The ex-wife of the man accused of killing five people in a rural northern Michigan shooting rampage blames the local court system for failing to keep him behind bars.

Chad Hickman, 39, was found dead on Aug. 14 following an extensive manhunt in Missaukee County, roughly 200 miles northwest of Detroit, according to Michigan State Police. Authorities said the violence began at a home, where officers responding to reports of a shooting found a 45-year-old man, a 40-year-old woman, and a 16-year-old boy dead, and a 13-year-old girl critically wounded.

During the investigation, police discovered a 53-year-old man fatally shot at a second residence and later found a 29-year-old woman dead near a wooded area alongside Hickman. Evidence at the scene indicated Hickman died by suicide, according to state police.

Chad Hickman's history of alleged violence and the court system's handling of the cases have come under scrutiny following the deadly shooting spree.

"Missaukee County should be held accountable for what's going on," his ex-wife Katie Hickman told the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, in a brief phone interview on Aug. 17.

"Every last bit of it. Every death falls on the Missaukee County prosecutor who released Chad and let him off all the charges after he raped, tormented, and almost [expletive] killed me and 15 years of abuse," she continued. "Missaukee County let him do this. They were warned and they knew it was coming and they let it happen."

Ex-wife of suspected gunman previously sought protection

In late July 2025, Chad Hickman's ex-wife sought a personal protection order against him, alleging years of abuse.

"I fear for my life and my children," Katie Hickman wrote in a letter to the court seeking the order. "Chad is an evil man. He tortured me for 15 years and he hurt my children. Chad will stop at nothing, he will never leave me alone. Now that he is released, he is back in possession of many guns, pistols, rifles including fully automatic weapons. He is a danger to me and my children."

Family Court Judge Edward Van Alst denied the request for the protection order and advised Katie Hickman that she could seek a hearing to plead her case. Court records do not show any hearing ever being held.

"Petitioner fails to clearly establish reasonable cause to believe immediate, irreparable injury, loss or danger will result from the delay to give notice," Van Alst wrote in his decision.

The denial came after Chad Hickman had been released from the county jail, where he had served time after cutting a plea deal with prosecutors the year before.

Van Alst declined through his office on Aug. 17 to comment on the decision to deny the protection order.

Why prosecutors agreed to a plea deal

In that 2024 case, Chad Hickman was charged with felony counts of criminal sexual conduct and assault with intent to do great bodily harm, along with misdemeanor counts of child abuse and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

He agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts, according to court records. Prosecutors agreed to drop the felonies.

In a statement explaining the plea deal, Missaukee County Prosecutor David DenHouten said his office had charged Chad Hickman with the felonies even though the crimes were alleged to have happened years before they were reported to police. A police report shows the accusations were reported in December 2023 and stretched back to 2011.

DenHouten also noted that the allegations were made in the middle of a divorce case. Court records show the divorce was especially bitter. DenHouten said the prosecutor's office became aware of prior family court testimony in which Katie Hickman, under oath, denied an assault had taken place.

"In light of the fact that the alleged victim’s credibility had been severely damaged, and because the truthfulness of her proposed testimony was in question, and without other corroborating evidence to support the assault, the Missaukee County Prosecutor’s office entered into a plea agreement involving the remaining child abuse counts," he wrote.

The Detroit Free Press was not immediately able to access transcripts of Katie Hickman's testimony that DenHouten referenced.

Court records: Children described abuse to investigators

Court records related to the criminal case show two children who lived with the couple told investigators that they witnessed abuse. One of the two daughters was the couple's biological child and the other was Katie Hickman's from a previous relationship.

One girl, who was 15 at the time, described seeing Chad Hickman choke her mom with his arm and hands, including once in the kitchen when he pinned her against a "cabinet or refrigerator" with his arm against her throat, according to a summary of the police interview from 2023. The girl said she went to call police for help and Chad Hickman smashed her phone.

When investigators asked how the choking incidents would end, the girl said there came a point when her mother could no longer breathe. She told police she had seen her mother's face "turning purple" and that she was gasping for air, court records show.

The girl also told investigators that after her mother was injured in a car crash and relied on crutches following foot surgery, Chad Hickman would sometimes throw the crutches outside the house to prevent her from walking, according to court records.

A critically wounded 13-year-old girl, shot multiple times by a Lake City man on a shooting spree in northern Michigan that left three other family members dead in the girl's home, was able to call 911, alert authorities and identify the shooter as Chad Hickman, a family member said on social media.

Hickman's alleged rampage left another man dead at a second location in Missaukee County, and a woman was found dead in a wooded area near Whitlock Lake alongside Hickman, with indications that he took his own life.

Michigan State Police on Saturday released only the ages and genders of the victims in the shooting spree, which occurred in the rural county east of Cadillac. But David Everitt, a Cadillac resident, on Facebook identified his daughter, Amanda Everitt, as among those killed by alleged gunman Chad Hickman, 39, of Lake City.

"The world just lost two beautiful people and one is clinging to life ... My daughter Amanda and her two beautiful children were shot in their home yesterday. Amanda and her son eric went home to be with god and our granddaughter Bella is clinging to life in a Grand Rapids hospital," he posted.

David Everitt later in the post noted, "Prayers for Bella who while shot 4 times still managed to call 911 and identify the shooter ... She is a hero."

Family members at David Everitt's home said he wasn't available for comment on Saturday.

A GoFundMe drive to raise money to help the family was set up on Sunday.

Megan Brown, chief communications officer for Munson Healthcare, confirmed Sunday that the Munson Healthcare Cadillac Hospital did treat one victim of a "tragic local incident on Friday." After being stabilized, Brown said, the victim was transferred to another facility outside of Munson for further treatment.

"We extend our thoughts to everyone impacted by this incident," according to Brown's statement to the Detroit Free Press. 

Mike Davidson lives on South Blodgett Road less than 2 miles from the house where three of the slayings occurred.

“This is what everybody is talking about, everybody that I ran into today, everybody’s talking about it in all of the smaller communities around here. It seems like everybody knew at least one person involved in it. It’s really had an impact; it’s led to a lot of scared people.”

