(MINNESOTA) — Minnesotans are lining up at the state capitol on Friday to honor a slain lawmaker and her husband as their accused killer made a brief appearance in court.
Melissa Hortman is the first woman to lie in state, according to the Minnesota House of Representatives.
Next to the Hortmans was their golden retriever, Gilbert, who was wounded in the attack and later had to be euthanized, officials said.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and first lady Gwen Walz are among those paying their respects.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris will attend the couple’s private funeral on Saturday, according to a source familiar with Harris’ plans.
Harris spoke to the Hortmans’ two children, Sophie and Colin, in the last week “to express her deep condolences and offer her support,” the source said.
Meanwhile, the Hortmans’ alleged killer, Vance Boelter, who faces federal charges including stalking and state charges including first-degree murder, briefly appeared in federal court on Friday.
Boelter alleged the conditions in jail have kept him from sleeping for 12 to 14 days, according to Minneapolis ABC affiliate KSTP. Boelter claimed the doors are slammed incessantly, the lights are always and that he sleeps on a mat without a pillow, KSTP reported. He also allegedly said an inmate next to him spreads feces, KSTP reported.
The judge agreed to push back Boelter’s hearing to July 3, according to KSTP. Boelter has not entered a plea.
Boelter is accused of shooting and killing the Hortmans at their home in Brooklyn Park and shooting and wounding Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their house in nearby Champlin in the early hours of June 14, authorities said.
Boelter, 57, allegedly showed up to their doors, impersonating a police officer and wearing a realistic-looking latex mask to carry out his “political assassinations,” prosecutors said.
Investigators recovered a list of about 45 elected officials in notebooks in his car, according to prosecutors. Two other lawmakers were spared the night of the shootings, officials said.
ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway and Brittany Shepherd contributed to this report.
(MINNESOTA) — Minnesotans are lining up at the state capitol on Friday to honor a slain lawmaker and her husband as their accused killer made a brief appearance in court.
Melissa Hortman is the first woman to lie in state, according to the Minnesota House of Representatives.
Next to the Hortmans was their golden retriever, Gilbert, who was wounded in the attack and later had to be euthanized, officials said.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and first lady Gwen Walz are among those paying their respects.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris will attend the couple’s private funeral on Saturday, according to a source familiar with Harris’ plans.
Harris spoke to the Hortmans’ two children, Sophie and Colin, in the last week “to express her deep condolences and offer her support,” the source said.
Meanwhile, the Hortmans’ alleged killer, Vance Boelter, who faces federal charges including stalking and state charges including first-degree murder, briefly appeared in federal court on Friday.
Boelter alleged the conditions in jail have kept him from sleeping for 12 to 14 days, according to Minneapolis ABC affiliate KSTP. Boelter claimed the doors are slammed incessantly, the lights are always and that he sleeps on a mat without a pillow, KSTP reported. He also allegedly said an inmate next to him spreads feces, KSTP reported.
The judge agreed to push back Boelter’s hearing to July 3, according to KSTP. Boelter has not entered a plea.
Boelter is accused of shooting and killing the Hortmans at their home in Brooklyn Park and shooting and wounding Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their house in nearby Champlin in the early hours of June 14, authorities said.
Boelter, 57, allegedly showed up to their doors, impersonating a police officer and wearing a realistic-looking latex mask to carry out his “political assassinations,” prosecutors said.
Investigators recovered a list of about 45 elected officials in notebooks in his car, according to prosecutors. Two other lawmakers were spared the night of the shootings, officials said.
ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway and Brittany Shepherd contributed to this report.
(MILWAUKEE) Two Milwaukee police officers were shot after responding to a call for a person with a weapon late Thursday, police said.
A suspect has been arrested in connection with the shooting on Friday morning, police said.
In what is being described as an “ambush,” officers were fired upon as they approached an alley, according to police.
A 32-year-old officer has been hospitalized in critical condition while a 29 year-old officer hospitalized with a non-life-threatening injury, police said.
The identity of the suspect has not been revealed by police, but officials said criminal charges will be presented to the Milwaukee district attorney’s office “in the upcoming days.”
“Thank you to our law enforcement partners who assisted us in taking the suspect into custody. As a start reminder, the Milwaukee Police Department will not tolerate harm to our community or our officers. Individuals inflicting harm against the public and our officers will be held accountable,” police said in a statement.
