DOJ drops charges against 2 people accused of ramming vehicles of federal agents conducting Chicago immigration sweeps
United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conduct operations in the Little Village neighborhood, a predominantly Mexican American community in Chicago, United States on November 08, 2025. Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images
(CHICAGO) — The Department of Justice has abruptly moved to dismiss the indictment against two people accused last month of “ambushing” federal agents conducting an immigration sweep in Chicago, including a woman who was shot five times in the incident.
The government filed a motion on Thursday asking a federal judge to “dismiss the indictment and exonerate” Marimar Martinez and Anthony Ruiz, who were involved in a collision with U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in Chicago on Oct. 4.
The incident set off street protests on Chicago’s Southwest Side.
Martinez’s attorney, Christopher Parente, told ABC News on Thursday that he and his clients are relieved by the government’s decision.
“We appreciate the U.S. attorney being thoughtful in agreeing to dismiss this,” Parente said.
The case is scheduled for a status hearing at 5 p.m. ET on Thursday, during which the government’s motion to dismiss will be heard.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Suspected gunman Nigel Edge of shown in this booking photo released by police, September 28, 2025. Southport Police Dept.
(SOUTHPORT, N.C.) — Prosecutors are weighing the death penalty for a Marine veteran they allege was the rifle-wielding “lone wolf” who opened fire from a boat on a waterfront bar in Southport, North Carolina, over the weekend, killing three people and wounding eight others in what police described as a “highly premeditated” attack.
The suspect, 40-year-old Nigel Edge, is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Monday afternoon, officials said.
Edge, who changed his name from Sean William Debevoise in 2023, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder. He is also charged with five counts of attempted murder with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or injure.
ABC News has confirmed with the United States Marine Corps that Edge served nearly six years in the Marines from September 2003 to June 2009, and was awarded the Purple Heart. He was deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005 and 2006 and ultimately rose to the rank of sergeant, officials said.
Photos that surfaced on Sunday appear to show Edge once escorted American Idol singer Kellie Pickler to the 2012 Country Music Awards while dressed in his formal Marine uniform.
The mass shooting in Southport happened just 12 hours before another Marine veteran who also served Operation Iraqi Freedom allegedly rammed his truck through the front doors of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan, and opened fire on the congregation with an assault weapon, killing four people and injuring eight, authorities said. The suspected Michigan gunman was killed in a gunfight with police.
During a news conference on Sunday, North Carolina authorities alleged that Edge targeted patrons of the American Fish Company on the Southport waterfront, who were on an outdoor deck listening to live music when the suspect opened fire with an assault rifle from a boat.
“Some facts that we have at this time are that we believe this was a targeted location. It appears that he acted as what we call a ‘lone wolf.’ He acted alone,” Southport Police Chief Todd Coring said at the news conference. “This is highly premeditated from what we’re seeing at this time.”
Edge was detained by the Coast Guard about a half-hour after the 10:25 p.m. shooting, when he was spotted loading his boat at a public boat ramp in Oak Island, North Carolina, just a few nautical miles from the crime scene, officials said. After being questioned by investigators, Edge was arrested and charged with the shooting.
“We understand that this suspect identifies as a combat veteran. He self-identifies. Injured in the line of duty is what he’s saying. He suffers from PTSD. We want to point those facts out,” Coring said.
Marine officials did not release details on the circumstances that led to Edge being awarded the Purple Heart, but did disclose that his last duty assignment was with the Wounded Warriors Battalion East.
Jon David, the local district attorney, said during Sunday’s news conference that more charges could be filed against Edge and that his office is considering the death penalty.
“I will say that North Carolina is a state for which the death penalty is a potential, and my office does seek it in appropriate cases,” David said. “I have a team of senior prosecutors that meets as part of a death penalty review committee, and we make sure that we thoroughly evaluate the facts and the law on a case-by-case basis.”
A motive for the Southport shooting remains under investigation. However, David said finding a motive is not essential to prosecuting the suspect.
