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    How NYPD Will Use Cameras to Help Find Brian Thompson’s Killer

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    The cameras caught the gunman standing alone for five minutes on West 54th Street, ignoring the early-morning rush of people streaming by.They caught him again as he stood in the dark at 6:44 a.m. and locked into his target, Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, who was walking on the other side of the street.And they captured video of the gunman, who was dressed in black and wearing a gray backpack, crossing the street and walking up to Mr. Thompson. He appeared calm as he raised a gun, fired several times and then walked away.The seconds before Wednesday morning’s shooting of Mr. Thompson, the fatal moments and the immediate aftermath were all captured on surveillance cameras, leaving investigators with a trail of digital evidence to help search for a man who was “proficient” with firearms, according to Joseph Kenny, the chief of detectives for the New York Police Department.After the Sept. 11 attacks, the Police Department, with help from the federal government, poured resources into expanding its surveillance capabilities. New York City now has a vast system of cameras, both public and private, that the police can scour to locate people.The city has “investigatory capabilities that are above and beyond most municipalities,” said Brittney Blair, a senior director in the investigations and disputes practice at K2 Integrity, which advises companies on risk management and security.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Photographing Every President Since Reagan

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      Doug Mills reflects on nearly 40 years of taking photos of presidents.Times Insider explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.Through his camera lens, Doug Mills has seen it all: George H.W. Bush playing horseshoes. An emotional Barack Obama. A shirtless Bill Clinton. And he’s shared what he’s seen with the world.Mr. Mills, a veteran photographer, has captured pictures of every U.S. president since Ronald Reagan. His portfolio includes images of intimate conversations, powerful podium moments and scenes now seared into the American consciousness — like the face of President George W. Bush, realizing that America was under attack while he was reading to schoolchildren.Mr. Mills began his photography career at United Press International before joining The Associated Press. Then, in 2002, he was hired at The New York Times, where his latest assignment has been trailing former President Donald J. Trump. In July, Mr. Mills captured the moment a bullet flew past Mr. Trump’s head at a rally in Butler, Pa., and then a photo of Mr. Trump, ear bloodied, raising his fist.Over the past four decades, cameras and other tools have changed the job considerably, he said. While he once used 35mm SLR film cameras (what photographers used for decades), he now travels with multiple Sony mirrorless digital cameras, which are silent and can shoot at least 20 frames per second. He used to lug around portable dark rooms; now he can transmit images to anywhere in the world directly from his camera, via Wi-Fi or an Ethernet cable, in a matter of seconds.But it’s not just the technology that has changed. Campaigns are more image-driven than ever before, he said, thanks to social media, TV ads and coverage that spans multiple platforms. Not to mention, it’s a nonstop, 24-hour news cycle. He likens covering an election year to a monthslong Super Bowl.“It consumes your life, but I love it,” Mr. Mills said. “I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.”Mr. Mills, who on election night will be with Mr. Trump at a watch party in Palm Beach, Fla., shared how one image of each president he’s photographed throughout his career came together. — Megan DiTrolioWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      2 Men Accused of Killing 72-Year-Old While Posing as Utility Workers

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      Two men who said they were looking for a gas leak killed the man in his basement in suburban Detroit and bound his wife with duct tape before taking her watch and phone, prosecutors said.Two men posing as utility workers looking for a gas leak killed a man and bound his wife with duct tape after being admitted to their home in an upscale Detroit suburb on Friday, the authorities in Michigan said.One man, Carlos Jose Hernandez, 37, of Dearborn, Mich., was arrested after being stopped by the police in Shreveport, La., on Saturday, according to a news release from the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office. The other, whose name has not been released, was stopped and arrested in Plymouth Township, Mich., on Monday, according to a Facebook post from the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.Killed in the attack was Hussein Murray, 72, a business owner. His wife, also 72, was briefly hospitalized and was later released, according to the sheriff’s office. The woman’s phone and watch were taken during the attack, according to Karen McDonald, the Oakland County prosecutor.The authorities said that the two intruders, in search of valuables, had first tried to talk their way into the home in Rochester Hills, Mich., about 10 p.m. Thursday but that the couple had not admitted them. The men indicated that they would return in the morning and then did so, Ms. McDonald said.Footage of the Thursday night encounter released by the sheriff’s office from the couple’s Ring camera shows a man who the authorities said was Mr. Hernandez at the couple’s doorstep in a yellow vest and a mask and holding a clipboard. The other man, also in a yellow vest, stands facing away from the camera.In the video, the man the authorities identified as Mr. Hernandez says they are with DTE, an energy company based in Detroit, and turns his clipboard toward the camera to show a form with the DTE logo.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Hvaldimir the ‘Spy’ Whale Is Found Dead in Norwegian Waters

