Several people shot outside Ohio high school reunion, investigators say
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(CLEVELAND) — Multiple people were shot outside the Shaw High School in East Cleveland, Ohio, early on Monday, investigators said.
The number of people who were injured and their conditions were not yet known, East Cleveland Police told ABC News’ Cleveland affiliate WEWS. The injured were transported to University Hospital, police said.
The shooting occurred at around 2 a.m. on Monday during a reunion event at the high school, investigators said.
The shooting prompted a response from multiple jurisdictions, including local police and emergency services.
East Cleveland City Council President Twon Billings told WEWS that the Shaw High School reunion is a weekend-long event that brings together graduations and community members of all ages.
Billings told WEWS he was devastated by the shooting, and suggested that a local police shortage affected the events that transpired Monday morning.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(LYNCHBURG, Va.) — A trans woman fired by Liberty University last year is speaking to ABC News about the recently filed lawsuit alleging the university let her go for being transgender.
Ellenor Zinski was hired by the university to work at its IT Helpdesk in 2023. According to the complaint, her performance was assessed as above average within a few months, and she was told she was “on the path to success” by a supervisor.
She told ABC News she didn’t talk openly about her identity at work. She was raised in the Christian denomination that most aligns with Liberty University, and said she had hesitations about how open she could be in the workplace.
“There was office talk that would kind of bring me down, and I knew I couldn’t say anything out loud, but I was able to make some friends,” said Zinski. “There were some people that I did feel comfortable coming out to in private, but in public, while I was working, I was just there to work, and I was not going to try and express my identity at all.”
Zinski knew working at Liberty University might present some complications. However, as a Christian herself, she had hoped “that God’s love and acceptance would shine through.”
“Unfortunately, that did not happen,” Zinski said.
On July 5, 2023, shortly after her performance review, she sent an email to the Human Resources department at the university noting that she identified as a transgender woman, had been undergoing hormone replacement therapy and would be legally changing her name to Ellenor, according to the complaint.
She said she stressed that the change would not impact her performance and did not request any accommodations.
About a month later, on August 8, 2023, the complaint reads she was called into a meeting and given her termination notice – which is not yet public record and has not been obtained by ABC News. According to the ACLU, the letter cited that the denial of her “biological and chromosomal sex assigned at birth” was in conflict with the university’s Doctrinal Position.
On its website, the university states that among behaviors considered “sinful acts prohibited by God” is the “denial of birth sex by self-identification with a different gender.”
“I started crying. It was awful,” said Zinski. “It’s really hard to be rejected for something that you can’t change about yourself, for who I am on the fundamental level.”
Liberty University told ABC News it does not publicly comment on legal matters or personnel matters.
On July 29, 2024, the ACLU of Virginia and Butler Curwood filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Zinski, who argues that her termination is in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.
While in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled that firing individuals because of their sexual orientation or transgender status violates Title VII’s prohibition on discrimination because of sex. The court did not address whether there is an exemption for religious employers.
“The big thing is: being Christian is a choice that I made with my heart, but being transgender is who I am,” said Zinski. “There’s no conflict between my faith and my identity.”
News of her firing comes amid a national rise in anti-transgender sentiment and legislation. The ACLU has recorded more than 500 anti-LGBTQ bills nationwide in 2024, many of which affect restrictions on someone’s preferred pronoun and name in schools and the workplace, access to gender-affirming care, and more.
“This is absolutely a time of crisis for transgender people in this country,” said Wyatt Rolla, senior transgender rights attorney at the ACLU of Virginia. “There is an unprecedented onslaught of legislation in nearly half the states in in the U.S. targeting particularly trans young people, but also Increasingly trans adults. And that’s the context in which Ellenor experiences being terminated just because of who she is.”
Booking photo of Apalachee High School shooting suspect, Colt Gray, released by the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office. — Barrow County Sheriff’s Office
(WINDER, Ga.) — The mother of Colt Gray, the 14-year-old suspected of opening fire at his Georgia high school, was in tears and overcome with emotion while speaking to ABC News.
“If I could take their place, I would. I would in a heartbeat,” Marcee Gray said Sunday night.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith told ABC News that the timeline of phone calls and events on the morning of the Apalachee High School shooting are being investigated.
This comes as allegations by the accused shooter’s aunt raise new questions about whether Colt Gray’s mother warned school officials of an “extreme emergency” about 30 minutes before the gunfire on Wednesday.
Colt Gray’s aunt, Annie Polhamus Brown, confirmed to ABC News that Marcee Gray called a school counselor on Wednesday morning, telling school officials to find her son and check on him immediately. This news was first reported by The Washington Post.
According to the Post, “That account is supported by a call log from the family’s shared phone plan, which shows a 10-minute call from the mother’s phone to the school starting at 9:50 a.m. — about a half-hour before witnesses have said the gunman opened fire.”
The sheriff told ABC News he is not aware of that phone call, but he stressed authorities are in the very early stages of the investigation and are working to piece together a timeline. School district officials declined to comment.
Colt Gray is accused of killing two students and two teachers, and injuring nine others, at Apalachee High School on Wednesday.
He is charged with four counts of felony murder. More charges will be filed, prosecutors said.
The teen’s father, Colin Gray, is charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children, the GBI said. He is accused of “knowingly allowing his son, Colt, to possess a weapon,” GBI Director Chris Hosey said.
The father and son both made their first court appearances on Friday. Neither has entered a plea and both are set to return to court on Dec. 4.
ABC News’ Toria Tolley, Stephanie Maurice and Darrell Calhoun and contributed to this report.
(BRIDGETON, N.J.) — Police are seeking a woman who hopped a fence surrounding a tiger enclosure at a New Jersey zoo.
Video of the incident showed the unidentified woman reaching through the enclosure’s fence at the Cohanzick Zoo in Bridgeton.
The woman can be seen attempting to pet the animal, then jumping back when it appears to momentarily become aggressive.
“A female at the Cohanzick Zoo went over the wooden fence at the tiger enclosure and began enticing the tiger almost getting bit by putting her hand through the wire enclosure,” police said.
It was not immediately clear when the incident took place, but police released the footage Tuesday.
At the end of the video, the woman is seen turning and hopping back over the wooden fence and walking away.
They also shared a photo of a sign in the area of the enclosure, which warned visitors not to climb over the fence.
Police are asking anyone who recognizes the woman in the video to contact them at 856-451-0033.
