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Amazon on Tuesday said that it has considered listing tariff charges on Amazon Haul, its discount platform meant to compete with low-cost Chinese e-commerce companies like Temu and Shein.

An Amazon spokesperson told CNBC: “The team that runs our ultra low cost Amazon Haul store considered the idea of listing import charges on certain products. This was never approved and not going to happen.”

The spokesperson stressed that nothing had been implemented and that the company had not planned to show tariff charges on its main e-commerce portal.

“This was never a consideration for the main Amazon site and nothing has been implemented on any Amazon properties,” the spokesperson added.

Punchbowl News first reported that Amazon was planning to show how much the Trump administration’s tariffs are adding to the price of each product.

When asked about the Punchbowl report, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed the idea.

“I just got off the phone with the president about Amazon’s announcement. This is a hostile and political act by Amazon,” Leavitt said from the White House briefing room, alongside Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

The back-and-forth comes as online retailers have become among the first and most visible places where consumers are confronting higher prices due to tariffs. Other online retailers that heavily import from China, such as Temu, have already added steep import charges.

The report — and the White House response — comes as Amazon’s founder and majority owner, Jeff Bezos, has made some inroads in building a relationship with the administration. Bezos was one of the esteemed businessmen present for President Donald Trump’s inauguration, alongside Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, and Amazon’s video platform has licensed a documentary about first lady Melania Trump.

When asked about Trump’s relationship with Bezos, Leavitt said, “Look, I will not speak to the president’s relationships with Jeff Bezos, but I will tell you that this is certainly a hostile action.”

Video released by police shows the moment a recreational boat crashed into the back of a ferry in Clearwater, Florida, killing one person and injuring 10 others.

The crash happened around 8:40 p.m. Sunday as a 40-foot commercial ferry returned from Clearwater Beach, authorities said. It was carrying 45 passengers and crew.

Police Chief Eric Gandy said at a Monday evening news conference that he believes the boat “overrode nearly three-quarters of the ferry.”

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said “there was definitely a point where both those boats were fully entangled” and the ferry suffered a large amount of damage. The recreational boat was 37 feet and had about six people onboard, FWC said.

Before first responders arrived at the scene, they knew they were dealing with a “major situation” because 911 operators described hearing “horrific screaming in the background” as people called for help, Gandy said.

In a mayday call, a person could be heard reporting the collision.

“Mayday, mayday, mayday. There’s been a boat collision. The Clearwater Ferry underneath the Clearwater Memorial Causeway. The Clearwater Ferry is adrift,” the person said.

The man killed was identified by authorities as Jose Castro, 41, of Palm Harbor.

Injured victims were taken to hospitals in Clearwater, St. Petersburg, and Tampa, Gandy said.

“Our thoughts go out to the families of those that were onboard the ferry, particularly of the children and the family of the gentleman who died,” he said, adding that ferry crew members “likely saved lives.”

The boat that struck the ferry did not stay at the scene, but was later found by sheriff’s deputies about three miles south by the Belleair Causeway, the chief said. The driver, identified as 63-year-old Jeff Knight, and his passengers were still on the boat.

Authorities said Knight was cooperating with the investigation and voluntarily submitted to a breathalyzer test, which did not detect any alcohol.

LONDON — A man arrested on suspicion of manslaughter following the death of ice hockey player Adam Johnson has been told he will not face any charges, British prosecutors said Tuesday.

Johnson played for the Nottingham Panthers and died shortly after his neck had been sliced in a collision with Sheffield Steelers defenseman Matt Petgrave during a game on Oct. 28, 2023.

A man was arrested two weeks later and though South Yorkshire Police has not publicly identified him, Petgrave said in a crowdfunding appeal for legal fees that he’s the subject of a police investigation.

On Tuesday, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided it would not bring criminal charges against the man arrested following what it described as “a shocking and deeply upsetting incident.”

“The CPS and South Yorkshire Police have worked closely together to determine whether any criminal charges should be brought against the other ice hockey player involved,” Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor Michael Quinn said.

“Following a thorough police investigation and a comprehensive review of all the evidence by the CPS, we have concluded that there is not a realistic prospect of conviction for any criminal offence and so there will not be a prosecution. Our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Adam Johnson.”

After his arrest, Petgrave had been re-bailed several times while the investigation took place.

