Spree killing – it is the rolling, disorganized cousin of mass murders. It is usually a single shooter who moves from place to place shooting both intended victims and those just in the way, as he works through the mission in his head, usually ended when he and a superior law enforcement presence end the spree. Today it is in Santa Monica and an event that, as we type this, spree killing has spread from a home to the streets to a bus on the street, to the library at Santa Monica College. Two hours into this spree the shooter is a white male, wearing a ballistic vest and carrying multiple weapons including an AR-15.
The shooter began at what is reported to be his father’s home, and killed both his father and brother, then setting the house on fire. He continued his rampage on the street, carjacking a car after shooting into several of them. From there he left the car, opened fire on a municipal bus, and then headed to campus where he was met by police from Santa Monica College and the city of Santa Monica. It ended when he was killed in the library.
At this time it is unknown how many people have died. The count is known to be four but the Santa Monica police chief reported? as many as half a dozen, plus the shooter.
In February, just 25 miles southeast of Santa Monica in Orange County another spree killing occurred, killing four and injuring three before the shooter turned the gun on himself.
The week before the Orange County event Chris Dorner, fired LAPD cop committed a spree killing over a week’s time.
On May 26, less than two weeks ago, Marine Esteban J. Smith, 23, stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina carried his murder spree from a hotel outside the camp by killing his wife. It ended in Texas where two were killed and five others were wounded, all with an assault rifle before being killed by a Texas State Trooper and a Texas Game Warden.
This article will update as more information becomes available.
– – Edited and published by WP
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McAllister is a life long liberal, environmentalist, Eagle Scout, and even gun owner ? born in Harlan, Kentucky and has lived in Southern California, New York City and now resides in Lexington, Kentucky as a Systems Analyst.
You can read more of McAllister’s observations and opinions at Shoot From the Left Hip.
