FBI: Active shooter incidents down 4% last year, up 89% over past 5 years
The FBI has released the annual active shooter report. The report found that 2023 saw fewer active shooting incidents than 2022, leading to a 4% decrease. However, over the last five years, active shooter incidents have gone up 89%, according to the FBI.
The FBI defines “active shooter” as one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.
Though active shootings went down 4% from 2022 to 2023, that change is not a large one. There were just two fewer active shooter incidents in 2023 (48) than there were in 2022 (50).
Over the last five years, the FBI said there were 229 active shootings across the U.S., which is up 89% from the 121 active shootings in the five years between 2014 and 2018.
In 2023, 449 people were killed and 773 were wounded in the 48 active shootings.
More people died because of an active shooting incident in the last five years than the five years between 2014 and 2018, which included three of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history.
Last year alone, 105 people were killed in active shootings and another 139 were hurt.
The shootings happened in 26 states. California had the most with eight, followed by Texas and Washington with four each.
The FBI’s report came just weeks after the federal government released preliminary numbers showing a 15% drop in violent crime during the first quarter of 2024 compared to last year.
Club Q mass shooter to take plea deal: ‘I have to take responsibility’: June 15 rundown
The suspect in the Club Q mass shooting is expected to take a plea deal, and hundreds of migrants were unaccounted for after an overloaded fishing boat sank. These stories and more highlight the rundown for Thursday, June 15, 2023.
Club Q shooting suspect to take plea deal
The suspect in last November’s mass shooting at the gay nightclub Club Q in Colorado Springs is now expected to take a plea deal. This is according to several survivors of the shooting who have spoken to the Associated Press.
In a series of jail calls to the Associated Press, 23-year-old Anderson Aldrich expressed remorse, as well as his intention to face the consequences for the shooting, which left five people dead and 17 others wounded. Aldrich faces more than 300 state charges, including murder and hate crimes.
The Justice Department is also considering filing federal hate crime charges. A plea deal over the Club Q shooting would ensure that Aldrich gets the maximum state sentence of life in prison. A hearing is set for June 26.
9 more women accuse Bill Cosby of sexual assault
Bill Cosby, the first celebrity to be tried and convicted in the #MeToo era, has been sued again for sexual assault. Nine women accuse the actor of individually drugging and assaulting them between the years of 1979 and 1992.
The women claim the sexual assaults occurred in dressing rooms and hotels in Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe. The 85 year-old former “Cosby Show” star has been accused of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment by more than 60 women.
Cosby was released from prison in 2021 after a court overturned his 2018 conviction.
Texas sends buses of migrants to Los Angeles
Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) has sent dozens of migrants to California in several buses that arrived in Los Angeles on Wednesday, June 14. It’s the first time Texas has chosen Los Angeles as the final destination.
42 migrants left the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas for the 15,000-mile journey. According to one of the nonprofits assisting the migrants, there were eight children between the ages of 2 and 9, accompanied by their families on the bus. Los Angeles city officials learned about the migrants while the bus was on its way.
The bus trip comes days after dozens of migrants arrived in Sacramento. Those migrants were sent courtesy of Florida.
The city of Los Angeles voted last week to draft a “sanctuary city” policy, which often limits immigration enforcement actions.
78 migrants dead after fishing boat sinks
Nearly 80 migrants died after an “overloaded fishing boat” trying to reach Europe capsized and sank off the coast of Greece. An aerial photo of the blue vessel was released by the Greek Coast Guard. It shows scores of people covering almost every inch of the deck.
A undated handout photo provided by the Hellenic Coast Guard shows migrants onboard a boat during a rescue operation, before their boat capsized on the open sea, off Greece, June 14, 2023.
Greek Coast Guard officials have described this sort of fishing boat as a “floating coffin.”
Survivors fear hundreds of migrants were trapped in the lower deck and still unaccounted for. The migrants included Egyptians, Syrians, Pakistanis, Afghans, and Palestinians.
Greece has declared three days of mourning as rescue efforts neared an end in the Mediterranean.
“Right now, they’re under shock. So, I think that the medical and psychological needs of the people as well as their communication with their families, that’s their biggest concern. They want to tell their families that they are well,” said Erasmia Roumana, the senior protection associate at the United Nations Human Rights Center in Greece.
Report finds Boris Johnson misled Parliament about COVID parties
A seven-member committee in the British Parliament has released its “Partygate” report after spending more than a year investigating former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s role in a series of parties in 2020 and 2021. The parties were held during the pandemic, when such gatherings were prohibited by law.
