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| -Lurid Crime Tales- | ||
| First Murder In Kennesaw Since '04. With A Knife. | ||
| 2006-07-21 | ||
| The city on Wednesday recorded its first murder in more than two years when a man stabbed his father to death and attempted suicide, police said. Around 6 p.m., officers from the Kennesaw Police Department responded to a call of a stabbing at a home on Confederate Trail. Upon arrival, the officers found two men lying unconscious on a bedroom floor. The men were father and son, Robert Messina, 62, and Brian Messina, 33. Investigators say the elder Messina had been fatally stabbed several times with a knife. According to Kennesaw Police Department spokesman Officer Scott Luther, the younger Messina lived at the home with his parents. His mother was at work at the time of the slaying. Wednesday's stabbing sent shock waves through the quiet residential neighborhood. The motive for the attack is unclear, but what seems clear is that Messina stabbed his father before attempting to overdose on pills and slashing his own wrists.
The Messinas moved into their home around late January or early February, according to neighbors in the single-street subdivision. Luther said neighbors reported no problems with the Messinas. They said the Messinas, as well as the rest of the neighborhood, remains relatively quiet.
Kennesaw mayor Leonard Church attributes the city's low murder rate to two things. About 30 years ago, Kennesaw passed an ordinance requiring every head of household to own a firearm. The law is not strictly enforced, but Church said knowing that law is on the books has likely kept many criminals from preying on families there. "That law has absolutely something to do with the low crime," Church said. "It's that and a great police force." Church said he could not estimate how many Kennesaw residents own a firearm because Cobb County issues firearms permits. | ||
| Posted by:Anonymoose |