Teen screamed he was ‘going to die’ after being shot in face while looking for place to take homecoming pictures
(JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo.) — A Colorado teenager who was shot in the face while looking for a place to take homecoming photos said he knew he was bleeding and told deputies he screamed “I was going to die,” according to an affidavit.
The teenager is hospitalized with serious injuries, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. Medical professionals told the sheriff’s office they believed there was a fragment of a bullet in the teen’s head, according to the affidavit.
Officers responded to a report of two trespassers on a property on Tuesday to find one of two teens shot in the face. The homeowner had also called her boyfriend to report the trespassers, according to the sheriff’s office.
A 17-year-old and his friend left a Colorado high school around 3:30 p.m. and went looking for a place to take homecoming pictures this weekend, the affidavit said.
The teens drove around and saw a house with a lake and a dock. They stopped to try to contact the homeowner to get permission to take photos near the lake, according to an affidavit.
The boys parked in front of the gate, walked up the driveway to the house and knocked on the door, but received no answer, the affidavit said.
They then walked down the driveway and returned to the car, which was parked on the roadway near the property. One of the boys then took out his school binder and was writing a note to leave for the homeowner when they saw a truck pull up and block their car, the affidavit said.
The driver then got out of the truck and walked toward the front of the car, pulled a handgun from his holster and pointed it toward the boys. They then heard the handgun go off and saw the windshield glass shatter, the affidavit said.
The boys told authorities they heard the truck driver say ‘oh s—, my gun went off,” according to the affidavit.
The boy in the passenger seat then got out of the car, took off his shirt and ran around to the driver’s side and began to help his friend, applying pressure to his wounds, according to the affidavit.
The driver then tried to assist in rendering aid, but the boy pushed him away and asked why he shot his friend, the affidavit said.
The victim told the sheriff’s office he did not think the man “intentionally shot him,” and he didn’t see the gun but heard the shot. After the gun went off, the shooter tried to help the boy, according to the affidavit.
The victim was “bleeding heavily from his face and had blood running down his arm” when officers responded to the scene, according to an affidavit. The 17-year-old’s friend was holding a white t-shirt up to his face to put pressure on the wound, the affidavit said.
An apparent bullet hole in the windshield of the car was centered where the driver’s seat was located.
When an officer tried to ask the man — 38-year-old Brent Metz — if he had shot a gun, he did not answer the question and said he wanted to speak to his lawyer, the affidavit said.
Metz told authorities the gun was in the truck for safety purposes and he was placed in handcuffs, according to the affidavit.
Metz was then arrested and transported to the sheriff’s office, where he was booked into jail for first degree assault, felony managing, illegal discharge of a firearm and reckless endangerment, according to the sheriff’s office.
(NEW YORK) — On the night he was elected the 110th mayor of New York City, former police Capt. Eric Adams vowed to fight for those “this city has betrayed.”
“This city betrayed New Yorkers every day, especially the ones who rely on it the most. My fellow New Yorkers, that betrayal stops on January 1,” Adams said that night in November 2021.
For the past year, federal authorities have been investigating the possibility of corruption at City Hall, issuing subpoenas for Adams and members of his inner circle.
On Thursday, New York Police Commissioner Edward Caban resigned a week after sources told ABC News the FBI seized his cell phone as part of the federal investigation.
Caban released a statement saying he was stepping down because the “noise around recent developments” had made his primary focus on the NYPD “impossible and has hindered the important work our city requires.” He said he will “continue to fully cooperate with the ongoing investigation.”
Caban’s family has connections to nightlife. Richard Caban, the brother of Edward Caban and a former NYPD lieutenant, owned a now-shuttered Bronx restaurant, Con Sofrito. Edward Caban’s twin brother, James Caban, a former NYPD sergeant, owned a Bronx apartment building that once had a bar on the first floor named Twins.
Meanwhile, Adams has denied any wrongdoing. The mayor has not been charged with any crimes stemming from the investigations.
Federal authorities have not commented on what they are specifically investigating. Sources have told ABC News that one of the probes concerns city contracts and a second involves the enforcement of regulations governing bars and clubs.
“I say over and over again, as a former member of law enforcement, I’m very clear. We follow the rules. We make sure that we cooperate and turn over any information that is needed and it just really would be inappropriate to get in the way of the review while it’s taking place,” Adams said in an interview with CBS New York on Sept. 5.
