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Police: Two die trying to assist rape victim

By TIMES WIRES
Published September 2, 2006

PHILADELPHIA - A couple found a man raping a young woman in their driveway and tried to flee with her but were shot to death by the attacker, police said.

The teenager was also shot and was expected to recover, police said. A suspect was arrested.

The couple - Anthony Burno, 48, and his girlfriend Kira Derrick, 29 - came upon the attack when returning to their home in the Fern Rock neighborhood from a night out, police said. The 18-year-old woman broke free and began screaming about the assault, and she and the couple then fled while the attacker fired at them with a semiautomatic handgun, according to police.

The three tried to hide nearby, but the assailant found them and fired more shots as they lay on the ground, Chief Inspector Joseph Fox said.

"It sounds like it was all happening in a matter of seconds," Fox said.

Police said a suspect, Kevin White, 24, of Philadelphia, was arrested a short time later. He will face charges of murder, rape and aggravated assault, Fox said. Police said they recovered a gun during the arrest.

Teen mails videotaped confession to newspaper

RALEIGH, N.C. - A man obsessed with the 1999 Columbine school attack made a videotape showing his father's bloody corpse and describing plans to attack his former high school, then mailed it to a newspaper which posted excerpts on its Web site.

The video was the latest twist in the case, which began when Alvaro Castillo was arrested Wednesday in front of Orange High School in Hillsborough after multiple shots were fired from the parking lot.

Two students suffered minor injuries in the attack.

Investigators say Castillo confessed to his father's slaying.

"Don't judge me for what I did," Castillo said in the homemade video mailed to the Chapel Hill News, a twice-weekly newspaper affiliated with the News & Observer of Raleigh. "Based on what I did, you might think I'm a monster, a sick freak. ... But I tried to do good things. I tried. I did it. I killed my father. I sacrificed him. He's with the Lord now. I shot him four times."

Castillo, 19, is being held without bail at Central Prison in Raleigh on a charge of first-degree murder.

The News & Observer posted four excerpts from the videotape late Thursday on its Web site, www.newsobserver.com.

Elsewhere...

SCHOOL BUS CRASH: In Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., a school bus collided with an SUV and veered into a fire hydrant Friday, injuring 17 children and the two drivers, the California Highway Patrol said. Seventeen students complained of injuries, and 11 were taken to hospitals for examination, officials said. The school bus driver was hospitalized, as was the SUV driver, officials said.

CHILDREN STRUCK: In Silver Spring, Md., a van plowed through a group of schoolchildren at a bus stop Friday morning, injuring at least 10, six of them seriously, authorities said. The children, ages 10 to 14, were on a sidewalk near an apartment building when the van's driver lost control, officials said. None of the injuries was considered life-threatening.

FUGITIVE SOUGHT: In Fredonia, N.Y., two state troopers staking out the home of an escaped convict's ex-girlfriend were shot in an ambush, and authorities Friday were searching the surrounding area for the fugitive. Neither trooper saw the suspect when they were shot Thursday evening, and neither returned fire, but one was able to radio for help, officials said. Both officers were hospitalized in critical condition. Police believe the gunman was Ralph "Bucky" Phillips, who escaped from jail in April and may be traveling between Pennsylvania and western New York, officials said.

[Last modified September 2, 2006, 01:20:16]