In brief: Feds investigating abortion clinic fire
PENSACOLA, Fla. – Federal investigators plan to join the investigation of a suspicious fire at a Florida Panhandle abortion clinic that has been the site of deadly violence in the past, officials said Monday.
The fire early Sunday at American Family Planning in Pensacola largely destroyed the two-story building, said Lt. Kevin Fiedor of the state fire marshal’s office. No one was injured. The fire began in dry vegetation around the outside of the building, which is surrounded by oak trees.
Pensacola Fire Department Battalion Chief Steve Peake said the clinic was engulfed in flames by the time firefighters arrived just after 1 a.m. Sunday.
The clinic, formerly known as The Ladies Center and as Community Healthcare, was bombed in 1984. In 1994, a doctor and a volunteer who escorted patients were shot to death as they arrived. The gunman, Paul Hill, was executed in 2003.
Suspects in killings vanish after chase
SALT LAKE CITY – Federal authorities joined a manhunt Monday for two fugitives described as “very dangerous” who are suspected of killing an elderly couple in their Utah home and shooting a woman in the head outside a Nevada casino.
“We have an extremely dangerous situation going on,” Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Jim Phelps told the Associated Press.
The crime spree involved a shooting Saturday in the parking lot of a West Wendover, Nev., casino, when a man and woman tried to carjack another woman. The victim fought back but was shot in the head while escaping. She is expected to survive.
The suspects later stole a car about 50 miles west of the casino. A 50-mile chase by authorities along Interstate 80 reached speeds of nearly 100 mph before the suspects disappeared about 35 miles from the Utah border.
Items in a car abandoned by the suspects led police to the home of Leroy and Dorotha Fullwood, 70 and 69 respectively, in Mount Pleasant, Utah. The couple had been shot to death.
The suspects were last seen driving a stolen gray Volkswagen Jetta with Colorado license plate 725WHX.
Navy pilot, sister among victims
A Navy pilot in training who recently took his first flight in an F/A-18 fighter jet and his sister, a girls volleyball coach, were among the four people found dead in a New Year’s Day shooting at a condominium in Coronado, Calif., the victims’ father said Monday.
David Reis, 25, who was stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, and his sister Karen Reis, 24, were confirmed as victims by the Navy, said their father, Tom Reis, of Bakersfield, Calif.
The elder Reis said he didn’t know who else was at the condo where his son had been living.