Category: National

(ESCONDIDO, Calif.) — A 69-year-old Southern California man known for the display of American flags and Make America Great Again memorabilia he kept in his front yard has died, days after being attacked and beaten outside his home, authorities said.

Kerry George Sheron, whose family members said was an Army veteran and a supporter of President Donald Trump, was assaulted last week outside his Escondido residence that locals dubbed the “Trump House.”

Sheron was pronounced dead at a hospital on Sunday, according to a statement from the Escondido Police Department.

Thomas Caleb Butler, 32, of Escondido and served in the Navy was arrested in connection with the incident, police said.

Police have yet to comment on a possible motive.

According to military service records provided by the Navy to ABC News, Butler enlisted in the Navy in December 2011. He served as an information systems technician and was discharged in January 2023, records show.

Butler was being held without bail on Wednesday at the San Diego County Jail, where he was booked on May 21, on suspicion of attempted murder, elder abuse, making criminal threats and battery, according to online jail records.

“The case is in the process of being presented to the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, which is reviewing the circumstances to determine whether charges will be amended,” police said.

The cause and manner of Sheron’s death are pending an autopsy by the San Diego County Medical Examiner.

In a GoFundMe campaign that as of Wednesday afternoon has raised more than $40,500 to cover Sheron’s funeral expenses, family members called the incident that claimed Sheron’s life “brutal and unprovoked.”

Sheron’s wife, Maria Garcia, told ABC San Diego affiliate station KGTV that she wants her husband to be remembered as a man of service and faith.

“I want to remember my husband, you know, how he was [a] very good man, you know, [his] service in the church, service in the army,” said Garcia, who called her husband “my hero.”

Jim Gillie, one of Sheron’s friends, told KGTV that Sheron’s front-yard MAGA decorations had been targeted in the past.

“Back in March, people came through with razor blades and cut up a bunch of Kerry’s flags,” Gillie said. “Kerry was used to it because he’d come out here with his Trump signs and stuff during the week and flags, and people would drive by and honk and wave, and most of the people are good, but when someone would flip him off, he’d just look at me and say, they have their right to freedom of speech, too.”

Escondido police said the incident with Sheron unfolded around 2:14 p.m. on May 20, when officers were called to Sheron’s home to investigate a report that an assault had just occurred.

“Upon arrival, officers located an elderly male suffering from significant injuries,” police said in a statement. “A bystander who intervened during the incident was also injured. Officers learned the suspect had fled the area on foot prior to their arrival.”

Sheron was taken to a hospital in critical condition, police said.

Officers immediately searched Sheron’s neighborhood and located Butler, who matched the description of the person witnesses said attacked Sheron, according to the statement.

Tanya Sierra, a spokesperson for the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, told ABC News on Wednesday that an announcement on whether to amend the charges against Butler is expected to be made at the suspect’s next court date on June 3.

ABC News Steve Beynon contributed to this report.

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(FLORIDA) — The 16-year-old boy accused of killing his stepsister on a cruise is allowed to stay out of jail with certain restrictions, a federal judge in Florida ruled.

In February, after the teen was charged as a juvenile, the 16-year-old was permitted to live with his uncle instead of being held in custody. But in April, when the case was moved to adult court, prosecutors said the teen should be detained.

“We do not know what triggered him,” prosecutors argued in court Wednesday. “Who will be the next object he will become fixated on?”

The teen’s lawyers have countered that he’s a child who has been cooperative with the investigation and has shown no indication of hurting anyone in the months since his stepsister’s killing. 

The suspect arrived at court Wednesday with his father and his uncle and was seen wearing an ankle monitor. The judge ruled he’s only allowed to leave his house with his uncle and will be electronically monitored by authorities.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres said Wednesday that U.S. Marshals should examine options for potential detainment in the Tampa area.

Prosecutors allege the teenager “sexually assaulted and intentionally killed” his 18-year-old stepsister, Anna Kepner, during the family’s November vacation on a Carnival cruise. Anna Kepner died from mechanical asphyxiation, officials said. 

The stepbrother has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse. He is set to go on trial in September.

Prosecutors are alleging more details about the night Kepner died from Wednesday’s hearing as well as a newly unsealed transcript from a February detention hearing.

