Sodini called mom just before killings
By Jill King Greenwood
Pittsburgh, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, August 7, 2009
The 911 calls kept coming, even as police officers armed with assault rifles stormed the fitness center. Terrified callers, some hiding in lockers and closets, whispered into cell phones that someone was on a shooting rampage inside the gym.
"People were saying they were too scared to come out, and they thought the shots were close and the shooter was coming after them, too," Collier police Chief Thomas Devin said Thursday.
Thirty minutes earlier, George Sodini made his own cell phone call, to his mother.
At 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, Sodini, 48, of Scott called to tell his mother he planned to "kill a bunch of people" and he "didn't expect to survive the shooting," investigators said. Sodini walked into a Latin Impact aerobics class at LA Fitness in Great Southern Shopping Center, flipped off the lights and began unloading two 9 mm handguns into a class of about 20 women. He killed three and injured nine before killing himself.
The officers dispatched at 8:16 found a "chaotic and upsetting" scene, Devin said: bodies, blood, bullet holes in walls, shattered mirrors. They and others in the township of about 6,400 people are trying to cope with the horror of what happened at a popular shopping center and rebuild a sense of community in Collier, a focus of national media coverage for several days now.
"People were running everywhere, out every exit, and they were screaming and crying," Devin said. "My officers arrived, and they just see blood everywhere and people running, and they don't know if these people are victims or suspects.
"And is the shooter or shooters still in there? They walk in and they don't hear any gunfire. It's silent. But is that because he's reloading?"
Police don't know whether Sodini's mother, who lives in Baldwin, called anyone to report what her son told her. But she did call him back shortly after 8 p.m., probably about the time he was spraying an exercise room with gunfire, police said.
No one answered the door at his mother's home yesterday. His father, George Sodini of Adams in Butler County, said he did not want to talk about what happened. The family released a statement saying: "Our hearts and prayers are with the victims and their families, and we pray for the full recovery of the survivors."
At the closed fitness center, where Devin said crews inside were "cleaning up, tearing up carpet," people streamed to a memorial outside, adding flowers, balloons, candles, teddy bears and handwritten cards. "Rest in peace," read one. "Everyone has been affected by this tragedy," read another.
David Cherup of Peters, who comes to the gym daily, said he recognized the victims but not Sodini. He hung his own sign: "George, U Coward. R.I.H. (Rest In Hell)."
"This guy didn't deserve all the attention he's getting," Cherup said. "He was a coward, and I hope he's always remembered as a coward."
Investigators know of few people who socialized with Sodini, Devin said. "He really flew under the radar."
LA Fitness officials told Devin they plan to reopen the center. A corporate spokesperson could not be reached, but a message on the club's phone states "it's too early to tell when we will reopen" and invites members to use other locations for no charge.
Still, said Devin, "That LA Fitness will always be remembered as the place where a man opened fire and killed women in an exercise class. You'll never be able to change that."
That night, officers from 26 law enforcement agencies joined 13 EMS and fire agencies at the shopping center. A trail of blood from inside the fitness center led to a nearby hillside, prompting Devin to request a state police helicopter and infrared sensor, fearing a wounded suspect had run from the scene. Police didn't know how many shooters had attacked the gym, or whether any were alive.
The disturbing scene capped a "rough week" for Collier's 14 officers, who will be encouraged to talk with counselors today during a debriefing, Devin said.
On Monday, his officers helped at the funeral of Marine Sgt. Ryan Lane, who was killed in Iraq and whose father is a former chief in nearby Castle Shannon. They attended the funeral of a Collier officer's mother Tuesday, only hours before the shootings.
"That is the worst situation I've been in my entire career," said Devin, a 33-year law enforcement veteran. "I hope I never seen anything like that again in my life."
One immediate concern that night was identifying victims, he said. Keys and wallets and other personal belongings were scattered. Devin thought if he had to, he would gather the keys and later try to identify their owners by scanning Giant Eagle or Shop 'n Save savings cards on the keychains at those stores.
"I'm looking at these women and thinking, this lady is dead, and her parents don't know -- and I can't tell them until I figure out who these women are."
Investigators said Sodini carried four guns and about 150 rounds of ammunition. Devin worries about the survivors.
"The ones who survived will have to live with that night, those images and sounds, for the rest of their lives," he said.
Trib stands by Sodini cell phone story
By The Tribune-Review
Friday, August 7, 2009
Allegheny County police today released a statement denying a report in the Tribune-Review that George Sodini called his mother minutes before the LA Fitness shootings and said he planned to kill people and did not expect to survive.
Three police officials from two agencies confirmed this information to a reporter before the Tribune-Review published the story.
Tribune-Review Editor Frank Craig and Managing Editor Bob Fryer said today that they stand behind the story.
Showing posts with label Mass Murder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mass Murder. Show all posts
Friday, August 7, 2009
Gym killer George Sodini posted video on how to control emotions
August 6, 2009
timesonline.co.uk
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania--The man who opened fire on a women’s dance class in Pittsburgh this week had posted videos on YouTube betraying his struggle to contain his emotions and desperation for a girlfriend just over a year before his fatal assault.
George Sodini killed three women and injured nine more when he walked into his gym on Monday night, pulled two guns out of his duffel bag and shot indiscriminately into a Latin dance lesson.
