Five other people were wounded in the shooting rampage, which unfolded just a few miles from where President Barack Obama was speaking at a political fundraiser elsewhere in Santa Monica, west of Los Angeles.

The bloodshed did not appear to be related to Obama’s visit to Santa Monica and the Secret Service called it a “local police matter.”

The killing spree marked the latest in string of high-profile mass shootings over the past year, including a December attack in Connecticut that killed 20 children and six adults at an elementary school and a shooting last July at a suburban Denver movie theater that killed 12 people.

Those attacks have helped reignite a national debate over gun violence in America that spurred Obama and his fellow Democrats to push for expanded background checks for gun buyers – an initiative defeated in the U.S. Senate.

Police say the carnage began at a home east of the college, where the gunman shot two people dead before apparently torching the home. The Los Angeles Times, citing law enforcement sources, reported that the first two victims were believed to be the gunman’s father and brother.

Santa Monica Police Sergeant Richard Lewis said that after leaving the home the gunman carjacked a woman and ordered her to drive. Along the way he fired at least several rounds at a city bus, wounding three people.

Arriving at the college, the gunman opened fire on a red sports utility vehicle in a staff parking lot, killing the driver and critically wounding his passenger, Lewis said.

The gunman, who was armed with an AR-15 style rifle and at least one handgun, then shot and killed another victim at the college before he was slain in an exchange of gunfire with police, Lewis said.

He said investigators had not yet determined a motive for the rampage, adding: “It’s a horrific event that everybody wishes never happened.”

Obama had been attending a fundraising event at the Santa Monica home of former News Corp President Peter Chernin at about the time of the shooting and had just finished his remarks. He made no mention of the incident.

A Secret Service spokesman in Washington said: “We are aware of the incident and it is not impacting the visit. It’s a local police matter at this point.”

Obama’s departure from Los Angeles was rerouted to avoid the scene, a White House press secretary said.

(Reporting by Dana Feldman, Dan Whitcomb, Steve Gorman and Alex Dobuzinskis; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

California prison officials declined to release Van Houten, 63, following a parole board hearing at the California Institution for Women in Chino, east of Los Angeles, where she is an inmate.

She is eligible to seek parole again in five years.

Van Houten was convicted of murder and conspiracy in connection with the Manson Family murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, who were stabbed to death in their Los Angeles home on August 9, 1969.

The killers used their blood to write “Rise,” “Death to Pigs” and “Healter-Skelter”, a misspelled reference to a Beatles song, on the walls and a refrigerator door.

“Given the brutality of the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca and Van Houten’s willing and active participation in this evil, pre-planned and violent crime, we are pleased with the parole board’s decision to continue to hold Van Houten accountable for her heinous actions,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in a written statement.

Van Houten was found guilty of the LaBianca murders in 1971 and sentenced to death, but that conviction and sentence were overturned on appeal. She was retried, convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1978.

Manson became one of the 20th century’s most infamous criminals in the summer of 1969, when he directed his mostly young, female followers to murder seven people in what prosecutors said was part of a plan to incite a race war between whites and blacks.

Among the victims was actress Sharon Tate, the pregnant wife of filmmaker Roman Polanski. She was stabbed 16 times by members of the cult in the early-morning hours of August 9, 1969.

Four other people were stabbed or shot to death at Tate’s home that night by the Manson followers, who scrawled the word “Pig” in blood on the front door before leaving. Van Houten was not involved in the Tate murders.

Manson was originally sentenced to death but was spared execution after the U.S. Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional in 1972.

Now 78, he is serving a life sentence at Corcoran State Prison in California for the seven Tate-LaBianca killings and the murder of another man, Gary Hinman, in July 1969. He repeatedly has been denied parole.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Xavier Briand)

Jones, who played for the Los Angeles Rams, San Diego Chargers and Redskins during a stellar 13-year National Football League career, died of natural causes at his home in Southern California, the team said in a statement on its website.

“Deacon Jones was one of the greatest players in NFL history. Off the field, he was a true giant. His passion and spirit will continue to inspire those who knew him,” Redskins General Manager Bruce Allen said in the statement.

“He was a cherished member of the Allen family and I will always consider him my big brother,” Allen said of Jones, who was nicknamed the “Secretary of Defense” for his prowess as a defensive end.

