"They all look a certain way" II

Police arrest armed man at U.N. garage

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- A California man -- allegedly armed with two guns, a large knife and over 200 rounds of ammunition -- was arrested Thursday as he tried to enter a United Nations parking garage, authorities said.

Vernon J. Welker, 59, is to face charges of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, police detective Kevin Czartoryski said.

He said Welker had a .22-caliber revolver, a .22-caliber Winchester rifle and a large knife in his car when he tried to enter the U.N. parking garage about 10:30 a.m. ET. Czartoryski said both guns were loaded and that Welker had more than 200 rounds of ammunition.

Authorities said Welker tried to enter the garage at 3 U.N. Plaza, which is commonly used by U.N. workers.

He was taken to a Manhattan police station and will be arraigned Friday in a New York criminal court.

Czartoryski said Welker gave no indication why he was carrying the weapons.

Calls to Welker's home in Salton City, California, went unanswered.

Salton City is a small Southern California community about 80 miles east of Oceanside.

Comments

[C.JoDI]

Well, now that you mention it, a certain pattern does seem to be emerging. Perhaps we should only be frisking white men on the subways.

[Kevin]

This guy should have paid better attention. John Bolton only wanted to get rid of the top 10 floors, not the whole building.

Seriously, though... there is a connection to be made between this nutcase and Dear Leader's new UN Ambassador. Just don't expect the "liberal" media to connect those particular dots any time soon.

[Mike Nilsen]

The wingnuts will probably idolize this guy since he may have intended to attack UN staff. Maybe he thought Bolton couldn't do enough damage.

[otherpaul]

ok, so Tucker Carlson endorses terrorism against lefties and then two white guy terrorists are found. Maybe Tucker should inform his people that he was only joking.

[Matt]

Sure sign that this guy is crazy is the guns he had. .22's? Good for mafia-style assasinations, maybe, but not for trying to shoot a whole lot of people in a parking garage or lobby. And it's not as if it's hard to get some nice powerful 9mm handguns w/ hollow-point bullets, or some other guns that you can even convert to full auto w/o too much trouble.

[Michael Schmidt]

80 miles east of Oceanside? I'll bet a lot of folks back east know EXACTLY where that is. Not. They should have said 60 miles east of Escondido. That would have cleared up any confusion.

[Chris Clarke]

Jesus, Michael, talk about nitpicking. Everyone knows Oceanside is just south of Yaldora.

[Jason E.]

That's pretty much right in the heart of the methamphetamine and Christian fundamentalism belt in California, isn't it?

[J.]

Give him a break, maybe he was looking for John Bolton...

[Moon]

the one time i drove along the edge of the salton sea i felt an undeniable urge to shoot me some diplomats. the smell alone is enough to drive one to fundamentalism, meth addiction, and mass murder, and it isn't too easy on the eyes either.

[Herbert Browne]

There's some great background on the Salton City environs, in a 3(?) year old article in Harper's- something like "Go West, old miscreant"- that offers the kind of subtext that this picture evokes. It's Lonerville, home to the sun-baked conspiracy theories that permeate the "Loser Libertarian" culture... ^..^

[zencomix]

I thought Condi was going to babysit Bolton and his boys?

[Joel]

Over at hatewatch.org, it's noted that there have been 60 foiled attempts by Right Wing Terrorists since the OKC bombing. Yet our DoJ continues to insist that environmentalists and animals rights activists constitute the worst threats to our security.

Do you think Bush is trying to avoid alienating his base?

[The Heretik]

Let's get it over with, arrest everybody now, before the threat can emerge. Then we will all be safe. Behind bars.

[Gordon Jones]

Darn! Do you mean they really arrested this guy?

I was hoping he could go in and get rid of Kofi Annan. Perhaps while Kofi and his crooks were raiding the place of needed funds.

Anyone who carries a gun in NYC is arrested. And that's because liberals are pussies.

Down here in Georgia, we invite liberals to come down without arms. We call it hunting season.

[SamChevre]

I have to say--anyone armed with 2 .22's either had no criminal intent or was bat-shit insane. And .22 ammo is small, and usually sold in "bricks" of 500 (about the size of a pound of butter)--so 200 rounds of ammo is a small quantity.

[davids]

Lived a bit in the south, met guys like Gordon, always talking about violence against black people. Funny thing, they were the one who looked like they had a touch of the tarbrush themselves. So Gordon, the old man wasn't satifyin' mama and she crept out for that good black dick? You should come to New York, we're a lot more tolerant of mixed race people up here. No need to hide behind that facade up here, you can be yourself.

[Gordon Jones]

Sorry, I didn't mean to be such a putz yesterday but I was still high on the meth at the time. But I'm feeling much better now.

[pecunium]

.22 is underrated.

I wouldn't want to depend on it in most situations, but it kills a lot of people every year.

200 rounds of .22 takes up a less space than 50 rds of 9mm, so there is something to be said for it in that regard. A .22 is also easy to control, and fairly quiet.

He may be bat-shit crazy, but if it be madness, yet there was method in it.

TK

[pansauce]

Down here in Georgia, we invite liberals to come down without arms. We call it hunting season.

I'm liberal, never owned a gun and've lived the vast majority of my life in Georgia. What I call hunting season is the time of year when I avoid rural roads because drunks wearing camo and orange vests can't figure out which side of the road to keep their pick-ups on.