Read Just 2 Seconds Online

Authors: Gavin de Becker,Thomas A. Taylor,Jeff Marquart

Just 2 Seconds (30 page)

26.
Date: January 28, 1982
Target: Turkish Consul Kemal Arikan
Location: Los Angeles, California
Details: Two Armenian gunmen assassinated Arikan in his automobile while he was waiting at an intersection. The Armenian extremist group JCAG claimed responsibility. One of the assassins, Hampig Sassounian, was arrested shortly thereafter. Sassounian's accomplice, believed to be Krikor Saliba, escaped to Beirut.

27.
Date: March 15, 1982
Target: Actress Theresa Saldana
Location: West Hollywood, California
Details: Arthur Jackson flew from Scotland to America, and spent a year hunting down Saldana. He became obsessed with Saldana after seeing her in the movie
Defiance
in 1981. He had traveled through several states seeking unsuccessfully to buy a gun, and had to settle on using a knife. Staking out her home, Jackson approached Saldana when she walked to her car, and stabbed her ten times. He was stopped from completing the murder by a passerby named Jeff Fenn, who later became a Sheriff's Deputy. Saldana survived the attack.

28.
Date: May 4, 1982
Target: Turkish Consul Arhan Gunduz
Location: Somerville, Massachusetts
Details: A man with a .357 revolver shot Gunduz to death as he was driving home. Gunduz always took the same route home and the gunman waited where Gunduz had to slow down to turn a corner.

29.
Date: May 31, 1982
Target: Mayor A. J. Rumely
Location: LaPorte, Indiana
Details: Harold Lang broke into the home of Rumely and shot him and his wife while they slept. She died almost immediately, but the mayor did not pass away until November 25. Lang had been fired a month earlier from his job at the city sewage plant. He was arrested and pleaded "guilty but mentally ill."

30.
Date: October 21, 1983
Target: Judge Henry Gentile
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Details: Hutchie Moore, a former policeman confined to a wheelchair, shot and killed Gentile during a divorce property hearing. Moore also killed his wife's attorney. The wife had left the hearing room moments earlier. Moore hid the pistol under a blanket covering his lap. He was arrested.

31.
Date: June 18, 1984
Target: Radio Celebrity Alan Berg
Location: Denver, Colorado
Details: Four neo-Nazi gunmen from a group called The Order opened fire with silenced MAC-10 submachine guns, killing him. Berg had arrived home at night and was getting out of his car. The gunmen had signed a declaration of war against the U.S. government and had a hit list that included Henry Kissinger, David Rockefeller, and TV producer/political activist Norman Lear. (In Lear's case, it is believed the group actually surveilled his home.)

32.
Date: December 11, 1985
Target: Businessman Hugh Scrutton
Location: Sacramento, California
Details: Scrutton stopped on his way to lunch to remove what looked to be a road hazard in the parking lot behind his computer rental store. The object, actually a bomb filled with nails, exploded. It ripped Scrutton's chest open and penetrated his heart with shrapnel, killing him. It was the eleventh bomb in the Unabomber case.

33.
Date: November 18, 1986
Target: District Attorney William Weissich
Location: San Rafael, California
Details: Malcolm Schlette was convicted of arson by DA Weissich in 1955. Schlette vowed revenge. While in prison, Schlette continued to talk about killing the prosecutor. Once out of prison, he continued his threatening comments, which were not reported to Weissich. Schlette also put together an arsenal. He was arrested for violating probation and for violating federal gun laws, but released on probation again. On 11/18/86, Schlette shot and killed Weissich, now in private practice, at his office. Schlette later committed suicide by swallowing poison.

34.
Date: July 18, 1989
Target: Actress Rebecca Schaeffer
Location: Los Angeles, California
Details: Robert Bardo had stalked two famous female singers, but was not able to successfully encounter one, and was deterred by security personnel with the second. He became obsessed with Schaeffer and decided to kill her. He obtained a ticket to see her TV show being taped, attended the taping carrying a knife, and sought to encounter her as she drove away from the studio. Unsuccessful, he obtained her home address through a private investigator. Bardo rang the bell at her apartment building, and Schaeffer came to the building door. They spoke briefly, and Bardo left. About a half hour later, he returned, and again, Schaeffer came to the door. This time, Bardo shot her once in the chest with a .357 revolver, killing her. He fled, and was later arrested.

