(ALBANY, N.Y.) -- A limousine company operator was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison Wednesday in connection to a 2018 crash in upstate New York that left 20 people dead.
Nauman Hussain was found guilty of 20 counts of second-degree manslaughter earlier this month.
Hussain was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison for each count of second-degree manslaughter, however, the terms will run concurrently for a maximum of 15 years in prison.
Hussain pleaded guilty to 20 counts of criminally negligent homicide in 2021, but the case went to trial after a judge threw out a plea deal reached with Schoharie County prosecutors last fall that would have spared him a prison sentence.
The limousine was driving down a stretch of road when it barreled through an intersection and crashed into a parked Toyota Highlander in the town of Schoharie, about 40 miles west of Albany. All 17 passengers, the driver and two pedestrians were killed in the crash.
Hussain was in charge of day-to-day operations for the company, Prestige Limousine, when a group celebrating a 30th birthday party rented a stretch Ford Excursion SUV on Oct. 6, 2018.
The limo had failed an inspection by the state's Department of Motor Vehicles one month before the deadly crash and the driver did not have the appropriate driver's license to be operating the vehicle, officials said at the time.
A report by National Transportation Safety Board investigators in 2020 found that one of the brakes was not operational.
After he was found guilty, Hussain's lawyer said they plan to appeal the verdict.
"He chose profit over people," prosecutors said at the sentencing hearing. Before sentencing, his lawyer said Hussain would not speak due to the pending appeal.
Prosecutors said Hussain made the conscious decision not to repair the car ahead of the crash and failed to get a second inspection before putting it back on the road.
The defense asked for the mercy of the court ahead of the sentencing.
The incident was the deadliest transportation crash in the U.S. since 2009.
(ALBANY, N.Y.) -- A limousine company operator was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison Wednesday in connection to a 2018 crash in upstate New York that left 20 people dead.
Nauman Hussain was found guilty of 20 counts of second-degree manslaughter earlier this month.
Hussain was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison for each count of second-degree manslaughter, however, the terms will run concurrently for a maximum of 15 years in prison.
Hussain pleaded guilty to 20 counts of criminally negligent homicide in 2021, but the case went to trial after a judge threw out a plea deal reached with Schoharie County prosecutors last fall that would have spared him a prison sentence.
The limousine was driving down a stretch of road when it barreled through an intersection and crashed into a parked Toyota Highlander in the town of Schoharie, about 40 miles west of Albany. All 17 passengers, the driver and two pedestrians were killed in the crash.
Hussain was in charge of day-to-day operations for the company, Prestige Limousine, when a group celebrating a 30th birthday party rented a stretch Ford Excursion SUV on Oct. 6, 2018.
The limo had failed an inspection by the state's Department of Motor Vehicles one month before the deadly crash and the driver did not have the appropriate driver's license to be operating the vehicle, officials said at the time.
A report by National Transportation Safety Board investigators in 2020 found that one of the brakes was not operational.
After he was found guilty, Hussain's lawyer said they plan to appeal the verdict.
"He chose profit over people," prosecutors said at the sentencing hearing. Before sentencing, his lawyer said Hussain would not speak due to the pending appeal.
Prosecutors said Hussain made the conscious decision not to repair the car ahead of the crash and failed to get a second inspection before putting it back on the road.
The defense asked for the mercy of the court ahead of the sentencing.
The incident was the deadliest transportation crash in the U.S. since 2009.
(ALBANY, N.Y.) -- A limousine company operator was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison Wednesday in connection to a 2018 crash in upstate New York that left 20 people dead.
Nauman Hussain was found guilty of 20 counts of second-degree manslaughter earlier this month.
Hussain was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison for each count of second-degree manslaughter, however, the terms will run concurrently for a maximum of 15 years in prison.
Hussain pleaded guilty to 20 counts of criminally negligent homicide in 2021, but the case went to trial after a judge threw out a plea deal reached with Schoharie County prosecutors last fall that would have spared him a prison sentence.
