Another Parent, More Kids= ANOTHER Murder/Suicide

(CNN) -- Investigators have found the bodies of three small children and the father who allegedly abducted them from their home in Columbus, Georgia, two weeks ago, the FBI said Wednesday.

Eddie Harrington threatened to kill his children before disappearing with them, police say.

1 of 3

"It is my sad duty to report that deceased bodies of these children and Eddie Harrington were located this afternoon," said FBI Special Agent Gerald Green.

A coroner would confirm the identities, he added.

The remains were discovered in a wooded area of Columbus by a person walking nearby, Green said. Video Watch the FBI say the bodies were in a car »

Eddie Harrington, 28, whom police described as depressed, took the children March 5, police said.

Before he left, Harrington sent a letter indicating his intent to kill his twin 23-month-old girls, Aliyah and Agana Battle, and his son, Cedric Harrington, 3, officials said.

The day before Wednesday's grisly discovery, the children's mother told CNN's Nancy Grace that Harrington had threatened them before.

"He's just told me he'll do anything to keep me at that time, and he said that he was going to take them and ... kill himself and the kids," Agena Battle said.

"But then later on, he told me that it was just to prove to me that, you know, what he'll do for me."

Battle also described the moment earlier this month when she knew something was wrong.

"I got home and I realized that the kids weren't there, and Eddie wasn't there either, and when I looked on the dresser and read the note, that's when I realized that my kids are in trouble," she said.

A week ago, a tearful Battle publicly begged her boyfriend not to harm the children.

"I am asking the public to please help me. I want my children home where they belong, with me," she said at an FBI news conference.


"Please, if you see Eddie, the car or the children, please call 911. Please help me and keep them in your prayers." Video Watch the mother's tearful plea »

A child abduction alert was issued in Georgia after the children disappeared.

"We have great concern for the safety of these children," Green said at the time.

It was unclear what sparked Harrington's decision to take the children, authorities said. source
***
THIS IS MESSED UP!!
My heart and prayers goes out to the family.

Come See What's Poppin'at Bria's Own Words, my OTHER blog!

Here We Go Again...Shooter Shoots Others, Then Self...sigh

Jim Killam/AP
BREAKING NEWS UPDATE:

A sixth person shot by a gunman at Northern Illinois University has died, the coroner's office tells CNN.

**********
Gunman kills 5, then self at Northern Illinois University

source


DEKALB, Ill. — A former student dressed in black opened fire with a shotgun and two handguns from the stage of a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University on Thursday, killing five students and injuring 16 others before committing suicide, authorities said.

The gunman fatally shot four women and a man in a "brief, rapid-fire assault" that sent terrified students running for cover, university President John Peters said. Four died at the scene, including the gunman, and the other two died at a hospital, he said.

Students are consoled outside Cole Hall at Northern Illinois University after a shooting on campus Thursday.

• More photos
• Watch the video

Witnesses in the geology class said "someone dressed in black came out from behind a screen in front of the classroom and opened fire with a shotgun," Peters said.

Lauren Carr said she was sitting in the third row of the lecture hall around 3 p.m. when she saw the shooter walk through a door on the right-hand side of the stage, pointing a gun straight ahead.

"I personally Army-crawled halfway up the aisle," said Carr, a 20-year-old sophomore. "I said I could get up and run or I could die here."

She said a student in front of her was bleeding, "but he just kept running."

"I heard this girl scream, 'Run, he's reloading the gun.'"

Student Jerry Santoni was in a back row when he saw the gunman enter a service door to the stage.

"I saw him shoot one round at the teacher," he said. "After that, I proceeded to get down as fast as I could."

Santoni dived down, hitting his head the seat in front of him, leaving a knot about half the size of a pingpong ball on his forehead.

The teacher, a graduate student, was wounded but was expected to recover, the school president said. He did not give details of the injuries.

Peters said the gunman was a former graduate student in sociology at NIU, but was not currently enrolled at the 25,000-student campus about 65 miles west of Chicago.

"It appears he may have been a student somewhere else," University Police Chief Donald Grady said, adding that police had no apparent motive.

Seventeen victims were brought to Kishwaukee Community Hospital in DeKalb, according to spokeswoman Theresa Komitas. One died, two were admitted and three were discharged; five are being evaluated and six others were transferred to other hospitals in critical condition. At least one male died at OSF St. Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, an official said.

Michael Gentile was meeting with two of his students directly beneath the lecture hall when the shootings happened. He could hear the chaos a few feet above his head.

"The shotgun blast must have been so loud," said Gentile, a 27-year-old media studies instructor. "It sounded like something was dropping down the stairs... We had no idea what this was."

