ABC NewsBy MAX GOLEMBO, EMILY SHAPIRO and MELISSA GRIFFIN, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Six people are dead in the South after at least 23 tornadoes tore through Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia on Thursday.
One person died in Coweta County, Georgia, where the damage is “catastrophic,” Coweta County Fire Chief Pat Wilson said Friday.
Five people lost their lives in Calhoun County, Alabama, after the state was hit with 17 reported tornadoes.
Three people from one family were among the victims, according to the Calhoun County Medical Examiner’s Office. A 13-year-old girl survived but lost her mother and grandparents, according to Calhoun County Sheriff Matthew Wade.
A long-track tornado may have been on the ground for roughly 100 miles Thursday, according to the National Weather Service in Birmingham.
In the Eagle Point community near Birmingham, Larry and Mary Rose DeArman were riding out the twister in their home when the “house started shaking” and “everything caved in on us,” Mary Rose DeArman told ABC News.
Neighbors reached the couple quickly and dropped ladders in for them to climb out.
They went to the hospital before returning to take a look at their demolished home of 21 years.
The storm system that brought the tornado outbreak to the South is now moving across the Northeast, where scattered storms could bring powerful wind gusts.
A severe thunderstorm watch is in effect from Glen Falls, New York, to Burlington, Vermont, through 4 p.m. ET.
Wind alerts are in effect from Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia to New York to Boston through the afternoon and evening. Wind gusts could reach 50 mph. This weekend, a new storm brings yet another severe weather threat for Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee.
An “enhanced risk” has already been issued for Saturday from Memphis to Nashville, where residents could see more tornadoes, damaging winds and hail.
The severe storm threat moves east on Sunday, stretching from Atlanta to Raleigh to Washington, D.C.
Michael Ciaglo/Getty ImagesBy MATT GUTMAN and EMILY SHAPIRO, ABC News
(BOULDER, Colo.) — A motive has not been determined in the mass shooting that killed 10 people at a Boulder, Colorado, grocery store, Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold said Friday.
It is also unclear why the specific King Soopers grocery store location was chosen, Herold added.
Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty told reporters Friday, “I think the victims’ families and the community are desperate to know the motive. We want to know the motive and that’s going to be the focus of all our efforts going forward.”
The gun used in the Monday afternoon massacre was a semi-automatic Ruger AR-556 pistol that was bought legally in Colorado, Herold said. The suspect also had a 9mm handgun, which does not appear to be used in the shooting, he said.
The suspect, 21-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, was taken into custody about 50 minutes after the shooting was reported. He spent one night in the hospital for a leg wound before being booked into jail on Tuesday.
The officer who exchanged gunfire with the suspect was put on administrative leave per standard protocol, Herold said. Dougherty did not say if Alissa’s leg wound was from police gunfire.
Alissa was charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder as well as one count of attempted murder for allegedly shooting at a police officer who was not hurt. Dougherty said Friday that additional charges of attempted murder will be filed.
The district attorney commended the responding officers who he said saved lives by immediately charging into the store where they faced “a significant amount of gunfire.”
Alissa was first put on suicide watch when he was processed at the Boulder County Jail, which is protocol for high-profile suspects, Boulder County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Carrie Haverfield told ABC News. But correctional officers there heard “rumblings” of threats against Alissa, so deputies took “proactive precautions” to ensure Alissa’s safety by moving him to an undisclosed facility outside the county, Haverfield said.
It’s unclear whether Alissa remains on suicide watch, but Haverfield said he is in “protective custody.”
Defense attorneys said in court Thursday that more time is needed to assess Alissa’s mental health. He was held without bail and the judge ordered a status conference to take place in about 60 to 90 days.
Dougherty said Friday that he hopes the trial will remain in Boulder.
One of the 10 people killed was Boulder police officer Eric Talley, who was the first member of law enforcement to arrive at the scene. Talley’s handcuffs were used to transport Alissa to jail, Boulder police said.
“Though this was a small gesture, we hope it is the start of the healing process that so many of us need at this time,” the police department tweeted.
MarsBars/iStockBy MEREDITH DELISO and JOSH MARGOLIN, ABC News
(NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J.) — Rutgers University, New Jersey’s flagship state institution, said Thursday it will require COVID-19 vaccination for students before they arrive on campus this fall, possibly the first school in the country to announce a vaccine requirement.
The school plans to welcome back all students to its three campuses this fall. The requirement will apply to all residential and commuter students, though there will be limited case-by-case exemptions for religious or medical reasons. Students enrolled in fully remote programs will not be required to be vaccinated.
School officials said they were encouraged to require the vaccine for the fall after President Joe Biden declared earlier this month that all adults should be eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations by the end of May.
New Jersey’s vaccination rates so far have also been promising, Tony Calcado, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Rutgers, told ABC News. More than 3.8 million total vaccines have been administered in the state, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The vast majority of students who attend Rutgers are from the state. With over 71,000 students, it’s the largest university in New Jersey.
Vaccination will help play a key part in continuing to operate a safe campus and help return operations to a “pre-pandemic normal,” officials said.
“They need to get some sense of normalcy back in their lives,” Calcado said. “They need to experience the college experience. We really firmly believe that.”
The school wanted to announce the requirement now “so that we give all of our students and their families the opportunity to be able to make the right decision for themselves,” Calcado said.
School officials believe Rutgers is the first university in the U.S. to require that students receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
“I suspect that others will look at this and do the same thing,” Calcado said. “That’s just speculation on my part.”
