Assaults San Diego

It's what you have probably come to expect from the winless Indianapolis Colts this season: Angry at barbs thrown at him by broadcaster and former Buffalo quarterback Jim Kelly, quarterback Jim Harbaugh threw a punch--and instead of popping him in the nose, he missed. Instead, Kelly's head intercepted the blow. And as a result, Harbaugh fractured his throwing hand, and will be sidelined without pay.

A man allegedly angry about having his car towed went on a vandalism rampage at police headquarters early Sunday, breaking windows and glass doors and damaging three patrol cars, an official said. The suspect caused about $15,000 in damage to the building by smashing windows and glass doors with a crowbar or sledgehammer, said San Diego Police Sgt. Tom Carmody.

The battered body of a 15-year-old girl was found along the bank of a sand pit in a small New Jersey town. Her skull had been crushed with a 44-pound boulder and her body beaten with a baseball bat. Edgar Smith, a 23-year-old acquaintance of the girl, was convicted of the murder and sentenced to die in the electric chair. While on Death Row in a New Jersey prison, he began corresponding with conservative columnist William F. Buckley, who eventually became convinced of Smith's innocence.

A vice principal was the apparent target of the 18-year-old gunman who opened fire with a shotgun at his high school, wounding four others before he was shot by a campus police officer, authorities said Friday. Officials declined to say why they believe Jason Hoffman, a senior at Granite Hills High School, targeted Vice Principal Dan Barnes, who was fired at once but escaped unhurt by diving into a doorway. In all, 10 people were injured in the afternoon shootout.

A 13-year-old student has been arrested after a history teacher's iced tea was spiked with the hallucinatory substance LSD and the teacher became sick and disoriented, officials said. The youth, an eighth-grader, has been taken to Juvenile Hall, pending a hearing Monday on a possible felony charge. John Duitsman, a veteran teacher at Challenger Middle School, was treated and released at a hospital but has not returned to work.

Sagon Penn, twice acquitted in the shooting of two San Diego policemen and a civilian ride-along in a racially charged case that sharply divided the community, was arrested Wednesday morning on suspicion of attempted murder. Penn, 27, was taken into custody without incident by two police officers responding to a domestic disturbance call. Penn allegedly had tried to strangle the boyfriend of Donna Parks, Penn's former girlfriend. Penn was held in the downtown County Jail, where he was booked on suspicion of attempted murder, burglary and misdemeanor vandalism.

In a rare use of the state's hate crime law in a case involving attacks against women, a jury Thursday convicted an ex-convict of a felony hate crime in one attack but not in four others. In the case that drew the hate crime conviction, the victim was standing near the door of a downtown nightspot when Billy Dean McCall, without saying a word, knocked her to the ground. She suffered a fractured skull.

Police arrested a man for questioning in the shooting of a 40-year-old woman Thursday during a matinee of the movie "Schindler's List." James Michael Kirby, 45, of San Diego, was arrested by La Mesa police and turned over to the San Diego Police Department, according to a statement from the San Diego department. Kirby was stopped by a La Mesa police officer for driving erratically. During a routine check of his name, police identified Kirby as the owner of the gun used in the shooting.

An official at United Artists Theaters on Friday defended security measures at the nationwide chain, a day after a woman watching "Schindler's List" was shot and wounded by a man sitting behind her in the audience at a downtown San Diego movie theater. The shooting touched off panic among many patrons. "It's a very isolated type of case," said Ray Nutt, vice president of corporate operations. "There isn't anything I foresee that United Artists could have done to prevent this situation."

Kevin Mitchell, the 1989 National League most valuable player, was arrested Tuesday for allegedly battering his father in a dispute over rent. Mitchell, 37, was booked into county jail on a charge of attacking Earl Mitchell, 56, at a home owned jointly by Kevin Mitchell and his grandmother. Mitchell offered no resistance when taken into custody, according to police spokesman Bill Robinson.

