Month: December 2024

Police are launching an investigation after five family members, including three children, were found dead in a home in Utah on Tuesday. Another minor, age 17, was taken to a hospital with a gunshot wound; authorities said that the victims were all shot to death.

A concerned family member discovered the injured 17-year-old boy in the garage of the home Tuesday afternoon, which led to the discovery of the five bodies. The family member had grown concerned after not being able to contact the woman who lived at the residence for some time, and police were dispatched to the house. However, they were unable to make contact with anyone inside and found no emergency. The next day, the family member returned to the house after the woman who lived there failed to show up for work, and gained entrance to the residence via the garage, where she found the injured 17-year-old boy.

According to Roxeanne Vainuku, a spokesperson for the West Valley City Police Department, the deceased victims have been identified as a 42-year-old man, a 38-year-old woman, an 11-year-old boy, 9-year-old girl and a 2-year-old girl. The circumstances surrounding the deaths were unclear as of Wednesday, and Vainuku said at a news conference:  “Absolutely horrific. This is something that certainly will weigh heavily on investigators in this case,” adding that authorities do not believe there is a suspect on the loose, and believe the shooting is something that was “isolated to this home.”

According to CBS affiliate KUTV, Vainuku said that due to the fact the 17-year-old “is injured and he’s in the hospital, there are some challenges in communicating with him and finding out more information. In any case where people have died, loved ones have been lost, we want to make sure that we do the most absolute thorough job possible so that we can bring justice to the victims.”

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A shooting in Baltimore County, Maryland, Tuesday left one person dead and nine others wounded, police said.

Baltimore County Police Department officials responded to the area of Loch Raven Boulevard in Towson around 7:15 p.m. following multiple reports of a shooting, and confirmed in a post on X that the incident took place on Tuesday, Dec. 17, shortly before 7:15 p.m. local time. Baltimore County police wrote in an update on X: “9 people have been transported to area hospitals 1 person is deceased. Around 7:15 p.m. officers responded to the scene following multiple reports of a shooting. This is considered a mass shooting.”

The Baltimore Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also responded to the scene, the agency confirmed to ABC News. Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski called the event a shocking tragedy: “This type of violence is rare in Baltimore County. This is an incident that is shocking, particularly for those of us in Baltimore County. These types of incidents are really unheard of here, so it really shocks the conscience.”

Baltimore County Police Chief Robert McCullough later shared at a press conference that one person died at the scene and nine others were taken to local hospitals with injuries, and that authorities believe the incident was targeted: “When officers arrived, they found a vehicle on its side and in flames. Multiple victims were discovered, and the fire department was alerted to provide assistance. This appears to be intentional. We believe the individuals involved knew each other, and there is no ongoing threat to the public.”

The investigation is still in its early stages. Police are trying to piece together what led to the crash and shooting. Evidence of gunfire was found on the façade of a nearby building, and shell casings were recovered from the area.

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The man accused of a string of serial killings in Gilgo Beach on Long Island, was charged with a seventh murder on Tuesday.

According to a superseding indictment unsealed Tuesday, prosecutors charged the suspect, Rex Heuermann, in the November 2000 death of Valerie Mack, whose remains were found 24 years ago. Mack’s decapitated body in a wooded area of Manorville on Long Island on Nov. 19, 2000, with her remains bound with rope inside a black plastic bag which was wrapped with duct tape. Both of her hands had been severed from her body and one of her legs was cut off, according to a bail application that accompanied the new indictment. The rest of Mack’s remains were found more than a decade later, in April 2011, along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach.

Heuermann, a New York architect, has been charged in the deaths of six other women, all suspected sex workers, whose remains were discovered in a remote spot along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach and parts of eastern Long Island. Prosecutors said they linked Heuermann, 61, to Mack’s death in part through a mitochondrial DNA analysis of a female hair found on Mack’s body which matched the profiles of Heuermann’s wife and daughter. At the time of Mack’s murder, Heuermann’s daughter would have been between 3-4 years old. Heuermann was also linked to Mack’s death through evidence recovered on some of the 350 electronic devices they seized from him that include his “significant collection of violent, bondage and torture pornography” dating back to at least 1994.

Heuermann, 61, was charged with one count of second-degree murder in connection with Mack’s death; he appeared in court on Tuesday shackled in a suit and told the judge, “Your honor, I am not guilty of any of these charges.” In June, Heuermann entered not-guilty pleas in the deaths of Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla. In July 2023, he was charged in the deaths of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber Lynn Costello, Melissa Barthelemy, and Megan Waterman.

Judge Timothy Mazzei continued to hold Heuermann without bail. Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said at a news conference Tuesday that Mack’s parents “are very grateful for the small bit of closure.”

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Officials in Madison, Wisconsin are trying to determine why a 15-year-old girl allegedly opened fire at her school, Abundant Life Christian School, on Monday, killing a fellow student and teacher before taking her own life from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Police said on Tuesday were interviewing friends and family and examining the online presence of the shooter, identified by police as Natalie Rupnow, to determine what drove her to open fire in a classroom at her private Christian school.

Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said on Tuesday that investigators are looking into online posts and a possible manifesto that Rupnow, who also went by Samantha, may have left behind: “We have been made aware of a manifesto, if you want to call it that, or some type of letter that’s been posted by someone who alleged to be her friend.”  Barnes said they are also examining Rupnow’s cell phone and computer to see if there were any transmissions between her and someone else, and are looking into how the 15-year-old obtained a gun and whether her parents were negligent.

Barnes told ABC News on Tuesday that The suspect’s parents are cooperating with the investigation: “they were cooperative. Despite this tragedy, they still lost a child. They still lost a member of their family. It is certain that they have probably more questions than anyone because they knew her. They lived with her and so we wanted to get an account from them of what kind of child she was.”

Two students were hospitalized in critical condition with life-threatening injuries, while another three students and a teacher suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

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