1-24-09 Portland,OR Niteclub Shooting, Eric Salvador Ayala, 3 dead, 8 injured
On Saturday evening at about 10:30pm on the 24th of January, a guy named Eric Salvador Ayala, 24, parked his car in downtown Portland, OR and opened fire with a 9mm handgun on a group of young people congregating outside an underage nightclub called 'The Zone' on Southwest 2nd Avenue and Southwest Pine Street. "He didn't say anything." Witnesses said they just heard the rapid succession of shots. "There was no warning," After his rampage he shot himself in the head and died a couple of days later. The incident was over within seconds, according to police. It was reportedly the worst mass shooting in Portland's history
http://www.katu.com/news/local/38303964.html
Dead:
--Martha "Tika" Paz de Noboa, a 17-year-old Peruvian exchange student at Columbia High School, in White Salmon, WA
--Ashley Wilks, 16, a sophomore at Clackamas High School in suburban Portland.
Wounded:
• Ana Zambrano Soledispa, 18, from Ecuador
• Gonzalo Vasquez Orozco, 18, from Guatemala
• Jouyuan Trista Chang, 18, from Taiwan (serious)
• Susanna DeSousa, 18, from Italy (critical)
• Anne Sophie Riallan, 16 year old from France
• Jalontae Howard,16 year old student at Centennial HS, Portland
• Brad Yoast, 44, of Portland (the manager of the neighboring pub, hit by a stray bullet)
The foreign victims were apparently being sponsored by the Rotary Club International.
There was no indication Ayala knew any of the people shot. Investigators don't believe they were targeted but simply just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Following the shooting, investigators executed a search warrant at Ayala's Milwaukie(a suburb of Portland) home on Southeast 32nd Avenue and found a case for the 9mm handgun as well as ammunition, numerous video games and a note that Ayala had left for his roommate that insinuated suicide, though, as is usual in these cases, the suicide note(or the manifesto, in other cases) did not mention the actual target. Ayala bought the Italian-made weapon from a Portland pawn shop on Jan. 9, a little more than two weeks before the shooting, Portland police said.
[Comment: Once again, the shooter makes sure to leave iterms behind at his house that implicates himself.]
http://www.oregonlive.com...rother_step_up_for_d.html
One of the victims said the shooter was wearing a black ski cap:
"As Howard turned to run for cover, he saw a guy wearing a black ski cap firing a gun.."
Background:
Much of Ayala's recent life is a mystery. He attended McNary High School, where he was in the band, and he worked for a temp agency. According to his roommate he liked to play video games,* spent time on his computer, and was quiet and "kind of a loner." His roommate said his roommate was unemployed and seemed depressed but otherwise had not shown any signs of violence. Police have questioned Ayala's family, but they also had no answers as to why, according to investigators. He had no criminal record other than an old speeding ticket.
* His favorites were "Resistance: Fall of Man," and "Left 4 Dead," according to his roommate.
The manager at his apartment complex in suburban Milwaukie told The Associated Press that Ayala was a quiet and friendly resident. He added that Ayala paid his rent and never spoke of any financial troubles or other problems. "He was always really calm - didn't seem really too up or down," the manager said.
[Comment: Neither up or down? Hmmm.... Sounds like another Prozac case.]
http://www.katu.com/news/38404089.html#idc-ctools
"I just want to say I went to school with this boy he was always very nice to everyone. He never caused any problem with anyone, he wasn't a loner he had friends and was very normal. I really think this was out of desperation of some kind."
Though his co-workers where Ayala worked at a temp job from March, 2006 to July, 2007 said he had obvious mental problems:
http://www.oregonlive.com...wed_obvious_mental_p.html
Former co-workers of the 24-year-old .... say he displayed "obvious" signs of mental problems during the .. years he worked for the Oregon Department of Human Services as a data entry operator. Erik S. Ayala "would just sit at his desk and shake and cry," said Phyllis Allbritton... whose desk was next to Ayala's. Other workers... confirmed Allbritton's statement.
"I knew he was disturbed in some way," Allbritton said. "He would sit there and not even put his hands on the keyboard. I reported him, and I don't even know if it got reported to a higher level. I'm just saying he was very disturbing. Obviously depressed."
