Former police officer arrested over alleged mass shooting plot at Louisiana festival

(WASHINGTON) — A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent was charged with assault for allegedly pointing a gun at the heads of two motorists in Minneapolis in February, the Hennepin County Attorney’s office said Thursday.

According to the prosecutor’s complaint, Gregory Morgan Jr., an ICE agent in Minneapolis, was ending his shift on Feb. 5 and was a driving back to the Whipple Federal Building when a person allegedly cut him off as Morgan was trying to pass them, and the agent then allegedly brandished a firearm at them. 

Morgan, of Temple Hills, Maryland, is charged with two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and a warrant has been issued nationwide for his arrest. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarity said in a news conference Thursday that Morgan has not been taken into custody but hopes he’ll turn himself in.

The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment.

The incident occurred during a contentious period in Minneapolis when the city was the focal point of an immigration enforcement surge and after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good by federal law enforcement. During that time questions arose about whether ICE agents could be prosecuted by state or local authorities.

Moriarity said Thursday that Morgan was driving “illegally” on the shoulder, “appearing to bypass shoulder traffic.”

The complainant told police that they did not know the person driving the other car was an ICE agent until investigators told them, according to the prosecutor’s complaint.

“There were no markings on Defendant’s vehicle that would identify it as law enforcement and the vehicle was not displaying or using lights or sirens,” according to the complaint. “Defendant continued to travel on the shoulder but rather than continue to drive past the victims, he pulled alongside their vehicle, rolled down his window, and pointed a black handgun directly at Victim 1 and Victim 2. Victim 1 had a clear view of Defendant’s appearance, saw that Defendant was wearing a black t-shirt, saw that the gun was pointed directly at their heads, saw that the gun was a Glock or Sig Sauer handgun with what appeared to be a red-dot sight, and noted that Defendant 2 yelled something indiscernible.” 

That is when they called police to report what had happened, the complaint said. 

Investigators interviewed Morgan, his supervisor and his partner a day later.

According to the prosecutor’s complaint:

“[Morgan] stated that Victim 1 swerved over in front of him and cut him off. Defendant claimed that he feared for his safety and the safety of others so, in response, he pulled alongside Victim 1’s vehicle, rolled down his window, drew his firearm, and yelled ‘Police Stop.’ [Morgan] stated he was trying to get Victim 1 to ‘back up.’ Defendant acknowledged that his firearm was a Glock 19 with a laser light, which Defendant had holstered on his right hip at the time of the interview. Defendant stated that after he pulled the gun on Victim 1 and Victim 2 he got in front of their vehicle and drove to the Whipple Building.”

Investigators also said they received cellphone footage from the complainant and reviewed traffic camera footage from the road on which they were traveling.

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(WASHINGTON) — The FBI’s application for the warrant that led to the search and seizure of more than 650 boxes of 2020 election records from a Fulton County, Georgia, election site in January lacked any kind of evidence of intentional misconduct and relied on incorrect information, an elections expert with twenty years of experience told a federal judge Friday.

Testifying as Fulton County’s first witness in its lawsuit against the Trump administration, Ryan Macias told the court that his review of the claims made by the FBI in their application lacked a “basis in reality.”

“The content of the witnesses is incorrect and in many cases contradictory,” he said. “The information in there is not based in reality.”

Lawyers with the Department of Justice attempted to cast doubt on Macias’ testimony by arguing he lacks direct knowledge of the testimony in the case and is inexperienced in criminal investigations, though he was only qualified as an expert on election administration. Macias worked for both the federal government and California to administer elections as well as consulted for Fulton County in 2020.

Assistant Attorney General Tysen Duva broadly claimed, without citing any examples, that criminal investigations regularly stem from matters where initial investigations found no evidence of wrongdoing.

“Are you aware that happens all the time?” Duva asked Macias.

“No,” Macias responded.

“That’s because you don’t know,” Duva responded.

During his direct examination, Macias went through each of the claims made in the FBI’s application for the warrant to debunk and cast doubt on each allegation.

