FBI assisting in search for retired Air Force major general missing for two weeks
Retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. William N. McCasland. (U.S. Air Force)
(ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.) — The FBI is assisting a local sheriff’s office in the search for a missing retired Air Force general who disappeared from his home in late February.
Retired Maj. Gen. William N. “Neil” McCasland held a number of “space research, acquisition and operations roles within the Air Force and the National Reconnaissance Office” while enlisted, according to the Air Force. The roles included director-level positions at the Pentagon, as well as commanding the Phillips Research Site of Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, and the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, according to the Air Force.
McCasland, 68, left his Albuquerque, New Mexico, home on February 27 and hasn’t been seen since, according to the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office.
“Due to his background and established partnerships, BCSO is coordinating closely with multiple agencies, including the FBI Albuquerque Field Office,” the sheriff’s office said, adding in a subsequent update that they “have so far uncovered no evidence of foul play.”
McCasland is described as 5 feet, 11 inches tall and 160 pounds, with white hair and blue eyes. He’s believed to have left his home on foot, the BCSO said.
“[D]espite the collective efforts of law enforcement and the community, we still do not know what happened to Neil after he left home on February 27,” the BCSO added.
“Our priority is finding Mr. McCasland safely,” Sheriff John Allen said. “We’re asking the public to help by checking and preserving any security camera footage from the area and reporting any information immediately.”
Stock image of police lights. Douglas Sacha/Getty Images
(PUEBLO, Colo.) — At least five people are dead following a pile-up crash involving dozens of vehicles in Colorado that occurred as high winds blew dirt, making for low to zero visibility, authorities said.
The incident occurred around 10 a.m. local time Tuesday on I-25 near Pueblo, which is about 40 miles south of Colorado Springs, authorities said.
Over 30 vehicles, including seven semis, were involved in the crash, according to Colorado State Patrol.Pickups pulling horse trailers, SUVs and passenger vehicles were also involved, according to Maj. Brian Lyons with Colorado State Patrol.
The pile-up occurred during “adverse weather conditions,” Lyons said, with heavy winds blowing dirt and causing “brownout” conditions.
“Visibility was next to nothing,” Lyons said during a press briefing Tuesday.
There were four fatalities in separate vehicles — two men from Walsenburg, Colorado, and two women, one from Rye and one from Pueblo — authorities said Tuesday.
A fifth person who had been transported to a hospital later succumbed to his injuries, Colorado State Patrol said Wednesday.
Another 28 people were transported to area hospitals, with moderate to serious injuries, Colorado State Patrol said.
Authorities were working to account for everyone in the vehicles involved in the crash, Lyons said.
One of the vehicles was a pickup hauling a gooseneck trailer containing 32 goats, Colorado State Patrol said. Four of the goats died, while the rest were safely removed, it said.
Northbound I-25 was closed for several hours as crews worked to clear vehicles, before reopening late Tuesday.
“Due to low visibility, drivers are urged to delay traveling until conditions improve,” Colorado State Patrol said. “If travel is necessary, avoid I-25 in this area, use caution, and reduce speed.”
High wind warnings were in effect for the region on Tuesday. The National Weather Service in Pueblo warned that “significant blowing dust” was possible on the plains, where gusts could be up to 65 mph. Gusts of at least 85 mph were also forecast for mountain areas, it said.
In this handout photo provided by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, Dalton Eatherly poses for a police booking photo in Nashville, Tenn. (Metropolitan Nashville Police Department via Getty Images, FILE)
(CLARKSVILLE, Tenn.) — Rage-baiting livestreamer Dalton Eatherly, known online as “Chud the Builder,” is being held on $1.25 million bond after being charged with attempted murder in connection with a shooting outside a Tennessee courthouse.
Eatherly, 28, and another man sustained gunshot wounds during the shooting incident Wednesday outside the Montgomery County Courthouse in Clarksville, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.
There was a “physical altercation that escalated to gunfire,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Following an investigation into the shooting, Eatherly was arrested later that day and charged with attempted murder, as well as employing a firearm during a dangerous felony, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, according to the sheriff’s office.
During his arraignment on the charges Friday, Judge Reid Poland III noted the need to “protect the public interest and public safety” due to the seriousness of the charges and the public location of the shooting, while setting the bond at $1.25 million.
The prosecutor asked for the bond to be addressed at a later hearing so the court could review all factors, including a pending case Eatherly has in Davidson County, and “make an informed decision.”
Eatherly’s next bond hearing has been scheduled for May 21, and a preliminary hearing for May 26. ABC News has reached out to his attorney for comment.
Online court records show Eatherly had a civil debt appearance scheduled Wednesday morning at the Montgomery County courthouse, though it’s unclear if he attended the hearing.
