California Conservative

AP reports: “On April 25, Gregory Despres arrived at the U.S.-Canadian border crossing at Calais, Maine, carrying a homemade sword, a hatchet, a knife, brass knuckles and a chain saw stained with what appeared to be blood. U.S. customs agents confiscated the weapons and fingerprinted Despres. Then they let him into the United States.”

“The following day, a gruesome scene was discovered in Despres’ hometown of Minto, New Brunswick: The decapitated body of a 74-year-old country musician named Frederick Fulton was found on Fulton’s kitchen floor. His head was in a pillowcase under a kitchen table. His common-law wife was discovered stabbed to death in a bedroom.”

That’s more than a very troubling coincidence. And it begs the appropriate question:

“At a time when the United States is tightening its borders, how could a man toting what appeared to be a bloody chain saw be allowed into the country?“

For a tough problem, nothing is better than turning to a government official for a simple answer.

Bill Anthony, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said the Canada-born Despres could not be detained because he is a naturalized U.S. citizen and was not wanted on any criminal charges on the day in question.

“Nobody asked us to detain him,” Anthony said. “Being bizarre is not a reason to keep somebody out of this country or lock them up. … We are governed by laws and regulations, and he did not violate any regulations.”

Perhaps the regulations need to be revised, accounting for wackos with chainsaws. (See photo) From the looks of this guy, he doesn’t exactly come across like a lumberjack or woodworker. But he probably does work with his hands.

Anthony conceded it “sounds stupid” that a man wielding what appeared to be a bloody chain saw could not be detained. But he added: “Our people don’t have a crime lab up there. They can’t look at a chain saw and decide if it’s blood or rust or red paint.”

Maybe not. But you’d think that the chainsaw combined with the brutal accessories including a homemade sword, a hatchet, a knife, and brass knuckles would be enough to trigger “probable cause.”

Last time we traveled, our nail clippers were considered weapons.

UPDATE: (6/8) Malkin jumps on the story.

GayOrbit reveals: “This is the guy who killed my aunt’s brother and his common law wife.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 7th, 2005 at 3:56 pm and is filed under Crime, Homeland Security, Law, Terrorism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.