Authorities had previously said an active shooter who never got inside the building was “neutralized” outside Mount Horeb Middle School. State Attorney General Josh Kaul told reporters Wednesday evening no one else was harmed and that an investigation is ongoing.

“This incident took place outdoors. The subject in this case never gained entry,” he said.

Authorities described the student as a juvenile male but didn’t provide an age or indicate which of the Mount Horeb district’s schools he attended.

Kaul declined to answer several questions about what happened once police responded, including whether the student had fired a weapon, what type of weapon he had, and whether he tried to get inside the school. Authorities said multiple Mount Horeb officers, wearing body cameras, had fired weapons but they did not say how many.

Police remained on the scene hours afterward while students were kept locked down in buildings late into the afternoon before slowly being released to relatives.

For panicked kids and their terrified parents, it was an anxious, unsettling wait. Parents described children hiding in closets, afraid to communicate on cell phones, and one middle schooler said his class initially fled the school gym on in-line skates.

The district used Facebook posts throughout the day to give updates, with the earliest around 11:30 a.m. reporting all district schools were on lockdown. Authorities in Mount Horeb said the “alleged assailant” was the only person harmed, and witnesses described hearing gunshots and seeing dozens of children running.

Several hours later, school buses remained lined up for blocks outside the middle school and police tape surrounded the middle school, the nearby high school and playing fields between both buildings.

“An initial search of the middle school has not yielded additional suspects,” a post around noon said. “As importantly, we have no reports of individuals being harmed, with the exception of the alleged assailant.”

Earlier, the district posted without elaborating that “the threat has been neutralized outside of the building” in Mount Horeb, a small village about 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of the state capital of Madison.

Jeanne Keller said she heard about five gunshots while in her shop The Quilting Jeanne, just down the block from the middle school.

“It was maybe like pow-pow-pow-pow,” Keller told The Associated Press by phone. “I thought it was fireworks. I went outside and saw all the children running … I probably saw 200 children.”

One middle schooler said his class was in the school gym practicing in-line skating when they heard gunshots.

Max Kelly, 12, said his teacher told the class to flee. He said they skated to a street, ditched their in-line skates and ran to a nearby convenience store and gas station and hid in a bathroom.

Kelly, shoeless, was reunited with his parents and sat on a hillside with them early Wednesday afternoon waiting for his younger siblings to be released from their own schools.

“I don’t think anywhere is safe anymore,” said his mother, 32-year-old Alison Kelly.

Police in Mount Horeb said they could not provide information in the immediate hours afterward. The Dane County Sheriff’s office directed reporters to a staging area but also provided no updates.

Anxious parents spent hours thronging a bus depot waiting for their kids. Kaul said law enforcement had been concerned about the possiblity of a continuing threat though he didn’t provide more details. He said investigators sought to interview students as they were reunited with parents.

Shannon Hurd, 44, and her former husband, Nathian Hurd, 39, sat waiting for their 13-year-old son, Noah, who was still in the locked-down school.

Shannon Hurd said Noah texted her saying he loved her and she nearly fell down the stairs at her work as she rushed to the school.

“I just want my kid,” she said. “They’re supposed to be safe at school.”

Stacy Smith, 42, was at the bank Wednesday when she saw police cars rush by and got a text warning of an active shooter.

She initially couldn’t reach her two children — junior Abbi and seventh-grader Cole. Finally, she reached Abbi by phone but the girl whispered she was hiding in a closet and couldn’t talk. She eventually connected with both and learned they were OK.

“Not here,” she said in disbelief. “You hear about this everywhere else but not here.”

Schools nationwide have sought ways to prevent mass shootings inside their walls, from physical security measures and active shooter drills to technology including detailed digital maps. Many also rely on teachers and administrators working to detect early signs of student mental health struggles.

Mount Horeb Area School District Superintendent Steve Salerno suggested that without recent security upgrades “this could have been a far worse tragedy.” He said students immediately told school staff about seeing someone suspicious outside the building but did not elaborate.

“It’s an experience that you just pray to God every day that you just don’t ever have to enter into,” Salerno told reporters.

The village is home to around 7,600 people and the central office of outdoor gear retailer Duluth Trading Company. Mount Horeb markets itself as the “troll capital of the world,” a reference to carvings of trolls stationed throughout its downtown district.

___

Associated Press reporters Corey Williams in Detroit and Rick Callahan in Indianapolis contributed to this report.

Kate Laporta was one of eight cousins in Zubrick’s family that were closest to him in age. But earlier this month, she was shot and killed — with Laporta’s boyfriend charged in her killing.

“We were just very close growing up,” Zubrick told News4. “We got to visit every Sunday, but we always wanted more than that.”

Zubrick and the rest of their close knit family were stunned on the morning of April 18, when they learned Laporta, a resident of Fairfax County, had been shot. Her boyfriend, Huy Nguyen, has been charged with second degree murder.

Police say he brought a mortally wounded Laporta to Mt. Vernon Hospital, at first claiming that she had been shot in the parking lot. But the 38-year-old was actually shot in a vehicle and then driven to the parking lot, police say. The gun was recovered later.

Zubrick says hearing how his cousin died has added to his sorrow.

“I cannot stop thinking about how much terror her last moments must have been filled with,” Zubrick said.

But he says gathering with family to share stories about his cousin has helped.

Laporta had her first child at a young age. But in the last seven or eight years, Zubrick says, she had really taken control of her life, wanting to provide for her kids.

That’s why she dedicated herself to her job at a local Safeway, where she started as a bagger. She later became a checkout clerk, and was often asked to work as a supervisor.

Her hope was to get her two kids to college.

Fairfax County Apr 18

Boyfriend charged with murder of woman taken to Fairfax County hospital with gunshot wound

Fairfax County Apr 18

Woman dropped off at hospital in Fairfax County dies after shooting

Fairfax County Apr 18

Woman fatally shot, brought to Mt. Vernon Hospital

“Higher education was something that was always really important to our grandparents, that they enforced on their kids and imparted on us,” Zubrick said. “So Kate talked a lot about it over the years.”

Now, to honor her memory, the cousins have launched an online fundraiser. They say the money collected will go into 529 savings plans for Laporta’s children.

Their efforts serve a twofold purpose — helping them process their grief, while working to fulfill Kate Laporta’s greatest wish.

Zhao pleaded guilty and stepped down as Binance CEO in November as the company agreed to pay $4.3 billion to settle related allegations. U.S. officials said Zhao deliberately looked the other way as illicit actors conducted transactions that supported child sex abuse, the illegal drug trade and terrorism.

“He made a business decision that violating U.S. law was the best way to attract users, build his company, and line his pockets,” the Justice Department wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed last week.

Zhao’s attorneys, insist he should receive no prison term at all, citing his willingness to come from the United Arab Emirates, where he and his family live, to the U.S. to plead guilty, despite the UAE’s lack of an extradition treaty with the U.S. No one has ever been sentenced to prison time for similar violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, they said.

“I want to take responsibility and close this chapter in my life,” Zhao said when he entered his guilty plea to one count of failing to prevent money laundering. “I want to come back. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here today.”

But prosecutors say no one has ever violated the Bank Secrecy Act to the extent Zhao did. The three-year prison term they’re seeking is twice the guideline range for the crime. Binance allowed more than 1.5 million virtual currency trades — totaling nearly $900 million — that violated U.S. sanctions, including ones involving Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades, al-Qaeda and Iran.

news Mar 25

Binance executive escapes Nigerian custody as authorities file new tax charges

news Feb 23

Prosecutors want Binance's CZ kept on tighter leash ahead of sentencing

Zhao knew that Binance was required to institute anti-money-laundering protocols, but instead directed the company to disguise customers’ locations in the U.S. in an effort to avoid complying with U.S. law, prosecutors said.

The cryptocurrency industry has been marred by scandals and market meltdowns. Most recently Nigeria has sought to try Binance and two of its executives on money laundering and tax evasion charges.

Zhao was perhaps best known as the chief rival to Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the FTX, which was the second-largest crypto exchange before it collapsed in 2022. Bankman-Fried was convicted last November of fraud for stealing at least $10 billion from customers and investors and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Zhao and Bankman-Fried were originally friendly competitors in the industry, with Binance investing in FTX when Bankman-Fried launched the exchange in 2019. However, the relationship between the two deteriorated, culminating in Zhao announcing he was selling all of his cryptocurrency investments in FTX in early November 2022. FTX filed for bankruptcy a week later.

Hundreds of teenagers gathered at Schrom Hills Park April 19 for a skip day gathering that ended in chaos as shots were fired.

Video recorded by a Bladensburg High School student who shared it with News4 captured the sound of teens celebrating interrupted by gunfire.

Five teens were shot, and the shooters fled among the scattering crowd.

Prince George’s County police – with the help of the sheriff’s office, FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives – identified a 14-year-old and a 16-year-old as suspects. U.S. marshals arrested them in Bowie and District Heights.

The suspects face attempted murder and gun charges and are charged as adults.

The skip day was not a school-sanctioned event but is a widely known tradition in Prince George’s County.

Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy opposes senior skip days.

Greenbelt Apr 19

‘Just maddening': 5 teens shot during senior skip day gathering at Greenbelt park

gun violence Apr 22

Witnesses describe chaos after 5 teens were shot at Greenbelt senior skip day gathering

“Our young people deserve a future free from violence, and it is our responsibility as grownups to show them the way,” she said. “I know that senior skip days might sound like a lot of fun, but senior skip days of 20 years ago was not like senior skip days today.”

The injured teenagers – all between ages 16 and 18 – have been released from the hospital.

In response to the shooting, Greenbelt’s city manager said more camera trailers will be added to the park and license plate readers around the city.

There are signs on the lawn of Temple Beth Ami and blue ribbons on the trees, but one sign is missing, a banner that had been up for some time saying, “WE STAND WITH ISRAEL.”

“And for the very first time, someone defaced that sign,” Rabbi Gary Pokras said. 

Authorities believe it happened sometime between Saturday night and Sunday morning, when the vandalism was discovered and the sign taken down.

Israel-Hamas War Apr 28

12 arrested at University of Mary Washington during pro-Palestinian protest

Israel-Hamas War Apr 25

‘No peace on stolen lands': Pro-Palestinian students still at GW encampment after deadline to move

“I’m really grateful to live in a country that enshrines free speech, and that includes the right to protest passionately and that includes public discourse,” Pokras said. “Whoever did this doesn’t want public discourse; they want to shut us down.”

Police are investigating the incident. 

“We look to every life as being worthy of being lived in peace and with dignity. We want that for Palestinians; we want that for Israelis,” Pokras said. 

Jeremy Cooper had faced up to three years in prison after being found guilty in a jury trial last year of criminally negligent homicide. He administered a dose of ketamine to McClain, 23, who had been forcibly restrained after police stopped him as the massage therapist was walking home in a Denver suburb in 2019.

The sentencing caps a series of trials that stretched over seven months and resulted in the convictions of a police officer and two paramedics. Criminal charges against paramedics and emergency medical technicians involved in police custody cases are rare.

The other paramedic and the officer sentenced in McClain’s death received more severe punishments than Cooper after being convicted on additional charges of assault.

McClain’s mother told the judge prior to Friday’s sentencing that she blamed McClain’s death on everyone who was present that night, not just those who were convicted.

“Eternal shame on all of you,” Sheneen McClain said.

She said Cooper “did nothing” to help her son after he’d been restrained by police — didn’t check his pulse, didn’t check his breathing and didn’t ask him how he was doing — before injecting him with an overdose of ketamine.

Experts say the convictions would have been unheard of before 2020, when George Floyd’s murder sparked a nationwide reckoning over racist policing and deaths in police custody.

At least 94 people died after they were given sedatives and restrained by police from 2012 through 2021, according to findings by The Associated Press in collaboration with FRONTLINE (PBS) and the Howard Centers for Investigative Journalism.

McClain’s name became a rallying cry in protests over racial injustice in policing that swept the U.S. in 2020.

“Without the reckoning over criminal justice and how people of color suffer at much higher rates from police use of force and violence, it’s very unlikely that anything would have come of this, that there would have been any charges, let alone convictions,” said David Harris, a University of Pittsburgh law professor and expert on racial profiling.

Harris added that the two officers’ acquittals of the two officers following weekslong trials were unsurprising, since juries are often reluctant to second guess the actions of police and other first responders.

“It’s still very hard to convict,” he said.

Cooper said during the hearing that he was sorry he couldn’t save McClain.

“I want you to know that I would give anything to have a different outcome, Elijah,” Cooper said as if he were talking to McClain. “I never, ever meant for anyone to hurt you.”

He added that he wished he knew more at the time, implying that he could have used that knowledge to help McClain.

Sheneen McClain walked out of the courtroom as Cooper was speaking but later returned.

Prosecutor Jason Slothouber had asked the judge to incarcerate Cooper and argued that the paramedic was “singularly most responsible” for McClain’s death because Cooper gave him a “massive overdose” of ketamine.

