Failed ATM robbers crash truck into Walgreens storefront, leave empty-handed
Pierce County Sheriff’s Department
(TACOMA, WA) — Two individuals drove a flatbed truck through the front doors of a store in Washington state in what appears to be a failed ATM robbery, according to surveillance footage recently released by the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.
Police are now seeking the two would-be robbers who quickly fled the scene after failing to remove the automated teller machine from the Walgreens where it was installed.
The attempted robbery took place just before 5 a.m. on Dec. 9, according to ABC News’ Washington affiliate KOMO.
It involved a flatbed truck backing into and shattering the front windows of the entryway to a Walgreens in Pierce County.
Once the truck has successfully smashed its way into the store, two individuals can be seen getting out and running toward the ATM.
The two individuals, who are wearing reflective garments and balaclava-style masks during what the police have labeled a “commercial burglary,” then attempt to loop a cable around the machine. However, they appear to be unsuccessful in their attempts to dislodge it.
Realizing that they have not been successful, the individuals then decide to give up and instead flee the glass-spackled scene, according to the store’s security video.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department is now seeking information from the public about the crime.
Booking photo of Luigi Mangione after he was arrested by police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Dec. 9, 2024. (PA Dept. of Corrections)
(NEW YORK) — As Luigi Mangione was handcuffed and placed under arrest in Pennsylvania on Monday, police searched the backpack he’d been carrying and found what they described as a loaded 3D-printed firearm, a suppressor and a single loose bullet.
“Officers located a black 3D-printed pistol and a black silencer,” wrote Tyler Frye and Joseph Detwiler, members of the Altoona Police Department, in a criminal complaint. They described the weapon as having “a metal slide and a plastic handle with a metal threaded barrel.”
“The pistol had one loaded Glock magazine with six nine-millimeter full metal jacket rounds. There was also one loose nine-millimeter hollow point round,” the officers wrote. “The silencer was also 3D printed.”
Mangione, whom New York officials charged with second-degree murder in connection with last week’s “brazen” killing of a CEO in Manhattan, was first arrested in Altoona on Monday on charges that included a felony related to the gun, according to the criminal complaint.
Mangione faces a third-degree felony charge for allegedly carrying a concealed firearm without a license, according to the complaint. He also faces a misdemeanor charge for allegedly “possessing instruments of crime,” along with three additional Pennsylvania charges related to allegedly lying to police about his identity.
The weapon will now undergo ballistic testing, New York Police Department Chief Joseph Kenny said on Monday. He said information about the weapon had begun coming in from Altoona police and that it appeared to be a “ghost gun,” meaning it had no serial number and was untraceable.
“May have been made on a 3D printer, with the capability of firing a 9 mm round,” Kenny said. “Obviously that will come out during our ballistics testing.”
Kenny said it was too early in the investigation to detail whether the gun could have been made by the suspect or purchased. But the gun and 3D-printed suppressor were “consistent with the weapon used in the murder,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said following Mangione’s arrest on Monday.
Law enforcement had looked closely last week at what weapon may have been used in the killing, officials said, as the gun’s operation appeared to be somewhat unique in its operation.
Detectives had studied a surveillance video that showed the fatal shooting, saying it appeared to show “that the gun malfunctions, as he clears the jam and begins to fire again,” Kenny had said last week.
Police sources told ABC News on Thursday that those apparent malfunctions may point to the weapons being a B&T Station Six, a type of pistol with an integrated silencer that’s known in Great Britain as a Welrod pistol.
Such firearms have long barrels that enables them to fire 9 mm bullets with a nearly silent shot, officials said. They also require manually cycling ammunition from the magazine.
But New York Mayor Eric Adams said untraceable weapons were “extremely dangerous,” adding that there needed to be a federal “clamp down on the availability of ghost guns.”
ABC New’s Aaron Katersky, Peter Charalambous, Mark Crudele and Josh Margolin contributed to this report.
