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Two firefighters who survived an ambush in upstate New York that killed two of their colleagues said Thursday they were "humbled and a bit overwhelmed" by well wishes in the wake of the tragedy as more details emerged of the deadly attack.
West Webster volunteer firefighters Joseph Hofstetter and Theodore Scardino, who had been in guarded condition, were upgraded to satisfactory condition on Wednesday at Rochester's Strong Memorial Hospital.
As authorities continued their investigation into the assault that William Spengler, 62, carried out on the volunteers responding to a blaze in Webster early Monday, the hospital released a statement from the survivors.
The pair said their "thoughts and prayers" were with the families of their colleagues Michael Chiapperini, 43, and Tomasz Kaczowka, 19, who were shot dead at the scene. They were also "humbled and a bit overwhelmed by the outpouring of well wishes for us and our families," the statement said.
Chiapperini was killed by a single gunshot wound, while Kaczowka died as a result of two gunshot injuries, according to autopsy results released by New York State Police on Thursday afternoon.
Spengler, who was convicted of killing his grandmother in 1980, died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, police said in a statement. He shot himself as seven houses burned around him.
'Multiple firemen down'
"We are being shot at," an unidentified voice told a 911 dispatcher in a recording aired Wednesday on NBC's TODAY. "Multiple firemen down. Multiple firemen are shot. I am shot. I think he is using an assault rifle."
Hofstetter and Scardino were shot during the chaos. One was struck by a bullet in the pelvis and the other in the chest and knee, NBCNewYork.com reported.
Police said Spengler left a three-page typewritten note saying he wanted to burn down the neighborhood and "do what I like doing best, killing people."
“He was equipped to go to war, kill innocent people," Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering told reporters Tuesday.
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle said Wednesday that the funeral for Chiapperini, who was a 20-year veteran of the Webster Police Department, will be Sunday, while a funeral Mass for Kaczowka, who graduated from high school last year, will be held in Rochester at 10 a.m. ET Monday.
John Ritter, a police officer with the nearby Greece, N.Y., police department, came across the fire while on his way to work early Monday. He stopped, waiting to see if the firefighters would direct him around the scene, when he suddenly heard a large blast and then discovered a hole in his windshield, The Rochester newspaper reported. His vehicle was struck a second time.
“At that point I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t know if it was shrapnel from the fire. I sat there, I checked my body to see if I was injured -- I wasn’t -- and then I heard multiple rounds going off,” he said late Wednesday at a press conference.
He made his way over to where firefighters were trying to put out the blaze and warned them that someone was shooting. He told the newspaper his main goals were to take cover, get out of the “kill zone” and keep people from that area. Though he called his role “peripheral,” police have said he helped to protect others.
“There’s no way to defend an ambush,” said the nearly 24-year veteran of the Greece police force, who did not open fire. “I am driving to work ... I don’t have any tools of my trade with me. I don’t have body armor, I don’t have long range weapons, I don’t have my radio, I don’t have anything, and I am in a situation where someone is actively engaging me.”
Ritter said words couldn’t describe his feelings, which included survivor’s guilt. “I don’t know why I’m still here, other than there was some type of divine intervention that kept that round from penetrating through my car and hitting something else.”
Spengler had lived in the house with his sister and his mother, Arline, who died in October at 91. Arline Spengler's obituary asked that memorial donations be made to the West Webster Fireman's Association.
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A former neighbor told The Associated Press that Spengler "loved his mama to death" and that he "couldn't stand" his sister. The neighbor said he thought Spengler "went crazy" after his mother died.
Spengler, the gunman, was convicted of manslaughter in 1981 after the death of his grandmother, Rose Spengler, 92, and was paroled in 1998. He remained under parole supervision until 2006, the Democrat and Chronicle reported. Before Monday's shooting, Webster police hadn't had any run-ins with Spengler since he was paroled, they said.
Police investigating the killings said Tuesday that they had found what appeared to be human remains at the gunman's home. Authorities said they believed those were of Spengler’s 67-year-old sister, Cheryl, who lived with him.
