DOJ indicts two alleged leaders of white supremacist ‘Terrorgram’ chat group
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department on Monday charged two California individuals who were alleged leaders of a white supremacist group that wanted to ignite a race war in the United States and allegedly plotted to kill “high value” targets and incite its followers to carry out terror attacks around the globe.
Dallas Humber and Matthew Allison allegedly became leaders of a group that deemed itself “Terrorgram” and was formed on the encrypted social media site.
The two were charged with a host of federal crimes including solicitation of the killing of a federal official, doxing federal officials and making interstate threats.
“The defendant’s goal, the indictment charges, was to ignite a race war, accelerate the collapse of what they viewed as an irreparably corrupt government and bring about a white ethno state. As the indictment lays out, defendants use the internet platform Telegram to post messages promoting their white supremacist accelerationism,” Kristen Clarke, the DOJ’s head of its Civil Rights Division, said during a press conference Monday.
The indictment alleges that the group “solicited terrorist attacks” including on alleged “enemies,” on government infrastructure, and on “high value” targets such as politicians and government figures.
“The List,” according to the indictment, includes U.S. senators, federal judges, U.S. attorneys and local officials.
When disseminating the so-called list, Allision allegedly included comments like “take action now” and “do your part.”
In at least three separate instances detailed by prosecutors in the indictment, users of the group have allegedly moved forward in carrying out violent attacks inspired by the group chat.
One user was a 19-year-old from Slovakia who killed two people at an LGBT bar in Bratislava before killing himself, according to the DOJ. The indictment alleges that the attacker sent a manifesto directly to Humber, which Humber later purportedly narrated and turned into an audiobook.
Both Humber and Allison later allegedly took credit for the attack and celebrated the attacker as the group’s “first Saint,” according to the indictment.
A separate case highlighted in the indictment involved the arrest in July of 18-year-old Andrew Taskhistov of New Jersey who was allegedly incited to plot an attack on an energy facility through his membership in the group. A third case highlighted in the indictment involved an 18-year-old from Turkey who allegedly livestreamed himself stabbing five people outside a mosque and later shared multiple publications from the group.
Part of the group’s alleged strategy was to target critical infrastructure, according to the DOJ.
Humber and Allison also allegedly created a documentary that celebrated racist incidents around the country from 1968 on, according to the indictment.
The pair also allegedly stressed the need to be covert about their operations and, according to the indictment.
No attorney information for Humber or Allison was immediately available.
(CHICO, Calif.) — A Northern California wildland fire that exploded overnight into the state’s largest blaze this wildfire season, destroying structures and prompting thousands of evacuations, was allegedly started by a man who pushed a burning car into a gully, authorities said Thursday.
The 48-year-old arson suspect charged with starting the Park Fire in Butte County near the city of Chico was arrested Thursday morning and jailed without bail, said Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey. The suspect’s name was not immediately released.
The suspect was allegedly spotted just before 3 p.m. local time on Wednesday, pushing a car that was on fire down a gully called “Alligator Hole” in Bidwell Park, near Chico, Ramsey said.
“The car went down an embankment approximately 60 feet and burned completely, spreading flames that caused the Park Fire,” Ramsey said in a statement.
A man who was later identified as the suspect was seen calmly leaving the area by blending in with other park visitors fleeing the rapidly evolving fire, Ramsey said.
The suspect is scheduled to be arraigned next week, Ramsey said.
The Park Fire in Butte County, California, and the Durkee Fire in Oregon, the largest fire burning in the nation, continued filling West Coast skies Thursday with smoke as gusty winds and treacherous terrain were dealing challenges to firefighters battling both blazes, officials said.
Park Fire becomes largest 2024 wildfire in the state
The Park Fire started around 3 p.m. Wednesday northeast of the city of Chico in Bidwell Park and by Thursday afternoon had burned 71,489 acres, destroyed an undetermined number of structures and caused the Butte County Sheriff’s Department to order evacuations for rural foothill communities in the area, including nearly the entire town of Cohasset, which has a population of about 400.
