2 New Jersey teens arrested in connection with alleged Halloween terror attack plot
(NEW YORK) — Two New Jersey teenagers have been arrested in connection with an alleged ISIS-inspired Halloween attack in Michigan that the FBI announced it had thwarted last week, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The NYPD and FBI-Newark arrested Tomas Kaan Guzel, 19, before he could board a flight to Istanbul, the sources said.
A second 19-year-old, Milo Sedanet, was also arrested, according to sources.
Two other men, Mohmed Ali and Majed Mahmoud, were arrested on Friday for their alleged roles in the plot, according to court records unsealed on Monday.
They allegedly “used online encrypted communications and social media applications to share extremist and ISIS-related materials,” and allegedly used the term “pumpkin day” for their plans, according to the complaint.
According to sources, an NYPD undercover had been monitoring Guzel, who was allegedly in communication with those arrested in Michigan and others overseas. The group allegedly talked about an attack on the LGBTQ community in Detroit and about traveling to Syria to train with ISIS, sources said.
Guzel allegedly had planned to travel in two weeks to Turkey and onward to Syria from there, but it’s believed he got spooked after last week’s arrests and moved his flight up, sources said.
There were searches at his home in Montclair and also in Seattle as part of the investigation, the sources said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
All evacuation warnings have been lifted regarding the Canyon Fire in California after firefighters appeared to gain the upper hand in battling the wildfire, which broke out amid a heatwave and rapidly spread to over 5,300 acres in two days and destroyed at least seven structures, including two homes, authorities said.
As of Sunday morning, fire crews had increased containment on the blaze from 28% on Saturday evening to 62%, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). The fire also spread into Los Angeles County, endangering homes and forcing thousands of evacuation over the weekend near the city of Castaic.
“As of this morning, all evacuation warnings in Los Angeles and Ventura counties have been lifted,” Cal Fire said in an updated statement on Sunday morning.
As of Sunday, the fire had burned 5,370 acres, according to Cal Fire.
On Thursday, a local emergency proclamation issued by officials enabling the county to “expedite access to critical resources and cut through bureaucratic red tape to enhance firefighting and recovery efforts,” according to a statement from Los Angeles County.
The Canyon Fire had grown to over 5,000 acres in a matter of hours and was 25% contained, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department Friday morning. On Thursday, the fire had burned 1,500 acres.
At least two homes and five small outbuildings were burned in the flames, officials said.
More than 1,100 firefighters are battling the blaze, which broke out in extremely hot weather — accompanied by minimal humidity — which officials said are the perfect conditions for the flames to increase.
Evacuation zones and shelters At the height of the fire on Friday and Saturday, more than 5,700 homes and structures in Los Angeles County were threatened and and nearly 8,000 residents were forced to evacuate, officials said.
Many residents of Ventura County were also initially under evacuation orders or evacuation warnings, which have all been cancelled, officials said.
The emergency declaration issued by officials granted authorities the flexibility to “coordinate across agencies, mobilize additional firefighting personnel and equipment, and streamline procurement processes,” officials said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, according to Cal Fire.
Firefighters were also making progress in containing the Gifford Fire, which as of Sunday had burned 114,621 acres, mostly within the Los Padres National Forest in Solvang, California, according to Cal Fire. The wildfire, which began on Aug. 1 and became the largest wildfire in the years, was 21% contained as of Sunday morning, officials said.
(LOS ANGELES) — Jake Haro, the father of missing 7-month-old Emmanuel Haro, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison after he pleaded guilty to the baby’s murder.
He was also sentenced to over six years in prison for other offenses, to run consecutively.
He is ineligible for probation because he was already on probation for severely abusing another child, the judge said while handing down the sentence on Monday.
His sentence also included more than $20,000 in fines and court fees.
Prior to the sentencing, the defense objected to imposing any court fees or fines, saying Jake Haro is indigent and a public defender client.
In response, the prosecutor said the defendant “deserves no leniency.”
Last month, the 32-year-old father pleaded guilty to all charges, including second-degree murder, assault causing bodily harm to a child resulting in the death of said child and filing a false police report, according to court records.
