3 charged with second-degree murder after 5-year-old killed in hyperbaric chamber explosion
A hyperbaric chamber; BSIP/UIG Via Getty Images
(TROY, Mich.) — Three people have been charged with second-degree murder after a 5-year-old boy was killed when a hyperbaric chamber exploded at a medical facility in Michigan earlier this year, officials announced Tuesday.
Thomas Cooper died on Jan. 31 in the incident at the Oxford Center in Troy, officials said.
The chamber contained 100% oxygen, making it extremely flammable, Lt. Keith Young of the Detroit Fire Department said at the time.
The owner of the Oxford Center, Tamela Peterson, and two other employees of the facility, have now been charged with second-degree murder in connection with his death, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said.
They also face an alternative charge of involuntary manslaughter. Nessel said a jury will ultimately decide if the state has enough evidence to prove the murder charge.
The operator of the hyperbaric chamber also faces a charge of involuntary manslaughter, Nessel said.
“Due to many failures by men and women who would call themselves medical professionals — and wanton or willful disregard for the likelihood that their actions would cause the death of a patient — 5-year-old Thomas Cooper was killed,” Nessel said at a press briefing.
The Oxford Center said it has been cooperating with multiple investigations into the “tragic accident” and is “disappointed” in the decision to file charges.
“The timing of these charges is surprising, as the typical protocol after a fire-related accident has not yet been completed,” the Oxford Center said in a statement. “There are still outstanding questions about how this occurred. Yet, the Attorney General’s office proceeded to pursue charges without those answers.”
“Our highest priority every day is the safety and wellbeing of the children and families we serve, which continues during this process,” the statement added.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) — Two Tesla Cybertrucks caught on fire at a dealership in Kansas City, Missouri, on Monday evening, the latest in a wave of similar incidents seemingly directed toward the electric vehicle company, according to the Kansas City Police Department.
Tesla vehicles, dealerships and charging stations have been vandalized, suffered arson and faced protests in recent weeks since the company’s CEO Elon Musk began his work at the White House spearheading the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
In this latest incident, a Kansas City Police officer in the area spotted smoke coming from one Cybertruck at a Tesla dealership on State Line Road shortly before midnight. The officer attempted to put out the flames using a fire extinguisher, but the fire spread to a second Cybertruck parked next to the original one, police said.
The Kansas City Fire Department ordered the bomb and arson unit to assist on the scene, the fire department said. Officials were able to put out the flames and the vehicles were “covered with a fire blanket to prevent reignition,” the fire department said.
“The circumstances are under investigation but preliminarily the fire is being investigated for the potential of being an arson,” police said in a statement on Monday.
There have been no arrests made for this incident, police said.
This follows a spree of similar incidents that have occurred across the country in the last few weeks.
Another fire was started at a Tesla Collision Center in Las Vegas on Tuesday, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Officials received notice that an individual had “set several vehicles on fire in the parking lot and caused damage to the property.”
Last week, “more than a dozen” shots were fired at a Tesla dealership in Tigard, Oregon, according to Kelsey Anderson, the public information officer at the Tigard Police Department.
Additionally, three Teslas were vandalized in Dedham, Massachusetts on March 11, according to the Dedham Police Department. Officials said “words had been spray-painted” on two Tesla Cybertrucks, with all four tires of the trucks and a Tesla Model S being “reportedly damaged.”
Protests against the company have also occurred at dealerships nationwide. Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs told ABC News the demonstrations and the company’s plummeting stocks — which have tumbled nearly 48% this year — can all “be tied to [Musk’s] time at DOGE.”
“It has been a distraction for the company and it’s been a problem for the brand,” Frerichs said.
In recent weeks, four top officers at the company have sold off $100 million in stock, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Musk, the owner of X, said on Monday that his companies “make great products that people love and I’ve never physically hurt anyone, so why the hate and violence against me?”
“Because I am a deadly threat to the woke mind parasite and the humans it controls,” Musk said on X.
Musk has also reposted reactions that criticized previous Tesla attacks, calling an incident earlier this month in Seattle “crazy.”
A spokesperson for Tesla did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Dr. Pinsak Suraswadi, the Director General of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources conducts a survey on reefs affected by coral bleaching on May 07, 2024 in Trat, Thailand. (Photo by Sirachai Arunrugstichai/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The world’s coral reefs are in the midst of the fourth and largest global bleaching event in recorded history, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced this week.
The grim milestone was recorded between January 2023 and April 2025, with the agency documenting that bleaching-level heat stress has impacted 83.7% of the world’s coral reef area.
The impacted reefs span at least 83 countries and territories, the agency said.
Since early 2023, mass bleaching of coral reefs has been confirmed in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian ocean basins, including parts of Florida and the coastline of the United States, the Caribbean, Central America, South America, Australia, the South Pacific, the Persian Gulf, coasts of East Africa and Indonesia, according to NOAA.
