wednesday,september 24,2003
news
the university daily kansan
7A
Police wound gun-wielding teen
The Associated Press
SPOKANE, Wash. — A troubled teenager who was critically wounded by officers after he fired a gun at school was trying to commit suicide, police said yesterday.
Sean Fitzpatrick, 16, left a page-and-a-half suicide note at home before Monday's shooting, police Chief Roger Bragdon said. He also made suicidal statements during the 20 minutes he talked with a police negotiator, Bragdon said.
"There is no doubt in my mind that the young man intended to commit suicide by having us do it."Bragdon said.
the very beginning."
"He was talking suicide from
Bragdon declined to reveal the contents of the note, saying only the teen was explicit about his emotional pain and depression. Bragdon could not say why the student chose his high school for the showdown.
Fitzpatrick was shot three times by SWAT team officers who fired almost simultaneously when the student raised a 9mm semiautomatic handgun toward them.
Bragdon said. Fitzpatrick was shot in the jaw, stomach and arm and was in critical condition yesterday at Sacred Heart Medical Center.
Bragdon said the suicide note was clear Fitzpatrick did not
the gun was obtained from the boy's home, he said.
intend to harm others.
Fitzpatrick's parents, Angel Fitzpatrick and Linda Schearing of Fairfiled, a town 30 miles south of Spokane, were brought to the school but had not spoken to their son, officials said.
Bragdon said Fitzpatrick entered a science classroom shortly after 11 a.m. Monday, ordered a student teacher and several students to leave and fired once into a wall. He took no hostages.
The boy also sprayed the room with retardant from fire extinguishers. Officers could see the boy because he had propped open a door, and they talked with
him, Bragdon said.
However, Fitzpatrick suddenly stopped talking, put on his jacket, and drew the pistol from a pants pocket, Bragdon said.
"They knew it couldn't be stopped," Bragdon said of the shooting.
School Superintendent Brian Benzel cited privacy laws in refusing to release any information about Fitzpatrick's school performance and activities.
Authorities said it was too early to say if Fitzpatrick would face criminal charges if he recovered.
Crisis counselors were on hand yesterday morning as some 2,000 students returned to classes.
Translator charged with espionage
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - An Air Force translator at the U.S. prison camp for suspected terrorists has been charged with espionage and aiding the enemy, a military spokesman said yesterday.
Al-Halabi worked as an Arabic language translator at the prison camp for al-Qaida and Taliban suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Air Force enlisted man knew the Muslim chapain at the prison who was arrested earlier this month, but it's unclear if the two arrests are linked, Shavers said.
Senior Airman Ahmad Al-Halabi was held at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, faced with 32 criminal charges, spokesman Maj. Michael Shavers said.
The translator was arrested more than six weeks before the chaplain, Shavers said.
Al-Halabi was based at Travis Air Force Base in California and assigned to a logistics unit there, Shavers said.
Al-Halabi is charged with nine counts related to espionage, three counts of aiding the enemy, 11 counts of disobeying a lawful order, and nine counts of making a false official statement.
Pentagon representatives said an investigation into possible security breaches at Guantanamo Bay continued.
About 660 suspected al-Qaida or Taliban members are imprisoned at the U.S. Navy base.
American officials are interrogating them for information on the terrorist network.
The military has classified many details about the prison camp and the detainees and has not identified any of the men being held there.
The Muslim military chaplain who ministered to the inmates at the camp, Army Capt. Yousef Yee, was arrested Sept. 10 in Jacksonville, Fla., after getting off a flight from Guantanamo Bay.
Military representatives have said the fight against terrorism could be hampered if terrorist groups got such information.
A senior law enforcement official said authorities confiscated classified documents Yee was carrying.
Yee, 35, is being held at a Navy brig in Charleston, S.C. A military magistrate ruled on Sept. 15 there was enough evidence to hold Yee for up to two months while the Army Criminal Investigative Division investigates.
Judge says arguments lack evidence,cannot be used during trial
Judge upholds defense request in sniper trial
The Associated Press
MANASSAS, Va. — Prosecutors argued yesterday that sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad may have sought to harm his ex-wife during last year's sniper spree, but a judge ruled they can't make that argument at trial because they have no supporting evidence.