“It is with profound sorrow and outrage that we confirm that two Milwaukee police officers were tragically shot and critically injured in the line of duty tonight. Our thoughts are with these officers, their families, friends, and colleagues. These officers face unimaginable suffering and they have long roads ahead of them,” a statement from the Milwaukee Police Association said.
“This senseless act of violence has struck the very heart of our department and our community. We have reached a breaking point. Violence in our city is out of control, and those who protect our neighborhoods are increasingly in the crosshairs,” the statement continued. “We have had five officers killed in the line of duty over the past seven years and dozens of our officers have been shot and shot at while trying to serve our neighborhoods. Our officers wear the badge with pride and honor, but our officers need more leadership from the city to bring an end to this violence.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said in response to the shooting: “It’s a sad day. It’s a very sad day. Because no officer, no person in law enforcement should ever, ever be fired upon. For the person that shot at our police officer, I want you to know, you should turn yourself in. Know that the men and women on this police force, they are going to find you, they’re going to arrest you, and you’re going to be brought to justice anyway.”
ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.
(MOSCOW, Idaho) — In a series of final rulings ahead of Bryan Kohberger’s capital murder trial, Judge Steven Hippler said lawyers for the man who could be executed, if convicted, won’t be permitted to present to the jury the theory that some unknown person is the real killer.
The trial in the Idaho college killings case will begin Aug. 18, a week later than originally planned, a judge ruled Thursday.
With jury selection starting on Aug. 4, a series of final rulings has cleared the path for the trial of Bryan Kohberger as Judge Steven Hippler said lawyers for the man who could be executed, if convicted, won’t be permitted to present to the jury the theory that some unknown person is the real killer.
However, Kohberger’s defense will be allowed to press investigators on whether they followed up on all plausible leads enough, beyond simply pursuing Kohberger, the judge said.
“Nothing links these individuals to the homicides or otherwise gives rise to a reasonable inference that they committed the crime; indeed, it would take nothing short of rank speculation by the jury to make such a finding,” the judge said.
Kohberger’s lawyers had offered the judge, under seal, what they said were four other people who might have killed Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in an off-campus house on Nov. 13, 2022.
Kohberger’s attorneys — who insist he is innocent — did acknowledge that they didn’t have enough to pursue that strategy at the trial’s outset and wanted the judge to give them “latitude” in building that theory when they cross-examine the prosecution’s witnesses.
The judge rejected the proof they offered as paper-thin at best, and “entirely irrelevant.”
“At best, [Kohberger’s] offer of proof can give rise to only wild speculation that it is possible any one of these four individuals could have committed the crimes,” Judge Steven Hippler said, adding the defense can’t “merely offer up unsupported speculation that another person may have committed the crime, which is all [Kohberger] has done here.”
In his ruling, Hippler said allowing the defense to indulge that theory would risk leading the jury “astray” and waste their “precious time,” the judge said.
Kohberger’s defense previously suggested there could be someone else behind the killings, pointing to the other unidentified male DNA samples found in the crime scene area. But, the judge noted, each of the four people proffered as alternates had cooperated with authorities, provided their DNA and fingerprints and that forensics had already excluded their DNA from the samples taken from the crime scene and victims.
The fourth individual offered as an alternate had a “passing connection” to one of the victims, the judge said: he “noticed her shopping at a store approximately five weeks prior to the homicides.”
“He followed her briefly out the exit of the store while considering approaching her to talk. He turned away before ever speaking to her,” the judge said.
Hippler added that the event was “captured on a surveillance camera,” and that this man had cooperated with authorities. His DNA had already been excluded from those taken from the crime scene.
In another new filing just posted to the docket, Judge Hippler also denied the defense’s attempt to further delay the trial.
Kohberger “has not made a showing that there is good cause to continue the trial,” Hippler said.
Kohberger’s lawyers had pushed for another delay, citing a massive trove of records turned over by the prosecution in such a high-stakes case, the “inflammatory” media coverage potentially biasing the jury, and because they needed more time to prepare their case for sentencing, should he be convicted.
The judge itemized the extensive investigation that Kohberger’s lawyers had already done to prepare for a possible sentencing phase that show an “expansive understanding” of who the man is and the world he’s been living in.
The list includes his educational, medical and mental health records; his father’s military records; “multiple” interviews with Kohberger himself as well as family members, two of his fourth-grade teachers, his former boxing coach, and a psychologist who evaluated Kohberger in 2005; interviews with his former Masters’ degree professor/advisor; and letters and jail calls between Kohberger and his family.
