shooting

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has halted all asylum decisions and paused issuing visas for people traveling on Afghan passports, days after a shooting in the nation’s capital that left one National Guard member dead and another in critical condition.

Investigators continued Saturday to seek a motive in the shooting, in which the suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, faces charges including first-degree murder.

Lakanwal is a 29-year-old Afghan national who worked with the CIA during the Afghanistan war. He applied for asylum during the Biden administration, which was granted this year under President Trump, according to #AfghanEvac, a group that assists with resettlement of Afghans who helped U.S. forces in their country.

The Trump administration has seized on the shooting Wednesday several blocks from the White House to intensify efforts to rein in legal immigration, promising to pause entry from some poor countries and review Afghans and other legal migrants already in the country. That is in addition to other measures, some of which were previously set in motion.

Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died after Wednesday’s shooting, and Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains hospitalized in critical condition. They were deployed with the West Virginia National Guard as part of Trump’s mission in Washington, D.C., which he says aims to combat crime. The president also has deployed or tried to deploy National Guard members to other Democratic-run cities to assist with his mass deportation efforts but has faced court challenges.

U.S. Atty. Jeanine Pirro’s office said the charges against Lakanwal also include two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed. In an interview on Fox News, she said there were “many charges to come.”

Asylum decisions halted

Trump called the shooting a “terrorist attack” and criticized the Biden administration for enabling entry by Afghans who worked with U.S. forces.

The director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, said Friday in a post on the social platform X that asylum decisions would be paused “until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.”

Experts say the U.S. has rigorous vetting systems for asylum seekers. Asylum claims made from inside the country through USCIS have long faced backlogs. Critics say the slowdown has been exacerbated during the Trump administration.

Also Friday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said his department was pausing “visa issuance for ALL individuals traveling on Afghan passports.”

Shawn VanDiver, president of San Diego-based #AfghanEvac, which has coordinated with the U.S. government on its Afghan resettlement efforts, said in response: “They are using a single violent individual as cover for a policy they have long planned, turning their own intelligence failures into an excuse to punish an entire community and the veterans who served alongside them.”

The suspect

Lakanwal lived in Bellingham, Wash., about 80 miles north of Seattle, with his wife and five children, former landlord Kristina Widman said.

Neighbor Mohammad Sherzad said Lakanwal was polite and quiet and spoke little English.

Sherzad said he attended the same mosque as Lakanwal and heard from other members that he was struggling to find work. He said Lakanwal “disappeared” about two weeks ago.

Lakanwal worked briefly this summer as an independent contractor for Amazon Flex, which lets people use their own cars to deliver packages, according to a company spokesperson.

Investigators are executing warrants in Washington state and other parts of the country.

Lakanwal entered the U.S. in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden administration program that resettled Afghans after the U.S. withdrawal, officials said. Lakanwal applied for asylum during that administration, but his asylum was approved this year under the Trump administration, #AfghanEvac said in a statement.

Lakanwal served in a CIA-backed Afghan army unit, known as one of the specialized Zero Units, in the southern province of Kandahar, according to a resident of the eastern province of Khost who identified himself as Lakanwal’s cousin and spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

The man said Lakanwal started out working for the unit as a security guard in 2012 and was later promoted to a team leader and a GPS specialist.

Binkley and Finley write for the Associated Press. AP journalists Sarah Brumfield, Siddiqullah Alizai, Elena Becatoros, Randy Herschaft, Cedar Attanasio and Hallie Golden contributed to this report.

The Trump administration is promising an even tougher anti-immigration agenda after an Afghan national was charged this week in the shooting of two National Guard members, with new restrictions targeting the tens of thousands of Afghans resettled in the U.S. and those seeking to come, many of whom served alongside American soldiers in the two-decade war.

But those still waiting to come were already facing stricter measures as part of President Trump’s sweeping crackdown on legal and illegal migration that began when he started his second term in January. And the Afghan immigrants living in the U.S. and now in the administration’s crosshairs were among the most extensively vetted, often undergoing years of security screening, experts and advocates say.

In its latest move, the Trump administration announced Friday that it will pause issuing visas for anyone traveling on an Afghan passport.

The suspected shooter, who worked with the CIA during the Afghanistan war, “was vetted both before he landed, probably once he landed, once he applied for asylum,” said Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute. “But more importantly, he was almost certainly vetted extensively and much more by the CIA.”

Haris Tarin, a former U.S. official who worked on the Biden-era program that resettled Afghans, predicted that “as the investigation unfolds, you will see that this is not a failure of screening. This is a failure of us not being able to integrate — not just foreign intelligence and military personnel — but our own veterans, over the past 25 years.”

The program, Operations Allies Welcome, initially brought about 76,000 Afghans to the United States, many of whom had worked alongside American troops and diplomats as interpreters and translators. The initiative was in place for around a year before shifting to a longer-term program called Operation Enduring Welcome. Almost 200,000 Afghans have been resettled in the U.S. under the programs.

