AWOL soldier defiantly shouts '09 suspect's name (AP)

WACO, Texas – Coolly defiant, Pfc. Naser Abdo shouted "Nidal Hasan Fort Hood 2009!" as he was led out of the courtroom Friday, an apparent homage to the suspect in the worst mass shooting ever on a U.S. military installation. He condemned the attack less than a year ago, but is now accused of trying to repeat it.

Investigators say Abdo, who cited his Muslim beliefs in requesting conscientious objector status last year, was found in a motel room three miles from Fort Hood's main gate with a handgun, an article titled "Make a bomb in the kitchen of your Mom" and the ingredients for an explosive device, including gunpowder, shrapnel and pressure cookers. An article with that title appears in an al-Qaida magazine.

Abdo went absent without leave from Fort Campbell, Ky., early this month after being charged with possessing child pornography.

Police and the Army say Abdo admitted plotting an attack, but in Fuhais, Jordan, his father insisted the allegations were "all lies from A to Z."

"My son loved people no matter who they are, whether Jews or Christians," Jamal Abdo said. "Naser is not the kind of a person who harbors evil for the other people, he cannot kill anyone and he could not have done any bad thing."

Jamal Abdo, 52, is a Jordanian who lived near Fort Hood in Killeen for 25 years until he was deported from the United States last year after being convicted of soliciting a minor.

His 21-year-old son was ordered held without bond Friday. He is charged with possession of an unregistered destructive device in connection with a bomb plot and has yet to enter a plea. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison.

It was not immediately known if he would face additional charges. "Our office will pursue federal charges where the evidence takes us," said Daryl Fields, spokesman for federal prosecutors.

In court, Abdo refused to stand when the judge entered — U.S. marshals pulled him from his seat — but he answered the judge's questions politely.

On his way out, he yelled "Iraq 2006!" and the name of Abeer Qassim al-Janabi, a 14-year-old Iraqi girl who was raped that year before she and her family were killed. Five current or former U.S. soldiers went to prison, one for a life term, for their roles in that attack.

He also shouted the name of Hasan, an Army major and psychiatrist who is charged with killing 13 people at Fort Hood.

Abdo's court-appointed attorney did not comment. His next hearing was set for Aug. 4.

According to court documents, Abdo told investigators he planned to construct two bombs in his motel room using gunpowder and shrapnel packed into pressure cookers and then detonate the explosives at a restaurant frequented by soldiers.

FBI Agent James E. Runkel said in an affidavit filed in federal court that police found Abdo carrying a backpack containing two clocks, wire, ammunition, a handgun and the "Make a bomb in the kitchen of your Mom" article. Such an article was featured in an issue of Inspire, an English-language magazine produced by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, a Yemen-based branch of the terror group.

The allegations and Abdo's defiance in court contrast with the words he used as he was petitioning for conscientious objector status. In an essay he sent to The Associated Press last year he said acts like the Fort Hood shootings "run counter to what I believe in as a Muslim."

He was born in Texas to a non-denominational Christian mother and a Muslim father. Jamal Abdo said they divorced in 1993.

Naser Abdo said he became a Muslim when he was 17. He said he enlisted thinking that Army service would not conflict with his religious beliefs, but reconsidered as he explored Islam further.

"I realized through further reflection that god did not give legitimacy to the war in Afghanistan, Iraq or any war the U.S. Army could conceivably participate in," he wrote in his conscientious objector application.

Abdo was approved as a conscientious objector this year, but that status was put on hold after he was charged in May with possessing child pornography. Abdo denied the charge before this week's arrest.

Abdo went AWOL during the July 4 weekend. FBI, police and military officials have said little about whether or how they were tracking Abdo since he left Fort Campbell.

Jamal Abdo disputed both the child pornography charges and the bomb plot allegations against his son, and said Naser was discriminated against in the Army because of his religion.

"Fellow soldiers slurred him and treated him badly. They mocked him as he prayed. They cursed him and used bad language against Islam and its prophet," he said.

"He reported these incidents, but nothing was done about it," the elder Abdo said. "Therefore he wanted to leave the Army. I always told him to be calm and to focus on his duty and he used to tell me, `Yes, Papa.'"

He said Naser never mentioned al-Qaida and that he last spoke to his son a week ago.

Abdo was arrested after a gun-store clerk told authorities he bought six pounds of smokeless gunpowder, shotgun ammunition and a magazine for a semi-automatic pistol on Tuesday — while seeming to know little about what he was buying. Killeen Police Chief Dennis Baldwin has suggested that without the tip, a terror attack could have been imminent.