For a year before the attack, Sodini kept an online diary in which he accused his mother of being domineering and described his bitterness at the women who had rejected him in the 19 years since his last sexual relationship.
It emerged today that before charting the preparation for his assault, he uploaded two clips on to the video sharing website YouTube. In one, he describes his techniques for containing his anger while the other offers the viewer a tour of his average two-bed suburban home.
Sex-starved gym killer hated women
In a video called “Hide from Emotion” posted on June 23, 2008, Sodini stands in his basement in front of his punch bag and explains his attempts to quell his angst.
He says he wants to be able to share better relationships. “My object is to be able to emotionally connect with people," he said.
Then he looks directly into the camera and says: “It is easy for me to hide from my emotions for one more day: take a long drive in the car, listen to some music, daydream or just do some mundane task around the house that doesn’t really need to be done, that’s not too important.
“And there you go, that’s one more day and one more day turns into one more year.”
A little over a year later, he carried out his assault on the LA Fitness Centre with four handguns that he had purchased legally. After firing at least 36 shots from three of them, he turned one of the guns on himself in the dance studio.
In a second video, posted a couple of months earlier, Sodini commentates over a video tour of his house in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. During the tour, he points out his computers, a 32-inch television, the kitchen and basement he refurbished with panelling and a suspended ceiling.
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Sodini highlights a pair of speakers on either side of his couch that double as end-tables and remarks that "women will really be impressed" by the matching fabric on his soft furnishings.
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He draws the viewer's attention to a stack of books on his coffee table that include How to date young women for men over 35 by R. Don Steele and what looks like another self-help book called Office Politics.
When he moves into his bedroom, he returns once again to an imagined woman's reaction. “Looks pretty clean, I’m sure she’ll be impressed,” he said.
After publishing the videos, Sodini turned his attention to an online diary, which began: "Why do this?? To young girls? Just read below." He goes on to attack his brother for bullying him and his mother for being “very dominant”.
Over the course of the nine-month journal, Sodini appears to have built up to the attack and explained how he was driven deep into depression by his lack of success with women, strained relations with his family and unstable employment status.
Note: The funerals for two of the victims will be held Saturday, August 8, 2009, while a third will be held Wednesday, August 13. Killed were Heidi Overmier, 46, of Carnegie; Jody Billingsley, 37, of Mount Lebanon; and Elizabeth Gannon, 49, of Pittsburgh.
read article here
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Police: Gym shooter 'had a lot of hatred' for women, society
Right: George Sodini
Sodini, a member of the gym, was found dead in the aerobics room, lying on top of one of his guns about seven feet from one of the victims.
Authorities believe Sodini targeted the aerobics class, because a schedule was found in his home with that class circled, Moffatt said.
But police do not believe he targeted anyone personally. An online diary, as well as notes at the scene and at his home, have led them to believe he was targeting women in general.
In the note found at the scene in Sodini's gym bag, he complains he had never spent a weekend with a woman, never vacationed with a woman and never lived with a woman, and that he had had limited sexual experiences, Moffatt said.
He makes similar complaints in his online blog, which also documents his growing rage at women for rejecting him and at the world he felt had abandoned him.
Witnesses told police the gunman was dressed in black when he entered the class, shut off the lights, walked about 10 feet and opened fire...
...Sodini apparently had "practice runs" before the shooting Tuesday, Moffatt said. Someone at the gym had showed him how to shut off the lights, he said, not knowing his plans.
"He just had a lot of hatred in him, and he was hell bent on committing this act," Moffatt said.
Sodini worked as a systems analyst in the finance department of K&L Gates, a law firm with an office in Pittsburgh, since 1999, Mike Rick, a spokesman for the firm, said. Neighbors described him as reclusive and said he had stopped talking to them in the past few years.
On Tuesday, Sodini visited the gym three times -- the first about 11 a.m., a second time at 7:40 p.m. and a third time at 7:56 p.m., Moffatt said. Members of the gym are required to swipe a card to check in, but do not have to check out, he said. The first 911 call was dispatched at 8:16 p.m...
...Police know Sodini made a telephone call at 7:45 p.m., and believe he may have left the gym to make it. Authorities are attempting to locate the person he contacted, Moffatt said.
Sodini did not mention killing himself in the note found at the scene, which was mostly typed with handwritten notations, but did mention it in a handwritten note found at his home, Moffatt said...
...The shooting victims were taken to the three major hospitals in the area. Moffatt said he believed none of those who remained hospitalized Wednesday had life-threatening injuries.
County officials said counselors were being made available to area residents in the wake of the shooting.
Police spoke to a pastor mentioned on Sodini's online diary. The man said Sodini attended his church but stopped in 2006, and that there was a minor incident involving a woman who felt "he was paying too much attention to her," Moffatt said. The pastor spoke to Sodini, and it stopped, he said.
Moffatt said police have no knowledge of any mental health issues involving Sodini, but are still puzzled at the violence. "I can't ever make sense of murders," he said.
Read entire article here
August 5, 2009
(CNN)--...George Sodini, 48, brought four handguns into the LA Fitness gym outside Pittsburgh and used three of them, firing at least 36 times around 8 p.m. Tuesday, Allegheny County Police Superintendent Charles Moffatt said.
