Mysterious Pike County Shooting Leaves One Dead

Pike County, Pennsylvania, was the scene of a mysterious shooting on Friday night, September 12, 2014. One state trooper was left dead, and another wounded by the unknown shooter.

Pike County, Pennsylvania was named after Zebulon Montgomery Pike Jr. (January 5, 1778 – April 27, 1813), an American soldier, explorer, and Freemason, whose Pike expedition, often compared to the Lewis and Clark Expedition, mapped much of the southern portion of the Louisiana Purchase. Pike's Peak is one of the most famous locations named after Zebulon Pike.

His father, also named Zebulon Pike, was an officer in the Continental Army under General George Washington and served in the United States Army after the end of the Revolutionary War.

One famed ancestor of Zebulon Pike is John Pike (1613-1688/1689), who was a founder of Woodbridge, New Jersey and a judge and politician of the early colony of New Jersey.

Another famous Pike is the shadowy Masonic figure Albert Pike, who was related to Zebulon, through their mutual ancestor John Pike. 

Albert Pike (December 29, 1809–April 2, 1891), who was an attorney, explorer, soldier, writer, and Freemason. Pike is the only Confederate military officer or figure to be honored with an outdoor statue in Washington, D.C. (in Judiciary Square).

Albert Pike was elected Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite's Southern Jurisdiction in 1859. (Some have said that the Civil War was an occult battle between the northern and southern branches of Freemasonry.) He remained Sovereign Grand Commander for the remainder of his life (a total of thirty-two years), devoting a large amount of his time to developing the rituals of the order. Notably, he published a book called Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in 1871, of which there were several subsequent editions. Pike is still sometimes regarded in America as an eminent and influential Freemason.

Some have said that the Civil War was an occult battle between the northern and southern branches of Freemasonry. Some within the ranks of conspiracy theorist even are so bold as to say that Albert Pike "was chosen by [Italy's Giuseppe] Mazzini to head the Illuminati operations in America and moved to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1852."

The two troopers were ambushed outside a State of Pennsylvania police barracks at Blooming Grove, Pike County during a 10:50 p.m. Friday shift change, leaving one dead and another injured, with authorities scouring the densely wooded countryside and beyond on September 12, 2014, looking for the shooter or shooters.

The dead lawman as identified as Cpl. Bryon Dickson (above) and the other fallen officer is Trooper Alex Douglass, who was hospitalized in critical but stable condition.

(Bryon has the meaning "high, noble" and is a variant of Brian (Celtic, Irish, Gaelic), meaning "strength." The name Dickson means "strong leader" or "strong ruler." Alex means "protector of men," and Douglass means "dark water.")

Law enforcement officials from Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, rushed to the Poconos to help search on foot and by helicopter for the mystery shooter or shooters. The Blooming Grove barracks is in a wooded area, surrounded by state game lands, near Interstate 84. The Blooming Grove barracks covers most of Pike County, which runs along the Delaware River and borders New Jersey and New York.

The Pocono Mountains is a geographical, geological, and cultural region located in northeastern Pennsylvania. The name Poconos comes from the Minsi or Munsee Indian word Pokawachne (pronounced Poke Ah Waak-nay), which means "Creek Between Two Hills."

The media reported:

This is the third death of a state trooper in the Poconos area in the last 35 years.
Pennsylvania State Trooper Joshua Miller was shot and killed June 7, 2009, by a father who had kidnapped his nine-year-old son. After taking the boy from his home in Nazareth, the father led police on a chase through Northampton and Monroe counties before he was cornered on Route 611 in Tobyhanna.
An eleven-year veteran of the New Jersey State Police, Trooper Philip Lamonaco was shot and killed Dec. 21, 1981, by members of a radical environmental group, known as the United Freedom Front, during a traffic stop on Interstate 80 in Knowlton Township.

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Suffer The Little Children, Part II

A 3-year-old girl (identified as Wynter Larkin) is dead after an accident occurred at a Rita's Water Ice Saturday afternoon [June 28, 2014].A security gate detached and came crashing down on the child shortly after 4 p.m. when she was standing outside a Rita's location at 2829 Girard Ave. in Philadelphia's Brewerytown neighborhood, according to reports.
An ambulance rushed the victim to Hahnemann University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 5:02 p.m., according to officials.
Police say the girl was with her mother attending a fundraising event for the Omega Psi Phi fraternity and the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority when the tragedy occurred. (Read more at source.)