Cooper’s attorney and wife and fellow firefighters urged the judge to show leniency. They described him as compassionate and recalled Cooper saving people from fires, jumping into floodwaters to help an older woman and using CPR to try to save a child who died in a fire.

Cooper declined to comment as he walked out of the courthouse with his wife and supporters.

The judge who presided over the hearing Friday sentenced ex-paramedic Peter Cichuniec in March to five years in prison for criminally negligent homicide and second-degree assault, the most serious of the charges faced by any of the responders. It was the shortest sentence allowed under the law.

Previously, Judge Mark Warner sentenced officer Randy Roedema to 14 months in jail for criminally negligent homicide and misdemeanor assault.

Prosecutors initially declined to pursue charges related to McClain’s death when an autopsy did not determine how he died. Democratic Gov. Jared Polis ordered the investigation reopened in 2020.

The second autopsy said McClain died because he was injected with ketamine after being forcibly restrained.

Since the killings of Floyd, McClain and others put a spotlight on police custody deaths, many departments, paramedic units and those that train them have reexamined how they treat suspects. It could take years though to collect enough evidence to show if those efforts are working, said Candace McCoy, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

Cooper injected McClain with ketamine after police stopped him as he was walking home. Officers later referenced a suspicious person report. McClain was not armed, nor accused of breaking any laws.

Medical experts said by the time he received the sedative, McClain already was in a weakened state from forcible restraint that rendered him temporarily unconscious.

He went into cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital and died three days later.

Cooper’s attorneys did not immediately respond to telephone messages and emails seeking comment on the sentencing.

Since McClain’s death, the Colorado health department has told paramedics not to give ketamine to people suspected of having excited delirium, which had been described in a since-withdrawn emergency physicians’ report as manifesting symptoms including increased strength. A doctors group has called it an unscientific definition rooted in racism.

The protests over McClain and Floyd also ushered in a wave of state legislation to curb the use of neck holds known as carotid restraints, which cut off circulation, and chokeholds, which cut off breathing. At least 27 states including Colorado have passed some limit on the practices. Only two had bans in place before Floyd was killed.

Sheneen McClain told the AP prior to Friday’s hearing that justice had not been served. She said the two acquitted Aurora police officers, as well as other firefighters and police on the scene, were complicit in her son’s killing.

“I’m waiting on heaven to hand down everybody’s judgment,” she said. “Because I know heaven ain’t gonna miss the mark.”

A former Arkansas mortuary worker pleaded guilty Thursday to charges that she sold 24 boxes of stolen body parts from medical school cadavers to a Pennsylvania man for nearly $11,000.

She was among several charged recently in what prosecutors have called a nationwide scheme to steal and sell human body parts from an Arkansas mortuary and Harvard Medical School.

Candace Chapman Scott, 37, pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and one count of interstate transportation of stolen property. She had pleaded not guilty when she was indicted last year in the case.

An indictment unsealed last year accused Scott of setting up the transactions with Jeremy Pauley, a Pennsylvania man she met through a Facebook group about “oddities.”

In September, Pauley pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the theft and sale of the body parts from the Arkansas mortuary and Harvard.

Pennsylvania Sep 8, 2023

Man pleads guilty in human body part case tied to Harvard Medical School

Scott was employed at Arkansas Central Mortuary Services, where part of her job was to transport, cremate and embalm remains. The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock has said that’s where the medical school sent remains of cadavers that had been donated for medical students to examine.

An attorney for Scott declined to comment Thursday afternoon.

Under a plea agreement with Scott, federal prosecutors dropped 10 other wire and mail charges sought against her. She faces up to 10 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine on the transporting stolen property charge. She also faces up to 20 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine on the mail fraud charge.

A sentencing date has not been scheduled.

Police say the suspect, 18-year-old Matthew Pineda, was an Arlington Public Schools Extended Day employee who was assigned to Abingdon Elementary School.

Late last week, police began a criminal investigation after receiving information that the suspect had shown pornography to three children. Pineda, of Fairfax County, has been arrested and charged with two counts of possession of child pornography, as well as assault and battery, police said.

After Pineda’s arrest, Arlington Public Schools sent a letter home to families with children at Abingdon Elementary School. Abingdon’s principal shared that letter with News4.

“Following a report of a small group of students being shown inappropriate materials at the Extended Day Program by a staff member, I wanted to let you know that a former Extended Day staff member has been arrested and charged with Possession of Child Pornography and Assault & Battery,” the letter reads. “As soon as we were made aware of the allegations, we took immediate steps to ensure the safety of the students in the Extended Day program which included removing the employee.”

“Our first concern is with the safety of our students. School officials continue to cooperate with Child Protective Services and law enforcement during the ongoing investigation,” the letter continues. “While I recognize that you may have additional questions, this is a personnel and law enforcement matter and we cannot provide any further details.”

The letter also reminded families that the Student Services Team is available for student support.

Police said they’re concerned there could be more victims. They are asking for anyone with information related to this investigation or any past inappropriate encounters with Pineda is asked to contact Detective R. Munizza at rmunizza@arlingtonva.us or 703-228-4171. Anyone wishing to remain anonymous can call 866-411-TIPS (8477).

The suspect is being held without bond. It is unclear whether he has an attorney. NBC Washington sent an inquiry to the Arlington County public defender’s office, which said they could not comment.

It was the second time Cardell Hayes, 36, had faced sentencing in Smith’s death. He was convicted of manslaughter in December 2016 and later sentenced to 25 years. But the jury vote had been 10-2 and the conviction was later tossed after the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed such non-unanimous verdicts. After a new trial, Hayes was convicted by a unanimous jury in January.

In handing down the sentence, Judge Camille Buras acknowledged the strong support Hayes received from friends and family. But she noted that both Hayes and a companion were armed when they exited Hayes’ car after the crash, and that Smith was unarmed.

Smith was shot eight times — seven times in the back — during the confrontation with Hayes that happened after Hayes’ SUV struck the rear of Smith’s vehicle.

Smith’s daughter Lisa, now a teenager, was among those who spoke in court before the sentencing. She said her mother had to relearn to walk after the shooting and she lamented not having her father around for major life events.

“Mr. Hayes, you ruined my life,” she said. “You took my father away from me.”

In testimony in support of Hayes, his mother, Dawn Mumphrey, expressed sorrow for the loss of Smith. “Our lives are forever changed as well,” she said, her voice shaking. She tearfully looked at the judge. “I ask for your mercy,” she said.

Hayes has long said he fired in self-defense. He said he fired only because he believed a drunken and belligerent Smith had retrieved a gun from his SUV. He insisted on the stand that he heard a “pop” before he started shooting and that he did not shoot at Smith’s wife, Racquel, who was hit in the legs.

Evidence showed Smith was intoxicated at the time of the confrontation. But there was no witness or forensic evidence to back up Hayes’ claim that Smith had wielded or fired a weapon. At the January retrial, defense attorney John Fuller did not call Hayes to testify, but insisted prosecutors had failed to prove Hayes didn’t fire in self-defense.

Hayes was released on bond after having served more than four years of the original sentence. He remained free during multiple retrial delays, some due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But he was taken back into custody following the unanimous Jan. 27 verdict and had been awaiting sentencing at the New Orleans jail.

The overturned verdicts from the 2016 jury also included an attempted manslaughter conviction in the wounding of Racquel Smith. Hayes was acquitted of that charge at January’s second trial.

Hayes has already served more than four years in prison, for which he will receive credit. He has also been subject to strict supervision and home confinement. It was not immediately clear whether and how that would count toward his sentence. Buras said she would discuss that with prison officials.

Before Thursday’s sentencing, about two dozen of Hayes’ family and friends formed a circle and prayed in the wide courthouse hallway.

Smith, a 34-year-old father of three, was a defensive leader on the Saints team that lifted spirits in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005. He helped carry the team to a winning season in 2006 and a Super Bowl victory in 2010. Smith attended Ohio State University and helped the Buckeyes win the 2002 national championship.

Hayes, who owned a tow truck business, once played semi-pro football and is the father of a young son.

The U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland’s office recently announced the conspiracy charge against Ejike Asiegbunam, whom they say made more than $1.6 million in what they called a “scheme to defraud.”

According to court documents, Asiegbunam was the owner and operator of a nursing school in Florida and a nursing exam prep school in Maryland. The feds allege that, between 2018 and 2021, Asiegbunam — along with three others — “conspired to provide purchasers with false and fraudulent RN degrees” from the Florida nursing school.

In the filing, U.S. Attorney Erek Barron accuses Asiegbunam of accepting thousands of dollars from students to “complete required prerequisites” to enter that nursing school for them. The U.S. attorney alleges Asiegbunam charged purchasers between $15,000 and $22,000 for the false nursing school documents and as much as $5,000 to complete online prerequisites.

The feds also say he conspired with a woman identified as Johanah Napoleon to sell fake degrees from the Palm Beach School of Nursing in Florida to people in Maryland and New York. Reached by News4, her attorney confirmed Napoleon previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy related to a fake nursing degree case in Florida.

The court documents don’t name the test prep business or the nursing school the feds allege Asiegbunam operated, but in 2021, the News4 I-Team reported concerns from local students who took online classes from Asiegbunam’s Jay College of Health Sciences.

Students interviewed at the time said they were out thousands of dollars when the school abruptly shut down that year.

The I-Team’s monthslong investigation found that while Jay College was approved by Florida officials to teach in-person classes there and had temporary emergency approval to offer programs online due to the pandemic, state education officials said it has not been approved to offer distance learning to students across the country.

At the time, Maryland higher education officials told the I-Team Jay College had not received the required approval to offer nursing programs to Maryland students online or in-person, either.

What’s more, the I-Team found local graduates wouldn’t be able to sit for Maryland’s nurse-licensing exams, because even though some states’ nursing boards recognize degrees from Jay College, the Maryland Board of Nursing did not include the school among its approved in-state or out-of-state programs.

“The reason why I chose this school was because it was online,” said a Montgomery County, Maryland, woman.

She said she was enrolled in its practical nursing program for just a couple months when it was suddenly canceled in 2021. She asked News4 not to use her name out of concern for reprisal.

“It was just very devastating for me that all of that happened — the way it happened,” she said.

Neither Asiegbunam nor his school returned repeated requests for comment at the time of that report. On Wednesday, his defense attorney declined comment on the federal conspiracy case.

In its filing, the U.S. attorney’s office said it plans to seek forfeiture of at least $1.6 million from Asiegbunam if he is convicted.

When combined with other settlements, $1 billion now has been set aside by various organizations to compensate hundreds of women who said Nassar assaulted them under the guise of treatment for sports injuries.

Nassar worked at Michigan State University and also served as a team doctor at Indianapolis-based USA Gymnastics. He’s now serving decades in prison for assaulting female athletes, including medal-winning Olympic gymnasts.

Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer said Nassar betrayed the trust of those in his care for decades, and that the “allegations should have been taken seriously from the outset.”

“While these settlements won’t undo the harm Nassar inflicted, our hope is that they will help give the victims of his crimes some of the critical support they need to continue healing,” Mizer said of the agreement to settle 139 claims.

The Justice Department has acknowledged that it failed to step in. For more than a year, FBI agents in Indianapolis and Los Angeles had knowledge of allegations against him but apparently took no action, an internal investigation found.

FBI Director Christopher Wray was contrite — and very blunt — when he spoke to survivors at a Senate hearing in 2021. The assault survivors include decorated Olympians Simone Biles, Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney.

“I’m sorry that so many different people let you down, over and over again,” Wray said. “And I’m especially sorry that there were people at the FBI who had their own chance to stop this monster back in 2015 and failed.”

After a search, investigators said in 2016 that they had found images of child sex abuse and followed up with federal charges against Nassar. Separately, the Michigan attorney general’s office handled the assault charges that ultimately shocked the sports world and led to an extraordinary dayslong sentencing hearing with gripping testimony about his crimes.

“I’m deeply grateful. Accountability with the Justice Department has been a long time in coming,” said Rachael Denhollander of Louisville, Kentucky, who is not part of the latest settlement but was the first person to publicly step forward and detail abuse at the hands of Nassar.

“The unfortunate reality is that what we are seeing today is something that most survivors never see,” Denhollander told The Associated Press. “Most survivors never see accountability. Most survivors never see justice. Most survivors never get restitution.”

Michigan State University, which was also accused of missing chances over many years to stop Nassar, agreed to pay $500 million to more than 300 women and girls who were assaulted. USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee made a $380 million settlement.

Mick Grewal, an attorney who represented 44 people in claims against the government, said the $1 billion in overall settlements speaks to “the travesty that occurred.”

A retired federal judge, Gregory Sleet, served as a mediator in the federal claims.

