Pittsburgh shooter Poplawski was a neo-Nazi who posted on Stormfront

[PA Democrat]

<snip>

Believing most media were covering up important events, Mr. Poplawski turned to a far-right conspiracy Web site run by Alex Jones, a self-described documentarian with roots going back to the extremist militia movement of the early 1990s.

Around the same time, he joined Florida-based Stormfront, which has long been a clearinghouse Web site for far-right groups. He posted photographs of his tattoo, an eagle spread across his chest.

"I was considering gettin' life runes on the outside of my calfs," he wrote. Life runes are a common symbol among white supremacists, notably followers of The National Alliance, a neo-Nazi group linked to an array of violent organizations.

"For some time now there has been a pretty good connection between being sucked into this conspiracy world and propagating violence," said Heidi Beirich, director of research at the Southern Poverty Law Center and an expert on political extremists. She called Mr. Poplawski's act, "a classic example of what happens when you start buying all this conspiracy stuff."

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09095/960750-53.stm

[DoctorMyEyes]

1. Pic from his now deleted MySpace account

[PA Democrat]

6. Poplawski's best friend is also a neo-Nazi freak.

His My Space page has some pretty despicable recommended reading.

http://www.myspace.com/edfromalate

This was the guy who was interviewed yesterday by the local media. Link to interview:

http://www.wpxi.com/video/19094713/index.html

[DoctorMyEyes]

8. Yeah, I saw that

I'm in Pittsburgh too. Didn't learn about the neo-nazi side of it until last night when I got home. There's a sick as thread about it on Stormfront. Before they knew the shooters race they speculated that he was black. Then when the name was released they thought he was Jewish. When they finally saw this picture they embraced him as one of their own and now they're going on about the whole incident being engineered by the government in order to gain public support for the confiscation of their guns. Calling it a "set up".

[PA Democrat]

10. I saw similar comments on Free republic. It says a lot about that group as well

doesn't it? They are blaming the shooting on Obama, and they are also convinced that the friend Eddie was a "plant" who was given a script to read to the media to portray Poplawski and his political views in the worst possible light.

[DoctorMyEyes]

13. Eddie was a plant?

Wow. Even Stormfront hasn't floated that one yet. They do realize, I hope, that the shooter is still alive and in custody? Can we guess which prison clique will be taking Poplawski under their protective wing?

Part of my job is to maintain a decent working relationship with local law enforcement and I had to make a couple of calls yesterday for stupid shit that I felt bad about disturbing them for, but they were great about it. Then I had to follow up down at the station. You can probably imagine the mood... It was adding insult to injury that they had to watch this assholes friends and family members going on about what a decent guy he was.

Pittsburgh is not like Philly - cops don't get shot here. It's a terrible tragedy anywhere and especially shocking to this community.

[PA Democrat]

15. I've seen some of the friends and family members comments as well.

The aunt bemoaned the fact that her nephew would probably get the death penalty because his victims were cops. I'm not a death penalty supporter, but I found that remark particularly offensive given the way Poplawski set out to ambush those cops.

I don't think Poplawski's defenders are really helping him because they seem to have overlooked some pretty obvious signs that he was a ticking time bomb.

The ex-girlfriend's PFA against Poplawski, the threats to neighbors, the previous domestic calls to the home, his problems in high school, his dishonorable discharge from the Marines all tell a different story.

[gauguin57]

16. I hope the aunt finds about 1,000 parking tickets on her windshield.

For starters.

[csziggy]

42. And obviously the Pittsburgh cops don't shoot a lot of perpetrators

They showed incredible self restraint, having to wait and watch, knowing that some of their own were dying. My husband's comment when I mentioned that the shooter had on a bullet proof vest was, "He didn't have on a bullet proof helmet." We were both pretty impressed that the shooter only had wounds in his legs and not above his vest.

Those are the kind of men and women I want defending my community and my good wishes go out to the entire Pittsburgh police force and the families of the slain and wounded officers.

[DoctorMyEyes]

57. I was amazed by that too!

When they announced that he'd been captured alive after a "brief struggle" I thought "brief struggle?!?" - they actually showed enough restraint to "struggle" with this piece of shit? I was mightily impressed.

A few hours after his capture I had to call the police in for a stupid ass shoplifting call on a runner. I felt bad doing it, like it should have been "leave the police alone day", but incredibly they were still as professional and responsive as any other day. Doing their jobs...

The only indication that it wasn't a typical Saturday, aside from the black ribbons over the badges and the reserved atmosphere at the station, was when the police car pulled up beside my runner and ordered him to stop and he tried to take off again. The officer warned him "Don't run, buddy. Not today." In his first smart move of the day the shoplifter who probably wouldn't have been arrested if he had just cooperated with me took him at his word and stopped running.

