The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department released a statement saying that the gunfire came from a drug-related dispute that occurred outside the school bus on Monday. The bus was not the intended target, police added. Two students from Albemarle Middle School were injured from glass broken by the gunfire, according to the police statement.
Police arrested 21-year-old Lamarius Ramel Anthony, who is charged with carrying a concealed weapon and felony possession of cocaine.
Local security guard Eyersol Belbuel was reportedly nearby when the shooting occurred and assisted the school bus driver in safely evacuating all the students.
Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes delivers updates about the Dec. 16, 2024 school shooting at Abundant Life Christian School on Madison's east side. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)
This story was updated on Monday at 9:39 p.m.
Three people are dead and another six are in the hospital after a shooting at Abundant Life Christian School on Madison’s east side Monday morning. The shooter, who was a student at the school, is among the dead, according to Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes.
Two of the injured victims, both students, remain in critical condition while the other four have non-life threatening injuries, Barnes said at a mid-afternoon press conference.
Barnes identified the shooter at a Monday night press conference as Natalie Rupnow, 15, who went by the name “Samantha,” and said she appeared to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Gov. Tony Evers issued a statement decrying the shootings and announced he would order flags to fly half-staff across the state through Sunday, Dec. 22.
“As a father, a grandfather, and as governor, it is unthinkable that a kid or an educator might wake up and go to school one morning and never come home. This should never happen, and I will never accept this as a foregone reality or stop working to change it,” Evers said.
“Today my focus is on supporting these families and kids and the Abundant Life community, and the state stands ready to support them and the efforts of local law enforcement through what will undoubtedly be difficult days ahead.”
Police responded to the shooting at the K-12 private school shortly before 11 a.m., Barnes said. While clearing the building, officers found the person they believe to be responsible already dead, along with the other two people who were killed, one a teacher and the other a student. No officers fired their weapons during the incident.
Police searched a home on Madison’s North Side late Monday afternoon and evening and said the search was in connection with the shooting.
The shooter used a handgun, Barnes said. Her family was cooperating in the investigation, but there was no immediate information about what the individual’s motives may have been.
“You ask me about why, but I don’t know why, and I felt like if we did know why, we could stop these things from happening,” Barnes said.
In a statement, President Joe Biden called the shooting “shocking and unconscionable” and urged Congress to enact “Universal background checks. A national red flag law. A ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.”
Biden was briefed earlier Monday about the shooting according to the White House press pool.
At an earlier news conference, Barnes lamented the incident and its impact on the school and the community.
“I’m feeling a little dismayed now, so close to Christmas, every child, every person in that building is a victim and will be a victim forever,” Barnes said. “These types of trauma don’t just go away. We need to figure out how to piece together what exactly happened right now. My heart is heavy for my community. My heart is heavy for Madison. We have to come together as a community and figure out what happened here and make sure that it doesn’t happen at any other place that should be a refuge for students in our community.”
Families of students showed up at the school before noon and at mid-afternoon were still lined up in their cars down Buckeye Road on Madison’s East Side waiting to be reunited with their children. Officials said they would not release information about the victims until families had been notified.
Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway emphasized the community-wide impact of the incident.
“This is a whole of government response,” Rhodes-Conway said. “It is not just police and fire. It is not just the city of Madison, and we have folks from all around the country, we have folks from multiple agencies engaged in both the initial immediate response and the ongoing support.”
She and Dane County Executive Melissa Agard emphasized the importance and availability of mental health assistance to anyone who may have been touched by the incident.
“If anyone needs mental health support as a result of this incident and the coverage of it, I encourage them to reach out” via the 9-8-8 emergency mental health line, which takes calls and text messages, Rhodes-Conway said. “It is incredibly important that we take care of our community in this very difficult time.”
“To all of those who are grieving in our community, please know that you’re not alone,” Agard said. “Dane County stands with you. We’re here to support you in any way possible — please reach out and ask for help.”
Barnes said he has been in contact with officials at the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the FBI.
Although the Madison Police Department had earlier reported five deaths in the shooting, spokesperson Stephanie Fryer said that was based on information from the hospital where the victims were taken. Hospital personnel later updated the number of deaths to three people, she said.
This story has been updated with new information from the Madison police as well as city and Dane County officials.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 04: Police gather outside of a Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan where United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot on December 04, 2024 in New York City. Brian Thompson was shot and killed before 7:00 AM this morning outside the Hilton Hotel, just before he was set to attend the company's annual investors' meeting. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Police in Altoona arrested a “strong person of interest” Monday in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week in New York after finding him in a fast-food restaurant with an illegal weapon and false identification, authorities announced.