Among those brought to the U.S. under the program was the suspected shooter, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal, who now faces a first-degree murder charge in the death of 20-year-old Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom. The other National Guard member who was shot, 24-year-old Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, remains in critical condition.

Those resettlements are now on hold. The State Department has temporarily stopped issuing visas for all people traveling on Afghan passports, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced late Friday on X.

Anti-immigrant rhetoric

Trump and his allies have seized on the shooting to criticize gaps in the U.S. vetting process and the speed of admissions, even though some Republicans spent the months and years after the 2021 withdrawal criticizing the Biden administration for not moving fast enough to approve some applications from Afghan allies.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe said Lakanwal “should have never been allowed to come here.” Trump called lax migration policies “the single greatest national security threat facing our nation,” and Vice President JD Vance said Biden’s policy was “opening the floodgate to unvetted Afghan refugees.”

That rhetoric quickly turned into policy announcements, with Trump saying he would “permanently pause all migration” from a list of nearly 20 countries, “terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions,” and “remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States.” Many of these changes had already been set in motion through a series of executive orders over the last 10 months, including most recently in June.

“They are highlighting practices that were already going into place,” said Andrea Flores, a lawyer who was an immigration policy advisor in the Obama and Biden administrations.

Lakanwal applied for asylum during the Biden administration, but his request was approved in April of this year — under the Trump administration — after undergoing a thorough vetting, according to #AfghanEvac, a group that helps resettle Afghans who assisted the U.S. during the war.

Flores said the system has worked across administrations: “You may hear people say, ‘Well, he was granted asylum under Trump. This is Trump’s problem.’ That’s not how our immigration system works. It relies on the same bedding. No asylum laws have really been changed by Congress.”

Afghans in the U.S. fearful for their status

Trump and other U.S. officials have used the attack to demand a reexamination of everyone who came to the U.S. from Afghanistan, a country he called “a hellhole on Earth” on Thursday.

“These policies were already creating widespread disruption and fear among lawfully admitted families. What’s new and deeply troubling is the attempt to retroactively tie all of this to one act of violence in a way that casts suspicion on entire nationalities, including Afghan allies who risked their lives to protect our troops,” Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge, said in a statement Friday.

This has left the nearly 200,000 Afghans living across the U.S. in deep fear and shame over actions attributed to one person. Those in the U.S. are now worrying about their legal status being revoked, while others in the immigration pipeline here and abroad are waiting in limbo.

Nesar, a 22-year-old Afghan who arrived in the U.S. weeks after the fall of Kabul, said he had just begun to assimilate into life in the U.S. when the attack happened Wednesday. He agreed to speak to the Associated Press on condition that only his first name be used for fear of reprisals or targeting by immigration officials.

“Life was finally getting easier for me. I’ve learned to speak English. I found a better job,” he said. “But after this happened two days ago, I honestly went to the grocery store this morning, and I was feeling so uncomfortable among all of those people. I was like, maybe they’re now looking at me the same way as the shooter.”

Two days before the shooting, Nesar and his father, who worked for the Afghan president during the war, had received an interview date of Dec. 13 for their green card application, a moment he said they had been working toward for four years. He says it is now unclear if their application will move forward or whether their interview will take place.

Another Afghan national, who also spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal, said that after fearing for his life under Taliban rule, he felt a sense of peace and hope when he finally received a special immigrant visa to come to the U.S. two years ago.

He said he thought he could use his experience working as a defense attorney in Afghanistan to contribute to American society. But now, he said, he and other Afghans will once again face scrutiny because of the actions of an “extremist who, despite benefiting from the safety and livelihood provided by this country, ungratefully attacked two American soldiers.”

“It seems that whenever a terrorist commits a crime, its shadow falls upon me simply because I am from Afghanistan,” he added.

Cappelletti and Amiri write for the Associated Press. AP writer Renata Brito contributed to this report.

Nov. 28 (UPI) — The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services told staff Friday that it will pause all applications for asylum filed by migrants inside the United States in the wake of the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C.

On Thursday, the president announced he will “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries.” Then Friday evening, all affirmative asylum applicants were paused.

Affirmative asylum applicants must apply for protection from USCIS asylum officers. Applications must be filed within a year of when migrants arrive in the United States. Defensive asylum applications are used when an applicant faces deportation.

U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, was killed in the attack, and U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in critical condition. They were both members of the West Virginia National Guard.

The suspect, Rahmanulla Lakanwal, 29, is hospitalized after being shot by another guard member. He is an immigrant from Afghanistan and will face a first-degree murder charge.

Lakanwal came to the United States in 2021 and got asylum in April, The Times reported. But it was not clear if it was affirmative asylum.

“USCIS has halted all asylum decisions until we can ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible,” said Joseph Edlow, director of the agency, in a statement Friday. “The safety of the American people always comes first.”

Asylum officers at USCIS were told to not approve, deny or close asylum applications received by the agency, according to CBS News.

Officers were told the pause applied to all USCIS asylum cases, which includes those filed by Afghans who arrived under a Biden administration effort. In-person appointments for asylum applicants would be canceled, at least for Monday. The appointments were for applicants to find out what decisions have been made on their cases.

