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View Full Version : Before mass shooting, Texas gunman 'was on a long spiral down,' investigator says



Teh One Who Knocks
09-03-2019, 10:32 AM
By Frank Miles | Fox News


https://i.imgur.com/3ER0SBel.jpg

The gunman in the West Texas rampage that killed seven people over the weekend "was on a long spiral down" before he was fired from his job on the day of the shooting, investigators said Monday.

The gunman had been fired Saturday morning from his job at Journey Oil Field Services and made "rambling" phone calls to both the 911 and the FBI afterward, the investigators added.

FBI special agent Christopher Combs said the gunman had gone to work that day "in trouble."

Combs said Monday that the killer's home was "a strange residence," and that the condition "reflect what his mental state was going into this."

"Texans are strong. We will get through this," Odessa Mayor David Turner said Monday on "Shepard Smith Reporting."

The gunman killed seven people and injured at least 22 others Saturday before officers killed him outside a busy movie theater in Odessa, investigators said.

Officials said those killed were between 15 and 57 years old but did not immediately provide a list of names. Family and employers, however, said that among the dead were Edwin Peregrino, 25, who ran out of his parents’ home to see what the commotion was; mail carrier Mary Granados, 29, killed in her U.S. Postal Service truck; and 15-year-old high school student Leilah Hernandez, who had been walking out of an auto dealership.

The attack began Saturday afternoon when Texas state troopers tried pulling over a gold car on Interstate 20 for failing to signal a left turn. Before the vehicle came to a complete stop, the driver “pointed a rifle toward the rear window of his car and fired several shots” toward the patrol car stopping him, according to Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger. The gunshots struck a trooper, Cesinger said, after which the gunman took off and continued shooting. He fired at random as he drove in the area of Odessa and Midland, two cities over 300 miles west of Dallas.

Police used a marked SUV to ram the mail truck outside the Cinergy Movie Theater in Odessa, disabling the vehicle. The gunman then fired at police, wounding two officers before he was killed.

The shooting came at the end of an already violent month in Texas following the El Paso attack at a Walmart that killed 22 people.

Hal-9000
09-03-2019, 04:24 PM
"...made "rambling" phone calls to both the 911 and the FBI afterward..."

"FBI special agent Christopher Combs said the gunman had gone to work that day "in trouble."

I wonder what the content of those calls were?

It all started because he failed to use a turn signal, how fucking sad :(

KevinD
09-04-2019, 01:18 AM
Picture taken from my garage at work apartment maybe 5 mins after the shooter was killed

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/qq223/kmdracer/imagejpeg_03_zpsgzst4ywk.jpg

Teh One Who Knocks
09-04-2019, 10:57 AM
By Danielle Wallace | Fox News


The gunman who killed 7 and injured at least 22 others in a West Texas shooting rampage Labor Day weekend before he was shot and killed by police was federally banned from owning or buying firearms after a court previously ruled he was mentally unfit to do so, authorities said.

The suspected mass shooter, Seth Aaron Ator, 36, appeared to have taken advantage of a loophole in federal gun law by purchasing the AR-type assault rifle used in the rampage at a private person-to-person gun sale, effectively bypassing a background check. Under Texas state law, background checks are not required in private sales, according to the Texas Tribune.

Federal law mandates that after someone is “adjudicated as mentally defective” or is committed to a mental institution, their record must be sent to the FBI database known as the National Instant Criminal Background Check System in order to flag commerical gun sellers that that person may no longer legally purchase a firearm, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Tuesday called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to bring a gun control bill passed by the House in February to the Senate floor for a vote next week. The proposed legislation aims at establishing new background check requirements for firearm transfers between private parties.

“If the House-passed background checks bill would have been signed into law, this tragedy could have been avoided,” Schumer said in a statement. “Leader McConnell—you have no excuse. The Senate must vote on the House bill next week—not a diluted bill, not a bill on other matters. We must take a vote on the House-passed bill to close these loopholes without delay.”

Officials defended the FBI database used to check the backgrounds of prospective gun buyers, as it appeared to prevent Astor from previously purchasing firearms.

"The background check was run through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The NIC system did work. He applied to get a gun. He was denied a gun," John Wester, a special agent for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said at a press conference Monday, according to ABC News. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, added on Twitter that Astor did not submit to a background check before purchasing the rifle used in Saturday’s attack.

The database previously fell under scrutiny and was reviewed in 2017 after a gunman passed a background check and purchased a gun used to murder more than two dozen people at a Texas church. The Air Force never reported the gunman’s criminal history to the FBI in that case, according to The Wall Street Journal.

White House officials have been meeting with lawmakers and congressional staff to discuss the potential of pushing through new gun control legislation when Congress reconvenes from summer recess next week, The Wall Street Journal reported. President Trump applauded Texas law enforcement, first responders and the FBI in their handling of Saturday’s shooting. After back-to-back mass shootings at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart and outside a Dayton, Ohio, bar last month, Trump at times said he favors more meaningful background checks in gun sales but also stressed how mental health plays a role in mass shootings.

Hal-9000
09-04-2019, 03:57 PM
So there's a background check system in place that can work for new retail sales, but a person can buy a gun privately to bypass the entire process.

Like the above article mentions it sounds like they need to pass the next part of the law for private sales as well.

People are still going to pass the checks but weeding out a percentage is always a good step.