Former CNN journalist Don Lemon arrested in connection with Minnesota protest
Don Lemon attends the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights’ 2025 Ripple of Hope Gala at New York Hilton on December 09, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for RFK Ripple Of Hope)
(NEW YORK) — Former CNN journalist Don Lemon was arrested early Friday morning in connection with an incident in which anti-ICE protesters disrupted a service at a Minnesota church, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The incident unfolded on Jan. 18, when protesters entered Cities Church in St. Paul. The protesters said one of the pastors is the acting field director of the St. Paul ICE field office.
Bondi said on social media that Lemon and three others were arrested early Friday “at my direction” “in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church.”
At least three additional people were previously arrested in connection with the protest.
Lemon’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said last week that a magistrate judge rejected charges against Lemon. A source told ABC News that Bondi last week was “enraged” at the magistrate judge’s decision to not charge the journalist.
Lowell said on Friday that Lemon was taken into custody by federal agents while he was covering the Grammy Awards.
“Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done,” Lowell said in a statement. “The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable.”
“Instead of investigating the federal agents who killed two peaceful Minnesota protesters, the Trump Justice Department is devoting its time, attention and resources to this case,” Lowell said, calling the arrest an “attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this administration.”
Lowell called Lemon’s arrest an “unprecedented attack on the First Amendment” and said the journalist “will fight these charges vigorously and thoroughly in court.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Two people are dead and 14 others hospitalized following a mass shooting early Sunday morning. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The FBI said it is investigating a possible terrorism motive in a mass shooting early Sunday outside a bar in Austin, Texas, that left two people dead and more than a dozen others injured.
The suspected gunman was killed in a confrontation with police officers, who were already staged in the city’s entertainment district when the shooting broke out, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said at a news conference on Sunday.
The suspect has been identified as Ndiaga Diagne, a 53-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Senegal, sources with knowledge of the matter told ABC News.
Davis said the suspect was living in Pflugerville, Texas.
The suspect was wearing clothing that referenced Allah and a T-shirt that referenced Iran, with an Iranian flag underneath the word, according to multiple law enforcement officials.
Diagne entered the U.S. in March 2000, on a B-2 tourist visa. In 2006, he adjusted to lawful permanent resident (IR-6) based on marriage to a U.S. citizen, according to multiple law enforcement officials.
He naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 2013.
In 2022, he was arrested in Texas for a collision with a vehicle damage, a source told ABC News.
Alex Doran, the acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Antonio field office, said a motive for the shooting remains under investigation, but terrorism is a possible motive.
“There were indicators on the subject and in his vehicle that indicate potential nexus to terrorism,” Doran said Sunday. “Again, it’s still too early to make a determination on that.”
In a social media post on Sunday afternoon, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that President Donald Trump had been briefed regarding the shooting in Austin.
Davis said 911 callers began reporting a shooting on West Sixth Street in downtown Austin just before 2 p.m. She said the 911 callers stated that someone was shooting around Buford’s Bar.
“We know that a large SUV drove several times around the block in that area,” Davis said. “At one point, [the suspect] put his flashers on, rolled down his window and began using a pistol, shooting out of his car windows, striking patrons of the bar that were on the patio and that were in front of the bar.”
Davis said the suspect then parked his vehicle, got out and opened fire on people gathered on the sidewalk.
She said the Austin police department had a contingent of officers assigned to patrol the area in the busy West Sixth Street entertainment district. She said the officers were about 55 to 56 seconds away from where the suspect was shooting, and rushed toward the gunfire.
Davis said the suspect was walking in the direction of the police when officers confronted him and killed him.
Bystander video verified by ABC News captured the suspected shooter walking on the sidewalk toward police officers as he fired a barrage of shots. The video shows officers returning fire, striking the suspect before he falls to the ground as someone screams in the background, “Oh, my God!”
The sources told ABC News that the suspect initially fired five to seven shots from a handgun into a crowd of people before police said he exited his vehicle and was confronted by Austin Police officers.
“There is no question in my mind that the quick response of the police officers and of our EMS personnel and those professionals made a difference and saved lives,” Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said at the news conference.
