What happened in Vegas

Concert shooting sets minds reeling with questions

Horror. Shock. Disbelief. Why would anyone perpetrate

such evil? Suffering. Heartbreak. Concern. Lord, be with those whose lives have been unalterably changed by this act of violence.

Questions begin as the brain processes every new piece of information: Who would do this? Why does a desire for violence reside in the hearts of some? How do I feel about this? How am I supposed to feel? Are thoughts and prayers enough? In this social media world that quickly delivered the first word of the carnage, the reactions come just as quickly from around the nation, around the world. Massacre.

Senseless.

Grieving.

Horrific.

Cowardly.

Killing field. Witnesses talk of the chaotic scene. Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. Their description couldn’t keep up with the speed of the reallife cascade of bullets. Screaming. Crying. Running. Blood. Bodies.

“Everybody was running straight up, and you could see people getting shot and people falling,” Gail Davis told CBS News. “And then my husband said, ‘Gail, we have got to go. We have got to go. We have to get out of here or we’re going to get shot.’ And so … we started to run and a metro officer, who I owe my life to, grabbed us and he said, ‘Come here! Come here! Get in here! Get in here!’ And we went inside [a concession tent] … and he said ‘Get down!’ and so we got down, and I was there. My husband was in front of me and there was another two ladies behind us and, the officer actually covered me up to protect me from being shot because I couldn’t get out all the way, and it was like, you could hear the shots just going back and forth and ricocheting and, and then they would stop, and then we thought, ‘OK, it’s over. It’s over.” And then it would start again.”

Oddly, perhaps, there is much to be thankful for that this event happened in Las Vegas. Few communities would be so prepared for a late-night crisis as this 24/7 city of gambling and entertainment.

What to think in a world of such tragic acts?

Look for the helpers, a boy’s mother once told him, and her response became a popular social media post, again, on Monday. “You will always find people who are helping,” she told the future Mr. Rogers. And helpers there were in Vegas.

“God bless those police officers,” a man told NBC News. “These guys stood up. I mean, they knew what they were against and they actually ran toward the danger.”

The rapid response of the Las Vegas Metro Police Department was astonishing. President Donald Trump expressed his thanks in a midmorning speech, saying “the speed with which they acted is miraculous, and prevented further loss of life.”

There were other helpers, too, from the medical professionals to the EMTs and paramedics to the fellow country music fans who stepped up in the moment all hell broke loose to protect others or to treat and carry those wounded. By the wee hours Monday morning, a line for giving blood wrapped around the block at a Vegas donation center.

The president suggested Americans come together in unity in moments of tragedy. It’s a nice thought, but Americans who woke to the terrible news quickly began testing the social media waters to see how soon is too soon for debating all the issues entangled in violence, particularly the U.S. brand that often involves guns.

We need more strict gun laws, some say. Others say it’s too soon to argue the point because so few details are known. Some wasted little time co-opting the murder spree for important issues, but the timing made them seem temporarily petty. Will NFL players take a knee to pray for the victims, one asked. Why didn’t the president say the word “terrorism,” another pondered. It would be called that if it wasn’t a white guy shooting, someone suggested. Politicizing the event is an eye-of-the-beholder exercise, but there’s plenty to behold.

“It’s like an asteroid fell out of the sky,” says the bewildered brother of the man police say committed the attack.

Who is Stephen Paddock? What explanation is there? Could there be any explanation for his actions that would come close to helping us understand? On Monday, he was the man who set families to mourning, moved the nation’s flags to half-staff and left anyone with a conscience burdened with sorrow.

In his speech, President Trump cited words written long before he spoke them. The comfort they provide come from another source.

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” — Psalm 38:18

He must be close today.

“This world is sick.” — Singer Kane Brown, who performed at the Las Vegas country music festival that was later interrupted by gunfire.