National

5 dead in small plane crash south of Austin, officials say

Cessna Golden Eagle (Francois Joseph Berger / 500px/Getty)

(WIMBERLEY, Texas) — Five people were killed in a plane crash in Texas on Thursday night, investigators said.

Hayes County Judge Ruben Becerra said first responders received a call around 11:00 p.m. local time about a plane down in the area of Wimberley, which is roughly 30 miles southwest of Austin.

Fire and EMS crews found the downed Cessna 421C, along with the bodies of the five deceased passengers. Their identities were not immediately released.

Stacey Rohr lives in a house close to the crash site and told local reporters, including one from ABC affiliate KVUE, Friday morning that the crash rattled the neighborhood.

“It felt like an earthquake,” she said.

Although a cause of the crash was not immediately determined, investigators said preliminary information shows that there was no midair collision.

“Preliminary information indicates the aircraft was traveling at a high rate of speed at the time of impact,” Becerra said in a statement.

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board will take over the investigation, according to the judge.

The NTSB said in a statement that the Cessna was destroyed in a post-impact fire. An investigator is on the way to the scene, according to the agency.

Preliminary flight data obtained by ABC News found that the plane took off from Amarillo, Texas, which is about 420 miles northwest of the crash area, and was in the air for almost two hours before it crashed.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

National

‘Pit crew’ car thieves arrested following over 250 Bronx heists: New York investigators

More than a dozen thieves stole more than 250 cars and a million dollars’ worth of auto parts throughout the Bronx, according to the NYPD and the Bronx district attorney’s office. (Bronx DA/NYPD)

(NEW YORK) — An alleged group of car thieves who worked fast and furious at night to steal over 250 cars and auto parts in the Bronx were arrested and charged Friday, investigators said.

The Bronx District Attorney’s office indicted 16 alleged members of the Trinitarios street gang in a nearly 1,000-count indictment with grand larceny, auto stripping, and other offenses. Nine of the 16 were arrested as of Friday morning, according to the DA’s office.

The suspects would allegedly lift the target car and use power tools to remove all four tires and rims off within minutes, according to the NYPD and DA.

“These defendants allegedly worked as fast as a racetrack pit crew in the dead of night, stealing cars, tires and rims and catalytic converters worth more than $1 million on the black market,” Bronx DA Darcel Clark said.

Many of the thefts, as many as six per night, were caught on video showing a three-person crew exiting a stolen car, fully masked, with gloves, a car jack and milk crates, investigators said.

“All across the Bronx, people heading to work or school in the morning found their cars propped on crates, or an empty parking space, leaving them stranded and financially strained, the DA said.

The suspects allegedly used public parking garages throughout the Bronx to store the stolen vehicles before and after the thefts, which occurred between midnight and 5 a.m., according to the police.

Other defendants bought the stolen catalytic converters and then sold them on the black market, the indictment said. In one defendant’s home, police said they found a suitcase with $116,000 in cash.

Attorney information for the suspects was not immediately available.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

National

5 dead in small plane crash south of Austin, county official says

Cessna Golden Eagle (Francois Joseph Berger / 500px/Getty)

(WIMBERLEY, Texas) — Five people were killed in a plane crash in Texas on Thursday night, investigators said.

Hayes County Judge Ruben Becerra said first responders received a call around 11:00 p.m. local time of a plane down in the area of Wimberley, which is roughly 30 miles southwest of Austin.

Fire and EMS crews found the downed Cessna 421C, along with the bodies of the five deceased passengers. Their identities were not immediately released.

Although a cause of the crash was not immediately determined, investigators said preliminary information shows that there was no midair collision.

“Preliminary information indicates the aircraft was traveling at a high rate of speed at the time of impact,” Becerra said in a statement.

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board will take over the investigation, according to the judge.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

National

TikTok antagonist allegedly stabs 17-year-old to death on New York City street: Police

TikTok logo is displayed on a mobile phone screen for illustration photo. Krakow, Poland. On April, 20th, 2026. (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

(NEW YORK) — An alleged TikTok antagonist is accused of stabbing a 17-year-old to death outside his New York City apartment building, authorities said.

