Ten Dead in Alabama Shootings

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Ten Dead in Alabama Shootings
36
Tue, 03-10-2009 - 11:02pm

This happened today, just about 30 miles from where we live. 


 


GENEVA, Ala. - A gunman went on a shooting spree in two neighboring south Alabama towns Tuesday, killing nine people before he shot himself at a metals plant, authorities said.


State police and Geneva Mayor Geneva Mayor Wynnton Melton said that 10 people were dead, including the gunman.


More people were believed to have been wounded. A spokeswoman at Flowers Hospital in Dothan said two children were airlifted to Children's Hospital of Alabama in Birmingham.


The shooter, who remained unnamed but was described as a white man in his 30s, first killed his mother in Samson, Ala., Melton told MSNBC TV, then shot to death eight other people before committing suicide in a metals plant in nearby Geneva.


State and local police are investigating at least four crime scenes believed to involve one gunman, according to the Alabama state police.


Five die at one home
State police reported that the shootings began late Tuesday afternoon in Samson in Geneva County, where the gunman killed four adults and one child at one home, one adult at a second home, and another adult at a third residence.


The gunman fled and traveled on Alabama Highway 52, where he shot at a state trooper's vehicle, striking it seven times and slightly wounding the trooper, who was hit by broken glass.


The gunman then shot and killed another person at Samson Pipe and Supply on Alabama 52, and an individual at a service station, also on Alabama 52.


The man, state police said, then pulled into the parking lot of Reliable Metal Products two miles north of Geneva on Alabama Highway 27, where he fired an estimated 30-round burst at pursuing officers. One of the bullets hit Geneva Police Chief Frankie Lindsey, who was saved by his bullet proof vest, the safety department said.


The gunman entered the business. Within minutes, shots were heard from within Reliable Metal, and law enforcement officers found the man dead from what are believed to be self-inflicted gunshots.


Shooting at people on porches
The gunman had worked at Reliable Metal, said state Rep. Warren Beck, a Republican whose district includes Geneva. Authorities said he used multiple weapons.


State fire marshals are also investigating a burned house in Coffee County where one body was found. It is believed to be related to the other shootings.


State Sen. Harri Anne Smith, R-Slocomb, said some of those killed in Samson were sitting outside.


"He was just driving down the street shooting at people sitting on their porches," she said. "A family was just sitting on the porch and they were shot."


Soleta Darden witnessed the shootout, the Dothan Eagle reported.


"I heard five shots to my right, and then I looked up and saw a maroon Eclipse speed off from the scene, then I saw deputies and troopers in pursuit after him,” Darden said. "I was just scared, crazy scared. I thought, 'What the crap is going on.'"


Geneva is near the Florida border in southeast Alabama. It has a population about 4,400, and neighboring Samson about 2,000.


WTVY TV reported that the gunman did not injure anyone at Reliable Metal Products, according to witnesses. The station got a call from a worker at the business as they crouched in a corner during the ordeal.


The FBI bureau in Mobile sent an agent to assist the Geneva County sheriff's office and local police, a spokeswoman for the FBI told CNN. A message left by The Associated Press with the FBI was not immediately returned.


Reliable Products makes grills and vents for heating and AC systems, mainly for hotels. A call to a person who answered the phone at the plant said no one could talk about the shooting.


The towns of Geneva and Samson are about 11 miles apart, and roughly 30 miles south of Fort Rucker.

 

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-04-2007
Fri, 03-13-2009 - 10:59pm
The more I hear about this, the more my heart breaks for the survivors of those who lost their loved ones for no reason at all.

GO NOLES!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-03-2009
Tue, 03-17-2009 - 1:50pm

I repeat--the primary purpose of cars is transportation. And there are mighty few people who can manage without them, as our society as evolved/devolved (depending on your POV). The combination of primary purpose (transport) and need (in many places, there is no mass transport nor are horses and buggies feasible) has led most people to work within the constraints of law to reduce incidental deaths (through improved vehicle design including seat belts, licensing requirements, road engineering, etc.) and accept that there will be some misuse and some accidents for the sake of safe transport by the majority.

Guns, by their design, are tools of destruction. That's their primary purpose. All others, like competition/marksmanship and collecting, are secondary. Comparing firearms to the internet, libraries, red shoes and churches is deliberately ignoring that lethal primary purpose and thus render the comparisons invalid, and more than a little disingenuous.

As regards the Supreme Court's ruling, I already know of it. They glossed right over the actual wording of the two introductory clauses of the Second Amendment and made some very subjective judgments about the nature of militia which had ZILCH to do with historical context. Had the makeup been less tilted to the conservative side, the ruling might have been quite different.

Why does it not surprise me that a concealed-carry rights site would be the source of your information about personal defense? If we all carried "heat" and didn't rely on law enforcement officers (look at that nomenclature very carefully!) to keep the peace, defend ourselves and enforce justice summarily, we'd be back in the days of the Wild West or worse. I repeat--if you need better responsiveness, CIVIC DUTY would dictate that you work to change the system as it now exists rather than react to the status quo solely for your own benefit.

As regards your last paragraph, it sounded remarkably like a paraphrase of the old and illogical NRA sound bite--"Guns don't kill people, people kill people". So true. As long as guns aren't in the hands of people, they won't kill people. It's the gun/people interface which is dangerous. But that "reasoning" rather obviates the purpose of the NRA, does it not?!

Last, but not least, your final sentence that violent criminals are the source of gun woes is also willfully ignoring facts. Recent mass shootings were done by men who had no criminal records.

edited to correct misplaced parethesis




Edited 3/17/2009 2:24 pm ET by jabberwocka

Jabberwocka

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-03-2009
Tue, 03-17-2009 - 2:20pm

OK, next round, I'll "pop".

The Second Amendment says "well-regulated" as a modifier of the word "militia". So....? What of the states with no SDF's? In those states, there are no militias, well-regulated or otherwise! And even in the states which do have SDF's how many of them require that members provide their own firearms? That is what you're arguing in this statement "The RKBA being guaranteed to the people merely insured a ready source of arms to equip the militia with in the event it was called out", is it not? That militia members provide their own arms when "called out"? Except that neither providing one's own arms nor being "called out" seem to take place with any sort of regularity or "regulation" these days!

Guns are sure innocent, aren't they? They don't do a darn bit of harm until picked up by people. But knowing ahead of time, who will use a firearm in malice or in ignorance just is not possible. It's time and past to do a costs/benefits analysis of gun use and ownership in our society. All too often, it's not the gun owners themselves who are being injured or killed.

Serious consideration of the Second Amendment in historical context makes it seem extremely unlikely that its authors either anticipated the "advances" which led to firearms being so portable or lethal; or that those arms would be used totally outside the context of a "well-regulated militia" with a primary purpose of a free state's security.

Time to be a LOT more restrictive of gun ownership given that the original purpose has fallen by the wayside.

Jabberwocka

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-25-2008
Tue, 03-17-2009 - 3:17pm

You're forgetting the general, unorganized militia.

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-21-2004
Tue, 03-17-2009 - 3:53pm

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martinisnsushi - the two most important food groups!

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-21-2004
Tue, 03-17-2009 - 4:14pm

The Second Amendment says...


The Supreme Court has ruled on what the 2nd amendment says. There's no need to be an armchair quarterback.


Guns are sure innocent, aren't they?

--


martinisnsushi - the two most important food groups!

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