Johnson had skated with the puck into Sheffield’s defensive zone when Petgrave collided with another Panthers player nearby. Petgrave’s left skate elevated as he began to fall and the blade hit Johnson in the neck.

The native of Hibbing, Minnesota, was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. The death of the 29-year-old former Pittsburgh Penguins player sparked debate across the sport about improving safety for players.

Petgrave, a 32-year-old Canadian, had support from some of Johnson’s teammates. Victor Björkung had told a Swedish newspaper there “isn’t a chance that it’s deliberate.” Björkung had played the pass to Johnson and said he was traumatized by what he saw. He left the team as a result.

Johnson was in his first season at Nottingham — one of the “import” players in the Elite Ice Hockey League — after stints in Germany and a handful of games for the Penguins in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons.

Johnson was living with fiancée Ryan Wolfe and studying at Loughborough Business School.

The English Ice Hockey Association, which governs the sport below the Elite League, reacted to Johnson’s death by requiring all players in England to wear neck guards from the start of 2024.

PARIS — A key defendant in the trial of a group accused of robbing Kim Kardashian at gunpoint in Paris back in 2016 and stealing $9 million worth of jewelry, has said he has come to regret the trauma he caused the reality star-turned-business mogul in the years since.

Yunice Abbas, perhaps the best-known defendant in the trial, said that despite a yearslong criminal history, this was the first time he had truly come to recognize the “trauma” he had caused his victim.

“I regret it, not because I got caught, but because… there was a trauma,” Abbas, now 72, said before a jury Tuesday as proceedings against the 10 people charged in connection with the 2016 robbery resumed after launching Monday afternoon.

The first of several defendants set to testify in the trial, Abbas had previously confessed to his role in the heist, detailing the robbery in his 2021 book, “I Kidnapped Kim Kardashian.”

The matter of the book came up during the testimony, with Abbas saying that he was not responsible for the title and that he disputes his alleged role in the heist. He added that he was not involved in tying up Kardashian, who was staying in Paris for the city’s Fashion Week, instead staying downstairs to keep watch.

Abbas and nine others, dubbed the “grandpa robbers” in local media due to their ages — some of the accused are in their 70s and 80s — are alleged to have played a range of roles in the heist including holding Kardashian, 44, at gunpoint and being complicit in that crime.

During questioning, Abbas described his criminal past — he has spent a total of almost 20 years in jail for various crimes — including the armed robbery of a bank in Belgium. The accused said that as a young man he was fiercely opposed to theft, but had turned to a life of crime due to the bad influence of friends and money difficulties, in the hope it would prove an easier path.

Abbas said his family had suffered due to his crimes, adding that he had “never had a role model” himself and he had done what he thought was needed to try to provide for his children.

The accused spoke rapidly during his testimony, his arm shaking throughout, possibly due to the fact he is now suffering from Parkinson’s disease. At one point the shaking was violent enough for him to hold one hand in the other.

In the years since the 2016 robbery targeting Kardashian, Abbas said he now felt “very uneasy” with what happened that day. But, he said, “I can’t do anything besides apologize.”

Kardashian had been staying at a private apartment complex in the French capital when five of the accused are alleged to have gained entry into the building and robbed her at gunpoint, taking items including her engagement ring from then-husband Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West. The five other defendants are accused of related offenses, including planning and giving tipoffs on Kardashian’s whereabouts.

In the years since the alleged incident, one defendant has died, while the case of another, age 80, has been separated from that of the other defendants due to medical issues.

In addition to Abbas, those standing trial will include Aomar Ait Khedache, 69, known as “Old Omar,” who is alleged to have masterminded the robbery; his son, Harminy, 37, accused of being the getaway driver; Didier “Blue Eyes” Dubreucq, 69; and the brother of Kardashian’s driver in Paris, Gary Madar, 35, who is accused of tipping the others off on Kardashian’s whereabouts. Christiane Glotin, 78, is also among the accused, with authorities alleging she was an accomplice in the heist.

At least four defendants were expected to be questioned in court on Tuesday.

Kardashian herself is expected to appear in court on May 13.

The reality star and businesswoman has previously detailed her experience during the robbery, at one point tearing up in an interview with David Letterman as she described how she feared she would be sexually assaulted and possibly killed during the attack.

