Archive for March, 2009
2 men, 1 woman slain in Compton apartment
COMPTON, California — Homicide detectives Monday were investigating the fatal shootings of two men and a woman in an apartment.Neighbors contacted authorities after hearing gunshots in the apartment about 7:15 p.m. Sunday, said Los Angeles County sheriff’s Deputy Oscar Butao.
All the victims were declared dead at the scene. The apartment is behind several businesses on East Rosecrans Avenue.
Authorities did not immediately release the names and ages of the victims.
Judy Mock told KCAL-TV she was friends with one of the male victims and said he was not a gang member.
“I’ve been up all night crying and praying,” she said.
The killings stand in contrast to recent improvements in the violent crime rate in the 10 1/2-square-mile city in the south county area.
Its murder rate once made Compton to No. 1 on a list of the nation’s 20 most dangerous cities. But as of last month that rate had been cut by more than half, the lowest since 1985. More on Mercury News
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Family of 6 died from Murder-suicide
Santa Clara, California – Police found was one of the worst shooting scenes in Santa Clara history: six bodies were scattered around the three-story townhome, four were dead, including a42-year-old man whom police suspect was the shooter. Two handguns were found nearby. Paramedics performed CPR on a 4-year-old girl, but she too died at the scene. More on Mercury News
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Triple shooting in Dorchester, MA claims 3 victims
The gunman who opened fire on a car on a Dorchester street early Sunday, killing three of four passengers inside, may have been smarting after getting spurned by one of his victims who had just left a late-night party, a police source said.
The victims, identified by police yesterday as Shacora Gaines and Chantal Palmer, both 20 and from Brockton, and Anthony Peoples, 19, of Boston, had been at a gathering at 41 Mount Ida Road for a fund-raising event for a Trinidadian group long active in Boston’s annual Caribbean day parade, the source said.
“They are major contributors to the Caribbean festival,” said a neighbor, who requested anonymity. ‘’Over the year they do several fundraisers here. They have a DJ and play Soca music and sell West Indian cuisine. People come, they eat and they socialize.”
The neighbor said the parties are usually loud but peaceful. Saturday night’s gathering had an added purpose because the family who lives in the red triple-decker and hosted the party was celebrating the birth of a grandchild.
But at 4:07 a.m. Sunday a volley of gunshots rang out, smashing the windows of a white Nissan Sentra in the middle of the street near the home, and killing the two women who sat in the front seats and their male friend in the backseat. A young woman who sat in the rear survived the shooting.
Police hauled away more than two dozen partygoers in a bus for questioning and continued interviewing witnesses yesterday. Boston Police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll declined to provide a motive for the shooting, other than to say that there appeared to be an altercation prior to the shooting. But a police source said investigators believe the shooting stemmed from the assailant having an interest in one of the woman he killed, but was rejected by her. More on Boston Herald
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Gunman Kills 8 in Nursing Home
Carthage, North Carolina – North Carolina police are investigating whether the man accused of killing eight people in a nursing home shooting spree may have targeted the home because his estranged wife worked there, according to The Associated Press.
At 10 a.m. Sunday morning, while many residents of Carthage, N.C., were sitting quietly in church, police said 45-year-old Robert Stewart entered a local nursing home armed with multiple guns. Stalking from room to room, he shot several residents, even those bound to wheelchairs.
By the time the only on-duty officer for the Carthage Police Department arrived at the Pinelake Health and Rehab Center and put a stop to the massacre, seven nursing home patients and one nursing home employee had died.
“He came in with a shotgun, a rifle and a couple other kinds of weapons and he just went around shooting people, people in wheelchairs and this type of thing,” Sen. Harris Blake of the North Carolina State Assembly said. “This could not be any more barbaric.”
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )3 dead in suspected murder-suicide in Firestone
The incident, which led to a three-and-a-half hour standoff and prompted the partial evacuation of the Eagle Crest subdivision in Firestone, ended after members of the Weld County Regional SWAT team entered the residence at about 9:15 a.m. on Saturday to find the three people involved already dead.
Firestone police first learned of the incident at 5:37 a.m. Saturday morning when the 24-year-old daughter of Sharla Acker, 41, called 9-1-1 after hearing a single gun shot while in her mother’s house on the 10000 block of Barron Circle in Firestone, according to Weld County Coroner Chris Robillard. Less than 10 minutes later, Firestone police were on scene working to get Sharla Acker’s daughter and 3-year-old grandson out of the house through a window, Robillard said.
The daughter and grandson were unharmed.
Police then evacuated a quarter of the subdivision and closed entrances into the subdivision until 11 a.m. in the event that a man had barricaded himself inside the residence.
Robillard, however, said the incident likely ended shortly after it began — with Sharla Acker’s ex-husband Michael Acker, 47, of Commerce City, suspected of using a shotgun to kill Sharla Acker and her boyfriend Michael Frederico, 38.
Michael Acker and Sharla Acker divorced in fall 2008, Robillard said. The incident is still under investigation and autopsies are planned for today. More on Greeley Tribune
Two killed in San Diego transit shooting
An apparent act of workplace violence in San Diego this morning left two employees of the Metropolitan Transit System dead and a third on life support, police said.
The incident began about 2:15 a.m. in the parking lot of the transit system’s downtown San Diego headquarters, where an employee shot two co-workers.
When police arrived, the shooter refused to surrender and pointed his weapon at officers, said Lt. Kevin Rooney of the San Diego Police Department.
Three officers opened fire, killing the man. One of the co-workers was dead at the scene, the other is on life support, Rooney said.
