Feed aggregator
Man arrested after barricading himself inside northeast Atlanta home
Next 'Star Wars' Film to Be Made in Britain
Washington man damages 4 homes in bulldozer rampage, authorities say
A man angry at his neighbors went on a rampage in a bulldozer Friday on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, damaging four homes, knocking one off its foundation and cutting power to thousands of people, authorities said.
Barry Alan Swegle was booked into the Clallam County Jail for investigation of malicious mischief following the incident in Port Angeles, 65 miles west of Seattle. A voice mail message left at a phone listing for the 51-year-old was not immediately returned.
"This of course is above what we're normally used to and someone just snapped and jumped on a bulldozer and started taking out people's houses," Ron Peregrin, the county's undersheriff told Q13Fox.com.
Authorities said investigators were told that Swegle and his neighbors had a long-running dispute, but it's not clear over what. The rampage knocked over a utility pole and left a pickup truck destroyed, and the downed power lines were preventing authorities from fully evaluating the damage to the homes.
In just a few minutes, there was hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage, Q13Fox.com reported.
Authorities said the machine was an International Harvester TD-25, similar to a Caterpillar D-9. Investigators were looking into whether the man owned it.
Keith Haynes lives near one of the damaged homes and told the Peninsula Daily News that the man "just went nuts." Haynes said a woman inside one of the homes escaped unharmed.
"He took a skidder and took out two houses," Haynes said. "I mean demolished."
At one point thousands of people were without power, but within a few hours it had been restored to all but 200 customers, said Clallam County Public Utility District spokesman Mike Howe. He said power would remain out to those customers at least through early Saturday morning.
Swegle has a lengthy rap sheet that includes burglary, stalking and public indecency, the Q13Fox.com report said.
"We all said one of these days Barry is going to take that dang cat and he's going to start tearing up people's property and that's what he did," Barbara Porter, a neighbor said.
Click for more from Q13Fox.com
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Sandy Hook school may be demolished
Gatsby Mania Spins Retail Gold
N. Calif. officers seek triple homicide suspect
Law enforcement officials hunting a man suspected of killing his wife and two young daughters in Northern California have sought help from neighboring agencies.
In an ongoing search, officers from at least a dozen state and federal law enforcement agencies fanned out on Friday across an area of rugged terrain along California's remote north coast where they believe 45-year-old Shane Franklin Miller has taken cover.
Miller, considered armed and extremely dangerous, knows well the tree-lined canyons of Humboldt County where he grew up. Investigators found his pickup truck abandoned near Petrolia, about 200 miles west of the home that Miller shared with his wife, Sandy, 34, and daughters, Shelby, 8, and Shasta, 5.
"It's very strategic how we're moving through that forest area," said Lt. Dave Kent of the Shasta County Sheriff's Office.
Miller is suspected of slaying his family Tuesday night in the rural community of Shingletown, then fleeing to Humboldt County, where low fog and dense brush offer plenty of cover. His mother told The Associated Press she had no idea whether her son and daughter-in-law had suffered marital problems or why Miller might turn on his family.
Kent said detectives continue to search the home where the killings occurred for evidence and clues as to where Miller might have been headed.
In 1996, Miller was convicted of felony cultivation of marijuana in a county known worldwide for the high quality pot grown in the same hard-to-reach forests authorities now are combing.
In 2002, Miller was charged with making and selling marijuana for distribution, being a felon in possession of a firearm, possessing a machine gun and money laundering, according to court records. He pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a gun and served 46 months in federal prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm, court records show.