Detectives from the Michigan State Police Cadillac Post, throughout Friday and into Saturday, investigated three crime scenes in the county. Investigators pieced together a preliminary timeline of events:

• At approximately 11:40 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 14, troopers were dispatched to a home on South LaChance Road in Lake Township for a report of a 13-year-old girl who had been shot. She was transported to a local hospital in critical condition, and according to police, she remains hospitalized and is now listed in stable condition.
• Police found three other people shot dead at the South LaChance Road home: a 45-year-old male, 40-year-old female and 16-year-old male.
• With Hickman gone from the South LaChance Road home, police undertook a massive search, with state police bringing in aviation, K-9, and emergency support teams. The search led police to a second home a few miles away in Missaukee County, where they found a 53-year-old male dead.
• Police eventually found Hickman's vehicle in a wooded area at Whitlock Lake in Caldwell Township in the county, where they discovered a deceased 29-year-old female alongside Hickman.

Hickman had violent history, court records show

Court records show Hickman had a criminal conviction for child abuse and a stormy divorce with accusations of domestic abuse.

Court records show that in January 2024, Hickman was arraigned on four felony and five misdemeanor charges in Missaukee County. Prosecutors accused him of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder by strangulation. They also charged him with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of interfering with electronic communications.

The misdemeanor charges at the time were one count of domestic violence, three counts of fourth-degree child abuse and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

In August 2024, Hickman pleaded guilty to one count of fourth-degree child abuse and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. All other charges were dismissed, according to online court records.

A judge sentenced Hickman to a year in the county jail.

Hickman's 2023 divorce from his wife, Katie Hickman, was so bitter that he posted parts of the court file on his Facebook page, thanking the judge for being "way to f---ing smart to believe my ex wife's bull---- story."

The records show the couple married in 2011. Katie Hickman was injured in an accident and received a lawsuit settlement. The pair used that money to start a business buying and renovating homes to rent or sell.

The marriage eventually soured and they separated and tried reconciling.

Hickman testified in the case that he attempted to separate from his wife in December 2023 after she set up online dating profiles, according to the court filings posted online on his Facebook page. He also accused his wife of "sex bombing" him as a way of reconciling with him.

"It is uncontested that this marriage involved allegations and incidents of domestic violence which lie at the heart of the issues before the court," Judge Melissa Ransom wrote in an opinion in the case also posted on Facebook. "Testimony and evidence presented by both parties confirm that the relationship was marked by significant disfunction and mutual toxicity."

Gunshots nothing new in Lake Township — only the mass violence

Vicki Gunnerson lives next door to the home on South LaChance Road where three people were shot and killed and a fourth wounded. She said Amanda Everitt was once a niece to her via marriage.

Hearing gunshots, even a lot of them, is nothing new in rural Lake Township, Gunnerson said.

“There are gunshots here all the time,” she said. “You hear them at all hours of the day or night, from every direction, every angle.”

As a Free Press reporter was talking with Gunnerson, as if to prove the point, a number of shots could be heard fired in rapid succession, not too far away.

But just before noon on Friday, Gunnerson experienced something unexpected: the police urgently at her door.

“I was coming, and he kind of opened the door and yelled in, ‘Did somebody get shot here?’” she said. “I said no, and he said, ‘Well the shots are coming from this property.’”

Police were on Gunnerson’s property and next door well into early Saturday morning. She called the spree of violence coming so close to home "very shocking."

“I was scared, I wanted to get the heck out of here,” she said. “I was the only one here.”

Chad Hickman as a small child came to live briefly with Vicki Gunnerson and her husband, Steve, now deceased, decades ago, she said. The couple knew Hickman’s parents, and they came to live with them for a while, along with three of their children, including Chad.

“I remember Chad when he was a little kid, they stayed with us for a little while. And I remember later he worked at the ABC Warehouse. I thought he looked like a nice young man back then, but we’re talking years ago, and I never knew him personally or was around him or his wife.”

The shootings have shaken this rural community of about 2,800, an area where acres of open land often separate neighbors.

“We’ve never had [violence] to this level,” said Lake Township Supervisor Rob Hall. “I don’t think anybody really even knows what to think.”

On May 24, 2022, a mass shooting occurred at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, United States. Salvador Ramos, an 18-year-old former student of the school, fatally shot 19 students and 2 teachers, while injuring 18 others. Ramos was killed 77 minutes after entering the classroom by law enforcement officers.

It is the third deadliest shooting at an American school after the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012 and the deadliest school shooting in Texas. After shooting and wounding his grandmother at their home, Ramos drove to Robb Elementary School, where he entered a classroom and shot his victims, having bypassed local and state officers who had been in the hallways. He remained in the classrooms for 1 hour and 14 minutes before members of the United States Border Patrol Tactical Unit breached the classroom and fatally shot him. Police officers did not breach the classroom, but cordoned off the school grounds, resulting in violent conflicts between police and civilians, including parents, who were attempting to enter the school to rescue children. As a consequence, law enforcement officials in Uvalde were criticized for their response, and their conduct was reviewed in separate investigations by the Texas Ranger Division and United States Department of Justice.

Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) officials laid much of the responsibility for the police response on Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Department (UCISD PD) Chief Pedro Arredondo, whom they identified as the incident commander. Arredondo disputed the characterization of his role as incident commander, but was fired by the Uvalde school board. A report by the Texas House of Representatives Investigative Committee attributed the fault more widely to "systemic failures and egregious poor decision making" by many authorities. It said, "At Robb Elementary, law enforcement responders failed to adhere to their active shooter training, and they failed to prioritize saving the lives of innocent victims over their own safety... there was an unacceptably long period of time before officers breached the classroom, neutralized the attacker, and began rescue efforts."

Shortly after the shooting, local and state officials gave inaccurate reports of the timeline of events and exaggerated police actions. The Texas Department of Public Safety acknowledged it was an error for law enforcement to delay an assault on Ramos' position in the student-filled classrooms, attributing this to the school district police chief's assessment of the situation as one with a "barricaded subject", instead of an "active shooter". Law enforcement was aware there were injured individuals in the school before they made their entrance. In June 2024, two officers, including Arredondo, were criminally indicted for allegedly mishandling the response to the shooting. On January 21, 2026, former Uvalde school officer Adrian Gonzalez was acquitted of 29 child endangerment charges. The trial of former Uvalde school police chief Pete Arredondo on 10 counts of "abandoning or endangering a child" has yet to be scheduled.

