Category: EVIL MF
In a shocking turn of events, Fort Wayne, Indiana, police have determined that a high school football player, initially reported as a tragic victim and the lone person to die from a mass shooting at a weekend Halloween party, was in fact the aggressor who entered the party and began shooting. Willie Ivy III, 17, opened fire after forcing his way into the crowded party, injuring nine people ranging in ages from 14 to 20 before an armed partygoer returned fire, killing him in what authorities have determined was an act of justifiable self-defense. Interestingly, despite the intense initial coverage surrounding Ivy’s death portraying him as a loving, ambitious member of his school football team and another tragic case of an innocent black youth caught up in gun violence, when it was learned he was the one who opened fire first, media attention of the case went comparatively dark.
Follow-up articles merely mentioned he was the shooter and noted that police weren’t going to charge the man who shot him. Was it a case of the narrative no longer fit what the media wanted to sell or had the news cycle merely gone cold on the topic? It’s hard to say. But after all the positive coverage of the young “victim,” once the truth was discovered, an examination of what caused this otherwise seemingly good kid to carry a gun into a party and begin gunning down innocent victims begs for some follow-up from the local media.
The incident began this past Saturday night at a home in Fort Wayne, where dozens of teenagers had gathered for a Halloween party promoted on social media. With the party already out of control, the homeowner reportedly locked herself in her room, opting not to call the police. Partygoers were patted down for weapons at the front entrance, but Ivy and a group of friends bypassed the check by entering through the back door. When two attendees attempted to stop them from entering, Ivy allegedly pulled a handgun and began firing as he moved from the back door through the kitchen and into the living room, where more partygoers were gathered. He reportedly continued firing indiscriminately as he moved through the house.
“Shots were fired at random,” Captain Jeremy Webb of the Fort Wayne Police Department told local news, describing the “utter chaos” that greeted first responders.
“As Ivy continued shooting, one partygoer, also armed, returned fire, fatally striking Ivy and ending the attack,” Webb said. Evidence confirmed that Ivy’s weapon was responsible for all nine injuries.
In a statement, the Allen County Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that no charges would be filed against the partygoer who shot Ivy, citing Indiana’s clear self-defense laws.
“This was an undeniable act of self-defense in a life-threatening situation,” said Webb, highlighting that Ivy’s death prevented further bloodshed.
Initially, media coverage centered on Ivy’s death and his identity as a North Side High School football player, with statements from family members grieving his passing. Ivy’s father, who traveled from Memphis, reflected on a final phone conversation with his son, where they said “I love you” before he left for the party.
“He was supposed to make it—he was supposed to go to college, he was supposed to watch over his sisters,” Ivy’s father told 21 Alive News.
“There’s no doubt about him being a loved child and he showed that in his actions with his friends and his family,” Vickii Ivy, the shooter’s aunt, said. “He just had this spirit of love for everybody that was around him.” She noted that he “did not follow or go to trouble.”
It’s clear the kid was loved and had the opportunity to do something with his life, and no doubt it can only be one extreme level of pain to lose a child to violence and an entirely different level of pain to discover the child you loved and thought you knew, was the one who initiated the violence that led to his end. It must be particularly painful to learn he caused undue pain and suffering among so many others in his final moments.
But that is the real story in Fort Wayne. That is the story the media needs to be covering. But until today’s journalists, as well as leaders, are willing to discuss the painful truths behind the extreme violence in many of our communities, no amount of gun laws they might want to pass will solve a single problem. What made a young man from a loving family engage in such violence when he apparently had so much going for him? How did he get the gun at 17, and why did he carry it into a party? These are the questions that need to be answered. Where’s the media when the real questions need to be asked?
Idaho Hunters Survive Grizzly Attack
“It was lifting me off the ground and then slamming me back on the ground,” Hill said. “… It was like playing tug of war with your dog, but he was playing it with my arm and ripping it apart.”
Moments earlier, the bear had charged out of nowhere, dramatically altering a peaceful morning as the two hunters from Rexburg and Menan faced one of the fiercest predators in North America.
Hill dropped his archery bow, pulled a 10mm Springfield from the holster on his hip and shot the bear once in the right side.
