A gunman, Randall Hofland, 55, who had been on the lam for a week held 11 fifth-graders hostage at a Stockton Springs, Maine, elementary school on Friday, Halloween, October 31, 2008. He was tackled outside a classroom without any harm to the children, police said.
Hofland had released all the students and had turned over a loaded gun to one of the young hostages before he was arrested at the Stockton Springs Elementary School, authorities said. The school in the small coastal town of Stockton Springs has about 80 students.
He was taken to jail and all of the school's pupils were taken by bus to an elementary school in neighboring Searsport.
"These children are very brave. They did a tremendous job," Gov. John Baldacci said.
The gunman walked into a fifth-grade classroom in the small coastal town (in Waldo County) around the start of the day. State police were called at 8:42 a.m. and Hofland was arrested about 20 minutes later after he was tackled by a state trooper.
Hofland was the object of a manhunt that began on the night of Oct. 23 after he allegedly pointed a gun at a police officer who stopped him during a seat belt safety check in Searsport. Hofland drove off, eventually abandoning his car in a field.
A two-mile stretch of U.S. 1 was closed to traffic for a time during the search, which involved more than three dozen police officers, including the state police tactical team. Schools in School Administrative District 56, including Stockton Springs Elementary School, were closed for the day after Hofland fled, out of concern for students' safety.
Hofland was charged Friday with criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon in the Oct. 23 traffic stop. Police and prosecutors were meeting to discuss charges related to the hostage situation.
Baldacci praised school and police for their fast response on Friday. He said the school secretary called a "code blue" and then dialed 911. After being locked down on Oct. 24, the day after the traffic stop, the schools have been in a state of heightened security.
Details of the school's emergency plan weren't immediately available, but district school Superintendent Raymond Freve said they included a code broadcast on the intercom to advise teachers there was a serious situation and classrooms had to be locked down.
"Everyone was calm. They did what they were supposed to do. The bottom line: Nobody got hurt," Freve said.
The Maine Department of Education began requiring schools to enlist local police, fire and emergency preparedness officials in creating emergency response plans in 2002.
The school district has scheduled counseling sessions for students and meetings with parents Saturday.
Hofland had lived in the area for about seven years, most recently in a trailer off a dirt road, Searsport Police Chief Dick LaHaye said.
LaHaye said he was aware of reports that Hofland may have posted comments on an Internet message board questioning whether police had the right to stop motorists at roadblocks.
Hofland once appealed a parking ticket he received in Concord, N.H., to the Supreme Court of New Hampshire. He claimed his constitutional rights were violated because the city didn't have signs that provided notice of a city ordinance prohibiting parking on city streets for more than 30 minutes between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. The court rejected his appeal.
This location, Stockton Springs, Maine, is not to be confused with the Stockton, California event of 1989. On January 17, 1989, Patrick Purdy, also known as Patrick West and by other names, returned to the school he had attended 15 years before. Purdy, wearing a t-shirt with the word Satan on it, opened fire at the playground of the Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton, California, killing five children and wounding 35 youngsters and a teacher with his AK-47. All were the children of Southeast Asian refugees. Purdy then turned the gun on himself, and died by suicide.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Self-Immolation at UW
A 61-year-old man poured gasoline over himself and set himself on fire on Thursday afternoon, October 30, 2008, in Red Square, a crowded University of Washington plaza, in an attempt at suicide, local Seattle police told the Associated Press.
The man was taken to a hospital with second- and third-degree burns, said Ralph H. Robinson, assistant campus police chief. The unidentified individual died late on Thursday.
The fire was reported in the early afternoon in Red Square, a brick plaza at the center of campus, said Robinson and city Fire Department spokeswoman Helen Fitzpatrick.
Robinson said witnesses told him, "All of a sudden there was this big flame and a ball of fire."
UW student Jayoung Kim said she initially thought the flames were a joke. People threw clothing and tried to squirt the man with water bottles, she said; one man even took off his jeans and tried to use them to douse the flames.
"Nobody could do anything. We couldn't help," she said.
The square was full of people at the lunch hour, said Bjarne Varnes, a university maintenance worker.
Tom Giardino, a student walking to work near the square, said a crowd gathered as the man was put into the ambulance.
"The guy wasn't part of any sort of organized protest and didn't make any declarations before he started," Giardino said.
After the flames were extinguished, the man appeared to be badly burned and was incoherent when medics arrived, UW student Jacob Maria told KOMO-TV. There was a strong smell of gasoline and a gas can in the man's backpack, he said.
It appeared to be a suicide attempt, Robinson said, adding: "We do not know why he did this. We do not know whether he was a student or staff or what his affiliation was."
The King County medical examiner's office has not identified the man. One report indicates the individual is a former UW staff member.
Self-immolation is suicide by fire, and has historically been used as a form of anti-war protest.
A number of Buddhist monks used self-immolation in protest of the South Vietnamese regimen in the 1960s. Their protests were copied worldwide, including in the USA. On November 2, 1965, Norman Morrison used kerosene to burn himself to death outside The Pentagon as a protest against the Vietnam War. Roger Allen LaPorte did so one week later outside the United Nations headquarters.
The wars in Iraq have resulted in little publicized self-immolations too.
The elder George Bush had sent U.S. forces against Iraqis during the First Gulf War, and his actions were stirring up war protests. Fire suicides soon followed.
Gregory Levey understood the power of the media and symbolism; after all, it was in his genetic makeup. On February 18, 1991, Levey, 30, son of newspaper reporter Bob Levey and stepson of Boston Globe columnist Ellen Goodman, set himself on fire in protest of the First Gulf War in the university community of Amherst, Massachusetts. Levey identified with Buddhist beliefs and left clear symbols of his intentions at his side, a placard with the word “Peace” on it, and a statue of the Buddha. Three days later, in nearby Springfield, Massachusetts, Raymond Moules followed suit.
Malachi Ritscher was a Chicago musician and anti-war protestor who died by suicide by fire in 2006, as a political protest against the War in Iraq.
The motivation of today's self-immolation in Seattle is unclear, tonight.
+++
October 31, 2008 update.
No identity of the man has been released. Rumors that he was a former professor have been denied and UW will only say he is a former staff member.
"We do not know the motive," UW Police Department spokesman Ralph Robinson said. "Obviously, that's the primary question."
Robinson said there were no planned activities or political events in Red Square before the incident.
Tom Yang, a 21-year-old international studies undergrad at the UW, who was an eyewitness, said there were no protest signs, but said another man at the scene -- partially clothed after having used his own clothing to fight back the flames -- was bowing and praying loudly over the victim.
"I don't know what that was about, but it reminded me of the Vietnam War," Yang said. "We kept asking him to stop, and eventually some people dragged him away."
Red Square was cordoned off with yellow tape and closed for more than an hour by police after the incident.
Police said the man wasn't close to others when he lit himself on fire. No other injuries were reported.
The man was taken to a hospital with second- and third-degree burns, said Ralph H. Robinson, assistant campus police chief. The unidentified individual died late on Thursday.
The fire was reported in the early afternoon in Red Square, a brick plaza at the center of campus, said Robinson and city Fire Department spokeswoman Helen Fitzpatrick.
Robinson said witnesses told him, "All of a sudden there was this big flame and a ball of fire."
UW student Jayoung Kim said she initially thought the flames were a joke. People threw clothing and tried to squirt the man with water bottles, she said; one man even took off his jeans and tried to use them to douse the flames.
"Nobody could do anything. We couldn't help," she said.
The square was full of people at the lunch hour, said Bjarne Varnes, a university maintenance worker.
Tom Giardino, a student walking to work near the square, said a crowd gathered as the man was put into the ambulance.
"The guy wasn't part of any sort of organized protest and didn't make any declarations before he started," Giardino said.
After the flames were extinguished, the man appeared to be badly burned and was incoherent when medics arrived, UW student Jacob Maria told KOMO-TV. There was a strong smell of gasoline and a gas can in the man's backpack, he said.
It appeared to be a suicide attempt, Robinson said, adding: "We do not know why he did this. We do not know whether he was a student or staff or what his affiliation was."
The King County medical examiner's office has not identified the man. One report indicates the individual is a former UW staff member.
Self-immolation is suicide by fire, and has historically been used as a form of anti-war protest.
A number of Buddhist monks used self-immolation in protest of the South Vietnamese regimen in the 1960s. Their protests were copied worldwide, including in the USA. On November 2, 1965, Norman Morrison used kerosene to burn himself to death outside The Pentagon as a protest against the Vietnam War. Roger Allen LaPorte did so one week later outside the United Nations headquarters.
The wars in Iraq have resulted in little publicized self-immolations too.
The elder George Bush had sent U.S. forces against Iraqis during the First Gulf War, and his actions were stirring up war protests. Fire suicides soon followed.
Gregory Levey understood the power of the media and symbolism; after all, it was in his genetic makeup. On February 18, 1991, Levey, 30, son of newspaper reporter Bob Levey and stepson of Boston Globe columnist Ellen Goodman, set himself on fire in protest of the First Gulf War in the university community of Amherst, Massachusetts. Levey identified with Buddhist beliefs and left clear symbols of his intentions at his side, a placard with the word “Peace” on it, and a statue of the Buddha. Three days later, in nearby Springfield, Massachusetts, Raymond Moules followed suit.
Malachi Ritscher was a Chicago musician and anti-war protestor who died by suicide by fire in 2006, as a political protest against the War in Iraq.
The motivation of today's self-immolation in Seattle is unclear, tonight.
+++
October 31, 2008 update.
No identity of the man has been released. Rumors that he was a former professor have been denied and UW will only say he is a former staff member.
"We do not know the motive," UW Police Department spokesman Ralph Robinson said. "Obviously, that's the primary question."
Robinson said there were no planned activities or political events in Red Square before the incident.
Tom Yang, a 21-year-old international studies undergrad at the UW, who was an eyewitness, said there were no protest signs, but said another man at the scene -- partially clothed after having used his own clothing to fight back the flames -- was bowing and praying loudly over the victim.
"I don't know what that was about, but it reminded me of the Vietnam War," Yang said. "We kept asking him to stop, and eventually some people dragged him away."
Red Square was cordoned off with yellow tape and closed for more than an hour by police after the incident.
Police said the man wasn't close to others when he lit himself on fire. No other injuries were reported.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Phantom Clowns On Coast to Coast
I was driving around Portland the other day, minding my own business. Then, while stopped at a red light, the driver in the car (not a van) next to me pulled up alongside, rolled down his window, and yelled out: "Are you Loren Coleman, who is on Coast to Coast?"
Thank goodness, he wasn't in a clown suit!
I'm not sure how he recognized me from my radio appearances, but what could I say? One hardly expects such things to happen on a busy roadway, but, of course, shocked or not, I merely said, "Yep, that's me."
As it turns out, I'll be on George Noory's Coast to Coast AM again soon ~ on this Friday's Halloween 2008 program, briefly, during the first hour's news segment. Although cryptozoology may be mentioned, I will be mostly there to update listeners about the recent wave of "Phantom Clown" sightings. The strange potential child abductors have now shown up in Bloomington, Illinois, which is quite a few miles from the original Chicago area encounters.
Earlier in the week, Coast to Coast AM's website mentioned my recent blog postings on the new Phantom Clown accounts, and it caused a lot of comments to my Copycat Effect blog.
No telling what I'll see out there on the streets after my Friday guest appearance.
Just a footnote again, it is in Mysterious America where I detailed the national wave of 1981 sightings of costumed sinister jokers in vans, trying to kidnap children, from Boston to Kansas City. I coined the term "Phantom Clowns" to describe them because they are seen but never caught.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Plan 88: The Plot to Assassinate Obama
In Neo-Nazi jargon, "88" equals "Heil Hitler," the twilight language that underlies today's overturned plot.
Federal agents have broken up a plot to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and shoot or decapitate 102 black people in a Tennessee murder spree, the ATF said Monday. In court records unsealed Monday, federal agents said they disrupted plans to rob a gun store and target a predominantly African-American high school by two neo-Nazi skinheads. Agents said the skinheads did not identify the school by name.
Jim Cavanaugh, special agent in charge of the Nashville field office for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the two men planned to shoot 88 black people and decapitate another 14. The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community.
The men also sought to go on a national killing spree, with Obama as its final target, Cavanaugh told The Associated Press.
"They said that would be their last, final act - that they would attempt to kill Sen. Obama," Cavanaugh said. "They didn't believe they would be able to do it, but that they would get killed trying."
According to sources within their movement, eighty-eight (88) is used as code among Neo-Nazis to identify each other. H is the 8th letter of the alphabet, so 88 is taken to stand for HH which in turn means Heil Hitler. For example, the number is used in the song "88 rock`n`roll band" by the neo-Nazi group Landser.14 is used similarly, referring to the so-called "Fourteen Words," often found in combination with 88 (1488, 14/88, etc.). This form of the number has inspired the naming of the groups Column 88, Unit 88 and White Legion 88.
The "Fourteen Words" is a phrase used by white nationalists, Neo-Nazis, and others. It refers to both the 14-word slogan: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."
Also, this is found in the 14-word slogan: "Because the beauty of the White Aryan woman must not perish from the earth."
Both 14-word slogans were coined by David Lane, a member of the Neo-Nazi organization The Order. The first slogan was inspired by a statement, 88 words in length, quoted from Volume 1, Chapter 8 of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf:
What we must fight for is to safeguard the existence and reproduction of our race and our people, the sustenance of our children and the purity of our blood, the freedom and independence of the fatherland, so that our people may mature for the fulfillment of the mission allotted it by the creator of the universe. Every thought and every idea, every doctrine and all knowledge, must serve this purpose. And everything must be examined from this point of view and used or rejected according to its utility.
It can be combined with 88, as in 14/88 or 1488. The 8s stand for the eighth letter of the alphabet (H), with HH standing for Heil Hitler. 88 can also stand for the book 88 Precepts by David Lane. It can also refer to the Ubermensche, the Neo-Nazis superpower.
As I have written and stressed extensively in The Copycat Effect, the significance of dates in several school shooting scenarios point to the heavy influence of Neo-Nazi thought and symbolism. This all needs to be taken very seriously by those guarding Senator Barack Obama. His protection and security details must be aware of this symbolic but real level of danger to the man who certainly seems in line to be our next president.
===
More info later:
According to a court affidavit sworn out by a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent, Daniel Cowart, 20, and Paul Schlesselman, 18, began discussing the murder plot after meeting online about a month ago. In the ATF affidavit, a copy of which you'll find below, Cowart and Schlesselman "discussed the killing spree to include targeting a predominately African-American school, going state to state while robbing individuals and continuing to kill people."
The pair's "final act of violence" would be an attempt to kill Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee. In separate interviews with investigators, the men said that they planned to speed their vehicle toward Obama while "shooting at him from the windows." Apparently befitting the historic assault, Cowart and Schlesselman "stated they would dress in all white tuxedos and wear top hats during the assassination attempt."
Cowart and Schlesselman were arrested last Wednesday night by Tennessee sheriff's deputies soon after the pair used chalk to write "numerous racially motivated words and symbols," including a swastika, on the exterior of Cowart's automobile.
