2 reported shot at Hennepin County (MN)Government Center

[Wickerman]

http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4125241.html
A shooting was reported in the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis late this morning.

KARE-TV, Channel 11, reported that two people had been injured when shot by a woman wielding a gun. The weapon was not immediately recovered, and the conditions of the victims was unknown. The woman who fired the gun was taken into custody, the station reported.

Unrelated, but this on the day of the funeral of the HS senior who was gunned down in between classes at his High School last week. The Gov. ordered school flags at half-mast today. What the hell is going on in my state?

[shockingelk]

1. MPR:

Said AP wire reported the shooter turned the gun on herself - was on 17th floor.

[Wickerman]

2. thanks

just heard that, too.

[bobthedrummer]

4. Woman with an equalizer shoots self

in another "suicide" mission.

[Thor_MN]

20. No, the shooter is in custody

The woman with the gun shot and killed her distant cousin and shot her cousin's lawyer (who is in serious but stable condition.) Apparently, the cousin was the appointed conservator for the shooter's parents. There has been a long standing feud between the two. Ironically, the shooter was in trying to get a protection order to keep her cousin from harming her. There was something about the woman being barred from some legal activities in Hennipen county due to "abuse of the system." - too many trivial lawsuits or something.

[qb]

3. I guess we've hit the big time

Prior to this year, I don't remember any remarkable gun violence in Minnesota aside from the occasional drive-by or rural murder/suicide.

Now we're getting crazy-assed shootings in schools & courthouses.

[Wickerman]

5. Only a coincidence that MN went Repuggly, I'm sure

thanks Normie, thanks Timmie.

[CO Liberal]

6. The Pro-Gunners Say "An Armed Society is a Polite Society"

NOT!!!!!

[lebkuchen]

10. There's a new carry conceal law in MN

Plan on a lot more gun violence in that state in the future.

[NickB79]

15. I doubt it

We're what, the 35th state to enact CCW laws so far in the past 15 yrs? Even before this new law was passed, CCW was legal, only at the local sheriff's discression (sp?). There have been 12,000+ CCW permit holders in MN for years now without much of a crime spike. And the overall US crime rate has been falling for the past decade. Even the most anti-CCW articles I've read, from HCI, could only argue that the rates weren't falling as fast in CCW-legal states as in non-CCW states. CCW or no, the rates still fell. I doubt Minnesotans are much different from the rest of the nation's people in that respect.

[Thor_MN]

21. I don't know how it will play out,

but the difference is that before, the Sheriff's office could deny a permit for any reason. Now, unless they can prove a reason that the person should not be allowed, they can't be denied a permit.

Many people would be perfectly capable of safely carrying a loaded handgun. Many people are confident enough that they do not fear walking around in public places. What is worrisome is the people outside the union of these two groups.

If you work or live in an area where crime is a concern, then a CW might be appropriate. But why people seem to think that they need one in a church, school, or government building is beyond me.

What is interesting about this is that a permit is easier to get but permit holder can legally carry their guns in fewer places due to all the ugly signs. The only people to benefit from this are the makers of the ugly "XYZ Corporation does not allow guns on these premises" and the people teaching the gun courses.

[DoNotRefill]

19. Are you saying she had a permit?

link, please.

[pansypoo53219]

7. the Retardicans

took over.

[lebkuchen]

8. I wonder if it's legal to bring a gun into the Government Center

If there's no sign on the building, it's okay to bring one in.

Once in, heck, maybe it went off by accident. Or maybe the woman felt she had to defend herself. She might have seen a man reach into his pocket for a pack of cigarettes and mistook it as a hostile threat.

Bush did the same thing in Iraq, which makes the woman's actions justifiable. She acted in self-defense.

[Wickerman]

11. It varies govt to govt

In my county we state on our signs that no "unlicensed" gun can be brought into the building. There is also something that reads like, also, no small, thermo-nuclear devices or other unexploded ammo...
I don't know what Hennipin's state. Weird times that we have to wonder if your building has guns or not...

It would make me quite secure knowing that the Repug down the hall whose wife just had twins, has a house and a boat payment, anger issues, and just got notified that being low man on the totem pole he will be unemployed in Jan, may be carrying a gun.

[shockingelk]

12. I had jury duty there early this year, no security checks

No security - anyone could have easily brought a gun into the courtroom.

