NiseriN/iStockBy JACK DATE and LUKE BARR, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — The murder of a New Jersey federal judge’s son has put the spotlight on an alarming trend that officials say continues to rise: threats against federal judges and their families.
The son of Judge Esther Salas, a freshman at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., was killed in the family’s home in North Brunswick, New Jersey, on Sunday night and her husband was also shot multiple times and is in critical but stable condition, sources told ABC News. Salas was not injured and the suspect remains at large, a law enforcement official said.
Judge Salas, who is now under 24-hour protection, had received threats in the past and authorities are investigating whether there is any connection between those prior threats and the shooting, sources said.
According to the U.S. Marshals Service, who are tasked with protecting federal judges, there were 4,449 threats and inappropriate communications against protected persons in 2019.
In 2015, that number was 926.
The U.S. Marshals Service says the increase is due to “improved effectiveness in data collection and reporting of potential threats.”
Over that same time period, the number of threats investigated rose from 305 in 2015 to 373 in 2019, peaking at 531 in 2018.
A day after federal Judge James Robart issued a temporary restraining order on President Donald Trump’s first travel ban on Feb. 3, 2017, threats against the judge came flooding in.
According to the American Bar Association, before Robart left the Seattle, Washington, courthouse, his personal information was put out on the internet, along with his wife’s information .
Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision
(NEW YORK) — A heat wave continues to affect the Northeast with more than a dozen record highs tied or broken Sunday from New Hampshire down to Virginia.
Some of the records from Sunday include Richmond, Virginia, which reached 101 degrees; Washington, D.C.’s Dulles Airport, which tied its record at 98; Norfolk, Virginia which hit 102 and Manchester, New Hampshire, which peaked at 98 degrees.
More records are possible Monday with 15 states from South Carolina to Maine under Heat Advisory and Warnings.
Temperatures are expected to reach the 90s with near 100 possible from Hartford, Connecticut to Washington, D.C.
Record highs will also be possible in Hartford which is forecast to be 97 and has a record of 100 along with Baltimore which is forecast to be near 100 and the record there is 102.
But as they always say, it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity. So Monday will feel like its 100 to 110 degrees from New York City to Washington, D.C. and all the way down to the Carolinas.
Additionally, because of the ongoing heat wave in the Northeast, where in some parts of southern and central New Jersey it will feel like its near 114 degrees, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health has declared a Heat Health Emergency beginning Monday morning.
The big question is how long will this sauna type of weather last? Will we see any relief?
There is a weak cold front that is expected to move through the Northeast on Tuesday and some drop in humidity should occur for New England down to New York City and Philadelphia, but down in D.C. and the Carolinas, the scorcher is expected to continue.
More substantial cooling and drier air is expected in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic by the end of the week, however. Summer is now half way over and the meteorological fall begins Sept. 1, just a little more than a month away.
Lancaster County District Attorney’s OfficeBy MEREDITH DELISO, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Two fugitives who allegedly escaped a Virginia juvenile correctional center with the help of two of the facility’s employees nearly a week ago have most recently been spotted in Pennsylvania, officials said.
The Lancaster County District’s Attorney’s Office said Saturday that Rashad E. Williams, 18, and Jabar Ali Taylor, 20, stayed at an area Homewood Suites by Hilton hotel earlier in the week. They also were seen on surveillance footage at a nearby Turkey Hill market, authorities said.
The district attorney’s office warned the public that they are “dangerous fugitives” who should not be confronted.
According to the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice, the pair escaped the 284-capacity Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center in Chesterfield County in the early morning hours of July 13. The duo allegedly used a cord to choke a security staff member until he lost consciousness, then allegedly used the employee’s keys to exit the unit. They then escaped through a hole cut in the facility’s perimeter security fence and left in a getaway car, officials said.
Taylor, of Spotsylvania County, Virginia, was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder and aggravated malicious assault stemming from the 2015 stabbing deaths of two men. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison in 2016. In May, a judge denied an attempt by his legal team to reduce his sentence.
Williams, of Washington, D.C., was convicted of malicious wounding and robbery and sentenced to 18 years in 2019.
