YouTube
shooter Nasim Aghdam (Facebook via KGO-TV)
The shooter at YouTube's San Bruno HQ has been identified as Nasim Aghdam. Also, we found that Aghdam was a radical PETA supporter. From ABC7 San Francisco:
SAN BRUNO, Calif. (KGO) -- Chaos erupted on the YouTube campus in San Bruno Tuesday afternoon when an alleged female shooter entered the campus and opened fire, wounding three employees.
ABC7 News sources confirm the YouTube shooter was a user of the platform. Nasim Aghdam has a website with an alleged manifesto that targets YouTube for censorship and demonetization of her video content.
Most importantly, ABC7 reports that "Aghdam is said to have no relationship with anyone in the YouTube facility." This is significant because nearly all earlier reports said she may have been targeting a male YouTube employee in a "domestic dispute." The fact that her own website indicates otherwise is chilling. More at ABC7
(Charlie Neuman / Union-Tribune)
You can watch a video by Aghdam here, in which she rants about how YouTube has demonetized some of her videos and complains that her videos were "filtered," causing reduced views. According to NBC Bay Area, "The NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit has also learned the license plate on a car towed from YouTube’s campus Tuesday is registered to Aghdam. In 2014, she posted a video on YouTube of what appears to be the same car, stating that it was vandalized by 'anti-vegans' because the car had a sign saying 'meat is murder.'" More at NBC Bay Area.
While researching Aghdam, Chicago News Bench found 2009 article in The San Diego Union that featured a photo of Nasim Aghdam protesting with the radical group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). Nasim Aghdam, then 29, wore a wig and jeans "with large blood drops painted on them" as she protested with other PETA members at Camp Pendelton on August 12, 2009.
The San Diego Union quoted Aghdam as saying, “For me, animal rights equal human rights.”
I'm no psychologist, but in my layman's opinion it would seem that Ms. Aghdam was mentally unbalanced.
A good summary of the shooting comes from The Guardian (UK) this evening:
"The San Bruno police chief, Ed Barberini, said during a news conference that police had responded to 911 calls from the Silicon Valley tech campus and discovered a woman, whom they believed to be the shooter, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Barberini did not release any information about a possible motive or the suspect’s identity, but said the attack was carried out with a handgun and that there was no further threat to the public."
"Four people were transported to local hospitals, police said, including three with gunshot wounds. The three are being treated at San Francisco General hospital, a spokesman confirmed, including a 36-year-old man in critical condition and a 32-year-old woman in serious condition. It was not immediately clear where the fourth victim was being treated and in what condition." More at The Guardian.
Earlier:
"Two separate law enforcement sources told ABC7 News that the shooter is a white, adult female wearing a dark top and head scarf." ABC7 reported that the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Note that a scarf does not necessarily indicate that the shooter was Muslim: It could have been meant as a disguise or to control her hair.
June 5, 2014 -- Parts of Moncton, New Brunswick were locked down following the shooting deaths on Wednesday night of three Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the wounding of two other officers, reports the CBC.
Police were searching for gunman Justin Bourque, 24, armed and dangerous. Police tweeted a photo of him wearing military camouflage and carrying guns (left).
UPDATE: Bourque surrendered to police at early on the morning of Friday, just after midnight. The Daily Mail (UK) reports that Bourque gave himself up in the front yard of Moncton resident Michelle Thibodeau. "He was in my backyard. I saw him arrested in front of my eyes. He is alive," Thibodeau tweeted. "The swat team arrived at my house and unloaded and started screaming in my backyard for him to surrender and he did. I watched it happen," according the the Daily Mail. "They had him sprawled on my front lawn for some time and then loaded him into the swat vehicle. They are now checking my yard for firearms."
While Bourque was still at large, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police asked residents to stay inside and lock their doors, turn on porch lights to assist police, and to not broadcast police operations over social media such as Twitter or Facebook. Moncton has a population of just over 60,000.
June 30, 2013 - 1:30 AM EDT - Eight people - four men and four women - were injured in a multiple shooting incident early at 12:50 AM EDT at 616 E. 52nd Street. The residence, located near Clarendon Road, is in Brooklyn's East Flatbush neighborhood. Reports say a barbecue was being held at the home "when a gunman fired a barrage of bullets," reports NY Daily News at 2:11 AM EDT.
