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ATLANTA (AP) — Fierce storms could bring strong tornadoes, hail and damaging winds to several states in the Deep South during the day and into the night on Tuesday, forecasters say.
The National Weather Service estimates that more than 7 million people in parts of five states — Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Georgia — are in an area of enhanced risk for a few strong tornadoes and other severe weather during Tuesday's storms.
Meteorologists at the national Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, say the areas at highest risk of the most dangerous storms will be in southern Alabama and southern Mississippi, along with slivers of northeast Louisiana and northwest Florida. That area includes the cities of Mobile, Alabama; and Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
The system will bring "a pretty substantial risk for supercells" that could spawn strong tornadoes, but also lines of storms that pose threats as well, said Greg Carbin, a meteorologist at the Storm Prediction Center.
"We definitely are starting to move into that time of year where the ingredients for these types of storms are beginning to come together," Carbin said.
In Louisiana, storms with large hail, damaging winds and isolated tornadoes could hit the New Orleans area from midafternoon Tuesday through early evening, said Andrew Ansorge, a weather service meteorologist in Louisiana.
The storms are forecast to spread east across Alabama and into Georgia and north Florida, posing a threat into the evening, Carbin said.
In Mississippi, forecasters say strong tornadoes could form south of the Interstate 20 corridor.
In Alabama, a large part of the state will be under an elevated risk of storms late Tuesday afternoon through early Wednesday morning, according to forecasts from the weather service. That area — which includes the Alabama cities of Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile, Auburn and Tuscaloosa — could see tornadoes, winds of up to 70 mph, and quarter-sized hail, the weather service projects.
In Georgia, a total of 3.4 inches of rain is expected in Atlanta from showers and storms Monday through Wednesday, which could produce some flooding, according to forecasts from the weather service's office in Peachtree City, Georgia.
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — The Latest on the shootings in the Kalamazoo, Michigan, area (all times local):
3:10 p.m.
A man charged with six counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder in a series of random shootings in western Michigan has been denied bail.
Forty-five-year-old Jason Dalton of Kalamazoo Township made his first court appearance Monday and indicated that he understood the charges.
The charges filed Monday by Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting also include weapons violations. The murder charges carry a mandatory life sentence.
Dalton was arrested Sunday in Kalamazoo. Police say the rampage began about 6 p.m. Saturday outside an apartment complex, where a woman was seriously wounded. A little more than four hours later, a father and son were fatally shot while looking at vehicles at a car dealership. Fifteen minutes after that, five people were shot in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel restaurant.
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2:15 p.m.
A federal agent says many long guns and handguns were seized from the home of the man charged with killing six people in western Michigan.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting state and local police. A spokesman in Detroit, Donald Dawkins, says there's no indication that Jason Dalton was prohibited from possessing guns.
Dalton was charged with murder and attempted murder Monday in a series of shootings over the weekend in the Kalamazoo area. Two people who survived are in the hospital.
The shootings occurred in a restaurant parking lot, outside an apartment building and at a car lot.
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1:45 p.m.
Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller says the actions of the first shooting victim during the weekend rampage in western Michigan protected several children.
Fuller told The Associated Press on Monday the woman was outside with three or four children Saturday at an apartment complex's playground. When a man approached them in a car and she sensed trouble, Fuller said she put herself between the car and the children and told them to run to their nearby home.
Authorities say the woman was shot multiple times and severely injured. Fuller says she has had surgeries and is improving but has a long road to recovery.
A prosecutor filed six counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder against 45-year-old Jason Dalton of Kalamazoo Township in the series of shootings.
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1:10 p.m.
A prosecutor has charged a man with six counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder in a series of random shootings in western Michigan.
Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting filed the charges Monday against 45-year-old Jason Dalton of Kalamazoo Township. Dalton is expected to make an initial court appearance later Monday. The prosecutor's office says it doesn't know if Dalton has an attorney.
Dalton was arrested Sunday in Kalamazoo. Police say the rampage began about 6 p.m. Saturday outside an apartment complex, where a woman was seriously wounded. A little more than four hours later, a father and son were fatally shot while looking at vehicles at a car dealership.
Fifteen minutes after that, five people were shot in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel restaurant.
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12:10 p.m.
Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller says Uber is cooperating with law enforcement officials investigating shootings that left six dead, and he believes the company will "help us fill in some timeline gaps."
An Uber passenger has said he called police to report an erratic driver more than an hour before authorities allege the driver began shooting people at random, killing six and wounding two others before being arrested.
Fuller said investigators are particularly interested in communication between Jason Dalton, the man arrested in the shootings, and Uber, as well as between the company and customers he might have driven.
Fuller said questions about motive and the shooter's frame of mind will be "the hardest to answer." He expects some answers will emerge in court but doubts they will be satisfying.
