Ed Krayewski on What the Capitol Hill Police Shooting of Miriam Carey Means For America
Not much?
The story of a shooting on Capitol Hill last Thursday unfolded in the typical way. Reports of "shots fired" led to speculation of a mass shooter. Local police, in this case the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP), ordered a lockdown "requiring" members of Congress and their staff to "shelter in place." One Republican Congressman got into trouble for appearing to blame the "violent rhetoric" of President Obama and other Democrats for the shooting. Attempting to do some damage control, before any facts were known, he excused his comments by saying he had "tweeted out of emotion" and that the shooting was " terrible and inexcusable tragedy and an act of terrorism. No one but the shooter is to blame." But, as Ed Krayewski writes, the only shooters in last Thursday's incident were Capitol police officers, which meant the story quickly receded from the news cycle.