“I was like, ‘okay, this is the time I’m going to get raped … just prepare yourself,” she said in the interview, wiping away tears, later describing how she feared her sister, Kourtney Kardashian, would find her dead.

“I just kept on thinking about Kourtney,” she said. “She’s going to be traumatized for the rest of her life if she sees me.”

Gabrielle Nolin reported from Paris and Chantal Da Silva reported from London.

Donald Trump reaches his 100th day in office. Canadian voters opt to keep Prime Minister Mark Carney in power. And four people were killed when a vehicle crashed through an Illinois school program site. 

Here’s what to know today.

How Trump has tried to remake America in his first 100 days

President Donald Trump is set to travel to Macomb County, Michigan, today to mark his 100th day in office. The county, made up of a cluster of Detroit suburbs, was the heart of the white, working-class “Reagan Democrat” contingent in 1980 and 1984, and Trump won it in each of his three elections.

But unlike Reagan (or really, any of his predecessors), Trump will celebrate 100 days by pointing to various moves that culminate into a breathtaking effort to remake the relationship between the government and the citizenry of the United States. 

This is Morning Rundown, a weekday newsletter to start your day. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.

In the past few months, Trump has deployed novel interpretations of the powers of the presidency to:

✔️ Slash the federal workforce.

✔️ Withhold funds for foreign and domestic aid. 

✔️ Stem the flow of illegal immigration through the southern border.

✔️ Boost cryptocurrency.

✔️ Strangle trade.

✔️ Punish independent institutions — including universities, law firms and media outlets — for failing to to support his views.

✔️ Outlaw diversity initiatives within the federal government and entities it supports.

Past presidents, from Abraham Lincoln to Franklin Roosevelt, have tested the constitutional limits of their office in the name of protecting the nation from both foreign and domestic enemies and from the perils of financial ruin. However, as senior national political reporter Jonathan Allen points out, none have tried to exercise so much power, across such a broad range of issues and with such disregard for Congress and the courts, as Trump has in a time of relative peace and economic stability.

White House officials say Trump has delivered on two signature campaign promises: securing the border and curbing inflation. But in moving so quickly to carry out his ambitions, Trump has been forced to admit some mistakes. 

Read the full story here.  

More coverage of Trump’s first 100 days: 

• Trump has so far signed just five bills into law, fewer than any president in the first 100 days of an administration since at least Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s. Meanwhile, he’s reinterpreting existing laws to advance his goals and taking a big bet on his GOP allies.
• Trump said he would end the war in Ukraine in his first 24 hours in office. Now, the president claims the promise was made in “jest” as he struggles to resolve a complicated geopolitical crisis.

More politics news:

• Top Republicans are considering rolling back a key part of the Affordable Care Act in a massive bill for Trump’s agenda.
• Chris Krebs, the former cybersecurity leader who was targeted by Trump, made his first public comments since the DOJ took action against him. He’s outraged.
• A mayoral race in Pittsburgh is a test for what’s next for Democratic leadership in big cities and how the party combats Trump in the next three years. 
• The Supreme Court will hear arguments today about whether a lawsuit arising from a “wrong house” FBI raid can move forward.

Canadian voters opt to keep Prime Minister Mark Carney in power

Canadian voters backed Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. projects, in a national election strongly influenced by President Donald Trump. As of last night, it was too early to know whether the Liberal Party would win enough seats to form a majority government, but it projected another term for the party. 

The results are a turnaround from a few months ago, when Liberals looked set to be ousted by the Conservatives amid frustration with soaring inflation, rising immigration and then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s approach to Trump. But the tides turned when Trump imposed tariffs and promoted a plan that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state.

Attorneys dispute Trump officials’ claims about deported mothers

The Trump administration is defending the deportations of mothers to Honduras who were accompanied by their U.S.-born children in recent days, while attorneys for the mothers and children are pushing back against officials’ claims that the families chose for the children to leave the country.

In one case, attorneys said a mother was allowed less than two minutes on the phone with her husband to figure out what would become of her 2-year-old son. In another case, a mother wasn’t allowed to speak with attorneys or family members before she was deported with her 4-year-old son, who was left without access to his cancer medicines, and his 7-year-old sister.

Trump administration border “czar” Tom Homan said the three children were placed on deportation flights at their mothers’ request. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the children weren’t deported and that they could come back if there’s someone in the U.S. who “wants to assume them.” Meanwhile, Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the agency is “confident in our process and procedures.” 

