Authorities warned of vehicle-ramming attack danger in US during holiday season
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(NEW ORLEANS, LA) — At least 10 people were killed and dozens injured after a man drove a pickup truck through a crowd celebrating New Year’s in New Orleans early Wednesday. The horrific attack came after authorities expressed concerns about vehicle-ramming during large outdoor events this holiday season.
In the weeks leading up to the holidays, federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies warned police around the country that low-tech vehicle-ramming was a key area of concern and that they needed to prepare.
On Dec. 6, the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and National Counterterrorism Center issued a joint intel bulletin warning law enforcement about the ongoing serious threat posed by lone offenders during the winter holiday season.
The bulletin noted that threat actors have “plotted and conducted attacks against holiday targets” in previous years, with likely targets including public places with “perceived lower levels of security” holding large gatherings or holiday events, and advised governments and law enforcement to “remain vigilant of these threats.”
“Lone offenders have historically used simple tactics, such as edged weapons, firearms, or vehicle ramming, due to their ease of access, ability to inflict mass casualties, and lack of required training,” the bulletin stated.
It cited a November 2021 vehicle-ramming attack that killed six people during a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, among recent incidents during the winter holiday.
In a Dec. 9 assessment for the Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration, federal and local agencies wrote that they “remain concerned about the use of vehicle ramming against high-profile outdoor events.”
“Vehicle ramming has become a recurring tactic employed by threat actors in the West, marked by a continued interest by (terrorists, extremists) and lone offenders in targeting crowded pedestrian areas,” they wrote.
In a Dec. 27 New Year’s Eve advisory issued in advance of the annual Las Vegas celebrations, officials noted: “Intentional mass-casualty incidents involving motor vehicles as weapons represent a growing trend in Western countries. This method has resulted in the highest casualty rates per incident within the fields of (intentional mass-casualty incidents).”
On Dec. 20, five people were killed and hundreds injured in a vehicle-ramming attack on a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, officials said. Police believe the suspect — a doctor from Saudi Arabia who has lived in Germany since 2006 — acted alone.
The motive was preliminarily believed to be linked to “dissatisfaction with the treatment of refugees from Saudi Arabia and how they’ve been treated in Germany,” the local prosecutor said.
A motive in the New Orleans incident remains under investigation. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell described it as a “terrorist attack” and the FBI said it was being investigated as an act of terror.
The suspect was killed after opening fire on law enforcement officers, sources said. Explosive devices discovered in and around the scene on Bourbon Street were apparently found to be viable, multiple law enforcement sources told ABC News.
Investigators are working to determine whether the suspect entered the country recently and whether he had a connection to ISIS, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
Officials are also probing whether the suspect acted alone or had help from others in planning and executing the attack, Jason Williams, the district attorney of Orleans Parrish, which includes New Orleans, told ABC News. An investigation is underway on whether barricades along Bourbon Street were still up at the time of the attack, he said.
Coming out of the pandemic, law enforcement and intelligence leaders have been sounding alarms about the threat environment and dangers the public is facing from unknown assailants looking to attack large public events.
The New Orleans attack marks the third year in a row that New Year’s events in the U.S. have been marred by violence.
In 2022, a man prosecutors said intended to carry out a jihadist attack with a machete-style knife injured police officers at an access point near the Times Square event in New York City.
In 2023, an SUV loaded with gas cans crashed in front of a theater in Rochester, New York, where a New Year’s concert was being let out. Three people were killed, in addition to the driver of the SUV.
(NEW YORK) — The tallest animal on Earth is in danger, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which has called for federal protections for giraffe species for the first time.
In the face of poaching, habitat loss and climate change, the agency proposes listing three subspecies of northern giraffes from west, central and east Africa as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
“Federal protections for giraffes will help protect a vulnerable species, foster biodiversity, support ecosystem health, combat wildlife trafficking, and promote sustainable economic practices,” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams said in a press release Wednesday.
“This action supports giraffe conservation while ensuring the United States does not contribute further to their decline,” Williams added.
