Hostages released, suspect dead after hours-long standoff at bank: Police
Yellow police tape says “police line do not cross” is set against blurry background. (Sheila Paras/Getty Images)
(BAKERSFIELD, Calif) — All hostages have been released, and a suspect is confirmed dead on Wednesday after an hours-long standoff at a bank in California, sources told ABC News.
The standoff began after a reported bomb threat at a bank in California. Two hostages were first released after hours of ongoing negotiations with a suspect, according to authorities.
The bomb threat was reported at a Chase Bank building in downtown Bakersfield around 1 p.m. local time Tuesday, police said.
An unidentified man entered the bank and was “barricaded” with an unknown number of people inside, Bakersfield Police Department Sgt. Eric Celedon told reporters earlier.
“We remain on scene at the Chase Bank building and have negotiated the release of a second hostage,” Bakersfield police said in an update on social media, shortly after 9 p.m. local time. “There are currently no injuries reported.”
Crisis negotiators were in contact with the individual over the phone, according to police. Celedon said authorities have not confirmed if there is a bomb.
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security are assisting, and other resources are coming in from throughout the state, police said.
Several buildings in the surrounding area were evacuated, police said. The Chase Bank is located at Chester Avenue and 17th Street.
“This is a very active scene,” Celedon said Tuesday while urging people to avoid the area.
“Every single resource is at this site’s disposal — SWAT team, bomb squad, K9 team, gang unit, negotiators, drone team — every single asset we have to bring this to the safest conclusion is out here right now.”
(NEW YORK) — More than a dozen reported tornadoes tore through part of the Central U.S. on Thursday night, including a powerful storm in northwestern Oklahoma that spurred a tornado emergency from the National Weather Service.
A tornado emergency is the highest alert level for tornadoes.
The weather service said a “large and destructive tornado” was confirmed on the ground at 8:21 p.m. local time in the area of Enid, Oklahoma, near Vance Air Force Base, and urged residents to take cover.
“You are in a life-threatening situation,” the weather service said. “Flying debris may be deadly to those caught without shelter. Mobile homes will be destroyed. Considerable damage to homes, businesses, and vehicles is likely and complete destruction is possible.”
Enid, a city of roughly 50,000 people, is located about 90 miles north of Oklahoma City
Garfield County Sheriff Cory Rink told Oklahoma City ABC station KOCO that search-and-rescue operations were underway in “hard-hit” areas. He said he did not have word yet on any injuries.
A county emergency management official told KOCO there were reports of 10 to 11 people with minor injures and that the search and rescue operations in the Grayridge area was wrapping up.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, in a social media post, asked for prayers for the Enid community, which he said “has been severely impacted” by Thursday’s tornado.
“I have spoken with Enid’s local leaders and will continue working with them as they assess the damage and identify needs,” he said in the post.
Overall, there were 17 reported tornadoes Thursday night from Oklahoma to Iowa, and there were still several active tornado warnings along a line of dangerous storms stretching from Oklahoma to Missouri to Iowa.
Thursday is the first day of a multiday outbreak of severe weather for the Plains.
Jeffrey Epstein is seen in this image released by the Department of Justice in Washington, December 19, 2025. (U.S. Justice Department)
(WASHINGTON) — Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are demanding that Committee Chairman James Comer bring in acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel to answer questions “immediately” as part of the panel’s probe into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Ranking Member Robert Garcia on Tuesday sent Comer a letter, which was first obtained by ABC News, requesting that Blanche and Patel appear for separate videotaped transcribed interviews before the committee as questions mount over their handling of the Epstein files.
The GOP-controlled committee to date has not video recorded any of its transcribed interviews, only depositions.
“Given the deep involvement of Director Patel and Mr. Blanche, the Committee cannot credibly continue its investigation without their videotaped, transcribed testimony,” Garcia wrote in the letter to Comer.
In a statement to ABC News, Garcia said the panel’s closed-door interview last week of former Attorney General Pam Bondi “made one thing clear: we need to talk to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel.”
“These agency leaders were directly involved in the cover up of the Epstein files and botched roll-out of the documents, which re-victimized survivors and made a mockery of our Justice Department. Oversight Democrats are demanding answers straight from the source,” Garcia said.
Bondi, during her appearance on Friday, told lawmakers that Blanche was delegated responsibility for overseeing the release of the millions of Epstein files.
Garcia wrote in the letter that Bondi referenced Blanche’s name 30 times during Friday’s interview and pointed to him “as the person responsible for DOJ’s actions involving the review, withholding, and botched release of Epstein-related records.”
Democrats also want to question Blanche over his involvement in convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell’s prison transfer. Bondi testified, according to a source familiar with her testimony, that she opposed a pardon for Maxwell and was unaware of the transfer until after it happened.
“Rather than provide answers in her testimony, Ms. Bondi repeatedly shifted responsibility to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche,” he said.
The letter comes the same day that Blanche is slated to testify on Capitol Hill before a House appropriations subcommittee.
Blanche’s testimony could spark fireworks after Bondi’s transcribed interview on Friday, where she testified that she delegated compliance with the Epstein Transparency Act to her then-deputy.
Garcia said Democrats want to hear from Patel, who Bondi frequently named during her interview as also overseeing the release of the Epstein files. Democrats said they were alarmed by Bondi referring to Patel repeatedly during the interview.
“By Ms. Bondi’s own account, Director Patel was involved in locating, reviewing, and possibly redacting FBI records relating to Jeffrey Epstein. Ms. Bondi even raised concerns that the FBI had previously withheld material from the DOJ,” Garica wrote.
Comer, in comments made last Friday, said that both parties bear responsibility for the failures surrounding Epstein, the wealthy financier who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sexually exploiting and abusing dozens of minor girls at his homes in New York and Palm Beach, Florida.
“The government has failed the survivors. There’s no question about that,” Comer said. “And that dates back five presidential administrations. We’re taking this investigation seriously.”
President Donald Trumps supporters gather outside the Capitol building in Washington D.C. on January 06, 2021. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Two police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol in 2021 during the Jan. 6 attack are suing to stop the creation of President Donald Trump’s $1.7 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” calling it the “most brazen act of presidential corruption this century.”
Former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Department Officer Daniel Hodges alleged that the compensation fund, which was announced by the Justice Department on Monday, would not only encourage those who committed violence in the name of President Trump but that it would directly finance their operations.
“To prevent the public financing of paramilitary organizations in the United States, and to protect Plaintiffs from further violence, the fund must be dissolved,” the lawsuit said.
The fund, which was part of a settlement agreement in Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, was established by the Trump administration to compensate those who allege they were wrongly targeted under the Biden administration.
The officers alleged that the creation of the fund is arbitrary and capricious — and therefore a violation of the Administrative Procedures Act — and runs afoul of a prohibition in the Fourteenth Amendment barring the government from funding insurrections.
“No statute authorizes its creation, the settlement on which it is premised is a corrupt sham, and its design violates the Constitution and federal law,” the lawsuit said.
Filed in D.C. federal court, the lawsuit asked a judge to block the creation and funding of the compensation fund. The settlement agreement that initiated the fund gave the acting attorney general 30 days to create the entity and appoint five commissioners to run it.
Dunn and Hodges are some of the most high-profile members of law enforcement who defended the Capitol that day. Hodges was pinned against a door frame, attacked, and crushed by rioters. Dunn was inside the Capitol and directly engaged the rioters. He ran for Congress unsuccessfully in 2024 and is currently running for Maryland’s 5th Congressional District.
