Rare Gun Violence In South Korea

     Four people, including a policeman, were killed on February 27, 2015 in the second shooting incident in two days in South Korea where gun crime is extremely rare. A 75-year-old man armed with a hunting rifle shot dead his brother, the brother's wife and a police officer who responded to an emergency call. The gunman then turned the weapon on himself.

     The shooting in Hwaseong City 25 miles southwest of Seoul, appeared to have been motivated by a family dispute over money. The incident came two days after a man shot three people dead in a convenience store the killer then torched in a apparent revenge attack on the family of his former lover in the southern city of Sejong. In that case the gunman also committed suicide.

     South Korea's tough gun laws effectively outlaw ownership of firearms by most civilians. Rare exceptions are allowed for hunters but they must deposit their rifles at local police stations.

"4 Dead in Second Rare Shooting in South Korea," ndtv.com, February 27, 2015 

Criminal Justice Quote: NYC Home Depot Employee Murders Manager in The Store Before Killing Himself At The Scene

     Shoppers crowded into a Manhattan Home Depot store to prepare for an anticipated snowstorm streamed into the streets Sunday afternoon January 25, 2015 after an employee shot a store manager and then himself…The 38-year-old manager, who was shot in a aisle of the store, was transported to Bellevue Hospital where he was later pronounced dead…

     The shooting happened in the store at 40 West 23rd Street in the Flatiron section of Manhattan…The shooter, a 31-year-old male worker at the store, was not scheduled to work when he came in. The shooter was pronounced dead at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound…Police recovered a .38-caliber revolver at the murder scene….

"Shoppers in Crowded Home Depot Store Forced to Flee Murder-Suicde," CNN, January 25, 2015 

Criminal Justice Quote: Murder-Suicde in Queens, New York

     The man who shot and killed three of his relatives in Queens, New York early Saturday January 23, 2015 is dead. Investigators said Jonathon Walker, 34, shot his mother-in-law, common law wife and their two daughters. He had previously lived in Buffalo and attended Daeman College [a liberal arts school in Amherst, New York].

     Viola Warren, 62, Shantai Hale, 31, and Kayla Walker, 7 were found dead inside a Queens home shortly after 5:30 PM on Saturday. Authorities said Jonathon Walker also shot his daughter Kristina Walker, 12 in the head--but she was able to call the police. She was taken to the Long Island Jewish Hospital where she underwent surgery and is in critical but stable condition….

"Former Buffalo Man Shoots Self Dead After Killing Three Relatives in Queens," twcnews.com, January 24, 2015  

Criminal Justice Quote: A Rare Mass Murder in Edmonton, Canada

     On Monday night December 29, 2014, a man in Edmonton, Canada shot and killed six adults and two children then took his own life. The gunman, who had a criminal record dating back to 1987, used a stolen 9mm pistol…The six adults, between the ages 25 and 50, and two children under the age of ten were found in two separate residences that Monday night…The man linked to the shootings killed himself in a restaurant in the nearby city of Fort Saskatchewan the next morning…

     Officers had gone to one of the homes twice: once in November 2012 and again in 2014 when a man residing there was accused of domestic violence and sexual assaults...

     There hasn't been a mass killing of this scale in Edmonton, a city of 878,000 in the western part of the country, since 1956…

"Edmonton Murders Linked to Domestic Violence," CBC News,  December 31, 2014

Criminal Justice Quote: Man Kills Himself and His Two Children Amid Custody Battle

     A man who was in a custody battle with his ex-wife deliberately crashed his car into a tractor-trailor on a southern California freeway, killing himself and his two children…Alan Dean Edwards, 46, of Lancaster, his 9-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter all died in the crash on Interstate 5 around one in the morning on Monday December 8, 2014.

     The truck was parked in a brake-check area in Castiac, about 30 miles northwest of Los Angeles when it was struck from behind by Edward's fast-moving Honda Accord…The driver didn't make any attempts to stop…The front half of the car was crushed and wedged under the truck.

     Edwards and his former wife were in a custody battle and he had picked up the children on Friday December 5, 2014 for a scheduled visit. She filed a missing persons report when they failed to return on Sunday December 7.

"Man in Custody Battle Deliberately Crashes Into Truck, Killing Himself and His Two Children," Associated Press, December 9, 2014 

Criminal Justice Quote: Rapper Murders His Wife, Kills Self on FaceTime

     Rapper Earl Hayes murdered his wife Stephanie Moseley early Monday morning December 8, 2014 in Los Angeles. Moseley, a dancer who toured with Britney Spears, Janet Jackson, Usher, and Chris Brown, starred in VH 1's dramatic series "Hit the Floor."

     An angry Hayes, a member of Floyd Mayweather's Team Money, talked to the undefeated boxer on FaceTime prior to the murder-suicide. The call continued through the event. The rapper, in the midst of a break-up, accused his wife of infidelity with a famous singer…The welterweight boxing champion attempted to talk his friend down from his rage to no avail.

