This ain’t no love story.
Tatum O’Neal has blamed half-brother Redmond’s shocking descent into a devil-horned suspected stabber on years of “horrifying and cruel” abuse by their late dad, Hollywood legend Ryan O’Neill.
The former child star gave her damning indictment after Redmond made a terrifying vision with horns tattooed on his head as he appeared in a California court charged with attempted murder.
“He’s doing very poorly, honey, very poorly,” Tatum, 62, told the Daily Mail of her troubled half-brother, the only child of Ryan O’Neal and Farrah Fawcett.
“I love Red dearly, but he’s gotten heavy. He never even began a real life,” she said.
Tatum blamed Redmond’s issues on their notoriously dysfunctional childhood, saying that her half-brother has “never changed.”
“It was always drugs, drugs, drugs,” said the actress, who has had her own headline-grabbing issues with addiction.
“It was a terrible beginning with my dad Ryan, who wasn’t a very good person — and with Redmond, he was mean and hurt him over and over,” she said.
“It was horrifying and cruel.”
Tatum also fell victim to drug abuse for most of her adult life, and spoke to the Mail from a memory care facility in the San Fernando Valley where she goes for treatment since suffering a stroke caused by a prescription drug overdose in 2020.
Ryan’s eldest son, Griffin, 61, who was estranged from his father, told the paper that it’s incredible that he and Tatum are still alive. The actor became addicted to drugs and alcohol and had several run-ins with the law over the years
“Ryan was a raging narcissist, really crazy,” said David Leit, who became Redmond’s 12-step program sponsor in 2001 when he was 16.
“I liked Redmond. He could be funny and caring but he was also a punk, very angry with a real addict personality.”
In 2008, while conducting a parole check on Redmond, Los Angeles police found meth in Ryan’s bedroom drawer and both father and son were arrested. Ryan later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and went to a treatment program.
In a revealing Vanity Fair interview in 2009, Ryan detailed his son’s drug problems, saying he’d been in rehab 13 times, calling his kid ”stupid” and a ”sap.”
“He has addictions he can’t control; he goes to sleep in his food. He’s never been out on the street for a year, because whatever he did, he got caught,” he told the magazine.
Fawcett died of cancer in 2009. Redmond appeared in shackles at his mother’s bedside when she was dying and also went to Fawcett’s funeral in chains. Ryan died in 2023, and Redmond, Tatum and Griffin did not attend the funeral.
In 2018, Redmond allegedly went on a knife rampage across Los Angeles, attacking five men and robbing a 7-Eleven store. He is accused of seriously injuring two of his victims, including one who was stabbed in the face.
He was charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, making criminal threats and battery, but the case has repeatedly stalled after he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and antisocial personality disorder.
He’s currently locked up at Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino County, where he was sent in 2019 after he was ruled mentally unfit to stand trial on attempted murder and drug charges.x1200
The award-winning artist who survived being shoved into a moving Manhattan train heartbreakingly needed her mom to wipe away her tears at her attacker’s sentencing Wednesday — after the senseless attack left her paralyzed from the shoulders down.
Turkish born artist Emine Ozsoy, 38, tore into DoorDash driver Kamal Semrade in Manhattan Supreme Court — who showed no signs of remorse and refused to apologize for forever changing her life and leaving her quadriplegic after he threw her into a train at the 63rd Street and Lexington Avenue subway station in May 2023.
“I am in this condition because of this evil action,” Ozsoy said from a motorized wheelchair during her victim impact statement.
“I have a long life ahead of me, yet I have to live with these circumstances,” she tearfully added.
Semrade, 42, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Manhattan Supreme Court Wednesday following his all-count conviction in March, where a jury convicted him on attempted murder and assault charges.
Semrade’s attorney, Michael Fineman, asked the judge for lenience when sentencing Semrade, citing his mental health problems that he’s suffered for years.
When given the chance to apologize to the victim, Semrade — who couldn’t even look Ozsoy in the eyes — declined.
Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Althea Drysdale called the randomness of the attack “profoundly disturbing” before noting Semrade’s lack of remorse.
“I’ve waited to see you, Mr. Semrade, express a scintilla of remorse. None has been forthcoming,” the judge said.
According to prosecutors, Semrade boarded the same subway car as Ozsoy, who was on her way to work, at the Roosevelt Avenue stop in Queens on May 21, 2023.
The pair, who did not know each other, exited the train at the 63rd Street and Lexington Avenue subway stop when Semrade walked behind the victim and shoved her by the head and neck into the side of a moving subway car, prosecutors said in court.
“The victim was a complete stranger to the defendant,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Katelyn Damanis seethed. “She had never met him, never spoken to him, never interacted with him to her knowledge.”
Ozsoy’s face and head hit the train and she was flung back onto the platform and laid motionless on the platform.
She later learned that she fractured her spine and would remain paralyzed from the shoulders down after having spinal surgery.
Semrade fled the station before returning to a shelter in Queens.
He was identified by shelter employees thanks to an NYPD CrimeStoppers post and arrested two days after the attack.
During her speech, Ozsoy, whose art designs were featured in Chicago Magazine and NPR, said she can no longer continue as an artist and faces extreme financial difficulties due to the attack.
“Each day brings new challenges,” she said. “I am unable to meet even my most basic needs independently and must constantly rely on the help of others.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement that callous DoorDash driver uprooted Ozsoy’s life with “catastrophic, permanent injuries.”
“After the attack, Semrade callously fled, leaving the victim helpless on the platform,” Bragg said. “While nothing can undo the profound harm caused, I hope this sentence brings a measure of justice as the victim continues her recovery and works to rebuild her life.”
2026.5.6 Bay Area RV homeless whack-a-mole finally sees crackdown as cities reach breaking point
A widening crackdown on RV and vehicle homelessness is spreading across the Bay Area as cities tighten rules, increase towing, and push unhoused residents from one jurisdiction to another in a regional enforcement push that feels more like a game of whack-a-mole.
Oakland has become the latest major city to escalate action in an attempt to clean up city streets.
On April 14, the City Council approved a policy to speed up towing of cars and RVs used as shelter after officials raised concerns that the city is becoming a sanctuary for displaced residents pushed out of other nearby areas.
2026.5.6 Teen found bound, killed after suffering months of torture — and her boyfriend has been arrested
Police in North Carolina arrested and charged a 24-year-old over the alleged rape and murder of his teenage girlfriend, who was found stripped and bound in a Charlotte apartment — after suffering months of torture.
The body of 19-year-old Isabella Stroupe was found almost naked and bound with a tow strap in east Charlotte on Friday, WSCOTV’s Hunter Sáenz reported, citing court records.
Her boyfriend, Thomaz Hamilton, 24, initially claimed the couple was having sex when she suffered a suspected heart attack, according to court documents.
But following an autopsy, the medical examiner ruled Stroupe’s death a homicide, Sáenz reported.
She had suffered multiple broken and fractured bones and stab wounds, with the medical examiner finding that she was likely being tortured over a period of several months, court documents state.
The medical examiner also ruled that Stroupe would not have been able to consent to sex.
While searching the apartment, police found a bloodstained knife wrapped in cellophane, a baseball bat, a sword, and broken cell phones, along with a blood-covered mattress and clothes, Sáenz reported.
On Tuesday, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Team arrested Hamilton and charged him with murder and rape in the first degree.
Court records seen by The Post show Hamilton has a lengthy rap sheet with at least 10 arrests since 2020, including carrying a concealed weapon, resisting a public officer, and driving without insurance or registration.
He is due in court next on May 27.
Stroupe’s devastated sisbling paid tribute to her sister in a GoFundMe page raising money for her funeral costs.
