Kalamazoo, Michigan: Six shot dead in 'random' attacks

[teame1]

Sad news.

At least six people have been killed in the US in a series of apparently random shootings in the Michigan city of Kalamazoo, police said.
Four people were killed at a restaurant and two at a car dealership. A 14-year-old girl was also "gravely injured".
The attacks are being linked to an earlier shooting at a car park, which left one woman seriously injured.
A manhunt was launched, which ended with 45-year-old local man Jason Dalton being taken into custody.
The suspect did not resist when approached by officers, and weapons were found in his car, police said.
Uber has confirmed that Jason Dalton is a driver registered with the app-based cab-hailing company, issuing a statement saying it was "horrified and heartbroken" at the violence.
Police are also investigating a Facebook posting from a woman who said that Mr Dalton had been driving erratically while carrying her fiance as a passenger shortly before the shootings.

 

[six-string]

this is just horrible.
stupid and horrible.

 

[Mule Train]

I was just reading about it online. What can one say about such a horrible tragedy except to hope the survivors make a full recovery. One is a 14 year old girl now listed as serious but was initially reported dead.

 

[parts]

Incredible insanity...

The some people never fail to insult humanity..

 

[James Carney]

I blame Uber.
And the lack of Gibson guitars built in Kalamazoo anymore.

 

[Mark V Guitars]

If they are linked to an earlier event, then they are not random. Poorly written story.

 

[Comanche]

I don't like theses threads. Today I took the time to feel the earth between my toes. I stepped in dog poo, I didn't blame the dogs.

 

[twst1up]

If they are linked to an earlier event, then they are not random. Poorly written story.

or a poor understanding of what the word "random" means...like, the definition

lol, you iz one silly chick!!!

 

[Mark V Guitars]

or a poor understanding of what the word "random" means...like, the definition

lol, you iz one silly chick!!!

Lol. Or as in...."never happened."

 

[KTM]

I read the "random" as in randomly selected victims.

I wonder if the UBER driver recently watched Collateral?

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BDx6ZPHV4w[/ame]

 

[cmh6122]

The horror we are capable of should ever give us pause.

 

[defcrew]

With apologies to the victims, I wonder whether the lesser ability of Uber to do background checks on the drivers and incidences such as this will wind up kicking the legs out from under the concept? I guess it will be like anything else and people will weigh the risk. Not to say that a regular cab driver couldn't nut up similarly.

There was a great quote from one of the law officers when someone said something about having to wait to see what an acceptable explanation for this latest tragedy was and he said something like what would be an acceptable explanation? There is no explanation that is acceptable. The beat goes on....

 

[JayFreddy]

On Facebook I'm subscribed to group called, "Moms Demand Action", that was started by several mothers whose children were killed at the Sandyhook shooting.

I get posts from them about public shootings almost everyday.

I can't "like" these posts, because I don't like stories about people getting shot. And I'm apprehensive about sharing them because I don't want posts about dead people and senseless violence showing up on my Facebook wall everyday.

But I'm leaning towards sharing them, because I think a lot of people are unaware of how much gun violence there really is in American society.

I'm not saying it's the gun's fault.

I am saying that the situation is unacceptable. Doing nothing or doing more of what we've been doing, which is essentially nothing, is unacceptable.

Even though I subscribed to that group on Facebook (I have a family friend who was directly affected by the Sandyhook massacre), I was shocked at the amount of gun violence that they brought to my attention.

I think a lot of people really don't understand the depth of the problem.

 

[Frogfur]

It is why i say with authority..outside my door, anything can happen to me at anytime.


But if they come to my home with bad intent..they'll do as their told until the law shows up, or they will be the ones carried away.

 

[Frogfur]

It is why i say with authority..outside my door, anything can happen to me at anytime.

But if they come to my home with bad intent..they'll do as their told until the law shows up, or they will be the ones carried away.

 

[AXE]

You are probably aware of the horrific shooting spree that took place in Kalamazoo, Michigan this past Saturday night. Eight people were shot – six fatally. We are saddened to learn that one of the victims, Richard Eugene Smith, 53, is a member of Local 357 of Kalamazoo. Brother Smith and his 17 year old son, Tyler Daniel Smith, were shopping for a car afterhours when they were fatally shot at around 10 p.m. on Saturday.

Very sad indeed.

 

[PraXis]

Not possible. Uber does not allow guns in their vehicles.

http://www.uber.com/legal/firearms-prohibition-policy

 

[twst1up]

Lol. Or as in...."never happened."

you may be interested in a guy called alex jones...he doesn't believe these mass shootings are real either. Alot of housewives/soccer moms swallow that jive hook line and sinker

 

[Begd]

You are probably aware of the horrific shooting spree that took place in Kalamazoo, Michigan this past Saturday night. Eight people were shot – six fatally. We are saddened to learn that one of the victims, Richard Eugene Smith, 53, is a member of Local 357 of Kalamazoo. Brother Smith and his 17 year old son, Tyler Daniel Smith, were shopping for a car afterhours when they were fatally shot at around 10 p.m. on Saturday.

Very sad indeed.

Tyler Smith is from Mattawan, and though it is a huge district for this area, it becomes very small when they lose one of their own. My wife and I have a large daycare in the community, and it is amazing how many people- kids, parents, and employees have a tie to this tragedy.

 

[Roberteaux]

I was shocked at the amount of gun violence that they brought to my attention.

Do your friends ever post articles concerning incidents where innocent lives were saved by an armed citizen?

Probably not.

But according to USDOJ, there were multiple thousands of episodes between 2003 and 2011 in which a citizen used a firearm to defend his or her self from violent assault.

USDOJ: Firearms Violence 2003-2011

One reason you don't hear so much about this is because in a lot of cases not a single shot is fired, as the mere brandishing of a weapon was enough to stymie the criminal assault the citizens were responding to. However, we've also noticed that mainstream media by no means trumpets even those incidents in which shooting was necessary, lawful, and which kept a whole lot of people from perhaps being wounded or killed. Instead, you get a quick report and then they drop the matter altogether.

I have also seen cases in which the media was quick to denounce a lawful and necessary shooting, for not having their facts straight when they first went to press or on the air with their account, only to retract the story when police subsequently explained to the public why the shooting wasn't being treated as a criminal act on the part of the shooter.

When that happens, I notice that the media outlets almost never offer a correction to their earlier, sensationalist stories. Instead, they just drop the matter altogether without further ado.

And there quite a few individuals out there, whose loved ones were slain in some gun free zone, who have gone on record to say that they wished that their children weren't sitting ducks, who could simply be slaughtered by the first psycho who decided to start killing people.

The last person I recall directly as becoming a pro-firearms activist was a woman whose daughter was murdered during that rampage that took place at VMI some time ago, but she was by no means the only family member of a victim I could dig up who had the same sort of thing to say.

--R