Shooting at Calif. quarry leaves 3 dead
CUPERTINO, Calif., Oct. 5 (UPI) -- SWAT teams searched door to door Wednesday in the Cupertino, Calif., area for a gunman who killed three people and wounded six at a quarry.
Earlier, local schools were in lockdown after the rampage, and helicopters and dogs joined the search, the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News reported.
A seventh person, a woman, was shot and wounded nearby when the suspect tried to take her car, the report said.
The suspect, Shareef Allman, 45, was identified as a heavy equipment operator at Lehigh Southwest Cement Permanente Plant, the newspaper said. After the shooting, he allegedly fled on foot into the neighborhood.
Besides his quarry job, Allman also produced a community TV show called "Real 2 Real" for CreaTV in San Jose and was "spreading the word on non-violence," Suzanne St. John-Crane, CreaTV's executive director, told the newspaper.
The newspaper said Allman also wrote a book, "Amazing Grace," against domestic violence.
A neighbor, Rose Douglas, said Allman was upset because he had been moved from the day shift to the night shift. The change interfered with his plans to spend more time with his daughter.
Police said the disgruntled employee with an assault rifle and a handgun opened fire during an early-morning safety meeting at the Hanson Permanente quarry, KGO-TV, San Francisco, reported.
The suspect's vehicle was found at a parking lot in nearby Sunnyvale where a woman was shot in the leg when she was carjacked, police said.
An earlier report said officers surrounded a house in Sunnyvale and evacuated the surrounding neighborhood, KGO-TV reported.
Upper U.S. could face brutal winter
STATE COLLEGE, Pa., Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Forecasters say the La Nina weather phenomenon will largely figure in another brutally cold and snowy winter for much of the United States.
La Ninas, when sea surface temperatures across the equatorial central and eastern Pacific are below normal, often produce unpredictable weather patterns across the Midwest and Northeast during winter due to the influence they have on the jet stream, Accuweather.com reported Wednesday.
The position of this winter's jet stream because of La Nina will tend to drive storms through the Midwest and Great Lakes region, forecasters said.
"The brunt of the winter season, especially when dealing with cold, will be over the north-central U.S.," Accuweather long-range meteorologist Paul Pastelok said.
Chicago, which experienced blizzard conditions last year, could be one of the hardest-hit cities in terms of both snow and cold in the winter ahead, Accuweather said.
Bitterly cold blasts of arctic air with snowfalls above normal are expected to invade the northern Plains, Midwest and Great Lakes December through January, Pastelok said.
"A couple of heavy hitters are possible [during this time]," he said of expected snowstorms.
Fort Lauderdale to allow guns at parades
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Oct. 5 (UPI) -- A new Florida law that bans local gun control means Fort Lauderdale officials must allow guns at parades and other public events, city officials said.
The state law imposes fines on public officials who enforce local gun laws, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Wednesday.
The city, in response to the new state law, changed a local ordinance that forbids weapons at parades and local events. Now, guns are allowed but knives are not, the report said.
"Sometimes the Legislature does things I don't agree with, but they passed a law and we are complying with that law," Mayor Jack Seiler said.
The city also dropped an ordinance that makes it illegal to discharge a weapon within the city limits. City Attorney Harry Stewart said the state will instead use a state law that prohibits the reckless discharge of a firearm.
The Broward County Commission voted Tuesday to seek legislation allowing the county to keep its local gun regulations, the newspaper said.
Karzai assassination plot foiled
KABUL, Afghanistan, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Afghan security officials say they foiled a plot to assassinate President Hamid Karzai and arrested six suspects including a guard at the presidential palace.
A spokesman for the National Directorate of Security said the suspects had ties to al-Qaida and the Pakistan-based Hagan militant group.
Afghan officials did not give any details of the plot or say when the suspects had been arrested, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
A university microbiology professor and four students were arrested along with the palace guard.
In videotaped confessions released by officials, the suspects talk of trips to Pakistan to learn how to fire guns and make bombs but make no direct reference to Karzai.
Potful Marshal, a spokesman for the security directorate, said the plotters had managed to get within reach of the presidential palace.
