Goth website linked to killings
2006-09-15 10:28
Montreal - A website used by the gunman who killed one and wounded 19 at a Montreal college had surfaced in other violent Canadian incidents, including one in which an Alberta girl allegedly killed her family in April.
The black and purple website,
www.vampirefreaks.com,
is described by its Brooklyn, New York-based founder as a
"goth/industrial" site.
The site was available intermittently on Thursday, a day
after Kimveer Gill, 25, was killed by police after he went on a
shooting rampage at Montreal's Dawson College.
Gill posted photographs and comments on the site, saying he loved guns and
hated people.
Links to other killings
"This is not the first time that the vampirefreaks website
has been in the news," said Jesse Hirsh, president of
technology services firm Openflows Networks Ltd in Toronto.
In a Toronto trial last year, the girlfriend of a youth
accused of killing his younger brother and attempting to kill
his stepfather was revealed to have had a profile and pictures
on the site.
A 23-year old man and his 12-year-old girlfriend, accused
of killing a woman, her husband and their eight-year-old son in
Medicine Hat, Alberta, last April, were also reported to have
had profiles on vampirefreaks.com.
1 million page views a day
Started by a Brooklyn resident, the site claims to have
more than 600 000 members and millions of page views each day.
Users can post pictures along with their likes, dislikes,
favourite music and location, and communicate with others in
"cults" or groups.
The Goth sub-culture is often characterised by black clothing, pale makeup and body piercing. Many write about being alienated from society, and while musical tastes vary, shock rockers such as Marilyn Manson are said to be popular.
Some of the "cult" names on the site refer to death,
freaks, witchcraft and sex or sexuality. Others refer to bands
or have seemingly innocent names. The site links to an online
clothing store called FuckTheMainstream.com, which sells black
T-shirts, corsets and shorts with chains.
Freedom of speech
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Thursday the Montreal shooting was impossible to comprehend. He
also said there is a tricky balance between freedom of speech
and websites such as vampirefreaks.com.
"We as a society have trouble squaring our outrage at some
of the images we see, some of the messages that are
communicated to young people in particular ... with our belief
in freedom and our desire to avoid censorship," Harper said.