Thomas Kim Suspect Shooting Firefighters In Long Beach Retirement Home

Thomas Kim Suspect Shooting Firefighters In Long Beach Retirement Home --- ===

Monday, June 25, 2018 1 killed 2 wounded mass shooting, suspected arrested no motive  Thomas Kim Suspect Shooting Firefighters In Long Beach Retirement Home  77 year old Thomas Kim a second-floor resident of the building Kim allegedly detonated an bomb to try to kill a woman with whom he had been feuding who lived above him. Then Kim waited in the hallway where he opened fire with a handgun on Long Beach Fire Captain Dave Rosa, firefighter Ernesto Torres and a neighbor. [4] He was arrested on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and arson after he shot at 2 firefighters. Residents started reporting a strong smell of gasoline and the sound of a blast before 4 a.m. [3]The explosion and fire blew out apartment windows and activated sprinklers. As responding firefighters made their way upstairs, shots were fired . Kim allegedly killed a Capt. David Rosa, and wounded  firefighter Ernesto Torres and also struck injuring another elderly resident [2] After a man was seen sitting on the stairs with a gun, a SWAT team was called and took the man with his revolver into custody. Investigators believe Kim intentionally set fire to the building in an attempt lure and  ambush responding firefighters [1] Kim was arrested years ago for auto theft, though authorities had not uncovered a motive.  Investigators called the bomb squad when they found two possible bombs[2]

The suspect's brother who hasn't spoken to Thomas in 30 years told media that "His wife left him because he gambled", and that Thomas Kim immigrated to the U.S. from South Korea in the 1960s, graduated from college before working as a civil engineer in the Los Angeles area, and took jobs in Korea and Saudi Arabia before moving back to the U.S., the Press-Telegram reported. [3]

No connection was made to terrorism as a possible motive by media or authorities, as public safety workers are a common target for domestic terrorists. The incident is similar to the Christmas eve 2012 Webster, New York shooting  when felon William H. Spengler used a military style rifle and set up an ambush attack deliberately set a fire and ambushed firefighters, killing two and injuring two others leaving a note with no political motive for what otherwise would be considered a domestic terrorist attack, and the 2007 Virginia Tech college mass shooting where another Korean American Seung-Hui Cho also left a rambling note with no connection to any political cause, but had a father who had also worked in Saudi Arabia, and had a mother who was the daughter of a family that had fled North Korea, a nation that has issued nuclear threats to the United States.


In the 2012 Webster, New York shooting Christmas Eve December 24, 2012 62-year-old convicted felon William H. Spengler set up a military style weapons and tactics ambush attack deliberately set a fire and ambushed firefighters, killing two and injuring two others. After a firefight with police, he shot himself in the head. He had just killed his sister he was living with whose burned body was found inside Spengler's house. Spengler led a very quiet life after he was released from 17 years in prison convicted of manslaughter in 1981 for killing his grandmother in 1980. A letter found indicated his plan, and blamed and ranted about his neighbor for providing guns, but he does not meet the legal standard for a domestic terrorist because the note provided no motive.  Dawn Nguyen, a neighbor of Spengler with a Vietnamese name (appears to biracial Asian, mother is  Dawn Welsher) was sentenced to 8 years for buying the guns  used as it was illegal for a felon to own the  .38 caliber revolver, a 12-guage shotgun, and a .223 caliber rifle.  A conspiracy board suspected a false flag attack shooter guns down firefighting crew battling Christmas Eve Blaze prison planet "False flag terrorism" occurs when elements within a government ....  William H. Spengler Jr., 62, ... Gunman William Spengler's last letter reveals bizarre tirade  https://www.democratandchronicle.com Dec 22, 2013 - William Spengler Jr.'s letter is the closest we'll come to understanding why he did ..... A Monroe County Sheriff's Office armored truck enters the ... It is not a suicide note. It is not a rant against his sister  It is not an explanation or attempt at justification for the mayhem and grief he was about to cause. Spengler typed a rambling diatribe that reads like a stream-of-consciousness tirade against a former neighbor. The target of his single-spaced venom was Dawn Welsher, the mother of the young woman — Dawn Nguyen — now accused of illegally buying the guns Spengler used in his assault.  In his letter, Spengler claims that Welsher was the one largely responsible for the weapons purchase. Welsher has not been charged with any crimes.  letter also accuses Welsher of multiple scams against family members and others. The letter, in fact, is solely about Welsher, who had once been Spengler's friend and next-door neighbor.  There has been no proof supporting Spengler's allegations in the letter    Man who killed 2 firemen left note on killing plan Associated Press rambling typewritten note saying he wanted to burn down the neighborhood and "do what I like doing best, killing people,  armed himself with a revolver, a shotgun and a military-style rifle before he set his house afire to lure first responders into a death trap before dawn on Christmas Eve.  "He was equipped to go to war, kill innocent people," Pickering said.  The rifle he had was a military-style .223-caliber semiautomatic Bushmaster rifle with flash suppression, the same make and caliber weapon used in the elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn., Pickering said. Fire Engineering notes "we mourned for Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and New York City (9/11). Major acts of violence, terrorism, and racial conflicts have been well-documented" cites this as one of the two worst terrorist style attacks on firefighters noting  2013, the late Fire Chief Glenn Gaines of Fairfax County, Virginia, cited the following from the 2004 Rand Institute study “Violence Against Firefighters”: “Approximately 88,000 firefighters are injured due to violence against them each year; about 2,000 of their injuries are potentially life-threatening” and that “The Bureau of Labor reports that public sector employees are four times more likely to experience assaults than private sector employees.”1