Photos from the scene show the black metal gate lying on the sidewalk, pink balloons still tied to it in front of the shop's red and white striped awning.
Several popped balloons appear trapped underneath the gate, which businesses typically roll down after hour to prevent crime. (These details were graphically mentioned in the Daily Mail.)

Omega Psi Phi (ΩΨΦ) Fraternity, Inc. is the first international fraternal organization to be founded on the campus of a historically black college.
Omega Psi Phi was founded on November 17, 1911, at Howard University in Washington, D.C. The founders were three Howard University undergraduates, -- Edgar Amos Love, Oscar James Cooper and Frank Coleman. Joining them was their faculty adviser, Dr. Ernest Everett Just.

From the initials of the Greek phrase meaning, "friendship is essential to the soul," the name Omega Psi Phi was derived. That phrase was selected as the motto. Source.

Alpha Kappa Alpha (ΑΚΑ) is the first Greek-lettered sorority established and incorporated by African-American college women. Membership is primarily for college educated women, but not all members have attended college. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of twenty students, led by Ethel Hedgeman Lyle. Source.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

In an update of an earlier "Suffer The Little Children" item about the child who died in a SUV in the Atlanta area, CNN reported:

The suspect in a Georgia toddler's death told police he used the Internet to research child deaths inside vehicles, a search warrant said.
The father, Justin Ross Harris, 33, has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and second-degree child cruelty in the death of his 22-month-old son, Cooper Harris. The boy died after he was left seven hours in a sweltering SUV on June 18.
"During an interview with Justin, he stated that he recently researched, through the internet, child deaths inside vehicles and what temperature it needs to be for that to occur," according to a sworn statement in the warrant from a police officer. "Justin stated that he was fearful that this could happen."
According to search warrants from a Cobb County magistrate court, investigators seized a number of items from the father's home: An iPhone 5, Hyundai car, home laptop computer, computer tower, a Google Chromecast Internet searcher and other electronic devices.

On Sunday, June 29th, CNN noted:

Leanna Harris, the mother of a Georgia toddler who died locked in a hot car, has told authorities that she previously researched such deaths and how they occur, according to a police affidavit.

^^^^^^^^

In a followup on another earlier report, "Solstice Missing Teen Found Dead in Maine," details have emerged about his slaying:

Three young men, one of them from Sanford, Maine, face the possibility of life in prison after being charged Thursday [June 26, 2014] with the premeditated stabbing death of a teenager whose body was dumped last weekend in Lebanon, Maine.
Zachary Pinette, 18, of Sanford appeared Thursday in Dover District Court to be formally charged with the first-degree murder of Aaron Wilkinson.
His co-defendants, Michael Tatum, 21, of Barrington, New Hampshire, and Tristan Wolusky, 18, of Rochester, New Hampshire, appeared from the Strafford County Jail through a video link.
The three are charged with killing Wilkinson outside his house in Madbury, a small town next to Dover. Pinette drove them there from Maine after midnight on Saturday, and held a machete as the other two stabbed Wilkinson with knives and then the machete, according to documents filed by prosecutors.
The documents say that at 1:30 a.m. Saturday, Pinette aided Wolusky and Tatum in committing first-degree murder. The documents also say that Tatum stabbed Wilkinson with a knife, and that Wolusky used a “knife and/or machete.” Source.

It may not be a coincidence that this killing took place a few hours before the Solstice.

See also, "The Pied Piper of Hamelin."

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Separate Mass Stabbing Incidents Hit Two Superlative Sites

Mass stabbings hit two unique locations on April 9th. One is known for formerly having "the world's largest arboreal sign" and "the largest commercial gas well in the world." The other is still famed for being "the longest street in the world."

While mass shootings have been common in North America, mass stabbing events are more frequent in China & Japan (see here, here, here, and here).  A well-publicized American incident did occur in Texas in 2013.

Murrysville, Pennsylvania

Seven teens and one adult are being treated after a stabbing incident at a Pennsylvania high school and some of the injuries are "clearly life threatening," according to a doctor at Forbes Regional Hospital. The teens had stab wounds to their torsos, abdomen, chest and back areas, he said.

The stabbings occurred at the Franklin Regional Senior High School to youth with ages  ranging from 14 to 17.

A Disney Dreamworks movie, I Am Number Four, was filmed at the school in 2010. It was based on a book with the same name. The sequel to the book was called The Power of Six, writes the Newspaceman.

