DHS, FBI warn large-scale events could be target for violence
The Department of Homeland Security and FBI are warning that large-scale events are prime targets for violence, highlighting the potential for violence at events this summer.
However, the DHS and FBI did not indicate there are any known threats in a joint intelligence bulletin sent to law enforcement on May 23.
"Violent extremist messaging continues to highlight major sporting and cultural events and venues as potential targets, and threat actors -- including domestic violent extremists (DVEs), homegrown violent extremists (HVEs) inspired by Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), and other mass casualty attackers not motivated by an ideology -- previously have targeted public events with little to no warning," according to the bulletin.
MORE: FBI reopens investigation into cocaine at White House, leaked Dobbs opinion
Some attacks, such as the New Year's Day truck attack in New Orleans, could serve as inspiration for future attacks, the bulletin said, noting that calls for violence typically increase in the days leading up to holidays or big events.
Domestic and homegrown extremists "not primarily motivated by an ideology, likely will see public events as potential attack targets, given the number of high-profile events this summer that are expected to draw large crowds and recent attacks and plots in the West targeting mass gatherings, which could serve as inspiration," the bulletin said.
"We advise government officials and private sector security partners to remain vigilant of potential threats to upcoming public celebrations and large gatherings," it added, highlighting World Pride 2025, Independence Day and the 250th Army anniversary parade as possible targets.
MORE: Questions raised whether security adequate after shooting of Israeli Embassy staffers
The bulletin also said some attackers could use a variety of means to carry out an attack.
"Attackers in the United States historically have used a variety of tactics to target public events, including vehicles, firearms, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs)," it said. "The use of vehicle-ramming alone or in conjunction with other tactics, such as edged weapons, firearms, or IEDs used after the vehicle has stopped, is a recurring tactic that a variety of threat actors in the West have employed when targeting crowded pedestrian areas."
Last week's shooting that targeted Israeli Embassy staffers and killed two in Washington, D.C., could inspire other attacks in the United States, the DHS said in a separate bulletin obtained by ABC News.
"The 21 May attack that killed two Israeli embassy staff members at an event in Washington, DC, underscores how the Israel-HAMAS conflict continues to inspire violence and could spur radicalization or mobilization to violence against targets perceived as supporting Israel," according to the bulletin, which was also dated May 23.
MORE: Trump pardons Virginia sheriff convicted of federal bribery charges
The department noted that it has seen online users sharing the suspect's alleged writings and "praising the shooter and generally calling for more violence."
"If calls for violence continue, particularly if other violent extremists in the Homeland or abroad reference the Capital Jewish Museum shooter, our concern for additional violence in the Homeland would increase," the bulletin said.
The suspect in the fatal shooting last Wednesday outside an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., is a 31-year-old Chicago man who police say shouted "free, free Palestine" following the attack.
The suspect, identified as Elias Rodriguez, was promptly taken into custody at the scene of the shooting and was questioned by police, according to Pamela Smith, chief of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia.
DHS, FBI warn large-scale events could be target for violence originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump Rages at Claim War on Harvard Is Revenge for Rejection
Donald Trump blew up on Truth Social over a claim from author Michael Wolff that his crusade against Harvard is personal. Wolff, author of several books about the president, claimed on The Daily Beast Podcast last week that Trump 'didn't get into Harvard' and suggested he's now targeting the university in part because he holds a 'grudge.' 'He needs an enemy,' Wolff said earlier in the podcast. 'That's what makes the show great. The Trump show. He picks fantastic enemies, actually. And Harvard, for all it represents, fits right into the Trump show,' he said. 'Going after Harvard has proved to be an incredibly reliable headline,' he added. 'So he's on the money. So he's done what he set out to do. Dominate headlines.' Trump has gone after the university with gusto, freezing its federal funding, threatening its tax-exempt status and moving to block it from enrolling international students. The president claimed Wolff's story is 'totally FALSE' and insisted he never applied to the Ivy League school. 'Michael Wolff, a Third Rate Reporter, who is laughed at even by the scoundrels of the Fake News, recently stated that the only reason I'm 'beating up' on Harvard, is because I applied there, and didn't get in,' Trump raged on his social media platform Monday. 'That story is totally FALSE, I never applied to Harvard,' Trump continued. 'I graduated from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania. He is upset because his book about me was a total 'BOMB.' Nobody wanted it, because his 'reporting' and reputation is so bad!' Trump's education has been colored by claims from family members that he was a 'brat' and that his sister 'did his homework for him.' His higher education began at Fordham University in 1964. He studied for two years at the Bronx Catholic private school before transferring to the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at Penn. He graduated from the Ivy League university with a bachelor's degree in economics in 1968. His late sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, told her niece Mary Trump that she 'drove him around New York City to try to get him into college.' She said he attended Fordham briefly 'and then he got into University of Pennsylvania because he had somebody take his exams.' Those claims were denied by the widow of Joe Shapiro, the man who was said to have taken the test for Trump. The president's father and brother also helped him to get into the school through a connection, The Washington Post reported in 2019. Trump has long boasted of his time at the Wharton school, claiming it was one of the 'hardest school to get into' and that he graduated top of his class, a claim that the evidence suggests is dubious at best. Trump has had a long-running beef with Wolff, who wrote Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House and Siege: Trump Under Fire, among other titles. In February, Trump called Wolff's latest book, All or Nothing: How Trump Recaptured America, a 'total FAKE JOB, just like the other JUNK he wrote.' 'He called me many times trying to set up a meeting, but I never called him back because I didn't want to give him the credibility of an interview,' Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time. Even before Wolff floated the claim that the president was snubbed by Harvard, speculation ran rampant over the reason for his vendetta. A White House spokesperson shot down the idea that Trump was rejected from the school, telling USA Today last week, the president 'didn't need to apply to an overrated, corrupt institution like Harvard to become a successful businessman and the most transformative President in history.' Trump has accused Harvard of liberal bias and antisemitism, using those claims to justify his offensive. According to Wolff, a running joke in White House circles held that Trump's war on the prestigious school stemmed from the rejection of another Trump: his youngest son, Barron. The narrative apparently made its way to first lady Melania Trump, whose spokesperson issued a statement last Tuesday calling the claim that Barron applied to Harvard 'completely false.' The 19-year-old recently finished his freshman year at New York University, where he studied at its Stern School of Business.