Closed-circuit television on the cruise captured many of the movements of Kepner and her stepbrother, as well as the movements of their 13-year-old sibling who was sharing their room, prosecutors said in the Feb. 6 transcript.

The night Kepner died, the suspect was seen entering their shared cabin around 7:35 p.m., the transcript said. At about 7:38 p.m., Kepner was seen entering the cabin — the last time cameras would capture her alive, prosecutors said. 

At approximately 7:51 p.m., the 13-year-old sibling entered the cabin and quickly exited, prosecutors said.

The suspect was not seen leaving the cabin again until 10:13 p.m., when he is “looking left and right down the hallway, appearing to check if there is anyone in the hallway,” prosecutors said. He’s seen between 10:23 p.m. and 10:49 p.m. “entering and exiting the cabin approximately two more times,” prosecutors said, and he put a privacy sign on the door at 10:53 p.m.

The video showed the 13-year-old and the suspect coming and going a few more times, prosecutors said. At 12:09 a.m., when the 13-year-old tried to get into the room, the suspect prevented him, and made the 13-year-old wait outside for a few minutes, prosecutors said.

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(LONGVIEW, Wash.) — A second employee has died after a chemical tank ruptured at a paper mill in Washington state, officials said Wednesday.

Nine people remain missing, as recovery efforts are underway a day after the incident, officials said.

“We’re bracing ourselves for this being the deadliest industrial tragedy in modern Washington state history,” Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said during a press briefing on Wednesday.

“When you have a tragedy of that scale, the impacts on individuals, on families and on communities is profound,” he said. “I want to extend my deepest condolences to those who have been directly impacted by the loss of a loved one during this extraordinarily challenging time.”

Fire authorities said the “hazardous materials incident” was reported Tuesday morning at Nippon Dynawave Packaging, a pulp and paper mill in Longview, a city of 38,000 people about 50 miles northwest of Portland.

The response transitioned from rescue to recovery as of Wednesday morning, Cowlitz2 Fire & Rescue Chief Scott Goldstein said during Wednesday’s press briefing.

“I want to acknowledge again the tremendous support that we have received from our state and regional and federal partners, but more specifically the tremendous impact that this incident continues to have on the victims, the families, the coworkers, my responders, all the agencies, responders, and the broader community,” he said. “Understand that there are members working the site tirelessly that have lost coworkers, lost friends, and they remain dedicated to focusing on our recovery efforts.”

The effort to recover the nine employees will be “slow, methodical and deliberate,” Longview Fire Battalion Chief Matt Amos said during the press briefing on Wednesday.

“The priority is ensuring responder safety while treating every victim with the greatest dignity, care, and respect as possible,” he said.

Authorities said recovery efforts were delayed due to safety concerns over the unstable tank, which contains white liquor, a chemical mixture used in the paper-making process.

The remaining product in the damaged 900,000-gallon tank is roughly 25,000 gallons, a “significantly smaller volume” than initially believed, “allowing emergency responders to develop a plan to move forward to remove it,” local authorities and Nippon Dynawave Packaging said in a joint statement Wednesday. The tank is believed to have been about 60% full at the time of the rupture, authorities said.

The tank ruptured at approximately 7:15 a.m. Tuesday, resulting in the release of white liquor, officials said. Authorities initially referred to the incident as a chemical explosion and then an implosion, before referring to it as a rupture and blast.

“There was a rupture, a failure, a blast,” Goldstein said. “All of those to us mean the same. It’s not why it happened, it’s the damage that we observe. Vehicles are damaged, buildings are damaged, mechanical equipment is damaged, collapsed and failed.”

There was a shift change around the time, with employees in their workspaces when the blast occurred, he said. Authorities have not found any video recording of the incident, he said.

One of the injured employees transported to the hospital following the incident has since died, officials said Wednesday, bringing the confirmed number of fatalities to two.

The Cowlitz County Coroner’s Office will release the names of the deceased “when all individuals have been recovered and family notifications are complete,” officials said Wednesday.

Family identified one of the deceased employees as Gilbert Bernal, a beloved husband, dad and grandfather.

“My father was the most selfless man I knew,” Bernal’s daughter, Geovana Bernal, said in a statement to ABC News on Tuesday. “He worked hard to provide for his family and he loved us so much.”

