Crews still searching for flight reported missing on Thursday in Alaska
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(NOME, Alaska) — Crews in Nome, Alaska, are conducting search-and-rescue operations after a Bering Air caravan with 10 people aboard went missing, according to local authorities.
Bering Air Flight 445, a Cessna 208B, disappeared while flying from Unalakleet Airport to Nome Airport around 3:20 p.m. local time Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
“The aircraft was 12 miles offshore transiting from Unalakleet to Nome when its position was lost,” the U.S. Coast Guard Alaska maritime region said.
There were nine passengers and a pilot on board.
The Nome Volunteer Fire Department said in a Facebook post it was conducting an active ground search but that, due to weather and visibility, its crews were unable to search by air.
A National Guard C-130 reported it found nothing found so far. The Air Force also sent a C-130 to resume the search and also reported no visuals, and have one hour of flight search time remaining, according to an update early Friday morning.
The National Transportation Safety Board is aware of the reports and is monitoring situation, ABC News has learned.
ABC News’ Marilyn Heck contributed to this report.
Megan Piphus, a musician and the first Black female puppeteer on “Sesame Street,” and her pupper Mini lead vocal exercises during the recording of nonprofit Saving Our Daughters’ first album; ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Saving Our Daughters brought star power into the recording booth to help empower some young women working on the group’s first album.
The nonprofit, founded in 2014, is dedicated to supporting young girls of color in overcoming barriers. The girls, known as “Student Cinderellas,” are a part of the collaborative album called “Cinderella Sweep.”
They’re teamed with women of color from the entertainment industry who play the role of “Celebrity Godparents.” Saving Our Daughters recruited musician Megan Piphus, the first Black female puppeteer on “Sesame Street,” who wrote a song called “Stop Me Now” as she started work on her next children’s music project.
“After writing it, I immediately thought of the work that I’ve gotten to do with Saving Our Daughters,” she said. “And so, we then thought, what if we made this entire project for young girls, and then partnered with Saving Our Daughters to get the girls to actually be on the album.”
She noted that there were no women who looked like her doing puppetry when she started doing it as a 10-year-old, but she still drew inspiration from people she admired.
“Now I’m in a position to be able to mentor young girls and provide them a view, a representation of what it looks like for a girl of color to be in the entertainment industry, to be a producer, to be a singer,” she said.
Piphus also brought her puppet Mini to the session, adding an extra layer of fun to the girls’ vocal warmups.
“I want the girls to listen to this album and really think past any limits in their mind and dream beyond their wildest dreams,” Piphus said.
Saving Our Daughters also got Broadway actress Jasmine Forsberg, star of the musical “Six,” to join the group.
“Music is all about finding your voice,” Forsberg said. “It is a universal language, and it’s a beautiful opportunity for girls around the world to be able to come together and express themselves through song.”
She’s thankful for the “incredible artistic mentors” she had when she was a little girl.
“I always knew that when I grew up, I wanted to be able to pay that forward,” Forsberg said.
The initiative seemed to inspire some of the girls.
“My dream is to be a professional dancer or be a CEO of finance or beauty,” one said.
Another suggested she has multi-pronged ambitions.
“I want to be a singer, a doctor and a fashion designer when I grow up,” she said.
One appeared to want to follow in Forsberg’s footsteps.
“When I get older, I think maybe like a Broadway star, because they sing and sometimes also dance,” she said at the session.
Regardless of where their paths lead, Piphus is hopeful that this experience sticks with them.
“There’s so much memory, I think, involved in music, and so I’m hoping that the sound and the messaging is something that they will remember for a lifetime,” she said.
(NEW YORK) — The man accused of setting a woman on fire and killing her as she slept on a New York City subway car has been indicted on one count of murder in the first degree, three counts of murder in the second degree and arson in the first degree, the Brooklyn district attorney said on Friday.
Sebastian Zapeta, 33, waived his Friday appearance but must return to court on Jan. 7, when the indictment will be unsealed at his arraignment, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez told reporters he’s confident in the first-degree murder case against Zapeta and said he will do everything in his power to hold him responsible for his “malicious deed” against a “vulnerable woman.”
Gonzalez also thanked the grand jury for watching the graphic surveillance video of the woman’s death over the holidays.
“Some progress” has been made in identifying the victim, who was believed to be homeless, Gonzalez said.
“Advanced fingerprinting efforts is being made, as well as advanced DNA evidence,” he said.
Zapeta was arrested on Monday in connection with the Sunday morning subway attack. He made his first court appearance on Tuesday and was held without bail.
Around 7:30 a.m. Sunday, the victim was asleep on a stationary F train in Brooklyn when a man approached her and lit her clothes on fire with a lighter, police said.
Authorities do not believe the two knew each other and did not have a previous interaction, police said.
The suspect left the subway car after the incident, but images of him were captured on officers’ body cameras because the suspect stayed at the scene, sitting on a nearby bench, according to police. Those images were released as police requested the public’s assistance in identifying the man.
Three high school students recognized him and contacted police, authorities said.
Zapeta was taken into custody in a subway car at Manhattan’s Herald Square on Sunday evening. Police said he was found with a lighter in his pocket.
Zapeta is an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, according to a spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He told authorities he does not know what happened, but he identified himself in the surveillance images.
(NASHVILLE) — A teenager who opened fire with a 9 mm pistol in his Nashville high school cafeteria fired a total of 10 shots within 17 seconds of entering the room, according to police.
Solomon Henderson, 17, had gone into a bathroom and posted photos to social media just before he went to the cafeteria and opened fire, police said.
Henderson shot and killed 16-year-old Josselin Corea Escalante and shot and wounded a 17-year-old boy at Antioch High School around 11 a.m. Wednesday, according to police.
Henderson died in the cafeteria from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, police said.
The injured boy suffered a graze wound and was treated and released, police said.
Authorities are still investigating how Henderson obtained the pistol, Nashville police said Thursday.
The gun was purchased in Arizona in 2022 and was not reported stolen, police said.
No firearms or firearm parts were found during Wednesday’s search of Henderson’s home, according to authorities.
Authorities are now scouring Henderson’s writings and social media presence as they investigate his ideological influences.
A Pinterest account linked to Henderson features photos of past school shooters, including the shooters from Parkland, Florida, and Uvalde, Texas, a source told ABC News.
Henderson’s social media presence also shows he may have been in contact with 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, who carried out a shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, last month, according to law enforcement sources.
Rupnow, who went by Samantha, also died after the shooting, in which two were killed and several wounded. Rupnow’s account may have been following Henderson’s account at the time of the Wisconsin shooting in December, according to law enforcement sources.
It appears Henderson had two documents on “non-traditional websites, one 51 pages in length, the other 288 pages,” police said.
The 51-page document expressed violent white supremacist beliefs, sources told ABC News. He expressed self-hatred as a Black person, and he wrote of wishing violence on other Black people.
He also expressed violent hatred toward Jews and used antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories to express his views, according to the sources. Henderson appeared to support neo-Nazi accelerationist and violent incel beliefs and expressed a desire to see genocide committed against racial and religious minorities, according to sources.
He belonged to online communities that promote violence and extremism, sources said, and some people in those groups publicly identified Henderson as the school shooter long before his identity was confirmed by authorities.
ABC News’ Victoria Arancio contributed to this report.
