Posted on 08/18/2003 8:43:26 PM PDT by joesnuffy
Edited on 04/29/2004 2:02:59 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
The second shooting occurred August 14 at a Speedway gas station on Charleston's south side.
CHARLESTON, West Virginia (CNN) -- Investigators in the killings of three people at Charleston-area gas stations last week are questioning 100 people they consider suspects in those shootings, Kanawha County Sheriff Dave Tucker said Monday.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Hmmmmm.... I wonder if this means they are going to gun stores and looking at the 4473s like they did in the DC case?
KENSINGTON, Md. - On Harriet Lane in Kensington, neighbors and police say Gary Thorne made some ominous remarks about the guns he owned.
The Montgomery County Firearms Task Force, a multi-agency unit formed this year to take guns away from people who shouldn't have them, was called in.
An outgrowth of October's Washington area sniper manhunt, the unit goes after gun traffickers, felons whose criminal record prohibits them from having firearms, and mentally ill people with guns.
As of June 30, the task force had seized 202 firearms, executed 17 search warrants and arrested 44 people, including one juvenile, officials said.
After authorities obtained an emergency court order requiring Thorne to submit to a psychiatric evaluation, a SWAT team stormed his house.
Police said they found 57 guns in the April 15 raid, including some hidden in the walls. In a house choked with piled-up garbage, police also found eight pounds of black powder stashed in a refrigerator.
Thorne, 58, was committed to Springfield State Hospital, police said, and charged with illegal possession of explosives for having more than five pounds of black powder without a license.
"I'm convinced we prevented a crime in that case," said Lt. S. Michael Mancuso, who heads the firearms task force.
After his psychiatric evaluation, Thorne was jailed on firearms charges, then freed on personal recognizance in June to await trial. He couldn't be located to comment. Adam Harris, an assistant public defender assigned to Thorne's case in District Court, said he was no longer Thorne's attorney and that no new attorney had been assigned. Harris said he couldn't comment.
The six-person Firearms Task Force picked up where the massive sniper investigation left off last fall. At the time, thousands of leads were pouring in, and county police were working with agents of the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and other agencies to find the gunmen.
Most tips led nowhere. Others led to people who, though ruled out as sniper suspects, posed other threats. For example, some were felons who are prohibited from owning guns.
Building on the sniper investigation's tips and agency cooperation, the task force aims to take aggressive measures against illegal gun use before violent crimes occur.
"We're not looking to take guns from hunters," Cpl. Kenneth S. Berger said.
I wonder if HL Mencken would think that it's time to raise the black flag in oppressed states like Maryland?
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