PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A gunman wearing a bulletproof vest and ''lying in wait'' opened fire on officers responding to a domestic disturbance call Saturday, killing three of them and turning a quiet Pittsburgh street into a battlefield, police said.

Police Chief Nate Harper said the motive for the shooting isn't clear, but friends said the gunman recently had been upset about losing his job and feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.

Richard Poplawski, 23, met officers at the doorway and shot two of them in the head immediately, Harper said. An officer who tried to help the two also was killed.

Poplawski, armed with an assault rifle and two other guns, then held police at bay for four hours as the fallen officers were left bleeding nearby, their colleagues unable to reach them, according to police and witnesses. More than 100 rounds were fired by the SWAT teams and Poplawski, Harper said.

The three slain officers were Eric Kelly, Stephen Mayhle and Paul Sciullo III. Kelly had been on the force for 14 years, Mayhle and Sciullo for two years each. Another officer, Timothy McManaway, was shot in the hand and a fifth broke his leg on a fence.

Poplawski had gunshot wounds in his legs but was otherwise unharmed because he was wearing a bulletproof vest, Harper said. He was charged with three counts of homicide, aggravated assault and a weapons violation.
....
Poplawski had feared ''the Obama gun ban that's on the way'' and ''didn't like our rights being infringed upon,'' said Edward Perkovic, his best friend.
....
Another longtime friend, Aaron Vire, said Poplawski feared that President Barack Obama was going to take away his rights, though he said he ''wasn't violently against Obama.''

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009...g.html?_r=2&hp
My dark sardonic side thinks it was almost inevitable.

But some people continue to whip others into crazy extremes with their "Obama is a socialist" or "Obama is a secret Muslim" or "Obama is going to take away our guns" or "terrorist fist jab" or "Obama admin supports shariah law" talk...

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Republicans have a sweet racket because they run on "government is ineffective," and then when they **** things up, they go, "See." – Bill Maher

"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint.
When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a Communist."
--Dom Hélder Pessoa Câmara

And yet 99.999999999999999999% don't do what this guy did and they heard the same thing...

So what does that make this guy different?...he was a whacko...

Why is it so hard to admit that whackos are whackos are whackos are whackos?...

Searching for the forest with all of those damn trees in the way...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

I have no doubt that this guy was a whacko...

But the point is a SPECIFIC FEAR drove him over the edge, promulgated by the conservative right...

But I suppose that if a KKK member were to give a speech about all the nasty things that blacks are supposedly doing in this nation, we should hold the speaker blameless if somebody turns around and kills a black person afterwards, right???


I mean obviously the rise in hate groups (skin-heads and klansmen) after Obama got elected should not even be considered as a correlation to those who go with the "secret Muslim" or "terrorist fist jab" or "shiriah law" rants...
< end sarcasm >

When you know some guys are out there drenching themselves in nutjob gasoline, it doesn't make sense to throw sparks around...

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Republicans have a sweet racket because they run on "government is ineffective," and then when they **** things up, they go, "See." – Bill Maher

"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint.
When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a Communist."
--Dom Hélder Pessoa Câmara

Ha!...equating KKK speech with the talk shows...You've sunk to a new low...

Tell me...

If an AIG head gets attacked and/or killed, will you hold Obama to the same standard due to his public statements of outrage?...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

"equating"? No.
ANALOGY? Yes.
I am pointing out a fundamental influence between inciteful speech and the EFFECTS of that speech.

Don't confuse the two to try to make a point.
Or better yet, don't confuse the two to try to AVOID my point.

Do you think the KKK speech would be blameless in that scenario?
Do you not understand how some right-wingers who perpetuate a false fear of Obama "coming for your guns" have caused people to assume that same false fear?
Are you going to obfuscate the fact that the "secret Muslim" and "terrorist fist jab" and "shiriah law" rants are ACTUALLY HAVING AN AFFECT on some people???



There is a difference between "outrage" and inciting irrational fear.
Obama is simply echoing what people are ALREADY feeling, based on the facts. He isn't inciting anything.

But on the flip side, Obama has already made clear statements about guns and his presidency. Right-wing pundits and the NRA are ignoring them and lying about his position...
FactCheck.org: NRA Targets Obama

On the flip side, I have given MULTIPLE examples of right-wingers "inciting" people against Obama with all sorts of ludicrous claims.
If this were Bush, you would be collecting them all in a scrap-book.
Since it's Obama, will it just be a side-step of the issue?

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Republicans have a sweet racket because they run on "government is ineffective," and then when they **** things up, they go, "See." – Bill Maher

"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint.
When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a Communist."
--Dom Hélder Pessoa Câmara

I'm not going to argue with this...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

Don't be nonsensical.

This guy didn't understand English, let alone could he be whipped into a frenzy based on the bull**** the media is trying to contend.

The mainstream media's attempt to paint this guy as someone driven to this act simply because he feared English speaking talk show hosts legitimately wondering about President Obama's position on gun control is ****ING ABSURD!

It actually smacks of excusing this as a right wing effort, which is ****ING ABSURD.

Dude was a whack job, and there is absolutely no reason to believe a couple of weeks of people talking about the potential of Obama to ban guns sent him over the edge. A rational whack job would have waited until the police in New York were also banned from carrying lethal weapons.

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Dudes ... you're just NOT THAT MUCH ****ING SMARTER than all of us. GET OVER YOURSELVES!
-- Me, to President Obama and the rest of his self-loving amateur staff.

Correct...

Washington DC actually HAD a ban on handguns for something like 17 years (until it was ruled unconstitutional)...

According to adsurd logic they're trying to force on the public on the fear of taking guns away, they're would've been one of these incidents in DC about once a week...Didn't happen...

Suspect in officers' shooting was into conspiracy theories

In other words, a whackjob...

In other words, a whackjob...

In other words, a whackjob...

In other words, a whackjob...

In other words, a whackjob...

Does anyone notice something?...

He was on stormfront BEFORE any thought of an Obama presidency...

He was thrown out of the army BEFORE any thought of an Obama presidency...

He was an attacker BEFORE any thought of an Obama presidency...

In other words, this guy had the silly-star chromosome from the get-go...Nothing some conservative blogger or talkshow made him go loopdy-loop...He was already there...

But the left needs an enemy at all times...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

The guy is as wacko as some on these forums. Nobody is trying to take anyones guns. But it shows how wacko some on the right are. You kill because someone might take your guns,

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Don't take any of it too seriously.

There is not ONE SHRED of evidence that this guy killed anyone because he thought someone was going to take his guns away...Not one...

That line is nothing but an opinion made by an aquaintance who simply pointed out the guy's opinion on the issue...He said nothing that shows that that opinion WAS THE REASON for the shootings...

There's an old line which points this out very clearly...It goes like this...

Obviously, the answer is bullsh*t...

But it shows how people can take 2 true statements and warp the results...

That's what's happening here...They're taking a statement attributed to the killer and falsely using that as the reason for killings...

As stated, he was Stormfronter, a conspiracy theorist, a guy with a violent attack on his record, and a guy dishonorably discharged from the army...all BEFORE believing any statements about guns or bans or anything of the sort...

Yet some pretend that evidence doesn't exist and go straight to the "How can I manipulate this and make it politically advantageous?"...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd