Suburban shootings

You've all heard about the shootings at Northern Illinois University. What might not have caught the attention of those outside the Chicago metro area is a similar incident at a Lane Bryant store in Tinley Park, in which a gunman opened fire on six people, killing five of them.

What irks me is a letter that appeared in the RedEye, the free daily paper that the Chicago Tribune puts out. The letter was from either Dana Hardin or Donna Hardin of Chicago, and this person, in a nutshell, says that there was a racial dividing line in terms of the reactions to each shooting. Because the gunman at Lane Bryant was black, everybody wants his head on a platter; but because the gunman at NIU was white, people immediately jumped to the conclusion that he went on the shooting spree because he was off his meds.

Give.
Me.
A.
Break.

Do we all want the Lane Bryant gunman's head? Hell, yeah. Why? Because he's a threat to society. There were six victims, and there's a chance there can be more in the future from the same guy.

What about the NIU guy, though? One thing Ms. (or, if it's Dana and not Donna, then possibly Mr.) Hardin seems to forget is that the NIU gunman offed himself, so of course we're not calling for his head! Would we be if he didn't? You'd better believe it.

D[a/on]na Hardin also writes that mental illness is just an excuse, and even goes so far as to explicitly include post-partum depression. Wow. You're not going to win any female friends like that.

Were people sticking up for the NIU gunman? Well, in a way, yes. He did have a serious mental problem that he was being treated for. He went off his meds and went nuts. And people who knew him were in shock. He was never expected to be the kind of person who would go on a violent rampage on a college campus. Not his friends, not his former professors...no one.

So why does the (white) NIU gunman seemingly get a lot of sympathy while the (black) Lane Bryant gunman has a price tag on his head? Again, because he's still out there and a threat to the community, and answer me this, Ms. Hardin: who is the Lane Bryant gunman? What's his name? What's his background? Does he have any diagnosed mental afflictions? Is he a former Lane Bryant employee who went on the loose wig just as the NIU gunman was a former NIU student who completely lost it?

What's that?? You don't know?? Oh, that's right, you don't! Nobody knows who the Lane Bryant gunman was, ergo we know nothing about the guy (other than that he's a black male). Gee, kinda like how the TSA agent at the airport doesn't know me yet goes through the precaution of screening me and making me take off my shoes just to make sure I'm not going to try to blow the plane up.

Just deal with it, okay? We don't care what color the guy is. The fact is, he could be dangerous.