Sodini, a member of the gym, was found dead in the aerobics room, lying on top of one of his guns about seven feet from one of the victims.
Authorities believe Sodini targeted the aerobics class, because a schedule was found in his home with that class circled, Moffatt said.
But police do not believe he targeted anyone personally. An online diary, as well as notes at the scene and at his home, have led them to believe he was targeting women in general.
holy cow!
In the note found at the scene in Sodini's gym bag, he complains he had never spent a weekend with a woman, never vacationed with a woman and never lived with a woman, and that he had had limited sexual experiences, Moffatt said.
He makes similar complaints in his online blog, which also documents his growing rage at women for rejecting him and at the world he felt had abandoned him.
Witnesses told police the gunman was dressed in black when he entered the class, shut off the lights, walked about 10 feet and opened fire...
...Sodini apparently had "practice runs" before the shooting Tuesday, Moffatt said. Someone at the gym had showed him how to shut off the lights, he said, not knowing his plans.
"He just had a lot of hatred in him, and he was hell bent on committing this act," Moffatt said.
Sodini worked as a systems analyst in the finance department of K&L Gates, a law firm with an office in Pittsburgh, since 1999, Mike Rick, a spokesman for the firm, said. Neighbors described him as reclusive and said he had stopped talking to them in the past few years.
On Tuesday, Sodini visited the gym three times -- the first about 11 a.m., a second time at 7:40 p.m. and a third time at 7:56 p.m., Moffatt said. Members of the gym are required to swipe a card to check in, but do not have to check out, he said. The first 911 call was dispatched at 8:16 p.m...
...Police know Sodini made a telephone call at 7:45 p.m., and believe he may have left the gym to make it. Authorities are attempting to locate the person he contacted, Moffatt said.
Sodini did not mention killing himself in the note found at the scene, which was mostly typed with handwritten notations, but did mention it in a handwritten note found at his home, Moffatt said...
...The shooting victims were taken to the three major hospitals in the area. Moffatt said he believed none of those who remained hospitalized Wednesday had life-threatening injuries.
County officials said counselors were being made available to area residents in the wake of the shooting.
Police spoke to a pastor mentioned on Sodini's online diary. The man said Sodini attended his church but stopped in 2006, and that there was a minor incident involving a woman who felt "he was paying too much attention to her," Moffatt said. The pastor spoke to Sodini, and it stopped, he said.
Moffatt said police have no knowledge of any mental health issues involving Sodini, but are still puzzled at the violence. "I can't ever make sense of murders," he said.
Read entire article here
Also read:
After 34 years, Lynette 'Squeaky' Fromme to be released
This is interesting. I never thought she'd see the light of day.
By Ashley Hayes
CNN
August 5, 2009
(CNN) -- The president she once pointed a gun at has been dead for nearly three years, and her longtime idol and leader, Charles Manson, remains in prison.
August 5, 2009
(CNN) -- The president she once pointed a gun at has been dead for nearly three years, and her longtime idol and leader, Charles Manson, remains in prison.
However, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme is about to get her first taste of real freedom in more than three decades.
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Fromme, now 60, is set to be released on parole August 16. Fromme is housed at the Federal Medical Center at Carswell, Texas.
For years, she was one of Manson's few remaining followers, as many other "Manson Family" members have shunned him. A prison spokeswoman would not say whether Fromme continues to correspond with Manson.
Fromme was convicted in 1975 of pointing a gun at then-President Gerald Ford in Sacramento, California. Secret Service agents prevented her from firing, but the gun was later found to have no bullet in the chamber, although it contained a clip of ammunition.
In a 1987 interview with CNN affiliate WCHS, Fromme, then housed in West Virginia, recalled the president "had his hands out and was waving ... and he looked like cardboard to me. But at the same time, I had ejected the bullet in my apartment and I used the gun as it was."
Check these out:
TIME.com: The girl who almost killed Ford
TIME.com: The memoirs of Squeaky Fromme
In Depth: Manson Murders and the Summer of 1969
TIME.com: The girl who almost killed Ford
TIME.com: The memoirs of Squeaky Fromme
In Depth: Manson Murders and the Summer of 1969
Right: the day of the incident, 1975
She said she knew Ford was in town and near her, "and I said, 'I gotta go and talk to him,' and then I thought, 'That's foolish. He's not going to stop and talk to you.' People have already shown you can lay blood in front of them and they're not, you know, they don't think anything of it. I said, 'Maybe I'll take the gun,' and I thought, 'I have to do this. This is the time.' "
She said it never occurred to her that she could wind up in prison. Asked whether she had any regrets, Fromme said, "No. No, I don't. I feel it was fate." However, she said she thought that her incarceration was "unnecessary" and that she couldn't see herself repeating her offense.
"My argument to the jury was, if she wanted to kill him, she would have shot him," John Virga, a Sacramento attorney appointed to defend Fromme, told CNN on Tuesday. "She'd been around guns. And let's be realistic: We know the Manson family, at least some of them, are killers."
Fromme was sentenced to life in prison, but parole was an option at the time, although the federal system later abolished it, said Felicia Ponce, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Prisons. Inmates do receive "good time" -- for every year and one day they serve, Ponce said, 54 days are lopped off their sentence.
Ford died in 2006 at age 93. The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation did not respond to CNN requests for comment on Fromme's release...