Discussions ensued about American gun culture and violence, gridlock in politics, and law enforcement's failure to intervene during the attack. A month after the shooting, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and President Joe Biden signed it into law; it was the most significant federal gun reform legislation since the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994. Investigations revealed that Ramos was motivated to do the attack for fame. After the shooting, Robb Elementary was permanently closed. The district plans to demolish it and build a replacement.

The man suspected of launching an Up North killing spree had a history of violence before being found dead himself on Aug. 14.

Court records show Chad Hickman, 39, of Lake City had a criminal conviction for child abuse and a stormy divorce with accusations of domestic abuse. Michigan State Police said they found Hickman dead in a wooded area of Missaukee County's Caldwell Township about 25 miles west of Houghton Lake.

Police began searching for him Friday after responding to a reported shooting at a home on South Lachance Road. They found three people dead and a fourth in critical condition at that home. Another apparent victim was found dead at a nearby home. A fifth person was found dead near where Hickman's body was located, State Police said.

Investigators have not yet released the names and ages of the people who were killed.

Court records show that in January 2024, Hickman was arraigned on four felony and five misdemeanor charges in Missaukee County. Prosecutors accused him of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder by strangulation. They also charged him with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of interfering with electronic communications.

The misdemeanor charges at the time were one count of domestic violence, three counts of fourth-degree child abuse and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

In August 2024, Hickman pleaded guilty to one count of fourth-degree child abuse and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. All other charges were dismissed, according to online court records.

A judge sentenced Hickman to a year in the county jail.

Hickman's 2023 divorce from his wife, Katie Hickman, was so bitter that he posted parts of the court file on his Facebook page, thanking the judge for being "way to f---ing smart to believe my ex wife's bull---- story."

The records show the couple married in 2011. Katie Hickman was injured in an accident and received a lawsuit settlement. The pair used that money to start a business buying and renovating homes to rent or sell.

The marriage eventually soured and they separated and tried reconciling.

Hickman testified in the case that he attempted to separate from his wife in December 2023 after she set up online dating profiles, according to the court filings posted online on his Facebook page. He also accused his wife of "sex bombing" him as a way of reconciling with him.

"It is uncontested that this marriage involved allegations and incidents of domestic violence which lie at the heart of the issues before the court," Judge Melissa Ransom wrote in an opinion in the case also posted on Facebook. "Testimony and evidence presented by both parties confirm that the relationship was marked by significant disfunction and mutual toxicity."

On the day it all changed, Gabrielle Burton was where she often is on Saturday afternoons — the Twin Falls Visitor Center.

Burton runs a tour company, one of the few operating in Idaho’s Magic Valley. Her trip on Aug. 1 was a busload of her “super-seniors,” ages 75 and up. The itinerary was low-key: Peer down the concrete overlook into the Snake River Canyon, and cool off with a shopping spree in the visitor center gift shop, stocked full of Evel Knievel T-shirts and southern Idaho souvenirs.

It seemed like they’d timed it perfectly, too, their yellow coach bus parking out front in time to see a BASE jumper leap from the Perrine Bridge, circling and drifting on the wind toward the deep green river below.

Inside the window-walled building by the canyon rim, no one could hear the first rounds being fired into the drive-thru at the In-N-Out Burger less than 500 feet away. The clock was about to turn to 2:30 p.m.

Local police would come to call Burton, 61, a hero for what she did in the minutes and hours ahead. She, herself, struggles with the title. But thanks to Burton, some three dozen people are safe, despite coming feet and seconds away from the gunman who killed three people and wounded seven others during a mass shooting in Twin Falls on Saturday, Aug. 1.

“What was the choice?” she told the Idaho Statesman on Aug. 13. “If I didn’t do what I did, we’d all have gotten shot. There was no choice.”

‘We’re hiding. We’re here.’

When the first of her guests thought they heard gunfire, Burton dismissed the noise as fireworks. Then she opened the visitor center door and noticed the rapid “pop-pop-pop” riding the wind down toward the canyon. The sounds grew louder, closer, she remembers, culminating in the “pow” of a rifle blast.

Burton didn’t know what was going on. It sounded like a shootout in the parking lot, right by her tour’s waiting bus. Some of her guests were looking at the flowers out front. Burton hastened them inside, pushed everyone — her own tour plus a dozen or so others — away from the floor-to-ceiling bank of windows that look out at the canyon. Burton ducked behind the gift shop counter with two teenage employees. She’d gotten to know them during their summer job, she said, and she told them to stay down.

Burton stood up just long enough to see a man in black walking toward the building. He had a rifle across his chest, and, by the time she realized what she was looking at, he was just five stairs away from the front door.

“This is really happening,” she remembers thinking. “He looked like every shooter you see on TV. Exactly. It was so surreal.”

From then on, it was instinct. In her work, Burton is used to communicating to large groups. She looked at the two employees, both high schoolers, and snapped off orders.

“Get everybody in the back! Get everybody in the back!”

The teenagers knew exactly what she meant: a narrow hallway, a locked door leading to a small clutch of offices on the building’s west side. Outside, the shooter climbed the first step.

That evening, Twin Falls Chamber of Commerce CEO Kyle Tarbet watched security tapes alongside police. He told the Statesman that there were about three dozen people scattered around the visitor center when the shooter reached the front stairs. By the time he opened the translucent door, “it was a ghost town,” Tarbet said.

“She didn’t wait, she didn’t hesitate,” Tarbet said of Burton, with whom he regularly works. “It’s just kind of her personality. She’s full of energy. She’s a take-charge kind of person, and she took action.”

Burton and the two employees ushered almost everyone into the back hall. The whole time, Burton said, she waited to feel the punch of a bullet pierce her back. She was one of the last to get inside, where she told everyone to lie down and stay silent.

“I had to be the one,” Burton said on Thursday, though she had no training in active shooter scenarios. In a room full of tourists, “there was no one else who could get these people to safety.”

