LINDEN, CA—After completing nearly two weeks of detailed site
preparations while mitigating challenges, FBI personnel and technical
experts anticipate beginning excavating the interior of a well in
Linden, California, on Thursday, January 24, 2013. The excavation
operation—the first known well excavation by FBI teams—will take days,
if not weeks.
Despite careful initial exploration of the site with a bore and
camera, experts and engineers from both the FBI Technical Hazard
Response Unit (THRU) and Drill Tech Drilling and Shoring Inc., the
historic bottom of the well was not located with certainty. The effort
attempted to further investigate the depths of the site in absence of
conclusive evidence of where the bottom of the well was located more
than two decades ago without damaging well contents. The bore and camera
operation also intended to locate potential hazards that the team would
encounter during this challenging operation.
Over the course of the past two weeks, a corrugated pipe that is 10
feet in diameter was installed and reinforced in place with concrete to
protect the excavation site. The well site that is five feet in diameter
is located to the side of the corrugated pipe.
Throughout the excavation operation, a large drill will excavate soil
from the operational site outside of the well to facilitate safe access
to the well site by Evidence Response Team (ERT) members. The ERT will
then excavate the well site by hand. Excavated well dirt will then be
conveyed to an area at grade for careful sifting, ensuring that all
material is processed thoroughly. Due to the hazardous nature of
excavating well below grade, safety personnel will constantly monitor
the teams at work.
If any remains are encountered during sifting or excavation, the
excavation process will stop to assess how to best recover the remains
and ensure that as much material as possible is recovered.
The collaborative team of FBI personnel and technical experts began
operations at the site of the old, filled-in well in Linden on January
7, 2013, after several months of investigative work and coordination in
the effort of potentially returning victims of Wesley Shermantine and
Loren Herzog to their loved ones.
Showing posts with label death. Show all posts
Showing posts with label death. Show all posts
Friday, January 25, 2013
Friday, December 14, 2012
Columbine pt.1
On April 20, 1999, in the small, suburban town of Littleton, Colorado,
two high-school seniors, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, enacted an
all-out assault on Columbine High School during the middle of the school
day. The boys' plan was to kill hundreds of their peers. With guns,
knives, and a multitude of bombs, the two boys walked the hallways and
killed. When the day was done, twelve students, one teacher, and the two
murderers were dead; plus 21 more were injured. The haunting question
remains: why did they do it?
The Boys: Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris
Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris were both intelligent, came from solid homes with two parents, and had older brothers who were three years their senior. In elementary school, Klebold and Harris had both played in sports such as baseball and soccer. Both enjoyed working with computers.
The boys met each other while attending Ken Caryl Middle School in 1993. Though Klebold had been born and raised in the Denver area, Harris' father had been in the U.S. Air Force and had moved the family several times before he retired and moved his family to Littleton, Colorado in July 1993. When the two boys entered high school, they found it difficult to fit into any of the cliques.* As is too common in high school, the boys found themselves frequently picked on by athletes and other students.
However, Klebold and Harris seemed to spend their time doing normal teenager activities. They worked together in a local pizza parlor, liked to play Doom (a computer game) in the afternoons, and worried about finding a date to the prom. For all outward appearances, the boys looked like normal teenagers. Looking back, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris obviously weren't your average teenagers.
Preparations
According to journals, notes, and videos that Klebold and Harris left to be discovered, Klebold had been thinking of committing suicide as early as 1997 and they both had begun thinking about a large massacre as early as April 1998 - a full year before the actual event.
By then, the two had already run into some trouble. On January 30, 1998, Klebold and Harris were arrested for breaking into a van. As part of their plea agreement, the two began a juvenile diversion program in April 1998. Since they were first-timeoffenders , this program allowed them to purge the event from their record if they could successfully complete the program. So, for eleven months, the two attended workshops, spoke to counselors ,
worked on volunteer projects, and convinced everyone that they were
sincerely sorry about the break-in. However, during the entire time,
Klebold and Harris were making plans for a large-scale massacre at their
high school.
Klebold and Harris were angry teenagers. They were not only angry at athletes that made fun of them, or Christians, or blacks, as some people have reported; they basically hated everyone except for a handful of people. On the front page of Harris's journal, he wrote: "I hate the fucking world." Harris also wrote that he hates racists, martial arts experts, and people who brag about their cars. He stated:
Klebold and Harris used the Internet to find recipes for pipe bombs and other explosives. They amassed an arsenal, which eventually included guns, knives, and 99 explosive devices.