The report suggested Johnson “deliberately misled parliament about the parties.” It also ordered a 90 day suspension with a potential of sanctioning the former prime minister.
Johnson resigned from his post in Parliament less than a week ago, ahead of the report’s release. He released a statement saying he was being “forced out” by a handful of people and claimed the committee had no evidence to back such allegations against him.
Johnson resigned as prime minister in July of 2022.
U.S. open begins in wake of PGA/LIV merger
The U.S. Open golf tournament kicks off Thursday. The tournament gets underway just days after the bombshell merger announcement between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.
The two organizations had a short-but-complicated history of spats. It was one year ago when the PGA Tour held its U.S. Open on the heels of LIV’s first event.
The U.S. faces a potential COVID surge; a government shutdown likely to be avoided; Paul Pelosi’s attacker appears in court; and JFK documents are set to be declassified. These stories and more highlight our morning rundown for Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022.
Senate to vote on funding bill to avert shutdown
There was a House vote late Wednesday to avoid a partial government shutdown. A short-term funding bill was passed in the House. The Senate is expected to vote on it as early as today.
It would give the government a one-week extension to continue debating how to allocate government spending in 2023. If the Senate passes the short term funding bill, Congress will have until Dec. 23 to iron out details of a roughly $1.7 trillion spending package.
White House renews free at-home COVID tests
From December to February is when Americans are most at risk of viral infections, including the flu and COVID-19.
The White House is unveiling contingency plans today for any potential surge in COVID cases. That includes sending out free at-home tests, putting personnel and equipment on standby for hospitals and nursing homes, and encouraging more people to get booster shots.
As of now, the White House could run out of federal funding for COVID-19 as early as next month. That’s when insurance companies or uninsured Americans would be responsible to pay for vaccines or testing.
Democratic state Sen. Roland Gutierrez represents the district that includes Uvalde. Today he will give lawmakers his opinion on systemic failures of law enforcement’s response to the mass shooting. He will also discuss gun laws that he says make school shootings possible.
Survivors, victims’ families and local officials will also have the opportunity to appear at today’s public hearing.
Pelosi’s attacker targeted Hunter Biden, Tom Hanks
The man who allegedly broke into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home and assaulted her husband Paul Pelosi was in a San Francisco courtroom Wednesday. During a preliminary hearing, David Depape said he was also planning to go after President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and actor Tom Hanks.
“At this time, as I’ve already said a month ago, this was clearly a planned and calculated act. The outcome was what I expected, which is that we filed the charges based on what evidence we had. And that we had sufficient evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed these acts,” San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said.
In court, police who were on scene that day took the stand. One police officer held the hammer that police say was used in the attack.
There was also body camera footage played at the hearing, but it is still not available to the public.
DOJ charges 7 with smuggling us tech to Russia
Millions of dollars worth of U.S. equipment and technology has been sent to Russia’s military, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
The DOJ arrested seven individuals in the scheme — five Russians and two U.S. nationals.
They allegedly conspired to violate U.S. sanctions, illegally obtaining military grade equipment, and shipping it to Russia both before and after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine this year.
8,000 JFK documents to be declassified
Nearly 60 years since President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, the National Archives will release once-classified information related to the president’s death and assassin Lee-Harvey Oswald.
On Thursday, 8,000 documents will become declassified — something conspiracy theorists have been wanting for decades. But officials say it might be a let down, saying there’s no obvious bombshells in the material.
Still, the new information will likely reignite the debate on why the government can withhold information about a president’s murder.
The Colorado shooting suspect is charged; Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts seeks Senate seat; and an “office apocalypse” hits the U.S. These stories and more highlight the midday update for Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022.
Colorado suspect charged in club shooting
The suspect in the Colorado gay nightclub shooting has formally been charged by officials. The shooter is facing five counts of first-degree murder, and five hate crime charges. He will remain in custody without bail.
5 people were killed on Nov. 19, and another 22 people were injured during the mass shooting at the Club Q nightclub.
Nebraska’s governor to seek Senate seat
Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts is seeking a Senate seat. His office made the announcement this morning.
The two-term Republican governor is looking to fill the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Ben Sasse. Sasse is resigning to take a job as president of the University of Florida.
Ricketts will submit his application for consideration alongside the other applicants. Ricketts said he wants to run Nebraska’s government more like a business.
