Cosmic Trigger in Indiana: 23s at 2:30 am

The 23 phenomenon is strong in this one, grasshoppers. There was a shooting in which 7 people were injured in Broad Ripple.

Was it a ripple in the cosmic trigger of our realities? Or did the cosmic trigger go off in a name game involving Broad Ripple.

For some background on this 23 weirdness, see my Boing Boing contribution, "RAW Week: 23 Skidoo + 5 -- Robert Anton Wilson Again, By Loren Coleman." Wilson died 7 years ago.

Broad Ripple Village is one of six areas designated as cultural districts in Indianapolis, Indiana. Located about six miles north of Downtown Indianapolis, Broad Ripple was established in 1837 as an independent municipality and annexed to the city of Indianapolis in 1922. The neighborhood has a reputation for being socially, economically, and ethnically diverse and is thus generally associated with its vibrant social scene and progressive political attitudes. The area is where talk show host David Letterman, astronaut David Wolf and social activist author Dan Wakefield (Going All the Way, 1970) grew up.

Broad Ripple's position as a cornerstone of Indianapolis youth culture and nightlife is a result of its thriving bar scene and the near presence of Butler University. Staying true to the neighborhood motto "we're open if you are," numerous Broad Ripple bars and restaurants remain open as late as 3am - often on weekdays as well as weekends.

The shooting that injured seven people in Broad Ripple began at 2:30, near the intersection of Broad Ripple and Carrolton avenue. It seems to have began as an argument between two individuals, with bystanders being hit, "rather than a target mass shooting," Indianapolis Police's Troy Riggs said.

Several police were on duty in the area, and immediately went to the aid of the victims.
"They were making tourniquets, acting as professionally as can be expected," Riggs said.
As the officers gave aid, one man carrying a gun was seen trying to put a .45-caliber Bersa into a car. Lawrence Jones, 23, Indianapolis, was preliminarily charged with possession of a handgun without a license. But police do not consider him a suspect in the shooting, though they will continue to probe that possibility.
Otherwise, Riggs said, police have no solid leads or firm descriptions of the gunman.

What is remarkable is how often the number "23" comes up in this 2:30 am shooting.

Six men and one woman were injured in the shooting. Dontay Harris, 23, Indianapolis, was the most seriously injured, and was taken to St. Vincent Hospital in critical condition. The other victims had "non-life threatening" injuries, said IMPD Lt. Christopher Bailey.
The other injured were listed in a police report as:
Antell Garnett, 23, Indianapolis, was sent to Eskenazi Health.
Duran Simmons, 23, Indianapolis, taken to Eskenazi.
Betty Jean Antwi, 23, Fishers., went to Methodist Hospital.
Joshua Kyner, 26, Indianapolis, refused treatment but later drove himself to Community East Hospital for stitches.
Marcus Clayton, 23, Indianapolis, status not clear.
Stacy Lamont Griffin, 23, Indianapolis, went to Methodist Hospital.

The Indianapolis Star, nevertheless, called it a mass shooting, in the context of listing it with other "mass shootings" in the area. Source.

This was the second mass shooting in Broad Ripple in the last year. On Aug. 2, a 26-year-old Westfield man shot four people following an altercation at a bar in the 6200 block of N. College.
...
In another public mass shooting, 17-year-old Shamus Patton fired into crowds at two Downtown locations on July 17, 2010, striking nine victims ages 10 to 19. Patton was thought to be a member of the Ratchetz Boyz street gang in the Martindale-Brightwood area, and some of his shots appeared to be directed at rival gang members.
...
Less than a month after the downtown shooting, eight people were shot in the 1200 block of West 32th Street. Two people who had been attending a birthday party were killed in that shooting. Witnesses said a man stepped out of a car in front of a house, put on a black ski mask and sprayed the house and its front yard and backyard with up to 30 rounds from an assault rifle. The carnage left 54-year-old Charles Mays, Indianapolis, dead of a gunshot wound in the front yard, next to a bicycle he used to try to flee the barrage of bullets. In the backyard, Barbara Johnson, 37, was fatally shot in the back as she ran away along with about 40 other guests at the birthday party and barbecue.
Indianapolis also has been plagued in recent years by violence as large crowds gather to celebrate the Fourth of July.
In 2013, 16-year-old Monquize Edwards was fatally shot on a packed Downtown street after the July 4 celebration. Police found Edwards' body at Maryland and Meridian streets after the fireworks show.
Eron Bonner, 18, Indianapolis is charged in the shooting. Witnesses told police they saw Edwards and Bonner face off on the streets. Moments later, a witness saw Bonner pull out his gun and then saw that Edwards had been shot, according to a probable cause affidavit. Both teen were believed to be members of two rival gangs: Bonner of the Grimmie Boyz and Edwards of the Homicide Goonz.
In 2011, two teens were shot Downtown after the fireworks show. A third teenager reported to police that he was beaten by a group of men near the Downtown Canal. And in a fourth incident, a report of shots fired near the Downtown Hyatt Regency sent dozens of people into a parking garage, scrambling for cover.