Geovana Bernal said her brother viewed images of her father and confirmed his death after speaking with the coroner’s office.

Seven other employees suffered injuries in the incident, including chemical burns, and remain hospitalized, authorities said Wednesday.

One firefighter was also injured in the incident and has since been treated and released from a nearby hospital, according to authorities.

The cause of the rupture is unknown, Goldstein said Tuesday.

White liquor is a chemical mixture of sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfide and disodium carbonate used in the paper-making process, according to Goldstein.

The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board said Wednesday it is opening an investigation into the incident “to determine how it happened and what can be done to prevent something like this from happening again.”

A team of CSB investigators will be arriving at the incident site in Longview on Wednesday.

The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries said it is also investigating.

There is no direct threat to the public, authorities said.

Contamination was confirmed to have entered the nearby Columbia River, Goldstein said Wednesday, with mitigation efforts and more testing underway “to better understand the scope and extent of that environmental impact.”

The Washington State Department of Ecology and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are helping monitor air and water quality, officials said Wednesday.

“At this time, there are no negative health impacts to air quality or the City of Longview’s drinking water system,” officials said Wednesday. “The public is asked to keep away from ditches and dikes in the city while water testing is underway.”

The Nippon facility is located on the Washington-Oregon border near the Columbia River. The kraft pulp and paper mill and liquid packaging plant employs around 1,000 people, according to the Washington Department of Ecology.

“On behalf of NDP, these are our people,” Brian Wood, director of support services for Nippon Dynawave Packaging, said during Wednesday’s briefing. “We are focused on our people. We are focused on helping our responders find and recover those things. That is our people. That is our focus today.”

“We are profoundly grateful for the people behind me, for the responders and what they’ve done with us and for us,” he continued.

Wood said the company will cooperate with investigators and they “look forward to a full and complete investigation.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(NEWARK, N.J.) — Tensions continue to rise outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, as activists and Democratic leaders clash with the federal government over conditions there.

A hunger strike inside the 1,000-bed Delaney Hall detention center has been ongoing since Friday after detainees alleged they are not being well fed or provided sanitary living conditions, according to activists.

“They’re given rotten frozen food, or in the case of last week, they found live worms in their food. We’re also hearing of people being denied toilet paper,” activist Catalina Adorno told New York ABC affiliate WABC on Tuesday.

Several protests have taken place outside the facility since the strike began, and ICE agents were filmed using pepper spray and batons against protesters who have gotten close to them, according to WABC.

The Department of Homeland Security has denied the allegations of a hunger strike and inhumane conditions inside Delaney Hall, which is currently holding 300 detainees. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin claimed during a Cabinet meeting Wednesday that there were “only a handful of individuals that was refusing to eat” because they allegedly wanted their “ethnic right food.”

“Well, they can go back to their country and get whatever food they want,” he told reporters. “The fact is, we’re giving them the calories they want. This isn’t Holiday Inn.”

Activist groups and several New Jersey Democratic Congress members, including Rep. Rob Menendez Jr., and Sen. Andy Kim, have pushed back against DHS claims and have participated in protests since Friday.

Menendez and Kim went inside the Delaney Hall detention center Saturday after repeated asks and said they saw the poor conditions and treatment of detainees firsthand.

“These are not the people that Donald Trump keeps saying that they were trying to lock up. You know, there is a woman that was pregnant that says she’s not getting full, OB-GYN care,” said Kim, who has called for Delaney Hall to be shut down.

“There is a woman that had a miscarriage that said that she did not get the care that she needed and was left to be able to manage that on her own,” he added.

Kim joined protesters again on Monday along with New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who said she was denied access to the facility multiple times over the past couple of weeks.

The governor spoke with some of the protesters, which included families of the detainees, and joined calls for the facility to be closed.

“My request for access to Delaney Hall was formally denied this morning, raising serious questions about what they are trying to hide from public view,” Sherrill said in a statement Monday, in part.

“I have long opposed private detention facilities and will continue to advocate for the closure of Delaney Hall and against any expansion of mass detention facilities in New Jersey,” the statement continued.

“I came today to hear from families and advocates, and what I heard from them was heartbreaking. I will continue to hold ICE accountable,” the statement further said, adding that Sherrill would continue working with Menendez, Kim and others “to demand answers, protect constitutional rights, and ensure humane conditions.”

