In a major defeat for supporters of tougher gun laws, the U.S. Senate on Wednesday defeated a compromise proposal to expand background checks on firearms sales.
The bipartisan plan was brokered by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, and Pat Toomey, R-Pennsylvania. It was also backed by President Barack Obama in his push for a package of gun laws in the aftermath of the Newtown school massacre.
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An 18-year-old student drove to a community college campus located inside a western Virginia mall on Friday, walked in, then opened fire - wounding two women - before being subdued by an off-duty security guard and two police officers, authorities said.
Christiansburg, Virginia, police Chief Mark Sisson identified the suspect Friday night as Neil Allen MacInnis, who he said was a student at New River Community College.
An item on the online forum 4chan - posted at 1:52 p.m. Friday, three minutes before police estimated the shooting began - said it was from Neil MacInnis, who wrote that he goes to the same community college's satellite campus in Christiansburg.
The post urged people to check out an online stream of the New River Valley Public Safety scanner and promised, "I'm gonna give y'all the details because the news never gets it right."
FULL STORYA 6-year-old New Jersey boy has died after being shot in the head by a 4-year-old playmate, Toms River police Chief Michael Mastronardy said.
Brandon Holt was pronounced dead at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, according to Mastronardy. He was shot in the head on Monday evening.
It was the second incident in the United States in recent days involving young children accidentally shooting others.
FULL STORYA murder suspect in Jackson, Mississippi, overpowered a detective and shot him with the detective's gun before killing himself, Mississippi Bureau of Investigation spokesman Warren Strain said Friday.
Veteran detective Eric Smith, 40, was talking with suspect Jeremy Powell, 23, when other officers heard the shots and rushed into the interview room at the police station, said Chris Mims, a spokesman for Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson.
FULL STORYA soldier has been detained for questioning in Wednesday's shooting death of a civilian employee at Fort Knox, Kentucky, according to a news release from the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command.
The soldier, who was assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, was captured in Tennessee.
FULL STORYColorado authorities are looking for two members of the white supremacist prison gang known as the 211 Crew in connection with the killing of state prisons chief Tom Clements.
El Paso County Sheriff's Office identified the two men as James Lohr, 47, and Thomas Guolee, 31. One or both could be headed toward Nevada, the office said.
"They are both known associates of the 211 Crew," said Sheriff's Lt. Jeff Kramer. "They are believed to be armed and dangerous."
Clements was widely recognized for cracking down on prison gangs, including the 211 Crew. He was shot at his home by former gang member Evan Ebel, who was out of prison on parole.
FULL STORYAuthorities have arrested the suspect who they believe fatally shot a West Virginia sheriff Wednesday, said Lt. Randy Hatfield with the Mingo County Sheriff's Office.
The arrest comes after Mingo County Sheriff Walter E. "Eugene" Crum, who was also a county magistrate, was killed in a marked vehicle while he was eating lunch, Hatfield said.
"It's devastating. It's a big blow to the community," Hatfield said.
FULL STORYProsecutors said Monday they will seek the death penalty for Colorado movie theater shooting suspect James Holmes despite his offer last week to plead guilty in exchange for avoiding a death sentence.
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[Updated at 1:51 p.m. ET] This live blog is wrapping up, but please check out our full story for the latest about today's document release.
[Updated at 1:48 p.m. ET] One of the warrants released Thursday cites an interview with a person who said that Lanza rarely left his home, that he was a shut-in, "and an avid gamer who plays Call of Duty, amongst other games." "Call of Duty" is a military-style war game.
In the house, according to the documents, were several books – one titled "NRA guide to the basics of pistol shooting," another about Asperger syndrome and one on autism. Both are developmental disorders that are not typically associated with violence.
Police also found a 2008 New York Times article about a shooting at Northern Illinois University. Police took from the house an NRA certificate for Nancy Lanza, a receipt for a shooting range in Oklahoma, a book titled "Train your brain to get happy," and three photographs "of what appears to be a deceased human covered with plastic and what appears to be blood."
As noted below, the NRA issued a statement today saying neither Lanza nor his mother were members.
[Updated at 1:45 p.m. ET] The main details of the shooting have long been known: The carnage began on the morning of December 14, when Lanza fatally shot his 52-year-old mother, Nancy Lanza, with a .22 caliber rifle.
But some of the details are new. "There was no indication of a struggle," according to a statement from Stephen J. Sedensky III, state's attorney for the judicial district of Danbury. The statement came with Thursday's release of five search warrants and related documents.
Lanza shot his mother in the forehead, one of the search warrants says.
Laden with weapons and ammunition, Lanza then went to the elementary school, shooting his way into the building where he killed the 26 victims with a Bushmaster .223 caliber model XM15 rifle, according to Sedensky.
The rampage ended when Lanza, using a Glock 10 mm handgun, shot himself.
Attached to the rifle police found a 30-round capacity magazine that still had 14 bullets Sedensky said, and a search of Lanza's body found that he was carrying more ammunition for the handguns as well as three more 30-round magazines for the Bushmaster, each fully loaded.
