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The Griffith Park Pony Rides and Petting Zoo operation is closing its doors for good, it seems after the City cut ties -- and the owner is blaming activists who've been on his ass.

Steve Weeks -- who's been running the place for years now -- broke the news this weekend on Facebook, writing ... "It is with much sadness that I announce that Griffith Park Pony Rides will be ceasing operations December 21, 2022. I have received a letter from Los Angeles Recreation and Parks stating that our contract will not be renewed."

He adds, "After 74 years serving the children and parents of Los Angeles, this iconic institution will be closed forever by order of the City."

Weeks says this is a direct result of extremists who've been protesting his establishment for months, explaining ... "You have all followed our fight against these few radical animal rights activists. Despite our year long fight to answer the untrue statements of these individuals, our efforts were not heard. This was the city decision and not the pony rides choice."

As for what's to become of all the animals there -- which entail way more than just the ponies themselves -- Weeks says he's attempting to relocate them now. He writes, "In the days ahead I will be attempting to find forever homes for our many ponies. I am determined to find homes for our ponies with qualified horsepeople who will care as much about our ponies as I do. If you are interested in [providing] a home please message me."

GPPR has been open since 1948, and was a staple attraction for Los Angeles-area families for a long time. Kids could ride their ponies around their stables and track -- and they were able to get up close and personal with other livestock, like goats, sheep, bunnies, etc.

In recent months, the establishment has been under siege by demonstrators and other parties who've accused the owners of mistreating the animals by forcing them to give rides in extreme heat during the summer -- among other claims of alleged animal abuse ... all of which Griffith Park Pony Rides has denied.

There's another big twist in the unsolved Idaho quadruple murder case ... a mysterious discrepancy in the way at least 2 of the victims were killed.

Steven Goncalves, the father of slain Univ. of Idaho student Kaylee Goncalves, said Saturday night, the fatal attacks on Kaylee and Madison Mogen, her best friend, were mysteriously different in nature. He said on "Lawrence Jones Cross Country," ... "I'll cut to the chase. Their means of death don't match."

He wasn't specific, but did say, "Their points of damage don't match."

What's especially odd ... authorities say Kaylee and Madison were sleeping in the same bed at the time of the attack, yet according to the father the stabbings were somehow different.

Four people were stabbed to death in the house, and authorities seem stumped. They have given conflicting information about the attacks ... going back and forth on whether it was targeted and if the rest of the community was at risk.

Kaylee's mom has wondered why certain people were cleared "very fast."

It's a horrifying video ... someone is walking down an NYC street, minding his own business, when an attacker pulls a bat out of his pants and clobbers the victim in the back of the head.

It seems like this may have been a targeted attack. You see the attacker train his eyes on the victim before pulling the bat out and swinging. The attacker is clearly enraged ... screaming at the 47-year-old victim as he lay on the ground.

Before the attack, it seems the assailant -- who attempted to disguise himself with a hooded sweatshirt -- was tailing the victim.

What's more ... as the attacker sets his sights on the victim, another pedestrian appears and the attacker turns away. It seems he waits for the bystander to leave the area, and when that happens the assailant makes his move.

The attacker walks away, then comes back and begins screaming at the victim and it looks like he stomps on him, then leaves.

The victim was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital with a laceration and bruises. He's in stable condition, according to cops.

A terrifying ordeal on the water has left one cruise passenger dead and another 4 injured after a MASSIVE "rogue wave" smashed the side of the ship, busting out several windows.

Viking's Polaris cruise ship was heading towards Ushuaia, Argentina Tuesday night when the deadly wave hit the side of the boat during a storm. Viking says one guest -- who was reportedly a 62-year-old woman -- died because of the incident.

The company also says 4 other guests sustained non-life-threatening injuries and were treated by medical staff onboard.

One passenger on the ship during the huge wave crash told WRAL the massive blow felt like "we hit an iceberg." Several windows were left shattered, and Viking says the ship "sustained limited damage."

We're learning more about the sickening triple murder of a 15-year-old girl's family and the possible fate she faced if her abductor would have gotten her back to his home across the country.