WASHINGTON — Charges against the man accused of shooting two National Guard members have been upgraded to first-degree murder after one of the soldiers died, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia announced Friday.

Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, were hospitalized in critical condition after the Wednesday afternoon shooting near the White House. President Trump announced Thursday evening that Beckstrom had died.

U.S. Atty. Jeanine Pirro’s office said the charges against Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who worked with the CIA during the Afghanistan war, now include one count of first-degree murder, three counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence and two counts of assault with intent to kill while armed.

Beckstrom and Wolfe were deployed with the West Virginia National Guard as part of Trump’s mission in the nation’s capital that federalized the D.C. police force, which he says is a crime-fighting campaign. The president has deployed National Guard members to many Democratic-run cities, including Los Angeles, to assist with his mass deportation efforts.

Trump called the shooting a “terrorist attack” and criticized the Biden administration for allowing Afghans who worked with U.S. forces during the Afghanistan war to enter the U.S. The president has said he wants to “permanently pause migration” from poorer nations and expel millions of immigrants from the country.

In an interview on Fox News, Pirro said there are “many charges to come” beyond the upgraded murder charge. She said her heart goes out to the family of Beckstrom, who volunteered to serve and “ended up being shot ambush-style on the cold streets of Washington, D.C., by an individual who will now be charged with murder in the first degree.”

Pirro, a former Fox News host, declined to discuss the suspect’s motive, saying officials have been working around the clock on that question. Investigators are continuing to execute warrants in Washington state, where Lakanwal lived, and other parts of the country, she said.

Wolfe remains in “very critical condition,” West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said Friday. He ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in recognition of Beckstrom’s death.

“These two West Virginia heroes were serving our country and protecting our nation’s capital when they were maliciously attacked,” Morrisey said. “Their courage and commitment to duty represent the very best of our state.”

Lakanwal entered the U.S. in 2021

Lakanwal entered the U.S. in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden administration program that evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the U.S. withdrawal from the country, officials said.

Lakanwal applied for asylum during the Biden administration, but his asylum was approved under the Trump administration, #AfghanEvac said in a statement. #AfghanEvac is a nonprofit organization that has worked with the U.S. government to resettle more than 195,000 Afghan evacuees, according to its website.

Lakanwal has been living in Bellingham, Wash., about 80 miles north of Seattle, with his wife and five children, said his former landlord, Kristina Widman.

Mohammad Sherzad, a neighbor of Lakanwal’s in Bellingham, told the Associated Press in a phone interview Friday that Lakanwal was polite, quiet and spoke very little English.

Sherzad said he attended the same mosque as Lakanwal and had heard from other members that Lakanwal was struggling to find work. Some of his children attended the same school as Lakanwal’s children, Sherzad said.

“He was so quiet and the kids were so polite, they were so playful. But we didn’t see anything bad about him. He was looking OK,” Sherzad said. Sherzad said Lakanwal “disappeared” about two weeks ago.

In his address to the troops Thursday, Trump said that Lakanwal “went cuckoo. I mean, he went nuts.”

People who knew Lakanwal say he served in a CIA-backed Afghan army unit before immigrating to the United States. Lakanwal worked in one of the special Zero Units in the southern province of Kandahar, according to a resident of the eastern Afghan province of Khost who identified himself as Lakanwal’s cousin. He said Lakanwal was originally from the province and his brother had worked in the unit as well.

The cousin spoke to AP on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. He said Lakanwal had started out working as a security guard for the unit in 2012 and was later promoted to a team leader and a GPS specialist. A former official from the unit, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said Lakanwal’s brother was a platoon leader.

Zero Units were paramilitary units manned by Afghans and backed by the CIA that also served in front-line fighting with CIA paramilitary officers. Activists had attributed abuses to the units. They played a key role in the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from the country in 2021, providing security around Kabul International Airport as the Americans and Afghan evacuees withdrew from the country.

Beckstrom is remembered

Beckstrom enlisted in 2023, the same year she graduated high school, and served with distinction as a military police officer with the 863rd Military Police Company, the West Virginia National Guard said in a statement.

“She exemplified leadership, dedication, and professionalism,” the statement said, adding that Beckstrom “volunteered to serve as part of Operation D.C. Safe and Beautiful, helping to ensure the safety and security of our nation’s capital.”

The president called Beckstrom an “incredible person, outstanding in every single way.”

On Wednesday night, Trump called for the reinvestigation of all Afghan refugees who had entered under the Biden administration initiative that brought roughly 76,000 people to the country, many of whom had worked as interpreters and translators.

The program has faced intense scrutiny from Trump and others over allegations of gaps in the vetting process, even as advocates say there was extensive vetting and the program offered a lifeline to people at risk of Taliban reprisals.

The director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Joseph Edlow said in a statement that the agency would take additional steps to screen people from 19 “high-risk” countries “to the maximum degree possible.”

