Nation in brief: Boys’ abductor pleads guilty
The horror faced by two boys abducted in rural Missouri was revealed Tuesday in court, where their captor pleaded guilty and prosecutors said a video showing him torture one of them underlines why he should die in prison.
Michael Devlin offered no apologies but shed light on why one of his victims stayed with him more than four years: The terrorized boy cut a deal just as Devlin was beginning to strangle him.
“This boy made this contract, this deal with the devil, only to survive,” Washington County prosecutor John Rupp said.
Devlin abducted the second boy early this year, days before both victims were discovered alive in his apartment in a St. Louis suburb.
Devlin received dozens of life sentences after his pleas in Washington and St. Louis counties Tuesday. He pleaded guilty in Franklin County on Monday and is to appear in federal court today.
The hearings were part of an elaborate deal his attorneys struck in the four jurisdictions, where Devlin was charged with more than 80 counts, including sexual assault, kidnapping and attempted murder.
Simi Valley, Calif.
Man kills woman, self at tire shop
A gunman shot a woman to death and wounded two men at a tire shop Tuesday, then apparently killed himself, police said.
Officers responding to reports of a shooting went to the Tire Pros shop about 7:30 a.m. and found a “chaotic” scene, Sgt. David Livingstone said. People were found lying in the office and garage, and all the victims were employees or customers, he said.
The gunman was found dead at the scene of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, Livingstone said. Ventura County deputy medical examiner Michael Tellez said the gunman was Robert Becerra, 29.
Washington
1,313 gang arrests made over summer
Federal agents arrested 1,313 violent gang members in a three-month enforcement sweep across 23 cities from New York to San Diego, the government announced Tuesday.
Thirty-four arrests were made in Boise.
Since 2005, law enforcement authorities have arrested more than 7,500 gang members through a federally led strategy of enforcing immigration laws to target violent gang members.