Learjet with 9 aboard crashes in Palm Beach County, Florida: FAA
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A Learjet believed to be carrying nine people crashed on Sunday afternoon in Palm Beach County, Florida, after making a rapid dive of about 350 feet per second, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The plane, a 22-year-old twin-engine Learjet 60, crashed after taking off from Austin, Texas, and was headed to North Eleuthera in the Bahamas, according to the FAA.
The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash, the FAA said.
Photos and videos online showed a jet hitting the ground nose-first and bursting into a fireball. The impact of the crash left a crater near a shopping center.
The jet crashed near Military Trail, between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue, in the Greenacres community of Palm Beach County, authorities said.
There was no immediate word from authorities on deaths and injuries.
The plane went from 35,250 feet to 8,750 feet in a little over a minute, or roughly 350 feet per second, before it slammed into the ground, according to the FAA.
“Obviously, this was a cataclysmic plane crash,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a press briefing on Sunday. “It looked like a missile going down. It left a big crater on the side of the road.”
“I think people will recognize this as a major tragedy,” he said.
According to records, the plane belongs to a private company and has been used as a rental in the past.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
A helicopter airlifts two deputies to the hospital after they were shot on July 16, 2026 in Ruskin, Fla. (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office)
(RUSKIN, Fla.) — Two deputies were airlifted to a Florida hospital Thursday after they were shot while approaching a suspect who was accused of holding a woman hostage overnight, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
The suspect, identified as 34-year-old Chris Dmuchowski, was shot by a third responding deputy and died after being transported to the hospital, the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies arrived on the scene on West Shell Point Road in Ruskin, Florida, after a report that the suspect had taken his ex-girlfriend hostage overnight, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a press briefing Thursday.
The suspect allegedly restrained his ex-girlfriend at her residence and threatened to kill her, and then released her after she regained consciousness in the morning, Chronister said.
That morning, she went to a sheriff’s office building to request an order of protection, after which authorities sent a drone to the scene upon identifying the suspect and learning of his criminal record, according to the sheriff.
An exchange of gunfire ensued in the parking lot outside of the residence after the suspect exited the building, the sheriff said.
“Our suspect ambushed our deputies from the moment they arrived on scene,” Chronister said. “He was intent on taking the life of a deputy sheriff.”
The suspect opened fire at two deputies, striking one in the face and another in the neck area, after which a third deputy approached and shot the suspect multiple times, Chronister said.
Dmuchowski was a one-time convicted felon on charges of tampering with physical evidence.
The sheriff’s office said there is no threat to public safety at this time.
“Thank you to every single deputy who was on scene and responded to this scene today,” Chronister said.
Danette Colbert is shown in this undated booking photo. | Ricky White is shown in this undated booking photo. (Kenner Police Department | Broward County Sheriff's Office)
(NEW YORK) — A Louisiana woman was found guilty in the death of a Telemundo Kansas City reporter covering the 2025 Super Bowl who prosecutors said was the victim of a criminal enterprise that targeted men in New Orleans by drugging and stealing from them.
Danette Colbert was found guilty of negligent homicide in the death of 27-year-old Adan Manzano, a reporter for KGKC Telemundo Kansas City and Tico Sports, who was found dead in his hotel room in Kenner on Feb. 5, 2025, days before Super Bowl LIX.
Colbert, 49, and her co-defendant, Rickey White, 35, were also both found guilty of racketeering.
Prosecutors said Colbert posed as a prostitute and plied her marks with alcohol or drugs to render them unconscious and then stole their phones, credit cards, cash, jewelry and other valuables. White served as her pimp, providing “instruction” and helping them access and distribute the stolen property, prosecutors said.
Manzano was their last known victim, prosecutors said. He died from the combined effects of Xanax — an anti-anxiety medication — and alcohol along with “positional asphyxia,” according to the Jefferson Parish coroner. Police found him face-down on his hotel bed after colleagues requested a wellness check, according to prosecutors, who said the drug and alcohol in his system rendered him unconscious and unable to move.
