I actually did not see anything of note while at the event, I and a few friends, all who went to HS with Gabby were standing way back in the parking lot waiting for the crowd to thin so we could make our way up to her later and say hello. We really werent paying much attention and just having small talk when out of nowhere we heard the gun shots and within minutes the crowd was dispersed/corraled by LE and we made our way back to our cars and got out of there, meeting later at a McDonalds to discuss what had just happened. It was mass chaos I can tell you that much.
I would like to say that in spite of what many say in the media, Tucson, Arizona is not a right wing racist gun toting town, Phoenix is very much so, at least parts of it, but Tucson is a very liberal arts centered community and it is not made up of the type of people one thinks of when they think of Arizona these days. Its a very good and safe community and I personally do not know any redneck racist types the likes of which the media will make you believe Arizona is infested with. It just isnt so!
JL is unfortunately a very sick young man and I cant help but feel some compassion for him and certainly for his family and the family of the victims, this was a senseless act of violence and the entire community is hurting because of it and we have all come together as best we can to make things right for those who are suffering. I think JL simply got through the cracks and any number of people who might of picked up the phone to try and get him some help may have prevented this but hindsight is always 20 20. In any case I do not feel any hatred towards the young man, he has a medical issue that is likely not any fault of his own, aside from smoking some pot, which many others do regularly with no ill effect, he probably didnt have any hand in making himself as mentally ill as he had become in his adult life, I hope he can someday get the help he needs and come to grips with what he has done and show the mercy and compassion towards his victims and their families that they very much deserve.
As an attorney I could not argue that JL is legally insane, meaning that he didnt know or understand the wrongfullness of his actions, clearly he did, he planned ahead as he said himself, but one can be guilty and insane, they are not mutually exclusive in a court of law and I suspect in the end that will be verdict, guilty but insane and he will wind up in a medical facility where he belongs, getting the help he needs, as opposed to rotting away in prison and never having the chance to become a better person and learn from the very grave and senseless act of violence that he committed.
I know that if Gabby has a say in it that is exactly what she would want, she is not a big fan of the death penalty and would clearly want this young man to get the help he needs in a medical facility, locked away from society where he can no longer do harm.
rayer:
