DC sandwich thrower’s misdemeanor assault case nears closing arguments
FBI and Border Patrol officers speak with Sean Charles Dunn, after he allegedly assaulted law enforcement with a sandwich, along the U Street corridor during a federal law enforcement deployment to the nation’s capital on Aug. 10, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Leyden/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The man accused of throwing a sandwich at a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent in Washington, D.C., waived his right to testify in court Wednesday, ahead of closing arguments in his ongoing misdemeanor assault case.
Sean Charles Dunn, a former Department of Justice staffer, was charged with a misdemeanor after a grand jury failed to indict him on a more serious felony assault charge.
Both sides are expected to deliver closing arguments later today in the case that first went viral during the federal surge of law enforcement in D.C.
Dunn was caught on camera throwing a Subway sandwich at a Border Patrol agent in August.
According to the earlier felony criminal complaint, Dunn allegedly approached the officer while shouting “f— you! You f—— fascists! Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!”
After several minutes of confrontation, Dunn allegedly threw the sandwich, striking the officer in the chest, the complaint says.
His sudden launch into the public spotlight inspired a groundswell of attention to his case in the early days of the surge.
The court will resume this afternoon for closing arguments.
-ABC News’ Alex Mallin contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
(MINNEAPOLIS) — An 8-year-old and 10-year-old were shot and killed when a gunman fired shots through the windows of a church at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on Wednesday morning, police said.
Seventeen others, including 14 children, were injured during the shooting during a Mass that marked the first week of school, police said. Two children are in critical condition, police said.
The gunman died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said.
The mass shooting unfolded just before 8:30 a.m. when the gunman approached the side of the building and fired a rifle through the church windows toward the children and other worshippers sitting in the pews, O’Hara said.
Dozens of rounds were fired, the chief said, and he called it a “deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshipping.”
The gunman — described as in his early 20s — was armed with a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, and police believe he fired from all three weapons, the chief said.
“We are looking through information left behind to try and determine some type of motive,” the chief said.
“These kids were literally praying,” an emotional Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said at a news conference. “It was the first week of school. They were in a church. These are kids that should be learning with their friends, they should be playing on the playground. They should be able to go to school or church in peace without the fear or risk of violence, and their parents should have the same kind of assurance.”
“This kind of act of evil should never happen, and it happens far too often,” he said.
Students in pre-K to eighth grade attend the school. Young children wearing their uniforms were seen leaving the school holding their parents’ hands.
“I’m praying for our kids and teachers whose first week of school was marred by this horrific act of violence,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz wrote on social media.
Brian Leege, who lives two blocks from the school, told ABC News he was having breakfast with his daughter when he heard dozens of gunshots over two to three minutes.
“My husband’s a firefighter, and he got a phone call this morning [that] said that there was a incident at Annunciation, and that’s where my niece and nephew go to school … so he just took off on foot,” Emily Feste told Minneapolis ABC affiliate KSTP. “We heard about 15 minutes ago that they’re safe. But it’s so awful and it’s so scary.”
President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that he’s been “fully briefed on the tragic shooting.”
“The White House will continue to monitor this terrible situation. Please join me in praying for everyone involved!” he wrote.
Trump called Walz after the shooting to offer his condolences, a source told ABC News.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Pierre Thomas, Jack Date, Luke Barr, Aaron Katersky, Sasha Pezenik and Michael Pappano contributed to this report.
(CHARLOTTE COUNTY, N.C.) — A teenager from North Carolina has been missing for nearly a week after vacationing in Florida and trying to reconnect with relatives, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office said.
Giovanni Pelletier, an 18-year-old who is described as “smart, kind and full of life,” disappeared early last Friday “under deeply troubling and suspicious circumstances,” according to the family’s GoFundMe page.
Pelletier was visiting Englewood, Florida, with his mother and her fiance and wanted to reconnect with relatives from his biological father’s family, his aunt, Desiree Pelletier, told ABC News. While he was unable to see his father, who is incarcerated, he made plans to see three of his cousins on that side of the family, his aunt said.