The subspecies officials say need endangered designation include the West African, Kordofan and Nubian giraffes.
The populations of these subspecies of northern giraffes have declined approximately 77% since 1985, from 25,653 to 5,919 individuals, according to the agency, which notes, only 690 West African giraffes remain.
Additionally, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommends two subspecies of southern giraffes, Angolan and South African, be listed as threatened.
If the proposal is finalized, officials say the designation would reduce illegal hunting and trade of giraffes by requiring permits for import into the U.S. and increase funding for conservation and research efforts.
“Giraffes have been moving towards extinction for years, but their plight has gone largely unnoticed,” Danielle Kessler, U.S. Director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), said in a statement to ABC News.
The IFAW helped craft and submit the Endangered Species Act listing proposal.
Kessler said the decline in giraffe populations is known as the “silent extinction” with subspecies numbers plummeting dramatically by up to 40% over the last 30 years.
“Losing giraffes would be a devastating loss to Earth’s biodiversity,” Kessler said. “We hope that USFWS will move quickly to finalize this decision and safeguard the future of these species.”
This illustration shows the locations where ABC News tested abandoned oil and gas wells for leaks; ABC News
(WEST TEXAS, Texas) — Rancher Laura Briggs rises early to care for the livestock scattered across her homestead on the arid plains of West Texas. Briggs and her husband saved up for years to purchase the land and build their family’s dream home near the Pecos River.
“It was a lifestyle choice to raise our kids rurally in the hopes that they would appreciate nature and where their food comes from and hard work and the other side of life that’s not so easy,” Briggs, a mother of four, told ABC News. “It could have been so much better without the fight.”
The “fight” that Briggs says has come to dominate her life in recent years centers around the 30-plus abandoned oil and gas wells littered across her ranch and left to rot by their former operators. She knew the inactive wells were on the land when she bought it, but what she didn’t expect to find was that some were leaking and no one was taking responsibility for the cleanup.
“I thought the state regulated this stuff. I never thought that this would be allowed to go on,” Briggs said.
As a result, Briggs’ dream of a bucolic ranch life has instead been marred by animals found covered in oil, concerns for her groundwater and air quality, and even the looming threat of a random explosion.
“My biggest fear is that I have a catastrophe close to my house. We have some wells close to the house and we don’t know what’s going on underground,” she said.
More than 3.5 million abandoned oil and gas wells are littered across the United States and an estimated 14 million Americans live within a mile of one of the wells. Those that leak are known in West Texas as “zombie wells” and can contaminate groundwater and spew carcinogenic chemicals and potent greenhouse gases into the environment, according to the Department of the Interior. In some cases, the wells have been blamed for home explosions.
“These wells are a threat to people and livelihoods, and especially kids and older people and people with health problems,” said Adam Peltz, director and senior attorney of the energy program at the Environmental Defense Fund. “We need to go find them because they’re a problem, not just for the people who live nearby, but for everyone on the planet,” Peltz said.
Despite the potential risks, few abandoned wells are ever regularly checked for leaks. ABC News, after weeks of research and calls with multiple leading experts in the field, identified the datasets, technology and learned the recommended safety practices before fanning out across the nation with gas detectors to locate and test more than 70 abandoned wells for leaks.
ABC News partnered with six owned and affiliated stations as part of the reporting project: KABC, KAKE, KFSN, KMGH, KTRK, and WRTV.
The device used in the investigation can detect hundreds of combustible gases and whether a well is leaking while the test is being conducted, several leading experts confirmed. The device is unable to determine the exact gas type and full scope of any leak over time.
Studies have shown that leaking abandoned wells typically emit methane — a highly combustible and potent greenhouse gas. But they can also leak carcinogenic benzene, as well as hydrogen sulfide or H2S, an extremely deadly gas that can kill humans even during short exposures.
In all, 40 out of the 76 wells tested by ABC News across five states were leaking oil or combustible gas when they were tested. Leaking wells were discovered on Kansas farms, beside New York streams, near Colorado schools and along hiking trails just outside of Los Angeles. The team also looked for leaks in the Gulf of Mexico, where more than 14,000 offshore abandoned wells are located. During a boat ride into Trinity Bay, just outside of Houston, the team carefully tested 10 decaying offshore wells and found seven to be leaking combustible gas at the time.