Although Spengler couldn't legally own firearms as a convicted felon, police said he was armed with a Smith & Wesson .38-caliber revolver, a 12-gauge pump shotgun and a Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle, the same kind used in the Newtown, Conn., school massacre in mid-December. Authorities are tracing the history of the weapons and how Spengler obtained them, state police said.
At least 33 people were displaced by the fire, which engulfed at least seven homes and a motor vehicle.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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This was a tragedy (as was Newtown) that could not have been anticipated. These men were doing thier jobs, responding to a fire, and were ambushed by a madman with a high power weapon. Even if they were armed (I have no objection there) they still were ambushed, and would have suffered casulties. To get to the NRA issue, I can agree that mental health, school security, the criminal justice system releasing felons into society, and even violence in movies, media and video games, needs to ALL be looked at. But to say that gun violence, dosen't have anything to do with guns, is just ridiculous. Everything needs to be on the table for discussion. To exclude any of the "contributing factors" of gun violence in America, is foolish.
Not to be a contrarian, Shawn D, but then by your reasoning, we need to put hammers and fire on the table, because the killer used those in his attacks as well. Do we stop at flam throwers, or should bbqs be illegal too? A person with homicidal intent will use what is available to them. Removing guns will not remove intent, but it will serve to make those of us who are not physically capable of defending ourselves victims with out recourse to defend ourselves. I read an account of an elderly couple who were home in a remote area, when an assailant with a face mask on attempted to enter via their bedroom slider. The assailant could see the couple sitting in their bed, reading. The couple could see him. He did not leave when the woman screamed, as he breached the locking mechanism.....thank goodness for old fashioned dowels. The husband exited to retrieve a fire arm as the assailant began pounding on the glass to break it. The husband returned with his shotgun, and aimed it at the assailant, who promptly left. Police arrived 40 minutes later to take the couples report. With out that gun, the couple would have been the victim of this attacker, even though he may not have had a gun. He could have overpowered them easily as they were elderly. For the weak and alone there is no other defense. Removing the gun will not remove the violence and this is the issue. We need to address violence. We need real solutions, not politically motivated answers that only serve to cause graver problems.
Exactly what Katie7 said! Gun violence is just the type of violence it happened to be. It could've been knife or gun violence. The problem isn't the gun. The problem is the violence. And it would've been done with any tool they could gather.
There is no criminal justice system any more. There are criminals, there is justice, and then there is the system. Criminals know how to work the system.
According to the NRA "Guns don't kill people, people kill people". So explain to me how a gun didn't kill those firefighters.
The gun was used by a person to kill them. Just like this wacko used a hammer to kill his grandmother. Get it? They're tools/weapons used by killers... to kill! Just about anything we use as a tool for doing something can be used to kill.
Why is the Second Ammendment? Come on, somebody here must know. Clue, it's not in place so we can provide for our families by popping a cap in Thumper or Bambi! If only every once in awhile one out of 320 million blows a gasket and runs amuck then I'll take the odds and keep my so called "Assault Weapon" and it's large capacity "Clips". The stupudity of the Left is way more frightening.
So the left is way more frightening than one of you NRA types shooting school children full of holes? Lets ask some kids in Connecticut which scares them more? Watching one of you idiots dressed in a black military costume shooting their best friend... Or a feel good liberal handing them a flower.
Let's ask the school children of Rwanda, or the Congo, or Northern Mali, or Southern Somalia how they feel about some guy with a machete asking them "long sleeves or short?" Too bad they cannot defend themselves... Just like Dan Rather watching the Chinese crush the Tianamen Square demonstrations and asking "don't these people have any guns?"
Nope, liberals (who used to stand for the expansion of individual rights instead of flacking for ever more intrusive statism) with a flower are every bit as scary as right wingers with guns, most of whom have never even taken a potshot at Bambi.
