Nation in brief: Drive-by shooting leaves three dead
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A drive-by shooting killed three people and wounded six others in the nation’s capital Tuesday night, and three people were in custody, officials said.
The shootings of six men and three women happened about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday around the 4000 block of South Capitol Street, said D.C. Police Department spokesman Officer Hugh Carew. Fire Department spokesman Pete Piringer says all were in their 20s and 30s, except for one teenager.
Three people were arrested and a weapon was recovered, according to police, who said they had no motive.
Judge sentences serial killer to death
SANTA ANA, Calif. – Relatives of victims poured out their grief and anger Tuesday before convicted serial killer Rodney Alcala was sentenced to death in a packed courtroom in the 1970s strangling of four women and a 12-year-old girl.
Alcala, 66, showed no emotion and kept his head down as families took turns condemning the amateur photographer and UCLA film school graduate. His death sentences will be automatically appealed.
Alcala was convicted last month of five counts of first-degree murder. After the verdict, authorities released more than 100 photos of young women and girls found in Alcala’s storage locker in hopes of linking him to other unsolved murders around the country. Authorities are pursuing more than a half-dozen cases in New Hampshire, Washington, California, Arizona and New York.
Man executed for deadly shooting
HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Condemned prisoner Franklin Dewayne Alix was executed Tuesday evening for fatally shooting a Houston man during a robbery.
Alix, 34, received lethal injection for the slaying of 23-year-old Eric Bridgeford, who interrupted Alix as he robbed the apartment of Bridgeford’s sister. The sister also had been abducted and raped in what authorities said was part of a six-month series of crimes by Alix more than 11 years ago.
Warehouse fire forces evacuation
DENHAM SPRINGS, La. – A huge fire broke out at a chemical warehouse Tuesday in southeastern Louisiana, rocketing 55-gallon drums into the sky, forcing the evacuation of about 200 people, authorities said.
An explosion inside the Coco Resources warehouse triggered the fire about 2 p.m., and several buildings nearby in the industrial section also caught fire.
Firefighters contained the flames, but because of the intermittent ruptures, they pulled back and were fighting them with hoses from a safe distance. The cause of the fire won’t be determined until they can get closer.