Firefighters rescue Chihuahua from under Houston bridge
Houston Botanic Garden
(HOUSTON) — Teams of firefighters sprang into action in Texas on Friday when staff at the Houston Botanic Garden noticed a tiny Chihuahua was stuck underneath a pedestrian bridge.
Photos posted to Facebook show the small dog sitting on one of the footings of the bridge, which spans the Sims Bayou channel.
It took two Houston fire stations to help bring the Chihuahua safely back on land, with one crew member jumping in the water to bring the pup ashore.
“This Black Friday was one Chihuahua’s lucky day, thanks to our heroes at Houston Fire Department stations 29 and 42,” the Houston Botanic Garden wrote alongside several photos of the puppy rescue.
“We love knowing that everyone and everything in and around the Garden is in good hands with these trained community helpers on the job,” the institution added.
It’s unclear who the dog’s owner is and how it ended up below the bridge.
ABC News has reached out to the Houston Fire Department for a comment.
(HOUSTON) — A military veteran died after allegedly being physically attacked during an argument over a parking space outside of a Houston, Texas grocery store, according to a statement from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
Earl Hollins, 80, was allegedly assaulted by Anthony Ray Boyce, 57, on Friday during the disagreement in a Food Town parking lot, the HCSO said. Boyce allegedly drove away in Hollins’ car after the attack, according to the HCSO.
Hollins suffered severe head trauma, fell into a coma and was not expected to recover, his family told ABC affiliate KTRK in Houston. He was pronounced dead on Dec. 7 at a local hospital, the HCSO confirmed to ABC News.
“What he [did], it wasn’t right,” Hollins’ niece, Elma Hollins-Washington, told KTRK. “It wasn’t human.”
The HCSO said it’s investigating the altercation between Hollins and Boyce, including how the two men may have been acquainted before the incident.
“Someone was saying that he knew the guy because they always used to be around Food Town,” Hollins-Washington said, adding that the family is still in disbelief over what happened.
“I said, ‘My god, over a parking spot. You’re going to injure my uncle, and now, finally, he’s dead, and it was over a parking spot,'” Hollins-Washington said. “You took something great from us, something that we will never get over.”
According to HCSO records, Boyce is being held in the Harris County Jail on $100,000 bond, charged with aggravated assault with serious bodily injury.
Detectives will meet with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office to determine if that charge will be upgraded following Hollins’ death, the HCSO told ABC News.
(NEW YORK) — Multiple rounds of frigid, arctic air could sweep across the eastern half of U.S. in the coming weeks, ushering in an abnormally cold start to 2025.
The first blast of bitter cold hits the Northern Plains and the Midwest on Wednesday and Thursday and then reaches the Northeast by the end of this week.
The surge of arctic air will likely be the start of multiple back-to-back cold blasts lasting throughout much of January, unleashing freezing temperatures across a large swath of the country.
Beginning next week, the polar vortex will likely trigger even colder air across the eastern half of the U.S.
The polar vortex lives in the upper atmosphere and is located near the North Pole in the arctic. When the polar vortex is strong, it locks the cold air in the arctic. When the polar vortex gets weaker, or breaks up, it unleashes cold air to the south.
Temperatures will likely be below average throughout most of January for the eastern half of the U.S., especially the East Coast.
It is too early to know exactly how cold it will get, but there could be dangerously freezing temperatures for millions.
With the surge in cold temperatures, odds favor more precipitation falling as snow rather than rain in many spots.
A large, fast-moving storm may bring snow to parts of the Midwest and severe thunderstorms to the South early next week. Some of that snow may reach the mid-Atlantic, as well.
Luigi Mangione is seen inside the police station in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Dec. 9, 2024/Obtained by ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Luigi Mangione is facing a second-degree murder charge in New York City in connection with the brazen shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown Manhattan as new details emerge about the suspect and a potential motive, according to police.
“We do have a lot of evidence in this case,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” on Tuesday.
“When he was found he was in possession of the same New Jersey fake identification that was used at the hostel” on New York’s Upper West Side before Thompson was gunned down on Dec. 4, she said.
The gun 26-year-old Mangione was allegedly found with on Monday “looks very similar” to the gun used in the murder, “with a similar suppressor,” Tisch said. “So there’s a lot of reasons that we feel very strongly that he is the person of interest.”
Officers allegedly found a black 3D printed pistol and a black silencer, which was also 3D printed, according to the criminal complaint filed in Blair County, Pennsylvania.
“The pistol had one loaded Glock magazine with six nine-millimeter full metal jack rounds. There was also one loose nine-millimeter hollow point round,” according to the complaint.
NYPD Chief of Detective Joe Kenny described the weapon as a “ghost gun,” meaning it had no serial number and was untraceable.
Mangione, who was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday, remains in the custody of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections pending his extradition to New York.
The NYPD was “thrilled” to get the call from Altoona police that they had a person of interest in custody, Tisch told “GMA.”
Kenny said “the key to this case” was releasing the photo of the suspect’s face to the media and the public.
“That picture reached Pennsylvania,” where he was recognized at a McDonald’s on Monday morning, he said.
“We are grateful as a city to that person,” Tisch said.
“We had collected early in the investigation some forensic evidence, some DNA evidence, some fingerprints, so we were very confident that we were ultimately going to get to the right person,” Tisch added.
When Mangione was arrested he had several handwritten pages on him that appeared to express a “disdain for corporate America” and indicated “he’s frustrated with the health care system in the United States,” Kenny said.
“Specifically, he states how we are the No. 1 most expensive health care system in the world, yet the life expectancy of an American is ranked 42 in the world,” Kenny said.
Whether Mangione has a personal connection to UnitedHealthcare is unknown, Tisch said, but the writings mention UnitedHealthcare by name, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The sources described the handwriting as sloppy and included these quotes: “These parasites had it coming” and “I do apologize for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done.”
Police are now looking at Mangione’s travel at various points across the United States and out of the county within the past year, the sources said.
Mangione, a Maryland native and Ivy League graduate, was also charged in New York with possession of a loaded firearm, possession of a forged instrument and criminal possession of a weapon.
He was charged with five crimes in Pennsylvania, including carrying a gun without a license, forgery, falsely identifying himself to authorities and possessing “instruments of crime,” according to the criminal complaint.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
