Matthew Murray's Internet postings raise the question: When is a rant on the Web an expression of free speech and when does a rant become a legitimate threat?
KUSA -- 9Wants to Know has discovered more than a dozen writings posted by Matthew Murray where he warns of an impending rampage and copied the statements of one of the Columbine High School gunmen.
..."You Christians brought this on yourselves," Murray wrote on a Web site for people who have left Pentecostal and fundamentalist religious organizations.
It was the most recent posting of his on the site, dated Sunday, December 9 at 11:03 a.m.
...In the Web writings, which are now being investigated by Colorado Springs Police, Arvada Police and the FBI, Murray warned, "I'm coming for EVERYONE soon and I WILL be armed to the @#%$ teeth and I WILL shoot to kill. ...God, I can't wait till I can kill you people. Feel no remorse, no sense of shame, I don't care if I live or die in the shoot-out. All I want to do is kill and injure as many of you ... as I can especially Christians who are to blame for most of the problems in the world."
If the time on the posting is accurate, it was posted after the 12:30 a.m. shooting Sunday morning in Arvada and before the 1:10 p.m. Sunday afternoon shooting in Colorado Springs.
Murray's first posting on the day of the shootings is time stamped 10:50 a.m. It begins with a goodbye to those he has corresponded with for the past several months.
"You guys were awesome. It's time for me to head out and teach these (expletive) a lesson."
Murray continued, "Thanks for listening and all ... even though even many of you ex-Pentecostals don't understand ......(sic) See you all on the other side, we're leaving this nightmare behind to a better place."
Then Murray posted the 11:03 writing quoted above. That writing mirrors written statements by Columbine gunman Eric Harris.
After that final posting, one of the other Web site users realizes what's happened and wrote, "Oh no. I just saw this on the news."
Another wrote, "Yes, please don't do it. You'd only make them into martyrs and yourself into a fanatical, hateful zealot, in the public opinion."
The only other posting that referred to Murray was a user asking everyone to leave the Web site to chat about Murray elsewhere to avoid the media finding out.
9NEWS attempted to contact the webmaster without success. 9NEWS is not naming the Web site to protect the privacy of its users. Murray's writings were removed from the Web site on Monday night.
...Throughout his writings, which spanned several months, Murray's violence continued to accelerate.
Some of the users tried to counsel Murray and one psychologist even offered her services after reading his poem called "Crying all alone in pain in the nightmare of Christianity".
Murray rebuffed her offer.
"I've already been working with counselors. I have a point to make with all this talk about psychologists and counselors 'helping people with their pain,'" he wrote.
Should the administrator and users of the website have reported Murray's posts to authorities?
Did some of the users on the site consider Murray's rants to be typical, over the top Internet crap and brush them off?
Some tried to reach out to him, but no one apparently contacted authorities.
If they had, would Murray have been arrested? Would the four people he killed be alive today?
Bottom line: Threats posted on the Internet need to be taken seriously and investigated. Website administrators need to cooperate with law enforcement.
8 comments:
Speaking as someone who has been a member of that website for the past two years, this week was the first time he made threatening statements -- and as soon as he did, he was reported.
The blame lies with him and his refusal to seek help.
What do you mean "he was reported"?
Reported to whom?
Police?
Did police know about his threatening statements and not follow-up?
Please don't misunderstand me.
I believe that the responsibility for the murders lies solely with Murray. No one else.
The media wasn't all over this story when it was thought that Assam had killed the creep. As soon as it was reported Murray shot himself, it has become much bigger. The MSM doesn't want to credit Assam with thwarting a MASS MASS killing by virtue of concealed carry. It's patently dishonest. The last 2 hourly radio reports noted that he killed himself "despite earlier reports that a citizen security guard killed him."
She pumped the mutherfuqqer full of lead, he was dead either way. But the point is that without her being there ARMED a major major tragedy would have occurred. There was a packed church and a mad killer with 2 hand guns and a AK47. Without concealed carry in Colorado this would have been worse than Columbine. My brother was on SWAT at Columbine and he said this would have been a massacre without an armed citizen.
Murray was going to kill himself, but his demise was hastened by an armed citizen.
The forum admin reported his posts to the FBI, who were soon in contact with him. I learned today that one of our members actually submitted his username and some chat transcripts to a suicide hotline.
Unfortunately, he didn't post any real threats until after the first killings, and then the second killings took place only an hour later -- we don't usually have a lot of activity at that time of day.
Mickey, the media were all over the shootings, and they did interview Assam.
But I agree, the lib media seemed to take great pleasure in asserting that Murray killed himself.
I believe that had she not shot him, he would have gone on to kill many more people before taking his own life. Her role in ending the slaughter should not be underestimated. She's a hero.
THE FBI CONTACTED HIM?
How do you know that?
Sorry, my pronoun was unclear. The FBI was in contact with our forum administrator.
No problem.
When I came back to this page and reread your comment, I realized that you probably meant the FBI contacted the forum's administrator, not Murray.
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