Edlow didn’t name the countries. But in June, the administration banned travel to the U.S. by citizens of 12 countries and restricted access from seven others, citing national security concerns.

Binkley and Finley write for the Associated Press. AP journalists Sarah Brumfield, Siddiqullah Alizai, Elena Becatoros and Randy Herschaft contributed to this report.

Israeli soldiers have been filmed shooting two Palestinians who were seen on their knees with their hands in the air. The men were shot dead during Israeli raids in Jenin in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli army says it’s investigating the incident. Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh explains.

US President Donald Trump has called for a review of all Afghans who entered the US under the Biden administration, after two National Guard members were shot and critically wounded in Washington DC. US immigration authorities have also halted all Afghan-related applications.

Police in Washington say one suspect in custody following the shooting one block from the White House.

A 22-year-old influencer and Latin musician was killed in an ambush-style shooting in Northridge in the early hours of Saturday morning, authorities said.

Maria de la Rosa was fatally shot when multiple rounds were fired at several people sitting in a car parked on Bryant Street near Tampa Avenue, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Witnesses described seeing two men approach the vehicle around 1:25 a.m. Saturday, police said. De la Rosa was transported to a hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries.

No further information was available on the suspects or whether the others inside the car were wounded.

De la Rosa released her first song, “No me llames” (“Don’t Call Me”) in August under the name DELAROSA. The most recent post on her Instagram account, which has more than 40,000 followers, shows her with an electric guitar in a recording studio and is captioned “Ocupada cocinando en el Stu,” meaning “Busy cooking in the Stu[dio],” alluding to the upcoming release of more music.

Many people left messages expressing grief for the loss of the young performer in the comments, including several figures in the Latin music community such as music producer Jimmy Humilde and Juan Moises, the lead singer of Los Gemelos de Sinaloa.

In a message in Spanish, music producer and engineer Times J Martinez wrote that she was a young and talented musician.

“Me duele que alla sido con violencia,” he wrote, or “It hurts that it happened with violence.”

The motive for De la Rosa’s shooting is unknown, and so far no arrests have been made, police said. Anyone with information is asked to contact Valley Bureau homicide detectives at (818) 374-9550. Anonymous tips can be left at (800) 222-8477 or at the Crime Stoppers website.

Nov. 22 (UPI) — Three teens face charges in a shooting that injured four, including two of the shooters, during a Christmas tree lighting ceremony Friday night in Concord, S.C.

The Concord Police Department has obtained a warrant for the arrest of Nasir Adhmad Bostic, 18, of Concord, on charges accusing him of assault with a deadly weapon, inflicting serious injury with the intent to killand inciting a riot.

Bostic was among the four who were shot and was hospitalized in critical condition as of Saturday.

Keyvyonn Rayshaund Bostic, 17, was arrested and uninjured shortly after the 7:30 p.m. shooting and is being prosecuted as an adult on charges that accuse him of being an accessory after the fact and inciting a riot.

A juvenile who also was shot and is hospitalized in critical condition also has a warrant issued for his arrest on assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury with intent to kill, two counts of discharging a firearm into an occupied property inflicting serious injury and inciting a riot.

Two 17-year-olds also were wounded and taken to a local hospital for treatment.

One remains in critical condition, while the other has been released.

Local police said the shooting allegedly was between NasirBostic and the unnamed juvenile, who knew each other and were the only ones to fire shots, ABC News reported.

Several first-responders with the Concord Police, Concord Fire Department and Cabarrus County Emergency Medical Services were attending the lighting ceremony and immediately initiated life-saving care on the four wounded youths.

Los Angeles County prosecutors moved to drop manslaughter charges Friday against two Torrance police officers who shot and killed a Black man in 2018, attempting to end a seven-year saga that saw the case rejected and then reexamined by three different district attorneys.

Matthew Concannon and Anthony Chavez were indicted in 2023 for the shooting death of Christopher Deandre Mitchell, a 23-year-old car theft suspect who was in possession of an air rifle at the time he was killed.

Michael Gennaco, a special prosecutor hired earlier this year by Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman to review the case, filed a motion to dismiss charges late Thursday, saying he did not believe prosecutors could prove voluntary manslaughter at trial. Attorneys for the officers filed a joint motion in agreement, they said in court Friday.

But in a surprising move, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta declined to rule on the motion Friday, because the case is currently under the jurisdiction of the California Supreme Court. Concannon’s attorneys had previously filed a writ of habeas corpus after Ohta rejected a motion to dismiss the charges.

“I am not going to rule on this because it would be inappropriate for me to do that at this point. The Supreme Court has to tell us its decision,” Ohta said.

One of Concannon’s attorneys, Matthew Murphy, said he felt Ohta was punishing the defendants for exercising their right to challenge Ohta’s prior ruling. Ohta slapped that argument down, pointing out it was the defense team who put the case before the California Supreme Court.

Ohta signaled he wouldn’t decide the motion until the case was withdrawn from the Supreme Court, and even then, he would need time to review the filings.

