{"id":3421,"date":"2019-08-06T21:06:51","date_gmt":"2019-08-06T21:06:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/?p=3421"},"modified":"2021-05-29T18:44:56","modified_gmt":"2021-05-29T18:44:56","slug":"death-came-to-dayton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/death-came-to-dayton\/","title":{"rendered":"Death Came to Dayton"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>Saturday night had been Sunday morning for just over an hour when death came to a street in Dayton, Ohio.<\/p>\n

A young man killed eight folks who had been outside a bar.<\/p>\n

He’s dead, too. Probably killed by police.<\/p>\n

One of the killer’s victims was his sister.<\/p>\n

Maybe she was an intended victim.<\/p>\n

Maybe she’d just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.<\/p>\n

She had been a student at Wright State University. Another student also died. So did a machinist, a mother of two and a father of four.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

<\/a>Looking for Answers<\/h4>\n

<\/a>We know who, how, where and how many were killed.<\/p>\n

The crime’s “why” is another matter. The killer is dead, so investigators can’t ask him.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest puzzles is why he killed his sister. They’d been together earlier in the evening, along with another young man.<\/p>\n

A USA Today article says that the killer hit his first victim in an alley before moving on to the street where he killed his sister and other folks.<\/p>\n

Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl says it’s hard to believe that he wouldn’t have recognized his own sister \u2014 and hard to believe that he’d deliberately kill her.<\/p>\n

Maybe he shot first and noticed his victim’s faces later.<\/p>\n

Maybe recognizing his sister’s body filled him with remorse, and that’s why he killed himself. Assuming that reports of his being shot by police were wrong. That’s not such a wild assumption, given what happened at last week’s Garlic Festival.<\/p>\n

We’re also reading the familiar expressions of grief, and accounts of the killer’s fascination with violence.2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

<\/a>Placing Blame<\/h4>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

I’ve seen several explanations for last weekend’s killings in Dayton.<\/p>\n

Some blame technology: video games or guns. Apparently nobody’s blaming cars, although the killer used an automobile.<\/p>\n

Others say gay marriage advocates caused the killings. Or that the true villain is the American president.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\"Anti-Saloon<\/a>I’ve yet to see Ned Peppers Bar fingered as the culprit.<\/p>\n

Which is odd, considering America’s bluenose traditions. Or maybe not so much.<\/p>\n

Times change. As more Americans realized what Prohibition was really like, slogans like “The Saloon Must Go” lost their power.<\/p>\n

the Anti-Saloon League repackaged itself as the American Council on Alcohol Problems, and that’s another topic.3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

I’m pretty sure what America needs is not tougher video game control laws or a crackdown on political activists. And that nobody forced a young man to kill folks in Dayton.<\/p>\n

I also think that what he did was wrong, and that he is at least partly responsible for pulling the trigger.<\/p>\n

My views are somewhat countercultural. As a complete set, at any rate.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Taking Responsibility<\/h4>\n

<\/a>I think murder is wrong. Most folks would almost certainly agree.<\/p>\n

But I’m not sure how much agreement there is on why it’s a bad idea.<\/p>\n

I see murder as deliberately killing an innocent human being. It\u2019s wrong because human life is sacred, a gift from God. Each of our lives matters. Age or health isn\u2019t a factor. Being human is. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2258<\/a>, 2261<\/a>, 2268-<\/a>2283<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Seeing the killer as a person whose life is precious isn’t easy. Not for me, anyway.<\/p>\n

But easy or not: I must remember that the young killer is as human as I am.<\/p>\n

What we do, who we are and where we live don’t change that. (Catechism, 360<\/a>, 1700<\/a>–1706<\/a>, 1932<\/a>–1933<\/a>, 1935<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Acknowledging responsibility matters.<\/p>\n

I decide what I do with my life. I can try helping or hurting others. We all can. (Catechism, 1701<\/a>–1709<\/a>, 2258<\/a>)<\/p>\n

I’m happy that more folks weren’t killed outside that bar. Relieved might be a better word. But, assuming that early reports that the killer was in turn killed by police are accurate, I’m glad that he was stopped before ending more lives.<\/p>\n

Ideally, police could use technology filling the gap between words and bullets. Stun guns made the transition from science fiction to commercial production a few decades back, and that’s yet another topic.4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

I don’t envy those who must decide whether to use lethal force or let a killer continue ending innocent lives.<\/p>\n

I’d like living in a world where violent individuals could be stopped without killing them. Or, ideally, in a world where some folks never decided to commit murder.<\/p>\n

This isn’t an ideal world, so I think that defending innocent lives, using the least force necessary, is okay: even if that action results in the attacker’s death. (Catechism, 2263<\/a>–2267<\/a>)<\/p>\n

<\/a>Remembering Love<\/h4>\n

<\/a>The last I heard, we don’t know why a young man decided to kill folks in Dayton.<\/p>\n

Motives for mass murders in an El Paso Walmart and the Gilroy Garlic Festival seem a bit clearer.5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Possibly because those mass murders fit currently-accepted expectations. That’s a can of worms I’ll leave for another day.<\/p>\n

Motives matter. So do circumstances. But some things are wrong, no matter what. “I meant well” doesn’t make bad ideas okay. (Catechism, 1735<\/a>–1736<\/a>, 1750<\/a>–1754<\/a>, 1759<\/a>)<\/p>\n

And some things are right, no matter what.<\/p>\n

I should love God and my neighbor, and see everyone as my neighbor. (Matthew 5:43<\/a>–44<\/a>, 22:36<\/a>–40<\/a>; Mark 12:28<\/a>–31<\/a>; Luke 6:31<\/a>, 10:25<\/a>–37<\/a>; Catechism, 1789<\/a>)<\/p>\n

More:<\/p>\n