Crimes, Homicides & Suicides

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Luigi Mangione wants state murder case dropped, arguing double jeopardy in UnitedHealthcare killing

NEW YORK (AP) — Luigi Mangione‘s lawyers urged a judge Thursday to throw out his state murder charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, arguing that the New York case and a parallel federal death penalty prosecution amount to double jeopardy.

https://apnews.com/article/unitedhealthcare-ceo-killing-luigi-mangione-nyc-693dc190f36853d4e3ce8cfe8462dfc2?

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Man sentenced to 53 years in prison in hate-crime attack on Palestinian-American boy, mother

An Illinois landlord who murdered a 6-year-old Muslim boy and severely injured the boy’s mother in a vicious hate-crime attack days after the war in Gaza began was sentenced Friday. Read More.

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A brutal 1997 Florida quadruple murder remains unsolved. A new podcast investigates why

The 6-week-old baby was found lying in her bassinet. Her 2-year-old-sister was found curled into a ball behind a nearby couch.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/05/06/felonious-florida-podcast-investigates-1997-altidor-massacre/?

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Tyre Nichols

It took the jury just 8 1/2 hours to find three former Memphis officers not guilty of all state charges in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols. In 2023, Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, fled a traffic stop after he was yanked out of his car, pepper-sprayed and hit with a Taser. Five officers, who are also Black, caught up with him and punched, kicked and hit him with a police baton while trying to handcuff him. Afterward, video showed the officers talking and laughing as Nichols struggled with his injuries. He died three days later. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Nichols’ family, expressed his outrage at the outcome of the trial. “Today’s verdicts are a devastating miscarriage of justice,” Crump stated. Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith still face the prospect of years in prison for the federal charges they were convicted of last year. Two other former officers previously pleaded guilty in both state and federal court.   Civil rights leaders say acquittals in Tyre Nichols’ death highlight the need for police reform After three former Memphis police officers were acquitted of all state charges in the beating death of 29-year-old Black man Tyre Nichols, including second-degree murder, community and civil rights leaders expressed outrage over another disappointment in the long push for police reform. Read more. What to know: The Rev. Al Sharpton, who spoke to Nichols’ mother and stepfather, said they were outraged. “Tyre’s death was preventable, inexcusable, and tragic,” Sharpton added in a statement. “Tyre and his family deserve true justice — not only in the courtroom, but in Congress, by passing police reform legislation once and for all,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson posted on social media.   Nichols’ death at a traffic stop more than two years ago sparked nationwide protests and renewed calls for systemic change as the first post-George Floyd case that revealed the limits of an unprecedented reckoning over racial injustice in Black America. After Floyd’s 2020 murder by a former Minneapolis police officer, states adopted hundreds of police reform proposals, creating civilian oversight of police, more anti-bias training and stricter use-of-force limits, among other measures.   But federal reforms in the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act have been stuck in Congress without enough bipartisan support to get enacted during the Biden administration. Last year, police traffic-stop reforms put in place in Memphis after Nichols’ death were repealed by GOP Gov. Bill Lee, despite pleas from civil rights advocates.  RELATED COVERAGE ➤ 3 former Memphis officers acquitted in fatal beating of Tyre Nichols after he fled a traffic stop   What happened with the 5 police officers accused of crimes in Tyre Nichols’ fatal beating   Tyre Nichols remembered as beautiful soul with creative eye

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1 student killed and 2 wounded in stabbing outside Southern California high school

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — One student was killed and two others were wounded in a stabbing in front of a Southern California high school Wednesday, authorities said.

https://apnews.com/article/santa-ana-high-school-stabbing-southern-california-1b9371c0239faf03e13de8e61c564d0f?

 

He was killed in a road rage shooting. AI allowed him to deliver his own victim impact statement

Family and friends of Christopher Pelkey submitted dozens of statements to the court before a man convicted of shooting him during a road rage incident was sentenced. But there was nothing quite like hearing from the victim himself — even if it was an AI-generated version. Read More.

