PANAMA CITY -- A woman who drove a mile after hitting a man in 1998 with the man’s severed leg in her vehicle has been sentenced to 250 hours of community service and fined $100 after admitting to a probation violation Friday morning.

Leona Miller, 38, was released from prison in 2011 after serving nearly 13 years of a 16-year sentence for DUI manslaughter. Miller pleaded no contest to killing 31-year-old Chad Dunbar while he was riding his bike along Thomas Drive, then driving to a Waffle House more than a mile away with a flat tire and Dunbar’s severed leg in her vehicle. Her blood-alcohol content was .2.

Miller lives in Sarasota, according to court records. In June she failed to get permission from her probation officer when she went the Bahamas for a few days.

PANAMA CITY — Phillip Brock got on the witness stand and refuted much of the testimony that came during the first two days of his trial on a first-degree murder charge in the death of Terry Brazil.

And after six hours of deliberation Friday, a jury couldn’t decide his fate.

The 12-person jury twice came to Judge Brantley Clark in a deadlock Friday. After a late dinner at the courthouse, they remained unable to issue a verdict, and Judge Clark declared a mistrial about 9:30 p.m.

During his defense, Brock said he was never hard up for cash, despite testimony earlier in the week that described him as broke and needy. The people who described him that way were either lying or mistaken, he said.

Under cross-examination from prosecutor Larry Basford, Brock was surly. He raised his voice in response to questions about details that he didn’t include in his initial statement that he gave to investigators before he was arrested. 

He and Brazil had known each other for years, and they often sold goods together at yard sales, which is why he had so much of Brazil’s property stored at his home in Southport. He was stressed when he gave his statement because he had just learned of the death of his friend, Brazil.

“I had forgotten those things were in there,” Brock said. “It’s not like I was trying to hide anything. I just didn’t think it was important.”

Brock’s attorney, Kim Dowgul, used her closing arguments to highlight the fact that the prosecution was based on circumstantial evidence and forensic evidence that Brock attempted to explain away. He had spent a lot of time in Brazil’s house over the years, sleeping over when they “had too enjoyable an evening.” Brock explained that he’d brushed up against the bed post used to bludgeon Brazil, which would explain why his DNA was on it.

Basford urged jurors not to get distracted from the evidence, especially the forensic evidence.

“The good thing about forensic evidence is that it’s just there; it’s either there or it’s not there,” Basford said, adding, “DNA doesn’t lie.”

Proceedings for a new trial are set to being Oct. 10.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — The Bay County Sheriff’s Office is searching for a possible sex offender after a 7-year-old girl awoke Saturday morning to find a strange man in her bed.

The Sheriff’s Office responded shortly after 4 a.m. to a home on Coronado Place north of Front Beach Road. An unidentified man had allegedly climbed into bed with the girl and began rubbing her leg. She became upset, and when he fled the home on foot, the homeowner chased him and struck him with a baseball bat. The suspect was last seen near Coronado and Back Beach Road.

An 8-year-old girl also was in the room during the incident. No injuries were reported.

As no sign of forced entry was found at the home, investigators believe the suspect entered the residence through an unlocked door, BCSO Maj. Tommy Ford said.

The Sheriff’s Office K9 Unit, Crime Scene Unit and Criminal Investigations Division responded, and the suspect was tracked to an area where BCSO believes he may have entered a vehicle. Deputies were locating sex offenders in the area after the incident.

The suspect is described as a 6-foot-2 white male weighing about 200 pounds with short dark hair and short facial hair. He appears to be in his late 20s or early 30s, according to BCSO, and was wearing blue jeans and a white T-shirt with an unknown black design.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call BCSO at 747-4700 or CrimeStoppers at 785-TIPS.

PANAMA CITY — In August, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called for sweeping reforms to the criminal justice system. Too many people, he said, are sitting in prison for drug offenses due to minimum mandatory sentences.

Pamela Marsh, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Florida, was part of the advisory committee that helped develop the ideas Holder talked about.

“We’ve been talking and discussing these matters for six months,” Marsh said.

Marsh had a good idea of what Holder would say, and she doesn’t expect the speech to have a significant impact on federal prosecutions at the local level because, she said, prosecutors here already have been emphasizing the kind of cases Holder suggested deserve priority.

Holder said he wanted prosecutors to go after violent offenders and those with ties to organized crime, and Marsh said those are the kind of cases her office makes a priority.

“I think we’re already prosecuting the right kind of crimes,” Marsh said in an interview after Holder’s speech. “I’m not sure you’ll see a sea change in the kind of cases we bring to court.”

Drug cases comprise the biggest portion of local federal prosecutors’ workloads. In the 12 months prior to March 2013, prosecutors in the Northern District of Florida brought felony charges against 312 defendants. Nearly a third, 101, of those defendants faced drug charges. No felony charges were brought for marijuana offenses.

Drug offenses have long topped the list of crimes for which people are incarcerated in Florida, just as they do in many other states. Drug offenders made up 48 percent of all federal prison inmates in 2011, while violent offenders made up 7.6 percent, according to a report published in December by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Any effort to reduce the number of nonviolent drug offenders might be better suited for state court cases. Just because the U.S. attorney general advocates a position, it doesn’t mean state attorneys have to change the way they do business.

