Burbank police caption: Sergio Fraire has been arrested and booked for murder and attempted murder in Burbank, California, according to police. (Burbank PD)
(BURBANK, Calif.) — A man is in custody for allegedly stabbing a woman to death and stabbing and wounding her daughter, according to authorities in Los Angeles County, California.
Officers responded around 6 a.m. Monday, to a house in Burbank where they found two women suffering from stab wounds, Burbank police said.
The mother, 59-year-old Arti Varma, who taught first-grade in Burbank, died at the hospital, police said.
Her 25-year-old daughter was hospitalized in stable condition, police said. Authorities did not release the daughter’s name, but a neighbor identified her as Meera Varma, a nationally recognized mental health activist, according to Los Angeles ABC station KABC.
Detectives identified 30-year-old Sergio Fraire as a person of interest, and on Monday night, officers served a search warrant at a Burbank home where he was believed to be staying, police said.
Fraire was apprehended and arrested for murder and attempted murder, police said.
“The relationship, if any, between the suspect and the victims remains under investigation, as does the motive,” police said in a statement on Tuesday.
Authorities noted that “evidence related to the crime was recovered,” but they did not elaborate on the potential evidence.
The Department of Justice logo is displayed on May 6, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Southern Poverty Law Center is facing an investigation and potential criminal charges by the Justice Department, apparently stemming from its past use of paid informants, the organization’s interim CEO said in a statement Tuesday.
A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
“For 55 years, the Southern Poverty Law Center has stood as a beacon of hope fighting white supremacy and various forms of injustice to create a multi-racial democracy where we can all live and thrive,” SPLC interim CEO Bryan Fair said in the statement.
“We are therefore unsurprised to be the latest organization targeted by this administration. They have made no secret of who they want to protect and who they want to destroy,” the statement said.
Fair did not elaborate in the statement on how the SPLC was alerted to the DOJ inquiry, though he said, “the focus appears to be on the SPLC’s prior use of paid confidential informants to gather credible intelligence on extremely violent groups.”
Fair, in the statement, outlined the organization’s history in explaining why the SPLC for years used informants to infiltrate far-right and domestic extremist groups, and denied any criminal wrongdoing on the part of the SPLC.
He also sought to frame the criminal inquiry as a continuation of the Trump Justice Department’s efforts to crack down on groups opposed to the administration’s policies.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Members of the Johnson family attend a candlelight vigil, April 19, 2026, in Shreveport, Louisiana, for eight children were killed and two women were wounded during a domestic violence incident. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
(SHREVEPORT, La.) — As an investigation continued into the motive of Sunday’s fatal shootings of eight children in Shreveport, Louisiana, allegedly by the father of seven of the victims, police officials released a timeline detailing the 68-minute massacre.
“April 19 … will be written in the pages of history as one of the worst days that could have ever happened here in Shreveport,” Chief Wayne Smith of the Shreveport Police Department said at a news conference on Monday.
Smith said the suspect, Shamar Elkins, a former member of the Louisiana Army National Guard, allegedly used an assault-style pistol to kill seven of his children and an eighth child related to him. A teenage boy was also injured when he jumped off the roof of a house to escape the shooting, police said.
While Elkins died after police opened fire on him following a car chase, Smith said it remains unclear whether he was shot to death or died by suicide.
Smith said domestic violence is believed to be the primary motive behind the killings. The chief said two women, including the mother of seven of the children who were killed, were wounded in the incident and remain hospitalized.
He said investigators are probing five different crime scenes connected to the shootings.
Police said the children killed, siblings and one cousin, ranged in age from 3 to 11. The victims, according to the Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office, were identified by their mothers as Jayla Elkins, 3; Shayla Elkins, 5; Kayla Pugh, 6; Layla Pugh, 7; Markaydon Pugh, 10; Sariahh Snow, 11; Khedarrion Snow, 6; and Braylon Snow, 5.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry announced on Monday that the Love One Louisiana Foundation, a nonprofit founded by his wife, Sharon, will pay all expenses for the children’s funerals, according to ABC affiliate station KTSB.
“Both she and I recognize no amount of money or act of charity can repair the pain, but [what] we can lean on is that this act of charity can stand as a beacon of faith and belief that good things still happen in this world,” Gov. Landry said during a visit to Shreveport.
