Yesterday morning I turned on the news while getting ready for work and one of the top stories was about a double homicide which had just been committed the night before. A 21 year old guy drives up to the house his ex-girlfriend is at, smashes into her parked car with his car 'till the rear end of her car is mush, shoots his way through the sliding glass door and proceeds to gun down his ex, and two other friends in the house. The shooter then drives back to his apartment where police apprehend him later that morning.
If this were New Orleans, this would be a weekly event. Domestic murders were very common. (At least when I lived there.) But here it's kinda rare. The last big killing involving such young killers and victims was the Deltona X-Box killings a couple years ago. Several friends in their early 20's were beaten to death with a baseball bat over an argument stemming from a dispute about an X-Box game system.
This weeks killing was in Oviedo, not far from Deltona (in fact, if traveling by major roads between those 2 towns about 20 miles apart, you drive right by Lake Mary!).
But the really chilling thing was the fact that when the TV news showed the "alleged" murderer on video tape shot at the county jail, I nearly spit out my Crystal Light.
I knew him!
Andrew was in my initial training classes at Convergys back in 2005. He sat in the seat just to the right of me and during the next 3 weeks of training, when we were paired up to do breakout training lessons, I had usually been partnered with him. Over the course of the next 11 months of my employment there, Andrew and I saw each other from time to time as we had both been on the same shift for a while and even after I switched shifts, the shifts overlapped somewhat so I saw him from time to time. I think he even gave me a ride home one time.
I would not say we were friends. He was very quiet and kept to himself for the most part. I don't think he had any friends there. Plus, he was a young kid and I started becoming friends with co-workers near my own age like Phil, Sharon and Charles.
But I remember him clearly since he always seemed to be a bit weird. (Well, who at Convergys wasn't, really?) He drove this big white car like a Crown Vic or something and it had a spotlight installed by the driver side window, like you'd find on a police cruiser. Weird. When he did talk he expressed his interest and expertise in computers and networking.
After seeing the news reports, I wanted to see what other news providers were saying about the incident so I googled his name and lo-and-behold he had his own web site under the domain "www.andrewallread.com". I clicked the link and saw it was just a shell of a site with just a white page with the notation..."I am out of here..." on it. I was able to click through the "pub" folders like an FTP site and clicked through the directories to access the remaining few files on the site. This included eerie screenshots of blog pages and a rambling copy of an IM thread graphically displaying a romantic breakup and a possible new fling that the victim Tiffany had been chatting provocatively with...perhaps one of the other 2 victims in the house that night...one who died and another who is still living with a bullet wound to the leg. Probably most disturbing was a picture of Tiffany candidly taken during, no doubt, happier times while she slurped ramen noodles from a plastic container while sitting in the bathtub. (Picture was taken from behind so it's just a photo of innocence and youth, not sexually explicit).
Of course, it wasn't long before the site was finally shut down for good and none of this is any longer available.
It's sad when you hear of stupid, senseless violence like this. Weird when it pertains to someone you circumstantially knew.
This case is pretty much cut and dry since he made a racket smashing the car and shooting in a suburban neighborhood where he was known. He had been there before and lived only a few blocks away. There were plenty of witnesses, including some reported 10 or so people in the house at the time. They were apparently continuing a party which had started the night before at Andrews house. You see, they were celebrating the 21st and 22nd birthdays of Andrew and his friend Michael. It was at Michael's house the killings took place. Tiffany and Michael. Shot dead.
Man, what a waste! Lord knows I've had my own issues with alcohol-induced bad decisions, but to get wasted at your 21st birthday party and then get a gun and shoot your friend and girlfriend in a rage. Man, that's bad!
Well, Happy Birthday Andrew! The State of Florida may be providing you with an unexpected birthday gift...a little sit-down time in "Old Sparky". Or, at least, a place to stay...for the rest of your life.
If this were New Orleans, this would be a weekly event. Domestic murders were very common. (At least when I lived there.) But here it's kinda rare. The last big killing involving such young killers and victims was the Deltona X-Box killings a couple years ago. Several friends in their early 20's were beaten to death with a baseball bat over an argument stemming from a dispute about an X-Box game system.
This weeks killing was in Oviedo, not far from Deltona (in fact, if traveling by major roads between those 2 towns about 20 miles apart, you drive right by Lake Mary!).
But the really chilling thing was the fact that when the TV news showed the "alleged" murderer on video tape shot at the county jail, I nearly spit out my Crystal Light.
I knew him!
Andrew was in my initial training classes at Convergys back in 2005. He sat in the seat just to the right of me and during the next 3 weeks of training, when we were paired up to do breakout training lessons, I had usually been partnered with him. Over the course of the next 11 months of my employment there, Andrew and I saw each other from time to time as we had both been on the same shift for a while and even after I switched shifts, the shifts overlapped somewhat so I saw him from time to time. I think he even gave me a ride home one time.
I would not say we were friends. He was very quiet and kept to himself for the most part. I don't think he had any friends there. Plus, he was a young kid and I started becoming friends with co-workers near my own age like Phil, Sharon and Charles.
But I remember him clearly since he always seemed to be a bit weird. (Well, who at Convergys wasn't, really?) He drove this big white car like a Crown Vic or something and it had a spotlight installed by the driver side window, like you'd find on a police cruiser. Weird. When he did talk he expressed his interest and expertise in computers and networking.
After seeing the news reports, I wanted to see what other news providers were saying about the incident so I googled his name and lo-and-behold he had his own web site under the domain "www.andrewallread.com". I clicked the link and saw it was just a shell of a site with just a white page with the notation..."I am out of here..." on it. I was able to click through the "pub" folders like an FTP site and clicked through the directories to access the remaining few files on the site. This included eerie screenshots of blog pages and a rambling copy of an IM thread graphically displaying a romantic breakup and a possible new fling that the victim Tiffany had been chatting provocatively with...perhaps one of the other 2 victims in the house that night...one who died and another who is still living with a bullet wound to the leg. Probably most disturbing was a picture of Tiffany candidly taken during, no doubt, happier times while she slurped ramen noodles from a plastic container while sitting in the bathtub. (Picture was taken from behind so it's just a photo of innocence and youth, not sexually explicit).
Of course, it wasn't long before the site was finally shut down for good and none of this is any longer available.
It's sad when you hear of stupid, senseless violence like this. Weird when it pertains to someone you circumstantially knew.
This case is pretty much cut and dry since he made a racket smashing the car and shooting in a suburban neighborhood where he was known. He had been there before and lived only a few blocks away. There were plenty of witnesses, including some reported 10 or so people in the house at the time. They were apparently continuing a party which had started the night before at Andrews house. You see, they were celebrating the 21st and 22nd birthdays of Andrew and his friend Michael. It was at Michael's house the killings took place. Tiffany and Michael. Shot dead.
Man, what a waste! Lord knows I've had my own issues with alcohol-induced bad decisions, but to get wasted at your 21st birthday party and then get a gun and shoot your friend and girlfriend in a rage. Man, that's bad!
Well, Happy Birthday Andrew! The State of Florida may be providing you with an unexpected birthday gift...a little sit-down time in "Old Sparky". Or, at least, a place to stay...for the rest of your life.