The student who opened fire in a Colorado high school last week died of a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head, the county coroner announced on Monday.

Karl Pierson, 18, committed suicide after critically wounding a student in the Arapahoe High School on Friday. Pierson had entered the school looking for the librarian and debating coach with whom he had a dispute, officials said.

According to a statement by the coroner’s office, Pierson’s death was from “a severe head injury due to a shotgun wound to the head. The manner of death is classified as suicide.”

The wounded student, Claire Davis, was shot when fellow senior Pierson entered the building with his legally purchased shotgun, ammunition, a machete and backpack containing incendiary devices, according Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson. In a televised weekend news conference, Robinson said Davis was an innocent victim who was shot at point-blank range.

Davis is in critical condition and stable and...

A pair of finals-week threats sent shivers through two Boston-area campuses Monday morning, adding to a seemingly ever-growing number of New England universities to face scares over the past two months.

Four buildings on Harvard University's campus in Cambridge -- including a freshman dorm and the campus' science center -- were evacuated shortly after 9 a.m. after officials sent out an alert warning of an unconfirmed report of explosives in each facility.

No explosions were reported. Local and federal officials were on the scene investigating. Thayer and Emerson Hall were reported cleared by campus officials as of 1 p.m. Eastern time, while the other two buildings were still being searched.

Harvard police messaged students that they have "no reason to believe there is a threat" on campus.

"Access to Harvard Yard has been restricted to Yard residents with Harvard IDs. As of the writing of this message the report remains unconfirmed and the HUPD has no reason to believe there is a threat...

A United Methodist minister who was suspended for officiating at his son’s gay marriage said on Monday he will not voluntarily surrender his religious credentials even though he cannot uphold his church’s doctrines on issues relating to same-sex marriage.

The Rev. Frank Schaefer of Lebanon, Pa., was convicted of violating church doctrine by performing a same-sex marriage when he officiated at his son’s nuptials in 2007 in Massachusetts. On Nov. 19, he was suspended for 30 days and asked to agree to abide by church doctrine, as outlined in the Methodist Book of Discipline, or to surrender his ministerial credentials.

“My honest answer is: No, I cannot uphold the United Methodist Book of Discipline,” Schaefer told a televised news conference in Philadelphia. “In fact, I don’t believe anybody can. It’s impossible to uphold the Discipline in its entirety because it is filled with competing and contradictory statements. It reflects the...

Following a report of explosives in four Harvard University buildings that led to evacuations during finals, university police late Monday morning messaged students that they have "no reason to believe there is a threat" on campus.

"Access to Harvard Yard has been restricted to Yard residents with Harvard IDs. As of the writing of this message the report remains unconfirmed and the HUPD has no reason to believe there is a threat to any other site on campus,” Harvard police said in the message to students. 

Much of Harvard Yard had been evacuated and exams at the university were canceled Monday morning after the report of explosives in the four buildings at locations throughout the campus. 

Massachusetts State Police officials said a bomb squad and K-9 unit were sent to the scene, and searched through the four buildings: the Science Center, and Thayer, Sever and Emerson Halls. 

Student George Doran said a supervisor was reading exam instructions to his constitutional law class in...

Harvard University was partially evacuated Monday morning after school officials sent out an alert about explosives on campus.

"Unconfirmed reports of explosives at four sites on campus: Science Center, Thayer, Sever, and Emerson," said the campus alert sent at 9:02 a.m. "Please evacuate those buildings now."

Officials at the Cambridge, Mass., school said there had been no reports of explosions. Campus and Cambridge police were investigating the reports.

The evacuated buildings were diverse. For example, Thayer Hall is a freshman dorm, while Emerson Hall houses the school's department of philosophy.

It is finals week for many classes at Harvard, according to the university's exam schedule.

Students evacuated from Harvard after “unconfirmed reports’’ of hidden explosives. (Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff) pic.twitter.com/lLNeIxZ4wC

— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) December 16, 2013

A 24-year-old Ohio man is scheduled to appear in court Monday morning on suspicion of murdering a 9-year-old girl who lived next door, according to officials and local media reports.

Reann Murphy was last seen playing outside at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in a shared area of the Smithville, Ohio, mobile-home park where she lived, Wayne County Sheriff Travis Hutchinson said at a Sunday news conference. Smithville is about 30 miles southwest of Akron.