Andrew Tollinche, 22, has been charged with murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon in connection with the killing outside his Bronx home on Wednesday, according to New York City police.

Detectives had been looking for Tollinche after determining the stabbing stemmed from his posts on TikTok. Tollinche allegedly antagonizes people on the social media platform, and neighborhood teens have recently been gathering outside his home, knocking on his door and calling him out, according to police.

The victim, Jonathan Melo, who has no criminal record, was part of a group that went to the suspect’s apartment building, according to police. The interaction turned sour, and Tollinche went inside to grab a knife, came outside and allegedly stabbed the 17-year-old in the back, police said.

Melo was rushed to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, officials said.

Tollinche has a prior unsealed arrest for allegedly raping a minor in 2025, according to records. He has other prior interactions with police, some of them stemming from social media posts.

Tollinche is due in court on Friday. It was not immediately clear whether he had a lawyer.  

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

National

2 employees fatally shot in Kentucky bank robbery, person of interest in custody: Police

Kentucky State Police released this image of the suspect in a bank robbery in Berea, Kentucky, on April 30, 2026. (Kentucky State Police)

(BEREA, Ky.) — A person of interest is in custody Friday morning after a masked man shot and killed two employees during a bank robbery in central Kentucky Thursday afternoon, according to Kentucky State Police.

Police said Friday that the person of interest is “believed to be involved,” but did not immediately release more information.

The suspect entered the U.S. Bank in Berea around 2 p.m. before shooting two employees and fleeing, state police Trooper Scottie Pennington told reporters Thursday.

“We understand the citizens of Berea and in Madison County, they’re scared right now, and we’re scared for them,” Pennington said. “We want to do our best to find this person and bring him to justice.”

The suspect was described as about 6 foot, 3 inches tall, wearing a light-colored hooded sweatshirt, dark gloves, gray pants and light-colored athletic shoes, according to state police.

Pennington said authorities are not sharing if the suspect took anything with him from the bank and weren’t sure if the suspect fled on foot or in a vehicle. Residents should remain vigilant, keep their doors locked and call police if they see anything suspicious, Pennington said.

“Keep a porch light on,” he said.

“We don’t want this to lead to more victims,” Pennington said. “We hope he just turns himself in.”

In a message directly to the suspect, Pennington said: “You’re in a lot of trouble — a lot of trouble — but just turn yourself in before anyone else gets hurt.”

U.S. Bank said in a statement, “Our hearts go out to the families of the victims, our colleagues and the entire Berea community. We are committed to supporting the victims’ families and our colleagues. And we will continue to work closely with law enforcement on this active investigation.”

Berea, a city of more than 16,000 people, is roughly 40 miles south of Lexington.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

National

After soldier allegedly wins $400,000 betting on Maduro’s capture, Polymarket says it’s tightening security

In this photo illustration, a PolyMarket logo is seen displayed on a smartphone with stock market percentages on the background. (Photo Illustration by Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

(NEW YORK) — One week after a special forces soldier was indicted on charges of using classified information to wager on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, the prediction market Polymarket announced it is increasing its internal monitoring of trades. 

Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke, who prosecutors say helped plan and execute the raid on Maduro’s Caracas compound, allegedly made more than $400,000 on Polymarket by using insider knowledge to place 13 bets on the outcome of the operation.

On Thursday, Polymarket announced that it had tapped a blockchain data company to continually monitor the platform for suspicious trades. 

Polymarket and analytics firm Chainalysis said they are working together on a “first-of-its-kind” system to enforce the Polymarket’s market integrity rules by monitoring transactions on-chain — referring to the platform’s public disclosure of transaction data.

“Polymarket was built on-chain because transparency matters, and our platform shows what markets can look like when trades are open, traceable, and accountable by design,” Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan said in a statement.

Through the partnership, the company is looking to confront the longstanding challenge of insider trading by leaning into a decentralized solution based on the public blockchain — essentially a distributed database — on which it can follow the tracks of every trade based on data that’s permanently stored and sealed with unique identifier. 

Chainalysis says they will use their technology to quickly provide law enforcement with “blockchain-verified evidence” to proactively identify threats. 

While Polymarket already had a monitoring system for insider trading, both companies say the new partnership will help them quickly identify patterns that suggest an trader with insider knowledge is placing bets.

