Walmart to stop selling certain gun ammunition
By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO AP Retail Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart says it will discontinue the sale of handgun and short-barrel rifle ammunition and also publicly request that customers refrain from openly carrying firearms in stores even where state laws allow it.
The announcement comes just days after a mass shooting claimed seven lives in Odessa, Texas and follows two other back-to-back shootings last month, one of them at a Walmart store.
The Bentonville, Arkansas-based discounter said Tuesday it will stop handgun ammunition as well as short-barrel rifle ammunition, such as the .223 caliber and 5.56 caliber used in military style weapons, after it runs out of its current inventory.
It will also discontinue handgun sales in Alaska. Walmart stopped selling handguns in the mid-1990s, with the exception of Alaska. The latest move marks its complete exit from that business and allows it to focus on hunting rifles and related ammunition only.
“We have a long heritage as a company of serving responsible hunters and sportsmen and women, and we’re going to continue doing so,” according to a memo by Walmart’s CEO Doug McMillon to be circulated to employees Tuesday afternoon.
The retailer is further requesting that customers refrain from openly carrying firearms at its Walmart and Sam’s Club stores unless they are law enforcement officers. However, it said that it won’t be changing its policy for customers who have permits for concealed carry. Walmart says it will be adding signage in stores to inform customers of those changes.
Last month, a gunman entered a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, killing 22 people with an AK-style firearm that Walmart already bans the sale of and marking the deadliest shooting in the company’s history. Texas became an open carry state in 2016, allowing people to openly carry firearms in public.
Walmart’s moves will reduce its market share of ammunition from around 20% to a range of about 6% to 9%, according to Tuesday’s memo. About half of its more than 4,750 U.S. stores sell firearms.
The nation’s largest retailer has been facing increasing pressure to change its gun policies by gun control activists, employees and politicians after the El Paso shooting and a second unrelated shooting in Dayton, Ohio that killed nine people . A few days before that, two Walmart workers were killed by another worker at a store in Southaven, Mississippi.
In the aftermath of the El Paso shooting, Walmart ordered workers to remove video game signs and displays that depict violence from stores nationwide. But that fell well short of demands for the retailer to stop selling firearms entirely. Critics have also wanted Walmart to stop supporting politicians backed by the National Rifle Association.
At least one gun control activist group applauded Walmart’s moves.
“Walmart deserves enormous credit for joining the strong and growing majority of Americans who know that we have too many guns in our country and they are too easy to get,” said Igor Volsky, Executive Director and Founder of Guns Down America in a statement. “That work doesn’t end with Walmart’s decision today. As Congress comes back to consider gun violence, Walmart should make it clear that it stands with Americans who are demanding real change.”
The retailer has long found itself in an awkward spot with its customers and gun enthusiasts. Many of its stores are located in rural areas where hunters are depend on Walmart to get their equipment. Walmart is trying to walk a fine line by trying to embrace its hunting heritage while being a more responsible retailer.
With its new policy on “open carry,” McMillon noted in his memo that individuals have tried to make a statement by carrying weapons into its stores just to frighten workers and customers. But there are well-intentioned customers acting lawfully who have also inadvertently caused a store to be evacuated and local law enforcement to be called to respond.
He says Walmart will continue to treat “law-abiding customers with respect” and it will have a “non-confrontational approach.”
Walmart says it hopes to help other retailers by sharing its best practices like software that it uses for background checks. And the company, which in 2015 stopped selling assault rifles like the AR-rifles used in several mass shootings, urged more debate on the reauthorization of the assault weapons ban while also calling for the government to strengthen background checks. McMillon says Walmart will send letters to the White House and the Congressional leadership that calls for action on these “common sense” measures.
“In a complex situation lacking a simple solution, we are trying to take constructive steps to reduce the risk that events like these will happen again,” McMillon wrote in his memo. “The status quo is unacceptable.”
Over the last 15 years, Walmart had expanded beyond its hunting and fishing roots, carrying items like assault rifles in response to increasing demand. But particularly since 2015, often coinciding with major public mass shootings, the company has made moves to curb the sale of ammunition and guns.
Walmart announced in February 2018 that it would no longer sell firearms and ammunition to people younger than 21 and also removed items resembling assault-style rifles from its website. Those moves were prompted by the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people.
