Girl killed, 2 women hurt in day-care shooting

Girl killed, 2 women hurtin day-care shooting
DETROIT -- A man opened fire at an in-home day-care center Tuesday, killing a 3-year-old girl and critically wounding two women, officials said.
Police spokesman James Tate said the child died after being rushed to the hospital in critical condition. She'd been shot in the head, a doctor said.
Police were searching for the shooter, who they said came to the door of the house, exchanged words with someone, entered and opened fire.
"It appears as though this was not random," Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings said.
Tate said one of the injured women, Annette Rice, 41, owned the day-care business. The second woman was identified as 22-year-old Sherita Griggs, Rice's niece. Both were critically injured.
Griggs' 4-month-son suffered a head injury, possibly from being dropped, and was taken to a hospital, officials said. Her husband, Clarence Griggs, said the child was doing well Tuesday evening.
Two other children, apparently uninjured, were taken to a hospital as a precaution, authorities said.
Scientists expect blastat Mount St. Helens
MOUNT ST. HELENS, Wash. -- A small explosion of rocks, ash and steam could occur within the next few days within the crater of Mount St. Helens, where earthquake activity has been steadily building for nearly a week, scientists said Tuesday.
"It could certainly happen today; it might not happen for weeks or months," said seismologist Seth Moran of the U.S. Geological Survey's Cascade Volcano Observatory. He added that the likelihood of a significant eruption "is fairly small."
Scientists have watched the 925-foot-tall dome of hardened lava that has grown inside the crater since the May 18, 1980, eruption that blew the top off the mountain.
Swarms of tiny earthquakes -- more than 1,000 since the mountain began stirring on Thursday -- have gradually increased, cranking up to a level not seen since 1986, when the volcano's last dome-building eruption occurred.
Tuesday, the quakes were occurring at a rate of two or three a minute. The volcano was releasing three to four times the energy it was releasing Monday, said Jeff Wynn, chief scientist at the volcano observatory in Vancouver, Wash., about 50 miles south of the 8,364-foot mountain.
Israeli raid in Gaza Strip
BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip -- A large force of Israeli tanks, armored vehicles and troops pushed into northern Gaza in an overnight raid aimed at militants who have fired rockets against nearby Israeli towns. Palestinians said the incursion, which continued today, killed at least three Palestinians.
About 110 Israeli vehicles -- including tanks, armored personnel carriers and bulldozers -- swarmed throughout a swath of northern Gaza that militants have used as a staging ground for rocket attacks on Israel in recent days, witnesses said.
In the town of Beit Lahiya, troops sealed off roads as bulldozers destroyed some houses, witnesses said.
Comments disputed
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday that "conspiracy theories" about the state's voting machines are "nonsense," and he criticized former President Jimmy Carter for questioning whether Florida can hold a fair election.
Carter said in an opinion piece in Monday's Washington Post that despite changes designed to eliminate voting problems in Florida, conditions for a fair election still do not exist.
Carter wrote that a repetition of the problems of 2000 -- when some Floridians said they didn't have confidence their votes were counted -- appeared likely.
"There is this constant haranguing of nonsense, including President Carter -- which is a surprise to me because I've admired his compassionate actions in his post-presidential period," Bush said.
Too many cooks
BLUEWELL, W.Va. -- A family meal erupted into a gun battle after a father and son clashed over how to cook chicken. The two men argued Sunday over the best way to prepare skinless chicken for dinner.
"It started out as a physical confrontation, but it escalated until both of them were shooting at each other," Detective Sgt. A.D. Beasley of the Mercer County Sheriff's Department said Monday.
Beasley said each man fired a .22-caliber handgun at the other. Harley Shrader was struck by a bullet that went through the upper part of his right ear and lodged in the back of his head. He was treated at a hospital and released. The elder Shrader was not injured.
Jackie Lee Shrader, 49, was charged with malicious wounding and wanton endangerment. Harley Lee Shrader, 24, was charged with wanton endangerment.
Associated Press