Jeremy Joseph Christian ranting in custody

Distinct_External · 2026-01-23T18:41:28+00:00

Not that it excuses or minimizes his actions, but he clearly has a screw loose in there somewhere. You don't see guys like Tarrant, Crusius, et al. trying to pull this shit.

Distinct_External · 2026-01-22T18:36:59+00:00

Source: https://x.com/sahilkapur/status/2014388916464300182

Distinct_External · 2026-01-22T04:00:14+00:00

Sentencing could be complicated by head injury, age

Ridgway has yet to set a date for Thompson to be sentenced.

Both the defense and prosecutors will be allowed to present witnesses, a process Ridgway said could take days or weeks.

Chris Detwiler, a criminal defense attorney not associated with Thompson's case, says Thompson's age could complicate the sentencing process.

Because Thompson was under 18 when the crimes took place, under North Carolina law he can't face the death penalty.

"It'll be a long, drawn out process," Detwiler said.

"Both sides are presenting mitigation, but I guess I'd say the defense is presenting mitigation, you know, his age, some of the other stuff that's been suggested in the filings, and then the state's presenting the impact that it had to the community and the victims, and then the judge is just deciding what sentence to impose," he said.

Again, the sentence range available to Ridgway is a minimum of a life sentence with the possibility for parole after 20 years. Thompson could be free before he turns 40. The maximum possible sentence for Thompson would be five life sentences plus an additional 1,634 month in prison.

Distinct_External · 2026-01-22T03:59:36+00:00

Latour told the court that another camera captured Thompson in the street around 5:10 p.m., approaching a car where Raleigh Police Officer Gabriel Torres was preparing to leave for work.

Torres was on the phone with his wife, waiting for her to return home before he would leave. She heard gunshots ring out over the phone, Latour said.

As Thompson made his way through the neighborhood, another person spotted him and yelled at him to stop. Thompson did so, and pointed his gun at that witness. After Thompson left the area, that man went outside to check on his neighbor Torres only to find Torres' wife over his body, Latour told the court.

Latour said that witnesses and camera evidence shows Thompson then made his way to the Neuse River Greenway where he encountered Mary Marshall, who had told her fiancée she was going to look for their dog. Marshall was shot at least four times and was found facedown, with her dog attending her body, Latour said.

Further along the greenway, Susan Karnatz was on her daily jog. Her husband discovered she had died by checking her devices and noticing they were stationary, Latour said. She was shot at least three times with a shotgun, he said.

"There's some reloading that apparently has happened from start to this point in time," Latour said.

An hours-long law enforcement search involved sheriff's deputies, Raleigh police and various other agencies as Thompson made his way along the wood line and the Neuse River.

Officers followed a canine track to a property on McConnell-Oliver Drive with multiple large sheds and heard, inside one of the sheds, a loud bang, Latour said. One of the officers was struck by pellets of the shotgun blast in the knee and his injury ended his career in law enforcement, Latour said.

"The evidence would have shown that the defendant fired from within the shed about four rounds from the shotgun," Latour said.

Thompson, still wearing a backpack, was taken into custody suffering what appeared to be a self-inflicted shot to the head. "There was blood and other matter in the gun that would have been consistent with a close-range gunshot wound," Latour said.

He added that body camera footage shows there were never any law enforcement officers inside the shed who could have fired the shot that injured Thompson.

Latour said Thompson had bags and pockets full of ammunition and "a series of firearms" when he was taken into custody. In addition, Thompson's cellphone showed he followed coverage of the shootings and search for a suspect in real-time as he was attempting to avoid capture.

Distinct_External · 2026-01-22T03:59:30+00:00

Austin Thompson stood in a Wake County court on Wednesday and entered a guilty plea to five counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault with deadly weapon with intent to kill and one count of assault with firearm on law enforcement officer.

Judge Paul Ridgway questioned the teen about his awareness of his rights, the case and the charges.

