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"We wait in hope for the LORD ; he is our help and our shield."-Psalm 33:20


My Experience at my High School School Shooting

The reason for writing this too was my close experience with a school shooting back in St. Paul. I was at Harding Senior High, my senior year (1 1/2 years before coming to a personal relationship with Christ)- after the school bell rang when I heard shots fired inside. It was in the fall of 1994 (1 of only 5 school shootings in the state before Cold Springs) right before soccer practice. I was in the nurse's office for some region and I heard a "bang". The police/security officer in the same room heard is walkie talkie and ran/jutted out quickly. Being curious as I am, I jutted out too. I smelled the gun powder at the location of the shooting, and security told us to leave the shooting area. The shooting became the talk in the locker room before soccer practice that afternoon. Later, we would find out that soccer practice was to be cancelled after going out in the field at a recreation center 2 blocks from school. The security told our soccer coach that the shooter is still on the loose, so we were told to go home for safety reasons. We went home, and I would later find out it was gang-related and the person that got shot was injured-not life threatening!

Since this shooting, I shake me head when I hear more school shootings. I can somewhat see what it might be like, but I thank God I never had to experience anything like it on what we've heard on t.v.

I want to also make notice of many school shootings in the inner-city that really don't get much media. One reason is because it happens very often. I just wanted to share this after several friends that I went with during UMM, were a little under represented about the stories that are untold of the inner-city

Minnesota School Shootings

{URGENT PRAYER REQUEST!!}
see down below

What? Memorial Service Prayer for VA Tech Shooting
When? Tuesday, April 17th of 2007 @7pm start
Where? UMM Campus Mall

You hear about school shotings everywhere (homes, neighborhoods, schools, gov't offices, restaurants, churches, etc...) in the news. Sometimes, you wonder what you can do about it. I decided to do this website (10.2.03) after last week's unexpected of all places-school shootings in rural town (3,000+ population)Minnesota-Cold Springs, MN.....

Teen's Rampage Leaves 10 Dead in Minn., Monday, March 21st 2005

"Then, in a nearby classroom, he heard the gunman say something to his friend Ryan. "He asked Ryan if he believed in God," Graves said. "And then he shot him."

...see other articles on Red Lake (Indian Reservation)
-ACCUSED TEENAGE GUNMAN WAS AN ADMIRER OF HITLER ON "MORALITY REJECTING" GROUP RUNNING NAZI.ORG, Tues, Mar 22nd 2005 (assistnews.net)
-Jeff Weise, shooter profile

Other Shootings:

  • Minnesota School Shooting Leaves 1 Dead, Thursday, September 25th 2003
  • CNN) -- One student was killed and another injured Wednesday in a shooting at a high school in Cold Spring, Minnesota, officials said.

    Authorities arrested a 15-year-old student in connection with the shootings and recovered a handgun believed to have been used in the crime, according to a statement from the Stearns County Sheriff's Department.

    The wounded students were taken to St. Cloud Hospital, where one later died of a gunshot wound, the statement said.

    Authorities were called to Rocori High School at 11:38 a.m. CT (12:38 p.m. ET). Rocori Area School Superintendent Scott Staska said in a news conference that one shooting occurred in a weight-lifting room and the other in the school's gymnasium.

    A coach managed to talk the suspect into surrendering his gun, Staska said.

    "The coach did a tremendous job," he said.

    Staska said there was nothing about the 15-year-old suspect to suggest he would commit such an act.

    "We had no reason to suspect an incident like this," he said. "(He had) some typical disciplinary issues in the past but nothing to lead us to believe an incident like this would occur."

    Stearns County Sheriff John Sanner said the suspect is being held at the East Stearns County Jail.

    "My understanding is that a statement has been taken from the suspect," the sheriff said at the news conference. "He has been cooperating with us."

    Sanner said the FBI and ATF are helping in the investigation.

    The high school will be closed Thursday as authorities continue their investigation, Staska said, but high school students will be required to attend a two-hour meeting to discuss the incident and begin counseling. That meeting will be held at the middle school.

    Cold Spring is about 66 miles west of Minneapolis.

    Related Sites:Tribute-Rocori-Cold Spring School Shooting, from happy2bmomsplace.com

    Subject: Mary had a little lamb....

    "Think carefully about what you will be reading.

    Mary had a little lamb,
    His fleece was white as snow.
    And everywhere that Mary went,
    The Lamb was sure to go.
    He followed her to school each day,
    T'wasn't even in the rule.
    It made the children laugh and play,
    To have a Lamb at school.
    And then the rules all changed one day,
    Illegal it became;
    To bring the Lamb of God to school,
    Or even speak His Name.! ;
    Every day got worse and worse,
    And days turned into years.
    Instead of hearing children laugh,
    We heard gun shots and tears.
    What must we do to stop the crime,
    That's in our schools today?
    Let's let the Lamb come back to school,
    And teach our kids to pray!

    If you agree, please pass this on.

    It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God.
    Therefore I have a very hard time understanding
    why there is such a mess about having
    "In God We Trust" on our money and having God in
    the Pledge of Allegiance. Why don't we just tell
    the 14% to shut up and sit down????

    Have a blessed day!

    Passion

    "One killed in Minneapolis government center shooting"
    Posted on Tue, Sep. 30, 2003 By PHILLIP PINA, HANNAH ALLAM, TIM NELSON and DAVID HAWLEY
    Saint Paul Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.)
    http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/6893719.htm

    ST. PAUL, Minn. - A government center in Minneapolis became a homicide scene Monday when a woman opened fire with a handgun outside a 17th-floor courtroom.

    While bystanders fled screaming, the shots fatally wounded a Minnetonka woman with whom the suspect - the victim's cousin - had a long-running legal dispute involving the estate of the suspect's St. Paul family. The victim's lawyer also was wounded, but is expected to survive.

    Susan Rae Berkovitz, 52, was held Monday in the Hennepin County jail on suspicion of murder and attempted murder. She was taken into custody following the shootings and offered no resistance, authorities said.

    It was the second time in less than a week that a public place in Minnesota became the scene of a fatal shooting. On Monday, a funeral was held for Aaron Rollins, the 17-year-old victim of a shooting last Wednesday at Rocori High School in Cold Spring that also left a 14-year-old critically wounded.

    6. This woman (obviously a Christian) made the headlines with her heroism and Faith during the shooting at the Hennepin County Governement Center (sent by my local church)

    "Woman's calm amid chaos kept attorney "

    BYLINE: Pam Louwagie
    CREDITLINE: Star Tribune
    HEADLINE: Woman's calm amid chaos kept attorney alive

    Susan Love focused on the blue eyes of the man who lay before her on the floor of the Hennepin County courthouse, almost oblivious to the haze of drawn guns, shouting and deputies swirling around them. She knelt with his head in front of her, her petite hands pressing a navy blue suit jacket so hard against the bleeding wound on his neck that her arm shook. "Jesus, please save this man," she prayed aloud over and over. "Jesus, don't let this man die." What had started as a mundane Monday morning at the Government Center in Minneapolis had turned into bloodshed with a few clicks of a gun on the 17th floor. Susan Berkovitz, upset at her cousin and her cousin's lawyer about the handling of her father's estate, took a gun to court, authorities said. The shots, which killed the cousin and wounded the lawyer, set into motion a flurry of fear and kindness among strangers. Love, a 34-year-old court division supervisor, was sitting in a courtroom waiting for a hearing on restraining orders when she heard the first shot. She dismissed it in her mind, thinking it had to be a piece of furniture falling or something. Seconds later, there were more pops and screaming. Following her supervisor out the courtroom door, she saw the man lying on the carpet in his suit and tie, blood spurting from his neck. "I've been shot," he shouted, naming the suspect. "Call 911." Love looked desperately for something, anything, to stop the bleeding and grabbed a nonabsorbent women's suit coat from a counter a few feet away. She pressed as hard as she could, staring into the stranger's bloodshot eyes. "I've been shot," she recalls him saying. "I know," she answered calmly, her soft face and blond-brown hair hovering inches over him. He had amazing composure, she thought. He told her his name -- Richard Hendrickson -- and recited his seven-digit attorney license number. "Someone needs to comfort my client because she's gonna be really upset by this," he said. Love saw a female deputy out the corner of her eye, gun drawn, shouting, "Get down! Get back! If you come down this hallway I'm gonna shoot!" People everywhere crouched low. Love stayed kneeling in the middle of the floor, focusing on Hendrickson's face. Her heart raced. "I realized that his life could be slipping away in my hands, and that's a very terrifying thing," she said later. She tried to stay calm so she could breathe and talk to him. So she could pray for him. "I feel like my breathing is getting shallow," he said. "You're doing just fine," she answered. "I'm gonna try to stay awake." "Yes," she said. "Stay awake." When he closed his eyes, she startled them open: "Sir! Are you OK?" "Yeah, I'm awake," he said, the words bringing her relief. For what seemed like 10 minutes, she stayed with him, kneeling on the short, hard carpet, blood soaking onto the knee of her khaki pants. Someone offered a gauze pad, but it was too small. A security guard came with a thicker pad of gauze; they quickly switched it with the jacket on the count of three, but still they lost precious blood. Paramedics came soon after and started tending to him. "I'm really bleeding here," he told them. He asked Love to take his glasses off. She heard someone yelling from the women's bathroom: "I've got a victim in here. I've got a victim in here. Get a medical team." The victim was Shelley Joseph-Kordell -- Hendrickson's client -- struggling for her life in the bathroom. She would die in surgery less than two hours later.

