A Bad Day in Austin ////// 424 | Forensic Files

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GameChanger [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man who once faked his own death so he could make out
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crime [Music] [Music] [Music] la Thursday May 18th 1978 Austin Texas it's just after
midnight when 26-year-old patrolman Ralph ablano stopped a red 1966 Mustang on East Live Oak Street near Travis
Heights Boulevard the officer called in a code for routine traffic violation check the officer approached the vehicle
the driver was a young woman Sheila mayard sitting shotgun was a white male in his late 20s the officer obtained
their names and information and walked back to his patrol car officer abeno wrote mayor a ticket for driving without
a license and ran a radio check on the passenger David Lee pal the check came back that pal 27 years of age was a
wanted man wanted for some minor infractions misdemeanor theft and two hot check
charges ablano got out of his patrol car and once again he approached the vehicle
the officer was hit with automatic gunfire coming from the vehicle in front of him the shots knocked out the rear
window of the Mustang the officer was hit several times in the arm and chest his bulletproof vest that he was
wearing which was standard procedure for Austin Patrol in 78 was really no match
for the high-powered gunfire ablano went down and the Mustang drove off somehow abeno was able to send
out a distress call Austin PD Officers rushed to the scene officer Joe Vagas spotted the 66
Mustang about two blocks away in the parking lot of the Travis Park Apartments vas pushed the pedal to the
floor approaching the parked vehicle at a high rate of speed as he got closer shots were fired
coming from the Mustang vus was able to avoid being hit he slammed on the brakes
and returned fire then David Lee pal still in the passenger seat pulled the pin from a hand grenade and tossed it at
vus thankfully it failed to explode then the woman Sheila mayor jumped out of the vehicle with her hands
raised High screaming at the officer she surrendered pal flung open the passenger
door and ran for the Woods by now was 12:30 a.m. officer Ralph ablano was rushed to the nearest
hospital officer ablen died shortly after arrival about 255 police and at least two armed security officers surrounded
the woods which was estimated to be a mile long and half a mile wide they stopped dozens of cars and
pedestrians they waited and waited but David pal never came out just after 6:00 a.m. it was decided
that six police and two canine officers would enter the woods and go in there and get
pal the remaining police were to maintain the perimeter they wanted only a small
amount of police officers to enter the woods to minimize the risk they decided that no one else was
to enter they needed a set number of officers only that way if they saw any movement
at all they would know immediately it was not a fellow officer in other words they were
prepared to shoot onite sight the two dogs and six officers entered the woods with Flack jackets and
loaded shotguns two armed security guards whose shifts ended hours ago but decided to
stay and assist the police in any way they could now decided it was time to call it a night and let the police do
their jobs guards Charles Howard and Gary Nelson were now near Travis High when they spotted movement the two guards
with pistols drawn moved slowly toward something they saw moving in the bushes it was a man crouched down trying
to conceal himself at a distance of about 3 ft one of the guards in a Stern voice
instructed the man to come out before standing up the man said loudly his voice shaking I'm not going to do
anything and he slowly emerged from the bushes the guards handcuffed him and called the police police searched the
bushes and found a light blue coat a knife and a 45 caliber pistol set in the cocked
position the man in handcuffs was 27-year-old David Lee pal the petty thief and hot check artist
was now a cop killer police pushed David pal into the backseat of a police cruiser it was now 6:30 a.m. the sun was
just starting to rise and it was already a bad day in [Music] Austin the Sun is up in Austin and it's
the start of a new day we go now to a different side of the city where parents are waking their children and families
are starting their morning routines a family of six living in a nice part of the city on rockage Cove is
preparing to leave for the day and venture out to their duties and obligations the second youngest is John
Christian he is 13 years of age and in the e8th grade at merchison Junior High School John was even taking
a special class or two classes for exceptional students deemed to be gifted and talented Jon's family is full of gifted
and talented people Jon's father is George Christian George served as the press secretary for the United States
36th President lynon Johnson he then became a top advisor to Texas governor Dolph
Brisco John's mother Joanne was a respected lawyer now the Christian home was near John's school so he would walk
to school but not on this day now on this day John did something he has never done before and would never do again he
hid in a closet and waited in silence as his parents and brothers left the house George Christensen as he drove off
to work heard on the radio that there had been a shootout in the middle of the night on the city's South Side resulting
in the death of one Austin City's finest the cop killer was arrested back at the