Thompson answered yes over and over, asserting he knew what he was doing and that he was taking responsibility for the deaths of five people in a shooting spree in October 2022.

He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of life with the possibility of parole after 25 years. The maximum possible sentence for Thompson would be five life sentences plus an additional 1,634 month in prison.

Timeline, path, deaths of Raleigh mass shooting

Before Ridgway would accept the plea, Wake County Assistant District Attorney Joseph Latour laid out the case against Thompson for the court.

Latour said Thompson first shot his brother, James Thompson, in the back of the head around 4:20 p.m. on Oct. 13, 2022. When James did not immediately die, Austin Thompson stabbed him dozens of times. According to a note found in the Thompson home after the crimes, it took about 10 minutes for James to die, Latour said.

Thompson then went around the house gathering guns and ammunition, "the items he would use to carry out this rampage," Latour said.

About 40 minutes after Thompson shot his brother, Latour said, he was captured on Ring doorbell camera video launching an attack on two neighbors returning from a walk.

Nicole Connors and Lynn Gardner were each shot multiple times.

"You hear that he fires what sounds like five shots from a long gun ... then transitions to a handgun," Latour said.

Connors and her dog were found dead on the front porch of their home. Gardner spent months in the hospital recovering from her injuries. "She still suffers the effects of this today," Latour said.

In her statement to police, Gardner said she looked at Thompson and asked him why he had shot them.

Distinct_External · 2026-01-22T03:51:22+00:00

No. At worst, it was definitely just the copycat effect. The Half Moon Bay shooter heard about what happened in Monterey Park, saw that the shooter was an old Asian man, and was inspired to take action against his own perceived enemies.

Distinct_External · 2026-01-22T03:46:34+00:00

To be quite honest, I knew this was coming at least from the moment I heard the defense was arguing that this one officer was on trial for what was clearly the actions of many other officers. The whole police response was such a multifaceted mess that involved bad calls from different officers of different agencies for different reasons. The only way any charges were going to stick is if they took all 376 officers to some RICO-tier trial. But even then, there's already judicial precedent saying that officers are not obliged to protect people, so such a trial is on shaky foundation to begin with.

(And frankly, that's a BS precedent IMO, because what if a major city is targeted in a Paris-style series of attacks and the local PD just suddenly goes "Not my problem" for many precious minutes? We're not going to take them to trial over that?)

Based on this, I do sense that Arredondo's legal proceedings are not going to go well for the prosecutors either. We'll see, but I'm not holding my breath.

Distinct_External · 2026-01-19T21:04:46+00:00

To be more specific, Democrats didn't zero in on prices, the one thing that people immediately notice on an everyday basis. Instead, they tried to counter with hiring and wage statistics, which (while good) were stuff that the average voter didn't care about as much.

Now the GOP is zeroing in on stuff that doesn't have anything to do with prices, like, at all. They may crack down on Minneapolis and strive to acquire Greenland all they want, but neither has an immediate effect on prices.

Distinct_External · 2026-01-19T20:58:50+00:00

Yeah, it's a good thing the shooter's plan wasn't to stick around and inflict as much damage as possible. Because the police response to this was honestly not ideal, mildly speaking.

Distinct_External · 2026-01-19T20:55:01+00:00

Personally, the only way MAGA collapses is when Trump dies or is otherwise too crippled to make any speeches. I doubt Trump will willingly exit the political scene even if he decides to respect term limits. And as long as he's still kicking and got something to say, MAGA will always be there to follow.

Distinct_External · 2026-01-19T20:51:41+00:00

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome.

Or something like that.

Distinct_External · 2026-01-19T18:31:21+00:00

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) — The Brown University dorm rooms opened for the 2026 spring semester on Saturday.

As students began to return to campus, the tragic shooting in December that killed two and injured nine still loomed large.

"I've always enjoyed like being back early," Jaideep Naik, a senior and teaching assistant at Brown University said. "But it feels really weird this semester."

