2026.6.2 Police investigate Iowa man suspected of shooting 6 of his relatives and then himself
MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities in Iowa are investigating the fatal shootings of six people who they believe were killed by a relative who took his own life when confronted by police Monday.
Police were called Monday to a home in Muscatine, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Cedar Rapids, where they found four people fatally shot, Muscatine Police Chief Anthony Kies said during a news conference.
Officers later found the suspect, 52-year-old Ryan Willis McFarland, of Muscatine, on a trail in the city, Kies said.
“While talking to Ryan Willis McFarland, he took his own life,” he said.
Two other men who also are believed to be relatives of McFarland were later found fatally shot elsewhere in the city, according to Kies. One man was found in his home and the other was discovered dead inside a business, he said.
Authorities have yet to release the names of the victims and any details about them.
“Today I simply do not have the words,” said Kies. “This act of evil and what it has done to our community.”
The city’s police department is continuing to investigate the shootings, working to process the crime scenes and conduct interviews. Police have asked anyone with information to contact its major crimes unit.
Kies confirmed that McFarland had a criminal record, but wouldn’t share any details.
The actor and musician said the 31-year-old man who she says tried to force his way into her Hollywood Hills home had been surveilling the property since at least late April.
A Los Angeles County court granted pop superstar Sabrina Carpenter a temporary restraining order Monday against a man she alleges has been stalking her and tried to get into her home.
The court prohibited William Applegate, 31, from being within 100 yards of Carpenter or her sister Sarah Carpenter and the latter’s partner, who also live in the Hollywood Hills home, according to Monday’s order.
Carpenter filed a request for a civil harassment restraining order against Applegate in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Friday. The request alleges Applegate went up to Carpenter’s front door and tried to forcibly open it on May 23, an escalation of alleged stalking behavior that had been occurring at least around April 20.
“His pattern of stalking, trespassing, and surveillance has caused me severe and ongoing emotional distress, and I am in fear [of] what he may do if he is not restrained by his Court,” Carpenter wrote in her declaration requesting the restraining order.
NBC News was unable to find contact information for Applegate on Monday, and it was unclear whether he has a lawyer. The Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The request alleges Applegate tried to open Carpenter’s front door on May 23. When a security guard confronted him, Applegate struck the man, according to a declaration in support of the restraining order from a Los Angeles police detective.
Images from a Ring security camera show a man, whom the restraining order request identifies as Applegate, at Carpenter’s front door and being confronted by a security guard with a flashlight.
According to court documents, the security guard told Applegate to leave, but he refused and said that he knew Carpenter and that she was expecting him, a claim the documents called “outrageous and entirely false.”
Applegate refused to leave until police officers arrived, according to the detective, a threat management expert. The detective wrote that Applegate “developed a disturbing and irrational fixation on” Carpenter.
After he was arrested on suspicion of trespassing, a misdemeanor, the man returned to the neighborhood the next two days, Carpenter said in her declaration.
He parked his Toyota Prius nearby and reclined his seat so it was more difficult to see him, she said, while he conducted what she alleged was “deliberate surveillance” and “harassment.” He left once police officers responded, Carpenter said.
After that, Carpenter’s security personnel determined the man had been parking in the neighborhood and getting “progressively closer” to her home since roughly April 20, according to the request.
“His delusional insistence that he knows me and was expected by me is indicative of a dangerous, delusional, and irrational fixation on me,” Carpenter wrote in her declaration.
The restraining order also covers Carpenter’s workplace and vehicle and says Applegate may not harass, intimidate, threaten, contact or stalk her.
The police department submitted its case for trespassing and other allegations from the May 23 incident to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office so it can determine whether charges should be filed, the police detective wrote in his declaration supporting a restraining order. A court hearing for that matter is scheduled for June 18, he said.
2026.6.2 A chilling, apparently random stabbing on a MARTA train leaves a 66-year-old woman dead
A 25-year-old man has been charged with murder after police say he stabbed a woman to death on an Atlanta commuter train in an apparently random attack.
John Elijah Matthews was arrested around noon on Saturday, moments after he stepped off the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority train at the Oakland City Station, said MARTA Police Chief Scott Kreher. First responders tried to resuscitate Margaret Swan, 66, but she died at the scene, he said.
Matthews waived a bond hearing set for Monday morning, and a defense attorney named in his court documents did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment. Matthews has not yet had the opportunity to enter a plea.
Kreher said video from the train depicted an unprovoked and chilling attack on an apparent stranger, and that Swan was stabbed up to 20 times.
“There’s no evidence at this time to suggest they knew each other — this was merely a random act of violence,” Kreher said.
“He walked over, stood next to her, and within 30 seconds he had killed her,” using a small pocket knife, Kreher said. “He looked at her, didn’t say anything to her, pulled out a knife.”