For more than a week, she didn’t know what happened outside the wood-grained door. Inside, they huddled atop each other, carpeting the floor in silence, and waiting for the shots.

Video later released by police showed the shooter walking inside and scanning the open gift shop. Three people didn’t make it into the hallway. Two hid behind a drink refrigerator by the entrance, maybe six feet away from the gunman’s barrel. Another hid in the corner, shielded by a display stagecoach, part of the visitor center’s historic exhibit. The gunman was standing on the same spot where, 20 seconds earlier, Burton had stood, ushering visitors to safety, Tarbet told the Statesman.

“He looked around and there were no people,” Tarbet said, recalling the tape.

The shooter walked by the stagecoach, stepping past the person hiding there. It was a “miracle” that he didn’t see anyone, Tarbet said. At the back wall, he glanced around before spotting an emergency exit on the north wall and exiting onto the Canyon Rim Trail.

Soon after, Burton looked out the window to see the man with the rifle running west up the path. She didn’t know if he’d even come inside. More than a week later, she watched the footage with her family and realized that she and the shooter likely had stood on the same tile.

Police ran by the window, long guns in hand. Burton instructed her group to stay down and stay quiet — no one knew what was happening. Two elderly guests went into shock, she said, as she tried to get through to 911.

Eventually, she got through to dispatch.

“I’ve got 30 people,” she remembers telling them. “We’re in the back. We’re hiding. We’re here.”

Twin Falls sheriff: Burton 'undoubtedly saved lives'

Burton’s view of her world shifted on the ground in that hallway.

She doesn’t want to share any more details about where her people hid. She’s worried about a copycat, she said. Today, she doesn’t look at places the same way she did before 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 1. When she enters a room she looks for exits, for cover. Just in case.

Burton is still working to make sense of what she’d done.

Others realized right away.

Burton and her hideaways stayed with police for about five hours, moving from the visitor center to the county courthouse, where they were interviewed by police. Around 7:30 p.m., a City Council member asked her if she needed a ride. Burton remembered that her car was 3 miles away.

Four others joined them on the ride back down Blue Lakes Boulevard — a young couple and their parents, Burton said. They weren’t part of their tour, but she recognized them from the hallway.

“You saved our lives,” the young woman said.

“What do you mean?” Burton asked.

She’d meant exactly what she’d said. They weren’t part of the tour. They were charging their Tesla nearby when they saw the group, and decided to follow along, listen to Burton, and learn a thing or two. It was a rare thing, they said, to leave the car while it charged. A few minutes later, the gunman would jog into the corner of the parking lot where vehicles charged and shoot three people through their windshields. One, Dale Schultz of Salt Lake City, died from his wounds. Now, Burton was riding through town with four others who seemed sure that, on any other day, they’d have been shot, too.

Burton drove home in the early August dusk. She didn’t know what she’d later learn — about the shooter, the victims and her part of the whole thing. On the drive, she just thanked God.

“Thank you, God,” she thought. “Thank you, God. Thank you, God, for being the one who was there to help these people. Thank you, God, for knowing what to do. Thank you, God, for not letting me get shot.”

At home, she wandered around her house and did nothing.

“What do you do, you know?” she said. “I lived.”

In the days that followed, Burton stayed home from work. Her efforts earned praise from both Twin Falls Police Chief Matthew Hicks and Twin Falls Sheriff Jack Johnson.

She “undoubtedly saved lives,” Johnson told the Statesman last week.

“It really didn’t even occur to me,” Burton said. “You can’t process what happened. It took me a while to even think about it.”

'Just be brave, and make it happen.'

In phone calls with the Statesman since the shooting, Burton made it clear that she is still working through what happened on Aug. 1.

On Monday, she decided to watch footage with her family — her children and her 15-year-old grandson. They’d discussed it, whether the teenager should watch, and decided that he should. He needed to learn, they said.

“I would hope that parents would not hide their children from this,” she said. “It’s a terrible thing. No one wants to show this to a 12-year-old, or even a teenager. But look what happened."

“It’s too late to hide your children from what’s going on in this world.”

On Aug. 1, Burton learned that she was “strong” in ways she would never have known. She wants to help others be prepared, too. Know where you are. Know what’s around you. Listen — and try as hard as you can not to panic.

“I’m a big advocate for self-protection, because I was standing there with nothing,” she said. “I was standing in front of a gunman with nothing. And that was the worst position to be in.

“I’d like to see this community be as prepared as possible. I’d like to see people have real talks with kids, and real talks with employees,” she said. “Because life is different in Twin Falls now.”

Burton said she’s talked to city officials about preparation. If anyone could learn anything from her example, she said, she wants to help. If anyone just wants to talk, she said, she’ll be there for the conversation.

Burton has started doing tours again. Now, people recognize the landmarks of Twin Falls for new reasons than a few weeks ago. And, they’re starting to recognize her. If they ask, she tells them what she did, and reminds them that anyone can do the same: think clearly, make a plan, act decisively and get people to safety.

“I’m going to turn this terrible event into a positive as best I can for this community,” she said. “I hope my story helps people be brave. You cannot be afraid. Just be brave, and make it happen.”

16:33 Shooter reported dead 11:01 AM

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1:31:49 Death toll rises to 12+ 12:33 PM

1:42:37 27 reported dead 12:48 PM

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4:00:56 Obama's speech 3:16 PM

4:06:57 Misinformation 3:22 PM

4:18:31 Governor Malloy speaks 3:36 PM

4:46:48 LT Vance speaks 4:04 PM

5:05:19 Hoboken scene 4:22 PM

5:13:48 Insight to potential motives 4:31 PM

5:35:35 LT Vance speaks again 4:56 PM

5:57:06 Nancy

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7:08:58 Adam Lanza

7:18:50 Former tech club mate describing Adam

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9:20:47 Adam's former classmate

HOPKINS, Minn. (AP) — A man who killed his wife and their 7-year-old daughter at a daycare in Minnesota is also suspected of killing a 78-year-old female relative, police said Wednesday.

The 41-year-old man fatally shot himself after stabbing his wife and child at the in-home daycare she operates in Hopkins, a suburb of Minneapolis, police said.