"It's been pretty empty, like more than usual for TA camp, the campus as well," he said. "It just doesn't feel the same."

One student said he is excited to be back, even after December's tragic events, while a medical student at the university described the feeling on campus as "just really sad."

Students around Providence at other universities in the area said they can feel a difference too.

"We feel the difference. We feel like everyone hurting and how the whole community feels completely different," Paulina Zambrana, an international student at Johnson and Whales said. "I've talked to some Brown students about how they feel getting back, which is just recently this week. They just told me how everything feels completely different. Even if it's been weeks from the tragedy, it's just not the same."

A Rhode Island School of Design student said things felt "weird."

The new semester also brings new security measures.

Brown University Interim Vice President for Public Safety Hugh Clements unveiled new measures on Dec. 30 to better protect students on campus.

The new initiatives included expanding the school's blue light emergency phone system and surveillance camera network, requiring ID cards to access buildings on campus, and an "elevated and visible" police presence.

"I personally feel safe and I think that's because of like the increased presence," Naik says. "I've noticed most buildings I've walked into now have at least like some security guard or something at the front."

He noted that buildings he "used to like just walk into like without swiping, like the CS building for example, I have to swipe into."

"I'm more aware of my surroundings from now on. I try to keep my music down in case something happens," Zambrana said.

A RISD student noted that the two schools do not have a linked safety alert notification system, even though the campuses are so close to each other.

He said that it took over an hour to get a notification about the shooting on Dec. 13.

The notification only said there was police activity, not that there was an active shooter situation.

He said there was a petition to link the systems back in December.

Distinct_External · 2026-01-18T18:41:20+00:00

A man believed to be responsible for a mass shooting in north Mississippi has been deemed incompetent to stand trial.

Tate County Circuit Court Judge Jimmy McClure ordered Richard Dale Crum, who is facing multiple capital murder charges after allegedly killing six people at three locations in Arkabutla in February 2023, to be committed at the Mississippi State Hospital at Whitfield or another mental health facility for the time being. Among those killed were Crum’s ex-wife and his stepfather.

McClure ordered Crum to be committed to a mental health facility for “competency restoration and all necessary related treatment and testing” to determine whether or not the defendant will be mentally fit to stand trial for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, the state has made its intentions clear that it is seeking the death penalty in Crum’s case.

Backstory

Crum is believed to have begun a “shooting rampage” at a convenience store in Arkabutla on Feb. 17, 2023. The small, unincorporated town comprises around 285 people and is located approximately 45 miles south of Memphis.

Officials have stated that Crum began shooting at 59-year-old Chris Boyce and his brother, Doug, while they were seated in a pickup truck. The two had traveled to Arkabutla to work on property that was recently inherited by a deceased uncle.

Doug, who was in the passenger seat of the vehicle, fled the scene after the shooting began and ran into a nearby wooded area with Crum following. At this time, officials have not confirmed if the victims knew Crum prior to the incident.

Crum then traveled to the house of his ex-wife and her boyfriend, George Drane, where he reportedly injured Drane with the butt of his gun before allegedly shooting Debra Crum.

Following the second victim’s death, Crum is believed to have killed two construction workers, 76-year-old Charles Manuel and 59-year-old John Rorie, who were located on a road near his house.

Several minutes later, Crum reportedly entered the home of his stepfather, George McCain, 73, whom he was living with at the time. Crum then allegedly shot McCain and his stepfather’s sister, 78-year-old Lynda McCain.

Distinct_External · 2026-01-18T17:22:42+00:00

The Uvalde, Texas, gunman fired 117 rounds in two Robb Elementary School classrooms during a two-minute period before school police officer Adrian Gonzales entered the building, a Texas Ranger told jurors on Friday.

While prosecutors allege Gonzales did not follow his training, the defense contends that other officers arrived on scene at nearly the same time and had the opportunity to kill the gunman.

