Killings shock university campus
A father and his two sons died Saturday in an apparent murder-suicide at a university, authorities said.
Douglas W. Pennington, 49, shot sons Logan, 26, and Benjamin, 24, multiple times, then shot himself once in the chest with a .38-caliber revolver on the Shepherd University campus, state police said. Both sons were identified as Shepherd students.
Police said the elder Pennington traveled to the campus to visit his sons, but offered no reason for the shootings.
The gunfire occurred about 2 p.m. in a parking lot, near residence halls on the campus’s west side. The Penningtons were pronounced dead at local medical facilities.
CRAWFORD, Texas
Protesters taking campaign to D.C.
About 100 war protesters ended a monthlong vigil near President Bush’s ranch with a rally on their campsite Saturday, and planned to move the demonstration close to the White House.
“We wanted to try to build momentum and needed something to move the focus back to Washington,” said retired Army Col. Ann Wright, who resigned as a U.S. diplomat in 2003 to protest the war with Iraq.
The two-week “Camp Democracy” demonstration starts Tuesday on the mall in Washington, centering on issues including the war, environment, health care and attention to Hurricane Katrina victims, organizers said.
Cindy Sheehan, whose oldest son Casey died in Iraq in 2004, started the Crawford protest camp in early August on a 5-acre lot she bought in July. About 50 demonstrators have camped on the land, and a previous weekend’s cookout drew more than 100.
Attendance was significantly lower than last summer’s protest, when more than 10,000 people streamed into Crawford to join Sheehan’s 26-day vigil along the rural road leading to Bush’s ranch.
Sheehan, who had a hysterectomy last week, said Saturday that she was recovering and would not be able to attend the Washington protest.
SOUTH SALT LAKE, Utah
Elderly woman astounds thief
A 75-year-old woman ran after a man who stole her purse, got it back and gave him a tongue-lashing – and $3.
Betty Horton said the man apologized to her and said he was broke.
“I said, ‘Why didn’t you just ask me for some change? I would have helped you. I would have gladly given it to you,’ ” Horton said.
Horton was putting groceries in her car Wednesday when she noticed her purse was missing. She saw a man running with the bag under his arm.
“Good thing I had my running shoes on,” Horton said.
She ran past businesses and saw him in a residential area standing over the unzipped purse, she said. She threatened to shoot his ear off, although she didn’t have a gun.
Horton said she put money in his hand and told him, “Now get the heck out of here.” Police arrived, but the thief – whom authorities described as a 40-year-old man – was gone.