    Love worried about Hendrickson for most of the day. Before the shooting, she hadn't known his name. Now she had memorized features on his face and spent some of the most intimate moments a person can with a stranger. "I had him in my hands for that first five to 10 minutes after he was shot. I felt a connection," she said. "I wanted to be able to hug him and shake his hands, and look into his eyes again." Hendrickson's father called her at home Monday night and brought her good news. It appeared that Hendrickson's chances of recovery were good, she said he told her, and he was grateful for her role in that. Some have called her a hero, but Love doesn't see herself that way. She doesn't know what spurred her to act. Maybe it was instinct. Maybe it was the same thing that makes her two nurses sisters react on their jobs. "I feel honored," she said. "I was allowed to be that person to make a difference for him." Tuesday night, she went to see Hendrickson, 53, at Hennepin County Medical Center, where he had improved to satisfactory condition. He couldn't talk but smiled, squeezed her hand and mouthed the words "thank you."


    American Ocupational Therapy Foundation

    This past Sunday at my local church, a young teenager (girl/lady) shared this t-shirt she wore at her local high school...

    "Why does God let things bad happen in school?...Because you have kept me out with no school prayer"


    More Shooting Stories

    -Colorado

    Columbine School Shootings Darrell Scott

    "Two powerful examples of Christian character were born out of the Columbine High School shootings: Courage and Forgiveness. Rachel Scott, a student at the High School, was martyred as she courageously testified of her faith in Christ. In the aftermath, her father continues to model forgiveness and its healing efforts for the broken-hearted"

  • Columbine School Shooting on April 20, 1999, Christianity Today
  • Related Sites:
    -Music Videos:
    Michael W. Smith (This Is Your Time

    *dedicated to Cassie Bernall (victim and martyr of school shooting in Columbine High School in Colorado)
    Columbine High School

    "Columbine High School Shooting. A behind the scenes look at what happened with a survivor of the shootings at Columbine High School. "Heaven Is My Home" host Gary Meyers takes a look at the events of that day from a survivor, Crystal Woodmen Miller"

    -Illinois

  • Seven Dead in N. Illinois Campus Shooting By Caryn Rousseau and Deanna Bellandi Associated Press Writers Fri, Feb. 15 2008 09:44 AM ET (Christian Post)

  • "..Witnesses said the gunman, dressed in black and wearing a stocking cap, emerged from behind a screen on the stage of 200-seat Cole Hall and opened fire just as the class was about to end around 3 p.m.
    Officials said 162 students were registered for the class but it was unknown how many were there Thursday.
    Allyse Jerome, 19, a sophomore from Schaumburg, said the gunman burst through a stage door and pulled out a gun.
    "Honestly, at first everyone thought it was a joke," Jerome said. Everyone hit the floor, she said. Then she got up and ran, but tripped. She said she felt like "an open target."
    "He could've decided to get me," Jerome said Friday. "I thought for sure he was gonna get me."
    The shooter had been a graduate student in sociology at Northern Illinois as recently as spring 2007, but was not currently enrolled at the 25,000-student campus, University President John Peters said."

    -Wisconsin

    Wis. worker kills 5 before being killed, By ROBERT IMRIE, Associated Press Writer 10 minutes ago (@5:09pm on Sunday, October 7th of 2007)
    " CRANDON, Wis. - A local law enforcement employee went on a shooting rampage early Sunday in remote northern Wisconsin, killing at least five people before authorities fatally shot him, officials said.
    A dispatcher for the State Patrol who declined to give his full name as a matter of department practice said the suspect is an employee of the Forest County Sheriff's Department and a part-time officer for the Crandon Police Department.
    Crandon Mayor Gary Bradley said Sunday afternoon that the suspect was dead.
    "He was brought down by a sniper," Bradley said.
    Crandon Police Chief John Dennee, speaking outside the police department about two blocks from the shooting site, would not confirm details but said: "We're not looking for anybody anymore."
    Several State Patrol officers went to Forest County to help investigators, the dispatcher said.
    "It's a pretty tragic situation here," said County Supervisor Tom Vollmar, who lives just outside Crandon, a city of about 2,000 people. "There are five or six people dead."
    The State Patrol and the Crandon Fire Department detoured a steady stream of traffic from two blocks of U.S. Highway 8 in the downtown area. Some residents stood in nearby front yards.
    Marci Franz, 35, who lives two houses south of the duplex where the shooting occurred, said she was awakened by gunshots.
    "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."
    The small community 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."
    The northeast Wisconsin town is about 225 miles north of Milwaukee. The area is known for logging, and fishing, hunting and snowmobiling."

    Wis. deputy flew into rage after rebuff By ROBERT IMRIE, Associated Press Writer 47 minutes ago
    " CRANDON, Wis. - A young sheriff's deputy who opened fire on a pizza party and killed six people reportedly flew into a rage when he was rebuffed by his old girlfriend, and others at the gathering called him a "worthless pig."
    A longtime friend told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Monday that 20-year-old Tyler Peterson came to his door in the hours after the rampage and calmly explained what he had done.
    "He wasn't running around crazy or anything. He was very, very sorry for what he did," Mike Kegley told the newspaper, adding that he gave Peterson coffee and food and later called 911.
    Peterson told Kegley that he had gone to his ex-girlfriend's house early Sunday morning in hopes of patching up the relationship after a recent breakup. But, he said, Peterson lost control when the meeting ended in an argument and other people started ridiculing him as a "worthless pig."
    Kegley declined to comment when reached by The Associated Press.
    Police, who declined to provide details of the argument, said Peterson stormed out, retrieved an AR-15 rifle from his car outside and burst back into the house firing 30 shots that killed all but one of the people at the party.
    "We had no idea, obviously, that anything like this would ever occur," Crandon Police Chief John Dennee said at a news conference Monday.
    Peterson, a deputy and part-time police officer, died after exchanging gunfire with law enforcement officers. Whether Peterson was shot by police or took his own life was unclear.
    The rampage raised questions in the remote northern Wisconsin community of 2,000 about how Peterson could have met requirements to become a law enforcement officer, especially after police acknowledged Monday that Peterson received no psychological screening before he was hired.
    Some questioned the wisdom of hiring someone so young.
    "No person that I've ever known at 20 years old was responsible enough to be a police officer," said Steve Bocek, of Oak Creek, whose nephew Bradley Schultz was killed. "It's unbelievable. You don't have the mind to be a police officer. It takes a lot."
    But Crandon city attorney Lindsay Erickson said age doesn't matter as long as officers do their jobs well. Peterson testified for her in several cases. He wrote good reports and was "true to his job," she said.
    "From what I saw of him, I didn't see any warning signs or red flags," Erickson said.
    Peterson was hired as full-time deputy sheriff on Sept. 11, 2006, at the age of 19, according to personnel records released by the Forest County clerk. His yearlong probation ended last month.
    Dr. Phil Trompetter, a police psychologist in Modesto, Calif., estimated at least 80 percent of states require psychological testing of prospective officers.
    "Wisconsin must be in a very small minority of states," he said.
    The Wisconsin Department of Justice Law Enforcement Standards Board requires only that applicants be free of any emotional or mental condition that might hinder them in their duties. It does not say how that is determined.
    No formal national standards exist for hiring police, although individual states are adopting requirements such as mandatory psychological tests, said Craig Zendzian, author of several guidebooks for police applicants.
    In Minnesota, for example, police officers must be licensed by the state Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training � a process that includes an evaluation by a licensed psychologist.
    At the news conference, which gave the most detailed explanation yet of the shooting, the police chief said Peterson and the young woman had been in a relationship for a few years.
    "They had broken up and gone back and forth," Dennee said.
    After the attack, in phone conversations with the police chief and others, Peterson identified himself as the shooter, authorities said.
    Kegley said his family had tried to coax Peterson into surrendering, but he was shot after getting out of his truck and walking off about 50 yards toward the woods around 2 p.m. Sunday � about nine hours after the shootings at the party.
    "He was just very remorseful about what happened," Kegley told the newspaper.
    The rifle used in the shootings is the type used by the sheriff's department, but investigators had not confirmed whether the gun came from law enforcement.
    The six people killed in the rampage were either students or recent graduates of Crandon High School. They were at the house to share pizza and watch movies during the school's homecoming weekend. Classes were canceled Monday, and many teens went to a church to meet with counselors.
    The other victims were identified as Jordanne Murray, who was believed to be the girlfriend; Katrina McCorkle; Leanna Thomas; Aaron Smith; and Lindsey Stahl. Autopsies were scheduled to be completed Monday, but results were not immediately available.
    Schultz, 20, was a third-year criminal justice major at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who hoped to be a homicide detective. He was home visiting friends and appeared to have died trying to protect one.
    "We still don't have many details, but from what they've told us, there was a girl next to him and he was covering her, protecting her," said an aunt, Sharon Pisarek, as she sobbed. "He was loved by everybody. He was everybody's son. Senseless."
    The lone survivor, Charlie Neitzel, 21, of Pickerel, was upgraded to serious condition and was improving Monday at a hospital.
    Pastor Bill Farr read a statement from Peterson's family in which relatives expressed their shock and sorrow.
    "Our hearts go out to the victims, their families and their friends. We are grieving for your losses. We feel a tremendous amount of guilt and shame for the acts Tyler committed," it said.
    It continued: "We may never receive the answers we all seek. Like those close to Tyler we are in shock and disbelief that he would do such terrible things. This was not the Tyler we knew and loved."
    ___ Associated Press writers Todd Richmond in Madison, Wis., and Amy Forliti in Minneapolis contributed to this story.

    -Virigina

    At least 33 killed in shootings at Virginia Tech This morning's campus rampage is being called the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. The shooter is dead by his own hand, officials say. Details are still coming in. (Monday, April 16th of 2007- The Roanoke Times

    "Watching police from the library's fourth-floor windows, David Russell, a sophomore from Montgomery County, Md., echoed a common sentiment, comparing today's events to last year's manhunt for accused murderer William Morva.

