Category: National

(NEW YORK) — The Department of Justice is finalizing a deal to launch a so-called “Truth and Justice Commission” and establish a compensation fund of $1,776,000,000 to pay claims made by alleged victims of government “weaponization” in exchange for President Donald Trump dropping his ongoing lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, sources told ABC News.

Sources told ABC News that the proposed deal — which is likely to face legal hurdles and has already been criticized by Democrats as a “slush fund” for Trump’s allies — arose after months of deliberations between the White House and DOJ officials who originally attempted to craft a legal justification for the settlement to compensate Trump directly.

Internally, DOJ lawers believed they could ignore the conflict of interest outright, privately arguing that Trump has both the right to sue as a private citizen and the power to command the executive branch as president, according to sources familiar with their discussions.

Advocating a centuries-old legal principle known as the “rule of necessity,” DOJ lawyers have argued that no alternative existed other than letting the lawsuit proceed with Trump acting as the plaintiff while being directly in charge of the defendants — the IRS and Treasury — according to sources.

Sources said that plan was ultimately scuttled in favor of the $1.776 billion compensation fund — with the figure being a nod to the nation’s founding — as the judge overseeing Trump’s IRS lawsuit began to raise issues with Trump suing the very government he leads. In an order last month, U.S. District Judge Katheen Williams ordered Trump’s lawyers in the case and the Department of Justice to submit court filings by next week to justify whether both sides of the case were sufficiently adverse for the matter to proceed.

Terms of the proposed compensation arrangement could change before the deal is finalized, sources said.

Judge Williams also appointed a group of prominent attorneys — including a former solicitor general as well as a federal judge — to weigh in on the case.

In a court filing this week, the attorneys identified serious issues with the lawsuit, arguing that Trump has “extraordinary” control over the defendants in the case and that the “circumstances raise the specter that Defendants and their attorneys may instead be operating at the President’s direction.”

“Additionally, since taking office, President Trump has significantly expanded the President’s oversight and control over the Attorney General and DOJ, including in ways that blur the line between fidelity to the President’s policy priorities and fidelity to the President himself,” the filing said.

Trump sued the IRS after a government contractor pleaded guilty in 2023 to stealing the tax information of Trump and other wealthy Americans and leaking it to media outlets in 2019 and 2020.

With Judge Williams scrutinizing the case, sources said that DOJ officials formulated the proposal to create a compensation fund on the condition that Trump drops the lawsuit as well as two civil claims for $230 million related to the Russia collusion investigation he faced during his first term in office and the 2022 search of his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Trump himself would not be eligible for payment from the fund for those three dropped claims, though entities associated with the president are not barred from filing claims, the sources said. 

Sources said the “President Donald J. Trump Truth and Justice Commission” would include five commissioners — four of whom are appointed by the attorney general — that Trump would have the right to remove without cause. The commission would also be under no obligation to disclose the process for awarding the nearly $2 billion.  

It is unclear how Judge Williams might respond to the proposed settlement — which has yet been disclosed to the court — though DOJ lawyers believe the settlement would not require any approval from the court.  

Democratic lawmakers have already raised concerns about the reported settlement and called on Congress to pass legislation to restrict the use of taxpayer dollars for the proposed compensation fund.

“It’s outright corruption. What we’re seeing here is outright corruption,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said Friday. “We’re looking at a billion dollars for a ballroom; $1.7 billion for a slush fund for the president’s friends.”

Across the aisle, Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick suggested the matter could end up before the Supreme Court.

“I don’t even know how that’s allowable to happen,” Fitzpatrick told ABC News regarding the compensation fund. “It sounds like a question our colleagues across the street are going to have to resolve pretty quickly.”

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(HARRISON COUNTY, Ind.) — Three people were found dead in a murder-suicide after the shooter expressed suicidal thoughts to a family member, according to authorities.

Harrison County deputies responded to a welfare check on Wednesday at a residence in southern Indiana after a Mississippi man reported that his brother expressed suicidal thoughts to him in a phone call earlier in the day, according to the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department.

Deputies found a dead man on the front porch, identified as 36-year-old Brett Dixon, the sheriff’s department said.

