AJ Hanlon Killing: A Witness Contacts Us
Posted on Tuesday, July 15, 2008This came from Jane Stone, who lives on the street where AJ was killed.
It’s an extraordinary statement that paints a picture of householders over-reacting to Andrew’s knocking on the door, followed by a merciless killing. What’s not so clear is who fired the first two shots. The report seems to hint that Gonzales shot Andrew several times after he had already been shot by two other men.
These men ran to the back of the building where Jane lives, after the shooting. Were they the two men who pursued Andrew after he knocked on the door or were they the police?
I’m trying to clarify this and I’ll come back with more information if I can find out exactly what meaning is intended.
This is Jane Stone’s account:
I am devastated by what happened to Andrew. He was murdered in front of my building, on Oak and Mill St. in Silverton, Ore. I am an internationally known artist/writer and although I did not know Andrew, I feel a kinship as a fellow artist, and also several of my artist apprentices over the years knew Andrew. Every single one of them told me what an awesome person he was, and that he loved life.
This is what i know to be true: first 2 shots came from front and side of my bldg.. NO WARNING CALL ie: “police” hands up”, “stop” etc.
NOTHING except 2 shots, then 2 males ran away from victim to back window of my bldg., where I was at computer. Then, (maybe 1 minute or more later) popping sounds on oak st.. I believe andrew was already fatally wounded when officer inflicted shoulder limb shots. that (could) be why Andrew “tripped and fell down.”
There is huge cover up going on here, I KNOW WHOEVER FIRED 1ST 2 SHOTS (very loud) they were fired by or at my bldg.. please- we must not let this go!!!
We must not give up until light shines on Andrew’s soul… he was (from every report I’ve heard) a fine, gentle person who was going thru loss of employment, loss of place to live and expired visa~ enough to bring stress to anyone.
The whole thing could have been dealt with at the outset by a pause, kindness and directions. How does banging on a door intrepret out to a burglary in progress??? This young irishman was barefoot, no backpack, 130#, 5′6″,totally un armed, being chased down oak st. hill by husband (of wife who called to report burglary in progress) and friend of husbands’.
How many times kids have come to my door asking for directions (late at night)?
live up Oak St. Hill from my studio-(the bldg. from which 1st 2 shots were fired) and all I’ve had to do is walk kid (s) out to sidewalk, then show them the road they were looking for, which is usually the one directly across from my house.
Simple.
Why would anyone call police because a young adult needed directions, and within minutes, he is dead? This was a tragic sensless brutal murder and I pray we will see justice here, for Andrew’s soul, for the family of andrew and the young adults in Silverton who loved him, for the people in ireland who are heartbroken too.
I am wanting to do more, please with the help of good people from around the States and in Ireland, let us join together here, in the name of Andrew J Hanlon. He so deserves a sacred memorial, it would be called “JUSTICE LIVES” and it would be built out of TRUTH. We cannot allow this murder to be covered up,
How can we start? What will we do? I send my love to everyone whose life was and is being touched by Andrew.
J Stone
_________________________
This is where they killed him after he was chased down the hill by a neighbour. The police were waiting for him near the junction of N 3rd St and Cascade HWY (aka Oak St). The approximate location of his killing is marked with a white asterisk.
And this gives an indication of how near he was to his sister’s house when he knocked on the door. This is not a big city. this is a town of 7.000 people.
All Bock posts on AJ Hanlon HERE
Stumble it!
July 15th, 2008
Wow. What can you say to something as powerful as that?
As Jane said, we pray for justice.
July 15th, 2008
Wow. That is a powerful statement.
I have said in previous postings that the authorities should be given time to investigate. That time is now well up. The investigation must surely be complete by now. I have to suspect at this stage that there is something deeply rotten going on.
July 15th, 2008
Well done and thank you Jane for posting such a graphic and brave description of this senseless act. Hopefully justice will prevail once words such as yours are spoken. It’s the only small consolation Andrew’s family can cling to in the light of this cowardly murder.
July 15th, 2008
Murder she said - and she’s right.
July 15th, 2008
Jane you should contact one of america reputable news sources a dateline 20/20 type news magazine.I have, it took me four hours to try to put as much info as possible together from both the irish and american media coverage .I emailed three hundred little twenty somethings interns new kids on staff at both magazine shows, there has to be someone that will pick it up while its fresh in everyones minds.I have also contacted Bill O’Reilly at fox.
