No to Ned

A California-based Marine was killed and 18 others injured Thursday afternoon in a vehicle rollover accident at Camp Pendleton, according to the Marine Corps.

The Marine killed in the accident was assigned to 1st Marine Division, based out of Pendleton in Southern California. The Marine's identity is behind held for 24 hours after next of kin have been notified.

It's not immediately clear whether the 18 injured in the mishap belong to the same unit or what the Marines were doing at the time. Marine officials declined to provide any additional details on the accident, including the type of vehicle that was involved.

“The command’s priorities are to take care of the Marines, sailors and families of the unit,” 1st Lt. Colleen McFadden, public affairs officer with 1st Marine Division, said in a release. “We want to ensure the Marines and their family members are being provided for during this difficult time.”

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A 20-year-old Clay County man has been arrested on federal charges surrounding a bomb plot targeting upcoming 9/11 memorial ceremonies in Kansas City, Mo., according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Joshua Ryne Goldberg, 20, of Orange Park, is charged with distribution of information relating to explosives, destructive devices, and weapons of mass destruction, according to a criminal complaint.

He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Reached at home, Goldberg's father told WTLV-TV, Jacksonville, he was "shocked" by the allegations against his son.

Between July and September, Goldberg had been in contact online with an individual, who was actually an informant. Goldberg had allegedly provided the individual with details on how to fashion a pressure cooker bomb and fill it with nails, metal and other shrapnel dipped in rat poison.

According to the complaint, Goldberg directed the individual to carry out a bombing at a memorial in Kansas City commemorating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Goldberg surfaced on the FBI's radar after he took credit for inspiring the May 3 attack in Garland, Texas, on the Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest. That's where two gunmen — later identified as Elton Simpson and Nadir Hamid Soofi — wearing body armor and carrying rifles opened fire on a police officer and security officer before they were shot and killed by police.

Ahead of that attack, Goldberg's Twitter account — Australi Witness — posted tweets calling for an attack on the art show, posting a map of the Curtis Culwell Center where the show was staged and urging anyone nearby to attack "with your weapons, bombs and knives," the complaint said.

The day of the attack, Twitter user @AusWitness 3 tweeted, "I'M BACK KUFFAR! DIE IN YOUR RAGE!" On the morning of the attack, Simpson's account — Shariah is Light — retweeted that message.

The FBI in July told an informant to contact the social media user calling himself "Australi Witness" and "AusWitness," who had posted messages on pro-Islamic State websites, purporting to be a Lebanese refugee living in Australia. The user turned out to be Goldberg, who was living with his parents at their home on Pine Road in Orange Park, the complaint said.

In a conversation Aug. 17, Goldberg told the informant, "Hopefully there will be some jihad on the anniversary of 9/11." Days later, when the source volunteered to take part in an attack, Goldberg allegedly provided him with detailed plans to manufacture explosives, specifically pipe bombs and a pressure cooker bomb.

The instructions, the FBI reports, were "accurate."

On Aug. 20, Goldberg elaborated. "Have you decided what kind of attack you want to carry out on 9/11, akhi? I was thinking a bombing. ... We could make pipe bombs and detonate them at a large public event... It needs to be big," he's quoted as saying in the indictment.

Later, Goldberg lobbied instead for his informant to manufacture a bomb out of a pressure cooker, akin to the device used in the Boston Marathon bombing, the complaint said. He allegedly suggested his contact fill the device with shrapnel and poison to inflict maximum damage, saying his contact should use "shards of metal and nails. ... Broken glass would probably work too. Just put as much sharp stuff as you can in there."

Retired U.S. Army Gen. Russel Honore, Louisiana's most well-known 21st century military hero, said America is mired in a state of denial about its gun culture and that's harming the country.

"As a country we're in a state of denial because we've confused the right to bear arms with the right to carry arms all the time anywhere or anyplace you want," Honore told Gannett Louisiana on Monday. "We have to have a different kind of conversation in America and be prepared to speak about the politically unspeakable."

Honore said the string of recent mass gun murders — culminating with the tragic movie theater shooting in Lafayette Thursday in which two victims died — should provide a wake up call.

"It breaks my heart to see that happen in my home state or anywhere in America," he said. "We've got a problem in this country, and at some point the politicians have to get down into the community and find some answers to this problem."

Honore had considered running for governor this fall but decided against making the race earlier this summer.

The retired army general, best known for his role leading the Hurricane Katrina recovery in New Orleans, said during his time in the military soldiers "were required to clear their weapons and turn them in as soon as they came in from the field."

"The best place for weapons when you're not in the field is to be locked up in the garrison," Honore' said. "Our biggest problem before Desert Storm was (soldiers) accidentally firing their weapons, and they're trained.

