This week we
have suffered additional senseless and tragic shootings of innocent people here
in America.
This past
Wednesday, Vester Flanagan II (aka:
Bryce Willisams) executed two, former co-workers from WDBJ-TV in Roanoke,
VA. Flanagan had a history of anger
issues mostly stemming from his being both a black man and gay. It appears his anger continued to grow over
several years and between multiple jobs.
He had reached a point where common sayings or items and street names
were viewed as racial attacks and taunts against him. His hate grew right along with his anger and
this week it reached a boiling point.
It has been
reported that he considered the following as racial attacks: seeing a watermelon on top of an ice chest at
work, someone stating that it was time to “go into the field” before going out
on location for their job, and someone saying the name of a street “Cotton Lane”. He had filed a discrimination suit against
another former employer claiming he was harmed due to being gay. When that was dismissed and it was shown that
there are other gays at the same employer, he changed the suit to racial
discrimination.
Flannigan
approached, after what appears to have been a planned attack, reporter Alison
Parker and her cameraman Adam Ward while they were conducting a live interview
of another person (all white) out in public for the morning show on the
station. He had taken issue with each of
these two while he worked at the station, prior to being fired over his
anger. Video footage has been made public
from not only the cameraman but also the shooter, who filmed the attack. The shooter walked up and stood slightly
behind and to the left of the cameraman.
The three people standing in front of him were all absorbed in the
interview and did not notice him. He
pulled out his semi-automatic pistol and aimed it at Alison. Then, it appears that he noticed that Adam
had directed his camera away from the two ladies and was shooting a scene to
the side. Flanagan lowered his gun and
waited for the cameraman to get the ladies back on camera before raising the
gun again and beginning to shot.
He ended up
shooting 17 rounds, murdering both the reporter and cameraman and wounding the
lady being interviewed. Even though he
had no beef with the third person, he shot her in the back while she was lying
on the boardwalk. He was later found
dead from a self-inflicted gunshot after crashing his get-away car during a
police chase.
He had
planned the senseless crime and posted the video of his deeds on social media
and sending his manifesto to a news station prior to the police locating his
car and chasing him down.
Flannigan
had never been diagnosed as being mentally ill, as far as has been
reported. He purchased the gun legally
earlier in the year. He had no police
record that would have been a red flag or stopped him from having a gun. His problem was not that he was a criminal or
mentally ill, he was just an angry man full of hate. This is not something that can be solved with
more laws or regulations; it is an issue with the private soul of the man. This is evil incarnate!
ANOTHER
SHOOTING:
Then, last
night an on-duty and in-uniform Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy in Texas was
executed while pumping gas. He, a white
man, was approached from the rear by a black man who opened fire and shot the
officer in the head and back several times, killing him on the spot. So far, there is no known connection between
the two and it appears to be only due to the victim being a white cop.
SUMMARY:
These two
events and others like them over the recent past, appear to be part of a
pattern across the nation. Recently,
several Black activist groups (I will not name them due to some of their names
being vulgar) have called for the lynching and hanging of white people and
cops. They want to kill people who are
white and cops in order to send a message against the killing of black
people.
One show,
which appears to be an online radio show, posted a screen shot stating, “Find
one person alone kill him take a picture send it to people”.
Yes, we can
blame the media, politicians and racist individuals or groups for some of
this. But, for the vast majority of
these situations, they have nothing to do with mental illness. They are pure and simple examples of hate and
out of control anger. Some of it is
justified and much not.
Our society,
in general, seems to have lost a moral compass.
To many, there no longer exists a “right and wrong”, only what is right
in a man’s own eyes. This is a social
issue in general and a heart issue individually. Apart from God, this will not be solved. People need Jesus! Only when they find grace, mercy and love
from God will they be able to show that love to others. Our society has turned away from God to a
large degree and we are experiencing the predictable results. As a nation and as individuals, we must
repent and seek forgiveness from God and then He may heal this land.
