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(COLUMBIA, S.C.) — The first federal trial over a hate crime based on gender identity began Tuesday in South Carolina, where a man faces charges that he killed a Black transgender woman and then fled to New York. The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that in August 2019, Daqua Lameek Ritter lured the woman — who is referred to as Dime Doe in court documents — into driving to a sparsely populated rural county in South Carolina. Ritter then shot her three times in the head with a .22 caliber handgun after they reached an isolated area near his uncle's home, according to Ben Garner, an assistant U.S. attorney for the district of South Carolina. In recent years there has been a surge in attacks on the LGBTQ+ community. For decades, transgender women of color have faced disproportionately high rates of violence and hate crimes, according to the Department of Homeland Security. In 2022, the number of gender identity-based hate crimes reported by the FBI increased by 37% compared to the ...

BURNSVILLE, Minn. — A man armed with multiple guns and large amounts of ammunition shot at police officers from inside a suburban Minneapolis home that was filled with children on Sunday, killing two officers and a firefighter who was providing medical aid to one of the wounded, authorities said. A third officer was wounded in the shooting in a tree-lined neighborhood of two-story homes in Burnsville, Minnesota. The suspect in the shooting also died, officials said. Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said there was an exchange of gunfire, and authorities were still piecing together details of what he described as a “terrible day.” The firefighter, who also works as a paramedic, was shot while providing aid to an injured officer, Evans said. He told reporters the paramedic was a part of a SWAT team that had been called to a domestic situation at the home. Inside, an armed man had barricaded himself with his family, including seven children ranging in age...

J ailed Russian opposition leader and President Vladimir Putin critic Alexei Navalny, 47, has died in prison, the Office of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia said in a statement Friday.  "On Feb. 16, 2024, in correctional colony No 3, convict A A Navalny felt unwell after a walk, almost immediately losing consciousness," Sky News’ English translation of the Russian statement read.  "The institution's medical workers immediately arrived and an emergency medical team was called. All necessary resuscitation measures were carried out, but they did not yield positive results. Emergency medical doctors confirmed the death of the convict.”  The prison service said in a statement posted on its website later Friday that staff were sent to the institution following Navalny’s “sudden death.” TIME reached out to the press department of the Russian government, the prison service, and the foreign ministry for further information.  Navalny’s spokesperson Kira Yarmysh state...

Legal experts say of all the charges filed against the former president and his aide, obstruction is one of the most serious. Of all of the federal charges that former president Donald Trump and his aide Walter Nauta face in the investigation into the alleged mishandling of top secret government documents, obstruction is one of the most serious, according to legal experts. Claire Finkelstein, the founder and faculty director of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law (CERL), at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center, noted that the obstruction charges in the indictment against Trump and his aide carry as much serious weight as the charges related to keeping the top secret documents, with a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Finkelstein told ABC News this was not surprising, as the federal government has always treated allegations of interfering with any investigation seriously and often spearhead these kind of probes. The Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. United Sta...

New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell is stepping down after 18 months on the job NEW YORK -- New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell, the first woman to hold the position, is stepping down after 18 months on the job. Sewell, who was appointed by Mayor Eric Adams, announced the resignation in an email to department staff Monday afternoon. “While my time here will come to a close, I will never step away from advocacy and support for the NYPD, and I will always be a champion for the people of New York City,” she wrote. Adams, a Democrat, confirmed the move in a statement, thanking Sewell for her “steadfast leadership.” Sewell took over as commissioner when Adams, a former NYPD captain, became mayor in January 2022, having pledged beforehand to name a woman to the post. During her brief tenure, she oversaw a decrease in some categories of crime – including murders – while contending with several high-profile crises, including the fatal shooting of two officers dur...

As former President Trump was being arraigned in Florida, he was dealt another blow when a judge allowed writer E. Jean Carroll to amend a defamation lawsuit against him. As former President Donald Trump was being arraigned in Florida Tuesday on charges related to his handling of classified documents after leaving office, a federal judge in New York dealt him another legal blow. Judge Lewis Kaplan allowed writer E. Jean Carroll to amend a pending defamation lawsuit against Trump to include allegedly disparaging comments he made about her last month after he was found liable for sexually assaulting her. MORE: E. Jean Carroll seeks to amend other Trump lawsuit for his reaction to battery verdict A jury last month found Trump liable for battery and defamation after Carroll alleged that Trump defamed her in a 2022 Truth Social post by calling her allegations "a Hoax and a lie" and saying "This woman is not my type!" when he denied her claim that he raped her in a Ber...

Prosecutors are accusing the weapons supervisor on the film set where Alec Baldwin shot and killed a cinematographer of drinking and smoking marijuana in the evenings during the filming of “Rust.” ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- The weapons supervisor on the film set where Alec Baldwin shot and killed a cinematographer was drinking and smoking marijuana in the evenings during the filming of “Rust,” prosecutors are accusing, saying she was likely hungover when she loaded a live bullet into the revolver that the actor used. They leveled the accusations Friday in response to a motion filed last month by Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys that seeks to dismiss her involuntary manslaughter charge. The prosecutors accused her of having a History of reckless conduct and argued that it would be in the public interest for her to “finally be held accountable.” Jason Bowles, Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney, said Tuesday that the prosecution has mishandled the case. “The case is so weak that they now have chosen...

