Former Detroit Lions linebacker charged for allegedly assaulting police on Jan. 6
Department of Justice
(WASHINGTON) — A former NFL linebacker who played for the Detroit Lions faces charges for allegedly engaging in a series of assaults on law enforcement during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, court records show.
Leander Antwione Williams, 31, was arrested Thursday in what appears to be the first newly filed Capitol breach case brought by federal prosecutors since Election Day.
His charges include assaulting officers, civil disorder and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, according to a criminal complaint filed last week.
Williams was a fifth-round draft pick for the Detroit Lions in 2016 and also played linebacker for the XFL’s DC Defenders, according to public reports.
In the charging document, which was unsealed Thursday following his arrest in Savannah, Georgia, prosecutors detailed how Williams allegedly joined the pro-Trump mob in engaging in several violent skirmishes with officers attempting to protect the Capitol.
In one instance, Williams was captured on police body camera footage pulling bike racks away from a police line and then striking an officer on the head, according to the complaint. Another video showed Williams grabbing and pulling against two officers who appeared to be trying to push him away, according to the complaint.
Williams was ultimately identified by the FBI following a series of tips submitted dating back to December of 2022, according to the complaint. Agents ultimately confirmed his identity in photos with the help of a signature key fob that he was seen wearing on his belt loop during the riot that they cross-referenced with other pictures from his social media profiles, according to the complaint.
Williams has not entered a plea to the felony charges he currently faces and did not have an attorney listed representing him as of Thursday afternoon.
His arrest is further evidence that the Justice Department plans to continue its prosecution of individuals found to have carried out assaults during the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol despite the election of former President Donald Trump, who has stated his intention to issue pardons or commute the sentences for his followers who joined in the attack once he takes office in January.
Prosecutors from the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s office have spent the past week arguing against a wave of filings from Jan. 6 defendants seeking to delay their cases in the hopes they’ll be pardoned once Trump enters office. In most, but not all instances, those requests have fallen flat with judges overseeing their cases.
(WELCHES, Ore.) — A man has been arrested and charged with murder after his estranged wife was found dead in the Oregon wilderness.
Michel Fournier, 71, was taken into custody Friday on second-degree murder charges. He is now being held without bail, according to the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office.
Earlier Friday, Susan Lane-Fournier was found deceased in Welches, a remote part of Clackamas County, after a multi-day search. An autopsy ruled her manner of death as homicide, according to authorities.
Lane-Fournier, 61, had been reported missing one week earlier, on Nov. 22, after failing to show up at work, according to officials.
She was also known as “Phoenix,” the sheriff’s office said.
Officials previously said she was believed to have been in the wooded area hiking with her two dogs.
The two dogs, which had also been considered missing, were also found dead on Saturday, the sheriff’s office said.
Weeks before she disappeared, according to The Oregonian, Lane-Fournier filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. The two had been married for 12 years.
(LOS ANGELES) — Family members have begun to identify the Los Angeles residents who were killed in the wildfires sweeping through the area since Jan. 7.
As of Sunday evening, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner said it was investigating at least 14 fire-related deaths from the Eaton and Palisades Fires which have burned through thousands of acres.
Here is what we know of the deceased victims.
Anthony and Justin Mitchell
Hajime White told ABC News that her father, Anthony, and brother Justin, were killed in the Eaton fire in Altadena.
Both had disabilities and were in wheelchairs and were waiting for an ambulance to transport them to relatives, White told ABC News.
White says her father called her the morning of the fires, saying he knew the fire had broken out and he had to evacuate. He told her he loved her, and then all of a sudden, he said, “Baby, I gotta go. The fire is in the yard,” according to Hajime.
“And that’s the last words I have from my dad,” she said.
Anthony was an amputee and lived with Justin who had cerebral palsy, according to White.
Anthony had several grandchildren, including Hajime’s six daughters, and welcomed two great-grandchildren last year, according to his daughter.
“He was a great man. A great dad that any little girl could want,” she said.
White said Justin was very smart and enjoyed reading, especially the newspaper with their dad.
“He’d try his hardest to say ‘hi.’ He tried to tell me he loved me,” White said of her brother.
Victor Shaw
Victor Shaw died he died in a heroic attempt to protect his home in Altadena, his sister Shari Shaw, told ABC News.
Shaw lived in the family home since 1965, and had health issues that impacted his mobility, according to his sister.
“I can’t imagine what he might have been thinking, how he might have been so frightened,” Shari said.
Charles Mortimer
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s office confirmed on Sunday that 84-year-old Charles Mortimer was among those killed in the fires.
Mortimer’s family said he “truly lived life to its fullest.”
“He was a world traveler, a sun worshipper and an avid sports fan,” the family said, adding that he was happy to see his “beloved” Chicago Cubs win the World Series.
