DHL cargo plane catches fire during landing at LAX
The tail fin of a DHL Boeing 777-200LRMF cargo aircraft is pictured on July 22, 2026, in Farnborough, England. (Carl Court/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — A DHL cargo plane lit up the runway during a landing at Los Angeles International Airport Wednesday night as its tires caught on fire.
The Boeing 737, which was operated by DHL on behalf of Kalitta Charters II, made its landing around 11 p.m. PT when the brakes malfunctioned, causing them to overheat and blow four tires, DHL and the Federal Aviation Administration said in statements Thursday.
Surveillance video caught the flames flying from the bottom of the jet as it sped through the runway.
The runway was temporarily closed, and emergency crews rushed to put out the fire.
DHL said no one aboard the jet, which took off from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, was injured.
The FAA said it will be investigating the incident. The jet was still on the runway and being inspected Thursday morning.
A dog was shot by a police officer inside this condo building on Jordan Avenue, in Los Angeles. (KABC)
(LOS ANGELES) — The Los Angeles Police Department said it’s investigating an incident in which an officer shot and killed a dog while answering a 911 call, which turned out to be a false alarm over a woman celebrating the New York Knicks’ historic championship win on Saturday.
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said in a statement Wednesday that the department is thoroughly investigating the incident, which he called “incredibly tragic,” and vowed transparency.
Around 8:55 p.m. Saturday, officers responded to a 911 call of a woman screaming inside a condo in Canoga Park, the LAPD said.
The LAPD said that while officers were speaking with a resident in the apartment at the center of the 911 call, a “large dog was barking by her side at the officers.” The dog was wearing a Knicks shirt, witnesses told KABC.
The woman closed her door momentarily after officers asked her to secure the dog, who was named Jameson, police said. After she reopened it, the dog exited the apartment and allegedly “charged at one of the officers,” prompting one of them to open fire, according to the LAPD.
Cell phone video circulated online of a woman crying over the dog’s body, shouting “We were just celebrating the Knicks.”
The neighbor who called police told KABC that they felt guilty about calling 911, but sincerely thought the woman was in trouble.
McDonnell sympathized with Jameson’s family.
“The loss of a pet is deeply personal. For many, a dog is not simply an animal; it is a companion, a source of comfort, and a member of the family,” McDonnell said in his statement.
“There is no incident more serious than when an officer fires a service weapon. For this reason, the LAPD has a specialized division of investigators specifically trained to handle these types of incidents. A thorough, multi-layered examination of this weekend’s incident in Canoga Park is already underway, but it will take time to ensure fairness, transparency, and accountability,” he added.
A memorial for Jameson was formed outside the condo and an online fundraiser has raised thousands of dollars for its family.
Local activists have called for more details about the incident, including body camera footage from the officers who responded to the call.
“The tragic killing of Jameson was unnecessary and unwarranted,” Najee Ali, a senior organizer with the Los Angeles National Action Network, said during a news conference Tuesday.
“We demand immediate accountability, which can only happen through the prompt release of the body-worn camera footage and the names of the officers responsible for shooting and killing Jameson,” he added.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also released a statement on Wednesday, saying that a thorough investigation will be conducted.
“Every life lost to violence is a tragedy, and we know that the devastating loss of Jameson will be felt by his family forever,” she said.
(NEW YORK) — The execution of the only woman on Tennessee’s death row was paused at the 11th hour as a federal appeals court reviews the case.
The state has since asked the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate the appeals court’s stay.
Christa Pike, 50, was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Wednesday at 10 a.m. CT. She was sentenced to death after being convicted of the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.
In a 2-1 decision issued within two hours of the scheduled execution, Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit wrote that a stay is necessary in the “interests of justice and the finality of Pike’s impending execution” in order to review whether her allegations of sexual abuse and rape as a child were fully considered before Pike was sentenced to death. The execution is stayed “until further order of this court,” the order stated.
In his dissenting opinion, Judge Richard Allen Griffin called the matter “another last-ditch meritless effort to delay a lawful execution.”
In an application asking the Supreme Court to vacate the stay, Tennessee Department of Correction Warden Kenneth Nelsen argued that Pike is not likely to succeed because her claim was “already unsuccessfully presented.” The state’s “strong interest in finality and the surviving victims’ right to closure” also require the high court to vacate the stay, he argued.