The suspect, a male student, was in custody after the stabbings at the school in Murrysville, about 15 miles east of downtown Pittsburgh. Update: The suspect in the Pennsylvania school stabbings is identified in court documents as Alex Hribal, 16. He has been charged as an adult.

Hribal's Facebook page is adorned with a picture of Kurt Cobain, who committed suicide nearly exactly 20 years ago. The social media profile includes a reference to Hitler. He allegedly lived on Sunflower Court in Murrysville, Pennsylvania.

The suspect was described as wielding two knives simultaneously during the attack.

The injured were admitted to Forbes Regional Hospital in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, with stab wounds.

"These are all very serious injuries," hospital spokesman Jesse Miller said in a telephone interview.

The first 911 call was received at 7:13 a.m. EDT. The attacks took place in several classrooms and hallways as the school day began. Zak Amsler, a 17-year-old junior at the school, said the attack occurred just before his first class was scheduled to begin.

"I saw a girl with blood running out of her sleeve," Amsler said as he waited to pick up his younger sister, a student at the nearby middle school. "It was pretty mind-blowing."

Stevens, the county official, noted that the scene had been contained. "The students that are here are safe," he told reporters.

The Haymaker Gas Well in Murrysville was the nation's first commercial natural gas well. For some time, it remained the largest commercial gas well in the world.
Since 1933, Murrysville has had a "tree sign" spelling out the word "Murrysville". The trees were landscaped to grow and form the letters by local Boy Scouts. The sign is situated on a large hill as one enters the Municipality from the Murrysville–Monroeville border, near U.S. Route 22. In 1947, the sign was featured in "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" as the world's largest arboreal sign. (It is no longer the world's largest, or even the largest in the country; "Luecke", near San Antonio, Texas, is much larger.) The "Y" in the Murrysville sign points to the Haymaker Gas Well. Source.

Toronto, Ontario

Just after 9:30 am ET also on Wednesday, April 9, 2014, Toronto police responded to multiple 911 calls from an office building on Yonge Street near York Mills Ave.

One man, apparently Asian, (shown here) was placed in custody after Toronto police say at least four people were stabbed (by scissors) at the building in the northern part of the city.

Police say the attack happened on the fifth floor of an office complex at 4110 Yonge St., near York Mills Avenue.

CBC News has confirmed that four people were taken to hospital with stab wounds.

A man and a woman in their 30s are among the people who were stabbed. The two suffered multiple, serious stab wounds, according to police, and are in critical condition in hospital. Two other males whose ages are not known were transported with serious wounds to a trauma centre.

Yonge Street (pronounced "young street") is a major arterial route connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. It was formerly listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest street in the world at 1,896 km (1,178 mi). The construction of Yonge Street is designated an Event of National Historic Significance in Canada. Yonge Street was fundamental in the original planning and settlement of western Upper Canada in the 1790s, informing the basis of the concession roads in Ontario today. Long the southernmost leg of Highway 11, linking the capital with northern Ontario, Yonge Street has been referred to as "Main Street Ontario". A large part of the route follows an ancient well-established Aboriginal trail that linked the Lake Ontario waterfront to northern parts of the region. It was also the site of Canada's first subway line. Source.

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The I-81 Killer

There is a new highway killer on the loose.

Timothy "Atsi" Davison is the first victim of the I-81 Killer in 2014.

He was killed on this stretch of I-81 in Pennsylvania.

On Tuesday, January 7, 2014, northbound vehicles on Interstate 81 pass the site in the median where Timothy Davison of Poland, Maine, was shot to death in a random act of violence early on Saturday, January 4, in south-central Pennsylvania near the Maryland state line. Davison had called 911 in Maryland and again when he crossed into Pennsylvania to say that he was being pursued and shot at by someone in a small, dark-colored pickup truck. Davison was on his way home from visiting his sister in Orlando, Fla., when he was shot. (Photo: Jenn Fitch/The Herald-Mail)

(Davison shared the same name as his father, so "Atsi" became his nickname from his middle name Austin.)

Timothy Davison, 28, was traveling north on Interstate 81 when he called 911 to report a small pickup truck was chasing and firing gunshots at him.

The driver then rammed Davison's vehicle, forcing him into the median. After Davison's vehicle became disabled, the driver approached and fired several rounds that struck Davison.

State police say he died from his wounds at York Hospital.