The father, who previously pleaded not guilty with his wife Rebecca Haro in September, cried in court when he was giving his plea on Oct. 16.
Emmanuel’s mother, 41-year-old Rebecca Haro, pleaded not guilty to an amended complaint in October, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Monday. It remains unclear what is in the complaint, according to Los Angeles ABC station KABC.
The baby’s maternal grandmother, Mary Beushausen, addressed the court during Jake Haro’s sentencing on Monday.
“He destroyed my family,” she told the court. “Everybody in my family, all my children are destroyed by this.”
“He changed my daughter. We don’t know who she is,” she continued. “He kept my daughter away. I don’t know what he did or how he changed my daughter’s life, but she was never that same person after she went to live with him.”
She asked for a lengthy sentence, saying, “I don’t want to give him another chance.”
Officials have not announced whether they have located the baby’s remains.
The 7-month-old was reported missing on Aug. 14 at approximately 7:47 p.m. local time after his mother “reported being attacked outside a retail store on Yucaipa Boulevard,” the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Aug. 15.
When he was reported missing, Emmanuel’s mother told officials that “while she stood outside her vehicle, changing the child’s diaper, she was physically assaulted by an unknown male and rendered unconscious,” authorities said.
Authorities later said the mother was “confronted with inconsistencies in her initial statement,” leading officials to say they were “unable to rule out foul play in the disappearance of Emmanuel.”
Jake and Rebecca Haro were arrested and charged for the child’s murder on Aug. 22, officials said.
In August, officials announced they had a “pretty strong indication” on the location of the child’s remains and said they believed Emmanuel was “severely abused over a period of time.”
Jake Haro was even seen searching a field near the 60 freeway in Moreno Valley in late August with law enforcement, but no remains were apparently found.
“The filing in this case reflects our belief that baby Emmanuel was abused over time and that eventually because of that abuse, he succumbed to those injuries,” Riverside County District Attorney Michael Hestrin said during a press conference in August.
Hestrin said Jake Haro, who he described as an “experienced child abuser,” “should have gone to prison” due to previously abusing another child he had with his ex-wife in 2018, but a judge at the time granted him probation — a ruling Hestrin called an “outrageous error in judgment.” Authorities said the child in that case has been left bedridden.
“If that judge had done his job as he should have done, Emmanuel would be alive today,” Hestrin said in August.
(NEW YORK) — A decomposing female body was found in the trunk of a Tesla registered to the singer D4vd, two days after it had been towed from a Los Angeles street, police sources said.
Police responded to an impound lot in Hollywood midday Monday “for a foul odor coming from a vehicle,” Los Angeles police said.
Authorities located a body in the front trunk of the Tesla that was in a state of decomposition, LAPD sources said.
A death investigation is underway, police said.
The Tesla is registered to 20-year-old David Anthony Burke, known professionally as D4vd, according to a senior LAPD source. It is one of several vehicles owned by the musician, with many different people using any of the vehicles at any given time, the source added.
ABC News has reached out to his representative for comment but has not yet received a response.
Investigators will be relying heavily on the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner to identify the victim and to figure out the cause of death, police sources said.
The medical examiner confirmed it was a female’s body but was unable to determine her age, race or ethnicity due to the body being “severely decomposed.”
The victim was about 5-foot-1 with wavy black hair and was wearing a tube top, black leggings, a yellow metal bracelet and metal stud earrings. She also had a tattoo on her right index finger that said “Shhh…”, according to the medical examiner.
The victim appears to have been dead for some time, adding to the complexity of the investigation, which is in its very early stages, the sources said.
Investigators are treating this as a homicide for now, as it will take several days for the coroner to make a determination on the manner of death, according to the senior LAPD source.
The Tesla had been at the impound lot for two days after being found abandoned on a Hollywood street, investigators said.
Investigators intend to talk to the registered owner of the vehicle, as well as anyone else who may be connected to the case, sources said.
D4vd, who first went viral on TikTok, released his debut album in April. The singer, known for his indie, R&B and alt-pop sound, is currently on tour. He is set to perform next on Tuesday in Minneapolis, with a stop in Los Angeles on Sept. 20.
