Mass Murder Outside America

10/1/24 BBC:

"Six people have been killed in a shooting and knife attack in Tel Aviv, police in Israel have confirmed.

"At least nine others were reported to have been injured, and several are in a critical condition."

I Will Use His Name Once for Searching

Isaac Zamora murdered six people in Skagit County, Washington in 2009.  I am trying to find news accounts thst identify the weapons he used.  The USA Today database says "semiautomatic rifle "  the Wikipedia page says Winxhester lever action rifle and shotgun stolen from a neighbor.   Some news accounts ssy rifle and handgun.  No account thst I have found identifies the rifle.

Can you find a news account thst identifies the rifle?

Washington State paid $9 million in damages to next of kin because when jailed, the severity of his mental illness problems were not adequately identified and he was not given sufficient supervision after release.

How Did I Miss This?

Other than that American news media ignore mass murders thst do not involve guns?  4/13/24 BBC News:

"At least six people - plus the attacker - are now dead.. Eight were taken to hospital injured, including a nine-month-old baby.

Little else is known about the incident. Authorities say the 40-year-old killer was "known to police", but they haven't revealed a motive for the rampage - only indicating it was unlikely to have been terrorism. "

4/19/24 BBC News:

"If he did indeed target women, why? Were there just more women in his path? Did he think they posed less of a physical threat? Did he resent them?

"Police have said it's a "very, very complex investigation" which will take time, but at this stage they have pointed to his mental health and said there is no indication any ideology was a motive.

"His parents - who spotted their son on the news and alerted police - have said he was a diagnosed schizophrenic who had gone off his medication, suggesting he may have been obsessed with knives."

Gun Control in Australia Works!

The chances of being a victim in a mass shooting are low.  4/13/24 BBC:

"Shoppers looked on helplessly as a mother tried to shield her infant from a knife-wielding man. Some ran for their lives, screaming and crying - others hid in change rooms. Blood-soaked bodies lay on the ground outside luxury stores."

Six dead plus the stabber.

A Lot Can Change Between 9 and 5

 This was the caption for an ad from one of the San Francisco evening papers some years ago which had the famous statue of Lenin on the left side and the Bob's Big Boy statue on the right.  Nonetheless, the first reports suggesting motives for today's Iowa's school mass murder:

"[N]ow we wait," read the clip's caption as the rock band KMFDM's song Stray Bullet played in the background. A blue duffle bag sat on the ground. An emoji of the gay Pride flag was featured in the TikTok page's bio and an image of an anime girl was selected as the profile picture's avatar. In another TikTok video, the account used the hashtag "genderfluid."

If you cannot master simple questions such as, "Am I a boy or a girl?" then concepts like, "You shall not murder," are likely going to be a bigger stretch.  We are already way past the random distribution of trans mass murderers for the last several years. 

Fortunately, he only used a handgun and a pump-action shotgun.  Those are practically "safety guns" from the overheated rhetoric coming out of the assault weapon banners.

The UNLV Shooter

12/7/23 CNN:

"It included links to common conspiracy theory fodder like Freemasonry, the Trilateral Commission and “The Rothchild (sic) Family.” George Soros, a common target for antisemitic conspiracy theories, is listed as one of the “Great Minds of the Twentieth Century,” alongside Albert Einstein and others."

I am sure they conspired to prevent UNLV from hiring him.

George Soros is not a mark of antisemitic theories.  His Jewishness did not stop him from helping the Germans loot his fellow Hungarian Jews during World War II and he has refused to admit that he did something wrong, not even a "I did it because I was afraid for my life" excuse.

Conspiracy theories are popular ways to explain failures that might lay a little closer to home.  I was watching the Son of Hamas author explaining why the Muslim world hates the Jews.  Israel is a successful nation with a European GDP, vastly higher than any Arab nation.  It could not possibly be Muslim religion or Arab culture at fault.  It is easier to look outside rather than inside.  The parallels to the constant AWFL screeching about racism as the core of black poverty explains why BLM chapters endorsed Hamas' murder, torture, and rape rampage.  Admit that sexualizing girls at 12, leaving pregnant mother's behind to pursue another underage sexual conquest, and glorifying drug dealers while denigrating education as "acting white" could not possibly explain anything that has gone wrong.  It is all Whitey!

