Recently in Crime and Violence Category
Photographing thugs 'is assault', police tell householder snapping proof of anti-social behaviour
It's the Daily Mail, but given the direction of things in Britain these days I'm buying it:
David Green, 64, and his neighbours had been plagued by the youths from a nearby comprehensive school for months, and was advised by their headmaster to identify them so action could be taken.
But when Mr Green left his £1million London flat to take photographs of the gang, who were aged around 17, he said one threatened to kill him while another called the police on his mobile.
And he claimed that a Police Community Support Officer sent to the scene promptly issued a warning that taking pictures of youths without permission was illegal, and could lead to a charge of assault.
When he started taking pictures, one of them called the cops. That's something right there, law-breakers asking the law for help. But the law sided with them.
Nothing to laugh about. This sort of thing is the natural next step after the right to defend oneself is outlawed. Note that I wrote that the right is outlawed, not removed. Big difference.
One thing worth laughing about is the Daily Mail's alt text for the image they included in the story:
Picture of yobs taken by David Green
Why is it that Green is apparently being treated like the yob?
An 18-year-old man armed with a BB gun was fatally shot while trying to rob the residents of a Franklinton home yesterday afternoon, police said.
Police arrested his two alleged accomplices, one of whom was his brother, and charged them with murder for taking part in a crime that resulted in his death.
The new Ohio castle doctrine law doesn't take effect until September. The dead intruder apparently held the BB gun to the head of the homeowner's girlfriend.
Don't commit crimes. If you do, don't do it with BB guns.
'He was threatening to beat him and kill him'
Neighbor killed after threats, home invasion
A Prairie Creek resident shot and killed a neighbor who had kicked in his door Tuesday evening and tried to assault him, police said.
Johnny Hawthorne shot Mekin Kantaphone with a handgun once in the head in self-defense inside Hawthorne's home, Benton County sheriff's Capt. Mike Sydoriak said.
The prosecuting attorney's office will decide whether the shooting was justified, Sydoriak said.
Kantaphone, 34, sent threatening text and voice messages to Hawthorne, 25, earlier in the day, he said.
There are allegations that the shooter was having an affair with the shootee's wife. The shootee's brother tried to keep him from going in, but he couldn't.
Texas man charged with firing on random motorists
A 22-year-old man has been charged with shooting at random motorists over three days in the Dallas suburbs, and prosecutors said Tuesday they would treat the charges as hate crimes.
Thai-An Huu Nguyen faces three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon _ two from Garland and one from Richardson. Nguyen, 22, of Garland, also was charged with deadly conduct by discharging a firearm.
Several people were injured in the shootings, which happened from June 29 to July 1 in Garland, Mesquite, Richardson and Plano. The majority of the shootings involved cars stopped at red lights or traveling on highways.
The suspect apparently said he was targeting Asians and Hispanics, and even though not all the targets were Asian or Hispanic, authorities believe that Nguyen believed them to be.
Battle Creek teen shot in leg by Police
Teen with assault rifle shot by Battle Creek police
Thursday in Michigan:
A 15-year-old with a 9mm assault rifle was shot by a Battle Creek police officer just after 1 a.m. Thursday.
Police responded to reports of a man with a gun and shots fired in the 100 block of Hubbard Street. When they arrived, they saw the person with the gun.
Police shot the gun-toting person. Later, they found out he was 15.
The officers shot when the boy pointed his weapon at them. He will recover.
The "9mm assault rifle" is likely something along the lines of a Hi-Point carbine.
Although ARs and other actual assault rifle-based weapons are available in 9mm, they aren't terribly common. And they're fairly expensive. Those Hi Point carbines can be found for under $200. For much more info, see Mr. Completely.
Even if this thing were a fully-atuo 9mm AR, something that some law enforcement agencies use, it would really be a submachine gun, not an assault rifle.
Although I'm sure someone has cooked something up, I'm not aware of any AK-based 9mm rifles.
'He just didn't want to listen'
San Antonio, TX:
From the way the homeowner tells it, it sounds like the intruder may have been intoxicated.
Just like being intoxicated isn't an excuse for causing a traffic accident, being intoxicated is not an excuse to invade someone's home.
The homeowner forgot to take the safety off before pulling the trigger the first time. It's easy to criticize someone for missing an obviously critical thing, but I've never been in that type of situation before and don't really know how I'd handle it, either.
I hope I never have to find out.
Grandfather held in hammer killings of 4 kin
Another horrifying non-gun incident from Japan:
A 77-year-old man was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of killing his entire family with a hammer, including a 4-year-old granddaughter, Japanese police said.
