The mystery has sent shockwaves through the family of Kathleen Brandel and Ralph Hendry, and the sailing community.

The couple was last seen in Grenada in the eastern Caribbean last week. Their yacht, Simplicity, was discovered “anchored and abandoned” on the island of St. Vincent a few days later, but they were nowhere to be found, according to the nonprofit Salty Dawg Sailing Association, of which Brandel and Hendry are members.

A preliminary investigation suggests that three prisoners escaped their holding cell in Grenada on Feb. 18, and the next day hijacked the yacht from the capital, St. George’s. They made their way to St. Vincent and were eventually recaptured on Feb. 21, according to the Royal Grenada Police Force. 

Grenada police believe Brandel and Hendry may have been killed during the hijacking, but they cannot say so definitively.

Nick Buro and Bryan Hendry say what happened to their parents, a retired couple who sold their home in Alexandria, Virginia, years ago to be able to spend the rest of their days on Simplicity, is unimaginable.

“This is something that is completely unexpected,” Buro said. “And wrapping our brains around it and trying to understand a senseless act of violence against two people while they were just living their lives in their home, essentially, because Simplicity was their home. They didn’t have another home…. And having that safety and security taken away from them abruptly and have them attacked in where they live, it’s just, it’s unimaginable.”

The brothers say that though they hold onto some hope that their parents might still be alive, investigators said there were signs of a violent struggle aboard the vessel: the couples’ possessions were scattered around, and there was blood throughout. 

“Shock, despair, fear, sadness, hope, love – all of those emotions are going through our head at the same time,” Buro said.

The brothers are in the Caribbean as authorities continue the search. Kathleen Brandel and Ralph Hendry have been married for 27 years and have spent more than a decade sailing around the world.

“They loved immersing themselves in different cultures and meeting people and spreading their love wherever they could,” Bryan Hendry said.  

“You’ll never meet more beautiful people than Kathy and Ralph. They made everybody feel happy and so welcome. They consistently made you feel like you were part of their family,” Buro said. 

The Salty Dawg Sailing Association said the couple had sailed the yacht in last year’s Caribbean Rally from Hampton, Virginia, to Antigua, and were spending the winter cruising in the eastern Caribbean. 

Nick and Megan O’Kelly are fellow cruisers who knew the couple.

“There’s a real tight-knit fabric in this community. And so when this news came out, it spread like wildfire. People are just incredibly shocked and devastated by this,” Nick O’Kelly said.

The prisoners, ages 19, 25 and 30, were charged a couple of months ago with one count of robbery with violence. The eldest inmate also was charged with one count of rape, three counts of attempted rape and two counts of indecent assault and causing harm, police in Grenada said.

Authorities said they dispatched senior investigators and a forensic specialist to St. Vincent.

Last week, U.S. Coast Guard officers at a port in Houston heard Connie trapped in a shipping container about 25 feet up. They lowered the crate and freed Connie.

“For us to find a dog that’s due to be exported out?” U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Brian Wainscott said with a shrug.

“When I saw that, my heart just sunk,” said Penny Edwards, who volunteers with Maryland-based animal rescue team Forever Changed Animal Rescue.

She reached out to the shelter in Texas to offer help. The Texas shelter agreed, but a pilot needed to pick up Connie.

“How can I say no to this, right?” Seuk Kim said with a laugh.

Kim has flown hundreds of volunteer animal rescue missions, so he received a call this week about a mission that had already gained national attention.

“‘Have you heard of Connie?’” he says he was asked. “And I said, ‘No, I don’t know anything about her.’ And she’s like, ‘Well, Google her and look her up.'”

Kim and a friend flew Connie to Virginia. When they stopped along the way to refuel, Kim realized Connie’s celebrity.

“The people who worked at the airport, they all came out to give her hugs and treats,” he said.

In Virginia, Edwards anticipated Connie’s arrival.

“Trying to see all the planes coming in, like, ‘Is that her? Is that her?'” she said.

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But her excitement was tamed with nerves. Connie’s incredible story of survival also carried a potentially tragic tale that followed her out of that shipping container.

“We didn’t know how to handle it,” Edwards said. “We didn’t want to tell anybody about what was told to us in Texas.”

They took Connie for an immediate checkup, knowing she had heartworms and was likely malnourished, having spent at least eight days inside that container.

Her mammary glands showed signs of recent motherhood, but no puppies were recovered with her. The rumor was Connie had birthed and lost her litter while fighting for her life in that container.

But her checkup revealed she’s a mother-to-be.

“It confirmed that the story in Texas … that she didn’t have puppies down there — well, she did, but they were inside of her,” Edwards said.

No one knows where Connie came from or how she ended up in that container — and no one really cares. Someday soon, a foster family will give Connie a loving home where she can reminisce about her epic journey over treats with her litter of puppies.

“These puppies are probably fighters just like their mom,” Kim said.

Once the veterinarians learned Connie was pregnant, they sent her to be with one of the Forever Changed’s owners in Portsmouth, Virginia. That vet will nurse Connie through her pregnancy and then will start heartworm treatments.

Once she’s fully recovered, Forever Changed Animal Rescue will find Connie a forever home.

The 9 mm handgun was found at a security checkpoint at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, in Arlington County, Virginia, just south of the nation’s capital, and never made it onto the plane, the TSA said.

The agency did not identify the woman, who is from Bethesda, Maryland, in a news release.

She was cited by police on a weapons charge, and the gun, which was loaded with six rounds, was confiscated, it said.

She also faces a fine, which can go up to $15,000, the TSA said.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com here.

The piece looked old amongst the clutter of measuring cups, candles and other tchotchkes. After adjusting her eyes, Vincent made out the words “Murano” and “Italia” on its base.

“I bought it thinking it would look beautiful in my house somewhere,” said Vincent, 43, a horse trainer who paid $3.99 at a Goodwill outside of Richmond. “I definitely didn’t buy it thinking, ‘Oh, I’m going to sell this.’ ”

Her thinking changed after some research. And on Dec. 13, the vase sold through the Wright Auction House for $107,100. The buyer, a top collector from Europe, wished to remain private.

Vincent’s purchase came after years of perusing yard sales and thrift stores with her mother. She loves PBS’ “Antiques Roadshow” and has daydreamed many times of this kind of lottery ticket-level transaction.

“I always felt like I had a good eye,” said Vincent, who visits thrift stores a few times a week with her partner. “But I’m really surprised that nobody picked it up before I did.”

The vase was likely on the shelf for only a couple days given its quality and the quick rate at which products are sold, said Laura Faison, a spokeswoman for Goodwill of Central and Coastal Virginia. Each store averages about 2,000 new pieces a day, and they often come in from a car’s trunk.

“It could have been someone cleaning out grandma’s basement,” Faison said of the vase’s backstory. “We’ll probably never know.”

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Vincent arrived at the Goodwill on a June afternoon with her partner, Naza Acosta, after a day of training horses. The vase felt heavy in her hands. And while Vincent had seen painted glass before, the vase’s swirling colors were different. They came from the glass itself, she said, “and it was just so delicately done.”

Back home, Vincent posted photos in Facebook groups for glass art and soon joined a private one for Murano glass.

The “Murano” on the vase’s bottom referred to the island in Venice that has been famous for its glasswork since the 13th century. Its highly prized creations have included ornate crystal chandeliers and mirror frames, many of which adorn the palaces of Europe’s aristocracy.

The vase was produced by the renowned glass company Venini and designed by Italian architect Carlo Scarpa, who died in 1978. One response on Facebook gave her chills: “Those are very rare. Every collector would love to have that. But most people cannot afford them.”

Vincent was referred to Richard Wright, president of the Wright Auction House in Chicago.

“The minute I saw her email,” Wright said, “I knew what it was and how rare it was.”

Scarpa was the top Italian glass designer in the mid-20th century, while the vase was part of a series he created in 1942. The collection was called Pennellate, which means brushstroke, and was made by adding colored opaque glass to the vase as it was blown.

“It was basically a duet between Carlo Scarpa and a master blower who had to physically translate (Scarpa’s) drawings,” Wright said. “You have to keep rotating this vase the entire time or it’ll slump off the pipe. While at the same time you’re applying these delicate brushes of color that have this absolute lightness to them.”

Few were made because they were so difficult to create. The auction house knows of only one other in this form and color combination. It is in a private collection.

Wright dispatched two Italian glass specialists to Virginia to confirm the vase’s authenticity. Vincent pulled it from a cardboard box encased in bubble wrap and swaddled in a tablecloth.

“Just the look on their faces,” Vincent recalled. “It was incredible to have experts who handle very important pieces of glass who were very excited for my little thrift-store vase.”

Perhaps just as miraculous was its perfect condition, Wright said. A small chip in the glass would have reduced its value to less than $10,000.

Wright Auction House said it will get about $23,600 from the purchase of Vincent’s vase, while she will receive about $83,500.

Vincent said a good chunk of the money will go to installing an HVAC system into an old farmhouse she recently bought. It is currently being warmed by space heaters.

“I’m not independently wealthy, so it’s going to be really good to have a little breathing room,” added Vincent, who, with her partner, trains polo horses, sport horses and trail horses.

As for the vase, Vincent hopes it will be in a museum someday.

“My little 1930s farmhouse is not the right showcase for something so spectacular,” Vincent said. ”It would also make me super nervous to have it in my house. It’s a lot of responsibility when you find out how much something is worth.”

Deja Taylor’s sentence was much harsher than the maximum six months prosecutors had agreed to recommend as part of a plea deal and also surpassed the high end of advisory state sentencing guidelines. Taylor, 26, pleaded guilty to a single count of felony neglect in August. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to drop a misdemeanor count of recklessly storing a firearm.

Circuit Court Judge Christopher Papile said the sentencing guidelines did not take into account the shooting’s physical and psychological toll on first-grade teacher Abigail Zwerner or the emotional trauma it has wrought on other students and staff at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News.

Zwerner was critically injured when the boy fired a single shot at her, striking her hand and chest, breaking bones and puncturing a lung. She spent weeks in the hospital, had five surgeries, and says she is so mentally scarred by the shooting that she does not plan to return to teaching.

Papile noted that “we are lucky” someone wasn’t killed at the elementary school. In admonishing Taylor, the judge said a parent’s ultimately responsibility is to “protect the child, to keep them from bad influences, to keep them from dangerous situations, to keep them healthy and nurtured. Ms. Taylor has abdicated most, if not all, of those responsibilities.”

The state sentence handed down Friday was the second time Taylor was held to account for the classroom shooting in January, which stunned the nation and shook this military shipbuilding city.

Taylor was sentenced in November to 21 months in federal prison for using marijuana while owning a gun, which is illegal under U.S. law. Her state sentence will be served consecutively, making a combined state and federal sentence of nearly four years behind bars.

Taylor’s son told authorities he got his mother’s 9 mm handgun by climbing onto a drawer to reach the top of a dresser, where the firearm was in his mom’s purse. He concealed the weapon in his backpack and then his pocket before shooting Zwerner in front of her first-grade class.

Moments later, the boy told a reading specialist who restrained him, “I shot that (expletive) dead,” and “I got my mom’s gun last night,” according to search warrants.

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Taylor initially told police she had secured her gun with a trigger lock, but investigators said they never found one.

Following the shooting, the boy was removed from his mother’s custody and spent 227 days in inpatient treatment, during which he was attended to by a team of physicians, psychiatrists and other clinicians, prosecutor Travis White told the judge. The boy, now 7, had problems with “basic socialization” and suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome and insomnia, among other disorders.

“That is the depths of neglect that Deja Taylor inflicted on her child,” the prosecutor said, calling the shooting “a consequence and manifestation of that neglect.”

The boy now lives with his great-grandfather, Calvin Taylor, who told reporters after the hearing that he believes the sentence handed down by Papile is “excessive.” He said Deja Taylor tried to get help for her son before the shooting but child protective services did not follow through on her request.

The elder Taylor said the boy is now doing well in a structured environment. The child told him that he wanted “Santa to bring his mom home for Christmas.”

Deja Taylor did not speak during Friday’s hearing. Her attorney, James Ellenson, said Taylor struggled with addiction and domestic violence. He said Taylor, 26, smoked marijuana “all day, every day” since age 15.

“Who knows what the effects were on that teenage brain?” he said.

Ellenson said earlier this year there were “ mitigating circumstances,” including Taylor’s miscarriages and postpartum depression. She also has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, a condition sharing symptoms with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, according to court documents.

Taylor told ABC’s “Good Morning America” in May that she feels responsible and apologized to Zwerner.

“That is my son, so I am, as a parent, obviously willing to take responsibility for him because he can’t take responsibility for himself,” Taylor said.

During her sentencing in federal court last month, one of Taylor’s attorneys read aloud a brief statement in which Taylor said she would feel remorse “for the rest of my life.”

Zwerner is suing Newport News Public Schools for $40 million, alleging administrators ignored multiple warnings the boy had a gun at school the day of the shooting.

During the sentencing hearing Friday, Zwerner recounted the shooting, telling the judge: “I was not sure whether it would be my final moment on earth.”

She said she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression, and has difficulty sleeping.

“The shooting has instilled many fears in me that will remain forever,” she said.

She said she will not return to teaching because she’s now afraid to work with children.

“Now, at 26 years old, what am I supposed to do?” she said. “My life will never be close to the same again.”

Two people were arrested after seven Virginia elementary school students “experienced a reaction” after eating gummy bears from a bag that was laced with fentanyl, the Amherst County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday.

Central Elementary School in Amherst County called the county School Resource Officer on Tuesday after learning the students had eaten something during lunch and needed medical attention, the sheriff’s office said.

It was later determined that all seven fourth-graders had eaten gummy bears that one student brought to school and shared at lunch, according to NBC News affiliate WSLS.

The student brought the candy in a plastic bag from home, according to WSLS.

Five were taken to the hospital, the sheriff’s office said. Two were transported by EMS, and the other three were taken by their parents.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com here.

All officers escaped serious injury but it was unclear what happened to the suspect who was inside the home when it was leveled by the explosion, Arlington County, Virginia, police spokesperson Ashley Savage said.

Officers went to the home at about 4:45 p.m. after receiving reports of shots fired. They later determined the shots came from a flare gun, Savage said. While police investigated, they obtained a search warrant for the home.

When police later attempted to execute the warrant the suspect fired several rounds inside the home and the explosion occurred just before 8:30 p.m., shooting flames and debris into the air police said.

Savage said it was unclear whether the rounds were fired from a flare gun or a firearm. Police don’t have any evidence that others were in the duplex but can’t rule out the possibility, she said.

Carla Rodriguez of South Arlington said she could hear the explosion more than 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) away and came to scene, which was roped off blocks away, to see what was happening.

“I actually thought a plane exploded,” she said.

Bob Maynes thought maybe a tree had fallen on his house when he heard the explosion.

“I was sitting in my living room watching television and the whole house shook,” Maynes said. “It wasn’t an earthquake kind of tremor, but the whole house shook.”

Arlington is located across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The explosion occurred in Bluemont, a neighborhood in north Arlington where many of the homes are duplexes.

Fire officials do not know the cause of the explosion, said Capt. Nate Hiner, a spokesperson for the Arlington Fire Department.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said federal agents and federal fire investigators were at the scene and assisting in the investigation.

