Florence Attack by Author of The Key of Chaos

Leige, Belgium, was shaken by a seemingly random lone individual's attack on the city. Something similar happened in Florence, Italy, on the same day.

Photos from Leige (above) and Florence (below) looked eerily similar on 13 December 2011 (13.12.11). 

The killer in Italy was a right-wing author who published a newsletter for fans of J. R. R. Tolkien.

An Italian far-right author shot dead two Senegalese vendors and wounded three in Florence on Tuesday (13 Dec. 2011) before killing himself in a daylight shooting spree that prompted outpourings of grief in the historic city.

Witnesses said they saw the gunman calmly getting out of a car at a street market on Piazza Dalmazia, north of the city centre, and firing off three shots that instantly killed two vendors and seriously wounded a third.

The white assailant was identified by authorities as 50-year-old Gianluca Casseri. 

The International Business Times ran this profile of Casseri:

Expert of right-wing European culture and passionate about fantasy and conspiracy books, the middle-aged man published many articles on the Germanic folklore, before founding literary magazine La Soglia or The Threshold in 2001. Issues included monographic volumes about Conan, Dracula, Tolkien, Lovecraft and other fantasy authors.
His favourite authors were Ezra Pound, Friedrich Nietzsche and Julius Evola. In 2010 he wrote along with Enrico Rulli Le chiavi del caos or The Key of Chaos, described as "a kind of alchemical play in the magic Prague of Emperor Rudolf II".
Initial reports suggest that he belonged to Casa Pound movement.
Named after the American Fascist poet Ezra Pound, Casa Pound is a neo-fascist movement born in Rome in 2003, when it squatted a state-owned building in the central neighbourhood of Esquilino. It soon developed as a national organisation and then proceeded to branch out into numerous cities in the country.

After Casseri's initial attack, he moved on to the San Lorenzo market in the centre -- a popular destination for the thousands of tourists who visit Florence every day -- where he wounded two more vendors.

Casseri then turned the gun -- a Magnum Smith & Wesson revolver according to news reports -- on himself after he was surrounded by police.

Around 200 Senegalese marched through the city in an angry protest after the shootings, shouting "Shame!" and "Racists!"

Hundreds of immigrants were later seen praying on their knees in tears in front of Florence's famous cathedral.

"The heart of Florence is crying today," Florence Mayor Matteo Renzi said in a Twitter message, declaring the city would hold a day of mourning Wednesday and would pay to repatriate the bodies to Senegal.

"I think the pain for the lives that have been cut short is not only for the Senegalese community but for all the citizens of our city," Renzi said.

International Cooperation and Integration Minister Andrea Riccardi and a Senegalese imam will attend a ceremony at Florence city hall on Wednesday.

"The Senegalese are good people, people who never get into trouble, who work every day," one Senegalese man told news channel SkyTG24.

Another man said: "These lads who were killed were only earning money for their wives, their fathers, their children."

Roccangelo Tritto, a spokesman for local Carabinieri police, told AFP that the man wounded at Piazza Dalmazia would live but remain paralysed for life.

The other two men were also in a serious condition -- one with a wound to the abdomen and another shot in the chest.

Casseri was the author of fantasy novels including "The Key of Chaos" about a wizard, a mathematician and an alchemist, which enjoyed some popularity.

He also wrote an academic paper about Dracula folklore and was the editor of a niche magazine about fantasy and horror fiction and comics.

Casseri lived on his own in the Tuscan countryside near Pistoia.

He was also a member of Casa Pound, a right-wing community group that is seen as more intellectual than other far-right organisations.

"He was a bit strange, a bit of a loner but he didn't seem crazy. He was living in his own world," said Fabio Barsanti, a regional coordinator for Casa Pound.

"He didn't seem capable of doing something like this," he said, adding: "We are against any type of violence. We consider the Senegalese humans like us."

Barsanti said Casseri was known locally mostly as a World War I buff.

While Casa Pound distanced itself from Casseri's actions, left-wingers were quick to pin the blame on a climate of racism in the country.

Walter Veltroni, a lawmaker from the centre-left Democratic Party, said the shootings were "a terrorist attack by a right-wing extremist."