Update, July 2: NBC New York reports that "Nine people were wounded at the party on East 52nd Street in East Flatbush when gunfire erupted shortly before 1 a.m., according to NYPD. The victims suffered a range of injuries, including gunshot wounds to the side, lower back, calf and foot, but all are expected to be OK." More at NBC...
The New York Daily News reports that "A fugitive suspected of shooting and wounding nine people outside of a wild weekend house party on E. 52nd St. in Brooklyn was apprehended Tuesday at the Holland Tunnel. Tyrone Brown, 24, was pinched when Port Authority officer Michael Cerullo spotted the hulking suspect in a white Nissan Altima in Jersey City, near the Holland Tunnel, just before 4 p.m., sources said." More at nydailynews.com... Brown, of Crown Heights, has been charged with "attempted murder, assault, criminal possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment,"reports WPTV.
At 2:14 AM EDT, @NewsBreaker tweeted this: CONFIRMED: NYPD tells @NewsBreaker 7 people shot at a residence in Brooklyn: *Domestic dispute *1 critical *6 non life threatening injuries
At the same time, @NYCityAlerts tweeted this: Brooklyn: Clarendon Rd & East 52 St. NYPD o/s with 7 people shot 1 in traumatic arrest 4 in serious condition. Level 1 called.
At 2:25 AM EDT, @TheNewsHQ tweeted: Brooklyn U/D: NYPD Says 1 woman is in critical condition other 6 are stable, Shooting started at a BBQ party, No arrest has been made.
Russia Today (RT) reproduced one of the tweets from Twitter. "Seven people were reportedly shot at in Brooklyn, New York, while at a barbecue. A nearby hospital is preparing to receive the injured, with one reported in critical condition," reported RT.
June 8, 2013 (1:00 AM CDT) - By Santa Monica standards, Friday was horrific. Five people were killed, including a crazed gunman, and five others wounded in Santa Monica, CA. One victim was hospitalized in critical condition. By Chicago standards, that's a quiet weekend. At 4:40 PM on Saturday, I am listening to the Chicago PD scanner frequencies and hearing numerous reports of "man with a gun," "shots fired" and other mayhem. At least 13 people shot citywide mid-way through the weekend in Chicago (details at the Chicago Tribune). Keep in mind that in addition to people being shot, there are others being knifed, beaten with fists and blunt instruments, raped and robbed.
While all that is happening, the national news media is obsessing on Friday's shootings in Santa Monica. Battlefield Chicago is more violent, but it is being overlooked.
The Santa Monica killer, now dead, was a crazed individual with a semi-automatic rifle. His first two victims were his own brother and father. He fired at the house they were in, causing the house to catch fire. "As the house burst into flames, the man wounded a woman in a car before moving toward the campus, spraying bullets as he went. Police said he opened fire on a city bus, a police car and other vehicles, as well as bystanders and pedestrians," reports CBS News.
"As the house burst into flames, the man wounded a woman in a car before moving toward the campus, spraying bullets as he went," says CBS. "Police said he opened fire on a city bus, a police car and other vehicles, as well as bystanders and pedestrians." He continued on, killing the driver of an SUV and two of its passengers, and then mortally wounded a woman on the Santa Monica College campus. (She died at a nearby hospital.) Police made their way into the library, where they fatally shot the gunman.
Chicago: Crying for the Dying
The media initially reported the death toll as six or seven. After the dust settled, however, authorities downgraded that to four. So, four dead. Five wounded, one critically. A horrific day in Santa Monica.
The City That Bleeds By Chicago standards, four dead and five wounded is a slow Friday night. As a total, it would be considered a very quiet weekend in The City That Bleeds.
Update, 01:15 AM, June 8: Moments after we published this post, we learned that there was another shooting in Chicago shortly after midnight. Reports indicated two victims were shot, one in his head and one in his chest, on W. Lake Street at N. Central Park. At 1:49 AM, the Chicago Tribune posted a story online. (As of 3:15 AM on Monday morning, there were two dead plus another 16 wounded.) With that in mind, add two more to the headline below.
"Three to five people were wounded during a Friday evening shooting in West Englewood..."
