GUNS IN THE NEWS--October 18, 2003

[MrBenchley]

As CO Liberal sez:
1 - Feel free to add any CURRENT stories to this thread by replying to this message.
2 - Both pro-gun and anti-gun stories are welcome in this thread, as well as gun-related editorials.
3 - Do not change story titles. In other words, if the Oskosh Gazette's web site runs a story titled "Two Killed in Holdup", the title of your message should read "Two Killed in Holdup". Don't change it to "Gun Owner Kills Two People", or anything else that changes the meaning of the story.
4 - In order to be considered current, stories should have been originally posted to the 'Net within the past 24 hours, or provide follow-up to a story that was previously posted on the J/PS board.
5 - Comment on a story by replying to that story.

[MrBenchley]

1. FBI: Brookline Woman's Son Wanted To Shoot Up College

Another assault weapons enthusiast...this bozo, Wayne LaPierre and Tom DeLay...

"A former University of Maryland student was arrested by the FBI Friday for allegedly threatening to shoot up a campus building, Channel 4's Jon Greiner reported.
Jeffrey Wilinski, 40, is accused of sending a letter in which he discusses going on a shooting spree at the A.V. Williams building, which houses the computer science department in College Park, Md.
Federal agents on Friday removed more than 30 guns and assault rifles from Wilinski's mother's home in the 2200 block of Starkamp Street in Pittsburgh's Brookline section.
Wilinski believed his former school was using satellites to monitor him and his mother and "he wanted it stopped or he would come to College Park to stop it," according to an FBI affidavit.
"I have no problem going on a shooting spree and enjoying it," Wilinski allegedly wrote in a letter. "Now I want to start pulling the trigger." "

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ibsys/20031017/lo_wtae/1836229

Gee, he'd have felt right at home at Knob Creek, even without a Nazi uniform.

[MrBenchley]

2. 2 in car shot to death at Phoenix intersection

"A man and a woman were fatally shot inside their car as they were trying to make a turn at a west-central Phoenix intersection early Friday morning.
The gunman had pulled up behind them, walked up to the car and fired multiple times before driving off, authorities said.
The driver of the Volkswagen, described only as an African-American in his early 30s, was pronounced dead at a hospital. His passenger, a White woman in her early 30s, was pronounced dead at the scene. "

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1017couplekilled-ON.html

[MrBenchley]

3. Man Takes Own Mother Hostage

"Tense moments at a Smith's grocery store after a man in the parking lot pulls a gun on his mother.
The hostage situation unfolded just before nine, at the Smith's on 845 East, 45th South.
Officers were called out after receiving complaints of a suspicious man in the parking lot.
They say the gun was fully loaded. And it appears the man was involved in an earlier domestic violence dispute. "

http://tv.ksl.com/index.php?nid=39&sid=53658

Another family made safer by guns....

[MrBenchley]

4. Jury finds man guilty of shooting three workers in Davie Waffle House

"A regular customer at a Davie Waffle House was convicted Friday of forcing three employees into a tiny freezer and robbing them, then killing two and badly wounding the third.
A Broward Circuit Court jury found Gerhard "Chip" Hojan, 28, guilty on all nine counts, including first-degree murder, kidnapping and armed robbery, for the March 2002 crime. In a second trial phase, the jury will decide whether he should be executed or sentenced to life in prison for the murders of waitress Christina De La Rosa, 17, and cook Willy Absolu, 29. Waitress Barbara Nunn, who was shot in the head, survived to identify Hojan in court."

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/yahoo/sfl-cwaffle18oct18,0,7624098.story?coll=sfla-newsaol-headlines

[CO Liberal]

6. If the Food At "Awful House" Doesn't Kill You .....

...the "law-abiding" customers with guns that we don't have to worry about will.

:crazy:

[MrBenchley]

7. So true...

[MrBenchley]

5. Officer halts store robbery

"The Hollywood Video employee is hailing Fort Worth police officer Sandy Sanborn as a hero after the 11-year veteran stopped by the business Thursday night in time to thwart a robbery in progress.
Sanborn, who said he felt apprehensive and angry, yelled for the gunman to discard his weapon and show himself.
"I'm just leveling the gun at the top of the counter and speaking at the same time, trying not to sound nervous," Sanborn said. "The anger quotient was still there and growing because now I'm hearing her sobbing. I didn't know if he had managed to vault the counter in the second and a half or so that I didn't have them in view."
The gunman remained silent.
Sanborn radioed for backup. Within a minute, officer Phil Morrison joined Sanborn inside while other officers stood guard at the store's front and back doors."

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/7045245.htm

[MrBenchley]

8. Militia member 'filled with rage,' plotted ambush

Imagine if this guy was a Muslim or Arab-American? This would be the lead story on every newscast in the country...

