Head bowed, Florida shooting suspect returns to court for hearing

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida - A former student accused of last week's deadly shooting at a Florida high school returned to court for one of 2 hearings on Monday in a case that has galvanized advocates of stricter gun control, including many of the rampage survivors.

Nikolas Cruz, his head bowed, hands shackled to his waist and wearing a red, jail-issued jumpsuit, showed no emotion during the first, procedural session in Fort Lauderdale.

The hearing ended with Broward Circuit Court Judge Elizabeth Scherer ruling that a defense motion filed last week remain sealed from public view. The content of the motion, sealed by another judge, was not described in the hearing.

In the second hearing, the judge ordered the release of parts of a mental health assessment of Cruz by the Florida Department of Children and Families in November 2016. The report had already been leaked to a local newspaper.

Cruz, who did not attend the second session, is facing 17 counts of premeditated murder after the attack last Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, near Fort Lauderdale. It is the deadliest shooting ever at a US high school.

The suspect, whose mother died in November, was assessed by the authorities after videos surfaced on the social media platform Snapchat showing him cutting himself, according to a report in South Florida's Sun Sentinel newspaper.

“Mr. Cruz has fresh cuts on both his arms. Mr. Cruz stated he plans to go out and buy a gun. It is unknown what he is buying the gun for,” the report was quoted as saying.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has acknowledged it failed to act on a tip warning that Cruz possessed a gun and the desire to kill.

Cruz's team of public defendants petitioned for the release, and Florida Circuit Court Judge Charles Greene, who presided over the hearing, agreed. But he stopped short of allowing the release of details of the suspect's mental health history and child abuse records.

"The public has a right to know whether the information that has been broadcast and disseminated is accurate,” Greene said of the information already leaked. “If there are shortcomings in the department, the public has a right to know.”

Student survivors gathered with teachers and gun safety advocates on Monday to plan a visit to the state capital of Tallahassee on Wednesday. They will demand state lawmakers enact a ban the sale of assault weapons in Florida.

The White House said on Monday that President Donald Trump supports efforts to improve federal background checks for gun purchases. He also angered some students by suggesting in a tweet on Saturday that the FBI had missed signs that the shooter was troubled because it was distracted by its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 US election. 

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'Shame on you!' student tells Trump at Florida anti-gun rally

FORT LAUDERDALE - A student survivor of the Parkland school shooting called out US President Donald Trump on Saturday over his ties to the powerful National Rifle Association, as hundreds rallied in Florida to demand urgent action on gun control.

Three days after a troubled teen armed with an assault rifle killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, 18-year-old Emma Gonzalez delivered a fiery address to a crowd of students, parents and residents in nearby Ft. Lauderdale.

"To every politician taking donations from the NRA, shame on you!" she thundered, assailing Trump over the multi-million-dollar support his campaign received from the gun lobby -- and prompting the crowd to chant in turn: "Shame on you!"

"We are going to be the last mass shooting," she vowed. "We are going to change the law," she said -- slamming the fact 19-year-old gunman Nikolas Cruz was able to legally buy a semi-automatic firearm despite a history of troubling and violent behavior.

"The question on whether or not people should be allowed to own an automatic weapon is not a political one. It is question of life or death and it needs to stop being a question of politics," Gonzalez told AFP following her speech.

In Washington, the political response has made clear that the powerful NRA pro-gun lobby remains formidable, while Trump himself suggested the root cause of mass shootings was a crisis of mental health -- making no mention of gun control.

"If the president wants to come up to me and tell me to my face that it was a terrible tragedy and... how nothing is going to be done about it, I'm going to happily ask him how much money he received from the National Rifle Association," Gonzalez said in her impassioned address.

"It doesn't matter because I already know. Thirty million," she told the rally attended by fellow students, parents and local officials, citing the sum spent by the NRA to support Trump's election bid and defeat Hillary Clinton.

She then ran through a list of the pro-gun lobby's talking points -- for example, that "a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun," that no law could ever stop a madman intent on killing -- answering each argument with "We call BS."

The young woman's powerful address immediately went viral, with her name a top trending topic on Twitter.

