Maryland man charged with attempted murder after showing up at White House OMB Director Russell Vought’s home: Sources
Booking photograph of Colin Demarco (Arlington County Police Department)
(ARLINGTON, Va.) — A Maryland man has been charged with attempted murder after he allegedly showed up at the northern Virginia home of Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, according to law enforcement sources.
Colin Demarco, 26, is also charged with criminal solicitation to commit murder, carrying a concealed weapon and wearing a mask in public to conceal identity.
In a statement an OMB spokesperson said, “We are grateful for the work of law enforcement in keeping Director Vought and his family safe.”
Demarco was arrested Jan. 16 in Maryland following a monthslong investigation, extradited to Virginia and is being held without bond in the Arlington County Detention Center, police said. His arrest was announced Thursday.
The charges date back to an alleged incident in August when police were dispatched last to an Arlington, Virginia, neighborhood for a report of a suspicious person.
“A witness reported observing a male suspect, who was wearing a surgical mask and rubber gloves, carrying a backpack and appeared to be concealing a firearm under his shirt, on the victim’s porch,” according to an Arlington County Police press release.
A criminal complaint filed in Arlington, Virginia, said Demarco was caught on a doorbell security camera with a mask on.
“Is anyone home,” he allegedly asked, saying he had an appointment, according to the complaint. The family was not home at the time.
Police say a neighbor them the man allegedly had the outline of a gun in his shirt.
The complaint said the U.S. Marshals Service identified Demarco and interviewed him in his home in Rockville, Maryland, four days later.
“Demarco stated the November 2024 election was the lowest point in his life for he feared for impending war and a fascist takeover,” the complaint stated. “He also allegedly “spoke of his admiration for Luigi Mansion [sic] and stated that Mangione was a ‘working class dream,’ and that Mangione had the ‘guts’ to do what others would not.”
Using search warrants, police said investigators recovered digital evidence that showed Demarco obtained Vought’s address, information about firearms and had posted online about soliciting murder within days of the Aug. 10 incident when allegedly he appeared at Vought’s home wearing a mask and gloves.
Community members pay respects at a “Memorial Garden” filled with flowers, photos and mementos outside the Tops Friendly Market on Jefferson Avenue on July 14, 2022 in Buffalo, New York. (John Normile/Getty Images)
(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — Nearly four years after 10 Black people were gunned down in a racially motivated mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket, the victims’ families have reached a settlement with the firearms accessory company listed as a defendant in the case.
The Georgia-based manufacturer Mean Arms has agreed to pay $1.75 to settle a lawsuit filed in 2023, accusing the company of providing online instructions on how to remove a locking device it manufactured for AR-15-style rifles to turn the guns into assault weapons, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced.
“Today, justice looks like accountability, and we have ensured that this device will never be sold in our state again,” James, who filed the lawsuit along with the group Everytown for Gun Safety and the Giffords Law Center, said in a statement on Wednesday.
Mean Arms did not immediately respond to a request from ABC News for comment on the settlement. The company agreed to the settlement “without admitting or denying any allegations, claims, or assertions in the complaints filed in this action,” according to court papers filed in New York Supreme Court in Buffalo.
On May 14, 2022, the gunman, Payton Gendron, a self-professed white supremacist, opened fire with a Bushmaster XM-15 rifle in a Tops supermarket on Buffalo’s East Side neighborhood, killing 10 Black shoppers and injuring three other people.
According to the lawsuit, Gendron followed step-by-step instructions provided by Mean Arms to remove a device sold attached to the weapon called an MA Lock, which prevented the rifle from accepting magazines with more than 10 rounds. New York law bans the possession of assault weapons with high-capacity magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.
The removal of the lock allowed Gendron, who was 18 at the time of the shooting, to attach a 30-round magazine and convert the gun into an illegal assault weapon that he used in the attack, according to the lawsuit.
“With a pistol grip and the high-capacity magazines, he did not have to stop to reload his weapon, and when he did reload, he could do so quickly. As a result, he was able to kill 10 people and injure three others,” according to James’ statement.
As part of the settlement, Mean Arms agreed to permanently stop selling the MA Lock in New York and, according to James, remove any statements that claim the MA Lock is legal in New York and state on all packaging that the device cannot be sold or resold in New York.
“This has not been an easy fight and no amount of money will ever make up for the loss of our loved ones, but through this courageous action and in this instance, justice has prevailed and this settlement will provide additional fuel for the fight ahead,” said Garnell Whitfield, the former Buffalo fire chief whose 86-year-old mother, Ruth Whitfield, was killed in the massacre.
Gendron pleaded guilty in November 2022 to 15 state charges, including domestic terrorism motivated by hate, murder and attempted murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Gendron is scheduled to face a federal trial this coming summer, in which he could get the death penalty if convicted.
“We will never forget and stop fighting for our 10 neighbors who were senselessly taken away from us in a tragic, racist act of terror,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement. “As we continue to help the families and community heal, I’m grateful to the Attorney General for her partnership in seeking justice for those impacted and working to keep New Yorkers safe by ensuring our nation-leading gun laws are being followed.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt displays steps for U.S. citizens in the Middle East to take following U.S. strikes on Iran as she speaks during a news briefing in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on March 04, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The State Department announced on Wednesday that a charter flight for American citizens stuck in the Middle East was en route to the United States — days after the war with Iran left thousands of American travelers stranded as combat operations led to the closure of airspace around the region.
