Undocumented Chinese immigrant charged with selling weapons to North Korea
Shenghua Wen was allegedly moving items to North Korea by concealing them in shipping containers; FBI
(LONG BEACH, Calif.) — An undocumented Chinese national living in the U.S. has been charged with procuring and shipping guns, ammunition and electronics to North Korea, according to federal prosecutors.
Prosecutors say Shenghua Wen was allegedly moving items to North Korea by concealing them in shipping containers from Long Beach, California, through Hong Kong and then to North Korea.
Federal agents in August seized two devices from Wen’s home that he had allegedly planned to send to North Korea for its military use — a chemical threat identification device and a handheld broadband receiver, according to a criminal complaint.
In September, over 50,000 rounds of ammo were found in Wen’s vehicle that he allegedly admitted were heading to North Korea, the complaint says.
Wen entered the United States on a student visa in 2012 and never left, according to the complaint.
He allegedly met North Korean officials in China before he came to the U.S., the complaint alleges. He was then directed to procure goods on behalf of North Korea.
Being in the U.S. illegally, Wen knew he could not buy the goods so he allegedly used other people to purchase the guns through straw purchases, prosecutors say.
Morton Plant North Bay Hospital/Google Maps Street View
(NEW YORK) — Dozens of health care facilities in Florida are suspending services and/or preparing to evacuate as Hurricane Milton approaches.
On Sunday, Pinellas County – located on the west central Florida coast and including Clearwater and St. Petersburg – issued mandatory evacuation orders for long-term care facilities, assisted living facilities and hospitals in three evacuation zones.
The order affects six hospitals, 25 nursing homes and 44 assisted living facilities, totaling about 6,600 patients, according to the order.
“Pinellas County is in the potential path of the storm and could experience life-threatening storm surge, localized flooding and hurricane force winds, [depending] on where the storm makes landfall on Wednesday,” the order read. “Many coastal areas have barely begun to recover from Hurricane Helene.”
Just north of Pinellas County, Morton Plant North Bay Hospital in New Port Richey initiated evacuation procedures Monday morning and is not accepting new patients, according to a statement from BayCare, the hospital’s parent network.
BayCare said that while all of its other hospitals are open as of Monday afternoon, elective procedures for non-urgent procedures have been canceled for Wednesday, Oct. 9, with a decision for procedures on Thursday, Oct. 11, to come shortly.
All BayCare ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers, laboratories, urgent care facilities and behavioral health outpatient sites will also be closed Wednesday and Thursday, according to the BayCare statement.
Additionally, the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, located in Tampa and affiliated with the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, announced the hospital and its outpatient clinics would be closed for in-person appointments and elective surgeries from Tuesday, Oct. 9, to Thursday, Oct. 11, due to “predicted impacts from Hurricane Milton.”
University of Florida Health (UF Health) issued a tropical weather alert Monday afternoon, announcing that most UF Health hospitals, outpatient clinical facilities and physician practices remain open, with some exceptions. Facilities in Archer, Gainesville, Jacksonville, Leesburg, Naples, St. Augustine, St. Petersburg, and The Villages announced closures or modified hours ahead of Milton’s landfall.
HCA Florida Healthcare told ABC News on Monday it was working to transfer patients from hospitals most directly in the Milton’s expected path to sister facilities throughout the state. Hospitals that are transferring patients include HCA Florida Englewood Hospital in Englewood, HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital in Port Charlotte, HCA Florida Largo West Hospital in Largo, HCA Florida Pasadena Hospital in St. Petersburg, and HCA Florida West Tampa Hospital in Tampa.
However, not all health care facilities currently have plans to suspend service. A spokesperson for Tampa General Health (TGH) said no closures have been announced yet and directed ABC News to an update on the hospital’s website, which as of Monday afternoon stated that all of TGH’s “hospitals, medical offices and other facilities are continuing normal operations.”
TGH also said it activated its emergency response plan “and opened its incident command center to enable and support continued operations.”
