Student slain on Wesleyan campus; armed and dangerous suspect on loose

[Tab]

Source: Daily News

A man wearing a wig opened fire in a popular Wesleyan University bookstore on Wednesday, killing a student said to be his ex-girlfriend.

Johanna Justin-Jinich, a 20-year-old junior from Timnath, Colo., was hit five times inside the Red and Black Cafe about 1 p.m. and died later at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, Conn.

Cops launched a manhunt for the shooter and released a surveillance photo of a thin, bearded man they described as armed and dangerous. Investigators said they know the suspect's identity.

Middletown Police Lt. Margaret Liseo said Wesleyan, which has about 3,000 students, and all neighboring public and private schools were locked down "as an absolute precaution."
...
Investigators said Justin-Jinich, a raven-hair stunner, worked in the popular shop.

Her killer apparently wore a wig as a disguise so he could get close enough to shoot. The wig and gun were recovered at the scene, investigators said.

Police wouldn't confirm newspaper and TV reports the killer was Justin-Jinich's ex-boyfriend.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/05/07/2009-05-07_student_slain_on_conn_campus.html

[Rebubula]

1. Awesome reporting there...

"Investigators said Justin-Jinich, a raven-hair stunner , worked in the popular shop."


Well...since I now know that she was a 'stunner', I am concerned about this case.

:sarcasm:

[jkappy]

3. also terms like "on loose" and "lockdown" as if a mass murderer

rather than someone hunting a specific victim.

more stupid reporting with hysterical headline.

[Blue_Tires]

5. of course, if she were ugly, her death would be much less tragic

:sarcasm: :sarcasm:

i can see some outlets going national based on that photo alone....

[dogfacedboy]

12. Three words...Greta Van Susteren. n/t

[gauguin57]

22. And two more words ... Nancy Grace.

ugh.

[Trajan]

19. A secondary opinion ....

She IS gorgeous .....

If you don't care about that opinion, then disregard it ....

Methinks thou doth protest too much ....

[belpejic]

2. So sad

I'm not defending the Daily News reporting--they are a dipshit tabloid after all--but it's always sad when someone dies as a result of senseless gun violence. That includes people in Middletown, CT and anywhere else across the globe.

[RalphieD]

4. How many more have to die?

Shouldn't the government finally ban guns once and for all? 
All they have to do is repeal the Second Amendment or at least
the Supreme Court could interpret it correctly.  Maybe Obama
will seat a Justice that will do just that.

[benEzra]

6. How'd alcohol prohibition go over?

And unlike alcohol, guns last a thousand years if properly cared for, and don't have to be continuously replenished by smuggling.

There are around a third of a billion lawfully owned guns in the United States, in around 40% of U.S. households. What police-state powers do you think you'd need to take them, even if it weren't political suicide?

[RalphieD]

7. Who are you?

What do you need a gun for?  Are you one of those Second
Amendment "Don't touch my guns" types?

[benEzra]

11. I belong to the 50% of gun owners that you'd like to pretend don't exist...

the half that are Dems and indies. I'm a 38-year-old literature and physics geek with a B.A. and some masters' work in English, I work in the aviation industry, have two kids, and shoot competitively and recreationally.

I, my wife, my engineer sister, both my parents, most of my coworkers, and a majority of my working-class neighbors choose to own guns, and do so lawfully and responsibly. Your home, your choice; our homes, our choice.
And yes, we'll keep them, thanks. :toast:

[FailureToCommunicate]

14. You seem proud that most everyone around you is a (lawful) gun owner. I wish

you luck with the odds. (And hope no thieves ever break in to any of your homes while you're away. 'Let's see, valuables, guns, which should I take? Oh heck, I'll take it all')

[benEzra]

20. Odds are good, thanks...and we keep our guns in a safe when not in use.

Best wishes to you also.

[RalphieD]

15. Thanks for the resume`

Are you saying that you can't live without your guns?  We need
to keep the deadly things around just so you can shoot a few
targets?

[benEzra]

21. I'm saying that I reserve the right to choose to own them, and my wife and I have so chosen.

As to why we own them, you will find some thoughts in my post here:

Thoughts on Gun Ownership

If you choose differently, I certainly respect your choice, BTW. I would not think less of anyone for choosing not to own guns. I do, however, believe that mentally competent adults with clean records should have the right to choose for themselves.