“We never imagined we would be facing such a heartbreaking situation, and now we are struggling to find the resources to give her the farewell she deserves,” she wrote.
“I loved Isabella deeply. She was a total bookworm, always reading and sharing her favorite stories with me. She loved fan fiction and My Little Pony, and her creativity brought so much joy to our family,” she said.
2026.5.6 Autistic man, 25, found stranded with dad’s decomposing body in Brooklyn
A mentally disabled 25-year-old man was found stranded with his father’s decomposing body inside a trash-filled room in Brooklyn Wednesday, according to neighbors and the FDNY.
The older man’s lifeless body was found inside a single-family home on Brighton Seventh St. near Ocean View Ave. in Brighton Beach shortly before 11 a.m., fire officials said.
The home where he was found had been subdivided into roughly a dozen apartments spread across the house’s two floors. Sintokh Singh, a 55-year-old neighbor who lives in the house, said he called 911 after the smell coming from the dead man’s unit became unbearable.
“For the last two or three days he didn’t come out of the room,” Singh said. “The smell was bad, really bad.”
Rescuers found the son trapped with his dead dad’s body after forcing open their apartment door, Singh said.
“There was so much garbage inside, when they broke the door in, his son’s head popped out from all the trash,” said Singh. “He was scared. He hadn’t eaten in a couple of days.”
“It was all garbage and bottles. There was no room inside. Just garbage and bottles.”
Medics transported the 25-year-old autistic man to South Brooklyn Health for treatment, according to fire officials. His condition was not immediately clear.
Singh said the man lived alone with his disabled son, who required round-the-clock care and supervision.
“His son was very disabled,” the neighbor said. “He cannot speak, he cannot change his diaper. His father has to shower him. His father has to do it all for him.”
“(My neighbor) was a very friendly guy,” Singh added. “He loved his son. his whole life was his son.”
2026.5.6 Florida woman arrested and accused of kicking a kid at youth football game during on-field brawl
Renee Lynn Lambert insists she was only reacting to being hit first in the postgame scrum in Fort Myers.
A Florida woman was taken into custody on suspicion of kicking a boy at a youth football game during an on-field brawl — and then claiming she had no choice because “the kid hit me” first, video of the arrest showed Tuesday.
Renee Lynn Lambert, 34, was booked on suspicion of cruelty to a child without great bodily harm and resisting an officer, according to a Lee County sheriff’s arrest report.
Deputies responded to the game at Brooks Park in Fort Myers on Saturday after they “became aware of a large brawl located in the middle of the field,” Sheriff’s Detective Nicholas Cittadino said in an arrest report.
Parents ran onto the field to intervene, and a witness reported seeing a woman repeatedly kicking a juvenile male, the report said.
Witnesses “quickly identified a white female who was leaving the area to have been a suspect of a battery on a juvenile,” according to the report.
Lambert claimed she was hit first, and she asked deputies why they were questioning her and not the offending player, according to law enforcement video NBC News obtained Tuesday.
“So are you mad at them for hitting me?” Lambert appeared to ask deputies.
“I’m mad at an adult for attacking a kid,” a male voice from behind the body camera lens responded. “Stop, you’re detained right now.”
“No, I’m not. Goodbye,” responded the suspect, dressed in a football jersey.
Lambert could not understand why deputies were targeting her.
“Get your hands off me,” she said in video. “I’m the one who got hit.”
At least one witness, identified as Andre Valdes, backed up a player’s allegation that he was on the ground when Lambert kicked him in the leg, Cittadino’s report said.
“You are being pointed out as being a suspect; you are detained,” the male voice said as Lambert and deputies began to scuffle.
Lambert appeared to identify her attacker as a player wearing a No. 9 jersey.
“So where’s No. 9, go get No. 9,” Lambert said during the scuffle with law enforcement.
She was led away in handcuffs as she still argued with deputies.
“She’s detained because they said you hit a kid,” the male voice behind the camera said.
“And the kid hit me!” Lambert responded.
Lambert could not immediately be reached for comment at publicly listed phone numbers and email addresses associated with her.
2026.5.6 PETA activists encase feet in cement in protest of NY PepsiCo headquarters over bull abuse claims
Enraged PETA activists encased their feet in cement at PepsiCo’s New York headquarters over the alleged abuse of bulls in its sugar supply chain, according to authorities and reports.
The animal rights activists clad in bull horns blocked the entrance to the PepsiCo headquarters in Purchase on Wednesday during the multinational food and beverage corporation’s virtual annual shareholder meeting, PETA announced in a statement.
2026.5.6 ‘Teen takeovers’ show need for safe youth spaces. Here’s what Detroit’s doing
Mayor Mary Sheffield’s administration is working on a year-round slate of activities to engage, employ and entertain youth after a bout of so-called “teen takeovers” downtown illuminated the need for more safe spaces for Detroit’s young people.
Teen takeovers – a trend where young people organize a massive gathering via social media channels – are popping up in Chicago, Milwaukee and other major cities. While places such as Washington DC and Charlotte are enforcing curfews in neighborhoods and malls in response to the large-scale gatherings, Sheffield is taking a different approach in Detroit.
Even before, youth and education were already a cornerstone of Sheffield’s early priorities. After taking office in January, she created an Office of Youth Affairs with Umoja Debate League Founder Jerjuan Howard at the helm and hired education leader Chanel Hampton as Detroit’s first senior director of youth and education.
A judge Tuesday said she needs to assess a hellish squatter’s right to “liberty’’ before she can boot him from the West Village building where he’s been terrorizing residents for nearly a year — even after he was a no-show at the hearing.
Lawyers for 400 Bleeker St. in the trendy Manhattan neighborhood demanded the judge sign off on a restraining order that would ban alleged crazy-like-a-fox Melvin DeJesus, 66, from the well-heeled building.
“He began his reign of terror in the building with death threats,” said Paul Coppe, a lawyer for site owners the Brodsky Organization, to Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Kathy J King.
“He’s said ‘I have a knife and I’m going to use it,’ ” Coppe said of DeJesus — who has a 30-year-old attempted-murder conviction.
“It’s not an exaggeration to say the building residents are terrified.”
But King said she needs more time to render a decision — after previously delaying the case in early April.
“This is a request that affects someone’s liberty,” she said Tuesday. “So I will have to take this back to chambers.”
Tenants in the building — where a two-bedroom unit recently rented for $6,700 a month — were left fuming.
“If she cares so much about [DeJesus’s] ‘liberty’ to free accommodation, maybe she should house him,” a resident said.
“What more does it take? An actual violent crime?”
“I am angry and feeling a bit helpless,” the resident said.
Coppe had insisted to the judge, “The underlying case is based essentially on nuisance abatement,”
DeJesus “promptly embarked on what can only be described as a reign of terror” when he moved in just months before the previous life-long rent-control tenant died last fall, Coppe recalled for King.
“Mr. DeJesus is a multiple predicate felon,” Coppe said.
The Brodsky Organization has also filed a $5.5 million lawsuit seeking to ban DeJesus from the fifth-floor rent-controlled unit he commandeered after longtime tenant John Grafenecker’s death at 84 last fall.
Since then, DeJesus has allegedly agonized his neighbors by keeping them up all night with noxious parties, yelling death threats and at one point, storing a 4-gallon jug of gasoline outside his door, according to the suit.
The company won a restraining order in February barring him from harassing tenants, and he also faces separate eviction proceedings brought against him by the landlord.
In March, he was arrested for allegedly smashing a neighbor’s Ring doorbell camera.
Tenants say he’s only gotten worse over the months, with many claiming in court papers that his late-night terror have forced them to flee the building in the middle of the night.
Last month, DeJesus showed up to court, where his conduct required a flock of court officers to follow him as he yelled in the court room and court-house hallways, mumbled about dying and was granted an adjournment for two months after he claimed a medical emergency.
