Thursday, March 19, 2015

Longmont, Colorado Bloodbath

Longmont is about 15 miles northeast from my apartment as the crow flies.  I've always regarded Longmont as quiet, sleepy little town...  a place where my brother-in-law and several of his siblings were born.  A place where Jim's Grandfather was a school teacher, a principal, and the school superintendent for the local district.  A place with the Boulder County Fairgrounds permanently in place.  And a place where housing is much less expensive than Boulder.  I've often considered moving to Longmont, but I have to admit that I enjoy living in a college town.
   Yesterday when I arose, there were headlines in the local paper, and newscasters from Denver covering an incident - multiple stabbings in a rather large area, that involved a large, extended family group.  Yesterday morning, two people were reported dead and one was in critical condition in the hospital from knife wounds.  The police told the reporters that it was, apparently, a "family matter" that had escalated out of control.  We were promised more details as the police untangled the crazy web of events.  We're still waiting.
  Then, yesterday afternoon, a 26-year-old woman responded to a Craigslist ad that was posted in Longmont.  The ad said the person at the address had free baby clothes to give away.  The lady who visited the address was 7 months pregnant.  A woman was at the address where the clothes were to be given away.  The pregnant woman was taken inside the house, to look at the clothes available.  The pregnant woman was then attacked with a knife, and the baby was cut from her womb - the other woman, who had wielded the knife, left with the child.  Reports are unclear as to how the attacked woman was found, but she was found inside that house.  She was taken to the hospital, and is expected to live.  A few hours later, a woman appeared at a Longmont hospital with a dead child.  The woman claimed that she had suffered a miscarriage, and the baby was hers.  The dead child belonged to the victim of the attack.  The woman who arrived at the hospital with the child has two living children, and her husband drove her to the emergency room.  The woman is also a licensed nurse assistant.
   Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett said that this case could be very complex. "The issues involving an unborn child are complicated under Colorado law.  In most circumstances, if a child is not actually born alive, then homicide charges are not possible."  The suspect was arrested on felony charges including attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault, and child abuse knowingly and recklessly resulting in death.
   What happened in Longmont on March 18?  What caused these crazy things to happen?  What kind of crazy coincidence has two different incidents of knife work?  Right now, I do not think I want to live in Longmont.....

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