Month: August 2026

By Tom Dougherty

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    PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (KYW) — A man accused of terrorizing at least a half dozen people while wearing a Chucky-style mask near Philadelphia City Hall earlier this month was arrested in Las Vegas, authorities said Tuesday.

Zymire Hughes, 22, was arrested around 8 p.m. at an apartment complex in southeast Las Vegas and is being held in the Clark County Detention Center awaiting extradition back to Philadelphia, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

U.S. Marshals said Hughes has been a Las Vegas resident since February but has family in Philadelphia. They believe Hughes was in the city for a few weeks. He fled Philadelphia on Aug. 19 from Trenton-Mercer Airport in Ewing, New Jersey, to Orlando, Florida, and then took another flight to Vegas, they said.

“By hiding behind a Chucky-style Halloween mask, Hughes terrorized Philadelphia residents and believed he could evade law enforcement. He was wrong,” Robert Clark, the Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal for the Eastern Pennsylvania Violent Crime Fugitive Task Force, said. “His arrest should send a clear message: you can hide your face, but you can’t hide from the elite investigators of the U.S. Marshal Service.”

Hughes allegedly chased and threatened at least six people around City Hall in Center City on Aug. 12 over a roughly 15-minute span, according to police. Investigators claimed Hughes asked one woman if she was “ready to die.”

According to police, the threats began around 5:18 a.m. on Aug. 12 at the intersection of 15th and Chestnut streets. Hughes allegedly ran up to multiple people, attempting to scare and antagonize them, police said.

About two minutes later, police said Hughes entered a Dunkin’ on the 1500 block of Chestnut Street, but he was refused service for wearing the mask. Hughes left and was later seen on camera running toward people at the southwest corner of Penn Square at City Hall around 5:25 a.m.

Police said Hughes then chased a man on the west side of 15th Street and approached a woman jogging at 15th and Market streets. According to police, Hughes stopped in front of the woman and asked her, “Are you ready to die?” The woman took off and injured her leg, police said.

Hughes fled to Suburban Station after the threats, according to police.

Hughes allegedly had a cellphone with the light on and appeared to film the incidents, Philadelphia Police Capt. Jason Smith previously said.

Clark said Hughes has been charged with aggravated assault, terroristic threats and related offenses.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Paul Burton

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    BOSTON, Massachusetts (WBZ) — A new study released Tuesday by Boston University and Mass General Brigham shows that 25% of all former NFL players who died during a recent six-year period had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known as CTE. In Massachusetts, one high school explained steps it has taken to try and reduce head injuries.

“It triggers alarm. What we need to do, now that we know so many of these individuals are experiencing this disease process, we need to move full steam ahead on how we can identify the disease in life, how we can treat it, and how we can ultimately cure the disease,” said Daniel Daneshvar, the study’s lead author.

“It is the repeated hits to the head and G-force associated with those hits that accumulate over time that result in this risk process,” added Daneshvar, who is the chair of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Mass General Brigham and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School.

Football practice took place Tuesday for Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood after the study was released.

Many of the players wear Guardian caps, specially designed headgear to help prevent head injuries.

At Xaverian, more than 75% of its players wear the Guardian caps. The equipment is expensive, however, and not all schools can afford the caps.

The school says it has seen a decrease in concussions over the past year.

Athletics director and Xaverian assistant coach Ted Currle said the school has also lowered the amount of full contact during practice to reduce the risk of head injuries.

“I believe that we’re going to find out it definitely is a problem for guys who play football for many, many years,” Currle said.

Daneshvar said there needs to be a lot more discussion surrounding the topic of head injuries.

“At the NFL level they have less than one contact practice per week. If we had our coaches at the collegiate, high school and youth level practicing the same way, that would eliminate over half of the head impacts that our athletes experience,” he said.

The NFL responded to the new study with a statement following the release of the new CTE study, saying the league is continuing to look for ways to reduce concussions and head injuries.

“The NFL remains committed to ensuring that the NFL community has access to a robust — and expanding — set of resources to enhance their physical and mental well-being. We encourage former players to utilize these resources to identify and seek treatment when they are concerned about their health,” an NFL spokesperson said.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Tara Lynch

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    FINKSBURG, Maryland (WJZ) — Can you imagine seeing a wild horse while driving? That’s the reality for neighbors in Finksburg, Maryland.

