Fair Proxy Web

Suspect arrested in swimmer killings

NIAGARA, Wisconsin (AP) — A dragnet ended Friday with the arrest of a man accused of emerging from woods in camouflage and opening fire with an assault rifle on a group of young swimmers who had gathered at a river. Three were killed and another wounded.

Scott J. Johnson, 38, was in camouflage as he walked out of some woods near the scene of the shooting and dropped his weapon as officers approached, said Jerry Sauve, chief’s sheriff’s deputy in Marinette County.

Johnson had not been formally charged and it was not immediately known whether he had an attorney.

We believe he was in the woods and near our officers who were also in the woods all night, Sauve said at a news conference. Watch the chief deputy: We have the suspect we’ve been searching for all night

The motive remained unclear, Sauve said. Johnson was taken to the county jail to await an initial court appearance that has yet to be scheduled.

More than 100 law enforcement officers from at least 10 agencies were called in to hunt for the gunman in Thursday’s attack. Authorities had set up roadblocks and evacuated some homes in the northern Wisconsin area just across the state line from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Marinette County Sheriff Jim Kanikula said there was no communication between the gunman and his victims. The shooter was only 7 to 10 feet away from one victim when he fired on the group of nine young people who had gathered near a railroad bridge on the Menominee River, he said.

There’s a saying up here that this is a great place to raise kids, said Randy Van Gasse, the school superintendent in nearby Norway, Michigan, where 17-year-old victim Tiffany Pohlson would have been a senior in the fall.

That’s been violated and we don’t know why, he said. This is obviously a shock to everybody.

found here.

U.S. sub leaked radioactive water, possibly for months

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Water with trace amounts of radioactivity may have leaked for months from a U.S. Navy nuclear-powered submarine as it traveled around the Pacific to ports in Guam, Japan and Hawaii, Navy officials told CNN on Friday.

The leak was found on the USS Houston, a Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine, after it went to Hawaii for routine maintenance last month, Navy officials said.

Navy officials said the amount of radiation leaked into the water was virtually undetectable. But the Navy alerted the Japanese government because the submarine had been docked in Japan.

The problem was discovered last month when a build-up of leaking water popped a covered valve and poured onto a sailor’s leg while the submarine was in dry dock.

An investigation found a valve was slowly dripping water from the sub’s nuclear power plant. The water had not been in direct contact with the nuclear reactor, Navy officials said.

Officials with knowledge of the incident could not quantify the amount of radiation leaked but insisted it was negligible and an extremely low level. The total amount leaked while the sub was in port in Guam, Japan and Hawaii was less than a half of a microcurie (0.0000005 curies), or less than what is found in a 50-pound bag of lawn and garden fertilizer, the officials said.

The sailor who was doused, a Houston crew member, tested negative for radiation from the water, according to Navy officials.

Since March, the Houston had crisscrossed the western Pacific, spending a week in Japan and several weeks in both Guam and Hawaii, Navy officials said. See a timeline of the sub’s movements

The Navy on Friday notified the Japanese government of the leak, the officials said, and told them it was possible the ship had been leaking while in port in Sasebo, Japan, in March.

While Japan has agreed to allow U.S. nuclear-powered ships in Japanese ports, the decision was a not popular in Japan.

The Houston incident comes at a time when the Navy is trying to smooth over a problem with a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

The USS George Washington was due to replace the aging, conventionally powered USS Kitty Hawk this summer as the United States’ sole carrier based in Japan.

While en route to Japan this May, a massive fire broke out on the George Washington, causing $70 million in damage. The fire was blamed on crew members smoking near improperly stored flammable materials.

There was no damage or threat to the nuclear reactor, but the ship was diverted to San Diego, California, for repairs. It now is expected to arrive in Japan at the end of September.

found here.

Two sides of scientist emerge after suicide

FREDERICK, Maryland (CNN) — Friends say a scientist who killed himself amid an anthrax investigation fit many stereotypes, but biological terrorist was not one of them.

People who knew Bruce Ivins recall a friendly, helpful man whose neighbors had no reason to suspect him of wrongdoing; an eternal graduate student with ill-fitting clothes and an awkward social manner; an apolitical egghead too busy with his work to carry out the crimes the FBI suspected him of.

But, in addition to authorities investigating the 2001 deadly anthrax attacks, at least one person had a more sinister perception of Ivins: He was scheduled to appear in court Thursday after a woman accused him of stalking her.

