Three things for April 20
1. Intruder killed at Peruvian ambassador’s residence
On Wednesday, April 20, U.S. Secret Service officers shot and killed an intruder who was smashing windows at the residence of the Peruvian ambassador to the United States.
The ambassador and his family were inside the residence in Washington D.C. when they heard several windows being smashed just before 8 a.m. and called the Secret Service, according to AP News.
The officers found a man armed with a metal stake in the yard and used a taser in an effort to detain him.
“Those weapons appear to not have [had] any effect on the person,” said Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert Contee at a news conference.
The officers then shot the man, who was pronounced dead at the scene. The man’s identity has not been released.
“The Embassy of Peru regrets to report that today, early in the morning, a person entered the Official Residence without authorization, causing material damage to the property. Said person was shot by the Secret Service. The Ambassador, his family, the Residential staff and the Secret Service agents are safe, and the fact is being investigated by the competent authorities,” the embassy said.
2. Arizona wildfire doubles in size overnight
An Arizona wildfire doubled in size overnight from Tuesday into Wednesday, April 20. The wildfire has already ripped through two dozen structures and forced residents of more than 700 homes to flee.
“Flames as high as 100 feet (30 meters) on Tuesday raced through an area of scattered homes, dry grass and Ponderosa pine trees in a rural area on the outskirts of Flagstaff as wind gusts of up to 50 mph (80 kph) pushed the blaze over a major highway,” reports AP News.
National Weather Service meteorologist Mark Stubblefield said winds are “approaching a critical level.” No significant precipitation is in the forecast for next week, according to Stubblefield.
The county declared an emergency after the wildfire increased from 100 acres Tuesday morning to over 26 square miles by Wednesday morning, according to AP News.
“Coconino County officials said during a Tuesday evening news conference that 766 homes and 1,000 animals had been evacuated. About 250 structures remained threatened in the area popular with hikers and off-road vehicle users and where astronauts have trained amid volcanic cinder pits,” reports AP News.
For more information, read the full AP News article.
3. Russia's deadline for Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol expires
Servicemen of Donetsk People's Republic militia walk past damaged vehicles during a heavy fighting in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces in Mariupol, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov)
On Wednesday, April 20, Russia’s surrender deadline for the city of Mariupol expired. Ukrainian forces in Mariupol rejected Russia's demands to surrender and are still resisting the assault on the southeastern port city.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said the city, which has been surrounded by Russian troops since March 1, has not fallen.
In a video, the commander of Ukraine's 36th Marine Brigade, one of the last units believed to be holding out in Mariupol, asked for international help to escape the city's siege.
"This is our appeal to the world. It may be our last. We may have only a few days or hours left," said Major Serhiy Volyna in a video uploaded to Facebook. "The enemy units are dozens of times larger than ours, they have dominance in the air, in artillery, in ground troops, in equipment and in tanks."
Russia's nearly eight-week-long invasion has failed to capture any of Ukraine's largest cities. Moscow was forced to retreat from northern Ukraine after an assault on Kyiv was repelled last month, but has poured troops back in for an assault on the east that began this week, according to Reuters.