[RalphieD]

23. How do you know

if the shooter in this story was "mentally
competent" or not?  Maybe he flipped right before he
pulled the trigger.  You're taking an awful chance just to
protect what you consider a "right".  I would say
that you could live your life just fine without a gun.

[benEzra]

26. Statistically, people without histories of serious mental illness who have never committed a crime

are exceedingly unlikely to go out and murder someone.

The vast majority of criminal homicides involve people with prior records who cannot legally so much as touch a gun, and the majority of high-profile shootings involve people with histories of serious mental illness. Had the state of Virginia reported the VT shooter's mental health info into the Federal NICS database like they were supposed to, he could not have legally purchased the pistol he used to murder those students.

I might could live my life fine without a gun. I dare say you and I could also live our lives fine without books the Moral Majority disapproves of, or alcohol, or magazines with full-color photos, or Internet political forums. Were the Fourth Amendment to be suspended, few of us would suffer direct harm, and few were ever directly impacted by the Bush Administration's torture of suspects. But "lack of direct harm to those deprived of rights" is not the legal standard under U.S. jurisprudence for the deprivation of rights. On the contrary, strict scrutiny and due process are applied, as they should be.

And, as a mentally competent adult citizen who has never so much as had a speeding ticket or been in a fistfight, I do have the right to choose, and I choose to own them and become competent with them.

[FailureToCommunicate]

9. You are trying to justify your killing devices with a DU poll?? On a post about

a female student getting shot (five times!) dead? Wow. And how would you feel if the victim were your sister? Oh, yeah, you'd probably say 'if only SHE was packing a gun she could have defended herself...' Blah, blah, NRA talking point, blah.
Ready for the reality check? 35,000 (yes thirty five THOUSAND) gun deaths per year in U.S. Which is 4 deaths by gunfire every hour of every day. Only a tiny fraction -around 1%- ever have anything to do with "self defense" by the way. Do you feel lucky? That poor young woman lost to the odds. Now there will be nothing but grieving for her family.
The media will wring its hands and ask 'WHY did the guy do it?' Too seldom do they ask HOW the guy killed. But the real statistics are there. And not even the mighty NRA can change the grim facts. Too many deaths from too many folks with guns. (And of course there are 'law abiding gun owners with legally registered guns'... TILL they go into a jealous rage or delusional vendetta and shoot. THEN they're not so law abiding are they?

check here if you don't believe me:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/pub-res/firarmsu....

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/weap...


My deepest condolences to the woman's family.

[benEzra]

13. I didn't respond to the OP; I wasn't commenting on the tragedy.

I was responding to someone who proposed to wield the police power of the state against me and my family, and revoke civil rights that we choose to exercise responsibly, and which we and a majority of the U.S. populace considers a fundamental right.

Did you support the Patriot Act, too? If not, does your opposition mean that you "don't care" about the suffering of those murdered by terrorists? Or is your opposition (if you oppose police-state powers) based on the idea that the acts of the malevolent do not justify revoking the civil rights of the just?

[Name removed]

34. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Paladin]

35. Thanks For Conforming To The Worst Sort Of Gun Nut Stereotype

I wonder when if ever you people will wise up and stop doing we gun control advocates favors like this. "...I'll shoot your ass." A comment like that in a public forum ought to prohibit you from owning anything more lethal than a butter knife for the rest of your life. Not even Fat Tony Scalia would say you're covered by the 2nd Amendment on that one......

[FailureToCommunicate]

36. You're correct about the gun deaths number being close to auto deaths. Does

that make it okay? Course not. Cars are dangerous too,though they have been made a lot safer in recent years. Unfortunately knuckleheads still drive them -drunk or putting make-up on or both...
But we generally need cars -even with the danger- more than guns to go about our daily lives. (Except for shooting that thanksgiving turkey of course.) Hey, I know, lets bring back horses to get to work! Oh wait, horses kick people and kill them also.
Oh well...
I would usually welcome a first time poster to DU as others did to me, but in your case ("Come to my house I'll shoot your ass") I may not extend the courtesy.

