Manhunt underway after 2-year-old, 2 women killed in ‘horrifying’ Mississippi shooting, police say
Police in Jackson, Mississippi, investigate a triple homicide on Saturday, June 28, 2026. (Jackson Police Department)
(JACKSON, Miss) — Police in Mississippi are searching for a suspect after two woman and a toddler were shot and killed on Saturday.
The women, aged 26 and 20, were found dead alongside a 2-year-old, Jackson Police Department Chief RaShall Brackney told reporters early on Sunday.
Police had responded to a call for an aggravated assault on the 300 block of Queen Alexandria Lane at about 10:10 p.m. on Saturday, Brackney said, adding, “And what they found was something horrifying.”
All three victims had “multiple” gunshot wounds, she said.
Police early on Sunday said they were searching for a Red Mitsubishi Mirage that “was taken.” Brackney did not say whether police had identified a suspect, but said that the person who had taken the vehicle was thought to be “armed and dangerous and is related to this triple homicide that we have here.”
In an update later on Sunday, police said they had found the vehicle in North Jackson, but it was “unoccupied at the time it was located.”
Jackson Mayor John Horhn said in a statement that the city would begin deploying additional resources to combat gun violence.
“Our city is hurting. In recent days, we have seen a troubling rise in gun-related violence, shootings, and senseless loss of life,” he said. “No family should have to face the pain of losing a loved one to violence. Violence against the innocent is intolerable, and as your Mayor, I will not accept this as the norm for our community.”
(NEW YORK) — Tropical Storm Arthur, the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, weakened overnight but its energy is still powerful enough to cause serious flooding and other issues in the southeast Thursday.
A rare High Risk, level 4 of 4, for life-threatening flood potential was in place over southern Mississippi, southern Alabama and western Florida panhandle along the central Gulf Coast Thursday, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
Historically, a third of all flood-related fatalities and 80% of all flood-related damages occur in such high-risk areas, according to NWS data.
Areas under the High Risk advisory include Pensacola, Florida; Mobile, Alabama; and the Mississippi cities of Gulfport, McComb and Hattiesburg.
Rainfall rates of multiple inches per hour are possible, and some areas could see up to 20 inches of rainfall accumulation.
Extremely heavy rain already hit the Gulf states Thursday morning. Kenner, Louisiana, near the New Orleans airport, saw a radar estimated rainfall rate of 6.5 inches per hour.
Some Gulf areas are under a level 3 of 4 risk for flooding, including Montgomery, Alabama, and Atlanta, Georgia.
Tornadoes are also possible in the central Gulf Coast Thursday.
The life-threatening flood threat will continue into the overnight hours and people need to remain aware of their flood risk overnight into early Friday morning, forecasters warn.
More heavy rain will continue in the South on Friday and more sporadically on Saturday.
Payton Gendron (C) is escorted back into the courtroom by deputies after a disruption during sentencing in Buffalo, New York, Feb. 15, 2023. (Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images)
(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — More than four years after he gunned down 10 Black people in a racially motivated mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket, Payton Gendron’s federal trial reaches a crucial point on Monday in selecting a jury that will decide whether he lives or dies.
Gendron, who will turn 23 next week, has already pleaded guilty to state charges stemming from the May 14, 2022, attack at a Tops supermarket, including domestic terrorism motivated by hate. He is serving a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Gendron, according to his attorneys, has proposed pleading guilty to the 27-count federal indictment, including 10 counts of hate crimes resulting in death, but the Department of Justice has rejected his offer.
“The United States believes the circumstances in Counts 11-20 of the Indictment are such that, in the event of a conviction, a sentence of death is justified,” federal prosecutors said in January 2024, when they announced the decision to pursue the death penalty against Gendron.
On Monday, about 1,200 potential jurors who filled out an initial questionnaire were summoned to appear at the U.S. District Court in Buffalo to complete a more extensive inquiry to determine whether they can serve as fair and impartial jurors.
Based on their responses, Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo, who is overseeing the case, and the attorneys involved hope to whittle the potential jury pool down to several hundred.
