Juveniles among 7 injured in shooting at Jackson, Tennessee, park, say police
ABC News
Gunfire erupted in a Jackson, Tennessee, park Saturday night leaving seven people, including juveniles, injured and police seeking the perpetrators of the shooting, authorities said.
The shooting occurred at the Kate Campbell Park northeast of downtown Jackson, according to the Jackson Police Department.
One of the gunshot victim was hospitalized in critical condition, two were in stable condition and four others were treated and released, police said in an updated statement Sunday morning.
No arrests have been announced.
Police officers responded to the park after receiving reports at around 8:41 p.m. of a shooting incident involving juveniles, authorities said in an earlier statement.
The circumstances surrounding the shooting and a motive for it remain under investigation, police said. Investigators were continuing to collect evidence at the crime scene Sunday morning and were interviewing witnesses.
The Jackson Police Department urged anyone with information about the shooting or who may have video footage of the incident to contact investigators immediately.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(BOULDER, Colo.) — A Holocaust survivor was among the eight victims in an alleged “act of terrorism” carried out during a pro-Israel demonstration in Boulder, Colorado, according to a Department of Justice official.
The Holocaust survivor, who was not identified, “endured the worst evil in human history” and “came to America seeking safety,” Leo Terrell, the Justice Department official in charge of the antisemitism task force, wrote on social media. “Now, decades later, she’s victimized again.”
“The attack on this survivor reminds me of the horror of October 7, [2023], when Holocaust survivors were murdered and dragged away by Hamas terrorists in Israel,” Terrell said. “But this time, it happened here. In our country. This is all caused by the same type of hatred: antisemitism.”
“Holocaust survivors should not spend the final chapter of their lives experiencing or witnessing this hatred again,” Terrell wrote. “We must fight this terror together.”
The suspect, 45-year-old Mohammed Soliman, allegedly used a “makeshift flamethrower” and threw an incendiary device into a crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators on a pedestrian mall on Sunday afternoon, according to the FBI. He allegedly yelled “Free Palestine” during the attack, the FBI said.
The attack took place during a Run for Their Lives walk, which aims to raise awareness about the remaining hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and calls for their immediate release.
Eight victims were hospitalized with burns, including one person in critical condition, police said. The victims’ ages range from 52 to 88, police said.
Soliman has been taken into custody.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement Monday, “My wife and I and the entire State of Israel pray for the full recovery of the wounded in the vicious terror attack that took place in Boulder, Colorado.”
“This attack was aimed against peaceful people who wished to express their solidarity with the hostages held by Hamas, simply because they were Jews,” he said. “I trust the United States authorities to prosecute the cold blood perpetrator to the fullest extent of the law and do everything possible to prevent future attacks against innocent civilians.”
The attack comes at a time of heightened violence against the Jewish community.
In April, a suspected arsonist firebombed Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s official residence because of “what [the governor] wants to do to the Palestinian people,” according to a search warrant signed by Pennsylvania State Police. The suspect was arrested.
On May 21, two Israeli Embassy staff members were killed as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. When the suspect was arrested, he began to chant, “free, free Palestine,” according to police.
Two days after the D.C. attack, the Department of Homeland Security warned in a bulletin that the Israel-Hamas conflict “continues to inspire violence and could spur radicalization or mobilization to violence against targets perceived as supporting Israel.”
The Anti-Defamation League has documented a dramatic rise in acts of hate targeting Jewish people in the U.S. since the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack in Israel. In 2024, the ADL said it recorded a record high of 9,354 antisemitic incidents in the U.S., marking a 344% increase over the past five years and a 893% increase over the past 10 years.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — The only Black, all-female unit serving in Europe during World War II received the Congressional Gold Medal on Tuesday at the United States Capitol.
The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, commonly known as the “Six Triple Eight,” addressed a backlog of roughly 17 million pieces of mail in three months before serving in France and eventually returning to the U.S.
