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December 20, 1995
Web posted at: 12:45 a.m. EST
NEW YORK (CNN) -- A customer unhappy with the service at a Bronx shoe store went on an armed rampage Tuesday, leaving five dead and four others seriously wounded.
Police said the alleged gunman, Michael Vernon, 22, entered the Korean-owned store, "Little Chester's," near the Bronx Zoo shortly before noon Tuesday and demanded a pair of boots before opening fire.
They said that Vernon then fled the scene, reportedly using one of the victims as a shield. He was shot by a passing police officer, who was alerted by witnesses, said New York Police Chief Louis Anemone. (220K AIFF sound or 220K WAV sound)
Four people, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed inside the store during the shooting. The shop owner's wife died of her wounds at a hospital and another man was on a life support system. Two other men were in critical condition Tuesday night, officials said.
The suspect was in serious condition, with multiple gunshot wounds.
Initial reports indicated the attack was a robbery attempt, but officials later said that that Vernon was unhappy with the way he was treated inside the store.
Police were investigating whether the attack was racially motivated.
LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- The family of former President Richard Nixon is calling Oliver Stone's new film "Nixon," which opens Wednesday, "erroneous and malicious."
Nixon's daughters, Tricia Nixon Cox and Julie Nixon Eisenhower, accused Stone Tuesday of "character assassination." They said that Stone, known for his controversial depictions of Vietnam and the John F. Kennedy assassination, pulled facts from the air when it came to depicting the Nixons' private life.
Nixon is portrayed in the film by Anthony Hopkins as a man unsure of his political future and haunted by his past as well as by the deaths of his brothers and his political rivals, John and Robert Kennedy. Stone also suggests in the film that Nixon knew about the alleged assassination plot against Cuban President Fidel Castro, a plan the film suggests backfired and eventually led to the death of President John Kennedy in 1963.
In a written statement issued by the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California, the family said that scenes in the film featuring actors playing Pat and Richard Nixon, both deceased, "are calculated solely and maliciously to defame and degrade President and Mrs. Nixon's memories in the minds of the American public."
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A search has failed to turn up the remains of the first U.S. combat casualty in the Gulf War.
Last week, American and Red Cross officials gained the permission of the Iraqi government and searched the desert there in order to find the remains of Lt. Cmdr. Michael Speicher, 33, of Jacksonville, Florida.
It is not known exactly what happened to the Navy pilot, but reports said Speicher's plane exploded in the air. After the crash, there was no communication from Speicher and a few months later, the Pentagon declared him missing in action, body unrecovered.
Two years ago, the Pentagon learned that Speicher's plane had been found by hunters in the desert. The hunters photographed the plane and brought back a piece of the wreckage, which enabled U.S. officials to identify it as Speicher's FA-18.
Speicher is the only American killed in Iraq whose remains have not been recovered.
SANTA MONICA, California (CNN) -- Plaintiffs engaged in a wrongful death suit against former football star O.J. Simpson have been told that they can view his financial records.
Superior Court Judge Alan B. Haber ruled Tuesday in a Santa Monica courtroom that the Goldman and Brown families may view Simpson's records in order to determine if Simpson is profiting from the deaths of their loved ones.
The two families have filed a wrongful death suit against Simpson seeking damages through civil law in the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson, Simpson's ex-wife, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.
Simpson was acquitted of the double murders on October 3 in a Los Angeles court.
Haber rejected a defense request for a stay of the order to review Simpson's financial records to allow time for an appeal.
MISSION, Texas (CNN) -- In the latest in a wave of congressional departures, another House member said Tuesday he won't seek re-election.
Rep. Kika de la Garza, a conservative Democrat who has represented the poor Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas for the past 30 years, is the 30th House member to make such an announcement.
De la Garza, 68, is known for his fierce support of farm programs and NAFTA. He said he is stepping down because "it was just time."
The congressman said he will spend his remaining term focusing on the balanced-budget plan. De la Garza first introduced a balanced budget bill nearly three decades ago.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- More than half of mothers on welfare were married and more than half had graduated from high school, a new survey found, but the numbers were well below the percentages for non-welfare mothers.
The Census Bureau report came from studies of 1993 participants in the Special Supplemental Food Program for Woman, Infants and Children, or WIC, designed to boost the health of pregnant or breast-feeding women and of children under age 5.
The study found some 55 percent of the mothers were married, and about 54 percent had graduated from high school. Comparatively, 75 percent of mothers not in WIC were married, and 84 percent of mothers not in WIC had at least high school diplomas.
STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. (CNN) -- Two employees were killed in a shooting early Tuesday at a Chrysler assembly plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan, police said. A man shot a woman, then killed himself.
"The man came in, shot the woman, then went outside and shot himself," said Tony Cervone, a Chrysler spokesman. "He died at the scene and she died about an hour later at a hospital. They obviously knew each other." Witnesses said the two had dated.
Authorities identified the woman as Jacqueline Pritchett, 36, of Detroit. The man's identity was being withheld pending notification of relatives.
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (CNN) -- Fifteen members of three families who landed in Minneapolis after a flight from London on Monday were sent right back home after a drunk and disorderly trip, officials said.
A Northwest Airlines spokeswoman said the passengers apparently were upset that drink service had been limited, and they began throwing food, yelling and swearing.
Federal officials took the group -- ages 4 to 65 -- into custody. Fifteen were returned to London, two were held while they sobered up, and a third was arrested for allegedly taking a swing at a flight attendant.
An Immigration and Naturalization Service agent said the people, who held British and Irish passports, were sent back because they misrepresented their destination and gave inconsistent accounts of the purpose of their trip.
LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- About 500 prominent African-Americans honored Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Christopher Darden on Monday night. Darden, who helped prosecute O.J. Simpson, has been considered a traitor by some in the black community.
The event included nothing but praise for Darden, including some from his courtroom opponent, Johnnie Cochran, Simpson's lead attorney. Cochran said "a true advocate fights hard and fair. But when the battle is over, you move on and you appreciate the courage, integrity, and strength of your adversary."
Darden said doing his job was a "question of duty." Since Simpson's acquittal, Darden has taken an indefinite leave from his job.
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