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ByLarryO'dell The Associated Press RICHMOND, VA. Two po- lice officers were justi- fied in returning gunfire and killing a suspect who shot at them first during a foot chase down an al- ley, the city's police chief said Thursday. Chief Alfred Durham said at a news conference that it was not a racially charged shootout as some in the community have suggested. The suspect, a 20-year-old black man, was a convicted felon and a "person of interest" in a July 23 assault, Durham said. One of the officers is black and the other is white. "This is not Ferguson," the chief said, referring to the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by a white officer a year ago in Ferguson, Missouri. The officer was cleared in that case, but the shooting set off protests, unrest and nationwide scrutiny of police officers' treatment of blacks. In the Richmond shoot- ing Wednesday night, of- ficers Ryan Bailey and Ja- cob DeBoard responded to a report of an armed man in the Fan District, so named because the shape of the street grid. The Fan is known for its historic row homes, cafes, Virginia Commonwealth University and the city's famous Monument Ave- nue, which features stat- ues of Confederate heroes. When police ap- proached the suspect, Ke- shawn Hargrove, he fled, police said. As the officers chased him, one witness said Hargrove fired over his shoulder. The officers fired at Hargrove and he was killed by a single gun- shot, Durham said. It's not clear which officer fired the fatal shot. The chief said results of an internal investiga- tion will be turned over to the Richmond prose- cutor, who will determine whether the officers acted appropriately. RICHMOND Chief:Fatal shooting of suspect justified By Erik Schelzig and Lucas L. Johnson Ii The Associated Press NASHVILLE, TENN. What initially appeared to be an- other mass shooting at a movie theater ended up be- ing an attack by a disturbed homeless man who wasn't armed with a real gun and was eventually shot and killed by police. Vincente David Montano, 29, bought a ticket for "Mad Max: Fury Road" at a the- ater in a middle-class com- munity in southern Nash- ville on Wednesday and entered with pepper spray, an airsoft pellet gun and an ax, Metro Nashville Police spokesman Don Aaron said. Some of the theater- goers in the a u d i e n c e ran outside and alerted o f f i c e r s who had re- sponded to a vehicle crash nearby, police said in a news release issued late Wednesday. South Precinct Officer Jonathan Frith, a six-year veteran, was the first officer to encounter Montano, po- lice said. Montano pointed his pellet gun at Frith and pulled the trigger, prompt- ing Frith to fire one round from his patrol rifle in self- defense, officials said. Frith then backed out of the the- ater while keeping Montano contained inside as SWAT officers responded. At that point, Montano began to use the pepper spray, and officers said they encountered a cloud of it as they entered to take Mon- tano into custody. Montano fired his pellet gun again and four SWAT members fired back, police said. "It's important to note that during Montano's in- teraction with the SWAT team, members, he had multiple and continued op- portunities to end the sit- uation. He chose not to," Aaron said. Montano attempted to flee out the rear door of the theater and as he emerged with ax in hand and started toward officers, five of them opened fire, police said. Montano was struck and killed. Only Montano was killed. One man was cut on the shoulder, evidently by the ax Montano carried. That man, his wife and their daughter were treated for pepper spray, Aaron said. He also Montano had a canister of propane, lighter fluid and a lighter and may have intended on setting off an explosive device. But he said Montano had made a gash on the canister, ren- dering it useless. Aaron said police had not uncovered a motive, but he said Montano had been committed for psychiat- ric treatment at least four times, twice in 2004 and twice in 2007. It wasn't im- mediately clear why he had been committed or if that commitment was involun- tary. "This individual has had significant psychiat- ric or psychological issues," Aaron said. Murfreesboro, Tennes- see, police reports from 2004 show Montano's long history of mental problems, with his mother telling of- ficers in one case that he heard voices telling him to do things. His mother, Denise Pru- ett, called police for help at least twice in 2004. In February of that year, De- nise Pruett told officers he was destructive and broke a coffee table and jewelry box. Police took Montano to a mental hospital for an evaluation, though the re- sults are unclear. In September of that year, police returned af- ter the mother and son had an argument over him not mowing the lawn, the re- ports show. Then, just two days be- fore the theater attack, Pru- ett contacted Murfreesboro police and said Montano was missing. She told police that her son was diagnosed with paranoid schizophre- nia in April 2006, accord- ing to the missing person report. In May of this year, au- thorities in Texas contacted Pruett and said she needed to file a missing persons re- port in Murfreesboro, the report states. But it does not specify why Texas authori- ties were concerned he was missing or believed he was in Tennessee. Pruett told police she hadn't seen her son since March 2013. She brought to Murfreesboro police a copy of a Tennessee iden- tification card for Montano that listed an address for Nashville Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter. The