The Name Is Austin: Beware Texas and Maryland

On March 20, 2018, news concentrated on two fronts tied to the name Austin in Texas and Maryland.

The name Austin is an English name. Austin was developed in the Middle Ages from the Latin Augustine, meaning magic dignity, or venerable. 

Austin Bombings Continue: FedEx Certainly, Goodwill Maybe

From March 2 through March 18, 2018, four package explosions have occurred in Austin, Texas, resulting in two deaths. (See details here.)

The earlier deaths of two men named House (March 2) and Mason (March 12) were from families who knew each other, and involved in community organizing.

The location of the Dawn Song Drive explosion was near the home of a Latina activist.

Source.

From the New York Times: "Eliza May said she was watching a TV show in her home when she heard what sounded like a transformer blowing up in her backyard. 'It sounded like when the transformers go out, but it was five times magnified that,' said Ms. May, who lives about 200 feet from where the explosion was said to have occurred."

Bomb #5

On March 20, during the hour after midnight, a package exploded on a conveyor belt at a FedEx shipping center at Schertz, near San Antonio, Texas. One employee was injured. 

Bomb #6

Hours after the San Antonio blast, police sent a bomb squad to a FedEx facility outside Austin's main airport to check on a suspicious package that was reported shortly before sunrise. Authorities roped off a large area around the shopping center in the enclave of Sunset Valley.

The ATF Houston tweeted that the "two packages located at two separate FedEx facilities in Austin/San Antonio are on 3/20/2018 are connected to the four previous package explosions that occurred between 3/2 and 3/18 in Austin, TX."

Device #7

Around 7:00 pm, an incendiary device exploded, injuring one male, at a Goodwill Store in south Austin, on Brodie Lane, near Slaughter. 

The police appear to be downplaying this incident, and some authorities are saying it was unrelated to the previous bombings.

School Shooting

A gunman who opened fire on students at Great Mills High School in Maryland was killed on Tuesday, March 20, 2018, after engaging an armed school resource officer.

The shooter, Austin Wyatt Rollins, 17, was the only fatality. Police said Rollins used a handgun to shoot a 16-year-old female student, who was identified by family members as Jaelynn Willey. She remains in the ICU with life-threatening, critical injuries. A 14-year-old male was also shot by Rollins or the school resource officer, and is in stable condition.

The school's resource officer, Deputy Blaine Gaskill, was alerted of the shooting, immediately responded, and killed Austin Wyatt Rollins.

Great Mills High School is a comprehensive public high school of 1600+ students in grades 9-12. Great Mills High School was founded in 1929, as one of the original high schools in St. Mary's County, Maryland. It serves students at the confluence of the Potomac River, Patuxent River, and Chesapeake Bay. The ethnic population of the school reflects the community: 51% Caucasian, 40% African American, 5% Asian, 4% Hispanic, 1% other. At Great Mills High School, student athletes are known as the Hornets.

h/t SHunter, SMiles, NVoid

UPS Shooter Identified

Just before 9:30 am, on Tuesday, September 23, 2014, a United Parcel Service employee fired on Monday, returned to his place of employment to kill two supervisors and himself. The UPS customer service center and warehouse is at 4601 Inglenook Lane, Inglenook, near Birmingham, Alabama.

After the "active shooter" call was received, officers arrived and entered the building. They soon discovered three dead people inside the business. "It appears it was the shooter still wearing his UPS uniform and two other employees,'' Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper said.

"We are deeply saddened by today's events and offer our condolences to the families and employees impacted by today's tragedy. Chief Roper and the BPD have our full support as we investigate and get answers for all involved," said Birmingham Mayor William Bell (pictured). (More on the Bell syncs of late, see "The Bell Tolls....")

The shooter is a 45-year-old white married father, identified late in the day as Joe Tesney. He is said to be from the Argo area. You may recall, in Greek mythology, the Argo (in Greek: Ἀργώ, meaning "swift") was the ship on which Jason and the Argonauts sailed from Iolcos to retrieve the Golden Fleece. It was named after its builder, Argus. For more about the links found with the name Argo, see "Argo, Aurora, and AARGAU."