The Fairfax County Office of Elections finished tallying votes for Clifton mayor Tuesday, and Tom Peterson earned 67 write-in votes to beat Mayor William Hollaway, who earned 62.

“It doesn’t happen very often,” Peterson said of his write-in campaign success.

Though it’s only a five-vote lead, there won’t be a recount. Virginia allows recounts if the difference is less than 1%, and Peterson’s lead is almost 4% because there were only 129 total votes in the race.

When Peterson’s wife urged him to run, the filing deadline had passed, so he ran against the six-term incumbent Hollaway off the ballot with just 10 yard signs.

But news traveled fast in the small town.

“There was a lot of energy,” said Bennett Wyant, who voted for Peterson.

He said he and other Clifton voters were excited to actually have a choice for the first time in 12 years, even though Hollaway’s name was the only one on the ballot.

“Nothing against him in any way,” Wyant said. “But I think it was just time for a change.”

Voter Carolyn Leetch said Peterson is well-liked in town and has a great resume as a local business owner and retired schoolteacher who also served two terms as mayor in 2006 and 2008.

“He’s very honest; he’s very fair,” Leetch said. “He was an excellent mayor.”

Peterson said one of his first orders of town business might hurt his own business. He wants to update Main Street with a fresh design and safer sidewalks.

“Depending on the time of year, it’s going to hurt our business, because they’re going to take away a lot of parking while the construction is being done,” Peterson said. “But I think in the long run, it’s a good thing for the town.”

The surprise decision by Newport News Circuit Court Judge Matthew Hoffman means that Abby Zwerner could get much more than just workers’ compensation for the serious injuries caused by January’s classroom shooting.

Lawyers for Newport News Public Schools had tried to block the lawsuit, arguing that Zwerner was eligible only for workers’ compensation. It provides up to nearly 10 years pay and lifetime medical care for injuries.

Zwerner’s attorneys countered that workers’ compensation doesn’t apply because a first-grade teacher would never anticipate getting shot: “It was not an actual risk of her job.”

Hoffman sided with Zwerner, concluding that her injuries “did not arise out of her employment” and therefore did not “fall within the exclusive provisions of workers’ compensation coverage.”

The judge wrote: “The danger of being shot by a student is not one that is peculiar or unique to the job of a first-grade teacher.”

Zwerner was hospitalized for nearly two weeks and endured multiple surgeries after a bullet struck her hand and chest. Zwerner alleges that administrators ignored multiple warnings the boy had a gun that day and had routinely dismissed ongoing concerns about his troubling behavior.

“This victory is an important stepping stone on our path towards justice for Abby,” Zwerner’s attorneys, Diane Toscano, Jeffrey Breit and Kevin Biniazan, said in a statement.

“We are eager to continue our pursuit of accountability and a just, fair recovery,” they said. “No teacher expects to stare down the barrel of a gun held by a six-year-old student.”

Zwerner no longer works for the school system. A tentative trial date for her lawsuit is scheduled for January 2025.

The school board’s attorneys indicated that they would appeal Friday’s decision and said in a statement that they “fully anticipate its reversal by the appellate court.”

The school board maintained that Zwerner’s injuries were directly related to her job and therefore covered under workers’ compensation.

“The actual risk of employment in this scenario is that of a teacher being injured at the hands of a student which, unfortunately, is a fairly common occurrence and one that is only increasing in frequency this day and age,” school board attorney Anne Lahren said in a statement.

Some legal experts expected Zwerner’s lawsuit to fail under Virginia’s uncommonly strict workers’ compensation law. That’s because it covers workplace assaults and allegations of negligence against employers. Lawsuits that might move forward in other states often falter in the Commonwealth.

J. H. Verkerke, a University of Virginia law professor, said Friday’s ruling was “somewhat surprising” based on previous Virginia court decisions.

“Virginia precedent surely gives the school board reason to hope for reversal of the trial court’s ruling,” Verkerke said.

In early January, the 6-year-old pulled out his mother’s handgun and shot Zwerner as she sat at a reading table in front of her first-grade class. She rushed the rest her students into the hallway before collapsing in the school’s office.

The shooting revived a national dialogue about gun violence and roiled this military shipbuilding cit y near the Chesapeake Bay.

Zwerner sued in April, alleging school officials ignored multiple warnings that the boy had a gun and was in a violent mood.

Police have said the shooting was intentional. Zwerner claims school officials knew the boy “had a history of random violence” at school and home, including when he “choked” his kindergarten teacher.

Verkerke, the law professor, said Zwerner’s attorneys needed to prove the shooting was unrelated to Zwerner’s job. Their challenge was “to somehow make out that it’s personal.”

In his ruling on Friday, Judge Hoffman wrote that the shooting against Zwerner was “personal.”

Judge Hoffman noted that the boy had the gun with him from the beginning of the school day until just before dismissal.

“It was not until the student was back in (Zwerner’s) classroom that he decided to fire it once, striking (Zwerner),” Judge Hoffman wrote. “He did not at any time threaten any other student, teacher or administrator at the school with a firearm.”

Zwerner’s attorneys argued in a brief last month that the boy’s “violence was random and aimed at everyone, both in and out of school.”

He “asserted that he was angry that people were ‘picking on’ his friend, a motivation that had nothing to do with (Zwerner),” her lawyers wrote without further elaboration. “His motivation was a personal one.”

The school board disagreed and questioned how the shooting could be anything but work-related.

Responding to the judge’s decision on Friday, the school board’s attorneys said “it is clear that the student and Ms. Zwerner only knew each other through their teacher-student relationship.”

“In order for a ‘personal’ action to defeat the exclusivity of the Workers’ Compensation Act, that personal motive must not be itself related to … the employment,” they wrote.

Workers’ compensation laws were deemed a grand bargain in the 20th century between injured workers and employers, Verkerke said. Workers lost the ability to sue in most cases, protecting employers from enormous payouts. But people who were injured gained much easier access to compensation — lost pay and medical coverage — without having to prove fault.

“I’m quite sympathetic to the idea that such an assault falls outside the ‘grand bargain’ at the root of workers’ compensation law,” Verkerke said.

But he said the facts in the case cast doubt on the conclusion that the shooting was personal. The school board, he said, “would have substantial grounds to appeal.”

——

This story corrects the spelling of attorney Anne Lahren’s last name. It’s Lahren, not Lehran.

A jury on Thursday found 31-year-old Alan Colie not guilty of aggravated malicious wounding in the shooting of 21-year-old Tanner Cook, who runs the “Classified Goons” YouTube channel. The jury was split on two lesser firearms counts and decided to convict him on one and acquit him on the other.

Cook made a nonsensical recording on his cellphone, and on April 2, he approached Colie in the food court of Dulles Towne Center and followed Colie while playing the audio.

The video shows Colie backing away from Cook, telling Cook to stop three times and trying to push the cellphone away from his face.

After about 20 seconds, Colie pulled out a gun and shot Cook.

Many on social media supported Colie, saying Cook was harassing a stranger.

Prosecutors told the jury Colie took a gun to a cellphone fight, but the jury sided with Colie’s self-defense claim, which is usually reserved for someone who has good reason to believe that they’re in serious physical danger.

Colie was found not guilty of aggravated malicious wounding and malicious discharge though he still faces charges of shooting into an occupied dwelling. He faces up to 10 years in prison.

Cook says he plans to continue making his YouTube prank videos.

After “receiving treatment and regular medical evaluations for Parkinson’s Disease over the course of the past several months, she has received a modified diagnosis of Progressive Supra-nuclear Palsy, type-p (PSP-P), a form of Atypical Parkinsonism,” her office said in a statement Monday morning. Wexton called it “a kind of Parkinson’s on steroids.”

Wexton serves Virginia’s 10th congressional district, of which Loudoun County makes up the largest portion. Her term runs through 2024.

She was elected in 2018 amid a wave of wins by Democratic women in the midterm elections during then-President Donald Trump’s term. She won a third term last fall.

Wexton spoke with News4 earlier this year about her Parkinson’s diagnosis and said she sought to remain in Congress.

Wexton released this statement on Monday morning:

“When I shared with the world my diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease a few months ago, I knew that the road ahead would have its challenges, and I’ve worked hard to navigate those challenges through consistent treatments and therapies. But I wasn’t making the progress to manage my symptoms that I had hoped, and I noticed the women in my Parkinson’s support group weren’t having the same experience that I was. I sought out additional medical opinions and testing, and my doctors modified my diagnosis to Progressive Supra-nuclear Palsy – a kind of ‘Parkinson’s on steroids.’

“I’ve always believed that honesty is the most important value in public service, so I want to be honest with you now – this new diagnosis is a tough one. There is no ‘getting better’ with PSP. I’ll continue treatment options to manage my symptoms, but they don’t work as well with my condition as they do for Parkinson’s.

“I’m heartbroken to have to give up something I have loved after so many years of serving my community. But taking into consideration the prognosis for my health over the coming years, I have made the decision not to seek reelection once my term is complete and instead spend my valued time with Andrew, our boys, and my friends and loved ones.

“When I made the decision to run for Congress, this was clearly not the way I anticipated it coming to a close — but then again, pretty much nothing about my time serving here has quite been typical or as expected. I will forever cherish the people from our communities and all around the country I’ve come to know, the challenges we’ve faced together, and the ways both big and small that my team and I have made a difference in the lives of our neighbors. While my time in Congress will soon come to a close, I’m just as confident and committed as ever to keep up the work that got me into this fight in the first place for my remaining time in office – to help build the future we want for our children. I am truly humbled by the trust Virginians have placed in me, and I look forward to continuing to serve the people of our district.”

Here’s what Rep. Wexton’s colleagues said

Wexton’s colleagues reacted to the news with sadness and words of support. Fellow Northerm Virginia House Democrat Don Beyer said in a statement, “When Jennifer joined the House five years ago her future seemed limitless. Now she has been robbed of much of that future with medical news that is tragic and deeply unfair.”

The state party’s chairwoman, Susan Swecker, said Wexton’s “years of dedicated public service and tireless advancement of LGBTQ civil rights, gun safety reform, labor rights, and affordable healthcare have immeasurably improved the lives of all Virginians.”

Here’s how an open congressional seat could shake up politics

An open seat in the district — which became slightly more conservative in the last redistricting process, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project — could set up a competitive race with implications for party control of the U.S. House in 2024.

Wexton was a prosecutor and state legislator before she was elected to Congress in 2018. She defeated Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock with 56% of the vote in a year when the GOP faced a backlash from suburban voters disappointed with Trump.

She won with 53% of the vote in 2022.

Loudoun County tilts slightly Democratic but has a long history of switching support between political parties. In recent years, the county has been a flashpoint in confrontations over education issues, from school closures and in-person learning during the pandemic to questions over the treatment of transgender students and library books.

Wexton’s announcement means Virginia Democrats could be losing incumbents in the two most closely contested districts they hold. In the 7th District, between Washington and Richmond, speculation is strong that Abigail Spanberger will not seek reelection next year and will instead run for governor in 2025.

Spanberger was also elected in 2018 and has always won narrowly, with anywhere from from 50% to 52% of the vote.

A Virginia man returned home from the hospital Thursday after surviving a lightning strike Saturday.

Noah Fowler, 20, knows just how lucky he was that someone was driving by at the moment he was struck by lightning while riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle during a storm. He had been taking pictures with his girlfriend at Skyline Drive when the storm rolled in Saturday afternoon.

As he rode home, the rain picked up, and visibility was poor.

”I was, like, two miles from my house, so I was, like, ‘Ah, I can make it home; I know where I’m going,’” Fowler said. “And next thing I know, I wake up on the ground with like 20 people or so around me.”

The lightning bolt traveled through his helmet and down his body. It burned his silver necklace into his skin, set his bike on fire — and sent him flying.

Erica Sutherland and her fiancé, who work in the medical field, were heading in the other direction on I-66 and passed by right as Fowler was hit.

“He flipped and flipped and flipped, and he smacked the pavement and smacked and smacked and then just slid like a slip and slide,” Sutherland said.

Her fiancé stopped their Jeep, and she ran to help.

“The first thing I did was put my hand on his neck for a pulse,” Sutherland said. “There was none, none. So, I looked at my watch and I said, ‘Hey Siri, I need to start CPR.’”

Another Good Samaritan covered them with a blanket as Sutherland did chest compressions. Four minutes and 12 seconds later, Fowler regained consciousness.

“When I was able to bring him back, the first thing he said was, ‘Can you call my mom?’” Sutherland said.

“I answered and I just hear this panicked voice on the end,” Fowler’s mother said. “’I’m with your son. He’s been in a motorcycle accident.’ And I honestly can’t even remember what she said after that.”

“I hope that’s a feeling I never have to feel, and I hope it’s something I never hear in the other end of a phone line,” said a tearful Sutherland, who has three children.

Noelle Fowler and Noah’s sister Lauren rushed to the scene as EMTs were taking him to the hospital. Doctors told them it was a miracle he didn’t break any bones or seriously hurt his head.

“It could have been a lot worse,” Noah Fowler said.

He suffered a ruptured eardrum, burns and bruises.

“The only explanation is God,” Noelle Fowler said. “There’s … it wasn’t coincidence.”

The mother of five says her family has expanded by two.

“We need to be open to helping everybody,” she said. “Stop judging … She [Sutherland] restored my faith in humanity. She really restored my faith in humanity.”

Noah Fowler still has a long road ahead, but he says he will get back to work and back on his bike as soon as he’s strong enough. He’s looking forward to spending more time with the former strangers who saved his life.

“I think they’re going to be part of my life forever,” he said.

“Caregiver Kristen Danielle Graham, a 40-year-old Seaford resident, was arrested last night, September 12, 2023, on 1 Felony count of Child Neglect and 1 misdemeanor count of Animal Cruelty,” stated a Facebook post by the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office in Yorktown.

An investigation is underway, according to the post, and the medical examiner’s office is determining the cause of death.

A spokesperson from the sheriff’s office confirmed to TODAY.com that the child was a baby girl named Myrical.

York County Sheriff Ron Montgomery said in the press conference that on the afternoon of September 12, police responded to a hospital in Newport News, Virginia, after an elderly man entered the emergency room and reported a deceased child in his car outside.

When staff went outside, they saw a black trash bag in the car that contained the baby.

“That child has been identified as Myrical Wicker, date of birth October the 19th, 2022,” he said.

Police have arrested Kristen Danielle Graham of Yorktown, who they identified as the baby’s caregiver.

According to Montgomery, the caretaker had been caring for the child for an estimated two days. The baby’s mother is 17 years old, he said. Montgomery said that Graham regularly cared for the child, sometimes for weeks-long stretches.

The sheriff explained that around 1 a.m. on the morning of September 12, Graham received a phone call from a friend who asked Graham to bring her cigarettes to a residence in Newport News, where the friend was caring for an elderly man.

“So the 11-month-old child was put in the back of the vehicle along with a small dog and transported to Newport News where they went to a 7-Eleven, purchased cigarettes and a bottle of apple juice,” said Montgomery.

He said Graham then drove to the friend’s location where she stayed “for some period of time.”

Montgomery said evidence shows that the caretaker returned to her York County residence around 8:00 a.m. with the baby.

“Once she got home, she rolled the windows up on the car, turned the car off, left the dog and the child in the vehicle,” he said. Somewhere between 2:00 and 2:30 p.m., added Montgomery, the caretaker was awakened by a phone all and went outside “to then check on the child, who was at that point deceased.”

