Ohio festival shooting: Manhunt continues for suspects, 1 identified
In this booking photo released by the Toledo Police Department, Ka Nye Taylor is shown. (Toledo Police Department)
(TOLEDO, Ohio) — A manhunt is underway after investigators have identified one of the two suspects believed to have opened fire at an Ohio festival last weekend. Investigators are now asking the public for help identifying a second suspect, as both remain at large.
Twelve people were shot at the Old West End Festival last Saturday, with all of them expected to survive, officials said Tuesday.
One of the shooters has been identified as 20-year-old Ka Nye Taylor. He is described as a 5-foot-11-inch black male with black hair and brown eyes, according to the Toledo Police Department.
Arrest warrants have been issued for Ka Nye Taylor, who is wanted on 11 counts of felony assault in connection with the shooting at the festival, police said.
Investigators have released a photo of the second shooter and are seeking help from the public in identifying him.
Several people of interest were brought in for interviews, and investigators executed several search warrants, but no arrests have been made yet, Toledo Police Chief Michael Trinley said at a press conference Tuesday.
Investigators believe the shooting stemmed from a dispute involving two rival groups, Trinley said.
Two groups were “disrespecting each other and it led into a little bit of a foot chase” before one individual assaulted another person. At that point, one person pulled out a firearm and started shooting. Someone from the rival group then pulled out his firearm and started returning fire,” Trinley said.
Both suspects are believed to be between the ages of 18 and 24, Trinley said.
Some of the victims shot were intentionally targeted, but the majority were innocent bystanders, according to Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz.
Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Ka Nye Taylor or the identity of the second shooter is encouraged to call or text Crime Stoppers at 419-255-1111. Tipsters may remain anonymous.
Police are offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the suspects’ arrests. The U.S. Marshals Service is also offering an award of up to $5,000.
Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger attends PaleyLive NY: “Miracle On The Hudson: How ‘Sully’ And Flight 1549 Inspired A Nation” at Paley Museum on January 11, 2024 in New York City. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, who famously landed a plane on the Hudson River in New York City in 2009, has revealed he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
“I recently found out I have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. It is early stage,” Sullenberger, 75, wrote in part in a statement posted to his website. “For now, this means a name may not come easily to me, I forget a story I have recently told, or I don’t sleep as well, but I am in the beginning of this long journey.”
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive brain disorder that causes irreversible damage to the nerve cells in the brain, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC notes Alzheimer’s, which impacts approximately 7 million people in the U.S., is the most common form of dementia and the seventh-leading cause of death of adults in the U.S.
Early warning signs of Alzheimer’s, which tend to appear after the age of 60, may include memory loss, having trouble solving problems or finishing everyday tasks, decreased judgement, misplacing items, or mood and personality changes, according to the CDC.
There is currently no cure for Alzheimer’s disease, but various treatment options, such as prescription medications, may be available to patients to maintain brain health, delay symptom onset or manage symptoms, the agency says.
Sullenberger, an Air Force veteran who became a commercial pilot and later an accident investigator, made headlines 17 years ago in what has been dubbed the “Miracle on the Hudson” incident.
On Jan. 15, 2009, Sullenberger and co-pilot Jeff Skiles were at the helm of US Airways Flight 1549 when they struck a flock of Canadian geese. The pilots subsequently pulled off an emergency water landing in the Hudson River near Midtown Manhattan, saving all 150 passengers and five crew in the process.
In his statement Tuesday, Sullenberger said in the aftermath of Flight 1549, he was proud to advocate for further aviation safety, something he said he hopes to continue in the future.
“So this new phase of my life has challenged what it means to be of service,” Sullenberger said. “And the answer is to speak up. It is my hope that by sharing this, other families living in the shadows with this disease will feel they too can step forward. And about hope — so many people told us after Flight 1549, that the outcome gave them hope. Lorrie, my incredible partner of 37 years, says we can all use a little of that hope right now.”
Sullenberger is one of several public figures who have shared their Alzheimer’s diagnoses in recent months. Others include veteran New York City news anchor Bill Ritter and longtime actor Danny Glover.
“I am now part of a larger community with many of you, and we will be courageous together,” Sullenberger wrote Tuesday.
(NEW YORK) — About 6,600 people in New Jersey who said they were not U.S. citizens had been incorrectly registered to vote due to a technical error during the previous gubernatorial administration, Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who took office this year, said Tuesday. She added that fewer than 400 were found to have actually voted and that the state is taking action to remove them from its voter rolls.
The admission came less than a week after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin sent letters to New Jersey and three other states alleging that those states might have tens of thousands of noncitizens registered to vote, although Mullin did not explain how precisely DHS got those numbers.
Mullin and DHS had alleged that New Jersey could have “as many as … 35,152 non-citizens registered to vote in New Jersey.”
Sherrill said in a statement on Tuesday, “Last week I learned that a serious software error in New Jersey’s Motor Vehicle System led to the registration of roughly 6,600 people who indicated that they were not U.S. citizens between June 2023 and June 2024, almost three years prior to my taking office. These individuals answered ‘no’ when asked on a keypad whether they were a U.S. citizen when applying for drivers’ licenses and identification cards, but through no fault of their own, the system registered them anyway.”
The governor’s statement said that the state’s “preliminary analysis” found that less than 400 people who were erroneously registered to vote had voted in elections and were not tied to just one party; they were registered as Democrats, Republicans, or unaffiliated voters.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Sherrill said those voters could have potentially voted in any election since being registered, but the state has “no evidence at this time that any elections were swayed” because of those voters
Sherrill said that she has ordered an independent investigation about what happened, the removal of any New Jersey residents from the state’s voter rolls who should not have been registered to vote, and that the new administrator of New Jersey’s Motor Vehicle Commission is starting to replace the vendor tasked with running the faulty system.