The city of West Helena, Arkansas has been under a 24-hour curfew (a virtual declaration of martial law) since Thursday, Aug. 7th, 2008, in response to a surge of violent crime in parts of the town, as noted by Todd Campbell.
Federal agents have broken up a plot to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and shoot or decapitate 102 black people in a Tennessee murder spree, the ATF said Monday. In court records unsealed Monday, federal agents said they disrupted plans to rob a gun store and target a predominantly African-American high school by two neo-Nazi skinheads. Agents said the skinheads did not identify the school by name.
Jim Cavanaugh, special agent in charge of the Nashville field office for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the two men planned to shoot 88 black people and decapitate another 14. The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community.
The men also sought to go on a national killing spree, with Obama as its final target, Cavanaugh told The Associated Press.
"They said that would be their last, final act - that they would attempt to kill Sen. Obama," Cavanaugh said. "They didn't believe they would be able to do it, but that they would get killed trying."
According to sources within their movement, eighty-eight (88) is used as code among Neo-Nazis to identify each other. H is the 8th letter of the alphabet, so 88 is taken to stand for HH which in turn means Heil Hitler. For example, the number is used in the song "88 rock`n`roll band" by the neo-Nazi group Landser.14 is used similarly, referring to the so-called "Fourteen Words," often found in combination with 88 (1488, 14/88, etc.). This form of the number has inspired the naming of the groups Column 88, Unit 88 and White Legion 88.
The "Fourteen Words" is a phrase used by white nationalists, Neo-Nazis, and others. It refers to both the 14-word slogan: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."
Also, this is found in the 14-word slogan: "Because the beauty of the White Aryan woman must not perish from the earth."
Both 14-word slogans were coined by David Lane, a member of the Neo-Nazi organization The Order. The first slogan was inspired by a statement, 88 words in length, quoted from Volume 1, Chapter 8 of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf:
What we must fight for is to safeguard the existence and reproduction of our race and our people, the sustenance of our children and the purity of our blood, the freedom and independence of the fatherland, so that our people may mature for the fulfillment of the mission allotted it by the creator of the universe. Every thought and every idea, every doctrine and all knowledge, must serve this purpose. And everything must be examined from this point of view and used or rejected according to its utility.
It can be combined with 88, as in 14/88 or 1488. The 8s stand for the eighth letter of the alphabet (H), with HH standing for Heil Hitler. 88 can also stand for the book 88 Precepts by David Lane. It can also refer to the Ubermensche, the Neo-Nazis superpower.
As I have written and stressed extensively in The Copycat Effect, the significance of dates in several school shooting scenarios point to the heavy influence of Neo-Nazi thought and symbolism. This all needs to be taken very seriously by those guarding Senator Barack Obama. His protection and security details must be aware of this symbolic but real level of danger to the man who certainly seems in line to be our next president.
===
More info later:
According to a court affidavit sworn out by a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent, Daniel Cowart, 20, and Paul Schlesselman, 18, began discussing the murder plot after meeting online about a month ago. In the ATF affidavit, a copy of which you'll find below, Cowart and Schlesselman "discussed the killing spree to include targeting a predominately African-American school, going state to state while robbing individuals and continuing to kill people."
The pair's "final act of violence" would be an attempt to kill Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee. In separate interviews with investigators, the men said that they planned to speed their vehicle toward Obama while "shooting at him from the windows." Apparently befitting the historic assault, Cowart and Schlesselman "stated they would dress in all white tuxedos and wear top hats during the assassination attempt."
Cowart and Schlesselman were arrested last Wednesday night by Tennessee sheriff's deputies soon after the pair used chalk to write "numerous racially motivated words and symbols," including a swastika, on the exterior of Cowart's automobile.
The city of West Helena, Arkansas has been under a 24-hour curfew (a virtual declaration of martial law) since Thursday, Aug. 7th, 2008, in response to a surge of violent crime in parts of the town, as noted by Todd Campbell.
Connecting The Dots of December 5th
George Bush, Dick Cheney, the Westroads Mall shooting, and the mysterious death of reporter Anne Pressly? A coincidence in time, space, and fiction only?
Anne Pressly, 26, the Little Rock anchor for KATV-TV, played a conservative news commentator in Oliver Stone's new movie, W.. She died on Saturday, after an unsolved savage attack, without forced entry, in her home on October 20, 2008. It turns out an event in her past has a strange temporal overlap with Vice President Dick Cheney and President George Bush. And a mall shooting.
On December 5, 2007, Pressly had the brush with history that brought her to the attention of Oliver Stone, leading him to pick her for his movie. That was the date of Pressly's famous interview with Vice President Dick Cheney. Pressly was returning from a story, and traveling through Stuttgart, Arkansas, when she found the highway blocked in front of a hunting supply store, Mack's Prairie Wings. It turned out that inside was Dick Cheney. Pressly asked him for an interview, which she conducted in the ammunition aisle.
On that same day, on Wednesday, December 5, 2007, at the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska, Robert A. Hawkins, 19, killed nine (counting himself). He used a hooded black sweatshirt to sneak in the AK-47 he used.
SWAT teams were able to respond quickly to Omaha's Westroads Mall shooting because they were on high alert due to President Bush's quiet visit to the Nebraska city.
President George W. Bush was in Omaha, Nebraska, on the morning of December 5, 2007. While in Omaha, Bush visited the OneWorld Community Health Centers, a clinic that provides medical, dental and nutritional aid. Bush was mainly in Omaha to support candidate Mike Johanns for the United States Senate. The Johanns fundraiser was held at the large estate of billionaire businessman and philanthropist Walter Scott Jr. It was closed to the media. Reportedly, Bush also went shopping - perhaps at the Westroads mall for a scarf or tie, supposedly. Soon after Bush departed, a mall shooting occurred at the Westroads Mall.
Bush is in Nebraska shopping. Cheney is in Arkansas shopping. Pressly ran into Cheney. Bush almost ran into Hawkins.
The Westroads Mall shooting occurred on December 5, 2007, beginning at 1:42 p.m. (local time) at the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska. The main location of the shooting happened at the Von Maur customer service desk.
The gunman was identified as Robert A. Hawkins, 19, who was armed with an SKS assault rifle. A month before, there had been an infamous Finnish school shooting. The Jokela school shooting occurred on November 7, 2007, at Jokela High School (Finnish: Jokelan koulukeskus), a public secondary school in the town of Jokela, Tuusula municipality, Finland. The gunman was 18-year-old Pekka-Eric Auvinen, and the end result was nine people were dead. Auvinen was a known Columbine copycatter. The recent September 23, 2008, Finnish college shooting that left eleven dead in Kauhajoki, in western Finland, appears to have been a copycat of the Jokela shooting. The shooter of the 2008 incident even went to Jokela to the same gunshop as Auvinen to obtain his guns.
The Finnish music (H.I.M.) was admired by Omaha shooter Robert A. Hawkins, as it was by the Columbine shooters.
"Similar traces of gothic musical tendencies of a more Germanic variety...these things always have the smell of Arayan Nation all over them," comments blogger Todd Campbell.
"[Security video] shows Hawkins as he walks into Von Maur, wearing a stocking cap and an unzipped, blackhooded sweat shirt over a black Jack Daniels T-shirt. A design on the sweat shirt appears to be the logo that is shared by skateboarder and MTV personality Bam Margera and the Finnish alternative rock band H.I.M. The band played Sokol Auditorium the day before Halloween." (Source: Omaha World Herald, "Von Maur's cameras show Hawkins toting AK-47," by Lynn Safranek, December 7, 2007).
The group H.I.M. did perform at the Sokol Auditorium in Omaha, on Tuesday, October 30, 2007, at 8:00 PM. (Source: Ticketmaster records.)
H.I.M. is a rock band from Finland formed in 1991 by vocalist Ville Valo, guitarist Mikko Lindström, and bassist Mikko Paananen. They have released six full length albums to date. As of 2007, they are the first and only Finnish rock band to go Gold in the United States.
According to the Omaha World Herald, the Hawkins's sweatshirt had on it the H.I.M. heartagram, which is their trademarked symbol, best described as a combination of a heart and an inverted pentacle (love & hate), created by Ville Valo the day after his twentieth birthday.
"According to Ville Valo, lead vocalist for Finnish rockers H.I.M., 'It's very hard to sing about sunshine and ice cream and birds in fast cars.' So he doesn't even try. Instead, song titles like 'Cyanide Sun', 'Dead Lovers' Lane', and 'Song or Suicide' populate his band's latest CD, Venus Doom. The 30-year-old Valo discovered his affinity for the darker side of rock as a kid, when he heard a few bars of Blue Oyster Cult's '(Don't Fear) the Reaper' while watching John Carpenter's Halloween....[In 1999, HIM] scored a breakthrough hit in Germany with the single 'Join Me in Death'. Like 'Reaper' before it, that song drew flak from folks who believed it glamorized suicide. (Source: Music Features by Steve Newton, November 8, 2007.)
Looking a bit more deeply at the date of December 5th, especially via the Germanic culture of Austria, it happens to be Krampus>.
The word Krampus originates from the Old High German word for claw (Krampen). In the Alpine region the Krampus is represented by an incubus in company of Santa Claus. Traditionally, young men dress up as the Krampus in the first two weeks of December, particularly in the evening of December 5, and roam the streets frightening children (and adults) with rusty chains and bells. In some rural areas also slight birching especially of young females by the Krampus is part of tradition.
The present day Krampus costume consists of red wooden masks or Larve, black sheep's skin and horns. Considerable effort goes into the manufacture of the hand-crafted masks, as many younger adults in rural communities engage competitively in the Krampus events.
(Thanks to Todd Campbell, Through the Looking Glass, for the private tip on the date links.)
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Reporter Anne Pressly, in Stone's W., Killed
An Arkansas television anchor who filmed a bit role for the movie W. has died, after being found in her home early Monday, October 20, 2008, suffering from life-threatening injuries caused by a brutal beating.
Anne Pressly, 26, the morning anchor for KATV-TV in Little Rock, was found by her mother at about 4:30 a.m. lying in her bed and bleeding from "severe injuries," police said.
"We do believe she was beaten," Sgt. Cassandra Davis of the Little Rock Police Department told FOXNews.com. She said the injuries were to the upper body and included stab wounds.
Earlier in the week, Pressly was listed in critical condition at a local hospital, Davis said. She reportedly was improving by mid-week, before she died on Saturday.
Pressly may have been attacked during a robbery, as her purse is missing. But Davis said that police haven't found any forced entry to her home on Club Road in Little Rock. (Emphasis added - LC.)
"It's not a neighborhood known for any violent crime," Davis said.
Police do not have suspects in the case, but said they were questioning neighbors, friends and co-workers, Davis said.
Pressly was seen in "good condition" at 10:30 p.m. and her mother, who normally gives Pressly a wake-up call, found her daughter, Davis said.
"She didn't get an answer so she went to the address on Club Road, and she found her daughter inside the residence lying in the bed suffering from some severe injuries," Davis told FOXNews.com.
Pressly's dogs, which were also missing, have been found.
Early Monday afternoon, a man who answered a phone listed for Pressly's mother, Patricia Cannady, said the family had no comment.
According to her resume on the Internet Movie Database, the ABC anchor played a news commentator in Oliver Stone's new movie, W. She also played a sorority girl on the soap opera "As The World Turns."
Pressly won her role in W., which was filmed in Shreveport, La., when she went to the city for a story on the movie and Shreveport's film industry. She appears briefly as a conservative commentator who speaks favorably of President Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech.
KATV's Web site notes that Pressly's most notable interview was with Vice President Dick Cheney. Pressly was returning from a story in Humphrey and traveling through Stuttgart, where the highway was blocked in front of hunting supply store Mack's Prairie Wings.
It turned out that Cheney, an avid hunter, was inside. Pressly asked for an interview, which she conducted in the ammunition aisle.
Anne Pressly, 26, died Saturday at St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Margaret Preston said.
In a statement released by the hospital, Pressly's parents Guy and Patti Cannady asked for privacy as they grieved their daughter's death.
"It was our hope, as was yours, that Anne would overcome the injuries inflicted upon her in the brutal attack at her home," the statement read. "We were with her in her last moments, and although our hearts are broken, we are at the same time comforted by our faith knowing that Anne is now with our heavenly father."
Pressly was beaten around the head, face and neck. She had been unable to communicate with her family or police while being kept sedated in the intensive care unit.
She was discovered Monday morning a half-hour before she was to appear on ABC affiliate KATV's "Daybreak" program. Her mother went to her home after she didn't answer her regular wake-up call.
Little Rock police have yet to identify a suspect.
Pressly was a native of Greenville, S.C., and moved with her family to Little Rock while she was in high school.
Pressly is a 2004 graduate of Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn.
Anne Pressly, 26, the morning anchor for KATV-TV in Little Rock, was found by her mother at about 4:30 a.m. lying in her bed and bleeding from "severe injuries," police said.
"We do believe she was beaten," Sgt. Cassandra Davis of the Little Rock Police Department told FOXNews.com. She said the injuries were to the upper body and included stab wounds.
Earlier in the week, Pressly was listed in critical condition at a local hospital, Davis said. She reportedly was improving by mid-week, before she died on Saturday.
Pressly may have been attacked during a robbery, as her purse is missing. But Davis said that police haven't found any forced entry to her home on Club Road in Little Rock. (Emphasis added - LC.)
"It's not a neighborhood known for any violent crime," Davis said.
Police do not have suspects in the case, but said they were questioning neighbors, friends and co-workers, Davis said.
Pressly was seen in "good condition" at 10:30 p.m. and her mother, who normally gives Pressly a wake-up call, found her daughter, Davis said.
"She didn't get an answer so she went to the address on Club Road, and she found her daughter inside the residence lying in the bed suffering from some severe injuries," Davis told FOXNews.com.
Pressly's dogs, which were also missing, have been found.
Early Monday afternoon, a man who answered a phone listed for Pressly's mother, Patricia Cannady, said the family had no comment.
According to her resume on the Internet Movie Database, the ABC anchor played a news commentator in Oliver Stone's new movie, W. She also played a sorority girl on the soap opera "As The World Turns."
Pressly won her role in W., which was filmed in Shreveport, La., when she went to the city for a story on the movie and Shreveport's film industry. She appears briefly as a conservative commentator who speaks favorably of President Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech.
KATV's Web site notes that Pressly's most notable interview was with Vice President Dick Cheney. Pressly was returning from a story in Humphrey and traveling through Stuttgart, where the highway was blocked in front of hunting supply store Mack's Prairie Wings.
It turned out that Cheney, an avid hunter, was inside. Pressly asked for an interview, which she conducted in the ammunition aisle.
Anne Pressly, 26, died Saturday at St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Margaret Preston said.
In a statement released by the hospital, Pressly's parents Guy and Patti Cannady asked for privacy as they grieved their daughter's death.
"It was our hope, as was yours, that Anne would overcome the injuries inflicted upon her in the brutal attack at her home," the statement read. "We were with her in her last moments, and although our hearts are broken, we are at the same time comforted by our faith knowing that Anne is now with our heavenly father."
