Talk of the Town
(BOULDER CREEK, Calif) — A 4.9 magnitude earthquake shook Northern California early Thursday morning, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
The epicenter struck at a depth of 10.9 km (6.77 miles) near Boulder Creek, California, approximately 65 miles southeast of San Francisco.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(LA PLATA, Md.) — An attorney for a quadruple amputee cornhole champion who has been charged with murder says the Maryland man acted in self-defense when he shot and killed his friend last month.
Dayton James Webber, 27, is accused of fatally shooting the victim during an argument in Webber’s vehicle on March 22 in La Plata, Maryland, according to the Charles County Sheriff’s Office.
The victim — 27-year-old Bradrick Michael Wells, who was sitting in the front seat of the car — was found dead in a yard in Charlotte Hall, Maryland, according to the sheriff’s office.
Webber was later located in a hospital in Virginia and taken into custody, authorities said. He has been charged with first- and second-degree murder, as well as assault and firearm charges. He has not yet entered a plea.
Following Webber’s extradition from Virginia, a judge ordered him held without bond during a hearing in Charles County on Wednesday. Prosecutors argued he was a danger to society and a flight risk, according to WJLA, the ABC affiliate for the Washington, D.C., area.
Two people who were in the back seat of the vehicle witnessed the deadly shooting, the sheriff’s office said. Deputy State’s Attorney Karen Piper Mitchell said Wednesday that, according to the witnesses, a friend of Wells’ allegedly stole a weapon from Webber, and Webber was upset the two were still friends and shot Wells in anger, WJLA reported.
Defense attorney Andrew Jezic claimed that Webber acted in self-defense.
“He was 100% justified in defending his life from an immediate lethal threat,” Jezic told reporters outside the courthouse on Wednesday. “Dayton was terrified of being killed. Dayton knew that he had to shoot or be killed.”
A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for May 6.
The two witnesses reported the shooting shortly before 10:30 p.m. on March 22, according to the Charles County Sheriff’s Office. Webber allegedly asked them for their help in disposing of the body, but they refused, got out of the car, left the scene and ultimately flagged down officers with the La Plata Police Department, authorities said.
Nearly two hours later, the victim’s body was found in a yard in Charlotte Hall, according to the Charles County Sheriff’s Office.
An officer with the Albemarle County Police Department subsequently located Webber’s vehicle at a gas station in Charlottesville, Virginia, authorities said. The suspect was then found at a nearby hospital seeking treatment for an unspecified medical issue and taken into custody, authorities said.
Webber is a notable professional cornhole player who was profiled by ESPN in 2023. He was crowned the best cornhole player in Maryland in 2020 and competed in the American Cornhole League World Championships the following year, according to ESPN.
Webber called cornhole his “calling” in the ESPN feature. He became a quadruple amputee after contracting a bacterial infection that led to sepsis at 10 months old, according to ESPN.
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(NEW YORK) — A federal judge in New York on Wednesday pushed back Luigi Mangione’s federal trial from September to October, giving an additional month’s separation between his state and federal trials.
U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett said the federal trial jury selection will begin Oct. 5, with the presentation of evidence beginning Oct. 26.
“Whether we like it or not, we are somewhat at the mercy of events in the state case,” Garnett said, noting Mangione’s state trial is scheduled for June 8.
“What is happening at 100 Centre [the state courthouse] inevitably affects how we structure things here so the defendant can get a fair trial,” Garnett said.
Garnett said she did not want to be “held hostage” by the state prosecution, but she said she had “some pause” about the “utility” of having potential jurors fill out questionnaires in the glare of the state trial.
“There’s really no way around taking into account the events in the state case involving the same defendant,” Garnett said.
Mangione, who was shackled at the ankles, wore a beige smock over a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He kept an arm casually propped on the back of his seat during the brief hearing.
The defense had asked for Mangione’s federal trial to be delayed to January 2027. Prosecutors objected to any rescheduling, arguing a delay prejudices the government.
Mangione is due back in federal court on June 5.
