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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 22, 2000)
hostage situation Two hostages escape, officers shoot captor DUNDALK, Md. (AP) - After two hostages jumped to safety from a window in their home, police stormed their apart ment, rescued a third hostage and fatally shot the man who had held them captive since Friday, police said. “All of the hostages are safe/’ police spokeswoman Vickie Warehime said. Joseph Palczynski, who took the three hostage on Friday, was shot to death by police. The only shots fired at the end of the standoff came from police. The standoff began Friday when Palczynski, 31, allegedly forced his way into a home in a Baltimore suburb and took three people hostage, including the mother of his former girlfriend. He is accused of kidnapping his ex-girlfriend on March 7, killing four people over a two-day period and leading police on a manhunt for more than a week. The girlfriend’s mother and her boyfriend jumped out the window while their 12-year-old son slept on the kitchen floor and Palczynski was asleep on the sofa. Police tactical squads then burst into the home, rescuing the boy and fatally wounding Palczynski, police spokesman Bill Toohey said. “They broke through the window, encountered Mr. Palczynski in the family room and shot him,” Toohey said. After days of sporadic gunfire at police vehicles and other targets outside the apartment, a single shot was fired inside the apartment Monday afternoon, police said. Toohey said Monday it did not appear anyone was injured. Toohey, however, admitted negotiators were relying on Palczynski for information. He was believed to have four weapons and an unknown amount of ammunition. Authorities say Palczynski abducted former girlfriend Tracy Whitehead at gun point, while fatally shooting George and Gloria Shenk, the couple who had shel tered her. She said he beat her when she moved out of their apartment and moved in with a co-worker. Outside the Shenk home, he allegedly shot and killed David Meyers, 42, a neighbor who tried to help Whitehead during the struggle. Whitehead escaped the next day by running to a police officer who happened to be at a motel where Palczynski took her. Also that day, police said, Jennifer McDonel was fatally shot and a 2-year-old boy was wounded when they drove by as Palczynski fired shots during an attempted carjacking. Palczynski then led police on a man hunt for more than a week, surfacing in the Baltimore suburb Friday. That day, police said, he broke into a home and stole guns, then shot his way into the home of Whitehead’s relatives and held them hostage. The standoff had been wearing down the patience of residents in the four-block area surrounding the home where Palczynski was holed up. Police cordoned off the area but allowed some residents to leave Sunday. One resident was arrested Monday while trying to sneak back into the area. $ ..J- •*„. . Hm\*F H yp I Clinton encourages peace in South Asia ■ President’s visit to India and Pakistan focuses on overcoming differences between the nations NEW DELHI, India (AP) - Pleading for restraint, President Clinton won an assurance from India’s prime minister on Tuesday that “there is no threat of war” with Pakistan despite crackling ten sions between the two countries and new blood shed in Kashmir. But India rejected Clinton’s call to slow its nuclear weapons program. The president was pressing his case for stronger ties with India in an address before a joint session of Parliament, his last appointment in the capital before heading into farther reaches of this vast land. “We have neglected this relationship for more than two decades,” Clinton said after talks with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. “It is too important to ever fall into disrepair again.” India aligned itself with the Soviet Union dur ing the Cold War while Pakistan tilted toward the United States. The president joined Vajpayee in denouncing the massacre of dozens of Sikhs in Kashmir and promised to press the point to Pakistani leaders - as he has to India - that violence is not the solution to the dispute over the Himalayan territory. Although India is one of the poorest countries in the world, Clinton was not exposed to the gritty side of New Delhi. Looking out from his armored limousine, he saw instead a city of tree-lined boulevards and lush gardens and fountains, gated mansions and colonial palaces. He also stopped to pay respects and drop rose petals at a marble memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, the revered pacifist and free dom leader. Leaving New Delhi, Clinton begins three days of sightseeing. He will tour the Taj Mahal, go tiger watching in a game preserve and perhaps ride an elephant at a historic