Police also hinted that he had come to their attention much earlier:
"While a student at McNary High School in Keizer, he was a "student of concern," police said, with "behavioral problems that involved local police intervention." "
Another commonality we have seen so many times in these cases:
"An interview by police with Ayala's mother at the hospital before he died revealed that he had been hospitalized and on medication when he was younger for depression or other mental health problems, but he wasn't taking medication recently.
http://www.oregonlive.com..._a_student_of_concer.html
An initial review of his computer seized from his apartment showed a preoccupation with violent video games, and some e-mails displaying potential anger toward preppies, investigators said.
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/
However, Ayala's father, Salvador Ayala, in two phone interviews with The Oregonian, denied that his son ever suffered from depression or had any suicide attempts. He also denied that his son was the shooter.
"He didn't do it," Salvador Ayala said. "I don't believe it. It wasn't my son."
When asked if he'd like to say anything to the victims and their families, Salvador Ayala said, "My son is not responsible. He didn't do it." "
[Comment: Most people reading this statement probably think the dad is in deep denial. But from what I have learned about the random-rage school shooting phenomenom, I believe he is right in some fashion.]
So once again we seem to have a young person who is mostly normal, though struggling with some issues, who goes on a shooting spree. Being depressed and perhaps financially destitute might be motive for suicide, it cannot by itself be motive for mass murder.* What I find particularly ominous are the voices being raised to increase gun controls laws even more, as this commentator implies:
http://www.oregonlive.com...t_shooter_from_buyin.html
For one thing, how could a troubled young man with a history of "emotional issues" walk into a pawnshop and leave with a 9 mm handgun? Federal gun-control regulations allow people with long histories of mental health problems to buy guns if they've never been civilly committed to a psychiatric hospital or otherwise "adjudicated" to be mentally ill. Ayala did not officially fit into either category. ...
"It's all becoming very familiar," says Dr. Joseph D. Bloom, professor emeritus at the OHSU Department of Psychiatry. "A person with recent losses and some history of past difficulties who is depressed and becomes suicidal, and then deliberately purchases a gun with a clear plan in mind to end his life and take out his anger on society by a random shooting event and ends it by taking his own life."
Bloom called Ayala's crime a "familiar pattern that has evolved over the last decades and has entered into the culture, and we have seen over and over again in a copycat fashion."
Is it just coincidence, then, that at this very moment there is a new gun-control bill--H.R. 45, aka the "Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act"--being debated in Congress, one that would make all gun owners subject to an 'exam' by a shrink to determine wether they are fit to exercise their rights guaranteed under the 2nd Amendment? I would say that is no coincidence at all, and that alone gives us the real motive for this latest bizarre murder spree. And that makes Ayala a definite "Columbine-client."
-----------------
*Though I would make an exception for the 'family-ciders,' moms and especially dads who kill themselves, their spouses and their kids to save them the horrors of abject poverty, of which there has also been quite a few recently.
=============Ring around Portland
the week of 1-16-09
Unnamed 17-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl arrest in Winnipeg, Canada, who planned to use stolen guns to kill students and staff at three city schools and a church. Ammo was also seized. The teens allegedly hatched the plan between October '08 and January '09.
1-21-09
Male student from China, 25, decapitates another femle student from China, 22 in a cafe on the grounds of Virginia Tech, previously the site of Cho Seung Hui's rampage. claiming 33 victims in April of 2007
1-23-09
A gunman wearing a bandanna over his face a shooting with an assualt rifle leaves 2 teens dead, 7 wounded outside a store in Liberty City, Miami, FL More than 100 rounds were fired, by the amount of shell casings found on the scene. Described as one of the largest mass shootings in Miami's history.
--The anit-gun message was once again evident in the media reports:
http://cbs4.com/local/Mia...al.Shooting.2.917589.html
"But city and community leaders say the bigger problem is how easy it is for people with ill intent to get their hands on assault weapons. In 2004, a federal ban on the sale of assault rifles expired. Since then, the Miami Police Department has seen their use in crimes rise dramatically."
