18-year-old dies after fall from light pole while celebrating Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl berth
Thomas Hengge/Anadolu via Getty Images
(PHILADELPHIA) — An 18-year-old man who was celebrating the Philadelphia Eagles victory over the Washington Commanders in the NFC championship game on Sunday has died after he fell from a light pole during the celebrations, officials said.
Temple University announced the death of first-year student Tyler Sabapathy, 18, who sustained critical injuries over the weekend and died on Tuesday.
The tragedy happened Sunday night at 15th and Market streets in Center City Philadelphia where video shows the teen above on the street pole before he fell onto the concrete sidewalk flat on his back, hitting his head, according to ABC News’ Philadelphia station WPVI.
He was taken to Jefferson Hospital with a brain injury and pronounced dead two days later.
Sabapathy was a Toronto native and accomplished gymnast with over 120 medals, was majoring in exercise and sport science at Temple’s College of Public Health, school administrators said. He was also a dedicated member of the university’s club gymnastics team.
“It is with deep sadness that we write to share news of the death of first-year student Tyler Sabapathy. Over the weekend, Tyler sustained critical injuries and ultimately passed away this afternoon,” said John Fry, Temple’s president, and Jodi Bailey, vice president for student affairs, in a statement obtained by ABC News.
“The loss of a promising 18-year-old man like Tyler is both tragic and traumatic. There are no words that can make sense of it, and the entire Temple community mourns his passing. Our hearts go out to Tyler’s family, friends, classmates and all who knew and loved him,” the statement continued.
“He no doubt had a bright future ahead of him, and it is so tragic that we will not be able to see how he would have made his mark on the world,” school administrators said. “As a member of the university’s club gymnastics team, Tyler displayed exceptional self-discipline and work ethic, spending countless hours a week training and honing his craft. He was loved by his teammates, friends and coaches here in Philadelphia.”
Philadelphia police had an internal briefing on Tuesday to review Sunday’s response and discuss what strategies they will use during the next possible celebration, which could be in just two weeks, according to WPVI.
City officials did not say if they greased the poles on Sunday, adding that they don’t want to release public safety tactics, WPVI said.
Meanwhile, Temple University said grief counselors will be available for students and staff.
“We extend our thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathies to those closest to Tyler, especially his parents and siblings,” school officials said. “He will be deeply missed.”
(CARISBAD, Calif.) — A judge granted a gun violence protective order against a Carlsbad, California, man who authorities allege was communicating with the Abundant Life Christian School shooting suspect.
Carlsbad police filed the application for a gun violence emergency protective order against Alexander Charles Paffendorf in San Diego County Superior Court on Tuesday. FBI agents “stopped and detained” him after they allege “he was discovered plotting a mass shooting” with Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow, the suspected school shooter in Madison, Wisconsin, according to court records obtained by ABC News.
Paffendorf allegedly admitted to authorities “that he told Rupnow that he would arm himself with explosives and a gun and that he would target a government building,” a Carlsbad police officer wrote on the protective order application form.
FBI agents saw messages from Paffendorf to Rupnow, the officer stated. Paffendorf has not been charged with a crime.
Rupnow, 15, allegedly opened fire with a handgun at Abundant Life Christian School on Monday morning, killing a fellow student and teacher. Six others were injured.
She died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.
The restraining order requires Paffendorf to surrender all guns, ammunition and magazines to law enforcement or “sell them to or store them with a licensed firearms dealer” within 48 hours of receipt of the order.
The Carlsbad Police Department said in a statement Thursday, “Carlsbad is not the lead agency on this investigation, but we are in communication with our federal partners, and we do not believe there to be a threat to our city. Because this is an ongoing investigation being handled by another agency, there are no other details to share at the moment.”
The FBI said Thursday it is “not aware of any ongoing threats associated with this matter in Wisconsin or California.”
The agency added, “The Madison Police Department is leading the ongoing investigation into the school shooting in Wisconsin with the assistance of the Milwaukee and San Diego field offices of the FBI, the Carlsbad, California Police Department, and other law enforcement partners. As this is an ongoing investigation, we do not have any further comment.”
A hearing for Paffendorf is scheduled for Jan. 3. Attorney information for the California man was not immediately available.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Amid ongoing turmoil inside the U.S. Agency for International Development, sources told ABC News that Department of Government Efficiency staffers have moved to take over offices, escalating tensions as more senior staff members are locked out of internal systems, additional employees are placed on administrative leave, and the agency’s newly appointed chief of staff resigned as the Elon Musk-led agency works to assert control over the USAID, which oversees foreign aid, disaster relief and international development programs.
On Friday night, a dramatic scene played out when a group of individuals who identified themselves as State Department employees and DOGE representatives arrived at the USAID offices in the Ronald Reagan Building and demanded immediate access to every office, according to sources familiar with the incident. It is unclear what legal authority, if any, DOGE representatives have to make such demands.
“It looked like people who dressed up for their first job interview,” a source said.
After initially being denied entry, the group told security guards that if they were not granted entry, they would call the U.S. Marshals Service, sources said. The guards ultimately complied, the source said.
Two top security officials at USAID were placed on administrative leave after they refused to comply on Saturday amid the ongoing turmoil at the agency, sources told ABC News.
Sources told ABC News that more USAID employees were also placed on administration leave, and many were locked out of internal systems amid clashes with DOGE representatives working to take over the agency.
Amid the upheaval, USAID Chief of Staff Matt Hopson resigned just days after Trump appointed him to the position, sources said. It was not immediately clear if Hopson’s resignation was due to changes inside the agency.
