The Bullet

July 24, 2018 

On July 21st when Gene Atkins shot his grandmother seven times; kidnapped his girlfriend, who was also injured and took off from South Los Angeles, evidently, a "Lo Jack" on his grandmother's car alerted the LAPD to his location. No one at Trader Joe's in Silverlake knew what was going on as the police picked up Atkins' car and a chase through the streets of Los Angeles evolved.  Somehow,  Atkins found his way to Silverlake, a hip and friendly neighborhood ten miles north of where the mayhem began.

Whether Melyda Corado, the manager of the Silverlake Trader Joe's, was outside before Atkins crashed in front of her store or came out to investigate what had happened is unclear. Sadly, she  was  killed by 'friendly fire'.. the military term for being shot by someone who is supposed to be on your side. A policeman's bullet ended her life.

For years I have railed about police pursuits and the dangers that the public is placed in when a fleeing suspect is on the run.  That the police were initially in close pursuit and were shot at by the suspect may or may not warrant return of fire.  Of course, every round fired puts not only the cops in danger, but may excite and even enrage them. The public is in the line of fire!  

We seem to have returned to the Wild West in mentality and though the shots coming from the suspect put the police and the public in danger, every shot returned by them  created an equally untenable situation. 

Movies for years have presented exciting 'shoot outs' and gun fights.. The OK Corral is a prime example.  I, myself,  participated in gun fights in Disneyland as a gun fighter and, later, in San Jose at Frontier Village where I learned a great lesson about the power of a .45 single action revolver.  Good guys versus bad guys make for exciting  shows with stunt fighting and "High Noon" such as may still take place at Knott's Berry Farm. It's all very romantic and honestly, the weight of a shootin' iron in the palm of your hand is very seductive.

This is not to call for the end of death and destruction and guns and bullets flying creatively in the movies. This is to examine the Silverlake tragedy. To learn from it.

Police officers are human beings.  Their sworn duty is "To Protect and To Serve" our communities.  Specifically, what we see in this situation in televised reports and dash cam and body cam images, is a frantic chase and the attempt to kill the suspect while he rushed to take refuge in the Silverlake Trader Joe's.  The irony is that Silverlake is an easy going community.  TJ's is also a favorite shopping place because the employees are helpful and friendly and the groceries for sale are fairly priced and are of high quality. There's an artsy feel to shopping and their Fearless Flyer announcing specials is creative.  

How this suspect made his way from South Los Angeles to Silverlake has not been revealed. Was he on the freeway? Did he stay on surface streets?  When confronted by the police, he shot out the back window of his car and may have even struck the LAPD in pursuit. This kicks the chase into a very dangerous situation. How cops can keep their heads and not want to massacre the SOB should be part of their training.  From what I understand an airship was conducting the pursuit. 

The most terrible fact about this case is that a young woman is dead by a bullet shot from a police officer's gun.  She was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  In my perfect world, she would have stayed in the store. Why she was outside may be learned later, but we really don't know. Had she been inside, the chances of her death would have been reduced considerably.  

In the heat of the moment, perhaps cops are trained to take the suspect who has fired on them down at all costs.  Did anyone count the number of times he fired? Did he still have ammunition? Did anyone see the type of weapon that he was shooting?  Did he fire at the police as he exited the crashed car and ran into the store?  Will the step by step recollection of these moments be revealed? How far outside the store was Ms Corado when she was shot and killed?

From the TV reports that are still very sketchy, it looked like no fewer than fifteen police vehicles were on the scene with a helicopter over head.. or more than one? A new and fully equipped police car costs about $60,000.00.  That math puts almost a million dollars worth of rolling stock and airships in harm's way, not to mention the cost of the officer's salaries and factoring in the airship(s?)... a lot of effort to bring one man to justice. 

Seeing the military type action outside the Trader Joe's was chilling.  Of course, the goal is to bring the suspect down. However, with the shooting death of Ms Corado, had these officers had a slightly cooler approach, maybe the outcome could have been different.  20/20 hindsight is unfair, but still.  Here I sit,  these few miles away and simply wonder. If I can ever get the attention of law enforcement brass to respond, there may be alternatives to be explored when dire circumstances occur that may mitigate another tragedy. 

We know that we'll forget this incident as others pop up almost daily. It's too soon to figure this horrible situation  out, but by debriefing the officers and witnesses and comparing their statements, we may know more of the whole story.  PTSD will be an issue for not only the cops, but for the shoppers who were cornered in the store as well as neighbors who were peripheral to the incident and the ripple effect to friends and relatives. 

All this is just to say that our romance with guns  will never die. The idea of shooting to stop a fleeing suspect will never go away, especially if you are being fired upon.  What we need to do is examine alternative ways to stop someone on the run that will keep the public and the police safe and find a way to quickly and efficiently put the suspect away.  

We must find new ways to solve this burgeoning issue.  Mental health in 2018 is under fire and it's not difficult to imagine that more stress may lead to more bizarre events. 

