14-year-old arrested on terrorism charges after allegedly discussing plans to shoot up church in Florida
Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister speaks at a press conference on Feb. 4, 2026. (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office)
(WIMAUMA, Fla.) — A 14-year-old is in custody after allegedly discussing plans to carry out a shooting at a church in Wimauma, Florida, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister announced Wednesday.
The teen suspect allegedly “engaged in an online chat room that’s designed or designated for violent extremists,” Chronister said.
The sheriff said that the suspect is also allegedly linked to a Neo-Nazi Satanic group.
The sheriff’s office served a search warrant at the teen’s residence, where they allegedly found multiple firearms, ammunition, and electronic devices containing child sexual abuse material.
Sheriff Chronister said the firearms recovered included one from his father’s nightstand “that he easily could have had access to.”
“Think about the potential of the violence that could have occurred,” Chronister added.
The suspect was arrested at his home on Jan. 31. Just days earlier, the Joint Terrorism Task Force received information from the Internet Predator Unit that they were investigating a computer at the same residence, Chronister said.
In addition to terrorism charges, the suspect is charged with fourteen counts of solicitation or possession of child pornography.
Members of the Johnson family attend a candlelight vigil, April 19, 2026, in Shreveport, Louisiana, for eight children were killed and two women were wounded during a domestic violence incident. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
(SHREVEPORT, La.) — As an investigation continued into the motive of Sunday’s fatal shootings of eight children in Shreveport, Louisiana, allegedly by the father of seven of the victims, police officials released a timeline detailing the 68-minute massacre.
“April 19 … will be written in the pages of history as one of the worst days that could have ever happened here in Shreveport,” Chief Wayne Smith of the Shreveport Police Department said at a news conference on Monday.
Smith said the suspect, Shamar Elkins, a former member of the Louisiana Army National Guard, allegedly used an assault-style pistol to kill seven of his children and an eighth child related to him. A teenage boy was also injured when he jumped off the roof of a house to escape the shooting, police said.
While Elkins died after police opened fire on him following a car chase, Smith said it remains unclear whether he was shot to death or died by suicide.
Smith said domestic violence is believed to be the primary motive behind the killings. The chief said two women, including the mother of seven of the children who were killed, were wounded in the incident and remain hospitalized.
He said investigators are probing five different crime scenes connected to the shootings.
Police said the children killed, siblings and one cousin, ranged in age from 3 to 11. The victims, according to the Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office, were identified by their mothers as Jayla Elkins, 3; Shayla Elkins, 5; Kayla Pugh, 6; Layla Pugh, 7; Markaydon Pugh, 10; Sariahh Snow, 11; Khedarrion Snow, 6; and Braylon Snow, 5.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry announced on Monday that the Love One Louisiana Foundation, a nonprofit founded by his wife, Sharon, will pay all expenses for the children’s funerals, according to ABC affiliate station KTSB.
“Both she and I recognize no amount of money or act of charity can repair the pain, but [what] we can lean on is that this act of charity can stand as a beacon of faith and belief that good things still happen in this world,” Gov. Landry said during a visit to Shreveport.
Timeline of the deadly rampage During Monday’s press conference, Smith went over a timeline of the deadly attacks that occurred before sunrise on Sunday:
5:55 a.m. — Shreveport Police received the first call regarding a disturbance at a residence on W. 79th Street in the Ceder Grove neighborhood of South Shreveport. The caller stated that they were on top of the house while the suspect was inside, and a male had been shot.
5:58 a.m. — A police dispatcher received an additional call from the same 911 caller, indicating the suspect was a relative of the caller.
5:59 a.m. — A dispatcher was advised by the caller that approximately nine individuals resided at the W. 79th Street location. The caller stated that the suspect, Elkins, had shot everyone inside the home.
6 a.m. — The caller advised the dispatcher that she and her children fled the W. 79th Street house onto the roof and that they were in the backyard.
6:01 a.m. — Shreveport officers arrived at the W. 79th Street residence.
6:03 a.m. — Officers made contact with the 911 caller at the West 79th Street residence.
6:05 a.m. — Officers requested the Shreveport Fire Department stage at a location near the West 79th Street home, close to Linwood Avenue.
6:07 a.m. — A second 911 caller reported a shooting at a home on Harrison Street in Shreveport. The caller stated that her boyfriend shot her and fled the scene with her three children.
6:08 a.m.– The second caller identified the suspect who shot her and took her children as Elkins.
6:10 a.m. — A police dispatcher links the Harrison Street shooting with the shooting on West 79th Street and determines that they were related.
6:15 a.m. — Officers received information that the suspect had carjacked a red Kia Sportage at West 79th Street near Linwood Avenue.
