by DL-Online
Grand Forks homeowner hits burglar with butt of gun, shoots at him as he runs away
January 18, 2013 at 4:08 am in DL-Online
Waking to the sound of creaking floorboards made by a burglar early Thursday in his north Grand Forks home, Greg Kaml grabbed the revolver he keeps for such a time. He confronted the stranger, who packed a pistol, hit him over the head with the gun butt, chased him outside and shot twice as the man ran away. Continue Reading
He lost his self defense claim when he shot at him at 80 yards. That is called attempted murder.
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From follow up stories it seems that there is more than meets the eye here.
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For all of you who gave dislikes maybe you should contribute to his defense fund, which he is going to need.
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everybody should be supporting him, for that robber could have targeted many more places as well before being caught.
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This guy better hire a good criminal lawyer that can plea him down from attempted murder to unlawful discharge of a fire arm. Castle doctrine is not going to do him much good.
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I wouldn’t have hit him with the gun. I would have shot him with the gun. But I hope I never have to make the choice.
So far the only time I’ve been robbed was in the daylight. Someone went through my SUV as it was parked in my driveway. We were home at the time.
One of the things they stole was the remote for my garage door opener. Thankfully we noticed it right away and shut the electricity off in the garage. Later we changed the code.
About a week after this happened I found the remote for the door opener in the hedge near the garage when I was mowing the lawn. Whoever stole the remote came back to rob us. We assume in the evening. I bet they weren’t happy the garage door opener didn’t work.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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Funny how he had the courage to shoot once he ran away but not when he had a clean shot.
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I’m 100% for gun ownership. I’m 100% for protecting yourself in your home. I’m 100% against firing at person who is attempting to flee. I’m 100% against the unnecessary discharging of a firearm in a neighborhood.
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Will he face charges for shooting someone running away from him? Isn’t that attempted murder?
Inside your house is one thing, self defense is another but shooting a fleeing man is murder.
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There is no reason to charge him with anything. he was defending his property. The only way to fully stop a robber is to stop him which he did, so he can be caught. Otherwise he would be free to commit theft on more homes.
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The guy was 80 yards away and no longer a threat. That means he tried to kill him out of anger and not as a defensive move. Why was he such a coward and waited till he knew he would miss? Why? Because he really could not kill him like he thought he could.
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He successfully stopped the robber from hitting the next house on his list. How would you have felt if it was yours? However, best that the thief would not have made it out of the legal zone.
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I fully expect charges to be brought against the homeowner this week. If they do not, I will be very dissapointed in the gfpd. It is at the minimum discharge of a firearm within city limits, and reckless endagerment.
It is entirely different scenario when he admitted to firing his handgun 80+ yards from the criminal. That is a total disregard for the safety of his neighbors.
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At least convict him of a felony so he can no longer have a gun. Society does not need loose cannons like this running around with a loaded gun.
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Charges aren’t brought by the GFPD but by the city attorney who, in GF, has a long track record of pleaing down.
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That is why they need to pass a law making it mandatory to shoot burglars.
It is time the law shifts from helping dirt bag criminals to helping law abiding citizens.
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The homeowner had plenty of time to “defend his property” inside his home. He was not defending his property when he chose to take a shot from 80 plus yards as the intruder in the back running away from him. At this point he put everyone in the neighborhood at risk and commited a criminal act.
As the story played out the homeowner was never at risk of losing his life. The intruder fled at the first sign of danger and had a pellet gun. It turns out both men deserve the charges they have coming to them.
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No, the homeowner did nothing wrong.
Remember on the schoolyard when the teacher would break up a fight and ask “who started this?”
Same situation here, the dirt bag criminal started it…cries like a little coward when he gets caught…and all the misguided do-gooders take up his side.
How about the probability that the man who had his home invaded will NEVER feel safe in his home again?
How about the idea that this criminal had done this before, and will do it again…maybe at your house?
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He fired a handgun outside in town at a running target 80+ yards away!!! If you cannot see the issue at hand, you are hopeless. Not a single person condones what mr. Christenson did. They are disturbed that mr. Kalm thought it was a good idea to fire his handgun at the distance he described after the threat was gone. He is not a responsible gun owner. If he felt threatened he could have shot mr christensen in his home and it would have been a different storym
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In some states if anyone…. anyone is killed during the commision of a felony….the criminal is responsible.
Such is the case here. The criminal creates a dangerous situation, and you want to blame the homeowner.
Yeh…that makes sense.
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Oh, by the way…you are wrong….at least one person condones the actions of Mr. Christenson….me.
My only regret is that he missed. He made every homeowner in the area safer by his actions.
