In brief: U.S. begins destroying big cache of chemical weapons

DENVER – The U.S. Army began destroying the nation’s largest remaining stockpile of chemical weapons Wednesday, using explosives to rip open a container of mustard agent inside a sealed chamber and then flooding it with another chemical to neutralize it.

It was the first few pounds of 2,600 tons of mustard agent that will be destroyed at Pueblo Chemical Depot in southern Colorado.

Mustard agent can maim or kill by damaging skin, the eyes and airways. It’s being destroyed under a 1997 international treaty banning all chemical weapons.

Ex-con arrested after 1 killed, 5 hurt

MESA, Ariz. – A gunman killed one person and wounded five others Wednesday in a rampage that included a motel shooting, a carjacking and a home invasion and ended with his arrest at a nearby apartment in suburban Phoenix. The suspect was taken into custody after officers spotted him on an apartment balcony and shocked him with a stun gun.

Police identified the man as Ryan Giroux, a 41-year-old ex-convict who has served three stints in state prison since 1994.

The incident started with an argument inside a room at a motel and spilled outside, leaving one man dead and two women wounded, Mesa police Detective Esteban Flores said.

The gunman then shot a man working at a nearby restaurant.

Police say the man then went to an apartment complex about 2 miles away, where he entered an apartment and shot a man. A police officer spotted a man in a neighboring apartment building with multiple gunshot wounds.