Authorities in three countries are investigating the disappearance of a University of Pittsburgh student who went missing last week while on spring break in the Dominican Republic.
Sudiksha Konanki, 20, went for an early-morning walk March 6 on the beach in Punta Cana, where she and five friends had traveled to spend a week soaking in the sun during their academic break.
The University of Pittsburgh junior was last seen on the beach at 4:50 a.m. that day at Riu Republica Resort, according to an Instagram post and missing-person flyer.
Konanki, an Indian citizen, lives with her family in Virginia’s Loudoun County. Her family reported her missing to the Loudoun County sheriff’s office on Thursday and officials “immediately followed up with federal law enforcement, the U.S. State Department and contacts in the DR,” a spokesman told the Daily News. “We have confirmed that there were six female students of the University of Pittsburgh traveling in Punta Cana, at least two of whom are residents of Loudoun County (Va.), one of whom is the missing person who is also a citizen of India.”
The Embassy of India in the Dominican Republic “has taken the lead,” working with Dominican authorities and U.S. federal agencies including the State Department, the sheriff’s office said, adding: “Our office is supporting those efforts and continuing to investigate locally.”
On Sunday Dominican Civil Defense called in the military to assist with drones and helicopters, the agency said in an Instagram post with footage of the search efforts.
“Several brigades have been deployed by sea and land,” local emergency operations agency La Altagracia Civil Defense said, including civil defense, local firefighters, the Dominican Navy and the National Police.
The University of Pittsburgh is also lending its support, a spokesman told The News in an email.
“University officials are in contact with Sudiksha Konanki’s family as well as authorities in Loudoun County, Va., and we have offered our full support in their efforts to find her and bring her home safely,” the spokesman said.
“We don’t know if there’s any foul play or if she accidentally went missing,” Loudoun County sheriff’s office spokesman Thomas Julia told WTOP-TV. “This is primarily being handled on the ground in the Dominican Republic.”
The four Long Island brushfires that shut down a highway and caused a military base to be evacuated have been reigned under control Sunday afternoon, officials said.
According to the New York Daily News, around 600 acres of the Long Island Pine Barrens were burnt as a result of the fires, per Suffolk Country Executive Ed Romaine.
Two firefighters were hurt while combatting the blazes, and two structures were charred.
Romaine told CNN that one of the firefighters is being treated for “second-degree burns to the face.”
The outpouring of support, Romaine said, came from all across New York in the wake of the blazes — and even from the White House.
While being interviewed Sunday by CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield, Romaine said: “Got a call from the White House, got a call from the governor, from Sen. Schumer, from my neighboring county, Nassau County, and from Mayor Adams in New York City… I’ve got to tell you, impressive.”
The fires spurred a state of emergency declaration by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Saturday.
Though the cause of the fire is still a mystery, investigators are exploring arson as an avenue of cause.
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina spoke with reporters on Sunday, CNN reported, telling them: “We also have arson detectives going up in the helicopters, also trying to figure out how this all started, We’re going to get to the bottom of what happened.”
The main concern earlier in the day Sunday, however, were the winds continuing to move through the New York area.
The SpaceX Crew-10, which consists of four astronauts, arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday to rescue the two NASA astronauts who have been stranded on the space station for approximately nine months. The stranded astronauts are now expected to return to Earth later this week.
According to Fox Business, the astronauts aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule docked at the International Space Station at 12:04 a.m. on Sunday. The capsule docking took place roughly 29 hours after the spacecraft’s 7:03 p.m. launch on Friday from the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Fox Business reported that the SpaceX Crew-10 consisted of NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov, and Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi. The outlet noted that the four SpaceX crew members are expected to remain at the International Space Station for approximately six months.
According to Fox Business, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are currently expected to leave the International Space Station on a different SpaceX capsule alongside Nick Hague, a NASA astronaut, and Alexsandr Gorbunov, a Russian cosmonaut, as early as 4 a.m. on Wednesday.
READ MORE: Video: 2 active-duty US troops to help bring back stranded astronauts
A video shared on X, formerly Twitter, by NASA’s Johnson Space Center shows the moment the Space X Crew-10 entered the International Space Station and met the other astronauts.
