[h=5][/h] Posted: Tuesday, June 11, 2013, 3:01 AM
SANTA MONICA, Calif. - The mother of a gunman who authorities say fatally shot five people in Santa Monica once said the shooter's father had threatened to kill her at least twice during years of turmoil in the family, according to court records obtained yesterday.
" 'If I had a gun it would be over,' " Randa Abdou quoted her husband in a 1998 document seeking a temporary restraining order. The mother of John Zawahri also said that her husband had threatened to take their two young sons to Canada after the couple separated, and that he once punched her.
Authorities said the gunman, John Zawahri, 23, shot his father, Samir Zawahri, 55, and his 25-year-old brother, Christopher Zawahri, on Friday, leaving their home in flames before shooting at strangers in cars and on the Santa Monica College campus during a 15-minute rampage.
[h=4]1 wounded in shooting at San Antonio base[/h] SAN ANTONIO - A soldier who wounded a fellow service member in a shooting yesterday at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio surrendered and is in military custody, a base spokesman said.
The shooting took place at the Army Medical Department Center and School about 2:50 p.m., the Army said. Base spokesman Brent Boller said the gunman surrendered to San Antonio police and the female victim is in stable condition. San Antonio police Chief William McManus told the San Antonio Express-News that the victim and shooter were involved in a relationship and that no other people were targeted in the attack.
[h=4]Journalist: NSA leaker feared unfair U.S. trial[/h] HONG KONG - The American intelligence contractor who disclosed U.S. government surveillance programs fled to Hong Kong because he believed he wouldn't get a fair trial in his home country, the journalist who broke the story said yesterday. Glenn Greenwald of the London-based Guardian said Edward Snowden chose the semiautonomous Chinese region because it was the least bad option. Greenwald said in an interview that Snowden wants to remain out of the "clutches" of the U.S. government for as long as possible but is fully aware that he won't succeed.
Snowden says he worked as a contractor at the National Security Agency and the CIA. He allowed the Guardian and the Washington Post to reveal his identity Sunday as the source of a series of top-secret documents outlining two NSA surveillance programs.
[h=4]Wave of bomb attacks in Iraq kill dozens[/h] BAGHDAD - A wave of car bombings rocked central and northern Iraq yesterday, killing at least 57 people and extending the deadliest eruption of violence to hit the country in years. Attackers initially targeted market-goers early in the morning, then turned their sights on police and army posts after sunset. Security forces scrambled to contain the violence, blocking a key road in central Iraq and imposing a curfew. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for yesterday's attacks.
[h=4]Report talks of NYC's scary future for floods[/h] NEW YORK - By the 2050s, more than 800,000 New York City residents could be living in a flood zone that would cover a quarter of the city's land, and New Yorkers could sweat out as many 90-degree days as is now normal for Birmingham, Ala., as effects of global warming take hold, a scientists' group convened by the city said.
Eight percent of the city's coastline could see flooding just from high tides, the group estimates. And while the average day could be 4 degrees to nearly 7 degrees hotter, a once-in-a-century storm would likely spur a surge 5 or more feet higher than Superstorm Sandy.
The updated predictions were released yesterday, ahead of recommendations Mayor Michael Bloomberg is to present today on what to do about threats that Sandy brought into stark relief.
- Daily News wire reports
SANTA MONICA, Calif. - The mother of a gunman who authorities say fatally shot five people in Santa Monica once said the shooter's father had threatened to kill her at least twice during years of turmoil in the family, according to court records obtained yesterday." 'If I had a gun it would be over,' " Randa Abdou quoted her husband in a 1998 document seeking a temporary restraining order. The mother of John Zawahri also said that her husband had threatened to take their two young sons to Canada after the couple separated, and that he once punched her.
Authorities said the gunman, John Zawahri, 23, shot his father, Samir Zawahri, 55, and his 25-year-old brother, Christopher Zawahri, on Friday, leaving their home in flames before shooting at strangers in cars and on the Santa Monica College campus during a 15-minute rampage.
[h=4]1 wounded in shooting at San Antonio base[/h] SAN ANTONIO - A soldier who wounded a fellow service member in a shooting yesterday at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio surrendered and is in military custody, a base spokesman said.
The shooting took place at the Army Medical Department Center and School about 2:50 p.m., the Army said. Base spokesman Brent Boller said the gunman surrendered to San Antonio police and the female victim is in stable condition. San Antonio police Chief William McManus told the San Antonio Express-News that the victim and shooter were involved in a relationship and that no other people were targeted in the attack.
[h=4]Journalist: NSA leaker feared unfair U.S. trial[/h] HONG KONG - The American intelligence contractor who disclosed U.S. government surveillance programs fled to Hong Kong because he believed he wouldn't get a fair trial in his home country, the journalist who broke the story said yesterday. Glenn Greenwald of the London-based Guardian said Edward Snowden chose the semiautonomous Chinese region because it was the least bad option. Greenwald said in an interview that Snowden wants to remain out of the "clutches" of the U.S. government for as long as possible but is fully aware that he won't succeed.
Snowden says he worked as a contractor at the National Security Agency and the CIA. He allowed the Guardian and the Washington Post to reveal his identity Sunday as the source of a series of top-secret documents outlining two NSA surveillance programs.
[h=4]Wave of bomb attacks in Iraq kill dozens[/h] BAGHDAD - A wave of car bombings rocked central and northern Iraq yesterday, killing at least 57 people and extending the deadliest eruption of violence to hit the country in years. Attackers initially targeted market-goers early in the morning, then turned their sights on police and army posts after sunset. Security forces scrambled to contain the violence, blocking a key road in central Iraq and imposing a curfew. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for yesterday's attacks.
[h=4]Report talks of NYC's scary future for floods[/h] NEW YORK - By the 2050s, more than 800,000 New York City residents could be living in a flood zone that would cover a quarter of the city's land, and New Yorkers could sweat out as many 90-degree days as is now normal for Birmingham, Ala., as effects of global warming take hold, a scientists' group convened by the city said.
Eight percent of the city's coastline could see flooding just from high tides, the group estimates. And while the average day could be 4 degrees to nearly 7 degrees hotter, a once-in-a-century storm would likely spur a surge 5 or more feet higher than Superstorm Sandy.
The updated predictions were released yesterday, ahead of recommendations Mayor Michael Bloomberg is to present today on what to do about threats that Sandy brought into stark relief.
- Daily News wire reports