Kimveer Gill’s Murderous Attack

 

Kimveer Gill’s Murderous Attack

 

 

From Raphael Cohen-Almagor, Confronting the Internet's Dark Side: Moral and Social Responsibility on the Free Highway (NY and Washington DC.: Cambridge University Press and Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2015).

 

ISBN 9781107105591

 

 

https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/law/e-commerce-law/confronting-internets-dark-side-moral-and-social-responsibility-free-highway?format=HB 

 

 

Last week I discussed the responsibility of Netusers. This week I wish to highlight the need for promoting readers’ responsibility on the Net.

 

 

As the Internet continues to grow, the responsibility of the reader is especially important in the identification of new websites that serve as a vehicle for the expression of murderous thoughts that potentially lead to murderous action. What is the responsibility of readers when they encounter violent expressions on the Net? Do readers of websites have any moral and social responsibility to warn against potentially harmful uses of the Net which might be translated into real, practical harms? To address these questions, this paper focuses on the Kimveer Gill story. Gill, a person full of hatred and rage, vented his hostilities on the Net prior to embarking on a shooting spree at Dawson College, Montreal. None of his readers alerted the police. Since this murder we witness a growing phenomenon of mass murders that have one common denominator: many murderers announced their intention to kill on the Internet, yet not enough was done to stop them.

 

 

On the morning of September 13, 2006, Kimveer Gill, dressed in black combat boots, a black Matrix style trench coat and armed with three guns, drove his black car to downtown Montreal with the aim to kill. Gill walked past the Dawson Daycare Center, which daily oversees 48 toddlers, along a busy street -- the Maisonneuve. Gill disliked cigarettes, and when he saw some students smoking outside the college main entrance he shot two of them. Then he went inside to the atrium. It was lunchtime; many students filled the cafeteria as Gill began shooting at random with his semi-automatic weapon.[1] He killed 18 year-old Anastasia Rebecca De Sousa, a Dawson college student, and injured at least 20 people (four of them were hospitalized in critical condition).[2] The gunman showed no mercy for wounded Anastasia and refused to allow a fellow student to help her.[3] Her autopsy revealed she was shot nine times at close range.[4]

   Kimveer Gill took hostages and used them as human shields while the police were pursuing him. During the gunfire exchange, the gunman was hit in the arm. He then committed suicide by shooting himself. This dramatic chain of events took less than 10 minutes from beginning to end.[5]

   Gill had no known connection to Dawson College, the largest college in downtown Montreal. Unlike other universities in the city, it is housed in one vast interconnected building. At noon the students congregate in two cafeterias.[6] It is reasonable to assume that Gill deliberately chose this location in order to kill as many people as possible.

 

Kimveer Gill's Mental Condition as Reflected Through His Blog

Kimveer Gill was a depressed and troubled young man. He was an unemployed loner who lived in his parents' basement in the Montréal suburban neighborhood of Laval.[7] He enjoyed the virtual world of a website named VampireFreaks.com, dedicated to Goth culture.

   Kimveer Gill's posts to the VampireFreaks.com website revealed his disturbed nature and provide an insight into his predictable end:

1. His screen name was Fatality666.[8]
2. His likes and dislikes: Achieve This Year – Stay Alive; How do you want to Die – like Romeo and Juliet – or – in a hail of gunfire;[9] Favorite Movie – Natural Born Killers;[10] Favorite Weapon – Tec-9 semi-automatic handgun (Gill noted that this was an illegal weapon in Canada).[11]
3. Self- description: "His name is Trench. You will come to know him as the Angel of Death… He is not a people person. He has met a handful of people in his life who are decent. But he finds the vast majority to be worthless, no good, conniving, betraying, lying, deceptive."[12]
4. Gill uploaded more than 50 pictures on his VampireFreaks.com page. Those pictures depicted him dressed like his heroes, the gunmen from Columbine High School, in a long black trench coat and matching boots, carrying various weapons. In one of the pictures, entitled "You're next," he was seen pointing a handgun at the camera.[13] In another picture he held a sign in order to deliver a message – "My Gothic Princess Leaves a Trail of Tears. God Has Forsaken Her. God Will Pay.”[14] In his last photo on the VampireFreaks blog, he was wearing his signature trench coat and holding up an automatic weapon with the text message "ready for action."[15]
5. On his virtual tombstone he wrote "Kimveer – Lived fast. Died young. Left a mangled corpse."[16]
6. Gill posted many messages on VampireFreaks; sometimes he would post entries every fifteen minutes. He wrote: "I love VampireFreaks. This is my new home. I shall reside here till the day I die."[17] Reading excerpts from his blog exposes the psychotic personality of a man who was obsessed with hate, death, and guns. For example, on March 15, 2006, Gill wrote:

