Seven days before Halloween 2014, in the midst of national and international fears over the Ebola plague and "ISIS terrorism" (ISIS was an ancient goddess of witchcraft), the following events and “tragic coincidences” occurred in the American West, on Friday, October 24th.
RIVERSIDE: Tragic Inland coincidence in slaying of Placer County sheriff's investigator
Investigator killed by gunman in Sacramento area died the same day as his dad -- an Inland sheriff's investigator
BY BRIAN ROKOS / STAFF WRITER
Press-Enterprise (Riverside, California) • Oct. 24, 2014 Updated: 11:14 p.m.
http://www.pe.com/articles/davis-752704-county-sheriff.html
On Oct. 24, 1988, Riverside County sheriff’s Investigator Michael David Davis Sr. died in a helicopter crash while trying to capture drug smugglers. Exactly 26 years later, one of Davis’ children, Placer County sheriff’s Investigator Michael David Davis Jr., was shot to death Friday during a gunman’s rampage in the Sacramento area. The tragic coincidence was troubling.
Rick Kothlow, who retired from full-time duty at the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department six years ago, was close friends with Davis Sr. after they worked together in Palm Desert. It was he who told Davis’ wife of the helicopter crash. On Friday, Kothlow said, he received an email from a cousin of Davis Jr., alerting him to the shooting in Northern California.
“I looked at my calendar and said, ‘Oh, God,’” Kothlow said in a phone interview. Kothlow knows the day too well. His father died on Oct. 24, 1977, after a long illness.
And 11 years later, Kothlow knocked on the door at Davis Sr.’s home. The person who answered was Davis Jr., who at the time was about 16 years old.
Friday, a man killed Davis Jr., 42, and Sacramento County sheriff's Deputy Danny Oliver, 47.
He injured a third deputy and seriously injured a civilian. The suspect, Marcelo Marquez, 34, was found hiding in a home in Auburn and was arrested.
Davis Jr. was one of five children.
Late in 1988, Davis Sr., 34, was involved in Operation Border Ranger, a joint drug smuggling interdiction operation in Imperial County conducted by six Southern California sheriff’s departments and state and federal authorities.
That night, the Army National Guard helicopter that carried Davis and other members of the team crashed into the mountainous area of western Imperial County. All aboard died instantly as the helicopter caught fire, according to a Riverside County Sheriff's Department biography of Davis Sr.
He was a highly honored Riverside County deputy. In 1986, Davis was named Palm Desert Peace Officer of the Year.
In 1987, he received the Riverside County Peace Officer of the Year Award, American Legion Peace Officer of the Year Award, was chosen No. 1 shooter in the state in the Master Class and was the second county sheriff’s deputy ever to receive the Medal of Valor. (END QUOTE)
____________________________
This issue of the Riverside, California Press-Enterprise (online) contains a report on the following "23rd annual event,” which also occurred on Oct. 24, replete with a "makeshift morgue,” an "axe murder,” a "Ouija board” (the movie “Ouija” debuted nationwide October 24), “clowns with chainsaws,” and a link to the Twilight Zone via the invocation of the name of its creator, Rod Serling.
RIVERSIDE: Students hone spooky theatrical talents at Ghost Walk
http://www.pe.com/articles/year-752714-tour-students.html
Students from Riverside’s Martin Luther King High School debuted their shrieking skills, gory makeup and zombie shuffling, plus some acting chops, on Friday at the 23rd annual Ghost Walk.
The Halloween event, which continues tonight, offers five spooky tours – two are G-rated, and the others PG-13 – at notable spots downtown, where costumed performers recite or act out scary stories. There’s also a paranormal tour, a jazz and hip-hop “Thriller” dance and carnival games.
But before the creepy curtain lifted on Friday’s Ghost Walk, students and adult volunteers had to set the stage with coffins and cauldrons, fire up the fog machines and put on morbid makeup.
About 300 high school students from Riverside and Corona are working on this year’s event, helping set up and tear down scenery, running the carnival games, guiding tours and performing, event coordinator Sandy Ramirez said.
At a tour stop in a vacant building at Sixth and Main streets, King High drama students created a complete “haunted experience” that features eerie tales set in the legendary catacombs below the Mission Inn. Theater teacher Roberta Pipitone said she crafted the students’ ideas into stories, which include a woman who kills her husband’s mistress with an ax and a makeshift morgue for victims of a flu epidemic.
