The individual pictured here is Kimveer Gill, who walked into Dawson College in Montreal yesterday, dressed in black from head to toe and carrying what witnesses described as a “huge machine gun,” and opened fire, killing an 18-year-old woman and critically injuring at least five other people. Gill died in the incident, shot either by police or by himself. Gill, who left a wealth of information about himself at his page on vampirefreaks.com (username: fatality666) was 25 and desi:

Gill, who is known to other users on the website as Fatality666, describes himself as Indian, 6-foot-one, who was born in Montreal on July 9, 1981.

Gill wasn’t just your typical deranged guy with violent fantasies. He was obsessed with guns and knives and posted numerous photos of himself armed online. He enjoyed a videogame based on the Columbine massacre. His “personality quiz” on the site matched him with Adolf Hitler, Satanism, the Angel of Death, werewolves, and other morbid connections. He boasted of his whisky drinking. And so on:

“I think I have an obbsetion (sic) with guns . . . muahahaha,” is the inscription below another picture of Gill aiming the barrel of the gun at the camera.

“Anger and hatred simmers within me,” said another caption below a head shot of Gill grimacing.

The site also has lengthly lists of likes and dislikes. On the “likes” list are: first-person-shooter video games, “Super Psycho Maniacs roaming the streets freely,” massacres, trenchcoats, destruction and “crushing my enemies skulls.”

He also shows a penchant for semi-automatic handguns, combat shotguns, sawed-off shotguns, assault rifles and myriad other weapons.

He dislikes: “The world and everything in it.”

“But to be more specific,” he continues, he hates jocks, preps, country music, Hip Hop, “all those who oppose my rule.”

Gill seems to harbour particular disdain for authority, including police, “all the government on Earth,” “bible-thumping know-it-alls” and God.

The desi angle in this story is, as they say, developing: We know nothing about Gill’s life story yet. But he was desi, and we report the good and the bad here. We’ve also talked about desi goths, though this guy was clearly mentally ill, not a “normal” goth. This story also reminds us of how much evidence of psychopathic or violent intentions resides in plain sight on the Internet. You could look at this guy’s web postings as cries of pain that weren’t heard by anyone other than a small echo chamber of people with similar inclinations. Lots of trees fall in this forest every day; few are heard.

Kimveer Gill put up an image of a tombstone and epitaph on his web page: “Lived fast died young. Left a mangled corpse.” Well, he left two — his own and that of an innocent young woman, with five more struggling to survive. Continue reading →

As ANNA notes in the previous post (we seem to have been writing at the same time) explosions earlier today targeted ceremonies being held in a Muslim cemetery in the city of Malegaon in Maharashtra state. The reported death toll has risen to 37, with 200 injured. The exact details including the number of blasts are still unclear:

At last count, the local police said there seemed to have been three blasts at the Bada Kabristan cemetery where thousands of Muslim devotees had gathered to observe “Shabbe Baraat” when the dead are remembered. Another blast was reported from elsewhere. Ten deaths had been confirmed, about 100 people were injured.

The blasts outside Nurani Masjid in this textile town triggered a stampede with devotes rushing, falling over each other, the injured and the dead to reach safety.

On Shabbe Baraat, thousands of faqirs (alms seekers) gather in Malegaon. The crowds at the prayers were made up largely of the faqirs when the blasts occurred. Some reports suggested the blasts occurred in the belongings of one such alms seeker.

The city is under curfew and the central and state governments appear to have reacted quite quickly dispatching troops to avert communal violence. Political parties including the BJP and Congress have of course condemned the action. (Not clear yet if the Shiv Sena/RSS have been heard from: in view of their popularity in Maharashtra, a strong condemnation could help ensure things don’t spread; if anyone knows about this or any other pertinent developments for that matter, send a link and I’ll update the post.)

There’s not much to say about this incident until more information comes out, but I noticed that reports referred to Malegaon’s history of communal violence, so I thought I’d look for a little background to help us get some context. Here’s what I found out: Continue reading →

Datelined Charlieville, Trinidad and Tobago, a fascinating article by Josh Meyer in the Los Angeles Times today about the worldwide hunt, fruitless so far, for Adnan Gulshair Muhammad el-Shukrijumah, 31, US citizen, computer technician by trade, jihadist by avocation, and (strongly) suspected top-level operative of the al-Qaeda version 2.0 that many experts believe is currently forming.

Charlieville, a rural Muslim community in T & T, is where Shukrijumah spent the week of the September 11 attacks, and where the FBI went looking for him 18 months later, by which time he was of course long gone. Why T & T? Not entirely clear, but Shukrijumah is originally Guyanese (and thus very likely partly or mostly desi) and the two countries have numerous cultural affinities that include supporting each other’s music, football teams, cricket stars, and now perhaps more sinister affinities among groups with nefarious intent.

Known by various aliases, including “The South American,” Shukrijumah has quite a reputation and the skills and credentials to move with relative ease:

Whereas Al Qaeda’s core followers are young, poor and relatively uneducated, Shukrijumah has attended college and is comfortable with technology. He’s also a naturalized U.S. citizen whose appearance would allow him to pass as Latino, Indian or Middle Eastern and who speaks English with no discernible accent, officials say. …

When asked which operative was most likely to launch a U.S.-based attack, many captives mentioned one particular figure with an almost mythical reputation as a ruthless militant. His nom de guerre was Jaffar al Tayyar, a reference to an Islamic hero who had fought beside the prophet Muhammad.

But his identity, too, was a mystery.

The pieces began to come together in early March when [Khalid Shaikh] Mohammed was captured in Pakistan and his computers, phones and other electronic gear were seized.

The evidence confirmed that Mohammed had been sending “Westernized” Al Qaeda soldiers on missions into the U.S. and other countries.

And when Mohammed was shown a photograph of Shukrijumah, he identified him as Tayyar, U.S. counter-terrorism officials said.

By then, U.S. authorities were concluding that Shukrijumah was also the shadowy South American, an apparent reference to his time spent in Trinidad and nearby Guyana.

To their dismay, they realized that one of Al Qaeda’s best-trained operatives had been lurking — and perhaps plotting — in the United States since long before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Continue reading →