Nation briefs

FLORIDASUV kills 3 in parking lot

A 79-year-old woman backed into a group of people in a parking lot yesterday, killing three and injuring four others, authorities said. A Florida Highway Patrol report indicated the accident wasn't alcohol-related. The accident happened at 11:20 a.m. at a mobile home community, the Sugar Creek Country Club in Bradenton, 45 miles south of Tampa. Residents had gathered for church services in a clubhouse building, police said. Doreen Landstra of Palmetto backed her 2009 Chevrolet Tahoe out of a parking spot, pulled forward and needed more room to clear another parked vehicle. The sport utility vehicle backed up again and struck the seven. The Tahoe then ran over a curb, hit some trees and came to rest in a canal, partly submerged. Neither Landstra nor her passenger was injured. The dead were identified as Margaret Vanderlaan, 72; Wilhemina Paul, 70; and Johanna Djikhoff, 80, all of Bradenton.

MICHIGANArrest in student shooting

A man was charged yesterday in the shooting of a Ferris State University student at his off-campus apartment in Big Rapids, state authorities said. Elsewhere, police searched for a man they say killed a Michigan State University student and wounded another near that school. DeCory D. Downing, 20, is charged with attempted murder, said Ferris State Public Safety Director Bruce Borkovich. Downing is from Macomb County in suburban Detroit, isn't a student at Ferris State and has an "extensive criminal record," Borkovich said. The victim's injuries weren't life-threatening.

MAINEHunter wounds fisherman

Police were investigating what they say was an accidental shooting of a fisherman by a hunter aiming at a squirrel. Police say a young man hunting at the West Gardiner Rod and Gun Club aimed at a squirrel in a tree, but hit the fisherman in the back of the head as he stood over his fishing hole 300 yards away. The fisherman was taken to a hospital.