DOWNTOWN - The U.S. Secret Service has declined a request by the Cincinnati Police Department to analyze a 1999 videotape on which Lt. Jeffrey Butler is alleged to have used a racial slur.

Police Chief Tom Streicher said the federal agency, which houses a state-of-the-art audio lab, told him it doesn't want to set a precedent by investigating a tape that is not a part of a criminal case.

Streicher said the department is looking at other options to enhance the tape, on which Butler asked an internal investigator, "Can you get my gun for me so I can lock up some (inaudible)?"

Springfield Twp. Man indicted in shooting

A Hamilton County grand jury indicted a Springfield Township man Monday, accusing him of fatally shooting 20-year-old Laurice Welch in the back of the head Dec. 12 with a .380-caliber Hi-Point firearm.

Djuan Bell, 20, was charged with murder and aggravated murder, charges that carry life in prison if he is convicted. Bell is being held in the Hamilton County Justice Center on $500,000 bail pending his arraignment.

Convict apologizes for house fire killings

A man who set a house fire last October that killed two homeless people apologized to the victims' families in court Monday and said he didn't mean to do it.

Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Patrick Dinkelacker then sentenced Anthony Gilliam to spend 16 years in prison.

Gilliam, 42, pleaded guilty to two charges of involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of Clara Young and Gerald Cash on Oct. 25 at a vacant West McMillan Street home where the victims were staying.

2 west side men beg police to shoot them

WESTWOOD - In two separate incidents Saturday, police on the west side encountered people who begged officers to shoot them.

About 11:45 p.m., an officer dispatched to a call about a disorderly man arrived at the Queen City Avenue address and said the man repeatedly charged at him, screaming, "Shoot me.'' After a struggle, officers arrested the 35-year-old man and charged him with assault, assault on a police officer and resisting arrest.

That incident followed a similar one earlier in West Price Hill, where police said a 25-year-old man drove his car into a telephone pole about 11 a.m. on Sunset Avenue. When officers arrived, police reports said, he yelled, "Just shoot me, I want to die.''

He was charged with criminal damaging, driving without a license and failure to control his vehicle.