Domestic-Violence in Bristol, Tennessee: Once Again A Young Murderer

A Fourth Victim Has Died In Edgemont Towers Shooting

Bristol, Tennessee Police officials say a fourth shooting victim has died at Bristol Regional Medical Center.

Police also confirmed that the shooter, Rusty Rumley, has also died from a self-inflicted gunshot.

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UPDATE: Edgemont Towers Shooting Suspect is Dead

Carter County Sheriff's Office had originally reported to News Channel 11 that the suspect was taken into custody earlier. Carter County Sheriff's Office then reported to News Channel 11 that Rusty Rumley died. Our news teams are working to clarify the sequence of events.

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BRISTOL, Tenn. - Three people are dead and another "gravely injured" in a shooting this morning at Edgemont Towers, Police Chief Blaine Wade said this afternoon.

The victims have not been identified.

Meanwhile, police said they are searching for Rusty Rumley Jr., 26, of Watauga, Tenn., in connection with the shooting. Wade said the shooting is believed to be "domestic-violence related."

A number of law enforcement officers from four agencies are on Rasnick Hollow Road, just across the Carter County line, trying to find Rumley, who is believed to have abandoned his pickup truck and fled on foot, according to Wade. Rumley and his parents are believed to live on the road.

Sgt. L.C. Tester with the Carter County Sheriff's Office said Rumley has military experience and is believed to be armed and dangerous.

Rumley is described as 5 feet, 7 inches tall, weighing about 155 pounds with black hair.

Young Murderers (Serial Killers?) In American Movie "Funny Games"

Steven Kazmierczak On Three Medications, Including Prozac

In her [Jessica Baty] second conversation with CNN, on Tuesday, Baty said [Steven] Kazmierczak began seeing the psychiatrist shortly after they transferred from NIU to the University of Illinois in Champaign in June 2007.

A psychiatrist not familiar with the details of the case said the three-drug combination was not necessarily either unusual or dangerous.

"It's not terribly unusual to prescribe all three," said Dr. Nada Stotland, professor of psychiatry at Rush Medical College in Chicago and president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association.

Xanax typically has a sedating, calming effect on users, she said.

"If you take a lot of that class of medication, you can be sort of like somebody who is drunk, out of it, but not violent," she said.

A person who had stopped taking it might feel anxious and edgy, she said.

And Ambien is commonly prescribed to overcome sleeping difficulties sometimes attributed to Prozac, she said.

Baty also said that Kazmierczak had been on the computer recently, but she did not know what he was doing and did not ask.

"He was being secretive with his computer," Baty said. "When he would sit on the couch with his laptop he would turn it away from me so I couldn't see what he was looking at."

Contradictory Views of Steve Kazmierczak

What people initially told police about the Northern Illinois University shooter — a portrait of a happy, stable young man who was a bright, helpful scholar — didn't add up.

Now investigators searching for what triggered Thursday's bloody attack, in which five students were killed and several injured before Steven Phillip Kazmierczak committed suicide, are finding some disturbing details.

He had spent time in a mental health center, had disturbing tattoos covering his arms and had developed a recent interest in guns.

Quick Response From Authorities at NIU Shooting: Only 90 Seconds

MSNBC reports,

Steven Kazmierczak, a 27-year-old NIU (Northern Illinois University) graduate, opened fire Thursday afternoon in a lecture hall, killing five students and injuring more than a dozen others in a rapid-fire assault that lasted just a few minutes. He committed suicide on the stage.

Authorities responded quickly; the first 10 police officers were on the scene in 90 seconds. NIU launched its emergency alert system — a carefully rehearsed plan developed after Virginia Tech — sending out e-mails and messages on Web sites to notify students that a possible gunman was on campus and they needed to find a safe area.

We should be proud that our police officers responded in such a timely manner, in only 90 seconds. If Mr. Kazmierczak had not committed suicide immediately, he may have tried to go into other buildings on campus to shoot other students and professors. The police response would have prevented this additional tragedy. We should be relieved that authorities responded so quickly.

Young Murderers

Another School Shooting/Another Young Murderer

NY TIMES reports:

Confronted with the scene of horror, people who knew him at the campus he attacked and the one he was currently enrolled in, the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, struggled with shock.

His adviser in Champaign, who saw him earlier this year, used words like “nice,” “engaging,” “motivated” and “responsible” to describe him. "I saw nothing that would suggest that there was anything troubling about his behavior or him,” Professor Jan Carter-Black told reporters today, according to USA Today. “I enjoyed having him as a student.”

When Mr. Kazmierczak was a graduate student in sociology at Northern Illinois University, he appeared to be a model student, earning a dean’s award in 2006.

He also served as vice president of the Academic Criminal Justice Association, a student group focused on educating the community. In a biography posted to the college’s Web site, he vowed to serve as treasurer “best of my ability.”

“I’ve worked very hard as a student,” Mr. Kazmierczak wrote. “I feel that I’m committed to social justice.”

He wrote a paper on prison issues, “Self Injury in Correctional Settings,” with several co-authors, including the group’s president.

Another Young Murderer But A Woman This Time

A 23-year-old woman killed two fellow students in a classroom at a vocational college Friday, then killed herself, police said.

