Across The Nation

DORM STABBING VICTIM'S FRIEND SAYS ATTACK WAS PLANNED

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - A woman who awoke to find her friend being stabbed to death in a Harvard University dorm room said she believes the murder was planned.

Thao Nguyen's left arm and foot were severely cut in the Sunday attack that killed 20-year-old Harvard student Trang Ho. Authorities said Ho's roommate, Sinedu Tadesse, also 20, stabbed Ho nearly four dozen times with a wood-handle knife. Tadesse, a junior premed student from Ethiopia, then hanged herself in a dormitory bathroom.

Nguyen had been visiting Ho to help her move out of the dorm for the summer.

Family and friends said the relationship between Tadesse and Ho, who had lived together two years at the Dunster House dormitory, had soured recently when Ho decided she would room with someone else next year.

Tadesse sent a letter to Ho last month complaining, "You'll always have a family to go to, and I am going to have no one," Ho's sister, Thao, told The Boston Globe.

STRAY BULLET KILLS A 9-YEAR-OLD AFTER BASKETBALL-COURT DISPUTE

MILWAUKEE - A boy, 9, died a day after a stray bullet hit him in the head as he fled gunfire that erupted during a playground basketball game. A man, 20, was charged.

Marcus Deback was shot Sunday and died yesterday at Children's Hospital, a spokeswoman said.

Alonzo McDade, 20, was charged with attempted reckless homicide, a charge expected to be upgraded today because of Marcus' death. McDade turned himself in yesterday, police said.

Witnesses said about 20 youths were playing basketball when the argument began. One of the players left the court, got a gun from his car, came back and started shooting.

The gunman fired four to six shots, striking Marcus as he ran, police Lt. James Ardis said.

SUSPECTED INTRUDER IS SHOT OUTSIDE MADONNA'S L.A. HOME

LOS ANGELES - A security guard shot a man who apparently scaled a fence to get into the back yard of Madonna's Hollywood Hills home while the pop star was away.

Robert Roland Hoskins, 37, was shot three times in the arm and abdomen last evening, police said. He was in fair condition today at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said.

"There have been reports made by Madonna that he has been threatening her and stalking her," police Detective Mike McDonagh said.

Hoskins was shot after he confronted the guard in the back yard, McDonagh said.

Police planned to transfer Hoskins to the jail ward at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center and book him for investigation of attempted burglary, Detective Andrew Purdy said.