R.I,P. Jimmy

The night before last an employee of Uncle Buck's Laundromat on Stillwater Avenue in Stamford was murdered.  My fiancee Joey lived on Stillwater last year. I was over his house all the time, and we did laundry together all the time at Uncle Buck's. I encountered the man that they had killed on a few occasions.  He was very lively and passionate, and I could tell he revolved his whole life around his job.  It is so incredibly disgusting to me that someone could murder him, without even knowing him at all, just for whatever few bucks they thought they could profit.  It's a disgrace.  Evil. Disgusting.  Just don't know what else to say.  It boggles the brain.



I wish that the video cameras were working that night, that they could really tell what had happened.  But it seems they weren't, and I hope that the real truth can come out somehow.


PEOPLE: SPEAK OUT!!!

Police: Cameras in Stamford laundromat were not operational during overnight homicide


STAMFORD -- Surveillance cameras at a Stillwater Avenue laundromat where a 50-year-old Stamford man was beaten to death during an apparent robbery were not operational, said police.

Stamford Police Lt. Diedrich Hohn said police have been investigating the death of James "Jimmy" Decrescenzo, of 26 Main St., who police believed died of blunt force trauma. Hohn said that even though the laundromat's cameras were not working, the investigation was not held up.



"We have now found out that the video cameras at Uncle Buck's laundromat were not working, which is unfortunate," said Hohn. "But police are now looking at hours of footage from surveillance cameras of businesses around the area to see if they can see the comings and goings around the area from the hours of 11 p.m. to 1:20 a.m."

The victim's body was discovered at about 1:20 a.m. Tuesday inside Uncle Buck's Laundromat, 118 Stillwater Ave. Hohn said the attack occurred sometime between 11 p.m. and the time that the body was discovered,. Hohn said the laundromat closes at 11 p.m. The instrument used in the assault is unknown.

Hohn said the official cause of death will be determined after an autopsy, which was expected to be completed Wednesday. Messages left with the state Medical Examiner's Office on Wednesday were not returned.

"I don't expect anything crazy to come out of the autopsy," said Hohn. "This was a cold-blooded homicide and police are doing everything they can to find the person responsible."

Police do not yet have a suspect or suspects in the homicide. Initial investigation shows evidence of a robbery of the victim and at the business, according to police.


A friend of Decrescenzo's, who preferred to go by just her first name, Joy, said the entire community was shocked by his death.

Decrescenzo had a side business washing other people's laundry at the laundromat, and knew almost everyone in the neighborhood, she said.

"Jimmy was such a kind--hearted person," Joy said Wednesday. "He was so helpful. If you had to do something, he would do your laundry for you. Jimmy was just that kind of guy. He was very well loved in the community."

An employee at Uncle Buck's Laundromat -- which reopened Wednesday after being closed all day Tuesday -- said she is going to miss Decrescenzo very much.

"I saw him every day," said the woman, who preferred to stay anonymous. "He was a good man."

A neighborhood man who was friends with Decrescenzo said he doesn't know anyone who didn't like "Jimmy."

"I can't say one bad thing about Jimmy," said the man, who also preferred to stay anonymous. "He was such a great person. I don't know why this happened."

Hohn echoed the community members' statements, saying it is apparent Decrescenzo was very well liked in the community, and police are now looking for any information from his neighbors or friends that can help the investigation.


"Police have been out canvassing the area, trying to see if anyone has any information on this homicide," said Hohn. "Hopefully someone will come forward with some information, but until then, we will continue to investigate with the information we have."

Decrescenzo's death was the city's third homicide of the year.

Police are asking anyone with information on the homicide to call (203) 977-441

" 'I Just Threw The Frigging Stool' At Gunman"

(CNN) -- As a gunman opened fire inside a cafe in Seattle, a patron jumped into action, twice hitting the shooter with a stool and saving three lives, police said.

The move was hailed by police as a heroic action, but Lawrence Adams, 56, said he was simply keeping a promise.

Adams' brother died in the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and afterward he promised himself that if something like that ever happened again, "I would never hide under a table."

He was true to his vow Wednesday when faced with the gunman.

"There's a hero. .... He put his life at risk," Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel told reporters.

Police identified him only as Lawrence when they released details about the incident, but The Seattle Times confirmed his full name and age in Friday's edition.

In an interview with police, Adams said he had glanced at his phone when he heard gunshots, then sprung into action as he saw people scrambling around him.

"I just threw the frigging stool at him, legs first," he said in a statement published on the official Seattle police blog.

