HOUSTON, Texas — Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo criticized Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republican lawmakers for not reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act and taking action against gun violence, asking them in emotional remarks to choose between the nation’s foremost gun lobby and “the children that are getting gunned down in this
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EL PASO, Texas — A 30-year-old El Paso man has been arrested after police said they found over 17,000 images of child pornography during a search of his home. 30-year-old Oscar Garcia Jr. was being held Monday in the downtown jail on $40,000 bond on charges of possession of child pornography and possession with intent
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EL PASO, Texas — A 57-year-old Texas truck driver made an initial appearance in federal court Monday afternoon following his arrest by the FBI in what agents called a “violent crimes against children” investigation. Travis Wayne Vavra of Anthony is charged with interstate transportation of minors with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.
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EL PASO, Texas — The pastor of an east El Paso Catholic church vandalized last week said late Sunday that the FBI now tells him the incident is being investigated as a hate crime due to attacks on other churches earlier this year. Father Ed Roden-Lucero also offered new details about the extent of the
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LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — Two teenager brothers have been arrested after they allegedly broke into Lynn Middle School over the weekend to burglarize and vandalize it, causing over $1,000 in damage. The boys, ages 13 and 17, were charged with burglary, larceny and criminal damage to property. The pair were released to a parent’s
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EL PASO, Texas — An alleged drunk driver has been arrested and charged with causing a head-on traffic collision on Loop 375 that claimed the lives of a mother and her young son, El Paso police said Sunday. The deadly crash involving two vehicles, one of which was traveling the wrong direction, happened around 8
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EL PASO, Texas – The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday it had arrested a man who allegedly made death threats against a judge and the suspected shooter in the Walmart massacre. According to deputies, 38-year-old Jose Humberto Martinez called the courthouse and threatened to kill the presiding district court judge if mass shooting
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EL PASO, Texas — Nearly three months to the day that 7-year-old Alexa Barrera was tragically hit by car and killed in a crosswalk on her way to school, authorities said there will be no charges brought in her death. District Attorney Jaime Esparza announced late Friday that 26-year-old Marisol Cervantes, the driver of the
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EL PASO, Texas — Claiming a “staggering” amount of evidence to wade through for the future trial of accused El Paso Walmart shooter Patrick Crusius, his defense has now asked to add a third lawyer to their team. The motion filed with a judge on Thursday, a copy of which was obtained by ABC-7 on
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PENSACOLA, Florida — A shooter opened fire in a classroom building at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola on Friday in an attack that left four people dead, including the assailant, and multiple people wounded. The shooting — the second at a U.S. Navy base this week — prompted a massive law enforcement response and
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EL PASO, Texas — An upgraded criminal charge has now been filed against northeast El Paso’s representative on city council following his October arrest stemming from a domestic violence incident. A grand jury returned an indictment against Morgan for felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He was originally charged with assault causing bodily injury,
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LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — It’s not just the busiest time of the year for pecan growers, but one of the most dangerous. “Pecan theft is a continuing and growing concern for our industry,” said Greg Daviet, whose family has owned Dixie Ranch since 1905. “It’s dangerous for not only our personnel who are on
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EL PASO, Texas — U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it caught a woman trying to smuggle a half-pound of methamphetamine into the country from Mexico by hiding the drugs in her “vaginal cavity.” The unusual discovery was made by CBP agents on duty Thursday at the Paso Del Norte pedestrian border crossing in El
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El PASO, Texas — A UPS truck driver is accused of delivering illegal drugs alongside his legitimate cargo on his El Paso route, sheriff’s deputies said Friday. Armando Barron, 39, was arrested Thursday on charges that included three counts of manufacturing, delivery and possession of dangerous drugs. After receiving a tip about the “possible promotion
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EL PASO, Texas — St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in east El Paso had nearly half a dozen windows and doors destroyed along with a small fire being set on Thursday. It was the latest in a series of vandalism incidents involving Catholic churches in the city, but the FBI believes it is too soon
