Man fatally shot during Eid prayer service in Minnesota, suspect in custody
(MINNEAPOLIS) — A suspect has been apprehended after a 26-year-old man was fatally shot while attending a prayer service in Minnesota, authorities said.
Khalid Ibrahim Abdi was shot multiple times just before 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Canterbury Park Expo Center in Shakopee, about 25 miles outside of Minneapolis, the Shakopee Police Department said.
He was taken to the Hennepin County Medical Center and later died from his injuries, police said.
A suspect was taken into custody Thursday morning and is being held pending charges, police said. The suspect’s name has not been publicly released.
Abdi was a member and field representative of the AFSCME Council 5 labor union, according to AFSCME Council 5 executive director Bart Andersen.
“It is with unimaginable sadness and heartbreak to share that we lost our union brother and AFSCME Council 5 Field Representative Khalid Abdi today, who was shot and killed while attending an Eid prayer gathering,” Anderson said in a statement.
“Khalid will be forever remembered for his tenacious organizing spirit, his warm and inviting presence, and his unyielding passion and drive to fight for the working-class and all historically marginalized communities,” Anderson said.
“Please keep Khalid’s family, friends, neighbors, and all of us coworkers in your thoughts,” he continued. “Khalid’s tenacity, heart, and joy lives in all of us forever.”
(KISSIMMEE, Fla.) — A 4-year-old boy shot and killed a 2-year-old boy with a gun that was left unsecured in a car, according to authorities in Florida.
Officers responded Sunday afternoon to a home in Kissimmee where they found a 2-year-old boy with a gunshot wound, Osceola County Sheriff Chris Blackmon said at a news conference. The little boy was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, the sheriff said.
The two children were alone in the car when the 4-year-old found an unsecured gun and discharged it, striking the 2-year-old, the sheriff said.
The gun was “literally in the open,” Blackmon said.
“I would think if it’s in a holster, maybe make it harder for the child to manipulate, as well, but it’s literally laying out by itself. So it’s easy to grab, and you pull the trigger. And you can’t recall that, it’s not a video game,” Blackmon said.
The sheriff described the two boys as relatives but not siblings.
“The family had just arrived and was visiting here from Georgia” for vacation, Blackmon said.
The investigation is ongoing, the sheriff said, noting that charges are likely. Prosecutors said on Wednesday, “Because this is an active and ongoing investigation, we have no information to release at this time.”
ABC News’ Aidan Gellert contributed to this report.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Department released this photo during the search for Nolan Xavier Wells, 18, in Mississippi. (Jackson County Sheriff’s Department)
(NEW YORK) — A Mississippi community is mourning the death of 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells, whose body was believed to be recovered after going missing over the weekend.
Wells vanished after going on a boat trip with friends on the 4th of July, officials said. He was last seen on Horn Island, a barrier island about 10 miles from the Gulf Coast, officials said.
“[The friends] left [Horn Island] and went back without Nolan,” Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter said. “From what we understand, he chose to stay there.”
Wells’ mother reported him missing and took to social media, pleading for help.
The sheriff’s department said it launched a search on Horn Island with officials from the Coast Guard, Department of Marine Resources and Gulf Islands National Seashore.
A body was later recovered. On Monday, Ledbetter told ABC News the coroner is still waiting on a DNA test, but said the body matches the description and is likely Wells.
Authorities said they suspect Wells drowned, but are still investigating.
The sheriff said investigators do not suspect foul play.
“There’s no information that we have right now that would lead us to believe that a crime has occurred,” he said.
Wells’ mother, Christine Wonsley, wrote on social media on Monday that she was “absolutely devastated.”
“My heart is broken for our sweet son who was always willing to cheer and uplift others,” she said. “Nolan was a special soul.”
The Ocean Springs School District said in a statement that it’s “shocked and heartbroken.”
Wells graduated last year from Ocean Springs High School, where he was a multi-sport athlete, and he went on to play football at Southwest Mississippi Community College, the district said.
“We are devastated by Nolan’s passing. He was the kind of son, teammate, friend, and student that every coach hopes to have in a program,” the high school’s football coach Jake Bramlett said in a statement. “Nolan was so much more than an outstanding football player. He carried himself with humility, treated others with respect, worked hard, and led by example. His character spoke louder than his accomplishments, and he was loved deeply by his teammates and coaches.”