Trump tweeted a day after the massacre that neighbors and fellow students had failed to flag Cruz to the authorities.

"We did," Gonzalez fired back at Trump, her voice shaking with emotion as she insisted the community had done its best to raise the alarm. "Time and time again. Since he was in middle school. It was no surprise to anyone who knew him to hear that he was the shooter."

MISSED WARNINGS

US authorities have come under mounting scrutiny for failing to act on a series of warning signs.

The FBI admitted Friday it received a chilling warning in January from a tipster who said Cruz could be planning a mass shooting, but that agents failed to follow up.

Cruz was also known to local police after his mother repeatedly reported him for violent outbursts, while records obtained by the South Florida Sun Sentinel show authorities investigated Cruz in 2016 after he cut his arms on messaging app Snapchat and threatened to buy a gun.

The newspaper, citing Department of Children and Family Services documents, said the investigation came four days after Cruz turned 18 -- legally an adult, and thus able to buy a firearm.

Investigators said there were "some implications" for the teen's safety, but concluded that his "final level of risk is low as (he) resides with his mother, attends school and receives counseling" as an outpatient from a mental health center, the Sun Sentinel said.

Cruz later passed a background check, allowing him in February 2017 to buy the AR-15 rifle -- a civilian version of the US military's M16 -- he used in the massacre.

SCHOOL SAFETY

Trump on Friday visited survivors and first responders in the attack, which took place not far from his Mar-a-Lago estate where he was spending the holiday weekend.

Photos posted online showed him smiling at the hospital bedside of a teenage girl, and giving a thumbs-up as he posed with medical workers and law enforcement.

He tweeted Saturday that he and first lady Melania had met "incredible people," and will "never forget them, or the evening!"

Trump is staunchly opposed to additional restrictions on guns or gun ownership, but Vice President Mike Pence said at an event in Dallas the president would make school safety "a top priority" when he meets with governors of US states in the coming days.

"Let's pray for wisdom. For all in positions of authority that we might find a way to come together as a nation to confront and end this evil in our time once and for all," Pence said.

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Valentine's Day shooting in the U.S.

People react at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, a city about 80 kilometers north of Miami, on Wednesday following a school shooting. A gunman opened fire at the Florida high school leaving 17 people killed in the latest school shooting in the U.S. 

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FACTBOX: Major school shootings in the United States

A shooter opened fire at a Florida high school on Wednesday, killing multiple people and sending hundreds of students fleeing into the streets before being taken into custody by law enforcement, authorities said.

The bloodshed was the latest outbreak of gun violence that has become a regular occurrence at U.S. schools and colleges.

Below are some of the worst U.S. school shootings in the last 20 years:

BENTON, Kentucky, Jan. 23, 2018 - A 15-year-old boy kills
2 fellow students, both also 15, at Marshall County High
School in western Kentucky with a pistol and wounds 14 others.
Four other high schoolers suffered non-gunshot wounds in the
ensuing panic. 

AZTEC, New Mexico, Dec. 7, 2017 - A 21-year-old man disguised as a student enters the local high school, kills 2 students and then shoots himself to death.

SAN BERNARDINO, California, April 10, 2017 - A man dies of a
self-inflicted gunshot wound after killing his estranged wife at
North Park Elementary School. An 8-year-old student is also shot
to death.

ROSEBURG, Oregon, Oct. 1, 2015 - A man opens fire on the
campus of Umpqua Community College, killing 9 people before
he is shot dead by police.

MARYSVILLE, Washington, Oct. 24, 2014 - A freshman at
Marysville-Pilchuck High School fatally wounds 4 students in
the cafeteria before killing himself.

SANTA MONICA, California, June 7, 2013 - A onetime digital
media student fatally shoots his father and brother, sets their
house on fire, and then kills 3 people at Santa Monica
College. The gunman kills himself.

NEWTOWN, Connecticut, Dec. 14, 2012 - A man fatally shoots
his mother, then kills 20 children and 6 adults before killing
himself at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

OAKLAND, California, April 2, 2012 - A former nursing
student kills 7 people and wounds 3 at Oikos University,
a Korean Christian college.

