O alarme de incêndio do apartamento funciona. Descobri estes dias quando esqueci o fogão ligado com a panela em cima. Demorou algumas horas para tirar toda a névoa de casa, e toda vez que a fumaça chegava mais perto do detector, ele apitava.
Tirando o fato óbvio de eu ser um desastrado, foi legal perceber que o alarme funciona.
Olha só o que aconteceu aqui ontem:
Jason Van Rassel and Suzanne Wilton, With files from Sarah, Calgary Herald
Published: Thursday, July 12, 2007A 44-year-old Calgary woman has been identified as the person killed in a stabbing spree early Wednesday morning.
The chief medical examiner said Jacqueline Clara Crazybull died as the result of a single stab wound.
The bloody parking lot where she was stabbed to death early Wednesday morning was only the first step in a trail of violence that wounded four more victims -- all separated by dozens of city blocks, and all apparently picked at random.
In little more than an hour between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. Wednesday, Calgary police believe a group of armed men sped through empty streets in three quadrants of the city and stabbed five people -- one fatally.
The other four victims are expected to fully recover.
The bloody parking lot where a woman was stabbed to death at 17th Ave. and 11th St. S.W., the first of five incidents Wednesday morning.
Stuart Gradon, Calgary Herald
About a dozen investigators from several police districts have combined efforts in the manhunt for the band of men who cut a bloody path through the city, beginning in the Beltline and ending in Forest Lawn.
They are working to solve the bizarre case before it can be repeated, especially during Stampede when the streets are often busy into the wee hours with revelling tourists and locals alike.
"That's a factor and something we have to be on alert for," said Staff Sgt. Patty McCallum, of the homicide unit.
"Was this just something for kicks?"
Many Stampede-goers, meantime, are taking the Wednesday incident in stride.
"It was surprising, but we get it all the time," said Pasadena, Calif., resident Anne Ward, who has become accustomed to violence in the U.S.
There's no single aspect that would explain why the victims of varying ages, ethnicities and genders were chosen -- for instance, all street people or drug addicts.
Today, police will re-interview the surviving victims and try to determine whether they share more than the same vicious attackers.
McCallum said police will look at whether specific people or areas were targeted.
The primary focus of police on Wednesday was narrowing the field of suspects in the case, which began at 4:10 a.m. with a killing in the parking lot of a liquor store in the 1110 block of 17th Avenue S.W.
Crazybull was stabbed just once and left to die as her attackers took off in search of more victims.
If she saw it coming and fought back, it seems no one heard it. It was only when a passerby came upon the victim that police were alerted to the incident.
"It was very quiet," said David Rhodes, who was awake at the time the woman was killed and stunned to later learn she died right outside his apartment building and where he had stood talking to a friend after coming home from a night of Stampeding.
Crime scene specialists marked off a series of blood spatters that ran through the parking lot.
Blood pooled under a park bench at the corner of 17th Avenue and 11th Street S.W., near pocket change scattered on the ground. A neck brace and belt were on the bench.
Two people who said they knew the dead woman as Jackie, said she often hung out near where she was stabbed, particularly in the park a block away on 11 St S.W.
Police are withholding information about where on the body all the victims were stabbed.
Ten minutes after the first attack, a 21-year-old man was knifed 10 blocks away, near the intersection of 15th Avenue and 2nd Street S.W.
Thirteen minutes later, police were called to another stabbing, a 42-year-old man, in the area of 16th Avenue and 2nd Street N.E.
Nine minutes after that, police were called to the 4400 block of Centre Street N. where they found an injured 43-year-old man, who had been carrying a green garbage bag on a sidewalk.
"Our windows were open and I didn't hear anything," said a shaken Adine Tricand, 31, looking on from her front step to the edge of her property, where the attack occurred.
"It shocks me. I just want to cry."
Almost 40 minutes passed before the final attack: a 23-year-old woman who was found near 44th Street and 21st Avenue S.E.
A trail of blood about 60 metres started on the 44th Street sidewalk and got heavier, ending at the intersection.
It wasn't until police arrived and started knocking on doors that many residents learned of what happened.
"You don't expect this kind of thing," said one elderly woman.
McCallum said the attacks were swift. It's the first time in her police career she has seen anything like it.
"It's a bit enigmatic," she said.
Two victims, including the 23-year-old woman, remained in hospital Wednesday. Two men were treated for their wounds and released.
In each case, the victims were alone, and the description of the culprits and their vehicle were similar: three or four black males between 20 and 30 years old in a beige or silver, newer model sedan.
The surviving victims, witnesses and surveillance video from nearby businesses have given investigators some leads.
Police are hoping to learn more from them today about the stabbings.
Most of the attacks happened in areas of the city known for drugs and prostitution, but investigators said it's too soon to say if that had anything to do with why the victims were targeted.
"There could be a crack house in every district," said McCallum.
jvanrassel@theherald.canwest.com
swilton@theherald.canwest.com
