Arizona city honors Giffords, other shooting victims

Arizona city honors Giffords, other shooting victims

TUCSON, Ariz.

Bell ringing and a human embrace event Sunday marked the solemn six-year anniversary of the mass shooting in Tucson that left six people dead and 13 others wounded, including former U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

Giffords was the target at the meet-and-greet event with constituents outside a supermarket and was gravely wounded after being shot in the head.

Among those killed were 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green, U.S. District Court Judge John Roll and Giffords aide Gabe Zimmerman.

Gunman Jared Loughner was sentenced in 2012 to seven life terms in prison plus 140 years after pleading guilty to 19 counts related to the shooting.

Cleveland zoo says male gorilla has died

CLEVELAND

One of the Cleveland’s zoo’s two male western lowland gorillas died Friday, zoo officials said.

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo first announced the death of 32-year-old Bebac on its Facebook page.

Zoo Executive Director Chris Kuhar called Bebac one of the zoo’s iconic animals in an interview Saturday. Dozens of tributes along with photos of Bebac taken by zoo visitors were posted on Facebook.

Bebac and 29-year-old Mokolo came to the Cleveland zoo in 1994 from Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo, where they both were born.

The zoo’s medical staff struggled to find a treatment to make Bebac well after his health began deteriorating a month ago, Kuhar said. Gorillas living in captivity have an average life expectancy of about 30 years.

Fiat Chrysler adds 3 new Jeeps, creates 2,000 US jobs

DETROIT

Fiat Chrysler says it’s investing $1 billion in its U.S. factories to create 2,000 new jobs and add three new Jeep vehicles including a pickup truck.

The company says it will modernize a factory in the Detroit suburb of Warren, Mich., to make the new Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer large SUVs.

A plant in Toledo also will get new equipment to make a new Jeep pickup.

Mom, boyfriend charged in death of teenage girl

NEWTOWN, Pa.

A woman whose teenage daughter’s dismembered remains were found in the woods last fall has been charged along with her boyfriend with killing the girl in a “rape-murder fantasy” the couple shared, a prosecutor said Sunday.

Sara Packer and Jacob Sullivan face charges including criminal homicide, rape, kidnapping and abuse of a corpse over the July death of 14-year-old Grace Packer, online court documents show.

On the morning of July 8, Grace, who had been adopted by Sara Packer, was taken to the attic of a house the couple rented, where she was beaten and then raped by Sullivan as her mother watched, an affidavit said.

She was then poisoned, bound and gagged and left for dead, Weintraub said.

Associated Press