CHARDON, Ohio, Feb. 27, 2012 - Seventeen-year-old student at
Chardon High School kills 3 students and wounds 3 in
school cafeteria.

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama, Feb. 12, 2010 - A biology professor at
the University of Alabama at Huntsville opens fire during a
staff meeting, killing 3 faculty members and wounding 3.

DEKALB, Illinois, Feb. 14, 2008 - A former graduate student
kills 5 students and wounds 16 at Northern Illinois
University before taking his own life.

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, Feb. 8, 2008 - Nursing student at
Louisiana Technical College kills 2 classmates and herself in
a classroom.

BLACKSBURG, Virginia, April 16, 2007 - A gunman slaughters
32 people and kills himself at Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and State University, popularly known as Virginia Tech.

NICKEL MINES, Pennsylvania, Oct. 2, 2006 - A gunman kills
5 girls in a one-room Amish schoolhouse, before killing
himself.

SHEPHERDSTOWN, West Virginia, Sept. 2, 2006 - A 49-year-old
man shoots himself and his 2 sons to death during a visit to
the campus of Shepherd University.

RED LAKE INDIAN RESERVATION, Minnesota, March 21, 2005 - A
16-year-old high school student kills 7 people and wounds
several others in a shooting rampage after killing 2 people
off-campus. He then kills himself.

COLD SPRING, Minnesota, Sept. 24, 2003 - Fifteen-year-old
student fatally shoots a freshman and a senior at Rocori High
School.

TUCSON, Arizona, Oct. 29, 2002 - A failing student shoots
and kills 3 professors and then himself at the University of
Arizona School of Nursing.

GRUNDY, Virginia, Jan. 16, 2002 - A recently dismissed
graduate student kills a dean, a professor and a student at the
Appalachian School of Law and wounds three others.

SANTEE, California, March 5, 2001 - A student at Santana
High School kills 2students, wounds 13.

LITTLETON, Colorado, April 20, 1999 - Two teenagers rampage
through Columbine High School, fatally shooting 12 students and
a teacher and wounding more than 20 others before killing
themselves.

JONESBORO, Arkansas, March 24, 1998 - Two boys, ages 11 and
13, fire on their middle school from woods, killing 4 girls
and a teacher and wounding 11 others.

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Ex-student kills 17 in shooting spree at Florida high school

PARKLAND, Florida - A 19-year-old gunman returned to a Florida high school where he had once been expelled for disciplinary reasons and opened fire with an assault-style rifle on Wednesday, killing 17 people before he was arrested by police, authorities said.

The violence erupted shortly before dismissal at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, about 45 miles (72 km) north of Miami. Live television footage showed students streaming out of the building as dozens of police and emergency services personnel swarmed the area.

The gunman was identified as Nikolaus Cruz, who previously attended the school and was expelled for unspecified disciplinary reasons, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said at a news briefing hours later. Officials initially misspelled the suspect's first name as Nikolas but later corrected it.

"It's a horrific situation," Broward County Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie told reporters separately.

The gunman surrendered to police without a struggle, Israel said. Investigators believe he was armed with an AR-15-style rifle and had multiple magazines of ammunition, according to the sheriff.

"It's catastrophic," Israel said. "There really are no words."

Twelve of the dead were killed inside the school, 2 others just outside,1 more on the street and 2 other victims died of their injuries at a hospital, Israel said. He said the victims comprised a mixture of students and adults.

The Valentine's Day bloodshed in the Miami suburb of gated communities with palm- and shrub-lined streets was the latest outbreak of gun violence that has become a regular occurrence at schools and college campuses across the United States over the past several years.

It was the 18th shooting in a US school so far this year, according to gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety. That tally includes suicides and incidents when no one was injured, as well as the January shooting in which a 15-year-old gunman killed 2 fellow students at a Benton, Kentucky, high school.

SCENES OF FEAR 

Staff and students told local media that a fire alarm went off around the time the shooting started, sparking chaos as some 3,300 students at the school first headed into hallways before teachers herded them back into classrooms, to seek shelter in closets.