He was involved in a “confrontation” with another man outside the courthouse, District Attorney General Robert Nash, whose district covers Montgomery County, said in a statement.
“The confrontation resulted in gunfire, and both men were taken for medical treatment,” Nash said.
Both men were transported to area hospitals in stable condition, according to the sheriff’s office. Authorities have not publicly identified the other man involved in the incident.
Eatherly has made a social media presence by recording and livestreaming his racist confrontations with Black people and others while touting his constitutionally protected right to do so.
The shooting incident came days after he was arrested in a separate incident in Nashville and charged with theft, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, according to court records.
He was arrested over the weekend for allegedly refusing to pay for $371.55 in food and drink from a restaurant at the Omni Hotel where he had been livestreaming, according to court records.
When restaurant staff asked him to stop livestreaming during the incident on Saturday, “he became disruptive and started making racial statements, yelling, screaming and otherwise creating a scene at the location,” an affidavit filed in Davidson County Court stated.
Online court records do not list any attorney for Eatherly in that case.
Gavel on wooden desk with books as background (sean zheng lim/Getty)
(VIRGINIA) — A former assistant principal at a Virginia elementary school is standing trial on criminal charges more than three years after a then-6-year-old student shot his first grade teacher in their classroom.
Ebony Parker has been charged with eight counts of felony child abuse with disregard for life in connection with the January 2023 shooting at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News — one count for each bullet that was unspent in the gun, according to the Newport News Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. She has pleaded not guilty.
The criminal trial comes months after a separate jury in a civil trial found that Parker acted with gross negligence in the shooting and awarded the injured teacher, Abby Zwerner, $10 million in damages.
Prosecutors in the ongoing criminal trial allege that Parker failed to respond after several staffers raised concerns that the student, identified in the trial as JT, had a gun.
“For over an hour, multiple people went to Dr. Parker and told her there was an armed child at an elementary school,” Deputy Commonwealth Attorney Josh Jenkins said during opening statements on Tuesday. “Multiple warnings brought directly to her.”
Jenkins said the evidence will show that Parker did not say to search the child, did not call police and did not remove the child from the classroom.
“She didn’t even get up from her desk,” he said. “Warning after warning after warning — nothing.”
Jenkins said there were 19 children in the classroom at the time of the shooting who are the alleged victims in this case.
“A slight movement of the gun could have hit a child instead of Miss Zwerner,” he said. “All of them, you’ll learn, watched as their teacher clutched her chest and bled before these children, screaming in horror, ran across the hallway to another classroom.”
Jenkins claimed that Parker was the only person in the building at the time who had the authority and knowledge to respond to the crisis.
Defense attorney Curtis Rogers pushed back against that claim, arguing in his opening statement that other school staffers, including Zwerner, could have acted.
“The Commonwealth talks about, a lot, this ongoing crisis and that Dr. Parker was the only person that had knowledge of the crisis and the authority to act. I will submit that that’s not accurate. It’s not true,” Rogers said.
“Think about it — who was the one person that was there from the beginning to the end? And that was the teacher, Miss Zwerner,” he said.
Zwerner, the first witness in the trial, testified that she had told Parker prior to the shooting that JT “seemed to be off” that day and “in a violent mood.” She said another staffer, reading specialist Amy Kovac, alerted her that JT told other students he had brought a gun to school, and that Kovac reported that to the administration.
Zwerner said that in hindsight she could have separated JT from the other students and confirmed that she was responsible for the safety of her students. Though she said her understanding that a crisis or emergency needed to be brought to the attention of the administration, and that she trusted her colleagues.
Kovac testified that she told Parker that two students reported to her that JT had a gun in his bag, and that Parker nodded in acknowledgment when she said she would search the bag at recess. Kovac said she did not find a gun when she searched the bag and then told Parker that she believed the gun was in his jacket pocket.
Pressed by the defense on why she didn’t do more, such as by separating students from JT, Kovac said, “I did not know what his next actions would have been at that moment.”
“A weapon had been reported and no administrator did actions,” she said.
The criminal trial is scheduled to run through at least Thursday.
Zwerner also testified about the shooting during the civil trial, saying she “thought I had died.”
The bullet went through Zwerner’s left hand, which she had lifted, and then into her chest. She was initially hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, police said.
Parker did not testify during the civil trial.
Zwerner and Parker both resigned following the shooting.
The student brought the gun from home, police said. His mother, Deja Taylor, was sentenced to two years in state prison after pleading guilty to child neglect in connection with the shooting. She also pleaded guilty to using marijuana while in possession of a firearm and making a false statement about her drug use during the purchase of the firearm used in the shooting and was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison.
She was released from state custody on May 13 and transitioned to community supervision, according to online Virginia Department of Corrections records.