In 2015, Walmart stopped selling semi-automatic weapons like the AR-15 style rifle, the type used in the Dayton shooting. The retailer also doesn’t sell large-capacity magazines, handguns (except in Alaska) or bump stocks, nor the AK-style firearm that was used by the El Paso shooter.
______
Follow Anne D’Innocenzio: http://twitter.com/ADInnocenzio

McConnell says he’s waiting on Trump to chart path on guns
By MATTHEW DALY Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Republicans are waiting for the White House to chart a path forward on gun violence legislation, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday, effectively putting the burden on President Donald Trump to decide the GOP’s legislative response to the spate of mass shootings that included another deadly attack in Texas over the weekend.
Asked about prospects for a Senate vote on legislation passed by the Democratic-controlled House to expand background checks for gun purchases, McConnell said, “The administration is in the process of studying what they’re prepared to support, if anything.”
The Kentucky Republican said he expects an answer from the White House next week, adding that he wants to make sure that senators “would actually be making a law and not just having serial votes” on proposals to stem gun violence.
McConnell’s comments point to the challenge ahead as Congress returns to a gun debate that emerged during their summer recess, when mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio left 31 people dead. While Trump has said he wants to work with Congress to “stop the menace of mass attacks,” he’s waffled on support for expanding background checks, making the next steps uncertain. Trump and other Republicans have talked of pursuing other measures to address mental health or codify “red flag” laws that allow guns to be taken from people who pose harm to themselves or others, but even those measures face skepticism among GOP lawmakers.
The dynamic appears unchanged even after a shooting in West Texas over the weekend that killed at least seven people, with McConnell setting a high bar for action in the Senate when it returns next week after a five-week recess. If Trump favors background-checks or other legislation he has discussed publicly in recent weeks, and senators “know that if we pass it it’ll become law,” then he’ll put it on the Senate floor for a vote, McConnell told radio host Hugh Hewitt.
Trump in a tweet Tuesday urged Congress to “get back to work,” but omitted any reference to guns, focusing instead on prescription drug prices, healthcare and infrastructure.
Trump said Sunday that any gun measure must satisfy the competing goals of protecting public safety and the constitutional right to gun ownership.
“For the most part, sadly, if you look at the last four or five (shootings) going back even five or six or seven years … as strong as you make your background checks, they would not have stopped any of it,” Trump said. “So it’s a big problem. It’s a mental problem. It’s a big problem.”
Trump mentioned the need for “strong measures to keep weapons out of the hands of dangerous and deranged individuals” along with changes to a mental health system he described as “broken.”
Sen. Chris Murphy, a leading gun control supporter, said Trump has told him personally that he remains committed to working on expanded background checks legislation.
Even so, the Connecticut Democrat rates the chance of Congress actually approving anything at “less than 50-50,” especially if Trump appears willing “to give the NRA veto power” over legislation supported by Murphy and other Democrats, along with a handful of Republicans such as Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey. Toomey and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., are seeking to revive a bill they have long pushed to expand background checks for gun purchases.
“I am skeptical that these efforts are going to bear fruit. I think it’s very hard to negotiate with this White House when the president’s public positions seem to change by the day,” Murphy said last month. “I’m going to try … because the stakes are so high.”
A package of bills Murphy supports would strengthen background checks and incentivize states to pass so-called “red flag” laws that allow guns to be taken from people who pose harm to themselves or others.
As senators debate their next steps, House Democrats are moving ahead on other bills, with the House Judiciary Committee set to consider a host of proposals to address gun violence at a hearing next week. The panel postponed a hearing originally scheduled Wednesday because of Hurricane Dorian. Several lawmakers on the panel represent congressional districts in Florida and Georgia, where millions of people face mandatory evacuation orders.
The committee will consider proposals to ban high-capacity magazines, establish a federal program for “red flag” laws and expand bans on firearm ownership to people convicted of certain hate crimes. The panel will also hold a hearing later this month on a bill to ban military-style assault weapons.

Police: Kidnapping suspect, father, romantically involved
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A woman accused of driving off with a toddler as the father got out of the car had been romantically involved with the man and there was an argument before she drove off, authorities said Tuesday.