Ohta said he was “surprised” that the motion was filed at 3 p.m. on Thursday, giving him little time to digest it ahead of Friday’s 8:30 a.m. appearance.

“It’s going to be a lot of work. I’m not just going to orally say yes go ahead and dismiss the case, case dismissed,” the judge said.

Murphy said he would move to withdraw the habeas filing.

Chavez and Concannon were among those investigated in 2021 when the district attorney’s office uncovered a thread of racist text messages sent by members of the Torrance Police Department. The Times has never seen evidence that either of the two officers sent racist messages, but the scandal infuriated community activists, who have long called for them to face justice for killing Mitchell.

Jeff Lewis, a civil attorney for Concannon, said his client “never sent or replied to any racist messages.”

The shooting incident occurred when officers approached Mitchell while he was seated in the car in a Ralph’s parking lot. They said they spotted what was later revealed to be a “break barrel air rifle” between his legs.

Concannon told authorities he saw Mitchell reaching for what he believed to be a real firearm and opened fire, according to the district attorney’s office. Chavez fired two rounds immediately after. The two officers then retreated and waited for backup.

Nearly 30 minutes elapsed before anyone checked on Mitchell, who was then pronounced dead of gunshot wounds, according to court records.

Concannon and Chavez were initially cleared of all wrongdoing by then-Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey. But when George Gascón swept into office on a police accountability platform and ousted Lacey in 2020, he hired a special prosecutor to reexamine several cases Lacey declined to prosecute, including Mitchell’s death.

But Lawrence Middleton, the special prosecutor brought on by Gascón, did not obtain an indictment in the case until 2023, more than two years after he had been hired to reconsider charges in shootings by police.

The statute of limitations for involuntary manslaughter, an easier case to prove than the voluntary manslaughter charges that Middleton brought, expired in late 2021. Concerns about the timeline Middleton would face to pursue the cases Gascón targeted were raised almost immediately after he joined the D.A.’s office.

Middleton appeared in the courtroom Friday morning and sat beside Mitchell’s mother and a number of activists who have long monitored the trial. All declined to comment.

Middleton previously argued the officers “created the jeopardy that led to the shooting,” by needlessly confronting Mitchell when he was not a threat and had no means of escaping arrest as the car was parked facing a wall, according to grand jury transcripts. But Ohta disallowed that evidence after a hearing in late 2023. The shooting happened in 2018, two years before a change in California law modified the threshold by which fatal uses of force are judged.

Hochman fired Middleton shortly after ousting Gascón in the 2024 election cycle, a move which drew praise from one of Concannon’s attorneys at the time. Gennaco was hired a short time later. He also declined to comment on Ohta’s refusal to rule on the dismissal motion.

In an interview, Hochman said that while he did not believe the officers were “innocent” he also did not think prosecutors could meet the legal bar needed to prove voluntary manslaughter. He said Gascón and Middleton bungled the case.

Hochman questioned Middleton’s attempt to argue that the officers executed the arrest of Mitchell so poorly that they caused the situation that required the use of deadly force.

That evidence of so-called “officer-created jeopardy” was deemed inadmissible by Ohta last year.

The evidence might have been admissible under a change in California law passed in 2020, which lowered the standard for charging officers in fatal use-of-force cases, but it did not apply retroactively, Hochman said.

“These are difficult cases. The fact that they’re difficult doesn’t mean we won’t bring them when they are appropriate,” Hochman said. “I’d say we probably spent hundreds of hours on the 12 seconds that were involved in the case.”

Hochman would not say directly if he believed the officers should have been charged with involuntary manslaughter.

“What we’re saying is this would have been a potential charge for the grand jury to consider. I can’t tell you how the grand jury would have come out on it,” he said. “It certainly would have been something that was up for consideration.”

Chavez is no longer employed by the Torrance Police Department. Concannon remains on administrative leave. An agency spokesman declined to comment.

In the 2021 scandal, The Times uncovered messages that were replete with racial slurs and descriptions of violence against Black men and members of the LGBTQ+ community.

In one string of messages, officers used the N-word to describe Mitchell’s relatives and joked about what would happen after Concannon and Chavez’s names were made public.

“Gun cleaning Party at my house when they release my name??” one officer asked, according to a summary of the text messages made public in a 2022 court filing, which redacted the names of the officers sending the messages.

“Yes absolutely let’s all just post in your yard with lawn chairs in a [firing] squad,” another replied.

Lewis said in a letter to The Times that Concannon was “never a part of any text thread where an N-word was used to describe Mitchell’s family.”

Concannon and Chavez are the last officers connected to the scandal with pending cases.

Cody Weldin and Christopher Tomsic — whose criminal case led to the exposure of the scandal — struck a plea deal earlier this year to vandalism charges for spray painting a swastika on a car towed from a crime scene.

David Chandler, another officer investigated as part of the scandal, pleaded no contest earlier this month to assault charges for shooting a Black suspect in the back. Chandler will eventually see his case dismissed under the terms of the agreement.

All three officers had to give up their rights to be peace officers in California under the terms of their plea deals.

