(This post is missing and can not be restored)

[An update and renaming of an old thread called "smash and grab.."]


THE INNER RING

------------------
--Prior to 4-20-99
Chief of Police, McComb, Mississippi said a local trench coater--"carbon copy of Harris and Klebold"--"was doing planning"(of a school shooting?) Chief said the youth was in custody. "It is believed by the chief that there many be some connection."(21111)
-------------------------
--4-17-99
"West Metro Fire Investigator Dave Green advised Pomona High School students (Redacted) and (Redacted) arrested on April 17, 1999 with explosives. Also within past month (Redacted) contacted in early AM hours at Pomona High School in fatigues. Claimed to be on maneuvers..... There is no connection with this investigation."(17824)
Note: the "splatter punks", those three guys in black jackets and camo pants seen on national TV being arrested in Clement Park(next to CHS) were initially accused of a planned attack on Pomona High School(same school district as CHS) "based on numerous tips the police received". A 'phony" bomb threat would cause Pomona HS to be evacuated about a week later.
-------------------------
--4-19-99
There was a probable planned attack with many similarities to Columbine in far-off Evans High School in Georgia. The Columbia County Seriff's Department in Appling, Georgia questioned two students(Michael Buckner, 15, and an unk youth) on April 19, 1999(the day before Columbine) regarding death threats they reportedly had made at Evans High. Police seized guns at both boys homes as well as computers, and "Excalibur and Samurai-type swords". They both were believed to practice some type of witchcraft, and they participated in LARP war games. They wore trench coats over their all-black outfits with combat boots. {Note that all of these characteristics were shared with the TCM in Colorado.}
The Georgia authorities said there was no connection to the events in Colorado, which was "contrary to many news reports fueled by roumor, that are currently circulating throughout the region." Early local media reports, however, said the two groups were in internet contact or were visiting the same web site.
[FBI Report on Columbine, pg 8]
----------------------
--4-19-99
Employee at Stein Elementary School got voice mail message on 4-19 that she saved for the cops:
"Yes, I'm one of the trench coat robbers, so you idiots and(sic) if you don't give up $10million we're going to kill everybody in the school. You have my warning."
The Stein Elementary Security Office says "It is believed to be young children."
(17977)
---------------------------
--7:30am on 4-20-99
Bomb found at Highlands Ranch High School(neighboring Douglas County)(7962)
"The sheriff's office also made two arrests in connection with a bomb hoax April 20 at Highlands Park Ranch School.
"Four days after the incident, the sheriff's office charged Ben A. Bennett, 18, and Jonathan Reich, 18, with the possession, use or removal of explosives or incendiary devices--a felony.
"One teen is a student at the high school and the other is a former classmate....
"As new of the shootings at Columbine High School began to spread, rumors began to circulate that the fake bomb was in fact legitimate.
"The bomb was not real" Deputy Kim Stuckenschneider of the sheriff's office said. "It just happened at the wrong time. That had absolutely no connection whatsoever with Columbine. It's just a rumor."
[Douglas County News Press, 4-22-99]
Cops said it was a "hoax".



------------------

--about 11:10am on 4-20
Ref to (Redacted) who asked two fellow students at lunch at a Burger King if they would "be up to going into Lincoln(HS-Denver) and shooting people you hate?" He acted as if he knew what was going on before it happened, according to witnesses. He is likely a friend or acquaintance of the Columbine shooters.(14479-81)


