WASHINGTON

White House fence jumper immediately apprehended

The Secret Service has apprehended a man who jumped over the White House fence.

This latest incident comes about a month after a previous White House fence jumper sprinted across the lawn, past armed uniformed agents and entered the mansion before he was stopped in the East Room.

The Secret Service said the man in Wednesday’s incident climbed the Pennsylvania Avenue fence about 7:16 p.m. and was immediately apprehended by uniformed agents and K-9 teams.

Video shows the man lifting his shirt to show that he is unarmed, then kicking and punching two Secret Service dogs.

DENVER

School official calls teens victims of ‘online predator’

Three teenage girls being investigated for trying to join Islamic State forces in Syria were victims of an “online predator” who encouraged them, a school official said Wednesday, as U.S. officials tried to determine how they made it to Europe without anyone knowing and whether terrorists’ appeal is deepening among vulnerable youth.

The Denver-area girls – two sisters ages 17 and 15, and their 16-year-old friend – were detained at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, and sent home over the weekend. They were interviewed by the FBI and returned to their parents in suburban Aurora. Those in the tight-knit East African community said the sisters are of Somali descent and their friend is of Sudanese descent.

The episode posed vexing questions for U.S. officials, including about the use of social media by terror groups to recruit inside the U.S.

At least one of the girls was communicating with someone online who encouraged the three to travel to Syria, said Tustin Amole, a spokeswoman for the Cherry Creek School District.

CROWN POINT, Ind.

Man who admitted slaying 7 women found in contempt

A man who allegedly confessed to killing seven women in Indiana on Wednesday refused to speak or even acknowledge his name to a judge, and a sheriff said later that the suspect was upset that his hearing was in open court before journalists.

The judge asked Darren Vann, 43, of Gary, Indiana, at his initial court appearance if he understood the reason for the hearing in the strangulation death of 19-year-old Afrikka Hardy. But Vann stood unmoving and stone-faced, staring silently.

“Mr. Vann, are you choosing not to take part in this hearing?” Magistrate Judge Kathleen Sullivan asked Vann sternly.

When Vann still offered no response, Sullivan told his public defender to “tell your client that he stays in jail the rest of his life until this hearing takes place.”

She found him in contempt and said she would schedule another hearing next week.

– From news service reports