3 women dead in Philadelphia double murder-suicide
(PHILADELPHIA) — Three women are dead in a double murder-suicide in a South Philadelphia home, police said.
Janice Picano, 67, is believed to have shot Angelina Picano, 18, and Denise Grottini, 55, before turning the gun on herself on Monday, according to a preliminary investigation by the Philadelphia Police Department.
Officers responded to a report of a person with a gun at around 5:30 p.m. on Monday. When officers arrived on the scene, they found three women shot, police said.
All three women were pronounced dead shortly after 5:30 p.m., police said.
The investigation into the incident remains active and ongoing.
President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro speaks during a march on November 21, 2025 in Caracas, Venezuela. (Jesus Vargas/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A federal judge on Monday set a tentative date for the trial of the U.S. Army special forces soldier who is charged with using classified information about the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to make more than $400,000 on the prediction market Polymarket.
The criminal trial of Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 7.
Van Dyke pleaded not guilty in April after prosecutors alleged he used inside information to place 13 bets on the outcome of the Maduro raid then attempted to destroy evidence of the trades after he pocketed more than $400,000.
The case would be the first U.S. prosecution of insider trading on a prediction market to go to trial.
Prosecutors on Monday estimated their case would take about one week, and defense lawyers said they plan to put on a brief case that would take a “couple of days.”
Defense lawyers said they plan to file a motion to dismiss the indictment by July 31.
Defense attorney Mark Geragos argued in court that the prosecution would be derailed by the classified information at the center of the case. To convict Van Dyke, he argued, prosecutors would need to prove “who was in the Situation Room at that time and who made the decision” to capture Maduro.
Van Dyke, who sat at the defense table during Monday’s proceedings, did not speak.
During Van Dyke’s arraignment in April, his defense attorney said he expected few factual disputes over the allegations in the case and believed that the prosecution would “largely rise and fall” on pre-trial motions.
Van Dyke, an experienced special forces soldier, was released on a $250,000 personal recognizance bond following his April arraignment. According to his attorney Zach Intrater, he is currently on leave from the Army.
Allegations of insider trading have prompted public scrutiny of prediction market sites like Polymarket and Kalshi. Prosecutors in New York last month charged a Google employee with using confidential company information to make more than $1.2 million on Polymarket.
Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks with ABC News, Apr. 25, 2025. (ABC News)
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — After a tumultuous year at the Department of Justice largely defined by her controversial handling of the Epstein files, former Attorney General Pam Bondi is set to participate in a transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee on Friday.
The second Trump cabinet official to testify behind closed doors as part of the Oversight Committee’s yearlong Epstein probe, Bondi is expected to face questions about reneging on her promise to publicly release the DOJ’s files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which ultimately prompted Congress to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act forcing the release of millions of documents.
Trump removed Bondi as attorney general in April after sources said he grew frustrated with her handling of the Epstein files and the unsuccessful prosecutions of his perceived political opponents.
“Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year,” Trump wrote on social media announcing her departure. “We love Pam, and she will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector, to be announced at a date in the near future.”
Earlier this week, Axios reported that Trump had appointed Bondi to serve on an advisory panel on AI policy, tasked with coordinating cooperation between the government and tech leaders.
In an unusual arrangement, a DOJ spokesperson said that Bondi will be accompanied during Friday’s transcribed interview by Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon and other DOJ personnel, in order to “assist the Committee in understanding the Department’s role in implementing and complying with the Epstein Files Transparency Act during her tenure.”
“Because former Attorney General Bondi oversaw the Department at the time the Act was enacted and carried out, DOJ’s presence is solely to ensure accurate representation of Department processes, facilitate any necessary clarifications, and support a complete factual record for the Committee,” a DOJ spokesperson said in a statement earlier this week.
The DOJ originally sought to have Bondi avoid appearing by arguing that the subpoena the committee issued “no longer obligates her to appear” since she left the role of attorney general. Bondi ultimately agreed to testify voluntarily after the top Democrat on the committee introduced a resolution to hold her in contempt for failing to appear.
Shortly after beginning her tenure as attorney general last year, Bondi faced immediate pressure from Trump’s MAGA followers and others to begin releasing the DOJ’s files from its investigations of Epstein and his associates. Speaking to Fox News in February 2025, Bondi said Epstein’s client list was “sitting on my desk right now to review” and said the release of the files was a “directive by President Trump.”
However, when the DOJ released the “first phase” of the Epstein files that month — inviting, with great fanfare, conservative influencers to receive the files — it was determined that nearly every document released was already public. By July, the Department of Justice and FBI said in a joint memo that no further documents would be released, citing victim privacy and the assertion that the documents warranted no further investigations — a decision that sparked backlash from much of the MAGA base.
“To that end, while we have labored to provide the public with maximum information regarding Epstein and ensured examination of any evidence in the government’s possession, it is the determination of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation that no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted,” the memo said.
Bondi later defended her statement about Epstein’s client list by clarifying she was referring to the Epstein files generally along with other files released by the Trump administration, including documents related to JFK and MLK Jr. The DOJ/FBI memo also said that their review of the files “revealed no incriminating ‘client list'” and no evidence that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals.
Despite the memo stating that no further investigation was warranted, Trump in November ordered Bondi to investigate Epstein’s ties to Bill Clinton and other prominent Democrats. At the time, Bondi said the DOJ would “pursue this with urgency and integrity” and assigned the matter to the U.S. attorney in Manhattan.