This is the second shooting at a delivery company facility this year. In April 2014, a 19-year-old FedEx Corp. package handler opened fire at a ground facility in Kennesaw, Georgia, injuring six people and leaving one in critical condition. The alleged shooter, identified by police as Geddy L. Kramer of Acworth, Georgia, died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. See more at "Rambo-Style Shooter Goes Postal at FedEx," and "Aurora Name Game & FedEx."

Harry Potter, Fenrir, Haskell, and Norse Name Games

FedEx Again

In two recent postings, the FedEx came up as an organizing reality: "Rambo-Style Shooter Goes Postal at FedEx" and "Aurora Name Game & FedEx." In the latter case, several instances of FedEx events were detailed.

In the last week, the FedEx connection and mayhem combined in the news again.

Six people died in a Spring, Texas shooting Wednesday, July 9, 2014, when a gunman opened fire at 711 Leaflet Lane in suburban Houston. Four children were among the victims, who had been tied up and shot in the back of the head.

“It appears this stems from a domestic issue with a breakup in the family from what our witness has told us,” assistant chief deputy constable Mark Herman of the Harris County Precinct 4 constable’s office told reporters.

Haskell "came to this location yesterday afternoon … and came under the guise of a FedEx driver wearing a FedEx shirt,” Hickman said in a news conference. “[He] gathered up the children that were here and awaited the arrival of the parents. Sometime later the victims were shot in this residence, and we now learned that Mr. Haskell was married to a relative [the wife and mother of the children] of this home.”

Haskell, 33, was disguised as a FedEx delivery worker when he went to the suburban Houston home of his ex-wife’s sister, Katie Stay, on Wednesday afternoon, police said. Oldest child Cassidy was home alone and answered the door. She told Haskell her parents weren’t home. He later returned, forcing his way in and tying Cassidy up, police said.

Minutes later, her parents and her four siblings, ages 4 to 13, returned. Haskell allegedly tied them up as well, and demanded to know the whereabouts of his ex-wife, Melannie Lyon. They said they didn’t know, and they were each shot in the back of the head.

Stephen and Katie Stay and four of their young children were found dead from gunshots. The victims included 39-year-old Stephen Robert Stay; his wife, 33-year-old Katie Stay; and their four children: Bryan, 13; Emily, 9; Rebecca, 7; and Zachary, 4. One of the Stay children, 15-year-old Cassidy, survived the rampage with a bullet fracture to the skull by playing dead. She called 911, and told police that the shooter planned to target her grandparents next.

The suspect led law enforcement officers and SWAT team members a car chase late Wednesday. They later cornered the suspect before he surrendered several miles away from the scene of the initial shooting. Ronald Lee Haskell, 33, surrendered after a three-hour standoff.

One resident who lives close to the scene of the crime said he was shocked by the tragedy. “I’ve lived here 20 years. It’s a very quiet neighborhood,” Wesley Carr told the Houston Chronicle.

"It was a Mormon family," one neighbor told Houston Chronicle. "They were very sweet and their kids were very shy. This is a sad, sad day."

Ronald Haskell had previously had domestic violence situations occur between himself and his then wife in Logan, Utah (a Mormon community).

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Harry Potter links

While in the hospital, Cassidy Stay talked about angels she had learned in Sunday school are sent to "protect his children in times of great need," according to her grandfather Roger Lyon.

Cassidy Stay recovered and appeared at a public memorial service for her parents and siblings on Saturday, July 12, 2014. The ceremony occurred outside Lemm Elementary School in Spring, Texas. The 15-year-old lone survivor of the mass shooting quoted Dumbledore, the wise man from the Harry Potter series, in hopes of finding some good amid the horror. "Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times," Cassidy said, citing J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, "if one only remembers to turn on the light."

At the end of the memorial service, Cassidy Stay flashed a hand signal for those who could translate it. The "Hook 'em Horns" is associated, in Texas, with a greeting saying "Good-bye." But in some European cultures, the identical corna gesture, the "Sign of the Horns," is used to suggest Satanic association. In 1985, five Americans were arrested, due to its satanic connotations, after dancing and displaying the gesture in front of the Vatican.

By coincidence, the same day that the media spotlighted Cassidy's quotes from Harry Potter, it was revealed a Harry Potter actor's body had been found earlier in the week, in Death Valley. David "Dave" Legeno (October 12, 1963 – July ?, 2014) was an English actor, boxer, poet, and mixed martial artist (of Muay-Thai). Legeno's first major film role was in Guy Richie's Snatch. Since then he has had roles in Batman Begins (he played a League of Shadows Warrior), Elizabeth: The Golden Age, and Centurion. 

