Another nut ball, NJ Mall Shooting

[Ravenchamp]

Reports of gunfire in New Jersey shopping mall, police responding

(Reuters) - A person with a gun opened fire on Monday evening in a New Jersey shopping mall shortly before closing time in the town of Paramus, and the mall was being evacuated, a county official said.

Witnesses reporting hearing multiple shots fired seconds apart inside the Garden State Plaza, and that the shooter had fired at security cameras, CNN reported. Televised images from outside the mall showed a heavy police presence at the malls.

"Multiple gunshots were heard. We believe it is one shooter. I know there is an active shooter near the Nordstrom area. The mall is being evacuated," said Jeanne Baratta, Chief of Staff at Bergen County, adding that a SWAT team was on site.

Jonathan Astacio, a witness who was inside the mall, told CNN he heard several shots: "We heard two loud booms... Then we heard two more shots and saw people running... After that there were no more gunshots."

Mall patron Paul Erlandson told CNN he had been outside the mall since 9 p.m. local time.

"I was in the process of walking through the front doors actually as a huge crowd of people were basically running towards me... I never actually made it into the mall."


news.yahoo.com/reports-gunfire-jersey-shopping-mall-police-responding-cnn-032027832.html

[kemmer]

I saw the report just before I turned off the tee-vee. A zillion LEO vehicles in the parking lot. (What do all those folks do on a slow night?) I thought of "Alice's Restaurant", the line about "...and everyone wanted to get in the newspaper stories about it."

Expect to hear a lot about this, bucause FEAR SELLS! The media do love their ratings.

And then, watch for another nut-case wanting to go out in flames of glory. Some get virgins in paradise, some just want their 15 minutes of fame.

And we can get all voyeristic-- especially a couple weeks from now when the (OMIGOD! BREAKING NEWS!) old 911 tapes are released, so we can hear frightened people saying immortal things like, "I heard gunshots!

I'd suggest that the news media should all refer to the perp in this case as "the suspect". If he kills himself at the scene, he should be called "the deceased." If he goes to trial, he should be "the defendant." His name shouldn't be revealed, and his picture never shown. If they want to link him to terrorism, never call him a "lone wolf." Call him a "lone skunk" or a "lone weasel." Wolves have heroic/romantic connotations, these days. I've heard one can even dance with them.

[Ravenchamp]

Reports say he didn't want to hurt anyone , he just fired random shots then killed himself.
Wow, he was surely a slice of bread short of a whole sandwich.

[douger]

Nov 5, 2013 1:16:35 GMT -5 kemmer said:

I saw the report just before I turned off the tee-vee. A zillion LEO vehicles in the parking lot. (What do all those folks do on a slow night?) I thought of "Alice's Restaurant", the line about "...and everyone wanted to get in the newspaper stories about it."

Expect to hear a lot about this, bucause FEAR SELLS! The media do love their ratings.

And then, watch for another nut-case wanting to go out in flames of glory. Some get virgins in paradise, some just want their 15 minutes of fame.

And we can get all voyeristic-- especially a couple weeks from now when the (OMIGOD! BREAKING NEWS!) old 911 tapes are released, so we can hear frightened people saying immortal things like, "I heard gunshots!

I'd suggest that the news media should all refer to the perp in this case as "the suspect". If he kills himself at the scene, he should be called "the deceased." If he goes to trial, he should be "the defendant." His name shouldn't be revealed, and his picture never shown. If they want to link him to terrorism, never call him a "lone wolf." Call him a "lone skunk" or a "lone weasel." Wolves have heroic/romantic connotations, these days. I've heard one can even dance with them.

Ya know, I can do with the media simply reporting that a crime happened. Unless the police are looking for suspects and releasing their names would help, just leave the names and pictures/video out of the story.

And the need to interview the victim or suspect's family? Like, why? Are we expecting a full blown party to celebrate the event?