Kyle Yeoward, a 16-year-old junior, told Reuters he was in the bathroom on the second floor of a building when he heard two shots.

"He let loose on the freshman building," Yeoward said.

CBS News posted a brief clip of cell phone video footage the network said was taken from inside a classroom, showing what appeared to be several students. A rapid series of loud gunshots are heard amid hysterical screaming and someone yelling, “Oh my God.”

McKenzie Hartley, 19, who identified herself as the sister of a student at the school described the scene in a text message to Reuters: "She heard him shooting through the windows of classrooms and two students were shot."

Anguished parents checked on their children.

"It is just absolutely horrifying. I can't believe this is happening," Lissette Rozenblat, whose daughter goes to the school, told CNN. Her daughter called her to say she was safe but the student also told her mother she heard the cries of a person who was shot.

Televised images showed dozens of students, their arms in the air, weaving their way between law enforcement officers with heavy weapons and helmets, and large numbers of emergency vehicles including police cars, ambulances and fire trucks.

The school had recently held a meeting to discuss what to do in such an attack, Ryan Gott, a 15-year-old freshman told CNN.

"My prayers and condolences to the families of the victims of the terrible Florida shooting," US President Donald Trump said on Twitter. "No child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school."

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Two students wounded in LA school shooting

LOS ANGELES, United States – Two 15-year-old students in Los Angeles were shot and wounded in class Thursday, in the latest school shooting to hit the United States, reigniting the long-running debate over gun control.

A boy was shot in the head, while a girl was hit in the wrist, emergency services personnel said, confirming that a 12-year-old girl was arrested over the incident.

Paramedics sent to Salvador Castro Middle School in the central Westlake area at 9:00 am (1700 GMT) said both students were taken to hospital, with the boy in critical but stable condition and the girl faring better.

Officials at Los Angeles County and USC Medical Center said both students were expected to make full recoveries with staff describing the boy as "extremely lucky." 

"The trajectory of the bullet did not hit any vital structures that were an immediate threat to life. So I think he will do fine," said Aaron Strumwasser, who treated the teens.

An 11-year-old boy, a 12-year-old girl and a 30-year-old woman "had minor abrasions to the face area, some from glass," Erik Scott of the Los Angeles Fire Department said, adding that none of the three were struck by gunfire. 

Officers arriving after the alarm was raised "located a few victims and they also located the suspect, who they took into custody without further incident," Los Angeles police Lieutenant Chris Ramirez said. 

"A gun was recovered at (the) scene."

- 'Traumatic incident' – 

Aerial TV footage showed a handcuffed female suspect being taken into custody and placed into a patrol car while police went room to room, leading many students out with their hands behind their backs. 

The middle school is located in a building across the street from the main Belmont High School. The entire school complex remained under lockdown for several hours before authorities announced around noon that lessons could resume, with counselors provided in each classroom. 

"We could not control or know about this situation, but our schools are safe," said Vivian Ekchian, interim superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Mayor Eric Garcetti told the local ABC7 news channel at the scene that it was unclear if the shooting was intentional or accidental.

Chief Steve Zipperman of the Los Angeles School Police Department added that it was not known what prompted the gunfire or how the weapon wound up on the secure campus. 

"We have laws that mandate that parents who own guns, any adult who owns guns, any gun owner has an obligation to ensure that gun is locked inside a home," he added.

Zipperman said a main focus would be caring for students who may have witnessed the shooting. 

"We know this is a very traumatic incident for all the children involved, particularly inside that classroom," he added. 

- 'Call to action' –  

Zipperman declined to provide specifics about security measures at the campus, but said every secondary school in the district had "policies and procedures" in place to protect students.

It is the most high-profile incident involving gun violence at a school in California since four people were killed and nearly a dozen wounded in November last year when a gunman went on a rampage, randomly picking his targets.

The assailant was killed by police following the mass shooting in Rancho Tehama Reserve, northern California, which unfolded over several locations in the community, including an elementary school.