All six other children who were at the daycare were not physically harmed, authorities said. Another parent called police after witnessing the attack while dropping off a child Wednesday morning, Hopkins Police Chief Brent Johnson said.

“There’s no worse scenario than this, where you drop off your child somewhere you think is safe, and you get that phone call,” Johnson said at a news conference.

“This is a tragic day and horrific scene for little children to witness, if they did witness this,” Johnson later added.

More than three hours after the killings, Burnsville Chief Matt Smith said officers were called to a home in his community, 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Hopkins, where they found the dead woman. He said investigators believe the two tragedies are linked, and that the man had been living at the home in Burnsville.

No names were released. Johnson said there was no history of police calls to the Hopkins address.

Amanda Marx, a nurse who lives across the street, didn’t realize anything was wrong until she noticed police officers trying to break down the home’s front door.

She said officers moved behind the home before reappearing and calling for crime scene tape. Later, several young children emerged — one being carried by an officer.

The brown, two-story house has a mural on the garage door of a tree-lined lake and a moose. Photos on the daycare’s Facebook page show kids playing with toys inside and in the backyard, with colorful decorations and artwork on the walls.

Marx said she and her 7-year-old son always referred to it as the “garage house” due to the colorful mural. The longtime resident said she’d never met the home’s owners and was unaware they were running Brown Bear Childcare out of the home. She didn’t recall any prior disturbances.

“I’m just trying to figure out how to explain to my 7-year-old why there’s crime scene tape on our deck,” she said.

Records show the daycare has been licensed by the state since 2019 and has a capacity of 10 children. It was found to be in compliance during visits in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Johnson said killings are a “rarity” in Hopkins and that his officers were shaken by the scene they found inside the home.

“I could see on the look on their faces that this was one of those ones that you’ll remember for your entire career, if not life,” Johnson said.

When the mother and father of the youngest victim of last week’s school mass shooting arrived at the temple north of Bangkok, teary-eyed parents came up to quietly offer condolences before the prayers began in front of the 12-year-old girl’s casket.

Then, in a moment, the tone changed.

A man arrived and dropped to his knees in supplication, sobbing and bowing his head in the traditional “wai” gesture before the couple who had lost their daughter, Naphat Chaimar. It was Nithi Yimruang, the father of the 14-year-old boy who had carried out the shooting, pleading for their forgiveness.

Naphat’s father, Pongthon Chaimar, helped raise the man up by his arms, but his head remained hung in shame, even as Pongthon accepted the apology.

The girl’s parents told Nithi they understood he too was going through a difficult time. His son, Patchat Yimruang, had shot his grandfather and grandmother dead before killing six people and injuring more than 30 at the prestigious Debsirin Nonthaburi school north-west of Bangkok. The teenager had then turned the gun on himself.

The father told the Guardian before the funeral service: “I’m experiencing so many emotions all at once. I feel guilty and heartbroken because I’ve suffered a loss too. I’ve lost my child, as well as my parents. And seeing the little girl’s father being so kind and understanding toward me makes me feel even more guilty.”

He still does not understand why his son did what he did, but he is left to reckon with the violence his own flesh and blood had committed. He leaves the temple of Wat Lat Pla Duk in Nonthaburi province before Monday’s funeral service begins.

Grief, and a royal wreath

The teenage boy had used his grandfather’s gun to carry out the attack. He had lived with his grandparents ever since his parents separated when he was two years old.

But his father visited him every weekend, and took him to extra tutoring classes. “For me, he was number one. But he was a quiet, reserved child. He didn’t talk much and usually kept things to himself. Toward the end, though, he became even quieter than before.

“I used to ask him quite often how things were at school, and he would just say, ‘so-so’. I’d ask him how his classes were going, and he’d just say ‘so-so’.

“But now, there’s no way for me to find out or ask him any more.”

The shooting has resonated across the country, with the king and prime minister leading an outpouring of grief.

Inside the temple’s pavilion in Nonthaburi province, Naphat’s coffin is flanked by a yellow wreath from King Maha Vajiralongkorn and a violet and pink tribute from Queen Suthida. They are joined by wreaths from the prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, and several other cabinet ministers.

The palace announced on Sunday the king had granted royal patronage for the victims, their family and relatives. The move means all the injured would be treated as patients under royal care, and royal sponsorship would be awarded for the funeral rites and cremations of those killed.

‘What I miss most about her … are her dreams’

At the temple on Monday, hundreds of mourners – including the deputy prime minister, teachers, parents and friends – fill the room where Naphat’s casket lies as monks chant prayers. The wreaths and chairs are so numerous they spill out into the undercover area outside.

Mourners burn incense next to the images on display that trace her transition from a baby to a confident young girl on the brink of adolescence, playing guitar and performing on stage.

Naphat had been at the school only three months, as part of its newest cohort of grade 7 pupils.

Father Pongthon says: “What I miss most about her, and what her mother and I miss the most, are her dreams.”

“After the new school term began, she took part in a dance competition and a Thai traditional costume competition. And toward the end of this month, she was supposed to compete in a cheerleading competition as well.

“She took on all these activities, and she was able to do them all. She really enjoyed expressing herself.”

When Naphat’s parents heard the news of the shooting at the school, they kept calling their daughter’s phone. Later, an officer called to say she was at Phranangklao hospital in a critical condition. Naphat died on Saturday, bringing the total death toll to nine, including the attacker.

Naphat’s teacher, who did not wish to be named, remembered her as an entertainer. He told the Guardian, she would not normally have been in the building where the shooting occurred but had gone to get a vaccination along with some other students.

She was walking out of the room where she received the vaccination when she was struck.

Her father, Pongthon, says he does not blame the school. “To put it simply, I think something like this can happen anywhere. Anywhere in the world.”

Hatyaiwittayalai secondary school in Songkhla will close its gates on Monday and Tuesday and provide online lessons after a sacked foreign teacher posted a firearm threat.

The school, which is on Phetkasem Road in Hat Yai district, has about 3,600 students and 250 teachers and staff.

School director Thitiwit Meechooworapong issued the closure order on Saturday night, saying the school would provide online teaching on Monday and Tuesday for the safety of its students and employees.

