MIAMI (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has withdrawn a death warrant for the first time since taking office, calling off a man’s execution just days before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection in the nation’s busiest death chamber.
The Republican governor, who has aggressively used the death penalty in his final term, signed a letter Thursday withdrawing the death warrant for William Lee Thompson. The 74-year-old inmate had been set to die Tuesday for the murder and kidnapping of Sally Ivester in 1976.
A second Florida execution scheduled for the same day is still set to take place. James Robertson, 63, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and waived all appeals in the 2008 strangling of Frank Hart while the men were cellmates at Charlotte Correctional Institution, north of Fort Myers. Robertson told investigators he killed the other man so he could be moved to death row.
DeSantis did not provide a reason in the letter for withdrawing Thompson's death warrant but had temporarily stayed his execution last month pending a psychiatric evaluation. Florida prison officials, however, had still been preparing for Thompson's potential execution next week.
Thompson's attorney, Bri Lacy, said they're relieved by the result.
“Mr. Thompson suffers from dementia and his health is failing — both of which were gravely concerning with an impending execution,” Lacy said in an email. “Now that Mr. Thompson is no longer under a death warrant, we hope FDOC (Florida Department of Corrections) will relocate him to an adequate medical facility and provide the care he needs.”
The move comes at a time of escalating attention on the death penalty in the U.S.
In Tennessee, Christa Pike survived an execution attempt last week despite receiving two lethal doses of pentobarbital. On Thursday, the Pentagon announced that the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan would be livestreamed.
Thompson will remain on Florida's death row, and a new death warrant could be signed for him in the future.
A spokesperson for DeSantis did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
Florida carried out 19 executions last year, a record in the state since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. In July, Florida became the first state in nearly a decade to execute two prisoners in one day.
FILE - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a news conference Aug. 12, 2025, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal immigration officers opened fire on a Dominican man in New York because he drove his car into officers' vehicles and they believed their lives were in danger, a senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said Friday.
The 28-year-old man, whom New York City police identified as Oscar Belgal, was shot “superficially” in the neck as ICE officers attempted to arrest him, Marcos Charles said. Authorities have not released details of Belgal's condition.
Officers used their vehicles to block the man as he attempted to drive away, but he accelerated toward them, Charles said during a news conference with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin in Washington. The Department of Homeland Security said the news conference was about the “dangerous consequences of sanctuary city policies.”
“Our officers, using their training and believing that their life and the life of the partners and the general public were in danger, used their training and fired weapons,” Charles said.
Belgal had a 5-year-old boy in the car with him when the shooting happened, officials said.
Mullin said ICE agents didn’t know the child was in the car, but that Belgal “was aware” and chose to put the boy at risk by trying to evade officers.
Belgal was associated with a robbery crew that used mopeds and weapons, and was convicted of grand larceny last year and sentenced to five years of probation, Charles said, adding that he evaded officers in September when ICE tried to arrest him for deportation.
An attorney representing Belgal in a pending case did not immediately return a voicemail Friday.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, both Democrats, said late Thursday that they had pressed Mullin and Republican President Donald Trump to release Belgal, to no avail. They also urged the administration to immediately release ICE officers' body camera footage of the shooting and to halt immigration enforcement operations in the city.
Mullin said Belgal was being held in a facility outside New York City but declined to say where.
He confirmed ICE officers were wearing body cameras that were activated, but didn’t say when any footage would be released.
On Friday, New York City police released footage from its officers as they arrived at the scene following the shooting. The department previously said its officers were not involved in the arrest and not at the scene when the shooting happened.
The video shows a city officer responding to a chaotic scene where Belgal — sitting on the ground with his hands behind his back and head drooping to one side — was surrounded by several officials. The video shows officers lifting Belgal and placing him in a black SUV. Police said he was taken to a hospital.
“Yo put pressure. Put pressure,” an officer can be heard saying as the SUV reverses down the block.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Belgal was pulling into a parking space when a federal officer in plainclothes approached with his gun drawn, followed by another federal officer who also wasn’t in uniform. Belgal started to pull the car forward, and at least one of the officers fired seven rounds, hitting the man below his left ear.
Protesters and local officials decried the shooting as an example of the dangers of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
“There is no justification for what we have seen today,” Mamdani said late Thursday at the scene of the shooting.
Federal officers who surrounded the vehicle wore construction vests and masks, making it difficult to identify them as immigration officers, he said.
Mullin devoted much of Friday’s news conference to criticizing Mamdani and New York City’s limits on cooperation with ICE. The Democrat, who took office in January, has restricted local cooperation with immigration enforcement operations and repeatedly called for the abolition of ICE.
“Sanctuary politicians, they create an environment for criminal activity to thrive, not for the American citizens to be safe,” Mullin said.
ICE has asked local officials in New York to hold onto more than 14,000 people for federal officers to collect and place in immigration detention, he said.
“Silence. Absolute silence is what we have gotten back,” the secretary said. “Why would they release these individuals back onto the streets?”
“We’re enforcing our nation’s laws. We’re not picking and choosing,” Mullin continued. “Why is that controversial? We should all want law and order on our streets.”
Mullin also criticized the attention surrounding the case.
“This was a thug. The absolute worst of the worst,” he said. “We’re giving so much attention to this thug.”
Marcelo reported from New York. Associated Press reported Anthony Izaguirre in New York City contributed.
In this image taken from police-worn body camera video released the New York City Police Department (NYPD), law enforcement personnel tend to a Oscar Belgal, 28, a Dominican man who was shot by Federal immigration officers, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in New York, as he drove his car with a 5-year-old boy inside. (NYPD via AP)
In this image taken from police-worn body camera video released the New York City Police Department (NYPD), law enforcement personnel tend to a Oscar Belgal, 28, a Dominican man who was shot by Federal immigration officers, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in New York, as he drove his car with a 5-year-old boy inside. (NYPD via AP)
Marcos Charles, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Executive Associate Director, speaks during a news conference at ICE Headquarters, Friday, Oct. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Law enforcement work the scene of a shooting Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
People gather at the scene of a shooting as law enforcement work the area Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New York City police try to block protestors near the scene of a shooting on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani talks during a news conference near the scene of a shooting on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, speaks during a news conference at ICE Headquarters, Friday, Oct. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
