Originally posted by DBOY@Oct. 21 2002, 3:38 am
So when a car rolls by and riddles a house with bullets killing a mother and her baby it had some kind of cause behind it other than just random destruction to mark gang territory and increase their notoriety?
I don't follow how that's any different than your logic behind THE SNIPER!
It's because gang's aren't cool this week and terror is. Crazy lone gunmen and shoe-bombers are national news when they impact a tiny faction of the populace while things with a much more dramatic and ongoing effect are ignored.
Well, it's situational. Realistically, drive bys don't happen in the more upwardly mobile suburbs, whereas these snipes are occurring in those kind of areas.
There's a couple things to address in it. 1) Economic status 2) Frequency 3) Police capabilities.
I'd like to stress 3 a great deal. This is the washington metro police that are doing the investigation - the same police that were under fire for Chandra Levy and the IMF Summit. If anything, upon further study, one might notice this is a crucial study of how the DC Police handle this situation, and not as focused on the sniper itself.
Realistically, while it's to be abhorred, and I stress that as much as possible, gang related violence occurs much more often than anyone would like to admit. But taking into account where, when, how often, and how the police respond (or try to respond) decides how the media and others respond to this story. Generally gang violence is reported in the local news. As a side note, I can't think of ever a time where gang related violence stole national headlines, unless it's reign of terror extended into multiple cities, i.e. Latino Kings (Phila, NJ (primary), Wilm, NYC).
Also, you answered your own question - random destruction
to mark gang territory = cause, effect. The wantoness of the sniper has no such motivations, to our knowledge. The victims have no links, as far as we can tell.
I'd also like to stress one other thing - I'm very aware of gang violence and the situations surrounding such - I lived in West Philly 10+ years (Iceman can probably attest to the squalor that is West Phila) and have faced first hand the powerlessness of police forces in dealing with these situation(s).
Back in the 80's, there was a block of W. Philly that the police would refuse to enter (still true to a smaller extent, now) - lead to a standoff between the police and rival gangs which ulimately led to officials BOMBING that entire block. Of course that was national news, but that's because of how
Phila handled it, as opposed to the event itself unfolding.
Ironically, this sniper issue hits close to home (no pun intended) because my future wife is currently studying in Washington, D.C....