“People frequently want to know what happened and why. As prosecutors in a courtroom, we have to prove intent. Intent and motive are very different things,” David said. “We don’t actually have to prove motive. We don’t know why people do what they do.”
David added that the thread connecting the victims in the shooting “appears to be a love of having a good time and enjoying all that Southport has to offer.”
“Sadly, a lot of the victims in this case appear to be not members of our community, but people who were here on vacation,” David said.
He said that other than a few minor brushes with the law, Edge “wasn’t quite as well known in the criminal court system.”
“There are some minor contacts over the years, but nothing significant in his past which would give us any indication that he was capable of such horror,” David said.
(NEW YORK) — Multiple historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are on lockdown after receiving potential threats on Thursday, including Alabama State University, Virginia State University, Hampton University in Virginia, Southern University in Louisiana, and Clark Atlanta University in Georgia.
Spelman College, located near Clark Atlanta University, has also implemented shelter-in-place protocols as a precautionary measure due to its proximity.
Hampton University ceased all “nonessential” activity, including athletic events, on Thursday for the remainder of the day and Friday, according to the school’s website.
In a post on the Virginia State University Facebook page, the school said, “out of an abundance of caution, VSU remains on lockdown.”
Southern University in Louisiana is on lockdown, according to the school’s post on X. The school said the lockdown applies to its entire Baton Rouge landmass, which includes its Law Center. The community is encouraged to “shelter in place until further notice.”
ABC News obtained an email that was sent to the Virginia State University community on Thursday. In the message, VSU students, faculty and staff are asked to remain on lockdown while campus police, and local, state and federal law enforcement investigate the credibility of the threat that was received.
According to the email, no injuries have been reported, outdoor movement has been limited to essential activities, classes and extra-curricular activities have been canceled for the afternoon, and additional security personnel are monitoring VSU locations.
The lockdown measures come in the wake of the shooting at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, where 31-year-old right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk was killed at his speaking engagement on campus.
School officials at Hampton and Alabama State confirmed to ABC News that there have been no physical incidents toward students and faculty. It is unclear what type of threat was made to the schools at this time. The schools stressed “if you see something, say something,” asking for their communities to alert the authorities to any suspicious activity.
The alleged threats follow a history of threats to HBCUs in the past several years. In 2022, multiple schools received anonymous bomb threats, causing shelter-in-place notices or evacuations of the majority-Black institutions.
However, no real bombs were found after each incident. At the time, the FBI identified one juvenile believed to be responsible for a “majority” of the “racially motivated” threats.
(NEW YORK) — New York City police are searching for a man on parole who allegedly broke into a Queens home, killed a couple and set their house on fire, authorities said.
Frank Olton, 76, was found on Monday tied to a pole in his basement suffering from multiple stab wounds, and his wife Maureen Olton, 77, was found on the house’s first floor, severely burned, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference on Tuesday.
The Oltons’ son, a New York City Fire Department paramedic, was alerted to the fire by an alarm system and he responded to the house, police said.
There’s no known connection between the victims and the suspect, identified as 42-year-old Jamel McGriff, Tisch said.
Detectives believe the suspect spent five hours in the victims’ house, according to sources, likely searching for property to steal before setting it ablaze. Surveillance video showed the suspect leaving the home around 3 p.m., police said.
Witnesses reported a man knocking on a neighbor’s door on Monday morning, asking to charge his phone, Tisch said, and that neighbor turned the suspect away. Surveillance video showed the suspect going to the victims’ house and Frank Olton letting him in, according to the commissioner.
Tisch called the crime a “horrific double homicide, robbery and arson.”
She said police are asking for the public’s help to find McGriff, warning that he should be considered armed and dangerous.
McGriff, who is out on parole for first-degree robbery, “has a lengthy violent criminal history stretching back 30 years,” Tisch said. He failed to register as a sex offender in November 2024 “which should have violated his parole,” she said, and he is also wanted for two robberies in Manhattan this summer.
“This suspect’s MO is to go door-to-door asking for some kind of assistance until he can gain entry — so do not allow anyone you don’t know or who you are not expecting into your home,” she stressed.