Three Austin Police Department officers encountered a suspect armed with a gun on the street near Buford’s Bar, police said at an earlier news conference. The officers returned fire, fatally shooting the man, police said.
The FBI’s Joint terrorism Task Force is joining the investigation into the shooting, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
Law enforcement is also probing whether there were any mental health issues related to the suspected shooter, sources said, adding that as of now the shooting is considered an isolated incident, rather than part of a larger plot.
ABC News spoke via telephone with a woman in Texas, who confirmed that she is Diagne’s ex-wife. She said they divorced in 2022 and that she has not spoken to her ex-husband in four or five years. The woman said she knew nothing about the Austin shooting and said she was shocked when she heard about it.
Asked if her ex-husband was religious, she said, “He was religious, yeah.” She did not elaborate.
She said they previously lived in New York together and then, in 2017, moved to Texas because Diagne wanted more space for their family, including their two children. She said that before moving to Texas, her ex-husband went there for a week to check it out as a possible place to move, and then he came back to New York and told her, “Oh, I think you’re gonna love it, it’s quiet.”
She said they initially moved to San Antonio.
The Austin Police Department had earlier released a statement urging people to avoid the area near the 600 block of Rio Grande Street, the Downtown Austin block where the bar is located.
Photos and videos from the scene showed a major emergency response. Paramedics and officers arrived on the scene less than a minute after the first call came in, Chief Robert Luckritz, of the Austin-Travis County EMS, said on Sunday.
Three people, including a suspect, were pronounced dead at the scene, Luckritz said, adding that another 14 were transported to local hospitals for treatment for injuries.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement on Sunday that he has directed the state Department of Public Safety (DPS) to increase patrols in the West Sixth Street area during the weekends.
Abbott said that before the shooting, he directed the DPS and the Texas National Guard to intensify patrols and surveillance across the state in a precautionary measure in response to the joint U.S.-Israel military operation in Iran.
“This act of violence will not define us, nor will it shake the resolve of Texans,” Abbott said of the mass shooting. “To anyone who thinks about using the current conflict in the Middle East to threaten Texans or our critical infrastructure, understand this clearly: Texas will respond with decisive and overwhelming force to protect our state.”
Stock photo of two vintage mandolins (Joby Sessions/Guitarist Magazine/Future via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — In a sobering decision, one drunk thief apparently changed his tune and returned two mandolins that he had previously stolen, according to the owner of a New Jersey vintage guitar store.
In a social media post Friday, Lark Street Music said that two previously stolen mandolins – a small, guitar-like instrument in the lute family – had been returned to the store, along with a handwritten note partly in all caps that read, “SORRY, I BEEN DRUNK, MERRY CHRISTMAS You are good man.”
Buzzy Levine, who has owned the store since 1981, told ABC News that he was shocked when the instruments were returned.
“I couldn’t believe it. I said, ‘this is insane.’ This is like, some kind of weird movie that has a happy ending or something,” Levine said.
The store had previously posted surveillance video online depicting the alleged thief stuffing the instruments beneath his parka and leaving the store on Monday, Dec. 22, and asking for help in identifying the culprit.
“How to steal 2 mandolins at the same time! Be on the lookout for this criminal and the Gibson F-12 #A2985 and a Weber Yellowstone #9360302. This thief has a Montenegrin accent,” the post read.
Levine told ABC News that the mandolins were valued at $3,500 and $4,250, respectively.
Levine said in his online post that he saw the alleged thief “surreptitiously” open the store’s front door and return the mandolins in two shopping bags.
“An instant later, I wanted to see who did it, and so I went outside, and I saw the guy sort of trotting down the street. And I took chase, probably not the smartest thing to do, and he was he took off. He was running really fast and kept looking back to see if I was catching up or he was gaining ground, and then he took a turn – and then I lost them,” Levine said, adding that he then called 911.
Christopher Kurschner, captain of investigations for the Teaneck Police Department, told ABC News that they’re investigating the crime but haven’t made arrests. Anyone with information can call the Teaneck Police Department at 201-837-2600.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt displays steps for U.S. citizens in the Middle East to take following U.S. strikes on Iran as she speaks during a news briefing in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on March 04, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The State Department announced on Wednesday that a charter flight for American citizens stuck in the Middle East was en route to the United States — days after the war with Iran left thousands of American travelers stranded as combat operations led to the closure of airspace around the region.