35.
Date: December 16, 1989
Target: Federal Judge Robert Vance
Location: Mt. Brook, Alabama
Details: Federal appeals Judge Robert Vance, thinking a fellow judge had sent him some law journals to his home address, opened the package. It exploded, killing him and seriously injuring his wife. Walter LeRoy Moody, the bomber, also mailed three other bombs. One killed a civil rights attorney in Savannah, one was intercepted at the NAACP office in Jacksonville, and the last was intercepted at the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Courthouse.

36.
Date: December 22, 1989
Target: Circuit Judge John Corderman
Location: Hagerstown, Maryland
Details: Corderman was seriously injured in the abdomen and hand while opening a package containing a pipe bomb, which was delivered to his home. The judge was known as strict and often imposed maximum sentences.

37.
Date: November 5, 1990
Target: Jewish Leader Meir Kahane
Location: Manhattan, New York
Details: After Kahane made a speech in the Marriott Hotel to supporters he began signing books. Sayyid Nosair, an Arab extremist, rushed to the podium and shot Kahane twice with a .357 revolver. Kahane grabbed his throat as one bullet entered his neck. Nosair fled the scene, shooting a supporter who attempted to stop him. His getaway driver, Mahmud Abouhalima, was supposed to be waiting in his cab outside, but police had ordered him away. Nosair jumped in another cab and pulled away from the hotel, but the driver spotted his gun and stopped. Nosair fled on foot until he encountered U.S. Postal Inspector Carlos Acosta. Seeing Nosair's gun, Acosta drew his own, but was shot in the shoulder by Nosair. Acosta then shot Nosair in the neck. Both Acosta and Nosair survived, but Kahane died. In December 1991, Nosair was acquitted on the murder charge of Kahane in a controversial verdict, but found guilty of gun possession and assaulting Acosta.

38.
Date: January 12, 1991
Target: Reverend Al Sharpton
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Details: A man lunged out of a crowd during a protest march and stabbed Sharpton in the chest with a five-inch kitchen knife. Police tackled the man and arrested him. Sharpton was hospitalized.

39.
Date: May 5, 1992
Target: District Judge Lawrence Jahnke
Location: Grand Forks, North Dakota
Details: Jahnke was shot and wounded in his courtroom by Ruben Larson, who had been subpoenaed for not paying child support. After being called to testify, Larson pulled a gun as he approached the witness stand. He fired twice, hitting the judge in the abdomen.

40.
Date: July 1, 1992
Target: Appellate Judges John Hill and Clyde Ashworth
Location: Ft. Worth, Texas
Details: Attorney George Lott pulled a 9mm pistol and fired on a courtroom, killing two lawyers, one of them the Assistant District Attorney, and wounding two judges. Lott was upset at the custody arrangements for his son. One of the judges in the courtroom had issued the order. He fled the courthouse and later surrendered at a TV station.

41.
Date: August 12, 1992
Target: Drug Prosecutor Eric Stonecipher
Location: Riley, Kansas
Details: Stonecipher was driving to a court hearing on a drug case. A gunman, disguised with a ski mask and sitting in the bed of a pickup truck fired five rifle shots as the truck passed Stonecipher's car. He was shot in the arm. Three bullets hit the headrest. One bullet bounced off his prosecutor's badge.

42.
Date: March 10, 1993
Target: Dr. David Gunn
Location: Pensacola, Florida
Details: Gunn arrived at the Pensacola Women's Medical Services, where he performed legal abortions. He parked in back of the clinic to avoid the protestors out front. As he got out of his car, Michael Griffin pulled out a revolver, and shot Gunn three times in the back. Gunn was rushed to a hospital, but died in surgery. Griffin surrendered to police and was convicted of murder.

43.
Date: June 22, 1993
Target: Dr. Charles Epstein
Location: Tiburon, California
Details: A bomb injured Epstein, a world-renowned geneticist at the University of California, San Francisco, when he opened a package mailed to his home. He suffered a broken arm, severe abdominal injuries, and the loss of several fingers on his right hand. The return address on the package was that of the chairman of the chemistry department at California State University, Sacramento. It was the thirteenth bomb in the Unabomber case.