Then, shorter, sharper noises he recognized as handgun shots.

"There was a pretty quick succession ... just pow, pow, pow," said Gentile, who didn't leave his office for about 90 minutes. He used a surveillance camera just outside his office to confirm that the people knocking on his door were police.

George Gaynor, a senior geography student, who was in Cole Hall when the shooting happened, told the student newspaper the Northern Star that the shooter was "a skinny white guy with a stocking cap on."

He described the scene immediately following the incident as terrifying and chaotic.

"Some girl got hit in the eye, a guy got hit in the leg," Gaynor said outside just minutes after the shooting occurred. "It was like five minutes before class ended too."

Witnesses said the young man carried a shotgun and a pistol. Student Edward Robinson told WLS that the gunman appeared to target students in one part of the lecture hall.

"It was almost like he knew who he wanted to shoot," Robinson said. "He knew who and where he wanted to be firing at."

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms sent 15 agents to the scene, according to spokesman Thomas Ahern. He said information about the weapons involved would be sent to the ATF's national database in Washington and given urgent priority. The FBI also was assisting.

All classes were canceled Thursday night and the campus was closed on Friday. Students were urged to call their parents "as soon as possible" and were offered counseling at any residence hall, according to the school Web site.

The school was closed for one day during final exam week in December after campus police found threats, including racial slurs and references to shootings earlier in the year at Virginia Tech, scrawled on a bathroom wall in a dormitory. Police determined after an investigation that there was no imminent threat and the campus was reopened. Peters said he knew of no connection between that incident and Thursday's attack. Peters said he knew of no connection between that incident and Thursday's attack.

The shooting was the fourth at a U.S. school within a week.

On Feb. 8, a woman shot two fellow students to death before committing suicide at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge. In Memphis, Tenn., a 17-year-old is accused of shooting and critically wounding a fellow student Monday during a high school gym class, and the 15-year-old victim of a shooting at an Oxnard, Calif., junior high school has been declared brain dead.

*sigh, smh*


**scroll to the bottom and get Recognizd! Sign my "Slide Guestbook!**

UPDATE: More Info On Female Shooter (LaTina Williams) In LA..

Still Many Questions Surround Deadly Shooting

(victim, Karsheika Graves)
(victim, Taneisha Butler)
(students mourn, below)
(scene of shooting-LA Tech College)

(Baton Rouge, LA - WAFB) Baton Rouge police say a young woman killed two female students in a classroom at a vo-tech college Friday, then killed herself. Police identified the victims as Karsheika Graves, age 21, and Tanieshia-Deanna Butler, age 26. Investigators identified the shooter as Latina Williams, age 23. Sergeant Don Kelly with Baton Rouge police says all three were students at the Louisiana Technical College campus. The shooter's family lives in Mississippi. Baton Rouge police visited with them Friday night, trying to figure out what might have led Latina Williams to open fire. Funeral arrangements for the victims are still pending.

9NEWS spoke with the family of Karsheika Graves. The tight-knit group believes Karsheika Graves will always be with them. "She was a beautiful person. Humble, kind, patient, never said an ill word about anyone," says Karlyn Leblanc, Karsheika's aunt. Her family is baffled. They have no idea why someone would shoot and kill the artistic mother of two. Graves was a painter, and on her way to becoming a nurse. Family members say in December, she would have graduated from Louisiana Technical College. "She had two babies but she wasn't going to let that stop her. And that's what I admired about her," Leblanc says. She also says coroners tell her Graves' body was found with a pencil in her hand, a strong indication of the kind of dedicated student she was. Graves was the mother of a one-year-old and a five-month-old baby. Funeral arrangements for the victims are still pending.

The family of Tanieshia Butler was kind enough to invite 9NEWS to their home to share Tanieshia's life. Butler was shot to death Friday morning while just simply sitting in a nursing class. "I am in disbelief. Until I actually see her face, I just don't believe. Right now, I don't believe it," Ernest Butler says. Tanieshia's husband is having a hard time staying strong, but he says he has to. "Right now, I am trying to pull it together for the kids, trying to get them through this." The couple's three children are 4, 9, and 12 years old. Tanieshia worked hard to put herself through school so that she could give her children a better life. Now, her mother wants to know how she's supposed to encourage Tanieshia's children to go to school. "You don't want to live out your kids, you are supposed to be able to go to school. It's supposed to be a safe place to go," says Bobbie Landry. Tanieshia's mother says she doesn't why the shooter chose her daughter, but she does have a message for the family. "Out of your hands once they grow up. I pray for you. I'm sorry for your loss." This family hopes whatever you take away from this that you learn from their lesson. "We've got little ones. You are preaching to them, teaching them to go to school and now, how are we supposed to tell them this, if they fear their lives how can you send them." Friday morning, Tanieshia's sister, Tont, was also at the college. She was across the hall, in another classroom. She heard the shots fired. Students and faculty at the school were kept on lockdown for nearly four hours as police interviewed witnesses to the classroom killings.