More than 1,100 firefighters were fighting the flames Thursday morning, using helicopters and cutting fire lines with bulldozers in a desperate attempt to prevent the fire from spreading to homes in the densely populated areas of north Chico, authorities said.
The Park Fire was just 3% contained Thursday morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).
“The fire is well established. Fire personnel are currently focusing on evacuations and structure defense while concurrently building direct containment lines utilizing bulldozers, fire crews and fire engines,” Cal Fire said in an updated statement Thursday morning. “More resources have been ordered and are inbound from various areas throughout Northern California.”
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
At least 3,800 people were under evacuation orders in Butte and Tehama counties, officials said.
The Park Fire rapidly grew into the state’s largest conflagration this wildfire season, surpassing the Lake Fire near Santa Barbara in Southern California that started on July 5. As of Thursday morning, the Lake Fire had burned 38,664 and was 90% contained, according to Cal Fire. The blaze destroyed four structures and left at least six firefighters injured, Cal Fire reported.
The Butte County blaze was one of 64 new fires that erupted in California Wednesday, according to Cal Fire.
Rick Carhart, a spokesperson for Cal Fire, told ABC News Thursday that hot temperatures and steep, rugged terrain in the burning area are making things difficult for firefighters.
Carhart — who described the fire activity as “dynamic” — said the temperature in the area this week has been 100 to 110 degrees.
Officials said that in the first 12 hours of the fire, flames were burning 4,000 acres per hour.
“It’s very, very hot. It’s bone dry and pretty much every spark that hits the ground is going to start a fire,” Carhart said.
He said the area where the fire is most active hasn’t burned in 20 years, providing an abundance of dry vegetation that is feeding the blaze.
Cal Fire officials said the number of acres burned so far in this wildfire season is 15 times more than at this time in 2023. There have been nearly 800 more fires this year compared to last, including 54 that resulted in arson arrests, according to Cal Fire, in
Durkee fire is largest in the nation
In Oregon, the Durkee Fire in Baker County, which was sparked by a lightning strike on July 17, had grown to nearly 270,000 acres, or about 400 square miles, as of Thursday morning. The fire burning near the Idaho border was 0% contained and had spread into neighboring Malheur County, according to the Oregon Fire Marshal’s Office.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek announced on Wednesday that she has invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act to increase resources to battle the Durkee Fire and the Battle Mountain Complex Fire, which consists of three active fires that have burned a total of about 64,000 in the same area of Umatilla County in Eastern Oregon.
Kotek said she has also deployed the National Guard to the Durkee and Battle Mountain fires.
Kotek said in a statement that resources necessary for fighting the fires are beyond local capabilities.
“The wildfires in Eastern Oregon have scaled up quickly,” Kotek said. “We are facing strong erratic winds over the region that could impact all fires. Rain is not getting through. Some communities do not have power. The situation is dynamic, and the teams on the ground are taking it day by day. I have deployed resources from the National Guard that are currently serving eastern and southwestern Oregon. I know these communities are supporting one another, doing their part to heed the guidance from officials and showing tremendous gratitude for our firefighters.”
Kotek said the Durkee fire has merged with another large fire in the area, the Cow Valley Fire, creating one monster-size blaze.
The Baker County Sheriff’s Office said evacuation orders for residents living in the fire zone, including all 500 residents of the town of Huntington.
During a community briefing Wednesday night, fire officials said the Durkee fire was burning so hot it had created its own weather system.
Jonathan Chriest, a National Weather Service meteorologist assigned to the Durkee fire, said at a briefing that wind gusts fanning the fire were expected to reach 75 mph Wednesday night.
Temperatures in the area have been in the high 90s to triple-digits. Chriest said a cold front was moving into the area of the Durkee Fire that could lower temperatures through the weekend but could bring northwest winds of 30 to 45 mph and flash flooding.