The agency deemed this ongoing bleaching event “the biggest to date,” noting that the previous record was set with 68.2% of reefs affected during the third-largest bleaching period, between 2014 and 2017.
The first and second global coral bleaching events occurred in 1998 and 2010, respectively, according to the agency.
Bleaching occurs when warmer ocean temperatures cause the expulsion of algae that live in the coral tissue. This leaves the coral completely white, known as coral bleaching. Coral bleaching does not necessarily mean corals will die, according to NOAA, which noted that corals can recuperate if the strain on their ecosystems is reduced.
At a local level, storms, disease, sediments and changes in salinity can cause corals to bleach; however, mass bleaching, when several varieties of coral reefs are bleached, is largely caused by increased sea temperatures, according to the Australian Institute of Marine Science.
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge in Maryland has granted a preliminary injunction and ordered the government to facilitate the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador in error, by Monday.
“I am going to grant the motion for preliminary injunction I’ve reviewed, and I’ll read this word for word, so that there is no dispute that the oral order is the written order,” said U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis at Firday’s hearing, making a reference to the Alien Enemies Act court case in which the government failed to carry out another judge’s oral order.
“The two defendants are hereby ordered to facilitate the return of plaintiff Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to the United States by no later than 11:59 p.m. on Monday, April 7, 2025,” Judge Xinis said.
Abrego Garcia was sent to El Salvador as part of what the Trump administration described as a $6 million deal with Salvadoran authorities in which they would house deported migrants in exchange for payment. At Friday’s hearing, however, the Justice Department attorney denied there was such a contract.
“The way I see the record, though, is that there is an agreement between your clients and El Salvador where your clients are [paying] upward of $6 million to house individuals,” Judge Xinis said. “There’s nothing to suggest that they’re still not in the custody of DHS and immigration.”
Erez Reuveni, Acting Deputy Director for the Office of Immigration Litigation for DOJ, replied, “There’s nothing in the record that there is a contract.”
When Judge Xinis pushed back and said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem have spoken about an agreement between the two countries, Reuveni said he could not speak for them.
“I can’t speak to where they got their information from,” Reuvani said. “But neither of them said there is a contact.”
“They may not have used the word contract, but agreement sounds a lot like contract where we paid $6 million,” Judge Xinis replied. “I think I can draw a logicial inference.”
Abrego Garcia, despite having protected legal status, was sent to the notorious CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador following what the government said was an “administrative error.”
“The facts are conceded,” Reuvani said during Friday’s hearing. “Mr. Abrego Garcia should not have been removed.”
Although the government has acknowledged the error, it said in an earlier court filing that because Abrego Garcia was no longer in U.S. custody, the court cannot order him to be returned to the U.S., nor can the court order El Salvador to return him.
Last month, Abrego Garcia, who has a U.S. citizen wife and 5-year-old child, was stopped by ICE officers who “informed him that his immigration status had changed,” according to his attorneys. He was detained and then transferred to a detention center in Texas, after which he was sent to El Salvador’s CECOT prison, along with more than 200 alleged Venezuelan gang members, on March 15.
Abrego Garcia entered the United States in 2011 when he was 16 to escape gang violence in El Salvador, according to his lawyers. His attorneys say that in 2019, a confidential informant “had advised that Abrego Garcia was an active member” of the gang MS-13. Abrego Garcia later filed an I-589 application for asylum, and although he was found removable, an immigration judge “granted him withholding of removal to El Salvador,” the attorneys said.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers say that he “is not a member of or has no affiliation with Tren de Aragua, MS-13, or any other criminal or street gang” and said that the U.S. government “has never produced an iota of evidence to support this unfounded accusation.”
On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt — while acknowledging the government’s error in sending him to El Salvador — called Abrego Garcia a leader of MS-13.
“The administration maintains the position that this individual who was deported to El Salvador and will not be returning to our country was a member of the brutal and vicious MS-13 gang,” Leavitt said.
Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, the attorney representing Abrego Garcia, acknowledged at Friday’s hearing that his client could have been removed to another county — just not El Salvador.
“He certainly was removable to many countries on Earth — El Salvador is simply not one of them,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said.
“There was no removal order as to El Salvador,” he added. “This was essentially the equivalent of a forcible expulsion.”
When asked by Judge Xinis under what authority law enforcement officers seized Abrego Garcia, Reuveni said he was frustrated that he did not have those answers.
“Your honor, my answer to a lot of these questions is going to be frustrating and I’m also frustrated that I have no answers for you on a lot of these questions,” Reuvani said.
Following the hearing, Abrego Garcia’s wife said she will continue to fight for her husband.
“I want to say thank you to everyone that has helped us, that has supported us in fighting this, and we will continue fighting for Kilmar, for my husband,” said Jennifer Varquez Sura.