And Joooos!

And capitalists!

Who else can I had to the list?

How Dare An FFL Do His Job!

10/29/23 New York Times:

"Nearly three months before Robert R. Card II fatally shot 18 people in Lewiston, Maine, a gun shop declined to let him complete his purchase of a firearm sound suppressor after he disclosed on a form that he had mental health issues, the shop’s owner said in an interview Sunday."

He answered yes on the involuntary commitment question (yes, that is a lifetime disabler) and apparently took the refusal to transfer well.  I suppose the attempt should have led to his arrest, but his involuntary commitment was never reported to NICS so no attempt to arrest him.

More Reminders That This Tragedy Could Have Been Prevented

 10/29/23 AP:

Police across Maine were alerted just last month to “veiled threats” by the U.S. Army reservist who would go on to carry out the worst mass shooting in the state’s history, one of a string of missed red flags that preceded the massacre.

Two local law enforcement chiefs told The Associated Press that a statewide awareness alert was sent in mid-September to be on the lookout for Robert Card after the firearms instructor made threats against his base and fellow soldiers. But after stepped-up patrols of the base and a visit to Card’s home – neither of which turned up any sign of him – they moved on.

“We added extra patrols, we did that for about two weeks. ... The guy never showed up,” said Jack Clements, the police chief in Saco, home to the U.S. Army Reserve base where Card trained....

Despite the earlier threats, the FBI said Saturday Card had not been on its radar, telling AP it “did not have nor did it receive any tips or information concerning Robert Card.” The bureau added that its instant background check system “was not provided with or in possession of any information that would have prohibited Card from a lawful firearm purchase.”

Card’s case stands as a glaring example of missed red flags, with many unanswered questions about what the military, police, mental health professionals and relatives could have done to prevent the massacre. 

An involuntary commitment must be reported to NICS.  If the government cannot handle tasks this simple, why trust they can handle broader gun bans?

22 Dead in Maine Mass Murder

Lots of coverage.  Police apparently know who the guy is.  Apparently not a surprise.

Recent mental hospital stay after hallucinations.  No surprise.

10/26/23 Daily Mail:

Card is believed to be an Army Reservist stationed out of the city of Saco

He recently reported 'hearing voices' and threatened to shoot up the military training base

More tragedy.  10/26/23 NBC Bay Area:

The family of the Army reservist accused of fatally shooting more than a dozen people in Lewiston, Maine, alerted police and military officials that he was experiencing an “acute” mental health episode before the Wednesday night massacre, the suspect’s sister-in-law said.

Robert Card, 40, a firearms instructor and longtime member of the Army Reserve, began to hear voices that were saying “horrible” things about him a couple of months ago when he was fitted for high-powered hearing aids, according to Katie Card, who is married to his brother.

Katie Card said the family did their best to reassure Robert Card that the comments were not real, including by verifying with some of the people he claimed had made the remarks. But, she said, “it turned into a manic belief.”

“He was just very set in his belief that everyone was against him all of a sudden,” she said. [emphasis added]

Most of these tragedies come seemingly out of nowhere.  They warned police and they apparently did nothing. 

Found dead by suicide.

Herostratic Plans

10/6/23 Sun-Sentinel report on a guy police caught with written plans to go do a mass murder at Parkland and then a church.

Why?

"Asked why he would attack Stoneman Douglas, the site of a school massacre that killed 17 and injured 17 in 2018, the affidavit says, (scum name redacted) replied, “for attention or fame.”

When Marshall McLuhan said in the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes, I hope this is not what he meant.

Texas Doing It Right

9/12/23 Fox News:

"Texas lawmakers quietly passed a sweeping mandate for school safety measures, including a requirement to post an armed security officer at every school and provide mental health training for certain district employees."

This is not a perfect solution.  Not that there is one.  But since no one wants to solve the mental health problem, this is better than hoping that no crazy person goes on a rampage.

My wife taught at a charter school until recently and it was gratifying to have a former Marine, former deputy sheriff as campus security.  We talked guns a bit one evening and I felt good having her there to protect my wife and grandkids.

