Four dead in gym shooting.......

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Four dead in gym shooting.......
14
Wed, 08-05-2009 - 9:12am

Pennsylvania Gym Shooter Plotted Attack in Online Diary Before Killing Four


Shooter George Sodini's Ex-Girlfriend Was Reportedly Shot, as Was Instructor Who'd Just Told Her Class She Was Pregnant

http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=8255530&page=1


The man who shot up a Pittsburgh-area gym, killing three and injuring as many as 15 others before apparently turning a gun on himself kept an online diary detailing his hatred for his domineering mother and brother, and his lust for other women.



ABC's "Good Morning America" has confirmed that George Sodini, 48, of Scott Township, Pa., was the man who police say Wednesday walked quietly into an aerobics class at LA Fitness in Bridgeville, Pa., where he was a member, turned off the lights and started shooting. Police said they found 52 casings at the scene.



Among those reportedly shot were Sodini's ex-girlfriend, who survived, and the class instructor, who had just told her class she was pregnant, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.



Jen Malley told "Good Morning America's" Chris Cuomo that she was in the Latin dance class at LA Fitness Tuesday when the shooting started. It's a class she takes every week with friends.



"It was the most terrifying experience of my life," she said. "I've never been so scared."



Malley said she didn't see Sodini enter the room but said she felt a presence of "someone who didn't belong there." Then the room went dark.



"Everyone was just screaming so loud. At first I didn't even think shots were being fired," she said. "It was so surreal."


Then, as she realized what was happening, Malley and her friends found their way out of the room, guided by the lights in other parts of the gym.


"I just ran as fast as I could," she said, adding that she went back to make sure her best friend was behind her. "It was just a blur from there."


Sodini's Aug. 3 online diary entry, which included a date of death, was full of disturbing musings about religion and his plans for the attack. He noted that he hadn't had a drink since 2:30 on Friday as part of his preparation.


"Total effort needed. Tomorrow is the big day. Unfortunately I talked to my neighbor today, who is very positive and upbeat. I need to remain focused and absorbed COMPLETELY," the diary read. "Last time I tried this, in January, I chickened out."


The diary also indicated that Sodini hadn't had sex since 1990 and that his so-called "practice papers" -- details about the planning of the attack -- are welcome to be published afterward because "maybe all this will shed insight on why some people just cannot make things happen in their life, which can potentially benefit others.


"Maybe soon, I will see God and Jesus. At least that is what I was told. Eternal life does NOT depend on works. If it did, we will all be in hell," Sodini apparently wrote, before adding later, "I was reading the Bible and The Integrity of God beginning yesterday, because soon I will see them."



Blog Entries Detail Shooter's Problems With Family, Women, Alcohol

Sodini had apparently been planning the attack for some time, even writing that he put off his original plan until after November's 2008 presidential election, in a rambling entry that complains black men have their choice of the best white girls.


He tried again in January and May, according to the blog, but "chickened out."


The Jan. 6 entry said he even brought the loaded gun to the gym.


A lengthy New Years Eve entry lists his family members by name and, in some cases, address. He described his older brother Michael Sodini as a bully -- the "kind of guy you actually loved to hate."


He described his mother as the "Central Boss" warning, "Don't piss her off or she will be mad and vindictive for years. "


Various blog entries detail his worry about losing his job and having to re-enter the job market, as well as his troubles with alcohol.


A May 5 entry -- the day of his second attempt to launch an attack on the gym -- notes that he stopped to buy a bottle of Jack Daniels, his first drink in 20 years.


And on Monday, the day before the shootings, Sodini gave what might be the closest thing to his reason for the attacks.


"The biggest problem of all is not having relationships or friends, but not being able to achieve and acquire what I desire in those or many other areas," the blog reads. "Everything stays the same regardless of the effert (sic) I put in. If I had control over my life then I would be happier. But for about the past 30 years, I have not."



