#FalconHeightsShooting

I am starting to get the feeling that my initial fear before going to bed, that this city was about to be set on fire, isn't going to happen.  I think, I'm afraid, that a certain weariness, if not outright inattention, is confronting this shooting.

I don't know about you, but I thought that there was video of the aftermath of the shooting was THE tipping point in waking all of us who have up till now been turning a blind eye to these officer-involved shootings.  I mean, how can you not sympathize with two people seeing their loved one get shot and slowly dying right next to them?  Regardless of the circumstances of the shooting -- the video doesn't start until after Philando Castile got shot because he may have moved his hands or was only reaching for his identification or conceal/carry license -- how can your heart not go out to them?

But really, the reason I think, or at least thought, "this time is different?"  The girl.  There was a four-year-old daughter that probably was in the backseat of the car just as her father got shot.  If you've seen the video (and I think I'll just link to it instead of embed it in this blog post), you'll know what I'm talking about.  The phone where the girlfriend was narrating the scene was thrown to the side after she was ordered to get out of the car to get handcuffed.  You see the shot from the phone go from a shot of an outdoor street light (where the phone being thrown finally rested) to darkness (presumably when an officer flipped it upside-down).  The next shot after that?  A beautiful little girl looking back at the screen.  My God, if she saw her father get shot. ...  And if we are not at the very least outraged that this girl saw her father get shot. ...

I ... I don't know.  I'm sure I've driven through the area of where Castile got shot.  My plans today may have taken me through that area, in fact.  Probably will have to avoid it now.  I still feel a palpable sense of unease just having coffee here.  But I thought other people would feel the same, and I'm not sure that other people are just going about their day.  I was afraid that things wouldn't be the same this morning, but I am also afraid that things would be the same this morning, too.