Pressly was beaten around the head, face and neck. She had been unable to communicate with her family or police while being kept sedated in the intensive care unit.
She was discovered Monday morning a half-hour before she was to appear on ABC affiliate KATV's "Daybreak" program. Her mother went to her home after she didn't answer her regular wake-up call.
Little Rock police have yet to identify a suspect.
Pressly was a native of Greenville, S.C., and moved with her family to Little Rock while she was in high school.
Pressly is a 2004 graduate of Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Men In Black Reported As Shooters On Campus
Officials at Western Kentucky University at Bowling Green, Kentucky, reported four black-clad armed men on campus.
WLKY-TV in Louisville reported that the university issued the following text alert at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 22, 2008: "An armed man has been reported on WKU South Campus. Please stay clear of this area."
WBKO in Bowling Green reported that police are searching for four people dressed in black with guns.
Officials sent out the following text: "Shots fired near Pearce Ford tower. Seek shelter immediately."
James Williams said that he got the following text message from his daughter at 1:37 p.m.: "Stay away from south campus because armed men are running around campus. All students have been moved to the main campus."
University spokesman Bob Skipper said the incident was occurring inside the school's South Campus. Skipper said the building has been evacuated and police are searching the area.
Someone reported seeing people with weapons in a building on a satellite campus and police later received reports that shots had been fired on the main campus, a mile away.
Police searched a South Campus building but did not find any people with guns or witnesses who could confirm those reports.
Shortly before 1 p.m., the university sent a text message warning students to seek shelter after reports of shots fired in or near Pearce Ford Tower residence hall, on the school's main campus, though those reports were also unconfirmed.
Officials said there was some type of fight in or near the residence hall, though it did not involve weapons, reported WCBS-TV.
"We did have a fight and initial reports were that a weapon was involved but that has not been confirmed," said Bob Skipper, director of media relations for the school about an hour north of Nashville, Tenn. "We actually had reports of three different fights, one on our south campus about a mile from our main campus."
He said he did not know whether the fights were connected. Spokeswoman Robbin Taylor said four people were being questioned by police but no charges had been filed.
University lawyer Deborah Wilkins said there were no immediate reports of injuries.
The campus emergency warning system was activated and students and employees were told to remain indoors. An "all clear" was issued around 4 p.m. Classes were canceled for the rest of Wednesday.
The university's South Campus is home to Bowling Green Community College. The university, which has about 16,500 undergraduates, is on a hill in Bowling Green. Its students and sports teams are known as Hilltoppers.
(Clearly, this may be a localized example of behavior contagion or something more. Thanks for the heads up to Curt Rowlett.)
WLKY-TV in Louisville reported that the university issued the following text alert at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 22, 2008: "An armed man has been reported on WKU South Campus. Please stay clear of this area."
WBKO in Bowling Green reported that police are searching for four people dressed in black with guns.
Officials sent out the following text: "Shots fired near Pearce Ford tower. Seek shelter immediately."
James Williams said that he got the following text message from his daughter at 1:37 p.m.: "Stay away from south campus because armed men are running around campus. All students have been moved to the main campus."
University spokesman Bob Skipper said the incident was occurring inside the school's South Campus. Skipper said the building has been evacuated and police are searching the area.
Someone reported seeing people with weapons in a building on a satellite campus and police later received reports that shots had been fired on the main campus, a mile away.
Police searched a South Campus building but did not find any people with guns or witnesses who could confirm those reports.
Shortly before 1 p.m., the university sent a text message warning students to seek shelter after reports of shots fired in or near Pearce Ford Tower residence hall, on the school's main campus, though those reports were also unconfirmed.
Officials said there was some type of fight in or near the residence hall, though it did not involve weapons, reported WCBS-TV.
"We did have a fight and initial reports were that a weapon was involved but that has not been confirmed," said Bob Skipper, director of media relations for the school about an hour north of Nashville, Tenn. "We actually had reports of three different fights, one on our south campus about a mile from our main campus."
He said he did not know whether the fights were connected. Spokeswoman Robbin Taylor said four people were being questioned by police but no charges had been filed.
University lawyer Deborah Wilkins said there were no immediate reports of injuries.
The campus emergency warning system was activated and students and employees were told to remain indoors. An "all clear" was issued around 4 p.m. Classes were canceled for the rest of Wednesday.
The university's South Campus is home to Bowling Green Community College. The university, which has about 16,500 undergraduates, is on a hill in Bowling Green. Its students and sports teams are known as Hilltoppers.
(Clearly, this may be a localized example of behavior contagion or something more. Thanks for the heads up to Curt Rowlett.)
Friday, October 17, 2008
Phantom Clowns Are Back!
They have returned.
In Mysterious America, I detailed the national wave of shadowy 1981 sightings of clowns in vans, trying to kidnap children, from Boston to Kansas City.
The encounters began in May of 1981, in Boston, Brookline, and other Massachusetts communities. By the end of the month, the local newspapers in Kansas City were publishing warnings about "Killer Clowns" said to be after children at bus stops there.
During an era before emails and the Internet, I was able to discover, via my network of correspondents, that a rash of local news articles were appearing across the USA, describing similar abduction scenarios. Although the national newspapers and wire services were totally unaware of the widespread nature of such accounts, the stories were remarkably alike. I called them the "Phantom Clowns."
Repeats of almost identical Phantom Clown encounters have been recorded since 1981. The latest one is now developing in Illinois.
The reports coming from Chicago have even been tied to a Wicker Park, which has a symbolic name linked to New York City's Son of Sam killings of 1976-1977. In letters to the media, the serial killer signed himself as "The Wicked King Wicker" and allegedly shoot a Wicker Street German shepherd.
In the October 2008 incidents, a man wearing clown make-up and a wig is using balloons in an attempt to lure children into his vehicle on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. Police issued an alert about a week after a man with a similar description was spotted on the West Side.
The near abductions were reported in the 8300 block of South Mackinaw and the 10000 block of South Normal, according to a community alert by Calumet Area detectives.
The man, who wears clown make-up and a wig, approached children with balloons attempting to lure them into his vehicle, but the children ran and called 911, the alert said.
The man, who wears a clown mask or white face paint with teardrops on the cheek, has approached children walking to and from school, police said. Witnesses told police he was seen driving a white or brown van with the windows broken out.
The attempted kidnapping/child abduction occurred on October 7, 2008, at 5:55 p.m. and October 10, 2008, at 8:55 a.m.
Police on Sunday morning, October 12th, said the sightings have not been concentrated to one specific area and there have been multiple sightings of clowns across the city, according to a Harrison Area Special Victims Unit detective.
One suspect was seen on foot in the Garfield Park neighborhood and near Beidler Elementary School, 3151 W. Walnut St., and Polaris Charter Academy, 620 N. Sawyer Avenue.
Dressed in a multi-colored clown suit with a mask or white face paint, a red nose and a teardrop on his cheek, the man escaped in a van after the failed attempts.
Police elaborated that there have been multiple sightings of clowns across the city, including one sighting in Wicker Park, but there has been no hard evidence leading to a suspect. No arrests have been made.
(Thanks to Christopher Balzano and Richard D. Hendricks for their news tips on the developing Chicago story.)
To undermine any incorrect misunderstandings regarding the rumored origins of the Phantom Clown stories, they cannot be referenced as being "caused" by Stephen King, as is sometimes written.
Stephen King's It (below) terrorized children (as a novel in 1986 and a TV movie in 1990), after I published my notes on the discovery of the "Phantom Clown" wave of 1981 (first in magazine articles and later in my 1983 first edition of Mysterious America).
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Stock Market Suicides?
Are bankers going to start jumping out of windows? What is the actual relationship between suicides and economic downturns?
When researching my book, I looked into this topic, and did write in The Copycat Effect (Simon and Schuster, 2003) one short passage in summary.
As opposed to the common thought that during the holidays the suicide rate is high, it is usually down in western cultures from late November through early January. Likewise, it appears to be more urban myth than historical fact that the suicide rate is higher during financial recessions and economic depressions. Some of the best research studies on this subject have been conducted by sociologist Steven Stack, Department of Criminal Justice, Wayne State University, who found that during the periods, for example, after assassinations and during the Great Depression, the suicide rate was lower.
It is a truism that it takes energy to kill oneself, and societally, this translates into actual chronic psychological (not fiscal) depression resulting in less self-inflicted deaths, through a stabilization of suicides or a real decrease.
Now we find ourselves in 2008, with the US Stock Market dipping below 10,000. The news stories have begun to pop up. A UK financial advisor leaps in front of a subway train a couple weeks ago. This last weekend's Porter Ranch, California, mass murder-suicide of six is being blamed by the media on the money worries by the financial advisor who was the murderer.
The 1929 historical tale of guys jumping out of buildings in the opening hours of the Great Depression is part of the ongoing urban legend associated with dark financial days. But an actual look at the data shows something else, entirely.
A subtle background theme is that the people on the street in 1929 wanted the bankers to jump. Is there a similar feeling today?
Will Rogers observed, "When Wall Street took that tail spin, you had to stand in line to get a window to jump out of, and speculators were selling space for bodies in the East River."
But it just wasn't true.
The scholarly economist John Kenneth Galbraith addressed the topic in his book The Great Crash, 1929, (published in 1955). Studying U.S. death statistics, Galbraith found that while the U.S. suicide rate increased steadily between 1925 and 1932, during October and November of 1929, the number of suicides was low.
But it is like anything else, if you look hard enough, you will find suicides that seem to be related to the Great Crash and the Great Depression.
On Friday, November 8, 1929, J. J. Riordan, president of the County Trust Company, took a gun from a teller's cage at his bank, went to his home in downtown Manhattan, and used it to kill himself. The news was suppressed until after the bank closed at noon Saturday, to avoid causing a run on the bank.
A vice president of the Earl Radio Corporation jumped to his death from the window of a Manhattan hotel. His suicide note read, "We are broke. Last April I was worth $100,000. Today I am $24,000 in the red." But that deadly event happened in early October, weeks before the Great Crash.
Jesse Livermore, perhaps the most famous of the Wall Street speculators, shot himself - but not until 1940.
Several well-publicized suicides did fulfill the urban mythical stereotype. Winston Churchill, visiting New York City, was awakened the day after Black Tuesday (October 29, 1929) by the noise of a crowd outside the Savoy-Plaza Hotel. "Under my very window a gentleman cast himself down fifteen storeys and was dashed to pieces, causing a wild commotion and the arrival of the fire brigade," he wrote.
In 1929: The Year of the Great Crash (1989), historian William K. Klingaman noted that asphyxiation by gas was the most common method of suicide, although there was considerable variety. I found this true throughout the early 1900s. Klingaman wrote:
Will there be an increase in actual suicides "caused" by or in the wake of the Great Crash of 2008? It is highly doubtful.
Nevertheless, look for a dramatic spike in reporting on every stockbroker and bankrupt CEO who dies by suicide.
What we may see, however, are some bizarre suicides and violent crimes continuing through October (i.e. copycats of the strange bus stabbings and the Norwegian school shooting incident), plus a very dangerous March-April in 2009, in the schools and colleges. The mainstream vs Wall Street impact may be rather real and dramatic in terms of the copycat ripple effect that bounces from the fall to spring.
When researching my book, I looked into this topic, and did write in The Copycat Effect (Simon and Schuster, 2003) one short passage in summary.
Historical studies conducted by sociologist Steven Stack and others have discovered a noticeable dip in suicides and related violent events when there is society-wide anguish, for example, in times of massive immediate grieving in periods of wars and economic depressions.
As opposed to the common thought that during the holidays the suicide rate is high, it is usually down in western cultures from late November through early January. Likewise, it appears to be more urban myth than historical fact that the suicide rate is higher during financial recessions and economic depressions. Some of the best research studies on this subject have been conducted by sociologist Steven Stack, Department of Criminal Justice, Wayne State University, who found that during the periods, for example, after assassinations and during the Great Depression, the suicide rate was lower.
It is a truism that it takes energy to kill oneself, and societally, this translates into actual chronic psychological (not fiscal) depression resulting in less self-inflicted deaths, through a stabilization of suicides or a real decrease.
Now we find ourselves in 2008, with the US Stock Market dipping below 10,000. The news stories have begun to pop up. A UK financial advisor leaps in front of a subway train a couple weeks ago. This last weekend's Porter Ranch, California, mass murder-suicide of six is being blamed by the media on the money worries by the financial advisor who was the murderer.
The 1929 historical tale of guys jumping out of buildings in the opening hours of the Great Depression is part of the ongoing urban legend associated with dark financial days. But an actual look at the data shows something else, entirely.
A subtle background theme is that the people on the street in 1929 wanted the bankers to jump. Is there a similar feeling today?
Will Rogers observed, "When Wall Street took that tail spin, you had to stand in line to get a window to jump out of, and speculators were selling space for bodies in the East River."
But it just wasn't true.
The scholarly economist John Kenneth Galbraith addressed the topic in his book The Great Crash, 1929, (published in 1955). Studying U.S. death statistics, Galbraith found that while the U.S. suicide rate increased steadily between 1925 and 1932, during October and November of 1929, the number of suicides was low.
But it is like anything else, if you look hard enough, you will find suicides that seem to be related to the Great Crash and the Great Depression.
On Friday, November 8, 1929, J. J. Riordan, president of the County Trust Company, took a gun from a teller's cage at his bank, went to his home in downtown Manhattan, and used it to kill himself. The news was suppressed until after the bank closed at noon Saturday, to avoid causing a run on the bank.
A vice president of the Earl Radio Corporation jumped to his death from the window of a Manhattan hotel. His suicide note read, "We are broke. Last April I was worth $100,000. Today I am $24,000 in the red." But that deadly event happened in early October, weeks before the Great Crash.
Jesse Livermore, perhaps the most famous of the Wall Street speculators, shot himself - but not until 1940.
Several well-publicized suicides did fulfill the urban mythical stereotype. Winston Churchill, visiting New York City, was awakened the day after Black Tuesday (October 29, 1929) by the noise of a crowd outside the Savoy-Plaza Hotel. "Under my very window a gentleman cast himself down fifteen storeys and was dashed to pieces, causing a wild commotion and the arrival of the fire brigade," he wrote.
In 1929: The Year of the Great Crash (1989), historian William K. Klingaman noted that asphyxiation by gas was the most common method of suicide, although there was considerable variety. I found this true throughout the early 1900s. Klingaman wrote:
The wife of a Long Island broker shot herself in the heart; a utilities executive in Rochester, New York, shut himself in his bathroom and opened a wall jet of illuminating gas; a St. Louis broker swallowed poison; a Philadelphia financier shot himself in his athletic club; a divorcee in Allentown, Pennsylvania, closed the doors and windows of her home and turned on a gas oven. In Milwaukee, one gentleman who took his own life left a note that read, 'My body should go to science, my soul to Andrew W. Mellon, and sympathy to my creditors.'
Will there be an increase in actual suicides "caused" by or in the wake of the Great Crash of 2008? It is highly doubtful.
Nevertheless, look for a dramatic spike in reporting on every stockbroker and bankrupt CEO who dies by suicide.
