Multiple people injured in chemical vat implosion at facility in Washington state
(LONGVIEW, Wash.) — Multiple people were injured in a chemical vat implosion at a facility in Washington state, authorities said.
The incident was reported Tuesday morning at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Company in Longview, fire authorities said.
The “hazardous materials incident” occurred at approximately 7:18 a.m., the Longview Fire Department said. The implosion involved a vat of chemical treatment product, it said. Authorities initially referred to the incident as a chemical explosion.
Multiple people suffered injuries, including chemical burns, and were transported by ambulance to area hospitals, the fire department said. The extent of their injuries is unclear, it said.
“Fire crews and a Hazardous Materials Team remain on scene working with Nippon Dynawave employees to mitigate the product and container involved,” the Longview Fire Department said in an alert on social media.
There is no immediate threat to the public, authorities said.
Residents were urged to avoid the area amid the active emergency response.
The Nippon facility is located on the Washington-Oregon border near the Columbia River. It is a kraft pulp and paper mill and liquid packaging plant, according to the Washington Department of Ecology.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
A woman looks on at a memorial for Renee Good who was shot and killed by an ICE agent last month, February 12, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement says that two of its officers appear to have made “untruthful statements” about shooting a migrant in Minnesota and may face federal charges for their actions.
“Today, a joint review by ICE and the Department of Justice (DOJ) of video evidence has revealed that sworn testimony provided by two separate officers appears to have made untruthful statements,” Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said in a statement.
“Both officers have been immediately placed on administrative leave pending the completion of a thorough internal investigation. Lying under oath is a serious federal offense. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is actively investigating these false statements,” the statement said.
“The men and women of ICE are entrusted with upholding the rule of law and are held to the highest standards of professionalism, integrity, and ethical conduct. Violations of this sacred sworn oath will not be tolerated. ICE remains fully committed to transparency, accountability, and the fair enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws,” Lyons added.
The statement from Lyons comes a day after the top federal prosecutor in Minnesota asked a judge to dismiss charges against two men, including one who was shot in the leg by an immigration agent, citing “newly discovered evidence” in what was initially framed as a “violent” attack on law enforcement during an enforcement operation.
“Newly discovered evidence in this matter is materially inconsistent with the allegations in the complaint affidavit. … as well as the preliminary-hearing testimony,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota Daniel Rosen wrote in the filing Wednesday evening. It remains unclear what specific new evidence Rosen was referencing.
Rosen has asked the court to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning the charges cannot be refiled.
“Accordingly, dismissal with prejudice will serve the interests of justice,” Rosen wrote.
In the wake of the shooting on Jan. 14 — a week after an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis — the Trump administration said the man who was shot, Julio Cesar Sosa-Selis, attacked a federal law enforcement officer with a “shovel or a broom stick” and that the incident was part of “an attempt to evade arrest and obstruct law enforcement.”
Lawyers for another man charged in the incident, Alfredo Aljorna, said surveillance videos did not corroborate the FBI’s claims that an agent was assaulted and said Sosa-Celis was shot while standing at his doorway some distance away from the officer.
Earlier this month attorneys for Aljorna also urged a judge to prohibit the government from deporting key witnesses who they said cast doubt that an agent was repeatedly struck with a broom or a snow shovel, Judge Paul Magnuson granted the request.
The reversal on the assault charges for Sosa-Celis and Aljorna comes after several discrepancies emerged between statements from Department of Homeland Security officials and details outlined in court records regarding their arrests.
DHS initially said in statements to media that officers were conducting a “targeted traffic stop” for Sosa-Celis when he fled in his vehicle, crashed into another car and attempted to evade arrest. The agency alleged that Sosa-Celis “violently” assaulted an officer and that two other individuals exited a nearby apartment and joined the attack “with a snow shovel and broom handle.”
According to DHS, Sosa-Celis struck the officer with “a shovel or broom stick,” prompting the officer to fire what the agency described as a defensive shot “to defend his life,” striking Sosa-Celis in the leg.