“Do ballot images have any impact on the final tabulation of ballots?” asked attorney Kamal Ghali, referencing the claim that election officials produced inconsistent numbers of ballot images from the 2020 election.

“No they do not,” Macias said.

“Is the absence of ballot images evidence of misconduct?” Ghali asked.

“No it is not,” he responded.

Attorney Abbe Lowell, representing the Fulton County officials, argued that the search was based on incorrect information from unreliable witnesses related to claims that are years beyond the statute of limitations.

“A week doesn’t go by without someone in the administration making an allegation of voter fraud,” Lowell said before reminding the judge that the investigation itself originated from an attorney who tried to overturn the 2020 election who was previously sanctioned for making false claims about the outcome. Lowell said the reliance on the unreliable witnesses would make “George Orwell smile in his grave.”

DOJ attorneys have insisted that the search was based on evidence of potential misconduct and accused Fulton County officials of speculating about “some kind of grand conspiracy.”

“It just seems like a loosey-goosey theory,” said DOJ attorney Michael Weisbuch. “They don’t like the vibe of what’s happening because that’s not a constitutional standard.”

U.S. District Judge JP Boulee, a Trump appointee, will decide on Fulton County’s request to force the Trump administration to return the sensitive records taken from the election site.

After election officials raised concerns about the basis for the January 2026 search, Judge Boulee last month ordered the Department of Justice to publicly release the application for the warrant, which revealed that the investigation was triggered by an attorney and close ally of President Trump who sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

According to the unsealed court records, the investigation centers on long-debunked allegations of voter fraud that have already been thoroughly investigated.

Fulton County election officials have since pushed for the return of the records, arguing that the investigation focuses on “human errors that its own sources confirm occur in almost every election … without any intentional wrongdoing whatsoever.”

“The Affidavit omits numerous material facts — including from the very reports and publicly-disclosed investigations that the Affiant cites — that confirm the alleged conduct was previously investigated and found to be unintentional,” attorneys for the Fulton County officials argued.

In a late setback ahead of Friday’s hearing, Judge Boulee quashed an attempt to force the FBI agent behind the search warrant to testify, concluding that questioning the agent could reveal “process and scope of the DOJ’s investigation,” which remains ongoing.

President Donald Trump has long criticized the outcome of the 2020 election results in Georgia, personally pushing to overturn the results after his loss and later being indicted in two criminal cases over his actions. Those cases have since been dismissed, and Trump has continued to push for criminal accountability for what he baselessly alleged was a stolen election.

Through a call with Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard — who was present at the January raid — President Trump personally addressed some of the agents who conducted the search and told them they were doing great work by investigating Georgia’s elections, ABC News previously reported.

“I was at Fulton County, sir, at the request of the president and to work with the FBI to observe this action that had long been awaited,” Gabbard told lawmakers earlier this month when asked about her presence at the search. “It is my role based on statute that Congress has passed to have oversight over election security to include counterintelligence.” 

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(UTAH) — Kouri Richins, a Utah woman convicted of fatally poisoning her husband with fentanyl, was sentenced to life without parole for murder on Wednesday.

The 35-year-old mother of three, who self-published a children’s book on grieving following her husband’s death in 2022, was found guilty on all counts in March following a weekslong trial. The Summit County jury reached a verdict after about three hours of deliberations.

She faced either 25 years to life in prison or life without parole.

Eric Richins, 39, was found dead in bed on March 4, 2022. An autopsy determined that he died from fentanyl intoxication, and the level of fentanyl in his blood was approximately five times the lethal dosage, according to the charging document.

Kouri Richins was found guilty of aggravated murder, with prosecutors saying she spiked his drink with a lethal dose of fentanyl that she purchased illicitly after asking two people for the “Michael Jackson drug.”

She was also found guilty of attempted aggravated murder, with prosecutors saying she gave her husband a sandwich laced with fentanyl on Valentine’s Day two weeks before his death in an initial, failed attempt to kill him.

She was additionally found guilty of insurance fraud for taking out a $100,000 insurance policy on her husband’s life with his forged signature and for submitting a claim following his death.