Christian House John is still in the closet listening carefully and after several minutes of silence he exited the
day before he told a classmate that he was bringing a gun to school and now it was time to go and get that gun
according to classmates of John the day before in Mr Wilbur Grayson's class two things very much out of the norm took
place first the teacher Wilbert Grayson who went by Rod Grayson to friends and of course Mr Grayson to the students was
absent Rod Grayson was the father of a young boy who was just about one year old both he and his wife Laura Grayson
worked Lura was a teacher at another school their child was not feeling well and it
was Rod's turn to stay home and take care of their boy Grayson's gifted and talented classes would be conducted by a
substitute teacher on this day during the first class conducted by The Substitute John Christian and another
student were scheduled to give a presentation John had the floor first for some bizarre reason the normally
quiet young man gave a loud and obnoxious presentation that was not only hard to follow but was quite the
performance John was making all kinds of commotion jumping up and down waving his
hands yelling and teasing the small crowd of students in the classroom several times the class
erupted with screams laughter and general excitement for Jon's wild manlike performance by the end of the
class Jon had taken up all of the time for for that day the other student not getting to make his
presentation and the class was in such an uproar that he likely did not want to the substitute quickly lost control of
the class and with John leading the way the classroom turned very chaotic when the bell rang at the end of
the class a fellow student said to John you know tomorrow when Mr Grayson returns he's going to kick our butts
John said it's okay because tomorrow I'm going to bring a gun the student thought
John was joking John was probably still high from his bizarre performance and so
the student simply replied yeah I'll bring one too now back to the morning of Thursday May 18th John retrieved his
Browning 22 caliber rifle that his parents got him for Christmas this was Texas and a teenage boy will learn to
shoot and hunt later John would tell psychiatrist that he spent several minutes contemplating killing
himself but he didn't instead he made sure that the gun was loaded and he marched off to school like a soldier in
some kind of secret battle but in many ways it was more like a Hunting Expedition as his enemies were unaware
that there was a war Brewing inside of Jon's head they didn't even know that they were targets the following is
according to Texas monthly who like all of their work did a phenomenal job with their story on this
case class had already started without John Christian and what transpired next is based on the Recollections of eight
eyewitnesses in the classroom as well as those of others at school that day sitting as he always did not behind
his desk but on his stool directly in front of the students Mr Grayson had begun by asking asking his students what
the hell had happened the previous day the students acknowledged their own misbehavior but added Mr Grayson johon
was acting so weird the teacher waved them off he said you just don't understand him the way I do then Mr
Grayson said where is JN anyway class had begun JN is absent there he is someone exclaimed directing their
attention to a figure outside of the classroom window who was heading down the grassy Hill beside the football
field and someone else said he's got a gun what occurred in the next 2 minutes would be remembered through trauma's
Kaleidoscope John stepped into the doorway seeing him Mr Grayson may have smiled maybe he even laughed Grayson
said okay John the joke's over John held the gun at his hip pointed at his teacher and a classmate
heard him say the joke's on you yeah 13-year-old John Christian with his 22 caliber rifle shot his
teacher and the chest The Head and the arm the description given by the other students there that day say that Grayson
was hit three times just in the locations that you said and as he was hit he fell from his stool and collided
with the student's desk that was immediately in front of him they say his tall lean body thudded heavily to the
floor blood was pouring out of one of his ears his eyes were still wide open and they say that he looked
terrified now as John turned and walked out without a word the classroom exploded into screams the students began
to flee several ran to the principal's office and told the administrators at the front desk what had just happened
but of course there's no way for them to believe them you know there's there's no
reaction that that can really be warranted right here they're they're in disbelief one of the kids is yelling
godamn it he killed him godamn it he killed him the gym class was already underway this was going on outside of
the school over by the football field a few kids saw Jon toss the rifle against the bicycle rack and then run up the
slope he's running away from the school an Athletics coach witnessed JN fleeing the scene he decides he's going
to jump in his truck and follow the kid he caught up to JN and he jumped out of his truck and he grab the boy he says
what did you do John said I shot Mr Gra mhm so John was taken to the principal's
office and of course the police were called and paramedics as well the police and really no one else could believe
