Comments on: What I think when I read about a mass murder http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/02/08/what-i-think-when-i-read-about-a-mass-murder/ Human Animals at the Crossroads of Culture, Science, Religion and Media Sat, 10 Jan 2009 01:04:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: Niklaus Pfirsig http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/02/08/what-i-think-when-i-read-about-a-mass-murder/#comment-16046 Niklaus Pfirsig Fri, 08 Feb 2008 16:17:12 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=2003#comment-16046 Senseless murders happen more often than get reported by the media. About 2 or three years ago, an elderly homeless woman was sleeping near the river in downtown Nashville, when two young men threw her into the river where she drowned. There wer4e plenty of witnesses to the event, all of them homeless. the young men were quickly apprehended. They had driven almost 100 miles into Nashville for the purpose of attacking homeless people. They apparently saw nothing wrong in this and seemed to consider it a sport (or at worst just harmless mischief). They both admitted to doing this many time on the past. Their friends and family could not believe they had been doing these crimes. They weren't the only ones. There was a short period of time when severl homeless peopee were dowsed with gasoline and set on fire. one night 3 homeless men died this way, and when eventually caught, the perps were teenaged boys who thought it was fun. in 1993, a a family of three died when someone dropped a bowling ball sized rock from an overpass onto oncoming traffic. The rock smashed through the windshield, crushing the drivers head and killing him instantly. The resulting wreck killed the wife and infant child. An investigation indicated that ths rock dropping incidents had been happening for several months. The perps would always pick overpasses with no ramps, and the sheriffs department lacked the manpower to patrol all the overpasses all the time. A few months after the murders, I was driving home from a second shift job, and came upon a pickup truck, parked on the overpass, with the tailgate dropped down revealing that it was carrying several large rocks and pieces of concrete rubble. Through the rear glass of the pickup, a gun rack was clearly visible holdin two rifles. I pulled around them, and ask if they were having engine trouble (acting like I didn't know what they were up too) As I drove away, they jump in the truck and gave chase. The road was very crooked and hilly, and my car handled much better than their truck, so I easily got away from them. The following morning, I went to the sheriffs office and talked to the detective in charge of the investigation. I told him what i'd seen, described the truck, and the teens. THree days later, the teens were arrested. they were 19 and 15 years old. The point is this: when someone goes on a killing spree, it only makes the news if the media sees a story. The Virginia tech shootings got high profile coverage, while innocent bystanders who get shot in gang drivebys don't rate backpage coverage. There have been several incidents of people "going postal" at town council meetings. Mostly it makes the local news, sometimes the regional or statewide news. It seldom makes a national headline. The national news seems more concerned with Brittany Spears being release from psychiatric care than dead politicians, but dead politicians rate as more newsworthy than other murder victims. Senseless murders happen more often than get reported by the media. About 2 or three years ago, an elderly homeless woman was sleeping near the river in downtown Nashville, when two young men threw her into the river where she drowned. There wer4e plenty of witnesses to the event, all of them homeless. the young men were quickly apprehended. They had driven almost 100 miles into Nashville for the purpose of attacking homeless people. They apparently saw nothing wrong in this and seemed to consider it a sport (or at worst just harmless mischief). They both admitted to doing this many time on the past. Their friends and family could not believe they had been doing these crimes.
They weren’t the only ones.
There was a short period of time when severl homeless peopee were dowsed with gasoline and set on fire. one night 3 homeless men died this way, and when eventually caught, the perps were teenaged boys who thought it was fun.
in 1993, a a family of three died when someone dropped a bowling ball sized rock from an overpass onto oncoming traffic. The rock smashed through the windshield, crushing the drivers head and killing him instantly. The resulting wreck killed the wife and infant child. An investigation indicated that ths rock dropping incidents had been happening for several months. The perps would always pick overpasses with no ramps, and the sheriffs department lacked the manpower to patrol all the overpasses all the time.
A few months after the murders, I was driving home from a second shift job, and came upon a pickup truck, parked on the overpass, with the tailgate dropped down revealing that it was carrying several large rocks and pieces of concrete rubble. Through the rear glass of the pickup, a gun rack was clearly visible holdin two rifles. I pulled around them, and ask if they were having engine trouble (acting like I didn’t know what they were up too) As I drove away, they jump in the truck and gave chase. The road was very crooked and hilly, and my car handled much better than their truck, so I easily got away from them. The following morning, I went to the sheriffs office and talked to the detective in charge of the investigation. I told him what i’d seen, described the truck, and the teens. THree days later, the teens were arrested. they were 19 and 15 years old.
The point is this: when someone goes on a killing spree, it only makes the news if the media sees a story. The Virginia tech shootings got high profile coverage, while innocent bystanders who get shot in gang drivebys don’t rate backpage coverage.
There have been several incidents of people “going postal” at town council meetings. Mostly it makes the local news, sometimes the regional or statewide news. It seldom makes a national headline. The national news seems more concerned with Brittany Spears being release from psychiatric care than dead politicians, but dead politicians rate as more newsworthy than other murder victims.

]]> By: Marlon http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/02/08/what-i-think-when-i-read-about-a-mass-murder/#comment-16044 Marlon Fri, 08 Feb 2008 11:51:14 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=2003#comment-16044 Erich, My sentiments exactly. The cracks that many fall through in our mental health system are more like gaping chasms. I work part-time in a transitional housing facility, and the frustration and desperation that I see in some of these people is scary. We try to keep a helpful if wary eye on them. The most dangerous though are probably the ones who mask their problems, seem pretty normal, and then "snap". I don't know what we do about them. Anyway, you are right. It boggles the mind that more of this stuff doesn't happen. Erich,

My sentiments exactly. The cracks that many fall through in our mental health system are more like gaping chasms. I work part-time in a transitional housing facility, and the frustration and desperation that I see in some of these people is scary. We try to keep a helpful if wary eye on them. The most dangerous though are probably the ones who mask their problems, seem pretty normal, and then “snap”. I don’t know what we do about them. Anyway, you are right. It boggles the mind that more of this stuff doesn’t happen.

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