Search suspended for missing 5-year-old girl swept away in ocean in Laguna Beach: Officials
Crews have suspended the search for a missing 5-year-old girl who was swept away in the ocean in Laguna Beach, California. (KABC)
(LAGUNA BEACH, Calif.) — Crews have suspended the search for a missing 5-year-old girl who was swept away in the ocean in Laguna Beach, California, the Coast Guard said on Thursday, as the mayor called the situation “heartbreaking.”
The girl went missing at about 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday near Treasure Island Beach, Laguna Beach officials said. She was with her mother and a sibling near the shoreline when the three of them were swept into the ocean by powerful water conditions, the city officials said.
Bystanders ran into the ocean and were able to rescue the mother and one of her children, but the 5-year-old remained missing, officials said.
The search and recovery effort continued on Wednesday, with rescuers working “under challenging and hazardous ocean conditions, including large surf, powerful currents, and limited underwater visibility,” city officials said.
The search ended Wednesday evening after rescuers worked more than 30 hours and covered more than 90 square miles, the Coast Guard announced.
“Our deepest condolences go out to the child’s family and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time,” Capt. Stacey Crecy, commander of Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach, said in a statement. “Suspending a search is an extremely difficult decision.”
“This is one of the most heartbreaking incidents I have witnessed during my time serving this community,” Laguna Beach Mayor Mark Orgill said in a statement. “Our hearts go out to the young victim’s family, friends, and all those affected by this tragic loss.”
“I am incredibly proud of the dedication and professionalism demonstrated by our Marine Safety, Fire, and Police personnel, as well as every agency that assisted in this effort,” the mayor added. “These men and women put themselves in harm’s way, entering the same dangerous ocean conditions in an attempt to bring this young girl home to her family.”
Members of the Johnson family attend a candlelight vigil, April 19, 2026, in Shreveport, Louisiana, for eight children were killed and two women were wounded during a domestic violence incident. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
(SHREVEPORT, La.) — As an investigation continued into the motive of Sunday’s fatal shootings of eight children in Shreveport, Louisiana, allegedly by the father of seven of the victims, police officials released a timeline detailing the 68-minute massacre.
“April 19 … will be written in the pages of history as one of the worst days that could have ever happened here in Shreveport,” Chief Wayne Smith of the Shreveport Police Department said at a news conference on Monday.
Smith said the suspect, Shamar Elkins, a former member of the Louisiana Army National Guard, allegedly used an assault-style pistol to kill seven of his children and an eighth child related to him. A teenage boy was also injured when he jumped off the roof of a house to escape the shooting, police said.
While Elkins died after police opened fire on him following a car chase, Smith said it remains unclear whether he was shot to death or died by suicide.
Smith said domestic violence is believed to be the primary motive behind the killings. The chief said two women, including the mother of seven of the children who were killed, were wounded in the incident and remain hospitalized.
He said investigators are probing five different crime scenes connected to the shootings.
Police said the children killed, siblings and one cousin, ranged in age from 3 to 11. The victims, according to the Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office, were identified by their mothers as Jayla Elkins, 3; Shayla Elkins, 5; Kayla Pugh, 6; Layla Pugh, 7; Markaydon Pugh, 10; Sariahh Snow, 11; Khedarrion Snow, 6; and Braylon Snow, 5.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry announced on Monday that the Love One Louisiana Foundation, a nonprofit founded by his wife, Sharon, will pay all expenses for the children’s funerals, according to ABC affiliate station KTSB.
“Both she and I recognize no amount of money or act of charity can repair the pain, but [what] we can lean on is that this act of charity can stand as a beacon of faith and belief that good things still happen in this world,” Gov. Landry said during a visit to Shreveport.
Timeline of the deadly rampage During Monday’s press conference, Smith went over a timeline of the deadly attacks that occurred before sunrise on Sunday:
5:55 a.m. — Shreveport Police received the first call regarding a disturbance at a residence on W. 79th Street in the Ceder Grove neighborhood of South Shreveport. The caller stated that they were on top of the house while the suspect was inside, and a male had been shot.
5:58 a.m. — A police dispatcher received an additional call from the same 911 caller, indicating the suspect was a relative of the caller.
5:59 a.m. — A dispatcher was advised by the caller that approximately nine individuals resided at the W. 79th Street location. The caller stated that the suspect, Elkins, had shot everyone inside the home.
6 a.m. — The caller advised the dispatcher that she and her children fled the W. 79th Street house onto the roof and that they were in the backyard.
6:01 a.m. — Shreveport officers arrived at the W. 79th Street residence.
6:03 a.m. — Officers made contact with the 911 caller at the West 79th Street residence.
