Day of the Five Lost Havens

As a follow-up to yesterday's post about the two violent incidents that occurred about a block from each other here in Atlanta on Tuesday, a shooting at a food court and a hijacking of a bus, it turns out the events were related to each other after all.

The local news interviewed an eyewitness to the shooting in the Peachtree Center food court. The interviewee was at the court during the shooting, and said that he regretted that he didn't have a gun himself to stop the shooter. He said he had a knife, and maybe could have overpowered the shooter with his knife, but he wasn't allowed to own a gun because he was bipolar and on probation. He also said he was off his meds and was having an episode.

The interview went on, undeterred by the fact that the witness had just said that he had a mental illness and was off his meds. The man rambled on, talking in circles about his probation officer, wanting to protect a girlfriend who he said was visiting him in Atlanta, and about wishing there was some kind of drug he could take to instantly snap him out of the psychotic episode he was having. At the same time, though, he was articulate and even spelled out his last name, and was non-threatening to the reporter. 

Shortly after this interview, he walked a block or so and boarded a Gwinnett County transit bus, where he got into a fight with another passenger.  Another passenger on the bus pulled out a gun, attempting to break up the fight, and the man stole the gun, shot and killed the person who was attempting to break up the fight, and then led police on a chase across three counties. He is now charged with murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault, hijacking, and other charges.

It's not the duty of reporters to enforce laws and prevent crimes, but a person of conscience should have recognized that the man was suffering from a psychotic, bipolar disorder, and try to get him to wait while the reporter called a policeman or other first responder over to help. If the reported had done that, the victim on the bus might still be alive today.

Also. everybody's armed! Customers in a food court, commuters on a bus. If we didn't have so many goddammed guns, none of this may have happened.

And it's still going on.  This morning, police are investigating a reported bomb threat on Peachtree Street, right next to the Peachtree Center food court. The building is home to the Atlanta Passport Agency, the Atlanta branch of the US Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs, and the Urban League of Greater Atlanta. 

Meanwhile, climate change. We're officially a week-and-a-half into the 2024 hurricane season, and while there's no hurricanes yet, an offshore area of low pressure near the Georgia-Florida border is producing  heavy rain across large portions of the Florida peninsula. Despite strong upper-level winds, gradual development is possible  during the next day or so while the system moves to the northeast. Regardless of development, heavy rainfall is forecast to continue. 

Heavy rainfall yesterday caused flash flooding from Fort Lauderdale to downtown Miami, battered major urban areas, caused flight cancellations, and shut down roads, including part of Interstate 95. The floodwaters have swamped shopping strips, submerged cars, and left residents in some neighborhoods waist-deep in floodwater. 

A record 9½ inches of rain fell on Fort Lauderdale Wednesday, breaking a previous record of 5½ inches that had stood since 1978. In two days, more than a foot of rain fell over Miami Beach. Other 48-hour rain totals have almost doubled that amount, with North Miami unofficially receiving 20 inches and Hallandale and Hollywood each receiving 19 inches since Tuesday. 

Also, about 18.2 million people, 6% of the population of the contiguous United States, live in areas expected to have dangerous levels of heat today. The heat index measures how hot it actually feels outside, taking into account humidity (it's not the heat, it's the humidity, as they say). The measurement is used to indicate when the level of heat is dangerous for the human body while in the shade. When out in the sun, a person could perceive that temperature as being higher by up to 15° Fahrenheit.

The heat index for several cities in Texas will be well over 100° today, from 105° in Austin to 109° in Laredo. Here in Atlanta, the heat index will be 90° today, creeping up to 99° on Saturday before cooling off next week. I had better exercise some caution while out on my 5-mile walks this weekend.