July 15th, 2008
I can see Bill being a big fan of this site.
July 16th, 2008
What can you say to that? I’m sure Jane must have gone to the Police with this. I think they would be happy to hear it as it may lessen the blame on the thug in uniform, in their eyes at least. And it doesn’t sound too difficult to solve what with different bullets from different guns. Jesus what a nightmare. Everyone has a gun! AJ must have been petrified. My stomach turns more with each passing report.
I don’t know if anyone here has been reading some of the comments on the Oregonian blogs. There are some real hate-filled comments slagging off the indignation that all decent people here and in the US have been expressing since AJ was murdered. But I suppose if there is one Gonzales, there must be twenty more. It’s up to the decent citizens of Silverton now to stand up for AJ and for the future of their own kids. Here’s one disturbing comment I read today from a Silverton resident who maintains that Gonzales is not the only ‘bad cop’ in town., she said; “there is only one gang in Silverton and they bear the insignia SPD”
Here’s a video link to Gonzales court appearance
http://www.kptv.com/video/16890238/index.html
PS - thanks Bock ……
July 16th, 2008
I’ve seen some of those comments. They indicate to me what a brutal, intolerant and violent culture America is becoming.
That has implications for the entire world, as we’ve already seen.
July 16th, 2008
That poor lad, so sad. Fair play to Jane Stone.
July 17th, 2008
Its a completely different case but it does bring back memories of the emotions i felt when i read your post on the murder of the brazilian plumber on the tube (1st Bock post i ever read)
An absolute tragedy on all counts,i can only imagine the fear AJ felt in his final moments and i can only hope that justice is done in this case (as it wasnt done in the other one)
July 17th, 2008
I hear that A.J is to be buried on this Saturday morning in Saggart, Co.Dublin at 11 A.M.
July 18th, 2008
bock~ something just came up with a.j.’s memorial site~ it seems that someone at silverton city hall either authorized or knows of the person who did this to the memorial site but “cannot release the name of the person” according to the detective working with a.j.’s legal council- who appeared at silverton city hall on behalf of the family , hoping to recover this collection of confiscated sacred objects~so here’s what happened:a.j.’s 2nd memorial site (the present one with all the flags of ireland is the 3rd) had many posters, poems, artifacts (like small pieces of art)beautiful flower arrangements, artwork, photo’s, banners, most everything there was handmade by a friend who loved a.j., and someone connected w/silverton city govt., apparently deemed this 2nd memorial site “unacceptable” and saw cause to “remove” everything there. this is only place andrew’s friends have, to show respect for their fallen friend. it is directly across street from where andrew’s life ended. the city
knows young people to contact who work on the memorial, yet no one was warned ahead of time by city hall that their memorial site was about to be destructed and that everything there would be destroyed if it wasn’t claimed.? am wanting to know who authorized this, & who actually went there and did this? for what reason was this done
and what harm or potential harm was it causing~ the homeowner at that corner had already given permission for site to be there~
it was so beautiful…i wonder if a.j.’s mum got to see it before it was destroyed ? relatives weren’t given chance to claim anything, before all was (apparently) destroyed. whoever did this shameful act of vandalism ought to (at the least) come foreward offering his/her explanation to andrew’s family, his friends and to the public. this memorial was never impending pedestrian traffic, and all lit candles were carefully monitored. please will EVERYONE READING THIS TAKE 2 MINUTES TO EMAIL http://www.cityofsilverton.com to see if they were truly destroyed? and why…
there’s a “vietnam war memorial wall” in wash.d.c., where thousands of artifacts are placed on wall every day, and each night guards remove the artifacts and catalog them, for the connecting museum.this is showing respect for fallen war hero’s. please help make city govt. give answers to this, yet one more~ unnecessary acts of cruelty and destruction…
also, all i keep thinking about today was what was this a.j. guy getting readyy to show us, with his artwork that he hadn’t even done yet?
what would he have pulled out of his soul for us to see? would we have been stopped in our tracks with the mystery or the beauty of the piece? would we have laughed our asses off because one of his pieces was so bizarre and timely and true? what can we think of this “artist of life” and the work he never got to show us? i’m having a bit of a hard time with this, today~ why wasn’t this “parsnip” sitting inside of my studio the night of june 30th, working on a project~ instead of laying outside of my studio~ dead…
with love and great sadness, jstone