Mauled man wanted to be one with tiger

Mauled man wanted to be one with tiger

NEW YORK

Before his now-infamous tangle with a Bronx Zoo tiger, David Villalobos adorned his Facebook page with New Age odes to Mother Earth and affirmations such as “Be love and fearless.”

Police said Saturday that Villalobos had told detectives that it was without fear that he leaped from an elevated train into the animal’s den. His reason, they said, was that “he wanted to be one with the tiger.”

Villalobos also recounted how, after he landed on all fours, the 400-pound beast attacked him and dragged him around by his foot, said New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne. Despite serious injuries, he claimed he was able to get his wish and pet the tiger — a male Siberian named Bashuta — before his rescue, the spokesman added.

Officer shoots, kills double amputee

HOUSTON

A Houston police officer fatally shot a one-armed, one-legged man in a wheelchair after the double amputee waved a metal object that turned out to be a pen, police said.

Police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said the man cornered the officer early Saturday inside a group home after police were called there to check on a disturbance.

Silva said the man was making threats while trying to stab the officer with the pen. She said the officer did not know what the metal object was at the time.

Silva said the man came “within inches to a foot” of the officer and did not follow instructions to calm down and remain still.

Police did not immediately release the man’s name. The officer, Matthew Jacob Marin, has been placed on administrative leave.

Syrian rebels move command

BEIRUT

The leaders of the rebel Free Syrian Army said Saturday they moved their command center from Turkey to Syria with the aim of uniting rebels and speeding up the fall of President Bashar Assad’s regime.

Brig. Gen. Mustafa al-Sheikh, who heads the FSA’s Military Council, told The Associated Press that the group made the move last week. He would not say where the new headquarters is located or give other details.

The FSA is the most prominent of the rebel groups trying to topple Assad, though its authority over networks of fighters in Syria is limited. Its commanders have been criticized for being based in Turkey while thousands are killed inside Syria.

Ex-CIA operative Edwin Wilson dies

SEATTLE

Edwin Wilson set up front companies abroad for the CIA, made millions in the arms trade and entertained generals and congressmen at his sprawling Virginia farm.

His high-powered, jet-setting life in the 1970s and early 1980s followed a career in the CIA. But it came crashing down when he was branded a traitor and convicted in 1983 for shipping 20 tons of C-4 plastic explosives to Libya.

After two decades in prison, Wilson finally got the conviction overturned, convincing a judge that he had continued to work informally for the agency.

Wilson died Sept. 10 from complications from a heart valve replacement surgery, said Craig Emmick, a director at Columbia Funeral Home in Seattle. He was 84.

Associated Press