Two dead, three injured after man drives into tavern patio in Minnesota
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(ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn.) — Two people are dead, and three were left injured after authorities say a man drove into the patio area of a tavern in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, on Sunday.
Authorities responded to a call of an incident at the Park Tavern in St. Louis Park around 8 p.m. local time.
According to a rep for the St. Louis Park Police, surveillance footage shows the driver going into the establishment’s parking lot, attempting to park and then driving into Park Tavern’s outside patio. Police have not released the video.
The incident left two dead and three injured. Information on the conditions of the injured individuals was not immediately available.
Police arrested the driver for criminal vehicular homicide.
The Minnesota State Patrol are performing a reconstruction of the incident, police said. An official said the investigation is ongoing.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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(NEW YORK) — On the brink of trial, the cable news channel Newsmax on Thursday reached a settlement with voting machine company Smartmatic, bringing an end to a defamation lawsuit that accused the network of spreading multiple false claims surrounding the 2020 election.
Smartmatic had accused Newsmax of publishing dozens of false reports claiming that Smartmatic helped rig the 2020 election in favor of Joe Biden. Newsmax had argued, in part, that they were reporting on newsworthy claims of fraud.
“Newsmax is pleased to announce it has resolved the litigation brought by Smartmatic through a confidential settlement,” Newsmax said in a statement posted to their website.
Smartmatic did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
The news comes as jury selection was already underway in Delaware, according to a court official, with opening statement set to begin Monday.
The amount of the settlement was not immediately disclosed.
In a separate case last year, Dominion Voting Systems reached a $787 million settlement with Fox News in a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit that involved similar claims related to the election.
The Newsmax trial had been set to play out before the same judge that oversaw the Dominion case.
(LOS ANGELES) — Former President Donald Trump’s election interference case resumes Thursday after months of delays, with a hearing in front of the federal judge overseeing the case.
The hearing comes a week after special counsel Jack Smith filed a superseding indictment that revised the original Jan. 6 charges to reflect the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling that Trump is entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts undertaken while in office.
Here’s how the news is developing:
Trump is set to plead not guilty
At his expected arraignment at today’s hearing, Donald Trump has directed his attorneys to plead not guilty on his behalf to charges in the superseding indictment brought by special counsel Jack Smith.
Trump is not expected to appear at the hearing in person, after waiving his right to be present in a filing earlier this week.
The hearing in the case was scheduled before Smith filed the superseding indictment.
(NEW YORK) — Details about the murder of two teenage girls in Delphi, Indiana, in 2017 were revealed for the first time Friday during the trial of the man accused of killing them.
Richard Allen is charged in the murders of Abby Williams, 13, and Libby German, 14. The two friends were found dead a day after they went out for a walk on a hiking trail in February 2017.
Allen has pleaded not guilty to four counts of murder.
Police have never released how the eighth graders were killed. During opening statements Friday in the long-awaited trial in Carroll County, Indiana, the prosecutors provided the jurors with details about the murders.
“You’re going to see the crime scene,” prosecutor Nick McLeland said. “It was a gruesome scene. Libby was completely naked. Her throat was cut, blood all over. Abby’s throat was also cut.”
McLeland said the case is about three things: the “bridge guy,” an unspent bullet found at the crime scene and the brutal murders of Libby and Abby, who were found dead near the Monon High Bridge.
According to McLeland, Libby posted a photo of Abby on Snapchat while they were crossing over the Monon High Bridge. After the girls crossed the bridge, they saw a man behind them, so Libby started a recording on her phone at 2:13 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2017, he said.
McLeland said the man pulled out a gun and ordered the girls “down the hill.” The girls complied and then, the video on the cellphone stopped recording.
According to McLeland, Allen testified that he was on the trail that day. Investigators also found a gun in his house, and testing showed a bullet found at the crime scene cycled through that gun.
McLeland said Allen also confessed to committing the crime to his wife and mother voluntarily while in jail.
Defense attorney Andrew Baldwin said in his opening statement that there is reasonable doubt in the case, arguing that the state’s investigation was botched from the beginning.
Baldwin questioned the timeline and cellphone evidence in the state’s case, holding up a phone to the jury and saying, “Forensic data on these phones don’t lie.”
Baldwin said the prosecution claims Abby and Libby were dead by 4 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2017, and their bodies were never moved until they were recovered the next day. He said the prosecution’s timeline puts Allen in a parking lot near the trial at 1:30 p.m. but his cellphone data shows he was gone by 2:15 p.m.
Addressing the unspent round found at the crime scene, Baldwin said law enforcement commonly used that type of bullet, but police never investigated if an officer was missing one. He also said the owner of the property where the girls were found owns a similar weapon but his gun was never tested.
The defense also argued Allen’s mental health was in decline while in prison, which led to him to confess to the crime.
The defense told jurors they believe the girls were killed somewhere else and their bodies were returned to the crime scene — that searchers saw no bodies or girl’s clothing in the creek on the night of Feb. 13, and witnesses near the crime scene also never heard any screams.
Baldwin also said hair found in Abby’s hand was a possible match to a female relative of Libby, and not Allen. The defense revealed the evidence for the first time during proceedings earlier in the week.
Ahead of opening statements, Judge Frances Gull ruled the composite sketches of a person of interest in the case released by the Indiana State Police early in the investigation will not be used during the trial.
Prosecutors had filed a motion seeking to prevent defense attorneys from referencing the sketches, arguing they were for generating leads in the case and were not used to identify Allen as a suspect in the case.