The limousine was driving down a stretch of road when it barreled through an intersection and crashed into a parked Toyota Highlander in the town of Schoharie, about 40 miles west of Albany. All 17 passengers, the driver and two pedestrians were killed in the crash.
Hussain was in charge of day-to-day operations for the company, Prestige Limousine, when a group celebrating a 30th birthday party rented a stretch Ford Excursion SUV on Oct. 6, 2018.
The limo had failed an inspection by the state's Department of Motor Vehicles one month before the deadly crash and the driver did not have the appropriate driver's license to be operating the vehicle, officials said at the time.
A report by National Transportation Safety Board investigators in 2020 found that one of the brakes was not operational.
After he was found guilty, Hussain's lawyer said they plan to appeal the verdict.
"He chose profit over people," prosecutors said at the sentencing hearing. Before sentencing, his lawyer said Hussain would not speak due to the pending appeal.
Prosecutors said Hussain made the conscious decision not to repair the car ahead of the crash and failed to get a second inspection before putting it back on the road.
The defense asked for the mercy of the court ahead of the sentencing.
The incident was the deadliest transportation crash in the U.S. since 2009.
(INDIANOLA, Miss.) -- The family of Aderrien Murry, the 11-year-old boy who was shot by police on May 20 after calling 911, claimed the boy was shot without warning after he and his family members were ordered to leave their house, according to a lawsuit.
The suit, filed in Mississippi federal court on behalf of Aderrien and his mother, Nakala Murry, claims the officer who fired the gun, Greg Capers, was "reckless." It was filed after Aderrien spoke to ABC News about the incident.
"This is a claim for negligence and excessive force," said the complaint, which also named the city of Indianola, Police Chief Ronald Sampson and John Does.
"The injuries endured by all plaintiffs could have been avoided if defendants would have acquired the adequate training on how to provide proper assistance and care," the lawsuit, which was reviewed by ABC News, said. "However, as a result of the defendants, deliberate indifference, reckless disregard and gross negligence, plaintiffs sustained injuries and damages."
The complaint alleges that Capers arrived at the home with his firearm drawn and that he fired at Aderrien without warning as the boy emerged from the room.
Indianola Mayor Ken Featherstone and the Indianola Police Department did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment.
ABC News has also attempted to reach the officers directly.
Before his family announced the suit, Aderrien spoke out about the harrowing experience in an exclusive interview that aired on Good Morning America and GMA3 on Tuesday.
"I came out of the room like this," Aderrien said with his hands above his head as he reflected on the incident in an interview with GMA3 co-anchor DeMarco Morgan.
“It felt like a Taser, like a big punch to the chest,” he added.
Aderrien said that he ran to his mother, who was standing outside, after he got shot.
"I was bleeding -- bleeding from my mouth. Then I would just remember singing a song," he said.
Asked what song he was singing, Aderrien said, "No weapon formed against me -- prosper shall."
The line is a reference to a Bible verse, Isaiah 54:17: "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper."
Murry previously told GMA3 in an interview that aired on Thursday that her son was shot in the chest by a police officer who responded to their home in Indianola, Mississippi in the early morning hours of May 20 after her son called 911. Murry is now calling for the officer to be fired.
Murry told ABC News she gave Aderrien the phone and asked him to call his grandmother after she said she woke up around 4 a.m., heard a knock on the window and saw her ex-boyfriend standing outside.
"I noticed he was kind of irate. And from dealing with him in the past, I know the irate version of him, what it could lead to," she told GMA3.
ABC News has reached out to the ex-boyfriend but a request for comment was not immediately returned.
According to Murry, Aderrien first called the police and then he called his grandmother, who also called 911.
She explained that two officers responded to their home in Indianola, and her daughter’s father asked her not to open the door as police tried to break in.
“I heard a shot and I saw my son run out toward where we were," she said recalling the shooting.
“[Aderrien] fell, bleeding," Murry added.
Featherstone told ABC News that officer Capers fired the shot that hit Aderrien. Capers was later suspended, Featherstone said.
