A suspect in a shooting that killed two people over the holiday weekend was chased into a Wal-Mart store Tuesday morning in Simi Valley, Calif., after wounding two others, authorities said.
The store was evacuated, and about 40 to 50 officers surrounded it. In the crime spree northwest of L.A., at least one vehicle was carjacked, police said.
BRIDE PAYS: Runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks has agreed to pay $13,250 to the city of Duluth, Ga., to help pay for the costs the city incurred looking for her, the mayor said Tuesday. The city will have to write off about $30,000 in related costs.
JACKSON STAYS HOME: Michael Jackson stayed home Tuesday while lawyers and the judge in his child molestation trial in Santa Maria, Calif., tried to work out the instructions the jury will receive before beginning deliberations, likely this week. After a day of wrangling, Judge Rodney Melville said he would finish Wednesday morning, bring jurors in at noon and instruct them, then have closing arguments begin Thursday.
SCOUTS SCANDAL: An investigation of the Atlanta-area Boy Scouts found that the organization inflated its number of black Scouts by more than 5,000 in a program for inner-city youth. The executive director of the Atlanta Boy Scouts resigned after the report was released.
BUSH PRESSES AHEAD: President Bush, faced with a string of setbacks on Capitol Hill, promised Tuesday to keep pushing the Republican-led Congress for a Social Security overhaul. The president also acknowledged he was thinking about a Supreme Court vacancy, widely expected this year.
FIERY CRASH: A small plane crashed and burst into flames Tuesday while landing at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, the third accident of the year at the busy airport that caters to corporate jets. The pilot–the only person on board–was hospitalized in fair condition after the wreck.
———-
Compiled from news services and edited by Cara DiPasquale (cdipasquale@tribune.com) and Michael Morgan (mnmorgan@tribune.com)