Police are hunting for a small-type pickup truck with side-panel damage, similar to a Ford Ranger.

The fact is the Davison shooting was not isolated.

In the statement, which Pennsylvania authorities distributed after canceling a planned press conference Tuesday morning, the task force said it is investigating a possible connection between Davison’s killing and a shooting eight hours earlier about 30 miles away in Monaghan Township, Pennsylvania.
The victim, who was not injured, told police that the driver of a black Nissan pickup truck fired at him.
“While there are many similarities between the two, conclusive evidence definitively connecting the two has yet to be established,” the statement said. “Both investigations will be treated as being related until conclusive evidence proves otherwise.”
The statement announced the formation of a task force to investigate the shootings, including Pennsylvania and Maryland state police, the Carroll Township Police Department and the FBI. Source.

The on-site investigation was visible via the traffic cam pointed at that section of I-81. Was any video available to authorities from 2 am the previous morning that was able to show any of the shooting incident in the dark?

The incident occurred as Davison was on I-81, as he drove from near Hagerstown, Maryland, north into Pennsylvania, just north of I-70. The exact location was three miles over the Pennsylvania border in Antrim Township, Franklin County.

It is worthy of noting that Maryland's I-70 crosses South Mountain, which passes through Greenbrier State Park. At the top of the mountain, the Interstate passes under US 40 and the Appalachian Trail and enters Frederick County, Maryland (which is SE of Franklin County, Pennyslvania). I-70 has a pair of rest areas on the east side of the mountain, one per direction. The westbound rest area is where the Beltway snipers, John Allen Mohammed and Lee Boyd Malvo, were apprehended by police in October 2002.

Interstate 81 largely traces the paths created down the length of the Appalachian Mountains by migrating animals, American Indians, and early settlers. It also follows a major corridor for troop movements during the Civil War. These trails and roadways gradually evolved into U.S. Route 11. Interstate 81 parallels much of the older Route 11.

I-81 is the longest odd-numbered (and therefore the longest north-south) Interstate highway in which the number does not end with a 5, and the third longest Interstate highway in which the number does not end with a 0 or 5 after I-94 and I-64. Being mostly rural, it is heavily used as a trucking corridor, often as a bypass of the busier Interstate 95 to the east.

Interstate 81 passes through the state of Maryland at one of its narrowest points, passing through the "Hub City" of Hagerstown where it intersects with a large number of other routes. Being that this stretch is only 12.08 miles (19.44 km), this is the shortest stretch of I-81 among the states that it traverses. Interstate 81 forms a major north–south corridor through the state of Pennsylvania.

Now I-81 has a killer associated with it.

The history of highway snipers goes way back. I reported (in Mysterious America) on the The Blue Phantom of Route 66, a person in a blue car who first appeared in May 1952, around Joliet, Illinois, shooting at other cars driving along Rt. 66. The shootings continued up and down Rt. 66 (with some on the nearby Rt. 54), throughout June, from East St. Louis to Decatur. No one was ever arrested.

On the Sunday morning of April 25, 1965, 16-year-old Michael Andrew Clark opened fire on cars traveling along Highway 101 just south of Orcutt, California, from a nearby hilltop. Three people were killed and ten were wounded before Clark took his own life by suicide, upon the arrival of the police.

Since 1999, at least 10 men have been convicted in seven separate highway sniper cases in which at least 15 people have been killed.

The Beltway sniper attacks in 2002 killed 10, injured three and paralyzed the Washington, DC area for weeks. 

The 2003 West Virginia sniper attacks were a series of sniper-style shootings that took place over the course of several days in August 2003, leaving three people dead in West Virginia. In July 2012, Shawn Lester, who had been indicted for all three murders in 2011, pleaded guilty to the second degree murder of one of the victims.

 
In 2003, in Ohio, a gunman, Charles McCoy, Jr., shot 24 motorists along I-270, killing one (62-year-old Gail Knisley, killed on November 25, 2003) before he arrested in Las Vegas on March 17, 2004. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and hoped the shootings would stop the coverage of Michael Jackson.

In southeast Michigan, in 2012, at least 24 motorists were hit.

Is Interstate 81 to be added to this highway sniper history?

