SMYRNA, Del. – A convicted serial rapist took a woman prison counselor hostage for more than six hours Monday at a state prison before he was killed by a sharpshooter, authorities said.
The sharpshooter, a member of a Corrections Department emergency response team, pulled the trigger after seeing that “the hostage was in imminent danger,” department spokeswoman Beth Welch said.
The hostage was taken from the prison to a hospital, Welch said. It was not immediately known if she was injured.
The inmate, Scott A. Miller, 45, was believed to have a homemade knife when he took the woman hostage in the maximum security area of the Delaware Correctional Center in midmorning, and negotiations continued through late afternoon.
Officials said Miller was sentenced to 699 years for a series of rapes in 1997, in which nine women were assaulted.
Deputies and wildlife officers were armed with tranquilizer guns Monday as they searched for a tiger that escaped from the home of an actor who once portrayed Tarzan. When the first deputies arrived on the scene, the 6-year-old tiger jumped on top of their car, said Paul Miller, spokesman for the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. The cat was reported missing from Steve Sipek’s residence, which is near a wilderness area about 15 miles west of West Palm Beach. Sipek has another tiger, two lions, a black leopard and a cougar on his 5-acre property, the Palm Beach Post reported.
The Bush administration asked a federal appeals court in San Francisco Monday to reconsider a May decision that upheld Oregon’s assisted suicide law and prohibited federal charges against doctors who prescribe overdoses. The administration wants the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to set aside its ruling backing the nation’s only law allowing doctors to assist in hastening the death of patients.
A former Hooters restaurant manager accused of secretly videotaping female applicants as they changed into waitress uniforms pleaded no contest Monday to felony charges. Juan Aponte, 32, has been held on $500,000 bail since his arrest in May. He will be sentenced to five years in state prison, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said. Police investigated after a woman said she was asked to try on a Hooters uniform in a job interview. Officials with the Atlanta-based restaurant chain, best known for its scantily clad waitresses, have said it is against company policy to ask job applicants to change clothes.
A woman accused of killing her brother-in-law by spiking his smoothie with antifreeze pleaded not guilty to murder Monday. A defense attorney for Maryann Neabor, 53, said she admitted putting chemicals in the drink but intended only to make Jonathan Neabor sick enough so she could take control of his money. Prosecutors said they planned to present their case to a grand jury within three months.
An electrical explosion Monday at O’Hare International Airport knocked out power to two terminals, delaying some flights and injuring two workers who had been upgrading the electrical system, officials said. Chicago Aviation Commissioner John Roberson said the outage did not affect the air traffic control towers but some flights were delayed because electricity was cut to many security checkpoints, forcing workers to manually screen passengers and baggage.
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