“It took more than six years of tears, pain, and unrelenting effort by Nassar’s victims, including many of our nation’s most celebrated athletes, to shine the bright light of justice on the horrific misconduct by senior officials in the FBI and demand accountability,” said John Manly, one of the lead attorneys.

Associated Press reporters Mike Householder in Detroit; Dylan Lovan in Louisville, Kentucky; and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington, D.C., contributed to this story.

They said the day comes after years of painful and aggravating legal missteps. 

Prosecutors said Carlos Alexander Torres Jr., 26, was driving under the influence and speeding down Fairfax County Parkway in September 2021 when he swerved around cars stopped at a red light.

Andrew Willingham, 37, was coming home from his job as a construction manager. He had the green arrow to turn left into his neighborhood when Torres T-boned his Volkswagen Passat, authorities said. 

“A lot of hurdles and bumps, and we never imagined it would come down to this,” the victim’s sister, Erin Meleney, said. 

Torres initially faced harsher charges, but at trial, the prosecution asked its key witness to identify the person they saw leaving the deadly crash. While doing so, Torres’ family said the prosecutor gestured toward him, and the judge declared a mistrial.

“Because of the mistrial, the key witness was excluded from testifying,” Meleney said. 

With the key witness off the table, prosecutors offered Torres a plea agreement. They amended his charges and capped his possible jail time to six years, when he could have faced a maximum of 20 years.

“No time would’ve been enough. It’s been a really, really hard and drawn-out and really tough process legally,” Meleney said. 

Meleney’s fight for justice for her brother continues, all while she and her husband are raising two young girls and are expecting a third child this summer, a baby boy.

They haven’t decided on a first name yet, but his middle name will be Andrew.

“Trying to keep his name alive as much as we can is just what all of us want to do,” Meleney said. 

The judicial process will drag out just a bit longer, while the family waits for the sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for mid-August. 

Willingham is survived by his wife and two children. 

News4 asked the defense attorney for Torres for a comment. They did not offer any response.

On Monday, Rick Rahim became the third former auxiliary sheriff’s deputy to plead guilty to bribing Jenkins.

The indictment against Rahim and Jenkins alleges Rahim paid Jenkins $25,000. He handed Jenkins the cash in manila envelopes, prosecutors say. They claim Rahim also paid for a campaign billboard, 200 custom knives and a $17,500 loan “towards a new home Jenkins was building.” Prosecutors say Rahim never asked to be paid back “because he wanted to maintain a good relationship with Jenkins.”

Rahim denied wrongdoing to the News4 I-Team on his way to the federal courthouse in Charlottesville Monday morning.

“I didn’t do anything,” he said.

Just minutes later, Rahim told the federal judge he did.

Prosecutors laid out the plot. Rahim was convicted of four financial felonies in the 1990s. Felons can’t own guns, so Rahim lost his right to own one. Federal prosecutors say and court documents reveal Rahim met then-Sheriff Jenkins in 2019 and a plan started to get Rahim his right to own a gun restored.

In exchange for the cash payments, Jenkins would allegedly use his official position to both help Rahim get his rights restored and become an auxiliary deputy, which further enhanced his rights.

Culpeper County Nov 20, 2023

Virginia businessman pleads guilty in Culpeper County bribery case

Culpeper County Jan 10

2nd businessman pleads guilty in bribery case involving former Culpeper Co. sheriff

Culpeper County Jan 11

Surprise badges, guns and expenses greet new Culpeper County sheriff

Rahim is the third former auxiliary deputy to plead guilty in the case. It helps complete the picture of how then-Sheriff Jenkins allegedly worked the bribery scheme to collect cash and checks. Court documents say only some of that money made it to Jenkins’ campaign account. The rest allegedly went to Jenkins’ personal accounts. In exchange, Jenkins gave all three of the men auxiliary deputy badges, allowing them to legally carry a gun.

Rahim also was assigned to a security detail for President Joe Biden during a visit to the Culpeper area in 2022.

Jenkins has pleaded not guilty. His attorney did not respond to an email Monday asking how Rahim’s plea affects the case against Jenkins.

Court documents and previous testimony make clear the feds have hours of recordings of the alleged bribes in this case. All of those tapes and now testimony from three former deputies who have pleaded guilty could be part of former Sheriff Jenkins’ trial. It is now scheduled for late July.

About 500 to 600 people gathered at Schrom Hills Park and Schrom Hills Recreation Center for an unsanctioned senior skip day at about 2:30 p.m. Friday. Witnesses and police described a peaceful celebration, with teens shooting water guns, enjoying food and listening to music before the burst of violence.

Officers in the area to direct traffic heard gunshots at about 3 p.m., Greenbelt police said.

The injured teens, all between 16 and 18 years old, are expected to survive.

News4 spoke to a student who recorded the heart-pounding rush to safety. It captured the sound of teens celebrating getting cut short by sharp pops of gunfire.

Carlos Mejia recorded a video and shared it with News4 with his mother’s permission. We’ve blurred the video over privacy concerns. Mejia said he’s still rattled by what happened.

“It’s kind of a scary thought, thinking that you and your friends are enjoying yourselves and something like that happens literally not too far from me,” he said.

Mejia – who goes to Bladensburg High School – said the gathering brought together students from several different high schools in the county. He said people were having a good time when, out of nowhere, someone started shooting.

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“That’s what senior skip day is all about — just to enjoy your last days of high school. But as you can see, it wasn’t that in this case,” he said.

“I still can’t process the fact that a couple feet away, people got shot from me and that could’ve been me, you know?” Mejia said.

Dave Bimbai was sitting in his car in the parking lot when he heard the shots. He said it took a long time for medics to make their way through the crowd to those who were hurt.

“It took the ambulance more than 25 minutes to get in, to reach here, because you couldn’t come in,” he said.

Investigators believe there was a single shooter who escaped as a crowd fled but haven’t announced any arrests or information about a potential motive.

Prince George’s officials weigh in on senior skip day tradition

The skip day was not a school-sanctioned event but is a widely known tradition in Prince George’s County.

County Executive Angela Alsobrooks said it was unfair for the teens to have to be unsafe as they enjoyed part of childhood. She blamed an epidemic of gun violence.

“These are environments that should be made safe for our kids. I think the worst thing we can say to our kids is they cannot congregate and come together to celebrate their senior year,” she said.

State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy said she disagrees with having seniors skip school because of these types of dangers.

“We don’t want to deny any young person the opportunity to really savor these last few days or weeks of high school, but they still have to obey the law and they have to be in school,” she said. “If they had been in school, this would not have happened.”

Greenbelt police said three of the victims have been released from the hospital. One victim who was in critical condition was upgraded to stable condition over the weekend.

There were no cameras in the park. A stationary camera was set up at the entrance on Monday, and additional police were on patrol. The pavilion area was still roped off with crime tape.

Bimbai, who heard the shots, said he has visited the park every day for years but that it might be time to move on.

“It’s just really, really bad. Everybody got a gun,” he said.

Anyone with potentially relevant information is asked to contact police.

Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.

Dover police said officers responded at about 1:40 a.m. to a report of shots on the campus.

Police said an 18-year-old Wilmington woman who was not a registered student was found with a gunshot wound to the upper body near Warren-Franklin Hall, which the university describes as a freshman dorm.

The victim was provided aid and rushed to Bayhealth Kent Campus, where she was pronounced dead, police said. Her name wasn’t immediately released pending notification of her family. No other injuries were reported and no description of a suspect was immediately available.

A university statement provided by police said the campus was closed Sunday with no visitation permitted, all events canceled and police patrols increased.

Delaware State University said counseling services would be available in the Tubman Laws Hall housing office and said it would “continue to take all necessary actions to ensure the health and well-being of our campus community.”

Dover police and Delaware State University police are investigating the case, which was classified as a homicide, police said.

A 49-page federal indictment details what investigators believe was a complex and robust carjacking scheme that took place between December 2022 and June 2023. An undercover police operation uncovered the scheme.

According to court documents, the four men allegedly conspired to steal the vehicles at gunpoint and sell them later on. The stolen vehicles would end up in a garage on Florida Avenue NE, where the cars were cleaned up, photographed and offered for sale on an Instagram account. Some of the luxury cars that were stolen were going for as cheap as $1,500. 

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In one of the carjackings, two of the suspects, Cedae Hardy, 19, and Keyonte Rice,19, were charged with shooting and killing Melvin Mayorga Hernandez in Hyattsville, Maryland, in January 2023. Hardy and Rice also face several carjacking and gun charges.

The other two suspects, Landrell Jordan, 19, and Malik Norman, 20, also face numerous carjacking charges and charges for brandishing a gun while committing a violent crime.

News4 covered one of the crimes back in May 2023. Video in that case showed two masked men jumping out of a car and then stealing a Porsche at gunpoint. 

All four defendants are now in custody. The two charged in connection to Mayorga Hernandez’s death could face up to life in prison, and the other suspects face decades in prison if convicted.

The charges were a result of an extensive investigation with the FBI. D.C. police and other local law enforcement agencies all provided assistance in the case.

Alex Ye is charged with threats of mass violence to Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville and Lakewood Elementary School. Authorities are thankful someone warned police about the 18-year-old, leading to Wednesday’s arrest and possibly saving lives.

“A potentially catastrophic event was prevented,” Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones said.

The threats from the suspect stood out, Jones said. Investigators discovered a 129-page document allegedly written by the suspect that depicted strategies for carrying out a mass shooting and the fame that would come with it. The writings were labeled a fictional account by their author, according to court records, but investigators wrote that they believed the document was based on the teen’s life, not entirely fictional.

MCPD says it’s received 140 threats to schools this school year, but most of them are hoaxes. What was discussed in Ye’s document unsettled investigators.

“He writes about targeting his former elementary school because little kids make easier targets,” Jones said.

On March 3, a witness who had seen the 129-page document reported their concerns to police. Officers went to the suspect’s home in Rockville, but the suspect’s father did not consent to search of the home.

Crisis intervention officers met with Ye March 6, and ultimately, the teen was taken to a hospital for an emergency mental health evaluation. According to police, hospital staff raised concerns about the teen talking about school shootings.

Police obtained a search warrant March 21 and seized the suspect’s electronics. Police discovered internet searches, drawings and documents related to threats.

“Because this was handled the right way, those deadly consequences were avoided. The consequences of which we can’t even fathom,” Montgomery County Council President Andrew Friedson said.

The suspect repeatedly received psychiatric help over the years and has been hospitalized multiple times for homicidal and suicidal ideations, police said.

Court records show the teen was hospitalized in December 2022 after threatening to “shoot up a school,” and the following month clinicians reported that the teen was talking about “suicide by cop.”

“The fact that he’s charged does not mean he’s not going to receive treatment,” Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said. “Quite candidly, I think my hope would be he would receive greater treatment, supervised treatment, during a period of time which we could keep everybody here in the community safe.”

Ye’s trial is set to start in June. If convicted, the teen could face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

The suspect opted not to speak during the bond hearing. Ye’s parents, who were in attendance, did not comment on the case.

Montgomery County Public Schools officials said in a statement Thursday the student was completing schoolwork through a virtual learning program. They said the student “has not physically attended an MCPS school since the fall of 2022.”

It was a tense moment at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital when 47-year-old Huy Tien Nguyen drove up to the emergency room asking them to help his girlfriend, 38-year-old Alison “Kate” Laporta, who had an upper body wound, Fairfax County police said.

“Hospital now on code yellow. No one other than law enforcement is allowed,” a dispatcher said.

She was pronounced dead at the hospital, police said.

Police arrested Nguyen, who never left the hospital. He is charged with second-degree murder and being held without bond.

Detectives determined Nguyen fired the fatal shot inside of this red Jeep that he drove to the hospital.

Police said they recovered a gun near his Lorton home. 

Laporta leaves behind two children. Her daughter’s fiancé shared a statement on her behalf that says: “The person who took her away from us took a mother away from her children. I hope the person who did it realizes they not have only hurt me but they have inflicted pain on others.”

In a 4-3 decision, the court reversed the 2022 ruling denying the request to test evidence from the 1993 crime scene where three 8-year-old boys were found brutally slain in a drainage ditch near West Memphis. The additional testing was sought by Damien Echols, one of the three men convicted in the slayings.

Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jesse Misskelley were convicted in 1994 but released in 2011 under a rarely used plea agreement that allowed them to maintain their innocence yet plead guilty in exchange for 18-year sentences and credit for time served.

“We appreciate the (Arkansas Supreme Court) giving this ruling and hope we can now once and for all solve this case, clear our names and find the person responsible for carrying out these horrendous crimes,” Echols said in a statement. “This is monumental.”

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On Thursday, the court reversed the circuit judge’s ruling that the state law allowing for additional testing didn’t apply because Echols wasn’t in custody when he made the request. Justices also rejected the state’s argument during the appeal that the type of plea agreement precluded Echols from seeking additional testing.