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“Tyre Nichols Is Dead, and Deserves to Be Alive” (Brad J. Vest / The New York Times / Redux)

View in browser In January 2023, I traveled to Memphis to report on the killing of Tyre Nichols, an unarmed Black man beaten to death by a group of Memphis police officers. Like most Americans, I have seen far too many videos in recent years of police brutalizing people, and I had reported on the particular failures of justice in Memphis, a city afflicted by both underpolicing—in the form of high rates of violent crime in its poorest neighborhoods—and overpolicing, in the form of widespread abuse. Even so, I was shocked by what I saw when the city released videos. A team of police from a special squad called the SCORPION unit savagely beat Nichols and then didn’t bother to provide any medical aid. They did most of this underneath SkyCop, one of the ubiquitous Memphis surveillance cameras, evidently unworried that they would face repercussions for their actions. They were wrong—but not that wrong. Although five officers were quickly fired, and the SCORPION unit was disbanded, it now seems possible that few, if any, will be convicted of the most serious charges in a man’s senseless death. This week, at a trial in Memphis, a jury acquitted three of the former officers involved in Nichols’s death on several charges, including second-degree murder. Two others have agreed to plead guilty to some federal and state charges, and one testified in the trial. The same three officers were convicted of witness tampering in a federal trial last year, and one was convicted of violating Nichols’s civil rights by causing bodily injury. There is still no good explanation for why any of this happened; Memphis Police Chief C. J. Davis said that the officers appeared to have no reason to pull Nichols over in a traffic stop. Yet as soon as they did, some of the officers drew weapons and began pepper-spraying and manhandling him. When he—understandably—tried to escape, police called for backup, gave chase, and eventually caught him. “I hope they stomp his ass,” one officer, who did not chase Nichols and was not charged, was recorded saying. His fellow officers did, beating Nichols just yards from his mother’s house. He died at a hospital. Prosecutors did face some challenges in this case, despite the existence of video evidence. First, officers are seldom charged with murder, and when they are, they are seldom convicted. Second, the three former officers who stood trial were, in the words of the deputy district attorney, the “least culpable,” compared with the two who agreed to plead guilty. Third, defense lawyers successfully argued that widespread news coverage in Memphis of the killing would preclude a fair trial, so instead of a jury pool from Memphis, which is majority-Black, the jury was all white and drawn from around Chattanooga, on the opposite side of Tennessee. Even so, District Attorney Steve Mulroy seemed shell-shocked after the verdict. “Was I surprised that there wasn’t a single guilty verdict on any of the counts or any of the lesser included offenses, given the overwhelming evidence that I think that we presented?” he said, his voice straining. “Yes, I was surprised. Do I have an explanation for it? No.” Nichols’s mother, RowVaughn Wells, not bound by the same ethical guidelines as a prosecutor, was blunter. “Those people were allowed to come here, look at the evidence, and deny the evidence,” she said. The outrage that met George Floyd’s murder in 2020 seemed at first to be a turning point for criminal justice. After a string of high-profile cases starting in 2015, officials and the public were aligned in demanding law-enforcement reforms that would punish and prevent needless killings. But as I wrote when Derek Chauvin was convicted for kneeling on Floyd’s neck until he died, that case was a rare exception—not least because of the stomach-churning video evidence involved and the strong condemnation by the Minneapolis police chief. Although individual prosecutions were important, the greater need, I argued, was for systemic reforms. The verdict in Memphis shows what an outlier Chauvin’s conviction was: Despite videos at least as horrifying, despite the police chief’s quick action to fire the officers and condemn their behavior, these three former officers escaped murder convictions. Meanwhile, the changing political winds and rising violent crime after 2020 helped the movement toward broader reform stall out, both locally in Memphis and nationally. In early 2024, Memphis city council refused to reappoint Davis, but she continued serving as interim chief. Earlier this year, Davis got her permanent title back. Around the same time, the city of Memphis refused to enter into a consent decree that would allow oversight from the U.S. Department of Justice, which had found “a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives people of their rights under the Constitution and federal law,” documented in appalling detail. City leaders knew that once Donald Trump took office, the Justice Department would pull back on oversight of local police departments and civil-rights laws, just as his administration had done the first time. Trump has long called for more brutal policing, complaining that cops aren’t allowed to fight crime with the necessary toughness. “Please don’t be too nice,” he said in a speech to Long Island officers in 2017. After taking office this time, he closed a database tracking serious offenses by federal police officers, which was designed to facilitate background checks; he also issued an order to “unleash” police officers and to have private law firms provide pro bono legal defense for officers accused of misconduct. “What I do know is this: Tyre Nichols is dead, and deserves to be alive,” Mulroy said on Wednesday. The failure of courts to secure murder convictions for the former officers who beat him, and of politicians to bring greater accountability, means that he will not be the last to suffer an unjust death. Related: How criminal-justice reform fell apart (From 2022) How did it come to this? (From 2023)

