Acts of Terrorism megathread

[Tamas]

When there was a news item a week or so ago that Putin's popularity has allegedly plummetted because of the pension reforms they've had to do, many commenters joked that it's ok, they'll just need to blow something up.

[mongers]

When there was a news item a week or so ago that Putin's popularity has allegedly plummetted because of the pension reforms they've had to do, many commenters joked that it's ok, they'll just need to blow something up.

I'm not sure how him setting up a highly credible looking school shooting would help him.

[Barrister]

Yeah, news report I saw was that it was a lone wolf school shooting.

[Syt]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45900534

Crimea attack: College shooting is 'globalisation' result

The deadly gun and bomb attack on a college in Crimea "appears to be a result of globalisation", Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

"On social media, on the internet, we see the creation of entire communities. Everything started with the tragic events in schools in the US," he said.

Fifteen students and five teachers were killed in Wednesday's attack on the technical college in Kerch.

Officials named the killer as Vladislav Roslyakov, 18, who took his own life.

He was a fourth-year student at the college in the city in Crimea - the southern peninsula annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014.

'People have lost limbs'

On Wednesday, a huge nail-bomb blast ripped through the college's cafeteria, before the killer stormed through the building, shooting people at close range with a pump-action hunting rifle.

Russian Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said the explosion from a home-made device had showered people with shrapnel.

"Some victims' internal organs were ruptured, we're finding washers and ballbearings in their livers, intestines, blood vessels," she said.

"Limbs have been amputated - people have lost feet and shins," she said.

Some of the critically injured were being transferred to hospitals as far away as Moscow.

The authorities in Crimea have declared three days of mourning. A prayer service was held for the victims at a makeshift shrine near the college.

The rampage is the deadliest attack to have taken place in Crimea since the Russian annexation.

That Russian intervention - condemned by many Western powers - marked the start of a conflict pitting Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine against Ukrainian government forces.

What happened at the college?

The perpetrator is said to have run from room to room as he fired. Minutes earlier he had left a rucksack containing the nail-bomb in the cafeteria on the ground floor and detonated it remotely, Russian Channel One TV reported.

Photos later emerged in Russian media purportedly showing his body in the college library.

The TV report described a scene of devastation and mass panic after the blast. It said doors and windows were shattered in the entrance hall and on the first floor, above the cafeteria. Some students leapt out of the building from a height of 5m (16ft 5in).

Investigators later said they had found a second explosive device among the gunman's possessions and that it had been disarmed. He was also reported to have several packs of bullets and home-made petrol bombs.

BBC Russian spoke to witnesses, including Igor Zakharevsky. "I was at the epicentre of the first explosion, at the entrance, near the buffet," he said.

"I was in complete shock and one of my classmates started pulling me away. Then I heard several shots at intervals of two or three seconds. After a while there was another explosion."

Marina, an 18-year-old student at the college, said there was "a massive explosion, the windows began to rattle and everyone started screaming".

"We bolted out of the classroom and ran. There was complete pandemonium in the corridor," she said. "I saw a girl lying near the wall in an unnatural position, others lying on the floor covered in blood. Shots were being fired every five or six seconds.

The incident was first described as a "terrorist act", but Russia's investigative committee later reclassified it as "mass murder".

[Barrister]

Why am I not surprised that Putin found an angle to blame the attack on the US.

[Syt]

No, he blames globalisation. I.e., I guess he's fine with Americans shooting each other, but not with Russians learning about it because of those pesky interwebs.

[Syt]

Wasn't sure if this should go into the gun thread or here; do we need a hate crime megathread?

https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/10/26/us/26reuters-kentucky-shooting.html

Kentucky Supermarket Shooting Investigated as Hate Crime

(Reuters) - The shooting of a black man and woman at a Kentucky supermarket was being investigated as a possible hate crime, a federal prosecutor said on Friday.

Gregory Bush, 51, a white man, has been charged with shooting Maurice Stallard, 69, in front of his grandson as they shopped in a Kroger Inc grocery store in Jeffersontown, some 15 miles (24 km) from downtown Louisville. According to an arrest citation, he then went to the parking lot and shot Vickie Jones, 67.

Bush has been charged with murder and 10 counts of first-degree wanton endangerment.

"Federal investigators are supporting local law enforcement and examining this matter from the perspective of federal criminal law, which includes potential civil rights violations such as hate crimes," U.S. Attorney Russell Coleman said in a statement on Friday.

An armed bystander with a carry permit for a concealed weapon exchanged gunfire with Bush in the parking lot before the suspect fled in his car. He was apprehended shortly afterwards, police said.

