MELBOURNE, Australia - Attacker opens fire at university, killing two people and wounding two others

APNewsAlert | October 20, 2002

[HAL9000]

APNewsAlert

Oct 20, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- MELBOURNE, Australia - Attacker opens fire at university, killing two people and wounding two others, officials say.

Copyright 2002 Associated Press, All rights reserved

[Demidog]

Maybe they will take the war on terror a bit more seriously now.

Maybe the attack had nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism.

[Jabba the Nutt]

Australia is next to Switzerland. Any idiot knows that! ;^)

[Chad Fairbanks]

Really good beer :0)

[overtaxed_canadian]

http://asia.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=topnews&StoryID=1603831

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - A man firing a shotgun killed two people and injured eight on Monday at a university campus in the Australian city of Melbourne, police and emergency services said.

"(There are) two deceased and eight injured," a spokeswoman for police in the southern state of Victoria told Reuters.

"We don't know the reason."

The spokeswoman said a man had been taken into custody after the shooting on the sixth floor of a building at the Monash University campus on the outskirts of Australia's second largest city at around 11:20 a.m. (0020 GMT).

A female student identified only as Samara said she had been waiting for an Indonesian language exam on a floor below when the shooting broke out.

"We just heard these horrific screams and it was just devastating," Samara told Melbourne radio 3AW.

"We just heard someone go: 'Oh my God, oh my God, get out, help me, help me, get out'. We just ran straight out," she said.

The shooting came amid heightened nervousness in Australia a week after bombs killed 180 tourists, many of them Australians, in the popular Indonesian holiday of Bali to Australia's north.

It also revived memories of the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in which a gunman shot dead 35 people in the southern island state of Tasmania.

Police and ambulance workers said the two dead were shot inside the Robert Menzies Building at the Monash University campus around 20 km outside the city centre.

The building in which the shootings occurred is believed to be connected to the university's arts faculty, police said.

Two of the injured -- a man in his 20s and another man in his 30s -- were in serious condition.

"Two men are in a serious condition, one with shotgun wounds to the central body," an ambulance service spokeswoman said.

Others had shotgun wounds to their faces or upper bodies.

Local television showed some of the injured being evacuated by helicopter to local hospitals.

Doctors and paramedics were treating the less seriously injured on campus, officials said.

Australia's worst massacre of modern times was in 1996, when lone gunman Martin Bryant shot dead 35 people in the tourist town and former penal colony of Port Arthur in Tasmania.

Monday's shootings also coincide with a U.S. police hunt for a sniper who has traumatised the Washington area. Nine people have been killed in random killings there since October 2.

Australia, an island continent of 20 million, is in mourning after nearly 100 Australians -- mainly young revellers, surfers and rugby players -- were cut down in bomb attacks in Bali blamed on Islamic militants .

[overtaxed_canadian]

Another article described the gunman as "Asian".

[CyberAnt]

Absolutely!!

[Imal]

Well, the The_Quiet_American has been banned. I absolutely hate seeing this happen, even in the most deserving cases. But that's what sets the Free Republic above every other public forum I've ever participated in (right back to the early days of USENET news) and makes the experience worthwhile for those of us who rely on FR for both news and commentary from such a wonderful variety of sources.

Thanks to the Admin Moderator for so faithfully minding the store. Like the police, I hate it when I have to call you, but am glad you're there when we need you.

As to this very serious, but nearly derailed topic, a blurb with more details from, yes, CNN, can be found in the story Australian university gunman kills two.

This thread has been so clouded with insults and unrelated blather that I may just post that or another article on the topic to a new thread. But one troll does not have the power to take down the Free Republic!

Now, on with the intelligent discussion we value so much here...

Very sincerely,

Imal

[Imal]

A man firing a shotgun killed two people and injured eight

That's weird. In a CNN.com article on the same incident, Australian university gunman kills two, they said the man was armed with "several handguns". There is no mention of a shotgun anywhere in the CNN article, and no mention os handguns in the Reuters article. How odd.

I wonder who's right?

[smpc]

I really believe everything she was saying was tongue in cheek.Maybe she went a little too far but countless times(and on this thread too)people here use something like this to rub it in to australians by bringing up gun laws and what not.Its clear that while Aussies and Americans have alot in common,maybe they dont have enough in common to converse in a civil manner on a conservative website.Maybe its time for an aussie to start up freerepublic.com.au.

[Arkinsaw]

Another article described the gunman as "Asian".

Thats really pinning it down isn't it. I wish they would be specific about just where in Asia.