Coppe noted that DeJesus knew to be in court Tuesday, since he requested to move the delay up by a month, and served him papers informing him of the new date. x1200
2026.5.5 Granny convicted of fatally poisoning 4-year-old granddaughter by forcing her to chug bottle of whiskey
A granny has been convicted of fatally poisoning her 4-year-old granddaughter by forcing her to drink half a pint of whiskey.
Roxanne Record, 57, was found guilty of manslaughter Friday in the death of the tortured tot, China Record, after a three-day trial in Baton Rouge, La., WAFB reported.
China died after she was made to chug the rest of a bottle of Canadian Mist whiskey as punishment for taking a sip, the jury heard.
2026.5.5 Hateful anti-Israel mob descends on historic NYC synagogue, clashes with cops in rowdy protest
A hateful mob of keffiyeh-clad anti-Israel protesters flooded the streets near a historic Manhattan synagogue Tuesday night — clashing with cops as they repeatedly shouted, “Israel should not exist.”
About 100 agitators waving Palestinian flags and banging drums swarmed about a half-block from Park East Synagogue, chanting, “Palestine will never die” and “Stop the sale of stolen land” during an event promoting real estate in Israel and the West Bank, according to shocking footage.
While the East 67th Street synagogue was sealed off by police barricades, footage captured the rowdy protesters clashing with cops who were trying to force their way past the barriers into the street.
2026.5.5 Tanner Horner, FedEx driver who murdered little Athena Strand, is sentenced to die by lethal injection: ‘You will face the wrath of God’
FedEx driver Tanner Horner has been sentenced to death for the murder of 7-year-old Athena Strand by a Texas jury following a gut-wrenching trial that detailed his psychotic behavior during the killing.
The confessed killer learned his sentence at a court in Fort Worth, Texas, some 40 miles southeast of where Athena’s naked body was dumped in a creek on Nov. 30, 2022.
Jurors deliberated for about three hours after both sides rested Tuesday.
2026.5.5 NYC man, 22, dies of apparent overdose after ambulance fails to show: cops, sources
A Manhattan man died of an apparent overdose after an ambulance failed to show up at his building for more than an hour, forcing frustrated cops to finally rush him to the hospital, to no avail, police and law-enforcement sources said.
Adam Benhammou, 22, of East Harlem was showing signs of an overdose at his building on East 116th Street near Lexington Avenue at 5:13 p.m. Saturday when a 911 call was made asking for first responders’ help, according to authorities and sources.
When NYPD officers arrived at the scene at 5:40 p.m., they found Benhammou “having trouble breathing and acting erratic,” sources said.
Four minutes later, the cops radioed for an ambulance to come in “a rush,” according to the sources.
By 6:05 p.m., cops again requested for an ambulance to come quickly and asked for its estimated time of arrival, but none was given, the sources said.
When the ambulance had not arrived by 6:25 p.m., the officers loaded Benhammou in the back of their police cruiser and brought him to Harlem Hospital, arriving 4 minutes later, according to sources.
But Benhammou ultimately could not be saved and was pronounced dead by hospital staff at 6:56 p.m., sources said.
The FDNY, which oversees 911 ambulances, told The Post on Tuesday that the incident is “currently under investigation.”
The death also is being probed by the NYPD’s Force Investigation Division, which probes all deaths in police custody.
Benhammou’s official cause of death will be determined by the city medical examiner’s office.
Santiago Ortiz, 79, who lived in Benhammou’s building with his wife for 46 years, said the delayed ambulance didn’t “help at all.
“When there’s an incident [in this neighborhood], the ambulance comes right away,” Ortiz said. “I don’t know what happened this time.”
When told of Benhammou’s death, Ortiz exclaimed, “Oh, my God!
“That sucks,” he said. “It shouldn’t have happened, and we have hospitals close by.”
Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, has pleaded not guilty to starting what became one of the most destructive wildfires in California history.
LOS ANGELES — The man accused of sparking the deadly Palisades Fire in Los Angeles was upset that he didn’t have plans for New Year’s Eve and ranted about being angry at the world before the initial blaze was sparked, according to court documents filed by prosecutors.
Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, has pleaded not guilty to starting what became one of the most destructive wildfires in California history. It began Jan. 7, 2025, in hillside neighborhoods of Pacific Palisades and Malibu and killed 12 people. Prosecutors say Rinderknecht started a fire on Jan. 1 that burned undetected deep in root systems before flaring back up a week later.
Rinderknecht’s trial is set to begin June 8. His attorneys say he is being used as a scapegoat for the Los Angeles Fire Department’s failure to fully extinguish the earlier blaze.
An outline of the prosecutors’ strategy — with details about the defendant’s alleged state of mind on the night before the first fire began — appears in an April 29 pretrial memo filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Witnesses reported that Rinderknecht had been driving erratically while on Uber routes around the Palisades on New Year’s Eve, said prosecutors. His passengers described him as “angry, intense, driving erratically, and ranting about being ‘pissed off at the world,’” the memo said.
According to court filings, Rinderknecht ranted to passengers about accused UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter Luigi Mangione, capitalism and vigilantism. In an interview with investigators on Jan. 24, when asked why someone might commit arson in the Palisades, Rinderknecht “responded that it would be out of resentment of the rich enjoying their money as ‘we’re basically being enslaved by them,’” and again referenced Mangione’s alleged crime, the documents said.
In addition, prosecutors said Rinderknecht was distraught over a failed relationship and upset about thwarted plans for New Year’s Eve.
“My client maintains his innocence as he has from the beginning and we look forward to clearing his name at trial,” Rinderknecht’s attorney Steve Haney said in an email Sunday. “The offered motive that my client started a fire on NYs Eve because he did not have a date speaks for itself.”
Haney held a news conference in March to call for Rinderknecht’s release from jail in light of evidence he said shows he is not responsible for the blaze. Haney pointed to a deposition in which a firefighter testified that he noticed the ground was still smoldering from the fire on Jan. 2 and alerted a supervisor that there were hot spots. That testimony was gathered as part of a lawsuit filed by fire victims against the city.
A battalion chief had testified that he walked the perimeter of the burn area four times throughout the day and ensured all hot spots were out.
Fire Department Chief Jaime Moore, who was appointed in October, has said he is concerned about the differences in the firefighters’ testimonies and commissioned an independent report on how the Jan. 1 fire was handled.
Haney has said this evidence was not available to the defense when Rinderknecht was indicted.
Craig Berry is wanted for second-degree attempted murder, authorities said.
A manhunt is underway in Tennessee for a man with “extensive” survival training who is accused of shooting his wife then fleeing into the woods, authorities said.
Local, state and federal authorities are involved in the search for Craig Berry, who is wanted for second-degree attempted murder, according to the Stewart County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies responded to a domestic altercation at his residence in Dover around 1:30 a.m. on May 1, according to Stewart County Sheriff’s Office. Berry fled into the woods near his home after allegedly shooting his wife and was gone before deputies arrived, authorities said.
His wife was transported to a medical facility, according to the sheriff’s office, which did not provide details on her condition.
The sheriff’s office said Berry is very familiar with the area and warned it could be a “lengthy process” to capture him.
“Berry is a retired special forces veteran and has extensive training in survival tactics,” Stewart County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Paulette Redman said in a statement on Monday. “He is an excellent swimmer and diver, and is in good physical shape.”
Berry is armed with “at least one handgun” and may have taken extra ammunition, according to Redman. He is not believed to have any phone or other means of communication on him, she said.
Berry was captured by a trail camera wearing camouflage clothing, the sheriff’s office said while releasing the photo.
“We are not ruling out the possibility that he has received some outside assistance after the incident,” Redman said.