There are similarities to the 2007 Virginia Tech Shootings.  Virginia Tech Shootings Fast Facts - CNN Mass college shooter Seung-Hui Cho was also a Korean American who declared war on his own campus.  Before Deadly Rage, a Life Consumed by a Troubling Silence - The New York Times Apr 22, 2007 Like Thomas Kim, Cho's father worked in oil fields and on construction sites in Saudi Arabia. Cho's mother was the daughter of a farming family that had fled North Korea during the Korean War.

*Footnotes

1. [1]77-year-old retirement home resident charged with fatally shooting fire ... Washington Post  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/06/26/77-year-old-retirement-home-resident-charged-with-fatally-shooting-fire-captain-responding-to-explosion/
2. [2]Long Beach firefighter shot, killed on call at retirement home USA Today https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/06/26/long-beach-firefighter-shot-killed-call-retirement-home-resident/733536002/
3. [3]Retirement home shooting: Resident, 77, charged with killing Calif. fire captain Syracuse Press Telegram In-Depth-Syracuse.com 6/26/2018 https://www.syracuse.com/us-news/index.ssf/2018/06/retirement_home_shooting_resident_77_charged_with_killing_calif_fire_captain.html 
4. [4] Man, 77, charged with murder in Long Beach senior home shooting ...
   https://www.reuters.com/...california-shooting/man-77-charged-with-murder-in-long-...
   Jun 27, 2018 - A 77-year-old man was charged with murder on Wednesday in the fatal shooting of a fire captain who responded to a blaze at a retirement building that prosecutors said was started when thesuspect set off a bomb to kill his neighbor. ... a was also charged with attempted murder, arson and setting off an explosion with the intent to kill.  

*Sources


Police: Fire captain fatally shot at retirement home blaze - ABC News A retirement home resident shot at firefighters who responded to a ... Kim, 77, wasarrested on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and ...

Long Beach, California man, 77, set blaze to lure firefighters, shot one ... cbs news  Thomas Kim was arrested Monday on suspicion of murder, ... shots rang out and the two firefighters were hit, Fire Chief Michael DuRee said.

Police arrest suspect in fire, shooting that left 1 Long Beach firefighter ...
www.presstelegram.com/active-shooter-reported-at-long-beach-senior-housing-facility   Long Beach firefighters console each other outside St. Mary Medical ... shot and killed responding to a fire in Long Beach, CA, on Monday, June 25, 2018. ..... arrested Thomas Kim, 77, a second-floor resident of the building, ...

Man, 77, charged with murder in Long Beach senior home shooting ...
https://www.reuters.com/...california-shooting/man-77-charged-with-murder-in-long-...
Jun 27, 2018 - A 77-year-old man was charged with murder on Wednesday in the fatal shooting of a fire captain who responded to a blaze at a retirement building that prosecutors said was started when thesuspect set off a bomb to kill his neighbor. ... a was also charged with attempted murder, arson and setting off an explosion with the intent to kill. Kim detonated an explosive device on Monday morning in an unsuccessful attempt to kill a woman with whom he had been feuding who lived above him in the retirement building.  They said Kim then sat at the end of the hallway leading to his apartment and opened fire with a handgun on Long Beach Fire Captain Dave Rosa, firefighter Ernesto Torres and a neighbor.