Thursday, August 17, 2006

7/17/06 Seattle, WA Health Clinic Worker Stabbed by Client

Marilyn Ulicia Walker, 44 stabbed healthcare worker, Maritza Rios-Dowe without any apparent provocation. Rios-Dowe, who worked with new mothers and pregnant women at the clinic, said the woman was sitting next to one of her clients. She sought out a co-worker to discuss the strange woman, but when she couldn't find her, she went to her desk. Soon afterwards, Walker appeared at her desk, produced a butcher knife from a bag and said, “I will teach you something”. Walker then began to stab the worker repeatedly, including in both eyes, which led to permanent blindness. Walker left after the attack but was picked up minutes later as she walked down Fourth Avenue, still carrying a butcher knife. She told police she blacked out and didn't remember the assault. There was a history of violence in her past. In 1998, Walker attacked an assistant bank manager who asked for her identification when she tried to cash a check. In 2001, she doused a tax preparer with gasoline, intending to set him on fire because he could not complete her tax return. She was foiled because she could not find any matches.

7/8/06 Dallas, TX Real Estate Agent Found Stabbed in Model Home

Sarah Anne Walker, a real estate agent working alone, was brutally murdered with a knife in the middle of the day. She was found at 1:30 p.m., by a couple that was visiting the show home. They found Ms. Walker’s fully clothed body face down in the kitchen. McKinney police think she had been killed around noon. She was stabbed 27 times all over her upper body with many defensive wounds. “There was a pretty brutal crime scene in the bottom part of the model home,” he said. “There was a struggle throughout the downstairs.” There are no identified suspects in the case.

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Canadian Bus Drivers Vulnerable to Attack

In latest in a surge of assaults on Lower Mainland bus drivers, union leaders say that the transit system continues to boil over with problems. In recent years, there has been an average of 180 assaults on drivers annually. This year, 100 assaults were reported from January to June, setting a pace for more than 200 this year. The latest assault took place about noon, when a 31-year-old man was unable to pay the complete fare. He was told to get off the bus, after which he threw a handful of change into the 57-year-old driver's face and then punched him. This year also saw one of the most vicious attacks on a driver in the history of Coast Mountain, which employs 2,600 drivers. The 57-year-old driver was bitten and beaten unconscious about 6 a.m. on May 6 in Coquitlam. The driver has no plans to return to work in the near future.

8/2/06 Anchorage, AK Employee Pulls Trigger on Boss with Empty Gun

She was called into a meeting at Providence Extended Care Clinic where she works to discuss work-related issues. Her boss and the manager of human affairs wanted her to submit to a Fitness for Duty Exam before her next scheduled shift. According to testimony, Clifton was told that she was not to come back to work till a later date. She then reached into her purse, pulled out a handgun and basically pushed it up to the chest of her male supervisor and pulled the trigger. The chamber of the handgun was empty so the gun did not fire. Clifton was arraigned and charged with attempted murder in the first degree and assault in the third degree.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

UK Bank Employee Awarded over $1.5 Million in Bullying Case

Helen Green, 36, was awarded £817,317 in damages due to the harassment and persecution she faced at her workplace. Judge Mr Justice Owen ruled that her bosses at Deutsche Bank “closed their eyes” to the “relentless campaign of mean and spiteful behaviour.” Green, who earned £45,000 a year, said she was picked on by four women in the firm’s secretariat division and “stonewalled” from day one. After nine weeks, they filed into an office where she was and Daniella Dolbear asked: “What’s that stink over there?” while covering her nose. This was the “department from hell” with co-workers seeing her as competition in a Darwinian-style “survival of the fittest”, according to the judge. The victim stated, “There was one time when I was walking over to the stationery cupboard and she was blowing raspberries with every step.” Finally, she had two breakdowns and was in hospital on suicide watch before leaving the bank in October 2001.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

5/23/2006 UK Hair Dresser Killed at Door of Salon

Brian Whitfield, 44, is charged with the murder of Sharon Bell. She was found with stab wounds in the doorway of the New York hair salon as she arrived for work. As she opened the shop, she suffered a horrific attack from Whitfeld who used a sharp weapon and subsequently left. He said he did not believe recent vandal attacks on her car were linked to the murder. She had left him 6 months earlier but had experience multiple harassment and acts of vandalism. The Friday before, we car windows were smashed.

