A Meriden man admits he made a major mistake when he fired gunshots into a mosque next door to his home. The incident took place in November in the hours after the terror attacks in Paris.

Now he has done something that many in the mosque had been hoping he would do.

"I just ask for your forgiveness," said Ted Hakey, Jr., apologizing to the members of the Baitul Aman Mosque on Saturday.

"I'd like to apologize to the whole community," said Hakey. "It just shouldn't have happened."

Hakey said he was sorry for firing gunshots into the empty mosque next door to his house in the hours after the Paris terrorist attacks in November.

"Of course there was initially fear and then the police came right away," said Dr. Muhammad Quereshi, the President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Connecticut.

Hakey told the mosque members on Saturday that he had been drinking alcohol on that November evening and that he was frightened of a religion that he knew nothing about.

"I wish that I had come on knocked on your door and if I had spent five minutes with you, it would have been all the difference in the world and I didn't do that," said Hakey.

In February, Hakey pleaded guilty to intentional destruction of religious property with a dangerous weapon.

"I'd like to go forward with learning and helping other people not make the same mistake I did," he said.

Hakey is currently out on bond but he still has to be sentenced. Federal guidelines suggest that he serve eight to fourteen months in prison. A judge is scheduled to sentence Hakey in May.
 

Wet, heavy snow caused big problems for drivers early Sunday morning.

State police responded to several crashes along Interstate 84, including two tractor trailer crashes on I-84 West near between exits 66 and 68 in the Vernon and tolland areas.

In Torrington, Route 4 was closed after a crash near Lover's Lane, according to Torrington police.  A car crashed into a utility pole, taking down wires, police said.  There was no word on when the road would reopen.

Trees and wires were reported down on Route 30 in Stafford and on Pinney Road in Somers.

Two people were taken to the hospital Sunday after a large tree branch crashed through their home in Hartford.

The woman and her adult daughter were sleeping in their Home at 43 Mansfield street when the limb from a tree fell and put a gaping hole in the roof at the back of the house.

Debris was scattered in a bedroom where the two women were sleeping, according to a relative.

Charles Combs said he contacted Hartford last week over his concerns about the tree limb.

"I’ve been monitoring this tree to where each the way it was cracking, I saw it open more and more and more. I didn’t know it was going to be today. I thank God for what did take place today as far as it could have been a lot worse,” Combs said.

The tree actually sits on a neighboring property.

The two women were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, according to authorities.

On the heels of several inches of snow Sunday, another storm will bring more accumulating snow to Connecticut on Monday.

The snow will begin during the morning commute and last through the evening commute.

Being that it's early April, it will be very difficult for the snow to accumulate on the roads during the day.

It will all depend on intensity. The roads should just be wet in light to moderate snow, but they will get covered over or at least slushy in heavy snow.

Temperatures will be in the 20s to start Monday and the roads will be dry initially.

That means any snow that falls before sunrise and after sunset will stick.

Highs will be near freezing inland but closer to 40 degrees along the shoreline.

The best chance for snow to stick to the roads during the daylight hours is in the higher elevations of northwest and northeast Connecticut.

Strong lift in the atmosphere arrives late morning and lasts through midday, and that's when the heaviest snow will fall. It will likely mix with rain along the shoreline.

By Monday evening, a coating to two inches of snow is expected along the shoreline.

Two to four inches should accumulate across inland Connecticut.

More than four inches are likely in the northwest and northeast hill towns where the elevation will result in lower temperatures.

It's worth repeating that the snow will have a better time sticking to grass and elevated surfaces, while it will be less inclined to stick to the roads, sidewalks and driveways.

In a rare move, Donald Trump says he regrets retweeting an unflattering photo of Ted Cruz’s wife, NBC News reports.

"Yeah, it was a mistake," Trump told New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd in a column published Saturday. "If I had to do it again, I wouldn't have sent it."

Trump retweeted an unflattering photo of Heidi Cruz next to his own wife, Melania, after he accused Cruz of being behind or at least knowing about an ad that featured an old picture of his wife posing nude for GQ magazine. Cruz denied being involved with the ad, which was created by an anti-Trump super PAC.