Both were due to be transferred to an adult Department of Corrections facility when they turned 21, officials said. Taylor turns 21 on Aug. 25.
U.S. Marshals had initially believed the two would travel north, where they “both have significant ties.”
Three people have been arrested so far in connection with the escape, police said, including two Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice employees who worked at Bon Air. Destiny L. Harris, 23, of Chesterfield County, was charged with two counts of aiding with the escape of a juvenile on Tuesday. The next day, Darren Briggs, 42, of Lawrenceville, Virginia, was charged with one felony count of providing a cellphone to a prisoner. Both are no longer employed by the agency, Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice Director Valerie Boykin said.
A relative of Williams’ — Gerald Thornton, 33, of Philadelphia — was charged with two counts of aiding with the escape of a juvenile, according to ABC Richmond affiliate WRIC-TV.
U.S. Marshals are offering a reward of $5,000 for information that leads to the escaped convicts’ capture.
“The danger posed by these fugitives and their escape should not be taken lightly by anyone,” Nick E. Proffitt, U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement. “The fugitives went to great lengths to affect the escape, and they pose a significant threat to any law enforcement officer or member of the public who may encounter them.”
This was the first escape at Bon Air in over 20 years, according to Boykin. On Friday, the director said she was launching a “full security analysis” of the “old campus.”
“DJJ had been working for years to replace it with a more modern facility with state-of-the-art security and treatment design components,” she said in a statement. “While those efforts are ongoing, we are committed to determine if security enhancements are needed.”
(PEORIA, Ill.) — Thirteen people were shot during a large gathering at a riverfront in Peoria, Illinois, early Sunday morning, police said.
Authorities responded to reports of a shooting at 4:41 a.m. after a large fight broke out among a crowd of nearly 200 people, the Peoria Police Department said in a press release.
There were two victims located at the scene — an adult male who was shot in the neck and a female who was shot in the back — both were transported to a local hospital with serious injuries.
Another 11 people with gunshot wounds arrived separately at local hospitals, police said. All the victims were adults — six men and seven women.
None of the injuries were considered life threatening.
There were multiple people firing weapons, investigators said, adding that the incident was a result of a dispute among groups of people gathered at the riverfront.
Police are investigating the incident — authorities did not release any details on suspects in the shooting.
By: JON HAWORTH, MATT ZARRELL and MEREDITH DELISO, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — The novel coronavirus pandemic has now killed more than 600,000 people worldwide.
Over 14.2 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some governments are hiding or downplaying the scope of their nations’ outbreaks.
The United States has become the worst-affected country, with more than 3.6 million diagnosed cases and at least 140,119 deaths. Latest headlines: – Virginia man charged with cyberstalking to try to intimidate Tulsa mayor into canceling Trump rally – South Carolina sees new daily case record – Florida reports another 12,000-plus new cases – Star Braves player says he had 104.5-degree fever, prayed for his life while sick with COVID-19
Here is how the news is developing. All times Eastern. Check back for updates. 1:10 p.m.: South Carolina sees new daily case record
South Carolina reported its highest number of daily new cases on Sunday with 2,335 confirmed and 1 probable case of COVID-19, the state’s Department of Health and Environmental Control announced.
The additional cases included 526 new confirmed cases from Friday that the Department of Health received from a private lab on Saturday.
There are now 69,765 confirmed cases statewide, officials said.
The state also recorded 19 additional deaths, bringing the death toll since the start of the pandemic to 1,138.
The state reported a positivity rate of 18.4% and has conducted 626,970 tests overall.
10:50 a.m.: Florida reports another 12,000-plus new cases
The state of Florida now has over 350,000 cases of coronavirus with another 12,478 reported on Sunday, according to the Department of Health.
Officials reported another 87 deaths, bringing the statewide total to 5,089.
The state also saw an increase of 339 hospitalizations, with 9,235 active hospitalizations due to COVID-19. In total, 20,971 have been hospitalized at some point because of the virus.
An additional 105,681 tests were conducted and the state positivity rate currently stands at 11.85%, officials said.
