Moment Walmart goes up in flames, 10-year-old arrested
Shocking footage showed a fire rapidly spreading inside a store in Franklin, about 20 minutes from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Monday.
Emergency services responded just before 9pm, finding thick smoke billowing from the building.
According to the Franklin Fire Department, the building's auto sprinkler system was activated, helping to control the blaze.
All customers and staff were safely evacuated, and no injuries were reported.
A short video from a Walmart shopper posted on Facebook showed how rapidly the flames grew and engulfed the shelving units and a nearby trolley.
Police have taken a 10-year-old boy from Milwaukee into custody for questioning about the fire. Investigators have not yet revealed how the fire started.
'Arson charges will be referred to the Milwaukee County Juvenile Justice Centre as a result of the investigation,' the Franklin Police Department said.
Officials estimate that the damage to the building is in the millions of dollars and is still being assessed.
'Preliminary damage estimates are still being evaluated, however, extensive smoke damage was noted throughout the structure resulting in the loss of merchandise estimated to be several million dollars,' the Franklin Fire Department stated.
The Walmart's Facebook page also shared an update with its followers, saying: 'Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances we will be closed until further notice'.
According to April King, a merchandising contractor at the store, the fire seemed to originate in the party aisle.
'That was like, the party aisle. What's going to set fire there?' Ms King told Fox 6 Milwaukee.
'I was shocked, honestly. Because it's like, you know, I've never seen a random fire like that in a place you wouldn't associate with a fire.
'Customers are impacted and employees at Walmart are impacted because they can't work. So yeah, it is a huge impact to the community, definitely.'
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News.com.au
11 minutes ago
- News.com.au
‘They asked for that beat down': Man and woman bashed by mob in horrifying viral footage
WARNING: Graphic content Sickening footage of a man and woman being brutally bashed by a mob in Cincinnati, Ohio has sparked nationwide outrage in the US. Five people have since been charged over the attack in the early hours of Saturday, July 26, after the disturbing clip showing a middle-aged woman being knocked out cold and left with blood pouring from her mouth set the internet ablaze this week. The video appeared to show a white man and woman being targeted by a group of largely black assailants as onlookers jeer and yell. The male victim, wearing a white T-shirt, is brutally bashed by a large crowd of men and women, who take turns stomping and punching his head in a prolonged attack as he cowers on the ground. He eventually gets to his feet, blood covering his face. A woman is then attacked from behind by another woman before being sucker punched in the face by a man, falling backwards onto the road where she lays unconscious for around 30 seconds before she is eventually helped up by onlookers. The victims, reportedly tourists attending the city's famous Cincinnati Jazz Festival, sustained serious injuries, including a concussion. The attack took place on the corner of Fourth and Elm Street, in front of around 100 revellers. On Wednesday night, Ohio Republican Senator Bernie Moreno shared gruesome images on social media of the injuries sustained by the female victim, identified only as Holly. 'This is Holly,' he wrote. 'She wanted to have a nice evening out with friends. Instead, she got this.' The grim images show Holly with a huge black eye and busted lip, with one showing dark bruises across her entire face and neck. 'When I saw the video [I] thought she had been killed,' Mr Moreno told Fox News' Fox & Friends on Thursday, adding that the images of her injuries were 'so graphic, so horrible'. 'Holly gave me permission to release the photos so that others will never suffer what she did.' Mr Moreno told local news outlet WCPO Holly was a middle-aged woman with a special-needs child, who had since been in out and out of hospital multiple times. He said the 'mob didn't do anything about it' and that after the attack 'one police officer came by … nobody called an ambulance, the police didn't take her to get her aid, she took an Uber home'. The Senator blasted the response from local politicians in the wake of the violence — including Cincinnati Councilwoman Victoria Parks, who claimed in a social media post that the victims were asking to be assaulted. 'They asked for that beat down,' Ms Parks replied to video on Facebook. 'I am grateful for the whole story.' The 67-year-old Democrat angered Cincinnati's police union boss, who blasted Ms Parks for the comments and called for her resignation. Ms Parks began serving in her seat in January 2022. She announced she would not be seeking re-election for this year's general election and her plans to retire this past January. Her Facebook account says she was formerly the commissioner at Hamilton County, Ohio, after she served as the former chief of staff to Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune. In her official city biography page, Parks says she 'led the charge in passing Racism as a Public Health Crisis' when working for Hamilton County. 'It's unconscionable that an elected official would be celebrating violence in the very city she was voted to serve,' Cincinnati Fraternal Order of Police president Ken Kober told Fox News Digital. 