Mall Shooter Had a Plan to Cause Havoc

We have barely begun to cope with the mass killings by Cho at Virginia Tech when another incident involving a mentally ill person jumps out at us. The unintended consequences of different legislation that overprotects ‘rights’ of mentally ill individuals, college students and hospital patients can cause consternation at one end of the spectrum – and multiple deaths at the other. Because of federal legislation, as a college professor I could not discuss a student’s problems with his parents, even if that student evidenced a marked change in behavior or performance. Because of federal and state legislation I could not get effective treatment for my daughter, who was committing suicide slowly by drinking herself to death, and because of a fairly new law health professionals call ‘Hipaa’, there are circumstances wherein friends and family cannot learn of the medical condition of a loved one.

Almost every one of these circumstances is the unintended consequence of laws designed and pushed through by liberals who thought these groups needed special protections. They have destroyed our public schools by removing all discipline, they have destroyed many of our universities with poisonous ‘multicultural’ programs, they have closed necessary institutions for treating the mentally ill, they have undermined the authority of parents, teachers, professionals and administrators and now they wish to make discussion of religious beliefs a ‘hate’ crime. How much more damage are we going to let liberals do to the idea of an American culture, to the traditions and structure of our society and to the safety of innocent people? Please connect the dots.

Monday, April 30, 2007, International Herald Tribune

KANSAS CITY, Missouri: A former department store employee who was turned down for a private security license and planned to "cause havoc" was identified as the man suspected of killing two people in a crowded mall parking lot before he was shot by police.

David W. Logsdon, a 51-year-old former employee of the discount retailer Target Inc., had been stopped by police while driving the car of his next-door neighbor, who police had found dead in her home hours earlier. Police did not say how Patricia Ann Reed, 67, died or if Logsdon was a suspect in her death, but they believed the events were connected.

"David Logsdon had a plan," police chief James Corwin said on Monday. "And that plan was that he had been an employee of that Target store and had been turned down for a private security license. His objective was to go to the mall and cause havoc."

Logsdon had applied to the police department to be certified as a security guard, but he had two outstanding city warrants and was denied, police said. It was not clear when he was turned down.

After the officer pulled Logsdon over Sunday, police say he shot the officer in the arm. The officer, whose wound was not life-threatening, returned fire and shattered the window of the gunman's car.

Logsdon drove to the shopping center, fatally shot two people in the parking lot and wounded seven others outside the Target where he used to work, then went inside the mall where he was killed by police, authorities said.

Corwin said the two people killed appeared to be random victims and did not know Logsdon.

Logsdon's sister, Kathryn Cagg, said he was mentally ill and an alcoholic. She said the family was concerned he would commit suicide in October 2005 and had taken him for treatment, but he was released from the treatment after six hours.

She also apologized to the victims' families but did not take questions.
"When a tragedy like this occurs, we want to understand the reasons. There is no way to understand this senseless act and so we must, we must turn it over to God," Cagg said.

Target released a statement offering its "deepest sympathies" to the families of the victims.

The company said Logsdon had "left on his own accord" in November 2006. No further details about his employment were provided.

Corwin said bomb squad crews were also called to Logsdon's home Monday after police reported his house had been "booby-trapped with a self-made bomb." But police later said the device was "a propane tank with boxes surrounding it" and was harmless.