Carroll County Animal Control told WJZ that a horse has been on the run near Liberty Reservoir along Deer Park Road since the end of June.

Neighbors said they are concerned for their safety because the horse is often spotted along the roadside or even in the middle of the road.

“Not only do I want to see the horse saved, but it really has become a hazard for people on this road,” said Tenille Moore of Westminster.

Carroll County Animal Control, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and Baltimore Environmental Police have been working to locate and safely capture the horse.

DNR police spotted the horse earlier this month. The agency identified it as a sorrel gelding mustang.

Animal Control said the horse’s owner has been working with a professional trapper who has experience handling wild horses. The trapper is “actively working” to locate the horse and is using drones to search through the woods.

Most sightings have occurred at night, making the horse more difficult to trap.

Anyone with information about the horse’s location is asked to contact Carroll County Animal Control at 410-848-4810, Option 2.

Horse on the run The horse has been on the run since June, according to DNR. The agency said the mustang is untrained and requires professionals to safely capture it.

Moore told WJZ’s Tara Lynch that she has seen the horse at least six times, mostly during her morning commute. Her most recent sighting was Sunday morning during dense fog.

“I thought I was going crazy and then I realized very quickly … there were no horse trailers around, there weren’t any people, it was too early in the morning, so clearly this horse was lost,” Moore said. “I did have to run off the road because he was standing in the middle of the road, and I could barely see in front of me because of the fog.”

Baltimore Environmental Police is leading the investigation.

Neighbors are also taking steps to warn drivers, posting signs along Deer Park Road and urging motorists to slow down and watch for the horse.

Todd Laudeman, who lives near the reservoir, said he posted four signs Sunday morning after learning that someone nearly hit the horse.

“One of my daughter’s neighbors almost hit him on the corner up the road behind me. That prompted me to say, at least there, let’s put a sign so somebody is on the lookout,” Laudeman said.

Law enforcement sources involved in the case told WJZ that the horse was being cared for by someone who is facing animal cruelty and abandonment charges in an unrelated case in West Virginia. It remains unclear who legally owns the mustang.

Another neighbor told WJZ that the horse was spooked and jumped a fence before running toward the reservoir.

“Wild horses like this one would tend to look for an escape route and not necessarily go back to where they came from to say, ‘Oh, I need to go home,'” said Laudeman, who owns horses.

Now, neighbors are hoping the horse can be captured safely and without harm while also keeping drivers out of danger.

“Too many people are starting to see the horse, almost hit the horse, and at some point someone is going to get seriously hurt or die, and that’s the worst-case scenario,” Moore said.

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By Web Staff

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    BUTTS COUNTY, Georgia (WUPA) — Authorities intercepted a shipment containing 1,800 pounds of marijuana in Butts County on Tuesday, according to Sheriff Gary Long.

The shipment originated in Sacramento, California, and Long said about half was bound for Atlanta, while the other half was headed to Orlando, Florida.

“The illegal marijuana trade does not stop at the state line,” Long said.

The sheriff’s office did not disclose where or how authorities intercepted the shipment. Officials also did not announce any arrests, identify possible suspects or say what charges could be filed.

Long used the seizure to urge Georgia lawmakers to carefully consider the experiences of states that have legalized marijuana. He argued that legalization and regulation alone would not eliminate illegal sales because criminal organizations can avoid the taxes, licensing fees and other expenses paid by legal businesses.

“This isn’t simply the legal marijuana industry supplying these illegal markets. Mexican drug-trafficking organizations and other criminal organizations continue to move enormous quantities of marijuana across state lines, undercutting legitimate growers and businesses operating within the legal system,” Long said. “Our legislators need to understand that you will never completely stop or eliminate the black market simply by legalizing and regulating marijuana. In fact, without addressing the criminal organizations behind the black market, you may only make that market stronger and more powerful and create black-market organizations in every state that legalizes it, just as we are seeing today.”

The sheriff’s office did not say the intercepted shipment was connected to a cartel or any specific criminal organization.