Young people called their parents from the Louisiana Technical College Friday morning, pleading for them to call 911. The school is located on Airline Highway at Winbourne Avenue. The investigation continues into why anyone would shoot and kill innocent school mates. Here is what we do know:

At 8:36, phone calls started pouring into Baton Rouge police from students inside the classroom building where the shots were fired.

At 8:37, police were on their way to the campus to investigate the complaints.

By 8:40, officers were entering the building, not knowing if the shooting was over or if someone with a gun was still roaming the halls.

"This is a situation where you have to analyze everything that goes on. There was nobody virtually that could have stopped, I believe, what happened today, absent checking everybody as they came into the building. But besides that, it's a sad commentary when you have young people who are here to be educated at a great institution. And yet, they are gunned down and become innocent victims of violence at school. So to those families, to parents, to other people in the community, relatives of these individuals on both sides, this is a tragic day for Baton Rouge, it's a tragic day for the nation," Mayor Kip Holden says.

The campus will remain closed until next Wednesday, February 13th. However, school officials say that may change, depending on funeral arrangements. LTC officials will meet with faculty and staff on Tuesday to help prepare them to work with students once they return to class. The school says ICare counselors are currently on-site providing support for students, faculty, staff, and family members. If you feel you need help processing the emotional effects of the killings at Louisiana Technical College, call Baton Rouge Crisis Intervention at 924-3900.

Thanks for the story, Deidra!




**scroll to the bottom and get Recognizd! Sign my "Slide Guestbook!**

More News On: CHARLES LEE THORNTON

Once ‘jovial’ Thornton grew increasingly confrontational in years leading up to shootings
source

Charles Lee Thornton had a long and tortured legal history with several of the people he confronted or killed Thursday night at City Hall in Kirkwood, Mo.

A review of federal and state court records Friday showed an escalating series of legal and personal confrontations between Thornton and public officials in Kirkwood.

But the fatal conflict baffled at least one lawyer who knew Thornton and once represented him during a civil lawsuit against the city for malicious prosecution. Irwin Roitman, a St. Louis lawyer, described Thornton as “intelligent” and “jovial.” Roitman said he never had the impression that Thornton was, in any way, violent.

“I remember being in the courtroom one day with Mr. Thornton, the building commissioner and some other officials, and there wasn’t the slightest indication he was hostile or aggressive,” Roitman said. “He was upbeat.”

Some city officials shared that sentiment. Testifying in state court last year, a city employee recalled that until the year 2000, Thornton was “always fun to run into” and “always had a funny word or a good greeting.”

But that began to change in 2001, when Kirkwood prosecuted Thornton, who owned a small construction firm, for dozens of municipal code violations, including illegal dumping and improper storage of building materials. He eventually was fined more than $18,000, which he never paid.

And twice during that period, Thornton was convicted in municipal court of assault and battery on Ken Yost, Kirkwood’s public works director, whom Thornton fatally shot Thursday. The municipal judge fined Thornton $2,000 for those assaults.

Incensed at being convicted of the code violations — the court fined a co-defendant only $1,296 — Thornton opened a legal and personal battle with the city.

He filed a lawsuit making civil rights and malicious prosecution claims against the city. A Missouri appeals court threw out the lawsuit in 2005, describing his pleadings as “incomprehensible.” Roitman had left the case two years before when Thornton began ignoring his legal advice and filing his own motions with the court.

Thornton also had begun attending City Council meetings regularly and occasionally addressing the council during public comment sessions.

Court records filed by the city said that while his behavior was sometimes disruptive, Thornton never was banned from the meetings.

The city’s patience ran out in the spring and early summer of 2006. Twice during council meetings, Thornton rose to discuss his complaints with the city. In later testimony, Thornton said he was mad “because of the city’s constant harassment, bogus tickets, document fraud and perjury.”

Thornton framed his complaints in harsh, racial terms, saying the city had a “plantation mentality” and alleging that the rules for addressing the council favored white people.

At one meeting, Councilwoman Connie Karr, whom Thornton later would kill, complained to Mayor Mike Swoboda that Thornton’s bluster offended her.

And at both meetings, Swoboda, whom Thornton later would wound, ordered Kirkwood Police Officer Thomas Ballman to remove him. In both instances, Thornton went limp, and officers dragged him from the meeting in handcuffs.

