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Sheriff had cause to take Maine mass shooting killer into protective custody beforehand, report says

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Sheriff had cause to take Maine mass shooting killer into protective custody beforehand, report says

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A sheriff’s office investigating a mass shooting in Maine had cause to take the killer into protective custody beforehand and to remove his guns, according to a report issued by an independent commission Friday.

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and Attorney General Aaron Frey assembled the commission to review both the events leading up to Oct. 25, when Army reservist Robert Card killed 18 people in a bowling alley and a bar, and the response to the tragedy.

Led by a former chief justice of Maine’s highest court, the commission also included a former U.S. attorney and the former chief forensic psychologist for the state. It held seven sessions starting in November, hearing from law enforcement, survivors and victims’ family members and members of the U.S. Army Reserve as it explored whether anything could have been done to prevent the tragedy and what changes should be made going forward.

Card, who was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot after a two-day search, was well known to law enforcement, and his family and fellow service members had raised flags about his behavior, deteriorating mental health and potential for violence before the shootings.

In May, relatives warned police that Card had grown paranoid, and they expressed concern about his access to guns. In July, Card was hospitalized in a psychiatric unit for two weeks after shoving a fellow reservist and locking himself in a motel room. In August, the Army barred him from handling weapons while on duty and declared him nondeployable. And in September, a fellow reservist texted an Army supervisor about his growing concerns about Card, saying, “I believe he’s going to snap and do a mass shooting.”

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But law enforcement officials told commission members that Maine’s yellow flag law makes it difficult to remove guns from potentially dangerous people.

“I couldn’t get him to the door. I can’t make him open the door,” said Sgt. Aaron Skolfield, who visited Card’s home for a welfare check in September. “If I had kicked in the door, that would’ve been a violation of the law.”

In later testimony, those involved in the search for Card in the shooting’s aftermath acknowledged potential missed opportunities to find him and end the search that locked down the community and terrified residents. Some of the most emotional testimony came family members who tearfully described scenes of blood, chaos and panic followed by unfathomable loss.

Rachael Sloat, who was engaged to be married to shooting victim Peton Berwer Ross, told the committee that her heart breaks every time their 2-year-old daughter asks for her daddy.

“Where are you?” she said. “Every politician, every member of law enforcement, every registered voter in the country – I want you to hear those words. ‘Where are you?’ Because my fellow Americans, where are you? We failed my little girl.”

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Secret Service Agent Assigned to Jill Biden Shoots Self in Leg

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Secret Service Agent Assigned to Jill Biden Shoots Self in Leg

A U.S. Secret Service agent assigned to former First Lady Jill Biden accidentally shot himself in the leg early on Friday near Philadelphia International Airport, according to a source familiar with the incident.

In a statement that did not mention Biden, the Secret Service said the incident occurred just after 8:30 a.m. EST and the agent suffered a non-life-threatening injury.

“There was no impact to the protectee’s movement and they were not present at the time of the incident,” the statement said.

The agent “accidentally discharged his firearm” while traveling in an unmarked SUV near the airport, Philadelphia Police Department Cpl. Jasmine Colón-Reilly said in a statement.

Emergency medical personnel responded to the scene and the agent was transported to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in stable condition, Colón-Reilly said.

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“The Secret Service’s Office of Professional Responsibility will be reviewing the facts and circumstances of this incident,” the Secret Service said.

The Secret Service is responsible for providing security to current and former presidents, vice presidents and their families and foreign leaders and is also an investigative agency.

(Reporting by Christian Martinez in Los Angeles; editing by Scott Malone and Chris Reese)

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Body found in search for missing American Airlines flight attendant in Colombia: mayor

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Body found in search for missing American Airlines flight attendant in Colombia: mayor

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A mayor in Colombia announced that a corpse had been discovered and was likely that of an American citizen who had gone missing. 

Eric Fernando Gutierrez Molina, a 32-year-old American Airlines flight attendant from Texas, had gone missing while in the foreign country, according to reports.

“Since last Sunday, we have been searching for Eric Gutiérrez, a U.S. citizen who is missing,” Medellín Mayor Federico Gutiérrez noted in a Friday post on X, according to a translation from Spanish.

AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT ATTENDANT VANISHES DURING COLOMBIA LAYOVER: ‘HIS FAMILY IS DESPERATE’

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Medellin Mayor Federico Gutierrez speaks during a press conference on Dec. 19, 2025. (JAIME SALDARRIAGA / AFP via Getty Images)

“Unfortunately, a lifeless body has just been found between the municipality of Jericó and Puente Iglesias,” he noted.

“There is a very high probability that it is this person,” the mayor explained.

COLOMBIAN MILITARY PLANE CRASH KILLS AT LEAST 66, HEAD OF ARMED FORCES SAYS

Eric Fernando Gutierrez Molina (CDColExt/X)

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“We are heartbroken by the tragic passing of our colleague,” American Airlines noted in a statement provided to Fox News Digital on Saturday.

