One man,2 toddlers and woman working at day care slaughtered

[Oy_the_Great]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/24/world ... lgium.html

 

 

 

DENDERMONDE, Belgium Two children and an adult were killed and 12 others slashed in a knife attack at a day care center in western Belgium on Friday.

 

 

 

The attack occurred about 20 miles northwest of Brussels, near the town of Dendermonde.

 

 

 

Christian Du Four, a local prosecutor, said at a news conference that a man rode his bicycle to the Fabeltjesland day care center, entered and immediately began slashing adults and children. The two dead children were younger than 3; a woman working in the day care center was also killed.

 

 

 

Theo Janssens, a social worker who arrived about five minutes after the attacks, said: People were screaming and crying. There was blood everywhere. Babies were crying. People had children in their arms. They were bleeding. One of the children was already dead.

 

 

 

The assailant then walked out of the center and got on his bicycle. He was apprehended by the police at a nearby supermarket shortly after the 10 a.m. attack, Mr. Du Four said, according to The Associated Press.

 

 

 

Dr. Ignace Demeyer, who was coordinating the medical response to the operation, told reporters that 10 children arrived at area hospitals with serious stab wounds. All required surgery, and all were now in stable condition.

 

 

 

This was a particularly violent attack. All the kids had multiple stab wounds on their legs, arms and all over their bodies, he said.

 

 

 

He said two adults also required surgery and were in stable condition. Nine of the 21 children who were at the center at the time of the attack were unharmed, he said.

 

 

 

"People are totally in shock," said Leene Du Bois, a spokeswoman for the regional government of Flanders, The A.P. reported. She said the man suspected of carrying out the attack did not appear to have any connection to the day care center.

 

 

 

Local police did not identify the assailant, nor did they give any biographical information about him beyond his age between 20 and 25 years old.

 

 

 

One of the day care centers staff members told Belgian broadcaster RTBF that the attackers face had been painted with make-up. Other local media reports said that the man arrested was a local resident of the area with a history of mental illness.

 

 

 

Sharon Otterman contributed reporting from New York.

 

 

 

I know that a lot of these violent killings occur all around the world, from disturbed teens shooting randomly at school to targeted assassinations, but this one struck me, not just because it's in Belgium, 10 miles from where I live, but because it's truly absurd.The article I posted is only the summary of what happened: Eyewitnesses told the press they saw a young man dressed up with white make-up, black eye shade and red hair, covered in blood riding a bicycle. He got arrested, ridiculed the cops, acted bizarre and kept laughing out loud. The children and adults in the day care that survived are so badly mutilated that the plastic surgeon concluded he must have had an axe, not only a knife. And yes, they found an axe later on in his backpack.

 

Does this ring a bell to anyone? I'm shocked to realise this heartless murderer based his alter ego on the Joker from the last Batman film.

 

 

 

edit: a man working in the day care that tried to stop him just died from his wounds.

 

 

 

PS: this is NOT a sensationalist thread about another massacre; my point is that many of these killings seem to be infused by other similar killings, films and video games. I used to be very sceptic towards the accusations of the entertainment business of giving lunatics ideas, but I don't think you can doubt about that any more now. This particular case being more than evidence enough.

[champion]

Not much to say but "that's awful."

 

 

 

And do we really need another thread where a toddler dies >_>

 

 

 

Edit: Whoa that really does sound like it's out of The Dark Knight.

[Da_Latios]

WTF is up with all these day care killings??

[Riku3220]

It's the same one... -.-

 

 

 

inb4lock

[dangeresque]

This is the exact reason why I'm anti-knife! -.-

 

 

 

Anyways, this is really terrible, some people are so [bleep]ed up.

[RichieMcD]

An unendless amount of respect to the man who just died trying to keep the children safe from harm, the true definition of a hero.

 

 

 

It's sickening yes, but do remember (in no way am I saying this is right) that the man had a mental illness and eventually something sickening will happen, it's life and there's nothing we can do to control it. It's good to see anyway the vast majority of those injured have had surgery and are on the path to recovery, luckily enough they're all young and most likely wont remember it.

 

 

 

I wonder what kind of response will occur when the pro-gun people will starting posting? :|

[Oy_the_Great]

I just realised there is already a thread about this, sorry mods, I rarely ever visit TIF any more and didn't bother checking it.

 

 

 

Perhaps this thread could serve as a discussion about the influence of the media on tragedies like these.

[tripsis]

Locking this since like you said, there is already a thread about this article: Children dead in Belgian nursery knife attack

 

 

 

Since your article is slightly different, feel free to repost it in the above thread and continue the discussion.