NASA’s Johnson Space Center tweeted, “The hatch of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft opened March 16 at 1:35 a.m. ET and the members of Crew-10 entered the @Space_Station with the rest of their excited Expedition 72 crew.”
All the hugs.
The hatch of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft opened March 16 at 1:35 a.m. ET and the members of Crew-10 entered the @Space_Station with the rest of their excited Expedition 72 crew. pic.twitter.com/mnUddqPqfr
— NASA’s Johnson Space Center (@NASA_Johnson) March 16, 2025
In another video shared on social media, Williams, who was stranded on the International Space Station with Wilmore over the past nine months, told Misson Control, “Houston, thank you for tuning in this early morning. It was a wonderful day. Great to see our friends arrive. So, thank you so much.”
Williams and Wilmore have been stranded on the International Space Station following issues with their spacecraft after the astronauts arrived at the space station last June. According to Fox News, the astronauts were stranded after the Boeing Starliner experienced “issues with the spacecraft reaction control thrusters” as well as “helium leaks” while the spacecraft was docking at the International Space Station.
President Donald Trump shared a video on Sunday of illegal immigrant gang members arriving at a major prison in El Salvador following the deportation of over 250 illegal immigrants over the weekend.
A video showing the arrival of the illegal immigrant gang members at the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador was shared by the Trump administration’s Rapid Response 47 team on X, formerly Twitter. The video shows the illegal immigrants being escorted off a plane with a heavy law enforcement presence, the illegal immigrants being transported to the prison in El Salvador, and the illegal immigrants entering the high-security prison facility.
In a post accompanying the video on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “These are the monsters sent into our Country by Crooked Joe Biden and the Radical Left Democrats. How dare they! Thank you to El Salvador and, in particular, President Bukele, for your understanding of this horrible situation, which was allowed to happen in the United States because of incompetent Democrat leadership. We will not forget!”
The Daily Wire reported that the deportation of over 250 illegal immigrants to El Salvador came after the Trump administration recently secured an agreement with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to detain illegal immigrants in El Salvador’s prison.
Bill Melugin, a Fox News correspondent, reported that a Trump administration official confirmed 261 illegal immigrants were deported to El Salvador. The official told Melugin that 137 of the illegal immigrants were removed from the U.S. under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, 101 were removed through the normal immigration process, 21 were MS-13 gang members from El Salvador, and 2 were “special cases” as the United States returned two “MS-13 ringleaders” to El Salvador.
According to The New York Post, the arrival of the illegal immigrants in El Salvador came hours after U.S. District Judge James Boasberg blocked the Trump administration from using the wartime powers of the “Alien Enemies Acts of 1798” to remove illegal immigrants from the United States without court hearings.
READ MORE: Trump to use wartime powers to deport Venezuelan gang members: Report
In a statement on X, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that the Trump administration “did not ‘refuse to comply’” with Friday’s court order.
“The order, which had no lawful basis, was issued after terrorist TdA aliens had already been removed from U.S. territory,” Leavitt wrote. “The written order and the Administration’s actions do not conflict.”
“Moreover, as the Supreme Court has repeatedly made clear — federal courts generally have no jurisdiction over the President’s conduct of foreign affairs, his authorities under the Alien Enemies Act, and his core Article II powers to remove foreign alien terrorists from U.S. soil and repel a declared invasion,” the press secretary added. “A single judge in a single city cannot direct the movements of an aircraft carrier full of foreign alien terrorists who were physically expelled from U.S. soil.”
Starbucks was ordered by a Los Angeles County jury on Friday to pay $50 million to a delivery driver who suffered severe burns after a hot drink spilled on him in a drive-thru in 2020.
According to The Daily Journal, Michael Garcia sued Starbucks after a hot drink he picked up from the company’s drive-thru fell out of a cardboard takeout tray and spilled on his lap, resulting in “severe burns, disfigurement, and debilitating nerve damage to his genitals.” The Associated Press reported that Garcia had to go through skin grafts and other medical procedures to treat the injuries caused by the Starbucks incident.
The Daily Journal reported that Garcia’s lawsuit accused a Starbucks employee of improperly securing the hot drink in the cardboard carrier.
The lawsuit stated, “Said failure to properly secure a hot drink in its carrier created a foreseeable danger than an unbalanced and unsecured cup of hot liquid would spill upon handing it to the customer such as Plaintiff. No reasonable expectation of an unsecure cup can be attributed to plaintiff’s conduct.”
