by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
As I mentioned in this blog two days ago, there was a shooting at a large mall near Birmingham, Alabama, on Thanksgiving evening as the place swarmed with people eager to snag some bargains at the front end of the mall's "Black Friday" sale. A 19-year-old male who was likely the intended target was shot twice in the stomach and remains in serious condition at a local hospital, and a twelve-year-old girl received a non-life-threatening wound from what was apparently a stray bullet. Police were already at the mall working security when the shooting took place, and several of them rushed toward the shots. One policeman observed a man with a gun running from the scene, and that policeman shot and killed the individual with the gun.
End of story. Case closed.
Except, of course, there was more to the story.
The next day a journalist posted a photo of a discarded gun on the floor of the mall near the scene of the shooting, and police began to dig deeper into the incident. It turns out that when the shooting started, several bystanders pulled out their own guns (We have the NRA to thank for that!) and people began running in all directions - including some of those who were wielding their own weapons in what they saw as a self-defense posture. And in the melee, one excited policeman saw a black man running with a gun - and the cop's training and natural instincts took over. The policeman shot and killed the black man, a former soldier who had a permit to carry the gun.
Now local police are saying that the wrong individual may have been targeted and shot as the supposed mall shooter. The case was handed over to the county sheriff's office for investigation, and the state of Alabama subsequently took it over from there. Citizen protests are occurring at the mall, and the family of the man killed by police has brought in a well-known civil rights attorney to seek justice for the death of their son.
Oh, and the actual shooter remains at large.
The only thing missing from this horrible tale is Donald Trump's two-cents-worth, but I suspect that is coming.
Take a knee, America. The problem is still with us and it is getting worse.
Citizen Journalist
As I mentioned in this blog two days ago, there was a shooting at a large mall near Birmingham, Alabama, on Thanksgiving evening as the place swarmed with people eager to snag some bargains at the front end of the mall's "Black Friday" sale. A 19-year-old male who was likely the intended target was shot twice in the stomach and remains in serious condition at a local hospital, and a twelve-year-old girl received a non-life-threatening wound from what was apparently a stray bullet. Police were already at the mall working security when the shooting took place, and several of them rushed toward the shots. One policeman observed a man with a gun running from the scene, and that policeman shot and killed the individual with the gun.
End of story. Case closed.
Except, of course, there was more to the story.
The next day a journalist posted a photo of a discarded gun on the floor of the mall near the scene of the shooting, and police began to dig deeper into the incident. It turns out that when the shooting started, several bystanders pulled out their own guns (We have the NRA to thank for that!) and people began running in all directions - including some of those who were wielding their own weapons in what they saw as a self-defense posture. And in the melee, one excited policeman saw a black man running with a gun - and the cop's training and natural instincts took over. The policeman shot and killed the black man, a former soldier who had a permit to carry the gun.
Now local police are saying that the wrong individual may have been targeted and shot as the supposed mall shooter. The case was handed over to the county sheriff's office for investigation, and the state of Alabama subsequently took it over from there. Citizen protests are occurring at the mall, and the family of the man killed by police has brought in a well-known civil rights attorney to seek justice for the death of their son.
Oh, and the actual shooter remains at large.
The only thing missing from this horrible tale is Donald Trump's two-cents-worth, but I suspect that is coming.
Take a knee, America. The problem is still with us and it is getting worse.
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