What we may see, however, are some bizarre suicides and violent crimes continuing through October (i.e. copycats of the strange bus stabbings and the Norwegian school shooting incident), plus a very dangerous March-April in 2009, in the schools and colleges. The mainstream vs Wall Street impact may be rather real and dramatic in terms of the copycat ripple effect that bounces from the fall to spring.
Friday, October 03, 2008
Zoo Killing Spree
The younger brother of a youth who was involved in a violent attack at the same location in 2003, has gone on a killing spree in a well-known Australian zoo.
An “expressionless” seven-year-old boy broke into the zoo, bludgeoned to death giant lizards and fed them – and other live animals - to a crocodile named Terry in Outback Australia this week.
Zookeepers were horrified when they arrived at work on October 1, 2008, Wednesday morning to see Terry, an 11-foot long saltwater crocodile, feasting on his fellow showcase reptilians at the Alice Springs Reptile Centre in the Northern Territory.
At first they thought the animals, including the zoo’s favourite, metre-long, 20-year-old goanna, had escaped from their outdoor pens and accidentally become breakfast for Terry - the local zoo’s prize attraction.
But further investigation uncovered CCTV footage of the local boy’s horrific 35-minute killing spree which began when he scaled the fence of the zoo, located in the centre of Alice Springs, a popular tourist destination town in central Australia, just before 8am on Wednesday morning.
The blank-faced boy, who had evaded security cameras because of his slight size, then began his deadly rampage, smashing rocks on the heads of the reptiles and throwing them and other live animals into the crocodile enclosure, according to the zoo’s director Rex Neindorf.
The boy killed 13 animals in total, including a large turtle, bearded dragons, goannas and lizards including Thorny Devils and Western Blue tongues, which are hard to find in captivity.
“It’s absolutely devastating for us, we’re just horrified,” Mr Neindorf told Times Online today.
“The goanna was 20 years old, she was an absolute doll.”
The boy was so brazen he even climbed over an outer fence to get a closer look at the action.
“He was lucky because if he got in there with the goanna, she would have torn him to pieces,” Mr Neindorf said.
Police were called and questioned the boy, who comes from a family well known in the local area, but because of his age they are unable to do anything. According to Northern Territory law, children under 10 are not liable for criminal offences.
“I thought for the sheer consequences of what he did that there would have to be some severe punishment, but he’s only seven, they can’t do anything to kids under 10,” Mr Neindorf said.
“We’re going to see what we can do, maybe try and sue the family in the civil court, we’ll look down that avenue.”
According to Mr Neindorf, the “nasty” boy’s brother was part of a group who attacked Terry the crocodile about five years ago.
He said they often get kids trying to throw rocks at the animal enclosures from a nearby hill, but this incident is the worst that has happened in the history of the zoo.
“He will just get worse and worse and worse, by the time he’s 10 he will be a hardened criminal,” Mr Neindorf said of the boy.
The Alice Springs Reptile Centre is in central Australia, almost 300 miles from Uluru (Ayres Rock), and has 200 animals on display, including Perentie Goanna, Frill Neck Lizards, Thorny Devils, pythons, taipans and death adders, and, of course, Terry, the 440-pound salt-water crocodile.
An “expressionless” seven-year-old boy broke into the zoo, bludgeoned to death giant lizards and fed them – and other live animals - to a crocodile named Terry in Outback Australia this week.
Zookeepers were horrified when they arrived at work on October 1, 2008, Wednesday morning to see Terry, an 11-foot long saltwater crocodile, feasting on his fellow showcase reptilians at the Alice Springs Reptile Centre in the Northern Territory.
At first they thought the animals, including the zoo’s favourite, metre-long, 20-year-old goanna, had escaped from their outdoor pens and accidentally become breakfast for Terry - the local zoo’s prize attraction.
But further investigation uncovered CCTV footage of the local boy’s horrific 35-minute killing spree which began when he scaled the fence of the zoo, located in the centre of Alice Springs, a popular tourist destination town in central Australia, just before 8am on Wednesday morning.
The blank-faced boy, who had evaded security cameras because of his slight size, then began his deadly rampage, smashing rocks on the heads of the reptiles and throwing them and other live animals into the crocodile enclosure, according to the zoo’s director Rex Neindorf.
The boy killed 13 animals in total, including a large turtle, bearded dragons, goannas and lizards including Thorny Devils and Western Blue tongues, which are hard to find in captivity.
“It’s absolutely devastating for us, we’re just horrified,” Mr Neindorf told Times Online today.
“The goanna was 20 years old, she was an absolute doll.”
The boy was so brazen he even climbed over an outer fence to get a closer look at the action.
“He was lucky because if he got in there with the goanna, she would have torn him to pieces,” Mr Neindorf said.
Police were called and questioned the boy, who comes from a family well known in the local area, but because of his age they are unable to do anything. According to Northern Territory law, children under 10 are not liable for criminal offences.
“I thought for the sheer consequences of what he did that there would have to be some severe punishment, but he’s only seven, they can’t do anything to kids under 10,” Mr Neindorf said.
“We’re going to see what we can do, maybe try and sue the family in the civil court, we’ll look down that avenue.”
According to Mr Neindorf, the “nasty” boy’s brother was part of a group who attacked Terry the crocodile about five years ago.
He said they often get kids trying to throw rocks at the animal enclosures from a nearby hill, but this incident is the worst that has happened in the history of the zoo.
“He will just get worse and worse and worse, by the time he’s 10 he will be a hardened criminal,” Mr Neindorf said of the boy.
The Alice Springs Reptile Centre is in central Australia, almost 300 miles from Uluru (Ayres Rock), and has 200 animals on display, including Perentie Goanna, Frill Neck Lizards, Thorny Devils, pythons, taipans and death adders, and, of course, Terry, the 440-pound salt-water crocodile.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Panic Sweeps Finland and Sweden
The cult of Columbine is being realized anew. I've been getting media calls from Finland, Netherlands, Belgium, and other European countries asking whether I see any overlaps between this week's shooting in Finland and other school shootings. Of course, I do.
The previous Finland school shooter exhibited several ties to Columbine and other recent incidents. The Jokela school shooting occurred on November 7, 2007 at Jokela High School (Finnish: Jokelan koulukeskus), a public secondary school in the town of Jokela, Tuusula municipality, Finland. The gunman was 18-year-old Pekka-Eric Auvinen.
Pekka-Eric Auvinen uploaded a home-made movie entitled "Jokela High School Massacre - 11/7/2007" to YouTube announcing the "massacre" hours prior to the shooting. KMFDM's "Stray Bullet" was used as background music. The KMFDM track used in his video, "Stray Bullet", was also used on the website of Columbine shooter Eric Harris.
Several hours after the 2007 event, YouTube suspended some videos belonging to the username Sturmgeist89 due to relations with the shootings. Sturmgeist means "Stormspirit" in German. This appears to have been a reference to KMFDM, as Sturm had been a member of the band. Dylan Klebold, and Eric Harris (Columbine's shooters, were also KMFDM fans and Eric wore a KMFDM hat during the shooting) was idolized by Auvinen. His previous YouTube account name was "naturalselector89", which he used from March 2007 until it was suspended in October 2007. Many of Auvinen's videos were about other shootings and violent incidents, including the Columbine High School massacre, the Waco Siege, the Tokyo sarin gas attack, and bombing during the Iraq invasion.
Spokesman for the cyber crime department of Helsinki police has stated that "it's highly probable that there was some form of contact between Pekka-Eric Auvinen and Dillon Cossey." The 14-year-old Cossey was arrested in October 2007 on suspicion of planning an attack on his school in a suburb of Philadelphia.
There is developing information that Auvinen and this week's Finnish school shooter Matti Saari may have been in contact too. Certainly it is now known that they both bought their guns at the same place in Jokela.
Before the 2007 incident, another school shooting occurred in 1989 at the Raumanmeri school in Rauma, Finland, when a 14-year-old fatally shot two fellow students.
Now the latest....
Panic spread among students in Finland on Thursday (September 25, 2008) as threatening text messages and Internet postings raised fears of new attacks mimicking a deadly school rampage.
Worried children and parents jammed telephone help lines and scores of children stayed away from class after threats popped up against schools and students, noted Associated Press writer Marius Turula from Kauhajoki, Finland.
While most appeared to be hoaxes, police were taking every threat seriously to avoid a repeat of Tuesday's shooting (September 23, 2008), in which a 22-year-old gunman killed 10 people and himself at a vocational school in this town in western Finland.
It was the second school shooting in the country in less than a year. Last November 2007, an 18-year-old man fatally shot eight people and himself at a high school in southern Finland.
"It's clear that the more you talk about these incidents, the more chances there are of copycats," National Police Commissioner Mikko Paatero told reporters in Helsinki. "After we've witnessed two such incidents, the threat is real."
Both gunmen posed with or fired guns in YouTube clips posted before the rampages. The similarities between the attacks — including reports that they bought their guns at the same place — prompted police to probe potential links between them.
"The cases were similar. They were the same type of person, so it could be possible," investigation leader Jari Neulaniemi told The Associated Press. "They had the same style of hair, same kind of clothing, same interests and ideals — and their deeds were the same."
The jitters spread to neighboring Sweden, where one school was evacuated. Police arrested a 16-year-old boy after viewing a suspicious YouTube clip in which he posed with weapons. He was released after police said the video was just a prank.
Police in both countries stepped up their surveillance of YouTube and other Web sites to monitor for signs of possible attack plans.
"We'd be looking to see if we can, by careful analysis, weed out some who would pose a potential threat," said Tero Kuremaa, from the National Bureau of Investigation.
In Finland, police held two young men for questioning about threatening Internet postings, evacuated at least one school and detained a 15-year-old for allegedly sending threats to another school.
Meanwhile, investigators struggled to find the origin of the text messages that sparked fear among students.
"The text messages are threatening in nature and are causing fear and hysteria among young people, and we must stop them," said Urpo Lintula, a spokesman for the regional police department that covers Kauhajoki.
He added that Finland saw a similar wave of threats after the November 2007 shooting.
Police, psychiatrists and social workers set up dozens of crisis help lines nationwide to deal with reported threats, calls for help and to provide counseling. The Finnish Red Cross closed down a chat line after 350 callers jammed switchboards.
"There's a lot of uncertainty in the air and there's a lot of fear," said Tero Hintsa, a Red Cross worker in Kauhajoki. Scores of children stayed away from class Wednesday (Sept. 24, 2008) and Thursday (Sept. 25), he said.
A 500-student school in the southern town of Keuruu was evacuated after suspicious text messages and Internet postings. A 15-year-old boy was arrested in the west coast city of Turku for allegedly sending threatening messages to a school, STT news agency reported.
Police in the central town of Kajaani detained two men aged 18 and 23 for menacing messages they had posted on the Internet.
"They were fairly vague but they mentioned shootings in schools and bomb explosions," Kajaani police spokesman Arto Lumikari said, adding the men were not believed to be planning any attacks.
On Tuesday, September 23, 2008, Matti Saari killed eight female students, one male teacher and one male student, and torched their bodies. A 21-year-old woman whom Saari shot in the head was still hospitalized after having two operations.
Sanna Orpana, 17, told AP Television News that she was in the classroom next door when the shooting began at the school.
"We started to hear shooting and a kind of a rumble like tables falling down. We thought someone is playing around, fooling with toy guns," she said, adding that a few students went to look in the other room. "The guy was there with a gun, and tried to shoot them."
___
Associated Press writers Matti Huuhtanen and Jari Tanner in Helsinki and Karl Ritter in Stockholm, Sweden, contributed to this report.
Also thanks to Todd Campbell.
The previous Finland school shooter exhibited several ties to Columbine and other recent incidents. The Jokela school shooting occurred on November 7, 2007 at Jokela High School (Finnish: Jokelan koulukeskus), a public secondary school in the town of Jokela, Tuusula municipality, Finland. The gunman was 18-year-old Pekka-Eric Auvinen.
Pekka-Eric Auvinen uploaded a home-made movie entitled "Jokela High School Massacre - 11/7/2007" to YouTube announcing the "massacre" hours prior to the shooting. KMFDM's "Stray Bullet" was used as background music. The KMFDM track used in his video, "Stray Bullet", was also used on the website of Columbine shooter Eric Harris.
Several hours after the 2007 event, YouTube suspended some videos belonging to the username Sturmgeist89 due to relations with the shootings. Sturmgeist means "Stormspirit" in German. This appears to have been a reference to KMFDM, as Sturm had been a member of the band. Dylan Klebold, and Eric Harris (Columbine's shooters, were also KMFDM fans and Eric wore a KMFDM hat during the shooting) was idolized by Auvinen. His previous YouTube account name was "naturalselector89", which he used from March 2007 until it was suspended in October 2007. Many of Auvinen's videos were about other shootings and violent incidents, including the Columbine High School massacre, the Waco Siege, the Tokyo sarin gas attack, and bombing during the Iraq invasion.
Spokesman for the cyber crime department of Helsinki police has stated that "it's highly probable that there was some form of contact between Pekka-Eric Auvinen and Dillon Cossey." The 14-year-old Cossey was arrested in October 2007 on suspicion of planning an attack on his school in a suburb of Philadelphia.
There is developing information that Auvinen and this week's Finnish school shooter Matti Saari may have been in contact too. Certainly it is now known that they both bought their guns at the same place in Jokela.
Before the 2007 incident, another school shooting occurred in 1989 at the Raumanmeri school in Rauma, Finland, when a 14-year-old fatally shot two fellow students.
Now the latest....
Panic spread among students in Finland on Thursday (September 25, 2008) as threatening text messages and Internet postings raised fears of new attacks mimicking a deadly school rampage.
Worried children and parents jammed telephone help lines and scores of children stayed away from class after threats popped up against schools and students, noted Associated Press writer Marius Turula from Kauhajoki, Finland.
While most appeared to be hoaxes, police were taking every threat seriously to avoid a repeat of Tuesday's shooting (September 23, 2008), in which a 22-year-old gunman killed 10 people and himself at a vocational school in this town in western Finland.
It was the second school shooting in the country in less than a year. Last November 2007, an 18-year-old man fatally shot eight people and himself at a high school in southern Finland.
"It's clear that the more you talk about these incidents, the more chances there are of copycats," National Police Commissioner Mikko Paatero told reporters in Helsinki. "After we've witnessed two such incidents, the threat is real."
Both gunmen posed with or fired guns in YouTube clips posted before the rampages. The similarities between the attacks — including reports that they bought their guns at the same place — prompted police to probe potential links between them.
"The cases were similar. They were the same type of person, so it could be possible," investigation leader Jari Neulaniemi told The Associated Press. "They had the same style of hair, same kind of clothing, same interests and ideals — and their deeds were the same."
The jitters spread to neighboring Sweden, where one school was evacuated. Police arrested a 16-year-old boy after viewing a suspicious YouTube clip in which he posed with weapons. He was released after police said the video was just a prank.
Police in both countries stepped up their surveillance of YouTube and other Web sites to monitor for signs of possible attack plans.
