BREAKING: Police report "multiple gunshot victims" after suspect hijacks mail truck in Odessa, Texas, and begins shooting at random.
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 31, 2019
As of now there are at least 5 dead and 21 wounded and/or otherwise injured in a mass shooting spree in Odessa, Texas. The shooter was killed by the responding law enforcement officers and was a white male in his mid 30s. According to police reports to the news media, he attacked the cop who pulled him over for a traffic stop and after shooting the officer he hijacked a mail truck, took off, and went on a spree shooting.
As always, this will be a fast moving story and details are likely to change as today moves into tomorrow.
Open thread!
ronno2018
So sad. I keep thinking about the people who get injured and have long lives ahead with multiple surgeries and diminshed life chances. Not to forget the poor families of those who died. What a stupid country we are regarding gun regulation. Just copy Japan for christ sake, UK, Sweden, whoever. Damn.
M. Bouffant
Another Great American (or Texan) tradition: The Saturday Afternoon Shoot-Out.
Ruviana
It’s a weird thing and I don’t know when it started but it really annoys me when gunshot victims are described as “injured.” They’re wounded dammit! In my more paranoid moments I’ve wondered if it’s a way to minimize gun violence. Thank you for making distinctions in this case.
TaMara (HFG)
@ronno2018: The toll is high – School shooting survivor suicides.
The pain our addiction to guns causes is unrelenting.
Adam L Silverman
@Ruviana: That’s why I wrote “and/or otherwise injured”. And I wrote it like that because this guy was driving around and randomly shooting at people, including those in cars that were driving along. So someone may have crashed their car trying to evade fire or because someone else had and been injured, but not wounded.
Ruviana
@Adam L Silverman: Exactly. It’s when obvious shooting victims get described as “injured” that gets on my last nerve.
Adam L Silverman
@Ruviana: Well wounded is a kind of injured.
Ducks quickly and covers head for incoming frying pan or tire iron.
Steve in the ATL
@Adam L Silverman: rumor has it you also use “clip” and “magazine” interchangeably
Adam L Silverman
@Steve in the ATL: I do not, unless it is appropriate. Such as a replaceable box magazine that comes preloaded with a clip of ammunition. Otherwise magazines are magazines and clips are clips. Also, motor oil is motor oil.
Mary G
So many more people suffer with these things – I am sure even being shot at and not hit triggers trauma. The anti-gun movement, such as Moms Demand, is full of the family members of victims and every shooting triggers that over and over again. Children have to go through school drills and know they’re not safe.
Cermet
For those saying injured and wounded are the same – I’ve NEVER read – not fucking once – that when a cop is shot, the papers/news say he/she was injured. No, for cops they are/were wounded – always. This just again shows the media bias.
trollhattan
A local hospital just had a presser to say they have 14 of the victims there. I’d imagine the total number will not be known for awhile, given the farflung nature of the shooting.
So if the guy was pulled over for a traffic stop and began shooting, was he ALWAYS driving around with a Honda full of guns and ammo or was he coincidentally planning on mass murder today?
JPL
@trollhattan: I wondered that. He was loaded and ready to go.
Cermet
@Mary G: Been shot at (a random shooter (the NSA shooter) who was going after drivers in cars in that area.) It makes one realize only too well how close one is to this topic; yes, they were mentally ill – and yes, they could easily buy the multi-mag semi-assault rifle they used. Took out my driver side window and only a minor miss allowed me to be typing here today. It isn’t fun knowing this can occur to me, you or anyone you love any time thanks to the NRA and right-wing nuts.
Cheryl Rofer
When they look into his background, they will find that he beat women.
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: Or fantasized about it.
germy
Timurid
@trollhattan:
I’m guessing the trooper was unlucky enough to pull over somebody who was on his way to a mass shooting.
Cheryl Rofer
@Adam L Silverman: The history is that most of them actually do it.
laura
@Cheryl Rofer: it wasn’t his fault, they made him do it, because they couldn’t keep their yap shut. They shoulda known their place…..
I’m guessing at least one women had a protective order.
Cheryl Rofer
This should help
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: And yet The Economist, clearly a magazine, calls itself a newspaper.
Brachiator
It makes me ill to think that we have to learn to properly categorize the various types of shootings.
I have relatives in Texas and it is a huge state. When I saw the first headlines just about Texas, I have to take a deep breath and look for details.
My sympathies to all who have to deal with the pain caused by these shootings.
Now that Trump has given himself cover to even dismiss background checks, I suppose that he will talk about lame shit like more mental health beds.
rikyrah
??????
For all the victims of these domestic terrorists?
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: I’m very aware.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: Somethings are what they are.
germy
“Well Regulated Militia” features tweets about people being idiots with their guns:
Basically tweets what’s reported in the media. The media reports these stories as if they’re the most natural occurrences in the world.
germy
germy
Adam L Silverman
@Brachiator: The criminological literature traditionally breaks down mass murders into two categories: serial homicide and spree killings. These can be committed with any type of weapon or no weapon at all. Since the rise of mass shootings as a type of mass murder, mass shootings have entered the lexicon. Most of these tend to fall into spree killings. Active shooter is sort of an operational descriptor that has no real origins or roots in the criminological, criminal justice, and/or law enforcement literature.
HRA
So yes, I would say that one is “wounded” when there is a visible or open wound. Also, every wound is an injury, but not all injuries are wounds.
germy
@HRA: I think if I fall and twist my ankle I’m injured. If I fall and twist my ankle because I’ve been shot in the back, I’m wounded.
NotMax
@Steve in the ATL
Explains why no one understands him when he complains about the doctor’s waiting room having nothing but superannuated clips.
