Foot remains found on Utah lake belong to man missing since 1997: Officials
Sevier County Sheriff’s Office released a photo of David Wright from Washington Utah who went missing in September, 1997. Sevier County Sheriff’s Office
(SEVIER COUNTY, Utah) — Remains of a human foot found inside a hiking shoe on the shores of a lake in Utah belong to a man who went missing in 1997, according to officials.
The remains were found on the shores of Fishlake Utah in May, according to the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators determined the hiking boot was made in 1996 for only one year. Investigators were able to tie the boot to a cold case disappearance from September 1997.
David White intended to go fishing with some friends and had rented a hotel room nearby. When the plans with friends fell through, White went fishing anyway, according to the sheriff’s office.
His boat was later found trolling across Fishlake with no one onboard, according to officials.
“A shoe and hat were found floating in the water giving a possible indication where White was believed to have fallen in. There were no witnesses at the time. All of this was a mystery until now,” the sheriff’s office said in a press release.
The original search for White lasted five days and no further evidence was found at the time.
“This case has been on the mind of every one of the SAR members who were involved in the search 28 years ago. It is good to finally have some closure for the family and the searchers,” Sheriff Nathan Curtis said in a statement.
The medical examiner’s office directed investigators to collect DNA from the foot and DNA from a daughter and sent to Bode Cellmark Forensics.
Testing revealed a parental match with 99.9994% certainty.
“We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office, SAR’s, Detective Sgt Pearson, Detective Sgt Larsen, Sheriff Curtis, and Gary (Moulton) from Fishlake Lodge for their incredible support and tireless efforts. We are also deeply grateful to the individual and his dog who found the shoe – without them, we would not be where we are today,” Stefanie Bennett, the daughter of White, said in a statement released by officials.
(JACKSONVILLE, Fla.) — William McNeil, Jr., the 22-year-old Florida man whose violent arrest by Jacksonville sheriff’s deputies was caught in a viral video, addressed the incident publicly for the first time during a press conference on Wednesday morning.
McNeil began his brief remarks by thanking those who supported him, then turned to the Feb. 19 incident.
“I was getting pulled over, and I needed to step out the car, and I know I didn’t do nothing wrong. I was really just scared,” he said.
He was also asked by a reporter what he was taught about dealing with law enforcement.
“Basically, what I was taught is to, instead of fighting them on the street where we don’t have power, fight them in the courts,” McNeil said in response.
McNeil’s mother, Latoya Solomon, said during the press conference that watching the video was emotionally difficult for her and it took her months to watch it in its entirety.
“I’m thankful to God for protecting him, because I know what the outcome could have been,” Solomon said
His stepfather, Alton Solomon, was visibly emotional while reflecting on the incident.
“To see that video made me go back to the moment when I was 22. It hurt,” he said.
McNeil is student at Livingstone College in Salisbury, North Carolina, where he is also the leader of the marching band.
Speaking during the press conference, one of McNeil’s attorneys, Ben Crump, called for the firing of the deputy who punched McNeil during the incident.
“If you don’t terminate this officer and you condone this type of police excessive force, then it sends a message to all of the other police officers on the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office team. It tells them, it is OK for you to treat citizens like this, it is okay to treat Black motorists like this,” Crump said. “In America, it is not OK.”
On Monday, attorney Harry Daniels told ABC News that his client plans to take legal action.
“We are planning to do everything we can do to secure justice,” Daniels said when asked if the legal team plans to file a lawsuit. “We are seeking all options to ensure accountability.”
The sheriff’s office said on Sunday that the agency launched an investigation into the incident after the 2-minute cell phone video captured by McNeil went viral. On Monday, Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters also released body camera footage from two deputies who were present on the scene of the arrest.
In the video, sheriff’s deputies are seen beating and punching McNeil during the traffic stop after he repeatedly questioned why he was being pulled over and refused to exit his vehicle. The deputy who broke McNeil’s window and punched him was identified by Waters as D. Bowers.
“Pending the outcome of this administrative review, Officer Bowers has been stripped of his law enforcement authority,” Waters said. It is unclear if other deputies involved in the arrest have been placed on administrative leave.
Waters also announced on Monday that “the State Attorney’s Office has determined that none of the involved officers violated criminal law,” but highlighted that the deputies’ actions are now being examined in an “administrative review,” which will determine if the deputies “violated [Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office] policy.”
ABC News has reached out to the Office of the State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit serving Clay, Duval, & Nassau Counties for further comment.
It is unclear if Bowers has retained an attorney. ABC News has reached out to Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office for further comment, but have not heard back.
“I will neither defend nor commend officer Bowers’ response to resistance until all the facts are known and the investigation is completed,” Waters said.
H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
(BOULDER, Colo.) — A Holocaust survivor was among the eight victims in an alleged “act of terrorism” carried out during a pro-Israel demonstration in Boulder, Colorado, according to a Department of Justice official.
The Holocaust survivor, who was not identified, “endured the worst evil in human history” and “came to America seeking safety,” Leo Terrell, the Justice Department official in charge of the antisemitism task force, wrote on social media. “Now, decades later, she’s victimized again.”
“The attack on this survivor reminds me of the horror of October 7, [2023], when Holocaust survivors were murdered and dragged away by Hamas terrorists in Israel,” Terrell said. “But this time, it happened here. In our country. This is all caused by the same type of hatred: antisemitism.”