Kitt Roberts, 17, had two jobs: running the sound effects in a room full of creepy toys and playing a zombie in the morgue. As part of the tech crew, she made signs and helped build a table that holds a Ouija board with a planchette – the heart-shaped piece that spells out letters – that seems to move by itself.
“I love going to amusement parks and watching movies and seeing how people create things, so I’m looking forward to being a part of something like that,” she said. This is Akio Ali’s second year doing Ghost Walk. The 17-year-old student said King High’s tour last year was one of the scariest, and this year includes something many people fear – clowns with chainsaws.
Ali, who got into theater after a spinal injury benched his football career, was part of a story about a poisoned prom dress. “I try to channel my inner Rod Serling for the creepiness,” he said.
Nayoko Edwards, 15, plays the mistress who gets axed in the head. She got to have a little fun with her part.
“I ask someone if they have an aspirin because I have a splitting headache,” she said.
Their hours of preparation paid off on the first tour Friday night, with a few visitors getting spooked and others admiring the B-movie-worthy screams emitted by several actors.
Members of Girl Scout Troop 155, from Moreno Valley, seemed entertained, and maybe a little spooked when they stepped outside to head to the next tour stop. “I hate clowns!” said Willow Beach, 11.
Grace Hudgens, 11, said the creepiest part was the story of a Mexican man whose remains were found in the catacombs. Heaven Law, 10, said she wasn’t frightened, except by “that part when somebody sawed something.”
Paula Beach, the assistant troop leader, said last year the girls went on one of the G-rated tours and wanted to amp up the fear factor this time. “Now they’re scared,” she joked. (END QUOTE).
The California "Ghost Walk" continues Oct. 25.
____________________________
Also on October 24 as reported online by the same California journal:
SAN BERNARDINO: Window washer shocked by electricity, catches fire
BY BRIAN ROKOS AND PETER SUROWSKI / STAFF WRITERS
Oct. 24, 2014 Updated: 11:30 p.m.
http://www.pe.com/articles/san-752660-official-bernardino.html
A man washing windows on a county building in San Bernardino suffered an electrical shock and caught fire Friday, Oct. 24, when his 30-foot-long pole came in contact with a power line. The man was in critical condition at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton at last report, San Bernardino city Fire Department Battalion Chief Nathan Cooke said Friday afternoon.
Firefighters responding to a report of a man on fire about 11:40 a.m. at 1365 S. Waterman Ave. found the victim suffering from serious burns, Cooke said. His telescoping pole had touched a line charged with 115,000 volts, Cooke said. The middle-aged man was working with a partner, who was not injured, Cooke said. The incident happened at the Inland Regional Center, which serves people with developmental disabilities. The victim was believed to work for an independent contractor, Cooke said. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration and arson investigators were looking into the accident. Edison responded to cut off the electricity.
____________________________
The NY Times reported that two officers named Davis were in the patrol car that pulled over suspected killer Marcello Marquez . We note that one of the officers has the same name as the first and only President of the Confederate States of America:
2 California Officers Are Killed in Rampage
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/25/us/2-california-deputies-are-killed-in-rampage.html
With the police in the region on high alert, two officers stopped the truck in a residential area near Auburn, and Mr. Marquez shot them both, one of them fatally, and fled on foot, prompting the manhunt, said Dena Erwin, spokeswoman for the Placer County sheriff’s office. Ms. Erwin said the two officers were hit at close range with shots from an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle. Detective Michael David Davis, 42, was identified as the officer who was killed. The Placer County sheriff, Edward N. Bonner, said Detective Davis’s father was a deputy in Riverside County who was killed on Oct. 24, 1988 — 26 years ago to the day. The other officer, Deputy Sheriff Jeff Davis, was treated for a gunshot wound to the arm and released from a hospital.
______________________________
The other spectacular October 24 killing, perpetrated by a “recently crowned prince," occurred in a state named after the first President of the United States of America:
Marysville shooter ID’d; 3 ‘very critical’
Official identified the shooter as freshman Jaylen Fryberg
By DOUG ESSER, Associated Press MARTHA BELLISLE, Associated Press
October 24, 2014, 11:12 am Updated: October 24, 2014, 11:20 pm
http://koin.com/2014/10/24/school-shooting-in-marysville-washington/
Marysville, Washington — A student recently crowned freshman class Homecoming prince walked into his Seattle-area high school cafeteria Friday and opened fire, killing one person and shooting four others — including two of his cousins — before turning the gun on himself, officials and witnesses said.