Prosecutors at the state level have broad discretion to determine how to charge a defendant, and the charging decision can have a great impact on the consequences for a defendant.

The difference between a charge of trafficking in controlled substances and possession of a controlled substance can be the difference between spending a year in drug treatment or spending three years in prison, said Greg Wilson, felony chief for the State Attorney’s Office.

“What the prosecutors in our office have been told is to evaluate each case individually,” Wilson said. “We use a common sense approach.”

Questions they may consider include: What’s the defendant’s background? Is the defendant a drug addict who was arrested with some pills in their possession, or is the defendant a drug dealer who happens to be addicted to their product? Does the defendant have a history of violence?

Prosecutors in state court ask these questions before they decide whether it’s appropriate to level a trafficking charge, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence that varies depending on the amount of drugs, or a charge of possession with intent to distribute.

According to data from the Clerk of Courts’ office, those trafficking charges are rare. Less than 100 of more than 10,000 drug counts resolved since 2005 have been for trafficking various drugs.

Holder wants to give the judges and lawyers of the federal criminal justice system more discretion, and one area where they might use it is in the charges they bring against drug offenders, said Jean Marie Downing, an attorney who defends clients in state and federal court.

In federal court, minimum mandatory sentences are triggered by the weight of the drugs seized by law enforcement, and in conspiracy cases everyone who’s charged with conspiracy is charged with the weight of all the drugs seized, even if drugs were not seized from a particular conspirator, Downing said.

PANAMA CITY BEACH - Two people were critically injured in a three-vehicle crash in Panama City Beach on Sunday afternoon.

Panama City Beach police responded to the crash at Panama City Beach Parkway and Nautilus about 4 p.m. The collision involved a car, SUV and motorcycle. Circumstances of the crash were unclear, but investigators believe one of the vehicles was changing lanes in a possible attempt to beat a red light.

Two people on the motorcycle were critically injured. It appeared they were not wearing helmets, police said. Blood, car and motorcycle parts, and clothing were on the street as police investigated Sunday. Eastbound traffic on the parkway slowed after police cordoned off the crash site.

No other injuries were reported in the incident. An investigation is ongoing.
 

WASHINGTON — As many as two gunmen launched an attack Monday morning inside the Washington Navy Yard, spraying gunfire on office workers in the cafeteria and in the hallways at the heavily secured military installation in the heart of the nation's capital, authorities said. At least 12 people were killed.

One gunman was dead after he fired on a police officer, and police hunted for a second possible attacker who may have been disguised in a military-style uniform, authorities said. It wasn't clear how the gunman died.

Investigators said they had not established a motive for the shooting rampage, which unfolded less than four miles from the White House. As for whether it may have been a terrorist attack, Mayor Vincent Gray said: "We don't have any reason to think that at this stage."

The FBI took charge of the investigation. The dead gunman was identified as Aaron Alexis by two federal law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

One of those officials said Alexis, 34, was from Texas and is believed to have gotten into the Navy Yard by using someone else's identification card. It is not yet clear if that person was an accomplice or if the ID was stolen.

President Barack Obama mourned yet another mass shooting in the U.S. that he said took the lives of American patriots. Obama promised to make sure "whoever carried out this cowardly act is held responsible."

In addition to the dead, at least three people were wounded.

The area where the rampage took place, known as Building 197, was part of the headquarters for Naval Sea Systems Command, which buys, builds and maintains ships, submarines and combat systems. The yard is a labyrinth of buildings protected by armed guards at gates and metal detectors, and employees have to show their IDs to come and go.

About 3,000 people work at the headquarters, many of them civilians.

Witnesses described a gunman opening fire from a fourth-floor overlook, aiming down on people in the cafeteria on the main floor. Others said a gunman fired at them in a third-floor hallway. It was not clear whether the witnesses on different floors were describing the same gunman.

Around midday, police said they were searching for two men who may have taken part in the attack — one carrying a handgun and wearing a tan Navy-style uniform and a beret, the other armed with a long gun and wearing an olive-green uniform. Washington Police Chief Cathy Lanier said it was unclear if the men were members of the military.

But later in the day, police said in a tweet that the man in the tan uniform had been identified and was not involved in the shooting.

It was not immediately clear whether the number of dead included a gunman.

As emergency vehicles and law enforcement officers flooded streets around the complex, a helicopter hovered overhead, nearby schools were locked down and airplanes at nearby Reagan National Airport were grounded so they would not interfere with law-enforcement choppers.

A short distance away, security was beefed up at the Capitol and other federal buildings, but officials said there was no known threat.
Todd Brundidge, an executive assistant with Navy Sea Systems Command, said he and other co-workers encountered a gunman in a long hallway on the third floor. The gunman was wearing all blue, he said.

"He just turned and started firing," Brundidge said.

Terrie Durham, an executive assistant with the same agency, said she also saw the gunman firing toward her and Brundidge.

"He aimed high and missed," she said. "He said nothing. As soon as I realized he was shooting, we just said, 'Get out of the building.'"