"In the Gage Park neighborhood, a man was critically wounded in a possible drive-by shooting about 8:15 p.m., police said. The 19-year-old was shot multiple times in the chest and back....and listed in critical condition late Friday."
"A man was critically wounded in the Edgewater neighborhood about 8 p.m. [The victim] was shot in the mouth in the 5400 block of North Magnolia Avenue. He was taken in critical condition to Illinois Masonic, fire media said."
"In the Austin neighborhood, a male was shot in the ankle about 7:30 p.m...."
A 15-year-old boy was shot in the leg "when a white SUV approached and a person got out and shot him about 3:30 p.m., police said." The boy is thought to be a gang member "who was shouting gang slogans at the passing SUV, which contained rival gang members, a police source said."
"In the South Shore neighborhood, a teenage boy was shot in the arm about 1:50 p.m." and taken to a hospital in stable condition.
Say a prayer for the four dead and five wounded in Santa Monica. Please also pray for the thousands of Chicagoans, dead and wounded. Pray that Chicago makes it through another, predictably violent weekend.
May 11, 2013 - An apparent drive-by shooting today has shaken up a quiet coffee shop on Chicago's far northeast side. Gunshots were fired around 12:30 p.m. today in the 1500 block of W. Morse Avenue in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood today. An excellent report at Chicago News Report says that "an investigating officer discovered a bullet hole in a window at 1501 West Morse." That's where Common Cup coffee house sits on the southwest corner of Morse and N. Greenview.
The CNR report noted that a woman was walking along Morse Avenue "when she heard gunshots behind her… when she turned around, a black sedan zoomed passed her, said authorities. Another eyewitness saw a silver car and two black males flee the area of the shooting. One male was limping… possibly, from an injury sustained in the shooting. The limping suspect was last seen going into a gangway near 1443 West Morse, said police."
An update to the CNR report said police were looking at an abandoned vehicle, in which they found shell casings. "Authorities believe the car was used in the Morse Avenue shooting," said CNR.
Here is the first News Release, about the shooting near Texas A&M, from the City of College Station, Texas. It was posted at 5:30 p.m. CDT, about the shooting near Texax A&M's campus early this afternoon. They are calling it the "Fidelity Street Shooting."
On Aug. 13 at
approximately 12:12 p.m. officers with the College Station Police
Department responded to the 200 block of Fidelity for a report of shots
fired. Upon arrival, officers found a Brazos County Constable down in
front of a residence on Fidelity. The suspect in this case, engaged the
officers with gunfire over a period of approximately 30 minutes before
he was shot by a College Station Officer. The following individuals were
transported to the College Station Medical Center:
Brazos County Precinct 1 Constable Brian Bachmann – pronounced dead at the hospital
Male suspect approximately 35 years – identity withheld – pronounced dead at the hospital
Male victim - approximately 65 years old – identity withheld – pronounced dead at the hospital
Female victim - approximately 55 years old – identity withheld – in surgery
College Station Police Officer – identity withheld - gunshot to the leg – non-life threatening injury
College Station Police Officer – identity withheld - non-life threatening injury
An additional College Station officer was injured but refused
transport to the hospital. As a result of the initial investigation,
detectives have determined that Constable Bachmann had gone to a
residence located at 211 Fidelity to serve eviction papers. Multiple
state and local agencies are assisting the College Station Police
Department in the continued investigation regarding this incident.
Updates will be provided as soon as they become available.
August 13, 2012 - College Station, TX - One of the three shooting victims to die just blocks from the Texas A&M campus was Constable Brian Bachmann, 41. Bachmann (photo) was a member of the Brazos County Sheriff's Department for 19 years. He was the Constable for Precinct 1, which included his home town of College Station. He was a Republican.
According to WBRC/Fox, Bachmann was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital "shortly after he was shot." He apparently died in the line of duty.
Bachmann was reportedly shot five times. According to the Facebook page of the City of College Station, "The two CSPD officers taken to local hospitals are said to have non-life threatening injuries." That update was posted at approximately 3:45 p.m. CDT.
