Pranks and skits lead to shooting, burns, unruly crowd

A 12-year-old boy was killed in a shooting over a Halloween egg fight, several women were burned when their costumes caught fire and several hundred revelers pelted police officers near a college campus.

And in Minneapolis, a 49-year-old man was arrested for allegedly giving trick or treaters candy bars containing pins. Police said a 14-year-old bit into one of the bars and was stuck by a pin, but did not require medical attention, and officers recovered seven candy bars containing pins from other children.

The man, whose name was not released, was arrested on suspicion of altering packaged goods.

A 14-year-old boy in Atlanta shot and killed a 12-year-old boy because he was angry about being struck in a Halloween egg fight, police said. The boys' names were not released.

The older boy was charged with murder. Police said he was hit by an egg Tuesday evening when he walked past children taking part in a fight that is a neighborhood Halloween tradition.

Six women were burned at a Halloween party in Bellevue, Wash., when their costumes caught fire. One, a 76-year-old woman, was hospitalized in critical condition.

Fire Battalion Chief Warren Merritt said the six women had been standing around a fire in a pot of alcohol when someone apparently poured in more alcohol and the fire flared up.

About 2,400 Halloween revelers mobbed streets near Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill., leading to dozens of arrests.

At one point, several hundred people surrounded seven police officers, pelting them with rocks, bottles and cans while the officers fired back with mace, The Southern Illinoisan newspaper reported.

More police soon moved in and broke up the crowd with tear gas. The officers, who were wearing protective body vests, were not injured.

A 13-year-old boy who may have been hanging by the neck for as long as 15 minutes in a Halloween prank accident was in poor condition Wednesday.

Police in Newark, Ohio, said Michael Markley and a friend set up a hangman's skit Monday evening to scare trick-or-treaters. Michael stood on a plastic laundry basket to reach a noose hanging from a tree branch, and fell with his head in the noose when he either slipped or the basket collapsed.

A 14-year-old in Las Cruces, N.M., was treated for neck bruises and abrasions after he was hanged during a school-sponsored haunted house exhibit.

Police Sgt. Todd Gregory said the teen was standing on a stool and investigators hadn't determined if he slipped or if the stool was kicked away.

Gregory said other students in the darkened room didn't know right away that Eric Palafox was in trouble. ''He was hanging there and everyone thought it was part of the show or that it was a joke,'' the officer said.

A 20-year-old New Bloomfield, Mo. man was charged Wednesday with endangering the welfare of children by giving condoms and covered, unused syringes to trick-or-treaters.

Sheriff John Hemeyer said the man, whose name was not released, admitted putting the items in a container along with candy on the front porch of a Jefferson City home he was visiting on Tuesday and telling children to ''help yourselves.''

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