Trump is coming off a bruising week in which he repeatedly backtracked from comments he made to Chris Matthews of MSNBC about abortion and whether women should face "some form of punishment" for getting one if abortions were illegal.  

Eleven people have been displaced from their home after an early morning fire in Hartford.

According to Lt. Thomas LeConche, fire crews were called to 194 Bond St. at 1:12 a.m. for a fire in the pantry on the first floor of the home.

When crews arrived, the fire had already spread to the rear porches and second floor of the home. Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the fire, getting the blaze under control in just 19 minutes.

A total of 7 adults and four children were displaced as a result of the fire. The Hartford Fire Department Special Services unit and the American Red Cross are assisting them.

No injuries were reported.

Donald Trump's campaign is accusing the Tennessee Republican Party of "stealing" pro-Trump delegates in an attempt to help the party's establishment candidate win, should a contested convention go to a third ballot — the round of voting in which Tennessee unbinds its delegates , NBC News reported.

Darren Morris, state director of Trump's campaign in Tennessee, told The Tennessean the Trump campaign and Tennessee Republican Party chairman Ryan Hayes had agreed Wednesday on the names of seven of the 14 at-large delegates that, under party rules, are to be appointed by the state party.

But Morris said that an updated delegate list he reviewed late this week is now wiped clean of several of those names and instead features individuals who he described as "anti-Trump." 

Trump's senior adviser Dan Scavino claimed in a tweet that "a small group of Tennessee establishment insiders" were trying to "steal" votes from Trump supporters.

Two employees at a suburban residential treatment facility for troubled youth were charged Saturday in the death of a 16-year-old resident at the center.

James Davis, 37, of Round Lake, is charged with one felony count of involuntary manslaughter and one felony count of obstruction of justice. Davis' bail was set at $1,000,000.

Justin Serak, 27, of Kenosha, Wisconsin, is charged with one felony count of obstruction of justice, and bail was set at $50,000.

Staff members at the Allendale Association facility in north suburban Lake Villa told police that on March 30, 16-year-old Shaquan Allen, of Chicago, was having "behavioral issues" and Serak and Davis attempted to restrain him. As Shaquan reportedly struggled with the two men, Serak took him by the legs and Davis grabbed the teen's upper body and neck.

Investigators say Davis then put Shaquan in a chokehold during the struggle, causing him to lose consciousness.

Witnesses told police that a staff nurse tried to resuscitate Shaquan before calling 911 at approximately 10 p.m., which authorities say may have been 15 minutes after he lost consciousness.

He was taken to Condell Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:10 p.m.

Shaquan was a resident at the Allendale Association, a facility that offers "care, education, treatment and advocacy for troubled children, youth and their families," according to the private, non-profit organization's website.

Shaquan's mother Willie Mae Allen told NBC 5 that her son had been a resident there for three years and was due to be released next week.

"I sent my baby there to get help, because I thought the streets was a more dangerous place. I never in my wildest dreams imagined him dying up in there," Allen lamented.

Allen said she is grateful for the police, but she wants the facility to be closed down and her son's death to be called murder.

"Involuntary manslaughter... This is dark, but I think it should be first-degree murder where they get life," she told NBC 5 through tears. "They took my baby's life. He's not gonna be here no more."

Officials also confirmed that Serak and Davis fabricated their initial account of the event during their interviews with investigators.

"That fabrication was that the victim slipped on water as the three were struggling," said Det. Christopher Covelli of the Lake County Sheriff's office. "It was later determined that the water that was located on the ground was caused by the defendants, in this case, pouring water on the victim to attempt to wake him after he had become unconscious."

The Lake County Coroner’s office conducted an autopsy Friday morning, and have yet to determine an exact cause of death pending further investigation. But authorities said initial results indicate the boy died from asphyxiation.

Lake County Major Crime Task Force investigators are investigating, and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), has been notified, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Department.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Sunday she had not yet been contacted by the FBI in the inquiry surrounding the use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state in an interview with NBC's Chuck Todd on "Meet the Press."

Last week, reports indicated that Clinton and her top aides could soon be interviewed by the FBI.

