Perhaps I missed this being posted...but just in case. Some serious food for gun control vs people control arguments here. I asked my wife today if she had read about this. She replied, " you mean the shootings in Florida?" The next thing she said was, " you don't need to yell".
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-08-08-floridakillings_x.htm
Four arrested in Fla. slayings
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An ex-convict who blamed a young woman for taking his video game system and clothes recruited three teenagers to fatally stab and beat her and five others with baseball bats in a surprise nighttime raid, investigators said Sunday.
Police have arrested and charged (from left to right) Troy Victorino, 27, Robert Cannon, 18, Jerone Hunter, 18 and Michael Salas, 18.
Volusia County sheriff's department, AP
The 22-year-old woman was singled out for such a vicious attack that even dental records were useless in trying to positively identify her. The killings of four men and two women, some in their sleep, early Friday morning followed reports by the victims of harassment.
The suspected ringleader Troy Victorino, 27, of Deltona was "very guarded" during questioning, said Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson. Three 18-year-olds confessed after their arrests Saturday. They are Robert Cannon, 18, of Orange City, Jerone Hunter, 18, of Deltona and Michael Salas, 18, of Deltona.
All four were held at the Volusia County branch jail in Daytona Beach for bail hearings Monday. Johnson wants prosecutors to seek the death penalty, saying, "These families will never get over this."
The raging attack was the culmination of events revolving around a nearby vacant home owned by the woman's grandparents and used by squatters as a party house.
"Officials struggling to come up with a motive for the crime believe the killings were committed over the theft of some clothes and an Xbox game system owned by Victorino," a statement from the sheriff's office said. The 6-foot-5 suspect has spent eight of the last 11 years in prison and was arrested as recently as eight days before the killings.
All four suspects were armed with aluminum bats when Victorino kicked in the locked front door, arrest records show. The group wore black clothes and scarves on their faces. They grabbed knives inside and attacked victims in different rooms of the three-bedroom house.
The victims did not put up a fight or try to get away, Johnson said. All six died of beating injuries but also had stab wounds.
Victorino was arrested on a probation violation Saturday. Hunter, who was with him, agreed to accompany investigators for questioning, confessed and identified the other two suspects.
Hunter, a high school wrestler who was the first to enter the victims' house, moved out of his family's house in May but agreed to move back home and start his senior year Monday, his father Dan Washington told The Associated Press. He said his prayers went out to the victims' families.
"He never seemed to be that type ... that was violent," Washington said. "He was a good kid, he just got with the wrong crowd."
Cannon and Salas were pulled over by the sheriff and his chief deputy Saturday night in a sport-utility vehicle that investigators believe carried the assailants to and from the victims' home, Johnson said. Cannon was driving both times.
"These two last night were wandering around like it was business as usual," the sheriff said.
The sixth victim was believed to be Erin Belanger, whose grandparents own the vacant home and spent the summer in Maine. Belanger's father Bill told the Orlando Sentinel for Sunday editions, "There is so much damage to her face a positive identification can't be made with dental records."
Joe Abshire, Belanger's brother-in-law, said he spoke with her last Sunday. She talked about heading to the vacant house to go swimming one day and finding about six people living there. The squatters were kicked out, but deputies were called to the grandparents' house six time in 10 days before the killings. The victims reported a tire-slashing at their home and a threat.
The squatters warned Belanger that "they were going to come back there and beat her with a baseball bat when she was sleeping," Abshire, who is married to Erin's sister Jennifer, told The Sun of Lowell, Mass., for Sunday editions.
"It was a heinous crime. No one wants a loved one to die like this. I'm just sick to death about this," Belanger's aunt, Donna McKay of Lakewood, Wash., told The News Tribune of Tacoma, Wash. She described her niece as "a beautiful person, an absolute sweetheart."
Victorino complained that his belongings were removed from the grandparents' house while he was in jail after his July 29 battery arrest, Johnson said. Victorino found his things boxed up at the victims' house and took them after the killings.
The sheriff's office has identified five of the victims as Michelle Ann Nathan, 19; Anthony Vega, 34; Roberto "Tito" Gonzalez, 28, who recently moved from New York; Belanger's boyfriend Francisco Ayo Roman, 30; and Jonathan Gleason, 18.
Two of the victims were there by chance.
Gleason was staying temporarily and intended to move out Tuesday.
Gonzalez was working with Nathan at a Burger King restaurant and spent the night to be able to get up early with Vega for a painting job.
The bodies were discovered in the rental home about 25 miles north of Orlando after one of Nathan's co-workers asked someone to visit the house because she had not arrived for work.
Victorino's first arrest was in an auto theft when he was 15, according to state records. He has convictions for battery, arson, burglary, auto theft and theft.
In his most recent arrest before the killings, a Deltona car owner said he asked Victorino when he would have a chance to work on his car, according to a police report. Victorino responded by punching the man in the face, splitting open his lip and chipping a tooth.
Victorino is heavily tattooed with five-pointed crowns on his back and left foot, the words "Latin pride" and "dragon," a Dominican flag, Chinese symbols, a phoenix and dice.
Asked about the motive for the killings, Johnson said, "It never surprises me some of the ridiculous things that happen."
