Tool Crimes

Fox News
Man With Machete Terrorizes Grade School
February 2, 2001

Five kindergartners, two teachers and a principal were wounded Friday when a man wielding a machete and a baseball bat tore through the halls of a Pennsylvania elementary school.

Authorities said the man, whose name was not released, burst into the school and chased the principal during the 11:30 a.m. attack at North Hopewell-Winterstown Elementary School in central Pennsylvania. The suspect was captured and arrested about 20 minutes later.

Nail Gun Killing: Guilty

By MATTHEW HAY BROWN
The Hartford Courant
February 01, 2001

NEW BRITAIN - A former contractor pleaded guilty to murder
Wednesday in the nail-gun slaying of a man who was his
business partner and brother-in-law.

Richard Tinto faces 25 to 35 years in prison in the 1998
killing of John Leitao. Tinto's plea reversed his earlier
not-guilty plea. Had the case gone to trial, he could have
been sentenced to up to 60 years.

Gina Leitao wept in New Britain Superior Court as prosecutor
Scott Murphy recounted how Tinto, her brother, killed her
husband. The men had been working at a house on Indian
Hill Road in Newington on Sept. 9, 1998, when Tinto fired
nine 3¼-inch nails into John Leitao's head, driving seven
through his left eye and into his brain, Murphy said. A third
man, employee George Kowalczyk, is accused of holding
Leitao while Tinto pulled the trigger.

MAN CUTS OFF HAND, ATTEMPTS SUICIDE
Lehigh Valley (PA) News
01/24/01

A Lehighton man doing remodeling work at a Bethlehem home accidentally cut off his hand with a power saw then, apparently hoping to end his pain, shot himself at least 12 times in the head with a nail gun, police said.

William A. Bartron, 25, of 110 S. Third St., Lehighton, was alive at St. Luke's Hospital, Fountain Hill, on Wednesday, a hospital spokeswoman said. However, his condition was
unavailable.

Bethlehem police officer Cheryl Ruth said Bartron was working in the basement at the home of Larry Lang, 2048 Worthington Ave., when he severed his hand at the wrist while using a
portable mitre saw Tuesday afternoon.

The report said Lang came home about 3:30 p.m. and Bartron was doing remodeling work in the basement. Lang said he went to the basement 20 minutes later and found Bartron on the floor and called 911.

Lang told police Bartron's employer arrived a short time later and placed the amputated left hand in a clean plastic sandwich bag, which was taken with Bartron to St. Luke's, Ruth said.

The officer said Bartron was admitted to the hospital's trauma unit, where it was reported that at least a dozen 1 1/2 inch nails had penetrated his scalp.

Ruth said the employer told her Bartron had shot several nails into his head with a pneumatic nail gun "because he could not stand the pain from the amputation."

MAN KILLED FRIEND AFTER TOILET ROW
United Kingdom
The Guardian
Saturday March 25, 2000

A print manager was jailed for life yesterday after he admitted murdering a friend who told him off for not lifting the toilet seat.

Nicholas Hilliard, prosecuting, told the Old Bailey that Michael Holleran, 41, had been friends with Norman Stephenson, 56, a former colleague, for years. Holleran rented a room in Mr Stephenson's house in Wealdstone, north London. Last August, Mr Stephenson was found on his living room floor in a pool of blood, and never regained consciousness. He had a fractured skull from a single blow with a sledgehammer, Mr Hilliard said.

Holleran told psychiatrists that Mr Stephenson had criticised him for not lifting the seat when he went to the toilet, and had hit him on the chin. Mr Hilliard said Holleran had then fetched the hammer and hit his landlord as he sat in an armchair. Holleran left and joined a Christian sect in Northampton. He was arrested after contacting a friend.

EARLY MORNING BEATING IN REIDSVILLE CLAIMS MAN'S LIFE
By LESLIE BROWN, Staff Writer
Greensboro (North Carolina) News & Record
Rockingham County News
03/23/00

Ronald Reed Shelton, 43, of Fleming Road, died shortly after midnight after being struck in the head and abdomen with a five-foot-long manual grass edger, said Reidsville Interim Police Chief Capt. Guilio Dattero.

Reidsville police arrested William Robert "Robbie" McKinney, 23, of 202 Wentworth St., Reidsville, at the scene and charged him with one count of voluntary manslaughter. Shelton's death occurred in the front yard of Ed Willard's home at 714 Somers St., police said.

Willard, 73, said in an interview Wednesday that the men were extremely intoxicated and had been arguing about a $10 debt inside his home before the assault.

LABORER CHARGED IN POTOMAC SLAYINGS
20-YEAR-OLD SUSPECT WAS HELPING TO
PAINT HOUSE WHERE 5 VICTIMS WERE FOUND

By Brian Mooar and Ann O'Hanlon
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, July 22, 1995
Page A01 Section: A SECTION

Police charged a 20-year-old day laborer yesterday with killing four members of a Potomac family and a man who was painting their house in what a source called a horrifying sequence that may have begun when the painter caught the laborer molesting a 14-year-old girl

Bruman Stalin Alvarez was arrested after summoning police to the house where officers discovered the bodies of David Goff, 46, and his children Andrea, 22; Sheri, 19; and Alyse, 14. Also found dead Mark Aldridge, Alvarez's boss.

A source said the boss caught Alvarez doing something with the 14 year old girl, possibly rape. He killed the boss with a hammer, and then killed the rest of the family. The source said that he tried to clean up but that the scene was one of "unprecedented carnage."

"Even hardened detectives had never experienced anything like it," the source said. Montgomery Police Chief Carol Mehrling said the cause of death was "blunt-force trauma."

(Thanks to M.I.L.T. member Ed P. for bringing our attention to this tragedy.)

MAN KILLED AT HOME WHEN HE FALLS ON DRILL NEW YORK

(AP) --- A man building shelves in his apartment to store cages for his 12 pet pythons died when he fell off a ladder and onto a drill, police said Monday. The drill bit penetrated the right side of 36 year-old Thomas Giacometti's head Sunday night, police spokeswoman Theresa Farello said. Giacometti's brother, who shared the basement apartment, discovered the body and called police.

(Thanks to M.I.L.T. member Ken L. for bringing our attention to this tragedy.)

Nailgun Used In Attack On City!

M.I.L.T. member John B. alerts us to the fact that a crazed Portland, Maine man attacked an Official City Vehicle with an unlicensed and unregistered air-powered nail gun on July 26, 1999, according to the Portland Press Herald.

These nailguns- usually used only for commercial and military use- somehow found it's way into this man's home, who used it to shoot at a garbage truck. It it suspected that the man purchased the device from a tool show or a garage sale with no background check. Thankfully, the City employees escaped without injury- this time.