I've been working since 4:00am. I will undoubtedly be up working until midnight. This is becoming a daily thing during this time of year, and I haven't had a chance to even think about bullets on this Bullet Sunday.
Except that's not quite true. I have been thinking of practically nothing but bullets today... it's just that they're not bullet points. Instead I've been agonizing over the senseless killing of four Lakewood police officers in the outskirts of Seattle this morning. They were gunned down while at a cafe in what appears to be a robbery gone violently wrong.
Tonight their names were released, which is difficult because names give them families and friends and people who care about them and everything else that people with names have. But they're names you don't know, so you can still be saddened yet mercifully detached. Even when you read that they all have children.
And then their photos were released, which is even more difficult because now you can put a face to the name and they become real to you... even though they're strangers. Strangers who put their lives on the line to protect and serve people who were mostly strangers to them.
I look at these photos and I am profoundly sad. Who can say how many lives they've touched? Who can say how many additional lives they might have touched if given the opportunity? Not just as police officers, but as human beings? These are the questions that will keep me awake at night. These are the faces that will haunt me with the sorrow of so many possibilities left unanswered...
I'd cry in the hope that it would take away my sadness, but once I started how could I stop?
The horrors of this world seem never-ending.
It's terrible when anybody's life ends in violence. But when it's somebody whose life was dedicated to protecting people they don't even know... well, I look at these photos and I am profoundly sad.
I love comments! However, all comments are moderated, and won't appear until approved. Are you an abusive troll with nothing to contribute? Don't bother. Selling something? Don't bother. Spam linking? Don't bother.
PLEASE NOTE: My comment-spam protection requires JavaScript... if you have it turned off or are using a mobile device without JavaScript, commenting won't work. Sorry.
Atom Entries Feed Comments Feed
I saw this story on the news yesterday – it always boggles my mind when people die senselessly.
They are all so young too….it’s a damned shame that violence is so prevalent in our society.
First thing I thought too.
i work in lakewood and used to drive home every day past forza and would sometimes stop at the cigar shop next door. i usually left my car running because there always seemed to be a couple of squad cars and it just felt safe since it was a police officers’ hang out. the town will be in mourning for a long time to come.
I look at their faces and they look like my friends. As if I’ve known them a long time. And it’s sad that their families and friends won’t have them any longer. It makes me infinitely sad.
Thanks for the post, hon.
I used to live on McChord AFB (I was stationed at Ft. Lewis…long story) and both the part of Tacoma just outside the main gates and the “city” of Tillicum were quite dangerous. I remember hearing gunshot often enough at night I seriously thought we might be close to a night-fire range..we weren’t.
Seems to me that whenever you hear abour something bad going down in Seattle it is almost always Tacoma or Tillicum. All the Seattle episodes of “Cops” are shot in Pierce County, while Seattle is King County. For those of you who don’t know, Lakewood is to Tacoma as Garden City is to Boise. It is a seperate community that is part of the large blur of communities that is Tacoma.
I’ve always had great dealings with the local cops when I was at McChord. A lot of police around military bases can be rather enthusiastic about enforcing upon the relatively transient military personnel, but Lakewood cops were pretty cool.
Not that how cool the cops were back in ’92 makes this any more or less a tragedy. I hope they catch the murderer before he or she can plan another strike.
I went to bed thinking of them. I could hear the police helicopter not far from my neighborhood where they had the suspect surrounded. Incredibly heartbreaking.
And all we keep hearing about lately (at least here) is how the police pensions and benefits are breaking the cities and counties. How much is a life worth? How much would you need to be paid to walk around with a target (your uniform) on all day, every day?
All I can think is, there but for the grace of God go I. This could have been Mister. Every day that he goes out to work, it could be him.
Scary and sad when this type of stuff happens and much more so when it’s so close to where we live.
This is such a sad story. And I trust they will catch the jerk (and really, that’s too kind of a word, but …) that did this. And soon.
My sympathies to their family and friends, and to the community as a whole.
I read about it when the story first broke and I heard the names but this was the first time I’d seen their photos.
I tracked down an email address for my local sheriff department and sent them a big THANK YOU email.
Sad.
I really hope that flags were flying half staff today.
No, they should be half staff for at least a week.
Just sad.
Glad you posted this.
Commenting on this late, but glad they killed the fucker that took these officers lives. Trial would have been a waste, given his past abilities to leave prison.
Tragic. Not much else you can say…