Again, No Surprise

8/26/23 Florida Times-Union:

 Previous incidents included a 2016 domestic call to his home that did not result in an arrest, police said. A year later, another call led to his temporary detention for emergency health services under Florida's Baker Act law. 

Baker Act, more formally, Florida Mental Health Act.  

The gun banners will keep insisting these are coincidences.

Public Health Professors Lacking Agenda

7/27/23 Daily Mail:

"For the study, published today in JAMA Network Open, researchers extracted data from the Gun Violence Archive — a database of mass shooting incidents across the US run by a nonprofit group.

"The researchers did not say why Washington D.C. — the nation's capital — was top of the list.

"The district has some of the strictest gun control laws in the Itnation — with open carrying banned and thorough background checks necessary before purchasing a weapon.

"It also has a lower gun ownership rate than other states, with estimates suggesting 36 percent of residents have a gun — compared to the national average of 39 percent.

"In second place was Louisiana, which has lax gun control laws and a high ownership rate of 52 percent. 

"Illinois, which has tight gun control laws and low gun ownership, came IN third on the list. ...

"The state also does not PERMIT open carry and has one of the lowest ownership rates in the country at 22 percent."

Any Idea Why Mass Murder Increased?

5/26/23 NBC News:

"Marijuana linked to mental health risks in young adults, growing evidence shows

New research, involving millions of people worldwide over decades, adds to worries that heavy use of high-potency cannabis could exacerbate the mental health crisis in the U.S."

A Genuine Crisis Actor!

 5/15/23 Fox News:

Awitness to the Allen, Texas, mall shooting who has called for gun control in the aftermath of the tragedy has had his account disputed by Texas police, who say he has spread "misinformation" in multiple media interviews.

Steven Spainhouer, who has identified himself as a former Army officer, gave multiple media outlets a dramatic account of the Texas mall shooting earlier this month, saying he showed up at the mall before police and first responders to begin administering aid to shooting victims.

According to CBS News, Spainhouer said he arrived at the scene after receiving a call from his son about hearing gunfire on the property. When he arrived, the former officer said he gave first aid and performed CPR on shooting victims, including one girl who "had no face" and a young boy covered "head to toe" in blood who was hiding under the body of his dead mother.

However, Spainhouer's dramatic retelling of the events has been disputed by the Allen Police Department, who released a statement on Friday claiming that he was not a "credible" witness.

"Allen Police Department wants to inform the public of discrepancies with statements made by a witness to several media outlets. Following the shooting at Allen Premium Outlets, Mr. Steven Spainhouer of McKinney, Texas gave multiple public accounts of his actions," the police statement said. "Inconsistencies between these public accounts and investigative facts led Allen Police Department to conduct a follow-up interview. During this interview, detectives determined that Mr. Spainhouer is not a credible incident witness."

Do You Have Editing Privileges on Wikipedia?

There is a list of vehicle mass murders on Wikipedia.  It is not very complete.  I can supply a list of newspaper accounts with URLs if you can add them to the article.  Some are very mass casualty events.

Also mass stabbings and mass blunt object murders. And poison mass murders.  Japan has a sarin gas incident.

Yes, I could do this myself but I am a bit busy doing declarations.

Lauren del Valle, Ray Sanchez and Eric Levenson, Terror suspect accused of killing 8 people on NYC bike path still believes in ISIS, defense attorney says, CNN, January 9, 2023.

Toronto is the most recent of many deliberate attacks involving vehicles, USA Today, Apr. 23, 2018 (10 dead in Toronto attack, 14 dead in Barcelona, Spain, 8 on London Bridge, 12 in Berlin, Germany) (10 dead); Nice attack: Trial for Bastille Day massacre which killed 86 begins, BBC, Sep. 5, 2022 (86 dead); Australian who rammed and killed six pedestrians jailed for life, Reuters, Feb. 21, 2019 (6 dead); Alex Johnson, A Short History of Vehicles Being Used as Deadly Weapons, NBC News, Jul. 15, 2016 (8 dead).

