Forth victim of serial killer was a homeless Vietnam Veteran

Police ‘extremely confident’ man in custody is responsible for 4 California homeless killings

By Associated Press, Published: January 14

Also Saturday, mourners wept at the scene of death of the latest victim, who was described by friends as a Vietnam War veteran in his 60s named John. They left flowers and signs, one of which read “We love you, John.”

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Investigators are “extremely confident” a man in custody is responsible for all four recent killings of homeless men in Orange County, Anaheim Police Chief John Welter said Saturday, easing a month of worry and fear among the homeless and their advocates.

Investigators have tied the killings to Itzcoatl Ocampo, 23, of Yorba Linda, who was detained Friday night after a fourth homeless man was stabbed to death in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant, Welter said.

Witnesses and bystanders at the crime scene chased Ocampo on foot, and he was captured by a police officer who was part of a perimeter set up in response to dozens of 911 calls and other reports.

Three other homeless men have been found stabbed to death in north Orange County since mid-December, and a task force had been looking for the single suspect they believed was responsible for all three.
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Accused killer is Iraq Veteran

Ex-Marine a suspect in killing of homeless men in Southern California

By NICOLE SANTA CRUZ AND ALAN ZAREMBO
Los Angeles Times
Published: Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012

SANTA ANA, Calif -- SANTA ANA, Calif. - A 23-year-old former marine who some say was distraught following combat service in Iraq has been named a suspect in the serial killings of four homeless men in Orange County.

Itzcoatl Ocampo, of Yorba Linda, was chased bystanders Friday following the most recent stabbing death in the parking lot of an Anaheim fast food restaurant. On Saturday, Ocampo remained in police custody without bail and is expected in court on Tuesday.

"We are extremely confident that we have the man who is responsible for the murders of all four homeless men in Orange County," Anaheim Police Chief John Welter said at a news conference Saturday. Police said they will seek four counts of murder next week.

Authorities did not specify a motive for the killings, which began on Dec. 20 and sent fear through the homeless community. However, a relative and a friend of the suspect described a young man who appeared to be deeply troubled following his return from service in Iraq in the summer of 2010.

"When he came back from Iraq he was sick," said his uncle, Ifrain Gonzalez.

For the last year, he had been telling relatives that he was seeing and hearing things, Gonzalez said.

The last time Gonzalez saw his nephew was at a Dec. 24 Christmas Eve party. Ocampo, he said, had told a cousin: "I did something terrible, but don't worry."

It was four days after the killings had begun.
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Fort Bragg Soldier in Fayetteville standoff facing 30 charges

UPDATE

Recordings offer more details of soldier's apartment complex standoff with Fayetteville police
By James Halpin
Staff writer

Petrified residents hid in their apartments as a gunman fired at emergency responders in a chaotic standoff between police and a Fort Bragg soldier Friday night, according to recordings of 911 calls and police radio traffic released Wednesday afternoon.

Firefighters first called police to the home of Army Staff Sgt. Joshua P. Eisenhauer, at the Austin Creek apartments at 1127 Cape Harbor Court, about 10 p.m. Friday after responding to a report of a fire, according to the recordings.

One caller told dispatchers an apartment next door was on fire, with smoke and embers blowing out of the door, but after he knocked on the door, a resident said the fire had been put out with an extinguisher. Firefighters called police for a possible forced entry when there was no answer at the door.

Just minutes after police were dispatched to the apartment, Eisenhauer started shooting from his third-floor apartment, according to the recordings.

"Multiple shots fired! Multiple shots fired!" an officer reports. "He's on the top level. He's standing on the balcony right now."

Police reported that an officer was bleeding from the head, and supervisors ordered the officers to stay back and form a perimeter. Minutes later, Eisenhauer emerged from the apartment onto the balcony, according to police radio traffic.
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Soldier in Fayetteville standoff facing 30 charges
By: JACKIE FAYE , JUSTIN QUESINBERRY , NBC17 STAFF | NBC17.com
Published: January 13, 2012

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. --
A Fort Bragg soldier is facing 30 charges after exchanging gunfire with police and barricading himself in his apartment for hours Friday night and Saturday morning.

Staff Sgt. Joshua P. Eisenhauer is charged with 15 counts of attempted first-degree murder, six counts of felony assault on a law enforcement official and nine counts of felony assault on a government official.

Eisenhauer was listed in critical condition after the gunfire exchange.

Two Fayetteville Police officers were also injured during the standoff with the soldier at an apartment complex, according to a police spokesman.

Ft. Bragg Saturday morning identified the soldier as Staff Sgt. Joshua P. Eisenhauer. He was assigned to Fort Bragg's Warrior Transition Battalion. That's a unit for wounded soldiers or soldiers transitioning out of the military, according to a Ft. Bragg spokesman.
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Police and Patriot Guard Riders rescue crash victims during fallen soldier escort

Police, Patriot Guard Help Crash Victims in Ind.

VALPARAISO, Ind. January 15, 2012
Police and motorcyclists escorting the body of a fallen soldier home from Afghanistan have stopped to pull four people — including 6-year-old twins — from a burning Jeep after a crash in northwest Indiana.

Porter County police say 35-year-old Ana Pina was driving a Jeep carrying her children and mother Saturday when the vehicle was rear-ended by a pickup truck. The Jeep caught fire and crossed the median in front of the procession for Spc. Robert J. Tauteris Jr.
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Vietnam War: The Battle of Con Thien

This is how reporters used to cover the news

Vietnam War: The Battle of Con Thien

Grieving mother calls for Facebook hotline

WINCHESTER: Grieving mother calls for Facebook hotline

By JENNIFER KABBANY For The Californian
Posted: Friday, January 13, 2012

For Robin Cannata, it was tough enough that her son committed suicide, but a picture of the distraught 20-year-old holding a gun to his mouth as his Facebook profile picture ---- an image he posted the day he died ---- was too much for the Winchester woman to bear.

But when Cannata and others emailed requests to the social networking website's administrators to either take down Anthony "TJ" Cannata's profile, or allow his family access to the profile to change the picture, Facebook responded with generic, automated replies.

The disturbing picture of TJ remained up on the day of his funeral ---- Dec. 23.

The situation prompted Cannata, 44, to call for Facebook to offer some sort of emergency phone number for users to report extreme situations to the social networking site's employees by phone rather than only by email.

"They need to do something to help families in the same situation," Cannata said. "It's wrong of Facebook. There should be some way we should be able to contact Facebook immediately. Now our family and friends have that last picture, that memory of him."
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