Inside the residence, two additional people were found dead, Melissa Cochran Dixon, 54, and Paul Dixon, 61, according to the sheriff’s office.

Brett Dixon was shot twice — in the chest and head — Melissa Cochran Dixon suffered a single gunshot wound to the head and Paul Dixon sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to the sheriff’s office.

The sheriff’s office said it believes Paul Dixon is responsible for the shootings and said there is no threat to the community and no suspect at large.

“This incident is a tragic loss, and our thoughts and prayers are with the family, extended family, and friends of those involved,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. 

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(NEW YORK) — An Iraqi national carried out 20 reported terrorist attacks in Europe and Canada against U.S. and Israeli interests, including the stabbing of a Jewish-American citizen, in retaliation for the war in Iran and in an effort to halt the conflict, a federal criminal complaint alleges.

Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi allegedly firebombed a Bank of New York Mellon building in Amsterdam, tried to detonate improvised explosives at the Bank of America building in Paris, coordinated an attack against Jewish institutions in the United States and stabbed two people in London, the complaint alleges.

The defendant made an initial appearance Friday in Manhattan federal court on charges he conspired to provide material support to terrorist groups, conspiracy to bomb a place of public use and other offenses.

Al-Saadi was apprehended in Turkey and passed to American authorities. His lawyer, Andrew Dalack, a federal defender, said he was unaware of any extradition proceedings.  

“This is a bit of an unusual case,” Dalack said.

During his appearance, Al-Saadi spoke quietly, but animatedly, to his lawyer to make sure the lawyer understood his connection to the late Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. strike in Iraq, and referred to himself as a prisoner of war and political prisoner.  

Al-Saadi was ordered detained.  He is next in court May 29.

Federal prosecutors said in addition to the terror attacks in Europe and Canada, al-Saadi also allegedly spoke to an FBI undercover — and paid $3,000 — to plan attacks in California, Arizona and a synagogue in Manhattan.

Al-Saadi is a high-level member of the Kata’ib Hizballah paramilitary group and has ties to the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah, according to federal prosecutors.

Since the onset of the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran, Al-Saadi “has directed and urged others to attack U.S. and Israeli interests, including by killing Americans and Jews, in retaliation for the Iranian Military Conflict and to further the terrorist goals of Kata’ib Hizballah and the IRGC,” the criminal complaint alleges.

The complaint adds, “Al-Saadi and his associates have planned, coordinated, and claimed responsibility for at least 18 terrorist attacks in Europe as well as two additional attacks in Canada, in the name of Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya, a component of Kata’ib Hizballah.”

The defendant allegedly pledged thousands of dollars to someone he thought would carry out an attack against a synagogue in New York, according to prosecutors. The individual turned out to be an undercover law enforcement officer.

At least one associate of al-Saadi is expected to be brought back to the U.S. and charged, the complaint says.

“This case puts into stark relief the global threats posed by the Iranian regime and its proxies like Kata’ib Hizballah — Foreign Terrorist Organizations that have repeatedly targeted Jewish communities across Europe and the United States since the war began,” said New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. “Working with our law enforcement partners, we disrupted a plan to attack a Manhattan synagogue, and in partnership with the synagogue’s leadership, ensured its security when the threat was elevated.”

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(SEATTLE)– The transgender University of Washington student who was killed in a student housing building suffered over 40 stab wounds to the head, neck, shoulder, arms and hands, according to the probable cause statement.

Juniper Blessing, 19, was found covered in blood in the laundry room of the Nordheim Court building on Sunday night, according to court documents.

The suspect, 31-year-old Christopher Leahy, surrendered to police on Wednesday and was booked for first-degree murder, documents said.

“Our family has been shattered,” Blessing’s family said in a statement released by the Human Rights Alliance. “Juniper was simply the most amazing human being we have ever known — highly intelligent, extremely talented, and deeply sensitive to the needs of others. Juniper’s loss not only devastates us but diminishes the world.”

