The 234 Apartment

Cities are neighborhoods writ large . They ebb up and down, depending on who is moving in and out. They proclaim their attractions, hide their warts, burnish their numbers. After all, real estate values ride on the telling. In the chest-thumping of the Bay Area, San Jose has always sought to distance itself from Oakland. San Jose was bigger, richer, safer. With one horrible event last week, however, a piece of that myth vanished. And we’re left pondering the irony. I’m talking about the killing of off- duty Oakland firefighter Jake P. Walter, 30, who was shot to death last Thursday night outside a night market on the edge of San Jose’s Japantown. Police called it a random and unprovoked attack. In San Jose, we suppose things unfold very differently.  A random attack like this might occur elsewhere in the Bay Area, but not in a vibrant San Jose neighborhood filled with upscale apartments. And it would never take a firefighter, one of the good guys. Under former Mayor Ron Gonzales , ...

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - The friendship of the four young roommates — though cemented in the dark trappings of an obscure neo- Nazi group called Atomwaffen Division — never seemed destined for bloodshed. One was described as a former science nerd, serving in the Florida National Guard . Two others worked temp jobs at a recycling plant and talked about joining the military. The fourth caught flak from his roommates for wasting his days with video games. Now two of the young men are dead, the other two are in jail and authorities are left to answer this question: Was Atomwaffen Division plotting violent acts or were the four young men merely posers? RELATED | Tampa PD: Double homicide suspect killed roommates because they 'disrespected' his Muslim faith Four days after police say one of the roommates shot and killed two others, Atomwaffen posted an ominous video on YouTube depicting members standing with arms extended in “Heil Hitler” salutes and posing with guns in front of a ...