“With this collaboration, on-chain markets have the potential to be the most trustworthy markets for understanding world events,” Chainalysis CEO Jonathan Levin. 

Online sleuths have been successful in flagging suspicious trades such as the bet that prosecutors say Van Dyke placed on Maduro’s capture. Posts about the suspicious wager began appearing online within hours of the trade, and prosecutors then took about four months to build their case. 

Van Dyke pleaded not guilty to all charges Tuesday in Manhattan federal court and was released on bond.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

National

Iran will be at the World Cup and will play in the US, FIFA boss says

Gianni Infantino, President of FIFA, speaks during the 76th FIFA Congress on April 30, 2026, in Vancouver, British Columbia. (Photo by Rich Lam – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

(NEW YORK) — Iran will be participating in the 2026 World Cup and will play in the United States, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in remarks Thursday.

“Of course Iran will play in the United States of America,” he said. “And the reason for that is very simple, dear friends, it’s because we have to unite.”

He added, “We have to bring people together. It is my responsibility, it is our responsibility. Football unites the world, FIFA unites the world, you unite the world, we unite the world.”

Iran said last month it would not participate in the global sporting event amid the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. A ceasefire has been in place since April 7.

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

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

National

Camp Mystic says it won’t reopen Texas camp this summer

Debris is piled up at the entrance to Camp Mystic on July 07, 2025 in Hunt, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

(KERR COUNTY, Texas) — Camp Mystic announced that it will not be reopening for the summer amid ongoing investigations into deadly flooding that killed 25 girls and two teen counselors last year.

The camp said it informed the Texas Department of State Health Services on Thursday that it is withdrawing its application for a summer 2026 camp license.

“No administrative process or summer season should move forward while families continue to grieve, while investigations continue and while so many Texans still carry the pain of last July’s tragedy,” Camp Mystic said in a statement.

The Christian all-girls sleepaway camp said it is choosing to withdraw its application for its Cypress Lake location “rather than risk defending our rights under Texas law in a manner that may unintentionally effect further harm.”

Twenty-five campers and two teen counselors died during a devastating Fourth of July flash flood last summer, after rapidly rising waters inundated cabins at the camp’s location along the Guadalupe River. The director of the camp also died.

Camp Mystic said it had planned to welcome more than 800 girls to its Cypress Lake location, which did not experience any fatalities, this summer, before withdrawing its application.

“This decision is intended to remove any doubt that Camp Mystic has heard the concerns expressed by grieving families, members of the Texas House and Senate investigating committees and citizens across our state. Respect for those voices requires that we step back now,” the camp said.

The camp said it will “continue to fully cooperate with all ongoing investigations, comply with every lawful requirement and continue supporting recovery and healing efforts.”

Families of the flood victims and some officials, including Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, had called on the Texas Department of State Health Services to block Camp Mystic’s license for the summer. Patrick said the camp shouldn’t reopen until the flood was fully investigated and any necessary corrective actions were taken.

The license withdrawal comes after the Texas Department of State Health Services notified Camp Mystic last week of nearly two dozen deficiencies in the emergency plan in its license application.

The department said that all camps that had submitted an emergency plan had received a deficiency letter due to statutory changes and increased emergency plan requirements enacted in the wake of the deadly flooding at Camp Mystic.

The tragedy was the focus of an emotional two-day hearing before Texas lawmakers earlier this week. A Houston attorney hired by the state legislature to investigate the deadly flood presented a review based on interviews with approximately 150 people, including campers, counselors, the camp’s owners and the victims’ families.

The attorney, Casey Garrett, said there was inadequate training or drills for counselors and campers regarding a flood threat.

The Texas Rangers have also opened a criminal investigation of Camp Mystic, according to Patrick.

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

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

National

‘Devastating sadness’: Teen asylum seeker who lost brother remains in ICE detention

Immigrant woman and children walk across a field as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Enforcement and Removal Operations hosts a media tour at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, TX. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

(DILLEY, Texas) — Olivia Mabiala Andre made her youngest brother, Manuel, a promise.

“We’re going to go to the United States and we’re going to get you a bike,” the 19-year-old said she told him.

