As word spread that a gunman had opened fire at Fort Hood leaving a trail of carnage, a chilling realization swept across the U.S.

PATCHOGUE, N.Y. - The high school buddies who trolled the streets looking for Hispanics to attack called it "beaner hopping." "Jose, Kevin and I started popping and Jose punched him so hard he knocked him out," Anthony Harfford told police.

Fort Hood, community mourn shooting victims news://newsclip.ap.org/D9BQJ0R00@news.ap.org FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) - A chaplain exhorted hundreds of mourners gathered at a candlelight vigil to not give up hope as Fort Hood and its surrounding community looked to each other for comfort after an Army psychiatrist allegedly went on a deadly shooting spree at the military base.

FORT HOOD, Texas - A chaplain exhorted hundreds of mourners gathered at a candlelight vigil to not give up hope as Fort Hood and its surrounding community looked to each other for comfort after an Army psychiatrist allegedly went on a deadly shooting spree at the military base.

ORLANDO, Fla. - Employees at an engineering firm recognized their former co-worker when he drew a handgun from under his shirt, police said, and shot his first victim dead in the reception area.

LAS VEGAS - A young woman broke into the homes of Hollywood celebrities she admired, including Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Audrina Patridge, because she wanted to own their designer clothes and jewelry, an informant told police.

NEW ORLEANS - State investigators raided ACORN offices on Friday, taking away computer hard drives and documents as part of a probe into alleged embezzlement and tax fraud when the organization's national headquarters was based in New Orleans.

GALVESTON, Texas - Two years after the remains of a toddler who came to be known as "Baby Grace" were dumped in Galveston Bay, the child's stepfather was convicted of capital murder in her beating death.

SANTA CRUZ, California - A federal appeals court has ruled that city council members in the California city of Santa Cruz did not violate a man's rights when they ordered him removed from a council meeting after he made a one-armed Nazi salute.

PHILADELPHIA - A tentative contract agreement has been reached that could end the public transit strike that has idled Philadelphia's subways, buses and trolleys for four days, Gov.

FORT HOOD, Texas - Pfc. Marquest Smith, on his way to Afghanistan in January, was completing routine paperwork about a bee-sting allergy when the sounds erupted.

FORT HOOD, Texas - As if going off to war, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan cleaned out his apartment, gave leftover frozen broccoli to one neighbor and called another to thank him for his friendship - common courtesies and routines of the departing soldier.

LOS ANGELES - A space elevator may not be rocket science but it can be just as complicated - and rewarding. After three years without a winner in a NASA-backed competition to develop the science fiction space elevator concept, a team from Seattle on Friday collected $900,000 after its laser-powered robotic machine raced up more than 2,950 feet (nearly 1 kilometer) of cable dangling from a helicopter.

Obama calls holdouts on health care news://newsclip.ap.org/D9BQDQQ83@news.ap.org Obama visits wounded US soldiers at Walter Reed news://newsclip.ap.org/D9BQB3CG2@news.ap.org Analysis: 10 percent jobless is Obama's new world news://newsclip.ap.org/D9BQDJEG0@news.ap.org Obama signs bill assisting homebuyers, jobless news://newsclip.ap.org/D9BQBFCG2@news.ap.org Hillary Clinton to represent US at Berlin Wall news://newsclip.ap.org/D9BQ95SO0@news.ap.org Obama says don't jump to conclusions on shooting news://newsclip.ap.org/D9BQBA0G0@news.ap.org Former NASA official sentenced to probation news://newsclip.ap.org/D9BQ68J02@news.ap.org Classmate: Hasan said terror fight a war on Islam news://newsclip.ap.org/D9BQB5R80@news.ap.org Revolutionary War hero becomes honorary US citizen news://newsclip.ap.org/D9BQDRUO0@news.ap.org Obama will push health bill in Saturday Hill visit news://newsclip.ap.org/D9BQC65O0@news.ap.org

DICKINSON, N.D. - Authorities say preliminary autopsy results show drowning as the cause of death for three North Dakota college softball players found dead inside a sport utility vehicle that sunk in a rural farm pond.

LOS ANGELES - Michael Jackson's father is seeking an allowance from his son's estate to help cover expenses that exceed $15,000 a month, according to court documents filed Friday.

MADISON, Wis. - A Wisconsin man who got his cheesehead hat signed by President Barack Obama has decided to donate it to a museum rather than sell it on eBay.

OKLAHOMA CITY - An animal rights group on Friday asked a U.S. Department of Agriculture agency to look into an owner's treatment of a circus elephant that escaped and was hit by a sport utility vehicle on a northwestern Oklahoma highway.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - A wealthy health care executive came home one night in September to find a terrifying note from his wife, Quinn Gray: The 37-year-old housewife and mother of two had been abducted from her posh Florida beach community.

KILLEEN, Texas - A civilian police officer is being praised for taking down a man suspected of opening fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood when she shot him in the torso.

LONDON - In Britain, there are no long lines of people seeking swine flu vaccine. Doctor's offices aren't swamped with desperate calls.

ORLANDO, Fla. - A gunman opened fire Friday in the offices of an engineering firm where he was let go more than two years ago, authorities said, killing one person and injuring five others.

SAN FRANCISCO - Gay marriage opponents pulled off another victory at the ballot box this week by using a tried-and-tested argument: Approve it and children will be taught homosexuality in school.

NEW YORK - An engine tailcone fell off a Delta Air Lines jet shortly after takeoff Thursday and plummeted thousands of feet (meters) before landing harmlessly on a lawn in a Long Island residential neighborhood.