Shooting reported at Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin: Police

(CAPE CORAL, FL) — A 22-year-old social media influencer on TikTok with nearly 300,000 followers has been arrested after using fake barcodes to steal from Target and filming herself getting ready before the alleged theft, police say.

The Cape Coral Police Department in Florida responded to a Target branch located at 1890 NE Pine Island Road in Cape Coral last Wednesday regarding a past retail theft that occurred on Oct. 30, according to a statement from the Cape Coral Police Department.

“Loss Prevention at Target stated that on October 30, 2024, an unknown female entered the store and selected items listed for sale,” police said. “Once at the self-checkout register, the female suspect did not scan the items’ barcodes, instead scanning a false barcode with cheaper prices.”

In total, 16 items of miscellaneous household goods and clothing were stolen with a total retail value of $500.32, which was verified by officers via Target’s security cameras.

In an attempt to help identify the suspect through public assistance, the Cape Coral Police Department’s Facebook and Instagram accounts posted the female’s picture, describing her as appearing to be “approximately 20-35 years old, had long black hair, and was wearing a tan shirt, tan pants, and glasses.”

An anonymous caller who saw the post on social media subsequently contacted the police and gave the possible identification for the suspect as Marlena Velez and informed them of her social media profiles.

“Officers then found Marlena’s TikTok account, which documents her getting ready on October 30, 2024, in the same outfit and glasses and going to Target,” police said. “Marlena documents herself picking out items inside the store and placing them in her car after exiting the store. Marlena appears to be a content creator with almost 300,000 followers.”

Velez has since been arrested and taken to the Lee County Jail and charged with petit theft of less than $750.

The investigation is currently ongoing.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — The father of Jordan Neely, a homeless man who died after being placed in a chokehold by subway rider Daniel Penny, filed a civil lawsuit against Penny on Wednesday for negligent contact, assault and battery that led to Neely’s death.

Penny, a 25-year-old former Marine, put Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man, in a six-minute-long chokehold after Neely boarded a subway car acting erratically, according to police. Witnesses described Neely yelling and moving erratically, with Penny’s attorneys calling Neely “insanely threatening,” when Penny put Neely in a chokehold.

The city’s medical examiner concluded Penny’s chokehold killed Neely.

“The aforesaid incident, injuries, and death were caused by reason of defendant Daniel Penny’s negligence,” the lawsuit alleged.

Neely’s father, Andre Zachery, requested damages “in such sum as a jury may find reasonable, fair, and just.”

Penny is currently on trial for manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in Neely’s May 2023 death. Penny, 25, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The jury is currently deliberating the criminal trial.

Zachery is present in court this morning, seated alone in the courtroom gallery a few rows back from the jury box.

Penny’s attorneys were not immediately available for comment.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LOS ANGELES) – The judge overseeing Bryan Kohberger’s murder case has ruled the death penalty will remain on the table as the case moves forward, rejecting a request from Kohberger’s defense attorneys.

In June 2023, prosecutors announced they intended to seek the death penalty against the onetime Ph.D. student accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students — Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20 — in November 2022.

This September, lawyers for Kohberger made a sweeping play to get capital punishment tossed out, arguing — in hundreds of pages of court filings — that Kohberger’s life should not be on the line because, among other things, the death penalty would violate his constitutional rights as well as contemporary standards of decency.

However, in a lengthy filing Wednesday, Judge Steven Hippler ruled against all twelve of Kohberger’s motions challenging various aspects of Idaho’s capital punishment scheme.

In his 55-page decision Judge Hippler “concludes relief in [Kohberger’s] favor is not warranted on any of the motions.”

Among other things, defense attorneys had argued that the death penalty is out of step with current social mores. However, the judge ruled “there is no basis to depart from settled law upholding Idaho’s death penalty statute as constitutional,” and it remains “consistent with contemporary standards of decency.”

Defense attorneys also argued that capital punishment should be stricken in this case on the basis of execution methods — specifically, citing the shortage of lethal injection drugs, and arguing that firing squad executions which, last year, became legal in Idaho are “cruel and unusual.” And, they argued, letting their client wait on death row without knowing “how he will be executed” is itself an “unconstitutional” form of torment.

But the judge again disagreed — siding with prosecutors that that argument “is not ripe” for discussion, because Kohberger hasn’t been convicted yet. And, the judge continued, even if it were appropriate to address now, both the firing squad and lethal injection have been found constitutional and are allowed in the state.

The judge also ruled against each of the defense’s attempts to strike the aggravating factors prosecutors had found, which made Kohberger eligible for the death penalty.

Kohberger was arrested following a six-week manhunt in December 2022.

A criminology student at nearby Washington State University at the time of the crime, Kohberger was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary.

A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf.

The trial is scheduled for August 2025.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.