Shooter in Florida kills 2 deputies

Shooter in Florida kills 2 deputies

TRENTON, Fla.

Someone fired through the window of a north Florida restaurant Thursday afternoon, killing two deputies who were getting food, officials said.

Gilchrist County Sheriff Bobby Schultz identified the slain deputies during a news conference as Sgt. Noel Ramirez, 30, and Deputy Taylor Lindsey, 25.

The deputies were getting food at the Ace China restaurant in Trenton when the shooter walked up to the building and fired at them through a window, Schultz said. Fellow deputies responding to the scene found the shooter dead outside the business.

Schultz wouldn’t say how the suspect died, adding that state law-enforcement officials were investigating. There’s no apparent motive for the shooting.

Hundreds gather near Columbine for gun-control rally

DENVER

About 1,000 people, including a group of students from Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, gathered in a park near Columbine High School to push for gun control and to highlight the importance of voting in the next election.

The group gathered Thursday evening, the day before the 19th anniversary of the Colorado school shooting that killed 12 students and a teacher.

Some held signs that read, “Change Gun Laws,” “Change Congress” and “I Will Vote.”

Students at high schools across the country are expected to walk out of classes today to call for gun control. Columbine High School will be closed, and students there will stick with their tradition of holding a day of service to commemorate the tragedy.

Gatherers celebrate former first lady at Houston’s City Hall

HOUSTON

The memorials to former first lady Barbara Bush have begun with a celebration of her life in front of Houston’s City Hall.

Mayor Sylvester Turner and several of Houston’s leading clergy members from different faiths offered tributes to Bush. She died at her Houston home Tuesday at age 92.

The Houston Children’s Chorus, a choir of 60 children that sang dozens of times for Mrs. Bush and her husband, former President George H.W. Bush, performed at the City Hall event Thursday.

Meanwhile, at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, rock star Bono praised Barbara Bush for her public service impulse. He said he believed that moved her son, former President George W. Bush, to create the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

FBI offers $1M for info on US reporter missing in Syria

WASHINGTON

Federal authorities for the first time are offering a reward for information leading to an American journalist who has been missing in Syria for more than five years. The reward is up to $1 million.

Austin Tice, of Houston, Texas, disappeared in August 2012 while covering Syria’s civil war. A video released a month later showed him blindfolded and held by armed men saying, “Oh, Jesus.” He has not been heard from since.

Tice is a former Marine who has reported for The Washington Post, McClatchy Newspapers, CBS and other outlets. He disappeared shortly after his 31st birthday.

Associated Press