I own guns and I own hammers. Actually, I have more hammers than guns. Does that make me dangerous? Thus far, not one of my guns has jimmied the lock on the gun safe and gone on a killing rampage, but some of those hammers have damn near taken my fingers off. Which one is intrinsically more dangerous? Maybe we should ask this guy's grandmother that question...
I'll hazard a guess that the perp in this case was not a member of the NRA.
The worst part of this, besides the dead firefighters, of course, is now this will be used by the liberals as another emotion-fueled- and knee-jerk cause for gun control. Rather than a basis for enquiry re another favorite liberal raison d'etre, getting criminals and psychopaths out of jail free; WHY was this obviously pshycotic individual ever released? Gee, Timmy (imagine this is one of the dead firefighter's kids) he NEVER said anything to the parole Board or his six prison psychologists or the Welfare Dept about killing everybody in the world.
Wow! You NRA types are never short on excuses for gun crimes. It's James Cagney! It's Pac Man! It's liberal judges! It's fluoride in water! It's anything but the guns these idiot NRA types use to mass murder children.
I don't belong to the NRA but, I am a US citizen, living under the protection of a Constitution that was constructed by a bunch of wise men that forsaw a bunch jackwads wanting to relieve us of our freedoms.
Has it been proven either was a member of NRA?
So... What freedom do you have Greg that outweighs a child'g right to go to school wothout one of you gun nuts shooting them full of holes? If you gun owners were responsible enough to own guns, no one would be talking about banning any firearms.
It wasn't a gun nut OICY. It was a society made wacko who got his hands on guns. The very same guns the next wacko will get his hands on when he decides to rampage. I can't believe you haters actually see banning assault weapons or all guns for that matter as the answer to this problem. Stick your head back in the sand!
OICY Nothing outweighs a child's need to grow up unmolested in a free country and I will be the first to defend that Right. You and yours would like to dictate that child's life from cradle to grave with your own personal idealism forced on them by law created in the backrooms off your predjudiced goverment representitives.
OIcy what are you going to defend the children with? Hot air.
Wow! OICY, I'm not a member of the NRA. Nor do I own many guns. I'm just tired of the Illegal-Alien-In-Chief and now Little Duke Cuomo stripping away people's rights. Doesn't seem to matter to anybody that some of the new laws are themselves unconstitutional. I'm also tired of seeing something almost EVERY DAY on the news about a violent criminal who got a liberal Get Out of Jail Free card doing his next thing.
Katie...
I still think it's despair with no vision of a positive future but I also agree with you that all these kids forced on drugs (mostly boys) in the school system and I was told 1 in 3 people now are on anti-depressants that have been linked to suicides (what these really are) and agression. These are angry people who have no intention of surviving. Parents create much of this rage by applying an antiquated measure of "success" that is no longer achievable or sustained. Wait till the economy tanks even further and the Liberals lose their pay or benefits from the government...we haven't seen anything yet but it's coming...the rage/anger of the left as they join the ranks of the desparate and angry....
What dumb, ignorant comments, yakman48. You are the angry one. I'm a liberal and I pretty happy not angry! And I'm wealthy and receive no government handouts. So there goes your stereotype of liberals.
Yes, there is legitimate despair because of the state of our economy and the entitlement mentality. So many disenfranchised have no way to achieve a place where they can be participants in a prosperous society. I watched a documentary recently about the failing public school systems. It said a big part of the problem with schools is that they are still functioning to meet the american societal needs of 60 years ago, where a certain small percentage would go on to higher education and become the doctors, lawyers and indian cheifs (CEOs), another percentage would become skilled labor and then the rest would become general labor, ie factory & farm. Today, we have tech companies who cannot fill high paying positions, because less than 50% of the American public school educated work force have the qualifications for these jobs and so the jobs are opened up to better educated immigrants. Tragic. They also talked about ADHD and how it is a diagnosis that is nothing more than the description of your typical healthy child. The psychoactive (trophic!) drugs they give the children make them docile and pliable. These drugs have been made illegal in some European countries due to the side effects (ie homicidal tendencies). I would add that the problem is not just prescribed meds......