“A gifted singer with a transcendent voice, Juniper was admitted to New Mexico School for the Arts, where they studied from 2020 until 2024,” the family said. “Weather was a love of Juniper’s since early childhood, and at the University of Washington they intended to study Atmospheric Science while continuing to study voice and pursuing minors in Music and Philosophy. They loved Seattle and Santa Fe, where they worked as an usher during summers at the Santa Fe Opera.”

“Juniper was courageously living their life as who they were until it was cut tragically short,” the family said.

According to court documents, another Nordeim Court resident told police that shortly before 10 p.m. Sunday, a man followed her when she used her card to access the building and laundry room.

She said the man told her he was waiting for his laundry. Surveillance video shows them in the laundry room and the suspect “appears to be visually searching the room for cameras,” court documents said, before he left the room.

A video from 10 p.m. shows Blessing in the laundry room, and the suspect “comes back into the laundry room and stares directly into the camera,” documents said.

The suspect “appears to follow the path of the cord with his eyes and head from the camera around the wall above the doorway,” documents said. “He then turns to exit the laundry room, something clatters to the ground and he pauses. He continues out of the laundry room at 10:00:27 p.m.”

“Blessing is seen cleaning the lint tray, appears to add more time to the dryer, then stands up and deposits the lint into the garbage at the end of the bank of dryers. … The video stops at 10:01:01 p.m.,” documents said.

Seattle police released the images of the suspect in the laundry room, documents said. A man named Patrick Leahy contacted police saying the suspect in the image was “without a doubt” his brother, Christopher Leahy, according to the documents, and a friend also reached out to police identifying Christopher Leahy as the man in the photo.

Christopher Leahy’s attorney called the Bellevue Police Department on Wednesday night to say he was turning himself in, documents said. Christopher Leahy came to the department with his parents and was taken into custody, the documents said.

Christopher Leahy made his first court appearance on Thursday and is due back in court on Monday, according to ABC Seattle affiliate KOMO. He has not entered a plea.

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(CLARKSVILLE, Tenn.) — Rage-baiting livestreamer Dalton Eatherly, known online as “Chud the Builder,” is being held on $1.25 million bond after being charged with attempted murder in connection with a shooting outside a Tennessee courthouse.

Eatherly, 28, and another man sustained gunshot wounds during the shooting incident Wednesday outside the Montgomery County Courthouse in Clarksville, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.

There was a “physical altercation that escalated to gunfire,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

Following an investigation into the shooting, Eatherly was arrested later that day and charged with attempted murder, as well as employing a firearm during a dangerous felony, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, according to the sheriff’s office.

During his arraignment on the charges Friday, Judge Reid Poland III noted the need to “protect the public interest and public safety” due to the seriousness of the charges and the public location of the shooting, while setting the bond at $1.25 million.

The prosecutor asked for the bond to be addressed at a later hearing so the court could review all factors, including a pending case Eatherly has in Davidson County, and “make an informed decision.”

Eatherly’s next bond hearing has been scheduled for May 21, and a preliminary hearing for May 26. ABC News has reached out to his attorney for comment.

Online court records show Eatherly had a civil debt appearance scheduled Wednesday morning at the Montgomery County courthouse, though it’s unclear if he attended the hearing.

He was involved in a “confrontation” with another man outside the courthouse, District Attorney General Robert Nash, whose district covers Montgomery County, said in a statement.

“The confrontation resulted in gunfire, and both men were taken for medical treatment,” Nash said.

Both men were transported to area hospitals in stable condition, according to the sheriff’s office. Authorities have not publicly identified the other man involved in the incident.

Eatherly has made a social media presence by recording and livestreaming his racist confrontations with Black people and others while touting his constitutionally protected right to do so.

The shooting incident came days after he was arrested in a separate incident in Nashville and charged with theft, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, according to court records.

He was arrested over the weekend for allegedly refusing to pay for $371.55 in food and drink from a restaurant at the Omni Hotel where he had been livestreaming, according to court records.

When restaurant staff asked him to stop livestreaming during the incident on Saturday, “he became disruptive and started making racial statements, yelling, screaming and otherwise creating a scene at the location,” an affidavit filed in Davidson County Court stated.