Montgomery said the child was brought inside the house and the person who brought the child to the hospital first placed her in the black plastic bag.

Graham was arrested and taken to the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail, where she was being held as of September 13. TODAY.com reached out to Graham’s attorney, but did not hear back.

Montgomery said that Graham shared “conflicting” statements to police about the child and the dog being left in the car.

“She would initially have us believe that she was in the vehicle along with the child and the dog for that duration of time,” he said. “Our evidence that we have collected doesn’t support that information. We believe that she left them, went in the house, went to sleep and came back out 6 hours later.”

Montgomery said the caregiver also told police that the child was sleeping inside the car and “she made a decision just to leave the child in the vehicle.”

According to Montgomery, the heat index was “at least 100 degrees” while the child and the dog stayed in the car between around 8:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

Montgomery said that depending on the results of the child’s autopsy, the charges could be upgraded to homicide.

“These are not typical situations that we deal with in York County,” he said. “When you do come across the death of a child, it affects everyone.”

“We have children ourselves,” added Montgomery. “I can tell you that we all go home and hug our kids and our grandkids a little tighter after something like this happens.”

This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:

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Grand Canyon National Park officials identified the hiker who died Saturday as Ranjith Varma of Manassas. The location where he passed away is toward the end of the South Rim to North Rim trek, which can take 12 to 15 hours to complete.

At around 2 p.m. Saturday, the Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center reported receiving an emergency call of a hiker in distress on the North Kaibab Trail, about one mile south of Cottonwood Campground. Varma became unresponsive, and bystanders and rangers both unsuccessfully tried to resuscitate him, park officials said.

It wasn’t immediately clear if his death was heat related. An investigation was being conducted by the Park Service and the Coconino County Medical Examiner.

The high temperature on Saturday was 87 degrees at Grand Canyon Airport, which is about a 20 minute drive from the South Rim.

Earlier this year, a 36-year-old Indiana woman died while trying to hike to the Colorado River and back in a day. She was found unconscious on May 14 along the Bright Angel Trail above the Three-Mile Resthouse.

On July 3, a 57-year-old woman died while on an eight-mile hike in triple-digit heat at Grand Canyon National Park.

Park officials say summertime temperatures on exposed parts of the trail can reach over 120 degrees.

Tributes and dedications for three players slain last Nov. 13 began Friday with a tree planting and placement of a plaque to honor them as well as another player and a female student who were wounded. The victims will be remembered in an on-field ceremony a half-hour before the noon kickoff against James Madison.

“At UVA, we have a tradition of planting trees to mark the tradition and the moments that have shaped our history,” school President Jim Ryan said before those in attendance, including family members of the players killed, were allowed to help encase the roots in soil.

The tree, an oak, can grow to as tall as 60 feet and live for hundreds of years. The plaque will serve as a reminder of the lives of Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry. Authorities just this week upgraded the murder charges against the former teammate accused in the attack.

Crime and Courts Sep 9, 2023

New murder charges brought against the man accused of killing UVA football players

The tragedy caused the cancellation of Virginia’s final two games last year. Instead, there were three funerals to attend, vigils and a moving memorial service.

The Cavaliers acknowledged being emotional when they reconvened in the spring for 15 days of practice, especially when shooting survivor Mike Hollins was in uniform. Their first game back came last Saturday in Nashville, Tennessee, where they lost 49-13 to No. 9 Tennessee.

This game, though, will be different. When the Cavaliers run out of the stadium tunnel before kickoff, it will be toward an end zone painted with the words “UVA Strong” and the names and numbers of the three slain.

The end zone will remain painted to honor them throughout the season. The Cavaliers will wear helmet decals and those wearing jerseys Nos. 1, 15 and 41 — the numbers of the three killed — will have legacy patches on them. The visiting Dukes also will wear helmet decals.

As second-year Virginia coach Tony Elliott has said numerous times since the killings, there is no playbook, no formula for how a program recovers or for how individual players do.

“You’ve got to compartmentalize and be strategic with the hours in the day and know when you need to focus on football,” Elliott said this week. “They’ve also got academics they’ve got to continue to focus on and then also spending the appropriate amount of time mentally preparing themselves for the emotional roller coaster that they’re going to have late in the week and then also on game day. And so it’s a delicate balance.”

In a statement she read at a news conference without taking questions, athletic director Carla Williams said, “We promised the family members that we would never forget their loved ones and we will keep that promise.”

Williams praised the Virginia players, several of whom considered transferring but chose to return for the opportunity to play in honor of their teammates: “We love you because despite the adversity, you refuse to quit,” Williams said. “The life lessons you’re learning in these moments will carry you further than you could have ever imagined.”

The players have said their way to honor the memories of the players will be by showing up every day, giving their all and remembering that everything can be taken away in an instant. Results would be nice, too, but as Elliott builds his program, that’s a tall order. The Cavaliers were 3-8 last season, his first as a head coach.

The Cavaliers and their fans won’t be the only ones familiar with the emotional aspects of the weekend. James Madison had a star softball player take her own life last year.

“We enter a community still grieving and still healing, and we will be grieving alongside them on Saturday,” athletic director Jeff Bourne said, noting that he, JMU president Jonathan Alger and Sun Belt Commissioner Keith Gill will be among those on the field for the pregame ceremony.

Between the lines, Bourne said, he wants Dukes fans to be fierce and supportive of their team, while at the same time, “we must find the appropriate balance between competition and compassion by standing strong with UVA to offer our support for healing.”

A special grand jury in Charlottesville issued the new aggravated murder indictments against Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. If convicted, the 23-year-old would serve a mandatory life sentence. They are the most serious murder charges available in Virginia after it abolished the death penalty in 2021.

Jones was a UVA student in November 2022 and a former member of the football team when police say he opened fire on a charter bus that had brought back students from a field trip.

Virginia Sep 9, 2023

Emotions will run high for Virginia as Cavaliers honor slain teammates ahead of first home game

Football players Lavel Davis Jr., D’Sean Perry and Devin Chandler were killed, while a fourth member of the team, Mike Hollins, and another student were wounded.

Jones had initially been charged with second-degree murder after his arrest.

Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney James Hingeley said in a news release that the new indictments were returned Wednesday.

Liz Murtagh, the public defender in Charlottesville and Albemarle County appointed to represent Jones, said she is “sorry the prosecutor chose to go this route” but declined further comment.

The Northern Virginia soccer coach is recovering from injuries after he says a parent beat him with a metal water bottle during a scrimmage at George Hellwig Memorial Park in Manassas on Saturday.

Coach Vince, as he’s known, has coached youth soccer since he was 18. He works in information technology for Prince William County Public Schools and loves coaching so much that he leads the Potomac Senior High School girls’ team and youth club teams.

He was on the field on Saturday as a favor for a friend, filling in at a boys’ team scrimmage.

“I saw one of the players kind of off with his dad, and he looked upset, and I said, ‘Are you ready to go back in?’ The dad said, ‘No, he’s not OK. Can I talk to you?’ and I said, ’Sure,’” Villanueva said.

He was looking at the field as the parent walked toward him.

“As I was turning to talk to the father, the next thing I know, I was on the ground, and then I heard like a ding noise, and I realized I was getting hit in the head with a water bottle,” he said.

Off-duty first responders helped Villanueva as parents called 911.

“I saw parents running around, grabbing kids. There was a sense of panic all over the place. I saw people coming up to me,” he said.

Prince William County police say the man who allegedly attacked Villanueva ran away. Officers arrived and arrested him nearby. Blerand Hoxha, 45, was charged with malicious wounding. It wasn’t immediately clear if he has a lawyer.

A CT scan taken during a hospital trip with Villanueva’s daughter revealed a fracture to his orbital wall.

Villanueva takes care of his players, according to Mike Potter, whose 8-year-old daughter is coached by him.

“He really cares about the kids. He cares about the sport. He spends a lot of time devoted to the club and others. He’s a great individual,” Potter said.

The attack has Coach Vince questioning his future.

“Seeing the escalation of violence toward coaches and game officials and stuff like that within these sports — I’m still processing thinking about, is this something that I want to continue doing?” he said.

Villanueva said that he hopes what happened will send a message to other parents about how to behave at youth sports events.

“My big thing is, just allow your kids to enjoy it,” he said. “Let the volunteers and people that are out there trying to help your kids, allow them to do that too, and support them.”

The Northern Virginia Soccer Club had no immediate comment, an attorney said.

What seems like an unremarkable greeting between mother and son was in this case anything but.

Forty-two years ago, hospital workers took María Angélica González’s son from her arms right after birth and later told her he had died. Now, she was meeting him face-to-face at her home in Valdivia, Chile.

“I love you very much,” Jimmy Lippert Thyden told his mother in Spanish as they embraced amid tears.

“It knocked the wind out of me. … I was suffocated by the gravity of this moment,” Thyden told The Associated Press in a video call after the reunion. “How do you hug someone in a way that makes up for 42 years of hugs?”

His journey to find the birth family he never knew began in April after he read news stories about Chilean-born adoptees who had been reunited with their birth relatives with the help of a Chilean nonprofit Nos Buscamos.

The organization found that Thyden had been born prematurely at a hospital in Santiago, Chile’s capital, and placed in an incubator. González was told to leave the hospital, but when she returned to get her baby, she was told he had died and his body had been disposed of, according to the case file, which Thyden summarized to the AP.

“The paperwork I have for my adoption tells me I have no living relatives. And I learned in the last few months that I have a mama and I have four brothers and a sister,” Thyden said in the interview from Ashburn, Virginia, where he works as a criminal defense attorney representing “people who look like me” who cannot afford a lawyer.

He said his was a case of “counterfeit adoption.”

Nos Buscamos estimates tens of thousands of babies were taken from Chilean families in the 1970s and 1980s, based on a report from the Investigations Police of Chile which reviewed the paper passports of Chilean children who left the country and never came back.

“The real story was these kids were stolen from poor families, poor women that didn’t know. They didn’t know how to defend themselves,” said Constanza del Río, founder and director and Nos Buscamos.

The child-trafficking coincided with many other human rights violations that took place during the 17-year reign of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, who on Sept. 11, 1973, led a Chilean coup to overthrow Marxist President Salvador Allende. During the dictatorship, at least 3,095 people were killed, according to government figures, and tens of thousands more were tortured or jailed for political reasons.

Over the past nine years, Nos Buscamos has orchestrated more than 450 reunions between adoptees and their birth families, del Río said.

Other nonprofit organizations are doing similar work, including Hijos y Madres del Silencio in Chile and Connecting Roots in the United States.

Nos Buscamos has been partnering for two years with genealogy platform MyHeritage, which provides free at-home DNA testing kits for distribution to Chilean adoptees and suspected victims of child trafficking in Chile.

Thyden’s DNA test confirmed that he was 100% Chilean and matched him to a first cousin who also uses the MyHeritage platform.

Thyden sent the cousin his adoption papers, which included an address for his birth mother and a very common name in Chile: María Angélica González.

It turns out his cousin had a María Angélica González on their mother’s side and helped him make the connection.

But González wouldn’t take his phone calls until he texted her a photo of his wife and daughters.

“Then just the dam broke,” said Thyden, who sent more photos of the American family who adopted him, his time in the U.S. Marines, his wedding, and many other memorable life moments.

“I was trying to bookend 42 years of a life taken from her. Taken from us both,” he said.

He traveled to Chile with his wife, Johannah, and their two daughters, Ebba Joy, 8, and Betty Grace, 5, to meet his newly discovered family.

Stepping into his mother’s home, Thyden was greeted with 42 colorful balloons, each one signifying a year of lost time with his Chilean family.

“There is an empowerment in popping those balloons, empowerment in being there with your family to take inventory of all that was lost,” he said.

Thyden recalls his birth mother’s response to hearing from him: “Mijo (son) you have no idea the oceans I’ve cried for you. How many nights I’ve laid awake praying that God let me live long enough to learn what happened to you.”

González declined to be interviewed for this story.

Thyden, along with his wife and daughters visited the Santiago zoo where his American family first took him after the adoption. This time their tour guide was his biological sister.

Back at González’s home, Thyden realized that he and his mother share a love of cooking.

“My hands are in the same dough as my mama,” he said as they made fried empanadas together. He pledged to keep using the family recipe to stay connected with his family and his culture.

Thyden said his adoptive parents are supportive of his journey to reunite with his lost relatives, but were “unwitting victims” of a far-reaching illegal adoption network and are wrestling with the realities of the situation.

“My parents wanted a family but they never wanted it like this,” he said. “Not at the extortion of another, the robbing of another.”

Through a spokesperson, his parents declined comment.

While Thyden was successfully reunited with his birth family, he recognizes that reunification might not go as well for other adoptees.

“It could have been a much worse story,” he said. “There are people who find out some really unfortunate details about their origin.”

While in Chile, Thyden and del Río met with one of seven investigators working to address thousands of counterfeit adoption cases like his own.

“We don’t want money, we just want the human recognition that this horrible thing happened in Chile and the compromise that this is not going to continue happening in the future,” del Río said. “We are trying to make a difference. Not only with Jimmy and his family but we want to do it, the change, in the country.”

Thyden also met with Juan Gabriel Valdés, the Chilean ambassador to the United States, to seek government recognition of the pervasiveness of the adoption scheme.

He said there was no mechanism, financial or otherwise, to assist Chilean adoptees in their efforts to visit their home country. He said he sold a truck to pay for his family’s plane tickets and other expenses.

“People need to be able to decide … what their name is going to be, where their citizenship is going to be. They should have access to both,” he said. “They should have all the rights and privileges of a Chilean citizen because this is a thing that happened to them, not that they chose.”

The Chilean Embassy in Washington did not return a request for comment.

Prosecutors agreed to drop the misdemeanor charge of reckless storage of a firearm against Deja Taylor. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors said they will not seek a sentence that is longer than state sentencing guidelines, which call for six months in jail or prison.

Taylor was charged in April with felony child neglect and a misdemeanor count of recklessly storing of a firearm.

The January shooting shocked the nation and roiled this shipbuilding city near the Chesapeake Bay. The case against Taylor is one of three legal efforts seeking accountability, including the teacher’s $40 million lawsuit that accuses the school system of gross negligence.

Police said the first grader intentionally shot teacher Abby Zwerner as she sat at a reading table during a lesson. Zwerner, who was hit in the hand and chest, spent nearly two weeks in the hospital and has endured multiple surgeries.

Moments after the shooting, according to search warrants filed in the case, the child told a reading specialist who restrained him: “I shot that (expletive) dead,” and “I got my mom’s gun last night.”

Police said the student brought the gun to school in his backpack, which had images of sharks on it. But it remains unclear exactly how the 6-year-old got the gun.

Taylor told police she believed the gun was in her purse, secured with a trigger lock and on top of her bedroom dresser, according to search warrants. She said she kept the gunlock key under her bedroom mattress.

But agents with Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said they never found a trigger lock after conducting searches, according to federal court documents.

In June, Taylor pleaded guilty in a separate but related federal case to using marijuana while possessing a firearm, which is illegal under U.S. law.

Taylor’s attorney, James Ellenson, said in April that there were “mitigating circumstances,” including her miscarriages and postpartum depression before the shooting.

Taylor told ABC’s “Good Morning America” in May that she feels responsible and apologized to Zwerner.

