Most of us have now heard the tragic news. Virginia Beach police identified the gunman as DeWayne Craddock. This is the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. since the Borderline Bar & Grill in California in 2018.
Some reports suggest Craddock was fired or a disgruntled employee. Society is aware too frequently workers are frustrated after companies treat them unfairly, similar to Ko’olau who was fired by Hawaiian Electric Industries CEO Constance Hee Lau. Not all of course react violently, and seems Craddock had an active employee badge. We may never know what motivated him. He is dead.
Christal Hayes says she’ll only post this photo one time. What kind of nonsense is this? What’s her point? She wants to be the first to show us, then hides his face forever. We all wanted to know what he looks like. We all need to know his name.
First question I had, most of you likely had, was whether this was another White guy. Was somewhat surprised to see he’s African American. We think of Black shootings as drug- or crime-related. Mass shooters historically are more likely to be White males.
This is the point of my commentary today. We really have no idea what is going on. This scares all of us. It’s random and something out of our control. For people who surf, it’s like being in the water around sharks.
What I do know is our political leaders are inept, incompetent and incapable of doing anything about this seemingly growing and unacceptably deadly threat to all of us. We hear the same useless and feeble official reactions:
“This is the most devastating day in the history of Virginia Beach.
The people involved are our friends, co-workers, neighbors, colleagues.”
Mayor Bobby Dyer
“It’s a horrific day for Virginia. It’s just a horrific day.
Our thoughts are with these victims and their families.”
Gov. Ralph Northam
Democratic leaders demand gun control. They currently want to ban long guns, the military assault rifle models. Craddock used a .45 caliber handgun with a silencer and multiple extended magazines. I’ve argued a ban on long guns will be ineffective. It’s actually easier to spot a shooter with a long gun.
It’s also much more difficult to maneuver a long gun in tight spaces. A couple hand guns with multiple clips would be far more lethal. Craddock proved this. Democrats are useless!
Republicans hold tight to the 2nd Amendment. They want to focus on mental health of shooters. What shooters though? How does society know who will be a shooter? Do they want mental health assessment on all Americans daily? Republicans are useless.
One witness said he doesn’t want Craddock painted as “an evil person — something happened, but it wasn’t his nature.” He added he lost many friends that day. Do we believe someone has to look evil before committing evil? This assumption seems flawed.
The witness continued, “I’m sure I’m going to hear all kinds of things about DeWayne, but I liked him. I worked with him. He was what I thought was a good person. When we were together, we would talk about family, friends, things that we were going to do, trips we were going to take and things like that.”
It appears Craddock had taken a moment to brush his teeth next to the witness. He asked Craddock, “How are you doing?” He said he was doing OK. I asked, “Any plans for the weekend?’ Craddock answered saying, “No.” The witness wished him, “Well, have a good day.” He said do the same.
We aren’t used to hearing reports like this. Coworkers thought he was quiet, polite and a “nice guy” with no visible warning signs or Red Flags. Craddock’s parents said they weren’t aware of any trouble he was having with his employer.
Neighbors described him as reclusive though, “No pet, no wife, no visitors, no nothing. I’ve never even seen that man take groceries up to his apartment.” Anyone without groceries should be on our national watch list!
A young female who lived below Craddock said he was awake during all hours of the night. “You heard him walking around; he would drop stuff at like 2am and me and my roommate would try to figure out what he was doing.” Neighbors rarely saw him. Makes me wonder what would have happened had they found out.
Borrow a cup of sugar. Take the guy a couple cookies. I know most of my neighbors. Not all of course. We live as and amongst strangers today.
The female witness added he didn’t engage in much talk. “In the year I’ve been there, we’ve maybe had three conversations and that’s about it. I know what gym he goes to. I never saw him take trash out, never saw him bring groceries in, never saw people coming in or out. He was very to himself.”
Here’s the most dangerous lesson from this event. The young woman now says she’s petrified. “I live right under him, so that could have easily been me or my girlfriend or my roommate.” More fear; more isolation. So many people don’t enjoy surfing because they are petrified of sharks.
Another female witness said she saw Craddock sitting motionless in his white Subaru early the morning of the shooting but, she thought, he didn’t like to be bothered. “It’s like now I can’t help but think, what if I did say hello? Would it have changed things, maybe brightened his day? Or would it have made me the first victim?”
It’s an unknowable concern. I ask you to think about her comment carefully. Life is risk. You might be the first victim if you speak to someone. The probability is extremely small. Should we succumb to our fear? I call this the coward’s death of 10,000 slashes.
If she says hello, there is a high probability she brightens his day or learns he is having a difficult one. There might be something she can do. One smile; one kind word — might make a difference with one who is struggling. And truth is, we are all struggling.
Yes, this young woman might be the first victim. For me, I would rather live — and die — this way. I will take the risk hoping to add positivity to those around me and my world. If I’m wrong, I’ll die the Braveheart’s immediate death. This is how the courageous leave this existence.
Give me liberty or give me death. I will not suffer the chains of oppression due to fear.
For I am Ko’olau. I am from Kaua’i. I am the Defiant One.
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Reblogged this on The View From Out West and commented:
How do red flag laws and gun free zones work again?
Two thoughts:
First, some crazy speculation. One story said he had a bodybuilder’s physique and hit the gym regularly. ‘Roid rage ought to be a subject of investigation.
Second, Mother Jones has maintained a database of mass shootings back to 1980. On the question of race, their 2012 commentary was that 44 of 62 mass shooters were white.
Just eyeballing their updates through Virginia Beach 2019, they seem to have added 49 shootings, with 22 committed by whites. Some are listed as “Other”, which may be “unknown” but in any case, whites are roughly 66 of 111, or 60%.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map/
Long guns? Do you mean assault weapons? Unless you can define an actual reason for having one other than it is fun and it is my right then clearly the 2nd ammendment must be modified to protect us against ourselves.
Aloha and appreciate hearing from you, Carl. From the article, “Democratic leaders demand gun control. They currently want to ban long guns, the military assault rifle models.” Not sure I understand your question.
Another useless moron like you blaming the implement when it come to guns. Why don’t you blame the car when someone runs a crowd of people over? it clearly wasn’t the Guns fault but yet you are quick to always blame it and cry Gun control. “I’ve argued a ban on long guns will be ineffective. It’s actually easier to spot a shooter with a long gun. It’s also much more difficult to maneuver a long gun in tight spaces. A couple hand guns with multiple clips would be far more lethal. Craddock proved this. Democrats are useless!” the only part in your statement there we can agree on, is that Democrats are useless! You argue points about long gun vs handgun. Lets go back to my blaming the implement, you won’t see that car or truck coming when someone decides to run you down or the Bomb thats hidden. People shoot people, guns do not shoot people. P.S. The Suppressor had no impact on the events that transpired.
Aloha Vince, unfortunately, I believe you misread my comment. I agree with you that blaming the implement is faulty reasoning. As I said, Democrats — not I — work to ban assault rifles. They blame the implement. My added criticism of their shortsighted policy is they ignore the more lethal potential of a hand gun.
The point I hope to make, which I call the most dangerous lesson from this event, is the young woman now claims says she’s petrified of interacting with strangers. More fear = more isolation; and more isolation from each other likely leads to more tragic shootings.
I ask all readers to recognize the futility of this downward cycle, and instead, have the Braveheart’s courage to take the risk to add positivity to those around us and in our world.
only those responsible for his behavior know the reason, but they will not speak
Worth considering, though one side of the aisle doesn’t want to hear it. Guns haven’t changed, society has, and most reasonable people can list off a dozen examples. Maybe we ought to reverse those changes, rather than allow this to keep going further and further. “Right” doesn’t change. “Good” doesn’t change. Why do we keep pretending whatever the majority thinks (or maybe just those in power) is somehow right and good? In my opinion, we are sinking fast.
Don’t leave out coercion. We do not have access to all the facts in these cases. I would be very interested to know what and ALL influences these shooters have been exposed to The Cruz’s as well as the Craddock’s.