Summary of Domestic Terrorism Inspired by Right-Wing Extremists (with Links)
There may be better-researched lists out there, but I put this together this morning and dug up the links. Hope you can use it to document this ongoing issue that our media refuses to address.
-- July 2008: A gunman named Jim David Adkisson, agitated at how "liberals" are "destroying America," walks into a Unitarian Church and opens fire, killing two churchgoers and wounding four others. "Adkisson, a former private in the United States Army from 1974 to 1977, says that he was motivated by hatred of Democrats, liberals, African Americans and homosexuals.<2><9><10> According to a sworn affidavit by one of the officers who interviewed Adkisson on July 27, 2008:<3> In his manifesto, Adkisson also included the Democratic members of the House and Senate,<12> and the 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America <12> of Bernard Goldberg in his list of wished-for targets." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knoxville_Unitarian_Universalist_church_shooting)
-- December 2008: A pair of "Patriot" movement radicals -- the father-son team of Bruce and Joshua Turnidge, who wanted "to attack the political infrastructure" -- threaten a bank in Woodburn, Oregon, with a bomb in the hopes of extorting money that would end their financial difficulties, for which they blamed the government. Instead, the bomb goes off and kills two police officers. The men eventually are convicted and sentenced to death for the crime. (http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2010/12/post_7.html)
-- December 2008: In Belfast, Maine, police discover the makings of a nuclear "dirty bomb" in the basement of a white supremacist (James G. Cummings) shot dead by his wife. The man, who was independently wealthy, reportedly was agitated about the election of President Obama and was crafting a plan to set off the bomb. ummings was “very upset” when Barack Obama was elected president. (http://new.bangordailynews.com/2009/02/10/politics/report-dirty-bomb-parts-found-in-slain-mans-home/)
-- January 2009: A white supremacist named Keith Luke embarks on a killing rampage in Brockton, Mass., raping and wounding a black woman and killing her sister, then killing a homeless man before being captured by police as he is en route to a Jewish community center. Luke wanted to "kill as many Jews, blacks, and Hispanics as humanly possible ... before killing himself". (http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/01/killing_nonwhit.html)
-- April 2009: A white supremacist named Richard Poplawski opens fire on three Pittsburgh police officers who come to his house on a domestic-violence call and kills all three, because he believed President Obama intended to take away the guns of white citizens like himself. Poplawski is currently awaiting trial. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Pittsburgh_police_shootings)
-- June 2009: A Holocaust denier and right-wing tax protester named James Von Brunn opens fire at the Holocaust Museum, killing a security guard. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_von_Brunn)
-- March 2010: An anti-government extremist named John Patrick Bedell walks into the Pentagon and opens fire, wounding two officers before he is himself shot dead. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Pentagon_shooting)
-- July 2010: An agitated right-winger and convict named Byron Williams loads up on weapons and drives to the Bay Area intent on attacking the offices of the Tides Foundation and the ACLU, but is intercepted by state patrolmen and engages them in a shootout and armed standoff in which two officers and Williams are wounded. (http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_10/026059.php)
-- January 8, 2011. Jared Lee Loughner attempts to assassinate Rep. Gabrielle Giffords at a Safeway store in Arizona. He then turns his gun on anyone in the immediate area. Six are killed, ranging in age from 9 to 79, 14 others injured. Loughner believes among other things that the present government is a threat to his Liberty and that there is an impending monetary collapse. Sources are available to fan the flames of such paranoia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Lee_Loughner)
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