   A Los Angeles SWAT team discovered the bodies in a high-end Los Angeles apartment. Neighbors reported hearing an argument before hearing the gunfire.

     Hayes once belonged to Mayweather's music label and frequently partied with the boxer…

"Floyd Mayweather Witnesses Murder-Suicide on FaceTime," breitbart.com, December 9, 2014 

Criminal Justice Quote: Fired UPS Employee Kills Two Fellow Workers Then Himself

     Fired a day earlier from UPS, 45-year-old Kerry Joe Tesney put on his work uniform, drove to an Birmingham, Alabama packaging center and evaded security by entering through a truck door in the rear of the warehouse. He shot two UPS employees dead within minutes of entering the building on Tuesday September 23, 2014. Police officers found Tesney in the warehouse lying dead on top of his gun…

     Tesney was married and had two children. The family had been active members of the NorthPark Baptist Church in the Birmingham suburb of Trussville…

     Besides working for UPS, Trasney and his wife were distributors for Advocare, a multi-level marketing company that sells health and fitness products. They have a website advertising the business that says: "Just tell us your needs, your dreams, your desires…and we'll make it happen!"

"Fired UPS Employee Kills 2 Ex-Colleagues," Associated Press, September 24, 2014  

Criminal Justice Quote: A Murder-Suicide in China

     A man armed with a knife killed three children and injured five others in a primary school in China on Monday September 1, 2014, the new school term after the summer holiday. The man was the parent of a former student, and he attacked the children because the school did not let his daughter register for the new term because she had not finished her summer homework…

     The man entered the school in the city of Shiyan, in Hubei Province, saying he had to register his daughter…After the attack, the man killed himself by jumping out a window.

     Violent crime is rare in China compared with many other countries, but there have been a series of attacks on schools and children in recent years.

"Three Children Stabbed to Death in Chinese School," The Sydney Morning Herald, September 1, 2014 

Criminal Justice Quote: Couple Intentionally Step Into Path of Freight Train

     New York State Police say the deaths of a couple standing together in front of a freight train was murder-suicide, but investigators can't say when Earl Myatt Jr. decided to drive his beloved wife of 42 years to the railroad crossing.

     Relatives have said Myatt became despondent after his wife, Mary, suffered a brain aneurism in January 2014 that left her with the mental capacity of a toddler. Troopers said Earl Myatt called one of his sons and apologized two minutes before stepping with his wife onto the tracks into the path of an oncoming CSX Railroad freight train on Sunday, April 26, 2014.

     Police said video showed them waiting on the tracks before they were hit and killed. A suicide note was found in Myatt's car.

"Couple Killed by Train Ruled Murder-Suicide," endofamerica.com, April 30, 2014 

Criminal Justice Quote: 86-Year-Old Man Commits Double Murder Then Kills Himself

     An apparent dispute over housing ended with an 86-year-old NewYork City man shooting his grandson and killing his grandson's girlfriend before taking his own life….Police were trying to sort out what led Heriberto Pagan to drive from his home in Brooklyn to his daughter's Staten Island house on Friday, March 28, 2014 and shoot two people before taking his own life….

     Investigators were looking into the possibility that the grandson "was trying to take over" the home with his girlfriend and Pagan "wasn't appreciative of the way" his daughter was being treated in the process. It was not clear if the daughter was at home at the time.

     Police found Pagan, a gunshot wound to the head, outside his car Friday evening near the home where the shootings occurred. He was hospitalized in critical condition, but died the next morning….In the vicinity, police were alerted to another shooting victim, Pagan's 47-year-old grandson, who was critically injured with a gunshot wound to the head and found outside the Staten Island house where he lived with his mother and girlfriend….

     Inside the house, police found a second victim, Claritle Christina Huerta, 28, also shot in the head. She was pronounced dead at a local hospital….Pagan shot his grandson as the younger man approached the house. He then shot Huerta inside before driving a few blocks and shooting himself….

Ray Sanchez and Morgan Winsor, "NY Man, 86, Shoots Grandson, Girlfriend Before Taking Own Life," CNN, March 29, 2014 

Criminal Justice Quote: Mother Attempts Murder-Sucide By Driving Into Ocean

     A pregnant woman drove a car occupied by three children into the ocean as horrified witnesses tried desperately to help. The unidentified woman from South Carolina was caught on video at Daytona Beach, Florida, as she drove down the beach and into the water….Tim Tesseneer and another man were the first to reach the car. "She was pretty deep, and the water was moving the van, and the kids were screaming. He got the two kids out while she dove out the window, the driver's window…just belly-flopped into the water," Mr. Tesseneer said. It was at that moment that he realized there was still another child in the car….

     Authorities are investigating how and why the vehicle got into the water. All three children, aged 10, 9, and 3, and their mother were taken to a nearby hospital to be examined.

"Pregnant Mom Drives Kids into Ocean in Florida," News Limited Network, March 5, 2014