A subsequent update at 5:00 p.m. CDT said that "three CSPD officers were injured, but only one by gunfire. That officer was shot in the leg and is being treated for the non-life threatening injury. A second officer was transported, but for injuries *unrelated* to gunfire. A third officer also was injured (again, not from gunfire) during the response, but did not require transport to a hospital."
A 5:30 p.m. news release from the City of College Station said this:"On Aug. 13 at
approximately 12:12 p.m. officers with the College Station Police
Department responded to the 200 block of Fidelity for a report of shots
fired. Upon arrival, officers found a Brazos County Constable [Brian Bachmann] down in
front of a residence on Fidelity. The suspect in this case, engaged the
officers with gunfire over a period of approximately 30 minutes before
he was shot by a College Station Officer." Full news release here...
Police "were unsure why the constable responded to the call, although witnesses told KBTX the constable had arrived to evict the shooter," said WBRC/Fox.
Brazos County Constable District 1
According to the Brazos County Constable's Office, a primary duty of a constable is to "insure that all civil process is served in a diligent manner." That includes serving an eviction notice, as Bachmann was apparently attempting to do.
"When police arrived on the scene, Bachmann was already down in the suspect's yard," reports WBRC/Fox. According to their report, law enforcement officers "responded to a call of shots fired and were met with gunfire on the scene, then called for backup.
A CSPD spokesman said that the officer fatally shot the gunman, who is described as male.
Constables in Brazos County, TX"are elected by the registered voters in their own precinct." The Constables Department, says the Brazos County website, "is part of the is the chief process server of the justice court; provides state-wide jurisdiction to execute any criminal processes; and provides county-wide jurisdiction to execute any civil processes."
There are four constabulary precincts in Brazos County."Constables are the only Law Enforcement mandated by the Texas Constitution which makes them truly indeed 'The People’s Police Officer'." For more about the constables of Brazos County, see their website.
Brian Bachmann became a Certified Peace Officer in 1992 and held an Advanced Peace Officer Certificate. He became a Brazos County Sheriff's Deputy in 1993.
Bachmann (right) is sworn in, January 1, 2011 (Facebook)
"We did it!!! We did it!!! Thank you to everyone for their support and encouragement!! I could not have accomplished this without everyone!! I hope to see everyone soon at the Victory Party!! "
He was sworn in on January 1, 2011 and posted this to his Facebook page:
"Well it's official. I was sworn in as Constable of Precinct One in Brazos County this morning. I want to thank everyone that helped with the campaign, you are the best!! Now it's time to get to work and start building the most professional Constables Office. My door will always be open to everyone, and I expect visitors!! Thank you again to everyone for all the encouragement and support! Brian"
Brian Bachmann was a man dedicated to helping others and improving the safety of his community. As with any peace officer who dies in the line of duty, it was the job that he loved so much that ultimately got him killed. May Constable Brian Bachmann rest in peace, and may God watch over his wife and two young children.
August 13, 2012 - UPDATED, 3:05 PM CDT - At least three shooting victims have died in College Station, TX near the campus of Texas A&M College early this afternoon. The suspected shooter, who was firing an automatic weapon from a house near was arrested at 12:45 pm CDT.
UPDATING NUMBER OF DECEASED:
Three people are dead from today's shooting:
- Constable Brian Bachmann
- The shooter (name not yet released)
- A civilian who PD says was a bystander ~ Source: City of College Station Facebook Page at 2:50 p.m. CDT
One suspect was arrested(later information says the suspect was shot and killed by police) near the campus of Texas A&M in College Station, TX near Fidelity Street. The "active shooter" is thought to be the only gunman at this time. An number of people, possibly including police officers, have been shot. According to some media reports, police were heard over scanners to specify the location as being near Fidelity and Highland streets, where a shooter was thought to be firing automatic weapons from a house. The number and full extent of injuries still being assessed. The suspected shooter was arrested at 12:45 pm Central Daylight Time.
UPDATE, 3:45 p.m. CDT: FoxNews: "Local station KBTX and KHOU in Houston reported the suspect had also been killed, citing the College Station Police Department. Police confirmed shortly before the report the suspect had been shot by police. No information was released about the suspect or his or her possible motive for the shooting." More at Fox...
