There is No Sense in the Senseless

It happened here last week in my city, Raleigh, N.C. A mass shooting occurred. Two victims were women like me, out for afternoon walks and recreation on the beautiful Greenway that runs throughout our city for twenty-seven miles.

I live only yards from the Greenway and much prefer the company of trees to that of the walls at the YMCA I belong to. Assuming the weather is agreeable, I can be found most afternoons on the Greenway getting in my steps. I just happen to live in a different section of it.

Last Thursday though, I was driving home from babysitting at my daughter’s, when Raleigh police cars began racing past me. Ambulances too, even fire engines. Must have been a major accident I thought to myself. That made sense because it was the evening rush hour.

But this was no car accident. It was another fifteen-year-old white male in the midst of a shooting spree in his residential neighborhood. The same neighborhood where I found a townhouse I wanted to buy, but lost in a bidding war, before purchasing the one that is now my home.

The boy ended up killing five people and wounding two others. He remains in the hospital in critical condition from a gunshot wound to the head. It isn’t known if he shot himself or if he was shot by law enforcement officials when they finally caught up with him and surrounded him in a barn, hours later.

His first victim was his sixteen-year-old brother. The others were neighbors he shot as he randomly came across them. On a porch, in a car, and on the Greenway. He eluded police for hours, and miles as he stuck to the woods surrounding the Greenway and was dressed in camouflage.

As per usual his parents appear to be stunned, saying through their attorney they are shocked, heartbroken for the innocent victims, had no idea there was a problem, etc. I hesitate to judge them too harshly because they lost their only other child and will lose this one too, should he even survive. But the shooter came out of their house, after having shot and stabbed his brother to death, with two guns, one a long barrel type, and a hunting knife. How was he able to access them? He is fifteen. I don’t think it was too difficult because it is clear in the pictures the older brother was bigger and stronger, and surely could have overpowered him. One can only assume he had no idea his younger brother intended to shoot him.

This wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision, for instance, an argument between brothers that got out of control. This was a planned event. How do we know this? We know it because the Raleigh police department released its preliminary report on the shooting today. The boy was armed with three lethal weapons. He was dressed from head to toe in camouflage, he even carried a camo backpack loaded with more ammunition.

How could this happen? What would prompt an ordinary teen to kill his brother, then randomly gun down neighbors with shots to the head? He was trying to kill these people. Strangers to him, going about their daily business and routines.

Even worse, I am unphased. I could have easily been a victim. My daily routine mimics that of some of the victims. For some time I’ve been aware I wouldn’t be surprised if someone opened fire on me at the mall, or in church. Now I can add when I’m taking my daily walk.

I don’t consciously wonder to myself every time I enter my church or the mall, will I be shot today? Do I know it could happen? Indeed I do. It’s a risk I’m willing to assume, just like driving my car, I could be hit and killed. Except, that would be an accident. Accidents are unfortunate events we are aware might transpire, but we assume most drivers are careful. And people don’t deliberately drive around trying to hit and kill others. So why do they deliberately go places intending to kill individuals whom they don’t even know? And why does it not phase me?

I don’t know the answers to those questions but I do know this. Desensitization and acceptance are dangerous. It shouldn’t be normal to accept that you might be shot and killed in a safe neighborhood, yet it is. Of course, I see people protesting mass shootings, but I do nothing to try and stop them. Very few of us do. What can we do? I believe we should start by lobbying our elected officials to change, and strengthen gun laws. Other laws must also be enacted holding parents more responsible for securing the weapons in their homes. Those seem like minimal efforts, so why is it so few of us engage in them?

Is it because they require that we put forth an effort, however minimal? Is it because we think our small voice won’t make a difference? Is it because we think others will take care of, and work to change things?

No new legislation will be introduced in Washington two weeks before a major election, but laws can be changed by state and local legislatures as well as in congress. We can all let our state and local officials know how we feel and express to them what our concerns and wishes are. Things can change. It takes time and work, if enough people speak up things can be different. But nothing will happen if we remain complacent. We must actively seek the change we want to see.

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This post was previously published on medium.com.

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