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Next you will claim that you could have shot him while he was still in your house. I bet Mr. Kalm always said the same thing. Well looks like when it came time he could not. So instead he performs a cowardly act of taking a shot at a moving target 80 yards away. This shot could have ricocheted; gone through a wall or a window. On the other side of said wall or window could have a sleeping child. Now that ricocheted shot could have struck said sleeping child seriously wounding or killing child. Now then Mr. Alwayswrong and eldredton would you still says he was right to shot and it is just to bad that the child was wounded or killed? Now do you get what Mr. Kalm did was wrong and should be charged with a felony crime?
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Oh….I do have another regret….I meant to say I condone the actions of Mr. Kalm.
I would never refer to the dirt bag cowardly sneak thief as “Mr.”
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Why so quick to judge Mr. Kalm?
It seems that a logical line of thought would be that none of this would have happened, no fight, no chase, no shots fired, no danger at all…if the dirt bag criminal coward had gone to your house instead of Mr. Kalm’s.
Maybe you should adopt this dirt bag…just take care of him..give him all of your stuff so he won’t HAVE TO creep around and steal other peoples property.
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Some news reports said that Mr. Kalm did not have his door locked.
How many houses did your friend (the dirt bag) try to enter before he found one unlocked?
Now you are going to say, “well he should lock his doors.”
So…by logical extension, if you believe he should lock his doors…that if someone does not lock their doors…the property they have in their possesion….actually belongs to anyone who happens along.
Yeh…that is a great society to live in.
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Always, mr christenson is the intruder. Did you even read the article?
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Yes, christensen….there is no “Mr” in it.
By news accounts he is a thief and a coward…belongs in prison…or at some do-gooders house. Let them take care of him.
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You are correct about one thing, no shots would be fired if it happened in my house. And no shots would have been fired outside of my house. I do not believe in using a firearm for self defense. As hard as it is for you to believe, most criminals are cowards and want to run at the first sign of being caught in the act.
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Yeh…most run…the ones that don’t…they will probably kill you…and your family.
People who do not defend themselves are called victims.
If you do not wish to defend yourself, that is fine. Do not place that restriction on others.
Like I said…congress wants to pass a law, they should pass one that requires you to defend your home…we would all be safer.
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And they could call it the Vigilante Act of 2013.
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well, you can call the police.
a lady I know did that, the guy stabbed her with a gardens shears 59 times before they got there.
She lived though, can’t talk correctly, doesn’t walk correctly, as the guy almost severed her neck….but she lived.
So, yeh…call the police.
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Yup………that’d be good for the gun industry…..sell more guns because we are required to kill intruders. That shill for the NRA would love to give you many, many thumbs up. Unfortunately, he’s only allowed one! Great logic, great thinking…….let’s all kill each other……..
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And people who use deadly force to “defend themselves” and shoot someone in the back are called felons.
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And cowards.
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Name, location and date when this happened? Or better yet the article from the local paper. Until than I cannot believe your story
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By JOHN BURNETT
Tribune-Herald staff writer
A 69-year-old Hawaiian Paradise Park woman who was stabbed and seriously injured in an early Saturday morning home invasion gave her attacker “the fight of her life” according to family members.
Mary Davy, a saleswoman for the Fireplace & Home Center, is listed in stable condition at Hilo Medical Center, recovering from multiple stab wounds suffered in the attack.
“She’s physically improving. I saw her eating and drinking, but I don’t know how long the wounds are going to take to heal,” Kealani Kunewa, Davy’s granddaughter, said Sunday afternoon.
Family members said the assailant used Davy’s own gardening shears to stab the mother of six, who has numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Sunday night, police charged a neighbor, 18-year-old Seferin Tilipau, with attempted second-degree murder, first-degree robbery, and first-degree assault. He’s being held without bail pending an initial court appearance. “He came in the house first with a flashlight,” Kunewa said. “She was there with her dog and she told him to get out. He went downstairs and got her gardening scissors that were downstairs by the plants and ran upstairs. That’s when he attacked her. As the cops came, he either heard the lights or saw the lights … and he left.”
Davy’s daughter, Suzanne MacAdam, said her mother had called her after the initial encounter with the intruder. She said she told Davy to call 911, but her mother didn’t want to because of a slow response from police when she had reported her truck stolen.
MacAdam, who lives on Maui, said that she prepared to go to bed, but called her mother back before doing so.
“I’m talking to her and all of a sudden I just hear this big crash,” she said. “And I heard her start screaming, ‘Get out of here! Get out of here!’ And that scared me; my heart stopped and I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ My phone got disconnected from hers at that point, but I didn’t hang up.”
MacAdam said that she got her husband’s phone to call 911, then her phone re-connected to her mother’s and she heard “horrific screaming like something really awful is happening.”