 

"I hate this world

I hate the people in it

I hate the way people live

I hate god

I hate deceivers

I hate betrayers

I hate religious zealots

I hate everything

I hate so much

(I could write 1000 more lines like these, but does it really matter, does anyone even care)

Look what this wretched world has done to me."[18] 

1. His role models were outlaws such as Bonnie and Clyde, as well as Romeo and Juliet -- couples who disregarded societal norms and had died tragic deaths as a result. He admired the Germans, especially Adolf Hitler, and wrote one entry in German: "I will crush my enemies and eliminate them."[19]
2. About two hours before the rampage, Gill wrote on the site he had been drinking whiskey in the morning ("mmmmmm, mmmmmmmmm, good!!") and described his mood the night before as "crazy" and "postal.”[20]

 

In another post he wrote "Give them what they deserve before you go." The word "them" referred to a vast array of people, places and things. Among his most hated things were comedies, governments, sunlight, and country music.[21] Gill expressed loathing towards authority figures such as police, teachers, and principals; he singled out "jocks" for high school bullying.[22] Furthermore, nine months before his rampage he wrote specifically that the day in which he planned to seek revenge would be grey, "A light drizzle will be starting up."[23] Indeed, such was the weather on the day of his rampage.

Gill did not restrict his violent thoughts to his blog on VampireFreaks. He posted various disturbing and distressing comments on other websites as well. Gill's dark attitude towards the world was confirmed by personality tests he took on the Internet: A test named "Evil-O-Meter" rated him as "pure Evil." Another quiz, "Which dictator are you?" suggested that his personality was consistent with Adolf Hitler's personality. A personality test based on one of his favorite video games, Postal, rated him as having an 84% chance of "going postal" (which is to say, being involved in a violent massacre) and an 86% chance of killing someone. These outcomes were accompanied by a recommendation to seek professional help immediately.[24] A police source commented in the aftermath of Gill’s rampage: "It was very obvious his state of mind was deteriorating greatly over the last three weeks."[25]

All of the above materials were visible and easily accessible on the VampireFreaks site. Possibly because of this openness, Gill thought the police was after him. In February 2006, on his blog he wrote, "I know you're watching me mother-f-----s. I laugh at thee. There is nothing you can do to stop me. HA HA HA HA HA…"[26]   Later that month he claimed that officers were pretending to be "nice little Goth girls" as part of their surveillance.[27] Unfortunately, the police did not monitor Gill's actions. If they had, then the policemen would have undoubtedly come across Gill's disturbing virtual fingertips and explicit threats: "Turn this f---ing world into a graveyard/Crush all those who stand in your way/ Let there be a river of blood in your wake/Walk through that river with pride."[28] I will discuss the issue of monitoring sites in Chapters 7 (ISP’s responsibility) and 8 (State responsibility). Regrettably, no reader of the busy VampireFreaks site saw it necessary to alert law-enforcement agencies to Gill’s most dangerous content.

 

 

Next week, I will discuss readers’ responsibility by considering the important phenomenon of Internet warnings: people who announce their murderous intentions on the Internet. It is argued that if socially responsible readers will see such declared intentions online and call them to the attention of security agencies, scores of lives can be saved.

 

 

 

My book, Confronting the Internet’s Dark Side is available in your book stores and, of course, on Amazon and similar outlets.

 

 

My short video introducing the book:

https://universityofhull.app.box.com/s/38iz6jtz2fnzzslom82jylwf2xeivqdb

 

What People are Saying

“The dramatic growth of Internet technologies is creating a new era in democratic life, a crisis for the established media, and possibilities for participatory politics that challenge liberal institutions. This book documents today’s turning point with urgency and profound clarity. Ithiel de Sola Poole’s Technologies of Freedom has become a classic work defining the information society, with media technology as its axis. Confronting the Internet’s Dark Side is of that quality—a potential classic that defines for us moral responsibility in the new media age.”

— Clifford Christians, University of Illinois

 

“Cohen-Almagor recognizes that if social responsibility on the Internet is to be implemented, discussions will need to focus on how and why one can draw limits on what one does on the Internet, as well as what ISPs and countries can do with the Internet. Not everyone will agree with the solutions proposed, but in light of the detailed stories concerning hate sites (toward groups or humanity in general), webcam viewing of actual suicides, the exponential growth of child pornography, and so forth, it is hard to fall back on knee-jerk First Amendment responses.”