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11:45 a.m.
A school administrator says he remembers the man arrested in Kalamazoo-area shootings that killed six people as an athletic kid who didn't get into trouble.
David Pfaff (POFF), principal at Eastern Hancock High School in Charlottesville, Indiana, said he remembers Jason Dalton from when he was in school. Pfaff, an assistant football coach at the time, said Dalton played running back on the junior varsity team his freshman year before his family moved to Michigan.
He says Dalton was a good football player who wrestled and was on the track team, and "never got into trouble."
Pfaff said he instantly remembered Dalton when he saw his photograph on the news Sunday.
Authorities allege Dalton shot one person outside an apartment complex and shot seven others over the next several hours.
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11:35 a.m.
President Barack Obama says he's pledging all needed federal assistance in responding to a weekend shooting rampage in western Michigan.
Obama is speaking to an annual meeting of U.S. governors. He says he spoke Monday with the mayor of Kalamazoo, Michigan, and with the local police chief and sheriff.
Obama says Kalamazoo was "terrorized by gun violence." He says families are shattered.
The president is using the occasion to renew his call for further steps to reduce gun violence. He says governors must be tired of seeing mass shootings in their states.
Obama is citing the shooting spree in San Bernardino, California, late last year that killed 14. Obama says the hard truth is the U.S. probably lost more Americans over the past weekend than in San Bernardino.
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10:10 a.m.
A Michigan man says he called the police to report an erratic Uber driver more than an hour before authorities allege the driver began shooting people at random, killing six and wounding two others before he was arrested.
Matt Mellen tells WWMT-TV in Kalamazoo (http://bit.ly/1TAiR1Q ) that Jason Dalton picked him up at around 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
Mellen says Dalton began driving very erratically after he got a phone call and hung up. He says Dalton was speeding, sideswiping cars and driving over medians and lawns. Mellen says when they came to a stop, he ran from the car and called police. He says he also tried reporting Dalton to Uber.
Authorities allege that Dalton shot the first victim outside of an apartment complex a little more than an hour later and that he shot seven others over the next several hours.
Dalton is expected to appear in court later Monday.
MIAMI (AP) — A judge sentenced a Florida man to life in prison for a second time Monday for fatally stabbing his best friend when both were 14, saying the man still seems to be obsessed with violence, death and serial killers.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge John Schlesinger imposed the maximum possible prison term on Michael Hernandez, now 26, who had sought a lesser sentence for killing Jaime Gough in 2004 in a bathroom at Southwood Middle School. Hernandez's original life sentence had to be reconsidered after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that juveniles could not automatically be sentenced to life without chance of parole.
Schlesinger said a three-day hearing earlier this month featuring hundreds of Hernandez's jail phone calls convinced him that Hernandez hadn't changed since the slaying. In his conversations, the inmate spoke a great deal about serial killers including Jeffrey Dahmer; mass shootings such as the Columbine High School killings in Colorado; and violent death-metal music about slayings and mayhem.
"I did not anticipate that there was going to be talk about rainbows and unicorns and puppies. But what I received is truly grotesque," Schlesinger said. "He says on those phone calls he can't understand why so many mass killers kill themselves before they can enjoy what he calls the glory and the fun."
Hernandez, the judge added, "is essentially the same kind of person he was in 2004."
"He has no real insight or empathy for the victims of these crimes."
Hernandez, dressed in a red prison jumpsuit and handcuffed at the wrists, showed no reaction. The family of the slain boy called it a just decision and said Hernandez would be dangerous if released.
"I don't think we want someone like Michael Hernandez as our neighbor," said Jorge Gough, father of victim Jaime Gough. "There is finally justice for my son."
Hernandez's parents left the courthouse without commenting to reporters.
Hernandez, accused of stabbing his friend more than 40 times following weeks of planning, was originally convicted of first-degree murder in 2008 after he unsuccessfully used the insanity defense. Evidence during the trial showed that he kept a journal detailing his fascination with serial killers and featuring a list of people he wanted to kill, including Gough and his own sister.
Hernandez, who testified at the recent hearing, insisted his mental state is improved and he apologized during a recent hearing to the Gough family. A psychologist hired by his lawyers said Hernandez appeared to be in remission from bipolar disorder and possibly schizophrenia.
"I feel horrible about what I did," Hernandez testified, at times wiping away tears.
Prosecutor Gail Levine accused Hernandez of putting on an act in court to win his freedom. She noted that in some of his jail calls he said he had to try to make himself cry.
"That's who he is. It's a shame but that's who he is," Levine said.
Hernandez will be eligible for parole review in about 13 years under a change in Florida law that now takes into account his young age when the crime was committed.