Update: 3:00 press conference for which I am trying to find a link has occurred. Local press has covered itself in glory, once again, by blaming the victim. From a fb status of a friend who listened to the presser
Listening to the press conference on the murdered Tosa officer. Our reporters are AWFUL!!!! Besides asking flat out stupid questions, two of them asked questions inferring she may have had a 'relationship' with someone at the firehouse. Seriously?! The woman was repeatedly shot in the face with her own gun by her husband and our sorry-ass reporters try to infer a possible affair? They should all be fired.
Also, for your reading pleasure,
more details about the murder including past threats from the murderer.
+++
On Christmas Eve morning, I was out doing some last minute shopping (confession: desperation shopping). As I drove from one shop to another through quiet Wauwatosa Village, my route was blocked by a police car from a somewhat distant suburb. Caution tape was around the buildings for several blocks. More police cars were at each intersection around the local elementary school, church, fire station and quiet neighborhood houses. I passed a big crime scene van set up a block or so away as I made my detour.
We're all still smarting from Sandy Hook and the fireman murders in New York and Wayne LaPierre's "arm the world!" solution to gun violence. My mind immediately went to the worst scenarios, but school was shut, Christmas church services weren't scheduled until evening, and everything was pretty quiet. But something very bad had happened. That much was clear.
Later in the day I read this diary, Wisconsin Police Officer Murdered. From the local reaction of the police, it was pretty clear to me that this wasn't a random shooting, but something more sinister.
Jen Sebena's husband is in custody, with a tentative charge of 1st Degree Intentional Homicide.
Why is this more sinister than a random shooting? According to grabstats, 3+ women are murdered by their husband/boyfriend/partner every day. I don't know what happened between Jen Sebena and her husband, but the scenarios are chilling. Did he arrange to meet her, and then shoot her dead? Did he stalk her, knowing she'd stop at the firestation in Tosa for a break, and shoot her dead?
So what is Wayne LaPierre's solution to this? Arm every woman?
I hope that Daily Kos will institute a gun death tracker that keeps track of all the mundane, daily, repetitive acts of gun violence that happen with sick regularity in our culture.
12:14 PM PT: Update: charge is now official, not just tentative.