Other people were on the train at the time, Kreher said, but the suspect did not approach any of them.
“He finished attacking her, and he just stood there and waited for the train to stop in Oakland City. He got off the train car, went over on the platform, and just sat down. He didn’t even try to run or hide,” Kreher said.
A statement from MARTA said the transit authority is committed to protecting riders and responding quickly to incidents. MARTA has 12,000 security cameras in its system, as well as a dedicated police force of 280 officers.
“This was a senseless and heartbreaking loss,” the MARTA statement said. “We mourn with Margaret Swan’s loved ones and extend our deepest sympathies during this incredibly difficult time.”
Kreher said the police force had already planned to step up security by putting officers on six-day workweeks starting Saturday for the FIFA World Cup. But after the stabbing, they decided to implement the longer workweek immediately.
There were 1,357 assaults, including 29 fatalities, on mass transit riders in the U.S. from Oct. 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2025, according to the Federal Transit Administration. But that was a drop compared to the two previous years, when more than 1,500 people were assaulted, and more than 40 died in each year.
Last month, a man with a machete who attacked three people at a major New York City subway station was shot and killed by police. The three stabbing victims had injuries that were not expected to be life-threatening.
Almost a dozen people were injured in a stabbing attack on a train traveling through eastern England last November.
A young Ukrainian refugee was fatally stabbed on a commuter train in Charlotte, North Carolina, last year, and the man charged with her murder has not yet been found competent to stand trial. The death of Iryna Zarutska, 23, sparked sharp criticism from President Donald Trump and others who said local officials were not doing enough to prevent violent crime.
2026.6.1 Judge torches upstate NY dad who laughed in court about executing young son, girlfriend with shotgun
The cold-blooded upstate New York dad who callously laughed in court while confessing to the murders of his 11-year-old son and girlfriend got a blistering tongue-lashing from the furious judge last week — before being hit with a hefty prison term.
David Huff, 43, was sentenced Friday to 40 years to life behind bars after flashing a smug grin and chuckling while admitting he shotgunned his girlfriend, Yeraldith Tschudy, 23, and his son, Jeremiah Huff, inside his stepfather’s Syracuse home in March 2025.
“Your actions are reprehensible, and you deserve to be incarcerated for the rest of your life,” Onondaga County Judge Ted Limpert raged in court, according to Syracuse.com.
“Even a sentence of life is not long enough for you.”
Jeremiah’s mother, Samantha Gallup-Peltier, also tore into Huff while remembering her slain son.
“You are destined for the seventh circle of hell,” she tearfully blasted in court.
“Children are supposed to trust their parents will protect them from harm, not become the source of it.”
Huff used a 12-gauge shotgun when he opened fire at his stepfather’s Roney Road residence around 9:30 p.m. March 17, 2025, killing Tschudy and his son before also allegedly shooting his stepdad.
Gallup-Peltier was the first to dial 911 after getting a disturbing call from her son just before the killings.
Huff fled before police arrived and was arrested by state authorities the next morning while walking on West Seneca Turnpike, not far from the grisly scene.
Limpert’s searing rebuke came over a month after the twisted dad tried to justify his disturbing courtroom antics at the April 28 appearance, insisting he had a “joke stuck” in his head as he pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder.
“You find this funny?” the judge asked the laughing killer, the outlet reported.
Huff flippantly replied while still giggling, “No, it’s a joke stuck in my head … Go on,” before later telling the judge, “I’m guilty of all that. Whatever you guys say, I’m guilty of.”
Defense attorney Shaun Chase claimed Friday that Huff was on the hallucinogenic drug ecstasy or “Molly” when he carried out the double killings.
The last-ditch effort came after Chase conceded that multiple experts found any mental incapacity stemmed from Huff’s voluntary abuse of booze or drugs.
The conviction followed months of delays while the defense waited for a medical expert to assess Huff’s mental health.
It’s not clear which substances, if any, Huff was using or his level of intoxication on the night of the murders, prosecutors said.
Huff was found competent to stand trial but opted to plead guilty.
A South Carolina jury on Monday found a store owner not guilty of murder in the 2023 shooting of a Black 14-year-old.
The jury returned the verdict for Chikei Rick Chow. Chow, 61, who is Asian, shot Cyrus Carmack-Belton in the back after chasing him from his convenience store in Columbia, but maintained he acted to defend his son. The killing sent waves of anguish and grief through the African American community in Richland County, where nearly half the population is Black.
After the verdict was read, sobs and cries of distress could be heard coming from Carmack-Belton’s family seated in the gallery. Chow sat silently frozen before slowly bowing his head onto his interlocked hands.
