I'm tired. Tired of gunfire breaking out in everyday places. Tired of makeshift memorials and community vigils. Tired of hollow words and empty gestures.
I'm tired of trying to calculate the likelihood of getting shot every time I head out the front door. Tired of watching one mass shooting fade from the headlines only to be replaced by another.
On Monday it was Louisville's turn in the headlines. Shortly before 9 am an employee walked into Old National Bank in downtown and opened fire with an AR-15, killing five and wounding several others before being killed in a shootout with police. See my earlier post for more on that.
Before us it'd been Nashville just a little ways down I-65. Purely coincidentally, the NRA is having their national convention just a little ways up I-65 in Indianapolis as I write. Meanwhile, Louisville is trying to figure out how to process, heal, and deal with the tragedy that unfolded on its doorstep.
On Wednesday a community vigil was held at the Muhammad Ali Center downtown. Before attending that I returned to Old National Bank to pay my respects and snap some photos of the makeshift memorial that has sprung up on its steps.
Hundreds came out for the vigil, to commemorate those lost and to hear from community and faith leaders.
Josh Barrick, 40
Deana Eckert, 57
Tommy Elliott, 63
Juliana Farmer, 45
Jim Tutt, 64
Chea’von Moore, 24 (Killed in an unrelated shooting downtown a couple hours later)
One of those slain, Tommy Elliott, was something of a kingmaker in Democratic politics in the area, all the politicians knew him personally and Governor Andy Beshear counted him as a close personal friend.
“While I’m not angry, I’m empty and I’m sad. “I just keep thinking that maybe we’ll wake up.”
It was powerful, emotional, each speaker in turn offered up words of support and remembrance and called for an end to this endless cycle of death.
Well aware that they were but the latest in a long line of people saying this, they called not only for an end but individual action as well.
One person who spoke was Whitney Austin, a Louisville native who survived being shot 12 times in a similar mass shooting at a Fifth Third Bank in Cincinnati back in 2018.
Can you imagine going through that and then watching it happen again in your hometown?
For all that she struck a hopeful note and asked that we remember and support the victims in the days and years to come.
The vigil lasted for just over an hour, with lots of mingling, hugging, and crying afterwards.
Well, and a bit of cornering the mayor.
Not sure how to end this so I'll leave y'all with a question: What can one do as an individual to make the world a little less violent place?