Rick Mason, a civilian program-management analyst for the Navy who works on the fourth floor of the building, said a gunman was firing from the overlook in the hallway outside his office.

Shortly after the gunfire, Mason said, someone on an overhead speaker told workers to seek shelter and later to head for the gates at the complex.

Patricia Ward, a logistics-management specialist, said she was in the cafeteria getting breakfast.

"It was three gunshots straight in a row — pop, pop, pop. Three seconds later, it was pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, so it was like about a total of seven gunshots, and we just started running," Ward said.

Ward said security officers started directing people out of the building with guns drawn.

One person died at George Washington University Hospital of a single gunshot wound to the left temple, said Dr. Babak Sarani, director of trauma and acute care surgery. A police officer and two civilian women were in critical condition at Washington Hospital Center, said Janis Orlowski, the hospital's chief operating officer.

Orlowski said the police officer was in the operating room with gunshot wounds to the legs. The police chief said the officer was wounded when he engaged the shooter who later died.

One woman at the hospital had a gunshot wound to the shoulder. The other had gunshot wounds to the head and hand.
Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, was at the base at the time the shooting began but was moved unharmed to a nearby military installation

Anxious relatives and friends of those who work at the complex waited to hear from loved ones.

Tech Sgt. David Reyes, who works at Andrews Air Force Base, said he was waiting to pick up his wife, Dina, who was under lockdown in a building next to where the shooting happened. She sent him a text message about being on lockdown.

"They are under lockdown because they just don't know," Reyes said. "They have to check every building in there, and they have to check every room and just, of course, a lot of rooms and a lot of buildings."

Naval Sea Systems Command is the largest of the Navy's five system commands and accounts for a quarter of the Navy's entire budget. Only security personnel were allowed to be armed on the grounds, but that can include uniformed security officers, civilian contractors and members of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

Cmdr. Timothy Jirus said he has a clearance that would allow him to carry a gun on the campus. He has a secure access card that he swipes to get into the headquarters office.

"I think the security is really good, up until today," Jirus said.

Everyone must show an ID to get through a main gate, and at the building entrance, everyone must swipe a badge to pass through either a door or gate, depending on the entrance.

That "makes me think it might have been someone who works here," Mason said.

The Navy Yard has three gates, according to its website. One is open around the clock and must be used by visitors. A second gate is only for military and civilian Defense Department employees. The third gate is for bus traffic.

The Navy Yard is part of a fast-growing neighborhood on the banks of the Anacostia River in southeast Washington, blocks from the Nationals Park baseball stadium.
 

An earlier version of this story is below:

WASHINGTON — Police say at least 12 people have died in the shootings at the Washington Navy Yard.

D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said during a news conference Monday that 12 people were confirmed dead.

Lanier says people are being told to stay in their homes and out of the area as authorities search for two other possible suspects. One of the shooters has died.

The police chief says officers are searching for two other people with firearms wearing military-style uniforms. She says there is no indication of a possible motive at this time.

An earlier version of this story is below:

WASHINGTON — At least one gunman opened fire inside a building at the Washington Navy Yard on Monday morning, and officials said six people were killed and at least four were wounded, including a law enforcement officer.

Police were looking for two other potential gunmen wearing military-style uniforms, including one who had on a beret, chief Cathy Lanier said. One had a long gun and the other was also armed, she said. One of the three gunmen had died, though Lanier didn't say how.

Witnesses described a gunman opening fire from the fourth floor, aiming down on people in the first-floor cafeteria. Others said a gunman fired at them in a third-floor hallway. It wasn't clear whether the witnesses on different floors were describing the same gunman.

As witnesses emerged from the building, a helicopter hovered over it, schools were on lockdown and airplanes at nearby Reagan National Airport were briefly grounded so they wouldn't interfere with law enforcement helicopters. Less than 2 miles away, security was beefed up at the Capitol, but officials said there was no known threat there. President Barack Obama was getting frequent briefings on the shooting.

Two Navy officials confirmed at least six people had died. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the situation publicly.

About 3,000 people work at the Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters, which builds, buys and maintains the Navy's ships and submarines and combat systems.

Todd Brundidge, an executive assistant with Navy Sea Systems Command, said he and other co-workers encountered a gunman in a long hallway of their building on the third floor. The gunman was wearing all blue, he said.

"He just turned and started firing," Brundidge said.

Terrie Durham, an executive assistant with the same agency, said she also saw the gunman firing toward her and Brundidge.

"He aimed high and missed," she said. "He said nothing. As soon as I realized he was shooting, we just said, 'Get out of the building.'"

Rick Mason, a program management analyst who is a civilian with the U.S. Navy, said a gunman was shooting from a fourth floor overlook in the hallway outside his office. He said the gunman was aiming down at people in the building's cafeteria. Mason said he could hear the shots but could not see a gunman.

Shortly after the gunfire, Mason said someone on an overhead speaker told workers to seek shelter and later to head for the gates at the complex.

Patricia Ward, a logistics management specialist, said she was in the cafeteria.