Jones, who was inducted into the National Football Hall of Fame during his first year of eligibility in 1980, was also credited with inventing the term “sack” to describe tackling the quarterback for a loss.

It was a maneuver he did better than any other player of his time, making him an intimidating force on the football field.

Jones, who was born in Florida in 1938, played football at South Carolina State University and Mississippi Valley State University before he was drafted by the Rams in the 14th round in 1961.

He joined Larry Lundy, Rosey Grier and Merlin Olsen to form what became known as the Fearsome Foursome, still remembered as one of the top defensive lines in the history of the game, and played under head coach George Allen.

Jones was traded to the San Diego Chargers in 1972, becoming a defensive leader of that team before reuniting with Allen on the Redskins for a final year in 1974.

He was a first-team All-Pro selection for five seasons running, from 1965 through 1969, earned Pro Bowl honors eight times, and was named the game’s defensive player of the year in 1967 and 1968.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Pravin Char)

Legal experts said the case represented an unusual instance of prosecutors charging a dog owner with murder in a fatal mauling, especially when the owner may not have been present for the attack.

Alex Donald Jackson, 29, was arrested a day after the May 9 attack in the community of Littlerock when Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies searching for the dogs involved said they had found a marijuana “grow operation” at his home.

Eight dogs were seized from Jackson’s house, including six pit bulls and two mixed breeds. Some were found with blood on their coats and muzzles, said Lieutenant John Corina of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s homicide division.

He said forensic DNA tests later established that the blood was that of the victim, Pamela Maria Devitt.

Devitt had been walking or jogging when a pack of pit bulls attacked her on the side of a road in Littlerock, in the sparsely populated high desert of Southern California about 65 miles east of Los Angeles.

The 63-year-old victim died in an ambulance of blood loss after suffering 150 to 200 puncture wounds, Corina said.

Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Samantha MacDonald said authorities had received at least three other reports of Jackson’s pit bulls attacking people since January.

Jackson was also charged with cultivating marijuana and other drug charges and was being held on $1 million bail. He was scheduled for arraignment on Friday on the attack charges and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

Stan Goldman, a professor of criminal law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said it was rare for the state to seek a murder conviction against a dog owner over a fatal attack, saying such cases are more often prosecuted as involuntary manslaughter or gross negligence.

“In order to rise to the level of murder you have to show that the dog owner knew of the great danger they were creating, and that’s the tough part,” Goldman said.

“It’s almost like any dangerous condition you keep around the house,” he said. “If you keep an ultra-electrified fence and don’t warn people, the theory could be that you are subjectively aware you are creating a danger but don’t do anything about it.”

Goldman said defense attorneys could likely argue that their client was not aware that his dogs could kill, which prosecutors might try to counter by pointing to the previous complaints against the animals.

In 2001, Diane Whipple, a 33-year-old top collegiate lacrosse player and coach, was fatally mauled by two Presa Canarios – a dog breed that can grow as large as 130 lbs (60 kg) – in a hallway outside her San Francisco apartment.

The dog’s owners, a married couple who lived in the same apartment building, were convicted of involuntary manslaughter and the wife was found guilty of second-degree murder.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Doina Chiacu, Cynthia Johnston and Lisa Shumaker)

Christian Barnes, 22, was arrested at the park on Tuesday evening after police responded to the second blast near a Toontown trash can and found remnants of a water bottle that had detonated there.

During a brief arraignment in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, Barnes pleaded not guilty to a single count of possessing a destructive device in a public place. He was ordered held on $500,000 bail pending a June 7 pretrial hearing in the case.

Prosecutors with the Orange County District Attorney’s office said Barnes, who sold drinks at a vending cart outside Toontown, is accused of being in possession of two dry ice bombs made out of water bottles but was charged with only a single count.

One of the bottles exploded when Barnes opened the cart as he was being relieved from his shift by another employee sometime after 4 p.m. on Tuesday, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors said that as Barnes walked toward an employee break area he took a second water bottle filled with dry ice from the cart and placed it in a trash can in Toontown, a theme area designed for younger children to visit the cartoon-style homes of Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters.

The bottle exploded several minutes later, after a custodian removed the trash bag from the can and put it on the ground. The loud bang prompted park officials to evacuate the area.

There were no reports of damage or serious injury from either of the blasts.

