MAN KILLED AFTER HE HIT 2 OFFICERS WITH ROCKS: PASCO, Wash. (AP) — A homeless man who was shot and killed by officers at a busy intersection had thrown multiple rocks, hitting two officers, and had refused to put down other stones, authorities said Wednesday.
Officers used a stun gun on the man, but it had no effect, Pasco Police Chief Bob Metzger said at a news conference. Because of his “threatening” behavior, officers fired their guns, he said.
Metzger said he did not know whether a weapon was found.
The man killed was 35-year-old Antonio Zambrano-Montes, whose last address was a Pasco homeless shelter, said Franklin County Coroner Dan Blasdel.
Witnesses say the man was running away when he was shot. They told the Tri-City Herald the man had run about half a block when he was killed about 5 p.m. Tuesday near the Fiesta Foods store.
The shooting occurred after officers responded to a report of a man throwing rocks at cars at a busy intersection near a grocery store.
Several dozen people gathered at Pasco City Hall on Wednesday afternoon to raise concerns about the shooting.
The ACLU of Washington also issued a statement, calling the incident “very disturbing.”
“Fleeing from police and not following an officer’s command should not be sufficient for a person to get shot,” the group’s executive director, Kathleen Taylor. Deadly force should be used only as a last resort, she said.
Witness Ben Patrick told the newspaper police fired at the man as his back was turned.
“I really thought they were just going walk up and tackle or tase him,” he said. “But they opened fire. His back was turned.”
2 MEN CONVICTED OF MOLESTING WOMAN INVITED TO BIBLE STUDY: ELIZABETH, N.J. (AP) — Two men accused of luring a mentally disabled woman to a home under the pretense of participating in Bible study before taking turns sexually assaulting her and kicking her out during a snowstorm have been convicted.
A Union County jury on Wednesday convicted Edward Woodson and Marcal Campbell of aggravated sex assault and sex assault charges. Woodson also was convicted of kidnapping.
The Plainfield residents, who had denied the crimes, face lengthy prison terms when they’re sentenced next month.
Prosecutors said the sex assaults occurred at Woodson’s home in January 2011. Woodson lured the woman from her home with the Bible study invitation and promised to return her home safely, they said.
However, Woodson and Campbell took turns sexually assaulting her in the basement for more than an hour and then kicked her out early the next day with no cellphone, no money and no means to get home.
The woman was found hours later and needed medical attention. She quickly reported the attack to authorities, and Woodson and Campbell were arrested a short time later.
Woodson, 34, faces up to 30 years in state prison, while Campbell, also 34, faces up to 20 years. They would have to serve 85 percent of their terms before they could become eligible for parole.
PARTIAL WEST COAST PORT SHUTDOWN LOOMS; CONTRACT TALKS STALL: LOS ANGELES (AP) — Troubles on the West Coast waterfront are getting worse.
Amid an increasingly damaging labor dispute, 29 West Coast seaports which handle about $1 trillion of goods annually will be mostly closed four of the next five days.
The announcement came Wednesday from the association representing companies that operate marine terminals where dockworkers move containers of goods on and off massive ocean-going vessels, eventually transferring the containers onto trucks or trains for distribution nationwide.
Companies said they won’t hire crews to load or unload ships Thursday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday — when they’d have to pay presidents’ day holiday or weekend wages to dockworkers they accuse of slowing their work to gain leverage in contract talks.
Employers do not want to pay hourly rates that are at least 50 percent above normal, which would bring a few of the highest-paid dockworkers to close to $100 per hour, according to Steve Getzug, a spokesman for the Pacific Maritime Association.
Instead, terminal operators could decide to hire smaller crews that would focus on moving already-unloaded containers into the flow of commerce. Full crews would still service military and cruise ships, and any cargo ships bound for Hawaii — but these are small operations compared to work on container ships that are as long as some skyscrapers are tall.
MAN ARRESTED IN BIZARRE NEVADA ROAD-RAGE INCIDENT : SPARKS, Nev. (AP) — A Nevada man has been arrested on allegations that he shot another man in a bizarre road-rage incident that ended with the victim driving himself to the hospital in the suspect’s pickup.
Sparks police say 20-year-old Cesar Romero has been booked on several charges including assault with a deadly weapon.
Witnesses told police the victim was driving an Audi on Tuesday morning when Romero allegedly ran him off a suburban street in a Toyota pickup truck.
Police say Romero shot the man in the chest. They say the victim eventually wrestled the gun away from Romero and struck him in the head with a baseball bat before taking Romero’s truck and driving himself to the hospital.
MAN CONVICTED OF KILLING WIFE ON DAY SHE FILED FOR DIVORCE: NEWPORT, N.H. (AP) — A Vermont man was convicted Wednesday of beating his wife to death hours after she filed divorce papers and dumping her body off a remote logging road in the woods.
James Robarge, 45, had testified during his murder trial he didn’t kill her, but a New Hampshire jury convicted him after deliberating for more than 12 hours over three days.
Kelly Robarge, 42, filed for divorce after more than 20 years of marriage on June 27, 2013 — the day she disappeared from her Charlestown, New Hampshire, home. Her badly decomposed body was found 10 days later in Unity, her head and hands detached from the corpse.
