Just 2 Seconds (39 page)

309.
Date: April 26, 1999
Target: Television Newscaster Jill Dando
Location: Fulham, England
Details: Dando, a popular figure on a television crime show, was shot once in the side of her head with a 9mm pistol on the doorstep of her home. The killer calmly walked away.

310.
Date: May 15, 1999
Target: Lawmaker Abdul Ahad Kar
Location: Langet, India
Details: Kar stepped out of his home and was shot and killed by two gunmen, who were suspected separatists. They fled the scene and escaped. He was the second party official to be killed within 24 hours.

311.
Date: May 20, 1999
Target: Massimo D'Antona, consultant and assistant to Italian Labor Minister
Location: Bologna, Italy
Details: Two gunmen, one on foot and the other aboard a scooter, approached Biagi as he was riding his bicycle home in downtown Bologna. They shot him at least three times with 9mm pistols. He had just returned home by train from Modena where he had taught at the university. Officials believed the assassination was politically motivated and masterminded by a leftist terrorist group.

312.
Date: July 29, 1999
Target: Parliamentarian Neelan Thiruchelvam
Location: Colomo, Sri Lanka
Details: Thiruchelvam died instantly when a suicide bomber, strapped with explosives, threw himself on the lawmaker's car. The assailant was also killed, while Thiruchelvam's five police bodyguards, his driver, and a bystander were wounded. Thiruchelvam's car was caught up in a traffic snarl near Rosmead Place when a motorcycle carrying two people drove up. One of the people on the bike threw himself at the car, and set off the blast that killed Thiruchelvam. The motorcycle rider escaped before police sealed off the area.

313.
Date: September 6, 1999
Target: President Hosni Mubarak
Location: Port Said, Egypt
Details: A man rushed toward Mubarak's armored limousine as he was reaching out the window and waving to passing crowds. The man cut Mubarak's finger with a sharp tool before bodyguards shot and killed him. Mubarak's wound was treated with a disinfectant and he went on to deliver a speech, in which he said nothing about the attack. Mubarak survived at least three assassination attempts. One of his guards suffered a cut finger, some said from a bullet and others said from the assassin's tool. Officers were reportedly sent to the attacker's home on the day before Mubarak's visit to detain him as a known troublemaker. However, instead of knocking on his door, the officers merely asked neighbors if he was around and failed to find him. Three senior security chiefs were transferred to other assignments following the attack.
(3-STARS: Protector action during the attack favorably influenced safety/survival.)

314.
Date: October 27, 1999
Target: Political Satirist Jaime Garzon
Location: Bogota, Colombia
Details: A motorcycle assassin gunned down Garzon as he drove to work at Radionet, the all-news network where he was a morning show co-host. He was stopped at a red light when a gunman approached the car and pumped five shots into his head and chest. Garzon was the most prominent Colombian assassinated since the November 1995 killing of Alvaro Gomez, then leader of the political opposition. He had received death threats from right-wing paramilitary militias, although he refused bodyguards. The government announced a $270,000 reward for the killers and said 600 motorcycles fitting the description of the one used in the killing were impounded so they could be investigated.

315.
Date: October 27, 1999
Target: Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisian
Location: Yerevan, Armenia
Details: Five nationalist gunmen apparently hid their automatic weapons under their long overcoats and were not challenged by security guards. They burst into the Parliament chamber and killed Sarkisian, Parliament Speaker Karen Demirchian, and six top officials. Nine other lawmakers were wounded. They held some 40 hostages until they surrendered on October 28. On November 6, a lawmaker was arrested for orchestrating the attack.

316.
Date: October 31, 1999
Target: Political Leader Momcilo Trajkovic
Location: Pristina, Kosovo
Details: Trajkovic was shot and wounded in the right leg by two assailants at 10:45 p.m. when he went to open the door of his third floor apartment after somebody rang the bell. He was normally under KFOR protection but had asked for the guard to be removed so he could meet privately with family members. He was shot while in the doorway of his flat but was able to slam the door on his attackers. There was a bullet hole in a pane of glass alongside the door.

317.
Date: November 2, 1999
Target: Parliament Member Ramesh Nadarajah
Location: Colombo, Sri Lanka
Details: Nadarajah was being driven to work when gunmen pulled alongside his Toyota van and opened fire with automatic weapons. They sprayed bullets through the van's windows, killing Nadarajah and his driver, and wounding two pedestrians.

318.
Date: November 22, 1999
Target: Party Leader Abdelkader Hachani
Location: Algiers, Algeria
Details: Hachani was shot three times and killed after he entered his dentist's office. The gunman shot him with a pistol twice in the head and once in the stomach.

319.
Date: December 3, 1999
Target: Oil Company Director Alexander Yashchenko
Location: Moscow, Russia
Details: Yashchenko, his two bodyguards, and their driver were shot to death while riding in their car. Unidentified gunmen, standing on an overpass, opened fire on the car. The gunmen then approached the car and fired a few more rounds, killing everyone inside.