“He will be remembered as a man with a quick wit, a brilliant mind, and a love for his family. His infectious smile and never-ending sense of humor will be greatly missed by his friends and family all over the world,” the family said.
ABC News’ Sean Keane and Mola Lenghi contributed to this report.
(NEW ORLEANS) — The suspect in the truck attack that killed 14 and injured dozens in New Orleans on New Year’s had traveled to Egypt in 2023 for about a month, his half-brother told ABC News.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old Army veteran and U.S.-born citizen from Texas, went to Egypt alone and told his family he was going “because it was cheap and beautiful,” his half-brother, 24-year-old Abdur Jabbar, said.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar’s foreign travel is a part of the ongoing investigation, law enforcement officials told ABC News.
Investigators are working to determine what he did during his travel in Egypt, why he went and who he interacted with while there, multiple sources said. Critical to the probe is whether he had been radicalized prior to the travel or if the travel marked the start of his radicalization.
“This next most important phase of the investigation is to find out how that radicalization happened and if it happened on that trip,” Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams told ABC News.
Early on New Year’s Day, Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a pickup truck onto a sidewalk and around a parked police car serving as a barricade to plow into pedestrians over a three-block stretch on Bourbon Street, police said. He then exited the damaged vehicle armed with an assault rifle and opened fire on police officers, law enforcement said. Officers returned fire, killing him.
Shamsud-Din Jabbar posted several videos online hours before the attack “proclaiming his support for ISIS” and mentioning he joined ISIS before this summer, according to the FBI.
Officials said the first 24 hours after the ramming attack were occupied by a feverish effort to determine whether there were additional suspects on the loose or if Shamsud-Din Jabbar worked with accomplices. Since Thursday, investigators have been focused on piecing together his path to radicalization and the events that led up to his decision to attack Bourbon Street.
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security has issued a joint intelligence bulletin warning the nation’s 18,000 law-enforcement agencies about potential copycats, ABC News learned. The bulletin was sent out of an abundance of caution to sensitize law enforcement around the country to be on the lookout for any activity pointing to the use of vehicles as a method to inflict mass casualties, sources told ABC News.
“We advise federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government and law enforcement officials and private sector security partners to remain vigilant of potential copycat or retaliatory attacks inspired by this attack and other recent, lethal vehicle-ramming incidents across the globe,” the bulletin said.
The bulletin notes that ISIS has been promoting the use of vehicles as a terrorism weapon since around 2014.
ISIS has ramped up calls for its supporters to launch low-tech, mass casualty ramming attacks in recent months, sources told ABC News, especially since the most recent Israel-Hamas conflict began in October 2023.
The bulletin stated that Shamsud-Din Jabbar was inspired by ISIS but that there remains no evidence of any co-conspirators. A senior law-enforcement official told ABC News that there is so far no sign of ISIS claiming responsibility for the New Orleans attack.
“Law enforcement should be aware that in many cases attackers have conducted vehicle-ramming attacks with secondary weapons and may continue the attack with edged weapons, firearms, or IEDs after the vehicle has stopped,” the bulletin said. The tactic could be “attractive” for foreign terrorist organizations and other actors due to its low complexity threshold, the warning said.
An intelligence bulletin from the New York Police Department obtained by ABC News indicated that ISIS supporters did celebrate the attack online. Violent extremists, the bulletin said, “continue to view densely populated walkways, parades, mass gatherings and other outdoor events along streets, especially during holidays, as vulnerable targets of opportunity.”
“This enduring threat underscores the criticality of pre-staged blocker cars and the deployment of other effectively configured countermeasures including heavy block, barriers and bollards,” it added.
Surveillance footage showed Shamsud-Din Jabbar placing two improvised explosive devices in coolers in the Bourbon Street area, Raia said. He had a remote detonator in the truck to set off the two devices, President Joe Biden said. Both devices were rendered safe, officials said.
Bomb-making materials have been recovered at Shamsud-Din Jabbar’s Houston home, sources confirmed to ABC News. The items found were also referred to as “precursor chemicals” by agents in the field, sources said.
Law enforcement cleared and reopened Bourbon Street on Thursday as the investigation continued. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said authorities had the “confidence” to reopen the area to the public ahead of the Sugar Bowl on Thursday afternoon, which was initially scheduled for Wednesday but postponed in the wake of the attack.
“I want to reassure the public that the city of New Orleans is not only ready for game day today, but we’re ready to continue to host large-scale events in our city,” she said. “Our hearts and prayers continue to go out to the victims’ families,” Cantrell added.
President Biden and first lady Jill Biden will head to New Orleans on Monday to meet with the families and community members, the White House said. Biden said Friday that he’s spoken with victims’ families.
There is no apparent direct connection between the New Orleans attack and Wednesday’s Tesla Cybertruck explosion outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, which is also being investigated as a possible act of terror, the FBI said Thursday.
