Woman sleeping in truck killed in explosion at Tyson Foods plant in Georgia
Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(GEORGIA) — A woman sleeping in a truck was killed when a fire caused an explosion at a Tyson Foods poultry plant in Georgia overnight, officials said.
The victim, 61-year-old Bajarma Batozhapov of Las Vegas, didn’t work at the plant, nor did her husband, the Mitchell County Coroner’s Office said. Batozhapov’s husband is a truck driver and she was accompanying him at the time of the blast, which burned part of the truck she was in, the coroner’s office said.
Batozhapov’s husband was in the building at the time of the explosion but wasn’t hurt, according to the coroner’s office.
Several others were injured in the incident in Camilla, about 60 miles north of Tallahassee, officials said.
The cause of the fire hasn’t been determined, according to a Tyson Foods spokesperson.
“We extend our deepest condolences to their family and friends during this difficult time,” the spokesperson said. “Right now we are still gathering the facts, but ensuring the safety of our team members is our top priority, and we are conducting a full investigation into the cause.”
Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale & Department Store Union, which represents the Tyson workers, described the blast as a boiler explosion and said several employees were burned.
“We are working with the company, and local emergency authorities to ensure that all the workers impacted are taken care of,” he said in a statement.
“It is too early to tell what happened last night but there must be a thorough investigation into this incident, and workers must be able to work safely in the facility,” he added.
Solomon Henderson, a 17-year-old student, allegedly opened fire in the cafeteria at Antioch High School on Wednesday, killing 16-year-old Josselin Corea Escalante and injuring a 17-year-old, police said.
Henderson, who was armed with a pistol, then died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, police said.
The injured 17-year-old boy suffered a graze wound and has since been released from the hospital, police said.
A motive is not known, police said Wednesday, but according to sources, Henderson left a substantial body of data online and on social media.
A Pinterest account linked to Henderson features photos of past school shooters, including the shooters from Parkland, Florida, and Uvalde, Texas, according to a source.
Henderson’s social media presence also shows he may have been in contact with 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, who opened fire at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, last month, according to law enforcement sources.
Rupnow, who went by Samantha, also died after the shooting, in which two were killed and several wounded.
Rupnow’s account may have been following Henderson’s account at the time of the Wisconsin shooting in December, according to law enforcement sources.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Helena Skinner and Kerem Inal contributed to this report.
Booking photo of Luigi Mangione after he was arrested by police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Dec. 9, 2024. (PA Dept. of Corrections)
(NEW YORK) — As Luigi Mangione was handcuffed and placed under arrest in Pennsylvania on Monday, police searched the backpack he’d been carrying and found what they described as a loaded 3D-printed firearm, a suppressor and a single loose bullet.
“Officers located a black 3D-printed pistol and a black silencer,” wrote Tyler Frye and Joseph Detwiler, members of the Altoona Police Department, in a criminal complaint. They described the weapon as having “a metal slide and a plastic handle with a metal threaded barrel.”
“The pistol had one loaded Glock magazine with six nine-millimeter full metal jacket rounds. There was also one loose nine-millimeter hollow point round,” the officers wrote. “The silencer was also 3D printed.”
Mangione, whom New York officials charged with second-degree murder in connection with last week’s “brazen” killing of a CEO in Manhattan, was first arrested in Altoona on Monday on charges that included a felony related to the gun, according to the criminal complaint.
Mangione faces a third-degree felony charge for allegedly carrying a concealed firearm without a license, according to the complaint. He also faces a misdemeanor charge for allegedly “possessing instruments of crime,” along with three additional Pennsylvania charges related to allegedly lying to police about his identity.
The weapon will now undergo ballistic testing, New York Police Department Chief Joseph Kenny said on Monday. He said information about the weapon had begun coming in from Altoona police and that it appeared to be a “ghost gun,” meaning it had no serial number and was untraceable.
“May have been made on a 3D printer, with the capability of firing a 9 mm round,” Kenny said. “Obviously that will come out during our ballistics testing.”