Gov. Ricketts is the son of Straight Arrow News CEO Joe Ricketts.
Gold medals awarded to Capitol police
Today, law enforcement officers in Washington D.C. will be presented with Congressional Gold Medals.
The ceremony comes about a year since President Biden announced the officers present at the Capitol on Jan. 6 would be awarded with Congress’ highest honor. U.S. Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police are credited for stopping a breach of the Capitol building that happened almost two years ago.
Americans polled on support for Ukraine
The U.S. has sent $20 billion worth of aid to Ukraine since President Biden took office. A new poll asked Americans if they agree with the support being sent to the region.
According to the poll, more than two-thirds of Americans agree with the funneling of arms and aid being sent to Ukraine. But with the war in Ukraine now in its 10th month with no end in sight, Americans are split over whether Washington should urge Ukraine into accepting a peace settlement.
47% of Americans, or nearly half of those polled, say Ukraine needs to better its attempt at ending the war. The consensus is that Americans largely support helping Ukraine, but hope the help is only temporary.
Hertz settles with customers accused of theft
The rental car company Hertz will pay $168 million to settle hundreds of claims from customers who were accused of stealing rental cars.
The car company falsely reported customers to authorities, claiming they stole and never returned their rental car. Some of those customers even spend weeks or months in jail.
Hertz previously said in a statement that “the vast majority” of cases involved customers who were late returning vehicles.
Meta threatens to remove news from Facebook
Many Americans get their news headlines from social media, but imagine a world where news has no place on social media platforms.
Facebook’s parent company Meta is warning they could strip news completely off its social media platforms if Congress passes a bill that would open the door for news agencies to get a cut of ad revenue social media sites earn off of its news content.
“The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act fails to recognize the key fact: Publishers and broadcasters put their content on our platform themselves because it benefits their bottom line,” said a Meta spokesperson.
That bill is now intertwined with the annual defense authorization bill that is currently in Congress. Leaders in Congress said the defense bill will pass this month, which would then trigger this measure to take effect.
Half of office spaces vacant post-pandemic
As people continue to work from home, the U.S. is dealing with what’s being called an “office apocalypse.”
The pandemic has cleared out office spaces across the country. A new report has half of the offices in the U.S. unoccupied.
Before the pandemic, 95% of offices were in use. But today, it’s closer to 47%. Now, a developer in New York is raising money to turn empty office towers into apartments and condos. Converting the empty buildings into residential properties could help combat New York’s housing crisis.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated.
Virginia gunman believed to be Walmart employee, Colorado gunman nonbinary
Investigators believe the Virginia Walmart shooter who killed six people Tuesday night was a Walmart employee. According to Chesapeake Police Chief Mark Solesky, the shooter opened fire on other Walmart employees in a break room.
Police believe the gunman died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His identity had not been released at press time because his next of kin had not been notified. The motive behind the massacre remains a mystery. At least four people remain hospitalized.
The Virginia massacre was the second mass shooting this week. In Colorado, attorneys for the gunman accused of killing five people inside an LGBTQ nightclub said the 22-year-old identifies as nonbinary.
Ahead of today’s hearing, the attorneys submitted a court filing stating Anderson Lee Aldrich will be addressed by they/them pronouns. Aldrich is accused of killing five and injuring more than a dozen inside the LGBTQ club. Aldrich will face a judge for the first time via video conference from the El Paso County jail.
Formal charges are expected in the next ten days, but preliminary charges include five counts of first-degree murder and hate crimes.
Colorado Springs shooting suspect evaded state’s red flag gun law
A shooting in Colorado Springs over the weekend left five people dead. The suspect appears to have a criminal past and a previous arrest. The incident is bringing new attention to Colorado’s red flag law and how the state could be under-utilizing the power to take guns away from people who could be a risk to themselves and others.
A gunman stormed into a gay nightclub on Saturday night and immediately started shooting. Five people were killed and another 25 injured. The shooter was a familiar face to law enforcement. It appears the suspect was arrested last year for a bomb threat and allegedly threatening his mother in a standoff outside their home.
Gun advocates are asking why the state’s red flag law wasn’t initiated. These critics say his previous arrest should have been enough for officials to flag him. How the shooter ended up with the gun used in Saturday’s mass shooting is still unclear in the investigation.
Colorado has a history of high-profile mass shootings, from Columbine to last year’s supermarket shooting in Boulder. Yet Colorado still has one of the lowest rates of red flag law usage in the United States.