The women apparently were shot in their seats in the second-floor classroom at Louisiana Technical College, Baton Rouge Sgt. Don Kelly said. About 20 people were in the room at the time, he said.

Officers ran into the building within four minutes of the first 911 call, which came at 8:36 a.m., Kelly said.

Intensifying Investigation of van der Sloot in Holloway Case

Earlier Friday, Mos' office announced prosecutors were reopening their probe into Holloway's vanishing after seeing tapes recorded by Dutch journalist Peter R. de Vries, The Associated Press reported.

Mos' office said Thursday it had "intensified" its investigation of the Holloway case because of the information from de Vries.

For his part, de Vries was promoting what he called "the most revealing report I've ever made," according to a translation of the video, posted on the Web site YouTube.

De Vries said that in an undercover camera operation, "we've found what became of Natalee and who's responsible." The report is scheduled to be broadcast Sunday on Dutch television.

But van der Sloot -- in a telephone interview from Holland -- told the Dutch television show "Pauw and Witteman" on Friday that he lied when he said he was involved in Holloway's disappearance, said one of his attorneys, Joe Tacopina.

"Joran maintains his innocence," Tacopina told CNN.

"Breathtaking In Its Inhumanity": Woman Sentenced in Death of Bicylist

TUCSON, Ariz. A judge sentenced a woman to nearly the maximum prison term for negligent homicide after hearing a recorded jail conversation in which she made light of the bicyclist she killed.

Melissa Arrington, 27, was convicted two months ago of negligent homicide and two counts of aggravated DUI in connection with the December 2006 death of Paul L'Ecuyer.

She could have gotten as few as four years behind bars, but Superior Court Judge Michael Cruikshank sentenced her Tuesday to 10 1/2 years -- one year shy of the maximum.

Cruikshank said he found a telephone conversation between Arrington and an unknown male friend, a week after L'Ecuyer was killed, to be ""breathtaking in its inhumanity.''

During the conversation, the man told Arrington that an acquaintance believed she should get a medal and a parade because she had ""taken out'' a ""tree hugger, a bicyclist, a Frenchman and a gay guy all in one shot.''

Arrington laughed. When the man said he knew it was a terrible thing to say, she responded, ""No, it's not.''

My younger brother is a mountain bicyclist and might described himself as a 'tree-hugger'; I can't imagine someone so callous as to laugh over the death of a human being. No wonder Liberals think Conservatives are 'right-wing nuts'!

No Peace For Them in Indianapolis

Shortly after the slayings (Two mothers holding their young children were shot in the face and torso and killed by 4 young men in an Indianapolis neighborhood on Saturday) , Marion County Sheriff Frank Anderson warned the perpetrators, "There's a special place in hell for you. And we're going to see that you get there."

Late Saturday, the sheriff followed up on his remarks in the wake of the initial charges.

"To the victims, I hope they rest in peace," he said. "To the ones who did this, I hope there is no peace for them."

Teenager Arrested in Pakistan for Part in Murder of Bhutto

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan - A teenager who said he was part of a team of assassins sent to kill former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was arrested near the Afghan border, Pakistani officials said Saturday.

The teen also confessed to taking part in a plot to attack Shiites during Ashoura, even as police in Pakistan's far south said they had foiled suicide attacks planned for the Shiite Muslim festival.

In Karachi, police chief Azhar Farouqi said officers detained five men who were in the possession of explosives, detonators and a small quantity of cyanide intended for attacks on this week's Ashoura processions.

"With these arrests we have foiled major attacks," Farouqi said.

The intelligence official said the 15-year-old told investigators that the five-person squad was dispatched to Rawalpindi, where Bhutto was killed, by Baitullah Mehsud, a militant leader with strong ties to al-Qaida and an alliance with the Taliban in nearby Afghanistan, on Afghanistan's northwest border.

Our Theology is Simple; We Believe in Christ

By ROBERT WELLER, Associated Press Writer

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The leader of a megachurch where a gunman opened fire a week earlier, killing two teenage sisters and wounding three other people, said Sunday that the congregation's trials of the past couple of years were nothing more than tests... Another test came a year ago, Boyd (present pastor) said, when founder the Rev. Ted Haggard was dismissed after a former male escort claimed Haggard paid him over three years for sex. Haggard publicly admitted committing unspecified "sexual immorality."

"This is not what this church will be known for," Boyd said.

"Our heart is to be a church that gives to people," he said. "We are a group that cares for people, any person."

That was written on the faces of members of a mostly smiling crowd who sang, clapped and waved as they watched the stage or several large-screen televisions simulcasting the service above them. Some cried. Dozens accepted a call to come to the front if they needed help to deal with the pain.

"All it has done is strengthen us," Boyd said at the service, attended by at least 4,000 adults.

Reacting to the shooting and the service, Josh Caldwell, 17, said: "It's definitely been really rough. But seeing the church continue to grow is an incredible experience. And seeing God move among us."

Boyd said the church's struggles could be compared to those faced by early Christians. "In times like this our theology is simple. ... We believe in Christ," he said.

