Ohio shooting suspect TJ Lane charged with murder

The Ohio teenager accused of America's latest tragic school shooting was charged on Thursday with three counts of aggravated murder and two of attempted aggravated murder.

Demetrius Hewlin, left, and Russell King Jr, were both killed

The charges against TJ Lane, who gave himself up and confessed to police after Monday's shooting spree at Chardon High School, were filed in a juvenile court but prosecutors want to see the case transferred to the adult arena.

Minors are not eligible for the death penalty in Ohio but the teen could face life without parole if convicted in an adult court.

"Lane was charged with three counts of aggravated murder for killing three of our children, two counts of attempting aggravated murder for injuring two of the children and one count of felonious assault," Geauga County prosecutor David Joyce told reporters.

Lane allegedly fired 10 shots from a .22-calibre handgun on Monday on a group of teenagers in the high school cafeteria, hitting some targets in the head at almost point-blank range while other students ran for their lives.

He then fled the scene, chased by a teacher, before giving himself up to bystanders a short distance away and being apprehended by police.

One victim died hours after the shooting. Two more succumbed to their wounds on Tuesday. A fourth victim remains in a serious condition in hospital, while a fifth, the only girl shot, has been released back to her family.

Shocked residents have struggled to comprehend how tragedy struck in their close-knit Ohio community of 5,100.

A picture has emerged of Lane as a troubled boy who lived with his grandfather after his father, who had a history of domestic violence and served time in prison, was warned by police to stay away.

"On Monday February 27, a senseless act of tragic violence shattered the hearts of three families and forever changed this community," Chardon schools superintendent Joe Bergant told Thursday's press conference.

No motive has been determined but the prosecutor told reporters earlier in the week that during his confession to police Lane had said that he picked his victims at random.

"This was the effect of one lone gunman. He chose his victims at random. This is not about bullying. This is not about drugs," Mr Joyce said Tuesday. "This is about someone who's not well."

The next court hearing has been scheduled for March 6.

Judge Timothy Grendell has tentatively scheduled a March 19 court date for an expected motion from prosecutors to transfer proceedings to an adult court.

Gunmen kill 18 in bus ambush in northern Pakistan

Gunmen opened fire on a passenger bus in the northern Pakistani district of Kohistan in an apparent sectarian attack on Tuesday, killing 18 people, police officials said.

A bomb exploded at a bus station in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar

The attackers flagged down four buses, climbed on board asking passengers whether they were Shiite or Sunni Muslim, then dragged out the Shiites and shot them dead in cold blood, police said.

Another eight people were wounded, including two women and three children, in the attack in northern Kohistan district near the town of Harban, 130 miles (210 kilometres) north of the capital, said Kohistan police chief Mohammad Ilyas.

"The motive was sectarian. The gunmen were wearing army uniform, they were disguised as soldiers," Ilyas told AFP.

One bus and three minibuses were travelling from Rawalpindi, the city where the Pakistan army is headquartered, to the northern town of Gilgit.

"They checked the identity of the passengers, got the Shiites off the vehicles and shot them dead," Ilyas said. "The dead were all male."

Kohistan administration chief, Aqal Badshah, said 18 people were killed by eight attackers armed with Kalashnikovs and wearing military dress.

Human rights groups have heavily criticised the Pakistani government for failing to crack down on sectarian violence between the country's majority Sunni and minority Shiite Muslim communities that has killed thousands.

Local MP Abdul Sattar Khan linked the ambush to the murder of two Sunni Muslims a few days ago in Gilgit.

"The people of the area had vowed they would take revenge," Khan told AFP by telephone.

Authorities had been initially slow to confirm the motive and insisted Islamist militants were not active in the area. Kohistan borders Swat, where Pakistan in 2009 managed to put down a two-year Taliban insurgency.

Three bombs have targeted Pakistan's northwest in recent days, raising fears that violence linked to a Taliban insurgency directed against a government allied to the US-led war against terror is again on the rise.

More than 530 bomb attacks have killed around 4,900 people across Pakistan since government troops in July 2007 stormed a mosque in Islamabad where Islamist extremists were holed up, provoking a local Taliban-led insurgency.

Man arrested over vicar's murder

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  A general view of St Mary's Church in Thornbury, south Gloucestershire, where a clergyman was found dead in suspicious circumstances

Police have been given more time to question a 43-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murder after a clergyman was stabbed to death at his vicarage.

The Rev John Suddards, 59, was found with multiple wounds in Thornbury, South Gloucestershire, said Avon and Somerset Police.

As the community mourned, a senior clergyman said the murder should act as a warning - that when clergy open their churches and homes to people, they become "vulnerable".

The Ven Geoffrey Sidaway, archdeacon of Gloucester, said: "Sadly, this event highlights the vulnerable nature of parish ministry in some of our communities today.

"Many clergy on a daily basis open their homes and their churches to people and clearly that can put them in a vulnerable situation."

The alarm was raised by workmen who arrived at the building on Tuesday morning and realised it was locked.

Detective Chief Inspector Simon Crisp, who is leading the investigation, said: "I am in a position to confirm now that the body found yesterday in the vicarage was Reverend John Suddards.

"He suffered multiple stab wounds, and therefore this is now a murder investigation. A 43-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder."

Appealing for the help of Thornbury villagers, he said police "do not have a good understanding of his friends and family at the moment".

He said detectives were asking churchgoers to come forward to tell them what they knew about him, who visited him and who he associated with.

Families 'numb' over farm deaths

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  Gardai at the scene in Ballycormack, Bagnalstown, Co Carlow, where two related men have been found dead on neighbouring farms

The family of two brothers-in-law found dead on neighbouring farms in a suspected murder-suicide have been devastated and numbed by the tragedy, a local priest said.

Firefighters who battled for four hours to control a huge blaze at haysheds at Ballycormac House, near Bagenalstown, Co Carlow, found the body of George Rothwell, 71, at the large farmhouse where he lived alone. It is thought the award-winning cattle breeder and well-known local musician died from gunshot wounds. A firearm was discovered close to his body.

Several hours later around 9am, as the barns still smouldered, his sister Hilda found her husband Michael Jordan, 51, hanging in an outbuilding on their neighbouring farm. It is believed he had taken his own life.

A small amount of livestock was also killed in the fire while around 30 cattle were rescued from one of the barns.

Fr Paddy Byrne, a local priest, comforted Hilda and relatives at the scene.

"They are devastated," he said. "This is a very difficult place for anyone to find themselves to be, in terms of the tragic loss of life.

"There is shock, a numbness, an environment where people are trying to come to terms with exactly what happened."

Fr Byrne said both farmers were well-known and well-respected and he said of the close-knit community: "There's a sense of absolute numbness. When things you often hear about far away come to reality close by it's very difficult.

"It's a sad day for the area, it's a huge loss for the community and our immediate concern is to support the families and be close to them. We're trying to comfort and be there for them."

It is understood the Jordans had no children. Mr Rothwell, a bachelor and only sibling of Hilda, was a member of the Church of Ireland.