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Elkhart Makes 3 in 3

Authorities in Elkhart, Indiana say Shawn Walter Bair, 22, killed an employee and a shopper in a supermarket on January 15th, Wednesday night.

Krystle Dikes [left] had just started working as a stocker at Martin's Super Market [3900 E Bristol St] in Elkhart, Ind., though her real passion was caring for children and the 20-year-old continued to take babysitting jobs.
Rachelle Godfread, 44, had recently moved from southern Indiana to Elkhart, where she was closer to her son who played basketball at the South Bend campus of Indiana University.
On Wednesday night, the two were about 12 aisles apart in the supermarket when Shawn Walter Bair, 22, walked in and began firing. Both died before police shot Bair dead, not far from Godfread's body, according to Indiana State Police.
Bair also fired at another store worker but missed, and briefly took the store manager hostage before police confronted him. Chicago Tribune.

Above is a previous photo of Bair after he was arrested by Elkhart County Sheriff's Department in 2010.

Bair had a history of legal troubles that included a felony theft conviction from Martin's Super Market. He also had a history of drug problems. Three years ago, he was convicted for felony drug possession and sentenced to prison. He was reportedly able to avoid that sentence by going for treatment at the Oak Lawn Psychiatric Hospital.
Police also said his Faceboook page had pictures and references to serial killers. ABC News

"Elk" is a name we have met before, in the realm of mass shooters (e.g. Elk Grove, Illinois), just as we sometimes encounter "Oak" (e.g. Oak Creek massacre).

Bair has its origins in the Germanic "Bär." The original spelling of the German name "Bär" (meaning a beast) is now standardized as "Baer" in Germany and Switzerland. The established Bär families had a coat of arms with a bear carrying three sheaves.

The most common American spelling was "Bear" before the War of 1812. From then until just following the Civil War, the name continued to be spelled "Bear." At that time, some of the families changed the spelling of their surname to "Bair." Source.

The Elkhart event was the third mass shooting in three straight days.

Shootings occurred when a Reeves killed a man in a movie theater and a boy shot up a Roswell school, before the Elkhart killings (see here and here.) 

T. Peter Park sends in the note that Elkhart is the birthplace of Ambrose Bierce.

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Kronospan: Swiss Workplace Shooting [Updated]

Update: A fourth person has died. Victor Berisha, 42, an ethnic Albanian from Kosovo, has been identified as the Kronospan shooter. He had been with Kronospan for ten years. The weapon used in the attack has been identified as a Sphinx AT 380 handgun, a compact pistol produced by a Swiss company.

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Central Switzerland is the latest location of a mass shooting in a canteen. Reports of several people being killed at their Swiss Kronospan workplace on Wednesday, February 27, 2013, are crossing the wires.

Cronus [Kronos] Devouring His Children by Francisco de Goya (1746-1828). 

Image: Western Michigan University.

Greek Pan.

Police in Lucerne canton (state) said in a statement that the shooting occurred shortly after 9 a.m. on the 27th instant at the premises of Kronospan, a wood-processing company in the small town of Menznau, west of Lucerne. They said there were “several dead and several seriously injured people” and that rescue services were deployed and the scene sealed off. They did not elaborate.