“The people inside Delaney Hall are fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, and members of our community. In New Jersey, we believe in the rule of law and that everyone deserves to be treated with basic dignity. We have a duty to safeguard the rights, health, and well-being of everyone within our borders,” the statement said.

Shortly after Sherrill left the rally on Monday, things became more tense between the protesters and federal agents. ICE agents deployed pepper spray and fired rubber bullets into the crowd as they clashed with agents, who were moving vehicles in and outside the facility, according to WABC.

Several people were hit with the spray including Kim, who was seen trying to de-escalate the situation.

“Instead of engaging with me and others about the poor conditions, ICE sent in an armored vehicle and a line of armed agents that only poured gasoline on the fire,” the senator said on social media Monday.

Mullin decried the Memorial Day protest and told reporters Wednesday that Congress members “probably shouldn’t have been there.”

Lauren Bis, DHS acting assistant secretary, accused the New Jersey lawmakers of conducting a “political stunt.”

“We need these sanctuary politicians to stop peddling this garbage and cooperate with us to get these criminals out of their state,” she said in a statement Monday.

The protests and clashes continue, with federal agents deploying pepper spray against protesters who formed a human barricade outside the facility.

Mullin alleged in a social media post Tuesday night that law enforcement agents were sprayed with “an unknown chemical substance.”

“Two individuals were arrested for assaulting, resisting, and impeding federal officers,” Mullin said.

Sherrill did not immediately have a comment about Mullin’s claims.

Protesters showed up to Delaney Hall Wednesday but the demonstrations were peaceful as of the afternoon.

ABC News’ Luke Barr contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — A Google employee fraudulently made more than $1 million by using inside information to place Polymarket bets on what users were searching for on Google, according to a federal criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday in New York. 

For Michele Spagnuolo, these were sure bets because, as a Google software engineer, he had access to company data that tracked user searches, according to the complaint, which said Spagnuolo “misappropriated confidential and valuable nonpublic information from his employer and used that information to place a series of Google-related bets on Polymarket, a prediction market platform.”

Spagnuolo, 36, is charged with commodities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

“Unlike the counterparties to his trades, Spagnuolo knew the outcome of these wagers before the trading public did because he had accessed Google’s confidential, commercially valuable internal data,” the complaint said.  

He correctly bet — using an account under the name AlphaRaccoon — that Google’s most-searched person in 2025 would be the singer known as D4vd, according to the complaint. At the time he placed that bet, the prediction market Polymarket “assigned a near-zero probability to d4vd being ‘the #1 searched person on Google this year,'” the complaint said.

After Google publicly announced its Year in Search 2025 results on Dec. 4, 2025, Spagnuolo’s AlphaRaccoon account profited $1.2 million on his Google Year in Search 2025-related bets, federal prosecutors said.

“Once he won, Spagnuolo then took deliberate steps to conceal his unlawful use of nonpublic information by attempting to obscure the source and ownership of his unlawful proceeds,” the complaint said.

Spagnuolo, an Italian citizen, was arrested Wednesday morning in New York, where he appeared briefly before a federal magistrate judge.

He did not enter a plea and was released on a $2.25 million bond, secured by $1 million cash, $50,000 of which needs to be posted Wednesday. 

A Google spokesperson, responding to the charges against Spagnuolo, said in a statement, “We’re working with law enforcement on their investigation. The employee accessed our marketing material using a tool available to all employees, but using such confidential information to place bets is a serious breach of our policies. We’ve placed the employee on leave and will take the appropriate action.”

This is the second case involving Polymarket that the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York has brought this year.

A U.S. special forces soldier, Gannon Van Dyke, pleaded not guilty last month to making fraudulent bets on Polymarket about the raid that ousted Nicholas Maduro from Venezuela. Van Dyke was positioned to know about the raid because he helped to plan it and took part in it, prosecutors said. 

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(NEW YORK) — A legal advocacy group has asked the New York bar to investigate Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for potential violations stemming from his role in the prosecution of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

The letter, from the Campaign for Accountability, was sent days after the federal judge overseeing the human smuggling case against Abrego Garcia dismissed the indictment, citing a “tainted investigation” by Blanche.

