911 calls from Trump assassination attempt in Butler County released
The Washington Post via Getty Images, FILE
(BUTLER COUNTY, Pa.) — More than a dozen 911 calls from the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on July 13 in Butler County, Pennsylvania, were released on Wednesday, reflecting moments of fear and confusion after a gunman opened fire at the outdoor rally.
“They just tried to kill President Trump,” a 911 caller reported.
“We have an emergency. We’re at the Trump rally,” another caller said.
The 15 recordings, some of which capture the sounds of chaos in the background, were released by Butler County.
The first call came in at 6:12 p.m., about a minute after shots rang out. Trump was eight minutes into his speech when the shooting began, according to officials.
“We’re at the Trump rally — gunshots,” a woman shouts above loud crowds.
“Yep, the police are on their way,” the dispatcher responds.
“You better get over here quick!” the woman says.
The gunfire killed Corey Comperatore, 50, and critically injured two other attendees, Jim Copenhaver and David Dutch.
“I have a woman on the line, her husband was shot at the Trump rally,” a dispatcher from neighboring Allegheny County reported.
Another call came from a woman who was trying to locate her husband, who, she told the call taker, had been shot and taken by paramedics.
Trump was left with a bloodied ear before a Secret Service sharpshooter killed the suspected gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.
The bipartisan House task force investigating the assassination attempt outlined the security failures of the U.S. Secret Service and lack of coordination with local law enforcement in an interim report released earlier this week.
The report revealed that there was “inadequate planning and coordination by the Secret Service with state and local law enforcement before and during the July 13 rally.”
The preliminary findings are based on 23 transcribed interviews with local law enforcement officials, thousands of pages of documents from local, state and federal authorities as well as testimony from a public hearing on Sept. 26, according to the task force.
The task force concluded that the attempt on Trump’s life was “preventable.”
Trump returned to the Butler site earlier this month for a rally marked by enhanced security measures around the fairground, during which he thanked the first responders and the community that rallied behind him in the wake of the assassination attempt.
ABC News’ Lauren Peller contributed to this report.
(MEMPHIS) — Opening statements began on Wednesday in the federal trial of three former Memphis police officers charged in connection with the January 2023 beating death of Tyre Nichols.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Rogers presented the prosecution’s case, explaining to jurors what evidence they can expect to see and warned them that they will watch and hear “horrifying” body camera video and audio over the course of the trial, according to WATN, the ABC affiliate in Memphis covering the case in the courtroom.
“They stood by his dying body and laughed,” Rogers said, describing what happened after the officers were finished beating Nichols, according to WATN. “These will not be easy days.”
Defense attorneys for the former officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith — also began presenting opening statements.
John Perry, Bean’s defense attorney, told jurors that they can expect to see that the evidence will show the officers did their job, according to WATN.
“It will take you 5 minutes to deliberate,” Perry said, according to WATN.
Michael Stengel, Haley’s attorney, said that Nichols did not stop for 2 miles after officers turned on their police lights, according to WATN. Stengel claimed that there is no evidence that the officer knew who was driving at the time and there was no personal vendetta concerning rumors of a woman.
“When they got the wallet [of Nichols] after the stop, that’s when they learned who it was,” Stengel said, according to WATN.
Bean, Haley and Smith, along with two other officers involved in the incident, were charged on Sept. 12, 2023, with violating Nichols’ civil rights through excessive use of force, unlawful assault, failing to intervene in the assault and failing to render medical aid – charges that carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The 4-count indictment also charged all five officers with conspiring to engage in misleading conduct by attempting to falsify or intentionally withholding details of the arrest in statements and to a supervisor – charges that carry up to 20 years in prison, per the DOJ.
Bean, Haley and Smith have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Desmond Mills Jr. and Emmitt Martin III, the two additional officers who were also charged in this case, have pleaded guilty to some of the federal charges.
Martin pleaded guilty to excessive force and failure to intervene, as well as conspiracy to witness tamper, according to court records. The other two charges will be dropped at sentencing, which has been scheduled for Dec. 5, according to the court records.
Mills pleaded guilty to two of the four counts in the indictment — excessive force and failing to intervene, as well as conspiring to cover up his use of unlawful force, according to the DOJ. The government said it will recommend a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, based on the terms of Mills’s plea agreement.
Tyre Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, who attended opening statements, told reporters on Wednesday that she hopes the jury will return a guilty verdict.
“Our hope is that they’re found guilty and to show the world that my son was a good person and he wasn’t the criminal that they’re trying to make him out to be,” she said.
ABC News reached out to the attorneys representing the officers but requests for comment were not immediately returned.
