Woman killed at mall after argument
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- A man argued with his former wife at a Southern California mall before shooting her to death and turning the gun on himself, authorities said, leading shoppers to run into stores and out the exits Saturday.
The Ventura County sheriff's office identified the victim in Saturday's shooting as 29-year-old Parisa Siddiqi and the suspect as 33-year-old Kevin Crane.
Officials said she was working at a store at The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks, about 40 miles west of Los Angeles, when Crane shot her after an argument.
Investigators said Crane then shot himself, but survived and remained in critical condition Sunday at a hospital.
The divorced couple have children, who have been found safe, said sheriff's Sgt. Eric Buschow, adding that initial indications show the shooting was a murder and attempted suicide.
Execution stay sought for Missouri killer
ST. LOUIS -- A condemned Missouri inmate faces a potentially "gruesome and painful" execution because of a rare medical condition that compromises the man's veins and causes multiple tumors in his head and throat, his attorney said Sunday.
Russell Bucklew is to die by injection Tuesday evening for killing a former girlfriend's new boyfriend in 1996 in eastern Missouri.
Bucklew, 49, was moments away from execution in May 2014 when the U.S. Supreme Court halted it amid concerns about Bucklew's medical condition. He suffers from cavernous hemangioma, a rare ailment that causes weakened and malformed blood vessels, as well as blood-filled tumors in his nose and throat.
Nearly four years later, the condition has worsened, attorney Cheryl Pilate said.
"Mr. Bucklew's rare and severe condition creates a very substantial risk of a gruesome execution, with choking and gagging on blood and the infliction of excruciating pain," Pilate said.
A panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has already refused to stop the execution. An appeal and stay request are pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. Pilate also has asked for clemency from Republican Gov. Eric Greitens.
4th pipe bomb found in suspect's home
ELSMERE, Del. -- Another pipe bomb has been removed from the home of a Delaware man who was arrested last week for detonating a similar device outside a nearby home.
Media outlets reported that family members cleaning the home of Mark Consiglio found the bomb Saturday and called police. Residents within a two-block radius were evacuated from about 5 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. The device was safely destroyed.
The 48-year-old Consiglio was charged March 12 with manufacturing, possessing and using an explosive device, accused of detonating a bomb outside the home of his estranged wife's family. The explosion broke a window, but no one was injured.
Police disabled three additional explosive devices at Consiglio's home.
Consiglio was being held at the state prison in Wilmington. It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney.
Stabbing in Minnesota leaves 2 men dead
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Two men were fatally stabbed at a Salvation Army apartment building in Minnesota, and police arrested a suspect who tried to leave through a rear stairway.
The stabbings were reported around 7:15 p.m. Saturday at Castleview Apartments in Rochester, a 32-unit building that provides shelter for the homeless, disabled, those in poverty or who have mental health issues.
Rochester police Capt. John Sherwin told the Post-Bulletin newspaper the suspect was "definitely under the influence of alcohol" when he stabbed the two men on the fourth floor of the building. The 53-year-old man was arrested shortly after the stabbings as he tried to leave the building through a rear stairway and was being held Sunday on two tentative counts of second-degree murder.
Police said the men who were stabbed and the suspect all lived at the apartments.
Authorities were still trying to piece together the circumstances that led to the stabbings, but Sherwin said the suspect reportedly had "bickered" with the victims "quite a bit." The suspect was combative with arresting officers and would not tell investigators what happened after he was arrested, Sherwin said.
The victims were identified as 57-year-old Phillip William Hicks and 45-year-old Eric Alan Flemming. Both men were stabbed in the chest and upper abdomen, Sherwin said. They were later pronounced dead at a hospital.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
A Section on 03/19/2018