The latest shooting will reignite the long-running debate on America's epidemic of gun violence and the ready accessibility of weapons, with 33,000 people dying annually from gun-related deaths.

Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer said the shooting should be a "call to action" for gun owners to ensure weapons are kept away from children while Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis said she was "horrified" by events.

"Our schools should be safe spaces for our children to grow, learn and play," she added. 

"Today, this innocence was ripped from them as a result of a minor who had access to a gun. This needs to stop."

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2 students dead, 17 injured in shooting at Kentucky high school

BENTON, Kentucky - A 15-year-old boy opened fire with a handgun just before classes started at his high school in rural western Kentucky on Tuesday, killing two fellow students and wounding a dozen other youths before he was arrested, the state's governor and police said.

The shooter, who has not been identified, entered a common area at Marshall County High School in Benton shortly before 8 a.m. (10 p.m. Manila time), pulled out a pistol and began firing at students, witnesses told local media.

The suspect will be charged with two counts of murder and multiple counts of attempted murder, the Kentucky State Police said.

The students killed were Bailey Hope, a 15-year-old girl, and Preston Cope, a 15-year-old boy, it said. Five of the victims were in critical condition, police said, but hospital officials said they expected all those injured in the incident to survive.

"I see this guy draw from his side and he pulls out a pistol. I didn’t even know what was going on. And then it registered. About the time it registered, this guy was sitting here pulling the trigger into all of us," student Bryson Conkwright told TV station WKRN.

"I can hear the gunshots. He was shooting in our group," said Conkwright, showing where a bullet grazed his hand.

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Donors flock to blood banks in Vegas after shooting

As more than 500 wounded flooded the hospitals of Las Vegas after the worst mass shooting in modern US history, electronic billboard ads urged people to give blood.

The response from the community has been overwhelming, with long lines of donors snaking out the doors -- sustained with offerings of pizza and cookies.


"Donors came after two in the morning when they received the news. The flow did not stop well until the evening," said Mitzy Edgecomb of United Blood Services, an agency that collects donated blood and supplies it to hospitals.

"Yesterday we collected 700 donations in the Las Vegas area. Well over 1,000 people attempted to donate. We are seeing numbers not seen in a very long time," Edgecomb said outside a blood drive center in suburban Las Vegas.

Tuesday morning, when the doors opened at 9:00 am, more than 100 people were waiting outside to give blood, and in the afternoon a dozen were still waiting.

A Salvation Army truck handed out free slices of pizza.

People not even wishing to donate showed up with water and homemade cookies.

"Anything like this brings a community together. People are good at heart and they want to do something to help at the time when they are slightly helpless," said Edgecomb.

She said she expects the flow to keep up through the weekend.

"We've met the needs at the hospitals where some of the victims were transported. We are replenishing that supply and preparing for the days and weeks ahead," she said.

'We love you'

At one blood drive center, Dianne Spence, 70, lay down on a cot next to her husband Richard.

She squeezes a rubber ball as a nurse inserts a needle into her arm. She is from Georgia and has lived in Las Vegas for 27 years.

She is a regular blood donor and already had an appointment for Tuesday, even before Sunday's carnage by a retired accountant named Stephen Paddock. He killed 58 people and himself, and wounded 527.

Spence kept her appointment "because it is a critical time and people need it."

She said she was proud of the way the people of Las Vegas are responding to this crisis.

"Hate is just a sad symptom of fear. People are in a very rough place today," she said. "I grew up in the south and we have a lot of hate. It's just sad, really sad."

One cot further over, Sammy Rangel is talking to the nurses.

He is wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "Las Vegas, We Love You" that does not quite hide all the tatoos on his body.

Rangel used to be the leader of a white supremacist gang in Chicago and spend 18 years in prison.

Then he founded an association called Life after Hate, which brings people like him together for social rehabilitation programs.

The motives of the shooter in Las Vegas are still not known.

Rangel said he is here to "counter the message of hate with love and compassion." And blood donations.

"This is where acts of hate and terror lose, because they're not designed to bring communities together and yet it seems that when these things happen, communities come together," said Rangel.