The Democratic front-runner reiterated that her decision to use a personal email as a government official was "a mistake" and pointed out that back in August she "made clear" she was "happy to answer any questions that anybody might have."

Clinton also said she's "confident" she'll debate Bernie Sanders before the New York primary on April 19, but would not commit to a specific date. When pressed if she would agree to a specific date that the Sanders campaign has put forward, Clinton said she'd leave that to her campaign.

Powerful winds whipped across the Midwest and Northeast over the weekend, leaving at least nine people injured as trees and power lines succumbed to the gusts.

Parts of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island saw up to 6 inches of snow Sunday morning. But high winds continued even as the snowfall dissipated, leaving approximately 370,000 utility customers from Wisconsin to Maine without power Sunday morning, officials said.

Officials say two people have died after a tree fell onto a car in Abington, Massachusetts, NECN reported. Abington Fire Chief John Nuttall said the rotted tree completely crushed the passenger compartment. It's not immediately clear whether high winds in the area caused the tree to fall, but Nuttal said that it was "likely."

A second round of snow was expected to hit Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and New England Sunday night into Monday, said Weather Channel lead meteorologist Michael Palmer.

Waterford police are asking for the public’s help to identify a suspect who used counterfeit bills at a business back in March.

Police say on March 8 around 3:45 p.m. a woman used a counterfeit $100 bill to purchase ice cream at the Cold Stone Creamery at 909 Hartford Turnpike.

The suspect is described as medium skinned with brown hair dyed pink and brown eyes, approximately 5 feet 5 inches tall between the ages of 25-35 years old. She was wearing a black jacket, black pants and pink shoes at the time of the incident.

Anyone with information should contact Officer Bonkowski at lbonkowski@waterfordct.org or (860) 422-9451 x 2244.
 

North Dakota GOP officials released a list of 25 delegates recommended for the convention, compiled from 112 applicants, setting up a clash between the remaining Republican candidates, NBC News reported.

Trump’s campaign said they were happy with the list and believed half the delegates would be on their side, while Cruz’s team passed out a list of 23 people it identified as supporters, asking delegates to vote for them. Kasich said he was also happy with the party slate.

The move aimed to lock down supporters as the three rivals try to gather deletes in the even of a brokered convention.

A contested contest would make North Dakota's 25 delegates highly valuable — all of which are free agents and can vote for whomever they please at the national convention in July, potentially sending a candidate close to a majority over the edge.

Authorities say the country’s dams, stadiums, traffic controls and power grids can be accessed by anyone with simple passwords or no passwords at all, NBC News reported.

New York U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said the 2013 hack of the by an Iranian computer hack was a "frightening new frontier" of cybercrime that's "scary to think about."

Hamid Firoozi, the Iranian hacker charged earlier this month with breaking into the control system of the Bowman Avenue Dam in Rye Brook, New York, reportedly used a simple, legal search engine that surfs for and identifies unguarded control systems online. New York U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said the 2013 hack was “scary to think about.”

Authorities believe the threat of more attacks is growing exponentially, and have been warning America's private sector to adapt, but businesses have been slow to respond.

About 6.4 billion devices and control systems will be connected to the Internet in 2016, a 30 percent spike over 2015, according to a new report. By 2020, nearly 21 billion will be online.  

Power outages plagued the state Sunday as heavy, wet snow and high winds took down tree limbs and power lines.

Eversource says that as they repair trouble spots more pop up due to gusty winds across the state. They have restored more than 26,000 customers at various times throughout the day. At the peak, 15,000 people were without power at once.

As of 4:30 p.m. only 4,899 Eversource customers were reported without power.

United Illuminating had nearly 200 outages Sunday morning.

High wind warnings were issued for Connecticut for Sunday. Some parts of the state could see 60 mile-per-hour wind gusts.

Donald Trump would sell off $16 trillion worth of U.S. government assets if he were to become president, according to his campaign’s senior advisor Barry Bennett, NBC News reports.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Trump said he would get rid of $19 trillion of national debt “over a period of eight years.” The article noted most economists would consider Trump’s proposal impossible.