And this from msnbc.com:
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Terry Nichols sues over prison food
Right: Terry NicholsSeems like he should have thought of that before he murdered 160 people including a dozen or so toddlers. I can't seem to scrape up any sympathy.
July 28, 2009
ksn.com
WICHITA, Kansas – One of the men behind the Oklahoma City bombing has filed a lawsuit, claiming prison food violates his religious beliefs.
Terry Nichols got a life sentence for his part in the 1995 federal building bombing.
The suit filed in March complains that a lack of whole grains and fresh food burdens his Christianity.
Prison officials disagree and are asking the suit be thrown out.
Nichols was a former resident of Herington.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Sisters to be buried with brother who killed them
By DENISE LAVOIE
AP Legal Affairs Writer
Associated Press
March 31, 2009
BOSTON (AP) -- Two sisters and the brother who killed them with a kitchen knife will share a single funeral service and be buried together. Samantha Revelus, 17, and her sister, Bianca, 5, were killed at their Milton Massachutes home Saturday. Police shot the girls' brother, Kerby Revelus, 23, after an officer saw him decapitate the younger girl. A surviving sister, 9-year-old Saraphina, was recovering at a Boston hospital Monday after having surgery.
Ernst Guerrier, a Boston attorney and family friend, said he spent Monday morning with parents Regine and Vronze Revelus as they made plans to bury the three together.
"They are still dealing with the shock and disbelief of losing three of their children," said Guerrier. Guerrier said there was nothing to indicate Kerby Revelus "was capable of something like this or that this tragedy could have been prevented."
Kerby Revelus had been in trouble before, but his criminal record does not show anything close to the level of brutal violence he unleashed on his sisters on Saturday.
In September 2004, he was charged with assault and battery after another sister, Jessica Revelus, then 17, called police and said her brother, then 19, had punched her in the face during an argument over a phone bill. Kerby Revelus admitted he punched his sister, and told police he was upset with her because she owed him some money, according to a Milton police report.
Jessica Revelus declined medical attention and told police she did not want to get a restraining order against her brother. "Ms. Revelus told me that she was not in fear of her brother and had no wish to pursue the matter," the arresting officer wrote in the report.
Jessica Revelus told the Boston Herald that her brother had done two stints in jail. He was arrested for assault and battery in August 2004 after he was involved in a fight with several other teenagers.
Then in December 2005, he was charged with carrying a firearm without a license after he tried to buy alcohol at a liquor store in Randolph. A store clerk called police when he saw a pistol magazine in Revelus' pocket, and police later found the magazine and a handgun in Revelus' waist band. He was sentenced to serve six months in jail, and was released in September 2008.
Investigators believe Revelus had been agitated since Friday night, when he got in a fistfight with a neighbor in this tony suburb that is also home to Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.
Revelus attacked his siblings with a kitchen knife on Saturday while their grandmother, who neighbors say lives on the first floor, was doing laundry in the basement, investigators said. The children's parents were not home.
Samantha Revelus called 911, but the dying girl quickly gave the phone to Saraphina, Milton police said. Nolan said police will not release the 911 call. "It's horrific. We'd be doing a tremendous disservice to the survivors if we released that. They don't need to listen to that," Nolan said.
Nolan said an officer patrolling the neighborhood arrived less than a minute after the 911 call and heard screaming inside the apartment. He kicked the door in and saw Revelus decapitate his 5-year-old sister.
As other officers arrived, Kerby ran into a bedroom and began to attack Saraphina. Two officers shot him, Nolan said.
The parents were still making final arrangements for Saturday's burials, Guerrier said.
"The reasons why it happened, what happened, how it happened is still just a blur to them," he said. "They can't even imagine it."
AP Legal Affairs Writer
Associated Press
March 31, 2009
BOSTON (AP) -- Two sisters and the brother who killed them with a kitchen knife will share a single funeral service and be buried together. Samantha Revelus, 17, and her sister, Bianca, 5, were killed at their Milton Massachutes home Saturday. Police shot the girls' brother, Kerby Revelus, 23, after an officer saw him decapitate the younger girl. A surviving sister, 9-year-old Saraphina, was recovering at a Boston hospital Monday after having surgery.
Ernst Guerrier, a Boston attorney and family friend, said he spent Monday morning with parents Regine and Vronze Revelus as they made plans to bury the three together.
"They are still dealing with the shock and disbelief of losing three of their children," said Guerrier. Guerrier said there was nothing to indicate Kerby Revelus "was capable of something like this or that this tragedy could have been prevented."
Kerby Revelus had been in trouble before, but his criminal record does not show anything close to the level of brutal violence he unleashed on his sisters on Saturday.
In September 2004, he was charged with assault and battery after another sister, Jessica Revelus, then 17, called police and said her brother, then 19, had punched her in the face during an argument over a phone bill. Kerby Revelus admitted he punched his sister, and told police he was upset with her because she owed him some money, according to a Milton police report.
Jessica Revelus declined medical attention and told police she did not want to get a restraining order against her brother. "Ms. Revelus told me that she was not in fear of her brother and had no wish to pursue the matter," the arresting officer wrote in the report.
Jessica Revelus told the Boston Herald that her brother had done two stints in jail. He was arrested for assault and battery in August 2004 after he was involved in a fight with several other teenagers.