“That is my son, so I am, as a parent, obviously willing to take responsibility for him because he can’t take responsibility for himself,” Taylor said.

Her son has attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and was under a care plan that included a family member accompanying him to class every day, Ellenson said.

The week of the shooting was the first when a parent was not in class with him. The change was made because the boy had started medication and was meeting his goals academically, Taylor said.

“I just truly would like to apologize,” Taylor said on the show.

“I can only imagine the emotions that’ll be flowing through my body. I just — I literally can’t. I have no words because the spring game hit me like a sack of rocks, and I didn’t expect it at all, so I can only imagine,” he said. “I’m ready, though. I’m ready for it.”

Hollins, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was one of two survivors of a shooting last November that left three teammates dead. He was shot in the back, needed several surgeries and spent a week in the hospital before beginning a long rehabilitation.

The shootings, which also left student Marlee Morgan injured, rocked the team and the community and caused the Cavaliers to cancel their final two games.

Hollins uplifted his teammates when he returned for spring practices four months later, even though he wasn’t cleared for full contact yet. That came about midway through the 15 sessions, and he scored on a 1-yard touchdown run in the spring game.

On that day, Hollins said, “I just felt free from my mind,” and all the horror planted there that November night. “I mean, it was a lot easier just to play ball.”

He celebrated the touchdown by placing the ball on the name of D’Sean Perry, painted in the end zone along with those of Lavel Davis Jr. and Devin Chandler, those killed on a school bus returning from a field trip to Washington, D.C. A former Virginia player, Christopher Jones Jr., is accused of the shootings and awaiting trial.

Throughout his recovery, which he admits is more complete physically than mentally, Hollins “has been a superhero,” roommate and fellow running back Perris Jones said. “Experiencing what he experienced and carrying himself with as much grace and perseverance as he does is inspirational to see day in and day out. His spirit is truly unbroken, and he embodies that every day.”

Jones and his teammates aren’t the only ones benefitting from Hollins’ return.

“He’s been a big-time inspiration. He’s been an inspiration for me, you know, on the strength of that young man to come back out and play,” defensive line coach Chris Slade said. “And he came back in the spring, and that’s big.”

Hollins knows no one would have questioned him, or any of last year’s team, had they decided not to play again or to move to another school. He also knows to keep things in perspective as they play to honor their fallen teammates.

“Us being here and being able to play again and touch the field and just come together as a team is doing that legacy justice in itself. We don’t have to go out and try to … go undefeated or win a championship,” he said.

That desire to honor their teammates has been cited by several players that decided to return, including defensive lineman Chico Bennett and Perris Jones.

“It’s a shame it has to happen in this way,” Bennett said, “but now that we’re given a platform, we’re going to make the most of it. I look forward to being able to do that and honoring them through our play and doing that to the best of our ability.”

Said Jones: “I have a debt to pay to those guys, and I plan to pay it.”

When Hollins suits up for Virginia’s game against Tennessee in Nashville on Sept. 2, he said, he will be “carrying something with me.”

“It’ll always weigh on you,” he said. “There will never be a day where you won’t remember it or feel something missing from your heart when thinking about it.”

Getting back on the field, though, sure might help.

Visitors will find 12 immersive zones, from the Imagination Express to Build Adventures, where kids can design their own Lego creations.

Mini World houses some of D.C.’s most recognizable places like the U.S. Capitol and the Tidal Basin.

“Kids and their families are really learning while they are playing, while they are creating amazing memories together using math, science and technology,” Julie Estrada, Merlin Entertainment’s public relations director, said.

The master model builder at the center is a local himself. Andrew Litterst is a former environmental science teacher and Lego enthusiast. He entered a competition to get this job.

“All of this is made of a million and a half bricks and took a team of over 25 model builders, and 4,065 hours total to put together,” Litterst said, adding that this is his dream job.

“I literally get paid to sit around and play with Legos, interact with guests, teach some classes, which is kind of a tie-in to my previous career,” Litterst told News4’s Juliana Valencia.

The Lego Discovery Center officially opens Thursday, August 10. Admission costs $28.99-$30.99. It’s geared toward kids aged 3-12.

“To ensure a consistently child-friendly play environment, we do not allow groups of adults, adult couples or adults alone regardless of ethnic background, gender or physical condition, who are not accompanied by a child/children,” the center says. However, certain adults-only events are in the works.

The center sold out its first few days, so it’s a good idea to reserve your tickets online before visiting.

Want to know what’s up for your weekend? Sign up for The Weekend Scene, our newsletter about events, experiences and adventures for you and for your family around the DMV.

As a sometimes anxious child, it took longer for him to process emotions. Four years ago, the 41-year-old fell into a depression when his brother died from a heart attack. The dark days of the pandemic, and his father’s battle with — and later death from — cancer in 2021 only made things worse.

So last year, after a buddy told him about emus and how they can be a great emotional support companion, Olenik decided to give it a try.

That’s right, emus — the large flightless birds from Australia that typically stand about 5-foot-7 and weigh more than 100 pounds.

Olenik purchased an emu egg locally, watched over it until the chick hatched in December, and bottle fed her as she grew. He and wife Sarah named the chick Nimbus and allowed it to roam freely through the house they share with their teenage daughter and Olenik’s aunt in the Kempsville area. While they all watched with delight as Nimbus cuddled with them and their other pets, it was clear her closest bond was with Olenik, whom she followed throughout the house and yard.

“I came back to life because of that emu,” Olenik said during an interview at their home. “You can’t be sad when you’re with an emu. They’re the cutest damned things ever.”

All that joy came to a halt earlier this year when a neighbor complained to Virginia Beach Animal Control, and Olenik was cited for having livestock in an area not designated for it. In March, a District Court judge found him guilty and ordered him to pay a $50 fine. Because Olenik planned to appeal, the judge held off on ordering him to get rid of Nimbus.

Olenik got the news he’d been hoping for when Virginia Beach Circuit Judge Kevin Duffan issued a two-page opinion finding Olenik not guilty of the charge and ruling he can keep his beloved pet at his home. The judge also dismissed the matter with prejudice, meaning the city can’t refile the case.

According to Duffan’s opinion, the legal definitions of “companion animal” and “livestock” — and how Nimbus fit into those definitions — weighed heavily in his decision.

At the new trial, Olenik’s attorney, Alexander H. Bell, presented the judge with photos showing Nimbus roaming in Olenik’s house and cuddling on the floor with the family’s golden retriever, as well as a letter from Olenik’s psychologist, confirming the emu was an emotional support animal. Olenik testified Nimbus spent most of her time indoors and wore a harness and leash when she left the property.

“What is a trial court to do when presented with evidence that an animal clearly defined as livestock is also defined as a companion animal,” Duffan wrote in his opinion.

The judge noted that while city code prevents livestock from being in areas not designated for it, there are exceptions when the animals are kept as household pets. He also pointed to case law that defined livestock as animals “raised for food or fiber.”

“The record is clear that Nimbus is treated like family,” Duffan wrote. “There is no question that the Defendant is not raising Nimbus for ‘food or fiber’… While it is highly unusual that someone would keep an emu as a pet — or as a companion animal — while residing in the heart of suburbia, Defendant has shown to the court that it is not impossible.”

The news, however, came a little too late for Olenik to have a happy ending with Nimbus.

As the case kept getting continued in the spring, he said prosecutors would only agree to a another continuance if Nimbus were removed from the home until it was resolved. So he decided to take her to stay with the friend in Tennessee who’d told him about emus and also runs an animal rescue and wildlife rehab center. In June, Olenik drove 16 hours there in a minivan with his mother, a friend and Nimbus.

“I cried all the way home,” he said. “It was so hard.”

While in Tennessee, Nimbus fell for a male emu on the property, Olenik said. She and her mate seem so happy that Olenik has decided to leave Nimbus there. But he hasn’t given up on emus, he said, and plans to get another to add to the family’s now extensive collection of birds.

After they got Nimbus, Olenik and his wife added six hens, three ducks, and a turkey that all live outside. Emus like watching over other birds, Olenik said, and he wanted to give Nimbus something to do when she was outside. The family’s indoor pets include three dogs and two cats.

While he enjoys all his pets, Olenik said Nimbus was special, making him smile and laugh all the time. He believes emus can help others like him and wants to get the word out.

The court case even spurred Olenik to run for office: He’s now vying as an Independent for Virginia’s 96th District house seat, facing Democrat incumbent Kelly Convirs-Fowler and Republican challenger Mike Karslake.

At the bottom of his website’s homepage is a photo of Nimbus wearing a red, white and blue hat with the sentence, “It all started with an emu.” In addition to mental health, Olenik’s platform includes supporting military members and veterans, farmers, law enforcement and education.

He said he decided to file for office immediately after being found guilty at the lower court level.

“The judge told me: ‘Mr. Olenik, if you don’t like these laws you need to go to Richmond and change them yourself.’ And that’s what I plan to do.”

He knows there are people who probably will laugh at him for having an emotional support emu, and he’s even heard other politicians refer to him as “the emu guy.” But he said it doesn’t bother him.

“It may not be for everyone, but it was for me,” Olenik said. “I needed that bird and she needed me. She brought me back enough that here I am now running for state delegate.”

Christopher Michael Alberts, 35, of Pylesville, Maryland, isn’t accused of brandishing his concealed gun during the riot on Jan. 6, 2021. But he used a wooden pallet as a makeshift battering ram against police officers who were guarding a stairwell outside the Capitol, according to federal prosecutors.

Alberts told U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper that he was trying to protect others outside the Capitol as police deployed tear gas and non-lethal munitions to hold back the mob.

“I wasn’t trying to hurt anybody,” he said. “I just wanted it all to stop.”

Cooper told Alberts that he was one of the leaders of the mob that day.

“You were not simply a bystander,” the judge said.

Alberts, a former Virginia National Guard member who lives in Maryland, spent six hours on Capitol grounds on the day of the riot. He was armed with a 9-millimeter pistol — loaded with hollow point and high-pressure rounds — and brought an extra magazine of ammunition.

Alberts was the first rioter to reach the northwest steps outside the Capitol and the first to “go hands on” with a Capitol police officer at that part of the complex, prosecutors said.

“Alberts, with his body armor, gas mask, military gear, and rage, rallied and instigated the mob,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.

Cooper also sentenced Alberts to three years of supervised release after his prison term. Prosecutors asked for Alberts to be taken into custody immediately after his sentencing, but the judge allowed him to remain free until he reports to prison at a date to be determined.

Prosecutors had recommended a 10-year prison sentence for Alberts, who said he served in the Virginia National Guard from 2005 to 2011 and was deployed to Iraq for one year in 2007 and 2008.

In April, a jury in Washington, D.C., convicted Alberts of all nine counts that he faced at trial, including a felony charge of assaulting, resisting or impeding police.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Capitol Police Officer Stephen Sherman described how helpless he felt when Alberts rammed into him with the wooden pallet as another rioter tried to pull him down the stairs.

“You came to the Capitol that day to start a war and you, in fact, turned that staircase into a war zone,” Sherman said.

Alberts’ voice cracked as he turned to apologize to Sherman.

“If I had known that day would turn into what it turned into, I would have stayed home,” Alberts said.

Defense attorney Roger Roots said Alberts, a tow truck driver, commonly carried a gun with him for self-protection while working.

A prosecutor, Shalin Nohria, said Alberts fully loaded a magazine with hollow point and high-pressure rounds — and had an extra round in the gun’s chamber — because he wanted to be “as lethal as possible” on Jan. 6.

Alberts attended then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally but left before it ended and headed to the Capitol building, yelling on his way that he was “taking over the Capitol.” He repeatedly screamed insults at police officers trying to hold off the mob of Trump supporters, who disrupted the joint session of Congress for certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

Alberts brought other tactical-style gear to the Capitol, including a two-way radio, an earpiece, a throat mic, bungee cords, binoculars, a ski mask and two knives.

Police officers tried to stop rioters from accessing the Upper West Terrace by deploying pepper spray and pepper balls, but the protection from his gas mask and body armor allowed Alberts to keep advancing toward the Capitol building, prosecutors said.

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Alberts later urinated on a wall of the Capitol and then joined other rioters in confronting a line of police officers, throwing a bottle at them and using a bullhorn to berate them, according to prosecutors. Around 7:22 p.m., when an officer observed a bulge on Alberts’ right hip, police frisked Alberts, seized his loaded firearm and arrested him.

More than 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack. Approximately 100 of them have been convicted by juries or judges after trials. Over 600 others have pleaded guilty.

More than 570 riot defendants have been sentenced, with over half receiving terms of imprisonment ranging from three days to 18 years. Only 12 other rioters have received a longer prison sentence than Alberts, according to an Associated Press review of court records.

The nod from the Republican speaker is elevating a once-fringe proposal to upend the FBI in the aftermath of the federal indictment of Donald Trump over classified documents and the Justice Department’s prosecution of his allies, including some of the nearly 1,000 people charged in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

Moving from far-right corners into the mainstream, the emerging effort to overhaul the nation’s premier law enforcement agency is rooted in increasingly forceful conservative complaints about an overly biased FBI that they claim is being weaponized against them.

“This is a pretty dramatic reversal of what the politics would have been 50 years ago,” said Beverly Gage, a historian at Yale who won a 2023 Pulitzer Prize for her biography of the legendary FBI director, “G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century.”

The shifting attitudes among Republican members of Congress toward the FBI underscore the way Trump’s personal grievances have become legislative policy. Once the party of law and order, Republicans are now antagonists of federal law enforcement, undermining a storied institution and attacking Justice Department officials whose work is foundational to American democracy.

While political criticism of the FBI has followed the bureau since its founding with Hoover, who famously wiretapped civil rights leaders and orchestrated the infiltration of left-wing political organizations, the right-flank campaign against federal law enforcement had mostly simmered at the margins of party politics.

But the Justice Department’s indictment of Trump, who has pleaded not guilty to 37 felony counts over storing and refusing to return classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago club, and the ongoing prosecution of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol, have fueled conservative anger. The Justice Department is also investigating Trump and his allies over the effort to challenge President Joe Biden’s election in the run-up to the 2021 Capitol attack.

Conservatives criticize the federal law enforcement on multiple fronts; among them, its work with social media companies to flag potentially dangerous postings, and a COVID-era memo from Attorney General Merrick Garland directing resources to combat violence against school officials. They compare the Trump investigations with what they say was a sweetheart deal for Hunter Biden, the president’s son, who is pleading guilty to misdemeanor tax evasion after a long investigation.

“Looking at the actions of the FBI, I think the whole leadership needs to change,” McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol last month.

Fresh from a visit with law enforcement in California, McCarthy said he envisions decentralizing the FBI by spreading operations into the states.

“This idea that we’re going to build a new, big Pentagon and put all the FBI mainly in one place, I don’t think it’s a good structure,” McCarthy said Friday, panning a conservative-led proposal to relocate the FBI to Alabama.

“I’d like to see the structure of a much smaller FBI administration building, and more FBI agents out across the country, helping to keep the country safe,” he said. “To me that’s better.”

In many ways, the resistance to a robust federal law enforcement agency extends a thread that has run across American history — from the aftermath of the Civil War, when Southern states rejected federal troops for Reconstruction, to Trump’s own 2024 campaign announcement in Waco, Texas, a region known for the federal siege of a separatist compound in 1993.