“Grizzly bears don’t usually get off their target, but this one did,” Hill said. “This one turned looked right at me, and he’s charging, charging fast.”
The two friends were only about twelve feet apart from each other, and Meyers tripped and fell on the ground.
Hill had time to shoot the bear with three more bullets in the face and shoulder region before its iron jaws clamped down on his arm.
Immediately, the grizzly began to fling Hill around.
Meyers stood up and saw the bear attacking Hill.
He “fumbled around,” pulled out his Taurus 1911 .45 ACP pistol and fired four to five shots at the bear before the gun jammed.
Taurus. Jammed.
“(The bear) just kind of looked up at me, and I saw its eyes, and I just started (shooting),” Meyers said. “It put its head back down, and I shot some more (in the spine), and (that) did the trick.”
During one shot in the barrage, Hill felt the bear’s grip on his arm loosen slightly.
With his one free hand, Hill said he “ripped open that jaw, ripped my arm out, and then I remember I stood up, and I was freaking out. I didn’t know if the bear was coming after me again.”
He grabbed his gun off the ground and fired three more rounds at the grizzly’s head.
In total, the hunters shot 24 bear bullets at the grizzly to bring it down.
Idaho Fish and Game officers conducted a thorough investigation and determined that Hill and Braxton Meyer’s actions were justified.
The two friends learned later that local ranchers had long called that bear the “King of the Hill.”
“This bear has always been a problem up there of cattle, and there’s a lot of farmers that … (are) pretty happy with us because we took out the bear that was eating their cattle,” Hill said.
The bear was 20-years-old, an extraordinarily long life for a grizzly in the wild.
“It was a fighting bear,” Braxton Meyers said. “Another bear or some animal had torn one of its ears off. That was the ear that was facing up the hill, and so it didn’t hear us coming down until we were on the side that had the good ear, and that’s when it got up and come at us.”
The bear had been surprised while it was burrowing in a day bed.
“They’ll dig a hole, and they’ll pull brushes and scrub and whenever to hide them,” Hill said. “So we spooked it, and we weren’t trying to.”
Grandmother strapped to wheelchair was forced to watch grave being dug before ex killed her: cops
DON’T be this guy!
None of the Old West characters has ever received as much publicity as the young outlaw from New Mexico that we have come to know as Billy the Kid. Over the years, numerous books have purported to tell his true life story.
A whole raft of western movies has featured him as a main character. And somewhere in the midst of all of that, Billy the Kid has taken on the persona of the good guy/bad guy that rivals England’s Robin Hood. Unfortunately, more untruths have been written about Billy the Kid than just about any other character of the Old West.
I’ve lived in close proximity to New Mexico for all of my life. I enjoy the rich history and local color of the state, and I have been a life-long student of all things having to do with Billy the Kid. Here are just some of the true facts that I’ve been able to dig up along the way.
As legend has it, Billy the Kid was born in New York, he was 21 years old when Sheriff Pat Garrett shot him to death, and he had killed 21 men during his rowdy life. I’ll get to the 21 men in just a bit, but first here’s a glimpse of Billy the Kid as he really was.
In June of 1880, in Fort Sumner, New Mexico Territory, Billy told a census taker that he had been born in Missouri and that both of his parents had also been born in Missouri.
He also told the same census taker that he was 25 years old at that time. Since then, no one has ever come up with any concrete facts to refute Billy’s simple statement. And no one has come up with a good reason why he would have been lying. The business of dying when he was 21 appears to have been based upon mere rumor and conjecture.
Popular myths also tell us that Billy’s real name was William Bonney. The facts irrefutably show that his true name was Henry McCarty. In about 1873, Henry’s mother and his stepfather, William Antrim, moved to Silver City, New Mexico.
Later, after his mother died, Billy ran away to Arizona Territory and began to go by the name of Kid Antrim. When he finally left Arizona and came back to New Mexico, he was using the name William Bonney. Although some conjecture exits, there is really no way of knowing why he used that alias. It may have been to avoid being arrested for killing Frank Cahill near Camp Grant, Arizona, in 1877.
