Willowpix/iStockBy MAX GOLEMBO and EMILY SHAPIRO, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — There were 32 reported tornadoes across eight states in the last three days, the strongest of which was an EF-2 with winds of 135 mph in Mississippi.
Severe weather moved from Georgia to Virginia on Thursday with damaging storms and possible tornadoes.
Now, a new storm is brewing, and is expected to cross the country with more severe weather for the South as well as snow in the Rockies and Upper Midwest.
On Friday this new storm is moving through the West bringing heavy snow to California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, where up to 1 foot is possible.
This weekend, the storm will move east, dropping snow in the Rockies and possibly reaching Denver by Sunday night.
By Monday night into Tuesday and Wednesday, the storm system will move into Mississippi River Valley, where it could bring another round of severe weather with damaging winds and potential tornadoes.
Meanwhile, this weekend and early next week, a snowstorm is possible for parts of the northern Plains and the Upper Midwest, from Nebraska to Minnesota. Some areas could see 3 to 6 inches of snow.
uschools/iStockBy MICHELLE STODDART and LUKE BARR, ABC News
(WASHINGTON) — The widow of Howard Liebengood, a U.S. Capitol Police officer who died by suicide three days after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, has sent a letter to her member of Congress, asking she help get her husband’s death be designated as “in the line of duty.”
“After assisting riot control at the Capitol on January 6th, USCP scheduled Howie to work lengthy shifts in the immediate days following. He was home for very few hours over the course of four days,” Serena Liebengood wrote to Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., revealing details apparently not publicly known.
“Although he was severely sleep-deprived, he remained on duty — as he was directed — practically around the clock from January 6 through the 9. On the evening of the 9, he took life at our home,” she wrote of her 51-year-old husband.
Liebengood called the “reluctance” by U.S. Capitol Police Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman to do so a “wrong which must be rectified,” asking that Congress intervene.
Pittman responded in a statement Thursday, saying, “While I want to support the Liebengood family to the maximum extent possible, Line of Duty Death declarations are given to officers who die while carrying out official law enforcement responsibilities.”
She cited that even law enforcement officers who had killed themselves after responding to the 9/11 attacks were not classified as having died in the line of duty.
Liebengood also requested a bipartisan commission, which has been in the works in Congress, to examine the causes of the riot and security failures.
“The Liebengood family wants Howie’s death to not have been in vain. Recognition of the cause of his death, much like the critical examination of the riot itself, will remain central to how we make right those tragedies and help avoid their repetition,” she wrote.
“I’m hopeful that a bipartisan commission will examine the root causes of the January 6 riot and make recommendations to avoid its reoccurrence,” she wrote. “What must not be lost in all of this is that my beloved husband died as the result of his dedication to the USCP and the sacrifices he made to his well-being on January 6th and the ensuing days, just as assuredly as if he had been slain on the Capitol steps.”
Liebengood noted she wanted her husband’s death to bring support to U.S. Capitol Police officers and reforms to the police force, especially when it comes to mental health and well-being.
Pittman, in her statement, responded the force had increased access to mental health for officers.
“With a full understanding of and immense appreciation for the toll our profession can have on officers, the Department has always made mental health resources available to our workforce and significantly increased those resources in size and scope after January 6th,” she said.
Karen Solomon, who runs the law enforcement suicide group Blue HELP, which tracks law enforcement suicides around the country, told ABC News that there are no guidelines on establishing a suicide as a line of duty death.
“What brought the officer to the point of suicide, and why couldn’t that officer get help? And once we can answer those two questions, we can assign it a line of duty death designation,” Solomon said.
In her letter, Liebengood outlines her husband’s “warm, gentle, and compassionate” personality and his “devotion” to service in the Senate. “There is no way to convey what our family is going through, as we struggle to simply function in our grief,” Liebengood wrote. “We never could have imagined that we would lose Howie so early in our lives.”
She emphasized that her late husband had deep roots with the Senate.
Liebengood’s father had served for years in the Senate, she said, and even worked as Senate Sergeant at Arms. Liebengood started work at the Capitol as a page, and the Liebengood family totaled more than 50 years of service in the Senate. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell gave an emotional nod to his “friend” Liebengood in an floor speech at the end of former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.
“Today I want to reaffirm the huge respect and gratitude that I have – and I believe all senators have – for the men and women of the USCP who put their own safety on the line every single day that they clock in and stand guard. Neither the institution of Congress nor the American people will ever forget the bravery and the valor of Officer Brian Sicknick, who sacrificed himself to protect this place and those inside it.