"What happened in Florence is the product of a climate of intolerance against foreigners that has grown over the years," he said.

Nichi Vendola, leader of the Left, Ecology and Liberty party, condemned what he said was "a racist and fascist Italy that sows hatred."

At the scene of the first shooting in Piazza Dalmazia, eyewitnesses quoted by Italian media said they were in shock and a newspaper seller said the gunman told him: "Get out of the way or I'll bump you off next."

"I heard the shots but I thought they were fireworks. Then I turned around and I saw three men on the ground in a pool of blood," one vendor said.

Another man said: "There are often Senegalese guys here who sell the usual stuff, they don't bother anyone and no one was expecting this."

African vendors can be seen on the streets of Italy's main cities selling sculptures, trinkets and fake designer handbags. They are often selling their wares illegally but are popular with tourists and local residents.

Last summer in Norway, a Norwegian man apparently motivated by a hatred of immigrants went on a bomb and shooting spree that killed 77 people.

Leige Attack: 4 Dead, 123 Hurt

Number of people injured in Liege, a city situated in the Meuse River valley, due to today's attack, now stands at 123 - AP Belgian prosecutor says death toll in Liege attack is now 4, including 2 teenagers - AP A gunman has opened fire in the centre of the Belgian city of Liege, killing at least four people and wounding 123. The man also threw grenades into a crowded square from a rooftop before killing himself, reports say. He was named as Nordine Amrani, aged 33. He was known to police for firearms offences. Officials said the attacker acted alone, ruling out terrorism. Medical sources later said two other injured, including a baby girl, had died. This has not been confirmed. The central square in front of the Palais de Justice remains cordoned off this evening. The Christmas market is dark and empty, but it was very different this lunchtime. Scores were enjoying a festive shopping experience when the man now named as Nordine Amrani began shooting and throwing explosives. People began running, screaming, children amongst them. While the 33-year-old attacker was known to the police, having previously faced drug and weapons charges, officers say they currently don't know why he carried out this terrible act. Amrani was jailed for 58 months in September 2008 for possessing firearms and drugs, media reports said. Officials did not confirm this, but said they were aware he had spent some time in prison. Belgian Prime Minister Elio di Rupo, visiting the scene, described the attack as "horrible". "There are no words to describe this tragedy," he said. "We think first and foremost of the innocent victims, their family and friends. We also think of all the people working at the scene and more generally of the people of Liege. "The whole country shares the pain of the families affected. We share the shock of the population." Belgium's King Albert and Queen Paola also came to pay their respects. Amrani had been asked to come for an interview at a police station in connection with charges against him. A resident of Liege, he left home with a rifle, a pistol and three grenades in a bag, prosecutors said. Greg Ienco, a journalist at local newspaper La Meuse-Liege, described the scene of the attack. "We saw four explosions. I was in a building 200m from Saint-Lambert Square," he said. "It was quite incredible. We saw one man on the roof who tried to kill people. This man killed himself with a grenade." Two of the people confirmed dead were boys aged 15 and 17, the third a 75-year-old woman. TV images showed blood splattered across the cobblestones of the square. Several people are reported to be in a serious condition. Medical staff at a field hospital at the scene treated 52 of the injured. Some others made their own way to other hospitals. Roads into the centre of Liege were sealed off but vehicles are now coming back into the city. Explosives experts were called in to search the area for unexploded grenades. People were initially told to stay in buildings but are now returning to the streets. Place Saint-Lambert is a busy intersection, served by hundreds of buses daily. It hosts an annual Christmas market which attracts some 1.5 million visitors a year. "Le Quinze Août" celebration takes place annually on August 15 in Outremeuse and celebrates the Virgin Mary. It is one of the biggest folkloric displays in the city, with a religious procession, a flea market, dances, concerts, and a series of popular games. Nowadays these celebrations start a few days earlier and last until the 16th. Some citizens open their doors to party goers, and serve "peket", the traditional local alcohol. This tradition is linked to the important folkloric character Tchantchès (Walloon for François), a hard-headed but resourceful Walloon boy who lived during Charlemagne's times. Tchantchès is remembered with a statue, a museum, and a number of puppets found all over the city. Liège hosts one of the oldest and biggest Christmas Markets in Belgium. The Saint Nicholas festival around the 6 December is organized by and for the students of the University; for 24 hours, the students (wearing very dirty lab-coats) are allowed to beg for money for drinking.