"The United States government owns more real estate than anybody else, more land than anybody else, more energy than anybody else," Bennett told Chris Jansing Sunday on MSNBC. "We can get rid of government buildings we're not using, we can extract the energy from government lands, we can do all kinds of things to extract value from the assets that we hold."

The government’s assets totaled $3.2 trillion as of September 2015, according to the federal accountability office. But that figure doesn’t include stewardship assets or natural resources.  

Sunday’s windy weather left a Bolton animal shelter damaged after a large tree branch came crashing down onto their play area.

Volunteers at the Sadie Mae Foundation Animal Rescue League Inc. say several volunteers and dogs were outside at their shelter in Bolton when wind knocked the large branch into their fenced outdoor play area. No one was hurt and the actual building was not damaged, but with more windy weather in the forecast they decided to put the dogs in foster homes as a precaution.

The foundation says they do have insurance and are waiting for the company to assess the damage. They expect the dogs can come home to the shelter in the next few days.

Volunteers say as the news spread the foundation received an outpouring of support and they are thankful.

The Sadie Mae Foundation is a non-profit (501c3) rescue organization run primarily off donations. They can always use dog treats, toys or other items. For more information on how to donate or adoptions check out the organization's website or Facebook page.
 

 Forty-two people were displaced by a morning fire in a Hartford apartment building Sunday.

Hartford fire officials say the department responded around 11:34 a.m. after multiple 911 calls reporting a fire at 48 Huntington Street. When they arrived they saw heavy fire showing from the windows of a third-floor unit. Multiple residents were assisted out of the building by firefighters. Two people were transported to a local hospital for difficulty breathing but have since been treated and released.

Firefighters were concerned strong winds would be an issue fighting the fire but by 11:56 a.m. it was declared under control. The fire was contained to one apartment but the building, which contains 14 units, sustained significant smoke and water damage and was deemed uninhabitable for the time being.

Thirty adults and 12 children are being relocated with assistance from the American Red Cross and Special Services Unit, according to the Hartford Fire Department. The fire marshal is investigating the cause of the fire.

The Brussels airport reopened with an "emotional" flight on Sunday, 12 days after suicide bombers destroyed its departure hall, NBC News reported.

Belgium's main airport had not handled passenger flights since the twin bombings killed dozens and injured 270 others.

The first of three scheduled flights departed for Faro in Portugal just after 1:40 p.m. local time (7:40 a.m. ET), with only about 60-70 passengers. Planes were also scheduled to go to Turin and Athens.

On Monday, the airport will serve a far wider range of destinations, including one plane also due out to New York and two more to cities in Cameroon, Gambia and Senegal. 

MSNBC has learned that the Donald Trump and Ted Cruz campaigns are trying to prevent John Kasich from appearing on the ballot at the Republican National Convention in July, NBC News reported.

Trump cited the strategy on Sunday, telling a supporter the “RNC shouldn’t allow” Kasich on the ballot this summer.

If no one clinches the nomination during the primaries, delegates choose from candidates on the convention ballot.

Aides for both Trump and Cruz told MSNBC it is in their mutual interest to keep the Ohio governor off the ballot. The convention rules control who is on that ballot, and therefore, who is eligible to win the nomination.

"I expect the Rules Committee to require a level of support that would leave only two candidates on the ballot at the convention," a senior Cruz Campaign aide told MSNBC.

One man is dead after a train struck a vehicle in a northern Illinois suburb on Sunday afternoon, according to police. 

Authorities say the incident occurred around 3 p.m. at the Green Street Crossing in Somonauk, a town located about 60 miles west of Chicago. Police say the gates were down and a man drove his car around them.

An Amtrak train traveling westbound from Union Station in Chicago to California struck the car, stopping about a half mile down from the crossing with the vehicle still in front of the train, the Somonauk Fire Department said. 

A 28-year-old man from Sandwich, Illinois, was pronounced dead at the scene, officials confirmed. 

Firefighters extricated the victim and removed the vehicle. The 264 passengers and 9 Amtrak crew members aboard the train were checked by emergency medical service staff, and no injuries were reported. 

The BNSF line was temporarily stopped but as of 8:30 p.m., the Amtrak train began moving again.

Authorities continue to investigate the crash.