Gym Shooter Ambushed Class Full of Women

Witnesses told ABC affiliate WTAE that about 30 women were in the aerobics class when Sodini, described as a "middle-aged white male" walked in with a large gym bag.


Ron Fleeher told WTAE Channel 4 Action News that the gunman held down his niece before shooting her.


"My niece said a couple bullets went past her head and leaned down, straddled her and shot her in the shoulder," he said.


Sources close to the investigation told ABC News that multiple guns were used in the attack, including one that was registered to Sodini.


Collier Township Police Chief Tom Devin told reporters that he believed the shooter committed suicide at the scene.


A woman in the class at the time of the shooting, who identified herself as Nicole, told WTAE that the class had started about 10 minutes before gunfire erupted.


She said about 30 women were in the class when "a middle-aged white male walked into the class. He had a big gym bag."


"He looked out of place in a class full of women," according to the witness, who said the man put his bag down, turned the lights off and opened fire.


Moffat said that the man did not say a word upon entering the gym nor when walking into the dance studio.


"He walked right into the room where the shootings occurred as if he knew exactly where he was going," he said.


The floor was littered with shell casings and blood, according to surviving witnesses. A local hospital is treating five women who were shot multiple times, all of whom were in critical condition, reports WTAE.


Area hospitals are treating the other victims, including two in fair condition.




Health Club Members 'Shaken' by Gym Shooting Spree

LA Fitness gym staff told WTAE that it was a busy night health club at the time of the shooting, with about 100 people inside. Witnesses said people inside the gym took off running amid the gunshots.


Lauren Dooley, 26, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, that she had been running on a treadmill, listening to her iPod when the chaos broke out.


"I saw people flying off the treadmills, hitting the ground" for cover, Dooley said. "We crawled through the fire escape, and I sprinted out the back."


"I turned around there was one girl shot in the thigh and one girl shot in the back," Branson Holly, a witness inside the gym at the time of the shooting told WTAE. "I'm still shaken because I was in spinning class and it could have been my class."


Many heard the sounds of gunfire, others actually saw shots being fired in the darkened room.


"The lights were off, and I could see flashes in the dark," said Jared Frederick, a witness.


Debi Wozniak told The Associated Press that she is normally a regular at the weekly Latin impact dance exercise class. She says she missed the class Tuesday, but her sister, Joann Gazzam, had attended.


Gazzam told Wozniak that a man came in through the glass double doors, walked to the back of the room and set down the bag. She said he began looking through his bag and pulled out and began shooting.


"She told me, 'Debi, I seen everything, oh my God, I seen everything. I seen him pull out the guns,"' Wozniak said.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-03-2009
Wed, 08-05-2009 - 9:31am

The NRA says that senators who vote for Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation will be put on their list of unacceptable candidates. Makes you wonder several things. How did they get so powerful? How many innocent people will die before they accept any restrictions on firearms? And what does it say about NRA members if they vote only for a NRA-approved candidate?

There have been too many episodes like this. It's time for far more restrictions on firearms.

I wonder how many times Sodini practiced as part of a well-regulated militia. Hah!

Jabberwocka

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-25-2008
Wed, 08-05-2009 - 11:43am

There already are restrictions on firearms, many of them, so your (rhetorical?) question carries little weight.


How many innocent people will die before they accept any restrictions on firearms?


And as with a previous such incident, there is no mention that I saw as to what weapon or weapons were used.

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 12-25-2008
Wed, 08-05-2009 - 11:44am
Where the hell are all these whack-jobs coming from?

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-30-2002
Wed, 08-05-2009 - 12:37pm

**Where the hell are all these whack-jobs coming from?



iVillage Member
Registered: 12-25-2008
Wed, 08-05-2009 - 12:55pm

People like that are disturbing, and alarming under many circumstances.

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-03-2009
Wed, 08-05-2009 - 1:13pm

And we're off!

