The Shedden Massacre

8th April 2006

This day in history...The Shedden Massacre: The bodies of eight men, all shot dead, were found in a field in Ontario, Canada. The murders are soon linked with the Bandidos motorcycle gang

Today's event highlights another major massacre in the history of the world and is an example of gangland crime and murder. Organised crime and gang massacres have occurred throughout history, dating back to 61AD with the Menai Massacre and continuing until the present day. The most famous massacres include the St. Valentines Day Massacre by Al Capone's gang in 1929 and the very recent Sandy Hook Elementary School Massacre by Adam Lanza in 2012. To give context to the Shedden Massacre, lets look at the organisation and history of the Bandidos Motorcycle Gang.  

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The Bandidos Motorcycle Gang

The Bandidos Motorcycle Club: AKA the Bandido Nation, is a an organised crime syndicate with a worldwide membership. The club was created in 1966 by Don Chambers in Texas. The motto still stands today as "We are the people our parents warned us about." It is estimated to have 2,400 members in 210 chapters, located in 22 countries. The FBI and the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada have named the Bandidos as an "outlaw motorcycle gang." The chapters are divided around the world, with over 90 in the US, 90 in Europe, 17 in Australia, 1 in NZ and 1 in South-east Asia:

• North America: The club is concentrated in Texas but extends out into over 15 other states. In Canada, the Rock Machine Motorcycle club in Montreal merged with the Bandidos in 2000. There was another chapter in Ontario but the Shedden Massacre was a dramatic internal conflict that led to their deaths.
• Oceania: The chapters are widely spread across Australia and some have even taken part in bloodletting. The club attempted to spread to NZ by merging with former members of the Highway 61 members. 
• Europe: The European chapters have expanded across France, Scandinavia, Germany, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg and surrounding countries. As of March 15th 2014 a "Probationary Chapter" was also set up in Sittard, Netherlands. The club also hopes to expand to Russia and Eastern Europe. 
• Support Clubs: These support clubs are used as proxies for both legal and illegal activities. The groups usually wear reverse colours to those of the Bandidos. They also commonly wear a unique patch (Heart Patch) consisting of a round patch in the Bandidos colours on the front upper left of the vest. Most of the support clubs are regional.

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The website showing the Worldwide Bandido Clubs

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Support Patch

Criminal Involvement

United States: 

• November 2006, Glenn Merritt of the Bellingham, Washington chapter was sentenced to 4 years in prison for drug possession and trafficking of stolen property. 32 members were indicted in the associated investigation, on charges of conspiracy, witness tampering, and various drug and gun violations
• August 2004, Robert Quiroga, International Boxing Federation Super flyweight champion was found lying next to his car. He had been stabbed multiple times. Richard Merla, a Bandidos member, was arrested in 2006 for the killing and was sentenced to 40 years in prison. He said; "I don't regret it. I don't have no remorse. I don't feel sorry for him and his family. I don't and I mean it." The Bandidos denied that they had any involvement in the crime and that Merla had acted with his own intentions - he was then expelled from the Bandidos
• March 2006, Anthony Benesh was shot in the head by an unseen sniper. Benesh had been trying to set up an Austin chapter of the Hells Angels. As he was leaving a restaurant in Austin with his girlfriend and two children, he was shot in the head by a Bandidos member. The murder occurred on the same weekend as the annual Bandidos MC "Birthday Party". Benesh had been receiving phone calls from the Bandidos telling him to stop wearing a vest that displayed Hells Angels patches. 

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Robert Quiroga murdered by Bandido Richard Merla

Scandinavia:

• 1993-1997, The Great Nordic Biker War was a turf and drug was between the Hells Angels and the Bandidos. It resulted in 11 murders, 74 attempted murders and 96 wounded members of both clubs. January 2009, the Bandidos Sweden President, Mehdi Seyyed, was sentenced to 9 years in prison for 2 counts of attempted murder. He bombed 2 cars in 2006 with hand grenades in acts of revenge. 