Billions in Costs to Taxpayers
While abandoned wells have been documented in more than 26 states, no place has more decaying underground pipes than Texas. More than 600,000 of the pipes exist in the state and they are particularly common in the Permian Basin, a prolific oil producing region where Laura Briggs lives.
ABC News tested five of the abandoned wells closest to Briggs’ home and found two to be leaking oil and combustible gas at the time.
The wells’ latest operators declared bankruptcy years ago, making them what’s often called an “orphan well.” With no viable owner, it’s now left up to the state — and ultimately taxpayers — to pay to plug the abandoned wells, permanently sealing off the holes to stop potential contamination from leaks. Despite years of complaints, Briggs says only three of the 30-plus orphan wells on her land have been plugged by the Railroad Commission of Texas, the state agency responsible for regulating the oil and gas industry.
“They’ve been plugged because they leaked so bad, the Railroad Commission literally had to come out and do something,” Briggs said, arguing that the commission often waits until a well suffers a major blowout before committing to plugging the well. Briggs says one of the wells on her property has been leaking oil above ground for nearly 10 years, but the state has so far refused to plug it according to its priority level.
Texas has more than 8,500 documented “orphan” wells and more are added to the list every year. Texas Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright told KTRK in Houston that “we do not have the money” to plug all of Texas orphan wells but that the agency had “developed a very good system” to prioritize plugging operations for those that leak — adding the commission had plugged 730 wells in 2023.
Properly plugging a single abandoned orphan well can cost hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of taxpayer dollars in part because the bonds oil and gas companies are required to post before drilling a well are rarely enough to cover the actual cost of plugging it, leaving taxpayers to pick up the rest of the tab. There have been numerous attempts on both the state and federal level to pass laws raising the bonds required by companies to cover plugging costs, but few have passed as they repeatedly face strong opposition from industry trade groups.
“Industry associations will go to legislators and regulators and say you can’t raise these bond amounts. It’ll put us out of business. Don’t make any changes,” Peltz told ABC News.
“And the problem with that is, well, are we supposed to live with orphan wells? Then why is the public subsidizing this activity? The current arrangement isn’t working so we need to come up with something new,” Peltz said.
The American Petroleum Institute declined to be interviewed for this report and did not respond to written questions. The institute wrote in a statement to ABC News that “the proper sealing of oil and natural gas wells is paramount to ensure safety, sustainability, and environmental protection, and API and our member companies are committed to responsible development of our nation’s energy resources from start to finish.”
In 2021, Congress set aside an unprecedented $4.7 billion for plugging abandoned wells nationwide and the money has begun to flow to qualifying state agencies. However, an ABC News data analysis of multiple sources estimates that the cost of plugging most of the nation’s abandoned and unplugged wells could be more than $250 billion and current government funding will only cover plugging costs for about 6% of the nation’s wells.
‘This ground is dead forever’
Just a few miles from Briggs’ ranch lies one of the most notorious abandoned wells in the nation and a striking example of what can happen if a well is neglected for decades.
Formed by a leaking well that was drilled in the 1950s, the 60-acre Lake Boehmer can seem like a surreal mirage from a distance: its turquoise waters and salt crusted shores standing in stark contrast to the harsh desert plains it has been flooding with toxic water for decades. The well leaks up to 600 gallons a minute of water that contains arsenic, benzene, hydrogen sulfide and at times has even proven radioactive, according to studies by the local water district.
Even before coming within sight of the “lake,” a visitor is greeted by the potent stench of rotten eggs — a tell-tale sign of deadly hydrogen sulfide gas that ABC News detected during its visit.
