Gunman kills 3 at St. Louis firm
5 wounded before killer apparently takes own life
ST. LOUIS — A disgruntled worker embroiled in a pension dispute with his company showed up at the plant and opened fire Thursday, killing three people and wounding five before apparently killing himself, authorities said.
The shooting spree at ABB Group’s plant sent co-workers scrambling into closets and onto the snow-covered roof for safety.
Fire officials identified the killer as Timothy Hendron, 51, of Webster Groves, a St. Louis suburb. Police said a man believed to be the gunman was found inside the plant dead from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot, but they would not release his name.
The shootings began at 6:30 a.m. at the plant, where the Swiss-owned company makes electrical transformers.
The motive for the shootings was not known, and authorities said it may be weeks before police piece together why it happened.
But in 2006, Hendron and other ABB workers sued the company over retirement losses. The federal lawsuit accused ABB and its pension-review committee of causing their 401(k) accounts to include investment options with “unreasonable and excessive” — and undisclosed — fees and expenses.
The suit went to trial Tuesday in Kansas City, Mo.
The shootings began during a shift change at the plant, which employs about 270 people.
Two of those killed were found in the parking lot outside the plant, police said. One victim and the man believed to be the killer were found inside, along with three weapons — an assault rifle, a handgun and a shotgun.
Names of the victims were not immediately released. Police said two of the injured were in critical condition and two were in fair condition. One was treated at a hospital and released.
Thousands of Coptic Christians riot in Egypt
CAIRO — Egyptians try to calm Coptic Christian protesters Thursday during a clash between police and thousands of members of the ancient community. The Christians went on a rampage after six churchgoers were gunned down as they left a midnight Mass in Nag Hamadi, a mixed Christian-Muslim town in the south. Thursday’s violence began when Christians smashed ambulances outside a hospital in frustration over delays in turning over the bodies for burial.
NATION
Tractor-trailer hits bus in snowstorm, killing 4
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Steadily falling snow blanketed the Midwest on Thursday, and a tractor-trailer spun out of control on snow-slicked roads in Ohio, killing four people and injuring seven.
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The tractor-trailer jackknifed on Interstate Highway 70, crossed the median and swerved into oncoming traffic, colliding with a small bus transporting disabled adult passengers, the Ohio Highway Patrol said.
The victims, all of whom were on the bus, were Traci Williams, 42; Lonnie Acton, 28; Alonso Ruffin, 37; and Kenny Fry, 61. All were from Springfield, Ohio. Williams was the driver.
The Mack commercial truck was driven by Zygmunt Wieckowski, 59, of Chicago, who was taken to a nearby hospital, the patrol said. His condition was unavailable.
Six other passengers of the bus were injured. The bus was carrying 11 people at the time of the crash, said Sgt. Raymond Durant.
Gay marriage falls in N.J.
TRENTON, N.J. — The New Jersey Senate has defeated a bill to legalize gay marriage, leaving it unlikely that the state will have a gay marriage law in the very near future.
The bill needed 21 votes to pass; only 14 senators approved the measure Thursday.
New Jersey offers civil unions that grant the legal rights of marriage to gay couples.
WORLD
Top envoys of Iraq, Iran meet on border dispute
BAGHDAD — The Iranian foreign minister visited Iraq on Thursday hoping to ease tensions over a border dispute, officials said.
Iranian troops have been stationed near Iraq’s al-Fakkah oil field along the two countries’ disputed border since Dec. 17. Iraqis in several cities have held demonstrations demanding their government take action.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said the two countries will begin three weeks of bilateral meetings aimed at resolving the dispute.
“We have agreed to normalize the border situation between the two countries and return to the situation as it was before,” Zebari said at a joint news conference with Manouchehr Mottaki, his Iranian counterpart.
New China milk scandal
BEIJING — Chinese authorities secretly investigated a dairy for nearly a year before announcing that the company had been producing milk tainted with an industrial chemical.
The government promised sweeping changes and more openness after a 2008 scandal in which six children died and more than 300,000 fell sick after drinking baby formula contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine. Dairy and local officials were accused of keeping the scandal quiet until after the Beijing Olympics. But a city official said Thursday that authorities knew about the latest contamination in Shanghai Panda Dairy Co. products last February — and then kept it quiet until a vague announcement on New Year’s Eve.
Food safety authorities have not said whether anyone has been sickened by consuming tainted milk products produced by Shanghai Panda.
Japan charges U.S. soldier
TOKYO — Japanese prosecutors charged a U.S. soldier Thursday in connection with a fatal hit-and-run accident on the southern island of Okinawa.
A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office said the soldier had been charged with negligence resulting in the death Nov. 7 of a 66-year-old man.
Army spokesman Maj. James Crawford said Staff Sgt. Clyde Gunn, 27, of Oxford, Miss., was handed over to Japanese custody.
THE NUMBER: 74%
Americans who say they like dogs a lot, versus 41 percent who like cats a lot, according to an Associated Press-Petside.com poll. Cats, however, did lead in one category, with 15 percent of adults questioned saying they disliked cats a lot while the number who said they disliked dogs a lot was 2 percent. About 59 percent of U.S. households own pets. About 74 percent of pet owners said they had dogs, and 47 percent said they had cats. Still, the poll found some harmony. Sixty percent said they liked dogs and cats. The poll was conducted Oct. 1-5 by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.