The U.S. Marshals Service, Tennessee Highway Patrol and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation are assisting in the search, the sheriff’s office said.
There is no information indicating that he is no longer in the area, the sheriff’s office said Monday.
He was last seen near River Trace Road, and authorities are conducting a “very detailed search” of the area from River Trace Road to Highway 79 to parts of Highway 232 this week, the sheriff’s office said Monday.
The sheriff’s office advised residents to call 911 if they see anything suspicious.
2026.5.4 Antisemitic graffiti discovered in Queens as new stats show Jews targeted in 60% of NYC hate crimes
Vandals spray-painted swastikas and antiemetic slogans on religious centers, homes and vehicles in Queens on the eve of a Jewish holiday Monday morning as new stats show the extent of hate crimes targeting Jewish people in New York.
A swastika was found partially covering a plaque honoring survivors of Kristallnacht, an antisemitic pogrom in which businesses were vandalized and Jews killed in Nazi Germany, at Congregation Machane Chodosh located on 108th St. near 67th Rd. in Rego Park, according to Queens Shmira, a Jewish neighborhood watch group. A few blocks away, an antisemtic slogan and a swastika were discovered scrawled on the Rego Park Jewish Center on Queens Blvd. near 65th Road.
Swastikas were also found spray-painted on the garage door of a private home, the window of another home, and on a grey sedan all located in the area.
An NYPD spokeswoman said police were informed of the vandalism shortly before noon.
The discovery comes as the the NYPD released new stats showing that Jewish victims were targeted in 60 percent of all hate crimes citywide last month.
“When a family woke up, they were prepared to begin an otherwise normal week. Instead, they were met with terrifying signals of hatred and threats of violence,” City Council Speaker Julie Menin posted on X. “With antisemitism on the rise here and across the globe, we will always stand up for our Jewish community and fight back against hate.”
The vandalism occurred just hours before community members were set to begin celebrating the holiday of Lag BaOmer, which kicks off at sunset Monday, Abraham Pinkhasov, a supervisor at Queens Shmira, told the Daily News. Surveillance footage obtained by Queens Shmira shows a group of four suspects lurking outside one of the vandalized homes around 1:30 a.m., where they can be seen chucking an egg at the house.
“It was obviously a big shock to us,” Pinkhasov said. “People have their spirits up and then they have to deal with this. Some people were saying they didn’t want to take their kids out tonight, because they didn’t feel safe.”
Mayor Mamdani condemned the vandalism as a “deliberate act of antisemitic hatred” in a post on X Monday.
“There is no place for antisemitism in Queens or anywhere in our city,” Mamdani wrote on social media. “I stand in solidarity with our Jewish neighbors. Their safety, dignity, and belonging are non-negotiable.
The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating and I am confident those responsible will be held accountable.”
The discovery of the antisemitic graffiti follows the arrest of two teenage vandals for desecrating a Brooklyn playground in a Jewish neighborhood with more than 50-swastikas in January.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
2026.5.4 Mass shooting at Oklahoma lake party injures 23 – the latest in a rash of shootings at youth parties
At least 23 people were injured after gunfire erupted at an Oklahoma lake party – the latest in a trio of shootings involving teens or young adults over the weekend across the US.
The chaos unfolded around 9 p.m. Sunday at a campground near Arcadia Lake, about 13 miles north of Oklahoma City, Edmond police spokesperson Emily Ward said.
The victims suffered injuries “ranging in severity, including gunshot wounds,” Edmond police said in an update Monday. A local health system said 13 people were hospitalized Sunday.
No suspects are in custody, but police believe there is no ongoing threat to the public, Ward told CNN.
“This is obviously a very terrifying situation,” she told reporters at the scene. “We are working extremely hard to find these suspects and help these victims.”
The attack is among more than 130 US mass shootings with four or more victims this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Gunfire has killed at least 278 youths ages 12 to 17 so far this year, with another 796 injured, according to GVA.
Some parents are conducting drills at home to teach their children what to do during a mass shooting
The pandemonium in Oklahoma happened hours after a shooting at a post-prom party in Indianapolis left one woman dead and at least two others wounded, CNN affiliate WTHR reported.
Just a day earlier, two teens – ages 16 and 17 – were killed and at least 10 others were injured at a Texas party involving “juveniles and young adults,” the Amarillo Police Department said.
Authorities are looking for two suspects in connection with the shooting, and the incident appears to have been a targeted attack, police said in an update Monday.
As temperatures rise, so does the likelihood of violence, studies suggest.
2026.5.3 Cole Allen’s cross-country train musings show ‘scattered’ mindset of accused would-be Trump killer: expert
Prosecutors say Allen kept a running note on his phone during his cross-country Amtrak trip from Los Angeles to DC
A court filing by prosecutors in the case against Cole Allen, accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump, provided a glimpse into the 31-year-old’s mindset in the days leading up to last weekend’s attack at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington, D.C.
According to the filing, Allen boarded an Amtrak train on April 21 after purchasing a one-way ticket from Los Angeles to the nation’s capital, stopping in only Chicago to change trains. While he rode, prosecutors say he “kept a running note on his phone of his observations and thoughts during his cross-country train journey.”
But those notes had nothing to do with Allen’s alleged plan to commit the ultimate crime. Rather, his musings along the way, in tandem with what he wrote in a later manifesto, paint a picture of an unfocused person whose thoughts were “scattered,” as one former FBI behavioral analyst said, despite the gravity of the situation.
While he traveled through the U.S. southwest on the first leg of his trip, Allen made a note: “[t]he southwest desert in spring Distant wind turbines looming like snowy mountains across the hazy NM desert.”
Of Chicago, where he would switch trains and board a second train to his final destination, Allen wrote that, “Chicago is cool; kinda like an Iowa small town was scaled up to LA size.” Of the sliver of southwestern Pennsylvania through which he would pass, he wrote that the “woods are awesome (look like vast fairy lands filled with tiny trickling creeks in spring apparently.”
Allen arrived in Washington, D.C. early in the afternoon on Friday, April 24. He spent about 30 hours in the city before initiating his alleged attack.
Surveillance video from the Washington Hilton hotel, also released by the Department of Justice, showed Allen apparently pacing through hallways, once entering the hotel’s fitness center and taking a look around before hastily exiting.
Minutes before the attack, a pre-scheduled email from Allen was sent to his family and friends, explaining his actions, according to authorities.
He allegedly acknowledged that his mission would likely severely harm him at the least, but never stated that he was willing to die for his cause. His motivations were political, and he painted himself as a savior of the oppressed. He apologized profusely to family, friends and everyone he had come in contact with on his cross-country trek. He noted that there were certain people he hoped wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire, and described himself as “friendly.”
Jonny Grusing served as a special agent in the FBI’s Denver Field Office for 25 years. For 13 of those years, he was the Behavioral Analysis Unit coordinator for the division.
“His flippancy of what he was talking about in the train or writing about, coincides with what he writes in his manifesto as, ‘hello everybody, so I may have given a lot of people a surprise today,’” said Grusing. “I mean, that’s not someone who’s singularly focused on a grievance.”
“I would say he was conflicted. He’s apologizing to everyone, even people that he rode along the [train] with, which he’s not harming them in any way,” said Grusing. “But he’s apologizing to the people at work, he’s apologizing to his family and he’s apologizing to the people he might have to do violence to. Whether that’s him trying to convince whoever reads this, that he’s a not a bad person or that he’s conflicted… that’s not someone to me who seems single-minded that he’s going to be successful in his mission.”
Grusing said Allen seemed “scattered,” and described him as a narcissist.