It follows a threat made by a “Mr Pieter Johannes Dreyer”, a former English-language teacher for English programme students at the school.

On July 24 the school management terminated his employment for breach of contract.

Afterwards, Mr Dreyer allegedly posted a picture with a firearm, messages and an audio clip in a public group on LINE chat, the school director wrote. The school management agreed the content amounted to a threat against the students, teachers and management.

The director wrote that the school management had filed a complaint with Hat Yai police.

According to police, the sacked teacher is a South African national. He left Thailand through the Padang Besar border checkpoint in Sadao district on July 19 and did not return.

The man allegedly posted a threatening message with photos of him firing a gun and photos of school executives in a school LINE chat room with about 5,000 users. He also criticised the school management.

Immigration police said he had already been blacklisted.

The deadly attack by a student at Debsirin Nonthaburi School appears to have resulted from a combination of factors such as family problems, issues at school, academic pressure, conflicts with friends and exposure to violent online content, a senior police officer said on Sunday.

Investigators had questioned 17 witnesses - teachers, classmates and close friends of the student. Evidence gathered so far suggested Friday’s shooting was not triggered by a single issue, Pol Maj Gen Atthapol Anusit, deputy commissioner of Provincial Police Region 1, said after a meeting to review the progress of the investigation.

"We found that several factors may have combined, including family issues, studies, friendships and the consumption of violent content on social media," Pol Maj Gen Atthapol said.

The investigation, he said, was focused on identifying the underlying causes of the attack. Police had learned that the 14-year-old's parents had separated when he was very young. He had been raised by his grandparents since the age of two.

The grandparents were earlier reported to be his first victims on Friday, killed with the grandfather's handgun.

Pol Maj Gen Atthapol said investigators were also looking into issues related to school life, friendships and reports of possible bullying or conflict with teachers, although no conclusions had been reached.

Authorities say they are seeking to establish the facts and restore confidence among students, parents and staff, while Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul on Saturday urged the public not to speculate that bullying alone was responsible for the tragedy.

- Online evidence under review -

According to Pol Maj Gen Atthapol, forensic examination of the suspect's old mobile phone and computer found that he had viewed violent online content and developed an interest in guns in the past year or two.

During that time he had learned about the use of firearms from online media, although investigators found no evidence that he had attended a shooting range or received formal firearms training.

The young teenager had, however, purchased a BB gun online last year and later took it to school, where it was confiscated by teachers.

He had also previously taken a knife to school in his school bag. Reports that he wrote about or produced drawings featuring firearms had not been verified to date.

Pol Maj Gen Atthapol said parents, teachers and guardians should pay closer attention to children's behaviour and online activities.

"Sometimes young people try to tell us about their problems, but we may not pay enough attention. We may not know what they are thinking or searching for, especially when social media is so easily accessible," he said.

- Timeline reconstructed -

During the two-hour case review meeting, police divided the attack into four stages as follows.

Stage 1: Initial attack

The suspect arrived at school, took part in the morning flag-raising ceremony and later fatally shot a teacher in Classroom 3/8 on the sixth floor at 9.53am.

Stage 2: Attacks on the sixth and fifth floors

After shooting the first teacher he moved to Room 565, where two teachers were killed and one student also shot.

At 9.54am, he descended to the fifth floor, inserted a fresh magazine in his gun and attempted to continue shooting - but his gun reportedly jammed.

He then moved to the fourth floor and shot the deputy director and the director's secretary. A uniformed patrol from Plai Bang police station arrived at 10.02am.

Stage 3: Continued attacks

The suspect continued moving through the third, second and first floors, shooting at groups of teachers and students.

He also encountered a janitor but did not harm him because he was not a teacher. The suspect then headed to Building 4 while reloading his gun.

Stage 4: Confrontation with police

After patrol officers arrived at 10.02am, they requested additional support at 10.03am. At 10.08am, officers attempted to talk with the suspect and ordered him to stop shooting.

At 10.10am, the suspect shot himself dead. Tactical police teams subsequently entered Building 4 and cleared the area.

- Parents questioned -

The suspect's parents gave additional statements to investigators on Sunday. After the session, the boy's father briefly spoke to reporters, apologising to those affected by the tragedy.

"Sorry to the victims," he said, raising his hands in a wai while visibly emotional.

Reports said he told investigators that he still could not understand why his son had carried out the attack.

The investigation was continuing. 

On Sunday, July 26, German police shot dead the suspected perpetrator of a car-ramming attack on Berlin’s Pride march, which had left one dead and 20 injured the day before. The suspect already had a police record due to his previous attempt to join the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (ISIS).

In the 2010s, ISIS claimed multiple attacks on cultural events, mostly concerts. Some of its deadliest attacks on European soil were the 2015 Paris Bataclan attack and the 2017 bombing of an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena. More recently, in summer 2024, there was a failed ISIS-inspired plot to attack a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna.

There have also been previous directly homophobic ISIS-inspired attacks – the group also claimed responsibility for the 2016 attack on Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

As of 2018, ISIS no longer exists as a physical state, and without a political entity to inspire further attacks in Europe, its violence has slowed drastically over the last decade.

Yet the toxic ideology of “ISISism” – which seeks to resurrect a pre-modern Caliphate through modern, Western means, including social media – has continued to present the ultimate form of counter-hegemonic rebellion for a certain segment of young Muslims. Even stripped of its physical territory, the Islamic State still profoundly challenges and violates the sovereignty and safety of the US and Europe.

Many people believed that the foiled 2024 Vienna attack marked the end of the already dwindling trend of European-born Muslims launching ISIS-inspired attacks. While there has been relatively little Islamist violence since then, the Berlin attack indicates that radicalisation and violence are certainly not a thing of the past.

The 'new Jihadis'

In early August 2024, three Austrian youth allegedly sought to target “Swifties”, the fans of the American singer Taylor Swift, before her concert in Vienna in early August. The Austrian plotters had specifically declared their allegiance to ISIS.

The plotters of the Swift concert attack included two Austrians, one with North Macedonian roots and the other with Turkish roots, both second-generation Muslims. The attacker behind the Pride parade in Berlin had a similar background – he was born in Germany to Lebanese Muslim parents.