    Not again! I was on my way home when I heard about this unfortunate incident. I thought of the UMM campus right after hearing this. I would later get an invitation to a group praying for the family and friends of the vicitms on Facebook later this evening. I decided to search more on this.

  • Steger: Virginia Tech is 'shocked and indeed horrified' By Todd Jackson and Tonia Moxley, (Roanoke Tims)

  • "At least 33 people were shot and killed this morning at Virginia Tech in the worst rampage of its kind in American history.
    President George Bush, earlier this afternoon, said, "Our nation is shocked and saddened by the news of the shootings at Virginia Tech today."
    Bush said the impact is "felt in every American classroom and every American community."
    "We ask a loving God to comfort those suffering today," he said.
    Tech's president, Charles Steger, called the shootings a "tragedy of monumental proportions."
    "The university is shocked and indeed horrified," he said.
    There were others wounded, and the exact count is not known at this point. Hospitals in the area reported more than a dozen victims in varying conditions and levels of treatment.
    Police said at one point today that they believe one gunman was responsible for the carnage, but said later the two shooting incidents had not been officially related as of yet. Tonight, Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said there's still a "person of interest" in the case. That potential suspect is a male, not a student, and police were interviewing him off campus this morning after the first shooting, which involved the killing of a male and female inside West Ambler Johnston Hall, a dormitory.
    The gunman, not yet identified, later took his own life inside Norris Hall, where most of the victims were shot, said Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum. The gunman is included in the death toll of 33.
    Word of the shootings spread across the country and then internationally in hours, and it was prominently played on most national news Web sites and broadcasts. CNN characterized it as �the worst school shooting incident in U.S. history.�
    The shootings, which started shortly after 7:30 a.m., occurred in two places, Norris and West Ambler Johnston halls."

    Roanoke's Breaking News, Tuesday, April 17th of 2007
    " Authorities identified the deceased shooter in yesterday's Virginia Tech massacre as Cho Seung-Hui, 23, a South Korean native in U.S. as a resident alien. His residency was in Centreville and he was staying at the Harper residence hall on Tech's campus.
    No possible motive was disclosed.
    "The only thing that we know about him is that he was a loner and we are having difficulty finding information" about him, university spokesman Larry Hincker said.
    Authorities said they are not releasing names of the victims until all have been identified."

    S. Korea shocked by U.S. shooting link
    POSTED: 10:57 p.m. EDT, April 17, 2007 (CNN)

    "A South Korean student was also among those injured in the rampage, and Roh instructed diplomats to care for the student and confirm whether any other South Koreans were hurt.
    U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, said he felt "very much sorry and troubled" by the killings.
    "Any such rampant killing of innocent citizens and children is totally not acceptable and I condemn it in the strongest terms possible," he said.
    Despite being technically in a state of war for decades against North Korea, South Korea is a country where citizens are banned from privately owning guns and where no school shootings are known to have occurred.
    However, the country has not been immune from shooting rampages.
    In 2005, a military conscript believed to be angered by taunts from senior officers killed eight fellow soldiers, throwing a grenade into a barracks where his comrades were sleeping and firing a hail of bullets."

    School Shooting at Virginia Tech Leaves 33 Dead Worst mass shooting in American history
    By Mark Ellis, Senior Correspondent and Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

    "Alec Hill, president of InterVarsity, in a statement issued to the media said: "We are stunned and saddened by the reports of today�s shootings at Virginia Tech. InterVarsity has three staff members who work with about 180 students on the Virginia Tech campus. We are thankful that none of them were directly harmed by the shooting. Staff and students are meeting tonight to pray for their campus."
    Hill said InterVarsity students are also planning a campus-wide prayer event on Wednesday at noon.
    Hill added: "Our thoughts and our prayers are with the students of Virginia Tech and their families. Events such as today�s tragic shooting bring students to an abrupt confrontation with their own mortality. InterVarsity staff are trained to help students face life�s issues and find their hope in the promises of Jesus Christ. Our staff members, Wes Barts, Lindsey Jones and Robert Howe, ask for your prayers as they and their students deal with the impact of this tragedy."
    InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA� is an evangelical campus mission serving more than 35,000 students and faculty on more than 560 college and university campuses nationwide.
    Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association issued the following statement following today�s mass shooting at Virginia Tech.
    Graham said: �My heart is heavy with the tragic news of the deadliest school shooting incident in American history and our prayers are with the dozens of victims and their families during this horrible time. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) has offered the resources of our Rapid Response Team, which sends chaplains trained in crisis counseling, to assist the Blacksburg community in the days ahead as we have done in many situations since 9/11 in New York City.
    "Sadly, we have once again been reminded of the evil that people can perpetrate on others; and while many theories will surface in the coming days and weeks about how such a terrible act occurs, I believe what we�ve seen here is ultimately a reflection of the condition of the human heart."
    Graham added: "Having traveled to disaster and war areas around the world, I am often asked why God would allow such acts of destruction or violence upon innocent people; and while I can�t know the whole mind of God I do know two things. First, God created us. Second, God loves us and desires that all would come to Him.
    "My prayer in this time of tragedy is that it will pull us together as a nation and focus our attention on those families who have suffered great loss and turn our eyes to the Prince of all peace, Jesus Christ."
    The BGEA has deployed more than 700 trained chaplains to the Gulf Coast region since August 2005 to assist with post-Katrina counseling and sent chaplains to the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota following a fatal high school shooting in 2005, among other crisis response efforts.
    Before Monday, the deadliest school shootings came in 1966 and 1999.
    In the former, Charles Joseph Whitman, a 25-year-old ex-Marine, killed 13 people on the University of Texas campus. He was killed by police.
    In 1999, 17-year-old Dylan Klebold and 18-year-old Eric Harris -- armed with guns and pipe bombs -- killed 12 students and a teacher before killing themselves at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. "

    Virginia Tech Memorial Video
    in memory of Professor Librescu written by matt tullos

    Holocaust survivor killed at Virginia Tech trying to save students is one of many heroic stories we will hear from this tragedy
    By Michael Ireland Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service (Tue, Apr 17th of 07')
    BLACKSBURG, VIRGINIA (ANS) --" An Israeli lecturer who died in the massacre at a U.S. university saved the lives of several students by blocking the doorway of his classroom from the approaching gunman before he was fatally shot, his son said Tuesday.
    According to Fox News, students of Liviu Librescu, 76, a holocaust survivor who was an engineering science and mathematics lecturer at Virginia Tech for 20 years, sent e-mails to his wife, Marlena, telling of how he blocked the gunman�s way and saved their lives, said the son, Joe....

    ...."Steve Clemons, who graduated from Virginia Tech, wrote to ANS: "I'm a Va Tech grad and just can't believe what has happened, and only live 40 miles from Blacksburg in Salem Va. As a Christian I still have trouble understanding how something like this can happen and am deeply grieved for everyone including the shooter. "
    He adds: "May God bring His peace to everyone who was involved in this shooting. They will all be in my prayers for a long time to come. I just hope we can learn something, anything, from this that will help us prevent this from happening ever again. I read your emails daily and find them very uplifting. But this is a time when we must accept God's will even when we don't understand why."
    Lisa Goddard, a CNN Radio Correspondent, said she saw three workers from the Salvation Army shopping for breakfast food for displaced students in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
    On the Anderson Cooper 360 Blog she writes:"It's 1 a.m. in Blacksburg. The farmland surrounding the school is pitch-black, and dozens of restless people, weary of endless hours of news coverage or hospital vigils are at Wal-Mart.
    "I'm here looking for socks, pj's and food (after living off the hard candy provided by Virginia Tech staff at their impromptu press center). But moving around the 24-hour superstore, I see the stories of the day.
    "Richard White of the Roanoke office is smiling in his Salvation Army uniform but his eyes are turning red. "
    David Kuo, writing on his blog J Walking at www.beliefnet.com/blogs/JWalking/2007/04/tune-out.html, titles his latest piece on the Virginia Tech shootings "Tune Out."
    He writes: "Turn it off today. Turn off CNN and Fox and MSNBC. Don't go surfing for more information. Don't listen to all the people talking. Don't let the media do it for you.
    "There is this temptation with our saturated news to immerse yourself in it because immersion feels like action, immersion feels involvement, immersion feels like empathy. Watching sobbing students and parents and doctors somehow makes us feel closer to this tragedy. But there is also an enormous risk to it as well - that it paralyzes us, absorbs all of our time, and prevents us from doing the things that we need to do to help those we can impact - those who are around us."