A municipal judge subsequently sentenced Thornton to four days in jail and fined him $799 for two disturbing-the-peace convictions.

Ballman also died in the shooting Thursday.

In January 2007, Thornton sued the city in federal court, alleging it had abridged his First Amendment right to address the council. source


**scroll to the bottom and get Recognizd! Sign my "Slide Guestbook!**

NOT the Kind of BLACK HISTORY I'm talking About!!

UPDATE: Thornton left a suicide note, brother says

The man who opened fire at a council meeting in Kirkwood, Mo., Thursday night left a suicide note, accoridng to the brother of gunman Charles Lee "Cookie" Thornton.

According to Arthur Thornton, the note said, "The truth will come out in the end." He said his brother left the note on his bed before going on the deadly shooting rampage.Thorton said his brother was "just trying to get people's attention." He said the note reflected his brother's growing frustration with local leaders.

Thornton killed five people before being shot by police at a Kirkwood City Council meeting, using two weapons in his attack.The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Thornton used his own large-caliber revolver to kill police Officer William Briggs across the street from City Hall, and then took Briggs' weapon with him into the meeting.An impromptu memorial now sits on the steps of City Hall.
A reporter covering the meeting for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said Thornton entered the City Council chambers, yelling "Shoot the mayor!" and opening fire.The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that among the dead were Councilwoman Connie Karr, Public Works Director Kenneth Yost and police officers Tom Ballman and Briggs. Two others, including Mayor Mike Swoboda, were injured.He then fired at the city attorney, who tried to fight off the attacker by throwing chairs, she said. The gunman then moved behind a desk where the council sits and fired at council members.
The Post-Dispatch reported that late last month, a federal judge in St. Louis dismissed a lawsuit in which Thornton, representing himself, claimed Kirkwood officials violated his free speech rights by prohibiting him from speaking out at meetings."My brother went to war tonight with the people of the government that was putting torment and strife into his life," said Gerald Thornton, the gunman's brother. "And he ended it."
Thornton had twice been convicted of disorderly conduct for disrupting meetings in 2006 with off-point complaints about persecution by officials.Friends and relatives said Thornton had a longstanding feud with city officials.
At earlier meetings, he said he'd received 150 tickets against his business.A friend said the city had ticketed Thornton's demolition and asphalt business for parking his commercial vehicles in the neighborhood. The friend said Thornton thought he was being singled out because he was black.

******

GUNMAN UPSET OVER TICKETS???

source

KIRKWOOD, Missouri (CNN) -- A St. Louis suburb will recover "but we will never be the same," its deputy mayor said Friday, the day after a gunman killed five people at a City Council meeting before police shot him to death

Witnesses identified the gunman as Charles Lee "Cookie" Thornton, a man who they said regularly disrupted meetings to make complaints.

Kirkwood Deputy Mayor Tim Griffin identified the dead as City Council members Connie Karr and Michael Lynch, Public Works Director Ken Yost and police Sgt. William Biggs and Officer Tom Ballman.

The city's mayor and a newspaper reporter also were shot and were hospitalized, officials said.

Mayor Mike Swoboda was listed in serious condition Friday morning, while Todd Smith of the Suburban Journals was in satisfactory condition, they said.

Police said the shooter had two guns when he entered the City Council chamber Thursday night -- a large-caliber revolver he brought with him and a service weapon he took from Biggs after shooting the police sergeant.

Police have not officially identified the suspect. Thornton's brother earlier had told a TV station his sibling "went to war tonight with the people that were of the government."

In an interview with CNN, Gerald Thornton repeatedly declined to say that his brother had done anything wrong. He said his brother felt his "constitutional protection was not guaranteed," but he refused to explain further or give any detail.

Don't Miss

• KMOV: Prayer vigil planned for shooting victims
• KSDK: Witness: Shooter said he wanted 'justice'

A friend of Thornton's, Ron Hodges, told The Associated Press the city had ticketed Thornton's demolition and asphalt business for parking his commercial vehicles illegally. Thornton said he had received 150 tickets, Hodges told the AP, and the tickets were "eating at him."

"He felt that as a black contractor he was being singled out," Hodges told the AP. "I guess he thought mentally he had no more recourse. That's not an excuse."

Tracy Panus, spokeswoman for St. Louis County police, said authorities believe the suspect parked his vehicle in a lot outside the police station and City Hall, encountered Biggs and shot him, then took his gun.

He proceeded into the council chambers, where he shot the other people.

A witness told the AP the gunman yelled, "Shoot the mayor!" as he stormed into the room.

