NYPD prepares for possible US Open security threats
(NEW YORK) — Nearly one million spectators are expected to attend the US Open, which begins Monday in Queens, New York. Although a new assessment warns that large events “remain attractive targets for attacks by violent extremists and malicious actors,” the NYPD said there are currently no known causes for concern.
“There are no specific or credible threats to the US Open. However, we’re in a different threat environment than we were last year at this time. And so when we are collectively thinking through all of the measures that we’re putting in place around this US Open, we are mindful of what’s happening around the world,” said NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner at a Monday press conference.
“We recognize that this is an environment where there’s a lot of protest activity,” Weiner added.
The focal point is Arthur Ashe Stadium, where the US Open will be played, but suspects could use “a broad range of tactics – including elevated position gunfire, vehicle ramming, edged weapons, and improvised explosive/incendiary devices (IED/IID), etc. – at a congested chokepoint areas, such as the Flushing Meadows pedestrian bridge between the Mets-Willets Point train station and the East Gate entrance of the USTA Tennis Center, requiring elevated situational awareness,” according to the threat assessment document obtained by ABC News.
Drones will hover over elevated subway lines to monitor for threats, according to officials. Police will also deploy dogs, explosive detection equipment and the bomb squad during the event.
“We cannot overstate how important it is for the people to be engaged, invested and aware. So if you are here at the US Open and you see anything that does not look right or does not feel right, call 911. Tell a police officer right away,” Police Commissioner Edward Caban said at the press conference.
Two protesters were arrested at last year’s US Open when they began shouting and one glued his feet to the ground during a match between Coco Gauff and Karolina Muchova. Another spectator was ejected from a game a few days earlier after German player Alexander Zverev accused the man of quoting a phrase from Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime.
(SPRINGFIELD, Ohio) — A bomb threat has prompted a major police response in Springfield, Ohio, on Thursday morning, according to the city commission office.
The threat was sent via email “to multiple agencies and media outlets,” the office said.
“Our primary concern is the safety and well-being of our employees and residents. We are working to address this situation as swiftly as possible,” the office said. “We ask the community to avoid the area surrounding City Hall vicinity while the investigation is ongoing and to report any suspicious activity to the Springfield Police Division.”
Though it is not yet known if they are connected, the threat comes after baseless rumors spread online in the wake of viral social media posts claiming Haitian migrants were abducting people’s pets in Springfield order to eat them. The rumors were amplified by right-wing politicians, including former President Donald Trump and his running mate Sen. JD Vance.
“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs,” Trump said at Tuesday night’s presidential debate. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats, they’re eating, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
A spokesperson for the city of Springfield told ABC News these claims are false, and that there have been “no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals in the immigrant community.”
“Additionally, there have been no verified instances of immigrants engaging in illegal activities such as squatting or littering in front of residents’ homes,” the spokesperson said. “Furthermore, no reports have been made regarding members of the immigrant community deliberately disrupting traffic.”
Springfield estimates there are around 12,000 to 15,000 immigrants living in the county; migrants have been drawn to the region because of low cost of living and work opportunities, according to the city. The rapid rise in population has strained housing, health care and school resources, according to the city. But city officials also said the migrants are in the country legally and that many are recipients of Temporary Protected Status.
The Haitian Bridge Alliance condemned the “baseless and inflammatory” claims about Haitian migrants, arguing they “not only perpetuate harmful stereotypes but also contribute to the dangerous stigmatization of immigrant communities, particularly Black immigrants from the Republic of Haiti.”
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who dispelled the rumors this week, said the state would send more resources to Springfield.
(LONDON, Ky.) — An AR-15 rifle investigators believe was used in a Kentucky freeway shooting Saturday evening that left seven people injured and nine vehicles with bullet holes was found Sunday afternoon near the crime scene as a search for a person of interest continued, authorities said.
The person of interest wanted for questioning was identified as 32-year-old Joseph A. Couch, who the Laurel County Sheriff’s Office said is “considered armed and dangerous and should not be approached.”
The sheriff’s office released a photo of Couch, who allegedly fled the freeway shooting near London, Kentucky, and is believed to still be in the area, Laurel County Sheriff’s Deputy Gilbert Acciardo said during a news conference Sunday morning.
“We’re not listing him as a suspect at this point, but he probably will more than likely be a suspect before day’s end,” Acciardo said.
On Sunday afternoon, Acciardo said Couch’s vehicle was located in the area of the shootings Saturday night. He also said officers searching the area found an AR-15 rifle in the woods near the interstate.
The weapon, which investigators believe was used in the freeway shooting, was discovered in an area where a shooter could have “shot down upon the interstate from that wooded location,” Acciardo said.