Timeline of the deadly rampage During Monday’s press conference, Smith went over a timeline of the deadly attacks that occurred before sunrise on Sunday:
5:55 a.m. — Shreveport Police received the first call regarding a disturbance at a residence on W. 79th Street in the Ceder Grove neighborhood of South Shreveport. The caller stated that they were on top of the house while the suspect was inside, and a male had been shot.
5:58 a.m. — A police dispatcher received an additional call from the same 911 caller, indicating the suspect was a relative of the caller.
5:59 a.m. — A dispatcher was advised by the caller that approximately nine individuals resided at the W. 79th Street location. The caller stated that the suspect, Elkins, had shot everyone inside the home.
6 a.m. — The caller advised the dispatcher that she and her children fled the W. 79th Street house onto the roof and that they were in the backyard.
6:01 a.m. — Shreveport officers arrived at the W. 79th Street residence.
6:03 a.m. — Officers made contact with the 911 caller at the West 79th Street residence.
6:05 a.m. — Officers requested the Shreveport Fire Department stage at a location near the West 79th Street home, close to Linwood Avenue.
6:07 a.m. — A second 911 caller reported a shooting at a home on Harrison Street in Shreveport. The caller stated that her boyfriend shot her and fled the scene with her three children.
6:08 a.m.– The second caller identified the suspect who shot her and took her children as Elkins.
6:10 a.m. — A police dispatcher links the Harrison Street shooting with the shooting on West 79th Street and determines that they were related.
6:15 a.m. — Officers received information that the suspect had carjacked a red Kia Sportage at West 79th Street near Linwood Avenue.
6:17 a.m. — Shreveport police traffic units out on random patrol observed the carjacked Kia heading southbound on Interstate 49.
6:18 a.m. — Officer radioed in that they were chasing the stolen car over a bridge in crossing the Red River into Bossier City.
6:20 a.m. — Officers involved in the chase reported that the children taken from the Harrison Street residence may be inside the fleeing vehicle.
6:23 a.m. — Officers advised dispatch that they were exiting the interstate near the Swan Lake area of Bossier City.
6:25 a.m. — Officers back in Shreveport find the victim injured in the Harrison Street shooting.
6:29 a.m. — Officers report and exchange of gunfire with the suspect on Brompton Lane in Bossier City.
6:40 a.m. — Police officers advised a dispatcher that the suspect vehicle was empty and no children were located inside. Chief Smith did not say during Monday’s news conference what happened to the children taken from the Harrison Street residence.
6:43 a.m. — Officers in Shreveport cleared the West 79th Street home and found multiple deceased victims.
7:03 a.m. — The suspect, Elkins, is pronounced dead at the scene on Brompton Lane in Bossier City.
(NEW YORK) — Apple CEO Tim Cook is stepping down, with the company announcing on Monday that John Ternus will take his place as the head of the technology giant.
Cook will become the executive chairman of Apple’s board of directors, the company said. Ternus will officially become CEO on Sept. 1.
“It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be the CEO of Apple and to have been trusted to lead such an extraordinary company,” Cook said in a statement on Monday.
“John Ternus has the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity and with honor. He is a visionary whose contributions to Apple over 25 years are already too numerous to count, and he is without question the right person to lead Apple into the future,” Cook added.
Cook has served as Apple’s CEO since 2011.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Voters cast ballots at the polls inside Central United Methodist Church on November 5, 2024 in Detroit, Michigan. (Sarah Rice/Getty Images)
(WAYNE COUNTY, Mich.) — The Justice Department has demanded 2024 federal election ballots and records from Wayne County, Michigan, according to a letter posted online by state officials early Monday morning.
The letter, from Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, references three voter fraud convictions from the 2020 election and a civil case alleging fraud that was dismissed in 2020.
“Based on this history of fraud convictions and other allegations concerning the election procedures in Wayne County and, for the purpose of ensuring that the foregoing federal election laws were not violated in the November 2024 federal election, we are requesting that you produce the following election-related records from that election: all ballots (including absentee and provisional), ballot receipts, and ballot envelopes,” the DOJ letter said.