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The Great Nordic Biker War

Australia:

• The Australian chapter was founded by Anthony Mark Spencer in 1983, following his split from the Comanchero Motorcycle Club. The most famous massacre here was the Milperra Bikie Massacre, a shoot-out with the rival Comanchero Club that killed 6 gang members and a young bystander.
• 2002, a Bandidos Motorcycle Club member was shot and wounded by 2 members of the Anthony Perish criminal gang network in Haymarket, New South Wales.
• October 2008, Bandidos member Ross Brand was shot dead outside the clubhouse by rival Rebels Motorcycle gang

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Comanchero Gang, Australia

Canada:

• Quebec Biker War between Hells Angels, Rock Machine and Bandidos, 1994. In August, a jeep wired with a remote-controlled bomb exploded killing a Rock Machine associate and an 11 year old boy, Daniel Desrochers, who was playing nearby. A month later, a Hells Angels member was shot dead entering his car at a shopping mall. 9 bombs went off around the province during his funeral
• The war ended with mass killings by the Hells Angels, plus a public outcry over the deaths of innocent bystanders. 

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Rock Machine MC Quebec

This brings us onto today's event. On April 8th 2006, 4 vehicles were discovered by a farmer in Shedden, Ontario, Canada, containing the bodies of 8 murdered men. 6 of the men killed in this Shedden Massacre were members of the Bandidos Toronto Branch, including the President of the organisation in Canada. The victims were; 

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The victims: Top row: Chopper, Boxer, Goldberg, Pony
Bottom row: Crash, Bam Bam, Big Paul, Mike T

• Luis Manny Raposo "Chopper"
• John Muscedere "Boxer"
• Jamie Flanz "Goldberg"
• George Jessome "Pony"
• George Kriarakis "Crash"
• Frank Salerno "Bam Bam"
• Paul Sinopoli "Big Paul"
• Michael Trotta "Mike T"

The suspects of the crime were Michael Sandham, Marcelo Aravena, Frank Mather, Brett Gardiner, Dwight Mushey and Wayne Kellestine, who were also members (probationary). The police described them as members of an internal cleansing of the Bandidos organisation NSCC (No Surrender Crew Canada). The victims had been brought to Kellestine's farm where they were held captive before people led out of his barn and murdered 'execution style'. The bodies were discovered in a silver 2001 Volkswagen Golf, a grey 2003 Infiniti SUV, a grey Pontiac Grand Prix and a green Chevrolet Silverado tow truck. When police arrived at the barn, they found a scene filled with blood, pieces of flesh and beer bottles. They also noted Confederate and Nazi flags hanging on a wall. The murderers were described as "at the very bottom rung of biker gangs. Some were in their 40s but still lived with their parents. They were not making any money, many of them had been rejected by the Hells Angeles and half of them didn't even own a motorbike.'

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The Nazi flag found in Kellestine's barn

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Nazi symbol at the foot of Kellestine's garden

The trail took a lot longer than expected with defence lawyers pushing for lenient sentences. On October 29th, 2009, the jury returned 44 guilty verdicts for first degree murder and 4 for manslaughter. This was believed to be the largest number of murder convictions ever produced from a single criminal proceeding in Canada. Kellestine, Sndham and Mushey were found guilty of 8 counts of first-degree murder. Mather and Aravena were found guilty of 7 counts of first degree murder and 1 count of manslaughter. Gardiner was found guilty of 6 counts of first degree murder and 2 counts of manslaughter.

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The murderers; Top row; Sandham, Mather, Aravena
Bottom row; Gardiner, Mushey, Kellestine

It is shocking how much violence and death was caused by the Bandidos Motorcycle club and all the other organised gangs. Some see the clubs as protective networks of respect and power. Others see it as threatening and disastrous to society. If you want to find out more information check out their website by clicking here. You can also check out an interactive site by Peter Edwards, that looks at the Massacre, here.

