Shots Fired at Occupy Oakland

Reports of as many as eight shots fired, one injured. Sad to say, if not for the occupiers, this probably wouldn't be newsworthy, beyond a small circle of friends...

At about 4:45pm Thursday evening, a crowd of thirty surrounded a man apparently shot in the leg at Frank Ogawa Plaza. He appeared unconscious when I arrived at the scene, a full ten minutes before the police and ambulance arrived. Women were screaming, and many in the crowd were moaning from the unexpected traumatic event. Several were shouting, “no pictures” and linking arms around the injured young man.

More details as they become available.

Update : It now appears the shooting was a fatality.

OAKLAND, Calif. - A man has died after being shot just outside the Oakland encampment that anti-Wall Street protesters have occupied for the last month.

Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan says the victim was pronounced dead at a local hospital Thursday evening, less than two hours after two groups of men got into a fight near the Occupy Oakland camp on a plaza near City Hall.

Jordan says no suspects have been identified. He asked members of the public participating in the protest who may have taken photographs or video that captured the shooting to contact authorities.

More at Memeorandum

"Michael Jackson for the Prosecution"

The trial of Conrad Murray, doctor to the self proclaimed "King of Pop", has not interested me all that much. I did happened, by chance, to hear part of the defense's closing argument this morning:

"If this had been anyone other than Michael Jackson, would the doctor be here today?"

He's just lucky I'm not on the jury. I couldn't help but turn it around and ask myself,

If his doctor had been anyone other than Conrad Murray, would Michael Jackson be here today?

#OccupyAnarchy: What Lawlessness Breeds

Wall Street protesters in Zuccotti Park battened down the hatches yesterday as the early October snow turned their tents into igloos, but the close quarters also made easy pickings for one predator. A sex fiend barged into a woman’s tent and sexually assaulted her at around 6 a.m., said protesters, who chased him from the park.

“Pervert! Pervert! Get the f--k out!” said vigilante Occupiers, who never bothered to call the cops. “They were shining flashlights in his face and yelling at him to leave,” said a woman who called herself Leslie, but refused to give her real name.

She said that weeks earlier another woman was raped. “We don’t tell anyone,” she said. “We handle it internally. I said too much already.”

With all the free loaders, free lovers, free Mumia's, free lunchers and free thinkers populating the OccupyAnarchy movement, which many on the Left hope to be the anti-Tea Party, one gets the impression that one thing the ReOccupyTheWhiteHouse movement doesn't need is more bad press, so there seems to be a conscious effort to keep these kinds of attacks quiet and sweep them under a rug.

Granted, the Occupy movement has spawned a "volunteer" security force of dubious origin and efficacy: part mob, part vigilante justice. But they have neither police powers or training. And, rather than pursuing a sexual predator until he is caught and deterred from repeating his offense, he is merely chased off to continue his perverse felonies again, either at another "occupied" area of the park or in society at large.

First, I think this sends a bad message about the OccupyAnarchy view of women. "Ladies: Lay back and enjoy it. Women who are assaulted or raped should be seen and not heard." In a rational world (not the protesters' strong suit), how would it not benefit everyone for every woman raped or assaulted to give a statement to the police and a description of the perpetrator so that the criminal can be apprehended? Is the movement so inured and enamored of breaking whatever laws they choose, that they empathize with other lawbreakers, no matter how odious?

We have seen the Occupy Anarchists disrespect the police, one man infamously defecating on a patrol car, and attacking the police and even rioting in some places. Compare and contrast with the Tea Party rallies. There was a police presence there, but the only incidents I observed or am aware of, involving the police at a Tea Party rally, was when a small element of miscreants from the Left showed up to protest against the Tea Partiers, to shout them down, or damage property.

There were no tents, no soup lines and above all, no rapes, sexual assaults, refusals to obey police orders or assaults on police officers.

Is OccupyAnarchy the Left's version of the Tea Party? It's looking like it. Will OccupyAnarchy motivate anyone to vote Democrat next Fall? Well, I think they can count on the rapist and sexual predator vote!


H/T Memeorandum

Cross posted at LCR, Lady Cincinnatus , Say Anything.

"Gumby" in the "Pokey"?

Did you hear about Gumby trying to stick up a 7-11 recently?



It turns out now, that "Gumby" has turned himself in.

SAN DIEGO -- A man who attempted to rob a Rancho Penasquitos convenience store while dressed in a "Gumby" costume last week turned himself in to police Tuesday, authorities said.

The would-be thief disguised as the famed green claymation character entered the 7-Eleven in the 9700 block of Carmel Mountain Road along with an accomplice in street clothes shortly after midnight on Sept. 5, SDPD Detective Gary Hassen said.

A surveillance camera captured the entire odd episode on video, providing fairly clear images of the disguised man's outfit and the appearance of his friend. No weapon was seen during the alleged holdup attempt, and no money was taken.

The clerk at the 7-Eleven didn’t take the pair seriously when they said they were robbing the store, according to Hassen. The would-be bandit fumbled with his outfit as if to pull a gun from a pocket, but only managed to drop 26 cents in change, which he left on the floor.

You know you're not cut out for a life of crime when you try to stick up a convenience store and you leave twenty six cents poorer than when you went in! Time to consider a career change!

Guess old Gumby's in the pokey now!

Crime Doesn't Pay: California Edition

Some days it's hard to make a dishonest buck!

San Jose police say a truck illegally carrying marijuana crashed and ended up on its side near Oakridge Mall early Wednesday, sending large bags of pot throughout the intersection as the frightened driver ran away.



Several motorists and pedestrians who happened to be passing through the area ran out and grabbed most of the marijuana bags and took off before police arrived.

Okay. You lost your truck and you lost your payload of illegal drugs. What could possibly be worse?

Officers eventually collected the remaining bags of weed left at the scene and also found a loaded handgun inside the white truck. They're still looking for the driver and all the people who snatched up the loose bags of pot and don't have any suspect descriptions.

Oh. You lost your truck, your pot AND your gun? Bummer, dude! You'd better hope that's not your name on the registration, or that's not all you'll lose!

It's unclear how the truck crashed at Blossom Hill Road and Playa Del Rey in South San Jose at 12:50 a.m. But there were no other vehicles involved in the crash, which ended with the truck landing on its side in the middle of the intersection.

Driver sampling his own merchandise, perhaps?



H/T Memeorandum