The Government Center has the Skyway going right through it - the Skyway is a system of ... well, you can walk to almost any building downtown from any other without going outside ...

here's a picture: http://www.phototour.minneapolis.mn.us/59

You can walk through the thing connecting the buildings on the second story, and when you're in tyhe middle, decide to walk right through, or I suppose this shooter may have decided to take the elevator up to the 17th floor instead.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

23. That surprises me

I had to go into a couple of different buildings in the Multnomah County court system in Portland to provide moral support for a friend who had been arrested on drug-related charges. Each time I had to pass through a metal detector and have my purse searched.

My friend is a gentle soul with a sad addiction, but some of the people who were arraigned with him earlier were real low-lifes: a man who had beaten his girlfriend nearly to death, an armed robber, and an attempted rapist.

It's not hard to imagine one of the low-lifes having a friend with grandiose delusions of "rescuing" the prisoner or exacting revenge, so forbidding guns inside a courthouse makes perfect sense.

[wellst0nev0ter]

9. They'll Just Blame The Government Buildings

For not allowing guns on their premises, because we all know that more guns will prevent, uh, people from taking guns into buildings and, uh, using it.

Sorry, I'm having trouble today keeping up with republitard's psychobabble.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

13. More proof that we need more guns.

Give it a few minutes and some neocon gun nut is going to come up with the "if everyone was armed" bs theory.

See Bowling for Columbine.

[NickB79]

14. Funny you should mention Bowling

Because it seemed the overall point of Moore's film was that it wasn't the guns so much as the fear and media hype we recieve every day. Didn't he find Canda had as many guns per person as the US but a much lower crime rate?

I don't have a problem with guns and CCW permits per se. I have spoken to several people who had a genuine need for them: bar owners who have been robbed previously, women who are estranged from abusive husbands, etc. The problem occurs when people see crime reported daily on the news and blown out of proportion (US crime rates have been FALLING for the past decade, not rising), think they need a gun to defend themselves when they really don't, and that it's no big deal to shoot first, ask questions later. My uncle is a good case: he sleeps with a loaded .44 Magnum revolver under his bed because he says "those n****r's from the cities are gonna rob and murder me." Of course, he lives 150 MILES north of the Twin Cities on a hog farm in rural MN where there isn't a black man for 30 miles, but that fact hasn't sunk into his head yet, it seems (not to mention the blatant racism associated with it). He's seen so much hype about violence and crime on the news that he's scared to even travel to the Twin Cities. He's scared, plain and simple. Some people, no matter how law-abiding, cannot be trusted with firearms because they are blinded by their fear, and give a bad name to those of us who can be trusted.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

16. Canada doesn't seem to have quite as many "morans" as we do.

With our corporate driven government, nothings gonna change here. I can bitch and moan until I turn blue and am convinced that I will not change the mind of one person who finds happiness in a warm gun.

[ErasureAcer]

17. Pawlenty has made this the wild west

We get what we deserve for electing this asshole governor.

[Wickerman]

18. Victim Died, just reported on MPR

Story in the Trib has been updated.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4125241.html

One of the two people who were wounded in a shooting this morning at the Hennepin County Government Center has died, a Sheriff's Department spokesman is reporting.

The woman, who was in surgery at the Hennepin County Medical Center at around noon, died before 3 p.m., the spokesman said. The victim's name, age and address were not available

She was, apparently, a victim in a harrassment court case, an attorney is the other injured.

Chee-rist, if that attorney had only been armed....

[Brucey]

22. People learn by observation.

Statistically, during times of war, homicide and suicide rates go up. This is because people see violence in the media and talk about it. So, violence rates are higher since the invasion of Iraq all over the country (relative to demographics). Also, when the economy is bad (unemployment), homicide and suicide rates go up (everything else equal). In addition, Minnesota has recently had a good deal of talk and media attention about guns. People are just animals, not gods. They learn by experience. If guns are in the news and being talked about, then guns will be used. Access to guns also increases their use, contrary to what conservatives say. For every gun toter who stops a violent crime, there are 100 more whose guns are violently used in accident or crime. For many, unfortunately, this is not a rational issue, but an emotional one. It doesn't matter how many gun deaths there are, most people will explain them by saying the person was crazy or would have done it with something other than a gun. Guns are now in the category of evolution, abortion, and the existence of God. You simply can't talk about it. People do not listen to the statistics... they rationalize out of emotion.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

24. By the way, all you Twin Cities types

Check out Myrna Minx's thread about a DU gathering on October 26.

It's in the Meeting Room.

As a newly returned Minnesotan, I'd love to meet as many Minnesota DUers as possible.