Alongside Congressional bipartisan leaders, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) presented the honor, which is the highest civilian honor awarded by Congress, to the family of the unit commander, Lt. Col. Charity Adams Earley. Over 300 descendants and family members of the Six Triple Eight battalion were present for the ceremony, according to Johnson in his speech.
“This remarkable story has brightly captured imaginations, it has now inspired books and movies, stirred the consciousness of millions of Americans, who are just now hearing and sharing this incredible story,” Johnson said.
Earley’s children, Stanley Earley III and Judith Earley, received the award from the House and Senate leaders.
During their service in 1945, the 855-member battalion did not gain any fanfare or recognition for their feats. This medal comes after years of campaigning for the overlooked battalion that many say set an example for Black women in the military.
Congress voted 422-0 to award the 6888th with this honor back in 2022. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wisc.), who co-sponsored the legislation, spoke at the ceremony, praising the “unsung heroes” receiving the acknowledgement 80 years later.
This honor marks the latest development in the unit’s overdue recognition. A monument was erected in 2018 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in their honor, and the 6888th was given the Meritorious Unit Commendation by the U.S. Army in 2019.
The 2024 Tyler Perry-directed Netflix film about the unit, which starred Kerry Washington, earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song.
Retired Col. Edna Cummings, who shared a few words of acceptance at the ceremony, directed a documentary on the unit in 2019.
“This history has now restored the passion of service, as evidenced by young girls who now dress up as members of the Six Triple Eight,” she said.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) shared a few words at the ceremony, emphasizing the importance of a bipartisan celebration in today’s political climate.
“We gather here today to salute these mighty veterans. We salute the ingenuity with which they sprang into battle,” Jeffries said. “We salute the barriers that they broke in the system designed to push them aside. We salute their trailblazing spirit and the road that they paved for others.”
The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion joins the less than 200 recipients to receive the Congressional Gold Medal.
(WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, NJ) — A massive fire on Sunday that leveled a New Jersey home, where first responders later recovered the bodies of a man and a woman, has been ruled a murder-suicide, authorities said Tuesday.
Neighbors reported hearing a blast around the time of the fire early Sunday in the Gloucester County community of Washington Township and said it sounded like a bomb going off.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office said the woman found dead in a bed at the destroyed residence had suffered a fatal bullet wound to the head before the house became engulfed in flames. Her death was ruled a homicide by the Gloucester County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The man was discovered dead in the living room of the destroyed home with a handgun lying near his body, the prosecutor’s office said. His death was ruled a suicide by fire, according to the statement from the prosecutor’s office.
The identities of the two people were being withheld pending official confirmation by the medical examiner, according to the prosecutor’s office.
“The investigation conducted in the aftermath of the fire revealed the presence of an accelerant and that the home’s gas line had been tampered with, enabling unrestricted flow of natural gas into the home’s interior,” the statement said.
A motive for the murder-suicide remains under investigation by the prosecutor’s office, the Washington Township Police Department and the Gloucester County Fire Marshal’s Office.
News of the medical examiner’s findings came a day after the Washington Township Police Department said the explosion had prompted a “criminal investigation” and that the incident was “not accidental.”
The fire occurred at 2:02 a.m. on Sunday and prompted multiple 911 calls from neighbors reporting a loud explosion and fire in the area of Tranquility Court and Orion Way, according to a statement released by the Washington Township Police.
“Responding officers arrived at 13 Tranquility Court and observed that the residence was fully engulfed in flames and appeared to have been heavily damaged by an apparent explosion,” according to the police statement.
Washington Township Fire Department firefighters arrived shortly after the police and extinguished the flames, according to the statement.
Video taken by ABC Philadelphia station WPVI showed damage to at least one home near the destroyed house. The footage also showed a car that had apparently been damaged.
Neighbors who live blocks away reported being rattled awake.
Investigators said the fire was likely not caused by an explosion and that the blasts neighbors heard may have happened after the fire had already ignited, according to WPVI.
