Man with apparent handgun outside CIA headquarters in custody after barricade incident
ABC News
Federal authorities responded to the CIA headquarters in Virginia on Wednesday after a man brandished what appeared to be a handgun outside the building, sources told ABC News.
At one point, the man pointed a gun at his head, and local police and security personnel were negotiating, according to the sources.
The man was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon after several hours in the “barricade incident,” police said.
“The barricade incident has been resolved,” Fairfax County police said. “The suspect surrendered to FCPD negotiators and is in custody.”
A CIA spokesperson said law enforcement responded to an “incident” outside the CIA headquarters, located in Fairfax County.
“Additional details will be made available as appropriate,” the spokesperson said.
The incident prompted a large police response, including from the FBI.
“Members of the FBI Washington Field Office’s National Capital Response Squad and other FBI resources have been deployed to assist our law enforcement partners in response to an incident outside CIA Headquarters,” the FBI Washington Field Office said in a statement earlier Wednesday.
(MINNESOTA) — A statue of famed novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald was stolen from outside a Minnesota building where he once attended school, police said.
The statue, which had been located outside the Academy Professional Building in Saint Paul, depicted a young Fitzgerald seated with a couple of books in his lap.
Now all that remains of the statue of “The Great Gatsby” author is part of his right hand.
Police said the statue is believed to have been cut free. Its owner, Ed Conley, told ABC Twin Cities affiliate KSTP a cutting torch is believed to have been used to free the statue. The bolts were also cut, he said.
“Disappointed for sure,” Conley, the founder of the real estate company CCI Properties, told the station.
The statue, which was located on the steps to the Academy Professional Building, was last known to be there on Feb. 3 and was reported missing four days later, police said.
The building was once home to the St. Paul Academy, which Fitzgerald attended from 1908 to 1911 as a teen. Conley said Fitzgerald wrote for the school paper and participated in plays while he attended the school.
He commissioned local artist Aaron Dysart to make the statue of the author nearly 20 years ago when he bought the building, which now houses office spaces.
“It was really fun to just highlight that history,” Conley told KSTP.
The statue of the author has been a fixture on various tours in the city, Conley said.
It would cost around $40,000 to replace the bronze statue, Conley told KSTP, estimating the metal could fetch several hundred dollars at a scrap yard.
Conley told KSTP he hopes to “resurrect” the statue and “bring it back to the community and have people enjoy it again.”
The investigation into the theft remains ongoing and there are no updates on any suspects or arrests, a Saint Paul Police Department spokesperson told ABC News on Wednesday.
Police asked anyone with information or who “recalls seeing suspicious activity” outside the building between Feb. 3 and 7 to call 651-291-1111.
(LOS ANGELES) — A 23-year-old college student was found murdered at her off-campus apartment in a “senseless and violent act,” authorities said, who are now seeking to identify a person of interest in the homicide.
Menghan Zhuang, who also went by Emily King, was discovered unresponsive by her roommate at their Santa Clarita apartment the evening of Feb. 4, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.
Her roommate called 911 and first responders found Zhuang suffering from multiple injuries to her upper body, according to Lt. Michael Modica, who did not disclose the nature of her injuries amid the investigation. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Authorities are now seeking the public’s help in identifying a person of interest in the case. Investigators learned that Zhuang had a “male companion” at her apartment the night of Feb. 3 who was then captured on video exiting from her second-story bedroom window the following afternoon, on the day she was discovered deceased, Modica said.
“It is clear this was not a random act of violence and Zhuang somehow knew the person of interest, evident by bringing that person into her apartment,” Modica said during a press briefing Thursday.
The sheriff’s department released photos of the suspect from the video of him leaving the apartment at the Vistas condominium complex in Newhall. He was described as a man in his 20s, wearing a black shirt and black pants, who appears to be of Asian descent, authorities said.
Modica stressed that Zhuang’s roommate is not a suspect in the homicide.
“I want to make it clear that her roommate is helping us in this case,” he said.
Zhuang was a senior undergraduate at the California Institute of the Arts, studying art, the school said.
“Our community is devastated by this loss, and our heartfelt condolences go out to her family, friends, classmates and teachers,” CalArts said in a statement on Friday.
CalArts is cooperating in the investigation and “were instrumental” in getting investigators in contact with the family of Zhuang, a Chinese national, Modica said.
