Colorado theater shooter guilty
The Colorado movie massacrist was found guilty on July 16 of multiple counts of first degree murder and attempted murder (a total of 165 counts), a verdict that enables prosecutors to seek the death penalty for the man who killed a dozen people and wounded 70 at a movie in 2012. If the jury is not unanimous on the death penalty, the killer will get life in prison, which is a lot more than he gave his victims.
That’s appropriate, but is too little, too late. My preference would have been for the first targeted victim to have been able to give him the death penalty right up front, before all the innocents were killed in the “gun free” theater.
Over 40 victims and survivors of victims of the attack are suing the Aurora theater. Did I mention it’s a “gun free” zone?
Tennessee theater attack
Authorities are saying a 29 year old man with a history of psychiatric commitments attacked patrons in a Carmike Cinema theater in Antioch (Nashville), TN this week. Wearing a surgical mask and wielding an Airsoft pistol and a hatchet, he sprayed the audience (7 people) with pepper spray, hitting 3 of them. Metro police responded quickly, with an officer already on the scene firing at the attacker before he fled out the back and ran into SWAT. Then there was a 10 second volley of police gunfire (“over a dozen rounds”) as SWAT officers fatally shot the man after he refused orders to surrender and made threatening gestures. One minor injury to a patron was reported.
“Carmike does not allow weapons of any kind, including firearms, into our theatres, except for weapons carried by law enforcement and other security personnel.”
And homicidal/suicidal mental patients.
Currently advertised as “Coming Soon” on Carmike’s Antioch website: “Psycho.”
I’m not kidding.
More on mass murder
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has just released a report on mass shootings. First the summary, then the study:
http://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44126.pdf
From the report: “[Q]uestions are often raised by the media, gun control advocates, and gun rights defenders, but seldom answered definitively and officially. Among those questions … Did the shootings occur in designated ‘gun free zones?'”
