June 8, 2013

Santa Monica shooter perhaps named Zawahri

LALate has the property records on the home burned down at the start of the domestic dispute turned rampage shooting in Santa Monica, right near where I lived in 1981-82. The owner of the house appears to have been the now late Samir Zawahri, father of the presumed shooter. The LA Times reports:
Firefighters later found the bodies of two men inside the house. Police sources, who requested anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, said the men were Samir Zawahri, 55, the owner of the house, and one of his adult sons. A second son is suspected of being the shooter, the sources said.

Any relation to Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri, current head of Al-Qaeda?

Probably not. This sounds like the usual domestic murder-suicide, just given the evil recent twist, a la Newtown or Chris Dorner, where the guy kills a family member or some other personal enemy, then decides, rather than just shoot himself in the traditional manner, to go out big like his favorite video game or media anti-hero.

32 comments:

gc said...

The mainstream media has worked very hard to censor his name from the reports -- some give his full medical history (mental illness and hospital stay due to mental illness), his father's street address, and then add "the name of the gunman is not known" Well, duh! How do you get someone's detailed mental health records without knowing their name? His surname is not supportive of the agenda.

Socially Extinct said...

This country is becoming Whac-A-Mole in terms of paranoia-induced incidents. But now the paranoia is solidifying and actually becoming scary. It's like watching Halloween on your television and suddenly a man in a hockey mask starts knocking on your door.

RKU said...

Hmmm... LA County is only something like 20% white European these days, and probably at least 1/3 of those are Jewish plus the whites skew elderly,
so what sort of name would you expect? I suppose the name of the shooter might have been Thurston Howell III...but then he'd have been black!

Anonymous said...

I think he was a Lebanese Christian, not a Muslim.

Anonymous said...

Has anyone ever examined how often and why so many of these murder suicides wind up as murders and a pretend suicide? My assumption has always been that the why is extreme cowardice.

Anonymous said...

Someone should do a study on the time taken for the MSM/PTB to release the name of the perp; the longer, the more likely it will be someone who upsets their little apple cart.

Anon.

Matthew said...

The only identification of the shooter I saw said that he was a 'white male.'

Nice to know the media hasn't changed their tune.

Anonymous said...

Hell, I think this one will go down the memory hole. The name is a big problem.

Would have been better if his last name was Romney or Bush or Buchanan or something like that.

consider the source said...

"He was described as a male Caucasian between the ages of 25 and 30" -NBC News

Jeff said...

Last names don't always mean much in the Arab world. I had a language instructor who shared the last name of on of my college best friends, but when I mentioned that, he pointed out that it's a tribal name shared by ~10s of thousands of Gulf Arabs. Not sure about Zawahiri, but I'd guess it's more of a clan name than an indication of close relations.

Perspective said...

The gun man was described as being a white male by an eye witness. It seems white male is now the default description for anyone that isn't obviously black or east Asian. If it turns out to be an Arab/middle eastern/central or west asian he will be classified as white according to government stats.

Anonymous said...

KCRW keeps saying white male in all black

Anonymous said...

Samir is mostly a Christian Arab name, and the shooter's name is supposedly John, so...probably Copts or Chaldeans.

Anonymous said...

I think they were just trying to avoid accidentally naming the wrong person, as with Ryan Lanza.

Auntie Analogue said...


Left-libs again denied a Great White Scapegoat: can't you just hear the gnashing of their teeth?

Anonymous said...

OT: why is Adam Clymer in the NYT -- apropos to nothing --talking about two JFK speeches that "led to swift action"? Perhaps our rulers are suffering more flop sweat and are yearning for "bold" leadership on amnesty...

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/us/remembering-two-seminal-kennedy-speeches.html?hpw&_r=0

Anonymous said...

Laist.com reports his name as John Zawahri. Other reports say the family is Lebanese. What with a first name like John, they're probably Lebanese Christian.

Peter

Anonymous said...

Gunman's name was John Zawahri. Perhaps Lebanese Christian? Muslim Arabs don't tend to adopt American names.

Anonymous said...

We'll soon hear what prescription psychoactive he was being treated with.

ogunsiron said...

David Sirota is lucky.
Had the recent shooters been black or asians, David Sirota would have jumped out of a window by now, but the latest shootings have been done by "peripheral whites" so Sirota isn't yet on suicide watch.

ogunsiron said...

I was wondering about the arab christians in the usa. Is there any indication that they are de-assimilating ? With what Steve has deemed the "flight from white" in full force, it's a possibility.

Anonymous said...

"We'll soon hear what prescription psychoactive he was being treated with."

lol, I think I see a logical fallacy here

"I was wondering about the arab christians in the usa. Is there any indication that they are de-assimilating ? With what Steve has deemed the "flight from white" in full force, it's a possibility."

Government incentives have a lot to do with it. Arabs don't get any kind of "diverse" points, so I doubt it.

Bruce Pinsky said...

"His surname is not supportive of the agenda. " Neither is his religion. How on earth are Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh going to spin a Christian shooter from an Orthodox Christian church named John, who had a brother named CHRISTOPHER? This is just awful for the Christian right-wing in this country!!

Anonymous said...

While it's not a hard and fast rule, in general Lebanese Christians tend to be somewhat lighter than their Muslim countrymen. So it's not altogether surprising that the first reports described the shooter as a white male.

Peter

Anonymous said...

Never mind He won't be white for long, now.

Anon.

white lines said...

Serge Ayoub (veteran roughneck leader of the JNR in France) is of Lebanese descent. He looks like Kojak methinks.

Harry Baldwin said...

If it turns out to be an Arab/middle eastern/central or west asian he will be classified as white according to government stats.

It's either call them white or give them the full benefit of AA. We can't win.

Has anyone ever examined how often and why so many of these murder suicides wind up as murders and a pretend suicide?

Maybe they start out thinking they're going to commit suicide but decide to see what it's like by shooting someone else first, and then find the results not so appealing.

Anonymous said...

Socially Extinct, you mixed your slasher flick metaphors. Halloween=Michael Myers (inside out Capt Kirk mask); Friday the 13th=Jason Voorhees (hockey mask). Every American should know stupid shit like that.

Brazilian said...

Most of the Lebanese Christians now live here in Brazil, they have surnames like Haddad, Maluf, Alckmin, Kassab.

They own São Paulo (the biggest and richest city), most of the recent mayors and governors have been Lebanese Christians.

RE said...

Looks like the media does not want to give us clear information about this guy. Muslim or not??

Meaghan Edwards said...

Apparently yes, Orthodox Christian: http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7074892&postID=9083016955396612416

Dutch Boy said...

News reports he had a history of mental problems. Anybody suspect he was started on or had his dose of psych meds boosted recently (SSRIs)?