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Subscribe to RSSA man accused of killing two Japanese visitors and injuring a dozen others after crashing his car and stabbing people in a major tourist district in Guam has been arrested and faces multiple charges, police said Wednesday.
Chad Ryan DeSoto, 21, of Tamuning is accused of driving a Toyota Yaris onto a sidewalk and striking seven tourists Tuesday night at an upscale shopping area fronting the Outrigger Guam Resort in Tumon Bay, Guam police spokesman A.J. Balajadia said. DeSoto continued driving on the sidewalk, crashing into the wall of a convenience store. He then left his car and started stabbing people, police said.
DeSoto is charged with two counts of murder, 13 counts of attempted murder and 13 counts of aggravated assault, Balajadia said. No motive or other details on the investigation were released.
DeSoto was scheduled due to appear before a magistrate judge at the Superior Court of Guam on Wednesday to be formally charged.
Japan Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said 14 Japanese tourists were attacked, including two who died. Two of the injured have been released from the hospital after being treated, Suga said.
Japanese media reported the dead were two women aged 28 and 82 and the survivors included an 8-month-old baby.
An official with Japanese travel operator H.I.S. Co. said eight of its customers were injured in the attack -- including some with broken bones -- but none was killed.
The wreck and alleged knife attack among high-end boutiques and hotels in Tumon Bay's Pleasure Island district sent frightened hotel guests and others fleeing for safety.
A woman at a nearby café with friends told the Pacific Daily News she saw the car plow through the driveway and into a convenience store at the resort. Ashley Quichocho, 18, of Dededo said the driver got out, ran up to bystanders and began stabbing them.
"He started stabbing someone, and I started freaking out," Quichocho said. "He was just running back and forth stabbing people."
Quichocho said she ran to the second floor of the hotel with other guests to escape.
Guam Gov. Eddie Calvo issued a statement addressed to "the people of Japan" saying the perpetrator would be prosecuted "to the fullest extent of the law." Calvo said he would increase the police presence in the visitor district.
"This was an isolated incident -- something that just doesn't happen in our community," Calvo said. "We are shocked, we are grieving with the families, and we extend our deepest condolences to those hurt."
Guam, a U.S. territory and tropical island 1,500 miles south of Tokyo, is heavily dependent on tourism -- particularly from Japan -- for its economy.
The island has a population of about 180,000 and is home to major U.S. naval and air bases. The U.S. has plans to move several thousand Marines to Guam from the southern Japanese island of Okinawa.
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What a horrific event to have happened. It seems obvious this man has something really messed up happening in his head. Thank goodness more people weren't slaughtered by his car or stabbed to death. Surely he seemed intent on doing his best to take out as many lives as possible.I pray those killed are at peace, the injured will recover quickly, and this killer is brought to swift justice.
A chilling reminder that some people will stop at nothing in their pursuit to kill the innocent. A fact we in our nation filled with crime and acts of violence would do well to remember. Especially as our leaders look at restricting guns and other measures to try and reduce deaths from such violent actions of individuals.What ever the cause motivating or allowing them to do so.
A sad event. May the injured and the families of those killed find comfort in their time of need.
"A chilling reminder that some people will stop at nothing in their pursuit to kill the innocent"
If a few of the victims were armed with guns, the assailant would have been killed or subdued. Two lives would have been saved. The moral of the story: an attacker is always well armed; you'll die if you are not.
Arm yourself well. Always be prepared to kick the attacker's ass.
Just because people are crazy doesn't mean they're stupid take away the guns and they just get creative. I guess everyone was lucky this guy didn't rent or steal the big truck.
Guess the next big push will be car and knife control.
I am sure that he was thinking if only he had a more efficient way of committing his crime there would be no witnesses,
Guns are illegal there, so he used a knife. But if he had an AR-15 The headlines would have been,
Man kills 45 people in shooting spree.
I know, it takes way to many brain cells to understand this. And we all know that due to Their mental disorder that right wingers just don't have enough.
But don't worry, through all this stem cell research they will eventually find a cure.
Ladies and gentlemen meet george pauljohn the idiot. Hey Ringo lets use your logic.
If one in the crowd had a gun the headline would have read.......
Person shoots and kills man who ran car into crowd then tried to kill more.
You are the Pete Best of MS/NBC.
Reminds me of Michael Douglass in "Farring Down". I mean a Yaris? That would make anyone homicidal.
More evidence mentally unstable people continue killings whether they have guns or not. The Sandy Hook lunatic could have just as easily used an SUV during a recess, running over children, with similar results.
People will find a way to kill guns or no guns. Id rather have them just in case.