Those who make the cut will be brought back in August to be questioned by the lawyers and judge, who are hoping to seat 12 jurors and at least six alternates for the trial scheduled to begin in October.
Gendron has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges.
Garnell Whitfield, the former Buffalo fire commissioner, whose 86-year-old mother, Ruth Whitfield, was killed in the supermarket attack, said he plans to attend Monday’s court proceedings.
Whitfield told ABC News that he’s hoping that the upcoming trial will expose those whom he says helped radicalize Gendron, including the social media companies that allegedly provided the addictive algorithms that fed Gendron’s hate of Black people.
“I’m more concerned with that than I am with him. He’s a dead man walking as far as I’m concerned,” Whitfield said.
Social media companies are not defendants in the trial, have not accused of any wrongdoing by prosecutors.
Whitfield and other relatives of those killed and wounded in the attack filed a lawsuit in May 2023 against several social media companies alleging they facilitated the teenage killer’s white supremacist radicalization by allowing racist propaganda to fester on their platforms. The outcome of the case is still pending in the state Supreme Court. The social media companies have denied all wrong doing.
During his sentencing in the state case in May 2023, Gendron apologized to the relatives of the victims, saying he was “very sorry for all the pain” he caused and “for stealing the lives of your loved ones.”
“I did a terrible thing that day,” Gendron said in court. “I shot and killed people because they were Black. Looking back now, I can’t believe I actually did it. I believed what I read online and acted out of hate. I know I can’t take it back, but I wish I could, and I don’t want anyone to be inspired by me and what I did.”
Gendron planned the massacre for months — including previously traveling twice to the Tops store he targeted, a more than three-hour drive from his home in Conklin, New York — to scout the layout and count the number of Black people present, according to state prosecutors. Wearing tactical gear, body armor and wielding an AR-15-style rifle he legally purchased and illegally modified, Gendron committed the rampage on a Saturday afternoon when prosecutors said he knew the store would be full of Black shoppers.
The attack was caught on a Tops supermarket surveillance camera and a helmet camera worn by Gendron that he used to livestream on Twitch. Before the attack, he also posted a racist screed online containing the names of past mass shooters he admired.
Brian Buckmire, an ABC News legal analyst, said Gendron’s attorneys are aiming at seating jurors who can set aside the defendant’s guilty plea and decide the case based on the facts presented at trial.
“This is not a case of guilt or innocence; this is a case … of attempting to save his life,” he said.
Buckmire said that in the current phase of jury selection, potential members of the panel will likely be asked about their personal beliefs about the death penalty.
He noted that the judge in the case has already denied a request from the defense to move the trial from Buffalo in Erie County to Rochester in Monroe County.
“So, it’s deep in the heart of where all of this harm happened,” Buckmire said.
Buckmire said the defense is facing an uphill battle and will likely focus on trying to persuade the jury that Gendron should not be put to death.
“From a fact-based standpoint, it’s hard to say he’s not guilty,” Buckmire said. “I think the only argument here and the only strength of anything they can make out here is he doesn’t deserve the death penalty because of his age [and] the influences he had.”
Pope Leo XIV reading his speech as he lead a prayer vigil for peace at St.Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on April 11, 2026. (Photo by Isabella Bonotto/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(NEW LENOX, Ill.) — One of Pope Leo’s brothers was the victim of a false bomb threat on Wednesday night, according to the New Lenox, Illinois, police department.
Officers received a call at 6:29 p.m. for a reported bomb threat at a private residence, officials said.
“Upon receiving the report, officers were immediately dispatched to the scene and established a secure perimeter to ensure the safety of nearby residents. Out of an abundance of caution, surrounding homes were notified, and asked to evacuate,” according to a statement from the police department. “Specialized units, including the Will County Sheriff’s Office bomb sniffing K9 were requested to assist in the investigation.”
There were no explosives, and no injuries, according to police.
“The incident remains under investigation as authorities work to determine the origin of the report. Making false reports of this nature is a serious offense and may result in criminal charges,” the statement says. “Anyone with information related to this incident is encouraged to contact the NLPD at 815-485-2500 or submit an anonymous tip through the Village of New Lenox website.”