“I didn’t know how bad it was,” she said. “When I got her story — and she’s coherent, she’s talking — it is a horrific story. … The end result is, there’s blood all through the kitchen and all the way to the corner. Her upper lip was cut in two places. Half of her ear was cut. They had to put her ear back on. He stabbed her in the back of the neck, multiple times. He choked her; he pulled her hair. He acted like he was going to cut her hair, then he changed his mind. He cut her face from the corner of the mouth, up to the jawbone, back by the corner of her gums. … Her whole face was flayed open. It looked like a zombie movie, horrific.”
MacAdam said her mother told her that she thought she was going to be killed.
“She told him, ‘God bless your tortured soul,’ three times.”
At that point, MacAdam said: “The cops pulled in, the lights hit through the window and he split.”
Police arrested Tilipau at a residence two doors down from MacAdam’s at about 1:25 a.m. Saturday. MacAdam said police told them they believe Tilipau also stole Davy’s truck, which was returned. She said that Davy did not know Tilipau.
Kunewa said the stabbing was “the second time somebody has attacked someone in our family in a random act of violence.” Her 19-year-old brother, Douglas Matsuda, was assaulted in a home invasion last year, and his eye socket was broken.
“The doctor said it was one of the worst fractures he’d ever seen,” she said.
Sean Wade Oblero, 43, was convicted of second-degree assault in that case and sentenced last month to a year in jail with six months suspended, five years probation and 500 hours community service.
“You cross paths with somebody violent and you have to pay the consequences. We are a good, big, loving family and we’re here for her, but it’s hard, the aftereffects, the healing. The financial part is going to be devastating,” Kunewa said.
MacAdam said she and her husband will move to the Big Island to be with her mother.
Davy doesn’t have health insurance, MacAdam said. A Facebook fundraising page has been set up under “Mary Davy Donations.”
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Google an amazing thing to find stories we once read about.
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Always, you have a .0002 percent chance of being murdered in mn. This includes all gang violence, drug deals gone wrong, and associations with violent criminals. Myself as a law abiding citizen feel pretty safe walking down any street in the state of minnesota. I have walked through downtown minneapolis, lake street, and north minneapolis after dark, without any fear of being hurt.
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A responsible gun owner. I bet he regrets carrying a firearm.
http://m.gawker.com/5978267/security-guard-shoots-off-penis-with-illegal-weapon
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http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/mncrime.htm
Around 100 murders for the entire state each year. Population of mn 5344861. I will be sleeping peacfully tonight knowing the statisitcs of being harmed.
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yeh…sleep well.
Ignorance is bliss.
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Paranoia can be treated with medication also.
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I fail to see ignorance on my part. I base my argument and safety needs on the facts and statistics. Instead of emotion and fear that is fed to the public by the nra.
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Statistics are fine.
Odds of being murdered: 1 in 18,000
Odds of dying in a car accident: 1 in 18,585
But…I will bet you wear a seat belt.
In fact…the government makes it the law to wear a seat belt.
So…the government should make it a law to defend yourself…
hence…gun ownership.
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Less than a .0005 percent chance of being burglarized in the state of minnesota in 2011. I still like my odds and will not live in unfounded fear.
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You can live in your Pollyana world.
Just don’t deny those that want to protect themselves and not be victims the opportunity and the wherewithal to accomplish the task.
It really comes down to pacifist attitude or a martialist attitude toward life.
You would rather be a victim than fight…OK. Just don’t impose that view on others.
and if you are so interested in playing the odds…don’t wear your seat belt.
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I never said I would not fight. I just would not fight with a firearm. Trust me Any person who had the idea to break into my home would regret it.
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I am sure that is what the 69 year old lady from Hilo thought also. She also had a dog that she thought would protect her, what she needed was a 12 gauge.
Not everyone is physically able to take on an intruder.
“God created man…Sam Colt made them equal”
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We know that you could not. Otherwise why would you need to get your courage up with a gun.
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http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/02/05/familymembersshot
This happened a few years back east of mankato. It was an unfortunate incident in which the homeowner tried to defend themselves with a firearm. If a firearm was not present, the worst case scenario is this guy stole the family vehicle.
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Check out the wonderful home life this guy grew up in. http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2009/fall/extremist-crimes
Sounds like he could be a relative of some of the posters here.
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So…you are saying that you believe the story of the criminal that broke into the house. You are saying that it is a plausible story that the criminal “accidentally shot and killed these people, that the criminal was forced into doing these things because the homeowner wouldn’t stand by and let this dirt bag steal the things the homeowner had worked for his whole life.
You believe the criminal.
Do you really think that if someone comes to your house and starts taking all of your stuff that you should just let him have it all?
What about your theory that most burglars run away when they are confronted?
What about your statement that you would fight? I guess if you fight and end up being maimed and crippled, that is OK, at least there wasn’t a gun around?
That family in Minnesota and the woman in Hilo are serving a life sentence because of the actions of these dirt bag criminals…
But at least they have you (and greatday the toughguy) looking out for them.