"It was three gunshots straight in a row — pop, pop, pop. Three seconds later, it was pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, so it was like about a total of seven gunshots, and we just started running," Ward told reporters several blocks away from the Navy Yard.

Ward said security officers started directing people out of the building with guns drawn.

Police and federal agents from multiple law enforcement agencies responded. Ambulances were parked outside, streets in the area were closed and departures from Reagan National Airport were temporarily halted for security reasons.

Janis Orlowski, chief operating officer of Washington Hospital Center, told reporters the hospital was treating three gunshot victims in critical condition. One was Washington, D.C., metropolitan police officer and two were civilian women.

A U.S. Park Police helicopter hovered over the building and appeared to drop a basket with a person onto the roof.

District of Columbia schools officials said 12 public and charter schools and one administrative building in the vicinity of the Navy Yard were placed on lockdown. The action was taken out an abundance of caution, schools spokeswoman Melissa Salmanowitz said.

Naval Sea Systems Command is the largest of the Navy's five system commands and accounts for a quarter of the Navy's entire budget. Only security personnel were allowed to be armed on the campus.

The Navy Yard has three gates, according to its website. One is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and must be used by any visitors. A second gate is only for military and civilian Defense Department employees and the other is for bus traffic.

The Navy Yard is part of a fast-growing neighborhood on the banks of the Anacostia River in southeast Washington, just blocks from Nationals Park.

An earlier version of this story is below:

WASHINGTON — Two officials say police are looking into the possibility of a second shooter at the Washington Navy Yard where several people were killed.

A Defense Department official and a law enforcement official spoke on condition of anonymity Monday because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.

At least one gunman opened fire inside the Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters, where about 3,000 people work just miles from the Capitol.

Among the wounded was a D.C. police officer, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation.

At least 10 were wounded.
 

An earlier version of this story is below:

WASHINGTON — A Defense Department official says several people have been killed and as many as 10 have been wounded in a shooting at the Washington Navy Yard.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity Monday because the official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The official also says the shooter is "contained" but not yet in custody.

Earlier in the day, the U.S. Navy said it was searching for an active shooter at the Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters, where about 3,000 people work.

The exact number of people killed and the conditions of those wounded was not immediately known.
 

An earlier version of this story is below:

WASHINGTON - An active shooter was reported inside the Naval Sea Systems Command Headquarters building (Bldg. 197) on the Washington Navy Yard at 8:20 a.m. (Eastern Time), according to a news release from the U.S Navy.

There is one confirmed injury. Emergency personnel are on scene and a "shelter in place" order has been issued for Navy Yard personnel, officials added.

The Naval Sea Systems Command's headquartes is the work place for about 3,000 people.

The organization is comprised of command staff, headquarters directorates, affiliated Program Executive Offices (PEOs) and numerous field activities. Together, we engineer, build, buy and maintain ships, submarines and combat systems that meet the Fleet's current and future operational requirements.

WASHINGTON — A former Navy man opened fire Monday morning inside a building at the heavily secured Washington Navy Yard, spraying bullets at office workers in the cafeteria and the halls, authorities said. Thirteen people were killed, including the gunman.

Authorities said they were looking for a possible second attacker who may have been disguised in an olive-drab military-style uniform.

But as the day wore on and night fell, the rampage increasingly appeared to be the work of a lone gunman, and Navy Yard employees were being released from the complex and children were let out of their locked-down schools.

Investigators said they had not established a motive for the rampage, which unfolded about 8:20 a.m. in the heart of the nation's capital, less than four miles from the White House and two miles from the Capitol.

As for whether it may have been a terrorist attack, Mayor Vincent Gray said: "We don't have any reason to think that at this stage." But he said the possibility had not been ruled out.

It was the deadliest shooting rampage at a U.S.-based military installation since Maj. Nidal Hasan killed 13 people and wounded more than 30 others in 2009 at Fort Hood in Texas. He was convicted last month and sentenced to death.

President Barack Obama lamented yet another mass shooting in the U.S. that he said took the lives of American patriots. He promised to make sure "whoever carried out this cowardly act is held responsible."

The FBI took charge of the investigation and identified the gunman killed in the attack as 34-year-old Aaron Alexis of Texas. He died after a running gunbattle with police, investigators said.

A federal law enforcement official who was not authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity said Alexis was believed to have gotten into the Navy Yard by using someone else's identification card. But Navy officials said it was not yet clear how he got onto the base.

Alexis was a full-time reservist from 2007 to early 2011, leaving as a petty officer third class, the Navy said. It did not say why he left. He had been working for a fleet logistics support squadron in Fort Worth, Texas. The Navy listed his home of record as New York City.

At the time of the rampage, he was working as a Defense Department contractor, but it was not clear if the information technology worker was assigned at the Naval Yard, according to two defense officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

He was also pursuing a bachelor's degree in aeronautics online with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the school said. He started classes in July 2012.

In addition to those killed, more than a dozen people were hurt, including a police officer and two female civilians who were shot and wounded. They were all expected to survive.

The Washington Navy Yard is a sprawling labyrinth of buildings and streets protected by armed guards and metal detectors, and employees have to show their IDs at doors and gates to come and go. About 20,000 people work there.