The Indianola Police Department declined to comment.
Aderrien was rushed to the hospital where doctors discovered a bullet had collapsed his lung and cut his liver, according to the family.
According to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating the incident, officers responded to a domestic disturbance at the home and a minor was significantly hurt from an "officer-involved shooting."
The results of the investigation will be shared with the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, the agency said.
Asked about the status of the investigation, the Mississippi District Attorney’s Office referred all inquiries to the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office.
"The Mississippi Attorney General’s Office is tasked with reviewing and prosecuting all office- involved shootings. That being the case, we do not have any comment nor involvement in this investigation nor prosecution," the DA’s office told ABC News.
The Mississippi Attorney General’s Office did not respond to ABC News' request for comment.
Murry family attorney Carlos Moore told ABC News this incident is an example of excessive force.
"With living in the South, Mississippi, especially, sometimes you feel that you can trust the police a little more when they [are] your own color, your own race," Moore said, referring to the fact that Capers is Black. "But now this man, this young boy, would never trust law enforcement again."
Aderrien said he now wants to be a doctor. When asked if it was because of his life-saving care, Aderrien replied, "Well, not only them. As I said, it was God that saved my life and I truly truly believe that."
Although she's calling for the officer who shot her son to be fired, Murry said she does not "hate him."
"You know, I'm not angry," she told ABC News. "I'm so much over filled with joy at the fact that my son is alive that I don't -- I don't have room for anger right now. I want justice to be served."
ABC News' Katie O'Brien, Kimberly Ruiz and Emily Shapiro contributed to this report.
(HOLLYWOOD, Fla.) -- Police are searching for suspects after nine people, including children, were shot and injured along the Hollywood Beach Broadwalk on Florida's east coast.
Four children between the ages of 1 and 17 were shot Monday night, including a baby between 15 and 18 months old, according to Hollywood police spokesperson Deanna Bettineschi.
The other five victims were adults ages 25 to 65.
The four children remain hospitalized on Wednesday, all in stable condition, according to hospital officials. The injured adults have been treated and released.
The shooting apparently stemmed from an altercation between two groups, and multiple people were detained in the aftermath, Bettineschi said Tuesday.
Two men believed to be involved in the shooting have been arrested on weapons charges, Bettineschi said. Morgan Deslouches, 18, and Keshawn Paul Stewart, 18, both face a concealed carry weapon charge in connection with the incident. Deslouches also has been charged with larceny-grand theft of a firearm and removing the serial number from a firearm, court records show.
Authorities said they're looking to identify these three people they believe were also involved in the shooting:
"No stone will be left unturned in bringing the perpetrators to justice," Hollywood Beach Mayor Josh Levy said in a statement Tuesday. "We will utilize every available resource to apprehend those responsible."
"It is completely unacceptable that innocent people spending time with family on a holiday weekend have been affected by a shooting altercation between two groups who came into our city with guns and no regard for the safety of the law abiding public around them," Levy added.
ABC News' Darren Reynolds, Peter Charalambous and Okelo Pena contributed to this report.
(PARKLAND, Fla.) -- Jury selection is set to begin Wednesday in the trial of a former school resource officer charged with felony child neglect for allegedly failing to confront the Parkland school shooter.
Scot Peterson was assigned to Marjory Stoneman Douglas in Parkland as a school resource officer when a gunman opened fire at the South Florida high school on Feb. 14, 2018, killing 14 students and three staff members.
Peterson, 60, was terminated from his position and charged with multiple counts of child neglect in 2019 after an internal investigation found that he retreated while students were under attack.
Peterson faces up to 95 years in a state prison if convicted on all charges -- including seven counts of child neglect, three counts of culpable negligence and one count of perjury -- a Broward County judge said during a pre-trial status hearing on Tuesday.