320.
Date: December 18, 1999
Target: President Chandrika Kumaratunga
Location: Colombo, Sri Lanka
Details: Kumaratunga was injured at an election rally after an assassin detonated explosives that were strapped to her body. The blast occurred as Mrs. Kumaratunga was about to get into her car outside Colombo's town hall after addressing a rally of her People's Alliance party. The bomber tried to embrace Mrs. Kumaratunga, but bodyguards grabbed the terrorist and dragged her several feet before she detonated the explosive. Twenty-six people were killed, including a senior police official, three of Kumaratunga's bodyguards, and her driver. Over 100 others, including Kumaratunga and four ministers, were injured. The president's face was hit and she was hospitalalized immediately after the blast. She also reportedly sustained an eye injury. A finance minister and transport minister were among the injured. Security commandos opened fire immediately after the blast and at least one photographer was injured. An investigation determined that security was lax and ten officers were disciplined.
(3-STARS: Protector action during the attack favorably influenced safety/survival.)

321.
Date: December 30, 1999
Target: Singer George Harrison
Location: Henley-on-Thames, England
Details: Michael Abram broke into Harrison's home with the intent to kill the singer/songwriter. Abram, psychotic and recently turned away from a mental hospital, thought the Beatles were witches. Harrison struggled with the man and was stabbed eight times in the chest. Harrison's wife, Olivia, intervened and fought the assailant to unconsciousness. She also received injuries in the attack. The assailant sustained several injuries, including a knife wound in the buttock, and many serious cuts to the head and face. When Abram was arrested, he asked police, "Did I kill him?" He had also conducted research to locate former Beatle, Paul McCartney, whom he intended to attack after killing Harrison -- but Mrs. Harrison's interventions ended his plans.

322.
Date: January 7, 2000
Target: Justice Mohammad Nawaz Marri
Location: Quetta, Pakistan
Details: Four masked men firing automatic weapons killed Marri as he was riding to work. He was struck with four bullets, one in the heart. His driver and bodyguard were not injured. The gunmen escaped.

323.
Date: January 15, 2000
Target: Serb Warlord Zeljko "Arkan" Raznatovic
Location: Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Details: Arkan was seated in the lobby of the Inter-Continental Hotel with two bodyguards. Dobrosav Gavric, a junior member of police mobile brigade, walked up alone toward his target from behind. Gavric waited for a few minutes, then drew his CZ99 duty pistol, and shot Arkan three times in back of the head. Arkin's companions, business manager Milenko Mandic and police inspector Dragan Garic, were also shot to death by Gavric. Gavric was shot and wounded immediately after by Arkan's bodyguard, Zvonko Mateovic, and fell unconscious. A woman was seriously wounded in a further shoot out between them. Arkan was still alive, despite having been shot in the head. Police officers refused to drive him to the hospital on the basis that they were not authorized to do so until an emergency truck arrived. His bodyguard put him into a car whose driver took him to a hospital. Arkan was declared dead on arrival having died in his wife's arms on the way to hospital. Doctors tried resuscitation for over one hour in vain, although they managed to revive him for a moment. After surgery Gavric survived, but remained disabled in a wheelchair as result of a spinal wound. He pleaded innocent and never admitted that he committed the crime. He was convicted and sentenced to 19 years of jail. His accomplices received from 3 to 15 years each. However the original court verdict was overturned recently, because of a lack of evidence and the vagueness of the first trial process.

324.
Date: February 6, 2000
Target: Mayor Oscar Aldaba
Location: San Teodoro, Philippines
Details: Two men armed with pistols shot Aldaba three times in the head as he entered a church with his wife and children. The gunmen then calmly walked away. Aldaba was unescorted by his bodyguards.

325.
Date: February 7, 2000
Target: Defense Minister Pavle Bulatovic
Location: Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Details: Bulatovic was sitting in a restaurant when gunmen fired automatic weapons through the window, killing him and wounding the restaurant owner and a banker.

326.
Date: February 22, 2000
Target: Secretary General Fernando Buesa
Location: Vitoria, Spain
Details: Buesa and his bodyguard were killed as they walked from his house past a car loaded with explosives. The terrorist group ETA was blamed for the explosion, which occurred near the Basque regional headquarters. Buesa had been told that he was on an ETA hit list, which police had recently seized.

327.
Date: February 27, 2000
Target: Police Chief Alfredo de la Torre
Location: Tijuana, Mexico
Details: As he was driving himself home from mass, gunmen armed with AK-47s and 9mm pistols pulled alongside de la Torre's Chevy Suburban and opened fire, killing him. He had not told his bodyguards that he was going to church and they were not with him. The windshield had a dozen bullet holes in it, and all the windows on the driver's side were shot out.

328.
Date: February 27, 2000
Target: Government Minister Nagen Sharma
Location: Gauhati, India
Details: Guerrillas triggered a remote-controlled land mine as Sharma's vehicle went past, killing him, two police guards, and two state government officials. Sharma's vehicle was in a motorcade of eight cars and jeeps. Gunmen raked the rest of the motorcade with gunfire before escaping.

329.
Date: March 22, 2000
Target: President Arkady Gukasyan
Location: Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh
Details: Gunmen in a car pulled alongside Gukasyan's car and opened fire, seriously wounding him, his driver, and a bodyguard.

330.
Date: March 22, 2000
Target: Arms Dealer Gerald Bull
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Details: Bull was found shot to death in front of his apartment. Belgium police found $20,000 in cash in his pockets. Many believed he was assassinated by Israeli Mossad agents for his involvement with arming Iraq with a giant artillery gun capable of firing nuclear or chemical shells for hundreds of miles.

331.
Date: March 23, 2000
Target: Government Official Cuauhtemoc Herrera Suastegui
Location: Mexico City, Mexico
Details: At least four gunmen opened fire as Herrera, his attorney, a bodyguard, and a female drug agent were entering the Mexico City Hotel. The bodyguard was killed, and the others were wounded.