Shootings San Diego

A man apparently distraught over the death early Saturday morning of his father at the Mission Bay Memorial Hospital returned with a handgun later in the day and sprayed the emergency room with bullets, police said, killing a nurse and a hospital trainee and wounding two others--a doctor and the father of a patient. The man identified by police as Bradford Warren Powers Jr., 46, of La Jolla, called police from a pay phone about an hour after the 5 p.m. shooting and turned himself in.

For every San Diego spurt, there was just too much Taj Gibson brawn. For every Toreros push, there was simply too much O.J. Mayo flash. Spunky San Diego hung tough with USC on Thursday night at the Anaheim Convention Center before finally succumbing, 60-50, in the first round of the Anaheim Classic when Gibson and Mayo took over in the final minutes. After Toreros guard De'Jon Jackson buried a three-pointer to pull San Diego to within five points, Gibson responded with a lay-in.

One of four victims of drive-by shootings in San Diego was in critical condition and another possibly blinded, officials said. Chris Honeycutt was hit in the face and may have been blinded after he and a friend, John House, were hit by shotgun fire. The men, both of San Diego, were shot as they left a beauty salon. About a half hour after that shooting, Denetta Harper and Cherell Jackson of San Diego were wounded as they stood at 47th and Market streets, police said.

A task force formed after shooting rampages at two high schools in eastern San Diego County has recommended that additional police be stationed on campuses and more parents and other "appropriate, caring" adults get involved with schools. Still, the group concluded that "available research establishes that there is no way to predict or 'profile' a school shooter."

A man who shot a woman in the back during a showing of the Academy Award-winning movie "Schindler's List" was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison. At the time of the shooting in a San Diego movie theater in January, law enforcement officials quoted 45-year-old gunman James Kirby as saying he wanted to "test God" and protect Jews.

Three people, two of whom had just left a Lions Club luncheon, were wounded on a downtown San Diego intersection Tuesday in a drive-by shooting that police said apparently lacked a motive. Shortly after the shooting, police arrested Rolando Rosario Ignacio, 25, at his southeast San Diego home as he got out of his car carrying a .357 revolver in a plastic bag, police spokesman Dave Cohen said. The incident was the latest in a rash of drive-by shootings in San Diego this year.

A former Marine hero has been arrested and San Diego police are searching for another suspect in the freeway shooting of an orthopedic surgeon that investigators believe was plotted by the surgeon's former partner. The case took a new turn Saturday when former Marine Ronald Gene Self, 28, surrendered and was booked on suspicion of possessing a silencer. Police seized the device Friday at the La Jolla guest house that Self rented from Dr.

A student apparently distraught about the poor evaluation he had received on his master's thesis walked into the Engineering Building at San Diego State University on Thursday afternoon and shot three faculty members to death before surrendering to police, authorities said. Police said the three men slain were members of a thesis defense committee that had been evaluating the work of candidates for graduate degrees in engineering.

For the last month, Andy Williams, the pale, slight Santana High School freshman, repeatedly told friends he was going to take one of his father's guns to school and shoot people. Friends all said they thought he was joking. The threats were frequently made to Williams' friends who hung out at the Woodglen Vista Skate Park. "You guys just watch, I'll do it," he said. "Everybody would just laugh and tell him to shut up," said Dustin Hopkins, a friend. "Then Andy said, 'OK, I'll show you one day.

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.

The assistant principal of Granite Hills High School testified Thursday that a smiling Jason Hoffman leveled a shotgun at him and said, "I'm going to get you," before beginning a shooting rampage March 22 that left five people wounded. Testifying in Hoffman's preliminary hearing, Daniel Barnes said he dove through a door just as the senior at the El Cajon school fired a blast that shattered the door's window.

Charles Andrew Williams, 15, accused of a shooting rampage at Santana High School in Santee that left two dead and 13 wounded, should be tried as an adult, a judge ruled Friday. Superior Court Judge Herbert Exarhos rejected claims by Williams' attorneys that Proposition 21, the ballot measure allowing prosecutors to send juveniles accused of serious crimes directly to Superior Court, is unconstitutional. Deputy Public Defender Randy Mize said Exarhos' ruling will be appealed.

The two students accused of opening fire on their high schools in suburban San Diego will be arraigned in the same court this afternoon. Charles Andrew Williams, 15, and Jason Hoffman, 18, coincidentally had their appearances in El Cajon Superior Court scheduled for 1:30 p.m., a jail clerk said Sunday. Williams is accused of killing two classmates and wounding 13 other people in a March 5 rampage at Santana High School in Santee. He has not entered a plea.

The first time a local high school was shot up by a student, Leonardo Morreno was able to explain it away to his 6-year-old daughter as the isolated act of a disturbed young man. The second time, the explanation didn't come so easily. "This is more bad," Morreno said Friday as he vacuumed his van in this working-class suburb about 15 miles east of San Diego.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

Threats of campus violence have spread fast and furious since the Santana High School shootings and may spike again in the wake of Thursday's shootings at Granite Hills High, experts say. Spread by word of mouth or via e-mail, threats began shortly after the March 5 shootings in Santee, including one Internet message that a student would finish the job allegedly started by 15-year-old Charles Andrew "Andy" Williams. Each rumor, in turn, has prompted more rumors.