Police said his actions allowed three people to escape while a man armed with two handguns attacked.

The shooting left four people dead and one person critically injured inside Cafe Racer, a peaceful coffeehouse in the city's University District. A second shooting, about a half-hour later near downtown Seattle, left a woman dead, authorities said.

The suspect in both shootings, identified by police as Ian Stawicki, died Wednesday night, several hours after he shot himself in the head as a five-hour police manhunt came to an end.

Witnesses told police the gunman began shooting after an employee at the coffee shop asked him to leave.

Police said that a new piece of evidence investigators viewed Thursday showed the gunman opening fire in the cafe, where patrons were reading books and chatting over coffee.

"One person stands up, looks like he's going to go outside for a minute. At that point the suspect stands up and starts shooting ... and then just goes down the bar. He chases a few people," Pugel said. "At that time he's been hit by the stool, twice. He completes the shooting, puts the guns in his pockets, actually took a hat from one of the victims, put it on his head and walked out."

Stawicki, Adams said, "looked at me like he didn't [care] at all. He just moved towards the rear of the bar instead of dealing with me at all, and I just brushed past him. He was on a mission to kill my friends."

Police said they were shocked by the apparently senseless violence.

"In my almost 30 years in this department I've never seen anything more horrific and callous and cold," Deputy Chief Nick Metz said.

Witnesses described the shootings in several 911 recordings released by police Thursday.



"Someone came in and shot a bunch of people. I'm hiding in the bathroom. We need help right away. ... There's people down all over the place out there," one man calling from Cafe Racer said.

A female caller told dispatchers she saw a gunman assaulting a woman in a parking lot in downtown Seattle, then shooting her, stealing her black Mercedes and running her over as he sped away.

Authorities will continue their investigation into the shootings for several weeks but are "very confident" that Stawicki is the only suspect, Pugel said.

The violence left Seattle reeling Thursday. "Our department and the whole city is just trying to catch its breath" after the shooting, Metz said.



Two of the victims at Cafe Racer were members of a local folk band, God's Favorite Beefcake, according to CNN affiliates. They were found dead at the coffeehouse. A woman and a man died later at a hospital. A fifth person was in critical condition, police said, but was not expected to survive.



The suspect's brother, Andrew Stawicki, told The Seattle Times that Ian Stawicki had long struggled with mental illness, but refused to talk about that or his anger.



"Someone like that is so stubborn, you can't talk to him," he told the newspaper. "It's no surprise to me this happened. We could see this coming. Nothing good is going to come with that much anger inside of you."



A Wednesday night meeting was held in the city's Central District, where Mayor Mike McGinn and police officials discussed a recent spike in violence in Seattle, KOMO reported.



"If violence is a disease, our city is infected," said Paul Patu, of the city's Youth Violence Prevention Council, according to CNN affiliate KCPQ. "When old people are afraid of young people, something is wrong. We have to commit to getting to know each other and stop being strangers."



Seattle, a city of about 600,000, recorded 20 homicides in 2011, according to Police Department statistics. Wednesday's shootings bring 2012's year-to-date total to 21, according to KOMO. Two cases have been cleared, and seven arrests were made.



Two other people have died in random shootings in Seattle in the past month, according to CNN affiliates. In late April, a 21-year-old woman died in an apparently random drive-by shooting near downtown. And a 43-year-old man died last week while driving down the street with his family. Police said the gunman's intended target in that shooting was another person involved in a dispute with the gunman. No arrests have been made in either case.



On Saturday, a bystander was wounded near the city's landmark Space Needle when he was struck by a bullet allegedly fired by a gang member involved in a dispute with another man, according to KIRO.



McGinn acknowledged at a news conference that the violence had shaken the city, KIRO reported.



"It's going to take our political leaders coming together to give our police officers the support and tools they need to do their jobs," he said.

This Day In History

Dec 27 1992
Harry Connick, Jr., was arrested at Kennedy Airport in New York City after telling authorities he had an unloaded 9mm pistol in his luggage, which he said he had forgotten that his sister had given to him.

Dec 27 2000
Quality Assurance Engineer Michael "Mucko" McDermott shot and killed seven of his coworkers (four men, three women) at Edgewater Technology, an Internet consulting company in Boston. Mucko, a quiet three-hundred-pound loner, fired off 37 rounds with his rifle and several with the shotgun, shooting his victims repeatedly in the head and back.

