US military strikes 3 more alleged drug boats in Eastern Pacific, Caribbean, killing 11: SOUTHCOM
The U.S. military says it hit three more vessels suspected of carrying drugs in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean Sea, killing 11 men. (U.S. Southern Command/X)
(NEW YORK) — The United States military says it hit three more vessels suspected of carrying drugs in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean Sea, killing 11 men.
U.S. Southern Command says in an online post that the vessels were traveling along drug-trafficking routes and “engaged in narco-trafficking.” A video accompanying the strike shows the three separate strikes.
Officials said four men were killed in the strike on the first vessel in the Eastern Pacific, four on the second vessel in the Eastern Pacific and three on the third vessel in the Caribbean.
No U.S. military forces were harmed, according to SOUTHCOM.
According to the government’s count, the U.S. has killed a total of 144 people in the strikes, which are now being led by U.S. Southern Command Gen. Francis Donovan.
A memorial dedicated to the 19 children and two adults murdered on May 24, 2022 during a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School is seen on January 06, 2026 in Uvalde, Texas. Brandon Bell/Getty Images
(CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas) — A Robb Elementary School teaching aide testified that she repeatedly urged Uvalde, Texas, school police officer Adrian Gonzales to intervene in the shooting, but said he did “nothing” in those crucial moments.
Melodye Flores testified on Wednesday that she saw gunman Salvador Ramos before he entered the school and tried to tell Gonzales his location.
“I told him that he needed to get stopped before he went into the fourth-grade building,” she testified.
“And what did he say?” prosecutor Bill Turner asked.
“He, just, nothing,” Flores said.
“Did you say it more than once?” Turner asked.
“I did,” Flores said, telling jurors she urged Gonzales to intervene two or three times.
Prosecutors allege Gonzales, who is charged with child endangerment, did not follow his training and endangered the 19 students who died and an additional 10 surviving students.
Gonzales, no longer an officer, has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers argue he is being unfairly blamed for a broader law-enforcement failure that day. It took 77 minutes before law enforcement mounted a counterassault to end the May 24, 2022, rampage.
Flores testified that she was eating lunch in her classroom when she learned about the shooter over a school radio. She said she ran outside because she knew that some students were on the playground and potentially in danger.
After warning some students, Flores said she spotted the gunman near the south door of the school.
“He was wearing all black and a hoodie … that’s when he started shooting,” she said.
Flores said she started running away and tripped, and incorrectly thought she was shot.
She testified that she saw Gonzales drive up to her right after she tripped, and she tried to inform the officer about the shooter’s location.
“I said that he was heading into the fourth-grade building, and we needed to stop him. We needed to go in and stop him before he went in,” she said.
“I just kept pointing. ‘He’s going in there, he’s going to the fourth-grade building,'” she told jurors.
“Did you hear anything from this gunman while you were talking to the police officer?” Turner asked.
“Just kept hearing shots,” she said.
Flores said that Gonzales did not respond to her warnings.
“I kept telling him that he needed to be stopped,” she said.
“When you told the officer to go in, did he go in?” Turner asked.
“No,” she said.
“What did he do?” Turner asked.
“He just stayed there,” she said.
Flores said she left Gonzales and tried to help a teacher who had sheltered in her classroom.
On Tuesday, during the testimony of Texas Ranger Ricardo Guajardo, prosecutors played a lengthy interview Gonzales gave to state investigators after the shooting.
In the interview, Gonzales recalled arriving at the school as one of the first officers and learning about the shooting from a coach.
“I was going over there towards her,” he said. “I see her fall in the dust cloud. So I get to her, and I realized she’s one of the coaches.”
According to Gonzales, he learned the approximate location and a basic description of the shooter from the coach, though the shooting began before he could act.
Gonzales told investigators that he could not see the shooter, but he tried to notify others over his radio.
“I notify everybody on the radio, the best I could. And then, you know, as soon as I start walking over there, I see the rounds come out of the window,” he said.
Gonzales also described trying to enter the school with four other officers, though they retreated after two were hit by gunfire.
“Everybody flew back, you know, so I think he got hit,” he said. “We kind of moved back.”
Two months before the shooting, Gonzales taught a course about responding to active shooters, according to testimony from Teresa Zamarripa, the officer manager at Southwest Texas College Law Enforcement Agency.
ABC News’ Juan Renteria contributed to this report.
The new storm will bring widespread rain and mountain snow starting New Year’s Eve and continuing through the end of the week.
An excessive rainfall risk level of 2 out of 4 is in place in the Los Angeles and Santa Barbara areas on Wednesday and Thursday.
Through Friday, 2 to 4 inches of rain is possible at higher elevations, and 1 to 2 inches at lower elevations like downtown Los Angeles.
In the Northeast, another cold front is moving through on Wednesday and Thursday, which brings the slight chance for a few snow flurries to mix in with confetti as the ball drops in Times Square. But no measurable snow accumulation is expected and the flurries will be gone by sunrise on Thursday.
The only part of the Northeast to get intense snow is the Great Lakes, where lake effect snow will continue through the week. A winter storm warning is in place in Orchard Park, New York, home of the Buffalo Bills, where residents could see up to 3 feet of snow by the end of New Year’s Day.
The rest of the country will be dry, with above average temperatures through the Plains and much of the South on New Year’s Day.
School bus (David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images FILE)
(MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Tenn.) — The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a crash involving a school bus in Tennessee that killed two middle school students.
The NTSB said it has “initiated a safety investigation in coordination with the Tennessee Highway Patrol” into Friday’s deadly crash in Carroll County.
“The NTSB investigation will examine school bus driver performance, student passenger occupant protection, and the oversight of school transportation operations,” the agency said in a statement on Monday.
The investigation can take one to two years to complete, with a preliminary report possible in about 30 days, the NTSB said.
The crash involved a school bus from Montgomery County, a Tennessee Department of Transportation dump truck and a Chevrolet Trailblazer, authorities said. Dash cam video showed the bus initially colliding with the dump truck.
“The details of the crash are still ongoing,” Tennessee Highway Patrol Maj. Travis Plotzer said at a press briefing on Friday, adding that it doesn’t appear the dump truck “had any contributing factors to the crash.”
Two students on the school bus were pronounced dead at the scene, the Tennessee Highway Patrol said. Authorities have not released any additional details on them.
Several others were injured in the crash, with multiple victims airlifted to trauma centers in Memphis and Nashville, authorities said.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
The Clarksville-Montgomery County School System said a group of eighth grade students and educators from Kenwood Middle School were on the bus headed to Jackson, Tennessee, for a weekend competition when the crash occurred.
“In a moment, their lives and their families’ lives were upended,” Clarksville-Montgomery County School System Director Jean Luna-Vedder said in a message to the school community over the weekend. “As a mother and a lifelong educator, I cannot begin to imagine the fear and pain they continue to endure. I ask that everyone pray and wrap their arms around these students, employees, their families, and the entire Kenwood community.”
