The nation in brief

Gunfire leaves 1 dead, trooper hurt

NEW ORLEANS — A man was killed and a Louisiana State Police trooper was shot in the arm Sunday during an auto theft investigation in New Orleans.

Police Superintendent Michael Harrison said Sunday that state troopers attempted a traffic stop in the 7th Ward about 3:30 p.m. of a vehicle that was believed to be reported stolen. Three suspects emerged from the vehicle, and one fired at the troopers, striking one in the elbow, Harrison said.

Authorities later located one of the suspects. He fired at police, who returned fire, striking the suspect, Harrison said. The suspect died at the scene.

Police were still searching Sunday night for the two other suspects.

Five slain in sleep in Alabama; 1 held

CITRONELLE, Ala. — Five people, including a pregnant woman, were found dead in a Citronelle home Saturday afternoon, authorities said.

According to Mobile County, Ala., sheriff’s Capt. Paul Burch, a suspect surrendered to the Greene County, Miss., sheriff’s office Saturday. Derrick Dearman, 27, of Leakesville, Miss., walked into the Greene County sheriff’s office about 20 miles west of Citronelle.

The killer used “multiple weapons” to attack and kill five people while they slept, said Ashley Rich, district attorney in Mobile County.

After the five were slain, authorities said, the suspected killer abducted his estranged girlfriend and an infant — both of whom were found alive.

Dearman has confessed to the crimes, Burch told the news site Al.com.

Dearman will be charged with six counts of capital murder, Mobile County sheriff’s office spokesman Lori Myles said Sunday. Five counts stem from the killing of the adults, and the additional count is because one of the slaying victims, Chelsea Marie Reed, 22, was 5 months pregnant, Myles said.

Thousands mourn slain N.M. officer

LAS CRUCES, N.M. — A New Mexico police officer who was fatally shot during a traffic stop was remembered Sunday as a man who worked tirelessly to get a job in law enforcement.

Thousands gathered in the Pan American Center in Las Cruces to pay their respects to officer Jose Chavez of Hatch, who authorities say was shot and killed by an Ohio fugitive.

Officers from across the region and residents lined the 9-mile procession route that began in Hatch, a village of about 1,650 people.

A 33-year-old father of two daughters, Chavez was a two-year veteran of the Hatch police force. He was shot Aug. 12 and died at a hospital in El Paso, Texas.

Born in Juarez, Mexico, Chavez was a student at New Mexico State University. School officials say he was 16 credits short of his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. He became a U.S. citizen in 2011.

Jesse Denver Hanes of Columbus, Ohio, faces a first-degree murder charge in Chavez’s death.

A Section on 08/22/2016

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