Nation briefs 3/19/06

Gunman opens fire at S.C. frat party, wounds five

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A gunman opened fire at a fraternity party in a banquet hall across the street from the South Carolina Capitol early Saturday, wounding five people. At least one victim was hospitalized in intensive care, authorities said. No arrests had been made. A man who had been kicked out of the party after an argument went to his car and returned with a gun just after 1 a.m., said police Sgt. Florence McCants. Witnesses said the gunman shot into the crowd and at the mirrored ceiling of the rented banquet hall, according to a police report. The man then left but returned with three other people, who shot at the building from the outside, damaging windows, witnesses told police.

Death toll in Hawaii dam break rises to three

HONOLULU -- Search-and-rescue teams found a third body on the island of Kauai Friday, three days after a privately owned dam burst and released a violent torrent of tree-snapping water and debris. Authorities said a woman's body was recovered in a stream bed. The body had not yet been identified, but the only woman who remained missing after the disaster was 24-year-old Aurora Fehring. Though state and county teams planned to continue a land search, the Coast Guard said it was suspending an aerial and ocean search.

Plane crashes hundreds of miles off course

WINFIELD, W.Va. -- Was he lost? Or did he lose oxygen? A private plane crashed near a rural home in West Virginia after straying hundreds of miles off course as National Guard fighter plane crews tried unsuccessfully to contact the pilot. The body of the pilot, the only person on board, was found in the wreckage after the plane crashed Friday night, said Frank Chapman, director of Putnam County's emergency services office. There was no immediate indication if he died in the crash or was already dead. No one on the ground was injured.

-- From wire reports

New Orleans police officers cleared of looting

NEW ORLEANS -- Four New Orleans police officers have been cleared of allegations they used a five-finger discount at a Wal-Mart after Hurricane Katrina. But each was suspended 10 days for not stopping civilians from looting the store, the department said. The probe stemmed from an MSNBC report that showed the officers filling a shopping cart with shoes, clothes and other items. When a reporter asked the officers what they were doing, one responded, "Looking for looters" and turned her back. Assistant Police Chief Marlon Defillo, commander of the Public Integrity Bureau, said the officers seen on the video were recently cleared of looting because they had received permission from superiors to take necessities for themselves and other officers.

-- From wire reports