Real estate records reveal Austin Lee Edwards paid $80,000 for a 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom house in Saltville, VA on November 14 ... just 11 days before killing 3 people in Riverside, CA.

We spoke with neighbors who tell us Edwards almost immediately blacked out the windows of the home with car tint ... we've obtained photos showing it was next to impossible to see inside the home.

One of the neighbors tells us they had a brief conversation with Edwards, who said he chose to move there to get out of Richmond, VA. They also say Edwards wore a trench coat when he went to the water department to turn on his utilities, which they thought was odd.

As for his possessions ... we're told Edwards didn't appear to have much -- barely any furniture. We know cops have been active on the property over the last few days, removing evidence bags as they searched his home.

Cops say Edwards killed the 15-year-old girl's mother and grandparents before setting their house on fire, and then abducted the young girl. He was later caught in a police chase -- after one of the grandparents' neighbors called 911 -- which ended in a shoot-out where Edwards was killed. Cops say Edwards connected with the girl after catfishing her, pretending to be a 17-year-old boy.

Casey Anthony, who was once accused of killing her daughter, seems to be dancing through all the drama without a care in the world ... ahead of her controversial documentary, as evidenced in a newly surfaced video.

The formerly accused and acquitted killer was spotted letting her hair down, and dancing onstage with the band Steel Panther back in March ... and that video is just now making rounds on social media.

The caption of the vid says ... "When you see Casey Anthony at a concert in Fort Lauderdale in March, then her documentary comes out in November" and she looked as carefree as can be.

As noted, the timing is interesting considering she recently opened up about her side of things during her first on-cam sit-down, since being acquitted, for a new Peacock documentary, "Casey Anthony: Where the Truth Lies."

The project's gotten a lot of backlash from people who still believe she bears some blame for her daughter, Caylee's murder.

You'll recall, Casey stood trial in 2011 for killing her 2-year-old daughter. A jury acquitted her of murder, manslaughter and child abuse, and she was only found guilty of lying to cops.

Davide Rebellin, a decorated pro cyclist from Italy, died after tragically being hit by a truck while training on his bike ... local outlets reported on Wednesday. He was 51.

Rebellin was instantly killed in the incident at Montebello Vicentino in northern Italy, according to lI Gazzettino.

The outlet says the driver who collided with Davide did not stay at the scene and has yet to be identified. The Italian national police force is actively looking for the culprit.

It is unclear if the individual was aware that they hit and ultimately killed Rebellin, according to reports.

Rebellin turned professional and competed for his home country at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 ... and went on to have a successful career as a cyclist.

He won the Amstel Gold Race, La Fleche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2004.

Rebellin's career wasn't without controversy, though -- in 2008, he was stripped of his Olympic Medal after testing positive for CERA, a blood-boosting drug.

The Italian Olympic Committee's decision to disqualify Rebellin for doping resulted in a 2-year ban.

However, the pro cycling star continued to compete up until this past October ... capping off his remarkable 30-year career at the Veneto Classic in Italy.

Gay marriage, which is on the U.S. Supreme Court's chopping block, may have gotten a reprieve, because the United States Senate just voted to create significant same-sex marriage protections into federal law ... and even a number of conservatives gave a thumbs up.

The vote was lopsided --  61-to-36 -- with 12 Republican senators voting in favor during Tuesday night's vote. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was NOT among them.

The House of Representatives has already passed a bill protecting gay marriage, but the Senate added a provision that religious organizations won't have to open their door for gay marriage. The bill now goes back to the House to approve the change.

The House is expected to approve the change and it will then go to Biden's desk for signature. Biden said earlier this month ... "Love is love, and Americans should have the right to marry the person they love."

The bill does not create a mandate that all states must legalize same-sex marriage. What it does is require every state to recognize gay marriages performed in other states. So, Alabama does not allow gay people to marry within its borders, but if 2 gay people got married in California and moved to Alabama, they would have all the legal protections that a straight couple would have.

The clock has been ticking ... Republicans will control the house in January, so the fate of the bill would be dicey ... and that's why there's a swift move to sign the bill.

Cops investigating the murder of a 15-year-old girl's grandparents and mother don't believe the teen was complicit in their killings in a stunning catfishing case ... and are urging other possible victims of the man responsible to come forward.