"It's counter-intuitive to what they're trying to accomplish, right?"

Douglas Fraser, a surgeon at University Medical Center, said he saw more than 100 patients come in after the shooting, including 20 in critical condition.

He said his people are trying to help both physical and psychological injuries, and the latter take longer to heal.

"The emotional strain is probably the highest right now," he said. "Right now we are just trying to help each other and the patients kind of get right through this."

"Some of these wounds will heal physically but the mental aftermath is going to be for some time," he said, adding victims' families members of would also have to deal with the trauma of mass shooting.

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A day after a massacre, Vegas is not quite Vegas

LAS VEGAS- The slot machines were still ringing and the drinks still flowing but the party didn't feel quite the same along the world-famous Las Vegas Strip on Monday evening, 24 hours after a gunman staged the bloodiest shooting in modern US history.

The somber mood was especially pronounced at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, where police say a retiree with an arsenal of assault rifles rained hundreds of bullets into a crowd of concert-goers below his room, killing at least 59 and injuring more than 500.

A hush had descended over the Mandalay hotel lobby that, in normal times, bustles with excitement at nearly every hour of the day or night. The shrieking gamblers, the bachelorettes with oversized cocktails, the high-rollers spruced up for an expensive evening out, all were nowhere to be seen.

Instead, a few solitary gamblers sat with glassy eyes in front of slot machines in the lobby. Four security officers unceremoniously escorted a Reuters reporter out when she tried to interview a casino guest.

"It's eerie. People are trying to enjoy it, but there's a cloud hanging over the city right now," said Greg Hartnett, 31, who had arrived for his first visit to Vegas earlier in the day.

Hartnett, who lives near the site of the 2007 massacre of 32 people at Virginia Tech university, said Sunday's rampage reminded him of that bloodbath.

"It really shows the dark side of humanity," he said.

Vegas cabbie Alex Sanchez said his passengers were much less chatty than usual, and there were many fewer cars on the road.

"People come here for an escape. They want to leave their stresses behind," Sanchez said. "And this really puts a damper on it."

Despite the overall gloominess, people along the Strip appeared more ready than on a more carefree day to hold a door or share a quiet smile with strangers.

"I've been thanking every police officer I see," said Hartnett. "I feel like it's bringing people together.

Sheriffs deputies and their gleaming white motorcycles were parked on the sidewalk in a show of force, perhaps intended to reassure anxious tourists.

"Thanks for last night, guys," shouted one passing woman.

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Gunman kills 5, wounds 8 at Ft. Lauderdale airport

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida - A gunman believed to be an Iraq war veteran opened fire at a baggage carousel at Fort Lauderdale's international airport on Friday, killing five people and wounding eight before being taken into custody, officials and witnesses said.

The shooting spree sent panicked travelers running for cover inside the terminal and on the runway apron, with dozens of people corralled into large groups on the tarmac. Aviation authorities shut down air traffic, stranding hundreds of travelers.

The shooter was identified as Esteban Santiago, 26, and was carrying U.S. military identification, according to a spokesman for U.S. Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, who spoke with officials at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

Santiago served from 2007 to 2016 in the Puerto Rico National Guard and Alaska National Guard including a deployment to Iraq from 2010 to 2011, according to the Pentagon.

A private first class and combat engineer, he received half a dozen medals before being transferred to the inactive ready reserve in August last year.

The gunman had arrived on a flight to Fort Lauderdale with a checked gun in his bag, and upon claiming the luggage went to the bathroom to load the gun, Broward County Commissioner Chip LaMarca said on Twitter. He came out firing, LaMarca said, and witnesses told MSNBC television he only stopped upon running out of ammunition, at which point he surrendered to police.

Cellphone video posted on social media showed victims on the floor next to a carousel, with people on their knees attempting to provide aid. At least two victims had pools of blood from apparent head wounds.

Flying with firearms is routine and legal in the United States as long as the guns are kept in a locked, hard-sided container as checked baggage only, under TSA rules. Ammunition is prohibited in carry-on bags but is allowed in checked luggage.