Kouri Richins addresses court

Kouri Richins, who did not testify during her trial, addressed the court prior to her sentencing in what the defense said would be an “unusually long” allocution.

She spoke directly to her three children, referring to them as her “sweet baby boys,” saying she has been unable to contact them since early 2024 so “will use any opportunity I can to get a message to you — even if that means sharing it publicly to the world, fully restrained in my jail clothes, in one of the most horrible situations possible.”

“I don’t care, and I’m not embarrassed or ashamed by any of it,” she continued.

While surrounded by her attorneys at the podium in lime-green jail clothing and handcuffs during her nearly 40-minute remarks, she said her children are her reason for living and “I am so sorry for even one second you thought that I did for even one second you thought that I didn’t love you.”

“I know that today you don’t want to speak to me, have a relationship with me,” she said. “You may think you hate me, and that’s okay. I will never be angry at you for your feelings. When the day comes that you’re ready, I will be here for you, waiting for you, and loving you.”

She told them she is “not perfect.”

“I have succeeded and I have failed as a person, as a wife, as a parent — we all do,” she said.

Regarding her and her husband, she said, “We failed at some things, we never failed at loving you boys.”

She got emotional, telling them that they will always have their brothers.

“You have each other’s back,” she said.

Kouri Richins repeatedly told them to “be like their dad” and serve their community, be generous, love the outdoors and be a “noble son.”

“Be the friend everyone wants to be friends with, the dad that everyone wishes they had,” she said.

She said she may never see them again and apologized for them being in the middle of “absolute chaos.”

“I’m sorry that eight people from a jury who have never met you or me or our family have the right to determine our future, and they did that in less than three hours,” she said on her conviction.

She said she’s “broken” without her children and husband, and that the thought that she murdered their dad is an “absolute lie.”

“The thought of that is still as absurd today as it was four years ago,” she said.

“I would have never taken him from you, from us,” she continued.

She said she will appeal her conviction and fight the charges “no matter how long it takes.”

“I will not be blamed for something I did not do,” she said. “I need you boys to know the truth, and because of that, I will never quit the truth and coming home to you.”

Calls for life without parole

Prosecutors asked Judge Richard Mrazik to hand down a sentence of life without the possibility of parole, saying she “murdered Eric in the presence of their children, using poison, and for money.”

“Such a person should never again lurk among the rest of us,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed ahead of Wednesday’s hearing. “Her children should never worry that they may one day encounter her.”

The memo included statements from the couple’s three boys, who were 9, 7 and 5 years old when their father was murdered.

The eldest son, identified by his initials as C.R., wanted the court to know that “my dad was a good person and very thoughtful and kind and helped whoever needed help,” the filing stated.

Prosecutors said that the Utah Division of Child and Family Services supported a finding of emotional and physical abuse by Kouri Richins against C.R. following the death.

“I’m afraid if she gets out, she will come after me and my brothers, my whole family. I think she would come and take us and not do good things to us, like hurt us,” the filing stated. “I miss my dad, but I do not miss how my life used to be, I don’t miss Kouri, I will tell you that.”

The middle child, A.R., was a “material witness” to the murder, according to prosecutors, as Kouri Richins told police that she had gone into his room before returning to bed and finding her husband dead. Had he taken the stand during the trial, “A.R. would have testified at trial that the Defendant did not sleep in his room with him the night she murdered his father,” prosecutors stated.

A.R. said he doesn’t want his mother out of jail “because I will not feel safe,” the filing stated. The youngest son, W.R., also said he would feel “so scared” if his mother ever got out, and that she “makes me feel hateful and ashamed.”

The statements were read on their behalf by advocates during the sentencing hearing.

Defense attorney Wendy Lewis asked that the court not consider the state’s sentencing memo, arguing during the hearing that it contained “unsworn allegations untested by cross-examination” and was a “not-so-subtle attempt” to make public evidence that they held back or were unable to present in court because Kouri Richins did not testify.