According to state records, the leaking well that created Lake Boehmer was drilled looking for oil in 1951, but the operators later converted it into a water well before abandoning it. As a result, the Texas Railroad Commission has refused to plug it, claiming the responsibility — and hefty price tag — lies with the county water district. The water district argues only the Railroad Commission has the responsibility and the funds required. As the dispute plays out in court the well continues to leak and some worry it could eventually contaminate local aquifers – the underground rock or sediment that stores water.
“There’s bones all around here, because the birds come and there’s H2S in this water and eventually the gas kills ’em. And so this is where they come to die,” local rancher Schuyler Wight told ABC News.
Wight’s ranch borders Lake Boehmer and is home to more than 200 orphan wells — many of which are leaking. One abandoned well on his land that he showed ABC News had formed a toxic pool of produced water that stretched down nearby dirt roads. While there, ABC News also detected the presence of deadly H2S gas.
“This ground is dead forever,” Wight said while looking out over the site. “This ground will never grow anything on it.”
Shortly after ABC News visited the site, state authorities stopped the leak aboveground but Wight worries they haven’t done enough to protect his groundwater or to prevent another blowout from happening again.
The Wells Buried Beneath America’s Cities
Most abandoned wells are in rural areas like Wight’s, but a surprising number can be found buried beneath America’s cities. Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than in Los Angeles. Built atop one of the nation’s oldest and most productive oil fields, thousands of abandoned wells lie buried beneath the city’s development, their presence often only revealed by historic photographs and by those who know where to look.
In the working-class neighborhood of Vista Hermosa, fence posts lining an athletic field are actually methane vents designed to mitigate the risks of more than a dozen abandoned wells buried beneath the field. Three of the wells beneath the field remain unplugged and the vents are designed to discharge potentially harmful gases they can emit away from nearby school buildings into open areas.
“They’re actually a part of the fence. So they’re camouflaged a little bit,” lifelong resident Danny Luna told ABC News on a tour of the area. For years, Luna and Rosalinda Morales, another lifelong resident, have been advocating for authorities to plug the more than 800 documented abandoned wells located beneath their community — which they believe pose a serious public health threat.
“We have a lot of medical conditions here. We have people with autoimmune conditions, cancers,” Morales told ABC News. It is difficult to prove exactly what is causing residents’ health issues in the area, but studies show those living near oil and gas wells are more prone to such illnesses.
Brenda Valdivia says she has been dealing with illnesses she believes are tied to the area’s wells since she was 10 years old. As a child, Valdivia spent time at the home of a baby-sitter that was directly beside an active oil well. By age 10, she was “getting really sick. I had high fevers, rash on my face.” Eventually, she says doctors diagnosed her with lupus and told her it was likely caused by environmental factors after testing failed to show she was genetically predisposed to the disease. She suffered two strokes in one night and has spent most of her life in and out of hospitals.
“I’m still recovering. And I take it day by day,” she said.
Rosalinda Morales, an asthma survivor, grew up beside an active well that was later abandoned and says she spent her “whole life smelling rotten eggs.” For years, Morales’ next-door neighbor complained to authorities of a similar odor emanating from under his front steps. After nothing was done, he ultimately took a jackhammer to the steps and made a startling discovery — an oil well that was emitting potentially deadly H2S gas.
“Pretty scary, because that’s what we’re breathing here,” Morales said. That well, along with another across the street, was eventually plugged by state authorities after it was discovered, but hundreds in the area remain unplugged and mostly buried out of sight.
On the outskirts of the city, however, some of Los Angeles’ abandoned wells can still be seen up close. ABC News located and tested three abandoned wells found alongside a popular hiking trail in El Escorpion Park and found two to be leaking oil and/or combustible gas at the time. One of the wells maxed out ABC News’ gas detector with a reading of 10,000 parts per million.
The device ABC News used does not distinguish which combustible gas it detects and more prolonged testing is required to determine the exact size of the leak. But the New Jersey Department of Health says that exposure to anything over 2,000 parts per million of methane is “immediately dangerous to life and health.” CalGem, the state agency responsible for regulating the oil and gas industry in California, wrote to ABC News that the department “does not permit leaks at any level” from abandoned wells.
