I'm calling this one early.
AUSTIN, Texas — A white, middle-aged gunman, in what appears to be a politically motivated anti-government attack linked to immigration, fired more than a hundred rounds at buildings in downtown Austin early Friday and tried to set fire to the Mexican consulate before he died of a gunshot wound.
The unidentified suspect was described as white male in his 50s..[.]
I know we're not supposed to
jump to conclusions, but let me guess what his favorite news network is.
The Austin Police Chief [Art Acevedo] confirms that I am not a genius in deducing this.
The police chief said the suspect's targets indicated that he might have had anti-government motives linked to immigration.
"If you look at the targets, it doesn't take a genius (to suggest) that that is the potential," Acevedo said.
"I would venture that political rhetoric might have fed into some of this, but that is speculation on my part," he added.
The police have released a timeline of the shootings
here. The anti-immigration motive is still speculation on the chief's part. Still, the idea that one would empty a hundred shots into several government buildings and attempt to burn the Mexican consulate for no other reason than to "let off some steam" after a few beers seems a tad unusual.
Thank God no one was killed by this idiot, except, apparently, himself (news reports vary at this time whether he dies of a self-inflicted gunshot or was killed by police). He also shot up the Federal Courthouse and Austin Police headquarters. He tried to burn the Mexican consulate with small camping propane cylinders. Very creative fellow. A witness described him as adorned in "full riot gear" and initially thought he was a law enforcement officer.
The man was a resident of Austin, Tx., which I must add is a beautiful place and probably the most liberal city in Texas. Apparently that didn't sit well with this gentleman's political views and his choice of protest was to shoot everything in sight. Acevedo, again:
"When you look at the national debate right now about immigration, that ... comes to mind. Sometimes our political discourse becomes very heated and sometimes very angry," Acevedo told reporters.
This isn't "debate." It's terroristic violence. A "debate" implies civil discourse from both sides. The GOP has demonized Latino and Hispanic immigrants from the moment this issue touched the national stage, to stir up the hatred of people just like this guy. They've used everything from ISIS to Ebola to Impeachment to radicalize and inflame their base against undocumented immigrants. At what point does the Republican Party start to take responsibility for the hate-filled rhetoric it spews? When the bullets start hitting real live human bodies?
We're still waiting.