Mississippi tornadoes leave more than a dozen injured and trail of destruction
Tornado ( Jeremy Woodhouse/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — At least three tornadoes hit Mississippi overnight with at least 17 injuries reported, officials said.
Some of the hardest-hit population centers in Mississippi are Purvis and Brookhaven, as well as a mobile home park in Bogue Chitto, authorities said. Baseball-sized hail was also reported in parts of the state as well as Alabama.
Flooding was also reported in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, especially in and around Montgomery, where the State Capitol Building was evacuated during a special session debate on redistricting.
A tornado watch is in effect until 10 a.m. ET on Thursday for the Florida Panhandle and southwest Georgia.
Mississippi has seen 62 tornadoes so far this year before Wednesday, all of them EF0 or EF1 strength.
As a cold front slowly sinks into the region, there is a chance that some storms could produce more damaging wind and tornadoes.
Over the next few days, widespread rounds of rain are expected to bring 1 to 4 inches throughout the South, which is dealing with a serious drought.
The National Weather Service Office in Jackson, Mississippi, will be conducting surveys on Thursday to confirm tornadoes along a major tornado path in Franklin, Lincoln and Lawrence counties as well as from Purvis to south of Hattiesburg, where there are several damage reports.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Friday announced plans to impose his global tariffs a different way after the Supreme Court struck down most of the levies as illegal — a decision he lambasted as “deeply disappointing.”
“We’re going forward,” Trump told reporters in the White House briefing room.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Footage newly obtained by ABC News appears to show the moment that the man suspected of opening fire at Brown University in December fled the Ivy League campus following the tragic incident. Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office
(PROVIDENCE, R.I.) — Body-worn camera footage from the chaotic scene on Dec. 13 at Brown University shows police clearing the Barus and Holley Building on campus following the deadly mass shooting on campus.
The heavily redacted footage, the police and fire reports, and 911 calls were released after numerous public records requests were made to the city in the days after the shooting.
The 20-minute video shows a police officer directing other officers to clear the building and telling people to get down. It also shows the moments just after the shooting, when police from the Providence Police Department and Rhode Island State Police rushed in.
“As of now, we have no idea who this person could be,” one officer says. They wouldn’t know until days later who the alleged shooter was.
The alleged killer, Claudio Neves Valente, opened fire on a study group at Brown’s engineering and physics building, killing two students and injuring nine others, before fatally shooting MIT professor Nuno Loureiro, at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, two days later, authorities said.
Neves Valente was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside a storage unit on Dec. 18, officials said.
Also in the new video released, authorities are searching the building when the call comes over the radio, “we have multiple victims.”
“Let’s get these rescues in,” the officer can be heard saying.
Ella Cook, of Alabama, a sophomore at Brown, and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, a U.S. dual citizen from Uzbekistan, who was in his first semester, were the two students killed during the shooting.
The police report mirrors the court records that were released after the suspect was found dead, but it also includes stark new details from when detectives showed the image of the shooter to two of the shooting victims.
“[Redacted] said she got a good look at the suspect. When provided with a photo of the suspect, [redacted] quickly froze, physically pushed back, and became emotional. She was observed to be tearing up and shaking. She then confirmed that the image showed the shooter,” the report said.
“Detectives then spoke with [redacted], who indicated that he was in close proximity to the shooter when he was shot. Detectives presented [redacted] with the same still image as [redacted] and a second close-up image of the suspect from the same camera source,” the report continued. “Upon observing these two photos, [redacted] took a deep breath, shut his eyes, changed his breathing pattern, and confirmed that the shooter he saw in the hallway appeared to be the person in the photos presented. Detectives met [redacted] with and presented him with the image of the suspect. [Redacted] also identified that the suspect in the images was the shooter.”
In another 911 call, an officer with the Brown University Police Department calls the Providence Police Department as chaos unfolds in the background.
“This is Brown University Police, we have confirmed gunshots at 184 Hope Street,” the officer says. In the background, you can hear a woman who is concerned about a victim reassuring them it’ll be OK.
Rep. Tony Gonzalez, R-TX, speaks during press conference of members of US Congress delegation on July 1, 2024 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Vitalii Nosach/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Text messages appear to show Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales pursuing a relationship with his former staffer, Regina Santos-Aviles — more than a year before she died by suicide.
The messages were provided to ABC News by Santos-Aviles’ widower.
In a series of texts from May of 2024, Gonzales, a married father of six, repeatedly requests “sexy” photos from Santos-Aviles. The aide seems initially hesitant, writing, “you don’t really want a hot picture of me.”
Gonzales continues, saying, “I’m just such a visual person” and “Sorry.”
He also appears to ask Santos-Aviles about her sexual preferences. Santos-Aviles replies to the request by saying, “This is going too far boss,” but appears to engage in flirtation, saying, “how long have you thought I was this hot?”
A final text dates from June of 2024 in which Santos-Aviles’ husband, Adrian Aviles, texts Gonzales and several staffers from Regina’s phone, telling them that he is filing for divorce due to the discovery of her messages with Gonzales, texting the group thread: “[S]he’s been having an affair on [him] with your boss Tony Gonzales.” The recipients of those texts include several current staffers, though ABC News has redacted their names and contact information.
The Gonzales campaign has not responded to ABC News’ requests for comment regarding the newly obtained text messages.
Gonzales has denied allegations he engaged in an extramarital affair with a congressional aide who died by suicide last fall — calling on the Uvalde police department to release its report on her death despite objections from her family.
Santos-Aviles, 35, died on Sept. 14, 2025, after she doused herself with an accelerant and set herself ablaze at her home in Uvalde, Texas, Bexar County officials determined.
Adrian Aviles’ lawyer Bobby Barrera told ABC News that his client did not share the text messages with congressional investigators, who are prepared to send a report to the House Ethics Committee as soon as next week.
ABC News has confirmed that Gonzales has been under investigation by the Office of Congressional Conduct, which has already completed its probe. Due to its rules, the OCC may not transmit a report against a member of Congress 60 days prior to an election. Gonzales is in a primary contest on March 3, so the report is expected to be transmitted to the House Ethics Committee the following day.
Last week, Gonzales told ABC News that “Ms. Santos-Aviles was a kind soul who devoted her life to making the community a better place.”
The controversy is now attracting the attention of Gonzales’ Republican colleagues. This afternoon, Colorado GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert called on Gonzales to resign. She was later joined by Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace of South Carolina. Texas Republican Brandon Gill and Florida Republican Anna Paulina Luna called on Gonzales to drop his bid for reelection.
When asked about their statements by reporters, House Speaker Mike Johnson said that he doesn’t think “it’s time to call for resignation” and that “you have to allow investigations to play out and all the facts to come out.” The Speaker currently has a one-vote majority.