Sharena Islam Nancy, 25, and the father of Nalani Johnson met on social media and were “in the beginnings of an intermittent romantic relationship,” Superintendent Coleman McDonough, of the Allegheny County police department, said at a news conference.
Nancy, who works as a ride-hailing driver, had spent several hours with the father, a friend of his and the child before the alleged kidnapping in Penn Hills, he said.
“This was not an arbitrary Uber/Lyft — they were known to each other,” McDonough said.
Police said Monday the child’s father told investigators that he and a friend were riding in a car driven by Nancy on Saturday evening. When he got out of the car and was moving to get the child out of her car seat, Nancy drove off, he alleged.
Authorities now say an argument that began between the friend and Nancy prompted the two men to get out of the car, but as the father was moving to get the child out of her car seat, Nancy drove off.
Nancy was charged with kidnapping, custodial interference and concealment of the whereabouts of a child, all felonies. She alleged she turned the child over to a woman in a silver SUV during a roadside rendezvous. Nancy said the child’s father “sold” the toddler and was delivering her on the father’s instructions. McDonough said investigators “have nothing to corroborate or suggest that that version of events is correct.”
“We have a situation where we have two versions of events at the same time, similar versions up to certain point in time during the day and then the versions differ dramatically, so a lot of our investigative efforts are trying to corroborate one version or the other,” McDonough said.
McDonough said investigators are trying to narrow down the large search area to find the toddler. They have been asking people to provide information about Nancy’s whereabouts before she and her vehicle were apprehended, and also asked for people to be on the lookout for the missing car seat.
FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Chad Yarbrough said a child abduction response team comprised of FBI and county detectives was immediately mobilized, and a national rapid deployment team of agents specializing in child abductions has been in the area since Sunday.
The child’s grandmother Taji Walsh thanked law enforcement and volunteers for their efforts in trying to find the girl, who turns 2 this month.
“We miss Nalani, and we want her home,” Walsh said, pleading for anyone with information to call investigators.
No attorney was listed in court documents for Nancy, and a listed number for her could not be found.

Governor to visit Auschwitz memorial, Guard in Lithuania
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s governor will be traveling next week to visit National Guard troops stationed in Lithuania and to honor the victims of last year’s Pittsburgh synagogue shooting during a stop at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial.
Gov. Tom Wolf’s office announced Tuesday he will spend time with some of the nearly 600 Pennsylvanians stationed with the National Guard in Lithuania and Poland and will meet with Lithuanian government and business leaders.
Pennsylvania’s military partnership with Lithuania involves training and collaboration and goes back more than a quarter-century.
Wolf’s visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial will be to honor the 11 worshippers shot to death during an attack on the Tree of Life synagogue building in October.
The Democratic governor plans to pay his own air travel and lodging costs.

The Latest: FEMA: Dorian still dangerous as it approaches US
FREEPORT, Bahamas (AP) — The Latest on Hurricane Dorian (all times local):
3:35 p.m.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency says Hurricane Dorian is still expected to bring life-threatening storm surges even as it was downgraded to a category 2 hurricane.
FEMA Associate Administrator Carlos Castillo said Tuesday that residents along the U.S. East Coast should be prepared to evacuate if necessary and should heed evacuation orders from local officials.
He says: “Don’t tough it out, get out.”
Castillo says FEMA has over 1,600 employees deployed or on the way to Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
The American Red Cross says they’ve already opened 170 shelters and evacuation centers. Over 13,000 people are already at those facilities.
The National Guard and U.S. Coast Guard say they have also readied troops and are ready to respond once the storm hits.
___
3:35 p.m.
The U.S. military is taking precautions as Hurricane Dorian threatens ships and planes based on Virginia’s coast.
U.S. Air Force Col. David Lopez said in a statement Tuesday that F-22 Raptor fighter jets and T-38 Talon training planes will leave Langley Air Force Base in Hampton. The planes will fly to the Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base outside Columbus, Ohio.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy is ordering ships on Virginia’s coast to prepare to leave if necessary. Vice Adm. Andrew Lewis said in a statement that ships at the world’s largest Navy base in Norfolk and other nearby installations will be ready to depart within 24 hours.
By heading out to sea, the ships will better protect themselves and reduce significant potential damage to piers, airplanes and other infrastructure.
