ICE detainee dies of ‘presumed suicide’ at Texas detention facility, agency says
An entrance to Fort Bliss is shown on June 25, 2018 in Fort Bliss, Texas. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
(EL PASO, Texas) — An undocumented immigrant died while in custody at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Texas, federal authorities said.
Victor Manuel Diaz, 36, of Nicaragua, died of a “presumed suicide” on Jan. 14 at Camp East Montana, a sprawling tent complex at the U.S. Army’s Fort Bliss base in El Paso, ICE said Sunday. The official cause of death remains under investigation, the agency said.
ICE said Diaz illegally entered the U.S. in March 2024 and an immigration judge ordered him removed in absentia in August 2025.
Diaz had been in federal custody since Jan. 6, when ICE said its officers “encountered” him in Minneapolis amid the federal immigration crackdown in Minnesota. He was arrested for an immigration violation and ICE processed him as a final order of removal on Jan. 12, the agency said.
Two days later, security staff found Diaz unconscious and unresponsive in his room, ICE said. He was pronounced dead following life-saving measures by on-site medical staff and El Paso emergency medical services personnel, according to ICE.
“ICE is committed to ensuring that all those in custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments,” ICE said in a press release.
Diaz’s death is the second reported by ICE at the Camp East Montana detention facility this month.
On Jan. 3, Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, of Cuba, was pronounced dead “after experiencing medical distress,” ICE said. His cause of death is under investigation, ICE said in a Jan. 9 press release.
The El Paso County medical examiner’s office said Tuesday that it does not have any record of Diaz, and the case and manner of death are pending for Lunas Campos.
If you are experiencing suicidal, substance use or other mental health crises, or are worried about a friend or loved one, please call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. You will reach a trained crisis counselor for free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also go to 988lifeline.org.
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.
Spencer and Monique Tepe are seen in this undated photo. (Courtesy Rob Misleh)
(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — The Columbus, Ohio, police chief is speaking out for the first time since the mysterious murders of dentist Spencer Tepe and his wife, Monique Tepe.
The couple was found shot to death in their home on Dec. 30, Columbus police said. Their two young children were found safe inside.
Authorities said they believe the couple was killed between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. on their home’s second floor.
Earlier this week, police released video of a person of interest. Police said the video showed an individual walking in an alley near the victims’ house during that 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. timeframe.
A motive hasn’t been identified, the chief said.
“I know it’s frustrating for people, I know they want answers,” Bryant said. “As soon as we’re able to provide more information, we will absolutely be coming back to talk about that. … But right now it’s premature for us to be able to say what the motive is, or, we don’t have a suspect identified at this point.”
She added, “We want to bring some justice to the family.”
The Tepes’ brother-in-law, Rob Misleh, said they spent Christmas together days before the murders.
“We did Christmas night together, and then the following day we just did a, kind of, post-Christmas lounging and watching movies and had dinner. And the next morning they left,” he told ABC News’ “Good Morning America.” “How would I ever know that would be the last time I would’ve hung out with Spence like that?”
“We were totally blindsided by what happened,” he said.
The Tepes’ family and friends will come together on Sunday for a celebration of life service.
Crosses dedicated to the 21 victims of the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary are placed in front of the school on Monday, Feb. 26, 2024 in Uvalde. (Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images)
(CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas) — Nearly four years after a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers in a Texas elementary school, a jury is set to decide whether a police officer should be held criminally responsible in connection with one of the worst school shootings in American history.
Jury selection begins Monday in the trial of former Uvalde school police officer Adrian Gonzales, charged with allegedly placing more than two dozen children in “imminent danger” by failing to respond to the crisis as it unfolded.
Prosecutors allege that Gonzales, one of the first of nearly 400 officers to respond to the rampage, failed to engage the shooter despite knowing his location, having time to respond and being trained to handle active shooters. It ultimately took 77 minutes for law enforcement to mount a counter-assault that would kill the gunman.
Ever since the shooting tore apart Uvalde on May 24, 2022, families of the victims have been seeking accountability and answers. Many have argued their children might have been saved had police confronted the gunman more quickly.
