Cops ID suspect in Pride shooting
The San Francisco Gate reports a suspect in the deadly shooting during the city’s gay pride event is a 20-year-old man who may have known one of the victims.
Police Lt. Lyn Tomioka says Ed Perkins of San Francisco is in custody on suspicion of murder.
Perkins was arrested at the scene after 19-year-old Stephen Powell was shot multiple times and two others suffered wounds at a street party in the Castro district June 26. Police recovered a handgun in the shooting.
Police do not suspect the shooting was a hate crime.
Court: Schools can enforce antibias rules
The Washington Post reports public universities may insist that officially recognized student organizations accept all students who want to join, the Supreme Court ruled June 28, and such a requirement does not violate the constitutional rights of a religious group that wants to exclude gays.
The court divided 5-4 in ruling that a university’s nondiscrimination policy does not unfairly target faith groups. In an opinion by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the court said the Christian Legal Society may not both seek official recognition from the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law and ask for an exception from its policies.
Hastings, located in San Francisco and the oldest law school in the California system, has nearly 70 recognized student organizations, including several based on religious affiliation.
Murder suspect used ‘gay panic’ in ‘91 case
The Morning Call reports the suspect in the recent fatal stabbings of four people in Northampton had been released from state prison about two months ago after serving more than 15 years stemming from a 1992 third-degree murder conviction.
Michael E. Ballard, 36, was arraigned June 27 on four counts of criminal homicide in the stabbing deaths of former girlfriend, her father, grandfather and a neighbor.
Ballard was jailed in 1991 for the death of Donald C. Richard, a registered nurse who was stabbed had his throat slashed in his Allentown apartment. Ballard told authorities Richard made sexual advances toward him while showing him an apartment for rent.
— Larry Nichols