Father charged with murder in apparent case of mistaken identity, police say
Harris County Jail
(HOUSTON) — A man has been arrested and charged with murder in an apparent case of mistaken identity that turned deadly early Christmas Day, according to police.
Jonathan Ross Mata, 39, was charged on Wednesday with the murder of 25-year-old Desmond Butler, according to the Houston Police Department.
Investigators said that Mata and his wife received a phone call from their daughter telling them she had been assaulted by her boyfriend. They then drove to a gas station parking lot in the 9900 block of Bellaire, expecting their daughter to be dropped off, according to Houston Police.
As Butler’s gray Honda Pilot drove into the parking lot around 1 a.m., police said he passed Mata’s black GMC, which was parked at one of the pumps. As Butler drove past, a woman got out of the GMC and began chasing his vehicle and attempting to open the back passenger door of the Honda, believing Mata’s daughter was inside, police said.
At the same time, Mata exited the GMC and fired his gun at the victim’s vehicle as it exited the parking lot, according to police.
Butler, police said, then attempted to drive away when he was struck by gunfire and crashed his vehicle into a pole in an adjacent parking lot. The suspects got back into their vehicle and drove northbound on the feeder road, authorities said.
Butler was taken to a local hospital by paramedics and was later pronounced dead, according to police.
Mata and Butler did not know each other, police said.
Mata turned himself into police on Wednesday and has been booked into the Harris County Jail.
In this undated file photo, Mount Baldy is shown in the San Gabriel Mountains in California. Matthew Micah Wright/Getty Images, FILE
(SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, Calif.) — A 19-year-old who fell while hiking on Southern California’s Mount Baldy and two others were found dead during the search and rescue effort for the teen, authorities said.
The recovery effort for the three deceased hikers is underway, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said on Tuesday.
Amid dangerous conditions, Mount Baldy is now closed until New Year’s Day to “protect natural resources and provide for public safety,” the sheriff’s department said Tuesday afternoon.
“The tragic loss of life on Mt. Baldy and repeated rescue responses highlight how dangerous current conditions are, even for experienced hikers,” San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said in a statement on the temporary closure of Mount Baldy. “Weather and terrain conditions remain extremely dangerous and unpredictable, posing a significant risk to both the public and Search and Rescue personnel.”
The search for the teen began midday Monday, when a search and rescue team responded to a request to rescue the hiker after he reportedly fell approximately 500 feet near the Devil’s Backbone trail, the sheriff’s department said.
A friend who was hiking with the teen “hiked to an area with cellular service and provided GPS coordinates to assist rescuers,” the sheriff’s department said in a press release.
During an aerial search, deputies found the teen as well as two unidentified individuals nearby, though the helicopter was unable to complete the rescue due to severe winds, authorities said.
Later Monday evening, an air medic who was hoisted down confirmed all three hikers were dead, authorities said. The helicopter was still unable to safely recover them at that time due to severe winds.
The recovery effort is still underway, the sheriff’s department said Tuesday.
The name of the teen has not been released. The two unidentified hikers found near him were in a separate group and were located by chance during the search for the teen, according to the sheriff’s department.
Mount Baldy is located in the San Gabriel Mountains, outside Los Angeles.
It will remain closed through 11:59 p.m. local time Wednesday, according to the sheriff’s department, which urged members of the public to comply with the order and avoid the area.
“The temporary closure of Mt. Baldy trails is necessary to prevent additional emergencies and protect lives,” Dicus said.
Those who violate the closure order could be fined up to $5,000 and/or imprisoned for up to six months, the sheriff’s department said.
ABC News’ Jenna Harrison contributed to this report.
Luigi Mangione appears for a suppression of evidence hearing in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan Criminal Court on December 18, 2025 in New York City. (Curtis Means-Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Luigi Mangione should stand trial in State Supreme Court in New York starting July 1, at least three months ahead of when the accused killer could stand trial in federal court, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said in a letter Wednesday.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges stemming from the assassination-style killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan in December 2024.
Federal judge Margaret Garnett said Mangione would stand trial in October if she eliminates the death penalty as a possible sentence, as the defense has sought. Otherwise, she said at a hearing last week, Mangione would stand trial in January. Either way, she set jury selection for Sept. 8.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office said there are “significant state interests” in putting Mangione on trial sooner.
“This heinous crime happened in midtown Manhattan, one of the busiest commercial areas in this County and spread fear and shock throughout Manhattan. New York State unquestionably has a deep interest in, upholding the fundamental right to life, maintaining public order, and delivering justice for a murder committed in its jurisdiction,” assistant district attorney Joel Seidemann wrote.
“Federal law supports our request that we proceed first and our right to a speedy resolution of this case would be severely compromised should the federal trial proceed first,” he said.
Judge Gregory Carro, the judge for the state case, is weighing a defense request to suppress evidence pulled from Mangione’s backpack, including the alleged murder weapon, a notebook and writings. After a three-week hearing, the judge said he would accept written submissions by March and issue a ruling in May.
The district attorney’s office told Carro the case is otherwise ready for trial.
“It is entirely natural then that the state case would proceed to trial prior to the federal case,” Seidemann’s letter said. “And, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York has said that it expects the State case to proceed to trial first.”
Mangione has been held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since his return to New York from Pennsylvania, where he was arrested at an Altoona McDonald’s following a five-day manhunt.
