California

Benjamin Peter Ashley, 34, was struck by several rounds after he failed to comply with orders to drop the weapon as he walked toward foothills east of Bakersfield on Saturday, Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood told The Associated Press.

Ashley may have turned the 9 mm handgun on himself after being shot by the deputies, Youngblood said. An autopsy planned for Monday will determine the cause of death.

Twenty-three large fires, many sparked by lightning strikes, were burning across Northern California on Saturday, said state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Daniel Berlant.

Some 8,000 firefighters were attempting to subdue them, something made incredibly difficult by several years of drought that have dried out California.

Police say Adrian Jerry Gonzalez lured Madyson Middleton from a courtyard where she had been riding her scooter over the weekend into his family's apartment where he attacked and killed her.

Gonzalez remains in custody at the Santa Cruz County juvenile detention center, where he has been held since being arrested Monday evening near a recycling bin where the girl's body had been dumped.

Modesto police spokeswoman Heather Graves said officers received a call Saturday about the discovery in a residential neighborhood.

She had no immediate information on the victims and circumstances of the deaths.

Detectives were processing the crime scene.

Modesto is located in the state's Central Valley.

Mexicali Mayor Jaime Diaz Ochoa said another five people were being treated at a local hospital for burns, and were in serious condition.

He said the cause of the blaze was being investigated by the state prosecutors' office.

The fire broke out early Tuesday at the nonprofit facility located in a rural area about a half-hour's drive outside Mexicali.

Diaz Ochoa said 23 residents had been taken to a temporary city shelter, and would be referred to a city elderly care center. He said most were apparently over 75 years old.