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Ohio Shooting: 8 Killed In Rampage, Gunman Dead

1047 Views 18 Replies 16 Participants Last post by  grifhunter
A sad post for 10K. :(

Ohio Shooting: 8 Killed In Rampage, Gunman Among Dead

COPLEY, Ohio - A man apparently angry with his girlfriend gunned down two people outside an Ohio home and two more in a car Sunday morning, then shot the girlfriend in a rampage that left eight dead including the gunman, who was shot by police, authorities and witnesses said.

Two others were wounded, police said. A child was among those shot, witnesses said, though police wouldn't confirm that. Investigators were trying to piece together what happened at four crime scenes, Copley police Chief Michael Mier said.

A neighbor, Gilbert Elie, said he was getting ready for church when he heard gunshots and cries for help in his northeast Ohio neighborhood, a wooded, residential area outside Akron. He went to a house across the street and said he found a shocking scene: the woman who lived there lying in the driveway, her husband shot near the garage, and their young granddaughter and another woman shot in the front seat of a vehicle, the windows apparently blown out by gunfire.

A third woman came out of the house next door and tried to talk to Elie, he said, but their brief exchange ended abruptly when a man followed her out of the house and shot her, sending the 75-year-old Elie running for safety behind a truck.

"She was talking to me, and he come up behind her and shot her, so I figured, maybe I'm next," he told The Associated Press.

He hid until he could see the gunman was gone, then returned home. Police arrived, and Elie said he heard a second round of shots coming from behind the houses and assumed officers had killed the gunman.

Elie said the gunman lived with the woman who tried to talk to him. Elie described the gunman as unfriendly, a rarity on a street where most neighbors offer a wave in passing.

He often worked on his car outside his house but never waved at anyone, Elie said.

The names and ages of the victims and the gunman weren't being released until police could tell family members, some of whom are out of state, Copley police Sgt. Eric Goodwin said.

The son of one victim said a child was among those shot and that the argument started between the gunman and his girlfriend, according to neighbor Kim Dietz. The gunman chased the son, who escaped by wading through a swamp and made his way to Dietz's home, she told The Plain Dealer of Cleveland.

Goodwin did not know the conditions of the wounded. Investigators were "still putting things together" as they work the crime scenes, he said.

He gave no more details, including whether the shooter and victims were related, their names or what led to the argument.

"That's still under investigation," he said.

Jeff Kirby of nearby Norton said he was visiting his mother's home a block from the shootings around 10:30 a.m. when he heard gunfire - about 15 shots with several pauses between them.

Kirby, 53, said the last gunfire he heard occurred about the same time he heard sirens in the neighborhood.

The neighborhood remained blocked off by police Sunday, and residents gathered for a prayer vigil Sunday night at a nearby park.

Copley Township is a town of about 14,000 people about 40 miles south of Cleveland in northeast Ohio.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/07/ohio-shooting-copley_n_920555.html?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk2%7C84401
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Another tragedy.  Is it just me, or does it seem that this sort of thing is happening more and more?
Apparently this is the year for people to go crazy... Such a shame...
Mosin1942 said:
Apparently this is the year for people to go crazy... Such a shame...
I am wondering if the pressures of the economy are driving more people crazy and violent.
LlGuy631 said:
Another tragedy. Is it just me, or does it seem that this sort of thing is happening more and more?
everytime it comes closer to us getting gun rights back, something like this seems to happen.
Nordon said:
everytime it comes closer to us getting gun rights back, something like this seems to happen.
So it's not just me thinking this.... watch out though, we don't want to start looking like the tinfoil hat crowd.

- Remember, it's not paranoia if they ARE out to get you....
LlGuy631 said:
Another tragedy. Is it just me, or does it seem that this sort of thing is happening more and more?
It has always happened, and it will always happened. I do not think the frequency has changed much in the past few thousand years.
ligun said:
It has always happened, and it will always happen. I do not think the frequency has changed much in the past few thousand years.
When I was a kid, fortyfive years ago, there was a few of these every couple of years or so. (Remember Texas Tower?). But I tend to believe the frequency of these events is somewhat turned up.

I blame (gulp) violent, ultra graphic shooting video games (Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Motal Combat, Mad World, ect.) as a contributing, desensitizing effect on the nitwits inclined to act out. See :
http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2000/04/video-games.aspx
grifhunter said:
I blame (gulp) violent, ultra graphic shooting video games (Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Motal Combat, Mad World, ect.) as a contributing, desensitizing effect on the nitwits inclined to act out. See :
http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2000/04/video-games.aspx
I have to disagree here. As a man about to turn 30, I grew up with video games coming of age, have owned every console since the 2600, and not only played every one of those 'violent' games you mentioned but I continue to be an avid gamer. And I've never killed anyone.

It is as much of a cop out to blame a 'violent' game on someone's behavior just as it is a movie or TV show or rap or heavy metal song. A nut is a nut because they are a nut, not because they killed a virtual representation of a person in a video game. It doesn't matter what tool they get their hands on, when they want to kill they will kill.
Gotta agree with adam here- but one has to wonder if vets end up with high rates of being killers, with the increasing realism of video games, where does that begin to be bridged psychologically?

Wonder what his GF did? I thought from the title this was gonna be a Neil Young thread....
LlGuy631 said:
I am wondering if the pressures of the economy are driving more people crazy and violent.
I was JUST about to say this exact comment.
LlGuy631 said:
I am wondering if the pressures of the economy are driving more people crazy and violent.
I thought the same thing too.

I wonder if there is enough data from the 1930s great depression to show a spike in murder rates/violent crime.
This is tradgic.

One has to wonder if it's happening more often, or it's being reported higher up in news articles?

Either way my condolences to the families. :(
this sounds more like its a "crime of passion" rather than somebody going off because of the economy.
anthony7325 said:
this sounds more like its a "crime of passion" rather than somebody going off because of the economy.
Crime of passion you kill him/her and maybe the mother in law, this nut killed 8 people. Maybe the catalyst was romantic but he went above and beyond. Societal pressures, economy, what have you, this guy went on a killing spree. :(
grifhunter said:
When I was a kid, fortyfive years ago, there was a few of these every couple of years or so. (Remember Texas Tower?). But I tend to believe the frequency of these events is somewhat turned up.

I blame (gulp) violent, ultra graphic shooting video games (Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Motal Combat, Mad World, ect.) as a contributing, desensitizing effect on the nitwits inclined to act out. See :
http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2000/04/video-games.aspx
Absolutely not. I've grown up playing all of those games, and I'm no murderer. In fact, those games are an amazing stress relief! The problem is education is down, prescription of mental medication is up, and nobody catches warning signs. Don't blame video games, that's as fair as blaming responsible gun owners for this.
"I play video games and I havn't shot anyone" is about as persuasive an argument on this issue as "I drove drunk and didn't kill anyone" as evidence that drinking doesn't effect driving deaths.

First, the evidence isn't that you play Mortal Kombat and then go out and shoot your inlaws. The evidence is that a thousand hours of vieweing and causing realistic looking guesome deaths with firearms can on some level produce a breakdown in the psychological controls that normally inhibit such responses in rational people. It has a desensitizing effect as to bloody violence on the hard core players. Overwhelmingly, most players can handle it, however, in the mentally unstable, highly stressed/agitated individual, the loss of impulse control coupled with the programming toward violent reaction, eases the transition into mayhem. The fantasy easily becomes the reality.

I'm not for banning games; my kids play em. I'm just acknowledging that the games could have an effect of some of the nitwits who lose their minds and have lost the ability to recoil at causing violence to neighbors and family.
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