"We'd be looking to see if we can, by careful analysis, weed out some who would pose a potential threat," said Tero Kuremaa, from the National Bureau of Investigation.
In Finland, police held two young men for questioning about threatening Internet postings, evacuated at least one school and detained a 15-year-old for allegedly sending threats to another school.
Meanwhile, investigators struggled to find the origin of the text messages that sparked fear among students.
"The text messages are threatening in nature and are causing fear and hysteria among young people, and we must stop them," said Urpo Lintula, a spokesman for the regional police department that covers Kauhajoki.
He added that Finland saw a similar wave of threats after the November 2007 shooting.
Police, psychiatrists and social workers set up dozens of crisis help lines nationwide to deal with reported threats, calls for help and to provide counseling. The Finnish Red Cross closed down a chat line after 350 callers jammed switchboards.
"There's a lot of uncertainty in the air and there's a lot of fear," said Tero Hintsa, a Red Cross worker in Kauhajoki. Scores of children stayed away from class Wednesday (Sept. 24, 2008) and Thursday (Sept. 25), he said.
A 500-student school in the southern town of Keuruu was evacuated after suspicious text messages and Internet postings. A 15-year-old boy was arrested in the west coast city of Turku for allegedly sending threatening messages to a school, STT news agency reported.
Police in the central town of Kajaani detained two men aged 18 and 23 for menacing messages they had posted on the Internet.
"They were fairly vague but they mentioned shootings in schools and bomb explosions," Kajaani police spokesman Arto Lumikari said, adding the men were not believed to be planning any attacks.
On Tuesday, September 23, 2008, Matti Saari killed eight female students, one male teacher and one male student, and torched their bodies. A 21-year-old woman whom Saari shot in the head was still hospitalized after having two operations.
Sanna Orpana, 17, told AP Television News that she was in the classroom next door when the shooting began at the school.
"We started to hear shooting and a kind of a rumble like tables falling down. We thought someone is playing around, fooling with toy guns," she said, adding that a few students went to look in the other room. "The guy was there with a gun, and tried to shoot them."
___
Associated Press writers Matti Huuhtanen and Jari Tanner in Helsinki and Karl Ritter in Stockholm, Sweden, contributed to this report.
Also thanks to Todd Campbell.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
The Da Vinci Code Attack
Rosemary's baby, 666, The Da Vinci Code, and the Last Supper? Fiction is turning into fact and the latest from Rome gives haunting pause to all Hell breaking loose across the landscape during a time of killings at a school in Finland to a language school in London just this week.
Reuters today is reporting that a 25-year-old man who tried to kill a priest by stabbing him in a Rome church has told police that he did so after the watching the film The Da Vinci Code and believing himself to be the anti-Christ.
The priest, Rev. Caino Calitri, 68, was in critical condition in a Rome hospital after he was stabbed repeatedly in the neck Tuesday, September 23, 2008, by Marco Luzi, according to Italian media reports, including the Catholic paper Avvenire.
The attack took place at the Santa Marcella church in Rome and left two other worshippers needing treatment.
Police officer Luca Gori, 41, who disarmed Luzi, suffered knife wounds to his stomach as he struggled with him on the floor of the church. Witnesses said Luzi had burst in armed with two knives, and carrying a set of rosary beads. Gori is said to have shouted that he was the ''Antichrist'' as well as talking about The Da Vinci Code.
Police found a note in one of Luzi's pockets reading "this is just the beginning, 666."
The number 666 is known as "the number of the beast" in the "Book of Revelation" in the Bible.
Luzi, who stabbed three other people who had tried to help the priest, told police after his arrest that he had watched The Da Vinci Code on television the night before, September 22.
At his flat nearby, where he lived with his mother Paola, investigators found material on the Apocalypse and the anti-Christ, and the telephone number of L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper.
There was also a large reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, which is at the heart of the mystery in The Da Vinci Code, with a note pointing to one of the disciples reading: "This is the hand in which a knife is hidden".
Police also found a box on which was written "In here are the keys to the Sixth and Seventh Seals, closed by order of Satan and Jesus Christ. Give all these things to the Pope."
A rambling note read: "Between my death and my return many grave events will take place, years will pass, perhaps centuries. Christianity will be reviewed in the light of the new alliance between Jesus and the Madonna". Other notes referred to Islam, Satanism and robots.
Luzi told police: "I am the anti-Christ”, and said he had heard voices telling him to attack the priest, adding: "I have carried out my mission". In his pockets investigators found a rosary and a note reading "This is just the beginning: 666", the mystical number said to refer to Satan.
Neighbours said that Luzi was "a loner, a solitary introvert who sometimes quarrelled violently with his mother". Doctors said Father Canistri was in intensive care, while the pensioner who went to his aid at the church, Antonio Farrace, 78, a retired policeman, was also "in serious condition".
The Peruvian nanny, Rosemary Sotero Rivera, 37, was attacked by Luzi as he ran through a park after fleeing from the church. Witnesses said she threw herself on the three year old girl in her charge to protect her, and was stabbed in the shoulder. (What was the name of "Rosemary's baby" in this event? Very curious.)
The police found various references to the novel by Dan Brown in Luzi's apartment, including a print of the The Last Supper fresco by Leonardo Da Vinci.
One note read "I, the anti-Christ."
The theme of the anti-Christ and Leonardo's fresco figure prominently in the best-selling book and its film adaptation, both of which have been condemned by the Vatican.
The Da Vinci Code outraged the Vatican and some Catholics because of its storyline that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children, creating a royal blood line that Church officials kept secret for centuries.
(Thanks to Todd Campbell at Through The Looking Glass for the tip on this one.)
Reuters today is reporting that a 25-year-old man who tried to kill a priest by stabbing him in a Rome church has told police that he did so after the watching the film The Da Vinci Code and believing himself to be the anti-Christ.
The priest, Rev. Caino Calitri, 68, was in critical condition in a Rome hospital after he was stabbed repeatedly in the neck Tuesday, September 23, 2008, by Marco Luzi, according to Italian media reports, including the Catholic paper Avvenire.
The attack took place at the Santa Marcella church in Rome and left two other worshippers needing treatment.
Police officer Luca Gori, 41, who disarmed Luzi, suffered knife wounds to his stomach as he struggled with him on the floor of the church. Witnesses said Luzi had burst in armed with two knives, and carrying a set of rosary beads. Gori is said to have shouted that he was the ''Antichrist'' as well as talking about The Da Vinci Code.
Police found a note in one of Luzi's pockets reading "this is just the beginning, 666."
The number 666 is known as "the number of the beast" in the "Book of Revelation" in the Bible.
Luzi, who stabbed three other people who had tried to help the priest, told police after his arrest that he had watched The Da Vinci Code on television the night before, September 22.
At his flat nearby, where he lived with his mother Paola, investigators found material on the Apocalypse and the anti-Christ, and the telephone number of L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper.
There was also a large reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, which is at the heart of the mystery in The Da Vinci Code, with a note pointing to one of the disciples reading: "This is the hand in which a knife is hidden".
Police also found a box on which was written "In here are the keys to the Sixth and Seventh Seals, closed by order of Satan and Jesus Christ. Give all these things to the Pope."
A rambling note read: "Between my death and my return many grave events will take place, years will pass, perhaps centuries. Christianity will be reviewed in the light of the new alliance between Jesus and the Madonna". Other notes referred to Islam, Satanism and robots.
Luzi told police: "I am the anti-Christ”, and said he had heard voices telling him to attack the priest, adding: "I have carried out my mission". In his pockets investigators found a rosary and a note reading "This is just the beginning: 666", the mystical number said to refer to Satan.
Neighbours said that Luzi was "a loner, a solitary introvert who sometimes quarrelled violently with his mother". Doctors said Father Canistri was in intensive care, while the pensioner who went to his aid at the church, Antonio Farrace, 78, a retired policeman, was also "in serious condition".
The Peruvian nanny, Rosemary Sotero Rivera, 37, was attacked by Luzi as he ran through a park after fleeing from the church. Witnesses said she threw herself on the three year old girl in her charge to protect her, and was stabbed in the shoulder. (What was the name of "Rosemary's baby" in this event? Very curious.)
The police found various references to the novel by Dan Brown in Luzi's apartment, including a print of the The Last Supper fresco by Leonardo Da Vinci.
One note read "I, the anti-Christ."
The theme of the anti-Christ and Leonardo's fresco figure prominently in the best-selling book and its film adaptation, both of which have been condemned by the Vatican.
The Da Vinci Code outraged the Vatican and some Catholics because of its storyline that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children, creating a royal blood line that Church officials kept secret for centuries.
(Thanks to Todd Campbell at Through The Looking Glass for the tip on this one.)
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Canadian HS Held Hostage
On Tuesday, September 23, 2008, an expelled 16-year-old student entered a private Christian high school in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, during chapel, and put a pellet gun to the pastor's head before the principal grabbed the gun. Police arrested the student, officials said.
Principal Mark Anderson said he kept talking with the youth, who was forcing the pastor to read a letter.
Anderson said he got close enough to see the weapon was not a firearm, then grappled with the teen and held him until police arrived and arrested him. Police said they recovered a pellet pistol.
"He just felt like we had to listen to his story, that people were working against him and that everything is a big conspiracy," Anderson told The Associated Press.
Anderson said he was expelled him because of incidents from last school year.
Alex McNair, a student at the Luther College high school, said the gunman forced the pastor to read a letter about his expulsion. He said the letter was about how the gunman had been bullied.
"He seemed completely unstable," McNair said in a message to the AP via the Internet social networking site Facebook.
According to student Tasha Niedzielski, “He had a gun in his hand and everyone started screaming,” said the story. “He basically told everyone to shut up and listen and he told Pastor (Larry) Fry to read.
“He read the speech and people exited carefully but then he’d point the gun at them and tell them to stop. He did it several times. They got all the Grade 9s out and then after probably half an hour or 45 minutes Mr. Anderson [school principal Mark Anderson] grabbed him and grabbed the gun and then a bunch of cops came in after him.”
Almost all the school's 450 staff and students were in the chapel for daily prayer when the suspect walked in and ignored a vice principal's request to stop, Anderson said.
Teachers were helping students to leave quietly as Anderson negotiated with the suspect to let students leave.
Police said there were no reports of any injuries to staff, students or the suspect.
The arrest came on the same day as a deadly school shooting in Finland. In that case, a masked gunman killed 11 people at a trade school and burned some of their bodies before shooting himself in the head.
Principal Mark Anderson said he kept talking with the youth, who was forcing the pastor to read a letter.
Anderson said he got close enough to see the weapon was not a firearm, then grappled with the teen and held him until police arrived and arrested him. Police said they recovered a pellet pistol.
"He just felt like we had to listen to his story, that people were working against him and that everything is a big conspiracy," Anderson told The Associated Press.
Anderson said he was expelled him because of incidents from last school year.
Alex McNair, a student at the Luther College high school, said the gunman forced the pastor to read a letter about his expulsion. He said the letter was about how the gunman had been bullied.
"He seemed completely unstable," McNair said in a message to the AP via the Internet social networking site Facebook.
According to student Tasha Niedzielski, “He had a gun in his hand and everyone started screaming,” said the story. “He basically told everyone to shut up and listen and he told Pastor (Larry) Fry to read.
“He read the speech and people exited carefully but then he’d point the gun at them and tell them to stop. He did it several times. They got all the Grade 9s out and then after probably half an hour or 45 minutes Mr. Anderson [school principal Mark Anderson] grabbed him and grabbed the gun and then a bunch of cops came in after him.”
Almost all the school's 450 staff and students were in the chapel for daily prayer when the suspect walked in and ignored a vice principal's request to stop, Anderson said.
Teachers were helping students to leave quietly as Anderson negotiated with the suspect to let students leave.
Police said there were no reports of any injuries to staff, students or the suspect.
The arrest came on the same day as a deadly school shooting in Finland. In that case, a masked gunman killed 11 people at a trade school and burned some of their bodies before shooting himself in the head.
Phantom Of The Opera Attack
An east London woman killed by a knifeman wearing a Phantom Of The Opera-style mask has been named by Scotland Yard. A spokesman said Sehrish Waqar Sheikh was aged 23 and from Dagenham.
A 29-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder. The suspect wore a Phantom of the Opera-style mask and wig when stabbing and killing his alleged ex-girlfriend whom he was stalking, then injured her best friend and turned his knife on himself in a gruesome attack in East London on Monday, September 22, 2008.
Waqar, of Pakistani origin, died at the scene in an office belonging to St George’s College in Plaistow. She was found partially clothed with stab wounds to the chest and neck, Scotland Yard said. She was a receptionist at the private college for international students.
Her friend, college manager Kiran Asghar, was also hurt but managed to escape and raise the alarm.
According to witnesses, Asghar ran out of the building screaming: “He’s killing her.”
Friends told how Waqar was preparing for a January wedding in Dubai.
Mohammed Noorani, landlord to Asghar and her husband Irfan Sheikh - who owns the small language and business school based in a first-floor office above shops - said: "She was engaged to a man in Dubai. She was very much looking forward to getting married."
When police and ambulance services arrived at the scene just after 6pm yesterday, the knifeman tried to kill himself.
A police source described the incident as a “frenzied attack”.
“First of all he launched himself at the dead girl’s best friend and stabbed her. Then he turned his attention to his ex-girlfriend, stabbed her and killed her.
“Police and the ambulance were called and arrived straight away. He panicked and tried to kill himself by stabbing himself in the neck.”
Malik Ijaz, 40, who runs a builders merchants underneath the college, said that the knifeman continued stabbing his ex-girlfriend even after she was unconscious.
“It was the worst thing I have ever seen in my life,” he said. “I saw something so brutal and something I can’t explain.
“One girl came down screaming that she had been stabbed. I went up there and saw a man in a mask stabbing a girl. I don’t know how many times he stabbed her, but she had already passed out and he was still stabbing her.”
The Metropolitan Police confirmed today that they had arrested a 29-year-old man. He remains under police guard in hospital, where he is believed to be in a stable condition.
"At this early stage no-one else is sought in connection with the incident," Scotland Yard said in a statement.
A murder inquiry has been launched, led by Detective Chief Inspector Bob Mahoney.
Mr Mahoney said: “A man wearing a mask and a wig has was seen prior to the incident. It was a black curly wig and a white mask in a Phantom of the Opera style.”
A worker in a nearby kebab shop said today that he knew the 23-year-old victim: “She would come in here every lunchtime. She was so bubbly, such a nice, pretty girl. She had been a receptionist at the college for about a year.”
(Thanks to Benjamin Singleton and Todd Campbell for bringing this event to my attention.)
(BTW, a language arts teacher is mentioned in my posting on the Olympic Peninsula rampage of Saturday, September 20, 2008. Also, I note the strange name game link that incident has to the Kip Kinkel school shooting, ten years ago, where Kinkel killed his Spanish teacher parents before going to school to murder two classmates.)
A 29-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder. The suspect wore a Phantom of the Opera-style mask and wig when stabbing and killing his alleged ex-girlfriend whom he was stalking, then injured her best friend and turned his knife on himself in a gruesome attack in East London on Monday, September 22, 2008.
