Page 6 - atoday

A6 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 24 January 2017
At least 4 reported dead in wild California storms

downpours, snow and hail the Harbor City area. The
on Monday as the last in a cause of death was not
trio of storms broke up over known, but the Fire Depart-
California after flooding ment said the body may
roads and homes and trap- be that of a man reported
ping people in swamped missing Sunday night.
vehicles. The powerful weekend
At least four people died, tempest added to impres-
three were missing and sive amounts of precipita-
others were rescued from tion that have suddenly ar-
raging floodwaters during rived in a state after years
the storms. of withering drought.
Anguished relatives gath- By afternoon, downtown
ered along a creek in Al- Los Angeles had recorded
ameda County southeast 14.3 inches of rain since the
of San Francisco as search- start of the water year on
ers looked for an 18-year- Oct. 1, less than a half-inch
old woman whose car away from the average for
plunged into the rushing the entire season.
waterway after a collision Heavy snow in the Sierra
late Saturday. Nevada triggered an ava-
Two other people re- lanche that shut down a
mained missing after being highway just west of Lake
reported in waters off Peb- Tahoe. Officials warned
ble Beach on Saturday. The of continuing avalanche
Laura Bersuch walks her dog Lola through floodwater near the Seal Beach Pier during a storm in search along the Monterey danger at all elevations of
Seal Beach, Calif. Sunshine and rainbows alternated with thunderclaps, downpours, snow and hail Peninsula was suspended. the Sierra. In northern Ne-
on Monday as the last in a trio of storms broke up over California after flooding roads and homes In Los Angeles, reced- vada, schools were can-
and trapping people in swamped vehicles. ing stormwater revealed celed after more than a
(Ana Venegas/The Orange County Register via AP) a body in dense vegeta- half-foot of snow fell near
CHRISTOPHER WEBER Associated Press shine and rainbows alter- tion at a regional park in Reno. q
JOHN ANTCZAK LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sun- nated with thunderclaps,
Police responding to burglary

kill homeowner, not intruder

JOE MANDAK not realizing police had
Associated Press already been summoned
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Police by their burglar alarm com-
officers responding to a pany, and then chased af-
burglar alarm fatally shot ter the intruder down some
a homeowner, who had steps to the home’s front
grabbed a gun when he door because he was wor-
spotted an intruder, after ried about his blind mother,
shots were fired in their di- who uses a wheelchair and
rection as they arrived at lives downstairs.
his house. “Christopher was saying,
Until ballistic and other evi- ‘My mom, my mom, my
dence can be reviewed, mom, my mom,’” said Rich-
police said they couldn’t mond Thompkins, who was
say who fired the shots divorced from Thompkins
while officers were on Chris- years ago and had recon-
topher Thompkins’ front ciled with him. She said she
porch. But police Acting fled out the second-floor
Chief Scott Schubert called bedroom window while
what happened “a horrible calling 911. “I don’t know
chain of events.” how they started firing be-
Thompkins, 57, died in the cause I wasn’t there,” she
gunfire before dawn Sun- said. “I was going, I was
day. Police did not report running for my own life.”
finding a gun on the intrud- Once out the window she
er, identified as Juan Brian yelled at police, “Please
Jeter-Clark, 23. Jeter-Clark don’t shoot me. I’m a vic-
was charged with criminal tim. The guy’s still in here.”
trespass but could face ad- Thompkins was sentenced
ditional counts. to seven to 15 years in pris-
Thompkins’ ex-wife, Brenda on for murder for shooting
Richmond Thompkins, said a handyman who tried to
she was in bed with him break up an argument be-
when they spotted an in- tween the couple in 1994.
truder standing nearby. She Thompkins had said the
said he grabbed her gun, gun fired accidentally.q