Peterson has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
An internal probe by the Broward County Sheriff's Office found that Peterson "did absolutely nothing to mitigate the [Marjory Stoneman Douglas] shooting," according to a statement released by the agency. Surveillance video and police radio transmissions showed that as the teenage gunman opened fire inside the school's Building 12, Peterson remained outside and did not enter the school to confront the gunman.
Peterson's charges stem from the six people killed and four wounded on the third floor of Building 12, after the officer had arrived at the building. Prosecutors say that he also made a false statement, claiming that he did not hear gunfire.
During Tuesday's status hearing at a Fort Lauderdale courthouse, attorneys debated whether the jury should see the third floor; the defense argued that being in the building is "traumatizing" and that the prejudicial effect would be "extraordinary," while the state maintained that jurors should be allowed to because all but one of the charges emanated from what happened there.
The judge said he plans to issue a written order on the matter by June 5, ABC Miami affiliate WPLG-TV reported.
Peterson had been a sheriff's deputy in Broward County for more than 30 years until he was terminated from his position when the criminal complaint was filed against him in June 2019.
At the time of his arrest, legal experts called the charges unprecedented. The move was largely applauded by the Parkland community, with the parent of one teen who was killed on the third floor calling Peterson a "coward."
The gunman, Nikolas Cruz, a former student at the high school, was sentenced to life in prison last year after pleading guilty to 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder.
(NEW YORK) -- A retired New York City Police Department sergeant and two purported Chinese agents used an elderly father as bait in an alleged plot to repatriate a former Chinese government official living in New Jersey, according to federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, where trial opens Wednesday.
The retired sergeant, Michael McMahon, and two men charged with acting as agents of China, are the first defendants to stand trial in the U.S. over what the Chinese government called Operation Fox Hunt, a worldwide attempt to coerce Chinese nationals living abroad to return to China through tactics including harassment, stalking and threats.
The victim in this case is identified only as John Doe-1 and China said he was wanted for corruption. Instead of operating with the approval and coordination of the U.S. government, federal prosecutors said China dispatched its own prosecutor and police officer "to engage in unsanctioned and illegal conduct on behalf of the PRC to coerce the targeted victims to return to the PRC."
According to court records, McMahon, Yong Zhu, Congying Zhen and others forced John Doe-1's elderly father to travel from China so he could warn his son, in a surprise visit, about the consequences of refusing to return to China. Zhu is accused of hiring McMahon, a private investigator, to surveil John Doe-1. Zheng is accused of harassing John Doe-1 and his adult daughter.
According to the criminal complaint, McMahon at one point suggested the men could "harass [John Doe-1]. Park outside his home and let him know we are there." At another point, two conspirators, including Zheng, "visited John Doe-1's residence, banged on his front door, walked into his yard, and ultimately left a message taped to the residence that threatened John Doe-1 and John Doe-1's family with dire consequences should they fail to return to the PRC," according to the complaint.
McMahon, who has pleaded not guilty, argued he was unaware of the alleged scheme's true intent.
"Mr. McMahon agreed to investigate and conduct surveillance, as he is legally permitted to do as a licensed private investigator – not that Mr. McMahon agreed to, or was even aware, that the investigation was at the direction or control of a foreign government or official," defense attorney Lawrence Lustberg wrote.
The Department of Justice said in April that there was evidence of expanding espionage and security activity by the Chinese government on U.S. soil.
"[It] shows how brazen they are, how unwilling they are to work under the laws that apply in free democracies," David Newman, the principal deputy assistant attorney general for National Security at the Department of Justice, told ABC News' Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas at the time. "And it demonstrates that they choose to project their authoritarian system outside their borders."
(ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.) -- More than 50 years ago, a woman was found dead inside a trunk that had been left in a field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Her identity has remained a mystery -- until now.
"This is a case that has perplexed the department for a long time," Assistant Chief Mike Kovacsev of the St. Petersburg Police Department said during a press conference on Tuesday. "This was always known as the 'trunk lady' case."
The woman has been identified as Sylvia June Atherton, 41, of Tucson, Arizona. She left behind five children, according to Kovacsev.
