Violent crime down 10.3% in first months of 2024: FBI data
(NEW YORK) — Violent crime decreased by 10.3% in the first six months of 2024, according to newly released preliminary FBI data.
From January to June 2024, the Quarterly Uniform Crime Report found that:
Murder decreased by 22.7%.
Rape decreased by 17.7%.
Robbery decreased by 13.6%.
Aggravated assault decreased by 8.1%.
Property crime decreased by 13.1%.
The preliminary data is based on voluntary submissions from 14,809 of 19,311 law enforcement agencies in the country.
The Midwest saw the largest percentage drop by region, with a 12% drop in violent crime.
Violent crime in 2024, a top issue for voters in the upcoming presidential election, is continuing its downward trend from 2023.
Data released by the FBI last month found that violent crime was down 3% from 2022 to 2023, with murders down 11.6%.
The drop in murders represents the “largest drop” since the agency has been collecting data, an FBI official said of the 2022 to 2023 trend in a call with reporters.
In that period, the report noted that rape decreased by 9.4%, aggravated assault decreased by 2.8%, and robbery decreased by 0.3%.
ABC News’ Jack Date and Luke Barr contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s federal election interference case on Friday granted an extension requested by special counsel Jack Smith’s office.
Smith on Thursday requested a delay in responding to a scheduling order from U.S District Judge Tanya Chutkan, citing issues related to the Supreme Court’s recent decision granting presidents immunity from prosecution for certain acts taken while in office.
Smith’s office said Thursday it continues “to assess the new precedent set forth last month” by the Supreme Court in tandem with “other Department of Justice components.”
A status report on the case that was initially due Friday is now officially moved to Aug. 30. A status conference that had been scheduled for Aug. 16 will now be Sept. 5.
Judge Chutkan resumed control of the case last Friday following the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling.
Trump last August pleaded not guilty to charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election by enlisting a slate of so-called “fake electors,” using the Justice Department to conduct “sham election crime investigations,” trying to enlist the vice president to “alter the election results,” and promoting false claims of a stolen election as the Jan. 6 riot raged — all in an effort to subvert democracy and remain in power.
(NEW YORK) — An archery hunter who was knocked down and bitten by a bear while hunting elk with his friend has survived the surprise attack, officials said.
The incident occurred on Sunday morning when the hunter and his friend were hunting elk west of Henrys Lake in Island Park, Idaho, approximately 15 miles west of Yellowstone National Park, and were attacked by an adult male grizzly bear.
During the surprise encounter in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest near the Divide Creek Road, one of the hunters was “knocked down and bitten by the bear,” according to a statement from Idaho Fish and Game regarding the incident.
“Both men were able to utilize their sidearms to shoot the bear, deterring the attack and killing the bear,” Idaho Fish and Game said. “The hunters were able to call 911 and the injured individual was transported by helicopter to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center where he is being treated for non-life-threatening injuries.”
Idaho Fish and Game say they responded to the scene where the attack happened after coordinating with Fremont County Sheriff’s Office, Caribou-Targhee National Forest and Emergency Medical Service teams and that conservation officers conducted a “thorough investigation and determined that the hunters acted in self-defense during a surprise encounter with the bear from a very close distance.”
“I am extremely grateful that both of these individuals survived this encounter,” said Fish and Game Regional Supervisor Matt Pieron. “I have had the opportunity to speak with the injured hunter and his family and they are truly wonderful people. I wish him a speedy recovery from his injuries and the trauma these two hunters experienced.”
According to U.S. Fish and Wildlife, it is illegal to kill bears unless it is in a situation that requires self-defense.
“Grizzly bears in the 48 contiguous states are currently protected as a threatened species. It is illegal to harm, harass or kill these bears, except in cases of self-defense or the defense of others,” U.S. officials said. “Grizzly bear conservation is complex and only made possible through a variety of partnerships with the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee, state wildlife agencies, Native American Tribes, federal agencies, universities and other organizations.”
Idaho Fish and Game took the opportunity to remind people about safety procedures when hunting, suggesting that people venturing out in to the wilderness in north Idaho and the Greater Yellowstone area should always carry bear spray and keep it readily accessible, always hunt with partners and make each other aware of plans, keep an eye out for grizzly bear signs like fresh tracks, retrieve meat as quickly as possible and hang it — along with food and garbage — at least 200 yards from camp and 10 feet off the ground, and finally, by making noise when not hunting, especially around creeks and thick vegetation because “most attacks occur by inadvertently surprising a bear at close range.”
(CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas.) — A Texas mother was taken into custody Tuesday after police alleged her 22-month-old child died when she left the infant in a car outside a Corpus Christi school on one of the hottest days of the year.
The mother, 33-year-old Hilda Ann Adame, was jailed on charges of causing serious bodily injury to a child and child endangerment/abandonment with imminent bodily injury, according to a Corpus Christi Police Department incident report.
It was not clear how long the infant had been in the car before the baby was found unresponsive, according to the incident report.
At least 24 children, ranging from a 10-month-old in Louisiana to an 8-year-old in North Carolina, have died this year across the nation after being left in vehicles during hot weather, according to the nonprofit child advocacy organization Kids and Car Safety.
The latest hot car death, according to police, unfolded around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday outside the Tom Browne Middle School in Corpus Christi as temperatures soared past 100 degrees during a heat advisory issued for the city by the National Weather Service.
The weather service advisory said the heat index, which factors in relative humidity, made it feel like 112 degrees in Corpus Christi on Tuesday.
When officers arrived at the scene in the city’s South Side neighborhood, a school nurse was already performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the infant, according to the incident report.
The baby was taken by ambulance to nearby Driscoll Children’s Hospital, where the child was pronounced dead, police said.
Adame was taken into custody at the scene and questioned by police before being booked at the City Detention Center. Police did not disclose what Adame said in the interview with detectives.
Leanne Libby, spokesperson for the Corpus Christi Independent School District issued a statement, saying, “We want to express our gratitude to those who swiftly responded upon learning of this crisis, including school staff as well as district police and local law enforcement.” Libby said counseling was made available on campus Tuesday afternoon and the district’s crisis counseling team will be onsite on Wednesday.
The child’s death came just two days after a Louisiana mother was arrested on a charge of second-degree murder in the hot-car death of her 10-month-old child, according to the Jennings, LA, Police Department. The mother, Hannah Faith Cormier, 32, of Jennings, was being held Wednesday on a $1 million bond following her arrest on Sunday.
Jennings Police Chief Danny Semmes told reporters Cormier’s baby died a day after Cormier took her to a hospital on Aug. 13. Jennings alleged Cormier left the baby in the car after being called to work.
“Children should never be left in cars, even if it’s not hot out,” Jenette Fennell, president of Kids and Cars Safety, told ABC affiliate station KIII in Corpus Christi. “In the first 10 minutes, the temperature in the vehicle can rise as much as 20 degrees.”
Fennell recommended that people force themselves into the habit of looking through their vehicles before locking them.
“The biggest problem we have is nobody thinks it’s going to happen to them until it happens to them,” Fennell said.