‘RING OF FIRE’ ECLIPSE IN ARGENTINA
SUSPECT CHARGED IN MARDI GRAS CRASH
Police say a man accused of plowing a pickup into a Mardi Gras crowd Saturday, injuring 32 people, had a blood alcohol level nearly three times the legal threshold.
Neilson Rizzuto, 25, of Paradis, La., was booked into the Orleans Justice Center jail Sunday on two counts of first-degree negligent vehicular injuring, one count of hit-and-run driving causing serious injury and one count of reckless operation of a vehicle. More charges could be pending.
Those injured were watching the Krewe of Endymion parade, one of Mardi Gras’ biggest spectacles, when Rizzuto’s pickup apparently revved its engine and sped forward, slamming into a couple of cars, then into a crowd and eventually into a dump truck.
NEIGHBOR: BAR SHOOTING SUSPECT IS NOT A RACIST
A Olathe, Kan., man accused of shooting two Indian immigrants and a third man at a bar, in what some believe was a hate crime, is scheduled for his first court appearance Monday.
Longtime neighbor Andy Berthelsen said Adam Purinton, who is charged with murder and attempted murder in Wednesday night’s attack, was very close to his father, who died of pancreatic cancer. He said Purinton became a “drunken mess” after his father died about 18 months ago.
Berthelsen said he doesn’t believe the shooting stemmed from hatred, and that it likely resulted from Purinton’s physical and mental deterioration. Berthelsen said in the past year, Purinton bounced from one menial job to the next and was sometimes drunk by midmorning.
TOXIN KILLED NORTH KOREAN LEADER’S BROTHER QUICKLY
The estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un died within 20 minutes of being daubed with a nerve agent at a Malaysian airport two weeks ago, the Malaysian health minister said Sunday.
The two women accused of the bizarre crime say they were duped by North Korean men who told them the “attack” on Kim Jong Nam was a prank for a reality TV show, authorities said.
Kim Jong Nam died Feb. 13 after women wiped the substance on his face while he was checking in for a flight at the Kuala Lumpur airport. The substance was identified as the VX nerve agent, classified as a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations.
Malaysian officials say four North Korean men provided the agent to the women, who are from Indonesia and Vietnam.