There was a Shooting Rampage in Bingington NY this morning at their Civic Center as foreigners took a Citizen Test.This whole story is still being sorted out, as of tonight, 14 dead including the shooter and four remain in critical condition.26 People hid in a Basement Boiler Room. One of the details that has emerged is that the Shooter was Asian and having difficulty with English, and also that he was recently laid off at from his work ( originally news sources claimed it was IBM, but that has not been confirmed).It is a little unclear if he was a Citizen, or studying to be a citizen. ( Yet he did somehow qualify to get guns, so his English must have been adequate to fill out the forms.)How sad that people were shot to death while testing to become American Citizens.
This situation raises many questions about Gun Violence,but also in my mind it raises the obvious stress and pain of Job Losses in our Country. In the Past few months, we have been hearing of more and more Deadly Shootings fueled by despair and the economy.The Settings have been work settings, homes, lost homes, and in the past month even a Church and a Nursing home. And today Civic Center that was attempting to help Foreigners assimilate and learn English.I also worry did he as an Immigrant suffer under the Bush Years, as there was plenty of xenophobia running as an undercurrent in this country. I also think with Services being cut around the Country, ESL classes have been slashed.Also his place of work will have to answer questions were they requiring his English be improved, and did that circumstance have anything to do with his recent termination.
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Afterthought:::
I was at a doctor's office when the news was announced about the Shooting, and very quietly we all started talking to each other....and that times are Stressful....We need to take better care of each other, check on our Neighbors and each other.Empathy may indeed save lives at this point....
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Saturday Morning Update:::
So this morning there is another Newsday article reporting that he was laid off from ShopVac.
According to Updated Yahoo News Report Jiverly Wong was depressed and angry about being laid off, and had been taking classes at the center until one week ago.
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Saturday Night Update 11PM::
CNN is reporting there were Warning Signs and a troubled past for Jiverly Wong the gunman...
3 comments:
i live here in binghamton. they are saying 'ibm' but ibm doesn't have large operations here anymore. there was an anonymous federal agent who spoke to the press about that. it could be eit- endicott interconnect technologies who bought out large swaths of the ibm facility and productions.
http://www.endicottinterconnect.com/AboutEI_index.php
not that that is important necessarily but as i watched news coverage the biggest thing that hit me was how cavalier the news was. the networks superseded local news anchors and went for the 'big guns' who basically talked out of their asses and used the opportunity to wax melodramatic. very little news and lots and lots of filler. made me pretty mad. they got so many facts wrong that i stopped watching and went online to our local newspaper. although today's headline is a bit sensational. thanks gannett.
http://www.pressconnects.com/
Betmo::
so so sorry....it's horrendous to have anything like this happen in your hometown....IBM was released in multiple papers and I did see one interview where that was also said- but I will change the title as it sounds like it is not definitive...perhaps he was laid off, out of work...when I write about these- it is more trying to assess What led to such a drastic action....( I don't want to see Church services...) We really do need to learn about these shootings...
What bothered me this morning- there has been very little said about those shot- atleast on National News- I hope local news is trying to find their loved ones....on national news they said not all were identified- but that makes no sense- they must have had ID on them.....
anyways....so sorry Betmo...
And adding to this tragedy, today. I lived here for 3 years; still have friends who live in Seattle, and learned of this from a friend. (below).
Makes you not want to turn the news on any more......
5 children, father found dead
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF AND WIRE SERVICES
A father apparently shot to death five of his children, ages 7 to 16, at their mobile home in Pierce County and then killed himself near a casino miles away, police said Saturday.
The dead children were identified as four girls and a 7-year-old boy.
Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff, called it a domestic violence situation and a murder-suicide.
"We believe they all died of gunshot wounds," Troyer said.
Auburn police found the father, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his car near the Muckleshoot Casino in Auburn, about 30 miles south of Seattle. Pierce County deputies checked the mobile home, which is about 20 miles southeast of the casino, and found four of the children dead in their beds and the fifth in the bathroom.
The home is in the 20400 block of 135th Avenue Court East, between Graham and Orting.
The mother of the victims was not at home, Troyer said.
He said investigators believe the husband and wife were not estranged.
"Clearly she's been very traumatized," Troyer told The News Tribune of Tacoma. "You kind of get hardened to seeing people who are killed because of their own bad actions. But these kids died through no fault of their own. This is something you never want to see."
The children attended school in Orting, according to The News Tribune.
One neighbor said he knew two of the children, the boy and a 9-year-old girl, but described the parents as "never really ... very social," even though they lived nearby.
Other neighbors described the parents as having a loud argument Friday night, after which the mother left the house alone.
Authorities weren't releasing names of the children or the father Saturday evening. The King County Medical Examiner's Office will perform an autopsy on the father, The News Tribune reported.
Troyer said investigators probably would continue to process the scene through the night.
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