The gunman has been identified as Lonnie Glasco, 47, of El Cajon, a mechanic. The co-worker who died at the scene was Benjamin Mwangi, 37, of Lemon Grove, a foreman. The shooting reportedly occurred shortly after Glasco had ended his shift. More on LA Times
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )21-year-old shot and killed while driving away from club
OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma –21-year-old Jonathan P. Ingersoll was shot and killed while driving away from an Oklahoma City club on March 22. Police say the shots were fired from another vehicle.
Police have arrested 1 of 2 men who had warrants issued following a drive-by shooting death in northwest Oklahoma City.
The Oklahoma County Sheriff’s warrant team found 20-year-old Kenneth Thompson at an apartment Thursday morning and took him into custody on a murder complaint.
Police are still seeking 18-year-old Kendal Richardson, who also had a warrant issued for his arrest after the shooting. More on KSWO.com
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )22-year-old man shot to death by another gang member
EDINBURG, Texas – Albert Tobias Cuevas, 29, is wanted in connection with the death of 22-year-old Alton resident Arnulfo Calderon Hernandez Jr. Hernandez’s body was found March 21 in the middle of 8 Mile Line between Stewart and Bryan roads, northeast of Mission.
Sheriff’s investigators believe Cuevas shot Hernandez multiple times inside Cuevas’ moving 2004 Pontiac Grand Am and then pushed Hernandez out of the car while it was still moving.
Cuevas confessed to a witness that he had killed Hernandez on the belief that the 22-year-old Alton man was being disrespectful.
The suspected killer is a member of the street gang El Cinco, the same criminal organization to which Hernandez belonged. More on The Monitor
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )4 police officers killed in Oakland shootings
Oakland, California – At least three police officers in Oakland, California, were shot and killed Saturday afternoon after a man pulled over for a routine traffic stop opened fire and then battled SWAT officers at a nearby building, police said.
A fourth officer — also shot — remained in critical condition, and was pronounced dead two days later.
The man, a 26-yeoar-old Oakland resident, was later fatally shot in a shootout with a SWAT team in an apartment complex where he hid.
Authorities discovered the alleged gunman, 26-year-old Lovelle Mixon, had an extensive criminal history. At the time of the shooting, he was in violation of parole for assault with a deadly weapon, police said.
The incident began about 1 p.m. in east Oakland when two motorcycle officers tried to pull over a car for a “fairly routine traffic stop,” said Dave Kozicki, the deputy police chief.
Immediately afterward, emergency call dispatchers received reports that two officers were down at the scene and needed attention. They had been shot, Kozicki said.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )1 killed, 3 wounded in Spartanburg shooting
Spartanburg, South Carolina – Police are still looking for suspects in a shooting that killed a teen-ager and wounded three women late Friday night in Spartanburg’s Collins Parks Community, a police spokesman said.
Malcolm R. Crawford, 17, of 290 Westover Drive, was pronounced dead at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center, according to Randy Bogan of the Spartanburg Coroner’s Office.
The three women were identified as Cassandra Fowler, 19, of 1000 Lucerne Drive; Shantericka Bennett, 19, of 235 Fox Hall Road, and Latrice Wilburn, 22, of 443-B Drive OC Kirkland Terrance, according to police Capt. Steve Lamb, a spokesman for the city of Spartanburg. They were in “fair” condition, said hospital spokesman Chad Lawson.
The gunman was still at large late Saturday, Lamb said.
When officers arrived at OC Kirkland Terrance at 11 p.m., they found the women, he said. By then, Crawford was en route to the hospital, where he died, Lamb said.
Officers responding to the shootings tried to stop a Chevrolet Suburban on North Church Street, he said. The Suburban slowed and several people got out and ran away, according to Lamb. More on Greenville Online
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Man shot by policy after raising gun in hospital emergency room
Las Vegas, NV – A gunman was shot and killed by police in the emergency room at the St. Rose Dominican Hospital Siena Campus. Just after 1 a.m. on March 11, 2009, Charles Campbell enters the building. The surveillance video shows Campbell in the emergency room. Witnesses testified that Campbell walked in with a gun and said he was going to kill himself and he wanted to donate his organs.
Henderson police rushed to hospital and a short while later they two officers opened fire on Campbell.
Campbell died at the scene. Officers say Campbell was threatening and chose not to give himself up.
“We gave him all the opportunity to drop the gun. Even we allowed him to raise it, and it wasn’t until he lowered the gun toward us, until we fired,” testified Officer Randy Dotson, Henderson Police Department. More on Las Vegas Now
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Gun Nut Kills 11
A CRAZED gunman killed 11 people then himself as he went on a shooting spree in two towns at night. Cops in Alabama found the body of the killer’s girlfriend in his burnt out home.
Two of the dead found earlier were a cop’s wife and child and others were members of gunman Michael McLendon’s own family. The 27-year-old was also found dead – having shot himself – after he was chased by cops to an industrial estate.
McLendon burned down his mother’s home, killing her, before taking the lives of his grandparents and an uncle and aunt. More on The SUN
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Riverview woman charged in death of Maine man
RIVERVIEW, FL –
A Riverview woman has been charged in the March 5 death of a man who was staying at her residence.
Tamra Suzanne Leasure, 43, of 12920 Shadow Run Blvd., Riverview, was arrested today and charged with the second-degree murder of Arthur R. Tilley Jr., 57, of Dedham, Maine, according to a release by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Leasure shot and killed Tilley, then placed the gun in his hand to make it look like a suicide, the release said.
The pair was arguing in the kitchen when Leasure used a .38-caliber handgun to shoot the victim three times. The victim was shot in the head, neck and body. According to the release she told deputies, “The third shot was not necessary.”
She then called 911 to report a suicide, and put the gun in the victim’s hand. More on Brandon News & Tribune
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Gun Deaths in the United States 