Kristie Thibodeaux's gunfire death made headlines first because it happened in the French Quarter — New Orleans' oldest neighborhood and a place where residents of historic homes and owners of tourist-dependent restaurants and clubs have long worried about recurring violent crime.
Then came the news that one of three suspects in the armed robbery and shooting of the 43-year-old tour guide was a juvenile with an arrest record and an ankle monitor that wasn't working. And, then, the revelation that another was a 19-year-old Honduran national in the country illegally since at least 2019.
“This man should have never been in Louisiana. Enough is enough,” Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, said on X soon after word of the suspect’s immigration status became public.
Republicans in Louisiana have sought to blame President Joe Biden and his immigration policies, but the Honduran charged in the case was first apprehended by U.S. immigration authorities at the border in Texas when Donald Trump was president. And the case exposed other failures in the justice system beyond border policy.
The broken ankle monitor allowed the 15-year-old to be on the streets, and that failure has prompted bipartisan calls for reform of the state juvenile court system. Attorney General Liz Murrill, a Republican ally of Landry, ordered an investigation into the juvenile court's ankle monitoring contracts.
One suspect was a 17-year-old juvenile, and the killing came at a time when cities across the U.S. are struggling with underage offenders with easy access to guns carrying out violence and robberies.
Thibodeaux was shot to death as she sat in her car early on the morning of June 30 in the French Quarter. Police say the suspects in her death had carried out a string of robberies.
Brian Cain, owner of the Crawl New Orleans tour business, said Thibodeaux was one of his longest-tenured employees — a vivacious, caring colleague who was beloved by coworkers and the tourists she served.
As the Republican National Convention nears, crimes carried out by immigrants have fed into the political rhetoric of Trump. Trump has argued the influx of immigrants is causing a crime surge in the U.S., although statistics actually show violent crime is on the way down.
Conservatives point to other recent killings in Texas and Georgia to make their point about border failures during the Biden administration. In February, Laken Hope Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, was attacked and killed near running trails on the University of Georgia campus. The suspect is a Venezuelan citizen who immigration officials say entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and was allowed to stay. In Houston, 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray was strangled and found in a creek last month, and authorities have charged two Venezuelan men who entered the country illegally.
FBI statistics do not separate out crimes by the immigration status of the assailant, nor is there any evidence of a spike in crime perpetrated by migrants, either along the U.S.-Mexico border or in cities seeing the greatest influx of migrants, like New York. Studies have found that people living in the country illegally are less likely than native-born Americans to have been arrested for violent, drug and property crimes.
Immigration officials in New Orleans say it's not clear when, where or how Joshua Aviala-Bonifacio entered the country. He is a Honduran national and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office says he was first encountered by the border patrol near Hidalgo, Texas, when he was 15 in May 2019.
He was released on an “on an order of recognizance” on May 14, 2019, according to ICE. He later wound up in the New Orleans area, where he has an arrest record.
“On multiple occasions, Bonifacio has been arrested for theft and contributing to the delinquency of juveniles,” an ICE statement said. “Since February 2024, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office has booked Bonifacio for five local violations.”
Now, he faces a murder charge in Thibodeaux's death.
Cain sees multiple reasons to be dissatisfied with state, local and federal agencies and the circumstances that led to the suspects being on the street.
“If he’s illegally in the country, then he shouldn’t be here. But most importantly, it's how did the local system fail over and over and over again, not only letting him on the street, but also not detecting that he was, in fact, here illegally.”
This photo provided by the Crawl Entertainment Group in July 2024 shows Kristie Thibodeaux. She was shot to death as she sat in her car early on the morning of June 30, 2024, in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Police say the suspects in her death had carried out a string of robberies. (Crawl Entertainment Group via AP)
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is safe following what the FBI says "appears to be an attempted assassination” while playing golf two months after another attempt on his life at a rally in Pennsylvania.
Local authorities said the U.S. Secret Service agents protecting Trump fired at a man pointing an AK-style rifle with a scope as Trump was playing on one of his Florida golf courses in West Palm Beach.
Here are five things to know about what happened Sunday to the Republican presidential nominee.
Law enforcement officials said the man who pointed the rifle and was arrested is Ryan Wesley Routh. The officials identified the suspect to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.
Records show Routh, 58, lived in North Carolina for most of his life before moving in 2018 to Kaaawa, Hawaii, where he and his son operated a company building sheds, according to an archived version of the webpage for the business.
