Juveniles among nine people hurt in shooting at Airbnb house party near Akron, Ohio: Police
Kali9/Getty Images
(BATH TOWNSHIP, Ohio) — “We are heartbroken by this senseless act of gun violence, and our thoughts are with the injured victims and all those affected by it,” Airbnb said in a statement to ABC News on Sunday afternoon. “Unauthorized and disruptive gatherings are strictly prohibited on Airbnb and our Safety team acted immediately to remove the account of the individual who deliberately broke those rules by booking this stay.”
“Our law enforcement response team is in contact with the chief of Bath Township Police Department to assist their ongoing investigation to ensure those responsible for this terrible incident are brought to justice,” the statement concluded.
Sinopoli said that Sunday’s incident marked the second time since July 2017 that a shooting had occurred at an Airbnb rental property in Bath Township. He said that in the previous incident, a man was shot in the leg. That incident involved an apparent drive-by shooting at a party, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
The Sunday shooting came just days after Airbnb announced that it was deploying what it called AI “anti-party” technology across the United States and Canada to help mitigate Halloween-night gatherings.
The company said it is using machine learning to block bookings that show a potential of party risks, “such as the length of the reservation, the distance of the listing from the guest’s location, property type, and timing of the booking, including last-minute requests.”
This is the fifth year that Airbnb has instituted anti-Halloween party protections, which prohibited 38,000 people from booking houses in the U.S. and 6,300 in Canada last year, according to the company.
Airbnb issued a permanent global party ban in 2022 following multiple shooting incidents.
“Strong policies must be complemented by strong enforcement,” the company said at the time. “We’ve introduced a number of anti-party measures in recent years to enforce our policy and try, to the best of our ability, to stop both unauthorized parties and chronic party houses.”
Sunset at the Burning Man festival on Sunday, September 3, 2023. (Photo by Kathy Baird/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
(BLACK ROCK CITY, Nev.) — It’s been two months since a Burning Man attendee was found dead in a pool of blood at the annual event in Black Rock City, Nevada, and as officials continue to search for a suspect, law enforcement experts told ABC News the crime will “not be a quick solve.”
Vadim Kruglov, a 37-year-old from Russia who was described by his family as “talented, bright and inspiring,” was found dead at the event on Aug. 30 at approximately 9:14 p.m., the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office said in September.
As other attendees were celebrating the burning of the large wooden “man” that marks the end of the event, officials said a deputy was alerted by another participant that there was a man “lying in a pool of blood,” with officials “immediately” responding to the campsite.
An attendee at the event, who asked not to be named, told ABC News she was traveling back to her campsite that evening when she was rerouted by a large police presence nearby.
It wasn’t until after she left Burning Man on Sunday that she found out a homicide had occurred at the event.
“I felt so unprotected,” the participant, who said she was not interviewed by police at the scene, told ABC News.
The Pershing County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to requests from ABC News for comment on the status of the case.
“Burning Man Project is committed to the safety of our community and to supporting those working to bring justice in this tragic case,” event officials said in a press release in September.
While many unknowns remain surrounding Kruglov’s death, and the search for a suspect continues, ABC News contributor and former FBI special agent Richard Frankel said there are “several investigative steps” officials can take before ruling the homicide a “closed” or “cold” case.
Murder weapon could indicate suspect had relationship with victim: Former FBI agent
Three weeks after Kruglov’s murder, officials announced they found the knife allegedly used in the killing, a discovery Frankel said could shed light on the potential suspect’s motive or possibly provide DNA evidence.
When officials announced the discovery of the weapon, they said Kruglov’s death appeared to have been caused by a single stab wound, which ABC News contributor and retired FBI agent Brad Garrett said is a “personal” manner of killing and could indicate the suspect had a relationship with the victim.
“Using a knife on someone is highly personal. It’s one thing to be 10 feet away and shoot somebody. It’s another to literally have to be against them to kill them,” Garrett said.
However, Frankel said a possible motive will not be able to be determined until the medical examiner conducts a further investigation into the knife-entry wound, specifically the “way the entry went in, the way the knife was facing and the pressure put forward or backward as the knife was stabbed.”
Officials have not yet shared the medical examiner’s report with the public, nor have they stated when the report would be released.
Frankel also said it is possible the suspect and the victim had some kind of prior relationship, but also recognized the killing could have simply occurred “in the heat of the moment.”
“Being that it’s at Burning Man — a lot of alcohol and drugs — you just don’t know who the players are at that time and at that location, and it could be just somebody who lost it and stabbed the first person that you could see,” Frankel said.
There were 44 arrests at this year’s event, officials said, ranging from possession of a controlled substance and assault with a deadly weapon to domestic battery, sexual assault and burglary.
Investigators must take the suspect’s ‘life apart’
Another potential avenue to reveal more details about the suspect is to take a deeper look at Kruglov’s past, Garrett said.
“You really take his life apart,” Garrett said, encouraging investigators to learn about Kruglov’s connections — “if there was someone he complained about, someone he owed money to or someone he had gotten into a dispute with.”