The department said the flight is “part of our ongoing efforts to assist Americans return home” and said additional flights will be departing from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Israel.
The move comes as hundreds of thousands of Americans stranded across the Middle East are trying to leave the region, faced with canceled flights and other travel disruptions.
Chris Elliott, a pastor from Lexington, North Carolina, told ABC News that he and his family were stranded while visiting sites in Jerusalem. He said they ended up in a bomb shelter as sirens sounded and incoming missiles were intercepted.
“We want Americans to be on American soil right now,” Elliott said.
Eliott’s daughter, Riley, said it’s been frustrating and frightening to be forced to shelter in place since the joint U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran began on Saturday.
“The scariest for me was trying to go to bed at night and then being woken up by the sounds of sirens,” Riley Elliott told ABC News.
The U.S. State Department issued an advisory on Monday, three days into the military operation, urging Americans to immediately leave 14 countries in the region via commercial flights, but stranded U.S. citizens have said that’s become extremely difficult, given the significant disruptions to air travel.
The Trump administration is facing some criticism for apparently not having a plan in place to get American citizens out of harm’s way ahead of the joint operation.
Responding to a question on Tuesday from ABC News about why so many Americans became stuck in the Middle East absent any advance warning of the attack on Iran, President Donald Trump said, “Well, because it happened all very quickly.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a Wednesday press briefing that the U.S. did communicate the danger of traveling to the region.
“There was many signs, put out by the State Department,” Leavitt said. “The secretary of state issued level four travel advisories dating back to January for many of these countries in the region,” adding that they were “advising extreme caution and do not travel alerts to Americans in the region.”
However, a review of travel advisories issued by the State Department indicates that prior to the start of the conflict, of the the 14 countries American travelers were later urged to depart, eight of them were only listed at a Level 1 or Level 2 — meaning to exercise normal precautions or increased caution.
Leavitt also claimed that since the start of the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, over 17,500 Americans “have safely returned home from the Middle East, with over 8,500 American citizens returning home to the United States just yesterday alone.”
Multiple U.S. embassies in the region, including some that have been attacked, have said they are unable to help citizens trying to leave.
“Our embassies and our diplomatic facilities are under direct attack from a terroristic regime,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Tuesday in Washington.
Asked if there were plans in place to evacuate Americans before the attack took place, Rubio said, “That’s the plan we’re trying to carry out.”
“The problem is, or the challenge we are facing, is airspace closures,” Rubio said, adding that some airports were closed after being hit in strikes. “So, that’s a challenge, but rest assured, we are confident that we are going to be able to assist every American.”
Odies Turner, a private chef from South Carolina, told ABC News that he’s been stuck in his hotel in Doha, Qatar, since the military operation began. He said the unexpected experience of being in a war has left him “frustrated, anxious” and feeling helpless.
“How do you expect us to leave a country where the airspace is closed? People are really stranded here,” Turner said in a self-video recorded on Tuesday. “I really don’t know what to do. I’ve reached out to the embassy, consulate and airlines. There’s no information on when I will get back home. It’s a mess.”
American Lisa Butler said the military conflict left her and her family, who were part of a large travel group, stranded in Abu Dhabi before they were evacuated to Dubai.
“We were standing … outside of this beautiful mosque, looking up in the sky and seeing these missiles that have been intercepted,” Butler told ABC News about how she and her family learned while in Abu Dhabi that they were vulnerable to a major military conflict breaking out in the region.
Oliver Sims, an American from Texas, told ABC News that he has been stuck in Qatar.
“I was just a few minutes ago, listening to some explosions that are going off above my head,” Sims said. “And, you know, I know that officials have said use commercial means, but there are really no commercial means here for us to use. So it’s really difficult to try and figure out a way out.”
Asked to describe conditions in Qatar, Sims said that he has been awakened at night by “extremely loud explosions” that shook the windows of his hotel room.
“I looked out my window and I saw a bunch of debris that was raining down outside of my hotel window,” Sims said. “And it’s very jarring, too, because it’s not just how loud it is, just how it actually physically shakes you. The rumbling is really, really just as violent.”