“The profiling unit taught us about dangerous human characteristics and the two I think that would apply to Mr. Allen are narcissism and psychopathy,” he said. “I think he’s become more narcissistic just from his writings, in saying that, ‘this is on me,’ ‘this is my problem,’ [and] ‘I have to act.’”
“And then even him trying to manage other people’s perception of him, like the people that rode on the train with him and helped him with his luggage, they weren’t affected by this at all,” said Grusing. “But yet he feels like he’s impacting all of society by doing what he’s doing, which again, that’s what makes me think, when he makes these little statements and apologies to everyone, he’s saying, ‘I’m going to become a national name by doing this. Look at me.’”
“So he’s putting himself as this martyr, as this patriot, as the only one who can really fix this thing that’s broken, and that’s very dangerous.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Allen’s attorney.
2026.5.3 Drones are getting drugs, escape tools and crab legs to inmates, ‘kind of like a DoorDash.’ Prisons are fighting back
Around 3:30 one morning this winter, officers stationed in the prison yard of South Carolina’s Turbeville Correctional Institution heard a propeller buzzing somewhere above the state prison.
One officer quickly recognized the familiar sound and looked toward the sky: it was yet another drone approaching the facility.
The drone flew into the yard and dropped a three-foot package before whizzing away, the captain of the drone hunting team for South Carolina’s state prisons told CNN in an interview. The officer ran to secure the package before an inmate could get to it first.
Inside, officials found tobacco, marijuana, ecstasy and four phones, which the South Carolina Department of Corrections, or SCDC, estimates are worth a combined $165,700 in the “prison economy.”
South Carolina is one of the many states across the country dealing with a persistent and growing problem: Drones are flying onto prison grounds, often in the dark of night, and dropping contraband for inmates – everything from knives, cellphones and escape tools to crab legs, cigarettes and a stuffed toy cat hiding drugs worth thousands of dollars.
The issue has become so pervasive that 21 state attorneys general sent a letter to the US National Security Council in late March asking for help handling the sharp increase in drone drops over prison grounds, namely through the loosening of federal restrictions that they say limit the way state and local law enforcement can respond.
“This type of illegal activity is happening all over the country and the consequences are severe,” they wrote. “The introduction of drugs contributes to addiction, violence, and overdose incidents. Smuggled weapons heighten the risk of assaults and coordinated acts of violence. Contraband cell phones enable incarcerated individuals to continue criminal enterprises, including fraud schemes, witness intimidation, and violent crime.”
Though contraband is not a new problem, drone drops have become a regular occurrence for the South Carolina drone captain. This year, its 21 state prisons have dealt with 75 drone smuggling incidents as of April 24 – and recorded 273 such incidents in 2025, according to a department spokesperson.
Other methods of sneaking contraband into a prison include throwing it over a facility’s fence, coordinating through the mail and, in some cases, involving corrupt corrections officers.
Now, drones fly right up to a prison yard or an inmate’s window and deliver a package, “kind of like a DoorDash,” said the captain, who asked CNN not to use his name for fear of retaliation: His colleague’s house was set on fire a few years ago in response to his work fighting contraband in prisons, according to the SCDC and public testimony before a state legislative committee.
Shocking surveillance footage captures the moment a woman opens fire at a West Virginia gas station, narrowly missing a worker.
In the video, Rebecca Peterson, 42, of Oceana allegedly walks up to the counter of the pit stop’s convenience store with a gun around 4 a.m. Friday and tells the clerk she wants to rob the store — before shooting at the back wall behind him.
“Oh, my God!” screams the Shell station clerk, Alaa Hammad, who was covering a shift for a friend at the Lincoln County rest stop at the time, according to WCHS and video obtained by the outlet.
Hammad had just told Peterson, who was cloaked in a black hoodie, that the owner was in a back room counting money, and he was running away when she shot at the surveillance camera in the back of the store, according to video and authorities.
“I tried to let her be calm and saw her mentality is not awake,” the clerk later told the local outlet.
Peterson left the store in her car but was tracked down by police a short time afterward.
She was charged with attempted armed robbery, wanton endangerment, brandishing, assault and destruction of property, according to West Virginia State Police.
x1200
A knife-wielding man was arrested Saturday for criminal trespassing after allegedly terrorizing residents in a Sacramento neighborhood.
Haunting video captured the moment Brian Mattson appeared on the porch of Rebecca Breen’s home Thursday evening brandishing a knife and appearing to making repeated stabbing motions.
“We heard a loud knock and we looked in the ring camera and we noticed that there was something very strange going on,” Breen told KCRA. “It was terrifying. It was absolutely terrifying.”
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Lt. Amar Gandhi told the outlet deputies received similar calls from several other residents.
“It’s pretty scary stuff. He’s going out there literally thrashing on doors with knives,” he said. “But fortunately, again, nobody hurt. People were very smart in the sense of lock the doors, stayed inside and called us.”
The 56-year-old fled when authorities arrived, but was later found and arrested on Saturday morning, the outlet reported.
Mattson, who was on felony probation, was only charged with criminal trespassing and released a few hours after being booked, according to the outlet citing authorities.
He was arrested later that same day when police responded to another incident involving Mattson trespassing.
Breen told the outlet she doesn’t believe her family was targeted, but said it was “very scary” nonetheless.
“I do believe that we were a random target. I don’t think that we were specifically targeted, but I think it’s very scary because if it wasn’t us, it’s going to be someone else. I mean, clearly he was not in his right frame of mind at all,” she said. x1200
For more than 30 years, the answer to who killed Cindy Wanner remained much of a mystery to loved ones and law enforcement after she vanished from a Northern California home leaving everything behind, including her baby.
Her sudden disappearance in 1991 rattled residents of Granite Bay, a suburb of Sacramento where the 35-year-old mother of two had gone to clean her sister’s home, investigators said. Wanner’s 11-month-old baby was buckled into a high chair and crying, without her mom, when a relative arrived to the home that day.
An extensive search for Wanner ended three weeks later when her body was found in a remote area about 40 miles from her sister’s home, according to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office.
But many questions remained about who was behind Wanner’s death – and why.
Over the years, law enforcement continued testing evidence without any sufficient results until newer DNA testing technology gave them new hope in finding Wanner’s killer.
Suspect flew under the radar for decades
Detectives recently submitted a “final piece of evidence” from Wanner’s case to a neighboring sheriff’s office forensics lab, which yielded a match identifying James Lawhead Jr., 64, as a suspect, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said.
While the latest DNA match pointed them to Lawhead finding him became a challenge.
Investigators looking for Lawhead found no trace of him and “it appeared that he just disappeared since 2005,” Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo said in a news conference earlier this week.
“We explored all possibilities on what could have happened, whether he was still living under a fake identity, whether he had left the country, or whether he was even deceased,” Woo said, noting the sheriff’s office checked records in both the US and Canada.
Detectives asked other agencies for help and the Scottsdale Police Department, using the Arizona Department of Transportation’s facial recognition system, identified a match, Woo said. The system is typically used to flag fake driver’s licenses, state IDs and suspected identity theft.
2026.5.2 Mob of teens storms Times Square Scientology church amid viral ‘speed running’ trend
A mob of rowdy teens stormed a Big Apple Scientology church Saturday afternoon, trashing the property and injuring a security guard amid a nationwide rash of similar viral social media stunts, police and sources said.
About 50 unruly youths barreled through a locked side door of the Church of Scientology of New York — which sits just off Times Square on West 46th Street — at around 4:24 p.m., damaging the premises while worshipers and visitors were attending a seminar, according to cops, police sources and the church.
They also kicked a 30-year-old man, believed to be a security guard, who was walloped in the leg and sustained minor injuries.
The rampaging teens — whose act resembled the “speed running” trend that has seen similar invasions at Scientology locations in Los Angeles — also hurled a racial slur at another staffer, the church said.