The rampage took place at Building 197, the headquarters for Naval Sea Systems Command, which buys, builds and maintains ships, submarines and combat systems. About 3,000 people work at headquarters, many of them civilians.

Witnesses described a gunman opening fire from a fourth-floor overlook, aiming down on people in the cafeteria on the main floor. Others said a gunman fired at them in a third-floor hallway.

Patricia Ward, a logistics-management specialist, said she was in the cafeteria getting breakfast.

"It was three gunshots straight in a row — pop, pop, pop. Three seconds later, it was pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, so it was like about a total of seven gunshots, and we just started running," Ward said.

Todd Brundidge, an executive assistant with Navy Sea Systems Command, said he and other co-workers encountered a gunman in a long hallway on the third floor. The gunman was wearing all blue, he said.

"He just turned and started firing," Brundidge said.

Terrie Durham, an executive assistant with the same agency, said the gunman firing toward her and Brundidge.

"He aimed high and missed," she said. "He said nothing. As soon as I realized he was shooting, we just said, 'Get out of the building.'"

Police would not give any details on the gunman's weaponry, but witnesses said the man they saw had a long gun — which can mean a rifle or a shotgun.

In the confusion, police said around midday that they were searching for two men who may have taken part in the attack — one carrying a handgun and wearing a tan Navy-style uniform and a beret, the other armed with a long gun and wearing an olive-green uniform. Washington Police Chief Cathy Lanier said it was unclear if the men were members of the military.

But later in the day, police said the man in the tan uniform had been identified and was not involved in the shooting.

As emergency vehicles and law enforcement officers flooded streets around the complex, a helicopter hovered, nearby schools were locked down and airplanes at nearby Reagan National Airport were grounded so they would not interfere with law-enforcement choppers.

Security was tightened at other federal buildings. Senate officials shut down their side of the Capitol while authorities searched for the potential second attacker. The House remained open.

Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, was at the base at the time the shooting began but was moved unharmed to a nearby military installation.

Anxious relatives and friends of those who work at the complex waited to hear from loved ones.

Tech Sgt. David Reyes, who works at Andrews Air Force Base, said he was waiting to pick up his wife, Dina, who was under lockdown in a building next to where the shooting happened. She sent him a text message.

"They are under lockdown because they just don't know," Reyes said. "They have to check every building in there, and they have to check every room and just, of course, a lot of rooms and a lot of buildings."

According to public records, Alexis' neighbor called Fort Worth police in September 2010 after she was nearly struck by a bullet that came from his downstairs apartment. Alexis told police he was cleaning his gun when it went off.

He was arrested on suspicion of discharging a firearm within city limits but was not prosecuted.

___

Associated Press writers Jesse Holland, Stacy A. Anderson, Brian Witte and Ben Nuckols in Washington contributed to this report.

The Bay County Sheriff’s Office is reviewing an incident in which a deputy shot and killed two pit bulls that had forced an Animal Control office to retreat to her vehicle and call for backup.
Bay County Animal Control was called to pick up five pit bulls that had been abandoned by their owner and were in poor health, authorities reported. The officer was attempting to put the dogs in her truck, but one of them became aggressive and tried to bite her before escaping the truck.

The dog that escaped got into a fight with another dog, and when the deputy responded he found the dogs in “basically a fight to the death,” BCSO Maj. Tommy Ford said. The deputy initially believed the dogs were chained up, but when he realized they were loose he shot them both twice to prevent them from hurting anyone.

Ford said Florida law allows law enforcement to perform mercy killings on animals that are diseased or injured past hope of recovery.

The Bay County Sheriff’s Office is reviewing the incident to ensure the deputy’s actions were proper.

PANAMA CITY —  A man was hospitalized Monday afternoon after he crashed a small motorcycle just north of the intersection of U.S. 231 and Pinetree Road, according to Panama City Police.

Police didn’t release the man’s identity or condition after the crash, which delayed traffic in the area for more than an hour as investigators worked to determine what caused the crash. The man was taken to Bay Medical Center with a head injury, police said.

No other vehicles were involved in the wreck. Police continue to investigate.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Three fire crews battled a blaze in the Bay Point Marina on Monday evening when a roughly 40-foot boat caught fire, Bay County Emergency Services Chief Mark Bowen said.

It was not immediately clear what caused the fire, which drew a crowd of spectators, but Bowen said the fire didn’t seem suspicious. The State Fire Marshal’s Office was sending an investigator to the scene, Bowen said.

Crews from Bay County and the Panama City Beach Fire Department were assisted by a firefighting watercraft the Panama City Fire Department sent to the fire, Bowen said. He credited all the firefighters for helping to bring the fire under control and limit the damage to other property in the marina. One other sailboat was damaged, Bowen said.

WASHINGTON — The deadly attack at the Washington Navy Yard was carried out by one of the military's own: a defense contract employee and former Navy reservist who used a valid pass to get onto the installation and started firing inside a building, killing 12 people before he was slain in a gun battle with police.