State officials said the letter is a continuation of President Donald Trump’s efforts to interfere with the election process, following his recent executive order regarding mail-in voting and the FBI’s seizure of 2020 election ballots in Fulton County, Georgia.
“Once again, President Trump is weaponizing the Justice Department in an attempt to sabotage our democratic process and turn it into his own personal agency to interfere in state elections. This request is as absurd as it is baseless,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement. “Successful convictions underline that Michigan’s safeguards work and that instances of voter fraud are rare and addressed.”
“Using these prosecutions and recycling debunked 2020 election conspiracy theories as justification to demand copies of the ballots of Michigan residents is a clear attempt to bully clerks and spread fear, even after Donald Trump won Michigan in 2024. If this administration wants to bring this circus to our state, my office is prepared to protect the people’s right to vote,” Nessel said.
Michigan state officials also say that none of the examples provided in the letter were from the 2024 election cycle.
Representatives from the Justice Department and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
FBI agents in January removed 700 boxes containing ballots and other materials associated with the 2020 election from a Fulton County election site after obtaining a search warrant based on unproven claims of widespread voting irregularities.
Trump has long criticized the outcome of the 2020 election, personally pushing to overturn the results after his loss and later being indicted in two criminal cases over his actions. Those cases have since been dismissed, and Trump has continued to push for criminal accountability for what he baselessly alleged was a stolen election.
Stock image of police lights. (Douglas Sacha/Getty Images)
(WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.) — Multiple people were shot, including two fatally, after a “planned fight” between two juveniles at a North Carolina park escalated and several people opened fire, authorities said.
Gunfire broke out at Leinbach Park in Winston-Salem on Monday morning, according to police.
“This stemmed from a planned fight between two young individuals,” the Winston-Salem Police Department said.
The two met shortly before 10 a.m., when the “situation escalated significantly, leading to multiple people exchanging gunfire,” the police department said.
Two people are dead, according to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.
Winston-Salem police said they have not confirmed the total number of victims and suspects are “still outstanding.”
The incident was isolated and remains under investigation, police said.
Leinbach Park, which is located near a middle school, remains closed, police said. Students at the school were safe, police said.
Freeze alerts from Iowa to Connecticut on Monday morning, April 20, 2026. (ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — Don’t put away those winter coats just yet.
Summer-like temperatures will give way to chilly weather across the Northeast beginning on Monday as residents in the Midwest and Plains clean up after a spell of severe weather that spawned multiple tornadoes.
Morning temperatures are forecast to be near 40 degrees along the I-95 corridor from Washington, D.C., to New York Monday and into Tuesday, just days after 90-degree weather enveloped much of the East.
It may be even colder from Chicago to Boston, where morning temperatures are expected to dip into the mid-30s on Tuesday, with some morning frost possible.
In parts of the Midwest from Minneapolis to Detroit, temperatures could fall to below freezing.
Just days after temperatures soared into the 90s, setting daily high temperature records in Washington, D.C., New York and Philadelphia, the weather is expected to turn significantly cooler to start the workweek.
Some places in the Northeast could also approach record low temperatures. Come Tuesday morning, places like Trenton, N.J., Scranton, Pa., Syracuse, N.Y., and Manchester, N.H., will likely see temperatures fall to below freezing and could break or tie their respective record low temperatures for the day.
The cold snap will be short-lived, as temperatures return to a more spring-like feel by Wednesday across the East, with summer-like weather returning by Thursday and Friday.
Meanwhile, the Midwest and Plains were cleaning up from days of severe weather that saw numerous tornadoes develop, some causing damage across Minnesota and Michigan.
The National Weather Service has preliminarily confirmed 50 tornadoes between April 12 and April 17 across 12 states, most of them in Illinois and Wisconsin. However, tornadoes were also confirmed during that time frame as far west as California and as far east as Vermont, according to the NWS.
At least 15 tornadoes were confirmed by the NWS in Illinois, 10 in Wisconsin, seven in Oklahoma and five in both Missouri and Iowa. Michigan and Kansas both had two tornadoes confirmed by the NWS.
The cold front that caused the severe weather late last week is continuing to move east into the Northeast on Sunday, bringing rain and even high-elevation snow showers to parts of the region before pushing off the coast later in the day.
