Bus shooter kills woman, injures 4 more
OROVILLE, Calif. -- A 21-year-old man who was acting erratically was accused of opening fire inside a Greyhound bus in Northern California, killing a 43-year-old woman and wounding four others before he was arrested, naked, inside a Walmart after getting into a fight, authorities said.
Asaahdi Coleman is accused of shooting at passengers as they exited the Los Angeles-bound bus after it stopped at a convenience store in the city of Oroville on Wednesday night, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said Thursday.
Police received 911 calls shortly after 7:30 p.m. that someone was shooting inside a bus. Officials said they recovered a dozen 9 mm bullet casings on the bus, which had a bullet hole through the windshield. The wounded include a 32-year-old man who was shot multiple times and is in a critical condition, a 25-year-old pregnant woman who is in critical condition and an 11-year-old girl in stable condition.
Moments before the shooting Coleman, who had boarded the bus in Redding, told passengers that Los Angeles was a dangerous city and showed them a firearm he was carrying in a satchel, Honea said. He also got agitated and accused one of them of being an undercover law enforcement officer, the sheriff said.
After the shooting, Coleman fled and ran to a Walmart about a half-mile away from the bus and got into a fight with a customer. After the fight was broken up, he walked away and began taking off his clothes. He was taken into custody, naked, shortly after, Honea said.
Explosion threat abates at N.C. plant fire
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- The explosion threat from a fire at a North Carolina fertilizer plant has "greatly diminished" now that much of a combustible chemical has burned off and firefighters have returned to the site to spray down what's left, the city's fire chief said Thursday.
Still, Winston-Salem Fire Chief Trey Mayo said local officials were urging people who evacuated to stay away because some explosion threat remains.
The area where officials have called on people to evacuate includes about 6,500 people in 2,500 homes, officials have said. Mayo declined to estimate when people could return.
The fire began Monday night at the Winston Weaver Company fertilizer plant. No injuries were reported. Since then, it had largely been allowed to burn, with officials monitoring from the air and fire teams on standby.
An estimated 500 tons of combustible ammonium nitrate were housed at the plant and nearly another 100 tons of the fertilizer ingredient were in the adjacent rail car.
Jogger's pursuer backs out of guilty plea
SAVANNAH, Ga. -- The man who initiated the deadly chase that ended in the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery won't plead guilty to a federal hate crime, according to a legal filing late Thursday.
Greg McMichael reversed his plan to plead guilty in the federal case days after a U.S. District Court judge rejected terms of a plea deal that was met with passionate objections by Arbery's parents. McMichael's defense attorney said in a legal notice filed jointly with prosecutors that he plans to stand trial for a second time in Arbery's death.
McMichael along with his son, Travis McMichael, and a neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, were convicted of the 2020 murder in a Georgia state court last fall and sentenced to life in prison. Separate from that case, the three white men were also indicted in U.S. District Court on charges that they violated Arbery's civil rights and targeted him because he was Black.
Jury selection in the federal case is set to begin Monday. The McMichaels had planned to plead guilty to a hate crime charge earlier this week after prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed on a 30-year sentence in federal custody.
U.S. District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood rejected the deal Monday after hearing passionate objections from Arbery's parents, who argued conditions in federal prison wouldn't be as harsh.
Ex-captain guilty in Navy bribery scandal
SAN DIEGO -- A former U.S. Navy captain pleaded guilty to bribery for accepting nearly $68,000 in dinners, hotels, parties and prostitutes from a Malaysian defense contractor, prosecutors said.
Donald Hornbeck, who entered the plea in San Diego federal court Wednesday, acknowledged that while directing operations of combat ships in the 7th Fleet in the Western Pacific, he benefited Leonard Francis by steering ships to ports for service by the contractor's Singapore-based company. Hornbeck also acknowledged that he shared confidential Navy information with Francis, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office.
Hornbeck, 61, of Greenfield, Ind., is one of 34 Navy officials and defense contractors, including Francis, accused of a fraud and bribery scheme that among other things provided Glenn Defense Marine Asia with classified ship schedules, allowing them to beat competitors and overcharge for services.
Twenty-nine defendants have pleaded guilty. The scheme cost the Navy some $35 million.