Officials received a report that she was missing at 8:28 p.m. Saturday and began a search, Hutchinson said. About five hours later, Reann's body was found in a Dumpster near her home, he said.

By midday Sunday, officials arrested Jerrod Metsker, 24, who "was a neighbor and was acquainted to the victim and her family," Hutchinson said, adding that officials had found "no motive at this time."

Wayne County Prosecutor Dan Lutz told the Wooster Daily Record that Metsker would be arraigned on a charge of aggravated murder Monday morning. Further details...

A 17-year-old high school student was battling for her life Sunday as Colorado officials tried to understand why a fellow student shot her and tried to shoot his debate coach last week. 

Two days after the incident at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, the wounded student, Claire Davis, remained in critical condition Sunday afternoon at Littleton Adventist Hospital, spokeswoman Lauren Brendel told the Los Angeles Times.

Brendel said she had no information about Davis' prognosis.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, in an appearance on CBS' "Face The Nation" on Sunday, said Davis was in a coma after a shotgun blast hit her in the face and that he had visited her and her family in the hospital.

"Her parents are two of the most wonderful people you could ever hope to meet," Hickenlooper said. "You know, they adopted her. I mean, they are besides themselves, and, really, we all have to keep Claire in our thoughts and our prayers. Her parents ... I can't imagine what they're going through. It'...

New England was expected to receive up to 1 foot of snow in a fast-moving storm that will last through Sunday, National Weather Service officials said.

The weather service is forecasting 6 to 12 inches of snow through most of New York and all of New England, with potentially up to 14 inches of snow in Maine, weather service forecaster Bruce Terry told the Los Angeles Times.
 
New England is going to "be the jackpot area for this storm,” he said.

The wintry weather stretched over 1,000 miles on Saturday, hitting states from Missouri to Maine.

In Missouri, where Terry said some areas got up to 9 inches of snow, an 80-year-old man died Saturday morning after he skidded off a rural highway in the western part of the state, according to a Missouri State Highway Patrol report.

However, most other Midwestern states, such as Michigan and Indiana, got only about 4 inches of snow, Terry said.
 
“Snow increased as you go farther east,” Terry said.

Cities that “escaped" the...

In one photo Claire Davis wears a riding cap, nuzzling a horse. Diffused sunlight illuminates green grass and a white picket fence.

Now the high school senior lies in a hospital room. Outside, a community prays that she will survive a gunshot wound to the head.

Police identified Davis, 17, as the student who was shot Friday at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colo. She remained in critical condition Saturday, hospital officials said.

She was the lone victim of Karl Halverson Pierson, 18, who entered the school looking for a librarian, officials said. On his way to the library, he shot Davis in a hallway, point blank. 

At a news conference Saturday in Centennial, Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson read a statement from her family: “Our beautiful daughter Claire Davis has severe head trauma as the result of a gunshot wound. She needs your continued prayers."

Friday the 13th meant no luck for the countless people across the nation who bought tickets for the Mega Millions jackpot. The $425-million prize went unclaimed  and has now grown to $550 million, the fourth-largest jackpot in U.S. lottery history.

The winning numbers on Friday were: 19 24 26 27 70. Mega Ball number: 12.

Still, nine people won $1 million each for matching up the first five numbers, according to the Mega Millions website Saturday.

Thus far, the highest Mega Millions jackpot was $656 million in March 2012, with three winners in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland. The game is played in 43 states, including California, plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

On Tuesday, people have another shot at winning, and many said they are hoping to cash in.

Phill Kaplan, 30, of Denver said he almost always buys tickets when the jackpot surpasses $200 million.

Kaplan said he bought two tickets for himself and was looking forward to hearing results Tuesday night.

“...

CENTENNIAL, Colo. – Carrying a shotgun, a machete, a bandolier of ammunition and a backpack with three incendiary devices, Karl Halverson Pierson entered Arapahoe High School and launched 80 seconds of terror as he hunted his debate coach, who was also the school librarian.

New details emerged Saturday as authorities described the country's latest school shooting.

As soon as he entered the building Friday, Pierson fired a round down the hallway and another from point-blank range that critically injured one student. He fired a third round down the hall and entered the library, where he fired  again and set off one of the Molotov cocktails, igniting bookshelves.

As fire and smoke poured through the room, Pierson fired a fifth round and went into the back corner of the library, where he fired his last shot, killing himself.

“It is our strong belief that he came to that school with that weapon and with multiple rounds and his intention was to utilize those multiple rounds to...