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A split jury and a lie sent him to prison. Now he’s working to change Louisiana’s law

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — As 18-year-old Bobby Gumpright rode his bike home from his bartending job in New Orleans in 1999, he began to concoct a story about why he didn’t have any money. In the throes of addiction and not wanting to admit he had spent his paycheck on drugs, Gumpright lied to his father and said a Black man had robbed him at gunpoint.

https://apnews.com/article/split-juries-convictions-louisiana-bill-638f330e0056d674f80f6f1e0fda5a12?

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Decades-old death in Oregon potentially linked to notorious California serial killer

A man who was found dead along Interstate 5 in Oregon has been identified after nearly 45 years and police say a notorious California serial killer is the sole person of interest in the case. Read More.

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Teen bystander is fatally shot during a fight near a New York City school

A 16-year-old girl was killed by a stray bullet near a Bronx high school and a 14-year-old boy was being sought in connection with her death, police said. Read More.

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Menendez brothers

Three decades ago, they were convicted of killing their parents following two sensational trials that captivated people across the country. After a series of twists and turns, this week’s resentencing hearing means they could possibly be freed.

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Judge reduces Menendez brothers’ murder sentences, putting them a step closer to freedom

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Erik and Lyle Menendez will have a new shot at freedom after 35 years behind bars for murdering their parents, a judge ruled Tuesday.

https://apnews.com/article/menendez-brothers-resentencing-freedom-murder-95d642ef10b6d726d84c6f02a20a378c?

New Jersey says chemical maker 3M agrees to ‘forever chemical’ settlement worth up to $450M

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey’s attorney general said Tuesday chemical manufacturer 3M agreed to pay up $450 million to resolve lawsuits over natural resource contamination stemming from PFAS — commonly referred to as “forever chemicals.”

https://apnews.com/article/pfas-3m-new-jersey-7368df7aa2fc8b81c768e3b9234ea5e3?

Actor Halle Bailey gets restraining order against rapper DDG alleging violence, fear for their baby

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles judge has granted a restraining order to “The Little Mermaid” actor and singer Halle Bailey, who says her ex-boyfriend, the rapper and YouTuber DDG, has been repeatedly violent with her and she fears for herself and the baby they have together.

https://apnews.com/article/halle-bailey-ddg-restraining-order-4af899a87f09eb62b7624b004661a539?

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The man who stabbed author Salman Rushdie on stage has been sentenced to 25 years in prison

The man convicted of stabbing Salman Rushdie on a New York lecture stage in 2022, leaving the prizewinning author blind in one eye, was sentenced Friday to serve 25 years in prison. Read More.

The Menendez brothers case reflects a shifting culture across decades

The trials of Lyle and Erik Menendez came at a time of cultural obsession with courts, crime and murder, when live televised trials captivated a national audience. Their resentencing — and the now very real possibility of their freedom — came at another, when true crime documentaries and docudramas have proliferated and brought renewed attention to the family. Read More.

National Guard helicopter crew landed on Montana ranch and trespassed to take antlers, citations say

Three Montana Army National Guard members face trespassing charges after authorities said they landed a Black Hawk helicopter in a mountain pasture on a private ranch to take several elk antlers before flying away. Read More.

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Suspect killed in ‘targeted’ Palm Springs fertility clinic explosion identified, authorities say

The person killed in the Saturday bomb explosion outside a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California, is a 25-year-old from Twentynine Palms, the FBI said Sunday.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/17/us/palm-springs-california-explosion?

25-year-old suspect in fertility clinic bombing left behind ‘anti-pro-life’ writings, officials say

A 25-year-old man the FBI believes was responsible for an explosion that ripped through a Southern California fertility clinic left behind “anti-pro-life” writings before carrying out an attack investigators called terrorism, authorities said Sunday.

https://apnews.com/article/palm-springs-fertility-clinic-explosion-a4040e8b98cc4474a0a5bdc1078033fb?