There is also a lengthy redacted section discussing “speculation” Kohberger’s lawyers want to “chase down,” which the judge calls “unsupported suspicions” that “smacks of tactical gamesmanship and delay.”
If they were “truly struggling” to be ready for an August trial, they should have said so sooner, before all the deadlines had passed, the judge said. Kohberger’s lawyers have “robustly litigated” this case so far, amassed dozens of experts and other team members and filed numerous briefs.
The judge also said he doubted the national media attention on the case would decrease with a delay.
“Four college students in a small Idaho college town were brutally stabbed to death by an unknown perpetrator,” the judge said. “It was an immediate media sensation and garnered widespread attention that not only continues to persist, but continues to grow.”
(CHELAN COUNTY, Wash.) — It’s been nearly a month since Travis Decker went on the run after allegedly killing his three young daughters near a Washington state campground, and at least one expert told ABC News he believes the fugitive father is likely still alive and will “eventually surface.”
Paityn Decker, 9; Evenlyn Decker, 8; and Olivia Decker, 5, were killed after they left home for a “planned visitation” with Decker at approximately 5 p.m. on May 30, officials said. At approximately 3 p.m. on June 2, officials located the bodies of the three girls, and Decker’s vehicle, near the Rock Island Campground in Chelan County, Washington.
Nearly one month later, the manhunt for Decker, an Army veteran, continues.
On Monday, officials said that “there is no certain evidence that Decker remains alive” or in the surrounding area after “seemingly strong early leads gave way to less convincing proofs over the last two weeks of searching.”
“We can’t and won’t quit this search,” Kittitas County Sheriff Clay Myers said in a statement. “Paityn, Evelyn and Olivia Decker deserve justice. Decker remains a danger to the public as long as he’s at large.”
But Todd McGhee, a law enforcement and security analyst and former Massachusetts state trooper, told ABC News he believes Decker is alive, especially since canines have “not picked up on any type of cadaver or any type of presence of a deceased body.”
“Canines are trained to look for cadavers and sniff for those types of odors, so he’s still maybe on the move,” McGhee told ABC News.
McGhee said he believes Decker may have “slipped out of the U.S.,” escalating the search into an “international manhunt.” An affidavit previously revealed that Decker’s Google searches leading up to the murders included “how does a person move to Canada” and “how to relocate to Canada.”
Decker has likely been able to evade from law enforcement for so long due to his military training, which allows him to “navigate with limited resources in the wilderness,” McGhee said. Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison previously said Decker’s father revealed that his son had been known to go out and live “off the grid” for up to 2 and a 1/2 months.
Since he has managed to hide from officials for an extensive period of time, McGhee said Decker could have developed an escape plan, allowing him at least time to “process everything as far as turning himself in [and] standing trial.”
McGhee said Decker will likely “leverage every bit” of his military experience but said he believes he will “eventually surface.”
“He’ll eventually have to surface through seeking shelter, seeking food, nutrition — those types of things will require him to come out of hiding and, to some degree, expose himself to the general public,” McGhee said.
Regardless of where Decker may be, McGhee said he is “confident” the search efforts will lead to some form of closure.
“I’m confident that something should reveal itself as far as a resolution as to where his existence is and hopefully a capture and an arrest,” McGhee told ABC News.
What we know about the deaths of Paityn, Evelyn and Olivia Decker
On May 30, Decker picked up the girls, talked to his ex-wife, Whitney Decker, for about 15-20 minutes and then left, according to Arianna Cozart, Whitney Decker’s attorney. While Whitney Decker had full custody of the children, Travis Decker was granted visitations to see the children for three hours on Fridays and eight hours every other weekend, so long as he remained in Wenatchee Valley with the girls, Cozart told ABC News.
“He said, ‘Hey, I will see you at 8 [p.m.]’ and he left, and he never came back,” Cozart said.
Whitney Decker contacted police that evening with a civil complaint, saying she had not heard from Travis Decker and he had failed to bring the girls home at their scheduled time, officials said.
Detectives later learned Travis Decker and his daughters did not arrive at a “planned 5K running event” on Saturday. Officials believe that Decker traveled to the campground where the girls’ bodies were found on May 29 and returned the next day with his three children, according to court documents.
