manhunt

A TEENAGE girl, 17, was reportedly raped by a stranger in broad daylight as cops launch a manhunt.

The alleged attack unfolded in the village of Hassocks, in West Sussex, between 6pm and 7.30pm on Thursday.

The victim claimed to be approached in Keymer Road, near the junctions with Parklands Road and Grand Avenue.

Detective Inspector Debbie Birch, leading the investigation, said: “We are supporting the victim as we actively carry out detailed enquiries, which include CCTV and house to house enquiries.”

DI Birch added: “We have increased our police presence in the village while we investigate, and we are carrying out additional high visibility patrols for reassurance.

“Anyone who has any concerns is urged to stop and talk to officers.

“If you were in the area and noticed anything suspicious or have information that may assist us, we ask you to contact police or on 101, and quote Operation Insight.

“We will provide updates about the investigation when possible.”

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A MANHUNT has been launched for a lag who escaped a prison van on his way from court.

Cops are urging the public not to approach Sid Kemp, 31, who went on the run yesterday.

Kemp escaped the transport vehicle after appearing at Southend Magistrates’ Court and was last seen at The Clusters, heading towards Boston Avenue.

He is described as white, 6ft tall and with short black hair.

The wanted man was wearing a grey tracksuit – and is not thought to be a risk to the wider public.

Superintendent Jamie Gingell said: “We’re carrying out extensive enquiries to trace Sid Kemp.

“We would ask anyone who sees him to please call 999 rather than approaching him, or if you have information as to his whereabouts, please call.

“Alternatively, you can call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”

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Police have told residents to stay home and not approach the suspect, who could be ‘armed and dangerous’.

A manhunt is under way for a former United States soldier suspected of carrying out a shooting in a bar in the US state of Montana, which has left four people dead.

The shooting happened on Friday at about 10:30am (16:30 GMT) at The Owl Bar in Anaconda, with four people pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation.

The suspect has been identified as 45-year-old military veteran Michael Paul Brown. Brown lived next door to the bar, according to public records and owner David Gwerder.

Gwerder, who was not there at the time of the incident, said a bartender and three patrons were killed before Brown fled the scene.

“He knew everybody that was in that bar. I guarantee you that,” Gwerder said. “He didn’t have any running dispute with any of them. I just think he snapped.”

Brown’s home in Anaconda – a town of about 9,000 people, located in southwest Montana about 109 miles (175km) west of the city of Bozeman – was cleared by a SWAT team.

Montana Senator Steve Daines said a “massive manhunt” is under way, aided by drones.

Authorities said Brown was last seen in the Stump Town area, just west of Anaconda, and he is “believed to be armed and dangerous”.

He should not be approached if seen, the Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Law Enforcement Center said in a social media post, while Anaconda residents have been instructed to stay home and lock their doors.

More than a dozen police officers have converged on Stump Town, locking it down so no one is allowed in or out as police search for Brown in a wooded, mountainous area.

Randy Clark, a retired police officer who lives in the area, said a police helicopter hovered over a nearby mountainside as officers moved among the trees.

A US army spokesperson said Brown served as an armour crewman from 2001 to 2005 and was deployed to Iraq from early 2004 until March 2005. Brown was also in the Montana National Guard from 2006 to 2009.

Montana Governor Greg Gianforte said in a social media post that he was “closely monitoring the situation involving an active shooter in Anaconda”.

Our hearts are with the community of Anaconda, Montana, where four lives were lost in a senseless bar shooting.

Law enforcement is actively searching for the suspect, Michael Paul Brown, who remains at large and is considered armed and dangerous. We stand with the brave officers… pic.twitter.com/nHmlib8D2o

— National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) (@GLFOP) August 1, 2025

July 18 (UPI) — At least four people were killed and 18 injured, including children and seniors, after a high-speed multi-vehicle collision in San Antonio on Interstate 35, the city’s Police Department said.

The Thursday afternoon incident occurred when a stolen Chevy Camaro being driven at high speed reportedly crashed into a small passenger bus towing a trailer.

Police said they were looking for four suspects, one of whom was armed, who left the scene and asked people to avoid the Leon Creek section of southbound I-35.

“We had a stolen white Camaro south on 35 speeding wrecked into a small transport bus carrying a trailer. As a result of that crash, two individuals are dead. 18 have been transported to hospitals,” said San Antonio Police Chief Bill McManus.

“There are four individuals who fled from the vehicle. One was armed with an AK rifle,” he added.

Bus operator, Fort Worth-based Transport Guerra, asked relatives of passengers who were on the Mexico-bound service to call their office.

The bus was scheduled to stop in Eagle Pass on the border, before crossing into Mexico with stops in the Carbonifera coal mining region and “5 manantiales.”

June 15 (UPI) — The search for the man suspected of shooting two Minnesota lawmakers in a “politically motivated” attack continued for the second day Sunday as authorities urged residents to keep their doors locked and cars secured.

State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were shot dead Saturday in their Brooklyn Park home, near Minneapolis. Earlier, State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were wounded when a gunman shot them “multiple times” in Champlin.

The suspect was later identified as 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter, who has not been located. Boelter’s roommate told KMSP‑TV that he has multiple vehicles, one of which had been modified to look like a police car and was found outside of Hortman’s house.

In an emergency alert sent out Sunday in nearby Sibley County, authorities said a second vehicle owned by Boelter was found in Faxon Township.

“Keep your doors locked and vehicles secured,” the alert said. “Report suspicious activity to 911.”

Officials also said they would be going door-to-door to ask residents to search their properties for Boelter.

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar indicated in an interview Sunday that Boelter may have left the state. Authorities have also put out an alert for him in South Dakota, she revealed on NBC News’ Meet the Press.

Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley said Saturday that investigators found a “manifesto” in Boelter’s vehicle that included the names of other possible targets. An official who saw the list told NBC News it included officials who supported reproductive rights.

President Donald Trump on Sunday called Gov. Tim Walz a “terrible governor” and “a grossly incompetent person” in comments to ABC’s Rachel Scott but said he “may call him.”

The Minnesota shootings came ahead of another shooting Saturday at a “No Kings” protest against Trump in Salt Lake City that took place around the country. A protest outside of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Oregon was declared a riot by the Portland Police Bureau on Saturday.

Search for 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter, charged with killing Democratic politician Melissa Hortman and her husband, enters a second day.

A massive search in the United States for a man who authorities say posed as a police officer and fatally shot a Democratic state lawmaker in Minnesota has stretched into a second day, with the state’s governor calling it “a politically motivated assassination”.

The suspect, identified as 57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter, also allegedly shot and wounded a second Democratic lawmaker and his wife, according to law enforcement officials and the FBI.

The large-scale manhunt entered its second day on Sunday after Boelter allegedly killed former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, at their home in Brooklyn Park, a suburb of Minneapolis city, early on Saturday.

Boelter is also accused of shooting and wounding Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their home about 15km (9 miles) away in the nearby town of Champlin.

The suspect abandoned a vehicle that looked like a police SUV and fled on foot after firing at police at Hortman’s home, authorities said, adding that officers found a “manifesto” and a target list of other politicians and institutions in the vehicle.

Boelter should be considered armed and dangerous and is believed to still be in the Minneapolis-St Paul area, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans told a news briefing, adding that it was too soon to determine a motive.

The FBI issued a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to his arrest and conviction.

Boelter, a former political appointee, served on the same state workforce development board as Hoffman, though it is unclear if or how well they knew each other. An online resume describes him as a security contractor with experience in the Middle East and Africa, along with past managerial roles in Minnesota companies.

A Minnesota official told The Associated Press news agency on condition of anonymity that Boelter’s writings contained information targeting prominent lawmakers who have championed abortion rights.

According to the Minnesota Star Tribune, Boelter sent texts to friends hours after the shootings, saying he had “made some choices” and adding: “I’m going to be gone for a while. May be dead shortly, so I just want to let you know I love you guys both and I wish it hadn’t gone this way … I’m sorry for all the trouble this has caused.”

‘Stand against political violence’

Hortman, a mother of two who had served 20 years in the Minnesota House of Representatives, was remembered by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as someone with “grace, compassion and tirelessness”.

Walz, who was Kamala Harris’s Democratic vice presidential running mate in last year’s presidential election, said the attacker went to the Hortmans’ residence after shooting the Hoffmans multiple times in their home in Champlin.

“We must all, in Minnesota and across the country, stand against all forms of political violence,” said Walz, a Democrat. He also ordered flags to fly at half-staff in Hortman’s honour.

“Such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America. God Bless the great people of Minnesota, a truly great place!” President Donald Trump said in a statement.

The shootings happened at a time when political leaders nationwide have been attacked, harassed and intimidated amid deep political divisions in the US.

In April, a suspect set fire to the home of Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, forcing him and his family to flee during the Jewish holiday of Passover. The suspect said he planned to beat Shapiro with a small sledgehammer if he found him, according to court documents.

In July 2024, Trump was grazed on the ear by one of a hail of bullets that killed one of his supporters. Two months later, a man near Trump’s Florida golf course with a rifle was discovered and arrested.

Other incidents include a 2022 hammer attack on the husband of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in their San Francisco home and a 2020 plot by antigovernment hardliners to kidnap Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer and start a civil war.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said he asked Capitol police to “immediately increase security” for Minnesota Democratic Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith.

May 21 (UPI) — An ex-New York state police officer on Wednesday pleaded guilty to shooting himself in the leg as part of a fake crime scene in what prosecutors said was a plan to gain sympathy.

Former trooper Thomas Mascia, 27, admitted in court that he staged the supposed crime scene on October 30 after he claimed to have been injured by an unknown shooter near exit 17 of New York’s Southern State Parkway while checking on a disabled vehicle.

The West Hempstead resident pleaded guilty to tampering with physical evidence, falsely reporting a police incident and for official misconduct.

He is expected to serve six months in prison, five years of probation and must undergo continued mental health treatment and pay more than $289,500 in restitution.

Mascia admitted that he spread shells at the alleged scene, then drove in his state vehicle to nearby Hempstead Lake State Park, where he then shot himself with the same caliber rifle loaded with the same shells left on the highway. It is there where he returned and called in the staged incident.

“You weren’t shot by someone else?” asked the assistant Nassau County district attorney, to which Mascia replied: “Yes.”

His actions had set off a statewide manhunt for the suspected vehicle Mascia described until investigators discovered the gunshot was self-inflicted.

Mascia attorney Jeffrey Lichtman stated Mascia also lied about getting hit by a car during an alleged 2022 hit-and-run incident upstate, adding that state police officials missed the signs of mental distress which, according to Lichtman, was what led to October’s staged event.

The former state trooper saw a delayed plea deal earlier this month after Mascia inadvertently expressed that he was not in good mental health.

On Wednesday, he said “yes” after the judge inquired if he was in a good mental state.

Additionally, Mascia’s parents were charged with criminal possession of a firearm.

Thomas Mascia Sr., a former NYPD officer until his conviction in the 1990s for his role in a cocaine ring, was charged after a search of the home related to the incident uncovered an illegal assault-style weapon along with about $80,000 in cash.

Meanwhile, Mascia is expected to be sentenced on August 20.