Defenseless mall shopping can be deadly

Illinois has no concealed carry law. Cook County officials and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley have a habit of penalizing the victim who defends herself with a firearm more harshly than the criminal who perpetrated his crime. So is it any wonder that a crazed man with a knife was able to stab five people and kill a 1-year old baby girl before anyone could stop him?

Had this man attacked in an Ohio shopping area like Cleveland's Beachwood Place mall, Akron's Chapel Hill mall, Cincinnati's Northgate mall, Columbus' Westland Mall, the Dayton Mall, Jeffersonville's Prime Outlets Mall, or one of the other Ohio malls on the Do Not Patronize While Armed list, the outcome would likely have been much the same, and the blood would have been on the hands of these irresponsible mall managers.

Stabbing Rampage Near Chicago Leaves Baby Dead

June 4, 2004
Associated Press

MIDLOTHIAN, Ill. -- A man stabbed five people at a suburban strip mall, killing a 1-year-old girl, before a bystander clubbed him over the head with a flashlight and restrained him until police arrived, authorities and witnesses said.

The 26-year-old suspect in Thursday's rampage had earlier set fire to the house he shared with his mother, authorities said. His name was not immediately released.

The attack seemed to be random, police said.

"He walked up to somebody in the parking lot, talked to him for a minute, then stabbed him," deputy police chief Fred Kozik said. "He ran away, walked up to somebody else and stabbed that person, too."

According to the Cook County medical examiner's office, 1-year-old Ashley Hurt was killed in the attack in Midlothian, which is about 20 miles south of Chicago. Her mother and four other people were injured; the injuries were described as not life-threatening.

The attack happened around 5 p.m. when the man ran out of a drug store brandishing what looked like a bowie knife with a 6-inch blade, said a witness, Bob Stahulak.

The man stabbed a woman in the parking lot before he approached a mother and baby as they came out of a nearby store, Stahulak said.

"He stabbed the baby three times in the back," he said. "People were screaming."

A man ran out of a nearby hair salon and charged the attacker, hitting him in the head with a flashlight, and tackling him, witnesses said.

"I saw him stab two people and ran over and hit him with this," said Suparak Rattananarkin, 18, holding a red flashlight.

Authorities said the suspect's house was not destroyed by the fire, but its windows were boarded up. No one was seriously injured in the fire, officials said.

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Click on the "Read More..." link below to read a press release concerning this tragedy from the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

NEWS RELEASE

MALL STABBING LEAVES MORE BLOOD ON HANDS OF ANTI-GUNNERS, SAYS CCRKBA

Thursday's brutal murder of 1-year-old Ashley Hurt by a knife-wielding man at a Midlothian shopping mall outside of Chicago is just one more reason why Illinois citizens deserve a concealed carry law, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) said today.

"This horrible murder adds another layer of blood on the hands of anti-gun extremists who have fought so hard to keep law-abiding citizens unarmed," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. "If a concealed carry law could save the life of just one innocent child like Ashley, it would be worthwhile.

"Published reports tell us that the suspect went through the mall area, also stabbing four adults," Gottlieb continued. "Had there been a legally-armed citizen at that strip mall, who could have justifiably intervened to stop the rampage, that toddler might still be alive. It took a courageous teenager who recently arrived here, to bring the attack to a halt by clubbing the suspect with a flashlight."

Newspapers have identified the hero as 18-year-old Suparak Rattananarkin, a Thai citizen who came to the United States recently.

"Suparak obviously has not been in the Chicago area long enough to be cowed by the fear that grips many Illinois citizens who are too scared of legal reprisal if they get involved," Gottlieb observed. "Yet, all he had was a flashlight, against a knife. I wonder how long it will take Chicago Mayor Richard Daley to start demanding that flashlights be banned as a means of reducing violence?"

Gottlieb noted that Illinois gun laws, and specifically Chicago's Draconian handgun ordinance, didn't help another citizen Wednesday night. Terrance Wesson, 32, was shot dead by an unknown assailant at a Chicago gas station.

"Daley, Gov. Rod Blagojevich and all the other anti-gunners in the Illinois legislature know that the state's stupid gun laws don't stop crime," Gottlieb said. "These laws only leave law-abiding citizens at the mercy of gas station gunmen and shopping mall maniacs. It is too late to help Terrance Wesson or Ashley Hurt, but it's not too late to change Illinois gun laws so that other citizens can defend themselves, and their children, from the criminals and lunatics that have been given free rein under current statutes."

With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is one of the nation's premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States.

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