I obviously don't know the majority of the police officers in this area, but the ones I've worked with over the last two years are some of the finest, most reasonable and down to earth that I've worked with anywhere in the last 20 years. I have yet to meet an "asshole, bad-ass" Pittsburgh cop and I'm truly sorry for what they're going through right now.

[csziggy]

58. It is good to know that there are some excellent law enforcement officers in this country

I've met a few. I've some who should not have been in that field, but few enough that I always hope for the best.

The next time you interact with any of your local officers, tell them they have earned the admiration of people all over the country!

[DoctorMyEyes]

59. I'll be sure to pass on the kind words

I'll be sure to pass on the kind words tomorrow morning. And I'm in the same boat as you - I've met some who should have never been placed in a position of authority, but they've been such a minority in the areas I've lived and worked in that I too remain hopeful.

[bushmeister0]

55. Hey, careful with the Philly bashing.

Police officers getting shot here is just as shocking. Keep in mind Philadelphia is a much bigger city than Pittsburgh.

[DoctorMyEyes]

56. No offense intended

We moved from the Philly area to Pittsburgh two years ago. Believe me, I'm not hating on Philly - I MUCH preferred it to Pittsburgh.

But,I read yesterday that a Pittsburgh cop hasn't been killed on the job in 18 years and that death was a traffic accident. They lost 3 yesterday in one shooting incident. This city is reeling. It's simply not done here. Until now.

[Skittles]

62. I love Philly

got sent there on a couple of work TDYs and really loved how down to earth the people were, and the historic nature of Philly just rawwwwks :thumbsup:

[BlooInBloo]

19. Heh. You should try the American Legion bar (or whatever the name is) on the South Side.

[JVS]

24. Polish-American neo-Nazis. What a fucking disgraceful mess!

[Snazzy]

48. he's scrubbed it since yesterday

had this white supremacist and anti-Semite screed and reading list up (eg Turner Diaries).

One poster says he works at the Children's Hospital--haven't been able to verify myself.

His first song there has some lyrics about itchy trigger finger with a .45 too.

edit: ah someone captured it downthread.

[RamboLiberal]

50. Children's Hospital - he mentioned it

Ed Perkovic, who has known him most of his life, says he got a call from Poplawski during the siege.

"I got a call whenever I was at my job at Children's Hospital and I heard gunfire and he said 'Eddie, I'm gonna die today and he said tell your family I love them. Tell your mother I love her' and he hung up the phone and I heard gunfire in the background right before he hung up," said Perkovic. "He always told me if something like that ever happened he would commit suicide before he would give himself up and I came here immediately to negotiate… He sounded like he was in pain like he got shot."

http://kdka.com/local/friends.suspects.Poplawski.2.976548.html

[Snazzy]

53. ah thanks

I'm going to email or call in the morning (better than late night weekend contact I think). Consequences for hate speech.

[DangerousRhythm]

23. His friend Eddie's Myspace, now scrubbed (sorry for the length!)

[TorchTheWitch]

35. Eddie's Myspace page hasn't been scrubbed

It's still there. Just the hate speech crap was deleted from it. When you say it was "scrubbed" it sounds like you're saying that the whole page has been deleted. You can still go to his page and bombard him with messages of what a sick fuck he is and deleting all the hate speech just proves that he knows how wrong and disgusting it is.

[NorthernSpy]

45. The most important part is actually the list of friends...

... not the propaganda.

[DangerousRhythm]

46. Ah, well he scrubbed it of the vile, controversial crap...

...is what I obviously meant if you compare what's there now with the screenshot. :)

[Snazzy]

49. ah good job saving this --nt

[RamboLiberal]

51. He was on the radio today denying this webpage and that he's a racist

with Marty Griffin on Sunday. At one point even though Griffin wasn't pressing him on this he was threatening Griffin with a libel suit.

[TorchTheWitch]

60. What a stupid fool

He thinks because he deleted the hate speech stuff he can deny that it was ever there... typical dumbass that doesn't know how the intertubes work. Someone should send that screen shot to Marty.

I'm still trying to figure out how this idiot friend (and apparently some of the shooter's family members) just how the shooter was defending his right to bare arms in this instance. Seems to me the nutball believed that his Constitutional right to bare arms meant he could shoot anyone he wanted for any reason whatsoever.

Good old Eddie was spending a lot of time on his Myspace page today.

[sudopod]

54. Not only is he an asshole.

He's a PRETENTIOUS racist asshole.

[Mari333]

2. I expect to see more of this in the coming months. nt

[annabanana]

3. This shooting fell to the back pages very quickly...

It's almost as if the corporate media would just as soon people didn't reflect on this relationship. . .