The Torrance Police Department and the California Attorney General’s office entered into an “enforceable” agreement to reform earlier this year.

A 15-year-old Palestinian boy was shot by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank and was not given medical attention, leading to his death. He is among dozens of children who have been targeted and killed by Israeli troops in the occupied territories.

The San Antonio man accused of fatally shooting his neighbor Jonathan Joss, the actor best known for his voice work on animated series “King of the Hill,” faces a murder charge.

A grand jury in Bexar County, Texas, on Monday indicted 57-year-old Sigfredo Ceja Alvarez on a single felony count of first-degree murder, according to legal records reviewed by The Times. Legal representatives for Alvarez did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

Alvarez was indicted more than five months after police arrested him on suspicion of murder in connection to the fatal shooting. Officers responded to the 200 block of Dorsey Street on the evening of June 1, where they found Joss near the roadway, according to an incident report. The report initially identified Alvarez as “Sigfredo Alvarez Ceja” and said the incident occurred on the 200 block of “Dorsey Dr.”

First responders “attempted life saving measures” until EMS officers arrived, police said. The actor, who also appeared in “Parks and Recreation,” was pronounced dead at the scene. He was 59.

Though police did not disclose details about the events that led to the shooting, Joss’ husband Tristan Kern de Gonzales alleged in a Facebook post that he and Joss suffered “openly homophobic” harassment and threats prior to the fatal shooting, which he claimed was also motivated by homophobia.

At the time, Gonzales wrote that he and Joss had returned to the site of the actor’s San Antonio home — which had burned down in January — to check their mail. The actor had also lost three dogs in the fire. Gonzalez alleged that a man approached them, “started yelling violent homophobic slurs” and “raised a gun from his lap and fired.”

He said Joss pushed him out of the way, saving his life, and added that his husband “was murdered by someone who could not stand the sight of two men loving each other.”

Police disputed Gonzales’ claims, writing in a tweet that “the investigation has found no evidence to indicate that Mr. Joss’ murder was related to his sexual orientation.” In a separate tweet shared in June, police said investigators “handle these allegations very seriously.”

In “King of the Hill,” Joss voiced John Redcorn, protagonist Hank Hill’s neighbor. He recorded lines for the series’ revival prior to his death. His TV credits also include “Tulsa King,” “Ray Donovan,” “Friday Night Lights,” “ER” and “Charmed.”

New York Jets cornerback Kris Boyd remains in critical but stable condition a day after being shot in the abdomen in midtown Manhattan.

The New York Police Department has released surveillance images of a suspect wanted in connection with the shooting, which took place at approximately 2:06 a.m. Sunday in front of 156 West 38 St. in the Midtown South precinct.

“The sought individual is described as male, medium complexion,” the NYPD said in a statement emailed to The Times. “He was last seen wearing a black cap, black sweatshirt, black pants, multi-colored sneakers, and carrying a black bookbag.”

According to the NYPD, the suspect fled on foot traveling eastbound on West 38 St. Emergency medical services responded to the incident, the police said, and transported a 29-year-old male victim to NYC Health and Hospitals/Bellevue in critical but stable condition.

The office of New York Mayor Eric Adams was one of the first to identify Boyd as the victim.

“I am praying for New York Jets player Kris Boyd and his loved ones,” Adams wrote Sunday on social media. “Although we’ve gotten shootings to historic lows in our city, we must continue to work to end gun violence. Too many young lives have been tragically altered and cut short by this epidemic.”

The Jets, who had a bye in this week’s NFL schedule, said Sunday in a statement: “We are aware of the situation involving Kris Boyd and will have no further comment at this time.”

Boyd was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the seventh round of the 2019 draft and has also played for the Arizona Cardinals and Houston Texans. Known primarily as a special teams player, Boyd signed a one-year, $1.6 million deal with the Jets this past offseason but was placed on the season-ending injured reserve list on Aug. 18 with a shoulder injury.

On Sunday, Jets linebacker Jermaine Johnson and defensive tackle Harrison Phillips offered prayers for their teammate on social media.

“Everybody please send prayers to my brother and teammate Kris Boyd and his family!!!” Johnson wrote. “Lord please hold your healing hand over Kris and guide him back to health and safety. Lord I ask that you please just get him through this safely.”

Phillips wrote: “Father God, we come to you right now, asking for your healing power over KB. You are a God of miracles. Lord, place your mighty hand on him as he fights lord God. Guide every doctor, nurse, and surgeon who touches him lord. Give his family strength! Kris is a fighter and we’re all here for him.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Nov. 16 (UPI) — New York Jets cornerback Kris Boyd is in critical condition with a bullet lodged in his lung after being shot early Sunday in midtown Manhattan, NYPD said.

Police responded to the Sei Less restaurant at on W. 38th St. near 7th Ave. at 2:09 a.m. EST to find Boyd, 29, with a gunshot to his abdomen. He was taken to a local hospital where he remains in critical condition.

Boyd was engaged in a fight when the shooting happened, police said.