1-24-09
Gang related drive-by shooting leaves 2 dead, 7 wounded at a wake in Wichita, KS
1-29-09
A female student named Blair, 17, reportedly painted her face to look like the Joker character in the Batman movie "The Dark Night" and comenced a stabbing attack against a teacher at South Vermillion High School, Clinton, Indiana. No injuries
On Saturday evening at about 10:30pm on the 24th of January, a guy named Eric Salvador Ayala, 24, parked his car in downtown Portland, OR and opened fire with a 9mm handgun on a group of young people congregating outside an underage nightclub called 'The Zone' on Southwest 2nd Avenue and Southwest Pine Street. "He didn't say anything." Witnesses said they just heard the rapid succession of shots. "There was no warning," After his rampage he shot himself in the head and died a couple of days later. The incident was over within seconds, according to police. It was reportedly the worst mass shooting in Portland's history
http://www.katu.com/news/local/38303964.html
Dead:
--Martha "Tika" Paz de Noboa, a 17-year-old Peruvian exchange student at Columbia High School, in White Salmon, WA
--Ashley Wilks, 16, a sophomore at Clackamas High School in suburban Portland.
Wounded:
• Ana Zambrano Soledispa, 18, from Ecuador
• Gonzalo Vasquez Orozco, 18, from Guatemala
• Jouyuan Trista Chang, 18, from Taiwan (serious)
• Susanna DeSousa, 18, from Italy (critical)
• Anne Sophie Riallan, 16 year old from France
• Jalontae Howard,16 year old student at Centennial HS, Portland
• Brad Yoast, 44, of Portland (the manager of the neighboring pub, hit by a stray bullet)
The foreign victims were apparently being sponsored by the Rotary Club International.
There was no indication Ayala knew any of the people shot. Investigators don't believe they were targeted but simply just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Following the shooting, investigators executed a search warrant at Ayala's Milwaukie(a suburb of Portland) home on Southeast 32nd Avenue and found a case for the 9mm handgun as well as ammunition, numerous video games and a note that Ayala had left for his roommate that insinuated suicide, though, as is usual in these cases, the suicide note(or the manifesto, in other cases) did not mention the actual target. Ayala bought the Italian-made weapon from a Portland pawn shop on Jan. 9, a little more than two weeks before the shooting, Portland police said.
[Comment: Once again, the shooter makes sure to leave iterms behind at his house that implicates himself.]
http://www.oregonlive.com...rother_step_up_for_d.html
One of the victims said the shooter was wearing a black ski cap:
"As Howard turned to run for cover, he saw a guy wearing a black ski cap firing a gun.."
Background:
Much of Ayala's recent life is a mystery. He attended McNary High School, where he was in the band, and he worked for a temp agency. According to his roommate he liked to play video games,* spent time on his computer, and was quiet and "kind of a loner." His roommate said his roommate was unemployed and seemed depressed but otherwise had not shown any signs of violence. Police have questioned Ayala's family, but they also had no answers as to why, according to investigators. He had no criminal record other than an old speeding ticket.
* His favorites were "Resistance: Fall of Man," and "Left 4 Dead," according to his roommate.
The manager at his apartment complex in suburban Milwaukie told The Associated Press that Ayala was a quiet and friendly resident. He added that Ayala paid his rent and never spoke of any financial troubles or other problems. "He was always really calm - didn't seem really too up or down," the manager said.
[Comment: Neither up or down? Hmmm.... Sounds like another Prozac case.]
http://www.katu.com/news/38404089.html#idc-ctools
"I just want to say I went to school with this boy he was always very nice to everyone. He never caused any problem with anyone, he wasn't a loner he had friends and was very normal. I really think this was out of desperation of some kind."
Though his co-workers where Ayala worked at a temp job from March, 2006 to July, 2007 said he had obvious mental problems:
http://www.oregonlive.com...wed_obvious_mental_p.html
Former co-workers of the 24-year-old .... say he displayed "obvious" signs of mental problems during the .. years he worked for the Oregon Department of Human Services as a data entry operator. Erik S. Ayala "would just sit at his desk and shake and cry," said Phyllis Allbritton... whose desk was next to Ayala's. Other workers... confirmed Allbritton's statement.
"I knew he was disturbed in some way," Allbritton said. "He would sit there and not even put his hands on the keyboard. I reported him, and I don't even know if it got reported to a higher level. I'm just saying he was very disturbing. Obviously depressed."
