Historic October heat in the West made possible by climate change
(LOS ANGELES) — Human-amplified climate change is making it more likely that extreme heat to lasts longer into fall, as record-breaking temperatures for the month of October blanket much of the western U.S.
An unprecedented late season heat wave is in effect in the West, with October temperatures broken in major cities, several of which are still experiencing triple-digit heat.
On Tuesday, Palm Springs reached 117 degrees Fahrenheit; Phoenix hit 113 degrees while Tucson got up to 105 degrees.
Elsewhere in California, San Jose broke its daily record at 100 degrees; Oakland reached 96 degrees; Napa hit a daily record at 99 degrees; and downtown San Francisco reached 94 degrees, the hottest October temperature in the city in two years.
Some regions are expected to experience even hotter conditions on Wednesday. Heat alerts have been issued throughout California, Arizona and Nevada. Excessive heat warnings are also in place for San Francisco, Las Vegas and Phoenix, and a heat advisory has been issued in Los Angeles.
The geographic range of the record heat is expected to expand eastward, including Colorado, where Denver could reach a record-high of 90 degrees.
If Denver reaches the 90s, it will be the latest 90-degree temperature ever recorded in the city, records show.
The record heat is expected to last into the weekend for most of the West.
Fire danger is also high from California to Montana due to the dry, hot and windy conditions.
Human-amplified climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme heat events, according to climate scientists.
The average number of heat waves that major U.S. cities experience each year has doubled since the 1980s, according to the federal government’s Fifth National Climate Assessment, released last November.
The record-breaking temperature for the month of October set in Palm Springs and Phoenix on Monday were made at least five times more likely by human-amplified climate change, according to Climate Central’s Climate Shift Index.
Global warming is also helping fuel extreme heat that persists well into the fall season.
Fall nights have warmed by 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, on average, from 1970 to 2023 in 212 U.S. cities, according to a Climate Central analysis.
Fall warming is widespread across the contiguous U.S., and most intense in the Southwest, according to a Climate Central analysis.
ABC News’ Matthew Glasser and Daniel Peck contributed to this report.
(SPRINGFIELD, Ill.) — Former Illinois sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson said he feared for his life during his encounter with Sonya Massey, the mother of two who he fatally shot in her home after she called 911 to report a prowler, according to new documents released by the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO).
The documents are a compilation of field case reports from various deputies who were called to the scene following the shooting of Massey, who was shot in the head during the July 6 incident. Included in the reports is an account from Grayson, who now faces three counts of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct in Massey’s death. The former deputy is being held without bond while awaiting trial.
“While on scene, I was in fear Dep. (redacted) and I were going to receive great bodily harm or death. Due to being in fear of our safety and life, I fired my duty weapon,” Grayson wrote in his field case report.
Grayson’s report detailed his account of what happened when Grayson and a fellow Sangamon County deputy were called to Massey’s home.
“I approached the house and knocked on the door multiple times. I could see someone moving around inside the residence, but no one would open the door,” Grayson wrote.
After Massey, 36, came to the door, Grayson asked her a few questions, according to bodycam video of the exchange reviewed by ABC News. The then-deputy wrote in his report that “it seemed as if Sonya’s mind was all over the place and not able to focus or have a conversation. Sonya stated she was doing OK and had taken her medicine.”
Once inside the home, the unnamed deputy who was with Grayson checked the home for a possible intruder while Grayson spoke with Massey. While talking to Massey, Grayson said he heard a crackling noise, then noticed a large metal pot of “unknown liquid” on the stove. He asked the other responding deputy to turn the stove off before a fire started in the residence, according to the report.
That is when Massey, who’d been sitting on the couch, went to the kitchen to turn off the stove, the video shows. She grabbed the large pot and walked toward the sink, acting as if she was going to pour out the water in the sink, according to Grayson.
“With both hands on the pot, Sonya turned to face me holding the pot,” the deputy wrote. “I feared Sonya was going to throw boiling liquid on to us, causing great bodily harm to or death.”
“I advised Sonya to put the boiling liquid down. Sonya stated she was going to rebuke me in the name of Jesus. She stated this twice,” Grayson wrote. “I interpreted this to mean she was going to kill me.”
At that point, Grayson said he drew his weapon and pointed it at Sonya, giving her verbal commands to drop the pot of boiling liquid. Upon seeing his weapon, Massey crouched down. Body camera video of the incident recorded Massey repeatedly apologizing to the deputies.
“Sonya stood up from a crouched position, grabbing the pot, raising it above her head and throwing the boiling substance at me. I was in imminent fear of getting boiling liquid to my face or chest, which would have caused great bodily harm or death,” Grayson wrote in his report.
“I fired my duty weapon in Sonya’s direction. I observed Sonya fall to the ground behind the counter,” Grayson said.
A review of Grayson’s body camera footage, case report, use of force report, as well as evidence from the unnamed attending deputy who was present during the incident, concluded that Grayson had violated SCSO policies and procedures.
The internal investigation, conducted by the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Department Division of Professional Standards, found Grayson had violated policy by immediately escalating to deadly force, citing that “body camera video shows that the inappropriate escalation of force set in motion a series of events that led to Deputy Grayson shooting the decedent in the head,” despite Massey’s “non-aggressive behavior.”
The department also found that Grayson did not abide by the Sheriff’s Office Standard of Conduct after his body camera recorded statements made by him that violated policy, including calling Massey by expletives, and saying, “I’m not even going to waste my med stuff then,” after bringing his medical kit and not providing aid to Massey.