With only a few days left in his vacation, Pelletier’s cousins picked him up at approximately 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 1 to take him on the three-hour drive to their house in Mims, Florida, his aunt said. His mother was planning on picking him up the next day, according to Desiree Pelletier.
But within 25 minutes of leaving, he sent his mom a text: “Help me,” his aunt said.
That was the last time his mother heard from him, according to his aunt. He also sent messages pleading for help to his grandfather and another aunt, Desiree Pelletier noted.
“Somewhere along the ride, something happened,” his aunt said.
The next morning, the teen’s mother saw the messages and missed phone calls from her son, could not get ahold of him and immediately contacted authorities, Desiree Pelletier said. She also reached out to the cousins who were with Pelletier, who said the group had been smoking marijuana, which is when the teen began to panic and pull out a knife, Pelletier’s aunt noted.
But his aunt said that alleged behavior “is not Gio” and that it does “not align” with who he is.
The cousins also told police that Pelletier “began to act erratically before exiting the vehicle,” according to a statement from the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office.
His family said he was “abandoned on the side of the road in Bardenton, Florida,” with his backpack and phone discovered in the area by a truck driver the same day he disappeared. Bardenton is about an hour away from Englewood by car.
His aunt said the family does not believe this is a run-away and that “something is not told right.”
“It doesn’t make sense. Why would he say ‘Help me’ three different times to three people?” his aunt said.
Since then, the family has been continuing their search for Giovanni Pelletier, with officials saying they have received “many, many tips that unfortunately turn out to be inaccurate.”
“We love him and want him home and we just want him to be OK. As a family, we can’t function normally. We’re not doing well right now. We just want him home,” his aunt told ABC News as she held back tears.
As of Thursday, the sheriff’s office said in a statement to ABC News they “do not have any updates on this investigation and continue to ask anyone with information to come forward.”
The family is currently offering a reward of $10,000 for information leading to the teen’s whereabouts, his aunt said. ABC News
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch speaks during a press conference on Public Safety at City Hall on June 03, 2025 in New York City. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Two NYPD officers will face departmental misconduct charges in the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Win Rozario after he had called 911 during what his family said was a mental distress episode, a police department spokesman confirmed to ABC News.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch is charging officers Salvatore Alongi and Matthew Cianfrocco with using excessive force against Rozario when they shot him five times after they say he lunged at them with a pair of scissors in his home in the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens in March 2024.
Alongi and Cianfrocco were responding to a 911 call from Rozario, who was experiencing what his family said to be a mental distress episode, according to released body camera footage.
The officers entered the apartment, and Rozario at one point grabbed a pair of scissors from a chair in the kitchen and ran at the officers, as his mother, Notan Ava Costa, tried to restrain him, according to police body cam footage. Alongi and Cianfrocco tased Rozario before shooting him five times.
“They shot him with the tasers, and my brother didn’t really go down,” Utsho Rozario, Win Rozario’s younger brother, who was present at the shooting, said in an interview. “So one of the cops pulled out a gun and shot him as my mother was still hugging him.”
John Chell, the department’s chief of patrol at the time of the shooting, said the situation was “quite hectic, chaotic and dangerous right away,” and the officers were within their authority to tase and shoot Rozario to de-escalate the situation.
However, last week, the Civilian Complaint Review Board voted to overrule the investigator who found Alongi and Cianfrocco innocent, finding the pair of officers in violation of using excessive force and abusing their authority.
Patrick Hendry, the president of the Police Benevolent Association, the union that represents NYPD officers, believes the charges against Alongi and Cianfrocco are unjustified and unfair.
“The board simply rubber-stamps its investigators’ findings in almost every other case. But in this case, they threw those findings away because they didn’t fit a predetermined outcome. The data shows that there are only a few board members who are ever willing to stand up and make an independent decision based on the facts and the law. The rest are either too afraid of the anti-police extremists, or they are extremists themselves. Either way, they have deprived these police officers and all police officers of the fairness guaranteed by the (City) Charter,” Hendry said.
An inquiry into the shooting by New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office is ongoing; there have been no criminal charges filed against them.