However, an affidavit from FBI Special Agent Timothy Schanz, who investigated the shooting, stated that ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations agents were attempting to stop a different man identified as Joffre Stalin Paucar Barrera — not Sosa-Celis — whom they believed was in the country illegally. According to Schanz, agents later identified the driver DHS agents stopped as a different man, Aljorna.
Schanz wrote that Aljorna struck a light pole and fled on foot toward his apartment building.
Sosa-Celis was allegedly standing on the porch and yelling at Aljorna to run faster, the affidavit says. Aljorna slipped and allegedly “began tussling” with the agent before Sosa-Celis grabbed a broom and began striking the agent, according to the affidavit.
The agent “then saw who he believed was a third Hispanic male approach with a snow shovel, and this male also began striking” him, Schanz said in the affidavit. The third man was identified as Gabriel Alejandro Hernandez-Ledezma by DHS, who accused him of also assaulting the officer.
Sosa-Celis was shot in the leg as he attempted to go inside the apartment, the affidavit says.
Video reviewed by ABC News’ Visual Verification team includes a 911 call from individuals identified as relatives of Sosa-Celis, who said agents fired as he was attempting to close the door.
U.S. Marines land at the objective point during a simulated bilateral small boat raid at Kin Blue Training Area, Okinawa, Japan, Feb. 26, 2026. (U.S. Marine Corps)
(WASHINGTON) — The Pentagon’s decision to send the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, a 2,200-troop force, to the Middle East is fueling new speculation about whether the conflict with Iran couldinvolve U.S. ground troops, a step that would mark a dramatic escalation and potentially push the already unpopular war into a far more dangerous phase.
It could take up to two weeks, or the end of March, before the unit is in place and its presence unlikely to significantly shift the dynamics of the war on its own, experts say. A Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) can deliver an initial surge of troops quickly, but seizing and holding key terrain, or sustaining a prolonged fight, would almost certainly require a far larger ground force.
Experts say the MEU would likely be used to conduct raids across the Iranian shoreline to gain a foothold in areas across the crucial oil shipping waterway, the Strait of Hormuz, which has emerged as a contested point of the conflict.
A Quinnipiac University poll from earlier this month showed 74% of registered voters opposed sending U.S. ground troops into Iran while 20% supported it.
Asked Tuesday if he was afraid of the Iranian regime’s assertion that U.S. boots on the ground “will be another Vietnam,” President Donald Trump replied, “No, I’m not afraid. I’m really not afraid of anything.”
Sailing from the Pacific, it will likely take up to two weeks for Marines to be in place in the Middle East, and it is not yet clear what those troops would be used for. The unit operates as a self-contained, sea-based force — essentially a floating hub capable of launching troops, aircraft and equipment without relying on nearby bases or infrastructure.
Reopening the Strait of Hormuz would unlock a waterway through which 20% of the globe’s oil supply transits each day. Its closure has seen gas prices soar and markets roiled. Trump has referenced shorelines from which the Iranians can attack vessels transiting the waterway.
“Now we are pounding that area, that coast, as you know, left side,” Trump said Monday. “We’re pounding it like really pounding it hard.”
According to Michael Eisenstadt, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute, the MEU could take part in land-based “raids” on targets along that coast.
“There’s a number of missions where you can conceivably see a MEU playing a role, either unilaterally or kind of in conjunction with maybe the deployment of larger Army units,” said Eisenstadt, who believes the deployment of the MEU was likely related to the strait.
Iranian fortifications along the coast that could “interfere with convoy operations,” Eisenstadt said, could be U.S. targets. Top military leaders have said they’ve explored the potential uses of convoys, or warship escorts, to facilitate the safe passage of commercial shipping through the strait.
Raiding parties could target missile storage bunkers that are hardened and difficult for U.S. warplanes to destroy from the air.
The idea would be to “clear out the shore and then use air power to prevent them from returning once you’ve cleared out those areas,” Eisenstadt said.
Such an operation would not by itself create conditions for smooth sailing in the strait, experts told ABC News.
“My concern is that it takes so little to disrupt the shipping industry, Eisenstadt said. “If there’s a small, you know, kind of a small residual [Iranian] capability, it could still potentially be very disruptive.”