Mangione pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges after he was arrested for allegedly gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown Manhattan in December 2024.
Mangione, 27, faces the possibility of life in prison if he’s convicted in either case. Garnett previously threw out the federal charges that carry the possibility of the death penalty and the judge overseeing the state prosecution, Gregory Carro, previously tossed out an enhancement to the state murder charges that said Mangione’s alleged conduct amounted to terrorism.
Carro has said he would rule on the defense motions to exclude evidence by May 18.
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(NEW YORK) — Luigi Mangione is returning to federal court in Manhattan, where his attorneys will try to convince the judge to postpone his federal trial until next year.
On Wednesday, the defense will ask U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett to delay Mangione’s September 2026 trial until January 2027 so defense attorneys can ask the judge overseeing the state prosecution, Gregory Carro, to move the state trial from June 2026 to September 2026.
“As a result of these competing schedules, Mr. Mangione is now in the position of needing to prepare for two complicated and serious trials at the same time,” defense attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo said in a letter ahead of Wednesday’s hearing.
“Because Justice Carro scheduled the state trial for June 8, 2026, Mr. Mangione is now in the impossible position of having to review 800 jury questionnaires during the week of June 29, 2026, while on trial for second-degree murder in state court,” she said. “As a practical matter, this would not be possible.”
The defense also argued the effectiveness of Mangione’s defense would be diminished without the rescheduling.
“Though fierce advocates for their clients, defense counsel cannot be in two places at once,” Friedman Agnifilo said.
“Realistically, defense counsel cannot be defending Mr. Mangione in state court on second-degree murder charges that carry a maximum sentence of twenty-five years to life while, at the same time, also reviewing 800 questionnaires for a federal case that carries a maximum life sentence. Moreover, counsel will not be able to adequately prepare for the federal trial because they will be on trial in state court.”
Mangione pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges after he was arrested for allegedly gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown Manhattan in December 2024.
Federal prosecutors are opposed to delaying the trial.
“The concerns identified by the defense can be fully addressed through targeted modifications to the questionnaire process, rather than a wholesale continuance of the trial date in this case,” prosecutor Sean Buckley wrote.
Mangione, 27, faces the possibility of life in prison if he’s convicted in either case. Garnett previously threw out the federal charges that carry the possibility of the death penalty and Carro previously tossed out an enhancement to the state murder charges that said Mangione’s alleged conduct amounted to terrorism.
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(NEW HAMPSHIRE) — New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte and her security detail were among those who assisted in a fiery crash at a New Hampshire toll plaza on Tuesday — with a state trooper on her detail and two other bystanders helping pull the driver from the burning vehicle, according to state police.
The “dangerous” collision occurred at the Bedford Toll Plaza on the Everett Turnpike shortly before noon, according to New Hampshire State Police Director Col. Mark Hall.
The vehicle, a 2026 Lucid electric vehicle, “immediately became engulfed in flames,” Hall said during a press briefing on Tuesday.
The governor and her security detail came upon the accident just after the vehicle crashed into the toll plaza, Hall said. A New Hampshire state trooper assigned to her detail and two other bystanders helped pull the male driver — the lone occupant — out of the burning vehicle through the window, according to Hall.
Hall said he is not identifying the trooper due to the nature of the assignment.
“It is a veteran trooper, and certainly their actions were heroic in what they did — without hesitation, put themselves in danger to render aid to somebody that clearly was in need of it,” Hall said.
The governor and other witnesses also provided assistance at the scene, according to Hall.
“The governor did get out of the vehicle and tried to assist in any way that she could,” Hall said, adding he believed she tried to get a fire extinguisher from a vehicle to help put the fire out.
The driver was transported to an area hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Photos released by police showed the burning vehicle and firefighters at the scene.
The northbound lanes of the turnpike remain closed in the wake of the crash, and the New Hampshire Department of Transportation is assessing the damage to the toll plaza from the collision and fire, Hall said.
The crash remains under investigation.
