Westroads

Since it was such a big story in the area, I thought I'd drop a few comments about the Westroads shooting. I would be remiss if I didn't start by saying God Bless all of the families affected.

Police, Fire and EMTs: I have not heard of anything that could have been done differently. Congratulations on the quick, appropriate response.

Most Local Media: Morons. Proving once again what made the Omaha TV Blog so popular, I have never been so embarrassed. You prompted the lady of the house to talk when she shouldn't have. I realize that she takes some blame for that (and police officials for not finding her and keeping her quiet), but you asked "Was there anything else you could've done?" What do you think? How dare you ask that during this point of time? Competent or not, she is still grieving and trying to comprehend what happened. All you want is a story. Worse yet, who's idea was to put an immature "friend" on the TV? Did you honestly think that child would have something intelligent to say? And then you kept going...As much as the first responders made me proud to live in the area, you made me embarrassed to even have visited.

The Mother: I really do feel for you and your family, but it really scares me that you told a national news organization (who had been scrambling to bring anyone to NYC, including "friends" of the shooter) that you knew he took the gun the night before and was just hoping he'd get caught for stealing. He can't get caught if no one tells the police. I realize hindsight's 20-20, but if a gun is missing from my house, I don't care who took, I want to know where it's at and why.

Gun Law Proponents/Opponents: Everyone having a gun at Von Maur would not "stop the rampage." It would only have created more confusion as to who the actual gunman was. No one having the ability to carry a gun wouldn't have prevented him from getting a gun. This type of thing happens, unfortunately. Even if his step dad didn't have a gun, he would've found one somewhere else.

This was definitely a huge tragedy for the city and I'm glad to see that we are trying to get back to "normal."

The next post will deal with more "current" events, but I had to get some of that off my chest.