New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch identified the man arrested as Luigi Mangione, 26, with ties to Philadelphia and whose last known address was in Honolulu. Mangione was in possession of what New York police described as a “ghost gun” made with a 3D printer and a “handwritten document that speaks to his motivation and mindset,” Tisch said.
“The suspect was in a McDonald’s and was recognized by an employee who then called local police,” Tisch said. The New York Police Department has published images showing the shooter’s face culled from surveillance camera footage before and after Thompson was shot.
Tisch said Mangione was also carrying a U.S. passport and multiple false IDs including a fraudulent New Jersey ID matching the one the person police believe to be the shooter used to check into his New York City hostel before the shooting incident.
Police also recovered clothing including a mask Tisch said was consistent with those worn by the person sought in connection with Thompson’s killing.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny said Mangione had no prior criminal record and that NYPD detectives traveled to Altoona on Monday to question Mangione.
Kenny said the document Mangione had when he was arrested is in the possession of Altoona police. They did not believe there were specific threats to other people mentioned in the document, “but it does seem that he has some ill will toward corporate America,” Kenny said.
Thompson, 50, was shot several times by a person who authorities believe was lying in wait early Wednesday morning outside the Manhattan hotel where United HealthCare was holding an investors meeting.
Thompson had been CEO of UnitedHealthcare, one of the nation’s largest for-profit health insurance providers, for nearly three years. His killing has prompted an outpouring of criticism of the company and the United States’ health care system generally for denying or unnecessarily complicating medical treatment.
Mangione was arraigned Monday evening at the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg on charges of carrying a firearm without a license, forgery, records or identification tampering, possession of instruments of crime and presenting false identification to law enforcement.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a news conference Monday evening after the arraignment that attention generated by the investigation helped Pennsylvania police capture the person sought in connection to Thompson’s killing.
“But some attention in this case, especially online, has been deeply disturbing, as some have looked to celebrate instead of condemning this killer,” Shapiro said, noting that Thompson, who was laid to rest Monday in Minnesota, was a father to two, a husband and a friend to many. “And yes, he was the CEO of a health insurance company. In America, we do not kill people in cold blood to resolve policy differences or express a viewpoint.”
“This killer is being hailed as a hero,” Shapiro said. “Hear me on this. He is no hero. The real hero in this story is the person who called 911 at McDonald’s this morning.”
According to a criminal complaint against Mangione: Altoona police were called to the McDonald’s on Plank Road for a suspicious person who resembled the person wanted in connection with Thompson’s shooting. Officers located Mangione sitting at the rear of the restaurant wearing a blue medical mask and looking at a laptop computer on the table.
Officers asked Mangione to pull down the mask to show his face and recognized him as the person in the pictures released by New York police of the person wanted for the shooting. When asked for identification, Mangione provided a New Jersey driver’s license with the name Mark Rosario and a July 1998 birthdate, according to the complaint. Police were unable to find any information with the identity Mangione provided and advised him that he would be arrested for lying about his identity.
Mangione then identified himself. When asked why he had lied, Mangione replied “I clearly shouldn’t have.” He was then handcuffed, searched and taken to the police station. Inside Mangione’s backpack, police said they found the 3D-printed pistol loaded with nine rounds of 9 mm ammunition and a loose hollow-point round. The gun was with a silencer that had also been 3D printed, police said.
A spokesperson for the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia confirmed that Mangione is a 2020 graduate of the university’s undergraduate and graduate degree programs, where he studied computer science. A LinkedIn profile in Mangione’s name says he has worked as a data engineer for a Santa Monica, California, online auto sales marketplace.
Mangione comes from a large and high-profile family in the Baltimore area, with branches of the family that own the Turf Valley and Hayfields country clubs in Ellicott City and WCBM Radio, among other businesses, the Capital-Star’s sibling publication Maryland Matters reported.
WBAL-TV in Baltimore reported that Luigi Mangione was valedictorian of the Class of 2016 at the Gilman School and later graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. The office of Del. Nino Mangione (R-Baltimore County) confirmed to the TV station that the lawmaker is a cousin.
Nino Mangione, a radio host at WCBM who was elected to the General Assembly in 2018, did not immediately respond to calls and an email from Maryland Matters seeking comment Monday. The Gilman School did not immediately respond to a request to confirm that Luigi Mangione was a student there.