Online court records do not list any attorney for Eatherly in that case.

ABC News’ Jack Date contributed to this report.

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(EL PASO, Texas) — The wife of an active-duty U.S. Army sergeant with 27 years of service was released from immigration custody on Thursday.

Deisy Fidelina Rivera Ortega was taken into custody on April 14 in El Paso, Texas, while attending a routine immigration interview related to a “Parole in Place” application — a program designed to allow undocumented family members of military personnel to remain in the U.S. legally.

She was released after being in federal custody for one month, her attorney told ABC News.

Rivera Ortega is married to Sgt. 1st Class Jose Serrano, a U.S. Army sergeant stationed at Fort Bliss who has been deployed to Afghanistan three times. He told ABC News last month that he and his wife had been “doing everything by the book.”

“She goes to work or to church,” Serrano said. “That’s the life of my wife, Deisy.”

Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth said she personally called Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to request Rivera Ortega’s release.

“I’m thankful to Secretary Mullin for heeding my personal call to release Deisy, but she — and so many others — should never have been in this situation to begin with,” Duckworth said in a statement to ABC News.

“Deisy was doing everything ‘the right way’: attending her Military Parole in Place interview, when she was detained by ICE with no warrant and no explanation,” said Duckworth, a Army veteran. “There is no higher betrayal to our heroes than having one of their family members deported by the same nation they sacrificed to defend.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

Rivera Ortega — who currently works for IHG Army Hotels at Fort Bliss — has a valid work permit through 2030 and was previously granted withholding of removal from her home country, El Salvador, according to documents reviewed by ABC News.

After being detained in April, she was facing deportation to a third country. 

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(NEW YORK) — A Texas man could serve jail time after pleading guilty to shooting a bald eagle at his home in 2024, which is a violation of federal law.

Santos Guerrero, 42, has pleaded guilty to shooting and causing the death of a protected species. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 30, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.  

While bald eagles are no longer an endangered species, they are still protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which prohibits the killing of eagles, according to prosecutors. 

Investigators responded to a report of the incident and reviewed video footage of the eagle being shot and falling from a tree, according to prosecutors. 

Investigators then matched the tree seen in the video to a tree in Guerrero’s residence. The eagle was found alive and transported to an animal hospital, but had to be euthanized due to its injuries, according to prosecutors. 

The bullet caused significant damage to the eagle’s wing and the impact from the fall caused liver fractures, internal bleeding and fractured a leg, a necropsy determined. 

Guerrero faces up to a year in federal prison and a fine of up to $100,000. 

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(NEW YORK) — An Iraqi national carried out at least 18 reported terrorist attacks in Europe against U.S. and Israeli interests, including the stabbing of a Jewish-American citizen, in retaliation for the war in Iran and in an effort to halt the conflict, a federal criminal complaint alleges.

Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi allegedly firebombed a Bank of New York Mellon building in Amsterdam, tried to detonate improvised explosives at the Bank of America building in Paris, coordinated an attack against Jewish institutions in the United States and stabbed two people in London, the complaint alleges.

The defendant is expected to make an initial appearance later Friday in Manhattan federal court on charges he conspired to provide material support to terrorist groups, conspiracy to bomb a place of public use and other offenses.

Al-Saadi is a high-level member of the Kata’ib Hizballah paramilitary group and has ties to the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah, according to federal prosecutors. 

Since the onset of the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran, Al-Saadi “has directed and urged others to attack U.S. and Israeli interests, including by killing Americans and Jews, in retaliation for the Iranian Military Conflict and to further the terrorist goals of Kata’ib Hizballah and the IRGC,” the criminal complaint alleges.

The complaint adds, “Al-Saadi and his associates have planned, coordinated, and claimed responsibility for at least 18 terrorist attacks in Europe as well as two additional attacks in Canada, in the name of Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya, a component of Kata’ib Hizballah.”

The defendant allegedly pledged thousands of dollars to someone he thought would carry out an attack against a synagogue in New York, according to prosecutors. The individual turned out to be an undercover law enforcement officer.