What are your thoughts? What do you think can be done to control or shut down these gangs? Leave your comments below!

Don't forget to follow @Ydaysnews for more historical events each day!

 

Oldest Human Skeleton

7th April 1983

This day in history...Oldest Human Skeleton, aged 80,000 years, discovered in Egypt

Humans have walked this earth for thousands of years. It is always interesting to know what people were like and how they looked all those years ago, which is why archaeology is such a fascinating hobby/career and source of discovery. Today's event is slightly dated now as a few other skeleton's have been found to be a lot older, but it is a good starting point for today's blog. 

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An artist's impression of the Sima de los Huesos early humans

80,000 years old: Dr. Fred Wendorf of Southern Methodist University of Dallas, Texas, accidentally discovered the skeleton while working near the Aswan Dam, Egypt. Wendorf estimated that the skeleton was aged between 60,000 and 80,000 years old, based on dating the surrounding rock. Wendorf and his colleagues were exploring the area when they started to find stone tools, similar to those discovered with Neanderthal skeletons in other countries. Whilst examining the rock, Wendorf said that he noticed parts of a human skull and vertebrae in stone that was being eroded away. He realised he had found a grave. The body was apparently found buried face down, with legs tightly flexed and drawn up underneath, with the arms extended to the side. 

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Archaeological site in Egypt

The Oldest Human remains: In the 1970s 'The Pit of Bones' or 'Sima de los Huesos', was found in Northern Spain and has been a legendary Spanish archaeological site ever since, providing clues into the history of the human species. Accessing Sima de los Huesos in a difficult venture. Scientists must crawl for hundreds of metres through narrow cave tunnels and rope down through the dark. The early remains that have been found have been painstakingly excavated and pieced together over the last 2 decades and have given the remains of at least 28 ancient people. 

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Scientists inside the Sima de los Huesos

In 2013 the remains of a 400,000 year old skeleton were found in Sima de los Huesos. Researchers tested and read the DNA from the thigh bone of an early ancestor. The DNA cells were badly degraded and were the hardest samples to work on. The results revealed that the DNA did not match that of the Neanderthals, which were believed and expected to be in that area. Instead the analysis showed that the remains were closer to the sister group called Denisovans that lived in Siberia. This is puzzling to scientists as it could reshape their understanding of our ancestors. It could mean that that the Neanderthals and Denisovans interbred, or could mean that the new remains are a completely separate group. Lots of detailed research is going into the discovery and it may be many years before we can decipher what type of human species the remains actually represent.  

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The skeleton found in Spain

I could go into the scientific details and analysis but I don't understand much of it and it gives you a chance to go and do some further research :) 

Check out the following for more information

• The National Georgraphic
• The BBC
• The Guardian
• ABC News

What are your thoughts on this? Leave your comments below

And don't forget to follow @Ydaysnews for more historical events each day!

Typhoid Mary

27th March 1915

This day in history...Typhoid Mary, the first ever healthy carrier of typhoid identified in the US, is put in quarantine for the rest of her life

The case of Mary Mallon was highly unusual and controversial in its day. We can now look back at poor old Typhoid Mary as a medical phenomenon of her time. But we also need to look back at the way she was treated by officials and the cruelty and sadness she experienced in her life. 

