Small Town Violence

Tweet

I don't know if this is really a good topic cause it's a hard one for me to talk about. I live in a small town in Idaho that recently was rocked by violence. A man armed with an automatic rifle and another rifle fired over 100 rounds into the courthouse and dispatcher center. You might have heard about it. It made US National Headlines. The shooter went to the bar (That my father in law partly owns) had a few drinks, talked with people I know...never giving any hint that he was about to go out and kill a bunch of people. He went home and killed his wife Crystal(Who I knew casually), then laid in ambush at a church, that I was almost married in.. (A beautiful beautiful church), killed the 60 year old care taker and then killed a police officer (Who I knew), injured critically two others and then finally killed himself. (My husband knew the shooter). The police never got off a shot. Officer Lee Newbill was a wonderful human being. He was also the first Moscow, Idaho Police officer to die in the line of duty. Our community is in shock and we are hurting. We knew this could happen...violence can happen anywhere, but its still very surreal. When it happens in a city...you are insulated in a way from it, because shootings like this happen all the time. (Well not usually just like this - but its not as unexpected). When it happens in a small town like Moscow, you know the people involved and you have been in every building it occurs in. Yeah...small towns are supposed to be safe...but they aren't. Not when angry people decide that they want to die in a blaze of bullets. I know there really isn't a question in all this...but I just felt the need to write about it.