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Thursday June 04, 2026
(GREEN BAY, Wis.) -- Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs was released from custody amid further investigation into domestic abuse allegations, the local district attorney's office said a day after the NFL player was arrested in Wisconsin.
Jacobs, 28, was arrested and booked into the Brown County jail on three domestic abuse charges -- battery, criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct, according to the Hobart-Lawrence Police Department.
He was also booked on two other charges -- intimidation of a victim and strangulation and suffocation, police said.
The strangulation and suffocation charge is a felony and the others are misdemeanors, online jail records show.
The charges stem from a "disturbance complaint" that officers responded to Saturday morning, Hobart-Lawrence Police Department Chief Michael Renkas said in a press release.
Jacobs was arrested Tuesday following an investigation, Renkas said, who said the probe remains "active and ongoing."
He was being held without bond, though Brown County District Attorney David Lasee said Wednesday that Jacobs will be released from custody, and that a final charging decision will be made by his office "at a later date."
"After reviewing the available evidence in this case, the Brown County District Attorney's Office is not yet prepared to make a formal charging decision," Lasee said in a statement. "Our office has requested additional investigation, as there is reason to believe that additional evidence may exist that would impact whether criminal charges are appropriate, and what charges would be issued."
Online jail records show Jacobs was released at 12:20 p.m. local time on Wednesday.
His attorneys said they are "extremely pleased" that Jacobs was released and no criminal charges have been filed at this time.
"We remain confident that, once all of the evidence is gathered and evaluated, it will confirm that no charges should be brought against Josh in the future," his attorneys, David Chesnoff, Richard Schonfeld and Clarence Duchac, said in a statement.
In a statement following the arrest, the attorneys said Jacobs "vehemently denies the allegations, and this matter is in the early stages of investigation with important evidence that has not yet been made public."
"We ask for fairness and restraint while the judicial process takes its course," the statement from his attorneys continued.
A Packers spokesperson said they are "aware of the matter involving Josh Jacobs."
"As it is an ongoing legal situation, we will withhold further comment," the statement added.
Packers head coach Matt LaFleur addressed Jacobs at the top of a press briefing Wednesday, telling reporters he is "going to stick with the statement that we put out as an organization and just let the process play out."
Jacobs is entering his third season with the Packers.
He began playing in the NFL in 2019, as a first-round pick of the Oakland Raiders, and was named to the NFL All-Rookie Team. He is a three-time Pro Bowl selection and led the league in rushing yards in 2022.
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(CALIFORNIA) -- An "emergency hazmat incident" in California has prompted evacuations, with officials warning that a chemical tank at an aerospace facility is in "crisis" and will either fail or explode.
Firefighters initially responded to a leak at an aerospace manufacturing company in Garden Grove on Thursday, for vapor releasing from a 34,000-gallon tank containing methyl methacrylate, according to the Orange County Fire Authority.
Officials updated Friday that there is no active gas leak or plume, but that the tank is "actively in crisis" and unable to be secured. Damage to a valve on the tank has "created additional operational challenges," city officials said.
"There are literally two options left remaining: one, the tank fails and spills a total of about 6- to 7,000 gallons of very bad chemicals into the parking lot in that area. Or two, the tank goes into a thermal runaway and blows up, affecting the tanks that are around them that have fuel or the chemicals in them as well," Orange County Fire Authority Division Chief Craig Covey said in a video update Friday.
"Most importantly, right now, there is no active gas leak, no plume in the area. We are setting up these evacuations in preparation for these two options -- it fails or it blows up," he said.
Authorities have issued evacuation orders for the surrounding area. Over a dozen schools have temporarily closed, and those adjacent to the evacuation area are canceling outdoor activities "out of an abundance of caution," the Garden Grove Unified School District said.
Methyl methacrylate is an industrial chemical used in plastics and manufacturing.
ABC News has reached out to the aerospace manufacturing company, GKN Aerospace, for comment.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been briefed on the incident, his office said.
The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services said it is "closely monitoring the incident in Garden Grove and has deployed personnel to work alongside local partners."
"Please heed all orders from local authorities -- evacuation orders have expanded," it said Friday.
