School shooting injures teen; boy held
PALMDALE, Calif. — A 14-year-old used a rifle to shoot a classmate in the arm Friday at a California high school and dumped the gun in the desert before he was caught in a shopping center, authorities said.
The shooting at Highland High School in Palmdale was sparked by a dispute between the two students, officials said.
The victim, also 14, was taken to the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery, said Nicole Nishida, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s spokesman.
Garret Root, a teacher at the school, told KNBC-TV that he was walking up to the school when he saw a group of students running away and asked them what was happening.
“They said there was a shooter,” Root said. “At first I didn’t believe them, but then I heard a gunshot.”
He said he saw what looked like a boy, about 100 yards away, carrying a long gun.
The lockdown at the school was lifted several hours after the shooting.
False tsunami warning issued in Alaska
JUNEAU, Alaska — Many Alaska residents were mistakenly warned on TV and on the radio Friday morning of a tsunami threat along the West Coast of the United States, from San Diego to Alaska’s Aleutian islands.
The National Tsunami Warning Center said there was no threat. It said the message was a routine test sent about 7 a.m.
While the alert said at the end of a nearly two-minute long message that it was a test, not all listeners and viewers received that information, officials said.
Susan Buchanan, a National Weather Service spokesman, said the center’s test message was properly coded but somehow re-transmitted in an abbreviated format. That stripped the test coding and caused activation of the Emergency Alert System that sends messages to TV and radio stations.
She said it’s not clear why that happened and the agency was investigating.
The message was sent just months after a civil defense official in Hawaii mistakenly sent an alert indicating a missile was inbound to the islands, prompting changes in how such alerts were issued. The employee who sent that false alert was fired.
Governor vetoes Oklahoma gun bill
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin vetoed a bill late Friday that would have authorized adults to carry firearms without a permit or training, dealing a rare defeat to the National Rifle Association in a conservative state.
The veto comes after opposition from the business community and law enforcement authorities, including top officials with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation who have said it could erode public safety.
The NRA had supported the bill’s passage and had urged Fallin, a Republican, to sign it.
In a statement announcing her veto, Fallin stressed her support for the Second Amendment.
“I believe the firearms laws we currently have in place are effective, appropriate and minimal,” she said. But she added that the bill would have eliminated the requirement for a training course and reduced the level of background checks to carry a gun.
Also Friday, Fallin signed a bill that provides legal protections to faith-based agencies that won’t place children in LGBT homes because of religious or moral convictions or policies. It was supported by the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma and the state’s Catholic bishops, but gay-rights advocates say it will allow agencies to discriminate against same-sex couples, single people and non-Christians.
4 troopers hurt in Oklahoma shootout
TALIHINA, Okla. — Four Oklahoma troopers were struck by gunfire or shrapnel while serving a warrant early Friday at a man’s home that may have been booby-trapped to spark a large fire, authorities said.
The blaze consumed several buildings in downtown Talihina, about 150 miles southeast of Oklahoma City.
The suspect was shot and has been pronounced dead, Oklahoma Highway Patrol Capt. Paul Timmons said. The four troopers were treated and released from a local hospital and are expected to recover. A fifth trooper who was wearing a protective vest was also struck in the chest area by gunfire, but escaped any injury because of the vest, Timmons said.
Local authorities had requested help from state troopers to execute a drug-related warrant because the man had a “violent criminal history,” Timmons said.
“As soon as they made entry, they were met by gunfire,” Timmons said, adding that the blaze broke out instantly after the officers tried to execute the warrant.
A Section on 05/12/2018