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Mary Mallon, aged 39

The beginning: Mary Mallon was born in 1869 in Cookstown, County Tyrone, Ireland (Northern Ireland now). She emigrated to the United States in 1884 when she was just 15, seeking for a better life across the pond. She first worked in housekeeping and was a big boned, tall and hard-working girl. Mary found that she excelled as a cook and from 1990-1907 she worked as a cook in the New York area. In 1900, she worked in Mamaroneck, NY, and within 2 weeks of her employment, the residents developed typhoid fever. She then moved in 1901 to Manhatten, where the members of the family whom she worked for also developed fevers and diarrhoea, and the laundress even died. Mallon again moved on and worked fro a lawyer, until 7-8 household members developed typhoid. In 1906, Mary took a position in Oyster Bay, Long Island, and within 2 weeks, 10-11 family members were hospitalised with typhoid. Coincidence? If a pattern hasn't already emerged; Mary chanced jobs again and similar occurrences happened in 3 more households. A particular family, that of wealthy NY banker Charles Henry Warren, experienced 6 people coming down with typhoid fever. It was an unusual disease in Oyster Bay at the time according to doctors. Basically, wherever Mary went, the typhoid outbreaks followed her. 

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Mary Mallon cooking

Investigations: In 1906 a family, The Thompson's, hired an investigator to find the cause of the spread of typhoid in their area. George Soper, the investigator, had experience with typhoid outbreaks and found that the family had changed cooks 3 weeks before the epidemic broke out. He wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association that the new cook had:

 'remained in the family only a short time, leaving soon after the outbreak occurred.The cook was described as an Irish woman about 40 years of age, tall, heavy, single. She seemed to be in perfect health.'

Mary had left no forwarding address with any of her previous employers, so it took some time fro Soper to locate her. It wasn't until an active typhoid outbreak in a Park Avenue penthouse that Soper was able to find Mary. This particular case involved 2 servants being hospitalised and the daughter of the family dying. When Soper approached Mary about her possible role in spreading the disease, she obviously rejected his request for urine and stool samples and it is believed that she 'grabbed a carving fork and advanced towards Soper until he fled.' He decided to look into her 5 year history of employment and found 8 families who had hired Mary and had experienced typhoid. Soper then returned to visit Mary with another doctor, but was again refused by Mary. He offered to write a book about her and give her all the royalties. Mary angrily rejected the proposal and is believed to have locked herself in a bathroom until he left. 

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Dr. George Soper

Quarantine:  The New York City Health Department eventually sent Dr. Sara Josephine Baker to talk to Mary. Dr. Baker stated that she thought the law was persecuting Mary for no reason. However, a few days later, Baker returned to Mary's workplace with several police officers and took her into custody. The case attracted lots of media attention and the 1908 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association nicknamed her 'Typhoid Mary.' Mary was questioned by the police and medical experts and admitted she rarely washed her hand when cooking and felt there was no need to do so. The results from her urine samples - taken forcibly - revealed that her gallbladder was teeming with typhoid salmonella. She refused to have her gallbladder extracted and did not want to give up her cooking occupation. She was adamant that she did not carry any disease. She was later determined as a healthy carrier and under section of the Greater New York Charter, Mary was held in isolation for 3 years at a clinic and cottage in North Brother Island. Eventually it was decided that carriers should no longer be kept in isolation and that Mary would be freed as long as she agreed to stop working as a cook and to take reasonable steps to prevent her spread of typhoid. In 1910, Mary agreed to these conditions and was released. 

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Anti-Mary poster from the 1900s

What happened next: Mary aquired a job as a laundress after her release. The job was menial and paid much less than a cook. She soon changed her name from Mary Mallon to Mary Brown and returned to cooking. For the next 5 years she worked in many kitchens, and just like before, typhoid outbreaks followed her everywhere. Soper was unable to find her as she changed jobs so frequently, kept below the radar, and went under a pseudonym. In 1915, however, a serious epidemic of typhoid erupted in NY's Sloane Hospital for Women, with 25 cases and 2 deaths. City Health investigated and found that an Irish-American woman matching Mary's description had suddenly disappeared from the kitchens. Police tracked her to Long Island. Public health then arrested Mary and returned her to the quarantine in North Brother Island on the 27th March 1915, where she stayed for the rest of her life. Mary became a minor celebrity and was interviewed by a whole range of journalists - they were forbidden to accept even a glass of water from her. She was eventually allowed to work as a technician in the Island's lab, washing bottles. 