Desparate and angry? I think that you just described the Republican Taliban Party.
1% of the poplulation is mentally ill. That means approximiately 3 Million people are mentally unstable. These mentally unstable individuals ( schizophrenics, paranoid schizophrenics, psychotics, etc.) hear organizations like the NRA, the far right, FOx News, Rush Limbaugh wrongly tell them that the government is "out to get them" ,that the government is going to take away your guns and freedom. that they personally are "under attack" by the president. They hear this over and over 24/7 on TV and online and their paranoid delusions are validated. This is what makes them snap. Many normal people believe these things too but they do not go out and kill innocent citizens. These killings are a mental health issue as well as a gun issue, media issue, violent video game issue. We cannot point the finger on only one thing. We do need to ban assault rifles and high capacity magazines and have stricter screening on who can purchase guns as well as provide more mental health care for all.
or suppose there were no guns at all in the world. How about a person driving into a crowd of 100+ people at 120 MPH...or these same people who are intent on dying...not to survive the ordeal...using quiet methods of serial killing until they are shot by police since nobody else is armed? The safety of wives/daughters and the old come to mind. At least a gun makes noise and gets attention...I would fear a conventional silent serial killer bent on suicide much more and much more difficult to stop if not impossible if there were many of them at once...everywhere
We keep trying to build cars safer. The gun makers keep trying to build guns that can slaughter children better.
yakman, When that stuff starts to happen with any frequency, I'll take your fantasy more seriously. Adults deal with what IS happening, not what their hysterical imagination can conjure up, as conservatives do.
OICY, making cars safer doesn't make them any less able to run people over if driven with that intent.
Is it really just coincedence that weve had so many MAJOR tragedies, dealing with guns lately? Im not one to believe in conspiracy non sense, but this is very disconcerting. Its just very strange that weve had two or three massacres in less than a year. What is going on here?
You brought up a great point. In the last year we have seen a guy cut up and mail his victim, a freak strip down and chew another man's face off, a freak dress up as the Joker and the last two tragedies. I remember stating after the face chewing incident that he would be old news and a bigger freak would come along. And now for next weeks winning Power Ball numbers.........
If you ban something that is already out there, it is then multiplied in value. So the thieves/ criminals will be more inclined to go after the high dollar items. The non criminals now become the target for a crime to be commited against them. They can not stay at home and guard their safe all the time, and with the value so high, a thief will figure a way to break into a safe. The banned item could be more valuable to a thief than jewlry, electronics and other valuable items in your home.
Yep... and when they get caught, they can go to prison.
It has worked out so well for crime today hasn't it? The murderer in this article was let out after 17 years. I guess you only want criminals to have the weapons, that'll make you feel safer huh?
Where did I say I want criminals armed? That's what the NRA wants. If they didn't want criminals to have easy access to firearms they would have demanded that the Gun Show Loophole gets closed. But the fact is... The NRA wants criminals to have guns. That makes people like you buy even more guns. And that's what the real purpose of the NRA is.
A Lobby for Gun Makers to bribe Law Makers to allow people who shouldn't own any gun to legally buy a gun only the military should own.
Afer the thieves break in and steal the guns from the safe, they are not all going to be caught, therefore criminals have the guns. They have the guns, because they were banned and became the top item for thieves to look for.
Lamest statement so far! More spin from the haters. Every one with a brain knows thats exactly what the NRA and gun owning Americans DO NOT want. Idiot!
Show me one new gun law the NRA want's to help keep guns out of the hands of criminals?
oicy-show me one new law that WILL keep a gun out of criminals hands.
Criminals don't care about laws OICY. That's why you haters and your crusade to rid the country of guns is futile. You will NEVER accomplish ridding the country of guns no matter how many laws you try to pass and therefore will never keep guns out of the hands of criminals. It's really that simple!
O I C Y
There are no gun show loop holes. There may be a few people outside the gun shows trading or selling person to person but ALL Dealers with a license in the shows, fill out paperwork & do background checks. It is the law. If they get caught, the loose their license.