Ritual America

The end of the year is a good time to look ahead to forthcoming books.  Three new 2012 books noted here have "forewords" by me.

For this blog specifically, I would like to mention a fourth book. This one is due on Valentine's Day 2012, and is a "twilight language" offering with a "foreword" in line with much of what you have read on these pages.

That new book is entitled Ritual America: Secret Brotherhoods and Their Influence on American Society: A Visual Guide by Adam Parfrey and Craig Heimbichner (Feral House, 2012).

VA Tech's Garuda Again?

This was the week of a powerful lunar eclipse on December 10, 2011 (beginning at 6:06 am PST) followed by the deadly Mexico City to Acapulco 6.5-6.7 earthquake, which struck almost exactly twelve hours after the eclipse. Added to those events, the previous week's wave of WV, CA, MA, FL and other multiple shootings, plus the NH mall attack, and one has a general uneasy sense that it was, indeed, a weird and stressful time. 

Now in the midst of all of this, the links to Garuda and VA Tech present themselves again into our consciousness. Let's take a quick connect-the-dots detour around this landscape.

An Indonesian student activist died late Saturday (December 10, 2011) after setting himself ablaze in a political protest, according to news sources: "Police say an Indonesian student activist has died after setting himself on fire in front of the presidential palace. Sondang Hutagalung, 22, set himself ablaze across from the palace in downtown Jakarta….The activist was last seen joining a Sept. 7 protest demanding justice for Munir Thalib, a prominent activist who died in 2004 of arsenic poisoning during a flight with national carrier Garuda."

National carrier Garuda?

How was Munir Thalib assassinated?

"Munir was poisoned with arsenic on a flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam on September 7, 2004. He was travelling on state-owned airline Garuda Indonesia. It was concluded from Munir's autopsy and eye witnesses during the trial, that he had died two hours before arrival in Schiphol, Amsterdam. He took the arsenic during his flight transit in Singapore, or sometime near that time." Source.

Garuda Indonesia? 

"PT Garuda Indonesia..., publicly known as Garuda Indonesia, is the flag carrier of Indonesia. It is named after the mystical giant bird Garuda of Hinduism and Buddhist mythology." Source.

Garuda?

"The Garuda (Sanskrit/Javanese/Balinese/Indonesian: गरुड garuḍa, 'eagle'; Pāli garuḷa; Tamil: கருடன் karutan; Thai/Lao: ครุฑ khrut; Malay: geroda; Mongolian: гарьд garid) is a large mythical bird or bird-like creature that appears in both Hindu and Buddhist mythology." Source.

I have previously discussed the overlap between this airline, a tragic crash (on March 7, 2007), Garuda, and Mothman here. 

Following the Garuda Airlines crash, less than a month later, the April 16, 2007 massacre at VA Tech, which left 33 dead, occurred. As the events of that day unfolded, I was struck to learn that in local lore at VA Tech, the school's mascot, the Hokie Bird is referred to as "Blacksburg's own Garuda." I wrote of my thoughts about that strange coincidence in "VA Tech's Garuda."

VA Tech seemed to be a pivotal touchstone to notice when the world seemed to have gone a little haywire. It will be recalled that on Wednesday, January 21, 2009, police reported a woman was beheaded on the Virginia Tech campus, when she was decapitated while calmly eating. Xin Yang, 22, was killed only a couple weeks after arriving at the campus from Beijing on January 8 to begin studying accounting, Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said.

Now again, the VA Tech's Garuda has appeared, above, in news articles about a new tragedy. On December 8, 2011 (the anniversary date of John Lennon's assassination), "Ross Truett Ashley, a 22-year-old part-time business student at Radford University, about 10 miles from the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg" went to VA Tech, "walked up to officer Deriek W. Crouse (39) after noon and shot him to death as the patrolman sat in his unmarked cruiser during a traffic stop. Ashley was not involved in the stop and did not know the driver, who is cooperating with police, they said. Authorities said Ashley then took off for the campus greenhouses, ditching his pullover, wool cap and backpack as police quickly sent out a campus-wide alert that a gunman was on the loose. Officials said the alert system put in place after the nation's worst mass slaying in recent memory worked well, but it nevertheless rattled a community still coping with the day a student gunman killed 32 people and then himself. A deputy sheriff on patrol noticed a man acting suspiciously in a parking lot about a half-mile from the shooting. The deputy drove up and down the rows of the sprawling Cage parking lot and lost sight of the man for a moment, then found Ashley shot to death on the pavement, a handgun nearby." Sources 1 & 2.