The promise of the bike for her brother and stability for her entire family of five, Andre said, kept them focused on their plan to travel from their home country of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, through South America and toward the United States. But three days into their journey, Manuel drowned while crossing a river in Colombia.

“He was the happiness of my house. He was the cutest boy you can imagine, he was our sunshine,” Andre said, speaking to ABC News from detention at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas.

Now more than three years after reaching the U.S., Andre and her family are facing deportation to their home country after the U.S. federal government denied their asylum request.

Andre, who was studying to be a nurse, has been detained since November 2025 and was only briefly reunited with her family. She says it is taking a toll.

According to a habeas petition, an independent expert confirmed Andrew “meets the diagnostic criteria for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder” and “has repeatedly expressed suicidal ideation.” Andre also displayed depression symptoms, the court filing claimed.

Their case is receiving national attention, with lawmakers and prominent figures like children’s educator and YouTube star Ms. Rachel calling for Andre’s release.

“It doesn’t make sense to hold this caring, wonderful person who wants to be a nurse who’s been through so much trauma. It’s just cruel to hold her there, especially while she’s having a mental health crisis, and she’s having suicidal thoughts,” said Ms. Rachel,  whose real name is Rachel Anne Accurso, in an interview Thursday with ABC’s Diane Macedo.

Accurso says she has been keeping in touch with Andre while she remains detained.

“She’s overflowing compassion and faith and strength and it was a privilege to talk with her. I was so in awe of her,” Accurso said.

Attorneys representing the Andre family tell ABC News they fled their home country after Andre’s mother says she faced direct threats by high-level government officials.

“Her mother has suffered brutal abuse and torture, which led both her mother and her family to need to flee for their lives. They took a difficult journey to the United States, and along the way, Olivia witnessed her eight year old brother who she loved so much, drown on the journey, and it has caused devastating sadness for Olivia, her mother and her two siblings,” their attorney Elora Mukherjee said.

According to court documents, the Andre family entered the U.S. in December 2022 and applied for asylum, settling in Portland, Maine. An immigration judge denied their asylum petition, in part, because they believed they couldn’t provide enough corroborating evidence to support their claim and ordered them deported in February 2025.

The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) later affirmed the immigration judge’s decision, finding that her mother could not provide enough corroborating evidence to support her petition, the documents state.

Todd Pomerleau, who is now representing the family’s asylum case in immigration court, says a language barrier and interpretation issues contributed to the asylum claim being denied.

Days after the BIA denied the family’s appeal, Mukherjee said they attempted to cross into Canada to seek asylum there, but were prevented from doing so, because of a treaty between the two countries called the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement. The treaty prevents some immigrants from seeking asylum in Canada if they’ve been denied a U.S. claim.

“Olivia and her family were desperate in their search for safety, because they know they cannot return to the Democratic Republic of Congo, they’re going to be killed there,” Mukherjee said.

Transfer to Dilley Detention Center

After being transferred to the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials on Nov. 12, 2025, Andre said she was detained apart from the rest of her family, the habeas petition says.

“They just took them away and put me on a different plane,” Andre said.

According to Andre, she was sent to four different facilities over the course of the following two weeks. She said she would ask personnel at the facility where her family was, but claims she never received an answer.

Andre was then sent to the immigration facility in Dilley, but said she did not know where the rest of her family was being held.

Two weeks later, Andre said she and a friend she made at the detention center were walking to the library when she heard her name being called. Her friend encouraged her to see a counselor at the facility who later determined that the rest of the family was also being held there. They were finally reunited, but held in different sections of the facility, according to her attorneys.

Andre’s mother and two siblings were held in areas reserved for family units, while Andre was held with other single adult women, the attorneys said.

Andre said she later found out that her sister would yell her name out into the yard of the facility every day since being detained in hopes that she would end up at the same facility and hear her.

Andre and her family are now challenging their asylum claim denial. In February, the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals barred the Trump administration from deporting the family until they rule on the case, which could take several months.

Mukherjee filed a request to temporarily release the family while the court case continues. In March, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released Andre’s mother and siblings, but she remains in detention.

Spotlight on the family’s case

Andre’s supporters highlight her accomplishments in the more than three years since coming to the U.S.