Last I checked, murder was illegal. Yet many people on this site think making guns illegal will somehow magically transform criminals into law abiding citizens.
I find it funny that the pro gun folks like to use the word "liberal" to describe anyone who is for any type of gun control. Not every right wing "conservative" owns a Bushmaster. Not every left wing "liberal" does not hunt or have a guns for personal protection. This is not a right / left issue, its an issue about gun violence, and violence in any form. Of course its about mental health, violent media, the broken justice system, and yes, guns in society too..
I don't think every Republican who voted for Mitt Romney is pro-gun, and everyDemocrat who voted for Obama is anti-gun. Its just not so. Its mothers and father, sisters and brothers, Democrats and Republicans, trying to find a way to stop an epidemic.
I think we need to figure out what has started and is keeping this epidemic going, but I don't think there needs to be rash decisons made. I think there are many things other than just guns that needs to be looked at. I don't think introducing new laws is the answer, until they can enforce the laws already in effect.
The problem we have in America today is that the NRA's rhetoric has created a gun culture that is no where near responsible enough to own guns. The Gun Nuts have proven to be a real threat to School Children, Movie Goers, Shoppers, and most everyone else in America.
OICY are you Hoplophobic? I think you are. Your idealistic perfect weapon free world does not exist, surprise, and it never will.
But it sure will be a safer world for children if we can just keep guns out of the hands of you NRA types!
No O I C Y,
the world will not be safer for children if you took legally owned guns away from hundreds of millions of law abiding gun owners. Nor would it be possible. If you outlawed gun ownership, then you would make 1/3 of americans criminals. It would be illegal for the government to take such an action against the citizens of the USA. Were there no guns, the same crazies would still have the same homicidal intent, and would use what is available to them to attack a defenseless populous. We need to deal with mental illness more effectively, so that homicidal intent is reduced. Perhaps if our culture were to place greater emphasis on the value of a human life.....
Here's one for you, how many legal gun owner's have committed a crime with that gun?
They can't answer that. They are always a criminal with an illegal gun. They always go to a gun free zone. That makes them a criminal before they ever pull the trigger. All the robots know is gun bad, take gun away. UGG---MSN say gun bad, gun evil.
OCIY, how about this "gun nut"? Was he a threat to the people in the mall or was he an asset?
....
I am continually amazed at the stupidity of gun nuts. So, criminals will "always" find a way to get the guns, and as proof, you say, "Look at how easily they can obtain weapons in the U.S., which sells these guns all over the place!" Of course the fact that they don't get these weapons in countries that DON'T manufacture them wholesale has no impact on these imbeciles. I guess these morons figure that junky criminals will make forges, machinery, and all the infrastructure and factories needed to make these weapons if they are no longer legally available. Again, the stupidity is just unbelievable. An intelligent ape would know better.
Your right, your stupidity is unbelievable. Remember Prohibition....that didn't stop the mass production and distribution of alcohol anymore than stopping production of weapons will stop killing. By the way, I think our Founding Fathers were a little smarter than you by protecting the right of citizens to own firearms; I think I'll take their wisdom over yours any day.
I think it's a little easier to make the moonshine you gun nuts drink by the gallon than it is to make an AR-15.
Ever hear of a midnight special made by gang members?
Perfect example of how gun control and more gun laws and banning weapons will stop nothing accept taking them out of the hands of law abiding people. These weapons were banned in NY and he wasn't lawfully able to own a weapon because of his felony conviction....so much for the stupid guns laws. As far as killing goes, this psycho killed his grandmother with a hammer...hmmm, should we ban hammers?
The people we should be putting in the same cell as killers who bludgeoned their own mother to death with a hammer are the idiots who keep telling us we need to ban cars and hammers.
I think all Progressive Left Wing Anti-gun nuts should be kept within the borders of California.
OICY - More hate toward other people doesn't fix anything. Why do so many Americans think "hate" is the name of the game? Stop all the hating. That is what creates all our messes.
