NEWS: Lone Gunman Opens Fire in NY Mall - 2 Injured

It's amazing how this simple story gets blown out ten different ways....."It was 3 guys, all kinds of guns......blah-blah-blah.....!!!!!"'

What I want to know is how the hell did he sneak an assault rifle into the mall. I guess it was just a matter of him taking it out of his car and just walking into the malll with it. What a sight that must have been, huh? Think people got out of his way when he walked by?

Originally posted by BANGINCOLOR
It's amazing how this simple story gets blown out ten different ways....."It was 3 guys, all kinds of guns......blah-blah-blah.....!!!!!"'

What I want to know is how the hell did he sneak an assault rifle into the mall. I guess it was just a matter of him taking it out of his car and just walking into the malll with it. What a sight that must have been, huh? Think people got out of his way when he walked by?

Well, people here in NY usually pay no attention to anyone else. Seriously, I lived in central Kentucky last before I moved here. Big difference in people, really. Not saying that peole in Kentucky don't shoot each other, but they usually realize that there are other people alive besides themself.

[edit on 13-2-2005 by steggyD]

The report is that the injured man was an Army recruiter. It appears as if the recruiter was not the target of the attack.

news.yahoo.com
An Army recruiter was shot in the leg but was not the target of the attack, said Lt. Col. Paul Fanning, a National Guard spokesman. The recruiter was evacuated by helicopter to an Albany hospital, where he was listed in critical condition.

I am hopeful that more informaiton as to the man's motive, and why he chose that particular Best Buy will come to light. Fourtunately it doesn't appear as if my first instinct of a Columbine copy cat is going to be the case.

Here's the confusing part of this whole story. My wife works in the clothing department store which is an anchor store of the mall on the south end. The shooter, according to the news walked into Best Buy, which is on the north end of the mall, firing. He supposedly walked into the corridor firing some more. An AK-47 by the way. The news never really states how far the guy walked down the corridor before being apprehended by mall employees.

Now my wife comes home and tells me that she heard one single gun shot and it was very close to her side of the mall, like right outside the store by the cell phone booth set up there. After this single gun shot, people ran into her store screaming that there is a guy with a gun. And she said it seemed that the bulk of the police were on that side of the mall. When she watched some news reports on RNN (regional news network), one person from her store had called in and said the same thing. The person she rode with had the same story.

Now for the translation. Was there one more shot fired by another gunman? My wife and many others only heard one gunshot, not many such as reported on the other side of the mall. Why would people run from the other side of the entire mall to her store to escape a man with a gun? Wouldn't you run for the nearest exit? Maybe this is why there were confusing stories at first. But I've come to a conclusion already that maybe he walked pretty far down the mall's corridors and the final shot was fired near the south end of the mall, which is what my wife heard. More details to follow when she gets back to work, which probably will not be as soon as tomorrow.

Here is the sad part, kind of shows how people are. My wife and mother of three stays in the mall to assist customers in exiting the store safely while other young single employees with no children were already outside.

steggyD thanks for the story.
I'm sure the combination of a shot heard on the south end, and the shooting on the other end is what lead to the reports of multiple shooters. And maybe that is the case, I think we shouldn't rule it out. But I also think the police have one in custody, and they will go with the "lone gunman" thing to attempt to stifle peoples fears.

The shooter has been identified as 24 year old Robert Bonelli of Saugerties, N.Y. Authorities still have not released a motive. Witnesses described the man as appearing to be very calm after the shootings.

The following link contains several eyewitness reports of the incident.

www.foxnews.com
Bonelli, 24, of nearby Saugerties, was being held without bail on first- and second-degree assault and reckless endangerment charges, said Brian Woltman, a dispatcher for the Town of Ulster Police Department. He was arraigned early Monday in Ulster Town Court.

Lazarchik said he did not know the gunman had run out of ammunition when he dropped his weapon. After the gunman was tackled and pinned, he said it was "over" and he had no other weapons, witnesses said.

"People were walking by and yelling at him and, you know, asking him if he was crazy," Lazarchik said. "He was quiet. Very cool and calm like it was just another day at the office."

Originally posted by phreak_of_nature
Fourtunately it doesn't appear as if my first instinct of a Columbine copy cat is going to be the case.

Can I take this back?
Always go with your gut instinct. I firstly thought that this may have been a Columbine Copy Cat, but then dismissed it when we heard it was a lone gunman.

