Category Archives: Gun violence

Death Toll In TX Shooting Rampage Now At 7

By Bobby Allyn, NPR News, September 1, 201911:37 AM ET
Updated 9/1/19, at 12:04 p.m. ET

The death toll from a mass shooting in the West Texas cities of Midland and Odessa has risen from five to seven, according to Odessa Mayor David Turner.

The mayor said that at least 18 remain injured — including a 17-month-old girl — following the shooting rampage that began after Texas state troopers attempted to pull over a vehicle Saturday afternoon on a Texas interstate for failing to signal a left turn.

The toddler, Turner said, is still in the hospital recovering from injuries that are “not as bad as they thought,” saying, “we are very grateful the injuries weren’t worse.”

As the community searches for answers about what motivated the gunman, the focus needs to be on the families of victims, the mayor said in an interview with NPR.

“We covet everyone’s prayers for those who were injured and for those loved ones who were lost and for the community as a whole,” Turner said.

Authorities in Texas are scheduled to hold a briefing on the shooting at noon local time to provide additional details about the incident.

Police say the gunman, described as a man in his mid-30s, fled police and then stole a postal truck and began firing indiscriminately at people along the highway and streets around Midland and Odessa.

Three law enforcement officers were wounded in the attack, and Turner said all three are in “stable”condition and still hospitalized.

“Our law enforcement are in as good condition as can be expected. Physical injuries are there, but there are also emotional injuries. And so, we’ll have to watch them close,” Turner said.

Police shot and killed the shooter outside of a movie theater in the Odessa area. The gunman’s motive has not been revealed.

The communities jolted by the massacre are in need of support right now, according to the Odessa mayor.

“In West Texas, we’re known for being strong and independent,” Turner said. “It’s time for us to come together and love on those who need are love that have lost friends and family.”

How many dead? Database discrepancies…

By Roger Straw, August 6, 2019

Well, of course one death by the hand of a mass shooter is too many.

But the numbers are important, and how are we to know the facts when we read widely varying reports:

    1. “At least 60 people have died in the U.S. from mass shootings in 2019 alone”  – Vallejo Times-Herald on Aug. 6
    2. Prior to the El Paso shooting, “20 mass killings in the US in 2019 claimed 96 lives.”  – The Guardian on Aug 4
    3. “The Ohio mass shooting was the 293rd this year, accounting for 345 killed.”  – The Benicia Independent on Aug 4

Yes, one is too many, but what is the real story of America’s gun violence problem?  How to report with a sense of accuracy?  And how are readers to make sense of the wide discrepancies?

#1 – First, it is likely that the Aug 6 Vallejo Times-Herald headline (60 killed) is just an error.  I can find no other news article making that claim, and the headline is not referenced in the body of the two Associated Press news reports below the headline.

#2 – The Aug 4 Guardian article (96 killed) refers to “a database compiled by the Associated Press, Northeastern University and USA Today.”  The database only counts shootings where four or more people killed, not including the shooter.  Using this methodology, the shooting in Dayton was only “the 22nd mass killing in the US this year.  The first 20 mass killings in the US in 2019 claimed 96 lives.”

#3 – My own reporting here on the Benicia Independent relies on two very similar databases with shockingly higher numbers: MassShootingTracker.org and GunViolenceArchive.org.  Both of these track all shootings where 4 or more people are SHOT (not just those where 4 or more are killed).  The justification for this as stated by example on MassShootingTracker is convincing: “…in 2012 Travis Steed and others shot 18 people total. Miraculously, he only killed one. Under the incorrect definition used by the media and the FBI, that event would not be considered a mass shooting! Arguing that 18 people shot during one event is not a mass shooting is absurd.”  One difference between these two is that MassShootingTracker includes the death of the shooter, while GunViolenceArchive does not.  Thus, they give these numbers for 2019 as of today, Aug 6:

Database – Mass Shootings in 2019 Incidents Killed Wounded
MassShootingTracker.org 298 353 1162
GunViolenceArchive.org 253 275 1055

Only using the more detailed mass shootings data can we understand that in the 218 days of this year, the U.S. is experiencing more than one mass shooting every day.

This is a crisis.

Congress needs to act.  Now.

Death toll rises to 22 in El Paso shooting as 2 more victims die in hospital

ABC News, By Bill Hutchinson & Stephanie Wash, Aug 5, 2019

The death toll from a mass shooting at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart, increased to 22 after two more victims died in the hospital, police said.

David Shimp, chief executive officer at Del Sol Medical Center in El Paso, said one patient died late Sunday night and another Monday morning.