The arrest Monday was the result of “tireless work of the greatest detectives in the world,” Tisch said, who reviewed thousands of hours of video, followed up on hundreds of tips and processed forensic evidence. The NYPD also deployed assets including scuba divers, drones and electronic surveillance systems.
“This combination of old school detective work and new age technology is what led to this result today,” Tisch said, adding that the media and the public played a crucial role. “We should never underestimate the power of the public to be our eyes and our ears in these investigations.”
Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and X.
UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, 50, was shot and killed Wednesday morning outside the Hilton in midtown Manhattan, where he was set to address investors.
A manhunt is now underway for the gunman who police believe targeted Thompson in the shooting, although a motive remains unclear, according to the New York Times.
Thompson, a Minnesota resident, took the helm of UnitedHealth Group’s insurance division, one of the nation’s largest, in 2021.
He was walking into the hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference when he was shot in the chest by a masked man, who then fled on bicycle, CNN reported. Thompson was taken to Mount Sinai hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The investor conference was abruptly canceled after the shooting.
“We’re dealing with a very serious… situation,” UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty said, according to PIX11. “We’re going to have to bring to a close the event today… I apologize for bringing things to a close but I hope you’ll understand.”
UnitedHealth Group is one of the largest corporations in the country, with $372 billion in revenue last year.
New York police commissioner Jessica Tisch called the killing a “brazen targeted attack.”
“This is horrifying news and a terrible loss for the business and health care community in Minnesota,” Gov. Tim Walz posted on X.
Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com. Follow Minnesota Reformer on Facebook and X.
A 13-year-old female student shot herself with a gun while on board the school bus.
A news release issued by the St. Petersburg Police Department said the school bus was transporting 20 students to Tyrone Middle School, a Pinellas School District campus, Tuesday morning at the time of the incident.
The police confirmed that the student had brought the gun onto the school bus but that no other students were threatened or harmed. The student who shot herself was transported to All Children’s Hospital with a gunshot wound and was in stable condition at this report.
Police added that officers were able to take possession of the gun and are currently investigating how the student gained access to it.
School Transportation News reached out to the Pinellas School District and received the following statement: “The district’s Student Services counselors, social workers and school-based team members were on-site at the school today to assist students and staff. They will continue to be on-site to provide support as long as needed. The safety of students and staff is the highest priority.”
The school district confirmed that the incident is an ongoing active investigation with the St. Petersburg Police Department. Anyone with safety concerns is encouraged to contact the district.
The district’s website states that the transportation department is dedicated to high safety standard adding that the efforts of students, parents, school staff and bus drivers are all crucial to a safe bus ride. For example, the website includes a form for students, parents and community members to submit transportation safety concerns.
A 17-year-old was arrested in connection with a school bus shooting in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The teen’s lawyer claims his client is innocent.
According to a news statement released by Chester County District Attorney’s Office, the incident occurred on Oct. 17, when four suspects wearing masks and dark clothing approached a Coatesville Area School District school bus. Two of the suspects allegedly pulled out weapons and fired eight shots. The school bus was hit twice.
The shooting was a targeted attack on someone exiting the school bus, the district attorney’s office added. It is unclear who that person is. The students and school bus driver on board were not hurt.
In the statement, authorities said that Jaki White-Marshall is facing dozens of charges tied to the shooting, including aggravated assault, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person.
However, a statement released by defense attorney Vicent J. Caputo claims that White-Marshall is innocent and was only at the scene to witness a fight that had been promoted on social media.
Caputo added that White-Marshall also never had any communication with the alleged perpetrators of this crime prior to the incident.
White-Marshall was arrested on Friday and is currently being held at the Chester County Youth Center. Caputo said he wants the charges against his client to be dismissed.
District Attorney Christoper de Barrena-Sarobe reportedly urged the remaining suspects to surrender to authorities.
A 17-year-old in Chester County, Pennsylvania has been arrested after multiple shots were fired at a school bus.
Local reports said that police investigation has shown that the Thursday, Oct. 11 shooting was a targeted attack of someone who was getting off a Coatesville Area School District bus.
A statement posted on Facebook by the Chester County District Attorney’s Office confirmed that four individuals were involved in the shooting. The statement further noted that a total of eight shots were fired from two guns and that two of the bullets struck the bus. Local news reported that one bullet hit the bus grille, and another went through the front windshield, sending broken glass toward the driver.