Our justice system needs to be held accountable. Why is a man who killed his grandmother with a hammer out of prison? What are these people thinking?
OICY, your the one who wants to use the argument that banning guns will stop violence....just how stupid do you think you sound. Besides, my comment was to make a point how stupid it is to blame the gun for the violence. The point is, since you seem to have to have it spelled out for you, the problem is the person behind the weapon, whatever that weapon may be. Banning the weapon doesn't solve the problem, looking at the person behind the weapon and stopping them will.
So much hate, so many guns, and so many sick, psycho creeps, and so little time for the rest of us.
My condolences to the families of the firemen killed. Wow, a 43 year old man and a 19 young man. So much to live for. Good people who want to help others and this is how they die! Just awful!
Great for our justice system, eh? Let murderers out to murder again. It is way past time that we institute a one offense policy regarding murder, rape, and pedophilia. One offense means never on the streets with society again!
To all you idiots saying more guns want help. You need to read more. In Switzerland, one out of 2 people own a gun and they have the lowest crime rate in the world. Criminals and crazy people do crazy @!$%# with guns because they know they can hurt a lot of people before someone gets there with a gun. It 2 or 3 teachers had a gun at the school shooting, there would be a lot less kids killed. If everyone packed a gun, crime would go down. Criminals would realize they would have to rob a armed person instead of a unarmed person. The reason why crime is so high because so many people are unarmed. Drugs have been banned for years and are still on the streets. Banning guns will be the same thing. They will be on the street. Go look at Australia, they banned most guns and crime and home invasion skyrocketed. You dont here of criminals robbing armed people or crazy people going on shooting sprees where guns are present.
We have more guns per per capita than Switzerland. Try another argument based in reality.
According to you there is lower gun crimes in the state with the most guns? Wyoming has a 73% murder rate with guns... NY has a 53% murder rate with guns.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jan/10/gun-crime-us-state
I'm for the 2nd ammendment, but I don't think arming or forcing arms on everyone is the right answer either. I don't think anyone has the right to take away arms from law abiding citizens either.
I think you gun owners need to start acting like responsible citizens before you get to keep your beloved guns.
We (the civilian population) have more people under arms than the US government and I'm good with that. We will be able to keep our freedom of choice in many things because of it. Scares the the stuffing out of the Left and their communal leanings.
I bet those children who just got shot full of holes scared you until one of your heroes shot them full of holes.
Those of us moderate independent voters will gladly move to the right thanks to people like you oinky.
O I C Y
YOU need to stop using these murdered babies for your gun grabbing agenda. Using their blood to your avantage is a sick way of trying to get responsible gun owners to shame themselve towards your point of view.
Sooner or later, we will have to start weeding these people out. We won't be able to feed everyone in prison. Hard enough keep up with welfare scumbags.
Because of the Gun Laws that you gun nuts demanded we are going to have to put armed SWAT members in every school, movie theater, mall, and everywhere else people gather to protect us from you NRA types!
And your answer to the problem is more laws for criminals to break while they commit their crimes with more heavily banned weapons? Nice plan! Good luck with that!
Issue vouchers and let people go where they want for an education...a private company would have have no problem with security and if parents didn't like it...they could take their voucher somewhere else...Like a public school as another "choice"...
Or we could follow the NRA's advice and make it easier for criminals to get lots of guns.
I have to believe there are many of you folks on the vine who are really inmates serving time with lots of free time to type away and in your fantasy try to imagine a totally unarmed populace just waiting for your "return" after the Liberals have "rehabilitated" you, like (well golly gee...he looked OK to me...I'm an expert ha ha ha) this nut case. Absolutely the stuff of dreams...perhaps if you ask Santa (the Liberals) it won't be too late?
What Unarmed? We are going to need a SWAT member in every school, movie theater, shopping mall, and everywhere else one of you NRA nuts might target for your next mass murder.
O I C Y,
No SWAT team required, just one effectively trained principal. Why would you argue against measures that would prevent such tragedies?