"I heard [Thornton] yell something about a gun, and I looked up, and I saw Officer Ballman had been shot in the head," said Janet McNichols, a correspondent with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, in a video posted on the newspaper's Web site.

"Then I looked right in front of me, and Mr. Yost had been shot in the head too." Watch McNichols describe hiding under a chair as bullets flew »

Other Kirkwood officers came to the scene and shot and killed the gunman, Panus said.

She would not comment on specific security procedures at the City Council meeting but said the measures "are something that they followed."

Authorities are working to piece together exactly what happened, she said.

An eyewitness to the shootings said Thornton had disrupted City Council meetings frequently in the past.

"He would make inappropriate noises, heehawing like a donkey. He would make derogatory comments towards the director of public works, the city attorney and the mayor," Alan Hopefl said Friday. "None of it seemed to make any sense as far as him trying to make a point, as far as why he was really there and what his major complaints were." Watch Hopefl tell how he escaped the shooting scene »

Gerald Thornton told CNN affiliate KMOV-TV in St. Louis that his brother had serious grievances with the city government.

"The only way that I can put it in a context that you might understand is that my brother went to war tonight with the people that were of the government that was putting torment and strife into his life," Thornton told KMOV.

"And he had spoke on it as best he could in the courts, and they denied him all access to the rights of protection, and therefore he took it upon himself to go to war and end the issue." Watch the gunman's brother talk about a motive for the shooting »

Thornton sued the city of Kirkwood after he was arrested twice for disorderly conduct at two council meetings in 2006. He later was convicted, according to the First Amendment Center, a group that says it works to preserve First Amendment freedoms.

According to a Thursday article written by the First Amendment Center -- before the shooting -- Thornton asked to speak during public-comment portions of 2006 meetings on specific topics but instead discussed his alleged harassment by city officials.

In his lawsuit, Thornton said his First Amendment rights had been violated. But in a January 28 ruling, U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry said that the public-comment portion of a meeting could be reserved for certain groups and topics of discussion.

Bill Reineke, a builder and acquaintance of Thornton's for 15 years, said he sensed a change in him starting three months ago.

"He seemed to feel lately that things were going wrong," Reineke said. "He would run into City Hall once in a while during meetings, and he would talk about the plantation mentality of the mayor and board."

Reineke said Thornton had begun to hold grudges.

"I don't know what made him go off -- what made him twist -- but it's just a darn shame for everyone concerned," he said.

Kirkwood, a town of about 27,000 people, is about 10 miles west-southwest of St. Louis. Kirkwood's Web site bills the city as "Queen of the St. Louis Suburbs" with high property values and quality public schools.

********

Five People Shot @ City Council Meeting in MO

(CNN) -- A gunman killed five people and wounded two at a police station and City Council meeting in suburban St. Louis on Thursday night before officers shot and killed him, police said.

Charles Lee Thornton(above) was identified by witnesses as the gunman who opened fire at a City Council meeting.

1 of 2

Two of those killed were police officers, said Tracy Panus, spokeswoman for St. Louis County police.

"We have what we believe to be our suspect," Panus said. "There's no reason for the Kirkwood residents to feel unsafe at this point."

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the dead included Councilwoman Connie Karr, Public Works Director Kenneth Yost and police officers Tom Ballman and William Biggs.

Mayor Mike Swoboda was wounded and in critical condition, and Suburban Journals newspaper reporter Todd Smith was in satisfactory condition, St. John's Mercy Hospital spokesman Bill McShane told The Associated Press.

The shootings began shortly after 7 p.m. just outside the city hall in Kirkwood, Missouri, when a man approached a police officer in the parking lot of the Kirkwood police station and fatally shot him, Panus said. The officer died at the scene. Watch emergency vehicles swarm the scene »

The suspect then went into the City Council chambers, she said, and killed a second police officer, then fatally shot three city officials who were attending the meeting, Panus said.

Kirkwood police officers returned fire, Panus said, killing the suspect.

Police did not identify the suspect or victims.

A correspondent for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Janet McNichols, who was in the City Council meeting when the shooting took place, identified the gunman as Charles Lee Thornton, the newspaper reported.

Don't Miss

• KMOV: Gunfire at City Council meeting

Thornton sued the city of Kirkwood after he was arrested twice for disorderly conduct at two council meetings in 2006. He was later convicted, according to the First Amendment Center, a group that says it works to preserve First Amendment freedoms.

According to a Thursday article written by the center -- before the shooting -- Thornton asked to speak during public-comment portions of 2006 meetings on specific topics, but instead spoke on what he alleged was harassment of him by city officials.