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According to WVEC, there has been another 2 am shooting on a Middle Atlantic interstate highway:

VIRGINIA BEACH-Va. State Police is investigating a reported shooting along I-264 West in Va. Beach.
Spokeswoman Sgt. Michelle Anaya says troopers were alerted to the situation at 2:33 a.m.
Posted on January 10, 2014 at 9:40 AM
Update 2:27 p.m.: Va. State Police told WVEC.com that a man driving a car was shot this morning.
Sgt. Anaya says he was taken to Sentara Va. Beach General for treatment of non-life threatening injures. She couldn't confirm his age, whether anyone was in the car with him or where along I-264 the shooting occurred.
I-264 West was closed between Parks Avenue and First Colonial Road in Virginia Beach for nearly an hour as State police searched for clues.
Sgt. Anaya did state that investigators have determined a car pulled over near Witchduck Road was not involved.

Sources 1, 2, 3, 4.

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Coulrophobia Alert: Send In The Clowns

The Northampton Clown is not a phantom. He has been photographed.

Readers of this blog are well aware of our clown-radar being on high alert. Sometimes it has been about Jokers and Jokawilds, sometimes of Evil Clowns, and frequently concerning Phantom Clowns.

On 9/11, the clown news presented itself subtly.

As the Denver Post penned, "a U-turn, not clowning around, caused a crash involving a van full of clowns" in West York, Pennsylvania. The September 11, 2013 incident happened on that Wednesday evening, according to multiple media sources.

The van was going south on South Highland Avenue when its driver attempted a U-turn near a gate of the York Expo Center and collided with another van that was also heading south about 5:45 p.m., according to West York Police. Police said the driver, 83-year-old James Billingsley of York, also known as "Dimples the Clown," suffered a minor bump on the head. His passenger clown, 77-year-old Norman Clouser of York, was unhurt.

A photo from the scene of the clown van accident.

The van with the clowns in it was also pulling a trailer with a clown car on it.

Four clowns were in the van at the time, and one of them, the driver who goes by "Dimples the Clown," was taken to an area hospital for minor injuries.

Police say the clowns were going to the York Fair when the driver missed the entrance and attempted to turn around when the crash happened.

Police said "Dimples" was wearing clown shoes but the oversized footwear apparently didn't play a role in the crash.

West York Borough police Sgt. Brad Thomas said both vehicles had to be towed. He didn't know if the clowns ever made it to the fair.

A clown appearance much more sinister is another bit of news this week, out of the United Kingdom.

The sightings of a mystery clown may have been taking place for some time, but reports of them tied his initial appearance to Friday the 13th of September. In the British town of Northampton, the creepy clown, said The Herald & Post, was of a man with white face, red hair and sharply arched eyebrows. He appeared in two separate areas of Northampton.

(Northampton, btw, is the city of Dark Knight creator/magician/graphic novelist Alan Moore, as noted by RPJ.)

The Independent compared his appearance to that of Pennywise from Stephen King's film IT. Staring at people, he's been reported holding a clown teddybear and at other times, balloons.

One female resident of Northampton told the Inquisitr that the clown knocked on her door and offered to paint her window sills.

Have there been copycats? The Northampton Chronicle said that two "teens" dressed as clowns knocked on a resident's door and asked if they could paint her window sills—though they had no paint or brushes.

Over at Dangerous Minds, a comment maker has left this keen observation:

"655321
"I never read the novel, but reading the wiki I see that [Stephen King's] It shows up roughly every 27 years in Derry. The book was published 15 September, 1986. 27 years ago."

What's next?

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News Surfing Name Games and Lexi-Links During the Summer of 2013

Weird summer, if you ask me. Lots of little random killings, interwoven with sudden deaths and surprise happy happenings.

The snake story is the one getting everyone's attention, for a variety of sad reasons. 

It is a horrible story to hear that two boys were killed in New Brunswick by an African rock python (Python sebae) on August 5, 2013. Source.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police are investigating the “sudden deaths of two young boys,” whom they believe were strangled by a python that escaped from a local pet store in the town of Campbellton, New Brunswick.

The snake escaped its enclosure at Reptile Ocean pet shop and slithered up a ventilation duct to the apartment above the pet store where the boys were sleeping, CBC News reported. The two victims had been spending the night at the home of a friend, after spending an afternoon petting llamas and goats.

The bodies of the two boys — identified as Connor Barthe, 7, and his brother, Noah, 5, according to The Toronto Star — were discovered early Monday, August 5, 2013, and police arrived at the scene at approximately 6:30 a.m.