The local Neue Luzerner Zeitung newspaper cited a witness as saying that the shooter opened fire in the company canteen. Swiss news website 20min.ch, citing a reporter at the site, said police confirmed three deaths — including the assailant — and said seven people were injured, some of them seriously. Some say five have been killed.

However, police in Lucerne, the local administrative center, said they didn’t yet have figures. No identity or motive for the shooter was given.

Kronospan workers at the Menznau location.

According to the local town council, Kronospan has some 450 employees.Menznau is a municipality in the district of Willisau in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland. Menznau is first mentioned in 1185 as Menzenowa.

Kronos is a Titan, the father of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter, and Hera.

Pan is the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music, and companion of the nymphs. Pan also is linked to panic, behavior contagion, and the copycat effect.

Kronospan is the world’s largest manufacturer of wood panel products and laminate flooring. Kronospan began in 1897 when their first sawmill was founded in Austria. Their Oxford, Alabama plant is the company’s first in the United States, and sits on a 460 acre site in Calhoun County, Alabama.

February 27th is the 80th anniversary of 1933's Reichstag fire, in which Germany's parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag, was set on fire (which was blamed on Communists by the Nazis, but probably set by Nazis).

In 2001, Friedrich Leibacher walked into the canton’s parliament in Zug armed with an assault rifle, shotgun, pistol, and homemade police vest. He killed 14 people before commiting suicide in an incident that was dubbed the “Zug massacre.”

See also, Cafeteria Carnage.

Thanks to InvInk for heads up.

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Red Leaf Lane Killer

Red Leaf Lane

Red Hill Avenue

Orange County

Saddleback College

Ali Syed

Ladera Ranch

5 Freeway

55 Freeway

Santa Ana

Tustin

Edinger Avenue

Orange

East Katella Avenue

North Wanda Road

A Red Leaf Lane resident of Ladera (= hillside, mountainside) Ranch, named Ali Syed carried out an intense series of targeted and random shootings. The short reign of terror in Southern California, took place on Tuesday, February 19, 2013. The 20-year-old Saddleback Community College student with no criminal record killed three, before killing himself.

The first call that came in was at Red Hill Avenue and Interstate 5, although the earliest killing was on Red Leaf Lane.

In one incident, a driver was forced from his BMW at a red light, marched to a curb and killed as witnesses watched in horror.

"He was basically executed," Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said. "There were at least six witnesses."

Lt. Paul Garaven of the Tustin Police Department, left, takes question from the media regarding a shooting spree in Tustin, Calif., Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. Police say a chaotic 25-minute shooting spree through Orange County left a trail of dead and injured victims before the shooter killed himself. There were multiple crime scenes in Tustin and Orange and many more victims who were shot at but unhurt, said Garaven. Tustin is about 35 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles. Photo: Damian Dovarganes, Associated Press

Mainstream media posted many stories. Here are examples: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Thanks for the first news of this from Malcolm. Additional tips from Susan and SMiles.

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Coastal Empire Fair Shooting

In Alabama, the shooter had on a devil's mask. A few days later, a Georgia gunman wore a mask and a black jumpsuit.

Police are searching for at least one gunman who opened fire last night, wounding seven, at a crowded fair in Savannah.

A large crowd had gathered at the Coastal Empire Fair, located on Chatham County's Savannah, Georgia's suburban south side, when witnesses heard gunshots about an hour before the fair's 11:30 p.m. closing time.

No one was killed during the late-night shooting at the Coastal Empire Fair on Saturday, November 3, 2012, but seven people have been treated for gunshot wounds at area hospitals. All victims are expected to survive, and none of the injuries were considered life-threatening.

Six of the victims were teenagers between the ages of 14 and 19, said police. The seventh victim was identified as a 36-year-old woman.

The fair was reopened on Sunday. The shooter remained at large in Georgia.

About two weeks earlier, on Friday, October 19, 2012, in Jefferson County, Alabama, a lone gunman wearing a devil's mask was the problem.

