Oklahoma

Teen arrested, accused of plot to kill students and teachers

Police arrested an 18-year-old high school student Thursday for allegedly writing an e-mail that detailed his plans to invade the school and kill students and teachers.

Brian Robertson was charged with one felony count of planning to cause serious bodily harm or death to another, Police Sgt. Scott Singer said.

Singer said Robertson was charged under a relatively new state statute implemented last year in the wake of a rash of school killings nationwide. The statute does not require officials to prove the intent of a threatening message, he said.

Late Thursday, police said they didn’t know whether the teen had an attorney.

Authorities said an e-mail discussing a plan for an armed invasion of the school was found on Robertson’s computer at Moore High School. The student allegedly discussed in the e-mail the random killings of students and staff and singled out Shirley Lassiter, the senior class principal.

Moore is about 10 miles south of Oklahoma City.

Dallas

Texan sentenced to death in slaying of immigrant

A man who gunned down an immigrant working at a convenience store after the Sept. 11 attacks was sentenced to death Thursday.

Mark Stroman, 32, held a small American flag during his sentencing hearing. He had blamed the shooting on rage over the attacks, though prosecutors discounted his claim.

Vasudev Patel, 49, died in the Oct. 4 attack in East Dallas. Patel, an immigrant from India, owned a Shell gas station.

Stroman is also charged with killing another convenience store clerk, Waquar Hassan, 49, on Sept. 15. Prosecutors blame Stroman in the shooting of a third clerk, Rais Uddin, in a separate attack during a robbery attempt. Both men were Pakistani.

In a television interview in February, Stroman admitted to the three shootings, saying he was so focused on revenge after Sept. 11 that he went after any store clerk whose heritage appeared to be of the Muslim world.

Defense attorneys argued that Stroman did not enter the gas station intending to kill the owner.

Maryland

U.S. unveils new checkpoint for airline passengers

The government Thursday unveiled its model airport passenger checkpoint, designed to prevent gridlock this summer as flights are expected to return to near-normal levels and security screening duties switch from private to federal employees.

The prototype, now operating at a concourse of the Baltimore airport, is better organized and more closely controlled than a typical checkpoint, officials say. It features detectors that can’t be unplugged, special enclosures for passengers who require more scrutiny and electric gates that can be closed quickly if there is a security problem.

The model will be phased in at other airports on a yet-to-be determined schedule.