"Located in the area of the shootings were six additional 30-round magazines," Sedensky said in his statement, three of them empty and the others holding 10, 11, and 13 rounds. Police found 154 spent .223 caliber casings at the school.
All of the guns appear to have been bought by Lanza's mother, the state's attorney said.
[Updated at 12:59 p.m. ET] We've gotten all the documents together in one place. Here are the documents that Connecticut prosecutors released today in the Newtown investigation.
[Updated at 12:35 p.m. ET] Back to today's Newtown document release. The National Rifle Association has issued a statement, apparently reacting to what the papers say about investigators finding NRA certificates for Lanza and his mother, Nancy.
"There is no record of a member relationship between Newtown killer Adam Lanza, nor between Nancy Lanza, A. Lanza or N. Lanza with the National Rifle Association," the NRA statement said. "Reporting to the contrary is reckless, false and defamatory."
This page from one of the search warrants released in the Newtown case Thursday mentions investigators found an "Adam Lanza National Rifle Association certificate."
Watch CNN.com Live for gavel-to-gavel coverage of the trial of Jodi Arias, who's accused of killing her ex-boyfriend in 2008.
Today's programming highlights...
11:40 am ET - Obama talks gun violence - President Obama will call on Congress to pass "common sense" measures on gun violence in remarks at the White House.
Aurora, Colorado, shooting suspect James Holmes has offered to plead guilty and spend the rest of his life behind bars in exchange for avoiding the death penalty, according to court documents filed Wednesday.
Prosecutors have not accepted the offer because they may choose to pursue the death penalty. Prosecutors have said they will make a decision on whether or not to seek the death penalty against the 25-year-old Holmes at a hearing April 1.
FULL STORYA Glynn County, Georgia, grand jury indicted two teenage defendants for murder in the shooting death last week of a 13-month-old boy, the district attorney announced Wednesday.
Because the defendants were younger than 18 when the killing took place, they cannot face the death penalty if convicted.
De'Marquise Elkins, 17, and a 15-year-old were charged with murder last week and made their first court appearance Monday. The younger suspect is not being identified because of his age.
Neither teen entered a plea during Monday's court hearing.
FULL STORYThe mother and the aunt of one of the two teenage boys accused of fatally shooting a 13-month-old baby in Brunswick, Georgia, have been arrested, according to documents in the case.
Seventeen-year-old murder suspect De'Marquise Elkins' mother, Karimah Aisha Elkins, 36, and his aunt, Katrina Latrelle Elkins, 33, are accused of "false statements or writings," among other charges, the complaint said.
Also Tuesday, police investigating the case found a weapon and are trying to determine if it is connected to the shooting, a Brunswick police spokesman said.
FULL STORY[Updated at 8:16 a.m. ET] A Marine shot and killed two of his fellow service members at a Virginia base on Thursday night and then apparently killed himself, base officials said.
The incident took place at Marine Corps Base Quantico. The shooter gunned down a man and a woman, the spokesmen said. All are Marines – permanent personnel assigned to the officer candidate school.
Authorities did not disclose a motive and were investigating the incident. The identities of the victims were not immediately disclosed as authorities work to notify next of kin.
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Ohio school shooter T.J. Lane should spend the rest of his life in prison in the deaths of three students last year, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Wearing a white T-shirt with the word "killer" written on it, Lane declined to allow his attorneys to present evidence on his behalf at the sentencing hearing before Geauga County Common Pleas Judge David L. Fuhry.
Lane pleaded guilty last month to three counts of aggravated murder, two counts of attempted aggravated murder and weapons-related charges in the February 27, 2012, shooting at Chardon High School in northeastern Ohio.
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A Chicago baby who was killed when someone fired on her father's minivan last week was shot once, not multiple times as previously reported, police said Tuesday.
Chicago police spokesman Adam Collins also said the father was not changing 6-month-old Jonylah Watkins' diaper when she was shot as previously reported, but rather that the baby was simply on her father's lap in the vehicle.
And Jonylah's mother wasn't shot in the leg while she was pregnant with Jonylah as some news accounts had said, according to Collins.
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After witnessing two of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history, Colorado is expected to pass a series of gun control laws Wednesday.
Gov. John Hickenlooper will sign three bills into law Wednesday, his office said. The new legislation includes:
- A 15-ammunition limit on magazines;
- A universal background check for prospective gun buyers; and
- A requirement for gun purchasers to pay for their own background checks
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T.J. Lane took a .22 caliber gun to school just over a year ago in northeastern Ohio.
Without saying a word, he walked up to a table in the cafeteria of Chardon High School and opened fire.
He killed three and wounded three more.
On Tuesday, Lane finds out what price he will pay for his crime when he is sentenced.
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Two officers with the Santa Cruz Police Department in California were fatally shot Tuesday, as was the lone suspect, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Phil Wowak told reporters.
FULL STORYPresident Obama will deliver his fourth State of the Union address before Congress on February 12. Watch CNN.com Live for all of your political coverage.
Today's programming highlights...
Ongoing coverage: The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI
12:30 pm ET - White House briefing - Tomorrow's State of the Union address and gun violence will likely dominate Press Secretary Jay Carney's briefing with the White House press corps.
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