The 2,200 Marines in the MEU would limit any operation longer than a raid, which have pre-planned withdrawals. To get on land, these types of Marine units primarily seize footholds by riding small watercraft onto beaches or by helicopter insertion.
“Normally in an amphibious assault, you have all sorts of Navy landing craft behind you to sustain the force ashore. There’s none of that. There’s none of that logistical tail that would allow them to remain ashore,” said retired Marine Col. Steve Ganyard, an ABC News contributor.
Leaving strategic waters in the Pacific
The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit is primarily based in Japan, where it routinely trains with the Japanese Self-Defense Forces on skills in high demand across the Pacific, including rapidly seizing small islands. Earlier this month, it took part in a major annual exercise that featured amphibious assault drills, marksmanship training and operations focused on capturing hostile terrain, according to the Defense Department.
Their removal from the region removes one of the primary ground combat elements in the Pacific, which could respond to a crisis with China or North Korea. Other significant combat elements in the region include the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division, stationed to bolster South Korea’s frontline against Pyongyang, as well as the Army’s 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii and the 11th Airborne Division in Alaska.
“That leaves a ground combat and amphibious capability gap in the region,” Carlton Haelig, an expert in military operations and fellow at the Center for New American Security, said.
The 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based out of Camp Pendleton, California, is preparing to deploy to the Pacific, according to Pentagon imagery.
Florida State University shooting victim Tiru Chabba. (Chabba family via Storm Law Firm)
(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — Attorneys representing the family of Florida State University shooting victim Tiru Chabba have filed a federal lawsuit against OpenAI and its artificial intelligence platform ChatGPT, alleging that the company could have done more to prevent the shooting.
The complaint, which was filed on Sunday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, also names the shooting suspect, Phoenix Ikner, as a defendant.
According to ChatGPT logs released by law enforcement in Florida, Ikner allegedly consulted ChatGPT as he planned the attack and asked pointed questions about gun operations and media coverage. He even consulted the platform about the busiest time on the FSU campus, according to the logs.
Chabba’s family attorney, Bakari Sellers, said these messages date back about 18 months ago and include 16,000 different “disturbing chats.”
“This is the same person who asked, you know, how can he become infamous? He asked about the Columbine shooting. He asked about what time should he go to campus? What time are most people going to be there?” Sellers said, describing the alleged messages that Ikner sent to ChatGPT.
“He literally utilized open AI and Chat GPT as his co-conspirator, utilized it as a resource to carry out mass murder,” Sellers added. “There was nothing in place to prevent that from happening and so lives were lost. That’s the inherent danger, there has to be something in place to prevent that from happening.”
Drew Pusateri, an OpenAI spokesperson, told ABC News in a statement: “Last year’s mass shooting at Florida State University was a tragedy, but ChatGPT is not responsible for this terrible crime. After learning of the incident, we identified an account believed to be associated with the suspect and proactively shared this information with law enforcement. We continue to cooperate with authorities. In this case, ChatGPT provided factual responses to questions with information that could be found broadly across public sources on the internet, and it did not encourage or promote illegal or harmful activity. ChatGPT is a general-purpose tool used by hundreds of millions of people every day for legitimate purposes. We work continuously to strengthen our safeguards to detect harmful intent, limit misuse, and respond appropriately when safety risks arise.”
The lawsuit comes after Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced last month that the Office of Statewide Prosecution launched a criminal investigation into OpenAI and ChatGPT after prosecutors reviewed the chat logs.
“Florida is leading the way in cracking down on AI’s use in criminal behavior, and if ChatGPT were a person, it would be facing charges for murder,” Uthmeier said in a statement on April 21. “This criminal investigation will determine whether OpenAI bears criminal responsibility for ChatGPT’s actions in the shooting at Florida State University last year.”
OpenAI did not respond to ABC News’ request when asked about the probe by the attorney general.
The shooting, which took place on the FSU campus on April 17, 2025, injured six people and killed two people – Chabba and Robert Morales, both of whom worked for the university’s dining services.
Ikner, whose trial is set for October 2026, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted murder. He has pleaded not guilty.
ABC News’ Luke Barr and Jeana Fermi contributed to this report.
