s actions against Disney, which include taking over the company’s special taxing district.

    “In reality, Disney was enjoying unprecedented privileges and subsidies,” DeSantis said recently. “It’s certainly even worse when a company takes all those privileges that have been bestowed over many, many decades, and uses that to wage war on state policy regarding families and children.”

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  • How bad is it for Ron DeSantis? He’s polling at RFK Jr.’s level | CNN Politics

    How bad is it for Ron DeSantis? He’s polling at RFK Jr.’s level | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has spent the past few months running to the right ahead of his expected entry into the 2024 Republican presidential primary campaign. From signing into law a six-week abortion ban to fighting with Disney, the governor has focused on satisfying his party’s conservative base.

    So far at least, those efforts have not paid off in Republican primary polling, with DeSantis falling further behind the current front-runner, former President Donald Trump.

    Things have gotten so bad for DeSantis that a recent Fox News poll shows him at 21% – comparable with the 19% that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has pushed debunked conspiracy theories about vaccine safety, is receiving on the Democratic side.

    DeSantis was at 28% in Fox’s February poll, 15 points behind Trump. The Florida governor’s support has dropped in the two Fox polls published since, and he now trails the former president by 32 points.

    The Fox poll is not alone in showing DeSantis floundering. The latest average of national polls has him dropping from the low 30s into the low 20s.

    This may not seem like a big deal, but early polling has long been an indicator of how well presidential candidates do in the primary the following year. Of all primary elections since 1972 without incumbents running, candidates at around 30% in early primary polls (like DeSantis was in February) have gone on to become their parties’ nominees about 40% of the time. Candidates polling the way DeSantis is now have gone on to win about 20% of the time.

    I will, of course, point out that 20% is not nothing. DeSantis most certainly still has a chance of winning. The comparison with Kennedy is not a remark on Kennedy’s strength but on DeSantis’ weakness.

    There is no historical example of an incumbent in President Joe Biden’s current position (over 60% in the latest Fox poll) losing a primary. At this point in 1995, Bill Clinton was polling roughly where Biden is now, and he had no problem winning the Democratic nomination the following year.

    In that same campaign, Jesse Jackson was polling near 20% in a number of early surveys against Clinton. So what we’re seeing from Kennedy now is not, as of yet, a historical anomaly.

    Jackson didn’t run in that 1996 race. The power of incumbency is strong enough to deter most challengers.

    The last three incumbents to either lose state primary elections (when on the ballot) or drop out of the race – Lyndon Johnson in 1968, Gerald Ford in 1976 and Jimmy Carter in 1980 – were at less than 40% of the vote or up by fewer than 10 points at this point in primary polling.

    The good news for DeSantis is that he doesn’t need to beat an incumbent, though one could make the case that Trump is polling like one.

    In fact, DeSantis’ decline is at least in part because of Trump’s rise. The former president, who has been indicted on felony criminal charges in New York, has gone from the low to mid-40s to above 50% in the average 2024 polling. (Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges.)

    But one could also argue that DeSantis isn’t helping his cause. He has yet to formally announce his 2024 campaign – most past nominees had already done so or had filed with the Federal Election Commission at this point in the race. And the governor’s play to the right doesn’t line up with where the anti-Trump forces are within the Republican Party.

    Trump has continually been weakest among party moderates. A Quinnipiac University poll released at the end of March found that he was pulling in 61% among very conservative Republicans, while garnering a mere 30% from moderate and liberal Republicans.

    This moderate wing is the part of the party that is least likely to want a ban on abortion after six weeks. A KFF poll taken late last year showed moderate and liberal Republicans split 50/50 on whether they wanted a six-week abortion ban.

    This group isn’t small. Moderates and liberals made up about 30% of potential Republican primary voters in the Quinnipiac poll.

    Indeed, DeSantis’ other big newsmaking action (his fight with Disney) has managed to split the GOP as well, a Reuters/Ipsos poll from last week found. Although a clear majority sided with the governor (64%), 36% of Republicans do not.

    For reference, over 80% of Republicans said in a Fox poll last month that Trump had not done anything illegal, with regard to the criminal charges against him in New York.

    DeSantis, at the moment, is not building a base. He’s dividing Republicans and allowing Trump to claim an electability mantle. The general electorate remains opposed to a six-week abortion ban and his position on Disney.

    We’ll see if that changes should his polling position improve after an official campaign launch. If it doesn’t, this may end up being one of the most boring presidential primary seasons in the modern era, given Biden’s and Trump’s significant advantages.

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  • Neighbors asked a man to stop firing a rifle outside. He then opened fire on them, killing 5 people, a Texas sheriff says | CNN

    Neighbors asked a man to stop firing a rifle outside. He then opened fire on them, killing 5 people, a Texas sheriff says | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A gunman is still at large after allegedly fatally shooting five people, including an 8-year-old, in a Cleveland, Texas home after a Friday night rampage that started with a noise complaint about gunfire, according to the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office.

    The suspect, identified as 38-year old Francisco Oropeza, was apparently shooting a rifle in his yard when neighbors asked him to stop because a baby was trying to sleep, San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said. The suspect then opened fire on the neighbors, Capers said.

    Authorities found the victims Friday night after receiving a harassment report about 11:30 p.m. local time, the sheriff said.

    “The victims, they came over to the fence said, ‘Hey, could you mind not shooting out in the yard. We have a young baby that is trying to go sleep,’” Capers said.

    The suspect, who had been drinking, responded, “I’ll do what I want to in my front yard.”

    A doorbell camera at the home of the victims at some point captured the suspect approaching with his rifle, Capers said.