___
2:50 p.m.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis expressed some relief that Hurricane Dorian’s track changed before hitting the state, but he warned residents near the coast to follow local emergency officials’ instructions for evacuations.
DeSantis said that over the last week-and-a-half, Dorian forecasts had potentially all 67 counties in its path and people should stay safe and remain vigilant over the coming days.
Meanwhile in South Carolina, officials say nearly a quarter-million people have evacuated from that state’s coast ahead of Dorian.
Secretary of Transportation Christy Hall said Tuesday that a total of 244,000 people have headed South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster’s order to leave the state’s coast and head inland. That’s nearly a third of the total of about 800,000 people officials have said they believed to be in the evacuation zone, which includes the state’s entire coast.
___
2:50 p.m.
Air Force Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy told reporters Tuesday it’s too early to tell what U.S. military forces may be needed to help the Bahamas, which has suffered extensive damage from Hurricane Dorian .
He said the hospital ship USNS Comfort is a four or five day sail away and could be used for medical assistance. He said the military is also prepared to provide engineering, transportation and other help to reopen airports and fix the airfields.
O’Shaughnessy says the USS Bataan and its amphibious ready group, with thousands of sailors and Marines aboard, are also off the coast of North Carolina and could be used if needed.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper has already authorized 14 days of support to the Bahamas if needed. The U.S. Coast Guard is already providing logistics and search and rescue aid in the Bahamas, and has six helicopters there so far.
___
2:15 p.m.
The center of Hurricane Dorian is finally moving away from Grand Bahama island but the U.S. National Hurricane Center says the island will continue getting dangerous winds and life-threatening storm surge through the evening.
Dorian’s maximum sustained winds Tuesday afternoon remain at 110 mph (175 kph), making it a Category 2 hurricane.
The hurricane is centered about 65 miles (105 kilometers) north of Freeport and is moving northwest near 5 mph (7 kph).
Practically parking over the Bahamas for a day and a half, Dorian has been pounding the islands in a watery onslaught that devastated thousands of homes, trapped people in attics and crippled hospitals.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Fernand has formed in the Gulf of Mexico, prompting a tropical storm warning for Mexico’s northeast coast.
___
2 p.m.
As Hurricane Dorian pounds the Bahamas, a new tropical storm has formed in the Gulf of Mexico.
Tropical Storm Fernand formed Tuesday afternoon, prompting a tropical storm warning for Mexico’s northeast coast.
The storm’s maximum sustained winds are near 40 mph (65 kph). The U.S. National Hurricane Center says slow strengthening is expected before the storm moves inland. It’s centered about 160 miles (255 kilometers) east of La Pesca, Mexico, and is moving west near 7 mph (11 kph).
___
1:30 p.m.
The Georgia Department of Transportation is reporting light traffic on the interstate highway being used as a one-way evacuation route for coastal residents fleeing Hurricane Dorian .
State officials Tuesday morning turned all lanes of Interstate 16 into an eastbound route from Savannah on the coast to Dublin about 100 miles (160 kilometers) inland.
The state DOT said in a news release the route was seeing “light traffic” Tuesday afternoon and cars were “running at the speed limit.”
The agency urged coastal residents to evacuate before traffic on I-16 increased. Forecasters expect Dorian to approach coastal Georgia on Wednesday, most likely with the storm’s center staying offshore.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp ordered a mandatory evacuation for the entire Georgia coast beginning Monday. Roughly 540,000 people live in the state’s six coastal counties.
___
1:30 p.m.
Officials in the South Carolina city of Charleston are mulling putting a prohibition on price gouging info effect as residents continue to evacuate the coast ahead of Hurricane Dorian .
City officials said they would meet later Tuesday to consider two emergency ordinances designed to prohibit price gouging and enable emergency road closures.
Anti-price gouging measures are often considered to protect motorists scrambling to move inland ahead of storms. Gov. Henry McMaster has ordered evacuations along South Carolina’s coast, reversing a major interstate so that all lanes lead inland from Charleston, to accommodate more drivers.
Many areas of Charleston’s historic downtown peninsula regularly flood with rising tides, a situation expected to become worse as the storm and its rainfall approach. City officials said they expected tides to increase significantly Wednesday afternoon into Thursday.
