Police on Long Island say they have recovered the body of a MS-13 gang victim who was buried in a shallow grave over two years ago.
Newsday reports that detectives unearthed the body in the heavily wooded Massapequa Preserve on Friday.
The body has not been identified, but police say the victim is one of 11 people killed by MS-13 gang members in 2016.
Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder, foreground right, speaks to the media on Saturday, May 25, 2019 in Massapequa, N.Y., after a body was found the day before at the Massapequa Preserve. Authorities believe the unidentified body is of a gang victim who was buried in the shallow grave more than two years ago. At right is Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas. Nassau County Executive Laura Curran is third from left. (Howard SchnappNewsday via AP)
Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder says authorities have combed the park more than a dozen times searching for human remains.
Ryder says the detectives found the unidentified body Friday after police dogs pointed to an indentation in the ground.
The body was found near where police found the remains of 18-year-old Julio Espantzay-Gonzalez in 2017. Three reputed MS-13 members have been charged in Espantzay-Gonzalez's death.
Information from: Newsday, http://www.newsday.com
JERUSALEM (AP) — Yemen's Houthi rebels on Saturday claimed shooting down another of the U.S. military's MQ-9 Reaper drones, airing footage of parts that corresponded to known pieces of the unmanned aircraft.
The Houthis said they shot down the Predator with a surface-to-air missile, part of a renewed series of assaults this week by the rebels after a relative lull in their pressure campaign over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Bryon J. McGarry, a Defense Department spokesperson, acknowledged to The Associated Press on Saturday that “a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 drone crashed in Yemen.” He said an investigation was underway, without elaborating.
The Houthis described the downing as happening Thursday over their stronghold in the country's Saada province.
Footage released by the Houthis included what they described as the missile launch targeting the drone, with a man off-camera reciting the Houthi's slogan after it was hit: “God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam.”
The footage included several close-ups on parts of the drone that included the logo of General Atomics, which manufactures the drone, and serial numbers corresponding with known parts made by the company.
Since the Houthis seized the country’s north and its capital of Sanaa in 2014, the U.S. military has lost at least five drones to the rebels counting Thursday's shootdown — in 2017, 2019, 2023 and this year.
Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land.
The drone shootdown comes as the Houthis launch attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, demanding Israel ends the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 others hostage.
The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sank another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration.
Houthi attacks have dropped in recent weeks as the rebels have been targeted by a U.S.-led airstrike campaign in Yemen. Shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat. American officials have speculated that the rebels may be running out of weapons as a result of the U.S.-led campaign against them and after firing drones and missiles steadily in the last months. However, the rebels have renewed their attacks in the last week.
A Houthi supporter raises a mock rocket during a rally against the U.S. and Israel and to support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, April. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
