In Brief: Gunman kills two at bar in Tel Aviv

JERUSALEM – A gunman opened fire outside a popular bar in the coastal Israeli city of Tel Aviv on Friday afternoon, killing two people and wounding at least three others before fleeing the scene, police said.

The motive for the shooting spree, which took place on a busy main street, was not immediately clear, police said.

Media reported the assailant was a member of Israel’s Arab minority and called it a nationalistically motivated attack but police refused to comment, saying they were still investigating.

Israeli Channel 10 TV showed footage of the incident, obtained from a health food shop next to the bar. It shows a man with short hair, glasses and a black bag over his shoulder scooping up some nuts, putting them in a plastic bag, then emptying them back.

The footage then shows the man walking toward the entrance of the store, placing his backpack on a shopping cart and taking a gun out of it. He then steps outside and starts shooting, after which he runs away.

The TV station’s defense analyst, Alon Ben-David, said the gunman was an Israeli Arab and that the attacker’s father had seen his son on television and notified authorities. He said the shooter’s calm demeanor and the way he was holding and shooting the gun show he was well-trained.

A Quran, the Muslim holy book, was found later in the attacker’s bag, he said. The Associated Press could not independently confirm those details.

Haitian presidential runoff announced

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Haitian President Michel Martelly has announced that a postponed presidential runoff vote will be held on Jan. 17.

Martelly says he received two letters from Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council warning that to fulfill the constitutional mandate of inaugurating a new president on Feb. 7, the runoff should be held by Jan. 17 at the latest.

The council earlier postponed the Dec. 27 presidential runoff to allow a five-member commission to address allegations of multiple voting and ballot tampering.

The opposition is demanding an independent review of the late October first round of voting, which it insists was rigged in favor of government-backed candidate Jovenel Moise. Jude Celestin came in second.

Four killed in fight over washing machine

ROWLAND HEIGHTS, Calif. – A man shot and killed his wife and two others in his home on New Year’s Eve before his son wrestled the gun away and fatally shot him in a chain of events apparently set off by a dispute over a washing machine, authorities said Friday.

The two other victims killed were the son’s 48-year-old girlfriend who also lives at the house in Rowland Heights and a 27-year-old man who was visiting, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.

The 54-year-old father was a heavy drinker with a large gun collection, and authorities had made dozens of previous trips to the home, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department said.

Investigators were talking to surviving witnesses to figure out what led to the father pulling out a semi-automatic pistol and opening fire.

“It looks like it was a dispute between the dad and the son’s girlfriend, probably over using the washing machine,” Sheriff’s Lt. John Corina told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. “For some reason, this set the dad off.”

The son, 33-year-old Christopher Morey, eventually recovered the gun from his father and shot him, authorities said. Morey is being held on suspicion of murder on $1 million bail, authorities said.