NEWS OF THE DAY
❶ Agents shot: Two FBI agents were shot and wounded Friday at an apartment complex in a Phoenix suburb while executing a warrant for a bank robbery suspect — Abraham Rivera, 49 — who was found dead, the FBI said. One injured agent was treated at the scene in Mesa for minor injuries and the other was taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries that weren’t lifethreatening, the FBI said in a statement. The statement said the subject of the warrant, “a suspected serial bank robber, was found deceased,” but did not provide any information on how the person died or other details of the incident.
❷ Primary upset: Jamaal Bowman, a progressive insurgent, has scored a stunning victory over Rep. Eliot Engel, DN.Y., in a primary election, beating back the efforts of the Democratic establishment to protect a 16term incumbent. Bowman, a middle school principal from Yonkers, was declared the winner Friday, after a count of absentee ballots verified that he had defeated Engel, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The victory came with the help of an array of stars from the Democratic Party’s left wing, including Rep. Alexandria OcasioCortez and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Bowman embraced progressive plans like the Green New Deal and “Medicare for All,” while also preaching the need for broader social changes like criminal justice reform.
❸ Statue vandalized: Someone beheaded a statue of Jesus Christ in the courtyard of a church in West Kendall, Fla., an act of vandalism being investigated by MiamiDade police and the Department of Homeland Security. The head was found on the ground Wednesday at the Good Shepherd Catholic Church. Mary Ross Agosta, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Miami, said surveillance video has been handed over to police.
❹ Assault case: Two men were charged Friday in an assault on a Black man during which someone threatened to “get a noose,” the victim said, after claiming that he and his friends were trespassing when they gathered at an Indiana lake over the July Fourth weekend. Prosecutors charged Sean Purdy with felony confinement, battery and intimidation. Jerry Cox II was charged with felony confinement and battery. The charges follow weeks of protests demanding arrests in the assault on Vauhxx Booker, a civil rights activist. Booker said he called 911 after the men assaulted him and pinned him to a tree at Lake Monroe. Purdy’s defense attorney, David Hennessy, previously said Booker has presented “a false narrative” about what happened. ❺ Durst trial: The Los Angeles murder trial of real estate heir Robert Durst will not resume in late July as planned, and may stay on hold until April. At a hearing Friday on the resumption of the case, which was paused four months ago because of the coronavirus pandemic, Judge Mark Windham said he would tell jurors they would not need to return until April 12, but is considering the possibility of a bench trial in which he and not a jury would decide Durst’s guilt. Durst is on trial for the 2000 shooting death of his friend Susan Berman.