“I saw about possibly about 50 kids with masks and hoodies. All races, black, whites, Asians, running,” said George Shannon, 58, a guard at the near-by Lunt-Fontanne Theater.
“They were running and laughing. They were breaking up the chairs and tables and throwing books on the ground, vandalizing the church.”
While police did not address a motive for the attack, The Church of Scientology International, based in Los Angeles, said that they believe it is part of the recent viral trend
“Some online have referred to these incidents as ‘speed running.’ In reality, they involve organized trespasses into religious and public information facilities for social media attention,” the church said.
“A group of individuals forced their way into the Church of Scientology New York, broke a locked door to gain entry, and rushed into the building,” the church added.
“The disruption endangered staff, parishioners and visitors, including individuals attending a seminar at the time. This was not a peaceful visit or lawful protested. It was a coordinated act involving forced entry, property damage, and physical aggression inside a house of worship.”
The rabble-rousers later fled the building in all directions, police said.
No arrests have been made as the investigation continues.
The Midtown incident mirrors the bizarre new TikTok trend dubbed “Scientology speed running” — which uses a video game term to describe groups of thrill-seeking influencers and troublemakers filming themselves charging into properties owned or tied to the Church of Scientology since early April.
The reckless social media craze, erupting across Los Angeles, has sparked security fears for the church, which teaches followers that humans are immortal spiritual beings called “thetans” with limitless power.
The religion, founded in the 1950s by science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard, is built on a system of beliefs, teachings, and rituals focused on spiritual betterment, with his book “Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health” serving as its foundational text.
Hollywood has long fueled the church’s visibility, largely due to high-profile members like actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta, who have served as its most recognizable public supporters.
Other well-known members of the church have included actresses Elisabeth Moss, Catherine Bell, Jenna Elfman, and Nancy Cartwright, best known as the voice of Bart Simpson on “The Simpsons.”
The church said it is cooperating with the NYPD as its investigation in Saturday’s incident continues.
“Church facilities are peaceful spaces designed to welcome parishioners, visitors and members of the public,” the statement said.
“Turning them into targets for viral stunts is not journalism, protest or civic activity. It is trespass, harassment, and disruption of religious spaces. The Church welcomes lawful visitors. It does not welcome individuals forcing entry, damaging property … or targeting religious facilities for online attention.”
Shannon said he was disgusted by the scene of lawlessness.
“Honestly, I feel this is the responsibility of the city council and the Mayor,” he said. “The lack of rules and regulations. So people in New York City feel and do whatever they want to do.
That’s why these kids wasn’t even scared.”
A homeless man in the East Village has everyone around him saying ‘pew.’
Neighbors are calling the vagrant — who apparently has no control of his bodily functions and has decamped on the stoops of an abandoned historic church on East 7th Street — the smelliest man in NYC.
“There’s always rats and homeless people there, but the odor has never been so pungent as to make me gag from the middle of the block,” said Raf Astor, a longtime East Village resident, who first came upon the putrid scene 10 days ago.
That’s when nabe noses first detected the unidentified man on the steps of the former First Hungarian Reformed Church in a pool of liquified poo.
“As I approached, I noticed what seemed to be brown and red liquid dripping down his leg and forming a puddle under one of the legs of his pants.”
“You could smell him from down the block,” said Michelle Roderick, who lives on the block. “It’s just a very sad situation. My fiance went up to him and asked him if he needed some help and if he wanted an ambulance to come and he refused.”
Residents have been avoiding the block since, calling it a biohazard, they told The Post.
One of the business owners even placed a large brick of incense on the church steps while he wasn’t there one day.
“Even after he was gone, I could still smell it…It lingers,” said Roderick. “I think it might have gotten worse. I feel like I smell him from farther and farther away.”
Over the past few days, the man was seen limping towards Tompkins Square Park, the stench following him.
The Post spotted the man Friday snoozing on a park bench, flies circling, as passersby covered their noses and mouths.
Despite his obvious need for medical attention, authorities seem at a loss for what to do.
Neighbors called 911 twice, but the man refused care when an ambulance was dispatched, a FDNY spokesperson told The Post.
There’s been more than a dozen 311 complaints in the past week alone for homeless person assistance or encampments but the cases have all been closed with no apparent action, according to records.
The owner of the tattoo parlor next door told The Post he made one of those calls.
“People from the city came, they walked up the street to look for him but they didn’t see him. So they left,” said “Sway.”
He removed the bench normally outside his shop in the hopes of discouraging the man from sleeping there.
“The smell is so bad, and all the businesses – we had to clean up after him.”
The city’s Department of Homeless Services claimed it was closely monitoring the location, which has been abandoned since the pandemic. The city’s Landmark Preservation Commission recently approved its conversion into residential units.
“Outreach workers accompanied by clinicians will continue to canvass this area to engage any vulnerable New Yorker they encounter and make connections to shelter and services that meet their unique needs,” a spokesperson told The Post.
Under state law, treatment can’t be given without consent, unless there is a medical emergency. Residents argue there is.
Some of the local liberal policies set in place for dealing with homelessness haven’t allowed [authorities] to deal with situations where the person is not cooperative or able to help themselves,” said Astor.
“We need to have policies in place where the city could take control of a situation like this and help this man both for the benefit of himself and keeping our streets clean.”
2026.5.1 CNN video analysis: Gunman raised shotgun as he stormed security at press dinner
A federal judge privately admonished prosecutors for attempting to grandstand Thursday at a detention hearing for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner gunman, according to a transcript first obtained by CNN.
“I don’t know what’s going on here. I know that you want to present your case, I guess, to some audience other than the Court,” Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya told three prosecutors in the courtroom on Thursday out of earshot of the public and press. “I don’t want this to turn into a circus.”
Upadhyaya’s comments highlight a dynamic that has arisen in the six days since Cole Tomas Allen allegedly tried storming the press dinner, with Trump administration officials aggressively describing their theory of the alleged attempted assassination of the president — the third in two years — in news interviews and unsolicited court filings.
Several times, DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro and others in television interviews have gone much further and given more definitive descriptions of the shooting than the detail that’s been represented in court from the FBI and Justice Department line prosecutors. They’ve also emphasized the law enforcement response as a success.
A CNN analysis of hotel surveillance video released by the DC US Attorney’s Office on Thursday, coupled with audio taken from inside the ballroom during the shooting, does not definitively conclude when or if Allen fired a shot. But the audio analysis does indicate that six shots total were fired during the incident, which aligns with initial statements by law enforcement that Allen fired one shot, while a responding officer fired five more.
Secret Service Director Sean M. Curran on Thursday said Allen shot an officer at point-blank range. Pirro said Thursday on Fox News that he fired at the Secret Service officer.
Court filings describing the events have been less definitive, and in some cases have contradicted the initial claims from top administration officials.
The latest available court filing describing what happened reads: “A USSS officer observed the defendant fire the shotgun in the direction of the stairs leading down to the ballroom.”
While Allen faces an initial charge of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, his charges could expand or be changed as a grand jury investigation progresses toward an indictment.
The investigation into the shooting remains in its early stages, the Justice Department has said repeatedly. The Justice Department didn’t respond to specific questions related to the video evidence released Thursday.
Questions about Allen’s intent as he ran toward the ballroom Saturday night are likely to linger over his legal case, and the Justice Department’s initial representations could become more important in court proceedings down the road.
His defense attorneys have already attempted in court filings to sew doubt about whether Allen intended to commit a mass shooting.
CNN video analysis
CNN’s analysis of video of the Saturday incident does, however, provide more insights into how the shooting unfolded at the event and raises questions about whether the officers were at an appropriate posture when the gunman entered the space.
