Muslim executes Jewish moviegoer in Baltimore - tells police he was ' planning to kill someone for months'

At about 8:30 p.m. on June 16, 2006. Mujtaba Rabbani Jabbar, 24, stood in a packed Loews Valley Center movie theater in Owings Mills northwest of Baltimore and "started firing as people were watching" X-Men: The Last Stand," according to a police account. He shot Paul Schrum, 62, a Pikesville medical supplies salesman sitting near Jabbar, three times in the upper body with a .357 magnum handgun, killing him.. Jabbar then walked to the lobby, placed his gun on the counter and waited for police. County detectives said they knew of no motive for the shooting. It bears noting that Owings Mills is a heavily Jewish area.

Jabbar's graduated from Mount Hebron High School in Ellicott City and was a 2005 graduate of Loyola College in Baltimore, where he majored in biology. He He had no criminal record. His Web site offers such services as writing term papers and technical reports. His family lives in an enclave of million-dollar homes. (June 18, 2006)

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One blogger commented in 'The Jihad that failed' that it is amazing that this story did not get publicised in the mainstream media and concluded. http://www.reason.com/links/links061906.shtml

There is real danger in an organized network of terrorists, and there is real danger in a substantial subculture willing to engage in unorganized terror. But attacks like the hit-and-run in North Carolina, the airport shootings in L.A., and this maybe-Muslim murder fit neither category. Bloody and evil as they are, their chief effect is to make jihad seem mundane.

MIM: The blogger is right for the wrong reasons- the fact that such acts of terrorism are denied (as was the case of the DC snipers) is a sign that the public has lost it' s will to defend themselves.,or take the necessary measures,such as profiling, to prevent such attacks. The deafening silence accompanying this story of a Muslim man shooting a Jewish one in a move theater is an alarming indication that 'Jihad is becoming mundance' and that the public is willing to 'overlook' what they can excuse as random attacks, and deny any Jihadist connection. As Dr.Pipes has shown in his 'More Instances of Denying Islamist Terrorism' blog, such individual incidents are numerous and are politically motivated acts of Jihad.

MIM: A look at the Mujataba Jabber's website reveals his name in the url http://www.mujtaba.com/

and that his email adress is [email protected] the 'muj' is his name but could also be short for Mujahideen or 'holy warrior'.

Also included in the website are work samples with some bizarre titles.

Neighbors said they believe the Jabbar family is originally from Texas and owns at least one gas station in the area. They say the family moved into the neighborhood about a year and a half ago, shortly after the house was built.

The house - just under 8,000 square feet, according to tax records - has a circular driveway, wooden double doors, large vertical windows and, in the back, a section that appears to house an indoor pool. The home is valued at $1.6 million.

Through a speaker next to the front door, a woman declined to speak to a reporter yesterday, saying, "I'm sorry. We can't talk right now."

Sandy Gordon, who lives across the street, said few people in the neighborhood know the family.

She said that some residents on the street became agitated after months went by with no curtains being installed in the home's windows.

"It was very bothersome that they had no window shades," she said, adding that an ironing board could often be seen through a front window. The family put up shades in the windows after a neighbor eventually confronted them, Gordon said.

She said she was distraught at the news of Thursday's shooting.

"What has happened in this world?" Gordon said. "I feel old now."

Several years ago, the Movies at Harbor Park complex in Baltimore was the site of two shootings in two months, including one that sent moviegoers running for the street. The theater beefed up security, but closed in 2000.

The shooting at the Owings Mills theater was, in the words of county police spokeswoman Sgt. Vickie Warehime, "completely random."

It took place in a detached brick building just off Reisterstown Road - beyond a Sam's Club and a Wal-Mart. Theater management declined to comment.

Warehime, the police spokeswoman, said the suspect did not know any of the people in the theater. There were fewer than 10 in the audience for the 8 p.m. show in theater No. 8, she said. Schrum was sitting just a few seats away from the gunman.

"He was the first and closest target," Warehime said.

The spokeswoman said Schrum was shot three times in the upper body. A fourth bullet was found in a wall. The .357-caliber handgun believed to have been used is capable of firing five shots. The last bullet was in the gun, police said.

Yesterday afternoon, Rona Schrum sat at her dinning room table in her Pikesville home eating a bagel - the first time she'd been able to eat since she found out her husband had been killed. Loved ones answered her telephone and front door.

Paul Schrum graduated from Baltimore City College in 1962, and the two married about five years later, she said. He was a father of two, a grandfather of two, and most recently worked as a medical salesman for University Pipette Services.

She said her husband - known as Terry to people who grew up with him - loved history and sports and was a fifth-degree black belt in karate.

"He was small and lightning-fast," she said.

She said he was a science fiction fan and had seen the first two installments in the cinematic X-Men series.

She said her husband chose to see the movie Thursday night because it played around the same time that she gathered with friends to play mah-jongg.

She returned home shortly before 11:30 p.m. to find her husband's car missing. Around 1:30 a.m. she drove to the theater. She spotted her husband's Chevrolet Malibu, parked beside it and approached a police officer.

"This is my husband's car. He went to the movies and never came home," she says she told the officer.

The reply, she said, was: "You must be Mrs. Schrum."

[email protected] [email protected] Sun reporters Laura Barnhardt and Larry Carson contributed to this article.

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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1650603/posts

AP) OWINGS MILLS, Md. Baltimore County Police have identified the victim from last night's murder in the 9600-block of Reisterstown Road. Paul Schrum, 62, from the 900-block of Bittersweet Road, 21208, was pronounced dead inside the theatre. The suspect, Mujtaba Rabbani Jabbar, 24, from the unit-block of Evan Way, was arrested at the scene.

Police were called to the Loews Movie Theatre at 9:02 p.m. for a man suffering from a gunshot wound. When police arrived, they found Jabbar standing in the lobby with a handgun lying on the counter. He was immediately arrested. According to witnesses, the suspect stood up from his seat and started firing as people were watching the movie. Paul Schrum was shot several times in the upper body as he sat near the suspect.

Detectives said there was no motive for the shooting and that Jabbar did not know anyone in the theatre, including Mr. Schrum.

Mujtaba Jabbar was charged with first-degree murder and handgun use in commission of a violent crime. He was denied bail and is currently being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center. He will receive a bail review on Monday.

Note: The Reisterstown area is Baltimores largest community of Jewish families. Along Reisterstown Road and the parallel Park Heights Avenue is a long and highly visible stretch of synagogues and yeshivas, a rabbinical seminary, kosher restaurants, groceries, butchers, bakeries and other shops, running from northwest Baltimore across the city line into Pikesville and Owings Mills.