O I C Y
NONE of these mentally ill criminals were NRA Gun Nuts. You are really mixed up on who is committing these crimes, my friend.
Your chances of winning the lottery or being struck by lightning are more likely than being caught up in a mass shooting. If I were you...I'd just stay put under the bed surfing the net...agraphobia is a terrible thing but you can get help. Keep taking your meds...or you might turn violent.
@ ewent- you are way out in left field on this. I legally own guns- I don't care if they publish my name anywhere. I have guns and am proud of it. I also keep them in a safe place if I am not there. Responsible gun owners are just that- Responsible. I also have my concealed permit to carry. I would not be upset if they published that either though it defeats the purpose of concealed. When you ban guns then only the law abiding citizens lose their guns, leaving the crooks to have all the guns they want. Leaving the general public at the mercy of the crooks. When are you going to get a grip and realize that when you ban guns only crooks will have the guns as they will get them no matter what the laws dictate. What they can't buy, they will build. Get it through your head, guns don't kill people, people kill people.
Do you feel the same about knives- someone went into a school and killed 27 people with a knife. What about bombs? How about baseball bats? Those can be used to kill as well, are you going to outlaw baseball bats? What about vehicles? People get killed everyday in vehicles. Planes? How many mass casualties have happened because of planes. Figure it out!!!
Killed his grandmother with a hammer and we let him out???? Anyone who kills someone should get life without parole or the death penalty!!! He should have been fried in 1980!!!! Nice justice system!!!
Let's see, you can be convicted of manslaughter, run around the neighborhood threatening arson and mayhem (with the explicit promise to kill people) and yet nobody can (or did) do anything? There is no state in the nation where this guy could legally buy a gun, yet, according to this story, he was "equipped for war" (whatever that means in the fervid imaginings of MSNBC's writers). How did that happen?
Here are my suggestions for reform:
(1) Revisit the Supreme Court decision which limited involuntary commitments and evaluations to cases of "imminent danger to oneself and others" (it was that decision, in the late 1970's, which closed down all the state run mental institutions and dumped the crazies onto the streets, where they are free to shoot people and to push them in front of subway trains).
(2) Require parol officers to report any evidence of anti-social or violent thoughts to the requisite authorities and require parol extension and increased supervision of those exhibiting those behaviors (and, while we are at it, let's put additional counseling and inspection requirements on parolees - most of the time it's "call in" supervision - "yup, I'm still here and bein' good..."; Wanna bet whether this nuts' parol officer ever asked the neighbors about him?).
(3) Require private gun sales to observe the same background checks and formalities as sales by FFL holders (yes, CLOSE the so-called "gun show loophole" - the technology exists to make that feasible and there is no reason for nuts to have an approved method of bypassing the very system which sane and honest gun buyers must obey). AND, while we are at it, let's require that ANY gun theft MUST be reported to the police authorities upon discovery (lest these "thefts" become a means of avoiding background checks and such).
(4) Enforce the existing laws (notably, under Clinton, enforcement of anti-gun laws hit an all time nadir - after all, if you want more gun control, you need more violent incidents to justify it, so let the crazies slide; And let's not forget Eric Holder and the "Fast and Furious" deal...).
I'm a gun owner. I like guns. I believe the Second Amendment is a personal right (as does the Supreme Court) and I believe (along with Jefferson, Washington, and the authors of the "Federalist Papers") that its purpose is to allow the populace to amass weapons adequate to resist a tyrannical government (which means it's not just about squirrel guns and trap shooting). However, I don't want nuts having guns. The main problem is on the "nut end" of the issue, but where we can adjust the gun laws to assist that purpose (as with the question of person to person sales), I think we gun owners need to give. SO, I have no problem with cooling off periods, with obliging all gun owners to submit to an extensive background check (more than just the "we'll do it while you wait" checks currently performed, which depend too much on data bases which must be maintained punctiliously to be remotely effective). Those things do not "infringe" my gun rights. However, when you tell me that I cannot own a gun because it "looks scary" to you, well, now you are treading on my Constitutional rights, rights which transcend even these occasional gun related horror stories.
