Grandmother suspected in deaths of 4 grandchildren, daughter in New York home: Police
Police tape blocks off an area as investigators collect evidence after a man crashed his vehicle after being fatally shot during a confrontation with ICE officers on September 12, 2025, in Franklin Park, Illinois. The Chicago area has seen a surge in ICE activity recently, part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants in the area dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz”. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
(MECHANICVILLE, N.Y.) — Police in an upstate New York town said Thursday that a grandmother is suspected in the deaths of four of her grandchildren, her daughter and herself inside their apartment building.
Officers in Mechanicville, New York, said they discovered the victims’ bodies inside an apartment on Tuesday after neighbors reported not seeing them for days.
The grandmother was identified as Amy Steadman, 64. Police identified the victims as her daughter Sarah Myers, 44, and Myers’ four children: Harper Harmon, 13, Hudson Harmon, 11, Gavin Harmon, 10, and Gracelynn Harmon, 10, according to police.
While the investigation into the deaths and motive is ongoing, Mechanicville Police Department Chief William Rabbitt told reporters Thursday that the evidence so far indicates that Steadman may have been involved.
Rabbitt said that investigators recovered evidence inside the apartment “to indicate intentional poisoning,” including “numerous prescription and over-the-counter medications.”
“Evidence recovered during the investigation, including a handwritten note and other circumstantial evidence, strongly suggests that Amy Steadman was involved in the deaths,” he added.
The chief said there was no evidence that an outside individual was involved.
Toxicology tests are still ongoing, according to Rabbitt.
While the chief declined to provide more details into the ongoing investigation, he noted that one of the children “suffered fatal sharp force injuries.”
Rabbitt said Steadman and Myers and her family all lived in the same apartment complex in Mechanicville, which is roughly 18 miles north of Albany.
The children’s father lives in Utah, the chief said.
Toledo Police Deputy Chief Joseph Hefferman gives an update on the shooting to the media. (Toledo Police Department/Facebook)
(TOLEDO, Ohio) — Twelve people were wounded, two critically, after gunfire broke out near an outdoor festival in Toledo, Ohio, on Saturday evening, police said.
Toledo Police Deputy Chief Joseph Heffernan said it appears there were at least two shooters who “probably” began shooting toward each other, with the victims caught in the crossfire.
Lt. Dan Gerkin said the ages of those shot ranged from 14 to 61.
No suspects are in custody.
The incident began unfolding around 5:37 p.m. local time when police received a call for a shooting near the Old West End Festival, a community event celebrating the historic neighborhood.
Police said the investigation continues.
“We’ll dissect what happened and who was responsible and certainly the motives are going to be one of them,” the deputy chief said. “You know, why would somebody do something like this? It’s horrible.”
He added later, “This is a perfect example of when bullets start flying, they can go anywhere. They can strike anybody.”
George Kral, the city’s director of public safety, urged anyone with information or evidence to come forward.
“There were several hundred people there tonight and everyone has one of these,” said,” he said, holding up a cellphone. “I know in my heart that footage is out there. So I am imploring my fellow Toledoans to look through your cellphone video and reach out to [the Toledo Police Department] and help them catch the people who did this.”
He added, “This is one of the most iconic festivals in Toledo, and it’s a shame that something like this had to ruin it.”
Anyone with information can text or call Crime Stoppers at 419-255-1111.
Toledo, a city of about 270,000 people, is located in Northwest Ohio.
In a message posted to its website, the festival announced that further events planned for Sunday were cancelled.
Embers swirl as the wind-driven Bain fire burns up to the exterior fences at the Western Riverside Animal Shelter, May 19, 2026, in Jurupa Valley, Calif. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A wind-whipped wildfire in the Texas Panhandle, one of multiple major blazes to hit the region this month, has destroyed more than 50 homes, authorities said.
The Stinky Fire, burning in Potter County, just north of Amarillo, is among multiple wildfires ravaging the West, including five major blazes that have also destroyed homes in Southern California.
During a news conference on Wednesday afternoon, Max Dunlap, director of the Amarillo Area Office of Emergency Management, said that at least 52 homes have been destroyed by the fire and another 25 were damaged.
The Stinky Fire ignited in a landfill on Sunday, and wind gusts over 30 mph rapidly spread flames past containment lines and into populated neighborhoods, officials said.
“It is extremely heart-sinking … this damage. But there were numerous that were saved,” said Dunlap, crediting the quick work of the local firefighters battling the blaze.
There were no reports of deaths or injuries.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the fire had burned 2,335 acres and was 85% contained, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
The blaze is among five major wildfires that have hit the Texas panhandle since May 14. The largest fire was the Hunggate Fire in Randall County that burned 34,124 acres and destroyed several homes before it was fully contained on Tuesday night, officials said.
The other wildfires in the area have also been 100% contained, officials said.
As Texas firefighters continued to battle the Stinky Fire, firefighters in Southern California were also fighting a series of wildfires.