Attack On a 77 Year Old Woman

This story hits us personally.. Our good family friend's daughter is the grand-daughter of the woman attacked... (Her ex's mother is the victim).

How horrible to have happened during the holiays. Our friend is all shaken up, and I feel so horrible for her daughter- I hope she doesn't lose her grandma on the holiays.

BRIDGEPORT - An elderly Bridgeport woman is seriously injured after police say a man attacked her with a broken bottle as she was crossing the street.

Police say Marvin Narcisse stabbed an elderly woman while he was in his underwear.

Witnesses say the 77-year-old woman was walking across Williams Street earlier today when a man ran from across the street in his underwear, tackled her to the ground and beat her.

Residents in the area say they intervened to help the victim. "I kept stomping on him because he kept reaching for the lady," says one resident. "I kept stomping on his face."

The suspect was taken into custody, and faces attempted murder charges. He is being held on $1 million bond.

The woman was rushed to the hospital. Officials have not released any information on her condition or her identity.

Police: Man Defecated In Parking Lot Before Robbing Bank

NEW MILFORD — A 55-year old man was arrested Friday after allegedly defecating in the parking lot of a bank before robbing it, police said.

Russell Mace of New Milford faces charges of conspiracy to commit fifth-degree larceny, fifth-degree larceny, second-degree breach of peace and two counts of risk of injury to a child, police said.

A woman came into the Union Savings Bank at 41 East St. on Friday afternoon and told a teller that she had seen a man in the parking lot pull down his pants and defecate.

Moments later, Mace came into the bank and demanded money, said New Milford Police Lt. Larry Ash.

The teller handed Mace several thousand dollars, Ash said.

Police recognized Mace on the bank's surveillance footage. Mace had prior active warrants for a purse snatching crime, Ash said. They found him in New Britain.

His wife Erin Mace, also of New Milford, was arrested at the same time. She also had active warrants for her role in alleged purse snatching crimes, Ash said.

Police said Russell Mace was also charged with two counts of risk of injury to a minor because his 1-year-old and 4-year-old children were in the car at the time of the bank robbery.

Police said the children were also present during the alleged purse snatching crimes. The children are now in the custody of the Department of Children and Families, Ash said.

Police are also investigating whether Erin Mace was involved in the bank robbery because she was present in the car as well, Ash said.

Bail was initially set at $500,000, but when he was arraigned Monday, it was reduced to $150,000, Ash said.

He is due back in court Jan. 4.

This Day In History

Sep 16 1920
A horse-drawn carriage parked at the corner of Wall and Broad streets suddenly explodes just past mid-day. 100 pounds of dynamite hurls 500 pounds of steel shrapnel into a crowd of New Yorkers, killing 40 and wounding almost 300 others. No one is ever charged in the world's first car bombing.

Sep 16 1985
Art Scholl, Hollywood's greatest aerobatics pilot, loses control of his Pitts S-2A biplane over the Pacific Ocean during the filming of Top Gun. Before heading off to the Danger Zone in the sky, Scholl's last words were "I have a problem -- I have a real problem."

This Day In History

Aug 22 1992
FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi fires a rifle shot that kills unarmed Vicki Weaver, at the Ruby Ridge standoff. Horiuchi claimed he was trying to shoot another man in the back. The FBI also killed Weaver's fourteen year old son Sam, and the son's dog.

Aug 22 1995
David Gahan, lead singer of rock group Depeche Mode, was hospitalized after trying to commit suicide by slashing his wrist. Gahan was found in his Hollywood home with a two-inch slit in his wrist.

Aug 22 2001
A star circus performer known as Smiley the Clown was convicted of molesting and sodomizing his teenage assistant. Smiley AKA Christopher Bayer was convicted of third-degree sodomy, sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a young clown. The boy's father became suspicious that Bayer might clowning around with his son and subsequently installed a hidden camera which captured the clown in the act.

This Day In History

Jul 2 1881
President James A. Garfield is shot in a train station by Charles Julius Guiteau, a lunatic trying to become ambassador either to Austria or France. Garfield lingers for three months before finally dying.

Jul 2 1937
Attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the globe in an airplane, Amelia Earhart disappears over the Pacific with her navigator, Fred Noonan.

Jul 2 1942
On page six, the New York Times reports Germany's mass extermination of 700,000 Jews, by use of poison gas.

Jul 2 1947
Mr. and Mrs. Dan Wilmot witness a "large glowing object" zoom across the sky at 400 or 500 miles per hour. The next day, Mac Brazel discovers the wreckage of a flying saucer -- not fragments of an experimental balloon composed of neoprene -- on a remote pasture outside Roswell, New Mexico.

