3 police officers shot ‘without warning’ while responding to domestic call in Rochester
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(ROCHESTER, N.Y.) — Three police officers in Rochester, New York, were shot Friday night “without warning at close range” while responding to a domestic call at a home, police said.
Emergency services received a call from a man who said his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend was attempting to break into her home and possibly had a gun, according to the Rochester Police Department. The caller also told dispatchers he had a legal permit for a firearm and was carrying a pistol.
Officers arrived a short time later and located the suspect, identified by the caller as the ex-boyfriend, along the side of the house, authorities said.
“He immediately pulled out a handgun and fired multiple shots from close range toward the officers and the victim, striking two officers,” Rochester Police Chief David Smith said during a Saturday morning news conference.
Additional shots were fired, including an exchange of gunfire between the suspect and the man who called police, which resulted in the caller being shot multiple times, Smith said.
The suspect fled the scene but was located within minutes by another officer, who was also shot after being fired upon by the suspect.
That officer and others on scene returned fire, striking the suspect multiple times and killing him, police said.
One officer was shot multiple times in the upper body and is listed in stable condition. Another officer was shot in the upper body, rushed to surgery and is listed in critical but stable condition.
A third officer suffered serious injuries but is in stable condition, authorities said. The man who initially called police was shot multiple times and remains in serious but non-life-threatening condition.
Police have not released the identities of those involved and the investigation is currently ongoing.
Special Agent in Charge Kenny Cooper of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, center, speaks during a news conference along with announcing the arrest of 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht, of Florida, a suspect in the Palisades fire after a nine-month investigation into the blaze that killed 12 people, at the United States Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday, October 8, 2025. Among the evidence that were collected from his digital devices were images he generated o
(LOS ANGELES) — Months after the Palisades Fire devastated parts of Los Angeles County and killed a dozen people, officials announced the arrest of a man they say “maliciously” lit a fire that grew into the monster blaze.
Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, is accused of igniting a fire on Jan. 1 in the Pacific Palisades that ultimately erupted into the Palisades Fire, the Department of Justice said.
The New Year’s Day brush fire was suppressed by fire crews but continued to smolder underground before high winds caused it to surface and spread nearly a week later, “causing what became known as the Palisades Fire, one of the most destructive wildfires in Los Angeles city history,” acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said during a press conference on Wednesday.
What became known as the Lachman Fire was detected at 12:12 a.m. on Jan. 1 on a hilltop in the Pacific Palisades, according to the DOJ.
Rinderknecht, who the DOJ said was working as an Uber driver at the time and once lived in the Pacific Palisades — had dropped a customer off in the Pacific Palisades and then drove to a trail in the area of the fire, according to the complaint. Two of his passengers that night allegedly told law enforcement later that he appeared “agitated and angry,” the complaint stated.
The complaint alleges Rinderknecht caused the fire by lighting a combustible material, such as vegetation or paper, with an open flame, likely a lighter.
He attempted to contact 911 several times to report the fire, before ultimately getting through once he had cell service, according to the complaint. He allegedly made a three-minute screen-recording of his iPhone while attempting to call 911 and asking ChatGPT, “Are you at fault if a fire is lift [sic] because of your cigarettes?” according to the complaint.
“Based on my training and experience and this investigation, this indicates that RINDERKNECHT wanted to preserve evidence of himself trying to assist in the suppression of the fire and he wanted to create evidence regarding a more innocent explanation for the cause of the fire,” a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives wrote in an affidavit in the complaint.
Essayli said the suspect left in his car but then returned and filmed firefighters responding to the blaze.
There is no indication that anyone else was in the area at the time the fire started, Essayli said.
Investigators interviewed Rinderknecht on Jan. 24, during which he allegedly lied about where he was when he saw the Lachman Fire, according to the DOJ.
“He claimed he was near the bottom of a hiking trail when he first saw the fire and called 911, but geolocation data from his iPhone carrier showed that he was standing in a clearing 30 feet from the fire as it rapidly grew,” the DOJ said in a press release.
Essayli said he didn’t want to discuss motive, though he pointed to digital evidence included in the complaint of an image Rinderknecht allegedly generated in July 2024 using ChatGPT, showing in part “a burning forest and a crowd fleeing from it.”
“You could see some of his thought process in the months leading up, where he was generating some really concerning images up on ChatGPT, which appears to show a dystopian city being burned down,” Essayli said.
Rinderknecht has been charged by criminal complaint with destruction of property by means of fire. He was arrested on Tuesday near his residence in Florida, officials said.
He was denied bail during a detention hearing in Orlando federal court on Thursday, with the judge concerned he is a flight risk, Orlando ABC affiliate WFTV reported.
A preliminary hearing in the case has been scheduled for Oct. 17 in Orlando. It is not yet clear when he will be extradited to California.
The charge is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted, the DOJ said.
Essayli said the DOJ will make determinations on additional charges against Rinderknecht in the coming days.
The Palisades Fire erupted on Jan. 7, burning more than 23,000 acres over more than three weeks and destroying nearly 7,000 structures, decimating the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, according to California fire officials.
It ignited the same day as the Eaton Fire, which burned more than 14,000 acres in Los Angeles County, destroying more than 9,400 structures and killing 19 people, according to officials.
The fires started burning during strong Santa Ana winds, which, combined with dry conditions, helped their ability to spread quickly. This spread prompted mass evacuations.
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell called the investigation into the Palisades Fire “extremely intensive and thorough.”