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EL PASO, Texas — Police on Thursday had not yet found a body in their murder investigation into missing mother, 29-year-old Erika Gaytán, but investigators do have an idea of where she might be. Police arrested 28-year-old Ricardo Marquez on Wednesday, accusing him of murdering Gaytan after a concert date July 13. Gaytán went missing
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LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — A Las Cruces officer was fired Thursday by the city’s police chief just hours after prosecutors dropped, at least temporarily, drunken driving charges against her. Officer Stephanie Carabajal’s termination from the police force followed an internal affairs investigation after her late October arrest by a New Mexico state trooper. While
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LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — A school resource officer who accidentally fired his gun inside Picacho Middle School is facing a misdemeanor criminal charge and has been removed from school duty, officials said Thursday. Although Las Cruces police Officer Francisco Estrada has been charged with one count of prohibited use of a firearm, officials still
Continue Reading EL PASO, Texas — A 29-year-old El Paso mother who vanished back in July after going to a concert was killed by her concert date, police alleged Wednesday, although her body has not been recovered. Police arrested 28-year old Ricardo Marquez and charged him with the murder of Erika Andrea Gaytan. He was booked Wednesday
Continue Reading LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — A school resource officer inadvertently fired his gun inside a Las Cruces school on Wednesday afternoon, and the family of a student told ABC-7 that one 12-year-old boy was in the room with the officer when the gun went off and another was standing nearby. The incident caused some tense
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RUIDOSO, New Mexico — Police were investigating a shooting Wednesday evening that seriously wounded a 17-year-old boy. It happened around 5 p.m. at a home in the 200 block of Excalibur Drive. The victim, who police said was shot multiple times, was flown by helicopter from Ruidoso to University Medical Center in El Paso for
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EL PASO, Texas — A father whose son had his life seemingly threatened by an El Paso police officer on video said Wednesday that he is filing a formal misconduct complaint against the officer. “I think it was very unprofessional for a police officer to conduct himself that way investigating a crime, speaking to a
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EL PASO, Texas — Police are searching for so-called “beer runners,” a group of people suspected in recent beer thefts from a local store. El Paso police released surveillance images Wednesday of the alleged beer thieves, but provided few other details. Based on a police department alert issued to local businesses, it appears the beer
Continue Reading EL PASO, Texas — An El Paso police officer recently recorded on a doorbell camera being involved in a verbal confrontation with a 24-year-old crime witness has had no change in his duty status while an internal investigation is ongoing into that officer’s conduct. Last week, Ruben Garcia Jr., shared the video with ABC-7 which
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EL PASO, Texas – The El Paso United Family Resiliency Center will host two Victims’ Forums as part of the community’s path to recovery from the Walmart mass shooting tragedy on Aug. 3. The forums will be an opportunity for community members to share their needs regarding recovery, learn how to recognize signs of trauma
Continue Reading EL PASO, Texas — The El Paso Police Department said it will launch an internal investigation into an officer’s conduct after a doorbell camera recorded a verbal confrontation between that officer and a 24-year-old man. The video, shared with ABC-7 by Ruben Garcia Jr., appears to show the officer shouting at him after he said
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ANTHONY, New Mexico — A married Anthony vitamin shop employee who lives in a “rundown mobile home” and claimed to be a police officer is accused of embezzling over $640,000 and spending the funds to wine and dine girlfriends on the side, take lavish trips to Las Vegas and elsewhere as well as purchase illicit
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High school students in states that require universal background checks on all prospective gun buyers are less likely to carry guns compared to students in states that require background checks only on sales through federally licensed firearms dealers, according to a study published Monday in the medical journal Pediatrics. On average, 5.8% of nearly 180,000
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LAS CRUCES, New Mexico — A Doña Ana County Sheriff’s deputy ejected from his vehicle after a rollover crash Saturday night should be released from the hospital soon, according to officials. “Anytime we receive a call that a deputy’s been in a crash, you hope for the best and you can expect the worst sometimes,”
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EL PASO, Texas — New details have emerged about the recent arrest of a Fort Bliss soldier accused of beating his two sons while high on the drug LSD. Zakary Frampton faces two counts of injury to a child after allegedly assaulting his 3-year-old and 7-year-old sons. According to an arrest affidavit obtained by ABC-7,
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