In brief: Shooting kills 1 at New Year’s Eve party

CALGARY, Alberta – Gunfire broke out at a New Year’s Eve house party in Calgary, leaving one person dead and six others injured, including one in critical condition, police said Thursday.

Detective Steve Adair said police received multiple calls just after 5 a.m. reporting shots fired at the party attended by more than 50 people. He said by the time officers arrived, the suspect or suspects had already fled.

Police found five people in and around the house with gunshot wounds. Adair said two other people later showed up at hospitals for treatment.

Police said they don’t know how many suspects are involved and don’t have a motive for the shootings.

Mother decapitated, son accused of ax murder

OLDSMAR, Fla. – A Florida man is charged with first-degree murder after his mother was found decapitated outside their home on New Year’s Eve.

According to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, Mario Gomez called 911 Wednesday evening and told dispatchers that his brother Christian had killed their mother and cut off her head. Deputies found Maria Suarez-Cassagne’s body outside the Oldsmar home, near some garbage cans.

Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said Thursday that Christian Gomez had planned his mother’s murder for two days.

Gomez was upset with his mother because she wanted him to move boxes around the house, and he was jealous of the attention Suarez-Cassagne paid to his brother, Gualtieri said.

The 23-year-old attacked his mother in the garage with an ax, Gualtieri said.

Gomez then fled the scene, but he was arrested a few blocks away after another 911 call reported a suspicious person riding a bicycle in the area.

Police chief says he accidentally shot wife

PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. – A police chief told a 911 operator that he accidentally shot his wife early New Year’s Day inside their suburban home southwest of Atlanta, investigators said Thursday.

Peachtree City police Chief William McCollom called 911 around 4:15 a.m. and reported shooting his wife, Margaret, inside the couple’s bedroom, Peachtree City police Lt. Mark Brown said.

She was in critical condition, Atlanta Medical Center spokeswoman Nicole Gustin said.

Investigators would not discuss what led McCollom to open fire. Local police turned the criminal probe over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the local prosecutor’s office.

Authorities said the police chief fired his department-issued handgun.

“He is fully cooperating at this point, and he has been interviewed,” said GBI spokeswoman Sherry Lang.