5/22/2006 Kansas City, MO Legal Secretary Killed by Ex at Front Door

Lisa Slaughter was killed at the front door of the law office as she arrived for work. The assailant, here ex-boyfriend killed himself shortly after the slaying. He fled the scene but was later pulled over by law enforcement officers. He then shot himself with a handgun. “It’s a shock,” co-workers said. “Lisa was a sweet girl ... very skilled, very good attitude, very good work ethic.”

7/15/2006 Port St. Lucie, FL Sex Offender Kills Young Woman at Smoothie Shop

Scott David Uslan, 42 shot and killed Brittany Carleo, 17 just days after authorities were preparing a stalking warrant for his arrest. Uslan was the father of her former boyfriend but there was a sexual relationship that developed between the two with several encounters in a local motel. Carleo tried to end the relationship. That is when Uslan began making harassing calls at her workplace, the Tropical Smoothie Café. On July 11, Carleo came to Port St. Lucie police and spoke with Steinkraus about harassing phone calls Carleo was receiving at her work between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. Uslan was arrested on July 13, although he was quickly released on bail. On the 15th, at about, 9:15 am, he arrived to shoot her and then himself with a .357 Magnum. Uslan was a registered sex offender.

6/2/2006 San Diego, CA Man Accidentally Shoots Co-Worker with AK-47 While Showing it Off

Rosendo Adam-Garcia, 42, accidently shot a 17 year old co-worker at Fleet Supply auto shop. Adam-Garcia brought the weapon to work and apparently was showing it off. The victim was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The owner of the gun was charged with several violations.

7/12/2006 Northhampton, NC Murder Defendant Shots Deputy after Hearing Ruling

An inmate, 37-year-old Willie Forrest, grabbed a correctional officer's gun and shot the officer around 9:20 a.m. Forrest was there for a hearing on a murder charge. According to the sheriff, Forrest didn't agree with the judge's ruling, became aggravated and started cursing at the judge. When authorities tried to subdue him, there was a struggle and that's when Forrest grabbed the gun from an officer and fired. In response, other deputies shot Forrest and he died on the way to the hospital. The officer whose gun was taken was being treated at the hospital for a gunshot to the arm or shoulder and was in good condition.

5/16/2006 Harrisonburg, VA Man Kills 2 Co-Workers- Survivors Lawsuit at $10.35 million

Brewer Hoover Jr., 65, shot and killed Gary Gibson, 54 and Bonnie Crump, 54. It was about 8 a.m, when Hoover took a .38-caliber revolver and a .40-caliber semi-automatic weapon to the American HomePatient retail store where they worked, barricaded himself in the store and started shooting. Hoover reported to work then shot Gibson from behind as he was sitting at his desk. Crump arrived shortly afterward and Hoover shot her several times as co-workers tried to save her. Allegedly, Brewer held a false belief that Crump and Gibson, who were married to other people, were having an extramarital affair with each other. Hoover, the suits claim, confronted Crump in March, shouting and shaking his first at her, and continued his erratic behavior. Crump avoided contact with Hoover, was afraid to go to the restroom alone and kept a cane by her desk to defend herself against him, the suits state. During the short standoff with the negotiation team, he said was he was upset and he was afraid he was going to be fired. Each family is suing the Hoover’s estate and the company for a combined amount in excess of 20 million. Before the shooting, the lawsuits say, employees at the business told company officials that Hoover was acting in an "erratic and threatening manner" toward Crump, a co-worker he was infatuated with. Each filing seeks $10 million compensation for pain and suffering and $350,000 as punishment for alleged failure to provide a safe work environment.