Legend further informs us that Billy the Kid killed 21 men during his career and had sworn that Sheriff Garrett would be number 22. The known facts reveal a different picture.
Billy is known to have been in a constable’s posse when they captured and then executed three men who were believed to have been responsible for the death of Billy’s employer, J.H. Tunstall. In the same year, 1878, Billy was also in a group that rode into Lincoln, New Mexico, and ambushed a group of lawmen, killing Sheriff William Brady and George Hindman.
It is not known if Billy actually killed either man. However, as a court of law would quickly point out, he was there and undoubtedly did some shooting. It is known that Billy was present throughout the Lincoln County War when the two factions fired on each other. However, to hang a specific killing on Billy the Kid was virtually impossible, even though he was later tried and convicted of killing Sheriff Brady.
In 1880, Billy was back in Fort Sumner, and the Lincoln County War had about run its course. One evening Billy ran into a fellow named Joe Grant, who some believe had been hired by the Chisums to kill the Kid. After talking to Grant, Billy turned to leave the saloon only to hear Grant’s gun snap on a defective cartridge or an empty chamber. Billy turned and shot Grant to death.
In 1881, Billy had been captured by Garrett and was convicted of the murder of Sheriff Brady. He was placed in the Lincoln County Jail to await the day of his execution. On April 21, 1881, while Sheriff Garrett was out of town, Billy convinced Jailer J.W. Bell to escort him to the outhouse. Somehow Billy got hold of a handgun and shot Bell to death as they went back into the building that served as the county’s courthouse and jail. Billy immediately rushed up to the gunroom and grabbed a shotgun, which he used to kill Deputy Bob Olinger as Olinger rushed towards the building to see what the shooting was all about.
So, we can document four killings by Billy the Kid–Cahill, Grant, Bell, and Olinger. And due to the Kid’s involvement in the Lincoln County War, let’s credit him with a couple more killings that we’re not sure of. One historian suggests that there might even be five more killings that involved the Kid. Regardless, nine killings is a long way from the legendary 21. But it’s probably a lot closer to the truth.
Another persistent Billy the Kid legend is that he was left-handed. The source of this fable is an old photo of Billy that shows him standing with a sixgun on his left hip and a rifle in his hand. But this particular photo has never fooled gun buffs.
Glancing at the rifle, one quickly can see that the rifle’s loading gate is on the left side of the gun instead of its usual place on the right side of the receiver. This clearly shows that the photo is from an old tintype that used a reversed image, and someone simply forgot to turn it around.
According to several movies and stories, the Kid is also supposed to have favored the Colt Model 1877 double-action revolver in .41 Long Colt. Again, looking at the photo of Billy, it’s clear that he’s packing a single-action revolver–probably a Colt Single Action Army–but he may have been carrying a Colt Lightning when he was killed.
On the night of July 14, 1881, Billy walked in to Pete Maxwell’s bedroom at Maxwell’s house in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Too late, he realized that Maxwell was not alone in the room. Unfortunately for Billy, Maxwell’s guest was Sheriff Garrett. It was the same Sheriff Garrett, in fact, who immediately fired two shots from his .44-40 ColtSingle Action Army, one of which hit the Kid in the chest and killed him almost instantly.
Some historians believe that Billy did not have a gun with him when he was shot to death. Afterwards, they suggest that Garrett, or one of his two posse men, obtained the Colt DA and put it on the floor beside Billy to avoid criticism. Regardless, they all agree that Billy was holding a butcher knife in his other hand. When the rumor got out that the Kid didn’t have a gun on him, Garrett received a good deal of criticism.
As a former lawman, I find that sort of criticism to be ludicrous. Billy had just escaped from Garrett’s jail. He had just murdered two of Garrett’s deputies. And he had presented himself in Garrett’s proximity armed with a knife. In police jargon, the Kid was “bought and paid for.” The coroner’s inquest took the same position.
Without a doubt, the legend of Billy the Kid will continue to grow. Legends, rumors, and folk tales are like that. But it’s still interesting to have a look at some of the real facts about an interesting part of our Western history. I enjoy that, and I hope you do too.