Riverside PD Officer Ryan Railsback tells TMZ his department has no reason to believe the publicly unidentified teen who came into contact with Austin Lee Edwards last week is anything other than a victim at this time given her age and the evidence they've gathered.

RPD won't yet say whether the teen was abducted or went voluntarily with Edwards, as they don't have enough information.

As for Edwards -- a cop from Virginia who's said to have driven cross-country to meet the girl -- Railsback doesn't believe it was his first time committing a catfishing-type crime.

We're told the cops think there could be some pattern of behavior from his past that could help explain things ... so they're investigating any digital fingerprints that he may have left on his phone, computer, or any social media sites he used.

At the moment, we're told cops don't know how Edwards first connected with the teen, or what may have caused him to kill her family and set their home on fire.

Edwards was involved in a shootout with cops Friday after a 911 call came in about a distressed teen in his car ... he was killed in the gunfire, and the teen was uninjured.

Autopsy results have not yet been released regarding the girl's mother's and grandparents' cause of death.

A pilot and a passenger are hospitalized in serious condition Monday after an insane plane crash, but they're clearly counting their blessings.

The small plane hit an electrical tower Sunday afternoon in Montgomery County, Maryland and became lodged in the structure, 100 feet above the ground. It appears the pilot was on final approach to a nearby airport, although it's unclear if he simply misjudged the altitude or experienced a mechanical problem. Visibility was poor because of fog.

It took rescuers 7 hours to remove the pilot and passenger from the precariously mounted aircraft as they gingerly went about extricating them.

Both were rushed to a nearby hospital with serious injuries -- trauma and orthopedic injuries as well as hypothermia.

The crash knocked out power to 120,000 customers in the area.

In order to rescue the occupants, clamps were mounted on the cables to prevent static electricity from causing a catastrophe.

A man suffered a medical emergency Friday and fell onto train tracks in NYC -- but he and a police officer were miraculously saved moments before they were crushed under the wheels of an oncoming subway.

Dramatic NYPD bodycam footage captured the moment 2 officers and a Good Samaritan jumped onto the tracks to help the injured man to safety inside the East Harlem station. The cops were originally on the southbound platform and ran over to the northbound side after seeing the man take a tumble.

Video shows the trio lifting the man and rolling him onto the platform. The good sam and one of the officers then climbed back onto the platform. But, the other cop got stuck on the tracks as his belt was briefly caught under the platform's ledge.

Moments later, the train rolled into the station, but, thankfully, the good sam grabbed the officer's arms and hoisted him onto the platform before he was struck.

The man who fatally shot 6 of his Walmart co-workers was so angry at some of them he reportedly kept shooting them after they were already dead.

Walmart manager Andre Bing went on his Tuesday night killing rampage inside the Chesapeake, Virginia, department store ... but, for some reason he spared the life of one of his colleagues, Jessica Wilczewski.

Wilczewski gave an interview to the Associated Press, explaining she was in the employee break room when Bing entered with his semi-automatic handgun.

She said, "The way he was acting -- he was going hunting. The way he was looking at people’s faces and the way he did what he did, he was picking people out."

Wilczewski watched in horror as Bing committed overkill. "What I do know is that he made sure who he wanted dead, was dead," she said. "He went back and shot dead bodies that were already dead."

Wilczewski, who had only been working at the store for five days, said she crouched under a table to take cover when the gunfire erupted. At some point, Bing walked over to her and said, "Jessie, go home."

She then dashed out of the store before Bing killed himself with his own pistol. She later speculated Bing had spared her life because she was a new employee.

The Walmart manager who fatally shot six people inside the Virginia department store kept a manifesto on his phone -- complaining about his job and other coworkers.

Andre Bing reportedly wrote in his manifesto that he was upset about a recent, unspecified change in his employment status. He also claimed he was being harassed about the change by his fellow employees ... according to NBC News affiliate WAVY.

The report, which cites a law enforcement source, stated cops found the manifesto in Bing's phone after he killed himself following Tuesday's massacre. First responders also discovered an apparent "hit list" near Bing's body with the names of employees the killer presumably wanted to eradicate.

