Shootings

[Holman]

Here's a substack gathering and interpreting what's known about the Abundant Life school shooter:

The Madison, Wisconsin School Shooter Was A Columbine Copycat: Here's What That Means

I can't vouch for the author, but they do link to their sources. And "Columbine copycat" means what it says: she posted selfies several times that are direct imitations (down to the clothing and specific t-shirts) of images of the Columbine shooters.

Also: not trans. (And this school really doesn't seem like the type that would have allowed a trans kid to stay enrolled.)

[Smoove_B]

An anonymous twitter nazi is certainly not the most reliable source.

That's going to be the quote of the decade.

Certainly an interesting piece.

[gbasden]

Josh Johnson - The Failure, Fear and Frenzy around Luigi Mangioni

[$iljanus]

So why are the Feds getting involved in charging Luigi Mangione? I know NY pegged him as a terrorist in order to bring 1st degree murder charges against him because the standard for 1st degree murder is pretty high.

The victim was a police officer, peace officer, correctional employee, judge, or a criminal case witness
The murder was committed while the perpetrator was serving a life sentence
The murder was committed with torture of the victim
The murder was committed as an act of terrorism
The murder was committed during the commission or attempted commission of one of the felonies under New York's felony murder laws.
Murder committed for hire (with the charge applying to both the murderer and the person who paid the murderer)

I have no qualms about the state of NY prosecuting Luigi and think they'll do a good job of it but I do have qualms about the Feds bringing a case against him with death penalty implications. It kinda sends the message that people who kill CEOs will not be tolerated by the people in power.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/18/nyre ... nalty.html

[Victoria Raverna]

Rich CEOs are special. You can kill everyone else including children and it is not a big deal. One rich CEO killed and now your're a terrorist.

[Smoove_B]

It kinda sends the message that people who kill CEOs will not be tolerated by the people in power.

Well, we protected the banks back in 2008/9 so it makes total sense that we're going to do everything we can to make sure CEO's feel safe. Imagine if we get some CEO-related gun regulations passed!

[$iljanus]

It kinda sends the message that people who kill CEOs will not be tolerated by the people in power.

Well, we protected the banks back in 2008/9 so it makes total sense that we're going to do everything we can to make sure CEO's feel safe. Imagine if we get some CEO-related gun regulations passed!

There can be a new classification of murder. 1st degree murder plus applying to the murder of people who bring value to society...(and I ain't talking about artistic value or anything silly like that)

I even think the whole "terrorism" label NY slapped on to go for 1st degree murder is a bit of a stretch.

[Pyperkub]

It kinda sends the message that people who kill CEOs will not be tolerated by the people in power.

Well, we protected the banks back in 2008/9 so it makes total sense that we're going to do everything we can to make sure CEO's feel safe. Imagine if we get some CEO-related gun regulations passed!

There can be a new classification of murder. 1st degree murder plus applying to the murder of people who extract value from society...(and I ain't talking about artistic value or anything silly like that)

I even think the whole "terrorism" label NY slapped on to go for 1st degree murder is a bit of a stretch.

FTFY!

[hepcat]

The problem is you end up creating a protected class or two.

[Max Peck]

Well, the protected classes already exist (e.g. cops, politicians, rich white people). Perhaps the intent of the proposition is to amend them to be more beneficial to society as a whole.

WRT Mangione, I'd guess that the federal charges up the ante, since if he's convicted on those then there's no way that Trump doesn't cheerfully have him executed, whereas NY would just throw him in a hole for the rest of his life.

[hepcat]

When society starts codifying who’s allowed to live and who isn’t, then Brave New World goes from fiction to documentary. Sure, we have the perception of protected classes. But to openly declare it in such an obvious way?

[Holman]

Treating Luigi like a national-level threat only plays to his intended narrative.

"Killing one CEO threatens the whole system" is really not the message they want to be sending.

[Victoria Raverna]

Supervillain?

[LawBeefaroni]

Supervillain?

Bar must be set peetty low. The guy pulled off one sloppy hit. And got caught.

[Max Peck]

Tell it to the Feds. And the mayor of NYC, apparently. Does he show up for all the perp walk photo ops, or just the supervillains?

[Holman]

Tell it to the Feds. And the mayor of NYC, apparently. Does he show up for all the perp walk photo ops, or just the supervillains?

Well, he was probably in the courthouse neighborhood anyway.

[Victoria Raverna]

A raw footage of the perk walk of the most dangerous criminal in the world:

[LordMortis]

Do the mayor and a police photographer and contingent of assault rifles along with a junket of other police normally perp walk with NYC murderers? Assuming the answer is 'no' what is the expectation here? Seriously. Good press? An organized jail break? A riot? Are there a gazillion people just out of camera view? Maybe the 2020 Congressional vote count for POTUS should have been in NYC.

[Victoria Raverna]

They're making him into a superhero.

[LawBeefaroni]

Do the mayor and a police photographer and contingent of assault rifles along with a junket of other police normally perp walk with NYC murderers? Assuming the answer is 'no' what is the expectation here? Seriously. Good press? An organized jail break? A riot? Are there a gazillion people just out of camera view? Maybe the 2020 Congressional vote count for POTUS should have been in NYC.