Then in December 2005, he was charged with carrying a firearm without a license after he tried to buy alcohol at a liquor store in Randolph. A store clerk called police when he saw a pistol magazine in Revelus' pocket, and police later found the magazine and a handgun in Revelus' waist band. He was sentenced to serve six months in jail, and was released in September 2008.
Investigators believe Revelus had been agitated since Friday night, when he got in a fistfight with a neighbor in this tony suburb that is also home to Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.
Revelus attacked his siblings with a kitchen knife on Saturday while their grandmother, who neighbors say lives on the first floor, was doing laundry in the basement, investigators said. The children's parents were not home.
Samantha Revelus called 911, but the dying girl quickly gave the phone to Saraphina, Milton police said. Nolan said police will not release the 911 call. "It's horrific. We'd be doing a tremendous disservice to the survivors if we released that. They don't need to listen to that," Nolan said.
Nolan said an officer patrolling the neighborhood arrived less than a minute after the 911 call and heard screaming inside the apartment. He kicked the door in and saw Revelus decapitate his 5-year-old sister.
As other officers arrived, Kerby ran into a bedroom and began to attack Saraphina. Two officers shot him, Nolan said.
The parents were still making final arrangements for Saturday's burials, Guerrier said.
"The reasons why it happened, what happened, how it happened is still just a blur to them," he said. "They can't even imagine it."
7 residents, 1 nurse die in nursing home shooting
By TOM FOREMAN Jr. and KEVIN MAURER
Associated Press Writers Tom Foreman Jr. And Kevin Maurer
Sun Mar 29, 2009
CARTHAGE, N.C. – A lone gunman burst into a North Carolina nursing home Sunday morning and started "shooting everything," barging into the rooms of terrified patients, sparing some from his rampage without explanation while killing seven residents and a nurse caring for them.
Authorities said Robert Stewart also wounded three others, including the Carthage police officer who confronted him in a hallway of Pinelake Health and Rehab and stopped the brutal attack.
"He acted in nothing short of a heroic way today, and but for his actions, we certainly could have had a worse tragedy," said Moore County District Attorney Maureen Krueger. "We had an officer, a well-trained officer, who performed his job the way he was supposed to and prevented this from getting even worse than it is now."
By late Sunday afternoon, Krueger had charged Stewart, 45, of Moore County, with eight counts of first-degree murder and a single charge of felony assault of a law enforcement officer.
Authorities offered few other details, allowing only that Stewart was not a patient or an employee at the nursing home and isn't believed to be related to any of the victims.
"I don't know if the emotion entirely has set in," said Police Chief Chris McKenzie, a Carthage native who said nothing in his nearly 20-year law enforcement career compared to Sunday's slaughter. "It's a small community built on faith, and faith will get us through."
While authorities declined to comment on a possible motive, Stewart's ex-wife (who worked at the nursing home, it has been announced) said he had been reaching out recently to family members, telling them he had cancer and was preparing for a long trip and to "go away." Sue Griffin said she was married to Stewart for 15 years, and while they hadn't spoken since divorcing in 2001, he had been trying to call her during the past week through her son, mother, sister and grandmother.
"He did have some violent tendencies from time to time," Griffin said. "I wouldn't put it past him. I hate to say it, but it is true."
Authorities said Stewart began his rampage around 10 a.m. at Pinelake Health and Rehab in the North Carolina Sandhills about 60 miles southwest of Raleigh, firing shots inside and outside the home. It ended when 25-year-old Officer Justin Garner traded gunfire with Stewart in a hallway, wounding the suspect.
"He just comes in and just starts shooting everything around," said Sen. Harris Blake, of Moore County, relating the story told by sheriff's officials.
Garner was wounded in his leg, and police said Stewart wounded two others. One person remained hospitalized Sunday night at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital in nearby Pinehurst, and police would only say Stewart was in the custory of the Moore County Sheriff.
Krueger said the victims were Pinelake residents Tessie Garner, 88; Lillian Dunn, 89; Jessie Musser, 88; Bessie Hendrick, 78; John Goldston, 78; Margaret Johnson, 89; Louise Decker, 98; and nurse Jerry Avent, whose age wasn't immediately available.
Krueger declined to say where authorities had taken the surviving residents, including patients with Alzheimer's disease, saying only, "They're safe, which is the primary thing."
Beverly McNeill said her mother, Pinelake resident Ellery Chishole, called moments after the gunman stormed into her room and pointed his "deer gun" at her roommate. "They're up here shooting, they're up here shooting," she frantically told her 14-year-old granddaughter, Tavia, over the phone.
Chishole told her daughter she hid her face in her shirt so she couldn't see the man or what she expected him to do, McNeill said. He didn't shoot, but left the room and began shooting down the hallway.
Carthage police, Moore County sheriff's deputies and the State Bureau of Investigation conducted a search Sunday afternoon of the nursing home and its parking lot, where the windows of at least two cars were shattered. Among the items they found was a camouflaged-colored rifle or shotgun, which was leaning against the side of a Jeep Cherokee.
Howard McMillian, of Lakeview, said he raced to the scene as soon as he heard about the shooting. His 56-year-old sister lives at the nursing home, and McMillian said his brother had gotten a call from officials saying she was unharmed.