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

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(NEW YORK) — The American doctor who was on the MV Hondius cruise ship and initially tested positive for hantavirus has since tested negative and says “there’s no evidence that I’ve had hantavirus.”

A doctor from the biocontainment unit in Nebraska said the initial test was most likely a falsely positive, based on further testing.

Dr. Stephen Kornfeld — the only American to test positive for hantavirus — came down with flu-like symptoms on the cruise ship, and on Monday he was admitted to the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s biocontainment unit following a positive test, officials said.

The Bend, Oregon, resident has since tested negative and was cleared to relocate to Nebraska’s quarantine unit, where 15 other passengers from the cruise ship who do not have symptoms are being monitored.

“I physically feel great — I have felt great for many, many days,” Kornfeld told ABC News. “Emotionally I feel wonderful. It’s nice to be negative for hantavirus.”

The medical director of Nebraska’s biocontainment unit, Dr. Angela Hewlett, told ABC News’ Victor Oquendo, “I suspect that the initial test was a false positive.”

“If we had seen evidence of previous exposure or previous infection to hantavirus with our serology test, then that would have been a little more indicative of maybe he had had an illness and he was fortunately getting better,” Hewlett explained. “We didn’t see any evidence of that and so it looks like he has not had this illness at all thus far.”

Kornfeld said the initial test was taken after he came down with a flu-like illness on the ship.

“I got sick just a few days after the gentleman who had hantavirus got sick — he ultimately passed away from it. And my illness certainly wasn’t as severe, but it was a typical viral illness with sweats and fatigue and cough, sore throat, and a lot of upper respiratory symptoms,” he said. “I just attributed it to the ship flu, and I think in retrospect, it was.”

“I’m fairly confident he never had hantavirus, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t necessarily have an exposure,” Hewlett said.

“In fact, I had a lot of exposure when I was the ship’s doctor,” Kornfeld said. “I’m still in the incubation period. The virus may still be in me and I may develop symptoms of the virus.”

He said he is following protocol by isolating himself in Nebraska’s quarantine unit.

“I will keep track of my symptoms,” he said. “And if I get any symptoms, then I’ll be tested. Because getting new symptoms does not mean it’s hantavirus — I could come down with another virus, like a cold or something similar.”

Kornfeld said he is weighing whether to complete the entire 42-day quarantine in Nebraska or to finish from his home in Oregon. If he does go home, he said it would not be on a commercial aircraft.

“I think everybody in this unit is sort of having that discussion with their own health system and with their family. Some will probably stay here the entire time, some may ultimately go home,” he said.

“I’m thinking that I may eventually want to go home … it would be very safe to send us home and then we could complete the quarantine in a much more familiar situation,” he said, adding, “everybody here is committed to completing their quarantine.”

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(NEW YORK) — Warming waters are attracting more swimmers and sharks alike to the Eastern seaboard — creating the perfect recipe for an increase of shark sightings along the coasts in the coming months, some shark experts told ABC News.

Scientists at the New England Aquarium in Boston urged the public to be vigilant and report shark sightings after the first white shark of the season was confirmed off Massachusetts on Sunday.

A dead grey seal with a visible wound found on Lucy Vincent Beach in Chilmark, Martha’s Vineyard, was consistent with the bite of a white shark, John Chisholm, an adjunct scientist in the Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life, said in a statement.

“This is just the beginning of white shark season in New England, and it serves as a good reminder to be mindful of the presence of these sharks in inshore waters,” Chisholm said. “Their numbers will continue to increase throughout the summer with peak activity occurring in the fall.”

A juvenile white shark was also seen off the coasts of New York and New Jersey last week. The female shark, named Nori, pinged a shark-tracking system. Scientists with the Global Shark Tracker program have been monitoring her movements as she makes her way up the East Coast.

Nori is the first tagged white shark to begin this season’s northward migration, according to the nonprofit OCEARCH.

“It’s very normal for us to see more sharks off the East Coast, especially as you move north in the summer compared to the winter, partially because they’re more likely to be there and partially because someone’s more likely to be watching,” Catherine Macdonald, director of the University of Miami’s Shark Research and Conservation Program, told ABC News.