“Georgia, let’s get it right the first time,” Long said.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Brian Unger

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    ATLANTA, Georgia (WUPA) — The family of the man accused in a fatal stabbing near the Atlanta Beltline is speaking publicly for the first time, saying it spent years trying to get him long-term mental health treatment and warning that Georgia’s system was failing to provide it.

CBS News Atlanta obtained a nearly 1,000-word statement from the family of Jonathan Hamby, who is accused of fatally stabbing 29-year-old Ramon Harris on Sunday afternoon.

The family asked to remain anonymous, citing privacy and safety concerns as well as what it described as severe distress following the killing.

In its statement, the family detailed what it called a long history of severe mental illness and active psychosis, along with repeated efforts to get Hamby treatment and compel him to remain in it.

“We spent years desperately fighting a broken system to prevent this exact tragedy from happening,” the family wrote.

The family also questioned why Hamby, whom it described as having had more than 30 arrest cycles, was free and had access to weapons.

“This is a question our family has been asking for years,” the statement said.

According to the family, relatives repeatedly sought help from the courts, including a plan that would have given them greater ability to ensure Hamby complied with treatment.

Instead, the family said Georgia law left them with few workable options.

“Our current laws offer only two extremes: brief jail stays that treat psychiatric illness as a crime or total guardianship, which is incredibly difficult to secure and often resisted by the courts,” the family wrote.

Atlanta criminal and civil rights attorney Joshua Schiffer said the cycle described by the family is familiar to judges and attorneys who see people with chronic mental illness repeatedly enter and leave the criminal justice system.

“The courts are extraordinarily aware and frustrated with this cycle of discharge, arrest, discharge, arrest,” Schiffer said, adding that long-term incarceration following a serious crime can ultimately become “the only long-term solution.”

“In Georgia, we don’t have a place or a system set up to address the needs of mentally ill people in our state,” Schiffer said.

Hamby’s family echoed that concern, writing that the current system “relies on a revolving door of short-term incarceration rather than long-term intervention.”

DeKalb Commissioner Ted Terry said one of the biggest obstacles is capacity — both in psychiatric treatment facilities and transitional housing.

Terry said DeKalb County currently has 32 crisis beds, where someone can be held involuntarily for up to six days while being evaluated.

“But then once that six days is up, there’s no mechanism to either retain them or to refer them into a transitional housing facility,” Terry said.

Last month, DeKalb County received $409 million in state funding to build a 300-bed psychiatric treatment facility adjacent to its current facility, a significant expansion Terry said is badly needed.

“We’ve got to speed up the evaluations,” Terry said. “And then once the evaluation is done, if there’s a referral to the hospital, absolutely. That’s going to help because that’s where the treatment’s needed.”

But until additional capacity is available, Terry said the choices can be limited.

“Right now there’s not enough hospital beds,” he said. “And so either someone’s going to stay in jail or they’re going to be released on the street.”

Schiffer argued that the shortage reflects a broader failure by the state to provide sufficient resources to address chronic mental illness.

“Atlanta is being held hostage by the state House because they won’t provide the appropriate resources to effectively address this known chronic problem,” he said.

The family of the accused is not alone in raising questions about the systems meant to help people in crisis.

A friend of Harris told CBS News Atlanta that Harris had been experiencing housing insecurity and was living within a system the friend believes had also failed him.

“Everyone involved in this tragedy ultimately represents a failure of something much larger than one individual,” the friend said in a statement. “We have created a society that too often abandons people who need support, then judges them harshly for the consequences of that abandonment.”

The killing and its aftermath are now focusing attention on two problems that can often collide on Atlanta’s streets: homelessness and serious mental illness.

For a family and a city now dealing with the consequences of Sunday’s violence, the questions extend beyond what happened near the Beltline to what, if anything, could have happened earlier to prevent it.

And whether the safety net designed to intervene before a crisis becomes a tragedy has enough resources — and enough legal authority — to actually do so.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Ana Maria Soler

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    DADE COUNTY, Florida (WFOR) — Three people were arrested in connection with a vehicle airbag theft ring in Miami-Dade, with investigators looking for a fourth suspect, the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office announced.

Detectives with MDSO’s Intracoastal Auto Theft Unit identified the suspects as three teens after deputies responded to multiple locations across South Florida where vehicles had been broken into and airbags removed.