The driver, who is employed by school bus contractor Krapf School Bus, reportedly alerted a dispatcher, who then called the police. A statement from Krapf School Bus indicated the driver drove the students to a safe location and that no one on the bus was injured. The district announced a virtual learning schedule the Friday following the incident for its senior and intermediate high schools.
Police arrested Jaki White-Marshall, 17, for his involvement in the shooting and said he will be tried as an adult. Chester County District Attorney Christopher L. de Barrena-Sarobe urged the remaining three suspects to turn themselves in.
“This is your chance to put the community at ease,” he said.
Residents of a Milwaukee neighborhood about a mile from the Republican National Convention gather after a police shooting at King Park. Photo by Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner.
In 2023, grassroots activists led by the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Police Repression (MAARPR) succeeded in their long campaign to win the public release of footage of critical incidents involving police officers. Almost immediately, Milwaukee Police Association (MPA) initiated a lawsuit against the policy, and a few months later, the Fire and Police Commission (FCP) suspended the policy for the duration of the Republican National Convention. The police killing of Samuel “Jah” Sharpe during the RNC resulted in a quick release of body camera footage by the police. The next day, the MPA dropped its lawsuit.
On May 30, 2021, the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (MAARPR) responded to a fatal officer-involved shooting on Milwaukee’s South Side. Roberto “Touch” Zielinski, age 49, was having a mental health crisis when Milwaukee police officers opened fire on him. As with other officer-involved shootings, Zielinski’s family and community members wanted to know what happened and why the police resorted to deadly force. Once the MAARPR met with Zielinski’s family, their demands became quite clear — they wanted the release of footage of the incident and the names of the officers involved.
Upon investigation into the policies regarding the public release of names of police officers and footage, the MAARPR discovered that Milwaukee had no formal policy requiring the release of that information. The MAARPR, which works closely with and includes the families of victims of the frequent police killings here, began advocating for a policy that would require the release of names within 24 hours and footage within 48.
When the MAARPR launched that campaign, the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission (FPC), the oldest civilian police oversight group in the U.S., had policy-making power over the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD). Once the path forward was clear, the MAARPR called for and facilitated meetings between the FPC and families of police crime victims.
The campaign took more than two years. Finally, in April of 2023, the FPC voted to adopt Standard Operating Procedure 575, which mandates the public release of all footage related to officer-involved critical incidents within fifteen days. Moreover, the MAARPR was able to pressure the FPC to include a provision that would guarantee families access to the footage within 48 hours.
The adoption of SOP 575 was a rare victory for the movement against police crimes in Milwaukee, but it was short lived. The day after its adoption, the Milwaukee Police Association (MPA) filed a lawsuit against the city over the SOP. Then, a month after the victory of this grassroots campaign, the FPC met and declared that SOP 575 would not be effective for the duration of the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee in July, 2024. Rather than provide opportunity for public testimony, as is customary in FPC meetings, the FPC decided to vote on this suspension first. Not only did the decision go against the good faith efforts of community activists to engage with the FPC, but it also sent a message to the people of Milwaukee to anticipate little to no transparency during the RNC.
In January 2024, the FPC lost its policy-making powers under a shared revenue bill passed by the state Legislature. The commission still has the power to hire and fire police and fire chiefs and advocate for the city’s residents, but civilian oversight was gutted by the state.
As many had feared and actively warned, the RNC brought with it police violence. Over 4,500 additional police descended on the city, recruited from area officers working in the Milwaukee Area Investigative Team, and from around the country. Gov. Tony Evers declared Milwaukee to be in a state of emergency for the duration of the convention. On the second day of the convention, officers from Columbus, Ohio, shot and killed an unhoused Black man, Samuel “Jah” Sharpe Jr., from a block’s distance, while Sharpe was in an altercation with another person and holding a knife. Almost immediately, the Columbus Police Department (CPD) released body camera footage, following it up with more extensive video two days later.
That next day, members of the MAARPR received confirmation that the MPA had dropped its legal challenge to SOP 575. This timing wasn’t a coincidence. CPD’s decision to release the footage within hours of the critical incident contradicted the MPA’s claims and demonstrated the lack of merit in their arguments. Such a quick release of footage made it obvious to the MPA that their arguments would not hold up in court.
Police body camera footage of the killing of Sharpe Jr. allowed the public to see the event for themselves, and gave Sharpe Jr.’s relatives traction to argue that this was an inappropriate use of fatal force. Against widespread condemnation of yet another unnecessary use of deadly force, Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman defended the police involved, saying that the video indicated that the officers had made difficult decisions quickly, and that there were no violations of police protocol.