Barthe is French in origins, a topographic name for "someone who lived on a piece of land overgrown with bushes or scrub," from the Old French barthe (a word probably of Gaulish origin). From German, it is a metonymic occupational name for "someone who made (battle) axes," from the Middle High German barte, Middle Low German barde "axe."

Connor means "lover of wolves, canines," or sometimes "wise." Noah means "full of peace."

In the realm of mass shootings, the most recent one happened also yesterday, August 5, 2013.

Fifty-nine-year-old Rockney ("Rockne") Warren Newell, of Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, (above), a self-described junk collector, decided to shoot up a municipal meeting in Rush Township, Pennsylvania. He used a rifle with a scope and shoot through a wall. He was allegedly unhappy about their rulings on his yard. The meeting was winding down at 7:23 p.m. when the shooting broke out. Witnesses described a scene of carnage and chaos following the shooting at the Anchorage Road building. Three men were left dead. (Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4.)

David Fleetwood, Gerard Kozic and James LaGuardia died in the bloody ambush. Frank Piraino Jr. and Linda Kozic were wounded. (Source.)

Newell generally is related to being "of the manor" or from the "new hall."

Warren is a power name, linked to Freemasonry and founding members of the American Revolution. The name is derived from an English family name, which is itself from a Normandy place name La Varenne, of the element garenne (meaning "game park," "game reserve").

The name Rockney, not too surprisingly, is of English-American origin, and means "one who is brash." The shortened version, Rockne, often on its own means "of a rock."

The African rock python killing took place in Campbellton ("town of the Campbells").

Black Watch or Campbell Tartan

Ancient Campbell Tartan

In Scotland, the name Campbell has its origins from two Scottish Gaelic words, cam and béal, meaning "crooked mouth" or "wry-mouthed," originally being a nickname that evolved into a surname. (I have remarked on the significance of the "Bell name" before.)

A purposeful incident of violence over the weekend involved a Campbell.

The driver of a car that slammed into a group of pedestrians on the Venice Beach, California, boardwalk at 6 pm on Saturday, August 4, 2013, killing one woman on her honeymoon and injuring 11 others, "was looking for blood," witnesses said.

Nathan Louis Campbell, 38, was driving a Dodge Avenger down the boardwalk, as he swerved and rammed his vehicle into the tightly packed crowds. Among the 12 people who were plowed into, one was Alice Gruppioni, 32, of Italy, who died in the hospital following the collision.

She was the newlywed daughter of an Italian businessman from Bologna, Italy. She died with her injured husband, Christian Casadei, at her side at a Los Angeles hospital, the newspaper La Republicca reported.

Gruppioni reportedly ran a family business in her hometown, Rastignano, a village just south of Bologna. Gruppioni was the daughter of Valerio Gruppioni, a businessman and former president of the Bologna soccer team.

Other shocking death news came from Italy, earlier.

Actor James Gandolfini died from a heart attack, on June 19, 2013, during a brief vacation in Rome, Italy. He had expected to travel to Sicily on June 22 to receive an award at the Taormina Film Fest. Following a day of sightseeing in Rome in sweltering heat, Gandolfini's 13-year-old son Michael discovered him around 10 pm local time on the bathroom floor at the Boscolo Exedra Hotel in Rome's Piazza della Repubblica. Michael called hotel reception, who in turn called emergency paramedics. Gandolfini reportedly arrived at the hospital at 10:40 pm and was pronounced dead at 11 pm.

Gandolfini was set to star with Steve Carell as rival palaeontologists Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Marsh in the forthcoming BoneWars, from HBO Films.

More joyful news occurred on July 22, 2013, with the royal birth of George Louis Alexander, heir to the throne, eventually.

This "royal" news was then followed five days later with a mass shooting at a "royal" location.

The building across the street where Carlos Javier Gavilanes was shot by Pedro Vargas, is called Casa Royal, or Royal House in English.

Pedro Alberto Vargas

The gunman, Pedro Vargas, set his Hialeah, Florida, apartment ablaze and went on a shooting spree that killed six people before he was shot to death by a SWAT team after a nearly eight hour-long ordeal, on Saturday, July 27th. Source.

So, in summary: Pedro set his apartment on fire and then shot property managers Samira and Italo Pisciotti when they ran to see what was going on. His next victim was a man on the opposite side of the street, Carlos Gavilanes, who had just returned home from work.
He then broke down the door of another apartment and killed Merly Sophia Niebles, her husband Patricio and her teenage daughter Priscila Perez. After an eight hour standoff, a SWAT team shot Vargas and rescue two hostages that he was holding.