I must remind my readers, John A. Keel’s The Mothman Prophecies was initially to be entitled The Year of the Garuda. Keel preserved some notion of what he was feeling with his subtitle, An Investigation into the Mysterious American Visits of the Infamous Feathery Garuda.

The disaster that ends Keel's book is the collapse of the Silver Bridge, which spanned the Ohio River, between Kanauga, Ohio, and Point Pleasant, West Virginia. That event took 46 lives, occurring 45 years ago, on December 15, 1966.

Does Sandusky Have Links To Hellfire Groups?

If you live under a rock or are outside the influence of American media manias, you may not be aware of the fact that there is a major sexual abuse/molestation scandal involving Penn State.

The details of the scandal incidents are horrific. The Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal involves allegations made in 2011 against former Pennsylvania State University football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky and allegations of a university cover-up of those incidents. Sandusky, a longtime defensive coordinator under head coach Joe Paterno, retired in 1999 but retained access to Penn State's athletic facilities. 

A 2011 grand jury investigation and other accounts have reported that Mike McQueary, then a graduate assistant, who found Sandusky raping a young male, stopped the interaction, allegedly talked to the police (via Penn State V.P. Gary Schultz, who oversaw the PSU police department) and told Paterno in 2002.

What McQueary said he reported to Paterno is that he had seen Sandusky performing a sex act on a 10-year-old boy in Penn State football's shower facilities. Paterno then reported the allegations to Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and Schultz was informed.  Reportedly, Curley and Schultz (both indicted for perjury) interviewed McQueary. 

In November 2011, Sandusky was arrested on 40 counts of molesting eight young boys over a 15-year period. (See 23-page transcript here; warning, the contents are graphic.)

These alleged sexual assaults may date back to, at least, 1995, see here, but could they really have begun in the late 1970s, when Jerry Sandusky created his Second Mile charity, which has allegedly been the recruiting grounds for his alleged youthful victims?

Is anyone trying to connect all the dots in the Penn State sex scandal?

The time has come to inquiry more deeply than some wish to go. 

Why are so few people talking about the questions surrounding the victims?

How many have vanished? How many have died by suicide? Been murdered? Are in prison?

Are all of Sandusky's alleged victims African Americans? Why is it only a few people (see here) in the African American community the only ones talking about Sandusky's alleged fetish for "black boys"? Was his choice of black young males because of Jerry Sandusky's sexual preferences or something more sinister?  Was part of Sandusky's possible master plan to keep his alleged sexual assaults as quiet as possible, by taking advantage of the underlying racial, power, and macho issues?

Eight victims are noted in the Grand Jury report. How many more are there? Ten, twenty, or the estimated average of 260, noted by professionals as the number per molester?

What happened to Ray Gricar (above) ~ murder, suicide, or a not-so-simple disappearance? And why? District Attorney Ray Gricar, 59, went missing on April 15, 2005, when he vanished under mysterious circumstances, after his car was left in a Lewisburg parking lot, not far from the Susquehanna River, and he could not be found. Did he kill himself, as his brother seems to have, by drowning, in May 1996? 


Cigarette ash and the smell of cigarette was found in Ray Gricar's red and white 2004 Mini Cooper, although he did not smoke and did not let anyone in his car who smoked. Who was in his car before he disappeared? Was he pressured to not charge Jerry Sandusky with sexual molestation when Gricar investigated the 1998 incidents? Could Gricar not live with himself about this? Or worse?


Did Gricar, who set up the sting against Sandusky, learn of a group of men who are rumored to have partaken of Jerry Sandusky's alleged pimping of African African youth for their sexual "Hellfire Club-like" pleasures?