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(BROOKWOOD, Ala.) -- An Alabama man has been charged with manslaughter after his 1-year-old child was found dead in a vehicle, still strapped into a car seat, after the father had allegedly been drinking throughout the day while the infant was in his sole care, authorities said.
Multiple agencies responded to a home in Brookwood, in Tuscaloosa County, Wednesday evening after the child's family reported that the infant was found dead in the vehicle, authorities said.
"Initial investigation shows that the child was in the vehicle for an extended [amount] of time," Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office Violent Crimes Unit Capt. Jack Kennedy said in a statement, noting that the temperatures that afternoon were in the mid-90s.
The child, whose name was not released, had been in the "sole care of its father all day," Kennedy said.
The father, identified by the sheriff's office as 30-year-old Logan Keith Chewning, allegedly admitted to drinking at different points throughout the day and leaving the residence at one point to buy more alcohol, authorities said.
"The father reported that he believed that the child had been sleeping in its crib but must have been left behind in the vehicle," Kennedy said.
Chewning was charged with manslaughter following consultation with the Tuscaloosa County District Attorney's Office, the sheriff's office said.
He is being held in jail, with a bond to be set by a judge at a later date. It is unclear if he has an attorney at this time.
The child's exact cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner, authorities said.
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(MALDIVES) Five Italian nationals, including a mother and her daughter, died while scuba diving in a deep underwater cave in the Maldives, according to Italian and Maldivian officials, as a risky search effort attempts to recover the remaining missing divers.
The divers went missing Thursday while exploring a cave in Vaavu Atoll, according to the Maldives National Defense Force.
The body of one of the divers has since been recovered in a cave about 200 feet deep, authorities said. The remaining four divers are believed to be inside the 200-foot-long cave, according to the Maldives National Defense Force.
Additional divers and special equipment were being sent to the area Friday for the "very dangerous, high-risk operation," it said. The search was suspended Friday due to bad weather and the recovery operation is expected to resume on Saturday, The Associated Press reported.
Maldivian presidential spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef extended his "deepest condolences" to the people of Italy following the "tragic diving incident" in a statement on Friday. He said the search for the four remaining divers "remains our highest priority."
Italy's Foreign Ministry said the five Italian nationals died in a scuba diving accident. They were reported to have died "while attempting to explore caves at a depth of 50 meters," it said.
"The reconstruction of the incident is still underway by the Maldivian authorities," the ministry said.
The Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology and the University of Genoa (UniGe) identified the deceased divers as Monica Montefalcone, a marine scientist and associate professor at UniGe; her daughter, Giorgia Sommacal, a UniGe biomedical engineering student; Muriel Oddenino, a UniGe research fellow; and marine biologist Federico Gualtieril, a recent UniGe graduate in marine biology and ecology.
The institute also identified one of the victims as diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti.
Montefalcone had won multiple awards for her work to study and protect the marine environment, the institute said.
The Italian ambassador from the embassy in Colombo arrived in the Maldives on Friday to meet with Maldives National Defence Force Coast Guard officials, the ministry said.
The Italian Embassy in Colombo is in contact with the victims' families and is providing assistance to 20 other Italian nationals aboard the Duke of Yoke who participated in the expedition, the ministry said.
"The vessel is awaiting an improvement in weather conditions in order to return to Malé," the ministry said Friday.
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(CLARKSVILLE, Tenn.) -- Rage-baiting livestreamer Dalton Eatherly, known online as "Chud the Builder," is being held on $1.25 million bond after being charged with attempted murder in connection with a shooting outside a Tennessee courthouse.
Eatherly, 28, and another man sustained gunshot wounds during the shooting incident Wednesday outside the Montgomery County Courthouse in Clarksville, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.
There was a "physical altercation that escalated to gunfire," the sheriff's office said in a statement.
Following an investigation into the shooting, Eatherly was arrested later that day and charged with attempted murder, as well as employing a firearm during a dangerous felony, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, according to the sheriff's office.
During his arraignment on the charges Friday, Judge Reid Poland III noted the need to "protect the public interest and public safety" due to the seriousness of the charges and the public location of the shooting, while setting the bond at $1.25 million.
The prosecutor asked for the bond to be addressed at a later hearing so the court could review all factors, including a pending case Eatherly has in Davidson County, and "make an informed decision."