"I've been around guns all my life, but when I was growing up they were locked in the cabinet unless you needed them for hunting."

Honore also said he disagrees with those advocating for military men and women at recruitment offices to be armed. Some armed civilians have taken it upon themselves to stand guard at recruitment locations since the mass shooting at a Tennessee office this summer.

One such civilian accidentally fired a round at an Ohio recruitment office last week. Nobody was injured.

"I don't think it's a good idea to arm military at the recruitment offices or to have civilians there with guns," Honore said. "That's the job of law enforcement. On our 

Coast Guard search and rescue teams and a Navy destroyer were racing the clock Monday to bring home two boys missing in the vast Atlantic since they left South Florida in a 19-foot boat three days ago as stormy weather approached.

Petty Officer Mark Barney told USA TODAY the primary search area was moved to an area north of where the capsized boat was found Sunday, 67 miles off Daytona Beach. The search area now continues to north of Jacksonville, which is 90 miles north of Daytona and 250 miles north of the boys' home in the Jupiter area.

"The Gulf Stream is a pretty powerful current," Barney said. "But we have quite a few people searching, and we hope we can pull this off."

Authorities said Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen, both 14, were last seen about 1:30 p.m. ET Friday in the Jupiter area buying 28 gallons of fuel from the Jib Yacht Club and Marina. They were reported missing less than four hours later, after thunderstorms producing high winds, big waves and heavy rains had struck.

A commercial fisherman heading for safety said the teens were the only ones going out to sea.

“I said to myself, ‘Those kids are crazy,’” Jim Dulin toldThe Palm Beach Post. “There’s no way they couldn’t see that storm. The storm was really black, the temperature dropped and you could tell it was going to be a really mean one.”

The Coast Guard found the boat late Sunday morning off Ponce Inlet, more than 180 miles north of where the teens cast off. A rescue swimmer lowered from an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter confirmed the registration number.

The boat was not damaged and one life jacket was found on board, authorities said. The Coast Guard anchored the boat where it was found for retrieval later. The agency released a video showing the boat bobbing upside  down in the water; a diver reported some details such as the cover missing from the motor.

"That's not what you want to hear -- that the boat capsized," Austin's  mother, Carly Black, told WPBF-TV. "You want to hear that your boys are on the boat."

"We're experiencing the same roller coaster of emotions," said Pamela Cohen, Perry's mother, seated next to Black. "Not even on an hourly basis. I think it can be minute by minute."

Barney would not speculate on how long the boys could survive if they were in the water. They may have improvised a flotation device from life jackets, the missing engine cover and a white plastic cooler, according to a Coast Guard flier.

But Barney dismissed reports that they boys had set out for the Bahamas, saying they were sufficiently sea-wise to know they didn't have the supplies required for such a journey. Although the two boys frequently fish together in the Jupiter Inlet area, they were not prepared for an extended ocean outing, Barney said.

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio —  Local investigators are looking into any possible connection between an Oregon man killed by an escort in West Virginia and local missing women and homicide cases.

Chillicothe police Public Information Officer Bud Lytle said they are still checking whether Neal Falls, 45, might have visited Chillicothe or had any connection to the area.

“As it stands right now, we have nothing that ties him to anything here in Chillicothe,” Lytle said.

However, they aren’t ruling him out yet, and a team is planning to go to Charleston, W.Va., in the “near future,” Ross County sheriff’s Chief Deputy T.J. Hollis said.

Falls was shot and killed in Charleston, about two hours from Chillicothe, on July 18 while attempting to choke an escort he’d met through Backpage, a Web-based classifieds advertiser, according to Charleston police.

After finding several axes, a shovel, bleach, handcuffs, knives, a machete and other items in Falls’ vehicle, investigators began pursuing any potential connections with similar cases across the country. Because of Chillicothe’s proximity, investigators believe there could be a connection with the disappearances of Charlotte Trego, 27, or Wanda Lemons, 37, or the deaths of Tiffany Sayre, 26, Tameka Lynch, 30, or Shasta Himelrick, 20.

On Friday, a Ross County grand jury indicted a local man, Jason McCrary, 37, in the May shooting death of 38-year-old Timberly Claytor. A motive for her death remains unknown, and investigators have not found any evidence so far that links him to any of the other cases.

According to the Huffington Post, Charleston police also have connected with Las Vegas police regarding at least four cases there involving missing or murdered prostitutes.

While Falls most recently was known to live in Springfield, Ore., he has had family connections to several states, including Nevada, Iowa, Washington, Kansas, New Mexico, California and Oklahoma.