MDSO said that the three were taken into custody without incident. According to MDSO, the group is responsible for more than 40 stolen airbags from dozens of Honda vehicles across multiple incidents.

The suspects were identified as Rayeem Lawrence, 19, from Lauderdale Lakes; Nasir Brunson, 19, from Miami; and Reniyah Newman, 19, from Miami. The fourth person, who’s at large, has not yet been identified by authorities.

According to arrest reports for the suspects, the thefts began in early May. Deputies responded to several locations in northeast Miami-Dade where Honda vehicles had been burglarized and their driver-side airbags removed. On May 6, deputies documented three separate incidents along NE 191 Street, all involving Honda CR-Vs.

By May 20, detectives said the number of burglaries had grown. At least 27 Honda vehicles were broken into at a single location near NE 191 Street and NE 14 Avenue. Surveillance footage showed three people in dark hoodies arriving in a silver Honda sedan, breaking into multiple vehicles, and leaving in a stolen gray Honda CR-V.

On June 17, deputies responded to additional burglaries at Northlake Village Condos and Carmel at the California Club, where more Honda vehicles were targeted. Security footage from both locations showed three people in hoodies and face coverings entering vehicles and removing airbags.

Detectives identified the silver Honda Accord used in the crimes as being registered to Lawrence’s mother. On July 3, deputies stopped the Accord near NE 195 Street and Ives Dairy Road. Brunson, who was a passenger, was found to have an active warrant. During the stop, deputies found a wallet belonging to a recent burglary victim, as well as burglary tools and devices commonly used in vehicle theft.

Surveillance video from the Cedar Glenn complex showed Brunson, Newman, and another unnamed co-defendant jumping a fence, approaching a Chevrolet Suburban, and fleeing after being confronted by a witness. The group was later seen getting into a gray Honda sedan.

Lawrence was arrested on Aug. 15. According to detectives, he admitted in a recorded statement to driving associates who targeted Honda vehicles for their airbags and said he was paid for his involvement.

Brunson faces charges of burglary of an unoccupied conveyance and possession of burglary tools.

Newman is charged with burglary of an unoccupied conveyance.

Lawrence faces multiple charges, including grand theft of motor vehicle parts, burglary conspiracy, grand theft conspiracy, and criminal solicitation.

The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office said the group caused an estimated $102,500 in stolen airbags and $14,700 in damaged vehicle windows.

The investigation continues as deputies search for the fourth suspect involved in the theft ring.

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By Ivan Taylor

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    MIAMI, Florida (WFOR) — Miami Police and employees of a Mexican restaurant in the city’s Edgewater neighborhood are asking for the public’s help identifying a couple accused of stealing a tip jar containing money intended for the kitchen staff.

Surveillance video from La Potranca Tacos & Cantina on Biscayne Boulevard captured the incident on Wednesday, Aug. 19.

Restaurant employees said the jar contained approximately $80 to $100 in tips.

The money had a special purpose. Employees said servers had agreed that tips collected from takeout orders would go to the cooks working in the kitchen.

But that night, employees say, the money disappeared after a couple came into the restaurant.

Surveillance video shows a woman walking into the restaurant and approaching the counter. Video from another camera appears to show her grabbing the tip jar and attempting to conceal it while looking to her left.

A man can also be seen nearby, appearing to keep watch as the woman takes the jar.

Brisa Briones, regional manager for La Potranca, said she was furious when she reviewed the surveillance footage.

“When I saw the video, I felt angry because people work so hard. They don’t deserve that,” Briones told CBS News Miami.

Milton Alvarez was working in the kitchen when the incident happened. He said employees were stunned when they learned what had happened.

“The truth is that we were left speechless when we saw the video,” Alvarez said in Spanish. “It is some extra money we look forward to getting.”

According to Briones, the pair initially entered the restaurant and behaved like regular customers.

“First they came and they ordered like regular customers, and they left the place,” she said.

Briones said the couple later returned. That’s when the restaurant’s surveillance cameras captured the images employees say show the woman taking the tip jar while the man stood nearby.

The restaurant has been operating in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood for nearly a year. Briones said management reported the incident to Miami police.

Employees believe the couple may live in South Florida and hope someone will recognize them from the surveillance footage.

Anyone with information about the identities of the two people is encouraged to contact Miami police.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.