A spokesperson for the Jets said in a statement that the team is aware of the shooting but “and will have no further comment at this time.”

The gunman fled the scene in a BMW X8 SUV, the New York Post reported.

A Mercedes-Benz Maybach also left the scene of the shooting, the paper said.

No arrests have been made in connection with the shooting and police continue to investigate, the said.

Boyd was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the seventh round of the 2019 NFL Draft and, a native Texan, played his college football at the University of Texas in Austin.

He spent four seasons with the Vikings before being signed by the Arizona Cardinals in 2023, but was released later that season. He then spent two seasons with the Houston Texans practice squad after that.

In March, he signed a one-year deal with the Jets, but has been inactive since the summer due to an injury.

Nov. 14 (UPI) — Police have arrested a suspect in the shooting of John Beam, the Laney College athletic director who was featured in the Netflix series Last Chance U, according to authorities.

No further details of the arrest have been made public. Beam was taken to Highland Hospital in critical condition, CNN reported. A hospital spokesperson wouldn’t give further information.

The shooting happened at noon Thursday at the Laney College Field House, in the Peralta Community College District, which Laney College is a part of, the college said in a statement.

The Oakland, Calif., school went into lockdown. It remained closed for the remainder of the day.

Acting Oakland Police Chief James Beere told reporters during a press conference that officers arrived at the scene to find a victim suffering from a gunshot wound who was immediately taken to a local hospital.

The school district identified the victim as a “senior member of our athletic staff.” It was later revealed that Beam — who was featured in season 5 of the hit Netflix show about struggling college football athletes — had been shot.

“Coach Beam is a giant in Oakland — a mentor, an educator and a lifeline for thousands of young people,” Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee said in a statement. “For over 40 years, he has shaped leaders on and off the field, and our community is shaken alongside his family.”

The suspect was earlier described as a male of an unknown race, wearing dark clothing and a dark hoodie. Beere said the suspect had been seen fleeing the scene.

“I know that there was some concern that this may have been an active shooter. We responded as if it was an active shooter,” he said. “I can tell you right now it was not an active shooter.”

Witnesses were being interviewed and surveillance footage was being reviewed, he said.

Beam is the athletics director but retired from coaching last year, CNN said.

“The Peralta community is devastated by his shooting and deeply concerned for his well-being,” said Chancellor Tammeil Gilkerson in a message to employees. “We are stunned and heartbroken that such violence has touched our campus and one of the most respected and beloved members of our Laney, Peralta, and Oakland community.”

An arrest had been made in connection with the Thursday shooting of Laney College athletic director and former football coach John Beam, the Oakland Police Department announced Friday morning.

Beam was shot on Thursday on the downtown Oakland campus, the Peralta Community College District confirmed to multiple media outlets, and was transported to a local hospital. His condition has not been made public. The Oakland police had not publicly named Beam as the shooting victim, but said there would be more information on the arrest forthcoming.

On Thursday at a news conference, Oakland’s acting police chief James Beere had told reporters that police were attempting to locate a potential suspect.

“It’s a male unknown race wearing all dark clothing and a black hoodie that fled the scene,” Beere said.

Beam coached football in Oakland — first at Skyline High School and then at Laney —for more than four decades before retiring from that aspect of his job after last season. He and the Eagles were featured during the 2020 season of the Netflix documentary series “Last Chance U.” The show depicted Beam as a mentor and father figure to his players, some of whom were facing significant challenges in their lives, as they navigate a football season.

“My thoughts are with Coach John Beam and his loved ones. We are praying for him,” Oakland mayor Barbara Lee said in a statement. “Coach Beam is a giant in Oakland — a mentor, an educator, and a lifeline for thousands of young people. For over 40 years, he has shaped leaders on and off the field, and our community is shaken alongside his family.”

The Oakland Police Department responded to calls of shots being fired at or near Laney around noon Thursday and found a “a victim suffering from a gunshot wound,” Beere said, adding that his department was interviewing witnesses and looking at surveillance footage as part of an active investigation.

According to the Laney website, Beam was 160-33-3 with four undefeated seasons at Skyline High. He came to Laney as running backs coach in 2004, was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2005 and became head coach in 2012. He coached the Eagles to the California Community College Athletic Association championship in 2018

Another shooting occurred on Wednesday at Skyline High School. A student was shot and is said to be in stable condition. Two suspects, both minors, have been arrested by Oakland police.

Imprisoned rapper Tory Lanez has failed in his efforts to overturn his guilty verdict for shooting Megan Thee Stallion five years ago.

A three-judge panel from the California 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled against 33-year-old Lanez (legal name Daystar Peterson) on Wednesday, reinforcing his convictions on three felony counts stemming from the violent incident in 2020. Neither representatives for Peterson or Megan Thee Stallion (legal name Megan Pete) immediately responded to requests for comment on Thursday.

Peterson’s legal team can petition to have the California Supreme Court hear the appeal, despite Wednesday’s decision.

