Multiple People Shot outside Empire State Building

[Pinky]

There is NO mention of "other folks with guns" in what you cited, nor in what I'm reading on line.  It appears that the shooter killed a co-worker and then left the scene.  When confronted by police he drew his weapon and he was shot along with eight innocent bystanders in the resulting crossfire on a crowded street.

Just the facts Ma'am.




The man who gunned down several rush-hour commuters outside the Empire State Building this morning was killed in a hail of police gunfire ... in plain view of the public.

53-year-old Jeffrey Johnson was fired from his job last year at Hazan Imports, a woman's clothing store ...  across the street from the Empire State building. He returned this morning around 9AM for revenge, shooting and killing a former co-worker with a .45-caliber handgun.

The streets were packed with tourists and commuters at the time -- and according to police, Johnson fled the scene ... walking up 5th Avenue with his gun concealed in a black bag under his arm.

An eyewitness who saw the shooting alerted nearby officers who then approached Johnson -- and cops claim Johnson responded by taking out his gun and opening fire.

The officers returned fire, killing Johnson -- and upwards of 9 bystanders were injured in the crossfire.

Mayor Bloomberg released a statement saying, "What I want to do is assure everybody this has nothing to do with terrorism."


Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2012/08/24/empire-state-shooter-shot-dead/#ixzz24V4bRGFR

[Pinky]

OMG, seriously?  Now you have a problem with cops having firearms?? 

Sorry I missed that the first time through.

[Pinky]

I misunderstood your earlier post and thought that you were inferring that responding officers shot armed citizens who were present, because they had weapons.  My bad. 

[Pinky]

I think it's worth considering if we need to look at Nut Control as eagerly as we do Gun Control.  I'd be curious to know what signs of illness this guy had exhibited prior to this incident, and what if any responses or intercessions had occurred.  Perhaps if we did more as a society to provide help to the crazies among us we wouldn't have as many of them acting out violently. 

[Pinky]

??

[Pinky]

I just think we should all concentrate on how to make a real change to human nature.

Mass medication maybe?  Pre Crime detentions?  Prosecutions for anger management.

You know, something practical.

Oh, OK, so you're saying that we should just leave crazy people alone, and instead remove all sharp objects, rocks over one ounce, anything that can be used to bludgeon others, or literally anything else that could be used as a weapon from our environment? 

Makes sense to me.  Especially since we're doing so much to help people with mental health issues already.

[Pinky]

I just think we should all concentrate on how to make a real change to human nature.

Mass medication maybe?  Pre Crime detentions?  Prosecutions for anger management.

You know, something practical.

Oh, OK, so you're saying that we should just leave crazy people alone, and instead remove all sharp objects, rocks over one ounce, anything that can be used to bludgeon others, or literally anything else that could be used as a weapon from our environment? 

Makes sense to me.  Especially since we're doing so much to help people with mental health issues already.

heavens no.  I agree with you.  Lets meditate on mental illness for a few decades.  But in the meantime, keep selling really dangerous killing machines to people without knowing if they are mentally unstable.  What could possibly go wrong?

Again, you seem to equate the tool with the behavior.  Guns serve a multitude of legitimate purposes, beyond the "really dangerous killing machines" they become in the hands of a mentally deranged person. 

It's like automobiles and alcohol.  They are both clearly involved in every single drunk driving tragedy, no?  So why don't we just get rid of them.  I mean, a tiny fraction of the people who utilize them do so in a terribly destructive and horrific manner; why do we allow the automobile and alcohol companies to continue to push these tools of the devil on our society???

[Pinky]

"A man has been charged with bashing a Spanish tourist in the head with a hammer in a park next to City Hall.

John Yoos is being held without bail after his arraignment Tuesday on attempted murder charges.

Yoos said nothing as a prosecutor described what she called "a completely random act of brutal violence on a total stranger."

Authorities say Hugo Alejandre was eating lunch on a bench in City Hall Park on Monday when the 43-year-old Yoos abruptly attacked him. Bystanders intervened.

Alejandre was treated at a hospital for a spinal fracture and deep cuts. He declined to comment as he left the Manhattan district attorney's office Tuesday.

Yoos' lawyer said an assault charge, rather than an attempted murder charge, would be more appropriate to the allegations."


Did you know that anybody, without so much as a background check, can walk into their neighborhood Home Depot and buy these insanely dangerous killing machines??  It's shocking I tell you.