Pedro means "rock." Perez means "little rock."

Finally, an anonymous individual sent this along yesterday:

I noticed on Huff Post today [August 5, 2013] that Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem named their child today. That inspired me to know more about Javier Bardem (I wanted to know his real last name out of curiosity). I then read his wiki profile, and saw that he was one of the few Spaniards to win a BAFTA. That got me curious as to what exactly a BAFTA award was. Turns out it is a British equivalent of the Oscar.
I followed the link to BAFTA and noticed that the CEO of BAFTA is an AMANDA BERRY. Now I realized that "Amanda Berry" is also the name of the kidnapping victim of Ariel Castro. Also, it's interesting to note that the Royal Family are in control of the BAFTAS and have been since the 50's. Prince William (Diana's son) is the current President of BAFTA. I believe that it is conflicting that the Royal Family are who is in charge of awarding the honors when it was stated that "BAFTA is a rate predictor of the Oscar winners and lineup." Just interesting note, perhaps you can lexilink this information in the great way you know how.

Well, I little know what any of it means.

But as it happens, the birth of the Cruz-Bardem child, a daughter, named Luna Encinas Cruz, occurred on July 22, 2013, in Madrid, Spain - on the same day as the British Royal Family's new baby. 

Javier Ángel Encinas Bardem is a Spanish actor. He was born March 1, 1969, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, Spain. Penélope Cruz Sánchez is a Spanish actress and model. She was born April 28, 1974, in Alcobendas, Madrid, Spain.

Spanish naming customs call for the name of the father's name to be used as a middle name, and the mother's to be used as the last name, traditionally. Lexilinking of Spanish names has to take these rules into account.

Luna means "moon." The name Encinas is originally derived from the Spanish word encina, which in the region of Castile means "oak tree." Cruz means "cross."

One of Bardem's name is Ángel.

The most hopeful stories coming out of the tragedy of the Castro-Cleveland imprisonments was the efforts of "The Real Angel of Cleveland."

The summer is not over, yet. But Halloween is coming. And winter is coming.

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Update: Altoona Shooting, 4 Dead, Shooter Id'ed, Victim Id'ed

Altoona is called the "Mountain City." Having a population of 46,320, it is a rural city in Blair County, Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania officials said a deadly shooting in Altoona, Pennsylavia, left four people dead and two Pennsylvania State Troopers injured, CBS Pittsburgh reports.

Blair County District Attorney Rich Consiglio says three people were shot Friday morning along a rural road in the Altoona-Hollidaysburg area of Frankstown Township, about 70 miles west of Harrisburg.

Consiglio says two men and a woman were shot and killed and the suspected male gunman is also dead.

The troopers were shot, but are expected to survive. They reportedly shot and killed the suspect. Apparently, the suspect was on a rural road in the Altoona area, shooting randomly.

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USA Today gave these updated details:

The woman was slain about 9 a.m. at Juniata Valley Gospel Church in Geeseytown, near Hollidaysburg, in central Pennsylvania, The Altoona Mirror says. The gunman fired through the church hall's windows, killing the woman as she and another woman decorated for a children's Christmas party, the Rev. James McCaulley told the Mirror. The second woman was not hurt.
The state police have not identified any of the victims or the gunman. McCaulley identified the dead woman as Kimberly A. Scott, 58, of Duncansville. Citing sources, the Mirror also identifies the gunman as Jeffrey Lee Michael, 26, of Hollidaysburg. [Age correction? The gunman is Jeffrey Lee Michael, 44, of Hollidaysburg, noted the Mirror later.]
At a news conference, State Police Deputy Commissioner Lt. Col. George Bivens said the gunman then killed a man at a nearby residence. Fleeing, he later crashed head on into another car and shot the driver dead. Farther down the road, the gunman crashed head on into a trooper's car and began shooting when he got out. Three troopers returned fire, killing him, said state police spokeswoman Marla Finn.

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Enki notes:

The recent rash of red dawn events has overlapped with the theatrical run of Red Dawn and the holiday shopping season, so Hollidaysburg is a synchromystically significant place name. You noted that Scrabble was developed by a Newtown resident. Interestingly, another traditional Christmas gift for children, Slinky, is manufactured in Hollidaysburg.

Emphasis added.

Thanks to initial news tip from T.C.

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