Press and probably some fantasy that Antifa folk-punk gangs will try to spring him.

And if you're NYPD SWAT and the mayor and FBI CTJTF says gear up to look cool, why the hell not?



Note: definitely not for his safety. Usually they'll have perps in kevlar if there is concern for their safety. He's got none.

[Pyperkub]

And some kid decided to make dozens of false school shooting reports...

Slowly, Lombard’s dread gave way to anger. Could the call have been a hoax? As she and hundreds of students and teachers sat in silence, still fearing the worst, two questions entered her mind that she would still be asking herself more than a year later.

Who would do something like this? And why?

The chaos, the fear, the dread and immense disruption triggered by that one haunting voice on the phone wasn’t targeted at Spokane alone. The call was one of dozens that a person who went by the online handle Torswats would make to law enforcement, targeting schools across Washington state over a little more than 24 hours.

In some calls, the person told dispatchers he wanted to kill students for Satan. In others, he said it was because he was new to town and people treated him “like shit.” In others still, like the one to Spokane, he seemed to have become bored enough with the game that he didn’t bother to make up a reason. Armed with little more than his monstrous voice, an internet-based calling application routed through an anonymous proxy server, and a recording of gunfire taken from the video game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Torswats terrorized half the state, paralyzing schools, weaponizing civilians’ own police forces against them, temporarily shutting down entire communities, again and again and again.
Screenshots of counties in Washington state

In the midst of that months-long reign of terror, Torswats had distinguished himself as perhaps the most prolific American school swatter in history. And throughout all of it, federal law enforcement was well aware of the chaos Torswats was inflicting. For months, the FBI had possessed everything it needed to unmask him. In fact, the agency already knew Torswats’ real name and address. But it had still done nothing to stop him—a fact that was particularly appalling to the man who had practically handed Torswats’ identity to the FBI: a lone private investigator living outside Seattle named Brad Dennis.

[GreenGoo]

Slowly, Lombard’s dread gave way to anger. Could the call have been a hoax? As she and hundreds of students and teachers sat in silence, still fearing the worst, two questions entered her mind that she would still be asking herself more than a year later.

Who would do something like this? And why?

Frustrated wannabe novelist? I think I'm done with these kinds of articles.

[LordMortis]

In the midst of that months-long reign of terror, Torswats had distinguished himself as perhaps the most prolific American school swatter in history. And throughout all of it, federal law enforcement was well aware of the chaos Torswats was inflicting. For months, the FBI had possessed everything it needed to unmask him. In fact, the agency already knew Torswats’ real name and address. But it had still done nothing to stop him—a fact that was particularly appalling to the man who had practically handed Torswats’ identity to the FBI: a lone private investigator living outside Seattle named Brad Dennis.

Paywalled. Does it say why? We had a rash of thefts from teenagers in the early aughts where they stole a lowjacked work laptop from a B&E. Our insurance on the laptop had an investigator find the laptop in 24 hours and gave the names of the kids to police for their investigation within 48. Laptop wasn't recovered by the police. Insurance via the lowjack servic covered the cost of the laptop which was encrypted from remote. Police never prosecuted. Not even a court date set. A spree of B&Es by bored white upper middle class teens over the course of a couple of weeks was worth not even a tiny bit of legal resources tied to it.

[Pyperkub]

In the midst of that months-long reign of terror, Torswats had distinguished himself as perhaps the most prolific American school swatter in history. And throughout all of it, federal law enforcement was well aware of the chaos Torswats was inflicting. For months, the FBI had possessed everything it needed to unmask him. In fact, the agency already knew Torswats’ real name and address. But it had still done nothing to stop him—a fact that was particularly appalling to the man who had practically handed Torswats’ identity to the FBI: a lone private investigator living outside Seattle named Brad Dennis.

Paywalled. Does it say why? We had a rash of thefts from teenagers in the early aughts where they stole a lowjacked work laptop from a B&E. Our insurance on the laptop had an investigator find the laptop in 24 hours and gave the names of the kids to police for their investigation within 48. Laptop wasn't recovered by the police. Insurance via the lowjack servic covered the cost of the laptop which was encrypted from remote. Police never prosecuted. Not even a court date set. A spree of B&Es by bored white upper middle class teens over the course of a couple of weeks was worth not even a tiny bit of legal resources tied to it.

archive.org version

Why? Generally for the lulz and online bragging apparently. (kid was 15-17 during the spree)

He boasted that he aimed to hit at least one school in every county in the state and tallied the tens of millions of dollars in disruption he hoped to inflict. “It was funny as allf uck. SHOTS HEARD,” he joked at one point, seeming to mock Jones specifically.

“2/3rds done with washington,” he wrote, then bragged about making a bomb threat against the Pentagon. “There’s nothing I can’t do.”

It doesn't go into why the damn FBI did nothing for years tho.

[LordMortis]

It doesn't go into why the damn FBI did nothing for years tho.

That was my question. I don't get it. When the answers are handed to you on a platter, what ends up being the stopper?