One of the Canadian shooters, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, recent convert to Islam, long criminal record

Michael Zehaf-Bibeau's name was apparently previously known as Michael Joseph Hall prior to converting to Islam.  He had been designated a high-risk traveler and that his passport had recently been confiscated.  Zehaf-Bibeau had a long criminal history with arrests for robbery, making threats, and various drug offenses.  He served time in prison on at least a couple of occasions (67 days for the uttering the threat), but he was still able to obtain a gun.  Apparently, he wasn't on the government's watch list of about 90 high-risk individuals and few under the radar.

This attack comes on the heels of another recent muslim convert who used his car to run over two soldiers in Canada, killing one of them.

Terrorist ideology inspired a recent convert to Islam to drive his car into two Canadian soldiers, killing one, before he was shot dead by police, authorities said on Tuesday.
Quebec police spokesman Guy Lapointe said the act was deliberate and that one of the two soldiers was in uniform. There were no other suspects. 

Public safety minister Steven Blaney called it a “terrible act of violence against our country, against our military and against our values” that was “clearly linked to terrorist ideology”. 

Police identified the dead military member as Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent, 53.
The suspect, Martin Couture Rouleau, 25, was known to authorities and recently had his passport seized, police commissioner Bob Paulson said. . . . 

Martin Couture Rouleau staked out the parking lot for 2 hours waiting for the soldiers.  He was apparently arrested in July, but was let go because he hadn't committed a crime and they did not view him as a threat to others.

Sadly, but not surprisingly given these two attacks on soldiers, the Canadian government is urging members of the military not to wear their uniforms when they are off duty.  In the attack today, the ceremonial guard who was in uniform was definitely targeted.

Possibly the weapon used in the attack was a shotgun.  Reports from the Chicago Tribune to the CBC indicate:

"He was wearing blue pants and a black jacket and he had a double barrelled shotgun and he ran up the side of this building here and hijacked a car at gunpoint," construction worker Scott Walsh told Reuters. . . .

In Jerusalem, an Arab terrorist rammed his car into a crowd, killing an infant and wounded several others.

A three-month-old girl, identified by her grandfather as Chaya Zissel, was killed and several US citizens and Israelis were wounded Wednesday evening when a convicted Palestinian terrorist from the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan rammed his vehicle into a crowd of people in the capital. . . .  

Purposeful attack on civilians with car leaves 1 dead and 11 wounded

There are otherways from for people to kill others.  From KTLA regarding an attack in Venice, California:

 One person has died after being struck by a vehicle in a Venice hit-and-run that left 11 other pedestrians injured, authorities said.

The incident occurred about 6 p.m. near the intersection of Dudley Avenue and Ocean Front Walk, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Initial reports indicated that two of the victims were critically injured and two others were in serious condition.

One of the victims died at a hospital Saturday evening, according to Lt. Andrew Neiman of the Los Angeles Police Department.

A man was detained in Santa Monica Saturday evening in connection with the incident, Neiman said.

Witnesses said the driver of the dark-colored sedan was “moving purposefully” at about 20 mph when the vehicle struck several pedestrians and tables near the boardwalk, according to LAFD spokesman Brian Humphrey. . . .

Car plows into crowd at parade injuring over 50 people

From the Associated Press:

Authorities believe the driver who plowed into dozens of hikers marching in a Virginia mountain town parade suffered from a medical condition and did not cause the crash intentionally, an emergency official said Sunday. . . .  

In what witnesses called a frantic scene at the parade, about 50 to 60 people suffered injuries ranging from critical to superficial Saturday. No fatalities were reported. Three of the worst injured were flown by helicopter to area hospitals. . . .  

Nunley said the man's 1997 Cadillac was one of the last vehicles in the parade and the driver might have suffered an unspecified medical problem when his car accelerated to about 25 mph and struck the crowd on a two-lane bridge along the town's main road. The driver was among those taken to hospitals. . . .

"Chinese man rams car into students, injures 13"

From AFP News:

A man in northern China has driven a car carrying a gas canister and firecrackers into a crowd of schoolchildren, injuring 13, state media reported Tuesday.
It follows a wave of recent attacks on children in China, which have prompted authorities to increase security around schools and led to calls for research into the root causes of such violence.
In the latest attack on Monday, the man drove into a crowd of students in Hebei province, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing local police.
The report did not say how old the victims were, though the students at the school they attended would range in age from 11 to 18.
The man was identified as 48-year-old Yin Tiejun, who was described as divorced and without a stable job. . . .

