4 people killed in mall shooting

4 people killed in mall shooting

SEATTLE

Authorities in Washington state said four people have been killed during a shooting at a mall north of Seattle and that at least one suspect remains at large.

The Washington State Patrol said on Twitter that the four were shot Friday at the Cascade Mall in Burlington, about 65 miles north of Seattle.

Sgt. Mark Francis said authorities were searching for a man wearing gray who was last seen walking toward Interstate 5. Francis said it wasn’t immediately known if there was more than one gunman involved.

Foreign hacker who aided Islamic State gets 20 years in US

ALEXANDRIA, Va.

A computer hacker who helped the Islamic State by providing names of more than 1,000 U.S. government and military workers as potential targets was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison.

The sentence was much higher than the 6-year term sought by defense lawyers, who argued that their client, Ardit Ferizi, meant no real harm and is not a true supporter of the Islamic State.

“He was a nonsensical, misguided teenager who did not know what he was doing,” said public defender Elizabeth Mullin. “He has never embraced ISIL’s ideology.”

2 tornados touch down hundreds of miles apart in Utah

SALT LAKE CITY

Two tornados touched down hundreds of miles apart in Utah, damaging about two dozen buildings and knocking out power to thousands of people.

The severe weather also flooded streets and dropped golf-ball-size hail in some areas.

No serious injuries were reported, but damage from one tornado left 21 homes unlivable in the Washington Terrace area, sheriff’s Lt. Nate Hutchinson told the Deseret News.

About 50 families were evacuated due to the tornado, and damages were expected to top $1.5 million.

British warplanes bomb IS to support Iraqi push on Mosul

AKROTIRI, Cyprus

British Tornado and Typhoon aircraft stationed at a U.K. air base in Cyprus pounded Islamic State targets ahead of a major offensive by Iraqi security forces next month to recapture the key northern city of Mosul from IS militants, a senior Royal Air Force officer said.

Air Commodore Sammy Sampson said Iraqi forces are confident they can retake the country’s second-largest city from IS and that British warplanes will provide the needed support to get the job done.

“We’ll stand by them. We’ll support them. We will make it doable for them,” Sampson told reporters Thursday on a guided tour of the RAF Akrotiri base’s operations.

Puerto Rico struggles with power outage

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico

Frustration mounted across Puerto Rico on Friday amid record-high heat as the U.S. territory struggled to restore electricity more than two days after a power plant fire caused an island-wide blackout when it shut down an aging utility grid.

Cheers were intermixed with groans as power came and went during the day, frustrating some who already had stocked up at the supermarket and others who complained that the surges were damaging their home appliances.

Roughly 75 percent of 1.5 million homes and businesses served by the island’s power company had electricity restored by late Friday, but officials warned that number would keep fluctuating.

Associated Press