Army Warns Recruiters: Treat Armed Civilians At Security Threat

I know I would feel safer with this crew standing guard

Earlier today an armed civilian who appointed himself as a guard for a military recruitment center in Lancaster, Ohio, was ordered off the property after he accidentally discharged his rifle on Thursday.

No one was injured.

Christopher A. Reed, 28, of Lancaster, was charged with discharging a firearm in the city limits, and was issued a summons to appear in Fairfield County Municipal Court on Tuesday, after he accidentally fired his AR-15 rifle.

The shopping-center owner issued a statement saying it was decided that “for the safety of tenants, customers and construction personnel working in the immediate vicinity of the Military Recruiting Center, it would be best to request the removal of the armed individuals.”

Because, after all, what could POSSIBLY go wrong?

According to Stars and Stripes, Army has warned its recruiters to treat gun-toting civilians gathering at centers across the country in the wake of the Chattanooga, Tenn., shooting as a security threat.

Soldiers should avoid anyone standing outside the recruiting centers attempting to offer protection and report them to local law enforcement and the command if they feel threatened, according to a U.S. Army Recruiting Command policy letter issued Monday.

Armed citizens — some associated with activist groups and militias — were standing vigil outside recruiting centers in Wisconsin, Georgia, Tennessee, Idaho and elsewhere this week, saying they want to provide protection to servicemembers barred from carrying firearms on duty.

Four Marines and a sailor were killed by Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, a 24-year-old Kuwait-born resident of Tennessee, during an attack Thursday on a strip mall recruiting center and a Navy facility that is being investigated as an act of terrorism.

GOP Presidential Candidate Rick Perry Calls South Carolina Shooting “An Accident”

Former Texas Governor Rick Perry

“This is the M.O. of this administration, any time there is an accident like this — the president is clear, he doesn’t like for Americans to have guns and so he uses every opportunity, this being another one, to basically go parrot that message.” – GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry in response to President Barack Obama’s Thursday remarks.

Perry also shifted the discussion from guns to drugs, saying, “It seems to me, again without having all the details about this, that these individuals have been medicated and there may be a real issue in this country from the standpoint of these drugs and how they’re used.”

More at Right Wing Watch.

South Carolina: Nine Dead In Hate Crime At Church Shooting

Police in Charleston, South Carolina say a white gunman killed nine African-Americans during a Bible study class at an historic black church on Wednesday night.

Police are searching for a white male, approximately 21 years old, with sandy blond hair. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime.

More at CNN.

UPDATE:

The suspect, Dylan Storm Roof, had been apprehended about 245 miles northwest of Charleston, according to USA Today.

Police said the suspect, from Columbia, S.C., had been sought in a black Hyundai with vehicle tag LGF330 and appealed to the public for any information on his whereabouts.

A Facebook page for a Dylann Roof’ carries a photo of a young man in a bowl-like haircut similar to the image in a surveillance photo outside the Emanuel AME church just before the killings Wednesday night. The page says he attended White Knoll High School in Lexington.

The Facebook page also carries a photo of Roof standing in in front of a swamp forest wearing a jacket with patches of the racist-era flags of South Africa and Rhodesia, the one white-ruled country now called Zimbabwe.

White House Condemns Shooting At Texas Muhammad Cartoon Contest

The White House on Monday condemned a shooting at a controversial cartoon contest in Texas, saying that while Muslims may have found the event offensive there is no justification for violence.

Two gunmen were shot and killed by a security guard Sunday night after opening fire at a Garland event that offered a $10,000 prize for the best cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad. One security guard was injured in the assault.

“We have seen extremists try to use expressions that they considered to be offensive as a way to justify violence not only in this country but around the world, and in the mind of the president there is no form of expression that would justify an act of violence,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters aboard Air Force One. “We saw a pretty important and notable display of bravery on the part of first responders and … because of their courage the only person that was injured by these gunmen was a security officer.”

(via Washington Post)

Missouri: Arrest Made In Shooting of Two Police Officers In Ferguson

From MSNBC: St. Louis County Police said on Sunday afternoon that an arrest had been made in connection to the Ferguson, Missouri police shooting of two officers last week.

St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch and St. Louis County Chief of Police Jon Belmar will hold a press conference Sunday at 1:30 p.m. local time (2:30 p.m. ET).

Grand Jury Decision In Ferguson Shooting Incident Reaches Decision

The grand jury deliberating whether to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson for the shooting death of Michael Brown has reached a decision, CNN and The Washington Post report.

Stay calm, everyone…

Things Could Get Ugly Down In Missouri Soon