Nicholas Rowley, Garcia’s attorney, told The Associated Press that Friday’s jury verdict was a “critical step in holding Starbucks accountable for flagrant disregard for customer safety and failure to accept responsibility.”
READ MORE: Trump handed major win in defamation lawsuit against Pulitzer Prize Board
Rowley also released a statement to The Daily Journal, saying, “Starbucks frivolously denied liability and lost big. Justice was served. Three jurors dissented and were crying because they wanted the verdict to be $125 million. God bless them and every other person that served on the jury.”
Following the jury’s decision to force Starbucks to pay Garcia $50 million in compensation for the 2020 drive-thru incident, Starbucks Director of Corporate Communications Jaci Anderson explained that while the company does “sympathize” with the plaintiff, Starbucks disagrees “with the jury’s decision that we were at fault for this incident and believe the damages awarded to be excessive.”
“We plan to appeal,” Anderson stated. “We have always been committed to the highest safety standards in our stores, including the handling of hot drinks.”
According to The Daily Journal, Starbucks previously claimed that Garcia “failed to exercise ordinary care on his own behalf” during the drive-thru incident.
The Daily Journal reported that Starbucks offered Garcia $3 million prior to the start of the trial and later offered Garcia a $30 million settlement. Rowley told the outlet that Garcia agreed to settle the lawsuit for $30 million if Starbucks issued the delivery driver an apology and revised its safety protocols; however, Starbucks reportedly refused the conditions.
Major storms in the Midwest have left at least 42 people dead following devastating tornadoes, dust storms, and wildfires in multiple states.
Fox Weather reported that 42 individuals had been confirmed dead in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri,and North Carolina. According to the outlet, the severe storms started on Friday and lasted throughout the weekend, bombarding states with hurricane-force wind gusts, lightning, and thunderstorms that left hundreds of thousands of people without power.
According to Fox Weather, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center noted that there were over 1,000 storm reports stemming from the recent storms. Fox Weather added that there were at least 56 tornadoes confirmed in 10 different states over the weekend.
According to The Associated Press, the storm death toll increased after the Kansas Highway Patrol confirmed that eight individuals were killed in a highway pileup involving at least 50 vehicles that was caused by a dust storm in Sherman County, Kansas, on Friday.
On Sunday, President Donald Trump released a statement on Truth Social regarding the devastating storms that impacted multiple states across the country, saying, “We are actively monitoring the severe tornadoes and storms that have impacted many States across the South and Midwest — 36 innocent lives have been lost, and many more devastated.”
READ MORE: Videos/Pic: Major ice storm causes power line to spark, catch on fire
“The National Guard have been deployed to Arkansas, and my Administration is ready to assist State and Local Officials, as they help their communities to try and recover from the damage,” Trump added. “Please join Melania and me in praying for everyone impacted by these terrible storms!”
A video shared on X, formerly Twitter, by the Weather Monitor social media account shows a tornado that devastated the area in Gordo, Alabama. Weather Monitor also shared a video of the remains from a major tornado in Plantersville, Alabama, over the weekend.
DETAILED INFORMATION | DEADLY STORMS RIP THROUGH US MIDWEST AND SOUTH
At Least 40 Dead, Hundreds of Homes Destroyed
Video of a devastating tornado in Gordo, Alabama.
A devastating series of tornadoes and storms swept across the US Midwest and South, claiming at least 40… pic.twitter.com/w2OTC8QwRp
The Associated Press reported that the devastating storms resulted in more than 100 wildfires in the Midwest region. The outlet noted that over 100 million people were under extreme weather conditions forecasts from the Canadian border to as far south as Texas. According to The Associated Press, parts of Minnesota and South Dakota were also under blizzard warnings on Saturday.
Videos and pictures shared on social media highlight the devastation caused by the massive storms, tornadoes, and wildfires.
Powerful tornadoes and storms have hit the South and Midwest of the United States. At least 19 people have been killed and dozens injured in severe storms in the South and Midwest – NBC News.
More than 316 thousand consumers were left without power. The danger threatens 138… pic.twitter.com/f4D1riwJSI
D’Wayne Wiggins, a singer-songwriter and a guitarist who was a founding member of the soul and R&B trio Tony! Toni! Toné!, has died after a private battle with cancer. He was 64.