Grayson also violated the department’s policy and procedures for providing medical aid and response when he discouraged his fellow attending deputy from providing aid to Massey, saying, “nah, headshot dude; she’s done,” “let her just, there is nothing we can do,” and letting approximately 3 minutes, 40 seconds go by between the time Massey was shot and when Grayson brought in his medical kit, according to the investigation.
Additionally, Grayson was found to be in violation of policy by not having activated his body camera until after shooting Massey, as well as insubordination after refusing to answer questions during his internal affairs interview.
Sean Grayson’s attorney declined ABC News’ request for comment.
(NEW YORK) — A trans teenager was allegedly assaulted by a large group of teens in Massachusetts, and police are investigating it as a possible hate crime.
Jayden Tkaczyk, 16, had been at an outdoor party in a wooded area in Gloucester Friday night when the alleged incident occurred.
His attorney, Craig Rourke, told ABC News the assailants “stomped on his head” and “called him the f-slur” during the attack.
“We view this as a hate crime,” Rourke said. “The motives of the perpetrators seem pretty clear in their own words.”
Jayden suffered a broken orbital, permanent nerve damage, a black eye and bruising to the legs and torso, Rourke said, and was treated at a hospital for his injuries. He has since been released.
The Gloucester Police Department said in a press release that the “parties involved in this incident are known to one another.”
A detective trained in civil rights investigations had been assigned to lead the case, police said, and a spokesperson for the department confirmed to ABC News the incident is “being investigated as a possible hate crime.”
“The investigation remains ongoing and no determination has been made at this stage,” the police spokesperson said.
The teen has previously faced bullying for being trans, Rourke said.
Jayden, who attends a local vocational high school, joined the Gloucester High School football team last year but quit after only a few practices because the “bullying got so severe,” according to Rourke.
Jayden told Boston ABC affiliate WCVB-TV the attack began in “a blink of an eye.”
“One second I was having fun, and the next second I was on the ground getting my face stomped and beat up,” Jayden said.
“They were just saying the f-slur over and over and over and over as they were punching me and stomping me,” he added.
His mother, Jasmine Tkaczyk, told WCVB she was “really, really angry” over the incident.
“Seeing the condition he was in, this has always been my worst fear as a mom of a trans teen,” she said.
The Essex County District Attorney’s Office told ABC News they were “aware of the serious allegations of an assault on a Gloucester teenager by other teens.”
“The office is working in conjunction with the Gloucester Police Department on this active and ongoing investigation involving juvenile parties and as such we are unable to provide further commentary at this time,” they added.
Gloucester Public Schools Superintendent Ben Lummis said in a statement that district and school leadership “understands the gravity of the recent allegations and are handling them with the highest level of concern.”
The school district is “actively cooperating” with the police investigation, Lummis said.
“We are very early in what is likely to be a complicated investigation,” Lummis said. “All decisions going forward will be based on the outcome of this thorough investigation.”
Lummis said there were “many rumors and contradictory information circulating on social media” about the incident, and urged students and families “to give the police and the schools time to do methodical and accurate investigations.”
Gloucester Police Chief Edward Conley said they were “treating these allegations with the utmost seriousness.”
“We ask the public to allow the investigation to proceed without rushing to judgment,” Conley said.
(ERWIN, Tenn.) — At least 54 people were trapped on the roof of a hospital in Tennessee on Friday after floodwaters due to Hurricane Helene quickly surrounded the medical center.
Everyone was rescued safely, Sen. Bill Hagerty said in a statement.
Unicoi County Hospital — located in the northeastern part of the state on the border with North Carolina — took on so much flooding that those inside could no longer be safely evacuated and had to relocate to the roof.
In addition to the people trapped on the roof, seven people were in rescue boats. The National Guard and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) are currently engaged in “a dangerous rescue operation,” according to Ballad Health, a health care company that runs a chain of hospitals.
“I don’t think very many people have seen something like this before,” Ballad Health CEO Alan Levine said while speaking at Unicoi County High School. “The most important thing is the safety of our employees and patients. Thank God, thanks to the great work of Tennessee and Virginia partnering to help us get this rescue underway, they’re all safe.”
Rep. Diana Harshbarger posted on the social platform X on Friday afternoon that helicopters had arrived to help evacuate people off the roof.
Ballad Health said in a statement on X on Friday that it received notice a little after 9:30 a.m. ET from the Unicoi County Emergency Management Agency that the hospital needed to be evacuated to the water from a nearby river rising quickly.
Although ambulances were quick to help evacuate patients, the hospital became flooded so quickly that the ambulances could not safely approach the hospital.
TEMA coordinated with local emergency management agencies so boats could be deployed to assist with the evacuation. However, water began flooding the hospital building causing an “extremely dangerous and impassable” that prevented boats from reaching the hospital.
What’s more, high winds had previously prevented helicopters from evacuating the hospital.
“We ask everyone to please pray for the people at Unicoi County Hospital, the first responders on-scene, the military leaders who are actively working to help, and our state leaders,” Ballad Health said in a statement. “Ballad Health appreciates the support and effort of Mayors Garland Evely, Patty Woodby and Joe Grandy, each of whom has offered assistance and have maintained ongoing contact with Ballad Health leadership.”
ABC News’ Alexandra Faul and Mike Noble contributed to this report.