But attorneys have provided details they said show that the mothers and their families had little to no chance to make arrangements for their children. They allege the date for an immigration check-in was moved up and that ICE agents mischaracterized the mothers’ wishes for their children.

More immigration news:

• An exclusive look at the El Salvador prison where Kilmar Abrego Garcia was last known to be held reveals a sharp contrast to the supermax mega-prison to which he was first deported. Human rights advocates said Abrego Garcia’s transfer to a low-security prison is concerning.

Four killed when vehicle crashed into Illinois school program site

Police in Chatham, Illinois, are mourning a “terrible tragedy” after a vehicle struck a school camp program site, killing four people. Three of the four victims were outside the building and one was inside, state police said. They ranged in age from 4 to 18. Several other people were injured. 

A vehicle drove into a building used by the YNOT After School Camp at about 3:20 p.m. Monday, state police said, striking several people inside before exiting through the building’s west wall. The driver, who was the only person in the vehicle, has been hospitalized. Authorities have not said whether they think the crash was intentional. Here’s what else we know.

Read All About It 

• The FDA said it is requiring drugmaker Novavax to run another clinical trial as part of the approval process for its Covid vaccine, a move has some former government health officials fearing the Trump administration is moving to slow-walk vaccine approvals.
• As Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter Tour kicks off, some fans are resentful that ticket prices in several markets are going down, down, down, down.
• Power was almost entirely restored across the Iberian Peninsula early Tuesday, after a massive outage hit tens of millions people across Spain, Portugal and parts of France.
• It’s a matter of when, not if, an earthquake rips along the Cascadia Subduction Zone fault in the Pacific Northwest — and new research predicts catastrophic effects, like tsunami waves up to 100 feet and a 6.5-foot elevation drop along the coastline.
• Jury selection in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking trial is set to begin next week. Here’s how the group of 12 jurors and six alternates will be chosen. 

Staff Pick : Explaining the Shedeur Sanders slide

Former Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders was the biggest name headed into the NFL Draft. As the son of one of the most electric pro football hall of famers and a bright personality in his own right, Sanders commanded much of the spotlight in the weeks leading up to the event. But predictions of Sanders being selected in the first round turned out to be wishful thinking. Instead, the Cleveland Browns selected Sanders with the 144th pick in the fifth round of the draft.

How did such a hyped prospect slide to the bottom half of the draft? I looked at the factors that contributed to his fate: who Sanders really is as a player, how he presented himself to teams and the potential risks of bringing an athlete like him into the locker room. — Rohan Nadkarni, sports reporter

NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified 

One NBC Select editor has been buying their favorite T-shirt from Uniqlo for a decade. Its boxy and vintage-inspired cut stands the test of time. Plus, here are 19+ Mother’s Day gifts to check out.

Sign up to The Selection newsletter for hands-on product reviews, expert shopping tips and a look at the best deals and sales each week.

Thanks for reading today’s Morning Rundown. Today’s newsletter was curated for you by Elizabeth Robinson. If you’re a fan, please send a link to your family and friends. They can sign up here.

 

Democratic Rep. Angie Craig announced Tuesday that she’s running for the Senate in Minnesota, a long-expected campaign that sets up a crowded primary among Craig, the state’s lieutenant governor and a former state legislative leader.

In her announcement video, Craig criticized President Donald Trump for “trampling our rights and freedoms as he profits,” Elon Musk as “an out-of-control, unelected billionaire trying to take control of our government and burn it to the ground” and “cowardly congressional Republicans.”

“It’s time to fight back. We’ve got to break through the chaos and take them head on,” Craig says.

Craig frames herself as an underdog who went from growing up in a mobile home and working through college to defeating a Republican member of Congress, and she says she and her wife “fought like hell to be the parents of our four wonderful boys” when she lived in Tennessee.

“We’re proud Minnesotans — a state of fierce independence, freedom and community. People willing to take on the powerful and fight for what’s right,” Craig says in her launch video. “It’s why I’m running for U.S. Senate: to listen, to fight for all of Minnesota and to win.”

She’s part of a growing field of candidates looking to replace Sen. Tina Smith, the Democrat who announced this winter she wouldn’t seek re-election. Smith is one of four Democratic senators who are leaving at the end of 2026, and her departure opens up a seat in a state Democrats are favored to win (the last time Republicans won a Senate seat in Minnesota was 2002) but one that has become more competitive in recent years.