Colbert was the last person seen with Manzano, prosecutors said. Video evidence showed her with him in the French Quarter before entering his hotel room, where she made “numerous videos of herself” in which she practiced opening Manzano’s cell phone and tried to log into his bank accounts on his phone “while he lay dying or dead,” prosecutors said.
The Jefferson Parish jury deliberated for over five hours before returning with their verdicts on Thursday.
Both defendants had been charged with manslaughter. The jury found Colbert guilty of the lesser charge of negligent homicide and White not guilty of manslaughter.
The investigation into Manzano’s death “yielded tens of thousands of text messages, images and videos that showed how Colbert, White and others had engaged in a criminal enterprise in which they targeted men,” prosecutors said in a press release.
Other victims of the yearslong scheme testified during the trial, including a man who said he lost $100,000 after encountering Colbert.
A third person charged in the criminal enterprise, Christian Dean Anderson, also testified against the two about the workings of the scheme after entering into a plea agreement with prosecutors. Anderson, 35, pleaded guilty to simple robbery and access device fraud and was sentenced to six years in prison.
Colbert and White are scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 28. They face up to 50 years in prison on the racketeering charge. The negligent homicide charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
Jefferson Parish Assistant District Attorney Jenny Voss said she believes the verdicts delivered justice to the family of Manzano, a widower who was the father of a young child.
“We knew that this was a difficult case going in with a lot of complicated law, and we really feel like they took all of that into consideration, and justice was served,” Voss told reporters following the verdict.
Stavros Panagoulopoulos, Colbert’s defense attorney, said that he believed this was a “compromise verdict.”
“One thing to consider is the fact that negligent homicide’s a far cry from manslaughter,” he told reporters. “Not only that, given the nature of the questions that were given during the course of deliberations, suspicion is that this was most likely a compromise verdict.”
The Kenner Police Department, which conducted the death investigation along with other agencies, said the verdicts “provide a measure of justice and closure to the family of Adan Manzano and to the victims and families affected by the criminal activity uncovered during this investigation.”
A memorial dedicated to the 19 children and two adults murdered on May 24,2022 during a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School is seen on January 05, 2026 in Uvalde, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
(UVALDE, Texas) — Former Uvalde, Texas, school police chief Pete Arredondo is due in federal court Tuesday as part of his push to compel federal agents to testify at his trial for allegedly endangering students during the response to the Robb Elementary School mass shooting.
Arredondo is charged with 10 counts of endangering students for allegedly failing to quickly respond to the May 24, 2022, shooting, in which 19 students and two teachers were killed.
Arredondo filed a civil lawsuit this year to compel 19 U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees to testify during his criminal trial, which is set to begin on Feb. 22, 2027.
Arredondo’s attorneys have argued the testimony is vital for him to have a fair trial.
“The testimony will not only be material to determining whether he alone is responsible for the delay, it will also be helpful to show that Mr. Arredondo is not personally responsible for many shortcomings or any delay of CBP agents as part of the law enforcement response,” defense attorney Paul Looney wrote in a court filing.
This year, Looney filed a formal request to make the agents available to testify at trial, arguing that the accounts of the agents who stormed the classroom where the shooter was barricaded is necessary to prove Arredondo was not responsible for the botched response. Uvalde District Attorney Christina Mitchell has sued to compel similar testimony, but CBP declined the requests to facilitate the testimony.
CBP Chief Counsel Andrew Block said in court filings that the testimony is not necessary for Arredondo’s defense, could be sought through other means, could impact CBP operations, and may result in the disclosure of “confidential law enforcement techniques and procedures.”
“You seek testimony from 19 CBP employees, which would require CBP to make all 19 officers available before and during the trial, pulling them off duty, incurring travel costs, and lost work hours, which negatively impacts CBP operations and national security,” Block wrote.
