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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAS
TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2006
CRIME
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Virginia Tech campus shut down
BY SUE LINDSEY ASSOCIATED PRESS
BLACKSBURG, Va. — A manhunt for an escaped convict suspected in the slayings of a hospital guard and a sheriff's deputy shut down the Virginia Tech campus on the first day of classes Monday as sharpshooters were posted on university rooftops and students scrambled for safety.
Authorities later captured William Morva, 24, after he was found hiding in a briar patch along a trail off-campus, Blacksburg Police Chief Kim Crannis, said. The spot was about 150 yards from where the sheriff's deputy was slain during the intense search Monday morning. A weapon also was recovered, but police would not elaborate.
Matt Gentry/THE ROANOKE TIMES
Hundreds of police scoured the 2,600-acre campus as Virginia Tech Vice President Kurt Krause canceled classes for the school's 26,000 students and sent some 6,000 professors and other workers home.
Morva had escaped from a hospital — about two miles from campus — where he had been taken for
treatment of a sprained wrist and ankle early Sunday.
According to police, Morva overpowered another Montgomery County sheriff's deputy at the hospital, took the deputy's gun and then shot an unarmed hospital security guard. The guard was identified as Derrick McFarland, 26. The deputy was in stable condition with head injuries he suffered in the attack.
Morva had been jailed while awaiting trial on charges of attempting to rob a store last year and apparently shed his orange prison jumpsuit after escaping.
Police watch as students emerge from Squires Student Center at Virginia Tech after police began searching there for shooting suspect William Morva, Monday in Blacksburg, Va. Virginia Tech shut down its campus Monday as authorities searched for Morva, 24, an escaped inmate suspected of killing a hospital guard and a sheriff's deputy. Morva had been seen near the campus, authorities said.
He then is suspected of gunning down sheriff's Cpl. Eric E. Sutphin as the decorated police veteran got closer to the fugitive on the trail about 7 a.m. Monday.
Todd Cohen, associate director of KU University Relations said that emergency protocols are in place should any similar incident occur on the University of Kansas campus.
"There are procedures as with fire, tornado and other states of emergency," Cohen said. "It is very unlikely what happened in Virginia will
happen here."
The University maintains a strict policy banning weapons on campus. Cohen cited an instance when a professor brought a musket on campus to show his class. The Public Safety Office immediately responded to deal with the situation, he said.
Morva was charged with capital murder, use of a firearm in a felony, escape and felony assault on a police officer. He had not been charged with Monday's shooting.
Kansan staff writer Ben Smith contributed to this story.
》 HEALTH
New Accutane study finds more risks
BY CARLA K. JOHNSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO — Accutane, the powerful acne drug already known to cause birth defects, seems to raise the risk for potential heart and liver problems more than doctors had expected, according to a new study.
The findings came from lab tests on 13,772 patients taking the popular acne drug and underscore the need to closely monitor people taking isotretinoin, which is sold as Accutane and in three generic versions. Abnormal results for cholesterol and liver function were more common than expected.
Abnormal lab tests don't necessarily mean patients will develop problems, said Lee Zane of the University of California, San Francisco, coauthor of the study.
Additional studies are needed to determine any long-term health effects, he said, but in the current study, most patients' abnormal lab tests returned to normal when they quit taking the drug. Patients usually take it for less than a year. It's considered one of the most effective treatments for the severest acne.
Isotretinoin can cause brain and heart defects in infants if a woman takes it during or immediately before pregnancy. Women who take it must
nave pregnancy, tests and use birth control or abstain from sex.
Most dermatologists already knew the drug also could increase the risk of heart disease. But the new study found higher-than-expected percentages of patients developing abnormal lab results.
Among patients with normal lab tests before they started taking the drug, 44 percent developed high levels of triglycerides. The package insert, by contrast, cites high triglycerides in 25 percent of patients. Thirty-one percent of healthy patients in the study developed high cholesterol levels and 11 percent developed abnormal liver tests.
The study won't change medical practice because dermatologists already carefully test patients taking Accutane, John Strauss, professor emeritus at the University of Iowa College of Medicine, said. Strauss is a former consultant for Roche Laboratories Inc., the maker of Accutane.
Roche representatives did not reply to an e-mail seeking comment on the study.
on the study.
The drug is sometimes the only way to treat severely disfiguring acne, Strauss said.
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