Supermarket shooter left online trail
A man who police say trapped and killed three coworkers inside a closed northeast Pennsylvania grocery store overnight Thursday left an online trail behind that includes praise for the 1999 Columbine High School shooters.
Wyoming County District Attorney Jeff Mitchell said a Twitter feed that includes a 42-minute film about a violent massacre is believed to have belonged to 24-year-old Randy Stair of Dallas, Pa.
In that film, Stair praised Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold as heroes and kissed and fondled a loaded shotgun.
Police say Stair brought two pistol-grip shotguns to work at the store in rural Tunkhannock, blocked store exits and began shooting shortly before 1 a.m. A fourth co-worker eventually escaped unharmed and called police. Stair also killed himself.
Gianforte apologizes
Greg Gianforte, the Montana Republican charged with assaulting a reporter the night before he won a seat in the House of Representatives last month, formally apologized to the reporter on Wednesday.
Mr. Gianforte wrote in a letter to the reporter, Ben Jacobs of The Guardian, that his actions on May 24 were “unprofessional, unacceptable and unlawful.” In the apology, Mr. Gianforte promised to donate $50,000 to the Committee to Protect Journalists, an advocacy group for press freedoms and journalists’ rights.
The settlement precludes any civil litigation. Mr. Gianforte still faces a misdemeanor charge of assault.
Terrorist attack plotting
NEW YORK — Two men from Michigan and New York City were tasked by a terrorist organization with looking for potential terrorism targets in New York and Panama, U.S. authorities said Thursday as they announced the suspects’ recent arrests.
Samer El Debek, 37, of Dearborn, Mich., and Ali Kourani, 32, of the Bronx, were charged in Manhattan federal court with providing support to a terrorist organization. El Debek was arrested June 1 in Livonia, Mich.; Kourani was arrested the same day in the Bronx. Both men were being held in New York City after court appearances.
In a release, authorities said the men tried to provide support to Hezbollah’s Islamic Jihad organization after receiving military training from the group.
Cash for re-enlistment
FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Struggling to expand its ranks, the Army will triple the amount of bonuses it’s paying this year to more than $380 million, including new incentives to woo reluctant soldiers to re-enlist, officials said.
Some soldiers could get $90,000 up front by committing to another four or more years, as the Army seeks to reverse some of the downsizing that occurred under the Obama administration after years of growth spurred by the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Also in the nation ...
The Justice Department will no longer allow big companies and banks to settle cases by donating to outside organizations, ending a little-known practice that had become a rallying cry for some conservatives . ... A Florida woman, Lucy Richards, who claimed the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School was a hoax was sentenced Wednesday to five months in prison for making death threats against the parent of one of the students killed in the attack.