An Interesting Weekend

"May you live in interesting times" isn't actually a Chinese curse, but it should have been. The last couple days have been interesting:

• Nigel Max Edge (fka Sean DeBevoise) killed 3 and wounded 5 others at a restaurant in South Port, North Carolina,  He purportedly was a former Marine sniper who was shot while serving in Iraq in 2006. He appears to have been mentally disturbed according to this piece from the New York Post, which also adds: "Edge was armed with a short barrel AR rifle, equipped with a suppressor, a folding stock and scope during Saturday’s attack, court documents charge." No motive has been revealed.
• Also on Saturday, "Maniac outfitted with massive arsenal, including armor-piercing bullets, bashes border agent’s car in NYC." The article relates: "When they caught up with the motorist a few blocks away law enforcement allegedly found a scope, a handgun and extra ammo cartridges with the words “Level 3+” scrawled on it, which police believe means the ammo pierces body armor, according to the sources." The magazines shown in photographs appear to be for an AR, so perhaps he was using an AR pistol.
• And Sunday morning, as I was getting ready for church myself, the story of the shooting at an LDS church building in Grand Blanc, Michigan, was just beginning to pop up in the media. Reports are that Thomas Sanford, an Iraq veteran who served in the Marines, drove his truck into the wall of the church building just as Sunday services were starting. He then opened fire on the congregation members that came out to assist him, thinking that it was an automobile accident. I haven't found more detailed information on the type of weapon he used, but it has been described in the media as an "assault rifle". (See also here) At the time of this writing, he reportedly killed four and wounded 8 others. But after he crashed into the church, he also started a fire that eventually consumed the building. Authorities do not believe that everyone was able to evacuate the burning building, so authorities expect to find more victims. Sanford probably did not expect any resistance--LDS churches are "gun free" zones--and likely did not anticipate as quick a response from law enforcement as occurred, and he was quickly shot and killed by responding officers. In fact, the response was so quick that I have to wonder if the first two officers "responding" were actually members of the congregation. (Update: this article indicates that the first two officers arrived on the scene within 32 seconds of the receipt of a call concerning the shooting).  In any event, no motive or connection with the Church has been released. 

There is little information about the Manhattan incident and perhaps it is just part of the general opposition to the ICE roundups of illegal aliens. But it is notable that the two other incidents both involved Marines that had served in Iraq, were armed with "assault weapons" as the media likes to characterize them, and at first blush appear to be "patriots" (the attacker in Grand Blanc even had American flags flying from the pickup truck he used to ram into the church building). It could be a coincidence, but is interesting nevertheless.