A Chicago man who committed suicide Wednesday evening during a traffic stop in the Milwaukee suburb of West Allis, Wis., has been linked to the murder of the husband and mother of a Chicago federal judge, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The man, Bart Ross, 57, shot himself as an officer approached Ross' minivan. Law enforcement officials said police found a note in the front seat which led to six pages of notes explaining how and why Ross shot the judge's family.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Ross' notes explain that he broke into the home of U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow Feb. 28, but finding Lefkow not at home, he instead shot her husband, Michael Lefkow, 64, and her mother, Donna Humphrey, 89. Prior to his suicide, Ross sent a letter with the same information to Chicago television station WMAQ, which arrived there Thursday.
Ross targeted Lefkow, the Journal Sentinel reported, because she had dismissed a lawsuit in which he claimed doctors at the University of Illinois-Chicago Hospital and its clinic had disfigured him, damaged his mouth and caused him to lose his teeth when they treated him for cancer between July 1992 and March 1995.
U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Green Bay, was honored Wednesday along with singers Alanis Morissette and Lee Ann Womack at the Lifetime Television \Champions for Change"" event in Washington, D.C., for their efforts to stop violence against women.
A statement from Green's office said the representative was acknowledged for his work in passing ""The Debbie Smith Act,"" which is legislation that helped reduce the backlog of DNA evidence ""rape kits"" that sit untested in crime labs in the United States.
At the ceremony Wednesday, Green presented Smith, a rape victim, with a signed copy of the law. President Bush signed the act, which gives funding to help process the ""rape kits,"" into law last fall.
Green is believed to be seriously considering a run for Wisconsin's governorship in 2006, but has not yet officially declared his candidacy.
A man cooking in his kitchen was shot after one of his cats knocked his 9mm handgun onto the floor, discharging the weapon, Michigan State Police said.
Joseph Stanton, 29, was shot in his lower torso around 6 p.m. Tuesday, the state police post in Iron River reported.
State police said he was cooking when the cat knocked the loaded gun off the counter behind him.