Legeno's body was found by a pair of hikers on July 6, 2014, in Death Valley, California, United States. Due to the remote area, a helicopter was called in to retrieve his remains. It appears Legeno died of heat-related issues and may have been dead for three to four days before his body was discovered. The temperature in Death Valley on July 6, 2014, was 177 degrees. (As Red Dirt Report's AWG reminded me, Legeno's body was found near Zabriskie Point, Death Valley. Zabriskie Point is also the name of a 1970 movie by Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni; its soundtrack features music by British band Pink Floyd and Jerry Garcia.)

Dave Legeno was mostly well-known for having played werewolf Fenrir Greyback in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.

In Norse mythology, Fenrir (Old Norse: "fen-dweller"), Fenrisúlfr (Old Norse: "Fenris wolf"), Hróðvitnir (Old Norse: "fame-wolf"), or Vánagandr (Old Norse: "the monster of the river Ván") is a monstrous wolf. Fenrir is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda and Heimskringla, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. In both the Poetic Edda and Prose Edda, Fenrir is the father of the wolves Sköll and Hati Hróðvitnisson, is a son of Loki, and is foretold to kill the god Odin during the events of Ragnarök, but will in turn be killed by Odin's son Víðarr. In the Prose Edda, additional information is given about Fenrir, including that, due to the gods' knowledge of prophecies foretelling great trouble from Fenrir and his rapid growth, the gods bound him, and as a result Fenrir bit off the right hand of the god Týr. Depictions of Fenrir have been identified on various objects, and scholarly theories have been proposed regarding Fenrir's relation to other canine beings in Norse mythology. Fenrir has been the subject of artistic depictions, and he appears in literature.

Haskell Name Game

Ronald Haskell has been accused of the killings, and was in court last week. He almost passed out, and authorities kept him from falling, eventually using a wheelchair.

Earlier in his life, Haskell appeared to have an ordinary upbringing. He went to high school in Alaska, played on the football team and was even voted prom king and class clown his senior year, according to The Alaska Dispatch.

He was quoted in his yearbook: “Why did they pick me to be class clown? I think it’s because I'm so darn good looking.”

The Anchorage Daily News reported Ronald Lee Haskell Jr. lived in Alaska until 2004. He attended Chugiak High School and was part of a tight-knit Mormon community in Eagle River, about 10 miles north of Anchorage.

Drew Nevitt attended the same Mormon church as Haskell and says Haskell was an older peer he looked up to. Nevitt says Haskell was just “a funny, red-headed, freckled guy with a good personality.”

Nevitt described Ron Haskell as “the Chris Farley of Eagle River.”

Haskell? Haskell? Why does the name sound vaguely familiar. Ah, yes, Edward Clark "Eddie" Haskell (also referred to as Edward W. Haskell) is a fictional character on the Leave It to Beaver television situation comedy, which ran on CBS from October 4, 1957, to 1958 and then on ABC from 1958 to 1963. Eddie Haskell was the smart-mouthed best-friend of Wally Cleaver. The character recognized as an archetype for insincere sycophants. Eddie exhibited a two-faced style, polite to parents and adults, but always up to no good behind their backs—either conniving with his friends or picking on Wally's younger brother, Beaver.

This unusual name Haskell is of Norse origin, dating from the time of the settlement of northern and eastern counties of England by Scandinavian people, mostly during the 8th Century. The modern surname Haskell, which can also be found as Ashkettle, Askel, Axtell, and Astell, among other forms, drives from the Olde Norse personal name Asketill, which is composed of the elements oss or ass, meaning god and ketill, meaning a kettle or sacrificial cauldron, the latter being a common element in Olde Norse names. Arkle or Arkell derive from Arnkell, arn being eagle, with ketill, as above.

In rarer cases, Haskell is a Jewish surname derived from the equivalent of English Ezekiel [Hebrew יְחֶזְקֵאל (God strengthens).]