But to many in the community, the footage of the killing of Sharpe Jr. clearly indicates that the police shot him from far away, neglecting to attempt to intervene in the situation in less violent ways. What the video does not show is that the Columbus police were a mile away from the convention they were supposedly in town to protect. Their presence in the neighborhood was an invasion that endangered its residents and public safety in general.
Access to footage won’t put an end to police crimes, but it allows impacted communities to shape the narrative about these incidents and to organize against them. The end of police crimes will come when the community wields the power to have control over the police. Such power would ensure that out of town police aren’t allowed to patrol areas a mile away from the RNC. Samuel “Jah” Sharpe Jr. would be alive today if such resources were available to all.
The achievement of SOP 575 emerged out of the grief, rage, and demand for better from the relatives of those killed by police, and it highlights what diligent grassroots organizing against police crimes can accomplish. As the MAARPR reminds people, the struggle continues. The struggle for greater transparency and accountability from the police in Milwaukee is far from over, and SOP 575’s success marks an important step forward.
Law enforcement agents stand near the stage of a campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe told reporters on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, that the agency takes responsibility for the failures that resulted in an assassination attempt on Trump there that day. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Secret Service has taken responsibility for the failures that resulted in the July assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania and is asking for more resources going forward, a top official said Friday.
Acting Director Ronald Rowe briefed reporters on the agency’s findings following an investigation into how a gunman was able to scale a nearby roof and fire multiple shots at Trump during a July 13 campaign rally in Butler. Trump sustained an injury to his right ear, and one spectator was killed while two others were seriously injured.
“It’s important that we hold ourselves accountable for the failures of July 13, and that we use the lessons learned to make sure that we do not have another failure like this again,” Rowe said.
The investigation revealed communication “deficiencies” between law enforcement personnel and an “overreliance on mobile devices, resulting in information being siloed,” Rowe said, highlighting that vital information about the shooter was transmitted via phone instead of over the Secret Service radio network.
The investigation also uncovered “complacency” among some staff members who visited the site ahead of time but did not escalate to supervisors their concerns over “line of sight issues,” Rowe said.
“The findings of the Mission Assurance review have prompted the Secret Service to move into the accountability phase of this process,” he said, referring to the agency’s title of its investigation.
“What has become clear to me is we need a shift in paradigm in how we conduct our protective operations. As was demonstrated on Sunday in West Palm Beach, the threat level is evolving,” Rowe said.
“This increased operational tempo requires additional resources to not only account for costs being incurred today, but ensure that we have the tools, technology and personnel needed to meet these new requirements and execute our mission going forward,” he said.
Second attempt to harm Trump
The investigation’s conclusions were revealed less than a week after a second attempt on Trump’s life. On Sunday the Secret Service thwarted a gunman’s attempt to aim a high-powered rifle at the former president while he was playing golf on his West Palm Beach, Florida, property.
The incidents prompted unanimous U.S. House support for a measure to grant presidential and vice presidential candidates the same security level as the officeholders. The proposal sailed through the lower chamber Friday in a 405-0 vote.
On Monday a bipartisan congressional task force investigating the July attempted assassination in Pennsylvania announced an expansion of its purview to also probe Sunday’s attempt in Florida. The task force will hold its first hearing Thursday.
Rowe said the agency has been providing the “highest levels” of protections for presidential candidates since the July 13 assassination attempt.
That increased level of protection is working, Rowe told reporters, recounting how an agent swept the area ahead of Trump and “took steps to neutralize that threat.”
“No shot was fired at the former president. The former president was not exposed to where he was on the golf course,” he said.
Extending that level of protection means the agency is “burning through a lot of assets and resources.”
“This isn’t pie in the sky, trying to say ‘Hey, we want this now.’ We are not capitalizing on a crisis,” Rowe said.
Rowe would not disclose an additional dollar amount the agency is seeking and said conversations with congressional appropriators are “ongoing.”
“The threat is not going to evaporate anytime soon, and so we have to be prepared for this. And that is the argument that we have been making. We have certainly made some inroads, and we’re having these productive conversations with the Hill,” he said.
Rowe was appointed as the agency’s acting director after former Director Kimberly Cheatle heeded loud cries for her resignation, stepping down 10 days after the attempt on Trump’s life in July.