'This highlights the poor political environment that police officers, residents and visitors are currently enduring. Thankfully, there's an election in November. I urge voters to vote for change!' Republican State Representative Phil Plummer also demanded Ms Parks step down. 'Cincinnati Councilwoman Victoria Parks must resign immediately! Defending violent criminals who viciously beat innocent people is disgusting,' Mr Plummer said on X. 'Her words 'They begged for that beat down!' are outrageous. Prosecutors must charge the attackers with a hate crime. We must protect our streets!' Mr Moreno said he would ask federal agencies to pull funding from the city if leaders do not 'put together an action plan … to protect the civil rights of their citizens'. 'This is what political leaders in Cincinnati are allowing,' he told Fox & Friends. 'These idiotic political leaders that the citizens allow to have office need to go. I'm going to call on all federal agencies to review the funding that we provide Cincinnati and I'm giving the leaders of Cincinnati one month to come up with a plan for them to protect civil rights for their citizens. If they don't do it … I'm going to ask the agencies to suspend all federal funding because we're not going to put up with this.' He continued, 'The police chief blames social media. The city council person blamed the victim. This is a total travesty. I'm not going to put up with it. Ohio deserves better and Cincinnati certainly does too.' Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval responded publicly late Monday, after the beating had been circulated for about 36 hours. He has been on holiday in Canada all week, and finally announced plans to cut his vacation short and return to the city on Thursday. Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge announced on Tuesday five people had been charged in the beat down. Montianez Merriweather, 34, and Dekyra Vernon, 24, were arrested on Tuesday night. Both face felonious assault, aggravated riot and assault charges. Merriweather is being held on a $US500,000 bond, while Vernon is being held on a $US200,000 bond. A third suspect, Jermaine Matthews, was also taken into custody and charged with aggravated riot and assault. He is being held on a $US100,000 bond. Police allege Merriweather and Matthews co-ordinated the 'ambush' attack. 'Ultimately, we do have on video Mr Merriweather walking up to co-defendant. He whispers something to him, then walks back behind the victim,' a Cincinnati Police detective testified in court Wednesday, according to WXIX. 'As to Merriweather's involvement in this, we believe he co-ordinated this with Mr Matthews. He walked up to him on the video, whispered something to him and then strategically placed himself behind the victim as the assault began.' Matthews had a bond hearing on Thursday, where he was charged with two felony assault charges, along with another assault charge. His bond was raised to $US270,000. He has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer, Brandon Fox, told the court that Matthews did not start the fight. 'That video that we discussed yesterday has now been released of that individual slapping on my client and then the fight ensuing thereafter,' he said. Mr Fox also said that Matthews is not responsible for knocking one of the victims out, though it is unclear to which victim he is referring. 'That person was knocked unconscious by a different individual, and my client moved that person from his business vehicle. That's where the basis of that charge comes from,' Mr Fox said. He also made claims that one of the victims used racial slurs before the fight. The Cincinnati Police detective disputed that the slap began the fight. He told the judge that 'we have video footage that totally disputes the slap being the first incident of someone putting their hands on someone'. Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor David Hickenlooper also weighed in. 'This person is unconscious,' he said of the victim. 'He wasn't rendering aid. He was dragging him into the middle of the street after he had been knocked out. This is my understanding.' Police say charges have been filed against two more people, who are not yet in custody. The attack is now under federal investigation by FBI and Justice Department. 'Every American is entitled to the equal protection of our laws,' Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney-General for Civil Rights at the US Department of Justice, wrote on X. 'Federal law enforcement is on it and we will ensure that justice is done.' On Thursday, Fox News Digital obtained audio recording of the sole 911 call after the brawl. A dazed-sounding man called authorities around 3am on July 26. The call lasted three minutes and 15 seconds, as the 911 operator asked a litany of questions, including how many people had been involved in the fight. It was placed after the brutal beat down had ended, the caller indicated. 'So you keep saying they left, do you need police to respond out?' she asked toward the end of the call. 'I would prefer, yes,' the man said. 'I would prefer, yes. Absolutely.' Ms Theetge said out of the 100 or so people on the scene, the man was the only one to call 911. 'That is unacceptable to not call the police,' she said in a news conference earlier this week. 'Traffic was horrendous. People saw this. They were fighting in front of traffic. Why didn't people call us?'