"It was a rural arsenal fit for war.
After the peaceful arrest of a Cadillac-area man, authorities who searched his 40-acre compound discovered a stunning collection of firepower, including an anti-aircraft gun capable of firing 550 rounds per minute up to four miles away.
A van and a Jeep Cherokee, described by the suspect as his "war wagons," had machine guns inside, with one "locked, loaded and ready to go," Assistant U.S. Attorney Lloyd Meyer said.
Agents found an underground bunker, thousands of rounds of ammunition, hundreds of pounds of gunpowder and manuals on guerrilla warfare, "booby traps" and explosives.
Somerville was "filled with rage and intended to ambush people, mowing them down in a hail of machine-gun bullets," Meyer said, quoting informants. He belongs to a "self-styled radical militia unit" whose members are upset over the death of Scott Woodring, the prosecutor said. "

http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1066402152183970.xml

[MrBenchley]

9. Hunters shoot two rare trumpeter swans: One bird killed; mate, cygnets sta

Oh, yeah, the gun owner is the segment of society the Democratic party should pannder to...

"Two adult male trumpeter swans, the mates in two of only 61 nesting pair in the state, were shot by goose hunters in separate incidents in northwestern Wisconsin this month.
The DNR will issue a citation within the next few days against the 19-year-old Wisconsin man who shot the swan that survived Oct. 11 at the Amsterdam Sloughs State Wildlife Area in Burnett County, said DNR Warden Jeremy Cords in Grantsburg.
"The person wasn't sure what he was shooting at," Bartz said. "That shouldn't have happened. Hunters should be sure of what they are shooting at." "

http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/oct03/178106.asp

[MrBenchley]

10. Day-care shooter guilty

"An Orange Circuit Court jury found Theodore Rodgers guilty of first-degree murder Friday in the Valentine's Day 2001 shooting death of his wife at a Pine Hills day-care center.
Rodgers testified Thursday that he had caught his wife, Florence "Teresa" Henderson, cheating on him with her ex-husband. That discovery came the same day she was shot three times in the head in front of three young children -- ages 5, 6 and 8. "

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=364&ncid=364&e=2&u=/trib/20031018/lo_sentinel/daycareshooterguilty

[MrBenchley]

11. Smithfield boy slain

"SMITHFIELD -- A stray bullet killed an 8-year-old boy as he slept in his bed late Thursday in a Smithfield apartment.
Kyron Butler, a third-grader at Carrollton Elementary School, was struck in his throat by a single bullet when the building was sprayed with gunfire, said Smithfield Police Chief Mark Marshall.
Marshall said neither the boy nor his family was the intended target of the attack."

http://www.dailypress.com/news/yahoo/dp-94974sy0oct18.story

[MrBenchley]

12. Family, friends mourn a vibrant life cut short

"Shortly after more than 400 people attended a funeral Mass yesterday for a Byram college student who was shot to death in Brooklyn last Sunday, New York police announced the arrest of a man on weapons charges in connection with the homicide case.
Investigators do not think the motive was robbery or a random act. Neighbors reported hearing gunshots and a car speeding away before Fisher's body was discovered with five bullet wounds to the heart, lungs, liver and esophagus, authorities said. Police were trying to determine whether Fisher was shot at the party, on the street or inside the car and then dumped into the street. "

http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1066455078166880.xml?starledger?nnj

[MrBenchley]

13. Bosnian refugee meets American violence

"Vesna Dzombic, in just one year of high school in the United States, accomplished what many American students and their parents spend years training, studying and lobbying for: a college scholarship.
Early yesterday, Dzombic became a victim of the American Dream's dark underside: gun violence.
Dzombic has a bullet wound in her thigh that police said shattered her femur. It was fired by a man who shot into a crowd of students and guests after a dance party on Rider's campus early yesterday. A fight had just broken up, and the shots sent everyone scattering.
Dzombic and a Camden County man, who police said were innocent bystanders, were shot in the leg. "


http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-8/1066466146311040.xml?times?nmx

[MrBenchley]

14. Man arrested for heroin, guns

Another "law-abiding gun owner."

"Authorities Thursday seized $200,000 worth of heroin and three guns from a Hamilton storage facility following the arrest in Burlington County of a Trenton man on drug charges, police said.
Shawn Hedgepath, 25, of the 400 block of Martin Luther King Boulevard, Trenton, was arrested about 8:30 a.m. in Burlington Township after detectives there seized 364 bags of heroin, an ounce of crack cocaine, and $35,000 in cash that authorities believe to be the proceeds of drug transactions, according to Lt. Joe Juniak, a Trenton police spokesman.
Seized from the storage facility were 9,600 bags of heroin, an Encom MP-45 assault weapon, a .22-caliber revolver, a .380-caliber semi-automatic handgun, a bulletproof vest and various drug packaging materials, according to Juniak. "

http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-8/1066466181311040.xml?times?nmx