The motive for the mass shooting — the deadliest on a military installation in the U.S. since the tragedy at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009 — was a mystery, investigators said. But a profile of the lone gunman, a 34-year-old Aaron Alexis, was coming into focus. He was described as a Buddhist who had also had flares of rage, complained about the Navy and being a victim of discrimination and had several run-ins with law enforcement, including two shootings.

U.S. law enforcement officials told The Associated Press that Alexis had been suffering a host of serious mental issues, including paranoia and a sleep disorder. He also had been hearing voices in his head, the officials said. Alexis had been treated since August by the Veterans Administration for his mental problems, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the criminal investigation in the case was continuing.

The Navy had not declared him mentally unfit, which would have rescinded a security clearance Alexis had from his earlier time in the Navy Reserves.

Family members told investigators Alexis was being treated for his mental issues.

The officials also said there has been no connection to international or domestic terrorism and investigators have found no manifesto or other writings suggesting a political or religious motivation for the shooting.

Monday's onslaught at a single building at the highly secure Navy Yard unfolded about 8:20 a.m. in the heart of the nation's capital, less than four miles from the White House and two miles from the Capitol.

It put all of Washington on edge. Mayor Vincent Gray said there was no indication it was a terrorist attack, but he added that the possibility had not been ruled out.

"This is a horrific tragedy," Gray said.

Alexis carried three weapons: an AR-15 assault rifle, a shotgun, and a handgun that he took from a police officer at the scene, according to two federal law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation. The AR-15 is the same type of rifle used in last year's mass shooting at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school that killed 20 students and six women. The weapon was also used in the shooting at a Colorado movie theater that killed 12 and wounded 70.

For much of the day, authorities said they were looking for a possible second attacker who may have been disguised in an olive-drab military-style uniform. But by late Monday night, they said they were convinced the shooting was the work of a lone gunman, and the lockdown around the area was eased.

"We do now feel comfortable that we have the single and sole person responsible for the loss of life inside the base today," Washington police Chief Cathy Lanier said.

President Barack Obama lamented yet another mass shooting in the U.S. that he said took the lives of American "patriots." He promised to make sure "whoever carried out this cowardly act is held responsible."

The FBI took charge of the investigation.

The attack came four years after Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan killed 13 people at Fort Hood in what he said was an effort to save the lives of Muslims overseas. He was convicted last month and sentenced to death.
In addition to those killed at the Navy Yard, eight people were hurt, including three who were shot and wounded, according to the mayor. Those three were a police officer and two female civilians, authorities said. They were all expected to survive.

The dead ranged in age from 46 to 73, according to the mayor. A number of the victims were civilian employees and contractors, rather than active-duty military personnel, the police chief said.

At the time of the rampage, Alexis was an employee with The Experts, a company that was a Defense Department subcontractor on a Navy-Marine Corps computer project, authorities said.

Valerie Parlave, head of the FBI's field office in Washington, said Alexis had access to the Navy Yard as a defense contractor and used a valid pass.

Alexis had been a full-time Navy reservist from 2007 to early 2011, leaving as a petty officer third class, the Navy said. It did not say why he left. He had been an aviation electrician's mate with a unit in Fort Worth.

A convert to Buddhism who grew up in New York City, Alexis had had run-ins with the law over shooting incidents in 2004 and 2010 in Fort Worth and Seattle and was portrayed in police reports as seething with anger.

The Washington Navy Yard is a sprawling, 41-acre labyrinth of buildings and streets protected by armed guards and metal detectors, and employees have to show their IDs at doors and gates. More than 18,000 people work there.
The rampage took place at Building 197, the headquarters for Naval Sea Systems Command, which buys, builds and maintains ships and submarines. About 3,000 people work at headquarters, many of them civilians.

Witnesses on Monday described a gunman opening fire from a fourth-floor overlook, aiming down on people on the main floor, which includes a glass-walled cafeteria. Others said a gunman fired at them in a third-floor hallway.

Patricia Ward, a logistics-management specialist, said she was in the cafeteria getting breakfast.

"It was three gunshots straight in a row — pop, pop, pop. Three seconds later, it was pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, so it was like about a total of seven gunshots, and we just started running," Ward said.

Todd Brundidge, an executive assistant with Navy Sea Systems Command, said he and co-workers encountered a gunman in a long hallway on the third floor. The gunman was wearing all blue, he said.

"He just turned and started firing," Brundidge said.

Terrie Durham, an executive assistant with the same agency, said the gunman fired toward her and Brundidge.

"He aimed high and missed," she said. "He said nothing. As soon as I realized he was shooting, we just said, 'Get out of the building.'"

Officials announced early Tuesday that streets around the Navy Yard that were closed after the shooting were re-opened for the morning commute.

As emergency vehicles and law enforcement officers flooded the streets Monday, a helicopter hovered, nearby schools were locked down and airplanes at Reagan National Airport were grounded so they would not interfere with law-enforcement choppers.

In the confusion, police said around midday that they were searching for two accomplices who may have taken part in the attack — one carrying a handgun and wearing a tan Navy-style uniform and a beret, the other armed with a long gun and wearing an olive-green uniform. Police said it was unclear if the men were members of the military.

But as the day wore, police dropped one person and then the other as suspects. As tensions eased, Navy Yard employees were gradually released from the complex, and children were let out of their locked-down schools.

Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, was at the base at the time the shooting began but was moved unharmed to a nearby military installation.

Anxious relatives and friends of those who work at the complex waited to hear from loved ones.
 

SOUTHPORT -- Target practice at 3 a.m. on a public road seems a little odd, but maybe it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Shortly after 3 a.m. Thursday, a Bay County deputy spotted a car parked on the side of State 77 near County  388. The car’s emergency lights were on. The driver, a 50-year-old Lynn Haven man, told the deputy he had run out of gas, according to a BCSO incident report. 

The man smelled of alcohol, according to the report, and had decided to fire off a dozen gunshots from multiple firearms while he waited on a tow truck. What he was aiming at — if anything — was unclear. No injuries were reported.

The man smelled of alcohol and a search of the car turned up an open bottle of Canadian Hunter whiskey and six firearms — a Luger 9mm pistol, Beretta 9mm pistol, Ruger .357 pistol, Beretta .22 pistol, Hi-Point 9mm rifle and an AR-15 rifle. Deputies also found several boxes of ammunition and a marijuana joint, according to the report.

The man was arrested and charged with discharging a firearm while intoxicated, shooting on the road right of way and several other offenses.

PANAMA CITY — Prosecutors are appealing a judge’s decision to suppress evidence against a man police described as perhaps the biggest distributor of crystal meth in Bay County on the grounds deputies violated his right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.

Deputies seized more than 100 grams of meth from the Panama City Beach home of Paul Smith and Audrey Landee on Feb. 15 after arresting the couple.

Smith was arrested on an invalid warrant for driving with a suspended license; Landee was arrested for resisting an officer without violence after she put her hands on an investigator who was trying to enter her house despite her forceful objections. Both were later charged with trafficking in methamphetamines, a first-degree felony, and other charges.

Judge Elijah Smiley found members of the Bay County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Division (SID) had no probable cause to search the home and no justification to conduct a warrantless search. In a seven-page order issued Sept. 6, Smiley methodically outlined the circumstances in which deputies can enter a home without a warrant and found that none applied in this case.

Prosecutor Christa Diviney filed an appeal to the 1^st District Court of Appeals Thursday. She didn’t return a call seeking comment Tuesday.

According to court records, Smith was known as Whiskey to SID investigators who suspected he was involved in trafficking high quality methamphetamine known as ice. Investigators said they conducted surveillance on the house to try and arrest Smith on a warrant they said they believed was active but had actually been recalled 11 days earlier.

When Smith drove up to his house that morning he was arrested outside. When Landee, a war veteran diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, came outside to see what was going on Smith yelled to her to prevent investigators from going inside the house.

Landee said she told investigators they could not go inside without a warrant. In a hearing she said she had her back to the door and she was approached on her porch by several deputies and began to feel stress that triggered symptoms of PTSD. A search warrant application says she started yelling incoherently when deputies said she was not allowed back in the house.

She initially said there was no one in the house, but several minutes later she told them her infant was sleeping inside and that she was going inside to check on her.

The deputies prevented her from going inside because they said they were worried she might destroy evidence or arm herself. They wouldn’t let her in unless one of them went inside with her. She refused.

In the hearing, Landee said she tried to open the door and one of the deputies grabbed her. She turned, grabbed him back and was arrested. Deputies brought her inside and put her in the living room, where they saw a pipe used to smoke meth.

Based on the pipe they saw, deputies applied for a warrant to search the home, which was granted. They found drugs and paraphernalia.

She argued in a written response to the motion to suppress that Landee created exigent circumstance, one of the legal exceptions to the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable search and seizure, when she said she wanted to check on the child but refused to allow deputies to escort her.

Smiley found that the exigent circumstance exception didn’t justify the warrantless search, and he wrote that the only probable cause in the search warrant application, the meth pipe, was not discovered until after deputies entered the home without a warrant or probable cause.

Rusty Shepard and Jean Marie Downing, attorneys representing Landee and Smith, have filed a motion to dismiss the charges against the couple, but the proceedings in the case have been stayed until the appeals court returns a ruling on prosecutors’ appeal, Shepard said.

It’s not clear when the appeals court will decide, but Downing, who didn’t return a call Tuesday seeking comment, has filed a motion to allow Smith and Landee to communicate, which Smiley has prohibited.

Smith was released on his own recognizance in this case Monday, but he remained in the Bay County Jail pending resolution of felony charges arising from another incident.

PANAMA CITY BEACH -- A Bay County school bus was involved in a minor crash Tuesday afternoon, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Three children were on the bus, but no one was injured.

FHP said that at 4:20 p.m., a school bus driven by Laura Froelich, 40, of Panama City Beach, and a 2007 Dodge driven by Cathy Eakle, 58, Panama City Beach, sideswiped each other as they went through a curved area of Magnolia Beach Road at Annette Avenue. Both vehicles were driven from the scene.

The investigation is continuing and charges had not been filed as of Tuesday night.

TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the conviction and death sentence of a Holmes County man sentenced to death last year after he was convicted of kidnapping a woman and burning her alive.