==========
--11:15am on 4-20
Columbine Massacre begins
==========

--At 1:30pm on 4-20
A gun with ammo is found in the trunk of a student's car at Kiowa High School(Denver metro area). The owner, 17, tried to run away. Cops also said he may have threatened others, and that he vowed revenge.
[DP.com 4-22, see "How tragedy unfolded"]
----------------------
--8:50pm on 4-20
A theft of four handguns occurs from the Jumbo Sports Store in the town of Lone Tree in Douglas County using smash-and-grab techniques. Arrested later was 18yr old Joel David Freiboth, ex-CHS student at 7700 South Garrison Street and an unidentified 17yr old in the 5800 block of South Garland Way. Four handguns were recovered.
"...the suspects do live in the area and have ties to Columbine High School" according to the Douglas County Sheriff's spokesperson.
"No motive has been established, but one possibility is that they were arming themselves because they were scared and wanted to protect themselves.
"With Freiboth was a 14yr old boy, a student at Columbine who claimed to be a witness to the shooting, authorities said."
[DP.com(DenverPost online) for 4-22-99. Header: "Two CHS students arrested"]
Cops implied it was a "hoax".
------------------------------------
--4-21
In Colorado Springs(70 miles south of Denver), one Shannon Waltz and three other teenagers dressed "as gothics in black trench coats and masks were charged with trespassing after a disturbance wedesday afternoon at Coronado High School." Another report had them armed with 'firecrackers'. Three were students at another high school and one was a dropout.
[DP.com for 4-22, see "Notes from somber days"]
Cops said it was a "hoax".
-------------------------
--4-21 Shutdown of Kennedy High
Manager of a 7-11 near Kennedy High School, she sees 3 males, including one wearing TC(tall, slender, long blonde hair, shoulder length) enter her store at 1:55pm on 4-20, acting 'strange' and 'nervous'. They deny any knowledge of what's going on at CHS. Dana Baylis(8912)
Manager of 7/11 at South Wadsworth and Yukon has video of TCMers from Kennedy High wearing trenchcoats on 4-20-99. Other kids say there will be an incident at Kennedy High on 4-21-99.(19680)
"A 'potential link' to students responsible for the massacre at Columbine High School triggered the shutdown Wedesday(4-21) of Denver's Kennedy High School .... the boundaries of the two schools are adjacent.... However, they said it wasn't a bomb or bomb threat that prompted the school's closure, along with the closure of all ten Denver high schools....denver Lt. Frank Conner said Kennedy was closed primarily because of its proximity to Columbine."--Denver Post, 4-22-99
Kennedy High School student Aaron Ratliff's journal entry dated 2-22- titled "56 days to classified information". (56 days after 2-22 is 4-20-99) He said it referred to pot smoking.--(17854)
-A 15-year-old Kennedy High School freshman was arrested(5-14-99) for allegedly threatening to kill classmates and a teacher and blow up the Denver school. The youth allegedly told two students about detailed plans to handcuff those on a hit list to desks and "blow their hands off or shoot them in the head," police said. "He also said he was going to go in the hallways and start shooting other students. He said it was going to be Columbine all over again."
---------------------
--4-22-99
Chesterfield, VA, VirginiaRichmond Times-Dispatch, 4/23/99
Two Manchester High School students were charged yesterday with conspiracy offenses in an alleged scheme to manufacture explosive devices and detonate them inside the 2,400-student school with the intent "to kill more than one person." The students, ages 14 and 15, each were charged with conspiracy to manufacture explosive devices and conspiracy to commit capital murder. They're charged with conspiracy to commit capital murder and manufacture explosive devices. Chesterfield County Police said the stolen key and alleged bombing scheme at Manchester High School were not intended to copy the Colorado crimes, instead, the two teens charged were making plans to manufacture bombs long before the Littleton massacre.
--------------------
4-22-99
R.E. Lee High School, Staunton, Virginia, Richmond Times-Dispatch of 4/24/99
Police arrested a 14-year-old high school student Thursday on a bomb-
making charge after a tipster alerted them to an apparent parallel