what had happened that morning a 13-year-old student shot and killed his teacher in front of 21 other eighth
grade students John was arrested and his classmates were bust off to the police station to give statements and to answer
any questions that the police may have describing the event decades later was a man Payton Smith he was the student that
was nearest to Mr Grayson when the shooting began he said lives were shattered lives
were changed every person in that room was a victim but what a heroic thing the FED teacher did I mean because we know
John is homicidal he did not he he saw the gun but he didn't know if Jon had another gun on him yeah I mean he saw he
may have seen the gun being tossed over by the the bicycle rack who knows if he heard the shots because this teacher is
outside MH and of course by his own recollection he's saying as soon as I caught up to the boy and grabbed him I
asked him what he did so he may not have fully been aware of what went down although he was like you said heroic
enough and and smart enough to go apprehend the boy this part of the story is a little weird to me Captain because
it I don't really know where this boy intended to go what what was his intentions after shooting his teacher he
didn't turn the gun on his fellow classmates he shot the teacher that seemed to be his only target he walks
out of the building throws the gun down and starts heading up the the hill who knows if he was heading back home or
where his what his intentions were I don't know because it's no mystery who committed this crime it's not like he's
fleeing the crime to so nobody knows that it was JN that did it yeah I believe if he was suicidal before the
shooting that he was probably going to go back home and and possibly uh decide to be suicidal at home and this case is
such a weird case in itself but then let's think about the whole situation for the Austin Police Department they
spent the whole night before in a 6-hour standoff against a guy that killed a cop
in a what should have been a routine pullover right they probably thought there's no way that this day can get any
worse than this we've done our work probably for the next several weeks you know we've had one of the hardest days
most tragic days that we will have maybe of the whole year we lost one of our own
a young officer and then just hours later a few hours later they're responding to a school shooting well as
officers were going back home you know that there was one officer after this long night saying all right boys you
guys get some sleep and we'll take care of it from here and it can't get any worse and then it did right and weirdly
enough this is the same city that experienced the Charles Whitman Ram page at the University of Texas at the tower
just 12 years earlier right there's something in the water buy bottled water don't drink that water right but if they
weren't able to get John alive they might not get as many answers to why this tragic event happened speaking of
answers their Captain George Christian John's successful father he was asked several questions that evening by
reporters that were positioning themselves on the front lawn at the Christian house on the advice of his
attorney he said very little he told the press that the gun used did come from the Christian house mhm he said he would
say nothing else because he didn't want to run the risk that any of his statements would hurt his boy who was
still yet to face trial George did ask reporters about the 28-year-old teacher that was killed and George became very
emotional when he was told that Rod Grayson had a wife and a small [Music] child
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[Music] all right we're back cheers mates cheers to you Captain cheers to the great state
of Texas I do have a couple notes go for on the first part first of all we did Cover the Charles Whitman case
that's episode number 20 229 that's episode number 229 and I believe that was with me and Justin from
Generation Y that's my favorite episode best episode of all time and also this case seems very familiar different set
of events but people probably remember the hit song Jeremy by a band Pearl Jam mhm
Jeremy Dell Deli it's d l e which that happened uh January 8th 1991 he shot himself in front of his
English class but it it seems very familiar and oddly enough that happened in Richardson Texas in an English class
which shares some similarities to the case that we're discussing Captain I want to jump back in expand on the story
that we started in today's trailer David Lee po was born in Texas in 1951 David grew up on the Family Farm
And he was raised Catholic in the pal family they were well- known and respected in their small Texas town
David excelled in school by High School it was determined that David was an exceptionally bright and gifted student
he told his parents and teachers that he wanted to become a doctor doctor now David graduated high school at the age
of 16 as valedictorian wow he applied to the University of Texas this was their plan
two program which was designed for only the best and brightest young students one of several requirements for
admission was to submit an essay David wrote an essay on how he wanted to be a doctor so he could help people now I
don't know the particulars of of this next bit but several sources reported that David I'm guessing maybe in this
essay or something else that David did but he was on record as correctly predicting the fall of the Soviet Union