“It’s a random act,” Acciardo said when asked about a possible motive for the shooting.
Police have received more than 100 calls from people reporting they may have spotted Couch, Acciardo said. He said authorities believe Couch is hiding in the woods near the interstate.
Acciardo described the shooting as “sniper-like” and said it was not the result of road rage. He said investigators do not believe the shooter knew any of the victims or had contact with them before the shooting.
Acciardo said that up to 60 members of law enforcement searched the area of the shooting until 3 a.m. Sunday before halting the search out of safety concerns, saying it was pitch black on the highway and describing the terrain where the search was being conducted as very rugged.
The search for Couch resumed at 9 a.m. local time Sunday, Acciardo said.
The FBI, the U.S. Marshal’s Service and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are assisting local authorities in the investigation, officials said.
The shooting unfolded about 5:30 p.m. local time on Interstate 75, near exit 49 about eight miles north of London, officials said.
Arriving deputies found nine vehicles had been shot in both the north and southbound lanes of I-75, Laurel County Sheriff John Root said at a news conference late Saturday night.
Root said deputies found five people with serious gunshot wounds, including one who was shot in the face. He said one vehicle contained two people who were shot.
Acciardo said Sunday that none of the victims suffered life-threatening injuries and were all in stable condition.
“A couple of our deputies, because of the severity of the injuries, loaded the people up, the injured persons, and transported them to London Hospital,” Root said.
Two additional people were injured in a car crash that occurred during the shooting, authorities said.
Root said I-75 was immediately shut down in both directions, saying that at the time, deputies didn’t know where the bullets came from.
“We couldn’t risk somebody else being shot,” Root said.
The sheriff declined to say why Couch is a person of interest in the shooting but did say it is “based on our investigation at the scene.”
He said initial reports that the shooting stemmed from a road rage incident were not accurate.
Root said Couch has an address in Woodbine, Kentucky, and the sheriff’s office described him as about 5-foot-10-inches tall and 154 pounds.
Interstate 75 was closed for more than three hours after the shooting as law enforcement officers worked to secure the scene and collect evidence.
Root did not immediately disclose the type of weapon investigators believe was used in the crime.
A motive for the shooting remained under investigation.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said in a statement on X that he is monitoring the situation.
In an interview Sunday on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Christina Dinoto said she was driving with a friend southbound on I-75, heading to Tennessee, when the shooting erupted.
“All of a sudden we just heard this loud, deafening sound,” Dinoto said. “And my ear, my right ear, started ringing, and we didn’t know what the sound was, but we both looked at each other and said, was that a gunshot?”
Dinoto said that when she pulled off the interstate in Knoxville, she discovered damage to her vehicle that she suspects was caused by a bullet that may have ricocheted off another car.
The Kentucky shooting came less than a week after six people were injured in six shootings that occurred on Sept. 2 on Interstate 5 in the state of Washington between 8:26 p.m. and 11:01 p.m. local time, officials said. A suspect whose vehicle was sought in connection with several of the shootings was arrested in the Tacoma area on Sept. 3, police said.
(NEW YORK) — Ernesto has been downgraded to a tropical storm after passing over the Caribbean island of Bermuda as a hurricane without causing major damage.
The storm — which over the past week has caused major power outages and flooding in Puerto Rico and Bermuda — looks set to pass the Canadian coast on its way into the northern Atlantic by the middle of the coming week.
Ernesto is the fifth named storm and the third hurricane of this year’s Atlantic season. It made landfall in Bermuda early on Saturday, dumping 7 to 9 inches of rain and flooding parts of the island. The British Overseas Territory avoided major damage, and Ernesto is now some 200 miles northeast of Bermuda.
As of Sunday morning, Ernesto had winds of 70 mph and was moving slowly — heading north-northeast at only 9 mph — though it is predicted to pick up speed in the course of the day. Increased speed may see Ernesto again cross the 74 mph sustained winds threshold to return to Category 1 hurricane status.
All tropical alerts associated with Ernesto have now expired, with the storm far out at sea. A new tropical storm watch may be issued for southern Newfoundland later today, according to the National Hurricane Center.
But high surf and life-threatening rip currents are still anticipated over the next couple of days along the U.S. East Coast.
The entire Atlantic coast from Florida to Maine is under a high risk rip current alert on Sunday.
“Life-threatening surf and rip current conditions are likely,” the National Hurricane Center warned, “which means life-threatening rip currents are likely, and dangerous for all levels of swimmers.”
Ernesto is expected to pass close to southern Newfoundland as a post-tropical cyclone by Monday night.