In the Nation

NEVADA

Man indicted in

Las Vegas killing

A 19-year-old man was indicted Friday on murder and other charges in the shooting death of a mother of four in a neighborhood gunfight in Las Vegas.

The grand jury indictment accuses defendant Erich Milton Nowsch Jr. of murder, attempted murder, and firing a weapon from a vehicle in the shooting that was initially characterized as road rage but was later found to be more complicated.

The indictment doesn't name the getaway driver in the Feb. 12 shooting of Tammy Meyers, 44.

Robert Meyers, her husband, said she took their daughter home after a late-night driving lesson and fetched her 22-year-old son, Brandon Meyers, with his gun to find a driver who frightened her earlier.

Police said the son fired several shots at Nowsch during the fatal shootout in a cul-de-sac outside the Meyers home. - AP
OHIO

Wal-Mart lawsuit

Wal-Mart on Friday denied responsibility for the death of a man fatally shot by police while carrying an air rifle in one of its stores last year. John Crawford 3d was shot in August when police responded to a 911 call reporting a man waving what appeared to be a firearm at the store in the Dayton suburb of Beavercreek. Police said the gun appeared to be real. A grand jury concluded the shooting was justified. - AP
FLORIDA

Constricting snakes

Four types of large constrictor snakes will be illegal to import or move across state lines, the federal government said Friday, while stopping short of including the popular boa constrictor on the list. Completing a process years in the making, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the "injurious wildlife" status of three species of anacondas and one type of python it fears could one day take hold in the Everglades, where giant nonnative snakes have overwhelmed the ecosystems. - AP