Klebold and Harris wanted to kill as many people as possible, so they studied the influx of students in the cafeteria, noting that there would be over 500 students after 11:15 a.m. when the first lunch period began. They planned to plant propane bombs in the cafeteria timed to explode at 11:17 and then shoot any survivors as they came running out.
There is some discrepancy whether the original date planned for the massacre was to be April 19 or 20. April 19 was the anniversary for the Oklahoma City Bombing and April 20 was the 110th anniversary of Adolf Hitler's birthday. For whatever reason, April 20 was the date finally chosen.
* Though some claimed they were part of the Trench Coat Mafia, in truth, they were only friends with some of the group's members. The boys didn't usually wear trench coats to school; they did so only on April 20 to hide the weapons they were carrying as they walked across the parking lot.
http://youtu.be/4u2j7hM8MPo
The Boys: Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris
Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris were both intelligent, came from solid homes with two parents, and had older brothers who were three years their senior. In elementary school, Klebold and Harris had both played in sports such as baseball and soccer. Both enjoyed working with computers.
The boys met each other while attending Ken Caryl Middle School in 1993. Though Klebold had been born and raised in the Denver area, Harris' father had been in the U.S. Air Force and had moved the family several times before he retired and moved his family to Littleton, Colorado in July 1993. When the two boys entered high school, they found it difficult to fit into any of the cliques.* As is too common in high school, the boys found themselves frequently picked on by athletes and other students.
However, Klebold and Harris seemed to spend their time doing normal teenager activities. They worked together in a local pizza parlor, liked to play Doom (a computer game) in the afternoons, and worried about finding a date to the prom. For all outward appearances, the boys looked like normal teenagers. Looking back, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris obviously weren't your average teenagers.
Preparations
According to journals, notes, and videos that Klebold and Harris left to be discovered, Klebold had been thinking of committing suicide as early as 1997 and they both had begun thinking about a large massacre as early as April 1998 - a full year before the actual event.
By then, the two had already run into some trouble. On January 30, 1998, Klebold and Harris were arrested for breaking into a van. As part of their plea agreement, the two began a juvenile diversion program in April 1998. Since they were first-time
Klebold and Harris were angry teenagers. They were not only angry at athletes that made fun of them, or Christians, or blacks, as some people have reported; they basically hated everyone except for a handful of people. On the front page of Harris's journal, he wrote: "I hate the fucking world." Harris also wrote that he hates racists, martial arts experts, and people who brag about their cars. He stated:
You know what I hate? Star Wars fans: get a friggin life, you boring geeks. You know what I hate? People who mispronounce words, like 'acrost,' and 'pacific' for 'specific,' and 'expresso' instead of 'espresso.' You know what I hate? People who drive slow in the fast lane, God these people do not know how to drive. You know what I hate? The WB network!!!! Oh Jesus, Mary Mother of God Almighty, I hate that channel with all my heart and soul."1Both Klebold and Harris were serious about acting out on this hate. As early as spring 1998, they wrote about killing and retaliation in each other's yearbooks, including an image of a man standing with a gun, surrounded by dead bodies, with the caption, "The only reason your [sic] still alive is because someone has decided to let you live."2
Klebold and Harris used the Internet to find recipes for pipe bombs and other explosives. They amassed an arsenal, which eventually included guns, knives, and 99 explosive devices.
Klebold and Harris wanted to kill as many people as possible, so they studied the influx of students in the cafeteria, noting that there would be over 500 students after 11:15 a.m. when the first lunch period began. They planned to plant propane bombs in the cafeteria timed to explode at 11:17 and then shoot any survivors as they came running out.
There is some discrepancy whether the original date planned for the massacre was to be April 19 or 20. April 19 was the anniversary for the Oklahoma City Bombing and April 20 was the 110th anniversary of Adolf Hitler's birthday. For whatever reason, April 20 was the date finally chosen.
* Though some claimed they were part of the Trench Coat Mafia, in truth, they were only friends with some of the group's members. The boys didn't usually wear trench coats to school; they did so only on April 20 to hide the weapons they were carrying as they walked across the parking lot.
http://youtu.be/4u2j7hM8MPo
Elementary school massacre: 26 dead, including 18 kids, in Connecticut
Updated at 1:30 p.m. ET: A
young man clad in black and carrying two handguns shot up an elementary
school in a small Connecticut town on Friday, leaving 18 small children
and eight adults dead in one the nation’s worst school massacres, law
enforcement officials said.
The gunman, described as a 20-year-old man from Connecticut,
was later found dead, a federal law enforcement official told NBC News. A
second person was in custody for a possible connection to the shooting,
NBC’s Pete Williams reported.
