CINCINNATI – Confusion and panic set in after a 3-year-old boy plunged into the Cincinnati Zoo’s gorilla exhibit, according to 911 recordings released Wednesday, with the boy’s mother pleading for help while repeatedly shouting at her son: “Be calm!”
“He’s dragging my son! I can’t watch this!” the woman, who isn’t identified, said in the 911 call Saturday after he dropped some 15 feet into the exhibit.
Minutes later, the Cincinnati Zoo’s dangerous animal response team shot and killed the gorilla to protect the boy.
Since then, there have been numerous questions about how the boy got past the barriers around the exhibit. Police are investigating the child’s parents and federal inspectors are planning their own review of the zoo.
NEW YORK – The U.S. death rate rose slightly last year, the first increase in a decade, health officials reported Wednesday.
Researchers think the increase is due to a combination of factors. The death rate from heart disease, the nation’s leading killer, leveled off instead of dropping the way it usually does. Meanwhile, deaths rates for accidental injuries, stroke and some other causes increased.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted the numbers Wednesday. They are based on a preliminary look at 2015 death certificates.
The overall death rate rose to nearly 730 deaths per 100,000 people last year, from about 723 the year before.
MOGADISHU, Somalia – Somalia’s Islamic extremist rebels, al-Shabab, stormed a hotel in the capital Wednesday evening, killing at least six people and taking a number of hostages, police said. The scene at the Ambassador Hotel, frequented by government officials and business executives, appeared to be at a standoff overnight.
“At least two gunmen are still holed up inside the building now,” police Capt. Mohamed Hussein said earlier.
Two members of parliament were among the dead, he said. At least part of the hotel burned.
The attack began when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at the hotel’s gates. Fighters on foot then forced their way into the hotel.
Associated Press