“It is undisputed that Echols has been convicted of a crime, and as a result, he is entitled to seek relief pursuant to Act 1780,” Justice Karen Baker wrote in the court’s ruling.

Stephen Braga, lead counsel for Echols, said he planned to seek a possible agreement with the local prosecutor on DNA testing and will file a motion before the lower court.

“We’re very happy with the court’s ruling this morning upholding the plain language of the statute,” Braga said. “We’re even happier that this means Damien will have another chance to work with the circuit court and or the prosecutor to get new DNA testing done on the evidence at issue.”

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Barbara Webb said the court’s decision “obliterates any sense of finality in our criminal justice system.”

“Their interpretation of Act 1780 means anyone who has ever been convicted of a crime — whether or not they be in State custody — can seek DNA or other scientific testing even if such testing would not prove that individual’s innocence,” she wrote.

Attorney General Tim Griffin, whose office argued the case, raised similar concerns and said Thursday’s ruling “undermines finality in long-closed criminal cases and will result in unserious filings.”

“I hope the legislature will address the issue expeditiously,” Griffin said in a statement.

Police released updated surveillance images of the suspects on Wednesday. The images show what appears to be two men wearing black. In some of the images, they wear sweatshirts, skinny jeans, white sneakers, white face masks and bucket, paperboy or baseball hats.

Since March 25, skimmers have been placed in stores located in Northwest, Northeast and Southeast D.C. Skimmers were found on 40^th St. NW, Connecticut Ave. NW, Wisconsin Ave. NW, Corcoran St. NW, First St. NE and M St. SE.

On April 11, a D.C. man came across a skimmer at self-checkout in the Safeway on Wisconsin Avenue NW in Georgetown. The most recent card skimmer was found at a 7-Eleven along Connecticut Avenue in Cleveland Park.

Skimmers are devices that are put over the keypad at checkouts for debit and credit cards. When customers swipe their cards and use the fake keypad, the skimmer stores their cards information.

The scammers then come back and download that information via Bluetooth. This gives them access to pin numbers, card numbers and other information.

While police try to track down the thieves here’s what to do to protect against being skimmed:

• Make sure the device doesn’t move.
• Compare the machine to the one next to it.
• Check the alignment of the card reader.
• Look inside of the card reader before using it.

Anyone who finds a skimmer or suspected one should call 911.

Anyone who may be a victim should notify their bank or credit card company immediately.

Washington DC Apr 11

DC man finds possible card skimmer while checking out at Safeway

Metropolitan Police Department (DC Police / MPD) Apr 13

5 card skimmers found in DC within 3 weeks, police say

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It was a tense moment at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital when a man drove up to the emergency room asking them to help a woman who had been shot at an unknown location, Fairfax County police said.

“Hospital now on code yellow. No one other than law enforcement is allowed,” a dispatcher said.

She was pronounced dead at the hospital, police said. Her identity was not immediately released.

The driver stayed on the scene.

He drove the woman to the hospital in a red Jeep. Police towed the car away to examine it for evidence of the shooting.

Investigators are working to determine where the shooting occurred and who pulled the trigger. There is no word yet on any suspects or arrests.

The 911 call center received reports late Wednesday night of a shooting in Annandale, but police were not immediately able to confirm if it’s connected.

News4 is working to learn more about the man who drove the woman to the hospital.

This is a developing story. Stay with News4 for updates.

Maxwell Anderson, 33, also of Milwaukee, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse and arson in the slaying of Sade Robinson, 19. The two went on a date April 1, the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office said in a criminal complaint filed last week, according to NBC News.

A severed leg found the next day has been preliminary identified as belonging to Robinson, the complaint says. The right leg with painted toes was found near a 100-foot bluff by the water’s edge in Warnimont Park.

A woman who identified herself as Robinson’s grandmother said Wednesday afternoon that she was too distraught to talk about the teenager. No one else with Robinson’s family could be reached for comment.

Anderson remains at the Milwaukee County Jail in lieu of $5 million bail, according to jail and court records. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Monday.

Anderson’s lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon. His relatives also could not be reached.

‘The toes on the feet had pink nail polish’

According to the complaint, someone reported finding the leg around 5:30 p.m. April 2.

“The leg was severed just below the hip socket and appeared to have been sawn off. The toes on the feet had pink nail polish. The leg did not appear to be decomposing,” the complaint says.

One of Robinson’s friends went to Milwaukee police that evening to report that Robinson was not her on phone and did not show up at work. The friend said Robinson’s last known activity was a post on Snapchat the previous night about how she was at a bar, according to the complaint.

The city’s fire department found Robinson’s 2020 Honda Civic the morning of April 2, with heavy interior damage from a fire, the complaint alleges.

Four days later, on April 6, Milwaukee police found a human foot adjacent to train tracks and human flesh in the same area where the car had been discovered. The foot and the right leg found days earlier appeared to belong to the same person because of skin tone, size and “having matching pink nail polish,” the complaint said.

‘Yes I love seafood’

Investigators also focused on forensic data before Anderson was charged. Evidence included text messages Robinson and Anderson exchanged on April 1.

Using those texts, along with tracking data from Robinson’s phone, investigators pieced together a timeline of what they believe were her final hours.

In text messages, Robinson and Anderson discussed meeting at a seafood restaurant where Anderson used to work. Robinson responded, “Yes I love seafood,” the complaint said.

Video from the restaurant showed the pair eating and talking for about an hour before they moved to a bar, officials said. According to the complaint, video from the bar shows Robinson exiting her car while Anderson leaves from the passenger side.

They remained at the bar until about 9:20 p.m., when data from Robinson’s phone placed her near Anderson’s residence, the complaint says. Her phone remained in that area until about 12:45 a.m., officials said.

Investigators used a location-sharing app on the victim’s phone to track its whereabouts for the next four hours, until the battery died.

Robinson’s phone appeared to be in the park where the severed leg was found from around 3 a.m. to 4:30 a.m. April 2, the complaint says.

Videos, a car ablaze and bloody bedding

In addition to witnesses, text messages and the phone-tracking data, investigators also collected other video.

Video from the area near where the severed leg was found shows a “human figure” descending the bluff toward the beach just after 3 a.m., the complaint says.

Hours later, around 7:30 a.m., video from a bus and a convenience store captured a man walking away from a burning vehicle, officials said. A witness walking by the area told investigators she saw a man get out of Robinson’s car from the driver’s side and toss a lit lighter inside, according to the complaint.

Anderson was allegedly seen soon after he boarded another bus heading in the direction of his home, the complaint says. The man on the second bus was wearing the exact clothing and backpack as the man seen walking away from the car fire, officials said.

Anderson was arrested during a traffic stop on April 4. A search of his car turned up a hooded coat that appeared to be the same one he wore on the bus, the complaint alleges. 

Officials say they collected evidence during a search of Anderson’s home.

“[B]lood was located on bedding in one of the bedrooms and on the walls leading towards the basement. Several gasoline containers were located in the garage/storage area,” the complaint reads.

Milwaukee County Sheriff Denita Ball thanked her detectives and Milwaukee police in a statement for their work on the case.

“With little rest and a great deal of pressure, they have remained focused and relentless, 24-hours a day. Their efforts to carefully build this case with a host of other partners to locate and tie together evidence, will go a long way towards bringing justice and, hopefully, peace to the family and loved ones of Sade Robinson.”

If he is convicted on the homicide charge, Anderson could be sentenced to life in prison, according to the criminal complaint.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

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Charging documents say the 17-year-old victim was heading home from school on a Metrobus on April 10. She became uncomfortable when a man sat down next to her on the bench seat in the back, complimented her outfit and then asked for her number and texted her.

His behavior was noted by another passenger, a woman, who attempted to intervene. 

The witness came over and sat down between the two. She also passed the teenager a note written in pink pencil that asked if she was safe. 

The girl shook her head and silently mouthed the words, “I don’t know,” court documents said. Then, the teen showed her a note on her cellphone that said, “I’m seventeen.”

The victim was so uncomfortable, she got off at the next stop in the 13000 block of Veirs Mill Road, charging documents said. But the suspect allegedly followed, and lured the victim along a path near a sports field then into the nearby woods.

Charles Erby Jr., 46, was arrested in the District two days later and charged with second-degree rape of a minor. He is also accused of taking graphic pictures of her.

After his arrest, police learned Erby was convicted in 2011 of a crime in Virginia that landed him on the Maryland Sex Offender Registry: having sex with a girl between the ages of 13 and 15.

The sex offender registry also revealed that Erby has used at least 10 aliases during his many encounters with the justice system.

Montgomery County police are very concerned there may be additional victims who have not come forward. 

Erby was known to travel back and forth between the District and Montgomery County, authorities said. 

Detectives are asking anyone who may have been a victim or who has information on the case to call the SVID-Child Exploitation Unit at 240-773-5400 or 1-866-411-TIPS (8477). Callers may remain anonymous.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on the deal and the expected settlement amount.

The department found that the FBI failed to properly act when the athletes raised concerns about Nassar. In July 2021, the top watchdog at the Justice Department released a report stating that the FBI’s Indianapolis field office made “fundamental errors” and failed to notify other FBI offices or state or local authorities.

A spokesperson for the Justice Department said Wednesday that it “can’t confirm the WSJ’s reporting at this time.”

More than 100 women collectively sought more than $1 billion from the federal government for the FBI’s failure to stop Nassar.  

Michigan State University, where Nassar worked, agreed to pay $500 million in 2018 to women and girls who say they were assaulted by him, and USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee reached a $380 million settlement with survivors in 2021.

Nassar pleaded guilty in 2017 to abusing 10 of the more than 265 patients who said they had been molested. Survivors included USA Gymnastics national team members McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Sabrina Vega, Ashton Locklear, Kyla Ross, Simone Biles, and Alyssa Baumann.

He also separately pleaded guilty to possessing child sex abuse images. Nassar is serving up to 175 years in prison.

In Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s 2021 report, a special agent in charge of the Indianapolis field office was accused of instructing the FBI to release a false statement to the media in early 2017 saying his office had “expeditiously responded” to the allegations about Nassar. Members of the media had questioned why the FBI failed to act from July 2015, when USA Gymnastics first raised the allegations, to Septemeber 2016, when Nassar’s home was searched by police.

The report said that the FBI’s office had only interviewed one of the three victims who had come forward at the time and were willing to speak with investigators. The report went on to say that Nassar, who worked at Michigan State University and the Indianapolis-based USA Gymnastics, continued to abuse his patients up to his arrest by local authorities in November 2016. 

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“My brother got shot right here,” the Maryland man said, pointing to the sidewalk in front of a small apartment building.

Robert “Bobby” Plummer was among a group of people hanging outside the evening of Oct. 5, 2020, when police say someone opened fire at them, killing Bobby and wounding three others.

His family believes Bobby – a favorite uncle whom they described as loving and joyful — wasn’t the intended target. Years later, no one has been arrested in the crime. Plummer, his brother-in-law Kenneth McGee and Bobby’s daughter, Alexis, are convinced someone knows something but isn’t talking.

“I’m angry, but I’m not surprised,” McGee, also of Maryland, said. “We have been programmed that doing the right thing is actually doing the wrong thing.”

The Plummer family isn’t alone in its pain. Bobby’s case is one of nearly 120 unsolved homicides from 2020, according to the Metropolitan Police Department’s website. D.C. police are also working to solve 172 homicides from last year – more than 60% of last year’s homicide total.

“The reason they’re not getting solved is because no one will stand up and speak on them,” a frustrated Plummer said.

Bobby’s family knows why some witnesses may stay on the sidelines: fear of police, fear of incrimination, fear of being called to testify or fear of being called a snitch.

There’s one tool, though, they hope someone will use to solve their brother’s case: an anonymous tip line luring callers with the potential for cash.

But the News4 I-Team found not only do these tip reward programs vary widely in how they’re run, there also are concerns over whether having cops run their own program hurts the cases they’re trying to solve.

“Negative perceptions of policing is a major reason for a lack of witness participation,” said Tom Scott, a social scientist with RTI International who studies policing and crime.

He said that while there’s little formal research into what makes a successful cash reward for crime tips program, it’s unusual to have police run them. Most, he noted, are operated by small nonprofit or volunteer groups such as Crime Stoppers or Crime Solvers, which typically fundraise to pay small rewards and aren’t subject to much scrutiny.

D.C. police use public dollars to pay out rewards as high as $25,000 but are also reliant on tips from a community that Scott said may be skeptical of them.

“You’re trying to incentivize witnesses and victims to share information with law enforcement … even when they might have negative personal experiences with law enforcement,” he said.

Frustrated by unsolved homicides, former D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey created the department’s rewards program more than 20 years ago. The program has since expanded to include payouts for tips about shootings, robberies, gun seizures and illegal ATV operators.  

Through an open records request, the I-Team found D.C. police have paid out a combined $1.93 million for homicide-related tips to 191 people since fiscal year 2018. The rewards, associated with convictions related in 73 cases, represent 6% of all homicide cases since that year.