with the deadly Colorado school shooting. Prompted by news reports
of the Littleton, Colo., massacre, someone in the Staunton area directed authorities to a Web page the local teen allegedly had set up, the city prosecutor said.
R.E. Lee High School shut down for two days in Staunton, VA area because a student had threatened bombing. He was arrested after a home search turned up a pipe bomb and a floor plan for the school. After the arrest, the rumors were so wild that the school was shut down while it was searched.
From: rwt60 (emailname) *
04/30/99 10:03:12 PDT
[Although the arrest occured on 4-22, the fact that the suspect had a website setup may indicate it was created before 4-20. And what was the "apparent parallel" with Columbine?]
------------------------
Petersburg, Newport News, and Culpeper, VARichmond Times-Dispatch, 4/24/99
Students have been arrested on a variety of charges in Petersburg,
Newport News and Culpeper in the wake of the deadly shooting in
Colorado that has focused attention on school safety.
-freerepublic
Five students arrested in Richmond VA and charged with conspiracy for contemplating a Columbine style attack.
From: rwt60 (emailname) *
04/30/99 10:03:12 PDT
In the Richmond, Virginia, area, at least 13 students have been arrested in recent days for making various threats. One police official said: "I've never seen anything that's quite taken on the hysteria that this has. Rumors are just feeding on themselves ..."
--------------------------
--4-25-99
"Two 16-year old males were arrested Thursday(4-22-99) for making bomb threats to Douglas County High School(on 4-21) in Castle Rock(Colorado), according to county officials. They claimed to be members of the Trench Coat Mafia, officials said."(Denver Post, 4-25-99 and FBI-1619)
"Someone called the school about 11am Wedesday and stated: "This is the Trench Coat Mafia and there is a bomb in the building; detonation time three minutes." Investigators got tips from numerous parents and students implicating two boys, a student and a former student, Stuckenschneider said. They were charged Thursday with making false reports of explosives and conspiracy, which are both felonies,...."
"The reason we're pushing so hard for felony coviction on this is so we won't get so many hoaxes," Stuckenschneider said."(Denver Post 4-23-99 and FBI-1619)
Cops think it was a "hoax".
----------------------
--4-27-99(or before)
"Student found with pipe bomb at Dakota Ridge High School"(18665). Same student arrested a couple of weeks later.
Also,
--Shane Neuhouse "provided information on (Redacted's) criminal activity and (his)plans to attack Englewood High School."(21154)
---------------------
-4-30-99
Faye "Rae" Holt, 34, of Westminster(Colorado), the mother of a former Pomona High School student, was arrested(4-30-99) on false reporting and felony menacing charges for bomb scare that forced the evacuation of the school. She is suspected of calling the school on 4-28-99, claiming there were bombs in backpacks and saying "There goes your students. There goes your school. This is not a Joke."
Witness accounts led police to Holt, Arvada police spokeswoman Susan Rossi said.
The task force investigating the Columbine shootings was called in to determine if the threat was connected to the events at Columbine, but police have discounted that, Rossi said. Authorities believe she was just unhappy with the school.
"She had ongoing dealings with the school ... and felt her son did not get treated fairly,'' District Attorney Dave Thomas said.
[I wonder if the name of her kid was Nalty, Akard, or Brunetti]
-----------------------
--1-1-01
Rampart Range- Proving ground for teen killers? Unless there's another Rampart Range in the Denver area, this shooting range was also used by another group of Colorado teen killers- the "Operation and Reconnaissance Agents" who in Jan 1, 2001 killed three people in rural Park County. The three teens involved were students at Palmer High School in Colorado Springs, and reportedly used the range to test automatic weapons. This case has many interesting parallels to the Columbine shootings: satanism, study of military tactics, accusations of mind control, a charismatic leader, facsination with knives and swords, etc, etc.
I wonder if they closed the range to prevent it from becoming some kind of tourist attraction to conspiracy theorists.

