8 murdered at Conn. beer distributor; shooter commits suicide

http://blog.al.com/wire/2010/08/gunman_8_others_fatally_shot_i.html

MANCHESTER, Conn. — A black warehouse driver who had complained of racial harassment at work went on a shooting rampage at a beer distributorship Tuesday after he was asked to quit, killing eight people before apparently committing suicide, authorities said.

 

There was also a little problem with him being caught on viseo tape stealing beer.

 

How is the beer? Is the beer okay?

 

The guy's a thief and a murderer and the AP frames it as somebody fighting back against racial prejudice.

Unbelievable.

And it's nice of them to get his and his family's sympathetic take on the situation out there with no independent corroboration before they gather all of the facts.

Aw. What a sweet guy.

He loved everybody, but had just reached his breaking point.

Could have happened to any of us.

 

They did alter the start of the story, it looks like. The updated version:

 

It's still irresponsible of the AP to initially lead with the racial angle.

They don't quote the gunman. They don't quote the girlfriend's second hand account of what the gunman told her. They quote the mother of the girlfriend's third hand account of what the girlfriend told the mother what the gunman supposedly said.

Would they print a third hand account of someone claiming this guy was a jerk?

So why would they go with a third hand account of racial issues?

Even if he told the girlfriend that there was racial problems, without independent corroboration, there's no way to know if that was just a lie to cover up the fact that he was going to be fired for theft.

It's a lot easier to tell your girlfriend that you're getting fired because your company is racist than it is to tell her you've been caught on videotape stealing.

 

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000705746941&ref=search

"Likes" include the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) & Barack Obama.

Phew! I was worried a right wing radio talk show host or the Tea party had inspired him.

 

I think AP led with the racial harassment angle because it A) speaks to possible motive, and B) it didn't yet have the info on him allegedly stealing beer. The version linked by slappy had the company saying he was scheduled for a disciplinary hearing, but it wouldn't say what for. So I don't think there's anything political here.

However, the family is as nutty as the shooter was saying he had reached his "breaking point," no matter what happened to him at work. An otherwise sane person does not fire upon his workplace because of troubles. Only a person who is troubled -- as in, issues with mental illness -- to begin with does so.

 

High Life privileges: Revoked.

 

As for why lead with the discrimination stuff - people always want to know the "why" - it helps them think something like this couldn't happen to them.
If you feel you've been treated badly, you sue. Asshats like this are the reason companies that lay people off shuffle them out the door with a guard in tow.
Cue the "Guns should be banned/black people are scary" debates on the cable nets. I always forget when something like this happens, do we blame the guy? Do we blame society? Do we blame his media sources?

 

I understand that people want to know what the motive was, but that doesn't excuse the AP from running third hand, incendiary, speculation.

I thought the lesson we were supposed to have learned from the Breitbart incident was that we don't rush to conclusions.

Yet, the AP goes with a third hand claim that this family owned business allowed a racist atmosphere to fester.

They offered to proof. No corroboration. And they didn't get a response from anyone at the company before running with it.

The Hollander family -- among the victims of the shooting -- deserve an apology from the AP the same as Shirley Sherrod deserves an apology from Andrew Breitbart.

I'll wait for the outrage directed at the AP.