Rowe would not detail who or how many in the agency will face discipline, citing federal regulations preventing him from discussing it further.
“What I will tell you is that I have not asked for anybody to retire. I know some of that was reported. That is false,” Rowe said. Rowe said the agency’s offices of Integrity and Professional Responsibility will together decide any discipline in accordance with the agency’s “table of penalties.”
Law enforcement personnel continued to investigate the area around Trump International Golf Club on Monday after an apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump a day earlier. The FBI is leading the investigation and has said the incident “appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Trump” while he was golfing at his West Palm Beach, Florida, club. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — Ryan Wesley Routh appeared in federal court Monday on two firearm charges after being apprehended by local law enforcement Sunday in what the FBI is investigating as a possible assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.
Authorities found a rifle in an area Routh was seen fleeing on Sunday, but acting Secret Service Director Ron Rowe said Monday that Routh did not fire his weapon. Trump was unharmed, his campaign confirmed shortly after Sunday’s incident.
The Secret Service agent who spotted someone holding a rifle near the treeline of Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, fired toward the suspect. Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, was golfing at the time.
The incident is being investigated as the second assassination attempt against Trump in two months. He sustained an injury to his ear during a shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July.
The Trump campaign Monday blamed Democrats and the media for the shooting.
“Democrats and the Fake News must immediately cease their inflammatory, violent rhetoric against President Trump — which was mimicked by yesterday’s would-be assassin,” the campaign said in a statement.
Routh, 58, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ryon McCabe in West Palm Beach federal court and was charged with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and for obliterating the serial number on a firearm, according to court records. If convicted, he would face up to 20 years in prison.
A detention hearing on the federal charges is set for Sept. 23, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Initial investigation
According to an affidavit accompanying the criminal complaint, at 1:31 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, a Secret Service agent walking the perimeter of the golf course spotted a rifle poking out of the tree line. The agent fired toward the rifle.
Rowe said at a Monday press conference that Routh did not have a line of vision at the former president and he did not fire his weapon.
“The agent who was visually sweeping the area … saw the subject armed with what he perceived to be a rifle and immediately discharged his firearm,” Rowe said. “The subject, who did not have line of sight to the former president, fled the scene. He did not fire or get off any shots at our agents.”
Routh fled in a Nissan SUV, according to the charging documents. A witness took photos of the license plate and local law enforcement officers stopped the vehicle in Martin County, which borders Palm Beach County.
West Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said the witness was able to identify the driver as “the person that he saw running out of the bushes that jumped into the car.”
Routh was the sole person in the vehicle, according to the complaint.
According to the charging documents, agents found at the site Routh fled a digital camera, two bags, an SKS-style 7.62 x 39 rifle, which is the predecessor to the AK-47 assault rifle that law enforcement initially said they found Sunday, and a scope.
They also found a bag of food and noticed the rifle had the serial number obliterated “to the naked eye,” according to the filing documents.
The weapon also must have crossed state lines, Thomas noted.
“SKS-style 7.62 x 39 caliber rifles are not manufactured in the state of Florida,” Thomas wrote. “Therefore, I submit that there is probable cause to believe that the SKS-style rifle, which was seized from the tree line at Trump International… traveled in interstate or foreign commerce.”
The officers who stopped Routh on Interstate-95 noted that the license plate associated with the Nissan is registered to a 2012 white Ford truck that was reported stolen, according to the complaint.
Law enforcement found a July 10 Facebook post in which Routh directed his followers to contact him on WhatsApp and listed a contact number, according to the complaint.
Phone records associated with that number indicated that the phone “was located in the vicinity of the area along the tree line described from 1:59 a.m. Eastern to 1:31 p.m. Sunday,” according to the complaint.
Secret Service response
The incident follows the July 13 assassination attempt of Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in which the Secret Service was heavily criticized for its response.
The leaders of that task force, U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, Republican of Pennsylvania, and U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat, have requested a briefing from the Secret Service on the security response to the shooting in West Palm Beach.
Members of Congress have been more complimentary of the Secret Service’s response to the Florida incident.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, commended the agency’s response during an interview with “Fox and Friends” on Monday.
“What I understand happened is that those agents that were with him yesterday saw that barrel of that gun between the bushes on a golf course. I mean, you know, that’s a difficult thing to spot. Thankfully, they did,” Johnson said. “But unlike in Butler, they did not pause. They immediately pulled their weapons and fired. I think that’s why this guy, the suspect, the shooter, threw the gun in the bushes and ran.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, said on the Senate floor Monday that senators are open to giving the Secret Service more funding in legislation this month needed to keep the government open past Sept. 30.