A police spokesman noted there could be additional people who were eligible for reward funds who didn’t follow through with collecting them. 

Scott said even a single closed case makes the program worth it but wonders if there would be even more pay outs if tip calls weren’t fielded by cops. For example, on homicide flyers like Bobby’s, the police department advertises a tip line that sends callers to its 24-hour Command Information Center.

“I think as much as law enforcement can separate themselves from their Crime Stoppers program, those negative perceptions of the police and law enforcement would be less likely to hamper participation in those programs,” Scott said.

D.C. does have a separate Crime Solvers group, which MPD’s rewards page indicates pays out tips on lower level offenses. But the head of the D.C. Crime Solvers program told the I-Team it receives its tips from D.C. police. What’s more, the I-Team found the phone number for the local organization directs callers to other surrounding Crime Solvers organizations, instead of the D.C. program.

In Prince George’s County, local Crime Solvers Chairman William Steen explained his group oversees payouts for tips it receives directly, as well as some that are submitted to Prince George’s County police. In those instances, Steen said, the police tell Crime Solvers about tips that helped close critical cases — usually homicides — and the Crime Solvers board decides how much to award the tipster.

Steen said his group works with police but not for police, a key difference, he said, not just in perception but in reality for the anonymity they provide tipsters.

“If you were to call the police department and you were to give your address or your name or proximity to the case, then they’re obligated to take that information and add it to the file,” Steen said. “With Crime Solvers, we make sure that even if you start down that process, that we stop you because we don’t want any of that being a part of the official record.”

D.C. police, however, pushed back on that notion, telling the I-Team in a statement that it “guarantees anonymity to all tipsters.”

A spokesman also told the I-Team they aren’t concerned about a potential lack of tips, noting Chief Pamela Smith recently credited the public’s help for tips that lead to the arrest of a teenager in a recent Brookland Metro station shooting.

But the I-Team found it could be years for those tipsters to be eligible for a reward in D.C., where most tips have to lead to conviction. That’s a higher bar than in many other places in the D.C. area.

In Prince George’s, Montgomery and Fairfax counties — where Crime Solvers programs aren’t run by police – the I-Team found they typically pay rewards for tips leading to an arrest or indictment.

“If you’re only providing rewards after conviction, I don’t think your Crime Stoppers program will be very effective,” Scott suggested.

In a phone interview, the executive director of Crime Stoppers USA told the I-Team her organization doesn’t measure success by how many tips its member groups receive, but by how well they maintain a reputation for providing anonymity to its callers.

She also said her group recommends paying tipsters when they help solve a case – not for conviction.

In the end, the Plummer family doesn’t care what motivates someone to come forward with information about Bobby’s killer. They just want the phone to ring and justice to be served.

“He was a jewel that was picked from the crown of this family,” McGee said.

Plummer said the grief over unanswered questions hangs over his family.

“Someone needs to pay for their mistake,” he said. “I know it won’t bring my brother back, but it’ll bring closure to this family.”

Anyone with information about the killing of Robert “Bobby” Plummer is asked to call D.C. police at 202-727-9099.

This story was reported by Ted Oberg, produced by Katie Leslie, and shot and edited by Jeff Piper. NBC Boston contributed to this report.

Charles Erby Jr., 46, was arrested in the District on Friday and charged with second-degree rape of a minor. 

The victim encountered the suspect on a Metrobus in the Aspen Hill area on April 10.  

“They did talk a little bit on the bus, but the victim started to feel uncomfortable, so she got off the bus, at which point the suspect followed her,” Sgt. Robert Rollins, of Montgomery County police, said. 

The bus stop is in the 13000 block of Veirs Mill Road, on a stretch of the busy road that has wooded areas next to a cemetery and sports fields.

Police said the man lured the girl, whose age is not being made public to protect her privacy, into the woods and sexually assaulted her.

“We’re very concerned that there could be other victims out there. Obviously this is a worst case scenario of a child, but we hope that anyone who has been a victim will come forward,” Rollins said. 

Metro riders are reminded that the transit agency has a portal on its website for people to report sexual harassment, including unwelcome, inappropriate conversations.

Police said Erby was known to travel back and forth between the District and Montgomery County.

Detectives are asking anyone who may have been a victim or who has information on the case to call the SVID-Child Exploitation Unit at 240-773-5400 or 1-866-411-TIPS (8477). Callers may remain anonymous.

St. Louis prosecutors filed two counts of felony child endangerment against Latonya Mayes-Gale, 28, on Monday, the day of her arrest. One of the counts pertains to the boy; the other concerns her 3-year-old, who was unsecured in the backseat, according to charging documents.

Mayes-Gale was arrested and booked into jail Monday after an officer spotted a vehicle heading west in an eastbound lane at a downtown St. Louis intersection, according to a police affidavit filed in support of her arrest.

“Defendant couldn’t drive the motor vehicle and instructed [the 8-year-old] to drive the motor vehicle for her,” the affidavit said. “Defendant was in the rear of the motor vehicle unconscious and Victim# 2, who is three years of age, was unsecured in the backseat.”

NBC News affiliate KSDK of St. Louis reported the incident took place about 4 a.m. No injuries were reported.

The complaint alleges Mayes-Gale placed the 8-year-old in danger by instructing him to drive and placed the 3-year-old in danger by allowing the toddler to ride in a vehicle driven by the 8-year-old.

Each count carries with it a minimum sentence of one year in prison if successfully prosecuted.

Her lawyer, Steven Kratky, said via email that Mayes-Gale is raising her two children, works as a home health aide and cares for an elderly, homebound grandparent, factors which he brought up in court.

A judge on Tuesday released Mayes-Gale pending trial, with a bond hearing scheduled for April 23, according to court records. 

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Clarisa Figueroa, 51, seated in a wheelchair and wearing a bright yellow jumpsuit, did not provide a statement but answered “Yes” when Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas asked her if she understood she would need to serve the entire sentence and would not receive early release on parole, news outlets reported.

Prosecutors have said Figueroa strangled 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Lopez with a cable on April 23, 2019, after luring the teenager to her home with the promise of free clothing for her unborn child. Ochoa-Lopez was nine months pregnant. Figueroa then called 911, saying she had given birth and the child was not breathing.

The child died about two months later.

Yovanny Lopez, the victim’s husband and the father of the child, Yovanny Jadiel Lopez, described how the tragedy affected him and the couple’s older child, Joshua, who he said “has lost his mother forever.”

“The memory of my infant son’s last breath in my arms is complete agony,” he said in a statement read in Spanish and English in the courtroom. “… God’s justice will be served upon you the day you die.”

Authorities say not long after Clarisa Figueroa’s adult son died of natural causes, she told her family she was pregnant. They say she plotted for months to acquire a newborn, and that she posted an ultrasound and photos of a room decorated for a baby on her Facebook page. In March 2019, she and Ochoa-Lopez connected on a Facebook page for pregnant women

Detectives investigating Ochoa-Lopez’s disappearance learned that she had gone to the defendant’s home. Two weeks after her disappearance, police found her car parked nearby and were told by Desiree Figueroa, Clarisa’s daughter, that her mother recently had given birth.

DNA tests later determined the child was not Clarisa Figueroa’s.

Ochoa-Lopez’s body was found in a garbage can outside the Figueroa home.

Clarisa Figueroa tricked her boyfriend, Piotr Bobak, into believing he was the father, police and prosecutors said.

Bobak cleaned up the crime scene and was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty last year to obstruction of justice.

Desiree Figueroa, 29, pleaded guilty to murder in January for helping her mother. She had agreed to testify against her mother.

Convicted killer Scott Peterson was back in Redwood City, California, court via Zoom video Tuesday for a hearing connected to his bid for a new murder trial.

It has been nearly 20 years since Peterson was convicted of murdering his pregnant wife Laci and their unborn son Connor. Peterson told investigators he left home to go fishing in Berkeley the morning of Christmas Eve 2002, the day Laci disappeared.

The remains of Laci and Connor surfaced months later on the shores of Berkeley.

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Peterson last appeared in court via Zoom in March with his new lawyers from the L.A. Innocence Project. They are making a case that there is enough new evidence to grant Peterson a retrial.

Peterson’s legal team wants a judge to review evidence that wasn’t presented to the court 20 years ago. The evidence is linked to a robbery that occurred near the Peterson home in Modesto around the time Laci disappeared.

Peterson’s lawyers say Modesto police withheld evidence and disregarded the robbery too quickly.

During Tuesday’s proceedings, the judge was expected to rule on a motion to seal set forth by Peterson’s defense attorneys from the L.A. Innocence Project. But they ended up withdrawing the motion.

Both parties essentially agreed to keep a particular letter with names of potential witnesses redacted, as it is.

In a previous hearing, the defense originally put forth the motion to protect the identity of witnesses who want to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. Prosecutors made the case that those identities are already redacted and a quarter of names and addresses have already been made public at some point.

Another focal point is a burned out van and a stained mattress that were found the day after Laci disappeared. Peterson’s lawyers have asked a judge to order DNA testing on the items. A hearing related to that evidence will take place May 29.

Prosecutors have argued against certain requests in the three motions made by Peterson’s attorneys, saying they were taken up on initial appeal and litigated in the original trial.

Peterson has maintained his innocence throughout his conviction and imprisonment and has made multiple attempts to get his case retried, none of them successful.

While the Senate is obligated to hold a trial under the rules of impeachment once the charges are walked across the Capitol, the proceedings may not last long. Democrats are expected to try to dismiss or table the charges later this week before the full arguments get underway.

After delivering the articles, the Republican prosecutors appointed by House Speaker Mike Johnson stood in the well of the Senate. The Senate sergeant-at-arms, the chamber’s top security official, called the session to order with a “hear ye! hear ye!” and a notice that “all persons are commanded to keep silence, on pain of imprisonment.”

The House Homeland Security Committee chairman, Mark Green, a Tennessee Republican who is one of the impeachment managers, read the articles aloud as most senators sat in their seats, following along with their own paper copies.

Republicans have argued there should be a full trial. As Johnson signed the articles Monday in preparation for sending them across the Capitol, he said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer should convene a trial to “hold those who engineered this crisis to full account.”

Schumer “is the only impediment to delivering accountability for the American people,” Johnson said. “Pursuant to the Constitution, the House demands a trial.”

After Tuesday’s ceremonial procession and presentation of the articles, the proceedings will not begin until Wednesday. Senators will be sworn in as jurors, turning the chamber into the court of impeachment. The Senate will then issue a summons to Mayorkas to inform him of the charges and ask for a written answer. He will not have to appear.

The entire process could be done within hours on Wednesday. Majority Democrats have said the GOP case against Mayorkas doesn’t rise to the “high crimes and misdemeanors” laid out as a bar for impeachment in the Constitution, and Schumer probably has enough votes to end the trial immediately if he decides to do so.

Schumer has said he wants to “address this issue as expeditiously as possible.”

“Impeachment should never be used to settle a policy disagreement,” Schumer said. “That would set a horrible precedent for the Congress.”

The House narrowly voted in February to impeach Mayorkas for his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border. House Republicans charged in two articles of impeachment that Mayorkas has not only refused to enforce existing law but also breached the public trust by lying to Congress and saying the border was secure. It was the first time in nearly 150 years a Cabinet secretary was impeached.

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Since then, Johnson has delayed sending the articles to the Senate for weeks while both chambers finished work on government funding legislation and took a two-week recess. Johnson had said he would send them to the Senate last week, but he punted again after Senate Republicans said they wanted more time to prepare.

South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, has said the Senate needs to hold a full trial at which it can examine the evidence against Mayorkas and come to a conclusion.

“This is an absolute debacle at the southern border,” Thune said. “It is a national security crisis. There needs to be accountability.”

House impeachment managers previewed some of their arguments at a hearing with Mayorkas on Tuesday morning on President Joe Biden’s budget request for the department.

Green, the chairman of the House Homeland Security panel, told the secretary that he has a duty under the law to control and guard U.S. borders, and “during your three years as secretary, you have failed to fulfill this oath. You have refused to comply with the laws passed by Congress, and you have breached the public trust.”

Mayorkas defended the department’s efforts but said the nation’s immigration system is “fundamentally broken, and only Congress can fix it.”

Other impeachment managers are Michael McCaul of Texas, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Ben Cline of Virginia, Andrew Garbarino of New York, Michael Guest of Mississippi, Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, Clay Higgins of Louisiana, Laurel Lee of Florida, August Plfuger of Texas and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.

At a press conference with a group of Republican senators after the articles were delivered, the impeachment managers demanded that Schumer move forward with their case.

“The voice of the people is very clear,” said Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “Secure the border and impeach this man, this criminal.”

Exactly how Democrats will proceed on Wednesday is still unclear. Impeachment rules generally allow the Senate majority to decide how to manage the trial, and Schumer has not said exactly what he will do.