___
12 p.m.
Officials in northeastern Florida are urging people to stay away from the beaches due to possible storm surge from Hurricane Dorian .
Flagler County Emergency Management Director Jonathan Lord said Tuesday that waves of up to 20 feet (6 meters) are expected along the area’s Atlantic beaches as the storm moves toward the north.
He says there can still be “life-threatening if not deadly conditions at the beach.”
Lord said storm surge is expected along the ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway.
___
12 p.m.
Two Florida men have been arrested for stealing sandbags meant for Hurricane Dorian preparations.
The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that Thaylon Lewis and Joseph Colombo Jr. were arrested Monday evening after a deputy spotted one man taking the sandbags from a highway overpass and the other acting as a lookout.
Lewis is charged with theft during a declared state of emergency, a third-degree felony. Colombo was also arrested for an injunction violation for possessing a firearm, a first-degree misdemeanor.
Online court records show no attorneys listed for the men.
___
11 a.m.
Hurricane Dorian has weakened to a Category 2 storm as it continues to batter the Bahamas with life-threatening storm surge.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Dorian’s maximum sustained winds decreased Tuesday morning to near 110 mph (175 kph). But it’s expected to remain a powerful hurricane during the next few days.
Dorian is centered about 45 miles (70 kilometers) north of Freeport in the Bahamas and is moving northwest near 2 mph (4 kph).
___
9:35 a.m.
Bahamas Health Minister Duane Sands tells The Associated Press that Hurricane Dorian devastated the health infrastructure in Grand Bahama island and massive flooding has rendered the main hospital unusable.
He said Tuesday that the storm caused less severe damage in the neighboring Abaco islands and he hopes to send an advanced medical team there soon.
Sands said the main hospital in Marsh Harbor is intact and sheltering 400 people but needs food, water, medicine and surgical supplies. He also said crews are trying to airlift between five and seven end-stage kidney failure patients from Abaco who haven’t received dialysis since Friday.
Dorian hit Abaco on Sunday with sustained winds of 185 mph (295 kph) and gusts up to 220 mph (355 kph), a strength matched only by the Labor Day hurricane of 1935. The storm then hovered over Grand Bahama for a day and a half.
___
9:20 a.m.
United Nations officials estimate more than 60,000 people in the northwest Bahamas will need food following the devastation left by Hurricane Dorian .
A spokesman for the U.N. World Food Program said Tuesday that a team is ready to help the Bahamian government assess storm damage and prioritize needs. Herve Verhoosel says preliminary calculations show that 45,700 people in Grand Bahama island may need food, along with another 14,500 in the neighboring Abaco islands.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies says some 62,000 people also will need access to clean drinking water. Matthew Cochrane says about 45% of homes in Grand Bahama and Abaco were severely damaged or destroyed and the organization will help 20,000 of the most vulnerable people, including a large Haitian community.
___
8:25 a.m.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said he ordered evacuations along the length of his state’s coast, which includes several low-lying islands, because if there is flooding on causeways, they won’t be able to get vehicles on or off the islands.
Kemp told Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends” on Tuesday morning that he’s expecting Hurricane Dorian to batter Georgia with heavy winds, severe flooding, a storm surge and beach erosion.
He said a reverse traffic or “contraflow” on Interstate 16 begins Tuesday morning.
The Category 3 storm has been battering the Bahamas, causing extensive damage and flooding.
___
8:05 a.m.
Hurricane Dorian is beginning to inch northwestward after being stationary over the Bahamas, where its relentless winds have caused catastrophic damage and flooding.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center says the storm has started moving about 1 mph (2 kph) Tuesday morning and its speed is expected to increase slightly later in the day.
Dorian’s maximum sustained winds remain near 120 mph (195 kph), making it a major Category 3 hurricane.
The storm is centered about 40 miles (70 kilometers) northeast of Freeport in the Bahamas.
___
2 a.m.
Dorian has weakened to a Category 3 hurricane but continues to batter the Bahamas as it remains almost at a standstill.
At 2:00 a.m. EDT Tuesday, the ferocious storm’s center was about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Freeport Grand Bahama Island. It has barely budged from that position since Monday afternoon.