[HennepinPrisoner]

Thats really pinning it down isn't it. I wish they would be specific about just where in Asia.

Well, in Australia and the UK, the term "Asian" usually refers to those from the Middle East(it does not include the India subcontinent).

When they are referring to Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, etc., they use the term "Oriental".

Of course, in our politically correct world, we in the US cannot use the term Oriental. The Brits and the Aussies have not fallen victim to this PC madness...yet.

[Imal]

I really believe everything she was saying was tongue in cheek.

That may very well be true. She certainly seemed to enjoy stirring up us illiterate, rednecked yanks as she danced atop the bodies of two dead shooting victims in Melbourne.

I can't remember the last time, if ever, that I called on the Admin Moderator to step in. If you search the archives for my posts, you can get an idea of my temperament. I strongly prefer settling these things with discussion, as opposed to "calling in the law".

In this case, I'm quite surprised she was banned. I asked the moderator to "review the thread and perhaps have a few words" with The_Quiet_American, but not that she be outright banned. That did surprise me. I truly regret that this happened, but I trust the moderator's discretion and knowledge of Free Republic policies in these matters, and, therefore, fully support the Admin Moderator's decision.

As for those who use incidents like this to crow about Australia's gun prohibition laws, it's certainly in poor taste, but even that is more germane to the topic than hurling a very insulting series of bigoted invective at every American reading the thread.

Finally, as for Americans and Aussies bickering about this or that, God knows we do and do so often. Much like brothers and sisters argue and fight over the most trivial of things. But we are allies, and in my view we are brothers and sisters. And that is something that I, at least, take very seriously. And squabbles notwithstanding, if you were to redirect the insults The_Quiet_American was throwing around at Americans and instead have them target Aussies, I would have found them not one whit less offensive or inappropriate for this thread.

I don't wish for any of our friends from Down Under to feel unwelcome here, even if the FR is a very American-oriented forum. A "freerepublic.com.au" might well do some good for conservative Australians facing the horrific onslaught of self-destructive policies their nation seems hell-bent on unleashing upon themselves.

But for my part, I would very much prefer to hear all sides right here on the original Free Republic. We can handle it, critics notwithstanding.

And for those of my fellow Americans who see fit to participate in Aussie-bashing because of their sometimes questionable domestic policies, I have two words:

BILL CLINTON

'Nuff said.

[Imal]

I posted the CNN.com story on a new thread titled Australian university gunman kills two.

[sheik yerbouty]

They are only saying "Asian". I say "jihadist">

[anapikoros]

Yes, aussies are known the world over for the inventions of.....a little help here please

You could start HERE for a partial list.

[anapikoros]

....in Australia and the UK, the term "Asian" usually refers to those from the Middle East(it does not include the India subcontinent).

When they are referring to Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, etc., they use the term "Oriental".

I don't know about the UK but I'm an Australian and your information is(to use an Aussie expression) bulldust.

The term "Asian" in Australian general usage refers to anywhere from China through to Indonesia, although some might include India and Pakistan

Oriental is rarely used and everyone from the Middle East is an Arab or if not the phrase "from the Middle East" is used.

[patriciaruth]

"The_Quiet_American signed up 2002-07-01.
This account has been banned."

Thank Heavens! What a terrible thing to have to wade through while trying to check on our Aussie friends.

[OXENinFLA]

Well, this is a sh1tty thing to wake up to.

Just so I have this straight the man was of olive skin complexion (to be PC) and he is in custody?

I wonder if this has any thing to do w/ the attempted arrested of that head terrorist in the hospital. I was watching FNC last night and Geraldo was over IN Bail at the hospital and they showed lines of teenage Inslamicsts ready to start a riot if the cops took him from the hospital, so the cops backed down at let him stay.

[Chaos]

Ok, so guns are "almost" completely banned there.

Wow, I saw some nice one's that I would loved to have had that they were cutting up and melting away. Lots and lots of them, like truck loads. Made me sick to my stomach. So is it safe to say that maybe these people turned all those guns in on their on? Maybe for the Children.

[Chaos]

"people here use something like this to rub it in to australians by bringing up gun laws and what not"

I am really sorry if you all think that some us want to rub in the "make the public feel good gun laws" in Austraila or in DC or anywhere. Please understand that when I make a sarcastic statement involving gun bans it is intended for those antigun people who "think" that when guns are banned that it will get rid of crimes commited with guns. Has nothing to do with Austraila. It is a matter of example and what we learn from it.

I have been to Bali and Austraila and met alot of nice Austrailians while living in Singapore. I wish you all the best in dealing with the Bali bombing as well as the shooting.