Man charged with stalking for allegedly threatening WNBA star Caitlin Clark
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(INDIANAPOLIS) — A Texas man has been charged with stalking for allegedly sending WNBA star Caitlin Clark threats over social media, officials said Monday.
Michael Lewis, 55, was arrested on Sunday in Indianapolis and has been charged with stalking for allegedly sending “numerous threats and sexually explicit messages to Clark via his social media accounts,” the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office said in a press release.
“No matter how prominent a figure you are, this case shows that online harassment can quickly escalate to actual threats of physical violence,” Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said in a statement.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office became aware of a “possible pattern of stalking” by Lewis toward Clark this month, according to the affidavit for probable cause. Between Dec. 16, 2024, and Jan. 2, the suspect allegedly sent Clark numerous sexually explicit messages over X, according to the affidavit.
Investigators traced the X account to Lewis and determined that recent messages were sent from an IP address at a hotel in Indianapolis, which was “especially concerning given that he is a Texas resident,” the affidavit stated.
Clark told investigators she does not know Lewis and has not responded to his social media messages or posts, and that his presence in Indianapolis made her “very concerned for her safety,” according to the affidavit.
“Clark stated that she has been very fearful since learning of the messages and that she has altered her public appearances and patterns of movement due to fear for her safety,” the affidavit stated.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(LOS ANGELES) — Southern California has been severely hit by wildfires, prompting mass evacuations and state of emergency declaration from Gov. Gavin Newsom. The dangerous winds and extreme fire conditions are expected to last through Thursday.
With residents facing evacuation orders, family pets face an uncertain situation.
Many people in the region have exotic pets and care for animals like llamas, horses and goats that need a safe place to go during this dangerous event.
Some hotels have been accommodating pets like dogs and cats, but the sheer number of animal evacuees has strained their capacity. Fortunately for pet owners, veterinarian Annie Harvilicz stepped up to care for animals.
Harvilicz owns a vacant veterinary hospital, which she opened up to house animals affected by the wildfires. The idea came to her after her brother asked for a favor as his family evacuated. They could only take their dog into the hotel they went to, but not their cat or rabbit, so he reached out to Harvilicz for alternate accommodation for those two.
“And when I moved them in, I looked around at the different examine rooms that were empty and thought, you know, we can help here,” Harvilicz told ABC News. “There is a lot of people who are probably in the same situation my brother is in. So that’s when I started getting the word out that we could take in some animals.”
Harvilicz has mainly been helping people who have multiple pets, as hotels may have a limit on how many they will accept per family. She praises the hotels for even taking in pets and is enthusiastic about how many people are calling, ready to help her.
“Most people that are reaching out to me are people ready to help,” Harvilicz said. “There’s probably a 50 to 60:1 ratio between the people who are contacting me to help versus the people who actually need help.”
Luigi Mangione appears at a hearing for the murder of UHC CEO Brian Thompson at Manhattan Criminal Court on February 21, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Curtis Means – Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A defense attorney for Luigi Mangione, the man charged with killing the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, insists a police search and arrest inside a Pennsylvania McDonald’s late last year were illegal.
Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after a five-day manhunt for the suspect in the fatal shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a New York City hotel on Dec. 4.
In a court filing posted to the Pennsylvania court docket Friday, Mangione’s Pennsylvania attorney, Thomas Dickey, said Mangione was never properly read his rights.
Instead, Dickey said, officers from the Altoona Police Department “continued to interrogate and question the Defendant, without any reading of his Miranda Rights.”
The defense lawyer also said Mangione was given “a specious and unreasonable” answer for why the officers approached him.
“At no time did the two officers indicate that Defendant was free to go; nor did they explain the reasons as to why Defendant was being detained; other than that, he looked suspicious and/or over stayed his welcome as a customer at McDonalds,” Dickey wrote.
In Pennsylvania, Mangione has pleaded not guilty to charges of forgery, possession of an instrument of a crime and giving a false ID to an officer.
He has also pleaded not guilty to murder charges in New York, a case that takes precedence over the case in Pennsylvania, where court dates have been scrapped and no new dates set. Mangione also faces federal charges, including a charge of murder through the use of a firearm, which makes him eligible for the death penalty.
His New York attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, has also raised questions about Mangione’s treatment in Pennsylvania custody, arguing during a recent hearing that police body camera footage indicates her client’s “constitutional rights were violated.”
“I think there’s a very, very serious search issue in this matter, and there might be evidence that is suppressed,” Agnifilo said.
(TULSA, Okla.) — The Justice Department provided new insight and chilling details about the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, describing the two-day raid that killed 300 Black residents and destroyed their businesses as a “coordinated, military-style attack” conducted by a white mob of over 10,000 people.
