Shootings

A Sacramento man who drove across the country to confront his estranged wife shot and killed her in a church vestibule as services were ending, authorities said. Two other people were critically injured in the attack, which sent worshipers scrambling for safety. Police were searching for Joseph M. Pallipurath, 27, who fled after the shootings, authorities said. About 200 people were inside St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church in Clifton, N.J., when the gunman opened fire, killing Reshma James, 24, and injuring a 47-year-old woman and a 23-year-old man. Bedlam broke out after the shots were fired, churchgoers said.

WASHINGTON -- More green shoots are appearing in the nation's long-dormant housing market. Sales of new homes rose 3.3% in April from March to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 343,000, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. That was slightly stronger than what most analysts had forecast, and the latest in a string of recent reports suggesting that a housing recovery is taking hold. On Tuesday, the National Assn. of Realtors said existing home sales increased 3.

Law enforcement authorities Saturday were investigating three unrelated shootings that killed two men in Boyle Heights and a partygoer in Watts. Francisco Tomas, 22, died late Friday night after being shot in an apparent gang- related attack, LA. police said. Tomas was walking in the 3300 block of East Olympic Boulevard in Boyle Heights about 10:45 p.m. with two friends when two men approached and asked where they were from, according to police. The assailants then began shooting and fatally wounded Tomas in the chest.

In the stream of photos on their Facebook pages, Javier Bolden and Bryan Barnes look like the life of the party. The young men hung out with a group that dubbed itself "No Respect Inc.," a "party crew" that followed a local DJ to parties and other events across South Los Angeles. The photos show Bolden and Barnes dancing, shirtless, showing off their tattoos and muscles, and striking poses with young women. Under one photo Barnes took of himself in December, he wrote: "Merry Christmas To All Da Females Dat Didnt Have A Good Christmas :)"

Gunshots struck five vehicles on a stretch of Interstate 64 west of Charlottesville, injuring two motorists and prompting officials to close nearby schools and increase police presence along the highway. Investigators hunted for two or more people in the shootings, which closed I-64 for six hours for 20 miles from Charlottesville to Waynesboro. Police also had a possible lead on a vehicle used in the shootings: an AMC Gremlin seen on a surveillance camera near a credit union in Waynesboro, where evidence of gunshots was found.

One of USC's top track athletes, who set state records as a high school sprinter in Long Beach, is in the hospital after being shot three times in the legs a few blocks from the school, police said. Bryshon Nellum, 19, was walking out of a restaurant at Vermont Avenue near West Adams Boulevard with a few other people about 2 a.m. Friday when several men drove by in a car. One of them may have yelled a gang slogan before opening fire, Los Angeles Police Officer Sam Park said Saturday.

The FBI and Los Angeles police have arrested a 25-year-old man in the shooting deaths of at least three rival gang members, officials said Thursday. William Vasquez was taken into custody Oct. 13 at the apartment complex where he lived in the Westlake district, investigators said. He pleaded not guilty Tuesday to three murder charges and was being held on $2-million bail. "They believe he may be tied to other murders," said Lt. Paul Vernon, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department.

An Atlanta-based rapper was fatally shot in the valet waiting area of the Beverly Center mall Monday by a suspect who fled in a silver Mercedes SUV, according to police. Officers later detained a "person of interest" as he approached the ticketing area at Los Angeles International Airport armed with a gun. The shooting occurred about 3:10 p.m. in the parking garage of the popular Westside mall, sending diners in nearby restaurants diving for cover.

A high-profile murder proceeding ended in an uproar Friday after a judge issued a surprise ruling that his own jury instructions were inadequate and that the defendant--charged with killing a teenager over a stolen Halloween pumpkin display--deserves a new trial. The decision in the case of Buena Park homeowner Peter Solomona prompted an angry exchange between the families of the suspect and the victim, Brandon Ketsdever, who was 17.

A shooting rampage that left four dead and one critically wounded at a San Francisco residential hotel was apparently triggered when a victim bumped into the gunman by accident, police and witnesses said Sunday. Gunman John Bravard, 53, whom fellow residents described as short-tempered and intense, opened fire in the lobby of the Dalt Hotel Saturday evening, just hours after he had quarreled with another resident at the hotel's elevator.

