Moscow, Idaho shooting

May 19, 2007:
(May 21, 2007 -- AP)

MOSCOW, Idaho - A sniper sprayed dozens of bullets on a courthouse in an attack that left one dead and two wounded, then hid in a nearby church for several hours before police stormed in Sunday and found his body and another man’s inside, police said.

The shooting began late Saturday, fatally wounding one officer and injuring another and a civilian, said David Duke, Moscow’s assistant police chief. Duke said the attack was apparently an ambush, with the gunman firing into the Latah County Courthouse to lure people into his line of fire.

Around 6 a.m., three SWAT teams entered the First Presbyterian Church and found the two bodies on the main floor but not in the same room, Duke said. An automatic assault rifle, ammunition and spent shells were found with one of the men, he said.

Another area which subject to Mad Dog shooting is that of Public Buildings.

But during the May 19 - 20, 2007 period in Moscow, Idaho, a crazed man took on the City Police there.

Other reports:

Fox News; May 21, 2007:

"These kinds of things aren't supposed to happen in this community,"Police Chief Dan Weaver said Sunday at a news conference.

Police said the gunman started shooting from a parking lot across from the courthouse shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday. A hail of more than 30 bullets ripped through the county's emergency dispatch center, an apparent attempt to lure people into the line of fire.

"Whoever the shooter is wanted to draw people to the courthouse," assistant Chief David Duke said. "When officers responded, he did open fire on them."

Officer Lee Newbill was killed as he rushed to the courthouse, and a Latah County Sheriff's deputy helped pull the officer out of the way before being shot, Duke said.

And ...

POLICE ONE, May 21, 2007:
Sergeant Lee Newbill was shot and killed in a planned attack on law enforcement.

The suspect fired into an emergency dispatch center inside the Latah County Courthouse intending to lure people into the line of fire. Sergeant Newbill was killed as he rushed to the courthouse, and a deputy helped pull the officer out of the way before being shot and wounded.

And ...

(AP -- May 22, 2007):

MOSCOW, Idaho — Jason Hamilton unleashed his deadly rampage on people he knew: his wife, sheriff's deputies at the courthouse where she worked, the caretaker of a church across the street.

The 36-year-old was already known in the small college town of Moscow for a troubled past before Saturday night's shooting rampage. He had been arrested for domestic violence, had attempted suicide and had warned a mental health worker that if he did kill himself, he would take others with him.

But in the end, Hamilton left no obvious reason for the violence that left four people, including himself, dead.

"We have not found any note," said David Duke, assistant chief of the Moscow Police Department. "We do not have any motive at this time. We have no idea."

And ...

(May 22, 2007 - Spokesman Review.com: Moscow Shooter had Violent History)
The gunman in a weekend shooting has been identified as Jason Hamilton, a 36-year-old man with a history of violence and arrests. Assistant Moscow Police Chief David Duke said that Hamilton's wife, Crystal Hamilton, also has been found dead in her Moscow home, killed with a single gunshot to the head.

...

"We've had many contacts with Jason Hamilton," said Duke.

Duke said Hamilton has a history of domestic violence and had been charged in 2005 with felony strangulation of a girlfriend. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was sent to jail for 180 days and then given probation.

After attempting suicide by overdose in February, Hamilton was placed in protective custody. He was given two psychiatric evaluations and then released.

"He stated that if he wanted to commit suicide he wouldn't do it this way," said Duke, adding that Hamilton threatened to take others with him. Despite those threats, Hamilton was not placed in custody.

The picture which emerges here is, by now, a familiar one: a man who is alienated from his friends and family, takes up a gun in some undefined and undefinable saga, understandable only in his own personal alienation against Society, with the result that several people end up dead at his hand ... including himself.

The obvious question is: why can't these lostlings shoot themselves first? Why do they feel obliged to kill their family, then their privately defined symbols of society? Is it a mere act of rebellion, or is it a matter of deliberately acting against Society as a whole?

Examining several violent acts within the past few days, we're tempted to act as if we knew the underlying turmoil of the individual psyche. But this is not possible. If an ignorant lone blogger could predict the acts of the ignorant long gunman, surely professional head-shrinkers could do the same.

The fact is, the box-score of professional psychologists and psychiatrists in predicting random acts of violence visited by their patients is no better than your local meteorologist in predicting the weather.

Rain happens, as is evident in this month's flooding in Washington.

Similarly, as heartless as it may sound, murder happens. The recent events demonstrate the truth of that statement.

We've mentioned before that "when seconds count, the police are only minutes away".

Unfortunately, even the police can't defend themselves against this kind of predation.

It's impossible to defend against a determined assassin who intends his own death to be the last act of his random violence.

The best we can do is to protect ourselves in the situations where armed policemen are NOT present, and hope that we can do better than armed policemen ... when the venue is a "Gun Free Zone" and the predator doesn't expect us to defend ourselves.


My son is engaging upon a path which will (he hopes) result in a LEO career. He will be his own personal First Line of Defense. He expects "To Protect and to Serve" his community, and I hope he can do that.

More important, to me and to his mother and to his wife and children, we hope that he can defend himself from this kind of unpredictable random attack.

I've already done all I can do to teach him gun-handling and shooting skills which might aid in that goal. I have no delusions that I have taught him all of the skills he needs, but I have done the best I could.

In the worst possible case, he would be a "Sergeant Lee Newbill was shot and killed in a planned attack on law enforcement."

In the best possible case, he would be an "(officer) Ken Hubbard", who saved many lives by counter-attacking a Mall Shooter in Salt Lake City on February 13, 2007.

I can't save my son by teaching him skills I don't really have. And I can't feel sanguine about metaphorically placing him in a position of danger for the benefit of a bunch of strangers.

I can only hope that, wherever he ends up working as a LEO, the local laws allow private citizens to protect themselves and others in Malls, Churches, Schools and Public Buildings.

I don't expect it, but I do so sincerely hope for it to happen by the time my son begins his term of service as an American Law Enforcement Officer.

(Thanks to reader Bill E. who brought this Moscow, Idaho story to my attention.)