Prosecutors and a defense lawyer in closing arguments painted different pictures of the 2023 shooting. Prosecutors said Chow acted in anger because he wrongly thought the teen had stolen four bottles of water from the store. A defense lawyer said Chow fired to defend his son only after the teen pointed a gun at him.
“This case is not about a shoplifter. This case is about a father who sees a gun pointed at his son and had to make a decision,” defense attorney Shaun Kent told jurors during closing arguments. The defense attorney said Andy Chow testified that Carmack-Belton pointed a gun at him.
Prosecutors acknowledged Carmack-Belton had a semiautomatic pistol, but they say it fell on the ground during the chase, and he never threatened anyone with it. Prosecutors said Chow chased the teen more than 130 yards from the store.
Solicitor Byron E. Gipson told jurors that Chow “chased a kid down, shot him in the back.”
During closing arguments, Gipson placed a bottle of water before jurors. Gipson said that Chow “at the end of the day, believed that a human is not more than that.”
Gipson said multiple witnesses testified that they didn’t see anything in Carmack-Belton’s hands and didn’t see him point a gun as he ran from the store.
“Nobody testified that happened that doesn’t have the last name Chow,” Gipson said.
The fatal shooting prompted vigils and protests outside the store. Empty water bottles were arranged to spell out “Cyrus” at one 2023 vigil.
2026.6.1 NYC manhole ‘mole people’ have plundered sewer for lost treasures for decades
Treasures abound beneath city streets for anyone brave or crazy enough to explore the murky depths of the Big Apple’s sprawling 7,500-mile sewer system — all in search of a wayward wallet or piece of jewelry that may have fallen through a grate above.
Those temptations were put on full display last week by two separate incidents caught on camera Friday night, where troops of people were seen emerging from manhole covers across Brooklyn after sneaking around the steamy depths in what police said were likely scavenging operations.
The ever-present threat of arrest and obvious risks to personal safety are apparently no deterrent for these intrepid subterranean explorers — for whom no gemstone is too grimy and no coin too crud-covered to add to their loot pouches — with numerous such incidents capturing the city’s attention over the years.
One happening made headlines In 2015, when part-time city Department of Environmental Protection worker Marquis Evans, then 21, led two pals down a Brooklyn manhole in search of “gold, jewelry and guns” in city sewers, cops said at the time.
The trio took several such belowground “scavenger hunt” excursions before the law caught up with Evans and his friends Damien Nieves and David Hannibal. They were slapped with criminal trespassing charges after spending four hours searching for them.
“God knows what they were looking for,” then-Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said following the arrests.
“I know damn sure I wouldn’t be crawling through the sewers of New York, but these three evidently were up to something down there.”
A decade later, the allure of scooping up lost valuables was also the motivation for a different threesome who were arrested for descending into the Brooklyn sewers in April 2025.
One of the men, Willer Green, told police at the time, “The reason we went down there is that people lose their gold down there. We got to sell it to make money.”
And the allure of the sewers has apparently always been around — a spate of New York Times articles from the 1800s described claims of jewels being pulled from their depths, while tales of criminals tossing drugs and other stashes into storm drains has filled movies and crime stories over the years.
The age of internet streaming has ratcheted the call of the sewer up another level, with videos from urban explorers cropping up online over the years to give first-person perspectives down the dark depths of subway tunnels and slimy city drain systems.
After the 2015 incident, former Commissioner Bratton said there was little that could be done to prevent foolhardy people from prying up the city’s nearly 200-pound manhole covers and descending into the dangerous tunnels below.
“Entering a sewer without proper authorization and training is illegal, incredibly irresponsible and dangerous,” he said at the time, according to the Times. “The reality is we cannot be everywhere protecting everything from everybody.”
No arrests have been made in the latest spate of Brooklyn sewer treasure hunters, where separate groups of men were seen climbing out of two manhole covers in Gravesend and Williamsburg.
Footage from the Gravesend incident obtained by Flatbush Scoop showed a man prying back a manhole cover from McDonald Ave. around 2 a.m. and stashing it between nearby cars — when seven men proceeded to file out of the ground one at a time.
They each had flashlights and appeared to be wearing boots and overall waders, and milled together around a trio of cars while they stripped off their filthy attire.
The individuals tossed their clothes — and whatever they found in the ground — into the cars, before driving off.
Sources told The Post it was likely that these tunnels were likely up to nothing more than their scavenging predecessors had gotten up to — citing coins, wallets, scrap metal, jewelry or other valuables as their probable targets.
The source noted that urban scavenging of that nature is a more common practice in other countries, but is far from unheard of in New York.
2026.6.1 A key hearing for the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk will be public, judge rules
A Utah judge has declined a request from the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk to restrict access to parts of his July preliminary hearing.