including the how why and when and all of this with great accuracy M David was accepted to the university with what is
said to be the highest ever recorded SAT score submitted to UT's pre prestigious
program Austin Texas and college life was very very different from the farm and Country Life that David was
accustomed to at school David was swept up with the changing world he became a True Believer in the Society of youthful
thinkers and activists but David was seduced by something else while away at school The Nightlife the wild parties
and more specifically for David the drugs Captain this led to the old turn on tune in and drop
outm yeah old LSD there you go David dropped out of school and spent the next several years traveling this great big
country mm now by 1978 David was addicted to methamphetamine Not only was he using on The Daily but he was
manufacturing and he was a street Pusher as well in the 70s it was widely believed that methamphetamine was
non-addictive but of course we know that that is completely false it's the old hey try this drug it's recreational you
can have fun with it and whenever you want to you can just stop well no you can't because you're addicted at one
point David was so desperate to stop using now we got to keep in mind this was the mid to late 7s so rehab was not
so readily available like it would be today the resources were just not there in the way that they are now yeah I mean
if he wanted to get help today he could check himself into a rehab clinic but since that wasn't available he went to
his doctor and said hey I'm taking drugs and I'd like to stop yeah so the doctor
trying to help David out prescribed something called Syer now I've not heard of this drug and that makes sense
because this drug has has since been banned the side effects for this stuff are terrible some patients taking this
drug experienced psychosis during all of this mess this is when David asked a former girlfriend
Sheila mayor to drive him out of town this out of town trip was for the purpose of David selling about4 to
$5,000 worth of meth I could not determine if Sheila was fully aware what the trip was for
mhm and we know how that ended that trip with David in a shootout and cuffed and
thrown in a Cell both David and Sheila were initially charged with capital murder
Sheila turned witness for the state's case against David pal she testified for the prosecution against David the
charges against Sheila were then reduced she was sentenced to 15 years but got out on good behavior this was after
four officer ablano was a good cop and a decorated officer he was married with two small children he was only 26 years
old when he was shot and killed David was convicted of capital murder in September of
1978 and he got a death sentence he went off to Texas's death row and then off to
Rusk state hospital for the criminally insane after several months there he was returned to death row now most of his
years in prison he had a good amount of privileges he worked frequented the library he taught many of his fellow
prisoners how to read he became an advocate for the mentally and physically disabled David was even featured in a
film documentary about the Texas death row because of how bright David was he could better articulate life on death
row than the others that were interviewed he became the main interview for the documentary because of his
compelling descriptions of Life on death row over the years David went through several trials and of course the appeals
process there was the argument that information was not presented at David Pal's trial that could have affected his
sentencing this was the argument that David was not the only shooter the thought here captain was both of these
individuals David and Sheila were in the vehicle so David's defense is trying to
make the argument that Sheila was shooting as well and there were some statements that said that Sheila could
have possibly been the one that threw the grenade officer vgas people argue this and say you know what if this had
come out and if it in fact it is true because we have for every one person that said Sheila was involved in the
shooting and may have thrown thrown the hand grenade there's a person that says no that pal was the only one to be
shooting at the cops and trying to take people out that day so the people against the death penalty have always
argued if this information would have been presented at David's first trial then maybe once found guilty he would
not have been sentenced to death where I wonder something else captain and first
off I actually don't believe that it's true that Sheila was shooting at police or throwing hand grenades or any of that
I believe it was all David that night but I wonder the opposite had this information been presented at his first
trial maybe it doesn't spare David's life but maybe both end up receiving a death sentence because we have a cop
that was killed on duty as well as several other attempts on lives of officers that came to help that officer
that night right I think that's a pretty good point there were plenty of attempts
to commute David's death sentence there was the ongoing argument about what kind
of prisoner David was so again the people that are against the death penalty come running to the front line
and they say David was a model prisoner once he got off the drugs once he was behind bars he never heard anybody he
was the perfect prisoner and he even helped people he taught people how to read and he was an advocate for uh
people that had disabilities do we know if he was medicated at or not once he was in prison I don't know that