Why, really, did Joe Paterno (right) force Jerry Sandusky (left) to retire in 1999, after the first hints of the sexual abuse was revealed to police in 1998? Why would no one hire Sandusky elsewhere?


With what kind of people does Jerry Sandusky surround himself? How about someone like Sandusky's lawyer who made a past major questionable judgement about sexual boundaries?

Joe Amendola (above), Jerry Sandusky’s attorney, impregnated a 16-year-old client and married her in 2003. They separated later. Amendola was around 49 when he met the girl. During the Bob Costa's interview, Amendola said he would leave his children with Sandusky. The children's mother was horrified to hear this.

What will further investigations of the Sandusky scandal discover about any links to the alleged nationwide groups of pedophiles using code words like "the hook" and "Peter Pan" (see here)? How far does the coverup reach?

+++

The New York Times posted an article ("Inquiry Grew Into Concerns of a Cover-Up" by Jo Becker) for their November 17, 2011 print edition, which has new information of some import. Here are some intriguing points.

The article appears to disagree with the probable African American profile of the rape victims. Becker writes: "Sandusky engaged in what experts on child predators call 'grooming' behavior, law enforcement officials asserted this month, making his first approach when children were 8 to 12 years old. He tended to choose white boys from homes where there was no father or some difficulty in the family, investigators said, and he drew them in with trips to games and expensive gifts like computers."


But did Sandusky publicly appear with "white boys" and yet allegedly have anal intercourse with "black boys"?


A lingering question remains, what caused Joe Paterno to hasten the 1999 exit of Jerry Sandusky from the Penn State football program by telling him in 1998 that he, Sandusky, was not to be the Nittany Lions' heir apparent? It does not take a genius to figure this one out. Anyone who has worked in an academic setting knows that information moves through the university halls quickly. Wasn't Paterno just possibly trying to save himself from a future problem by showing Sandusky the door, after it became clear that Sandusky's certain kind of likings were coming out in the open?


So, what happened in 1998? The record is clear, and Becker retraces this, with new details about how big the university investigation was and how large the file literally is.


Becker writes: "In 1998, an 11-year-old boy, now known as Victim 6, had come home with wet hair and told his mother he had showered with Sandusky at Penn State’s athletic complex. She immediately reported it to the university police, the grand jury report said.

"As investigators leafed through the old report — it ran close to 100 pages — they came to believe that the campus police officers had truly wanted to make a case against Sandusky, according to people with knowledge of the current investigation. The officers had gone so far as to set up a sting operation in which the boy’s mother called the coach, and, with the police listening in, confronted Sandusky.

"According to the grand jury report, he admitted to showering with her son and another boy, said he did not think that his private parts had touched her son, but acknowledged that what he did was wrong. 'I wish I were dead,' he said, according to the grand jury’s findings.

"Ultimately, the district attorney decided against taking the case to trial..."


Why? We already know that the recent judge who granted Sandusky bail was a volunteer and donator to the Sandusky's Second Mile charity. What other connections exist in this case?


Becker notes: "The district attorney in Centre County, where Sandusky was alleged to have molested the boy [Victim 1], passed the case on to the attorney general. The district attorney, Michael Madeira, said Wednesday [November 16, 2011] that his wife’s biological brother had been adopted by Sandusky years before."

Flash from the Past: Centre County District Attorney Michael Madeira (right) and Bellefonte police Chief Shawn Weaver address the media about missing Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar. Madeira said investigators would take a fresh look at the case, but "I think the family has understood that this may never be solved. ... He may be alive. He may be dead." Barry L. Reeger/Tribune-Review

Are the foxes guarding the hen house?

Who actually knew what when and how many of this drama's players are linked into the Second Mile charity? And what was going on over there?

Why has it been difficult to identify the Second Mile-recruited victims? Well, because records have been made to disappear.


Becker discovered that "investigators served numerous subpoenas on the Second Mile, according to people with knowledge of the inquiry. Not only did they want the names of children who had been through the program, they also demanded all of Sandusky’s travel and expense records.

"Much of the older paperwork was stored at an off-site records facility. The travel and expense records, for instance, had been sent over several years earlier. But select members of the charity’s board of directors were alarmed to learn recently that when the records facility went to retrieve them, some of those records — from about 2000 to 2003 — were missing."