ABC News has reached out to the governor’s office for comment and did not immediately receive a response.
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(WASHINGTON) — As federal investigators built a case against Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, they discovered emails they believed suggested that she was arranging young women to have sex with then Prince Andrew, according to a new review of documents released earlier this year by the Department of Justice.
A search warrant application signed just days before Maxwell’s 2020 arrest identified at least three instances when Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Maxwell appeared to discuss arrangements for young women, including ahead of his official state visit to Peru in 2002.
“As for girls well I leave that entirely to you,” said an email believed to have been sent by Mountbatten-Windsor to Maxwell in Feb. 2002, signed “Masses of love A”
In another email identified by the FBI, Mountbatten-Windsor asked Maxwell about helping him find “some new inappropriate friends,” according to the search warrant affidavit.
“I am up here at Balmoral Summer Camp for the Royal Family,” Mountbatten-Windsor wrote in August 2001. “Have you found me some new inappropriate friends?”
Months later ahead of his official visit to Peru, Maxwell shared with Mountbatten-Windsor an email in which she asked an acquaintance in Peru to help find him people who are “intelligent pretty fun” and can be “to be friendly and discreet.”
“Some sight seeing some 2 legged sight seeing (read intelligent pretty fun and from good families) and he will be very happy. I know I can rely on you to show him a wonderful time and that you will only introduce him to friends that you can trust and rely on to be friendly and discreet and fun,” Maxwell wrote in March 2002.
“Got it I will ring him today if I can. Love you A,” an email associated with Mountbatten-Windsor responded.
According to a search application released earlier this year by the Department of Justice, the FBI believed those emails showed Andrew and Maxwell “discussing her attempts to arrange for young females to engage in sex acts” with him. The messages were cited as part of an application to get a judge’s permission to search dozens of electronic devices seized from Epstein’s residences.
Neither the palace nor a representative for the former Prince Andrew responded to a request for comment from ABC News.
Mountbatten-Windsor has long denied any wrongdoing, and Maxwell — who was convicted on sex trafficking charges in 2021 — was never charged with arranging women for Mountbatten-Windsor. As part of that prosecution, investigators unsuccessfully sought to interview Mountbatten-Windsor in 2020.
“To date, Prince Andrew has provided zero cooperation,” former U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in January 2020.
The disclosure of the new documents come as police in the United Kingdom are renewing their scrutiny of Mountbatten-Windsor. In an interview with ABC News earlier this month, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said his office was seeking unredacted materials related to Epstein from the Department of Justice.
“There’s a whole range of suggested sexual allegations and those are being assessed at the moment to see whether any of them do actually merit a criminal investigation,” Rowley said.
ABC News’ Zoe Magee contributed to this report.
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(COMAL COUNTY, Texas) — A 15-year-old boy allegedly shot a teacher at his Texas high school before dying from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.
The teen used a .357 revolver he brought from home in Monday morning’s shooting at Hill Country College Preparatory High School in Comal County, about 30 miles north of San Antonio, the Comal County Sheriff’s Office said.
A injured teacher, a female, was taken to a San Antonio hospital in an unknown condition, the sheriff’s office said. She remains in the hospital on Tuesday, authorities said.
“The situation was contained very, very quickly,” and there’s no ongoing threat, the sheriff’s department said. The school was placed on lockdown and the approximately 250 students were evacuated to be reunited with their parents, authorities said.
While the motive remains under investigation, it appears the suspect “may have been experiencing academic challenges, including failing several classes,” the sheriff’s office said.
Electronic devices were taken from the teen’s home to try “to learn more about the student’s actions and possible motive,” the sheriff’s office said.
Hill Country College Preparatory High School is closed on Tuesday and counselors will be available to students, Principal Julie Wiley said.
“Our hearts are with everyone impacted, especially that teacher, their family, and our school community,” Wiley said in a statement. “We know this has been a difficult day. I want to personally thank our local law enforcement officers, amazing staff, and district administrators for their swift response, professionalism and care of our students.”
