15-year-old shot in Maryland high school bathroom, 16-year-old student in custody
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(JOPPA, Md.) — A 16-year-old student allegedly shot a 15-year-old boy during an “altercation” in the boys’ bathroom at Joppatowne High School in Joppa, Maryland, on Friday, authorities said.
The 15-year-old was attended to by school nurses and the principal, and then airlifted to a trauma center where he is in serious condition, Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler said at a news conference.
The 16-year-old suspect left the school and fled to nearby houses, the sheriff said. He was apprehended “within minutes” thanks to community members, Gahler said.
The shooting unfolded on the suspect’s first day at the school, though it’s now four days into the school year, Gahler said.
It appears one shot was fired in the incident, the sheriff said, noting that the gun has not been recovered.
Authorities don’t know what the apparent argument was about, the sheriff said.
The suspect is known to law enforcement and police have previously responded to calls for service involving the teen, authorities said.
More than 100 police officers responded to the scene in Joppa, about 35 miles northeast of Baltimore, Gahler said.
“We’re just devastated to be a part of this awful group of schools that have experienced things like this,” Harford County Public Schools Superintendent Sean Bulson said. “And we’re going to do everything we can, working with this community, to make sure this absolutely never happens again.”
The school does not have metal detectors, officials said.
(NEW YORK) — The hottest weather of the season is spreading across the eastern half of the U.S. — with cities in the Northeast in the bull’s-eye on Wednesday — after baking the Midwest with extreme temperatures early in the week.
Chicago’s actual temperature hit 99 degrees on Tuesday, breaking the city’s daily record of 97 degrees. The heat index — what temperature it feels like with humidity — soared to a scorching 115 degrees in Chicago on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, heat advisories are in effect from St. Louis, Missouri, to New York City. An excessive heat warning was issued in Philadelphia, where the heat index could hit 105 degrees.
The heat index is forecast to rise Wednesday to 106 degrees in Baltimore, Maryland; 103 in Washington, D.C.; and 97 in New York City.
The final tennis major of the year, the U.S. Open, which is underway in New York City, is operating under an “extreme weather policy,” with stadium roofs partially closed and extended breaks for players.
More than a dozen cities could shatter their record high temperatures, including Washington, D.C., if it reaches 100 degrees.
The extreme temperatures will end in the Northeast on Thursday, but will linger in the Ohio Valley and Tennessee Valley through Friday.
On Thursday, the heat index is forecast to climb to 104 degrees in Nashville, Tennessee, and Columbia, South Carolina; 102 degrees in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Louisville, Kentucky; and 105 degrees in Greenville, Mississippi.
Record highs are possible Thursday in cities including Nashville and Louisville.
There are hundreds of deaths each year in the U.S. due to excessive heat, according to CDC WONDER, an online database, and scientists caution that the actual number of heat-related deaths is likely higher.
Last year marked the most heat-related deaths in the U.S. on record, according to JAMA, a peer-reviewed medical journal published by the American Medical Association.
(NEW YORK) — As Hurricane Helene makes its way toward the northern Gulf of Mexico and possibly through Atlanta, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is turning to an unlikely partner in disaster preparations: the National Football League.
The federal agency and the NFL are teaming up to allow for NFL stadiums to be used as “mission ready locations” during major disaster events, FEMA said in a news release.
“During large-scale emergencies, like the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes, or tornados, we’ve seen how large music, sports and entertainment venues can serve as a safe space for communities,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said.
Criswell called the partnership with the NFL “groundbreaking” and will make communities “more resilient.”
The then-New Orleans Superdome was used as a place where people were camped out for days during and after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
FEMA says NFL stadiums are an ideal venue because of their location and access for all people. FEMA says 73% of NFL stadiums are accessible by public transportation.
The stadiums that will become Mission Ready Venues are: MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, home of New York’s Jets and Giants: Lumen Field in Seattle, home of the Seahawks; Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, home of the Steelers; Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, home of the Buccaneers. SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, home of the Rams and the Chargers, is under review.
“Stadiums are valuable community assets that are often used in times of disasters,” said NFL Chief Security Officer Cathy Lanier, who was also the former Chief of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department. “This designation reflects the role that many stadiums play, not only on Sundays, but especially in times of need. We are proud to work with FEMA and first responders at the local and state level to ensure disaster response agencies have the information and tools they need to help a community recover when disaster strikes.”
(NEW YORK) — As the Earth’s temperature continues to rise, lives could be at stake. A new study found deaths related to extreme temperatures may triple by the middle of the century, hitting minority communities the hardest.
University of Pennsylvania researchers looked at the relationship between average temperatures and number of deaths across counties in the United States between 2008 and 2019, according to the study published in JAMA Network Open on Friday. Currently, there are just over 8,000 annual temperature-related deaths in the country.
But just a single additional day of extreme heat in a month could increase these numbers.
“For years, we have been chronically underestimating the number of heat-related deaths … because they are so complicated,” Gaurab Basu, MD, director of education and policy at the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told ABC News. “The methodologies they’re using, and the outcomes of this paper are more in line with what we believe is actually the impact of heat on mortality.”
To arrive at their estimates, the team used established climate models to predict future deaths from the heat or cold between 2036 and 2065. They ran these predictions through two potential scenarios of greenhouse gas emissions.
“The lower emissions scenario represents what we think might happen to the greenhouse gas emission trajectory if currently proposed climate policies are enacted,” Sameed Khatana, MD, the study’s lead author and assistant professor of medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine, said. “The higher emissions scenario represents business as usual––what would happen if the economy continued to be very dependent on fuels.”
By 2065, the researchers predict that deaths from extreme temperatures could reach 19,300 in the lower greenhouse gas emissions scenario, and 26,500 with higher emissions––a 134% and 222% increase, respectively.
Hispanic and Black communities would fare the worst, the study suggested. Hispanic adults could see a 527% rise in temperature-related deaths and non-Hispanic Black adults could see a 278% increase.
“It’s critical to understand that a warming planet is dangerous to all of us. But climate change and heat-related impacts on health are very disproportionate and very inequitably distributed,” Basu said.
Khatana noted that part of the disproportionate burden on minority communities stems from projected population shifts. Minority and non-White populations are expected to grow faster than white populations.
However, even after accounting for this, significant differences in temperature-related deaths remain for a variety of reasons.
Minority populations often work longer hours in the heat, live in areas with less green space and more pollution, and lack adequate home cooling.
Researchers urge targeted solutions to address these disparities.
“We have to analyze the ways in which communities of color are vulnerable to exposures, to heat, because of a lack of resources and because of the kind of occupations and disempowered positions they are in,” Basu said. “We need to start there.”
Khatana emphasized the importance of staying hopeful when considering the future of climate change.
“We should think about the steps we can take to lower our carbon footprint,” he said. “We found that, even though in both [greenhouse gas] scenarios, there is an increase in extreme temperature-associated deaths, the increase is lower when the trajectory of emission increases is lower as well.”
“But no one should pretend that there’s a simple solution. Climate change is a very complex issue that requires a concerted effort at multiple levels.”
Anokhi Saklecha, M.D., is an internal medicine resident at Yale New Haven Health and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