he was medicated I do believe he would have been medicated when he was at the hospital for the criminally insane right
and the way he ended up there Captain was once he was in prison he refused to eat for several days so it it looked
like he was trying to end his own life they transfer him there he kind of gets right after several months and then they
they send him back to death row I commend David for helping all of these other prisoners for teaching them to
read and for being an advocate and standing up for people with dis disabilities I think that is phenomenal
stuff that he was attempting to do after he was a complete horrible person piece
of [ __ ] well and see David's David's whole thing is a very difficult situation for me it's something
something that I struggle with because when we talk about the death sentence it's it's a crazy thing I mean here's
this guy where without the drugs and without this possible psychosis brought on by the prescribed medication right
maybe he isn't a a killer maybe he isn't a violent man but I did a little digging
he was not a perfect prisoner he didn't spend all of those years in prison without any infractions at all he had
several minor infractions but he was not the perfect prisoner that that the people against the death penalty would
would scream and yell to the presses right well always fine no matter if you're for the person or against the
person nobody really likes the truth right but it's like again if this psychosis State plus the
drugs this is why mental health is so important to be talked about and to be open about and
to again you can't just prescribe pills and just go let's see what happens because then this happens now who's
responsible well is this guy responsible or is the doctor responsible in in the defense of the doctor David's also still
doing methamphetamine daily right at that time and one thing that I recently learned about meth that I that I was
unaware of because I'm like man these these meth heads are always killing people and of course you think hey
they're going to do anything to get this drug some may even steal or become violent but one thing I learned is that
meth also will create paranoia in in the addicted yeah and they start thinking things that are not
real this person's after me this family's trying to kill me so in some of these instances when they when they go
out and they kill somebody they actually think that they're defending themselves
well see I I kind of wonder if you even take a couple steps back here's individual that graduates high school at
16 valedictorian it maybe this whole TuneIn tun on whatever it is this LSD experiments that he was going on maybe
this was some kind of self-medication for maybe early onset schizophrenia it's a possibility and
that's why I wondered you know is he doing fine is he um a good member of the the prison population because he's
medicated and and then if so is is all these cause and effect not because he was a druggie but because he was
self-medicating because yeah schizophrenia it's impossible to tell really and that's the thing if we could
look at somebody and dissect them 100% and fully understand what was going on with them then it would make the
sentencing process a lot easier for the jury and all involved I'm going to ask a
weird question but do we know if he got any scholarships that is a good question
he may because of his SAT score was so high well and you also talk about weird let's open up the doors and let this guy
in but you also talked about this weird thing about him predicting the future yeah see this is why I wonder
maybe he got like the merit scholarship which like the merit scholarship was known um was connected to a bunch of
different people but in Harvard uh Henry Murray would do test a lot of people that got the the merit scholarship he
would do test on famously U one of his people that he did a lot of test on was uh Ted kazinski so that's just why I
wondered if there was some kind of connection normally when you have these very young bright students
that go to universities early that sometimes they're offered these kind of alternative testing B especially during
the late 60s early 70s I don't know with the Tim Larry quote I just threw that in
there something that popped in my head when I thought of this young man who gets all caught up in the the
subculture of that lifestyle at once he went off to college the war activist is going on or anti-war movement he's going
heavily into drugs yeah but Timothy Larry was doing these tours where he was going from different universities and
doing these yeah I'm not say in tune out whatever I'm not saying that it's not possible I'm just saying that that that
was just a a slogan that popped into my mind that I just kind of randomly threw out there I I was there's never been
presented to me or that I could find any connection between the two and David Lee
po was executed by the state of Texas on Tuesday June 15 2010 he spent 32 years on death row for
the 1978 murder of Austin Police Officer Ralph ablanedo his attorneys had argued that
he did not pose a future threat to society as determined by the juries that had sentenced him to death three decades
earlier at the time he was the longest serving inmate executed in Texas since the state resumed carrying out
executions in 1982 according to murder pedia his last meal was four eggs four chicken
drumsticks salsa four jalapeno peppers lettuce tortillas hash browns garlic bread two pork chops white and yellow