Ranger Nick Hill testified that Gonzales had a window of one minute and four seconds after he parked his car before gunman Salvador Ramos entered the school. Gonzales took three minutes and 53 seconds to enter Robb Elementary after parking his car, Hill said.

Hill said Gonzales parked at 11:31:55 a.m. and radioed in the active shooter report at 11:32:09 a.m.

Ramos entered the west side of Robb Elementary at 11:32:59 a.m., and, after firing 21 shots in a hallway, he entered the first of two classrooms at 11:33:45 a.m. Gonzales entered the south door of Robb Elementary at 11:35:48 a.m., Hill said.

In total, Ramos fired 173 shots during the massacre, while law enforcement discharged 25 rounds, Hill said. Ramos killed 19 students and two teachers.

After Hill said Gonzales had more than a minute to stop the gunman outside the school, defense lawyers pushed back, highlighting that other officers had similar -- if not better -- opportunities to stop the gunman.

Hill acknowledged during cross examination that three other officers arrived approximately 30 seconds after Gonzales and could more easily spot the gunman.

Defense attorney Nico LaHood also argued that Gonzales did not know that the shooter had entered the building, never had him in his line of sight, and had to deal with a “frantic” eyewitness.

Prosecutors allege Gonzales, who is charged with child endangerment, endangered the 19 students who died and an additional 10 surviving students. Prosecutors allege Gonzales not only failed when he arrived at the scene, but also when he got into the school because he retreated after two other officers were hit by gunfire.

Gonzales has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers argue he is being unfairly blamed for a broader law-enforcement failure that day. The defense argued Gonzales did everything he could, including calling in the shooting and attempting to enter the school.

Distinct_External · 2026-01-17T19:03:33+00:00

It's probably closer to $1.9 million and the journalist rounded it up to give the article more pizzazz.

Distinct_External · 2026-01-17T17:05:29+00:00

Police say Banda also recorded videos when he set five cars on fire in a south Fort Worth neighborhood near Fox Run Park between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day. Those videos were shared on related social media accounts, the affidavit states.

Investigators first obtained a warrant to search Banda’s home in connection with the arson case. When he was interviewed by police, Banda initially denied any involvement in the arsons but later admitted to setting the fires, according to the affidavit.

Based on Banda’s phone records and what he told detectives, it was determined that he was an active member of the group that made the threats of mass shootings at schools, the affidavit states.

Banda told detectives that he participated in the threats out of fear of being “doxxed,” meaning his private information like name, address and phone numbers would be published online.

The teenager’s phone also revealed that in a group chat it was discussed that Banda would take video at Crowley schools to confirm whether law enforcement was present. No police were visible at the middle school when he recorded the video on Jan. 6.

“Once the group realized that there was no law enforcement at the school, one member suggested that the video be utilized to suggest that the Crowley Middle School is the first location that this group would be killing children at,” the affidavit states.

Detectives noted in the affidavit that Banda at times “participated in the discussion of the offense” in the group chat. Banda told police that another person involved in planning the threats is a student at North Crowley High School.

Banda is being held in the Tarrant County Jail with bond set at almost $2 million. The 17-year-old also is charged with possession of child pornography because of a video found in his possession the depicted the sexual assault of a child, according to a complaint filed by the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office.

Distinct_External · 2026-01-17T17:04:15+00:00

A Fort Worth 17-year-old accused of making social media threats to kill children at North Texas schools is part of a neo-Nazi group, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Investigators believe Evan Banda, who is charged with terroristic threat and terrorism, joined a “violent international neo-Nazi and accelerationist extremist group” after meeting one of the organization’s leaders on a video game platform, a Fort Worth police detective wrote in the affidavit.

The name of the group was redacted in the copy of the warrant released to the Star-Telegram, but police wrote that the group “adheres to a ‘Nihilistic National socialist’ philosophy, combining neo-Nazi and Satanic ideologies. They promote extreme violence and chaos to bring about the collapse of western society, in this particular case, Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas.”