This trend backs up an argument made by Olivier Roy in a 2017 Guardian article entitled “Who Are the New Jihadis?” He argues that there are two demographics that usually join ISIS to conduct attacks in the West: second-generation European Muslims (often recruiting their brothers and sisters), and European converts.

According to Roy, the children of Muslim immigrants born in European states typically live a secular life. They grow up in not-so-religious households, and may go to nightclubs and consume alcohol and drugs. Those from poorer socioeconomic backgrounds may end up involved in petty crime.

At some point – often if they are incarcerated – they became “born-again” Muslims, embracing not just faith, but a more austere, radical version than their parents. They tend to meet in smaller religious groups, rather than the large mosques frequented by their families.

It must be stressed that this is a small segment of “second-generation” European Muslims. What this trend reflects is that the children of immigrant families may engage in a generational revolt against their parents, seeking to prove that they are more devout than their parents.

ISIS had little appeal for first-generation immigrants, who usually sacrificed everything for their children to have a better life in Europe. There are also very few “third-generation” European recruits, as by this juncture they are either well integrated into their society or have found ways to reconcile both dimensions of their identity.

A political flashpoint

Political debates surrounding the attack have already begun, with German minister Alexander Dobrindt labelling the attack “Islamic terror” after the attacker’s past came to light.

His use of the word “Islamic” as opposed to “Islamist” may prove inflammatory. “Islamist” refers specifically to political Islam – which includes the beliefs of extremist groups like ISIS – while “Islamic” refers to the entire Muslim faith. Whether deliberate or not, Dobrindt’s wording could be interpreted as suggesting a link between Islam and terrorist violence.

Right-wing parties and public figures across Europe will undoubtedly use the attack on the Pride parade as another reason to restrict immigration, even as they themselves work to actively dismantle and undermine LGBTQIA+ rights.

But the US and EU members can confront extremist terror attacks. Instead of being pulled into Islamophobic finger-pointing, they can instead take steps to address the socio-economic conditions that lead people towards terrorism. Despair, hopelessness and anger are why the allure of ISISism still persists a decade after the declaration of the Islamic State.

Marginalised, desperate communities provide fertile ground for ISIS’ doctrine – and other forms of violent extremism across the political spectrum – to spread.

At WABC-TV, Burkett is best known for his coverage of the World Trade Center attacks of September 11, 2001. He was located across from the plaza about a block away and was reporting after the hijacked aircraft were crashed into the buildings, and first responders were clustered in the surrounding area. Burkett's camera operator, Marty Glembotzky, recorded the first moments of the collapse of the South Tower. Upon realizing the building was collapsing, Burkett shouted to flee the scene and began running. Burkett and Glembotzky recorded the aftermath of the collapse as dust and debris covered the area and documented as injured persons were treated by first responders. Burkett's camera operator also filmed the collapse of the North Tower 29 minutes later, after which they found shelter in an underground parking garage to avoid the toxic dust.

For this reportage on 9/11, Burkett shared or was awarded outright many prestigious honors, including the George Foster Peabody Award, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, the Edward R. Murrow Award, and the Emmy Award for Outstanding On-Camera Achievement from the New York Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N._J._Burkett

Huntington Hospital was the scene of a massive law enforcement response Friday morning after a person claiming to be part of a global online network of extremists made a 911 call threatening a bomb and other violence, authorities said.

The threat at the Pasadena hospital was received from an IP address at 5:40 a.m., prompting police officers, fire personnel and K-9 units to search the hospital, according to city spokesperson Lisa Derderian.

The threat was deemed to be a swatting call, in which a person reports a fake threat to illicit panic and a large emergency response, she said. An all-clear at the hospital was issued around four hours after the call.

The caller said they were a member of 764, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

The FBI describes 764 as a violent online network that seeks to coerce children into engaging in violent and sexual acts against themselves, animals and other minors.

Group members will often blackmail victims by threatening to make swatting calls at their home address and have also been known to coerce minors into placing swatting calls themselves. A 17-year-old girl associated with 764 was arrested in Vernon, Conn., in 2024 after she was accused of phoning in bomb threats at schools and places of worship.

Swatting calls linked to 764 have also been reported at the University of South Carolina and in Red Wing, Minn.

During Friday’s investigation into the bomb threat at Huntington Hospital, patients and staff were not evacuated. However, incoming emergency room traffic was temporarily diverted to other hospitals, Derderian said.

“The hospital remains open, and normal operations are resuming,” the hospital said in a statement at 9:40 a.m. “We are grateful for the swift response of our local law enforcement partners and appreciate the cooperation of our staff, patients, and visitors throughout this situation.”

The Pasadena Police Department and the FBI are continuing to investigate in hopes of identifying the caller who made the threat.

“It takes numerous resources every time something like this happens,” Derderian said. “If we can try to determine an individual or group, in working in coordination with the FBI and other agencies, we will definitely follow up with criminal charges.”

Derderian noted that a few swatting calls were made to local schools during the past school year, however it’s unclear whether those were connected to the same suspect or group.

Huntington Hospital also was the target of a swatting call in March 2025. In that case, the perpetrator was determined to be a disgruntled patient, Derderian said.

Though swatting is a well-known practice, law enforcement has a responsibility to take every threat seriously and investigate them thoroughly, she said.

“It’s very disruptive and takes a lot of resources and time away from our day-to-day operations,” she said.

Swatting is just one criminal element associated with 764, which federal authorities have characterized as a network of nihilistic violent extremists. The group consists of online predators who specialize in grooming and coercing young girls into performing sexual acts and harming themselves on camera.

While it appears the network formed around 2021, the FBI became increasingly aware of the growing threat around 2022 and has seen a sharp rise in cases since then, according to agency spokesperson Laura Eimiller.

The FBI has opened more than 500 investigations related to the group, she said.

Several alleged associates of 764 have been arrested in the Los Angeles area and face child pornography charges in California’s Central District Court.

They include Bryant Najera Gonzalez, who was arrested in Downey in February and allegedly targeted victims as young as 11. He is accused of ordering one victim to carve his screen name into her skin and threatening to release sexually explicit images to his victims’ families if they didn’t obey his orders.