“I’m proud of the professionalism and dedication shown by our detectives and the team who work collaboratively with our federal, state and local partners,” he said during the press briefing. “That teamwork ultimately led to the arrest of the suspect responsible for this devastating crime.”
Over the past eight months, investigators pursued more than 200 leads, conducted hundreds of interviews and collected more than 13,000 pieces of evidence, including fire debris, digital data and DNA samples, as part of the probe, according to Kenny Cooper, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Los Angeles Field Division.
“We have a lot of different data that all concluded where this fire started, and the fire behavior from that origin, from that Lachman Fire, was clearly established in the Palisades Fire,” Cooper said at the press briefing.
Uber said it worked with the ATF to “help determine the driver’s whereabouts” the night of the fire.
“As soon as we learned of the driver’s suspected involvement we removed their access to the Uber platform and continued to work with the ATF on this nine-month investigation,” Uber said in a statement Wednesday.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the arrest a step toward “closure” and “justice” following the catastrophic fire.
Following the announcement of the arrest on Wednesday, the Los Angeles Fire Department released a 70-page report reviewing its response to the Palisades Fire. Among over 40 lessons and recommendations included in the report, the department said its daily fire weather forecast is “antiquated” by focusing on the entire city and should be updated to provide more localized information, it should immediately review its procedures for recalling firefighters during an emergency, and warning sirens should be considered to alert residents independent of cell service.
Some steps taken by the city in the wake of the fire are in line with the report’s recommendations, such as stronger recall protocols, the mayor’s office said.
“The Palisades Fire was one of the worst natural disasters in our city’s history. It is vital we learn from what was effective, like the relentless heroism of firefighters responding to the blaze, and the challenges we faced in order to build a stronger emergency response system to prepare for whatever may come our way,” Bass said in a statement on the report.
A coastal storm moving along the East Coast on Monday will continue to bring the threat of significant coastal flooding, strong to damaging winds and moderate to locally heavy rainfall.
Rain and wind will be dying down Monday morning in the Southeast, while the Northeast will see the worst impacts of the storm through midday.
Rain will become more scattered in the Northeast on Monday afternoon (with locally heavy rain possible at times), before it starts to move out overnight with only a few areas of sprinkles and light rain left for Tuesday morning.
Coastal flood warnings are in effect from North Carolina to Rhode Island, where moderate to locally major flood stages are possible Monday and may persist through Tuesday in some areas.
The worst of the flooding will be around high tide on Monday afternoon (mostly between noon and 3 p.m.), when strong onshore winds will bring water levels 1 to 3 feet above normal levels, leading to flooding and possible dune breaching.
Eight- to 15-foot breaking waves could lead to beach and coastal erosion in areas with coastal flood alerts.
Winds gusted up to 60 mph at Surf City, New Jersey, on Sunday night.
Wind alerts for coastal areas from New Jersey through New York, Connecticut and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, remain in effect Monday due to possible gusts up to 50 to 60 mph.
Rainfall on Monday will mostly be less than 1 inch for New Jersey and New York City, but Long Island, as well as the Hudson Valley up through Albany, could see 1 to 2 inches.
Rhode Island and eastern Massachusetts are also expecting 1 to 2 inches of rain, but some areas of 2 to 3 inches are possible.
Lindsey Halligan, attorney for U.S. President Donald Trump, looks on during an executive order signing in the Oval Office of the White House, on March 31, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Al Drago/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department prosecutor handpicked by President Donald Trump to lead the criminal cases against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey is now the subject of a bar complaint that alleges she is unfit to be an attorney and that her actions constitute an “abuse of power.”
The progressive watchdog group Campaign for Accountability filed a complaint against Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan on Tuesday and requested that the state bars in Florida and Virginia initiate investigations into her conduct.
The complaint alleges that Halligan repeatedly violated the professional and ethical rules that govern the legal profession, including by making false statements and by bringing cases that are unsupported by probable cause.
“Weaponizing the DOJ to prosecute the president’s enemies could destroy the democratic principles at the foundation of our Constitution,” the complaint said. “Ms. Halligan’s active participation in this course of action is an abuse of her governmental authority and is prejudicial to the administration of justice, adversely reflecting on her fitness as a lawyer.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, which Trump named Halligan to lead on Sept. 20, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump tapped Halligan — a White House aide and former insurance lawyer with no prosecutorial experience — to the high-profile legal post after he forced out Trump-appointed U.S. attorney Erik Siebert who sources said had resisted bringing cases against Comey and James. Career prosecutors who investigated Comey and James recommending against bringing charges, ABC News previously reported.
The indictments came after Trump, in a social media post, called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to act “NOW!!!” to prosecute James and Comey in what critics call a campaign of retribution against Trump’s perceived political foes. Vice President JD Vance has said any such prosecutions are “driven by law and not by politics.”
“Ms. Halligan was well aware President Trump had installed her as Interim U.S. Attorney specifically to indict Mr. Comey and Ms. James and, within just a few days of joining the office, she did just that — despite career officials having found the cases insupportable,” the complaint said.
“Halligan’s actions appear to constitute an abuse of power and serve to undermine the integrity of the Department of Justice and erode public confidence in the legal profession and the fair administration of justice,” said the complaint.
Comey pleaded not guilty in October to one count of false statements and one count of obstruction of a congressional proceeding related to his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020, while James, who successfully brought a civil fraud case against Trump last year, pleaded not guilty to charges of mortgage fraud.
A federal judge is already examining Halligan’s conduct after defense attorneys raised concerns with the legality of her appointment.
Most complaints to state bars result in no action or discipline being taken, although state bar investigations — which can take years — can result in suspension or disbarment.