When the girls were reported missing, the investigation had not met Amber Alert criteria, officials said, but an Endangered Missing Persons Alert had been issued through the Washington State Patrol.
When the bodies of the girls were discovered, there were plastic bags over the heads of each one and their wrists were zip-tied, according to court documents obtained by ABC News.
Around Decker’s vehicle, deputies located zip ties and plastic bags “strewn throughout the area.” The tailgate of the truck had what appeared to be “two hand prints of blood,” according to court documents.
An autopsy determined the girls were suffocated, the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office said on June 9.
Decker’s mental health struggles, PTSD
Travis Decker had struggled with mental health issues, including PTSD, and was unable to access help through veterans’ resources, Cozart said.
“The courts didn’t fail these girls. It wasn’t the judge and it wasn’t Whitney; it was our system,” Cozart said. “[Whitney] feels like the system really let Travis down. If somebody would have provided Travis with the help that he needed, those girls would be alive.”
During a memorial service for the girls last weekend, Whitney Decker briefly spoke for the first time since her daughters’ deaths. She said the girls had “warm and open hearts.”
“I’m so thankful for the time that I had with the girls. I truly hope that the legacy of the girls’ lives lives in everyone’s hearts forever. They were incredible,” Whitney Decker said at the memorial on June 20.
Decker, who is described as 5 feet, 8 inches tall with black hair and brown eyes, was last seen wearing a light shirt and dark shorts, police said, and a new suspect flyer was released by authorities on June 16. He is currently wanted for three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of kidnapping, police said.
Officials said anyone who has any information on Decker or knows of his whereabouts should call 911 immediately.
(FORT WORTH, Texas) — A man was sentenced to 60 years in prison on Thursday for murdering a Texas college student in a random shooting in 2023.
Wes Smith, a 21-year-old junior at Texas Christian University, was shot multiple times outside a Fort Worth bar in September 2023, prosecutors said.
Matthew Purdy, 23, pleaded guilty to his murder during a hearing in Tarrant County on Thursday. A judge then sentenced him to 60 years, under the terms of a plea agreement.
Smith’s parents addressed the court during Thursday’s hearing.
“Your actions caused catastrophic, monumental mourning by thousands of people,” his father, Philip Smith, said while addressing the defendant, saying he believed Purdy has a “dark and ugly soul, if you have any soul at all.”
He remembered his son as a “beautiful human being” who had a great laugh and quick wit.
“He was a true leader of people,” Philip Smith said. “He was a gifted athlete. He was an honor student. He was a loved son. He was a cherished brother.”
His mother, Dorree Smith, remembered him as a “competitor to the core in a way that encouraged and brought out the best in everyone.”
“He thought being a mentor was so important, along with putting others before yourself and serving others however needed,” she said. “He wasn’t perfect, but he was striving for growth, building a foundation and leaving warmth and laughter in his wake.”
She said her son’s last evening was spent doing the two things he loved most — football and mentoring young athletes, while helping coach middle school students — before heading to a bar to meet up with friends.
He was helping women find safe rides home when he was shot, she said.
Addressing Purdy directly, she said, “You didn’t know Wes. You never met him. But in that moment, you made a devastating, evil choice. You decided you mattered more than he did. And you took Wes’ earthly life. And now Wes’ loss is not just a personal loss but a communal wound.”
The shooting occurred in Fort Worth’s West 7th entertainment district shortly after 1 a.m. local time on Sept. 1, 2023.
An officer patrolling the district heard gunshots and found Smith suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, according to the affidavit. Smith was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
The gunman hit another TCU student who was fleeing the scene in the back of the head with the gun, causing a laceration, according to the affidavit.
Purdy was arrested two blocks from the bar and admitted to shooting Smith three times for no discernible reason, according to the affidavit. He told police he didn’t shoot the other TCU student “because he ran out of bullets,” prosecutors said.
After being read his rights, Purdy agreed to provide a statement, in which he “admitted to approaching Wes, who he didn’t know and shooting him three times” in the stomach, shoulder and back of the head after he fell, the affidavit stated.
“Matthew could not provide a clear reason as to why he shot Wes,” the affidavit stated, noting that Purdy asked the victim if he knew his father, who was assaulted in the past in the area, before shooting him.
Purdy also pleaded guilty Thursday to aggravated assault for pistol-whipping the other TCU student and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In a police interview, he said he didn’t shoot her because he ran out of bullets.
