TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Drone-detecting devices deployed in New Jersey in the past week have found “little to no evidence” of anything nefarious or threatening, Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday as calls grew for action to address the mysterious nighttime sightings of suspected unmanned flights across the northeastern U.S.
Murphy told reporters in Trenton that there were 12 sightings of suspected drones in the state on Saturday and one on Sunday. He declined to go into detail about the detection equipment, but said it was powerful enough to disable the drones, although he added that is not legal on U.S. soil.
Murphy, a Democrat, echoed calls by state officials elsewhere for Congress to allow them to deal with drones. Nearly all the power now rests with the federal government.
"It is extraordinary to me that, that a nation as great as ours and as powerful as ours has the deficiencies that we have now seen in living color as it relates to drone incursions,” Murphy said.
Federal officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, have repeatedly said there are no signs that any drone operators have shown bad intent, nor is there evidence of foreign involvement.
“There’s no question that people are seeing drones,” Mayorkas told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Sunday. “But I want to assure the American public that we are on it. We are working in close coordination with state and local authorities.”
But that hasn't reassured everyone. Conspiracy theories about foreign actors, the U.S. government and the “deep state,” abound online, while elected officials concerned about threats to military bases, airports and other locations have increased their calls for federal officials to act.
The skeptics include President-elect Donald Trump, who suggested Monday that "the government knows what is happening.”
“Our military knows and our president knows and for some reason they want to keep people in suspense,” Trump said. He refused to say whether he had been briefed on the drone sightings.
New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim, a Democrat, told The Associated Press that officials could do a better job helping the public to understand what is going on, especially when people wrongly conclude they are seeing unmanned aircraft.
“What the public could use is like walking through that rather than just, you know, as a statement that says nothing, nothing to be concerned about,” he said. "I think it’s reached a level of just public attention that some greater level of depth is necessary.”
Kim said he’s heard no supporting evidence for the president-elect's statement Monday that information is being withheld and that a lack of faith in institutions is playing a key part in the saga.
“Nothing that I’m seeing, nothing that I’ve engaged in gives me any impression of that nature. But like, I get it, some people won’t believe me, right? Because that’s the level of distrust that we face.”
Over the past two days, New York and Pennsylvania officials have also requested drone-detecting equipment from federal officials.
"It is imperative our communities in Pennsylvania are protected and questions on the presence of these drones are answered,” U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican, wrote in a letter to Mayorkas on Monday. "State-of-the-art radar systems will provide insights into where these drones are deploying from and what the motives for their flights may be.”
After reports of drones in Connecticut, state police said they were monitoring drone activity and state officials said analysts were comparing reported sightings with federal flight data.
“One of the drone sightings had the word Frontier on the back, that was an airline,” Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, said Monday. “But some of them are big and unexplained and we’re going to get to the bottom of this. Right now, what we do is we make sure that our security and airports are secure.”
At a media briefing on Monday, the Pentagon's press secretary, Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, said defense officials have seen no indication that the drones flying over multiple locations in the U.S. are being controlled by a foreign country. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, he said, there are approximately 1 million registered drones in the U.S. and about 8,000 are flying any given day.
Ryder said that while military bases overseas can use surveillance methods that quickly address the origin of drones, that power is limited in U.S. airspace because of domestic surveillance laws. He said most drones are operated through either radio frequency transmissions or satellite-guided GPS navigation, which can provide information about the operators. If they're not controlled by those methods, that's another clue, he said.
“So I’m kind of talking around it because I don’t necessarily want to get into talking classified capabilities, but the bottom line is that all of that gives us an idea that, hey, these are not foreign origin," Ryder said.
Christopher Stadulis, a retired New York City firefighter and drone hobbyist, said he's seen clusters of drones near his home in Clinton Township, New Jersey. He said the lights he has seen at night are different from those used by commercial airlines, and the drones he has seen are very large.