After the jurors are sworn in, Senate Republicans are likely to try to raise a series of objections if Schumer calls a vote to dismiss or table. But ultimately they cannot block a dismissal if majority Democrats have the votes.

Some Republicans have said they would like time to debate whether Mayorkas should be impeached, even though debate time is usually not included in impeachment proceedings. Negotiations were underway between the two parties over whether Schumer may allow that time and give senators in both parties a chance to discuss the impeachment before it is dismissed.

While most Republicans oppose quick dismissal, some have hinted they could vote with Democrats.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said last week he wasn’t sure what he would do if there were a move to dismiss the trial. “I think it’s virtually certain that there will not be the conviction of someone when the constitutional test has not been met,” he said.

At the same time, Romney said he wants to at least express his view that “Mayorkas has done a terrible job, but he’s following the direction of the president and has not met the constitutional test of a high crime or misdemeanor.”

In any case, Republicans would not be able to win the support of the two-thirds of the Senate that is needed to convict and remove Mayorkas from office. Democrats control the Senate, 51-49, and they appear to be united against the impeachment effort. Not one House Democrat supported it, either.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat who is facing a tough reelection bid in Ohio, called the impeachment trial a “distraction,” arguing that Republicans should instead support a bipartisan border compromise they scuttled earlier this year.

If Democrats are unable to dismiss or table the articles, they could follow the precedent of several impeachment trials for federal judges over the last century and hold a vote to create a trial committee that would investigate the charges. While there is sufficient precedent for this approach, Democrats may prefer to end the process completely, especially in a presidential election year when immigration and border security are top issues.

If the Senate were to proceed to an impeachment trial, it would be the third in five years. Democrats impeached President Donald Trump twice, once over his dealings with Ukraine and a second time in the days after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Trump was acquitted by the Senate both times.

At a trial, senators would be forced to sit in their seats for the duration, maybe weeks, while the House impeachment managers and lawyers representing Mayorkas make their cases. The Senate is allowed to call witnesses, as well, if it so decides, and it can ask questions of both sides after the opening arguments are finished.

The woman called 911 just before noon Sunday and said her husband had stabbed her. She then hung up.

When Herndon police arrived, they went to the front door of the couple’s home in the 900 block of 1st Place. Police say a man inside approached them with a knife before an officer shot him in the upper body.

Once inside, responders found the man’s wife had been stabbed in the chest, and a dog had also been stabbed.

The man and the woman were both rushed to a hospital with critical injuries, and the dog was taken to an emergency vet.

A Herndon police spokesperson said the woman is stable at the hospital. The dog underwent surgery and is expected to survive. The man shot by police is still in intensive care. Because he is still hospitalized, police have not yet released his name.

Linda Soller, whose mom lives across the street from the couple, said she heard the sirens before she got back from church and watched as the injured dog was brought out of the home and also put in an ambulance.

“When they came out, they had the dog and they were being great with him,” Soller said. “They had him all wrapped and strapped in carefully … He seemed to be awake but they were just taking such excellent care.”

Neighbors said the victim’s father owns the home, and she and her husband live in the basement.

The woman’s father was not at home when his daughter was allegedly attacked.

“We just need to figure out what we can do to help him with this … We’re very concerned that he knows that we’re concerned for him and that whatever he needs us to do,” Soller said.

“I’m feeling sad because it’s something close to you … It’s your neighbor,” said another neighbor, Blanca Abrego.

The shooting is being investigated by the Critical Incident Response Team, a regional team that draws on detectives, crime scene technicians and commanders from 11 Northern Virginia agencies to examine police shootings. A police spokesperson confirms there is body camera video of the incident.

Police say they had never been called to the home before about any domestic violence concerns.

William Brock told investigators he shot Loletha Hall, 61, outside his home March 25 because he thought she was working with a man who called him pretending to be an officer at the local court, Lt. Kristopher Shultz of the Clark County Sheriff’s Office said.

“Mr. Brock received some scam call by a person purporting to be someone from our courts who informed him a family member was incarcerated and that he had a bond of a significant amount of money,” Shultz said. “The calls turned from ‘I’m an officer in the court’ to ‘We have this subject hostage, this is a ransom demand.'”

The person who called Brock, or an accomplice, requested an Uber ride to his South Charleston home to pick up the money, Shultz said.

“Ms. Hall did not have any idea,” he added.

When Hall arrived at the home and approached the front door, Brock confronted her with a gun and asked her who she was working for, Shultz said. He took her cellphone and prevented her from getting in her vehicle and driving away.

“When she tried to get away, he shot her once, then there was more exchange between them,” Shultz said. “Mr. Brock was at some point injured to his head, and he shot Ms. Hall a second time. There was more conversation, and then he shot her a third time. Only after he shot her a third time did he then make contact with authorities to report the incident.”

Hall did not threaten Brock, have a weapon or assault him, according to the sheriff’s office and a complaint filed in Clark County Municipal Court. She was taken to a hospital where she died from her injuries, according to the complaint.

In a statement, Uber said the company had spoken with Hall’s family.

“This is a horrific tragedy and our hearts continue to be with Loletha’s loved ones as they grieve,” an Uber spokesperson said. “We have been in contact with law enforcement and remain committed to supporting their investigation.”

The Uber spokesperson said the account of the person who ordered a car to Brock’s house has been banned. Officials have not identified the person who requested the Uber, and have not said if they have made any additional arrests in connection with the case.

In a grand jury presentation Monday, Brock was indicted on three counts of murder, one count of felonious assault and one count of kidnapping, Shultz said. He will be arraigned on those charges later this week.

It was not immediately clear if he has an attorney.

Brock was originally arraigned on a murder charge in the Municipal Court of Clark County on Wednesday and posted a $200,000 bond. If convicted of that charge, he could be sentenced to 15 years to life in prison or a $15,000 fine.

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Movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was convicted in March by a jury on a charge of involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and has been held for more than a month at a county jail on the outskirts of Santa Fe. Prosecutors blamed Gutierrez-Reed for unwittingly bringing live ammunition onto the set of “Rust,” where it was expressly prohibited, and for failing to follow basic gun safety protocols.

Gutierrez-Reed was unsuccessful in her plea for a lesser sentencing, telling the judge she was not the monster that people have made her out to be and that she had tried to do her best on the set despite not having “proper time, resources and staffing.”

Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer for “Rust,” was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on a movie set outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the revolver went off, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.

Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter. He is scheduled for trial in July at a courthouse in Santa Fe.

The sentence against Gutierrez-Reed was delivered by New Mexico Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer, who is overseeing proceedings against Baldwin. The judge said anything less than the maximum sentence would not be appropriate given that Gutierrez-Reed’s recklessness amounted to a serious violent offense.

“You were the armorer, the one that stood between a safe weapon and a weapon that could kill someone,” the judge told Gutierrez-Reed. “You alone turned a safe weapon into a lethal weapon. But for you, Ms. Hutchins would be alive, a husband would have his partner and a little boy would have his mother.”

Gutierrez-Reed teared up as Hutchins’ agent, Craig Mizrahi, spoke about the cinematographer’s creativity and described her as a rising star in Hollywood. He said it was a chain of events that led to Hutchins’ death and that if the armorer had been doing her job, that chain would have been broken.

Friends and family recalled Hutchins as courageous, tenacious and compassionate — a “bright beam of light” who could have gone on to accomplish great things within the film industry.

“I really feel that this was due to negligence,” Steven Metz, a close friend, testified. “This case needs to set a precedent for all the other actors, and cinematographers and every one on set whose lives are at risk when we have negligence in the hands of an armorer, a supposed armorer.”

Los Angeles-based attorney Gloria Allred read a statement by Hutchins’ mother, Olga Solovey, who said her life had been split in two and that time didn’t heal, rather it only prolonged her pain and suffering. A video of a tearful Solovey, who lives in Ukraine, also was played for the court.

“It’s the hardest thing to lose a child. There’s no words to describe,” Solovey said in her native language.

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The Ukrainian relatives of Hutchins are seeking damages in her death from Baldwin in connection with the shooting. Allred said after Monday’s hearing that the family supports his criminal prosecution.

Defense attorneys for Gutierrez-Reed requested leniency in sentencing — including a possible conditional discharge that would avoid further jail time and leave an adjudication of guilt off her record if certain conditions are met.

Gutierrez-Reed was acquitted at trial of allegations she tampered with evidence in the “Rust” investigation. She also has pleaded not guilty to a separate felony charge that she allegedly carried a gun into a bar in Santa Fe where firearms are prohibited.

Defense attorneys have highlighted Gutierrez-Reed’s relatively young age of 26 “and the devastating effect a felony will have on her life going forward,” arguing that she will forever be affected negatively by intense publicity associated with her prosecution in parallel with an A-list actor.

Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey urged the judge to impose the maximum prison sentence and designate Gutierrez-Reed as a “serious violent offender” to limit her eligibility for a sentence reduction later, describing the defendant’s behavior on the set of “Rust” as exceptionally reckless.

Morrissey told the judge Monday that she reviewed nearly 200 phone calls that Gutierrez-Reed had made from jail over the last month. She said she was hoping there would be a moment when the defendant would take responsibility for what happened or express genuine remorse.

“That moment has never come,” Morrissey said. “Ms. Gutierrez continues to refuse to accept responsibility for her role in the death of Halyna Hutchins.”

The judge indicated that summary transcripts of Gutierrez-Reed’s telephone conversations from jail weighed in the sentencing.

“Hannah says that people have accidents and people die, it’s an unfortunate part of life but it doesn’t mean she should be in jail,” Marlowe Sommer said. “The word ‘remorse’ — a deep regret coming from a sense of guilt for past wrongs — that’s not you.”

Defense attorneys argued Monday that Gutierrez-Reed was remorseful and had breakdowns over Hutchins’ death. They also pointed to systemic problems that led to the shooting.

“Rust” assistant director and safety coordinator Dave Halls last year pleaded no contest to negligent handling of a firearm and completed a sentence of six months unsupervised probation. “Rust” props master Sarah Zachry, who shared some responsibilities over firearms on the set, signed an agreement with prosecutors to avoid prosecution in return with her cooperation.

The pending firearms charge against Gutierrez-Reed stems from an incident at a Santa Fe bar, days before she was hired to work as the armorer on “Rust.” Prosecutors say investigations into the fatal shooting led to the discovery of a selfie video in which Gutierrez-Reed filmed herself carrying a firearm into the bar, while defense attorneys allege vindictive prosecution.

Niomi Russell, of Northwest D.C., was in the 2400 block of Elvans Road SE when someone started shooting at people outside an apartment building, D.C. police said.

Russell was hit and went inside the building, police said. She had been shot in the neck, according to a police watch commander.

“I knew it was something tragic because I heard the mother crying and screaming up here,” Kimberly Little, an ANC commissioner in Ward 8, said while holding her young child. “That little girl did not deserve that. I know that she didn’t.”

Officers heard gunshots and rushed to the scene, which is near Stanton Road and Suitland Parkway in the Barry Farm area, D.C. police said.

Russell was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Police were looking for a silver SUV with a black top that was seen on Stanton Road SE headed toward Sheridan.

Authorities didn’t immediately comment on a motive for the shooting nor whether Russell was an intended target.

After the shooting, chalk drawings could be seen on the sidewalk where police officers marked evidence such as shell casings.

The D.C. police crime map shows since April 15, 2022, there have been 10 homicides, 48 assaults with a dangerous weapon and 37 robberies in the area. On April 8, police responded to the shooting of a woman in the exact same block of Elvans Road.

“You can’t really talk to people or have any friends,” Little said of the neighborhood. “I don’t have any family, I don’t have any friends, because they’re scared to come here.”

Little said the apartment complexes are not spending enough money for security, and she fears retaliation will come as it often does.

“If you know that someone just died, you know there’s going to be a retaliation. This little girl is dead,” Little said.

The “constant” sound of gunshots also devastates the mental health of people living in the community, including young children, Little said.

“It could be my 2-year-old next,” she said through tears.

Of the four juveniles killed in the District so far this year, police have made arrests in two of the cases.

Stay with News4 for more on this developing story.

The victim called police shortly before noon to report that she had been stabbed by her husband, according to the Herndon Police Department. 

When an officer arrived at the home in the 900 block of First Place, the man approached the officer while still holding the knife, authorities said. 

The officer then shot the man in the upper body, according to police.

“Both the husband and wife were transported to Reston Hospital with critical injuries,” authorities said in a press release. 

Herndon police said the woman is stable, and the suspect is out of surgery and recovering in the ICU. 

The family’s dog was also stabbed and taken to a veterinary clinic, police said, but there’s no update on their condition.

Authorities said no officers were hurt.

News4 is working to learn more about what police may have said to the suspect before the shot was fired. Authorities did not immediately say what charges may be pending.

