Court pauses appeal of Trump’s classified documents case

(LOS ANGELES, Calif.) — Police and relatives are pleading with the public to help find the driver who struck and killed a father of three in a hit-and-run in Los Angeles.

Oscar Guardado was riding his bike home in south Los Angeles when he was hit by a car just before 10 p.m. on Oct. 27, the Los Angeles Police Department said.

The driver fled and Guardado, 42, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Investigators are now asking the public to help identify the suspect’s car, described by a witness as a dark, four-door sedan, LAPD Sgt. Gabriel Nily said at a news conference Monday.

There’s no video of the collision, Nily said, but video does show many witnesses were in the area at the time.

Guardado leaves behind a 19-year-old daughter, a 17-year-old son and a 14-year-old son.

“He was the best dad for us three in every way. He never gave up on us,” Guardado’s daughter, Angeles Guardado, who started a GoFundMe for the family, told ABC News on Tuesday. “We were always his first priority. And I just want people to know that he was a hard-working dad.”

“It hurts losing a parent. And honestly, I just want to know more information” about the hit-and-run, she said. “It hurt us seeing our own father in a casket. It hurt us to see that we won’t even be getting messages from our father saying that he loves us and to be careful.”

“I really want to know who the person was, and what was the reason,” she said.

Police announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to the driver’s arrest and prosecution.

“I’m just looking for justice,” Angeles Guardado said at the news conference.

“Please come clean,” she said.

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(NEW YORK) — Federal prosecutors on Tuesday announced criminal charges against an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps general in connection with an alleged failed attempt to assassinate a New York-based Iranian journalist.

Ruhollah Bazghandi, who is based in Iran and beyond the reach of law enforcement, allegedly orchestrated the alleged 2022 plot to kill the journalist, prosecutors said.

The charges name Bazghandi and six other Iranian operatives who federal prosecutors said plotted to kill Masih Alinejad, a prolific journalist and human rights activist who has been critical of the Iranian government.

Since at least July 2022, the Bazghandi network sought to assassinate Alinejad, as directed by individuals in Iran, according to the indictment.

The indictment details how the network of operatives surveilled Alinejad and quotes them talking about her in July 2022.

“I’m close to the place now brother I’m getting even closer,” the indictment quotes one operative as saying.

In response, another said, according to the indictment, “OK my brother dear don’t let her out of your sight. Let’s not delay it my brother dear.”

The operative — Khalid Mehdiyev — was disrupted when he was arrested near the victim’s home on July 28, 2022, while in possession of the assault rifle, along with 66 rounds of ammunition, approximately $1,100 in cash, and a black ski mask, according to the indictment.

Alinejad reacted to the federal charges in a statement on social media Tuesday, saying, “I will not be deterred.”

“Thanks to law enforcement, I am alive to witness the Islamic Republic’s humiliation,” she said. “I am determined to echo the voices of millions of Iranians, especially women, who are facing the same killers within the country.”

She said the alleged assassination plot is a “stark reminder of the brutal lengths to which the Islamic regime will go to silence dissidents, even those far beyond Iran’s borders.”

Alinejad said she has moved 21 times between safe houses in the past three years, following an alleged Iranian plot to lure and kidnap her in 2021.

The FBI released a wanted poster for Bazghandi, who is being sought on charges including murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire.

“Today’s indictment exposes the full extent of Iran’s plot to silence an American journalist for criticizing the Iranian regime,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement on Tuesday. “The FBI’s investigation led to the disruption of this plot as one of the conspirators was allegedly on their way to murder the victim in New York. As these charges show, the FBI will work with our partners here and abroad to hold accountable those who target Americans.”

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(NEW YORK) — The ghost gun allegedly in Luigi Mangione’s possession when he was arrested in Pennsylvania has been matched to three shell casings recovered at the scene of Brian Thompson’s murder in New York City, NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Wednesday.

Fingerprints recovered from a water bottle and a Kind bar near the crime scene have also been matched to Mangione, she said.

Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate, is accused of gunning down Thompson, the UnitedHealthcare CEO, outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel on Dec. 4.

Written on the shell casings were the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose,” according to police sources.

Mangione was apprehended in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday after nearly one week on the run.

Mangione allegedly had a spiral notebook detailing plans about how to eventually kill the CEO, according to law enforcement officials.

One passage allegedly said, “What do you do? You whack the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention,” the officials said.

The writings said using explosives in the attack could “risk innocents,” according to the officials.

Detectives are still examining Mangione’s writings but are considering the contents of the notebook to represent a confession, sources said.

Investigators have started interviewing members of Mangione’s family, according to sources.

A judge in Pennsylvania ordered Mangione held without bail on Tuesday. In Pennsylvania he faces charges including allegedly possessing an untraceable ghost gun.

Mangione plans to challenge his extradition to New York, where he faces charges including second-degree murder.

“He has constitutional rights and that’s what he’s doing” in challenging the interstate transfer, defense attorney Thomas Dickey told reporters on Tuesday.

Mangione is “taking it as well as he can,” Dickey added.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said it will seek a governor’s warrant to try to force Mangione’s extradition. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement that she’ll sign a request for the governor’s warrant “to ensure this individual is tried and held accountable.”

Mangione’s attorney told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” on Wednesday that anyone speculating on the case should take the potential evidence “in its entirety,” not taking pieces of writing or other evidence “out of context.”

“People put out certain things, parts of different things,” he said. “I think any lawyer involved in this situation would want to see it all.”

Mangione plans to plead not guilty to the charges in Pennsylvania, Dickey said. Dickey said he anticipates Mangione would also plead not guilty to the second-degree murder charge in New York.

ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik, Mark Crudele, Luke Barr, Peter Charalambous and Josh Margolin contributed to this report.

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