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Suspect dead after shooting at Northern California school; 2 students hurt, sheriff’s office says
PALERMO – Authorities say a suspect is dead and two students are hurt after a shooting at a school in the Northern California community of Palermo on Wednesday.
The Butte County Sheriff’s Office says the incident happened around 1 p.m. at the Feather River School of Seventh-Day Adventists.
One person was found by deputies with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, with the sheriff’s office confirming that the suspected shooter had died. Two students were also found shot; their conditions were not known at this time, the sheriff’s office says, but both have been taken to local hospitals.
The suspect has not been identified at this time. It’s also unclear if the shooting was random, the sheriff’s office says, but it doesn’t appear that the suspect had a connection to the campus.
Parents are being told to meet their children at the Oroville Church of the Nazarene at 2238 Monte Vista Avenue.
Due to the investigation, California Highway Patrol is diverting northbound traffic on Highway 70 at E. Gridley Road west to Highway 99. Southbound Highway 70 is also closed at Power House Hill Road, with traffic being diverted to Lone Tree Road.
The school serves about 35 students from kindergarten to eighth grade.
Palermo is a town about 25 miles north of Marysville and 65 miles north of Sacramento.
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U.S. “fondness for tall SUVs and pickups” compounding risks for pedestrians in crashes, IIHS study finds
Researchers at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety who looked back at data on more than 200 vehicle-pedestrian crashes in the U.S. say Americans’ preference for large, tall vehicles is compounding the risks of serious injury to pedestrians associated with higher-speed crashes. The authors of the IIHS study conclude that the size of many American vehicles means serious pedestrian injuries are more likely in crashes when compared to the expected risks on the roads in Europe, where vehicles are generally smaller.
IIHS researchers analyzed 202 crashes involving a vehicle and at least one pedestrian aged 16 or older between 2015 and 2022 in four states, “to generate an estimate for the link between injury outcomes and impact speed,” with information about the front-end height of the vehicles being used additionally “to examine the moderating effect of” the vehicle’s size on the outcome for the pedestrians.
“A small increase in crash speed can really ramp up the danger to a pedestrian. Our fondness for tall SUVs and pickups in the U.S. has intensified that effect,” IIHS President David Harkey was quoted as saying about the study’s findings.
While it was already understood that more speed at the point of impact increases risks to pedestrians struck by vehicles, the IIHS said the new study was carried out to provide, “an updated estimate of pedestrian injury risk at different severity levels” based on the evolving design of vehicles on U.S. roads today.
“As expected, impact speed strongly predicted injury risk, and hood leading edge height significantly increased the risk of pedestrian injury overall as well as the potency of impact speed for serious injuries,” the IIHS said.
While the study found no significant change in risk to pedestrians based on the weight of the vehicles involved, the IIHS said that, “in general, higher vehicle front ends increased the likelihood of both moderate and serious pedestrian injuries.”
For example, it said that when a median-height pickup, with a front end about 13 inches higher than most cars, hits a pedestrian at 27 mph, there’s a 83% chance of moderate injury and a 62% chance of serious injury, compared to 60% and a 30% respectively if the vehicle involved in the crash is a median-height car.
“Although SUVs are a growing share of the market in Europe, the passenger vehicle fleet there has long been dominated by cars. In contrast, the majority of passenger vehicles on U.S. roads today are SUVs or pickups,” IIHS senior statistician Sam Monfort, the lead author of the study, was quoted as saying by the institute. “These choices have very real consequences for pedestrian safety.”
“Speed increases have a more pronounced effect when taller vehicles are involved” in a crash, the organization said. “For example, as crash speed increases from 15 mph to 35 mph, the risk of a serious injury goes from 9% to 52% when a median-height car is involved. With a median [height] pickup, the risk shoots up from 11% to 91%.”
Previous research by the IIHS published in 2022 found that drivers of bigger vehicles were more likely to hit pedestrians while making turns than drivers of cars, and another IIHS study published last year that pickups, SUVs and vans with hoods higher than 40 inches at the front edge were about 45% more likely to cause pedestrian fatalities in crashes than cars and other vehicles with lower, sloping hoods.
Despite the concern over the impact of larger vehicles in U.S. pedestrian crashes, however, data showed 2023 saw the first overall year-on-year decline in pedestrian deaths from vehicle accidents in about four years, since the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of pedestrians killed on U.S. roads in 2023 dropped 5.4% compared to the previous year — which saw a 40-year high — but it was still 14.1% higher than the number of deaths recorded in 2019, before the pandemic, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association.
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Evacuations ordered as large brush fire breaks out in Malibu in the midst of red flag warnings
A large brush fire is burning in Malibu Canyon near Pepperdine University, prompting some evacuations for residents.
