Virginia State Police charge suspect in officer involved shooting
THE FOLLOWING IS A NEWS RELEASE FROM THE VIRGINIA STATE POLICE
The Virginia State Police has charged Lucas Jason Degier, 47, of Wilmington, NC, with Attempted Capital Murder following the February 17, 2025 shooting of Danville Police Department Officer Kayla Robinson.
Degier shot Officer Robinson while he was being interviewed as a suspect in a hit and run crash. Degier was flown to Duke University Hospital for treatment of his wounds received in the shooting.
Degier is being held in North Carolina and will be extradited to Virginia to stand trial for the shooting.
The Virginia State Police will have no further comment about the shooting. At the completion of the investigation the findings will be turned over the Danville Commonwealth Attorney’s Office for adjudication. The Danville Police Department will not be commenting further.
(NEW YORK) — A frustrated Gov. Kathy Hochul has called for federal assistance after the latest drone sighting temporarily shut down an airport Friday night, the latest in a series of mysterious occurrences taking part across the country.
Officials at Stewart International Airport, located roughly 60 miles north of New York City, said they shut down their runways for an hour after the Federal Aviation Administration alerted them that a drone was spotted in the area around 9:30 p.m.
“There were no impacts to flight operations during the closure,” the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said in a statement.
Hochul said in a statement Saturday that the incident is the latest drone sighting in the state since mid-November and expressed her frustration.
“This has gone too far,” she said.
Hochul said she has called on the New York State Intelligence Center to probe the drone sighting incidents but called on the federal government to do more.
Specifically, she called on Congress to pass the Counter-UAS Authority Security, Safety, and Reauthorization Act, which would strengthen the FAA’s oversight of drones and give more authority to state and local law enforcement agencies to investigate the activity.
“Extending these powers to New York State and our peers is essential. Until those powers are granted to state and local officials, the Biden Administration must step in by directing additional federal law enforcement to New York and the surrounding region to ensure the safety of our critical infrastructure and our people.”
Residents and officials have been looking for answers after drones have been seen hovering in the sky in several locations, especially in central New Jersey, since mid-November. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and several members of Congress have also called for the federal government to investigate the sightings.
The White House downplayed some of the concerns of residents in a press briefing Thursday with national security communications adviser John Kirby saying “many” of the reported drone sightings appear to be lawfully operated manned aircraft.
He said they have been unable to “corroborate some of the reported sightings” using their detection techniques, but are still investigating.
In the meantime, the FAA and federal officials are taking precautions because of the drones.
The agency issued a temporary no-drone zone during Saturday afternoon’s Army-Navy Game taking place at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland. President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance are scheduled to attend the game.
The FAA has also imposed temporary drone flight restrictions in New Jersey over the Picatinny Arsenal military base in Morris County and Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in Somerset County in response to the reported drone activity.
ABC News’ Pierre Thomas contributed to this report.
An ABC News graphic shows weather in the United States on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. Via ABC News
(NEW YORK) — The eastern half of the United States is enduring the latest arctic blast from Minnesota down to northern Florida and up to New England.
Lake-effect snow brought 3.5 feet of snow to western NY and up to 20 inches to northern Lower Michigan. Winds gusted to near 40 mph, creating whiteout conditions in heaviest lake-effect snow bands.
A Lake-Effect Snow Warning continued Friday morning for Ohio, Pennsylvania and western New York, where some areas could get additional 6 inches to 12 inches of snow.
The wind chills early Friday are below zero in Minneapolis, near zero in Chicago and in the teens and single digits above zero in the Northeast.
The temperature is near freezing in northern Florida and southern Georgia, where a Frost Advisory is posted.
Ice storm warning for Midwest
A new storm system is moving into the Plains and the Midwest on Friday evening into Saturday morning, with an Ice Storm Warning issued for Iowa and Icy Alerts issued from Kansas to Minnesota.
Freezing rain could glaze roads to more than a half an inch creating treacherous driving conditions.
Des Moines, Iowa, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Omaha, Nebraska, are all under alerts later today and into Saturday morning. It will be raining with temperatures below freezing, and travel is strongly discouraged in the region through early Saturday.
West Coast flooding and heavy snow threat
A serious of storms will move into the West Coast through this weekend into next week, producing feet of snow in the mountains and several inches of rain along the coast.
Already, first storm brought up to half a foot of snow to I-80 in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, creating a mess, with lots of accidents and major backups.
A new storm, even stronger, will move into the West Coast later today into Saturday from Washington to California, with heavy rain and mountain snow.
Locally 4 feet of snow is possible for California mountains, where Winter Storm Warning has been issued.
Heavy rain with up to 5 inches possible for northern California, where Flood Watch has been issued.
Areas north of the San Francisco Bay Area could see 2 inches to 3 inches of rain.