;)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Gin & Tonic: Ask Watergirl anything is downstairs.
Adam L Silverman
@?BillinGlendaleCA: And that’s going so well.
trollhattan
@Cheryl Rofer:
That’s the stuff. Way to go, Texas.
debbie
@Cheryl Rofer:
Then don’t you think by now cops would take reports of domestic abuse a lot more seriously?
Jay
@germy:
And there are several tweets every day.
germy
@Jay:
They’ve got plenty of material to work with. Unfortunately.
Cheryl Rofer
@debbie: It’s a correlation that’s been widely recognized fairly recently. Cops have never liked dealing with domestic abuse for a number of reasons, trivializing women’s injuries being one of them. It’s long past time for law enforcement to take domestic abuse a lot more seriously, for many reasons. Whether they will is another question.
Jay
@debbie:
Cops have a bad track with spousal abuse, as many are abusers.
Same reason they arn’t the ones to protect the community from Nazis.
HRA
@germy:
Your shot in the back is a wound chiefly since it has punctured your skin. Your twisted ankle is an injury that would be considered a wound if your skin is punctured.
debbie
@Cheryl Rofer:
Actually, this is the first I’ve heard of the correlation. A very powerful argument for red flagging.
Jay
@germy:
There used to be a blogsite called something like GunFail, that also kept track. I stopped going there because it was way too depressing.
Too many ammosexuals, too much stupid.
Miss Bianca
@germy: oh, sweet baby Jesus, somebody finally said it
I really, really like NFLTG Beto.
Jay
@debbie:
The toxic mix of spousal abuse, mysogengy and spree/mass shootings was linked in the studies as early as 1989.
Jay
Jay
SiubhanDuinne
@germy:
Good for Beto. Needs to be said loudly and clearly, needs to be pointed out at every opportunity.
My late father was, for a few years (1967-1971 IIRC) the Music Director/Conductor of the Midland-Odessa Symphony Orchestra. I don’t claim to know West Texas at all well, but I visited two or three times to attend concerts, so even that small bit of familiarity brings today’s shootings closer to home than I’d like. Heartbreak for the families of those murdered, best wishes to the wounded as they recover.
(My dad detested M-O, but a gig’s a gig.)
SiubhanDuinne
@Miss Bianca:
Yes.
@Jay:
Yes.
@Jay:
Yes.
Amir Khalid
@Gin & Tonic:
I think this is a reference to its original print format. The Economist (estd. 1843) was physically a newspaper back then, as I recall.
There’s also the famous case of a magazine that didn’t change its name to reflect a change in publication frequency. The Australian Women’s Weekly still goes by that name because its publisher didn’t think it was a good idea to put The Australian Women’s Monthly on magazine racks.
smedley the uncertain
@Cheryl Rofer: supposition, speculation or fact?
Kattails
@germy: well that was a fascinating stretch of reading time. There used to be a website called, I believe, “Oh Shoot” with the same kind of information. But the design of this Twitter thread, leading everything with “a member of our well-regulated militia” is effing genius, just keeps hammering it home. Thanks for the link.
I saw a young man in the store the other day, wearing an NRA t-shirt emblazoned with “some things are not negotiable” and some other gun-humping slogan plus of course flags on the front. I wanted to grab him by the throat and screamingly remind him that it’s a f*cking AMENDMENT FFS.
Alain
@Miss Bianca: glad I’m not alone on that. Getting that way with Mayor Pete too, tbh.
smedley the uncertain
@Gin & Tonic: But, I do clip articles from it…
smedley the uncertain
@Cheryl Rofer: Most, not all… How many is a most?
sigyn
@smedley the uncertain: smedley, why so concerned?
smedley the uncertain
@Cheryl Rofer: Also, stepping into a volatile environment where you don’t know who the adversaries are and who is armed or not. Some LEO casualties have resulted from the complainant changing their mind. I spent some time with a West Coast Law Enforcement organization while researching social interaction with the community.
Ruckus
@Mary G:
I’ve written here before that I’ve been shot at 4 times. 3 times were “accidental.” Actually all 3 were, except that you have to say
stupidlymoronically accidental. People playing with guns who should never have one in their hands. Primarily because even the hunting type of guns that many think are better than an assault weapon can kill someone, it’s just a bit more difficult to kill as many as easily. The 4th situation was someone trying to shoot me. Fortunately it was night, I ran extremely fast – in the right direction, and they missed. I don’t feel that I remained traumatized by any of these. The three accidental times I fixed by not being around any of those people. Nor around guns other than the military ever again. The 4th time was not by someone I knew, it occurred a long time ago and I don’t live/go to that state any longer. Not that just trying to avoid the situation works any longer. You don’t know when some cold blooded killer will decide that today is the day. And these assholes are cold bloodedkillersmurderers with weapons of war. Because that’s what these shootings are, cold blooded murders.smedley the uncertain
@sigyn: @sigyn: Because I’m tired of the broad brush all or nothing assertions. Most/some does not equal ALL. We are getting into an environment where defining class or sub class encompasses an entire populace. Consequently, we see the woods but not the trees.
A while ago, in grad school, I spent some time with the County LEOs in the field, over coffee, and in court. The coffee sessions were most enlightening, Point being, I learned a lot.
sigyn
@smedley the uncertain: Well I was just wondering if you were one of those non-gun-humping woman-beaters trying to get out in front on the inevitable news, but…
No.
You’re here to lecture us about the importance of civility and decorum and to demand sources. Sources at least as solid as the fact that you listened to a bunch of cop stories once upon a time?