“The objective evidence here shows that, absent Abrego’s successful lawsuit challenging his removal to El Salvador, the Government would not have brought this prosecution,” U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw wrote in his ruling on Friday.

Abrego Garcia, who had been living in Maryland with his wife and children, was deported in March of last year 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 he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which he denies.

He was brought back to the U.S. in June to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee, after which U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis released him from ICE detention while he was awaiting trial.

Judge Crenshaw, in his decision Friday, wrote that the timing of a DHS agent’s decision to reopen a closed investigation of a November 2022 traffic stop, as well as “now unrebutted public statements tying the reopened investigation” to Abrego Garcia’s successful lawsuit “taints the investigation with a vindictive motive.”

The criminal charges in Tennessee stem from a 2022 traffic stop that was disclosed in an April 2025 press release issued by the Department of Homeland Security, which said it had a “bombshell investigative report” regarding the stop, alleging that Abrego Garcia was a suspected human trafficker. The release included a screengrab of body camera video from the traffic stop.

“Instead of investigating the November 2022 traffic stop to identify who was responsible for the human smuggling, Blanche started the investigation to implicate Abrego,” Crenshaw wrote. “He did so to justify the Executive Branch’s decision to remove him to El Salvador.”

In its letter filed on Wednesday, the Campaign for Accountability said that Blanche may have violated several rules within the New York Rules of Professional Conduct, including “prohibiting dishonesty, conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice, and the use of criminal charges to gain an advantage in a civil matter.”

“A federal judge found that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche personally launched a criminal prosecution not to enforce the law, but to provide cover for the administration after Mr. Abrego Garcia fought against his illegal deportation to El Salvador where he was imprisoned in CECOT,” Campaign for Accountability Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith said in a statement. “It is imperative that the New York Bar hold Mr. Blanche accountable for his reprehensible conduct.”

A spokesperson for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

Abrego Garcia was not charged or arrested during the traffic stop. Body camera footage showed Tennessee troopers — after questioning Abrego Garcia — discussing among themselves their suspicions of human trafficking because nine people were traveling in the vehicle without luggage. 

A Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement following Crenshaw’s order, “Another activist judge has placed politics above public safety. The judge’s order is wrong and dangerous, and we will appeal.”

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(MINNEAPOLIS) — A 26-year-old man was shot multiple times while attending a prayer service in Minnesota, and the suspects are at large, authorities said.

The shooting unfolded just before 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Canterbury Park Expo Center in Shakopee, about 25 miles outside of Minneapolis, the Shakopee Police Department said.

The victim was taken to the Hennepin County Medical Center in unknown condition.

“We are actively working to identify the involved individuals,” police said in a statement. “Anyone with information should contact Shakopee Police Department at 952-445-1411.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON) — The White House confirmed Wednesday that the U.S. is setting up a health facility in Kenya to receive Americans who are exposed to the Ebola virus while in regions affected by the ongoing outbreak.

According to an administration official, the U.S. will establish what they called a “state-of-the-art facility” in Kenya “through a coordinated effort with the Departments of State, Health and Human Services, and War.”

The news was first reported by The New York Times. 

The official said that the purpose and design of the facility would be to “provide access to high-quality care for Americans who would need to quickly get out” of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to quarantine, and argued that it would cut down on the “risks of a lengthy transport back to the U.S.”

“Time is of the essence for Ebola patients, and this facility will enable Americans in the region who contract Ebola to receive lifesaving care as quickly as possible without 12-plus hours of medevac flight time,” the official said. 

The official added that the treatment capabilities at the Kenya facility are “expected to be able to care for the full-spectrum of Ebola Virus Disease, including critical care needs,” but added that patients would be evaluated on a case-by-case basis for possible “forward transport” for more advanced care as needed. 

The White House did not immediately respond to an ABC News request for additional specifics regarding patients who would be quarantined and treated at the facility.

The president previously invoked his authority under Title 42, barring travel to the U.S. for non-citizens, with specific exceptions, who have visited the DRC, Uganda, or South Sudan within the last 21 days. The order was expanded last week to include U.S. green card holders. 

American citizens who have visited those countries are being directed to specific U.S. airports for additional health screening, including Dulles International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. 

The news comes as New York-based International Rescue Committee (IRC) aid organization warned on Tuesday that the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the DRC and neighboring Uganda is now spreading faster than responders can contain it and risks becoming “the deadliest on record” without urgent international action.

