6 Killed at Seattle Rave

[Nagognog2]

Seattle Murders Shock 'Rave' Community

SEATTLE - The partygoers didn't know Aaron Kyle Huff, and don't know who invited him to their after-party. In the culture of raves, all-night dance parties where they say young people can feel welcomed regardless of looks or background, such questions normally aren't important.
That trust was shattered Saturday morning, when Huff opened fire in a house full of ravers dressed like zombies in dark clothing and pale makeup, killing six of them and injuring two.

The 28-year-old man from Montana, who fired a 12-gauge pistol-grip shotgun and wore bandoliers of shotgun shells, killed himself when confronted by a police officer outside the home.

Now ravers are in shock after being struck by the apparently random act of violence.

"We're probably the only community in society that would have welcomed somebody so easily," said Travis Webb, an area rave promoter who attended a "zombie rave" that preceded the party where Huff opened fire.

Raves - parties that attract young people to dance to thumping, bass-laden electronic music - often are themed events where people dress up in Halloween-like outfits and paint their faces. Friday night's rave, dubbed "Better Off Undead," drew about 500 people, according to organizers.

Early Saturday, some made their way to a house party already underway in a nearby residential neighborhood. Someone invited Huff, police said.

While friends of the victims said they didn't know who invited the suspect, they said the invite wasn't unusual.

"I've invited people to after-parties many times," said 28-year-old Roger Platt, who attended the rave and left the after-party at the house shortly before the shooting.

Police said the gunman left the house party and returned around 7 a.m. to commit one of the biggest mass killings in city history.

Police spokesman Sean Whitcomb said Sunday that police found an assault rifle, multiple "banana clips" carrying 30 bullets each, a machete and several hundred more rounds of ammunition.

Whitcomb said the gunman was "extremely dangerous" and it was fortunate there weren't more victims.

Four young men and two young women were killed and two people were hospitalized in serious condition, officials said.

Some who knew Huff could not believe he was a suspect.

"This would have been so far out of character," said Jim Pickett, the assistant manager of the apartment complex where he said Huff lived with his twin brother.

Seattle police had not released Huff's identity Sunday, but Montana's Flathead County sheriff's Lt. Dave Leib said that after talking with authorities there he informed Huff's mother Sunday afternoon that her son was dead.

Phone messages left at Huff's Seattle apartment and the Huff family home in Whitefish, Mont., were not immediately returned.

Leib said Huff, who went by the name Kyle, was charged with felony criminal mischief in 2000 after shooting a statue of a moose with a shotgun at an art exhibit in Whitefish.

Whitcomb confirmed that a search warrant was served Saturday evening on the block where the twins' apartment is located. One person was questioned, but no one was arrested, he said.

Whitcomb said police were still working on a motive.

Authorities have not released the victim's identities, but relatives and friends of three victims, Jason Travers, 32, Jeremy Martin, 26, and Christopher Williamson, 21, confirmed that they were among the dead. Several ravers gathered at a makeshift memorial near the crime scene Sunday morning.

Webb said he and other ravers are filled with fear that police or city officials might use the shooting as an excuse to shut down the parties. Police said alcohol and marijuana were found at the murder scene, but they had not linked them to the crime.

"It's almost a double punishment," Webb said. "You lose six people that are so close, and then you might lose the community that brought you all together in the first place."

Many ravers say that although alcohol is not usually served, drugs are a part of the scene.

"The drugs are unreal," said Chris Meyer, 22, who said he stopped going because of the drugs. "The more and more I went, it was just people sitting around on the floor."

Meyer said partygoers' favorite drug is ecstasy, or MDMA, which makes people feel tipsy, trusting, loving and warm toward others.

Webb, who attended only the larger party, acknowledges that some kids use drugs but said he's seen a decline in drug use over the last year.

He said he's working with other Seattle rave promoters to organize a free, daytime memorial rave, "so people can see that we're not a bunch of kids hiding in the basement."

[Nagognog2]

Here it comes: MDMA - The MURDER Drug!! Just watch...

[Mr. Giraffe]

According to a report I read today, alcohol and cannabis were found at the party.

Stand by for the 'killer weed' stories perhaps.

[klaatu]

Originally Posted by Mr. Giraffe

According to a report I read today, alcohol and cannabis were found at the party.

Stand by for the 'killer weed' stories perhaps.

Something tells me that if we stand by waiting for "Killer gun" stories we'll be waiting an awful long time....

Klaatu

[Alfa]

Twins? Unless fingerprints are available or gun power burns have been found on one of the twins, it would be hard to be sure the right twin was charged. If they look the same.

[Desertfox]

My friend was at this party, and i was actually invited there but happily did not go. My friend could be the one to tell everyone that this guys problem was not cause of drugs or anything, he just was one of those people that are not mentally stable enough for society. blaming this incident on a drug and not the person who commited the crime is ignorance.

[Alfa]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...ews1164/1.html

[jardo]

First of all, my condolences to the friends and families of the people that were killed.. Reading about this and watching it on the news really makes me sick.


Second of all, this has little to nothing to do with raves, or rave culture. If someone were at a bar and invited some dude to an after hours club and that dude ended up shooting 6 people in the after hours club.. no one would be meantioning anything about the bar they were invited from.

So, yea.. I think the title of the thread as well as all the news headlines, are very misleading. If you take a shotgun to party, you're off your friggin rocker no matter which sub-culture you come from.