The shooter was unharmed as law enforcement officers never fired a shot, Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel told reporters at the airport, adding it was too early to assign a motive.

"At this point, it looks like he acted alone," Israel said while police continued to search the airport.

The shooter, who wore a "Star Wars" T-shirt, said nothing as he fired, witnesses told MSNBC. He appeared to use a 9 mm handgun, which he tossed aside upon firing all his rounds, MSNBC reported.

"This is a senseless act of evil," Florida Governor Rick Scott told reporters.

The attack was the latest in a series of mass shootings that have plagued the United States in recent years, some inspired by militants with an extreme view of Islam, others carried out by loners or the mentally disturbed who have easy access to weapons under U.S. gun laws.

"DIFFERENT PERSON" AFTER IRAQ

Attention was likely to focus on impact of his service in the Iraq war. An aunt said he came back from the war "a different person" after his deployment, MSNBC reported.

About 90 minutes after the attack, panic broke out anew with passengers and police running frantically about at a separate terminal, but Israel said there were no other reports of shots being fired.

John Schlicher, who told MSNBC he saw the attack, described the shooter as a slender man who was "directly firing at us" while passengers waited for their bags.

His wife gave first aid to someone who had been shot in the head, and his mother-in-law used her sweater to tend to another victim but it turned out that person was already dead, he said.

Mark Lea, another eyewitness, told MSNBC, "He didn't say anything; he was quiet the whole time."

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport is the second largest in South Florida, serving as an intercontinental gateway, with Miami International Airport known as the primary airport for international flights in the area.

Nearly two months ago a former Southwest Airlines worker killed an employee of the company at Oklahoma City's airport in what police called a premeditated act.

The deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history took place last June, when a gunman apparently inspired by Islamic State killed 49 people and wounded 53 at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

One of the most shocking was in 2012, when a man entered an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, and shot dead 20 first-graders and six adults.

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Charlotte police release video of fatal shooting after protests

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina - Charlotte police released body camera and dashboard videos on Saturday showing the fatal shooting of a black man that triggered protests in the North Carolina city, but the footage did not show whether the victim was holding a gun.

A dashboard camera from a police car showed Keith Scott, killed on Tuesday, exiting his car and backing away from it. Police shout to him to drop the gun, but it is not clear that he has anything in his hand. Then shots break out and Scott drops to the ground.

A second body camera video from an officer does not show the moment of shooting. It shows Scott outside his vehicle before he is shot, but it is not clear whether he has something in his hand. Then the officer moves and Scott is out of view until he is seen on the ground.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney announced the release of the video at an earlier briefing, following days of demonstrations at which protesters demanded that authorities allow the public to see clips of the Tuesday shooting.

Putney said before releasing the footage that the videos themselves were "insufficient" to prove that Scott held a gun. But the totality of evidence did, he said.

“There is no definitive visual evidence that he had a gun in his hand, you can see something in the hand, and that he pointed it at an officer. That I did not visually see in the video,” Putney said. “But what we do see is compelling evidence that, when you put all the pieces together, supports that."

Police also released pictures including one of a handgun it says was recovered at the scene and an ankle holster police say Scott was wearing.

The news conference came as demonstrators on Saturday mounted a fifth day of protests in Charlotte. They called for the end of emergency measures imposed on the city this week, the removal of National Guard troops and for officers involved in the incident to be prosecuted.

The shooting of Scott, a 43-year-old father of seven, was the latest in a series of deadly police encounters across the country in recent years that has raised questions about the use of force by U.S. law enforcement against African-Americans and other minorities.

(Additional reporting by David Bailey and Alex Dobuzinskis; Writing by Will Dunham and Peter Henderson; Editing by Leslie Adler and Mary Milliken)

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Three dead in Washington state mall, gunman on the run

WASHINGTON - A manhunt was underway after a gunman killed at least three people and wounded two others late Friday during a shooting at a mall in the US state of Washington.

Police spokesman Sergeant Mark Francis said there was at least one suspect in the shooting at Cascade Mall in Burlington, describing him as a "Hispanic male wearing gray."