A Mississippi police officer who shot and wounded an unarmed 11-year-old Black boy in the child’s home has been suspended without pay JACKSON, Miss. -- A Mississippi police officer who shot and wounded an unarmed 11-year-old Black boy in the child’s home has been suspended without pay, a city official said Tuesday. The Indianola Board of Aldermen voted Monday night to immediately stop paying Sgt. Greg Capers, board member Marvin Elder said Tuesday. Capers, who is Black, had previously been suspended with pay, according to Carlos Moore, the attorney representing the family of the boy, Aderrien Murry. Moore said the family is still pushing to get Capers fired. "He needs to be terminated and he needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Moore said. Aderrien Murry was hospitalized for five days with a collapsed lung, lacerated liver and fractured ribs after Capers shot him in the chest May 20, Moore said. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is examining the case, as...

A 4-year-old police K-9 named Aron has died from heat exhaustion after being left in a patrol car that unexpectedly shut off when the officer was away from the vehicle. A 4-year-old police K-9 named Aron with one and a half years or experience on the force has died from heat exhaustion after being left in an air-conditioned patrol car that unexpectedly shut off when the officer was away from the vehicle. The incident occurred on Monday in Houston, Texas, when the handler of the K-9 left the dog in a “running, air-conditioned patrol vehicle, which is necessary and common practice when the K-9 partner is not actively engaged in police work,” read a statement from the Houston Police Department announcing Aron’s death. MORE: Kayaker presumed dead after disappearing into frigid water while with fiancée “When Aron’s police handler returned to the vehicle, it was discovered that the engine had been shut off and Aron was in distress,” authorities continued. A 4-year-old police K-9 named Aro...

A Texas court has ruled that embattled Attorney General Ken Paxton’s long-delayed trial on securities fraud charges from 2015 will take place in Houston AUSTIN, Texas -- Embattled Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's long-delayed trial on securities fraud charges from 2015 will take place in Houston, a court ruled Wednesday, dealing the Republican another setback as he awaits a separate impeachment trial . It remains unclear, however, when Paxton might finally have his day in court on felony charges of defrauding investors in a tech startup. For now, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld a decision by a judge who originally oversaw the case to move the proceedings out of Paxton's hometown near Dallas. Paxton has spent years fighting to keep the trial in Collin County, where he maintains wide support among GOP activists and his wife, Angela Paxton, is a state senator. The ruling by Texas' highest criminal court comes as Paxton faces removal from office following h...

A 28-year-old woman has been arrested for allegedly enrolling at a Louisiana high school as a 17-year-old girl, authorities said. A 28-year- old woman has been arrested for allegedly posing as a 17-year- old student and attending a Louisiana high school , authorities said. Martha Jessenia Gutierrez-Serrano, 28, and her mother, Marta Elizeth Serrano-Alvarado, 46, both of Boutte, Louisiana, were each charged Tuesday with one count of injuring public records, the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office said. Serrano-Alvarado allegedly used a fraudulent passport and birth certificate to enroll her 28-year-daughter at Hahnville High School in Boutte during the 2022-2023 school year, according to the sheriff's office. Hanhville High School in Louisiana is seen in a Google Maps Street View in 2016. Google Maps Street View MORE: Headed to college? For many, student loan debt remains the only option School officials launched an investigation after getting "a tip that a female student, w...

One of the longest-held inmates on Florida's death row is set to be executed Thursday evening for two 1984 slayings TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- One of the longest-held inmates on Florida's death row is set to be executed Thursday for two separate killings in 1984, the fatal stabbing of a 14-year-old babysitter as two child ren in her care were sleeping and the other a hammer attack on a mother of two. Duane Owen is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at 6 p.m. EDT at Florida State Prison in Starke. He drew death sentences for the March 24, 1984, rape and stabbing attack on Karen Slattery, 14, and for the rape and killling of Georgianna Worden, 38, in May 1984, both in Palm Beach County. Owen attacked two other women in Palm Beach County who survived. All four attacks occurred just before and after Owen’s 23rd birthday. Now 62, Owen is one of 293 people on Florida’s death row and one of the longest residing there. Besides his death sentences, he also received six life sentences. I...

The House has rejected an effort to censure California Rep. Adam Schiff, turning aside a Republican attempt to fine the Democrat over his comments about former President Donald Trump and investigations into his ties to Russia WASHINGTON -- The House has rejected an effort to censure California Rep. Adam Schiff, turning aside a Republican attempt to fine the Democrat over his comments about former President Donald Trump and investigation s into his ties to Russia. Schiff, the former Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and the lead prosecutor in Trump’s first impeachment trial, has long been a top Republican political target. Soon after taking back the majority this year, Republicans blocked him from sitting on the intelligence panel. But Schiff was helped Wednesday by more than 20 Republicans who voted with Democrats to stop the censure resolution or voted “present,” giving Democrats enough votes to block the measure. The vote was a rare victory for Democrats in t...