Nichols, 29, died on Jan. 10, 2023 – three days after a traffic stop captured in body camera footage and surveillance footage, which allegedly shows officers violently striking Nichols repeatedly and walking around, talking to each other as Nichols was injured and sitting on the ground. He was also pepper-sprayed and tased during the incident. The beating triggered protests and calls for police reform.
Police said Nichols was pulled over for reckless driving, though Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said she has been unable to substantiate that.
Body camera footage shows Nichols getting away from the officers after the initial stop, but he was apprehended minutes later by the officers. He then sustained multiple punches, kicks and hits from a baton from the officers.
Nichols was transferred to the hospital in critical condition where he later died. The medical examiner’s official autopsy report for Nichols showed he “died of brain injuries from blunt force trauma,” the district attorney’s office told Nichols’ family in May 2023.
While Nichols’ mother has said that first responders told her he was drunk and high, the autopsy report shows that his blood alcohol level was .049, the DA’s office said. The district attorney’s office told the family that was “well less than the legal limit to drive.”
The five former officers charged in this case were all members of the Memphis Police Department SCORPION unit – a crime suppression unit that has since been disbanded after Nichols’ death.
Rogers told the jury on Wednesday that the SCORPION unit followed an alleged rule that they called the “run tax,” according to WATN, where it was understood that the first person to reach a running suspect would beat them.
Perry claimed that his client, Bean, was not present at the initial stop and only arrived at the second scene after hearing a call on dispatch radio, according to WATN.
The five officers charged in connection to Nichols’ death were all fired for violating the policies of the Memphis Police Department.
All five former officers also face state felony charges, including second-degree murder, aggravated assault and aggravated kidnapping, in connection with Nichols’ death. They pleaded not guilty.
ABC News’ Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — E-cigarettes in kid-friendly flavors are driving retail sales and contain more addictive nicotine than ever, according to a new report from the nonprofit CDC Foundation and advocacy group Truth Initiative.
The report showed a 47% increase in e-cigarette sales at U.S. retail outlets between 2019 and 2023, with flavors like fruit, candy, mint, menthol and desserts accounting for more than 80% of those sales.
Most flavored products are not authorized by the Food and Drug Administration and are therefore on the market illegally, according to Truth Initiative.
Vaping among youth is declining in the U.S., but more than 1.6 million children still vape, and nearly 90% of them report using flavored products, according to the report.
States that have implemented strong enforcement policies have seen a dramatic drop in sales. Massachusetts, for example, saw an 86% drop in overall e-cigarette sales in brick-and-mortar stores, the report said.
The proliferation of kid-friendly flavored vapes is not authorized by the FDA to be in stores, making the booming sales technically illegal — but that could change if the industry succeeds in a major case before the U.S. Supreme Court next month.
Vape makers have sued the FDA, which has blocked the sale and marketing of most flavored products, alleging the agency is stonewalling good science and common sense. They claim flavors like “Jimmy the Juice Man” and “Iced Pineapple Express” are ideal for helping adult smokers quit a cancer-causing habit.
The Supreme Court will delve into the science during arguments on Dec. 2 and decide next year whether the FDA analysis has been flawed and unfair, potentially opening the flood gates to widespread legal production and sale of flavored nicotine products.
There has been a major decline in the number of students who reported current e-cigarette use, according to federal data released last month from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey.
The number of users was 2.13 million in 2023 compared to 1.63 million in 2024, the report found. Usage among high school students in particular dropped to 1.56 million from 1.21 million over the same period.
ABC News’ Mary Kekatos contributed to this report.
(ROSWELL, NM) — Roswell, New Mexico, experienced an overnight “Flash Flood Emergency” on Saturday, the National Weather Service reported — the highest tier of flash flood warning.
Between 4 and 9 inches of rain fell in parts of the state, prompting the NWS to declare a “Particularly Dangerous Situation” alert — a warning issued when a Flash Flood Emergency occurs in an area of significant population.
The NWS issued a flood warning for east central, northeast, and southeast New Mexico through to the early hours of Monday. A flash flood watch remains in effect for eastern New Mexico through Sunday night.
Additional rain is expected through Sunday, falling on ground already saturated by Saturday’s downpours and thus raising the risk of further flash flooding.
Roswell was inundated with an all-time record daily rainfall of 5.78 inches — higher than the previous record of 5.65 inches set on Nov. 1, 1901.
Emergency services reported that numerous rescues were ongoing throughout the Roswell area, with water entering homes and cutting off numerous roads.
The Chaves County Sheriff’s Office shared an emergency alert on its Facebook page warning of “an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation.”
The Sheriff’s Office later shared videos of people being brought to safety through floodwaters and of roads being cut off by rising water.
The Spring River in the Cahoon area rose rapidly, stranding several vehicles under bridges along the river.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