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Former New York state trooper pleads guilty to faking his own shooting

A former New York state trooper pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges that he shot himself then falsely claimed he was wounded by an unknown gunman on a Long Island highway, prompting a regionwide search. Read More.   Penske fires top 3 from IndyCar organization as part of cheating scandal Roger Penske attempted to close the latest cheating scandal engulfing his race team — this one at his beloved Indianapolis 500 — by firing his top three executives at Team Penske after two of the Penske cars were found to be illegal. Read More.

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Israeli Embassy staff killed in D.C.

Two Israeli Embassy staff were fatally shot at close range while leaving a Jewish event at the Capital Jewish Museum in D.C., Axios' Rebecca Falconer and Barak Ravid write.

The big picture: The suspect chanted "free Palestine" while being taken into custody, D.C. police chief Pamela Smith said at a briefing.

• The victims were identified as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim. Officials said Lischinsky planned to propose to Milgrim next week in Jerusalem.
• "Early indicators are that this is an act of targeted violence," FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said on X. Police named the suspect as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez of Chicago.

The American Jewish Committee was hosting its annual Young Diplomats Reception at the museum.

• The event "brings together Jewish young professionals ... and the D.C. diplomatic community for an evening dedicated to fostering unity and celebrating Jewish heritage," per a post by the Jewish advocacy group advertising the event.

"I have been worried for the past few months that something like this would happen and it did," Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar said during a press conference this morning.

• President Trump posted to Truth Social: "These horrible D.C. killings, based obviously on antisemitism, must end, NOW! Hatred and Radicalism have no place in the USA."

Keep reading.

Who were the Israeli Embassy staffers shot dead days before getting engaged?

The two people shot and killed outside a Jewish museum in Washington were young staffers at the Israeli Embassy who were soon to be engaged. The suspect shouted “Free Palestine” as he was being arrested. Read More.

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Chicago Police Dismissed a Recruit’s Claims That a Colleague Sexually Assaulted Her. Then He was Accused Again and Again.

Alexus Byrd-Maxey had just finished her second month at the Chicago police academy, well on her way to fulfilling her childhood dream.

https://www.propublica.org/article/chicago-police-officers-sexual-assault-allegations?

A Michigan police officer who killed a Black motorist won’t face a retrial, prosecutor says

A Michigan police officer who fatally shot a Black man in the back of the head after a tumultuous traffic stop will not face a second trial, a prosecutor said Thursday, two weeks after a trial ended without a unanimous verdict. Read More.

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Murder charges in Israeli Embassy killings

Murdered Israeli Embassy staff Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky. Photo: Embassy of Israel in the U.S. via AP The man accused of fatally shooting two Israeli Embassy staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum in D.C. on Wednesday was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, Axios' Sareen Habeshian writes. Elias Rodriguez, 31, is also facing federal charges that include murder of foreign officials, causing the death of a person through the use of a firearm, and discharge of a firearm during a crime. The killings of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim — a couple that was set to become engaged — are being investigated as a hate crime and a crime of terrorism, interim U.S. attorney Jeanine Pirro said yesterday. Pirro called it "a death penalty-eligible case" but said it's "far too early" to determine whether prosecutors will pursue a capital case. An FBI affidavit says Rodriguez told police after his arrest: "I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza." Go deeper: What to know about the victims ...

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Mistrust in law enforcement complicates the search for the New Orleans jail escapees

Nearly a week after 10 inmates yanked open a faulty cell door inside a city jail and moved the toilet to squeeze through a hole, five remain on the lam. The police superintendent has said most of the fugitives were likely still in the city as more than 200 law enforcement personnel work to find them. Read More.

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A crypto investor is charged with kidnapping and torturing a man in an NYC apartment for weeks

NEW YORK (AP) — A cryptocurrency investor has been arrested and charged with kidnapping a man and keeping him locked up for weeks in an upscale Manhattan apartment, where authorities say he was beaten, shocked and led to believe that his family was in danger if he didn’t give up his Bitcoin password.

https://apnews.com/article/new-york-city-kidnapping-cryptocurrency-16ccb88647944281ab6af10503d17eb5?

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8 of the 10 inmates who escaped in a New Orleans jailbreak are back in custody

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Three more of the 10 inmates who escaped from a New Orleans jail earlier this month were re-arrested Monday in two different states after more than a week on the lam, authorities said.

https://apnews.com/article/new-orleans-inmates-escape-captured-aec17f031602d40b63adff79861db23d?