Atherton's body was found wrapped in plastic inside the trunk on Oct. 31, 1969, which was Halloween. Witnesses told police at the time that they saw two men arrive in a pickup truck and place the trunk in the field before driving away, Kovacsev said.
For years, detectives searched for missing person reports that matched the description of the victim, but to no avail. The case went cold and Atherton's body was buried as a "Jane Doe" in a local cemetery, according to Kovacsev.
In 2010, as part of an effort to identify unknown victims, police exhumed Atherton's body to try to get a DNA sample. But the remains were "too degraded and, again, the case went cold," Kovacsev said.
In late 2022 and early 2023, detectives revisited the case and found a hair sample that was never tested. They sent the sample to a private laboratory, which was able to produce a DNA profile. The lab was then able to run the DNA profile through a genealogy database, which led police to identify Atherton and locate some of her living relatives, according to Kovacsev.
"That is one of the things I want to highlight with cold cases -- it takes persistence," Kovacsev said. "It takes going back and looking at things that may not have been available to individuals back in 1969. But more importantly, ... what could we have missed."
Detectives learned that Atherton had five children and seemingly no ties to St. Petersburg, which is part of Florida's Tampa Bay area. Prior to her death, she left Tucson, Arizona with her children and took two of them to her ex-husband in Chicago. She was never seen by her children again, Kovacsev said.
"We don't have the resolution on who killed her yet," Kovacsev noted. "This is where like amateur sleuths will come in. This is where we're asking for assistance to kind of put the pieces together."
Detectives now know that the trunk Atherton's body was found in belonged to her. They also know that she was remarried and her husband never reported her missing. He died in 1999, according to Kovacsev.
"So you can see there's some inferences there that we have to kind of fill in the gaps," he added. "But mainly, we want to bring forward the fact that she has a name now after 53 years."
Atherton's daughter, Syllen Gates, told Tampa ABC affiliate WFTS-TV that she feels "relief."
"A sad relief that they finally found her," Gates said, "and, of course, this was a terrible way to die."
(PALM BAY, Fla.) -- An 11-month-old baby girl has died after being left in a car for three hours while her parents attended a Florida church service, police said.
Police in Palm Bay responded Sunday around 1 p.m. to a report of an unresponsive infant in a vehicle.
"When they arrived, they learned the infant had been left in a car for approximately three hours while the parents went to the church service," the Palm Bay Police Department said in a statement.
The infant was transported to a local hospital where she was later pronounced deceased, police said Tuesday. A police department spokesperson did not have the time of death available.
No arrests have been made in the case at this time and the investigation is ongoing, police said.
"This is an unfortunate incident, and our condolences and prayers go out to the family," Palm Bay Police Chief Mario Augello said in a statement.
Palm Bay is located about 75 miles southeast of Orlando. The temperature in the city around midday Sunday was in the high 70s.
The temperature inside a car can exceed 115 degrees when the outside temperature is just 70 degrees, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
In 2022, 33 children died of heatstroke in vehicles, according to the NHTSA.
(SOUTH CAROLINA) -- A South Carolina gas station owner was charged with murder on Monday after allegedly shooting and killing a 14-year-old boy he falsely believed was shoplifting bottles of water, according to police.
Rick Chow, 58, was arrested and charged in connection to the fatal shooting of Cyrus Carmack-Belton in Columbia, South Carolina, the Richland County Sheriff's Office said.
In a news conference on Monday, Sheriff Leon Lott said the teenager did not shoplift from the Shell gas station, despite Chow's belief that he did.
"He did not shoplift anything. We have no evidence that he stole anything whatsoever," Lott said.
Police said there was a verbal confrontation inside the store before Cyrus left and took off running.
Lott said the convenience store owner, who police said was armed with a pistol, and his son chased after the teenager toward an apartment complex.
Cyrus fell during the chase, got up and was allegedly shot in the back by Chow, police said.
According to police, Chow's son said the victim had a gun. Police said a gun was found close to the teen's body, but there was no evidence of who the gun belonged to.