Jul 2 1961
In the tile-covered foyer of his home in Ketchum, Idaho, novelist Ernest Hemingway commits suicide with his favorite shotgun. When the body was later found, "only his chin, mouth, and vestigial scraps of his cheeks were still connected to his body."

Jul 2 1982
UC Berkeley electrical engineering professor Diogenes Angelakos picks up an unattended package in Cory Hall. The pipe bomb hidden inside the parcel explodes, shredding the man's right hand. Coincidentally, Angelakos is present three years later, when the Unabomber claims a second victim in the computer science department, John Hauser.

Jul 2 1994
Colombian soccer star Andres Escobar is shot twelve times outside a bar in Bogota, and dies on the spot. Only ten days prior, Escobar had inadvertently scored a goal for the American team in the 1994 World Cup playoffs, resulting in a first-round elimination for Colombia.

This Day In History

Jun 27 1988
Hillel Slovak, original guitarist from sock-friendly rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers dies of a smack overdose in Hollywood.

Jun 27 1995
The LAPD arrests streetwalker Divine Brown on Hawthorn Ave. where she is discovered giving British movie star Hugh Grant oral sex in his white BMW. To be fair, they also arrest Grant for procuring said oral sex.

Jun 27 2001
Police arrest comedian Paula Poundstone in Malibu, California on charges of lewd conduct with a minor. Poundstone's pending criminal trial remains front page news for the next three months, until it is overshadowed by the World Trade Center attacks in September. Soon thereafter, she pleads guilty to a lesser charge, and the details of her indictment are never disclosed to the public.

This Day In History

Jun 22 1969
Judy Garland dies of a barbiturate overdose in her London apartment, either by accident or suicide. Quote from Judy: "When I die I have visions of fags singing 'Over the Rainbow' and the flag at Fire Island being flown at half mast."

Jun 22 1993
Dr. Charles Epstein of Tiburon, CA is injured when he opens a padded manilla package containing a surprise gift from the Unabomber.

This Day In History

Jun 17 1972
The "plumbers" break into Democratic National Committee Headquarters in the Watergate complex, in the course of what President Nixon will later describe as a "third rate burglary." In actuality, it is an attempt by the Republican Party to illegally wiretap the opposition.

Jun 17 1994
O.J. Simpson fails to turn himself in to the LAPD at a prearranged time and is later spotted in a white Ford Bronco on a Los Angeles expressway. After a low-speed pursuit through the freeways and streets of Brentwood, O.J. is finally arrested live on television in the driveway of his mansion. According to one of the defense attorneys who served on O.J.'s "Dream Team," Simpson tried to kill himself in the car, but the gun misfired. The Juice allegedly told him: "I pulled the trigger and it didn't go off."

This Day In History

Jun 12 1978
David Berkowitz is sentenced to 365 consecutive years in prison without the possibility of parole. Berkowitz killed six New Yorkers between 1976 and 1977, known collectively as the Son of Sam murders.

Jun 12 1991
After 500 years of silence, Mount Pinatubo erupts, making an estimated 100,000 homeless and killing 300. Two U.S. military bases, Clark Air Force Base and Subic Bay Naval Base, are abandoned. The blast is ten times larger than the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980.

Jun 12 1994
Nicole Brown Simpson and her male friend Ronald Goldman are savagely murdered in front of Simpson's condominium complex in Brentwood, California. The most plausible suspect turns out to be Nicole's estranged husband O.J., who is arrested for the crime a month later.

This Day In History

Jun 10 1942
The town of Lidice (Loditz) is liquidated by the Nazis as penalty for the assassination of Adolf Hitler's favorite general, Reinhard Heydrich. Every adult male is killed, the women sent to the camps, and the town bulldozed.

Jun 10 1973
The 17-year-old grandson of J. Paul Getty is abducted in Rome. When the kidnappers demand a $17 million ransom, the billionaire refuses. "I have 14 other grandchildren, and if I pay one penny now, then I will have 14 kidnapped grandchildren." After the grandson's severed ear arrives in the mail, Getty finally coughs up the money.

Jun 10 1980
Percy Wood, president of United Airlines, receives a parcel at his home in Lake Forest, Illinois. Inside is a copy of the book Ice Brothers by Sloan Wilson. When he opens the book, it suddenly explodes, throwing shrapnel into Wood's hands, face, and thigh. The book turns out to be a present from the Unabomber.