Please...leave poor Pete Best out of this...he would not appreciate being associated with this guy, I'm sure
The only one who can stop a bad guy with a car is a good guy with a car.
@george pauljohn
"Guns are illegal there, so he used a knife."
I used this thing called google to look up if your statement was true and I'm starting to think you were talking out your ass. Here are a few things I found.
-mvguam(dot)com/local/news/25027-guns-rampant-on-guam(dot)html
As proprietor of JTM Benchrest, Sablan has been in the business of providing firearms and ammunition to civilians and local and federal law enforcement agencies since 1996. Apart from being a licensed arms dealer, he also is a Guam Fire Department fireman and Air Guardsman.
Sablan confirmed there’s no limit to the number of firearms or ammunition one may possess, and on average his customers possess about three guns – many of them being law enforcement personnel or hobbyists.
“There’s no limit to what you can own, as far as quantity-wise,” Sablan stated. “If you have a Guam firearms ID, you can come into any store and purchase one gun to 100 guns at one time. You may raise a red flag with ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives), but it’s 100 percent legal.”
-www(dot)gunpolicy(dot)org/firearms/region/guam
"In Guam, the right to private gun ownership is guaranteed by law"
A lot of cowboys posting here. They think that they would be like some guy in a movie cooly drawing down and killing the baddie with one shot. Jeeze guys, grow up. In this situation you would be at a complete disadvantage. You would have seconds to react. People would be running and screaming and complete chaos would be all around you. Your own fight -or-flight response would be kicking in and a boatload of adrenaline with it. Time would seem to change. But worse than all that is the fact that you'd be going against someone who was completely prepared and probably outgunning you. And worse even than that is the fact that he could fire indescriminately while you would have to wait for a shot or risk killing the people you were trying to save. Unless you were trained for this actual situation you could easily do more harm than good.
"...driving a Toyota Yaris onto a sidewalk..."
Fits like a truck on an interstate.
gm cheetah
Ban Toyotas.
get a gun
Yes, it is absolutely horrific. Here's something that will rankle most people out there.....a car AND a knife were used in this crime of murder, mayhem, and terror. Not a single solitary gun was used. The penalty for gun usage is extremely stiff on Guam, so guns are hard to come by. Guam doesn't have "gun control" per say (I know. I was there for 2 years). The penalties are what makes gun hard to come by there. If somebody wants to commit heinous crimes like this, guns are NOT needed. This article proves it. Gun control will NOT work, but the penalty for gun use in a crime should be very extreme. It's time the law-makers (if we have any left who have guts) to take off the kid-gloves and introduce some laws that stand for something and stop this "slap-on-the-wrist-and-get-out-of-jail-free" business.
Correct, no guns were used in this ACT OF VIOLENCE.
I carry a gun because I can't afford to pay someone to be a 24/7 bodyguard.
But, Quacked, just curious, how would your gun have helped you in this vehicular assault?
That's an interesting view, it would have happened so quick I wonder if someone could have responded with a gun?
I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy.
Sam - Having a gun may or may not have helped Quacked. These things happen instantly and one sometimes is down before you know what hit you. It would not have hurt. It may have helped.
Quacked, Are the paranoid people out to get you?
Law enforcement kill numerous perps using their vehicles as deadly weapons. An unarmored window in a car or car door is like paper to a bullet, just aim right at them and the bullets go through effortlessly.
All the pro-gun posters keep assuming that their imaginary good guy in the crowd would have a gun, and the bad guy is still running after people with his Toyota-Yaris and knife.
So if a car hops up on a curve near pedestrians, you're unloading your clip on the driver? No waiting to see if its a crash, stuck accelerator, guy having a heart attack, seizure, or loss of consciousness? Hope your aim is good, and good luck at the probable jury trial.
"I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy."
Hi bill. It's the leaky jelly rolls that get me.
Bullet to the head, move on.
Yep, just like the Secret Service kept Hinckley from shooting Regan with a gun. Did you know you can fire six rounds in under 2 seconds?
Sobe, he only killed 2 people. He could have killed a hell of a lot more people if he was packing an AK 47 with multiple clips, dumb ass.
Yep, "he only killed two people". Now, how about the DOZEN OTHERS who also could have been killed with that Toyota and a knife? Oh, right, those dozen others didn't die, so it's somehow that "only" two people actually did die in this VIOLENT CRIME.
Hey, Domewars, how about you do the research now and tell everyone exactly how many crimes have been committed in the U.S. by someone using an AK-47 or AR15. Here's a hint: It'll be less than 2% of ALL violent crimes.
When someone uses the term "clips" instead of "magazines," I cease to take their argument seriously.
As usual with these stories we get what he used,a Toyota and a knife,not what the he11 is wrong with this guy,what meds is he on and does it correlate with any mass attacks with no motives in this country.
