Another Racist Arizona Militia Member Becomes A Mass Murderer

Well, it’s happened again.  An extremist gun nut has lost it and shot down those closest to him and himself, including a child.  A little over a month ago, pro-gun blogger, shooting instructor, and gun forum visitor Landon S. Jorgensen shot to death his girlfriend and her 5-year old daughter before killing himself.

Child murderer, racist neo-Nazi, militia leader J.T. Ready "on patrol."

Then, yesterday, extremist J.T. Ready shot and killed four people, including a toddler, before shooting himself to death at a home in Gilbert, Arizona, where he lived with his girlfriend, who was among the dead. 

Police identified the others killed as 15-month-old Lily Lynn Mederos; 23-year-old Amber Nieve Mederos; 47-year-old Lisa Lynn Mederos and 24-year-old Jim Franklin Hiott.

Balafas has said that all the evidence points to the shooting being related to domestic violence. But he said investigators aren't sure what triggered the shooting.

Officers have recovered two handguns and a shotgun.

The shootings occurred in a subdivision filled with stucco homes with red-tile roofs.

Members of the federal Joint Terrorism Task Force and FBI agents removed what Balafas said were military-grade ordnance, munitions and two barrels of chemicals found behind the home.

Ready and Hiott were found dead outside the home, and the bodies of two women were inside. The toddler was found inside the home showing signs of life, but later died at a hospital.

A teenager in the house heard arguing followed by gunshots, Balafas said. She came out of a back room and found the bodies.

Ready was infamous for leading a “border militia” of like-minded neo-Nazi racists on “patrols” for illegal immigrants and drug runners along the Arizona/Mexico border, carrying assault rifles, wearing Ghillie suits, and posting snipers on the lookout.  They lived their gun fetish fantasy of “helping” law enforcement.  As Ready said in one news interview:

"We're going to go all night and shut down the drug corridor that comes directly into Phoenix.  We have guys that are going to be doing some covert stuff and we have some snipers coming out.  If we wait any longer we’re going to have to lower the American flag and call it northern Mexico.”

Paranoia at its worst.

Ready’s home had been the scene of previous police visits, for domestic dispute reports.

According to various sources, including the Wikipedia.org entry for him, Ready was also running for Sherriff, and had close ties to the Republican party, as he was a precinct committee person for them, had served as president of the Mesa Community College Republican Party Club, and was a guest speaker at Tea Party rallies.  No surprise, really, given the way the ultra-right feeds into such paranoid thinking.

He and his gun nut pals were also extremely racist against latinos and jews, and likely others.  Consider this TV interview, for instance, where he said:

The one excluded race from any kind of scrutiny is the jews.  They are the true racial supremicists … They believe in world domination…. We want to provide for the security of our people and a future for white children.

Apparently he didn’t care for the security and future of the white toddler he shot and killed yesterday, though.  He goes on and on:

Only whites don’t have one stretch of land on this Earth that is for our people.  We’re going to change that. ….

White America used to be 100% White, now we’re about 60%.  That was all part of the plan through legal immigration alone.  …  It is White people going extinct on this planet, right now, in every city across this world.

Apparently Native Americans and black people weren’t part of historical America, to Ready.

There are lots and lots of videos and articles about this lunatic and his pals.  Here’s a link to a bunch of them and further commentary.

But Ready wasn’t the first of his militia pals to suffer a brutal shooting death.  His fellow white supremacist and “border patrol” organizer, Jeffrey Hall, was shot to death last year by his 10-year old son.

It would seem that these militia guys should be fearing each other and themselves more than the big, bad Mexican boogeymen that they trump up as the enemy.

This case certainly conjures up memories of the last violent militia shooting crime in Arizona:  The 2009 shooting of the Flores family by “border patrol” Minutemen American Defense militia members, namely mastermind and former prostitute Shawna Forde.  She and her minions, Gunny Bush and Albert Gaxiola, were also white supremacists and claimed to be patrolling the border on behalf of Arizona.  Of course, these people who considered themselves the best kind of patriots (as Ready had), turned out to be lowlife, violent criminals.  The invaded the home of the Flores family, all of whom were legal U.S. citizens, and robbed the place.  They shot and killed 9-year old Brisenia Flores and her father, Raul “Junior” Flores, and critically injured the mother, Gina Marie Gonzalez.  Forde is now on death row, along with Bush, and Gaxiola will probably die in prison of old age.

J.T. Ready, by the way, idolized the Minutemen American Defense militia.

All I can say about these violent gun nuts, is this:  “You live by the gun, you die by the gun.”

And what is the state of Arizona’s stance on these violent, racist militia groups?  They decided it was such a good idea that they set up a state-sponsorship of them, and now they are actually considering funding them to the tune of $1.9 million!  But then, this IS Arizona, home of the most relaxed gun laws in the nation, paranoid and discriminatory laws against latinos, where they respond to mass shootings by holding gun shows and making a gun a symbol of the state.

The J.T. Ready shooting and the Flores murders are just two examples of why I consider “citizen’s militias” to be would-be terrorist groups.  They breed hate and spew violence.   Just in case you doubt my opinion on this, my next post will be a timeline of these and other militia member crimes.

UPDATES (5/8/12):  
J.T. Ready committed his horrible act while wearing body armor, showing that the attack was pre-meditated and that he might have thought one of those he attacked might have been willing to shoot back.  The article also says more about his ties to local politics, particularly Senator Russell Pearce.

Ready's extremist militia pals are vowing to continue their nefarious mission, despite his death.

In searching Ready's home after the attack, authorities found, among the weapons and ammo, six live military grenades, which are illegal for civilians to possess or purchase.

Ready was, of course, a devout NRA member.

Naturally, Ready's neo-Nazi pals are already claiming that Ready is innocent of his crime, and that it MUST have been some sort of plot by the U.S. government or Mexican drug cartels.  Says one commenter at the forum, calling himself "MaxKrieger":

Suddenly the story does not mesh, so you bring in feds to examine water barrels? And buy some time?

I have no doubt the "official story" will be that JT did all this, I just doubt the official story.

I spoke with JT on a few occasions, sadly never in Person, but I am not buying any of this garbage about him.

UPDATE (5/18/12):  From a follow-up article: 

J.T. Ready had 13 encounters with Gilbert police since 2008, and corresponding police reports depict an armed vigilante with a short temper, racially charged motives and a history of domestic-violence accusations.

And yet, despite all the encounters and domestic violence, our lax gun laws allowed this racist baby-killer to keep his arsenal of weapons and continue with his racist and violent agenda.