Wiggins died Friday morning “surrounded by family and loved ones,” his family announced in a statement shared on both the musician’s and the band’s Instagram pages. Amid his cancer battle over the past year, Wiggins “remained committed and present for his family, his music, his fans and his community.”
Wiggins died after his family and Tony! Toni! Toné! shed light publicly on his health Wednesday. The group and Wiggins’ loved ones had said in a previous Instagram post that the singer was “experiencing medical complications” but did not disclose additional details. The family said at the time Wiggins was “working through it one day at a time.”
Tony! Toni! Toné! was set to perform March 22 at the Grand Theatre Center for the Arts in Tracy, but the venue announced Wednesday that the group canceled the event “due to illness.”
Wiggins, born Feb. 14, 1961, was an Oakland native who co-founded Tony! Toni! Toné! The group was known for smooth R&B hits “Anniversary” and “It Never Rains (in Southern California).” He formed the group in 1986 with half brother Raphael Saadiq (born Charles Ray Wiggins) and cousin Timothy Christian Riley. Though the group, which can trace its roots to casual jam sessions, was most famous in the late ’80s to mid-1990s, its sound can be found in the works of modern R&B and hip-hop stars, including Alicia Keys, Freddie Gibbs and Tinashe.
“D’wayne was my childhood idol,” Saadiq told The Times in 1997. “He was everything. In Oakland, he was one of the baddest guitar players in the baddest band on the scene. He was the man.”
Before Tony! Toni! Toné!, Wiggins and Saadiq’s childhood days were filled with soul and gospel music, and the sounds the Bay Area had to offer.
“The way every block now has 10 rappers, there were 10 bands on every block back then,” Wiggins told The Times in 1997.
In addition to talent shows and various band battles, the trio of relatives got their start playing music at church and touring with Oakland’s Castlemont High School’s acclaimed musical group, the Castleers.
Tony! Toni! Toné! was born in 1986 when its to-be co-founders realized they could find success as their own entity. So, why Tony! Toni! Toné!? The name was an inside joke for a stylish person and somewhat inspired by actor Andy Garcia’s turn in “Untouchables.”
The trio released its debut album “Who?” in 1988, which counted singles “Little Walter” and “Born Not to Know” among its nine tracks. In the following years Tony! Toni! Toné! released four albums including its sophomore release “The Revival,” which featured hits “Feels Good” and “It Never Rains (In Southern California).” The group’s junior release “Sons of Soul” landed in 1993 and its penultimate track, “Anniversary” would earn Tony! Toni! Toné! its first Grammy nomination and cement the group’s place in the modern R&B lexicon.
The 1996 album “House of Music” marked the final release of the trio’s original run. The group disbanded as its members pursued solo careers. Wiggins founded Grass Roots Entertainment in West Oakland, which at one point signed girl group Destiny’s Child. Wiggins, through his Oakland studio, also helped foster the careers of Keys, Keyshia Cole and Jamie Foxx.
Tony! Toni! Toné! collaborated with Keys for her 2003 album, “The Diary of Alicia Keys.” The group earned a nomination for Key’s song “Diary” at the 47th Grammy Awards.
Decades after going their separate ways, the members of Tony! Toni! Toné! announced in 2023 that they would reunite for their first tour in 25 years. In a 2023 interview with Billboard, Wiggins said the music of Tony! Toni! Toné! was “the soundtrack to a lot of people’s lives.”
That much could be said for Wiggins and his relatives-turned-collaborators. “You can have problems in the business and even problems in the family,” he told The Times in 1997, “but when we’re jamming, the energy is just there.”
Wiggins’ family said Friday that the musician was also a “producer, composer, philanthropist, mentor” who was passionate about supporting and amplifying young artists.
“For now, we ask that you continue to respect our privacy,” the family added. “We mourn with you, and are deeply grateful for your love and support.”
President Donald Trump ordered a wave of new U.S. strikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen on March 15, ramping up a fight that has been simmering for months.
“Today, I have ordered the United States Military to launch decisive and powerful Military action against the Houthi terrorists in Yemen. They have waged an unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other, ships, aircraft, and drones,” Trump announced in a post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday.