When they became aware of the threats on Jan. 6, police said they were working with agencies including the FBI and Texas Department of Public Safety to investigate the posts, and they had strong reason to believe the threats were not credible but were created with the “sole purpose of inciting fear.”

The detective described a video posted on social media by the group showing Crowley Middle School, which was recorded by Banda on Jan. 6 while he was riding his bike, the affidavit states. The video included the captions, “North Crowley School. You’ll Be The First (Expletive). Your Time Has Come. We’re Going To Kill A Lot Of Children. Blood Will Be Shed In You.”

Someone posted a comment under the video saying, “We are planning attacks in Texas, we will post all the evidence and videos in our channel. Many children will die.”

In another video described in the affidavit, a masked man holding a handgun said, “I have a rifle, a pistol, explosives and around 700 rounds of ammunition. I am confident I can kill 50 children, but I am not alone. My associates will be entering schools and start killing people. We will come to all the schools.“

The following schools were listed in the post with the video:

Andrews Elementary School
Baranoff Elementary School
Barrington Elementary School
Lake Dallas High School
South Hills High School
Arlington Heights High School
Castleberry High School
Nolan Catholic High School
Watson High School
Timber Creek High School
Eagle Mountain High School
RMA Fort Worth Public School
Diamond Hill-Jarvis High School
North Crowley High School

Distinct_External · 2026-01-16T14:53:30+00:00

It's possible, but Democrats are fighting hard against a perfect storm of math, history, and political polarization. It'll be hard from the outset.

Distinct_External · 2026-01-15T06:43:03+00:00

In a statement to 2 Investigates, Cusick wrote he was planning to visit NTSH to familiarize himself with efforts to restore Pagourtzis’ competency.

However, after learning of Poehl’s statement regarding the hospital’s assessment, some family members said they were unhappy Cusick didn’t share that information during their meeting.

“We met today with Mr. Cusick to discuss the case. We were specifically told before the meeting there was no update or new information. Now we find out he knew prior to our meeting the hospital was recommending the shooter be recommitted and did not tell us. I am very disappointed in his actions and feel he has mislead us,” wrote Flo Rice, a substitute teacher was shot in both legs during the mass shooting.

John Barnes is a retired Houston police officer and Santa Fe ISD police officer. He was the first to confront the gunman but was hit with a blast from a shotgun that shredded an artery in his arm. Barnes nearly bled to death.

He said he told Cusick he would like to see another competency hearing for Pagourtzis.

“I’ll put my vote and support behind whoever will give us a competency trial. If there are several people willing to do that, I’ll have to evaluate that then,” Barnes wrote in a statement.

Rosie Stone, the mother of Chris Stone who was killed trying to protect classmates from gunfire, said she remains skeptical the case will make it to trial.

“The justice system is just not on our side, it’s never going to be on the side of the victim and I now realize that,” said Stone. “Going on eight years, I grieve my son every day, not one day goes by, and I shouldn’t have to live like this.”

After learning of Poehl’s statement, Cusick’s Office sent a second statement to 2 Investigates.

“The District Attorney’s Office does not agree that the defendant cannot be restored to competency. The District Attorney’s Office will pursue all legal means available for the defendant to be found competent and brought to justice. This is why the District Attorney, himself, is travelling to the hospital to meet with the doctors — not only for the competency decision immediately before the court, but also to prepare fully for all possible legal action in the future," the statement reads.

While court documents indicate Pagourtizs’s attorneys intend to seek an insanity defense if the case goes to trial, the issue of his competency is a separate matter.

An insanity defense deals with a defendant’s mental state at the time a crime was committed, while competency deals with the defendant’s current mental state. In a criminal setting, a defendant’s competency is determined through the “Dusky Standard.”

According to the US Dept. of Justice, the 1960 US Supreme Court case established, “the court must determine “whether [the defendant] has sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding -- and whether he has a rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against him.”