“The Washington headquarters is symbolic,” said Steven G. Bradbury, a former Trump administration general counsel who is now a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

Heritage is among those outside entities and advocacy organizations encouraging Congress to reimagine the FBI.

Bradbury’s “How to Fix the FBI” report outlines nearly a dozen options. One is scaling back its jurisdiction. Another is to overhaul section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA, that was part of the Trump-Russia investigation over 2016 election interference and is a program some Democrats also want to limit.

“We have our finger on the pulse of what conservatives are reacting to,” said Bradbury. “The FBI needs to be rebuilt.”

Last week, FBI Director Christopher Wray appeared before the House Judiciary Committee for the first time since Republicans took control in January, facing a long list of criticisms, complaints and accusations of bias at the bureau.

“Are you protecting the Bidens?’ asked Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.

“Absolutely not,” Wray said.

At another point Wray said, “The idea that I’m biased against conservatives seems somewhat insane to me, given my own personal background.”

He is a longtime Republican who had been appointed by Trump to fill the job after Director James Comey was fired in 2017.

Wray told the lawmakers that dismantling or defunding the FBI would be disastrous for the bureau’s 38,000 employees and “hurt our great state local law enforcement partners that depend on us each day to work with them on a whole slew of challenging threats.”

Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, called the hearing “bizarre.”

“I didn’t think I would ever see Republicans attacking a Republican appointed by Donald Trump to lead the nation’s largest law enforcement agency, essentially saying they want to defund the FBI,” she said.

The lawmaker said it was also odd to find herself defending the federal law enforcement agency that she, too, believes needs strong oversight from Congress. But she felt Democrats had to step in to counter Republican attacks on the FBI.

“That’s their message: They want to shut down the FBI because the FBI is continuing to investigate Donald Trump,” said Jayapal. “And that is really what this is about.”

Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, submitted a proposal before the hearing that calls for “eliminating taxpayer funding for any new FBI headquarter facility.”

Jordan said in a letter to the Republican chair of the House appropriations committee that he also wants a plan for moving the FBI headquarters out of Washington, noting an existing facility in Huntsville, Alabama — a recommendation Heritage has also made.

“One of the goals we’ve set in this Congress as Republicans is to do the oversight so we can impact the appropriations process,” Jordan said in a brief interview at the Capitol, and “put limitations on how taxpayer money is spent to stop the weaponization of these agencies against the American people.”

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, which is competing with neighboring Maryland to host the new FBI headquarters, called the Republican ideas “a solution in search of a problem.”

“I think they just got a political bug against federal law enforcement agencies,” he said.

Jeffrey Simpson said he was driving into work when he came upon the striped animal. It was discovered walking in the middle of Signal Hill Road in Manassas, Virginia, according to Simpson.

Simpson made several attempts to approach the skunk and remove the cup from its head while repeatedly asking the animal not to spray him. Multiple cars narrowly missed hitting the skunk during his harrowing rescue.

After a few minutes and a little coaxing, Simpson was able to free the skunk without getting sprayed.

“Wish everyone would stop littering,” Simpson said.

This wasn’t the first time that wildlife had a run-in with household garbage.

A similar incident occurred in 2015 when a baby skunk was spotted running in circles with a yogurt cup on its head, NBC News reported.

It’s a crime under federal law that’s facing increasing scrutiny as more states legalize the drug. Deja Taylor is accused of lying about her marijuana use on a form when she bought the gun, which her son later used to shoot Abby Zwerner in her classroom in Newport News. The first-grade teacher was seriously wounded and has endured multiple surgeries.

Taylor’s attorneys agreed to a negotiated plea agreement with prosecutors that calls for a sentence of 18 months to 24 months in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 18.

Attorney Gene Rossi described the shooting as “a perfect storm of horrible consequences.”

“A brave courageous teacher almost lost her life,” Rossi said.

“Miss Taylor’s role in this tragedy is a complete accident and a complete mistake. She takes full responsibility for her son’s actions and will feel guilt for the rest of her life,” he said.

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The federal case against Taylor is separate from the charges she faces on the state level: felony child neglect and reckless storage of a firearm. A trial for those counts is set for August.

Both cases are among the repercussions that followed the January shooting, which shook the city of Newport News near the Atlantic Coast.

The federal charges against Taylor, 25, appear to be relatively rare. And the case comes at a time when marijuana is legal in many U.S. states, including Virginia.

Marijuana is still a controlled substance under U.S. law and is strictly regulated by federal authorities. Court documents do not detail exactly how federal investigators built their case against Taylor, who came under intense scrutiny after the shooting.

Federal authorities allege Taylor knew “she was an unlawful user” of marijuana when she bought the gun last year and denied her use on the form, court documents stated.

Federal law generally prohibits people from possessing firearms if they have been convicted of a felony, been committed to a mental institution or are an unlawful user of a controlled substance, among other things.

In recent years, there’s been debate over the use of resources to aggressively pursue people who give false information on background check forms.

In 2018, a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that authorities prosecute “a small percentage of individuals” who falsify information on a form and are denied a purchase.

The race of those who are prosecuted is another concern, said Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies for the pro-legalization group Marijuana Policy Project.

In fiscal year 2021, 56% of the roughly 7,500 people convicted of breaking the law were Black, O’Keefe said, citing statistics from the United States Sentencing Commission. She did not have a breakdown for convictions related to marijuana or other drug use.

“About 18% of Americans admitted to using cannabis in the last year and about 40% owned guns,” O’Keefe added. “And so there’s an enormous pool of people that are presumably breaking this law every day and face up to 15 years in prison if they were caught.”

Earlier this year, federal judges in Oklahoma and Texas ruled the ban on cannabis consumers possessing and buying guns is unconstitutional. While those decisions are only binding in parts of those two states, some Republicans in Congress have introduced legislation to do away with the prohibition.

In their rulings, both judges cited cited a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that changed the test courts have long used to evaluate challenges to firearm restrictions. The Supreme Court said to determine whether a gun control measure violates the Second Amendment, courts should look at whether the restriction is consistent with the country’s “historical tradition of firearm regulation.”

Republican U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney of West Virginia has introduced a bill that would allow users of medical marijuana to purchase and possess firearms. Legislation introduced by Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Mast of Florida would go even further and end the prohibition of gun sales to users of cannabis in states where medical or recreational use is permitted by law.

“No one should be forced to choose between their rights: you have a right to bear arms, and in many states, you have a right to use cannabis,” Mast said in a statement in April. “Congress needs to legislate based on reality, and the reality is that those who legally use marijuana are being treated as second-class citizens. That’s not acceptable.”

The federal case against Taylor, who is Black, carries up to 25 years, although sentencing guidelines call for 18 months to 24 months in prison, her lawyers said. She faces up to six years in prison if she is convicted on the state charges.

Zwerner was shot in the hand and chest as she sat at a reading table at Richneck Elementary. She spent nearly two weeks in the hospital and later told NBC she sometimes “ can’t get up out of bed.”

Zwerner is suing the school system for $40 million.

The attorney for Taylor in the state case, James Ellenson, has said Taylor believed her gun was secured on a high closet shelf with a trigger lock before the shooting occurred. He said last month it was still unclear how the boy got the gun.

Five other people were wounded Tuesday in the shooting, which sent hundreds fleeing in panic outside the state capital’s city-owned Altria Theater after the graduation ceremony for Huguenot High School.

Tameeka Jackson-Smith told The Associated Press her son, Shawn Jackson, 18, and his father, Renzo Smith, 36, died in the shooting. She said her and Smith’s 9-year-old daughter was hit by a car in the chaos that erupted afterward. The girl was treated for leg injuries and released from the hospital, Jackson-Smith said.

Jackson-Smith said the family had watched the graduation, then got separated in a large crowd after they walked outside. “He was so happy — oh my God — because he got to graduate. He worked hard.”

She said she was walking toward her husband and son in a nearby park to reunite when she saw a man run up behind them and start shooting.

“I don’t know if he was shooting at everybody because so many people got shot all over in the area. There were like seven people on the ground,” she said.

Suspect Amari Pollard, 19, was arraigned Wednesday morning on two counts of second-degree murder, Colette McEachin, Richmond’s top prosecutor, said in an email to The Associated Press. Pollard said he intends to hire an attorney, so the court continued the case until a hearing later this month, McEachin wrote.

Pollard was ordered held without bond. Court records did not yet list an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

Police believe the suspect knew at least one of the victims.

At least 12 others were injured or treated for anxiety due to the mayhem, according to police.

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The revelations came as federal investigators trudged through rugged terrain to reach the site where the plane slammed into a mountain Sunday, killing four people. The officials who said that the fighter pilots saw the civilian pilot slumped over had been briefed on the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the military operation.

The plane that crashed was registered to Encore Motors of Melbourne Inc, which is based in Florida. John Rumpel, a pilot who runs the company said his family was returning to their home in East Hampton, on Long Island, after visiting his house in North Carolina.

Rumpel told the New York Times he didn’t have much information from authorities but suggested the plane could have lost pressurization.

“It descended at 20,000 feet a minute, and nobody could survive a crash from that speed,” Rumpel told the newspaper.

In a phone call with NBC News, Rumpel identified his daughter, Adina Azarian, and 2-year-old granddaughter Aria, as two of the victims.

Azarian, 49, was well-known in real estate circles both in New York City and Long Island, described by friends and relatives as a fiercely competitive entrepreneur who started her own brokerage and was raising her daughter as a single parent.

“Being a mom was everything to her,” said Tara Brivic-Looper, a close friend who grew up with Azarian on the Upper East Side. “That they were together (at the end) is fitting.”

Friends say Azarian moved to East Hampton full-time to raise Aria, with the help of a nanny. But she made frequent trips back home, bringing both Aria and the nanny to meet her tight-knit extended family on multiple occasions in recent months.

“She seemed so happy out there,” her cousin, Andrew Azarian, recalled. “Both of their lives hadn’t even started.”

“How could this happen?” he continued. “No one can explain it.”

First responders found the plane wreckage in a mountainous area of Virginia nearly four hours after local authorities learned of the crash. No survivors were found.

Fighter jets that caused sonic boom were a ‘textbook response,’ officials said

The New York-bound plane took an erratic flight path — inexplicably, turning around over Long Island to fly directly over the nation’s capital — which prompted the military to scramble fighter jets. This caused a sonic boom heard in Washington, Maryland and Virginia.

Remote terrain around the crash site posed major challenges to the investigation. It took investigators several hours to hike into the rural area near the community of Montebello, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Charlottesville, said NTSB spokesperson Eric Weiss. They expect to be on the scene for at least three to four days.

Speaking at a briefing Monday morning, NTSB investigator Adam Gerhardt said the wreckage is “highly fragmented” and investigators will examine the most delicate evidence at the site, after which the wreckage will be moved, perhaps by helicopter, to Delaware, where it can be further examined. The plane is not required to have a flight recorder but it is possible that there are other avionics equipment that will have data that they can examine, Gerhardt said.

The Virginia State Police issued a statement saying that because of the severity of the crash, human remains will be transported to the state medical examiner’s office for autopsy and identification. The Federal Aviation Administration said that the victims included the pilot and three passengers but didn’t release their names. There were no survivors.

Investigators will look at when the pilot became unresponsive and why aircraft flew the path that it did, Gerhardt said. They will consider several factors that are routinely examined in such probes including the plane, its engines, weather conditions, pilot qualifications and maintenance records, he said. A preliminary report will be released in 10 days.

According to a timetable released late Monday by NTSB spokesperson Jennifer Gabris, the plane took off from Elizabethton Municipal Airport in Tennessee at 1:13 p.m. Sunday, headed for MacArthur Airport in Long Island, N.Y. Air Traffic Control lost communication with the airplane during its ascent.

Preliminary information indicates the last ATC communication attempt with the airplane was at approximately 1:28 p.m., when the plane was at 31,000 feet. The plane climbed to 34,000 feet, where it remained for the rest of the flight until 3:23 p.m. when it began to descend and crashed about nine minutes later. The plane was flying at 34,000 feet, when it flew over MacArthur Airport at 2:33 p.m., the NTSB said.

The White House expressed its “deepest condolences” on Monday to the family of those on board the plane.

“We need to keep them front and center,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said.

Kirby deferred questions about a follow-up report on the security response over Washington airspace to the Pentagon and U.S. Secret Service. But he said, “What I saw was just a classic, textbook response.”

The White House was continuously informed as the military jets tried to contact the pilot of the civilian plane and monitored the small aircraft’s path from Washington airspace to rural Virginia, Kirby said.

Air Traffic Control audio from the half-hour before the plane crashed captures voices that identify themselves as military pilots trying to communicate with the pilot of the private plane, according to recordings on LiveATC.net.

“If you hear this transmission, contact us,” said one pilot who identifies herself as being with the Air National Guard.

Several minutes later, a military pilot says: “You have been intercepted. Contact me.”

The plane flew directly over the nation’s capital. According to the Pentagon, six F-16 fighter jets were immediately deployed to intercept the plane. Two aircraft from the 113th Fighter Wing, out of Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, were the first to reach the Cessna Citation to begin attempts to contact the pilot. Two F-16 aircraft out of New Jersey and two from South Carolina also responded.

Flight tracking sites showed the plane suffered a rapid spiraling descent, dropping at one point at a rate of more than 30,000 feet (9,144 meters) per minute before crashing in the St. Mary’s Wilderness.

In Fairfax, Virginia, Travis Thornton was settled on a couch next to his wife, Hannah, and had just begun recording himself playing guitar and harmonica when they were startled by a loud rumble and rattling that can be heard on the video. The couple jumped up to investigate. Thornton tweeted that they checked in with their kids upstairs and then he went outside to check the house and talk to neighbors.

___

Brumfield reported from Silver Spring, Maryland. Associated Press reporter Jake Offenhartz and researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York, and White House Correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this report.

Chesapeake resident David Spring and Virginia Beach resident John Napier hope to open Buckroe Coffee Co. at 1936 E. Pembroke Ave. this summer. But their renovations took a detour when they discovered a mysterious vault as they tore down drywall inside the roughly 2,400-square-foot building.

Napier said he knew the building had previously served as a bank through the 1990s but had no idea the vault was left behind. Excited by what they found, Spring started recording their discoveries and uploading the videos to Instagram and Facebook.

“I just posted that video randomly because people like house-flipping shows,” Spring said. “I’m like, ‘Well, how about, like, business flipping?’ Right? That might be a fun thing to share.”

The April 19 Instagram video showing the discovery of the 9-by-12-foot vault quickly amassed more than 4 million views, and the company’s Instagram page ballooned to more than 32,000 followers eager to see what was in the safe.

Spring contacted David Goodman of Coffey’s Lockshop in early May to help him open the vault. But the vault, which had likely been unused for decades, was rusted shut.

“When I realized that the vault was unopenable from the outside because of rusted bolts and everything, that’s when we decided we had to cut through the walls,” Goodman said.

Spring and Napier turned the opening of the vault into an exciting event online, live streaming to followers for seven hours on May 3 as they cut through the vault to reveal what was inside. Napier said it was shocking to see people from all over the world tune in, many from other countries such as Australia or Sweden.

“People were just invested. They just wanted to know what was going on,” Napier said. “So, it was encouraging in a lot of ways.”

To get into the vault, they cut through solid concrete to make a 1-foot hole for the team to crawl through to enter the bank vault from behind.

