Molotov cocktail apparently used to start fire at Tesla sales office: ATF
A suspected Molotov cocktail incendiary device was used to start a fire at the front door of a Tesla sales office in Louisiana, April 14, 2026, according to officials. (ATF New Orleans Field Division)
(NEW ORLEANS) — An apparent Molotov cocktail was used to start a fire outside a Tesla sales office in New Orleans, according to federal officials.
The incendiary device sparked a blaze at the office’s front door just before 8 a.m. Tuesday, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and New Orleans police.
No one was injured, but the business suffered damage, police said.
No arrests have been made, police said.
ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.
In this screen grab from a video, first responders are shown at the scene after a car crashed into a market in Los Angeles, on Feb. 5, 2026. (KABC)
(LOS ANGELES) — At least three people were killed and six others were hurt when a car crashed into a grocery store in the Westwood area of Los Angeles, according to Los Angeles Fire Department officials.
It appears the driver — a woman who’s about 70 years old — lost control of her car, hitting a bicyclist and then crashing into the market, LA fire officials said.
The crash is being investigated as accidental, not intentional, officials said.
It appears some victims were trapped under the car, officials said.
Six people were injured: two suffered serious or critical injuries; two had minor or moderate injuries; and two declined to be taken to a hospital, officials said.
The driver is being evaluated and is speaking with officers, officials said.
(LOS ANGELES) — Widespread elevated fire weather danger is expected to continue across parts of the Rockies and Great Plains on Sunday, as the Southwest is forecast to see another day of record-shattering March heat wave temperatures.
Wind gusts across the Plains are forecast on Sunday to reach 30 to 60 mph. Combined with very low humidity and dry fuels, conditions could be conducive for rapid wildfire growth and spread.
The National Weather Service has issued red flag fire-danger warnings for much of the Rockies.
While not currently on alert, parts of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast will also see dry and breezy conditions on Sunday, with dry fuels contributing to an increased fire threat.
Meanwhile, the Southwest will continue to bake as a record-shattering March heat wave continues on Sunday, a day after several record-high temperature marks were matched or exceeded.
At least 18 cities across California, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Nevada and Utah either broke or tied daily records on Saturday, including Yuma, Ariz., which hit a new daily record of 102 degrees; Death Valley, Calif., which reached 100; Phoenix, which saw temperatures soar to 96; and Las Vegas, which hit 92.
Relief from the Southwest heat wave is expected to come later this week, but not before another day of record-breaking temperatures.
Daily record highs are possible on Sunday and Monday in Las Vegas and Phoenix, with some daily record highs possibly being challenged in the Great Plains on Monday.
As the workweek progresses, a pattern change will bring warmer than normal temperatures and messy weather for the eastern half of the nation.
Overnight Monday and into Tuesday, a weak system is forecast to pass from the Upper Midwest through the Great Lakes, bringing showers and thunderstorms, some of which could be strong enough to produce gusty winds, isolated small hail, and spotty flooding.
By late Tuesday and into Wednesday, the system will continue to pass through the Great Lakes and eventually into the Northeast, spreading scattered showers and rain into the Northeast.
More messy weather is forecast through Wednesday and Thursday across the eastern half of the nation, mainly with scattered showers and some thunderstorms.
As April arrives on Wednesday, the weather pattern will start to change, likely bringing warmer-than-normal temperatures for the eastern half of the country. The West could also experience warmer-than-normal temperatures returning as April progresses.
What’s likely to remain consistent across the West is drier-than-normal weather, adding to an ongoing drought and record-low snowpack across the West.
Brendan Banfield testifies in his own defense on Jan. 28, 2026, during his double murder trial in Fairfax County, Virginia. (Pool/ABC News)
(FAIRFAX, Va.) — A jury has reached a verdict in the double murder trial of a Virginia man accused of killing his wife and a stranger lured to their home under false pretenses in an elaborate plot to get rid of his spouse so he could be with his au pair, with whom he was having an affair.
Brendan Banfield, 40, is accused of stabbing his wife to death in their home in Fairfax County and fatally shooting a man he allegedly “catfished” on a fetish website. Prosecutors said he pretended to be his wife to lure the man to their home for what was believed to be a consensual fake rape scenario in order to frame that stranger for his wife’s murder.
The jury deliberated nearly nine hours over two days, starting Friday, before reaching a verdict Monday afternoon. The verdict is expected to be read in court at 5 p.m. ET Monday.
The former IRS agent was charged with aggravated murder in 2024 following a monthslong investigation into the deaths of his wife, 37-year-old nurse Christine Banfield, and the man, 39-year-old Joseph Ryan.
Prosecutors accused Brendan Banfield of plotting the murders with the family’s au pair, 25-year-old Juliana Peres Magalhaes, who was initially charged with second-degree murder in connection with the deaths.
Ahead of the trial, Peres Magalhaes pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Under the plea agreement with prosecutors, she will receive time served for testifying against Brendan Banfield.
During closing arguments on Friday, the prosecutor made the case that the murders were premeditated.
“He was in love with Juliana. He can pretend that this was a fling and affair — he’d had them before, no big deal. He was in love with Juliana,” prosecutor Jenna Sands said. “He was afraid of losing her. He needed to get rid of his wife so that they could be together, so that they could marry, so that they could have those babies that he was picking out names for.”
Sands said there was no evidence that Christine Banfield had previously used dating or fetish websites, argued that there were signs that the crime scene had been “manipulated,” and reminded jurors that during the au pair’s testimony, Peres Magalhaes “told us how the plan was crafted and how it played out.”
The defense, meanwhile, pushed back on the catfishing theory, questioned the thoroughness of the investigation and argued that there were conclusions made based on confirmation bias. The attorney, John Carroll, claimed that prosecutors pressured Peres Magalhaes to change her story and that she “secured herself a deal that benefited her.” Carroll also said Brendan Banfield didn’t have to testify, but he did as they sought “to get the truth out there.”
“Is it reasonable, after a six- to eight-week affair, that someone is going to try to get rid of their companion of 19 years, wife of 12 years? Is that reasonable?” Carroll asked the jury. “You heard from my client: He thinks it’s absurd.”
During his testimony, Brendan Banfield called the allegations “absolutely crazy” and said his affair with Peres Magalhaes was just that and nothing more.
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 the man appeared to stab his wife.
Prosecutors said Christine Banfield was stabbed seven times in the neck.
Peres Magalhaes testified that Brendan Banfield expressed his desire to “get rid of” his wife in October 2022, saying, “At first, I thought he was joking.”
She testified that she had helped Brendan Banfield catfish Ryan on the fetish website to lure Ryan to the home.
Peres Magalhaes told the court that Brendan Banfield 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.
Brendan Banfield was additionally charged with using a firearm while committing or attempting to commit murder and child endangerment. The couple’s then-4-year-old daughter was in the house at the time of the killings, in the basement.
“He left her in the basement, knowing that Joe Ryan was upstairs,” Sands said during her closing argument. “He left her in the basement while he shot and killed Joe Ryan. He left her in the basement while he stabbed his wife.”