Waqar, of Pakistani origin, died at the scene in an office belonging to St George’s College in Plaistow. She was found partially clothed with stab wounds to the chest and neck, Scotland Yard said. She was a receptionist at the private college for international students.
Her friend, college manager Kiran Asghar, was also hurt but managed to escape and raise the alarm.
According to witnesses, Asghar ran out of the building screaming: “He’s killing her.”
Friends told how Waqar was preparing for a January wedding in Dubai.
Mohammed Noorani, landlord to Asghar and her husband Irfan Sheikh - who owns the small language and business school based in a first-floor office above shops - said: "She was engaged to a man in Dubai. She was very much looking forward to getting married."
When police and ambulance services arrived at the scene just after 6pm yesterday, the knifeman tried to kill himself.
A police source described the incident as a “frenzied attack”.
“First of all he launched himself at the dead girl’s best friend and stabbed her. Then he turned his attention to his ex-girlfriend, stabbed her and killed her.
“Police and the ambulance were called and arrived straight away. He panicked and tried to kill himself by stabbing himself in the neck.”
Malik Ijaz, 40, who runs a builders merchants underneath the college, said that the knifeman continued stabbing his ex-girlfriend even after she was unconscious.
“It was the worst thing I have ever seen in my life,” he said. “I saw something so brutal and something I can’t explain.
“One girl came down screaming that she had been stabbed. I went up there and saw a man in a mask stabbing a girl. I don’t know how many times he stabbed her, but she had already passed out and he was still stabbing her.”
The Metropolitan Police confirmed today that they had arrested a 29-year-old man. He remains under police guard in hospital, where he is believed to be in a stable condition.
"At this early stage no-one else is sought in connection with the incident," Scotland Yard said in a statement.
A murder inquiry has been launched, led by Detective Chief Inspector Bob Mahoney.
Mr Mahoney said: “A man wearing a mask and a wig has was seen prior to the incident. It was a black curly wig and a white mask in a Phantom of the Opera style.”
A worker in a nearby kebab shop said today that he knew the 23-year-old victim: “She would come in here every lunchtime. She was so bubbly, such a nice, pretty girl. She had been a receptionist at the college for about a year.”
(Thanks to Benjamin Singleton and Todd Campbell for bringing this event to my attention.)
(BTW, a language arts teacher is mentioned in my posting on the Olympic Peninsula rampage of Saturday, September 20, 2008. Also, I note the strange name game link that incident has to the Kip Kinkel school shooting, ten years ago, where Kinkel killed his Spanish teacher parents before going to school to murder two classmates.)
Eleven Dead In Finnish College Shooting
Tuesday's shootings in Kauhajoki, began just before 1100 local time (0800 GMT). At least eleven people have been killed and two others wounded in a shooting spree at a college in the small town in western Finland, some 330km (205 miles) north of the capital, Helsinki.
Police said the gunman, thought to be a student in his early 20s, then shot himself. His condition is unclear. (He died later.)
The gunmen apparently posted a YouTube video of himself on the internet last week firing a gun. As a result, police interviewed him on Monday but did not revoke his licence, the interior minister said.
Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said this was a "tragic day" for Finland, said BBC News.
An estimated 200 students were thought to be in the college buildings at the time.
A BBC correspondent in Finland said a gunman dressed in black was seen at the school, apparently carrying an automatic weapon. A man with a ski mask was seen entering the building with a large bag, national broadcaster YLE reported. Shots were fired soon afterwards, and reports emerged that several people were seriously wounded.
School caretaker Jukka Forsberg told Finnish TV: "Within a short space of time I heard several dozen rounds of shots, in other words it was an automatic pistol. I saw some female students who were wailing and moaning and one managed to escape out of the back door."
Police ordered an evacuation and called for reinforcements as fires blazed in the building.
The gunman remained at large within the college grounds for some time.
Mr Vanhanen confirmed the gunman had shot himself but gave no details of his condition.
Media reports said the gunman was being treated for a bullet wound to the head at Tampere University Hospital.
Mr Vanhanen expressed condolences to the families of the victims and declared Wednesday a day of national mourning.
Interior Minister Anne Holmlund said police questioned the man about the YouTube video, which showed him shooting at a firing range.
"Police were aware of this and spoke to him on Monday, September 22," she said.
"However, the police officer on duty decided there was no need to terminate his gun licence."
The gunman was given a "temporary licence" for a .22-calibre firearm this year, Ms Holmlund said.
In November 2007, eight people died in another school attack in Finland.
In that incident, the gunman, Pekka-Eric Auvinen, posted a video on YouTube as a preview of his attack, pledging to "eliminate" those he saw as "unfit".
In the wake of that attack, Finland's government pledged to raise the minimum age for buying guns.
But the country has a long tradition of hunting and weapons-bearing, with about 1.6 million firearms in private hands.
Police said the gunman, thought to be a student in his early 20s, then shot himself. His condition is unclear. (He died later.)
The gunmen apparently posted a YouTube video of himself on the internet last week firing a gun. As a result, police interviewed him on Monday but did not revoke his licence, the interior minister said.
Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said this was a "tragic day" for Finland, said BBC News.
An estimated 200 students were thought to be in the college buildings at the time.
A BBC correspondent in Finland said a gunman dressed in black was seen at the school, apparently carrying an automatic weapon. A man with a ski mask was seen entering the building with a large bag, national broadcaster YLE reported. Shots were fired soon afterwards, and reports emerged that several people were seriously wounded.
School caretaker Jukka Forsberg told Finnish TV: "Within a short space of time I heard several dozen rounds of shots, in other words it was an automatic pistol. I saw some female students who were wailing and moaning and one managed to escape out of the back door."
Police ordered an evacuation and called for reinforcements as fires blazed in the building.
The gunman remained at large within the college grounds for some time.
Mr Vanhanen confirmed the gunman had shot himself but gave no details of his condition.
Media reports said the gunman was being treated for a bullet wound to the head at Tampere University Hospital.
Mr Vanhanen expressed condolences to the families of the victims and declared Wednesday a day of national mourning.
Interior Minister Anne Holmlund said police questioned the man about the YouTube video, which showed him shooting at a firing range.
"Police were aware of this and spoke to him on Monday, September 22," she said.
"However, the police officer on duty decided there was no need to terminate his gun licence."
The gunman was given a "temporary licence" for a .22-calibre firearm this year, Ms Holmlund said.
In November 2007, eight people died in another school attack in Finland.
In that incident, the gunman, Pekka-Eric Auvinen, posted a video on YouTube as a preview of his attack, pledging to "eliminate" those he saw as "unfit".
In the wake of that attack, Finland's government pledged to raise the minimum age for buying guns.
But the country has a long tradition of hunting and weapons-bearing, with about 1.6 million firearms in private hands.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Another Canadian Bus Stabbing
A young man was stabbed Sunday, September 21, 2008, aboard a Winnipeg-bound Greyhound bus travelling near the town of White River, about 300 kilometres north of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, according to reporter Marcus Grundt of Canadian Press.
Police are investigating a stabbing aboard the Greyhound bus eerily on its way Winnipeg, during an incident in which a young man was attacked by another passenger as the vehicle travelled through northern Ontario. It appears to mirror another recent Greyhound bus involving Winnipeg.
The man who was stabbed is believed to be in his 20s. He was taken to hospital Sunday afternoon with minor injuries, the Sault Star newspaper reported.
Police arrested a 28-year-old man near the town of White River, shortly after the bus driver let him get off at the side of the highway.
“I can confirm that an incident did occur aboard one of our buses,” said Greyhound spokesperson Abby Wambaugh, speaking from Dallas, Texas.
“The incident occurred 10 miles [16 kilometres] east of White River,” she said. “The bus originated in Toronto and was headed for its final destination of Winnipeg.”
Wambaugh said the company is “co-operating fully” with Ontario Provincial Police in the investigation.
Another bus was provided for the 13 remaining passengers to continue on their trip.
Update: Police in Ontario admitted they put a mentally troubled convict on a Winnipeg-bound Greyhound bus Sunday afternoon but don't know how he managed to sneak a knife on board which was later used to stab a sleeping passenger.
Monday's revelation has sparked multiple investigations and left critics howling in protest, saying the case further underscores how dangerous public bus transportation is in Canada.
"It's absolutely astounding," said Winnipeg defence lawyer Jay Prober, who recently filed a lawsuit against the RCMP and Greyhound following the July murder and beheading of Winnipeg resident Tim McLean on board a Greyhound near Portage la Prairie.
"This latest incident is just a vindication of the lawsuit, not that we needed it. What's it going to take for Greyhound to do something to protect their passengers? Are they waiting for someone else to get killed?"
David Wayne Roberts, 28, of Manitouwadge, Ontario, has been charged with aggravated assault and breach of probation. He will appear in a Sault Ste. Marie courtroom Tuesday morning. (As has been noted by various researchers, for some strange reason many violent criminals share the middle name "Wayne.")
The 20-year-old victim suffered non life-threatening injuries after passengers say he was stabbed in the chest while sitting on the bus around 4:15 p.m. (EDT) Sunday. He remains in hospital but is expected to be released later this week. His name and hometown haven't been released.
Winnipeg author Anita Daher (upcoming book in 2009, On the Trail of the Bushman, set in the Yukon) was on the bus and witnessed the attack. She told the Winnipeg Free Press on Sunday night the attack was unprovoked and happened shortly after police brought the man on board.
OPP and municipal police confirmed her story Monday, saying there was no apparent history between the victim and the accused and no motive has been established.
Police said Roberts boarded the bus in Wawa, Ontario, armed with a ticket that had been paid for with social-assistance funds supplied to him by the Wawa municipal police earlier in the day. The OPP confirmed they were asked to assist in getting Roberts on his way. Wawa Sgt. Larry Ross told CBC they first dealt with Roberts early Sunday morning when they charged him with causing a public disturbance. Roberts has a previous criminal history and is currently on probation for unspecified convictions. Ross said they briefly detained Roberts but released him later in the morning.
Roberts then returned to the police station a few hours later, seeking to be taken to hospital for what Ross called "psychological reasons." Roberts was examined by a doctor but then released after they found no reason to hold him under the Mental Health Act.
Police then stepped in to help get Roberts on his way back home, which they said is a common practice. Ross told CBC they searched him immediately after his arrest and before going to the hospital but not before he boarded the bus because there was no valid, lawful reason to do so.
Ross and other members of the Wawa detachment did not return several Free Press calls seeking comment Monday.
Manitoba RCMP Sgt. Line Karpish told the Free Press it's not unusual to assist transients and hitchhikers with transportation - especially when the weather turns colder in the fall and winter. She said the expenses are usually covered by the town or municipality but police may be asked to assist with arrangements.
"We wouldn't just leave someone out there in the middle of nowhere," said Karpish. She said a person who is clearly intoxicated would be detained until they sobered up, while a person exhibiting obvious signs of mental illness would be examined.
"A mentally deranged person would not just be turned loose on a bus," she said.
The RCMP occasionally transport criminals on commercial flights but never use buses or trains, said Karpish.
"Obviously public safety is first and foremost. We have a two-to-one ratio of officers (to prisoner) and they are always handcuffed and shackled. We have to notify the airlines and ultimately it's the pilot that has the last say as to whether we board or not," said Karpish.
"We do it very discreetly, usually first in, last out. And all prisoners would be searched multiple times," she said.
The incident comes less than two months after a Greyhound passenger beheaded Tim McLean, a 22-year-old man from Winnipeg, sparking questions about security on buses.
Vince Weiguang Li, 40, is charged with second-degree murder and is undergoing a psychiatric evaluation to see whether he is fit to stand trial. He’s scheduled to appear in court October 6, 2008.
(Thanks to K. McGillis and S. Lewis for media input.)
Police are investigating a stabbing aboard the Greyhound bus eerily on its way Winnipeg, during an incident in which a young man was attacked by another passenger as the vehicle travelled through northern Ontario. It appears to mirror another recent Greyhound bus involving Winnipeg.
The man who was stabbed is believed to be in his 20s. He was taken to hospital Sunday afternoon with minor injuries, the Sault Star newspaper reported.
Police arrested a 28-year-old man near the town of White River, shortly after the bus driver let him get off at the side of the highway.
“I can confirm that an incident did occur aboard one of our buses,” said Greyhound spokesperson Abby Wambaugh, speaking from Dallas, Texas.
“The incident occurred 10 miles [16 kilometres] east of White River,” she said. “The bus originated in Toronto and was headed for its final destination of Winnipeg.”
Wambaugh said the company is “co-operating fully” with Ontario Provincial Police in the investigation.
Another bus was provided for the 13 remaining passengers to continue on their trip.
Update: Police in Ontario admitted they put a mentally troubled convict on a Winnipeg-bound Greyhound bus Sunday afternoon but don't know how he managed to sneak a knife on board which was later used to stab a sleeping passenger.
Monday's revelation has sparked multiple investigations and left critics howling in protest, saying the case further underscores how dangerous public bus transportation is in Canada.
"It's absolutely astounding," said Winnipeg defence lawyer Jay Prober, who recently filed a lawsuit against the RCMP and Greyhound following the July murder and beheading of Winnipeg resident Tim McLean on board a Greyhound near Portage la Prairie.
"This latest incident is just a vindication of the lawsuit, not that we needed it. What's it going to take for Greyhound to do something to protect their passengers? Are they waiting for someone else to get killed?"
David Wayne Roberts, 28, of Manitouwadge, Ontario, has been charged with aggravated assault and breach of probation. He will appear in a Sault Ste. Marie courtroom Tuesday morning. (As has been noted by various researchers, for some strange reason many violent criminals share the middle name "Wayne.")
The 20-year-old victim suffered non life-threatening injuries after passengers say he was stabbed in the chest while sitting on the bus around 4:15 p.m. (EDT) Sunday. He remains in hospital but is expected to be released later this week. His name and hometown haven't been released.
Winnipeg author Anita Daher (upcoming book in 2009, On the Trail of the Bushman, set in the Yukon) was on the bus and witnessed the attack. She told the Winnipeg Free Press on Sunday night the attack was unprovoked and happened shortly after police brought the man on board.
OPP and municipal police confirmed her story Monday, saying there was no apparent history between the victim and the accused and no motive has been established.
Police said Roberts boarded the bus in Wawa, Ontario, armed with a ticket that had been paid for with social-assistance funds supplied to him by the Wawa municipal police earlier in the day. The OPP confirmed they were asked to assist in getting Roberts on his way. Wawa Sgt. Larry Ross told CBC they first dealt with Roberts early Sunday morning when they charged him with causing a public disturbance. Roberts has a previous criminal history and is currently on probation for unspecified convictions. Ross said they briefly detained Roberts but released him later in the morning.
Roberts then returned to the police station a few hours later, seeking to be taken to hospital for what Ross called "psychological reasons." Roberts was examined by a doctor but then released after they found no reason to hold him under the Mental Health Act.
Police then stepped in to help get Roberts on his way back home, which they said is a common practice. Ross told CBC they searched him immediately after his arrest and before going to the hospital but not before he boarded the bus because there was no valid, lawful reason to do so.