The restrictions which the NRA has accepted are more window dressing than substance. And they're always trying to whittle away at or demolish what restrictions do exist:
<NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox said, “It’s time to fully restore the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding residents in the District of Columbia. The D.C. Council’s latest gun registration scheme is proof of its continued contempt for the Supreme Court.”
NRA filed the original suit last summer after D.C. enacted a restrictive gun registration law in response to the landmark Supreme Court decision in the first District of Columbia v. Heller. The historic Heller decision struck down D.C.’s long-standing ban on handguns and self-defense in the home. The second amended complaint challenges D.C.’s current laws, which will become permanent in early April if not vetoed by Congress.
Under the current D.C. law, prospective gun owners are required to pass a written test graded at the sole discretion of the Metropolitan Police Department. They must also have vision better or equal to that required to get a driver’s license (even for those who just want to possess a collector’s item), submit employment history for the past five years and surrender all handguns for ballistics testing, among other restrictions. The current D.C. law is more stringent than California’s draconian gun laws and bans many firearms commonly owned and used for self-defense. Failure to satisfy these onerous requirements can result in fines of up to $5,000 and up to five years in prison.>>
http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Federal/Read.aspx?id=4673

Here's my point regarding the weapons which were used in this latest massacre: Clearly they were powerful enough and speedy enough to kill several women and injure more within a relatively short period of time.
<Two handguns and a black gym bag were recovered at the scene. Mr. Moffatt also said a note was found, but he did not describe its contents.>> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/us/06shoot.html?hpw
The specific type of weapon matters not at all, particularly if Sodini owned those weapons legally.

I take your point about voting a straight ticket or single issue. But I can't think of any other organization with literal firepower and figurative political firepower as well. A potent, dangerous, LETHAL combination.

Just a reminder about the wording of the Second Amendment. "Well-regulated militia". "Legally" those words have been left to moulder in the dirt, along with the bodies of all those people who have been killed by "whack-jobs".

Jabberwocka

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-25-2008
Wed, 08-05-2009 - 1:47pm

For myself I don't consider the NICS (for example) to be merely window dressing.

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 05-23-2008
Wed, 08-05-2009 - 6:13pm
What a tragedy!
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-03-2009
Wed, 08-05-2009 - 9:40pm

NICS (The National Instant Criminal Background Check System) which is meant to screen gun buyers, is a hoot and IMHO, a prime example of "window dressing". To actually be effective, the database would have to be comprehensive and up to date. It's neither. And its prime flaw is that it only screens, at best, for those who have already committed a crime and been entered into the database by a local, state, or federal agency. For instance, it didn't stop Seung-Hui Cho who was mentally compromised but hadn't yet murdered 32 students at Virginia Tech. He bought weapons with an ease which is alarming. Too bad the NRA hasn't gotten the word out to the rest of us about how their "rights" are killing us.

So DC is supposed to let anybody, who has not yet committed a crime which has been entered into the NCIS data base, have access to a weapon whose sole purpose is to inflict serious physical harm; while administering a far more rigorous screening process to those who operate a motor vehicle, the primary purpose of which is transport? Doesn't make a lick of sense.

"The rule is still innocent until proven guilty, and you can't deny someone their rights based on what they may do in the future, even if you know they're complete flakes." EXCUSE ME?! I see abundant reason to deny access to a lethal weapon to a complete flake. And I ask again, as I have repeatedly in the past, why the writers of the Bill of Rights used the phrase "well-regulated militia" if it was meant to be meaningless.

According to Federalist Paper #29 by Alexander Hamilton,
<>
http://www.constitution.org/fed/federa29.htm

Interesting, is it not, that so frequently that same passage is only quoted in part without the first three sentences? Apparently Hamilton wasn't referring solely to owning a weapon. As I said, the Second Amendment has been legally moldering from the time when militias become functionally defunct.

Jabberwocka

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-25-2008
Wed, 08-05-2009 - 10:59pm

As I said, it needs updating and upgrading, but the NICS is still a vast improvement over what we had before it was brought online.

 


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