But its wind speeds lessened slightly to 120 mph (193 kph) with higher gusts. That was down from 130 mph (209 kph) Monday evening.
The hurricane is about 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of West Palm Beach, Florida.
The National Hurricane center said Dorian is expected to move “dangerously close” to the Florida east coast late Tuesday through Wednesday evening and then move north to coastal Georgia and South Carolina on Wednesday night and Thursday.
___
For AP’s complete coverage of the hurricane: https://apnews.com/Hurricanes .

AP source: Texas shooter purchased AK rifle at private sale
By PAUL J. WEBER, JAKE BLEIBERG and MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press
ODESSA, Texas (AP) — The gunman in a West Texas rampage that left seven dead obtained his AR-style rifle through a private sale, allowing him to evade a federal background check that previously blocked him from getting a gun, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.
The official spoke to The Associated Press Tuesday on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation.
Officers killed 36-year-old Seth Aaron Ator on Saturday outside a busy Odessa movie theater after a spate of violence that spanned 10 miles (16 kilometers), injuring around two dozen people in addition to the dead.
Authorities said Ator “was on a long spiral of going down” and had been fired from his oil services job the morning of the shooting, and that he called 911 both before and after the rampage began.
Ator had previously failed a federal background check for a firearm, said John Wester, an agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Wester did not say when Ator failed the background check or why.
Online court records show Ator was arrested in 2001 for a misdemeanor offense that would not have prevented him from legally purchasing firearms in Texas. Federal law defines nine categories that would legally prevent a person from owning a gun, which include being convicted of a felony, a misdemeanor domestic violence charge, being adjudicated as a “mental defect” or committed to a mental institution, the subject of a restraining order or having an active warrant. Authorities have said Ator had no active warrants at the time of the shooting.
FBI special agent Christopher Combs said Monday that Ator called the agency’s tip line as well as local police dispatch on Saturday after being fired from Journey Oilfield Services, making “rambling statements about some of the atrocities that he felt that he had gone through.”
“He was on a long spiral of going down,” Combs said. “He didn’t wake up Saturday morning and walk into his company and then it happened. He went to that company in trouble.”
Fifteen minutes after the call to the FBI, Combs said, a Texas state trooper unaware of the calls to authorities tried pulling over Ator for failing to signal a lane change. That was when Ator pointed an AR-style rifle toward the rear window of his car and fired on the trooper, starting a terrifying police chase as Ator sprayed bullets into passing cars, shopping plazas and killed a U.S. Postal Service employee while hijacking her mail truck.
Combs said Ator “showed up to work enraged” but did not point to any specific source of his anger. Ator’s home on the outskirts of Odessa was a corrugated metal shack along a dirt road surrounded by trailers, mobile homes and oil pump jacks. On Monday, a green car without a rear windshield was parked out front, the entire residence cordoned off by police tape.
Combs described it as a “strange residence” that reflected “what his mental state was going into this.” Combs said he did not know whether Ator had been diagnosed with any prior mental health problems.
A neighbor, Rocio Gutierrez, told The Associated Press that Ator was “a violent, aggressive person” that would shoot at animals, mostly rabbits, at all hours of the night
“We were afraid of him because you could tell what kind of person he was just by looking at him,” Gutierrez said. “He was not nice, he was not friendly, he was not polite.”
The daylight attack over the Labor Day holiday weekend came just weeks after another mass shooting killed 22 people in the Texas border city of El Paso.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted Monday that “we must keep guns out of criminals’ hands” — words similar to his remarks that followed the El Paso shooting on Aug. 3, when he said firearms must be kept from “deranged killers.” But Abbott, a Republican and avid gun rights supporter, has been noncommittal about tightening Texas gun laws.
Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke said Ator’s company also called 911 on Saturday after Ator was fired but that Ator had already taken off by the time police showed up.
“Basically, they were complaining on each other because they had a disagreement over the firing,” Gerke said.
Gerke said he believes Ator had also been recently fired from a different job but did not have any details.
Authorities said they remain unable to provide an exact timeline of the shooting, including how much time passed between the traffic stop at 3:13 p.m. and police killing Ator at the movie theater.
