DISTRICT
Registered guns not accounted for
Authorities have lost track of thousands of registered handguns, Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said.
There are about 41,000 handguns registered in the city. Of those, 36,000 are owned by residents who registered the weapons before the District’s gun ban took effect in 1976.
Chief Lanier told WTOP-FM that police do not know whether those pre-ban guns are still in the city. She said gun owners were supposed to notify authorities if they were moving or if they no longer owned the gun. But she said many people did not do so.
There also has been no audit to find out where the guns are, but Chief Lanier said that will become easier once the department’s current paper records are upgraded onto an automated system.
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the District’s ban on possessing handguns.
MARYLAND
EDGEMERE
Boy found dead after house fire
A 10-year-old boy died at his Millers Island home after part of the house collapsed on him in an intense fire.
Jacob Grey was found dead underneath debris about 11:45 a.m. Monday, a Baltimore County fire department spokeswoman said. Firefighters called to the two-story waterfront home two hours earlier found half the home consumed in flames.
Firefighters immediately began searching the home but retreated when the roof collapsed and propane tanks started exploding. They brought the fire under control and re-entered the home, where they found the boy’s body in an upstairs room.
The spokeswoman said the home in the 8900 block of Hinton Avenue belonged to the boy’s grandparents. The fire’s cause was still under investigation.
ODENTON
Fireworks blamed in house fire
An Odenton home was extensively damaged by a fire started by a 12-year-old boy playing with fireworks in his bedroom, an Anne Arundel County fire official said.
The fire occurred about noon Saturday in the 500 block of Meadow Mist Way. Sparks from the fireworks set the contents of the room on fire, Battalion Chief Matthew Tobia said.
The boy doused the flames with water, then left the room, thinking the fire was out, Chief Tobia said. But minutes later, the fire reignited and spread to most of the house.
The boy, his five siblings and parents fled the burning house without injury.
It took firefighters about an hour to control the fire. Damage is estimated at $100,000.
Crash kills man near academy
Annapolis police were investigating a fatal motorcycle crash that occurred after a federal police officer tried to pull over the driver.
A Defense Department officer noticed David Hall, 32, speeding near Gate 8 of the Naval Academy at about 1 a.m. Saturday, police said. The officer tried to pull over Mr. Hall, but authorities said he did not stop.
Police said Mr. Hall, who is from Annapolis, sped through a stop sign and hit another car a few blocks from the academy.
He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The driver of the car, Larry Callis, 47, of Annapolis, suffered a broken arm.
BALTIMORE
Woman admits to bank fraud
A Westminster woman has pleaded guilty in a scheme to steal at least $400,000 from the bank were she had been employed, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Authorities have accused Karen L. Baer, 46, of stealing more than $1 million. The loss will be determined at a sentencing hearing on Oct. 3.
Baer worked at PNC bank or its predecessors, Westminster Union Bank and Mercantile Bank from 1998 to October 2007, according to her plea. She removed cash, usually $10,000 at a time, and created false entries in an account, the plea says.
Baer told FBI agents that she used the stolen money for vacations and college tuition for her children. As part of a plea deal, Baer must forfeit her interest in a home, nine bank accounts, a Hummer, a Corvette, and several snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles.
OCEAN CITY
Boat hits bridge, 10 people rescued
Ten people were pulled from the water, some of them injured, after a boat hit the Ocean City Expressway bridge, officials said.
The boat was carrying 10 passengers at about 1 a.m. Sunday and had just left Seacret’s nightclub, officials said. The boat hit the bridge that carries state Route 90 from the mainland across Isle of Wight Bay into the resort.
The vessel was pulled out of the water and seized as evidence, said Sgt. Ken Turner of the state’s Natural Resources Police, which is investigating the accident.
Sgt. Turner could not confirm where the boat was traveling from and did not have reason to suspect that alcohol was involved. He said a heavy fog covered the area Saturday night.
OCEAN CITY
Man charged with biting officers
Ocean City Police have arrested a man after he bit two officers.
Jeffrey Patrick Settle-Yocum, 22, of Brooklyn Park, became belligerent at about 9:40 p.m. Sunday after being arrested on a disorderly-conduct charge, authorities said. Police said he verbally threatened the officers, then assaulted and bit the officers.
Mr. Settle-Yocum also has been charged with resisting arrest and four counts of second-degree assault. He is being held on $10,000 bond.
FREDERICK
Thieves steal diesel fuel
State police were investigating the theft of 430 gallons of diesel fuel from a construction site near Frederick.
Sometime during the long holiday weekend, someone took a white, 500-gallon fuel tank that was nearly filled with fuel, police said.
Police estimated the value of the fuel at more than $1,800.
The contractor on the site at 5100 Buckeystown Pike is Manekin Construction of Columbia.
RICHMOND
Crashes kill 12 over Fourth weekend
Twelve people were killed on Virginia’s highways during the July Fourth weekend.
The preliminary total from state police is six fewer than the 2007 total for the four-day holiday weekend.
The year-to-date figures also decreased. There have been 411 reported traffic fatalities so far in 2008, compared to 504 this time last year, police said.
State Police Superintendent Col. W. Steven Flaherty said it is hard to pinpoint the reason for the decrease but hopes people are finally getting the message about making safe driving a priority.
Of the 12 killed, all but two were male and ranged in age from 17 to 85. Alcohol was a factor in at least one crash. One victim was a New Jersey resident, and the rest were from Virginia.
CHESAPEAKE
Man pleads guilty to killing cashier
A Virginia Beach man has pleaded guilty to killing a convenience-store cashier during a robbery.
John Austin Randall pleaded guilty to first-degree murder Monday in Chesapeake Circuit Court. He also pleaded guilty to robbery, two firearm charges and wearing a mask.
Randall originally was charged with capital murder. He was accused of fatally shooting Ozkan Karasu, 49, on Nov. 8, 2006, during the robbery of a Texaco Food Mart in Chesapeake.
Randall was 17 at the time. Two other teens also were charged in the crime.
VIRGINIA BEACH
Jogger killed by lightning
A woman jogging near the waterline in Virginia Beach was struck and killed by lightning.
Stephanie Dawn Kirpes, 23, was struck at about 5:20 p.m. Sunday in the city’s Sandbridge section.
The Woodbridge woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
WAYNESBORO
Eaglet to have surgery for growth
A baby bald eagle hatched at the Norfolk Botanical Garden will undergo surgery to remove a growth from its beak.
The surgery will be performed Saturday, the Wildlife Center of Virginia said. The eaglet was born in April and was taken to the Waynesboro center on May 22 for treatment.
The center said the golf-ball-sized mass is shrinking, but it is inside the eaglet’s skull and has caused a malformation on the bird’s beak.
The bird’s chances of making a full recovery will not be known until the extent of damage to the underlying bone can be determined, said Dr. Dave McRuer, the center’s director of veterinary medicine.
From wire dispatches and staff reports
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