Craig is no stranger to difficult races, which her allies are likely to point to as she contends for a statewide nomination. Back when Minnesota’s 2nd District was one of the top battlegrounds in the country, Craig lost narrowly to GOP Rep. Jason Lewis in 2016 but toppled him two years later and joined the House in 2019. She won tough re-elections in 2020 and 2022 before she scored a double-digit victory last year.

Despite winning the top Democratic slot on the House Agriculture Committee ahead of this Congress, Craig will leave her seat to seek a spot in the Senate (leaving Democrats to defend her seat as they hope to retake control of the House). And she won’t have a clear path: The current field includes Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and former state Senate Minority Leader Melisa López Franzen.

Flanagan, who would be the first Native American woman in the Senate if she wins, immediately signaled after Smith’s retirement that she would run to replace her. She is in her second term as Gov. Tim Walz’s No. 2, and she got some national attention when she spoke at the Democratic National Convention. She has sought in the early weeks of her campaign to frame herself as a candidate promising to stand up to Trump and his “billionaire besties.”

Ahead of Craig’s expected announcement, Flanagan rolled out a handful of endorsements from key Democrats in the state, like Attorney General Keith Ellison and former Sen. Al Franken (who resigned in 2017 amid allegations of sexual misconduct), as well as a handful of state lawmakers in Craig’s congressional district.

López Franzen has, in her campaign’s early weeks, leaned on both her time in the Legislature and an electability argument in a state that she told Minnesota Public Radio is “purple.” While Republicans haven’t won a Senate election in more than two decades, Trump lost the state by just 4 points last year, and the state House is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.

While the Democratic nominee is likely to enter the general election favored given the Democrats’ success statewide, the open seat gives Republicans an opportunity.

Royce White, the GOP nominee who lost to Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar last year and has gained notoriety (and stoked controversy) with an incendiary online presence, is running again.

Retired Navy SEAL Adam Schwarze is running, too, and it’s possible the field could grow — former longtime sports broadcaster Michele Tafoya (who previously worked for NBC) has become more outspoken in recent years in support of conservative policies, criticizing Minnesota Democrats on social media, and she hasn’t yet closed the door on running.

National Republicans didn’t spend much time and money supporting Royce’s bid last year and were able to take control of the Senate. But while some are bullish on the idea that an open seat gives them a better chance in the state, it’s unclear how competitive the seat will be next year.

Democrats need a net gain of four seats to win back control of the Senate, a difficult task considering that they have to defend Democratic-held seats in two states Trump won last year (Georgia and Michigan) and two open seats (in Minnesota and New Hampshire) and that they have limited opportunities to go on offense, with only a handful of races in competitive Republican-held seats.

HENDERSON, Texas — Timothy Michael Randall was on the phone with his mother when a police car pulled up behind his Nissan Altima with its lights flashing. It was just after 12:30 a.m. on Sept. 14, 2022, and Randall was heading to his cousin’s house after a night out.

“He had called to let me know that he was going to be home a few minutes later,” Randall’s mother, Wendy Tippitt, recalled. “So I wouldn’t worry.”

Randall, 29, pulled over and hung up with his mom. Sgt. Shane Iversen of the Rusk County Sheriff’s Office walked up to the Altima and told Randall that he had run a stop sign, police dash camera footage shows. Randall denied doing so, and Iversen ordered him out of the car. 

What began as a routine traffic stop, on a country road two hours east of Dallas, quickly spun out of control. 

As Randall was stepping out of the car, he put his wallet in his back pocket and adjusted his waistband.

Iversen dug his hands into the front of Randall’s pants and then told him to put his hands behind his back, the dash cam footage shows. Randall kept his arms raised.

“Officer, I don’t have anything on me,” he said. 

“Officer, please, can you tell me what I’m under arrest for?” Randall asked moments later. 

Iversen didn’t respond. Instead, he wrestled Randall to the pavement.

“Officer, please,” Randall pleaded again as he struggled to get to his feet.

Then Iversen threw Randall to the ground again. He landed on his back several feet away, but the momentum brought him back to his feet. Randall began to turn to run away from Iversen, who had already pulled out his gun and was pointing it at Randall. 

“Get down,” Iversen yelled as he fired one shot, striking Randall in the chest.