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(JUPITER ISLAND, Fla.) — Tiger Woods told authorities that he was looking down at his phone and changing the radio station and didn’t realize the truck in front of him had slowed down before his rollover crash in Jupiter Island, Florida, according to the probable cause affidavit.
No one was injured in the Friday afternoon crash, authorities said. The golfer was arrested and charged with driving under the influence with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test, according to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office.
Two hydrocodone pills were found in Woods’ pants pocket, the probable cause affidavit said.
Hydrocodone is a prescription medication intended to treat severe, chronic pain and common side effects include dizziness and drowsiness.
A deputy noticed that Woods was “sweating profusely” and his movement was “lethargic and slow,” the document said.
Woods was also “extremely alert and talkative” and had “hiccups during the entire investigation,” the document said.
When a deputy asked Woods to remove his sunglasses, it revealed the golfer’s “bloodshot and glassy” eyes and “extremely dilated” pupils, the probable cause affidavit said.
Woods told authorities he’d had no alcohol that day, the document said. Asked if he’d had any prescription medication, the golfer replied, “I take a few,” and he noted he took that medicine earlier in the morning, the document said.
Woods said he hadn’t consumed any illegal substances, the document said.
A deputy walked Woods through a series of field sobriety tests, and the deputy said, “I believed that Woods normal faculties were impaired, and he was unable to safely operate the motor vehicle,” according to the document.
Woods did tell the deputy he has “a limp and his ankle seizes while walking,” and the golfer noted that “he’s had seven back surgeries and over twenty operations on his leg,” the document said.
The accident unfolded when a truck pulling a small pressure-cleaning trailer was slowing to turn into a driveway, and Woods approached from behind at a high rate of speed, authorities said.
Woods tried to pass the truck but he clipped the back of the trailer, and the impact caused the golfer’s SUV to tip onto the driver’s side and slide along the road before coming to a stop, authorities said. Woods was able to get out of the car through the passenger side, authorities said.
The narrow, two-lane road has a 30 mph speed limit and little room for drivers to move aside, authorities said, noting that the accident could have been far more serious if there was oncoming traffic.
The breathalyzer showed no alcohol in his system, but Woods refused to take a urine test, which is used to detect drugs or medication, authorities said.
In 2021, Woods suffered serious injuries to his leg in a rollover crash in Los Angeles County, California. Authorities said the golfer was speeding when his car hit the center median, crossed into the opposite lane, hit a curb and a tree, and then rolled over several times. He showed no signs of impairment, authorities said.
ABC News’ Jason Volack contributed to this report.
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(WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich.) — The man armed with fireworks who rammed his truck into a West Bloomfield, Michigan, synagogue was carrying out “a Hezbollah-inspired act of terrorism purposely targeting the Jewish community and the largest Jewish temple in Michigan,” the FBI said.
Ayman Mohamad Ghazali was “motivated and inspired by Hezbollah’s militant ideology” for his March 12 attack at Temple Israel, Jennifer Runyan, special agent in charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office, said at a news conference on Monday.
Ghazali — who wanted to kill as many people as possible, Runyan said — died at the scene. Dozens of law enforcement officers were hurt in the incident but nobody inside the synagogue was injured, authorities said.
On March 9, three days before the attack, Ghazali, 41, started looking at web pages for local synagogues, Runyan said.
He tried to buy a gun from two different people. After they said no, he bought an AR-style rifle at a gun store, along with 10 rifle magazines and approximately 300 rounds of ammunition, she said.
Ghazali searched online for phrases including “largest gathering of Israelis in Michigan” and “Israelis near me,” and tried to delete his search history, Runyan said.
He also practiced using his gun at a shooting range and purchased more than $2,200 worth of fireworks, she said.
On March 11, he began adding photos to a Facebook photo album that he called “vengeance,” Runyan said. He posted images that included Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran who was killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes on Feb. 28, she said.
On March 12, the morning of the attack, Ghazali posted numerous photos of his deceased family members to Facebook, and he wrote online, “We will seek retribution for his sacred blood,” according to Runyan.
