Four arrested after break-in at home reportedly owned by Brad Pitt, say police
Police said at the time that suspects broke in through the front window, ransacked the home and fled with miscellaneous property.
Detectives have made four arrests, Officer Drake Madison said on Tuesday. He said the suspects' names could be released later in the day.
Officials could not identify who owned or lived in the home, and no information was available on what was stolen.
Pitt reportedly bought the property for 5.5 million US dollars (£4 million) in April 2023, according to Traded, a commercial real estate website.
A representative for the actor declined to comment on Tuesday.
Pitt had been out of the country in June on a globe-spanning promotional tour for his new movie, F1.
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The Guardian
7 hours ago
- The Guardian
Ending Isolation review – a takedown of solitary confinement by incarcerated co-authors
Terry Kupers can't sleep. The veteran psychiatrist, author and solitary confinement expert, 81 and still working on multiple projects, is particularly troubled by the brutal spate of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) raids rocking communities around the US. 'My father came from Russia, so I'm an immigrant's son,' he said. 'I can't live with these raids. I need to do something about it.' Recently, 'doing something' has meant putting the finishing touches on a new book, Ending Isolation: The Case Against Solitary Confinement, which Kupers co-authored with three others. Out on 4 September from Pluto Press, the book is an exhaustingly researched takedown of solitary confinement: the practice of isolating an incarcerated person for hours, days, weeks or even years in a cell all their own. It's a practice long decried by experts including Kupers, but despite their repeated warnings, researchers and advocates generally agree that anywhere between 75,000 and 80,000 people are locked in solitary confinement in the US on any given day. The true number could be much higher, and as the book points out, 'there is no evidence that solitary confinement actually reduces violence. Instead, there are research findings that point strongly to the opposite conclusion, that solitary confinement worsens the problem of violence, both within prisons and in the public.' Considering this, Ending Isolation is a vital, systematic dismantling of every possible argument one could use to justify solitary confinement. The book covers everything from the history of solitary, the disturbing overlaps between sexual assault and isolation practices, and a deep dive into who gets 'sent to the hole' (spoiler alert: it can be any prisoner at any time for the vaguest reasons that more than often defy logic.) The chapters feature narratives from people who have lived through tortuous isolation, which makes for a mentally fraying read that feels, at times, like you're peeking behind a curtain in a room where you're not meant to be. 'Most people who go to solitary confinement are broken by the experience,' Kupers said in an interview with the Guardian. 'They have what I've termed the decimation of life skills. They become unlearned in terms of how to relate to others, and in terms of the prison environment, they then get into more trouble when they get out of segregation.' Kupers' insights are based on decades of interviews with people who have experienced solitary confinement in America's prisons. His latest book offers the in-depth psychiatric research Kupers has previously delivered in five other books and hundreds of articles – only this time he's joined by three co-authors, including two people who are currently incarcerated. Chris Blackwell, an award-winning journalist currently serving a decades-long sentence in Washington, kicks off the book with an engaging prologue recounting how he endured his first stint in solitary confinement at the age of 12. The experience 'solidified my distrust for authority figures forever and drove me into a deep hate for 'the system''. He has now spent most of his life as part of that system. By age 18, he'd been arrested more than 20 times. After killing a man during a drug-related robbery ('an act I would never be able to repair', he writes) Blackwell received the 45-year sentence he is currently serving. More solitary confinement awaited, too. 'Nothing is worse than becoming a target in prison,' he writes in the prologue. 'I refused to comply with what I felt was a constant abuse of power, and guards refused to allow me to rebel without punishment for my actions.' Even after years in isolation, Blackwell says he is still struggling to understand the impact those experiences had on him. But he knows the good he offers – his writing, his advocacy – is in spite of solitary confinement. Kupers says Blackwell is representative of a large proportion of prisoners: 'He didn't have murder in his mind,' but he committed a terrible crime that will haunt him – and others – for the rest of their lives. When they started working together on this book, Kupers realized that if circumstances were different, he and Blackwell would have been close friends. He admires his intellect, the grassroots organization Blackwell helped co-found from behind bars, and the harrowing essays and incarceration accounts Blackwell has published in the Appeal, the New York Times, the Washington Post and many other outlets. 'He happens to be behind bars and therefore his life is very limited and restricted,' Kupers said. 