Posted on 12/13/2010 3:13:07 AM PST by Born Conservative
ROARING BROOK TWP. - A young man claiming to be a Shiite Muslim stabbed his stepfather Wednesday night with a butcher's knife, township police said.
Alex Williams, 21, of 204 Forrest Drive, stabbed his sleeping stepfather, James Williams, with a 13-inch butcher's knife and ran from his bedroom yelling to his mother, "I had to do it ... I'm a terrorist ... I'm a Shiite," according to an affidavit.
When police responded at 10:40 p.m. Wednesday they found Alex Williams lying at the top of the staircase and James Williams bleeding in his bed from a stab wound to the right side of his chest.
James Williams was transported to Community Medical Center in Scranton, according to Roaring Brook Township Police Chief Donald Hickey. A hospital spokesman would not comment on the extent of James Williams' injuries.
Roaring Brook Township police charged Alex Williams with attempted homicide along with assault and weapons charges. He was committed to Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $250,000 bail.
Jo Ann Williams told The Times-Tribune Thursday night, meanwhile, that her husband had been released from the hospital and hoped to return to work today.
"My husband and my whole family stand by him," Mrs. Williams said of her son. "But he is not a terrorist."
"He has mental illness. He's been in and out of hospitals for three years," Mrs. Williams said in a telephone interview. "I feel that one day, as a mother, he will fully recover, with the proper medical treatment."
Two incidents reported
Earlier Wednesday, Roaring Brook Township police Chief Donald Hickey and a Covington Township police officer had responded to the Williams residence for a verbal domestic dispute between Alex Williams and his grandmother, according to Chief Hickey. Police left the scene and no charges were filed.
After the stabbing, Mrs. Williams told police that her son had been institutionalized in Baltimore after running away from home last week, according to the affidavit.
Officers found the butcher's knife on the bed next to James Williams, seized it, and took Alex Williams to the station for interrogation.
Islamic ties unclear
On the way to the police station, Alex Williams allegedly told an officer, "Now I am going to get $2 million from al-Qaida for stabbing a white man."
After hearing his rights read to him, Alex provided a statement and told police "I have no remorse for it. Write that down, because I don't want to get beat up in jail," according to the affidavit.
Police said Mrs. Williams notified officers Wednesday night that Alex had met with a Muslim man earlier that day, but did not know what their encounter regarded.
According to the police affidavit, Mrs. Williams also told officers that before the stabbing, she had knelt down to peer through a gap between the floor and the door to her son's bedroom to see what he was doing.
Mrs. Williams saw her son kneeling and "praying to Allah" while a "CD of Muslim chant music" played in the background, according to the affidavit.
In her conversation with Times-Shamrock newspapers, Mrs. Williams said Alex had shown interest in various faiths, but doubted whether he had become seriously committed to Islam.
"He seems to explore different religions quite frequently," she said. "Last week he was Jewish."
Shia and Sunni are branches of Islam. Alex allegedly said he was a Shiite.
Al-Qaida is a radical Sunni terrorist organization.
Lackawanna County District Attorney Andy Jarbola said his office would not be investigating Williams' statements about his ties to terrorists organizations based on his mental state.
"I don't know how much credence you could put in that," Jarbola said of Williams' statements. "The guy is obviously dealing with some severe mental illness ... Although if we do get evidence to the contrary we will be looking into that."
Special Agent J.J. Klaver of the FBI's Philadelphia office would not comment on whether or not the bureau's Scranton office would investigate Williams' statements.
Mrs. Williams, meanwhile, said she and her family would stand by Alex.
"I don't believe in my heart that my son is a criminal. He has severe mental health issues," she said.
"We love him and we're totally supporting him."
Roger DuPuis II, assistant metro editor, contributed to this report.
Sounds like the guy really does have mental health issues, but it’s interesting to see that being crazy is practically indistinguishable from being Muslim.
Islam is a mental disorder and if you are already crazy then you’ll fit in just fine.
No wonder Liberals like them.
...when he though he was Jewish did he stab at things?...did he do anything else while you peeked under the door while he was Aztec Indian?
...and she thought she'd notify the police after he stabbed someone...... a week later
Interesting point. But having worked with folks who happen to be Muslims and came to this country for the same reasons my grandparents did, I would prefer 'Radical Islamofacists'
And NO! I am not a supporter of OBAMA or any other DEMOCRAT!
Thank you for this opportunity to respond. Merry Christmas! Go in peace.
So many things to say, how does your buddies feel about “tariqiyya”? Just one more, do you see an American flag anywhere near them or their property?
The problem is that Islam has within its very core the sort of violence and rage that now dominates the Islamic world, and what we are seeing is not the imposition of something alien on this “religion,” but simply a resurgence of its true nature. For Mohammed, it was nothing but an Arab superiority cult and a way to solidify his brutal victories over the defenseless peoples (particularly non-Arab peoples) in his region and eventually beyond.
When Islamic societies are weak, Islam slips into being a sort of cultural artefact and its demands and true nature are not taken seriously. Muslims therefore are able to get along with the rest of the world. But when the spirit of Arab nationalism revives, the violence, savagery and will to conquest inherent in Islam also revive, and that is what we have seen in recent decades. Islam is in essence a theocratic fascist political system, and that is why it always takes this form when it undergoes a revival.
A lot of Muslims who emigrate for economic reasons probably remember the old days of a weak, unimportant cultural Islam and are probably also themselves fleeing this revival of the true fanatical Islam. I don’t think all Muslims are evil or crazy - only the ones that really follow the cult. Most of them don’t, and they’re almost as subject as we are to the same pressure from the true believers. After all, the majority of the people the Muslims are blowing up in Iraq are other Muslims.
Furthermore, the true nature of Islam is so filled with hatred and violence that it appeals to people whose mental illness also fills them with hatred and violence. In this case, the would-be killer seems to have had a hatred of white people that he felt was justified by Islam.
I once read that when the French Revolution broke out, the lunatic asylums virtually emptied overnight, because the crazy people found something hate-filled and violent (the Jacobin sans-culottes who conducted the Reign of Terror) that validated and gave an outlet to their own personal irrational rage and violence. Islam provides that same dubious service in our time.
"I don't believe in my heart that my son is a criminal. He has severe mental health issues," she said.
"We love him and we're totally supporting him."
Oh, I see. If your husband is stabbed to death (or nearly) by your mentally ill son, it doesn't count as much as if he was stabbed out of genuine religious animus.
Well, at least it is now a matter for the courts. Even they (the government geniuses who know better than us plebians) are unlikely to blow off an attempted murder.
But you can never tell...
Sounds like a Rodham brothers party!
I would think the religion itself would be enough to make you crazy, especially if you follow it completely as it is written. Kill or convert. It’s ok to lie to an infidel. It’s ok to beat your wife or kill her....it’s ok to kill your child if they are disobedient...ect.
Last week when he was Jewish all he was doing was celebrating Chanukah by playing with dreidels, eating gelt, giving gifts, and singing Chanukah songs. Since he had strayed away from Islam the only way he could redeem himself was to try and kill someone. Reminds of the big Haq attack in Seattle back in July of 2006.
My friend is not a liar.
As far as 'OLD GLORY' is concerned, I find that there is more hostility towards the flag from liberals than Muslims.
It is also my experience living on the east coast near NYC/NEWARK/PHILADELPHIA that the most radical Muslims in the U.S are African Americans who joined the Nation of Islam in prison.
It is not just an Arab thing.
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