NYC Police Say Hatchet Attack by Islam Convert Was Terrorism

[NavyCanDo]

LOL, I keep a MAC11 under the bed and a 9mm in the side table. A .38 in the side table on the other side of the bed. At least one handgun hidden in each room and two AR15s up stairs.

..and I'm in a pretty safe place in a gated neighborhood.

Way too many guns lying around when you have a 13 year old and he has  his friends over.   I prefer just carrying my XDs 9mm all day long where its legal, including at home. When I go to bet I lock up the XDs and pull out my XDm .45 with Crimson Trace Railmaster Pro and keep it in a mattress holster. In the morning I switch again.   On occasion I will carry the .45, and in the summer I may carry a Ruger LPC.

[Cyber Liberty]

LOL, I keep a MAC11 under the bed and a 9mm in the side table. A .38 in the side table on the other side of the bed. At least one handgun hidden in each room and two AR15s up stairs.

..and I'm in a pretty safe place in a gated neighborhood.

"What are you afraid of?"

"Not a damned thing."

 

[mystery-ak]

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/nyc-police-commissioner-hatchet-attack-was-terror


NYC police commissioner: Hatchet attack was terror
October 24, 2014 - 5:35 PM
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A brazen daylight hatchet attack against a group of police officers on a busy New York street was a terrorist act by a reclusive Muslim convert who ranted online against America but had no clear ties to international extremists, the police commissioner said Friday.

Police were examining Zale Thompson's computer for clues about a motive for the Thursday assault that left one of the officers seriously injured and ended with Thompson being killed by police. Police Commissioner William Bratton said Thompson's browsing history included organized terror groups, beheadings and the shooting in Canada earlier this week that officials there have called a terrorist attack.

Thompson was not on any watch lists, and officials found no indication he sought any training or affiliation to any groups.

Bratton said investigators were trying to determine whether the attack was planned or spontaneous but believe Thompson was self-radicalized. His father told officials he converted to Islam about two years ago and was described as a "recluse" who had been depressed lately.

Bratton said he was comfortable calling it a terrorist attack.

"This was a terrorist attack, certainly," Bratton said.

But he also stopped short of including the attack in the list of terror plots against the city since Sept. 11, 2001, saying the investigation was continuing.

Thompson, 32, had once served in the U.S. Navy and had a history of run-ins with the law over domestic violence in California in 2003 and 2004, police said. In recent postings on social media, he ranted about injustices in American society and oppression abroad, but the postings didn't point to any affiliation with a terror group or direct influence of radical Islam, they said.

Security video and witness accounts appeared to leave no doubt that Thompson purposely targeted four rookie New York Police Department officers who were in uniform and on foot patrol in a bustling Queens commercial district.

Moments before the attack, the bearded suspect was seen on a street corner crouching down to pull the hatchet out of backpack before he charged the officers and began swinging the hatchet with a two-handed grip, police said.

At the time, the officers were posing for a photo for a passerby. Without a word, Thompson swung at an officer who blocked the blow with his arm, police said. Another officer was hit in the back of the head and fell to the ground.

As the suspect raised the hatchet again, the two uninjured officers drew their weapons and fired several rounds, police said. The bullets killed the assailant and wounded a bystander, police said. A bloody hatchet, about 18 inches long, was recovered.

Officer Kenneth Healey remained hospitalized on Friday with a head wound. The bystander, a 29-year-old woman, also was being treated for a gunshot wound to the back. Both were critical.

[NavyCanDo]

As did the beheading of the woman, this story will be completely gone from the news and swept under the rug in 24 hours.

[musiclady]

I always recommend, as a first handgun, a 38 Sepcial revolver with a 4 inch barrel.  Revolvers are the most simple and reliable, and the 4 inch barrel is to help you shoot straight.  Talk with someone at the gun store for a while before you buy, they're enthusiasts who are dying to tell you what they know.  Good luck!

 

Thanks for the advice, CL.  My husband works with a gun enthusiast (physician!) and we'll be in touch.

[EC]

Thanks for the advice, CL.  My husband works with a gun enthusiast (physician!) and we'll be in touch.

Good on you for taking the step!

CL is right about the benefits of revolvers - there is an additional benefit in that they are easier to reload in a "non stress" situation, though not as good if you have to reload fast. They are also way easier to clean!

Best bet is to go to the range and try out a few different models to see what fits you best. Everyone has their own favorite and usually are more than happy to talk relative merits and let you get off a few shots to get a feel of it, once you know how to handle them safely. Friendly bunch at ranges, you'll get more advice than you know what to do with! 

[Free Vulcan]

Wanna bet his name was Achmed Jameel Mustafa Habib al-Ramashamalamadingdong Something-or-Other?

[olde north church]

Isn't it remarkable the government knows the type and time of every Tea Partier's bowel movement yet is ignorant of any self-styled terrorist wannabe?

[rangerrebew]

NYC Police Say Hatchet Attack by Islam Convert Was Terrorism


Friday, October 24, 2014 04:44 PM




By: TOM HAYS

The hatchet-wielding man who wounded two New York City police officers, one of them critically, was a self-radicalized convert to Islam who is believed to have acted alone in what law enforcement officials on Friday called a terrorist attack.

 The suspect, Zale Thompson, who was shot dead by two other officers on Thursday afternoon on a street in the borough of Queens, had made anti-Western postings on social media and visited websites associated with several radical Islamic groups, police said at a news conference.

 A search of computers seized from the home of Thompson's father in Queens, where the 32-year-old man lived, showed he also spent time reading online about beheadings, a recent intrusion at the White House and attacks in Canada.

 "This was a terrorist attack," Commissioner William Bratton said.

 Investigators were trying to determine whether Thompson, a black man who converted to Islam two years ago, had any connection to an area mosque. Police said the social media postings of the man described as an unemployed recluse were "anti-government, anti-Western, anti-white."

 Still under investigation was the extent of planning involved in the attack, which appeared to be unprovoked and somewhat spontaneous, Bratton said.

 "The fact that he was walking around with a hatchet in the backpack makes it clear this individual had some sense of preparation," Bratton said.

 The attack on Thursday, which took place in a shopping district, unfolded in a matter of seconds, police said. A group of four police officers were posing for a freelance photographer when Thompson charged them, swinging the hatchet. One officer was struck in the arm and another in the head before the other two officers opened fire, killing Thompson.

 A 29-year-old female bystander was struck in the lower back by a stray bullet and critically wounded.

 Kenneth Healey, the 25-year-old officer hit in the head, remains in critical condition at Jamaica Hospital, Bratton said.

 The officer struck in the arm, Joseph Meeker, 24, was treated at the hospital and released, he added.

 Thompson, who was involuntarily discharged from the Navy in 2003 for undisclosed reasons, lived with his father at a home in Queens, but had stayed at his mother's residence the night before the incident, Bratton said.

 Thompson was arrested in southern California six times between 2002 and 2003, likely for domestic disputes, New York Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said.

 At age 16, in 1998, Thompson was the victim of an assault, he said.

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/US-police-shooting-hatchet/2014/10/24/id/602989/