Sources have told CNN that Ivins knew he was about to be charged in connection with mailing spores of the deadly bacteria anthrax to a number of congressional offices and media outlets in autumn 2001.

Five people died, including two postal workers, and more than a dozen people became ill. No one has been arrested in the case.

Sources told CNN the government planned to seek the death penalty against Ivins, but he had not been charged with a crime at the time he died.

Ivins, 62, worked for more than 30 years as an anthrax researcher at Fort Detrick, Maryland, home of the U.S. Army’s Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. He co-wrote a paper only weeks ago outlining the effects of a drug on anthrax in mice, one of dozens of papers in his career.

Ivins was also a member of the American Red Cross and a musician at his church, St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church. He is survived by his wife, a son and daughter, two brothers and his mother.

People who knew him were shocked to learn of his death and the possible criminal charges.

Ivins was as mild as they come, said Luann Battersby, a former microbiologist who worked with Ivins at Fort Detrick.

She remembers a man who wore slightly ill-fitting trousers that revealed his white socks — a man who never grew out of habits from his years as a graduate student.

He continued to live the lifestyle of a grad student, no frills, Battersby said.

Norm Covert, who worked with Ivins until retiring in 1999, remembers the scientist as a brilliant man, very intense with his work.

We’re looking at a man with a distinguished 30-something-year career, unparalleled and known around the world, Covert said. His career and his reputation are trashed and the FBI still hasn’t said what they have on him.

But one woman says she saw a different side of the mild-mannered scientist.

When he died, Ivins was under a restraining order on allegations of stalking, threatening and harassing a woman. He was due in court two days after he died. CNN is not naming the woman who filed the complaint.

The District Court of Maryland at Frederick ordered Ivins on July 24 not to threaten harm to the woman, contact her, or enter her home or workplace.

The court dismissed the order on Thursday, noting that Ivins was deceased.

Ivins’ lawyer issued a statement Friday proclaiming Ivins’ innocence in the anthrax investigation.

We are saddened by his death, and disappointed that we will not have the opportunity to defend his good name and reputation in a court of law. We assert his innocence in these killings, and would have established that at trial, said Paul F. Kemp of Venable LLP.

Kemp said Ivins had fully cooperated with authorities and blamed the investigation for the researcher’s death.

The relentless pressure of accusation and innuendo takes its toll in different ways on different people, as has already been seen in this investigation. In Dr. Ivins’ case, it led to his untimely death.

Neighbor Bonnie Duggan said it did not take a rocket scientist to figure out the FBI had been surveilling Ivins on and off for about a year.

We knew they were looking at someone, we knew that Bruce worked at Fort Detrick, we knew he worked with pathogens, she said.

found here.

Anthrax suspect, scientist, kills self as FBI closes in

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Prosecutors likely would have sought the death penalty against a researcher who killed himself after learning he was going to be charged in the 2001 anthrax killings, two sources told CNN on Friday.

Three sources familiar with the investigation said the case soon will be closed because a threat no longer exists. No information has been made public about what charges were planned.

Authorities had been investigating Bruce Ivins, 62, a former researcher at the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, a bioweapons laboratory at Fort Detrick, Maryland, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is still officially open. Ivins had been working at Fort Detrick trying to develop a vaccine against the deadly anthrax toxin.

A U.S. official with knowledge of the investigation told CNN on Friday that authorities were looking at whether Ivins released anthrax as a way to test his vaccine.

A spokesman for Maryland’s medical examiner told CNN Friday the official cause of Ivins’ death on Tuesday was suicide. One of CNN’s sources said Ivins knew he was about to be charged.

The medical examiner’s spokesman said he could not confirm a report in the Los Angeles Times that Ivins had taken Tylenol mixed with codeine. The Times first reported Ivins’ death on its Web site early Friday. Watch what’s known so far about case against Ivins

Ivins’ attorney said Friday his client was innocent of the anthrax deaths, and said he is disappointed that he will not have the opportunity to defend his good name.

In a written statement, attorney Paul Kemp said his firm had represented Ivins for more than a year.

The relentless pressure of accusation and innuendo takes its toll in different ways on different people, as has already been seen in this investigation. In Dr. Ivins’ case, it led to his untimely death. We ask that the media respect the privacy of his family, and allow them to grieve.