An old boy network, missing records, and a coverup. What else is being hidden?

Pascagoula Creature Abductee Dies

Charles E Hickson Sr (left above), one of two men who reported they were abducted from the banks of Mississippi's Pascagoula River by aliens in 1973, has died at the age of 80. Mr Hickson died on Friday, September 9, 2011, in Ocean Springs, officials with O'Bryant-O'Keefe Funeral Home in Gautier said. He spent nearly 40 years reliving the reported encounter. He also co-wrote a book, UFO Contact at Pascagoula. On October 11, 1973, Mr Hickson and Calvin Parker were fishing on the Pascagoula River. What seemed to be the beginning of a peaceful night turned to chaos when the pair said they suddenly found themselves in a close encounter with an alien craft and its occupants. Mr Hickson, then 42, and Mr Parker, then 19, did not want their account publicised, but a reported leak to the newspaper made publicity inevitable. After reporting their account to the sheriff's office, Mr Hickson and Mr Parker both passed lie detector tests and were even questioned under hypnosis. Investigators are on record saying the pair's story never wavered. Mr Hickson said in a 2008 interview with WLOX-TV: 'I am not trying to force anybody to believe anything. I just simply tell them what happened to Calvin and me, and they make up their own minds if they want to believe it or not.' Mr Parker, who was last reported living in Louisiana, has declined to discuss the matter. According to Mr Hickson's account, two of the creatures from the ship seized him and another grabbed Mr Parker, who fainted. He said the aliens held them for about 20-30 minutes. 'Something came out of that wall, like a big eye. It came up in front of me, it went under me, and it came back up my back side. The next time I saw it, it came over my head in front of me. They turned me around and carried me right back out where they pick me up.' Then, Mr Hickson said, within the blink of an eye, it was all over. He said the UFO was gone, and the men were left wondering what had happened. A native of Jones County, Mr Hickson served in the Army during the Korean War. He is survived by two sons, three daughters, a brother and a sister; and 10 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren. A graveside service will be held on Thursday at 1pm at McGill Cemetery in Sandersville. Source. Pascagoula is a major industrial city of Mississippi, along the Gulf Coast. Prior to World War II, the town was a sleepy fishing village of only about 5,000. The population exploded with the war-driven shipbuilding industry. Although the city's population seemed to peak in the late 1970s and early 1980s as Cold War defense spending was at its height, Pascagoula experienced some new growth and development in the years beforeHurricane Katrina. Today, Pascagoula is home to the state’s largest employer, Ingalls Shipbuilding, owned by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems. Other major industries include one of the largest Chevron refineries in the country; Signal International, an oil platform builder; and Mississippi Phosphates. The Pascagoula, Mississippi, Incident Hickson/Parker Abduction October 11, 1973 Charles Hickson (42) Calvin Parker (19) Case Preliminary: Witnesses were fishing after dark off a pier in an abandoned shipyard. Heard or happened to turn and detect something behind them. Initial activities: Beings floated toward them from a hovering craft, grabbed Hickson by his arms causing pain in left shoulder and immobilizing him. Another being grabbed Parker by the arm and he lost consciousness. Hickson recalled being lifted off the ground and floated with the beings into the craft. He saw Parker go limp. Air Force sketch depicts the alien being as Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker described it.Craft/Beings: Domed oval object descended, hovered just off the ground emitting a buzzing noise. A door opened revealing a brightly lighted interior. Three robot-like beings just over 5 ft. (1.5 m) tall emerged and floated toward them. They had no visible neck, slit mouth, pointed nose, and ears. Eyes not prominent, maybe slits. Rough gray skin, mummy-like appearance. Unusually long arms with clawlike hands. Feet were elephant-like. Onboard features: Interior was brilliantly lighted. No furniture seen, only a screenlike device on the wall. Hickson seemed to hang suspended in the air at an angle of 45 degrees as an eyelike device appeared out of the wall. In a state of shock, Charles Hickson does not attempt to resist the silvery-looking creatures who lead him into the examination room of their craft.Onboard activities: The device circled Hickson, first moving down his front, then up his back and over his head, stopping in front of his face. The beings moved in a stiff, mechanical way as if robots, but worked quickly and efficiently. One made a buzzing sound. When they were through they disappeared for a while. Communication: Hickson "heard" a message in his mind that the beings were peaceful. Termination/Return: The beings returned and grasped Hickson again, floating him through the opening in the craft and back to the pier. His legs collapsed when he touched the ground. Parker was standing rigidly with a look of terror on his face. Hickson shook Parker and they watched the craft and blue light shoot straight up emitting a whistling sound and quickly disappear Aftermath: Next day Hickson suffered bleeding from his left arm where the being had grasped him, and later he had nightmares. Parker suffered a nervous breakdown, Over the past 20 years Hickson has had an obsession about the encounter and its meaning, leading him to attend UFO conferences as a speaker and observer. He has reported follow-up communications and encounters. Source: Volume II, The UFO Evidence, A Thirty Year Report, Richard H. Hall, Page 534-535. Source: NICAP.

