[Jester]

This is of course something we've all heard of happening before, but for it to happen in Vancouver, BC, Canada... well thats not too normal. Guns are not a widespread problem here and this sort of thing is usually what we read about having happened south of the border...

Firing a guy right before Christmas... not the greatest idea...

http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/553553

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')
Boss targeted in killing at party
Vancouver man charged with first-degree murder
Dec 14, 2008 04:30 AM
Jeremy Hainsworth
THE CANADIAN PRESS

VANCOUVER–A 61-year-old Vancouver man was charged yesterday in connection with the fatal shooting of his former boss at an office Christmas party.

Eric Allen Kirkpatrick faces one count of first-degree murder, Vancouver police said. It was unclear when he would appear in court to answer to the charge.

The victim, Benjamin David Banky, 40, of Vancouver was gunned down Friday when a man showed up at the Christmas party with a gun.

The man "had a firearm with him. He shot one man fatally right away," said Vancouver police spokesperson Tim Fanning.

The business where the shooting occurred is listed as TallGrass Distribution Ltd., a natural health product supplier.

Kirkpatrick was let go by his employer last Thursday, Fanning said, but he did not know how long the suspect had worked at the business.

The other people at the office party were able to escape without injury, Fanning said.

"The shock was tremendous, but all the other people in the business – and there were another dozen other people who were there for a Christmas party – managed to get out safely," Fanning said.

Police were called immediately, and surrounded the building, Fanning said.

What followed was a tense two hours while police negotiated the suspect's exit from the building.

It's not known what kind of firearm was involved.

Luke Pigeon, who lives in an apartment next door, said he didn't hear a gunshot but saw a woman fleeing the building next door.

"All I saw was a ... lady running down the block screaming," Pigeon said.

He said she ran into a nearby auto repair shop where she apparently called for help. Police were on the scene within minutes.

[mos6507]

Anyone care to blame THIS act of violence on american imperialism, or do you have to live in a country with brown people to qualify?

[Jester]

I'm not even sure what you're rambling about to be honest... but the economic woes starting to hit up here, are very much predicated by what happens down there.

Getting to the actual point... job losses last month in Canada were expected to be around 20,000, with the pessimistic reports saying possibly 50,000. When the numbers were released, it was 70,000. Something I've been preaching to people here (and was falling on deaf ears) was that we in Canada are not nearly as insulated from this economic shitstorm as people are saying.

[ReverseEngineer]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', 'A')nyone care to blame THIS act of violence on american imperialism, or do you have to live in a country with brown people to qualify?

[TWilliam]

Incidentally mos, I for one never blamed anything on 'American Imperialism'. I blamed 'the capitalist free-market society', and we in the U.S. are not the sole example of that society, even if we are the flagship of them. You're the only one going on about 'American Imperialism'...

[3aidlillahi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', 'A')nyone care to blame THIS act of violence on american imperialism, or do you have to live in a country with brown people to qualify?

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TWilliam', 'I')ncidentally mos, I for one never blamed anything on 'American Imperialism'. I blamed 'the capitalist free-market society', and we in the U.S. are not the sole example of that society, even if we are the flagship of them. You're the only one going on about 'American Imperialism'...

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ReverseEngineer', '
')Absolutely this shooting is the direct consequence of American Imperialism.

[TWilliam]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', 'S')orry, it all kind of blends together into "the devil made me do it" to me. Didn't Charles Manson blame Helter Skelter for what he did? Don't most serial killers have some kind of issue with their mothers? There's a rationale for everything.

[idiom]

The guy fires the 61 year old before Christmas. That is pretty serious betrayal right there.

Well maybe if the guy had accepted a paycut they could have splashed out and given him a set of teaspoons in four years.