One of Bing's colleagues told WAVY she believes he planned the shooting, claiming he had issues with other workers.

Other colleagues told CNN Bing allegedly said he would retaliate and be remembered if he ever got fired. They described Bing as "condescending" and "quite mean" to other employees. They also said Bing was paranoid the government was watching him.

As we reported ... Bing was armed with a pistol when he entered the employee break room of the Walmart in Chesapeake, VA. He opened fire at the other workers before turning the gun on himself.

The Moscow PD just gave a much-anticipated update on the brutal killing of the 4 University of Idaho students ... and while a lot is still unanswered, cops used the time to shut down rumors that have been floating online.

Moscow PD Captian Roger Lanier spoke to the public Wednesday -- saying his team has started to cross names off the suspect list -- as many online begin to point fingers at multiple people surrounding the incident.

Captain Lanier says investigators are officially ruling out the 2 surviving roommates as suspects, same goes for the man seen in the food truck video that's been circulating on social media.

Also removed from PD's watch -- the drivers who took the victims home from their events hours before the slaying, and the friend who received frantic calls from 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves before her death.

Lanier also said they have yet to determine if Kaylee ever had a stalker -- but adds they are still looking into these claims. Rumors about victims being tied or gagged were also found by police to be false, too.

Moscow Mayor Tyler Palmer spoke during the press conference ... but began to get emotional, having to pause when talking about the 4 students.

Another mass shooting has claimed the lives of at least 7 people -- including the gunman -- this time at a Walmart in Virginia.

The shooter was an employee, possibly a manager, who entered a break room in the department store in Chesapeake, VA, Tuesday night, a law enforcement source told ABC News. He reportedly opened fire at other people before turning the gun on himself.

When the smoke cleared, 6 victims had been shot dead by the pistol-packing assailant, police said. At least 4 others are now being treated for injuries at local hospitals. Their conditions are not known.

Chesapeake Police Chief Mark G. Solesky gave a briefing Wednesday morning ... he said officers discovered the carnage at around 10:12 PM after responding to a call for an active threat situation. The scene was deemed secure about one hour later.

Solesky confirmed the shooter used a handgun to take his own life. Detectives executed search warrants at the man's home.

Investigators have not identified the victims or the shooter, whose motive is unclear.

U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) tweeted about the bloodshed ... "Sickened by reports of yet another mass shooting, this time at a Walmart in Chesapeake. I'll be monitoring developments closely."

The Army vet who stepped up and took the Colorado shooter down this weekend is still reeling from the massacre -- breaking down in tears as he recounts the blow-by-blow.

Richard Fierro was on CNN Tuesday to discuss his heroism in Colorado Springs Saturday, where he subdued suspected gunman, Anderson Lee Aldrich, with the help of other patrons at Club Q ... an LGBT-friendly establishment.

Check out how he describes the harrowing story in his own words -- it's incredibly dramatic, and it clearly still has an effect on him ... because Fierro cried several times in the interview.

Like he'd previously mentioned, RF says his military training kicked in and he went into combat mode as soon as shots started being fired ... charging the shooter and pulling him down, where they tussled on the ground until other club-goers stepped in to help.

Fierro says he told the gunman he was going to kill him as he beat him with his own gun ... furious that the guy had jeopardized the lives of his loved ones. He also describes, in tragic detail, immediately rushing to help others who'd been shot after Aldrich was arrested.

In the end, the boyfriend of Fierro's daughter, Raymond Green Vance, was one of the victims who died that night. Fierro -- who's still obviously processing his emotions -- can't believe it.

It's heartbreaking to hear Fierro's account firsthand ... he says he never wanted to do this type of thing ever again postwar, noting he gave it up for a reason, and is outraged he had to enter combat here in the States, where he says people should feel safe and secure.

There was another moving moment during Fierro's CNN interview this morning ... he talked to Club Q co-owner Nic Grzecka, who thanked him for being there and doing what he did, which undoubtedly saved countless other lives. He and Fierro talked business and inclusivity.

Five people were killed during the shooting, and dozens of others were injured. Aldrich remains hospitalized in the aftermath, but he's already facing serious charges ... including several counts of first-degree murder, among others.