Kenny said it was too early in the investigation to detail whether the gun could have been made by the suspect or purchased. But the gun and 3D-printed suppressor were “consistent with the weapon used in the murder,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said following Mangione’s arrest on Monday.
Law enforcement had looked closely last week at what weapon may have been used in the killing, officials said, as the gun’s operation appeared to be somewhat unique in its operation.
Detectives had studied a surveillance video that showed the fatal shooting, saying it appeared to show “that the gun malfunctions, as he clears the jam and begins to fire again,” Kenny had said last week.
Police sources told ABC News on Thursday that those apparent malfunctions may point to the weapons being a B&T Station Six, a type of pistol with an integrated silencer that’s known in Great Britain as a Welrod pistol.
Such firearms have long barrels that enables them to fire 9 mm bullets with a nearly silent shot, officials said. They also require manually cycling ammunition from the magazine.
But New York Mayor Eric Adams said untraceable weapons were “extremely dangerous,” adding that there needed to be a federal “clamp down on the availability of ghost guns.”
ABC New’s Aaron Katersky, Peter Charalambous, Mark Crudele and Josh Margolin contributed to this report.
(LANDOVER, Md.) — Daniel Penny, the former Marine who was charged but acquitted in killing Jordan Neely, a Black homeless man, in a New York City subway, shared the spotlight with President-elect Donald Trump and his entourage on Saturday at the Army-Navy game in Landover, Maryland.
Penny, who has received praise in conservative circles and jeers from others for his actions in May 2023, was seen chatting with Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, who invited the 25-year-old to the game.
He did not speak to the press.
Trump, who attended the same game in 2016 after winning the election, did not make any speeches but saluted during the national anthem and gave a fist pump and wave to a crowd.
In addition to the president and vice-president elect, Penny joined Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Defense; former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s selection to be director of national intelligence; House Speaker Mike Johnson; incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Pennsylvania Sen.-elect David McCormick at the game.
Penny’s invitation came days after a Manhattan jury acquitted him of criminal charges for the incident on the F train on May 1, 2023. Neely, who was homeless at the time, boarded a subway car at the Second Avenue stop and was described by witnesses as yelling and moving erratically when Penny put Neely in a chokehold, which prosecutors alleged lasted for six minutes, according to officials.
Some of the incident was captured on video.
The city’s medical examiner concluded Penny’s chokehold killed Neely and ruled he died due to compression of the neck.
Neely, a 30-year-old former street performer who would impersonate Michael Jackson, had a history of homelessness and schizophrenia.
He had been convicted of assaulting people at subway stations, according to police. However, passengers on the train the day Neely died said he did not touch anyone during the incident.
However, Neely had expressed a willingness to die or even kill while on the train, according to investigators.
Penny was charged with manslaughter and negligent homicide but received praise from some conservative leaders, right-wing media pundits and others for what they claimed was an act of self-defense.
“Daniel’s a good guy, and New York’s mob district attorney tried to ruin his life for having a backbone,” Vance posted on X this week.
Others, however, criticized the former Marine for taking the life of a homeless Black man in need of mental health services.
The Manhattan jury deliberated for 24 hours over five days and was deadlocked on the manslaughter charge, which carried a 15-year prison sentence, forcing the judge to dismiss it. The jury delivered a verdict of not guilty on the negligent homicide charge on Monday.
In an interview with Fox Nation, Penny described himself as being in a “vulnerable” position.
“He was just threatening to kill people,” Penny told host Jeanine Pirro about Neely. “He was threatening to go to jail forever, to go to jail for the rest of his life.”
Penny has been named in a lawsuit by Neely’s father, Andre Zachery, for negligent contact, assault and battery that led to Neely’s death.
“I promised this family justice — we are still going to do that,” Donte Mills, the attorney representing Zachery, said following Penny’s conviction. “The district attorney did a good job, but the jury in this case let us down.”