“If the Secret Service is in need of more resources, we are prepared to provide it for them,” he said. “Possibly in the upcoming funding agreement.”
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, said Sunday they’d been briefed on the matter and condemned political violence.
Prior arrests, Ukraine activism
In 2002, Routh was convicted in Greensboro, North Carolina, for possession of a weapon of mass destruction, which is a felony in the state. He was arrested after fleeing law enforcement and barricading himself for three hours in a business, according to the Greensboro News & Record.
He was also arrested in North Carolina in 2010 for possession of stolen goods.
Jeffrey Veltri, the special agent in charge of the bureau’s Miami field office, said during a Monday press conference that the FBI is conducting interviews with family and friends in Honolulu and Charlotte, North Carolina.
He added that in 2019 the FBI received a tip that Routh possessed a firearm, which was illegal because of his felony record. When FBI agents followed up, the tipster “did not verify providing the initial information,” Veltri said.
The agency referred the matter to Honolulu police, he said.
Routh was interviewed by The New York Times last year about his efforts to recruit Afghan soldiers who had fled the Taliban to fight in Ukraine’s war against Russia.
Routh, who had spent time in Ukraine and does not have any U.S. military experience, said he had planned to illegally obtain documents to move those Afghan fighters from Pakistan and Iran to Ukraine.
He wrote an ebook that he published on Amazon Kindle about his time in Ukraine, during which he became disillusioned about the country’s ability to win its war against Russia.
Kathleen Shaffer, who said Routh was her fiancé, set up a GoFundMe in 2022 to help Routh travel to Ukraine for 90 days to fight in the war.
“Any and all funds will support purchase of additional flags, tactical gear, any supplies needed for incoming volunteers, and hostel lodging,” according to the fundraiser, which raised $1,865 out of its goal of $2,500.
States Newsroom called a number associated with Shaffer, but could not reach her.
Public records show Routh currently lives in Kaaawa on the island of Oahu in Hawaii.
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, is safe after gunshots were fired in his vicinity while he played golf Sunday near his Florida home. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The FBI is investigating a possible assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump after gunshots were fired Sunday near Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, where the GOP presidential nominee was playing golf.
The FBI said in a statement to States Newsroom the incident “appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Trump.”
A male suspect is in custody, law enforcement officials said.
“President Trump is safe following gunshots in his vicinity. No further details at this time,” Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign’s communications director, said in a statement about 20 minutes after the incident occurred just before 2 p.m. Eastern.
The FBI is taking a lead on investigating, said Jeffrey Veltri, the special agent in charge of the bureau’s Miami field office during a late afternoon press conference by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told reporters that a Secret Service agent with Trump spotted a rifle coming out of bushes next to the golf course.
“The Secret Service agent that was on the course did a fantastic job,” he said. “What they do is, they have an agent that jumps one hole ahead of time to where the president was at, and he was able to spot this rifle barrel, stickin’ out of the fence, and immediately engage that individual, at which time the individual took off.”
The suspect in the bushes had an AK-47 style rifle with a scope, two backpacks filled with ceramic tile and a GoPro camera, Bradshaw said.
Bradshaw said a witness saw the suspect come out of the bushes and take off in a black Nissan. The witness took a picture of the license plate and local law enforcement officers were able to stop the vehicle in Martin County, which borders Palm Beach County.
“They spotted the vehicle and pulled it over and detained the guy,” Bradshaw said.
Once the driver was detained, Bradshaw said the witness was able to identify the driver as “the person that he saw running out of the bushes that jumped into the car.”
Bradshaw said the suspect was about 300 to 500 yards away from Trump.
“With a rifle and a scope like that, that’s not a long distance,” he said.
Bradshaw did not provide more details about the suspect’s identity.
U.S. Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said on social media prior to the press conference that “a protective incident” involving Trump occurred and that the Secret Service was investigating the incident with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. He also confirmed that Trump was safe.
The private golf club is about 4 miles from Trump’s primary residence at Mar-a-Lago.
Reaction from Vance, Harris, Biden
The Republican vice presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, wrote on social media that he has spoken to Trump, who is “in good spirits.”
“Still much we don’t know, but I’ll be hugging my kids extra tight tonight and saying a prayer of gratitude,” Vance wrote.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, said on social media that she had been briefed and she is glad Trump is safe.
“Violence has no place in America,” she said.