“We will not forget our friend Officer Howard Liebengood,” McConnell said. “And we will never forget our debt to all brave USCP officers and their families. It is more than just comforting to come to work in a place protected by such fine men and women, at risk to themselves; it is also very humbling.”
ABC News’ Rachel Scott contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — After a gunman killed eight people — the majority of whom were women of Asian descent — at three spas in the Atlanta area, police across the U.S. say they are increasing patrols in Asian American communities.
When the suspect, 21-year-old Robert Long, was taken into custody hours after the Tuesday shootings, he allegedly admitted to the killings, which spanned from Cherokee County, Georgia, to Atlanta, the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office said.
“Long told investigators that he blames the massage parlors for providing an outlet for his addiction to sex,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement on Wednesday. “Long told investigators the crimes were not racially motivated.”
The Atlanta police said Wednesday, “Our investigation is far from over and we have not ruled anything out.”
The killings come amid a rise in anti-Asian American hate crimes.
In New York City, the police department said Tuesday night that it will deploy “assets to our great Asian communities across the city out of an abundance of caution.”
In Chicago, “presence and patrols” will be upped in Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, Police Superintendent David Brown said Wednesday.
“Our district commanders are working with local community leaders, advocates and business owners throughout Chicago’s Asian American & Pacific Islander community to reinforce our commitment to protecting the lives, rights, and property of all people in Chicago,” Brown said.
Atlanta police said Wednesday that officers were sent to nearby spas “and patrols have been increased in those areas.”
In the Atlanta suburb of Lawrenceville, the police department said Wednesday that it’s providing “extra patrols in and around Asian businesses, particularly spas” in the wake of the shootings.
“Although there are no known threats at this time, these patrols will continue for the foreseeable future for the safety and comfort of the community,” police said.
The reporting forum Stop AAPI Hate said in a statement Tuesday, “The reported shootings of multiple Asian American women today in Atlanta is an unspeakable tragedy — for the families of the victims first and foremost, but also for the Asian American community, which has been reeling from high levels of racist attacks over the course of the past year. Few details about these shootings have been released, including whether or not they were motivated by hate.”
“Not enough has been done to protect Asian Americans from heightened levels of hate, discrimination and violence,” the statement continued. “Concrete action must be taken now. Anything else is unacceptable. As further details of this tragedy unfold, our hearts go out to the loved ones of the victims and to the Asian American community in Atlanta.”
BlakeDavidTaylor/iStock(WASHINGTON) — A man was arrested Wednesday for gun and ammunition offenses near the official vice president’s residence on the grounds of the Naval Observatory in Washington, police said.
According to the Metropolitan Police Department, 31-year-old Paul Murray, of San Antonio, Texas, was detained by Secret Service and arrested. A rifle and ammunition were recovered in his vehicle, police said.
Vice President Kamala Harris is not living at the residence while it’s undergoing renovations. She is residing at Blair House.
According to sources, the suspect’s mom called Capitol Police after he made statements that concerned her, though they weren’t connected to the vice president or president.
The suspect was spotted on surveillance cameras near the Naval Observatory and when Secret Service approached the suspect, he said he needed help and wondered if President Joe Biden could help him, according to sources.
Murray did not have any weapons on him, but he led authorities to his car where the rifle and ammunition were found.
He made no threats to Biden or Harris and was turned over to the Metropolitan Police Department.
ABC News’ Pierre Thomas contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Prediction Center issued a rare high risk for severe thunderstorms that could produce intense, long-track tornadoes, huge hail and damaging straight-line winds.
On Wednesday morning, storms are already moving through Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas with severe thunderstorm watches and warnings for damaging winds and large hail.
The same line of storms that is moving through Texas this morning is expected to intensify as it moves east into the Gulf Coast states as supercell thunderstorms will fire up and are expected to produce dangerous large tornadoes, straight-line winds over 70 mph and huge hail.
The biggest threat for these storms today will be from northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas through Mississippi and into western Alabama.
The most dangerous part is that these storms will continue to be active through Wednesday night into Thursday morning producing night time tornadoes across the South.
By Thursday afternoon, severe storms will move into the Southeast from Florida to Virginia with the biggest threat for strong tornadoes from Georgia to South and North Carolina.
On the back side of this dangerous storm system there is a blizzard warning for five states, the Texas panhandle, northwestern New Mexico, southern Colorado, the Oklahoma panhandle and southern Kansas and these areas could see wind gusts near 50 mph and up to 7 inches of snow, creating whiteout conditions.
On Wednesday morning, more than a dozen states are under snow, flood and high wind alerts.
Willowpix/iStockBy MAX GOLEMBO and EMILY SHAPIRO, ABC News