Thanks to Jose A. Diaz Marrero for this link. 

Driver drives car over curb and injures

From CNN:

A car driven by a man believed to be 101 years old jumped the curb near an elementary school Wednesday afternoon in southern Los Angeles, injuring several people, according to officials. 

Nine children and two adults were taken to hospitals, according to Erik Scott, spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department. Four people were seriously injured. . . .

Another multiple victim car attack

From the Associated Press:

A woman suddenly drove her car into a crowded town square in northwest Ohio, injuring 20 to 25 people, some of whom were pinned under the car and freed when bystanders lifted it, authorities and witnesses said.
The chaotic scene unfolded after 9 p.m. Friday night when an unidentified woman drove her Oldsmobile sedan into a crowd of dozens gathered for a weekly community event featuring live music, Lima police said. The car appeared to be at a complete stop before it was driven into the square, witnessed told the Lima News. It also struck an old sculpture in the square at full speed.
When the car came to a rest, those nearby picked it up to free victims who were trapped. . . .
No one was killed. Police said some victims suffered serious injuries to legs, heads and necks. At least five were taken to hospitals, including at St. Rita's Medical Center and Lima Memorial Health System. Two are in serious but stable condition, two others are in stable condition, and the condition of a fifth person was not available. It's not clear what happened to the driver, who had a dog with her in the car, witnesses said. . . .

A story April discusses on a woman crashed into a grocery store injuring 10 people.

The woman who crashed into the Publix on Belle Terre Parkway was charged with careless driving Tuesday as the Florida Highway Patrol released a video showing her car shattering glass doors as it crashed into the supermarket and plowed through shoppers.
"When you see the video you realize it's a miracle no one got killed," FHP Capt. Jerry Crews said.
Ten Palm Coast residents were injured when 76-year-old Thelma Wagenhoffer's 2004 Toyota Camry "accelerated rapidly as it crossed the parking lot" and crashed into the Publix, the FHP said.
The car careened through the store for 40 to 50 feet -- at least, Crews said. . . .
Three of the injured remained hospitalized on Tuesday. . . .

While I have collected a couple stories in the past, I decided to take a few minutes and see what other stories are readily available.  Here is an old story from the end of February last year that I should have posted.

At least 16 bicyclists in a Critical Mass ride event in Porto Alegre, Brazil, were injured after a driver in a VW Golf car drove into the group at high-speed.  According to Sky News, the driver of the car, 47-year-old Richard Neis, has been apprehended by police and is claiming self-defense after being threatened by some of the cyclists. . . . 

Here is a case from last year in Egypt where 20 some people were killed or injured.

Another case in Egypt involving a Police van.


Here is a case from San Francisco in November 2010 about 2 minutes into the clip (fortunately only two people were seriously hurt).


Here is a case from New London, CT in July, 2006 that left 27 people hurt.



From Apeldoorn, Netherlands in the April 30, 2009.

A speeding car raced toward an open bus carrying the Dutch royal family during a holiday parade Thursday and plowed into spectators, killing five people and injuring 14 others in an apparently deliberate act . . .

These numbers were later revised to eight killed and 10 injured.

From Israel in September 2008

Fifteen people -- mostly Israeli soldiers -- were injured at an intersection in Jerusalem Monday night when a driver plowed his car into a group of people, Jerusalem police told CNN.
The driver was shot and killed at the scene by an Israeli soldier who was part of the group, police said. The driver of the black BMW was not immediately identified, but authorities said he was a young Palestinian from East Jerusalem's Jabal Mukaber neighborhood. . . .

New Zealand in 2007 had a car attack that killed two and injured 26 others.

A man accused of killing two people outside a party last year did so because God told him to do something to get away from people chasing him, the Crown said today.
Twenty-two-year-old Lipine Sila, a factory hand, pleaded not guilty to two charges of murder and eight of causing grievous bodily harm, at the High Court in Christchurch.
He is alleged to have driven into a crowd outside the scene of a party on Christchurch's Edgeware Rd on May 5 last year, hitting 28 people.
Sixteen-year-olds Hannah Rossiter and Jane Young were killed. . . .