Odessa officials Monday released the names of those killed, who were between 15 and 57 years old. Among the dead were Edwin Peregrino, 25, who ran out of his parents’ home to see what the commotion was; mail carrier Mary Granados, 29, slain in her U.S. Postal Service truck; and 15-year-old high school student Leilah Hernandez, who was walking out of an auto dealership.
Ator fired at random as he drove in the area of Odessa and Midland, cities more than 300 miles (482 kilometers) west of Dallas. Police used a marked SUV to ram the mail truck outside the Cinergy Movie Theater in Odessa, disabling the vehicle. The gunman then fired at police, wounding two officers before he was killed.
Police said Ator’s arrest in 2001 was in the county where Waco is located, hundreds of miles east of Odessa. Online court records show he was charged then with misdemeanor criminal trespass and evading arrest. He entered guilty pleas in a deferred prosecution agreement where the charge was waived after he served 24 months of probation, according to records.
The number of mass killings so far this year has already eclipsed the total for all of last year. A teenager suspected of killing five family members in Alabama brought the total to 26 mass killings in 2019, claiming the lives of 147 people, compared with 25 mass killings and 142 deaths in 2018, according to a database by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University. The database tracks homicides where four or more people are killed, not including the offender.
___
Weber reported from Austin and Balsamo reported from Washington. Associated Press journalists Meghan Hoyer and Michael Biesecker in Washington and Tim Talley in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.

The Latest: Relative: 5 members of same family on boat
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — The Latest on the fire aboard a diving boat near a Southern California island that is believed to have killed 34 people (all times local):
1 p.m.
A relative says five people from one Northern California family are missing and presumed dead after the scuba diving boat they were on burned near a Southern California island.
Susana Rosas posted on social media Tuesday that her three daughters, their father and stepmother were on board the Conception when it caught fire before dawn Monday morning.
Thirty four people are presumed dead in the fire and the search for survivors has been suspended. Five of the boat’s six crew members escaped.
___
11:45 a.m.
The initial critical moments of the deadly fire that engulfed a dive boat off Southern California are still under investigation.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said Tuesday there were apparently several mayday radio calls before dawn Monday.
Brown says the first call may have come from the burning vessel Conception, on which 34 people in below-decks accommodations are believed to have died.
He says subsequent calls may have come from a nearby boat that picked up five crew members who survived.
In one radio exchange, a Coast Guard radio communicator asked if people were locked inside the boat and whether the person could get back aboard the Conception and unlock doors. The replies to those questions are not on the recording.
Coast Guard Capt. Monica Rochester says there are no door locks in berthing spaces on such vessels.
Rochester says she interviewed the radio communicator and says he was actually trying to ask for information during a confusing situation.
___
11:20 a.m.
A Northern California school has confirmed that it had students and parents on board a dive boat that caught fire near an island off the Southern California coast.
Thirty four people are presumed dead in the fire and the search has been suspended.
Maria C. Reitano is the head of Pacific Collegiate School in Santa Cruz and declined Tuesday to say how many students or parents were on board the Conception. She says the trip was not school-sponsored.
In a statement posted on its website, the school says “our hearts and thoughts are with the families of the victims and those yet missing, particularly those of our students and parents on board.”
Reitano and the school asked for privacy.
Pacific Collegiate School is a college preparation public charter school for grades 7-12.
___
11:15 a.m.
Authorities say the people killed when fire engulfed a dive boat off Southern California will have to be identified through DNA.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said Tuesday the fire that gutted the vessel Conception early Monday was extraordinarily hot.
The sheriff says most victims appear to have been from Northern California, including Santa Cruz, San Jose and the San Francisco Bay region.
Brown says he doesn’t have exact information on the victims’ ages but cited anecdotal reports of a 17-year-old and some adults in their 60s.
All 34 people who were below decks when the fire erupted are believed to have died. Remains of 20 have been recovered and as many as six more bodies have been seen still in the submerged wreck.
Five crew members were rescued by a nearby boat after jumping in the ocean.
___
10:55 a.m.
Authorities say crew members who escaped from the dive boat that burned near a Southern California island have submitted written statements to officials.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown declined to disclose details of that they said because investigation is ongoing into the fire that officials presume killed 33 scuba dive trip passengers and one crew member.
Brown also says the surviving crew members will be interviewed on Tuesday.
He says there’s no indication that the fire was preceded by an explosion.