A masked man armed with a rifle -- possibly a shotgun -- robbed Rogers convenience store in 6700 block of Old Springville Road at about 11:22 p.m. A Winn Dixie at 2402 Old Springville Road was robbed about 10:45 p.m. by a man armed with a rifle and wearing a devil mask. Armed with a rifle, he burst into the store, went to a cashier and demanded money. He fled with an undisclosed amount of cash from the register.

A 53-year-old Jefferson County man, a customer at the Rogers convenience store on Old Springville Road, was shot in the stomach or chest area Friday night when he tried to chase down the gunman in a devil's mask who had just robbed the store. He has undergone two surgeries at UAB Hospital since the shooting.

The gunman, Jefferson County sheriff's officials said today, remains at large.

"This is obviously a very dangerous suspect,'' said Chief Deputy Randy Christian. " We are working diligently to ensure he is found and arrested."

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Azana Shooting

There's been another mass shooting in Brookfield, Wisconsin. Are any of this year's candidates, even the ones from Wisconsin, hearing this background rumble from the heart of America?

 A man police suspected of killing three and wounding four by opening fire at a tranquil day spa (Azana, African, "ultimate") was found dead Sunday afternoon on October 21, 2012, following a six-hour manhunt that locked down a shopping center, country club and hospital in suburban Milwaukee.

Authorities said they believed the shooting was related to a domestic dispute. The man they identified as the suspect, Radcliffe Franklin Haughton, 45, of Brown Deer, had a restraining order against him.

Christine Bannister, a dispatch supervisor for Waukesha County communications center, said Haughton, 45, of Brown Deer, had been found dead. She could not provide more details.

The shooting happened about 11 a.m. at the Azana Day Spa, a two-story, 9,000-square-foot building across from a major shopping mall in Brookfield, a middle-to-upper class community west of Milwaukee. Hours later, a bomb squad descended on the building, and Police Chief Dan Tushaus said an improvised explosive device had been found inside. It was later declared it was not a bomb.

It was the second mass shooting in Wisconsin this year. Wade Michael Page, a 40-year-old Army veteran and white supremacist, killed six people and injured three others before fatally shooting himself Aug. 5 at a Sikh temple south of Milwaukee.

Sunday's shooting took place less than a mile from where seven people were killed and four wounded on March 12, 2005, when a gunman opened fire at a Living Church of God service held at a hotel.

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Aurora Will Be In The Arena

by Loren Coleman ©2012

On a television near you...

Nine miles from Theater 9. 

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Brief update: The 2012 Presidential Debate in Denver had no mainstream, street-level topics, and ignored general news issues from this summer. I shall leave this posting, as it, nevertheless. A great opportunity was missed by Mr. Jim Lehrer to make this a relevant debate in Colorado.
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Last Halloween, who could have predicted that one of the words that we almost certainly would hear at this year's Presidential Debate would be Aurora?

Today, Aurora connects the human consciousness and the unconscious to so much. Mass shooting. July 20th. The Dark Knight Rises. Bane. Bain. James Eagan Holmes. "I am the Joker." Media. Wall-to-wall coverage. Movie theaters. Fear. Twelve Dead. Seventy shot. Darkness. Midnight showing. Colorado. Aurora. Blood. Red. Dawn.

Will the subject of mass shootings or gun control come up during the 2012 Presidential Debate in Denver, Colorado?

If it does, you can almost predict the wording that will be presented to the candidates:

"We find ourselves here tonight at the University of Denver in Colorado. Right down the road, in Aurora, in July, a dozen of our fellow citizens' lives were lost to what appears to have been the act of an alleged lone gunman [or substitute "madman"]. Something similar also happened near here before, at Columbine. What is your position on how we can best stop these shootings?"

After all, this first debate is in Colorado, in Denver. How can they ignore what happened near there on July 20, 2012? Or on April 20, 1999?

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Indeed, the pressure was on this week to address Aurora during the debate.

A man wounded in the theater shooting, Stephen Barton, appears in a television ad that will air nationally this week in which he asks the candidates to explain how they would reduce gun violence.
"I never thought I'd be a shooting victim until I was bleeding on a floor in Aurora," Barton said in a statement. "I was lucky, but I've seen what happens when dangerous people get their hands on guns. And I think it's fair to ask the men who want to lead the country to get past the platitudes and give us a serious plan to address a serious problem." Source.