=================
From the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office Final Report-"Findings of the Threats Team"-we read
"IMMEDIATELY after the shooting on April 20, the command post received NUMEROUS reports of additional attacks that were to occur at other schools in the metro area as well as schools outside the state."(emphasis mine)
Based upon the sheer number of these incidents happening on or very near to 4-20, I'd have to say there is a probable connection--and that what was being planned was far more horrific than what actually happened.

THE OUTER RING

Following the Shooting at Columbine High School:
-Denver police Lt. Frank Conner said the city has averaged four to five bomb threats a week, about half of which were school-related, but since Columbine the city has averaged 10 bomb threats per week, with about 75 percent of them school-related, he said. DP.com 5-1-99 and 5-18-99

--4-23-99
Bellaire, Michigan police are investigating threats against students at Bellaire High School by students referred to as the Trench Coat Mafia. Police searched for computer equipment, firearms and explosives, said Charles Koop, Antrim County prosecutor.
Some kind of reference was made to somebody going out in a flash, Koop said.
The term Trench Coat Mafia was used by people providing the information, Koop said. Whether a connection exists between this and the group in Littleton, Colo., is part of the investigation. Police hope to determine if the alleged group in Bellaire had contact via computers with the Littleton group. Koop said references to the trench coat group in Bellaire were made prior to last week's massacre in Littleton, Colo., where 15 people died including the two gunmen.
Schools Superintendent Barb Atkins said an assembly was conducted in school Monday for middle and high school students to reduce their fear in the wake of the events in Littleton.
www.record-eagle.com/1999...threat.htm

----------------------
--4/24/99
Wimberly, TX Austin (TX) American-Statesman,
Five juveniles were arrested Friday(4-23-99) on charges of planning an attack on Danforth Junior High School in Wimberley. The five 14-year-old boys had planned the assault well before Tuesday's massacre that left 15 dead at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., Hays County Sheriff Don Montague said. The Wimberley boys had been planning the attack since the first of the year and intended to kill fellow students and teachers, the sheriff said.
A search of the school turned up nothing out of the ordinary, said
authorities in this town of 3,000 people about 40 miles southwest of Austin.
Montague said of the alleged plot that was similar to the Colorado high school rampage. Sgt Allen Bridges said the five had already identified the classmates and teachers they planned to kill(hitlist). A search of the suspects' homes turned up crude explosive devices and gunpowder, Montague said, as well as computer disks and Internet documents about bomb-making.
"Based on the statements given, it is clear that these young men were serious about targeting fellow students and teachers,"
--In addition to the bomb parts, deputies and agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms found how-to instructions
downloaded from the Internet, officials said.
--Rumors flew around the school Thursday(4-22-99) about a possible bombing incident. Police said although the students plans were in the works, there was no date set for the bombing.
Classmates described them as "good kids" who played football and ran track.
On Sunday(4-25-99), Gov. George W. Bush came to a gathering of 900 people at the school and urged parents to teach their children to value life. He also applauded officials' prompt response. ``When it comes to the lives of our children, every threat must be taken seriously,'' he said.