‘AMERICAS COUNTER CARTEL COALITION’: INSIDE THE US STRATEGY TO COMBAT NARCO TERROR, CONFRONT CHINA, OTHER FOES

An American Airlines Airbus A321 departs from Harry Reid International Airport on March 11, 2026, in Las Vegas, Nevada.  (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)

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“Our thoughts and support are with his family, loved ones and colleagues during this difficult time, and we are doing all we can to assist Colombian law enforcement in its investigation,” the company added.

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Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed to this report

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Hundreds of thousands march through London in stand against the far right

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Hundreds of thousands march through London in stand against the far right

London, United Kingdom – Hundreds of thousands of people have marched through central London in what organisers are calling the largest ever demonstration against the far right in British history.

The Together Alliance march, backed by about 500 groups including trade unions, antiracism campaigners and Muslim representative bodies, brought together a diverse crowd of all ages from across the country on Saturday, converging on Whitehall near the Houses of Parliament.

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Organisers said that half a million people took part.

Kevin Courtney, chairman of the Together Alliance, told crowds the march “gives us all confidence to carry on.”

London’s Metropolitan Police put the figure considerably lower, at approximately 50,000, though officers acknowledged it was difficult to reach an accurate figure given how spread out the crowds were.

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The protest was met with a far smaller group of counterprotesters waving Israeli flags and Iran’s pre-1979 monarchical flag.

Aadam Muuse, a trade union activist, told Al Jazeera that racism and Islamophobia had moved from the fringes into mainstream politics, and was “being pushed by parliamentarians”.

He said the march was “much needed to push back against [Reform leader Nigel] Farage and his ilk,” adding that the populist party “must be defeated at the ballot box”.

Demonstrators march against ‘far-right extremism” from Park Lane to Trafalgar Square, organised by the Together Alliance, a coalition of unions and civil society groups, in London [Hannah McKay/Reuters]

Al Jazeera’s Milena Veselinovic, reporting from the march, said demonstrators were pushing back against what they saw as “the politics of hate and division” in the United Kingdom.

One demonstrator, activist and writer Hamja Ahsan, told Al Jazeera he was motivated to attend after a rally organised by the far-right agitator-activist Tommy Robinson that drew 150,000 people and was marred by violence that injured several police officers. Robinson is reportedly planning another rally in May.

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“We need to show them that we’re the majority,” Ahsan said. “At a street level, the far right won’t take over our streets.”

He said the atmosphere on Saturday was akin to the Notting Hill Carnival, as the march united people from all backgrounds, “from pensioners to children”.

Museum worker Charlotte Elliston told Al Jazeera that she also feels unsettled by the far right’s creeping rise.

“You think this would never happen here, and then all of a sudden this might happen,” she said. “You see that it is getting scary.”

A man holds a placard, as demonstrators march against far-right extremism from Park Lane to Trafalgar Square, organised by the Together Alliance, a coalition of unions and civil society groups, in London, Britain, March 28, 2026. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
A man holds a placard, as demonstrators march against far-right extremism from Park Lane to Trafalgar Square, organised by the Together Alliance, a coalition of unions and civil society groups, in London [Hannah McKay/Reuters]

Several left-wing politicians joined the demonstration.

Independent MP Jeremy Corbyn posted on X that the “problems we face are not caused by migrants or refugees”, arguing they were rooted instead in “an economic system rigged in favour of corporations and billionaires”.

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MP Zarah Sultana said on X, “There’s one minority we should be angry at: the billionaires funding division while working class people can’t make ends meet.”

Green Party leader Zack Polanski, Dianne Abbott and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham were also among the crowds.

‘Historic demonstration’

The rights group Amnesty UK hailed the “historic demonstration”, saying marchers were “calling for a different vision of society – one which places dignity, compassion and human rights at its heart”.

A separate march organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which assembled at Exhibition Road near Hyde Park, converged with the main demonstration during the afternoon.

Eighteen people were arrested outside New Scotland Yard on Saturday after staging a protest in support of Palestine Action, the protest group which remains proscribed under the Terrorism Act despite a High Court ruling in February that the government’s decision to ban it was unlawful.

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Protesters holding placards gather ahead of speeches after a march against the far right, organised by the Together Alliance, in central London on March 28, 2026. (Photo by Henry NICHOLLS / AFP)
Protesters holding placards gather ahead of speeches after a march against the far right, organised by the Together Alliance, in central London [Henry Nicholls/AFP]

The march comes amid rising racism as Farage’s Reform party surges in the polls.

Hope Not Hate, an antiracism campaign group, warned earlier in March that the British far right is now “bigger, bolder and more extreme than ever before”.

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