Kruglov, originally from Russia, was described as “true hero of Burning Man” who “poured his soul” into the community, according to a GoFundMe created by loved ones that was shared on the event’s press release.
“Vadim poured his soul into our community: building camp, creating art, helping others and always sharing his kindness and energy,” his loved ones wrote on the GoFundMe. “His contributions will forever remain part of the Burn’s history.”
Kruglov was attending Burning Man for the first time, according to a statement from the event.
Garrett said the suspect has the potential to be have “some connection” to Kruglov’s life, even prior to his trip to Burning Man. But, those possibilities could only be confirmed by analyzing his past, looking through his social media and speaking to friends and family, he said.
‘At the mercy’ of the public
Due to the challenges involved in this investigation — including that there was “little to no cellphone coverage,” the crime scene was a temporary city in a remote area and there is no known surveillance footage of the crime — Garrett said officials are “at the mercy of other people giving you information.”
“You never want to be in a position where you’re at the mercy of other people giving you information, but unfortunately, this case may just lend itself to completing a thorough investigation — not getting anywhere as to who the suspect might be — and then you have to regularly get the case back in front of the public to potentially generate more leads,” Garrett said.
“Somebody’s going to have to keep this case alive to potentially solve it,” Garrett added.
But, despite the time that passes without a suspect in custody growing by the day, Garrett said that does not make the case less solvable.
“One phone call, one piece of evidence that directs them toward someone with some corroboration that they could well have been involved in this could lead to an arrest,” Garrett said.
An officer wearing an ICE badge in Broadview, Ill., Sept. 26, 2025. Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images “
(WASHINGTON) — There is credible intelligence that members of Mexican drug cartels have offered a “tiered” bounty system for hits against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Two weeks ago, the Justice Department charged a member of the Chicago-based Latin Kings with putting a bounty on Greg Bovino, the CBP Commander overseeing the surge operations in Los Angeles, Chicago and Portland.
Drug cartels have “disseminated a structured bounty program to incentivize violence against federal personnel,” according to a press release from DHS.
The federal agency alleges cartels are offering $2,000 for intelligence gathering and doxing of agents, $5,000–$10,000 for kidnapping or non-lethal assaults on standard ICE/CBP officers and up to $50,000 for the assassination of high-ranking officials.
Gangs like the Latin Kings have also deployed “spotters” armed with firearms and radio communications to provide the real-time movements of CBP and ICE agents, according to DHS.
“These criminal networks are not just resisting the rule of law, they are waging an organized campaign of terror against the brave men and women who protect our borders and communities,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a press release.
“Our agents are facing ambushes, drone surveillance, and death threats, all because they dare to enforce the laws passed by Congress,” Noem added. “We will not back down from these threats, and every criminal, terrorist, and illegal alien will face American justice.”
The DHS report comes amid a legal battle surrounding the deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago, in part, as protection for immigration enforcement officers and facilities.
Last week, District Judge April Perry temporarily blocked the deployment of troops from any U.S. state into Illinois, a ruling that will be in effect for 14 days.
In the decision, Perry determined that there is “no credible evidence that there is a danger of rebellion in Illinois” and no evidence that the president is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the U.S.
She said that the deployment of the national guard to Illinois “is likely to lead to civil unrest” requiring a response from local and state law enforcement.
Referencing what she called the “provocative nature of ICE enforcement activity” in Illinois, she said, “I find allowing the national guard to deploy will only add fuel to the fire that they started.”
The DOJ appealed the ruling, but it was rejected by a federal appeals court.
(NEW YORK) — Sean “Diddy” Combs is opposing a prosecution request to allow his former assistant — who testified under the pseudonym “Mia” — to deliver a victim impact statement at his sentencing hearing on Friday.
“Simply, she is not a victim of anything,” defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said in a letter to the judge on Wednesday.
In July, a jury found Combs guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution in connection with his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, and guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution in connection with another ex-girlfriend, who testified under the pseudonym “Jane.”
Federal prosecutors conceded that “Mia” — who testified about abuse she said she suffered while working as Combs’ assistant — is not a victim of transportation for the purposes of prostitution.
The defense called “Mia” a liar, saying she testified at trial “with a made up voice and demeanor” and now wants to “sully” the sentencing hearing.
“Moreover, that she is so eager to return to court, when she plainly does not have to, and is not even entitled to, puts her proffered fear of testifying at trial into clear relief. This was a show for her,” Agnifilo said.
While the music mogul was convicted of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, he was found not guilty of racketeering conspiracy, the most serious charge. He was also found not guilty of both charges of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion in connection with Ventura and “Jane.”
Combs is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday.
Federal prosecutors argue Combs deserves at least 11 years in prison, while Combs’ attorneys are seeking time served. Combs has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since his September 2024 arrest.
The sentencing hearing comes after Judge Arun Subramanian denied Combs’ request to throw out his conviction on Tuesday, saying the defense arguments that prostitution requires a financial motive or participation in the sexual activity “don’t hold water.”