44.
Date: June 24, 1993
Target: Scientist David Gelernter
Location: New Haven, Connecticut
Details: Gelernter lost sight in one eye, hearing in one ear, and part of his right hand when he opened a package bomb mailed to his office. The explosion also wounded him in the chest. The parcel's return address was that of a computer science professor at California State University, Sacramento. Gelernter reportedly dragged himself from his office, down five flights of stairs to the university medical clinic a block away. A few hours later, an anonymous caller phoned the hospital where Gelernter's psychiatrist brother, Joel, worked, warning, "You are next." It was the fourteenth bomb in the Unabomber case.

45.
Date: August 5, 1993
Target: Federal Court Officials
Location: Topeka, Kansas
Details: Gary McKnight got on an elevator in the underground garage of the Frank Carlson Federal Building. He was armed with three pistols and several pipe bombs. He got off at the 4th floor and opened fire with a pistol, killing one court security officer and wounding a civilian. McKnight stormed through the courthouse, firing guns and tossing pipe bombs, wounding another civilian. He then shot himself in the head and fell on a pipe bomb, which exploded. McKnight was due to be sentenced that day on federal drug charges.

46.
Date: May 29, 1994
Target: Islamic Leader Khallid Muhammad
Location: Riverside, California
Details: A former Nation of Islam member shot Muhammad with a 9mm pistol, also hitting four bodyguards and a bystander. The gunman was wrestled to the ground. Police found two more 9mm pistols in his backpack, and a scoped rifle in his car. All those shot survived the attack.
(3-STARS: Protector action during the attack favorably influenced safety/survival.)

47.
Date: July 29, 1994
Target: Doctor John Britton
Location: Pensacola, Florida
Details: Britton arrived at the Pensacola Ladies Medical Center, where he performed legal abortions. Due to the assassination of Dr. Gunn at another clinic, and death threats to Dr. Britton, Dr. Britton was wearing a bullet-resistant vest when he passed through a crowd of protestors. He was accompanied by an armed escort, an elderly retired Air Force Colonel and his wife. As they drove past protest leader Paul Hill, he opened fire with a shotgun, shooting through the truck window. The retired Colonel was shot in the head and killed. Britton attempted to grab his bodyguard's pistol, but Hill shot him in the head and killed him. The Colonel's wife was seriously wounded, but survived. Hill put down the gun and surrendered to nearby police. He was convicted of murder and was executed in 2003.

48.
Date: December 10, 1994
Target: Advertising Executive Thomas Mosser
Location: North Caldwell, New Jersey
Details: Mosser prepared to go Christmas tree shopping with his wife and daughters. In the kitchen of his home, he opened a package roughly the size and shape of two videocassettes, setting off a fatal explosion. Mosser's family was home, but they were unharmed. Months later, the Unabomber took responsibility for the package, claiming that Mosser was targeted for his public relations firm's work for Exxon Corporation, the company whose tanker spilled oil in Alaska's Prince William Sound. It was the fifteenth bomb in the Unabomber case.

49.
Date: April 1, 1995
Target: Singer Selena Perez
Location: Corpus Christi, Texas
Details: Yolanda Saldivar shot Selena once in the back with a .38 revolver, killing her. She then locked herself in her truck and held police at bay for nine hours, until she surrendered. Saldivar had been president of Selena's fan club.

50.
Date: April 12, 1995
Target: Mayor Fred Neblick
Location: Cove, Arkansas
Details: A man drove to city hall on his riding lawn mower and shot and killed Neblick. The man was upset over a $15.55 water bill.

51.
Date: April 24, 1995
Target: Timber Association President Gilbert Murray
Location: Sacramento, California
Details: A package mailed to the California Forestry Association, too difficult for the office receptionist to open, was handed over to Murray. The parcel exploded when opened, killing Murray with a force so great it pushed nails from the walls of other offices in the same building. The package was addressed to Murray's predecessor, William Dennison, and bore the return address of Closet Dimensions, a custom furniture company in Oakland, California. It was the sixteenth bomb in the Unabomber case.

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