Her family has requested privacy at this time, said CalArts, which is working with her family to plan an event in honor of Zhuang and to share her art.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is expected to approve a $20,000 reward for information in the case during its Feb. 18 meeting, which would retroactively go into effect on Feb. 13, Modica said.
“We hope people will have the courage to come forward and help investigators identify the individual responsible for this senseless and violent act and help bring justice and a sense of closure to the family,” he said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department at 323-890-5500 or Los Angeles Regional Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.
ABC News’ Jennifer Watts and Alex Stone contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Tesla vehicles, dealerships and charging stations have been vandalized, suffered arson attacks and faced protests since the company’s CEO Elon Musk began his work with the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, leading to mass layoffs of federal workers, authorities said.
The latest suspicious incident occurred overnight in Dedham, Massachusetts, where three Teslas were vandalized, according to the Dedham Police Department. Officials said “words had been spray-painted” on two Tesla Cyber-trucks, with all four tires of the trucks and a Tesla Model S being “reportedly damaged.”
Teslas were also damaged in Seattle on Sunday night, where crews had to extinguish a fire involving four electric vehicles, according to the Seattle Fire Department. Officials said other vehicles were moved away to prevent the spreading of the fire.
There were no buildings involved in the fire nor any injuries, according to the fire department.
The Seattle Police Department said the cause of the fire and whether or not foul play was a factor has not been determined. Other incidents in the U.S. were deliberately aimed at the company and it’s chief executive.
Six Teslas were also vandalized at a Tesla dealership in Lynnwood, Washington, on Saturday, with one black Tesla Cyber-truck graffitied with swastikas, according to the Lynnwood Police Department.
A Tesla charging station in South Carolina was targeted on Friday, where an unknown individual spray-painted an expletive directed at President Donald Trump along with “LONG LIVE UKRAINE” on the ground in red paint and threw homemade Molotov cocktails at the station, according to the North Charleston Police Department.
The suspect fled on foot before authorities arrived on the scene, police said.
Police “cut the power to the three charging stations that were burned by the homemade Molotov Cocktails,” officials said in a statement.
There have been no arrests made for this attack, police said.
Similarly, seven Tesla charging stations sustained heavy fire-related damage in Massachusetts on March 3, according to the Littleton Police Department. Officials determined the fires to be “deliberately” set, and the investigation is still ongoing to find the arsonist.
Shots were also fired at at Tesla dealership in Tigard, Oregon, where seven bullets damaged three cars and shattered windows on March 6, according to the Tigard Police Department.
Police said they are unaware of the motive of this specific incident, but were aware that “other Tesla dealerships have been targeted across Oregon and the nation for political reasons.”
On March 2, another Tesla dealership was spray-painted in Owings Mills, Maryland, where “NO MUSK” was written in red spray paint on the windows, followed by a symbol police originally thought was antisemitic.
“The graffiti was instead used against Elon Musk, and the graffiti was an ‘X’ inside of a circle, which we assume is for Twitter, which Musk owns,” Detective Anthony Shelton said in a statement obtained by Baltimore, Maryland, ABC affiliate WMAR.
Another incendiary event occurred in Colorado, where a woman was arrested on Feb. 27 after police caught her with explosives at a Tesla dealership, according to the Loveland Police Department. Lucy Grace Nelson, 40, was arrested after police launched an investigation following a series of vandalizations at the Tesla dealership, police said.
Nelson was charged with explosives or incendiary devices use during felony, criminal mischief and criminal attempt to commit a Class 3 felony, authorities said.
Protests against Tesla have also occurred at dealerships nationwide. Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs told ABC News the demonstrations and the company’s plummeting stocks — which have tumbled nearly 48% this year — can all “be tied to [Musk’s] time at DOGE.”
“It has been a distraction for the company and it’s been a problem for the brand,” Frerichs said.
Amid the crime sprees and protests, some Tesla owners have even placed stickers on their vehicles that read, “I bought this before Elon went crazy,” ABC News reported.
Trump said on Truth Social on Monday night that he is in support of Musk and is going to “buy a brand new Tesla tomorrow morning as a show of confidence and support for Elon Musk.”
Musk, the owner of X, has reposted some reactions that criticized the attacks and called the incident in Seattle “crazy.”
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene labeled the vandalisms as “domestic terrorism” and urged U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel to “prioritize a thorough investigation into these matters” in a letter posted to X on Wednesday.
“These attacks, which seem to involve coordinated acts of vandalism, arson and other acts of violence, seriously threaten public safety,” Greene said in a letter posted to X.
A spokesperson for Tesla did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
