Mystik Dan won the 150th Kentucky Derby on Saturday, beating out the pack in a photo finish for the latest rendition of the most thrilling two minutes in sports. The final margins of the race were nose-to-nose, with three horses galloping in for one of the closest finishes in Triple Crown history. Coming in second-place behind Mystik Dan was one of the race’s favorites, Sierra Leone, with Forever Young coming in a close third-place finish. Stewards took several minutes to look over the close finish before officially declaring Mystik Dan the winner. “The longest few minutes of my life,” Mystik ..read more

A California man who organized a “group of fighters” to storm the U.S. Capitol — and later testified against one of his companions during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack — was sentenced on Friday to six months of home detention. Russell Taylor had a knife on his chest and was carrying a hatchet in his backpack when he helped other rioters overrun a police line outside the Capitol. Taylor, 42, of Ladera Ranch, California, pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to obstruct the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress for certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory. He was a key witness fo ..read more

Last May, we at News4 introduced you to Finn Cusick, a brave boy from Charles County who was battling a rare form of brain cancer. The 10-year-old with a big heart inspired the movement “Finn’s Fierce Fight,” and brought together a community in his support. Finn died peacefully at home in December, but his family is determined to carry on his legacy and help other kids. That’s why they started a new foundation this week, aimed at funding clinical trials to find a cure. The rare and aggressive brain cancer that took Finn’s life, diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma or DIPG, has no cure. Despite the ..read more

America’s longest continuously held sporting event turns 150 years old this Saturday. By age, it’s got the Westminster dog show beat by two years. The Derby has survived two world wars, the Depression and pandemics, including COVID-19 in 2020, when it ran in virtual silence without the usual crowd of 150,000. The first Saturday in May is Derby Day with all its accompanying pageantry, including fancy hats, fans dressed in their Sunday best, mint juleps served in souvenir glasses, the crowd singing “My Old Kentucky Home” and the hand-sewn garland of red roses for the winner. The Derby was t ..read more

A D.C. police officer fatally shot two dogs after they escaped their family’s yard in Northwest last week. The officer was responding to a report of a stabbing on 11th Street in Columbia Heights April 25, police said. After noticing a broken window, the officer went to the back alley. At the time, Jeaneva Thompson’s 16-year-old daughter, Namora, had just taken their dogs — Luna and Wednesday — outside. In police body camera video, they are seen escaping the yard with a third dog. “Sometimes they slip under the gate, and especially Wednesday,” Thompson said. “She always slipped under the gate ..read more

Dashboard camera video played in court shows the terror on a woman’s face as her boyfriend drove into oncoming traffic, killing her and her 5-year-old daughter, but a judge said the prosecution didn’t prove the defendant would be a danger if released on bond. A judge in Northern Virginia granted Mustafa Aljazairi $5,000 bond but put a hold on the order so the prosecutor can explore an appeal.   Aljazairi has been jailed for more than a year on two counts of second-degree murder, accused of intentionally causing the crash. The video has no audio, but prosecutors say the couple’s facial exp ..read more

A 3-year-old girl who was shot in the Garfield Heights neighborhood in Southeast D.C. Friday evening has died. The girl was in a car when she was struck in the 2400 block of Hartford Street SE, police said. They believe the car was caught in an exchange of gunfire. The girl was taken to a nearby firehouse on Irving Street SE in critical condition and flown to Children’s Hospital where she died. Homicide detectives were called to the scene and are investigating. Police do not have a motive or a suspect. The 3-year-old girl was identified as Ty’ah Settles of Southeast D.C. Stay with News4 for up ..read more

A man who claimed self-defense in the shooting of a man and his stepson at the construction site where the two worked in Northern Virginia was found guilty of two counts of murder. Prosecutors said 29-year-old Francis Rose went on a crime spree at Assembly Apartments in July 2022, breaking into two homes, then killing 48-year-old Adrian Rivera Guzman and 24-year-old Juan Carlos Amaya Hernandez before hiding out in a stranger’s apartment. Rose’s defense team admitted their client killed the men but claimed the workers attacked Rose before he shot them. The defense did not call Rose to the stand ..read more

After a 17-year-old girl was grazed by a bullet that flew through a window of D.C.’s Dunbar High School on Friday morning, an assistant police chief speaking just after the crime said her injuries were minor. “She is totally fine and expected to make a full recovery,” Asst. Chief Leslie Parsons said. When a young person survives a shooting, they can face a long road to recovery, well after any physical wounds vanish. Reporting by the News4 I-Team has shown that young people who survive shootings can face long-term effects; making a full recovery can take years, if not longer. “The trauma will ..read more

A student was grazed by a bullet inside Dunbar High School in Northwest D.C. on Friday morning after shots from an exchange of gunfire outside flew through a window, police say. Two people have been arrested, News4 learned late Friday. Zaharia Graves, 18, and a 17-year-old boy — both of Northeast — are charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, carrying a pistol without a license and endangerment with a firearm.  The student, a 17-year-old girl described as a star varsity athlete, was grazed by a bullet in a second-floor classroom. She received minor injuries and was taken to a hospita ..read more