Police: Indiana man joked about killing

The Associated Press

A northern Indiana police chief said Sunday he believes a man arrested after allegedly threatening to "kill as many people as he could" at a school was just bluffing when he made the ominous remark during a heated argument with his wife.

Interim Cedar Lake Police Chief Jerry Smith said Von I. Meyer, 60, was arguing Friday with his wife, a school cafeteria worker, and initially threatened to set her on fire while she was sleeping at their home.

Meyer, who was arrested Saturday on seven felony charges, then told his wife he would kill her "at the school" and "would kill as many people as he could before police could stop him," Smith said.

Police found 47 guns and ammunition hidden throughout Meyer's two-story home, but Smith said most of those weapons were antique collector guns and he believes Meyer was not serious about his school threat.

Incidents of gunplay were reported elsewhere in the nation:

ALABAMA Romero Roberto Moya, 33, of Heflin, east Alabama, was pursued Saturday after three people were fatally shot, and he was killed by police. Heflin police officer Jackie Stovall, one of two officers wounded in an exchange with Moya, was removed from a breathing machine Sunday and remained hospitalized in stable condition.

Hours earlier on Saturday, Jason Letts, 38, of Jemison opened fire before dawn in a Birmingham hospital, wounding a police officer and two employees before being shot and killed by another officer, according to authorities.

Alabama has been dealing with a rash of shootings of late.

In the Alabama community of Homewood, police continue to investigate Friday's slayings of a 30-year-old woman and her two sons, ages 4 and 5, at the family's apartment. Authorities said they received a call from a man returning to the apartment from work Friday who said he'd found his family dead.

Police said the man was being held in "protective custody."

CALIFORNIA A suspect who fired about 50 shots in the parking lot of a crowded shopping mall in Newport Beach, was taken into custody.

Marcos Gurrola, 42, fired into the air and onto the ground Saturday at the open-air Fashion Island mall. He offered no resistance when officers arrested him around 4:30 p.m. Saturday. Investigators have no motive, Lewis said.

Gurrola, of Garden Grove, was charged with shooting at an inhabited dwelling and held on $250,000 bail. Police recovered a handgun and ammunition.