The Dictatorship

A father and son and a man who tried to save his home are among the L.A. wildfire victims

Published

12 months ago

January 11, 2025

A father and son and a man who tried to save his home are among the L.A. wildfire victims

As wildfires continue to tear through the Los Angeles areaofficials said that at least 11 people have died, though the actual death toll remains unknown.

Some of the victims have been identified by family members, neighbors and friends. Among them are a father and son who were waiting to be evacuated, as well as residents who had weathered past wildfires and wanted to stay behind to protect their homes.

Here’s what we know about the victims so far.

Anthony and Justin Mitchell

A father and son died in their Altadena home on Wednesday, family members said.

Anthony Mitchell Jr. told The New York Times that his father, a 67-year-old amputee who used a wheelchair, called him early on Wednesday to say that he was waiting for Anthony’s brother, Justin, who has cerebral palsy and did not walk, to be evacuated. That night, both of them were found dead.

Mitchell said his father did not want to leave Justin behind. “He probably could have gotten himself out, but he wasn’t going to leave my brother,” he told NBC News. “He really loved his kids.”

Mitchell described his father as a family man who considered his family as his legacy. “He said, ‘Money don’t matter, property don’t matter. My kids and my family are my treasure,’” Mitchell told NBC News.

Mitchell said his brother Justin was a “sweet kid.” In an interview with The Washington PostJustin’s half sister, Hajime White, said authorities told them that their father was found by Justin’s bedside.

People with disabilities are disproportionately affected by natural disasters. A 2019 state audit found that California emergency officials had continued to overlook people with disabilities and other vulnerable residents when preparing for disasters like wildfires. Victims of the deadly Camp Fire in 2018, for example, were mostly older or disabled.

Rodney Nickerson

Nickerson, 82, did not want to leave the home he lived in for decades and reassured family members and neighbors that he would be fine, his daughter Kimiko Nickerson told KTLA.

Her father had experienced other fires before, she said. “He said that he was going to gather up his stuff, but he said he was going to stay here, too,” she added. “He said that he felt this was going to pass over and that he would be here.”

Nickerson’s son, Eric Nickerson, told the New York Times his father was a retired aerospace engineer for Lockheed Martin and an active deacon at his church.

Victor Shaw

Shaw, 66, lived with his sister in the home that he grew up in. His sister, Shari Shaw, told KTLA that she tried to get him to evacuate with her Tuesday night as the Eaton Fire closed in, but that he was determined to stay behind and protect their home from the fire.

Shaw’s friend Al Tanner told KTLA that they found his burned body at the side of the road with a garden hose. “It looks like he was trying to save the home that his parents had for almost 55 years,” Tanner said.

Erliene Louise Kelley

Briana Navarro told NBC News that her 83-year-old grandmother, who had experienced a previous major wildfire, decided to stay behind when her family evacuated.

“My husband, he’s not from out here, so he kind of was looking at it a little different than we were,” Navarro said. “We asked [my grandmother] … and she’s like, ‘No, no I’m fine. You guys go ahead.’”

Kelley was a familiar face in the neighborhood, Navarro said. Terry Pyburn, a neighbor, described Kelley to the Times as an “angel” who was “so, so, so sweet.”

Randall Miod

Friends and family confirmed that Miod, a surfer and well-known figure in Malibu, died in the Palisades Fire.

Miod, 55, loved living a simple life in Malibu, in a house he called “the Crab Shack,” his friend Corina Cline told The Washington Post. His house burned down, and a cousin said that authorities found remains they believed to be Miod’s in the home, the Post reported.

Rory Callum Sykes

Sykes, a former child actor from Australia, died on his family’s Malibu estate on Wednesday, his mother, Shelley Sykes, wrote in a post on X.

According to the post, she could not put out the cinders on the roof of his cottage because of a lack of water.

Sykes, who was born blind and had cerebral palsy, starred in the British TV show “Kiddy Kapers.”

“He overcame so much with surgeries & therapies to regain his sight & to be able to learn to walk,” his mother wrote. “Despite the pain, he still enthused about traveling the world with me from Africa to Antarctica.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

The Dictatorship

ICE officer who killed Minneapolis woman said he ‘feared for his life’ while arresting another driver last year

Published

19 minutes ago

January 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

ICE officer who killed Minneapolis woman said he ‘feared for his life’ while arresting another driver last year

Jan. 8, 2026, 11:37 PM EST

Jonathan Rossthe Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in her car in Minneapolis this week, was in court weeks ago testifying about another violent incident on the job last year, in which he was dragged by a fleeing driver while attempting to make an arrest.

New details from the June 2025 case came from a transcript of Ross’ testimony before a Minnesota district court jury, obtained by MS NOW. The statements reveal previously unreported details about Ross’ life and role within ICE, as well as a prior confrontation with a driver that made him “fear for my life,” months before his fatal encounter with Good.