An F-16 Fighting Falcon, assigned to the 354th Fighter Wing, Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, flies over the Joint Pacific-Alaska Range Complex, Alaska, during exercise Red Flag-Alaska 24-1, April 26, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Julia Lebens, FILE)
(WASHINGTON) — A Russian fighter jet crossed the path of an American F-16 last week coming within 50 feet of the nose of the American jet, said North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which said the Russian pilot’s action “endangered all.”
NORAD released dramatic video on Monday that showed just how close the Russian fighter flew ahead of the American aircraft at a high rate of speed.
The close encounter occurred on Sept. 23 during a flurry of activity by Russian aircraft that over the span of several days had flown through the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) off of Alaska. The Alaska ADIZ is international airspace that stretches 150 miles from the Alaska coastline, but the U.S. requires that any aircraft transiting through it must identify themselves or be intercepted by NORAD aircraft.
On that day, two U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jets were sent to intercept two Russian Tu-95 bombers and the two Su-35 fighter jets that were escorting them.
The video released by NORAD was taken from a camera mounted in the canopy of the F-16 aircraft providing a view of what the pilot was seeing as the fighter flew near one of the Russian bombers.
Suddenly one of the Russian jets entered the field of view at a high rate of speed coming at what NORAD said was within 50 feet of the American plane’s nose rolling to one side as it flew past.
The video then showed the F-16’s nose wobbling from left to right, either as the American fighter pilot flew through the Russian aircraft’s wake or the pilot maintained control of the aircraft after the close encounter.
“The conduct of one Russian Su-35 was unsafe, unprofessional, and endangered all – not what you’d see in a professional air force,” said Gen. Gregory Guillot, NORAD’s top commander, in a comment posted on X.
A NORAD statement about the intercept that day did not provide any indication that NORAD aircraft had intercepted the Russian planes only detailing that it had “detected and tracked four Russian military aircraft operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).”
“The Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace,” said the release. “This Russian activity in the Alaska ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat.”
The close encounter capped two weeks of incidents where NORAD said it had detected and tracked the aircraft as they flew through the ADIZ.
(PHOENIX, AZ) — A disabled Black man in Arizona faces multiple charges after a pair of Phoenix police officers punched him and shocked him with a stun gun. Tyron McAlpin, who is deaf and has cerebral palsy, faces charges of felony assault and resisting arrest.
The incident, which took place on Aug. 19, was captured on both surveillance video and police body-worn camera. The officers said they were investigating an assault at a nearby Circle K and McAlpin fit the description of the suspect given by a bystander. However, the original description of the suspect was for a white man who had been creating a disturbance in the store. They also claimed that McAlpin became combative and tried to run when they approached him.
McAlpin’s lawyers said the video shows otherwise.
In the video, police are seen pulling up to McAlpin and ordering him down to the ground. He doesn’t appear to immediately comply. The video then shows the officers punching him 10 times in the head and shocking him with a stun gun four times while yelling “Get your hands behind your back.” McAlpin’s attorney said he didn’t know what was going on and could not hear the commands.
A union for the department’s officers argues that people should know what to do if a police car comes up and uniformed officers approach and that the officers had to force McAlpin to comply not knowing he was deaf at the time. The union also said McAlpin took a fighting stance and bit the officers.
“After reviewing all evidence presented, Maricopa County Superior Court Commissioner Nick Saccone determined there was sufficient evidence for the felony charges against the suspect due to his actions against the officers,” Phoenix Law Enforcement Association President Darrell Kriplean said. A Maricopa County judge has ruled there was probable cause for the arrest and is cause for the charges.
The department said it stood behind the officers and suggested people avoid making judgments about the incident until all the evidence is reviewed rather than focusing entirely on an excerpt of the footage. The police department is investigating the arrest.
The incident came after the Department of Justice in June released a report concluding that the Phoenix Police Department engaged in civil rights violations including racial discrimination and bias against the disabled. Their investigation found “systemic problems” within the department’s policies, training, supervision and accountability systems that were “perpetuated” for years.
The DOJ opened its investigation in August 2021 after complaints about use of excessive force among Phoenix police. The department said it welcomed this inquiry to help them understand how they can better serve the community.