re- port lists his address as "homeless" and says he "has a hard time taking care of himself." Attempts to reach Pru- ett through phone numbers listed for her and other mes- sages have been unsuccess- ful. Nashville police say Mon- tano had been committed at least three times while living in Murfreesboro; that he was reported to have lived in a number of states over the years, including Texas, Missouri, Alabama, Illinois, and Florida; and that he was most recently believed to be homeless. NASHVILLE Suspect in theater attack had psychological issues MARKHUMPHREY—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS A police officer leaves the lobby of a movie theater complex on Thursday in Antioch, Tennessee. Montano By Connie Cass The Associated Press WASHINGTON Marking the 50th anniversary of the Vot- ing Rights Act, President Barack Obama remembered the African-American men and women across the South who won their rights through persistence and courage, and he urged cit- izens today not to give up that hard-earned power of the ballot. Americans owe a great debt, Obama said, to the "thousands, many of them unnamed, who were cou- rageous enough to walk up and try to register time and time again." "Sharecroppers, maids, ordinary folks — had it not been for them awakening the consciousness of the na- tion, the president could not have mustered the political support that was required to ultimately get this semi- nal law passed," Obama said. He appeared at a White House event alongside Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who was among the civil rights pro- testers who marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Ala., in 1965. Police beatings of those protesters aired on the nightly news shows stirred outrage that helped President Lyndon Johnson push the Voting Rights Act through Congress. Obama said the right of all to vote is accepted now, "in the abstract, at least," but has been eroded by voter ID laws, bans on voting by felons and other measures that fall hardest on minorities, the poor, stu- dents or the elderly. He called on Congress to revise and strengthen the Voting Rights Act in re- sponse to a Supreme Court decision that struck down a major provision of the law as outdated. Still, Obama said, it's not voter suppression ef- forts that are primarily to blame for keeping Ameri- cans away from the polls. "The fact of the matter is that far more people disen- franchise themselves than any law does by not partic- ipating, by not getting in- volved," Obama said. "Huge chunks of us citi- zens give away our power," he said. Obama declared a na- tional voter registration day on Sept. 22 and called for a sweeping effort to get every- one registered. VOTING RIGHTS ACT Anniversary: Obama says too few use hard-won voting right By Joan Lowy The Associated Press WASHINGTON The govern- ment should crack down on airline fees for things like seat reservations, checked baggage and ticket changes or cancellations, which are often unfair or hidden from consumers, according to a Senate report released Thursday. The report, which is based on an investigation by the Democratic staff of the Senate commerce com- mittee, says there appears to be no connection be- tween the price of checked bag fees and the costs in- curred by the airlines that impose them. "For example, many air- lines charge a fee for a sec- ond checked bag that is substantially higher than the fee for the first checked bag, even though there ap- pears to be no cost justifi- cation other than increased profit for doing so," the re- port said. It recommends that the Department of Transportation, which has the power to investigate and prohibit "unfair or de- ceptive" practices in the air- line industry, investigate whether bag fees should be tied to actual costs incurred by an airline. The report also says that five airlines surveyed by committee staff — United, Delta, American, Hawaiian and Spirit — charge con- sumers a flat fee for chang- ing or cancelling a ticket no matter how far in advance of a flight the changes are made. Further, it's very hard for consumers to find information on airline web- sites on the cost of change and cancellation fees, the report said. Citing an attempt to find the cost of the fees while booking a United Airlines flight last month, commit- tee staff had to click on sev- eral pages before finding a vague explanation that change and cancellation fees can range "from $0 to $1,000 per person, based on applicable fare rules." A link in small type to the rules for each segment of a flight from Washington to Orlando with a layover in Chicago spanned 54 printed pages of text. Change fees should be limited to "a reasonable amount tied to lead time prior to departure and a maximum percentage of the original fare paid," the report said. Airlines are also increas- ingly using preferred seat- ing as a new source of reve- nue, the report noted. When selecting seats, consumers are sometimes presented only with seats for which they must pay an additional fee. That was the case for a Delta flight from New York to Cincinnati that the com- mittee booked, the report said. SENATE REPORT Federal crackdown on airline fees urged NICK UT — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE A Senate report found no link between the price of checked bag fees and the costs incurred by the airlines that impose them. Servicingyourdisposalneedsin Tehama County, and the City of Red Bluff including Residential, Commercial, and Temporary bin services. 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