The San Diego Union-Tribune was inundated with telephone calls Thursday from people urging that it run a large photograph of the officer who stopped the Granite Hills High School shooting suspect high on the front page. The hundreds of callers, who apparently were responding to a request they heard on the popular Roger Hedgecock talk radio program, placed editor Karin Winner in an uncomfortable position.

There had been time for tears to dry, no time yet for wounds to heal. Santee Mayor Randy Voepel had returned to work Thursday for his first full day since the shooting at Santana High School two weeks ago. It was early afternoon when he got the telephone call. Another shooting. In neighboring El Cajon. At Granite Hills High School. "All I could do is turn on the radio and try not to cry," said Voepel, who calls himself a small-town, part-time mayor.

James Zumwalt has always been proud of his daughter Fran, who followed in his footsteps and those of his wife, Margarida, to become a teacher at Granite Hills High School. On Thursday, he was frantic with worry--and then very proud of her again. Fran Zumwalt, a 47-year-old social studies teacher, was slightly wounded Thursday by shotgun pellets allegedly fired by Jason Hoffman, 18. She was one of five injured by gunfire--in addition to the suspect, who was shot by a campus police officer.

For the second time in three weeks, a teenage gunman opened fire at a suburban San Diego high school, wounding five people Thursday before a policeman on duty at the campus brought a quick end to the attack, shooting the gunman. Police identified the suspect as Jason Hoffman, 18, a Granite Hills High School senior variously described as a good student and a loner with emotional problems. He was shot in the face and buttocks. None of the injuries to him or others was critical. Shortly before 1 p.

Authorities have arrested three Camp Pendleton Marines on suspicion of armed carjacking. Pfc. Deon L. Hudson, 20, a machine gunner from Dallas, and Pfc. Monterrio D. Ridgle, 23, a mortar-man from Fort Worth, Texas, were arrested Monday on charges of conspiracy, robbery, carjacking and vehicle theft. Pfc. Gerren Phipps, 19, a rifleman from Raleigh, N.C., was arrested Tuesday. All three were being held Tuesday in county jail.

The case of an alleged hate crime against elderly Latino migrants became a political issue Tuesday when a sharply divided City Council rejected a proposal to pay $10,000 in public money to tipsters whose help led to the arrest of eight teenagers. Soon after the July 5 attack, two council members, at an emotional news conference, decried the unprovoked beating and promised the city would contribute $10,000 to a reward fund.

For the second time in three weeks, a teenage gunman opened fire at a suburban San Diego high school, wounding five people Thursday before a policeman on duty at the campus brought a quick end to the attack, shooting the gunman. Police identified the suspect as Jason Hoffman, 18, a Granite Hills High School senior variously described as a good student and a loner with emotional problems. He was shot in the face and buttocks. None of the injuries to him or others was critical. Shortly before 1 p.

A vice principal was the apparent target of the 18-year-old gunman who opened fire with a shotgun at his high school, wounding four others before he was shot by a campus police officer, authorities said Friday. Officials declined to say why they believe Jason Hoffman, a senior at Granite Hills High School, targeted Vice Principal Dan Barnes, who was fired at once but escaped unhurt by diving into a doorway. In all, 10 people were injured in the afternoon shootout.

A 2-year-old boy was struck and killed by a stray bullet and two adults died when a gunman burst into an apartment and opened fire, police said Tuesday. The child was asleep in a bedroom when the boy's uncle and the man's girlfriend were shot in the living room of their apartment late Monday in the city's Normal Heights neighborhood, Lt. Ray Sigwalt said. The attack was apparently retribution for a dispute involving drugs, Sigwalt said. Michael Plummer, 27, died at the apartment.

In one of the state's first hate-crime convictions for attacks on women, an ex-convict Thursday was sentenced to six years in prison. "A woman should not walk in fear of unprovoked attacks," Superior Court Judge Judith Hayes told Billy Dean McCall, 29, in sentencing him for attacks on four women, including the daughter of Police Chief David Bejarano. McCall was also fined $1,200.