PROVO, Utah — Reporters and the public will be allowed to attend a key upcoming hearing for the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk, after a Utah judge on Monday denied a defense request to restrict access.
Tyler Robinson’s defense had asked Judge Tony Graf to close portions of the preliminary hearing on July 6-10, when prosecutors must show they have enough evidence to warrant a trial. It will mark the most significant presentation of evidence to date in a case that has so far focused on matters of media access.
Robinson’s lawyers have tried to guard against media coverage that they say sometimes misrepresents their client as his case has drawn tremendous public attention. The 23-year-old from southwestern Utah is charged with aggravated murder in the Sept. 10 assassination of Kirk on the Utah Valley University campus.
Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty if Robinson is convicted. He has not yet entered a plea.
Prosecutors argued that the preliminary hearing should remain open, but they agreed with the defense that media should be restricted from viewing or copying some exhibits that could be used in a future trial. They plan to introduce forensic analyses, surveillance video, recordings of witness statements, autopsy findings and alleged messages from Robinson admitting to the crime.
Authorities have said DNA consistent with Robinson’s was found on the trigger of the rifle used to kill Kirk, the fired cartridge casing, two unfired cartridges and a towel used to wrap the rifle. Prosecutors also have said Robinson left a note for his romantic partner that read, “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it.”
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Outside anti-ICE agitators have traveled across the country to stoke violence outside Delaney Hall — the embattled immigration detention center in New Jersey, officials said Monday.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin made the revelation on Monday, saying that hooligans from as far away as Portland, Oregon, have wreaked havoc outside the Newark facility.
Twenty-one protesters were arrested for allegedly assaulting federal officers outside Delaney Hall between May 26 and May 29. At least another 20 were arrested on Sunday alone.
Mullin on Monday praised the New Jersey state police after the state reluctantly dispatched officers to help the feds reign in the unruly mob after a week of anarchy.
“We see over and over again in these sanctuary cities and sanctuary states where law enforcement officers, they want to do their job, that’s why they signed up to do their job. So often, you have radical left leadership that doesn’t allow them to do so,” Mullin said at a press conference on Monday.
“But when they did show up [at Delaney Hall], they quickly realized these aren’t peaceful protesters that the radical left politicians were telling you about,” he added.
Mullin called the protesters “well-organized” and “well-supplied” — hours after federal officers tore down a volunteer camp stocked with supplies intended for detainees’ families and loved ones.
Portland has seen repeated anti-ICE demonstrations since June 2025. Protests flared monthly since then, and in March, one dim-wit accidentally set himself on fire while trying to burn an American flag outside a city immigration facility.
Mullin didn’t identify any other states the agitators may have traveled from, or how many have been arrested in total. The Post reached out to DHS for more information.
So far, at least two agitators, both native to the tristate area, have been charged for their alleged misconduct.
Brendan John Geier, a 26-year-old from Madison, New Jersey, allegedly sank his teeth into federal law enforcement officers during a demonstration last week. He was previously accused of distributing child pornography while he was in college.
Nicholas Matthew Scelfo, a 27-year-old Brooklynite, was charged for allegedly threatening to kill an agent and his family during a heated confrontation at Delaney Hall on May 27.
“I’ll kill your whole f–king family. Your whole f–king family is dead. Your children, your wife, all dead,” the agitator was heard shouting at federal agents in video footage captured by witnesses.
“I have your face, motherf–ker. You’re dead. Dead,” he added.
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It’s a picture-perfect idea.
A Long Island beach is marking what would have been Marilyn Monroe’s 100th birthday Monday with a special tribute to celebrate the iconic 1949 photo shoot there that kick-started her career.
Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor Joe Saladino unveiled a plaque Friday at Tobay Beach commemorating the Hollywood legend’s iconic stop on Long Island.
“Tobay Beach wasn’t just a quiet escape; it was the place where a legend was launched,” the special plaque reads.
Saladino, standing near where the gorgeous then-23-year-old posed in a sexy swimsuit with an umbrella, said Monroe “visited New York City and was looking to catapult her career.
“We wanted to forever memorialize this iconic moment,” he said.
Photographer André de Dienes chose the Nassau County shore “to capture her youth, her beauty and her great personality” at a time that the Los Angeles native “was just starting and getting some minor film roles,” Saladino said.
Monroe, who at the time was still Norma Jean Mortenson, declared, “Let’s make history!” in front of the Atlantic Ocean’s crashing waves — and soon made good on her vow.
“Hollywood Studios quickly took notice,” Saladino said of the star’s meteoric rise in the 1950s.
“They looked at her youthfulness, her innocence, vulnerability, and her effortless beauty came across vividly through the camera lens.”
Monroe tragically died in 1962 at age 36 of a drug overdose.
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