(NEW YORK) — A geyser explosion in Yellowstone National Park sent dozens of visitors running Tuesday morning, officials said.
Videos taken of the event show the dramatic moment, with water and debris raining down over the park’s Biscuit Basin thermal area, about two miles from Old Faithful.
The geothermal explosion damaged the boardwalk, but did not cause any injuries, officials said.
The Biscuit Basin has been temporarily closed while geologists investigate the event.
Hydrothermal explosions are somewhat common in the area, occurring when underground water suddenly turns to steam.
Similar eruptions occurred at Biscuit Basin in 1959, 1991 and 2009.
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump will sit for a “victim interview” in the investigation into his attempted assassination, the FBI announced on a Monday conference call with reporters.
FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Pittsburgh field office Kevin Rojek did not say when the interview will take place, but said it will be “a standard victim interview we do for any other victim of crime.”
One spectator was killed and two were hurt in the shooting at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
Trump suffered a graze wound to his ear.
On Monday’s call, Rojek and other senior FBI officials provided new details about information gleaned from the investigation into what happened at the rally.
Rojek said it appears the gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks “made significant efforts to conceal his activities.”
“We believe his actions also show a careful planning ahead of the rally,” Rojek said.
Senior officials from the FBI painted a picture of a shooter who had no friends and his social circle appeared to be limited to his immediate family.
Crooks did a significant amount of preplanning online and didn’t show any outward signs he would be planning a shooting of a former president, officials said.
The FBI determined that, in addition to searching for details on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Crooks also searched for details about other mass casualty events, officials said.
Rojek said his searches were “related to power plants mass shooting events, information on improvised explosive devices and the attempted assassination of the Slovakian prime minister earlier this year.”
Crooks also searched for nationally elected officials, including President Joe Biden and former presidents, officials said.
The gun used in the shooting was purchased by Crooks’ dad in 2013 and legally transferred to Crooks in 2023, according to the FBI.
The FBI also provided an updated new timeline.
Crooks went to the rally site at 11 a.m. on the day of the shooting and spent one hour in the area before traveling home, the FBI said.
At 1:30 p.m., Crooks obtained the rifle from his home and told parents he was going to the shooting range, the FBI said.
Crooks arrived back at the rally site at 3:45 p.m. and started flying a drone about 200 yards from the rally site from 3:50 p.m. to just after 4 p.m., the FBI said. The drone did not contain a memory card, officials said. The FBI said it is working to determine if Crooks was viewing footage and whether that revealed insights into the security posture.
At 4 p.m., Crooks drove throughout the area in the vicinity of the shooting. Shortly after 5 p.m., Crooks was identified as suspicious by a local SWAT officer who took a photo of him, the FBI said.
Just after 5:30 p.m., that same SWAT officer observed Crooks using a rangefinder and reading news on his phone, officials said. At 5:56 p.m., Crooks was seen walking in the vicinity of the AGR building, the FBI said.
Police dash camera video from 6:08 p.m. captured Crooks on the roof, the FBI said.
At 6:11 p.m., a local police officer was boosted up to the roof and encountered Crooks, who pointed a rifle at him, the FBI said. The officer immediately dropped off the roof, the FBI said.
About 25 to 30 seconds later, shots were fired, the FBI said.
Explosives were found in Crooks’ car and home, but the explosives in the car didn’t go off because the receivers found on Crooks were in the off position, the FBI said.
“Explosive experts in the FBI lab assessed the devices from the subject’s vehicle were capable of exploding. However, the magnitude of the damage associated with an explosion is unclear,” Rojek said.
FBI officials declined to answer any questions about the law enforcement posture, security strategy and response, citing multiple ongoing reviews.
(NEW YORK) — One person is dead and two people have been reported missing with several others injured in what authorities are describing as a “major marine incident” that has caused “mass casualty” in Connecticut, officials said.
The North Madison Volunteer Fire Department says that the three people reported missing do not have life jackets and that multiple personnel and ambulances from the towns surrounding Old Saybrook, where the incident is currently ongoing, are assisting with the operation.
Authorities responded to the boating accident at approximately 9:15 p.m. Monday and discovered a single motorboat floating, half-submerged, near the Harbor One Marina in Old Saybrook. There was significant damage to the boat, which hit the east-facing jetty at the mouth of the Connecticut River.
A total of nine people were on the boat. An adult male was recovered deceased, and six people were taken to the hospital for treatment. As of 1 a.m., two people were still being searched for.
“A mass casualty incident describes an incident in which emergency medical services resources, such as personnel and equipment, are overwhelmed by the number and severity of casualties,” the North Madison Volunteer Fire Department said in a follow up statement online describing the operation.
No other details about the cause of the accident or the identities of the victims have been made available and the incident is ongoing.
(BOSTON) — A Massachusetts judge has scheduled the retrial in Karen Read’s murder case for early next year, three weeks after declaring a mistrial in the high-profile case.
Read was accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, in January 2022. Prosecutors allege she hit O’Keefe with her car and left him to die in the middle of a snowstorm after the two got into an argument earlier in the day.
Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial in the case on July 1 after the jury said it was unable to reach a unanimous consensus on the fifth day of deliberations. The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office said following the mistrial that it planned to retry the case.
During a status hearing on Monday, Cannone proposed Jan. 14, 2025, for a pretrial conference and Jan. 27, 2025, as the new trial date.
Both parties agreed to the date, although one of the defense attorneys raised a potential concern due to that date’s proximity to another case he has scheduled for trial in January.
Cannone also scheduled a hearing on Aug. 9 for oral arguments on the defense’s motion to dismiss some of the charges.
“I assume whatever I ended up doing on the motion to dismiss will be appealed,” Cannone said, adding that she scheduled the trial date in January 2025 “in an effort to make sure we have plenty of time.”
Read had pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. Read’s attorneys have asked the judge to dismiss the charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a fatal accident when the case goes to trial again.
In court documents filed in the wake of the mistrial, her attorneys wrote that four jurors have come forward to report the jury found Read not guilty of those two charges.
“There was no manifest necessity for a mistrial as to those counts, and therefore the Double Jeopardy protections of the federal and state Constitutions require that those counts not be retried,” Read’s defense attorney Alan Jackson wrote in court documents.
The case has garnered national attention. Large crowds, both in support and against Read, had gathered outside the courthouse ahead of Monday’s hearing.
Read has strenuously denied the allegations, and her lawyers alleged that a fellow police officer was involved in O’Keefe’s death and colluded with others in a cover-up.
Following the initial trial, a Massachusetts State Police officer who was communicating with a Canton police officer during the death investigation was suspended. The Canton police officer — who is the brother of the man who hosted the party at the house where O’Keefe’s body was found outside — was also placed on paid administrative leave, according to Boston ABC affiliate WCVB.