San Franciscans Order Man Shot

[deanf]

Check out the last line of the story
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20000102/aponline022431_000.htm


Man Attacks 4 With Meat Cleaver
The Associated Press
Sunday, Jan. 2, 2000; 2:24 a.m. EST

SAN FRANCISCO –– A man wielding a meat cleaver attacked pedestrians as he ran down a busy city street Saturday.

The man, who has a history of mental illness, also lunged at the officer who subdued him, police said. The officer suffered cuts and bruises and two women were hospitalized with head and neck injuries.

The man, whose identity was not released, was arrested for investigation of attempted murder.

The rampage began at a California Federal Bank branch, where the man damaged the door and an ATM machine, said Lt. Gary Manini.

Witnesses said he then ran down the street, hitting or slashing people in his path.

"The guy was just crazy," said Darwin Rivera, 20. "Whoever was in the sidewalk, he hit them upside the head."

When police arrived, the man was surrounded by an angry crowd yelling, "Shoot him. He's crazy," said Lt. Jack Ballentine.

 

[Oatka]

This is the San Francisco Chronicle's take on it --
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2000/01/02/state0137EST0089.DTL

Man attacks at least four on busy city street

Breaking News Sections

(01-02) 01:37 EST SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A man with a meat cleaver attacked at least four women on a busy San Francisco street Saturday, sending two into surgery with stab wounds to the head or neck, according to police and a hospital supervisor.

Police said the man, who is in his 30s, appeared to be mentally disturbed and had a history of mental illness. He also lunged at the police officer who eventually subdued him.

The attacker, whose name police did not release, lashed out at a bank on Mission Street before attacking the women, said police Lt. Gary Manini. The attacker put a hole in a door at a California Federal Bank branch, and hit the bank's ATM about a dozen times.

He then ran down the street, hitting or slashing people in his path in an apparently indiscriminate way, said Darwin Rivera, 20, who saw the attack.

``The guy was just crazy. He was hitting everybody upside the head. Whoever was in the sidewalk, he hit them upside the head,'' Rivera said.

When police arrived, the man was surrounded by an angry crowd yelling, ``Shoot him. He's crazy,'' said police Lt. Jack Ballentine.

At least some of the wounded were part of a group of half a dozen Jehovah's Witnesses who were handing out tracts and magazines, according to Don Garcia, a member of a nearby Kingdom Hall of Jehovah Witnesses.

The attacker was booked on four charges of attempted murder after the attack at about 1:30 p.m.

Three elderly women were treated at San Francisco General Hospital. One woman was in critical condition with head injuries. Another was in serious condition with neck wounds, a nursing supervisor said. Both underwent surgery Saturday.

Zenaida Pallera, a caretaker of elderly people, was in good condition with cuts, bruises and scrapes, said her daughter, Sharon Reyes, 19.

. -- 30 --

I wrote this to the West Coast reporter at The Washington Post as well as the editors at the Chronicle (they get the dubious honor of the First Vent of the Year):

"Gentlemen:

Did any of you pick up on the irony in "Man attacks at least four on busy city street"?

In this "City of Brotherly Love", those noble citizens were screaming for the police to shoot this cleaver-wielding "mentally challenged" person.

Perhaps they should now demand registration (read ban-in-waiting) of meat cleavers, for we all KNOW that it's the inanimate object that is at fault and not the poor, misunderstood person using it.

One wonders, in this hotbed of anti-gun attitudes, why they all cried for the police to use this "evil thing" rather than a stun gun or some other less violent implement. One further wonders what would those sheep do, in a gunless city, if there were no police about?

Excuse the sarcasm overkill, but one of my New Year's resolutions just died. (Be more tolerant of other's opinions).

It always amazes me that people who are SO willing to disarm others are the first to yell for help when they are threatened. The old "whose ox is being gored" applies here.

Well, now that I've vented, Happy Holidays (or what's left of it) to the crew at the Chronicle."

I feel MUCH better now.





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The New World Order has a Third Reich odor.