7/21/2006 Memphis, TN Grocery Store Clerk Knifes 7 Co-workers

Elartrice 'Marcell' Ingram allegedly stabbed seven co-workers at the Cordova Schnucks on 9025 U.S. 64 before he was apprehended in the parking lot. The seafood clerk also is alleged to have threatened to stab another co-worker, while another employee was hospitalized with heat-related symptoms. While initial police reports state that the attack apparently stemmed from a work dispute, later reports stated that there were no issues with his conduct or work relations. Ingram, chasing one victim into the store‘s parking lot, was subdued by Chris Cope, manager of a financial services office in the same small shopping center. Cope was carrying a liscened firearm and pulled it out when he saw the stabbing. "When he turned around and saw my pistol, he threw the knife away, put his hands up and got on the ground," Cope told The Associated Press. "He just kept saying, ‘I‘m insane. I wish I was never born‘ and that kind of stuff," Cope said. Police said two large kitchen knives used in the attack were found at the scene. Co-workers, a neighbor and a former high school classmate who knew Ingram expressed surprise at what he is accused of doing. Seafood department manager Justin Murchison, who was cut but was released from the hospital, said there were no signs of trouble when he and Ingram arrived at work that morning. "We both came in at 8 and everything seemed fine." Murchison, 27, was stabbed on top of his head and on his left forearm. He said Ingram was someone who always came in and went about his work. "He was never in any trouble and never caused any problems," Murchison said.

7/24/2006 – Las Vegas, NV Doctor Shot by Patient with No Warning

Doctor Avi Ostrowsky says he was getting up to leave the examination room of his Mountain View Hospital when all of a sudden he heard several bangs, saw on the opposite wall bloodstains and then smelled the gunpowder. After a few seconds, he realized he'd been shot. The man who shot doctor Ostrowsky was one of his long-time patients, 74 year old Karl Edeen. The doctor, a 55 year old endocrinologist, was hit in the neck, jaw and shoulder. One bullet was lodged dangerously close to his spine. When doctor Ostrowsky started walking towards him, Edeen killed himself. Police say they found a suicide note in Edeen's pocket in which the shooter complained about bad doctors in Nevada. Edeen had been Ostrowsky's patient for almost 10 years and never threatened him before.

7/28/06 Seattle, WA Mentally Disturbed Man Attacks Jewish Federation

30-year-old Naveed Afzal Haq, a U.S.-born man of Pakistani descent allegedly killed one woman and injured five during a shooting spree at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. The suspect claimed he was "angry at Israel" and upset over the conflict in the Middle East. He also had a history of mental illness. He has had several run-ins with the law over the years, and was charged in March with lewd conduct after he allegedly exposed himself to a young woman at a mall in Kennewick, Wash. He has appeared in court in a dispute over unemployment benefits and had flunked out of dental school and had difficulty holding down a job. Apparently after the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict began, Haq reportedly purchased two semiautomatic handguns from separate shops in the Kennewick area. The sequence of events leading up to the shooting suggests Haq carefully planned his attack and carried it out calmly. First, he allegedly found his target on the Internet, reportedly by searching for "something Jewish," according to Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske. Haq allegedly purchased the handguns after waiting the five days mandated by Washington state law, meaning he made a deliberate effort to obtain weapons -- and had nearly a week to plan, or reconsider, the attack. According to a family lawyer, Haq had attempted to own a gun before, but his mother reportedly took it away from him because of his condition. Just hours before the shootings, a Seattle police officer ticketed Haq for being illegally parked, later saying Haq did not exhibit suspicious behavior or otherwise arouse the officer's suspicion. After that, Haq allegedly waited outside the Jewish center behind a potted plant near the door. He then waited for a young girl with access to the building to open the door before taking her hostage, forcing his way in. Once inside, Haq allegedly began shooting randomly, hitting six women - one fatally.

7/30/2006 Wolf Laurel, N.C. Elderly Man Shots Paramedic While Being Helped from Car

Joseph Boyer Candler Jr, 68, allegedly shot a Madison County paramedic while she was helping him out of a car. Tami Stephen was shot once in the chest with a .22-caliber pistol. Emergency workers responded to a call that said an individual was losing consciousness due to intoxication at the a Country Club. Candler's wife asked emergency workers to follow her as she drove him home and help her get Candler to their house. While helping Joseph Candler out of the vehicle, he pulled a pistol out of his pants pocket and fired one shot into Stephen's chest. A volunteer fireman grabbed the gun and restrained him before any more shots could be fired. Authorities said they also found a Colt .380-caliber handgun and two clips in Candler's vehicle.