"Even if he had shoplifted four bottles of water, which is what he initially took out the cooler and then he put them back, even if he had done that, that's not something you shoot anybody over, much less a 14-year-old," Lott said. "You just don't do that."
Following a peaceful protest at the gas station Monday, there was alleged vandalism and looting, which Lott condemned during a second press conference Tuesday, saying those who took part would be held responsible.
According to a police report, protesters shattered the business's window, vandalized gas pumps, spray-painted outside the store and left the scene carrying beer and other food items.
Chow is being held at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, according to police.
A date and time for his bond hearing has not been scheduled, police said.
(CHICAGO) -- More than 50 people were shot, 11 fatally, over a violent Memorial Day weekend in Chicago, police said.
The gunshot victims included two toddlers who were accidentally shot and wounded in separate incidents and two teenagers, a 14-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl, who were hurt in unrelated shootings while standing on sidewalks, according to a review by ABC News of the weekend incident reports from the Chicago Police Department.
On Tuesday, police officials said at least 53 people were shot across the city in 42 separate incidents that occurred between 6 p.m. on Friday and 11:59 p.m. on Monday.
Besides the 11 people who were fatally shot over the weekend, an additional person was fatally stabbed, according to police.
The string of shootings occurred as newly-elected Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson's safety plan was deployed over the Memorial Day weekend. Johnson's initiative supports violence prevention programs, and youth outreach efforts by funding the work of more than 250 grassroots organizations across 24 communities on the West and South Sides of Chicago.
The spike in gun violence in Chicago comes as city leaders were seeing declines in both homicides and shootings this year. Before this past weekend, homicides in Chicago were down 7% from the 228 slayings that occurred in the first five months of 2022, according to the Chicago Police Department's crime statistics. Shooting incidents are also down 9% this year compared to last year, crime statistics say.
"This weekend, what you saw on display is that everybody recognizes that it's going to take all of us to unite this city and build a better, stronger, safer city," Johnson told reporters at a community event on Monday.
Johnson acknowledged that "we have a lot of work to do" to curb gun violence in Chicago and said poverty continues to be one of the primary reasons for the shootings and homicides.
"Poverty didn't go away over the weekend," Johnson said. "We understand that when communities have been disinvested in and traumatized, that you're seeing the manifestation of that trauma."
Seven of the 11 gunshot homicides occurred on Saturday, according to police.
The first homicide of the holiday weekend unfolded just before 1 a.m on Saturday in the Beverly View neighborhood, when a 33-year-old man was discovered unresponsive on a sidewalk with a gunshot wound under his left armpit, according to police. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene and no arrests have been announced in the incident.
Just after 2 a.m. Saturday, a 35-year-old man was found on a sidewalk in the Lake View East neighborhood suffering from a bullet wound to the chest, according to police. The victim, William Hair, was taken to Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. No arrests have been announced.
"Senseless. It's the only word for it," Hair's brother, Matthew Hair, told ABC Chicago station WLS-TV.
He said his brother was walking home from a bar with his best friend when a car pulled up alongside them. The occupants of the vehicle shot Hair while attempting to rob him and his friend.
Around 2:09 a.m. on Saturday, four people were shot in a drive-by shooting, including a 69-year-old woman who was killed, according to police. Witnesses told police that the gunfire came from a vehicle and was aimed at a car containing three men, who all suffered gunshot wounds. Police later discovered the 69-year-old woman alone in another car, suffering from a bullet wound to the side. She was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
Just before 3 a.m. on Saturday, a man and a woman were both shot in the face while standing on a sidewalk. Both victims were taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where one of them, a 36-year-old man, was pronounced dead, according to police. No arrests have been announced.
At about 3:20 a.m. Saturday, a 22-year-old man, identified by police as Jonathan Salgado, was shot in the chest while standing on a sidewalk in the Little Village neighborhood in the southwest area of the city, police said. Salgado was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
Also on Saturday, an unidentified man, described as 25 to 30 years old, was found shot multiple times in the Humboldt Park area in the northwest section of the city and was later pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital, police said.
