Kids find skull at vacant lot

Several children walking through a vacant lot near Tillicum on Tuesday afternoon stumbled across a skull and spinal column.

Lakewood police Detective Mike Zaro said the body was "completely skeletonized," and investigators don't know the gender or age of what they found.

He said the remains were found in the 7400 block of 146th Street Southwest, about two miles from Adre'Anna Jackson's home. Jackson, 10, disappeared Dec. 2 while walking to school.

Zaro said police were bearing that case in mind but had made no connection.

Man hit by truck dies at Terminal 46

A man died at Terminal 46 Tuesday after he was run over by a semi-trailer truck, according to Port of Seattle police.

The man had been talking to a truck driver when traffic heading into the cargo-holding area slowed to a stop, said Port of Seattle police spokesman Mick Shultz.

When traffic started up around 4:06 p.m., the man somehow became "tangled in the back of a rig," Shultz said. Police are investigating.

The man's name wasn't released.

Man crossing tracks hit, killed by train

The conductor, who saw the man, sounded the whistle and applied the emergency brakes to slow the 95-car train, but the man still was hit, said Gus Melonas, spokesman for BNSF Railway.

The train's speed was estimated at 43 mph in the 50-mph zone, Melonas said.

Train traffic was delayed several hours Tuesday night because of the crash.

The man's name wasn't released.

Man jailed; accused in shooting of 3

A man accused of shooting three people at a motel on Saturday has been booked into the King County Jail on suspicion of attempted first-degree murder.

Police say two men got into a fight, and there was an exchange of gunfire at the motel in the 29000 block of Pacific Highway South. A 20-year-old man was shot in the torso and wrist, a 20-year-old woman was shot in the back and a 37-year-old man was shot in the torso and head. None of the injuries was life-threatening.

Detailed information about the man arrested Sunday wasn't released.

Police search for blood-plasma thief

Canadian police and health officials searched Tuesday for a thief who made off with vials of HIV-contaminated blood plasma from a Vancouver hospital.

The thief pried open a locked freezer at a laboratory at St. Paul's Hospital during the weekend and removed the 19 vials marked with the lettering "HIV VL" and labeled with the patients' names, police said.

Police said they do not know what motivated the theft, but health officials said the risk to the public was minimal.

"The vials are sealed. Unless the blood is injected into someone's bloodstream, the public is not at risk," said Akber Mithani, vice president of medical affairs at the hospital, which is home to an AIDS-research program.

If the vials were thawed, the virus would survive for only about 72 hours.

Times staff and news services