Johnny Mack Skeeto Calhoun was convicted of kidnapping Mia Brown from the convenience store where she worked in December 2010 and driving her to rural Alabama, where he put her in the trunk of a car and set the car on fire. A jury recommended capital punishment by a 9-3 vote.

BRISTOL — A Panhandle jury took roughly an hour on Thursday to declare suspended Liberty County Sheriff Nick Finch not guilty of misconduct stemming from his decision to intervene in a gun arrest.

Finch fought back tears as he hugged his wife and daughter following the acquittal on charges of official misconduct and falsifying public records, which carry a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment upon conviction. He later praised the six men and women who served on the jury during the three-day trial.

"This just proves Liberty County is a good place to live and raise your children," Finch said. "There are good people here."

Several hours after the verdict was reached, Gov. Rick Scott, who suspended Finch after his arrest, issued an executive order to immediately reinstate him.

Finch was arrested in June after prosecutors alleged he had destroyed official records related to the March arrest of Floyd Eugene Parrish. Parrish was arrested by one of Finch's deputies during a traffic stop for carrying a pistol in his pocket without a concealed weapons permit. Two hours later, Finch arrived at the jail and had Parrish released. Finch said he released Parrish because he did not believe state gun laws should trump the Second Amendment.

Finch also denied destroying any records and insisted that it made little sense to charge Parrish since so many people in the county routinely carry guns in their cars and trucks.

State prosecutors argued unsuccessfully that Finch had lied about the reason for releasing Parrish. Assistant State Attorney Jack Campbell contended that Finch actually released Parrish as a favor to his family, for their political support during last year's sheriff's race.

"The Second Amendment doesn't have anything to do with this case," Campbell told jurors during his closing statement. "It's about the truth."

State Attorney Willie Meggs — who said this is the first time he had prosecuted a sheriff during his nearly 30 years in office — said he was disappointed with the outcome.

"We thought we established the case, the verdict should have been guilty on both counts," Meggs said. "It wasn't, so we go on to the next case. We don't win all of our cases. Our job is to try them."

The case had divided this small rural county of 8,000 people located west of Tallahassee. News of the arrest brought attention among conservative media outlets and gun rights activists who have criticized prosecutors and Scott for suspending Finch.

The state built its case around that fact that the original document used to charge Parrish was missing and that someone had whited out logs used at the Liberty County jail. A jail employee testified that she gave Finch the file that contained information about the case. Prosecutors argued that Finch was trying to cover up the fact that he had released Parrish.

When asked after the trial if county residents could now carry concealed weapons without a permit, Finch at first said "of course you can." But then he stopped and said "we will get into that at a later time."

MALONE  — A former Malone city councilman was convicted Thursday of grand theft auto and dealing in stolen property.

Fred Lee Jones, 65, of Malone, was arrested in March 2012 in connection with several local car thefts. Investigators with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Jackson County Sheriff’s Office determined that Jones stole the vehicles and sold them for scrap. After his arrest, Jones was removed from office by Gov. Rick Scott.

Jones’ trial, which was held in Marianna, was the first of four in which he faces grand theft auto and dealing in stolen property charges. Jones also has been charged with misuse of public office for personal gain.

LYNN HAVEN — A child lied about finding a razor blade in his Halloween candy Thursday, according to the Panama City Beach Police Department.

Police reported responding about 8:45 p.m. to a home in Lynn Haven to talk to the child who made the complaint. After investigating, police discovered the child had fabricated the incident. It was unclear why. Further details on the incident were not released.

Police departments first began responding to such incidents in the late 70s, when razor blades, pins, needles and glass started being found in some Halloween candy. The National Confectioners Association has reported that Halloween candy tampering is extremely rare today.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — A Panama City Beach man was arrested late Friday after a homemade firebomb was thrown near a residence, according to Beach police.

Garrent E. Sadler, 23, was charged with possession, manufacture and disposal of a firebomb.

The arrest occurred after an investigation into an individual throwing a firebomb near a residence on Wisteria Street in Panama City Beach. Witnesses identified Sadler as the person who threw the firebomb. The incident occurred after Sadler and his girlfriend had a verbal altercation with their roommates, police said.

The extent of damage, if any, was not disclosed, and a spokesman for the Police Department could not be reached Saturday.

Sadler was transported to the Bay County Jail. The investigation is ongoing.

The Florida State Fire Marshal’s Office assisted in the investigation.

SOUTHPORT - A Southport man was killed Saturday when his vehicle ran off the road and landed in Fanning Bayou, Florida Highway Patrol officials wrote in a news release.

Lee Eugene Lott, 32, was traveling west at 10:45 p.m. on County Road 2302 when his 1999 Jeep Cherokee entered the grassy shoulder to the right of the road and began to rotate counterclockwise, FHP wrote. The right rear of the vehicle then stuck a guy wire and began to rotate clockwise, the news release stated. The right front of the vehicle struck a utility pole, causing it to become airborne and overturn, landing on its top in Fanning Bayou, officials wrote. The vehicle came to final rest facing east, upside-down in the bayou, officials wrote.

Lott was not wearing a seatbelt, the news release states.