In brief: Shooting injures five at festival
TULSA, Okla. – Gunfire that left five people injured at a traditional Hmong New Year’s festival rattled a peaceful, tight-knit east Tulsa community.
Hmong are an Asian ethnic group hailing from countries including Laos, China, Vietnam and Thailand. In Tulsa, the Hmong population numbers between 3,000 and 4,000.
Two men, ages 21 and 19, have been taken into custody and face multiple charges in the shooting of five people at Saturday’s festival, authorities said Sunday.
A witness at the party described the chaotic scene, as people lined up to get dinner were sent running and ducking for cover when the shots rang out. There were at least 200 people at the celebration, which festivalgoers likened to a Thanksgiving celebration in America.
Dry ice explosion delays LAX flights
LOS ANGELES – Authorities say an explosion from a plastic bottle containing dry ice at a Los Angeles International Airport terminal caused up to four flights to be delayed.
FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said a chemical reaction caused the explosion Sunday evening in an employee bathroom in Terminal 2.
No injuries were reported, but as a precaution authorities closed the terminal and examined the area for evidence.
Eimiller said the bathroom was in a restricted area of the terminal that was not accessible to the public.
Airport police Sgt. Karla Ortiz said officials temporarily halted security screening, which led to the delay of up to four departing flights.
Investigators were trying to determine how the bottle wound up in the bathroom.
Transit strike put off for a day
SAN FRANCISCO – With a midnight strike deadline just hours away and public frustration mounting, negotiators for the Bay Area Rapid Transit system and its two unions resumed contract talks Sunday.
Members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 and Service Employees International Union Local 1021 put off a strike to allow one more day of contract talks.
Nearly 370,000 riders take BART every weekday, and its 104 miles of track make it the nation’s fifth-largest commuter rail system.
Hunter found alive after 19 days lost
UKIAH, Calif. – A 72-year-old hunter who got hurt in a Northern California forest and was lost for 19 days survived the ordeal by eating squirrels and lizards and covering himself with leaves to stay warm, authorities said Sunday.
Gene Penaflor, 72, of San Francisco, was found Saturday in Mendocino National Forest by other hunters who carried him to safety in a makeshift stretcher, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said.
Penaflor had been missing since Sept. 24 when he didn’t meet up with his hunting partner for lunch, a sheriff’s detective said.