The anthrax mailings, which killed five people, shook the nation just weeks after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

There have been no arrests in the case, which started after someone sent letters laced with spores of deadly anthrax to congressional offices and several news organizations. Among those who died were two postal workers. Two contaminated letters were sent to senators, exposing 30 staffers. Read more on the health risks of anthrax

A spokesman for the Frederick County, Maryland, Fire and Rescue Service told CNN that someone called the 911 center at 1:08 a.m. Sunday to report an unconscious person at a home at 622 Military Road.

Frederick Police Capt. Kevin Grubb said Ivins was found unresponsive on the floor of a bathroom. He was taken to Frederick Memorial Hospital. Ivins’ modest two-story home is located across from Fort Detrick.

Court documents show that a judge issued a restraining order against Ivins on July 24, days before his suicide.

A woman sought the order against Dr. Bruce Edward Ivins, whom she accused of making threats of violence, harassment and stalking in the previous 30 days.

In the order, Ivins is told not to contact the woman — whom CNN is not identifying — by telephone or other means, and to stay away from her place of employment.

A hearing on the order had been scheduled for Thursday, and according to court documents, she had been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury in Washington on Friday.

John Ezzell, former chief of special pathogens at Fort Detrick, said he was involved in hiring Ivins, who worked at the facility for years before retiring in 2006.

He declined to describe Ivins’ exact job responsibilities, but said, He was an interesting character.

Ezzell said Ivins was the one who examined an anthrax-laced letter that was sent to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, in November 2001. The envelope, which was opened in the lab, contained 23,000 anthrax spores and was postmarked October 9 in Trenton, New Jersey.

Ivins’ brother, Tom, said the FBI questioned him about his brother about a year and a half ago. Investigators asked you about your personal life, how you got along with your brothers when you grew up, he said. Watch as Tom Ivins talks about his brother

They said they were investigating him when they talked to me, said Tom Ivins, who said he was not close to his brother and never spoke to him about the anthrax investigation.

I stay away from him, he said.

An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment about Ivins on Friday. A Justice Department spokesman could not be reached for comment.

The FBI had traced the anthrax used in the attacks to the lab, the U.S. Army Medical Institute of Infectious Diseases, one of CNN’s sources said.

CNN has been told by a source familiar with the investigation that new technology helped in the breakthrough.

A separate source, a U.S. official familiar with the investigation, told CNN that a genetic technology aided in the investigation and identification of the anthrax used in the attacks and led investigators back to the Ft. Detrick lab.

Fort Detrick issued a statement mourning the death of Ivins, who worked at the U.S. Army Medical Institute of Infectious Diseases for more than 35 years as a civilian microbiologist.

In addition to his long and faithful government service, Bruce contributed to our community as a Red Cross volunteer with the Frederick County chapter. We will miss him very much, the statement said.

Ivins had been questioned previously by the FBI, as had many scientists assisting the FBI, the source said.

Investigators believed the culprit might be a scientist because of the amount of knowledge needed to process the anthrax.

FBI Director Robert Mueller told CNN in July that there have been breakthroughs in the investigation and he was confident it would be resolved. Watch Mueller discuss breakthroughs in anthrax case

We’ve made great progress in the investigation and it’s in no way dormant, Mueller said. I’m confident in the course of the investigation, I’m confident of the steps that have been taken in the course of the investigation, and I’m confident that it will be resolved.

Early in the investigation, Attorney General John Ashcroft publicly identified a person of interest in the anthrax case — Steven Hatfill, a former civilian researcher on anthrax.

Hatfill and Ivins both worked at the bioweapons lab at Fort Detrick.

found here.

Anthrax suspect, scientist, kills self as FBI closes in

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Prosecutors likely would have sought the death penalty against a researcher who killed himself after learning he was going to be charged in the 2001 anthrax killings, two sources told CNN on Friday.

Three sources familiar with the investigation said the case soon will be closed because a threat no longer exists. No information has been made public about what charges were planned.

Authorities had been investigating Bruce Ivins, 62, a former researcher at the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, a bioweapons laboratory at Fort Detrick, Maryland, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is still officially open. Ivins had been working at Fort Detrick trying to develop a vaccine against the deadly anthrax toxin.

A U.S. official with knowledge of the investigation told CNN on Friday that authorities were looking at whether Ivins released anthrax as a way to test his vaccine.

A spokesman for Maryland’s medical examiner told CNN Friday the official cause of Ivins’ death on Tuesday was suicide. One of CNN’s sources said Ivins knew he was about to be charged.

