A 29-year-old Bangla woman from Queens was accidentally killed two nights ago when a new army recruit fired celebratory shots outside her window:
Selina Akther was shot in the head and died instantly at the window of her fifth-floor apartment in the Queens borough of New York. Police arrested a US soldier who they said was on leave and had been drinking when he fired shots into the air. [Link]It had been a night of celebration for the young Army private, who had just returned from basic training at Ft. Hood, Texas. “We believe he was out partying with his girlfriend and he comes upon his friends,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said at police headquarters. “He approached his friends, and that’s when he fires the shots in the air.” [Link]
After being shot, Ms. Akther lay bleeding on the living-room floor by the bullet-pocked window for about 20 minutes until her husband saw her and realized she was not breathing…
According to a law enforcement official, Private Carpio was extremely remorseful, and was cooperative in trying to help police find the gun, which he said he threw away after firing into the air. The official, who requested anonymity because the investigation was continuing, said Private Carpio had told investigators that while home on leave, he had visited his goddaughter, drank some beer and vodka, left his family and bumped into some old friends, and then, he said, did “something real stupid.” It was not until the next morning that he saw on the news that a mother had been killed. [Link]
Akther’s husband is a street vendor in midtown Manhattan:
Mr. Maola worked at two jobs in New York, he said, selling coffee from one cart on 46th Street in Manhattan in the mornings and falafel from a different cart on the same street in the afternoons. His wife enjoyed staying at home, raising their children and browsing for T-shirts and jewelry, Ms. Parbin said.The family’s two-bedroom apartment was a warm home where they came together for meals, celebrated holidays and watched Indian television together at night, as they were doing on Wednesday before calling Mr. Maola’s sisters in Bangladesh. [Link]
Drunkenly shooting rounds in populated areas is a murderous idea:
Five Baghdad hospitals treated 46 people wounded by celebratory gunfire after Saturday night’s televised match… [Link]<
p>… a bullet fired into the air can climb two miles into the air and remain in flight for more than a minute. As it falls, the bullet reaches a velocity of 300 to 700 feet per second. A velocity of only 200 feet per second is sufficient to penetrate the human skull. [Link]
Pvt. Carpio just got back from basic training. That’s gonna be one of the shortest enlistments in military history.
manish: thanks for the post… it shows us how stupid things that we might think are harmless can actually kill people…and appropriate for the new years festivities coming up…. her family are in my thoughts and prayers….
This is really upsetting. In the past week there have been 2 senseless deaths in Queens that have snuffed away the life of two law abiding desi denizens that did absolutely nothing to deserve what came to them nor did they go looking for any trouble. Link WTF!!
Jane, your link is the second Queens crime report in recent memory (previous was someone hit by a car, I believe) where both parties involved happened to be desi. Says something about the demographics of some neighborhoods.
This is upsetting…..what a waste! What happens to the recruit now? How does the law deal with him?
I didn’t know. Thats the heart wrenching part. Like a NYker I hear of a bad accident or incident and feel bad for the moment and move on and then I find out later that it’s a desi and it just kills me.
He goes to jail for irresponsible stupidity!
This is unbearable. What a horrendous, senseless thing to happen to this lady and her family.
My co-inhabitants told me of this rule when I moved into Flushing from India: At any sign of trouble outside, stay away from the windows. Curiousity will get you killed.
Haven’t been to Queens in years – looks like nothing’s changed.
M. Nam
Good thing the victim was a Bangla lady and the perpetrator a marine because if the roles were reversed, the right wing media from Michelle Malkin to LGF would have lost their minds crying over another victim of ‘Islamo-fascism’.
Seems almost too convenient to be an accident. The authorities are too eager to pass it off as a “stray” bullet and looks like no one is even probing a hate crime angle.
Seems almost too convenient to be an accident. The authorities are too eager to pass it off as a “stray” bullet and looks like no one is even probing a hate crime angle.
I’m not dismissing your theory but this is all too common in NYC. Bystanders get killed all the time in this city by stray bullets with incredible precision.
Of course. That was a compelling argument for me when I moved from Jersey.
I don’t doubt this was an accident, but why did the guy toss his gun away after firing it since according to him he didn’t think he did anything wrong?
what is the standard for saying ‘bangla’ vs. ‘bangali’? i thought bangla was the language, bangali was the person? i got confused about this over in bangladesh, so that’s why i bring it up….
Doesn’t basic training teaches you not to shoot at innocent people. Since its the US ARMY, I guess not!
yet another reminder of when my friend tell me they want to immigrate here, and they think America is sooo great. It is in many ways a great country, but goooooooddddd, the stupidity, the ignorance, and wrecklessness of many leaves one stunned. It leaves a bittersweet tatse in my mouth, because people choose to be this way, they choose to act like idiots. And i know you’ll get that in any country, but we just seem to have an incredible influx of them here, that outshines many others. yeesssh. Mass cases of peter pan syndrome.
Patti aren’t you being a bit unfair? Media and access for the average person to that media has a huge impact on the awareness of such incidences. To say “this country is not worth migrating to because of these incidences” is a very myopic way of looking at a complex issue. For those that clamor to this country, and everyday they do; the opportunities far outweigh the possibility of such freak incidences. The average person doesn’t experience these freak issues personally. Shit happens and it happens everywhere all the time.
This was a horrific tragedy and I feel so bad for those two little children left behind. But this was clearly not a “hate crime.” It was the act of a stupid drunken kid.
Very sad… AND preventable! My aunt who lives in Elmhurst knew this lady.
The new year is the best day .Don’t waste your life .Be a good person . Time and tide wait for none
All people are crazy in the earth
Mark wrote:
Wait..is this 1807 or 2007?
SM intern: gonna delete comment #21? Cause someone is off their meds…..
Sorry, her imperial brattiness had a bad day at work and I was making her a martini. Or six.
The poo-flinger has been banned and deleted.