Randall continued to run down the street but collapsed face down. Iversen radioed for help and then tried to render medical aid, but Randall died on the pavement. The bullet had torn through his ribs, lungs and heart, according to autopsy records.

After another deputy arrived minutes later, Iversen, then 57, returned to his patrol car and phoned a colleague. 

“I just smoked a dude,” he said in a hushed voice. 

In the following days and weeks, Randall’s mother searched for answers in vain, calling the Texas Rangers and the Rusk County district attorney’s office. She had no idea how her son wound up dead after a police traffic stop.

“No one was telling us anything,” said Tippitt, who was born and raised in Rusk County and now cleans houses for a living.

Her first shock came two months after the shooting when a grand jury returned a no bill in the case, meaning it chose not to indict Iversen for killing an unarmed man.

The second came last summer when Iversen’s lawyers turned over the dashcam video after she filed a federal lawsuit. Nearly two years after the shooting, she finally got to see, in brutal detail, what happened in the moments before her youngest son was killed.

“The only person that was attacking anybody was Sgt. Iversen attacking my son,” Tippitt said. 

Iversen quietly retired after the shooting and fought in court to keep the video from being made public. Its release sparked a backlash in rural Rusk County. It also set Randall’s mother on a crusade to get justice for his killing.

But whether that will happen — and what it would even look like — remains to be seen. 

‘Survival instinct kicked in’

In every year of the past decade, roughly 1,000 people have been shot and killed by police in the U.S., according to a database created by The Washington Post. 

The vast majority of these shootings don’t make national headlines. Many involve a person who was armed at the time or who acted aggressively toward officers.

Randall was not armed, and the video shows he was not aggressive toward Iversen. Yet the case has received little attention outside Rusk County — leaving Randall’s family to process his killing alone and further reinforcing their feeling that, to the police and outside world, his life didn’t matter.

“Me and my family, we don’t come from money,” said Randall’s older brother Douglas, an Army veteran who served for 10 years.

Their parents divorced when the boys were toddlers, and their mother worked several jobs — customer service rep, waitress, school lunch lady — to keep the family afloat while raising the boys alone.

“No one has said an apology in Rusk County,” Douglas added. “No one has shown remorse.”

When their paths crossed in the fall of 2022, Randall and Iversen were at very different stages of life. 

Randall had struggled to find his footing after graduating from high school, where he played football and basketball. He found work as a welder but was arrested a handful of times on drug possession charges, leading to two felony convictions and two stints in prison.

Despite spending three years behind bars, Randall remained easygoing and optimistic, family members said. He was working in construction at the time of the shooting and had recently moved in with his mother following a break-up.

“He always tried to look at the positive,” his mother said. “He was just an upbeat, happy person.” 

Iversen was nearing the end of his law enforcement career. By the time he pulled over Randall, he had been working as a police officer for 13 years, first in Dallas and then in Rusk County, where he was hired in 2020. He was also a decorated Army special forces soldier who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Iversen’s military career began in 1986 with the Marines. He later joined the Army and then served in special forces, rising to the rank of senior sergeant, military records show. He deployed to Afghanistan for four months in 2003 and then to Iraq from April 2007 to September 2008 — earning a Bronze Star for valor, the fourth highest military decoration.

Two days after the killing, Iversen sat for an interview with the Texas Rangers, the agency that investigates police shootings. Reflecting on his military career, he said he was involved in one or two “direct fire engagements” in Afghanistan and at least 10 in Iraq.

“Those were most of the raids that we did,” he said about his time in Iraq, according to a transcript obtained by NBC News.

Iversen told the investigators he was on high alert when he walked up to Randall’s car because Randall had been driving in an area known for drug trafficking and didn’t immediately pull over.

Iversen observed an open can of Modelo lime beer in Randall’s car and suspected he was drunk, Iversen told the investigators. After he asked Randall to step out of the vehicle, Randall made a “furtive gesture” with his right hand that made Iversen think he might have a weapon, the deputy told investigators. 

He patted down Randall and felt a rectangular, soft object in his pants. When he squeezed it, Iversen said, he felt something small and hard inside that he thought might be a mini revolver.

“At that point, I’m like I have an issue here,” Iversen said in the interview. 

Iversen said he threw Randall to the ground because he was concerned the man might be able to reach what he thought was a gun. But Randall was quicker than he was and managed to get back up to his feet, Iversen said.