grated cheese sliced onions and tomatoes a pitcher of milk and a vanilla shake Jesus well I mean calories this is that
10,000 calories it doesn't really matter at that point now does it yeah and according to everywhere he had no final
last words he simply stared at the witnesses as he died before their eyes well that's because he's probably
already dead from that meal now we don't know for sure we don't know if he was medicated in prison or not so we don't
know if he had some kind of form of schizophrenia but they believe that John Christian possibly had some sort of
schizophrenia yeah in the other story of the 13-year-old who shot his teacher during court proceedings it was two
psychiatrists that testified that Jon was acutely de depressed and suffered from Laten
schizophrenia and it was decided that psychiatric treatment for JN was much needed John was sent to Timberon
Psychiatric Hospital a private facility in Dallas until his 18th birthday or until he
recovered John's family would be paying the bills for this treatment not the taxpayers per the judge's
ruling after 20 months at Timberon Jon was upgraded to outpatient care this was kind of a weird scenario
here Captain because what they did was he was sent home but not to his home he was sent to the home home of a doctor
who would then be John's guardian and John would continue to receive some form of Outpatient Care from this psychiatric
facility and we mentioned that his family was required to pay the bills for this treatment I did the math on this
and figured it up kind of conservatively but for 20 months in this treatment facility his family spent near
$100,000 to treat this young man John Christian did go on to college and law school to this day he is currently
practicing law in the Greater Austin area wow Wilbur Rod Grayson was the English teacher at an independent Austin
School District in Austin Texas Grayson was a graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington and was in his first
year of teaching when he was killed on the job in Grayson's free time he was an amateur
actor news reports reveal that American Educators have been losing their lives in school tragedies since
1764 members of the national teachers Hall of Fame believe that it is time to recognize and honor these Brave
Educators for their dedication to their jobs and to their students Emporia State
University in Kansas in partnership with the national teachers Hall of Fame created a monument and Memorial area
that will be a permanent tribute to Educators who literally gave their all for their profession yeah this site is
called the memorial to Fallen Educators which was designated as a National Memorial in
2018 the names engraved on two granite slabs include teachers from Sandy Hook marjerie Stoneman Douglas Santa Fe and
yes Wilbur Rod Grayson from merchon Junior High yeah and one of the things I think 2020 has taught a lot of us is how
appreciative we should be towards a lot of our teachers I know personally friends of mine that are having to
homeschool some of their kids and just the difficulty of one trying to get them excited to learn it uh but also to
understand the information themselves and to give it back so so a big shout out to all the teachers out there and I
think a shout out to all of the police officers on the Austin City PD as well as all the Educators and students that
were at merchon Jor high on that very tragic day Thursday May 18th 1978 a day that started with tragedy and
ended with tragedy [Music] for everything True Crime Check out true crime garage.com and there you'll find our
recommended reading page do we have any recommended reading for this week yes sir Captain this week we are
recommending one of my favorites check out Texas monthly magazine Texas monthly does several absolutely brilliant long
form true crime stories each year Robert Draper did one on the Grayson case that
we covered today back in April that's Texas monthly find that in many more great recommendations at true Crim
garage.com and until next week be good be kind and don't litter [Music] the Angie's List you know and trust is
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A Bad Day in Austin ////// 424

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May 18th, 1978 was a bad day in Austin, Texas. Tune in, crack open a beer and join the guys in the Garage to find out why! Beer of the Week - Peacemaker by Austin Beer WorksGarage Grade - 3 and 3 Quarter Bottle Caps

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Brief Summary

A tragic day in Austin, Texas, saw a police officer killed and a student shoot his teacher.

Key points

Tragic School Shooting. A 13-year-old boy shoots his teacher in front of classmates, leaving lives shattered.
Police Standoff. Officers respond to a shootout that results in the death of a police officer.
David's Early Life. David Lee Pals was a gifted student who graduated high school at 16 as valedictorian.
The Downward Spiral. David's life took a dark turn as he became addicted to methamphetamine.
The Shootout. David was involved in a shootout that led to his arrest and capital murder charges.
Life on Death Row. David became an advocate for fellow prisoners and was featured in a documentary.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I'm not going to do anything.

A man emerges from the bushes, trembling.

9:25WatchNov 16, 2023

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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