A short while after Trump’s announcement, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) shared footage of F-18 Super Hornet fighter jets launching from the deck of an aircraft carrier, which they said would deliver precision airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. Further footage from CENTCOM showed land-attack cruise missiles firing from a guided missile warship, and ordinance landing on an unspecified target.
The Persistent Houthi Movement
The Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah, first emerged in Yemen in the 1990s. A Shia Islamist movement, the Houthis grew in opposition to the existing government of the Republic of Yemen. These tensions boiled over in the fall 2014, as the Houthis took control over the Yemeni capital city of Sana’a with little to no resistance.
The Houthis briefly shared power with the existing government structure, but then-Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi and other members of his government resigned, leaving the Houthis as the dominant force in Sana’a. Hadi later fled to the southern Yemeni port city of Aden, where he formed a new government in exile.
Yemen has remained in a state of disunity since 2014. In that time, the Houthis have maintained control over Sana’a while their opponents have fractured into a variety of competing factions loosely aligned with Hadi.
The Yemeni civil war quickly became a proxy battle for regional influence. Saudi Arabia formed and led a coalition of other Arab states to intervene against the Houthis, meanwhile Iran has provided clandestine support to those Shia rebels.
The United States has provided support to the Saudi coalition. Toward the end of his first term in office, Trump also had the Houthis designated as a foreign terrorist organization and as a specially designated global terrorist group.
Within days of taking the White House, President Joe Biden undid the two terror group labels.
Though still ongoing, the fighting of the Yemeni civil war has subsided in recent years.
After Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the Houthis turned their attention outward.
As Israeli forces began bombarding the Gaza Strip, the Houthis started launching missiles and attack drones at Israel, and claimed they would continue this pattern of attacks as long as Israeli forces continued to fight in Gaza. The Houthis also began to target commercial ships in the nearby waterways, including the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, slowing international shipping through a key chokepoint.
After Israel and Hamas reached a temporary ceasefire in January, the Houthi attacks stopped. Now, amid signs this ceasefire could collapse, the Houthis have threatened to once again attack Israeli ships in the region.
Trump Ramping Up Pressure
As the Houthis turned their fire on Israel and the Red Sea last year, the Biden administration relisted the group as a specially designated global terrorist entity. Though the Biden administration did not restore the foreign terrorist organization label, they did order several rounds of U.S. airstrikes targeting Houthi facilities and weapons stockpiles throughout Yemen.
Despite these U.S. strikes, Houthi attacks during the Biden administration continued. The Yemeni rebel faction even began to return fire on U.S. warships in the region.
Though Houthi missiles and drones have yet to clearly land a successful hit on a U.S. warship or aircraft, the guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg accidentally shot down a U.S. F/A-18 Super Hornet in a friendly fire incident in December, as the ship mistook U.S. fighter jets returning from strikes over Yemen as an incoming Houthi threat.
In his Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump accused Biden of doing too little to deter the Yemeni rebels.
“Joe Biden’s response was pathetically weak, so the unrestrained Houthis just kept going. It has been over a year since a U.S. flagged commercial ship safely sailed through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, or the Gulf of Aden,” Trump wrote.
Since returning to the White House for his second term, Trump has ordered that the Houthis should once again be listed as a foreign terrorist organization.
On March 15, as he ordered the newest round of U.S. strikes on Yemen, Trump issued a new warning message.
“To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” he wrote.
“To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY! Do NOT threaten the American People, their President, who has received one of the largest mandates in Presidential History, or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!”
On March 16, Houthi spokesman Nasr el-Din Amer told NBC News that the majority of the casualties from the latest round of U.S. strikes were women and children. Actual casualty figures from the strikes cannot be independently verified at this time.
Amer vowed the Houthis would continue their attacks “until the blockade on Gaza is lifted.” Further, he said the Yemeni rebel faction would respond to the latest round of U.S. strikes.
“We will respond to the recent escalation with further escalation,” he said. “Our response will not be delayed.”
This article was originally published by FreeBase News and is reprinted with permission.
The Houthi terrorist organization reportedly fired 11 drones and one ballistic missile at the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier group over the weekend following President Donald Trump’s airstrikes against the Iran-backed terrorist group on Saturday.
A senior defense official told Fox News on Sunday that the U.S. military shot down multiple Houthi drones that were intended to hit the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier group. The anonymous defense official confirmed that the drones were shot down “well before” they presented a serious threat to the U.S. aircraft carrier group.