After spending a season fighting age, battling immaturity, struggling with old habits and jabbing with a new coach, the Lakers have ended up where we pretty much thought they would. Out of breath and on the ropes. Their veteran star is exhausted and annoyed. Their kid center is angry and distant. Their power forward is uncertain and embattled. And their season is officially on the brink after they blew a 13-point lead in a 103-100 loss to Oklahoma City on Saturday in the fourth and perhaps deciding game of their first-round playoff series.

Nearly every time Andrew Bynum muscled his way inside, two barricades stopped his imposing presence. One roadblock came in the form of Thunder center Kendrick Perkins, whose physical approach to defense suddenly prevented Bynum from bullying his way to the basket. The other barrier simply reflected Bynum missing routine hooks, post-up shots or "bunnies," as he likes to call them. The Lakers' 99-96 victory Friday over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal playoff series featured Bynum shooting only two of 13 from the field, leading him to say, "My touch today was a little off around the rim. " Yet, Lakers Coach Mike Brown gushed afterward that Bynum "was an absolute monster.

ATLANTA - On the night George Zimmerman fatally shot unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida, a witness said he saw some of the scuffle - and described a black man in a dark hoodie on top of a white or Latino man, punching him repeatedly, "mixed martial arts style. " Then there was a pop, the witness told police, according to documents made public Thursday in Zimmerman's second-degree murder case. Soon, he said, the man in the hoodie was "laid out in the grass. " The detail, one of many in a trove of discovery records released by prosecutors, could bolster Zimmerman's contention that he acted in self-defense on the night of Feb. 26, after he called police and reported Martin as a suspicious character in his neighborhood.

Seven deputies from the Los Angeles County sheriff's gang unit have been placed on leave on suspicion that they belong to a secret clique that celebrates shootings and brands its members with matching tattoos, sources confirmed. The move is a sign of the intensifying nature of the investigation of the "Jump Out Boys. " Suspicion about the group's existence was sparked several weeks ago when a supervisor found a pamphlet describing the group's creed, which promoted aggressive policing and portrayed officer shootings in a positive light.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Point broken. The Lakers continued to suffer in point-guard production against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Ramon Sessions had two points and no assists in 24 minutes of the Lakers' 77-75 loss in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals. Steve Blake had five points on one-for-five shooting in almost 27 minutes Wednesday. Blake missed the possible go-ahead shot with 3.9 seconds to play, his three-point attempt from the corner a little long and a tad to the right.

Re "Beck, panel again at odds on shooting," May 7 It has been said that if the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for the law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. That's what happened when police officers beat Rodney King worse than an animal and then were absolved of any wrongdoing by the same court system that gets tough on everyone else. Now Los Angeles Police Det. Arthur Gamboa shoots a man in the back twice, and Chief Charlie Beck wants the public to believe Gamboa was in fear for his life, so it's OK. Maybe Beck should have the motto "to protect and to serve" removed from the police cars.

The future once seemed very bright for Naveed Afzal Haq, the son of a Pakistan-born civil structural engineer at the Hanford nuclear complex in Washington state. Bound for a prestigious bio-dentistry program in Philadelphia, Haq had a huge smile on his face in his 1994 senior yearbook photo at Richland High School in south-central Washington. "RHS, Peace Be Unto You" were his parting words to classmates.

When Cody Alexander Morris returned from the war last fall, he carried home a burden -- a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder -- and a new way of playing with guns. The gun game was called "Do You Trust Me?" Morris, 19, learned it from his Kentucky National Guard buddies in Iraq. He taught the game to his roommates: best friend and fellow guardsman Casey Lee Hall, 18, and a 16-year-old cousin, Cory Adams.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The way these first two days have played out, the Players Championship could just as easily have been contested about 90 minutes up the highway. Call it the Frederica Golf Club member-guest. All that seems to be missing are their fellow Sea Island denizens — and who knows how many might be heading down for the weekend anyway. "We have a great crew of guys up in Sea Island," said Matt Kuchar, whose four-under-par 68 Friday lifted him alongside neighbor Zach Johnson — and "ringer" Kevin Na — after two rounds at TPC Sawgrass.

ARLINGTON, Texas - Washington has long coveted Peter Bourjos, but the Angels, despite a FoxSports.com report late Thursday night that they've had "preliminary discussions" with the Nationals about a deal, do not seem eager to trade the speedy center fielder. “We constantly field calls about players, but we are not actively shopping Peter Bourjos or looking for a fit for him," Angels General Manager Jerry Dipoto said. "We believe he's an asset to us. " The Angels are not quite sure what to do with that asset.