Arizona Graduation Party Shooting Leaves 2 Dead, 4 Wounded

MESA, Ariz. — Two people were killed and six others _ two of them children _ were wounded in a shooting at a high school graduation party, police said Sunday.

Brent Matthew Banks, 37, was arrested after a four-hour standoff with police at a house in Mesa, east of Phoenix, Mesa Police Sgt. Ed Wessing said.

Preliminary information indicated that Banks was an invited guest at the party who got into a physical fight with his ex-wife late Saturday, Wessing said.

He allegedly went to his vehicle, got a gun, returned to the party and opened fire, killing his 38-year-old ex-wife and a 32-year-old man, Wessing said.

He said six others suffered minor injuries. They included a 10-year-old boy who was grazed on the head and an 8-year-old boy injured by bullet fragments.

Wessing said that when police arrived patrol cars were hit by gunfire and one officer was shot in the left arm. The officer's injuries weren't life-threatening and no other officers were hit.

Banks has not yet retained an attorney.

Comments

[nayaz75]

I LIVE DIRECTLY behind this house one over from where the shooting happened! It was CRAZY! IT was like a scene from a movie. We heard multiple gun shots and helicopters were in the sky within minutes shinning lights in our backyard..
My husband drove by the house the next day and they had actually dug holes holes in the ground from all the blood. As of yesturday they were moving out!
It is very sad and this quiet neighborhood has been very shook up!

[GetoffMylawn]

I just love guns, and the way they can help you murder people on a whim.

[JulieSA]

Or protect yourself from mur der, ra pe, and robbery, as about a million people per year do.

[runforfun54]

I love the way all the gun lovers talk about arming college students and professors, yet they fail to take into account the far greater numbers that are killed at so-called social gatherings, BECAUSE OF GUNS! Guns plus Alcohol rarely ends well.

[JulieSA]

The campus laws apply only to concealed carry permit holders, who, having passed FBI background checks, are more law-abiding then the rest of the population on average.

Texas is about to pass a law allowing campus concealed carry.

[sisterdebmac]

The UGA professor who murdered and suicided was a law abiding citizen with legal guns. And those people are still very dead. It doesn't make any difference if guns are legal or someone passed a background check. Even legit gun owners go over the edge and shoot people, don't they?

That argument is weak sauce, man.

[pewty]

In 1989, a child in Baltimore was scewered through the head while playing lawn darts and they were instantly banned FOREVER in the entire US. One death, instantly banned. So yes we can ban guns . And they caused more than one death. Guns make for very easy murder. So dont give me that gar.bage that next everyone will become knife throwing experts .

[PDXTransplant]

NRA: Guns don't kill people This is what happens when people graduate from high school.

[Disuberence]

Legally or not, guns DO kill people. They were designed to KILL PEOPLE. Gun laws are TOO lax in this country. I can walk into Walmart and walk out strapping. Most of the guns currently involved in the drug wars south of the border were obtained LEGALLY in the U.S. Just look at the comments here for proof. People proud of walking around with guns. I hope you're also prepared to murder someone. When you pull out your gun there is no going back. If you are armed you need to be 100% prepared to kill someone. I don't know why people are so obsessed with owning guns. I get it, you think the second amendment grants you the right to own that ak-47, cool. You think chicks dig guys with guns. You dream of being some kind of hero and saving the world with your weapon. That's all fine and dandy, as unrealistic as it is. I'm not saying everyone should lose their guns -- I'm just asking for tougher restrictions. Ammunition needs to be better regulated. People should need to go through vigorous screening processes before being allowed to purchase guns. Maybe then we could curb some of the needless violence this country experiences at a near-constant rate.

[LindaCat]

What do you suggest would apply to these actors?

http://alt.coxnewsweb.com/gjsentinel/pdf/PerezTommy-affidavit.pdf

[JulieSA]

"Most of the guns currently involved in the drug wars south of the border were obtained LEGALLY in the U.S. '

False.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/elections/2009/04/02/myth-percent-guns-mexico-fraction-number-claimed/

[Deadgnome]

One way or another, when there is 1.1 some odd trillion dollars spent on arms production/defense every year and the US accounts for well over half of It some of the last number were around around 400 billion plus. Don't tell me a large majority of those weapons aren't from this country. We've been the single largest arms producer since WWII, one way or another they are ours.

[Disuberence]

I need a link outside of fox news to believe it, please.

[JulieSA]

"I don't know why people are so obsessed with owning guns."

It's my right.

