Powerful storm leaves over 130 displaced in Tempe, Arizona
Phoenix Zoo
A powerful “microburst and thunderstorm” pushed through Tempe, Arizona, leaving more than 130 people displaced Monday afternoon, officials said.
Several apartment buildings were “severely” damaged during the storm, according to the City of Tempe.
The storm, which began around 1 p.m. local time, lasted a little over three hours and knocked out power for at least 34,000 customers.
A microburst is described as “a small concentrated downburst that produces an outward burst of strong winds at or near the surface,” according to the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory.
A microburst is usually less than or equal to 2.5 miles in diameter, according to the National Weather Service.
As of 8 p.m. local time, a flood watch remains in effect in the area and 10,000 customers are still without power.
The Phoenix Zoo was heavily impacted by the storm that swept through the Phoenix Valley, sustaining damage in and around the zoo.
Despite many toppled trees and walkways being covered by downed objects, no animals, guests or staff were harmed, the Phoenix Zoo told ABC News.
The Zoo will be closed for the next two days as it focuses on cleanup and restoration efforts.
Attorney General Letitia James sits in the courtroom during the civil fraud trial of U.S. President Donald Trump at New York Supreme Court on January 11, 2024 in New York City. Seth Wenig-Pool/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump is expected to fire the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia after investigators were unable to find incriminating evidence of mortgage fraud against New York Attorney General Letitia James, according to sources.
Federal prosecutors in Virginia had uncovered no clear evidence to prove that James had knowingly committed mortgage fraud when she purchased a home in the state in 2023, ABC News first reported earlier this week, but Trump officials pushed U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert to nevertheless bring criminal charges against her, according to sources.
Administration officials have told Siebert of Trump’s intention to fire him, sources familiar with the matter said. Siebert’s last day on the job is expected to be Friday.
Abbe Lowell, an attorney for James, called the expected firing a “brazen attack on the rule of law.”
“Firing people until he finds someone who will bend the law to carry out his revenge has been the President’s pattern — and it’s illegal,” Lowell said Friday in a statement to ABC News. “Punishing this prosecutor, a Trump appointee, for doing his job sends a clear and chilling message that anyone who dares uphold the law over politics will face the same fate.”
The decision to fire Siebert could throw into crisis one of the most prominent U.S. attorney’s offices, which handles a bulk of the country’s espionage and terrorism cases, and heighten concerns about Trump’s alleged use of the DOJ to target his political adversaries.
Trump nominated Siebert for the position in May. Sources familiar with the matter said that the administration now plans to install a U.S. attorney who would more aggressively investigate James.
The move to fire Siebert because he refused to charge one of Trump’s political rivals would mark an escalation in what the president’s critics have called a retribution campaign, with ongoing investigations also targeting Sen. Adam Schiff and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.
Trump has repeatedly accused James — who successfully brought a civil fraud case against him last year and leads multiple lawsuits challenging his administration’s policies — of targeting him for political reasons, calling her “biased and corrupt.”
James is “a horror show who ran on the basis that she was going to get Trump before she even knew anything about me,” Trump said during his civil fraud trial in 2023. “This has to do with election interference, plain and simple. We have a corrupt attorney general in this state.”
Following a three-month trial, a New York judge concluded that Trump and his family had committed a decade of business fraud by overstating the value of their properties to get favorable loan terms, fining Trump and his sons nearly half a billion dollars. An appeals court subsequently tossed the financial penalty but upheld the finding that Trump committed fraud.
Trump administration officials have argued that James committed mortgage fraud because one of the documents related to her 2023 home purchase, they say, falsely indicated the property would be her primary residence. The investigation began after Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, sent the DOJ a criminal referral about James in April.
“I believe this is riddled with mortgage fraud, and frankly, I think that’s why she knew so much about the law in terms of how to go after President Trump,” Pulte told Fox News last month. “She was the fraudster, not President Trump.”
However, investigators have so far determined that the document — a limited power of attorney form used by James’ niece to sign documents on her behalf when James closed on the home — was never considered by the loan officers who approved the mortgage, sources said.
