College student mysteriously dies after football tailgate in Texas, family says
Stock image of police lights. Douglas Sacha/Getty Images
(AUSTIN, Texas) — Police are investigating the mysterious death of a Texas A&M student who died after a football tailgate this weekend, according to authorities and her family.
Austin police said they responded to a report of an unresponsive individual at an apartment complex around 12:45 a.m. Saturday. Brianna Aguilera was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:57 a.m., police said.
“At this time, the incident is not being investigated as a homicide, and there are no indications of suspicious circumstances,” police said in a statement.
Her cause of death has not been released, police said, adding that the investigation is ongoing.
According to Aguilera’s family, she died after going to a tailgate for the Texas A&M vs. University of Texas football game in Austin on Friday.
“The details surrounding what happened [after the tailgate] remain unclear,” Aguilera’s family wrote on GoFundMe.
“Our hearts are shattered,” the family said on GoFundMe.
“She was pursuing her dream of becoming a lawyer and was attending The Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M,” the family said. “She was a year shy of attaining her Aggie ring.”
(NEW YORK) — A United Airlines flight diverted to Salt Lake City last week after an object struck the plane’s windshield at 36,000 feet, causing it to crack and injuring the pilot, according to the airline and officials.
Amid the mystery of what could have hit the plane’s windshield, on Monday night, WindBorne Systems, a long-duration smart weather balloon company, released a statement saying the object that hit and cracked United flight’s windshield may have been a weather balloon from the company.
The company said it is working with FAA and the NTSB on the investigation.
“We are working closely with the FAA on this matter. We immediately rolled out changes to minimize time spent between 30,000 and 40,000 feet. These changes are already live with immediate effect. Additionally, we are further accelerating our plans to use live flight data to autonomously avoid planes, even if the planes are at a non-standard altitude. We are also actively working on new hardware designs to further reduce impact force magnitude and concentration,” WindBorne said in a statement.
The windshield is being transported to the National Transportation Safety Board’s laboratory as the investigation continues.
Data from flight tracking website Flight Radar24 shows the plane was 36,000 feet in the air when an object hit the windshield. The flight then descended to a lower altitude, following standard protocol, before making an emergency landing at Utah’s Salt Lake City International Airport.
“This is an extraordinary situation in terms of the glass being able to create any damage at all to the people in the cockpit, and what it might have hit at 36,000 feet. That’s really the great puzzle,” said ABC News aviation analyst John Nance.
Aircraft windshields are designed with multiple layers to be able to sustain damage caused by things like a bird strike, weather or even debris, but experts say it’s rare for it to be a bird strike that high in the sky.
“You’re talking about a bird at that altitude. It’s very, very rare to say the least, you’re talking about maybe a drone, a weather balloon, anything of that nature that has enough mass to be able to cause this kind of shattering,” said Nance.
United Airlines said the Boeing 737-MAX 8 with 134 passengers landed safely in Utah “to address damage to its multilayered windshield.” Officials said the pilot was treated for minor injuries.
Heather Ramsey, a college student and a passenger onboard, said she first noticed something was weird about 50 minutes into the flight, even before any announcements, when she overheard one of the flight attendants sharply raising her voice and telling the other to stop the service and get to the back of the cabin.
Shortly after, Ramsey said the pilot made an announcement of the flight diverting.
“The aircraft has collided with an object and a window in the cockpit has shattered, so we need to make an emergency landing in Salt Lake City,” Ramsey told ABC News, recalling the pilot’s message.
The images of the cracked windshield were first shared on social media by aviation account JonNYC.
The airline said passengers were accommodated on another aircraft to Los Angeles later that day and United is working with its team to return the plane to service.
Mohammad Alokozay is shown in this Nov. 25 2025, booking photo. Tarrant County Corrections Center
(FORT WORTH, Texas) — Homeland Security said investigators arrested an Afghan national who allegedly made a social media post about “building a bomb” and threatened to blow up a building in Fort Worth, Texas.
Mohammad Dawood Alokozay’s arrest took place on Nov. 25, Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary with DHS, said in a social media post Saturday.
Alokozay was arrested on state terror charges and is being held at a corrections center in Tarrant County, Texas, according to court records. He was hit with federal charges of transmitting a threatening communication in interstate commerce.
After his arrest one week ago, Alokozay confirmed to investigators that he made the statements in the video and that he deleted his TikTok account after being contacted by people who had seen his comments shared on social media, according to the criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday.
“He concluded that he was not afraid of deportation or getting killed,” prosecutors said in their criminal complaint. “When asked why Alokozay came to the United States, he responded that it was to kill the others on the call. Alokozay stated he wanted to conduct a suicide attack on Americans, too.”
It is not immediately clear when Alokozay will make his first appearance in federal court.
Alokozay’s arrest came just a day before two National Guard members were allegedly shot by another Afghan national — 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal– in Washington, D.C.
One of the Guard members, U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, later died from her injuries. Lakanwal is now facing a first-degree murder charge.
McLaughlin alleged in an X post that Alokozay “posted a video of himself on TikTok indicating he was building a bomb with an intended target of the Fort Worth area.”
“He was arrested on Tuesday by the Texas Department of Public Safety and FBI JTTF and charged with making Terroristic Threats,” she added.
Attorney information for Alokozay was not immediately available.
McLaughlin said Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged a retainer for Alokozay.
-ABC News’ Jenna Harrison contributed to this report.
Trump International Golf Club on September 15, 2024 after apparent assassination attempt. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Closing arguments are scheduled Tuesday in the trial of Ryan Routh, who stands accused of trying to assassinate Donald Trump on Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course last year.
Routh, who is representing himself despite lacking any legal education or experience, was cut off multiple times by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon while presenting his defense case Monday.
Cannon ended the day with a warning for Ryan Routh ahead of closings.
“Any argument you make … must be reasonably tied to the admitted evidence. Do you understand?” the judge asked Routh, saying that any deviation will “cause a problem.”
“Yes, your honor,” Routh said.
“This cannot be your opportunity to provide pseudo testimony outside the context of the sworn testimony,” Cannon said.
Each side has been allotted one hour and 45 minutes for their closing arguments.
Deliberations will begin immediately after the closings end, said Cannon, who instructed the jury about the law on Monday afternoon.
“I want to remind you that if the defendant spoke in those parts of the trial, he was acting as a lawyer in the case, and his words are not evidence. The only evidence in this case comes from witnesses who testify under oath on the witness stand and from exhibits that are admitted,” Cannon told the jury.
Prosecutors allege that Routh put together a methodical plan — including purchasing a military-grade weapon, researching Trump’s movements, and utilizing a dozen burner phones — to kill Trump based on political grievances.
Hiding in the bushes of Trump’s Palm Beach golf course and armed with a rifle, Routh allegedly came within a few hundred yards of the then-presidential nominee before a Secret Service agent spotted his rifle poking out of the tree line.
Routh allegedly fled the scene but was later arrested by a local sheriff’s office on a nearby interstate.
To convict on the top count of attempted assassination of a presidential candidate, jurors might believe beyond a reasonable doubt that Routh intended to kill Trump and took a “substantial step” to carry out his plan, even if he did not follow through or changed his mind.
“Each of you must decide the case for yourself, but only after fully considering the evidence with the other jurors,” she told the jury. “Remember that, in a very real way, you are judges — judges of the facts. Your only interest is to seek the truth from the evidence in the case.”
Routh faces five criminal charges, including attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, using a firearm in furtherance of a crime, assaulting a federal officer, possessing a firearm as a felon, and using a gun with a defaced serial number.
