World/Nation

Police: Suspect in Mississippi shooting is dead

GREENVILLE, Miss. - A college instructor suspected in the fatal shootings of a woman he lived with on Mississippi's Gulf Coast and a professor at Delta State University 300 miles away died Monday of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after trying to flee police, authorities said.

Shannon Lamb had earlier told authorities that he was "not going to jail."

Police in Greenville, Miss., were following Lamb as he was driving when the suspect pulled over and jumped out of his car, Lynn Buford, chief of the Delta State University police, told The Associated Press. One of the victims was killed at the university earlier Monday.

When police gave chase, they heard one gunshot and then found Lamb, Buford said. They took him to a hospital in Greenville where he was pronounced dead of what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Buford said.

Lamb's death brought to an end a chaotic day that saw terrified students and teachers hunkered down in classrooms for hours. The Delta State campus was put on lockdown as armed officers methodically went through buildings, checking in closets, behind doors and under tables and desks.

University President William LaForge told the AP late Monday that the lockdown had been lifted. He said there would be no classes today but students, faculty and staff are invited to campus to attend a vigil in the evening to honor the staff member who was killed.

Ferocious wildfires torment California

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. - Earlier this summer, this small mountain town north of San Francisco opened its modest high school to residents fleeing an unusually ferocious wildfire nearby.

Now it is Middletown itself that has been evacuated - and gutted - by another blaze that shocked firefighters with its strength and speed.

The town's small cluster of shops and cafes was spared, but behind them erratic winds sent flames zigzagging down leafy streets, torching some houses and sparing others. On Monday, some residents returned to find their homes reduced to concrete foundations, chimney stacks and rubble.

One woman wept and embraced her mother as they stood among blackened appliances and twisted metal where their family home used to be. Nearby, beige houses trimmed in white remained untouched.

Hungary shuts key migrant border crossing

ROSZKE, Hungary - Hungary deployed a boxcar bristling with razor wire to close a key border crossing and warned of a new era of swift deportations Monday as governments across Europe debated how to share the burden of housing hundreds of thousands seeking refuge - and whether the continent's hard-won policy of passport-free travel could survive the unrelenting flow of humanity.

In Brussels, ministers from the 28-nation bloc agreed to share responsibility for 40,000 people seeking refuge in overwhelmed Italy and Greece and spoke hopefully of reaching eventual agreement - possibly next month, or possibly by the end of the year - on which nations would take 120,000 more.

But their slow deliberations appeared disconnected from the rapidly shifting situation on the most besieged borders of Europe, where Austria, Slovakia and even the Netherlands joined Germany in reintroducing border controls for the first time in a generation in a bid to record the arrivals of thousands daily from the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

The checks, involving police on trains and on border roads, snarled traffic and slowed the speed and volume of migrants reaching Germany, which had received more than 60,000 newcomers since throwing opens its borders Sept. 5 to people trying to reach the EU heavyweight via Hungary, the Balkans and Greece. Since Sunday those borders have grown tighter again, reflecting German unease at the sheer volume and lack of commitment from EU partners to share the load.

Police: Trooper shooter killed after manhunt

EDDYVILLE, Ky. - A Kentucky state trooper who made a traffic stop was trying to arrange for lodging for the vehicle's occupants when the driver took off, starting a tragic chain of events that led to the deaths of the lawman and the suspect, police said Monday.

Trooper Joseph Cameron Ponder, 31, was shot by the suspect a short time later during a second stop late Sunday in a rural area of western Kentucky, said Trooper Jay Thomas, a state police spokesman.

The suspect, Joseph Thomas Johnson-Shanks, 25, of Florissant, Mo., ran away and was found hours later after a massive overnight manhunt in a wooded area about 9 miles from the initial stop and less than a mile from where the trooper had been gunned down, Thomas said.

- The Associated Press