However, Musk has been joining USIAD staff calls during the week amid the shakeup at the agency, according to a source familiar with the matter. And as reports emerged over clashes inside USAID, Musk unloaded a barrage of attacks against the agency across his social media platform, X.
“USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die,” Musk wrote in one post.
When shown Musk’s posts on X targeting USAID, a senior official for the agency told ABC News, “The warp-speed of this mafia-like takeover has shaken USAID staff to the core.”
“We are not criminals. Where are Republican Senators like Senator Graham and Risch who have supported the good work of this agency in the past? Will they speak out?” the official asked. “Yes, USAID needs reform, like all agencies, but we’d expect this to come with a degree of thought and involvement from Congress.”
Inside the Ronald Reagan Building, posters and flags featuring USAID were taken down and stacked in hallways, sources who were in the building told ABC News. Some USAID employees who were placed on administrative leave had their ID badges and work computers seized, the sources said.
In response to reports on DOGE’s activity at USAID, DOGE spokesperson Katie Miller wrote on X, “No classified material was accessed without proper security clearances.” The USAID press office did not respond when asked for comment.
The group gained access to USAID’s internal systems on Friday, including the agency’s website and several critical databases, according to sources familiar with the matter. Among the systems was the Development Evaluation Clearinghouse, which houses reports on past and ongoing USAID programs, as well as the Development Information Solution (DIS) — a system used to track congressionally mandated and performance-related data for all USAID programs worldwide.
Sources also said that the group also seized control of a software system called Phoenix, a program for USAID’s financial management system used to track and manage the agency’s budgeting, accounting and financial transactions. The system was down over the weekend, sources said, which has sent shockwaves across contractors for USAID who are fearful they won’t be paid for their work. Major firms that manage global supply chains, including those for initiatives like antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and other essential medicines to combat HIV/AIDS, rely on Phoenix.
Sources told ABC News the Trump administration’s foreign aid cuts are being overseen by Peter Marocco, a campaign ally in the Office of Foreign Assistance who was reportedly caught on camera inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Sources also told ABC News that Trump ally Mark Kevin Lloyd has been placed as acting assistant administrator for the Bureau of Conflict Prevention and Stabilization (CPS) at USAID, which oversees a considerable budget. Lloyd, a Tea Party activist, was Trump’s Virginia field director in 2016 and later appointed USAID religious freedom adviser in 2020.
The chaos inside the agency has led those familiar with USAID to question whether the overhaul of the agency marks the end of U.S. international development efforts or a strategic consolidation of resources under the State Department. Some see the potential for the administration to leverage USAID’s existing infrastructure — its contracting officers, global footprint and established contract mechanisms — to rapidly redirect aid programs in a way that far exceeds the capacity of the State Department.
After the USAID website went dark on Saturday, the agency’s chief information officer sent an internal email stating that the website is “currently unavailable” and that they have no information on when it will be restored, according to an email obtained by ABC News.
“M/CIO is informing users that USAID.gov is currently unavailable. We will send a follow-up notice once there is more information. At this time there is no update on when the site will be available,” the email, which was sent Saturday evening, reads.
A source told ABC News that these notices would typically detail that the team is working to restore access, but that was missing from this notice.
Some staff are taking the “no update” on when the site will be brought back as “a decision made to turn out the (internet) lights.”
(LOS ANGELES) — President Donald Trump will tour damage caused by wildfires in Los Angeles on Friday as he continues to feud with California Gov. Gavin Newsom over his handling of the disaster and federal aid.
Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity in an interview that aired Wednesday that he was going to Los Angeles after stopping in North Carolina, hit by Hurricane Helene in September.
“I’m stopping in North Carolina, first up, because those people were treated very badly by Democrats and I’m stopping there,” Trump told Hannity. “We’re going to get that thing straightened out because they’re still suffering from a hurricane from months ago. And then, I’m going to then — I’m going to go to California.”
Newsom told reporters on Thursday that he would be at the airport to welcome the president.
Trump and Republican congressional leaders have said they would attach conditions to federal disaster aid mandating changes in California’s water policies and forest management.
“I don’t think we should give California anything until they let water flow down,” the president told Hannity, claiming water from northern California needed to be redirected south.
Then on Friday, he added a second — political — condition.
“I want to see two things in Los Angeles, voter ID, so that the people have a chance to vote, and I want to see the water be released and come down into Los Angeles and the state. Those are the two things,” Trump said.
Newsom’s office decried Trump’s conditions in a post on X Friday afternoon.
“Conditioning aid for American citizens is wrong,” it said in the post. “FACT: Under current CA law you must be a CA resident and US citizen (and attest to being one under penalty of perjury) AND provide a form of ID such as driver’s license or passport that has been approved by the Secretary of State in order to register to vote.”
California officials have repeatedly pushed back on Trump’s assertions about water policy as well.
Trump’s claims that measures to protect the delta smelt, an endangered fish, upstate affected L.A.’s water supply are false, according to Ashley Overhouse, a California water policy adviser for the nonprofit conservation organization Defenders of Wildlife.
Overhouse told ABC News that even the most protective regulations for delta smelt, during former President Barack Obama’s administration, accounted for only about 1.2% of additional outflow.
On Thursday, the House passed the Fix Our Forests Act, a bipartisan measure that’s intended to help prevent catastrophic wildfires and provide proper forest management as California continues.
The bill provides fire departments information about how much and when they will get reimbursed for wildfire costs, supports post-fire recovery activities, assesses and helps better predict fires in high-risk areas and states through data, expedites environmental reviews to reduce planning times and costs for critical forest management and establishes an interagency center to help state and local governments.