From Texas A&M Website: http://emergency.tamu.edu/
Minutes earlier, at 12:29 p.m., Texas A&M issued a "Code Maroon" alert, warning people to "avoid the area immediately southeast of the intersection of Welborn Rd and George Bush
Drive. Please avoid the area. Residents in the immediate area need to
remain inside their residence." (Click on graphic, left.)
Oddly, however, there was no mention of this incident on Texas A&M's page on Facebook. An update at 1:31 pm CDT from KBTX TV in College Station says that CSPD says "a suspect has been taken into custody and the scene
is reportedly under control and there is no longer a danger to the
public."
A 12:55 p.m. update from CSPD said that there is no confirmation yet on the identities of the victims "or whether or not any are members of local law enforcement agencies."More at KBTX...
July 31, 2010 - Golly, I guess the criminal who shot this guy didn't get the message from last night's peace vigil in Uptown, Chicago. Huh.
A 36-year-old man was shot and critically wounded this afternoon as he stood on a corner in the West Humboldt Park neighborhood, police said. The man was in critical condition at Mount Sinai Hospital this evening, according to a police media release.More at Chicago Breaking News...
Also: At least 10 wounded in separate Chicago shootings, Aug. 2, 2010 Chicago Breaking News
More photos that I took at the scene of the crime, moments after some nutjob opened fire at N. Broadway and W. Wilson on the night of June 27. For the full story see "Shooting In Uptown, Chicago Injures Two (Updated)."
SHOTS FIRED, WILSON RED LINE CHICAGO...June 27, 2010 - 11:55 p.m. - At least two people were struck by flying bullets at approximately 9:25 p.m. tonight in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood.
Four shots, perhaps five, were heard at that time as thousands of Gay Pride post-parade partiers were walking through the intersection of W. Wilson and N. Broadway. A suspect was taken into custody at approximately 9:55 p.m. (Photos at "Slideshow - Shooting At Wilson and Broadway, Chicago, June 27")
Police and paramedics arrived rapidly and were tending to one of the victims in the intersection of Wilson and Broadway by 9:32 p.m. Witnesses told Chicago News Bench at the scene that one of the victims was “grazed” by a bullet one block east of the intersection, at the southwest corner of N. Kenmore and W. Wilson.
Update from FoxNews, June 28: "A Police News Affairs release early Monday said two men -- 47 and 25 -- were struck by gunfire and taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.... The younger man was in 'stable' condition with a gunshot wound to his shoulder and the other man was shot in the abdomen and was in serious condition, the release said." The man with the shoulder wound is the one that we reported above last night as having been "grazed." He was hit while he was in front of Beauty House, 1041 West Wilson Avenue (second photo, above). The rest of the Fox report pretty much repeats what Chicago News Bench published late last night.
Witnesses initially told Chicago News Bench that a “dark skinned black guy,” who was “wearing red shorts and no shirt” was shooting people inside of the CTA station. One of the witnesses who spoke to us said that the suspect was “shouting anti-gay stuff.” It was immediately obvious that this was not true, however, as there was no yellow police crime scene tape put up at the station. It was soon confirmed that the suspect taken into custody was, in fact, dressed in the manner described.
We spotted at least three spent shell casings in front of City Sports, on the northeast corner of the intersection.
This was eerily reminiscent of the February 25 shooting at the same corner, when two gunmen fired at least five shots across the street. One bullet hit a woman as she waited for a bus under the elevated train tracks. Shell casings were left in the exact same spot as in tonight’s shooting. For more coverage, see Pride
Weekend Ends Violently In Uptown (LakeEffectNews; site now defunct).
Earlier today, more than 10,000 people were partying in Lincoln Park, just north of Montrose Harbor. As many of them headed toward the Wilson CTA Red Line train station, shots rang out. We cannot help but notice that this highlights the futility of “positive loitering” as a way to deter crime.
There were literally, in fact, thousands of people walking along the street as they headed home from the park. The train station was crowded. Despite this extraordinarily heavy presence of law abiding people, a man went berserk and fired into the crowd. The neighborhood’s “positive loiterers,” by the way, were once again AWOL.
In related news, a bar employee was tasered at 10:53 p.m. by Chicago Police at the intersection of W. Roscoe and N. Halsted. The Gay Pride Parade passed through that intersection earlier today. That neighborhood, known as “Boys Town,” is tonight very busy with a lot of very drunk and prideful partiers. (Source: Chicago Police dispatch for districts 19 and 23.)