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      The beluga whale, who was first spotted in 2019 wearing what looked like a camera harness, was seen floating in Norwegian waters on Saturday.Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.Sebastian Strand, the founder of the nonprofit, Marine Mind, said that he saw the dead whale floating near Risavika in southwestern Norway on Saturday afternoon.Its cause of death was not immediately clear, he said. There were markings around the whale that could have been made by birds or other marine animals.“It’s heartbreaking,” Mr. Strand said. “He’s touched thousands of people’s hearts just here in Norway.”Mr. Strand added that he was working to send Hvaldimir to a facility where the carcass could be preserved long enough to try to determine a cause of death.By some estimates, the whale was close to 14 feet long and about 2,700 pounds.Hvaldimir, whose name is a combination of “hval,” the Norwegian word for whale, and the name Vladimir, was spotted in northern Norway in 2019, at first alarming fishermen.Belugas tend to move in groups and typically inhabit remote Arctic areas. Adding to the intrigue around Hvaldimir, he was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount.Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale.If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one.The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas, prompting concerns from scientists, activists and experts.“He was completely acclimatized to human culture,” Mr. Strand said, adding that it appeared Hvaldimir had “been in captivity for a lot of his life.”Mr. Strand and his team worked to educate curious residents and tourists about the whale, to protect it as much as possible as it remained outside of its usual habitat.Last year, Hvaldimir was seen off the coast of Sweden, a southward journey that took him farther away from food sources and on a path toward more industrial and dangerous harbors.Mr. Strand said that he had been promoting safety measures for Hvaldimir, who had so far enjoyed a calm year, and had seemed to be in good health on Friday based on reports.“I’m not sure what’s happened,” Mr. Strand said. “But we’ll find out.” More

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      Images of History, From Film to Digital

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      The reporter and photographer David Gonzalez once had to ship his film rolls to The Times’s Manhattan office. But in 1999, he went digital.In the In Times Past column, David W. Dunlap explores New York Times history through artifacts housed in the Museum of The Times.Two notable events in David Gonzalez’s nearly 34-year career at The New York Times occurred in 1999. He was appointed the Central America-Caribbean bureau chief, principally covering Cuba, Haiti, Guatemala, El Salvador and Panama.And he bought his first digital camera.Widely known as a Times reporter and columnist, Mr. Gonzalez is also an accomplished photographer. He served for eight years as co-editor of The Times’s Lens photojournalism blog and is a founding member of the Seis del Sur collective of Puerto Rican and Nuyorican photographers in the Bronx. “The Dancers,” which he took in 1979, depicts an elegant couple swept away by salsa music, rapturously indifferent to the fact that they’re in the middle of a street in the South Bronx.Mr. Gonzalez photographed his first assignments in Central America and the Caribbean on film. He had to ship undeveloped film rolls to The Times’s office in New York for processing, a cumbersome method that gave him no chance to review his work.So he bought a digital Olympus C-2020 in 1999, later upgrading to an Olympus C-4040, which was 4-by-3-by-2 inches and weighed 15 ounces. “I couldn’t afford one of the early Nikon digitals,” Mr. Gonzalez recalled in a recent email. (A Nikon Coolpix 950 cost $999.) “I knew Olympus, and the price was right, about $800. Since correspondents were paid $100 per photo, it paid for itself quickly.”With a digital camera, Mr. Gonzalez was immediately able to see what he’d photographed. He could also transmit his photos to New York with a modem that converted digital files into signals that traveled over telephone lines. Though much slower than a modern internet fiber-optic connection, this method was immensely faster than physical shipping.Mr. Gonzalez used the C-4040 digital camera to photograph the visit of former President Jimmy Carter to Cuba in May 2002.David Gonzalez/The New York TimesMr. Gonzalez used the C-4040 to photograph the visit of former President Jimmy Carter to Cuba in May 2002, a vigil Mass for the martyred Archbishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero of El Salvador in March 2003, and a Three Kings Day celebration in Manhattan.The battery compartment of his C-4040 is now broken and corroded. Otherwise, Mr. Gonzalez might have found an eager buyer among Gen Z influencers who prize digital cameras older than they are.On retiring from The Times last month, Mr. Gonzalez gave the C-4040 to the Museum at The Times. He also offered this reassurance: “I still have lots to say and show.” More

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      Airbnb Bans All Indoor Security Cameras

