Man arrested in bank hostage standoff
ST. CLOUD, Minn. -- A 35-year-old accused of holding five employees hostage during a standoff at a Minnesota bank that lasted more than eight hours was charged Friday with first-degree aggravated robbery, armed kidnapping and assault in Stearns County District Court.
Ray R. McNeary was arrested in the Wells Fargo bank shortly after the final hostage left the building.
While St. Cloud police said Friday that no firearm was found on McNeary or at the scene, Wells Fargo spokeswoman Staci Schiller had said Thursday that the suspect had "some sort of weapon."
Law enforcement officers began negotiating with McNeary about 1:45 p.m. Thursday after a robbery was reported. The first hostage, a woman, was freed several hours later and ran to officers with her hands raised.
A few minutes later, a second woman emerged and was led away. Then, just before 8 p.m., a male bank employee emerged unharmed. A fourth person, a woman, walked out minutes later.
After the final hostage was freed about 10:15 p.m, officers moved in and arrested McNeary. Neither the hostages nor McNeary were injured, police said.
He remained jailed in Stearns County as of late Friday.
U.S. dials back data collection at border
WASHINGTON -- The Biden administration Friday withdrew a Trump-era proposal to expand the amount and types of biometric data collected by U.S. immigration authorities.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said the proposed rule submitted for public comment in September would be withdrawn as part of the new administration's goal of reducing "barriers and undue burdens" in the immigration system.
In a statement announcing the withdrawal of the proposal, the agency said the Department of Homeland Security would continue to collect biometrics "where appropriate." That includes fingerprints and photos of people applying for citizenship and iris scans of people apprehended at the U.S. border.
The proposal issued under President Donald Trump would have enabled the agency to collect more types of biometrics, including voice prints and DNA, from anyone applying to enter the U.S. and family members, including children.
The Trump administration argued that it would improve security vetting, reduce fraud and make the immigration system more efficient.
But critics said the proposal would add unnecessary steps to an already cumbersome immigration process and discourage people from even seeking to come to the U.S. because of the intrusiveness of the data collection.
Man jailed in knifing of 2 elderly women
SAN FRANCISCO -- A man accused of stabbing two elderly women at a San Francisco bus stop was charged with attempted murder in an attack that follows a number of others against Asian Americans nationwide, authorities said.
Patrick Thompson, 54, of San Francisco also was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and elder abuse for Tuesday's attack, with sentencing enhancements for great bodily injury, great bodily injury on elders and personal use of a deadly weapon, the district attorney's office said late Thursday in a statement.
Thompson, who has a history of mental illness, could face a potential life sentence if convicted.
A witness told KGO-TV that the man was carrying a large knife with knuckles on the handle and without warning attacked the women as they waited for a bus on Market Street.
"The knife punctured one victim's lungs, requiring extensive surgery," the district attorney's office said. "A knife had to be removed from another victim at the hospital."
Authorities initially said the women were 65 and 84 years old, and didn't immediately identify them. Both women were expected to survive, authorities said.
The district attorney's office said prosecutors were trying to determine whether there was evidence to support hate crime allegations.
41 people removed from truck in Texas
SAN ANTONIO -- A Dallas man was arrested on a charge of smuggling migrants after more than three dozen people were found in and around a tractor-trailer rig that was stopped in San Antonio, federal prosecutors said Friday.
Aron Bernard Griffin, 49, was arrested Thursday night at a gas station after police received reports from residents who said they saw people in the back of the tractor-trailer he was driving, prosecutors said. Police initially reported finding 29 migrants, but federal immigration agents ultimately detained 41 who were in the U.S. without legal permission, prosecutors said.
Griffin was being held in San Antonio ahead of an initial court appearance Friday, prosecutors said. It was not clear if he had a lawyer.
Prosecutors said Griffin had reported that he had made an agreement with another person to pick up the migrants in Laredo and drive them to San Antonio for money.
A Homeland Security Department investigations spokeswoman did not immediately respond to questions about the health and age of the migrants.