6:05 a.m. — Officers requested the Shreveport Fire Department stage at a location near the West 79th Street home, close to Linwood Avenue.
6:07 a.m. — A second 911 caller reported a shooting at a home on Harrison Street in Shreveport. The caller stated that her boyfriend shot her and fled the scene with her three children.
6:08 a.m.– The second caller identified the suspect who shot her and took her children as Elkins.
6:10 a.m. — A police dispatcher links the Harrison Street shooting with the shooting on West 79th Street and determines that they were related.
6:15 a.m. — Officers received information that the suspect had carjacked a red Kia Sportage at West 79th Street near Linwood Avenue.
6:17 a.m. — Shreveport police traffic units out on random patrol observed the carjacked Kia heading southbound on Interstate 49.
6:18 a.m. — Officer radioed in that they were chasing the stolen car over a bridge in crossing the Red River into Bossier City.
6:20 a.m. — Officers involved in the chase reported that the children taken from the Harrison Street residence may be inside the fleeing vehicle.
6:23 a.m. — Officers advised dispatch that they were exiting the interstate near the Swan Lake area of Bossier City.
6:25 a.m. — Officers back in Shreveport find the victim injured in the Harrison Street shooting.
6:29 a.m. — Officers report and exchange of gunfire with the suspect on Brompton Lane in Bossier City.
6:40 a.m. — Police officers advised a dispatcher that the suspect vehicle was empty and no children were located inside. Chief Smith did not say during Monday’s news conference what happened to the children taken from the Harrison Street residence.
6:43 a.m. — Officers in Shreveport cleared the West 79th Street home and found multiple deceased victims.
7:03 a.m. — The suspect, Elkins, is pronounced dead at the scene on Brompton Lane in Bossier City.
Cindy McCain during a panel session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Stefan Wermuth/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Cindy McCain will be stepping down as head of the United Nations World Food Programme to focus on her health, the humanitarian organization announced on Thursday.
McCain, 71, suffered a mild stroke in October 2025, according to the organization. She plans to step down as the group’s executive director in three months, it said.
“With a heavy heart, I am announcing my intention to step down as the Executive Director of the World Food Programme,” McCain said in a statement released through the organization. “Serving this incredible organization has been the honor of a lifetime.”
McCain, who is the widow of the late Arizona Sen. John McCain, stepped away for several months following her stroke before returning in early January to the organization’s headquarters in Rome. She said she hoped to complete her five-year term “but my health has not recovered to a level that allows me to fully serve the enormous demands of this job.”
“This is one of the most difficult decisions I have ever had to make,” McCain said. “Over the past three years, we have delivered life-saving and life-changing assistance for millions of the world’s most vulnerable people — and this unwavering commitment will be more important than ever in the years to come.”
McCain has been serving since April 2023 as the executive director of the World Food Programme, which has a presence in more than 120 countries and over 20,000 staff worldwide.
“During her tenure she has driven several unprecedented changes to reform and scale the organization’s abilities including overhauling its global structure, streamlining its operations and processes, scaling innovative digital technologies, and diversifying its public and private partnership efforts,” the World Food Programme said in a press release.
McCain previously served as the U.S. ambassador to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture for two years.
he Department of Justice (DOJ) seal on the J. Edgar Hoover Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) building in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, April 7, 2026. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department is seeking to denaturalize a former diplomat who was caught spying for the Cuban government.
For nearly 40 years, Manuel Rocha acted as a spy for the Cuban government under the guise of being a U.S. diplomat, according to the Justice Department.
Rocha is a native of Colombia, but became a “great friend” of the Cuban government. The lawsuit filed by the Justice Department in the Southern District of Florida alleges that he lied on his naturalization paperwork when he filed it in the late 1970’s.
“Under no circumstances should an agent of a foreign adversary be permitted to hold the title of American citizen,” Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate said in a statement. “Our mission is clear: to root out these fraudsters and preserve the sanctity of the naturalization process for those who adhere to our laws. Any individual who lied during the naturalization process to gain a foothold in this country will be met with the full weight of the Department of Justice.”
He had worked at the State Department and held various leadership posts since the early 1980’s, according to the Justice Department. All of that unraveled when he was caught on video outlining all of his crimes to an undercover agent in 2022.
“Rocha celebrated his activities on behalf of the DGI and against the United States’ interests, and explained why and how he continued to preserve the secrecy of those activities,” according to court records unsealed in 2023.
He was sentenced to 15 years behind bars.
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason A. Reding Quiñones said that Rocha was not a “low level operative” but rather “a senior government official who admitted he secretly served the Cuban regime for decades.”