ABC News cited a U.S. official who said the Houthi terrorist organization fired 11 drones and one ballistic missile and that the drones and missile did not come close to striking any of the vessels in the U.S. aircraft carrier group. According to the U.S. official, 10 of the drones were shot down by U.S. Air Force planes, and one of the drones was shot down by U.S. Navy planes. The official added that the ballistic missile was not intercepted since it did not come close to the ships.
In a Saturday statement on Truth Social, Trump said, “Today, I have ordered the United States Military to launch decisive and powerful Military action against the Houthi terrorists in Yemen. They have waged an unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other, ships, aircraft, and drones.”
Trump claimed that former President Joe Biden’s “pathetically weak” response to the Houthi terrorist organization’s attacks enabled them to keep attacking U.S. commercial and military ships.
“It has been over a year since a U.S.-flagged commercial ship safely sailed through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, or the Gulf of Aden,” Trump added. “The last American Warship to go through the Red Sea, four months ago, was attacked by the Houthis over a dozen times.”
Trump explained that the U.S. military was executing aerial attacks against “the terrorists’ bases, leaders, and missile defenses to protect American shipping, air, and naval assets, and to restore Navigational Freedom.”
“No terrorist force will stop American commercial and naval vessels from freely sailing the Waterways of the World,” Trump said. “To all Houthi terrorists, YOUR TIME IS UP, AND YOUR ATTACKS MUST STOP, STARTING TODAY. IF THEY DON’T, HELL WILL RAIN DOWN UPON YOU LIKE NOTHING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!”
In a Sunday post on X, formerly Twitter, the White House shared pictures of Trump, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio watching the U.S. strikes against the Houthi terrorists over the weekend.
“President Trump is taking action against the Houthis to defend US shipping assets and deter terrorist threats,” the White House tweeted. “For too long American economic & national threats have been under assault by the Houthis. Not under this presidency.”
President Trump is taking action against the Houthis to defend US shipping assets and deter terrorist threats.
For too long American economic & national threats have been under assault by the Houthis. Not under this presidency. pic.twitter.com/FLC0E8Xkly
A 17-year-old male was arrested Sunday in connection with online threats to shoot up Seminole High, according to the Sanford Police Department.
The investigation began on Saturday when Sanford PD received an anonymous tip regarding a video of an unknown male threatening to shoot students at the school, the police department said.
The video, taken from a video-chat website called Uhmegle that pairs random strangers, pictured the subject with multiple guns, vests and other items of concern. The guns turned out to be replicas, not real firearms.
In the video, the subject said he planned to die through suicide-by-cop and said he would carry out the mass shooting during lunch “when there is a big group of people in between classes,” according to the arrest report.
The male stated in the video that he had three magazines for his AK-47, two magazines for his SVD rifle and an extended magazine for his Glock 19, with one magazine for his M4 rifle, the report said.
In the video, the subject said he was affiliated with gangs such as Isis, members of the Bloods street gang and has affiliation with the military.
Investigators brought a clip of the video to Elevation High principal Donald Taunton, who said he had “numerous personal contacts with him,” according to the report.
On Sunday the teen was arrested at his home in Sanford without incident. He was arrested on charges of intimidation written/electronic threat of mass shooting/terrorism act, Sanford PD said.
The teen was enrolled at Elevation High but said Seminole High was just eight minutes from his home.
During the search of his room, police located and seized numerous airsoft weapons, an airsoft vest, a laptop, an iPhone, a knife and a notebook, the arrest report said. These items matched those seen in the video that Thomas posted but no actual firearms were located, the report said.
In an interview with police, he admitted he made the threats, according to the arrest report.
“I am so thankful for the collaborative work and relentless dedication of all the agencies involved in bringing this incident to a conclusion,” said Serita Beamon, Seminole County public school superintendent, in a statement. “The safety of our students and staff is our highest priority, and we will continue to take any potential threat seriously, and act quickly.”
Sanford Police Chief Cecil Smith said the quick identification and arrest of the teen was made possible by the collaboration of multiple agencies.
Investigators are asking anyone with additional information about this incident to please contact the Sanford Police Department or Crimeline at 800 423-TIPS (8477) or visit www.crimeline.org.