Miami-Dade County reported the most new cases with 3,233 and a positivity rate of 20.5%
4:47 a.m.: Virginia man charged with cyberstalking to try to intimidate Tulsa mayor into canceling Trump rally
A Virginia man who sent harassing and intimidating emails directed toward Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum and his family made an initial appearance in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia, announced U.S. Attorney Trent Shores.
Adam Maxwell Donn, 40, of Norfolk, Virginia, was charged by Criminal Complaint with cyberstalking. According to court documents, Bynum and his family received 44 emails and 14 phone calls from June 11 through June 22, 2020, which were meant to harass, annoy, threaten and intimate Bynum and his family.
“The United States charged Adam Donn with stalking, harassing, intimidating, and inflicting emotional distress upon Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum and his family. Mr. Donn allegedly sent a series of harassing emails and voicemails in an effort to intimidate the mayor into canceling the presidential rally that occurred here in June,” said U.S. Attorney Trent Shores.
“Cyberstalkers try to hide behind keyboards while they threaten and intimidate others, but their online actions have real world effects. Mr. Donn will now face the real world consequences for his alleged criminal actions. As we do in all cases, our victim coordinators will work with the mayor and his family as this case proceeds in federal court.”
Bynum, concerned for his family’s safety, reported the emails and calls to the Tulsa Police Department on June 18, 2020. According to the affidavit filed by an FBI agent, investigators found that the emails were linked to an IP address traced to a Cox Communications account holder named Adam Donn of Norfolk, Virginia, and that his email addresses were used to send the intimidating emails to Mayor Bynum and his wife.
Court documents allege that Donn threatened to publish the Bynum family’s home address and personal information to the internet, including the children’s cell phone numbers and social media accounts. The defendant allegedly said this with the hope that people would encroach upon the Bynum residence with the intent to cause Mayor Bynum harm and emotional distress.
Donn was released under the pretrial supervision of the U.S. Probation Office. He is scheduled to appear in federal court on July 22, 2020, at 2 p.m. in the Northern District of Oklahoma.
4:15 a.m.: Star Braves player says he had 104.5-degree fever, prayed for his life while sick with COVID-19
Freddie Freeman, a four-time All-Star with the Atlanta Braves, revealed that he had a high temperature of 104.5 degrees while sick with the disease and prayed for his life.
“I said a little prayer that night,” Freeman said in a video conference call. “I’ve never been that hot before. My body was really, really hot. … I said ‘Please don’t take me’ because I wasn’t ready.”
Freeman said the fever was down to 101 the following morning and broke two days later. He said Saturday was his ninth consecutive day without symptoms, which also included body aches, chills and a temporary loss of his senses of taste and smell. He said two other members of his household, his wife and aunt, are recovering after positive tests.
“I feel great,” he said. “I only lost one pound. … I didn’t lose any strength.”
Freeman received his second negative test for the coronavirus on Friday which earned him medical clearance to play.
“I feel like I’m a kid in a candy store again,” he said Saturday. “You forget sometimes how much you love this game. I did truly miss it. I was so excited when I got to the yard.”
Freeman’s return was well timed. Free-agent outfielder Yasiel Puig tested positive for the coronavirus after agreeing to sign with Atlanta. The positive test voided the deal.
Puig was projected to be a replacement for Nick Markakis, who opted out of the season after talking on the telephone with Freeman.
“Unfortunately that was my worst day,” Freeman said, adding he didn’t try to influence the decision by Markakis when the two spoke again days later.
“He just wasn’t into it, and I totally, totally get it,” Freeman said.
Freeman was one of four teammates to test positive at the start of summer camp. Right-hander Touki Toussaint, who had no symptoms, also returned Friday. Left-handed reliever Will Smith and infielder Pete Kozma have not returned.
Freeman wore a face mask during a video interview and said he’ll continue to take precautions.
“It’s very serious,” he said, adding that his family “did everything right” to avoid the disease. “It still somehow got to me.”
NiseriN/iStockBy JACK DATE and LUKE BARR, ABC News