Meanwhile, the relatives of eight of the 12 victims who died at The Dark Knight Rises screening in Aurora, Colorado, asked Jim Lehrer, the moderator of the presidential debate in Denver Wednesday, to ask the candidates about gun violence.

"Hey, didn't they have this debate in Colorado because of the Aurora shootings," some people ask?

Or, "Was it because Colorado has turned into a swing state?"

Intriguingly, Colorado was picked as the site of the first 2012 Presidential Election Debates some time ago.

How long ago?

Actually, the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates first announced, on the highly symbolic date of Halloween, October 31, 2011, that four sites had been picked.

Here are those four locations, dates, and topics:

First Presidential (domestic policy) Wednesday, October 3; Magness Arena, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado;
Vice Presidential (domestic and foreign) Thursday, October 11; Norton Center for the Arts, Centre College, Danville, Kentucky;
Second Presidential (town-meeting format) Tuesday, October 16; David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York;
Third Presidential (foreign policy) Monday, October 22; Wold Performing Arts Center, Lynn University, Boca Raton, Florida.

The sites were selected to give some geographic representation to the debate choices. Any other reason is "purely coincidental," we are told.

Is it just synchromystic that Aurora is so close to the first debate at the Magness Arena?

Magness? Magness has its origins in magnus, the word for great and dean. The Magness Arena is named after cable television pioneer Bob Magness, who donated $10 million towards construction costs. Bob Magness, 72, who ran a tiny cable television company out of his kitchen before building Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI) into the nation's largest cable provider, died of cancer in November 1996 in Denver. He had created his first cable system 40 years ago in Memphis, Texas, then merged his cable provider Community Television Inc. and its microwave distribution partnership, Western Microwave Inc., to create TCI when he moved to Denver in 1968. The company now has 14 million subscribers nationwide.

His billionaire son is Gary Magness, who owned TCI until it merged with AT&T in 1999 in a $54 billion deal. Gary has inherited hundreds of millions of dollars in stock. He owns water rights in Colorado through ranch holdings; also invests in oil, gas, and cattle. Gary and his wife produced the film Precious.

The Magness Arena can be identified around the city of Denver by the attached 215-foot-tall (66 m), gold-spired Williams Tower, which contains a 65-bell carillon.

How far is it from the University of Denver's Magness Arena, at 2201 East Asbury Avenue, Denver, CO 80208, to Theater 9, Century 16 Cinemas, at 14300 East Alameda Avenue, Aurora, CO 80012? It's 9 miles, as the crow flies, but 10-13.3 miles, depending on your travel route (back way along East Alameda vs major highways I-25/I-255) there.

This leaves an obvious question to ask ourselves: Was it the Cosmic Joker that picked Colorado's Aurora to dominate the news for this Summer of the Gun, or was it something more human and wicked that this way came to choose this specific Denver-Aurora area for these red dawn events?

Why was Aurora "picked"?

Will the word Aurora be heard at the October 3rd debate? Our forecast is, "Yes."

Graphic art of Batman Aurora by Marco Fesyuk.

For the links to older postings about The Dark Knight Rises, Colorado's Aurora red dawn event, and copycats, please see also:

The Man Who Predicted The Aurora Shooting

Colorado Clusters and Copycats

Ten Predictions: Ten Hits

Aurora Copycat Effect: The Complete List 

New Red Dawn Redux

Red Dawn Again

Aurora: Synchromystic Wonderland

Aurora Copycats: Prepare Now

Anticipating Aurora and Beyond

Red Dawn

Blood Red Movie Massacres

Joker Copycats: 2008-2112

Dark Knight Shooting: 12 Dead, 58 Injured

Bane/Bain Bursts Bare (Part 3)

Bane/Bain Continues (Part 2)

Bane/Bain (Part 1)

Recent interviews, about the Aurora shootings:

WGN - Mike McConnell: Loren Coleman

The Corbett Report: The Copycat Effect with Loren Coleman

Binnall of America: Loren Coleman and Bruce Rux

Talk Shoe - 42 Minutes: Loren Coleman

Red Ice Creations

The Copycat Effect

(NY: Simon and Schuster, 2004)

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Aurora Copycat: Too Soon

This Aurora Joker Copycat was recently seen at Dragon*Con in Atlanta. 