In the lawsuit, Thornton said his First Amendment rights had been violated. However, U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry said in a January 28 ruling that the public-comment portion of a meeting could be reserved for certain groups and topics of discussion.

Rather than discussing the subject at hand, Perry wrote, "Thornton engaged in personal attacks against the mayor, Kirkwood and the city council. ... Because Thornton does not have a First Amendment right to engage in irrelevant debate and to voice repetitive, personal, virulent attacks against Kirkwood and its city officials during the comment portion of a city council public hearing, his claim fails as a matter of law," the ruling said, according to the First Amendment Center.

Thornton's brother, Gerald, told CNN affiliate KMOV that his brother had serious grievances with the city government.

"The only way that I can put it in a context that you might understand is that my brother went to war tonight with the people that were of the government that was putting torment and strife into his life," Thornton told KMOV.

"And he had spoke on it as best he could in the courts and they denied him all access to the rights of protection, and therefore he took it upon himself to go to war and end the issue."

Bill Reineke, a builder and acquaintance of Thornton's for 15 years, said he sensed a change in him starting three months ago.

"He seemed to feel lately that things were going wrong," Reineke said. "He would run into city hall once in a while during meetings and he would talk about the plantation mentality of the mayor and board."

Reineke said Thornton had begun to hold grudges.

"I don't know what made him go off -- what made him twist -- but it's just a darn shame for everyone concerned," he said.

Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt responded to news of the shooting from Jefferson City.

"Tonight our fellow Missourians in the city of Kirkwood were terrorized by a senseless and horrific crime at an open government meeting." he said.

"I join Missourians tonight in praying for the victims, their families and friends, and everyone in the community of Kirkwood."

Kirkwood is about 10 miles west-southwest of St. Louis and is home to about 27,000 people. Kirkwood's Web site bills the city as "Queen of the St. Louis Suburbs" with high property values and quality public schools.

It was also the scene of another high-profile recent criminal case. Local pizzeria employee Michael Devlin pleaded guilty to charges including kidnapping and sexual assault after police found two missing boys in his Kirkwood apartment in January 2007. One of the boys was held for four years. source

***
What words can be expressed to the loved ones of those who were killed by Thornton?? Somehow "sorry" just doesn't do it.
If a person had such deep rooted issues with a city...MOVE!
Was it his pride? Believing that if he moved, Kirkwood, MO would somehow have won??

So instead of moving-you take the lives of others.
Sadness.
I will never accept the words of others, when they want to speak on how crazy Bagdhad, Iraq and other middle eastern countries are...when the great ole U.S. of A..IS CHOCKFUL OF CUCKOO 4 COCOA PUFF CRITTERS AS WELL!
What's the difference between suicide bombers and murder suicides at MALLS, SCHOOLS, HOMES, WORK PLACES, CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS?
There is no difference.
They're both insane acts, by people who felt that was their only answer.
We are in a state of emegency...and as long as U.S.A continues in its downward spiral, we'll always hear of people such as Thornton.
I pray that God brings peace to loved ones of the victims, as well as the family of Thornton.

You Betta Recognize-this is no joke.

**scroll to the bottom and get Recognizd! Sign my "Slide Guestbook!**

Why Didn't He Beat On Himself? His Spermatazoa Determined the Baby's Sex?!

Sheriff's Office: Man Killed Baby Daughter Because He Wanted Son
Father Beat Girl For Months, Report Says

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. -- A Winter Haven man was charged with murder, accused of fatally beating his 4-month-old daughter Christmas Day because he wanted a son, authorities said.

Marcos Gomez-Romero, 28, told investigators that he beat Ariana Rodriguez Romero to death because he wanted a son instead of a daughter, according to a Polk County Sheriff's Office report.

Gomez-Romero

According to deputy interviews, Gomez-Romero said he became angry every time he saw the girl. He also said that abusing his daughter became a habit, a sheriff's report showed. Gomez-Romero told deputies that he would slap his daughter on the ribs while she was sleeping, and the Medical Examiner's Office said the girl had dozens of rib fractures, a bruised liver and a hemorrhage in her left eye, according to the Polk County sheriff's report.

Gomez-Romero told investigators that the beatings had gone on for months, the sheriff's report stated.

"Murder is a brutal crime," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said. "Detectives worked to ensure this murderer never has the chance to harm anyone else. He killed his own child because she was the wrong gender. His actions were beyond brutal. The only thing more horrific was his excuse."

Gomez-Romero was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse.

The girl's mother has not been charged.


Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
source

Unless the mother NEVER CHANGED her baby's clothes or diapers, how COULD SHE NOT KNOW this maniac was abusing HER BABY???? HE BEAT THE INFANT...there were marks on that baby's body.

