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Violent repeat offender brutally beats up elderly whites, Mexicans in racially motivated attack, officials say
A violent repeat offender brutally beat up elderly whites and Mexicans in a racially motivated attack in Arizona earlier this week, officials said.
In fact, 62-year-old Derek Kirven admitted to police he was targeting white and Mexican victims at the Escalante Multi-Generational Center in Tempe, KPNX-TV reported, citing newly filed court documents.
‘At that point, he essentially lost control. … He started to assault these people by punching them, throwing them to the ground.’
The station said Wednesday’s assault left several victims with serious injuries, including broken bones.
Tempe police said Kirven walked into a members-only area around 9 a.m. and was asked to leave because he was not a member, KPNX reported.
“He tried to come in, and he was told to leave because he was not a member, and then around 11:30 a.m., he came back,” Officer Jessica Ells told the station.
Police said that’s when Kirven snapped and began attacking people, many of whom were seated and waiting for lunch, KPNX said.
“At that point, he essentially lost control and began attacking all the members who were inside the center,” Ells added to the station.
“He started to assault these people by punching them, throwing them to the ground.”
You can view video of the attack here. A city of Tempe security guard eventually detained Kirven until police arrived, the station said.
One victim suffered a broken wrist, and another was left with a broken nose, KPNX said, citing court documents. A third victim — who has autism and suffers from seizures — was punched and knocked to the ground, the station noted.
What’s more, some victims were using walkers and had no way to defend themselves, police added to KPNX.
A fourth victim’s hearing aid, valued at $4,000, was damaged, the station said, adding that the victim was concerned the attack may have aggravated a previous open-heart surgery.
More from KPNX:
During an interview with police, Kirven said he felt staff asked him to leave because he is black, according to court documents.
He told detectives he intentionally targeted white and Mexican people and said he hoped more than one of them would die from their injuries, court documents show.
Court documents also state Kirven told police he would assault people again if given the chance.
Court papers indicate Kirven used racial slurs when referring to the victims and toward a Hispanic detective during the interview, KTVK-TV reported, adding that investigators said he called another detective names like “confederate,” “hillbilly” and “white trash.”
According to police reports, staff at the center offered Kirven a membership earlier Wednesday morning, but he did not have identification, the station said.
Kirven has an extensive criminal history in Arizona and New Mexico, KPNX said, citing court documents. The station added that he served time in New Mexico’s prison system for aggravated battery several years ago.
KPNX also said records show Kirven is a transient with felony convictions across multiple states, including kidnapping and aggravated battery, and he had two outstanding warrants at the time of his arrest.
Kirven was booked on multiple counts of aggravated assault, disorderly conduct, trespassing, and criminal damage, KTVK reported.
Kirven is now in the custody of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and is being held on $500,000 bond, KPNX said.
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Is Western civilization really doomed — or does history show a path forward?
Anyone who’s been paying attention knows that Western civilization is on the brink of collapse. The values that built it have been ripped up and condemned as antiquated, imperialist, or white supremacist.
But instead of despairing, Westerners ought to take heart in one trait the West has exemplified time and again: resilience.
Historian Allen Guelzo, co-author of “The Golden Thread” book series, tells BlazeTV host Steve Deace that “unlike other civilizations, which have risen, reached a certain peak, and then gone rapidly into decline, the Western tradition … has shown a remarkable resilience to rise, to falter, to look like it’s about to slide downwards maybe into the abyss of forgetfulness, but yet somehow finding the way to recover itself.”
This bouncing back has happened over and over again, Guelzo says.
“We had a moment like that at the end of the Roman Empire when it appeared that we were about to disappear into what is commonly called the Dark Ages,” he recaps.
It happened again after the Black Plague of the 1300s wiped out “two-thirds of the European population” and again after the Thirty Years’ War left so much death and chaos in its wake, it appeared that “violence and power were about to stamp out any notion of law and inquiry.”
In more recent years, the West faced two World Wars and the greatest genocide in Western history.
And yet, in all of these cases, “there was something which bounced back in this Western tradition,” Guelzo remarks optimistically.
Today, we stand at yet another “civilizational moment” where destruction is knocking at our door.
Guelzo is hopeful our future will mirror our resilient past, but for that to happen, people — especially younger generations — must cultivate an interest in history.
“History itself tells us who we have been. What we are today is what we were in the past,” he says. “The great Marcus Tullius Cicero … once said that anyone who remained ignorant of their history was condemned perpetually to live as a child, and I think that’s true.”
“The Golden Thread” series, which Guelzo co-authored with former Harvard history professor James Hankins, are exactly the kind of books that will spark an interest in Western history.
“It is a good deal more than just long lists of names, dates, places — which is the kind of thing that most people tell me they dread about history,” Guelzo laughs. “These books are also full of ideas; they are full of philosophy; they are full of art; they are full of great paintings; they are full of music.”
“It’s full of color. It’s full of life. It’s full of acknowledgments that the Western tradition has sometimes put its foot down wrongly. It’s made mistakes. People have suffered for that, and yet, even with that, the vitality of that tradition has been one of recovery; it has been one of uplift; it has been one that promotes human flourishing,” he adds.
It is this knowledge that can save Western civilization from collapse, Guelzo tells Deace.
“We can save it because it has been saved before.”
To hear more of the conversation, watch the episode above.
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SexBomb Girls, may ika-5 gabi ng kanilang ‘Get Get Aw’ reunion concert
Inanunsyo ng Sexbomb Girls na magkakaroon sila ng ikalimang gabi ng kanilang “Get, Get Aw” concert.
