Posted on 05/22/2016 12:43:30 PM PDT by Faith Presses On
These are the basic facts. A homeless schizophrenic man, Leon Walls, stabbed a man, Jobe Wright, on a street. Walls then ran into a nearby Target, where Wright and some friends, including Michael Turner, pursued him. One of the pursuing men called police. They located Walls in the store, and Walls grabbed a teenage girl, threatening her with a knife. He said he wanted to leave the store, but the men said he wasn't leaving until police got there. Walls then started stabbing the girl, and the men subdued him. One of them had brought a baseball bat with him into the store and Turner used it on Walls, who was then held down by the men until police arrived.
While looking further into this case, I came across quite a bit of interesting information and have to wonder why what Target is trying to do to this man hasn't gained any attention from the Democrat-controlled media.
Walls was convicted by a jury and given a long prison sentence, but was also found to be mentally ill. Target was sued by the family of the teenager stabbed, and Target in turn sued the men who subdued Walls, claiming they brought the outside altercation into the store and so endangered customers. WTAE reported that "(i)n the suit, Target calls Turner solely responsible." The teenager's family believes that the men are heroes who didn't cause the stabbing.
Outside of local media, only conservative outlets have reported on Target's lawsuit against Turner, despite the apparent injustice of it, and Democrat-leaning Snopes rushed to its defense. Snopes' Dan Evon quickly concluded that the issue was a non-controversy created by conservatives angry at Target over its announcement that biological men who socially identify as women can use its Ladies restrooms and changing rooms.
Evon's article reports that the lawsuit is real, but offers a "there's more to the story" defense of Target and parrots Target's defense - that the heroic men brought the altercation into the store, endangering customers. (The New York Daily News published a piece that was similarly and oddly scant on details of the incident, though they're not very hard to find, here).
As is all too common with Democrats when the facts go against them, Evon fails to connect the dots in his story.
He quotes from a television interview in which Turner rightly attributes what happened to Walls "go(ing) on a stabbing spree," and fails to discuss all of the evidence that supports Turner's conclusion and the actions of him and his friends. He simply doesn't discuss the facts of the case at all, despite the fact that Snopes is supposed to be about presenting facts and debunking false information.
Evon also ignores all of the obvious racial issues that Target might very well be trying to play upon with its lawsuit - namely, that the retailer seems to want to invoke the specter of "black street crime" being brought into Target, resulting in scared white customers and one white girl getting stabbed. Walls and the men who pursued and subdued him - and who are being sued by Target - are all black, and the girl stabbed is white.
But instead of discussing the incident behind the lawsuit and Target's potential motives and tactics in the lawsuit, Evon writes only a single paragraph of analysis, in which he defends the corporation, suggesting that Snopes readers keep in mind that Target is likely just being vilified by conservatives for this lawsuit for its socially liberal policies:
"It should also be noted that this incident took place back in 2013, and the lawsuits were filed shortly afterwards. This story was likely rehashed in May 2016 as a criticism of Target, which was subjected to a variety of false claims, misleading accusations, and fake news stories after reconfirming its commitment to inclusivity by allowing transgender customers to use restrooms corresponding with their gender identities."
The entire incident is swept away by Evon's claim that what the controversy is really all about is politics and Target being attacked by conservatives for its "progressive" activism.
For some reason, however, Evon didn't seem to do much research when writing his Snopes report - or did so very selectively.
He also didn't seem to think much about the facts he included in his article. Walls was apparently an out-of-control schizophrenic man at the time of the incidents. He had already stabbed someone before he even entered Target. The men pursuing him called police, and if they had simply been seeking "payback," they would either have killed or injured him, and then fled before the police came. Instead they held him down until police arrived. And there is no telling what Walls might have done in Target if the men hadn't pursued him. He was desperate to get away, so he might have similarly have grabbed a shopper when police arrived.
And not only does the girl's family support the actions of Walls and his friends, but so did the trial judge:
"You saved that girl's life," McDaniel said. "I hope if I'm ever in trouble, you're behind me. You're a hero."And from another local news report:
The judge said she thinks Target went after the “heroes” to make the victims back down from their own lawsuit against the store.WTAE also reports that Turner appreciated the judge's remarks, and that he himself was seriously injured while subduing Walls:
"That was very uplifting. I felt so great about that. I mean I've been going through so much and to hear that, I'm lost for words," Turner said. "I just need some help, if anyone out there can help me. I have no attorney, so I can't really speak on that."Turner said he suffered a fractured pelvis in the incident and has bone fragments in his blood as a result. He said he's currently on blood-thinning medication because of a blood clot in his leg.
