Nation briefs 2/14/05

Ore. man solicited suicides for five years

PORTLAND, Ore. -- A man who used an Internet chat room to try to set up a mass suicide on Valentine's Day had been trying to persuade women for at least five years to engage in sex acts with him and then kill themselves, a sheriff said Sunday. Gerald Krein faces charges of solicitation to commit murder, but prosecutors are expected to increase the charge to attempted manslaughter today, said Klamath County Sheriff Tim Evinger. Combing through old chat room records, investigators discovered that Krein had been enticing women across North America to commit suicide as far back as 2000, Evinger said. Krein told investigators he elicited more than two dozen suicide pledges for the Valentine's Day plot, authorities said.

Gunman opens fire at upstate N.Y. mall

KINGSTON, N.Y. -- A lone gunman opened fire with an assault rifle Sunday inside a crowded mall in upstate New York, wounding one person before running out of ammunition and being subdued by employees, authorities said. The gunman began shooting inside the Hudson Valley Mall shortly after 3 p.m. in Kingston, nearly 90 miles north of New York City.

Attacker of pregnant woman 'obsessed'

FORT MITCHELL, Ky. -- A woman stabbed to death while possibly trying to steal a pregnant woman's fetus had been carrying an ultrasound picture of someone else's twins and was wearing maternity clothing filled with padding. Police said 26-year-old Sarah Brady, who was nine months pregnant, acted in self-defense Thursday when she killed Katherine Smith. No charges had been filed Sunday and Commonwealth Attorney Bill Crockett said he hadn't decided whether to present the case to a grand jury. The attack happened after Smith called Brady and asked her to come over and pick up a package supposedly delivered to her by mistake.