(HONOLULU) — A man who barricaded himself in a Honolulu hotel room after allegedly firing multiple shots has died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said.
Honolulu Police Department Captain Brian Lynch said that a 911 call came in at approximately 5:40 p.m. Saturday reporting that multiple shots had been fired at the Kahala Hotel & Resort, according to ABC News’ Honolulu affiliate KITV-TV.
According to KITV, Lynch said that there were about five shots fired from a guest’s room on the fourth floor of the hotel and that hotel security responded as the suspect reportedly shot through the door of the room.
Lynch said that 18 police officers responded to the scene and immediately evacuated the adjoining rooms and all guests who were on the fourth floor of the Kahala Hotel & Resort.
Guests and staff in other areas on the property were asked to shelter-in-place. There have been no injuries reported but social media posts show hundreds of people in the resort’s grand ballroom, according to KITV.
The Kahala Hotel & Resort released a statement regarding the ongoing situation on the property.
“This evening, an individual with a firearm barricaded himself in one of the guest rooms at The Kahala,” read the statement obtained by KITV. “Our security personnel and law enforcement have evacuated guests and employees from the immediate area and everyone is sheltering in place. We ask that the public refrain from entering the area surrounding the hotel at this time. We will provide further updates as they become available.”
Lynch has confirmed that the male suspect involved with the ongoing situation is alone in the room and he may have family staying with him but says they are in a safe place.
KITV reports that the suspect is believed to be in the military and maybe stationed on Oahu.
(NEW YORK) — Since Friday, there have been at least 350 reports of severe weather across the southern U.S.
This includes five reported tornadoes — one in Louisiana, two in Mississippi, one in Florida and one in Georgia.
In Louisiana, a confirmed EF-3 tornado with winds up to 140 mph touched down near Palmetto. The tornado was on the ground for over eight miles and killed one person while injuring seven others.
In Panama City Beach, a waterspout moving ashore did widespread damage to structures, trees and power lines.
In Orange Beach, Alabama, hail up to 4 inches in diameter was reported which is the size of a softball.
This is only the second time on record hail of that size has been reported in that region and it is the largest hail ever recorded in Baldwin County, Alabama.
Also along the Gulf Coast, wind gusts reach over 80 mph in spots downed trees and power lines.
Strong winds also did damage in Manatee County, Florida, and it remains unclear if damage in the county was caused by a tornado or straight lined winds.
Today will be the last day of the severe weather outbreak, however, and severe storms will race across Florida bringing damaging winds, large hail and brief tornadoes as very heavy rainfall is possible and flash flooding will be a concern.
The severe risk region stretches from Orlando to Miami and could affect over 12 million Americans.
A separate part of the same storm that is sparking the severe weather will move into the Northeast as well on Sunday.
Heavy rain will develop along a frontal boundary and bring some downpours as well as gusty winds as the rain lingers into Monday.
Locally, 1 to 2 inches of rain is possible across parts of the Northeast and some flooding could be possible.
Some parts of the Northeast, including parts of upstate New York and northwest Pennsylvania could use the rainfall as some of this region is experiencing drought.
Behind this system attention then turns to the Central U.S. where colder air will begin to spill down from Canada.
Temperatures are expected to drop up to 20 degrees below average and, by Tuesday morning, wind chills across the region will be in the 20s and teens — one last gasp of winter as we head into mid-April.
(BATON ROUGE, La.) — Authorities and volunteers are searching for a missing Louisiana State University student whose car was found abandoned on a Mississippi River bridge in Baton Rouge earlier this week.
Kori Gauthier, an 18-year-old freshman at LSU, was last seen Tuesday, her family said.
Officers found her car after midnight Thursday on the eastbound side of the Horace Wilkinson Bridge on Interstate 10 after someone crashed into it, police said. Her car was left unoccupied on the bridge, which is about 2 miles from the university campus, for at least an hour before the crash, Baton Rouge ABC affiliate WBRZ reported.
“At this time, based on evidence collected during the investigation thus far, law enforcement officials suspect that no criminal activity or foul play took place,” LSU said in a statement Saturday night.
Her father, Levar Gauthier, said they only found out Kori was missing when she didn’t show up to an orthodontist appointment or dance class on Wednesday. Her daughter’s former roommate used a tracking app on her phone to pinpoint Kori’s car sitting at a tow lot. He said police did not contact them before or after towing her car away even though the driver was nowhere to be found following the crash.
Her keys, phone and wallet were all found inside the car, according to her parents.
“A fool would’ve contacted somebody for additional help seeing a situation like that,” her father told ABC News about his daughter’s car being found empty after the crash. “I mean it’s to the point now I can’t be nice anymore. My daughter’s still out there somewhere and I was trying to be respectful before but I’m becoming very irate now.”
Search efforts have been underway in the days since her car was found, including local authorities, the United Cajun Navy and volunteers. A Baton Rouge Police Department dive team has been searching the Mississippi River, WBRZ reported.