The Justice Department’s subsequent release of Epstein files following the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act prompted bipartisan criticism when the DOJ improperly redacted files — both exposing victim identities while concealing other information — and declined to release millions of additional files by claiming they were duplicative, privileged or contained sensitive victim information.
Bondi’s deputy and successor, now-acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, acknowledged the release of sensitive victim information was “horrible” and “inexcusable.”
He said the DOJ is finished investigating Epstein.
“And so I think that to the extent that the Epstein files was a part of the past year of this Justice Department, it should not be a part of anything going forward,” Blanche said in April.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on March 24, 2026 in New York, New York. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
(BIDDLEFORD, Maine) — Protesters are expected to gather Tuesday morning in Maine, a day after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were involved in the fatal shooting of a 26-year-old man.
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said he was briefed on the deadly encounter by Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, who confirmed that ICE agents conducting an operation in the area were involved in the shooting.
The man who was killed was identified as 26-year-old Joan Sebastian Guerrero, a spokesperson for King’s office told ABC News.
King said Guerrero was fatally shot after federal agents tried to stop the vehicle he was driving.
“He was in a vehicle — pulled out in the vehicle, and the term the secretary used was ‘weaponized’ the vehicle and was shot by an ICE agent,” King told reporters Monday morning.
King told ABC News that Guerrero was not the target of the operation and that ICE agents had been given a final order for another man they were targeting to be removed from the country.
King previously said that Mullin initially told him Guerrero was the intended target of the operation.
“Body cameras were not on the agents. So we have no video evidence of what occurred in this case,” King said. “State and local officials, of course, are attending to it. The FBI will be leading the investigation because it was a federal operation.”
Two Maine immigration advocacy groups — Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition (MIRC) and the Presente! — issued a joint statement Monday, saying the individual who was killed was a Colombian man whom they claimed was authorized to work in the United States and had a Social Security number.
The groups called for a “prompt, independent, and transparent investigation.” They also called for a full accounting of every agency and officer involved as well as the preservation of all body-camera footage, surveillance footage, and communications between the federal officials involved.
“ICE must not be allowed to investigate itself or control the public narrative surrounding a death in which its personnel or operations were involved,” the groups said.
The Colombian Embassy in Washington, D.C., issued a statement Monday on social media, saying it “deeply regrets the death of a Colombian national in Biddeford, Maine, and is providing the necessary consular assistance to his family.”
The embassy said it has also requested “information and clarification from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regarding the circumstances surrounding this lamentable death and will continue to follow the case closely as the investigation progresses.”
Witness Daniel Boucher told ABC News that he watched agents pull the shooting victim from his car and put him on the ground.
“I heard the young man say, ‘I tried to stop.’ I clearly heard him say that,” said Boucher, adding that he overheard one of the ICE agents allegedly say the driver tried to run him over.
“I could no longer see any movement, which meant he had expired,” an emotional Boucher said. “He was bloody, his face was bloody. It was awful.”
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered at Mechanics Park in Biddeford on Monday for an impromptu vigil and demanded justice for Guerrero. Another protest is being planned for Tuesday morning outside a federal immigration facility in Scarborough, Maine, according to organizers.
The Maine Attorney General’s Office also released a statement, confirming that the ICE operation on Monday morning was targeting a man related to a final order to remove him from the country.
The Attorney General’s Office alleged, “the suspect attempted to flee in the vehicle in the direction of the officer and was fatally shot.”
Maine Gov. Janet Mills said she was also briefed on the shooting and was informed that federal law enforcement was involved.
“I know situations like these are alarming and frightening,” Mills said in a statement. “The Maine State Police are at the scene supporting and working cooperatively with the Attorney General’s Office, Maine’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner, and Federal officials to determine the facts of what occurred this morning.”
The FBI said the agency “responded to assist on-scene immediately following this morning’s shooting incident in Biddeford, Maine. We have no additional comment at this time.”
An ICE spokesperson provided ABC News with the agency’s preliminary alleged version of the incident.
“On July 13, 2026, at approximately 7:00 AM ET, ICE was conducting targeted surveillance on the last known address of an illegal alien with a final order of removal,” the ICE spokesperson said. “An illegal alien departed the residence in a vehicle. ICE law enforcement attempted to conduct a vehicle stop. The vehicle attempted to flee the scene and fearing for public safety an officer discharged his weapon.”
The ICE spokesperson added, “The driver of the vehicle was struck, and emergency services were immediately contacted. He passed away from his injuries.”
The spokesperson did not confirm that the man who was shot was not the person targeted in the ICE operation.
A bystander video verified by ABC News showed what appeared to be federal immigration agents and uniformed law enforcement officers in the aftermath of the shooting performing first aid on an individual on the ground at an intersection.
A Ring camera video obtained by ABC News from a residence near the shooting scene captured the sound of what appeared to be at least five gunshots. Several bullet holes could be seen in the the front windshield of the victim’s car following the shooting.
Em Akerley, who lives near the shooting scene, told ABC affiliate station WMTW that she was inside her home having her morning coffee when she heard the gunshots.
“I thought it was a backfire, and then I kept hearing them,” Akerley said. “I thought it was a drive-by shooting.”
She said she looked out her window and saw a small white car being corralled by two men, who appeared to be trying to stop the vehicle from losing control in the intersection.
“All of a sudden, all of these plainclothes vested men started running down the street, abandoning their cars,” Akerley said.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to add Sen. King’s comments saying the deceased, later identified as Joan Sebastian Guerrero, was not the intended target of the operation.