Fueled by gusting winds and warm temperatures, multiple large wildfires continued to menace Southern California, prompting thousands of residents to evacuate, authorities said.
As of Thursday morning, the five largest wildfires had burned nearly 22,000 acres from Santa Barbara County to the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).
The Sandy Fire
The most evacuations were being prompted by the Sandy Fire, which ignited on Monday in the foothills above Semi Valley. At one point on Tuesday evening, more than 43,700 people were under mandatory evacuation orders or evacuation warnings, according to the Ventura County Fire Department.
The wildfire had grown to 2,115 acres by Thursday morning and was 30% contained, according to Cal Fire.
Firefighters quickly attacked the blaze from the ground and the air as flames raced downhill in the direction of populated neighborhoods, officials said. As of Wednesday morning, only one structure had been destroyed by the fire, but many evacuation orders remained in place, according to officials.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
The Bain Fire
In Southern California’s Riverside County, the Bain Fire was threatening homes in the Santa Ana River bottom in Jurupa Valley, according to Cal Fire.
The Bain Fire was reported around 12:20 p.m. local time on Tuesday and, driven by gusting wind, rapidly spread in the direction of homes, prompting evacuations, Cal Fire said.
Overnight, the Bain Fire grew to 1,456 acres and was 39% contained, Cal Fire said in an update on Thursday morning.
While no structures were reported lost, Los Angeles ABC station KABC reported that three people suffered smoke inhalation and a fourth was taken to a hospital with traumatic injuries.
The Verona Fire
As firefighters were responding to the Bain Fire, another wildfire ignited nearby in Riverside County, prompting more evacuation orders and warnings, according to Cal Fire.
The Verona Fire in the unincorporated communities of Green Acres and Homeland had grown to 600 acres as of Thursday morning and was 38% contained, Cal Fire reported.
Residents in the area told KABC that three to four homes had been destroyed by the blaze.
Cal Fire posted a video on social media on Wednesday of a towering “smokenado,” or a smoke tornado, that formed as firefighters battled the Verona Fire.
The Santa Rosa Island Fire
The largest fire burning in Southern California is the Santa Rosa Island Fire in the Channel Islands off the coast of Santa Barbara County.
While the fire remains under investigation, the U.S. Coast Guard said it was likely ignited by emergency flares fired by a 67-year-old shipwrecked mariner on the island.
The Coast Guard posted a photo on social media showing the stranded sailor standing near a patch of blackened brush in which he had scratched “SOS” in the dirt.
The wildfire at last word was 44% contained after growing to nearly 17,554 acres, according to Cal Fire.
The Tusil Fire
The Tusil Fire, burning in San Diego County, had spread to over 800 acres and had also forced evacuations on the Campo Reservation, according to Cal Fire.
“Fire activity moderated overnight, allowing firefighters to strengthen containment lines and continue making progress toward full containment,” Cal Fire said in an update on Wednesday.
At least one structure was damaged by the fire, which also shut down the Interstate 8 freeway in both directions in the fire zone on Wednesday, according to Cal Fire. The California Highway Patrol said on Wednesday morning that one lane in each direction of the freeway had been reopened.
One structure was damaged by the fire and some evacuation orders remain in effect, according to Cal Fire.
ABC News’ Amanda Morris, Jenna Harrison and Vanessa Navarete contributed to this report.
Todd Blanche, acting US attorney general, during a news conference at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, April 27, 2026. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Attorneys for the Southern Poverty Law Center asked a federal judge Tuesday to demand that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche issue a correction to allegedly “false” statements he made in the aftermath of the indictment of the organization last week, according to a legal filing.
In a motion to the judge presiding over their criminal case in the Middle District of Alabama, attorneys for the SPLC accuse Blanche of lying in an interview he gave to Fox News last Tuesday when he claimed the government did not have information showing the organization has shared information it learned from informants with law enforcement.
“Those statements are false,” attorneys for the SPLC wrote. “Weeks before the indictment, undersigned counsel provided information to the government demonstrating unequivocally that the SPLC had shared information from its informants with law enforcement.”
Blanche, who earlier this month replaced Pam Bondi as attorney general, announced last week that a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging the group with wire, bank fraud and money laundering offenses related to its paying of informants to infiltrate hate groups.
The attorneys write that they previously requested Blanche issue a correction to the statements but that counsel for the government refused.
They specifically cite an April 6 meeting that SPLC attorneys had with prosecutors in Alabama in which they explained in detail how some of their past cooperation with the government had resulted in an indictment of a member of a well-known extremist group.
The SPLC then sent a letter to the DOJ, which they requested it share with the grand jury, detailing six categories that they argued showed the organization using informants to dismantle white supremacist organizations, which they said undercut the core of the government’s case that argues SPLC used the informants to boost such groups.
The organization is asking the judge overseeing the case to order the disclosure of grand jury transcripts and issue a separate order restricting the government from making further “prejudicial” statements that could taint a possible jury pool.