Members of Slemmer’s family — including her mother, stepfather and father — plan to attend Pike’s execution, according to Nelsen’s filing.
“It is far past time for Colleen’s family to receive the closure they seek,” the filing stated, asking the Supreme Court to vacate the stay of execution to “avoid rewarding Pike’s abusive delay tactics” and “prevent further trauma to Colleen’s family.”
In a June court filing challenging her execution, Pike argued that due to her history of rape and sexual abuse, being “the lone female in a vulnerable position surrounded by male corrections officers during the last days of her life will trigger her PTSD and result in a torturous execution or mental decompensation to the point she will be incompetent to be executed.”
The Tennessee Supreme Court rejected her claims. She subsequently filed an application for stay of execution, requesting that the U.S. Supreme Court review her claims alleging the method of execution would inflict cruel and unusual punishment because of her PTSD from childhood rapes and abuse. The Supreme Court denied that request on Tuesday.
Later that day, Pike filed a motion seeking to review her claim that her trial counsel provided ineffective assistance at sentencing and failed to introduce evidence of her history of child sexual abuse.
In a statement on the stay of execution, Pike’s attorney, Stephen Ferrell with the Federal Defenders Services of Eastern Tennessee, said, “The court has stayed this recognizing the serious concerns about Christa’s scheduled execution.”
In 1996, Pike was found guilty of first-degree murder for beating, torturing and killing Slemmer, a fellow Jobs Corps worker from Knoxville, in a remote area of the University of Tennessee Agricultural campus.
Pike, who was 18 when she committed the crime, had told a friend she planned to kill Slemmer because she “just felt mean that day” and admitted to committing the crime with her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, according to court filings. Shipp was also convicted of first-degree murder for his role in the killing and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
While incarcerated, Pike was convicted in 2001 of attempted first-degree murder in the assault on an inmate, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction.
Author James Comey, former FBI Director, speaks at the Barnes & Noble Upper West Side on May 19, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Former FBI Director James Comey’s attorneys have filed a motion seeking the dismissal of the indictment charging Comey for posting a picture on his Instagram account of seashells spelling out “8647,” which federal prosecutors say constituted a threat against President Donald Trump’s life.
“This indictment targets protected speech at the heart of the First Amendment,” Comey’s attorneys said in their filing, regarding the charges announced in April over the since-deleted Instagram post from May 2025.
“Mr. Comey, an outspoken critic of President Trump, posted a photograph of seashells spelling out ’86 47,’ a well-known political slogan that expresses opposition to the President,” the filing said. “In fact, thousands of items featuring this slogan have been sold on the internet and are available to this day, and the slogan was commonly displayed at protests around the country in the months preceding Mr. Comey’s post.”
The filing, one of a series of anticipated efforts by Comey’s legal team to have his case thrown out before trial, accuses the Justice Department of singling out Comey “to prosecute one of the President’s most prominent critics for publishing another person’s statement of political opposition.”
“That attempt to suppress core political speech contravenes both the statutes at issue and the First Amendment,” Comey’s attorneys wrote.
Comey has vigorously denied his post was ever intended as a threat against Trump and is expected to plead not guilty in an arraignment scheduled for next month in North Carolina.
“Forcing Mr. Comey to stand trial for a statement opposing the President — even if he is ultimately acquitted — would itself be an unconstitutional punishment of free speech,” the filing said. “And it would invite future prosecutions by the Executive Branch against perceived political enemies for their opposition to the President. Government officials have already warned that they plan to target citizens if they ‘copycat’ Mr. Comey’s ‘political statement.'”
In their motion Monday, Comey’s attorneys revealed that after the former FBI director deleted his post, he contacted the local police chief “to notify him about the controversy over the post” and, as ABC News previously reported, agreed to be interviewed by Secret Service agents.
In making their argument that the post falls well short of the high legal bar to constitute a “true threat” as the Supreme Court has defined it, Comey’s lawyers claimed that prosecutors have provided no evidence to support the necessary standard showing Comey himself intended to engage in a violent act.
They also pointed to recent statements made by President Trump that they argue go much farther in potentially inciting violence against his political enemies, including Trump’s claim earlier this year that the lawmakers who posted the video urging service members to disobey unlawful orders amounted to “treason” that was “punishable by death.”