UPDATE, FEB. 26:Two Suspects Held in Uptown Shooting of Feb. 25February 25, 2010 - At approximately 4:17 p.m., at least two people were shot at a crowded intersection in Helen Shiller's 46th Ward of Uptown. More photos below.
A young woman, standing with a number of other people at a bus stop, took a bullet in her leg as she stood across the street from Truman College in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood this afternoon. Her infant, next to her in a stroller, was unharmed. The woman's lost a lost of blood immediately, and standersby applied clothing and cloth to her to stem the bleeding. A friend of the woman, with her at the bus stop at the time of the shooting, took custody of the baby as fast-responding paramedics took her to Illinois Masonic hospital. According to police scanner chatter, and from I overheard on the scene from police officers, the woman is African-American and "late teens or early twenties." She was reportedly in stable condition.
The woman seems to have been an innocent bystander who got caught in yet another gang-related shooting in Uptown near the intersection of N. Broadway and W. Wilson, half a block north of Alderman Shiller's ward service office. At least five shots were fired this afternoon.
Click map and images to enlargeThe shots originated from the northeast corner of the intersection and traveled westward, across Broadway, where at least one bullet struck the young woman, who stood about 20 yards west of the northwest corner. Police radio chatter said that "six casings" were found at 4601 N. Broadway, in front of City Sports clothing store. I saw five casings when I arrived on scene.
The second shooting victim, a male, also suffered a leg wound. Police, on their radio frequency, said that he jumped into an SUV which reportedly drove west from the shooting scene. It is unknown at this time whether the second victim was a standerby or a participant in the violence.
Lorraine Swanson reported this evening that "a source" called her and said "that a student from Uplift High School called the 23rd Police District to say that the Vice Lords and Gangster Disciples were going to fight on Broadway between Montrose and Wilson." At approximately 3:30 p.m., wrote Swanson, the same source called again and said that police had broken up a rival gang fight near Wilson and Broadway.
It is not known at this time whether there is a connection between the gang fight at 3:30 and the shooting at 4:17.
BREAKING: February 1, 2010 - Another shooting in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood this morning on the city's northeast side. UPDATE, 10:03 AM: The boy is an eighth grader who was shot in front of "a convenience store" while on his way to school.
Chicago Sun-Times - A 15-year-old boy ran to a nearby elementary school for help after being shot in the arm Monday morning in the North Side Uptown neighborhood. The shooting happened at 8:24 a.m. in the 4200 block of North Clarendon Avenue, according to police News Affairs Officer Robert Perez. Full Article... FoxChicago - A male teenager was taken to the hospital Monday after being shot in the arm on the North Side. Initial reports indicated the shooting happened near Joseph Brennemann School -- 4251 N. Clarendon Ave. – and the teenager was taken to Illinois Masonic Hospital. Full Article...Say, all that positive loitering and Heather Steans' caped crusader act have really paid off.
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UPDATE with VIDEO by JOE GRAY (below)At about 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 8, shots rang out at N. Sheridan Road and W. Lakeside Place, one block south of W. Lawrence Avenue.This is yet another Uptown crime story broken by Chicago News Bench as it was still happening. Click images to enlargePolice on the scene told Chicago News Bench that nobody was hit by the bullets. A foot chase netted one suspect, but it's believed that a second suspect got away.
When we arrived on scene, police were beginning their evidence search, looking for bullet casings and other items. An officer said that at least two casings had been recovered. A cell phone was dropped by a doorway, and a striped sock or glove was dropped a few yards away by the window of a furniture store. Both were marked as evidence. This story is developing. The shooting took place just spitting distance from the now-infamous riot of this past August, captured on video by Joe Gray, which received worldwide attention.
Reporting shootings in Uptown has actually become boring, it's so routine. Here's yet another incident of bullets flying, despite Mayor Daley's draconian anti-gun laws and 46th Ward Alderman Helen Shiller's denial that such things happen frequently in Uptown. It should be noted that no "positive loiterers" were reported to have been in the area at the time of the shooting - but would it have prevented the incident?