Brown says explosions a witness on another boat reported happened after the fire was underway and could have been scuba or propane tanks exploding.
A search for survivors has been suspended.
— This corrects that the sheriff said scuba tanks not oxygen tanks.
___
10:40 a.m.
Officials say there’s no indication anyone who was below decks escaped when fire erupted on a dive boat off Southern California.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown announced the news Tuesday as the Coast Guard and other agencies suspended the search for additional survivors beyond the five crew members who were rescued early Monday morning off Santa Cruz Island.
There were believed to be 33 passengers and one crew member sleeping below decks at the time. They are presumed dead.
Brown says it appears that the berthing quarters exit and an escape hatch were blocked by fire.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
___
10:16 a.m.
Thirty four people are presumed dead in the California dive boat fire and the search has been suspended.
Santa Barbara County Bill Brown said Tuesday that the bodies of 20 victims have been recovered and divers have seen between and four and six others in the sunken wreckage, which must be stabilized.
Brown says the recovered remains include 11 females and nine males and DNA will be used to identify them.
Thirty-nine people including six crew members were aboard the vessel Conception when it caught fire early Monday morning while anchored off Santa Cruz Island.
Five crew members jumped in the ocean and were rescued.
___
8:20 a.m.
Authorities say divers are working in pairs at the site where a diving boat sank near a Southern California island after it was engulfed in flames.
Commander Jay Donovan of the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday that the divers from multiple law enforcement agencies are using their hands because of limited visibility and search in grids as they look for nine people who are still missing. Officials have confirmed that 25 people died.
There were 39 people aboard the Conception when it caught fire before dawn Monday as recreational scuba divers slept in bunks below deck.
Five of the boat’s six crew members escaped and used a dinghy to get to a nearby boat.
___
7:35 a.m.
The dozens of passengers aboard the dive boat gutted by fire off the Southern California included a 41-year-old marine biologist with years of diving experience.
Kristy Finstad has been identified by her brother Brett Harmeling of Houston as among those aboard the vessel Conception when it was engulfed in flames early Monday off Santa Cruz Island.
Harmeling says in a Facebook post that his sister was leading the dive trip and he asks for prayers.
Harmeling described his sister to the Los Angeles Times as extremely strong-willed and adventurous.
There were 39 people aboard the Conception, including six crew members.
Authorities say five crew members were rescued and 25 deaths have been confirmed so far, but no identities have been made public.
___
6:50 a.m.
Authorities say dive teams and other search crews have continued to search through the night for people still missing following a dive boat fire off Southern California’s coast that killed dozens sleeping below deck.
Santa Barbara City Fire Department spokeswoman Amber Anderson says Tuesday that fog and low clouds are not expected to limit the search crews in their efforts.
She says several families have visited an assistance center set up for relatives of people who were aboard the boat.
Thirty three passengers and six crew members were aboard the dive-boat Conception when it was engulfed by flames before dawn Monday.
Five crew members sleeping on the boat’s top deck jumped off and took a dinghy to safety.
As of Monday night, authorities had confirmed the deaths of 25 people.
___
12 a.m.
Authorities are searching for the nine people who remain missing after a boat fire off the coast of southern California killed dozens who were left sleeping below decks with only one narrow stairway out.
Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Kroll said Monday that 25 people had died, and the search would continue through the night for nine still unaccounted for.
Authorities opened a family assistance center where counseling was being provided to relatives of those onboard the dive-boat Conception when it sank Monday. None of their names were immediately released.
The missing and dead were among 39 passengers and crew who had departed Santa Barbara’s Channel Islands Harbor on Saturday aboard the boat Conception for a Labor Day weekend scuba-diving trip.

EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler has proposed ending direct regulation of methane pollution from new and modified oil and gas facilities. Andrea Sears reports…

FREEPORT, Bahamas (AP) — The Georgia Department of Transportation is reporting light traffic on the interstate highway being used as a one-way evacuation route for coastal residents fleeing Hurricane Dorian. State officials Tuesday morning turned all lanes of Interstate 16 into an eastbound route from Savannah on the coast to Dublin about 100 miles inland. The state DOT said in a news release the route was seeing “light traffic” Tuesday afternoon and cars were “running at the speed limit.”