Number 8 Scott Kologi
Less than an hour before the New Year, on December the 31st of 2017, New Jersey teenager Scott Kologi
called his mother, 44-year-old Linda, up to his room at their New Jersey home. As later
reported by his family, Scott suffered from severe developmental disabilities. Even though he was in
his late teens, he often slept in bed with his parents, believed in Santa Claus and needed his
mother to dress him. He was also autistic and a suspected schizophrenia sufferer. On New Year’s
Eve, Linda entered his room to find that all the lights had been turned off. Moments later,
Scott shot her dead several times in the head with high-powered rifle. His father,
42-year-old Steven, rushed upstairs after hearing the shots ring out. Scott fatally shot him in the
back and torso. The teenager, who at the time was reportedly wearing earplugs to drown out
the sound of gunfire, made his way downstairs. He shot and killed his grandfather’s girlfriend,
70-year-old Mary Schulz, whom he and his siblings called “Grandmother Mary”. The final victim
of Scott’s spree was his 18-year-old sister, Brittany, who was home for the holidays after her
first semester of college. Scott shot her in the head, at close range, as she sat at the kitchen
table. His brother Steven Jr, who legally owned the rifle used in the massacre, escaped the Jersey
Shore home unharmed, as did his grandfather, Adrian. Scott was subsequently arrested at
the scene. Steven Jr. acted as his legal guardian and struggled to maintain his composure, as Scott
confessed to the spree upon being questioned by law enforcement. In the video-recorded interview,
Scott calmly explained the circumstances of each killing, saying “I just kept firing until they,
like, stopped moving” and adding “I felt like I was watching it, like I was further back in
my mind”. Scott was trialed as an adult in the legal proceedings that followed, during
which his defense argued that he was criminally insane at the time of the killings. In contrast,
the prosecution called them “acts of evil” of which Scott was fully aware,
as he’d even researched beforehand if the weapon he was using would be effective against
the bulletproof vests of responding police. He was ultimately sentenced to 150 years in prison, after
he was convicted on four counts of first-degree murder and a second-degree weapons charge.
Number 7 Tairrah Demeka McGriff
On New Year’s Day 2018, two women were involved in a fatal confrontation outside of a BP gas
station in Jacksonville, Florida. At around 10:30 pm, 24-year-old Sahara Barkley left her
Chevrolet running as she headed into the store. Simultaneously, Shawntez Edmondson and Tairrah
Demeka McGriff, both in their early 20s, got out of another vehicle. As shown by surveillance
footage, the former stole Barkley’s vehicle and drove off. In the moments that followed, Barkley,
a mother-of-one who was pregnant with her second child, confronted McGriff and accused her of being
an accomplice to the theft. She punched her at which point McGriff brandished a firearm and shot
her dead. Law enforcement identified the gunwoman through the surveillance footage and arrested
her a few days later. She was found guilty of manslaughter and carrying a concealed weapon
for which she was sentenced to 21 years in prison. Edmonson was also arrested, during a traffic stop
in April of 2018, and ultimately sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in Barkley’s death.
Number 6 Barry Walsh
52-year-old Australian man Barry Walsh was spending New Year’s 2017 partying
with friends on Budgewoi Beach, in New South Wales. A few hours into the New Year,
the father-of-two decided to try out a firework he’d reportedly been saving for roughly a
decade. Walsh, a rugby player and surfing enthusiast, went to light it as his wife,
Jo, watched him from about 100 feet away. Within seconds, the firework malfunctioned
and exploded in Walsh’s face, inflicting severe head injuries. Friends called the emergency
services and attempted CPR on Walsh until the police and paramedics arrived at the scene,
but he ultimately succumbed to his injuries. Jo, who was inconsolably distraught upon
witnessing her husband’s death, was sedated and transported to Wyong Hospital for a short time.
Number 5 Osman Shaptafaj
On the morning of New Year’s Eve 2019, Australian couple Veton and Lindita Musai returned to their
family’s home in the Melbourne suburb of Yarraville, after celebrating their first
wedding anniversary. After they’d removed their bags from an Uber, they were ambushed by Lindita’s
estranged father, 55-year-old Osman Shaptafaj. He shot them both in the back of the head with
a handgun as they stood at the front door. Family members opened the door to find the young couple
in critical condition and Shaptafaj with a Smith and Wesson 38-calibre handgun to his own head,
but he decided not to pull the trigger then and there. 25-year-old Lindita died at the scene,
in spite of her family’s desperate attempts to revive her, while 29-year-old Veton passed away
in a local hospital the following day. Shaptafaj, whom a witness described as “the devil among us”,
walked to grassland down the road in the immediate aftermath. He placed the gun under his chin and
fired. The bullet destroyed most of his right eye, but it didn’t kill him. Shaptafaj got up
and shot himself in the head once more but didn’t die on the second attempt either. He was taken to
a local hospital where the bullets were extracted and he survived with a brain injury. Shaptafaj had
resented his daughter and his ex-wife for what he’d perceived as them cutting him off from the
family. His violent and controlling behavior had led to the end of his marriage in 2008,
after which his estranged wife, son and daughter took out intervention orders against him. He’d at
one point sent his ex his own severed finger as well as assaulted and threatened his daughter for
choosing to live with her mother. Shaptafaj was enraged upon learning about Lindita’s wedding,
months after it had taken place. He also felt disrespected by Veton for not asking for his
permission to marry her. In 2021, Shaptafaj pleaded guilty and was subsequently sentenced
to at least 35 years in prison for a double murder that a judge noted “almost defied belief”.