None of the mayor’s aides who have been subpoenaed, had their homes searched, or their electronic devices seized by investigators have been charged with any crimes.
Here is a timeline of the subpoenas, searches and seizures dogging Adams and his inner circle:
Nov. 2, 2023 – FBI agents search the Crown Heights, Brooklyn, home of Brianna Suggs, a campaign consultant and top fundraiser for Adams. Federal agents also search the New Jersey home of Rana Abbasova, the mayor’s international affairs aid. That same day, Adams unexpectedly returned to New York from Washington, D.C., to “address the matter,” despite planned meetings with White House officials and other big city mayors on immigration. The investigation involves a construction company, KSK Construction Group, based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, sources told ABC News. KSK donated about $14,000 to Adams’ 2021 campaign. Suggs has not been charged with any crimes connected to the probe.
Nov. 6, 2023 – The FBI seizes Mayor Adams’ electronic devices, including an iPad and a cell phone, as part of a federal probe. Sources told ABC News that the investigation was seeking to determine whether the mayor’s campaign received illegal foreign donations from Turkey with a Brooklyn construction company as a conduit.
Nov. 15, 2023 – Adams launches a legal defense fund intended to defray expenses in connection with inquiries by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York into his mayoral 2021 campaign committee.
Jan. 15, 2024 – Vito Pitta, Adam’s longtime campaign compliance lawyer, releases a statement saying the mayor’s legal defense fund had raised $650,000 in just two months.
Feb. 29, 2024 – The FBI, investigating Adam’s fundraising, searches the Bronx home of Winnie Greco, the director of Asian affairs for Adam’s administration. The probe also involves a construction company, KSK Construction Group, sources tell ABC News.
April 5, 2024 – ABC News reports that the FBI is investigating whether Adams received free upgrades on Turkish Airlines, Turkey’s national carrier.
July 2024 – Federal prosecutors in New York serve Adams grand jury subpoenas as part of what sources tell ABC News is an ongoing corruption investigation involving whether his campaign sought illegal donations from Turkey in exchange for pressuring the fire department to rush an inspection of the new Turkish consulate in New York City. The subpoenas seek communications and documents from the mayor, according to sources. In an interview with ABC New York station WABC, Adams says, “Like previous administrations that have gone through subpoenas, you participate and cooperate. You see a subpoena, and you respond. At the end of the day, it will show there is no criminality here.”
Sept. 4, 2024 – The FBI conducts searches at the homes of two of Adams’ closest aids. Federal agents search the upper Manhattan home of First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, who is engaged to Schools Chancellor David Banks. Agents also search the Hollis, Queens, home of Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks. The FBI seized evidence, including electronics, as part of the searches, sources told ABC News. David and Phil Banks are brothers and both have known Adams for years.
Sept. 5, 2024 – ABC News reports that federal investigators subpoenaed the cell phones of four high-ranking New York Police Department officials, including NYPD Commissioner Caban. The subpoenas are part of the same investigation that sent the FBI to search the homes of Deputy Mayors Wright and Banks, sources told ABC News. Tim Pearson, a close adviser to Adams, also receives a subpoena for his cell phone, sources said. The subpoenas, according to sources, are connected to an undisclosed investigation separate from one into whether Adams allegedly accepted illegal donations from Turkey in exchange for official favors.
Sept. 10, 2024 – Adams declines to say at a news conference if he remains confident in Police Commissioner Caban amid news reports claiming Caban is under pressure to resign. When asked if he was confident in Caban’s leadership, Adams says, “I have the utmost confidence in the New York City Police Department.”
Sept. 12, 2024 — Commissioner Caban resigns. His attorneys, Russell Capone and Rebekah Donaleski, release a statement saying they have been informed that Caban is “not a target of any investigation being conducted by the Southern District of New York” and that he “expects to cooperate fully with the government.” Caban says in a statement, “My complete focus must be on the NYPD — the Department I profoundly honor and have dedicated my career to serving. However, the noise around recent developments has made that impossible and has hindered the important work our city requires. I have therefore decided it is in the best interest of the Department that I resign as Commissioner.”
