Admittedly Utah isn't the center of the world of drama, culture or chaos. But when it happens, it kicks off 'big stylee'. Tonight a man walked into a shopping mall and went postal with a shotgun.
Witnesses said he had a backpack containing ammunition.. This fuckwit came prepared. Firing shells, not salt or pellets, he managed to kill five people and critically injure 4 more before a police officer took him out and down for good.
Dressed, from what reports said, in a long duster coat he pulled his gun out as he entered the mall and said nothing. The mall contains a lot of 'boutique' and non-chain stores as well as restaurants and pubs. Most were full with patrons having dinner. It took the police over 3 hours to find everyone, including a lot of kids, who were still hiding not knowing what was going on. it was estimated that there were over 600 people in the small mall when the shooting began.

There was an initial report of a second shooter but it seems this was an off-duty plain clothes police officer who happened to be carrying his weapon and was probably the one who killed the shooter.

One man, a waiter in one of the restaurants, was lucky, he was shot at but the shell grazed the side of his head.

Local news coverage is ongoing. Here also.

No word on the shooter's identity or what motive, if any, he may have had. For something so random I doubt there will be a motive. Which just makes the hurt and loss even more incomprehensible for the victim's families.

I have to be honest and say that since living in the U.S., more specifically out west, I've come to appreciate the ability to carry a gun. Often I am in the deserts or the mountains alone, and should anything happen, the idea that I have a "leetul friend" to help me out whether it be a bear bounding toward me or a bunch of drunk hicks out in their truck at 3am while i'm trying to sleep under the stars in the middle of nowhere (that actually happened) is comforting to say the least.
I have a friend who says you only have a gun if you intend to use it. True. But it is *how* you intend to use it that counts.
No doubt the lobbyists anti and pro will come out again on the gun control issue and hurl their stats and facts for maximum confusion and bewilderment. In the end, to quote Eddie Izzard, yes the gun helps, but it IS people who kill people. We didn't have guns for thousands of years and people were being killed effectively and senselessly. And, if we make guns 'illegal' I get the feeling that all that will happen is that the innocent people will hand in their guns, not the villains.

Another issue that just has no right or easy answer. My thoughts go out to the families and friends who lost people they loved tonight, for no reason, and without warning. Life is precious and sweet. Love each other, folks.

tak

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 at 4:29 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.