The man accused of opening fire on a group of traffic safety volunteers at Normandale Park in February has been charged for his alleged crimes—a month after the shooting took place.
Ben Smith, 43, was booked into the Multnomah County Jail Wednesday afternoon, after being relocated from OHSU, where he had been recovering from a gunshot wound. The Oregonian was the first to report on his transfer. Smith has been charged with nine criminal counts for his actions on Saturday, February 19, which left one person dead and injured four.
At around 8 pm February 19, Smith, who lives in an apartment complex near Normandale Park in Northeast Portland, angrily approached a group of unarmed people who had gathered at the park to provide traffic safety for a march against police killings. Smith allegedly shot five people, killing one, a woman named June Knightly. Smith only stopped shooting when another individual allegedly shot him in the hip.
A grand jury voted to indict Smith with one count of murder in the second degree for killing Knightly, four counts of attempted first-degree murder, three counts of assault in the first degree with a firearm, and one count of assault in the second degree with a firearm. Knightly is the only victim named in the court’s charging document, with the others referred to as “Victim 1,” “Victim 2,” “Victim 3,” and “Victim 4.” According to a court affidavit, one of the victims was shot in the neck and paralyzed by Smith.
Smith is scheduled to appear for his arraignment, where a judge will read him his charges, on Thursday afternoon.
I keep reading news blips regarding his online postings and people seemed shocked. Have any of these people visited a right-wing website? The comments there are violent and disgusting. Heck, they were even on the Oregonian comment board (when they still had it) and will sometimes pop up on Disqus. I reported MANY right-wing comments threatening violence and nothing was ever done. I’d check back a week or so later, and they remained.
These people are sick and relish in fantasies of violence and death. Let me show an example in real time… heading to Breitbart now… here’s a comment from someone named “old_salty_dawg99” giving his well thought out and insightful take on due process:
“Cut off his penis send it back to the Nation he came from. Use a branding iron to stop bleed out. Toss him in a men’s prison and tell them all what he did and anything but death goes. Kill him take his punishment.”
People shouldn’t be shocked at Ben Smith’s sick and twisted mind… he merely acted on it. There’s millions of radicalized VIOLENT right-wingers out there.