Inspection records show state authorities know that these wells have been leaking for years and, while they are on the state’s latest list for plugging, they are behind dozens of other wells deemed a higher priority for plugging by the agency.
CalGem, the state agency responsible for regulating the oil and gas industry, wrote to ABC News that they are currently working through a list of 378 wells for plugging and that the wells we tested in El Escorpion Park are a “top priority” and “will be plugged and sealed soon to protect the environment and ensure public safety.”
Still, for residents living near the abandoned wells, plugging them cannot come soon enough.
“The solution is to make enough noise that maybe we’ll get some of this stuff fixed,” Wight told ABC News.
ABC News’ Timmy Truong, Kate Holland and Alex Myers contributed to this report.
(GATESVILLE, Tx.) — The family of Melissa Lucio, a death row inmate whose execution was delayed in 2022, expressed hope that the Texas woman would be freed after a judge concluded last month that Lucio is “actually innocent” after she was convicted of capital murder in 2008 for the death of her 2-year-old daughter.
“This is the best news we could get going into the holidays,” said her son, John Lucio, and daughter-in-law Michelle Lucio in a statement released by the Innocence Project.
“We pray our mother will be home soon,” the Lucios added, joined by Lucio’s son, Bobby Alvarez.
In a 62-page ruling that was signed on Oct. 16, 2024, and reviewed by ABC News, Senior State District Judge Arturo Nelson recommended that Lucio’s conviction and death sentence be overturned in the 2007 death of her daughter Mariah.
The judge found that prosecutors suppressed evidence and testimony – including statements from Lucio’s other children – that could support the argument that Lucio was not abusive and that her daughter’s death was accidental after a fall down the stairs.
“This Court finds (Lucio) has satisfied her burden and produced clear and convincing evidence that she is actually innocent of the offense of capital murder,” Nelson wrote in the ruling.
“(T)his Court concludes there is clear and convincing evidence that no rational juror could convict Applicant of capital murder or any lesser included offense,” Nelson added.
The judge’s recommendation was sent to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for review. ABC News reached out to the court for updates in the case.
“Melissa Lucio lived every parent’s nightmare when she lost her daughter after a tragic accident,” Vanessa Potkin, director of special litigation at the Innocence Project, and one of Lucio’s attorneys, said in a statement on Thursday.
“It became a nightmare from which she couldn’t wake up when she was sent to death row for a crime that never happened. After 16 years on death row, it’s time for the nightmare to end. Melissa should be home right now with her children and grandchildren.”
Lucio has maintained her innocence over the years.
ABC News reached out to the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted this case, but a request for comment was not immediately returned.
Lucio’s story gained national attention through filmmaker Sabrina Van Tassel’s 2020 Netflix documentary, “Melissa vs. the State of Texas,” a documentary that follows Lucio’s journey on death row as she filed her last appeal.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers backed the calls to free the Texas woman and her case was further bolstered by celebrities who called for her freedom, like Kim Kardashian and Helen Prejean, the Catholic nun who wrote the book “Dead Man Walking.”
Abraham Bonowitz, coordinator of the #FreeMelissaLucio Campaign and executive director of Death Penalty Action, told ABC News in a statement on Thursday that Lucio credits the film with bringing attention to her case.
“Melissa Lucio was once two days from execution. It took a film viewed by millions and a massive public relations campaign just to halt her execution and get the courts to order a fresh look at the evidence,” Bonowitz said.
“If it were not for the film that was created, there would never have been enough pressure to stop the execution, which should concern us all — that if you don’t have a film and you don’t have a big campaign, then you can’t be heard,” Bonowitz added in a phone interview on Monday with ABC News.
Amid growing calls for the court to review her case in 2022, Lucio was granted a stay of her scheduled April 27, 2022, execution by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on April 25, 2022 – after nearly 15 years on death row.
“I thank God for my life,” Lucio said in an April 2022 statement reacting to the stay. “I am grateful the Court has given me the chance to live and prove my innocence. Mariah is in my heart today and always. I am grateful to have more days to be a mother to my children and a grandmother to my grandchildren.”