Lewis disputed several points in the memo, saying that the Utah Division of Child and Family Services made an initial finding of emotional and physical abuse based on reports, sending the case to juvenile court, which she said found “no fault” — “in other words, that the children needed intervention, but due to no fault of Kouri Richins.”

Lewis also said that upon Kouri Richins’ arrest a year after the death, A.R.’s statements to police at the time were consistent with hers, that “Kouri had gone to sleep in his room” that night.

Judge Mrazik ultimately denied the defense’s request to strike portions of the state’s sentencing memo.

‘Permanent trauma’

The three boys are now in the care of one of Eric Richins’ sisters, Katie Richins-Benson, and her husband, according to the filing.

Richins-Benson urged the court to hand down a sentence that guarantees Kouri Richins will remain in prison for the rest of her life for the “permanent trauma” she’s inflicted on the children.

“The mere thought that someone who has so little regard for human life or decency might one day walk free is horrifying,” she said while delivering a victim impact statement in court on Wednesday. “I worry about the safety of Eric’s boys, my daughters, my sister and myself. There is nothing Kouri will not do and no one she will not hurt to achieve her own selfish ends.”

Several other family members delivered emotional victim impact statements during the hearing, held on what would have been Eric Richins’ 44th birthday, while also asking for the maximum sentence possible.

In addition to the maximum sentence, prosecutors asked that Kouri Richins be ordered to pay restitution to two insurance companies totaling more than $1.3 million.

Defense says she’s not a ‘monster’

Defense attorney Kathryn Nester argued during the sentencing hearing that Kouri Richins is not the “monster” portrayed by the prosecution, while asking the judge to consider conduct displayed over the course of her life.

Nester described Kouri Richins as a “human being, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a person that has made mistakes,” but also a person who has “completed acts of kindness and love and care toward others, a person who’s contributed to her community, a person who even in the darkest time of her life, reached out to help others who were incarcerated alongside her, a person who unselfishly tried to ease the pain her family and friends experienced as a result of this case.”

Defense attorney Wendy Lewis read in court a letter written by Kouri Richins’ mother, during which she asked the court to hand down a sentence that reflects accountability but also “allows the possibility of a future.”

Her mother also called the conviction a “profound injustice.”

“I do not believe Kouri is capable of committing a murder,” she wrote.

Other letters by family members and friends in support of Kouri Richins were read on their behalf or delivered in court. She could be seen crying as her brother addressed the court.

“I miss your family, I miss our family,” her brother, Ronnie Darden, told the court. “We don’t, with 100% certainty, know what happened to Eric, no one does, but we do know, with 100% certainty, that it wasn’t caused by you.”

Lewis asked for a sentence of 25 years to life, saying, “When you put aside all of the media, all of the interest, and you look at the crime she is convicted of, this is an appropriate sentence.”

“A sentence of 25 to life is not a sentence that guarantees the release of Kouri Richins,” Lewis continued. “It is not saying that she even should be released. What it is saying is that the decision whether she should be released is a decision for someone else to make on another day — a day that will be at the minimum 25 to 30 years in the future, a future that could look very different than today.”

Prosecutors argued that Kouri Richins was having an affair and wanted a “fresh start” and to leave her husband — but didn’t want to leave his money. They said she was in “financial desperation” due to her house flipping business’ debts and needed a significant influx of cash immediately.

According to prosecutors, she believed she would have financially benefited from her husband’s death — without realizing that his assets were in a trust overseen by one of his sisters, Katie Richins-Benson.

The defense, meanwhile, said the case was “sloppy” and “driven by bias” and argued that the state failed to prove the allegations beyond a reasonable doubt. The defense called no witnesses.

Kouri Richins also faces more than two dozen charges in a separate case filed last year, including allegations that she committed mortgage fraud in 2021. The charging document alleges she submitted falsified bank statements in support of mortgage loan applications for her realty business, committed money laundering and issued bad checks. 

The charges in the case also allege she murdered her husband for financial gain as she “stood on the precipice of total financial collapse.”

She has not yet entered a plea to those charges.

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