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
‘Lives torn apart': Miami activists decry Supreme Court ruling on migrant protections
Reacting to the Trump administration's aggressive push to deport hundreds of thousands of migrants, a coalition of Miami-based activist organizations declared Monday that the campaign to expel their 'neighbors, coworkers, and even lovers' demands a response free of diplomatic restraint. 'I've realized that while we try to be politically correct, lives are being torn apart,' said Tessa Petit, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition. 'We've become a quota. Because they can't meet their deportation targets, they're fabricating charges — illegally— just to satisfy an inhumane drive rooted in racism, xenophobia and white supremacy.' Petit spoke during a press conference at the headquarters of the Family Action Network Movement, where activists condemned Friday's Supreme Court decision to dismantle the so-called CHNV humanitarian parole program, for the initials of the nationalities affected. The program had allowed hundreds of thousands of people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to legally enter the United States for two years. The ruling threatens the legal status of more than half a million migrants — many of them now settled in South Florida. Petit and others stressed that protecting migrants serves the national interest, calling on the U.S.-born children of earlier immigrant generations to stand in solidarity. 'To the American people, I say this: It's us now, but your turn will come,' Petit warned. 'If you don't look, speak, or act a certain way, your turn will come. You are allowing precedents that will change your world forever.' Linda Julien, the first Haitian-American elected to the Miami Gardens City Council, denounced what she called the hypocrisy at the heart of U.S. immigration policy. 'We are a nation that sings liberty but whispers restrictions. A nation that demands labor but blocks legal pathways,' she said. 'Enough with the contradictions. Let this moment reflect not just compassion, but consistency.' Haitians are the largest group affected by the CHNV program, with approximately 211,010 beneficiaries by the end of 2024. Initially excluded, Haitians were later included by the Biden administration in response to the country's collapse into violent instability. The goal was twofold: provide humanitarian relief and avert a mass migration crisis in South Florida. Speaking on behalf of the 117,330 Venezuelans also facing deportation in the CHNV ruling, Adelys Ferro, executive director of the Venezuelan American Caucus, stressed that this is not an abstract policy dispute. 'This is about families. About dignity. About human beings who followed the rules and are now being punished for it,' she said. Ferro pointed out that more than 530,000 CHNV recipients complied with a rigorous vetting process — undergoing background checks and securing U.S.-based sponsors who committed to financially supporting them. For many Venezuelans fleeing the Nicolás Maduro regime—marked by violence, persecution and economic collapse—CHNV was a critical lifeline. 'It was the bridge that reunited parents with children, siblings torn apart by years of trauma, and survivors of authoritarian regimes who finally had a chance to rebuild in safety,' Ferro said. The Supreme Court's ruling, she warned, jeopardizes even those who did everything right. 'This isn't about illegal entries or breaking the law,' she said. 'It targets people who entered legally, passed background checks and were federally approved.' For Ana Sofia Pelaez, the fight for Cuban freedom is deeply personal — woven through generations. It's her grandparents arriving in Miami in the 1960s, her parents' sacrifices, her community's struggle. Today, it's also about over a hundred thousand Cubans facing potential detention and deportation following a ruling that sent shockwaves through immigrant communities nationwide. 'To force Cubans who have applied and received parole to return now would be a moral failure,' said Pelaez, co-founder and executive director of the Miami Freedom Project. 'The island is under a repressive dictatorship, where dissent is punished with imprisonment, torture and exile.' The ruling is viewed by many in the Cuban-American community as a profound betrayal. Cuba remains gripped by crisis after the historic July 11, 2021, protests—the largest anti-government demonstrations in decades—were met with brutal crackdowns, mass arrests and long prison terms. Cuba continues to suffer widespread shortages of food and medicine, a collapsing economy and unrelenting state surveillance. 'The government silences opposition through harassment and brutality,' Pelaez said. 'And economic desperation pushes people to the brink. This is not a place to which anyone should be forcibly returned.'
