Why????

Thursday June 21, 2007, 1:02 a.m.

New London - New London police hold the scene of a shooting outside of Ernie's Cafe on Bank Street. Blood like an oozing puddle of molasses stains the sidewalk. A 23 year old man, shot in the face, was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead. This is the third shooting at this bar since 2004, the last one occuring six months ago. As a journalist I am left asking "why?" Not why was I woken at 12:30 in the morning to go cover it, but why did it happen at all? What happens in a person's mind that tells them that violence is the only solution? My sleep deprived brain tries to utter a prayer for the victim and his family, record the scene, and move on.

2 comments:

John Galayda said...

Nice Shot! Did this run in The Day?

Tim Cook said...

Negative,

We ran less graphic photos of the police working the scene. Our editors would not have gone for a shot like this. Tim Martin did the follow up coverage Thursday morning as they were hoseing down the sidewalk. He submitted sand covered patches of blood and they did not even run those.

I guess this is the hard line between reality and sensational. How much is too much for the veiwer...at least for my editors anyhow.