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Never said I believe the criminal accidentally shot all 3. My point is that the firearm used to kill the family members was their own. The criminal did not bring the shotgun inside the house with the intent to kill. He commited a crime and people were murdered ontop of his breakin. I do believe that these family members would be alive today if they did not use a firearm to defend their home.
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That was too hard for alwayscorrect to figure out.
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from greatday article:
This is what the dirt bag was convicted of in court.
“According to prosecutors, Zabawa, who did not know the Kruger family, killed Alec and Tracy Kruger with shotgun blasts, and shot and critically wounded Hilary Kruger, the wife and mother of the slain, simply because he didn’t want to get in trouble for using their SUV without permission.”
from Ron Burgendy article:
In rebutting the “accidental shooting” defense proferred by the dirt bag.
“Hilary Kruger, however, painted a different picture for police, according to the complaint.
She told an officer that her husband was shot by a tall, thin man with a long gun and that she told Alec to call police after her husband was shot upstairs.
She said the shooter then went downstairs and then came back up again and shot her and Alec, the complaint said.
Another officer who responded to the 911 call found a shotgun leaning against an upstairs bedroom door and spent and unspent shotgun shells littering the floor at the top of the stairs.
He found Alec dead in a bed while Hilary Kruger also lay on a bed, critically wounded. Tracy Kruger was found dead on an upstairs floor.”
We don’t have all the facts, and newspapers are notoriously unreliable…but.
From the foregoing it appears that if the homeowner confronted the dirt bag at all he did it from an upstairs hallway ( thats where the shell casings were). Apparently the homeowner made it to his bedroom (He was found in the bed by police).
So that would mean that the initial confrontation took place after the dirt bag had entered the house, and gone up the stairs, and then taken the shotgun away from the homeowner and killed the homeowner with it.
Then, if you believe the mother and wife of the two dead people, the dirt bag goes down the stairs, then goes back up the stairs and kills the son and shoots the mother.
But, like greatday points out, the dirt bag had a tough childhood…I say not guilty.
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It seems some people will twist logic and exercise incredible credulity to show favor to some dirt bag that murders a family, “well, if the homeowner would not have had a gun” “the kid had a tough childhood” they shouldn’t have a gun in the house” “guns are the problem” etc.
Yet, we are discussing one incident where an unarmed 69 year old woman is maimed and crippled by an intruder, and another where it appears after being confronted by an armed homeowner the criminal murders two while attempting to murder three.
Yeh…it is obvious that in these two scenarios…..guns are the problem.
And you all want to punish the homeowner for shooting at some dirt bag running down the street. His stated reason for doing so was he believed that the criminal was going to go into someone elses home…
you should be thanking him, not crucifying him.
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Another responsible gun owner
http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/254825/group/homepage/
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I can think of a few gun related articles over the past couple yeaars in grand forks. The one printed here, guy accidentally shoots pregnant woman in fargo, man shoots tv because they would not turn it down, off duty officer puts gun to head of guest at after party, and man fires multiple shots outside of southgate because he lost his behind in blackjack.
How many of these articles involved defense of property? You are free to add any articles that involve defense of property from our area.
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To bad we can’t post a link to the kid who was leading the drive to have guns on campus at UND who shot himself in the hand.
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Yeh…the liberal media loves these stories, they fit their agenda.
Hey, there was a man killed (crushed) while working in the oil fields out west….maybe we should outlaw oil rigs, they seem pretty dangerous.
A kid stabbed his father 20 some times with a knife…left the blade tip in the father’s skull, maybe we should outlaw knives, they seem pretty dangerous.
A man was recently convicted of running over another man with his SUV…maybe we should outlaw SUV’s, they seem pretty dangerous. (and they cause global warming, two for one)
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Always, again you fail to miss the point. Most people wwould not have issue with him firing at christensen when he was in the homeowners driveway or say 15 to 20 yards away. Most people have an issue with him firing at a running target (by the homeowners own admission) 80 plus yards away with a handgun in town! A lot of people can’t even hit a moving target at that distance with a shotgun and slug! It was a irresponsible action that deserves chargesm
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Maybe he fired the shots in the air to scare the hell out the guy. I’m not saying he behaved appropriately but until this case goes to court I think it’s wrong to assume he was aiming at the man’s back.
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As far as the homeowners reaction.
Imagine waking in the middle of he night, finding someone lurking outside your door, getting involved in a physical confrontation….what would you or anyone else do in this situation?
Hindsight is 20/20.
I am reluctant to monday-morning-quarterback the decisions of someone in this situation. However, I do believe that the benefit of the doubt be given to someone, who, through no fault of their own, is placed in such a situation.
Placed in that situation by a dirt bag cowardly repeat offender ( I might add…with all due respect…and the dirt bag burglar is due “no respect”).
Like I said, the tragedy of this scenario is that the homeowner didn’t rid society of this vermin.
This homeowner is a hero…he should be treated as such.
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