Mother charged with murder in deaths of 4 children

Mother charged with murder in deaths of 4 children

MEMPHIS, Tenn.

A mother killed four of her children by cutting their throats, and deputy sheriffs found a large butcher knife with what appeared to be blood on it in an apartment where the killings took place, according to court documents filed Saturday.

Shanynthia Gardner, 29, of Memphis, has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder while committing aggravated child neglect in the deaths of her three daughters and one son – all under age 5. Their bodies were found after deputies entered her apartment in a gated community in unincorporated Shelby County on Friday.

Teacher resigns after gun charge

NEWTOWN, Conn.

A middle-school teacher in Newtown, Conn., accused of carrying a loaded .45-caliber pistol in a holster inside the school has resigned.

Newtown School Superintendent Joseph Erardi confirmed Saturday that Jason Adams resigned at the end of the school year.

The teacher at Newtown Middle School was arrested April 6 after police say he was seen with the pistol and detained by school security.

Police say he had a valid pistol permit, but Connecticut state law prohibits possession of firearms on school grounds.

Adams was placed on administrative leave.

Authorities say 5 dead, 25 injured in Florida crash

Five people were killed and 25 injured when an aged bus carrying farmworkers collided with a tractor-trailer and both vehicles burst into flames Saturday at a highway intersection in the Florida Panhandle, authorities said.

The Blue Bird bus from Georgia was carrying about 34 adults and children when it ran a flashing red light and a stop sign before hitting the tractor-trailer, then spun around and hit the semi again, authorities said.

“This is a very horrendous crash, I can tell you,” Wakulla County Sheriff Charlie Creel said, calling it one of the worst in several decades in law enforcement.

BB gun-wielding boy stops vehicle traffic near airport

FARGO, N.D.

A boy wielding a BB gun while playing in a park by a North Dakota runway caused police to stop vehicle traffic near the airport.

Police in Fargo received a report about 9 p.m. Friday about a person holding a gun at the park at Hector International Airport. Police closed the road leading to the airport and approached the park with guns drawn.

WDAY-TV reports that officers stopped a car that began to drive away and found that a 10-year-old boy inside the vehicle had a BB gun.

Police told The Associated Press the child won’t face charges.

State House saved by ‘Ben Franklin lightning rod’

ANNAPOLIS, Md.

Gov. Larry Hogan says the Maryland State House was saved from a lightning strike “by a 208-year-old original Ben Franklin lightning rod.”

The nation’s oldest State House was hit by lightning Friday evening, triggering a sprinkler system in its historic dome. Fire officials say there was no smoke or fire in the building, and no one was injured.

The Republican governor said in a Facebook post Saturday morning that the lightning rod on the dome “was constructed and grounded to Franklin’s exact specifications.”

Associated Press