Vehicle smashes through Illinois building, killing 4 children and injuring others
CHATHAM, Ill. (AP) — A car smashed through a building Monday afternoon, killing four children and injuring several others during an after-school program in a small city outside of Springfield, Illinois, police said.
Officers responded at about 3:20 p.m. to calls about a vehicle ramming through the building, fatally hitting four people before exiting the other side, Chatham Police Department Deputy Chief Scott Tarter said.
Those killed were between the ages of 4 and 18, Illinois State Police said in an emailed statement. Several other people were hurt and taken to hospitals.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
It wasn't immediately known what led up to the crash or whether it was intentional.
It's is one of several recent instances of people driving vehicles into groups of people across the globe. Only two days earlier, a car plowed through a crowded street during a Filipino heritage festival in Vancouver, British Columbia, killing 11.
The Illinois driver, who was uninjured, was the sole occupant of the vehicle and was taken to a hospital for evaluation, Tarter said. Police haven't said if the driver was arrested or taken into custody.
'I am horrified and deeply saddened by the deaths of children and numerous injuries in Chatham this afternoon,' Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement. 'My heart is heavy for these families and the unimaginable grief they're experiencing – something that no parent should ever have to endure.'
He said his office was monitoring the situation and was ready to lend support.
The struck building and facilities house Youth Needing Other Things Outdoors, which holds after-school programs and summer camps, according to its website.
As evening fell, police cars with lights flashing still blocked streets leading to the building. On its Facebook account, the Chatham Police Department asked for prayers.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
'A terrible tragedy has occurred here that has affected all of us,' the message ended.
___
Associated Press reporter Lisa Baumann contributed to this report from Bellingham, Washington.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Toronto Star
44 minutes ago
- Toronto Star
Argentina's Supreme Court upholds prison sentence for ex-President Cristina Fernández
BUENOS AIRES (AP) — Argentina's Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the 6-year prison sentence on corruption charges for former President Cristina Fernández. The ruling would also disqualify the leader of South American country's opposition movement, known as Peronism, from holding public office. It left Fernández, one of Argentina's most important political figures of the past two decades, at the brink of an arrest by authorities.
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Daughter of accused Gilgo Beach killer believes her father ‘most likely' did it, new film says
NEW YORK (AP) — The daughter of accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann believes he 'most likely' committed the infamous killings in New York even as her mother steadfastly defends her ex-husband's innocence in a new documentary released Tuesday. The admission from Victoria Heuermann isn't made on camera but through a statement from producers near the end of 'The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets,' a three-part documentary on NBC's streaming service Peacock. 'A week before the series release, Victoria Heuermann told the producers that based on publicly available facts that have been presented and explained to her, she now believes her father is most likely the Gilgo Beach killer,' reads a statement at the close of the final episode of the documentary, which was produced by musician 50 Cent's production company, G-Unit Film and Television. Bob Macedonio, an attorney for Heuermann's now ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, said in a statement after the documentary's release that 'time will only tell' whether his client will ever accept that her husband may have been a serial killer. Heuermann's lawyer didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The Manhattan architect has been charged with killing seven women, most of them sex workers, and dumping their bodies on a desolate parkway not far from Gilgo Beach on Long Island, some 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Manhattan. He has pleaded not guilty and is due back in Riverhead court June 17 as a judge continues to weigh whether to allow key DNA evidence into the trial. In the documentary, Victoria Heuermann struggles to reconcile her childhood memories with the portrait of the killer described by authorities. She says her father was around the family '90% of the time' and was never violent toward any of them. At the same time, Victoria Heuermann acknowledged there were times when he stayed home while the family went on vacation and that she was around 10 to 13 years old when the killings happened. Prosecutors say Heuerman committed some of the killings in the basement while his family was out of town. 'Whether or not I believe my dad did it or not, I'm on the fence about that,' said the now 28-year-old. 'Part of me thinks he didn't do it, but at the same time, I don't know, he could have just totally had a double life.' Ellerup, for her part, maintained she saw no 'abnormal behavior' in their nearly three decades of marriage. She dismissed a computer file prosecutors claim is a 'blueprint' of his crimes as 'absurd.' The document features a series of checklists for before, during and after a killing, such as a 'body prep' checklist that includes among other items a note to 'remove head and hands.' Ellerup also shrugged off other evidence prosecutors have enumerated in court documents, including a vast collection of bondage and torture pornography found on electronic devices seized from their home, and hairs linked to Heuermann that were recovered on most of the victims' bodies. At the same time, she revealed that in July 2009, around the time one of his alleged victims went missing, Heuermann suddenly renovated a bathroom while she and their two children were on vacation for weeks to visit her family in Iceland. But she noted her former husband eventually joined the family for their final week of their trip. 'My husband, he's a family man. He's my hero,' Ellerup said. 'What I want to say to him is, 'I love you, no matter what.'' Ellerup divorced Heuermann after his arrest in 2023. But in the documentary, Victoria Heuermann says the separation was for financial reasons to protect the family's assets. Indeed, the mother and daughter have been regularly attending court hearings with their attorney. The filmmakers even captured them speaking to Heuermann by phone from jail. A Peacock spokesperson said Ellerup was paid a location fee and a licensing fee for use of family archive materials, although the payments cannot go toward the defendant or his defense funds. The family, which also includes Ellerup's adult son from a prior marriage, is planning to put up its notoriously ramshackle house in well-to-do Massapequa Park for sale as they look to move to a property they own in South Carolina. ___ Follow Philip Marcelo on X: @philmarcelo.
Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Whistleblower's death casts pall on Southern Baptist meeting and stalled sex abuse reforms
DALLAS (AP) — More than 10,000 church representatives are gathered in Dallas for the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, which began Tuesday morning with praise sessions and optimistic reports about growing numbers of baptisms. But casting a pall over the gathering is the recent death of one of the most high-profile whistleblowers in the Southern Baptists' scandal of sexual abuse. Jennifer Lyell, a onetime denominational publishing executive who went public in 2019 with allegations that she had been sexually abused by a seminary professor while a student, died Saturday at 47. She 'suffered catastrophic strokes,' a friend and fellow advocate, Rachael Denhollander, posted Sunday on X. Friends reported that the backlash Lyell received after going public with her report took a devastating toll on her. Several abuse survivors and advocates for reform, who previously had a prominent presence in recent SBC meetings, are skipping this year's gathering, citing lack of progress by the convention. Two people sought to fill that void, standing vigil outside of the meeting at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas as attendees walked by. The pair held up signs with photos of Lyell and of Gareld Duane Rollins, who died earlier this spring and who was among those who accused longtime SBC power broker Paul Pressler of sexual abuse. 'It's not a healthy thing for them (survivors) to be here,' said Johnna Harris, host of a podcast on abuse in evangelical ministries. 'I felt like it was important for someone to show up. I want people to know there are people who care.' Past attempts at reforms in the SBC The SBC Executive Committee, in a 2022 apology, acknowledged 'its failure to adequately listen, protect, and care for Jennifer Lyell when she came forward to share her story.' It also acknowledged the denomination's official news agency had not accurately reported the situation as 'sexual abuse by a trusted minister in a position of power at a Southern Baptist seminary.' SBC officials issued statements this week lamenting Lyell's death, but her fellow advocates have denounced what they say is a failure to implement reforms. The SBC's 2022 meeting voted overwhelmingly to create a way to track pastors and other church workers credibly accused of sex abuse. That came shortly after the release of a blockbuster report by an outside consultant, which said Southern Baptist leaders mishandled abuse cases and stonewalled victims for years. But the denomination's Executive Committee president, Jeff Iorg, said earlier this year that creating a database is not a focus and that the committee instead plans to refer churches to existing databases of sex offenders and focus on education about abuse prevention. The committee administers the denomination's day-to-day business. Advocates for reform don't see those approaches as adequate. It is the latest instance of 'officials trailing out hollow words, impotent task forces and phony dog-and-pony shows of reform,' abuse survivor and longtime advocate Christa Brown wrote on Baptist News Global, which is not SBC-affiliated. In a related action, the Executive Committee will also be seeking $3 million in convention funding for ongoing legal expenses related to abuse cases. What is on the agenda? As of Tuesday afternoon, attendance was at 10,456 church representatives (known as messengers). That is less than a quarter of the total that thronged the SBC's annual meeting 40 years ago this month in a Dallas showdown that marked the height of battles over control of the convention, ultimately won by the more conservative-fundamentalist side led by Pressler and his allies. That conservative consensus remains in the convention. This year's convention will be asked to approve resolutions lamenting 'willful childlessness' and calling for bans on same-sex marriage and pornography and restrictions on sports betting. Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. Messengers will also debate whether to institute a constitutional ban on churches with women pastors and to abolish its public-policy arm, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission — which is staunchly conservative, but according to critics, not enough so. Brent Leatherwood, president of the ERLC, said Tuesday he would address the 'turbulence' during his scheduled remarks Wednesday but was confident in the messengers' support. 'I think the majority of Southern Baptists are going to say once again, like they always have, 'We need an entity that is dedicated to taking a distinctively Baptist voice and speaking in the public square,' ' Leatherwood said. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
