International thread for shootings

[Tender Branson]

Is this only for killings involving "guns", or do we also post suicide bombings in let's say Iraq, Pakistan etc. here ? We should probably only focus on "shootings".

And if "guns only", do you think we should only post killings with at least 4 victims (incl. the killer) or if the killer remains alive, 3 victims ?

[Tender Branson]

This is going to be a boring thread.

I don't think so, because stuff like this always happens in Europe too, see Germany or Finland.

Even in the UK or Austria (where gun laws are extreme), it could happen - mostly because there are still hundreds of thousands of guns in private households with children or teenagers - often not properly locked away.

[Tender Branson]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18773158

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As I've said above, this can also happen around here.

Even though Switzerland has a very low homicide rate, gun amok runs seem to happen there more frequently than elsewhere in Europe (besides maybe Finland).

[Tender Branson]

Five dead in family bloodbath

Sofia

A Bulgarian couple, their two grown-up sons and grandmother have been found dead in a Sofia apartment with multiple knife and gunshot wounds, police said on Friday.

Media reports said one of the sons, aged 27 and suffering from a psychological disorder, had killed the other four before committing suicide.

Police refused to confirm the reports before post-mortem examinations, only saying that an initial investigation had not found any trace of other people in the apartment at the time of the crime.

The bloodied body of the 79-year-old grandmother was found first by the family's worried neighbours, who had a key to the flat. Police later found the corpses of her daughter and son-in-law, aged 54 and 55, and their two sons, 27 and 21.

Sofia police chief Valery Yordanov said that a knife and the father's legally owned gun were found at the scene.

http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/five-dead-in-family-bloodbath-1.1450220#.UPG1v4Gnt8E

[Tender Branson]

On the other hand, checking Google News and reading newspapers daily, there has not been a single murder so far in Austria in the first 21 days of the new year. Out of 8.5 million people.

Statistically, there is 1 murder every week here.

[Tender Branson]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18773158

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'Three dead' in Swiss shooting

Three people have been killed and seven injured during a shooting at a factory near the Swiss city of Lucerne, local media quote officials as saying.

The killer is among the dead, police and prosecutors are reported as saying.

Shooting broke out in the canteen at the Kronospan wood processing plant in the town of Menznau at around 09:00 (08:00 GMT).

Police and rescue services are at the scene and the entire area is currently sealed off.

"The workers were eating a snack in the cafeteria during the morning, and there was a massacre," said a man quoted by the Swiss news website 20minutes, who had phoned the factory to check on the welfare of his father.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21601323

[Tender Branson]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22076650

[Tender Branson]

Serbia is another country where there's a gun in almost every or every 2nd household:

[Tender Branson]

Apparently, the killer was a Balkan-war-veteran.

(But: Who really wasn't in his 30s or 40s ?)

[Tender Branson]

MOSCOW –  Authorities say a man opened fire in a southwestern town, killing at least six people before fleeing.

Officials at the city hall in Belgorod said Monday that the man opened fire outside a department store, killing five people immediately, including a girl in her early teens. Another victim died in hospital.

The RIA Novosti news agency cited local investigators as saying that the man opened fire while he tried to rob a gun store.

Police locked down the entire neighborhood as they searched for the man, whom they believe to be a former convict. Police have not released the suspect's name.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/04/22/6-dead-in-shooting-in-southwest-russian-city-belgorod/#ixzz2RGdr4MYm

[Tender Branson]

This is going to be a boring thread.

I don't think so, because stuff like this always happens in Europe too, see Germany or Finland.

Even in the UK or Austria (where gun laws are extreme), it could happen - mostly because there are still hundreds of thousands of guns in private households with children or teenagers - often not properly locked away.

And it happens:

Austria gunman ‘kills three’ including police officers and takes hostage



Austrian police say a man has shot and killed three people including two police officers, and is holding at least one hostage.

Reports say the attack happened in a rural area close to Annaberg, about 115 kilometres southwest of Vienna.

The gunman is described as a poacher; his police victims are said to include a member of a specialist intervention team, the other person shot dead being an ambulance driver.

The man has reportedly barricaded himself into a farm building with at least one hostage, thought to be a police officer.

http://www.euronews.com/2013/09/17/austria-gunman-kills-three-including-police-officers-and-takes-hostage

...

The Austrian Interior Ministry has issued a news report blockade to not threaten the siege.

Police have now sealed off the farm house area and COBRA teams (the Austrian SWAT) are now taking over.