    The Victims Their ages ranged from 18 to over 70. They came from nearby states, as well as countries like India and Israel. Remembering those who died during the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech.
    web exclusive Newsweek Updated: 4:23 p.m. CT April 18, 2007

  • VA Tech: The Victims (NY TIMES)
  • Related:

  • Virginia Tech University
  • City of Blacksburg
  • April 16th Memorial Website, from Virginia Tech
  • Shooting suspect caught in Blacksburg William Morva, accused of killing a police officer and a security guard, is captured after a day-and-a-half manhunt that prompts the shutdown and evacuation of Virginia Tech. A hectic day unfolds in a series of updates below. (Aug 21st of 06'-Roanoke Tims)
  • "Va. Tech gunman sent material to NBC

    Va. Tech gunman sent material to NBC
    By MATT APUZZO, AP National Writer Wed Apr 18, 7:53 PM ET (yahoo news)
    BLACKSBURG, Va. - Midway through his murderous rampage, the Virginia Tech gunman went to the post office and mailed NBC a package containing photos and videos of him brandishing guns and delivering a snarling, profanity-laced tirade about rich "brats" and their "hedonistic needs." ADVERTISEMENT
    "You had a hundred billion chances and ways to have avoided today," 23-year-old Cho Seung-Hui says in a harsh monotone. "But you decided to spill my blood. You forced me into a corner and gave me only one option. The decision was yours. Now you have blood on your hands that will never wash off."
    NBC said the package contained a rambling and often-incoherent, 1,800-word video manifesto, plus 43 photos, 11 of them showing him aiming handguns at the camera.
    He repeatedly suggests he was picked on or otherwise hurt.
    "You have vandalized my heart, raped my soul and torched my conscience," he says, apparently reading from his manifesto. "You thought it was one pathetic boy's life you were extinguishing. Thanks to you, I die like Jesus Christ, to inspire generations of the weak and the defenseless people."
    The package arrived at NBC's headquarters in New York two days after Cho killed 32 people and committed suicide in the deadliest one-man shooting rampage in modern U.S. history. It bore a Postal Service time stamp showing that it had been mailed at a Virginia post office at 9:01 a.m. Monday, about an hour and 45 minutes after Cho first opened fire.
    That would help explain one of the biggest mysteries about the massacre: where the gunman was and what he did during that two-hour window between the first burst of gunfire, at a high-rise dorm, and the second fusillade, at a classroom building.
    "Your Mercedes wasn't enough, you brats," says Cho, a South Korean immigrant whose parents work at a dry cleaners in surburban Washington. "Your golden necklaces weren't enough, you snobs. Your trust funds wasn't enough. Your vodka and cognac wasn't enough. All your debaucheries weren't enough. Those weren't enough to fulfill your hedonistic needs. You had everything."
    Some of the pictures show him smiling; others show him frowning and snarling. Some depict him brandishing two weapons at a time, one in each hand. He wears a khaki-colored military-style vest, fingerless gloves, a black T-shirt, a backpack and a backwards, black baseball cap. Another photo shows him swinging a hammer two-fisted. Another shows an angry-looking Cho holding a gun to his temple.
    He refers to "martyrs like Eric and Dylan" � a reference to the teenage killers in the Columbine High massacre.
    The package was sent by overnight delivery but did not arrive at NBC until Wednesday morning. It had apparently been delayed because it had the wrong ZIP code, NBC said.
    An alert postal employee brought the package to NBC's attention after noticing the Blacksburg return address and a name similar to the words reportedly found scrawled in red ink on Cho's arm after the bloodbath, "Ismail Ax," NBC said.
    NBC News President Steve Capus said that the network received the package around noon and notified the FBI. He said the FBI asked NBC to hold off reporting on it so that the bureau could look at it first, and NBC complied, finally breaking the story just before a police announcement of the package at 4:30 p.m.
    Capus said it was clear Cho videotaped himself, because he could be seen leaning in to shut off the camera.
    State Police Spokeswoman Corinne Geller cautioned that, while the package was mailed between the two shootings, police have not inspected the footage and have yet to establish exactly when the images were made."


    Others:

    -CHURCHES

  • Ill. state police: 1 killed in church shooting By JIM SUHR, Associated Press Writer Jim Suhr, Associated Press Writer – 41 mins ago(Sunday, March 8th of 09')

  • "MARYVILLE, Ill. – A gunman walked down the aisle of a church during a Sunday service and killed the pastor, then stabbed himself and slashed two other people as parishioners wrestled him to the ground, authorities said.
    The man walked into the sprawling brick First Baptist Church in Maryville shortly after 8 a.m. and briefly spoke with The Rev. Fred Winters before pulling out a .45-caliber handgun and shooting Winters once in the chest, said Illinois State Police Master Trooper Ralph Timmins...."

    Gunman opens fire during church service, killing pastor By Michael Ireland Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service Sunday, March 8, 2009
    "Police said at the time there were approximately 150 people in the church for the first of three Sunday services. Many coming for the second service arrived to find emergency vehicles directing them away from the church, which reportedly has 1,500 members. Some parked at a nearby senior center where they were consoling one another. Maryville is about 20 miles northeast of St. Louis. Church member Ron Plummer, who had arrived later that morning for the church's second service, told KMOV-TV that he is shocked and cannot believe this has happened. A notice on the church's Web site announced a prayer service this evening at 6 p.m. at Metro Community Church in Edwardsville, Illinois, and asked, "Please continue to pray." CBS says the Illinois shooting is believed to be the nation's first in a church since July,2008 when a 58-year-old man opened fire in a Knoxville, Tennessee, church during a children's play. Two people were killed and six wounded in that shooting at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. In the Tennessee case, Jim Adkisson told police he targeted the church because of its "liberal teachings," according to court papers. Adkisson pleaded guilty last month in a deal that allowed him to avoid the death penalty and will face life in prison without parole, court officials said. Woman Shot Walking into Church In another recent church shooting incident, www.NBCWashington.com says that a woman was shot and killed while walking into a Silver Spring church Sunday morning March 22, according to Montgomery County Police. Investigators believe her estranged husband was the shooter, the website reported. Patricia Ann Simmons Kelly, 52, was walking through the parking lot of the Peoples Community Baptist Church on Norwood Road in Silver Spring, Maryland, when she was approached by her estranged husband, police said. Police said Kevin Kelly, 52, then shot his wife in the chest because he was upset she was starting an independent life without him, according to the NBCWashington.com report. Three off-duty police officers were inside the church at the time of the shooting. They rushed outside after hearing the gunshots. Two of the officers immediately started CPR on the victim. The third apprehended Kelly, police said. The woman was taken to the hospital where she died. Kelly is expected to be charged with multiple offences, including first-degree murder, are pending. Churches should 'Be Prepared' says Security Expert Jeffrey Hawkins, executive director of the Christian Security Network (www.christiansecuritynetwork.org ), a national organization that provides security planning, training and emergency preparedness and response resources for Christian churches, ministries, schools and missionaries, issued the following statement after today's shooting: "The shooting this morning is a tragic situation, but unfortunately, one that has been witnessed many times over the years. This most recent violent incident against a Christian church in a small town in downstate Illinois is another reminder that these incidents are not going to stop and can occur anywhere, at any time. The only recourse that churches have to is to acknowledge that it can happen to them and to be prepared. "In the first two months of 2009 alone, the Christian Security Network has tracked 139 incidents in 31 states against Christian churches, schools and ministries," Hawkins said."
  • ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE ON THE WISCONSIN CHURCH SHOOTINGS: "CHRISTIAN SUICIDE SHOOTER KILLS INNOCENT VICTIMS", Monday, March 21st 2005 (assistnews.net)
  • Wedgwood Baptist Church Shooting on September 15, 1999, Christianity Today
  • -IMMIGRATION CENTER
    Items seized from home of suspected NY gunman AP By JOHN KEKIS, Associated Press Writer John Kekis, Associated Press Writer – 6 mins ago (Friday, April 3rd of 2009)
    " JOHNSON CITY, N.Y. – Authorities have searched the home of the suspected gunman in the New York state immigrant center shooting.
    Police carried out three computer hard drives, a brown canvas rifle case, a briefcase, a small suitcase and several paper bags Friday evening.
    Thirteen people were killed at the American Civic Association center in nearby Binghamton before the gunman apparently committed suicide.
    The suspected gunman carried ID with the name of 42-year-old Jiverly Voong (VUNG'). A law enforcement officer speaking on condition of anonymity said that was believed to be an alias.
    Rep. Maurice Hinchey says the man known as Voong had recently been let go from IBM. The company could not immediately confirm that.
    ___ Associated Press writers Devlin Barrett in Washington and William Kates in Binghamton contributed to this report.

    THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
    BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (AP) — A gunman barricaded the back door of a community center with his car and then opened fire on a room full of immigrants taking a citizenship class Friday, killing 13 people before apparently committing suicide, officials said.
    Investigators said they had yet to establish a motive for the massacre, which was at least the fifth deadly mass shooting in the U.S. in the past month alone.
    The gunman — believed to be a Vietnamese immigrant himself — had recently been let go from IBM, said Rep. Maurice Hinchey, whose congressional district includes Binghamton. But IBM could not immediately confirm that.

    *see GoodnewsEverybody.com LA: Economics, Economy, etc...