ABC News
41 minutes ago
- ABC News
Epstein accuser Giuffre's family urges Trump to keep Maxwell in prison
The family of deceased Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre is urging US President Donald Trump not to grant clemency to Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite serving a 20-year prison sentence for helping Epstein abuse underage girls. Ms Giuffre's family also said it was "shocking" to hear Mr Trump say this week that Epstein had poached Mr Giuffre from the Mar-a-Lago club, where she worked at the spa in 2000. The family said Mr Trump's comment raised questions about whether he was aware of Mr Epstein's sexual abuse at the time. Mr Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing. Ms Giuffre said she was a victim of Epstein's sex trafficking from 2000 to 2002, starting when she was 16. She died by suicide in April at age 41. The family's statement comes as Mr Trump has faced pressure to make public documents from the federal investigations into Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, and his longtime girlfriend Maxwell, who was convicted of sex trafficking in 2021. Deputy US Attorney-General Todd Blanche, Mr Trump's former personal lawyer, last week met with Maxwell. Maxwell's lawyer David Markus has called on Mr Trump to grant her relief, but Mr Trump has said he has not thought about whether to pardon her. A senior Trump administration official said no leniency for Maxwell was being given or discussed. "That's just false," the official said. Mr Markus did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mr Trump and Epstein socialised in the 1990s and 2000s, before what Mr Trump has called a falling out. Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Tuesday, Mr Trump said he told Epstein to "stay the hell out" of Mar-a-Lago after finding out Epstein was poaching Mr Trump's workers, including Ms Giuffre. "He stole her," Mr Trump said. In their statement, Ms Giuffre's family said Maxwell recruited her from Mar-a-Lago in 2000. The family said that was years before Epstein and Mr Trump had their falling out, pointing to a 2002 New York magazine article in which the president was quoted calling Epstein a "terrific guy" who liked women "on the younger side". "It makes us ask if he was aware of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's criminal actions," Ms Giuffre's family said, referring to Mr Trump's Air Force One comments. Asked by a reporter on Thursday if he knew why Epstein was taking his employees, Mr Trump said he did not. "I didn't really know really why, but I said if he's taking anybody from Mar-a-Lago, if he's hiring or whatever he's doing, I didn't like it and we threw him out," Mr Trump said. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement earlier on Thursday that Mr Trump had been responding to a reporter's question about Ms Giuffre and did not bring her up. "President Trump kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his club for being a creep to his female employees," Ms Leavitt said. At Maxwell's trial in 2021, Juan Alessi, the former manager of Epstein's Palm Beach home, testified that he drove with Maxwell to meet Ms Giuffre at nearby Mar-a-Lago. He said he then saw Ms Giuffre at Epstein's home for the first time that evening, and saw her at the home many times thereafter. Reuters
ABC News
7 hours ago
- ABC News
Will Trump set Ghislaine Maxwell free?