A Walt Disney Co spokeswoman has said the incident appears to have been a prank and that the theme park was working closely with local authorities. She said the company was considering whether to suspend or terminate Barnes.

Disneyland, located in Anaheim 35 miles southeast of Los Angeles, is Disney’s original theme park and one of the top tourist attractions in the United States.

The 57-year-old park attracted more than 16 million visitors in 2011, the most recent year for which statistics were available, according to the trade group Themed Entertainment Association.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Grant McCool and Richard Chang)

Alex Donald Jackson, 29, was taken into custody after the May 9 attack in the community of Littlerock when Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies searching for the dogs said they had found a marijuana “grow operation” at his home.

Eight dogs were seized from his house, including six pit bulls and two mixed breeds. Sheriff’s officials said at the time they were conducting DNA and forensic tests on the dogs.

Pamela Maria Devitt, 63, was jogging when a pack of pit bulls attacked her on the side of a road in Littlerock, in the sparsely populated high desert of Southern California about 65 miles east of Los Angeles.

Devitt died of her wounds in an ambulance while being taken to a hospital.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Thursday authorities had received at least three other reports of Jackson’s pit bulls attacking people before that attack.

Jackson, who was also charged with cultivating marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale and possession for sale of a controlled substance, was being held on $1 million bail.

He was scheduled for arraignment Friday on the attack charges and faces a maximum life sentence if convicted.

Murder charges following a fatal dog attack are rare.

In 2001, Diane Whipple, a 31-year-old top collegiate lacrosse player and coach, was fatally mauled by two Presa Canarios – a large breed that can grow as large as 130 pounds (60 kg) – in a hallway outside her San Francisco apartment.

The dog’s owners, a married couple, were convicted of involuntary manslaughter and the wife was found guilty of second-degree murder.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

Disneyland vendor Christian Barnes is accused of being in possession of two water bottles filled with dry ice, which both exploded in the park on Tuesday, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

The second explosion, near a Toontown trash can, prompted the evacuation of that area of the park for about two hours, according to the district attorney’s office.

Barnes was taken into custody later that evening by Anaheim police, who discovered evidence of a dry ice explosion. Authorities had previously described only one explosion at the park.

Barnes, a 22-year-old resident of Long Beach, California, faces a maximum of six years in prison if convicted on the single charge of “possession of a destructive device in a public place.”

A Walt Disney Co. spokeswoman has said the incident appears to have been a prank and that the theme park was working closely with local authorities. She said the company was considering whether to suspend or terminate Barnes.

Disneyland, located in Anaheim 35 miles southeast of Los Angeles, is Disney’s original theme park and one of the top tourist attractions in the United States.

The 57-year-old park attracted more than 16 million visitors in 2011, the most recent year for which statistics were available, according to the trade group Themed Entertainment Association.

Toontown is a theme area aimed at younger children, who can visit the cartoon-style homes of Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Grant McCool)

Christian Barnes, identified as a 22-year-old outdoor vending cast member at Walt Disney Co’s Disneyland, was being held on $1 million bail, Sergeant Bob Dunn of the Anaheim Police Department said in a statement.

“Barnes is cooperating with investigators and has indicated that this is an isolated incident with unanticipated impacts,” Dunn said.

Dunn said a police search of the area where the explosion occurred turned up evidence of a dry ice explosion. A Disneyland spokeswoman, Suzi Brown, said the incident appears to have been a prank and the theme park was working closely with local authorities.

She said the company was considering whether to suspend or terminate Barnes.

The small explosion in a trash can, shortly before 5:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday, prompted the evacuation of Mickey’s Toontown, a theme area where children can visit the cartoon-style homes of Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters.

Visitors were allowed to return about two hours later after police cleared the scene. There were no reports of damage or injury.

Dunn said that Anaheim police officers assisted by the Orange County Sheriff’s Bomb Squad searched the trash can and found remnants of a water bottle, which he said was indicative of a dry ice explosion.

Dunn said that Barnes, of Long Beach, California, was booked into the Anaheim Police Department on suspicion of possessing a destructive device.

Disneyland, located in Anaheim some 35 miles southeast of Los Angeles, is Disney’s original theme park and one of the nation’s top tourist draws.

The 57-year-old park attracted more than 16 million visitors in 2011, the most recent year statistics were available, according to trade group Themed Entertainment Association.