---------------------
--4-27-99
Taber, Alberta, W.R. Myers HS, shooter unnamed, 2 wounded and 17-year-old Jason Lang dead
--A home-made bomb was left behind on his bedroom dresser along with notebook sketchings of dead bodies, devil symbols and a scribbled note.
--The boy left W.R. Myers in September 1998 -- eight months before the shooting
--He had his own Web page .... . He enjoyed role-playing video games... the teen was a 'whiz kid' who built a pinball machine and invented computer games. ...he designed computer games featuring animated characters shooting and killing each other.
-------------------------
--4-29-99
Police say Enid High School in Enid, Okla. was evacuated (Thursday 4-29) after a teacher found a "suspicious device in a box" sitting inside a boys' restroom. Police Capt. Nathan Morris says the box was "rendered safe" by state bomb experts and turned over to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms for examination.
In Enid, Oklahoma, a school employee found a pipe bomb in a restroom of a high school on Thursday. Classes were canceled for the 1,400 students and state troopers disabled the device.
---------------------
4-29-99
In California, A 13-year-old boy with a loaded handgun and a hit list of 30 names was arrested at school on Thursday. Authorities pulled the boy out of class at Sierra Middle School in Bakersfield after classmates said they saw a gun under his shirt and saw him loading it outside. A .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun and 13 rounds of ammunition were found on the boy. 'We certainly have a clear picture of what was in his mind and there was no denial'' of his intentions, Kern County sheriff's Cmdr. Don Youngblood said.
In the boy's backpack were 30 pieces of paper, each one with the name of a classmate or teacher, a drawing and the words ''because they deserved to die'' scrawled at the bottom, Youngblood said.
The boy's father was arrested for allegedly leaving the weapon on the floor of his closet where the boy had access to it, Youngblood said.
------------------------
before 5-3-99
In Fairport, New York, near Rochester, police confiscated gunpowder, propane and bomb-making books at the home of a 12-year-old sixth grader that they said was plotting to blow up his middle school.
-----------------------
5-3-99
Southcoast Early Childhood Learning Center, Costa Mesa, California, Steven Allen Abrams, 39, intentionallly plowed into a crowd of children outside a day care center, killing a 4-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy, as well as injuring five more.
He believed government agencies had devised machines ..that "may even insert thoughts of killing"
In interviews with psychiatrists appointed by the court, Steven Allen Abrams repeatedly expresses disbelief at his own actions while justifying them as the only way to stop the "brain waves" that flooded his mind. "I still don't believe I did it, that I could possibly do what I did," Abrams said. "I'm not a killer. . . . I love kids."
In his interview with psychiatrist Sheffner, Abrams described dressing in military fatigues during psychotic episodes. The government was trying to reach him through television, radio, books and magazines, he said. Their message: Kill.
--"They're going to kill me, the brain wave people. They're assassins," Abrams said, according to the reports. "No matter what happens at the trial, I'll have to deal with them in the end."
------------------------
5-3-99
Everett High School in Lansing, Michigan, where Monday a student hurled homemade chemical bombs on a 52-acre campus."It's a kind of hysteria. It has a mind of its own, a face of its own. It has taken on its own personality. I've never experienced it as a professional" for 40 years, said Dale Glynn, principal
-------------------------
5-4-99 in Toronto, Ontario
13-year-old went on shooting rampage with a B.B gun in two Toronto schools. Five other youth also were charged.
-----------------------
--5-8-99
Four former or current Adams High School(less than 30 miles northeast of Columbine High School) students were charged(5-14-99) as adult with six felony counts each, including attempted first-degree murder, for allegedly plotting a copycat attack on the school. They had detailed plans and drawings, plus a map of the school, authorities said. "Police uncovered the alleged plot while investigating the teens in connection with a string of burglaries in Commerce City(Denver metro area)." David Robert Deering, 16; Derrick Helquist, 15; Steven E. Goldsberry, 16; and Kenneth Jacobitz, 15. The plans and map were discovered after what police and school officials believe was an unrelated bomb threat made during a traffic altercation early Friday. During that incident, a man threatened a motorist by saying a nearby elementary school would be blown up. That triggered a state of high alert throughout the school district. Police patrolled the grounds and roof. Meanwhile, an unrelated investigation into a series of burglaries in Commerce City yielded the plans of an attack.
After school shootings began a couple of years ago elsewhere in the U.S., the school district started "Intruder Alert Drills,'' with students locked into their classrooms and cameras sweeping hallways to identify any movement, Lange said.
[Note: the most suspicious thing about this incident is how the media covered it up, considering the proximity to Columbine. I am unable to find out the disposition of the legal cases. Described as being modeled on the Columbine shooting, so it is unlikely it could have been planned before 4-20. But the fact the burglaries may have been an attempt to obtain guns is another sign of the seriousness of the plans.]
---------------------
--5-16-99
West Palm Beach and federal authorities on Sunday were investigating a pipe bomb found at a Florida hotel where hundreds of students were arriving for their high school prom. A "real nasty" bomb was discovered Saturday at the entrance to a ballroom at the Sheraton Hotel in West Palm Beach, authorities said. Police defused the bomb, but its discovery prompted officials to immediately cancel the year-end dance. About 400 students from Palm Beach Lakes High had been expected to attend. U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Agent Dale Armstrong said a "very alert security guard" at the hotel found the bomb as high schoolers were beginning to arrive. The guard became suspicious when he saw a shopping bag near the entrance to the ballroom about 8:30 p.m., Armstrong said. The pipe bomb was inside the shopping bag. "It was a real nasty one," Armstrong said. He said the pipe bomb was filled with nails and other debris that could have inflicted serious injury had it gone off. ATF agents sent the device to a federal laboratory for further analysis. There was no bomb threat called in to alert authorities of the potential danger, Armstrong added. Authorities had no suspects in custody Sunday morning. CNN
bomb was found hidden inside an indoor tree planter by the hotel's ballroom entrance.
----------------------------
--5-20-99
T.J. Solomon, Conyers, GA Heritage High, 6 wounded
--He had written about "planning it for a year.'
--Upon handing the gun over(a teacher had convinced T.J. not to kill himself--the barrel was in his mouth)he started crying hysterically and said repeatedly "I don't know why I did this."
--"I did this because, well, I'm not sure..... Ever since the shooting at Columbine in Colorado all I've been able to think about is doing this."
"One big question I leave behind for you to find is why," said the note, read by Nicholson during a juvenile court hearing for Solomon. "But for the sake of my brothers and sisters related to the Trench Coat Mafia, those answers will have to remain out of the public eye."

