The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said they had Anthony Giancola, 45, in custody earlier in the day Friday, but announced shortly after 8:30 p.m. that they officially arrested him.
He has been arrested on two counts of First Degree Murder and two counts of Attempted Murder for the stabbings that took place around 10:30 a.m.
Sheriff Bob Gualtieri says Giancola is responsible for a total of four crime scenes, all targeted in 30 minutes.
"This is the worst of the worst, and does appear to be random," says Gualtieri. Investigators say Giancola appears to have been high on drugs and possibly alcohol at the time.
Giancola's alleged crime spree began at 5100 35th Way North in Lealman, at a home for people who are hearing impaired. Deputies say he entered the home with a large knife around 10:30 a.m. and stabbed a man, killing him. Deputies say he then stabbed three other adults. One of them, a woman, later died at the hospital.
Gualtieri says a deaf man living in the home was able to fight Giancola off. Giancola dropped the knife on the front porch.
Deputies have released the identities of the victims at the first crime scene:
- Justin Lee Vandenburgh, 27, deceased
- Mary Anne Allis, 59, deceased
- Danielle Whitney Gilbert, 25, injured
- Janice Denise Rhoden, 43, injured
There he allegedly used a microwave to beat a husband and a wife, and then switched vehicles. Both victims were taken to Bayfront Medical Center.
Next, authorities say Giancola pulled up in front of a duplex and asked residents where he could find women. After the residents told him to go away, he crashed his car into their porch. He also hit a 13-year-old boy on a bike as he was fleeing. Three women who were on the porch were hospitalized, while the teen was treated at the scene.
After fleeing the scene, Giancola went to his mother's house.
Sheriff Gualtieri says, "He was bloody, and obviously been in a fight or a confrontation. He told his mother she'd be very proud of him; he just killed 10 drug dealers."
Giancola then flees his mother's house, but K-9 deputies found him hiding in the brush nearby.
Detectives are waiting for him to come off his apparent drug high before questioning him.
Giancola is a former principal at Van Buren Middle School. He lost his job after his arrest and conviction for buying crack from an undercover officer in 2007. He was arrested again in 2010 for loitering and prowling.
Florida LocaLunatic Analysis. We are the..
These type fact scenes play out often " 'round here," and countless articles in local Florida magazines note this, such as Orlando Weekly's now annual series about "Stupid Florida," or such. I agree with the conclusion that with regard to the incidence of illogical, individually unpredictable, acts of absurdity and/or violence, that We are champions!"* of the States...at least on a per capita basis, and perhaps also on an overall basis, with perhaps only two other states even in the running: that bastion of fascism, Texas and Golden State of California, perhaps best known as being the birth place of your humble reporter. (I’ve omitted the also-rans.)
Some Ob(viou)Servations:
(Disclaimer: I read the entire article and watched enough of the video to see his image and he appears to be a “white male.”)
- If all the facts were the same, except he had an Islamic name, the article would have discussed the “T word.” (T-rism.)
- If all the facts were the same except he had been but he had been screaming that he was “out to kill (name your minority),” then he would also be charged with a “hate crime.”
- If all facts were the same, except he was a black male who had been screaming that he was “out to kill” “Honkies,” he would NOT have been charged with hate crimes;
- If the folks he attacked had appropriate firearms, knew how to use them, and had the will to use them in self defense, this would have ended a lot sooner with maybe the only fatality/injury being to the scumbag we’d all be better off not having to pay for in the future. (“An armed society is a polite society.”)
(Note: the crimes discussed above are specific intent crimes. However, since it seems likely that he was “out of his mind,” their applicability in a fair system - not ours - would be at issue. While it likely will be raised here, the end result will be life in prison/psych ward and either way is fine with me.)
Additional Ob(viou)Servations:
“Investigators say Giancola appears to have been high on drugs and possibly alcohol at the time.” (As if ALCOHOL was not a drug, when it is THE ONLY drug which has been unquestionably linked to an increase in violence.)
“Giancola is a former principal at Van Buren Middle School. He lost his job after his arrest and conviction for buying crack from an undercover officer in 2007.”
(Thus police should also be able to kill folks in order to induce more prosecuteable murders, right? You should read “Drug Warriors and Their Prey: From Police Power to Police State.” by Richard L. Miller!)
One must wonder how the principal’s reviews were until then? Was he a functioning Crack head? Inquiring minds want to know.
“Our” “War on Drugs” took a medical problem and used it - in a perfectly Orwellian fashion - as THE single biggest excuse to create a police state. I’ve argued this to all I knew and have ever known since I was about 12. How come it took a constitutional amendment to outlaw a drug (alcohol), and another to re-legalize it, but not for any other drug? It’s inconsistent, wrong, illogical and the illegalization of such other drugs is therefore unconstitutional.
“Why would such a thing be occurring,” I would then say, “but to establish increase the power of the state over the individual; a/k/a a police state?” Since then, many others have wised up, but most humans are still too stupid to see this and say, “Yeah, Pot should be legal but not, x, or y, or z.” Spare me! In order for the police state to get its foot in the door of the state, it only needs that x, y, or z, and history shows no exceptions. Americans are still stupid enough to believe that what is going on around us is “by accident,” when it’s painfully obvious it’s all by design.
As to crack heads, I’ve known a more than a few in my time; and although they typically don’t last long, in the end, they mostly hurt themselves. Of course there are countless “addicts” who love to blame the drug (and who continue to use as much as they wish whilst they act as Narcs/Snitches, etc.), and modern society has placed holy “CRACK” on a pedestal above the previous “evil drug” champions, heroin - which made one much too mellow to do much but enjoy, and if too much enjoyed, thereby OD/die; and its successor, PCP, which made one too stupid have have much success even in those few times where injury to others became the goal in the mind of the user/loser. (Knowing, in the back of their minds all the while that they could, with society’s consent, blame the drug for THEIR actions. Indeed, I question this scumbag’s final self-serving statements to his mom for that exact reason.)
In so fooling themselves, Americans, with blinders fully tightened, affirmatively ignore logic as above, and the facts of how it came to pass that crack ever became common in America; to wit: the CIA flooded its own market with powder, and seeking to increase that market by decreasing the cost per transaction, helped get the crack out there, thus expanding sales into the poorest sectors of society. As to this, ask the author of “Dark Alliance,” Gary Webb, (who wrote an introductory comment on the above book)... Oh, you can’t. I forgot. He killed himself (yeah, that’s the ticket), by two shots to the back of his head, the first blowing off his own jaw... And if you believe that... YOU should move here and vote for ... oh, nevermind. Why bother?
R.C.
*Long, long ago, I first noticed that that Queen song’s chorus seemed intentionally like the childhood taunt, “Nyaa naa nya naa naa,” although my those I discussed it with generally disagreed. I believe I did a google search many many years ago to see if others had seen or commented on that similarity, and that at that time, none had. However, as the internet has filled, a search just now [ "we are the champions" queen (sounds-like OR similar-to OR akin) (childhood-taunt OR naa-naa OR nyaa) ] yielded “About 219 results (0.13 seconds) Thus, to any who expressly disagreed with my haughty and deep musical critique and conclusion, I can, and do, now say, “Nyaa naa nya naa naa!” ;-) rc