Another network, Florida AdventHealth, issued a notice that its hospitals and emergency rooms remain open but warned that some of its operations may change “for the safety of our patients, their loved ones and our team members.”
The National Hurricane Center announced Monday that Milton had intensified to a Category 5 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 175 mph, and with flooding and storm surges posing a major risk for many communities on Florida’s west central coast.
(WILLINGBORO, N.J.) — Police are searching for the gunman who shot and killed a mother and daughter during a home invasion in New Jersey.
Catherine Nunez, 33, and her mother, Marisol Nunez, 54. were found dead in an upstairs bedroom of their home in Willingboro early Wednesday, the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office said.
It appears the intruder broke a first-floor window to enter the home, prosecutors said.
No arrests have been made, prosecutors said.
Authorities said they believe the crime wasn’t random and don’t think other residents in the neighborhood are at risk.
(LOS ANGELES) — Firefighters are nearing victory in the battles against three major wildfires near Los Angeles that have burned more than 117,000 acres, destroyed nearly 200 structures and injured 23 people, officials said.
More than 8,000 firefighters combating the Bridge, Line and Airport fires, all burning within 70 miles of each other, have significantly increased containment lines around the blazes while taking advantage of cooler weather in Southern California over the past week, officials said.
The biggest fire, the Bridge Fire, had charred 54,795 acres as of Wednesday after igniting Sept. 8 in the Angeles National Forest, 31 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). The blaze was 37% contained on Wednesday, Cal Fire said.
“Conditions were calm last night as firefighters continued their diligent work in strengthening containment lines and validating their progress,” Cal Fire said in an updated statement on the Bridge Fire Wednesday, adding that firefighting helicopters were not needed overnight.
The Bridge Fire in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties has destroyed 75 structures, including at least 33 homes in Wrightwood and Mt. Baldy, and injured four people, officials said.
The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.
The Line Fire
Firefighters upped containment on the Line Fire in San Bernardino County to 50% on Wednesday, keeping it to “minimal fire growth overnight,” according to Cal Fire. Like the other active blazes in the Los Angeles area, the Line Fire has been fueled by extremely dry vegetation, officials said.
Since it was ignited by a suspected arsonist on Sept. 5, the Line Fire has burned 39,181 acres, according to Cal Fiire. The blaze has damaged four structures, destroyed one and injured four people, including three firefighters, authorities said.
“Firefighters are strengthening control lines and mopping up hot spots,” Cal Fire said.
The fire prompted California Gov. Gavin Newsom to deploy the state National Guard to support the ongoing response.
Newsom declared a state of emergency on Sept. 11 to free up resources in an effort to bring the three fires under control.
Justin Wayne Halstenberg, a 34-year-old man from Norco, California, was identified as the suspect who started the Line Fire, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement. During a video arraignment on Tuesday, Halstenberg pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of arson, including aggravated arson and causing great bodily injury.
The Airport Fire
The Airport Fire — which broke out on Sept. 9 in an unincorporated area of Orange County and spread to Riverside County — had burned 23,519 acres as of Wednesday, according to Cal Fire. The blaze is 35% contained.
“Firefighters are prioritizing continued fire line construction and reinforcement by adding more layers of protection in problem areas,” Cal Fire said in a fire update.
The fire has been the most destructive of the three blazes, destroying 160 structures, including homes and businesses, and damaging 34 others, according to Cal Fire. At least 15 people, including two firefighters, were injured, Cal Fire said.
The Airport Fire was sparked by county public works crews working on a fire prevention project by trying to move boulders to prevent public access — mostly by motorcyclists — to an area of the canyon with a lot of dry vegetation that could ignite easily, officials told ABC Los Angeles station KABC.
According to the National Interagency Fire Center, more than 24,000 firefighters were battling 55 large active wildfires across the nation on Wednesday.
So far in 2024, 37,269 wildfires have erupted across the country, burning more than 7.3 million acres, up from 2.1 million acres at this time last year, according to the fire center.