-----------------------
Others:
--4-19-99
A report released in Canada says (Monday) children in several African countries are being used as ``instruments of war,'' and are becoming ``killing machines.'' It says more than 120, 000 children under 18 years of age are being used as soldiers, some ``no more than 7 years of age.'' UPI
--4-20-99
Jane's Defense Weekly reported April 20, 1999: "Special forces involvement confirmed." The report said that that special units from Britain, the United States, France "and other NATO groups'' were working undercover in Kosovo.
--"On April 20, 1996, ....President Clinton signed the Anti-terrorism Act("for the protection of the people and the state")Vanity fair, Sept 2001

Project BLUEBIRD was approved by the director of the CIA on April 20, 1950. [BLUEBIRD is the cryptonym for a CIA mind control program that ran from 1951 to 1953]



"Let the Truth be out, and let the chips fall where they may"

Star...
Thais is very interesting. Wow, makes you think!Just my two cents
~~Mama~~

Never forget those who died that day!.

Thanks for noticing. The point is this: On the early morning of 420 there were at least 10-15 serious attacks on schools being planned in the US and Canada(non-serious and copycats being excluded)
Now either all this is entirely coincidental, or there may a connection amonst many of these incidents. Both options are frightening.

With the internet anything could be possible. A chat room conversation that turned into a killing room. Thanks for the thread Star.

Star,
Lots of hard work but excellent post I have read it several times and I still find it very interesting.Just my two cents
~~Mama~~

Never forget those who died that day!.

UPDATE
Some other events, not related to Columbine, but still interesting:

4-19-97
New Jersey Two pizza delivery workers, lured to a vacant home in Franklin on April 19, 1997, were shot dead inside their car by two Sussex County teens, Thomas Koskovich and Jayson Vreeland, in what one law official described as a thrill-killing. Both teens were arrested shortly afterward and were convicted of murder in 1999.

1-21-99
--The New York Post reported on January 31, 1999, that they had obtained documents (through Freedom of Information Law) that the New York Psychiatric Institute was testing Prozac on 6-year-olds
.
[Comment: The people that do this to little kids are sick, not the 6 year olds]

4-21-99
Darrel Wayne Harris stabbed Robert Menendez during satanic ritual, part of a group of 30-40 satanists in the Ft. Lauderdale, Florida area (see Sun-Sentinel)
--"...the ritualism provided the context under which the borderline was approached and then crossed into frank criminality. It is inevitable that the conclusion be reached that were it not for the ambiance, with its implicit endorsement of deviance and its appeal to the blood senses, there would have been no criminal assault; if these two unstable young poeple were not indulging in blood rituals, it is more likely they could have continued to socialize without one going into a spasm of violence and trying to cut the other to pieces." True Vampires by Sondra London, pg138
--"The victim thought he was involved in one level of activity and became an unwilling participant in another," Broward County Assistant State Attorney Alex Urruella told APBNews.com.

