by Jack
July 2, Boise, Idaho – It began with an act of kindness. A local homeless man, Timmy Kinner, was down on his luck. So he was invited by a good samaritan, a casual friend of his, to stay at his apartment for a few days. But, Kinner wore out his welcome fast. His behavior was so bad he was told that he had to go and his host gave him the boot. This triggered a growing rage. That anger culminated when Kinner returned to the apartment complex to seek revenge. (Kinner is shown left, in his first court appearance yesterday.)
According to police, Kinner returned to the apartment complex mad at the world and armed with a knife. The very first group of people Kinner encountered were several refugee families and their small children having a birthday party. They had absolutely nothing to do with Kinner’s problem; they didn’t even know the man and when he went psycho on them they were shocked and stunned.
They were just having an outdoor party for 3 year old Ruya Kadir. The last thing they expected was to be savagely and pointlessly attacked by a killer with a knife. Before it was over, 9 people had been repeatedly stabbed, 6 of them little children. Ruya, age 3, would eventually succumb to her wounds several days later. See picture on right. Why would he stab her, she had done nothing. Then again, why stab anyone? Only Kinner can answer that one.
According to police, Kinner has a criminal past and was fairly well known to Boise officers.
Not surprising, random, pointless, stabbings are not an uncommon among the homeless camps. The threat is often hidden behind the faces of those with mental issues from any number of causes, many self inflicted. Now they are socio-paths, pathological predators and who knows what could set them off? Simply put, when you are dealing with the hoards of homeless in a town, you can never know exactly who you’re truly dealing with.
In Kinner’s case, his unsuspecting friend introduced this ticking time-bomb into a nice family complex, albeit with good intentions! And you know what they say about good intentions paving the way to Hell?
This terrible incident must serve to remind us that we have a very serious and complicated problem whenever we’re dealing with the homeless. Not long ago several Chico locals were stabbed by a homeless man after they refused to give him their spare change. A stabbing death followed soon afterwards, which was believed unrelated to the other stabbings. So these things can happen anywhere at any time.
As the homeless population in CA swells to dangerous levels, I’m reminded how the ACLU once sued to get the mentally ill released from hospitals nationwide. How our so-called “professionals” thought out-patient care would be more beneficial and practical. And I recall how at almost the same the same time the ACLU sued to get several good laws overturned that helped police have some measure of control over the local transients.
Vagrancy laws were tossed out. Failure to identify – tossed out. Loitering in the late hours under suspicious circumstances – tossed out. Sleeping on the sidewalk – tossed out. Even urinating or defecating in public was deemed not an offense under certain circumstances.
It’s time to take off those rose colored glasses and deal with our new reality. We need those laws more now than ever. Police and ought to be able to take crazies off the street for a mental health evaluation and possible a court ordered hospitalization. Chronic vagrants, convicted of petty offenses that are physically and mentally fit should be put on a chain gang so regular work would like more appealing. The idea that if we will just be good neighbors the bums sleeping in our neighborhoods will likewise be good neighbors.
The net result of years of denial, years of failed touchy-feely programs, years of destructive liberal government has brought us to a very low place in our nation’s history. Crime in CA, especially violent crime among the homeless population, has spiked at the same time CA passed several harmful soft on crime pieces of legislation. It’s going to be up to us, collectively, to demand better and if the politicians can’t cut it… vote them out!
I’m tellin’ ya, Dude. You need to read some Buddhism. It might help.
“The net result of years of denial, years of failed touchy-feely programs, ….”
Yeah, that’s what you see. It occurs to me that if this guy had been, not on the street, but on somebody’s behavioral health unit, none of this would have happened.
Fat chance of that in Idaho.
Yeah ’cause those country bumpkins in Idaho are not as smart or aware as those who live in the Bay Area…Lord you are a bigot!
Jack is right…left thinkers (those you believe to be smarter, wiser, and fully aware – Buddhism) have been proven to be wrong about nearly everything since WWII…much worse since the far-out sixties! Your ideas fail. Put in practice they drone on and on creating more problems than they solve. They are costly and wasteful, they create dependency, they destroy families and lives, they give very poor care to those truly in need and as a byproduct, they increase criminal activity. The main reason is you rely entirely on your melting hearts without input from the brain.
The latest example is the states run by Democrats that INSIST on universal healthcare KNOWING that there is no way they can pay for it now or in the future…knowing that it will drive costs up.
Buddhism can be a tool to make oneself more aware and therefore more at peace…it inevitably leads to a sense of personal responsibility for everything.
And you can’t fake it.
You don’t express yourself as if you’ve reached a high level of awareness.
Thanks Tina. I wish the police had the legal ability to take crazy people off the street and then put them in a setting (mental hospital) where they must take their medication. That’s a great first step to protect the public and the mentally ill.
But, the ACLU said unless they are a clear danger to themselves or others (way too broad) the police can’t touch them.
However, being non-violent crazy and then being homicidal crazy can happen in a split second. How do we know? Evidence the man who recently attacked one of our Fire Capts. as he exited his fire truck..THIS SITUATION STARTED OUT AS A MAN DOWN CALL. Crazy people do unpredictable, irresponsible things all the time, who knows when such actions will result in an act “dangerous to themselves or others?”
A long time ago when I was a police officer I was confronted by stocky man who was digging up the flowers at a county building. He was clearly having mental issues. As I attempted to calm him down, he swung a hatchet at me. I ducked, stepped into him and placed him in a control hold. But this could have been fatal on another person. I put a 72 hour hold on the guy so he could be evaluated by a psychiatrist. But, now, in Butte County, they don’t have any way to hold a potentially dangerous person like this man. We have no lock up rooms in our mental hospital and the law says they can’t be jailed. So it makes it very difficult to effectively deal with these kind of contacts.