Spring, Texas, School Stabbing

Spring, Texas, has been a focus of violence before. An event took place at Spring High School, in Spring, Texas, around 7 a.m. on Wednesday, September 4, 2013. Harris County (Texas) Sheriff's Office said one person died after a stabbing in cafeteria at a Spring ISD high school. The incident happened at the high school on Cypresswood at North Freeway. A 17-year-old student was killed, and three other teenage males were injured during a stabbing attack at the school. Luis Alonzo Alfaro, age 17, was charged with murder. Alfaro admitted pulling a knife during the fight and stabbing four people.

This is the Spring High School's patch of their mascot, the lion.

One last sync: Ron Haskell's intended prime target was the former Melannie Kaye Lyon.

H/T to Xenkenito, Robert S., and Steve L.

Aurora Name Game & FedEx

Aurora, again?

The Rambo-style shooting at a FedEx facility in Kennesaw, Georgia, Cobb County, made news on April 29, 2014, leaving one dead and six injured.

That called forth this summary from correspondent Robert Sullivan:

March 21st, a FedEx triple tractor trailer seemingly loses control and crashes. Killing 2 people.
7 days later, March 28th a FedEx employee in Nevada, is fatally shot making deliveries.
13 days later, April 10th a FedEx tractor trailer seemingly loses control and crashes into a bus full of high school seniors, killing 10 people.
19 days later, April 29th 19 year old package handler at FedEx arms himself "like Rambo" and shoots 6 people. Injuring 2 critically.

39 days, 13 deaths, one company, FedEx.

The Christian Science Monitor also noted, when the California bus was hit by the FedEx truck, that...

In mid-February, a FedEx truck making a pick up in Sweetwater, Texas, caught fire. Later that month, a FedEx tractor trailer caught fire and was totally destroyed along I-81 near Roanoke, Virginia. In March, a FedEx truck fire shut down a portion of I-80 near Park City, Utah.

Now comes another one for the FedEx file from RS:

On Wednesday morning, April 30, 2014, two Oklahomans were identified as those killed in a traffic accident that involved a FedEx semi-trailer truck (pictured at top) a mile west of Greensburg.

Aurora Diane Balch, 35, and Donald Anthony Barrs, 27, both of Weatherford, Oklahoma, were killed in an accident shortly after 3:30 a.m. at the intersection of U.S. 54 and U.S. 183 in Kiowa County, according to a Kansas Highway Patrol report.

Balch was driving a 2006 Chrysler north on U.S. 183 when she failed to yield the right of way at the intersection. There is a sign at that location that requires U.S. 183 traffic to stop.

The westbound semi struck the Chrysler on the passenger side, where Barrs was sitting. The impact sent both vehicles in a ditch north of U.S. 54.

The semi was operated by FedEx, a highway patrol dispatcher said. The FedEx driver, Anibal Ruiz-Figueroa, 58, of Stratford, Texas, had "possible injuries."

Please note that the driver killed was yet another Aurora. I have written extensively about the moniker Aurora, see, for example, another 2014 incident and from 2012, "Understanding Aurora." The Aurora twilight name game has been on many of our minds since The Dark Knight Rises killings at Aurora, Colorado.

Kiowa County was named after the group of individuals who used the name as a self-referencing term Ka'igwu, meaning "Principal People." Another explanation of their name "Kiowa" originated after their migration through what the Kiowa refer to as "The Mountains of the Kiowa" (Kaui-kope) in the present eastern edge of Glacier National Park, Montana. In Oklahoma, in 1892, the Jerome Commission began enrolling the Kiowas, Comanches and Apaches to prepare for the opening of their reservation to settlement by whites. Kiowa County was formed in 1907. The name shows up, in good twilight lexilinking fashion, via Kiowa Gordon, an actor in three of The Twilight Saga movies.

The City of Aurora, Colorado, is in Arapahoe County, and the suspect, James Holmes, was held in the Arapahoe County detention center.

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FedEx trucks and planes are involved in several relatively 

underpublicized crashes, of course.

This FedEx semi truck caught fire after a crash August 29, 2012, in Aurora, Indiana. The crash occurred just after 11 a.m. in front of the Taco Bell on U.S. 50. The Taco Bell was briefly evacuated while crews put out the semi truck fire. (This is not the first time we've seen this combination of names. See "La Belle Aurore: Casablanca & Looper.")