Number 4 Yvonne Raquel Ramirez
Texas residents Josh McKinney and Yvonne Raquel Ramirez, both aged 19, had been spending time
together leading up to New Year’s Eve 2017, when they went out together. According to the police,
before leaving her date’s Baytown home, Ramirez stole his guns and later asked him for $2,000
to get them back. McKinney, who’d been training to become a Marine, reportedly sent the young
woman photos of the money he’d gathered and she agreed to meet him on Mizell Street in
Harris County. An unnamed friend of McKinney’s went to the spot with him, at around 4:30 am,
and remembered him saying that he wasn’t going to get robbed again. The witness would report seeing
McKinney holding a gun to Ramirez’s head after he’d placed her in a neck hold. The witness went
to call 911 and, upon returning to the scene, found that Ramirez had fatally shot McKinney.
She was taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the shoulder, but survived and was
charged with murder. Ramirez maintained that she’d shot the man in self-defense. She told the police
that she and McKinney had been consuming illicit substances and that at some point he’d accused
her of stealing his guns, which she denied. They then got into the fight that the witness
had reported. Ramirez initially claimed that the pistol had discharged and struck McKinney after
it had fallen to the ground. She then admitted that, as they grappled, she’d taken the weapon
from him and used it to shoot him dead. Another witness reported seeing the woman “manipulate”
McKinney’s body and blood analysis indicated that she’d removed his wallet as he was dying.
Number 3 Rhys Hancock
On New Year’s Day 2020, British man Rhys Hancock had a cup of tea with his mother at her home in
Etwall, Derbyshire, England. It would later be regarded as his way of saying farewell,
as he knew that he’d be going to prison for a long time. He spoke to his mother about his
plans of killing his estranged wife, 39-year-old Helen, after recently finding out she’d started
seeing another man. Rhys and Helen had three children together whom the latter had taken to her
parents’ house so that she could spend New Year’s with boyfriend Martin Griffiths, aged 48. Rhys
took two kitchen knives with him and his mother’s landline phones, to prevent her from alerting the
authorities. He couldn’t find her cellphone, however, and the woman called the police,
urging officers to rush over to Hancock’s former marital home, in Duffield. By then,
39-year-old Rhys had already made his way to the address. He viciously attacked Helen and Martin,
slashing and stabbing them repeatedly with the knives. By the time his onslaught was over,
he’d inflicted 66 wounds to his wife and 37 to her new partner. Helen, who’d separated from
Rhys a few months prior, was stabbed with such force that the knife handle reportedly went into
her stomach. Rhys then called the police to say “I’ve just murdered my wife in her
bed”. Officers arrived and found him covered in blood inside the property, at which point he told
them “I’m hardly going to deny it…look at me”. The victims were pronounced dead at the scene,
which was described by an ambulance worker as the most violent they’d seen in 17 years on the job.
Rhys subsequently pleaded guilty to the double homicide and was jailed for a minimum of 31 years.
Number 2 Nyjeah Jerome White
Pennsylvania man Nyjeah Jerome White was convicted in August of 2022 of a first-degree murder that
had occurred two years prior on New Year’s Eve. 29-year-old White had waived his right to a jury
trial and opted for a Delaware County judge to act as the sole decider of his case. Leading
up to his death, 36-year-old Rasheed Bundy had been attending a New Year’s Eve party at his
family’s home in Norristown. White had dated his sister and Bundy had reportedly confronted
him in a breezeway over the manner in which he’d treated her during their turbulent relationship.
Gunfire erupted in the breezeway within less than a minute of the two men meeting
up. Bundy was fatally shot in the head and White sustained a gunshot wound to the neck,
with the bullets coming from the same weapon. White’s defense would maintain that he’d been
a victim in a hit meant for Bundy carried out by a third party. The prosecution argued that White
had actually been the gunman and that he’d been wounded in the neck by his own bullet that had
ricocheted off a wall. A pizza delivery man would report hearing someone screaming “Ny
shot my brother” before identifying White as the person who then ran past him and
fled in a vehicle. The prosecution also noted that White hadn’t behaved like a victim but
like a murderer as he hadn’t contacted the authorities in the shooting’s aftermath.
He remained on the run for two months before US Marshals apprehended him in Philadelphia,
in March of 2021. After being found guilty, White faced a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
Number 1 Temple Stampede
On New Year’s Day 2022, a large crowd of pilgrims had gathered at the Mata Vaishnav Devi shrine,
in the town of Katra, India. They’d trekked through hills to reach the temple, which was
one of the most visited in the country’s north. An argument broke out between a group of youths
in the tightly-packed crowd, near one of the gates where devotees entered and exited the route to the
shrine. A stampede ensued at around 2:40 am. Dramatic footage from the scene showed several
men climbing and clinging on to scaffolding, desperate to escape the crush. A pilgrim,
who only gave his name as Mahesh, survived the incident after initially finding himself under
a mass of people. He later told a media outlet “I saw people moving over the bodies. It was a
horrifying sight.” Mahesh added that he was able to help in rescuing others caught in
the stampede. Police were called to the scene and restored order but, by then,
at least 12 people had lost their lives and 17 others had suffered serious injuries.
Thanks for watching! Would you rather wake up to firecrackers going off in your bedroom
OR spend a night in a cliff tent? Let us know in the comments section below!