—  Robert Cavalier, Carnegie Mellon University

 

“In this book, Raphael Cohen-Almagor makes a forceful case for greater social responsibility on the part of Internet service providers and all who surf the Web. Calling on us to think and act like citizens of the online world, he insists that we have a moral obligation to confront those who abuse the technology by using it to disseminate hate propaganda and child pornography, or by engaging in cyber-bullying, or by aiding and abetting terrorism. Fast-paced, philosophically sophisticated, and filled with illustrative and sometimes heart-wrenching examples, the book is intended to serve as a wake-up call and will challenge its readers to reconsider their views of free expression in the Internet age.”

—  Stephen L. Newman, York University

 

“Confronting the Internet’s Dark Side is an exceptionally timely and important contribution in response to a public policy predicament. Without evading its controversial aspects, it confronts the many difficult issues that the misuse and abuse of the Internet have precipitated onto the public domain. It does so in a comparative, cross-national manner, well calculated to enlighten, exemplified by telling case studies. These starkly demonstrate the tragic consequences of governmental slowness to act on the lessons from a rapidly escalating and pervasive technological innovation.”

— Jack Hayward, Emeritus Professor of Politics, Oxford University, Research Professor of Politics, Hull University.

 

 

 

 

[1] Jan Wong, "Get under the desk," Globe and Mail (September 16, 2006):  A8.

[2] Daniel Renaud, "Gunman showed no pity to girl," Toronto Sun (September 15, 2006):  3.  

[3] Ibid.:  2.  

[4] Tu Thanh Ha, Ingrid Peritz and Andre Picard, "Shooter had brief military service," Globe and Mail (September 16, 2006):  A9; “Encyclopedia - Anastasia Rebecca de Sousa,” https://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Anastasia-Rebecca-de-Sousa/.

[5] Andre Picard, "Gunman shot student again and again," Globe and Mail (September 15, 2006):  A8.

[6] Jan Wong, "Get under the desk," Globe and Mail (September 16, 2006):  A9.

[7] Jain Ajit, "Raging, alienated, Gill was a walking time bomb," India Abroad (New York) (September 22, 2006):  A1.

[8] Natalie Pona, "Net violence unchecked," Toronto Sun (September 15, 2006):  4.  

[9] "Profile posted by Kimveer Gill," National Post (September 15, 2006):  A4.

[10] Phinjo Gombu, "Web diary, photos reveal angry man who loved guns and hated people," Toronto Star (September 14, 2006):  A1.  

[11] Ibid.

[12] Phil Couvrette, "Rampage shooter an angry loner," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (September 15, 2006):  A4.

[13] Natalie Pona, "Net violence unchecked," Toronto Sun (September 15, 2006):  4.     

[14] Toronto Sun (September 15, 2006):  4.      

[15] "Montreal Shooting - The Blog:  Excerpts 'I hate this world…I hate so much'," National Post (September 15, 2006):  A4.  

[16] Phil Couvrette, "College gunman Liked Columbine Role-play," Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) (September 15, 2006):  20A.   

[17] "Killer likened life to a video game," Globe and Mail (September 15, 2006):  A9.  

[18] "Montreal Shooting - The Blog:  Excerpts 'I hate this world…I hate so much'," National Post (September 15, 2006):  A4.  

[19] Sue Montgomery and Jeff Heinrich, "Acting out his fantasy: Dawson College gunman posted visions on his blog of what he enacted Wednesday," Edmonton Journal (September 15, 2006):  A3.

[20] "A blog of violence and death," Newsday (September 15, 2006):  A32; "Killer likened life to a video game," Globe and Mail (September 15, 2006):  A9.

[21] "Killer likened life to a video game," Globe and Mail (September 15, 2006):  A9.

[22] Phinjo Gombu, "Web Diary, photos reveal angry man who loved guns and hated people," Toronto Star (September 14, 2006):  A1.  

[23] Jan Wong, "Get under the desk," Globe and Mail (September 16, 2006):  A8.

[24] "Killer likened life to a video game," Globe and Mail (September 15, 2006):  A9.

[25] Siri Agrell and Paul Cherry, "Blogs reveal a deteriorating mind, police say," National Post (September 16, 2006):  A9.  

[26] Siri Agrell, "Troubled kids gravitating' to vampire site," National Post (September 15, 2006):  A6.  

[27] Ibid.  

[28] "Killer likened life to a video game," Globe and Mail (September 15, 2006):  A9.