Am I the only one to note the man in a plaid shirt (as per the "second man" at Aurora) innocently standing nearby?
An interesting
"coincidence."

Photo source: Reddit.

Thanks CS for bringing this image to my attention.

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Pathmark Shooter Identified: Three Dead

A bridge name. A marked path. Another mass shooting.

Early on Friday, August 31, 2012, a man entered a Pathmark in Old Bridge, New Jersey, Route 9 near the Sayreville border, and began shooting. The shooting happened at about 4 a.m. inside a Pathmark grocery store in Old Bridge, a suburb about 25 miles from New York, Old Bridge Mayor Owen Henry told the media. The store was closed at the time and was scheduled to open at 6 a.m.

There are unconfirmed rumors that the shooter had on body armor and that he took hostages. Law enforcement has confirmed that three people have been killed, including the gunman. Workers at the store are saying that the shooter killed himself, and that he was an ex-Marine and a former employee of the store.

The New York Daily News gave this later, finalized update:

A heavily armed ex-Marine in camouflage gear gunned down two co-workers in a New Jersey supermarket rampage before killing himself early Friday, officials said.
The disgruntled worker returned to the Pathmark store around 4 a.m. and began blasting away with an AK-47 assault rifle at the skeleton staff, said Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan.
The irate employee squeezed off 16 shots from the rifle, killing an 18-year-old woman and a 24-year-old man — both of Old Bridge, said Kaplan.
He was carrying extra magazines of ammunition and a handgun when the unprovoked killings began, Kaplan said. The shooter worked the midnight shift stocking shelves in the store on Route 9, according to another employee.
The shooter and his two victims were all at work when the gunman left the building around 3:30 a.m., returning about 30 minutes later with murderous intent.

"The victims are Cristina LoBrutto, 18, and Bryan Breen, 24, both of Old Bridge," killed by an ex-Marine 23-year-old, reported the Asbury Park Press.

Ex-Marine Terence S. Tyler has been identified by Old Bridge Police as the gunman at an Old Bridge supermarket with Marine service records showing he was a rifleman. The 23 year old Tyler had worked at the Pathmark for about 2 weeks on the overnight shift with his two victims according to WABC TV.

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Empire State Building Shooting

Note the plaid shirt. Apparently the main victim was shot near the Empire State Building.

The FBI and the ATF are at the iconic Empire State Building, investigating a shooting. Four to six people have been shot, with ten in total injured, with two people dead, including the gunman who was killed by the NYPD.  A witness says the gunman was firing indiscriminately. Most of the activity appears to be on 33rd Street.

New York City officials say at least four people have been shot outside the Empire State Building and that the gunman is dead.

City police say at least four people have been wounded in the Friday morning shooting. Some of the victims were reportedly found inside the lobby of the Empire State Building while some were found on the street.

A fire department spokesman says it received a call about the shooting just after at 9 a.m. Friday and that emergency units were on the scene within minutes.

Aliyah Imam tells Fox 5 News that she was standing at a red light when a woman standing next to her fell to the ground. She says the woman was hit in the hip. She says the gunman was "shooting indiscriminately at people."

The shooting reportedly occurred at 33rd Street and Fifth Avenue, and it is 33rd Street that is blocked off.  Hazan Imports, outside of where this occurred, is located at 10 W 33rd St, New York, NY 10001. Their website is a deadlink, http://www.hazanimport.com.

This grab is from WABC-TV; emergency personnel respond to reports of several people being shot outside the Empire State Building, Friday, Aug. 24, 2012, in New York. Authorities say the shooter is dead. Photo by AP/WABC-TV.

Gawker published a series of photos (the mildest one above is shown) allegedly of the shooter, in a gray suit, dead, being examined by police.

Empire State Building is in the foreground, with the Twin Towers under attack on 9/11/2001.