(NEW YORK) — The severe weather threat is expected to ramp down this weekend after one more day of possible severe storms.
There is a slight risk for severe storms in Ohio, West Virginia, western Pennsylvania and western New York. This includes Buffalo, New York; Cleveland; Pittsburgh; and Charleston, West Virginia.
Damaging winds and some large hail will be the main threat, but a tornado and some isolated flash flooding cannot be ruled out.
Remnant showers and storms moved along a cold front sweeping the Ohio Valley Saturday morning before rejuvenating later in the afternoon.
The level of severity of these storms will be determined by how the atmosphere recovers after preceding rain moving through Saturday morning, but enough energy could build up by late Saturday afternoon for some severe storms to develop over the area. Otherwise, it may just end up being added rain with possibly some rumbles of thunder.
This cold front will continue to push east into the Northeast on Sunday, bringing rain, and some high elevation snow, to the region before pushing off the coast.
Ahead of this cold front, the Southeast has had another day or record heat while the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic begin to cool down.
Saturday could see one more day of record highs across much of the South from Louisiana to Florida to Georgia.
The National Weather Service confirmed at least 35 tornadoes across 10 states this week, stretching from California to Vermont.
Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois have been hit the hardest by multiple outbreaks of severe weather over the week.
Friday was no exception to this active week of severe weather, with more than 300 reports of severe weather from Oklahoma up to Minnesota and east to Indiana.
Wind gusts over 75 mph were also reported in Missouri, Iowa and Illinois. Hail larger than baseballs were reported in Illinois and Oklahoma. Oklahoma, Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin reported hail greater than golf balls.
In addition, flooding continues to linger for parts of Wisconsin and Michigan from days of rain and, in some areas, on top of a deep snowpack that’s accelerated snowmelt. Fortunately, they have drier weather in the forecast for this weekend into next week.
The newly elected Pontiff, Pope Leo XIV is seen for the first time from the Vatican balcony on May 8, 2025 in Vatican City, Vatican. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Pope Leo addressed President Donald Trump on Saturday while aboard the papal plane on his trip to Angola.
The pope said recent remarks that appeared to address the U.S. president were prepared two weeks ago, before Trump had commented on him.
“Yet as it happens, it was looked at as if I was trying to debate, again, the president, which is not my interest at all,” he said.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks at a press conference joined by members of his prosecution team as he comments on the outcome in the retrial of former film producer Harvey Weinstein on June 12, 2025, in New York City. (Photo by Yuki Iwamura-Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Meta, the parent company of Facebook and WhatsApp, has pledged to remove imposter accounts tied to scams that were recently flagged by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, following a phone call between the two parties this week, the DA’s office told ABC News Friday.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg last week accused Meta of failing to remove imposter accounts that Bragg said pose as organizations like Catholic Charities to offer fake immigration services that scam money from unsuspecting victims.
“These imposter accounts have led to tens of thousands of dollars of fraudulent transfers,” Bragg said in a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg demanding the company take action after requests to remove false profiles were declined.
“Scammers frequently target immigrant populations because they are perceived to be, and often are, more vulnerable to fraud and in need of a specific type of legal assistance,” Bragg wrote.
In some instances, scammers create public Facebook accounts that mirror real accounts belonging to pro bono legal services organizations, Bragg said. In others, they create WhatsApp profiles posing as immigration lawyers associated with those same organizations, frequently using the names and logos of legitimate organizations to give the appearance of credibility.
“Your company has made representations about the importance of the safety and security of your platform for its users,” Bragg’s letter to Zuckerberg said. “If you sincerely wish to protect the safety of your users from fraud, we urge you to take necessary, proactive steps.”
In a statement issued in response to Bragg’s letter, a Meta spokesperson said, “Account impersonation violates our policies, and we take action against people and groups that attempt to misuse our platforms. We’re committed to engaging constructively with all levels of government, law enforcement and cross-sector partners to tackle this industry-wide challenge.”
Bragg is the latest prosecutor to go public with criticism of Meta for failing to protect the public from criminals lurking on its social media platforms. New Mexico recently won a $375 million civil case that held Meta liable for failing to police its sites for child predators, and a jury in Los Angeles found Meta, along with Google, liable for a 20-year-old woman’s social media addiction.