palace. Vajpayee called the killing of 40 villagers in Kashmir an act of ethnic cleansing and said: “We have the means and the will to eliminate this men ace.” India blamed the massacre on Pakistani backed separatist organizations; those groups denied involvement. Clinton said he would urge military-ruled Pakistan in his visit there Saturday to respect the line of control that separates the portions of Kashmir held by India and Pakistan, to show T.C. Malhotra/Newsmakers U.S. PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON scatters rose petals at Rajghat Samadhi, a memorial honoring Mahatma Gandhi, in New Delhi on Tuesday. Clinton, the first U.S. president to visit India in 22 years, is on a weeklong tour of South Asia. restraint and to “stand against violence, restore the dialogue.” Pakistan has asked the United States to try to help settle the Kashmir dispute but India has rejected outside mediation. In Islamabad, Pakistan Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar said he hoped Clinton could use his “healing touch” to find a peaceful resolution. Clinton expressed reluctance about getting involved deeply in an interview with ABC News. “I'm not going to be dragged into something that, first of all, India doesn’t want us to be part of. And secondly, that I got dragged into from deliber ate acts of violence ... I just don’t think that’s right.” Despite tensions, Vajpayee declared: “There is no threat of war. India is committed to peaceful means. We are prepared to solve all our problems, discuss all problems on the table. We do not think in terms of war, and nobody should think in those terms in this subcontinent.” Refusing to endorse the Comprehensive ^ India is committed to peaceful means ” Atal Bihari Vajpayee Indian prime minister Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, Vajpayee, wary of threats from Pakistan and that country's own nuclear capability, said he explained to Clinton “the rea sons that compel us to maintain a minimum nuclear deterrent.” However, he said, “I have reiterated our firm commitment not to conduct further nuclear explo sive tests, not to engage in a nuclear arms race and not to be the first to use nuclear weapons against any country.” Clinton said he still hoped India would sign and ratify the test ban treaty - which the U.S. Senate has rejected. Cuban boy could return to his father MIAMI (AP) - A federal judge Tuesday refused to block the U.S. government from send ing 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez back to his father in Cuba, saying the court has no right to second guess the attorney general on matters of asylum. Twelve days after hearing arguments in the case, U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore dismissed the lawsuit filed by Elian’s great-uncle in Miami. The judge said that “each pass ing day is another day lost between Juan Gonzalez and his son.” Elian’s Miami relatives said they will appeal, while in Washington, Attorney General Janet Reno said she will consult with other Justice Department officials on how to reunite Elian with his father in a prompt and orderly way. But she did not set any deadline. Justice Department officials have made clear that they want to avoid any steps that would trau matize the boy or provoke a con frontation with Miami’s large Cuban exile community. “It has been four months since Elian has been separated from his father and lost his moth er,” Reno said in a statement. “It is time for this little boy, who has been through so much, to move on with his life at his father’s side.” Elian’s fate has been debated since he was found clinging to an inner tube off Florida on Thanksgiving. Correction Because of a police error, the location of a bathroom repeatedly vandalized with feces was incorrectly reported in Tuesday’s Law and Order briefs. The unisex bathroom is located on the west side of the first floor of the Nebraska Union. Wednesday Special TACOS & TACHAS 2 OF EACH FOR $4.25 Stop in Thursday for “BURRITO ROYALE” at ARTURO’S 803 *Q‘ ST. 475-TACO i _ '*%&** ^B—ilM La The Daily Nebraskan is now accepting Positions are open for: Web applications for the fall semester. Any major field eclltor’ assistant Web editor, and class standing will be eligible as long as you managing editor, associate news are taking at least six credit hours and have a 2.0 editors assignment editor, copy m gpa or higher desk chief- C0Py editors, sports Pick up an application and job description and e^°r’ editor, opinion editor, E sign up for an interview at the Daily Nebraskan, editors, design chief, m 20 Nebraska Union. Applications are due March designers, art director, photo 30. Interviews will be held during the first week chief’semor artist, senior of April. 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