 
I have some ideas and hope that the powers that be will respond. It's a very slow process.  But.. with proper training and effort, I hope that it may  make a difference.

Michael Sheehan

Glendale, California

 

FINDING A MEDIATOR?

How I came to the politics I feel comfortable with these days is a mystery.  Growing up in a very conservative town and idolizing an older high school athlete whose family was staunchly Republican, somehow I've come round to 'all we are saying, is give peace a chance.' His logic still astounds me and his analogies, which may make perfect sense to him turn on what I see as 'false premises.'  Any time you debate on a premise that is only partially true or just plain false, you may think you've proved your point, but you really have not.

The recent debacle of the president seeming to side with the president of Russia, then, trying to explain and further muddying the waters, and, now, a recent Time Magazine cover that morphs the Russian and the president is chilling. 

I'd really like to find a way to communicate with 'them'.. the folks who still, in the face of all this 'stuff' going on and see if there might be some middle ground where name calling and limbic reactions might back off and we might find some accord.

For instance: I think that the president's son, Barron, must be a nice kid.  He's out of the public eye mostly, but there we are.  A nice boy, who, like it or not, is in the middle of some of this. We don't ridicule him.  The FLOTUS seems to be making an effort to be a good first lady with her public appearances.  There must be something we may create where the Right and the Left can agree that there is something that's basically okay? 
That I can't think of something is on me.

Paula Foster Chambers is a highly intelligent friend whom I know from the Renaissance Faire days.  A successful business woman and a really nice lady, she has thoughtfully written this essay that we should all take to heart.  

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"I think we are nearing a point, as a nation, when we have to decide what kind of a nation we want to be. Those who elected Trump have one vision for how they want things to be, and people like me have a completely different vision. I don’t know how on earth we are going to choose, because the country is divided and a sizeable number of Americans will be massively unhappy no matter which is chosen. However, a couple things give me hope.

1) We aren’t as divided as one might think. Russia has meddled with our social media to widen our divisions and, importantly, sow the *perception* that we are hopelessly divided, but we were headed in the right direction before all this went down. Sure there were racists, authoritarians and others who actually wanted the USA to be more like it is now, but they were in the minority, and demographically speaking, they were going the way of the dodo. I STILL think they are going the way of the dodo.

2) It is possible for a country to make a collective commitment to being a certain way, even when not 100% of the population agrees. My travels have convinced me of this. The social protections in place in France, for example, are working and are clearly possible when a high majority wants them. Most recently, I visited the Czech Republic and learned how communism took hold there and then was shaken off by the people in 1989 in what is now called the Velvet Revolution.
We HAVE the power to choose, as a country, what kind of country we want to be."

I agree with Paula and hope that intelligent and thoughtful folks from all sides of the aisle and across our  divided nation will remember that what Lincoln said is even more true today. "A House divided against itself cannot stand." 

There must be a middle of the road mediator who may create an atmosphere of cooperation that we can build on. Suggestions? Whom could the Powers That Be respect enough to allow him/her to mediate a truce? Is there a person out of politics directly who would be respected by everyone? Seriously..  All the folks I can think of lean to the Left.  

I'm reading a book by Michael Pollan called "How to Change Your Mind." There may be answers there.  It would be a radical move! VERY!
michaelsheehan


 

Let Freedom Ring July 4, 2018

July 4, 2018

My main source of connection these days is via social media: email and Facebook.  The tenor of the times on FB is lapsing into rants and sadness that permeates not only the liberal community, but probably the whole world.  

Complaints about the issues of the day.. DACA, border issues to the south, insults to our neighbors to the north and weigh ins by intelligent observers around the world are raising red flags. There's a call for reason, but there's a lot of angst and anger out there.

The reason that I wanted to write something on this day, the anniversary of our celebration of declaring independence has been spurred by the negativity that is rampant in the state of the world today.  I've just sent a note to a long lost relative with the phrase, "Let there be Peace on Earth and let it begin with me." It was written in 1955 by Jill Jackson-Miller and her husband, Sy Miller. (Thanks, Google) It's a hymn.   Church music has always been a source of inspiration and though my crossing the threshold to a church is not an activity that I've done much of in my life, the music has been memorable.   

That said.. If 'peace' is to begin with me.. I hope to encourage all of us to find a way to resist the negativity that is rampant in society now: to stop angry epithets and personal attacks on folks who seem to relish a fight.   Gandhi and MLK taught us something that is difficult for most folks to consider. We in the west, especially, are reactionary at the drop of an insult. Name calling seems to be a national past time!

I don't have specific answers, but I do know that if we allow others to goad us into an argument, that there will be arguing.   By exposing situations we know are wrong and discussing them with reason and working as individuals to create Peace, there may be hope.  We are on a slippery slope, however.. and having felt myself goaded recently by people who seem to have little regard for values that I hold dear, it's a challenge! 

A quote from a comic strip from days gone by just came to me.  "Pogo" by Walt Kelly says, "We have met the enemy and he is us..." We must not be our own enemy.  I just hope we can turn it around.

Be kind to someone today.. Pass it on.