4-21-99?
A day or two after the Littleton, Colorado, shootings, a teenager in Los Angeles, depressed about Littleton, hung himself. The boy had been under treatment for depression.
www.sierratimes.com/cgi-b...14&topic=5

4-15-99 LDS Church Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT, Sergei Babarin, 3 dead, 5 wounded

I had a vague memory of this one, and figured that it was only some isolated incident that had nothing to do with Columbine. It was only when I took a closer look that I realized it might belong on this list.

(from various online media sources)
--The shooting spree by the 71-year-old Russian immigrant began at 10:30 a.m. Police were on-scene within minutes. It ended about 90 minutes later when the gunman moved to a room adjoining the lobby and exchanged fire with officers before being fatally shot, police said.
--The .22-caliber handgun was concealed in an umbrella prior to the shootings.
--"He didn't say anything. He just came in and started shooting people," said Margaret Kane
--Babarin calmly and methodically roamed through the building, even stopping once to reload.
--"I did not hear him say anything. He didn't call out, no names or anything. He just kept his hand held out pointing at people."
--Witnesses said the gunman, wearing military fatigues, walked into the first-floor lobby of the library and began firing randomly with a small-caliber handgun.
--the gunman... quickly fired off a dozen rounds.
--"He came in the lobby and shot a lady in the head and two or three other men"
--According to a tourist at the scene of the shooting, the gunman appeared to be relaxed, passing by some people he could easily have shot.
--He barricaded himself in an office and exchanged gunfire with officers. "That's when he was mortally wounded," (Salt Lake Police Chief Ruben)Ortega said.
--The dead gunman's body was being held in an ambulance near to the scene as police investigated the possibility that he was wired with explosives. [Comment: This is a strange one. Remember that the bodies of H&K were thought to be booby trapped, too.]
--He was not loaded into an ambulance until 45 minutes after being shot, according to one source.


Reports of more than one shooters involved:
--Officially unconfirmed information says that there may be a second gunman involved in the incident. Police describe the scene as "tense" and that the situation is still dynamic. [Quoted on EmergencyNet News website, before the event was over]
--Shots were still being fired up to 45 minutes after officers arrived on the scene, leading police to believe there might be a second gunman.
--Police teams have been combing the building investigating rumours that a second gunman was inside the genealogical library two hours after shooting began.



There is no doubt that Babarin was an oddball:
--The authorities claimed Babarin had a history of mental instability, including paranoid schizophrenia, but had never been involuntarily committed by a court.
--Salt Lake City Mayor Deedee Corradini said Babarin was schizophrenic and had not been taking his medication for the mental illness.
--According to Ann Blake Tracy Barbarin was violent because he had gone off antidepressants too abruptly.
--His only known brush with the law before Thursday happened in 1995. when Ortega said Babarin was arrested and charged with assault and carrying a concealed weapon after a fight at the ZCMI department store in downtown Salt Lake. Zelig said Babarin had confronted a 73-year-old man in a restroom, yelled something unintelligible and tried to bite the man. Babarin was carrying a .22-caliber Ruger then. He pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed dangerous weapon, was placed on probation and was supposed to have turned the gun in. However, it was not known whether he did or whether it was the same gun he used Thursday.
--'He would say "Heil Hitler," "Hitler was right," and "I hate America,'' ' a neighbor said on Thursday at the the apartment complex for the elderly where he lived.
--In May, 1998, a bicyclist told police that Babarin stuck an umbrella in the bicycle spokes as he rode by and accused him of being a spy.
-- Lt. Mark Zelig of the Salt Lake Police said Mr. Babarin had thought his son(Alex) was a spy for the Central Intelligence Agency
--Also in the weeks leading up to Sergei's day in the sun he would accuse everyone around him of being spies. His son, his wife, even people walking past his windows.
--He lived with his wife at St. Mark's Tower, a home for the elderly at 650 S. 300 East. His family claim he was schizophrenic. They say he was diagnosed in New York during the late 80's, but Utah officials claim that he only suffered a mild case of depression.
--Sergei had stopped taking his medication a few weeks earlier; the reason why was that he thought it was poison.
(pic included here)
www.users.on.net/~bundy23...abarin.htm
--Sergei wore his usual getup for a walk into the city (which he took most days), a long coat and baggy pants and a cap pulled low over his eyes.
--Neighbors said Babarin, who had lived in the United States 20 years, was often frustrated by his broken English.