The blaze, dubbed the Franklin Fire, was first reported a little after 10:45 p.m. near S. Malibu Canyon Road and Station Boundary just south of the Piuma area, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
As of 11:45 p.m., crews reported that the fire had already engulfed about 100 acres. While there were no structures damaged, some were threatened, according to firefighters.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies were working to evacuate residents living in zone MAL-C112, which includes the area east of Malibu Canyon Road and South of Piuma Road as well as the Serra Retreat. More information on evacuations is available on the Malibu city website.
Multiple water-dropping aircraft were called to the scene as crews deemed the blaze a Third Alarm incident.
It’s unclear how the fire started.
California Highway Patrol officers closed Malibu Canyon from Mulholland Drive to Pacific Coast Highway as the firefight continued.
Pepperdine school officials released a statement to note that they were closely monitoring the fire.
“The fire is not currently affecting any University campus,” the statement said. “The Malibu Campus and local area may experience some power outages related to this incident.”
Weather officials raised concerns over fire danger that would impact most of Southern California to start the way. Unusually low humidity paired with a powerful Santa Ana winds movement created dangerous conditions, which led them to issue a “particularly dangerous situation red flag warning.”
In response, SoCal Edison has already warned tens of thousands of residents living throughout Los Angeles County that their service may be shut off if the winds intensify.
Conditions bore similarities to the weather when the Mountain Fire erupted in Ventura County in early November. That blaze torched nearly 20,000 acres and destroyed more than 200 structures.
This is a developing story. Check back for details.
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Luigi Mangione, suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s killing, charged in NYC, court documents say
NEW YORK — Luigi Mangione, the suspected in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a New York City hotel, is now charged with murder, according to court documents.
The New York City Police Department and Mayor Eric Adams announced on Monday the 26-year-old was taken into custody earlier in the day on forgery and illegal gun charges in Pennsylvania. At the time, he was still considered a person of interest in the case.
“He matches the description of the identification we’ve been looking for, he’s also in possession of several items that we believe will connect him to this incident,” Adams said Monday. “How did we do it? Good old fashioned police work.”
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said a tipster called police after seeing a man who looked like the person of interest at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
“The suspect was in a McDonald’s and was recognized by an employee who then called local police. Responding officers questioned the suspect, who was acting suspiciously and was carrying multiple fraudulent IDs, as well as a U.S. passport,” she said. “Upon further investigation, officers recovered a firearm on his person, as well as a suppressor, both consistent with the weapon used in the murder. They also recovered clothing, including a mask, consistent with those warn by our wanted individual.”
“Additionally, officers recovered a handwritten document that speaks to both his motivation and mindset,” Tisch added.
NYPD officials described the weapon as a possible “ghost gun,” and said the written document was three pages long.
Tisch said Mangione was also found in possession of the same fake New Jersey ID the person of interest used to check into a hostel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where he was seen in surveillance images without a mask. He was later seen at the Port Authority bus terminal in Washington Heights and was believed to have boarded a bus there after the shooting.
UnitedHealthcare CEO shot and killed in Manhattan
Thompson, 50, was gunned down by a masked shooter on Dec. 4 outside the Hilton Midtown hotel, where UnitedHealthcare was set to hold its annual investors conference.
The NYPD called it a “premeditated, preplanned, targeted attack,” and launched an intense manhunt. Police offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest, and the FBI later upped the ante to $50,000.
Investigators quickly began piecing together a timeline of the shooting, including the suspect’s movements and escape route. The next day, police released images of a person wanted for questioning, as they zeroed in on the hostel where he was staying.
Police had numerous clues early on in the investigation. They were able to trace the suspect’s movements prior to the shooting and his escape by bicycle through Central Park.
Investigators spent days searching the park and found a backpack containing a jacket and Monopoly money, but it did not have the murder weapon. Dive teams in scuba gear continued to comb a pond near the park’s Bethesda Fountain for the gun.
Police also found expended shells at the scene that had “delay” and “deny” meticulously written on them. Investigators believe those words were related to a reference made by critics of the health insurance industry.
Officers also recovered a cellphone from the scene, as well as a water bottle and a candy bar wrapper they believe the suspect left at a Starbucks prior to the shooting.
Meanwhile, investigators have been probing every aspect of Thompson’s life to try to find a motive.
“They’re going to look at the business end, you have a company that’s laid people off. They’re going to look at the personal stories, and they’re going to focus on letters, desperate people who were denied care or tests or something that could’ve saved a life or who blame the company,” said former NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller.
Thompson, a married father of two, had been in New York City for two days before he was murdered. His wife, Paulette, spoke about the family’s loss.
“Brian was a wonderful person with a big heart and who lived life to the fullest,” she said. “He will be greatly missed by everybody. Our hearts are broken and we are completely devastated by this news.”
Check back soon for the latest updates on this developing story.
contributed to this report.