This Day In History

Jun 8 1998
The President of Nigeria, general Sani Abacha, dies of apparent heart failure during a Viagra-driven romp with three Indian prostitutes. Abacha is quickly buried the following day without an autopsy or even a state funeral, fueling speculation that the general may have been poisoned by political rivals. Abacha stole more than $4 billion during his five years as dictator, and his widow Maryam is captured shortly thereafter attempting to flee the country with 30 suitcases full of American currency.

Jun 8 1999
The government of Colombia announces that it will include the estimated value of its illegal drug crops, exceeding half a billion dollars, when calculating its Gross National Product.

This Day In History

May 31 1889
Relentless rain and inadequate maintenance causes the South Fork Dam to fail, unleashing a 35-foot-high wall of water on Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Then 2,209 people are entombed beneath a pile of debris half a mile wide.



May 31 1921
After a white woman claims that a black man had grabbed her arm in an elevator, the largest race riot in U.S. history breaks out in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Marauding whites set fire to the exclusively-negro Greenwood district, leveling its 35 city blocks of black-owned businesses. The official death toll is reported as 36, but later historians estimate it was more like 300.



May 31 1963
Nun Nu Thanh Quang, a Buddhist monk, immolates himself at the Dieu de Pagoda in Hue, Vietnam.



May 31 1996
Timothy Leary dies quietly in his sleep, thereby failing his intended mission of suiciding live on the Internet. On a brighter note, a longstanding Moody Blues prophecy is fulfilled.




May 31 2005
Actor Christian Slater is arrested in New York City after a woman complains of ass-grabbery to police. Slater denies everything and is charged with third-degree sexual abuse.

This Day In History

May 20 1989
Attempting to clear Tiananmen Square of student activists and quell 100 million others protesting throughout the country, China declares martial law in Beijing. Two weeks later, after they continue to loiter in the Square, thousands of students are massacred by government troops.

May 20 1999
The dissolving body parts of eight people are discovered inside six plastic barrels sitting in an abandoned bank vault in Snowtown, Australia.

This Day In History

May 17 1924
Two youths discover a human skull on the banks of the Leine in Hanover, Germany. And although two more skulls are found a month later, police ignore it until a sackful of bones turn up on the riverbank. Dragging the Leine yields another 500 bones, belonging to about 27 victims. Eventually, police arrest Fritz Haarmann for the crimes. He would lure runaway boys back to his apartment, where they would be raped, killed, and cut into steaks. Then the unlicensed butcher would sell the meat as beef on the black market. All told, he killed between 40 and 50 boys.

May 17 1965
Magazine The Nation publishes Hunter S. Thompson's first-hand experiences with the Hell's Angels motorcycle club. The bikers would eventually stomp Thompson when they demanded payment for his time spent. A year later, Random House published his book Hells Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs.

May 17 1974
During a gun battle with members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the LAPD fires tear gas into their Watts hideout. The canisters ignite a fire which soon consumes the house. Three other SLA members, including kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst, watch the events unfold on TV in their motel room down the street from Disneyland.

May 17 1980
A three-day race riot breaks out after an all-white jury acquits four white Miami police officers of killing Arthur McDuffie, a black insurance salesman. The cops had beaten him with their flashlights and billyclubs, and he died in the hospital. 18 fatalities and more than $100 million in property damage are the final result.

This Day In History

May 15 1985
Graduate student John Hauser loses most of his right hand in a UC Berkeley computer room when he opens an innocent-looking box attached to a looseleaf binder. It is the second device left in this building from the Unabomber. In fact, the engineering professor who applies the tourniquet to Hauser's arm was the victim in the previous attack, three years prior.

May 15 1997
Federal prosecutors in the Unabomber trial file the necessary paperwork requesting the death penalty for Ted Kaczynski.

This Day In History

May 7 1959
Small-time boxing promoter Don King is arrested in Cleveland on suspicion of drug dealing. His criminal record includes a 1955 arrest for arson, a 1954 arrest for murder, and others.



May 7 2001
Ronnie Biggs, England's escaped "Great Train Robber," returns to face the music after 35 years as a fugitive. After serving just fifteen months of a 30-year sentence, Biggs escaped from prison and fled to Brazil, where he avoided extradition by fathering the baby of a 19-year-old stripper. Partially paralyzed by a couple of strokes, Biggs returns to England for one last pint of beer before he dies. Instead he is taken into custody at Heathrow airport and promptly sent to Belmarsh prison to serve out the remainder of his sentence.