Saturday, September 12, 2009

I Knew The Man

It was in the Drudge Report and World Net Daily, as well as several mainstream news outlets. An anti-abortion activist was gunned down in front of the High School at Owosso Michigan. There was also a second murder by the same killer.

This was a little more than a distant name to me.

I knew Jim Pouillon.

I can't say that we were really friends as I hadn't carried on a conversation with him in couple of years, though if we passed on the streets we would exchange pleasantries. I became acquainted with him through a couple of mutual friends. On several occasions we were both seated with a number of people at a restaurant table drinking our beverages, talking and laughing. He was noted for his graphic posters of aborted children and his lack of any sense of propriety on where to protest. He was good hearted and completely non-violent, but not very bright. But he believed very strongly in the right to life. Even a lot of people who didn't agree with him admitted that he was basically a very good man.

He was also on oxygen and wore a leg brace.

While I agreed with what he was trying to do, I felt that he was frequently protesting in inappropriate places. They complained about his graphic signs and a couple of them were very graphic, but he also protested with a sign that had a smiling baby and the world LIFE beneath it and a similar ultrasound of a baby in the womb.

While officially he was killed because the killer had a personal grudge against him, local information is that his anti-abortion activities were the source of the grudge.

The killer was a local man who had snapped and just started an intended killing spree, complete with a hit-list when he was caught.

It's bad enough to read about strangers but it is shocking when the victim is someone you know.

Update: I did not intend to ignore the second murder victim, Mike Fouss. He was a local businessman who was part owner of several businesses. I knew him only by reputation.

UPDATE: The killer attempted suicide while in jail.


The spot where Jim died.

15 Comments:

Blogger Beth said...

Wow. when you know the victim it really does hit you more.

I'm not sure how we can ever stop the cycle of people using violence when they have disagreements with other people. You mentioned the killer "snapped"; whether he was mentally imbalanced or not, it is scary to think that this sort of thing can happen anywhere anytime.

6:58 AM  
Blogger Chuck said...

I had several thoughts on all of this.

The man that did it was a nut. This is obvious but there it is

The media showed yet more bias in coverage when it was a pro-lifer killed

Finally, I agree with you on the innappropriate places. One of my first thoughts when I heard this story was "He was in front of a school with these pictures"

8:22 AM  
Blogger Z said...

Even more sobering when it's someone you knew, Shoprat, I can only imagine.
I guess it was random but the paper's account sure did lean heavily on his cause....
What a hero that kid was who'd risk helping him............how very sad the whole thing is.

12:03 PM  
Blogger shoprat said...

Beth and Z It was more of a shock this way, that's for sure.

Chuck. There was no reason for him to be protesting where he was but the picture he was holding when he was shot included the smiling face of a healthy baby, Not just a chopped up baby like he sometimes portrayed.

1:04 PM  
Blogger christian soldier said...

will be linking your post to mine--
I was in class all day Sat.--I should have know that my MI blog friend would have posted the article ...
C-CS

1:18 PM  
Blogger Tim said...

Well, I guess it was a matter of time before a crazy person hit back. Just like the killer of Dr. Tiller (no rhyme intended). Still, kids don't need to see that garbage on the way into school. People on both sides need to dial down the temperature. Obviously, this man was only one target of this crazy. I heard he killed the owner of a gravel pit, and was also after a realtor, who fled when informed by police that a crazy man was going after him. I saw the suspect's mug shot in the paper. Looked like someone from "Deliverence". Big fat redneck guy with a frizzy beard and dirty pocket t-shirt. Scuzzball.

1:57 PM  
Blogger Joe said...

What is interesting is the lack of intensity with which the MSM has covered this event.

When a nut-job pro-lifer kills an abortionist, it's all over the news for days, complete with psychological profiles of the man, how we should have seen it coming because the man was a right-wing extremist, and how we right-wingers breed this kind of action.

When it is a pro-lifer killed, it makes the news, but not much else is said or done.

I can imagine how this hit home with you.

1:58 PM  
Blogger Bryan said...

After Cain murdered Abel, the voice of Abel's blood cried unto God from the ground.

Imagine the roaring sound that is being made now, as the voices of the blood of millions of aborted babies cry unto God from the blood soaked ground of America.

With that in mind, maybe God did not disapprove that one small voice demonstrated for truth and life in front of a High School.

2:46 PM  
Blogger christian soldier said...

"...kids don't need to see that garbage on the way into school."
quote from a commenter-

Images of the un-born human--torn apart by pro-deathers-depicts "garbage"?!

OH wait- the pro-deathers do believe that an 'unwanted' un-born human is "garbage"....
C-CS

5:54 PM  
Blogger Tim said...

Okay Carol, we'll picket your house with pornography on a stick. i'll bet you wouldn't want to see that garbage either.

7:22 PM  
Blogger Average American said...

Shoprat, I saw this the other day and was hoping that it was not your family or friends. I knew that there was a chance you knew the guy since it was in Owosso.

As others have mentioned, the msm treats this way differently than when it was the abortion doctor, don't they. Surprise surprise, damned scumbags that they are.

5:34 AM  
Blogger Tim said...

It's been extensively covered in the local media.

7:50 AM  
Blogger shoprat said...

It was indeed covered extensively in Mid-Michigan but only some mentions other places. Locally the excitement (for lack of a better word) has already begun to die down and people are going on with their lives, except for his close friends and family.

I'm adding a photo in a few minutes of where he died.

9:23 AM  
Blogger AmPowerBlog said...

Thanks for sharing, Shoprat. I did now the suspect attempted suicide ...

4:36 PM  
Blogger The WordSmith from Nantucket said...

I did not intend to ignore the second murder victim, Mike Fouss. He was a local businessman who was part owner of several businesses. I knew him only by reputation.

Of course not. Your post had a personal connection, and that's what you were blogging about.

Prayers for both their families.

2:35 PM  

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