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      Widespread use of indoor security cameras has raised concerns about privacy in vacation rentals, hotels, public bathrooms, locker rooms and on cruise ships.Airbnb said this week that it was banning the use of all indoor security cameras in its listings worldwide, an update to its current policy allowing the devices to be installed in common areas such as hallways and living rooms.In an statement on Monday, the company said that most of the listings on its site do not have indoor security cameras, but that it was making privacy a priority.Previously, security cameras were allowed in common areas so long as hosts disclosed them to guests before booking. They had to be visible, not hidden, and were not allowed in sleeping areas or bathrooms. Airbnb said the policy update, which takes effect April 30, prohibits security cameras anywhere inside the properties, even if they are visible.It was not immediately clear why the company made the change, but the widespread use of indoor security cameras has raised concerns about privacy in vacation rentals, hotels, public bathrooms, locker rooms and on cruise ships.Headlines and internet forums have long been rife with reports of unscrupulous vacation rental hosts accused of spying on guests with secret cameras hidden inside clocks, smoke detectors, outlets and other ordinary objects.Juniper Downs, Airbnb’s head of community policy and partnerships, said in the statement that the changes had been made in consultation with guests, hosts and privacy experts.“Our goal was to create new, clear rules that provide our community with greater clarity about what to expect on Airbnb,” she said. The company is one of the biggest players in the short-term rental market, with more than 7 million listings in over 100,000 cities worldwide.Airbnb will continue to allow outdoor security cameras, noise decibel monitors and doorbell cameras, it said, because they are an effective way to monitor security and prevent guests from throwing unauthorized parties.But hosts will be required to disclose the presence of such cameras and their general location before guests book, and the devices cannot be used to monitor areas where there is an expectation of privacy, such as an enclosed outdoor shower or sauna.As the use of consumer surveillance devices grows, many travelers and others are using techniques to figure out whether they are being watched, such as searching for inexplicable lights or holes in objects that may house a camera lens. More

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      Subway Cameras Led to Arrests in Bronx D Train Shooting, NYPD Says

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      Investigators say that an early morning argument on a D train last week ended with the fatal shooting of William Alvarez, 45.The police on Monday said footage from a surveillance camera in a subway car helped lead to the arrests of three people in connection with the fatal shooting of a 45-year-old man last week.Justin Herde, 24, Alfredo Trinidad, 42, and Betty Cotto, 38, were in custody in connection with the killing of William Alvarez, 45, of the Bronx, according to the New York Police Department.Mr. Alvarez was riding a southbound D train around 5 a.m. on Friday morning when the three suspects boarded at the Fordham Road station and got into an argument with him, the police said. Mr. Alvarez was shot in the chest, Michael M. Kemper, the Police Department’s chief of transit, said at a Monday news conference. Chief Kemper added that Mr. Alvarez’s attackers fled the train at the 182nd-183rd Streets station.About 1,000 of the system’s roughly 6,500 cars are equipped with cameras, part of a broader effort begun in 2022 by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which plans to install cameras in the rest of the cars by the end of this year.Killings on the subway are rare, but attract intense public attention. This year there have been two other fatal incidents in the system. Earlier this month, a 35-year-old man was killed and five other people were wounded in a shooting at the Mount Eden Avenue station in the Bronx during the evening rush hour. And in January, a 45-year-old father of three was shot on a No. 3 train in Brooklyn after intervening in an argument.Transit leaders are under intense pressure to bring ridership back to prepandemic levels, and making the system feel safe is critical to that mission. Ridership rose by about 3 percent in January, hovering on average at about 3 million daily passengers. In 2019, daily ridership was about 5 million.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Georgia Case Against Trump Could Allow Cameras in Courtroom

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      No television cameras or still photographers captured the first three arraignments of former President Donald J. Trump in Manhattan, Washington and Miami. And that will likely continue when those cases go to trial over the next year or so.But in Georgia, where Mr. Trump and 18 co-defendants were indicted on Monday, state courts typically permit cameras in the courtroom. That means the sprawling conspiracy case could present the best opportunity for the public to watch the legal proceedings unfold.“I would expect it, absolutely,” said David E. Hudson, general counsel for the Georgia Press Association. In 40 years of representing the state’s news media, he could not recall one trial that had been closed to cameras, he said.The judge in the Georgia case, Scott F. McAfee, who was randomly assigned after the indictment was handed up on Monday, has not weighed in on court procedures. But the presumption is in favor of openness.“Open courtrooms are an indispensable element of an effective and respected judicial system,” states a 2018 order regarding Georgia’s law on recording devices in courtrooms. “It is the policy of Georgia’s courts to promote access to and understanding of court proceedings, not only by the participants in them, but also by the general public and by news media who will report on the proceedings to the public.”In Georgia, members of the news media must apply to record the proceedings, but most applications are approved, Mr. Hudson said. There may be restrictions, including on photographing the jury or requiring a pool system to avoid overcrowded courtrooms. But even the highest-profile cases have been open, he said.That stands in contrast to what is expected in the two federal cases against Mr. Trump in Miami and Washington. Federal courts generally do not permit cameras.It has yet to be determined whether the court in the Manhattan case, related to hush-money payments, will allow cameras, but trials in the New York state court system are not typically broadcast. In the past, the judge in the Manhattan case, Juan M. Merchan, has been reluctant to permit video of proceedings that have involved Mr. Trump.In the rare occasion that a Georgia judge seeks to close down a courtroom, he or she must offer evidence in a hearing, explaining why recording should be prohibited to protect specific interests, said Derek Bauer, who is head of media litigation at the BakerHostetler law firm and the general counsel of the Georgia Association of Broadcasters.In practice, closing a courtroom is rarely sought, he said, and state appellate courts have frequently reversed trial court decisions when it has happened.He also said he did not expect the Trump trial to be closed. “We recognize the importance of open courtroom proceedings in the state of Georgia, particularly in connection with criminal proceedings,” he said. More