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Jason Collins, 12-year professional NBA player, became the first active male athlete in a major American team sport to come out as gay Monday, USA Today reported.

Collins, 34, made the announcement in an online first-person essay for Sports Illustrated, USA Today reported.

"I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay," Collins wrote in the essay, which will run May 6. Franz Lidz is a co-writer on the article, USA Today reported.

Collins said he has gotten "incredible" support in an interview for ABC's "Good Morning America" Tuesday, ESPN reported.

"I think, I know, in my personal life, I'm ready, and I think the country is ready for supporting an openly gay basketball player," Collins said on the program as reported by ESPN.

Collins said he went through a kind of 12-step program while deciding to come out, going through anger and denial, ESPN reported.

"When I was younger I dated women," Collins wrote as reported by USA Today. "I even got engaged. i thought I had to live a certain way. I thought I needed to marry a woman and raise kids with her. I kept telling myself the sky was red, but I always knew it was blue."

Five people were shot to death late Sunday in gunfire at an apartment complex in a city south of Seattle, The Washington Post reported.

The five shot at the scene in Federal Way, Washington, included one suspect who was shot by arriving officers, police said as reported by The Washington Post.

When police arrived, they could still hear gunfire, and they also saw two men lying wounded in a parking lot, police spokeswoman Cathy Schrock said as reported by CNN.

As police tried to rescue the injured men, one of them reached for a gun, which caused the police to open fire, killing him. The second wounded man also died, Schrock said as reported by CNN.

In a search of the complex, police found a third man dead in the parking lot, along with two other corpses in the complex, The Washington Post reported.

"We still don't have any idea what started this disturbance tonight," Shrock said as reported by The Washington Post. Police scheduled a briefing for late monday morning.

No officers were injured, CNN reported.

The police said they did not think another shooter was on the loose or that there was an immediate threat to the public, The Washington Post reported.

Two bombs exploded close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday afternoon, killing three people including an 8-year-old child and injuring more than 140, The New York Times reported.

The blasts occurred around 2:50 p.m., more than four hours after the race had started, and nearly three-quarters of the 23,000 runners had already crossed the finish line, The New York Times reported.

An anonymous White House official said that the attack was being treated as an act of terrorism, The Star Tribune reported.

The two blasts occurred in about 10 seconds and were 100 yards apart. There were two unexploded bombs found near the end of the course, which had been safely disarmed, The Star Tribune reported.

Spectators scattered after the blast, and rescue workers rushed in to aid the injured, some of whom had lost limbs in the explosions, The New York Times reported.

The F.B.I. took over the investigation, calling it "a criminal investigation that is a potential terrorist investigation," officials said Monday night as reported by The New York Times.

A 6-year-old New Jersey boy died from his wounds after being accidentally shot in the head by his 4-year-old neighbor, The Star Tribune reported.

Brandon Holt was pronounced dead at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, CNN reported.

The 4-year-old was not injured, The Star Tribune reported.

While Holt was playing, his 4-year-old neighbor got the .22-caliber rifle from his home, and the weapon accidentally discharged, striking Holst in the head, CNN reported.

The shooting occurred in Toms River in a neighborhood that residents described as "very quiet." The younger child's mother called 911 to report the shooting, The Star Tribune reported.

It is too early in the investigation to know whether anyone would be charged, Prosecutor Joseph Coronato said as reported by The Star Tribune.

The shooting follows another fatal shooting days ago that also involved a 4-year-old boy in Tennessee, CNN reported.

There is no projected reopening date for Ellis Island after the damage sustained from last October's Superstorm Sandy, The National Park Service announced as reported by CNN.

The storm's 8-foot water levels destroyed boilers and electrical systems, The Pioneer Press reported.

The Statue of Liberty is set to reopen for public viewing by the Fourth of July, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced as reported by CNN. Security screenings for Statues of Liberty viewers have moved to temporary facilities on Ellis Island, The Pioneer Press reported.

Repairs to both Ellis Island and Liberty Island could cost up to $59 million, National Park Service said as reported by CNN.

A New York woman holding her baby fell 8 stories to her death on Wednesday, and the baby survived, Fox News reported.