Defense attorneys have said police waited too long to read Mangione his rights and unlawfully searched his backpack without a warrant. Prosecutors have argued the Altoona police officers were justified in searching the bag because the search pertained to a lawful arrest.
The Transportation Security Administration building is seen on February 13, 2026, in Springfield, Virginia. The Department of Homeland Security is on the verge of a shutdown as lawmakers have been unable to reach an agreement on federal immigration enforcement funding ahead of Saturday. (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Transportation Security Administration officers received their first paychecks in more than a month on Monday, TSA workers told ABC News.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees TSA, told ABC News in a statement on Monday that most employees will receive at least two full paychecks for the past two pay periods.
DHS also said there might be slight delays in some receiving their paychecks due to “financial institution processing times or issues with their direct deposit.”
It remains unclear if TSA employees will receive any pay going forward and there have been reports of some not getting paid if they called out.
Payments came after President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Friday asking for DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to work with the Office of Management and Budget to use funds “that have a reasonable and logical nexus to TSA operations” to pay the agency’s workforce. The TSA employees will be paid through funds allocated by Trump’s sweeping domestic policy bill signed last summer, according to a senior administration official.
TSA employees have been required to work the entire 45 days of the partial shutdown, which began Feb. 14. TSA officers told ABC News that they missed bill payments and got second jobs to pay ends meet. Union representatives described to ABC News stories of officers having to pull their children out of day care and, in some cases, getting eviction notices because they can’t pay their rent.
“It was a partial pay with ample deductions taken out along with taxes,” Yolanda Keaton, a TSA officer at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, told ABC News on Monday. “We did not receive all of our backpay … A lot of officers paychecks are very very short and not everyone received their pay today.”
Addressing reports from some TSA officers about missing portions of their paychecks, Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement to ABC, “We are working aggressively with USDA’s [United States Department of Agriculture] National Finance Center to complete processing for the half paycheck they are owed from pay period 3 as soon as possible.”
According to a government website, the USDA helps to manage payroll for more than 590,000 federal employees.
It is unclear what legal authority Trump issued Friday’s order under, and the White House hasn’t responded to ABC News’ request for comment.
Speaking prior to Trump’s move, Paul Uecker, a TSA officer at Duluth International Airport and Vice President of Greater Minnesota American Federation of Government Employees Local 899, told ABC News about the hardship people at the agency have endured.
“I know of at least one officer at MSP (Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport) who quit because they were having eviction processes started against them,” Uecker said on Friday. “They needed to find a way to get some money so that they could hopefully avoid that.”
Federal employees experienced the longest full shutdown in the nation’s history — 43 days — last fall. TSA officers told ABC News that they had depleted their savings after the last shutdown and were not fully recovered when the partial shutdown began in February.
Senate Democrats vowed to block funding for DHS until reforms are made to Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by federal law enforcement.
The Senate came to a deal on Friday morning to fund DHS, excluding appropriations for immigration enforcement, but the House Republicans rejected it. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, said his party will instead push for a short-term bill to fund the entire department for 60 days.
The House passed the 60-day short-term bill, but the Senate didn’t. Congress is now on a two-week spring recess and will not return for a vote until April 13.
“I feel like they’re playing with our lives,” Oksana Kelly, a TSA officer at Orlando International Airport and mother of two, told ABC News on Thursday. “We all have children. We all have parents that, you know, people [to] take care of. It’s not just some random officers. It’s real people.”
Also speaking before Trump’s memo, Kelly and her husband Deron are both TSA officers who have been working without pay during the shutdown and said they have depleted their savings because of both shutdowns. Deron had to take a second job as a DoorDash driver, according to Kelly.
She was tearful when she described her inability to give their 7-year-old son the birthday party that he wanted at a trampoline park.
“This is probably the hardest thing I have to do,” Oksana Kelly told ABC News as she wiped away tears. “He’s like, ‘Is this something we’re doing?’ And we’re like, ‘Sorry buddy, you know this birthday is going to be at the community park because Mommy and Daddy can’t afford the trampoline park.'”
Trump deployed ICE agents to airports around the country last Monday to assist TSA officers with long lines at security checkpoints. Some officers told ABC News that the ICE personnel were not doing anything to address those lines because they aren’t trained in screening passengers and baggage. TSA officers get about six months of training to do their jobs, according to employees who spoke to ABC News.
“They’re outside the security area, watching as people are coming in, watching as people are coming out. We were told that they were supposed to be there to offer us assistance, and there’s been no assistance,” Maggie Sabatino, a TSA employee at Philadelphia International Airport, told ABC News on Wednesday. “Standing around and just watching, it’s not helping us. It’s putting us on edge, like we’re waiting for something to happen. We’re afraid of something happening.”
TSA saw the highest call-out rates of the shutdown on Thursday with more than 3,450 officers out, according to newly released numbers from TSA. George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston was the worst, with a callout rate of 44.4%. The second worst was Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where Keaton works.
Keaton, who is also a steward for AFGE Local 554, told ABC News last Monday about a colleague of hers who is a single mother.
“She has a child that she has to face every day. It’s hard for her to smile with her child when she doesn’t know where their next meal is going to come from,” Keaton told ABC News. “She doesn’t know if she’s going to keep her apartment because she’s had eviction notices.”
ABC News’ Sam Sweeney, Luke Barr, Emily Chang, Nicholas Kerr, John Parkinson, Isabella Murray and Jeana Fermi contributed to this report.