The department said the flight is “part of our ongoing efforts to assist Americans return home” and said additional flights will be departing from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Israel.
The move comes as hundreds of thousands of Americans stranded across the Middle East are trying to leave the region, faced with canceled flights and other travel disruptions.
Chris Elliott, a pastor from Lexington, North Carolina, told ABC News that he and his family were stranded while visiting sites in Jerusalem. He said they ended up in a bomb shelter as sirens sounded and incoming missiles were intercepted.
“We want Americans to be on American soil right now,” Elliott said.
Eliott’s daughter, Riley, said it’s been frustrating and frightening to be forced to shelter in place since the joint U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran began on Saturday.
“The scariest for me was trying to go to bed at night and then being woken up by the sounds of sirens,” Riley Elliott told ABC News.
The U.S. State Department issued an advisory on Monday, three days into the military operation, urging Americans to immediately leave 14 countries in the region via commercial flights, but stranded U.S. citizens have said that’s become extremely difficult, given the significant disruptions to air travel.
The Trump administration is facing some criticism for apparently not having a plan in place to get American citizens out of harm’s way ahead of the joint operation.
Responding to a question on Tuesday from ABC News about why so many Americans became stuck in the Middle East absent any advance warning of the attack on Iran, President Donald Trump said, “Well, because it happened all very quickly.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a Wednesday press briefing that the U.S. did communicate the danger of traveling to the region.
“There was many signs, put out by the State Department,” Leavitt said. “The secretary of state issued level four travel advisories dating back to January for many of these countries in the region,” adding that they were “advising extreme caution and do not travel alerts to Americans in the region.”
However, a review of travel advisories issued by the State Department indicates that prior to the start of the conflict, of the the 14 countries American travelers were later urged to depart, eight of them were only listed at a Level 1 or Level 2 — meaning to exercise normal precautions or increased caution.
Leavitt also claimed that since the start of the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, over 17,500 Americans “have safely returned home from the Middle East, with over 8,500 American citizens returning home to the United States just yesterday alone.”
Multiple U.S. embassies in the region, including some that have been attacked, have said they are unable to help citizens trying to leave.
“Our embassies and our diplomatic facilities are under direct attack from a terroristic regime,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Tuesday in Washington.
Asked if there were plans in place to evacuate Americans before the attack took place, Rubio said, “That’s the plan we’re trying to carry out.”
“The problem is, or the challenge we are facing, is airspace closures,” Rubio said, adding that some airports were closed after being hit in strikes. “So, that’s a challenge, but rest assured, we are confident that we are going to be able to assist every American.”
Odies Turner, a private chef from South Carolina, told ABC News that he’s been stuck in his hotel in Doha, Qatar, since the military operation began. He said the unexpected experience of being in a war has left him “frustrated, anxious” and feeling helpless.
“How do you expect us to leave a country where the airspace is closed? People are really stranded here,” Turner said in a self-video recorded on Tuesday. “I really don’t know what to do. I’ve reached out to the embassy, consulate and airlines. There’s no information on when I will get back home. It’s a mess.”
American Lisa Butler said the military conflict left her and her family, who were part of a large travel group, stranded in Abu Dhabi before they were evacuated to Dubai.
“We were standing … outside of this beautiful mosque, looking up in the sky and seeing these missiles that have been intercepted,” Butler told ABC News about how she and her family learned while in Abu Dhabi that they were vulnerable to a major military conflict breaking out in the region.
Oliver Sims, an American from Texas, told ABC News that he has been stuck in Qatar.
“I was just a few minutes ago, listening to some explosions that are going off above my head,” Sims said. “And, you know, I know that officials have said use commercial means, but there are really no commercial means here for us to use. So it’s really difficult to try and figure out a way out.”
Asked to describe conditions in Qatar, Sims said that he has been awakened at night by “extremely loud explosions” that shook the windows of his hotel room.
“I looked out my window and I saw a bunch of debris that was raining down outside of my hotel window,” Sims said. “And it’s very jarring, too, because it’s not just how loud it is, just how it actually physically shakes you. The rumbling is really, really just as violent.”
Savannah Guthrie attends the Project Healthy Minds World Mental Health Day Gala at Spring Studios on October 09, 2025, in New York City. (Photo by Rob Kim/Getty Images for Project Healthy Minds)
(NEW YORK) — Savannah Guthrie’s friends and colleagues are offering their support as the search continues for the “Today” show host’s mom, Nancy Guthrie, who investigators say appears to have been kidnapped from her Arizona home.
The 84-year-old was last seen Saturday night, and investigators believe she was abducted in her sleep early Sunday morning, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said. A motive is not known, with Sheriff Chris Nanos saying Tuesday, “We’re looking at all leads.”
Savannah Guthrie’s “Today” co-anchors and fellow journalists are speaking out on social media to show their support and share photos of Nancy Guthrie.
Authorities said Nancy Guthrie suffers from some physical ailments and could die without access to her medication.
Savannah Guthrie said in a statement Monday night, “Thank you for lifting your prayers with ours for our beloved mom, our dearest Nancy, a woman of deep conviction, a good and faithful servant. … Bring her home.”
Anyone with information is urged to call 911 or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900.