Circuit Judge LeRoy F. Millette Jr. upheld a request from defense lawyers to bar any trial testimony that Muhammad had either kidnapped the couple's children or made any threats against Mildred Muhammad. Millette said he would revisit the issue if prosecutors found more evidence.
They are also suspected or charged with shootings in Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Arizona
Muhammad, 42, and Lee Boyd Malvo, 18, have been charged with 13 shootings, including 10 deaths, over a three-week span in October in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C.
Muhammad's trial is scheduled Oct. 14; Malvo's is set for Nov. 10.
and Washington state.
Prosecutor Richard Conway said one of Muhammad's motives for the shootings might have been to harm his ex-wife, who moved to Clinton, Md., with the couple's children at the end of a custody dispute.
"The evidence will show that Mr. Muhammad became obsessed with finding her. Once he pinpointed her location ... shortly thereafter, shootings occurred in the area where Mildred Muhammad had relocated." Conway said.
Prosecutors have already said that a primary motive was financial — Muhammad and Malvo were attempting to extort $10 million from the government.
Also yesterday, three witnesses who placed Muhammad and Malvo near two of last year's sniper shootings will be allowed to testify at Muhammad's trial.
Defense lawyers argued unsuccessfully that the testimony should be inadmissible, saying the witnesses' recollection was tainted by media exposure of the pair after their arrest.
Court reinstates California recall vote 11-member panel overturns Sept.15 ruling; cites Bush v. Gore decision
The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court yesterday unanimously reinstated California's Oct. 7 gubernatorial recall election and swiftly rejected a previous decision to put it off for months.
Hours later, the American Civil Liberties Union said it would not appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, removing the final legal road-block to the election just two weeks away.
The 11-member panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously overturned the Sept. 15 decision of a three-judge panel from the same circuit.
The original panel postponed the vote to recall Governor Gray Davis because six counties would use outdated punch-card ballots. The panel repeatedly cited the Supreme Court's Bush v. Gore decision that effectively decided the 2000 election.
The appeals court reinstated a ruling by a district court judge who had refused to postpone the election.
The judges based their decision on the state's constitution, not any precedent set by Bush
v. Gore.
Legal scholars had predicted the outcome. A day after the decision delayed the vote, the court announced it would revisit the case with 11 judges.
They said the ACLU is "legitimately concerned that use of the punch card system will deny the right to vote to some voters who must use that system. At this time it is merely a speculative possibility, however, that any such denial will influence the result of the election."
The judges left open the possibility of post-election litigation after the votes were in and counted.
Davis, a Democrat, has been dogged by his handling of the state's ailing economy. Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustanante is running as a fallback Democratic candidate if voters oust Davis, and Republicans Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Senator Tom McClintock are among 135 candidates also campaigning for Davis' job.
Some observers thought a delay in the recall election would have benefited Davis by allowing voter anger over the state's problems to cool, and because many Democrats would be attracted to the polls for the presidential primary if the recall election were moved to March.
1009 Mass.
Love your landlord?
(maybe not.)
Either way you need to be at this event if you live off-campus or plan to.
Tuesday, September 30th 7:30 p.m. Alderson Auditorium, 4th Floor Kansas Union
Presented by Legal Services for Students
148 Burge Union
864-5665
Sponsored by the Off-Campus Living Resource Center
400 Kansas Union
864-4164
rent@ku.edu
STUDENT
SENATE
Spiritual Meditation
Every Wednesday
8:00 to 9:00 p.m.
north Chapel on the KU Campus
Beginners Welcome
(led by the Rev. Joe Alford, Canterbury House Chaplain & Jubilee Café Director)
BROWN BAG CLASSICS
12:30 - 1:00PM
MOST WEDNESDAYS
ALDERSON AUDITORIUM
SEPT. 24TH
MELANIE HADLEY, PIANO; ALEKSANDAR SNYTKN, VIOLIN
OCT. 1st
HUGO VERA, TENOR; MICHAEL D. JOHNSON, PIANO
OCT. 9th
KU CHAMBER WINDS, DR. LYNCH CONDUCTING
OCT. 15th INSTRUMENTAL COLLEGIUM
Make your bench a classic. Please join the School of Fine Arts for free tuneelectric performances, just bring your bench because the drink is on the Kansas Union.
Oct. 29th
PROF. LARRY MAXEX, CLARINET
School of Fine Arts