Canadian musician Peterson, who rose to popularity in the late 2000s, was convicted in December 2022 of assault and weapons offenses. He was convicted of assault with a firearm, illegal possession of a firearm and negligent discharge of a gun, following a two-week trial that featured tearful testimony from Pete.

He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in August 2023. Peterson is currently carrying out his sentence at the California Men’s Colony near San Luis Obispo. He was relocated there after he was stabbed by a fellow inmate at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi earlier this year.

“Savage” rapper Pete, on the other hand, is currently at the center of two legal disputes. One is a harassment suit filed against her in 2024, from a cameraman who alleges that she forced him to watch her have sex in a car while on tour in Europe. The other is a 2024 defamation lawsuit against blogger Milagro Gramz.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Klay Thompson didn’t hold back after a former NBA player used a graphic term in reference to the Dallas Mavericks star’s girlfriend, rapper Megan Thee Stallion, on a podcast this week.

Former NBA champion Jason Williams was discussing Thompson’s shooting struggles this season with his “Hoopin’ N Hollerin’” co-hosts, fellow ex-NBA player Patrick Beverley and Barstool Sports personality Rone.

Thompson, who won four NBA titles with the Golden State Warriors, is 35 and playing in his 13th NBA season, not counting the two-plus seasons he missed from 2019-2021 while recovering from tears to the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and his right Achilles tendon.

Nonetheless, Thompson’s relationship with the Grammy-winning hip-hop star was mentioned as a possible explanation for his career-low statistics (8.5 points per game, 32% shooting) after 11 games this season. The couple went public with their relationship during the offseason, and the “Not My Fault” singer has been seen in attendance at multiple Mavericks games since then.

Williams used an extremely explicit term for a female body part to make his point.

“I’m from West Virginia, man. I’ve been taught a lot by some old folks, old white folks. They say p—’s powerful,” Williams said. “They say it’s so powerful … it only takes one … to drag a battleship across a desert, that’s how powerful it is.

“Klay Thompson — I ain’t saying that’s what it is, but that might be what it is. That ain’t taking nothing away from Megan Thee Stallion. She might be a great girl, great for him. But I don’t know if she’s great for the shot.”

A video clip of the discussion — that added a graphic that featured a photo of Thompson and Megan Thee Stallion together and the caption “What’s going on with Klay Thompson?” — was posted to the podcast’s Instagram account. Thompson called out the show’s hosts in the post’s comment section.

“Referring to my GF as a ‘p—’ is so disgusting and disturbing,” Thompson wrote. “Especially from someone who played in the NBA . How would yall feel if I referred to your wives in such a way ? …

“Do better fellas. Very disappointing”

Nov. 2 (UPI) — Nine people were wounded Sunday in a shooting that erupted at a party being held at a large Airbnb in northern Ohio, authorities said.

Vito Sinopoli, chief of police for Bath Township, located about 26 miles due south of Cleveland, told reporters during a press conference that officers were working to identify the victims.

He said they were a “mix” of adults and youth. At least one suffered a leg injury in a fall, he said, stating they were unsure of how many suffered gunshot wounds.

Their conditions were unknown.

“This kind of violence is unacceptable in our community, and we’re committed to applying all available resources to this investigation,” he said.

Police were notified of the shooting at a residence in the 900 block of Top O Hill Drive at about midnight Saturday.

Officers arrived to find what Sinopoli described as a “chaotic scene” and began administering life-saving aid to the victims, who were then transported to area hospitals.

The shooting disrupted a “large party” at the residence that Sinopoli said had been advertised on social media as a birthday party that was to begin at 9:30 p.m.

Attendees fled when the shots were fired, he said, adding that preliminary information indicates that the majority of the shots were fired on the ground floor.

No arrests have been made. The number of shooters, if more than one, was unknown.

“We don’t have a clear indication yet of the number of individuals who may have been responsible,” he said.

Evidence was being gathered, surveillance was being reviewed and witnesses were being interviewed, he said, while calling on members of the public with information about the shooting, no matter how seemingly insignificant, to contact the authorities.

Police are in contact with Airbnb and the property owner.

There is a zoning prohibition on short-term rentals, such as those offered by Airbnb, Sinopoli said.

“Typically in a situation like this, there’d be a compliance letter issued to the property owner,” he said.

In July 2017, a shooting was reported at an Airbnb in Bath township, resulting in one person sustaining a leg wound.

On Monday, Airbnb announced an “anti-party system” to be in effect for the Halloween weekend.

It said the system uses “machine learning” on bookings to identify potential party risks. Employed last year, the system “deterred” 38,000 people in the United States and 6,300 people in Canada from booking listings over Halloween.

In a statement to ABC News, Airbnb said it was “heartbroken by this senseless act of gun violence.”

“Unauthorized and disruptive gatherings are strictly prohibited on Airbnb and our Safety team acted immediately to remove the account of the individual who deliberately broke rules by booking this stay,” the company said.

According to The Gun Violence Archive, which tallies gun violence across the United States, there have been at least 358 mass shootings involving four or more victims in the country so far this year.