Two veterans groups that supported Abdo in his bid to be a conscientious objector said they have not had direct contact with him recently.

"If any of these allegations are true, any sort of violence toward anyone goes completely against what a conscientious objector believes," said Jose Vasquez, executive director of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Another group, Courage to Resist, said in a statement that it had removed Abdo's profile from its website. It said it has paid $800 of Abdo's legal fees in the conscientious objector case.

Vasquez provided a copy of a statement Abdo sent to his group last year that claimed soldiers often associated terror with Islam "during routine training exercises."

"Only when the military and America can disassociate Muslims from terror can we move onto a brighter future of religious collaboration and dialogue that defines America and makes me proud to be an American," Abdo wrote.

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Associated Press writers Jamal Halaby in Fuhais, Jordan; Kristin M. Hall in Nashville, Tenn.; Janet Cappiello in Louisville, Ky., contributed to this report.

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Miami police kill 4 masked, armed robbery suspects (AP)

MIAMI – Police shot and killed four masked and armed men in a sting operation, including one man who was cooperating with Miami-Dade police in an investigation of a series of violent home robberies, authorities said.

The shooting happened Thursday evening at a residence owned by the Miami-Dade Police Department in a southwest section of the county, in an area of homes and plant nurseries. Investigators say the men believed there was a stash of marijuana inside but were instead confronted by officers, who told them to put down their weapons.

The men did not comply and a confrontation ensued in which all four men were shot, police spokesman Det. Javier Baez said Friday. No officers were injured.

"An incident occurred that our special response team had to fire on these individuals," Baez said. He was not able to confirm whether the men had fired at police.

Those killed were identified as: Rosendo Betancourt Garcia, 39, the cooperating defendant; Jorge Luis Lemus, 39; and Roger Gonzalez Valez, 52. The fourth victim has not been identified. A fifth person, Roger Gonzalez, Jr., 32, was outside the property in a car and taken into custody.

The shooting capped the end of what police described as a lengthy investigation into a group of individuals who targeted marijuana grow houses. Baez said the suspects at times misidentified the residences and proceeded with targeting, and torturing, innocent individuals.

"These are career criminals," Baez said.

Betancourt has a criminal record that includes convictions for selling and trafficking cocaine. He was the one who alerted police to the suspects, Baez said. He was instructed by police and told not to go with the men to the operation. It's unclear why he decided to join them.

Gricell Perez said Betancourt was her son-in-law. She said he came to drop off his three kids yesterday, telling her, "Please watch the kids, I'm going to help the police on a case."

She said he had been working the last seven months as a construction worker.

Residents in the neighborhood described hearing a swarm of helicopters overnight, and noted seeing an increase in crime over the last year.

Aleida Rojas said shots had been fired through her window.

"I live quite fearfully," she said.

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Associated Press writer Christine Armario in Miami contributed to this story.

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Suspect's relatives testify in 11 Ohio slayings (AP)

By THOMAS J. SHEERAN, Associated Press Thomas J. Sheeran, Associated Press – 1 hr 3 mins ago

CLEVELAND – Relatives of a Cleveland man suspected of killing 11 women have testified that he eventually got control of the family house where the victims' remains were found in 2009.

Half-brothers Thomas and Allan Sowell (SOH'-wehl) testified Tuesday at the trial of 51-year-old Anthony Sowell. The mother of Anthony Sowell's stepmother also testified.

They say Anthony Sowell shared the house with his stepmother but she was in hospitals or nursing homes for years before her death. She died after the bodies were found.

Anthony Sowell avoided eye contact with one half-brother but chuckled and nodded when the other was describing their father as a "rolling stone" or womanizer.

Prosecution questions appear geared to placing the house under Anthony Sowell's control before presenting testimony on the killings. He has pleaded not guilty.

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NY pharmacy shooting suspect's wife: 'He did it' (AP)

MEDFORD, N.Y. – The wife of a former soldier accused of shooting four people to death at a local pharmacy during a robbery for painkillers said "he did all of this" for her.

Melinda Brady and her husband, David Laffer, were arrested Wednesday in connection with the Father's Day massacre at the Haven Drugs in Medford.

"He was doing it because he lost his job and I was sick," Brady said as she was led from Suffolk police headquarters in Yaphank early Thursday morning.

"He did it. He did all of this," Brady, 29, told reporters. She seemed addled and disheveled in an over-sized yellow T-shirt and black shorts.

