CrossCuT Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Police said that they would continue to investigate the killing of Deah Barakat and his wife, Yusor, as well as Yusor's sister, Razan Abu-Salha. They said that at the moment it appeared that Hicks, who was a neighbor of the victims, had shot and killed the family after a dispute over parking. As the day went by however, family members of the victims and Hick's wife painted different portraits. NPR member station WUNC, which is live blogging the developments, reports that in a press conference Suzanne Barakat, Deah's older sister, asked authorities to investigate the incident as a hate crime. But shortly thereafter the suspect's wife, Karen Hicks, said that the murders had nothing to do with religion. In the eyes of her husband she said, everyone was equal. The Charlotte Observer reports that Dr. Mohammad Abu-Salha, the father of the two women killed, said Hicks had threatened the family in the past. "It was execution style, a bullet in every head," Abu-Salha told the paper. "This was not a dispute over a parking space; this was a hate crime. This man had picked on my daughter and her husband a couple of times before, and he talked with them with his gun in his belt. And they were uncomfortable with him, but they did not know he would go this far." Full NPR article here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnightofChrist Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 May they rest in peace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anomaly Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 I've read quite a bit about this. The guy was a ticking time bomb with anger issues. He had repeatedly confronted multiple people about parking whilst wearing a hand gun. His first ex-wife called him a sociopath without empathy and obsessed with the rage shooting movie "Falling Down". But of course there will be people with agendas they can bolster by using this tragedy. Anti-gun, anti-anti-Islam, and the other half of the coin in reaction, anti-Islam and anti-gun control. I had a crazy apartment neighbor that threatened harm and tried to have vehicles towed. It was terrible and the only resolution was to let my wife and I break our lease and move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Era Might Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 the rage shooting movie "Falling Down". Awesome movie. Michael Douglas one of our finest actors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Wednesday Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Falling Down is a masterpiece. This sounds like a case of being wrong people, wrong place, wrong time. We really underestimate what a poison that anger and stress is in our lives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrossCuT Posted February 12, 2015 Author Share Posted February 12, 2015 I think this is a good example that we need to monitor who is getting guns. People with mental illness that leaves them prone to extreme aggression or rage should not be able to buy/own guns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhuturePriest Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. From the sounds of it, the man who was murdered was a very beautiful and loving person who frequently spoke about peace and worked at a soup shelter every week. It's a shame his life was abruptly and prematurely ended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anomaly Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 I think this is a good example that we need to monitor who is getting guns. People with mental illness that leaves them prone to extreme aggression or rage should not be able to buy/own guns. From what I've read, it seems unlikely he was diagnosable as being mentally ill. Like the movie, a person who chose to entertain his rage win response to life's insults. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhuturePriest Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 (edited) Harboring one's resentment and hatred for years will have detrimental effects that will cause you to do the unthinkable. For most it is simply being an overall thoroughly unpleasant person, but for others it can be things like murder. I don't think it can ever be stressed just how important forgiving others and not resenting and hating people is. Edited February 12, 2015 by PhuturePriest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrossCuT Posted February 12, 2015 Author Share Posted February 12, 2015 From what I've read, it seems unlikely he was diagnosable as being mentally ill. Like the movie, a person who chose to entertain his rage win response to life's insults. I am more or less giving him the benefit of the doubt instead of assuming he is a sadistic murderer. I dont know enough about the situation to say one way or the other. All I can say is that he shouldnt have had a gun. If there was a record of past aggressive behaviors that were able to be monitored through a fire arms purchasing background check then maybe we could have prevented the loss of innocent lives. Granted, he could still find a gun and kill people, but at least we have made it harder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Wednesday Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 All right, I'll be a bit of a critical thinking stick in the mud, here. I'm not going to take an issue with gun control, because I generally don't like guns. But to what extent is the fact that the family is Muslim relevant? Would this be a hot button news item if the family was Hindi or some other religion? Or vaguely religious people of some other minority immigrant specification? I ask this not because mistreatment of a specific ethnic or religious group is acceptable. It's not acceptable. But I'm asking this with a critical eye because I often do this when reading various news sources. And by that I mean all of them. At times I feel like the media dumps gasoline on what is already a raging fire. But by all means if I better yet swallow the grain of salt I take this with, I'll do so. But I have to ask it honestly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anomaly Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 All right, I'll be a bit of a critical thinking stick in the mud, here. To what extent is the fact that the family is Muslim relevant? Would this be a hot button news item if the family was Hindi or some other religion? Exactly. Whether or not they are Muslim is besides the point and completely irrelevant. It seems it's being brought up to fan political agenda. It's more relevant they were a peaceful, innocent, young family and college students, but that in of itself isn't as controversial or inflaming. No less horrific. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineM Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Managing a 12 unit condo complex, I have learned that fights are about parking, parties, and pets. My son had a drunk boyfriend take a swing at him last Saturday because I had him clearing a path in the utility room so we didn't get a fine for not having emergency access to our electric panels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Wednesday Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Ugh, I guess the role of religion and to what extent it's a hate crime is the debate of the original article, isn't it? Sorry, too much sangria. Reading comprehension, I has it. I had read this article from a british news source that was not NPR (BBC or Sky, I'm not in the UK right now so I'm unsure of the channel we were on. They didn't pose the hate crime question at all, they simply reported that "3 muslims in America were shot over a parking lot dispute." Hence my questioning. I generally like British reporting, and I do think they try to be fair, but they don't always have it right either, contrary to popular opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrossCuT Posted February 12, 2015 Author Share Posted February 12, 2015 (edited) All right, I'll be a bit of a critical thinking stick in the mud, here. I'm not going to take an issue with gun control, because I generally don't like guns. But to what extent is the fact that the family is Muslim relevant? Would this be a hot button news item if the family was Hindi or some other religion? Or vaguely religious people of some other minority immigrant specification? I ask this not because mistreatment of a specific ethnic or religious group is acceptable. It's not acceptable. But I'm asking this with a critical eye because I often do this when reading various news sources. And by that I mean all of them. At times I feel like the media dumps gasoline on what is already a raging fire. But by all means if I better yet swallow the grain of salt I take this with, I'll do so. But I have to ask it honestly. There is a TON of fear mongering in relation to Muslims. People are always so touchy about the "Oh em gee if this was a christian who got shot no one would care". We have the great privilege of being the majority...the entire country has been brought up under christian ideals since its infancy. I dont think I have to tell you that we have a lot of privilege from that. In fact, the christian majority is often what tries to stifle everything else out...homosexuality, evil Muslim extremists, etc etc. We live in a time where we need to demonize the Muslim religion so that we can justify our pointless wars across the ocean. That demonization has cultivated an aggressive society in response...so these people will live their lives being judged based on the standards of the majority. Im not saying this is the case for this story, but thats what privilege is. White privilege, straight privilege, christian privilege, male privilege. Edited February 12, 2015 by CrossCuT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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