Sam Hawley: Donald Trump has spent another week fielding questions over the release of the so-called Epstein files. The saga even followed him to Scotland. So what's he up to now to try and get rid of the problem? Well, in part, he sent his Deputy Attorney General to interview Epstein's co-conspirator, Delaine Maxwell, who's in prison for sex trafficking. Today, Jill Wine-Banks, who was one of the prosecutors during the Watergate scandal, on whether Trump could pardon Maxwell and whether that would help him. I'm Sam Hawley on Gadigal land in Sydney. This is ABC News Daily. Jill, this Epstein issue, it won't go away for Donald Trump. He was even facing questioning about this during his trip to Scotland. Donald Trump, US President: You're making a very big thing over something that's not a big thing. You should be talking about, if you're going to talk about that, talk about Clinton. Talk about the former president of Harvard. Don't talk about Trump. Sam Hawley: It's become rather a bother, hasn't it? Jill Wine-Banks: It is something that is a self-inflicted problem because it was Donald Trump who yelled, conspiracy, conspiracy, you must release all this. And he promised he would. And now he's not. We know that his attorney general told him that he is in the Jeffrey Epstein files, and that would seem very suspicious as to why he is now not releasing it and looking for ways around it. Sam Hawley: Well, Jill, in some of his latest comments, Donald Trump says he fell out with Jeffrey Epstein because he stole young women from his Mar-a-Lago club, including Australian Virginia Jeffrey, who died this year. Donald Trump, US President: I think so. I think that was one of the people. He stole her. And by the way, she had no complaints about us, as you know. Sam Hawley: And he says he never went to Epstein's private island in the Caribbean. Donald Trump, US President: I never had the privilege of going to his island. And I did turn it down, but a lot of people in Palm Beach were invited to his island. And one of my very good moments, I turned it down. I didn't want to go to his island. Sam Hawley: But look, what I really want to do with you is to dig a bit deeper into the role of it?in all of this, because she has, of course, been re-interviewed by the deputy attorney general, presumably at Trump's orders. Just remind me, first of all, who she is and why she's serving a 20-year jail sentence in America. Jill Wine-Banks: Absolutely. So Ghislaine Maxwell is an accomplice to Jeffrey Epstein. She is not charged with his crimes. She is charged with basically procuring young girls, grooming them, and participating in sexual abuse of them. So it's not just that she was what we would call in America his pimp, where she went to colleges and other places to find young girls who would come to his Palm Beach estate. And then she groomed them as to how to handle the sexual acts and the massages, as they were called. She was convicted in 2021, sentenced in 2022, and is currently imprisoned. She is appealing. She has asked the Supreme Court to review her conviction. They are on their summer recess, but are expected to decide whether they will take the case this fall when they come back into session. Sam Hawley: All right. So between 1994 and 2004, according to federal prosecutors, Maxwell helped Epstein groom and traffic girls as young as 14. Yes. She has maintained her innocence, of course, hence the appeal. Just a reminder, she's the only one serving time in relation to these awful offenses against young girls because Jeffrey Epstein died in jail in 2019. Jill Wine-Banks: Correct. He was serving time in jail and died. The question was whether he committed suicide or was murdered, and that remains an open question. There can be no further criminal prosecutions because there's no trafficking subsequent to his death. And he died in 2019, and we have a statute of limitations in America that is five years, and it's six years since he died. Sam Hawley: All right. So, Jill, Ghislaine Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence in a Florida prison, but in the past week, the Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche, has gone knocking on her prison cell door. Just tell me about that. What's happened? Jill Wine-Banks: Yes. Well, first, let me say how utterly remarkable it is that the Deputy Attorney General would interview a witness. Let me say how remarkable it is that the Deputy Attorney General would be the former private attorney of Donald Trump. Once you are someone's private attorney, you have a duty of loyalty and secrecy to that client forever. And so he cannot be acting on behalf of the American people when he already has a commitment to Donald Trump. That would be a conflict of interest. The other reason it's unusual is that he knows nothing about the prosecution. He has no experience in this case. The people who tried the Epstein and Maxwell cases are people who would be very appropriate to interview her, not someone with no experience. And Maxwell, we should be also adding, she's not a credible person that a jury would be likely to rely on. And we do not in America allow the revelation of secret grand jury testimony or anything else that would accuse someone of a crime unless you're charging them with a crime. And nothing, she says, is going to lead to a criminal prosecution. We don't release information because it would satisfy public interest or purient interest of the public. It has to be in connection with a judicial proceeding. And that's another reason why it would be wrong. Sam Hawley: All right, well, Maxwell's lawyer, David Oscar Marcus, said that she answered every single question she was asked. David Markus, Ghislaine Maxwell's