In brief: Three teens held in homeless killings
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Three teenagers ganged up on two homeless men and fatally beat them before leaving their bodies nearly unrecognizable, Albuquerque police said Sunday.
Alex Rios, 18, and two boys, ages 16 and 15, are being held in Bernalillo County detention facilities a day after allegedly killing the victims in an open field, police spokesman Simon Drobik said.
A criminal complaint filed by police said Rios has been charged with two counts each of murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree felony and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He also faces three counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and one count each of tampering with evidence and robbery.
The younger boys will likely be charged with murder as adults, Drobik said. Officers responded Saturday around 8 a.m. to a 911 call reporting two bodies in a field. They found one victim lying on a mattress and another lying on the ground. Jerome Eskeets, a third victim who said he was able to flee, was hospitalized for his injuries.
Eskeets told police that he recognized one of the “kids” hitting and kicking him as someone who lived in a house nearby. Police went to the home and found the three suspects, according to the complaint.
Arrestee a suspect in Irish peacekeepers’ killing
DEARBORN, Mich. – Federal agents have arrested a man the Irish government calls a suspect in the abduction, torture and killing of two Irish soldiers serving as United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon 34 years ago.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesdsay arrested Mahmoud Bazzi at his home in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn. The agency arrested Bazzi for “administrative immigration violations” and not directly in connection to the killings in Lebanon, spokeswoman Gillian Christensen told the Associated Press. She said he would be held “pending removal proceedings.”
While not specifically citing the accusations against Bazzi in his native Lebanon, Gillian said the Department of Homeland Security “is committed to rooting out alleged human rights violators who seek a safe haven in the United States.”
Before his arrest, Bazzi denied killing Derek Smallhorne and Thomas Barrett, telling the Detroit Free Press he once falsely confessed to the slayings because he feared a Lebanese militia would kill him unless he lied.
Train derails in Wisconsin
SLINGER, Wis. – A fire official said two people are injured and several thousand gallons of diesel fuel have spilled after a train derailment in a small Wisconsin village.
Slinger Fire Department Chief Rick Hanke said three engines and 10 railcars derailed Sunday, forcing the evacuation of more than 100 nearby homes. He said two people are being treated for injuries that are not life-threatening.
Hanke said about 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel spilled from an engine. He said hazmat crews have dikes and booms in place.
A spokesman for Canadian National Railway Co. said preliminary reports indicate one of the company’s trains was headed south and struck cars on another train.