A Daily Mail report says that Turner was injured when Walls "allegedly rammed him with a shopping cart."
WTAE reported that Walls apologized to the victims and their families, and that from the witness stand, Turner forgave him:
"I just basically forgive him. You know, the guy is sick. How can you hold anything against someone that's sick? The only thing you can hope for is the best for him," Turner said. "I just wish the best for him because I know he has a sickness and he needs help."
Turner staged a one-man protest against the retailer in front of a Target store, and while at the time of Walls' sentencing said he had no lawyer, the Daily Mail reports he has since acquired one.
As to the attempt by Evon at Snopes to pass this controversy off as an old story being recycled just now by conservative media in order to punish Target over its trangender announcement, is it believable that Evon did so little research on the case that he missed this:
"Trial Beginning In Target’s Lawsuit Against “Hero” Who Saved Teen In Stabbing" - May 20, 2016
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — On Monday, in a courtroom in downtown Pittsburgh, jury selection will take place in Target’s lawsuit against Michael Turner.Three years ago, Turner and his friends jumped in when Leon Walls attacked a 16-year-old girl inside the East Liberty Target.
If you think that the Democrats at Snopes and in the mainstream media and left-wing web sites like Salon and the Huffington Post would be rushing to defend Michael Turner and his friends - black men and ordinary citizens who saved someone's life by subduing a knife-wielding attacker until police arrived - from the lawsuit against them brought by a powerful corporation, a lawsuit that quite possibly wants to paint them as violent black criminals - you'd be wrong. Protecting a corporate advocate of antichristian "sexual liberation" is more important.
Amazing, too, how the supporters of Ahmed Mohamed had created a viral story out of his arrest almost immediately - reportedly 1 million tweets in the first 24 hours - but this story has gone almost nowhere up to this point.
Target will be sued very soon.
Perhaps Target should be placed on a Suicide watch list?
On second thought... Nah, Let them.
Tell them you want a jury trial.
Target is in some kind of contest with Hillary for Hideousity of the Year Award.
WTF is WRONG with Target?
I'd think that even liberals would hate them for bringing this ridiculous suit.
The next stockholder’s meeting will be a riot,literally.Billions of stock value have gone up in smoke because top management decided to play hero for the pervert community.
Target is basically going down the toilet to chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Walls is the criminal attacker who went into Target. The store is making a huge mistake by blaming Turner, who pursued him.
Turner needs a brave, excellent attorney to countersue Target for hurting his reputation and causing him distress, by their lawsuit against him.
Target seems intent on going out of business.
Soon you’ll be able to say.. “remember years ago when there was a store chain named Target?”
As of two weeks ago, I no loner shop at Target.
Drove an extra 5 miles to KMart/Sears (supports the troops)to buy birthday gifts for my son ($300 worth.)
“remember years ago when there was a store chain named Target?” who made themselves a Target of themselves and shot themselves right in the bullseye...
Snopes is a perfect example of the way the Left seeks to take over all political discussion by presenting itself as neutral and unbiased. (And of course other leftist media sources chime in by scoffing at the idea that Snopes is left-wing propaganda.) Snopes is a joke. About three visits on three issues were all it took to convince me to investigate the founders: Barbara and David Mikkelson, a typical leftist California couple that flatter themselves that living in Commie Land makes them, by comparison, unbiased moderates. (Being a California native, I know their kind all too well.)
Funny how such “neutral” sites are always run by LEFTISTS. If any of them were run by a rightist, then it would be immediately and repeatedly denounced as inherently biased.
Wikipedia is the most egregious example. I use it strictly for trivial, factual information that is superficially non-political. It is anti-Christian, anti-conservative, pro-atheist, and pro-government - as in Federal tyranny over individual liberty.
(An example of the latter is the way they heavily slanted material, when I read it, in favor Stephen Barrett, an FDA surrogate who has persecuted non-AMA individuals and therapies for decades, in the name of protecting the consumer, whereas he has actually been protecting the FDA, the AMA, and Big Pharma.
Barrett is himself a manifest fraud. He has libeled many, and some have fought back, exposing him. He has sued, by my count, 44 persons for libel, and lost every suit. When I read Wikipedia’s sanitized account of his activities, I was incredulous.
Whatever one thinks of so-called alternative therapies, a true believer in liberty should believe in the freedom of the individual to seek them out, not in the tyrannical power of the government to suppress them.)
Went to local Target 2 years ago to buy some Christmas presents
Credit card got scammed by hackers and had to cancel and get
new card
Thanks Target
Have stayed away from it since........
he next stockholder’s meeting will be a riot,literally.Billions of stock value have gone up in smoke because top management decided to play hero for the pervert community.
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