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
What we know about Derrick Groves, the convicted double murderer still on the run after escaping a New Orleans jail
When Derrick Groves, 27, was convicted in October of killing two people, his sentence was supposed to bring relief to New Orleans and renewed confidence in law enforcement. 'The days of Derrick Groves bullying and brutalizing this community are over,' FBI Special Agent in Charge Lyonel Myrthil said at the time. But less than a year later, Groves, who later pleaded guilty to battery of a correctional officer, broke out of jail with nine other men and escaped into the dark New Orleans night. Two weeks later, Groves and Antoine Massey, another inmate with a history of escaping custody, are still on the run. A video posted online appears to show Massey declaring his innocence. The US Marshals Service received the video Monday and is looking into it, Deputy US Marshal Brian Fair told CNN. In the video, Massey described himself as 'one of the ones that was let out' of the jail 'where they said I escaped.' 'As far as declaring his innocence, he's going to have to come in to take care of that,' Fair said. Here's what we know about Groves, a man with a violent past whose escape has drawn controversial support. Groves' criminal record dates back to 2014, when he was charged for attempted second-degree murder at age 17. He was eventually found not guilty, according to court records. Last October, Groves was convicted for the second time in the killing of two people on Mardi Gras Day in 2018. After his initial conviction in 2019, a new law calling for unanimous verdicts forced Groves into a second trial — which ended in a mistrial due to a juror reading media reports about the case. A third trial ended in a deadlock, and Groves was finally convicted again last year after a fourth trial, the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office detailed in a news release about the conviction. Groves was determined to be one of two gunmen who opened fire with AK-47-style assault rifles 'on what should have been a joyous Mardi Gras family gathering,' according to the DA's office. Groves was found guilty of two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Jamar Robinson and Byron Jackson and two counts of attempted second-degree murder for the shooting of two other victims, charges that carry a life sentence, the district attorney said. Prosecutors used social media to help convict Groves, indicating that his online activity 'played a chilling role' in their case. Groves' posted on social media days after the killings showing his familiarity with the weapons used in the incident, according to the DA's office. He 'brazenly boasted about the violence' and even took credit for the killings, officials said. Three witnesses also 'courageously' testified, identifying Groves and his co-defendant as the gunmen, the DA's office said. 'Groves routinely used violence to lash out and silence witnesses or 'snitches,'' Myrthil said at the time. 'There was no doubt in the minds of anyone involved in this case that Groves would continue his bloody rampage on the streets of New Orleans if he weren't stopped. We hope this guilty verdict and the life sentence that accompanies it will give the community renewed confidence and hope in law enforcement.' Because of delays caused by Groves' attorney being suspended from practicing law and the judge in the case recusing herself, Groves was still awaiting sentencing for that conviction at the Orleans Justice Center when he escaped, Keith D. Lampkin, a spokesman for the DA's office, detailed. In April 2024, before his conviction in the double murder, Groves was charged with battery of a correctional facility employee. He pleaded guilty in that case, court records show. After Groves' escape, prosecutors and witnesses associated with the double murder left town 'out of an abundance of caution,' Lampkin told CNN. He did not elaborate. Groves' aunt, Jasmine Groves, told CNN affiliate WDSU that she wants her nephew to turn himself in and that she hopes deadly force will not be used to get him back into custody. She told the station that her family does not know where her nephew is and that the days since his escape have been a nightmare. Jasmine Groves added that Groves' mother was taken from her home against her will by law enforcement officials. US Marshals confirmed to WDSU that they went to Groves' mother's home to question her. 'For my family, it's been like reliving a constant nightmare that we relived throughout these whole 30 years,' she said. Groves is the grandson of Kim Groves, who was killed in a notorious murder-for-hire plot in the Ninth Ward in 1994, the DA's office said. She was a 32-year-old mother of three when the hit was ordered by New Orleans Police Department Officer Len Davis, WDSU reported. This time around, many of the social media posts about Groves have come from supporters, some of whom seem to reference his grandmother's death at the hands of a police officer as a reason to extend him sympathy. 'DERRICK GROVES is the only inmate i dont blame for what he did to qo to jail i hope he neva qet cauqht,' one X user wrote. 'I pray Derrick Groves is never found …safe travels!' another posted. Another X user shared the hashtags '#StayFreeWoo #Groves #JusticeForKimGroves.' The DA's office did not have any comment on the social media support for Groves. He indicated, however, that any suggestion that Groves' crimes were in response to or retaliation for his grandmother's death is 'newly generated urban myth.' CNN's Zoe Sottile, Sarah Dewberry and Karina Tsui contributed to this report.