“At this point in time, I see him running towards me,” Iversen said. “I’m on my knees and I’m like he’s coming at me.”

“I don’t want to be caught on my knees with this active guy with a weapon in his waistband,” Iversen added. “At that point … survival instinct kicked in, and I drew and fired one round at him.”

After the shooting, Iversen said, he searched Randall’s pockets and found a soft glasses case with a meth pipe inside. The dashcam footage doesn’t show Iversen finding a pipe — Randall’s body is mostly out of the frame — but at one point he does mention it to another deputy.

“It was a f—— meth pipe, man,” Iversen said.

Toxicology testing found that Randall had in his system methamphetamine, marijuana and alcohol, though his blood alcohol level — 0.017 — was far below the legal limit. A crystal-like substance found in his wallet was determined to be meth, according to a state crime lab report. 

‘There was no threat’

After reviewing the dashcam footage and the Texas Rangers report, two police use-of-force experts contacted by NBC News said they saw no reason for Iversen to open fire during the encounter.

Mickie McComb, a former New Jersey state trooper, said Randall never made any movement that would suggest he was “drawing or attempting to draw a weapon” and at no point was he “charging the officer.”

“There was no threat,” added McComb, who now works as an expert witness on use-of-force cases. “He should have never used deadly force. It was completely uncalled for.”

David Klinger, a former police officer in Los Angeles and Redmond, Washington, offered a similarly blunt assessment. 

“It doesn’t make any sense why he shot the guy,” said Klinger, a criminology professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis who researches police shootings. 

Klinger said he doesn’t understand why Iversen would try to tackle a man whom he believed to be carrying a gun. If he wasn’t able to grab the weapon himself, Klinger said, he should have stepped back, drew his own firearm, radioed for back up and ordered the man onto his knees or onto a prone position on the ground. 

“You give him verbal commands to keep his hands in plain view,” Klinger added. 

McComb said he believes that Iversen would have faced criminal charges — and likely ended up in prison — had the incident occurred in the Northeast. 

“It’d be a completely different ball game,” McComb said. “That’s a bad case.”

Grand jury proceedings are held in secret, so it’s not clear what evidence was presented. 

Micheal Jimerson, the district attorney for Rusk County, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

‘Worst police shooting I’ve ever seen’

In October 2023, Tippitt filed a federal lawsuit against Iversen and Rusk County alleging constitutional violations for excessive use of force, unlawful detention and false arrest. 

At that point, neither Randall’s mother nor any member of the public had seen video of the encounter. Last summer, a judge compelled Iversen’s lawyers to turn over evidence in the case, which included the dashcam footage. 

Iversen then asked a judge to bar the public release of the video, arguing that it could compromise his safety and taint a jury pool. But a judge ruled against him in June 2024. 

Tippitt’s lawyer, Joseph Oxman, was in his office in Philadelphia when he played the clip for the first time. He said at first he couldn’t believe what it showed. 

“I think it’s the worst police shooting I’ve ever seen,” Oxman said. “It looks like an execution.”

The video showed something else that stood out to Oxman.

An early portion indicates that, at the time Randall allegedly ran the flashing stop sign, Iversen was likely too far away from the intersection to see it. Iversen acknowledged as much in his interview with the Texas Rangers, saying he couldn’t see the full intersection but knew it well enough to deduce that Randall’s vehicle hadn’t come to a stop. 

“There’s no way he could have seen him,” said Oxman, who is an adjunct professor of law at Rutgers University. “He was over 2,000 feet away.”

The release of the video set off small protests in Rusk County and triggered a flood of angry posts on the sheriff department’s Facebook page. 

Iversen filed a motion for summary judgment, asking for the case to be thrown out on the grounds of qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that shields police officers from civil lawsuits. He argued that Randall’s mother failed to identify any action of his that had violated the constitution and that his conduct was “objectively reasonable.” 

“Sgt. Iversen believed if Randall reached him, Sgt. Iversen would be in a fight for his life, with either Randall’s weapon used to injure or kill him, or Randall taking away his own weapons and using them against him,” wrote Iversen’s attorneys, Robert Davis and Lee Correa.

In an interview with NBC News, Davis portrayed Randall as the aggressor in the confrontation  and called him a “three time loser,” a term for people who face long prison sentences after getting a third felony conviction. 

