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Douglas W. "Popeye" Frederick - 07 Jul 2007 12:08 GMT

School teacher killed in her own home:

Never needed a gun in 41 years.

Her husband, who watched her die helplessly, never previously had to
defend his family with a firearm.

Newlywed killed in Burnaby home invasion
Last Updated: Friday, July 6, 2007 | 7:09 PM PT
CBC News
A Surrey school principal is dead and her husband was injured after what
police are calling a home invasion in Burnaby around noon Thursday, just
five days after the couple's wedding.

A.H.P. Matthew Elementary School principal Shemina Hirji was killed at her
home on Thursday afternoon.

Shemina Hirji, 41, was killed after three men entered her Sierra Ridge
townhouse and confronted the couple, police said.

Her husband, Paul Cheema, called 911 but by the time police arrived the men
had fled, said Cpl.

Dale Carr of the RCMP's integrated homicide investigation team.

"Shortly after the police arrived here we learned of the suspects fleeing
the area," he said. "We called in the police search dog and air services.

Unfortunately, we were unable to establish any sort of suspect trail by
using those two resources."

One of the men was a tall, white man wearing a brown suit, and another was
dark-skinned and wearing a ski mask, police said.

There is no description of the third man.

Police on Thursday secure the townhouse complex where Shemina Hirji was
killed.

A motive is not yet known and it's not clear whether the couple knew their
assailants, police added.

They did not release any details about how Hirji was killed. Cheema, who was
sent to hospital Thursday, has been released.

The Surrey school district issued a statement Friday morning praising
Hirji's work at A.H.P Matthew Elementary School.

"Shemina is known as an educator absolutely committed to making a difference
in the lives of children," school board vice-chair Reni Masi said in a
statement.

"She was a role model, a strong leader and a key member of the school
district family."

School children at A.H.P. Matthew Elementary School in Surrey look at the
messages on a memorial for principal Shemina Hirji.

A critical response team is available "to support the staff and community in
the many schools that Shemina has impacted during her career as a teacher
and administrator," Masi said.

Hirji joined the Surrey school district in 1996 as an elementary teacher,
and became an elementary school administrator three years later.

She had worked at six elementary schools.

Neighbours are struggling to deal with the events.

Nadia Van Dijk said she was home at the time of the killing, but it was not
until later that it began to sink in.

"Well, I was kind of in shock at first and it didn't really hit me," she
said. "But I came back home late last night. It was really weird walking
down to my home thinking somebody just died here."

Signature

"I wasn't going to get into any of this until later, but you asked
a reasonable question. The problem for me in answering is that
I'm theorizing with more intuited logic than facts." -JOF

Popeye/ www.finalprotectivefire.com

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Douglas W. "Popeye" Frederick - 13 Jul 2007 03:13 GMT

'Common thread' among stabbing victims: Calgary police
Last Updated: Thursday, July 12, 2007 | 4:49 PM MT
CBC News
Police have identified a Calgary woman slain during a series of
early-morning stabbings that investigators now say shared a "common thread."

Jacqueline Clara Crazybull, 44, died of a single stab after an attack at the
corner of 17th Avenue and 11th Street SW shortly after 4 a.m. MT on
Wednesday.

Calgary police also said Thursday that investigators have found a "common
thread" among the four other people assaulted in different parts of the city
over the next hour.

"Before each of the assaults, the suspects used a ruse to engage the victims
in conversation. The content of the conversation is being withheld for
investigative reasons," police said in a release.

Calgary Drop-In Centre head Dermot Baldwin said Crazybull used the homeless
shelter, along with at least two others stabbed that morning.

"There is no question that these people were singled out," he said. "They
look a little more dishevelled and unkempt and vulnerable. I think the
people who perpetrated this can read that fairly well."

Staff Sgt. Patty McCallum wouldn't say if the victims were known to police,
but said they weren't involved in criminal activity at the time of the
attacks.

"They were doing nothing wrong. They were not engaged in criminal activity.
To focus on that would suggest that they were specifically targeted and we
don't know for certain that was the case," she said.

"We don't know if it was the area that was targeted specifically or is it
the people? Why were they selected? Were they selected because they just
happened to be there?"

The four surviving victims, who didn't know each other, according to police,
were expected to recover. They include:

A 21-year-old man stabbed at 15th Avenue and 2nd Street SW.
A 42-year-old man stabbed at 16th Avenue and 2nd Street NE.
A 43-year-old man stabbed in the 4400 block of Centre Street N.
A 23-year-old woman stabbed and slashed at 44th Street and 21st Avenue SE.
Police were also looking for three or four black men between ages 20 and 30
who were in a light-coloured, possibly beige or silver, newer-model sedan.

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