Nation Glance
12 injured in shooting at S.C. mall; 3 detained
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Ten people were shot and two others injured in a shooting at a busy shopping mall in South Carolina’s capital that authorities do not believe was a random attack.
Three people who had firearms have been detained in connection with the Saturday afternoon shooting at Columbiana Centre, Columbia Police Chief W.H. “Skip” Holbrook said. He said at least one of those three people fired a weapon.
“We don’t believe this was random,” Holbrook said. “We believe they knew each other and something led to the gunfire.”
Authorities said no fatalities have been reported but that eight of the victims were taken to the hospital. Of those eight, two were in critical condition and six were in stable condition, Holbrook said. The victims ranged in age from 15 to 73, he said.
Daniel Johnson said he and his family were visiting from Alabama and were eating in the food court when they first heard shots ring out and started seeing people running.
DA: 3 of 6 dead in shootout were in gang dispute
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Newly filed court documents in the downtown Sacramento shooting that killed six people and wounded a dozen others reveal that three of the dead had been involved in the gang dispute that led to the massive shootout, with at least one of them firing a weapon.
Documents filed Friday by Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert’s office show that the three deceased men affiliated with gangs were Joshua Hoye-Lucchesi, 32, Devazia Turner, 29, and Sergio Harris, 38, The Sacramento Bee reported Saturday.
Turner fired a weapon, but it was unclear if all three fired weapons. Police have said there were at least five suspects in the April 3 shooting.
Two of the suspects – brothers Smiley and Dandrae Martin – were wounded and are hospitalized or in jail. A third suspect, Mtula Payton, 27, remains at large.
In a social media clip posted hours before the shooting, the Martin brothers are seen posing with Hoye-Lucchesi and two handguns and a rifle.
Crews fight New Mexico fires as some evacuations lift
RUIDOSO, N.M. – Authorities have lifted some evacuation orders for a mountain community in drought-stricken southern New Mexico as firefighters worked Saturday to contain a wind-driven blaze that killed two people and destroyed over 200 homes.
The evacuation orders lifted late Friday covered about 60% of the estimated 4,500 people ordered to leave their homes since the fire started Tuesday, Village of Ruidoso spokesperson Kerry Gladden told The Associated Press on Saturday. Evacuation estimates were previously reported to be around 5,000 people.
“The big story is we’re in a re-population mode,” Gladden said earlier during a media briefing.
Those evacuation orders remaining in effect may be lifted in coming days, officials said.
Those waiting to return included Barbara Arthur, the owner of a wooded 28site RV park that had wind damage but didn’t burn.
Suit seeks to overturn renewed Philadelphia mask mandate
PHILADELPHIA – Several businesses and residents have filed suit in state court in Pennsylvania seeking to overturn Philadelphia’s renewed indoor mask mandate scheduled to be enforced beginning Monday in an effort to halt a surge in COVID-19 infections.
The lawsuit, filed in Commonwealth Court on Saturday, said Philadelphia lacks the authority to impose such a mandate.
Philadelphia earlier this week became the first major U.S. city to reinstate its indoor mask mandate after reporting a sharp increase in coronavirus infections, with the city’s top health official saying she wanted to forestall a potential new wave driven by an omicron subvariant.
Attorney Thomas W. King III, who was among those involved in last year’s successful challenge to the statewide mask mandate in schools, said the city’s emergency order went against recommendations of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and “imposed a renegade standard unfound anywhere else in the world.”
The suit accuses city health officials of having “usurped the power and authority” of state lawmakers, the state department of health and the state advisory health board.
Man, 21, arrested a week after 3 killed at Ga. gun range
GRANTVILLE, Ga. — A 21-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a fatal armed robbery at a Georgia gun range that left three members of a family dead last week.
Jacob Christian Muse, of College Park, is charged with three counts of malice murder, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a news release Friday.
When Grantville officers arrived at the scene of Lock Stock & Barrel Shooting Range on the night of April 8, they discovered the bodies of the gun range’s owner, along with his wife and grandson. The victims were identified as Thomas Hawk, 75; Evelyn Hawk, 75; and Luke Hawk, 17.
Investigators said that as many as 40 guns and the range’s surveillance camera were also stolen.
The shooting range is in rural Coweta County, about 50 miles (about 80 kilometers) southwest of Atlanta.