Same old BS.
He could have killed a lot more by driving much faster into the crowd people. He didn't need a an AK47 or any other type of weapon.
He injured a few people by stabbing them. He could have killed more with the same weapon with quick slit of the throat.
Thank God the guy didn't think about spending a few buck on a couple of cans of gasoline and set them off.
When someone takes issue over simple terms, i cease to think of that person as normal.
It is actually a credibility issue, when 'clip' is used, it proves that the speaker really doesn't know their terminology and they impeach their credibility. With no credibility all the rest of the speakers' verbage are little more than farts in the wind.
You need "credibility" to point out a maniac with an assault rifle can kill more than with a knife??? I thought you just needed common sense.
When people use their so-called expertise to try to trump simple logic....well they lose credibility in my book.
When people use the arguments of simpletons weighted heavily with emotion, we get s***ty laws, like prohibition and the war on drugs etc. Gun control is another one of them that just doesn't work, it is already proven to be a detriment to societies, by many countries all around the world, with and without it.
Ifs and butts like candy and nuts, if he had an AK 47. What if he had been driving a Mack truck, or I don't know used a big jet airliner, no no, a fertilizer bomb, a dirty bomb. You people think guns are the only thing the crazies can use. They may be crazy but you are surely stupid.
A very good point. Hijack a diesel truck, get it up to, say 60 mph, then plow a sidewalk, or a parade. Wow, why didn't I think of that sooner! A parade, I could get a whole school and not fire a shot.
A gun wouldn't have stopped him running people down with the car. It sure as hell would have stopped him from using the knife.
...
This makes the case that anything that can be used to harm people should be outlawed - guns, planes, knives, automobiles etc.
.
Biden in 2016.
...
People can be killed with a pen, water glass or rock; but the extent of injury and/or death is less. Granted, that means nothing if you, family or friends are victims. But with firearms the design intent is to "stop", (as the military line goes), or kill, which is the reality. Now, a firearm will not help in the act of "instant". Someone can have a weapon slung, in a bag, under a seat, but it will do nothing for the instant. The best defense is training in a style like Krav Maga, some MMA styles, etc. A grasp of empty hand vs weapon is the best to stop the "instant". If someone wants to shoot anyone, they can do so from a safe distance up range, again, you could have a nuke in your pocket, but it would not help.
Hijack a diesel truck, get it up to, say 60 mph, then plow a sidewalk, or a parade. Wow, why didn't I think of that sooner! A parade, I could get a whole school and not fire a shot.
or maybe the republican convention, it would be a public service.
Service for you? idiot lib!
All right, restrict sales of all vehicles with bumpers more than three tourists wide! Only governments get vehicles capable of more than 15 mph! Restrict sales and register them! Ban knives! Come on liberals, why are you permitting this kind of insane access to weapons of mass destruction?
Terrible knife attack. After watching the Sand hoax & others I am getting a gun, before that I didn't feel I needed one.
It was not this little sociopaths fault. It has to be one of those ASSAULT CARS and ASSAULT KNIVES.
Guess we should have background checks for people who want to buy knives.
It should be clear. Ban odd looking knives and the number of them one can have. There. Problem solved, if you're Obama, Bloomberg, or Feinstein.
Hmm.... The guy had a car and a knife and only two people died. If it were a gun there would be twenty corpses.
So who is going to stop others that believe they should control all of us dumb a$$e$ without guns, John? Do you seriously believe that when guns are banned,...NO ONE will have them? If you do, there's some Okeefenokee property I'd like to sell your clueless little self,...or do you work for the government, John? It doesn't matter, you're still clueless.
Another paranoid, fear-filled gun-lover. Pathetic!
Too bad Guam doesn't have Sharia law to send that coward to the hereafter, quickly. He'll languish in prison for 50 years before he meets his maker.
Correct, now we'll have to ban all knives!!
Yup! Go Ahead! Carry a gun! So will the guy behind you with his gun pointing at your head!!
Guamboy
So the answer is to disarm yourself so the guy behind you will too ? I'm sure that will take a threat away. Maybe even wear a Tee Shirt with " No Weapons" or "Unprotected" on it. Then no one will ever think about messing with you. You should be able to walk the streets & danger will not apply to you. I'm not sure how to apply your logic?????????
Obama will now ban knives.
SKIBUM. You forgot cars.
If we take away all the knives and cars, we will all be safe!.
oh hell no he used a knife we are going to ban knifes now
OK> Lets outlaw all knives and assault cars OBAMA.
I didn’t know knifes could kill? Do we have knife control laws?
Next thing you know they’ll be using their hands