Not only did this event have certain parallels with a certain 'spiracy to come five days later, it had other parrallels with the OKC/Murrah Building blast of three years earlier:
-A local television station employee said a man matching the description of the suspect asked her for directions to the Family History Library earlier this morning. The man, who appeared to be in his late 50s, was bearded and wore disheveled clothes. The man drove a yellow moving truck, which was found early in the afternoon about three blocks away from the library.
--Also raising suspicion was a rental truck parked near the library. Several hours after the shooting, a police bomb squad destroyed a gasoline can they found in the yellow Ryder truck parked near the building, because it had an "explosives" tag attached to it.
--Police said the gunman apparently had no connection to a yellow moving truck parked three blocks from the library and found to contain two 55-gallon drums of gasoline. The truck owner, who had been at the library earlier Thursday and argued with an employee, was questioned at length, said Ortega, but was not believed involved in the shootings. ... At one point police blew a hole in the side of the truck to inspect the interior.

It could have been a lot worse:
--Two groups of school children--89 from Vista Elementary in the Granite School District and 95 from Heartland Elementary in the Jordan School District--were just about to visit the library when the shooting occurred.

And once again it appears the rescuers were terrifying the victims as bad as the perps:
--Tour guide, Jan Gow, from Auckland, New Zealand, recalled the most frightening moment of the siege:
"The scary part was sort of being told to run like we've never run before and as quietly as we could across the library whilst we were being shielded by a machine gun-toting policeman. He was protecting us in case the gunman came down into that floor and we just had to run for our lives."


And there was this predictable aftermath:
--Ray Rivera, "S.L. Police Chief Calls for Tougher Gun Laws," The Salt Lake Tribune, 17 April 1999



At about same time, there was also another act of public violence about a mile away, when another elderly man was seen with a handgun in front of another library. This researcher circumstantially links him with Babarin, and then links the two to Columbine:
web.archive.org/web/20040...unman.html
--Unk man, about 60, commits public suicide a mile from the site of the Mormom library: on the plaza separating the old court buildings (now demolished), the County Sheriff's complex and the City Library! Although the rampage at the Mormon library made national news, the cop convention on the plaza received not so much as a syllable of coverage by even the local media, which gets very interesting when you recall the initial reports from that morning of two suspects.
--man is a 'depressive,' .45cal pistol used
--man's backpack contained an "additional but not excessive" quantity of ammunition
-- a maintenance worker for the library revealed that S2 was observed sitting for some time, possibly an hour or more, where he eventually died.
--Now step back and "admire" the symmetry of the bigger picture: On one side of the mountains (UT) we have two elderly shooters targeting libraries; on the other (CO) a few days later, two teenagers assaulting their high school (with most of the fatalities occurring in the library). These events are like bookends! Not only geographically, but generationally... picture the psychological trauma for the rest of us (each incident, taken separately, is bad enough!): It would've seemed like we were caught in the cross fire of our old people and our youngsters -- in such an environment no one could be considered harmless; no one safe!
--Approaching his target area, S2(subject two) falters for reasons unknown and does himself in after a period of agonized indecision. Enter the "authorities," who decide to serve the public interest by keeping this sad sequel under wraps --.... With media complicity the S2 event is simply allowed to die on the plaza.






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[Comment:

I agree it should be right there with Columbine, Just my two cents
~~Mama~~

"There are things known and things unknown and in between are the doors." Jim Morrison