"I know she's real nervous," McMillian said. "I just want to make sure she's OK."
Carthage is a small town of roughly 1,800 people in the North Carolina Sandhills, an area popular among retirees and home to several noted golf courses, including the famed Pinehurst resort and its No. 2 course that regularly hosts the U.S. Open.
Pinelake Health and Rehab was last inspected in May, and the review resulted in an overall five-star — or "much above average" — rating from federal Medicaid officials. A nursing home Web site said the facility opened in 1993 and has 110 beds, including 20 for those with Alzheimer's disease.
___
Associated Press Writer Erin Gartner contributed to this report from Raleigh, N.C.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Nursing home gunman 'had cancer'
Tom Baldwin in Washington and Anne Barrowclough
timesonline.co.ukMarch 30, 2009
.
This is an article from the United Kingdom.
Carthage, Massachutes--A gunman who shot dead eight people at a North Carolina nursing home had told family members he had been diagnosed with cancer, according to his ex-wife.
Robert Stewart, 45, walked into the Pinelake Health and Rehabilitation Centre in Carthage and opened fire at 10 am on Sunday, killing seven residents and a nurse, and injuring several others including a police officer before he was himself shot and injured.
Authorities would not comment on the motivation for the latest massacre to scar American society, where firearms-related deaths total about 30,000 each year.
But Stewart's ex-wife Sue Griffin said he had recently told relatives he had cancer, was preparing for a long trip and said he was going to "go away".
Ms Griffin, who was married to Stewart for 15 years before they divorced in 2001, said he had been violent during their marriage.
"He did have some violent tendencies from time to time," she said. "I wouldn't put it (the shooting) past him. I hate to say it, but it is true."
Although the couple had not spoken since their divorce, the week before the shooting Stewart made a number of efforts to contact her through family members, she said.
The nursing home, about 60 miles southwest of Raleigh, has 90 beds. It was recently awarded a five-star rating for the care it offers to people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Police said Stewart did not work at the home and was not believed to be related to any of the victims.
One of the residents called her daughter after the gunman stormed into her room and screamed "They're up here shooting, they're up here shooting."
Ellery Chishole told her daughter Beverly McNeill she hid her face in her shirt so she couldn't see Stewart after had pointed his 'deer gun' at her room mate. He left the room without hurting the women, and began shooting down the hallway.
The shooting will inevitably be seized upon by proponents of greater gun control who have already highlighted a spate of recent attacks.
Earlier this month Michael McLendon, 28, shot dead his mother, his grandmother, an uncle, a nephew and a cousin in a rampage that ended ten lives before he killed himself when cornered by police.
In Covina, California, last Christmas, nine people were killed when Bruce Pardo attacked a family party dressed in a Santa Claus suit. Among those dead were his ex-wife and former in-laws.
Every year, over 30,000 Americans die by gunshot, most of them suicides but including at least 10,000 murders. This is twice the number of 4,260 US soldiers killed in six years of the Iraq war.
Britain - which has some of the tightest firearms laws in the world - had just 50 deaths through gun crime in 2005-06, the last year for which figures are available. Of course Britian is approxiamately the size of Alabama with a population of about 60 million, vs US with a population of over 300 million. A better comparison would be the US vs statistics for the European Union.
Supporters of the so-called "Second Amendment" right to bear arms have said incidents such as the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre when Cho Seung Hui killed 32 people would have been prevented if students had been carrying their own weapons.
President Obama, wary of taking on powerful vested interests like the National Rifle Association, has said he opposes a crack-down on gun ownership. Asked yesterdaywhether he was concerned that 90 per cent of the weapons used in Mexico's drugs war were smuggled in from the US, he told CBS's Face the Nation programme: “I think the main thing we need is better enforcement".
Although both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Attorney General Eric Holder have recently suggested they are interested in reintroducing a ban on assault weapons which the Bush Administration allowed to expire, dozens of Democratic Congressmen have pledged to oppose any such legislation.
7 residents, nurse die in NC nursing home shooting
By TOM FOREMAN Jr. and KEVIN MAURER
March 29, 2009
CARTHAGE, N.C. (AP) — A gunman burst into a North Carolina nursing home Sunday morning and started "shooting everything," killing seven residents and a nurse and wounding at least three others.
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Robert Stewart, 45, of Moore County, was charged hours later with eight counts of first-degree murder and a single charge of felony assault of a law enforcement officer. Authorities offered few other details, allowing only that Stewart was not a patient or an employee at the nursing home, and isn't believe to be related to any of the victims.
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"It's a horrible event in any size town, particularly, though, when you deal with a small town such as Carthage," said Police Chief Chris McKenzie. "It's hard. This is my home, my small town. I was born and raised here so, yeah, I take it to heart a little bit. All you can do is move forward."
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Authorities said Stewart began his rampage around 10 a.m. at Pinelake Health and Rehab, a nursing home in the North Carolina Sandhills about 60 miles southwest of Raleigh. A police officer, 25-year-old Justin Garner, was also wounded before Stewart was shot and apprehended.
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Sen. Harris Blake, a Moore County Republican, said six people were killed at the scene and two died later at a hospital in nearby Pinehurst. He said sheriff's officials told him that Stewart "comes in and just starts shooting everything around."
