3 victims in unknown condition after a shooting at a wilderness park in California
(ORANGE COUNTY, CA) — A shooting occurred at Featherly Regional Park in Yorba Linda on Sunday afternoon, according to a post on X from the sheriff’s office in Orange County, California, where the wilderness park and Canyon RV campsite is located.
There was an altercation earlier in the day, after which a man returned to the park and tried to run over another man with his car, a police information officer said in a video posted to X on Sunday evening.
The driver then exited the vehicle and shot two people — “firing several rounds at them before turning the gun on himself,” the PIO said.
All three gunshot victims were transported to the hospital, the video explained, adding that the person who was hit by the car suffered minor injuries and was assessed by firefighter paramedics but was not hospitalized.
The victims’ conditions are unknown as of Sunday night.
The incident happened in front of multiple people, according to police.
It’s believed that all of the victims and the suspect knew each other, officials said, calling it an “isolated incident.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW ORLEANS) — A fourth woman has been arrested for allegedly helping inmates who broke out of a New Orleans jail last week, police said.
Casey Smith, 30, was arrested on Thursday for allegedly assisting two of the 10 inmates who escaped from the Orleans Justice Center on May 16, according to the New Orleans Police Department.
“Through investigation, members of the NOPD’s Special Operations Division Tactical II team obtained information linking Smith to allegedly aiding at least two of the reported escapees as they were transported to multiple locations in the hours following their escape,” the New Orleans Police Department said in a press release on Friday announcing the arrest.
Smith allegedly admitted to aiding in the escapees’ transport along with 32-year-old Cortnie Harris, who was arrested on Wednesday, police said. Smith has been booked for accessory after the fact to simple escape.
Smith is the fifth person, including a jail employee, arrested in connection with the jailbreak.
In addition to Harris, state police announced on Wednesday that 38-year-old Corvanntay Baptiste was arrested and charged with felony counts of being accessories after the fact. They were both booked at the Plaquemines Parish Detention Center, officials said.
On Thursday, a Slidell woman was taken into custody for allegedly helping a fugitive who is still at large following the jailbreak, Louisiana State Police said.
Connie Weeden, 59, was booked into the St. Tammany Parish Correctional Center on Thursday. She faces a felony charge of accessory after the fact for allegedly assisting Jermaine Donald, one of the five escapees still on the run, police said.
“Weeden was in contact via phone both before and after the escape,” Louisiana State Police officials said in a statement. “Investigators determined that after the escape, she provided Donald with cash through a cell phone app.”
Donald remains at large, along with four others who broke out of the Orleans Justice Center on May 16. Authorities have recaptured five of the original 10 inmates who escaped.
Law enforcement officials warned that helping fugitives will carry serious consequences.
“Those who choose to assist or conceal these individuals are violating the law and will be held accountable,” said state police. “Harboring fugitives threatens the safety of our communities and will not be tolerated.”
Under Louisiana law, a conviction for accessory after the fact carries a penalty of up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $500, or both.
Amid an ongoing investigation into the escape of inmates, the Orleans Parish District Attorney issued subpoenas on Thursday to Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson and other sheriff’s office staff members.
The order demanded access to emails, text messages and internal messages from or to Hutson and other sheriff’s office staff and contractors, including those to Sterling Williams, a jail maintenance worker who was arrested in connection with the jailbreak.
Williams, a 33-year-old maintenance worker at the Orleans Parish Justice Center, was arrested and booked into jail Tuesday morning, according to Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill.
Williams allegedly shut off the water to a toilet to help clear the way for the inmates to escape, sources said. The prisoners, including three who are charged with second-degree murder and remain on the run, were able to crawl out through a hole after ripping the toilet off its hinges. Williams’s lawyer has denied he intended to help in the inmates’ escape and said a deputy asked him to shut the water off due to a clogged fixture.
“Did he admit he turned the water off? Yes, absolutely, and we’re not denying that. Did he confess to conspiring to aid violent criminals to escape the jail, climb a wall, run across the interstate and terrorize the city? Absolutely not,” lawyer Michael Kennedy told ABC News.
Four other jail employees have been suspended in this investigation.
(SAND POINT, ALASKA) — A 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck near Sand Point, Alaska, on Wednesday, prompting a tsunami warning from the National Weather Service.
The warning was later downgraded to an advisory, according to the agency.
Sand Point is located on northwestern Popof Island, off the Alaska Peninsula. It’s approximately 600 miles southwest of Anchorage, Alaska.
The earthquake struck 54 miles south of Sand Point, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
The tsunami advisory is in effect from South Alaska and the Alaska Peninsula to Kennedy Entrance and Unimak Pass, Alaska, on the Pacific Coast.