"Positive loitering" is useless and ineffective, as proven by yet another shooting in Chicago's troubled Uptown neighborhood. This latest shooting went down exactly one block east, in a straight line, from the home of Richard Thale, facilitator of CAPS Beat 2312. Mr. Thale and fellow loiterers have been busy - when convenient - committing "positive loitering" in Uptown.
The idea behind that is, apparently, to deter crime. It isn't working, despite the bragging and news coverage that pretends it is, and its effects cannot be measured. Just what is a "positive loiterer," anyway? Isn't any civilian on the street, with no bad intentions, be considered a positive loiterer? After all, the vast majority of 911 calls are made by ordinary people who see crime and report it. Many of those were simply standing on a corner, strolling on a sidewalk, sitting in their car. Do you have to belong to a CAPS group, or be designated a "positive loiterer," to actually be one?
The notion of a handful of unarmed yuppies loitering "positively" on a corner for an hour or two, then congratulating each other for reducing crime in the neighborhood is laughable. This is not meant to besmirch Mr. Thale, nor his fellow well-intentioned loiterers. Mr. Thale runs a tight CAPS group, and his heart is in the right place. But good intentions do not always fare well on the razor sharp edge of reality, and reality fired at least four bullets at the corner of W. Lakeside tonight. Even if there had been positive loiterers milling about nearby, would the shooter or shooters have been deterred? If so, might they not have simply waited to shoot at their target until they were a block past the loiterers?
Mr. Thale's partner, James Cappleman, is again running for 46th Ward alderman in the 2011 election. He was defeated by Shiller in 2007. Mr. Cappleman will have to explain the many shootings that have already happened since Mr. Thale's positive loitering effort was initiated. Mr. Thale owns that effort, and you can bet that that there will be more than a few additional shootings in Uptown between now and the February, 2011 election. To be clear, none of the crime is the fault of either Mssrs. Thale or Cappleman, but if they want to claim credit for fighting that crime, they'd best be prepared to substantiate it. Unless they do a scientific poll of known gangsters in Uptown that shows that the gangsters did not commit crimes because of positive loiterer lurking nearby, they have no proof whatsoever that positive loitering has any real effect.
To be truly effective, positive loiterers would have to be (a) omnipresent, on every corner every hour of the day and night, (b) armed, at least with pepper spray and batons, and (c) trained in police tactics. Thale's positive loiterers are none of those. The cops are, God bless them - but many of the bad guys are, too.
RELATED:
Ald. Helen Shiller Wallows in Lies, Self-PityAnother Useless Public Safety MeetingCAPS Beat 2312: “Hey, Mister” - Lake Effect NewsConservative Caps, Shirt and more!Leave a Comment - Chicago News Bench RSS FeedVisit us on Twitter!
FIRST PUBLISHED at 10:37 p.m.; UPDATED, 11:59 p.m., Nov. 8:Another Uptown Shooting Not Thwarted by Positive LoiteringSUNDAY NIGHT SHOOTING IN UPTOWN, CHICAGOFrom ChiNewsBench on Twitter (most recent post on top):
Shell casings found 4731 N Sheridan Rd, Chicago - 10:41 PM
LIVE ALERT UPTOWN CHICAGO - WERE FIRING FROM SHERIDAN AND LAKESIDE, APPROX. 10:10 PM ... #police#uptown#chicago#crimeless than 5 seconds agoLIVE ALERT UPTOWN CHICAGO - 1000 block W. Leland, looking for casings - recovered offender's cell phone, Sheridan & Leland...
LIVE ALERT UPTOWN CHICAGO - CPD now looking for casings - Footchase continues nearby... Prisoners in wagon ...
LIVE ALERT UPTOWN CHICAGO - ONE GUN RECOVERED, ONE STILL MISSING... CPD COMBING #UPTOWN CHICAGO FOR SHOOTERS...
LIVE ALERT UPTOWN CHICAGO - SHOOTER, 900 W. LAKESIDE, IN CUSTODY, MORE CPD ACTION @ 1000 BLOCK W LELAND ... HOT NIGHT
LIVE ALERT - UPTOWN CHICAGO - SHOOTER IN
ALERT UPTOWN CHICAGO - 850 W. Eastwood, CPD tac has one in custody. More CPD action on 900 block of Lakeside ... foot chase .. gun seized...
