Comments on: Shooting at local mall. While we were there!

By: Becky

Becky — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 21:18:48 +0000

I’m really glad that you and Tara are safe, it must have been awful, I didn’t know anything about it until the kids at school told me and they said that it had been another terrorist attack with someone opening fire in a shopping mall, i’ve just been watching the news too and it seems like the worlds going mad what with people shooting and bombing each other. Take it easy both of you.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:46:37 +0000

@redbOne: No apologies necessary – I realize that my writing was a bit open-ended. What I mean is anyone that would take a gun into a crowded area with any intention of using it. I appreciate that some people have concealed carry permits, and would hope that they use better judgement if they do have to use their weapon – threat or no threat, you have to very carefully, and very quickly judge if you are adding to the situation or not. From what I could see, the place was pretty crowded, and even a slight mis-aim would have easily hit another person. It more the recklessness of it that pisses me off, but being originally from the UK I see very few reasons for anyone other than police/security to carry a gun.

From what is being reported, one of the victims, a *16 year old* died at the hospital. The other is serious but stable. Still no word on the gunman. I will venture this bit of conjecture as you asked – from what we heard/understand was that there was an argument, pushing/shoving/fists, and someone said it was over a bag (although it’s been reported in the news/comments from victim relatives, as a gang-related thing as well).

@Nick: I totally understand the psychology behind it – I’ve actually been part of an experiment at uni to measure the response (pick up on some details, but not all). However, number of shots is quite a simple (and distinctive) thing to get right.

By: redb0ne

redb0ne — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 16:03:59 +0000

Sorry, you are right.

I realized after sitting on this for a while that it was inappropriate and was a bit flamebait-ish. I didn’t intend to distract from what happened, apologies.

By: Nick

Nick — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:41:41 +0000

redb0ne: I hope no one bites your gun-nut flamebait.

Mike: How you described the “eye-witness” accounts is a common occurrence. Eye-witness accounts are so unreliable that it is often hard to determine what actually happened due to the varying perceptions, etc. While you firmly believe it was only 2 shots, a person who reported hearing 4 may believe it just as strongly and it is often hard to tell who is right. I have actually taken this into account in my own experiences and allowed for the fact that my own memory/senses could be wrong. Its an interesting phenomenon nonetheless.

By: redb0ne

redb0ne — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:38:00 +0000

Last I heard of this one person was killed and another seriously wounded, don’t know much more. What were the speculations on his motives or was he just looney?

“I’m actually quite pissed off with whoever would take a gun to a crowded mall – the level of idiocy there is astounding, and seem to be getting more common.”

Are you referring to people legally carrying concealed weapons or people like this lunatic that just fire into a crowd?

If I am a mentally stable individual with qualified shooting skills, there is no reason I shouldn’t be able to carry a concealed firearm into a mall or anywhere else. I am of no risk to anyone else short criminals, but I for one do not want to be made into a victim simply because someone broke the law. It is incidents like this that drive my desire to carry everywhere that is legal for me to do so.

There was actually an incident a year ago at this very mall where a lady was detained for carrying a firearm in a legal manner and harassed by police for doing so.

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 07:40:38 +0000

Thanks David – everyone fine as we wasn’t really wrapped up in it all because we were on level 2, and the shooting was on the ground. However, you don’t want to be *anywhere* near that. Glad that we got out as quickly as we did becuase some people were kept inside for nearly 5 hours until the police got to them

By: David Lindsay

David Lindsay — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 03:35:35 +0000

reading the title, i was wondering if it was a movie shooting or a gun shooting… looks like it was both. scary having something like that happen right under you. glad that you all are safe!