Multiple victim public shootings outside the US in Gun-Free Zones

Several Dead After Gunman Opens Fire at Dutch Shopping Mall April 09, 2011

ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN, Netherlands -- A gunman opened fire with a machine gun at a crowded shopping mall outside Amsterdam on Saturday, leaving at least seven people dead and wounding 15 others, officials and witnesses said.
The attacker was among the dead after fatally shooting himself at the Ridderhof mall in Alphen aan den Rijn, Mayor Bas Eenhoorn said. The suburb is less than 15 miles southwest of Amsterdam.
Eenhoorn said that children were among the victims, but he could not confirm whether they were among the wounded or dead, or both.
"It's too terrible for words, a shock for us all," he said.
The gunman's identity was known and it was "all but certain" he acted alone, District Attorney Kitty Nooy said, but investigators were not yet ready to release his name or age. She said he was a native Dutchman from Alphen who has a criminal record. . . .
Although rare, shootings and violence are not unknown in the Netherlands. In 1999, four students and a teacher were hurt in a school shooting and in 2004, a teacher was shot dead by a student.
There have also been two assassinations in the past decade, the 2002 killing of right wing politician Pim Fortuyn by an animal rights activist and the 2004 murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh by an Islamic extremist.
In 2009, a loner drove his car into a group of bystanders during a royal parade, killing eight and wounding 10.
Gun permits are difficult to obtain, but illegal automatic weapons and ammunition are frequently seized during drug busts.
Two people were killed in Alphen in a drug-related shooting several weeks ago. Nooy said investigators do not believe the incidents are linked. She said investigators were trying to trace the gun or guns used in the attack. . . .

Twelve Dead After Gunman Opens Fire at Brazil Elementary School April 07, 2011

A gunman roamed the halls of an elementary school in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday and killed 12 children, lining them up against a wall and shooting them in the head at point-blank range as he shouted, "I'm going to kill you all!"
It was the worst school shooting in Brazil -- and would have been deadlier if the gunman had not been shot in the legs by a police officer, who said the man then fell down some stairs and shot himself in the head.
Images taken with a cell phone and posted on YouTube showed students fleeing wildly, screaming for help, many with their white and blue school shirts soaked in blood.
Rio de Janeiro state's Secretariat of Health and Civil Defense said in a statement on its website that at least 12 other students were injured, many by gunfire, and taken to hospitals. At least two were in grave condition. Officials earlier reported 18 injured. . . .

British submarine shooting 'sparked by shore leave dispute' April 09, 2011

BRITISH Defence officials are investigating the cause of a deadly gun rampage on a nuclear submarine, with reports suggesting the shooting may have been caused by a dispute over shore leave or the use of a toilet.
A British seaman shot dead an officer and seriously injured another with an automatic assault rifle in the control room of the HMS Astute, an advanced nuclear submarine, while civic dignitaries were visiting yesterday.
The Sun newspaper said the sailor, which it named as Ryan Donovan, may have snapped when desperate requests for shore leave were rejected by officers due to crew shortages. He was arrested on suspicion of murder.
The 22-year-old rap music fan had been back in the port of Southampton for just two days following a 46-day exercise in the Irish Sea, and was distressed when told he could not take the seven weeks of leave he was due and would instead spend another month at sea starting Monday. . . .

Multiple Victim Car Attack

This guy hit 14 people with his car.

A man walking his young son across a street was mowed down and killed by a driver who bashed into seven cars as he tore through a New York neighborhood, police said.

The driver reportedly got into a fight with his wife in the parking lot of a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in Baychester, got in his car and erratically drove through the parking lot and streets.

The driver slammed into the 36-year-old man, who was not identified, as he tried to push his 6-year-old son out of the way, police told MyFOXNY.com.

The father died at the scene. The boy wasn't hurt.

Police say the driver kept going, hitting six more cars and a total of 14 people before his mangled car came to a stop. . . .

I should also include this case that apparently was an act of terrorism:

A recent University of North Carolina graduate was charged with nine counts of attempted murder Saturday, a day after authorities say he drove through a popular campus gathering spot in an attempt to avenge Muslim deaths.

Derek Poarch, chief of the university police department, confirmed Saturday that Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, a 22-year-old Iran native, told investigators he wanted to “avenge the deaths or murders of Muslims around the world.” Poarch would not provide any other details on the motive.

Taheri-azar also is charged with nine counts of assault. . . .

The area has broad walkways that can be used as fire lanes, but it has no streets. Taheri-azar drove a Jeep Cherokee from a parking lot in almost a U-shape through a cluster of off-street buildings, looping past the dining hall and veering between it and one of the libraries before he reached a side road and sped away, Poarch said.

Five students and a visiting scholar were treated at and released from hospitals, the university said in a statement. Three other people declined treatment, police said. . . .