“When you look at what I’m seeing with the naked eye, you can see it’s not a normal aircraft,” he said in a recent interview. "This and we don’t have this much traffic, you know, usually on any given night in this area. So it seems like definitely some of them are aircraft that we can’t explain what they are.”
More suspected drone sightings over the weekend led to a temporary airspace shutdown at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, for about four hours late Friday into Saturday, and the arrests of two men in Boston accused of flying a drone “dangerously close” to Logan International Airport.
U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat, said Monday that he is introducing legislation calling on federal officials to provide public briefings on what they know about the drones and calling for a drone air traffic control system similar to those used for planes. He also wants law enforcement to be given access to drone detectors and the authority to “take out drones that shouldn't be in the air."
“I believe the people I represent and, as I’ve been saying for some time now, the people in New Jersey and around the country deserve answers,” he said in a statement. “They deserve transparency from their government.”
Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut. Associated Press writers John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, Tara Copp in Washington and Joseph B. Frederick in New York City contributed to this report.
This photo provided by Trisha Bushey shows the evening sky and points of light near in Lebanon Township, N.J., on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. (Trisha Bushey via AP)
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A teenage student opened fire at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin on Monday, killing a teacher and another teenage student in the final week before Christmas break. The shooter also died, police said.
Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes did not give details about the age or gender of the suspected shooter who also wounded six others at Abundant Life Christian School, a K-12 school with about 390 students. Of those wounded, Barnes said two of them were in critical condition with life-threatening injuries. The other four had non-life-threatening injuries, Barnes said.
Barnes said the suspected shooter was a student who likely died by suicide.
A law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation told The Associated Press that the shooter was a 17-year-old female student.
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Well into Monday afternoon, parents were directed to a medical clinic building about a mile from the school to pick up their children.
Some left holding their young children against their chests, others squeezing kids’ hands or shoulders as they walked side by side.
One family draped an adult-size coat around a young girl’s shoulder as they left the building to a parking lot still teeming with police and law enforcement vehicles.
President Joe Biden called the shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School “shocking and unconscionable” in a statement Monday.
“We need Congress to act. Now," he said.
“From Newtown to Uvalde, Parkland to Madison, to so many other shootings that don’t receive attention - it is unacceptable that we are unable to protect our children from this scourge of gun violence. We cannot continue to accept it as normal,” he said. “Every child deserves to feel safe in their class room. Students across our country should be learning how to read and write – not having to learn how to duck and cover.”
He said that he and his wife, Jill, are praying for the victims. He thanked first responders who arrived quickly and said the FBI is supporting local law enforcement efforts. His team has also reached out to local officials to offer further support, at his direction.
He said that while his administration has taken aggressive action to combat the gun violence epidemic, more is needed:
"Congress must pass commonsense gun safety laws: Universal background checks. A national red flag law. A ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines."
The shooter who killed a teacher and a student Monday at a private Christian school in Wisconsin was a 17-year-old female student, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.
The official was not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity. Police in Madison, Wisconsin, said the shooter apparently was dead by suicide when officers arrived.
—By Alanna Durkin Richer
In Las Vegas, Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers opened a news conference Monday by talking about the shooting.
“Not a lot to say. Just a shame this keeps happening,” Rivers said, unprompted and before any questions could be asked. “Kids can’t go to school safe, and it just seems like we don’t do anything about it. Not going to get up here on the podium and give a long speech — except for it’s just bad and that we are thinking about them.”
Las Vegas was the site of the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history in 2017, when 58 people were killed and more than 850 were injured among a crowd of 22,000 at a country music festival.
The Bucks are in Las Vegas for Tuesday’s NBA Cup tournament championship game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes noted “At this time, yes,” the shooter’s family is cooperating.
“I’m feeling a little dismayed now, so close to Christmas,” he said. “Every child, every person in that building is a victim and will be a victim forever. ... We need to figure out and try to piece together what exactly happened.”
Barnes said detectives were, “working hard to find as many answers as we can.”
Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes identified the weapon police found as a handgun.
