15-year-old boy shot at school in Omaha, in critical condition; suspect in custody
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(OMAHA, Neb.) — A 15-year-old boy is in critical condition after he was shot at his high school in Omaha, Nebraska, on Tuesday, police said.
The shooting inside Northwest High School was reported at about 12:23 p.m., and a description of the suspect was put out over the radio, Omaha police said. The suspect was taken into custody around 12:58 p.m., police said.
The shooting appeared to stem from an incident between two students, police said.
(Delphi, IND.) — Delphi, Indiana, murder suspect Richard Allen allegedly confessed to the crime in multiple jail phone calls to his wife, which were played for the jury on Thursday.
In one call, Allen told his wife, Kathy, “I did it. I killed Abby and Libby.”
“No, you didn’t,” she said. Allen replied, “Yes, I did.”
“Why would you say that?” Kathy said. “I know you didn’t. There’s something wrong.”
In another call, Allen told his wife, “I think maybe I’ve lost my mind. … I need you to know I did this.”
She replied, “No, you haven’t. You’re unwell.”
Allen is accused of killing Libby German, 14, and Abby Williams 13, on a hiking trail in February 2017. He’s pleaded not guilty to murder.
In a separate call, Allen said to his wife, “If I get the electric chair or the death penalty, will you be there for me? I killed Abby and Libby.”
In another call, Allen said, “I did it, Kathy. I did it. Do you still love me?”
She replied, “Yes, I do. But you didn’t do it.”
“I don’t want to upset you. I’m sorry,” Allen told his wife. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know if I’ve lost my mind.”
“I feel like I’m already in hell,” he told her later in the call. “I don’t understand what’s going on.”
Allen also allegedly confessed to corrections officers and a prison psychologist, according to their testimonies. But Allen’s mental state while in custody has come into question.
A psychologist testified this week that Allen could be classified as having serious mental illness. Allen was in solitary confinement for 13 months, which she said can be detrimental to a person’s mental health.
The psychologist said she believed Allen suffered from “situational psychosis” in jail. She said Allen would have episodes of psychosis and then it would go into remission.
Allen’s strange behavior in custody included hitting his head on the wall, washing his face in the toilet, refusing food, eating paper, smearing feces in his cell and putting feces on his face for two hours, according to testimony from corrections officers.
On the day of the murders, Libby and Abby saw a man behind them on the bridge, and Libby started recording on her phone, prosecutors said. The man — known as “bridge guy,” from the video of his voice released to the public — pulled out a gun and ordered the girls to go “down the hill,” prosecutors said.
Indiana State Police trooper Brian Harshman, who said he listened to 700 of Allen’s calls and monitored his texts and video chats, testified Thursday that after listening to the calls, he believes Allen is the voice on Libby’s “bridge guy” video.
The psychologist testified that Allen told her he ordered the girls “down the hill” and intended to rape them, but then he saw something — either a person or a van — and was startled.
Harshman told the jurors he believed Allen was startled by a van belonging to resident Brad Weber. Weber, who lives near the crime scene, owns a 2000 Ford Econoline van. Harshman said the time it would’ve taken Weber to drive home from work fits with the timing of the murders.
Defense attorney Brad Rozzi said police never investigated how many vans were registered in the county at the time of the murders. Rozzi also noted that numerous people were suspected of being the man in the “bridge guy” video, including Weber.
(WASHINGTON) — Four Russian military aircraft passed through the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone on Monday, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said.
All four aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter either American or Canadian sovereign airspace, NORAD said in a press release. There was no intercept, it added.
“This Russian activity in the Alaska ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat,” NORAD said.
Monday’s detection is the fifth such incident in September so far, according to NORAD’s public statements noting detections. NORAD did not specify what type of Russian aircraft were involved. The command identified Russian IL-38 maritime patrol aircraft inside the Alaska ADIZ earlier this month.
The ADIZ begin at the limit of national airspace — in this case that of the U.S. and Canada. Such zones require “the ready identification of all aircraft in the interest of national security,” NORAD said.
The command “employs a layered defense network of satellites, ground-based and airborne radars and fighter aircraft to track aircraft and inform appropriate actions,” it said in its press release.
“NORAD remains ready to employ a number of response options in defense of North America,” it added.
(NEWTON, Mass.) — A 47-year-old Massachusetts man has been charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon after he allegedly shot another individual during an altercation at a pro-Israel demonstration in Newton, officials said Thursday night.
The individual who was shot sustained life-threatening injuries, authorities said at a brief news conference Thursday night. The man is being treated at a local hospital, an official said.
The incident happened around 6:40 p.m. ET when Newton Police responded to calls at Washington and Harvard Street, where a small group of individuals were engaged in a pro-Israeli demonstration on one side of the street, Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said.
An individual was “completely randomly” walking down the opposite side of the street, and words were exchanged between the two parties, she explained.
That individual, who Ryan said was not part of the demonstration group, began crossing the street, went back to his side of the street, and then went back across the street again and “ultimately jumped upon one of the demonstrators,” Ryan said, leading to a “scuffle.”
“During that scuffle, the individual who had come across the street was shot by a member of the demonstrating group,” she said.
The 47-year-old alleged shooter was arrested and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and violation of a constitutional right causing injury, Ryan told the media.
His arraignment will occur Friday in the Newton District Court, she said.
Ryan said it is still early in the investigation, which remains ongoing.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
ABC News’ Victoria Arancio contributed to this report.