Why there are more shark sightings in the summer months

The moment a swimmer sets foot in the ocean, they are in close proximity to a shark — even if they’re not necessarily in sight, according to marine biologists who spoke with ABC News.

At least 30 species of sharks are starting to make their northward seasonal migration up the Eastern seaboard after overwintering in southern waters, Joel Fodrie, director of the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told ABC News.

As the waters begin to warm, they’re on the move to new areas to set up their strategies for hunting, Fodrie said.

Those recreating on the coastlines can expect to see different species of sharks, depending on where they are.

Of the sharks considered aggressive or a potential threat to humans, white sharks are commonly seen in the Northeast during the summer months — especially around Cape Cod — because their preferred prey, the grey seal, tends to congregate there, Bradley Wetherbee, a professor of marine biology and ecology at the University of Rhode Island, told ABC News.

Tiger sharks bask in the warm Florida waters year-round, Mahmood Shivji, a shark biologist at the Save the Seas Foundation Shark Research Center at Nova Southeastern University, told ABC News.

Bull sharks are common in the Gulf and feed on large fish — often confusing humans for prey in those interactions, Wetherbee said.

A large presence of fish, mackerel or seals — all prey for sharks — could indicate that one is nearby, looking to feed. The presence of dolphins could also mean a shark is around, because the larger marine animals tend to feed on the same prey, Frodrie said.

There are also simply more opportunities to see sharks, the experts said.

Protections in the Atlantic have allowed shark populations to rebound in the waters off the U.S., while globally they are still being killed at high rates due to overfishing, Shivji said.

The existence of drones and advanced cameras — as well as social media — are making the presence of sharks more known than ever before, Frodrie added.

Swimmers should be vigilant, but don’t necessarily need to worry, experts say

An increase in shark presence in the north and mid-Atlantic is normal and isn’t anything to worry about, Macdonald said.

With the exceptions of the bolder species, sharks are scared of people and fairly easy to spook, Frodrie said.

“There’s more than 540 species of shark on the planet, and the vast majority of them rarely come into contact with people but wouldn’t be a threat to them even if they did,” Macdonald said.

Over the last 400 million years, sharks have evolved to detect things and sense their environment using their jaws, Wetherbee said. When they bite people, they are likely testing whether they are prey.

“No one wants to have a negative encounter, but it’s kind of a primordial fear,” Wetherbee said.

Sharks are a keystone species, and their presence can be a marker of a healing ecosystem, Macdonald said. They play a “huge role” in shaping the structure and function of ecosystems by moving nutrients around landscapes and helping control prey populations, she added.

“Marine ecosystems look really different in the absence of sharks, often in ways that we don’t want, so we don’t always appreciate them when we see them,” Macdonald said.

The public can report shark sightings through the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app, which provides information and push notifications on shark movements in the aim to help people and sharks coexist.

Sharks are not the biggest danger humans face at the beach

Shark bites on humans — especially fatal attacks — are rare, the data shows.

In 2025, there were 65 confirmed unprovoked shark bites on humans and 29 provoked bites — meaning the human initiated the interaction in some way, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File.

On average, fewer than 10 people worldwide are killed by unprovoked shark attacks each year, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History. In 2025, there were 12 confirmed shark-related fatalities, nine of which were labeled as unprovoked.

Getting bitten by a shark is rare in itself, but victims of shark attacks have a 1 in 3.7 million chance of being killed by a shark.

All four shark experts ABC News spoke with pointed to rip currents as being the real danger swimmers face at the beach.

In the U.S. alone, there are more than 100 deaths annually that are attributed to rip currents, according to a scientific review of data provided to the United States Lifesaving Association.

“Supervision of kids in the ocean, awareness of rip currents and risks of drowning — all of that is a much greater risk to swim or safety than sharks will ever be,” Macdonald said.

Compared to the number of drownings at beaches, the odds of getting bitten by a shark are extremely low, the experts said.

“The numbers are so small, but it doesn’t do any good to tell people that, because if you’re out there, if you’re one of the ones that gets bitten … I’m sure it’s quite an ordeal,” Wetherbee said.

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