He said the gunfire was confined to one space. He didn’t specify whether it was a classroom.
Someone from the school called 911 to report an active shooter, Barnes said.
He said the police training center is three miles from the school, and staff responded from there.
“What began as a training day became an actual day,” he said.
Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said he didn’t immediately know the shooter’s motive but added that detectives were “working hard to find as many answers as we can.”
Barnes said he was not releasing any information about the shooter, including name or gender.
Barnes declined to say anything about the shooter, partly out of respect for the student’s family.
“That’s still someone’s child that is gone,” he said.
A teacher and a teen student were killed in the shooting at a Wisconsin school by a fellow student, police chief says.
In addition to the deceased, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said six other students are being treated at area hospitals, including two in critical condition with life-threatening injuries and four with non-life threatening injuries.
Lisa Adams, a spokesperson for SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison, said the hospital has received patients from the shooting but declined to provide further details.
“We are praying for all affected by today’s tragic incident at Abundant Life Christian School and our community as a whole. We are grateful for the first responders who acted swiftly today,” she said. “SSM Health is dedicated to serving our community. We remain committed to providing support and assistance in any way we can.”
Emily Greendonner, a spokesperson for UW Health, said it is also receiving patients from the shooting and setting up areas for patients’ families. UW Health is affiliated with the University of Wisconsin.
The Abundant Life Christian School asked for the community’s prayers on its Facebook account Monday after a school shooting left at least three people dead, including the shooter.
“Prayers Requested! Today, we had an active shooter incident at ALCS. We are in the midst of following up. We will share information as we are able.
Please pray for our Challenger Family,” school staff posted on the Abundant Life Christian School Facebook page.
Hundreds of commenters offered prayers from around the country, some from former students, former teachers and alumni.
The school of about 390 students noted on its page in previous posts that this was the last school week before holiday break. Commenters also issued well wishes and prayers on videos of students on school trips and singing at the annual Christmas choir concert from recent weeks.
Bethany Highman rushed to the school that her daughter attends as soon as her mom, who lives near the school, called her about the shooting. Highman said she was able to briefly FaceTime with her daughter, so she knows she is safe.
Highman said she doesn't really know any details about what happened.
“We’re just as hungry for what’s going on as I’m sure all of you are,” she said.
Highman said it is surreal because you never expect to go through this even though it does happen.
“I bring my daughter to school knowing well that this happens in the world. That people are struggling. And I pray for my daughter’s safety and I pray for the entire school’s safety. I pray for the hearts of the students, the teachers, the staff members. It’s a very real thing.”
Highman’s world stopped when she got the call about the shooting.
“As soon as it happened, your world stops for a minute. Nothing else matters. There’s nobody around you. You just bolt for the door and try to do everything you can as a parent to be with your kids.”
Highman said she is angry about the shooting and devastated for the families who lost loved ones.
Monday's was the the latest among dozens of school shootings across the U.S. in recent years, including especially deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut, Parkland, Florida, and Uvalde, Texas.
The shootings have set off fervent debates about gun control and frayed the nerves of parents whose children are growing up accustomed to doing active shooter drills in their classrooms.
But school shootings have done little to move the needle on national gun laws. Firearms were the leading cause of death among children in 2020 and 2021, according to KFF, a nonprofit that researches health care issues.
Investigators believe the shooter used a 9mm pistol, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.
— By Alanna Durkin Richer
Police have updated the death toll for the shooting.
Police often caution when disclosing the number of victims after a shooting that the information is preliminary and could change. That is not uncommon, especially as investigators gather additional information and details about injuries.
“We are praying for the kids, educators, and entire Abundant Life school community as we await more information and are grateful for the first responders who are working quickly to respond,” Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement.
Agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have responded to the scene to assist local law enforcement.
Abundant Life Christian School is nondenominational and has about 390 students, from kindergarten through high school, according to its website.
Emergency vehicles are parked outside the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wis., where multiple injuries were reported following a shooting, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
