U.S. agents stop migrant-smuggling boat
MIAMI -- U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped a boat just offshore of Palm Beach, Fla., that they say was smuggling migrants from three different countries.
Adam Hoffner, division chief for U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Miami operations, said the boat was stopped Friday morning and had 13 people aboard -- from Romania, Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago.
It was not clear if agents arrested the migrants or what will happen to them. Hoffner said the incident is under investigation.
The stop comes as South Florida is dealing with the largest influx of migrants -- mostly from Cuba and Haiti -- in almost a decade. Most of the people arriving, however, are landing much farther south in the Florida Keys, or being stopped by U.S. Coast Guard crews offshore of the island chain.
On Thursday, the Border Patrol took into custody 80 people from Cuba who arrived in four migrant landings up and down the Keys.
Also on Thursday, the Coast Guard returned 71 people to Cuba who were stopped off the Keys in makeshift vessels in several incidents between Monday and Tuesday, the agency said.
Coast Guard crews have already stopped 2,982 people from Cuba at sea along the Florida Straits since Oct. 1, the start of the fiscal year. Last fiscal year, the agency intercepted 6,182 migrants on the water between Cuba and South Florida, the most since 2016.
Gunman sought in mail carrier's death
MILWAUKEE -- Police are searching for the shooter who killed a U.S. Postal Service employee as he was delivering mail in Wisconsin.
The shooting happened just before 6 p.m. Friday on the city's north side. The Milwaukee Police Department said the 44-year-old mail carrier was pronounced dead at the scene. He had worked for the Postal Service for 18 years.
Police said the Postal Service and the FBI are assisting in the investigation. Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson called the crime "alarming."
"The postal worker in this homicide was a public servant, which makes this crime even more disturbing," Johnson said. "Criminals responsible for death and harm in our city must be held accountable."
Uber driver fatally stabbed; 1 arrested
NEW ORLEANS -- A New Orleans Police Department employee who was moonlighting as an Uber driver was stabbed to death by a passenger in what a sheriff said was a random act.
Yolanda Dillion, 54, was a fiscal analyst with the department, Police Chief Shaun Ferguson said Friday. She was stabbed multiple times Thursday afternoon in her car, in the parking lot of a hotel in neighboring Jefferson Parish. She died later at a hospital.
Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto said detectives worked with Uber to determine the identity of her passenger, who had been picked up in New Orleans. They found him staying at the hotel.
Lopinto said Brandon Jacobs, 29, of Harvey, admitted to the killing.
"He stated that he woke up yesterday morning and decided he was going to kill someone," Lopinto said.
Online records showed Jacobs was being held without bond on a second-degree murder charge.
The sheriff said Jacobs posted video of the aftermath of the stabbing on social media and authorities worked with Facebook to have it taken down.
"We asked him specifically, 'How did you pick her?' His response was, 'I didn't pick her, Uber picked her.' Meaning that she was the random person that picked him up that day," Lopinto said.
Ferguson said Dillion was a 10-year employee. He described her as quiet and humble, adding that she did important work for the department.
"This was just something that definitely blindsided everyone," Ferguson said.
Lopinto said Jacobs is believed to be from the New Orleans area originally. He told investigators he had been staying in the Seattle area but had been back in the New Orleans area for about seven months, Lopinto said.
Stray shots at squirrel lead to charges
EAST GRAND FORKS, Minn. -- A 76-year-old Minnesota man is facing criminal charges because he was shooting at a squirrel and a bullet went through a child's bedroom window in a neighboring home.
East Grand Forks police said they arrested the man last week after his neighbor reported bullet holes in the siding of their home and a hole in the window of their son's bedroom.
The man said he had been watching ball games on television and noticed a squirrel on his bird feeder, according to police. He told officers he shot a .22-caliber rifle from his bedroom window and believed he hit the animal.
He told officers he had shot at squirrels at least six times over the past two years because he considered it "war" when they got into his bird feeder, according to court documents.
The man is charged with recklessly handling a dangerous weapon, a misdemeanor, and a felony count of discharging a firearm within a municipality. He faces up to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine for the felony charge.