'But it's amazing what he's done given those limits.' It was Blackwell who recruited Kupers to co-author the book alongside himself and Deborah Zalesne, a law professor at the City University of New York. Together, Blackwell and Zalesne had the personal testimonies and legal foundation covered; they needed Kupers to add the mental health angle. He does so convincingly, detailing how solitary confinement, especially when it's prolonged, can cause severe anxiety, panic, sleep problems, psychotic behavior and severe post-traumatic stress disorder. Many people 'sent to the hole' develop a compulsion for self-harm, and Kupers says this shouldn't surprise anyone. 'Prolonged solitary confinement is torture,' he writes. These repeated insights, while necessary, aren't the main draw of the book. Rather, it's the contributions of people such as Kwaneta Harris, Ending Isolation's fourth and final co-author. Harris is an incarcerated writer whose work has helped shed light on the crisis of sexual assault in prisons. 'I used to think there was a timeline for when people lost their minds in solitary confinement. Six months, two years, maybe five. I was wrong. The descent into madness doesn't follow a schedule. Even now, back in medium-security, I wake up some mornings thinking I'm still in that cell,' she writes. Those passages, coupled with reams of research, leave no doubt that solitary confinement constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. The question, then, is if the practice will ever end. 'There's a split in correctional authorities,' Kupers said. 'Probably around half think that solitary confinement is a very bad idea.' In Donald Trump's second term, Kupers is concerned about the advent of places like Alligator Alcatraz. 'This book is representative of this finding that ending solitary confinement is strategically extremely important in the context of what Ice is doing, for instance, and the emergence of a police state,' Kupers said. 'If we required that people who are behind bars are entitled to the civil and human rights, which they are by law entitled to, if we gave them those rights, including due process, that would massively change what's going on right now.' Kupers adds: 'If we continue to treat people like monsters, that is exactly what they will become.' Ending Isolation: The Case Against Solitary Confinement comes out on 4 September from Pluto Press. The book's release date coincides with the launch of a nationwide bus tour hosted by Unlock the Box.
The Sun
10 hours ago
- The Sun
Horror moment illegal immigrant trucker suddenly pulls U-turn on busy highway causing T-bone crash that killed three
THIS is the terrifying moment a truck driver suddenly pulls a U-turn on a busy highway and kills three in a horrific T-bone crash. Harjinder Singh, who has been living in the US illegally since 2018, allegedly made the fatal turn on an "Official Use Only" area on the Florida Turnpike. 6 6 6 With little time to stop and no where to turn off, the minivan is believed to have slammed into the commercial semi-truck at full pelt - killing the driver and two passengers. Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles said troopers were rushed to the scene just before 3pm on August 12, where they extricated the victims from the van. Terrifying footage shows the moment Singh blocked the highway causing the incoming Chrysler Town and Country minivan to slam into the lorry. The obliterated minivan's parts appear strewn across the toll road as rescue teams desperately try to retrieve the bodies. According to Flordia Highway Patrol, Singh crossed over the northbound travel lanes to make the turn when the people carrier - also travelling north - smashed into the truck. It then became wedged under the left side of the trailer, killing two passengers instantly. While the driver was pulled out of the vehicle alive, they tragically died in Lawnwood Hospital, Fort Pierce that evening. The victims' names have not been released, but were confirmed to be a 37-year-old woman from Pompano Beach, a 30-year-old from Florida City and a 54-year-old from Miami. The motorist was arrested on Tuesday in St. Lucie, Florida and charged with three counts of vehicular homicide and immigration violations. Singh, who is in custody, will be deported after the conclusion of his state charges, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said. Boy, 2, dies and two pedestrians injured after 'driver crashes through barrier into car park' as man in his 20s arrested The department's executive director Dave Kerner said: "The actions taken by the Defendant while operating a commercial tractor-trailer are both shocking and criminal." He added: "Three people lost their lives as a result of his recklessness, and countless friends and family members will experience the pain of their loss forever. "Harjinder Singh is in custody on state vehicular homicide charges and immigration violations. He will no longer be able to damage and destroy the lives of Floridians and visitors. "At the conclusion of his state charges, he will be deported. The Florida Highway Patrol remains committed to enforcing both state and federal law to ensure that people that are a danger to others face justice behind bars." The motorist had arrived in the US illegally in 2018 and obtained a commercial driver's license in California. In California, undocumented residents can obtain licenses under the Assembly Bill 60, which doesn't require a proof of legal residence. Singh and his two passengers, Californian men aged 25 and 28, were not injured. Official White House Rapid Response said: 'This individual is an illegal immigrant who was granted a commercial driver's license by the State of California — and now, three innocent people are dead. "He has been arrested for vehicular homicide and an ICE detainer has been issued.' 6 6 6