    "The attack came just after 10 a.m. at the American Civic Association, an organization that helps immigrants settle in this country. Police Chief Joseph Zikuski said the gunman parked his car against the back door, "making sure nobody could escape," then stormed through the front, shooting two receptionists, apparently without a word.
    The killer then entered a room just off the reception area and fired on a citizenship class.
    "The people were trying to better themselves, trying to become citizens," the police chief said.
    One receptionist was killed, while the other, who was shot in the abdomen, pretended to be dead, then crawled under a desk and called 911, he said. Police said they arrived within two minutes. The rest of those killed were shot in the classroom. Four people were critically wounded.
    The man believed to have carried out the attack was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in an office, a satchel containing ammunition slung around his neck, authorities said. Police found two handguns — a 9 mm and a .45-caliber — as well as a hunting knife, authorities said.
    Thirty-seven people in all were rescued from the building, included 26 who hid in the boiler room in the basement, cowering there for three hours while police methodically searched the building and tried to determine whether the gunman was still alive and whether he was holding any hostages, Zikuski said. Those in the basement stayed in contact with police by cell phone, switching from one phone to another when their batteries ran out, Zikuski said. Others hid in closets and under desks.
    At one point, police led a number of men out of the building in plastic handcuffs while they tried to sort out the victims from the killer or killers.
    Most of the people brought out couldn't speak English, the chief said.
    Alex Galkin, an immigrant from Uzbekistan, said he was taking English classes when he heard a shot and quickly went to the basement with about 20 other people.
    "It was just panic," Galkin said.
    Zhanar Tokhtabayeva, a 30-year-old from Kazakhstan, said she was in an English class when she heard a shot and her teacher screamed for everyone to go to the storage room.
    "I heard the shots, every shot. I heard no screams, just silence, shooting," she said. "I heard shooting, very long time, and I was thinking, when will this stop? I was thinking that my life was finished."
    Gov. David Paterson said the massacre was probably "the worst tragedy and senseless crime in the history of this city." Noting mass killings in Alabama and Oakland, Calif., last month, he said: "When are we going to be able to curb the kind of violence that is so fraught and so rapid that we can't even keep track of the incidents?"
    The community center was holding class "for those who want to become citizens of the United States of America, who wanted to be part of the American Dream, and so tragically may have had that hope thwarted today," the governor said. "But there still is an American dream, and all of us who are Americans will try to heal this very, very deep wound in the city of Binghamton."
    The suspected gunman carried ID with the name of 42-year-old Jiverly Voong of nearby Johnson City, N.Y., but that was believed to be an alias, said a law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
    The police chief would not confirm the name of the dead man with the ammunition satchel, saying authorities were still trying to establish with certainty that he was the gunman.
    "We have no idea what the motive is," Zikuski said. He said the suspected gunman "was no stranger" to the community center, and may have gone there to take a class.
    A woman who answered the phone at a listing for Henry D. Voong said she was Jiverly Voong's sister but would not give her name. She said her brother had been in the country for 28 years and had citizenship.
    "The police just called me and said he got shot," she said. Asked if she was aware that he might have been involved in the shooting, she said: "How? He didn't have a gun. I think somebody involved, not him. I think he got shot by somebody else."
    "I think there's a misunderstanding over here because I want to know, too," she said.
    Waiting outside a Catholic Charities office where counselors were tending to relatives of victims, Omri Yigal said his wife, Delores, was taking English lessons when the gunman attacked. He had no word on what happened to her.
    "At this point, I know the scale of what happened, but I just hope Delores is OK," the Filipino immigrant said. "I haven't got any information. ... The only thing I have right now is hope."
    The American Civic Association helps immigrants in the Binghamton area with citizenship, resettlement and family reunification. The shootings took place in a neighborhood of homes and small businesses in downtown Binghamton, a city of about 47,000 situated 140 miles northwest of New York City.
    The Binghamton area was the home to Endicott-Johnson shoe company and the birthplace of IBM, which between them employed tens of thousands of workers before the shoe company closed a decade ago and IBM downsized in recent years.
    A string of attacks in the U.S. in the last month left 44 people dead in all.
    A gunman killed 10 people and himself in Samson, Ala.; a traffic stop shootout in Oakland, Calif., left four police officers and the gunman dead; an apparent murder-suicide in Santa Clara, Calif., left six dead; and a gunman went on a rampage at a nursing home Sunday, killing seven elderly residents and a nurse who cared for them. ___
    Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers George M. Walsh and Chris Carola in Albany; Kimberly Hefling and Devlin Barrett in Washington; Michael Hill in Binghamton; and John Wawrow in Buffalo, N.Y."

    -LAW ENFORCEMENT

  • Police shooting suspect may have been white supremacist , By KC Wildmoon CNN (Thursday, April 9th of 2009)

  • " (CNN) -- "Braced for Fate" believes that Jews control American media, financial institutions and government and that federal authorities plan to confiscate guns owned lawfully by American citizens.
    Those chilling beliefs are revealed in posts on a white supremacist Web site that the Anti-Defamation League says were made by Richard Poplawski, the man who allegedly ambushed and killed three Pittsburgh police officers last week.
    The organization, which tracks anti-Semitic activity, says Poplawski posted on the Web site first under the username "Rich P" and more recently under the ominous username "Braced for Fate."
    In one post, "Braced for Fate" describes the eagle tattoo he sports in a photograph taken from Poplawski's MySpace page before the page was taken down, calling it a "deliberately Americanized version of the [Nazi] Iron Eagle."
    The Anti-Defamation League says that other posts match up -- "Braced for Fate's" comments about Wellington, Florida, where Poplawski lived a few years ago, some names and some common links.
    "Braced for Fate" is not shy about his beliefs.
    "ZOG (Zionist-occupied government) is," he wrote in a lengthy post on March 13. "One can read the list of significant persons in government and in major corporations and see who is pulling the strings. One can observe the policies and final products and should walk away with little doubt there is Zionist occupation and -- after some further research & critical thinking -- will discover their insidious intentions...."

    -MILITARY BASE
  • Fort Hood suspect's religion was an issue, family says November 6, 2009 9:55 p.m. EST cnn.com


  • "Hasan's cousin said that despite the concerns over discrimination, a motive behind the shootings still was incomprehensible. "If he had killed one or two, I could say that he was defending himself. I could say that there could have been a problem between two sides which led to the use of weapons. But for one to kill 13 people and injure more than 30, I personally don't think that it was because someone was bothering him. There is a bigger reason that this happened and no ones knows it besides Nidal."..
  • Fort Hood Shooter Information Not Adding Up Corruption American Style November 6, 2009 infowars.com

  • "...This is starting to have the earmarks and anatomy of a disinformation psy ops story.
    For instance, the media reported that Hasan was promoted to Major in May of this year. And yet, stories coming from what is passing as his family, the FBI and co-workers state that Hasan had wanted out of the military given the government’s stand on Afghanistan and Muslims. Indeed, his Aunt "Noel Hasan" (who is interestingly enough identified herself as a Bank President) and his cousin both gave statements to the media which provided that Hasan wanted out of the military and had been harassed since 9-11 about his Muslim faith. Co-workers and the authorities have also stated that Hasan had an Internet presence and a Facebook account, and the FBI has him under survailance for the past 6 months for radical anti-American and pro-Muslim writings on his online accounts.
    Now, why on earth would the military promote a man who was unhappy, had objected to being in the military, had not wanted to deploy to anywhere outside of the U.S., and who had allegedly made himself a security threat with online radical comments? The answer is they would never promote such an individual, and someone who badly wants out of the military (to the point of offering to pay back medical school costs to the U.S. military, according to Hasan’s Banker aunt). Not only that, if Hasan was truly radical and wanted out he would have never put in for a promotion to Major. But the fact remains he was promoted to Major this year. Try to reconcile those conflicting testimonies and facts. ...
    The media had originally reported that witnesses had seen between 3 and 5 gunmen. Then that number went to 3, with Hasan being wounded and taken in to custody, and two other suspects allegedly being taken into custody and later released after being “cleared” and jumping into a Crown Victoria with US Government license plates on it (and men in suits inside). Now we are even being told that Hasan was yelling "Allahu Akbar" or (Allah is good) while he was gunning down victims. Hours ago witnesses remarked how methodical and stoic the accused gunman was.
    On top of this, several outlets were reporting that Hasan was an expert or marksman shooter with a pistol in the army, and had spent numerous hours honing his shooting skills. Then, that rumor was undercut by the following statement to Fox News:
    "The shooter’s cousin, Nader Hasan, told Fox News that their family is in shock.
    "We are trying to make sense of all this," Nader Hasan said. “He wasn’t even someone who enjoyed going to the firing range."..
    Confused yet? It is only going to get worse. And one thing is for sure, Hasan will be the lone gunman, the other’s idenitified by eyewitnesses as shooters as well will be ignored and forgotten by the military and the media. And Hasan will be portrayed as a radical unstable Muslim idealist who somehow passed screening into the Army, into Army medical school and psychiatry residency, and the lone gunman here.
    And since Hasan has no immediate family and is single, with two so-called family members who appear to have all the media savvy of a PR man from the Rendon Group, he is the perfect patsy.
    I hate to say it, but this tragedy stinks to high heavens and reaks of clandestine intelligence operations. Only time will tell, but the government media complex will continue to lie about this for as long as they can get away with it. And against this backdrop, the website Chicago.com is blasting President Obama for his Frightening Insinsesativity following the shootings.
    We are truly living in a bizarre and corrupt time.

  • Fort Hood victims: Sons, a daughter, mother-to-be, November 7, 2009 11:11 p.m. EST .cnn.com

  • "Fort Hood, Texas (CNN) -- Thirteen people died after a shooting spree Thursday at Fort Hood, a sprawling Army post in Texas.
    Here's a look at the victims whose names and personal data have been released by the military:..