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UPDATE, Sept. 22: The victim was shot in the back while riding his bicycle on N. Magnolia Avenue. "Help me, help me, they’re trying to kill me,” the teen said (more at Lake Effect News).
A man was shot in the back just before 7:00 p.m. tonight on the usually-quiet 4700 block of N. Magnolia Avenue in the unusually violent Uptown neighborhood of Chicago.
Correction: CNB reported last night that witnesses said the shooter was on a bicycyle. Actually the victim the one riding a bike.
Police leave the scene, 8:30 p.m.
The victim was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Hospital and was reported to be in stable condition shortly after arrival.
The shooting occured in front of a residence at 4752 N. Magnolia, on the southwest corner of the intersection with busy W. Lawrence Avenue, about 200 feet from the Uptown Theater.
The Sept. 1 "gang fight" that we wrote about recently, at W. Wilson and N. Broadway in Uptown, was actually not a gang fight, and certainly no riot. It was a minor shooting incident that might have been an attempted robbery. It only involved two or three people. One of them, a man whose foot was shot, was recently released from prison. This story has a lot of loose ends that still need to be tied up.
Shot in the foot (Good guy? Or bad guy?)At 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 1, a man stepped out of the Wilson Broadway Currency Exchange, 4599 N. Broadway and became involved in a fight. During the brief scuffle, a shot rang out, and the man was left with a bullet wound to one of his feet. It is not certain whether the fight was an attempted robbery, or even if the gunshot victim was the "good guy" or the "bad guy" in the incident. It is unclear who was in posession of the gun at the outset of the altercation. This is according to several well-informed sources who spoke to Chicago News Bench on Friday, Sept. 4. Those sources, trusted highly, get their information directly from police personnel.
There is speculation by the police, sources tell us, that the bullet to the foot may have been accidentally self-inflicted. As the man walked out of the currency exchange, we are told, another person approached him. The police showed up en masse, blocked the intersection, asked questions, looked around, and then "most of the police" drove north at high speed on Broadway after only a few minutes at the currency exchange. The only reason that "most of the police" at the shooting scene would have sped off northward, as far as we or our sources can figure, is that they were attempting to apprehend the other person - or, perhaps, persons - involved in the altercation.
Sources tell us that there is some confusion as to whether the man whose foot was shot in the was actually the victim or the would-be robber. According to our two individual sources, the gunshot victim was allegedly released from prison only "a few weeks ago."
In retrospect, it's easy to understand how people observing the situation might have mistaken it for a gang fight. The currency exchange corner, just steps north of Ald. Shiller's Ward Office, usually has a lot of pedestrian traffic. In the event of a shooting, it could be expected that a crowd might quickly form. Someone might scream. Yelling would be heard. The police scream in, sirens and lights on, blocking the intersection. For a passerby to assume that the event is just another of the several-monthly gang fights that Uptown has come to expect is understandable indeed.
Chicago News Bench reported what the CAPS meeting attendee told us. In our never-ending search for fact and truth, however, we kept looking into the story. Something bothered us: If a big gang fight had really happened on Sept. 1st, we probably would have gotten word of it before Sept. 3. (At least, we would hope we would have.) We're glad we stayed on the story. It not only opens up a new story, the end of which we haven't yet heard, it also gave us the opportunity to set the record straight. We will continue to keep our ears to the ground.
RELATED:Man shot in the foot in Uptown - chicagocontent
Post ScriptHow did a minor shooting incident get mistaken for a large gang fight? One reason: The large police response to the incident at the currency exchange. We are told that about 10 police cars blocked the intersection. Another reason: Some people down in Uptown seem to be so upset by having more than their fair share of gang battles that even a relatively small scuffle can generate reports and rumors of rumbles and riots. Another reason: Some local bloggers substitute hearsay via frantic comments from their readers for actual reporting. Rather than actually go to a crime scene or other news event themselves, those bloggers all too often rely on rumor, innuendo, conjecture, speculation, uninformed screeds and often-irrelevant ramblings for "information" about what is happening in their own backyard, of which they profess to have expert knowledge, which often leads to self-reinforcing misinformation. Such is the danger of using a comments section as your primary source of news.
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