Judge blocks Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments in classrooms
Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Louisiana’s new law requiring all public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments was temporarily blocked on Tuesday by a judge who called it “unconstitutional on its face and in all applications.”
A multi-faith group of Louisiana families with children in public schools sued the state to challenge the law, HB 71, which mandates that public schools — from kindergarten to the collegiate level — display the religious text in every classroom on “a poster or framed document that is at least 11 inches by 14 inches.”
The lawsuit argues that requiring poster-sized displays of religious doctrine in classrooms violates the plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights and the separation of church and state.
The suit further argues that the law violates a U.S. Supreme Court precedent, pointing to the Stone v. Graham case in which the court overturned a similar 1980 Kentucky law, holding that the separation of church and state bars public schools from posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
Supporters of the law say the Ten Commandments have historical significance to the foundation of U.S. history and are not just a religious text.
In July, both parties agreed that the Ten Commandments would not be posted in any public school classroom and that defendants — including the state’s Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education — would not publicly move forward on the law’s implementation until the court’s decision in November.
Florida also recently passed a policy which allowed volunteer religious chaplains to serve as student counselors. The ACLU has expressed “grave concerns” over Florida’s policy but legal challenges have yet to be filed in that matter.
(LONDON, Ky.) — As a massive search continued Monday afternoon for the suspect in a Kentucky interstate shooting that injured five people and left a dozen vehicles with bullet holes, an arrest warrant released by authorities alleges the fugitive gunman sent a woman a text message threatening to “kill a lot of people” about a half hour before highway rampage.
The suspect, 32-year-old Joseph A. Couch, was also allegedly involved in a domestic dispute on Saturday morning and legally purchased an AR-15 rifle and ammunition at a gun store hours before allegedly opening fire on vehicles traveling on Interstate 75 near London, Kentucky, law enforcement officials told ABC News.
According to an arrest warrant, Couch is wanted on charges of attempted murder and first-degree assault.
Before the interstate shooting, according to the arrest warrant, a Laurel County 911 dispatcher received a call from a woman who alleged Couch texted her before the interstate shooting and “advised he was going to kill a lot of people. Well try at least.” The text message was sent to the woman at 5:03 p.m. Saturday, about a half-hour before the interstate shooting started, according to the arrest warrant.
“Couch sent another message to [the woman] that read, in part, ‘I’ll kill myself afterwards,” according to the arrest warrant.
London city officials told ABC News the woman Couch texted is the mother of his child.
Details of the domestic dispute that allegedly involved Couch were not disclosed.
Couch allegedly purchased a Cobalt AR-15 rifle with a mounted sight and 1,000 rounds of ammunition for $2,914 at a London, Kentucky, gun store on Saturday morning, according to the arrest warrant.
Saturday’s interstate shooting unfolded around 5:30 p.m. local time on I-75 at Exit 49, about eight miles from London, officials said.
At a news conference Sunday night, Laurel County Sheriff’s Cmdr. Richard Dalrymple estimated that 20 to 30 rounds were fired at vehicles in both the north and southbound lanes of I-75, from a hillside near Exit 49. At least 12 vehicles were struck by gunfire, leaving five people with gunshot wounds, including one victim who was shot in the face, officials said.
The five victims suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said.
Authorities initially said seven people were injured in the incident.
Officials said they do not believe any of the victims of the shooting were targeted.
State police announced Monday that a $5,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest of the suspect.
A silver Toyota SUV registered to Couch was found abandoned on a forest road in the dense woods near Exit 49, according to the arrest warrant issued for Couch. A Cobalt AR-15 rifle believed to have been used in the shooting and a green army-style duffle bag containing ammunition and several magazines were discovered in roughly the same area, according to the arrest warrant. The duffle bag had “Couch” handwritten on it, according to the warrant.
Investigators believe that the suspect was unprepared for a long period of trying to evade law enforcement in the woods because he left his gun, ammunition and vehicle behind. There is no indication, so far, that Couch had any type of stash of supplies that would enable him to disappear into the rugged terrain, investigators said.
Couch was initially named as a person of interest in the shooting, and the sheriff’s office released his photo and said he was “considered armed and dangerous.” On Sunday afternoon, Laurel County Sheriff John Root announced that Couch had been upgraded to the primary suspect.
Root said Couch has an address in Woodbine, Kentucky, and the sheriff’s office described him as about 5-foot-10 and 154 pounds.
According to military records, Couch served as a member of the U.S. Army Reserve from March 2013 to January 2019. Records show he was part of an Army Reserves engineering company, the 979 Engineering Company, based in Lexington.
