Gunman Kills Pregnant Woman in Church, Baby Saved

The gunman then turned the gun on himself as he knelt before the altar:

Madrid, Spain – A gunman walked into a Catholic church and killed a pregnant woman Thursday, then committed suicide, but emergency crews performed a C-section on the woman inside the church and saved the baby, a police official said.

Another woman sitting near the victim was wounded by a stray bullet in the shooting, which occurred just before a Mass at St. Mary’s Church in an upper-middle class neighborhood of Madrid, the National Police official said.

The pregnant woman was just days away from giving birth.

The official said preliminary investigations indicated there was no relation between the 34-year-old man and the 36-year-old woman he killed. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with department policy.

Neither the man nor the woman were named and the motive for the attack was not immediately known. But the newspaper El Mundo said the man knelt before the altar of the church before he shot himself in the head and that he used to be the woman’s boyfriend.

The paper gave no source, and it was not clear if the child was his. El Mundo said the baby delivered in the emergency procedure was a boy.

It quoted witnesses as saying the shooting occurred as dozens of people were getting ready for the evening Mass and the parish priest was getting his gown on to conduct the service.

No other details on the attack were immediately available.

 

Priest Uses Water Gun to Spray Congregation with Holy Water

Whatever happened to using an aspergillum?

The Deacon’s Bench:

Really?  Seems so. Details:

A Catholic priest from a small Mexican town has turned on his own congregation armed with a watergun which was loaded with holy water.

Father Juan Ramon Hernandez gives mass at a church in Acatlan. He became so saddened by the seemingly daily drug-related killings and violence he decided to take a stand… with a water gun.

“Let’s pray to change the heart of the people who use violence and kill other people,” he said. “Let’s throw all the guns far away.”

Some children, who were making their first communion, giggled as the priest sprayed churchgoers with holy water.

Read more.

Innovative stupidity.

 

Man Shoots Off Finger to Remove Wart

A British man has shot his own finger off to get rid of a painful wart that had been plaguing him for over five years.

Sean Murphy tore off most of his middle finger after downing several pints and aiming a shotgun at it.

But his shotgun surgery landed him in court where, he received a 16-week sentence suspended for 18 months for possessing an illegal firearm.

Doncaster Magistrates’ Court was told how Murphy had been to see his GP and tried several creams – but nothing could get rid of the wart.

Fearing he would be stuck with it forever, Murphy, who was living in a caravan, picked up the 12-bore Beretta and blasted his finger.

Wednesday, he declared he was “happy” as he was handed a 16-week suspended prison sentence.

“I know I could have gone to jail for up to 15 years for a firearms offence,” the Sun quoted him as saying.

“My solicitor did a very good job. The best thing is that the wart has gone. It was giving me lot of trouble,” he added.

The above was here.

How bizarre…

Pastor Shoots 13-Year-Old Boy

The teen threw a rock at the Pastor’s car:

An Atlanta pastor was arrested Saturday after police said he shot a 13-year-old boy in the hip for shattering the back of his windshield with a rock.

Atlanta police charged Mr. Alex Williams with aggravated assault in the incident that happened about 7:30 p.m. near the intersection of Stephens and McDaniel streets, spokeswoman Ms. Kim Jones said.

The boy was throwing rocks at passing cars, Ms. Jones said.

“One of the rocks struck the back windshield of Alex Williams vehicle,” Ms. Jones said. “The windshield was shattered.

“Mr. Williams got out of his vehicle with a handgun and shot the teenager in the hip,” she said.

Police arrested Mr. Williams on the scene without incident. Mr. Williams is the pastor of the Mechanicsville United Church of God in Christ on McDaniel Street.

Emergency workers transported the boy to a local hospital where he was listed in stable condition…

Continue reading here.

14 Year Old Boy Gets a Gun for his Birthday and Kills Family

From earlier this week: 14 year old boy gets a gun for his birthday and kills his family.

Appalling news!

CNN reports:

A 14-year-old South Carolina boy used the rifle his father bought him as a birthday present to shoot the man to death, along with a great-aunt, and critically wound his grandmother, police said Tuesday.

The teenager, who was not identified because he is a juvenile, called police just before midnight Monday and reported that he had shot his aunt, his grandmother and his father, said Tony Fisher, director of the Spartanburg, South Carolina, Public Safety Department.

The boy told the dispatcher his father was dead, and said “in a calm, controlled, methodical voice that he would be waiting or come outside when police arrived, and he had laid the gun on the dining room table,” Fisher told reporters Tuesday. As officers arrived, the teen came out with his hands up and was arrested, he said.

Police entered the house to find Joe Robert Lankford, the boy’s 44-year-old father, shot to death in his bed, Fisher said. They found Virginia Gaston, 83, dead in her bed, apparently from a gunshot wound, he said. Gaston is believed to be the boy’s great-aunt, Fisher said.

Rachel Gaston Lankford, 80, the boy’s grandmother, was transported to a hospital where she is in critical condition, he said.

The teen told police he used the .22-caliber rifle that “was a birthday gift purchased by his father for him on his most recent birthday in September,” Fisher said.

Authorities investigating the teen’s background, including school records and information from neighbors, have found “there were no behavior issues that would in any way suggest the predictability of this violent behavior,” he said…

Who in their right mind buys a gun for a 14 year old anyway?

Glock Pistol Sales Surge in Aftermath of Arizona Shootings

… One-day sales of handguns in Arizona jumped 60 percent to 263 on Jan. 10 compared with 164 the corresponding Monday a year ago, the second-biggest increase of any state in the country, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation data.

Handgun sales rose 65 percent to 395 in Ohio; 16 percent to 672 in California; 38 percent to 348 in Illinois; and 33 percent to 206 in New York, the FBI data show. Sales increased nationally about 5 percent, to 7,906 guns…

“Whenever there is a huge event, especially when it’s close to home, people do tend to run out and buy something to protect their family,” said Don Gallardo, a manager at Arizona Shooter’s World in Phoenix, who said that the number of people signing up for the store’s concealed weapons class doubled over the weekend. Gallardo said he expects handgun sales to climb steadily throughout the week…

Bloomberg has the full report.