“Holocaust survivors should not spend the final chapter of their lives experiencing or witnessing this hatred again,” Terrell wrote. “We must fight this terror together.”
The suspect, 45-year-old Mohammed Soliman, allegedly used a “makeshift flamethrower” and threw an incendiary device into a crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators on a pedestrian mall on Sunday afternoon, according to the FBI. He allegedly yelled “Free Palestine” during the attack, the FBI said.
The attack took place during a Run for Their Lives walk, which aims to raise awareness about the remaining hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and calls for their immediate release.
Eight victims were hospitalized with burns, including one person in critical condition, police said. The victims’ ages range from 52 to 88, police said.
Soliman has been taken into custody.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement Monday, “My wife and I and the entire State of Israel pray for the full recovery of the wounded in the vicious terror attack that took place in Boulder, Colorado.”
“This attack was aimed against peaceful people who wished to express their solidarity with the hostages held by Hamas, simply because they were Jews,” he said. “I trust the United States authorities to prosecute the cold blood perpetrator to the fullest extent of the law and do everything possible to prevent future attacks against innocent civilians.”
The attack comes at a time of heightened violence against the Jewish community.
In April, a suspected arsonist firebombed Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s official residence because of “what [the governor] wants to do to the Palestinian people,” according to a search warrant signed by Pennsylvania State Police. The suspect was arrested.
On May 21, two Israeli Embassy staff members were killed as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. When the suspect was arrested, he began to chant, “free, free Palestine,” according to police.
Two days after the D.C. attack, the Department of Homeland Security warned in a bulletin that the Israel-Hamas conflict “continues to inspire violence and could spur radicalization or mobilization to violence against targets perceived as supporting Israel.”
The Anti-Defamation League has documented a dramatic rise in acts of hate targeting Jewish people in the U.S. since the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack in Israel. In 2024, the ADL said it recorded a record high of 9,354 antisemitic incidents in the U.S., marking a 344% increase over the past five years and a 893% increase over the past 10 years.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
The alleged shooter in today’s shooting incident at Fort Stewart is identified as Sgt. Quornelius Radford, a 28-year-old automated logistical sergeant from Jacksonville, Florida. Photo Credit: U.S. Army
(NEW YORK) — When a gunman opened fire at Fort Stewart in Georgia, six soldiers immediately jumped into action to stop the shooter and tend to their fellow service members who were wounded, the secretary of the Army said.
Automated logistics Sgt. Quornelius Radford allegedly opened fire with his personal handgun at the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team area on Wednesday morning, shooting and wounding five other soldiers, according to Brig. Gen. John Lubas, the 3rd Infantry Division and Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield commander.
When the shots rang out, one soldier — who was unarmed — ran at and tackled the gunman who “was actively shooting,” Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll said at a news conference on Thursday.
“Another solider jumped on top of the person to subdue them,” Driscoll said, adding “the other soldiers immediately … started to take care of mass casualties.”
Surgeons said the soldiers’ quick work to stop the bleeding “certainly saved their lives,” according to Lubas.
Driscoll praised their “heroism,” saying, “The fast action of these soldiers under stress and under trauma and under fire absolutely saved lives from being lost.”
One of the honored soldiers, 1st Sgt. Joshua Arnold, told ABC News he was in a conference room when he heard a noise and then saw a “flash.”
He said he started running and saw a haze of smoke, and then came across a soldier saying, “I got shot, I got shot, I got shot.”
“Immediately put the soldier on the ground, got their top off, rendered aid, tried to stop the bleeding,” Arnold said.
Another responder arrived, Arnold said, and the injured soldier mentioned that someone else was hurt — so Arnold said he went to help that victim. Arnold said he then found a third victim and rendered aid again.
Staff Sgt. Melissa Taylor, an experienced medic and mom of three boys, told ABC News she saw a soldier lying on the ground and sprinted toward him without thinking of the danger, and then exposed his wound and held pressure to stop the bleeding.
“I just did what I knew I was supposed to do,” she said.
Three of the five wounded soldiers were released from the hospital on Wednesday, Lubas said. The fourth soldier, a woman, may be released from the hospital this weekend, and the fifth soldier, also a woman, has a “longer road,” but doctors are hopeful for a full recovery, Lubas said on Thursday.
“I’m glad that my battle buddies, and my friends, are safe and they’re alive and I’ll see their faces soon,” Arnold said.
A motive is not clear, Lubas said, but the shooting involved Radford’s co-workers and was at his “place of work.”
Another soldier who responded, Sgt. Aaron Turner, told ABC News he saw Radford moments after the shooting and said he tried to deescalate the situation.
Turner said Radford told him to “go home” and that “he’s not gonna end up hurting any of the soldiers, he’s pretty much dealing with leadership.”
Turner, who helped disarm the suspect, said, “as far as interactions, never seen anything wrong with him — he’s always a happy-go-lucky guy.”
Radford used a personal handgun in the shooting, but it’s not clear how he brought it to his workplace, Lubas added. Having a personal gun on base is a violation, officials said Thursday.
He has been interviewed by Army investigators and is in custody, Lubas said.
Radford has not previously deployed to combat, Lubas said. He had been arrested locally for a DUI, Lubas said, noting the arrest was “unknown to his chain of command until the [shooting] occurred and we started looking into the law enforcement databases.”
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, “The entire nation is praying for the victims and their families, and hopefully they’ll fully recover.”
“The perpetrator of this atrocity — which is exactly what it is — will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Trump added.