Ross described himself as an Indiana National Guard veteran, who served in Iraq from 2004 to 2005 as a machine gunner on a combat logistical patrol team. After serving, he joined the U.S. Border Patrol and was stationed near El Paso, Texas, where he worked on patrol, tracking, and field intelligence. In 2015 he joined ICE, where he’s currently assigned to the Enforcement and Removal Operations special response team in the St. Paul, Minnesota, field office. Ross said he worked in fugitive operations, targeting “higher value targets,” and as a member of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.

He testified that he was a “team leader” who would “develop the targets, create a target package, conduct surveillance, and then develop a plan to execute the arrest warrant.” He also worked as a firearms instructor, an active shooter instructor, a field intelligence officer, and a member of a SWAT team.

On June 17 last year, while on patrol in Bloomington, Minnesota, Ross said he pulled his vehicle in front of a car driven by Roberto Carlos Munoz — a Guatemalan citizen who had prior convictions for criminal sexual conduct — who refused to pull over during a traffic stop.

According to the federal prosecutors in the case, Ross “pulled diagonally in front of Munoz’s car in an attempt to force Munoz to stop.” After Munoz stopped his car, Ross and an FBI agent got out of their vehicles and pointed their guns at Munoz. When Munoz raised his hands in surrender, Ross holstered his gun.

But when Munoz refused commands to lower his window and open the driver’s-side door, Ross pulled out his Taser and pointed it at Munoz’s chest, court documents state. Ross broke the rear driver’s side window with a spring-loaded window punch and reached into the car at which point Munoz accelerated. Ross testified he shot Munoz with his Taser 10 times, and saw “the impacts on his face,” but said the suspect did not stop.

“I was fearing for my life. I knew I was going to get drug. And the fact I couldn’t get my arm out, I didn’t know how long I would be drugged. So I was kind of running with the vehicle.”

Ross said he dragged for more than 100 yards before he was knocked free. He received 20 stitches for a cut on his right arm, and 13 stitches on his left hand, prosecutors said. Photos of his injuries were included in court documents.

Ross described the pain from the dragging as “pretty excruciating.”

A jury found Munoz guilty of assault on a federal officer with a dangerous and deadly weapon, and causing bodily injury.

Federal officials did not publicly identify Ross as the officer involved in Wednesday’s shooting, but referenced his involvement in last year’s case. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Vice President JD Vance defended Ross’ actions as lawful, and said he acted in self-defense. Their descriptions of the 2025 incident led social media sleuths to Ross’ identity, and his name quickly spread online.

Politicians and protesters in Minnesota are calling Ross’ actions unjustified, pointing to videos of the shooting they say shows Good was not a threat.

Brandy Zadrozny is a senior enterprise reporter for MS NOW. She was a previously a senior enterprise reporter for NBC News, based in New York.

The Dictatorship

Federal agent shoots 2 in Oregon, further raising tensions over national immigration actions

Published

19 minutes ago

January 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Federal agent shoots 2 in Oregon, further raising tensions over national immigration actions

Jan. 8, 2026, 8:12 PM EST

A U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent shot and injured two people Thursday in Portland, Oregon, police reported, raising national tensions even higher following the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by a federal immigration officer a day earlier.

The Portland victims, a man and a woman, were hospitalized after the shooting in the northeast part of the city, according to a Portland Police Bureau press release. Many details remain unclear, but police said they arrived on the scene to find the pair with gunshot wounds and “applied a tourniquet and summoned emergency medical personnel.”

On Thursday evening, the Department of Homeland Security released a statement describing at least one of the victims as a Venezuelan “illegal alien” who is “affiliated with the transnational Tren de Aragua prostitution ring,” but didn’t identify the individual or confirm whether that person was one of the victims. According to DHS, agents were attempting to pull over a driver who allegedly “weaponized his vehicle and attempted to run over the law enforcement agents.” An agent “fired a defensive shot,” then the driver and passenger fled, the DHS stated.

The victims’ conditions are unknown.

Local officials did not confirm DHS’s description of the victim or federal officials’ version of events.

“We are still in the early stages of this incident,” Portland Police Chief Bob Day said in the release. “We understand the heightened emotion and tension many are feeling in the wake of the shooting in Minneapolis, but I am asking the community to remain calm as we work to learn more.”

Mayor Keith Wilson released a statement Thursday likening the incident to the Minneapolis shooting on Wednesday by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. That shooting has become highly politicized, with President Donald Trump and his top allies claiming the woman was attempting to run over the ICE agent with her car. Democrats — including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz — and independent media organizations have disputed that claim.