A former police officer with Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department, Siebert graduated from law school in 2009 and has worked as an assistant United States attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia since 2010. In addition to serving as a line prosecutor, Siebert headed the office’s organized drug crime task force and supervised the office’s Richmond division from 2019 to 2024.
Siebert began serving as the interim U.S. attorney on Jan. 21 after the late Jessica Aber, who ran the office from 2021-25, resigned following President Trump’s inauguration. Both of Virginia’s Democratic senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, recommended Siebert to Trump in April, and Trump nominated him for the position in May.
“Mr. Siebert has dedicated his career to protecting public safety, from his work with the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department to his handling of violent crimes and firearms trafficking as a line Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia. With his experience and dedication to service, Mr. Siebert is equipped to handle the challenges and important obligations associated with this position,” Warner and Kaine said in a statement in May, pledging to support his nomination.
One of the most high-profile federal prosecutors’ offices in the country, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia serves over six million people with a staff of 300 prosecutors. Among the nation’s fastest-moving trial courts, the Eastern District of Virginia often handles significant terrorism and intelligence-related cases because of its proximity to Washington and the multiple government offices in its jurisdiction.
After his 120-day term as interim U.S. attorney expired in May, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia unanimously agreed to extend Siebert’s tenure in the position.
View of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are seen in Tennessee. (Patrick Gorski/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A 21-year-old man was found dead in Great Smoky Mountains National Park after a multi-day search, according to the National Park Service.
Ryan Lake was last seen in Nashville on Thursday, with officials locating his vehicle on Saturday, the NPS said in a press release on Sunday.
On Monday, park officials said Lakes was found dead at approximately 2:45 p.m. on Sunday in the Big Creek area of the national park.
“Please respect the privacy of the family during this time,” the NPS said in a press release obtained by ABC News.
According to the NPS website, the Big Creek area is a “dense forest” and a “secluded area on the northeast edge of the park near the North Carolina-Tennessee border.”
The area is also known for “numerous streams and waterfalls,” according to the NPS website.
Park officials previously said “several organizations” were assisting the NPS with search efforts.
To learn more about how to stay safe when embarking on a multi-day hike excursion, click here.
(SAN RAMON, Calif.) — A group of nearly 25 people ransacked a jewelry store in San Ramon, California, this week, stealing an estimated $1 million worth of merchandise, police confirmed to ABC News.
Seven suspects have been detained, so far, and some of the jewelry has been recovered, the San Ramon Police Department said.
The group looted Heller Jewelers, located at the City Center Bishop Ranch shopping mall, on Monday afternoon and was armed with at least three guns, according to police. Video obtained by ABC News’ San Francisco station ABC7 shows the masked mob storming the store and smashing displays with crowbars and pickaxes before being locked inside by automatic closing doors.
This is the second time in two years Heller Jewelers has been targeted in a massive heist, when a group of seven masked men similarly broke into the store on St. Patrick’s Day in 2023 and took $1.1 million worth of jewels. The suspects were later apprehended due to a GPS tracking device hidden inside a stolen Rolex, according to local reports at the time.
On Monday, a member of the group fired upon the door to escape before the thieves fled into six getaway vehicles in the valet area of the shopping mall — several of which were reportedly stolen, police said.
A representative of the City Center Bishop Ranch shopping mall declined to comment on the robbery to ABC News.
“When they went in, they basically took over the store,” San Ramon Police Department Lt. Mike Pistello told ABC7. “Taking whatever jewelry was available.”
Officers pursued the six getaway vehicles, but eventually ended the chase for public safety after the thieves exceeded 100 mph, Pistello said.
Since Monday, local police have arrested seven of the alleged culprits, including one juvenile. The suspects’ ages range from 17 to 31, and all are believed to live around Oakland, according to police, who say they believe the suspects are likely connected to other similar acts of robbery across the San Francisco Bay Area.
“This is not their first time doing something like this,” Pistello claimed.
Some of the jewelry and two of the firearms used in the crime have been recovered post hoc, according to authorities.
Authorities did not provide additional details about the suspects, but anyone with information is encouraged to call 925-733-7316.
