2 charged in connection with alleged explosive device at MacDill Air Force Base: FBI
(WASHINGTON) — The FBI has announced charges against a brother and sister in connection with an alleged improvised explosive device that was found near the visitors center at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida last week.
Alen Zheng was charged by indictment with one count of attempted damage of government property by fire or explosion, one count of unlawful making of a destructive device and possession of an unregistered destructive device.
Ann Mary Zheng was also indicted on charges alleging that she was an accessory after the fact and tampered with evidence by attempting to destroy, mutilate and conceal a 2010 black Mercedes GLK 350.
“A brother and sister have now been indicted,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post on X on Thursday. “One is in custody for accessory and evidence tampering and the primary suspect is charged with explosives offenses and is currently in China.”
A possible IED was discovered outside the visitor’s center at MacDill AFB on March 16, though it is unclear when the device was placed. Court records indicate that March 10 is a date associated with the siblings’ alleged conduct.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Jamie Dimon, chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump on Thursday sued JPMorgan Chase and its CEO Jamie Dimon for $5 billion, alleging the bank closed his accounts for “political and social motivations,” according to a court filing.
The lawsuit says in early 2021 the bank notified Trump and his businesses that several of his accounts would close after decades at the bank. That came in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
In a statement to ABC News, JPMorgan said the suit has “no merit” and they will fight it in court.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates
(CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas) — Jurors on the trial of former Uvalde, Texas, school police officer Adrian Gonzales listened to a firsthand account of the emergency response from a police sergeant who tried to enter Robb Elementary School with Gonzales.
Prosecutors allege Gonzales, who is charged with child endangerment, did not follow his training and endangered the 19 students who died and an additional 10 surviving students. He has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers argue he is being unfairly blamed for a broader law-enforcement failure that day. It took 77 minutes before law enforcement mounted a counterassault to end the rampage.
Former Uvalde Police Sgt. Daniel Coronado was called as a state witness, but he appeared to defend some of Gonzales’ actions during the May 24, 2022, mass shooting.
“He was yelling at them to be careful, because the shooter was on that side of the building from the information that we had, and I think he was concerned with officers approaching,” Coronado testified on Thursday about first seeing Gonzales. “He was trying to get around to see what was going on.”
Coronado said that he tried to enter Robb Elementary with three other officers — Gonzales, Uvalde Schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo and a third — once they realized the shooter had gone in the school. Jurors also saw body camera footage of their actions.
“As we are making our way through the hallway, it’s dark. There are no lights on. It’s extremely quiet, we don’t hear anything,” Coronado said, noting that the hallways smelled like gunpowder and the walls were “perforated” by bullets.
Coronado said they heard gunfire when they were in the hallway and saw another officer retreat after being hit on the back of his head.
“He yells out, ‘He’s in the classroom over here to my left,'” Coronado said.
Within seconds of the gunman firing from inside a classroom, Coronado said that Gonzales and Arredondo tried to use their radio to request support from SWAT.
“Would that be the opposite of confronting the shooter?” prosecutor Bill Turner asked.
“The opposite? No, I think we were trying to formulate a plan to confront the shooter, and that would be to call SWAT,” Coronado responded.
After they retreated from inside the school, Coronado said Gonzales was covering the east side of the building in case the gunman jumped out of the building.
On Wednesday, jurors heard testimony from Michael Witzgall, an instructor who taught Gonzales a class on active shooting response, SWAT tactics and hostage negotiations.
“We’ve got to stop the killing. There’s no other way I have to say that, folks. You can’t wait for backup,” Witzgall said, speaking to the jurors as if they were his students. “In my opinion, in the way I train people, you don’t have time to wait. You’ve got to make a move.”
During a lengthy cross examination, defense attorney Nico LaHood pressed Witzgall about whether a 40-hour training response fully prepared Gonzales for the real thing.
Dad Christopher Salinas also testified on Wednesday about the physical and mental impact the shooting took on his son, Samuel.
Samuel still has shrapnel embedded in his thigh and the wound has left him in constant pain, Salinas said.
Salinas testified that hearing popping sounds, arguments and slamming doors and seeing the color red triggers memories of the shooting for Samuel.
“Mr. Salinas, is the child that you picked up from the hospital on May 24 the same child that was taken to school that day?” District Attorney Christina Mitchell asked.
“No,” he answered.
Arredondo — the on-site commander on the day of the shooting — is also charged with multiple counts of endangerment and abandonment of a child and has pleaded not guilty. Arredondo’s case has been delayed indefinitely by an ongoing federal lawsuit filed after the U.S. Border Patrol refused repeated efforts by Uvalde prosecutors to interview Border Patrol agents who responded to the shooting, including two who were in the tactical unit responsible for killing the gunman at the school.
ABC News’ Juan Renteria contributed to this report.
Rex A. Heuermann pleads guilty in court to the murders of eight women during a 17-year killing spree on April 8, 2026 in Riverhead, New York. (Photo by James Carbone – Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Admitted Gilgo Beach, New York, serial killer Rex Heuermann was linked to one of his victims, Megan Waterman, by the distinct pattern on a Bounty paper towel, according to the district attorney.
In court on Wednesday, Heuermann changed his plea to guilty and admitted to the murders of eight women: Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello, Sandra Costilla, Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor, Maureen Brainard-Barnes and Karen Vergata.
Prosecutors said the New York City architect targeted sex workers, strangled them and dumped their bodies near Long Island’s Gilgo Beach from 1993 to 2010.
“This was his obsession,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney told ABC News. “With his internet searches and his thought process, this was what was driving him.”
A piece of evidence that would’ve been presented had the case gone to trial is a rolled up Bounty paper towel recovered from Waterman’s mouth, Tierney said.
Waterman, 22, went missing in June 2010 and her remains were found in December 2010 in Gilgo Beach, according to Suffolk County police.
The paper towel had a particular pattern that Bounty created specifically for the box store BJ’s Wholesale Club, and that pattern was only in circulation in 2010, Tierney said.
When searching Heuermann’s home, investigators found a BJ’s receipt for Bounty paper towels, and “the SKU [stock-keeping unit] number was for a Bounty paper towel with that same pattern,” Tierney said.
“And so we were able to show that this Bounty paper towel was purchased by the defendant,” Tierney said. “And inside his desk drawer was a square of that same paper towel that matched perfectly and that he had kept in his office since 2010.”
That paper towel square was a “memento” for Heuermann, Tierney said, adding that prosecutors “would have utilized [that] at trial to link him to the commission of that particular murder.”
Heuermann was arrested in 2023 and initially pleaded not guilty to killing seven women. He was set to go to trial in September.
On Wednesday, Heuermann agreed to serve three consecutive life sentences followed by four consecutive sentences of 25 years-to-life, prosecutors said. His sentencing is set for June 17.
Tierney said, from his “outside observation” as a prosecutor, Heuermann, 62, wanted to change his plea because “I think he was done.”
“He wanted this to come to a conclusion — that’s just my impression,” he said.
Waterman’s daughter, Liliana Waterman, told reporters on Wednesday that she accepts the guilty plea and is “very, very thankful.”
Part of the plea arrangement requires Heuermann to cooperate with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit.
“I think it’s very important,” Tierney said.
“This is clinical,” he said. “So I think they’re going to, hopefully, gain insight into him, his motivations, you know, what created this need or desire in him. And hopefully we’ll gain insight, you know, for cases going forward.”