A 20-year-old man was shot in the back around 10 p.m. Saturday as he walked along a street, police said. The victim was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
About an hour later, a 26-year-old man was shot and killed when he exited a gas station in the West Woodlawn section of the city, police said.
The string of killings continued on Sunday in the Fernwood neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, when around 12:30 a.m. a 20-year-old man was shot multiple times by two assailants, who remained at large Tuesday morning, according to police.
Two people were shot, one fatally, around 2:09 a.m. Sunday. A 35-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman were found critically injured inside a car were taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where the man was pronounced dead, according to police.
In addition to the 11 fatal shootings, a 42-year-old woman was found stabbed to death just after midnight Saturday in an alley in the Austin neighborhood of the city. A 64-year-old man, police identified as Arnel Smith, was arrested and charged with murder in the fatal stabbing, police said.
Among the victims shot and wounded over the weekend was a 77-year-old man, who was shot in the back. The man was among three people wounded in a drive-by shooting that unfolded around 1:43 a.m. Monday in the Burnside neighborhood, police said. No arrests were announced in the incident.
On Saturday, a 21-year-old man was shot in the thigh by a 24-year-old man he allegedly approached and fired shots at, police said. The man who was shot was arrested after being taken to Holy Cross Hospital for treatment. The man who shot him has a permit to legally carry a firearm and was not charged, police said.
(TEXAS) -- Elizabeth Holmes, the convicted fraudster and founder of failed blood-testing company Theranos, on Tuesday began serving an 11-year sentence at the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas.
Holmes, according to a source, self-surrendered with "little fanfare." She was accompanied by her parents and husband Billy Evans.
She isn't the only famous face at Bryan: Former "Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" cast member Jen Shah entered the minimum-security facility in February after being sentenced to six and a half years for what prosecutors said was a telemarketing scheme targeting the old and vulnerable.
Holmes might have a humbling first job at the prison, according to a former inmate at the facility.
"That is Bryan's rule," said Lynn Espejo, who was convicted of defrauding her employer. "The policy is that every new person arriving gets cleared by medical and they have to go work in the kitchen for 90 days."
That's not a guarantee, though. Holmes could get a job elsewhere, such as the prison's education department, and be excused from kitchen work, said Espejo, who now works as a prison reform advocate and was granted compassionate release in 2021 because of COVID-19.
There is also a program in which inmates train service dogs at the facility, or Holmes could teach classes to other inmates, Espejo said.
"Who's to say Elizabeth Holmes will be in the kitchen tonight," Espejo said. "By policy, she's supposed to. But who knows if that's going to happen?"
Holmes, Espejo told ABC News, will be dressed in a khaki jumpsuit, which is recycled from inmate to inmate, and will be sleeping on what she likened to a "kindergarten mat."
"That's basically what it looks like, those kind they fold out at school and take naps on," Espejo said. "It's not a good bedding. And you really feel like you're laying directly on steel."
There are four units at the prison camp facility, which is among the lowest level security facilities in the federal system.
But Espejo said it isn't "camp cupcake," as some describe it. She recalled "dilapidated" conditions when she served time there, including moldy showers and little hot water in the winter.
A source said that every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night, movies are shown in common areas.
Holmes won't be locked behind bars in her cell. Rather she'll live in a room with two bunks and folding chairs in the middle.
Espejo said the hardest adjustment is being alone.
"I think it'll be a cultural shock to her. I know it was for me when I first got there," she said. "Missing your family is gut wrenching."
ABC News' Gina Sunseri contributed to this report.
(VIRGINIA) -- A Virginia man has been arrested for the murder of New Jersey councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour, who was gunned down outside her home in February.
Rashid Ali Bynum, 28, who apparently knew Dwumfour from church, was taken into custody Tuesday morning on charges including first-degree murder, Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone announced at a news conference Tuesday.