Students said the gunman was staring at his victims as he shot them inside the cafeteria at Marysville-Pilchuck High School. The shootings set off a chaotic scene as students ran from the cafeteria and building in a frantic dash to safety, while others were told to stay put inside classrooms at the school 30 miles north of Seattle.
An undated photo of
Jaylen Fryberg, identifed by his family as the gunman at Marysville-Pilchuck High School in Marysville, Washington, according to CBS and KIRO in Seattle. Oct. 24, 2014
The gunman was identified as student Jaylen Fryberg, a government official with direct knowledge of the shooting told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Students and parents said Fryberg was a member of a prominent family from the nearby Tulalip Indian tribes and a freshman who played on the high school football team. He was introduced at a football game as a prince in the 2014 Homecoming court, according to a video shot by parent Jim McGauhey.
Marysville Police Commander Robb Lamoureux said the gunman died of a self-inflicted wound, but he could not provide more details.
Shaylee Bass, 15, a sophomore at the school, said Fryberg had recently gotten into a fight with another boy over a girl. “He was very upset about that,” said Bass, who was stunned by the shooting. “He was not a violent person,” she said. “His family is known all around town. He was very well known. That’s what makes it so bizarre.”
Three of the victims had head wounds and were in critical condition. Two unidentified young women were at Providence Everett Medical Center, and 15-year-old Andrew Fryberg was at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, a hospital official said.
Another victim, 14-year-old Nate Hatch, was listed in serious condition at Harborview, the hospital said. Family members told KIRO-TV that Andrew Fryberg and Hatch are cousins of Jaylen Fryberg.
Witnesses described the shooter as methodical inside the cafeteria. Brian Patrick said his daughter, a freshman, was 10 feet from the gunman when the shooting occurred. She ran from the cafeteria and immediately called her mother. Patrick said his daughter told him, “The guy walked into the cafeteria, pulled out a gun and started shooting. No arguing, no yelling.”
A crowd of parents later waited in a parking lot outside a nearby church where they were reunited with their children. Buses dropped off students evacuated from the school, and some ran to hug their mothers and fathers. Patrick said after the shooting that his other daughter, a senior at the school, was “hysterical” when she called him from her classroom. “I thought, ‘God let my kids be safe,” he said.
Some students described Jaylen Fryberg as a happy, popular student, but social media accounts suggested he was struggling with an unidentified problem. On Wednesday, a posting on his Twitter account read: “It won’t last … It’ll never last.” On Monday, another tweet said: “I should have listened. … You were right … The whole time you were right.”
Marysville-Pilchuck High School has a number of students from the Tulalip Indian tribes. Ron Iukes, a youth counselor with the tribes, said Jaylen Fryberg was from a well-known tribal family. “They’re real good people, very loving, a big part of the community,” he said. “Jaylen was one of our good kids. It’s just a shock this happened. I’ve known this boy since he was a baby.”
Nathan Heckendorf, a 17-year-old junior at the high school, said he saw Jaylen Fryberg on Friday morning before the shooting and there was nothing to indicate he was upset. “He looked happy, everything seemed fine,” Heckendorf said.
State Sen. John McCoy, a tribal member, said the shooting devastated the tribal community. “We’re all related in one shape or form. We live and work and play together,” he said.
Hundreds of people prayed and sang at a church vigil Friday night for victims and family members. The Oak Harbor high school football team, which had been set to play Marysville later that night, lined the front row of Grove Church in their purple jerseys. The game was canceled and Oak Harbor offered to give the win to Marysville. “It’s something we need,” Felecia Thompson said about the vigil. “And getting together right away, we can help move through it.” (END QUOTE)
______________________________
Michael Hoffman:
With all the pharmacologically-linked school shootings in the past, reporters should routinely state whether or not a school shooter was reputed to be, or suspected of having ingested psychiatric medication, or any other drug. In the preceding news report, no such possible link is investigated.
Finally, we note another October 24 "coincidence": in 1929 the stock market crashed on Oct. 24, leading to the devastation known to history as the Great Depression.
What does this all mean, if anything? Are these macabre and eerie events "just coincidences," or are they somehow ritually invoked as a type of civic magic — transmitting subliminal programming to our subconscious?
Commentary and Analysis Copyright ©2014 by Michael Hoffman
***