    *see GoodnewsUSA.info: Texas Outreach
    -MINISTRY CENTER
  • Gunman kills 2 in missionary center, By GEORGE MERRITT, Associated Press Writer 32 minutes ago (12/9/07) @1:37pm

  • YWAM Training Center shooting has two Minnesotans among the victims leaves 2 dead, 2 injured; 5 left dead at New Life Church by Erin Roach � BP news (Minnesota Christian Chronicle)
    "Authorities say two of the victims in the YWAM shooting were from Minnesota. Tiffany Johnson was from Chisholm and Charles Blanch is from Burnsville.
    Al Meredith, pastor of Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, where a gunman walked into the church and killed seven people eight years ago, told Baptist Press his first thought upon hearing the news in Colorado was, "Here we go again."
    "It just seems as though violence has become pandemic in our society. Last week it was a shopping mall in Omaha," Meredith said. "This week it's two churches in Colorado. Last spring it was an academic hall at Virginia Tech. Our society is becoming more and more dangerous for people in places that we used to think were relatively safe, and of course they're not."
    Stephanie Works, 18, and Rachael Works, 16, were killed by a gunman Sunday morning, Dec. 9, at New Life. Their father, David Works, 51, suffered two gunshot wounds to the stomach and groin and is listed in fair condition, Brady Boyd, pastor of the church founded by Ted Haggard, said Dec. 10.
    "You can imagine as parents losing two children while coming to church," Boyd said. "I'm asking Colorado Springs and the country, please pray for that family because they're going through a hard time."
    At a Youth With a Mission dormitory in Arvada around 12:30 a.m., a man in his 20s had been inside for about 30 minutes, talking with youth who were training to be missionaries, and he asked to spend the night in the building.
    When Johnson, 26, the facility's hospitality coordinator, told the man she could not allow an unauthorized person to sleep there, he pulled out a handgun and shot her and another staff member, 24-year-old Philip Crouse, killing them both, according to The Gazette newspaper in Colorado Springs.
    YWAM's other victims were Dan Griebenow, 24, was shot and is in critical condition, and Blanch, 22, also was shot and is in stable condition.
    About 30 minutes after the 11 a.m. service had let out at New Life and about 7,000 people were leaving, a gunman fired into the crowd with a rifle, starting with a van in the parking lot and then moving into the church's vestibule, The Gazette said. Church officials had increased security on campus once they heard of the YWAM shooting, and a plainclothes female security guard shot and killed the gunman.
    "There was a courageous staff member who probably saved many lives here today," Colorado Springs Police Chief Richard Myers said.
    Police spent hours searching the campus as church members sought refuge in a basement according to a preset plan for violence that staff members had implemented. It was not known at the time whether there was an additional shooter.
    Along with the Works family, Judy Purcell, 40, suffered a gunshot wound to the right shoulder at New Life and Larry Bourbannais, 59, was wounded on the left forearm. Both were treated at the hospital and released, The Gazette said.
    Meredith, Wedgwood's pastor, told BP he led his congregation in prayer for New Life and Youth With a Mission Sunday evening.
    "We just prayed for them as people prayed for us, that God would give grace to the survivors to hang on, that God would bring healing to those who were wounded and grace to the doctors who were operating on people in critical condition, and that somehow the Lord's name would be honored in all of this," Meredith said.
    Having been in a similar situation, Meredith had some advice for how people in the local community and around the nation might respond to the tragedies.
    "Resist the urge to have words of wisdom to make sense out of it all. That's one thing, because platitudes do more harm than good," he said. "Just pray for them and encourage them and write a letter or note or an e-mail or something, some kind of response just to tell them you're praying for them.
    "When the tragedy happened to us eight years ago, we got over 20,000 cards and letters and 13,000 e-mails. What we did for a month afterwards, we wallpapered our hallways with these cards and letters. When we walked in, we felt the presence and the prayers of the body of Christ around the world," Meredith said.
    With a desire to prevent such calamity in the future, Wedgwood members have thought about what they would do in case of various emergencies.
    "We've got evacuation plans and lockdown plans, especially for the children, so that if there's a threat of fire or tornado or a gunman, we lock off certain sections of the church," Meredith said. "But we don't have armed security guards in the area, though we ask our police officers to wear their uniforms when they come to church just as a visible presence to deter that kind of thing."
    Jimell Badry, a church administrator and music minister at First Baptist Church in Black Forest, about eight miles from New Life Church, told Baptist Press he received news of the shootings around 1:30 Sunday afternoon and began making plans to protect his congregation during the evening service.
    "We didn't have much information and not even that the perpetrator was caught or had been killed," Badry said. "There was a rumor of an accomplice, so I immediately called our chairman of deacons and had him call the deacons he could get ahold of to make sure they were going to be here last night."
    The city of Colorado Springs had asked that all churches in the area having services Sunday evening observe a lockdown procedure, Badry said. First Baptist, with about 500 people attending each week, was expecting a large crowd that night for the church's Christmas program.
    Badry said the church posted men in the parking lot and at least two men stood at each entrance, letting people in one by one or family by family. The church had sent an e-mail to church members earlier in the day, assuring them that every precaution would be taken to protect them that evening.
    "Everybody seems to be on the alert, and churches are so vulnerable. We were on the alert in every way, but we figured that we cannot let people determine whether we're going to have church or not � within reason," Badry said. "It's the kind of world we live in. We just have to be more on the alert and at the same time not allow people of that mindset to control what we do as Christians."
    First Baptist prayed for New Life after the Christmas program, and Badry said the church has made known to New Life that they're available to help in any way. Several members of First Baptist have close friends at New Life, Badry said.
    Meredith said the shootings should remind believers of their primary duties.
    "I'd like to encourage the body of Christ ... to take every opportunity to lift up Jesus because it's the only hope we've got," he said."

    *see Colorado
    -NURSING Home
  • Dramatic 911 calls in nursing home attack Wednesday, April 01, 2009 | 4:45 PM abclocal.go.com

  • " ...McKenzie also said Stewart may have gone to the Pinelake Health and Rehabilitation to look for his estranged wife Wanda Luck. The pair have been separated for about three weeks, and Luck is a certified nurse assistant who worked at the nursing home. Family members told Eyewitness News that the woman was at the facility, and that she was able to barricade herself in a room when Stewart arrived. Police have not confirmed that.
    Moore County District Attorney Maureen Krueger refused to speculate about the possible motive at Monday afternoon's news conference. She told reporters only that it was not a random act of violence and that there is only one suspect who is in custody.

    McKenzie told reporters that the Carthage community is relying on its faith to get through a difficult time. A series of public forums are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursdays throughout the month of April in Carthage for residents and nursing home survivors who want counseling and more information about how to cope with the tragedy.
    The Chief also praised Officer Garner going into the nursing home to confront Stewart and for shooting him in a hallway.
    "If that's not heroism, I don't know what is," he said.
    Stewart's ex talks
    While Stewart's estranged wife is not commenting on what happened, ex-wife Sue Griffin spoke to Eyewitness News.
    Griffin and Stewart divorced in 2001 after 15 years of marriage. She said she was stunned by the news of the shooting.
    "I couldn't believe it, then, I stopped thought about it, and thought it is possible. It's possible," she said.
    Griffin said during her marriage to Stewart, she saw heavy drinking and reclusive behavior.
    "He did have some violent tendencies from time to time," she recalled.
    The Shooting
    It was around 10 a.m. Sunday when gunfire rang out at the Pinelake Health and Rehabilitation Center in Carthage. The little town is about 60 miles southwest of Raleigh. When it was over, eight were dead and three wounded....
    A crisis intervention team was set up at the Carthage Baptist Church for family of the dead to help them deal with the tragedy....
    Stewart
    Stewart does not have an extensive criminal background. His only arrest is a DWI in 1988. Public records show he owns a painting business in Carthage called RKS. Painting. He does not have a concealed weapons permit, but he does have hunting permits. Associated Press photos taken at the scene showed officers picking up a hunting rifle.

    Sue Griffin said Stewart had been recently reaching out to family members, telling them he had cancer and was preparing for a long trip and to "go away."
    (Copyright ©2009 ABC11-WTVD-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved - The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

    -Shopping Malls
    NEBRASKA

  • Nine dead in Nebraska mall shooting, Wed Dec 5, 2007 6:57pm EST (Reuters)

  • "OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) - A gunman opened fire inside a crowded shopping mall in Omaha, Nebraska, on Wednesday, killing eight people and then himself, police said.
    Five people were wounded in the rampage at the Westroads Mall, two of them critically, according to hospital spokesmen. One man with a chest wound was in surgery...."

    Nebraska Mall Shooting

    ""The note left behind by a 19-year-old man today said, "I'm going out in style." In our third story tonight, those words, according to police in Omaha... coming from the suicide note of a man who went on a shooting spree at an Omaha shopping mall... killing eight people, wounding five more-- all, apparently, at random... before turning his weapon on himself. "I'm going out... in style." The note reportedly found at his home... after it was all over. Police are only in the beginning stages at this hour of piecing together the story behind those sad, strange, horrific words... and we have yet to learn much about those whose lives he ended. Information tonight, still streaming out of local hospitals, law enforcement, and media reports... the Associated Press quoting an unnamed official identifying the shooter as Robert A. Hawkins." - The News Hole"

    -MISCELLANEOUS

  • 6 Dead, 2 Wounded In Wash. State Shooting Spree, Sep 2, 2008 9:46 pm US/Central (WCCO)

  • "ALGER, Wash. (CBS News) ― The Washington State Patrol says six people are dead and two are wounded after a shooting rampage.
    Authorities say a suspect turned himself in after the shootings Tuesday afternoon. A sheriff's deputy is among the dead.
    Trooper Keith Leary says the dead were found at multiple scenes. He says that the deputy was shot while responding to a call and that another person was killed there.
    The sheriff's deputy was responding to a disturbance call around 2:20 p.m., reports CBS affiliate KIRO-TV in Seattle. When the sheriff's deputy arrived, one person was already dead in the home, said Washington State Patrol Trooper Keith Leary. Some time went by before the police station called the officer to do a status check. When they received no answer, police responded to the sheriff's deputy and found him fatally shot in the head, Skagit County police said.
    Leary says two construction workers found dead nearby.
    A fourth fatality was found at another home in the same area, Leary said.
    At some point a customer at a Shell gas station in Alger was also shot in the arm. A clerk at the gas station told KIRO that she was in the cooler when she heard commotion outside the station. The clerk said a man was firing his gun and hit a customer.
    A high-speed pursuit ensued southbound on Interstate 5 near Mount Vernon shortly after 4 p.m. Tuesday. Around mile marker 238, a motorist who was pulled over on the shoulder was also shot and killed, Leary said.
    In the same area, a Washington State Patrol trooper was shot in the arm. The trooper was taken to Sedro-Woolley Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
    The pursuit ended when the suspect drove to Mount Vernon precinct of the Skagit County Sheriff's Office and surrendered, Leary said. A bullet hole was found in the passenger side window of the suspect's truck, reported KIRO.
    Police said the suspect is known for having mental health issues and that he is on a Mount Vernon watch list. Police said they believe the suspect is responsible for all eight shootings.
    (� 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)"