According to Ciccone, Bynum was a contact in Dwomfour's phone under the acronym "FCF," which authorities believe stands for "Fire Congress Fellowship," a church that the congresswoman was previously affiliated with, "which was also associated with the Champion Royal Assembly, the victim's church at the time of her death."
On the day of the shooting, Bynum allegedly searched online for information on the Champion Royal Assembly church and the Sayreville area, according to Ciccone.
In the days before the murder, Bynum allegedly searched online for what magazines were compatible with a specific handgun, she said.
Bynum's phone traveled from Virginia to New Jersey at the time of the murder, and Bynum's physical description matched a witness description of the suspect at the scene, Ciccone said.
Officials did not discuss a possible motive and did not take questions from reporters.
Ciccone called it a "complex, extensive case."
Dwumfour, a business analyst and a part-time emergency medical technician, was elected as a Republican to the Sayreville Borough Council in 2021, defeating an incumbent Democrat.
"There are no words that can be said to you to make you whole," New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said to Dwumfour's family, who attended the press conference. "I did not know Eunice. I wish I had. But I know that she was a public servant."
"I hope that today is the beginning of a healing process, and also the beginning of a sense of justice," he added.
(NEW YORK) -- A 35-year-old man is missing after falling from a cruise ship off the coast of Florida, authorities said.
The U.S. Coast Guard said it is searching for a passenger who went overboard from the Carnival Magic cruise ship traveling 186 miles east of Jacksonville on Monday.
The man's companion reported him missing late Monday afternoon and "an initial review of closed circuit security footage confirms that he leaned over the railing of his stateroom balcony and dropped into the water at approximately 4:10 a.m. Monday,” Carnival Cruise Line said in a statement to ABC News.
After the Coast Guard released the ship from search and rescue efforts, the 1,004-foot Carnival Magic continued its return trip to Norfolk, Virginia, where it was scheduled to arrive as planned on Tuesday.
The Coast Guard said it is using both air and water assets to conduct the search for the passenger, who has not been publicly identified.
(PITTSBURGH) -- A federal death penalty trial began Tuesday for the man accused of killing 11 worshippers in a mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue, with victims' families looking on from the courtroom.
Robert Bowers allegedly stormed the Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018, gunning down 11 people in the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history. Bowers allegedly told investigators after his arrest that he wanted to kill Jewish people, according to a criminal complaint.
The jury is comprised of 11 women and seven men, and includes an intensive care nurse, a new father and a veteran.
The prosecution began its opening statements Tuesday by introducing the jurors to the victims, which included a 97-year-old woman who often read the "Prayer for Peace" at Shabbat services and a husband and wife in their 80s who were married in the same sanctuary where they were killed.
Bowers, according to authorities, made posts on the social media site Gab and allegedly posted and reposted photos with antisemitic tropes.
Bowers -- armed with a semi-automatic assault-style rifle and three handguns -- allegedly posted online minutes before the massacre: "I can't stand by and watch my people get slaughtered. ... I'm going in," according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said Bowers moved "methodically" through the synagogue and shot many of his victims at close range.
Prosecutor Soo Song warned the jurors that some testimony and evidence may be difficult to hear, including survivors recounting their "terror, confusion and pain."
Bowers, who faces charges including hate crimes resulting in death, has pleaded not guilty.
The defense began its opening statement by admitting that Bowers was the shooter, calling his actions "incomprehensible" and "inexcusable."
Bowers "shot every person he saw ... and injured first responders who came to their rescue," defense attorney Judy Clarke said. "There will be no question that this was a planned act and that he killed 11 people and injured others."
But Clarke asked the jurors to look at the evidence and "scrutinize his intent."
Testimony is expected to last three weeks. If Bowers is convicted, the sentencing phase could last an additional six weeks.
The defense is expected to argue during the sentencing phase that Bowers suffers from mental illness including schizophrenia, functional brain impairments and health issues such as epilepsy. The judge required Bowers to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, the results of which will remain under seal unless the case moves to a sentencing phase and his team proceeds with a mental health defense.