attorney: There were a lot of questions and we went all day and she answered every one of them. She never just said, I'm not going to answer, never declined. You know, this is the first time the government has asked questions. So we were thankful that. Sam Hawley: She was offered limited immunity for participating in this interview. Just explain what that is. Jill Wine-Banks: Limited immunity is basically also called use immunity. It means that anything that she says cannot be used against her and that in any future prosecution, anything that is introduced in evidence against her would have to be shown to not be the result of something she said. That's considered fruit of the poison tree. So it gives her some protection and it is a completely legitimate thing to do. So that is not among the suspicious or wrong things that the Department of Justice is doing. The interview is the wrong thing. And although they are now saying that there are transcripts of it, I want to know who the person taking the notes was. And I want to know whether 100% of from hello until walking out on the second day, how much was maybe done what we call in camera, in secret, not as part of the recorded testimony. Because there is my suspicion shared by many that part of Todd Blanche's purpose in talking to her was to say, well, the president would certainly look favorably on your request for a pardon if you could say that he had nothing to do with this. And maybe in a more subtle way than I'm phrasing it, shape her testimony so that it was helpful to Donald Trump and hurtful to Democrats who might be on the list of people who she has evidence against. We've obviously heard the name Bill Clinton, former president Bill Clinton, as someone who might be involved in this. There's no evidence that there is. And being on the manifest for planes does not mean you committed a crime. It means you took a plane somewhere that Jeffrey Epstein flew you. It doesn't mean you engaged in trafficking or in illegal sex with a minor. Sam Hawley: President Trump was asked whether he would pardon Maxwell. And he really hasn't closed the door on that. Donald Trump, US President: Would you consider a pardon or a commutation for Ghislaine Maxwell? It's something I haven't thought about. I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I have not thought about. Sam Hawley: But would anyone believe, the public believe what she had to say, whatever that might be? Jill Wine-Banks: I think they would not believe what she had to say. I think they would believe that any pardon was to protect himself. And he said about her, I wish her well. He has not said anything of sympathy toward any of the victims. He should be concerned about the young girls, as you said, starting at the age of 14. Sam Hawley: Well, Jill, the President and the Department of Justice want to quell this criticism that they're hiding something, that they're hiding a list of Epstein's high profile clients. But is this all just the art of distraction, if you like? And is it working? Jill Wine-Banks: Well, he's trying to distract by doing a lot of other things and saying, well, look at Obama. He's a traitor. He should be arrested for treason and a million other things that he is trying to distract the public from. For some reason, the Epstein files have captured the hearts and minds of many in America. And the distraction doesn't seem to be working. People are not giving up on this. As you said, it's overseas. The headlines in the Scottish papers were really harsh on him. And he's now the subject of cartoons. The South Park TV cartoon series has made fun of him. And people are now starting to think that this could really be the thing that takes him down. Sam Hawley: You seem to be saying that you don't think he can wiggle his way out of this, but he's done it so many times with so many controversies, hasn't he? Jill Wine-Banks: He has. I mean, I'm one who thought in his first campaign when the tape of him saying, I grab women's private parts and I can get away with it because when you're a star, you can do it. I thought that was the end of his campaign. I've thought a million other things were the end of his campaign or his career. And I was wrong. He has been a very lucky person to escape the responsibility for his bad acts. So I can't say for sure that he isn't going to get away with this, but he may lose his power if this continues. And if things aren't released, his supporters who believed he was going to do it are not going to forgive him for that. That's going to hurt the Republican Party, not just him. Sam Hawley: And what about Ghislaine Maxwell? What are the chances in your view that Trump will simply let her out of jail? A move that would be simply devastating for Epstein's victims and hers. Jill Wine-Banks: I don't think we can rule it out because I don't think he has empathy for any of the victims. I think he could commute her sentence to time served and let her out of jail without pardoning her for these horrendous crimes. I think, I don't know, I may be Pollyanna, but I still think that there has to be someone advising him who says you cannot pardon these kinds of crimes for which there was more than ample evidence. And yet he thinks he can get away with anything. He, of course, can pardon her and there's no consequences. That's totally up to his discretion. Sam Hawley: Jill Wine-Banks was one of the prosecutors during the Watergate scandal. She's the author of The Watergate Girl and the host of the podcast, #Sisters In Law. This episode was produced by Sydney Pead. Audio production by Sam Dunn. Our supervising producer is David Coady. I'm Sam Hawley. ABC News Daily will be back again on Monday. Thanks for listening.