“I think the suspect made up his mind that he was fleeing,” Davis said. “If he had to fight the officer or injure the officer, I don’t think the suspect cared at all.”

Earlier this year, a federal magistrate judge in Texas took a different view and recommended that Iversen’s motion for summary judgment be denied. The judge, John Love, wrote that based on the evidence presented, “a reasonable juror could find” that:

• “The use of deadly force was excessive as the crimes at issue were minor non-violent crimes (e.g., traffic violation, open container, possession).”
• “[Randall’s] resistance was not physical towards [Iversen].”
• “And [Randall] was unarmed with his hands empty and open while Defendant Iversen shot him from a kneeling position as [Randall] was turning to run away.”

A district judge is expected to make a decision in the coming days, which will determine if the case moves forward. (Rusk County was previously removed from the case after a judge granted its motion for a dismissal.)

On the night he was killed, Randall had gone out to the Texas Player’s Club, a local sports bar. When the police car pulled up behind him, he told his mother he was worried that his car might be impounded because it had expired tags, she said. 

“I was about four minutes away,” Tippitt said. “I told him I’d be right there.”

By the time she arrived, an officer was setting up police tape.

“I had this horrible, horrible feeling,” she recalled before breaking down.

She saw her son’s car at the top of a hill, its door open. But she couldn’t muster the strength to drive any closer. So she went to her nephew’s house — where Randall had been heading — and then the two of them returned to the scene together.

At that point, Tippitt saw officers covering Randall’s body with a sheet. Tippitt said one of them told her: “Go home and be with your family.”

“My family was laying in the road!” Tippitt told NBC News, her voice rising in anger.

Since that night, she has struggled to sleep and to get out of bed. She often finds herself dwelling on her son’s final moments. One moment in particular.  

In the second or two before he was fatally shot, he uttered two words to Iversen, the last he would ever speak. 

“Officer, please.”

U.N. and Palestinian representatives at the International Court of Justice accused Israel of breaking international law by refusing to let aid into Gaza, on the first day of hearings about Israel’s obligations to facilitate aid deliveries.

Since March 2, Israel has completely cut off all supplies to the 2.3 million residents of the Gaza Strip, and food stockpiled during a ceasefire at the start of the year has all but run out.

At the opening of the hearings at the U.N.’s top court, the U.N.’s legal counsel said Israel had a clear obligation as an occupying force to allow and facilitate humanitarian aid for the people in Gaza.

“In the specific context of the current situation in the occupied Palestinian Territories, these obligations entail allowing all relevant U.N. entities to carry out activities for the benefit of the local population,” Elinor Hammarskjold said.

Palestinian representative Ammar Hijazi said Israel was using humanitarian aid as “a weapon of war”, while people in Gaza were facing starvation.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel had submitted its position in writing to the hearings, which he described as a “circus”.

Speaking in Jerusalem on Monday, Saar said the court was being politicized, while the U.N. was failing to root out employees of its Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA who are members of Gaza militant groups.

“They are abusing the court once again to try and force Israel to cooperate with an organization that is infested with Hamas terrorists,” Saar said. “The goal is to deprive Israel of its most basic right to defend itself.”

The U.N. said in August that nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in Hamas’ October 7, 2023 assault and had been fired. Another Hamas commander, confirmed by UNRWA as one of its employees, was killed in Gaza in October, according to Israel.

The ICJ, also known as the World Court, was tasked in December to form an advisory opinion on Israel’s obligations to facilitate aid to Palestinians that is delivered by states and international groups, including the United Nations.

Israel has repeatedly said it would not allow the entry of goods and supplies into Gaza until Hamas releases all remaining hostages. It has accused Hamas of hijacking humanitarian aid, which the militant group denies.

“This case is about Israel destroying the fundamentals of life in Palestine, while it blocks the U.N. and other providers of humanitarian aid from providing life-saving aid to the population,” Hijazi, the head of the Palestinian mission to the Netherlands, told the hearing.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he had pushed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow food and medicine into Gaza. Germany, France and Britain last week called to allow the unhindered passage of humanitarian aid into the besieged Palestinian territory.

Advisory opinions of the ICJ carry legal and political weight, although they are not binding and the court has no enforcement powers.

After the hearings, the World Court will likely take several months to form its opinion.

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