Routh frequently posted on social media about the war in Ukraine and had a website where he sought to raise money and recruit volunteers to go to Kyiv to join the fight against the Russian invasion. In June 2020, he made a post on X directed at then-President Trump to say he would win reelection if he issued an executive order for the Justice Department to prosecute police misconduct. That year, he also posted in support of the Democratic presidential campaign of then-U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who has since left the party and endorsed Trump.
However, in recent years, his posts suggest he soured on Trump, and he expressed support for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
In July, following the assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania, Routh urged Biden and Harris to visit those wounded in the shooting at the hospital and to attend the funeral of a former fire chief killed at the rally.
Voter records show he registered as an unaffiliated voter in North Carolina in 2012, most recently voting in person during the state’s Democratic Party primary in March 2024. Federal campaign finance records show Routh made 19 small political donations totaling $140 since 2019 using his Hawaii address to ActBlue, a political action committee that supports Democratic candidates.
Records show that while living in Greensboro, North Carolina, Routh had multiple run-ins with law enforcement. He was convicted in 2002 of possessing a weapon of mass destruction, according to online North Carolina Department of Adult Correction records.
The records do not provide details about the case. But a News & Record story from 2002 says a man with the same name was arrested after a three-hour standoff with police. The story says he was pulled over during a traffic stop, put his hand on a gun and barricaded himself inside a roofing business. He owned the roofing company, according to state incorporation filings.
Local authorities said the gunman was about 400 yards to 500 yards away from Trump and hiding in shrubbery while the former president was playing a round of golf at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.
Ric Bradshaw, sheriff of Palm Beach County, said that when people get into the shrubbery around the course, “they’re pretty much out of sight.” Bradshaw said the entire golf course would have been lined with law enforcement if Trump were the sitting president, but because he’s not, “security is limited to the areas the Secret Service deems possible.”
Trump’s protective detail has been higher than some of his peers because of his high visibility and his campaign to seek the White House again. His security was bolstered days before the July assassination attempt in Pennsylvania because of a threat on Trump’s life from Iran, U.S. officials said.
In an email to supporters, Trump said: “There were gunshots in my vicinity, but before rumors start spiraling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL!”
His running mate, JD Vance, and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said they spoke with Trump after the incident, and both said he was in “good spirits.” Trump also checked in with several Fox News hosts.
Fox News host Sean Hannity, a close friend of the former president's, said on air that he spoke with Trump and his golf partner, Steve Witkoff, afterward. They told Hannity they had been on the fifth hole when they heard a “pop pop, pop pop.” Within seconds, he said Witkoff recounted, Secret Service agents “pounced on” Trump and “covered him” to protect him.
Moments later, Witkoff said, a “fast cart” with steel reinforcement and other protection was able to whisk Trump away.
Hannity said Trump’s reaction after this happened — and when it was clear that everyone, including Witkoff, was safe — was to quip that he was sad he hadn’t been able to finish the hole since he “was even and had a birdie putt.”
Harris, Trump's Democratic opponent in the presidential election, posted on X that she had been briefed on the reports of gunshots fired.
“I am glad he is safe. Violence has no place in America.”
The White House said President Joe Biden and Harris would be kept updated on the investigation. The White House added it was “relieved” to know Trump is safe.
Trump has not announced any changes to his schedule and is set to speak live on X on Monday night from his Mar-a-Lago resort to launch his sons’ crypto platform.
Meanwhile, the leaders of a congressional bipartisan task force investigating the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump said they have requested a briefing by the Secret Service.
“We are thankful that the former President was not harmed, but remain deeply concerned about political violence and condemn it in all of its forms,” Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., and Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., said in a statement. They said the task force will share updates.
U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Florida Democrat who is part of the task force, said he “will seek answers about what happened today and then.”
Ryan Wesley Routh holds up a banner during a rally in central Kyiv, Ukraine on Saturday April 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)
Photos that show an AK-47 rifle, a backpack and a Go-Pro camera on a fence outside Trump International Golf Club taken after an apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, are displayed during a news conference at the Palm Beach County Main Library, Sunday. Sept. 15, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Stephany Matat)
This photo provided by the Martin County Sheriff's Office shows Sheriff's vehicles surrounding an SUV on the northbound I-95 in Martin County on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff's Office via AP)