After seven hours of cutting through concrete, Spring and Napier could finally enter the vault.

But while the vault brought the business partners internet fame, it didn’t contain any fortune.

Inside the vault, they found an assortment of random items including books, mugs, horseshoes, license plates, receipts, computers from 1992, old bottles, stuffed animals and dishes. They also found a safe within the vault, which contained only rubber bands.

Napier acknowledged there was no “buried treasure,” but he said he found the discoveries inside the vault amusing.

Most viewers appeared to get a kick out of the expedition as well, though Spring said some people were “pretty hostile” about the lack of a treasure inside the vault. He compared the situation to when Geraldo Rivera opened a walled-off underground room in the former Lexington Hotel in Chicago on live TV. The 1986 broadcast, which drew in 30 million viewers hoping to see the discovery of goods owned by crime lord Al Capone, disappointed audiences when the vault turned out to be mostly empty.

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Spring said he tried to warn people that there may be nothing significant in the vault, hoping to avoid the same backlash.

“They’re like, ‘You could have opened it by now if you had the combo,’ and I’m like, ‘It’s rusted shut,’” he said.

He hopes the newfound social media fame will translate into support for the coffee shop when it eventually opens. In fact, the business leaned into the popularity of the vault expedition in its marketing efforts. Online, the company is selling bags of the aptly named “safe haven” roast coffee and merchandise featuring safes and keys.

Napier, an attorney and real estate investor, bought the property thinking it could have “transformative” potential for the area.

“If we can accomplish what we’re hoping to accomplish, we really want to make this a pretty fantastic community space,” Napier said.

Plans include restoring a drive-thru service, but also turning space behind the building into a small garden, pumpkin patch and event area.

“We’re going to offer the benefit of a ‘come in and sit down’ coffee place with air conditioning, spectacular Wi-Fi, merchandise and swag,” Spring said. “Maybe have a little section for some beach stuff if somebody wanted to pick up some beach towels or whatever because they forgot them on the way to the beach.”

They hope to open the coffee shop on July 1. Spring wants to hire 35-40 people and said he is already in the process of interviewing people.

As for the items found in the vault, Spring and Napier hope to put them on display in a glass shelf for customers to see. Spring said the vault is too big and heavy to move, so it will remain where it is. He hopes to turn the vault into a walk-through attraction where people can go inside the vault and buy merchandise. He does not intend to cover up the hole they cut to break into it.

“I feel like it’s a scar; it’s bragging rights,” Spring joked about the hole. “We’ll maybe put a little plaque above it where it’s like, ‘These guys worked way too hard to get inside this empty box.’”

The ICEPLATE by Qore Performance is a body-forming icepack that fits snugly into a backpack.

Company Co-Founder Justin Li lives in Northern Virginia now but used to work as a police officer in San Diego County, patrolling mountainous terrains and deserts — and trying to avoid getting heatstroke. He said he realized that if he could offload some of the heat the body produces, he could boost his endurance. He left the police force and took a crash course in apparel design and American manufacturing.

“It’s absorbing the heat that your body would normally attempt to discard using radiation or conduction or evaporation,” he explained.

The ICEPLATE is now worn by tens of thousands of employees who work in the heat. Li’s clients include the Army, Boeing, FedEx and some Chick-fil-A franchises, including one in Laurel, Maryland.

How the ICEPLATE Vest Is Affecting Fast Food Restaurant Staffing

For employees who stand out in the hot sun for hours taking drive-thru orders on a tablet, the ice vests have been a game-changer.

“They’re able to stay out a little bit longer. We’re able to swap them out not as often,” franchise owner Richard Plank said.

Li said the ICEPLATE improves productivity and most businesses are able to recoup their investment within a few weeks.

“We increase your labor pool capacity by about 20 to 25% without you doing anything else to your business. It’s just because you don’t have to rotate people out so frequently and you don’t lose time to breaks or exhaustion,” he said.

The company’s list of customers now includes a growing list of major fast food chains, Li said.

The company also made the ICECASE iPad cooling case. Li said he and his partners were surprised when Apple first contacted them.

“We were like, ‘Wow, really Apple?’ The guy had to tell us, like, ‘Hang up, call the 800 number on the website, ask for this extension. I’m real.’ And we did and he was real,” Li said.

In addition to vests and iPad cooling cases, the company is looking into developing more fashionable gear and possibly working with athletic gear manufacturers.

The ruling Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Payne in Richmond, if not overturned, would allow dealers to sell handguns to 18- to 20-year-olds.

In his 71-page ruling, Payne wrote that many of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship are granted at the age of 18, including the right to vote, enlist in the military without parental permission and serve on a federal jury.

“If the Court were to exclude 18-to-20-year-olds from the Second Amendment’s protection, it would impose limitations on the Second Amendment that do not exist with other constitutional guarantees,” Payne wrote.

“Because the statutes and regulations in question are not consistent with our Nation’s history and tradition, they, therefore, cannot stand,” he wrote.

Payne’s ruling is the latest decision striking down gun laws in the wake of a landmark Supreme Court ruling last year that changed the test courts have long used to evaluate challenges to firearm restrictions. The Supreme Court said judges should no longer consider whether the law serves public interests, like enhancing public safety. Governments that want to uphold a gun restriction must look back into history to show it is consistent with the country’s “historical tradition of firearm regulation,” the Supreme Court said.

Amid upheaval in the months since that ruling, courts have declared unconstitutional laws including federal measures designed to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and defendants under felony indictment, as well as a ban on possessing guns with the serial number removed. A federal judge recently cited the high court decision in ruling against a Minnesota law prohibiting 18- to 20-year-olds from getting permits to carry handguns in public. A judge struck down a similar law last year on gun restrictions for young adults in Texas.

Payne, who cited the 2022 Supreme Court ruling repeatedly in his ruling, wrote that the government failed to present “any evidence of age-based restrictions on the purchase or sale of firearms from the colonial era, Founding or Early Republic.” The lack of similar regulations from those time periods indicates that the “Founders considered age-based regulations on the purchase of firearms to circumscribe the right to keep and bear arms confirmed by the Second Amendment,” he wrote.

John Corey Fraser, 20, along with several other plaintiffs, challenged the constitutionality of the Gun Control Act of 1968 and the associated regulations from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives after they were turned down when they tried to buy handguns.

“Even though it ensures that future buyers can now purchase these firearms in the federal system — one that includes background checks and other requirements — we expect the defendants will appeal,” said Elliott Harding, Fraser’s attorney. He said he is optimistic that the ruling will be affirmed.

Harding said the lawsuit was aimed at “closing a loophole” because 18- to 20-year-olds can already buy handguns from private sellers, a process that is “completely unregulated.”

“This allows them to go in and buy a registered firearm, direct from a manufacturer, but they’ll also go through background checks,” he said. “They have to go through the traditional steps in purchasing a firearm.”

Everytown Law, a legal group that advocates for gun violence prevention in the courts and has filed a brief supporting the age restrictions, said the law is constitutional and an essential tool for preventing gun violence.

“Not only are guns the leading cause of death for U.S. kids and teens, but research shows us that 18- to 20-year-olds commit gun homicides at triple the rate of adults 21 years and older,” said Janet Carter, Everytown Law’s senior director of issues and appeals.

“The Court’s ruling will undoubtedly put lives at risk,” she said. “It must be reversed.”

The Justice Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives did not respond to emails seeking comment on the ruling.

Police have said Deja Taylor legally purchased the gun used in the Jan. 6 shooting and Taylor’s attorney, James Ellenson, has said she believed her gun was secured on a high closet shelf with a trigger lock. In an interview ABC’s “Good Morning America” aired Wednesday, Ellenson said no one knows how he got it.

“People have talked to him about that, but I don’t know that any adult knows exactly how he got the gun,” Ellenson said.

Taylor said her son has ADHD and while attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder might affect others mildly, she described her son as “off the wall,” saying he “doesn’t sit still ever.”

Ellenson has said the boy was under a care plan that included a family member accompanying him to class every day. The week of the shooting was the first when a parent was not in class with him. The change was made because the boy had started medication and was meeting his goals academically, Taylor said.

Taylor was charged last month with felony neglect and reckless storage of a firearm. A trial date of Aug. 15 has been set. Ellenson has said Taylor wants to reach a plea agreement with prosecutors.

The felony neglect charge is punishable by up to five years in prison. The misdemeanor charge of recklessly storing a firearm is punishable by up to one year in jail. The boy will not be prosecuted.

Taylor said she does feel responsibility for the shooting and apologized to the teacher, 25-year-old Abigail Zwerner.

“That is my son, so I am, as a parent, obviously willing to take responsibility for him because he can’t take responsibility for himself,” Taylor said. “I just truly would like to apologize … she did get hurt. We were actually kind of forming a relationship with me having to be in the classroom. And she is really a bright person.”

Zwerner was shot in the hand and chest as she sat at a reading table in her first-grade classroom at Richneck Elementary. She spent nearly two weeks in the hospital, has had four surgeries and later told NBC she sometimes “can’t get up out of bed.”

Zwerner filed a $40 million lawsuit that accuses school officials of gross negligence and of ignoring multiple warnings the day of the shooting. Zwerner’s attorneys say school officials knew the boy “had a history of random violence” at school and at home, including an episode the year before when he “strangled and choked” his kindergarten teacher. The boy was sent to another school, but allowed his return for first grade this school year, Zwerner’s lawsuit states.

The Newport News School Board argues her injuries fall under the state’s workers compensation act and cannot be addressed through her suit. The board pushed back against Zwerner’s claims that the child should not have remained in her class, saying he was in the process of being evaluated and treated for possible ADHD — which causes inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. Even if he had been found in need of additional services, state and federal laws would have applied “for the purpose of keeping such children in the classroom with their peers when possible.”

In a video that went viral on social media, the teacher, who has not been identified, is heard telling the child that “when you’re in America you’re gonna speak English.”

“You got all these taxpayers in America, they got the benefit of English speaking language and so do you… so appreciate that. You’re not gonna come and speak it while the teacher don’t understand what you’re saying and you’re not gonna run my class like that,” she said.

“I didn’t know speaking my own language was wrong,” the student responded.

“You speak it at home, baby… with your mom and your dad and whoever else is there,” the teacher said.

The video was published at the end of April by a radio station. The student has not yet been identified.

The Richmond City School Board sent a statement to NBC Washington in which they confirmed that they are investigating the case.

“The employee is currently on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation by the Employee Relations team,” said Richmond Public Schools Chief Wellness Officer Renesha Parks.

“While we cannot comment further on personnel matters please know that RPS happily serves a diverse group of students across many races and nationalities. We will continue to support and advocate for them all,” she added.

RSP held a meeting on May 1 in which various members of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and former students denounced that “district-wise this is an issue that is not being handled properly.”

“(For) all the students who are children of immigrants, we call on you guys to represent them and see them for who they are,” said Luxagamo, a former student of RPS. “Because for this student to have to take a video and go viral to be heard is disgusting.”

Alder Marin-Sotelo, 26, was one of two inmates who escaped from Piedmont Regional Jail in Farmville Sunday. He was taken into custody Thursday afternoon by Mexican authorities in the state of Guerrero, in southwestern Mexico, the FBI in Charlotte, North Carolina, said in a post on Twitter. Officials did not immediately release any details on how he was captured. The investigation into Marin-Sotelo’s exact movements since his escape is ongoing, according to the agency.

Marin-Sotelo escaped from the jail at about 1 a.m. on Sunday and left in a red or burgundy Ford Mustang, FBI officials said. The other escapee, Bruce Callahan, who was being held on drug charges, left the prison later that day, jail officials said. The jail superintendent said guards didn’t notice the inmates were missing until about 26 hours after Marin-Sotelo escaped. Authorities have not said whether the two escapes are related. Jerry Townsend, superintendent of the jail, told WRAL-TV that officials believe the inmates manipulated the locking mechanism on the rear exit door and escaped.

Marin-Sotelo was charged with murder in the August 2022 killing of a North Carolina sheriff’s deputy, who was shot while on duty after he stopped along a dark stretch of road late at night. Ned Byrd was found dead outside his vehicle with his police dog still inside. Marin-Sotelo’s brother, Arturo Marin-Sotelo, was also charged with murder in Byrd’s killing.

Both Marin-Sotelo and Callahan were federal detainees with no affiliations to the area or local charges, the sheriff’s office said.

After he escaped, the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service offered a combined $70,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Marin-Sotelo.

The snake was in an electrical panel at the intersection of Prince William Parkway and Sudley Manor Drive and caused a power outage on Monday, the Prince William County Police Department said in a statement. A police officer and an animal control officer worked together to remove the snake from the panel and release it unharmed in the area, authorities said.

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The snake was so large that it flipped a breaker switch that shut off the signal, but it didn’t damage anything inside the box, officials told news outlets. It’s believed that the snake had been living in the box for a while due to molten skin found inside.

When traffic signals aren’t working because of a power outage, police say to treat intersections like stop signs.

Video released by Fairfax County police on Tuesday shows an officer making a traffic stop on southbound Fairfax County Parkway near Braddock Road at about 11:40 a.m. Monday. The officer has a gray sedan pulled onto the right shoulder and is speaking to the driver through the passenger window.

Suddenly, a black sedan speeds around a curve, spins out, screams across the grass median and spins backward. The officer sees it happening and starts to run.

The cars collide head-on and the striking vehicle spins, clipping the officer’s right leg and then smashing into the police cruiser.

If the officer had not run, he may have lost his life, or at a minimum, his legs.

The officer popped back up and jumped on his radio.

“My cruiser was hit, driver was hit, trying to check on injuries,” he said.

The driver of the gray car was taken to a hospital with minor injuries. The officer also had minor injuries.

A 17-year-old driver going “well over 120 mph” in a 2018 BMW M3 caused the crash, Chief Kevin Davis said. The driver, whose name was not released, was ticketed for reckless driving, which is a misdemeanor.

“It was going way too fast. It was a rocket and then it became a missile,” Davis said.

The teen driver and two passengers also had minor injuries.

Fairfax County Parkway was briefly closed after the crash.

The officer’s decision to approach the passenger side of the car he stopped may have saved his life, the police chief said.

Davis also shared why the driver of the gray car was stopped: for going 73 mph in a 50 mph zone.

City officials said it’s unclear how many homes had been damaged but they estimated between 50 and 100, after the tornado touched down just after 6 p.m., according to NBC affiliate WAVY.

City Manager Patrick Duhaney declared a state of emergency Sunday night.

Much of the damage had been reported in the area of River Road and N. Great Neck Road. It also includes Upper Chelsea Reach and Haversham Close.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Virginia Natural Gas responded to several homes with gas leaks and Dominion Energy was reporting just under 1,000 outages early Monday.

Great Neck Road will remain closed between Cox High School and the bridge at Adam Keeling Road until further notice to allow for emergency and debris management work to occur, the city said.

Crews will be out at 8 a.m. Monday to begin cleaning up streets.

As a result of the severe weather, the Something in the Water festival in Virginia Beach announced all events for Sunday, the third day of the festival, were canceled.

The white cat with gray spots and a gray tail named Patches had been homeless and was looking for an owner to help regulate his “gloriously gluttonous body,” as the shelter’s original post described him.

When the massive feline arrived at the animal shelter, he was about 42 pounds, but has already managed to drop some weight on a special diet and exercise plan.

