At least 2 killed, 6 injured in Orlando Halloween night shooting
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(ORLANDO, Fla.) — At least two people are dead and six others have been injured in a Halloween night shooting in downtown Orlando, police said.
Police in Orlando, Florida, first received reports of a shooting at around 1 a.m. and immediately responded to the scene, the Orland Police said in an early morning press conference on Friday morning.
Authorities confirmed that at least two people were killed and six others have been injured in the shooting and that a 17-year-old suspect was taken into custody.
The victims were taken to hospital and range in age from 19 to 39, according to the Orlando Police Department.
Authorities also said there were approximately 100 officers working the downtown area at the time of the shooting.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(GETTYSBURG, Penn.) — A Gettysburg College swimmer is no longer enrolled at the school after allegedly carving a racial slur on his teammate’s chest at an on-campus residence during an informal social gathering, according to school officials.
The student, who has not been named by the college or authorities, allegedly used a box cutter to scratch the n-word on another Gettysburg College swimmer, according to a statement from the victim’s family published in the school’s newspaper. The family said it decided to come forward to “add clarity, not stir controversy as we struggle to comprehend the nightmare that haunts our son and our family.”
“For the sake of our son’s well-being, we are attempting to address the recent challenges by mirroring our son’s spirit of humility and courage,” the family said in the statement. “Our son did not choose to have a hateful racial slur scrawled across his chest, but he has chosen not to return the hate. He did not choose the color of his skin tone, but has chosen to embrace the strength and diversity it represents. Our son did not choose to be shunned and isolated at the behest of some who pay lip service to inclusion and diversity.”
The two students allegedly involved were initially removed from swim team activities while the college investigated the incident, according to Jamie Yates, Chief Communications and Marketing Officer at Gettysburg College.
“The student who did the scratching is no longer enrolled at the College,” Yates told ABC News in a statement. “The college is working with the other student and his family about how to most constructively move forward.”
Gettysburg Police Department Chief Robert Glenny Jr. told ABC News that the department has not received a complaint regarding the incident.
Glenny Jr. said the department reached out to the college campus safety upon learning of the incident, but were told while the victim was “encouraged” by the college to contact law enforcement, “the victim had chosen not to and to let the college disciplinary process handle this matter.”
The school newspaper, The Gettysburgian, published a statement on Friday from the family of the student who had the slur allegedly cut into his chest, saying the incident happened two weeks ago at a men’s swim team social gathering in which the victim was the only person of color present. According to the family, the scratching had been done by someone the victim “trusted” and considered a friend.
According to the newspaper, it published a statement from the victim’s family anonymously in order to protect the identity of the victim.
“Two weeks ago on the evening of Friday, Sept. 6, our son became the victim of a hate crime,” the family wrote in the statement published in The Gettysburgian.
In what Gettysburg College called a joint statement with the complainant’s family, the college said they “had previously made a commitment to the family that once the investigation was nearing its completion, we would work with them about how most constructively to move forward.”
“Those conversations have already begun and will continue. Both parties understand that this process will take time and are committed to working together,” Gettysburg College said in a statement.
The NAACP Greater Harrisburg Chapter confirmed to ABC News it is aware of the incident and the NAACP PA State Conference has been informed.
While the NAACP Greater Harrisburg Chapter said it is not commenting as the family and school continue working through the investigation, President Franklin E. Allen said in a statement that “it is just the beginning of the school year, and no one should fear being in college.”
In the joint statement released by Gettysburg College, the family said they wanted to reiterate that they are aware they retain the right to pursue local, state and federal criminal charges.
“The College and the family both recognize the gravity and seriousness of this situation and hope it can serve as a transformative moment for our community and beyond,” the statement also said.
ABC News’ Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.
(MOSCOW, Idaho) — The long-anticipated trial against the man accused of killing four University of Idaho college students nearly two years ago was delayed on Wednesday, court officials said.
Idaho District Judge Steven Hippler originally scheduled Bryan Kohberger’s capital murder trial to begin in June 2025, but will now commence on Aug. 7, 2025, and is expected to last until Nov. 7, 2025.
It wasn’t immediately clear why the delay was set.
Kohberger, a former criminology Ph.D. student at nearby Washington State University, has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary, in connection with the fatal stabbing of four University of Idaho students — Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20 — in an off-campus house in the early hours of Nov. 13, 2022.
Attorneys for Kohberger entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf. He faces the death penalty if convicted.
Kohberger was arrested following a six-week manhunt in December 2022. He waived his right to a speedy trial.
Last month, Idaho’s Supreme Court ruled that the trial would be moved from Latah County to Boise following a request for a change of venue from the defense.
A hearing is scheduled for Nov. 7, for an argument on motions challenging the death penalty, according to court documents.
(SELMA, Texas) — A man initially interviewed as a witness at the scene of a murder has now been arrested over a year later in the apparent road rage slaying, authorities in Texas announced.
Jacob Daniel Serna, 29, was arrested on Thursday for the murder of Joseph Banales, according to police in Selma, located about 20 miles outside of San Antonio.
The case began on April 15, 2023, when Selma police said they responded to a single-car crash and found Banales shot in the head and slumped over his steering wheel.
Banales, a nursing student and Army ROTC member at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, was declared dead at the scene, police said.
Witnesses said Banales tried to merge into another lane and almost hit a dark blue or black sports car with a loud exhaust system, according to the probable cause affidavit. The sports car slowed down, then spend up along the driver’s side of Banales’ car, witnesses said. Then Banales’ car swerved into another lane and crashed into the center median, and the sports car fled, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Banales was on the phone with his girlfriend at the time; she told police she heard what sounded like a loud exhaust system driving by quickly, then a crash, the document said.
Serna and his wife were at the scene when officers arrived, police said. Officer dashboard camera captured Serna standing over Banales’ body, the probable cause affidavit said.
Serna — who drove a blue Ford Mustang sports car — and his wife were interviewed several times, and their stories changed over time, according to police.
Initially, Serna’s wife told police she saw a blue sports car — similar to the color of their car — in the lane next to Banales, the probable cause affidavit said. Serna told police he didn’t see anything and his wife saw the crash, according to the probable cause affidavit.
This July, police interviewed Serna’s wife again. The Sernas are now separated, according to the probable cause affidavit, and she said her husband had sped up to get a better look at the potential suspect’s car, but the suspect’s car was driving too fast, and that’s when the crash happened, the document said.
On Thursday, police interviewed Serna’s wife again. She admitted her husband shot the victim after her husband “became angry that Banales had nearly changed lanes into his blue Mustang,” police said in a statement on Friday.
She said her husband pulled his pistol out of the glove box, loaded the weapon and fired, according to the probable cause affidavit.
She said she made her husband turn around and drive back to the scene, according to the probable cause affidavit.
During the investigation, police zeroed-in on cellphone records to help determine “who could have been driving a blue sports car at the crime scene,” police said in a statement.
The probe, which included searching license plate reader databases, “revealed only one vehicle matching the description of a blue sports car with loud exhaust” — Serna’s car, police said.
“Google Geo-Fence records show Serna’s Google activity pinging in the area at the same time investigators believe the shooting happened,” police added.
Serna has been booked into the Bexar County Jail, police said.