This whole incident came as a shock to many in the neighborhood. A woman next door said she always had friendly interactions with the couple and she never expected something like this to happen.

“I saw normal – everything. But this time, I don’t know what happened,” Blanca Abrego said. “I’m feeling sad because it’s something close to you; it’s your neighbor.”

The officer who shot the suspect is on paid administrative leave.

The family told Telemundo 44 they think 23-year-old Lusvin España of Hyattsville died trying to stop two men causing trouble at El Paraiso in Chillum, where España was having dinner with his boss and coworkers, including his brother, who left before the stabbing.

Cellphone video shows España and a restaurant employee trying to get the two men to leave before 11 p.m. Wednesday. The men appear angry and combative.

Moments later, España and the employee were stabbed.

The victims were taken to the hospital, where España died, according to Prince George’s County police. The restaurant employee is expected to survive.

Family say Espana had a heart as big as his smile and was grateful to be able to use his physical strength to work hard in the construction business to help his family.        

“When this tragedy happened, he was coming back from work,” his mother, Glenda Maribel España, told Telemundo 44. “He was not out partying; he was coming back from work.”

Officers found the suspects — 34-year-old Alexis Romero of Fairmont Heights and 27-year-old Edwin Meija-Sandoval of Silver Spring — not far from the scene, police said.

España did not know the suspects, according to police.

“We want justice,” said España’s brother, Nolvin Josue España. “My brother is not coming back, but we need justice so this does not happen to anyone else.”

Romero and Mejia-Sandoval are charged with first- and second-degree murder.

The victim was shot in the upper body about 5:30 a.m. on the 3400 block of Charles Street, police said. That’s just off Leesburg Pike and north of Columbia Pike.

The victim was rushed to a hospital and is expected to survive, police said.

A swarm of police vehicles were seen blocking Charles Street over an hour later.

Police didn’t immediately release a description of the suspected shooter.

Stay with News4 for more on this developing story.

Prince William County police say the suspect sexually assaulted a girl inside an elevator at the Hampton Inn located at 16959 Old Stage Road on March 31. The victim left the elevator and alerted a family member, who called police.

Police did not provide the victim’s exact age but said she was younger than 15.

After an investigation, police identified Dennis James Schettino, of Calabash, North Carolina, as a suspect and got an arrest warrant. Schettino was arrested Thursday in his home state and will be extradited to Prince William County, Virginia, police said.

Schettino is facing a charge of aggravated sexual battery. His first court date is pending.

It’s unclear whether he has an attorney. NBC Washington reached out to the Prince William County public defender’s office to see if they are representing him but has not yet received a response.

The suspect, who’s been on the run for nearly a decade, is now in custody in Mexico.

“I’m ready to get it over with,” said the victim’s daughter, Kiany DeJesus. “I’m ready for him to be in those handcuffs and so he can get out of my face, and I don’t have to worry about it anymore.”

Her mom, 28-year-old Emilia Ignacio, was found slain in a car in Greenbelt back in April 2014. The person now in custody is Ignacio’s ex-boyfriend, Juan Miguel Roman-Balderas.

DeJesus said she and her mom had lived with Roman-Balderas for about five years. But he was abusive, she said. Her mom had broken up with him and was in a new relationship at the time of the murder, she said.

Authorities said Roman-Balderas fled the country. Efforts to find him failed for nearly a decade.

DeJesus is grown up now. She says her family’s social media campaign led to the arrest of her mom’s alleged killer, Juan Miguel Roman-Balderas.

“I’m ready to tell my story,” DeJesus said. “I’m ready to tell her story; I’m ready to tell my family’s story. At some point, we have to be brave and we have to speak up.”

Relatives have been posting about the cold case on social media for the last year. DeJesus said someone in Mexico recognized Roman-Balderas’ photo and that led to his arrest.

Greenbelt police confirmed he is awaiting extradition to face first-degree murder charges.

DeJesus described her feelings on the arrest as “a mixture,” saying she was relieved, happy and sad. “I was really overwhelmed,” she said.

She has struggled with trauma, PTSD and anxiety, and described Roman-Balderas as abusive during the years she and her mom lived with him.

“I’ve had times where I got my my hand put on the stove and burned if I, like, took quarters and stuff like that,” she said. “He would beat my dog.”

She says Roman-Balderas was taken into custody back in December, so it’s been hard waiting for the legal process to play out, but she’s ready for what comes next.

“That’s all we want, is just justice,” she said. “We just want to be able to take that final breath of relief and just put it away.”

“The child was not searched. The child was not removed from class. The police or SRO was not called,” the report said, referring to a school resource officer.

The report was released a day after the former administrator, Ebony Parker, was charged with eight counts of felony child neglect, one for “each of the eight bullets that endangered all the students” in teacher Abby Zwerner’s classroom, Newport News prosecutors said in a statement.

The 31-page report offers fresh details about the January 2023 shooting and serious wounding of Zwerner, which occurred after the boy brought his mother’s gun to school in a backpack. And it catalogs missed opportunities to provide more resources to the often-misbehaving student, as well as tools Parker could have used to remove him from class, such as alternative school, in the months before the shooting.

“Dr. Parker’s lack of response and initiative given the seriousness of the information she had received on Jan. 6, 2023 is shocking,” the grand jury report said. “This is only heightened by the fact that she was well aware of the child’s past disciplinary issues and had been involved in the decisions to address his behavior” in both the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years.

One parent testified that during the latter of those two school years, her son was choked twice by a fellow classmate, but the parent was never given the boy’s identity or told that he had a history of such behavior, including choking his kindergarten teacher. It was the same boy who shot Zwerner, the report said.

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The report accused Parker of criminal responsibility because she “neglected to take any action” the day of the shooting after receiving reports that the boy may have had a gun.

“Over the course of approximately two hours Dr. Parker acted in complete disregard for the safety of all the children in Ms. Zwerner’s class, all the children the child played with at recess, and all the children who could have been shot in the school,” the report said.

Parker, 39, posted $4,000 in secured bail Wednesday and did not yet have an attorney listed for her, the Newport News Circuit Court clerk’s office said.

The grand jury report provides a granular, often minute-by-minute accounting of each time the special grand jury said Parker disregarded concerns. For instance, one teacher spoke of a “visibly scared and shaking” child who reported seeing bullets from the boy’s 9mm handgun during recess.

A counselor, Rolonzo Rawles, then told Parker the same story, according to the report.

“Mr. Rawles, now the third person and fourth time this message had been relayed, went back to Dr. Parker and communicated that the child either had a gun or ammunition at least,” it said.

Parker refused to let the boy be searched after his backpack was examined, the report said, describing the child sitting at his desk with “a loaded firearm tucked into his jacket.”

“Ms. Zwerner was then left alone with 16 first-grade students in her class that day, of which one had been reported by three different students over the course of two hours to have a firearm,” it added.

In the weeks after the shooting, Newport News Public Schools announced that Parker had resigned.

She and other school officials also face a $40 million negligence lawsuit from Zwerner, whose accusations dovetail with many of the details in the grand jury’s report.

The similarities were emphasized Wednesday by Zwerner’s attorneys, Diane Toscano, Kevin Biniazan and Jeffrey Breit, who said the grand jury report “reveals a systemic failure that led to the shooting.”

Zwerner was sitting at a reading table in front of the class when the boy fired the gun, police said. The bullet struck Zwerner’s hand and then her chest, collapsing one of her lungs. She spent nearly two weeks in the hospital and has endured multiple surgeries as well as ongoing emotional trauma, according to her lawsuit.

The children who were in her class that day are also struggling emotionally.

One student “will not talk to anyone about what happened,” according to the report, while another boy covers his ears any time someone asks him about it.

“He is afraid that the child will come back someday and hurt him,” it said. “His mother is currently in therapy as a result.”

Yet another boy who reported the 6-year-old having the gun is also in therapy, struggling with the guilt that the shooting was his fault, according to the report.

And a woman whose daughter witnessed the shooting and was subsequently denied a request to transfer to a different school was said to have sold her house and drained her savings — all “so that her daughter could go to school without feeling afraid.”

Many children were denied transfers per school policy, according to the report, which recommended allowing them in cases where a medical professional confirms a child is still struggling.

The report also found that police responding to the shooting were unable to access the school immediately because the door-buzzer system was broken. They banged on the door for a full minute before a custodian let them in.

The grand jury recommended that all Newport News schools have an automatic system, such as key fobs or swipe cards, to allow law enforcement instantaneous entry.

Kiarra Jones, a 29-year-old paraprofessional for the Littleton Schools, was arrested and charged with assault on April 4 after a March 18th video showed her elbowing and beating a 10-year-old nonverbal student, NBC affiliate KUSA reported.

The video was obtained by authorities after a parent raised concerns about bruising on their child. Investigators have since reviewed other instances of abuse of “more than one” student, captured by security footage on Feb. 13 and March 1.

“If I could say one thing to Littleton Public Schools, it would be how dare you, how dare you failed my son in such an astonishingly preventable way,” one of the parents said in a press conference.

Following Jones’ arrest, three families retained attorney Qusair Mohamedbhai for the alleged mistreatment of their children.

“The circumstances surrounding this abuse serve as a grim reminder of the potential for some individuals to commit heinous acts against the most innocent and vulnerable members of society,” attorney Qusair Mohamedbhai, who represents at least two families whose children ride the bus, said in a statement.

In a letter sent to families, the Littleton Public Schools said Jones was hired in August 2023 after passing a background check but was fired on March 19th a day after a parent spotted injuries on her child following their arrival home.

“This kind of behavior cannot be and is not tolerated. As parents, you trust us with the well-being of your children and you should never have to worry about them being harmed when they are in our care,” the statement said.

Jones is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in Arapahoe County Court on May 3 at 1:30 p.m. MDT

The state sentences did not add time to the federal prison terms the defendants had already received, but the victims’ supporters hailed the yearslong sentences, saying they took on unique importance in Mississippi, where local residents saw echoes of the state’s history of racist atrocities by people in authority.

The six former officers who attacked Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker in January 2023 were sentenced last month to federal prison terms ranging from about 10 to 40 years. U.S. District Judge Tom Lee called their actions “egregious and despicable” as he gave sentences near the top of the federal guidelines to five of the six men.

Rankin County Circuit Judge Steve Ratcliff on Wednesday gave the men yearslong state sentences that were shorter than the amount of time in federal prison they had already received, but longer than what state prosecutors had recommended. Time served for the state convictions will run concurrently, or at the same time, as the federal sentences, and the men will serve their time in federal penitentiaries.

After the hearing, Malik Shabazz, an attorney representing Jenkins and Parker, celebrated that the former law officers were held accountable in the same courthouse where they had testified against people.

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“They all had to come and appear in a courtroom where they have created much mischief,” Shabazz said. “In this courtroom and in this courthouse, they have been given credibility to their statements. But today was dramatically different. Today, the judge in this circuit county court has given out justice.”

Shabazz had said the state criminal sentencing is important because “historically, the state of Mississippi has lagged behind or ignored racial crimes and police brutality against Blacks.” He applauded Ratcliff’s decision to reject state prosecutors’ recommendations for shorter sentences on the state charges.

Michelle Williams, a spokesperson for the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, said the sentences handed down Wednesday were consistent with the plea agreement reached with federal prosecutors.

In a written statement, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch said the former officers’ crimes did grave harm to the victims and violated the trust of citizens they were supposed to protect.

“These criminal acts make a difficult job even harder and far more dangerous,” Fitch said. “And it is left to us all to commit ourselves to repairing that damage.”

The defendants include five former Rankin County sheriff’s deputies — Brett McAlpin, 53; Hunter Elward, 31; Christian Dedmon, 29; Jeffrey Middleton, 46; and Daniel Opdyke, 28 — and a former police officer from the city of Richland, Joshua Hartfield, 32, who was off duty during the assault.

All six of the former officers pleaded guilty to state charges of conspiracy to hinder prosecution. They were sentenced on multiple counts ranging from five to 20 years. Elward admitted to aggravated assault, and was sentenced to 20 years alongside punishments for burglary and conspiracy.

The charges followed an Associated Press investigation in March 2023 that linked some of the officers to at least four violent encounters since 2019 that left two Black men dead.

The terror began on Jan. 24, 2023, with a racist call for extrajudicial violence, according to federal prosecutors.

A white person phoned McAlpin and complained that two Black men were staying with a white woman at a house in Braxton, Mississippi. McAlpin told Dedmon, who texted a group of white deputies so willing to use excessive force they called themselves “The Goon Squad.”

Once inside, they handcuffed Jenkins and his friend Parker and poured milk, alcohol and chocolate syrup over their faces while mocking them with racial slurs. They forced them to strip naked and shower together to conceal the mess. They mocked the victims with racial slurs and assaulted them with sex objects.

In a mock execution gone awry, Elward shot Jenkins in the mouth, lacerating his tongue and breaking his jaw. The officers devised a coverup and agreed to plant drugs on Jenkins and Parker. False charges stood against the men for months.

