3 children, 2 adults dead in ‘tragic, domestic violence situation’; teen boy in custody
(FALL CITY, Wash.) —Three children and two adults are dead, and a teenager is in custody, following a domestic violence situation at a home in a quiet Washington state neighborhood, authorities said.
Deputies responded to multiple 911 calls Monday morning that reported gunshots in Fall City, about 25 miles east of Seattle, the King County Sheriff’s Office said.
Five people were found dead: three children and two adults, the sheriff’s office said. One victim, a girl, survived and was admitted to a hospital with undisclosed injuries, authorities said.
A 15-year-old boy has been taken into custody in connection with the incident, the sheriff’s office said.
All of the victims appeared to be members of the same family, according to the sheriff’s office.
King County sheriff’s deputy Mike Mellis described the case as a “tragic, domestic violence situation” and a firearms-related homicide investigation.
The victims’ neighborhood is small, quiet and doesn’t normally see police activity, Mellis said, adding that the family had no significant history with the sheriff’s office.
“It’s just unfathomable,” neighbor Cameron Doerrer told ABC Seattle affiliate KOMO. “The younger kids, especially, [were] the sweetest children. So polite.”
(LOS ANGELES) — The wildfire tearing through the foothills of Southern California’s San Bernardino County is now endangering more than 36,000 structures, according to emergency officials.
The Line Fire began on Sept. 5 and has since burned some 20,553 acres east of Los Angeles, with three firefighters so far injured attempting to control the blaze, fire officials said. As of 9:25 p.m. Sunday night local time, the fire remained at 0% containment, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.
No structures have been damaged or destroyed, but the Cal Fire’s Sunday evening update warned that 36,328 structures were under threat.
“Line Fire behavior was moderated Sunday morning due to smoke, but as the afternoon progressed, the smoke cleared and temperatures climbed leading to more fire activity,” Cal Fire said.
“Night flight capable aircraft will be utilized when possible to try to hold the fire within [current] containment lines,” the update said. “Early next week, cooler weather will moderate fire activity below the marine layer. However, fire activity above the marine layer will remain active. There is still potential for spot fires to become established well outside the control lines.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for San Bernardino County on Saturday, and mandatory evacuation orders have been issued for residents in the path of the blaze. The evacuations were expanded on Sunday.
Newsom said the state’s request for Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance was approved by President Joe Biden on Saturday afternoon.
“I thank President Biden for his swift approval of support for the work of our firefighters and first responders battling this fire and protecting local communities,” Newsom said.
“It’s critical that residents in the impacted areas remain vigilant and prepare to evacuate immediately if called for by local authorities.”
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Elsewhere, the Bridge Fire in Los Angeles Country has burned around 800 acres north of Azusa in the Angeles National Forest, fire officials said. The fire is at 0% containment and evacuation orders are in place for a mobile home park, campgrounds and a small river community. Night-flying helicopters have been deployed in the effort to control the blaze.
The Boyles Fire in California’s Lake County was at 90 acres late Sunday, 10% contained with Cal Fire noting that “crews are making good progress,” though “forward progress has not been stopped.” Around 30 structures and between 40 and 50 vehicles were destroyed.
Fire fighters are also battling the Davis Fire in Nevada’s Washoe County, where 6,500 acres have been burned and the fire is at 0% containment. The fire is “burning in heavy timber and brush,” according to the U.S. Forest Service. “Gusty conditions” are forecast through the week, the service added on social media, noting that at least 14 structures were so far impacted.
“Power outages continue,” the Forest Service said, with a “portion of south Reno under evacuation notice,” impacting between 12,000 and 14,000 people.
ABC News’ Marilyn Heck contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump is seeking to delay the upcoming sentencing in his New York hush money case by again asking a federal court in New York to take up the case in light of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity.
In a 60-page filing Thursday, Trump’s lawyers urged the court to reconsider his argument to remove the case from state court to federal court ahead of the former president’s Sept. 18 sentencing.
“The ongoing proceedings will continue to cause direct and irreparable harm to President Trump — the leading candidate in the 2024 Presidential election — and voters located far beyond Manhattan,” defense lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote in the filing.
Trump was found guilty in May on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election. In a subsequent decision last month, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump is entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts undertaken as president.
It’s unclear if the federal court will consider Trump’s new motion, since U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied Trump’s original attempt to have the case removed in July 2023 when the former president argued that the case centered on his official acts while in office.
“Hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a President’s official acts. It does not reflect in any way the color of the President’s official duties,” Hellerstein wrote in that ruling.
Trump’s lawyers are now arguing that multiple Supreme Court decisions this year — including the court’s rulings on presidential immunity and Chevron deference — “add force” to Trump’s argument for removal and immunity.
“The groundbreaking Presidential immunity issues arising from Trump v. United States are alone a sufficient basis to grant this removal application,” Thursday’s filing said.
Trump’s lawyers raised familiar arguments about the kind of “official-acts evidence” they believe tainted the former president’s New York trial, including the testimony of White House former communications director Hope Hicks and the use of Trump’s tweets while president as evidence. Defense lawyers also repeated previously unsuccessful arguments about the alleged bias of the judge overseeing the case.
“Post-trial removal is necessary under these circumstances to afford President Trump an unbiased forum, free from local hostilities, where he can seek redress for these Constitutional violations,” the filing said.
Defense lawyers repeatedly mentioned the timing of Trump’s sentencing throughout their filing and warned about the impact of Trump’s potential imprisonment, though most legal experts believe Trump is unlikely to serve any sentence until after the election.
“The impending election cannot be redone. The currently unaddressed harm to the Presidency resulting from this improper prosecution will adversely impact the operations of the federal government for generations,” the filing said.
A spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to comment on the filing.
(NEW YORK) — At least 6,300 National Guard troops are racing to get aid to those in need — along with an army of volunteers — in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene as the death toll jumped to more than 160 across six states on Wednesday morning, with hundreds of people still reported missing.
New images from storm-ravaged areas are continuing to emerge on Wednesday in places like Erwin, Tennessee, where ambulances could be seen being towed away near where dozens of people were rescued from a roof of a hospital with dump trucks filled with trees and debris located nearby.
Elsewhere, in North Carolina, dramatic dashcam footage captured the moment a couple narrowly missed being swept up in a landslide in the Blue Ridge Mountains, with those landslides and flooding washing roads and bridges away and making it all but impossible to get access to some of the hardest hit areas.
“We have one suitcase, really,” North Carolina resident and Hurricane Helene survivor, Aaron Smith, told ABC News. “And so trying to figure out four people and a dog out of one suitcase, it’s the most, it’s just surreal.”
Another family in Hendersonville, North Carolina, became completely surrounded by floodwater, waiting for help in chest-high water and unable to get to dry land.
The Mirandas have been forced to use creek water to wash their clothes and have even had to find ice to keep insulin cold in coolers.
Jessica Meidinger said that she knows a witness who saw a neighbor’s house floating away down a river with them still inside — Rod Ashby was rescued Tuesday night but his wife, Kim, is still missing.
“Losing your most loved one when you had her in your arms and now you don’t there’s I don’t imagine there’s much that can compare to that,” Meidinger said. “She’s strong, she’s a breast cancer survivor. It’s hard not to hold on to that hope.”