2 shot at recruiting center

2 shot at recruiting center

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A man with “political and religious motives” killed a soldier just out of basic training and wounded another Monday in a targeted attack on a military recruiting center, police said. The shootings were not believed to be part of a broader scheme.

The soldiers completed basic training within the past two weeks and were not regular recruiters, said Lt. Col. Thomas F. Artis of the Oklahoma City Recruiting Battalion, which oversees the Little Rock office.

William Long, 24, of Conway, died, and Quinton Ezeagwula, 18, of Jacksonville, was wounded and in stable condition, Police Chief Stuart Thomas said.

Police arrested Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, 23, along a crosstown interstate moments after the shootings at the Army-Navy Career Center in a shopping center in west Little Rock.

‘Catcher’ author sues

NEW YORK — J.D. Salinger is taking another fan to court.

The 90-year-old creator of “The Catcher in the Rye,” as protective of his copyright as he is of his privacy, is seeking an injunction against the writer, publishers and distributor of a spinoff of the author’s famous novel.

Lawyers for Salinger filed the lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan on Monday, seeking to force a recall of what it says is a copycat book titled “60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye,” by someone writing under the name John David California. It also seeks unspecified damages.

Minnesota election case

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism Monday about Republican Norm Coleman’s claim that thousands of absentee ballots in his Senate race against Democrat Al Franken were illegally excluded.

During a hearing in St. Paul, Minn., justices pointed out that Coleman’s legal team had acknowledged that no voter fraud had occurred. A lower court ruled in April that Franken won the race by 312 votes.

“We don’t have admissible evidence that can be considered by this court,” said Justice Christopher J. Dietzen, a Republican appointed to the court by Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. “It seems like you’re offering little more than an opening statement.”

The court is expected to issue a ruling within the next few weeks.

Militants ambush students

ISLAMABAD — Taliban militants ambushed a convoy of vehicles carrying at least 400 students, staff and relatives from a boys school Monday, taking dozens — possibly hundreds — captive in northwestern Pakistan, officials said.

Police were negotiating for the captives’ release after the brazen abduction — part of a string of militant actions in Pakistan’s tribal belt that the army believes is partly aimed at distracting the military from its offensive against the Taliban in the Swat Valley. The militants were said to be armed with rockets, grenades and automatic weapons.

More missile defense eyed

FORT GREELY, Alaska — Defense Secretary Robert Gates isn’t ruling out spending more on missile defense than what he’s asked for in next year’s budget if North Korea or other nations increase threats against the United States.

Gates said the missile tests by North Korea over the past week appear to have attracted more support on Capitol Hill for missile interceptors.

Gates was visiting the Missile Defense Complex in remote Alaska on Monday. The U.S. plans to store 26 ground-based missile interceptors in silos there. Four others are at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Gates said he thinks that’s enough to protect the U.S. right now.

Newborn found in motel

WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — A newborn is being cared for at a hospital after being found abandoned — umbilical cord still attached — in a West Springfield motel room littered with empty beer cans.

Police said the baby was discovered early Saturday by a couple returning to the room next door at the Welcome Inn.

Kimberly Dougherty told the Republican newspaper of Springfield that she heard a weak cry coming from the next room. The door was ajar and when she entered, she found the baby girl lying on her back in the middle of a double bed.

Dougherty said she and her husband wrapped the baby in towels until paramedics arrived and took the infant to Baystate Medical Center.

Dougherty guessed that the baby was only an hour or two old.

Investigators are trying to track down the mother.

Combined dispatches