Eatherly's next bond hearing has been scheduled for May 21, and a preliminary hearing for May 26. ABC News has reached out to his attorney for comment.
Online court records show Eatherly had a civil debt appearance scheduled Wednesday morning at the Montgomery County courthouse, though it's unclear if he attended the hearing.
He was involved in a "confrontation" with another man outside the courthouse, District Attorney General Robert Nash, whose district covers Montgomery County, said in a statement.
"The confrontation resulted in gunfire, and both men were taken for medical treatment," Nash said.
Both men were transported to area hospitals in stable condition, according to the sheriff's office. Authorities have not publicly identified the other man involved in the incident.
Eatherly has made a social media presence by recording and livestreaming his racist confrontations with Black people and others while touting his constitutionally protected right to do so.
The shooting incident came days after he was arrested in a separate incident in Nashville and charged with theft, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, according to court records.
He was arrested over the weekend for allegedly refusing to pay for $371.55 in food and drink from a restaurant at the Omni Hotel where he had been livestreaming, according to court records.
When restaurant staff asked him to stop livestreaming during the incident on Saturday, "he became disruptive and started making racial statements, yelling, screaming and otherwise creating a scene at the location," an affidavit filed in Davidson County Court stated.
Online court records do not list any attorney for Eatherly in that case.
ABC News' Jack Date contributed to this report.
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(NEW YORK) -- The husband of a woman who was reported missing in the Bahamas after going overboard on a dinghy was questioned again by police on Monday as he awaits any charging decision in connection with her disappearance, according to his attorney.
Lynette Hooker, 55, of Michigan, has been missing for over a week. She and her husband, Brian Hooker, 58, had departed Hope Town on the Abaco Islands for their yacht, Soulmate, in Elbow Cay around 7:30 p.m. on April 4, when bad weather caused Lynette Hooker to fall overboard, her husband told authorities.
Brian Hooker was arrested on Wednesday in connection with his wife's disappearance and interviewed by Bahamian police for approximately three hours on Friday. Police subsequently requested an extension to give them until Monday evening to make any charging decision, according to his attorney, Terrel Butler.
He was questioned by police again on Monday for about an hour, according to Butler, who said investigators did not present any new evidence. She also said police have not given Brian Hooker any updates on the search for his wife since his arrest.
Police have until 7:20 p.m. ET Monday to charge or release him, according to Butler.
Butler said Brian Hooker is considered a suspect in his wife's disappearance and denies any wrongdoing.
Following his initial interview on Friday, Butler said Brian Hooker was "questioned in relation to causing harm, which resulted in her death."
"He definitely denies causing her death and he's still asking about her and is hopeful that she will be recovered," she continued, saying they have not been informed of any evidence that her body has been recovered.
The attorney said Brian Hooker is "heartbroken" over the disappearance of his wife of 25 years and that his arrest has been "traumatic."
His arrest came after multiple sources told ABC News a criminal investigation had been opened into whether there was any wrongdoing in the case. The U.S. Coast Guard is leading the probe, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
In a statement posted to social media last Wednesday, Brian Hooker said "unpredictable seas and high winds" caused his "beloved Lynette to fall from our small dinghy" near Elbow Cay.
"Despite desperate attempts to reach her, the winds and currents drove us further apart. We continue to search for her and that is my sole focus," he said.
Brian Hooker told police that his wife was holding the boat key when she went overboard, causing the 8-foot hard-bottom dinghy's engine to shut off, according to the Royal Bahamas Police Force. He subsequently paddled the boat back to shore, arriving at a marina at around 4 a.m. on April 5, and reported his wife overboard, police said.
The Hookers documented their sailing travels on social media under the name "The Sailing Hookers."
Lynette Hooker's daughter, Karli Aylesworth, has called for a "full and complete investigation" into her mother's disappearance.
She told ABC News her stepfather, Brian Hooker, told her that her mom "fell out of the boat and that he threw a life jacket to her or something, and he doesn't know if she got it or not."
Lynette Hooker's mother, Darlene Hamlett, told ABC News she hopes "we find the truth" amid the investigation and alleged the couple have had a volatile relationship.
"I just want the truth to come out and I'm hoping that they can do that, and I hope they find her and that that will help clear up all of this," she said.
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