AP Pathetically Tries to Turn Mass Murder Story into Gun Control Story, While Withholding Essential Information

Re-posted by Nicholas Stix

AP reporter Gordon Bassham’s story below arbitrarily omits many names, while giving others. Some readers will no doubt say, “They’re waiting for family members of the unnamed to be notified,” but if that’s the case, you’re supposed to say so.

Meanwhile, Bassham emphasizes, “The 54-year-old father was a heavy drinker with a large gun collection.” I can see him mentioning the murderous father’s drinking problem, but since he only used one gun, the size of his gun collection was irrelevant. There was only one issue, regarding which the size of the father’s gun collection might have been relevant: When the killer’s son, Christopher Morey, 33, wrestled his father’s gun away and shot him dead. The knowledge that Mr. Morey had a had a large gun collection would have weighed heavily on Christopher Morey’s mind, and will surely be brought up by his defense counsel at trial, either as an exculpatory or mitigating factor. But Gordon Bassham ignores it in that context.

I believe that Bassham brought up the size of Mr. Morey (Sr.’s) gun collection so ham-handedly, is because he is promoting the gun-grabbing politics of the John Doe calling himself “Barack Obama,” who brings up this issue, trying to tie together the ownership of multiple firearms, even when multiple firearms are not used in the commission of a crime, as a pretext to limit gun ownership.
 

4 shot dead including man, wife in suburban Los Angeles home
By Gordon Bassham
AP/KSN

ROWLAND HEIGHTS, Calif. (AP) — A man shot and killed his wife and two others in his home on New Year's Eve before his son wrestled the gun away and fatally shot him in a chain of events apparently set off by a dispute over a washing machine, authorities said.

The two other victims killed were the son's 48-year-old girlfriend who also lives [sic] at the house in Rowland Heights and a 27-year-old man who was visiting, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said Friday.

The 54-year-old father was a heavy drinker with a large gun collection, and authorities had made dozens of previous trips to the home, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department said.

Investigators were talking to surviving witnesses to figure out what led to the father pulling out a semi-automatic pistol and opening fire.

"It looks like it was a dispute between the dad and the son's girlfriend, probably over using the washing machine," Sheriff's Lt. John Corina told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. "For some reason, this set the dad off."

The son, 33-year-old Christopher Morey, eventually recovered the gun from his father and shot him, authorities said. Morey is being held on suspicion of murder on $1 million bail, authorities said. Deputies reached by phone did not know if he has an attorney who could comment.

Morey and his girlfriend were living in the home with the 54-year-old mother, who had recently had a stroke.

"They had been taking care of her," Corina said. "She was in a hospital bed there in the middle of the living room."

Authorities have not released the name of any victims, but the mother and brother of the 27-year-old were outside the home Friday and told the Tribune his name was Ernesto Calzadilla and he has an 8-month-old daughter.

The mother, Maria Cruz, said the family was nice to his son and he liked being at the house.

But the brother, Wilfred Calzadilla, said Ernesto had generally stopped going to the house because of worries about the father, making an exception on New Year's Eve.

"Mixing alcohol and guns never ends good," Wilfred Calzadilla said.