Ross and other members of the Wawa detachment did not return several Free Press calls seeking comment Monday.
Manitoba RCMP Sgt. Line Karpish told the Free Press it's not unusual to assist transients and hitchhikers with transportation - especially when the weather turns colder in the fall and winter. She said the expenses are usually covered by the town or municipality but police may be asked to assist with arrangements.
"We wouldn't just leave someone out there in the middle of nowhere," said Karpish. She said a person who is clearly intoxicated would be detained until they sobered up, while a person exhibiting obvious signs of mental illness would be examined.
"A mentally deranged person would not just be turned loose on a bus," she said.
The RCMP occasionally transport criminals on commercial flights but never use buses or trains, said Karpish.
"Obviously public safety is first and foremost. We have a two-to-one ratio of officers (to prisoner) and they are always handcuffed and shackled. We have to notify the airlines and ultimately it's the pilot that has the last say as to whether we board or not," said Karpish.
"We do it very discreetly, usually first in, last out. And all prisoners would be searched multiple times," she said.
The incident comes less than two months after a Greyhound passenger beheaded Tim McLean, a 22-year-old man from Winnipeg, sparking questions about security on buses.
Vince Weiguang Li, 40, is charged with second-degree murder and is undergoing a psychiatric evaluation to see whether he is fit to stand trial. He’s scheduled to appear in court October 6, 2008.
(Thanks to K. McGillis and S. Lewis for media input.)
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Olympic Shootings Have Links To School Gun Incident
A school gun incident two years ago appears to have been a prelude to the Olympic Peninsula shooting that left three dead over the weekend.
The shooting also comes not long after a 28-year-old Washington man was charged with killing six people and injuring four in a shooting rampage that started about 70 miles north of Seattle. According to court documents, Isaac Zamora told police that God had instructed him to "kill evil."
A U.S. Forest Service officer was fatally shot on Saturday, September 20, 2008, while making a traffic stop of a man who investigators suspect had also killed the owner of the pickup truck he was driving when captured, the Washington State Patrol said. The suspect died later in a shootout with sheriff's deputies. But in 2006, his estranged wife warned officials of his violent nature, but had to resign from her teaching job when she decided to protect herself.
The FBI was investigating the shooting of Officer Kristine Fairbanks, 51, a canine officer with 15 years in the forest service, state Trooper Krista D. Hedstrom told The Associated Press early Sunday.
Shawn M. Roe, 36, the suspected shooter, had three handguns and fired at least one shot at the deputies who confronted him at a convenience store, Hedstrom said.
Roe was a convicted felon with "an active criminal history" and was supposed to be under state Corrections Department supervision, she added. He apparently was not being sought on any warrant, she said. He was wanted on an arrest warrant from Mason County.
The third shooting victim was described only as a man in his 60s.
"We're just hoping that nobody else shows up" dead or injured, Hedstrom said.
The shootings occurred on the northern Olympic Peninsula about 50 miles west of Seattle.
Fairbanks called the state patrol at 2:22 p.m. and said she had stopped Roe in an old Dodge van without license plates near the Dungeness Forks campground in Olympic National Park, noted reporter Tim Klass.
When a dispatcher tried to contact Fairbanks with information on Roe, there was no response and troopers and a sheriff's deputy were dispatched. The deputy arrived first, at 3:10 p.m., and found Fairbanks dead. Her police dog was unharmed in her vehicle.
Authorities found the van about 6:30 p.m., abandoned not far away in a densely wooded area. Posters and flyers warning people to be on the lookout for Roe were distributed in the area.
A security guard at a convenience store near the Seven Cedars Casino on U.S. Highway 101 alerted sheriff's deputies at about 9:30 p.m. that a man matching Roe's description was in the store, Hedstrom said.
Two deputies arrived and told him to put up his hands as he came out of the store, but he drew a handgun and fired at least once before both deputies opened fire, Hedstrom said. Neither deputy was hit. Roe died at the scene.
Roe was found to be carrying two modern handguns and an older six-shooter, she said.
Investigators checked the registration of a white pickup he was seen driving when he arrived at the store, went to the house of the registered owner, and found the body of a man who had been shot, Hedstrom said.
Shawn Roe had been, indirectly, in the news before.
According to the October 24, 2006, issue of the Mason County Daily News, a North Thurston School District teacher from Shelton, Washinton, was accused of bringing a gun onto school grounds and had to resign. The North Thurston School Board accepted the resignation of Mary Catherine Roe, a language arts teacher at Nisqually Middle School.
The Thurston County Sheriff's Office said Roe brought the handgun inside the school building in early September 2006. Roe told deputies she had the gun because she was afraid of her estranged husband, Shawn Roe. At the time, Mary Roe was being investigated for unlawfully carrying a firearm on school grounds, which is a gross misdemeanor. Under state law, guns can be brought to schools "only in certain instances."
North Thurston High School, located in the North Thurston Public Schools District in Olympia, Washington, is a comprehensive high school which first opened in 1955. North Thurston serves a portion of Lacey in Mason County, and part of northeast Thurston County, Washington State.
North Thurston High School is not to be confused with the Thurston High School shooting of Springfield, Oregon. On May 20, 1998, student Kipland "Kip" Kinkel killed his parents, William and Faith, both Spanish teachers at local high schools. On May 21, 1998, he arrived at class at Thurston and murdered two classmates, Ben Walker and Mikael Nickolauson, and injured 25. Kinkel was subdued by fellow students, at least one of whom had himself been shot.
Kinkel had brought three weapons to the high school, a .22 caliber rifle, a .22 caliber handgun, and a 9mm Glock semi-automatic pistol. His case was a precusor to the Columbine High School massacre of April 20, 1999.
The shooting also comes not long after a 28-year-old Washington man was charged with killing six people and injuring four in a shooting rampage that started about 70 miles north of Seattle. According to court documents, Isaac Zamora told police that God had instructed him to "kill evil."
A U.S. Forest Service officer was fatally shot on Saturday, September 20, 2008, while making a traffic stop of a man who investigators suspect had also killed the owner of the pickup truck he was driving when captured, the Washington State Patrol said. The suspect died later in a shootout with sheriff's deputies. But in 2006, his estranged wife warned officials of his violent nature, but had to resign from her teaching job when she decided to protect herself.
The FBI was investigating the shooting of Officer Kristine Fairbanks, 51, a canine officer with 15 years in the forest service, state Trooper Krista D. Hedstrom told The Associated Press early Sunday.
Shawn M. Roe, 36, the suspected shooter, had three handguns and fired at least one shot at the deputies who confronted him at a convenience store, Hedstrom said.
Roe was a convicted felon with "an active criminal history" and was supposed to be under state Corrections Department supervision, she added. He apparently was not being sought on any warrant, she said. He was wanted on an arrest warrant from Mason County.
The third shooting victim was described only as a man in his 60s.
"We're just hoping that nobody else shows up" dead or injured, Hedstrom said.
The shootings occurred on the northern Olympic Peninsula about 50 miles west of Seattle.
Fairbanks called the state patrol at 2:22 p.m. and said she had stopped Roe in an old Dodge van without license plates near the Dungeness Forks campground in Olympic National Park, noted reporter Tim Klass.
When a dispatcher tried to contact Fairbanks with information on Roe, there was no response and troopers and a sheriff's deputy were dispatched. The deputy arrived first, at 3:10 p.m., and found Fairbanks dead. Her police dog was unharmed in her vehicle.
Authorities found the van about 6:30 p.m., abandoned not far away in a densely wooded area. Posters and flyers warning people to be on the lookout for Roe were distributed in the area.
A security guard at a convenience store near the Seven Cedars Casino on U.S. Highway 101 alerted sheriff's deputies at about 9:30 p.m. that a man matching Roe's description was in the store, Hedstrom said.
Two deputies arrived and told him to put up his hands as he came out of the store, but he drew a handgun and fired at least once before both deputies opened fire, Hedstrom said. Neither deputy was hit. Roe died at the scene.
Roe was found to be carrying two modern handguns and an older six-shooter, she said.
Investigators checked the registration of a white pickup he was seen driving when he arrived at the store, went to the house of the registered owner, and found the body of a man who had been shot, Hedstrom said.
Shawn Roe had been, indirectly, in the news before.
According to the October 24, 2006, issue of the Mason County Daily News, a North Thurston School District teacher from Shelton, Washinton, was accused of bringing a gun onto school grounds and had to resign. The North Thurston School Board accepted the resignation of Mary Catherine Roe, a language arts teacher at Nisqually Middle School.
The Thurston County Sheriff's Office said Roe brought the handgun inside the school building in early September 2006. Roe told deputies she had the gun because she was afraid of her estranged husband, Shawn Roe. At the time, Mary Roe was being investigated for unlawfully carrying a firearm on school grounds, which is a gross misdemeanor. Under state law, guns can be brought to schools "only in certain instances."
North Thurston High School, located in the North Thurston Public Schools District in Olympia, Washington, is a comprehensive high school which first opened in 1955. North Thurston serves a portion of Lacey in Mason County, and part of northeast Thurston County, Washington State.
North Thurston High School is not to be confused with the Thurston High School shooting of Springfield, Oregon. On May 20, 1998, student Kipland "Kip" Kinkel killed his parents, William and Faith, both Spanish teachers at local high schools. On May 21, 1998, he arrived at class at Thurston and murdered two classmates, Ben Walker and Mikael Nickolauson, and injured 25. Kinkel was subdued by fellow students, at least one of whom had himself been shot.
Kinkel had brought three weapons to the high school, a .22 caliber rifle, a .22 caliber handgun, and a 9mm Glock semi-automatic pistol. His case was a precusor to the Columbine High School massacre of April 20, 1999.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
666 Stabbing Spree
The "when" seems less important than the graphic details to the media, but here are the latest mass stabbings and beheadings, this time, from Eurasia, 155 miles (250 kilometers) northeast of Moscow, Russia.
An alleged gang of Satanists, accused of stabbing four teenagers 666 times and eating their body parts, were carrying out an initiation ritual during one of the murders, according to Russian police.
Police said that during the murders of the two teenage girls, the Satanists carried out a ritualistic initiation ceremony for a new recruit to their cult.
As part of the initiation, the blood of the dead girls was poured over the near-naked body of 18-year-old Ksenia Kuznetsova, while they prayed to the Devil.
They carried out the murders and induction at the same time, the UK's Sun quoted a source, as saying.
The victims, aged between 15 and 16 described by police as "Goths" were stabbed 666 times before being roasted on a bonfire and eaten. They had apparently been singled out by the Satanists because they were fans of "Goth" music and fashion. One of the girls was said to have had a document titled "101 rules of Satanism" among her belongings. Kuznetsova was the ninth member to join the group all of whom had the nicknames Dead, Corpse, Hitler, Fang, The Count, Doctor, Dark and Goth. Kuznetsova — known as Kara, meaning punishment — and three of the youths have been quizzed by cops over the killing spree.
(Of course, critical thinking would call for us to ask, how can the authorities prove that someone was stabbed 666 times if their body parts have been eaten? Why should the word of the murderers be taken as fact versus attention-seeking sensationalized testimony?)
Two more victims, a boy and a girl, were killed and dismembered the next day by the gang in a rural area of Russia. The four teenagers slain in Russia were Varya Kurmina, Olga Pukhova, Andrei Sorokin and Anya Gorokhova. The remains of a 16-year-old boy and three girls aged 16 and 17 were discovered in a pit near the home of the alleged ringleader Nikolai Ogolobyak in the Yaroslavl region. The remains of a rat tied to an upturned cross marked the spot where they had been executed.
(It should be pointed out that in Yaroslavl, one of the most prominent churches in the important Russian mafia Perekop section of town is the Church of Saint John the Baptist, celebrating the beheaded saint. Yaroslavl is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl Rivers. It was preceded here by the Viking site Timerevo from the 8th or 9th centuries.)
Russia has a history of gruesome killings. The so-called "chessboard killer" Alexander Pichushkin was convicted of 48 murders and three attempted murders last October after he told a court that he had wanted to kill enough people to fill all 64 squares on a chessboard.
He claimed to have murdered 63 people in a bid to overtake the country's worst serial killer, the notorious "Rostov ripper" Andrei Chikatilo, who was executed by firing squad in 1994 for the deaths of 52 women and children.
(Of course, my question is "when" did this occur? Why no specific date in conjunction with the high-level of graphic details?)
Sources: Sun, Times, ANI, & Todd Campbell's Through The Looking Glass.
An alleged gang of Satanists, accused of stabbing four teenagers 666 times and eating their body parts, were carrying out an initiation ritual during one of the murders, according to Russian police.
Police said that during the murders of the two teenage girls, the Satanists carried out a ritualistic initiation ceremony for a new recruit to their cult.
As part of the initiation, the blood of the dead girls was poured over the near-naked body of 18-year-old Ksenia Kuznetsova, while they prayed to the Devil.
They carried out the murders and induction at the same time, the UK's Sun quoted a source, as saying.
The victims, aged between 15 and 16 described by police as "Goths" were stabbed 666 times before being roasted on a bonfire and eaten. They had apparently been singled out by the Satanists because they were fans of "Goth" music and fashion. One of the girls was said to have had a document titled "101 rules of Satanism" among her belongings. Kuznetsova was the ninth member to join the group all of whom had the nicknames Dead, Corpse, Hitler, Fang, The Count, Doctor, Dark and Goth. Kuznetsova — known as Kara, meaning punishment — and three of the youths have been quizzed by cops over the killing spree.
(Of course, critical thinking would call for us to ask, how can the authorities prove that someone was stabbed 666 times if their body parts have been eaten? Why should the word of the murderers be taken as fact versus attention-seeking sensationalized testimony?)
Two more victims, a boy and a girl, were killed and dismembered the next day by the gang in a rural area of Russia. The four teenagers slain in Russia were Varya Kurmina, Olga Pukhova, Andrei Sorokin and Anya Gorokhova. The remains of a 16-year-old boy and three girls aged 16 and 17 were discovered in a pit near the home of the alleged ringleader Nikolai Ogolobyak in the Yaroslavl region. The remains of a rat tied to an upturned cross marked the spot where they had been executed.
(It should be pointed out that in Yaroslavl, one of the most prominent churches in the important Russian mafia Perekop section of town is the Church of Saint John the Baptist, celebrating the beheaded saint. Yaroslavl is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl Rivers. It was preceded here by the Viking site Timerevo from the 8th or 9th centuries.)
Russia has a history of gruesome killings. The so-called "chessboard killer" Alexander Pichushkin was convicted of 48 murders and three attempted murders last October after he told a court that he had wanted to kill enough people to fill all 64 squares on a chessboard.
He claimed to have murdered 63 people in a bid to overtake the country's worst serial killer, the notorious "Rostov ripper" Andrei Chikatilo, who was executed by firing squad in 1994 for the deaths of 52 women and children.
(Of course, my question is "when" did this occur? Why no specific date in conjunction with the high-level of graphic details?)
Sources: Sun, Times, ANI, & Todd Campbell's Through The Looking Glass.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Weekend Asian Stabbing Sprees Leave 3 Dead
Two so-called "stabbing rampages" have taken place in Asia over the weekend, one in Japan and the second in China, both related to Autumn Festivals.
