It's Gotta Be Bad News if You Make it on CNN
Isn't it ironic? On Friday I was waxing poetic on Charlie's blog about how safe Seattle is. The next day 6 people were murdered at a party. Seattle is a very safe city. Things like this don't happen every day. But it sucks that it happened at all.
This is a classic Northwest crime story. Our crime is minimal but what we do have tends to be "Twin Peaks" weird. Think Ted Bundy and the Green River Killer. People theorize about why this is: all the dark and damp, too much coffee. Whatever it is, this particular case seems to boil down to a case of excess ammo.
The officials are still sifting through the evidence. It is way too soon to speculate on anything. But one of the most interesting statements came from our police chief, who referred to the murder weapon as something "designed for hunting humans". That's going to piss off the NRA.
The killer is, of course, being identified as "quiet". It's always the quiet ones, ain't it? People who knew him are using words like "teddy bear". But the teddy bear had a pickup truck full of ammo and weapons. Something was most decidedly up with the dude.
Were I inclined, this would be the moment for dusting off my soapbox and ranting about the NRA and their inability to distinguish between hunting rifles and bandoliers of bullets. Accepting their premise that it isn't guns that kill but people, why do they consistently oppose any legislation that would restrict certain people from getting guns? It defies logic. Like Katie Holmes' pregnancy and headcheese.
But I don't feel like getting on my soapbox. I'm just very sad about it all. There is a collective funk that settles over a town when something like this happens. It is unsettling, all the more so because the neighborhood in question is well-known to us. The Child's volleyball game on Sataurday was just blocks from the crime scene.
At times like this one tries to be self-comforting. One thinks, "It's sad of course, but I don't go to raves and after-hour parties." or "Those crazy kids today...you could have predicted that something like this would happen". In other words, the victims somehow set themselves up for the violence. And if that is the case then I don't have anything to fear. But the victims were innocent, the violence random. And the violence didn't happen just anywhere. It happened here, in my hometown, and that is what disturbs the calm of an otherwise lovely spring day.
This is a classic Northwest crime story. Our crime is minimal but what we do have tends to be "Twin Peaks" weird. Think Ted Bundy and the Green River Killer. People theorize about why this is: all the dark and damp, too much coffee. Whatever it is, this particular case seems to boil down to a case of excess ammo.
The officials are still sifting through the evidence. It is way too soon to speculate on anything. But one of the most interesting statements came from our police chief, who referred to the murder weapon as something "designed for hunting humans". That's going to piss off the NRA.
The killer is, of course, being identified as "quiet". It's always the quiet ones, ain't it? People who knew him are using words like "teddy bear". But the teddy bear had a pickup truck full of ammo and weapons. Something was most decidedly up with the dude.
Were I inclined, this would be the moment for dusting off my soapbox and ranting about the NRA and their inability to distinguish between hunting rifles and bandoliers of bullets. Accepting their premise that it isn't guns that kill but people, why do they consistently oppose any legislation that would restrict certain people from getting guns? It defies logic. Like Katie Holmes' pregnancy and headcheese.
But I don't feel like getting on my soapbox. I'm just very sad about it all. There is a collective funk that settles over a town when something like this happens. It is unsettling, all the more so because the neighborhood in question is well-known to us. The Child's volleyball game on Sataurday was just blocks from the crime scene.
At times like this one tries to be self-comforting. One thinks, "It's sad of course, but I don't go to raves and after-hour parties." or "Those crazy kids today...you could have predicted that something like this would happen". In other words, the victims somehow set themselves up for the violence. And if that is the case then I don't have anything to fear. But the victims were innocent, the violence random. And the violence didn't happen just anywhere. It happened here, in my hometown, and that is what disturbs the calm of an otherwise lovely spring day.
Labels: volleyball
cobbled together by Moi at 1:52 PM
6 Comments:
Wow, that's just scary. Of course what I know of the "Rave" scene is limited to what I watch on my crime shows. They really dress up in zombie costumes huh?
Life is like that. You never know when somebody's going to fall out of their tree in full-on batshit crazy mode. I guess there's a 0.0000005% chance it could be any of us someday.
It's totally random like lightning or a tornado. One of those things nobody can ever wake up knowing that it's going to happen.
I bet at least six people have died in the greater Seattle metro area in auto accidents in the past week. Those deaths are equally tragic, but less news-worthy and harder to sensationalize.
Tragedy exists as a matter of fact. There's ten million ways to die. All we can do is say a prayer and know that life is still precious.
Don't let the people in Lincoln hear about this. The judge there will lock up the guy who threw the party, because it is his fault after all that crazy people have guns.
No NRA rant needed; I'm with you on this one.
It's true, you never hear 'Well, he was a loud, obnoxious crazy person with a wondering eye'. And yet, those are the people that we fear.
It would seem that we, much like the NRA, have it bassackwards.
http://charybdis3001.blogspot.com/2006/04/rot-at-heart-of-seattle-kyle-huff-and.html
I think the Seattle Freeze had something to do with why Kyle Huff killed 6 people in Capitol Hill.
The ravers invited Huff because he gave off “bad vibes”. Think of it as like the movie “Carrie”. Carrie was eventually made prom queen as a kind of elaborate joke. Everybody was in on it but her. This is what this looks like to me. They invited Huff as part of an similar joke. Peace, love, unity, respect (PLUR)? No, just ordinary, banal, tiresome teenage cruelty.
http://charybdis3001.blogspot.com/2006/04/rot-at-heart-of-seattle-kyle-huff-and.html
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