6:17 a.m. — Shreveport police traffic units out on random patrol observed the carjacked Kia heading southbound on Interstate 49.
6:18 a.m. — Officer radioed in that they were chasing the stolen car over a bridge in crossing the Red River into Bossier City.
6:20 a.m. — Officers involved in the chase reported that the children taken from the Harrison Street residence may be inside the fleeing vehicle.
6:23 a.m. — Officers advised dispatch that they were exiting the interstate near the Swan Lake area of Bossier City.
6:25 a.m. — Officers back in Shreveport find the victim injured in the Harrison Street shooting.
6:29 a.m. — Officers report and exchange of gunfire with the suspect on Brompton Lane in Bossier City.
6:40 a.m. — Police officers advised a dispatcher that the suspect vehicle was empty and no children were located inside. Chief Smith did not say during Monday’s news conference what happened to the children taken from the Harrison Street residence.
6:43 a.m. — Officers in Shreveport cleared the West 79th Street home and found multiple deceased victims.
7:03 a.m. — The suspect, Elkins, is pronounced dead at the scene on Brompton Lane in Bossier City.
Gerhardt Konig testifies during his attempted murder trial in Honolulu, April 2, 2026. (Pool via ABC News)
(OAHU, Hawaii) — Closing arguments are underway in the trial of a Hawaii doctor accused of trying to kill his wife on a hiking trail.
Dr. Gerhardt Konig, 47, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree attempted murder. Prosecutors allege the anesthesiologist attacked his wife, Arielle Konig, near a cliff while on the Pali Puka Trail on Oahu on March 24, 2025, by pushing her near the edge and then beating her multiple times with a rock.
The defense, meanwhile, has alleged that Arielle Konig attacked her husband first, and that he hit her with the rock in self-defense.
The jury is expected to begin deliberations Tuesday afternoon local time. If they are unable to find Gerhardt Konig guilty of second-degree attempted murder, they will consider whether he is guilty of attempted manslaughter based upon extreme mental or emotional disturbance, first-degree attempted assault, second-degree assault or third-degree assault.
Both Gerhardt Konig and his wife, who have two young sons together, took the stand during the three-week trial in Honolulu, presenting widely differing accounts of what happened on the hike.
Arielle Konig testified that the two had traveled to Oahu from their home in Maui to celebrate her birthday. She said they had been working on repairing their marriage after her husband found what she characterized as “flirty” WhatsApp messages between her and a colleague in December 2024 in what she said was an “emotional affair.”
Arielle Konig testified that during the hike, her husband pushed her toward the edge of the cliff. As they wrestled on the ground with him on top, pinning her down, he produced a syringe and vial, she said.
Arielle Konig further testified that her husband proceeded to beat her with a rock as many as 10 times, and that she believed he was trying to knock her unconscious in order to drag her over the edge of the cliff.
Arielle Konig testified that she fought back by biting her husband’s forearm and pleaded with him, saying, “You can’t do it,” and that “our kids will be orphans — you’ll go to jail and I’ll be dead.”
“He’s saying, ‘You’re done. We’re done with you. We don’t need you anymore. You’re done. You’re done,'” she told the court.
Arielle Konig testified that she yelled, “He’s trying to kill me,” and screamed for help, and two female hikers happened upon them. One of the hikers told a 911 operator, “Someone’s currently being attacked on the top of Pali Puka. There’s a man trying to kill her,” according to audio of the call played in court.
Prosecutors showed photos of Arielle Konig’s bloodied face following the incident. She testified that she crawled away from her husband and was helped down the rest of the trail by the two women. She said she was treated at a hospital for “severe complex scalp lacerations” and showed the court scarring on her scalp.
Gerhardt Konig testified in his own defense over two days, maintaining that he never intended to hurt his wife and acted in self-defense when he struck her with the rock.
He told the court that his wife pushed him near the edge after they got into an argument about her affair, and that she hit him with a rock first while they struggled on the ground. He admitted to hitting her with the rock while on top of her, saying he struck her twice, though he denied having any syringes or trying to pull her toward the cliff’s edge.
Gerhardt Konig testified that he felt suicidal after the incident.
“I just felt hopeless at that point in terms of everything,” he said. “I felt horrified about what I did to her, that I had caused this to her, that I had resorted to violence against my wife, the person who I love the most in the world. And I just kind of felt hopeless in terms of our relationship, too.”
Shortly after the incident, Gerhardt Konig testified, he made a FaceTime call to his 20-year-old son from his prior marriage, Emile Konig, to say goodbye.