Latest reports by NYC Police is that this is "not domestic terrorism," but allegedly the gunman was fired from his job yesterday. The date of this person leaving his job was given incorrectly in the early reports. He was laid off a year ago from Hazan Imports*.

Ralph Hazan is in charge of Hazan Imports. A "John Hazan" works at Bain & Company, Inc.

At the news conference this am, it was revealed the victim was a coworker, 41, shot by Jeffrey Johnson, first reported to be 53. Johnson was killed in a shootout with law enforcement officers. Nine other people (seven men, two women) were injured in crossfire.

The New York Times metro desk tweeted that Johnson was 58, not 53, and lives on East 82nd Street in Manhattan. He apparently lost his job a year ago when the company downsized.

The New York Post reported that Johnson stalked his former boss down the street and shot him.

Jeffrey Johnson, his neighbors said, went to McDonald's every day wearing the same suit he apparently wore during the shooting.

Johnson was an artist, who posted his art at several sites on the Internet.

Images of the victim are showing up more quickly than Johnson's photo.

A relative identified the victim as Steve Ercolino (pictured), who was the vice president of sales at Hazan. (The name Ercolino means "bow leg," and is also associated with the name Miller, for one "who works in a mill.")


Mayor Michael Bloomberg is a spokesperson for the "Mayors Against Illegal Guns," heading a campaign called “Demand A Plan,” which is pushing the 2012 presidential candidates to “detail specific plans to prevent the gun violence.”

On February 24, 1997, a gunman shot seven people on the observation deck, killing one, then fatally killing himself.
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*Hazan Imports

Here is a 2009 press release about that company:


Hazan Import Corp.

Hazan Imports, located in NYC at 10 West 33rd Street, brings over 30 years of experience in the handbag industry run by Isaac and Ralph Hazan. They are entering the branded market with BUM Equipment. They want entry into the majors and feel the BUM brand can open the doors for them. Ralph Hazan foresees a big opportunity in the kids’ segment of bags. “Branding is the name of the game for us. Today’s world is brand-centric,” states Ralph Hazan. Hazan chose BUM for its consistent ranking in the top 10 for consumer awareness and brand appeal. “We feel BUM Equipment will bring a fresh appeal to our product, adding to our huge and still growing customer base,” adds Hazan. Stephen Wayne remarks, “Hazan is a leading handbag company known to be young thinking, dynamic and always fashion conscious.”

Hazan will be distribute BUM to chains including specialty stores, mass merchandisers and sporting goods stores as well as independent retailers nationwide. Prices will retail from $14.99 to $39.00. Sales Manager, Steve Ercolino says, “We have kicked off our Spring selling with an emphasis on the Varsity look for Back to School. We are mixing fabrics and offering a fresh look plus color is more important than ever and is driving sales.” Nostalgia and vintage are the statements for Fall 2007. Hazan has developed a unique stamping process that puffs the fabric they treat and retailers are ecstatic it. “This eye-catching styling is crucial to the savvy junior brand consumer in our marketplace,” adds Ercolino.

Hazan’s design concept is simple says Ralph Hazan: “Take the best of the past and infuse it with the best of today! “We have high expectations for the BUM Equipment brand, and we hope to enjoy a glorious ‘revival’ with both old and new audiences.”

From sweats to a complete ACCESSORIES LINEUP in 2007: According to Stephen Wayne, “With the signing of both L’Egent and Hazan, we now have a full line of accessories under the BUM Equipment brand.” In Addition to the signing of these two new licenses, L’Egent and International and Hazan Imports, At the end of December Bum Equipment renewed all of its other existing licenses to new and additional terms. ROI EYEWEAR continues with Ophthalmic Sunglasses for another three years as one of the most successful licensees on the Bum roster. ROIhas been a licensee of Bum since 1997. Wayne is pleased to also announce the renewals of GENENDER INTERNATIONAL for watches and MONARCH LUGGAGE/BAY TRAVELGEAR for luggage and backpacks. They too have been licensees of Bum Equipment since 1997. BROWN SHOE for footwear and GOLD MEDAL HOSIERY for hosiery and cold weather accessories have renewed their contracts for additional terms too. Bum Equipment footwear can be found at all Famous Footwear retail stores across America.

Source.

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