“That fire has just not cooperated with us in terms of the weather. I don’t like making excuses and I don’t like fires outpacing me, so that’s a hard thing to admit,” Tyson Albrecht of the U.S. Forest Service, the incident commander on the Durkee Fire for Northwest Team 6, said at the briefing. “This fire and the weather that we’ve been experiencing has been really challenging. It will continue to challenge us, but we will continue to keep swinging away out there to minimize those impacts.”
(VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.) — An alleged abduction of three Virginia Beach children ended in a car crash Thursday morning that left the youngest dead, according to police.
Virginia State Police responded to a stabbing Wednesday night in an incident they said they believe to be “domestic-related.”
Two female victims — one adult and one juvenile — were transported to the hospital with multiple stab wounds, and are currently in stable condition, police said.
The suspect, Dana Plummer, 36, is believed to have stabbed the two victims and then fled the scene with his children, police said.
The three children were identified as 7-year-old Zayin Plummer, 5-year-old Zayir Plummer and 1-year-old Za’riyah Plummer.
An AMBER Alert — which has since been canceled — was issued Thursday morning for the children.
Law enforcement identified the suspect’s vehicle thanks to a tip from a member of the public and attempted to initiate a traffic stop, but the vehicle refused to stop and fled north on the highway into Maryland, police said.
While fleeing, the driver lost control of the car and crashed, police said.
The three missing children were located at the scene. The 1-year-old was transported to a hospital, but later succumbed to her injuries, police said.
Police apprehended Plummer at the scene.
He has been charged with two counts of aggravated malicious wounding, three counts of parental abduction, four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and domestic assault, police said.
“Our hearts go out to the family and loved ones who are grieving this morning,” Virginia State Police Chief Paul Neudigate said in a statement. “This is an unimaginable tragedy, and on behalf of the VBPD, I extend our deepest sympathies to those affected by this loss.”
(NEW YORK) — The Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in favor of keeping a proposition about abortion access on the state’s ballot, directing Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft to certify the proposition.
The order reversed a decision by a lower court and came after Ashcroft had decertified the proposition.
If passed in November by Missouri voters, the initiative would enshrine the right to an abortion in the state’s constitution and allow the state to regulate abortion after fetal viability, which is generally around 24 weeks.
“The Right to Reproductive Freedom” ballot initiative, spearheaded by the group Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, would also enshrine rights related to reproductive health care into the Missouri Constitution, “including but not limited to prenate care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions,” according to the text of the initiative.
Abortion is currently banned in Missouri with few exceptions, according to an analysis of state laws by KFF.
Abortion-related ballot initiatives are confirmed on the general election ballots in 10 states: Maryland, Florida, South Dakota, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, and New York.
In Nebraska, the initiatives are still dealing with legal challenges. (In New York, the initiative does not explicitly mention abortion and involves additional reproductive rights and other issues.)
Advocates supporting abortion access celebrated the Missouri Supreme Court decision.
Rachel Sweet, campaign manager for Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, wrote in a statement, “Today’s decision is a victory for both direct democracy and reproductive freedom in Missouri… Missourians overwhelmingly support reproductive rights, including access to abortion, birth control, and miscarriage care. Now, they will have the chance to enshrine these protections in the Missouri Constitution on November 5.”
Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, the Democratic nominee for governor of Missouri, told ABC News in a statement, “I am grateful the Missouri Supreme Court saw through yet another attempt from the extremist anti-abortion politicians in Jefferson City to keep Missourians from having their say at the ballot box.”
Mary Catherine Martin, senior counsel for the Thomas More Society and an attorney who argued in the case, indicated that she feels the amendment will have adverse effects if passed — while indicating that it is settled legally that it will be on the ballot.
Martin said in a statement, “The Missouri Supreme Court’s decision to allow Amendment 3 to remain on the November ballot is a failure to protect voters, by not upholding state laws that ensure voters are fully informed going into the ballot box. It is deeply unfortunate the court decided to ignore laws that protect voters in order to satisfy pro-abortion activists who intentionally omitted critical information from the initiative petition.”
She added, “Missouri’s Amendment 3 will have far-reaching implications on the state’s abortion laws and well beyond… We implore Missourians to research and study the text and effects of Amendment 3 before going to the voting booth.”