National briefs

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 15, 2001

Deputy thought he shot Columbine gunman

DENVER -- A sheriff's deputy who was the first officer at Columbine High School and who traded shots with one of the gunmen thought he might have hit the shooter, newly released documents show.

Deputy Neil Gardner, assigned to the Jefferson County high school, was eating lunch in his car in a nearby parking lot when the April 20, 1999, assault began. He drove to the southwest parking lot, jumped out and took cover behind the driver's side of a Chevrolet Blazer, according to a transcript of an interview done the day of the shootings.

The 94-page transcript and a CD-ROM of interviews with five other officers who fired their guns were made public Thursday after a judge ordered their release.

Much of the information from Gardner's two-hour interview is known. The officer, though, told a sheriff's detective the evening of the shootings that he thought the person who shot at him in the parking lot was Dylan Klebold.

Klebold and Eric Harris fatally shot a teacher and 12 fellow students and wounded 23 before killing themselves.

The report released last year said Eric Harris was the shooter crouching outside the school's west doors and firing across the parking lot at Gardner.

Gardner said the shooter was tall, about 6 feet, skinny, with collar-length hair and was wearing a blue flack jacket and baseball cap on backward. Klebold was wearing a dark T-shirt and a cap backward on a videotape from a camera in the school cafeteria. He was much taller than Harris and had longer hair.

Sheriff's Sgt. Mike Julian said he couldn't explain the discrepancy.

Gardner said he fired four times at the shooter, who appeared to be reloading. He said the first shot appeared to spin the person around and "either hit him or it came real close."

A summary of Klebold's autopsy has been released, but not the full report. There is no indication in that summary or in Harris' autopsy report of gunshot wounds besides massive head wounds that were apparently self-inflicted.

Man kills two in bar shooting

ELGIN, Ill. -- A gunman opened fire in a crowded bar early Saturday, killing two people, and then was subdued by other customers. At least 21 people were hurt.

The gunman returned to JB's Pub armed with a shotgun, a long-barreled gun and at least two handguns after employees ordered him to leave, said police Lt. Mike Turner.

Turner said about 200 people were in the bar. Most of the injured were shot but some suffered cuts while fleeing the gunfire.

Luther "Luke" V. Casteel, 42, of Elgin was charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and other charges. He was being held at the Elgin City Jail pending a bond hearing today.

Five people remained hospitalized Saturday. At least one was in critical condition, officials said.

Bartender Jeff Weides, 38, and Richard Bartlett, 48, both of Elgin, died at the scene.

Elgin is a suburb 35 miles west of Chicago.

FedEx marijuana ring arrest made

NEW YORK -- Police arrested an alleged drug kingpin who they say masterminded a Jamaican-led narcotics ring that used Federal Express employees to distribute 170 tons of Mexican marijuana on the East Coast.

Indictments unsealed a year ago charged more than 100 people around the country, including 25 FedEx employees, with distributing marijuana. Mark Morant was described as the ringleader.

Morant, 33, was arrested in Jamaica in July, but escaped from a hospital in October. Federal agents arrested him Thursday at an apartment in Brooklyn, Newsday reported Saturday.

The scheme described by federal agents was simple. Once traffickers moved the marijuana into Southern California from Mexico, it was placed on FedEx aircraft, which flew it to airports on the East Coast. From there it was moved by FedEx trucks to distributors in Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey.

Morant is charged with conspiracy to distribute marijuana and could face up to 40 years in prison if convicted.

First skull found aboard 'Hunley'

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Archaeologists excavating the interior of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley have recovered a skull and a bellows air supply device that sheds more light on the final moments of the craft.

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