Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Disgruntled Employee Kills Eight - Self

Yahoo News ran the Associated press story of the latest murder - suicide tragedy.

MANCHESTER, Conn. – A driver caught stealing beer from the warehouse where he worked agreed to resign on Tuesday and then as "cold as ice," one of his victims said, went on a shooting rampage, killing eight people and injuring two before committing suicide.

Omar Thornton pulled out a handgun after a meeting in which he was shown video evidence of the thefts and was offered the chance to quit or be fired.

"Then he went out on this rampage," company vice president Steve Hollander told The Associated Press. "He was cool and calm. He didn't yell. He was cold as ice. He didn't protest when we were meeting with him to show him the video of him stealing. He didn't contest it. He didn't complain. He didn't argue. He didn't admit or deny anything. He just agreed to resign. And then he just unexplainably pulled out his gun and started blasting."

The story goes on to say that he may have been racially harassed and getting caught stealing was the last straw. But, the part I was interested in was this.

Joanne Hannah [mother of his girlfriend] described Thornton as an easygoing guy who liked to play sports and video games. She said he had a pistol permit and planned to teach her daughter how to use a gun.

Thornton listed Hoffman's Gun Center & Indoor Range in Newington as one of his interests on his Facebook page.

I'm not sure what that means in Connecticut, to have a "pistol permit," but it seems he was a lawful gun owner up until this incident, can we agree on that? Yet, he was stealing beer from the warehouse. Is it safe to assume that was not his only infraction? That speculation aside, when he was caught for the beer, he pulled out his guns and started killing people.

In retrospect, he's a good representative of the old 10%ers I like to talk about.

What's your opinion? Do you think he might have been the object of excessive racist attacks and the stealing-beer charge was exaggerated as part of it? Do you think the white guys in the company might have pushed him over the edge, that it was their fault as much as his?

No, I'm afraid that would be too much shared responsibility even for me. I think the pro-gun crowd are just going to have to swallow this one as yet another example of one of their own going sour.

What do you think? Please leave a comment.

11 comments:

  1. MikeB: “But, the part I was interested in was this.

    Joanne Hannah [mother of his girlfriend] described Thornton as an easygoing guy who liked to play sports and video games.”

    Great, all we have to do is deny guns to those who are easygoing, and like sports and video games. Of course this illustrates the problem with trying to guess who is going to snap next.

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  2. MikeB: Authorities should have powers to revoke permits.

    CT: state and local authorities have some of the broadest powers in the nation to deny, delay issuance of, or revoke a permit.

    MikeB: All we need are stronger gun laws.

    CT: The Brady Campaign Scorecard--Connecticut earned 53 points out of a total of 100 and has the nation's fourth strongest gun laws.

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  3. Yes Anon, but remember, while Connecticut has VERY strong gun laws, its likely that these guns filtered in through straw buys from less restrictive New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts!

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  4. He was a racist. Mark Jade's words.

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  5. TS: All such shooting sprees follow a similar trajectory. In the immediate aftermath, the new stories will always decribe the gunloon as 'quiet' or 'easy-going' or 'polite' or something along those lines. As the story develops, we'll learn there were abudant signs that this guy shouldn't have been around sporks, let alone firearms.

    Let us all remember the case of NRA member Christopher Speight--the VA gunloon who gunned down 8--including 4 children. The intial stories described Speight as 'nice' and 'friendly.' His NRA mentor Roland B. Parris, Jr., FFL and NRA member vouched for Speight on his CCW application. Parris said " "I can tell the character of a man after coaching him for two days on the rifle range,"
    Subsequently, we found out, of course, that Speight was mentally ill (he would eventually be declared mentally incompetent to stand trial) and all his acquaintances knew something wasn't right.

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  6. in Connecticut you need to have a pistol permit to buy a handgun. Long barrel weapons are no wait and do not require a permit. just the same yellow form wait period.
    Even if you legally bought and owned a gun while living in another state, for you to legally own the gun in CT, you have to take the pistol permit class, pay $ 135 to a NRA instructor, showing that you know how to load and handle a firearm, and a gun dealer in the state you lived in, has to ship the gun to another gun dealer in CT.

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  7. Wait, so because some folks might have said mean things to him it's "their fault as much as his?"

    What the fuck? The only person responsible for these murders is Thorton.

    Way to blame the victim and stand up for your fellow criminal.

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  8. Jade, what you are describing is the whole “hindsight is 20/20” adage. Try going the other direction using those signs as foresight and see where that gets you.

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  9. That won't change Jade's position in the slightest, TS. Jadegold already views private firearm ownership as a "crime enabler". So he believes that violent crimes can be prevented by removing a tool instead of the intent to do harm. You see, his mind is made up that the effect IS the cause, so don't bother him with logic or facts.

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  10. Thanks Kev. I like that: "private firearm ownership as a "crime enabler"."

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  11. Of course you do. You're a statist.

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