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Bacteriologist Emma Sherman and
 Mary Mallon (right) at
North Borther Island Clinic

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Mary Mallon in the forefront at North Brother Island

The end: The next 23 years of her life, Mary was confined to her isolation. In 1932 she was paralysed by a stroke and was moved to a bed in a children's ward, where she spent the last 6 years of her life, and in 1938, Mary died of pneumonia, aged 69. Autopsy evidence showed live typhoid bacteria in her gallbladder. Her body was cremated and her ashes buried at Saint Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx.

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Mary Mallon's tombstone

Her Legacy: No one knows for sure how many people were infected or killed at 'the hands' of Mary Mallon. Most people at the time considered her a horrible, stubborn and selfish woman as she refused to cooperate with health authorities, withheld information about her past, and used different pseudonyms when changing cities. 3 deaths have been directly linked to Mary, but estimates are now running as high as 50. Some believe she was consciously aware of her situation but was scared and didn't want to believe it. She was the first healthy typhoid carrier to be identified by medical science and there was no policy for guidelines handling this situation. This sort of explains the difficulties of her case and why she was treated as a prisoner. There were other healthy typhoid carriers in the 20th Century including Tony Labella, an Italian immigrant and a man nicknamed Typhoid John. Today, Typhoid Mary is a colloquial term for anyone who, knowingly or not, spreads something undesirable. 

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An illustration of Typhoid Mary that appeared in
1909 in The New York American

Some Medical Science: (I'm no doctor so don't kill me if I'm wrong) In August 2013, researched at Stanford University School of Medicine announced they had made breakthroughs in understanding the science behind asymptomatic carriers like Mary. The bacteria that causes typhoid may hide in macrophages, a type of immune cell. Individuals can develop typhoid fever after ingesting food or water contaminated by a human carrier who had handled it. The human carrier may be healthy, but they most probably have survived a previous episode of the disease and continue to shed the bacteria. Washing hands with soap before touching or preparing food, washing dishes and utensils with soap and water, and only eating cooked foods are ways to reduce the risk of typhoid infection. 

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Typhoid Poster 1923

Current Media:There have been many books published on Mary's case and her life. She was even immortalised in Marvel comic books as 'Typhoid Mary', 'Walker', 'Mutant Zero' who was a supervillian, fictional character and enemy of Daredevil and Deadpool. Some films and documentaries have also been made; some academic, intellectual and interesting; others just...awful. For example; Paranormal Asylum: The Revenge of Typhoid Mary (2013). If you click on the title here it will take you to the trailer...trust me...its not scary...its ridiculous. But that's for film critics to decide!

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DVD cover 

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Marvel Comic: Typhoid Mary 1988 ish

What are you thoughts on Mary Mallon? Do you agree with the way she was treated or how she reacted? Keep in mind that when you look back in hindsight at this, you are looking back with knowledge of the 21st Century, so can you really judge fairly on legislation at that time?

Please leave your comments below
And don't forget to follow @Ydaysnews for more historical events each day!

Dr. Death

26th March 1999

This day in history...Jury finds Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder for giving a lethal injection to a terminally ill man

The story and life of Dr. Jack Kevorkian is very controversial. The majority of his life was spent highlighting the issues encompassing euthanasia and campaigning for its legality in America, and essentially the rest of the world. There are many different debates surrounding Dr. Jack's beliefs, intentions and actions. Some describe him as 'Dr. Death' and 'Jack the Dripper', too obsessed with his interest in death; while others consider him as the poster boy for legislative reform and as a man who moved the medical debate forward. You can make up your own mind about Dr. Jack, but lets first look at his story.