Adams confirms he accepts Caban’s resignation and announces he has appointed former FBI agent and former New York Homeland Security Director Tom Donlon as interim commissioner. “I respect his decision and I wish him well,” the mayor says of Caban. “Commissioner Caban dedicated his life to making our city safe, and we saw a drop in crime for the 13 of the 14 months that he served as commissioner.”
(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.”
(SPRINGFIELD, Ill.) — The legal team of Sean Grayson, the former deputy charged with fatally shooting Illinois mother Sonya Massey in her home, notified the court Monday during his first pretrial hearing that they filed a request for an appeal with the Illinois Appellate Court last week following a lower court’s decision to deny Grayson’s pretrial release, according to Grayson’s lawyer.
Grayson has been charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct in Massey’s death after she called 911 to report a prowler. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and remains in custody.
A review by Illinois State Police found Grayson was not justified in his use of deadly force. He was fired from his position with the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office on July 17, the same day the charges were filed against him.
Grayson’s defense team requested his pretrial release from jail twice. In their latest request, the team argues in a motion filed earlier this month that he is currently under cancer treatment and will not receive adequate care in the Menyard County Jail, where Grayson is currently being held. They also stated that he does not pose a threat to Massey’s family.
Judge Ryan Cadagin denied the requests on July 18 and Aug. 9, according to the circuit court.
“Mr. Grayson is not being treated any differently than any other defendant that walks into the courthouse this morning, or is in custody, as well for a felony and they’re detained,” Mark Wykoff, Grayson’s attorney, told reporters at the circuit court after the hearing.
Wykoff said it could take up to three to four months for a decision to come out of the appellate court. If the appellate court approves the appeal, the defense can then petition the Illinois Supreme Court to review the appellate court’s decision, according to the Illinois Courts website.
In Monday’s hearing, the defense requested more time for discovery — the exchange of information between the prosecution and defense about witnesses and evidence they’ll present at trial, according to the court. Cadagin granted their request and ordered a status hearing for Oct. 21.
Grayson’s job with Sangamon County was one of six different police jobs he held over the past four years.
Prior to his employment with Sangamon, Grayson worked at the Logan County Sheriff’s Office for just under a year. According to audio files obtained by ABC News, Grayson’s then-boss, Logan County Chief Deputy Nathan Miller, expressed concerns over Grayson violating department policy and submitting inaccurate reports while discussing his mishandling of a traffic case.
Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell, who announced he will retire at the end of August in connection to hiring Grayson, previously told ABC News that Sangamon County was not aware of this incident when Grayson was hired. Without knowledge of his disciplinary issues at Logan County, Campbell said that Grayson presented no red flags.
“Some individuals would rather see our community divided and in turmoil, than allow me to continue serving as Sheriff,” he said. “The health of me and my family, the Sheriff’s Office, and our community has to be my priority.”
Prior to Grayson’s time in public law enforcement, he was discharged from the U.S. Army for unspecified “misconduct (serious offense),” according to documents obtained by ABC News.
ABC News also learned that Grayson was charged with two DUI offenses in Macoupin County, Illinois, in August 2015 and July 2016, according to court documents.
Grayson, 30, and a second, unnamed deputy responded to Massey’s 911 call on July 6 reporting a possible intruder at her Springfield home.
Body camera footage shows Massey, who was unarmed, telling the two responding deputies, “Please, don’t hurt me,” once she answered their knocks on her door. Grayson responded, “I don’t want to hurt you, you called us.”
Later in the video, while inside Massey’s home as she searches for her ID, Grayson points to a pot of boiling water on her stove and says, “We don’t need a fire while we’re in here.”
Massey then pours the water into the sink and tells the deputy, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”
Grayson then shouts at Massey and threatens to shoot her, the video shows, and Massey apologizes and ducks down behind a counter, covering her face with what appears to be a red oven mitt. She briefly rises, at which time Grayson shoots her three times in the face, the footage shows.
Grayson said he feared for his life during his encounter with Massey, according to documents released by the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office in August.
“While on scene, I was in fear Dep. (redacted) and I were going to receive great bodily harm or death. Due to being in fear of our safety and life, I fired my duty weapon,” Grayson wrote in his field case report.
The Menard County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that Grayson “is not receiving any preferential treatment, nor being afforded any privileges or benefits not afforded to other inmates of the Menard County Jail.”
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.