He was additionally sentenced on eight other felony charges, for a total of 206 years in prison. The sentences will run concurrently, the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office said.
His trial had been scheduled to start in July. ABC News has reached out to his attorney for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
“On behalf of my children and myself, I want to express our deepest sympathies to the Hortman and Hoffman families,” Jenny Boelter said in a statement released by her attorneys on Thursday. “We are absolutely shocked, heartbroken and completely blindsided.”
“It is a betrayal of everything we hold true as tenets of our Christian faith,” she continued. “We are appalled and horrified by what occurred and our hearts are incredibly heavy for the victims of this unfathomable tragedy.”
When Vance Boelter allegedly fled the Hortmans’ home, sparking a massive manhunt, investigators recovered a list of about 45 elected officials in notebooks in his car, according to prosecutors. Two other lawmakers were spared the night of the shootings, officials said.
Jenny Boelter stressed in her statement that her family has cooperated with law enforcement from the start. She said when the authorities called her on the morning of June 14, she immediately drove to meet them.
“We voluntarily agreed to meet with them, answer their questions, provide all items they requested, and cooperate with all searches,” she said.
Hours after the shootings, Vance Boelter allegedly texted his family, “Dad went to war last night … I don’t wanna say more because I don’t want to implicate anybody,” according to an affidavit. He also allegedly texted his wife, “Words are not gonna explain how sorry I am for this situation … there’s gonna be some people coming to the house armed and trigger-happy and I don’t want you guys around.”
In a search of Jenny Boelter’s car, law enforcement recovered at least one gun, about $10,000 in cash and family passports, the affidavit said.
After a nearly 48 hour manhunt, Vance Boelter was apprehended without incident.
“We thank law enforcement for apprehending Vance and protecting others from further harm,” Jenny Boelter said at the conclusion of her statement.
Vance Boelter faces federal charges including stalking and state charges including first-degree murder. He has not entered a plea and is due in court on Friday for a preliminary hearing.
ABC News’ Christiane Cordero contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Relief from the extreme heat is moving in for some cities on Thursday, but more than 60 million people in the East are still on alert for dangerously high temperatures.
Meanwhile, severe storms with reported tornadoes are targeting the Southeast and the Midwest.
Here’s the latest:
Severe storms
In the Midwest and the Southeast, tornadoes were reported as severe storms struck Wednesday evening — and more storms are on the way.
Ten tornadoes were reported in southern Minnesota and one was reported in Wisconsin on Wednesday.
In Ranchero Village on Florida’s west coast, video captured the moment the strong winds lifted up a 76-year-old woman’s house.
The woman was home at the time but is OK, her daughter, Stephanie Glenn, told ABC News.
“I don’t know how she survived,” Glenn said. “She got thrown around and beat up pretty bad, but is OK.”
On Thursday, severe storms with a few tornadoes will be possible again in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, though the storms are expected to be less widespread than Wednesday’s.
The expansive area of high-pressure and heat will also bring scattered showers and thunderstorms from the Heartland to the East Coast, with some of the storms possibly being strong enough to produce some isolated damaging winds. Lightning will also be a concern.
On Friday, a new severe weather threat emerges in the Upper Midwest, with the highest threat stretching from northern Nebraska to South Dakota to North Dakota to Minnesota. Very large hail, damaging wind gusts, spotty flash flooding and a few brief tornadoes are possible.
Heat
More heat records were broken across the East Coast from Connecticut to South Carolina as the dayslong heat wave continued on Wednesday. New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport registered at a scorching 102 degrees for the second day in a row.
The peak of this record-breaking heat wave has now passed, but high temperatures are ongoing on Thursday from Mississippi to Michigan and from North Carolina to Pennsylvania.
The heat index — what temperature it feels like with humidity — is forecast to climb to 90 degrees in Philadelphia, 105 degrees in Washington, D.C., 100 in Atlanta, and 106 in Charleston, West Virginia, and Charlotte, North Carolina.
The heat index is cooling to a balmy 77 degrees in New York City and 66 degrees in Boston.
A few showers and storms, combined with the responsible area of high pressure beginning to weaken, will all help weaken the heat across the East heading into the weekend.
The heat does return next week for the East, but not at the same intensity as this week’s heat wave.
ABC News’ Naomi Vanderlip contributed to this report.