For those willing to do the mass stabbings entry:

Jason Van Rassel, Police officer's son charged in city's worst mass murder, Calgary [Alberta] Herald, Apr. 17, 2014 (5 dead); Jonathan Pearlman, Eight Children Murdered In Mass Stabbing In Australia, [U.K.] Telegraph, Dec. 19, 2014 (8 dead); Robert Foyle Hunwick, Why Does China Have So Many School Stabbings?, New Republic, Nov. 2, 2018 (summarizing 14 knife mass murders in two incidents); David Mercer, Canada mass stabbing: Trudeau urges public to 'be careful' over two men suspected of killing 10 people, Sky News, Sep. 5, 2022 (10 dead).

Arson:

A Decade On, Childers Remembers Hostel Fire Tragedy, Brisbane [Australia] Times, Jun. 23, 2010 (15 dead); Candace Sutton, Man Who Murdered 11 People in Nursing Home Fire 'Frothed At The Mouth' From Drugs And 'Put Nails In Tyres And Poured Paint' Over Boss's Car, Inquest Hears, [U.K.] Daily Mail, Sep. 8, 2014. (11 dead).

Explosives:

Andrew Higgins and Kimiko De Freytas-Tamura, In Brussels Bombing Plot, a Trail of Dots Not Connected, New York Times, March 26, 2016 (33 dead); Sylvia Hui, Bomber’s brother gets 55 years for Manchester concert attack, Associated Press, Aug. 20, 2020 (22 dead)

Blunt objects:

Jamelle Wells, Robert Xie Trial: Lin Family 'Murdered With Hammer Bought From $2 Shop, ABC [Australia], May 12, 2014 (5 dead)

"I suspect these foreign firearms mass murders are already there:

Gunman’s Rampage in France Leaves 14 Dead, Los Angeles Times, Jul. 13, 1989; Teen-Age Gunman Kills Himself and 12 Others in France, New York Times, Sep. 25, 1995; Nick Caistor, Profile of a Teenage Killer, BBC News, Apr. 28, 2002; 18 Dead in German School Shooting, BBC News, Apr. 26, 2002; Brazil School Shooting: Twelfth Child Dies, SkyNews, Apr. 8, 2011; James Graff, Politics Under the Gun, Time, Mar. 31, 2002 (8 dead; 18 wounded in France); Safety Council To Investigate Gun Laws, DutchNews.nl, Apr. 12, 2011, http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2011/04/safety_council_to_investigate.php, last accessed May 21, 2011; Schutter was al eerder suicidaal, NOS Nieuws. Apr. 10, 2011, http://nos.nl/artikel/232127-schutter-was-al-eerder-suicidaal.html, last accessed May 21, 2011.

Thanks to al that are prepared to chase these down.  Wikipedia leans left but when something appears there it has credibility to the journalists 

Mass Murder With a British SUV Pattern Vehicle

5/8/23 Independent report about a Brownsville Texas murder of seven mostly Venezuelan immigrants with a Range Rover.

You know, you might almost think that there is something terribly broken going on, and not gun availability.  I have never connected a Range Rover to any ideology except suburban rich women.p

Now up to 8 dead and 10 injured.  George Alvarez is being charged.  I wait for him to be exposed as a "diversity" White Supremacist.

To my surprise, there is a Wikipedia page for vehicle mass murderers.  

White Supremacy Has Gone Multiracial?

5/8/23 Independent reports that police are investigating neo-Nazi ties of the recent Texas mall shooter, Mauricio Garcia.

If this seems implausible, I recall a Korean student in the 1990s who did a college mass with neo-Nazi ties.

Really?  Or did mentally ill people look for a crazy group with which to identify?

What If They Sent Him to Prison The First Two Times?

 4/30/23 Fox News:

A manhunt continued Sunday afternoon, more than 24 hours after Francisco Oropesa, 38, allegedly shot five of his neighbors in their home, including an 8-year-old boy in Cleveland, Texas. 

Oropesa is in the country illegally and has been deported previously, an ICE source told Fox News Digital. He has re-entered the U.S. illegally "multiple" times and ICE last encountered him in 2016, the source said. 

Those Assault Vehicles

4/27/23 AP:

"RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California man accused of killing three teenage boys by intentionally ramming their car after they played a doorbell-ringing prank on him was found guilty Friday of murder."