[leftynyc]

10. You mean

all they have to do is get 2/3 of each house of congress and 3/4 of the state legislatures to agree to do something that is political suicide. That's all. And just because you don't like the way the SC has decided this issue doesn't mean they're wrong and you're right. Anyone who lived through the Bush administration that doesn't think we need protection from government tyranny is blind.

[RalphieD]

16. Gov't tyranny?

We ended the tyranny of the Bush admin now that we voted in
Obama.  Are you going to use your guns against him?  Weak
argument.

[leftynyc]

25. Is President Obama going

to be President forever? You're being very shortsighted.

[anonymous171]

33. We should repeal the 4th as well. That way the police can search for guns more easily. nt

[BlancheSplanchnik]

8. Wow, she's HAWT!! Nice lowcut top there, wonder if there're more pics??

------- to help me show my respects for her tragic death of course.

:sarcasm:

It's always so much more interesting when a hottie dies, isn't it? Those plain looking women, who cares what happens to them....just give us eye candy....

:mad:

[panzerfaust]

37. OH! You sucked me in with your 'subject' and I was REALLY hot too

... VERY well put.

Speaking as someone who has seen thousands of dead humans (and autopsied a few dozen), I can say that no one looks good dead - that seeing a dead person, especially someone dead of a long illness (who has not been painted up by the undertakers) makes one painfully aware of the inspiration for the phrase "mortal clay", for most of us DO indeed look like clay when we die.

[RamboLiberal]

17. Police: Wesleyan University shooting suspect may be targeting school, Jews

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - Police on Thursday urged Wesleyan University and local Jewish leaders to be "extra vigilant" after concluding that a man suspected of fatally shooting a Wesleyan student at a bookstore may be targeting the school and Jews.

Officials said they had launched a nationwide manhunt for 29-year-old Stephen Morgan. Authorities believe that Morgan disguised himself with a wig and shot 21-year-old Johanna Justin-Jinich, a junior from Timnath, Colo., at her job at a cafe inside Broad Street Books, a popular bookstore.

Investigators uncovered a connection between Morgan and Justin-Jinich, and believe the shooting was not a random act, Middletown Police Chief Lynn Baldoni said.

Evidence also "suggests that Mr. Morgan may be focused on the Wesleyan University campus as well as the Jewish community," Baldoni said at a news conference Thursday. "Investigators have been in contact with Wesleyan University and leaders of the Jewish community, urging both to be extra vigilant."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/05/07/2009-05-07_police_wesleyan_university_shooting_suspect_targeting_school_jews.html#ixzz0EpsK0aLT&B

[sabra]

18. scary stuff :-(

[Blue_Tires]

24. wow...he still hasn't been caught yet?

[mainer]

27. An "ex-boyfriend"? Or just a stalker she tried to ignore?

She's so attractive, you wonder if the "ex-boyfriend" thing was all in his mind.

[Danascot]

28. My son attends Wesleyan, class of 2011

He says the Wesleyan community is in shock over this. Classes had just ended and the campus was in a celebratory mood when they heard about the shooting yesterday. He didn't know her but it's a small student body (2,700 undergrad) and it's a tight group. The kids at Wesleyan I've met are exceptional - diverse, bright, promising, but down to earth, they defy the ivy-league asshole stereotype. They are the citizens we would hope for for our future.

Regardless of the gun debate, whether she was hot or not, or the extent of news coverage the story gets, the fact is that her parents face a new day this morning having lost a child they surely cherished, and many people whose lives she touched are grieving and diminished because of this senseless tragedy.

Here's some less sensational coverage:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/08/nyregion/08wesleyan.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

[X_Digger]

29. Send him best wishes from DU

Regardless of how some senseless posters here make hay from a tragedy, our thoughts are with the family, friends, and students on campus.

[truthisfreedom]

30. If you do an advanced google search on her name and exclude keywords such as killer, murder, etc...

You can find this link here:

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/680382/?page=2&

Someone named Jack called someone named Johanna Justin-Jinich a wack-job in June last year.

Maybe that's the guy?

[truthisfreedom]

31. Oh the tidbits we leave behind.

The bits and pieces of our lives scattered around the internet.

http://www.amazon.com/wishlist/3I61OB9446A3Y

Looks like she entered this item on an Amazon wishlist before Christmas of 2000.



She would have been about 13.

[anonymous171]

32. I wonder if that was a "no-gun" zone. nt