April 11, 2011
BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND
The news as I see it and the views as I want them.
April 11 is … Eight-Track Tape Day
My favorite eight-track tape was The Best f The Guess Who. I always related with the Canuck, Burton Cummings.
Teen age slaughter; it’s everywhere. Shots rang out in a suburban Philadelphia social hall where a teenage party was being held, killing two people and sending eight others to hospitals, authorities said Saturday. Police in Chester, where a state of emergency was declared last summer because of crime concerns, said a suspect was taken into custody after officers were called to the Minaret Temple No. 174 around 11:30 p.m. Friday and found "numerous victims." Police said nine people were transported to Crozer Chester Medical Center, where a spokesman said one died soon afterward and another died Saturday afternoon. Four other victims remained in stable condition, and three had been discharged, the spokesman said. A 10th person was treated at Taylor Hospital and was released.
The social hall had been rented for a party, and many teenagers were present when the shots were fired, police said. Detectives were investigating the cause of the shooting and declined to release further information. A man answering the phone at the hall said he had come in to see the condition of the building but declined to comment further. The Delaware County Daily Times newspaper said neighbors and community leaders planned a candlelight vigil at the scene Saturday night. Mayor Wendell Butler told The Associated Press that he was disheartened to arrive at the scene after the shooting and find 13-year-olds from Philadelphia who had come for the party.
The social hall had been rented for a party, and many teenagers were present when the shots were fired, police said. Detectives were investigating the cause of the shooting and declined to release further information. A man answering the phone at the hall said he had come in to see the condition of the building but declined to comment further. The Delaware County Daily Times newspaper said neighbors and community leaders planned a candlelight vigil at the scene Saturday night. Mayor Wendell Butler told The Associated Press that he was disheartened to arrive at the scene after the shooting and find 13-year-olds from Philadelphia who had come for the party.
"I asked one of them, 'How did you know about this?' He said, 'It was on Facebook,'" Butler said. "I said, 'Does your mother know where you are?' It's like 11 o'clock at night. He tells me she doesn't care. And I said, 'Oh, my goodness. I guess that's part of the problem.'" Last summer, Butler declared a state of emergency and a 9 p.m. curfew was imposed in problem areas of the city, which has nearly 40,000 residents, after a rash of shootings left four people dead in eight days. The city, about 15 miles south of Philadelphia, ended up with two dozen homicides last year, a 60 percent increase over the previous year and four short of the all-time high number in 1993. Police said the illegal drug trade was the source of much of the violence, while others have blamed easy access to firearms. The mayor has said such shootings are often retaliation for other violence.
Butler said in his State of the City address at the end of last month that the state of emergency and an anti-violence campaign helped stem the bloodshed and prompted an increase in residents providing information to police. He touted a decrease in crime this year and a pilot project to install a new set of surveillance cameras in areas of high crime this summer.
Butler said in his State of the City address at the end of last month that the state of emergency and an anti-violence campaign helped stem the bloodshed and prompted an increase in residents providing information to police. He touted a decrease in crime this year and a pilot project to install a new set of surveillance cameras in areas of high crime this summer.
This happens in other countries. This is a news story from the Netherlands. A man armed with a machine gun opened fire in a crowded shopping mall on Saturday, killing six people and wounding 15, then committed suicide, officials and witnesses said. Children were among the casualties, but authorities were not prepared to say whether they were among the dead or the injured, or both, due to privacy considerations, said Mayor Bas Eenhoorn. Three of the wounded were hospitalized in critical condition. After the rampage, the attacker shot himself in the head at the Ridderhof mall in Alphen aan den Rijn, a suburb 19 miles (30 kilometers) southwest of Amsterdam. "It's too terrible for words, a shock for us all," said Eenhoorn. The gunman was identified under Dutch privacy laws as 24-year-old Tristan van der V., and it was "all but certain" he acted alone, District Attorney Kitty Nooy said. She said he was a native Dutchman from Alphen who had previous run-ins with the law, including an illegal weapons possession charge that was dropped. He had a gun license, Nooy said. She said notes had been found in both the shooter's house and his car, but she could not say whether they indicated a possible motive for the rampage and suicide - or whether they contained threats. Two hours after the shooting, Eenhoorn ordered several other malls in the town evacuated, but he would not elaborate on the reason. Dutch television broadcasters showed a bomb squad searching a black Mercedes parked outside the Ridderhof mall that is believed to have belonged to the shooter. A witness identified as Maart Verbeek told state broadcaster NOS the attacker appeared to be firing randomly. "There was a panic in the mall, a lot of people running," said Verbeek, a pet shop owner. "I see the attacker coming, walking, and I go inside the store ... and I see him going by with a big machine gun."
Witness Martine Spruit, a 41-year-old receptionist, told The Associated Press she was shopping at a drug store when she heard bangs and people in the store hid behind shelves. When they realized a shooting was taking place, customers shouted for employees to lock the doors.
"Then we heard the shots getting further away, so he was walking back and forth," she said. "Then we thought we'd have a look and there were two people lying dead near the entrance... Then he came back shooting so we locked the door again."