In the video, Allen is seen entering a door about 35 feet away from where law enforcement officers were breaking down the magnetometers, one level above the ballroom where the dinner was taking place. The door Allen entered led to an elevator bank.
Inside the ballroom, President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, several Cabinet officials and thousands of attendees were being served the first course of the dinner.
The video shows a law enforcement K9 and its handler looking inside the door that Allen, who was wearing a long coat that prosecutors say he hid his shotgun under then discarded, entered. The dog briefly enters the door, though it remains unclear what exactly they saw.
Next, the video shows Allen coming back through the door and sprinting toward a group of several law enforcement officers at the security checkpoint.
The officers were in the process of breaking down the magnetometers at the time. One officer, a uniformed member of the Secret Service, appears to notice Allen several seconds before the others.
That officer, who was standing on Allen’s right, near two more members of law enforcement, drew his pistol and aimed it toward Allen. Almost instantaneously, Allen ran through a remaining magnetometer and leveled his shotgun at that Secret Service officer.
The video shows dust near a ceiling light becoming unsettled as Allen levels his shotgun at officers, but before a muzzle flash — a visual light emitting from the barrel of a gun which indicates it has been fired — is seen from a responding Secret Service officer who first noticed Allen.
That dust could have been dislodged by a shot from Allen’s shotgun, even if a muzzle flash from the gun is not visibly apparent due to the quality of the video. Six shots are heard on the audio taken from the ballroom in total, according to Robert Maher, an audio forensic expert at Montana State University, who reviewed the audio for CNN.
It took Allen less than three seconds from the point where he reemerged from the door leading to the elevator bank to when he was through the magnetometer.
The video clearly shows four muzzle flashes from the Secret Service officer who initially noticed Allen. Other members of law enforcement and the Transportation Security Administration, who assisted with security screening at the dinner, appear to react to those gunshots.
As officers rush to restrain Allen, two small objects — apparently knives that law enforcement says he was carrying with him at the time — can be seen sliding back into the frame from the direction which Allen ran.
Law enforcement has said that the officer who fired the shots toward Allen was struck by gunfire in his protective vest. Specifically, a letter the Justice Department sent to Allen’s attorneys on Wednesday says, “at least one fragment was recovered from the crime scene that was physically consistent with a single buckshot pellet,” noting it backs up the Justice Department’s belief he fired at the agent.
Allen’s defense team is still questioning, however, whether Allen actually fired his shotgun — loaded with buckshot that would have sprayed a heavy blast — to hit the agent, according to a letter they wrote to the prosecutors on Wednesday.
Early public statements
Despite limited early information, top Trump administration officials rushed to provide a more definitive account of the incident than the available evidence has so far shown.
Shortly after the shooting, Blanche said Allen was “promptly tackled and detained by law enforcement,” only to be contradicted by prosecutors who said Allen “fell to the ground.” Pirro has said the agent wasn’t hit by friendly fire.
Another photo Pirro’s office released on Thursday shows Allen’s shotgun lying at the bottom of a landing in the stairs to the ballroom, a half floor down from where he was running. In that photo, it is marked with an evidence flag.
At the hearing on Thursday, prosecutors were prepared in court to show the new video and photos they had of the shooting, Allen’s weapons and of the hotel crime scene. Upadhyaya stopped them from doing this in court, because it was not needed after Allen’s lawyers said he agreed to remain detained while he awaited trial, she ruled.
Appearing annoyed, the judge then called the prosecutors and defense team to the bench to speak with them privately, where the judge continued to call out the Justice Department’s approach.
The court released a transcript of the exchange after the hearing following a request to the judge from CNN.
Serving as the backdrop to the admonishment is the political circumstances that some of these officials find themselves in as Trump has signaled an increased openness to replace those — like former Attorney General Pam Bondi — whom he believes do not react quickly and publicly enough to sensitive investigations.
The exchange also highlights how early and incomplete the investigation still is.
“We’re five days into this investigation,” prosecutor Jocelyn Ballantine responded to the judge, according to the transcript. “As soon as we have finalized reports and discovery” — meaning evidence that the defense team can review — “that we’re in a position to be able to accurately provide to counsel, we will be doing that. We take our discovery obligations seriously.”
Ballantine then says the US Attorney’s Office wasn’t ready to discuss in open court the documents they have so far from the investigation.
Following the hearing, the US Attorney’s Office put into the court record and posted on social media the videos and photos they had prepared.
They said, in a letter to the judge, the Justice Department “now formally completes the record.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — An 18-year-old Kentucky man who led police on a high-speed chase Thursday night has been charged by federal investigators in a bank robbery that left two people dead.
Brailen Weaver is charged with armed bank robbery and firearms offenses that caused death, according to federal court records.
Weaver entered a branch of U.S. Bank in Berea on Thursday, just before 2 p.m. and “immediately shot and killed a male victim” and then fatally shot a teller, according to an FBI affidavit filed in federal court Friday. He checked multiple drawers in the bank and then fled, the affidavit said. Investigators have not said if any money was taken from the bank.
“While there is no longer imminent danger, we understand that the tragedy is far from over for the community,” Olivia Olson, special agent in charge of the Louisville FBI office, said at a news conference Friday. “The only solace that we can offer is that this individual, who valued a stolen dollar more than two human lives, will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman announced Friday he would pursue state murder charges against Weaver. Court records say Weaver is 18, and officials said Friday he lived somewhere in Kentucky.
Authorities identified a silver BMW sedan on surveillance video and matched it to a car for sale by Weaver on Facebook, the affidavit said. Investigators were also able to match clothing on the suspect to photos of Weaver on social media. Investigators said Weaver continued to post on social media after the robbery.
The FBI located Weaver’s car on I-75, and he was pursued at speeds over 100 mph (161 kph) Thursday night. He exited the highway into Lexington, where he exceeded speeds of 130 mph (209 kph) before crashing the car and fleeing on foot, the affidavit said.
Kentucky State Police Officer Justin Kearney said in a social media post Friday that a “person of interest believed to be involved in yesterday’s Berea bank robbery has been apprehended.”
The affidavit was written before he was captured so it makes no mention of an arrest.
Rawl Kazee, a Lexington attorney identified in court records as representation for Weaver, did not immediately return a phone message later Friday morning.
Jason Parman, first assistant U.S. attorney for the eastern half of Kentucky, said in his 18 years as a prosecutor, he could not recall a death related to a bank robbery. Parman said it’s not uncommon for a bank robber to be armed and to threaten violence, but deaths are uncommon in his experience.
Bank robberies nationally have declined from 5,546 in 2010 to 1,263 in 2023, a decrease of 77%, according to the FBI’s annual Bank Crime Statistics report. There were no deaths associated with bank robberies in 2022 and 2023, the most recent year available for the data.
Tom Myers, a crime historian and retired FBI agent, said the drop in bank robberies is due to experienced criminals opting to move on to easier crimes that don’t come with the risk of a lengthy federal prison sentence. Bank security technology has also evolved rapidly, he said, and tiny, powerful tracking devices can make it easier to find stolen money bundles once a robber has left the bank.
“The juice ain’t worth the squeeze,” Myers said. “There’s so many other things to do that are profitable — you can go to a big box store and walk out with the same amount in some places, and only face state charges if you’re caught.”
Law enforcement officials went door to door in search of information and surveillance video, as well as using helicopters, drones and dogs. The Lexington Police Department and county sheriff’s offices took part in the search, along with the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Area schools went into lockdown for a while Thursday until campuses were deemed safe. Students were not allowed to go home on buses and had to be picked up by their parents, state police said.
U.S. Bank said it was working closely with law enforcement and committed to supporting the victims’ families and bank colleagues. The small bank branch in the quiet community of Berea is located just a mile from Berea College and its campus that dates back to the 1850s.
