Person claiming to have Molotov cocktail, knife stopped outside Capitol
Washington D.C. police search a car outside the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building, Jan. 27, 2025. (Briana Stewart/ABC News)
(WASHINGTON) — A person claiming to have a Molotov cocktail and a knife was stopped on the East Plaza outside the U.S. Capitol on Monday, according to Capitol Police.
The individual is in custody for unlawful activities, police said.
About a dozen Capitol Police vehicles, including armored vehicles, swarmed the scene. Officers from the Capitol Police and bomb squad are also outside the nearby Smithsonian Arts + Industries Building.
This incident comes one week after a security breach at the Capitol. Last week, a Massachusetts man was found to be carrying a gun after attending a tour of the Capitol as he left the nearby Library of Congress, according to police.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(ALBUQUERGUE, N.M.) — A school bus attendant for Albuquerque, New Mexico, Public Schools has been arrested after she was seen in surveillance video repeatedly hitting an autistic student.
Debbie Chavira, 64, is accused of striking the child dozens of times over the course of 10 days, according to an incident report.
Police said Chavira struck the student in his face, torso and arms a total of 59 times between Aug. 26 and Sept. 4. On Sept. 4, school officials reported her after the child showed up “with fresh scratch marks on the back of his neck,” the incident report states.
While investigating the alleged abuse, officials viewed additional surveillance footage, where they say Chavira was seen repeatedly hitting the child over the span of 10 days.
Chavira struck the child “open-handed, closed fisted, and with a plastic (yellow) ‘child check’ sign,” and did so “intentionally and without justifiable cause,” according to the incident report.
Investigators were unable to interview the child due to him “being autistic and non-verbal” and unable to “communicate through writing either,” the report states.
Chavira resigned from her job Sept. 5, according to Albuquerque ABC affiliate KOAT, and was arrested on Oct. 4. She has been released from jail and is now under pretrial supervision.
She has been charged with five counts of abandonment or abuse of a child. A representative could not immediately be found for Chavira.
In a statement to ABC News, Martin Salazar, a spokesperson for Albuquerque Public Schools, said the school district does “not tolerate this kind of behavior.”
“Upon discovering what was happening, we immediately placed bus attendant Debbie Chavira on leave and notified the APS Police Department. APS Police launched an investigation and filed criminal charges. Ms. Chavira resigned shortly after being placed on leave,” Salazar said.
(NEW YORK) — The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson plans to challenge his extradition from Pennsylvania to New York, where he faces a charge of second-degree murder in connection with last week’s high-profile fatal shooting.
The suspect, Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested on Monday and charged in Pennsylvania for allegedly possessing an untraceable “ghost” gun.”
“He has constitutional rights and that’s what he’s doing” in challenging the interstate transfer, his attorney, Thomas Dickey, told reporters in Pennsylvania.
He also plans to plead not guilty to the charges filed against him in Blair County, Pennsylvania, Dickey said. A Pennsylvania judge ordered Mangione, 26, held without bail on Tuesday.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said it will seek a governor’s warrant to try to force Mangione’s extradition. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement that she’ll sign a request for the governor’s warrant “to ensure this individual is tried and held accountable.”
Dickey said he anticipates that Mangione would plead not guilty to the second-degree murder charge in New York.
The attorney said he has limited information about the facts of the New York murder case but he conceded Mangione is “accused of some serious matters.” He added that Mangione is “taking it as well as he can.”
Mangione’s defense was on Tuesday given 14 days to file a formal challenge to the extradition. The suspect was shackled at the waist and ankles during the hearing at Blair County Court House in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania.
The judge ordered Mangione held without bail, returning him to the State Correctional Institution in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, where he’s listed as inmate QQ7787.
ABC News’ Peter Charalambous and Josh Margolin contributed to this report.
(ATLANTA) — Hundreds of passengers were forced to evacuate on slides during a snowstorm after their Delta flight aborted takeoff from Atlanta due to an engine issue Friday morning, the airline said.
Delta Flight 2668 was traveling from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to Minneapolis-St. Paul when it suspended takeoff shortly after 9 a.m. due to “an indication of an engine issue,” the airline said.
Passengers exited the Boeing 757-300 aircraft through emergency slides and ground transportation was used to take them back to the terminal.
Four passengers reported minor injuries in the incident, with one transported to an area hospital, the airport said. The other three were treated at the scene, the airport said. The nature of their injuries was not immediately clear.
The plane was carrying 201 passengers and seven crew members.
“Nothing is more important than the safety of our people and customers, and we apologize to our customers for their experience,” Delta said in a statement. “We are working to support our customers and get them to their destinations as safely and quickly as possible.”
The Federal Aviation Administration said it will investigate.
Operations at the Atlanta airport were delayed due to the incident and the “ongoing severe weather,” the airport said in a statement.
Approximately 2 inches of snow had fallen by noon in Atlanta, the most in seven years, as a massive winter storm impacts the South.
More than 2,600 flights across the country have been canceled as of midday Friday due to the storm, with Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas and Nashville seeing the biggest impacts.