Queen Beatrix and Prime Minister Mark Rutte issued statements saying they were shocked and sympathize with the victims and their families.
Hours after the shooting, residents continued to gather at the mall, some of whom appeared to be in a daze. "You hear about this sort of thing happening at American schools and you think that's a long way away," said Rob Kuipers, 50, a project manager. "Now it's happened here in the Netherlands." Nooy said there was "no evidence" to support rumors that the gunman was a former soldier or that his mother or father had been among the dead or wounded Saturday.
Witnesses said the attacker had long blond hair and wore a black jacket and camouflage pants. A resident who lives near the mall who gave his name as Marijn said the shooting went on for minutes. When he went to see whether friends working at the mall were OK, he saw the assailant lying dead in a grocery store. "There was glass everywhere," the resident said. "He was just shooting everywhere as if it were the Wild West." Images published by the NOS showed the body of the gunman lying near a checkout counter. With his voice choking at times, Mayor Eenhoorn described the incident as a "disaster of unparalleled proportions" for Alphen, known as a quiet residential suburb. The deadly attack also occurred during one of the region's first sunny days of spring, so many people were out and about. "Under these circumstances, with many people shopping at the Ridderhof today, including parents with children, it's an almost incomprehensible situation," he said.
One unidentified witness on NOS TV said he saw the shooter change magazines of his machine gun and continues to fire. Police commissioner Jan Stikvoort denied reports police were slow to respond, saying they arrived while the shooting was ongoing and reached the gunman just as the shooting stopped. Although rare, shootings and violence are not unknown in the Netherlands. In 1999, four students and a teacher were hurt in a school shooting and in 2004, a teacher was shot dead by a student. There also have been two assassinations in the past decade, the 2002 killing of right wing politician Pim Fortuyn by an animal rights activist, and the 2004 murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh by an Islamic extremist. In 2009, a loner drove his car into a group of bystanders during a royal parade, killing eight and wounding 10. Gun permits are difficult to obtain in the Netherlands, but illegal automatic weapons and ammunition are frequently seized during drug busts.
Two people were killed in Alphen in a drug-related shooting several weeks ago. Nooy said investigators do not believe the incidents are linked. She said investigators were trying to trace the gun or guns used in the attack.
Witness Martine Spruit, a 41-year-old receptionist, told The Associated Press she was shopping at a drug store when she heard bangs and people in the store hid behind shelves. When they realized a shooting was taking place, customers shouted for employees to lock the doors.
"Then we heard the shots getting further away, so he was walking back and forth," she said. "Then we thought we'd have a look and there were two people lying dead near the entrance... Then he came back shooting so we locked the door again."
Queen Beatrix and Prime Minister Mark Rutte issued statements saying they were shocked and sympathize with the victims and their families.
Hours after the shooting, residents continued to gather at the mall, some of whom appeared to be in a daze. "You hear about this sort of thing happening at American schools and you think that's a long way away," said Rob Kuipers, 50, a project manager. "Now it's happened here in the Netherlands." Nooy said there was "no evidence" to support rumors that the gunman was a former soldier or that his mother or father had been among the dead or wounded Saturday.
Witnesses said the attacker had long blond hair and wore a black jacket and camouflage pants. A resident who lives near the mall who gave his name as Marijn said the shooting went on for minutes. When he went to see whether friends working at the mall were OK, he saw the assailant lying dead in a grocery store. "There was glass everywhere," the resident said. "He was just shooting everywhere as if it were the Wild West." Images published by the NOS showed the body of the gunman lying near a checkout counter. With his voice choking at times, Mayor Eenhoorn described the incident as a "disaster of unparalleled proportions" for Alphen, known as a quiet residential suburb. The deadly attack also occurred during one of the region's first sunny days of spring, so many people were out and about. "Under these circumstances, with many people shopping at the Ridderhof today, including parents with children, it's an almost incomprehensible situation," he said.
One unidentified witness on NOS TV said he saw the shooter change magazines of his machine gun and continues to fire. Police commissioner Jan Stikvoort denied reports police were slow to respond, saying they arrived while the shooting was ongoing and reached the gunman just as the shooting stopped. Although rare, shootings and violence are not unknown in the Netherlands. In 1999, four students and a teacher were hurt in a school shooting and in 2004, a teacher was shot dead by a student. There also have been two assassinations in the past decade, the 2002 killing of right wing politician Pim Fortuyn by an animal rights activist, and the 2004 murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh by an Islamic extremist. In 2009, a loner drove his car into a group of bystanders during a royal parade, killing eight and wounding 10. Gun permits are difficult to obtain in the Netherlands, but illegal automatic weapons and ammunition are frequently seized during drug busts.
Two people were killed in Alphen in a drug-related shooting several weeks ago. Nooy said investigators do not believe the incidents are linked. She said investigators were trying to trace the gun or guns used in the attack.
BRUCE A. BRENNAN
DEKALB, IL 60115
COPYRIGHT 2011
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Book Titles:
Holmes the Ripper
A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction
"The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken." - Samuel Johnson