I tell you, between the woman in Washington killing her four daughters, the lunatic flinging kids off a bridge, this nutcase beating a 4 month old to death-maybe we should just do a random kid check...why don't we just kick doors open "Cops" style and check kids bodies for evidence of abuse, foul smells emanating from homes etc.
And this is JUST JANUARY!! Not even HALF WAY over yet.
My goodness, my goodness smh

**scroll to the bottom and get Recognizd! Sign my "Slide Guestbook!"

Another high school shooting?? This time in Finland?!

School shooter kills 8, self in Finland source

TUUSULA, Finland - An 18-year-old gunman opened fire at his high school in this placid town in southern Finland on Wednesday, killing seven other students and the principal before mortally wounding himself in a rampage that stunned a nation where gun crime is rare.
Police were analyzing YouTube postings that appeared to anticipate the massacre, including clips in which a young man calls for revolution and apparently prepares for the attack by test firing a semiautomatic handgun.

Investigators said the gunman, who was not identified, shot himself in the head after the shooting spree at Jokela High School in Tuusula, some 30 miles north of the capital, Helsinki. He died later at Toolo Hospital in Helsinki.

The teen killed five boys, two girls and the female principal with a .22-caliber pistol, police said. Officials said one person was wounded by a bullet and about a dozen others suffered cuts and other injuries while fleeing the school. Officials said more than 400 students ages 12 through 18 were enrolled.

Witnesses described a scene of mayhem at the school in this leafy lakeside community, saying the shooter prowled the building looking for victims while shouting slogans for "revolution."
Police Chief Matti Tohkanen said the gunman didn't have a previous criminal record. "He was from an ordinary family," Tohkanen said. He said the teen belonged to a gun club and had gotten a license for the pistol Oct. 19.

Gun ownership is fairly common in Finland by European standards, but deadly shootings are rare. Finnish media reported that a school shooting in 1989 involved a 14-year-old boy who killed two other students apparently for teasing him.
Investigators were searching for connections to the shooter and a possible motive in YouTube postings that appeared to reveal plans for Wednesday's deadly attack.

One video, titled "Jokela High School Massacre," showed a picture of what appeared to be the Jokela school and two photos of a young man holding a handgun. The person who posted the video was identified in the user profile as an 18-year-old man from Finland. The posting was later removed.

The profile contained a text calling for a "revolution against the system."
Another video clip showed a young man clad in a dark jacket loading a clip into a handgun and firing several shots at an apple placed on the ground in a wooded area. He smiled and waved to the camera at the end of the clip.

A third clip showed photos of what appeared to be same man posing with a gun and wearing a T-shirt with the text "Humanity is overrated."
Kim Kiuru, a teacher, said the principal announced over the public address system just before noon that all students should remain in their classrooms.

"After that I saw the gunman running with what appeared to be a small-caliber handgun in his hand through the doors toward me, after which I escaped to the corridor downstairs and ran in the opposite direction," Kiuru told reporters.
He said he saw a woman's body as he fled the building.

"Then my pupils shouted at me out of the windows to ask what they should do and I told them to jump out of the windows ... and all my pupils were saved," Kiuru said.

Terhi Vayrynen, a 17-year-old student, told The Associated Press that her brother Henri, 13, and his classmates had witnessed the assailant shoot the principal outside the school through their classroom windows.
She said the gunman then entered her brother's classroom shouting: "Revolution! Smash everything!"

When no one did anything, the attacker shot the television set and windows but did not fire at the youngsters, she said. Then he ran out and down the corridor.
Vivianna Korhonen, a student at the high school, told Finnish broadcaster YLE she feared for her life as news of the shooting spread through the building.

"We were terrified and afraid. We thought that we might die as he was still able to come to our classroom," she said. "We were informed all the time. We were calling our friends and asking for information."
Residents in Tuusula, a town of 34,000 people, said such attacks were unheard of in the area.
"Mostly nothing happens here, this is nice surroundings and not any criminals to talk of. This was a total surprise," said Reijo Pekka, whose son Arttu Siltala was at the school.

Students said the killer often wore the same clothes to school — brown leather jacket, black trousers and checkered shirt — and usually carried a briefcase.
Tuomas Hulkkonen, another student, said he knew the gunman well, adding that the teen had been acting strange lately.

"He withdrew into his shell. I had noticed a change in him just recently, and I thought that perhaps he was a bit depressed, or something, but I couldn't imagine that in reality he would do anything like this," Hulkkonen told Finnish TV broadcaster MTV3.