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On Tuesday, May 6, 2014, a FedEx employee riding a golf cart in the FedEx facility at Shawnee, Kansas, died when he fell off the cart.

Tuesday's accident is the third fatal incident at this same FedEx Ground sorting facility since March 2013. Links to previous reports can be found below.

March 23, 2013 - Tractor trailer kills FedEx security guard in Shawnee
Nov. 20, 2013 - FedEx employee killed after being pinned between loading dock and trailer

Rambo-Style Shooter Goes Postal at FedEx

The name Kennesaw is derived from the Cherokee Indian word gah-nee-sah meaning cemetery or burial ground. The name hit home on April 29, 2014.

At least six victims have been taken to a hospital after a shooting this morning at a FedEx facility in Kennesaw, Georgia, Cobb County police say. The shooting happened at a Fed-Ex facility at 1675 Airport Road in Kennesaw.

Multiple law enforcement agencies are on the scene of the suspected workplace shooting.

Officials from WellStar Kennestone Hospital say they've received six patients from the shooting, hospital spokesman Tyler Pearson said. One of the six was in surgery, he said. Injuries range from minor to serious. Kennestone is a Level II Trauma Center.

A witness stated the FedEx 19-year-old shooter, dressed all in black, had an assault rifle, a knife and bullets strapped across his chest, "like Rambo."

Rambo is a film series based on the David Morrell novel First Blood and starring Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, a troubled Vietnam War veteran and former Green Beret who is skilled in many aspects of survival, weaponry, hand to hand combat and guerrilla warfare. The series consists of the films First Blood (1982), Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Rambo III (1988), and Rambo (2008).

FedEx is "aware of the situation," company spokesman Scott Fielder said when asked about reports of a shooting.

Officials say the lone suspected gunman was found dead, likely from a self-inflicted gun shot wound. The gunman is described as a "package handler," an employee of the facility.

The gunman has been identified as Geddy Kramer. Kramer was a 2013 graduate of North Cobb High School.
Kennesaw is about 30 miles northwest of Atlanta.

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On Friday, March 28, 2014, a FedEx employee, a 48-year-old female, making deliveries was shot and wounded in Chicago. The company confirmed the victim is an employee. Police say the Friday night shooting occurred in the Oakland neighborhood on the city's South Side.

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While "going postal," as a phrase, has come into usage, due to the workplace violence incidents at the United States Postal Services, there appears to be more silence regarding any kind of similar phenomenon occurring at FedEx centers and workplaces. Before this one.

But buried deep in workplace violence documents, there are hints of a greater problem.

The following incident of April 7, 1994, is mentioned in a workplace violence white paper:
"A Federal Express pilot took a claw hammer and attacked three others in the cockpit, forcing one of them to put the fully loaded DC-10 cargo plane through a series of violent rolls and nose dive that brought the whole crew back bleeding....The case of Auburn R. Calloway, on the other hand, who attacked three of his fellow Federal Express pilots, was unpredictable. Calloway had organized his Neighborhood Watch Program and was an ex-Navy pilot. However, he was scheduled to appear the next day before a disciplinary hearing at Federal Express to face charges that he had lied about his military and work experience."

The official FedEx employee manual states:

WORKPLACE VIOLENCE

FedEx has zero tolerance for workplace violence and has established clear standards of behavior in our policies. Conflicts must always be resolved in a peaceful, professional and respectful manner. The FedEx Workplace Violence Prevention Program helps to provide team members and vendors with a safe and secure work environment. Our mission is to increase awareness of developing situations and other indicators of workplace violence. Unauthorized firearms or weapons are strictly prohibited on company-leased or -owned property and in buildings, aircraft or vehicles. Possession of firearms or weapons on company property may be grounds for immediate dismissal.

All FedEx employees are responsible for reporting potential or actual situations of workplace violence either through a special web-based reporting system, contacting a member of FedEx Management, Security or Human Resources, or calling the FedEx Alert Line in their respective countries.

All reported instances of workplace violence are investigated by a Workplace Violence Response Team, which is a group established to help maintain a safe and secure workplace. The team is made up of members from the following areas: Security, Legal, Human Resources, Benefits, Safety, Contract Relations and the Employee Assistance Program. When the Response Team receives a report of potential workplace violence, they properly investigate and make a recommendation of action to be taken.