The Independent
14 hours ago
- The Independent
Ethiopian migrants face kidnappings and death, leaving behind heartbroken families
When 19-year-old Nigus Yosef told his parents he was going to leave home in Ethiopia's Tigray region and try to get to Saudi Arabia, they begged him not to go. Two of their children had already made the crossing, via the Gulf of Aden and then war-torn Yemen. Yosef's brother is now in jail in Yemen for entering that country illegally. His sister made it to Saudi Arabia, also illegally, which means it will be difficult for her to leave. On August 3, 2025, Yosef and five friends from his town of Adi Qeyih boarded a boat bound for Yemen. That night, it capsized. Only 56 people of the nearly 200 people on board survived. Yosef was not one of them. 'His parents are in deep shock and grief,' his uncle, Redae Barhe, said in a telephone interview. 'They can't even voice their sorrow.' Nigus Yosef is one of 132 missing from the boat that capsized this month; one of countless people from African countries gone missing on a journey in search of a new life. Journeys fraught with danger The families they leave behind know that there are high odds of misfortune. Boats are often overcrowded, unable to withstand rough seas. Once on dry land, there are other dangers. Migrants are vulnerable, with few resources or protection, making them easy prey for human traffickers and kidnappers. Senait Tadesse says that her 27-year-old daughter made it to Yemen, only to be held captive by kidnappers who communicated with Tadesse through Facebook, demanding a US$ 6,000 ransom to release her only child. Tadesse said in an interview with The Associated Press in the capital, Addis Ababa, that she sold her car and all her jewelry to raise the cash and deposited the money in an Ethiopian bank account. But the kidnappers demanded more. She sold all her belongings; they still wanted more. Not knowing what else to do, she went to the police, armed with the local bank account number that the kidnappers had been using. Meanwhile, she was on Facebook, trying to get news of her daughter. Eventually, a post from a survivor confirmed that Tadesse's daughter had been killed. To date, no arrests have been made. Driven by desperation Although Ethiopia has been relatively stable since the war in the country's Tigray region ended in 2022, youth unemployment is high and there are still pockets of unrest. 'Many young people no longer see a future for themselves within a nation that does not prioritize their needs,' explained Yared Hailemariam, an Ethiopian human rights advocate based in Addis Ababa. 'The cause of this migration is lack of economic opportunities and growing conflicts. Young people are faced with a choice of either taking up arms to fight in endless conflicts, or providing for their families.' The war in Tigray was the reason why Nigus Yosef never finished school. When the conflict started in 2020, he was in 7th Grade, and he dropped out to join the Tigray armed forces. When the ceasefire was signed in 2022, he came back home, but couldn't find a job. After three years, he was desperate. Residents in the region say that traffickers seize on that desperation, and that their networks extend even into remote areas and rural villages. Eden Shumiye was just 13 when she left Adi Qeyih with Yosef and his friends. Her parents say that she was preyed on by people smugglers during the town's public market day, and that they convinced her to leave with the group. Her parents heard nothing from her until one of the other migrants called them when they reached Wuha Limat, near the Ethiopia-Djibouti border. The news left them sick with worry. After the boat capsized, a relative of one of the survivors managed to send a voice message to them from Saudi Arabia via the messaging app Imo, confirming that Eden's dead body had been recovered. Of the six young people who left Adi Qeyih, only two survived. 'Her mother is heartbroken,' Eden's father, Shumiye Hadush, told The Associated Press. 'The pain is truly overwhelming.' Ethiopia issues a warning In response to the recent tragedy, the Ethiopian government issued a statement warning citizens 'not to take the illegal route,' and to 'avoid the services of traffickers at all cost,' while urging people to 'pursue legal avenues for securing opportunities.' But Girmachew Adugna, a migration scholar specializing in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, points out that legal migration channels are slow and time-consuming. 'Passports are hard to obtain due to rising costs,' he says. 'Young people often have little or no access to legal migration pathways, which leads them to migrate through irregular means.' More than 1.1 million Ethiopians were classified as migrants who left their home country and were living abroad in 2024, up from about 200,000 recorded in 2010, according to United Nations figures. In spite of Yemen's civil war, the number of migrants arriving there has tripled from 27,000 in 2021 to 90,000 last year, the U.N. International Organization for Migration, or IOM, said last month. To reach Yemen, migrants are taken by smugglers on often dangerous, overcrowded boats across the Red Sea or Gulf of Aden. The IOM said at least 1,860 people have died or disappeared along the route, including 480 who drowned. 'Our youth are dying because of this dangerous migration,' says Eden Shumiye's father Hadush. 'They fall victim to the cruelty of traffickers. When will this tragedy come to an end?' ___ Associated Press writer Khaled Kazziha in Nairobi, Kenya contributed to this report. ___ For more on Africa and development: The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