Now additional information is coming out that appears to actually confirm what my gut told me.

www.foxnews.com
KINGSTON, N.Y. — A man who opened fire in a crowded shopping mall with an assault weapon, wounding two, seemed to have a "lurid fascination" with the Columbine High School shooting, a prosecutor said Monday.

Police searching the suspect's room in nearby Saugerties that night found a cache of "Columbine memorabilia," Ulster County District Attorney Donald Williams told The Associated Press.

The prosecutor would not detail what sort of items were found in the house Bonelli shares with his father, but said it included media accounts and other information about the Colorado shooting spree by two students that left 15 dead on April 20, 1999.

"We may never know specifically what his intentions were, or what his motivations were," Williams said. "However, we are deeply disturbed and troubled by the recovery of Columbine memorabilia from his property."

Originally posted by steggyD
Not much I can do to help. When I moved here to NY from KY, I decided to keep my pistols with my father due to strict gun laws in NY. Yet the bad guys have guns still...

But that's besides the point. My wife is OK, she has called me on her phone, but she did hear the shots. She says it seems that noone was injured.

Steggy, I feel your pain. Moved from Florida. A pistol permit is not too terribly difficult to obtain here, though a CCW is. Of course, once my processing is complete I might feel different. I could be wrong but your proximity to NYC might make your process more difficult. I just know that in the sticks where I live it's all a matter of who you know -- but I didn't say that.

Oops, the site was running slow. I think I just double posted.

[edit on 14-2-2005 by steggyD]

More news on the whole situation. Seems almost as if there was a second gunman or something "funny" somewhere. My wife did go back to work today, even though most of the mall was still closed down, my wife's store remained open. The police were still investigating. Whenever someone from her store tried to say that there was gunfire on their side of the mall, the police told them they were wrong.

Now for the good part. They found a bullet hole in the ceiling of the very same store she works in. Right in housewares, oh about 50 yards from her section. I think she said FBI was there taking pictures, etc. of the bullet hole, or maybe just state troopers, I don't know. But this gunman who started in the north end of the mall and was caught when he ran out of ammo somewhere near the middle of the mall could never have shot a hole into the ceiling of the store on the south end of the mall. What gunshot did my wife and her friends hear? What guy with a gun did the shoppers see on that side of the mall? Was there a second gunman that is not being told of, or did this bullet hole come from some gung-ho police officer during the escpades?

Well, I think that we may now be looking at a Columbine Copy Cat, the shooters friends need to be looked at closely. Maybe one of them was also in the mall with him and chickened out after firing off a round.

Like my gut initally told me, maybe the inital reports of multiple shooters was correct.

Well, my local news is saying that 'four' (?) people have been arrested and are being questioned.

Ugh, I missed some of it (just scanning stations and caught the tail end).

So, seems that the 'lone' gunman may not be so lonely after all.

Well, I can find a source stating that 2 others have been arrested. The arrests stem from evidence found at Bonelli's home. Police found videotapes showing the suspects detonating pipe bombs. They say however that they have no evidence that Bonelli planned to use explosives in the assault Sunday afternoon.

www.wnbc.com
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Two friends of a man charged with shooting his way through a crowded shopping mall were arrested after authorities discovered a videotape of them detonating pipe bombs, law enforcement officials said Tuesday.

Police searching Bonelli's home after the shooting found a videotape depicting the manufacture and detonation of pipe bombs. The two men arrested were depicted in the videotape along with Bonelli. Kenneth Stine and Liborio Valguarnera, both 25 of Glasco, N.Y., were arrested Monday for violating federal explosive laws related to the possession of a pipe bomb, according to federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms officials.

The ATF said nine long guns, including five semiautomatic assault-style weapons, a handgun, ammunition and a pipe bomb fuse were found at Stine's house. Watzka said police have "absolutely" no knowledge that the men were going to use the weapons.

"They're not involved in the shooting on Sunday, but they are friends and acquaintances of the suspect," Watzka said.

"We actually have videotapes of them exploding explosive devices and firing weaponry, and that led us to the arrest of these two subjects," Watzka said.

Thanks, Phreak.

I was a little confused about the 'additional' suspects. (Whether they were at the mall?)

Latest "inside" information. Pipe bomb found at the mall. Not a fact yet, but above a rumor. Anyways, I guess this is old news now. I'll be out of state for a while now, and this will be completely blown over by the time I get back.