Armanious killings update: first post-press conference report. Nothing much to it. More when available. From CBS:
With the suspect or suspects still on the loose, family members came to ask federal authorities to play a major role in this investigation."Up to this moment, we still suffer and we're going to suffer, especially on occasions when we get together," says Ayman Garas, the victim's brother.
Their desperate search for justice brought them together on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. where family members of the victims met with NJ law makers like Senator Frank Lautenberg. ...
And that is why family members also met with FBI officials to make sure every possible motive is looked at including suspicions the killings may have been an act of revenge over anti-Islamic comments Hossam may have made in a Internet chat room.
Jewelry wasn't taken from the home but investigators say they're still looking at a financial motive. At a press conference, a human rights group called for the justice department to take a greater role in the investigation.
The Hudson County Prosecutors Office is leading this investigation. Family members say they are happy with what that office is doing. However, they disagree with a number of theories prosecutors are pursuing including robbery.
The family showed they would stand up in public and speak about the case. This has to be sobering for those others involved.
I wasn't aware, until I read a recent Pipes piece about this that there have been many other such cases never fully investigated and explained. Even the one where a jihadist shot up a bus full of little Jewish schoolchildren on the Brooklin Bridge in 1994 was never classified as terrorism.
I suppose in the interests of not appearing to profile radical Muslims, that'll be the very last place they look for a motive...
we have serious issues of sovereignty facing us on a daily basis, we were attacked on 9-11-01 not by radical terrorist' but by on ideology that has been biding its time (ali is hiding in the desert)so it could lash out at the chosen time, it is here and it is now,district attorney and prosecutor stumble around with theories....why do we pay these guys anyway seems to me we solved the case right here.
why cant they handle it something like this:
Motorcycle Gang Claims Rights Violated In Search Of Clubhouse
By JEFFREY B. COHEN
Courant Staff Writer
January 7 2004
WATERBURY Ct -- It was a standard Christmas party, full of food, family and festive cheer.
That is, until state troopers and local police knocked down the two doors of the Waterbury clubhouse of the Outlaws Motorcycle Gang, ordered everyone to hit the floor, handcuffed and photographed each of the revelers, searched for illegal guns, and - just days before Christmas - ripped open their presents.
Police were there on Dec. 20 to execute a search warrant, but they made no arrests and found none of the guns they were looking for. Now the Outlaws claim police violated their civil rights and say they plan to file suit in federal court.
Police were looking for Frank Nelson and were granted warrants to search his car, his home and the Outlaws' clubhouse at 27 Division St., where police say he is the sergeant at arms. Nelson was arrested in 1994 on a misdemeanor charge that prohibits him from owning guns. State records show that he has nine weapons registered to him, according to one of the three search warrant affidavits unsealed Monday.
According to the affidavits, which were signed by Waterbury Superior Court Judge Michael Hartmere, police felt the search was justified because Nelson had guns registered to him that he is not allowed to have, because he is an Outlaw, and because the Outlaws are known to store personal belongings at the clubhouse. Police also searched his home, and hoped to search his car - but they could not find it.
Efforts to reach Nelson through the Outlaws were unsuccessful.
Kathleen Eldergill is the attorney for the Outlaws. She is also representing five state Department of Correction employees who are under investigation for their alleged association with the Outlaws. Eldergill has said she will file suit on First Amendment grounds if her clients are disciplined.
In the case of last month's search, she says she'll argue the Fourth Amendment's protection from unreasonable searches and seizures.
"It's kind of scary to think you can be at a party, the police can raid you, handcuff you, detain you for as long as they want to, and then say before you leave, you have to have your picture taken," Eldergill said. "That's scary, I think. A lot scarier than the motorcycle club."
Eldergill disputes some of the information in the affidavit, including that which characterizes the Outlaws in a criminal light, and questions its execution.
"I can't think of why they would slash open cushions, have everybody empty their pockets," she said.
"The reason they conducted this raid had nothing to do with Frank Nelson's guns. They were looking for some pretense to raid the place and search everybody."
Specifically, Eldergill claims that by forcing each person to have his or her picture taken before leaving, police may have violated the Fourth Amendment protection against unlawful search and seizure.
At the party, Outlaws and their guests were watching football, while others were sitting at the bar. Unopened gifts - including a framed picture of James Dean and some compact discs - lined the shelf on the wall. A table was covered with macaroni and meatballs, veal Parmesan, roast pork with potatoes, eggplant parmigiana, all kinds of salads, cookies, cakes and pies, said Marty Warren, the club's president.
The affidavit describes the Division Street clubhouse as a building surrounded by a chain-link fence that is "reinforced with sheet metal and razor wire." The clubhouse entrance is within the fenced area of the rear yard, and the steel door is reinforced with welded steel plates. The clubhouse is equipped with at least three video cameras.
Around 8 that night, between 30 and 40 armed people, some of them masked, came over the fences and broke down the doors to the clubhouse, Eldergill said.
When he heard the loud pounding on the back door, Warren said, "I looked on the monitors and noticed that there were people coming into the compound by droves."
"They shouldn't be abusing people and treating them like criminals when they've done nothing wrong," he said. "Looking for Frank Nelson did not justify what they did, busting up a Christmas party. All they had to do was say, `Hey, can we talk to Frank?' No problem."
When police identified Warren, they took him aside to inform him of the warrant and the process. They searched him and took his cellphone and his address book. When the raid was over, they returned the phone but kept the book, Warren said.
Nelson also was searched, but none of the items in the search warrant was found and Nelson was not arrested, Warren said.
Meanwhile, the rest of the guests were cuffed with nylon ties and forced to remain on the ground - including one club member's asthmatic mother, Warren said. Before anyone could leave, they were photographed.
"If you objected to having your picture taken, the response was, `Well, we have all night,'" Eldergill said.
One member of the state police who investigates gang crime and monitors motorcycle clubs said police entered the way they did for everyone's safety.
"When you're going into a situation like that that's fortified and the warrant is for weapons, you want to take precautions," the official said, asking that his name not be used because of his undercover work. "Both for law enforcement personnel and for the people inside."
State police spokesman Sgt. J. Paul Vance was not familiar with the affidavit.
But he said opening the presents was fair game "if they were contained within the premise."
Quinnipiac University School of Law Professor Stanton Krauss said police have a right to choose when to execute a warrant, within the scope of the warrant's time frame.
"If the time was inconvenient for Mr. Nelson and his friends and fortuitous for the police, too bad for the friends and fine for the police," Krauss said.
and these are citizens;veterans,lawyers,machinists,drivers,mechanics living life like we like plain and simple.
how can these atrocities be tolerated yet on the other hand horrendous acts of war committed by ashshin'sent from God only knows where.
Let's stay on topic. Has anyone else caught any reports on this? I'm amazed by how little this is being covered by the MSM...
the topic my friend is the same we were reading, are we not astounded at the way authorities are handling this?....its like they play with doo-doo.. when dealing with the muslims.....my point is that if the feds can perpetuate a raid such as this on its citizens how come they dont do it with islam,.....cair would be involved with imans and mosques and should be considered an entity of islam so caharges should prevail for everyone connected...i listed some places before to check out the RICO ACT established to deal swift justice....why then has it not been implyed here.