“The outbreak is spreading faster than the response, with over 900 suspected cases and at least 223 deaths already reported across DRC and Uganda, including in major transport hubs like Goma and Kampala,” the IRC wrote.

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(LONGVIEW, Wash.) — A beloved husband, dad and grandfather was killed in the chemical tank rupture at a pulp and paper mill in Washington state, according to his daughter.

Geovana Bernal told ABC News that her father, Gilbert Bernal, died in Tuesday morning’s incident at his workplace, Nippon Dynawave Packaging in Longview, Washington.

At least one person was killed, multiple people suffered critical injuries and nine employees remain missing, officials said. The ongoing recovery efforts are “extremely complex” due to the unstable tank, which contains white liquor, a chemical mixture used in the paper-making process, according to authorities.

Geovana Bernal said in a statement, “There are not enough words to express on how devastated we are right now.”

“My father was the most selfless man I knew. He worked hard to provide for his family and he loved us so much,” she said. “He was going to celebrate his 32nd wedding anniversary with mom in just a couple weeks and he loved my son, his first grandson, so much.”

She said Gilbert Bernal often helped out at his church, “volunteering his time to help repairs or help anyone in need.”

“He was a great man, husband, father, grandfather, son, brother and friend,” Geovana Bernal said. “We are so heartbroken.”

The coroner’s office has not released the identity of the confirmed fatality, but Geovana Bernal said her brother viewed images of her father and confirmed his death after speaking with the coroner’s office.

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(LONGVIEW, Wash.) — A chemical tank ruptured at a facility in Washington state, resulting in multiple critical injuries and an unknown number of fatalities, authorities said.

The “hazardous materials incident” was reported Tuesday morning at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging, a pulp and paper mill in Longview, fire authorities said.

A tank containing white liquor ruptured at approximately 7:15 a.m., according to a joint statement from local authorities and Nippon Dynawave Packaging.

Authorities initially referred to the incident as a chemical explosion and then an implosion, before referring to it as a rupture.

“The incident is stable, but is in the recovery phase,” Longview Fire Battalion Chief Mike Gorsuch said during a press briefing Tuesday, calling it “tragic.”

“Recovery efforts remain underway at the facility,” he said.

The number of fatalities is undetermined at this time, Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue Chief Scott Goldstein said during the press briefing.

A number of personnel are missing, Goldstein said, declining to confirm how many.

Nine people at the facility suffered injuries, including chemical burns, and were transported by ambulance to area hospitals, authorities said. The injuries ranged from critical to minor, according to Goldstein.

One firefighter was also injured in the incident and has since been treated and released from a nearby hospital, according to Gorsuch.

Patients with traumatic injuries are being treated at nearby medical facilities, while patients experiencing burns and exposure are being sent to other hospitals around the area, including in Portland, which are considered burn centers, Rick Graves, the spokesperson for Portland Fire and Rescue in Oregon, told ABC News.

PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center in Longview told ABC News it received nine patients from the incident — including one deceased. Six are in fair condition, and two other patients have been transferred, it said.

Legacy Health confirmed to ABC News it is treating patients in the incident, including at the Legacy Oregon Burn Center in Portland, though did not go into further detail.

Information on those killed and injured in the incident is being held pending next-of-kin notifications, authorities said.

The 80,000-gallon tank was about 60% full at the time of the rupture, according to Goldstein. White liquor is a chemical mixture of sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfide and disodium carbonate used in the paper-making process, he said.

The cause of the rupture is unknown at this time, Goldstein said.

“We’re dealing with life safety concerns and incident stabilization at this point,” he said. “That will come in the hours and days to come.”

There is no immediate threat to the public, authorities said.

“The scene remains in the recovery phase as emergency responders continue operations,” the joint statement said. “Responding agencies continue coordinating closely with facility personnel and partner agencies as the investigation and recovery efforts continue.”

Residents were urged to avoid the area amid the active emergency response.

The Nippon facility is located on the Washington-Oregon border near the Columbia River. The kraft pulp and paper mill and liquid packaging plant employs nearly 1,000 people, according to the Washington Department of Ecology.

ABC News’ Trevor Ault and Alyssa Pone contributed to this report.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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