Hellfire: The Violent Days of Spring 2019

April has come and gone. As forecast in "The Red Zone of April," the past is prologue. Let us look at a jam-packed Spring of 2019 that, indeed, was filled with "hellfire." And Spring is not through with us!

Al Noor Mosque, Christchurch, New Zealand.

The Christchurch mosque shootings were two consecutive terrorist attacks at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, during Friday Prayer on 15 March 2019. The attacks began at the Al Noor Mosque in the suburb of Riccarton at 1:40 pm and continued at the Linwood Islamic Centre at about 1:55 pm. The gunman live-streamed the first attack on Facebook Live. After being at Al Noor Mosque and going to Linwood, the gunman left the scene, in his car, to the music of "Fire" by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, where the singer proclaims: "I am the god of hellfire!"

The attacks killed 51 people and injured 49 others. A 28-year-old Australian man, Brenton Harrison Tarrant, described in media reports as a white supremacist and part of the alt-right, was arrested and charged with murder. The attacks have been linked to an increase in white supremacism and alt-right extremism globally observed since the mid-2010s. Politicians and world leaders condemned the attacks, and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described it as "one of New Zealand's darkest days." The government has established a royal commission of inquiry into its security agencies in the wake of the attacks, which are the deadliest mass shootings in modern New Zealand history.

Fatalities 51 (47 of them male, and 4 female)
42 at the Al Noor Mosque
7 at the Linwood Islamic Centre
2 later at Christchurch Hospital

April 15, 2019. See "Al Aqsa Mosque, Notre Dame, and Tsogyelgar Burn."

Sri Lankan military officials stand guard in front of the St. Anthony's Shrine, Kochchikade church after an explosion in Colombo, Sri Lanka April 21, 2019.

On 21 April 2019, Easter Sunday, three Christian churches in Sri Lanka and three luxury hotels in the commercial capital Colombo were targeted in a series of coordinated terrorist suicide bombings. Later that day, there were smaller explosions at a housing complex in Dematagoda and a guest house in Dehiwala. 253 people (some reports say 259) were killed, including at least 42 foreign nationals and three police officers, and at least 500 were injured. The church bombings were carried out during Easter services at the St. Anthony's Shrine, Colombo 13; St. Sebastian's Church, Negombo; Zion Church, Batticaloa; the hotels that were bombed were the Shangri-La, Cinnamon Grand, Kingsbury and Tropical Inn.

According to Sri Lankan government officials, all seven of the suicide bombers in the attacks were Sri Lankan citizens associated with National Thowheeth Jama'ath, a local militant Islamist group with suspected foreign ties, previously known for attacks against Buddhists and Sufis. State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene said in parliament on 23 April that the government believed the attack was in retaliation for the attack against Muslims in Christchurch on 15 March 2019.

April 30, 2019

Charlotte, North Carolina

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2019 UNCC shooting: Six people were shot, two fatally, on the last day of classes at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The student gunman was taken into custody after he ran out of ammunition.

Above and below: The Poway synagogue shooting.

April 28, 2019	West Chester Township, Ohio	4	0	4	Four family members, three women and one man, were found shot to death in an apartment. The suspect remains at large.
April 28, 2019	Nashville, Tennessee	0	7	7	Two men got into an altercation at a party and exchanged gunfire; seven people were wounded in the crossfire.
April 28, 2019	Birmingham, Alabama	0	4	4	A suspect in a vehicle opened fire on patrons outside of a nightclub, injuring four.
April 28, 2019	Baltimore, Maryland	1	7	8	One person was killed and seven were wounded when a gunman opened fire on two cookouts at an intersection.
April 27, 2019	Jackson, Mississippi	1	3	4	One person was killed and three were injured in a shooting in south Jackson.
April 27, 2019	Jackson, Michigan	0	4	4	Four people were wounded in an overnight shooting.
April 27, 2019	Poway, California	1	3	4	Poway synagogue shooting: One person was killed and at least three were wounded by a shooter at the Chabad of Poway synagogue.
April 27, 2019	Westmoreland, Tennessee	7	2	9	A 25-year-old man killed seven people and critically wounded a woman; the shootings took place at two separate locations.
April 26, 2019	Hugo, Oklahoma	0	4	4	Investigators attempted to make contact with the suspect in relation to another crime, he then began to open fire, injuring three children and himself.
April 21, 2019	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	0	4	4	Four people were wounded in the Grays Ferry Section of the city.
April 21, 2019	Los Angeles, California	0	4	4	Four seniors were wounded by gunfire after a suspect opened fire in the vehicle behind them.
April 20, 2019	Memphis, Tennessee	0	7	7	Seven people were wounded in a shooting that police believe occurred after a large fight.
April 20, 2019	Corpus Christi, Texas	0	4	4	A disturbance in a neighborhood escalated into a shooting; four men were wounded.
April 19, 2019	Wichita, Kansas	0	4	4	Two suspects fired multiple shots at people attending a party, injuring four.
April 18, 2019	Louisville, Kentucky	0	4	4	Four people in a vehicle were wounded when they were shot at by at least one person in another car.
April 16, 2019	Germantown, Maryland	1	3	4	A drive-by shooting killed an 18-year-old male and wounded three other men in a cul-de-sac.
April 14, 2019	Stockton, California	0	4	4	A man opened fire inside of a bar following a disturbance, wounding four patrons.
April 14, 2019	Vallejo, California	1	3	4	One man was killed and three were injured in an early morning shooting.
April 14, 2019	Miami, Florida	2	2	4	Two women were killed and another man and woman were wounded in a drive-by shooting outside of Miami's Liberty Cityneighborhood.
April 12, 2019	Carbondale, Illinois	0	4	4	Four people were injured in a shooting outside of a restaurant and bar.
April 11, 2019	Phoenix, Arizona	3	2	5	A man killed his wife, two of his daughters, and another man, and injured two people who came to try to help one of the victims. All of the victims were shot, with the exception of one of his daughters who was killed by blunt force trauma.
April 11, 2019	Los Angeles, California	1	4	5	One person was killed and four were wounded when suspects fired at them from a car in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles.
April 11, 2019	Baltimore, Maryland	0	4	4	Four men were wounded in a shooting near Druid Hill Park.

April 30, 2019 The University of North Carolina at Charlotte shooting was a shooting that occurred at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte on April 30, 2019. The shooting, which occurred on the last day of classes for the spring semester, sent six people to the hospital, two of whom were dead upon arrival, and left three others in critical condition. The shooting occurred inside a classroom in the Woodford A. Kennedy Building while students were giving a final presentation. One suspect, Trystan Andrew Terrell, was taken into police custody.

The shooting occurred during the last day of classes for the spring semester, at around 5:40 p.m. local time, according to university officials. Around that time, the suspected gunman entered Room 236 in the Woodford A. Kennedy Building, where students enrolled in "Science, Technology, & Society," a liberal studies course on the anthropology and philosophy of science, were delivering their final group presentations.

List of casualties
Killed:
Ellis Parlier (Midland, North Carolina)
Riley Howell (Waynesville, North Carolina)

Wounded:
Drew Pescaro (Apex, North Carolina)
Rami Al-Ramadhan (Saihat, Saudi Arabia)
Emily Houpt (Charlotte, North Carolina)
Sean DeHart (Apex, North Carolina)