“He should be around 15-20 pounds max, and even that is a big cat,” RACC Outreach Coordinator Robin Young said.

When the shelter posted about Patches on Facebook, he instantly garnered much attention. And within just a few hours, he found a new forever home.

“We’ve gotten a ton of emails, one as far away as California,” Young said.

The shelter said despite his size, the cat surprisingly has no thyroid issues, diabetes, or other illnesses associated with being overweight.

According to the Guinness World Record, Patches isn’t the fattest cat of all time. Himmy, a 46-pound cat from Australia, took that prize and he was so big that he needed to be moved around in a wheelbarrow.

Since that record in 1986, Guinness has stopped awarding that category “to deter people from over-feeding their pets just to appear in the book.”

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Prosecutors on Tuesday announced the guilty plea from Gerald Leonard Drake, 63, of Winchester.

Drake admitted during a hearing Monday in federal court in Harrisonburg that he planted a pipe bomb at Cedar Creek Battlefield during an annual reenactment in October 2017. The bomb did not detonate, but it resulted in cancellation of the reenactment after its discovery.

Drake was a Civil War reenactor who regularly participated in events at Cedar Creek until he was expelled from his unit in 2014.

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He also admitted writing letters in 2017 and 2018 in which he falsely portrayed himself as part of a group of antifa activists who were targeting the reenactments because they believed them to glorify slavery. The letters threatened violence at subsequent Cedar Creek reenactments as well as an annual Remembrance Day Parade in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

“This defendant sought to intimidate and harm innocent people, and further, he tried to sow discontent by falsely claiming that the attempted bombing was politically motivated,” said U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia Christopher Kavanaugh, whose office prosecuted the case.

The sentence U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff imposed for Hatchet Speed in federal court in Alexandria was just five months less than the term sought by federal prosecutors and much longer than the one-year term sought by Speed’s lawyers.

Speed, 41, of McLean, is a military veteran who held top-secret clearances while working for a defense contractor.

The gun charges against him in Virginia are separate from charges brought in Washington, D.C., for obstructing an official proceeding, the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress for certifying the Electoral College vote. He will sentenced on those charges next month; sentencing guidelines in that case call for a term of nearly five to six years.

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Speed’s lawyers asked the judge not to be prejudiced against him because of his inflammatory views. In conversations with an FBI undercover employee in 2022, Speed expressed admiration not only for Hitler but also for Olympic Park bomber Eric Rudolph and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski.

In recorded conversations, Speed also made antisemitic comments and proposed targeting Jewish people with acts of violence. He also collected neo-Nazi memorabilia.

But Nachmanoff said Speed’s admiration for despicable historical figures and his views on advocating violence to achieve his objectives demonstrate the danger he poses to the public.

“The defendant’s statements of admiration for Adolf Hitler, Eric Rudolph and Ted Kaczynski … and his belief that such activities could be justified are all highly relevant,” Nachmanoff said.

Prosecutors said Speed, a member of the far-right Proud Boys group, believed the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump. After Joe Biden took office, Speed began making preparations for what he believed was imminent civil war and started stockpiling weapons, including the three silencers that were the subject of his Virginia trial.

In Thursday’s closing statements, prosecutor Thomas Traxler said Speed studied the manifestos of Rudolph and Kaczynski to try to “come up with a better game plan than they had.”

Speed had claimed he was innocent because the devices he purchased were actually “solvent traps” used to collect excess fluid when you clean a gun.

The devices are indeed marketed as solvent traps, but their design is similar to that of a silencer. The only significant difference is that the “solvent traps” require drilling a hole in the end to turn them into functioning silencers.

Speed bought the devices, which are made of titanium and sell for hundreds of dollars, after he tried to buy silencers and faced significant delays. Speed said he did not believe he was required to register the devices as silencers with the government unless he drilled holes in them — something he never did.

Prosecutors, though, said the law governing silencers covers devices intended for use as a silencer, regardless of whether they are functional or sold under another name.

Speed’s first trial in Virginia ended with a hung jury and a mistrial, as jurors apparently struggled with the legal definition of a silencer and whether Speed was required to register them. He was convicted at a retrial, after one of the initial jurors reached out to prosecutors and explained what caused the jury’s confusion.

Traxler said the legal loophole that Speed thought he uncovered was “too cute by half” and urged a stiff sentence to discourage others from doing likewise.

Speed, who intends to appeal his conviction, did not speak at Thursd

The Newport News Police Department released a booking photo of the woman, 25, and a brief statement that said she turned herself in at the local jail. Police did not release any information regarding bail or whether she was incarcerated.

The Associated Press isn’t naming the mother to shield the identity of her son.

Authorities had announced Monday that she was being charged with felony child neglect and a misdemeanor charge of endangering a child by reckless storage of a firearm. Her attorney had said that she planned to turn herself in later this week. He did not return a phone call and email requesting comment on Thursday.

The woman’s arrest comes more than three months after police say her son shot and wounded first-grade teacher Abby Zwerner as she sat at a reading table in her classroom. Police said the child used his mother’s gun, which was legally purchased.

Zwerner filed a $40 million lawsuit against the school system last week, accusing school officials of gross negligence and of ignoring multiple warnings from teachers and others that the boy had taken a gun to school that day.

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The city prosecutor’s office said Tuesday that it is investigating whether the “actions or omissions” of any school employees could lead to criminal charges.

The January shooting at Richneck Elementary has rattled Newport News, a shipbuilding city of about 185,000 people near the Chesapeake Bay.

Police Chief Steve Drew has repeatedly characterized the shooting as “intentional.” He said there was no warning and no struggle before the child pointed the gun at Zwerner and fired one round, striking her in the hand and chest.

Zwerner, 25, hustled her students out of the classroom before being rushed to the hospital, where she stayed for nearly two weeks.

The felony neglect charge filed against the boy’s mother is punishable by up to five years in prison. The misdemeanor charge of recklessly storing a firearm is punishable by up to one year in jail.

James Ellenson, the mother’s attorney, has said previously that she has no criminal record. He has also said that her gun was secured on a top shelf in her closet and had a trigger lock.

The family has said the boy has an “acute disability ” and was under a care plan that included his mother or father accompanying him to class every day. The week of the shooting was the first when a parent was not in class with him, the family said.

She shared the diagnosis in a video on World Parkinson’s Day.

“If there’s one thing that Democrats and Republicans can agree on, it’s that Parkinson’s Disease sucks,” she said in the video. “Today, on World Parkinson’s Day, I’m here to tell you that I’ve come to learn this firsthand. And that’s because I’ve learned that I, too, have Parkinson’s, or what some people call PD for short.”

Wexton represents Virginia’s 10th congressional district, which includes portions of Northern Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley.

The congresswoman said she joins eight million people who have PD, including actor Michael J. Fox. She described PD as a movement disorder that starts in the brain. She said it will affect her speech and balance over the next few months, but that it is not an “untreatable disease, a cognitive impairment, or a death sentence.”

Wexton said she is working on a treatment plan with a doctor to address her symptoms. She is also confident she will be able to continue her usual congressional duties, she said in the video.

“The treatment process is one that involves time and commitment, so you’re going to see me have good days and some days that are not so good,” Wexton said. “But I want you to know this: My head and my heart are 100% committed to serving the people of Virginia, and especially my constituents in the 10th congressional district.”

Wexton said she has a positive attitude about the diagnosis and support from her loved ones.

Fairfax County Democratic Committee Chair Bryan Graham released a statement following Wexton’s announcement.

“We stand with Congresswoman Wexton and the Parkinson’s community today, echoing the need for greater understanding, better treatments, and a cure for this devastating disease,” Graham said in the statement.

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Abby Zwerner, a 25-year-old teacher at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia was shot in the hand and chest on Jan. 6 as she sat at a reading table in her classroom. She spent nearly two weeks in the hospital and has had four surgeries since the shooting.

The shooting rattled the military shipbuilding community and sent shock waves around the country, with many wondering how a child so young could get access to a gun and shoot his teacher.

The lawsuit names the Newport News School Board and several school district officials as defendants.

Michelle Price, a spokesperson for the school board, and Lisa Surles-Law, chair of the school board, did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment on the lawsuit.

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No one, including the boy, has been charged in the shooting. The superintendent was fired by the school board after the shooting, while the assistant principal resigned. The principal was reassigned to another job within the school district. The board also voted to install metal detectors in every school in the district, beginning with Richneck, and to purchase clear backpacks for all students.

In the lawsuit, Zwerner’s attorneys say all of the defendants knew the boy “had a history of random violence” at school and at home, including an episode the year before, when he “strangled and choked” his kindergarten teacher.

“All Defendants knew that John Doe attacked students and teachers alike, and his motivation to injure was directed toward anyone in his path, both in and out of school, and was not limited to teachers while at the school,” the lawsuit states.

School officials removed the boy from Richneck and sent him to another school for the remainder of the year, but allowed him to return to Richneck for first grade in the fall of 2022, the lawsuit states. He was placed on a modified schedule “because he was chasing students around the playground with a belt in an effort to whip them with it,” and was cursing staff and teachers, it says. Under the modified schedule, one of the boy’s parents was required to accompany him during the school day.

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“Teachers’ concerns with John Doe’s behavior (were) regularly brought to the attention of Richneck Elementary School administration, and the concerns were always dismissed,” the lawsuit states. Often after he was taken to the office, “he would return to class shortly thereafter with some type of reward, such as a piece of candy,” according to the lawsuit.

The boy’s parents did not agree for him to be put in special education classes where he would be with other students with behavioral issues, the lawsuit states.

Zwerner suffered permanent bodily injuries, physical pain, mental anguish, lost earnings and other damages, the lawsuit states. It seeks $40 million in compensatory damages.

Last month, Newport News prosecutor Howard Gwynn said his office will not criminally charge the boy because he wouldn’t understand the legal system and what a charge means. Gwynn has yet to decide if any adults will be charged.

The boy used his mother’s gun, which police said was purchased legally. An attorney for the boy’s family has said that the firearm was secured on a closet shelf and had a lock on it.

The inmates, John Garza and Arley Nemo, were found missing during a head count at the Newport News Jail Annex on Monday night, the NNSO said in a news release.

When their disappearance around 7:15 Monday night was investigated, authorities found that the two men “had tunneled through a cell wall leading to the exterior and proceeded to scale the security wall,” the NNSO said.

Members of the Sheriff’s Office and the Newport News Police Department began a search for the two men.

At around 4:20 a.m. on Tuesday, the two inmates were found at an IHOP restaurant in Hampton, Virginia, the neighboring city to Newport News.

Both cities are in the Hampton Roads region of the state. The Newport News Jail is about six and a half miles away from the IHOP in Hampton, a roughly two hours and 15 minute trip when travelling by foot, according to Google Maps.

Hampton police arrested Garza and Nemo at the IHOP, and both men are in custody in Newport News once more, the NNSO said.

Garza “has been in custody since December 19, 2022 on charges to include contempt of court, probation violations and failure to appear,” the NNSO said. He is 36 years old.

Nemo “has been in custody since October 7, 2022 on charges to include credit card fraud, credit card larceny, forgery, possession of burglary tools, grand larceny, contempt of court and probation violation,” the NNSO said. He is 43 years old.

News4 has reached out to the NNSO for more information.

The inmates, John Garza and Arley Nemo, were found missing during a head count at the Newport News Jail Annex on Monday night, the NNSO said in a news release.

When their disappearance around 7:15 Monday night was investigated, authorities found that the two men “had tunneled through a cell wall leading to the exterior and proceeded to scale the security wall,” the NNSO said.

According to the NNSO, Garza and Nemo used “a construction design weakness” to their advantage, creating a hole in the wall with “primitive-made tools” made out of “a toothbrush and a metal object.”

“Those tools facilitated their access to untied rebars between the walls,” the NNSO said, which they then moved to escape through the hole of the cell wall and climb over the security wall.

Members of the Sheriff’s Office and the Newport News Police Department began a search for the two men.

At around 4:20 a.m. on Tuesday, the two inmates were found at an IHOP restaurant in Hampton, Virginia, the neighboring city to Newport News.

Both cities are in the Hampton Roads region of the state. The Newport News Jail is about six and a half miles away from the IHOP in Hampton, a roughly two hours and 15 minute trip when travelling by foot, according to Google Maps.

Hampton police arrested Garza and Nemo at the IHOP, and both men are in custody in Newport News once more, the NNSO said.

Garza “has been in custody since December 19, 2022 on charges to include contempt of court, probation violations and failure to appear,” the NNSO said. He is 36 years old.

Nemo “has been in custody since October 7, 2022 on charges to include credit card fraud, credit card larceny, forgery, possession of burglary tools, grand larceny, contempt of court and probation violation,” the NNSO said. He is 43 years old.

News4 has reached out to the NNSO for more information.

Otieno, who was 28, died March 6 at Central State Hospital in Petersburg, Virginia, south of Richmond.

Seven Henrico County sheriff’s deputies and three staff hospital members are charged with second-degree murder in his death. Prosecutors have said Otieno didn’t appear to be combative and was sitting in a chair when he was pulled down by officers, the Associated Press reported.

Although it’s not known how it was edited, the video (which may be difficult to watch) shows several deputies dragging Otieno, with his hands and feet cuffed, into the admissions area of the hospital.

They eventually sat him down on the floor, while about four deputies continued to lean down with a hand on Otieno. Then, several more deputies and hospital staff step in to try to restrain him.

In the video, it’s difficult to see Otieno for several minutes because the deputies and staffers were on top of him.

According to the Post, 11 minutes passed before he stopped moving.

After seeing the video last week, Otieno's mother, Caroline Ouko, said her son was treated inhumanely. “What I saw today was heartbreaking, America. It was disturbing. It was traumatic. My son was tortured," she said.

The video showed attempts to revive Otieno with CPR and an AED, but the family's attorneys say it took too long for resuscitation efforts to begin.

Defense attorneys had been fighting the public release of the video, saying it could prejudice potential jurors.

The Post says it obtained the video through a Dropbox link in a court filing from prosecutors.

One defense attorney told the Post he's concerned that was an intentional leak.

This is the latest example of a death of a Black man in custody that has law enforcement under scrutiny. Otieno's death follows the the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee, earlier this year, and comes nearly three years after the killing of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.

Ben Crump, who represented Floyd's family and is now working with Otieno's, quickly drew a comparison.

“It is truly shocking that nearly three years after the brutal killing of George Floyd by police, another family is grieving a loved one who allegedly died in nearly the exact same manner — being pinned down by police for 12 agonizing minutes," Crump said in a statement earlier this month.

The Dinwiddie County commonwealth's attorney who is leading the investigation is expected to speak later Tuesday.

Associated Press reporters Sarah Rankin and Ben Finley contributed to this report.

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In her exclusive interview with Savannah Guthrie, which aired on Tuesday, March 21, Zwerner spoke of the defensive move that likely saved her life during the shooting.

“It could’ve been fatal,” Zwerner said of the shooting. “We believe — with my hand being up, with it going through my hand first — we believe that, by the bullet going through the hand first, that it most likely saved my life.”

Zwerner said she raised her left hand before her 6-year-old student fired, sending a bullet through the hand and then her chest in her Richneck Elementary School classroom in Newport News, Virginia, on Jan. 6.

