Thesun 2009-03-13 Page10

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news without borders

theSun

| FRIDAY MARCH 13 2009

Police: Man with grudge behind Alabama shooting SAMSON (Alabama): US authorities trying to piece together why a man killed 10 people in the worst rampage in Alabama’s history focused on Wednesday on the grudges that he bore. Michael McLendon killed his mother, grandmother, uncle, two cousins and five others including an 18month-old girl in a spree on Tuesday that bore the hallmarks of a planned attack. In his bedroom, authorities found three lists that included details on people he believed had wronged him. Though none of the people who died were on the lists, they provided clues to his state of mind. At the top of one of the lists, McLendon wrote of one grievance – that someone at the job he had left the previous week had reported him for not wearing earplugs. The 28-year-old gunman, who lived with his mother, was armed for the shooting spree with two military assault rifles, a handgun and a shotgun. More than 200 rounds were fired in the rampage, which started at a home in Kinston in southeastern Alabama.

Aside from family members, McLendon killed the wife of a local deputy sheriff and her 18month-old daughter, who were visiting family members. The woman’s four-month-old baby was wounded along with five others. Three others, including a motorist at a gas station, were killed as McLendon drove through nearby Samson, apparently firing at random. Harri Anne Smith, an Alabama state legislator who was in the town after the attack, said the gunman wore ear plugs. Robert Preachers, the coroner in Coffee County, said he knew most of the victims including the killer. The area, which borders Florida, is a largely agricultural area with many low-income families. “He (McLendon) was a nice quiet kid, no trouble. He was always polite and nice,” Preachers said. Asked about a motive, he said: “He carried it with him to the grave.” The shooting spree ended after a car chase and gun battle, authorities said. – Reuters

Teen gunman warned of plans in chatroom BERLIN: A German teenager who shot dead 15 people announced in an internet chatroom before his rampage that he had weapons which he planned to use, an official said yesterday. Heribert Rech, interior minister of the state where the shooting took place, gave details of the conversation at 2.45 am on Wednesday, seven hours before he started the killing spree. “I have weapons here and tomorrow morning I will go to my old school.” “You will hear about me tomorrow. Make note of the name of the place: Winnenden,” 17-year-old Tim Kretschmer said. Rech said the chat was with 17-year-old Bernd from Bavaria. The boy showed the chat to his father after he heard about Wednesday’s massacre, and the father then contacted police. “I have had enough, I have had enough of

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this crummy life ... Always the same. People are laughing at me, no one recognises my potential,” Rech cited the entry as saying. “I mean it seriously, Bernd.” Kretschmer entered his old school in Winnenden at around 9.30 am, armed with a Beretta pistol taken from his father’s bedroom and more than 100 rounds of ammunition. He shot dead eight girls, one boy and three female teachers. He then fled and randomly shot dead three bystanders. Three hours later Kretschmer was dead after a manhunt ended in a shootout in a shopping centre car park 30km away. Rech told a news conference that the gunman had recently stopped receiving psychiatric treatment. German authorities are looking into whether to press charges against Kretschmer’s gun-collecting father. Police said the father’s other Young mourners view 14 guns were locked in a guncondolence notes outside the closet as required by German Albertville school after the law, but that he kept the Beretta shooting spree on Wednesday. in his bedroom. “Everything here points to negligence on the part of the father,” police spokesman Ralf Michelfelder said. German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble ordered flags across the country to be flown at half mast yesterday as a mark of respect for the slain. – Agencies

briefs Police block activists in Pakistan protest KARACHI: Pakistan police yesterday stopped activists from leaving the city of Karachi and arrested more than 100 protesters, heightening tensions at the start of a mass anti-government march. Lawyers, opposition supporters and civil activists planned to drive 1,500km from Karachi to Islamabad to demand that President Asif Ali Zardari reinstate sacked judges. Riot police turned back a convoy of around 300 people at the main gateway out of Karachi, confiscating buses and manhandling 20 protesters into waiting prison vans. – AFP

Madagascar president appeals to security forces ANTANANARIVO: Madagascar President

Marc Ravalomanana called on the splintering security forces yesterday “to fulfil their responsibilities” as a power struggle with the opposition that has killed 135 people rages. On Wednesday, the leader of a widening mutiny within the army named himself chief of staff, ousting Madagascar’s top general who had given the political rivals 72 hours – until today – to find a solution or face military intervention. – Reuters

Iraq court jails Bush shoe-thrower three years BAGHDAD: A court yesterday sentenced the Iraqi journalist who became an Arab world hero after throwing his shoes at George W. Bush to jail for three years for assault. Muntazer al-Zaidi, aged 30, had pleaded not guilty at the Iraq Central Criminal Court to assaulting Bush on Dec 14. “My reaction was natural, just like any Iraqi (would have done),” Zaidi said after the sentencing. – AFP