Ed Harrell told the Louisville Courier Journal that he pulled out his pistol as Bush approached him in the parking lot and Bush told him not to shoot as "whites don't kill whites."

It was not immediately clear if Bush had legal representation.

If investigators suspect the killings were racially motivated, Bush could also be charged for a hate crime.

Both Stallard and Jones were shot from behind multiple times, Jeffersontown Police Chief Sam Rogers told reporters on Thursday.

Rogers said Bush suffered from mental illness and court records showed he had a history of violence and at least one instance when he used a racial slur.

About 15 minutes before walking into the Kroger supermarket Bush tried to get into a predominantly black Baptist church, police said, citing surveillance video.

First Baptist Church administrator Billy Williams told local CBS affiliate WLKY there were eight to 10 people in the church at the time.

In 2015, self-described white supremacist Dylann Roof, then 21, shot and killed nine black people in a church in Charleston, South Carolina.

[dps]

They're now saying at least 10 dead in the Pittsburg synagogue shooting, with more wounded, including 4 cops.

[mongers]

They're now saying at least 10 dead in the Pittsburg synagogue shooting, with more wounded, including 4 cops.

Oh dear. 

[Caliga]

The Kentucky shooting happened about a mile from my office.  Been into that Kroger a few times.

[dps]

So, not sure if terrorism, but somebody shot 6 people in Florida at a yoga studio, of all places.

[Admiral Yi]

My money's on incel.

[mongers]

My money's on incel.

You could well be correct:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46090014

Florida Yoga gunman: Shooter 'posted misogynist videos'4 November 2018 

A gunman who killed two women at a Florida yoga studio had previously posted misogynistic and racist videos online, it has emerged.

Scott Paul Beierle, 40, had also been accused of harassing women and grabbing their bottoms, police say.

Beierle killed Nancy Van Vessem, 61, and Maura Binkley, 21, at the studio in Tallahassee on Friday, before taking his own life.

Officers are still trying to establish whether he had any links to the women.

All three had connections to Florida State University - Beierle a former student, Dr Van Vessem an employee and Ms Binkley a current student - but it is unclear if they knew one another.

Another five people were injured during the attack. Investigators have yet to give a possible motive for the shooting.

However, it seems Beierle, who lived in Deltona, Florida, was known to authorities as he had "been the subject of prior calls for service in the Tallahassee area related to harassment of young women", local police said in a statement.

In 2012 and 2016 he was arrested for grabbing women's bottoms, although prosecutors later dropped the charges.

Meanwhile, videos uncovered by BuzzFeed News show Beierle calling women "sluts" and "whores", also hitting out at women he said betrayed "their blood" by dating people of other races.

In another video, he appeared to sympathise with young men like Elliot Rodger, who killed six people in Isla Vista, California, in May 2014. He has since become a hero to an online community known as the "involuntarily celibate", or incels, who blame women for their lack of sexual partners.

Beierle, who had served in the military, also uploaded a video where he said he wanted to "blow off" a woman's head.

The videos date back to 2014, all posted within a three day period.

[jimmy olsen]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-44963700

Beijing blast: Small explosive device set off near US embassy

A man has set off a small explosive device close to the US embassy in Beijing, officials have confirmed.

Apart from the attacker, there were no injuries reported and officials say police responded immediately.

Video and images posted on social media show smoke rising from the vicinity of the embassy in the heart of the Chinese capital with crowds gathering.

State media outlet Global Times tweeted that local residents had heard a "thunder-like bang".

A statement from the US embassy in Beijing said a device, which they described as a bomb, had exploded at around 1300 local time (0500 GMT) at the south-east corner of the compound.

Beijing police called it a "suspected firecracker device" which caused a fire. The bomber injured his hand during the incident, but there was no danger to his life and he was immediately sent to hospital.

He was named by police as Jiang Moumou, from Inner Mongolia province.

The BBC's Stephen McDonell at the scene says that normal activities have since resumed at the embassy, with people still lining up for visa applications.

There were earlier reports that police had taken away a woman who had tried to set herself on fire near the embassy at 1100 local time, several hours before the reported blast.

It is unclear if the two incidents were linked.

Attacks on sites in the Chinese capital are rare. The most serious incident in recent years saw a car ploughing into a crowd at Tiananmen Square in 2013, killing five people including the attackers. China blamed the incident on Muslim Uighur separatists.

Do we have a thread on the Uighur concentration camps? I thought someone posted one, but I can't find it.

[Tamas]

Do we have a thread on the Uighur concentration camps? I thought someone posted one, but I can't find it.

Well if this was an Uighur I am glad they are well aware who is the real cause of their plight: America.