More than 150 law enforcement officers are participating in the search for Couch.
Authorities are focusing their search in the area of Exit 49, although they have also investigated reported sightings of Couch in other areas of Laurel County and outside the county, officials said.
The area around Exit 49 is the most remote area of I-75 and the terrain is densely wooded and rugged, Kentucky State Police Trooper Scottie Pennington said at a news conference Monday afternoon.
“We’re in the Daniel Boone National Forest; this is thousands and thousands of acres. It’s kind of like a jungle,” Pennington said.
Pennington said the plan is to continue applying pressure on Couch to “wear him down.”
“Hopefully he has no water and nothing to eat,” Pennington said.
London Police Department Assistant Chief Bobby Day told ABC News that the area authorities believe Couch is hiding in has an extensive cave system and that the search has included underground caves.
At least nine Kentucky school districts and a community college campus closed Monday due to safety concerns stemming from the search for Couch.
“Student and Staff safety is a priority in the Laurel County Public Schools; therefore, out of an abundance of caution, school is canceled for tomorrow, Monday, September 9, 2024,” the Laurel County Public School said in a statement Sunday night.
ABC News’ Darren Reynolds and Luis Martinez contributed to this report.
(SAN FRANCISCO) — San Francisco 49ers rookie Ricky Pearsall was shot during an “attempted robbery” in San Francisco’s Union Square, according to police.
The 23-year-old “sustained a bullet wound to his chest and is in serious but stable condition,” the San Francisco 49ers said in a statement.
Shortly before 4 p.m. local time, police responded to a report of a shooting and found two men “suffering from injuries,” San Francisco Police Department said in a statement.
“During the attempted robbery, a physical altercation ensued, and both the suspect and victim were injured,” according to SFPD.
Preliminary information indicates the wide receiver was targeted for a Rolex watch he was wearing, sources confirmed to ABC News.
Pearsall was walking along a street when a 17-year-old suspect from Tracy, California, approached and tried to rob him, police said during a briefing outside of San Francisco General Hospital.
Police said Pearsall was not targeted because he is a football player, it was a random street robbery.
The suspect is in custody and charges are pending at this time, police said in a statement.
San Francisco Police Chief William Scott told a press conference that the investigation into the incident was still active.
“This kind of violence is simply unacceptable in our city, and we will do everything in our power to work with District Attorney Brooke Jenkins to assure that justice is served in this matter,” he said.
Asked whether the suspect had accomplices, Scott replied: “Right now, we believe it was one lone person. That may change as we get video evidence.”
Jenkins told the press conference that she expected to make a charging decision “by the middle of next week, either Tuesday or Wednesday.” Any charges will be filed in a juvenile court given the suspect’s age, Jenkins added.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed, meanwhile, described the incident as “terrible and rare.”
Pearsall — a first-round draft pick — had been dealing with a shoulder injury during the preseason and returned to practice last week, according to the National Football League.
ABC News’ Erica Morris contributed to this report.
Measures are taken by security forces on the scene of mass shooting at Apalachee high school in Winder, Georgia, United States on September 04, 2024. (Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(WINDER, Ga.) — As investigators worked to determine a motive behind Wednesday’s deadly school shooting in Georgia, they said they were also seeking answers about the weapon allegedly used by the 14-year-old suspect.
The shooting early Wednesday at Apalachee High School in Winder killed two students and two teachers, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53, were killed, along with students Mason Schermerhorn, 14, and Christian Angulo, 14, officials said. Nine others were injured, officials said.
The suspect, Colt Gray, a student at the school, surrendered Wednesday and was taken into custody, the GBI said. He will be charged with murder and he will be tried as an adult, the GBI said.
He was being held Thursday morning at Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center, the Department of Juvenile Justice told ABC News’ affiliate WSB-TV.
Chris Hosey, the director of the GBI, said Wednesday night that an AR-platform-style weapon was used in the incident.
Officials said they did not yet have any answers for how Gray was allegedly able to obtain the gun to get it into the school. County Sheriff Jud Smith said that Gray was interviewed by investigators and GBI, but did not disclose further details.
A motive has not yet been determined and it is unknown if the victims were targeted, investigators said.
The FBI said on Wednesday that the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, acting on an alert, interviewed the alleged shooting suspect in 2023.
“In May 2023, the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center received several anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location and time,” the FBI post read.
The FBI added, “Within 24 hours, the FBI determined the online post originated in Georgia and the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office referred the information to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office for action.”