McAlpin and Middleton, the oldest in the group, threatened to kill other officers if they spoke up, prosecutors said.

The only defendant who didn’t receive a federal prison term at the top of the sentencing guidelines was Hartfield, who did not work in a sheriff’s department with the others and was not a member of the “Goon Squad.”

In federal court, the deputies expressed remorse for their behavior and apologized to Jenkins and Parker. Several of their attorneys said their clients became ensnared in a culture of corruption that was encouraged by leaders in the sheriff’s office.

Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey revealed no details about his deputies’ actions when he announced they had been fired last June. After they pleaded guilty in August, Bailey said the officers had gone rogue and promised changes. Jenkins and Parker have called for his resignation and filed a $400 million civil lawsuit against the department.

In statements read by their attorneys in court Wednesday, Jenkins and Parker said their ordeal had been ingrained in their bodies and minds.

“Your honor, they killed me. I just didn’t die,” Jenkins said.

___

Michael Goldberg is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow him at @mikergoldberg.

Surveillance video captured some intense moments inside the convenience store on Columbia Road NW about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The video shows a man entering the store and appearing to argue with an employee and two other people. An employee gets between the victim and the assailant before the assailant lunges at the victim and throws a punch. The victim stumbles before the pair leave the store.

Police say that when the suspect and the victim went outside, the suspect punched the victim after he turned his back, knocking him to the ground and leaving him with a serious head injury.

Police said the suspect ran off on Champlain Street NW.

On Wednesday, police announced they arrested 35-year-old Brandon Jones, of no fixed address, later on the same day of the attack. He is charged with aggravated assault, police said.

The D.C. police department’s homicide division is leading the investigation due to the severity of the assault.

Despite a murder conviction against a man whose DNA and footprints were found at the scene, and a 2015 verdict clearing Knox and then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, doubt about her role persists in Italy and with Kercher’s family.

The slander case brought by the man that Knox falsely accused is one reason why. Here’s a look at it.

Who is Amanda Knox?

Knox was a 20-year-old student who had recently arrived in the university town of Perugia when her British roommate, Kercher, was found dead in their room on Nov. 2, 2007. The murder grabbed worldwide attention as suspicion fell on Knox and Sollecito, with whom she had been involved for just about a week. Knox and Sollecito were convicted in their first trial but were ultimately exonerated by Italy’s highest court in 2015.

What is the slander case?

Knox was accused of slandering the Congolese bar owner who employed her part-time, based on two statements typed by police that she signed during a long night of questioning days after the murder. She recanted in a four-page handwritten note the next afternoon, but the memo showed her confusion as she attempted to reconcile the signed statements with her own conflicting recollections. The slander conviction and three-year sentence remained until the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Knox’s rights had been violated during questioning without a lawyer or qualified translator. Based on that ruling, Italy’s highest court threw out the conviction last November and ruled the two statements typed by police were inadmissible. It ordered a new trial.

How did Knox rebuild her life?

Knox returned to the United States after an appeals court threw out her first conviction in 2011, following four years in prison and jail. While she hoped to resume her life as a college student, she was dogged by public scrutiny as her legal cases continued in Italy. Now 36 and the mother of two children, Knox campaigns for criminal justice reform and against forced confessions, drawing on her experience. She has a podcast and a new limited series in development for Hulu that includes Monica Lewinsky among the executive producers. She also has recorded a series on resilience for a meditation app.

What happened in Wednesday’s hearing?

An appeals court panel of two judges and eight civilian jurors heard arguments from the prosecution and the lawyer for the wrongly accused man — the bar owner — maintaining their position that Knox committed slander. Her defense attorneys stressed her overturned murder conviction and the interrogation techniques that were strongly censured by Europe’s human rights court. The trial was continued until June 5, when a verdict is expected.

A judge in Tulsa handed down the order last week against Xaviar Michael Bubudar, 29, who was known for attending Chiefs games dressed as a wolf in the NFL team’s gear. Former bank teller Payton Garcia alleged Bubudar used a gun to assault her during a robbery of a Bixby, Oklahoma, credit union in December 2022, court records show.

The judge ordered Bubudar to pay Garcia $3.6 million for her injuries and loss of income, and $7.2 million in punitive damages. A message left Tuesday with Bubudar’s attorney was not immediately returned.

Garcia’s attorney, Frank Frasier, acknowledged that it would be difficult to collect the money for his client, but said the judgment sends an important message.

“I think the judge feels that way,” Frasier told The Associated Press. “She did not come right out and say it during the hearing, but I argued that nobody should be able to profit from this, be it notoriety, clicks, views or likes.”

Frasier said if Bubudar ever sold his story, wrote a book or was somehow able to profit from his story, his client would be able to collect some of the judgment against him.

Although tellers have sued their employers over bank robberies before, it’s far less common for them to sue a robber.

Ed Blau, a prominent criminal defense attorney in Oklahoma City, said that’s because it’s safe to assume bank robbers aren’t generally wealthy. Blau, who is not affiliated with Garcia’s case, said that while it’s strategically savvy for Garcia to sue Bubudar, it’s unlikely she will ever collect much from him.

“She could have gotten a judgment for $10 billion, but the likelihood of collecting is exceedingly slim,” he said. “She’s got a judgment on paper only.”

Bubudar pleaded guilty in February to a string of robberies of banks and credit unions in multiple states. He remains imprisoned until his formal sentencing, which is set for July 10 in Kansas City.

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Federal prosecutors said Babudar admitted to the robberies and attempted robberies in 2022 and 2023 and to laundering the stolen money through casinos and online gambling.

As part of the plea agreement, Babudar must pay at least $532,675 in restitution. He also must forfeit property — including an autographed painting of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes that was recovered by the FBI.

Before his arrest, Babudar was a well-known figure on social media for his rabid support of the Chiefs and attended several games dressed as a wolf in Chiefs’ clothing.

Edward Jackson Bland, a 36-year-old man also from Manassas, allegedly told detectives, “It was a robbery. They had to die,” after his arrest. But the parents of one of the victims say Jackson Bland is that woman’s cousin — and he’d always looked after her.

Prince William County police say they were called to the Westgate Apartments off Sudley Road early on the morning of April 2 for an armed carjacking report.

Two hours later, Prince William police say they got a call from the Shenandoah County Sheriff’s Office, saying they had recovered the car police reported as stolen. They had also arrested Jackson Bland.

The arrest warrant affidavit alleges Jackson Bland told Shenandoah deputies he had killed two women in Manassas.

Deputies passed the information along to Prince William, and police there went back to the Westgate apartment address. Inside, they found the bodies of two women who had been shot and killed.

Police say the victims were 22-year-old Asia Payne and 34-year-old Leann Harris.

Family says the two were friends, and they have no idea what might have lead up to the shooting.

On Sunday, Harris’ family held a vigil for her. She leaves behind three children.

May Twyman, Harris’ mother, told News4 that Jackson Bland is Harris’ cousin, and the two were inseparable for most of their lives. She went as far as calling him her protector.

“I can’t imagine how her protector became the person who took my baby away,” Twyman said. “It just blows me away.”

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Jackson Bland was arraigned at the Prince William County Courthouse virtually still in custody in Shenandoah County.

During the arraignment Tuesday afternoon, a woman who identified herself as Jackson Bland’s niece told News4 off camera that Jackson Bland is innocent and claimed he had been framed.

Jackson Bland has a preliminary hearing date scheduled in June.

Surveillance video captured some intense moments inside the convenience store on Columbia Road NW early Tuesday morning.

The video shows the suspect entering the store and appearing to argue with an employee and two other people. An employee gets in between the victim and suspect before the suspect lunges at the victim and throws a punch. The victim stumbles before the pair leave the store.

Police say that when the suspect and the victim went outside, the suspect punched the victim after he turned his back, knocking him to the ground and leaving him with a serious head injury.

The victim was taken to a hospital, where police say he remains in critical condition.

The D.C. police department’s homicide division is leading the investigation due to the severity of the assault.

Police say the suspect ran off on Champlain Street NW. Anyone with information about the suspect’s whereabouts is asked to contact police.

A man wearing a mask, Crocs and gloves walks into an apartment early Saturday morning while the occupants are asleep. He walks past the family cat, making his way through the dining room, until he realizes he’s caught on camera.

The blurry security image captures the moment when he looks directly at the camera. He then quickly runs out of the apartment without taking anything. It’s not immediately clear why.

Four similar crimes have occurred at apartments in the 9800 and 9900 block of Good Luck Road in Lanham, Maryland, since Thursday. Valuables were stolen from some of those apartments, according to the Prince George’s County police.

In a robbery at about 5 a.m. Monday, the man implied he had a weapon, took property from the victims and left, police said.

“We’re very concerned. It is indeed a small number of apartments over there that we’ve seen thus far. We have detectives out all day,” Capt. Todd Dolihite said.

The suspect entered the apartments through an unlocked window or door, according to police.

Police warned residents and spoke to apartment staff about the importance of home security.

“Warmer weather during the day, and it gets cooler at night, sometimes people leave their windows open, or doors cracked open,” Dolihite said. “We would highly encourage everyone to lock the doors, secure your windows once you go to bed.”

Police developed 22-year-old Augustine Koroma as a suspect in Monday morning’s robbery and arrested him late Monday night on an unrelated warrant for second-degree assault. They found evidence from the robbery at Koroma’s home and expect to file more charges against him.

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Actor Jonathan Majors was sentenced to probation but avoided jail time Monday for assaulting his ex-girlfriend in a high-profile case that derailed the once-promising star’s career.

The 34-year-old star of “Creed III” and other films had faced up to a year behind bars after he was convicted of misdemeanor assault by a Manhattan jury in December.

Judge Michael Gaffey also ordered Majors to complete an in-person batterer’s intervention program. He also has to continue with his mental health therapy.

Following the guilty verdict, Majors was immediately dropped by Marvel Studios, which had cast him as Kang the Conqueror, a role envisioned as the main villain in the entertainment empire’s movies and television shows for years to come.

The conviction stemmed from an altercation last March in which Majors’ then-girlfriend Grace Jabbari accused him of attacking her in the backseat of a chauffeured car, saying he hit her head with his open hand, twisted her arm behind her back and squeezed her middle finger until it fractured.

During a victim impact statement Monday, Jabbari said the incident left her with extreme emotional and physical pain.

Majors claimed the 31-year-old British dancer was the aggressor, flying into a jealous rage after reading a text message from another woman on his phone. He maintained he was only trying to regain his phone and get away from Jabbari safely.

After the sentencing, Majors did not comment as he left the courtroom.

Majors had hoped his two-week criminal trial would vindicate him and restore his status in Hollywood. In a television interview shortly after his conviction, he said he deserves a second chance.

“As he eagerly anticipates closing this chapter, he looks forward to redirecting his time and energy fully toward his family and his art,” Majors’ lawyers said in a statement last week after losing their bid to have the conviction tossed out.

But the 34-year-old California native and Yale University graduate still faces other legal hurdles. Last month, Jabbari filed a civil suit in Manhattan federal court, accusing the actor of assault, battery, defamation and inflicting emotional distress.

She claims Majors subjected her to escalating incidents of physical and verbal abuse during their relationship, which lasted from 2021 to 2023.

Majors’ lawyers have declined to respond to the claims, saying only that they are preparing to file counterclaims against Jabbari.

The actor had his breakthrough role in 2019’s “The Last Black Man in San Francisco.” He also starred in the HBO horror series “Lovecraft Country,” which earned him an Emmy nomination, and as the nemesis to fictional boxing champ Adonis Creed in the blockbuster “Creed III.”

As for Marvel, a looming question remains whether the studio will recast the role of Kang or pivot in a new direction.

Majors’ departure was among a recent series of high-profile setbacks for the vaunted superhero factory, which has earned an unprecedented $30 billion worldwide from 33 films.

That employee, Joel Shapiro, has been placed on indefinite administrative leave from his job as a choir teacher, PWCS said in their message, and the alleged crime took place before he began working at Woodbridge High.

“We are committed to ensuring a safe and secure environment for every student,” the PWCS statement reads.

According to Virginia State Police, 32-year-old Shapiro was arrested on Thursday “on one felony count of taking indecent liberties with a child by a custodian,” the end result of an investigation that began in July 2023.

The crime itself allegedly took place in Leesburg in 2017, when Shapiro was working for Clarke County Public Schools, police said.

According to Shapiro’s LinkedIn profile, he worked as a choral music teacher for high schools and middle schools in the Clarke County Public School system from August 2014 until August 2017. He started at Woodbridge High School in August 2017.

Shapiro was taken to the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center on Thursday, but has since been released on bond, police said.

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“The law and our policies do not allow us to comment further on this situation because this matter involves personnel,” the statement from PWCS said.

No information about the child involved or the nature of the incident were shared.