THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2013
PAGE 3
CRIME
Two charged in connection with Texas shooting
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Family and friends console each other outside a home in Cypress, Texas, the morning after two people were killed and 19 were injured when gunfire rang out at a house party. Willie Young, 21, and Randy Stewart, 18, were arrested Monday.
HOUSTON — Two suspects have been charged in connection with a shooting at a house party in suburban Houston that left two teenagers dead and injured 19 others, authorities announced Monday.
Investigators said they still believe the deadly shooting started as a result of celebratory gunfire, despite court documents that seem to indicate the incident started when the suspects shot at two individuals before then firing into the crowd.
Willie Young, 21, and Randy Stewart, 18, were arrested Monday morning, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office. Young is charged with deadly conduct, while Stewart is charged with aggravated assault. Bail for each suspect was set at $250,000. Court records did not indicate whether Young or Stewart has an attorney.
The victim killed at the scene has been identified as 17-year-old Queric Richardson. The 16-year-old girl who died at a hospital was identified as Arielle Shepherd.
Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia had previously said Saturday's shooting in Cypress, an unincorporated area about 25 miles northwest of Houston, began when someone fired a pistol in the air in celebration. In the ensuing confusion, someone else began firing into the crowd, causing people to flee into the narrow street, Garcia said. Officials said more than 100 people were at the party, which was promoted openly on several social media sites.
According to probable cause affidavits for Young and Stewart, two of the people at the party say the suspects initially began firing at them.
Dominic Adams said that after Stewart entered the home, Stewart "pulled out a handgun, pointed it at him and discharged the weapon."
Adams "was struck in the arm. (Adams) stated that the defendant began randomly shooting into the crowd," according to Stewart's probable cause affidavit.
The affidavit related to Young presented a similar scenario. Jamario Wilson, another party-goer, told investigators that he saw Young in the home's living room when Young pulled out a handgun and began firing in his direction. Wilson said that Young also began "randomly shooting" into the crowd. It didn't appear that Wilson was injured.
Both Adams and Wilson said they knew the suspects "from the neighborhood."
Harris County Sheriff's Office spokesman Alan Bernstein said investigators do not believe that people were hunted down or singled out in the house. He said evidence, including bullet holes on the ceiling, supports the belief that everything began with the
celebratory gunfire.
"Someone in a crowd of people that is randomly being fired upon is probably going to see a weapon pointed at them randomly. ... That does not mean they believe they were singled out and it doesn't mean we believe the shooter singled them out," he said.
but the charge was later dropped. Monday's arrests came on the same day that school officials said security will be boosted and grief counselors provided for students at the school where both slain teens were enrolled.
Young and Stewart might face additional charges and additional suspects might be sought, Bern
stein said.
in a statement, Katy school district Superintendent Alton Frailey said Richardson was a junior and Shepherd was a sophomore at Morton Ranch High School.
In September, Stewart pleaded guilty to making a terroristic threat — a misdemeanor — after being part of a group that in December assaulted and then threatened to kill a student at Cypress Woods High School. Stewart was sentenced to five days in jail. Last month, Stewart was charged with check forgery. Young was arrested earlier this year for evading arrest
Today's date, 11-12-13 is a numeric sequence that will only happen once again in almost 100 years. Next year will be 12-13-14, then we have to wait till the beginning of 2103 for 01-02-03.
- A 22-year-old man was arrested Sunday on the 1700 block of North 1500 Road on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. A $250 bond was posted.
Information based on the Douglas County Sheriff's Office booking recap.
POLICE REPORTS
- A 21-year-old man was arrested Sunday on the 1200 block of Oread Avenue on suspicion of battery and possession of a controlled substance. A $500 bond was posted.
- A 27-year-old man was arrested Sunday on the 1200 block of Tennessee Street on suspicion of transporting an open container and operating under the influence. A $600 bond was posted.
—Kaitlyn Klein
Five rural Colorado counties vie for secession from state
ASSOCIATED PRESS
AKRON, Colo. — The nation's newest state, if rural Colorado residents had their way, would be about the size of Vermont but with the population of a small town spread across miles of farmland. There wouldn't be civil unions for gay couples, legal recreational marijuana, new renewable energy
standards or limits on ammunition magazines.
After all, those were some of the reasons five counties on the state's Eastern Plains voted on Election Day to approve the creation of a 51st state in the first place. Secession supporters know the votes were symbolic, designed to grab the attention of a Democratic-controlled Legislature. They
say the vote results emphasize a growing frustration in conservative prairie towns with the more populous and liberal urban Front Range, which has helped solidify the Democrats' power.
communities where grain silos are sometimes the tallest structures around.
"We can't outvote the metropolitan areas anymore, and the rural areas don't have a voice anymore," said Perk Odelm, 80, a lifelong resident of Akron in Washington
County, which voted to secede.
County, which voted to罢免.
The five counties share borders, covering about 9,500 square miles and have a combined population of about 29,200. Four of the counties — Phillips, Yuma, Kit Carson and Cheyenne — border Kansas. They are solidly Republican areas that have long identified more with Kansas and Nebraska because of their agricultural background.
Other parts of the state, meanwhile, have grown. More than 80 percent of Colorado's 5 million residents live on the Front Range. The counties that voted to secede currently only have two state representatives and one state senator
Towns like Akron, population 1,700, were founded in the 1880s along railroads and thrived as agriculture producers, booming in the 1900s during grain shortages They began a decline in 1920s that continued through the Dust Bowl and their populations have decreased or remained stagnant since then.
What remains are tight-knit