The governor also said she will present the state’s findings after it investigates, and that the state is taking care to protect the identities of noncitizens who were registered inadvertently so that their immigration status does not get imperiled.
In a statement, IDEMIA, the company that runs the system faulted by the governor, said: “IDEMIA works with the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, and has for more than 40 years, to support the process through which eligible individuals may indicate their interest in registering to vote when applying for or renewing a driver’s license or state-issued identification card. IDEMIA’s role is to transmit information through the motor vehicle system. The voter registration information is transmitted to the New Jersey Department of State, Division of Elections, which is ultimately responsible for verifying eligibility to vote. Information submitted by IDEMIA must still be validated and adjudicated by the Division of Elections.”
At her press conference, Sherill pushed back against any insinuation that the finding validates claims the Trump administration has made about New Jersey’s voter rolls.
“Let me be clear: Donald Trump has zero credibility on the issue of election integrity. For the past 10 years, he’s cried wolf and peddled bizarre conspiracy theories about fraud with no evidence,” she told reporters during the press conference.
Sherrill also briefly referenced the DHS letter, saying that the number of alleged noncitizen voters appears to be unrelated to the number of noncitizen voters New Jersey uncovered. She confirmed New Jersey received the DHS letter, but said the state asked the administration for any evidence of there being that many noncitizen voters and has not gotten anything back yet.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice said Tuesday that is investigating the matter.
In a letter to Sherrill shared on social media, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, wrote: “Ensuring that U.S. citizens’ votes are not illegally diluted by noncitizens votes is of paramount importance. We therefore write to formally request additional information to assess New Jersey’s compliance with various federal statutes.” Dhillon asked for the state to provide within five business days personal information on the registered noncitizens the state identified and details on the around 400 who voted.
The White House said Tuesday’s announcement from Sherrill bolsters the need for Congress to pass the president’s signature SAVE America Act, which would significantly retool the administration of American elections.
“Democrats and their media allies have repeatedly said it is impossible for noncitizens to register to vote, let alone cast a ballot,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement.
“As President Trump has said, there is nothing more important than the integrity of our elections. And this latest incident underscores the absolute necessity of the SAVE America Act,” she added. “American voters deserve to have confidence that our elections are safe and secure — President Trump will never stop fighting to make that happen and all patriotic Americans should join in his effort.”
(NEW YORK) — The parents of a 5-year-old girl who was found dead after being reported missing in South Carolina have been arrested in connection with her death, with arrest warrants alleging they misled authorities during the search for their autistic child.
Saylor Hayes of Virginia went missing on Sunday after wandering away from a rental home in Pawleys Island, South Carolina, according to local authorities.
During an extensive search involving hundreds of people and multiple agencies, her body was found the following day in waters near where she was last seen, according to the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office.
Her parents — John Herb Hayes III, 70, and Geordyn Nichole Hayes, 31, of Bristol, Virginia — were arrested on Tuesday. They have been charged with unlawfully placing a child at risk/willfully abandoning a child “for their actions in the disappearance and subsequent death of their child,” the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office said.
The couple were arrested in Carter County, Tennessee, and are awaiting extradition proceedings to be brought back to Georgetown County to face their charges, authorities said.
Arrest warrants for the parents allege that they placed Saylor “at an unreasonable risk of harm affecting her life and safety by failing to provide supervision and safeguards appropriate for a severely nonverbal, autistic five-year-old child with known affinity to water and history of elopement.”
The girl had been equipped with a monitoring device since 2024, though the device was removed prior to the family leaving Virginia, according to the warrants.
“After the child was discovered missing, the defendant encouraged search efforts to be directed toward the use of tracking technology, despite knowing that the child was not wearing the monitoring device,” the warrant for each parent stated.
The parents are also accused of directing search efforts away from a body of water near where they had allegedly left Saylor unsupervised, according to the warrants.
“The death of Saylor Hayes is a heartbreaking tragedy that has deeply affected our community and everyone who worked so hard to find her,” Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver said in a statement. “From the beginning, our responsibility has been to follow the evidence wherever it led. Following an extensive investigation, Saylor’s parents have been arrested and charged under South Carolina law relating to unlawfully placing a child at risk of or causing harm, or willfully abandoning a child.”
“Saylor was a vulnerable five-year-old child who depended upon the adults responsible for her care and protection,” he added. “She deserved to be safe. She deserved to be protected.”
The parents remain in custody in the Carter County Detention Center, online jail records show. It is unclear if they have an attorney at this time.
The sheriff’s office in Washington County, Virginia, where Saylor lived, said the child had been enrolled in its monitoring program, Project Lifesaver, since June 2024. In the program, individuals who are at risk of wandering wear a transmitter that emits an individualized radio frequency, “allowing specially trained personnel to track and locate them if they become missing,” the office said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said it provided authorities in Georgetown County with Saylor’s assigned frequency after they requested it on Sunday, though search personnel were unable to detect it.
Washington County authorities subsequently tracked her transmitter to a vehicle at her residence in Bristol, the sheriff’s office said. The transmitter can only be removed by physically cutting the band it’s attached to, the office noted.
“Project Lifesaver works, and we believe strongly in this program,” Washington County Sheriff Blake Andis said in a statement. “When our personnel searched for Saylor’s assigned frequency, the equipment did exactly what it was designed to do. It detected her transmitter and led our personnel to its location.”
“What makes this situation especially heartbreaking is that Saylor did not have her transmitter with her when she went missing,” he continued. “Had Saylor been wearing her Project Lifesaver transmitter, we believe the technology could have assisted search teams in locating her much sooner.”