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The victims were identified as residents Tessie Garner, 88; Lillian Dunn, 89; Jessie Musser, 88; Bessie Hendrick, 78; John Goldston, 78; Margaret Johnson, 89; Louise Decker, 98; and nurse Jerry Avent, whose age wasn't immediately available.
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Gretchen Kelly, a spokeswoman at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital in nearby Pinehurst, said six people were brought to the hospital from the nursing home. Two died, two were discharged and two were still being treated. She wouldn't release further details on the injuries or conditions of those hospitalized.
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Late Sunday afternoon, authorities appeared to be conducting a search of the nursing home's parking lot, which they had blocked off with yellow police tape. Among the items they found was a camouflaged-colored rifle or shotgun, which was leaning against the side of a Jeep Cherokee.
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The road leading to the home was filled with parked cars, both of police and relatives of those living at Pinelake. Howard McMillian, of Lakeview, said he raced to the scene as soon as he heard about the shooting. His 56-year-old sister lives at the nursing home, and McMillian said his brother had gotten a call from officials saying she was unharmed.
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"I know she's real nervous," McMillian said. "I just want to make sure she's OK." A nursing home Web site said the facility that opened in 1993 has 110 beds, including 20 for those with Alzheimer's disease.
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Carthage is a small town of roughly 1,800 people in the North Carolina Sandhills, an area popular among retirees and home to several noted golf courses, including the famed Pinehurst resort and its No. 2 course that regularly hosts the U.S. Open.
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Pinelake Health and Rehab was last inspected in May, and the review resulted in an overall five-star — or "much above average" — rating from federal Medicaid officials.
Associated Press Writer Erin Gartner contributed to this report from Raleigh, N.C.
On the Net:
Pinelake Health and Rehab: http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.peakresourcesinc.com/nursing/pinelake.h&usg=AFQjCNEHp1se88WGC5kLvlk0-H8-lkHZIQ
March 29, 2009
CARTHAGE, N.C. (AP) — A gunman burst into a North Carolina nursing home Sunday morning and started "shooting everything," killing seven residents and a nurse and wounding at least three others.
.
Robert Stewart, 45, of Moore County, was charged hours later with eight counts of first-degree murder and a single charge of felony assault of a law enforcement officer. Authorities offered few other details, allowing only that Stewart was not a patient or an employee at the nursing home, and isn't believe to be related to any of the victims.
.
"It's a horrible event in any size town, particularly, though, when you deal with a small town such as Carthage," said Police Chief Chris McKenzie. "It's hard. This is my home, my small town. I was born and raised here so, yeah, I take it to heart a little bit. All you can do is move forward."
.
Authorities said Stewart began his rampage around 10 a.m. at Pinelake Health and Rehab, a nursing home in the North Carolina Sandhills about 60 miles southwest of Raleigh. A police officer, 25-year-old Justin Garner, was also wounded before Stewart was shot and apprehended.
.
Sen. Harris Blake, a Moore County Republican, said six people were killed at the scene and two died later at a hospital in nearby Pinehurst. He said sheriff's officials told him that Stewart "comes in and just starts shooting everything around."
.
The victims were identified as residents Tessie Garner, 88; Lillian Dunn, 89; Jessie Musser, 88; Bessie Hendrick, 78; John Goldston, 78; Margaret Johnson, 89; Louise Decker, 98; and nurse Jerry Avent, whose age wasn't immediately available.
.
Gretchen Kelly, a spokeswoman at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital in nearby Pinehurst, said six people were brought to the hospital from the nursing home. Two died, two were discharged and two were still being treated. She wouldn't release further details on the injuries or conditions of those hospitalized.
.
Late Sunday afternoon, authorities appeared to be conducting a search of the nursing home's parking lot, which they had blocked off with yellow police tape. Among the items they found was a camouflaged-colored rifle or shotgun, which was leaning against the side of a Jeep Cherokee.
.
The road leading to the home was filled with parked cars, both of police and relatives of those living at Pinelake. Howard McMillian, of Lakeview, said he raced to the scene as soon as he heard about the shooting. His 56-year-old sister lives at the nursing home, and McMillian said his brother had gotten a call from officials saying she was unharmed.
.
"I know she's real nervous," McMillian said. "I just want to make sure she's OK." A nursing home Web site said the facility that opened in 1993 has 110 beds, including 20 for those with Alzheimer's disease.
.
Carthage is a small town of roughly 1,800 people in the North Carolina Sandhills, an area popular among retirees and home to several noted golf courses, including the famed Pinehurst resort and its No. 2 course that regularly hosts the U.S. Open.
.
Pinelake Health and Rehab was last inspected in May, and the review resulted in an overall five-star — or "much above average" — rating from federal Medicaid officials.
Associated Press Writer Erin Gartner contributed to this report from Raleigh, N.C.
On the Net:
Pinelake Health and Rehab: http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.peakresourcesinc.com/nursing/pinelake.h&usg=AFQjCNEHp1se88WGC5kLvlk0-H8-lkHZIQ
Massachutes man Kerby Revelus, kills 2 sisters, but police save the 3rd
Associated Press
March 29, 2009
MILTON, Mass. (AP) - Police say they don't know why a Milton, Mass., man fatally stabbed his 17-year-old sister and decapitated his 5-year-old sister just a day after her birthday.
