Some maniac went on a cross-town cop-shooting rampage today. From what I see on the news, he shot a policeman on the west side of Tucson, then shot two additional pursuing policemen as he headed east. They caught him somewhere in my neighborhood. One policeman is on life support and not expected to live. I’m not sure about the other two. The perp, I’m surprised to learn, is alive.
I knew something was up when I went out for a motorcycle ride at 11:15 this morning. Riding west into Tucson, I noticed that the police were blocking off my return route eastward. I didn’t think it’d be a problem . . . the blockade would probably be down by the time I headed home, and if not, there were two other ways to get home.
At 12:00, as I attempted to ride home, the blockade was still up, so I tried alternate route one . . . only to run into another police blockade. I tried alternate route two and ran into another blockade. All major roads into my neighborhood were closed.
During the 20 to 30 minutes I was trying to find a way home, I was checking different radio stations, trying to find out what was going on, but not a single Tucson station was saying anything about the roadblocks.
I finally was able to find a way home, using small residential streets only a former local school district bus driver would know about, but never did hear anything on the radio.
The story’s out now, three to four hours after the shootings. But where was news of the road blockages back when Tucson citizens needed it? It’s not like I’m the only person who couldn’t get home . . . thousands of people were affected. Surely, hundreds of people must have phoned radio and TV stations trying to find out was going on.
Why the news blackout? I can certainly understand why police would want to keep the ongoing pursuit of an armed and dangerous criminal quiet. But when major roads are closed and neighborhoods that are home to thousands of citizens are inaccessible . . . not to mention when armed gunmen are driving around in those neighborhoods shooting at people . . . surely FAA licensed broadcasters have some responsibility to let the public know what’s going on.
You know those broadcasters knew what was going on as it was happening. Tucson is a big city. The TV stations have news helicopters. They listen to fire and law enforcement radio bands. They’re in touch, even on a sleepy Sunday afternoon. Well, they let their customers down today, and the only reason that makes sense to me is that they did it at the behest of the police.
So who do these FAA licensed broadcasters serve? And what else aren’t they telling us?
Update (2/6/08): Here’s a link to some of the belated news coverage. I didn’t hear that the shooter had fired an automatic weapon at houses in a Tucson neighborhood until early this morning. More than ever, now, I want to know why local broadcasters failed to warn citizens of the danger. I’m certain the police asked them to keep a lid on it as it was happening (that’s the standard reaction of authorities everywhere, every time); what I want to know is why they complied!