Zwerner said Jan. 6 began as a regular school day, but she started hearing things “that made my fear grow” before her student pulled out a firearm.

“I remember him pointing the gun at me,” Zwerner said. “I remember the look on his face. I remember the gun going off. I remember feeling something. It was a pretty scary day.”

“There’s some things that I’ll never forget. And I just will never forget the look on his face that he gave me while he pointed the gun directly at me,” she added. “That’s something that I will never forget. It’s changed me. It’s changed my life.”

In a press conference days after the shooting, Steve Drew, the chief of police at Newport News Police Department, said that Zwerner had a classroom full of first graders when one of the students took out a handgun, which his mother had legally obtained.

Despite her injury, she proceeded to evacuate the classroom before seeking help.

“In that moment, my initial reaction was, ‘Your kids need to get out of here … and then you need to go find help for yourself.’ That was pretty shocking itself,” she said of the shooting. “But I just wanted to get my babies out of there.”

She said what happened next is “still kind of a blur.” She recalled heading to an office in the school, where she felt herself start to fade into unconsciousness.

“I didn’t know at the time that my lung had collapsed, but I started not being able to breathe, very raspy breaths, and my vision started going out,” Zwerner said. “I remember I went to the office and I just passed out. I thought I had died.”

Zwerner also shared an update on her recovery, saying some days have been grueling but she’s tried to keep a positive perspective.

“I’ve been doing okay. You know, it’s been challenging,” she said. “I’ve gone through a lot of obstacles and challenges. Some days are not so good days, where I can’t get up out of bed. Some days are better than others, where I’m able to get out of bed and make it to my appointments.

But, you know, for goin’ through what I’ve gone through, I try to stay positive,” she continued. “You know, try to have a positive outlook on what’s happened and where my future’s heading.”

The city prosecutor in Newport News, Virginia, has since said that he will not be pressing charges against the child.

Zwerner’s attorney, Diane Toscano, has also said in a news conference  and in a letter of intent to file a lawsuit sent to the Newport News School Board that three teachers had gone to school authorities on Jan. 6 with concerns around the student’s behavior.

Zwerner says she first sought an administrator’s help that morning after the child threatened to beat up another student. According to Zwerner, a second teacher later went to an administrator and searched the boy’s backpack.

She says another teacher then reported that the boy had shown another student the gun during recess. The school’s principal at the time of the shooting, Briana Foster Newton, has since been removed from her position, district spokesperson Michelle Price said in January.

Toscano tells Guthrie that she intends to file a lawsuit on behalf of her client.

“I can tell you there were failures on multiple levels in this case, and there were adults that were in positions of authority that could have prevented this tragedy from happening and did not,” Toscano said, adding that she intends to file a complaint in two weeks.

“I’ve met with the attorneys for both the school board and the city of Newport News, and they’re gonna have to respond in court.”

TODAY reached out to the attorney for the Newport News School District but had not heard back by the time of this story’s publication.

In January, Newport News Public Schools spokesperson Michelle Price told NBC News that “anything that has been reported to our school leadership team in regards to concerns at Richneck from teachers and staff members is part of the investigation. It’s being thoroughly investigated.”

TODAY also reached out to James Ellenson, the attorney for the 6-year-old’s family, who responded Monday evening saying, “We welcome the prosecutor’s decision and continue to pray for Ms Zwerner’s complete recovery.”

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The preliminary opinion by Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Richard Gardiner – delivered in a long-running dispute between a divorced husband and wife – is being criticized by some for wrongly and unnecessarily delving into a time in Virginia history when it was legally permissible to own human beings.

“It’s repulsive and it’s morally repugnant,” said Susan Crockin, a lawyer and scholar at Georgetown University’s Kennedy Institute of Ethics and an expert in reproductive technology law.

Solomon Ashby, president of the Old Dominion Bar Association, a professional organization made up primarily of African American lawyers, called Gardiner’s ruling troubling.

“I would like to think that the bench and the bar would be seeking more modern precedent,” he said.

Gardiner did not return a call to his chambers Wednesday. His decision, issued last month, is not final: He has not yet ruled on other arguments in the case involving Honeyhline and Jason Heidemann, a divorced couple fighting over two frozen embryos that remain in storage.

Honeyhline Heidemann, 45, wants to use the embryos. Jason Heidemann objects.

Initially, Gardiner sided with Jason Heidemann. The law at the heart of the case governs how to divide “goods and chattels.” The judge ruled that because embryos could not be bought or sold, they couldn’t be considered as such and therefore Honeyhline Heidemann had no recourse under that law to claim custody of them.

But after the ex-wife’s lawyer, Adam Kronfeld, asked the judge to reconsider, Gardiner conducted a deep dive into the history of the law. He found that before the Civil War, it also applied to slaves. The judge then researched old rulings that governed custody disputes involving slaves, and said he found parallels that forced him to reconsider whether the law should apply to embryos.

In a separate part of his opinion, Gardiner also said he erred when he initially concluded that human embryos cannot be sold.

“As there is no prohibition on the sale of human embryos, they may be valued and sold, and thus may be considered ‘goods or chattels,’” he wrote.

Crockin said she’s not aware of any other judge in the U.S. who has concluded that human embryos can be bought and sold. She said the trend, if anything, has been to recognize that embryos have to be treated in a more nuanced way than as mere property.

Ashby said he was baffled that Gardiner felt a need to delve into slavery to answer a question about embryos, even if Virginia case law is thin on how to handle embryo custody questions.

“Hopefully, the jurisprudence will advance in the commonwealth of Virginia such that … we will no longer see slave codes” cited to justify legal rulings, he said.

Neither of the Heidemanns’ lawyers ever raised the slavery issue. They did raise other arguments in support of their cases, however.

Jason Heidemann’s lawyers said allowing his ex-wife to implant the embryos they created when they were married “would force Mr. Heidemann to procreate against his wishes and therefore violate his constitutional right to procreational autonomy.”

Honeyhline Heidemann’s lawyer, Kronfeld, argued that Honeyhline’s right to the embryos outweighs her ex-husband’s objections, partly because he would have no legal obligations to be their parent and partly because she has no other options to conceive biological children after undergoing cancer treatments that made her infertile.

Kronfeld also argued that the initial separation agreement the couple signed in 2018 already treated the embryos as property when they concurred — under a subheading titled “Division of Personal Property” — that the embryos would remain in cryogenic storage until a court ordered otherwise.

Gardiner has not yet ruled on the argument over Jason Heidemann’s procreational autonomy.

Built 25 years before the American Revolution, the original structure stood near the college campus of William & Mary. The pinewood building held as many as 30 students at a time, some of them free Black children studying alongside the enslaved.

Hundreds of people lined the streets to celebrate its slow-speed trip into the heart of the living history museum, which tells the story of Virginia’s colonial capital through interpreters and restored buildings.

For historians and descendants alike, the Bray School contradicts the belief that all enslaved Americans were uneducated. But the school’s faith-based curriculum – created by an English charity – also justified slavery and encouraged students to accept their fate as God’s plan.

“Religion was at the heart of the school, and it was not a gospel of abolition,” said Maureen Elgersman Lee, director of William & Mary’s Bray School Lab.

“There was this need to proselytize and to bring salvation while still not doing anything to destabilize the institution of slavery,” Lee said. “Save the soul, but continue to enslave the body. It was the here versus the hereafter.”

It was a brand of duplicity that fit easily into the larger contradictions of the country’s founding, when the Democracy being forged explicitly denied rights and freedoms to many of its people.

Williamsburg is less than 10 miles from Jamestown, which England established in 1607. The colony was supplied with enslaved Africans for labor just a dozen years later. A century and half after that, Black people, most of them still enslaved, represented just over half of Williamsburg’s 2,000 people.

The Bray School was established in 1760 at the recommendation of Benjamin Franklin, chairman of a London-based Anglican charity named after philanthropist Reverend Thomas Bray. The charity also set up schools in other cities, including New York and Philadelphia.

The curriculum ranged from spellers to the Book of Common Prayer. But even within the schools’ paternalistic framework, the education could still be empowering, perhaps even subversive.

“I was going through a facsimile of one of the books, and there are words like ‘liberty,’” Lee said. “What did learning those words do to expand these children’s sense of themselves? Their sense of the world?”

Isaac Bee, a Bray School student, would run away as an adult from a slave owner named Lewis Burwell. An ad that Burwell placed in The Virginia Gazette in 1774 offered a cash bounty for his return and warned that Bee could read.

The white teacher, a widow named Ann Wagner, lived upstairs at the school, and taught an estimated 300 to 400 students, whose ages ranged from 3 to 10, according to surviving records.

The Williamsburg Bray School operated until 1774; only Philadelphia’s reopened after the Revolutionary War. The structure became a private home for many years before it was incorporated into William & Mary’s campus.

The former schoolhouse eventually was moved from its original spot to make way for a dormitory. The original structure had 1.5 stories, with a small upstairs. It was expanded over the years to include two full stories, and was last used as an office for ROTC, the college program that prepares military officers.

Historians believed they had identified the original Bray School building, but it wasn’t confirmed until 2021, through the use of dendrochronology, a scientific method that examines tree rings in lumber to determine the wood’s harvest date.

“This is a remarkable story of survival,” said Matthew Webster, Colonial Williamsburg’s executive director of architectural preservation and research. “And for us, it’s so important to put it back (to its original state) and tell the full and true story.”

The Bray School was exceptional: Although Virginia waited until the 1800s to impose anti-literacy laws, white leaders across much of Colonial America forbid educating enslaved people, fearing literacy would encourage their liberty. South Carolina criminalized teaching slaves to write English in 1740.

Inside the schoolhouse, the original post at the bottom of the walnut staircase still stands, its square top rounded and nicked from centuries of use, Webster said, adding that it’s a “very powerful piece for a lot of people.”

For Tonia Merideth, the Bray School Lab’s oral historian, the building stirred up many emotions upon her first visit. It was material proof against the narrative that her ancestors were illiterate and dumb.

“Everything that I learned about my ancestors was wrong,” she said. “They could learn. They did learn. They were able.”

Merideth added: “Regardless of the intentions of the school, the children were still taking that education and possibly serving it for their own good and aiding in their community.”

Merideth can trace her roots to the Armistead family, which enslaved people in the Williamsburg area and is known to have sent at least one child, named Locust, to the Bray School. But only three years of student lists have survived.

The moving of the Bray School is part of Colonial Williamsburg’s ongoing reckoning over its past storytelling of Black history and the nation’s origin story. The museum was founded in 1926 but did not tell Black stories until 1979.

In 2021, it uncovered the brick foundation of one of the nation’s oldest Black churches. Last year, archeologists began to excavate graves at the site.

The Bray School’s new location is right next door.

“We’re going back and we’re getting that school and we’re getting that legacy,” Merideth said. “And we’re bringing it back to the historic area.”

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The incidents were described in a notice sent to the Newport News school district by Diane Toscano, an attorney for teacher Abby Zwerner, informing the district that Zwerner intends to sue. The notice of claim, which was obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request, outlines prior behavioral issues the boy had at Richneck Elementary School and troubling interactions he had with teachers and students.

Two days before the shooting, the boy allegedly “slammed” Zwerner’s cellphone and broke it, according to the claim notice. He was given a one-day suspension, but when he returned to Zwerner’s class the following day, he pulled a 9mm handgun out of his pocket and shot her while she sat at a reading table, the notice says.

“It is a miracle that more people were not harmed,” Toscano wrote in her notice. “The shooter spent his entire recess with a gun in his pocket, a gun that was loaded and ready to fire … while lots of first-grade students played.”

The choking incident described in the notice was confirmed by the teacher. She said that in 2021, the boy came up behind her as she sat in a chair in the front of the class, locked his forearms in front of her neck and pulled back and down, hard. She said a teaching assistant pulled the boy off her.

The teacher requested anonymity because she fears potential retaliation from the school district. She said she reported the incident to school administrators, but did not receive the kind of supportive response she had hoped for from them.

“I didn’t feel safe the rest of the year because I knew if they didn’t protect me when he choked me and I couldn’t breathe, then they wouldn’t protect me, my kids or my colleagues if he did something not as harmful,” she told The Associated Press.

The boy was later moved into another class in another school.

After the shooting, police said the boy was taken to a medical facility where he is receiving unspecified services.

The legal notice sent fleshed out Zwerner’s allegations of negligence at Richneck on the morning of Jan. 6, which Toscano had first outlined last month at a news conference.

A detailed timeline describes how Zwerner, three other teachers and a guidance counselor were involved in airing concerns about the child possibly having a gun.

“If Assistant Principal (Ebony) Parker had acted on the information she was provided, then the shooting of Ms. Zwerner would not have happened,” the notice stated.

Zwerner went to former Assistant Principal Parker’s office at about 11:15 a.m. “to advise her that the shooter seemed more ‘off’ than usual and was in a violent mood.” It also says the boy had threatened to beat up a kindergarten student and “angrily stared down” the school security officer in the lunch room.

At about 11:45 a.m. another teacher learned that the boy had told students he had a gun in his backpack, the notice stated. The teacher searched the backpack at about 12:30 p.m. but found no gun.

The same teacher “was made aware that the shooter had taken something out of his backpack right before she searched the shooter’s backpack, and the shooter put it in the pocket of his hoodie before going out to recess,” the notice stated.

When that teacher raised concerns to Parker, the assistant principal said the student “had small pockets, insinuating that he could not possibly have a gun on his person,” the notice of claim stated.

“Assistant Principal Parker should have called police,” the notice stated. “Instead, she did not follow proper protocol and chose to do absolutely nothing.”

Shortly after 1 p.m., a third teacher learned from a student in Zwerner’s class that the shooter showed him the gun during recess and threatened to shoot him if he told anyone, the notice stated.

That teacher called the school’s office and shared what she knew with a fourth teacher who picked up the phone, the notice stated. The fourth teacher relayed the information to Parker, who said she was aware of the threat and that the student’s backpack had been searched.

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The third and fourth teachers conferred again. And the fourth teacher returned to Parker’s office, where a guidance counselor was raising similar concerns about the student having a gun, the notice stated.

The guidance counselor asked if he could search the child for a weapon, to which Parker said “no” because the child’s mother was arriving soon to pick him up, the notice stated.

“Then approximately 45 minutes later Ms. Zwerner was shot in her left hand and upper chest by the shooter,” the notice stated. “Ms. Zwerner was sitting at her reading table when the shooter, who was sitting at his desk, pulled the gun out of his pocket and shot her one time.”

Parker, who resigned from her position last month, could not immediately be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for the school district said she did not know if Parker has retained an attorney.

Len Wallin, director of legal services for the school system, said in an email that it’s standard practice for the school division to forward notices of intent to sue to its insurer, which handles such litigation.

Wallin said the district’s insurer will handle decisions regarding whether it will represent Parker or not “after consultation with the school board, if that is necessary.”

In the meantime, Toscano wrote in her notice that Zwerner’s is continuing to recover physically and from psychological wounds that “cut deeply and remain fresh.”

“It is my hope that the school district will not want to drag Ms. Zwerner through litigation after the trauma she has sustained,” Toscano wrote.

“The response from the school district is going to be very important and will shed light on how it views its teachers,” Toscano continued. I hope that the school district will not send a message that being shot while teaching a lesson in class by a student is merely a hazard of the job.”

____

Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia.