Police: Man kills 3, himself in Southern California shooting spree

In the middle of a shooting spree that killed three people and unleashed terror on Southern California motorists Tuesday morning, Ali Syed told one of his carjacking victims to walk away, police say.

"Mr. Syed ... said, 'I don't want to hurt you, I killed somebody. Today's my last day. Give me your keys,' " Tustin Police Chief Scott Jordan told reporters.

According to preliminary accounts from police, Syed, 20, didn't intentionally spare another target.

Police say they believe Syed, a part-time college student, fatally shot a woman at his family's Ladera Ranch home before killing two other people -- including a senior citizen executed outside his vehicle -- and wounding three others as he fired a shotgun at Orange County motorists on the Costa Mesa Freeway and committed three carjackings.

The spree ended when Syed died after he turned his gun on himself as police approached on a road north of Tustin, authorities say.

The Orange County Sheriff's Department says it was called to the Ladera Ranch home, where Syed lived with his parents, on a report of shots fired about 4:45 a.m. PT.

A woman in her 20s was found dead there. Police said she wasn't related to Syed, but they didn't release her name, and they said they didn't know why she was at the home.

Syed left the home in his parents' SUV, police said. About 25 minutes after that police call and 20 miles to the northwest, Syed drove into a Denny's and Big Lots parking lot in Tustin, exited the vehicle and shot a driver in the back of the head, Jordan said.

The wounded motorist -- a man who was waiting for his son to carpool with him to work -- managed to drive away before stopping near an overpass, Jordan said. The victim was being treated Tuesday, police said.

That's when Syed, whose SUV had a flat tire, approached the man he would spare. Syed ran toward the man at a nearby gas station, took his keys and drove the pickup truck away without firing at him, Jordan said.

Syed then drove south on the Costa Mesa Freeway, exited onto a transition road, got out of the vehicle and fired a shotgun at southbound vehicles on the freeway, hitting three vehicles, police said.

One of the freeway drivers was wounded in the hand and face, but investigators don't know whether the wounds were from shotgun rounds or debris, according to Jordan.

Police said Syed then drove to nearby Santa Ana, crashing the pickup into a curb on a freeway off-ramp. There, he pointed the shotgun at Melvin L. Edwards, 69, of Laguna Hills, who was in a BMW at a stop sign.

"Syed ... got (Edwards) out of the car at gunpoint, walked him across the road and executed him -- shot him three times," Jordan said.

Syed drove Edwards' BMW to the parking lot of a Tustin-area Micro Center computer store, where police said he found his next two shooting victims.

Syed shot and killed Jeremy Lewis, 26, of Fullerton, who was in a vehicle in the lot, police said. Lewis had worked at a construction site across the street.

People from the construction site then approached, and Syed shot and wounded one of them in the arm, Jordan said. Syed entered that person's vehicle and drove north on the Costa Mesa Freeway before exiting again.

By that time, authorities had received many phone calls about the shootings, and California Highway Patrol officers found Syed driving at an intersection about 5 miles north of Tustin, Jordan said.

Syed exited the vehicle as it slowly rolled near the intersection, according to police.

"There really wasn't a confrontation at that very end," Jordan said. "As soon as he got out of his vehicle, before it actually came to a complete stop, he shot and killed himself," Jordan said.

Syed was unemployed and taking one class at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, an Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman said.

Police said they're trying to determine what led to the shootings, and that they didn't yet know of a motive.

Oscar Pistorius 'shoots girlfriend' - local media

South African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius has been arrested over the fatal shooting of his girlfriend at his home in Pretoria, local media say.

Police said a 26-year-old man, who they have not named, was in custody and faces murder charges.

The precise circumstances surrounding the incident are unclear. Reports say he may have mistaken her for a burglar.

Mr Pistorius, 26, is known as the "blade runner", and was the first double amputee to run in the Olympics.

The suspect is expected to appear in court later on Thursday, reports say.

Mr Pistorius's girlfriend is being named in local media as 30-year-old model, Reeva Steenkamp.

The news that he may have killed her will shock the country as the athlete is regarded as one of South Africa's national icons, reports the BBC's Peter Biles from Cape Town.

'Fatally wounded'

The incident is said to have taken place between 04:00 and 05:00 local time (02:00-03:00 GMT).

A police statement said that a 30-year-old woman was "fatally wounded" in the early hours of Thursday morning at a home in the Silverlakes complex in the Boschkop area of the capital.

The woman had been wounded in her head and upper body. Paramedics were at the house when police arrived, but she died at the scene. A 9mm pistol was recovered.

Police gave no further details about the woman's alleged relationship with Mr Pistorius.

South Africa has among the highest rates of crime in the world and many residents keep weapons to protect themselves against intruders.

But the country also has a careful vetting process before awarding gun licences, Erika Gibson of Beeld newspaper told the BBC.

On Tuesday, a bill seeking to give police extra powers to arrest anyone carrying a dangerous weapon in public was tabled before parliament, following a spate of violent strikes and protests last year.

The athlete's home is in a high-security upmarket gated compound on the outskirts of Pretoria.Reporters have gathered outside the estate but police have not let anybody inside, local television reports.

Mr Pistorius races wearing carbon fibre prosthetic blades after he was born without a fibula in both legs and had both legs amputated below the knee before his first birthday.

He reached the 400m semi-finals in the London 2012 Olympics. At the Paralympics he won silver in the T44 200m, gold in the 4x100 relay and gold in the T44 400m, setting a Paralympic record.

For years he dominated in his category at successive Paralympic Games.

In 2008 he won a legal battle over his blades with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for the right to compete in able-bodied competitions.

Icon of athletics

His achievements have made him a "living legend" and placed him among global sporting royalty, South African broadcaster and commentator Daniel Silke told the BBC."He's a household name, he's a hero in the South African sporting context. He is of course someone who has overcome great difficulty and tragedy in his own personal life," he added.

The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee said it had been inundated with questions over the incident, but was in no position to comment.

Ed Warner, head of UK Athletics also reiterated that little was known about the incident but described the reports as "shocking and very sad," adding that: "Pistorius is one of the great icons of Paralympic athletics but also of able-bodied athletics too".

The International Paralympic Committee also declined to comment on the matter as a police investigation was under way.

Ex-LAPD officer Christopher Dorner hunted over killings

Los Angeles area police have launched a huge manhunt for a sacked officer who is suspected of killing three people, including a former colleague.

Christopher Dorner, 33, is alleged to have gunned down a policeman and wounded two others on Thursday morning.

He is also wanted over the shooting deaths of a couple at the weekend.

Police are going door-to-door after finding the suspect's burned-out truck near a ski area at Big Bear Lake, 80 miles (128 km) east of Los Angeles.

Fire officials in Big Bear Lake told the Los Angeles Times that fresh tracks spotted in the snow were believed to be Mr Dorner's but that it was possible the truck was a diversion.

Nearby schools and other buildings were placed on a security lockdown as a precaution.

Mr Dorner is said to have implicated himself in a 14-page "manifesto" that made threats against several people, including Los Angeles police employees.

A former US Navy reservist, he was with the police department between 2005-08, but lost his job for making false statements.

'Extremely scary'He is suspected of:

Shooting dead Monica Quan, 28 - the daughter of a former LAPD captain - and her fiance Keith Lawrence, 27, on Sunday night in their car at their home in Irvine, California

Shooting at two police officers, grazing one, on Thursday morning in Corona, east of Los Angeles

Ambushing two policemen in their patrol car in the town of Riverside a few hours later, killing one and wounding the other

Monica Quan's father represented Mr Dorner before a disciplinary tribunal that ruled against the suspect at the time of his dismissal.

According to court documents, Mr Dorner was fired in 2008 after making a complaint against his field training officer, saying she had kicked a suspect, a schizophrenic man with severe dementia, during an arrest.

Officials have assigned more than 40 protection details to potential targets of the fugitive, and electronic signs that usually list expected commute times urged motorists to call police if they saw Mr Dorner or his vehicle.

Los Angeles chief of police Charlie Beck told reporters: "Of course he knows what he's doing - we trained him. It is extremely worrisome and scary, especially to the police officers involved."Mr Beck said that Mr Dorner has access to multiple weapons, including an assault rifle.

On Thursday morning, jittery Los Angeles police mistakenly fired on a vehicle they thought was similar to one used by Mr Dorner.

Two women were injured. One was in a stable condition with two gunshot wounds and the other had a minor gunshot wound.

Nevada police are also on alert, as the suspect owns a house nine miles (14.5km) from the Las Vegas Strip.

'Necessary evil'

Police said earlier that an LAPD badge and identification belonging to Mr Dorner had been found by a citizen near San Diego's airport.San Diego police said a man matching the suspect's description had tried to steal a boat from one of the city's marinas on Wednesday night.

When the boat would not start, that person tied up an 81-year-old man on board and fled.

He was last known to be living in La Palma, California.

Mr Dorner's rambling "manifesto" extends for more than 11,000 words and contains a number of allegations against former colleagues, together with embittered reflections on his childhood.

The essay warns of "unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform whether on or off duty".

He also says "unfortunately, this is a necessary evil that I do not enjoy but must partake and complete for substantial change to occur within the LAPD and reclaim my name".

The profanity-peppered rant ends with praise for a range of public figures and celebrities, from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to the actor Bill Cosby.

Brazil nightclub fire: Four arrested in Santa Maria

Brazilian police have arrested four people in connection with a fire at a nightclub that killed 231 people in the southern city of Santa Maria on Sunday.

A co-owner of the Kiss nightclub handed himself in to police on Monday afternoon for questioning.

Earlier, police held another owner of the club, a member of the band Gurizada Fandangueira, and its security chief.

More than 50 of the victims are being buried on Monday. Brazil has declared three days of national mourning.

The country's deadliest fire in five decades reportedly started after a member of Gurizada Fandangueira, which was performing at the venue, lit a flare on stage.

Officials are also investigating claims that many of those who died were unable to escape as only one emergency exit was available.The BBC's Gary Duffy reports from Sao Paulo that the national sense of loss is profound. Most of the victims were students who died of smoke inhalation.

The government postponed a ceremony scheduled for Monday in the capital, Brasilia, to mark 500 days to the 2014 football World Cup. In Santa Maria, 30 days of mourning were declared.

President Dilma Rousseff, who cut short a visit to Chile, has been visiting survivors at the city's Caridade hospital along with government ministers.

"It is a tragedy for all of us," she said.

Authorities released the names of the victims, after revising down the death toll from 245.

More than 100 people were being treated in hospital, mostly for smoke inhalation.

'Dark, heavy smoke'

The fire broke out as students from the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM) were holding a freshers' ball, the Diario de Santa Maria, a local newspaper, reported.

A local journalist, Marcelo Gonzatto, told the BBC that the flare had "started a huge and fast fire that grew quickly and made a very dark and heavy smoke".

"Lots of people couldn't get out and died mainly because of the smoke not the fire," he said.

Witnesses spoke of scenes of panic after the fire started, and a stampede as people tried to escape.

One, Mattheus Bortolotto, told local television: "It was sheer horror. The emergency exits did not work, and then I lost my friend in the confusion. Then a girl died in my arms. I felt her heart stop beating."A large number of victims were trapped in the club's toilets, they said, possibly after mistaking them for an exit.

Survivors and police inspector Marcelo Arigony said security guards briefly tried to block people from leaving the club, the Associated Press reported. Bars in Brazil commonly make customers pay their whole tab at the end of an evening before they are allowed to leave.

One of the owners of the club is reported to have confirmed that they were in the process of renewing its licence to operate, and that its fire safety certificate had expired last year.

He is said to have received threats on the internet - as have surviving members of Gurizada Fandangueira.

Its guitarist, Rodrigo Martins, told local radio: "It might have happened because of the Sputnik, the machine we use to create a luminous effect with sparks.

"It's harmless; we never had any trouble with it. When the fire started, a guard passed us a fire extinguisher. The singer tried to use it but it wasn't working."

He said the band's accordion player had died in the fire.

Brazilian broadcaster Globo said most of the victims were aged between 16 and 20.

A temporary mortuary was set up in a local gym as the city's main mortuary was unable to cope.

Family members who came to identify the dead were led in one-by-one to see the bodies, Diario de Santa Maria reported

Woman Sues Match.Com After Date Attacks Her

A Las Vegas woman is suing Match.com for $10 million, after the online dating service allegedly paired her with a man who stabbed her 10 times in the face and chest in an attempt to kill her.

Mary Kay Beckman, 50, claims in a lawsuit filed earlier this month that she joined the website looking for a "healthy loving relationship," but instead was nearly killed.

Beckman says she went on a few dates in October 2011 with Wade Ridley, but after ending the relationship came home one day to find him in her garage with a knife.

Ridley "brutally stabbed [Beckman] 10 times with a knife about her head, face and upper body, until the overwhelming force he applied to the stabbing caused the knife to break," according to court documents.

According to her lawsuit, Ridley then "stomped and kicked" her in the head until she "stopped making the gurgling noise" and left her for dead.A neighbor found Beckman and she was rushed to the hospital where she endured multiple surgeries over several weeks.

While Beckman was in the hospital, Ridley was arrested for the murder of an Arizona woman, also an ex-girlfriend. Many of the details of Beckman's attack came from Ridley himself when police later questioned him.

He told police he waited for Beckman in her garage and had killed the other woman because he felt they had both jilted him, according to an arrest report.

Ridley, who had no prior record of dangerous crimes, was convicted of the other murder and died in jail last year while serving a 70-year sentence.

Match.com argues the lawsuit is frivolous and says it offers tips for safe dating on the site. Online dating is no less safe than meeting someone "at a bar or at church," said Match spokeswoman Eva Ross.

"What happened to Mary Kay Beckman is horrible, but this lawsuit is absurd," Ross said in a statement. "The many millions of people who have found love on Match.com and other online dating sites know how fulfilling it is. And while that doesn't make what happened in this case any less awful, this is about a sick, twisted individual with no prior criminal record, not an entire community of men and women looking to meet each other."

In her suit Beckman says the tips posted on the Match.com site do not go far enough and the company needs to overtly warn users of potential dangers.

Police: Las Vegas officer kills wife, son and then himself in burning home

Even for stone-faced, seen-it-all-before officers, the act that took place at a police lieutenant's Las Vegas-area home Monday was deeply distressing.

The 52-year-old lawman, police said, killed his wife and child, called 911 to say he was burning his house down and warned he would take the life of anyone who tried to stop him.

Then he waited.

When a SWAT team arrived at the lieutenant's Boulder City home, they found Hans Pieter Walters outside with what looked like a handgun.

Officers asked him to drop the weapon -- commands the lieutenant must have screamed many times before in his 20-year career. He ignored them and ducked back into the blazing home.

It was then, police believe, that he killed himself.

Once firefighters put out the blaze that tore through the home, they found Walters's body, his 46-year-old wife's, and their five-year-old son's.

The lieutenant worked for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, where he supervised patrol officers, CNN affiliate KVVU reported.

The station had interviewed him before about other crimes.

The wife, Kathryn, worked for some time as a Las Vegas police officer, the Las Vegas Review-Journal said.

She won a community service award and a lifesaving award before leaving the department in 2004.

"Anyone involved with law enforcement for any amount of time is usually prepared for any scenario, but nobody can prepare for something like this," Las Vegas Metro Sheriff Doug Gillespie told reporters.

Last year, 126 police officers killed themselves, according to the National Study of Police Suicides by the nonprofit The Badge of Life.

It's a steep drop from the other two years the survey was conducted: 143 in 2009 and 141 in 2008.

Yet, it's cause for concern.

"In spite of this encouraging news, the fact is that police suicides continue at a rate much higher than the number of police officers killed by felons," the group said.

Folks who knew Walters were also trying to make sense of it. The soul-searching was agonizing for some.

Retired Las Vegas lieutenant Randy Sutton told KVVU he had worked alongside Walters for years.

"There's no rhyme or reason," Sutton said, saying the lieutenant was hard-working and seemed well-adjusted.

This is "the most unconscionable, dishonorable thing to do I can ever imagine," he added.

"The memories I have of him, they mean nothing to me anymore."

Floods Kill 26 in Indonesia's Capital

Jakarta police spokesman Col. Rikwanto said Monday that most of the victims were electrocuted or drowned in floodwaters reaching up to two meters (6.5 feet) high in some places. About 103,000 people are living in temporary shelters.The floods reached their peak Thursday after a dike in central Jakarta collapsed. They engulfed around 30 percent of the city of 14 million, including its business district center and the presidential palace.

Successive governments have done little to mitigate the flood threat. Indonesian industry minister M.S. Hidayat said the recent flooding may lead foreign investors to flee to neighboring countries.

Winter storm could leave six inches of snow

winter

 Winter storm raced through the Carolinas, southern Appalachians and Mid-Atlantic late Thursday and early Friday.

Snow was expected to stop accumulating by daybreak as the system moved off the East Coast and headed to the north Atlantic Ocean.

However, up to six inches of snow was expected from southern Virginia into northern North Carolina.

The storm was forecast to miss major cities from Washington, D.C. to Boston, but could clip Cape Cod with some minor accumulations on Friday morning.

Snow also fell in parts of Mississippi and Alabama with 6 inches recorded just to the east of Ackerman in central Mississippi.

Mississippi officials attributed one death to the storm Thursday. Police in Lowndes County said a 64-year-old man died when his car collided with a large tree that fell because the ground was too saturated to support it.

                                                                                                           By Michael Palmer & weather.com

San Diego Police Shoot Armed Suspect in Movie Theater

San Diego police shot and critically wounded a gunman who was hiding in a movie theater.

Police stormed into a screening of "Les Miserables" at the Reading Cinemas Carmel Mountain around 3:50 p.m. Saturday and confronted 20-year-old Tom Billodeaux of Escondido, Calif.

The suspect was initially cooperative and out his hands up, however police said he then dropped his hand and appeared to reach for the gun his lap. An officer fired, hitting Billodeaux in the arm and chest.

No one else was wounded in the shooting. Billodeaux was transported to Palomar Medical Center.

The incident began as a domestic dispute between Billodeaux and his girlfriend in a parking lot across the street from the theater.

The 20-year-old suspect left a suicide note at home and confronted his 19-year-old girlfriend who was in her car, taking a lunch break from work around 2 p.m., the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

When the woman tried to return to her job, Billodeaux grabbed the woman from behind and threatened witnesses who tried to intervene with a gun, police said.

Billodeaux then fled the scene, running across the street and toward the movie theater, which is attached to a busy shopping plaza.

Police secured the scene, going from store to store and searching outgoing cars from the parking lot for the suspect, as a police helicopter kept watch over the entire area.

Officers then shifted the search to the movie theater and worked to evacuate staff and customers from each theater until they located the suspect, the Union-Tribune reported.

"We were in the movie theater, and the lights turned on and… two cops came through with their guns," a witness told ABC News' San Diego affiliate KGTV. "Apparently the person they were looking for was in the theater and then gunshots started."

The theater remained closed while police conducted their investigation. There was no word on when it will reopen.

Jimmy Savile scandal: Report reveals decades of abuse

Children as young as eight were abused by Jimmy Savile, a report detailing 50 years of allegations has revealed.

The Met Police and NSPCC outlined offences at 13 hospitals, including Great Ormond Street in London and Wheatfields Hospice in Leeds.

Some 214 crimes were recorded across 28 police force areas, including 34 of rape or penetration, the report said.

The CPS apologised for missing the opportunity to prosecute Savile in 2009, while he was still alive.

Police said the victims' accounts painted a "compelling picture of widespread sexual abuse by a predatory sex offender", and Cdr Peter Spindler, who is leading the investigation, said Savile had "groomed the nation".

And the NSPCC said Savile was one of the most prolific sex offenders in its 129-year history.

'Sincere apology'

The former BBC presenter of Top Of The Pops and Jim'll Fix It, who also worked as a Radio 1 DJ and received a knighthood in 1990, died aged 84 in October 2011 - a year before the allegations emerged in an ITV documentary.

Revelations that Savile had sexually abused children prompted hundreds of victims to come forward, including those who said they were attacked on BBC premises and a number of other institutions.

NSPCC director of child protection advice and awareness Peter Watt said: "The sheer scale of Savile's abuse over six decades simply beggars belief.

"He is without doubt one of the most prolific sex offenders we have ever come across and every number represents a victim that will never get justice now he is dead."

The Giving Victims a Voice report set out the findings of Operation Yewtree, which launched three months ago to investigate the Savile abuse claims.

The 30-page document detailed a number of findings, including:

Savile offended at 13 hospitals, including Great Ormond Street, with one offence recorded at Wheatfields Hospice in 1977

A total of 14 offences were recorded in relation to schools

Savile's youngest victim was an eight-year-old boy, and the oldest was 47

The earliest allegation is from 1955 in Manchester and the last is from 2009

Offences were carried out at the BBC between 1965 and 2006, including at the last Top of the Pops recording

Peak offending took place between 1966 and 1976

A total of 450 people have made sexual abuse allegations against Savile since October - of whom 73% were under 18, with most aged 13 to 16

There is "no clear evidence" he operated in paedophile ring, although "whether he was part of an informal network" is still being investigated

n response to the report, the BBC said it was "appalled" some of the offences were committed on its premises and restated a "sincere apology to the victims of these crimes".

The report also revealed 16 offences were committed at Leeds General Infirmary between 1965-95 and 22 at Stoke Mandeville Hospital between 1965-88.

One offence was committed at each of the following hospitals - Broadmoor high-security psychiatric hospital, St James Leeds Hospital, High Royds Psychiatric Hospital, Dewsbury Hospital, Wycombe General Hospital, Great Ormond Street Hospital in 1971, Ashworth Hospital, Exeter Hospital, Royal Portsmouth Hospital, St Catherine's Hospital in Birkenhead, and Saxondale Mental Health.

'Extremely distressing'

Great Ormond Street Hospital called the report "extremely distressing", adding the allegation relating to the hospital was "not reported at the time and therefore neither the police nor GOSH hold any records relating to the matter".

Wheatfields Hospice said it was "appalled and dismayed" to hear the allegation against it and its "thoughts are with the individual involved and their family at this difficult time".

BBC media correspondent Torin Douglas said the main target for victims making compensation claims would be the Savile estate. The BBC could also be targeted, he added.

10,000 Chinese Air Travelers Clash With Police

Thousands of air travelers rioted against police after being stranded at China’s Changshui International Airport in the city of Kunming over the weekend.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled when heavy fog delayed an estimated 10,000 passengers from departing the airport last week, according to state-run news agency Xinhua. Some of those passengers  had been stuck at the airport for three days.  The agency reported the massive flight delays began to hit the airport on Thursday after visibility dropped significantly.

The airport fell into a brief period of disorder when some stranded passengers grew angry with the delays and service flaws, the news agency said.

However, the AFP reported angry passengers struggled with airline staff, damaging computer equipment belonging to an airline, while police broke up scuffles.

“The passengers were really furious, they kept going to the service desk to ask for information, but didn’t get any answers,” a photographer on the scene told the AFP.

A woman is seen being pushed by the crowd against police as stranded travelers argue with police and airport officials at Changshui International Airport in Kunming, in southwestern China, after massive flight delays hit the airport and stranded thousands of travelers.

Stranded travelers are seen arguing and crowding an airline counter at Changshui International Airport in Kunming, in southwestern China's Yunnan province, after massive flight delays hit the airport and stranded thousands of travelers.