Cynthia Wachenheim, 45, fell out of a New York City apartment window in an apparent suicide, Fox News reported.

Police found Wachenheim's 10-month-old son, Keston, in her arms and took him to a hospital. Keston was listed in critical but stable condition, Fox News reported.

Police found a seven-page suicide note under a bed in Wachenheim and her husband's apartment. In the note, Wachenheim expressed conscerns about her child's development, an anonymous law enforcement official said to The Associated Press as reported by The Pioneer Press.

There were no signs of struggle near the apartment window, and surveillance footage showed Wachenheim's husband leaving the apartment about an hour before the incident took place, The Pioneer Press reported.

Wachenheim went to Columbia University for law, and worked in state Supreme Court in Manhattan doing legal research for judges, court officials said as reported by The Pioneer Press.

An intern was mauled to death by a lion inside a cage at a Central California animal park, CNN reported.

Dianna Hanson, 26, was attacked by her favorite lion when she entered its cage, Project Survival founder Dale Anderson said as reported by BBC News.

When Fresno County police found her, deputies shot and killed the lion in order to get to her, but she died at the scene, police said as reported by BBC News.

Investigators were looking into why Hanson entered the enclosure and what might have provoked the attack, sheriff's Sgt. Greg Collins said as reported by The Star Tribune.

The sanctuary is normally closed on Wednesdays and there was only one other person working when the mauling happened, The Star Tribune reported.

The 4-year-old male lion, Cous Cous, was raised at Caven Haven since he was a cub, Tanya Osegueda, a spokeswoman for nonprofit organization Project Survival, said as reported by The Star Tribune.

Donations poured in for a homeless man after he returned a woman's diamond ring, CNN reported.

Sarah Darling lost her diamond ring when she emptied change into the man's collection cup after a slight skin irritation made her remove it, CNN reported.

When Darling realized she had lost her ring the next day, she returned to the man, Billy Ray Harris, and he returned it immediately, CNN reported.

"My grandfather was a reverend. He raised me from the time I was 6 months old, and thank the good lord. It's a blessing, but I do still have some character," Harris said as reported by New York Daily News.

Darling and her husband, Bill Krejci, started an online fundraising campaign in response to Harris's generosity, New York Daily News reported.

"My feeling is that he's not going to go out and do something stupid with the money," Kreijci said as reported by New York Daily News. "He's just a really cool guy, and I'm hoping this will give him a better foundation."

The campaign has raised $95 thousand so far, and the 90-day donation period is not yet finished, CNN reported.

In response to the outpour of donations, Harris said as reported by CNN, "I like it, but I don't think I deserve it. What I actually feel is, 'what has the world come to when a person who returns something that doesn't belong to him and all this happens?"

A measure to legalize same-sex marriage was passed 34-21 by Illinois Senate Thursday, CNN reported.

The measure brings the state closer to legalizing gay marriage and the majority vote is unexpected, The New York Times reported.

If gay marriage were legalized in Illinois, it would be the 10th state, plus the District of Columbia, in the United States to do so, according to Lambda Legal as reported by CNN.

"it wasn't too long ago that people did not think they would see this day," State Representative Greg Harris said as reported by The New York Times.

Two years ago Illinois passed civil union legislation, The New York Times reported.

Four other states have civil union laws -- Hawaii, Delaware, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, according to Lambda Legal and the National Conference of State Legislatures as reported by CNN.

A Southern California tour bus crashed into a car and pickup truck on Sunday, killing at least eight people and injuring 38, NPR reported.

The driver's reported brake problems combined with State Route 38's mountainous terrain caused the bus to rear-end a sedan and flip over onto a pickup truck that was pulling a trailer, California Highway Patrol Spokesman Mario Lopez confirmed as reported by NPR.

The highway was shifted to one lane in order for many ambulances to transport injured along the mountainous highway. After several hours all of the injured passengers had been removed from the bus, CNN reported.

Lopez expects the death toll of eight to rise, CNN reported.

The bus had lettering for Scapadas Magicas LLC, a licensed touring company with no recorded crashes in the past two years, NPR reported.