[Pinkavvy]

This was a tragic loss. It was a an official house after-party of the rave. Nobody there knew who this person was. Swim and friends are recovering from this event. Please keep good thoughts in mind when remembering those lost.

[Swing]

I almost went to that rave. And I usually go to the afterparties as well. It keeps running in my head that I could have been there

[kemistudent]

Not much phases me anymore, but when I first heard this on the news, and now again, reading more details, I can't help but fight back tears.

Such a senseless act directed at harmless people.

This kind of shit is the main reason I stopped throwing parties and spinning out. The tough macho people who stand around pointing and laughing at people who are in the slightest way different than their leather coat wearing, hair jelled back as if they just walked off the set of "Grease" punk asses.

Whatever happened to the days where everything went smoothly? In Toronto during a 3 day event I saw a bunch of the assholes described above flip some dudes car over because the guy was gawking at one of the greaseballs girlfriend!! Hello!!! Is it wrong to look at a pretty chick when your rolling?! WTF has the scene turned into?!

[Pinkavvy]

Kemi - fortunately the scene here in the northwest is still a very loving and open community. the attacker was in no was involved in the scene at all. nobody knew him. nobody ever saw him before that night. and though we have a big scene here, it's a close enough scene that we would have recognized him. this was an outside attack on the community.

[raven3davis]

Damn that's so messed up. What a bizzare and twisted thing to do. Much appologies to the famalies who had to deal with the losses, the victims and the whole community. Drugers and ravers are just so kind that they wouldn't even have questioned someone who they did not know because its all about unity. This guy just saw these people as easy targeta and he preyed on them. What a loss to the community though. This will not shed good light on ravers even though the victims were ravers and the lunatic killer had nothing to do with the scene. rest in peace

[kemistudent]

It's so senseless, what did he achieve? If he didn't have anything against those he killed, and did it just for the sake of killing people.. it's scary, and sickening.

Maybe there is a lesson to be learned here. I believe that if you are unable to find a positive in every experience than you wasted an opportunity to learn. Since I have heard about this I have been unable to see what good can materialize.

I think we should make everyone in the world trade in their firearms for those airsoft bb guns. That way if someone wants to get crazy they will think twice. I know.. it's not practical, but neither is this act of violence.

[Pinkavvy]

he was just crazy. the people he shot reprisented non-violence and anti-gun viewpoints, and he was obviously a big fan of guns. he was crazy, hence blowing his own head off when the cops arrived.

[Swing]

The local media hasn't really portrayed the rave scene with much negativity from what I've seen after this happened. One of the news stations was covering a "memorial" rave some of the victim's friends put together for him/her.

[Pinkavvy]

Yes, we had a memorial for the victims. there was also a "wind down" chill party last night. as a community we have stepped forward to show that this is not a part of our world, but rather a random act of vilence that could have happened to any peaceful community.

[raven3davis]

That's good to hear. The only thing the community can do now is keep raving. It seems impractical to start beefing up security at a house party or a rave because normally people just connect there and become friends. This act of violence was pure evil but only God can hope that some sicko doesnt get any bad ideas from this.

Guns are really unnecessary. It would be impractical to rid ourselves of guns because in our world state war could break out at any time and one nation without guns would be slaughtered. If only we could go back in time and rid the world of violence.

[korky8097]

damn, that is just sickening to me. It just makes me respect the rave scene even more, it has been around for a decent sum of time and never once have i heard about anything violent like this happening at an event/after party. You cant say that about many sub-cultures of that magnitude. This all just makes me think that this was the "mansons" of the rave scene. Hopefully nothing like this ever happens again. My prayers go out to the families and friends.

[kemistudent]

It would be impractical to rid ourselves of guns because in our world state war could break out at any time and one nation without guns would be slaughtered..

But what would one nation with 55 gallon drums of LSD and pressure washers be able to accomplish??? Let them face their own inner demons in a higher state of consciousness. Weapons are not the final word. Our minds are.

[Pinkavvy]

Originally Posted by kemistudent

But what would one nation with 55 gallon drums of LSD and pressure washers be able to accomplish??? Let them face their own inner demons in a higher state of consciousness. Weapons are not the final word. Our minds are.

How about weaponized Datura alkaloid concetrate areosol/spray? For defense of course.

[Nagognog2]

Similar has been done, Pink. It's called BZ. Quinuclidynlbenzilate (sp? Too lazy) was adopted as a "incapacitating agent" by the US military in the 1960's. It has effects quite like the datura alkaloids, but far less of a dose is needed. 100mcg is generally considered to be enough to send one into the Twilight Zone. Or at least screw up your vision enough to make you effectively blind.

It was declassified as a chemical weapon around 1990 and the stockpile was put on the international arms market by the USA. Empty canisters of it were found by a British film crew in Srebenicia (in the former Yugoslavia) after the Serbian army invaded and killed/disappeared the residents. The labels on the canisters indicated they were of United States manufacture - according to the report.

[Alicia]

Guns are not dangerous, Only the people that use them. Evan people with mental issues tend to be more dangers to themselves then to others but then it does happen. This was a tragic event , love to all those lost and there families.

[radiometer]

One especially sad note is that one of the victims was a member of the local harm-reduction group, stay safe seattle.

[napoleon in rags]

My ex-gf was at Better off Undead, and got invited to that very same fucking after party. Wierd shit.

Thank god she didn't go