In August 2025, alleged 764 member Dong Hwan Kim was also arrested in Downey. He is accused of extorting minors to write names on their naked skin, cut themselves and stick objects such as knives into their genitals. Earlier that year, Jose Henry Ayala Casamiro was arrested in the San Fernando Valley and is accused of creating an online server with Kim that acted as a “grooming pool” targeting underage girls, and of coercing at least one victim to carve his name into her arm.

Worker says he pleaded for his life before suspect fired and missed

On August 1, 2026, a mass shooting occurred at a commercial district in Twin Falls, Idaho, United States. Three people were killed, and seven others were injured. The perpetrator, 24-year-old Chad Williams, began shooting near an In-N-Out Burger restaurant before being confronted and driven from the restaurant by an off-duty Idaho state trooper, and by an armed bystander named Jordan Salinas, whose return fire police credited with helping prevent additional casualties. Williams then went to the Twin Falls Visitor Center, was confronted by an employee from a different store, then died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after being located by officers while hiding near the edge of a canyon along a nearby walking trail.

The restaurant had been open for one week prior to the attack. A motive is currently under investigation by authorities.

Families have retrieved the bodies of their loved ones a day after a mass shooting at a school and a home outside Bangkok, as a 12-year-old girl died in hospital, raising the death toll to nine, including the teenage shooter.

A 14-year-old schoolboy opened fire at about 10am local time (03:00 GMT) on Friday at Debsirin Nonthaburi School in Bang Kruai district, Nonthaburi province, northwest of the Thai capital, before taking his own life. According to officials, the boy appeared to have killed his two grandparents at their home earlier in the morning.

Eight bodies – five school staff members, the alleged attacker and his grandparents – were collected by early Saturday afternoon from Bangkok’s Institute of Forensic Medicine. Emergency workers brought out a coffin and loaded it onto an ambulance, which will transport them to their hometown for funeral rites.

Fourteen people are still in hospital on Saturday, seven of them in critical condition, according to the Ministry of Public Health. Most of the wounded were between 12 and 14 years old.

Wiroon Supasingsiripreecha, head of the institute, told AP that most of the victims suffered a single fatal gunshot wound to a vital area, including the chest or head.

He added that the gunshot wound found on the alleged attacker was consistent with the weapon he had used. More detailed forensic findings, including toxicology results, are expected later.

Officials said the gun, described as small and compact, was legally registered to the boy’s grandfather.

There were reports that the boy, who lived with his grandparents, had shown signs of stress connected to school, although a few of his relatives told Thai media they were unaware of any troubles he might have been facing.

The school said all classes would be suspended from August 10 to 14. School staff were instructed to work from home during that time.

On Saturday morning, the school was quiet, with only a minor police presence at the entrance. A few mourners came to lay flowers at the gate.

Charin Siriananchai brought his two sons, ages 9 and 6, to pay their respects. He said that while his sons do not study here, he lives in the neighbourhood and drives past this school almost every day, often stopping to allow students to cross the road.

“Everyone was saddened and shocked because it was unexpected that this would happen in Thailand, and also it’s quite a great loss,” he told AP.

Some parents also came with their children to collect their belongings left behind after the shooting. A father, who declined to identify himself, said his son, who was at the school during the shooting, was still in shock and could not sleep alone.

Within hours of Friday’s shooting rampage, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul pledged to introduce a new firearms control law in the country.

Anutin, who previously tightened gun laws during his tenure as interior minister, said he would now propose a law to restrict the carrying of firearms by the public.

“The new law will only allow government officials on duty to carry guns,” he told reporters, without giving any further details.

Thailand has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in Asia, second only to Pakistan and far surpassing its Southeast Asian neighbours.

According to the Small Arms Survey’s 2017 report, there were an estimated 10.3 million firearms in civilian possession in Thailand, an average of 15 guns per 100 residents. About 60% of these weapons were registered, and another 40% were not, the Geneva-based group said.

There have been incidents of mass shootings in Thailand in recent years.

In February, a teacher was killed and a student injured in southern Thailand’s Hat Yai district after a gunman opened fire at a school.

In October 2022, a former police officer killed dozens of people, including children, in a gun and knife attack in Nong Bua Lamphu province.

GREENBRIER, Ark.- The Greenbrier School District sent families a notice today that a 21-year-old woman was arrested for planning a mass shooting at East Side Elementary School. 

Police records show that Abilene Almanza was brought into Greenbrier Police Department for questioning after the FBI tipped police off concerning messages she was sending in the app Discord.

A report says that during the interrogation, Almanza said she suffered bullying “her entire life, but especially in elementary school.” Officers wrote that Almanza planned on stealing weapons from a relative’s home in the community of Springhill to conduct the shooting. 

The police report says that Almanza targeted an elementary school because she said that’s where she was bullied the most, and she believed there would be less security on hand than at a middle or high school.

Almanza allegedly told the investigator that “the world is a messed-up place, and I just want to mess it up more through a school shooting.” The interrogator wrote that Almanza showed no signs of remorse for her thought pattern. 

Scott Spainhour, Greenbrier School District’s Superintendent, wrote in a statement to families, “We are thankful for federal and local law enforcement and their swift action for apprehending this individual. We will cooperate with law enforcement officials moving forward to ensure accountability. The district will provide information in coordination with law enforcement agencies. Please know that the district will continue to take comprehensive safety measures, including an armed police officer on each school campus.”

Records show Almanza was interrogated and arrested on July 21st. She’s been charged with threatening to commit a mass shooting at school and is being held at Faulkner County Detention Center with a $1,000,000 bond.

She is next scheduled to appear in court on August 10^(th) for an arraignment hearing. 

On August 1, 2026, a mass shooting occurred at an In-N-Out Burger restaurant in Twin Falls, Idaho, United States. Three people were killed, and seven others were injured. During the shooting, the gunman, 24-year-old Chad Williams, was confronted by Jordan Salinas, an armed civilian, and an unidentified off-duty Idaho state trooper. Williams died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The restaurant had been open for one week prior to the attack. A motive is currently under investigation by authorities.