IT'S NOT THE GUNS - PART 8

Authorities in Louisiana don’t know how a 5-year-old boy managed to shoot a 3-year-old boy, but they are pretty sure that people taking care of the children are lying about the incident.

According to The News Star, Monroe Police Sgt. Mark Johnson said officers responded to reports that a 3-year-old had been shot by a 5-year-old playing with a gun after 1 p.m. on Thursday [Aug. 1].

“We think there may be more going on than we’ve been told,” Johnson explained. “This is a serious situation. Some people may have given us untruthful statements.”

One day later:

 A child shot at a Dixie Avenue residence in Monroe died Friday after being taken off life support.

According to Sgt. Mark Johnson, the child, whose name was not released, was declared dead around 1:30 p.m. Friday [Aug. 2] at St. Francis Medical Center.

Around 1 p.m. Thursday, police responded to 201 Dixie Avenue in relation to the shooting of a 3-year-old child.

An investigation revealed the child was shot by a 5-year-old and the 3-year-old’s mother rushed him to the hospital.

Part of the what the NRA says is true.  It is the guns, but it's also ignorant, reckless, irresponsible  people who own guns.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

How does a well regulated militia come to include people who leave loaded guns around accessible to toddlers and children?  Where is the regulation?  Who is responsible for the killings?  How long will we allow such senseless deaths to continue?

I WAS PROUD

As I watched President Obama's speech at the memorial service for those who died in the shootings in Tucson, Arizona, I was proud. The presidency is a bully pulpit, and Obama excelled tonight in striking all the right notes with his words and his demeanor.

From the Miami Herald:

President Barack Obama played the part of "healer in chief" Wednesday night, honoring the victims of Saturday's mass shooting while seeking to calm an increasingly angry political debate, urging all Americans to stop pointing fingers and "make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds."

And the president was able to announce the good news that Representative Gabrielle Giffords opened her eyes for the first time tonight. Thanks be to God and to all who cared for the congresswoman since her injury.

THE INTERN WHO HELPED REP. GIFFORD

From AXCentral.com comes the account by Daniel Hernandez, an intern for Gabrielle Giffords. Daniel was near Rep. Giffords when she was shot and gave her first aid until the paramedics arrived.

Daniel Hernandez had been U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' intern for five days when she was shot Saturday outside Tucson.

The junior at the University of Arizona was helping check people in at the "Congress on Your Corner" event when he heard gunfire. He was about 30 feet from the congresswoman. When the shots began, he ran toward them.

Read his moving account of helping Giffords and of the scene of the shooting.

Thanks to Ann V. for the link.

TIME TO "DO A LITTLE SOUL SEARCHING"

From the AP via the Times Picayune:

[Gabrielle] Giffords has drawn the ire of the right in the last year, especially from politicians like former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin over her support of Obama's health care reform bill.

Her Tucson office was vandalized a few hours after the House voted to approve the health care law in March, with someone either kicking or shooting out a glass door and window. In an interview after the vandalism, Giffords referred to the animosity against her by conservatives. Palin listed Giffords' seat as one of the top "targets" in the November elections because of the lawmakers' support for the health care law.

"For example, we're on Sarah Palin's targeted list, but the thing is, that the way that she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they have to realize that there are consequences to that action," Giffords said in an interview with MSNBC.

Image from Sarah Palin's Facebook page, which I posted back in March 2010.

From Crooks and Liars:

[Sheriff Clarence] Dupnik called the shooting a "very sad day for Tucson" and a "horrendous, horrendous, senseless, unbelievable crime." And then he blamed the crime on the rhetoric -- presumably political rhetoric -- in the country.

"When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government," he said. "The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on this country is getting to be outrageous and unfortunately Arizona has become sort of the capital. We have become the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry."

Mr. Dupnik said it is time for the country to "do a little soul searching."

He added: "The vitriolic rhetoric that we hear day in and day out from people in the radio business and some people in the TV business ... This has not become the nice United States that most of us grew up in."

Later, he said: "It's not unusual for all public officials to get threats constantly, myself included. That's the sad thing about what's going on in America: pretty soon we're not going to be able to find reasonable decent people willing to subject themselves to serve in public office."

Watch the video of Sheriff Dupnik's press conference.

PRAY FOR THE WOUNDED AND DEAD IN ARIZONA

From the New York Times:

Representative Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, and 18 others were shot Saturday morning when a gunman opened fire outside a supermarket where Ms. Giffords was meeting with constituents.

Six of the victims died, among them John M. Roll, the chief judge for the United States District Court for Arizona, and a 9-year-old girl, the Pima County sheriff, Clarence W. Dupnik, said.

A 22-year-old suspect was in custody, law enforcement officials said. But at a Saturday evening news conference, investigators said they were looking for an accomplice, believed to be in his 50s, who may have assisted in the attack.

What a terrible, terrible tragedy.

Let us pray for the family and friends of those who were injured and those who died.

Let us pray for the violence in our country to stop.

Let us pray for the person(s) who did the shooting.

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

UPDATE: From Penelopepiscopal:

These are the names of the dead in Arizona: Christina Taylor Greene (age 9); Dory Stoddard; Dorothy Morris; Phyllis Scheck; Gabe Zimmerman; and Chief Judge John Roll of the U.S. District Court for Arizona.

Representative Gabrielle Giffords remains unconscious after surgery, in critical condition. Four others are also in critical condition and five others are in serious condidion.

DEATH ON THE DANZIGER BRIDGE

From NOLA.com.

A New Orleans police officer who fired his gun at civilians on the Danziger Bridge a week after Hurricane Katrina pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday, offering a chilling account of what transpired on the bridge that early September day in 2005.

Michael Hunter, 33, became the first officer who actually participated in the shooting to enter a guilty plea. Two investigators have already confessed to playing roles in a wide-ranging cover-up of the police shooting, which injured four unarmed civilians and left two men dead.

Hunter, who resigned last week after he was charged in federal court, contends that fellow officers shot at people they should have seen were unarmed. The account of events Hunter signed Thursday afternoon, called a factual basis, provides the most specific details to date about officers' actions on the bridge, which spans the Industrial Canal at Chef Menteur Highway.

Hunter, 33, said a New Orleans police sergeant fired an assault rifle at wounded civilians at close range after other officers stopped shooting and after it was clear that the police were not taking fire. He also says he saw another officer in a car fire a shotgun at a fleeing man's back, although the man did nothing suggesting he was a threat to police. That man, 40-year-old Ronald Madison, who was severely mentally disabled, died of his wounds.

As part of his plea, Hunter also acknowledged taking part in a conspiracy with colleagues to conceal the circumstances of what he considered an unjustified shooting. At one point, in a meeting with other officers, a supervisor said "something to the effect of, we don't want this to look like a massacre," the court document says.

"I don't think you can listen to that account without being sickened by the raw brutality of the shooting and the craven lawlessness of the cover-up," said U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance after the factual basis was read aloud in the still courtroom by prosecutor Bobbi Bernstein, deputy chief of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.

Beyond saying that I'm shocked and sickened by the story of members of the New Orleans Police Department allegedly gone wild on a shooting spree and then even more members of the department allegedly participating in a massive cover-up of the carnage, I don't know what to say.

Incoming mayor Mitch Landrieu has his work cut out for him when he takes office in May. I believe that he has the potential to be a good mayor, but cutting the murder rate and cleaning up the NOPD is a daunting challenge. I wonder why he even wanted the job. Is the NOPD fixable?

Present mayor Ray Nagin seems to have left office before his term is up, except for attempting to close the deal on contracts that Landrieu will be stuck with during his term.

Pray for the city of New Orleans.