Combined briefs package

2 dead, 5 injured in shootings

The suspect in a West Texas shooting rampage that left one woman dead and five others wounded was a Marine wanted for questioning in a North Carolina slaying, officials said Monday. The rampage Sunday morning ended when Esteban J. Smith, 23, of the Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base, N.C., died in a gunfight with a trooper and a state game warden, said Tom Vinger, spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety. Camp Lejeune spokesman Master Sgt. J.D. Cress said authorities were investigating a possible link between the Texas shooting and a homicide in Jacksonville, N.C. He confirmed the suspect was an active duty Marine.

ALASKA

Sex offender charged in rapes, slayings

A man charged with killing an elderly Alaska couple and raping their 2-year-old great-granddaughter is a registered sex offender convicted of breaking into a home and assaulting an 11-year-old girl four years ago. Jerry Andrew Active, 24, was convicted in 2010 of assaulting the girl near Dillingham, Alaska, while her family slept. On Saturday, Active broke into the apartment home of Touch Chea, 71, and his wife, Sorn Sreap, 73, beat the couple to death and raped the child, police said. He also raped Sreap. He was arrested nearby only wearing boxer shorts, authorities said.

ILLINOIS

Man accused in 6-month-old’s death

A Chicago man accused of killing a 6-month-old girl in a shooting that also wounded her father was seeking revenge for the theft of a video game console, authorities said Monday. Koman Willis, 34, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of the infant, Jonylah Watkins, who was shot on March 11 while sitting in her father’s lap in a minivan. The baby’s father, Jonathan Watkins, was seriously wounded in the attack. Police said the father was the target.

CHILE

Volcano puts Chile, Argentina on red alert

Chilean and Argentine officials issued a red alert Monday for the increasingly active Copahue volcano bordering the two countries and ordered evacuation. Chilean Interior and Security Minister Andres Chadwick said the increased activity could lead to an eruption and officials would soon begin evacuating 2,240 people within a 15-mile radius. As seismic activity increased, Argentine officials raised their alert level to red Monday afternoon and ordered the evacuation of about 600 people from the town of Caviahue to the neighboring city of Loncopue.

MYANMAR

Chelsea Clinton takes part in water project

Chelsea Clinton represented former President Bill Clinton’s Clinton Global Initiative at a Monday ceremony bringing Procter & Gamble’s Children’s Safe Drinking Water initiative to the Southeast Asian nation. The program provides water purification packets to people in rural areas with unsafe water supplies, which the project’s organizers say is caused by pollution.

SUDAN

Troops, rebels clash near border

Sudanese government troops clashed with rebels in the conflict-wracked state of Southern Kordofan near the border with South Sudan, and each side claimed Monday it inflicted heavy losses on the other. The clashes erupted Sunday in the Dandor area, 300 miles west of Khartoum. Southern Kordofan state has been hit by violence for nearly two years, displacing hundreds of thousands of civilians and killing scores.

NEW YORK

Senator has Statue of Liberty worries

New security plans for the Statue of Liberty could leave visitors vulnerable when it reopens July 4, New York officials said Monday. Sen. Charles Schumer and New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly called for the National Park Service to reverse its plan, which calls for visitors to board boats in either lower Manhattan or New Jersey and stop at nearby Ellis Island for security. Previously, passengers were screened with airport-style metal detectors before they boarded boats for Liberty Island.