Milton police Chief Richard G. Wells Jr. says 23-year-old Kerby Revelus had turned toward his 9-year-old sister with a knife in his hand before officers shot him dead. The girl is hospitalized with stab wounds. The children's parents were away at the time of the attack.
Wells says Revelus had gotten into a fistfight with a man living next door about 24 hours earlier and had been agitated in the hours that followed that.
According to Wells, Revelus had recently served jail time on a gun charge. And he says officers had been called to the family's house in 2004 after a domestic violence report.
A neighbor calls the family "solid." He says it "completely makes no sense."
March 29, 2009
MILTON, Mass. (AP) - Police say they don't know why a Milton, Mass., man fatally stabbed his 17-year-old sister and decapitated his 5-year-old sister just a day after her birthday.
Milton police Chief Richard G. Wells Jr. says 23-year-old Kerby Revelus had turned toward his 9-year-old sister with a knife in his hand before officers shot him dead. The girl is hospitalized with stab wounds. The children's parents were away at the time of the attack.
Wells says Revelus had gotten into a fistfight with a man living next door about 24 hours earlier and had been agitated in the hours that followed that.
According to Wells, Revelus had recently served jail time on a gun charge. And he says officers had been called to the family's house in 2004 after a domestic violence report.
A neighbor calls the family "solid." He says it "completely makes no sense."
8 dead in N.C. nursing home shooting
The shooting at a Carthage facility left several others injured
Associated Press
Sunday, March 29, 2009
CARTHAGE, N.C. - Authorities said man accused of opening fire in a North Carolina nursing home faces eight counts of first-degree murder.
District Attorney Maureen Krueger identified the suspect in the killings of eight people as 45-year-old Robert Stewart of Moore County. He also faces a charge of felony assault of a law enforcement officer.
Authorities said seven residents and one nurse were killed in the 10 a.m. rampage Sunday at Pinelake Health and Rehab in the town of Carthage, about 60 miles southwest of Raleigh. A police officer and several other people were also wounded before Stewart was shot and apprehended.
Authorities at an afternoon news conference said Stewart did not work at the facility and they don't believe he is related to any of the victims.
'Comes in and starts shooting'
Sen. Harris Blake of Moore County said the gunman "comes in and just starts shooting everything around."
Gretchen Kelly, spokeswoman at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital, said six people had been brought to the hospital from the nursing home about 60 miles southwest of Raleigh. Kelly said two of the injured died at the hospital.
Kelly said two other patients had been discharged, while two were still being treated. She wouldn't release further details on the injuries or conditions of those hospitalized.
McKenzie said the gunman wasn't a patient at the nursing home, but didn't offer any further details on what the gunman's motive might have been.
A nursing home Web site said the facility that opened in 1993 has 110 beds, including 20 for those with Alzheimer's disease.
Calls to the nursing home by The Associated Press rang unanswered Sunday, and McKenzie and several state law enforcement agencies didn't immediately return messages or declined to comment. Police planned a news conference for later Sunday afternoon.
Carthage is a small town of roughly 1,800 people in the North Carolina Sandhills, an area popular among retirees and home to several noted golf courses, including the famed Pinehurst resort and its No. 2 course that regularly hosts the U.S. Open.
Pinelake Health and Rehab was last inspected in May, and the review resulted in an overall five-star -- or "much above average" -- rating from federal Medicaid officials.
Associated Press
Sunday, March 29, 2009
CARTHAGE, N.C. - Authorities said man accused of opening fire in a North Carolina nursing home faces eight counts of first-degree murder.
District Attorney Maureen Krueger identified the suspect in the killings of eight people as 45-year-old Robert Stewart of Moore County. He also faces a charge of felony assault of a law enforcement officer.
Authorities said seven residents and one nurse were killed in the 10 a.m. rampage Sunday at Pinelake Health and Rehab in the town of Carthage, about 60 miles southwest of Raleigh. A police officer and several other people were also wounded before Stewart was shot and apprehended.
Authorities at an afternoon news conference said Stewart did not work at the facility and they don't believe he is related to any of the victims.
'Comes in and starts shooting'
Sen. Harris Blake of Moore County said the gunman "comes in and just starts shooting everything around."
Gretchen Kelly, spokeswoman at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital, said six people had been brought to the hospital from the nursing home about 60 miles southwest of Raleigh. Kelly said two of the injured died at the hospital.
Kelly said two other patients had been discharged, while two were still being treated. She wouldn't release further details on the injuries or conditions of those hospitalized.
McKenzie said the gunman wasn't a patient at the nursing home, but didn't offer any further details on what the gunman's motive might have been.
A nursing home Web site said the facility that opened in 1993 has 110 beds, including 20 for those with Alzheimer's disease.
Calls to the nursing home by The Associated Press rang unanswered Sunday, and McKenzie and several state law enforcement agencies didn't immediately return messages or declined to comment. Police planned a news conference for later Sunday afternoon.
Carthage is a small town of roughly 1,800 people in the North Carolina Sandhills, an area popular among retirees and home to several noted golf courses, including the famed Pinehurst resort and its No. 2 course that regularly hosts the U.S. Open.
Pinelake Health and Rehab was last inspected in May, and the review resulted in an overall five-star -- or "much above average" -- rating from federal Medicaid officials.
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