Former police chief, serving murder and rape sentences, escapes from Arkansas prison

CALICO ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A former police chief in Arkansas who is serving decades-long sentences for murder and rape escaped from prison Sunday, state corrections officials said.

https://apnews.com/article/police-chief-arkansas-prison-escape-grant-hardin-280127e9737bc8e8e0d6388d7f268bd1?

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CHART OF THE DAY

 

“Federal efforts to prosecute white-collar crimes have continued to decline – down more than 10 percent in the last full year of the Biden administration.” (Source: TRAC)

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7 wounded in shooting at a park in Washington state, police say

LAKEWOOD, Wash. (AP) — Seven people were shot and wounded at a park near Tacoma, Washington, on Wednesday evening where more than 100 people were gathered when gunfire erupted, police said.

https://apnews.com/article/lakewood-washington-park-shooting-5bfda458f488b1104c164feef3c516ab?

On the lam

Grant Hardin, a former police chief in Arkansas, was serving lengthy prison sentences for murder and rape. Some call him “evil,” and his brazen escape this week has left a small town on edge and reopened old wounds.

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Suspect in Boulder antisemitic attack is charged with a federal hate crime. Here’s what we know

A man yelling “Free Palestine!” used incendiary devices and a makeshift flamethrower to attack people calling for the release of Israeli hostages Sunday in Colorado, in what authorities are calling a targeted antisemitic attack.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/01/us/boulder-colorado-attack?

Terror attack on Colorado rally for Israeli hostages

Law enforcement officials don protective gear to investigate the attack in Boulder yesterday. Photo: David Zalubowski/AP Eight people were injured in Boulder, Colorado, yesterday when a man "used a makeshift flamethrower and threw an incendiary device" at a group of demonstrators calling for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, the FBI said. The agency called it a "targeted terror attack" and said the suspect — identified as 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman — yelled "Free Palestine." The suspect is in custody and the FBI believes he acted alone. The victims had been participating in Run For Their Lives, a weekly walk on Pearl Street — a popular pedestrian strip lined with restaurants and shops. The injuries range in severity. Two victims were airlifted to a burn unit. Authorities were called to the scene after receiving reports that people had been "set on fire." Between the lines: The attack occurred barely a week after a man who also yelled "Free Palestine" was charged with fatally shooting two Israeli embassy staffers outside of a Jewish museum in D.C. (AP) Get the latest.

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Suspect in Colorado attack told police he researched for a year and targeted ‘Zionist group’

A man accused of using a makeshift flamethrower and an incendiary device to attack a group in Boulder, Colorado, that had gathered to bring attention to Israeli hostages in Gaza, has been charged with a federal hate crime, according to court documents filed Monday. Read More.   Stabbing attack at an Oregon homeless shelter sends 11 people to a Salem hospital A man police arrested on suspicion of stabbing multiple people at a homeless shelter became violent at the check-in desk, the center’s director said. Eleven people were taken to a hospital as officers converged on the bloody scene. Read More.   Ex-CEO of New Hampshire drug treatment centers charged in scheme to vandalize journalists’ homes The founder and former CEO of New Hampshire’s largest network of addiction treatment centers has been charged with orchestrating threats and vandalism targeting New Hampshire Public Radio journalists who published sexual misconduct allegations about him. Read More.

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Suspect charged with hate crime

The suspect in yesterday's attack in Boulder, Colo., was charged with a federal hate crime, and the attack is being investigated as an act of terrorism, authorities said.

• Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, yelled "Free Palestine!" as he threw Molotov cocktails into a crowd of people peacefully demonstrating for the release of Israeli hostages, according to an FBI affidavit.
• Authorities said Soliman told them after he was arrested that he had been planning the attack for a year. The demonstration he targeted was a weekly event organized by a group called Run for Their Lives.
• Eight people were hospitalized. No deaths have been reported.

President Trump blamed former President Biden for Soliman's presence in the country.

• "He came in through Biden's ridiculous Open Border Policy, which has hurt our Country so badly. He must go out under 'TRUMP' Policy," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
• Soliman entered the U.S. in August 2022 on a B2 visa that expired in February 2023, the Department of Homeland Security said.

The latest.