Police also hinted that he had come to their attention much earlier:
"While a student at McNary High School in Keizer, he was a "student of concern," police said, with "behavioral problems that involved local police intervention." "
Another commonality we have seen so many times in these cases:
"An interview by police with Ayala's mother at the hospital before he died revealed that he had been hospitalized and on medication when he was younger for depression or other mental health problems, but he wasn't taking medication recently.
http://www.oregonlive.com..._a_student_of_concer.html
An initial review of his computer seized from his apartment showed a preoccupation with violent video games, and some e-mails displaying potential anger toward preppies, investigators said.
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/
However, Ayala's father, Salvador Ayala, in two phone interviews with The Oregonian, denied that his son ever suffered from depression or had any suicide attempts. He also denied that his son was the shooter.
"He didn't do it," Salvador Ayala said. "I don't believe it. It wasn't my son."
When asked if he'd like to say anything to the victims and their families, Salvador Ayala said, "My son is not responsible. He didn't do it." "
[Comment: Most people reading this statement probably think the dad is in deep denial. But from what I have learned about the random-rage school shooting phenomenom, I believe he is right in some fashion.]
So once again we seem to have a young person who is mostly normal, though struggling with some issues, who goes on a shooting spree. Being depressed and perhaps financially destitute might be motive for suicide, it cannot by itself be motive for mass murder.* What I find particularly ominous are the voices being raised to increase gun controls laws even more, as this commentator implies:
http://www.oregonlive.com...t_shooter_from_buyin.html
For one thing, how could a troubled young man with a history of "emotional issues" walk into a pawnshop and leave with a 9 mm handgun? Federal gun-control regulations allow people with long histories of mental health problems to buy guns if they've never been civilly committed to a psychiatric hospital or otherwise "adjudicated" to be mentally ill. Ayala did not officially fit into either category. ...
"It's all becoming very familiar," says Dr. Joseph D. Bloom, professor emeritus at the OHSU Department of Psychiatry. "A person with recent losses and some history of past difficulties who is depressed and becomes suicidal, and then deliberately purchases a gun with a clear plan in mind to end his life and take out his anger on society by a random shooting event and ends it by taking his own life."
Bloom called Ayala's crime a "familiar pattern that has evolved over the last decades and has entered into the culture, and we have seen over and over again in a copycat fashion."
Is it just coincidence, then, that at this very moment there is a new gun-control bill--H.R. 45, aka the "Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act"--being debated in Congress, one that would make all gun owners subject to an 'exam' by a shrink to determine wether they are fit to exercise their rights guaranteed under the 2nd Amendment? I would say that is no coincidence at all, and that alone gives us the real motive for this latest bizarre murder spree. And that makes Ayala a definite "Columbine-client."
-----------------
*Though I would make an exception for the 'family-ciders,' moms and especially dads who kill themselves, their spouses and their kids to save them the horrors of abject poverty, of which there has also been quite a few recently.
=============Ring around Portland
the week of 1-16-09
Unnamed 17-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl arrest in Winnipeg, Canada, who planned to use stolen guns to kill students and staff at three city schools and a church. Ammo was also seized. The teens allegedly hatched the plan between October '08 and January '09.
1-21-09
Male student from China, 25, decapitates another femle student from China, 22 in a cafe on the grounds of Virginia Tech, previously the site of Cho Seung Hui's rampage. claiming 33 victims in April of 2007
1-23-09
A gunman wearing a bandanna over his face a shooting with an assualt rifle leaves 2 teens dead, 7 wounded outside a store in Liberty City, Miami, FL More than 100 rounds were fired, by the amount of shell casings found on the scene. Described as one of the largest mass shootings in Miami's history.
--The anit-gun message was once again evident in the media reports:
http://cbs4.com/local/Mia...al.Shooting.2.917589.html
"But city and community leaders say the bigger problem is how easy it is for people with ill intent to get their hands on assault weapons. In 2004, a federal ban on the sale of assault rifles expired. Since then, the Miami Police Department has seen their use in crimes rise dramatically."
1-24-09
Gang related drive-by shooting leaves 2 dead, 7 wounded at a wake in Wichita, KS
1-29-09
A female student named Blair, 17, reportedly painted her face to look like the Joker character in the Batman movie "The Dark Night" and comenced a stabbing attack against a teacher at South Vermillion High School, Clinton, Indiana. No injuries