(Additional reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Tim Dobbyn and David Gregorio)

(Reuters) – A 15-year-old Utah boy was arrested on Thursday on suspicion he stabbed to death his two younger brothers, ages 10 and four, at the family home while their mother was out running errands, law enforcement officials said.

The boy, from the community of West Point, was taken into custody a day after the bodies of his brothers were found dead with what appeared to be “penetrating knife wounds,” said Sergeant Susan Poulsen of the Davis County Sheriff’s Office.

“As a result of our investigation, this morning we have taken the 15-year-old juvenile into custody,” Poulsen said, adding that prosecutors were expected to formally charge the boy on Monday. “We believe he acted alone.”

The arrest comes amid heightened national attention to violence by children following the high profile stabbing death last month of an 8-year-old California girl, Leila Fowler. Her 12-year-old brother has been charged with second-degree murder in her death.

In the Utah case, police went to the house on Wednesday evening after the boys’ mother called 911 shortly after 7:30 p.m. local time, telling a dispatcher she had returned from running errands to find her 4-year-old son dead on the floor.

The woman said her two older sons were missing. The father of the boys, who is on active duty in the U.S. military, was out of town.

Sheriff’s deputies who responded to the scene found the body of the 10-year-old boy in the home, and launched a search in and around West Point, about 25 miles north of Salt Lake City, for the older brother.

He was found at about midnight some five to seven miles away in a neighboring community, in good condition, and taken to a hospital for evaluation and treatment of minor injuries.

Poulsen said that the manner of death of the younger boys was consistent with stab wounds but that an autopsy would be conducted before a formal determination was made. She declined to comment on evidence against the 15-year-old boy or a possible motive for the crime.

“We had enough probable cause to arrest him on suspicion of homicide,” Poulsen said.

The names of the victims and that of the boy arrested were being withheld by authorities because of their age.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Alden Bentley)

(Reuters) – A federal appeals court struck down an Arizona law on Tuesday that bans abortions from 20 weeks gestation, saying it violated “unalterably clear” U.S. Supreme Court rulings that women have a right to terminate pregnancies until a fetus is viable.

The decision by a three-member panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of appeals in San Francisco, which overturned the ruling of a federal district court judge, was hailed by abortion rights groups as a “huge victory” in a state they say has taken one of the nation’s toughest stances on the issue.

“Last year, Arizona led the nation in the number of legislative attacks against women’s health care,” Nancy Northrup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement.

“With today’s defeat in federal court, we call on the governor and legislature to stop wasting Arizona taxpayers’ time and money on these cruel and extremely harmful efforts to chip away at women’s constitutionally protected rights,” she said.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, a Republican who signed the abortion ban into law in April 2012, did not immediately comment on the 9th Circuit’s ruling. Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, who argued the case before the appellate court, also had no comment.

Cathi Herrod, president of the anti-abortion Center for Arizona Policy, which supports the ban, said the appellate court had “put a pro-abortion ideology before the health and safety of women and preborn children.”

“Ultimately, as we’ve anticipated from the beginning, this case should be decided by the United States Supreme Court. Sadly, until that time, women and preborn children will suffer the consequences of this disappointing decision,” she said.

The U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion nationwide in 1973, but has allowed states to place restrictions on the procedure from the time of viability unless the woman’s health was at risk.

The Arizona law prohibits physicians from carrying out abortions starting at 20 weeks of pregnancy, except in medical emergencies, and could send doctors who perform them to jail.

Abortion rights groups had said that the measure was more extreme than similar laws in other states because the way Arizona measures gestation means it would bar abortions two weeks earlier than in other states.

Those states also set the limit at 20 weeks but have different ways to calculate gestation time. Arizona already bans abortions at the point of viability, when a fetus might survive outside the womb, generally at 23 to 24 weeks.

Three abortion providers challenged the law in court. Last August, the 9th Circuit blocked the law from going into effect, pending a ruling on the appeal.

Several states recently have enacted restrictive bans on abortion, led by a bill in North Dakota that bans abortion once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, as early as six weeks. The state’s governor, Jack Dalrymple, had said when he signed the bill into law in March that it remained in question whether it would survive a court challenge.

Last week, a federal judge temporarily halted a new Arkansas law that bans most abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy.

(Additional reporting by David Schwartz in Phoenix; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Leslie Adler)