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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: Nine hit in shootout on Bourbon Street

From Wire Reports

NEW ORLEANS – Two men exchanged gunfire early Sunday on the city’s always-crowded Bourbon Street in the celebrated French Quarter and nine people were shot in the crossfire, including two who were critically wounded, police said.

Images captured from a surveillance camera above a bar showed people running down the famous street in the chaos of the shooting at 2:45 a.m. Police and emergency workers responded immediately and attended to victims as other revelers looked on.

New Orleans police Chief Ronal Serpas said six victims were hospitalized in stable condition. Their names have not been released.

Police have not determined whether the shootings might be gang-related, Serpas said. He called on residents, businesses and witnesses who may have video footage, including any from surveillance cameras, to contact police.

Man dies hiking out of Grand Canyon

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. – Officials say an Ohio man has died as he hiked out of the Grand Canyon after a commercial river trip.

The National Park Service said attempts to resuscitate the 62-year-old man weren’t successful Sunday morning.

Bystanders started CPR on the man on the popular Bright Angel Trail. Park Service personnel responded and an agency helicopter diverted to the area to aid the efforts. Authorities say the man’s name is not being released until his family is notified.

The death comes amid the search for an Arizona man who reportedly fell from a ledge Friday into the Colorado River during a rafting trip in Grand Canyon National Park. The Park Service said teams searched by air and boat over the weekend but hadn’t found 68-year-old Victor Tseng, of Phoenix.

Marine missing since 2004 back in U.S.

WASHINGTON – A Marine who was declared a deserter nearly 10 years ago after disappearing in Iraq and then returning to the U.S. claiming he had been kidnapped, only to disappear again, is back in U.S. custody, officials said Sunday.

Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun, 34, turned himself in and was being flown Sunday from an undisclosed location in the Middle East to Norfolk, Virginia. He is to be moved today to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, according to a spokesman, Capt. Eric Flanagan.

Hassoun disappeared from his unit in Iraq’s western desert in June 2004. The following month he turned up unharmed in Beirut, Lebanon, and blamed his disappearance on Islamic extremist kidnappers. He was returned to Lejeune and was about to face the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing when he disappeared again.

Mother researched heat-deaths too

ATLANTA – The mother of a toddler who died in an unattended SUV in suburban Atlanta told investigators she did online research on how hot it needs to be for a child to die in an unattended vehicle because she was afraid it might happen, police said.

Leanna Harris hasn’t been charged in the death of her son, 22-month-old Cooper. But a search warrant released Sunday said the woman went onto the Internet before the child’s death to search for information about children dying in cars.

Justin Ross Harris, 33, has told police he was supposed to drive his son to day care the morning of June 18 but drove to work without realizing that his son was strapped into a car seat in the back. The child was left in the car alone for about seven hours.

In an interview after his son’s death, Harris told investigators that he had also done an online search on what temperature could cause a child’s death in a vehicle. The warrant didn’t specify when Harris did the searches.

He is jailed on charges of murder and child cruelty.