[Pinky]

A woman suddenly drove her car into a crowded town square in northwest Ohio and struck bystanders, sending some through the air and injuring about 30 people, some of whom were pinned under the car and freed when bystanders lifted it, authorities and witnesses said.

No one was killed, but some victims suffered serious injuries to their legs, heads and necks, police said. A hospital spokeswoman said about 30 people were treated Friday night. All but four were released, and at least one other victim was taken to another hospital.

The chaotic scene unfolded after 9 on Friday night in Lima, where more than 1,000 people had gathered for a weekly community event featuring live music, police said.

"We were packed," said Andrea Scheckelhoss, who was working in a beer truck at the event. "This was probably one of our busiest nights."

She said people were trying to get their last round of beer for the night when she saw a small, two-door vehicle come from her right and plow through the crowd. About 50 people were in and around the car's path.

"I could hear the people hitting against the car," the 25-year-old Scheckelhoss said. "There were shoes flying. I could see people tumbled over. It was just so disturbing."

Todd Truesdale, the fire chief for Shawnee Township, was at the event with his wife and some friends. He said he had his back turned to the accident when he heard a loud scream and turned around.

"I saw two people go up the air, and I knew it was a car," he said. "I couldn't see it, but I heard the revving of the engine."

Finally, the car struck an old sculpture in the square, witnesses say, then came to a stop with its windshield shattered. Those nearby picked it up to free victims who were trapped.

Scheckelhoss, one of the first people to dial 911, said the unidentified driver appeared to be in her 40s. She had a white dog in the back seat.

"I remember looking at the woman's face," she said. "She looked disoriented."

Truesdalem, who said the car came to rest right beside him, began to help local responders.

"Everyone was trying to help," he said. "It was tragic, but it was nice to see the community come together, especially the local fire, police and EMS."

It's not clear what happened to the driver. Police said they're still investigating what may have caused the crash.

[Pinky]

ROME (AP) â€" A speeding car plowed head-on into a group of cyclists in southern Italy on Sunday morning, killing eight of them, officials said. The driver had been smoking marijuana, police said.
Bent, mangled bikes were strewn about the scene, and the sheet-draped corpses dotted the two-lane road near Lamezia Terme, in the Calabrian "toe" of boot-shaped Italy where the accident occurred.

In addition to the eight cyclists killed, four people were injured: two cyclists and the driver and a young boy in the car with him, said Maria Dolores Rucci, commander of the road police in nearby Catanzaro.

The ANSA news agency said the driver, who was only slightly injured, was placed under arrest on charges of multiple homicide. A police spokesman who declined to give his name said the man, a Moroccan national, had tested positive for marijuana.

A preliminary investigation showed the speeding car ran headfirst into the group of 10 cyclists who were riding in the opposite direction on state road 18, according to Italy's highway authority.


Did you know that there are places where you can buy automobiles without so much as a dollar down?? 

[BridgeTroll]

plus, in the information age we live in now, the shooter will get a week of fame while everyone comes through his background and speculates on 100 different reasons why it happened.

What a novel idea... perhaps the issue is not so much a second amendment one as first amendment one...

by product of the first amendment, wouldn't call it an "issue".

So... it is at least worth exploring the possibility that the rash of mass shootings is a "by product" of the first amendment.  Perhaps the press is equally as culpable in publicizing in lurid and graphic detail these mass shootings as ... the gun manufacturers and clingers to the second amendment?  This is just shocking...

Ok sure.  Ill be your huckleberry, BT.

Lets hear what youve got.

Can we agree that many of these are of the copycat variety?  This ype of crime is a rather new phenomenon would you agree?  Why now?  Notoriety perhaps?

[Pinky]

In Rwanda somewhere between 500,000 and 1,000,000 people were butchered, almost exclusively with machetes.  That's a LOT of people.  Should we outlaw anything that has a sharp edge?

[Pinky]

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Take it easy Stephen,
I'm just messin' with you.


There once was a man with a gun,
who shot innocent people for fun,
if laws weren't lax
he'd just use an axe
or a sword, or a rock, or a beaver trap, or a crossbow. 

(Poetry isn't my strong suit..)

[Pinky]

Firearms go boom
maybe a deer or a mom
depends on who shoots

(Haiku is my game...)

[Pinky]

so you want a gun
I suppose a nuke is next
Stephen is smart, see?