The DOJ released a 126-page report Friday following a four-month investigation into the attacks, which took place between May 31 and June 1 in 1921. In addition to the murders and property destruction, victims’ money and personal property were stolen, and they were not provided with any aid.
The report concluded that the 1921 one-week investigation done by an agent of the Justice Department’s Bureau of Investigation, the precursor to the FBI, was unfounded as it did not include key details about the violence, the victims and the perpetrators and implied Black men were responsible for the massacre.
“Contrary to the agent’s 1921 report, the situation did not ‘spontaneously’ grow out of control,” the new report said. “Rather, what had initially been sporadic and opportunistic violence became systematic, yielding a much more devastating result, due to coordinated efforts among white residents and law enforcement entities. Moreover, although the 1921 report asserts that the massacre (then called a riot) was not the result of ‘racial feeling,’ perpetrators of the massacre overtly expressed and acted upon racial bias.”
Investigation provides detailed timeline of violence
At the time of the massacre, Tulsa was dubbed “Black Wall Street” due to the thriving businesses and community established by Black residents. However, white residents who lived in the city and nearby towns harbored a deep resentment, which built up in the years leading to the attack, the report said.
Investigators from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division “spoke with survivors and with descendants of survivors, examined firsthand accounts of the massacre given by individuals who are now deceased, studied primary source materials, spoke to scholars of the massacre and reviewed legal pleadings, books, and scholarly articles relating to the massacre,” according to the DOJ.
The investigation determined the attack was triggered by an unfounded condemnation alleging 19-year-old Dick Rowland assaulted a white woman who operated an elevator he used. The department said this tactic was commonly used to justify violence against Black residents.
After a local newspaper sensationalized the story, a mob of white Tulsans gathered outside the courthouse, demanding a lynching, according to the report.
When a local sheriff called a group of Black World War I veterans to come to the courthouse to prevent the lynching, the white mob grew, and a shot rang out, the investigation found.
The Tulsa police exacerbated the conflict by deputizing hundreds of white residents, many of whom were “advocating for a lynching and had been drinking,” the report said.
“Law enforcement officers helped organize these special deputies — as well as other white Tulsans — into the martial forces that ravaged Greenwood. Over the next several hours, they looted, burned, and destroyed 35 city blocks while Greenwood’s residents tried desperately to defend their homes,” the report said.
“Some Black residents were shot (or otherwise assaulted), and many were arrested or detained,” it continued. “Law enforcement actively participated in the destruction, disarming Black residents, confiscating their weapons, and detaining many in makeshift camps under armed guard.”
By the morning of June 1, the violence and arsons had become “systematic.”
Left with nothing
Although city officials offered to rebuild and help the victims, they not only failed to do so but put up barriers, the report said.
“White local leaders rejected outside aid, claiming they could handle the recovery, but then provided little to no financial support. Instead, claiming the area was best suited for industrial use, they imposed harsh new fire codes that priced residents out of the area, although a court later enjoined those provisions,” the report said.
“Compounding the injustice, insurance companies denied Black residents of Greenwood compensation due to the ‘riot clause’ in their policies,” it added. “Legal attempts to hold the city accountable also failed. Black residents of Tulsa were left with no avenue for redress.”
No legal avenues left for justice
Due to the statute of limitations and the fact that the perpetrators and almost all of the survivors and witnesses of the attack are long dead, the Justice Department cannot take any legal action for the crimes committed, the report concluded.
“The report recognizes that some may find the department’s inability to prosecute a painful or dissatisfying outcome,” the DOJ said in a statement. “However, the review recognizes and documents the horrible events that occurred as well as the trauma and loss suffered by the residents of Greenwood.”
Family members of survivors said they were not given notice of report
The DOJ said it would be meeting with Greenwood District officials, survivors and descendants of the Tulsa Race Massacre, the Tulsa civil rights community and other stakeholders to discuss the probe.
DOJ members held a meeting at the Historic Vernon AME Church in Tulsa on Saturday to discuss the report.
Damario Solomon-Simmons, an attorney for the family of two of the survivors, Lessie Benningfield Randle and Viola Fletcher, however, expressed disappointment with the DOJ, claiming they were not given notice about the report.
Solomon-Simmons said in a statement that he was only made aware of the report after his office saw news reports. Furthermore, he said his team was not told of Saturday’s meeting at the church.
“Neither my legal team nor the massacre survivors will be able to attend due to time constraints amid our ongoing review and discussion with the DOJ,” he said in a statement.
Solomon-Simmons said he and his team will have further comment after they review the report and speak with the DOJ.
The DOJ did not respond to ABC News’ requests for comment about Solomon-Simmons’ claims.