Students will be able to submit proof of vaccination in a school portal, where other vaccine records and medical information are already uploaded. Students under the age of 18 will be advised to receive the Pfizer vaccine, as it is approved for those ages 16 and up.
University faculty and staff are not required to get the vaccine, though they have been strongly encouraged to receive it during the rollout.
Rutgers has received approval from the state to administer the vaccine across its campuses as well, though is awaiting sufficient supply to start.
The state is looking to ramp up distribution, as New Jersey has the highest rate of new COVID-19 cases per capita in the country. More contagious variants are likely to be a factor in the spread, health officials said.
(BOULDER, Colo.) — The 21-year-old accused of gunning down 10 people, including a police officer, at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, on Monday made his first court appearance Thursday.
Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, of Arvada, Colorado, was taken into custody about 50 minutes after the shooting was reported. He was charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and one count of criminal attempt — murder in the first degree.
At Thursday’s court appearance, prosecutors said additional charges are expected in the next few weeks.
Defense attorneys said more time is needed to assess Alissa’s mental health.
Alissa was held without bail and the judge ordered a status conference to take place in about 60 to 90 days.
A possible motive has not been released. According to the arrest warrant affidavit, the suspect bought a Ruger AR-556 pistol on March 16.
The Boulder community gathered in grief at a candlelight vigil Wednesday night, singing “Amazing Grace” through their masks.
The 10 victims range in age from 20 to 65 and include Boulder police officer Eric Talley, who was the first member of law enforcement to arrive at the scene.
The other victims were identified as: Denny Stong, 20; Neven Stanisic, 23; Rikki Olds, 25; Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Suzanne Fountain, 59; Teri Leiker, 51; Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 62; and Jody Waters, 65.
As Talley’s body was escorted from the coroner’s office to the funeral home on Wednesday, fellow officers gathered on roads and overpasses to show their support.
Ivan Cholakov/iStockBy LUIS MARTINEZ and ABBY CRUZ, ABC News
(WASHINGTON) — When he took over as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he was going to tackle the issue of sexual assault in the military head-on and look for new approaches.
He also launched an Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault in the Military to take 90 days to address sexual assault and harassment in the ranks.
“These service leaders and department officials will be challenged to think of new ideas, to envision what is possible to meet the secretary’s directive that all options should be on the table,” said Lynn Rosenthal, the chair of the new commission at a Pentagon news conference following the panel’s inaugural meeting Wednesday.
Ten of the 13 members of the newly formed panel are women and include civilian prosecutors, prevention specialists, civilian advocates, two West Point graduates and experts from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In addition to announcing the commission members and their support staff, Rosenthal said a website would be set up where victims of sexual assault could provide their stories to help inform the panel.
“The most powerful voices, sadly, come from trauma and from pain,” said Rosenthal. “These are the voices that we must hear … and we are committed to doing so.”
When reporters asked how the panel would be different from previous efforts that have not succeeded in bringing down the number of sexual assaults in the military, Rosenthal said it would bring “fresh eyes” to the issue.
“I think what we’ll be asking — what hasn’t been tried? What happens in civilian society that is a best practice that we could try on the military side? And then, what are the unique attributes of the military environment that allows us to do things that we can’t do on the civilian side? So I think that comparison is very important,” she said.
While in the past the Pentagon has not supported Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s proposal to move commanders out of the process for approving prosecutions in sexual assault cases, Rosenthal said her panel is interested in the proposal because all options are on the table.
Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, Gillibrand, D-N.Y., presided over a hearing on sexual assault in the military where she passionately lobbied for her bill and said the Pentagon’s previous efforts have failed.
Her voice rising with each sentence, Gillibrand said, “Not one of these steps has reduced sexual assault within the ranks. We are right where we were when we started, nothing has changed. Nearly every secretary of defense since Dick Cheney has promised this country — and the service members who serve us — zero tolerance for sexual assault. Every general or commander that has come in front of this body for the past 10 years, has told us, ‘We’ve got this ma’am, we’ve got this.’ Well the truth is, they don’t have it. The military justice system simply is in the wrong hands.”
Testifying at the Senate Armed Services subcommittee hearing was sexual assault survivor Amy Marsh and attorney for Vanessa Guillen’s family, Natalie Khawam.
The Guillen family has claimed that the 20-year-old soldier was a victim of sexual harassment at Fort Hood before she disappeared and was killed by a fellow soldier.
Army investigations have not proven those allegations, but Guillen’s case has served as a turning point for military sexual assault victims to step forward and for the Army to look inward at its practices in how it treats victims and allegations of sexual harassment and assault.
The I Am Vanessa Guillen Act, advocated by the family to reform how the military addresses sexual misconduct, has received support from members of Congress, including Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii. She said at Wednesday’s hearing that she would soon be re-introducing the bill in the Senate.
“We need change, we need legislation,” Khawam said. “I want to talk about — not just through legislation, we need legislation that’s actually going to create results.”
“I ask that you protect these men and women that serve like they protect us,” she added.
Marsh said she was sexually assaulted by a senior enlisted airman who worked with her husband at the base where they lived in Italy. The commanding officer of the unit initially refused to prosecute the assailant and Marsh described how the process had taken a personal toll on her and her family.
“It pains me to say this but at many points throughout this process, I felt it would have been much better if I just hadn’t reported anything at all,” said Marsh.
“If the status quo remains unchanged, bad actors will be able to continue their military careers while victims suffer in silence,” she added. “And I don’t feel any justice or fairness in the system that has failed me, and I did everything right.”
ABC NewsBy MAX GOLEMBO, EMILY SHAPIRO and MELISSA GRIFFIN, ABC News