Ghazali’s two brothers and several other relatives were killed in an Israeli airstrike on March 5, a town official in Mashghara, Lebanon, told ABC News earlier this month.
On March 12, while sitting in the synagogue parking lot, Ghazali sent his sister “19 videos, photos and messages that reiterated his intent to commit a mass terrorist attack, as well as affirming his Hezbollah-inspired ideology,” Runyan said.
Ghazali also exchanged several short phone calls with his ex-wife shortly before the attack, Runyan said. The ex-wife called local police requesting a welfare check, she said.
On the afternoon of March 12, Ghazali plowed his truck into the synagogue and struck a security guard, authorities said. When Ghazali’s truck jammed in a hallway, he opened fire, authorities said, and security guards returned fire.
The synagogue became engulfed in fire. Runyan said Ghazali used approximately 35 gallons of gasoline.
Ghazali died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound during an exchange of gunfire with security guards, officials said.
Dozens of law enforcement officers were treated for smoke inhalation, authorities said, but nobody inside the synagogue was hurt, including all 140 students at the building’s preschool. The security guard hit by the suspect’s truck was expected to be OK, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said.
Runyan said she couldn’t say whether Ghazali was inspired by the strikes in Iran but did say he was “engaging in that ideology” before his relatives’ deaths. She said the FBI has not been able to verify if Ghazali — a U.S. citizen with no criminal history — was in Hezbollah.
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Jerome Gorgon said at Monday’s news conference, “Had this man lived, I’m convinced that my office would prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that he committed the federal crime of providing material support to Hezbollah.”
Ghazali “acted under Hezbollah’s direct and control,” Gorgon said. “Terrorist propaganda is designed to activate the so-called ‘lone wolf’ to act on behalf of the terrorist organization.”
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(AFFTON, Mo.) — Police in Missouri said the report of a 5-year-old girl who went missing after she was left unattended in a running vehicle that was then stolen was a “hoax” — and that two women involved are expected to face charges.
An Amber Alert had been issued for an “Aleise Dawson,” who had been reported taken shortly before 8 a.m. local time in Affton, Missouri, according to the St. Louis County Police Department.
The Amber Alert has since been canceled after detectives learned a child had never been abducted, police said Monday afternoon. The reporting party recanted their story “after an intense investigation,” according to the St. Louis County Police Department.
“While we are extremely grateful that there is no child in danger, we want to be very clear — we will use all available resources to ensure our community members, especially the most vulnerable among us, are safe,” the St. Louis County Police Department said in a statement.
St. Louis County Police Lt. Col. Jerry Lohr said the department is seeking charges for filing a false police report.
“It’s important to note the amount of time and resources and the allocation of our resources that go into something like this. We take this very, very seriously,” he said during a press briefing Monday afternoon.
The story “unraveled” as police began to ask more questions about the reported missing child, Lohr said.
According to Lohr, one of the women involved told police that she was taking care of her dead sister’s child, who had been left in her car that was then stolen. The woman’s roommate had a similar story, he said.
Once detectives began contacting other family members, “it became apparent that that was not the case,” he said.
Amid the search, the police department said it did not have a photograph of the child. The lack of photos, as well as any children’s clothing or sightings of the child by other people, were “indicators” that led police to believe there was no missing child, Lohr said.
There was, however, a stolen car, Lohr said. A motive remains under investigation as to why a child was falsely reported missing, he said.
“I don’t know if there was a sense of panic. I don’t know if the individual thought that they would get more response to the fact that their vehicle had been stolen,” Lohr said. “I can’t speak to the motivation of the individual.”
It was reported to police that the guardian had placed the child in the car, gone inside a residence to get something and “came back out and the car was gone,” St. Louis County Police Department spokesperson Vera Clay during a press briefing earlier Monday.
Officers responded to search for the reported missing child, and the vehicle was located several blocks away about two hours after the 911 call, according to Lohr.
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