At least 1 dead, multiple people injured as severe weather hits Kentucky: Sheriff
ABC News
(WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ky) — At least one person is dead and multiple people have been injured as severe weather swept through Kentucky on Friday, authorities said.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office reported a fatality and multiple injuries, with “severe damage” throughout the county.
A possible tornado was reported in Washington County on Friday, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said on social media, adding that the “level of severe weather was unexpected.”
“We also expect to see additional storms today with Eastern and Southeastern Kentucky facing a risk of more severe weather. Please be alert this morning and stay safe,” Beshear added.
Severe storms are possible from the Southeast to the Mid-Atlantic on Friday, with damaging winds, large hail and tornadoes possible.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(BROOKLYN PARK, Minn.) — A break-in has been reported at the home of slain Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman, authorities said.
After the Saturday morning killings, the house was processed by crime scene investigators and then was boarded up early Sunday, Brooklyn Park police said. On Tuesday, Hortman family members took their valuables from the house, police said.
At 8 a.m. Wednesday police said they were alerted to an overnight break-in. They discovered the plywood covering the back window was pried off and the window was broken, police said.
“The home was once again processed by crime scene investigators for evidence of the burglary,” police said. “The home appeared to have been searched by an unknown individual; however, the family has indicated that they don’t believe anything is missing.”
The police department is asking local residents to check their surveillance cameras and call the police with any information.
Vance Boelter is accused of killing Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, at their home in Brooklyn Park and wounding Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their house in nearby Champlin early Saturday morning, authorities said.
Boelter allegedly showed up to their doors impersonating a police officer and wearing a realistic-looking latex mask, officials said, noting that two other lawmakers were spared the night of the shootings.
He allegedly “stalked his victims like prey,” acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota Joseph Thompson said.
In a search of a home in north Minneapolis tied to Boelter, authorities seized a list of public officials that had a notation under Melissa Hortman’s name reading, “married Mark 2 children 11th term,” according to the affidavit. Another notebook included an added notation next to Melissa Hortman’s name reading, “Big house off golf course 2 ways in to watch from one spot,” the affidavit said.
Boelter allegedly had a list of 45 elected officials in notebooks in his car, prosecutors said.
Boelter faces federal charges including stalking and firearms charges and state charges including first-degree murder, officials said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
A protester holds a photo of Kilmar Abrego Garcia/Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who is back in the U.S. after being mistakenly deported to his native El Salvador, is set to appear in court in Tennessee on Wednesday for a hearing to address the conditions of his release after a magistrate judge ordered that he should not be detained while he awaits a federal trial on human smuggling charges.
However, he is not expected to go free because U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will likely take him into custody.
On Sunday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes acknowledged that determining whether Abrego Garcia should be released is “little more than an academic exercise” because ICE will likely detain him due to an immigration detainer the government has on him.
Yet the judge said the government failed to prove there is a “serious risk” that Abrego Garcia will flee or that he will obstruct justice in his criminal case.
Abrego Garcia has been the subject of a prolonged legal battle since he was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison — despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution — after the Trump administration claimed the undocumented immigrant was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which his family and attorneys deny.
The Trump administration, after arguing for nearly two months that it was unable to bring him back, returned him to the U.S. earlier this month to face charges of allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the U.S. while he was living in Maryland. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
In her 51-page ruling, Judge Holmes raised questions about some of the evidence the government presented during a June 13 hearing — much of which she said consisted of “general statements, all double hearsay from two cooperating witnesses.”
Statements from the two witnesses about Abrego Garcia’s alleged MS-13 membership contradicted each other, Holmes said. One cooperating witness, according to the special agent who testified during the hearing, said that the Salvadoran “may belong to MS-13.” But a second witness, according to the special agent, said that in ten years of acquaintance with Abrego Garcia, there were no signs or markings, including tattoos, indicating that he is a member of MS-13.
“Even without discounting the weight of the testimony of the first and second male cooperators for the multiple layers of hearsay, their testimony and statements defy common sense,” Holmes said.
“The government alleges that Abrego is a longtime, well-known member of MS-13, which the Court would expect to be reflected in a criminal history, perhaps even of the kind of violent crimes and other criminal activity the government describes as typically associated with MS-13 gang membership,” Holmes said. “But Abrego has no reported criminal history of any kind.”
Statements from the cooperating witnesses introduced during the June 13 hearing accused Abrego Garcia of trafficking drugs and firearms and of abusing women and minors that he allegedly transported.
(NEW ORLEANS) — The girlfriend of one of the two remaining inmates who broke out of a New Orleans jail last month has been arrested for allegedly helping in his escape, officials said Monday.
Derrick Groves is among 10 inmates who escaped from the Orleans Justice Center on May 16, according to Louisiana State Police. Eight of the inmates have since been captured, but Groves and another inmate — Antoine Massey — remain on the run, police said.
Over a dozen people have been arrested on suspicion of helping the escapees, including another inmate in the jail and a jail maintenance worker who is accused of shutting off water to the toilet, allowing escapees to remove it.
Most recently, Darriana Burton, 28, of New Orleans, was arrested on Monday for allegedly helping Groves escape, the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office announced.
Burton is a former Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office correctional employee, according to the office, which described her and Groves as having an on-again, off-again relationship for three years.
She allegedly had an “active involvement in the planning phase of the escape,” according to the affidavit for her arrest warrant, including relaying “escape-related information” and coordinating communications between Groves and people outside the jail.
Two days before the escape, Groves and Burton had a FaceTime video call via the facility’s iPads during which Burton “was observed holding a secondary device in front of the camera” that displayed an unknown man in a separate FaceTime call, according to the affidavit.
“This conversation remained intentionally vague, as Groves, Burton and the unknown male appeared to recognize the call was being recorded,” the affidavit stated, noting that it was implied that Burton and the unknown man would have a separate, unmonitored call to allegedly discuss details of the escape.”
Shortly after the initial video call, the three were present on another call during which the unknown man “advised against the escape, calling it a ‘bad move’ and warning that it would trigger a ‘manhunt,'” the affidavit stated.
“This exchange confirmed that Burton had already disclosed the escape plan to the outside contact, actively soliciting his involvement,” the affidavit stated. “It further demonstrates her direct role in facilitating communication and supporting the coordination of Groves’ escape.
Burton has been transported to the Plaquemines Parish Jail and faces a felony charge of conspiracy to commit simple escape, officials said.
“We will continue to pursue anyone and everyone who has aided and abetted these criminals. We will find you, arrest you, and prosecute you to the full extent of the law,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement. “We will arrest all aiders and abettors, and we will eventually get Antoine Massey and Derrick Groves back to prison where they belong.”
Burton was employed at the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office from August 2022 until her termination in March 2023, the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office said. She was arrested and charged for allegedly bringing contraband into the jail and “malfeasance in office,” though the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office refused the charges, according to the state attorney general’s office.
The reward for the arrest of Groves and Massey increased to $50,000, authorities announced late last month, as police said they believe they are closing in on the “dangerous” fugitives.
Groves was convicted last year of two counts of second-degree murder in a 2018 Mardi Gras Day shooting and faces a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, prosecutors said. Unrelated to that case, he also subsequently pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter, online court records show.