Principal Jacob Dykes added, “He will be remembered as an extremely kind and hardworking young man who left a lasting impression on his teachers, coaches, teammates, and community. Our thoughts are with his family and the many people he made a lasting impact on.”
ABC News’ Mark Guarino and Joy Piazza-Ruppert contributed to this report.
Christine Banfield is seen in an undated photo. (Photo obtained by ABC News.)
(NEW YORK) — A Virginia man found guilty of killing his wife and a stranger lured to their home in an elaborate plot to get rid of his spouse so he could be with his au pair was sentenced to life in prisonon Friday.
Brendan Banfield was convicted in the 2023 murders of his wife and a man prosecutors said he “catfished” on a fetish website. Prosecutors said Brendan Banfield pretended to be his wife to lure the man to their Fairfax County home for what was believed to be a consensual fake rape scenario in order to frame that stranger for his wife’s murder.
A jury found him guilty of two counts of aggravated murder in February.
“It is a harsh sentence, but in this case it is a justified one,” Judge Penney Azcarate said, noting she had “no hesitation” in handing down the life sentence without the possibility of parole.
“The disregard of the life of your wife, someone you supposedly loved, is almost unfathomable,” she said.
The judge denied a defense motion to overturn his murder convictions on Thursday, ahead of his sentencing.
The former IRS agent was charged with two counts of aggravated murder in 2024 following a monthslong investigation into the deaths of his wife, 37-year-old nurse Christine Banfield, and the stranger, 39-year-old Joseph Ryan.
Prosecutors said Brendan Banfield plotted the murders with the family’s au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, with whom he was having an affair.
Police responded to a 911 call from the home in Reston on Feb. 24, 2023, and found Ryan dead in an upstairs bedroom with gunshot wounds to his head and chest. Christine Banfield had been stabbed seven times in the neck, prosecutors said.
At the time, Magalhães and Banfield told police they came home to find Ryan stabbing Christine Banfield to death. Banfield and Magalhães each shot Ryan, they said in their 911 call and to responding officers at the scene.
Magalhães was arrested first and initially charged with second-degree murder for the death of Ryan. She pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2024 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, the maximum, in February. Prosecutors said she admitted to shooting Ryan at Brendan Banfield’s direction.
Brendan Banfield was arrested several months after Magalhães and charged with two counts of aggravated murder for the deaths of his wife and Ryan.
Prosecutors said Brendan Banfield stabbed his wife with a kitchen knife that Ryan had been instructed to bring, and, before calling 911, altered the crime scene to make it look as though Ryan stabbed her — including by transferring some of his wife’s blood onto Ryan’s hands.
Magalhães testified against Brendan Banfield during his trial, telling the court that he expressed his desire to “get rid of” his wife in October 2022. She said he told her he wanted to marry her and have children with her, and that he didn’t want to divorce his wife because “she would have more money than he would” and because he wanted custody of the couple’s daughter.
She prayed for forgiveness from the victims’ families during her sentencing hearing.
“There is nothing I could possibly do to make it up to you, for your loss. There are so many regrets, this is my biggest. It’s a tragedy I have been carrying with me, and I know I can never take back the devastation of what I have done,” she said.
Following Magalhães’ sentencing, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said the au pair’s testimony was “invaluable in helping the jury understand the convoluted double-murder plot orchestrated by Brendan Banfield.”
During his three-week-long trial, Brendan Banfield testified in his own defense. He admitted to the affair though maintained his innocence.
He said he came home on Feb. 24, 2023, after the au pair called to alert him about a stranger in the home. He said he went up to his bedroom with his gun drawn and found his wife naked with Ryan and that she called out, “Brendan, he has a knife!”
“I was extremely terrified,” Brendan Banfield told the jury. “I don’t think I’ve ever been more panicked in my life.”
He said he fired his government-issued firearm, striking Ryan in the head, after he said the man appeared to stab his wife.
The couple’s then-4-year-old daughter was in the basement of the house at the time of the killings. Brendan Banfield was additionally found guilty of child endangerment, as well as using a firearm while committing or attempting to commit murder.
ABC News’ Sophie Sonnenfeld contributed to this report.