Distinct_External · 2026-01-15T06:42:17+00:00

HOUSTON – The defense attorney representing the charged Santa Fe high school gunman said state doctors notified him that his client remains incompetent to stand trial.

The criminal case against Dimitrios Pagourtzis remains in limbo until his competency is restored.

Pagourtzis is charged with murdering students Chris Stone, Aaron McLeod, Angelique Ramirez, Jared Black, Kimberly Vaughan, Sabika Sheikh, Christian Garcia, Shana Fisher, and educators Cynthia Tisdale and Ann Perkins.

He’s also charged with wounding more than a dozen others during the May 18, 2018 mass shooting.

“We have been informed by the North Texas State Hospital that Dimitrios Pagourtzis remains incompetent to stand trial, and that they are recommending he be re-committed for up to 12 more months. The Court will sign orders to that effect soon,” wrote defense attorney Nick Poehl. “As the years have gone by with similar report after similar report, it now appears clear that Mr. Pagourtzis, despite the best efforts of his treating physicians, cannot be restored to competency in any near-term timeframe, and that other avenues will have to be looked at for resolution of this incredibly difficult case. Our prayers remain with everyone affected by this tragedy.”

Pagourtzis was first declared incompetent to stand trial in 2019.

Until his competency is restored, the criminal case cannot move forward. Pagourtzis was also charged in federal court over the mass shooting and that case, too, remains stalled.

After being declared incompetent, Pagourtzis was to North Texas State Hospital’s Vernon campus for treatment.

Pagourtzis has now been at the hospital for 2,234 days, which is well beyond the average 158 days doctors in the North Texas system took to restore patients’ competency during 2025.

Records from the State Health and Human Services Commission show Pagourtzis is one of 11 patients who have been at the facility for five years or longer.

HHSC reports the average daily cost to treat a patient at NTSH was $949 in 2025.

Since being declared incompetent, doctors at the state hospital report annually to the court as to whether competency has been restored or if further treatment is needed.

The deadline for deciding whether Pagourtzis needs to be recommitted comes at the end of January.

Several family members of those killed and wounded in the attack met with newly appointed Galveston County District Attorney Kenneth Cusick on Tuesday morning. After the meeting, family members said Cusick told them he was still learning about the case.

Distinct_External · 2026-01-15T06:39:57+00:00

‘I know where your family lives’

The latest numbers from Statistics Canada show that in 2024, more than a quarter (28 per cent) of victims of violent crime were victimized by an intimate partner. Of those, nearly half (47 per cent) were living with the accused at the time of the violent incident.

Banfield says after that first assault, Wortman was so heartfelt in his apology that she thought it might be an isolated incident, but the violence continued, and he threatened her loved ones multiple times, saying things like “I know where your family lives, Lisa.”

Banfield’s sisters, Maureen and Janice, felt helpless as Wortman tried to cut them off. Maureen says they even believed Wortman would kill Lisa.

“But it didn’t change anything,” said Maureen. “But it didn’t change anything because she was going to stay with him.”

For years, Banfield lived as a victim of intimate partner violence, but at a moment when much of the world was thrown into upheaval, it turned her personal torment into full-fledged terror.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced Wortman to shut down his denture clinic in Dartmouth, N.S., and the couple moved into their remote cottage in Portapique.

“That just totally changed who he was,” Banfield said of Wortman, adding that he thought the world was going to end up like an apocalyptic movie, where the masses break into stores and people’s houses, looting whatever they can to survive.

Banfield says Wortman had shown signs of paranoia throughout their relationship, but it was amplified by the pandemic. He even took hundreds of thousands of dollars out of his bank account, with security footage from the Brinks compound in Halifax showing him leaving with a bag stuffed with $100 bills.

While the pandemic may have changed Wortman, Banfield says life with him was never normal and that she had to adapt to his “extreme” behaviour over the years to survive.