The trial, being staged 200 miles from Uvalde in Corpus Christi, marks an exceedingly rare instance of prosecutors seeking to convict a member of law enforcement for a response to a school shooting.
Prosecutors in June 2024 charged both Gonzales and Uvalde schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo — the on-site commander on the day of the shooting — with multiple counts of endangerment and abandonment of a child.
Gonzales and Arredondo are the only officers charged. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Investigations have determined that Salvador Ramos, 18, acted alone in carrying out the massacre. He was killed on-site at Robb Elementary School.
Gonzales was charged with 29 felony counts, one for each of the 19 fourth-graders who died in the shooting and 10 students who survived in classroom 112.
According to the indictment, he “failed to engage, distract or delay the shooter” after hearing the gunshots and learning about the shooter’s location.
Arredondo was charged with 10 felony counts for allegedly endangering the 10 survivors by delaying the law enforcement response and not following active shooter protocols.
Arredondo and Gonzales were charged at the same time, but Gonzales will be facing trial first and alone.
Arredondo’s case has been delayed indefinitely by an ongoing federal lawsuit filed after the U.S. Border Patrol refused repeated efforts by Uvalde prosecutors to interview Border Patrol agents who responded to the shooting, including two who were in the tactical unit responsible for killing the gunman at the school.
Each count carries a maximum of two years in prison, though judges and juries in Texas have broad discretion in imposing sentences, according to Sandra Guerra Thompson, a criminal law professor at the University of Houston Law Center.
“There’s a lot of different ways that this could go,” she said. “All the children who were so horrifically killed that would seem to motivate a longer sentence for anyone who is found to have some fault.”
Ahead of trial, prosecutors issued at least 75 subpoenas to potential witnesses, including police officers, teachers, and families of victims, according to court filings.
More than 20 members of the elite Texas Rangers, 16 members of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, and multiple physicians from nearby hospitals have received subpoenas, according to court filings.
In the attempt to make their case against Gonzales, prosecutors turned to a child endangerment law more commonly used to prosecute negligent parents or caretakers responsible for things like leaving a child in a hot car or without supervision at a beach. The law has rarely been used against police officers, experts noted, because of the difficulty in proving they had a legal obligation to the children.
“The critical issue here is whether the individual has a duty to act,” said Thompson, the law professor in Houston.
According to Houston-based defense attorney Nicole DeBorde Hochglaube, prosecutors will need to establish that Gonzales had a legal duty — not just a moral obligation — to intervene and that he failed to follow his training for active shooter scenarios.
“The jury is going to have the nasty task of looking through some horrible things to determine if he had the duty to act,” she said, referencing evidence such as body camera footage and frantic 911 calls from the shooting.
Legal experts who spoke with ABC News noted that Gonzales’ role as a responding officer — not the commander or case agent at the scene — could make it tough to convince the jury the man’s conduct amounted to a crime.
If prosecutors can secure a conviction, it would mark the first time that a police officer has been held accountable for how they carried out their duties at a mass shooting to which they responded.
Prosecutors rarely attempt to charge police officers who have responded to mass shootings, according to Phil Stinson, a professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, who maintains a database of police officers who have been arrested. Of the 25,000 arrests since 2005 included in the database, Stinson identified only two prosecutions similar to those against Gonzales and Arredondo.
Defense attorneys for Gonzales have argued he is being unfairly scapegoated for a crime he didn’t commit and that he did all he could to save and rescue children who were in imminent danger.
“Those precious souls were stolen by a monster that day, but that monster was not Adrian [Gonazales],” defense attorney Nico LaHood told ABC affiliate KSAT in San Antonio. “He was there, he was present. He was going into danger. And so the narrative of the government is something we’re going to contest highly, and that’s going to be the point of contention before this jury.”
Court filings shed little light on the case Gonzales’ lawyers will mount, though attorneys have signaled plans to use drone footage from Robb Elementary to assist them.
“The factual circumstances of this case intricately entail the timing and spatial proximity of the actors and events unfolding at Robb Elementary school on the day of the murders,” attorneys wrote in a court filing.