    Multiple people were shot around the residence, Capers said. Two female victims in a bedroom used their bodies to shield two young children who survived, he added.

    “They were trying to take care of them babies and keep them babies alive,” Capers said of the victims.

    The victims were shot above the neck at close range – “almost execution style,” according to Capers.

    The deceased were identified as Sonia Argentina Gúzman, 25; Diana Velázquez Alvarado, 21; Julisa Molina Rivera, 31; José Jonathan Cásarez, 18; and Daniel Enrique Laso-Guzman, 8.

    Investigators tracked Oropeza with his cell phone, but the trail went cold Saturday evening, according to local law enforcement.

    “He could be anywhere now,” San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said during a press conference.

    Authorities tracked Oropeza’s cell phone, but found it abandoned, along with articles of clothing, according to the sheriff. “The tracking dogs from Texas Department of Corrections picked up the scent, and then they lost that scent,” Capers said.

    The FBI’s Houston field office said on Twitter that it is assisting in the manhunt.

    “We consider him armed and dangerous,” said FBI special agent in charge James Smith. “He’s out there, and he’s a threat to the community.”

    Authorities said they had received previous reports about the suspect firing a rifle in his yard.

    The suspect was known to shoot a .223 rifle, according to Capers. Shell casings were discovered outside the home. At least three weapons were found in the home of the suspect. Investigators said they have spoken with the suspect’s wife.

    Authorities said they believe Oropeza is no longer in the area.

    A local judge issued an arrest warrant for the suspect.

    There have been at least 174 mass shootings in the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Both CNN and the archive define a “mass shooting” as a shooting that injured or killed four or more people, not including the shooter.

    “It’s not just at banks, schools, supermarkets, or churches where Americans fear becoming victims of a mass shooting,” Kris Brown, president of Brady, a gun violence prevention organization, said in a statement.

    “People in this country are being gunned down with assault weapons in their own home, and that is the horrifying reality we will continue to live under until our norms and policies change.”

    There were 10 people inside the home at the time of the shooting, according to the sheriff.

    The victims range in age from 8 to about 40, Capers told reporters earlier Saturday. The 8-year-old victim was pronounced dead at a hospital.

    Three people were taken to the hospital, and two were evaluated at the scene and released, according to authorities.

    Capers said the victims were from Honduras, and some had arrived at the home from Houston in recent days.

    CNN has reached out to authorities for more information.

    Cleveland is about an hour northeast of Houston.

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  • Death row inmate Richard Glossip has a parole board hearing Wednesday and the attorney general is asking for clemency | CNN

    Death row inmate Richard Glossip has a parole board hearing Wednesday and the attorney general is asking for clemency | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    In an unprecedented move, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond will recommend clemency for Richard Glossip, who is set to be executed on May 18 on a capital murder charge.

    In a letter to the state’s Pardon and Parole Board – which will meet Wednesday – Drummond wrote, “For there to be public faith in our criminal justice system, it is incumbent on me as the State’s chief law enforcement officer to not ignore evidence and facts.”

    The state’s five-member Pardon and Parole Board will decide the fate of Glossip, who has spent more than 24 years on death row and had three reprieves or stays of execution. In another unusual move, the attorney general will attend the hearing, according to his office.

    “I am not aware of an Oklahoma Attorney General ever supporting a clemency application for a death row inmate,” Drummond wrote in the letter dated Monday. “In every previous case that has come before this board, the state has maintained full confidence in the integrity of the conviction. That is simply not the case in this matter due to the material evidence that was not disclosed to the jury.”

    Glossip, a former motel manager, was convicted of murder for ordering the killing of his boss, Barry Van Treese, in 1997.

    Another employee, then-19-year-old Justin Sneed, admitted to killing Van Treese with a baseball bat at the Oklahoma City motel. But in 1998, prosecutors told jurors Sneed killed Van Treese in a murder-for-hire plot orchestrated by Glossip. Sneed received a life in prison sentence in exchange for his testimony as the key witness.

    Glossip, 60, has insisted he was not involved in the killing of Van Treese.

    Drummond, a Republican who took office in January, also cited in his letter the results of a recent special investigation he commissioned, writing the findings were “troubling.”

    Among the evidence included in the special counsel report was paperwork showing Sneed wanted to recant his testimony, writing to his attorney: “There are a lot of things right now that are eating at me. Somethings I need to clean up.”

    The report concluded Glossip’s murder conviction should be vacated and that he be granted a new trial.

    The attorney general wrote in his letter he believes the evidence shows Glossip is guilty of accessory after the fact and that he might be guilty of murder, but the current record doesn’t support that he is guilty of that crime beyond a reasonable doubt.

    In a separate clemency request filing, Glossip’s defense team writes, “Richard Glossip is an innocent man who has been the victim of a massive breakdown in the justice system that would have been disturbing had it occurred even in a minor case … This Board should recommend that he be allowed to live.”

    Ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, Kim Kardashian tweeted support for Glossip’s case, urging her followers to call the state’s Pardon and Parole Board and Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt. Kardashian is not working alongside Glossip’s defense team.

    Three years after Glossip was first convicted of capital murder the decision was overturned because of ineffective defense counsel. He was again convicted in 2004 and again sentenced to death.

    In 2015, Glossip was more than an hour past his execution time when then-Republican Gov. Mary Fallin issued a stay based on the constitutionality of the state’s execution protocols.

    His execution date has been scheduled nine times.

    On April 6, the attorney general asked the state’s Court of Criminal Appeals to vacate Glossip’s conviction and the case to be returned to the district court. But in a 5-0 decision last week, the judges denied all requests.

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