Vol 877 Issue 265
265-1122

Police say survivalist a suicide

A veritable arsenal was found in the burning home of a King Street man.
He had faced eviction
Regina Downport - A man who stockpiled guns and explosives and frequented computer exchange sites devoted to UFOs and government conspiracies apparently set his King Street apartment ablaze and then killed himself yesterday, just hours before he was scheduled to appear at an eviction hearing for nonpayment of rent.

Gerald Kazlouski, 48, a self-employed computer consultant, apparently fatally shot himself in the chin in his bedroom in the Dragonswood apartment complex about 10:15 a.m., starport authorities said.

Kazlouski, a frequent contributor to computer exchange discussion groups on government conspiracies, alien abductions and weaponry, had collected an arsenal of rifles, handguns, and homemade bombs fashioned from hollow fence post tubes filled with explosives.

Police said they found his apartment cluttered with survivalist materials, including fusion cells, bottled water, and military-style, ready-to-eat meals. About 20 firefighters from the King Street Fire Company responded to what was reported as a routine "structure fire." Instead, they found Kazlouski's body on a bed, said Phil Ridge, a Regina Police detective. "I don't know what all was in there, but we think it might have blown up the entire building, annihilated everything, and might have taken out a few people," said Capt. Joe O'Donnell of the King Street Fire Company. "Our guys knocked [the fire] down in three or four minutes. Almost the entire place was on fire."

Alarmed neighbors, many of whom were evacuated from their homes for hours, said Kazlouski routinely fed birds and squirrels outside his apartment but did little to arouse their suspicions, other than keep his blinds drawn day and night.

 "He seemed very quiet, very subdued," said Grace Travers, who lives across the street in the 200 block of Murray Drive, just off South Gulph Road north of Henderson Road. "He used to go to work every morning. He'd go grocery shopping; he'd do his laundry. There were no signs whatsoever." She described Kazlouski as a heavyset, balding man of medium height who drove a red Gendyne Fiero. Other neighbors said that he often received packages but rarely spoke to them.

Kazlouski was to appear yesterday before District Justice William I. Maruszczak to respond to a complaint filed by his landlord, who claimed he was owed $1,137.32 cr in back rent.

Instead the day ended with police officers, Regina Down detectives, Starport authority personnel and agents from Ministry of Justice dragging firearms and ammunition out of the apartment and onto the street. The arsenal included at least two .30-06 rifles, about five shotguns, a 9mm SMG weapon, a 45-caliber handgun, a .22-caliber rifle equipped with a telescopic sight, and several hundred rounds of .50-caliber ammunition.

"There was a lot of stuff in there to indicate he was a survivalist," said Ridge, the downport detective.

Tony Kazlouski of Cogito, Regina, a first cousin, said he had not seen Gerald Kazlouski in 30 years.

Dragonswood officials, who declined to say how long Kazlouski had lived at the apartment complex, issued a statement saying they did not know of any problems with him. Dragonswood, which initiated the eviction proceedings, had sent a maintenance man to the apartment about an hour before the fire, to see if Kazlouski was still living there. The maintenance man, who gave only his first name, Greg, said he found Kazlouski "cordial."
Dear Fritz,

I've just about had it with my roommate, Ben. It made sense to share an apartment, what with the cost of housing on Up Port, and at first it seemed to be a perfect match - Ben works the opposite shift at the docks, we hardly even saw each other, and each of us cleaned up after ourselves. Three months later and I'm ready to strangle the guy! Why? I'll tell you. Ben started subscribing to that damned rag, Free Thoughts, and now he's become the poster child for Paranoids Are Us!! He's been covering the walls of the apartment in tin foil to protect us from the "evil psionics" living "all around us" (which would be one hell of a shock for Mrs. Ramirez next door), accuses me of selling him out to the "cabal", and has terrified my elderly aunt (he claims her membership in the Daedalus Club proves she's an agent for the secret societies that are controlling us). My girlfriend has threatened to shoot him if he repeats last night's stunt of waving a copy of Free Thoughts under her nose while screaming about the Illuminati, and I don't blame her.

I signed a six month lease with this lunatic, and I can't afford to pay it off. Should I look into having him reprogrammed or something? What would you do??

Frank

 Frank,

I see your problem, but damn it, you roommate is dead on. The evil Illuminati have got their eye on the 'Perl o' the Marches' and are sneakin'' in their psionic mind controller. Naturally, dock workers are gonna be first to go, so's they can sneak in their elite death commandos.

Trouble is, all that tinfoil in the place only makes it easier for them Illuminati mind rippers. See, them guys over at 'that' periodical told me that them Illuminati got them a microbe that gets into yer brain and lets them peek around. But it only works if the critter what's got it is in a real quiet place, like a room shielded with tinfoil.

Trick is to always stay around lots of people, never alone. They gets ya when you're alone or in a small group, 'specially in yer sleep. I tell ya, ya can't trust no one no more.

Special thanks to Free Thought for providing background material and tips.
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