Sometimes the hallucinations are weird and deadly and come with breathtaking speed. In those terrifying moments it's as if you're dodging AR-15 rounds fired by a half naked lunatic while sitting in some garishly lit Waffle House during the middle of the night.
Oh wait. That really happened.
Well fuck, of course it did. Listen, this is America, by God. We take great pride in the belief any crazed geek with a decent balance on his MasterCard can and should arm himself every bit as well, or better than a Seal Team Six member dropping into the suburbs of Abbottabad.
The latest gruesome beast to do so is, Travis Reinking. The 29 year old, sometime construction worker, showed up around 3:30am Sunday at a Nashville, TN Waffle House. He was clad in nothing but a coat and an AR-15. After getting out of his truck he opened fire in the parking lot, before moving inside, hoping to up the body count. By the time the rampage ended, three African-Americans, and one Hispanic were murdered. He failed to shoot at white customers, despite several opportunities to do so.
At this moment Nashville police say they are still trying to establish Reinking's motive for the attack.
I'm no Holmes of course, but the cops might want to look at that whole, Dylan Roofish, bat shit crazy, virulent racist thing. The suspect has a lengthy history of mental instability. He has also stated he belongs to the, "sovereign citizen," movement. It's members claim all laws, federal, state, and local are null and void and every government ranging from municipal to national are illegal. They are the close political kin to the late and unlamented, Tim McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber and White Supremacists everywhere from Arkansas to Idaho and beyond.
Predictably, the authorities were well aware of Brother Reinking. Last July he tried to hop the fence at the White House in order to have a heart to heart chat with Don Trump. He wasn't armed at the time, however, following a long and sincere interview afterward, the feds were jittery enough about his behavior they asked authorities in Illinois to confiscate the four weapons he owned and revoke his permit to buy more. The state cops did just that, but at some point gave the mini arsenal to the younger Reinking's dad, Jeffrey on the condition he wouldn't let his kid get them back.
Yeah, well that didn't work out so great. Yesterday afternoon, Jeffrey Reinking admitted that sometime either before, or after Travis moved to Tennessee he had indeed returned the firearms to his son, including the AR-15 used in the assault. One can almost hear that conversation. "Look officer, he's basically a good boy, just a little, excitable."
It took police nearly 24 hours to track Reinking down after he fled the scene buck naked. By the time they popped him he had found some clothes somewhere and a backpack which held a .45 hand gun in it. Reports say he surrendered without a fight and--despite his anti establishment beliefs--immediately lawyered up.
Yes, crazy isn't necessarily stupid.
Bond was initially set at $2,000,000. As soon the public learned this insane son of a bitch could get bonded out it went wild with fear and rage. A second judge revoked the bail in favor of remand and everyone in Music City breathed a sigh of relief.
The only good news to come out this most recent nightmare is 29 year old James Shaw. He thoroughly disproved the incessant NRA mantra which says, "The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." The unarmed, Shaw sent Reinking fleeing naked into the night when, during a pause in the carnage, he grabbed the red hot barrel of the weapon, snatched the rifle away from the shooter, then threw it out of reach.
Now the bad news. There isn't a living American soul who doesn't know it's just a matter of time before another sick twist gets his hands on a military grade weapon and opts for a target chock full of innocent people. We also know that absolutely no one, other than extraordinarily brave people like James Shaw, are going to stop it.
Hey, it is, after all, The American Way.
sic vita est
4-24-18
No comments:
Post a Comment