Man accused of hijacking Los Angeles bus charged with murder and kidnapping

October 1, 2024

KABC-TV

(LOS ANGELES) — The man accused of hijacking a Los Angeles Metro bus, fatally shooting a passenger and leading police on an hourlong chase last week is now facing a slew of charges, including murder and kidnapping, prosecutors announced Monday.

Los Angeles County DA George Gascon announced 12 counts against the suspect, 51-year-old Lamont Campbell.

The charges include murder, carjacking, kidnapping during carjacking, assault with a semiautomatic weapon, attempted murder, robbery, kidnapping, felony evading and felon in possession of a firearm, according to the DA’s office.

Campbell faces a maximum sentence of 90 years in prison.

The incident began at approximately 12:46 a.m. on Sept. 25 when the Los Angeles Police Department received radio calls about a disturbance on a bus in the area of Manchester Street and Figueroa Street in southern Los Angeles, Deputy Chief Donald Graham said in a briefing last week.

“The officers quickly learned from the passengers that there was an armed suspect on the Metro bus. They attempted to stop the bus but were unsuccessful, later discovering that the armed suspect had instructed the driver not to stop,” Graham said.

Multiple spike strips were deployed by officers during the pursuit, deflating several tires on the bus and ultimately causing it to stop, according to LAPD.

“SWAT personnel quickly observed that a victim was down inside the bus, formulated a tactical plan, and made entry without delay. The suspect was taken into custody without further incident,” authorities said.

Officers immediately began to render medical aid to the victim who was suffering from gunshot wounds. The male victim was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Campbell is being held at a local jail in lieu of $2 million bail.

‘Shaken baby’ death row inmate Robert Roberson turns to Supreme Court to halt his execution

Ilana Panich-linsman/Innocence Project/AFP via Getty Images

(TEXAS) — Robert Roberson, the first person set to be executed in the U.S. based on the largely discredited “shaken baby syndrome” hypothesis, has filed a request for a stay of execution and a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court.

Roberson argues that his federal due process rights were violated when Texas’ highest court refused to consider his bid to reopen the case based on “substantial new scientific and medical evidence.”

The plea comes after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied his requests to either have his sentence commuted to life in prison or to have his execution delayed.

Roberson was found guilty for the murder of his 2-year-old daughter based on the testimony from a pediatrician who described swelling and hemorrhages in Nikki’s brain to support a “shaken baby syndrome” diagnosis, even though there is limited evidence that this is a credible diagnosis.

The hypothesis has come under serious scrutiny in biomechanical studies, as well as a growing body of medical and legal literature. The medical examiner at the time also suspected that Nikki sustained multiple head injuries and considered the death a homicide in the official autopsy.

Roberson is autistic, according to his legal team, which affects how he expresses emotions — a concern that also arose during the trial.

Since his conviction, newly presented evidence found that Nikki had pneumonia at the time of her death and had been prescribed respiratory-suppressing drugs by doctors in the days leading up to her death.

A medical expert who performed post-mortem toxicology reports and reexamined her lung tissue said they found that chronic interstitial viral pneumonia and acute bacterial pneumonia were damaging her lungs, causing sepsis and then septic shock, likely leading to vital organ failure.

Over 30 medical and scientific experts have written to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, asking it to reconsider Roberson’s sentence because it hinged on the “shaken baby syndrome.”

A bipartisan group of 86 Texas House of Representatives members have also spoken in support of Roberson’s clemency request, arguing that a state law enables reviews of wrongful convictions based on changes in scientific evidence. In Roberson’s case, they believe that the new evidence should have led to a new trial.

Summer scorcher: Excessive heat headed to Northeast

ABC News

(NEW YORK) — The hottest weather of the season is spreading across the eastern half of the U.S. — with cities in the Northeast in the bull’s-eye on Wednesday — after baking the Midwest with extreme temperatures early in the week.

Chicago’s actual temperature hit 99 degrees on Tuesday, breaking the city’s daily record of 97 degrees. The heat index — what temperature it feels like with humidity — soared to a scorching 115 degrees in Chicago on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, 55 million people from Missouri to New York City are on alert for heat.

The heat index is forecast to soar to 105 degrees in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.; 102 degrees in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Louisville, Kentucky; 104 in Richmond, Virginia; 103 in Nashville, Tennessee; and 96 in New York City and Pittsburgh.

The scorching temperatures will end in the Northeast on Thursday, but will linger in the Ohio Valley and Tennessee Valley through Friday.

Record highs are possible in Nashville, Tennessee; Cincinnati and Raleigh, North Carolina, by the end of the week.

There are hundreds of deaths each year in the U.S. due to excessive heat, according to CDC WONDER, an online database, and scientists caution that the actual number of heat-related deaths is likely higher.

Last year marked the most heat-related deaths in the U.S. on record, according to JAMA, a peer-reviewed medical journal published by the American Medical Association.

After Helene, searches continue for scores of loved ones unaccounted for after devastating storm

John Norwood, who was injured as Hurricane Helene made landfall, speaks with “Good Morning America” about his missing fiancé, Oct. 1, 2024. (ABC News)

(NEW YORK) — As Helene swept through North Carolina last week, John Norwood and his fiancé, Julie le Roux, sought shelter at a neighbor’s house.

As they attempted to wait out the worst of the storm, which made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, a mudslide destroyed the home they had taken shelter in.

“We looked outside and there was a 30-foot-tall wall of water and rocks and tree debris just coming at us,” Norwood told ABC News.

The debris knocked the house “straight down,” flushing out those who had been huddled inside, he said, adding, “And we all got washed downriver.” Norwood was rescued, but le Roux is still unaccounted for, he said. She’s one of hundreds of people who are unaccounted for after the storm, according to officials.

The storm was “unprecedented” for western North Carolina, requiring an “unprecedented response,” Gov. Roy Cooper said Monday. At least 40 people were killed by the storm in Buncombe County, in the western part of the state, local officials said Monday.

Hundreds of people were missing or unaccounted for as of Monday throughout the southeastern United States, Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood Randall said as she gave a lengthy update on the federal response to Helene, including a warning that much is still unknown about the situation.

“When I said there could be up to 600 people lost my point was, there 600 people unaccounted for,” Sherwood Randall said. “That’s the number we’re tracking right now and that we can essentially validate from multiple sources.”

But, she added, there was still uncertainty in that number. It included many who hadn’t been heard from, but they may just be out of contact, she said.

“And as the president said this morning, we’re very hopeful that some of those people just don’t have cell phones working and actually are alive,” she said.

Elsewhere in North Carolina, there were gas lines stretching from stations, as survivors waited for fuel. Officials were busy supplying water and ready-to-eat meals, Will Ray, the director of the state’s Emergency Management agency, said.

In Marion, a city in the state’s hard-hit western area, rescuers used a pulley system to pull Norwood to safety, carrying him over rushing flood waters. A ceiling rafter had crushed his legs, he said, but at least he was rescued. He said he hasn’t seen le Roux since the mudslide hit.

“I crawled around screaming, looking for her,” he said as he fought back tears, “and I just couldn’t find her.”