Shots fired at Pagan children's author's home

[AtroposHeart]

http://wildhunt.org/2013/03/shots-fired ... -home.html

Tampa Bay, Florida resident Kyrja Withers, an out Pagan and author of the Pagan-themed children’s book “Rupert’s Tales: The Wheel of the Year Beltane, Litha, Lammas, and Mabon†announced that on Thursday her home was shot at, the most recent escalation in a string of seemingly religiously-motivated incidents.

“Someone shot at me tonight – and though they missed, The Glitter Dome is a bit more …. holey … tonight. We’ve had intermittent problems with someone honking their horn outside our house at very late hours and screaming obscenities Once, they threw a firecracker in our front house. Last night, they screamed “F’ing WITCH†– quite clearly. No mistake. Today, we received several telephone calls where the caller said something unintelligible and then hung up, as well as an inappropriate post on one of my Rupert videos. This is obviously personal. And now, they have crossed the line and have caused property damage. And yes – the first window they hit is where I sit. It is time to deal with this. And so we shall. We ask for your assistance in calling for swift justice.â€

I contacted Kyrja personally for a follow-up statement where she said the police investigation is ongoing, and that she does not regret being an “out†Pagan despite the attack.

“The only statements I know to make at this point is that the investigation by our local police department is ongoing at this point, and we do appreciate their efforts. I have seen a few posts throughout the day from people who have stated our situation is the very reason they prefer not to make their Pagan faith known. And, while I certainly respect their own choices, I can tell you that I would never have known the level of happiness and peace I do now if not for having made my own choices both public and well-known. Too, if we are unwilling to get to “reveal†ourselves for the people we are – to include the spiritual paths we walk, we will never diminish the level of stigmatism for all of our brothers and sister. Normalizing our faith sometimes requires courage; more often doing so provides more opportunities for celebration. If we had the opportunity, what I would like to do is to educate the individual(s) responsible for these incidents and to have them do community service within the Pagan community. Chances are, it would be quite the eye-opening experience for them.â€

[PennySycamore]

Holy shit! I hope the cops and the DA's office take this seriously. I hope the cops catch the perp soon and that s/he is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

I'm not pagan, but I have several family members who are.

[AtroposHeart]

http://wildhunt.org/2013/03/shots-fired-at-florida-pagan-authors-home.html

For the love of Hesita! Someone killing someone over writing books about bunnies! I know this author through her youtube videos, and trust me she does not deserve any violence in the slightest.

Nor does anyone for simply being the wrong religion.

[VooDooChild]

Yes. Peaceful nature lovers are soooooo threatening! :roll: I do hope they find the offender, and I like her idea of community service in a pagan community.

[FloraKitty35]

Such good godly, god fearing people.

[lilwriter85]

I hope whoever fired the shots is found by police. I also hope the author will be safe. I'm not surprised that something like that happened. I remember reading a story years about about non-Christian authors or authors who have written about paganism, witchcraft etc receiving hate mail and threatening letters.

[itsnikki05]

People piss me off. The woman did NOTHING to them!

[doggie]

People piss me off. The woman did NOTHING to them!

She is the evil witch come to steal and eat the children. different is always scary when you are ignorant.

[Hane]

I have several Pagan friends, and they're among the sweetest, kindest people I know. This idiocy has me shaking my head.