On Saturday, September 13, 2008, one person was killed and six others injured when a man went on a stabbing rampage in central Japan -- the latest in a series of such sprees in the country in the last few months.
The attacks occurred during a festival (attended by people having late-night celebrations to welcome the onset of fall). At a shrine in Ishikawa Prefecture, a man was seen indiscriminately slashing people with a sickle, the Kyodo news agency reported.
Police arrested a 42-year-old vendor, Toshiaki Arai, and charged him with killing a 30-year-old man and wounding six others, Kyodo said. He was arrested at Kuwashima Jinja, a shrine in Hakusan in Ishikawa state.
The Associated Press reported that Arai told police he was angry that customers had made fun of him.
Police say Yohei Okada died from severe blood loss shortly after the stabbing. Among the six other men injured, two remain hospitalized Sunday afternoon, AP said.
In June, a man ran over a group of people with his truck and then stabbed 18, killing at least 7, in a video game district of downtown Tokyo. Twelve others were wounded, police said.
The following month, a woman stabbed seven men at a train station outside Tokyo after trying to slit her wrist in an attempt to kill herself.
As often happens in such situations when an international story on such a rampage occurs, after the Japanese public stabbing, a private domestic outburst, a copycat takes place.
A man in southern China’s Guangdong Province killed himself after stabbing his mother-in-law to death and seriously injuring his wife who had refused to go back home with him. A taxi driver was also injured in the stabbing spree in Gaozhou City in Guangdong at midday on Sunday, September 14, 2008, the local Guangzhou Daily reported today.
The wife, surnamed Cheng, is in a critical condition in hospital though the taxi driver is recovering.
The man, whose name was not revealed, had taken a taxi to his mother-in-law’s home and demanded that his wife, Cheng, return home with him for the Mid-Autumn festival. Cheng had been staying at her mother’s house after an earlier fight with her husband.
The angry man told his wife he would stab her if she refused but this threat angered the mother-in-law so much that she said if he dared to he should kill her first, a neighbor reported.
Enraged the man then attacked the mother-in-law and then his wife. His ill father-in-law could only watch the brutal assaults. The man fled to a nearby mountain after attacking the taxi driver. Police rushed to the mountain but found the man dead there.
Neighbors said the man had never got on with his in-laws and that he and his wife were constantly fighting.
On Saturday, September 13, 2008, one person was killed and six others injured when a man went on a stabbing rampage in central Japan -- the latest in a series of such sprees in the country in the last few months.
The attacks occurred during a festival (attended by people having late-night celebrations to welcome the onset of fall). At a shrine in Ishikawa Prefecture, a man was seen indiscriminately slashing people with a sickle, the Kyodo news agency reported.
Police arrested a 42-year-old vendor, Toshiaki Arai, and charged him with killing a 30-year-old man and wounding six others, Kyodo said. He was arrested at Kuwashima Jinja, a shrine in Hakusan in Ishikawa state.
The Associated Press reported that Arai told police he was angry that customers had made fun of him.
Police say Yohei Okada died from severe blood loss shortly after the stabbing. Among the six other men injured, two remain hospitalized Sunday afternoon, AP said.
In June, a man ran over a group of people with his truck and then stabbed 18, killing at least 7, in a video game district of downtown Tokyo. Twelve others were wounded, police said.
The following month, a woman stabbed seven men at a train station outside Tokyo after trying to slit her wrist in an attempt to kill herself.
As often happens in such situations when an international story on such a rampage occurs, after the Japanese public stabbing, a private domestic outburst, a copycat takes place.
A man in southern China’s Guangdong Province killed himself after stabbing his mother-in-law to death and seriously injuring his wife who had refused to go back home with him. A taxi driver was also injured in the stabbing spree in Gaozhou City in Guangdong at midday on Sunday, September 14, 2008, the local Guangzhou Daily reported today.
The wife, surnamed Cheng, is in a critical condition in hospital though the taxi driver is recovering.
The man, whose name was not revealed, had taken a taxi to his mother-in-law’s home and demanded that his wife, Cheng, return home with him for the Mid-Autumn festival. Cheng had been staying at her mother’s house after an earlier fight with her husband.
The angry man told his wife he would stab her if she refused but this threat angered the mother-in-law so much that she said if he dared to he should kill her first, a neighbor reported.
Enraged the man then attacked the mother-in-law and then his wife. His ill father-in-law could only watch the brutal assaults. The man fled to a nearby mountain after attacking the taxi driver. Police rushed to the mountain but found the man dead there.
Neighbors said the man had never got on with his in-laws and that he and his wife were constantly fighting.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
SA School's Beheading Bloodbath: Clown Masks, Slipknot & Joker
A technical high school rampage, the voice of the Joker, near beheadings, curved-bladed samurai swords, macabre clown masks, and Slipknot lead singer's Heath Ledger tattoo all merely seem to be incredibly coincidental cultural icons crashing together in one incident. Happenstance? Or enemy action?
On Monday, September 1, 2008, in Johannesburg, Morné Harmse, an 18-year-old matric pupil (one who is in the final year of high school in South Africa) allegedly killed a fellow student with a sword. Harmse apparently had envisioned a widespread bloodbath in his school.
The teenage attacker staged his deadly assault just before school assembly on Monday morning. He had left home dressed in his school uniform, including a red matric jersey and carrying four masks and three Samurai swords.
The teenager's masks were fashioned after those worn by members of the band Slipknot. One looked like a clown mask, one like a gas mask, one was red with black dreadlocks, and another was black.
He covered his face and neck in black paint and tried to convince his close friends to join him.
He carried out his attack before school started, slashing Pretorius across the neck.
"It looked like he beheaded him. I just ran when I saw him fall," said Pretorius's friend JC Welman.
One of Harmse's friends, Shaun Collins, 17, a grade-12 pupil at Nic Diederichs Technical High School in Krugersdorp, spoke with the media on Tuesday about how the schoolboy had told him and other friends what he planned to do.
"He wanted to wait until the children assembled in the hall and then kill them. He used the word 'massacre'; I understood he meant a bloodbath."
Minutes before the assembly began, Harmse put on a mask, pulled out a samurai sword and slashed open 16-year-old Jacques Pretorius's carotid artery. Some there reported that the victim was nearly beheaded by the act.
Harmse then walked around the school and apparently injured three other people - two workers Sam Namamela, 43, Joseph Kodisang, 26, and a grade-11 pupil Stephan Bouwer, 18. All were injured in the head.
Shaun told on Tuesday evening how he and his group of friends had seen the teenager "losing it". Shortly after Shaun arrived at school at about 07:10 am, three of his friends came to him and said Harmse's "head isn't right".
When Shaun and the others got to Harmse, he was already wearing his mask - similar to the one worn by Corey Taylor, the lead singer of the heavy metal band Slipknot.
Harmse was rearranging three swords, including a smallish Katana and a Sekizo Ninja sword, in his belt, and putting on gloves. He had apparently made the mask about three weeks before the attack.
"At first we thought he was joking but then we saw a bomb in his right hand," said schoolmate Shaun Collins.
It is believed he had been making bombs since last year.
"We kept our distance the whole time because we were really scared of him. I told him to put down the bomb but he refused. I took the bomb from his hand and threw it away. It didn't do anything. The whole time he was speaking with a weird voice, almost like the Joker's voice in Batman," Collins mentioned.
(Slipknot's Taylor has his own name tattooed in Russian on the right side of his body as well as a tattoo of Michael Jackson, Johnny Depp and Heath Ledger.)
"He also kept saying things like, 'Today I'm going to do it. Today is the massacre.'" Shaun said the boy then insisted that Max Brechlin, 18, also put on a mask.
The next moment he turned to Shaun and said, "Do you want to see something cool?"
He then pulled out his sword and Jacques - who happened to be walking past with a group of pupils - was hacked to death. "That sword was as blunt as a butter knife. I couldn't believe the force with which he struck. It was a very deep wound," Shaun said.
The pupils of his eyes apparently looked "smaller than usual". Shaun said he had noticed earlier that the pupil had two other masks in his school bag: a gas mask and a clown mask, similar to those worn by other members of Slipknot. Shaun and his friends also made similar masks and wore them at school on two occasions.
"I was very interested in Slipknot. The drummer is amazing; I would like to be able to play like him one day. But after I saw my friend? It's as if the music had changed him. I think about it very differently now," Shaun said.
The suspect will appear in Krugersdorp Magistrate's Court on Wednesday on a charge of murder and three charges of attempted murder. He will appear on charges of conspiracy to murder and possession of a dangerous weapon.
The lead singer of US metal band Slipknot thinks the Krugersdorp schoolboy who allegedly killed a fellow pupil and injured three others is ‘‘f****d up’’.
Yesterday, Corey Taylor finally broke the band’s silence on Monday’s schoolground slaying by speaking exclusively to the US music magazine Blender.
Earlier this week, the band’s label company, Roadrunner Records, refused to comment, but admitted they were aware of the incident.
Morné Harmse, 18, appeared in the Krugersdorp Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday in connection with charges of murder and attempted murder following the samurai sword attack.
Harmse apparently had an obsession with the Grammy award-winning band, who are perhaps best known for the macabre masks they wear during shows.
The 18-year-old wore a similar mask when he allegedly attacked his fellow students, and had three more masks in a bag, together with three samurai swords.
In the magazine interview posted online, Taylor said Slipknot could not be blamed for people who are “f****d up and lost”.
He said he was ‘‘obviously’’ disturbed by the incident, but added the band could not take responsibility for what happened.
He was quoted as saying: “As far as my responsibility for that goes, it stops there, because I know our message is positive.”
He said that when the band was linked to violence in the past, such as the murder of a young man in California in 2003, he used to “sweat it really hard”.
‘‘But the thing I have to realise is the fact that I’m not encouraging anybody to kill anybody .”
South African radio presenter Barney Simon also said he did not believe the band could be blamed. "A disturbed youngster went on a violent rampage not because of Slipknot’s music, but because of other demons inside him," he told The Times in South Africa.
On Monday, September 1, 2008, in Johannesburg, Morné Harmse, an 18-year-old matric pupil (one who is in the final year of high school in South Africa) allegedly killed a fellow student with a sword. Harmse apparently had envisioned a widespread bloodbath in his school.
The teenage attacker staged his deadly assault just before school assembly on Monday morning. He had left home dressed in his school uniform, including a red matric jersey and carrying four masks and three Samurai swords.
The teenager's masks were fashioned after those worn by members of the band Slipknot. One looked like a clown mask, one like a gas mask, one was red with black dreadlocks, and another was black.
He covered his face and neck in black paint and tried to convince his close friends to join him.
He carried out his attack before school started, slashing Pretorius across the neck.
"It looked like he beheaded him. I just ran when I saw him fall," said Pretorius's friend JC Welman.
One of Harmse's friends, Shaun Collins, 17, a grade-12 pupil at Nic Diederichs Technical High School in Krugersdorp, spoke with the media on Tuesday about how the schoolboy had told him and other friends what he planned to do.
"He wanted to wait until the children assembled in the hall and then kill them. He used the word 'massacre'; I understood he meant a bloodbath."
Minutes before the assembly began, Harmse put on a mask, pulled out a samurai sword and slashed open 16-year-old Jacques Pretorius's carotid artery. Some there reported that the victim was nearly beheaded by the act.
Harmse then walked around the school and apparently injured three other people - two workers Sam Namamela, 43, Joseph Kodisang, 26, and a grade-11 pupil Stephan Bouwer, 18. All were injured in the head.
Shaun told on Tuesday evening how he and his group of friends had seen the teenager "losing it". Shortly after Shaun arrived at school at about 07:10 am, three of his friends came to him and said Harmse's "head isn't right".
When Shaun and the others got to Harmse, he was already wearing his mask - similar to the one worn by Corey Taylor, the lead singer of the heavy metal band Slipknot.
Harmse was rearranging three swords, including a smallish Katana and a Sekizo Ninja sword, in his belt, and putting on gloves. He had apparently made the mask about three weeks before the attack.
"At first we thought he was joking but then we saw a bomb in his right hand," said schoolmate Shaun Collins.
It is believed he had been making bombs since last year.
"We kept our distance the whole time because we were really scared of him. I told him to put down the bomb but he refused. I took the bomb from his hand and threw it away. It didn't do anything. The whole time he was speaking with a weird voice, almost like the Joker's voice in Batman," Collins mentioned.
(Slipknot's Taylor has his own name tattooed in Russian on the right side of his body as well as a tattoo of Michael Jackson, Johnny Depp and Heath Ledger.)
"He also kept saying things like, 'Today I'm going to do it. Today is the massacre.'" Shaun said the boy then insisted that Max Brechlin, 18, also put on a mask.
The next moment he turned to Shaun and said, "Do you want to see something cool?"
He then pulled out his sword and Jacques - who happened to be walking past with a group of pupils - was hacked to death. "That sword was as blunt as a butter knife. I couldn't believe the force with which he struck. It was a very deep wound," Shaun said.
The pupils of his eyes apparently looked "smaller than usual". Shaun said he had noticed earlier that the pupil had two other masks in his school bag: a gas mask and a clown mask, similar to those worn by other members of Slipknot. Shaun and his friends also made similar masks and wore them at school on two occasions.
"I was very interested in Slipknot. The drummer is amazing; I would like to be able to play like him one day. But after I saw my friend? It's as if the music had changed him. I think about it very differently now," Shaun said.
The suspect will appear in Krugersdorp Magistrate's Court on Wednesday on a charge of murder and three charges of attempted murder. He will appear on charges of conspiracy to murder and possession of a dangerous weapon.
The lead singer of US metal band Slipknot thinks the Krugersdorp schoolboy who allegedly killed a fellow pupil and injured three others is ‘‘f****d up’’.
Yesterday, Corey Taylor finally broke the band’s silence on Monday’s schoolground slaying by speaking exclusively to the US music magazine Blender.
Earlier this week, the band’s label company, Roadrunner Records, refused to comment, but admitted they were aware of the incident.
Morné Harmse, 18, appeared in the Krugersdorp Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday in connection with charges of murder and attempted murder following the samurai sword attack.
Harmse apparently had an obsession with the Grammy award-winning band, who are perhaps best known for the macabre masks they wear during shows.
The 18-year-old wore a similar mask when he allegedly attacked his fellow students, and had three more masks in a bag, together with three samurai swords.
In the magazine interview posted online, Taylor said Slipknot could not be blamed for people who are “f****d up and lost”.
He said he was ‘‘obviously’’ disturbed by the incident, but added the band could not take responsibility for what happened.
He was quoted as saying: “As far as my responsibility for that goes, it stops there, because I know our message is positive.”
He said that when the band was linked to violence in the past, such as the murder of a young man in California in 2003, he used to “sweat it really hard”.
‘‘But the thing I have to realise is the fact that I’m not encouraging anybody to kill anybody .”
South African radio presenter Barney Simon also said he did not believe the band could be blamed. "A disturbed youngster went on a violent rampage not because of Slipknot’s music, but because of other demons inside him," he told The Times in South Africa.
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