Guam in World News

Guam is not often the venue for world news (though it is in a very strategic spot between the US and Asia) but this week we were the subject for two major stories that have rocked the island a bit. Both happened on Tuesday, February 12th.  

The first took place in the morning just as President Obama was making his State of the Union address. It seems that two Russian bombers with nuclear tipped cruise missiles circled Guam. F-15’s intercepted them and escorted them away to the North. You can read about that here and here.

The second was a bizarre multiple murder that took place in the tourist area of Hotel Row in Tumon. The culprit’s weapons were his Toyota and a knife. You can read the news report here http://www.guampdn.com/article/20130214/NEWS01/302140302/2-women-slain-Tumon-Six-remain-hospitalized-after-assault, and here you can see an interview with one of our PIU teachers, Joey Charles, who was an eye-witness of the events. One of our PIU students, Kevin Graham, wrote his thoughts about the tragedy here. The story was also covered by CNN, USA Today, Fox News and most of the other major news outlets. The latest local update of the story is here.

There is a lot of talk about how this will effect Guam tourism and the promised military buildup on Guam. We prayed this morning at church for the families of the murdered Japanese tourists and, as always, for the government of Guam. All in all, I still feel just as safe on Guam as I did in most places I have lived on the US Mainland.