5 April 2008
10
Examples of
Preventable Violence
Unmanaged Conflict
nCharles
Lee "Cookie" Thornton (Kirkwood, MO City Council shootings –
2/7/08)
n6
dead, 2 injured in Kirkwood City Hall shooting
nThe city had ticketed Thornton's demolition and asphalt
business, Cookco Construction, for parking his commercial vehicles in the neighborhood, said Ron
Hodges, a friend who lives in the community. The tickets were "eating at him. He felt that as a black
contractor he was being singled out," Hodges said.
nAt
earlier city council meetings, he said he had received 150 tickets against his
business.
nSportscaster
Doug Vaughn of Channel 4 (who went to Kirkwood High School with Thornton) said
Thornton's behavior changed after
police cracked down on his parking of vehicles for his construction company
outside his home in
Meacham Park. He felt harassed, Vaughn said.
nAccording
to his brother, Thornton was "going to war" with a city that did not
respect his rights.
n10 days earlier, a federal judge in St. Louis dismissed
a lawsuit in which Thornton, representing himself, claimed Kirkwood officials violated his free speech rights by
prohibiting him from speaking out at city council meetings.
nThornton
experienced growing frustration with local leaders over this unmanaged conflict
situation
nMarvin
Heemeyer built an armored bulldozer and used it to destroy 15 buildings ($5M
damage) on July 4th, 2004 in Granby, CO.
nHeemeyer was
upset with town officials after fighting with them over zoning rules and town
code violations at his
muffler-repair business.
nAfter
numerous appearances with town officials, there was no resolution and the
conflict escalated to violence. unmanaged conflict situation
Violentization Process
nMatthew
Murray (New Life Church shootings – 12/30/07)
nReview of
Murray’s childhood experiences indicate he appears to have been subjected to
repeated “violent subjugation” Ref:
Lonnie Athens, “The Creation of Violent Dangerous Criminals” for more information about the violentization process