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Time Magazine nickname him Dr. Death

Early Life: Kevorkian was born in Pontiac, Michigan to Armenian immigrants in 1928. He had 2 sisters, Maragret (eldest), and Flora (youngest). Kevorkian was born as Jacob but soon obtained the nickname Jack. When he was 17, Kevorkian graduated from Pontiac Central High School in 1945 with honours. He excelled in school and had even taught himself German and Japanese. (His aptitude for languages grew and by the time he was 20 he had learned seven languages). In 1952, Kevorkian graduated from University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, and he completed his residency training in anatomical and clinical pathology with brief research on blood transfusion. Kevorkian failed to function effectively as a hospital pathologist, left the active practice of medicine and for a time was even homeless - he never married.

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Jack Kevorkian on the far right, pictured in his Yearbook, 1952

Career: Over the decades Kevorkian developed several controversial medical ideas and in 1958 submitted a paper to a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His paper proposed that murders on death row should be given the option to execution with anaesthesia so that they could donate their organs to research. This was unsuccessful. When working as a pathologist at Pontiac General Hospital, Kevorkian experimented with transfusing blood from the recently deceased in to live patients. He drew blood from corpses recently brought into the hospital and transferred it successfully into the bodies of hospital staff members. He believed that the US military might be interested in using this technique to help wounded soldiers during battle - the Pentagon was not interested. 

In the 1980s, Kevorkian wrote a series of articles for the German Journal Medicine and Law laying out his thinking on the ethics of euthanasia. Following this, in 1987, he started advertising in Detroit newspapers as a physician consultant for 'death counselling'. His first public assisted suicide in 1990 was of Janet Adkins, a 54 year old woman diagnosed in 1989 with Alzheimer's disease. His Thanatron (Death machine) was used to assist Adkins in the back of his van, with him in attendance. The Thanatron involved the patient pushing a button that delivered the euthanizing drugs. Kevorkian reported the body to the police but charges were dropped as there was no law in Michigan at the time, regarding assisted suicide. In 1991, however, the State of Michigan revoked Kevorkian's medical license made it clear that he was no longer to practice medicine or do work with patients. 

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Dr. Kevorkian with his Thanatron Machine

According to his lawyer Geoffrey Fieger, Kevorkian assisted in the deaths of 130 terminally ill people between 1990 and 1998. In every case, the individuals themselves allegedly took the final action of pushing the button, resulting in their own deaths. Kevorkian's only role in the deaths was allegedly just attaching the individual to a euthanasia device. Now onto today's particular event in Kevorkian's life. In 1998, Kevorkian allowed the airing of a videotape he made on CBS News' 60 Minutes. The videotape depicted the voluntary euthanasia of Thomas Youk, 52, who was in the final stages of Lou Gehrig's Disease. After Youk provided  his fully informed consent, Kevorkian himself administered the lethal injection. This was highly significant as all of the earlier clients had reportedly completed the process themselves. Kevorkian dares the authorities to try and convict him or stop him from carrying out mercy killings in the videotape. Youk's family described the lethal injection as humane - not murder. On March 26th 1999, however, Kevorkian was charged with second-degree murder and the delivery of a controlled substance. He was sentenced to 10-25 years in a prison in Coldwater, Michigan. Kevorkian was denied parole several times and it wasn't until 2007 when he was reportedly terminally ill with Hepatitis C, that he was paroled for good behaviour. He spent 8 years and 2 and half months in prison.

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Kevorkian being taken to prison, 1999

After Prison: Kevorkian was not allowed to help anyone else die, or provide care for anyone older than 62 or disabled. He agreed he would abstain from assisting any more terminal patients with death and that his role would strictly be to persuade states to change their laws on assisted suicide. Kevorkian spent the next few years travelling the country doing lectures at Universities and interviews for TV programmes like CNN and Fox News. The film "You don't know Jack" was also released in 2010 on HBO about Kevorkian's life, with Al Pacino portraying him in the film. Kevorkian also ran for Congress in Michigan but only received 2.6% of the vote. As Kevorkian had been suffering from Kidney problems for years, he was diagnosed with liver cancer, which may have been cause by his Hepatitis C. He was hospitalised in 2011 with kidney problems and pneumonia and on June 3rd 2011, 8 days after his 83rd birthday, Kevorkian died from thrombosis. 

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Al Pacino's poster from the film
"You don't know Jack"

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Kevorkian in his own home made stocks to make a point about common law

Legacy: According to reports by the Detroit Free Press, 60% of the patients who committed suicide with Kevorkian's assistance, were not terminally ill and at least 13 had not complained of pain. The report also continues on to say that Kevorkian's counselling was too brief as most people died within 24 hours of their first meeting with Kevorkian. The report also explains that most of the time, Kevorkian didn't refer people to seek professional medical help before their decision making process. However it is believed that Kevorkian declined 4 out of every 5 assisted suicide requests, on the grounds that the patient needed more treatment or that medical records had to be checked. It is believed that the work Kevorkian did, inspired and prompted the legal assisted suicides in Switzerland, and many viewed him as a 'major historical figure in modern medicine.' Although he left behind a 'deadly legacy that denied scores of people their right to humane deaths', he moved the debate forward in ways that the rest of us can only imagine. He got people starting to think and talk about the issues. 

The epitaph on Kevorkian's tombstone reads: "He sacrificed himself for everyone's rights."

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Dr. Jack Kevorkian

Other Little Facts: In his lifetime, Dr. Jack was an avid enthusiast of Jazz and art. He was a jazz musician and composer and even released a limited CD with only 5,000 copies in 1997. It featured Kevorkian on the flute and organ playing his own works. It was reviewed as 'weird' but 'good natured'. He was also an oil painter. His work was often toward the grotesque and macabre; he sometimes painted with his own blood, and created pictures such as one "of a child eating the flesh off a decomposing corpse." The sludge metal band Acid Bath used one of his paintings for the cover art of their 1996 album Paegan Terrorism Tactics. 

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Various art work of Dr. Jack

So what are your thoughts about 'Dr. Death' AKA Dr. Jack Kevorkian? Do you think assisted suicides should be legal everywhere? And do you think he went about it in the right way?

Please leave your comments below

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Capitol Hill Massacre

25th March 2006

This day in history...A gunman kills six people before taking his own life at a party in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighbourhood

Today's event is another tragic gun crime story that reiterates the concerns and challenges that I mentioned in The Dunblane Massacre blog  a few days ago. Recorded massacres in America go as far back as 1770 with the Boston Massacre, and have multiplied over the past 300 odd years into the present day. The Capitol Hill Massacre was an example of a 'Single Perpetrator event and shooting spree' and is number 91 out of 106 that have occurred in America from 1863 - 2013. So lets take a look at today's event and the history leading up to the devastating incident.

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The house- crime scene

The perpetrator: 28 year old Kyle Aaron Huff (Sep 22nd, 1997 - March 25th 2006). Huff claimed he attended The Art Institute of Seattle and North Seattle Community College, although there are no records to confirm this. Huff had been previously arrested for shooting a public arts project and for being involved in a brawl at the Lobo Saloon in 2004. His firearms were seized by police but returned after his restitution and fine had been paid. Huff moved to Seattle from his hometown of Whitefish, Montana, with his twin identical brother Kane, 5 years before the shooting. Residents described him as a well-liked person. 

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Kyle Aaron Huff

The Massacre: March 24th 2006, a "Better off Undead" event was held at the Capitol Hill Arts Center, CHAC. Huff attended the rave, despite never attending one before. He was not known in Seattle's rave scene and very few people knew him or interacted with him at CHAC. He did however receive a last minute invite to an after party of the rave. So between 4am and 6am on March 25th, Huff left to attend the party. He didn't know anyone there and was described as quiet, but spoke pleasantly with everyone. Nobody recalled him leaving and there was no unusual or belligerent behaviour by Huff. 