The White House said that President Joe Biden had also been briefed.
“They are relieved to know that he is safe,” the White House said of Biden and Harris. “They will be kept regularly updated by their team.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, said in a statement that he applauded “the Secret Service for their quick response to ensure former President Trump’s safety.”
“There is no place in this country for political violence of any kind,” he said. “The perpetrator must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Congress set up a bipartisan task force to investigate that attempted assassination. The chair of the task force, U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, Republican of Pennsylvania and the top Democrat, U.S. Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado released a joint statement, requesting a briefing from the Secret Service on the shooting in West Palm Beach “and how security responded.”
“We are thankful that the former President was not harmed, but remain deeply concerned about political violence and condemn it in all of its forms,” they wrote. “The Task Force will share updates as we learn more.”
U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce, an Ohio Republican and a member of the task force investigating that incident, said on social media “with continued threats against Trump, it is critical to remain dedicated to our work on the Task Force to Investigate the Attempted Assassination of President Trump.”
A Menchville High School Student was shot and killed while at his school bus stop on Tuesday.
The Newport News Police Department said officers responded at 6:18 a.m. to a “ShotSpotter activation” — a program that traces soundwaves to detect gun shots — near the 1200 block of 16th Street near Garden Drive in Newport News, Virginia. According to the Newport News Public Schools Website, there is a school bus stop near 16th Street and Garden Drive. School buses are scheduled to pick up students there at 6:17 a.m.
Police officers arrived at the scene and found a juvenile male suffering from at least one gunshot wound, which appeared to be life-threatening. Local media reported the Juvenile was 15 years old. NNPD said the boy was transported to an area hospital, where he died.
The investigation was ongoing at this report. There was also no confirmation of the school bus being at the scene when the shooting occurred. However, local media outlets reported a school bus left the scene at 7:15 a.m., and students who remained on the bus were safe. Photos of the scene show a school bus is present.
Newport News School Board and Newport News Public Schools released the following statement.
“The Newport News Public Schools family extends our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the Menchville High School student who tragically lost his life today. The school board, superintendent and administrative team will continue to support the family and our students and staff through the difficult days ahead.”
The statement adds that “members of the school division’s support and response team will be available to meet and talk with Menchville High students and staff for as long as they are needed. Support services are available at all schools.”
The reportedly second school shooting this calendar year and first of the new school year resulted in two students and two teachers killed and at least another nine injured.
The shooting at Apalachee High School, located near Winder, Georgia, occurred a little over a month after the first day of school, with the motive still unknown. Mason Schermerhom, 14, and Christian Angulo, 14, were identified as the students killed. Teachers Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53, were also killed.
Nine additional people, eight students and one teacher, were injured and taken to various hospitals. Media reports indicated they are expected to recover.
School Transportation News reached out to the district for more information such as transportation’s involvement in student evacuation and reunification but had not heard back at this writing.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) stated that Barrow County authorities were notified on Wednesday at around 10:20 a.m. of an active shooter at Apalachee High School. Within minutes, law enforcement was on scene. The 14-year-old shooter surrendered immediately and was taken into custody. The teen allegedly made threats online, which included photos of guns.
GBI said the boy has been charged with four counts of felony murder, with more charges expected. He was taken to the Gainsville Regional Youth Detention Center but GBI said during a press conference on scene that he will be charged as an adult.
GBI added there is no evidence to suggest there were multiple shooters or that more schools are being targeted. All Barrow County Schools are closed Thursday and Friday. The district is offering counselors at the central office.
The first school shooting of 2024 took place in Perry, Iowa, where one student and one principal were killed. Max Christensen, father of two students who were at the school during the shooting and the recently retired state director of student transportation at the Iowa Department of Education, spoke about his experience and lessons learned for student transporters in June at STN EXPO East in Indianapolis, Indiana.
A Syracuse City School District school bus was struck by a bullet on Wednesday afternoon, reported Syracuse News.
The incident occurred at about 2:37 p.m. when the school bus was transporting four students along the 400 block of Highland Street.
According to the news report, the bullet went through the front of the bus then hit the radiator. The bus was immobilized and towed away. No injuries were reported at the time of the incident.
Police stated via the article that the bus was not the intended target and that whoever shot the bullets must have been standing on the side of the road. Mutiple casings were recovered at the scene.
The students’ parents were notified of the incident, and the children were transported home safely.
The incident remains under investigation and police are asking that anyone with information about the shooting should contact them.
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