The medical examiner’s spokesman said he could not confirm a report in the Los Angeles Times that Ivins had taken Tylenol mixed with codeine. The Times first reported Ivins’ death on its Web site early Friday. Watch what’s known so far about case against Ivins

Ivins’ attorney said Friday his client was innocent of the anthrax deaths, and said he is disappointed that he will not have the opportunity to defend his good name.

In a written statement, attorney Paul Kemp said his firm had represented Ivins for more than a year.

The relentless pressure of accusation and innuendo takes its toll in different ways on different people, as has already been seen in this investigation. In Dr. Ivins’ case, it led to his untimely death. We ask that the media respect the privacy of his family, and allow them to grieve.

The anthrax mailings, which killed five people, shook the nation just weeks after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

There have been no arrests in the case, which started after someone sent letters laced with spores of deadly anthrax to congressional offices and several news organizations. Among those who died were two postal workers. Two contaminated letters were sent to senators, exposing 30 staffers. Read more on the health risks of anthrax

A spokesman for the Frederick County, Maryland, Fire and Rescue Service told CNN that someone called the 911 center at 1:08 a.m. Sunday to report an unconscious person at a home at 622 Military Road.

Frederick Police Capt. Kevin Grubb said Ivins was found unresponsive on the floor of a bathroom. He was taken to Frederick Memorial Hospital. Ivins’ modest two-story home is located across from Fort Detrick.

Court documents show that a judge issued a restraining order against Ivins on July 24, days before his suicide.

A woman sought the order against Dr. Bruce Edward Ivins, whom she accused of making threats of violence, harassment and stalking in the previous 30 days.

In the order, Ivins is told not to contact the woman — whom CNN is not identifying — by telephone or other means, and to stay away from her place of employment.

A hearing on the order had been scheduled for Thursday, and according to court documents, she had been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury in Washington on Friday.

John Ezzell, former chief of special pathogens at Fort Detrick, said he was involved in hiring Ivins, who worked at the facility for years before retiring in 2006.

He declined to describe Ivins’ exact job responsibilities, but said, He was an interesting character.

Ezzell said Ivins was the one who examined an anthrax-laced letter that was sent to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, in November 2001. The envelope, which was opened in the lab, contained 23,000 anthrax spores and was postmarked October 9 in Trenton, New Jersey.

Ivins’ brother, Tom, said the FBI questioned him about his brother about a year and a half ago. Investigators asked you about your personal life, how you got along with your brothers when you grew up, he said. Watch as Tom Ivins talks about his brother

They said they were investigating him when they talked to me, said Tom Ivins, who said he was not close to his brother and never spoke to him about the anthrax investigation.

I stay away from him, he said.

An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment about Ivins on Friday. A Justice Department spokesman could not be reached for comment.

The FBI had traced the anthrax used in the attacks to the lab, the U.S. Army Medical Institute of Infectious Diseases, one of CNN’s sources said.

CNN has been told by a source familiar with the investigation that new technology helped in the breakthrough.

A separate source, a U.S. official familiar with the investigation, told CNN that a genetic technology aided in the investigation and identification of the anthrax used in the attacks and led investigators back to the Ft. Detrick lab.

Fort Detrick issued a statement mourning the death of Ivins, who worked at the U.S. Army Medical Institute of Infectious Diseases for more than 35 years as a civilian microbiologist.

In addition to his long and faithful government service, Bruce contributed to our community as a Red Cross volunteer with the Frederick County chapter. We will miss him very much, the statement said.

Ivins had been questioned previously by the FBI, as had many scientists assisting the FBI, the source said.

Investigators believed the culprit might be a scientist because of the amount of knowledge needed to process the anthrax.

FBI Director Robert Mueller told CNN in July that there have been breakthroughs in the investigation and he was confident it would be resolved. Watch Mueller discuss breakthroughs in anthrax case

We’ve made great progress in the investigation and it’s in no way dormant, Mueller said. I’m confident in the course of the investigation, I’m confident of the steps that have been taken in the course of the investigation, and I’m confident that it will be resolved.

Early in the investigation, Attorney General John Ashcroft publicly identified a person of interest in the anthrax case — Steven Hatfill, a former civilian researcher on anthrax.

Hatfill and Ivins both worked at the bioweapons lab at Fort Detrick.

found here.