In addition to Sand Point, Alaskan cities Cold Bay and Kodiak are included in the advisory area.
Kodiak Police told ABC News sirens sounded in the city, which indicates to move to high ground. Any impacts in the area would be expected to arrive at approximately 2:40 p.m.
There have not been any reports of damage from the earthquake in Kodiak, according to police.
Michael Ashley of Cold Bay Lodge told ABC News he was working outside when he noticed things shaking, but says it “wasn’t very intense.”
Cold Bay was under the tsunami warning, but Ashley said “residents are not concerned since we are 100 feet above sea level.” He says these large quakes are common for the area in the summer.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(COOPERSTOWN, NY) — Pete Rose, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and 15 other deceased baseball players have been removed from MLB’s permanent list of banned players, according to a memo from the league’s commissioner.
The decision allows Rose, who accepted a ban for life from MLB in 1989 for gambling on games, to be eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame posthumously.
The decision only applies to dead players who have been placed on the ineligible list.
“The National Baseball Hall of Fame has always maintained that anyone removed from Baseball’s permanently ineligible list will become eligible for Hall of Fame consideration,” Hall of Fame Chairman Jane Forbes Clark said in a statement. “Major League Baseball’s decision to remove deceased individuals from the permanently ineligible list will allow for the Hall of Fame candidacy of such individuals to now be considered.”
However, a vote by the Historical Overview Committee, often known as the veterans committee, which considers players who made their greatest impact prior to 1980, will not vote on candidates to be included in the hall again until December 2027.
Rose died last October at 83 years old. Rose petitioned the league to be removed from the list in 1992, 1998, 2003, 2015 and 2022 — but either was rejected or received no response each time, including from Manfred.
Rose and Jackson are likely the only two players on the list of players whose body of work would make them likely to be voted to the Hall of Fame.
Rose’s workmanlike attitude and hustle on the field won him innumerable fans. By the end of his 24-year career, 19 of which were with the Cincinnati Reds, he held the record for most career hits, as well as games played, plate appearances and at-bats. He was also a 17-time All-Star, the 1973 NL MVP and 1963 Rookie of the Year.
He also won three World Series — two with Cincinnati’s “Big Red Machine” clubs in 1975 and 1976, and a third with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1980.
But Rose will always be remembered for being banned for life over gambling on games while he was managing the Reds.
With Rose under suspicion, new MLB Commissioner Bart Giamatti commissioned an investigation led by John Dowd, a lawyer with the Department of Justice, in April 1989. By June, the damning report was released, documenting at least 52 bets on Reds games in 1987, his first season as solely a manager after serving as player/manager for three seasons. The bets totaled thousands of dollars per day, according to the Dowd Report.
“While it is my preference not to disturb decisions made by prior Commissioners, Mr. Rose was not placed on the permanently ineligible list by Commissioner action but rather as the result of a 1989 settlement of potential litigation with the Commissioner’s Office,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday. “My decision today is consistent with Commissioner Giamatti’s expectations of that agreement.”
Jackson, meanwhile, was banned from baseball for life in 1920 by then-Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis in connection to the so-called “Black Sox Scandal.”
Jackson and seven other members of the Chicago White Sox were given money by an organized gambling ring to fix the 1919 World Series for the Reds. The players made a paltry sum of money compared to today’s mega-millionaire contracts and were angry about the team owner, Charles Comiskey, paying them a pittance. There was no baseball players union at the time.
All eight of the players — featured in the 1988 movie “Eight Men Out” — have been reinstated: Jackson, Eddie Cicotte, Happy Felsch, Chick Gandil, Fred McMullin, Swede Risberg, Buck Weaver and Lefty Williams. Gandil was known as the ringleader of the group and allegedly set up the payment, while it’s always been disputed how much Jackson even knew about the plan. He did, however, allegedly admit to accepting $5,000 as part of the scheme, according to testimony from a criminal trial over the case, something he later recanted.
If he did accept money, he didn’t show any signs of throwing games on the field. Jackson hit 12-for-35 (.375) with three doubles, five runs scored and six runs batted in over the eight games in the series. The World Series was a best-of-9 format at the time.
Jackson was one of the best hitters of the early 20th century. Over 13 seasons with Philadelphia, Cleveland and Chicago, the outfielder had a lifetime batting average of .356 with a .423 on-base percentage. He finished in the top 10 in MVP voting four times and led the majors in hits twice, triples twice and total bases twice.
The other former players banned from the league and now reinstated — who are not as widely known — were Joe Gedeon, Gene Paulette, Benny Kauff, Lee Magee, Phil Douglas, Cozy Dolan, Jimmy O’Connell and William Cox.