(GARY, Ind.) — Five people have been killed after a train hit their vehicle when the driver allegedly went around the crossing gate, authorities said.
The incident occurred near Highway 20 and Utah Street in Gary, Indiana, when a witness told Gary Police that the crossing gate for the oncoming South Shore train was down when the driver of the vehicle went around it to beat the train, according to ABC News’ Chicago Station WLS.
It appears the train may have also been damaged in the crash, according to WLS. South Shore service was temporarily suspended but is now up and running again Thursday morning, WLS said.
Authorities have not yet released the names of those involved in the crash and the investigation into the incident is currently ongoing.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Matt Stone/Boston Herald via MediaNews Group via Getty Images, FILE
(LOS ANGELES) — When Los Angeles Police Department officers went racing toward a potential kidnapping call downtown this week, callers indicated a true kidnapping was underway, according to police.
Police say the caller stated that several individuals were involved, but did not identify themselves.
Officers and an LAPD supervisor say they arrived on scene to find an agitated crowd as federal agents were taking part in an immigration enforcement arrest, which have been increasingly common in Los Angeles as the Trump administration has surged resources to the city in recent weeks.
The arrests prompted days of protests earlier this month, which saw both peaceful marches and violent clashes with law enforcement.
The alleged kidnapping, which happened Tuesday morning, has similarities to an incident earlier in June when federal agents, driving cars that appeared to be civilian vehicles, crashed into a car while making an immigration arrest, prompting calls to the LAPD of a hit-and-run accident. The agents left, with their apparent target in handcuffs, after the encounter and before police arrived.
LAPD traffic officers responded and investigated the case as a hit and run, not initially knowing it had been a federal immigration arrest.
The LAPD says federal agents do not notify the police department of planned enforcement activity in advance. The department is in the dark on when or where operations will unfold or what methods federal agents will use.
They say this is partly because the department has been prohibited from immigration enforcement in a policy that goes back to 1979. And now, California law prohibits police agencies from working with federal immigration agents.
During recent federal immigration operations, agents involved almost completely cover their faces with masks or other coverings to protect their identities. They also typically wear street clothing and professional sports team hats along with tactical vests that often don’t clearly identify which agency they are with, besides the words “Police” or “Federal Agent.” They don’t display any serial number, badge number or name to identify themselves.
The lack of transparency by federal agents has California lawmakers proposing legislation that would require most federal, state and local law enforcement operating in the state to wear uniforms of some kind, clearly show a badge, identifiable information and their faces would have to be uncovered.
“Law enforcement officers are public servants, and people should be able to see their faces, see who they are, know who they are,” said state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-Calif., when introducing the bill. “Otherwise, there is no transparency and no accountability.”
Wiener and the co-authors of his legislation are calling it the “No Secret Police Act.”
Lawmakers say the masks intimidate and the lack of any police uniforms and gear can make it unclear if the federal agents are even real law enforcement or are imposters posing as police to commit crimes or take advantage of the situation.
“What we have been seeing in the last few weeks are law enforcement — some local, some federal — who are wearing masks to completely hide their faces while they are carrying out deportation and other enforcement activities,” said Assembly Public Safety Committee Chair Jesse Arreguin, D-Oakland.
The legislation would, however, allow SWAT team members to cover their faces along with law enforcement who need to cover uniforms for wildfire gear and medical-grade masks over their faces if there is an airborne threat like smoke, a chemical agent or a virus.
In Tuesday’s potential kidnapping call, the LAPD says they found a woman partially handcuffed who moved toward officers and stood next to an LAPD patrol SUV. Police say that is when a federal agent approached and apprehended her. The LAPD says it was not involved in her detention or arrest. But officers moved onlookers out of the roadway and, like this month’s protests, were tasked with clearing the street and maintaining order and public safety.
But community activists allege local police allowed the “kidnapping” to go forward. “Guess who were protecting the kidnappers who were kidnapping our people? LAPD officers. They completely protected the ICE operation that kidnapped our people,” Ron Gochez, founder of the Los Angeles chapter of Union del Barrio, which has been reporting ICE sightings in real time on social media, told ABC News’ Los Angeles station KABC.
But the LAPD said it did not take part in the federal operation and will “not participate in or assist with civil immigration enforcement,” according to a police statement. Rather, the LAPD said its officers remained on scene to “de-escalate tensions, move pedestrians out of the roadway, and allow emergency vehicles safe passage.”