Students – mostly under age 10 -- described the terror that gripped Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown when the rampage began around 9:30 a.m., sparking a massive police response that included SWAT officers going room to room to search for victims.
TheHartford Courant , citing unnamed sources, said many of the victims were in a kindergarten classroom.
"I was in the gym and I heard a loud, like seven loud booms, and the gym teachers told us to go in the corner, so we all huddled," one student told NBC Connecticut. "And I kept hearing these booming noises. And we all … started crying.
"All the gym teachers told us to go into the office where no one could find us," she added. "So then a police officer came in and told us to run outside. So we did and we came in the firehouse and waited for our parents."
Dozens of emergencyvehicles
from across Fairfield County raced to the 600-student school, along
with panicked parents hoping to be reunited with their children.
“It was horrendous,'' Brenda Lebinski, mother of a third-grader, said at the scene.``Everyone was in hysterics -- parents, students. There were kids coming out of the school bloodied. I don't know if they were shot, but they were bloodied,'' she said, according to Reuters.
One
parent picking up his young son said the shooting was “the most
terrifying moment a parent can imagine.” He described the anguish of
waiting to find out if his son was a victim and then running to his
child.
“It was the greatest relief in my existence,” the father said. “I’m just happy that my kid’s OK.”
Bracing for a large influx of wounded, Danbury Hospital went on lockdown and cleared four trauma rooms. It received only three patients, including a teacher shot in the foot, the Associated Press reported.
The motive for the shooting was unknown, and the gunman’s name was not released.
Two 9mm handguns were recovered from the scene, an official told WNBC's Jonathan Dienst. The Associated Press said one of the guns was a.223-caliber rifle.
The FBI was on the scene, assisting with the investigation.
President Obama was told of the shooting at 10:30 a.m.
"I think it's important on a day like today to view this as I know the president, as a father does, and I as a father and others who are parents certainly do, which is to feel enormous sympathy for families that are affected,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said.
BreakingNews.com's coverage of the incident
Swarming police response in mall shooting highlights 'paradigm shift'
The death toll is the highest from a school shooting in U.S. history since a gunman killed 32 people at Virginia Tech in 2007. At Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, two teens killed 13 people and wounded 24 in 1999.
Parent Stephen Delgiadice, whose 8-year-old daughter was not hurt, said he never could have imagined such carnage in the small bedroom community – where the police force has only three detectives.
"It's alarming, especially in Newtown, Connecticut, which we always thought was the safest place in America," he told The Associated Press.
Students – mostly under age 10 -- described the terror that gripped Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown when the rampage began around 9:30 a.m., sparking a massive police response that included SWAT officers going room to room to search for victims.
The
"I was in the gym and I heard a loud, like seven loud booms, and the gym teachers told us to go in the corner, so we all huddled," one student told NBC Connecticut. "And I kept hearing these booming noises. And we all … started crying.
"All the gym teachers told us to go into the office where no one could find us," she added. "So then a police officer came in and told us to run outside. So we did and we came in the firehouse and waited for our parents."
Dozens of emergency
“It was horrendous,'' Brenda Lebinski, mother of a third-grader, said at the scene.``Everyone was in hysterics -- parents, students. There were kids coming out of the school bloodied. I don't know if they were shot, but they were bloodied,'' she said, according to Reuters.
Shannon Hicks / The Newtown Bee.
Children are led from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on Friday after a reported shooting there.
“It was the greatest relief in my existence,” the father said. “I’m just happy that my kid’s OK.”
Bracing for a large influx of wounded, Danbury Hospital went on lockdown and cleared four trauma rooms. It received only three patients, including a teacher shot in the foot, the Associated Press reported.
The motive for the shooting was unknown, and the gunman’s name was not released.
Two 9mm handguns were recovered from the scene, an official told WNBC's Jonathan Dienst. The Associated Press said one of the guns was a.223-caliber rifle.
The FBI was on the scene, assisting with the investigation.
President Obama was told of the shooting at 10:30 a.m.
"I think it's important on a day like today to view this as I know the president, as a father does, and I as a father and others who are parents certainly do, which is to feel enormous sympathy for families that are affected,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said.
BreakingNews.com's coverage of the incident
Swarming police response in mall shooting highlights 'paradigm shift'
The death toll is the highest from a school shooting in U.S. history since a gunman killed 32 people at Virginia Tech in 2007. At Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, two teens killed 13 people and wounded 24 in 1999.
Parent Stephen Delgiadice, whose 8-year-old daughter was not hurt, said he never could have imagined such carnage in the small bedroom community – where the police force has only three detectives.
"It's alarming, especially in Newtown, Connecticut, which we always thought was the safest place in America," he told The Associated Press.
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