National Roundup

Florida
Sheriff: Woman killed during daughter's first online class
INDIANTOWN, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man stormed into a house and fatally shot his ex-girlfriend as her 10-year-old daughter took an online class, with the girl's teacher and other students hearing part of the commotion before the slaying, authorities said.

The school year's first day of instruction had just begun when a Warfield Elementary School teacher heard some kind of domestic disturbance from the girl's video chat Tuesday morning, Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said during a news conference.

The teacher muted the girl's audio but then saw the girl cover her ears before the screen went blank; investigators later said the computer had been struck by a bullet. Schools in Florida that have reopened are fully or partly doing online classes because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Donald Williams, 27, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Maribel Rosado Morales, 32. Investigators said Williams shot the woman twice in the chest at her Indiantown home in front of her four children and their two cousins.

"There was some type of argument. He went in and confronted her with something to do with a video," Snyder said. "He says she actually started to smile at him, and he became enraged and shot her."

An arrest report shows that one of the victim's sons tried to stab Williams with a kitchen knife after the shooting, but he fell during the attempt. The boy told detectives Williams pointed his gun at him, so he dropped the knife and raised his hands.

The children in the house were not injured.

Williams then fled on a bicycle and went to a nearby laundromat, officials said. He then boarded a commuter bus, but his erratic behavior prompted the driver to leave the bus and call 911, Snyder said.
Williams was arrested shortly after that.

Martin County school officials said Wednesday the teacher and students who heard the commotion are meeting with counselors.

Besides the murder charge, Williams also faces two counts of aggravated assault, one count of burglary and one count of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He was being held without bond. Jail records didn't list whether he had an attorney who could comment on the charges.

Florida prison records show Williams served two years for burglary, being released in 2014.

Massachusetts
Ex-Boston police union boss charged with sex assault of girl
BOSTON (AP) — The former head of Boston's largest police union has been charged with sexually assaulting a girl and was ordered held Thursday on $100,000 bail.

Patrick Rose, 66, a retired officer and the one-time president of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association, was arraigned on charges including aggravated rape of a child and indecent assault and battery on a child under 14.

Rose is accused of sexually assaulting the girl on "multiple occasions" from when she was about 7 to about 12 years old, according to a police report filed in court.

Rose did not respond to a phone call Wednesday evening from The Boston Globe. The newspaper reports  that his lawyer declined to give his name to reporters after Thursday's hearing.

Rose was named president of the police union in 2014 after joining the police department 20 years earlier.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said Wednesday that he is "deeply disturbed by these horrific allegations" and called for them to be investigated "to the fullest extent of the law."

Florida
Police: Man arrested for making 26 bombs
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Florida police arrested a man after finding more than two dozen pipe bombs, including some that contained nails, screws and metal pellets.

Gregory Haasze, 34, is facing 26 felony counts of making, possessing and placing a destructive device after his arrest Wednesday night in Palm Beach County.

Officers had been called to a dead-end street after reports of an explosion, Boynton Beach police said in court records. Investigators found remnants of an exploded pipe bomb and several undetonated bombs along the roadway.

They sealed off the area and the Palm Beach County sheriff's bomb squad disabled the devices. A neighbor told them a man named Greg who lived nearby makes bombs and sometimes detonates them in vacant lots. Officers also found a box in a trash bin with Haasze's name on it and found several bombs and gunpowder.

They say Haasze soon approached officers and told them he was why they were there. Investigators say he told them he had been making bombs for years and had made some of the found devices for this past Fourth of July. He said he never meant to hurt anyone, saying he put the screws, nails and pellets in the bombs to remove tree stumps.

He was being held Thursday at the Palm Beach County jail on $26,000 bond.

Nebraska
Insurers to help pay 6 exonerated in slaying
BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska county that owes $28.1 million to six people wrongfully convicted of murder reached a settlement with several insurance companies to help pay part of the judgment.

The Gage County board approved agreements with six insurers on Wednesday to secure $5.98 million to help pay the county's debt off sooner. Officials already increased property taxes and approved a half-cent sales tax  to pay the judgment off over several years.

The people known as the Beatrice Six spent more than 70 years in prison collectively for a 1985 rape and killing in Beatrice, Nebraska, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of Lincoln. DNA evidence exonerated them in 2008. The slaying of 68-year-old Helen Wilson has since been linked to a former Beatrice resident who died in 1992.

The Beatrice Six sued Gage County after their release, alleging the county ran a reckless investigation. A federal jury awarded them $28.1 million  in 2016, plus interest and attorney fees that raise the total to more than $30 million. The county wasn't properly insured when the six were convicted, and its appeals were all rejected.

"We started with an understanding that there may or may not be any coverage," County Board Chairman Erich Tiemann said. "We reached this point, and I think we all are in agreement that this is the best possible outcome at this time."

The county made the first payment to the former inmates last June, and officials now expect it to take about five years to pay off the judgment. One of the six was killed in a 2011 factory accident in Alabama, and several others are aging and have health problems.

Employers Mutual Casualty will pay the biggest share of the settlements, $3.9 million, and the Nebraska Intergovernmental Risk Management Association will pay $1.98 million, attorney Joel Bacon said. Four other insurers will pay the remaining $95,000