Laffer faces charges of first-degree murder. Brady was charged with robbery and obstructing governmental administration. Her alleged role in the robbery was not specified. They were scheduled to be arraigned later Thursday.

The robber in Sunday's heist entered the pharmacy cloaked in a loose sweatshirt, baseball cap and glasses. His thin face was hidden under a bushy beard — possibly a fake — as he opened fire, killing all four people inside.

Police circulated clear surveillance photos of the gunman after the weekend shooting, and received hundreds of tips in an intense manhunt that ended Wednesday with the capture of a 33-year-old who was led from his Long Island home in handcuffs.

Laffer, who a few years ago proposed to his now-wife at a New York Islanders hockey game, said nothing as he was led from police headquarters Wednesday wearing a white jumpsuit except to shake his head and say "No" when asked by a reporter if he was strung out on drugs. He was later briefly hospitalized, but officials did not say why.

Laffer served in the Army from 1994 until 2002 and attained the rank of private first class, said Mark Edwards, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Human Resources Command in Fort Knox. While in the service, he worked as an intelligence analyst.

Friends and neighbors said they did not believe Laffer, whom they described as polite and friendly, was the shooter.

About 30 to 40 officers converged on Laffer's home early Wednesday, said Peter Spano, a landscaper who was working on the lawn next door. Spano said the thin, "distraught" man resembled the suspect in the surveillance photos, except without a beard.

Friends and neighbors said if there were drug problems, they did not see it. He lived at his family's home in Medford with his mother, Pam, and his wife.

According to their wedding announcement, Laffer and his future wife met while they were out to dinner with mutual friends, and he proposed to her at an Islanders game. "To Melinda's complete surprise, he had been planning the engagement for more than a year and his proposal was shown on the large TV screens in the arena," according to the 2009 announcement.

Next-door neighbor Trish Bohlert attended the wedding and said Laffer was always friendly.

"Something must have made him snap, because his personality, I can't picture him robbing a store, much less hurt people," she said.

Zaida Ayala, a longtime neighbor, said Laffer is "a guy that I feel comfortable with, a guy that I could be out, 1 o'clock in the morning in my backyard, and he could be in his backyard and I wouldn't run inside and go get my husband."

She said she does not believe he is the shooter.

"You could give me a million dollars to pick somebody and he would be the last person I would've picked," she said.

His Facebook page showed he was interested in weapons and science fiction. He lists himself as a fan of the conspiracy-based science fiction drama "Dark Skies" and the Spike TV show "Deadliest Warrior." He also lists Springfield XD, a type of pistol, among his interests.

The wedding announcement said Laffer worked in logistics shipping and receiving.

The shootings happened Sunday at about 10:20 a.m. inside Haven Drugs, a pharmacy in a small cluster of medical offices in Medford, about 60 miles east of New York City.

The victims were shot at very close range by the man bent on stealing painkillers.

Everyone in the pharmacy at the time of the robbery was killed. The victims were identified as two employees, pharmacist Raymond Ferguson, 45, of Centereach, and store clerk Jennifer Mejia, 17, of East Patchogue, and two customers, Bryon Sheffield, 71, of Medford, and Jamie Taccetta, a 33-year-old woman from Farmingville.

It was the worst mass killing in Suffolk County since 1974, when a man shot six relatives to death in Amityville, a crime that spawned horror films and a book after the family's home was said to be haunted.

At the pharmacy, about a mile and a half away from the Laffer home, bouquets of fresh flowers, and stuffed animals lined the shuttered storefront. A sign read, "closed until further notice."

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Associated Press writer Karen Zraick contributed to this report.

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NYC synagogue terror plot suspects due in court (AP)

NEW YORK – Two men charged with scheming to blow up synagogues in New York City are due in court in the unusual terrorism case, brought under state laws.

Ahmed Ferhani and Mohamed Mamdouh have a court date Wednesday. Both have denied initial charges including conspiracy as a crime of terrorism.

Prosecutors have said the 26-year-old Ferhani has been indicted. They will likely disclose Wednesday what charges the grand jury found appropriate. Prosecutors haven't said whether the 20-year-old Mamdouh has been indicted.

Prosecutors say an undercover detective secretly recorded both men discussing their hatred of Jews, their views that Muslims were mistreated and their interest in attacking a synagogue. Prosecutors say Ferhani was arrested last month buying guns, ammunition and an inert grenade, and Mamdouh was picked up soon afterward.

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