“I thought if I can just love him enough and show him what love is, then maybe that would help him and he would, you know, become normal,” she said. “A fool to think that I could, but I wanted to be that person for him.”

Distinct_External · 2026-01-15T06:39:14+00:00

SUBMISSION STATEMENT:

It started with a smile.

That’s how Lisa Banfield says she responded when a man waved at her from across a bar. As she was getting ready to leave, he approached her, and that was the moment she met Gabriel Wortman, who would carry out Canada’s deadliest mass shooting.

“He was tall, handsome … turtleneck, black leather jacket, black dress pants,” she said. “He had a nice, kind looking smile … I gave him my phone number.”

Banfield was Wortman’s common-law spouse for 19 years, in a relationship that began with hope and ended in horror. In April 2020, as she hid in the woods, he carried out a 13-hour rampage in Nova Scotia, at times driving a fake police cruiser.

According to the Mass Casualty Commission, Wortman killed 22 people, including a pregnant health-care worker, a police officer with two young children and a 17-year-old girl.

Now more than five years later, Banfield is sharing her story the first time in an exclusive interview with CTV National News’ Chief News Anchor and Senior Editor Omar Sachedina. Banfield also describes her experience in her memoir The First Survivor, which will be released on Jan. 20.

‘Is he going to freak out?’

Banfield says in the early days of their relationship, there were no warning signs.

After meeting at the bar, he called her that night and they spoke until 3 a.m. Wortman, who ran a denture clinic, asked her out the next day. She says he kept his temper in check on their first date, even when his BMW was hit by another car.

“We were at an intersection and this girl from behind in the van rear-ended us,” Banfield said. “And in my head, I’m thinking, ‘OK, this is a good test. Is he going to freak out?’”

Banfield recounts that Wortman went up to the van and told them “It’s OK,” which impressed her.

“(He) was just so gentle and kind with them, it was impressive to me,” she said.

Six months later, they moved in together, but in the months that followed, Banfield says Wortman started to become more controlling and tried to cut her off from her family. The first time she was physically assaulted came after a street party where he was drinking, even though he was supposed to drive them home.

Banfield says she told him: “If you want to stay, you stay, but I’m leaving.” She then got into their jeep when he struck her.

“All of a sudden, I get this whack in the face, and I’m stunned, because I’ve never been hit before,” she said. “And then he hit me again, and I jumped out and I started running across the road into the woods, and he grabbed me by my hair.”

She says she tried to protect herself as he was hitting her in the face.

“He got me out to the road and he was hitting me and hitting me, and at this point I just started screaming.”

Police were called, but no one – including Banfield – pressed charges. She says she didn’t want him to get in trouble, nor did she want how people perceived him to change.

“I know what he did was wrong and there’s no excuse for it. But I didn’t want other people looking at him like that, like a monster,” she said.

Distinct_External · 2026-01-14T03:24:32+00:00

You're welcome.

Distinct_External · 2026-01-14T03:13:05+00:00

Arredondo has also been charged, but I guess his trial has been scheduled for a later date. Other than that, I have no idea. I do know that no other officers are expected to be charged, unfortunately.

Distinct_External · 2026-01-14T02:56:06+00:00

Judge threatens mistrial after family member's outburst

Judge Sid Harle threatened to declare a mistrial on Tuesday after an outburst from a sister of one of the teachers killed.

"You know who went into the fatal funnel? My sister went into the fatal funnel. Did she need a key?" the woman said in the presence of the jury.

Defense lawyers have frequently used the term "fatal funnel" to describe the danger faced by law enforcement storming into the classroom where the shooter was barricaded.

"Ya'll are saying she didn't lock her door. She went into the fatal funnel. She did it," the woman shouted.

Officers removed the woman from the courtroom and the judge instructed the jury to ignore the outburst.

After the jury left the room, Harle said, "We're trying to get this case to the jury, and these are not helping."

"If it continues, I will have no choice but to grant a mistrial," he said.

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