Experts warned that the shooting could inspire copycat attacks.
"An event like this in Finland might have an effect in the U.S.," said Christopher P. Lucas, a psychiatry professor at New York University.
He said YouTube provides a ready way for shooters to publicize their acts and provide some sort of justification.

Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen described the bloodshed as "extremely tragic" and declared Thursday a day of national mourning with flags to be flown half-staff.

***

tragic, tragic, tragic all around.

and the psychiatrist is right...it can inspire copycat attacks.

copycats are cowards riding on the coattails of originators.

I'm wondering if this kid had the same struggles in school as in the States...was he teased and bullied unmercilessly? Was this reported and the teachers did nothing? Did he feel overlooked, isolated-odd man out? Every high school shooting i've read about was by a young male, who was ostracized, bullied, teased etc who finally said "I'm mad as hell and i'm not going to take this anymore."

This is a global issue-what's going to be done to prevent this in the future??

God bless the victims' & shooter's family.
___

Grandmother's Ultimate Sacrifice

In Ohio, a grandmother was driven to desperate tactics in order to prevent a physically abusive father away from her granddaughter.

view video

God bless the families.

JEALOUSY + GUN= DEADLY COMBINATION!

Sheriff's Deputy Kills Six in Rampage
Filed Under: Nation News

credit: AP, AOL news

CRANDON, Wis. (Oct. 7) - An off-duty sheriff's deputy went on a shooting rampage early Sunday at a home where seven young people had gathered for pizza and movies, killing six and critically injuring the other before authorities took him down, officials said.

Tyler Peterson, an off-duty sheriff's deputy, killed six young people and wounded another at this house in Crandon, Wis., Sunday. The town's mayor said a sniper shot and killed the gunman.

The gunman, Tyler Peterson, was 20 years old and worked full-time as a Forest County deputy sheriff and part-time as a Crandon police officer, said Police Chief John Dennee. Three of the victims were students at the small town's high school, and three were recent graduates, a school official said.

The gunman may have graduated from the same high school. Peterson was not working at the time of the shooting, Sheriff Keith Van Cleve said. The survivor was hospitalized in nearby Marshfield, Dennee said. A Crandon police officer who fired back was treated for minor injuries and released. Gary Bradley, mayor of the city of about 2,000, said earlier Sunday that the suspect had been brought down by a sniper, but Van Cleve would not confirm that officers shot the suspect.

It wasn't immediately clear what the gunman's motive was, but the mother of a 14-year-old victim said the suspect may have been a jealous boyfriend. The shooting occurred in a white, two-story duplex about a block from downtown Crandon. "It was a pizza and movie party," Dennee said.

Three of the victims were Crandon High School students, said schools Superintendent Richard Peters, and the other three had graduated within the past three years.

"There is probably nobody in Crandon who is not affected by this," Peters said, adding that students would be especially affected. "They are going to wake up in shock and disbelief and a lot of pain."

Peters did not know whether Peterson had also graduated from the 300-student high school. But Crandon resident Karly Johnson, 16, said that she knew the gunman and that he had helped her in a tech education class. "He graduated with my brother," she said. "He was nice. He was an average guy. Normal. You wouldn't think he could do that."

One of the dead was 14-year-old Lindsey Stahl, said her mother, Jenny Stahl, 39. She said her daughter called her Saturday night and asked whether she could sleep over at a friend's house. Jenny Stahl agreed. "I'm waiting for somebody to wake me up right now. This is a bad, bad dream," the weeping mother said.

"All I heard it was a jealous boyfriend and he went berserk. He took them all out." Marci Franz, 35, who lives two houses south of the duplex, said gunshots awoke her. "I heard probably five or six shots, a short pause and then five or six more," she said. "I wasn't sure if it was gunfire initially. I thought some kids were messing around and hitting a nearby metal building."

Then she heard eight louder shots and tires squealing, she said. "I was just about to get up and call it in, and I heard sirens," she said. "There's never been a tragedy like this here. There's been individual incidents, but nothing of this magnitude." Her husband, David Franz, 36, said it was hard to accept that someone in law enforcement committed such an act.

"The first statement we said to each other was, how did he get through the system?" David Franz said. "How do they know somebody's background, especially that young? It is disturbing, to say the least."

The sheriff said he would meet with state Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen on Monday morning to discuss the case. Dennee said the state Department of Criminal Investigation will handle the case because the suspect was a deputy and officer. The Crandon School District called off classes Monday. The community, about 225 miles north of Milwaukee in an area known for logging and outdoor activities, is facing a trying time but is pulling together, Bradley said. "We are a strong community.

We always have been," he said. "This is agonizing, but we will prevail."

********

My thoughts and prayers are with the community and most of all the family in Jesus' name.

Ivent