Where is it safe? U.S. rattled by shootings
In a weekend of violent incidents, fear seems to be the first response
Authorities said fatal shootings over the weekend in a Cincinnati nightclub and on the Las Vegas Strip did not appear to be linked to terrorism. But they were a painful reminder that Americans don’t need help from terrorists to kill, maim and scare themselves — even at times and in places where people are supposed to be enjoying themselves.
Authorities who investigated fatal shootings over the weekend at a Cincinnati nightclub and on the Las Vegas Strip were quick to report they saw no indication of terrorism.
The incidents were, in fact, the latest reminders that when it comes to terrorizing Americans, Americans don’t need help from terrorists. They’re perfectly capable of killing, maiming and scaring themselves — even at times and in places where people are supposed to be enjoying themselves.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich noted the absence of a terror motive in the Cincinnati shooting. Nevertheless, he told CNN, “as the father of two 17-year-old girls headed to college next year, you see things like this and you begin to wonder, ‘Where it is safe to go?’”
Not the Cameo nightclub, a place with a history of trouble, when gunfire erupted early Sunday amid a dispute among several men. One man was killed and more than a dozen people injured by shots fired from several people, police said.
Nor Las Vegas Boulevard shortly before noon Saturday, when a man riding on a doubledecker bus pulled out a gun. He killed one passenger — a man visiting from Montana — and wounded another before barricading himself inside the bus in a standoff that lasted about five hours. It ended in his surrender and arrest.
The standoff, which closed the famous street, was witnessed by many Cosmopolitan Hotel guests, who looked on from room balconies and the pool deck.
Jitters were compounded by the fact that earlier Saturday, three people in formal wear and animal masks walked into a jewelry store at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino and stole merchandise. The sound of a hammer breaking glass sounded like gunshots, and for a time it was reported as such. Police later said no shots were fired.
After last year’s mass shooting in Orlando at the Pulse nightclub that killed 49 people — the worst domestic terror incident since 9/11 — it’s easy to
After last year’s mass shooting in Orlando, police look to tamp down terrorism fears as soon as they plausibly can.
A suspect in a five-hour standoff Saturday on Las Vegas Boulevard in which a bus passenger was shot to death is led away after surrendering to SWAT team officers. see why authorities want to tamp down terrorism fears as soon as they plausibly can.
In a 911 call before the Orlando massacre, gunman Omar Mateen swore allegiance to the Islamic State. He said the shooting was “triggered” by the killing of an Is- lamic State leader in an airstrike in Iraq the previous month. After invading the club, he told a police negotiator that he was “out here right now” because of U.S.-led in- terventions in Syria and Iraq.
Now, virtually any violent episode — mass shooting, explosion, transportation disaster — sparks terrorism worries.
But such motives remain the exception. Since 9/11, Americans have been slaughtered at a movie theater (Aurora, Colo., in 2012; 12 dead) and a shopping mall (Omaha in 2007; eight dead) for reasons unconnected to interna- tional politics or religion.
Nor was there any such cause in 2003, at The Station nightclub in Rhode Island, where a fire caused by pyrotechnics improp- erly set off by a rock band tour manager ignited building insula- tion, killing 100 people and injur- ing 230.
And there are countless exam- ples of random nightclub vio- lence. Last June, Denver Broncos football player Aqib Talib was shot in the leg during a fight at a nightclub in Dallas. Last March, one man was killed and another wounded when a fight broke out at a South Side Chicago institu- tion, the 50 Yard Line Sports Bar & Grill.
The Cameo club had another shooting on New Year’s Day 2015 and one in the parking lot nine months later, Cincinnati City Manager Harry Black says. Yet people still flock to the club. The parking lot was so packed early Sunday that some emergency response vehicles had trouble getting to the door.