His son testified about the FaceTime call during the trial. Asked by the prosecutor to recount what his father said during the call, Emile Konig responded, “That he would not be making it back to Maui and to take good care of the younger kids, and that Ari, my stepmom, had been cheating on him, and that he tried to kill her.”
“During that call, the next plan that he said was to jump off the cliff,” Emile Konig testified, adding that his father said he was “at the end of his rope.”
Gerhardt Konig pushed back against his son’s testimony and denied making any confession. He told the court that what he said during the call was, “She said I tried to kill her.”
Gerhardt Konig was arrested following an hourslong manhunt, prosecutors said.
Arielle Konig filed for divorce in May 2025, seeking full custody of the couple’s two children.
Gerhardt Konig, who worked as an anesthesiologist on Maui, has been in jail since his arrest. Following his arrest, Maui Health said his medical staff privileges at Maui Memorial Medical Center have been suspended pending investigation.
In this June 2, 2019, file photo, a sign marking the spot of the Stonewall National monument is shown in Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York. (Epics via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The National Parks Service (NPS) removed the rainbow flag that sat on a flagpole inside the Stonewall National Monument near Christopher Park in New York City’s Greenwich Village.
The site was designated a national monument by President Barack Obama in June, 2016, becoming the first federal monument dedicated to LGBTQ+ rights.
The communications office for NPS, which is overseen by the Department of the Interior, confirmed the removal of the rainbow flag in a statement to ABC News on Tuesday morning. It said that, under federal guidance, “only the U.S. flag and other congressionally or departmentally authorized flags are flown on NPS-managed flagpoles, with limited exceptions.”
“Any changes to flag displays are made to ensure consistency with that guidance. Stonewall National Monument continues to preserve and interpret the site’s historic significance through exhibits and programs,” the statement continued.
The office of Interior Sec. Doug Burgum reiterated the sentiment in a statement to ABC News on Tuesday, saying that federal policy governing flag displays “has been in place for decades,” and “recent guidance clarifies how that longstanding policy is applied consistently across NPS-managed sites.”
The pride flag inside the monument was permanently installed by NPS in 2021, and was the first pride flag to be flown over federally-funded land.
Steven Love Menendez, a New York-based advocate for LGBTQ+ rights who launched the movement for the permanent pride flag to be installed at the site in 2017, questioned the timing of its removal.
“It’s a targeted attack on the community, right? Because the flag was there. It’s not that they never gave permission for it to be erected. They did give permission for it to be erected, and now they’re using some legal language to try to make an excuse for taking it down,” Menendez said. “Why now? That’s the question the administration needs to answer. Why now? It was already up, and my response is, it’s solely based on hate.”
The Stonewall National Monument is located near the Stonewall Inn, a historic gay bar in the neighborhood that was a safe haven for many in the LGBTQ+ community in the 1960s. The bar was raided by the NYPD in 1969, leading to riots that became known as the Stonewall Uprising, which is credited with kickstarting the modern LGBTQ+ movement. The NYPD publicly apologized for the raid in 2019.
“Stonewall will be our first national monument to tell the story of the struggle for LGBT rights. I believe our national parks should reflect the full story of our country, the richness and diversity and uniquely American spirit that has always defined us. That we are stronger together. That out of many, we are one,” Obama said in 2016.
Menendez said that, during Pride Month in 2017, he got a permit from NPS to install a pride flag inside the monument and his request was granted. Once the month was over, he noted that the flag was taken down. Menendez said he was “very passionate” about people being able to see the pride flag when they visited the monument, so he petitioned NPS in 2017 for the installation of a permanent flag.
According to ABC station in New York City, WABC, NPS was expected to participate in a dedication ceremony for a permanent rainbow flag inside the monument on National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11, 2017. But amid opposition from the Trump administration, NPS withdrew from the ceremony — a move that drew widespread criticism from LGBTQ+ advocates, WABC reported.
At the dedication ceremony, the city of New York flew their own rainbow flag on city land outside the Stonewall National Monument and it wasn’t until 2021 when the Biden administration approved the permanent installation of a pride flag inside the monument on federal land. The city flag has remained in place, but the flag on federal land was removed by NPS this week.
“For me, [the rainbow flag] is a sense of pride and joy and celebration and victory for our community. … This flag represents our victory and our triumphs,” Menendez, who attended the 2017 ceremony, told ABC News on Tuesday. “[Removing] it feels like a slap in the face to the community, you know, a punch in the gut. They’re taking away our symbol of pride.”
The removal of the flag comes after President Donald Trump directed Sec. Burgum in a March 2025 executive order to remove “divisive” and “anti-American” content from museums and national parks.
Asked if the removal of the pride flag was in response to Trump’s order, NPS did not comment.