"People proud of walking around with guns."

Concealed carry permit holders have a lower crime rate than the general population. In Canada, after they started their worthless (it had no effect on the crime rate) gun registry, they found out that the neighborhoods with the most legally owned guns were the safest. Crimes are committed by criminals, who don't obey gun laws.
Most mu r ders are committed by someone who is already a felon, and can't legally buy a gun from a dealer.

There is a screening process.

Why should ammo be better regulated?

[pewty]

The right to bear arms was concieved during a time when people needed to protect against British invasion, getting scalped by an Indian, or eaten by a bear. I dont fear any of those. I fear any i.dji.it that has the IQ of a turnip and can sign thier name to a paper and own a gun.

[pewty]

I also severly doubt that as much as you would like to think youd shoot someone you saw on the street commiting a crime, if you have any decency at all, you d feel incredibly terrible after shooting a person, justified or not. Police are highly trained and hardened by thier job, and very rarly do they feel good about shooting some one. So stop pretending your some kind of Dirth Harry type and get real.

[MacManLB]

The ex-wife said, "I'll show him. I'll bring the man I'm boiking to the party."

[dickisarealdick]

No, you just made that up.

[research]

Another alcohol related murder?

[JulieSA]

Alcohol, and ex-spouses fighting. What could go wrong?

[PavePusher]

But, but, but... the GUN caused it all!!!!111!!! If he hadn't had a GUN nothing BAD would EVER have happened!!!!!!! The GUN Made him do IT!!!11!111! Take Them All!!!

>SARCASM< (for those who missed it...)

[bestealth]

Another murder where a MAN is the perpetrator in a mass shooting. Not students, or our kids today, or disgruntled workers, or everything that the media says to avoid saying Males commit these crimes.
Can you imagine if all of the mass murders since Columbine had been committed by black people.
Google could not even store the amount of times the word black would have been invoked.
There sure wouldn't be any generic references like, our students.
There would be an effort to fix blacks. We should fix these men and boys.

[JulieSA]

Actually, mass and serial shootings are extremely rare. They're almost always committed by whites, except in the case of the DC snipers.

It's hard to discuss this issue without risking sounding rac ist to some, but the black mu rder rate is extremely high, for both victims and perpetrators. There is a severe black mu rder problem, and it's unfortunate that we ignore it, because they are the primary victims. Whether it's the legacy of slavery and rac ism or whatever, it's a huge problem that we rarely address for fear of being called rac ist, but it does need fixing.

Much of our high murder rate is because of the high rate of young gang guys offing each other. To me, it's ra cist to ignore this problem.

[luvangelHussein330]

Welcome to Arizona!!
Honestly this happens all the time

[JulieSA]

It happens everywhere all the time.

[pewty]

No it doesnt. You make an awful lot of what I like to call Go.d statements. Kinda like Limball. "If I said it , it must be right"

[Defunct]

the War Criminals that are roaming untouched make these guys look amateur.

[Defunct]

Funny... similar shooting occurred in Los Angeles about three days ago. NO MSM news about it. Oh, they were black.. never mind.

[Matt from Italy]

You just want to be FLAGGED, don't you..

Here we are your daily click.

[vagabondvet]

Why would you flag that?

[vbwayt]

Mr. or Ms. Kneejerk: The people involved in the shooting at the Arizona graduation party were black.

[Defunct]

Who did the cops shoot this time?

[zerepas]

Some men buy high-performance sports cars, or enormous trucks,
some trade their wives for younger girlfriends,
some verbally and/physically abuse women and children,
and some surf the internet for p***n all day.

And some buy guns to compensate for their inadequacies and 'solve their problems'.

It's a (little) man's world. Don't we just love it?

[DontselltheUS]

How many handgun deaths do we need before we change our laws? How many children and other innocent bystanders do we sacrifice so that NRA members can be kept happy?

[grumbles]

Now we can carry guns in national parks and soon college campuses. Whew! I feel better!!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!!!NOT

[CitizenIndie]

Sure, no need for gun control. None at all.

Of course he could have used a knife, but I don't think he would have hit those kids and the cop cars as they pulled up with a machete imo.

Can the US please join the 21st century and take these out of the hands of regular folks? Are they really needed anymore?

[JulieSA]

Not big on the Bill of Rights, are you?

[noralou]

the 2nd ammendment referred to a well regulated militia not a bunch of a-holes running around waving guns 'cause they are so underendowed in other ways.

[noralou]

my ex was big on guns and small elsewhere. What a manly man...