Well..... Here we go again... A man who was convicted of killing his Grandmother who was 91 at the time with a hammer... He beat her to death with a hammer... A seemingly defenseless 91 year old woman (what could she have done to deserve that?) who if he had waited a few years, probably would have died of natural causes, is beaten to death by her Grandson who does 17 years in prison and 8 years on parole... WHY? Why was he ever let out of prison. He was convicted of 1st degree Manslaughter (manslaughter indicates "accidental") unless he dropped the hammer on her several times by accident, this was at the very least 2nd degree murder. Why do we ever let murderers out of prison? Why do we allow murderers of defenseless people to plea bargain their way down to manslaughter which will let them out of prison sooner. This is not a gun law issue, he got his guns illegally, black market, WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!!!! Imprisonment Without Parole for murderers of innocents or the death penalty.... It is a lot cheaper to put them to death than to lock them away. It is also not a bad idea, if we must lock them away, to imprison them (killers that is) in a central location of the country without any access to the outside world...
Now if the media including tv, internet, newspapers, etc would stop putting the faces of these sick killers on every front page then other sick minds would not have ideas put in their sick minds!! Something needs to be done maybe a class action law suite People VS Media all proceeds go to mental health in our schools.
Why did this murderer only serve 6 years for killing his own grand mother if he was in jail for life or executed this tragedy wouldn't of happened this bastard kills his grand mother and his sister he was a devil to say that he loved to do what he did best and that's to kill innocent people that's disgusting our court system is a joke we need to have the death penalty in every state for these murdering criminals there has been way to many massive killings of young children and innocent people lately we need to start somewhere we need to ban all weapons most of these weapons end up in the hands of criminals these animals are nothing without their guns they feel like tough guys when they shoot and kill innocent children and women and ambush firemen and innocent people in movie theaters execute these pieces of worthless garbage taking up space enough they kill dozens of people and they only get some jail time while the families of the dead have to suffer and struggle and bury their children, Look now LIFETIME channel is going to show a movie about Casey Anthony how dare they promote a murderer so she can make money after she killed her own little girl once again the court system and the jurors on her case and O.J. Simpsons case are a joke you cant fix these animals.
It seems that preventive common sense is not being utilized anywhere these days.
Violent career criminals are permitted to re-enter society over and over again
resulting in more violent mayhem against others. Our justice system is not
protecting society from these twisted sociopath individuals who feed on hurting
others. The sentence should include stipulating that reform is mandatory to
earn a pardon for their crimes. We are letting criminals out who have
demonstrated to be vicious with other criminals while incarcerated. No one
should have the right to re-enter society just because their time is up. Criminal’s
freedom cannot supersede society's safety. Violent criminals forfeit their
right to freedom if they have not reformed. We can't continue to set them free
to commit more beastly acts against others.
Violent acts committed should have a strict mandatory guideline. Whatever their crime
was they should be evaluated on those terms. Either by some lie detector device
with visual scenarios pertaining to the crimes committed. If the criminal has a
pleasurable or violent stimulus reaction then they HAVE NOT been reformed and
don't belong with society again. They lose the right to be free to HURT others.
Period. Parents, family members, neighbors or even teachers know if there are
cruel violent tendencies present. We are not talking about disorderly bratty
kids but exclusively violent, verbally hateful or cruel tendencies. This revolving
door criminal madness has to stop. Innocent lives MUST be protected. Yes freedom
is a born right but should be lost forever by anyone committing a heinous
violent crime. Those releasing the criminals or objecting by defending their rights over societies welfare should maybe consider what it would be like having them as neighbors instead of unknown wherabouts to inflict random kaos or violent cruelty against others.
We all need to Boycott the Casey Anthony movie on Lifetime do not watch this movie you will be supporting a murdering animal that killed her own child and got away with it don't make her rich for it shame on you Lifetime for promoting this movie based on a liar and a murderer this is the reason why our society is messed up its all about money the root to all evil.