Arkansas Shooting

According to Van Buren Police a lone shooter entered the Crawford County Courthouse in Van Buren, Arkansas, around 4:00 pm.  Police say the suspect then shot a secretary who witnesses have identified as Vicki Jones.

The shooter was shot and injured by Van Buren Police.  Both have been transported to the hospital for their injuries.  A Van Buren police officer was also injured by flying glass as police exchanged gunfire with the shooter.  Van Buren Police are currently not releasing the name of the suspect.

Lt. Brent Grill with the Van Buren Police Department said police were called to a disturbance at the courthouse, and one person was possibly shot inside. A gun battle involving the suspect, VBPD and the Crawford County Sheriff’s Department then ensued outside the courthouse, Grill said.

Sebastian County deputies are at a local hospital guarding the suspect, who is undergoing surgery, Sebastian County Sheriff Bill Hollenbeck said.

Elaine Stanfield, administrative assistant to County Judge John Hall, said she first heard the shots at 3:30 p.m.

“I heard girls screaming upstairs; this all started upstairs,” said Stanfield, whose office is on the first floor of the courthouse. “I pushed the panic button — everyone has panic button under their desk that goes to sheriff’s office — and I picked up the phone and dialed 911.”

The suspect shot off multiple rounds while moving, Grill said, striking a nearby Van Buren police cruiser. Veteran Van Buren police officer Dave Passen received minor injuries from glass, Grill said.

Stanfield says she saw the suspect, a “heavyset man between 35-40 years of age” who was wearing a long duster style coat. Stanfield was still on the phone with 911 and heard a dispatcher say “our guys are being fired at,” then heard the shooting stop.

“This has changed our lives,” Stanfield said.

Fort Smith police Capt. Jarrard Copeland said a call about the shooting came through dispatch at 3:44 p.m.; 20 to 30 officers from Fort Smith were dispatched to the scene.

Hollenbeck said security at courthouses in Fort Smith and Greenwood has been increased as a precautionary measure until law enforcement officials can confirm no one else is involved in the courthouse shooting in Crawford County.

County Judge John Hall says the courthouse will be closed Wednesday but will try to open Thursday morning.

“We’re probably looking at getting security guards,” Hall said. “We have six entrances at the courthouse. Yes, there is going to be a change in security. The days to free access to the oldest courthouse west of the Mississippi is over.”

Crawford County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 61,948. The county seat is Van Buren. Crawford County was formed on October 18, 1820, and named for William H. Crawford who was United States Secretary of War in 1815.

Thousands of self-claimed "Western Band of Cherokee" (or Arkansas Cherokees) fought for state and federal recognition as a political entity of Native Americans. Crawford County was historically part of the Cherokee Nation, which lost its tribal sovereignty status as a result of the U.S. Civil war in the 1860s. The Cherokee Nation was subsequently relocated to the west in the present-day state of Oklahoma.

The area was settled by David Boyd and Thomas Martin in the year 1818. After Arkansas became a territory in 1819 Daniel and Thomas Phillips constructed a lumber yard in the community to serve as a fuel depot for river traffic. In the year 1831 a post office was constructed for the community, at the time known as Phillips Landing. This post office was named after the newly appointed Secretary of State, Martin Van Buren. The city of Van Buren is a result of that legacy.