3 shot dead in US; girl taken, found safe in Ohio

QUINCY, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A man in south-central Pennsylvania confronting his wife about custody arrangements for their daughter shot to death three people, then fled with the 4-year-old girl before the two were found about 250 miles (400 kilometers)  away in Ohio, authorities said Saturday.

   Kevin Matthew Cleeves was trying to contact his wife Friday to make arrangements to pick up his daughter Leia, but she didn't answer the phone, so he went to a home in Quincy Township, the (Waynesboro) Record-Herald reported, citing court records.

   Police said Cleeves, 35, found a woman and man sitting in a car and began arguing with them, then was ordered to leave. He then shot to death both of them and another woman and took the girl, authorities alleged.

   An alert was issued Friday night but was canceled hours later after the pair were found in Austintown in northeastern Ohio, outside Youngstown.

   Cleeves was arrested in the three deaths Friday night in Quincy Township, Pennsylvania state police Trooper Adam Reed. Police had said earlier that Cleeves should be considered "armed and dangerous as well as suicidal." Cleeves was charged with three counts of criminal homicide Saturday, according to court records.

   Reed would not give other information about the deaths, including the names of the victims and their relationship to Cleeves, but said more details would be released later Saturday. Court records did not list an attorney for Cleeves.