[Tender Branson]

Updated:

The Interior Ministry now says the 3 (2 policemen, 1 ambulance driver) are dead.

http://www.bmi.gv.at/cms/bmi/_news/bmi.aspx?id=54674A53484C2B777154493D&page=0&view=1

Farmhouse:



The man is 55 years old and a poacher. As he was poaching again last night, police tried to arrest him, but he shot back.

A police spokesman said that in the area there have been reports in the past that someone shot and killed animals such as deer in the wood, cut off their heads and put the corpses on streets for drivers to watch. Police were now responding to these reports and apparently the suspect is responsible for these animal killings.

[Tender Branson]

The guy is now shooting out of the farmhouse repeatedly in the direction of the special forces.

That leads me to the conclusion that the hostage policeman is probably dead too.

This is the worst amok run here since 2005, when 3 people died as well.

The worst was in 1997 though in my state of Salzburg, when a guy killed 6 people and himself.

[Tender Branson]

Update:

4 dead (3 policemen, 1 emergency car driver)

The SWAT team has now approached the police vehicle on the farm of the suspect and found the body of the policeman inside that the suspect took hostage.

Still unclear if the suspect is alone in his farm, or if family members are inside.

The suspect, Alois H. - 56 years old, apparently liked to do safaris in Africa and elsewhere and brought home many trophys from there and he bragged about them.

He legally owns weapons permits, so he can own and carry weapons and rifles. Apparently, he has many of them in the farm incl. ammunition.

[Tender Branson]

Update:

10 minutes ago, the COBRA (SWAT) teams and the army stormed the farm building, also using tanks.

He also called a friend with his phone and told him that he shot dead his dog as well.

Don't think they will get him alive ...

[Tender Branson]

Update:

10 minutes ago, the COBRA (SWAT) teams and the army stormed the farm building, also using tanks.

He also called a friend with his phone and told him that he shot dead his dog as well.

Don't think they will get him alive ...

Nope:

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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/18/austria-gunman-body-found-farm

[Tender Branson]

Despite these 4 killings yesterday, the semi-annual crime report by the Interior Ministry shows that in the first half of 2013 the number of murders in Austria declined to the 3rd lowest level in the past 10 years:



http://www.bmi.gv.at/cms/cs03documentsbmi/1396.pdf

Homicide in general is very rare here (only 0.5-1 cases per 100.000 people, compared with ca. 4.5 cases in the US) and gun homicides are even less common (Only 10-20% of homicides are committed with firearms, compared with 60-70% in the US).

I have made a few charts before and posted them on the Forum, if anyone is interested ...

[Tender Branson]

Canada Shooting Leaves 3 Officers Dead and 2 Injured

MONCTON, New Brunswick — Three police officers were shot dead and two others were injured in a rare case of gun violence in the east coast Canadian province of New Brunswick, officials said. A massive manhunt was underway.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable Damien Theriault said police responded to a call Wednesday about an armed man in the north end of the city of Moncton at 7:30 p.m. Three of the responding officers were killed and two sustained non-life threatening injuries and were in stable condition.

"We are still actively looking for the shooter," Theriault said. "He is believed to still be in the Pinehurst subdivision area of Moncton. We are urging people in that area to stay inside and lock their doors and for people to stay away from that area."

Police said they were looking for 24-year-old Justin Bourque of Moncton, a city of about 69,000 people about 95 miles (150 kilometers) northeast of St. John, New Brunswick. The police force tweeted an image of a suspect wearing military camouflage and wielding two guns.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/06/05/world/ap-cn-canada-shooting.html

[Tender Branson]

Gunman kills eight in Czech town

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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31608932

[Tender Branson]

It has been reported that "several" people were found dead in Würenlingen, a village roughly 30 kilometres north-west of Zurich, last night. Apparently they were all shot. The police are going to inform the public about the circumstances of the shooting in a press conference in the afternoon.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32680212

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/several-dead-in-shooting-in-switzerland---police/41422300

All of this is very rare and comes as the murder rate in Switzerland and Austria has fallen to record lows:

In 2014, the number of murders in Switzerland dropped to 41 cases (a rate of 0.5/100.000), the lowest since records began.

http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/en/index/news/medienmitteilungen.html?pressID=10057

In Austria, the number of murders also reached a low in 2014 with just 38 cases and a rate of 0.4/100.000 people.

http://www.bmi.gv.at/cms/BK/publikationen/krim_statistik/2014/KrimBericht_2014_web.pdf