    Increase of Beheadings

  • Man Beheads, 5, video CNN.com (Monday, March 30th of 2009)

  • Boston man beheads sister, shot dead by police Posted: March 30, 2009, 1:14 PM by Shane Dingman nationalpost.com
    "Five Boston cops are receiving counseling for stress and trauma after stumbling into a stabbing rampage in which 23-year-old Kerby Revelus killed two of his sisters and seriously wounded a third.
    The Boston Globe, doing bang-up work covering the story, writes:
    After receiving a report of a domestic disturbance at the Revelus home, officers arrived at the house in less than a minute, Wells said. They kicked in an upstairs door, only to watch Revelus, armed with a kitchen knife, grab his 5-year-old sister, Bianca, and sever her head. Then he moved to the bedroom and turned the knife on 9-year-old Saraphina and began stabbing her. A third sister, 17-year-old Samantha, already had been stabbed to death in the same room.
    Police shot Revelus dead and one of the officers rushed Saraphina out of the house, bloody and crying for her mother, but alive.
    They also spoke to a neighbour about the man's behaviour prior to the killings:
    Neighbor Abdul Kamara said that some mornings, Revelus would stroll down Belvoir Street as people headed to work, talking nonsensically and taking swigs from a bottle in a brown bag. Sometimes he would talk cryptically about God's purpose for him, Kamara said, and other times he acted edgy and hostile.
    The parents' identity has not been released but the mother reportedly is a nurse at a Boston hospital. From SkyNews:
    'In policing, we see the raw human emotion every day, but to think that a human being could afflict such an atrocious, violent act on his own family is unbelievable,' Milton police Chief Richard G Wells Jr said.
    'When I walked up to the first officer [on the scene], I could see the whole story right in his face. This just told me that this was something very bad.'
    Saturday's attack came about 24 hours after Revelus had gotten into a fist fight with a man living next door, Wells said.
    More from SkyNews on the story here.
    The horrific details are still emerging, we'll update this story when we have more."

    Recommended Sites:

    Local-GoodnewsMorris

    State-GoodnewsMinnesota

    What can we do?

  • River of Life AG Church-Cold Springs, learn from past shootings (Columbine student shares at this church a week later after shooting)
  • God's Message in the Language of Events, Christianity Today article
  • School Violence: Can You Keep Your Kids Safe? (for parents), Christianity Today Article (sept/oct 1998)
  • Nation-GoodnewsUSA.Info

    Articles

  • Ananova: Shooting victim's mother leads anti-gun rally
  • Books:

  • Deadly Lessons: Understanding Lethal School Violence , Nat'l Academics Press
  • Mothers-Dedication

  • Mothers Agains Violence in America
  • Mothers Against Teen Violence
  • Miscellaneous

  • School Shooting-Wikipedia

  • "Most of the school shootings that have occurred have ended up with the perpetrators killing themselves. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold gained infamy for killing 13 people at Columbine High School and then themselves. The shooting led to widespread panic across America; schools were fitted with metal detectors, guards were allowed to search students and their belongings and those deemed a threat were sent to psychologists, psychiatrists and counsellors. This had led to controversy and anger from both students and parents. Michael Moore, who directed the documentary Bowling for Columbine stated explicitly in his film that these measures were redundant and did nothing to help students, teachers and parents. In his documentary, Michael Moore also implied that school shootings are an American problem despite the fact that school shooting have occurred in many countries around the world. According to author John Lott, the United States has fewer school shooting related deaths per student than many European countries. Still, the vast majority of school shootings have occurred in the United States....

    Definition
    "...School shootings are typically differentiated from other kinds of school violence. Mass killings at schools like the Beslan school hostage crisis are usually described as acts of terrorism. In 1970, student protests and unrest at Kent State and Jackson State universities lead to fatal shootings by National Guardsmen and police.
    In the United States, one-on-one public school violence, such as beatings and stabbings, or violence related to gang activity, is more common in some densely populated areas which tend to be impoverished sections of cities. Ghettos are commonly associated with school shootings; inner city or urban schools were much more likely than other schools to report serious violent crimes with 17 percent of city principals reporting at least one serious crime compared to 11 percent of urban schools, 10 percent of rural schools, and five percent of suburban town schools in the 1997 school year.[3] Student-perpetrated school shootings in North America most often occur in overwhelmingly white, middle class non-urban areas.[citation needed] In some cases, the victims of the shootings are involved in bullying or other acts of violence and intimidation towards the perpetrators.
    The chilling effect is that the perpetrator feels it is justifiable to kill, maim or wound others as a response to perceived intimidation, exclusion from social groups, or physical and/or psychological bullying. The perpetrator feels frustration, not being able to express him/herself in ways that would release stress, such as telling their problems to friends. Isolation seems to be the most common factor affecting school shooters, but since Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, both perpetrators of the Columbine high school massacre, had at the same instant killed over a dozen people, psychologists had lead to re-thinking how a school shooter thought..."

    Movies

    Minority Report Trailer 2

    Minority Report (film) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    "..is a 2002 science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg and loosely based on the short story "The Minority Report" by Philip K. Dick. It is set primarily in Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia in the year 2054, where "Precrime", a specialized police department, apprehends criminals based on foreknowledge provided by three psychics called "precogs"..
    *see Eugenics on GoodnewsEverybody.com Science: Biology, Animals, Biological Warfare, etc...

    Music

    -Hip Hop
    Hidden Rage Music Video: School Violence - Youth

    "Hidden Rage (the movie), Based on the upcoming motion picture (July 08). www.HiddenRage.com Music Written & Performed by Prodigal Son, HOLY-Wood Records. LLC. Featuring; Tempo. Directed by: The God of Moses, co-produced & directed by: Norton Rodriguez. Screenplay by: Robert Kramer. co-written by Alejandro Leyva and Gisele Requena, associate producers: Roberto Escobar, Mario Ortiz and Florida State Representative Julio Robaina. Special Thanks to: Fort Lauderdale Christian School for allowing us to film the music video at their High School and providing us with awesome students."
    -Pop
    Michael Jackson - Beat It

    'Live performance of Beat It by Michael Jackson"
    -Videos

  • Youth of A Nation, from P.O.D. (youtube.com)


  • Prayer

  • A ministry has answers to recent U.S. violence Posted: 13 March, 2009 (Mission Network News)

  • "USA (MNN) ― In the United States, a man with a grudge kills 10 in Alabama. A gunman kills a pastor in church, then turns the knife on himself. Those are just two of the headlines causing people in the U.S. to wonder, "Why is this violence happening?"
    Some believe violence is growing because there's less Christian influence in the country.
    That assumption is backed by the release of a survey by the Program on Public Values at Trinity College indicating that the United States is becoming more secular. The survey indicates that the number of Americans claiming no religion is now 15 percent--the highest percentage ever.
    The number of people claiming to be Christian is now 76 percent, down from previous statistics.
    President of HCJB Global Wayne Pederson says, "It does make some of us look and scratch our heads and say, 'Maybe the loss of spiritual value is resulting in some of this violence and some of the unexplainable crime and hatred and lack of forgiveness and retribution displayed in some of these horrendous crimes."
    Pederson suggests that this type of violence, coupled with economic uncertainty caused by corrupt business practices, may actually help the church. "If you look back and see where the church has grown most effectively, it's been in circumstances in working in a very difficult culture. Hopefully in this time of difficulty and violence we can see the rebirth of true personal faith."
    The evangelical church has become self-centered and myopic, says Pederson. That's why HCJB Global has started the Me and My Household campaign. "We are encouraging Christians to pray for their households and for their extended family. We're also asking them to move beyond the walls into their neighborhoods and pray for their neighbors around them."
    HCJB Global is also encouraging you to be a doer of the Word and consider how to reach your neighbors for Christ. Pederson says a contest may provide motivation. "There's a contest where you can say, 'This is what we're doing to reach people here in our neighborhood.' And we're giving some cash prizes to people who have good ideas about how to reach households in their neighborhoods."
    According to Pederson, the answer to violent crime is Christ alone. "If we can get people to understand they need to seek God's forgiveness and then reach out and forgive others, I think that would be the solution to a lot of what we're seeing in some of the mass murders and the horrendous crimes."
    You can still join the Me and My Household Movement. Click here.
    HCJB Global"

    Reflections:

    The Day They Kicked God out of the Schools

    "This feature is from an unknown author and has been circulated on the Internet. The parallels of the state of our nation and the purposeful removal of God from public life is so powerful."
    The TRUTH About BULLIES