“I’m angry, I’m in pain, but I appreciate everything people are doing,” Levar Gauthier said.
On Saturday evening, LSU said search efforts were continuing along the Mississippi River and a cadaver dog “alerted twice in the same area on the river,” but the depth of water — about 85 to 90 feet — and conditions made further search efforts in the area impossible.
The search effort was expected to resume in the area on Sunday with sonar equipment.
On Friday, over 300 people were involved in the search, according to the United Cajun Navy, which has been employing volunteers on foot, horseback, all-terrain vehicles, drones, boats and helicopters.
The search resumed early Saturday morning, as the community prayed for Kori Gauthier to be found safe.
Her father said he doesn’t believe his daughter died by suicide and said she loved college, was moving into a new apartment and was very close to her family.
“It is very far-fetched for me to think that for some reason my daughter just slammed on her brakes, walked out of her car and went off the side of a bridge. No, not believing that,” he told ABC News.
Those who knew Kori spoke of the joy she brought to her family and friends.
“She’s a fun-loving girl. Loves being a college student,” Levar Gauthier told WBRZ. “I hope and pray that she’s just somewhere injured, and just, it’s taking us a while to get to her, so she can live her dream and graduate from LSU and become a teacher and open her own dance studio.”
“If you find her, just bring her home so we can make that a reality,” he added.
The LSU Police Department is investigating Kori Gauthier’s disappearance.
“We want to assure the LSU community that the search for missing LSU student Kori Gauthier continues in cooperation with law enforcement officials and volunteers throughout the region,” the university tweeted Saturday. “LSU Police Department is in contact with Kori’s parents and keeping them updated and informed throughout, including sharing details that, out of respect for the family’s privacy and to protect the integrity of the investigation, are not being shared with the general public.”
Adania Daughtry, who was Kori’s roommate in the fall and helped find her car, was among the many out searching on Saturday.
“Kori was an angel. She kept me balanced. I was blessed to meet her, for her to be my roommate,” she told ABC News. “We didn’t know each other before the fall, but she was an amazing person.”
Spencer Gauthier is offering a $10,000 reward “to anyone that leads her home.”
Kori Gauthier is 5-foot-5, weighs between 115 and 120 pounds and has dark brown hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information is asked to contact LSU Police at 225-578-3231.
ABC News’ Elwyn Lopez, Nick Cirone, Nam Cho and Mark Osborne contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A man was arrested for allegedly threatening to stab an Asian undercover police officer in the face at Penn Station in New York City.
On Friday, Juvian Rodriguez, 35, approached a New York Police Department officer who was undercover as they were both on an escalator near 7th Avenue and 32nd Street entering the station, and started shouting anti-Asian statements, police said.
Rodriguez allegedly told the officer to “go back to China before you end up in the graveyard,” according to local ABC station WABC. He then threatened to stab the officer in the face, WABC reported. He was arrested inside the station around 1:20 p.m. according to police.
Rodriguez is charged with harassment as a hate crime, aggravated harassment based on race or religion, menacing as a hate crime, and criminal possession of a controlled substance, according to the NYPD.
Rodriguez was freed but placed under supervised released following his arraignment, the district attorney’s office told ABC News.
Hate crimes against Asian Americans have surged over the past four years. The coronavirus pandemic and its suspected origins in Wuhan, China, have been cited by advocates as one motive for the surge in anti-Asian discrimination in the United States over the last year.
From March 19, 2020, to Feb. 28, 2021, there were more than 3,795 hate incidents, including verbal harassment and physical assault, against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States reported to Stop AAPI Hate, a nonprofit organization that tracks such incidents.
The NYPD announced last month it was increasing patrols and adding undercover officers in areas with significant Asian American populations to curb crimes.
“The next person you target, whether it’s through speech, menacing activity or anything else, walking along a sidewalk or on a train platform, may be a plainclothes New York City police officer. So think twice,” Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said during a March 25 press conference.
(SOUTH SALT LAKE, Utah) — Two deputies are injured and a suspect is dead following a shooting outside a sheriff’s office in South Salt Lake, Utah, authorities said.
The shooting occurred around 10:30 a.m. local time Saturday, on the north side of the property’s parking lot near a bus stop, Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said during a press briefing.
Two deputies on the campus security team were shot and are currently hospitalized, she said. One is in stable condition after getting shot in the face, and the other is in critical condition after being shot in the eye, the sheriff said.
An Officer Involved Critical Incident team will be investigating, she said, though didn’t provide any additional details about the shooting.
“Something occurred to where there were shots fired and that is all we can release at this time,” she said.
“These incidents are devastating for the department, and we hope and pray the deputies will be OK,” she added.
The sheriff’s office is located near the Salt Lake County Metro Jail, which is on lockdown following the shooting.
“It’ll be on lockdown until we feel it’s secure,” Rivera said. “The jail is not in danger but that is our protocol.”
ABC News’ Sarah Hermina contributed to this report.
kali9/iStockBY: JON HAWORTH, ABC NEWS
