Is It Something In The Water?*

So, yesterday we had another shooting in Kent -- as in, a man waving around a gun was shot (and, in this case, killed) by Kent Police. This time it happened not near where we live, but instead about a block from where Janice works. I'm told news helicopters hovered over the area (Kent Station) afterwards. Here are three news stories about it:

(1) first, a v. brief notice that doesn't give much in the way of detail, other than to explain that this time it's the Federal Way police who'll investigate (since the Renton police are already doing oversight on the previous shooting here in Bayview).
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/27779215/detail.html

(2) next, from the local paper's website here's a detailed account of what happened, complete w. pictures:

http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/south_king/ken/news/121272214.html

(3) finally, here's what the Seattle Times has to say, including a lot of background about the man with the gun.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014957273_kentshooting05m.html

All in all, a sad story that looks like 'suicide by police', as it's sometimes called. I'd suspected last month's shooting to be along the same lines, but there the gunman survived. And, terrible though the incident is, at least no one else was hurt (bringing a loaded shotgun to a train station /transit center next to an open-air mall, a government office, and a community college is high on any list of Bad Ideas).

Too many guns. Too many guns in the hands of stressed out/crazy people.

--JDR

THE WIFE SAYS: The local Water Quality Report, which just arrived, says it's fine.