13-year-old boy killed while setting off fireworks in Oklahoma: Police
A still from police body camera footage at the scene of a deadly fireworks incident in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Sept. 1, 2025. Tulsa Police Department
(TULSA, Okla.) — A 13-year-old boy died while setting off fireworks in Oklahoma, according to police.
The incident occurred Monday evening near an apartment complex in Tulsa, where a group of boys were setting off “mortar-style fireworks,” according to police.
Someone in the group told police that the victim “was holding the tube with the mortar facing his head when it ignited,” the Tulsa Police Department said in a statement.
A small grass fire also ignited near the complex in the explosion, police said.
Witnesses pulled the teen away from the fire and called 911, police said.
Firefighters responded and attempted lifesaving efforts on the teen, who was reported to be in cardiac arrest, according to police.
He was transported to a local hospital, where he died, police said. Authorities did not release the name of the victim.
“This is a stark reminder that fireworks can be extremely dangerous,” the Tulsa Police Department said. “Please take every precaution when handling them.”
Danielle Spencer from ‘What’s Happening!!’ poses for a photo in November 1976, in Los Angeles. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Danielle Spencer, a former child actor best known for her role as Dee in the 1970s sitcom What’s Happening!!, has died, a publicist for her family confirmed to ABC News.
Spencer died Aug. 11, due to gastric cancer and cardiac arrest. She was 60, according to Sandra Jones, a family friend who is serving as the family’s spokesperson.
“This untimely death is really hard to process right now,” Jones told ABC News Tuesday. “She is a sweet and gentle soul and she is going to be missed very, very much.”
Spencer starred in 65 episodes of What’s Happening!!, an ABC sitcom about three teenage boys growing up in the South Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts, according to IMDb.
Spencer played Dee Thomas, the boys’ younger sister. She also appeared in 16 episodes of the show’s sequel, What’s Happening Now!
In 1977, Spencer survived a fatal car crash that killed her stepfather and manager, Tim Pelt, according to her biography on her website.
After recovering from her injuries, Spencer went onto earn a doctorate degree in veterinary medicine in 1993.
She moved from California to the Richmond, Virginia, area in 2014.
At the time of her death, Spencer, who previously battled breast cancer, lived with her mom in an area outside of Richmond, according to Jones.
In addition to her mom, Cheryl Pelt, Spencer is survived by her younger brother, jazz musician Jeremy Pelt.
In an email Tuesday, Jeremy Pelt told ABC News that Spencer was “a very loving spirit who fought courageously until the very end.”
Jeremy Pelt also shared a tribute to his sister on Instagram Tuesday, writing, “Many of you knew her as ‘Dee,’ but she was more than a child actress.”
“She was a friend, an auntie to my three children who adored her, she was a daughter- and in many ways, my mother’s best friend, she was a veterinarian, she was someone who always remained positive even during her darkest days fighting this disease,” he continued. “And she was MY sister and protector.”
He added that he was “thankful” to be with his sister when she took her last breath and was “gutted” by her death, writing, “I love you, forever.”
In a 2016 interview with a local Richmond TV station, Spencer reflected on her acting career being featured at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.
“I seriously can’t even digest it,” Spencer said. “I mean, first of all, that the show is remembered from 40 years [ago], but then also to be featured in this museum along with other shows that have been trailblazers.”
Spencer said that her late stepfather brought her into the world of acting. At age 9, she said she got the call that she had won the role of Dee in “What’s Happening!!”
“A month later I got a phone call, and they said, ‘Fly out to California. You have the role.’ And it was just like my life changed,” she said.
The Walt Disney Co. is the parent company of ABC and ABC News.
The Walt Disney Co. is the parent company of ABC and ABC News.
Sign for “Alligator Alcatraz” at the entrance to the detention center in the Everglades, Florida, United States, on August 24, 2025. (Jesus Olarte/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(OCHOPEE, Fla.) — The controversial immigration facility in the Florida Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz” will soon have no detainees in it, according to an email obtained by ABC News.
The email was sent by Kevin Guthrie, the head of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, to the interfaith community.
“We are probably going to be down to 0 individuals within a few days,” Guthrie wrote.
The detention center was the subject of lawsuits, one of which halted new detainees from being transported to the facility.
President Donald Trump and top Homeland Security brass visited the facility, which they have testified in court is expected to cost about $400 million.
The South Florida Interfaith Community wrote to the FDEM about allowing access to faith services at the facility in recent days.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recently announced that his administration is opening a new immigration detention facility in the state dubbed “Deportation Depot.”
Kilmar Abrego Garcia speaks during a rally and prayer vigil for him before he enters a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office on August 25, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting Kilmar Abrego Garcia until at least early October.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said Wednesday she will extend her temporary restraining blocking his removal until Abrego Garcia’s latest deportation challenge in court is resolved.
Judge Xinis scheduled an evidentiary hearing for Oct. 6 in the case challenging Abrego Garcia’s deportation to Uganda. She said during a hearing on Wednesday that she will issue a ruling within 30 days of the Oct. 6 hearing.
The judge also said that Abrego Garcia, who is currently being held in a detention center in Virginia, must remain in custody within a 200-mile radius of the court in Maryland.
Judge Xinis said she will not order Abrego Garcia released from immigration custody, saying that issue should be decided by an immigration judge. On Monday, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys moved to reopen his immigration case and apply for asylum.
Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native, was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison — despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution — after the Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which his family and attorneys deny.
He was brought back to the U.S. in June to face charges in Tennessee of allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the U.S. while he was living in Maryland, to which has pleaded not guilty.
After being released on Friday while awaiting trial, he was taken into immigration custody upon checking in with the ICE office in Baltimore on Monday, and transferred to a detention center in Tennessee where authorities said he could be deported to Uganda on immigration charges.
Attorneys for Abrego Garcia filed an emergency motion Monday to reopen his immigration case to seek asylum, arguing that because Abrego Garcia was deported and then brought back to the U.S., he is now eligible to apply for asylum within one year of his last entry into the U.S.
In the filing, the attorney also said that reopening the case is warranted to allow Abrego Garcia to designate Costa Rica as the country of removal should be be deported.