He left the house, went to his truck parked nearby and took out a 12 gauge pistol-grip Winchester 1300 Defender Shotgun and a 40-caliber semiautomatic Ruger p944 handgun and several  bandoilers worth of ammunition. When returning to the party, Huff spray-painted the word "NOW" on the pavement and on the steps of a neighbouring home. When he approached the house he shot 5 victims who were outside; 2 on the steps, 3 in the porch. He then forced his way through the front door and shot 2 more people on the first floor. He apparently shouted "There's plenty for everyone" as he made his way around the house. On the second floor he fired through the locked door of a bathroom where a couple had taken refuge in the bath; neither person was hit. At least 1 other victim was injured during the shooting, and at least one died at the hospital.

 The shooting lasted  5 minutes inside the house. A patrol officer, Steve Leonard, heard the shots nearby and headed to the scene calling for 911 backup. When he arrived, he found the injured victims outside the house. As Huff was coming down the steps, the officer started to demand that Huff drop his weapon, however before Leonard could finish his command, Huff placed the gun in his mouth and shot himself through the head.

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Removing Huff's body 

Aftermath: Following the shooting, Police raided Huff's truck to find a rifle, another handgun, several more boxes of ammunition, a baseball bat and a machete. The police also received a search warrant for Huff's North Seattle apartment, where they found more weapons. They took Huff's identical twin, Kane, into custody, questioned him and then later released him. Huff's motives are still not completely known but police have a pretty good idea as to why Huff did what he did. A month after the shootings, a possible bomb was found in a rubbish bin about a mile away from Huff's apartment. This turned out to just be modelling clay and wires, however a handwritten note was found in the same bin apparently written by Huff. The letter was on stationary found in Huff's apartment and matched his writing. The letter was dated two days before the shootings and was very specific in expressing his anger about young ravers and their provocative lifestyles. Huff explained how he hated their sexual freedom and that the things young ravers did and said were too disturbing for him to live with. The letter ended with the quote "Now, kids, Now", which ties in with the "Now" that Huff had spray-painted. It is suggested that the Nirvana song "I Want to Know Now" with the chorus of "now, now, now, now" influenced Huff's message. 

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"NOW" spray painted on the steps 

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The Letter

Legacy: Many who had attended the CHAC event learned of the shooting the day after it happened via a local rave website. People that were posting on the website were first hand accounts from survivors. On March 28th, the Church Council of Greater Seattle, led by Rev. Sanford Brown, held an interfaith prayer service at the site of the mass murder. 500 people turned up to show their respects. 

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The victims

The victims:

• Melissa Moore, 14
• Suzanne Thorne, 15
• Justin "Sushi" Schwartz, 22
• Christopher "Deacon" Williamson, 21
• Jeremy Marin, 26
• Jason Travers, 32

Immediately after the killings, the Seattle Times called for tighter regulation of late-night activities of the under-aged. This view, however, was deeply opposed by the alternative weekly paper The Stranger. Whilst the Seattle Times thought that more monitoring was needed and security to be re-examined and re-tooled, The Stranger believed that it wasn't about the raves it was about a man who decided he was going to kill people and had the fire-power to do it. The mother of victim Christopher Williamson said that she would do everything in her power to make sure the raves continued, as it was what Chris loved most. The arguments following the shootings were heavily focused on under-age late-night activities and curfews etc. There was hardly any argument or thoughts into the fact that it was a gun crime and that Huff was able to kill all those people due to the amount of guns that he had in his possession.

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The Weapons found in Huff's truck

A memorial has been built to commemorate the victims and even Kyle Huff. The memorial has 7 sides; 6 representing the victims; and 1 side with a cracked mirror to represent Huff. The house where the shootings took place has been cleaned and renovated and the tenants who live there know what has happened. They don't mind at all and say that the house has no bad vibes and that they are happy there. Of course, many people still drive past today to have a look at the crime scene. 

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Memorial Service

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The memorial

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