Man charged in fatal beatingD.C. police say a man has been charged in a fatal beating in Columbia Heights.
Police said 45-year-old Juan Paredes was assaulted at about 2 p.m. Saturday on the 3300 block of 14th Street NW and died the next day. Police said Thursday that 50-year-old Jeffery Mills had been charged with assault with intent to kill while armed. Paredes’ death has been ruled a homicide from blunt force trauma and additional charges are pending, police said.
Beltsville business owner admits mishandling mercury
The owner of a Beltsville recycling company has admitted to mishandling and not properly disposing of mercury, a toxic substance, at his business.
Glen W. Smith pleaded guilty to failing to dispose of a hazardous substance. The Maryland Department of the Environment inspected his warehouse for USA Lights, which recycles fluorescent light bulbs, in May 2009 and found boxes being used for the disposal of mercury, according to the Maryland Attorney General’s Office. A later search found dust believed to be crushed mercury from the recycling process.
Mercury can cause skin irritation, tremors, neuromuscular damage and memory loss if inhaled as a vapor.
Smith admitted that he abandoned the facility in April 2010 without cleaning any materials. Authorities found hazardous levels of mercury throughout the warehouse, the Attorney General’s Office said.
Man set himself on fire while cooking
Fire investigators believe a blaze that killed in a man in Bladensburg was an accident.
Authorities think a man accidentally set his clothes on fire while cooking, Prince George’s County fire and emergency services said. The blaze broke out in a sixth-floor apartment at 5802 Annapolis Blvd. at about 11 a.m. Wednesday. Investigators found evidence of a small blaze on the stove top.
An autopsy will need to be done to determine the man’s identity.
— Emily Babay