The victims, whose names were not immediately released, were among more than two dozen people wounded in the massacre that erupted about 10:39 a.m. local time Saturday inside a Walmart crowded with shoppers, including children and parents drawn to a back-to-school sale.

The wounded ranged in age from 2 years old to 82, according to authorities.

Dr. Stephen Flaherty, director of trauma at Del Sol Medical Center, said one of the patients who died was an elderly woman.

PHOTO:A man comforts a woman who was in the freezer section of a Walmart during a shooting incident, in El Paso, Texas, Aug. 03, 2019.
A man comforts a woman who was in the freezer section of a Walmart during a shooting incident, in El Paso, Texas, Aug. 03, 2019. PHOTO: Ivan Pierre Aguirre/EPA via Shutterstock

Both patients suffered “major and devastating” wounds that were consistent with high-velocity gun shots, he added.

“We are truly heartbroken to have to be here to report this,” said Flaherty, his voice cracking with emotion.

He said he could only speak of the female victim who died.

“The patient had major intra-abdominal injuries affecting the liver, the kidney and the intestines,” Flaherty said. “She received massive blood transfusion, utilizing all types of blood products.”

Shimp added that six other wounded victims remain at Del Sol Medical Center, one in critical condition and five in stable condition. He said two other patients were discharged and one was transferred to another local hospital.

News of the latest death came just hours after the El Paso County Coroner’s Officer removed the last victim’s body from the premises.

The suspect was identified by authorities as Patrick Crusius, 21, of Allen, Texas. He is being held on a charge of capital murder, court records show.

John Bash, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, said Sunday that federal authorities are investigating the incident as an act of “domestic terrorism,” meaning the suspect was allegedly intent on “coercing and intimidating a civilian population.”

Bash said federal authorities are also considering bringing hate crimes and federal firearms charges against Crusius that carry the penalty of death.

Police said Crusius drove more than 600 miles from his home in the Dallas area to El Paso to kill as many Mexicans as he could.

Investigators also believe Crusius is the same man who allegedly posted a four-page racist, anti-immigrant document on the dark website 8chan before launching the attack, officials said.

“We consider this an act of terrorism against the Mexican-American community and the Mexicans living in the United States,” Mexico’s Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said in a video statement.

At least seven of the 20 people killed were Mexican nationals, and nine additional Mexicans were among those wounded, Ebrard said.

Ebrard called the shooting an “act of barbarism.”

Not just 2 mass shootings – SEVEN mass shootings in two days, and another today!

By Roger Straw, August 5, 2019

Thank you, Donald Trump… now… #DOSOMETHING Mitch McConnell!

The Hope Border Institute held a prayer vigil Sunday in El Paso, Texas. PHOTO: MARK LAMBIE/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Everyone is talking about the mass murders in El Paso and Dayton.  And well we should be talking – and doing something – about those horrors.

Thank goodness even our racist President made a powerful speech condemning hate, racism and white supremacist ideology.

MassShootingTracker.org

But few are aware that on August 3 and 4, it wasn’t just TWO mass shootings.  On those two days, SEVEN mass shootings in the U.S. were reported on MassShootingTracker.org, and another was reported early today on August 5:

date killed wounded city state
8/5/2019 0 4 Brooklyn NY
8/4/2019 0 4 Grenada Co. MS
8/4/2019 10 16 Dayton OH
8/4/2019 1 3 Memphis TN
8/3/2019 1 7 Chicago IL
8/3/2019 0 7 Chicago (Douglas Park) IL
8/3/2019 20 26 El Paso TX

As I reported yesterday, mass shootings have become an everyday occurrence.  By the time I finish this, there might be yet another.

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Grieving and angry protesters in Dayton shouted Do Something!  Holding candles and lights high overhead, over and over again, #DOSOMETHING!  #DOSOMETHING!  #DOSOMETHING!  #DOSOMETHING!  #DOSOMETHING!

Our legislators in Washington have rallied after any number of mass assault-weapon murders, but with little to no effective results.  It has become an all-too-familiar cry to hear something like “thoughts and prayers are not enough.”  But the public has gotten mostly just that, thoughts and prayers.

US Reprentative Mike Thompson, California’s Fifth District

My congressional representative Mike Thompson has led the bipartisan House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force since 2012, but every time the House proposes gun control measures, either it fails in the House, or Senate leader Mitch McConnell and the Trump Republicans refuse to even allow a vote.

There are excellent legislative opportunities and worldwide guidance on how to stem the flow of these horrific attacks.  If only… if only, our federal government would take action.

Another sad day in the United States.

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