Fire-ravaged Los Angeles braces for landslides as atmospheric river brings heavy rain to California

(MAYVILLE, N.Y.) — A jury has convicted a New Jersey man for attempted murder in the 2022 stabbing attack on author Salman Rushdie while the author was on stage at a speaking event in upstate New York.

Hadi Matar was found guilty of second-degree attempted murder and assault in connection with the attack at the Chautauqua Institution in southwestern New York.

The jury began deliberating around midday Friday before reaching their verdict within two hours.

Jurors heard starkly different accounts of the assault, which occurred on Aug. 12, 2022, while Rushdie was speaking before an audience at the education center.

District Attorney Jason Schmidt played slow-motion video showing Matar emerging from the audience, sprinting toward Rushdie, and launching a violent attack. Schmidt described the stabbing as a deliberate, targeted act, arguing that striking someone 10 to 15 times in the face and neck made death a foreseeable outcome. A trauma surgeon testified that Rushdie would have died without immediate medical intervention.

The defense, led by Andrew Brautigan, countered that prosecutors failed to prove Matar intended to kill Rushdie. The defense characterized the incident as a chaotic, noisy outburst rather than a calculated murder attempt. Public defender Nathaniel Barone argued that Matar was overcharged due to Rushdie’s celebrity, noting that he used knives rather than a gun or bomb and that Rushdie’s vital organs were not harmed.

Rushdie, 77, took the stand during the trial, vividly describing the attack that blinded him in one eye. He described his attacker’s eyes as “very ferocious” as he approached, before “hitting and slashing” him in his chest, torso, waist and eye as he struggled to get away, according to The Associated Press.

“It occurred to me that I was dying. That was my predominant thought,” Rushdie said, according to the AP.

Rushdie recounted the attack in his book, “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder,” which was published last year.

Henry Reese, who was moderating the event and was wounded in the attack, also took the stand during the trial.

Reese told jurors he initially thought someone was running toward Rushdie as “a prank” but “at some point it became real, and I got up and tried to stop the attacker,” according to the AP.

The assailant was tackled by bystanders and pinned to the stage.

Matar did not testify and the defense called no witnesses during the two-week trial.

He rejected a plea deal ahead of the trial.

Matar still faces federal terrorism charges in connection with the attack. He was indicted by a grand jury on three counts, including attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and providing material support to terrorists. The indictment alleges that he “knowingly did attempt to provide material support and resources” to Hezbollah, a designated foreign terrorist organization, and “had engaged, and was engaging, in terrorism.”

Matar was also charged with an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries for the attack against Rushdie. The indictment alleges that he “did knowingly attempt to kill, and did knowingly maim, commit an assault resulting in serious bodily injury, and assault with a dangerous weapon.”

He has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(OHIO) — Four Chilean nationals were arrested in connection with the burglary that occurred at Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow’s home in December, according to court records.

On Jan. 10, 2025, a special agent with the Ohio State Highway Patrol spotted suspicious luggage being carried into a vehicle outside of a hotel in Fairborn, Ohio, according to court records.

When the agent pulled the car over, Alexander Chavez, Bastian Morales, Jordan Sanchez and Sergio Cabello, allegedly showed the agent fake identification. The car smelled of marijuana and it was later confirmed that the four men were in the country illegally, court records filed in Clark County, Ohio, say.

When police searched the car, they say they found “two Husky automatic center punch pools wrapped in a cloth towel behind the glove box.”

Police say these tools are used by South American theft groups to break glass and enter houses.

The affidavit says that in the vehicle police found an “old LSU shirt and Bengals hat believed to be stolen from the December 9, 2024 burglary in Hamilton County, Ohio.”

On Dec. 9, Joe Burrow’s home in Hamilton County, Ohio, was burglarized, according to police records.

The affidavit says the men were brought to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office for further questioning. When a detective called one of the cell phone numbers that was placed at the scene via cellphone data, Morales’ phone started ringing, according to court records.

Morales was also seen allegedly carrying a Louis Vuitton style bag and was previously identified “as a male possibly involved in a burglary offense” on the day of the burglary at Burrow’s home.

“This is an ongoing investigating involving multiple burglaries across the United States of America, specifically targeting multi-million dollar residences and your affiant and brother investigators have arrested at least six different South American burglary groups, five of which were Chilean nationals,” a criminal complaint says.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LOUISIANA) — NFL hopeful Kyren Lacy, one of the top wide receiver prospects in this year’s draft, has been arrested for negligent homicide in connection with a deadly crash in Louisiana last month.

Lacy was booked into the Lafourche Parish Correctional Complex on Sunday evening, authorities said — two days after Louisiana State Police announced they had issued an arrest warrant for the athlete for allegedly leaving the scene of a fatal crash on Dec. 17.

In addition to negligent homicide, he faces felony hit and run and reckless operation of a vehicle charges, police said.

Lacy posted $151,000 bond and was released from jail later Sunday evening, a Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesperson confirmed.

Lacy, who played for Louisiana State University in the fall before declaring for the draft, is alleged to have been behind the wheel of a 2023 Dodge Charger when he “recklessly passed multiple vehicles at a high rate of speed by crossing the centerline and entering the northbound lane while in a designated No-Passing Zone” on Louisiana Highway 20, state police said in a press release.

The driver of a 2017 Kia Cadenza traveling north swerved to avoid hitting the Dodge, only to cross the centerline and collide head-on with a 2017 Kia Sorento. A passenger in the Kia Sorento, identified by police as 78-year-old Herman Hall of Thibodaux, died from his injuries after being transported to a hospital, authorities said.

Lacy allegedly drove around the crash scene and fled south, “without stopping to render aid, call emergency services, or report his involvement in the crash,” state police said.

Louisiana State Police said Friday that troopers were in communication with Lacy and his legal representation for the athlete to turn himself in.

Lacy’s agent said the athlete was “fully cooperating with the authorities.”

“We strongly believe that the facts will ultimately demonstrate the truth, but we respect the need for a full and thorough investigation,” the agent, Rocky Arceneaux of Alliance Sports, said in a statement.

Arceneaux added that the case is “being taken very seriously, and we are committed to resolving it responsibly.”

Lacy, 24, of Thibodaux, was a wide receiver for the LSU Tigers. Two days after the crash, on Dec. 19, he announced that he will be declaring for the 2025 NFL draft.

The star prospect had 58 catches for 866 yards and nine touchdowns this season. Lacy had 26 touchdown catches in his five seasons at LSU. He opted out of the Texas Bowl against Baylor to focus on preparation for the draft.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.