Officials initially released a still from video surveillance of the younger-looking suspect holding what appears to be a rifle, before releasing a closely cropped image of the same still showing only the suspect's head and torso.

Francis told reporters that three women were killed and two men were wounded, with one suffering life-threatening injuries. He had earlier estimate the toll at four dead.

Police received calls around 6:58 p.m. (0058 GMT) that shots were fired at the mall, located about 70 miles (110 kilometers) north of Seattle in the US Pacific Northwest state, Trooper Rick Johnson told CNN.

"Right now we can't assume anything. So they're still interviewing witnesses and trying to get a good idea of exactly what action to take next. We're just asking people to, obviously, stay away from the area. Stay inside and obviously report anything suspicious that they may see."

The suspect was last seen walking toward the Interstate 5 highway from the mall before police arrived, Francis said on Twitter, adding: "We're actively searching for suspect, tracking leads, etc."

The mall was evacuated, police swarmed the area and medics rushed to the scene to help the wounded after the mall was initially placed on lockdown and cleared.

Multiple law enforcement agencies and sniffer dogs were searching for the suspect.

Francis said survivors were being transported by bus to a nearby church.

Witnesses told KOMO News that a shooter walked into Macy's and opened fire. Nearby businesses were evacuated, the television station added.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Protesters remain on Charlotte streets, defying midnight curfew

CHARLOTTE, United States - Hundreds of protesters defied a midnight (0400 GMT) curfew Friday and continued demonstrations in Charlotte, North Carolina over the fatal police shooting of a black man.

An AFP correspondent at the scene reported several hundred demonstrators milling around the downtown area of the southern US city for a third consecutive night, amid a strong police presence.

The protests follow the shooting on Tuesday of Keith Lamont Scott, a 43-year-old African American -- the latest in a string of police-involved killings of black men that have fueled outrage across the United States.

North Carolina's governor has declared a state of emergency in Charlotte, and several hundred National Guard troops and highway police officers were deployed to reinforce the local force.

Police late Thursday fired tear gas and what appeared to be rubber bullets to disperse demonstrators blocking a main highway, but the demonstrations otherwise proceeded in a relatively calm manner.

Earlier, several hundred demonstrators blocked one lane of a major highway near the Bank of America Stadium, with some lying down as panicking drivers turned their cars around and drove off in the wrong direction.

In the center of Charlotte, the atmosphere was calmer as hundreds marched to the city police station carrying signs saying "Stop killing us" and "Resistance is beautiful."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Eight killed in execution-style US shootings

WASHINGTON, United States - Eight members of one family, including a teenager, were executed with a bullet to the head in rural Ohio on Friday.

Seven bodies were found at three nearby homes and an eighth was later found at a fourth site, Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader told reporters.

The victims were "all adults except for a male juvenile" who was 16 years old, he said, adding that all were members of a single family.

The authorities gave no possible motive. And, with at least one suspected gunman still on the loose, no arrests have been made.

"Each one of the victims appears to have been executed, each one of the victims appears to have been shot in the head," Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said.

"The preliminary determination has been made that none of the individuals committed suicide," he added, saying the shooter or shooters "are still at large. We do not know their location."

Several victims were in bed when they were shot, Reader said.

Two babies -- one aged four days, the other six months -- and a three-year-old child survived the shootings, he added.

The first and fourth crime scenes are separated by 30 miles (50 kilometers), the sheriff's office said.

Earlier, DeWine and Reader said in a joint statement that the first seven victims had been found "in three Union Hill Road homes in Pike County," a rural community about 80 miles east of Cincinnati.

There was no "active shooter," they said.

Schools in Pike County and surrounding areas were earlier placed on lockdown as a precautionary measure, WLWT reported.

Agents from the Attorney General's Bureau of Criminal Investigation were leading the investigation, the statement said.

Ohio Governor and Republican presidential candidate John Kasich tweeted that the situation was "beyond comprehension."

Firearms kill some 30,000 people in the United States each year.

However, Republican lawmakers, many of whom are backed by the powerful National Rifle Association, have blocked President Barack Obama's attempt to pass gun control legislation.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com