According to court documents, Andre graduated from high school in one and a half years. She completed a rigorous training program to become a certified nursing assistant and was in college studying to become a nurse at the time she was detained. She knows multiple languages, which she says can help her treat people from all over the world.

The loss of her brother inspired her to get into the medical field, Andre said.

“When I lost my brother, I was, like, I have to work and do something to help people,” she said.

To date, her attorneys say they have not received a formal reason for why she remains detained despite the government being prohibited from deporting her while her case unfolds in court.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told ABC News the Andre family has “received full due process” and the government will continue trying to deport the family.

“The facts are Olivia Mabiala Andre is an adult illegal alien with a final order of removal and no right to remain in the U.S. If we encounter illegal aliens who should have been detained but were instead released into the country by the Biden administration, we will detain them. The Trump administration is not going to ignore the rule of law,” the spokesperson said.

At times, Andre worries that she’ll be deported back to the Congo and what that would do to her mother.

“She already lost one child, she cannot lose another one,” she said. 

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

National

White House correspondents’ suspect Cole Allen will stay in custody, Pirro says he fired shotgun

A man named Cole Allen, who appears to be the same person as the suspect in the shooting incident at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington, D.C., April 25, 2026, is interviewed by KABC in Los Angeles in March 2017. (KABC)

(WASHINGTON) — Cole Allen, the suspect in the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner shooting, conceded to remain detained pending further legal proceedings in his case, his attorney said at his detention hearing on Thursday.

Allen, dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit, appeared calm and did not speak during the hearing.

Allen, 31, faces three felony counts of attempted assassination of the President of the United States, transportation of a firearm and ammunition over state lines with the intent to commit a felony and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence. He has not entered a plea and is set to return to court on May 11.

The California native — who was carrying a shotgun, a pistol and knives — was tackled by law enforcement after Saturday night’s gunfire inside the Washington, D.C., Hilton hotel, where thousands of journalists as well as President Donald Trump and members of his Cabinet were gathered for the annual dinner. Allen did not reach the ballroom, where the dinner was underway. A Secret Service member was shot during the incident, but the bullet hit the agent’s protective vest, officials said.

In an overnight court filing, Allen’s attorneys questioned what evidence the government has to determine Allen fired his weapon.

According to U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro, “We know [Allen] fired off that 12-gauge shotgun one time.”

“The cartridge was still in the weapon. He fired that gun in the direction of the Secret Service officer,” Pirro told Fox News on Thursday. “The Secret Service officer fired his weapon five times and we know that based on the number of bullets that were left in the weapon.”

The Secret Service agent did not shoot himself, she said.

“We’re waiting for the official ballistics test, but at the same time we filed papers in court this morning for the detention hearing today indicating that this defendant was calculated, he was premeditated and he had every intention of killing the president and anyone who got in his way,” she said. 

Pirro said Allen will face additional charges. She also said investigators are searching for anyone he might’ve threatened by name.

Allen’s court appearance came a day after federal prosecutors filed a detention memo, supporting their request for a judge to hold the defendant in custody pending trial.

“The defendant attempted to kill the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. The crimes with which the defendant is charged are among the most serious in the United States Code, and the evidence of his guilt is overwhelming,” prosecutors wrote.

Under what prosecutors titled in court records as “The Defendant’s Assassination Plan,” prosecutors cited his writings in which he allegedly laid out his plan to target top members of the Trump administration, according to the memo. 

The suspect also sent a prescheduled email to his employer minutes before launching the attack, in which he allegedly apologized for his “unprofessionality [sic],” according to a pretrial detention memo prosecutors filed in federal court on Wednesday.

“Consider me to be submitting my resignation effective immediately (if it matters.),” Cole allegedly wrote in the email, according to the memo.

The tutoring company C2 Education, where Allen purportedly worked, said they are cooperating “fully” with law enforcement and denounced the “horrifying incident” at the correspondents’ Dinner, but omitted details of Allen’s work history. 

“We were shocked to hear the news of the horrifying incident that transpired at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” the tutoring company said in a statement on Sunday. “We are cooperating fully with law enforcement to assist them in their investigation. Violence of any kind is never the answer.”

ABC News’ Luke Barr and Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.