The killing spree in the working-class, bedroom community of more than 70,000 people was the deadliest in Florida since 1990, when a man whose car was repossessed shot nine people to death at a Jacksonville loan office before killing himself.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-08-08-floridakillings_x.htm
Four arrested in Fla. slayings
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An ex-convict who blamed a young woman for taking his video game system and clothes recruited three teenagers to fatally stab and beat her and five others with baseball bats in a surprise nighttime raid, investigators said Sunday.
Police have arrested and charged (from left to right) Troy Victorino, 27, Robert Cannon, 18, Jerone Hunter, 18 and Michael Salas, 18.
Volusia County sheriff's department, AP
The 22-year-old woman was singled out for such a vicious attack that even dental records were useless in trying to positively identify her. The killings of four men and two women, some in their sleep, early Friday morning followed reports by the victims of harassment.
The suspected ringleader Troy Victorino, 27, of Deltona was "very guarded" during questioning, said Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson. Three 18-year-olds confessed after their arrests Saturday. They are Robert Cannon, 18, of Orange City, Jerone Hunter, 18, of Deltona and Michael Salas, 18, of Deltona.
All four were held at the Volusia County branch jail in Daytona Beach for bail hearings Monday. Johnson wants prosecutors to seek the death penalty, saying, "These families will never get over this."
The raging attack was the culmination of events revolving around a nearby vacant home owned by the woman's grandparents and used by squatters as a party house.
"Officials struggling to come up with a motive for the crime believe the killings were committed over the theft of some clothes and an Xbox game system owned by Victorino," a statement from the sheriff's office said. The 6-foot-5 suspect has spent eight of the last 11 years in prison and was arrested as recently as eight days before the killings.
All four suspects were armed with aluminum bats when Victorino kicked in the locked front door, arrest records show. The group wore black clothes and scarves on their faces. They grabbed knives inside and attacked victims in different rooms of the three-bedroom house.
The victims did not put up a fight or try to get away, Johnson said. All six died of beating injuries but also had stab wounds.
Victorino was arrested on a probation violation Saturday. Hunter, who was with him, agreed to accompany investigators for questioning, confessed and identified the other two suspects.
Hunter, a high school wrestler who was the first to enter the victims' house, moved out of his family's house in May but agreed to move back home and start his senior year Monday, his father Dan Washington told The Associated Press. He said his prayers went out to the victims' families.
"He never seemed to be that type ... that was violent," Washington said. "He was a good kid, he just got with the wrong crowd."
Cannon and Salas were pulled over by the sheriff and his chief deputy Saturday night in a sport-utility vehicle that investigators believe carried the assailants to and from the victims' home, Johnson said. Cannon was driving both times.
"These two last night were wandering around like it was business as usual," the sheriff said.
The sixth victim was believed to be Erin Belanger, whose grandparents own the vacant home and spent the summer in Maine. Belanger's father Bill told the Orlando Sentinel for Sunday editions, "There is so much damage to her face a positive identification can't be made with dental records."
Joe Abshire, Belanger's brother-in-law, said he spoke with her last Sunday. She talked about heading to the vacant house to go swimming one day and finding about six people living there. The squatters were kicked out, but deputies were called to the grandparents' house six time in 10 days before the killings. The victims reported a tire-slashing at their home and a threat.
The squatters warned Belanger that "they were going to come back there and beat her with a baseball bat when she was sleeping," Abshire, who is married to Erin's sister Jennifer, told The Sun of Lowell, Mass., for Sunday editions.
"It was a heinous crime. No one wants a loved one to die like this. I'm just sick to death about this," Belanger's aunt, Donna McKay of Lakewood, Wash., told The News Tribune of Tacoma, Wash. She described her niece as "a beautiful person, an absolute sweetheart."
Victorino complained that his belongings were removed from the grandparents' house while he was in jail after his July 29 battery arrest, Johnson said. Victorino found his things boxed up at the victims' house and took them after the killings.
The sheriff's office has identified five of the victims as Michelle Ann Nathan, 19; Anthony Vega, 34; Roberto "Tito" Gonzalez, 28, who recently moved from New York; Belanger's boyfriend Francisco Ayo Roman, 30; and Jonathan Gleason, 18.
Two of the victims were there by chance.
Gleason was staying temporarily and intended to move out Tuesday.
Gonzalez was working with Nathan at a Burger King restaurant and spent the night to be able to get up early with Vega for a painting job.
The bodies were discovered in the rental home about 25 miles north of Orlando after one of Nathan's co-workers asked someone to visit the house because she had not arrived for work.
Victorino's first arrest was in an auto theft when he was 15, according to state records. He has convictions for battery, arson, burglary, auto theft and theft.
In his most recent arrest before the killings, a Deltona car owner said he asked Victorino when he would have a chance to work on his car, according to a police report. Victorino responded by punching the man in the face, splitting open his lip and chipping a tooth.
Victorino is heavily tattooed with five-pointed crowns on his back and left foot, the words "Latin pride" and "dragon," a Dominican flag, Chinese symbols, a phoenix and dice.
Asked about the motive for the killings, Johnson said, "It never surprises me some of the ridiculous things that happen."
The killing spree in the working-class, bedroom community of more than 70,000 people was the deadliest in Florida since 1990, when a man whose car was repossessed shot nine people to death at a Jacksonville loan office before killing himself.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press.
This kind of event is a good contradiction to the "Don't own a gun, it will only make the situation more violent" arguments that the anti people spout.
