US mass shootings megathread

[merithyn]

EDIT: Added the OTHER mass shooting yesterday; this one in Brooklyn.

EDIT #2: Two more shootings this weekend: Texas and Ohio. Body count continues to rise. Changed the subject to megathread.

Yet another domestic terrorist (re: "mentally ill" white guy) shoots up a crowd of people. News at 11.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49147369

Three people have been killed and 15 injured after a gunman attacked a food festival in California.

The gunman was shot dead by police shortly after he began firing, although police are investigating reports that a second suspect may still be at large.

The Gilroy Garlic Festival was about to end for the weekend on Sunday evening, when shots were fired at the site.

Six-year-old Stephen Romero is the first of the dead to be identified. His mother and grandmother were wounded.

His father, Alberto Romero, told Mercury News that he was at home with his nine-year-old daughter when he got the panicked call from his wife.

They had been playing in an inflatable bounce house at the time of the attack, she told him, when the boy was shot in the back.

"I couldn't believe what was happening, that what she was saying was a lie, that maybe I was dreaming," said Mr Romero.

"He was joyful, always wanted to play, always positive," he said, adding that the boy's mother has been placed in a medically induced coma after being shot in the stomach and her mother was being treated for a gunshot wound in the leg.

It was the 246th mass shooting in the US this year, according to US tracking website Gun Violence Archive.

The killer has been identified as 19-year-old Santino William Legan, according to CBS News. Witnesses said he was wearing camouflage, and used a rifle during the attack.

1 killed and 11 injured in shooting at community festival in Brooklyn

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/07/28/brooklyn-shooting-brownsville-park-neighborhood-event-ends-gunfire/1850795001/

NEW YORK – A popular community festival was coming to a close when gunfire erupted in a Brooklyn neighborhood, leaving one man dead, another person in critical condition and 10 others wounded, authorities said Sunday as they searched for two shooters they believe were involved.

New York Police Commissioner James O'Neill said the shooting late Saturday in the borough's Brownsville section "was a tragic end to a wonderful weekend" that involved thousands of people gathering to take part in the annual Old Timers Event, which featured musical performances from former residents and current local talent.

The crowd at the celebration was dispersing when gunshots rang out from a playground area in the park where it was taking place, officials said.

Twelve people were hit –– seven men and five women between the ages of 21 and 55. A 38-year-old man died from a bullet wound to the head. His name was not immediately released.

Six of the wounded had been released from the hospital by midday Sunday, O'Neill said.

[Valmy]

Nowhere in the article does it say he was mentally ill

Anyway what else is new? I am glad the police took him out before more innocent people could be hurt.

[Malthus]

"What's going on?" a woman can be heard asking in one video, "who'd shoot up a garlic festival?"

A vampire sympathizer, perhaps? Not even joking - some people have committed murders under the delusion they were vampires.

Though more likely, the purpose of the venue wasn't important, it was just a large gathering of people to shoot at. 

[Syt]

Thoughts and prayers. Let's not politicize this tragedy to push extreme and unconstitutional agendas.

[Valmy]

Though more likely, the purpose of the venue wasn't important, it was just a large gathering of people to shoot at. 

Yep. It is not like the other mass shootings typically have some kind of justification about them, even irrational ones.

[Syt]

"What's going on?" a woman can be heard asking in one video, "who'd shoot up a garlic festival?"

A vampire sympathizer, perhaps? Not even joking - some people have committed murders under the delusion they were vampires.

Richard Chase comes to mind.

[merithyn]

Nowhere in the article does it say he was mentally ill

Anyway what else is new? I am glad the police took him out before more innocent people could be hurt.

There are dozens of articles out there, and at least one already has people "opining" that the shooter was mentally ill.

[Valmy]

Nowhere in the article does it say he was mentally ill

Anyway what else is new? I am glad the police took him out before more innocent people could be hurt.

There are dozens of articles out there, and at least one already has people "opining" that the shooter was mentally ill.

Is there any evidence for that? I would hate to stigmatize this as some kind of mental illness. Plenty of people get radicalized and angry without that.

But I guess if it was, that might point to us finally taking mental issues more seriously. I am not holding my breath though.

[Eddie Teach]

Seems a fairly safe bet. There's no rational motive for such a thing.

[merithyn]

Is there any evidence for that? I would hate to stigmatize this as some kind of mental illness. Plenty of people get radicalized and angry without that.

But I guess if it was, that might point to us finally taking mental issues more seriously. I am not holding my breath though.

Of course there isn't any evidence that he was mentally ill. But you see, Valmy, it's a white man, so clearly the issue is that he was mentally ill. Only white male shooters are immediately deemed mentally ill, because it can't possibly be that white men can be radicalized and angry.

I was being sarcastic.

[Razgovory]

Great.  Now when people see me shuffling around and mumbling to myself at the Chinese restaurant they are going to think I've been radicalized.   These fuckwits really need to stop shooting up schools and shit.  Or at least stop blaming people like me for the shootings.

[Valmy]

Is there any evidence for that? I would hate to stigmatize this as some kind of mental illness. Plenty of people get radicalized and angry without that.

But I guess if it was, that might point to us finally taking mental issues more seriously. I am not holding my breath though.

Of course there isn't any evidence that he was mentally ill. But you see, Valmy, it's a white man, so clearly the issue is that he was mentally ill. Only white male shooters are immediately deemed mentally ill, because it can't possibly be that white men can be radicalized and angry.

I was being sarcastic.

Gotcha.

I thought being angry was something my melanin-deficient brothers were famous for. Making us angrier is big business.

[merithyn]

Great.  Now when people see me shuffling around and mumbling to myself at the Chinese restaurant they are going to think I've been radicalized.   These fuckwits really need to stop shooting up schools and shit.  Or at least stop blaming people like me for the shootings.

Yes, Raz. They do. For all those reasons and more.

[Eddie Teach]

People willing to die so they can pointlessly take out random strangers are nuts, whether they have a "Cause" or not.

[The Minsky Moment]

I assumed Meri was referring to the ritual where any white guy shooter is asserted to be suffering from some unspecified "mental illness" as an excuse for doing nothing about gun control.  Gun nuttery not being a recognized diagnosis yet.