[Sheltiemama]

33. I disagree.

I designed the nation/world pages for my paper yesterday, and I featured this prominently.

[lamp_shade]

4. Some of the "callers in" to RW radio (and WJ sometimes) scare the

bejeezus out of me. This guy reminds me of some of these types.

[NNN0LHI]

5. Eh, a Ron Paul supporter

Whodathunk?

Don

[NorthernSpy]

31. I, for one, am shocked!

:wow:


Oh, wait... no, I'm not.

[ColbertWatcher]

40. Pic of r0N pAuL with Stormfront's founder and son of Stormfront's founder ...

[Junkdrawer]

7. And yet, under a restraining order for threatening to shoot his girlfriend, he buys an AK-47....

I'm trying to find out how he did that....

[DangerousRhythm]

25. Speaking of his girlfriend, he gives advice here... vile, really.

He's probably talking about the same girlfriend who he abused, as I read here: http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/emerging-portrait-richard-poplawski-

This guy really astounds me... I don't get his way of thinking at all. He thinks Obama's gonna take away his guns so he.... kills cops? And he thinks law enforcement will allow him to keep his arsenal after that? Really? Ugh. The whole entire lifestyle is just disgusting to me and I feel awful for the families of those officers. How senseless. :(

[ColbertWatcher]

43. From which forum did that screengrab originate? Stormfront? n/t

[DangerousRhythm]

47. Yep, exactly where that came from.

I can't say it's a surprise, hearing the stuff that's been coming out and the bullshit his friend was spouting on the news. :\

[AlinPA]

37. W. PA has "gun bashes", events held all over in firehalls, clubs, etc but instead of following

established rules and going through proper checks, business is done illegally on the side in parking lots.

[distantearlywarning]

9. How about that.

And here I heard on my local Pittsburgh Fox channel just last night that he was quote "a nice, normal guy" who had "never been in trouble with the law" and merely had a few "strong opinions". :eyes:

I love what passes for so-called "news" these days...

[zbdent]

17. "nice, normal" ...

in a freepturd's estimation ... remember, it was "Faux" ...

[TWiley]

11. He sounds like a God Damn Lou Dobs program

[elehhhhna]

14. Best. Summation. EVER.

[anigbrowl]

26. +1

[Fumesucker]

12. Oh please, we all know that the leftie groups are the *really* dangerous ones..

You know, the peace protesters and the advocates for socialism.

:sarcasm: for the irony impaired.

Just look at which groups the government was strongly focused on during the RNC last year.

[ColbertWatcher]

41. I'd like to see a gif for irony impared. n/t

[The Straight Story]

18. bah. He is innocent. The gun did it. I want to see it's pic and myspace page.

:hide:

[Skidmore]

20. Not a whole lot of difference between these people and

Al Quaeda cells...it seems to me.

[havocmom]

27. Al Quaeda cells probably have better discipline

and schooling.

[Sheltiemama]

34. And spelling and grammar.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

21. That will give the freepers the chance to disavow him

"Oh, he was a Nazi/KKK guy........not like us!".

[ColbertWatcher]

44. I think you've predicted the talking point for Monday. n/t

[mzteris]

22. wonder what his Freeper name

was?

[RamboLiberal]

52. On a PA gun owners forum he went by RWhiteman

Now I'm not putting down that forum. And they said he didn't post anything controversial. He had a bit over 200 posts. But of course they scrubbed all his posts and locked his account.

BTW, the dumbass Freepers found this as well and posted his handle on the PA Gun Owners forum. They claimed it couldn't be him cause it listed him as living in Greensburg when he joined. News to Freepers, his friend today mentioned he lived in Greensburg until a few months ago when he moved back to Pittsburgh to live with his mother. Friend claimed mom was mentally ill and this had caused both moves.

[ColbertWatcher]

61. What was his fr**per handle? n/t

[DangerousRhythm]

28. Also, he and his friend had a pirate radio show...

I don't know how to save this video but if anyone wants to before it gets scrubbed too, there you go: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=10517822

Pretty much what you'd expect, ugh.

[JI7]

29. and someone said he wasn't a racist

[NorthernSpy]

30. Someone on Free Republic even insisted that Poplawski was an Obama supporter...

Yeah. 'Cause Stormfront is totally the place to go if you're looking for non-racists and Obama voters.


:sarcasm:

[firedupdem]

32. ABC just lumped him in with sad people who have lost their jobs

and feel hopeless. Yeah right.

[flvegan]

36. Alex Jones. Isn't that that infowars.com shithole?

[NoPasaran]

39. Yup, that's him

Alex has never heard a conspiracy theory he didn't like.

[aikoaiko]

38. I dislike 88s.