    "Author Paul Coughlin talks with Kristi Watts as well as bully victim Nicole Martin and her father about what to do when your child is terrorized at school. Paul Coughlin hosts a radio talk show in southern Oregon and is the author of "No More Christian Nice Guy". Paul has been interviewed by C-SPAN, the New York Times, and numerous radio and television stations across the country. His articles have appeared in many publications, including New Man, Faithworks, and Ministries Today. He has also been editor of a weekly newspaper and a radio station program director. A former Christian Nice Guy, Paul is a happily married father of three. The Coughlin family lives in Medford, Oregon. Visit www.ChristianNiceGuy.com to learn more. Sandy Coughlin works from home as a billing specialist. She is active in her community and her children's schools. She and her husband, Paul, have been married fifteen years and have three school-age children. His website is: www.PaulCoughlin.net To find out more about bullying, please go to this website - it's GREAT information! http://TKDTutor.com/07Defense/Bullies... and... Bullying Statistics: www.Highlands.k12.fl.us/~msdp/BullyingSt atsResources.htm IF YOU NEED HELP, PLEASE GO TO THESE WEBSITES: 1) www.SomersetCountyCrimeStoppers.org/kids _bullying02.aspx 2) www.BullyingIns#@$!ute.org/bbstudies/wand a.html Bullying Statistics: www.Highlands.k12.fl.us/~msdp/BullyingSt atsResources.htm Read Jared's story: www.JaredStory.com Sonja Yearsley is Jareds sister. She has a YouTube account. If you want to talk to her, her channel is: www.youtube.com/profile?user=sonjamy Many adolescents face being potential victims of violence in their communities, schools and homes on a daily basis. For some young people, those external threats create a hopelessness and depression that can lead to suicidal thoughts or actions. The spike in teen suicides in the United States is staggering. In 1950 the rate of suicide for 15-19 year-olds was 2.7 per 100,000. Two generations later, in 1990, the rate had increased to 11:1; a jump of more than 300 percent. Current statistics suggest that a young person in America attempts to take his or her life every 42 seconds. Though few would argue that bullying alone is to blame, the current literature includes many references to students being driven to suicide by peer abuse. In 2003, the journal Adolescence published a study on bullying and victimization which describes how "exposure to repeated insults and rejection by peers can generate deadly results such as suicide or homicide." Clearly, ongoing victimization can create or exacerbate adolescent depression and low self-esteem, perhaps raising the risk of a suicide attempt. Bullying is not isolated only in schools. It happens in work, in church, and in other arenas in life."
    What is Driving Kids to Commit Violence?

    "What is behind the recent outbreak of school shootings? Many of the young gunmen professed to be atheists, but is there more to this disturbing trend? Fox News contributor Father Jonathan Morris discusses what might be behind school violence in this interview."

    VIDEOS:

    *"Whateever It Takes-She Said Yes", to Cassie Bernall by her friends (Columbine Story)
    *"Untold Stories of Columbine Rachel Scott (Columbine Story)

    *You can find these at the Morris' Family Bookstore

    Global-Multicultural

    Military

  • U.S. soldier charged with murder in Iraq shooting deaths , CNN (Tuesday, May 12th of 2009)

  • "BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. soldier who authorities say killed five fellow troops -- including a Navy commander -- at a stress clinic in Iraq on Monday apparently used a weapon he wrested away from another soldier, a Defense official said....
    A 44-year-old communications specialist from Sherman, Texas, Russell is serving his third tour in Iraq and has previously deployed to Bosnia and Kosovo, according to his service record.
    His father, Wilburn Russell, also of Sherman, said Russell had e-mailed his wife saying he believed unidentified officers were trying to run him out of the military.
    "As far as he was concerned, the military was the most wonderful thing that ever happened to him," Wilburn Russell said. "Evidently, he felt they turned against him and life was over. He didn't care any more, I guess.
    "He broke. He just couldn't handle it."
    Russell had recently been referred to counseling by his commander because of unspecified words and actions, Perkins said. The commander also ordered that the sergeant's weapon be taken away.
    Among those killed in the shooting was Navy Cmdr. Charles Springle, 52, of Wilmington, North Carolina. Springle was part of the 55th Medical Company, stationed at Camp Liberty.
    The military had not released the names of the other victims Tuesday afternoon, pending notification of their families.
    A senior Defense official told CNN that when Russell was leaving the clinic Monday, he "became hostile and an altercation broke out."
    He was then escorted back to his quarters by another soldier, said the official, who has read the most recent summary of the investigation in Baghdad.
    A couple of hours later, Russell seized a weapon from a fellow soldier, "commandeered" a vehicle and drove back to the clinic, the Defense official said. A soldier from Russell's quarters called military police, but they weren't able to stop him in time....

    Schools

  • Finland faces its demons a day after school shooting 1 day ago (Thursday, September 25th of 2008) afp.google.com

  • "1 day ago
    KAUHAJOKI, Finland (AFP) � Finland vowed Wednesday to toughen gun laws after a school massacre left 11 people dead, while the police faced scathing criticism for questioning the killer over a chilling YouTube warning only to release him on the eve of the tragedy.
    Matti Juhani Saari, 22, burst into class on Tuesday morning, shooting dead eight female students and one male classmate as well as a male teacher, before setting the building ablaze and eventually turning the gun on himself.
    Flags flew at half mast across Finland on Wednesday as the country observed a day of national mourning after its second horrendous school shooting in less than a year.
    Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen travelled to the small southwestern town of Kauhajoki to meet the families of the victims and local officials.
    Outside the white-brick vocational school, still cordoned off more than 24 hours after the tragedy, a couple of hundred candles flickered in the autumn sun and a single red rose lay on the ground.
    Vanhanen reiterated that the Nordic country's gun laws would be significantly tightened following this second massacre.
    "We will take a decision regarding a new law in a few months," he said.
    The interior ministry later said legislation would be presented to parliament in early 2009 at the latest.
    Finland has one of the world's highest gun ownership rates, ranking third behind the United States and Yemen, according to a study last year.
    Finland has 1.6 million guns in circulation, two-thirds of which are hunting rifles, according to statistics released Wednesday by the interior ministry. In a country of just 5.3 million people, that is one gun for every third person.
    Vanhanen said Finland was in the process of implementing a new European Union directive it had previously contested that raises the age for gun ownership from 15 to 18.
    "But in this case it would not have (made a difference) because this guy was 22," he added.
    In an eerily similar case, 18-year-old student Pekka-Eric Auvinen shot six students, a headmistress and a nurse before killing himself in a school in Jokela, north of Helsinki on November 7, 2007.
    He, like Saari, had easily acquired a license for his .22 calibre handgun despite the fact that his obsession with violence was widely known.
    Saari, a culinary arts student, had left behind two notes hinting at his motives for the rampage, police said.
    He wrote that "he hated mankind and the human race and that he had been planning this since 2002," head of the police investigation Jari Neulaniemi told AFP.
    The killer had also written "I want to murder as many people as possible," another police source said.
    Finland's prosecutor general has launched an investigation into why police failed to prevent Tuesday's school shooting.
    Police had questioned him just a day before the massacre about a video posted on YouTube showing him shooting his weapon at a firing range.
    However, they deemed he was not enough of a threat to withdraw his gun license.
    At least one opposition parliamentarian has demanded the resignation of the interior minister, who is ultimately responsible for police affairs.
    Residents in Kauhajoki, some 360 kilometres (224 miles) from Helsinki, expressed anger and bitterness at the police's handling of the situation.
    "I'm really shocked and very critical of the police. What does a person have to do to get the police to react?" asked Sirpa Myllyviita, 43.
    "Who is the policeman who interviewed the killer? What does he think today? Does he feel good? If he had acted differently none of this would have happened and lots of lives would have been spared," she said.
    The police officer in question, whose name was not given, was placed on sick leave at his own request, police said Wednesday.
    Finnish media unanimously blamed the latest school massacre on the country's lax weapon laws, but also singled out Internet violence, rising individualism and even failures in the Finnish school system, which according to international assessments is the best in the developed world.
    A day after Saari -- clad in a ski mask and black outfit -- marched into a classroom and shot his terrified classmates trapped inside, the inhabitants of this usually sleepy town of 14,000 people were searching for answers.
    "Everything is good in Finland, the country has everything," asked Jari Huhtanen, 45, a factory floor manager. "So why?"

    Finland school toll hits 11, including gunman Student was questioned over YouTube, but freed hours before massacre NBC News and news services updated 3:04 p.m. CT, Tues., Sept. 23, 2008
    "... It was Finland's second school massacre in less than a year and the two attacks had eerie similarities. Both gunmen posted violent clips on YouTube prior to the massacres, both were fascinated by the 1999 Columbine school shootings in Colorado, both attacked their own schools and both died after shooting themselves in the head..."
    Teen dead who opened fire on Finnish classmates, police say , updated 8:04 p.m. EST, Wed November 7, 2007 (CNN.com)
    " HELSINKI, Finland (CNN) -- An 18-year-old authorities say shot eight people inside his high school in southern Finland, before turning the gun on himself, has died, police said.
    An image from a video posted on YouTube by "Sturmgeist89." more photos �
    The shooting appeared to have been planned out in graphic videos posted on Internet file-sharing site YouTube.
    At a news conference this afternoon, police confirmed the dead numbered two girls, five boys and the school's headmistress at Jokela High in Tuusula, a quiet town around 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Helsinki.
    Ten other people were taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
    The shooter, whom police identified as Pekka Eric Auvinen, died at Toolo Hospital, authorities said. Police said he took his own life.
    It was the first school shooting in Finland since 1989, when a 14-year-old student shot and killed two others in the coastal town of Rauma, the Finnish news agency STT reported."

    Psalm 91

    " 1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. [a]

    2 I will say [b] of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust."

    3 Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare
    and from the deadly pestilence.

    4 He will cover you with his feathers,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;
    his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

    5 You will not fear the terror of night,
    nor the arrow that flies by day,

    6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
    nor the plague that destroys at midday.

    7 A thousand may fall at your side,
    ten thousand at your right hand,
    but it will not come near you.

    8 You will only observe with your eyes
    and see the punishment of the wicked.

    9 If you make the Most High your dwelling—
    even the LORD, who is my refuge-

    10 then no harm will befall you,
    no disaster will come near your tent.

    11 For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways;

    12 they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

    13 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;
    you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

    14 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

    15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble,
    I will deliver him and honor him.

    16 With long life will I satisfy him
    and show him my salvation."

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