“Just one day after the horrific violence in Minnesota at the hands of federal agents, our community here in Portland is now grappling with another deeply troubling incident,” Wilson said. “We cannot sit by while constitutional protections erode and bloodshed mounts. Portland is not a ‘training ground’ for militarized agents, and the ‘full force’ threatened by the administration has deadly consequences. As Mayor, I call on ICE to end all operations in Portland until a full investigation can be completed.”

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield released a statement demanding “transparency and accountability” from federal agencies.

“We have been clear about our concerns with the excessive use of force by federal agents in Portland ” Rayfield said. “Oregonians deserve clear answers when people are injured in their neighborhoods.”

Protests popped up following the Minneapolis shooting, and Walz has readied the National Guard in case there is a need for help in maintaining public safety.

Andy Campbell is a Senior Enterprise Editor for MS NOW Digital. He is also the author of “We Are Proud Boys: How a right-wing street gang ushered in a new era of American extremism.”

The Dictatorship

Trump proposes massive increase in defense spending to $1.5T

Published

7 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Trump proposes massive increase in defense spending to $1.5T

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday proposed setting U.S. military spending at $1.5 trillion in 2027, citing “troubled and dangerous times.”

Trump called for the massive surge in spending days after he ordered a U.S. military operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and spirit him out of the country to face drug trafficking charges in the United States. U.S. forces continue to mass in the Caribbean Sea.

The 2026 military budget is set at $901 billion.

Trump in recent days has also called for taking over the Danish territory of Greenland for national security reasons and has suggested he’s open to carrying out military operations in Colombia. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ominously warned that longtime adversary Cuba “is in trouble.”

“This will allow us to build the ‘Dream Military’ that we have long been entitled to and, more importantly, that will keep us SAFE and SECURE, regardless of foe,” Trump said in a posting on Truth Social announcing his proposal.

The military just received a large boost of some $175 billion in the GOP’s “big, beautiful bill” of tax breaks and spending reductions that Trump signed into law last year.

Insisting on more funding for the Pentagon is almost certain to run into resistance from Democrats who work to maintain parity between changes in defense and non-defense spending. But it’s also sure to draw objections from the GOP’s deficit hawks who have pushed back against larger military spending.

But Trump said he feels comfortable surging spending on the military because of increased revenue created by his administration through tariffs imposed on friends and foes around the globe since his return to office.

The U.S. government collected gross revenues of $288.5 billion last year from tariffs and other excise taxes, up from $98.3 billion in 2024, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. That’s a meaningful increase in revenues from taxing imports. But it’s not enough to cover the various promises made by Trump, who has said the tariffs can also cover dividends to taxpayers, pay down the national debt and, now, cover increased spending on the military.

Meanwhile, Trump on Wednesday also threatened to cut off Pentagon purchases from Raytheon, one of the biggest U.S. defense contractors, if the company did not end the practice of stock buybacks and invest more profits into building out its weapons manufacturing capacity.

The Pentagon and the Potomac River in Washington, as seen from the Washington Monument, Dec., 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

“Either Raytheon steps up, and starts investing in more upfront Investment like Plants and Equipment, or they will no longer be doing business with Department of War,” Trump said on social media. “Also, if Raytheon wants further business with the United States Government, under no circumstances will they be allowed to do any additional Stock Buybacks, where they have spent Tens of Billions of Dollars, until they are able to get their act together.”

The threat came as the president issued an executive order calling on the Pentagon to begin a review to spot defense contractors who are underperforming on fulfilling contracts and insufficiently investing in building manufacturing but are still engaging in stock buybacks or distributing dividends to shareholders.

The order also calls for the Pentagon to take steps to ensure future contracts with any new or existing defense contractor contain a provision prohibiting stock buybacks during a period of underperformance on U.S. government contracts. The order also calls for the Pentagon to stipulate in future contracts that executive incentive compensation is not tied to short-term financial metrics.

Trump in recent months has repeatedly complained broadly that defense companies have been woefully behind on deliveries of critical weaponry, yet continue to mete out dividends and stock buybacks to investors and offering eye-popping salaries to top executives.

The criticism of Raytheon, however, was the most pointed to date of a particular contractor.

The company is responsible for making some of the military’s most widely used and notable missiles, including the Tomahawk cruise missile, the shoulder-launched Javelin and Stinger missiles, and the Sidewinder air-to-air missile.

Raytheon also owns Pratt and Whitney, a company that is responsible for manufacturing a host of jet engines that power aircraft for all the military branches, including the newest F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

On Wall Street, shares of defense contractors fell, with Northrop Grumman dropping 5.5%, Lockheed Martin declining 4.8% and RTX Corp., the parent company of Raytheon, slipping 2.5%.

Raytheon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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AP writers Josh Boak, Stephen Groves, Paul Harloff and Lisa Mascaro contributed reporting.