Robert Hawkins: Troubled Child

From ‘Troubled’ to ‘Killer,’ Despite Many Efforts
By ERIC KONIGSBERG
Published: December 8, 2007
Robert A. Hawkins made a five-year journey through a maze of juvenile services before killing eight people and himself in a mall.

Robert A. Hawkins, as a ward of the State of Nebraska, received extensive care at Cooper — private psychotherapy, family therapy, drug counseling — from 2003 to 2005...
“I’ve just snapped,” Mr. Hawkins wrote in one of two suicide notes the police released on Friday.
But his actions did not come without warning signs; nor were these signals ignored. The rampage appears to be not so much a case of a young man slipping through the cracks, as a tragedy in which measured vigilance ended up not being enough.

Fighting Over Girl Results in Critical Wounding of Teenagers in Las Vegas

By RYAN NAKASHIMA and KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
LAS VEGAS - Assailants shot six young people Tuesday at a school bus stop, wounding two critically, in a midday attack that followed a fight over a girl, authorities said.

School police arrested three teenagers in the fight that happened hours before the shooting, Sheriff Doug Gillespie said. Investigators were still seeking two gunmen, who were believed to have fled on foot from the scene of the shooting, a working class neighborhood of northeast Las Vegas.

An 18-year-old man was in critical condition and a 17-year-old boy was upgraded to serious condition, both with gunshots to the torso, said Cheryl Persinger, a University Medical Center spokeswoman.

Four people, including at least two boys and a girl who are under 18, were treated for gunshot injuries to their arms and legs and released, she said. All four are students at Mojave High School who had just stepped off the bus, which was coming from the school, police said.

Beyond Imagining: Family Loses Two Daughters in Colorado Springs' Shooting

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -- A family is grieving Monday after their two teenage girls were killed in Sunday's shooting spree at the New Life Church.

"I'm asking Colorado Springs and the country to please pray for that family this morning because they're going through a very difficult time," said Reverend Brady Boyd, the senior pastor at New Life Church.

Authorities say 18-year-old Stephanie Works and 16-year-old Rachael Works died from their injuries after a gunman opened fire outside New Life Church on Sunday.

Another Young Murderer: Matthew Murray Identified As Colorado Killer

JUDITH KOHLER writes:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The gunman believed to have killed four people at a megachurch and a missionary training school had been thrown out of the school a few years ago and had been sending it hate mail, police said in court papers Monday.

The gunman was identified as Matthew Murray, 24, who was home-schooled in what a friend said was a deeply religious Christian household. Murray's father is a neurologist and a leading multiple-sclerosis researcher.

Five people — including Murray — were killed, and five others wounded Sunday in the two eruptions of violence 12 hours and 65 miles apart.

An Armed Guard Kills Colorado Gunman

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - A hospital official said early Monday that a second victim of a gunman's shooting spree at New Life Church has died, bringing the death toll from both Colorado attacks to five.

Earlier, a gunman shot four staff members at a missionary training center near Denver, killing two, after being told he could not spend the night. About 12 hours later and 65 miles (105 kilometers) away, a gunman shot parishioners at a megachurch before a guard killed him, police said.

A guard killed the gunman; now this is the person who should be carrying a gun openly...

Speaking of Guns

Opposite Reactions: Pro Gun Carrying vs. Gun Control

An "Eye-Witness" of Robert Hawkins shooting in the shopping mall, writes:

This part of the story may be removed later, but I will have it here for now.

I do not have a Concealed Handgun Permit. I have completed the training class, but I keep putting off applying for the permit because I think it is useless. In the places I would need a gun most, I am not allowed to have it. I will not be a person living in fear and not go to Van Maur because they don’t allow guns.

My point that Open Carry needs to be easier in Omaha, and places like Westroads need to take down their “no guns” signs.

If I had my gun deeply concealed, I wouldn’t have been able to draw it very fast. However, If I had open carried, I could of drawn instantly.

Either way though, I could have drawn and taken a clean shot. However, in both cases, regardless of the laws, I am not allowed to carry a gun at all in Westroads Mall. If the laws did not oppress my rights, I would carry a gun most places (except work). I would certainly have had it in the mall as mall shootings have been on my mind since the incident at a mall involving a shotgun back in February.

My wife is somewhat cautious about guns as is my sister-in-law. After this event, both are now pro-guns. In addition, I will never again be caught without a gun.

Off the top of my head, this gentleman (who amazingly survived being within a fairly close distance of shooter, Robert Hawkins at the mall in Nebraska) makes me imagine the 'wild West' where everyone was armed openly everywhere... in the streets, in the saloons, in the hotels, perhaps even in the churches (?)!

I can't imagine that this sort of open gun carrying would make any of us safer. It seems to me that if we all carried guns, then any time we felt threatened, we would be faced with the awful decision: do I shoot this person or wait? If I shoot this person, will that fellow over there (who is also packing a gun openly) know why I took the shot? Or will that person draw his or her handgun and shoot me? Goodness, just about everyone around me at that particular moment might draw his or her gun and shoot me!

As for me, I think I lean towards gun control, not open gun toting.

The KEY question is: How did this 19 year old get an AK-47?