They also found the bodies of Kiuchi's 4-year-old granddaughter, 75-year-old wife, 49-year-old son and 44-year-old daughter-in-law
Combine this with the fact that Japanese suicides were near a record high last year despite a major government program to reduce them, and one might begin to suspect that removing nearly all guns from society doesn't solve all the problems that gun control activists suggest it would.
Greenville Pizza Delivery Driver Shoots Robber
Greenville Police say the incident happened early Monday morning at 1105 A Masters Lane when the Chanellos Pizza driver said three suspects began hitting him as he was delivering the pizzas. Police say the delivery driver then pulled out a gun and began to fire. One of the three robbery suspects was struck. Elvis Deans Junior, a 17 year-old student at South Central High School, is listed in stable but critical condition. He'll be charged with Common Law Robbery and Assault Inflicting Serious Injury.
Later, he'll be included in with "children" injured by guns. Another 17 year old, two 18 year olds, and a 14 year old mastermind have also been charged.
If previous incidents are any guide, the pizza guy will lose his job for carrying a weapon while on the job.
Via CGSDB.
I found his headline odd:
Gun violence is everyone's problem
Sorta. It is everyone's problem. But there is predominately one socioeconomic group that comprises an overwhelming majority of both victims and perpetrators of gun violence. And, basically, until we can all put on our big boy pants and talk openly about that, there will be little impact on gun violence.
Recall the Baltimore Gun Homicide Map.
Something I've been neglecting to post is a follow-up to the mass stabbing in Japan a couple of weeks ago where seven were killed. Ken Talton emailed me a link pointing to some pictures from the scene which show bystanders giving aid to the injured. Here's one:
This at least shows that not all the witnesses acted like anecdotal stories from other incidents suggested they might have. That's refreshing.
Another picture shows police arresting the killer. The guy with the backpack in the picture may be a civilian who helped apprehend him, or he might be some sort of security officer.
So while I continue to wonder at the mind-set that facilitated the success of this attack, we should not ignore those who did what they could when they could. For all we know, some of the wounded are alive today because of the aid complete strangers gave them.
Talton also has this:
Another, rather creepy bit of information via Danny Choo.
According to him, there have been 3 previous stabbing incidents this year similar to this one. In all four incidents, the perps, upon being apprehended, said..
"Anybody would have been fine."
This is worrisome, not just because of the utter sociopathic nihilism it indicates, but 4 murderers saying the exact same thing in such short order is just creepy. Is it a copycat spree, or something organized like one of those suicide chat rooms?
Meh this is just speculation but damn, that's odd.
No freaking kidding.
Man found guilty in Super Bowl plot
A man accused of planning a massacre at this year's Super Bowl was convicted Thursday of federal charges...
Authorities alleged the 36-year-old Havelock bought an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and 200 rounds of ammunition from the Scottsdale Gun Club on Jan. 30. The documents say Havelock wanted to kill people at the Feb. 3 Super Bowl in Glendale and was armed when he reached a parking lot near University of Phoenix Stadium where pregame activities were happening.
Remember back when the Einsteins on Democratic Underground were arguing that since the media reports called it an "AR-15" that is must absolutely be a real (select-fire) AR-15?
Whoops. They were mistaken. Or morons. Or, most likely, mistaken morons.
Anyway, the guy's dad is (somewhat understandably, I guess) playing the "my boy would never have done that" game:
Havelock's father said his son was generally a good person who was being punished for momentarily snapping.
"I know what kind of kid he is. If he was a bad kid, I'd say 'you deserved what you got.' But he's not," Frank Havelock said. "He needs to talk to a counselor. He doesn't need to be incarcerated."
Look. Everybody has problems. We all "momentarily snap." But very few of us "momentarily snap" and then buy a gun to massacre a bunch of people. Even though this guy had a last-second change of heart, he needs more than a good counselor.
He was going to kill people because his liquor license application had been rejected. In retrospect, that was apparently a good call.
Two people are assaulted in their home, and the intruder suffers a gunshot wound.
The Martin County Sheriff's Office says it happened last night just before midnight.
They say an intruder apparently entered the home of Elmer and Marcella Sauck at 2488 200th Street in rural Martin County.
Mrs. Sauck was physically assaulted, was able to escape and go to the nearby home of her son, Mark. Mark then went to his parents' house and found his father being assaulted by the intruder. Authorities say Mark then ordered the intruder to stop several times as he approached him, but he didn't.
The intruder suffered a gunshot wound to the leg and was airlifted to St. Mary's Hospital.
Fair Warning: If Murdoc catches you assaulting members of my family, you won't be getting airlifted anywhere. I won't be shooting you in the leg, and there will be no rush to get you where you need to go.