“We’re deeply saddened by the tragic event that took the lives of two of our employees at our Berea, Kentucky branch earlier today,” the company said in a statement Thursday. “Our hearts go out to the families of the victims, our colleagues and the entire Berea community.”
Berea is about 36 miles (58 kilometers) south of Lexington.
NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein ‘s accuser struggled on the witness stand at his rape retrial Thursday after being confronted with a previously undisclosed, soul-searching note she wrote to herself two days after the alleged assault in 2013. Court ended early for the day.
Jessica Mann straightforwardly answered questions about the missive, in which she described becoming “emotionally attached” to someone and wanting a loving partnership. Weinstein’s defense pointed out that she wrote nothing about having allegedly been raped.
Court wrapped up for the day, about 45 minutes earlier than planned. Mann is due back Friday for a fifth day.
Thursday’s early end came after questions turned to the alleged assault in a Manhattan hotel room, and Mann said she was feeling “spacey” from the difficulty of testifying. The court took a break, but soon after Mann returned, she said she felt “dissociated” and sensed she wasn’t hearing properly because of stress. The 40-year-old later told the judge she hadn’t gotten much sleep.
It’s the third time Mann has testified against Weinstein, 73. He was initially convicted in 2020, but an appeals court overturned that verdict for reasons unrelated to her testimony. The jury at his first retrial, last year, didn’t decide the rape charge.
Mann, a hairstylist and actor, has acknowledged the two had a consensual, on-again-off-again sexual relationship. She alleges it degenerated into rape in New York in March 2013 and again some months later in Beverly Hills, California. Weinstein has never been charged with any crime related to the California allegation.
“He just treated me like he owned me,” Mann told jurors this week.
Weinstein’s lawyers maintain that everything that happened between the two was consensual and part of a supportive, caring relationship. They say Mann benefited from associating with an Oscar-winning producer, only later accusing him after allegations about him powered the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct. He denies sexually assaulting anyone.
The sketchy, journal-like note that came up in court Thursday was written on March 20, 2013. Mann had just returned to her Los Angeles home from New York, where she says Weinstein forced himself on her. She had gone on to see him socially, at one point marking his March 19 birthday by having tea with him and his daughter.
In the missive, Mann mused about budding feelings of attachment in a nonexclusive relationship with a man she didn’t name. She reflected on how she wanted a mutual and loving relationship and said her feelings toward the unnamed man were creating inner conflict for her. She talked about questioning the “woulds and would nots” she had set for herself.
After describing fears of rejection, and being a “‘bad’ person,” she appealed for God’s guidance.
“I know that I was struggling with some of the decisions I was making that were different than what I was raised with,” Mann explained in court, adding that there was “a lot going on at this time in my life.”
Emphasizing a passage about seeking love and freedom, she testified that “I was feeling very controlled.”
Through questions, Weinstein attorney Teny Geragos suggested that the note reflected Mann’s feelings about being involved with the then-married Weinstein.
It’s been clear through three trials that those feelings were complicated.
Mann testified Wednesday that despite the alleged rape, she loved “a part of him” because Weinstein could be kind and encouraging about her personal struggles and professional dreams, and that the two had “some pretty human moments” together.
“What did he do for you that made parts of you really love him?” Geragos asked.
“It was the validation,” Mann said.
When Geragos went on to ask about the “human moments,” Mann said she once slapped Weinstein, thinking he was inviting it as sex play, but that he later told her, “Jess, that’s not you.”
“So when you were talking about the validation that you received … and the human moments that you shared with Harvey, it was that you slapped him?” Geragos asked.
Mann said she instead was referring to his remark that “that’s not you.”
Mann and Weinstein met at a Los Angeles-area party around early 2013. At the time, she was a financially struggling but aspiring to make it big in show business.
The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they agree to be named, as Mann has done.
2026.5.1 How investigators say the killings of two University of South Florida students unfolded
As the suspect accused of killing two doctoral students in Florida faces murder charges, authorities have laid out disturbing and grisly details surrounding the students’ disappearance.
Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy, both 27 and originally from Bangladesh, were last seen nearly two weeks ago in Tampa. Limon’s body was found a week later. Two days after that, Bristy’s heavily decomposed remains were found.
Hisham Abugharbieh, Limon’s roommate, has been charged with two counts of first-degree premeditated murder with a weapon in the deaths of the students. A judge ruled Tuesday he will remain in detention as he awaits trial.
In a motion prosecutors filed last week to keep Abugharbieh, 26, in jail while he faces the charges, they laid out a detailed timeline of how investigators think the two University of South Florida students may have died as well as their and the suspect’s actions around the time they went missing.
Here’s a look at what they say unfolded.
Police say Xin Tong, 31, was found with chemicals commonly used to manufacture methamphetamine
A suspect was arrested after allegedly running a secret meth lab at Michigan State University’s Wells Hall, the institution’s largest academic building.
Xin Tong, 31, is facing felony charges in connection with the alleged operation, as well as misdemeanor trespassing, according to police.
Officers responded earlier this week to Wells Hall over reports of a suspicious person, a strong odor and unknown substances on the floor, WILX reported. Officers found Tong and confirmed his identity by using his expired MSU student ID.
Tong was in possession of multiple bags, which officers later searched through after obtaining a search warrant, discovering several bottles containing substances commonly used in the manufacture of meth, according to the outlet.
“The chemicals include sodium hydroxide pellets, hydrochloric acid, methanol, isopropyl alcohol, acetone, and butane. Multiple tests performed by the Office of Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) confirm the environment in Wells Hall does not pose a risk to our community,” MSU police said.
Officials later clarified that a meth lab was never located inside Wells Hall.
“The suspect was found in possession of chemicals and/or equipment that could be used in the production of methamphetamine, which were contained within his personal property,” police said.
Tong allegedly caused significant damage to the doors, flooring, and fixtures in Wells Hall between April 10 and April 26.
He has been charged with trespassing, malicious destruction of a building over $20,000 and felony controlled substance-operate/maintain lab involving methamphetamine.
Wells Hall was evacuated on Monday, and it remained closed through Friday “out of an abundance of caution,” the university said in a press release, adding that there “continues to be no known threat to the campus community.”
Tong is being held at the Ingham County Jail on a $500,000 bond. The Department of Homeland Security also reportedly placed a hold on his bond.
Several arrests were made Friday during escalating May Day protests in downtown Los Angeles, as agitators blocked traffic and confronted officers near a federal building, the Los Angeles Police Department reported.
LAPD issued an emergency alert around 3 p.m. as protesters shut down two southbound lanes on Alameda Street between Temple and Aliso streets, leaving just one lane open.
An unlawful assembly was declared by authorities, bringing traffic to a crawl.
Police told The California Post they were dealing with a large, “unruly” group.
Agitators hurled vulgar and hostile language at officers, including the chant “F–K DHS!” as tensions escalated.
Demonstrators lined sidewalks and repeatedly moved into the street with megaphones, at times stopping vehicles.
Some waved Palestinian flags, while others wore hoods and masks, chanting “ICE out of LA” in opposition to federal immigration enforcement.
The disruption came as part of a broader May Day mobilization expected to draw thousands of workers, union members and activists across the city.
Organizers urged supporters to join an “economic blackout,” encouraging people to skip work, school and shopping.
The main rally was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. at MacArthur Park, followed by a march to Grand Park after a speaking program.
Labor and immigrant rights groups said the demonstrations mark International Workers’ Day, with similar events planned across California calling for expanded worker protections and immigration reform.
Many signs carried by demonstrators featured anti-ICE messages, along with anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian slogans, as the protest shifted from an organized rally into a chaotic street scene.
发表回复